Arlene bobbed her head, non-committedly. “Well, she’s Anne. And a teenager.”
Ben’or chuckled. “Considering the enormity of what she’s been through, I’d say she was doing exceptionally well.”
Arlene shrugged. “Sure. What’s a bit of back-talking between friends.”
Molly smiled. “So no more episodes then?”
Arlene shook her head. “Not that we’ve been aware of… but it’s only been one night.”
Ben’or shifted in his seat. “We would have heard something though if she was disturbed in her sleep.”
“Well ok. Keep me posted. If we have to move her up here, then we’ll just have to do it.”
“Agreed,” Arlene added quickly.
Just then Giles came tumbling into the room. His atmosuit was disheveled, and his hair unkempt. “Sorry I’m late folks. I er… overslept.”
Arlene sniggered. “Yeah, we got that from the pillow crease down your face.”
Giles blushed and then rubbed his face. On the wrong side. Molly smiled. As much as she had been trying to avoid him, she missed having Giles around.
Just then Joel strode back in, mocha in hand.
“Oh, thanks!” Giles remarked, pretending to reach out and take the mocha off him.
“Oh sorry…” Joel responded genuinely. Then something more evil flashed across his face. “You weren’t here, otherwise I would have known to get you one.”
Ben’or chuckled deeply at their interaction. Giles, still flustered settled down and opened his holo. Joel confidently took his seat right next to Molly.
“Ok,” Molly started, her eyes on the table as she organized her thoughts. “I had a conversation with the General late last night. Right off the bat, I’d like to warn you that you’re not going to like this… but if we can move on as quickly as possible, that would be great.”
The others looked at each other, wondering what she was going to say.
“Firstly, you’ll be pleased to know that the Federation haven’t been provoking anything from that direction. In fact, I get the impression that they haven’t had many dealings with anyone outside of Federation space.”
Arlene narrowed her eyes. “I sense bad news still…”
Molly pursed her lips, looking up now. “Yes. The thing is, when I asked for reinforcements he told me that there are issues with that.”
Giles and Joel started to protest. She put her hand up to silence them. “The problem is,” she continued, “if the Federation are seen to be moving ships around, the other member states are going to get very nervous. I hadn’t realized this, but the smallest thing seems to have the potential to escalate into civil war… in which case we need to be super aware and super sensitive to these issues.”
She felt the outrage deflate by about thirty percent. “There really is nothing he can be seen to be doing. However, he’s offered us any other support. Like parts and possibly people - as long as the Federation uniforms are never seen.”
Joel sat back in his chair. “Well, I guess that’s something. Shows he’s not trying to completely screw us over.”
Giles nodded, fiddling with his glasses. “Yes. I suppose. But it does feel like a token gesture more than anything.”
Molly shrugged. “I don’t know what else he can do. But if we think of anything we can always go back to him. He made that clear too.”
Arlene folded her hands on the table in front of her. Molly thought about asking her opinion, but then thought better of opening another can of worms. “Anyway,” she said, pressing on with her agenda. “This brings us to what we can do. In light of our little adventure last month, I think we should at least discuss the implications.”
Giles frowned and leaned forward. “I thought you said it wasn’t something to worry about?”
Molly bobbed her head. “I know. And until we have it confirmed that there is a vector component to this sighting and whatever the radar blip is, and that it’s coming in our direction, then this is something that stays between us alone.”
Arlene seemed more engaged. All the others nodded their agreement to the terms of the discussion.
“The reality is, we did something. Something that may well end up putting the whole system, and heck, the Federation, in jeopardy with an unknown race.”
Giles started to interrupt but was stopped by a quick glance from Molly. She continued. “Whatever we believe, we have to entertain the possibility that this blip is indeed the Ascended Race coming to make contact. So… if this is the case, what are the implications?”
Giles immediately jumped in. “Well, I’m glad we’re talking about this because the more I think about this, the more I think it’s probably something to do with our little procedure. As for them making contact, I can’t imagine any evolved race would put so much effort into leading a trail of clues that can only be found and used once a race has reached a certain stage of evolution. This being the case, I think it’s highly unlikely that their presence will be hostile.”
“Be that as it may,” Arlene interrupted, “if they show up here, even with the best of intentions, do you have any concept of what that will do to the situation on somewhere like Estaria where they’re already running scared of their own shadows.”
Giles didn’t respond. He just played with a mark on the table, rubbing his finger over it.
Arlene snorted gently. “Besides, if they realized what was happening on that planet, they’d no doubt see that we need another millennium or two’s worth of evolution just to be able to deal with making contact with a new, more evolved race.”
Molly shook her head, confused. “But they dealt with the humans showing up a few decades ago…”
Arlene nodded. “Yes, but humans didn’t bring with them scary technology or capabilities. They were a little more evolved on the tech front as a race, being deep-space faring… but ultimately in the numbers that settled they weren’t nearly so intimidating. In fact, they remain the underdog on the Sark planets to this day. It’s a very different situation when they believe that someone is capable of annihilating them.”
