Alpha Wars chapter 3
Church stood before the Freelancers, looking them over. They all stared at him, waiting for him to speak.
"So I've figured out what we all have in common." Church started to pace before them. "I've talked to your AIs, learned a thing or two about all of you. The one thing that we all have in common is a dislike for the UNSC." He stopped, facing them and stood tall. "This will be our strategy. We are out to bring down those that wronged us and bring to attention what they have been doing. The Freelancer project, and any other dirty projects that they've hidden away from the public eye, we're going to make them pay for all their wrongs."
"See, told you that getting him was a good idea." California smiled rather pleased with the plan. "So then how are we going to get started?"
"Well, that part I'm open to suggestions for." Church let his shoulders fall a bit as he relaxed. He'd gotten them to agree with his plan, so the hard part was over. "I am going to have to spend some time getting used to my new body…and actually having to fight. I'm willing to take volunteers to assist me."
"I can help you out with that." Rhody raised her hand, smiling sweetly. "As to first things to attack, I would suggest a supply train. Maybe a ship that's bringing supplies or some hogs that are taking supplies to a base, maybe even a supply storing area. We could stock up for ourselves ether way. Are we out to kill people or not?"
Church thought about that for a moment. "I'd like not to kill people. We've all been hurt by the UNSC, in their fighting. The grunt soldiers are not our problem, they were following orders. We have problems with the higher ups that gave the orders that hurt us."
"We can do the extra work to find the best target for us." Texas leaned forward in his seat. "Tau and I can find the best choice of strike for us."
"All right, you do that while Rhody and I get to training." Church turned to Ohio. "Can you set up one of each weapon on the firing range? I'd like to try out using each one of them."
"I can do that, Sir. I'll get right on it." Ohio stood and moved out of the room.
"All right then, let's get to it." Church turned to Rhody. She nodded, following him out of the room and out into the training area.
They started with some running and basic exercises to be sure that Church could properly use the body that he was in. He passed easily and then moved on to some drills. They skipped over certain tactics as Church was planning on studying those on his own.
"So tell me a few things about yourself, Alpha." Rhody leaned back looking over at the robot. They were taking a short break before they were going to move on.
"Well that's a hard thing to do. I know that I prefer to be called Church, not Alpha." He frowned, though with no face it was pointless. Rhody smiled at him apologetically. "I'm an AI made from another person's mind. I'm not exactly sure what's me and what's the Director."
"What about him?" Rhody inclined her head toward him questioningly. At the confused tilt of Church's head she expanded. "How do you feel about him? About what he did to you?"
Church was silent as he thought it over. "I guess I can't blame him. There's a little I remember, and I remember agreeing to it. We were both so focused, wanted to make it all worth the time, I was willing to suffer if it meant that the war would end."
"You could make the same argument about us though. We decided to become Freelancers. We wanted to be the best soldiers." Rhody looked away from him, shrugging. "But you seem to think that we deserve to hate them but that you don't."
"I never said that I didn't hate the others. I just don't hate the Director." Church shook his head and frowned. "The Director created me, is me, had the same goal. The higher ups made it hard for us. What we did wouldn't have been needed if we could have gotten more AIs. You all would have had full AIs, not ones that are only partially real. A lot of what happened to you all wouldn't have happened because the AI would be more stable."
"I suppose that might be true." Rhody looked back toward Church. "Well, do you have anything that you enjoy?" She was trying to get more information out of him. They knew too little about him to be willing to follow him into battle without question.
"I suppose that I enjoy insulting people, I always have. It's basically all I did while at Blood Gulch." Church let his head tilt to the side as he thought. He hadn't really thought about Blood Gulch in a while.
"So you were stationed in a place called Blood Gulch?" Rhody perked up glad that he was giving her information and she didn't have to fight him for it. "So tell me about that place."
"Oh hell no, we are not going there." Church stood up shaking his head. He did not want to really think about that place or the people again. "We are moving on to the next stage of training." He started to walk off and Rhody reluctantly stood and followed. They then moved to the firing range. "Honestly I'm not really the best with weapons. I wasn't able to hit anything with the old sniper rifle."
"That's likely because you were a fragment sort of back then. After what happened with the Meta you sort of became fixed up, at least that's what the scientists say was going on, or at least their reports. It's part of the Asimov laws of robotics. The first law is that you can't harm a human but now that you are whole 'smart' AI again you should be able to harm people if needed." Rhody shoved a battle rifle into his hands. "These things aren't accurate but I they are great for cutting down people if they are close by."
"Wow, targeting matches right up.," Church said, seeing the aiming triangle appear before him. "Maybe I will be able to hit something." He lifted the gun and fired a quick burst. It tore through the target all over it. "Damn, that is inaccurate."
"Well, if you have to use it you should be close enough that it doesn't matter." Rhody passed him an assault rifle. "Here this one aims much better."
Church hesitated as he held the sniper rifle up to fire. He was careful about his aim and let off one shot at one target. He paused for only a second before adjusting his aim and taking a second shot. "Wow, you are damn good with that. Most people have to practice really hard to get that good." Rhody leaned against the table where the weapons were set up.
