by M. D. Cooper
“They follow orders,” Yarnes affirmed.
Starl had taken apparent pleasure in baiting Yarnes during the trip, enjoying the fact that he didn’t fall under any chain of command.
The airlock completed its handshake and the interior door finally slid open, allowing them entry into the cold interior of Sunny Skies. Brit kicked through first, catching the familiar ribs in the bulkhead to propel herself forward. Turning to wait on the others, she noticed the whole airlock assembly was new. There were scorch marks in the plas panels facing the opening, evidence of some explosion that hadn’t been there before.
Once everyone was inside and the airlock had resealed, Brit led the way up to the habitat airlock, touching Tim’s drawings on several old bulkhead panels as she passed. In the alcove next to the ladder leading to the habitat, she was shocked to see the weapons crate she had left for Andy at Kalyke at least a year ago. She brushed the scarred metal with her gloves before climbing into the transition hub.
Fugia Wong was waiting outside the interior airlock with her arms crossed. She nodded to Brit, then surprised Starl with a full hug when he stepped through the opening.
“Fugia,” he said, sounding squeezed. “It’s been a long time, now, hasn’t it?”
Petral grinned at them and slid around Starl, followed by Yarnes and Jirl.
After a minute, Fugia let go of Starl and stepped back, composing herself. She sniffled once, nodded, then turned to lead the way down the corridor.
“They’re all waiting in the command deck,” she said. “We’ve got the plan up on the holodisplay.”
Brit couldn’t help being a little put off when Petral walked to the entry to have Cara shout, “Petral!” and dash across the room to give the tall woman a hug.
Excited by the loud voices, Em started barking and running up to each of the visitors in turn, even Yarnes, who knelt to scratch the dog’s neck. Brit stood to one side of the door, taking in the familiar space.
Fran was standing beside Andy, who was sitting in the pilot’s seat and looking as though he hadn’t slept in days. Brit met Andy’s gaze and he gave her a stiff smile before looking at Starl and Petral.
There was a thin man in a stylish purple suit standing near the holodisplay, watching the homecoming scene with a slightly bemused expression. She didn’t know who he was until she pieced-together several conversations with Andy from before Resolute Charity. It was Xander, the AI.
On the other side of the holotank, May Walton and her bodyguard Harl Nines seemed to be keeping their distance. May looked understandably miserable, although she held her head up and greeted Petral, and then accepted more formal introductions with Ngoba Starl and Colonel Yarnes.
“So, let me get this straight,” Fran asked Petral. “You cheated death again?”
The tall woman cocked an eyebrow. “It was laziness on my part. I didn’t feel like walking out of Heartbridge, so I got these two to carry me.”
Starl appeared to restrain himself from making a joke about her weight, and instead knelt beside Cara and Tim.
“I think both of you have grown by at least a meter since I saw you last,” he said, holding a hand over their heads. When kneeling, Cara was easily taller than he was.
“We have not,” Tim said. “But I don’t remember when I saw you. Was it a dream?”
“It wasn’t a dream, Tim,” Cara said, not unkindly. “It was on Cruithne. Ngoba lives there with Fran.”
“Fran lives on Sunny Skies,” Tim said.
“Yes, I do,” Fran said, heading off the awkward moment.
Starl rubbed his hands together. “I don’t have anything for you two, which is a travesty. The next time I see you back on Cruithne, I’ll have something special to give you. But I see you’ve got yourself a woman’s pistol there, Cara.”
“And she’s a little trigger happy,” Fugia said, “So watch yourself.”
Starl stood and walked over to Andy, who pushed himself up from the chair with difficulty that surprised Brit. There was a tremor in his arms.
“Captain Sykes,” Starl called out. Rather than shaking hands, he pulled Andy into a bear hug and slapped him heartily on the back. “It’s good to see you again.”
“You, too,” Andy said, grinning through his fatigue. “You look good.”
“I wish I could say the same for you,” Starl said. “Have you been sleeping on a bed of nails?”
“That might be an improvement,” Andy said.
Still holding Andy’s shoulders, Starl looking at either side of his head as if trying to find someone hiding behind him. “And where is our girl, Lyssa?”
