by P. S. Power
Tiera certainly didn't mention the idea to them.
There was also a lot of jewelry, silver and gold things with fine gems. After a few days a lot of people were wearing things, including the crew, if off duty. They had a dress code after all, and oddly enough, ten pounds of chains weren't part of that at all. One clever Austran man managed to make a machine that could think, using it. A computer. It was simple though, since he wasn't an expert at such things, he admitted. It was just his hobby. He gave it to Taman to play with, after a bit, which meant she and the other kids had figured out how to make it work about ten minutes later. Or so it seemed.
The truth was that they'd had lessons from one of their tutors.
The interesting part came on the fifth day, when one of the Austran crew people found her, stacking stones onto a float palate for Ong.
"Tiera?" It was a small commoner woman that spoke, who Tiera actually recognized.
She set her stone down and gave a nod, to show she was paying attention.
"Kendra. What can I do for you?"
The woman stopped, and let her right hand go to her chest. "You know my name?"
"Sure. Kendra, from the storage section. One of the new people."
"Ah, right. Well, the first mate... There's a problem? One of your people was harassing Mindy in air cycle processing, so another of your people beat him up. Pretty badly too. I was asked to come get you, so that you could tell us what to do with them?" She seemed nervous about it all too. Like it was a huge thing.
She looked at the blocks and shrugged.
"Let me get these loaded. It will only be a minute or two. Then we can go see about it all. After all, the beating won't get any worse for me taking three extra minutes. Probably." She grinned, but the truth was that she didn't really think she was needed.
If it was something serious, then they had the Military Counselor on board to see to things. If on the other hand, it wasn't a big deal, then no one would care. It made sense that the problem wasn't that huge, since she wasn't hearing about how the Captain had set someone outside without a shield on. That Kendra had been sent was a good sign really.
They hurried though and when she got into the room, Tiera was a little bit surprised. After all, she'd really expected Kurt to have been the one doing the harassment, and Terry to be standing there, looking fierce and ready to kick the man's behind again. Instead it was one of the sixth year fighting students that was bloody and looked to have a broken arm, and Guide that stood on the bridge. Mindy, it turned out, was no older than she was, and still on her training cruise.
The fighter, Gerahd Grant hadn't even been trying to force the girl into bed or anything, but had simply been pushing her around, if verbally. Like a bully. Guide saw it, and ordered the man to stop. That got him to try and beat up Guide, which given they all had shields didn't work too well. Especially once the Lairdgren Group member turned the other man's shield off and started to fight back.
"Ah. I see." She spoke the words without even having to stop and think about them at all. "One of these kinds of things. Well, we need Kolb then. Karen Derring, too." After a second, she shrugged. "My little brothers as well, I guess."
They were all summoned and Alan Sorvee looked at her nervously, not getting what was happening. They ended up in hangar two, which was where they practiced fighting every day. She didn't have to explain the idea at least, since almost instantly, once they were there, Kolb and Karen took care of things. Though the way they did it was strange.
Kolb bowed to the Captain, going low and then did the same with Mindy.
"Miss, please forgive Gerahd here. He forgot himself and erred. He'll apologize, now." There was nothing pleasant about that part of the words, and the man bowed and muttered something. It wasn't a real apology at all.
Which Terry called him on, instantly. Really, the giant fighter should have seen that one coming, if only from reputation.
"Do it right." There was violence in the words, and Guide nodded, clearly getting ready to back the tiny boy up, if another fight started. It didn't though, and the man spoke more clearly, if grudgingly.
"Forgive me. I misspoke and was crude. I shouldn't have said that you were ugly and that no one would want to fuck you. It isn't true, because the world is full of drunk and desperate men with no standards." The horrible part was that the man, his plain student browns looking like canvas, even if he was clearly a noble, seemed utterly sincere in his words, as if he couldn't tell they were insulting.