Giles was pinching his eyes again… already. “Yes, but then why are they not trying to destroy the Leath. Or the Federation for that matter?”
“Because they all leave us alone, they’re far enough away not to be in their faces, and their battle capabilities far outweigh anything the Estarians can match,” Arlene replied.
Molly contemplated what Arlene was saying for a moment.
“Why do you think they don’t have trade agreements set up with them? It’s because then they would expect immigration agreements, and that would mean more mixing, and the Estarians just feel threatened by that.”
Joel had been mostly quiet but now felt he had enough of a handle on the situation to add his thoughts in. “It sounds like our best course of action is to ensure that we don’t allow this new race,”
“The Ascension Race,” Giles interjected. “That’s just what we’re calling it.”
“The Ascension Race… We just need to keep them as far away from the Estarians as possible.”
Molly sighed. “I don’t disagree. But if they have tech capabilities anywhere near what we think they have, that’s going to be tough.”
Arlene nodded. “And it’s likely to be a war on two fronts… if you excuse the analogy. We’re going to need to keep the Estarians from launching any fleets, because that is only going to drag the Federation into a difficult position, and it’s going to cause friction with Ogg.”
Molly cocked her head. “How so?”
Arlene sighed. “Well, fortunately, the Oggs haven’t got the same warmongering elements or tendencies amongst their people. They’re a lot more peaceful and are more intent on seeing what this blip is before they take action. The thing is, if the Estarians don’t show temperance too, they may go ahead and launch the fleet despite the alliance they have with Ogg. Obviously bye-bye Ogg-Estarian alliance, hello potential domestic war.
”
Molly hung her head in her hands, elbows on the table. “Fuck.”
Joel sighed, also feeling frustrated. “Well, we’ve got to try. I vote we get ourselves out there and see if we can’t talk with this new race… or whoever it is. If it is a who.”
Molly lifted her head. “I think you’re right. At least then we’ll know and can formulate a plan accordingly.” She sat up straighter. “Ok, let’s get The Empress ready, and gate out there. See what the score is, and then head back and regroup.”
Joel shook his head. “No way. Not without reinforcements.”
“We can’t get reinforcements.”
“Well, let’s put that aside for a moment. We need reinforcements in case they do mean malice. We need to show a front that could potentially scare them off. Tell them we’re not to be messed with. As a preventative measure apart from anything else. Otherwise, what’s to stop them shooting the messenger. Then the system will be worse off because they’ll have no new information and no us to protect them.”
Molly thought for a moment, her eyes flicking back and forth in the top of her head as if she were performing some kind of mathematical calculation. “You’re right,” she said eventually.
Arlene and Giles nodded, slowly agreeing to the logic too.
“But we’re going to need a fleet of ships.”
The optimism at a potential way forward dropped out of the room. Arlene sighed and slumped back onto the desk, resting her chin in her hand.
“Ben’or,” Molly said, drawing his gaze from the table in front of him. He glanced at her as if awakening from his own thoughts. “Could I have a word in private?”
“Of course,” he said, brightening, completely devoid of any kind of suspicion.
Arlene looked at him sideways and then back at Molly. She narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out what the girl was thinking. Then realized that Molly was looking at her.
“Guys,” Molly said. “Could you give us a minute?”
Arlene got the hint first and stood up. “Sure. I’ll be in the kitchen… A mocha sounds good right about now.”
The two boys followed her lead and got up, following her out of the room. Only Ben’or remained, now leaning forward in his seat.
Molly waited for the door to close behind them.
“So, if we need reinforcements, but we can’t use Federation services… do you think there is perhaps any way that we might be able to call on our friends from the Zhyn Empire?”
Ben’or chuckled. “Wow. You don’t waste any time beating around the bush.” He scratched his head, thinking. “I’m sure the will is there. And if that’s the case then it would just be a case of figuring out how to make it legal and so that we don’t break any of our agreements with the Federation.”
Molly smiled. “So that’s a yes in principle?”
Ben’or smiled. “Of course. But only in principle. I’ll need to talk with my Emperor.”
Molly bobbed her head. “Of course, of course. How can I help?”
“Well, if you could allow me to send him a message and set up a call, we can make it happen within a few hours.”
Molly was already on her feet. “Great. Let me take you down to our ops room where you can reach out to him.”
Ben’or scrambled to his feet from the chair that was far too small for someone of his mass. He stood straight, rearranged his robes and then headed out of the door, following Molly as fast as he could.
Outside the Senate House, Spire, Estaria
There were hardly a dozen reporters gathered outside the doors, but they made enough noise for four dozen and they clustered together in the courtyard so tightly it was nearly claustrophobic. Jostling for positions like jockeys in a race, they each hoped to be the first to get any sort of scoop. Depending on the situation, after all, it could be the scoop of a lifetime. Most of them had been waiting there since before the meeting even began, and a couple of them had even thrown down picnic blankets for the wait.
