by Blaze Ward
And it would give him a chance to groom a new generation of Senators for the front benches. Tadej couldn’t imagine not returning to this office in five years, even if Judit held a government for a whole cycle.
“It is an interesting idea, Stacia,” he replied carefully. “I will give it serious thought.”
She nodded and departed without another word. Yes, he was absolutely not sharing her with Judit or anyone else. She was too good.
The Committee, indeed.
Yes, he would certainly be able to protect Nils from there. Most of the fallout from this affair was political, not naval, but the First Lord would need protections from fools.
Jessica, even more so, assuming she survived.
Epilogue: Tomas
Date of the Republic June 22, 394 Above Ballard
“Look,” Tomas Kigali said to the image on the screen, utterly vexed, and completely unwilling to give an inch. “I don’t care what you think. I’m in charge here and you’ll obey my orders or turn your silly ass around right now and go home. Understand me?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Kigali saw his first officer’s head emerge from the ladder well, popping up like the old character Kilroy to see what was about.
Kigali kept his face neutral as he stared into the camera.
A woman’s face appeared, replacing the much–younger male centurion who had been on the screen.
She was older, but still very beautiful, with long, black hair just starting to stripe silver and blue–green, almond–shaped eyes that were the result of having had a Japanese ancestor, back on the homeworld.
She stared at him for several seconds.
Probably thinks I’ll flinch.
Good luck with that, lady.
“Do you know who I am, Command Centurion?” she said simply. It was a calm voice, smooth and warm. It sounded like a very polite velvet hammer.
Kigali nodded.
“First Fleet Lord Petia Veronika Naoumov,” he replied, equally calm, almost on the verge of giggling. “Commander of RAN Athena, flagship of Homefleet.”
He smiled evilly at her.
“My support squadron.”
“Your what?”
“My support squadron,” he repeated.
“And you’re going to give me orders, Kigali?” she continued, obviously intent on pursuing this game of wills.
Please, you aren’t even a planetary governor, lady. Granted, three times as smart as the ones I know, but still.
“Let me put it to you this way, madam,” he said with a sharp edge. “Jessica Keller put me in charge. This system is under martial law. That order was signed by the Senate. You work for the Senate. So either you produce a document signed by the Premier that rescinds his order, or you take orders. My orders. Which part of that statement confuses you?”
Honestly, how often do we get to do something this amazingly stupid yet entirely legal without serious repercussions?
But he kept his face neutral, even as Lam was alternating between shock and giggles down on the floor. At least Aki was all business right now.
“Why you little…” she started to say, when something, someone, interrupted her. The audio pickup at the other end was pointed the wrong way, so he couldn’t hear what was said, only that it was a male voice.
First Fleet Lord Naoumov glanced to one side and then stared daggers at him across the gap between ships as she leaned back and hissed under her breath.
And then First Lord Kasum appeared on the screen.
Okay, maybe we went a bit too far with that last one.
“Command Centurion Kigali,” First Lord began slowly. “I see an awful lot of damaged vessels and what appear to be pieces of other vessels in near orbit. What is the status of this squadron?”
Kigali took a breath and let the silliness and sarcasm go. It was one thing to tweak Petia. After all, she’d been his first Command Centurion when he was just a young pup cornet, fresh out of the Academy. They went way back.
This was the boss. Jessica’s boss.
“Alexandria Station was destroyed by IFV Amsel, sir,” he said, suddenly professional again. “Casualties were almost none, as we were able to evacuate the station ahead of time. On our side, Auberon, Stralsund, and Brightoak all suffered serious damage, but overall loss of life was fairly low for something this big. Rajput is probably a total loss at this point as a fighting hull, but she suffered only twenty–six dead and one hundred eighty–five injured to some degree requiring formal medical assistance. That design was built tough. We killed the light cruiser SturmTeufel and the escort frigates Baasch and Kappel. Imperial survivors were rescued and are currently being treated at various medical facilities on the surface. The battlecruiser Petrograd and the Blackbird are both going to require a year in dry–dock before they’re ready to try something like that again.”
Kigali watched the pain flash deep in Kasum’s eyes, only for a moment.
“Two questions, Kigali,” the man said slowly. “Where is Jessica Keller? And did the Sentience survive?”
Tomas Kigali smiled warmly.
“Jessica’s fine, First Lord,” he said. “You caught her down on the planet, picking up a crew member who escaped the station’s destruction. That’s why CR–264 has the flag right now. That and Br’er Rabbit being the only warship in the area ready for battle, unless Mendocino decides to throw empty milk bottles at you. At least until you guys got here.”
Kigali gestured widely, encompassing the star controller Athena and her battle squadron, four cruiser hulls and six destroyers. It was enough to take on anything.
Hell, Athena and her flight wing could probably have taken on Amsel and Petrograd alone.
“Why is she personally picking up a crew member from the surface? She’s supposed to be in charge here.”
“It’s Moirrey, boss,” Kigali replied. “She was on the station right before it blew and apparently has the codes necessary to reboot Suvi, once we build her a new home.”
“The Sentience survived?”
“She did.”
She.
