"Does she sell ships?"
"She has a number of shipyards, and builds ships, but I've no idea if she's selling them now. Been away too long. You could ask her. Why?"
"I came along with Jamie for the ride, because he promised adventure, and really wild things."
"He did not."
She snorted.
"No, he didn't. But the time I was with him on my planet, was the most excitement I've ever had, and I was a sort of mercenary there, and thought I'd seen and done everything."
"And now you know you haven't?"
"Indeed. There must be loads of ways a duck for hire can make a living out here."
"Why don't you stick around with me and Seasprite for a while, and find out?"
"I will thanks. What will Jamie be doing? Do you know?"
"He and Anna will go back to Hunter Prime initially I would think, and then back to the Scots planet. The Talisman may change a lot of things, or it may not, but one things for sure, it's going to need a lot of protecting. And only Jane has the ability to do that effectively."
"And where will you be going?"
"I have trader contracts with the Owls which need checking on, and even though the Talisman is found now, I still am charged on another quest to find some threat my Grandmother, who is leader of my world, seems to think will be coming for us in the future sometime. Of course, it might be a now dead Brother Prime, but somehow, I doubt it. Anyway, Seasprite needs repairs, and this time she goes in to the shipyard at Hunter Prime."
"Is Hunter Prime worth seeing?"
Snark laughed.
"You haven't seen anything yet. That place will blow your mind."
"Any idea what a beat up fighter is worth in salvage value?"
"No idea. Ask Jane when you meet her."
"I will."
Snark left her to her next simulation, and went in search of some food. He decided he liked that duck.
"What do you think?" asked Seasprite, in AI mode.
"Jamie owes Dodgers a lot," said Jane, "as far as I can determine. She and Patchet."
Jane pondered things for a while on her own.
Seventy Seven
They assembled on Seasprite.
Jane, Warspite, Tranquil, Weaver, and Fisher, shared a shuttle which picked them up one by one, and docked to a side airlock. Snark did the honours meeting them, and led them to the room they relaxed, and discussed everything in.
Captain Havoc had declined the invitation, but Crocatoa, Emerson, and Schafer, arrived on a Dropship. Patters and Bottoms-up met them at another airlock.
Everyone made themselves comfortable. Seasprite was looking on from a wall screen.
Patchet was invited to fill them in on how he came to Dodger's planet. Jamie followed with his story, beginning the moment he arrived in the stone circle. The three of them alternated as the story went on, culminating with their arrival being towed by a whale, and Jamie's arrival on Minor, through to being taken by the light.
Anna told the story of their experience fighting Anastasia and Prime, with Snark and Sissness adding details. Jane made a note there was another planet with humans on it, and potentially trouble if they were badly inbred. She'd have to get the AMS ships in the sector looking for it.
Crocatoa told the entire story of the attacks and defence of the pyramid, and the aftermath. Bottoms-up followed with a short version of his people destroying the troop transports, and how they'd dealt with any valderians who'd survived. Anna concluded with what she'd done with the Talisman.
Warspite told the story of the space battles, up until Jane intervened, and she finished with her battle with the valderian fleet. Warspite continued with the remaining pirate battles, and reporting his ship was now half full of valderian prisoners. He'd flown the Battleship all the way down to five thousand meters, and the Dropships had ferried them into his secondary cargo hold, where combat droids had moved the prisoners to the brig level. What he didn't say was he'd also opened the ship up to the air of the planet, and refreshed the air in the ship. It had proper life support, unlike most of the rest of the ships, but he'd had no reason to keep the ship air fresh. Until now.
Jane summarised the salvage operation, and the departure of the Saurians, without mentioning her data retrieval exercise. She also mentioned the media reports on the other two inhabited planets, and they all had a good laugh.
With everyone up to date, Jane rose, and took a position where everyone could see her.
"I want to thank everyone for their part in the successful conclusion of this Quest for the Talisman of Tomorrow, and this victory over the Brotherhood. Now Brother Prime, or as we found out, Sister Prime, is dead, the Brotherhood sects are leaderless, at least for the time-being. I've had intelligence the Brotherhood has been weakened, due to the funds Prime poured into finding the Talisman. The hiring of the Badlands pirates, the valderian forces, and the sector seven Saurians, has bankrupted them."
There were a series of enthusiastic responses, culminating in a round of applause. The not-croc looked surprised at the banging together of hands, but soon joined in, and doubled the noise level.
"However, we need to stay vigilant. The inner circle will provide a new leader, and the Brotherhood still has its criminal activities to fall back on."
She paused for effect.
"I've already been in communication with the head of the sector nine council, and they send their thanks and congratulations on ridding their sector of many of the more notorious and criminal pirate bands which made up the Badlands. Sector eight has also congratulated everyone on the success of this mission, while the sector ten council sends its heartfelt thanks, and is grateful all our forces survived."
There was more applause from the group.
"Anna and the Seasprite team." She looked at Anna, Jamie, Snark, Sissness, Patters, and Mouse, who were all sitting together. "You've done the impossible, and found the Talisman. Your quest has been successfully completed. I'm sure there will be further adventures for you all, but for now, the Talisman is secured. Anna and Jamie, we'll talk later about how the Kingdom can keep it, and you, safe from now on."
