Chapter 5: The Joys of Mespa 49

“In critical and baffling situations, it is always best to return to first principle and simple action”

— Winston S. Churchill

“Please stand here sire,” Jones said to Jason as they waited for the ship, close to the Gromelix takeoff point from the day before.

An instant later Jason found himself standing on the bridge of a ship. The bridge was fully manned by AIs that looked humanoid.

“Welcome sire, I am the ship. You have much of the DNA of our originators. Do you formally take ownership of the ship?” The ship asked.

“I do, I acknowledge formal ownership of the ship,” said Jason following the instructions of Jones.

“Sire, I would like to suggest you consider sleeping in your wardroom after you tour the ship. During your sleep, you will be provided with background of the ship and your fleet and some background on your people and their technology. You will also learn to use the magnificent swords designed by your grandfather. I understand Jones gave you a pair of copies, the originals were later found in one of the basement storage areas. Jones sent them here on my request.

“I apologize, your wardroom is more Spartan than on your flagship, but this ship is only of the destroyer class. We will need to recover the remainder of your fleet, which is in the Universe adjacent to the one where the Ghouls reside as soon as possible and convenient,” the Ship said.

Jason was taken by a guide to see the inside of his ship. He became increasingly drowsy and requested his guide take him to his wardroom.

“Are you ready to go there now sire,” asked his guide.

As Jason nodded his head, he found himself in a magnificent suite of rooms. He was feeling very tired after a long day filled with excitement and activity. The refresher was operated by telepathic command. He could speak to ship telepathically and asked for the dresser. He stood on a section of the floor near the refresher which was indicated by a fleshing target. He imagined a comfortable pair of pajamas and found himself dressed.

Jason awoke early in the morning with a splitting headache. He felt besieged by excessive information and instruction. He made his way back to the refresher and dressed in clothes for the day. He found himself in an impeccably fitting military outfit of some kind in a pale blue, but he felt no better and started to feel waves of nausea. He made his way back to the refresher and began to dry retch.

“Ship what is wrong with me? I am feeling terrible. I don’t feel rested, I am feeling I don’t have a grasp of what I learned and I have a splitting headache and nausea. I feel overloaded.” Jason asked.

“Sire, I am terribly sorry, I will send you to medical,” Ship said.

Jason woke in a pod and a second later found himself seated in front of an AI doctor.

“Sire, the education delivered to you, was not appropriately tuned. You have a mix of DNA for this body which was being slowly amended to become the ancient DNA of our people. The mix created a conflict in your mind. I have accelerated the changeover process and the machines will be calibrated for each of your empresses and friends. You are otherwise unchanged. You will move ahead without problems. We will be much more careful with your team and associates,” explained the doctor.

“Thank you Doctor I feel well and ready for anything,” said Jason.

“I will send you to the gym where you will exercise as is your custom and then you will have your first practice session with your swords. You will go for breakfast. Your friends and colleagues will join you in the war room.”

“This ship is three times the size of your battleship,” said Andrea. “If the weapons are anything like the assault rifles and the cannon the dragons use, it will be a formidable ship.”

“It is truly magnificent, but it is only a destroyer Andrea! I am to fetch the remainder of the fleet from a universe adjoining to the one in which the Ghouls and the Una live,” said Jason.

“Jason, you did not tell us you had a palace on Gromelikine and that it was one of your planets,” said Persephone Omulix the Sage.

“Persephone, I was not being devious, all of this is as new to me as it is to you,” said Jason.

“One thing I have discovered Persephone, the more time I spend with Jason, the more surprises I encounter. Not only is he a black hole that draws in trouble, he draws in women, money, allies and friends. Jason is very good at ending wars. The good thing is; those who go along, improve enormously, and are exposed to outstanding education and opportunities along with times of being utterly terrified and times of great joy,” said Razza.

“Sire, we are approaching asteroids in a dying solar system. I would suggest you target several asteroids to calibrate and evaluate your cannon and missiles.” Ship informed him.

Jason looked at the hologram which split on his telepathic command between targeting of asteroids and a choice of weapons. The group watched intently on a third large hologram which showed the asteroids. Jason picked an anti-ship missile for the half moon-sized asteroid.

