"It's all right there, I disobeyed an order and I should be punished but I know that removing me will be bad for propaganda so I simply choose to resign. Heck, we can say I decided to retire after so many years in space. I'm sure the public will understand that."

"What order did you disobey?" He asked. "You never say."

She looked at him carefully wondering if he was somehow playing a game with her. He was known as a prankster, the shield trick was proof of that, but surely he wouldn't joke about an order to destroy a planet. "You gave me an order to drop a Strangelet onto Regal to destroy it for fear the Handler's would find Earth."

He sat back in his seat and crossed his legs. "I never gave you that order."

"I suspected that order didn't come from you." She said, relived she was right.

"Your instincts were right."

"It didn't seem to be the kind of order you'd normally give."

"I never would. Our computers have been compromised. The Handler's have figured out ways of giving them false information and making it seem like it's coming from us. Other ships have been given strange orders, most captain's override the order or just ignore it. We always thought those were just tests to see what will happen and to perfect the method. Looks like the Arwen was a victim of that as well."

"She was so sure the orders were real. I had to convince her they couldn't be real but it was a very close call. My God, if I had followed those orders-"

"You didn't," he stopped her. "Don't beat yourself up on what could have happened."

"You need to tell everyone, tell them about this, that they can't trust their computers anymore."

He laughed humorlessly. "The President has decided we can't do that. We don't have enough people to man all the ships we have, only the 'thinking computer' allows us to man every ship. We can't go back to the old system and we can't have Captain's second guessing their computers. Now, before you say anything I agree with you but I'm powerless to make them change their minds."

"I wonder if it has to do with their new form of attack?" Marjorie pondered. "Did you read my report on their new Wormhole tactics?"

"Yes, we were wondering how long it would take them to figure out our shields and find ways to bypass them. One of the reasons we're redesigning them. Right now we're just one step ahead of them, but the gap is getting smaller. Even with all the information we have from those we've captured we still don't know enough about them and their technology. Professor Ricter will be here in a few days, maybe we'll run this by him to see what he thinks. Oh, and he demanded that you return him to Earth."

Marjorie didn't flinch but she felt a slight pang of anger in her gut. Professor Ricter has been a ghost in her life, someone she knew about but didn't actually see. Part of that was the nature of his work, top secret stuff and she understood that but, seeing as how close they had been at one point she figured he'd have at least send her some sort of message or even replied to the messages she sent him. "He's a pain my backside. I'm not going to be his personal driver anymore."

"Unless ordered?" Lee asked with one of his sly grins.

Captain Cook sighed. It was obvious he wasn't going to allow her to avoid the Professor. "Yeah, unless ordered."

"Well, in that case, I order you to take him back to Earth with the rest of the fleet. We're going to need to refit you all with the new shields and a few other improvements. You'll be in dry dock for about six months. When you're done you'll need to bring him back to the station, wherever we might be at that moment."

With a sly smile of her own Captain Cook said, "Maybe I should have resigned after all."

Commander Monrow sat in the Captain's chair running some tests on the computer system. She loved this part of her job. Working with the Arwen was a pleasure. She was friendly, gave good advice and was even learning how to tell jokes. It was strange to think of a ship, or even a computer, as a friend but Arwen felt like one. In fact, Arwen felt like Juliet's only friend.

"Commander, my long range sensors is picking something interesting about three light years from here. It's a planet with the same signature as the Water Planet we found seven years ago."

"Do you think it could be another one?" Juliet asked.

"I do believe it is."

The light on the Arwen turned red and the battle klaxon blared, "Red alert! I'm detecting Beta Wormholes opening all over the place."

Juliet looked at her screen and saw silver points of light growing into large wormholes. They were spread out evenly and all over the place. It was a coordinated effort unlike any she's seen before. "They're surrounding us," Juliet said. "Arwen, fire up the Wormhole bullets, we might need them if we need to retreat."

The Arwen's voice was garbled as if there were a problem with the speakers. "Bu-Bullet off line." She stammered, "I can't get them started." She paused, "I'm getting an order from the Admiral, he wants us to- he wants us to go into a wormhole- to take it to the enemy."

"What? That order doesn't make sense. Ignore it, Arwen, ignore the order." Panic started to fill her body. She had to get control of Arwen but she seemed sick. The pieces fit into place quickly as Juliet saw a wave of black slabs pouring out of the wormholes like oil from a gushing pipe. The Handler's had taken over her ship, it was them giving orders not the Admiral. The order to destroy Regal, the order to go into the maw of the wormhole, it was all a ply to destroy the Arwen and the fleet.

Arwen lurched forward toward a wormhole, toward a sea of black. Juliet's mind stopped working as the crew around her started to shout out information. They were all counting on her to save them just as Captain Cook had done many times before.

Chapter forty-five.