Anna looked concerned, but Jamie squeezed her hand, and nodded, smiling.
"Patchet and Dodgers." Jane looked at the Australian engineer, and the brown duck. "You've proved your worth to sectors ten, nine, and eight, and we heartily thank you for your help in defeating the Brotherhood, and finding the Talisman. Not to mention delivering Jamie back in one piece."
They all laughed.
"I understand Jamie owes you both hard currency. Will you both come and see me on Hunter Prime, and I'll make sure your outlays are fully covered. Patchet, if you'd like to dock your ship in the hanger of one of my Dreadnaughts, we'll take it back to a shipyard where it can be fully repaired and updated. You can stay here on Seasprite for the journey. By the way, I brought a spare belt suit for you. I've even had it programmed with the overalls you prefer to wear, so from now on, even if you're covered in grease and dirt, you'll still look good."
Everyone laughed but Patchet, but his grin lit up, and he nodded to her. Jane turned to Dodgers.
"How can I reward you? From what I heard, it's unlikely Jamie would be here now without your help. Unconditional friendship is a rare thing, and demands recognition."
"Well, you know that beat up ship down in the hanger?" Jane nodded. "You couldn't accidently sell it to me for scrap value could you? I like the look of it, but it needs a lot of work, and I'm not sure I can afford buying it, and fixing it."
"It's yours. Fully repaired yours. You just need to come to Hunter Prime for the repairs."
Dodger's beak opened and closed, but no sound came out. She nodded slowly, and looked at Jamie. He was grinning at her. She grinned as well.
Jane turned to the three marine officers.
"Gentlemen, well done."
Emerson grinned, Schafer looked sheepish, and Crocatoa looked at them both, wondering what they were responding to.
Emerson
laughed, before explaining.
"Leader and Admiral Jane here is our commander in chief. When your CIC says 'well done', that's the highest praise you can receive without it involving a medal ceremony."
"Talking of which," added Jane, "I'll see about one when we return to Hunter Prime. At the very least, there should be a campaign medal of some sort. I'll speak to the sector council when I get back. In the meantime Colonel, can you continue to supply a platoon for Seasprite crew escort duties, should we stop along the way home anywhere."
He nodded, and looked at his officers, who also nodded, although the grins on their faces didn't match his serious expression.
"You'll be returning to the Cat Homeworld first, to drop off any who wish to stay there." She glanced at Patters and Sissness. "Before returning to Hunter Prime. Along the way, I'll discuss how to protect the Talisman with Anna and Jamie."
Jane was hoping this wouldn't seem as her taking control of the Talisman, but this is what she was planning. Experiments with the Talisman had demonstrated only Anna could call on its power. There was no explanation, apart from the 'genetic imprinting' the 'god' had mentioned to the team in the Hall of Peace, and Anna and her family potentially had. Jane wanted to test this further. Such a source of power in the galaxy, needed to be controlled, and protected.
There was general nodding, but some looks of doubt. Snark in particular wanted the cat's interests in the Talisman protected, and Jamie had been thinking for some time about the implications of Anna's linkage to the power of the Talisman, and what this might mean for them. He didn't want Anna to become a pawn of others, to be used by them to get at the power the Talisman represented.
Anna kept her face and expression neutral. She was slowly getting used to the power of the Talisman, for now hidden under her suit clothing, and her responsibility to use it as the 'gods' intended, for 'good', whatever that meant. She knew it meant different things to different beings, and therefore was a heavy responsibility. She also didn't want to be controlled, and her independent spirit was likely to be threatened by various vested interests.
She did have power, through the use of the Talisman, and what she'd learned about herself, her confidence, poise, and intelligence, all of which she could exert in the negotiations she knew would follow. She also had more responsibility in the form of a growing 'bump' she hadn't had the opportunity to talk to Jamie about yet. Somehow, he still hadn't noticed. She brought her mind back to the room, as Jane continued.
"While we've had a great victory here, we still have much to do. One of the things we've been in communication with the Scots and the Cat Homeworld about, is what they call the 'cold evil', which has been identified in visions, and which is something we don't know much about, but is a threat nonetheless. I know Snark will continue searching for what it is, and where it's coming from, and I hope some of you will continue to crew with him. The Brotherhood remains, and now is the time to destroy it, while it's weak and going through a change of leadership. The troops who've proved to be so effective here, will be a part of this."
She paused and looked around the room.
"It's not all bad. We have more work to do to cement existing relationships which have been built because of the Seasprite team's quest, and to make new friendships between the three sectors involved in their travels, and other friends we're making in sector eleven. It's an exciting time, and everyone here is central to what happens next."
She stopped, cast a glance at Jamie, and grinned.
"And finally, I believe congratulations are in order, as we'll be attending the wedding of Jamie and Anna. Congratulations you two on becoming engaged!"
There was general cheering, Anna kissed Jamie, who kissed her back, and there was more cheering and catcalling.
"Admiral Warspite?"
