Admiral Solovy (EAS Stalwart II): “I do not recognize the validity of BANIA or any regulations and directives which follow from it. You have, without provocation or cause, attacked a peaceful civilian station operated by Earth Alliance citizens. This is the act of war, not anything I or those with me have done or said.”
Forced to reside partially in ‘real’ space in order to listen, Alex now grew vexed. Her mother’s ship appeared to be untouchable—and even more stunningly beautiful in the elemental space—but the Volnosti ships were ridiculously few in number. She couldn’t find Rychen’s dreadnought anywhere.
She had no idea what space combat was going to entail in an age of adiamene hulls and rampant stealth, but surely numbers still mattered. What was her mother expecting to back the threat up with? For the moment the Volnosti forces were holding off a force four times larger in size.
It was a testament to superior technology and superior motivation, but those would not be enough.
Morgan: Just wait.
Alex: Lekkas, for fuck’s sake, quit vicariously getting yourself off on the combat and stay out of my head—what do you mean, ‘just wait?’
Receiving only a virtual snicker in response, she forcibly yanked herself fully out of the ship and into her body. She blinked, hard. “Ken, what does Morgan Lekkas mean by ‘just wait?’ ”
“Oh, nice of you to join us. We’re fine, thank you, if a smidge nauseated. It would presumably pass if you stopped flying like there weren’t actual people in the ship.”
“Ken, what does she mean?”
“The vessels hidden at Murat? I assume they were called in. But I—”
The rest of Kennedy’s retort faded into the background as Alex plunged into the ship once again, emboldened by the news there may be additional ships incoming.
Murat. As she mulled over the unfamiliar term in her mind, the information came to her through the sea of data in the Noesis. Brand new Federation world less than a kiloparsec from Messium.
She spotted the telltale displacement of another stealthed interdictor approaching. Annoyed at Kennedy’s grumbling, she spun an extra three-sixty as she descended from above.
She didn’t have a good bead on its engines yet, but she mostly needed to distract it and draw it away from the command ship while highlighting its presence. She took aim and streamed her laser toward the enemy craft—
—Her skin shuddered from the unexpected impact of return fire. She gasped in a breath; she was on fire.
No, you are not.
But she could feel it burn. Her shielding held, but she felt its struggles.
Other fighters, now alerted to the interdictor’s presence, unloaded their weapons on her adversary until it veered off in the opposite direction from the command ship.
She allowed herself two seconds to drift and recover before pivoting and seeking—
—the reinforcements arrived.
I’m not certain I would call this reinforcements so much as an additional fleet.
I can’t disagree.
They weren’t solely Rychen’s dreadnought and the older, more traditional ships which accompanied it, either. A new fleet, bearing the Alliance insignia much as her mother’s ship did and of a breathtaking design to match it emerged out of superluminal with pinpoint precision to take up positions surrounding the existing formations.
In the blink of an eye, the Volnosti presence had tripled. Now this was more like it.
Admiral Solovy (EAS Stalwart II): “Admiral Fullerton, Messium Governor Soulis has deemed your attack on Messis I and Northeast Regional Command Headquarters to be unlawful acts of aggression against his government and the residents of Messium. As such, he’s requested protection from the Earth Alliance military.”
Admiral Fullerton (EAS Jefferson): “We are the Earth Alliance military, and Governor Soulis is committing an unlawful act of treason.”
Admiral Solovy (EAS Stalwart II): “As your superior officer, allow me to inform you that you are incorrect. We intend to protect the planet below and all its residents and assets. In furtherance of this intent, Governor Soulis has authorized our use of the Messium Defense Grid.
“Now, despite the fact that you’ve already fired the first shot—despite the fact that you’ve already killed innocents here today—I don’t want to open fire on you. There are thousands of good, honorable men and women serving under you here today, and I don’t want their blood to be shed.
“So I’ll ask you to look at the ships arrayed against you and consider what weaponry they might possess. Weaponry strong enough to crack even your adiamene hulls? I know what weaponry you bring to bear, and I assure you it will not crack ours. I’ll ask you to consider whether your ships can withstand the concentrated firepower of Messium’s new, upgraded Defense Grid arrays.
“Are you willing to risk the lives of thousands under your command to find out? Are you willing to risk your own life?”
The silence hung across space like a shroud.
Admiral Fullerton (EAS Jefferson): “This is not over, Solovy.”
Admiral Solovy (EAS Stalwart II): “That is the first true thing you’ve said today.”
Space on the other side of the demarcation line lit up in the glow of sLume drives as the ships departed. In seconds, all were gone.
Alex stared out at the comparative emptiness left behind, drifting but reluctant to give up the elemental realm. What the hell had just happened here?
6
EAS STALWART II
Messium Stellar System
* * *
“The good news is, Winslow took the bait. The bad news is, Winslow took the bait.”
Miriam awarded Christopher a wry grimace for his attempt at humor. “I’m sorry about your station. It really was nice.”
“It served its initial purpose these last several months, and now it has served its final one. Also, the next station we build won’t be as easy to destroy.”
“True enough. Thankfully, the casualties were kept to the bare minimum. For today.”