The girl was perhaps a trifle plain, but only that. She was symmetrical and clean, lacking only better clothes and perhaps a bit of make-up. Even at that, Tiera didn't doubt that most of the men on the ship would have actually slept with her, not even thinking twice about it. It wasn't like they were picky, as a group, was it?
There was a bit of a race then though, as to who got to the man first. It turned out to be her little brother, who tiny or not, cheated like a pro. Like a real one too. Kolb watched what went on closely, but Terry simply started in on the man, who went down hard, his shield turning off after the fifth blow.
That was Guide, naturally. She could feel the effect happening. It was just a thin line of intent too, not a weapon or device being used. Intense, but just his mind being used. No one said anything for a long time, as the fighter tried to rally. He was good. A lot better than Terry was. But the boy was shielded, and didn't give up, and while some painful joint locks were managed by the older fighter, one of which dislocated Terry's left elbow, that didn't save the large man in the end. It was a brutal, but largely unfair battle.
That meant Gerahd ended the thing unconscious, on the deck of the large hangar, with Terry kicking him methodically. The boy was gasping a bit, but not as much as Tiera would have at that age.
No one else did it, and Tenet looked scared, so she waved a hand at her other brother.
"Take a moment, Terry. Perhaps Mindy would like to try as well?" Tiera kind of expected the girl to not do anything, but as soon as the big man woke and stood up, she moved in too and fought with more power than seemed normal. She was obviously trained, at least a bit. It didn't last as long, but she did all right.
Then Tiera looked at the Captain.
"Sir?"
He grimaced, "I think enough has been done. Please tell your man that this was his warning, however. If I hear of this again, I'll have to take sterner measures. Understood?" He was looking at Kolb, who bowed again. Tiera did it too, which started a chain, but they were done after a minute.
Then the Captain signaled Crewman Damic to leave with him, and cleared the room. It was Tenet that walked up to the downed man, looking at the healing amulet in his hand. Gerahd held his hand out for it, but the boy stopped, and pulled back.
He looked very wide eyed and innocent, but also determined and very, very young. Which he was, being only seven.
"No. I don't think so. You should have to wait to be healed, if you aren't going to be hurt permanently. It's part of your punishment."
That had to be hard for the gentle kid to say, and it was clear he really wanted to hand the thing over, but Kolb agreed instantly.
"You heard him. The Captain too. What the hell were you thinking? Crewman Damic could have asked for your death out here and it would have been delivered. Terry, heal that arm, then if you and Sir Derring could see him back to his bunk? You're to stay there for the duration of the trip there, Gerahd. I'm so ashamed of you that I don't want to see you right now." Then he left too, waving for Tenet to follow him.
Tiera stayed, but didn't speak. That was mainly to make certain that her remaining brother and Karen didn't keep beating the man. He sort of deserved it, so it might occur to them.
They left though, Karen helping him walk out, with Guide right behind them, until she held him back.
"Don't worry, they can both turn his shield off. They have weapons for it, if it comes to that."
He looked up at her and gave a single somber nod.
"If I'd done that
at school, I'd be swinging by now, I think."
She had to agree there. It might not have been literal, but what he'd done would be assault on a noble. If it had happened in Noram.
"And here it's part of your job. I wouldn't worry too much. Keep your shield on, but that's all. I guess he could try to take it out on you in practice, but that's fair enough, and you can give back what he gives, if he tries it there." On the ship at any rate. In practice too, but the man could push a case in court, if he was high enough in the system and wasn't bright enough to know that fifteen people would just make his body vanish if he tried that.
Though if he pushed for a duel, well, that might actually work. The trick there would be going unencumbered. With only his own weapons the man couldn't face a builder really, she was willing to bet. Now, unarmed, that might work. Naked too, if he was smart. He would have heard what Terry had done to that young Baron.
The thing there was that commoners weren't challenged to duels, as a rule. They were just killed or punished. That wouldn't work with Guide, so noble rules sort of applied. If that was done, Guide would be forced to either claim he wasn't worthy, which would mean that regular commoner rules would be in force, or take the offer up.