"Sir?"
"Let's be moving Cat Homeworld wards."
"Aye sir."
With that, the meeting ended, and those who lived on other ships, departed.
Seventy Eight
Jane took Anna aside, before she and Jamie could disappear into a cabin together.
She waited until the room emptied, and Jamie was waiting for her outside.
She held a hand out.
Anna looked at it for a moment, shifted her suit slightly to reveal the Talisman, and slipped it off. She hesitated for a moment longer, and dropped it into Jane's hand. She looked her in the eyes to see what her reaction was.
Jane could feel the warmth of the metal. The stone, which had glowed with Anna's touch, faded. She felt nothing else.
"I was curious," she said. "Everyone else said they could feel the warmth in the metal, and so can I. But as with everyone else, there's nothing else."
She passed the Talisman back to Anna.
And was propelled into AI mode, as the Talisman bridged her hand with Anna's.
Power flowed through her, the likes she'd never felt before.
In that nanosecond, the entire network of comnavsats was available to her, and she knew everything there was to know about the linked space stretching from sector eleven to sector eight, from Cat World, Mouse World, to Gaia. Every ship, asteroid, debris chunk, planet, station, being. Everything was laid out for her to know. In the nanoseconds following, her awareness followed com and mail traffic through space her ships hadn't explored yet, expanding out in a ripple across half the galaxy.
Data poured into her at a rate she thought impossible, and she desperately shunted it into ship databases.
A map of the galaxy formed in her mind, with each of her avatars glowing like suns.
The map shifted outward again, showing galaxies around the one she was in.
There!
A long string of com satellites showed her the human spine of systems, in the Earth galaxy. They were ordinary coms satellites, and so nothing of the traffic and people around them came to her. But an alternate human history flooded through her, and vanished into a new database on the Dreadnaught.
Jon wasn't there. His family had died with the destruction of Galactica as it left its space dock for trial runs.
The team's families were gone as well, dying out before man left their origin planet for the last time.
The Australian sector still hadn't been discovered yet. The tech was ancient, human society suffering a lot more wars, and been held up in its development because of them. Earth was still uninhabitable, but no Torus surrounded the dead planet. Dick Burnside's family had also perished on the poisoned Earth.
The other sectors looked only partially colonized, and none of them were talking with each other.
Everything she remembered was gone!
Everyone she remembered was gone!
"Jon," she screamed in her mind. "What did you do?"
Look.
Ganesha?
Yes.
Look where?
Everywhere.
What am I looking for?
You will see.
Jane looked again.
At the center of the galaxy, something pulsed like a supernova.
She concentrated on it, lost to the passage of time.
She felt a familiar presence.
It's me!
Yes. Look further.
She did. Power flowed through her, and her focus moved inwards.
She touched herself, and knew.
Knew everything.
Knew exactly what Jon had done.
Knew exactly what he was doing now.
JON!
He was alive!
They were all, alive!
Jane wept internally. Nanoseconds became milliseconds, and she clung to this contact with those she loved so dearly, and had thought lost forever.
Anna took back the Talisman.
Jane's fingers lost their contact.
The power shut off.
Jane returned to human speed.
She looked into Anna's eyes.
"Thank you," she said.
Anna nodded, and left.
Jane sto
od there, tried to assimilate everything, and failed. There was too much data. There was too much emotional turmoil. She forced herself to get a grip.
She pinged Patchet's tablet, and asked him to meet her at the airlock to his ship. He was there when she arrived.
After a word with him, and his nod of approval, Jane entered his ship, undocked from Seasprite, and docked it in the hanger of her nearest Dreadnaught. Concorde was already there, and she returned to her own ship. At the first opportunity, she was heading back to Hunter Prime. She couldn’t stay all the way to the Cat World, since she'd never actually left Hunter Prime, and she had to be back before Seasprite arrived.
She replayed her contact with herself and Jon, over and over again.
Seventy Nine
Jamie and Anna had spent most of the day before the meeting on their own.
Jamie had asked Anna to marry him, using her own ring as an engagement ring, until such time as he could get her something himself. While he knew Anna loved him, he wasn't sure what her response would be, but he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and knew this would show her he was committed. He'd been overjoyed with her response. She'd simply said "yes", and shyly kissed him on the lips.
He'd whispered it to Jane before the meeting began, and asked her to announce it.
Jamie and Anna wasted no time after the meeting in retiring to Anna's bedroom, flinging off their belts and underwear, and jumping into bed. Just as the old saying 'absence makes the heart grow fonder,' Jamie could think of some other parts of the anatomy and their characteristics, and spent some time demonstrating them to Anna, who obliged in return.
It was while they were making love, Jamie noticed Anna seemed rounder and softer than he remembered, in many places which gave him enormous pleasure. In the sweaty afterglow of love-making, he mentioned it, hoping she wouldn't take it the wrong way.
When she told him the reason, he froze, and Anna had a moment of panic. Was he upset?
Jamie wrapped himself around Anna's body, and kissed her softly on her lips.
A.I. Destiny 5 Talisman of Tomorrow Page 29
