Chapter 2

2502

The C.S.S. Icarus.

I sat in the pilots chair of the Icarus; the Colonial fleets most advanced stealth recon ship, every system was designed to avoid detection, it could operate in atmosphere as well as deep space, it was also the smallest starship to be equipped with its own wormhole generator.

I activated the pilots chairs impact field, it generated an inertial dampening field around the chair keeping me in place as well as protecting me during space travel. I powered up the ships reactors, moving slowly out of the hanger bay of the destroyer C.S.S. Daedalus, my orders where to pilot the Icarus away from the fleet, activate a wormhole, once on the other side I would be able to open my orders. I knew that my mission at least took me to the outer colonies as they where the only locations the Icarus would require two worm hole jumps to get to.

As I left the fleet I checked with the ships limited A.I. Allowing it to begin the calculations for the first worm hole activation, ever since the war no ship was allowed to have an unrestricted A.I. Earth had used their A.I. To command some of their ships during the final days of the war, the Colonial Government thought it was far to dangerous to leave life and death decisions in the hands of machines. The A.I. Alerted me that it had finished the calculations for the first worm hole, it asked if there was anything else, I flipped the switch shutting the A.I. Off, I didn't want it active any longer than necessary.

I fed the information into the navigation computer, triggering the activation of the first worm hole, I watched on my monitor as the worm hole formed once it stabilized I flew the ship into it. The flight lasted only a few minutes before I was back into normal space. I opened up my orders on my console, once the nav computer gave a fix to our location they decoded, I read the orders twice to make sure I was understanding them properly.

"They have to be kidding."

I checked it again, they wanted me to go to a star system farther than any I had ever heard of being traveled to, to see if some ancient Earth Gov battleship and colony remained, and if so what was their tactical capabilities. I turned on the ships A.I., ordering it to calculate the number of worm holes I would have to jump through in order to reach the planet.

"Sir we will have to open 12 more wormholes in order to reach the target, taking a total of 7 days."

I groaned, looking at the monitor.

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"Sir I do not understand the question." The monotone voice said back.

"Never mind, calculate the series of jumps needed." I said.

"Sir that will take me several hours to compute, is that okay?" It said.

I thought about it for a second, the restrictions on the A.I. Required it to ask that anytime an action would take over an hour of operations.

"Yes, authorization 2132 Alpha 1, Commander Anthony Taylor, special war fair command." I said.

"Voice print excepted, I will begin the calculations Sir." It said back.

"Fine, wake me when they calculations are complete." I said.

I turned off the inertial dampening field on my chair, letting myself float free in the small cabin, I stretched out careful not to bump anything, I shut my eyes and tried to sleep. I drifted off after several minutes, my sleep was restless and ended to soon, I awoke to the beeping of the A.I.

"Sir I have finished the required calculations, is there anything else you require?" it said.

I groaned rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"No, no, that will be all." I said, having the calculations at the ready I wouldn't need the A.I. For the rest of the trip.

I reached down, pulling myself into the chair, I activated the field securing myself into it. I typed in the console the calculations the A.I. Had done for me. It would be a long seven days, luckily being in special war fair command I had been approved for nanite modifications the tech was highly restricted, usually only approved for soldiers in actual battle field conditions. The little machines would recycle my waste back into nutrients and keep me clean, I could only imagine the condition I would arrive in if I didn't have the extra help.

As I waited the few hours for the generator to spool up again something was nagging me, I had the feeling I had forgotten to do something.

"Oh hell, I have seven days to remember it." I said to myself.

If I had formed what I had said into a question I would have been instantly reminded.