In that case he'd lose. Gerahd was good, and without some kind of extra trick, the man in front of her wasn't ready yet.
Though, that probably wouldn't happen at all, really. Kolb would see to that.
That was, more or less the bright spot of the trip out however. They worked, minimally, and entertained each other with games, meditations and practice. They learned the ship rules and planned things for the new colony. Tiera kept up with her new organic build, which was ready in good time, without stressing her at all. That was about it. She bathed a lot too, not having much else to do.
That was, oddly enough, what she was doing when they got to the Moon. The tub was made to look like slick black glass and wasn't all that large, considering they had nobles on board and it was their habit to bathe together. She was able to sink into the warm water though, and lean back, relaxing. It was nice, and since the water would be cleaned and recycled she wasn't actually wasting anything really. Not much. There was some cost for it, since the heat had to be gotten rid of again and all that, but it wasn't much.
Her eyes were closed when they finally got close enough for her to feel the thing. The other planet. It pulled at her, just a bit, like a person standing behind her. Felt, but only so vaguely that it tickled at her subconscious mind a tiny bit. It wasn't real to her yet, but it was there, and was solid. More than that, it felt familiar, which didn't make sense at all. Oh, she'd been there before, and knew it, more than most did, on that deep level, but it was more than that.
It felt like home.
True, for her that was everywhere she'd been really. School felt that way, and so did Two Bends. It seemed a strange spread to her, really. A little forest village, a high end school for the elite... and the freaking Moon. Because those were the places that a normal girl thought of as where she belonged?
The idea made her smile, so at least she looked happy, or slightly bemused, when the wash room was invaded and the door made to vanish. She opened one eye to see who it was, knowing full well that it was Kolb the whole time. When he turned to look at her, he seemed flat, and a bit like he was hiding something. Rather than just trying to peek at her naked.
"Hello Kolb. Come for a soak? We can make the tub bigger, if you want?" She was joking with him, and he knew it, having been around long enough to get that kind of thing. It was sort of refreshing.
"We don't have time really. I... need to talk to you." Then, as people almost always did after saying those words, he went silent.
She'd noticed that one before, and even done it herself, but couldn't think of a single reason why everyone did it. Wouldn't it be more effective to blurt out what you had to say? If it was the point at least, sitting on the words for an extra three minutes wasn't actually going to help at all. Not that she was any better than anyone else that way really.
She sat up, splashing in the water a bit. True, she was naked, but Kolb wasn't going to care. He even made direct eye contact with her, rather than looking at her breasts. That was part of the cost of being that old, she guessed. He'd seen all the varieties of women, clothed and not, millions of times. She just wasn't special to him that way, was she? It would have been a shame, if she'd ever really had her sights set on him in particular. Instead he was just her Instructor, and possibly, in a weird way, her friend.
Waiting hadn't always been her strong suit, but she managed this time, and after a minute, with the bald, muscular, and slightly intimidating man staring deep into her eyes, he spoke.
"We're not... going back. It was decided, in the last meeting. When we get to the Moon, the ship will offload the goods we brought, and leave." Then he set himself, as if expecting her to leap up and attack him. As if she could? If she wanted to take out Kolb, it would have to be a real ambush, she knew. Using weapons. While he had nothing. And, she considered, was possibly naked at the time, if that could be managed. Even at that, she figured her odds of winning at less than twenty percent. When the man pulled out the stops, he was just that good, after all.
So she nodded a bit, looking away, to the right. Toward the Moon, even if it couldn't be seen from there. They were near the interior of the ship after all, and there weren't a lot of windows anyway, even on the outer hull.
"I know." She whispered the words, and realized that it was just true. She hadn't known that was the case, not really, until the words were said, but now... She understood it all. Or some of it.
Martin Kolbrin, Baron, Ancient warrior and school weapons instructor, sighed at her.
