+++ Jonathan Jones +++

Jahellios System

New Krakow

FS Zoeker

A loud alarm sound raised my head up. I almost dropped the coffee in front of me, still half-empty, as the bridge’s lights turned bloody red. Immediately, on the main interface, Foxtrot’s logo appeared after a warning sign that said “[HOSTILE CONTACTS DETECTED!]”, which naturally woke all of us up.

“Alert! Surface contacts detected to be in an intercept route to this ship!” Foxtrot said. “Alert! Surface contacts detected to be in an intercept route to this ship!”

“We receive your alarm, Foxtrot,” Juliett said, as she stood up. Harold slapped his face a bit to awaken himself, before looking at the sensors. “Harold, what’s the situation?”

“Three of them, two from the southeast, one from the south. They’re gaining speed on us. Approximately twelve kilometers.” He said. “Their ships are smaller than our corvette, but it appears to be armed.”

“Pirates,” Foxtrot said. “They’re rampant in New Krakow’s seas. We’ve been sailing through a red zone, identified to be infested by these things.”

“Well, we had no choice but to go here, it’s the only place that André would go toward in order to sneak away,” I said as I checked on the conditions of our available weaponry. The Hyacinth-Class didn’t seem to be that powerful, having only two VLS (Vertical Launch System) on the bow and the stern. I checked the missiles stocked inside, and it was only at fifty percent capacity, most likely because it was mothballed.

Eight Harpoon-28 Anti-Ship Missiles.

Twelve Surfacer-12 Anti-Ship Missiles.

Twelve RIM-8 Air-to-Air Defense Missiles.

And alongside that, were our two PDS systems both in front and behind the superstructure, and of course, a 76 mm autocannon mounted in front of the bow VLS pods. The bad news…the autocannon seemed to be at twenty-five percent of its total ammunition stores, and one of the PDS systems had absolutely no bullets, which meant only the PDS gun in front of the bridge was operational…at fifteen percent of its ammunition stores.

“Damn it, I didn’t expect a fight,” I punched the table, and everyone looked at me. I looked at them, already frustrated by the situation we found ourselves in. “Everyone, we’re very low on ammunition. And this ship doesn’t have any energy weapons to speak of.”

Louise nodded. “It’s to be expected, we did just barge in and commandeer this vessel anyway. I doubt anyone would be placing ammunition on a decommissioned warship. But perhaps…we can just scare off these cowards?”

“Ladies and gentlemen, I must inform all of you,” Foxtrot interrupted. “The Hyacinth-Class is specifically designed for anti-piracy in surface oceans. If we can show them that we can fight back, there’s no way they’re going to be closing in on us.”

“And how do you know that, Foxtrot?” I asked, and he fell silent.

“This unit served for fifty years already. I have battled both pirates in the high-seas, and even the invasion forces of the FEG before I was decommissioned. This unit, and my Captains, have proudly served the surface navy of the Duke for decades,” it said. “I have a wide experience on these things.”

Louise’s eyes widened, and she asked a question to Foxtrot. “Foxtrot, say…do you recognize me?”

“...The daughter of Duke Henry himself…yes, you are the Heiress of House Fleur. All Military AIs of this planet are programmed to recognize you. But many of us were seemingly dismantled ever since the end of that war. Would you implore to let this unit know of the condition of your father?”

Louise almost cried. “They…they killed him. And they’re trying to kill me and my brother.”

“This unit will do everything to help you find him, my liege.”

“W-what? Why are you calling me that way?” Louise asked.

“If the Duke is dead, then the Heiress succeeds. This unit recognizes you as the sole Duchess of New Krakow. And this unit shall do its best to serve its recognized master. My liege.” Foxtrot said as I chuckled.

“Well, crap, it seems that Ms. Princess found her AI knight now,” she turned at me and frowned. “How wholesome.”

“Shut up, commoner!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let’s end this nonsense, there are pirates coming for us,” briefly, I wondered if SYS was capable of acting that way…also scarily human. So far, my experience with these AIs has been confusing. Who really was sentient then? Was it only Juliett? Or was it Foxtrot too? Or was SYS sentient too? I almost wanted to vomit at that, as I had always treated SYS as just a machine.

Or…were any of them really sentient? Was Juliett even alive, or was she just a line of more sophisticated code? I tried to shake these thoughts off, as I returned to the targeting screens, merely coming to one conclusion for myself.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

Just treat them all as humans. That seemed to be the safest option. I mean, how sure could anyone be that corporate marketing that they were “not alive” was correct? What if…all this time, we were all just collectively enslaving these “inferior” AI Cores?

“So is that our plan then?” I asked, and they all collectively nodded. “I see.”

“We’ll scare them off,” Foxtrot assured. “The Zoeker should still be capable of that.”

+++

+++ Jonathan Jones +++

“They’re hailing us,” Harold said. I nodded and gave him the order to open up our comms and accept their hails.

