by Jim Rudnick
“What do you mean, it’s not you guys?”
The team leader held out his hands, palms up, and said, “Not coming from us—the academy IT has been hacked. This is a feed from somewhere else.” He looked up at the back of the screen on the huge scaffolding.
“The crawl says too that the cables to the screen are rigged—else I’d say just pull the plug on the whole screen,” he added, but even Tanner could tell that he didn’t know what to believe.
On a monitor on the audio-visual console desk, the vid screen was showing the face of the woman doing the talking, and Tanner felt a lot better as the face faded away.
But like many of the audience just beyond the stage, he was suddenly presented with what looked like a patient in a room in a hospital. She was tied to the bed. She had hair that had not been combed in months. The length and curling of her long, long fingernails and toenails was more than apparent, and she looked like she weighed less than ninety pounds. As the patient tossed and slowly turned toward the camera, he realized they were going to see her face. She had a bloody temple and a scrape along one ear, and as she suddenly thrust her head at the camera, Tanner gasped.
He heard the audience out front gasp loudly too.
The woman was an identical twin of the woman who’d spoken to them before, and she was now slowly fading back into the screen as the patient room disappeared.
She spoke one more time, and it was burned into Tanner’s consciousness.
“I ask the gathered heads of state,” she said, ”to launch an investigation into this Issian terrorist program … the killing of a twin over and over … to make the rulers of Eons that much stronger. This must not be allowed …”
Christ. What a mess.
He turned and charged back to the same side of the stage, reached the edge, and said to the Provost guards who were now all standing up, ready for whatever came next, “Caution here, lads … no mistakes, but then again, we know our duty.”
He finally looked up on stage and saw that the Master Adept had frozen at the lectern and had now turned forward to face the audience.
And not a sound came from the thousands out there. Not a scream or a yell or a catcall—the audience had taken this in and as yet hadn’t voiced anything back.
And suddenly, the Baroness was at the Master Adept’s side, and she pulled the microphone back up so that she could use it and spoke softly and very, very respectfully.
She acknowledged the audience and heads of states first and simply said, “I would like to speak about that video, if you all will permit me?”
She didn’t wait, however, for any okays, and she just went on.
“I do not know if what we just saw is true. Or not. I do know that the patient we did see looks like—well, yes, like a twin for this Kendal Steyn. And I want to know more, so, Kendal,” she said, staring at the row of media folks and cameramen off to the side, “I make you this offer. The Barony will offer you sanctuary, and we will be pleased to include all of your group too. We will provide you full immunity to allow us to take you, and anyone else you want, to plead your case at the next RIM Confederacy Council meeting in about a month and a half. They will listen and they will decide if what they hear does amount to this terrorism you accuse the Issians of—or not. If those terms are agreeable, then simply contact me via our embassy over in Dessau, and I will make all that happen. It is the best thing, I think, to air out these charges and get to the truth.
The Master Adept nodded beside her, and there was quiet all over the stage after she said “and I concur.”
Then the Doge of Conclusion and the Chairman Gramsci of the Confederacy Council rose and began to clap their hands. Every other head of state then did the same, and the applause grew to now include the audience itself.
Cadets threw up more hats, and once again, the event changed its tone. The Baroness took the Master Adept back over to her chair and had her sit.
Professor Nigel Watkins, nonplussed by what had just happened, strode up to the microphone. He made his two-minute talk about how happy the professorial union was with the new academy and sat.
There was no way Professor Watkins would have missed his opportunity to speak, no matter what had just happened. Tanner saw that Superintendent Chapman spoke to Admiral Childs and must have gotten a good to go, as he then approached the lectern and made his speech. It was nice, as he actually congratulated the admirals—all three of them—on their help and attention to detail.
The cadets yelled, “Woo-hoo,” and even Tanner had to think that this was a bit self-serving, but he dipped his head to Chapman at the end of the man’s few minutes and received a grin in return.
Admiral Higgins reciprocated with the same kind of kudos to the construction firm as well, and finally Admiral McQueen took the lectern. He waved at a couple of ensigns, and they each went to one end of the stage, holding between them a long blue and gold ribbon with the dagger icon of the RIM Confederacy Navy on same.
A few more ensigns made their way between the heads of state, who all stood and took a spot somewhere along the long ribbon. Once all the heads of state were armed with scissors, the admiral finally spoke.
“Well, it’s been an interesting day to be sure. But while some of the things we’ve been told today await verification later—one thing I can assure you of is this. The Academy will be officially open as soon as our collection here of RIM Confederacy heads of state do the last thing—cut the ribbon, please!” he said, and almost together, each of the heads cut the ribbon.
The audience swelled and hundreds of hats went up into the air. Shouts of woo-hoo echoed throughout the audience, and there wasn’t a seated audience member or stage guest.
Tanner grinned up at Helena and she grinned back.
Even the Baroness smiled down at him too.
One thing he thought of then was that at no time had he succumbed to the PTSD that must still be within him. And he said to himself, ”I never even used the one, two two ... one, two two pattern of EMDR that worked for me in the past.”