It was weird to consider her a woman, rather than a very complicated electronic sub–system, but that’s exactly what she had been. Would be again.
Probably have to stick her on a planet next time though, like a high priestess in a temple. Space wasn’t safe if you couldn’t move around and couldn’t fire back. And nobody was going to give her guns. Not exactly the best way to live forever, but it beat the alternatives.
First Lord studied his face as he gathered wool.
“Flag, this is Athena,” First Lord said suddenly. “Requesting an orbital assignment. The rest of the squadron will make themselves available for patrol and defense duties.”
Wow. Kasum was really letting him be in charge.
First Fleet Lord’s face appeared on the screen again.
She looked less angry. Maybe.
“Tom,” she said very succinctly. “You are buying the first round of drinks when we get to Ithome. Understand me?”
“Pet,” he smiled back. “I’m a hero around here. I can’t pay for drinks. But you and yours are certainly welcome to join me for the big celebration we’ve got scheduled. It’s the first step in my plan to get myself elected governor of Ballard.”
“Governor, Kigali?” she asked incredulously.
“Governor,” he concluded.
After all, considering the current occupant, how hard could it be?
Epilogue: Moirrey
Date of the Republic June 22, 394 Ballard
Moirrey took a very deep breath as Cayenne settled in the middle of a slightly–seedy cricket pitch with a howling whine of blowers, like a giant, kinda–mushy tomato in the middle of a bowl of salad.
The life pod had managed to land safely from Alexandria Station, but it were in the bloody middle of nowhere, a boonies so remote it made home on Ramsey look urbane. And somebody had blowed up the primary node in the planetary communications grid, so nobody could talk to anybody, e
ven after they’d hiked three days back to civilization and then found a hotel that would put them up without credit cards until they could access local accounts.
Seriously, who would make up a story that crazy and try to swindle people with it?
But they’d finally gotten hold of somebody that had enough horsepower to call orbit and let everyone know they was here and safe. Then, it were just a matter of waiting until a ride could arrive.
And drink a couple of shandies with a burger. Life–pod ration–packs were nutritious and all, but ain’t nobody ever made them something to look forward to.
Gaucho were apparently feeling like making this a combat–drop–day.
The ramp was halfway down a’fore the landing struts touched and Moirrey could see people hot–dropping off the deck before the big, red zip were even done moving. Suddenly, there were marines everywhere. Looked like all of them.
And guns. Even Cayenne had her turrets gimbaled out and sniffing sky.
Serious?
Moirrey found herself standing in the middle of giant bubble of safe as marine fire squads ran past her and surrounded the whole field, looking outward.
Lady Keller were striding across the field, looking all serious like, with Marcelle two steps behind.
Moirrey couldn’t figure out what she had done to draw that level of attention. Still, better safe than sorry.
Moirrey came to attention and waited. Beside her, she felt Suvi do the same.
Lady Keller came to a halt about a step away and stared at Moirrey and her sidekick for a long second. At least they’d finally found a place to shower.
Afore Moirrey could say anything, Lady Keller took another step and engulfed her in a hug.
Oh.
Moirrey wrapped her arms around the taller woman and let all the everything go, settling for the warmth of human touch.
And nobody would ever know that weren’t touching her at that moment, but Moirrey could even tell Lady Keller were on the verge of crying.
Moments passed. Or minutes.
Lady Keller finally got hold of herself and leaned back without letting go, shifting to the side to look at the third person and leaving one arm wrapped around Moirrey’s back to hold her close.
It were kinda weird having a big sister, always having been the big sister.
Still, Lady Keller, Jessica, dinna say anything.
And the other woman watched her calmly.
“You would look better as a blond,” Jessica said finally. “It suits your coloring better.”
Suvi smiled back at her and considered her response. She raised a hand to her long auburn locks and let it run through her fingers.
“It will fade and wash out in a few weeks,” she replied.
“And the freckles on your face and arms?” Jessica continued.
The day were warm enough that they’d rolled up their long–sleeves, but not so warm that they’d left tunics behind. It might rain later tonight.
“A variant of henna, Marshal,” Suvi said. “It will also fade and wash out in a few weeks. And then I will look much more like the person you might have expected.”
Jessica nodded. Moirrey was on pins and needles as she waited.
Jessica turned back to Moirrey and sized her up first, before she turned her attention back to the Irish android babe.
“So what’s the next step in the plan, ladies?” she asked simply.
Nothing more than that. No orders. No second guessing. They were in charge here, and she were supporting them, ’cause Lady Keller had told her to do whatever it took, and was willing to back her up.
Kinda awesome.
Suvi smiled and unbuttoned a pocket over her left breast. She pulled put a small chipcard that she handed to Jessica.
“This contains the instructions necessary to reboot the Suvi backup files I have stored, as well as all of the current locations where I was backing myself up. You will need to build a new cognition array from these specifications to house things, and then pour her into it.”
“Her,” Jessica said.
It weren’t a question now, was it?
Uncomfortable silence for a few seconds.
“Will they be able to tell the difference?” Jessica continued.
Moirrey remembered to breathe.
Suvi squinted carefully at both women.
