Page 5 of Star Cruise Captain's Story

“I can get the Mellureans to pressure the owners of the Line to grant your leaves of absence,” Maeve said. “And we’re going to need a few other key personnel.”

“This gets better and better,” Red scoffed.

“I’m going as well,” she said. “Need I remind you I’m former military?”

“With all due respect, service as the AI of a battleship is hardly the same thing as going personally into dangerous situations on a planet with a small team.” Jake tried to deliver his criticism gently, not wanting Maeve to become any more upset. “What more do you know about the situation?”

“Not much,” she admitted. “I’ve been trying to monitor the dark web traffic but since Gil went undercover there’s been no mention of him or anyone who could be him. I believe Daveed remains alive but now two parties are bidding for him—the Outlier empire’s intelligence service and the rebel terrorist known as The Drinker of Blood, head of the Jlonngi. I believe there’s past history there. From the scant data I can gather, Daveed played a role in taking apart a complicated andextensive terrorist network headed by Drinker’s sister and she died in the chaos. All the parties are going to be on Pagettia Three in four to five weeks and that’s when the deal will go down. If we’re going to have a chance to help Gil and rescue Daveed it’ll be then. Right now a third party is holding him and working on the deal with either the Sectors or the Jlonngi. It’s a complicated mess in that area of the Sectors, with agents of the Outlier Empire sowing seeds of rebellion and hatred as well.”

“We’ll need a ship, weapons—we can’t raid theNebula Zephyr’sarmory for a private op,” Jake said, thinking over the logistics of a mission like the one Maeve was proposing. “I have a contact I can use to provide us a believable cover as elite mercenaries. He owes me and wants the slate clean between us. I think this would be a big enough ask to wipe away the marker.” He nodded at Red. “You know who I mean.”

“We could trust him if all we’re asking him to do is provide our false identities,” Red agreed.

“I have a ship,” Maeve said. “I have my own account on New Switzerland you know. I receive a salary there for my service on theNebula Zephyrand the Mellureans also negotiated a military pension for me. I bought a secondhand mercenary raider ship through channels I happen to have. It’s waiting for us on Zebulon Six. From there it’s not a long haul to where we need to be to help Gil.”

Jake shook his head. “This situation keeps getting crazier and crazier. You bought a ship sight unseen? How do you know you didn’t get ripped off? We get there and the hulk probably won’t even be able to leave orbit.”

With her eyebrows raised in disbelief, she scoffed at him. “Have you met me? I’m the sentient who’s operated a Space Navy battleshipandthis lovely cruise vessel we’re on right now. I’ll have my new toy upgraded and top of the line within twenty-four hours of boarding her.”

“Which brings up another issue,” Jake said. “How in the seven hells is theNebula Zephyrgoing to keep operating if you’re not here? You’re not thinking of abandoning your crew and passengers in space, are you? Because I willnotbe a part of any such scheme.” He didn’t know how he’d stop her if that was the case and she insisted on leaving the ship but he hoped the Maeve he ‘knew’ wouldn’t commit such a crime, not even to save Captain Fleming, who she was obviously in love with. Dealing with a rogue AI was terrifying and he could understand the Company’s paranoia about AI’s becoming self aware.

“I told you I’ve been working with the Mellureans. Part of the structure we’ve developed over the years is how I compartmentalize myself into this person” —she gestured at herself with a graceful hand—“And the rest of me, which is pretty much a standard, if powerful AI, who runs ships. I don’t have to be physically present any more to allow the 90% of my cortex to function perfectly in the required fashion to make theNebula Zephyra safe, efficient ship. I’ve done excursions to various planets we’ve stopped at to test the solution and it’s all been fine.”

Jake had the sense she wasn’t telling him the complete truth but he was at a loss for how to elicit more details. Standard interrogation techniques weren’t going to work on an embodied AI. “And you can maintain this form for long durations?” he asked.

“Of course. The whole point of the work with the Mellureans was to achieve this state.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t a pretty process, let me tell you, but here we are, fortunately for Gil.”

