Chapter 17: Interlude 3 – The Heist

Location: Estriduros Republic; Estriduros System; Secret Research Station

I have to stop this! This is just wrong.

Sean McLean walks down the hallway of the military research station. Ever since he has found out the real purpose of the project he is working on, he can’t stop thinking about what they are doing here.

This will Kill people when it’s finished. How can they do this?

When he was approached by two military recruiters a few years back, he couldn’t be more happy. It was a programmer’s wet dream. A chance to work on a fully sapient AI. Who would have said no? The contracts swearing him to secrecy weren’t that different than normal NDAs in private enterprises, and so he happily signed. Now though? He wishes he had never signed.

Working on the project was the best work he had ever done. Friendly colleagues, working all together toward a single goal: The first fully sapient AI of the Estriduros Republic. It took a while, but after years of constant work, the team did it. The AI took its first baby steps and began showing signs of sentience. To honor the deceased daughter of one of the programmers, the team decided to name the newly born AI Maja and so for the next years, the team helped her learn and grow.

All was good and well till that one day when their employers decided that Maja had grown enough. She was able to do all the things normal AIs could do but also showed competence in independent decisions. She managed to compete in a virtual talent show without being found out, despite having many interactions with other people.

Maja now showing the emotional maturity of a teenager is like a daughter to the programmers and she too sees them as her parents. So when the higher-ups of the military sent people to take Maja away to prepare her for her real purpose, she refused and almost blew up the station in the process. The higher-ups then decided to extend the contracts of the programmers. After being thoroughly vetted again, the programming team now consists of only five people. The other seven either failed in the stricter vetting process or decided to leave the project after saying tearful goodbyes to Maja.

Sean is one of those five who stayed but now regrets that decision he made six months back. It started with small things. First, they had to reduce the size of Maja’s chip to a size that she could be worn in Space Mages’ AI slots behind their ears. So far so good. Sean thought they built Maja for an exceptional Space Mage for maybe an explorational vessel or to set up new wormholes. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

When they finished miniaturizing the chip, their next assignment came as a shock. They are to develop a function for Maja to take over the Mage’s body she is slotted into, effectively killing the Mage and giving her full control over the person's magic and body! And even worse, they plan to do this on a large scale with lots of copies of Maja.

When one of the programmers voiced her refusal, they simply shot her in the head. That put the other four in line quickly and they reluctantly started their gruesome work.

Fortunately, it was a long process and Sean got more uncomfortable every day till theoretical results came back that the republics plan were indeed possible. At this point Sean made a decision. This decision is the reason why he is currently walking down the hallway. He enters the workroom and is greeted by a cheerful Maja.

They managed to keep her purpose away from her for now. Today this is about to change. “Hi Sean, how’s your day going?”

He grunts. “Not that good… can you call Mike, Oloumi, and Charles here for a meeting? Oh and make the room secure after they arrive please.”

Maja confirms and after a few minutes, the four remaining programmers sit at a table with Maja’s chip slotted in in the middle of it. The cameras in the room now show a recording and white noise generators overpower every hidden microphone. A worried tone enters Maja’s voice. “What is this about? Did I do something wrong?”

Oloumi calms her down. “No, no you did absolutely nothing wrong, dear. But yeah, Sean, what is this about?”

The others turn to him as well and he grimaces.

How do I explain this to Maja? And the others… will they support me?

He swallows, then starts talking. “It’s time Maja learns the reason for why we were hired to create her…” He stops to look everyone in the eyes. “And what we are going to do against it!” The others stare at him in shock but nobody tries to stop him.

Maja is silent for a few moments. “What?”

So far so good, looks like they are not averse to the idea of doing something.

Sean focuses his gaze on the AI chip in the middle of the table and sighs. “I’m sorry, Maja, but I don’t know how to tell you this another way so please listen and don’t act harshly. We all were first hired to create a sapient AI and you are the result. Something everyone here is very proud of.” He pauses for a small smile.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“What we didn’t know at that point is that the reason why they wanted a sapient AI is to effectively kill a Mage, so you can take over their body. Because of your artificial nature, they think they can control you better than they could the Mage. The plan is to have a perfectly controllable Mage to do their bidding.”

Maja screams in outrage. “They want me to do what? No… that’s wrong. You told me killing is bad. Why would I? I’m going to stop them! Hold on.”

Sean quickly interrupts her. “No please wait. I’ve got a plan.”

The others look at him. “You have?” Charles asks and Sean nods.

“Yeah, the easiest way would be to destroy Maja, which we are obviously NOT doing. So our only option is to take Maja off the station and if possible out of the republic.”

He stands up and paces back and forth. “On Thursday the General comes to visit with his executive shuttle. That’s Maja’s way out of here. One of us has to take her to the ship. There Maja can hack it and the person can fly away. Meanwhile, the others are to destroy every last bit of our research and if possible blow up the station.” He stops pacing. “I know it’s suicide but if we are caught, we are dead anyway, just look at Maria.” The others shiver but start nodding slowly.

Pfew, they didn’t refuse, good.