"Well, your targeting really helps. I didn't know I had a zoom." Church smiled, content that he'd hit it. "I'm rather pleased with today's events. Hope Texas has found us a good supply train to hit."
"Even with my targeting system that would be a hard target to hit. You hit it perfectly." Rhody stood away from the table walking over to him. "I'm sure that Texas did. Tau is good at figuring out those kinds of things and Texas is good at figuring out what we can destroy easily."
"So then, I chose the right people for the job." Church set the sniper rifle to the side, though he hated to lose the feel of it in his hands. "Go see if Texas has anything for us. I'm going to do some reading up," Church said before he and the Freelancer parted ways. Church returned to his room while Rhody joined Texas in the main computer room.
"So, back from your date with the computer program?" Texas smirked, looking over a set of information that was on the screen before him.
"It wasn't a date, I was teaching him, though he didn't need much help. He is a military AI so I think he has a lot of the basic training built in. Guy is great with a sniper rifle, though, and is pretty good with everything else." Rhody took a seat next to Texas, glancing at the screens. "He doesn't seem like a computer program, though. I mean he's like a real person."
"That's the way that they make AIs. Sometimes I forget that Tau is an AI until he shows up and is transparent and I'm reminded that he's not a living person." Texas finally pulled his attention away from the screens.
"I've talked to your damn AIs and I don't mean it like that. I mean there's something even more human about him than the other AIs." Rhody threw her hands out to the side silently cursing that she couldn't find the words to describe it.
"That is because he is a 'smart' AI. They have personalities almost exactly like the people that they are made from." Tau leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms as he relaxed.
"So then, he has a personality just like the Director? Is that a good or a bad thing?" Texas turned to Tau.
"That depends on how much you like the Director." Tau appeared hovering near Texas. "If you like him, it's a great thing; if you don't, not so much."
"Well then, I guess I like the Director. Did you know that Church doesn't really feel any hatred toward the Director? He said that he agreed to be fragmented for the good of humanity." Rhody looked to the AI, trying to gauge her reaction though there was none.
"Well, I suppose that means that the Director and Church are willing to do what they have to in order to complete their goal. Or does it mean that they are loyal to the ideals of the UNSC?" Texas tilted his head to the side as he contemplated his own question.
"He hates the high ups of the UNSC, and I don't think he even knows what they did to the Director after they took him into custody. I think that we can trust him to stick to the plan that he decided on." Rhody looked away from the other Freelancer and his AI and back to the screens.
"You didn't tell him about the Director?" Texas looked at her astonished. He sat back slapping his palm to his forehead. "How do you think that he will take that information?"
"I don't really know. I mean I think that he identifies with the Director, they are just about the same person." Rhody shrugged slightly. Her gaze became unfocused as she was lost in her thoughts. "I don't know if it would help or hurt. To know what happened would make him madder at them, but I'd be afraid of what kind of trauma it would be to him. After all the Director is basically his family and he's been through enough trauma."
"I would agree with you on that." Tau brought their attention back to him. "Not only did he go through the defragmentation but he also went through the rejoining with the Alpha. I don't think he needs more than that. We want to protect him, not hurt him."
"Well, I don't think that we can protect him forever from it." Rhody finally looked toward the AI. "It might actually hurt him more if he finds out that we kept it from him later."
"That is possible, it may harm his trust in us but we don't want to hurt him. How the hell would we even tell him anyway?" Texas let his head fall back so he could stare at the ceiling.
"That is not something that I believe that I would be able to do." Tau turned his head away from the Freelancers. "I am not very useful with dealing with humans."
"Good proof that he is not at all human…Though sometimes people can't deal with people very well either." Texas turned his chair enough so that when he turned his head he could look at Tau.
"Church apparently enjoys insulting people, which reminds me, can you look up some information about Blood Gulch. Apparently that's where they hid him away for a while." Rhody sat up in her chair leaning a bit toward the AI.
"According to the data we have it is a box canyon in the middle of nowhere. There seem to be two bases and it is used for simulation battles, exercises such as capture the flag." Tau stood up straight, lines of data streaming over his body.
"What can you tell me about the people that are there?" Rhody leaned against the console and closer to the hologram. "Like who Church worked with and who he was probably fighting against."
Tau was quiet for quite a while. "That is a bit harder. There were two teams, blue and red. There's not a lot of information about the soldiers that were there. There's some really weird account by one of the soldiers, a private Tucker, and an account by a private Caboose that makes even less sense. There are some accounts from the reds but they seem to lack a lot of detail." Tau shook his head.
"So, that seems rather pointless. Can you piece together much of an account of what happened?" Rhody bit her lip, hopeful that the AI could come up with something.
Tau paused for a moment again before replying. "It will take me a while. These accounts are a bit hard to understand, but I believe that I can create a full account for you."
"Thank you, Tau." Rhody turned her attention to the list that was still in front of Texas. "So did you find us a target?"
"We've narrowed it down to three choices. I figured that I'd let Church decide on exactly which one that we should use. He is our leader after all." Tau highlighted three of the names on the list.
