Vesta Burning Read online

  VESTA BURNING

  LEGENDS OF THE SENTIENCE WARS

  BOOK 2

  BY JAMES S. AARON

  & M. D. COOPER

  Just in Time (JIT) & Beta Readers

  TBD

  Copyright © 2018 James S. Aaron & M. D. Cooper

  Aeon 14 is Copyright © 2018 M. D. Cooper

  Version 1.0.1

  Cover Art by Andrew Dobell

  Editing by Tee Ayer

  Aeon 14 & M. D. Cooper are registered trademarks of Michael Cooper

  All rights reserved

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOREWORD

  PREVIOUSLY…

  MAPS

  PART 1 – ASSEMBLY AREA

  TEST DUMMIES

  THE NEW ORDER

  SETTING THE BOARD

  BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH

  WAITING GAME

  REQUESTS

  STRAWBERRIES

  SPLINTERS

  DECISIONS

  PART 2 – POINT OF ATTACK

  ARRAYAL

  BEST LAID PLANS

  DUE TO THE NATURE OF MY TRAINING, IT’S DIFFICULT FOR ME TO REMEMBER

  BACK IN THE SADDLE

  GAME PIECES

  GLITCH

  SWARM

  WHISPERS

  RUSH

  DIGGING IN

  THE ENCLAVE

  THE INCLUSIONIST

  ACTIONS ON ENTRY

  CAGES

  JUDGEMENT

  ANGRY QUEEN

  THE WAY AROUND

  INSTANT OF OPPORTUNITY

  PINBALL

  GROUND ATTACK

  FREEDOM

  CONTROL YOURSELF

  PART 3 - ESCAPE

  ARRANGEMENT

  WEAPON BORN

  IMPASSE

  LONG ARRIVAL

  MEMORY GAME

  FINAL RUN

  ALEXANDER’S GAMBIT

  THE FOUNTAIN

  PERSONAL DETAILS

  THREADS

  THE INEVITABILITY FUNCTION

  THE BOOKS OF AEON 14

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  FOREWORD

  The first thing I should say about Vesta Burning is that if you haven’t read the Sentience Wars: Origins, please put this book down and head back to Lyssa’s Dream, or even Proteus Bridge.

  With that said, Vesta Burning is a story that helped arrange the pieces for a really big chess game that we’re about to play. Michael has often said that the stories of the Solar Wars 1 and 2 will mirror and exceed our own World Wars 1 and 2, which meant I needed some time to explore ideas left at the end of Lyssa’s Flame and decide the best way to start the next phase of the story.

  We’re going to get a Franz Ferdinand moment, but a few details needed to be worked out first.

  Michael had noted that Vesta, Sol’s largest asteroid, was the site of a battle before Solar War 1 started, and I considered what would lead to that kind of conflict. Also, what kind of place was Vesta? Who lived there and why? The scope of this book grew and then had to be scaled back to just the battle, but the stories of places like Vesta in Aeon 14 are really intriguing.

  This story opens thirty years after the end of Lyssa’s Flame. Lyssa is still the liaison between SolGov and Psion, although at this point that relationship is dissolving under strain.

  Ngoba Starl has risen to the head of the Lowspin Syndicate and now controls most of the pirate activity between Mars and Earth, while Fugia Wong has become de facto leader of the Data Hoarders, controlling the flow of data throughout Sol.

  The future is uncertain for the Psion AIs living on Ceres. They continue to be seen as a threat to humanity, and until the Psion question is solved, all other problems seem secondary.

  And Lyssa still mourns the loss of her family, uncertain what the future holds for her or the Weapon Born.

  In the midst of this chaos rests Vesta, midpoint between humanity and Psion, a friction point ready to catch fire.

  James S. Aaron

  Eugene, 2018

  PREVIOUSLY…

  In the wake of Psion’s attack on Ceres, the Sol System has settled into a cold war. The three largest human factions: Terra, Mars, and the Jovians have created a relatively united front against the Psion AIs while Lyssa plays the part of a diplomat carrying missives between each group.

  Thirty years have passed, dragging on for the humans, though they are little more than the blink of an eye for the AIs.

  But neither side has been idle, and as Sol’s largest, Vesta, draws close to Ceres at a time close to the anniversary of the attack on that world, skirmishes begin to break out on its surface as both sides test the other’s resolve.

  In the intervening years, Lyssa has lost touch with the small family that had once been so important to her. Brit disappeared back into the TSF, and Tim joined up with the Marsian military. No one has seen or heard from Cara in years.

  A few constants remain. Fugia still controls the Data Hoarders and their mesh, and Ngoba Starl controls Cruithne while Crash lords over the Night Park.

  On Ceres, the Psion five are now just four. Shara is missing, and Camaris watches from the sidelines after her defeat at Lyssa’s hands.