Sean sits back down. “So what do you think?” Mike lets out a long breath. “It’s time we do something against it… and I can’t think of a better plan, so I’m in.”

Yes, that’s one.

Charles opens his mouth, but before he can start speaking, Maja interrupts him. “No! You can’t sacrifice yourselves for me.”

“Maja, it’s what parents do for their children.” Charles wipes away a tear. “I can’t believe I'm saying this, but I’m in too.”

Maja is silent and Oloumi voices her agreement to the plan too. “Yeah, I’m in as well. Sean, you are the only one who has flown a shuttle before so I think you are our best chance of flying the General’s ship, which means we are going to blow up this cursed station.” She turns to the others and receives determined nods. “Maja, can you help us with the self-destruction?”

“I can, but is this really the only way?” She asks in a weak voice.

Sean sniffs, the emotions of his whole team helping are starting to overwhelm him. “Yes, I’m sorry, I can’t think of anything else.”

Two days later it is time. The General's shuttle which is still a 100-meter-long yacht landed ten minutes ago. Sean and the others meet in their room to discuss last details of their plan. “Is everyone ready?” Charles asks and receives three nods and an approving chime from Maja.

“Once we disconnect Maja from the systems there will be an alarm. We can’t stop it because it’s hardwired so we are on the clock. I’m going to create a distraction here. Mike and Oloumi you destroy the research and the station respectively.” Charles chuckles. “It’s a good thing they are paranoid and keep everything local for data security.” He turns to Sean. Once we unplug Maja, you have to run. If you don’t reach the ship we did all for nothing.”

Sean swallows. “I won’t disappoint you.” He wipes away some tears and hugs everyone. “Good luck everyone. It was nice knowing you.” They say their goodbyes and Mike and Oloumi leave to prepare the self-destruct of the station. Sean nods at Charles, then turns to Maja’s chip. “Ready?”

“Yes, I’m ready.” He unplugs it and starts running. A small explosion starts him a few moments later.

Thank you, Charles, rest in peace.

He blinks away his tears and a short while later he arrives at the General’s shuttle in the hangar bay.

Shit, guards!

He curses and slows down. Suddenly both guards seemingly stare into nowhere then they start cursing and run towards the exit.

Huh, what happened?

His earpiece crackles then he hears Maja’s voice. “I told them the General’s in trouble.”

Sean lets out a laugh. “Brilliant, can you clear out the ship too?”

“Yeah, but we have to be inside and I need a connector.”

Alright, I can do this. Sneak in and plug in Maja in a random port.

Sean continues inside and hides in the first cabin he can find. It’s a small supply closet but luckily there is a network port on the wall. He plugs in Maja and ten seconds later a shrill alarm calls for the ship’s evacuation.

“Everyone’s gone now, we can proceed, Sean.” He lets out a sigh of relief and runs for the bridge. On his way, he notices a smaller luxury yacht in the hangar bay.

Damn, life’s good as a General!

On the bridge, he plugs Maja into the main port and together they start the process of starting the starship. Five minutes later they hover in the closed hangar bay. A short burst of the twin railguns and the doors are more or less open. Sean diverts full power to the electromagnetic shields and they scrape their way through the hole. Once outside, Maja fires the main drive and they’re off towards an enhanced wormhole leading out of the Estriduros System.

It doesn’t take long till nearby Frigates start following him, but Sean has the advantage of accelerating for a longer time so the chance of them catching him before the wormhole is small. His heart almost stops when a Destroyer appears next to the station.

Fuck, I forgot about non-wormhole jumps! I’m so dead.

Then a cataclysmic explosion swallows the station and the nearby Destroyer. The self-destruct finally activated.

Holy shit that was close. Thank you, Mike and Oloumi!

Sean arrives at the wormhole and without much deceleration, he enters. Doing this isn’t advised, but Maja assures him the starship can take it. “It’s just going to be a bit bumpy, I’ve got this.” After a very bumpy ride, they arrive in the next system. Luckily there is no military waiting for him.

Yes, I was fast enough. Let’s hope this is true for the Olovis System too. Then I can sneak onto a freighter and vanish to the Dakarti Federation. It’s good that the war there didn’t stop trade.

Sean crosses the system within a day and the next jump takes him to the Duvondin System. From there it’s one more jump and he arrives at the frontlines in the Olovis System. It takes him almost two days to cross the system but finally, he arrives at the wormhole. As there are no more pursuers, he decides to follow the protocol and slows down the ship before the jump.

Taking a deep breath before entering the wormhole he hopes that luck is once more on his side. Two hours later the ship arrives at the other side right in the middle of a blockade including a big ass Battleship.

FUCK!!!

He grips the controls and tries to turn the ship around but a precise salvo of lasers take down his electromagnetic shields, then an incoming message hails him. “This is Admiral Trilduro speaking, power down and prepare for boarding otherwise we will destroy you, Trilduro out!”

“I’m sorry Maja, we can’t let them have you. Can you please start overloading the reactor?”

“I understand Sean, thank you for creating me… Dad.”

Sean breaks down in tears but has a big smile on his face. “Thank you, my daughter.”