by M D Cooper
“Things are changing. You could pick a new career path, become a farmer, baker, take up shipping in the black. Whatever you want.”
“Oh, I don’t know…I never gave it much thought. This is all I’ve ever known.”
“Nothing you’ve ever wanted to try?” Cyrus prompted. “Maybe at least go see the other moons?”
The lieutenant shook his head. “Someone has to make sure Kristina stays safe. A lot of people would like to kill her for no other reason than the circumstances of her birth. Without protection, she…wouldn’t do well.”
Antaris hadn’t spoken at all during the exchange, and Cyrus wondered how he felt about his sister’s prospects.
“I suppose I can’t disagree with that,” he said after a few minutes. “Her response to our offer will tell us a lot about where things will go from here.”
“For her, at least.” Antaris’s voice was nearly a whisper.
The garden parlor was a wide room filled with white furniture and wicker tables. The far wall was open, facing out into an ornate garden filled with carefully manicured foliage, dotted with ostentatious fountains.
It took a moment for Cyrus to spot Kristina, as she was sitting in a chair facing away from them, with her head barely visible overtop.
“How are you, sister?” Antaris asked as he walked around to face her.
Cyrus stood to the side, studying her face. It was drawn and grey; she appeared to have aged years in just a few days.
Upon shifting in her seat to look up at her brother, she winced, placing a hand on her stomach. “Come to ensure that I’m not dying?” she asked after a moment, then glanced at Cyrus. “Or maybe to see if that can be arranged?”
“Never,” Antaris said in a tone that brooked no argument as he sat across from her.
Cyrus lowered himself into a seat as well, while Mance remained standing.
The man likely meant it as a threat, but with the armor Tanis had provided the SDL, neither man had anything to fear from the house guard.
“What are you here for?” Kristina asked. “I’ve already received missives from those idiots calling themselves the ‘New Acadian Government’. They want me to publicly renounce my claim, to declare them the rightful rulers.”
“That’s not exactly what they’re suggesting,” Antaris said in a quiet voice. “They’re offering you a place in the government, a way to be involved.”
Kristina barked a laugh, then groaned, a hand on her side once more. “A figurehead. No thank you.”
“I think you’d find that your influence would be directly proportional to how much you were willing to cooperate,” Cyrus interjected.
She cast him a caustic look. “I don’t need scraps tossed from your table, Cyrus Charlemis. You and your sister are setting yourselves up to rule over all of Serenity. The ‘people’ don’t see it, but I do. You’re just as hungry for power as anyone.”
“Not so,” he shook his head. “I don’t plan to take any role of authority here in Serenity. Terry and I haven’t settled on what’s next for us.”
Kristina’s lips drew into a thin line. She looked about to say something unpleasant, but shook her head. “I suppose I’m not surprised. She does seem like a smart woman.”
“She is,” Cyrus agreed. “And as for my sister, yes, she is the head of the Defense League—along with your brother—but eventually, that too will be a figurehead position, with the five moons supplying representatives for the league.”
“You really have it all figured out.” Kristina clenched her jaw and took a deep breath before continuing. “I’m surprised you didn’t have me killed, like what happened with Nebracken.”
“That was different,” Antaris said. “They brought that on themselves.”
“You didn’t try to stop it.”
“The league can’t police everything on every world,” her brother replied. “It’s going to take some time to bring about order.”
Kristina glanced at Cyrus. “Plus, that smuggler is from your own world, and now he’s just setting up shop on Mesophis.”
Cyrus laughed. “Pretty sure Roger was born in a smuggler’s hold on a dirty old starship. He’ll certainly present his own problems, but you know firsthand how pissed off the citizenry is. The High Table had centuries to improve the people’s lot. Instead, we let them live small lives, decades shy of a century long, while ours stretched on for hundreds of years. If you’re going to try to shift blame onto them, it’s going to fall on deaf ears.”
Kristina glared at him for a minute, then turned back to Antaris. “And you, Commodore? You’ve come out well. Are you and Pharis going to marry to cement your position?”
“We’ve talked about it,” he replied, nodding slowly, his gaze unfocused. “To be honest, the one thing holding us back is appearances. We don’t want people to think it’s political. We’ll figure it out, though. We have all the time in the world.”