After the final check-ins had come through and the rolls reviewed, eight individuals were unaccounted for, all military. It should have been zero, but there would be time for sorrow later.
She squared her shoulders. “This effort will not be won on the battlefield, but I fear eventually it will have to be fought there. Still, we need to remember that any battles we must fight are only to demonstrate our strength when forced or to defend ourselves from direct attack. The goal is the removal of Winslow and the repeal of BANIA. Those events will happen when either political opinion or public opinion stands with us, much preferably both.”
Richard leaned against the table behind them. “We’ve now got hard intel showing that Winslow is blackmailing twenty or more Assembly representatives. The instant they believe we can take her down, they’ll come over to our side—and not an instant earlier.”
“Military support leads to the appearance of strength. The appearance of strength leads to political support. In theory.” She tilted her head. “Thomas, how’s the communications network hub holding up?”
‘We are receiving seventeen hacking attempts per second, including a 768.23 Pbps gambit from North American Military Headquarters. I’m enjoying studying the methodology it’s employing, but it does not pose a meaningful threat. The other attempts are trivial.’
Rychen snorted. “Don’t get too cocky. They won’t give up easily.”
‘May I get slightly cocky? I will endeavor not to overdo it.’
Rychen looked taken aback, if not horrified. He wasn’t accustomed to interacting with a fully realized Artificial on a daily basis, and Miriam waved him down off red alert status.
Thomas had arrived quite the comedian, enough so she found herself wondering what programming tweaks Dr. Canivon might have slipped in.
When the Artificial had announced he wanted to be called ‘Thomas,’ Miriam asked him if it was an homage to any particular one of the many famous persons bearing the name, such
as Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine or Thomas Aquinas, to name a few.
He’d replied that it was an acronym, much like ‘Annie’ had once been. His name was an acronym for Transcendentally Hallowed Overlord of the Milky Way, Alliance Sector.
Not much more than a year ago the statement would have sent her scrambling for security lockdown procedures and possibly a power cord to slice, but a lot had changed since then. These days, she tried to focus on what mattered and put aside what didn’t. To not jump at shadows, and to not let narrow thinking and conventional wisdom override what she saw with her own eyes and knew to be true in her own judgment.
Could Thomas lock them out of the network and wreak his own manner of havoc across the Earth Alliance Armed Forces? While there were safeguards in place to prevent it, if he were sufficiently motivated to do so, probably. Would he? Probably not.
Regardless, the theoretical threat the Artificial posed to them was infinitesimal compared to the very real and now extant threat the prime minister represented.
Winslow ordered Admiral Fullerton to destroy Messis I because the woman believed that was where Miriam had situated the hardware and operating software by which she controlled the Armed Forces communications network. The reason Winslow believed this was they had planted information suggesting the Artificial had been transferred to the station from the Regional Command Headquarters earlier in the week. The destruction of the Communications and Data Center as well had merely been to cover the woman’s tracks and to account for the possibility the information was incorrect.
In truth, the hardware comprising Thomas’ neural net and the communications network hub had been transferred to the Stalwart II as soon as Miriam arrived. From now on, her operational control capabilities accompanied her and her fleet.
The purpose behind the feint was two-fold: to learn something about the extent of Winslow’s infiltration into and authority over certain sectors of the military, and to see how far she was willing to go from the beginning.
The answer to the latter question, it seemed, was very far indeed.
Three-fold. In truth it had been three-fold. By forcing Winslow—or her people—to fire first, to be the aggressor in a public venue broadcast across the galaxy, public opinion stood to swing in Miriam’s direction. At least, this was the hope.
It was a tactic she’d learned from Eleni Gianno. But Miriam had made damn sure innocent civilians weren’t sacrificed in order for the tactic to succeed.
Her Communications Officer came over and cleared his throat. “Admiral Solovy, I’ve got a Mia Requelme on the secure holocomm. She’s requested to speak to you.”
“Thank you. I’ll be there in a minute. Thomas, you are free to be slightly cocky, but keep it to yourself for now. Christopher, please reach out to Brigadier Ashonye and seal the deal with him. He’s an excellent officer, and we could use him on our side.
“Richard, I recall Rear Admiral Cuellar in Central Command once presented a working paper on the opportunities for strategic deployment of sub-Artificials in combat scenarios. See if you can dig up the details on the paper, and if it displays sympathies toward our position I’ll have a private chat with him.”
This time she waited for each of them to respond in an agreeable manner before she left them for the QEC chamber. Once there she enjoyed a long, quiet, solitary breath then activated the holo.
“Ms. Requelme, you’re looking well. And doing well, I hear.”
The young woman blushed faintly. “Ah, yes, ma’am. Thank you. On that note…before we go any further, allow me to apologize for the circumstances surrounding my departure from EASC. In retrospect, I should have come to you with my safety concerns and given you the opportunity to help.”
“I agree. A bit of warning would have been welcome. However, the unfortunate truth is I would not have been able to give you the kind of help you needed. Returning to Romane was the right decision, as I expect is irrefutable at this point.”