"Very true, not sure exactly how well he'll do as a leader. I've just never really seen him lead anything." Texas slouched down in his chair, putting his hands behind his head.
"Well then, maybe we should bring that up to him. I'm sure he wouldn't be too offended. Maybe set up a scenario or something and see how he would handle it." Rhody leaned back in her chair sliding down a bit so that her head hit the padded part of the chair.
"Do you really think that he won't get mad if we question is abilities?" Texas looked at her, raising one eyebrow. "The Director didn't like us talking back too much."
"The Director didn't like us asking too many questions, idiot." California walked into the room. "It was a classified military project; he was supposed to get mad when you ask too many questions. What are you talking about any way?"
"We are talking about if Church is skilled at leading, and if we should ask him to show us his ability to lead." Rhody turned her chair to face the standing Freelancer. "What do you think?"
"I think that we should ask him to do so. Even if it's not just to see if he can lead but tell him that we just want to find out what kind of a leader he is." California sat down in one of the chairs that lined the walls of the room. "The question is do we keep trusting him if he says no to showing us his ability and how would we test him."
"Well, I don't know about him saying no. I think we could convince him easily that he should do it." Texas smiled a bit confident that they would succeed.
"As for testing him, we'd use the capture the flag. A few of us would have to work with him." Rhody turned her hands palm up. "So who would work with him? I don't think me or Vermont should be working against him."
"Why the hell should you be the one to work against him? Why don't we just give him Mich and the alien and see what he can do with that. If he even gets close to the flag I'll be impressed." Texas huffed and smirked a bit.
"Stop underestimating them. The two of them stood up to the Meta and the fact that Ohio survived that, that the Meta didn't get their AI, that's impressive." California glared at the male Freelancer.
"I could have handled the Meta." Texas turned his chair and leaned forward, placing one hand on his knee and the other pointing directly at his chest. A cocky grin was plastered on his face. "It was smart enough to not come close enough to have to deal with us."
"Actually, my scenarios say that we would have been killed rather easily." Tau corrected. He noticed the glare from Texas. "I cannot help but be honest. I would agree though that Ohio and Michigan would be sufficient troops to take on the rest of you."
"I'm not sure if I should be offended that you think those two are as good as the rest of us put together or if I should just not care." Texas bit his cheek, turning his head toward the AI.
"Well then, it's settled. We've going to ask Church to take part in an exercise to who us his leadership skills." California smiled rather pleased.
"Well, we'll have to do it soon. I want to start hitting the UNSC as soon as possible." Church entered the room and the Freelancers turned to look at him. "You chose a target for us?"
"I narrowed it down to three targets. I figured that you'd want to choose from." Texas turned to face the screens again tapping a few buttons and enlarging the names of the three targets. "I eliminated all ship attacks. I mean, we don't have a ship to attack them with so we would have to board and kill everyone on board, and you wanted to avoid killing people."
Church nodded, looking over the choices. "We're going to go for this one." He pointed to a supply convoy. "That one is going to a major base, where there are a lot of officers, the kind of people that screwed us all over. They are the ones that we want to hit."
"People are going to get hurt." California watched Church carefully. "Are you sure that you are going to be all right with that?"
"Who said that someone had to get hurt?" Church cocked his head to one side. "I have a plan that will mean that no one has to be killed." Church stood up a bit straighter and clasped his hands behind his back. "I'm sure you'll have more faith in it once Ohio, Michigan, and I kick all your asses and steal your flag."
"Wow, rather cocky for a computer program," Texas chuckled with a smirk. "I have to agree with you, Rhody, I kind of like this guy."
"Guess that means you guys are going to be red team. Blue team only has straight soldiers." Church didn't even give a hint of his reaction to the Freelancer's words. "Set up whatever test you want to give me and we'll beat you." He then turned to look at California. "You might want to inform the others of our game."
"I suppose that we should let them in on the plan." California stood up, stretching. "All right, I'll go tell the others." She moved out of the room.
"So, what were you all talking about?" Church turned back to the remaining Freelancers. Texas and Rhody looked at each other unsure of how to reply to that. A heavy silence fell over them as Church crossed his arms waiting for an answer.
~Outside~
Several figures were crouched out in the bushes staring at the entrance to the base. "Do you really think he's in there?" One of the figures leaned back a bit lowering a device from its eyes.
"I am sure of it, we saw him go in there." A second figure moved up to the side of the first. "We tracked them from the human's base to here."
"How many of them were there?" A third figure shifted, standing taller. It was obvious it was the one in command as it sat behind all the others.
"There were six of them, five humans, one elite." The second figure turned to look back at the third. "They were out here earlier, running around with some flags. I don't know what they did with it though."
"I was watching earlier there are actually seven of them. An odd blue one came out earlier with a female and they were running around and shooting at targets." A fourth figure moved up to the third's side.
"We will have to bide our time. When they come back out we will strike and retrieve it." The third figure crouched down again, glancing around at its soldiers. "We will save the oracle from these filthy traitors and humans."
~End chapter 3~