She snorted. “At least some of you do. You get all the power and position you want. I’m curious, how are you going to divvy up Gallas and Acadia? Who will lord over which?”
“Neither,” Antaris shook his head. “When things started to go to pot here on Acadia, our cousin Lana started talking to the people about real change and a way forward. From the way things are looking, she’s going to be the moon’s president until elections can be held.”
Cyrus gave the beleaguered woman as warm a smile as he could manage. “And on Gallas, Pharis and I put forward one of the Thermodesians who is well respected—totally bizarre turn of events if you ask me, but hey, this is all topsy-turvy.”
“So it’s all a sham, is it?” Kristina sneered. “Still picking and choosing who is in charge, are you?”
Antaris’s face reddened, and he pushed himself forward onto the edge of his seat. “You know what, Kristina? Stay here and rot for all I care. You had everything given to you in life, and all you can do is complain about the fact that you have to share now. Don’t you get it? This is the end of house politics, of the threat of war, assassination, the games. We’re going to work together to build a better Serenity for everyone.”
He rose and stared down at her. “You can either be a part of it or not, but everything you have here, it won’t last forever. Eventually, you’ll have to come out of hiding and face the music.”
Kristina stared, mouth agape at her brother, then carefully rose and pointed at the room’s exit. “Get out. Get out, you traitorous fool! Get out and never come back. I hate you!”
The rage disappeared from Antaris’s face, and he reached out toward his sister, but she swatted away his hand and shrieked, “Get. Out!”
Cyrus caught Antaris’s eye and motioned with his head toward the door.
The commodore straightened his shoulders and nodded.
ADVENTURE AWAITS
STELLAR DATE: 03.12.8939 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Gallas, Serenity System
REGION: Orion Freedom Alliance, Perseus Arm
Terry couldn’t help but beam as she looked over the morning news reports from each of Serenity’s moons.
The new representatives were well on their way to articulating the needs of the people. It would take time for citizens to find their voices, but each of the elected officials had been spending time on the ground, interacting with those they had sworn to speak for. They were the bridge that was needed to translate real-world desires into articulated requests to advance living and working conditions for all.
“We did it.” Terry smiled over at Cyrus.
“All thanks to you.” He smiled back at her from where he was loun
ging on the couch in their temporary apartment on Gallas.
To align with their message about being of no higher station than anyone else, they’d thought it best to move into standard living quarters. The estates of all the great houses were in the process of being converted into government buildings. It had never felt right to have such huge manses set aside for a single family and their servants. Part of Terry wished she’d be around to see the renovations completed, but she knew that wasn’t in the cards.
As if sensing her mood, Cyrus became somber. “It’s time, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “I think so. We did what we set out to do.”
He sighed and pushed himself up from the couch. “It’s a bit of a shame. We finally created a system we like, and now we’re going to leave it behind.”
“I know…” She stepped toward him and placed her arms around his waist. “But I can’t help wanting to see what else is out there. Sure, there are going to be problems, but I think getting to see those things is the only way to know what you really like.”
He brushed her hair away from her forehead. “I don’t need to meet every woman out there to appreciate what I have with you.”
Terry gave him a light kiss. “Good, because you’re pretty well stuck with me at this point. Go figure, launching a revolution—a successful one, at that—has a way of bonding a couple.”
“That it does.” He turned contemplative again. “You would make an amazing representative. Are you sure you don’t want to stick around?”
She shook her head. “I’m too close to it. They might elect me because of the part I played, but people need to find someone who really represents them. I might influence the results without even realizing it. And, if I stayed here, I might get the itch to get involved with other things. It’s best I stay away—at least for a while.”
“I’ll follow you anywhere you want to go.”
* * * * *
By afternoon, they had packed up their personal belongings, and were ready to depart. Without more than a quick note for the tenant-master, they traveled to the port where the Star Ember had been docked for the last three months.
There were several people who’d give Terry shit for not allowing them to throw a proper goodbye party for her, but she couldn’t stand tearful farewells, and didn’t want any fanfare. So she boarded the Star Ember with Cyrus, only a few bags of possessions between them.