Red redirected the conversation. “You said you want a few more people on our team. Who do you have in mind?”

“Your wife for one,” Maeve answered, looking at Jake. “We’ll need a doctor skilled in combat medicine. Daveed hasbeen a prisoner for a long time now and I’m sure his health has suffered, to put it mildly. The last proof of life holo of him was…hard to watch..”

“Emily and I both have serious PTSD issues as a result of our service,” Jake said, jaw clenched at the mere idea of his wife going anywhere near an active combat area or into the clutches of terrorists. “I’d never in a million years agree to her going along on this insane trip you’re proposing.”

Maeve was silent, brows knit in a frown. Evidently she hadn’t expected this obstacle. Finally she issued a challenge. “I’ll make my proposal to Dr. Shane directly then, if you stand in my way. I’m sure she’ll agree to help.”

“Antagonizing the guy you want to lead your ragtag band of rescuers isn’t a good way to start,” Red said. “Besides she’s the only doctor on board. We can’t leave our passengers and crew with no doctor.”

The AI’s smile was wide and self satisfied. “We’re picking up a second doctor in three days when we reach our next port. I may have hacked into the CLC Lines personnel databases and assigned someone to be her backup. He’s perfectly qualified to be the primary care physician aboard theNebula Zephyrwhile we’re gone.”

Jake wasn’t too happy about Maeve’s high-handed methods, although he understood her intense loyalty to the captain. “And? Anyone else for our private vigilante force?”

“Owen Embersson the cargo master, Jayna from your staff and her husband Theo Knox. He’s going to be in charge of running the rescue ship from the human side.” Maeve sat back in her chair. “We only need a small, focused team.”

“I can’t agree for any of these people, not even my wife,” Jake said, taking a sip of his now cold coffee. “We all owe Gil Fleming a lot, we’re all loyal to him, you’ve selected a good prospective team but you’ll have to explain the situation to them and thenthey’ll make their own decisions.” She opened her mouth to speak and he held up his hand to silence her. “And there’ll be no coercion or force applied by you. Either the people you named want to be with us or they don’t. I’m not taking a group of soldiers of fortune, which is what we’ll be, into the kind of danger you’ve described, unless they’re fully on board with the risks.” He realized he’d told her in so many words he was bought in but it was a given, despite his pointed questions earlier. If he had to admit the truth, which he wouldn’t, not to Maeve, the desk job here on the cruise liner had gotten a bit repetitive and boring and the idea of doing one last mission for a good cause was enticing. He wondered if Maeve understood psychological levers. Probably. She’d been observing them all for a long time now.

“Agreed. I’ll invite all of them to a private meeting on Level 10 tonight,” she said. “We have three days before we reach Zebulon Six and my ship to plan and prepare.” Rising from her chair, Maeve gave a small wave of her hand. “Until this evening.”

Jake sat open mouthed as she dissolved into a swirl of silvery sparkling motes, which spiraled to the ceiling and disappeared with a small pop.

“Quite an exit,” Red said. “I wonder what other things she can do.”

“Maybe a whole hell of a lot of scary shit, maybe nothing, once we’re off this ship. I’m sure we’ll find out.” Finishing his coffee in one long gulp, Jake set the mug on the desk, flipped a switch to blank out all the AI ganglions in the area and said, “What do you think about this idea of hers?”

“It’s insane. So off the charts it might actually work. I respect the captain for going in after his brother and I hope he hasn’t gotten himself into a mess of trouble out there. The Jlonngi are nothing to trifle with. Are we as crazy as she is? Probablybut I gotta admit the old adrenaline is rising.” Red shook his head. “Meg isn’t going to be happy about my going off to play with dark ops, especially if it messes up our joint promotion to the next CLC Line ship. She’s a lock for the Cruise Director you know but we negotiated the deal for us to transfer and be promoted as a team.”

“Daveed Fleming got a raw deal,” Jake said. “Even if he knew going in his agency would abandon him if he was caught, there’s a code. We know it, we lived by it.”

“We don’t leave people behind.” Red’s determination was obvious as he made the statement with no room for argument.

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