She paused. “I appreciate the apology, but why give it? Unless the answer is simply manners. Which is of course a perfectly acceptable answer.”
Mia’s expression lightened, and she seemed to relax. “I do try to use those, but they’re not the only reason. Caleb Marano told me I could trust you, and I should have trusted him, because you’ve proved it to be completely true.”
Miriam smiled at that, more than a little pleased her son-in-law was willing to advocate on her behalf. And unbidden, too. “Glad to hear it. Now, what can I do for you?”
“It’s not what you can do for me, Admiral. It’s what I—what the IDCC—wants to do for you. Speaking on the IDCC’s behalf, we support your initiative and are ready to offer whatever assistance you can use, publicly or privately.”
“Ms. Requelme, the IDCC has been supporting me from the start.”
“The Prevos have been supporting you from the start. And Kennedy Rossi, clearly. And Abigail, to the extent she counts as affiliated with anyone other than herself. But the Prevos are not the IDCC, a distinction I suspect you recognize more than most.
“I’m referring to an official level of organizational and institutional support from the governments of the independent colonies which comprise the IDCC.”
Miriam nodded thoughtfully. “I understand. Here’s the wrinkle: the Earth Alliance is rather the prideful sort. For evident historical reasons, even its most open-minded leaders like to view it as the grande dame of the galaxy, the indulgent matriarch who can afford to oblige the occasional upstart. This view bears little relation to reality and hasn’t for some time. But the simple fact is, I must win the Earth Alliance back from within the Earth Alliance.
“If I explicitly accept your support, or any third party’s support for that matter, my adversaries will call me a shill and a puppet for outside interests. I am grateful—I mean it—but in trying to help me, I fear you will do more harm than good.”
She held up a hand when Mia started to respond. “Now, that being said, it is patently obvious to any and all observers that the IDCC’s interests and my own are in close alignment. So obvious it will be suspicious if you do not express your support. Make whatever public statements you would declare if you did not know me and we had been unable to speak. And don’t take it personally when I cannot respond.”
“Thank you, Admiral. I’ll see to it.”
“One last thing. When I win the day, the Alliance will have a treaty with the IDCC. Perhaps then we can finally see a measure of peace.”
The young woman frowned, though she quickly covered it up. Not quickly enough.
“Is there something else, Ms. Requelme?”
“Alex…didn’t tell you what they learned while they were in the portal network, did she?”
Miriam sighed. “We only spent a few minutes together, but no. She did not.”
“Well, I’m sure she thought you had more important things to occupy you and will tell you later!”
“She will now. Thank you for your overture, and I hope the day soon comes when we can be public allies.”
Miriam had hardly closed the connection when an incoming comm request from Eleni arrived. What were the odds the field marshal wanted to discuss a public show of support for Miriam from the Federation?
She had the support of everyone who mattered in the galaxy, except the ones she most needed.
SIYANE
Space, Northeast Quadrant
“What? No, it’s…” I’m going to kill you, Mia “…listen, Mom, can we talk about this later? I promise you it will keep until you’re in a safer situation.”
“You’re worried about my safety?”
Alex dropped her head back against the rest. “Yes. You’re supposed to be comfortably ensconced in a big, shiny office with shelves of tea sets and antique books, not in the middle of a war zone on a command ship that’s weaponized like a destroyer.”
“Ah. Fair observation, I concede. But while my work may have appeared relatively tame to you for some time now, I assure you, I have seen
battle, Alex. More than once.”
“I know you have. Just be careful.”
“I could say the same to you, and I will. Be careful. This isn’t your fight.”
Why did everyone keep saying that to her? It unequivocally was her fight. But many of the reasons why it was her fight were intertwined with the revelations she wasn’t yet divulging, so she ignored the comment for now. “I think we’re heading to Romane for the night. We’ll drop Kennedy and Noah off, check on Mia and see what the world has in store for us in the morning.”
“Good. My preference would be for you to remain there, but whatever you do, don’t visit Earth right now. I know you want to go home, but it’s not safe. In fact, it is extremely dangerous. Winslow almost certainly has security watching your loft.”
“That bitch.” Her mom actually laughed a touch; she’d take it as a win. “I won’t. Promise. Now, stop letting me distract you and go work.”
Alex signed off but didn’t swing the chair around to face the cabin. Kennedy and Noah had been whispering behind her for the last minute, and she needed a chance to prepare for the presumed result of their conference.
…But she wasn’t going to get it. Kennedy showed up in the cockpit and plopped down in Caleb’s chair with exaggerated flair.
“You spent half an hour telling me all about your adventures, yet you neglected to mention the fact you’d discovered how to enter an altered state of consciousness with your ship?”
“I was planning to get around to it. But I thought it would take longer to fully explain, and the aliens, Amaranthe, the Metigens and so on were all more important.”
“Possibly valid, if still suspect.” Kennedy dropped her arms to her knees, leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Are you okay? Because you don’t seem okay. And Caleb….”
She glanced to the rear of the cabin where Caleb was inspecting Noah’s new biosynthetic arm, twisting it around and poking at it with one hand while he sipped on a beer with the other.
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