“Lone Corvette, it would be best if you stand down,” the comms said. “We’re with the Astowisz Black Flags. Unless you want to get into any further trouble, we suggest you lower your weapons and turn off your engines.”

I laughed, pulling up the microphone to my face. “This is FS Zoeker of the FEG—”

“You’re not FEG,” the pirate said. “We had intel. We’re blocking you from here on out. Resist, and we’ll make sure you don’t see the light of the day…foreigners.”

Louise turned red-faced. “How dare you call me this way! I’m Duchess Louise Florentine de la Fleur! Your own lord. How dare you speak this way—”

I stood up and took away her microphone. “Louise, I need you to keep your temper at the down low. You’re turning irrational.”

“They’re…they’re disrupting my search!”

“Of course they are, they are our enemies,” I gave Juliett a nod, and her eyes glowed blue. Immediately, I could see a split second of interferences on every electronics of the ship. The transmissions from the “pirates”, and I was starting to doubt that they were pirates, became garbled. Just then, a long-range laser transmission came from the orbit.

“Greetings, everyone, hopefully, you’re all holding well there,” Ms. Kalista laughed. “It seems that every difficulty we can encounter is being encountered. As such, Captain Jones and Captain Juliett…I have approved the disembarkment of the ISS Jukebox. Sneak her well into New Krakow, out.”

I smirked, “Well, there it goes gentlemen, the Jukebox is leaving port. Since it’s rated for in-atmosphere operations, it’s going to be supporting us from this point onward. But for now, it’s going to have to sneak through the orbit of New Krakow. Can’t exactly be caught by the FEG’s air defense grid, no?”

“Wait,” Louise said. “Your ship? But, how would it get through? And who’s controlling it?”

I heard Juliett chuckle, her eyes were glowing subtly blue. I knew that those interferences were coming from her. Most likely, from the Radiant itself, or from the Jukebox’s EW systems. Indeed, if there was one thing you could say about Juliett, was that her electronic warfare capabilities were beyond ridiculous. I would bet good money that she’s filling the air defense grid of New Krakow with bullshit false returns or creating glitches on their sensors to produce blindspots, where she’d sneak the Jukebox through.

Well, I knew that, because she told me of her plans. Of course, I had to consent to her gaining control of the Jukebox temporarily, and while I had reservations about it (especially my ego), she could not just sneak the Radiant in, could she? That left the Jukebox as the only realistic option, the only semi-autonomous vessel of our motley fleet. I agreed rather quickly.

“All I have to say is that Juliett is going to have a lot to explain to you after this is all done,” I replied, as I returned to the weapons controls. One after another, Harold sent me the analysis of each of the surface contacts. Their headings, displacement, speed, and whether or not their weapons were open. I briefly wondered which side would open fire first, as I didn’t really want to engage with us having a low amount of missiles and ammo, until…

A shot blasted off from the distance, barely even visible through the worsening rain, and the fact that they were beyond the curvature of New Krakow. Still, I saw a brief flash, and in mere moments, a splash of water appeared just a few meters on the port side of the Zoeker. I smirked.

“Well, looks like they started the party,” I said. “Louise, adjust the heading to zero-four-zero. Show them our broadside. I want to fire off our autocannon.”

Louise made a grim nod, as she began turning the helm to my directions. Harold on the other hand began acquiring the targets, feeding the data into my weapons. By the time we were fully turned to meet them, the 76 mm autocannon had already turned to the direction of their lead ship, as the barrel rose up for the elevation.

“Firing solutions acquired,” I declared, before pressing the fire button. “Firing.”

Immediately, the 76 mm autocannon began firing off at the enemy, almost every split second. I watched as they began dispersing, or more accurately, conducting a desperate evasive maneuver. But the rain of shells appeared on the waters around them, as tall splashes of water appeared, all while many of the shots began slamming onto their hull.

I gave off a laugh, as their lead ship began burning before a secondary explosion broke off on its bow. The enemy ship noticeably slowed down, all while the rain intensified. The 76 mm turned silent, and I contacted them again. “So, are you lot still interested in disrupting our rescue mission?”

There was no answer, as they began to turn around, their headings adjusting to get away from our range. I scoffed. “As expected, meet some resistance, and they fold,” I ordered Louise to continue our previous course, turning away, as their damaged ship also exploded in a brilliant manner. It seemed that the accuracy of this ship’s autocannon was something to behold.

Must have shot their magazine stores. I told myself, as the video feeds showed the explosion in real-time before it was drowned out by an intensifying storm. They’re boned. Hopefully, there are not many sharks around.

“Seems like they really ran away,” Louise said, as Harold breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Would have been awful if we expended our limited ammunition,” Harold said.

“They’re panicking because they can’t contact their superiors,” Juliett laughed. “I guess my little games spooked them.”

Everyone on the bridge looked at her, and she turned to us, her eyes still glowing slightly blue. I gave her a deadpan look.

“Quite frankly, all of us are quite spooked by your antics, Juliett.”