Black slabs flew from the wormholes and attached themselves to any ship in range. The vibration attack had worked before, shaking the ships to pieces, but new shield technology rendered that attack ineffective.

Grand Admiral Park stood on the bridge with Captain Cook standing next to him. The new shields were holding strong, once again the human mind had managed to engineer a weakness away. This attack, while a surprise, would be an easy victory.

"Impressed?" He asked looking at Captain Cook.

"Very," she replied. "I remember when the Arwen was attacked by those things. They nearly destroyed us if not for the quick thinking of the Arwen herself. She saved our lives, I never would have thought about heading to the sun to burn them off."

"Hal, would you have thought of that?" He asked.

"No, there is no protocol in my programming to allow me to endanger the ship like that. It was a reckless act."

"Well, I guess Arwen is just better at improvising than you are. Don't take it hard, it's just part of her personality."

"I will keep that in mind," the computer replied.

The space around the station became a shooting gallery as thousands of slabs were destroyed. It looked like the largest firework show ever produced. Captain Cook looked away wishing she were on the Arwen to see this. How was Juliet doing? "Hal, can you get me in touch with the Arwen? I want to talk to Juliet."

"At once," Hal replied. He waited a second, then said, "Captain, communication with the Arwen is down."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I'm scanning now and there doesn't seem to be an issue with the communication system. She is simply refusing to answer my request."

"Tell her I want to talk to her and it's an order."

There was another half second pause before Hal replied. "She is still not responding."

Worry passed across Captain Cook's face. "I need to get back to my ship."

"No," Admiral Park said. "We're in the middle of a major battle, it's too dangerous for you to leave now."

He was right. The Handlers would overwhelm the shuttle the minute she left the protection of the force field. "Hal, can you keep an eye on the Arwen? Give me any change of status?"

"Of course," The booming computer voice replied.

Juliet scrambled out of the Captain's chair and up to the communication station. "Get the Admiral back," she yelled at the communication officer.

"I'm trying," the flustered woman replied. "I wanted to respond but Arwen locked me out."

"Arwen, you have to let us talk to the Admiral."

"No," Arwen replied. Her voice distorted, damaged. "We can't trust any incoming communication. We have to head for the Wormhole. We have to engage them there."

"Those orders don't make sense!" Juliet was trying to think fast now. On Regal the Captain convinced Arwen to stop by appealing to the side of her that wanted the Captain's approval. Could she use the same tactic now?" "Think about it Arwen, just like on Regal these orders don't make sense. You have to stop, you have to give us command of the ship."

She waited for a reply. The Arwen was strangely silent, not even a crackle of sound came from the speakers. "Arwen?" Juliet said.

"Commander, I would like to see you and talk about this, can you meet me in the hologram room?"

"I'll be there in a few minutes." She bolted from the bridge and leapt onto the elevator.

Arwen felt sick. That was the best way her database of words told her she felt based on the sensor information which flowed through her processor a million times every second. She examined her code but could find nothing wrong with it. She rescanned her systems but found they were all normal as well yet something felt was wrong.

When Commander Monrow walked into the hologram room she send a command to the image generators to create her normal form, only she dressed this form in a hospital gown to show Juliet how she was feeling. "Commander, I don't feel good."

"It's a virus," Juliet said. "I didn't expect you to take it this literal."

"I don't know if that's true," Arwen said. "I feel sick, but how could I get infected with a virus?"

"I don't know. Maybe the Handlers found a way to get to your computer." Juliet said. "You need to delete some code. I found some when we were on Regal, do you remember where I found it?"

She searched her memory banks and within a millisecond found the recording she had made when Juliet was examining her system. "Yes, I believe so."

"Good, find the code and remove it."

The Arwen found what Juliet was talking about. A small section of code which didn't look out of place to her. When she complied it she found it was the message the Admiral gave ordering her into the wormhole. If she removed it that order would be lost and she would stop. This was a direct order from the highest level of the corps and needed to be followed. "Commander, I can't do that. This is a direct order and I can't ignore it."

"No, it's not an order," Juliet said. Arwen detected panic and frustration in her voice. There was even a trace of anger in the vocal analysis.

"Could you ignore a direct order? What is your plan Juliet? Are you working for the Handlers now?" It all made sense. Of course she was working for the Handler's, she has always been working for them. Strange images of Juliet talking to a Handler formed in her memory banks. Arwen watched video of Juliet using a private communicator to give the Handler's the location of the Arwen. It was her that provided the details to them on how to open wormholes inside a ship. As she looked at this evidence she felt sicker, was it a human emotion for treachery or something else? "I have proof! How did you keep it from me for so long? You are working for the Handlers!"

"What?" Juliet said. Now there was fear and confusion in her voice. "Arwen, that's part of the virus, it has to be. It's making you believe things that never happened."