“We need to tell someone we’re going,” Cyrus said. “Putting in notice on the apartment doesn’t count.”
“Most of those messages can be sent once we’re underway. I don’t want anyone to think they can talk us out of it,” Terry responded.
“For most people, I’d agree. You, not so much.”
“Well, there is one call we need to make now,” she relented.
Sure enough, Cyrus was already working the controls on the front console to establish a video link with Pharis. No doubt, Antaris would be with her.
The display resolved into Pharis’s face, and she smiled. “Hi! How’s it going?”
Cyrus laughed. “My, you’ve come a long way! I see that formal highborn conversing has gone by the wayside.”
Pharis shrugged. “I was never much for it, anyway. And with you? No point.”
“Fair enough.”
Pharis glanced between Terry’s and Cyrus’s faces. “Uh oh. Please tell me you don’t have another crazy idea to implement.”
Cyrus shook his head. “No. Actually, we’re calling to—”
“Oh, stars! You’re leaving Serenity, aren’t you?” she interrupted.
“Yes,” Terry confirmed.
Pharis sighed. “As soon as Tanis left, I suspected you would be soon to follow.”
“Wait, they’re what?” Terry heard Antaris ask off-screen. A moment later, the former Laurentian scion appeared on the display next to Pharis. “You’re going?”
“We never meant to stick around,” Terry replied. “I’ve already been here an awfully long time for someone who’d intended to leave.”
“Besides, you two are doing a hell of a job leading the transition,” Cyrus said. “The system is in good hands.”
“But now? Without a hug goodbye?” Pharis asked.
“We had a lovely dinner last week,” he reminded her. “There’s no good way to leave. And it’s not forever. We need to go while it feels right, before we have a chance to overthink it, and it gets weird.”
Pharis nodded slowly. “I can appreciate that.”
“Besides,” her brother continued, “if we stay here, we’re liable to do more harm than good.”
Antaris laughed. “Don’t I know it! Stars, last time you got involved, you took me from a quiet patrol job in the Guard to playing politician every waking hour of the day.”
Pharis playfully nudged him with her shoulder. “And you’re loving every second of it.”
“Hey, I didn’t say that I objected. But it’s a change, having to actually work for a living. I shudder to think what else you could do to me.” He winked.
It thrilled Terry to see the two of them so happy. She wasn’t sure where they stood with their relationship, as they hadn’t shared anything specific, but she suspected they had good times ahead of them, even if it was just as friends. Their complementary backgrounds and shared ideals made them the perfect duo to help Serenity settle into its new normal. And, more than that, they had good hearts.
“You’re plenty busy for now, old friend,” Cyrus told Antaris. “Just keep doing what you’re doing, and we won’t need to intervene again.”
Pharis admired her brother over the display. “We’re going to miss you around here. You did an incredible thing.”
“It wasn’t done alone. Thank you again for stepping up—it wouldn’t have been possible without both of you taking a stand.”
She choked back emotion. “You’d better stay in touch, okay?”
“You bet,” Cyrus assured her. “And you’d better give us updates, too!”
Antaris placed his arm around Pharis’s shoulders. “Absolutely. We’ll take care of Serenity. Don’t worry.”
Terry nodded, filled with a deep sense of pride. “I have no fears.”
With a final flurry of farewells, Cyrus ended the vid call, while Terry started up the Star Ember’s engines, and set in a course that would take them toward an outsystem jump point.
“I guess we’re finally getting that romantic getaway through the black.” Cyrus smiled over at her.
“So we are.” Terry took his hand. “We’ll see where fortune takes us next.”
* * * * *
THE END
Terry and Cyrus have many more adventures ahead of them, and your reviews and encouragement will help see them come to life.
For more books by A. K. DuBoff and M. D. Cooper, read on.
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Much of Amy’s writing is set in the expansive Cadicle Universe, which includes epic space opera tales spread across thousands of years of history and lore. These stories center around the Taran Empire—the ancestors of humans—who are waiting for the day when the people of Earth will rejoin their forgotten brethren.
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Get Book 1: Rumors of War - smarturl.it/cadicle123
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Get Book 1: Infiltration - smarturl.it/mindspace1
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