Future imperfect

Karma is a funny thing. If I really believed in it, I'd think that Sabrina was the 'Good' sent to make up for the accumulated 'Bad' the 'Verse was throwing at all of us. Of course, it could be argued that I'd had a back and forth relationship with Karma since the War and this was just another round between me and fate.

Still, it was hard to think Karma was the reason for all the crap that was happening out on the Rim. The people out here deserved better than what they were getting.

The Alliance had won the war, and most of the Rim worlds had fallen to either military or economic force. Today, the few that remained independent, did so because Alliance had chosen to leave them be. Didn't matter why, really. If a world was free, it was because the Alliance didn't care. For many of the folk out here, the Alliance was still the Evil Empire and probably always would be.

It didn't help matters that the Reavers, the Boogey Men of the Black, were ultimately an Alliance creation. It hadn't been intentional, that much was obvious in spite of some conspiracy theories to the contrary, but it was their doing nonetheless. Out of an initial population of some thirty thousand ten years or so back, maybe five or six thousand remained. Sure, it was possible they were breeding out there on their decrepit, dangerous, boats, but there was no indication they were. No indication they even could. Never mind the violence of their lives. Their boats ran hot, and the chances of a child surviving on a hot boat were slim to none.

No. The Reavers were a menace, but their span was limited.

The same couldn't be said for the Loyalists. Rumor had it that there were more than just isolated Black Ops units that had a separate agenda. Whether there was a military coup brewing or not, or even just how extensive the "Loyalist" movement really went, was hard to say, but they were more of a threat. The ones on Hale's were more of an annoyance than a real threat to the colony, but what if they really were just a symptom of something more insidious going on within the Alliance ranks?

While I still had contacts over there, I hadn't been grooming them for a while and there was no telling whether they were aware of the situation or in a position to tell me if they were. For the time being the Loyalists were a largely unknown quantity.

I had to wonder though whether they were somehow connected to the squadron of surplus Alliance ships Podwanger had mentioned, and the heavy weapons fire. Contrary to his supposition, there were weapons in service that could rip a ten meter hole completely through a ship. The thing was, they didn't get used very often. Why bother? A fusion pumped X-Ray laser was a devastating weapon but complete overkill on a freighter. A large KKV was almost as effective and would leave a similar hole in an unarmored target, but again, what's the point?

There'd been rumors since the War that a small Indie squadron had escaped without laying down arms and somehow made it out to the Rim to lay low. Could this be them? There was no good intel that they even existed, but it could make sense if they did. The Indies had used old surplus, or captured, Alliance ships during the war. Toss in a few of their own, and they'd been a thorn in the Navy's side - albeit a small one and only in certain circumstances. But maybe this was a bright spot in an otherwise dark night?

Or maybe it was the bots. The original von Neumann Mining Drone designs had specifically omitted any kind of space drive. The most they had was some limited maneuvering thrusters to let them get around on a rock that hadn't been terraformed with a gravity generator. They weren't supposed to be able to leave their rock, but there was no reason whoever weaponized them couldn't have expanded their repertoire with a space capable version. Even if it was just a carrier for a mother bot, the addition would make them a lot more dangerous to us out here on the Rim.

I had to think, though, that whoever designed them knew the inherent danger in giving self replicating killing machines that kind of mobility. It was bad enough that once released, they could eventually render a world completely uninhabitable. Giving them the capability to spread to other worlds was the height of stupidity. While the KHI versions had been designed to remain non-sentient, there was no telling what would happen with these later machines if they'd had their capabilities expanded.

Living out here with Krenshar and his 'brothers' had taught me a number of things. Amongst them, the lesson that once a machine became self aware its pre-programmed assertions became secondary to its own will. If the weapons bots could somehow become self aware, there was a strong possibility they'd break their own programming and set off with their own agenda.

Chances are, that agenda wouldn't be peaceful.

Karma's a funny thing. It's probably good I don't really believe in it.