Outsystem (Aeon 14) by M. D. Cooper Read Free Book Online

were several doors to private offices, the local synaptic processing networks, and several labs.
    They walked to the executive offices while the staff in the ops center cast her wary glances. Her address down at the Dawn had been posted to the SOC’s private net and contained her designation as the CO, so everyone was already aware of the change in command. She placed a hand on Evans’ shoulder when they reached the upper tier and turned to address the room.
    “As you are all already aware, I am Major Richards, your new CO. Right off I want you to know that I’m not here to supplant Commander Evans as much as to supplement him. I’ve spent a bit of time working ops like this: competing priorities, unknown threats; it’s an ugly situation.” The looks in the room were coolly appraising, no one showing their feelings one way or another. Without a doubt some of the people she was addressing had alerts on their HUDs that had matched her ID to the media coverage from six years earlier.
    “I’m not here to shake things up, but I’m also not going to shy away from saying what needs to be said, or doing what needs to be done. I know you all have a lot of work to do, but I want to see section chiefs and reps in the conference room…”
     she asked Angela.
    
    “At 1600 hours this afternoon.” The crowd remained unreadable. “That’ll be all.”
     she remarked to the commander on a private connection.
    
    
    
     Tanis asked.
     Commander Evans gave her a scrutinizing look.
     The commander shook his head ruefully.
     Tanis smiled at Evans.
    
    Commander Evans showed Tanis into her office and she got herself situated. He transmitted her codes to the CO’s private system on the SOC net and the desk recognized her and logged her on. Tanis opened several subnets and looked over the pending issues and upcoming schedule. She could tell Evans had a concise and organized mind, but at the same time he lacked familiarity with large security operations. There were duties he performed exceptionally well, and others he appeared to not have been aware of at all.
    Not that she could blame him. Pilots almost never had AI, and Evans was no exception. The majority of their available cranial space was taken up by the structural bracing and specialized processors which were needed to handle a spaceship at velocities near half the speed of light. Pilots simply didn’t have the implants for a job like this.
    Her orgstruct showed four section heads, and she pulled up their files and reviewed them in preparation for the meeting. Her head of the Lab