The doorman made a good effort at fretfully herding them away as footsteps gradually began to get louder from inside. He had very little luck at succeeding though. The gathering of reporters backed up only a few paces, until one by one the members of the Senate began to spill out and the reporters’ determination increased tenfold at the sight of them.
Like a small but determined swarm, they all tried to latch onto a member of the Senate, all grappling for some detail that they could only hope none of the others would get, attempting to dodge the doorman and the security officers all the while. Few of them gained any kind of insight, blocked by terse variations on ‘I have no comment at the moment.’
Ekks ignored them all to the best of his abilities and simply kept walking. He wasn’t entirely sure what his face was doing, but the look on it sent a small, weedy camera man practically diving out of his way as he walked. Not all of them were so easily dissuaded, though, and in his distraction as he ran the events of the meeting through his mind, Ekks didn’t stop walking until a glowing orb seemed to appear right in front of him. Stubbornly, it stayed right in his path as he tried to sidestep around it first in one direction and then in the other before finally giving it his reluctant attention when it stayed right in his face.
Ekks blinked at the small holocam he found hovering in front of his face as if he hadn’t expected it to be there and he was suddenly deeply regretting that oversight. Presumably the small young woman approaching him—charmingly attractive, as he supposed most marginally fortunate reporters were—owned the holocam. Before he could make his polite excuses and duck away from her, she offered him a disarmingly winning smile, and asked in the half-second that he seemed to be taken off guard, “Anything you can tell us about what went on in there, Commander Ekks? We’re all dying to get ahold of the details.” Her smile and her cheer were well-practiced.
Ekks cleared his throat and straightened the front of his uniform. “I’m not at liberty to say much,” he returned, his tone carefully, politely bland, “but I trust that everyone has come to the proper decision when it comes to how the current situation is going to be handled.”
The woman’s eyebrows rose, and her eyes narrowed slightly she took a step closer to him, her voice hurried but shrewd as she asked, “Is there some sort of threat we need to be worried about, Commander?” He couldn’t quite tell if she was excited at the prospect, or merely the prospect of hearing about it; hopefully the latter.
“Everything is being handled as it should be,” Ekks insisted simply before he waved the holocam aside like it was an errant bug. With a quiet, “If you’ll excuse me…” that already sounded distracted, he continued on his way, sidestepping first the reporter then the holocam when it made a last-ditch effort to follow him.
The reporter made no efforts to stop him, instead whirling on her heel to face her partner. He stood safely off to the side, keeping the holocam’s wireless storage backups from getting trampled in the excitement.
“We got all that, right?” she demanded, loping over to him with the holocam bobbing at her shoulder, her hands fisted in front of her chest in her excitement. “Please tell me we got that!”
Her partner—her technician—gave one of the backup drives a pat. “In triplicate.”
Chapter 5
Base conference room, Gaitune-67
The Emperor moved slowly into view of the camera. His image was blurry. Molly wasn’t sure if that was because of the distances they were talking over, or the issue of compatibility between their systems. Either way, they could still see that it was the Zhyn Emperor they were conferring with.
“Your Highness, may I present to you our old ally, Molly Bates of the Sanguine Squadron.”
“Oh yes!” The Emperor exclaimed, almost in surprise. “The human who helped us in our most troubling of times.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Molly waved, smiling. “It’s good to see you again Your Highness.”
“Yes, you too Mol
ly Bates. How goes the good fight?”
“It goes well, Your Excellency. But we have entered into a situation which could use your wise counsel.”
Ben’or glanced at her, taken aback by her lack of directness.
The Emperor waved her to go on.
Molly continued. “We have a situation with a new race. They’re heading toward us and we believe them to be friendly… but we’re not sure. We’re still waiting on confirmation. But one of the things I learned in combat that applies to most situations is that a proactive approach yields the best outcomes.”
The Emperor nodded wisely, listening.
“Well, we’d like to approach them. I was happy to go alone, but my team raised a valid point about how having a fleet would no doubt deter them from taking me and my small crew out, better allowing us to continue with the mission and bringing back the intel we discover.”
The Emperor looked like he had closed his eyes.
Molly continued. “I was hoping that we might perhaps be able to call on some of your warriors to help act as a deterrent in this situation.”
“You’re not planning on fighting?”
“We hope to avoid that, Your Highness.”
“And why not ask the Federation. Don’t you work for Lance Reynolds?”
“Er. Yes, sir. And you’re not meant to know that.”
The Emperor looked pleased that he could be impressive. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
Molly smiled, taking her time. She caught Ben’or watching her out of the corner of her eye. “Well, I could go with the Federation, but I’d rather go with the best. I have it on good authority from Ben’or that your warriors are without a doubt the best at operating from honor.”
The Emperor opened his eyes. “This is of course accurate.” He thought for a moment more. “I believe our people would be excited to be a part of this piece of history.”
“I must say, Your Highness, this situation is not without risks.”
“Our warriors live to die for a worthy cause,” he told her firmly. “It’s in our make-up.”
The Ascension Myth Box Set Page 214