"I gathered. The question is now, what do you plan to do about it? Take over the ship? Or the one that the High Servants have been using? Run back to Earth, and get yourself killed?"
She grinned and stood up, knowing that she needed a towel, or the room would get all wet. There was a stack of Sam-towels though, next to her, made to look green, at the moment. A deep color that darkened a bit when she started to wipe her body down. She did it carefully, since leaving damp footprints was considered a bit rude here. They didn't have a lot to do, so new rules had been cropping up, to give people something to do.
"No, it's a good plan. We have people on Earth still though, so they'll need to be picked up. Is Alice doing that?" She looked at him, her mind buzzing with ideas, with plans that couldn't have been her own, but weren't from the man in front of her either. He gave her a very frank look then. One that was a bit scary.
"Tor and Timon have a way off the planet, if they can take it. Gerent, he lied to you. He plans to stay and set off the device himself, to ensure it happens. He... hasn't become one of us. So he can live through it. Your oldest brother, Teral, is staying. Tamerlane too. To guard the planet while we can't be there. The rest are staying, Tiera. The Ancients of all the lands. Blue Four is slated to come up, but the Blues have their own craft, so she won't be stuck. The others..." He paused as if it was going to take her time to work it all out.
She shook her head a bit.
"I'm sorry for your loss. I know that they're your family, in a way that might be more real than anyone else has ever dealt with. It's a little sad for me, Green and Brown being people I've met, but we aren't close. The ones I'm close to are Doris, you and Alice. I get to keep you all, right?" The words were a bit weak sounding, and young, but she wasn't old, was she? Despite how life made her feel sometimes.
"Yes. I... Green... He doesn't think that Timon can do it. Free Tor from Cordes. If that's the case, we'll have to leave him there. We can't risk giving Cordes a toe hold in space, not even to save Tor. I know that-"
She shook her head sadly, a single tear coming to her eye as she stood there naked. A sob half choked in her throat.
"I... Kolb, if Timon can't do this, he'll most likely die in the attempt. Tor will too. He told me that. If not, then it's my job to make certain th
at Tor dies. If he can't kill himself. We have a plan too." She felt miserable, and a sense of certainty came over her about the whole thing. Her brothers would die, and she'd be left alone, without them.
There were the others, but it was Tor and Timon she was close to. Terlee was her favorite, but distant, being too old for her to relate to really. Terry was sweet and brave, but so different from her that she almost couldn't understand him. She fought because of rage. Anger driving her, and lack of fear letting her rush in where others couldn't go. Or wouldn't.
Terry was different. He'd left home, learned to fight, and stood in front of dragons. Because other people needed someone too. He wasn't free of fear, or built to have unlimited courage, he was simply that good.
The others were all too young really, to have ever been her friends at all. Tor... They'd grown up together. Timon was even closer than that. It meant that she couldn't let them die. But really, she couldn't save them either, that was all up to Tim.
If she could feel it, she would have been shaking with fear for them. There was only sadness though.
Kolb made a commiserating face, "so we don't have to worry about you stealing the ships?"
She shook her head, but didn't lie to him. After all, some day she was going to need his good faith and trust. Going behind his back would make him think she was... She just didn't know. It felt like a lot of work, suddenly, dealing with other people.
"No. I'm going to make my own ships and go. I have a duty here, in this, Kolb. I know, I can't beat the Ancients in a fight. Probably not even if I cheat. But I won't let them win either. We have one plan here, and it can fail at too many points. Someone has to be there as a backup, to make certain it all happens. We can't let them win. The Others. Gray and Cordes and the ones helping them. Even if they're innocents, like Monroe and Maris. If it comes to it, I'll destroy everything, to make sure they don't win. It might not be good, or right, but I won't let them get away with killing everyone." She wanted, very badly, to explain it all more clearly. The words wouldn't come though. They stuck deep inside her, lodged in place, and not coming to the front of her tongue.
