The Lost Fleet – Dauntless

Rione shook her head implacably. “Any AI capable of controlling a warship would also be capable of learning how to bypass an override. And what if our enemies learned to access this override through experimentation or espionage? I’ve no wish to give them control of warships we’ve built. No, Captain, we don’t believe we can trust AIs to operate independently. I assure you the Assembly is in no mood to bend on this point. Not now, and not at any point in the foreseeable future.”

Desjani, glowering, made a barely respectful nod and turned back to her display.

“Anyway,” Geary continued, pretending the argument hadn’t happened, “now that we’ve taken out the Syndic naval forces in the system, I’m going to threaten the inhabited world into sending us some cargo ships full of stuff we need. Food, mostly. Maybe some power cells, if we can adapt some of the Syndic stuff to work with ours.”

A officer with gray-streaked hair to Geary’s right shook his head. “We can’t, sir. They’re deliberately designed to be noncompatible. Just like their weapons. But if we can get the right raw materials, Titan and Jinn can manufacture more weapons. Titan can also build more power cells, and so can Witch. “

“Thank you.” Geary tried to look as appreciative as he actually felt for the quick and to-the-point briefing. “Can those ships tell me what they need?”

“We’ve got the information onboard Dauntless, sir. Assuming their last updates to us are accurate, of course.”

“You’re supply?”

The gray-haired man saluted awkwardly, as if the gesture were long unused. “Engineering, sir.”

“I want you to make sure we know what the highest priorities are for each of those ships.”

“Yes, sir!” the man beamed, apparently honored at being given a task by Geary.

Geary turned to Desjani. “At least that way I’ll be sure to demand the right tribute from the Syndics in this system.”

Co-President Rione stood up and took a couple of steps to lean near Geary and murmur just loud enough for Geary and Desjani to hear. “By so making your demands, Captain Geary, you’ll also be telling the Syndics exactly what your greatest needs are.”

Desjani made a face. Geary thought she looked unhappy, too, but had to admit Rione was right. “Any suggestions?” he murmured back.

“Yes. Include some misleading demands. The Syndics will not know which demands represent real needs for us and which are luxury items, for want of a better term.”

“Good idea.” Geary gave her a lopsided grin. “Would you by any chance also have any suggestions as to who should present our demands to the authorities here?”

“Are you drafting me, Captain Geary?”

“I wouldn’t want to say that, Madam Co-President. But you do have the necessary skills, and it’d be nice if you agreed to volunteer before I gave you the job.”

“I’ll consider it.” Rione nodded toward Geary’s display again. “I understand most of what’s happening now, but not that activity around the surrendered corvette.”

“It’s being stripped for any useful parts,” Geary assured her. He focused on the information himself, then frowned and studied it closer. He gave Desjani a questioning glance, but she indicated she didn’t see anything odd, which also bothered Geary. He reached for his communications controls. “Audacious, why are all the survival pods from the Syndic corvette enroute to you?”

The other ship wasn’t far away, so the reply came so quickly that it almost seemed real time. “There are materials on the Syndic survival pods we can cannibalize, sir. Emergency life support and emergency rations, mostly.”

“Do you intend leaving the corvette intact?” Not that it was all that much of a threat, but Geary hadn’t intended leaving any enemy warship in functional condition behind them, regardless of whether or not its combat systems had been trashed.

“No, sir.” Audacious replied. “The corvette will be destroyed by triggering a power core overload after we’ve finished stripping it.”

Geary waited, but when Audacious said nothing more, he tapped his communications key again. “Audacious, how do you intend disposing of the corvette’s crew?” He didn’t want to have to divert a ship to deliver prisoners to a planet’s surface or some other safe location.

“They’re on the corvette, sir.” The voice from Audacious sounded surprised at the question.

Once more, Geary waited a moment for Audacious to finish replying to his question. He was moving to tap the communications key again when he suddenly realized with a growing sense of horror that the other ship had finished answering him. “How do you intend disposing of the crew?” “They’re on the corvette, sir.” The corvette that was going to be destroyed by its own power core.