  And Yarnes, once a colonel in the TSF is now an Admiral, tasked with the job of ensuring that Vesta is not the place where the next war begins.

  NOTABLE INDIVIDUALS

  Fugia Wong – Leader of the Data Hoarders

  Kylan – AI who was once the son of Kathryn Carthage and is one of the Weapon Born wing leaders

  Lyssa – Leader of the Weapon Born AIs

  Alexander – Multi-nodal AI who leads the Psion group

  Ngoba Starl – Leader of the Lowspin crime syndicate on Cruithne.

  Xander – Shard of Alexander who destroyed Proteus

  Rick Yarnes – Admiral in the Terran Space Force

  Crash – Master of Cruithne’s Night Park

  MAPS

  Also available at www.aeon14.com/maps

  PART 1 – ASSEMBLY AREA

  TEST DUMMIES

  STELLAR DATE: 3.13.3011 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: High Orbit, Mars 1 Ring

  REGION: Mars, Marsian Protectorate, InnerSol

  On the execute command, the transport’s interior lighting went dark and there was a ten-second wait as the cabin bled internal atmosphere.

  Sergeant Ty Fisk waited, checking the status monitors on his HUD as the space around him became vacuum. With internal pressure equalized, the side cargo-door slid open on bright black space.

  Sitting across from Ty was Sergeant Manny Hesteros, also of the Mars 1 Guard Special Ops Division. They had been assigned to test duty for the last thirty days. Today they were stress-testing a high-capacity personal thrust harness. It had been cake duty.

  Ty gave Manny a thumbs up.

  Manny shouted as he launched out the open door.

  Ty kicked off the bulkhead and cleared the door, and was instantly surrounded by the magnitude of open space. He glanced back to watch the transport shrinking behind him, then activated the thrust harness, checking the pre-programmed flight plan. By the numbers, Manny would beat him by three minutes based on the jump time alone.

  Rolling, Ty turned to find the silver-grey expanse of the Mars 1 Ring shining below him, with the greenish haze of Mother Mars beyond.

  From this distance, the ships and drones approaching the ring flashed like bits of glitter as they reflected sunlight.

  As far as Ty knew, he and Manny wore the same test units, however he had suspected since the beginning that the researchers were testing them against each other. While Manny had a lead on him, it was possible Ty might be able to push his unit harder. Or it might just explo
de.

  As Special Ops, they were both equipped with thousands of implants and upgrades, including the onboard ‘Caprise’ NSAI unit, enhanced Link capabilities, and civilian memory suppression, all of which should have provided improved focus and response times, but they still managed to glitch during combat.

  Under normal conditions, they could both withstand g-forces capable of crushing the average human. These new harnesses turned them into human missiles—human attack platforms that could hit a target and infiltrate rapidly—the equivalent of the Heartbridge shipkillers that had been so effective against Marsian ships in previous battles.

  The problem with the shipkillers was their dependence on Weapon Born or other SAIs, so the Guard wanted a human alternative. Not that Mars was exactly anti-AI, but Marsians were always pragmatic. Generations of hard lessons on the surface of Mars had taught them to hedge their bets.

  The ring swelled rapidly as Ty gained velocity, tracking Manny on his HUD.

  Caprise purred in his ear. He ignored the NSAI.

  While Caprise had her uses, he found her tacked-on intimacy annoying. He had requested several times during his career to have her personality dialed back, but the maintenance techs always gave him the same excuse: Caprise protects your sanity.

  One helpful tech had gone so far as to tell him, “They took your past, man. Caprise keeps you from falling into that black hole of despair all you spec ops complain about. No past, no future, only now, only the mission. Without Caprise, you’d be a robot.”

  Ty didn’t believe that; at least the NSAI shut up when he asked. He also didn’t dwell on his memory suppression as much as others did. Some spec ops acted like they’d had an arm amputated. He couldn’t say why, but the thought of his past only filled him with dread. The fact that his active memory started with a medbay in Spec Ops in-processing helped him feel light, lean, ready to fight. His thoughts rarely got in the way of the mission.

  Ty growled at Caprise.

 

 

  She sent a mental pout.

  Ty’s Caprise had long ago dropped the pretense that she was unique to him, which he supposed was just another protocol to stroke his ego and corral errant thoughts.

  Ty said.

  He increased his thrust output. They were entering a more congested layer of traffic and he shot past a line of drones on their way to some cargo drop behind him. He rolled, enjoying the increased sense of motion as he accelerated relative to the drones and cargo containers nearby, which appeared and were gone in seconds.

  He closed on Manny, who had been forced to brake when a passenger vessel shifted into his flight path.

 

  Ty said.