He was not cured.
But this event—as traumatic as it had been—hadn’t sent him into a spin.
Good to know, he thought, as the cadets and their families now slowly went to the back of the tarmac to enjoy the catering and the bars.
As he turned back, he noted that the Master Adept had taken her seat again and just stared off at the backs of the audience well in the distance. She looks lost in thought, he thought. Wonder how much of what this Kendal had offered could be proven … or not …
#####
He squirmed just a bit on the chair and realized that the admiral had not meant to disparage the audio-visual team, yet somehow Higgins felt that yesterday’s events were someone’s fault.
“Dunno who opened up the event to this kind of hacker intrusion—but someone is to blame,” he said, as he pointed at Tanner.
“But that’s not going to be your worry anymore, Captain,” he said as he rifled through the folders on his desk and found the one he was looking for. He opened same and nodded as he pulled out a sheaf of folded papers and handed them over.
“As of oh nine hundred hours today, you’re hereby discharged of the duties you were charged with, what, five months ago. That also includes what was supposed to be the first semester of teaching too. We were going to put you into Aerial Combat Tactics, I believe, but that’s moot now,” he said as he handed over the sheaf of orders.
Tanner didn’t look at them but tilted his head at Higgins.
“Sir—can I ask why my orders were changed?”
“No idea, Captain—but I was told to tell you to report to the Baroness over on the Atlas at fifteen hundred hours later today. Those orders just release you—I’ve no idea where you’re off to, Captain.”
“I’ve also taken the liberty of letting Admirals McQueen and Childs know about this too—I know that once you do find out, you will let them know too?” he said, as he stood and held out his hand.
“Captain
—loved having you a part of this—should have asked earlier. Wherever you do end up, I know you’ll be fine,” he said, and Tanner shook his hand gratefully.
Having an admiral—well, maybe three admirals—who liked you and your abilities was a good thing to have.
He left and made sure to say goodbye to the admiral’s aide, Lieutenant CoSharan, and he promised to yes, let him know too where he ended up.
Packing was pretty easy, figuring that the Sterling could drop him off somewhere on his trip to his next assignment, and he had a steward run his bags over to Helena’s ship.
He couldn’t resist, and he took up that blue flyer for one more trip out to the academy towers, and he made a loop around each before heading back to Dessau.
He turned in his Eons IDs, got a thanks from some clerk at the quartermaster’s station, and then walked over to the Sterling. But before he got there, he sat on a dolly that wasn’t in use on the tarmac and used his PDA to send out some messages. First to Kondo and he received a “yup, will see you this aft” response, which meant that Kondo knew he’d be aboard later. He messaged Professor Watkins, thanked him for his comments yesterday, and wished him luck with the next class. He messaged Superintendent Chapman too and thanked him for the help in getting the towers up and ready.
He sat in the sunshine, his eyes closed and head tilted back, and just enjoyed the late spring day.
#####
As he went to the boarding ramp on the Atlas, he got a real grin from a lieutenant he barely knew and was passed through and onto the ship in a few seconds.
All the lieutenant had said was that the Baroness would see him in her quarters.
This meant he had to go up to Deck Four, almost above the bridge itself, to what was called the Royal Quarters.
It was three times the size of the captain’s quarters, and as he remembered, it had the softest of carpets, the walls adorned with art, and the couch looked like you’d need to be a Royal just to sit in same.
He slowly walked Deck Five, stopping every so often to say hello to crew that he knew. There were some new ones he didn’t know, but he got the biggest of smiles and kudos from one and all. It was a long way from the boarding port up to the final set of stairs up to Deck Four, and he took them two at a time.
Turning forward once more, he went right up to the Royal Quarters door and spoke to the AI.
“Ship’s AI—this is Captain Scott, seeking permission to enter,” he said, and moments later, the door slid open.
Inside was a foyer, followed by a small butler’s pantry area that then opened up into a huge great room with many seating groups of couches and love seats.
At one on the left, the Baroness sat, bouncing a bare foot on her crossed legs, and she smiled up at him.
Sitting to her left, the Lady St. August sat also barefooted, and he wondered who had had the duty of painting each toenail those different shades of what appeared to be green—and then not green too.
He smiled and took a seat on the edge of a love seat and turned all his attention to the Baroness.
She nodded and took a sip of what looked like some kind of sparkling wine and said very, very softly, “Welcome, Admiral.”
She reached forward, slid a velvet box in the Barony blue and red with the twin crowns on the top across the table between them, and then leaned back. He looked over at Helena who had not a single thing on her face, just a blank stare at him.
He picked up the box and opened it. Yes, there were two silver stars meaning that the one wearing these would hold the rank of rear admiral.
He closed the box and yet didn’t put it back down on the table instead he grasped it tightly in his hand.
He looked over at Helena.
“This your doing, Ma’am?” he asked quietly.
She looked at the Baroness and said, “See, told you. No, Admiral, this has nothing to do with me—this is an honor from the Baroness entirely. Ask her,” she said, and so he looked at the Baroness.
