Incoming Press Report, Fifteen Light-Years Away (Rostfurt System Network Relay, FEG Controlled).

Continued deadlock in the FEG High Council persists! The vote for the cancellation of the already three-centuries-long martial law imposed by the FEG has been blocked with a vote of fourteen planetary representatives voting no and twelve voting yes. The High Council will conduct another session after rehearings in two months. Observers note that if the High Council decides that the continued imposition of martial law is “beyond reasonable” under Federation laws, the FEG military is still unlikely to accept this decision.

- Orion Press

+++ Jonathan Jones +++

Cryesa System

ISS Jukebox

En Route to Inner Cryesa System Jump Point

The Cryesa System seemed to be on high alert when we left the docks of Lucynthia Station. Station Security filled each and every corner, while the docks were almost stretched to capacity as swathes of Lucynthia State Navy ships were being repaired by its facilities. The deals we found during our resupply were…not exactly up to standards. Both the ISS Rearguard and the Jukebox were at fifty percent of its fuel stores. Quite frankly, we were even lucky that we bought enough rations from Lucynthia Station when we left.

The prices…weren’t pretty. It was simply the natural result of Lucynthia State’s strict rationing policies. Civilian convoys from the Outer Cryesa System were still struggling with piracy raids, and thus, the supply of everything from food, and fuel, to ship parts was low.

Not only was there the issue of low supplies due to a lack of trade, but we were also quite literally competing with the Lucynthian State on who would get fuel and supplies. Naturally, they would win in that dispute, with us having pretty much no choice but to take whatever meager amounts they were willing to give.

“We’re just going to settle for a mid-route supply run,” I said. Juliett’s Avatar Model seemed…weirdly, reserved. She seemed to be keeping to herself ever since what had happened during that pirate encounter. Right now, she sat in her own little corner of the CIC, silently mulling over what she had done.

Quite frankly, I wouldn’t really pin any of the blame on her. Sure, that…was quite stupid now that we were done, considering that they were the ones holding the hostages, but I doubted that her hardcoded programs considered that possibility. I think I was seeing the knack of her programming. Perhaps she was designed this way, to assume the best about humans, in order to prevent herself from rebelling.

After all, Stable Dynamic’s AI cores were known to be robotic, emotionless, and almost devoid of humanity. What did they do? They rampaged in the Sector, turning rogue when things went awry, and almost destroying everyone, including their creators. They only prioritized whatever maximized their power, their gains, their control.

Optimization for the sake of absolute perfection. Inevitably, they removed humanity from the equation to achieve that. Thankfully, the FEG Navy, the Union, and even Stable Dynamics managed to put it down. If they hadn’t, the Sector would be completely and utterly removed from humanity’s map.

Juliett…she seemed truly different. Perhaps that was what the Federation’s AI designs were attempting. Perhaps, they were attempting to create true humanity in their creations. After all, didn’t the history books always describe their scientists and visionaries as people who worked for the absolute advancement of the human race, unlike the Sector’s now decrepit academic bodies that serve as nothing more than corporate tools and maintainers of the space forces of the Sector’s corrupt polities?

But Juliett, she didn’t remove humanity from the equation, ever, did she? She responded in an almost human way of regret. Her actions, after all, were framed by ‘Lord Preussen’ as a reason for executing that civilian. Even back in Lubola, she had shown extreme regret at what she did. To kill all pirates that refused to surrender.

And I had seen human soldiers and marines. I had seen Union troops that spoke of “collecting skulls of FEG federalists” back in the day when none of them even saw the Revolutionary Wars decades ago. Or Loran’s nationalistic crowds that called for jingoistic nonsense to “cleansing bombardments” against the filthy “subhuman” reds in the DSA. These were people that weren’t even at war, or fighting compared to her. Yet Juliett…

Juliett…she was being shot at and killed. Even I wouldn’t express such remorse on those…filthy pirates. And that was what scared me the most. How could an AI best us humans on a moral scale?

Or was she just naive? But why would her own creators make her that way?

“Yeah…I’ll…keep that in mind.” Juliett said, still keeping to herself. I simply gave her a nod, focusing on my own coffee as I monitored the various screens in front of me. All this wondering about her nature…strange, wasn’t it? But who wouldn’t find her as such a great curiosity? Sometimes, I wondered, if I was even worthy of standing beside her.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I dragged her into collaborating with criminals. How low of me indeed! Sure, it would be for the best, but this entire operation went against her own code, did it not? That wasn’t just questionable, that was depraved. In a lot of ways, me and Harold forced her into signing a treaty with a group of people she didn’t like. Funnily enough, she was already working with one. I and Harold were both criminals, were we not? In which case, were we perhaps tainting her already?