“I’m here,” the AI answered through the overhead speakers. Lyssa appeared in the holodisplay as a young woman with long brown hair and brown eyes, fringed blue by the light.
“Lyssa!” Tim called, which started Em barking again.
Lyssa tilted her head, looking past Petral at Yarnes and Jirl, who stared at her like they were seeing a ghost. It was Jirl that walked forward first, her hands clasped at her stomach.
“You’re a Weapon Born,” Jirl said.
“Yes,” Lyssa said. “I don’t think I’ve met you before.”
“No. I was part of the company that made you. Heartbridge.”
“I’m aware of Heartbridge,” Lyssa said dryly.
Brit was impressed by the sarcasm, which earned a laugh from most everyone.
“No,” Jirl said quickly, looking embarrassed. “I mean, I was part of the group that made you. I—I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for making me?” Lyssa asked, giving her a half-smile. “I’m not sorry you made me. There are many more of us who might thank you. But I know it’s more complicated than that.”
“I have a son,” Jirl said, “and I know that you were someone’s daughter. We took you from them.”
From the corner of her eye, Brit noticed Xander watching intently, curiosity in his gaze.
“Maybe,” Lyssa said. “Maybe not. We’re here now. It’s good to meet you, Jirl. You’re a long way from home.”
“I’m hungry,” Tim said. “Are we going to have dinner soon?”
Andy rubbed his face, flinching at what looked like a headache. “That sounds good, Tim. But first we need to talk about some things. It’s why everyone came here.” He looked out at the room. “Yes?”
Yarnes approached the holotank, asking Lyssa, “You mind if I use the holodisplay?”
The AI gave him a smile and faded, leaving the map of the solar plane in the view. Yarnes took control of the display and pulled back to Sol, then oriented on Ceres. As he adjusted the view, rings of icons appeared around the planetoid. Brit’s first thought was the debris from the destroyed ring had been mapped, until she realized they were too ordered. Yarnes was outlining the human forces arrayed in wait for the Psion armada.
“So,” the colonel said. “Here are the Marsian, Terran and Jovian forces currently deployed in protection of Ceres. These icons are the close-in support, with overwatch deployed at stand-off ranges. In fact, we can engage anything attacking Ceres from Mars with relative impunity. The problem, of course, is that the attacker has the advantage of distance. Once they launch missiles, or even send something of sufficient mass, like a small asteroid, Ceres is done. We are operating on the assumption that the enemy wishes to seize and hold Ceres, not destroy it. If they had wished that, they would have destroyed the polar facilities that manage the singularity at the world’s core and not targeted the ring. We have deployed forces in a manner designed to deny them their goal.”
Yarnes looked around the room as if he was going to ask for questions, but continued talking. “I’m here right now for the actual mission that we believe will destroy the Psion ability to fight. We’re going after their internal command and control capability with a small force. I have resources to accomplish this mission on my own, but I understand you may have information that could assist.”
Fran crossed her arms. “You couldn’t ask before you came all this way?”
“No,” Yarnes said. “We have to assume all communications are monitored.”
Brit felt herself growing tense. She knew what was coming and didn’t know how Yarnes was going to use his leverage over Andy, or if Andy would even care.
Yarnes cleared his throat.
Here it comes.
“I am also here to inform Captain Sykes that he has been recalled to active duty under the provisions of his commission by the Terran Assembly.”
“You what?” Andy said. He stared at Yarnes for a second, then looked at Brit. “What’s the point in that?”
“The TSF intercepted the message you sent Major Sykes,” Yarnes said. “It could be interpreted as withholding information about the enemy. I’m here to assure that you are doing everything you can to assist the TSF in this effort, as any officer would.”
“And if I don’t?” Andy asked.
“Do you really need me to spell that out for you?” Yarnes asked.
Andy pushed himself to his feet and pointed a finger at the colonel. “You’re going to come on my ship and make threats? I’m not in the TSF anymore. If you check your map again, you’ll see that you have no jurisdiction here. You also might have noticed that I have more than enough fire power on my little freighter to wreck your plan six ways from Sunday. Is that what you wanted me to say, Colonel?”
Fran put her hand on Andy’s shoulder, which had a visible calming effect. He was sweating, and his left eye kept twitching from what looked like a stabbing pain.