She nodded and took another big sip of her sparkling wine.
“Admiral, yes, I thought that as you’re going to be marrying the heir to the Barony—you’d need at least a star—maybe more,” she said, and once again, Tanner blushed and his gaze whipped over to Helena.
“I didn’t have to say anything, Tanner—she knew,” Helena responded, and he nodded at that.
He had learned that trying to keep something like his staying nights on the Sterling would be a lost cause—obviously.
“Ma’am,” he said to the Baroness, “I also received a discharge on my original orders to come to Eons and help with construction and then remain to teach the first semester. Might I inquire as to what my new orders will be?”
The Baroness looked surprised. “Admiral—you now run the whole Barony Navy. You decide what you want to do, where you want to go. Yes, there will be missions that you will be given—but as the admiral, you can do them yourself or give it to others too. Is this not how a navy works?” she asked, and he had to nod back to her. She had that right.
“As well, one thing I can tell you is that this ship, the Atlas, will be your flagship—same Captain Lazaro, but he’ll do all the work of running your flagship—and the reports too. I understand that’s a real bane of any captain’s existence. But an admiral doesn’t have to do any of that. Will that suffice for your own ship, Admiral,” she asked, and he grinned right back at her.
“Plus, you will now also take over the Captains Council—your fleet, your captains—you run them as you will. Oh, here’s a word for you to remember, Admiral—delegate. Learn to delegate …”
He nodded, as it made sense, and continued to listen.
“As you probably know, this ship was on Ghayth just this morning. Yes, we used the new Barony Drive to get to Eons—took I think, what, eleven seconds. We are covering that flight and all other Atlas flights with the story that we have upgraded the Tachyon Drives with the Seenra—very hush-hush, you should say, but then what isn’t when you sit at the top of the heap,” she added that aside and sipped again. And again.
“We will make the necessary notices to the Barony Navy and announce same at an upcoming RIM Confederacy Council meeting too. We will leave it to you to take care of the Atlas crew and Captains Council. Will that suffice?”
He nodded but then stopped. “Ma’am, you started this conversation with the notice that you know that … that Helena and I are in love. And we intend to marry, but at this point, Ma’am, we have not discussed—”
She held up a hand. “Admiral, if there is one thing you must know, it’s that the groom gets no part of the planning,” she said, and it was as if he suddenly was not even in the room. She turned instead to Helena and smiled.
“Dear, have you as yet even thought about a date?”
“Ma’am, yes, in about a year we thought,” Helena said.
“Location?” the Baroness asked.
“Well, we were hoping—”
The Baroness interrupted Helena and both nodded and grinned at her. “Helena, we’d like—the Barony would like—to host your wedding at the Barony Palace. We’ll build a whole new wing for you two, and it will be the biggest and best wedding the RIM has ever seen. Ten thousands guests, every single head of state, all the RIM Council members too. We can do this up superbly.”
She nodded and Tanner could tell that he had really no say at all.
Not a blessed thing.
“Oh, your bridal party—any idea how big you want that?”
Helena shook her head and said. “Let me think on that one …”
And the talk went on.
It took about an hour for them to discuss everything from which botanist to approach to create their own wedding flowers to which vid service to stream the wedding all over the RIM.
An admiral, he thought. At forty.
Wonder how far this could go. He made sure his eyes didn’t glaze over when they began to talk about swag for the guests and if a centerpiece for a table valued at one thousand cre
dits seemed big enough.
And he squeezed that box of stars…
CHAPTER TWELVE
Epilogue ~
As he slowly turned over, he had his eyes shut tight in case Helena was awake.
He figured that if he looked like he was asleep, she’d not wake him with more questions.
The three of them had sat for almost three hours in the Royal Quarters, and he’d heard more about the wedding than he ever wanted to know. Just get a ladder and elope was his answer.
Marry at a city hall on some RIM planet somewhere.
Find a small spot and raise some kids.
The squint that he held his eyes closed in strengthened.
There was no way that this was going to be a simple life anymore.
Admiral, he thought.
I’m an admiral and got my first star.
Will need a great aide. Will need an understanding with Kondo too—the ship is his. I just tell him where to take me.
No reports, and at that he almost grinned, and that would tell Helena he was awake if she was watching his face.
So he squelched that and thought about a whole bunch of odds and ends.
The Barony Drive—it’d get out pretty damn soon; he’d have to find a way to monitor that story.
The Kendal thing with the terrorist claims against the Issian Inner Circle. Next month in Juno.
The Caliph and the unending hate tween the Caliphate and the Barony.
The Ikarian longevity virus and it’s vaccine.
Ghayth and it’s hidden future to the Barony.
What he was going to do about his friendships with Bram and Alver and Kondo too was something more to think on.
What might be happening over on Leudi—had there not been some kind of vid that some ships had been seized?
He had to remember that he was the new head of the Barony Navy—that for the issues around the RIM Navy, he only could care and look after so much.
He remembered that he was also supposed to delegate too.