And thus, I could ask. If we had never acted as depraved as Lord Preussen’s pirate group did, would she perhaps extend the same humanity she showed to those pirates in Lubola, or to the hostages those pirates held, to both of us should we reveal the truth?

Who am I even to ask such a question though? A dirty damned outlaw who dragged her into a stupid deal, that was who I am. Of course…I would have the gall to even ask that nonsense mentally.

Damn it. This stupid deal and those damned pirates. This is the worst…she was right. If only we could just blast them out of space. But, we already bit the deal. They were gone, and we wouldn’t be able to track them. Not at all. In essence, we had no other choice but to meet them in that specified location after the raid. I just wish that the ISS Rearguard held enough space to ferry all those hostages afterward. We’d definitely be crying tears at some local Union or Independent authority to help us out afterward at taking those civilians.

On the bright side…maybe they’ll reward us with some good notes on our records. I mean, being added to the Union’s database as “someone who rescued civilians taken hostage” would be something I could look forward to. After all, having that kind of record would be something good for my name if they ever somehow captured me and found out who I am.

Still, I could feel that all this would just be the start of a long beef between us and these pirates. Especially if Juliett once again showed her flawed human recklessness after this deal was over. I wouldn’t be surprised if she turned around and sliced them on the orbit of that planet as “justice”, before taking them as her prisoners to be sent to the nearest authority.

Juliett, Juliett, Juliett. You overly righteous tin can. The headaches about you just never end. Not that I wasn’t a headache to her. But I wondered how I would keep her from blasting them during the deal.

“Incoming patrols.” Harold’s voice suddenly said over the comms just as each of our ships decelerated to meet them in a non-hostile manner. “Just do an orderly formation. I’m going to talk with them. At least we have Juliett’s ship registered now.”

And that…at least was the only bright side we had. Apparently, Harold had some connections with the Lucynthian elites. Normally, applying for a ship license would take time, inspections, and countless bureaucratic hassles that would definitely end up with Juliett being caught as a potentially anomalous AI…

But we literally just showed her ship to an enthusiastic inspector who wanted a few more bucks, who classed her ship as one of those extremely rare “Orion-Class Fast Cruisers” of the old Federation’s Navy. The databases certainly didn’t match (because it wasn’t an Orion-Class). But apparently, the FEG Navy lost most of it back during the First Revolutionary War, and thus, they were only working with a centuries-old database of a ship that was practically extinct.

And with Harold’s local contact, who handwaved the discrepancies as “modifications to an ancient hull” and the inspector already bribed and thus merely rubber-stamping the forms as fast as he could to keep our few thousand SCs, we finally gave Juliett’s ship its new transponder codes, rubber-stamped and approved by the State of Lucynthia. ISS-4427D6 —that was her new ship transponder ID.

As for the VSS Shine, apparently, the Radiant held a dual frigate-holding compartment on its port and starboard side. I suppose since the Radiant seemed almost the size of a battlecruiser, it wasn’t exactly in the realm of impossibility. Quite frankly, with everything the Radiant showed, I would not be surprised if Juliett was the most powerful ship in the Sector.

Still, I wouldn’t expect her to take the entire fight for herself. Powerful or not, one ship was one ship. Flank it, surround it, and overwhelm it, and not even something made out of nanotechnology and the old Federation’s most advanced technologies would survive. I wouldn’t let that happen to her. At all.

“Go on,” I said over the comms, before moving the Jukebox into a close escort formation around the Radiant. Since Radiant was the largest (and most capable) ship in our little flotilla, and thus, both the Jukebox and the Rearguard assumed the positions on its left and right sides. Normally, there would also be ships at the top and below in these kinds of formations to better cover most angles of approach, but I suppose this should suffice.

The Lucynthian State Patrol didn’t give much of a piss at whatever we were currently doing. Naturally, complying with all civilized space laws in a time of crisis was something high-standard, especially when they had more pressing matters to deal with. It only took three minutes before they confirmed everything and allowed us to re-engage our burn drives, and before we knew it, we were en route again to the Inner Cryesa System Jump Point.

Traffic was also light, it seemed. Civilian shipments must have had really temporarily stopped for now, and we were only meeting detachments and task forces of the Lucynthian State Navy, none of which gave us much attention as we were already verified for the trip earlier.

And so, we were finally on the voyage to that damned mission. I disliked it, Harold disliked it, and Juliett certainly detested it with all her passion (that if I was a weaker man, would have reduced me to tears), but…if this is what must be done.

Then we’d be all damned if we don’t do it.

Perhaps, we could bite back once all this was over.