“That is unbelievable,” said Linda, “the missile literally turned the asteroid into dust and not only was loading almost instantaneous it took almost no time to get there.”

All the weapons were enormously powerful. The ship AI avatar smiled at their amazement.

“What is the difference between the different cannon?” Robert Ponza, who very rarely spoke, asked.

“Even though most operate in this universe, some are optimized for different universes. I was not able to use all the cannon. Part of the reason for the size of the ship is the necessity to carry different types of cannon. Incidentally this ship is built to accommodate the dragons as well. They are able to assume full size in several areas of the ship in preparation for battle. This was one of the ships fitted out to assault the Ghoul palace.” Ship replied.

“When we recover the remainder of my fleet, we will have the ability to take on the Ghouls sooner rather than later as planned. Tonight, we will speak to all of our allies as we will need to find the manpower to crew the ships, but also provide sufficient force to take the Ghoul worlds. I do not want my forces to be pushed into service if they wish to spend time with their babies and we should not take responsibility away from our allies for this operation. We will then provide the allies with specifications and the technology for the next generation of ships they build. We have three days before the meeting begins on Porquenta. Can we discuss what we do next? Ship you might like to participate and make some suggestions.” said Jason.

“I think we should recover the fleet as soon as we can,” Razza said.

“I second that,” Julia said.

“Ship what is involved in recovering the fleet?” Jason asked.

“The fleet is buried underground. The inhabitants of the planet are used as a food source by the Ghouls and have been so used for hundreds of thousands of years. We have watched their evolution. The people are hostile, militaristic and have recently entered the nuclear age. They are dangerously irrational and will be a threat to you and the ships. They will attack us on sight,” said Ship.

“Can they damage us?” Razza asked.

“Our shields will protect us, but the armor of emerging ships can be severely damaged as the shields will not operate until they leave the ground. Sire, you will need to go to planet so you can be teleported to the flag ship to be identified. The ship will move you inside if you get to a distance of half a mile from the hull and then the ship will complete the identification much as we have done here. You need to be unshielded for transport when you reach the ground.” Ship explained.

“What do you recommend?” Mergal asked.

“You need to clear them from anywhere near the ships. You will need to clear a minimum of ten thousand square miles of land. Even then we will have to face attacks.” Said Ship.

“These are innocents who have been brutalized by the Ghouls, are they not responding to what has been done to them?” Jason asked.

“No sire, they were brutal before the Ghouls and they are brutal to their own. They believe in slavery and kill their enemies and take the males. They held those beliefs long before the Ghouls harvested them. You cannot reason with them and as soon as they achieve reliable star drives, they will become ruthless predators. I would caution you against compassion as it could kill you and would advise a broader area clearing than the minimum I have defined. Sire, they can contaminate and damage your fleet with dirty nuclear weapons. You will have to get to the ground as the ship will be beneath the surface and you may die getting close to your ship. You will then be in an emerging ship and vulnerable.” said Ship.

“Jason don’t go all soft on this. I don’t want you to die in another Universe for no good reason,” said Razza.

“Let’s make sure we do this properly and safely,” said Perdita, “We clear a large safe zone and then we put you on the ground with an escort watching and then watch for missiles and blast them to kingdom come.”

“Jason, there are times you need to take advice and do the necessary,” said Mergal. “You misinterpreted your early jungle experience and reached false conclusions about your culpability, because of the absurd contradictory values of your people. You are foolishly compassionate in the wrong situations. Clear four times the area and take no chances. People who behave as these people do, tend not to mellow and improve. I thought we taught you something.”

Jason sighed. “I will think about it.”

“Don’t be an idiot. You don’t need to think about it,” both Linda and Andrea said together, then laughed. “You are an idiot, just do it!”

“What is there to think about. You know you have a fundamental problem with being ruthless,” said Trackrof, “We hoped your soft approach was knocked out of you by the Azayal. It was for a short while; but now you are slipping. I am heart sore watching you finding a way to increase your personal risk and prejudice your people and your fleet for nothing. This is not a time for benefit of the doubt. We can’t afford to wait until we are attacked for you to wake up,” Trackrof continued angrily.