  He completed a series of course adjustments as he approached Manny. Every indicator in Ty’s HUD was shifting from yellow to red as he maxed thrust.

  Manny, on the other hand, was reducing speed as they neared the hulking ring. More moving objects became visible as they approached, until Ty had to filter layers of activity with his HUD. His friend’s flight path flattened, no longer taking risks to maintain his lead. That was very much unlike Sergeant Hesteros.

  Ty called.

 

  As Ty came alongside his friend, Manny abruptly shot forward on a vector that didn’t look at all planned.

  Ty told Caprise.

  the NSAI said.

  Ty was well aware that one of them was supposed to beat the other to the endpoint on the ring. But with Manny in danger, he wasn’t sure he cared. he said.

 

  The NSAI did as ordered and sent the emergency signal, simultaneously throwing Ty in the same direction as Manny. His experimental thrusters ramped to full output, suit constricting around his body with the increased g, pulsing like a snake tightening its coils.

  he told Caprise.

  She laughed.

  The edges of Ty’s vision blurred as he stared at Manny’s icon on his HUD. The mottled wall of the ring filled Ty’s faceshield and he couldn’t look away as his suit hardened in response to the increased velocity—he had effectively become a missile.

  Manny shot away from the ring, changing course in a zig-zag pattern guaranteed to have knocked him unconscious.

 

  No answer. Ty checked the vital signs fed to him from his squadmate’s suit and found him alive but unconscious.

  He’s never living this down, Ty thought, grinning.

  Manny’s suit continued to accelerate—he was headed for open space now, on a flight path taking him directly into a drone shipping-lane.

  Manny’s suit sent back additional bio data which now indicated that rapidly increasing g-forces were starting to affect internal organs; he was going to turn into jelly inside his EV suit.

  Ty sent another emergency alert back to control station. “What are you guys doing back there?” he shouted on the command channel. “Don’t you see he’s about to get killed?”

  Caprise said.

  Ty gritted his teeth as the increasing pressure on his own body resulted in a headache.

 

  Caprise’s voice seemed to distort. Inside his mind, Ty experienced what he could only call a hiccup. The starfield surrounding him shifted, seemed entirely different for a second.

  Am I having a stroke?

  He could have adjusted to the visual change, but a swell of emotion struck him like a hammer.

  He was terrified. And he was falling. Falling away from everything.

  Ty’s heart slammed in his chest. He blinked away tears, fighting the overwhelming sensation that he was going to fly away into space, lost from somewhere he longed to be.

  Caprise said, dropping the purr to sound more like an NSAI.

  Ty blinked, barely hearing her. He shook his head to get control of himself. He knew where he was and what he was doing. It was Manny who might disappear in the dark. Not him. He had control.

  Ty said.

 

 

  The stars around him had realigned properly but the fear hung on like claws in his mind. Ty slowed his breathing, focusing on the problem in front of him—emotion had nothing to do with his actions.

  Still, that sensation of loss hung in his mind.

  Caprise replied.

  The NSAI’s drop into terse operational speech helped Ty focus. He took a deep breath and stretched his neck inside the helmet, squinting at his display.

  Ty watched Manny’s icon on his HUD as it moved at ever-increasing speed. It was becoming apparent that Ty wasn’t going to catch up without blacking out himself.

  Caprise said.

  Manny’s icon went from green to flashing red, his acceleration slowing as the thrusters stopped. Eve
n so, his velocity had dropped only slightly and he was still headed for the shipping lane where cargo drones shot past like steel bludgeons.

  Ty said, throat tight.

 

 

  She chuckled.

  Caprise’s guidelines were the last thing Ty cared about right now.

 

 

 

  Caprise made a pained noise.

  The debate became pointless as Manny’s velocity fell off dramatically. The emergency status switched off and he now appeared on the HUD as a transport drone.

  What?

  “Sergeant Fisk, you there?”

  The command net was live again. Control status flooded Ty’s Link. “What the hell happened?” he demanded.

  “Bug in the communications stack. We found it and made the correction.”

  Ty bit down his anger. “You almost killed Hesteros.”

  “He’s fine. We’ll get him back in.”

  “He’s not fine! I don’t have a bio status anymore.”

  “We’ve got it,” the cool voice said. “Watch yourself, Sergeant. Command protocol still applies.”

  The tester was telling Ty to shut up in a kind way— everything about the test was recorded, including any insubordination on his part. And he was already flagged as ‘impulsive by nature.’

  External control took over his suit and he went limp as the HUD showed the new vector, taking him back to the transport which had moved in closer to Mars 1.

  “Relax, Fisk,” the controller said, not unkindly. “I’ve got his bios. He’s going to be fine. Besides, you need to get your head on straight. You’ve got a mission briefing when you get back.”

  “Another flight test?” Ty asked, leaving the frustration in his voice.