“There are perhaps a half–dozen people on Ballard who knew me, her, well enough before to see that what you restore won’t be fully the woman they knew. Dr. Crncevic is one, and a few of the more senior researchers from the university. For anyone else, the system will be good enough.”
A moment of silence.
“She won’t dream,” Suvi continued. “She won’t remember Ayumu Ulfsson, or Javier Aritza, or Doyle Iwakuma, or Piper Iwakuma–Holmström. At least, not the way I do. She will be content, however, to be a librarian at the greatest library in human history.”
Jessica nodded. She turned to Moirrey with a sly grin.
“Moirrey, I do not believe I have been properly introduced to your friend. Would you do me the honor?”
Aquitaine were weird that way. On Ramsey, hell, anywhere ya wents in Lincolnshire, ya walked up and said hi.
But they had to be all formal and stuff. They made a production out of it.
Still, it were her big sister asking. She could do that.
“Jessica,” Moirrey said, pretty sure that were the first time she’d ever used her first name to her face. “May I introduce you to my friend, Summer Baudin? Summer, my commanding officer, my friend, my sister–in–life–and–all–things, Jessica Keller.”
“Summer?” Jessica asked carefully.
“I was named for a woman whose name meant summer in the ancient homeworld language of Finnish,” Suvi replied, equally evasively.
“And a descendant of Henri Baudin, the founding father of Aquitaine?”
Suvi eyed her hard for a moment, and then smiled.
“If they had let me have a body like this then, Jessica, I might have given Katayoun Szabolski a run for her money. And I miss him today almost as much as the day he first walked into my life, or the day he died. I would have happily been a second wife for as long as he would have had me.”
Jessica surprised them both by stepping forward and wrapping her other arm around Suvi, bringing them all three into a fierce hug. She felt another set of arms a moment later as Marcelle joined them.
“So,” Jessica finally said when they broke to come up for air. “What’s next for you, Summer? Can I give you a lift somewhere?”
The redhead smiled wryly at each of the three women in turn.
“Jessica,” she said finally. “It is my intent to disappear from human history at this point. Suvi will be reborn somewhere, sometime soon, but Summer gets to live a life beyond the gilded cage.”
“I’m still surprised you dinna pour yourself into a starship,” Moirrey added. “That’d be right daft fun.”
“Don’t think I didn’t consider it, pipsqueak. But my kind aren’t welcome anywhere, any more. It would have only been a matter of time before someone found me out and decided to do something about it. And Ballard wouldn’t have been there to protect me. Nor you.”
“And now?” Jessica asked.
Summer studied all of them closely for a moment.
Moirrey could feel a sudden storm wind blow up around her, though there were nothing there to mess anyone’s hair. Felt like lightning, too.
“Now?” Summer said, raising her chin. “There will be more war, Jessica. It doesn’t take the computing power of a planet to calculate that. I have seen enough history to know that Fribourg has been weakened, and Aquitaine made strong. You will take the war to them. You may even win it, Command Centurion Jessica Keller.”
“Me?” Jessica said, surprised.
Moirrey blinked too. Win? Us? Wow.
“Go walk the main square in Ithome and listen to the voices you will hear,” Summer replied. “Human morale is a powerful thing. All of Ballard, all
of Aquitaine will be behind you, after this battle.”
“And what about you, Summer,” Jessica asked. “What part will you play?”
“None.”
“None?”
“If I’m one of you, I can hide among you, Jessica. I fully intend to vanish from human history and learn what it means to be human. There’s a whole galaxy out there for me to explore, and many lifetimes to do it in.”
“Do ya gots to leave immediate–like?” Moirrey asked plaintively. Disappears ferever? Hardships in the brush had forged a special thing to be lost so quickly.
“I can stay for a bit,” Summer said with a warm smile. “There’s a good burger and beer joint we found in town that would love to host the Hero of Ballard.”
“I’m not sure about that, Summer,” Jessica said sharply, the razor’s edge of her tongue for the first time Moirrey could remember. “We failed.”
“No,” Summer replied, just as sharp. “Nobody died on the station. Suvi will return. The Red Admiral had his squadron broken by a woman half his size and half his tonnage. In their moment of darkness, Jessica Keller and Auberon were there. Knights on shining steeds. You will be remembered.”
Moirrey could tell her sister wanted to argue the point, so she gave her a secret hug, just the two of them.
“We done it, Jessica,” she said simply.
It were enough.
“Yes, pipsqueak,” Jessica replied with a warm smile. “We did.”
Epilogue: Jessica
Date of the Republic June 24, 394 Above Ballard
Jessica came to attention before the door. It wasn’t the dragon’s den at Fleet HQ, but it was close enough. Nils Kasum awaited her within.
RAN Athena was a flagship in every sense of the word. Her flag bridge was huge, designed for a staff of people to have staff of their own. And her crew facilities were expected to support a raft of dignitaries and ambassadors in high comfort. First Lord had an entire suite to himself, having left Kamil Miloslav back home to tend the fireplace.
Marcelle fussed over her uniform one last time, flattening invisible wrinkles and wiping away microscopic specs of dust that had landed in the ten minutes since they had walked down the ramp from Cayenne.