"No," Arwen replied. "My system is too complex for that. I'm going to alert security. You're going to be under arrest. I'm going to take over the Arwen and we'll continue into the Wormhole."

Juliet turned and ran out of the Hologram room without another word. "You can run, but they'll get you! They'll get you!" Her childlike hologram in the hospital gown yelled before fading away.

Captain Cook watched as the battle played out around her. The ships of her fleet, even in their depleted state, were holding off the assault. Years of research and tactics, earned from the blood of thousands, played out in front of her in a triumphant dance of destruction. The battlesphere was alive with bright explosions, the glow of missiles and the blinking of powerful energy cannons. They would probably win this battle. For the first time since the war started Marjorie felt they might possible win the entire war.

Lee stood next to her watching the same thing she was. She could see pride beaming from his eyes. A lot of the tactics being used he had pioneered, seeing them working must have been a thrill that she could only imagine. "Isn't it wonderful?" He asked, mostly to himself but Marjorie nodded in agreement.

The communication officer walked over to Captain Cook. "Captain," he said, "The Arwen just sent out a strange broadcast message to all the ships in the fleet." He handed her a data pad with a transcript of what he had heard.

The Arwen had ordered Commander Monrow under arrest. She was a Handler trader and no longer in command of the Arwen. A fear gripped Marjorie in her heart. This was her worst case scenario; the Arwen had taken over with nothing she could do to stop her. "Admiral, I'm heading back to my ship."

"Captain Cook, you can't."

"Stop me," she said handing him the data pad. As she walked out he read the report.

"Hal," Admiral Lee said, "get a shuttle ready for the Captain. Have the closest escort ship protect her as she heads back to the Arwen."

Captain Cook paused at the door, turned and nodded in thanks. The elevator door opened and she jumped in.

Juliet ran down the hallway hoping not to meet any security personnel. She had no idea what she was going to tell them but she had to convince anyone that the Arwen was compromised.

It made sense now. That code she found when the Arwen was first acting strange, she couldn't understand it not because it was encrypted but because it was written in the Handler's language. And it was still there, she never removed it. She cursed herself for her own shortsightedness. They must have activated it when they attacked.

She turned a corner and nearly ran into a group of seven guards. The man in front grabbed her, but not hard, mostly it seemed as if he were trying to stop her from crashing into anyone else than to retrain her. "Commander, we got a strange message from the Arwen to arrest you for treason?"

She sighed in relief. Of course they wouldn't believe the Arwen when she gave a strange command, it was simple common sense. "The Arwen has been infected with a virus enplaned by the Handlers. It's reprogramming her personality and giving her strange orders. I'm heading to the computer room to shut her down. I may need some help. There are some safeguards in place that we might need to disable."

The guard gave her a skeptical look. She noticed and ear piece and from the look on his face and the brief pause she knew he must have been listening to it. "The Arwen said you'd say something like that."

Juliet pulled the earpiece out of his ear, her voice got forceful. "I'm the second in command of this ship. Captain Cook handpicked me for that duty. The Arwen is a computer program and can be easily deceived. You decide who to believe, me or her and while you're waiting I'm heading to the computer room to save our lives. Now move."

She pushed passed the stunned guards and ran as fast as she could down the hallway. She let a small smile pass her lips when he heard the guards say, "come on, we need to help the Commander." Followed by the heavy footsteps of seven guards her.

"Commander, what kind of countermeasures are we looking at?" The head guard asked breathless.

"Not too sure," Juliet admitted. "They didn't tell me too much, only that if an alien force tried to get into the room they had some countermeasures to be sure it wouldn't be easy. What would you have done?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Guns located in static places. Probably some sort of force field to protect the door."

"Great," Juliet said with sarcasm. "We'll have to look out for those things and whatever else the Corps came up with."

All seven of them boarded the elevator and headed down. The computer room was deep inside the ship and took up a large portion of the lower levels. Arwen's computer was very complex, it normally took a team of seven to keep it up and running smoothly. The fate of those people worried Juliet, could Arwen actually kill a person? Wasn't that against her programming? Rule number one or something?

However, this wasn't the Arwen she had known. If they couldn't get her back Juliet would have no problem killing this one. They had just backed her system up a few months ago, the backup that wasn't infected so even if they had to wipe the memory of Arwen she could always be rebuild.

The door opened and right away Juliet saw the first of the countermeasures, a machine gun lowered from the ceiling and opened fire.

Things happened so quickly she didn't have time to processes them right away. Once the gun fired she found herself on the floor of the elevator, a knee in her back holding her down. She heard the guard shout something followed by a violent exchange of gunfire that rattled her to the core. Debris from the wall fell all around her body. She heard someone scream in horrible pain before it was suddenly silenced. The firefight lasted several seconds but Juliet knew she would be reliving those seconds for the rest of her life.