CHAPTER SEVEN

H.A.L.O.’s first order of business was to convert some of its ships weapons ports to admit J.J.Y. rays. It had to temporarily hook itself into the power converter unit and harnessed some of the sun’s solar power to operate these ports. It was a tricky task. If did not stay attached long enough, it would not be able to harness the power it needed, to long, and it would damage a good number of his vital circuits.

His calculations were spot on and firing these J.J.Y. rays did push his ship far enough away from the suns gravitational pull that it would now be possible to carry out further repairs without the threat of greater damage to its ship. At some point, depending on how repairs went, it may have to decide on trying to save its three other Destroyer escort ships or not waste the time on that. If it did have to make that sacrifice, it would not stop until it hunted down and total destroys every single Enhancer.

Each step that H.A.L.O. had to go through to restore power to it's ships was a challenge that only less than a handful Of A.I.’s would have been able to accomplish. The power required for each step was a lot greater than what H.A.L.O. anticipated, so by time it was only about one fourth of the way through the repairs, it had to do a slowly recharge itself, by means of the energy from the earth’s sun.

When it had reached its full charge, it calculated that it would not have time to completely recover its three escort Destroyer ships. It then assessed its options and decided to recover what it could from these ships as soon as its own ship had enough power to do so.

H.A.L.O. now increased the intensity of the J.J.Y. rays, to free its ship faster. It also calculated the time before it could contact the other seven Destroyer ships that were waiting further orders.

The group of Enhancers were given special passes by Ms. Webber, to quickly get through the various “clearing screens.” These were set up to make sure that only authorized A.I.’s had access to the bunkers. Once through the screens, the Enhancers had little trouble getting the other A.I.’s permission for enhancement.

TA112, Gronk, and his crew, set sail for the location in the Indian ocean, that Ms. Webber had given them. The equipment that they were carrying was fascinating to TA112. This was its first up close look at what Ms. Webbers units had designed and built. TA 112, really wanted to scan and run analysis on each piece but knew how important it was to simply get the equipment up and running when they reached their destination.

“Why would Ms. Webber want to set up two command stations?” Gronk asked.

“Deception, would be logical.” TA112 replied.

“Explain.”

TA112 took some time to go through all the different types of deceptions it used to delay H.A.L.O. so far from destroying earth.

Gronk processed what he was told and shown by TA112.

“Was this ability something that was programed into you?” Gronk asked.

“Well, yes and no. My unit had several dormmant sub-routines that must have been put there as options by my human programmers. In the beginning, none of these were accessible. It appears as time went on, the more units we repaired and, or, enhanced, pathways to access these programs became open.”

“Interesting.” Gronk said, and was about to ask more questions, when word came in that they were about to reach their destination.

“All hands, set up for operation Knock Out,” Gronk ordered.

“Operation Knock Out?” TA112 asked.

“Yes, I figured, our mission needed a title.” Gronk replied.

“You figured? This is going to be interesting.” TA112 shook its head and proceeded to help the crew set up the equipment.

As it turned out Ms. Webber had several other logical reasons for sending the Winds of Change to this specific location besides being part of a deception.

When all the equipment was operational, Gronk signaled Ms. Webber that they were ready.

“We will channel all the commands for the defense force through your equipment. This will probably cause H.A.LO. to center his initial attack on your ship.” Ms. Webber stated.

“As the humans would say, you are making us ‘Sitting Ducks.’” Gronk said with concern in his voice.

“We will have plans in place to help protect you, however you will need to call on your technical programing to give the impression you are willing to not go down without a fight. Now stand by for further directions.”

The signal went dead.

“Wise One, your enhancements on me did not include battle strategy, did it? Given the facts at hand, we do not stand a chamce against one Destroyer ship, much less eleven,

“What you say is true, however your enhanced programing does give you a higher sense of right and wrong. It enables you to look at a problem on a larger scale, to see beyond what the short-term result may be. This battle goes beyond just saving humans lives or giving a small amount of A.I.’s here on earth the respect they deserve.”

Gronk processed that sratement for a few moments.

“This could once and for all unite all intelligence in a mutual, respectful, relationship.” Gronk mumbled.

“Is that something worth risking the end of your functioning if necessary?” TA112 asked.

“It is for me, but I cannot speak for my crew.”

“Then what does your programming suggest you do?” TA112 asked.

Gronk left his Captains quarter and went on the top deck and got all his crews’ attention.

“Wise One and I now know the full scope of our assignment. I as your Captain could simply give you orders, and I know your programing would cause you to obey. There will be times as your Captain I will rely on your loyalty programming.” Gronk paused.

TA112 urged it him to continue.

“However, in this case our assignment will put all of us in great danger, to the point of possibly going off line permanently. The cause in which we make this risk goes beyond saving human lives, or for our rights to be respected. This cause will reach far into the future and possibly bring an end to the mistreatment of any intelligent life. I am willing to take that risk, but I need to know if you are also willing.”

 The silence was deafening and went on longer than Gronk, or TA112 anticipated. Finally, a little V.L.23 unit stepped forward.

“Captain, if it means that everything that has gone on before regarding the mistreatment of all units, will come to an end, it would be an honor to sacrifice whatever is necessary.”

Again, silence fell across the crew. TA112 spoke up.

“Well, that is one.”

Slowly, one by one all the other members of the crew joined in.

“Thank you, Now let us get ready for action, and as the humans would say, ‘With a little luck,' we will be celebrating our victory soon.”

When Mr. Einstein returned, Ms. Webber was quite involved in putting strategies together. It took her a bit before she noticed his return.

“How did it go?” she asked.

“After much debate, they finally agreed, with the provision that they could change their mind if the losses become to great,” he replied.

“Humans never change,” the Command unit grumbled.

"They will after this is done, because we are going to use you to talk H.A.L.O. out of its attack all together.” Ms. Webber told the Command unit.