“It was my duty to inform you,” Yarnes said quietly. “I have my orders. But I fully understand your position. Like I said, I’ve come here to ask for your help.” His gaze went to Xander and then back to Andy. “You have information I don’t, and I’m trying to do what I can to protect what’s left of Ceres and quite possibly Earth. I think we both want the same things here.”
Andy turned his anger on Brit. “You should have told me why you were coming here. This isn’t why I asked you to come.”
“We should talk about this later,” Brit said.
“There is no later, Brit,” Andy spat. “I asked you to make sure the kids would be okay. Are you going to be able to do that?”
“Of course,” Brit said quickly.
“I’m not going anywhere with her,” Cara said.
Brit looked at her in surprise, noticing the pistol on Cara’s hip for the first time.
“Please,” Yarnes said. “We’ve identified a suitable asteroid we can use as cover if we burn in the next six hours. From there we can launch the infiltration team.”
Andy shook his head, wavering slightly on his feet. Fran moved to support him, and no one else seemed ready to speak.
It was Lyssa who affirmed from the overhead speaker, “That plan is satisfactory, Colonel. However, I will be conducting the infiltration operation. You should understand that your ship has no chance of making it near the Psion armada. I will pass relevant information back to you. This is a plan I was prepared to execute before you arrived.”
Yarnes shook his head. “That’s not going to work. I’m supposed to trust another AI to attack its own kind?”
“Your other option is to leave,” Lyssa said. “If you attempt to disrupt my operation, I will disable your ship. Colonel, humans ultimately created this problem. It will take AI and humanity working together to solve it.”
The colonel cast his gaze around the room, maybe looking for assistance. When no one said anything, even Jirl, he threw his hands in the air. “Fine,” he said. “We’re a team. Do you have a rank, Lyssa? How should I address you?”
“Lyssa is fine,” the AI said.
“Her name means goddess of destruction,” Tim said, sounding completely serious. “That outranks you, doesn’t it?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
STELLAR DATE: 01.24.2982 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Sunny Skies
REGION: Outer edge of Main Asteroid Belt, InnerSol
The maneuver required a long-range braking burn followed by ongoing minute thrust adjustments. The goal was to effect the same stealth approach with Sunny Skies that Psion had done with their missile attack on Ceres.
Andy programmed the course plan with Fran’s assistance, then sat back in his seat to endure the cluster headaches as the ship came around to apply full thrust. The asteroid they would be using to screen their location had been mapped for at least a thousand years. It came close enough to Psion’s apparent flight path that they would have had to account for it, but there would be no other reason to give it attention.
He watched the simulation play out at least twenty times, as Sunny Skies matched delta-v with the tumbling bit of mass, then slung out its own scattering of Weapon Born drones, lost in the general EM static of space. If anything happened to the Weapon Born, they could light the torch and draw the attention of the armada. While that might buy the infiltrators time, it would be a death sentence for Sunny Skies—something Andy didn’t plan on pursuing.
With the course set in, he rose carefully from the pilot’s seat and pushed himself toward the door.
“Where are you going?” Fran asked.
“I’m going to get Brit,” he said. “If Yarnes isn’t going to use his ship, she can take the kids away from here.”
“They’re not going to do that,” Fran said.
He looked back at her, struggling to focus his gaze. “I have to try,” he said.
“Wait until we finish the burn,” Fran said, pointing to one of the extra seats. “We’ve only got ten minutes and you’ll still be hobbling around in the corridor. I’d rather not have to peel you off the bulkhead.”
Andy paused, in too much pain to acknowledge her joke, or her expression of care for him, and reached for the open seat.
“I’m really grateful for you, Fran,” he said, pulling the harness over his shoulders.
“Yeah, don’t tell anybody,” she said. “I don’t want them getting the wrong ideas.”
He cracked a thin smile in spite of the pain in his face.
“You can always just Link with her,” Fran said.
“I’d rather not let her inside my head anymore,” Andy said. But he sent the connection request anyway, using their old private ship channel.
Andy closed his eyes. He’d forgotten about Cara’s hack to listen to the ship’s channels.
Taking a deep breath, Andy pushed his fingers into his temples. Pressure was building behind his sinuses, making his head feel like it was caught in a vice. Cluster headaches continued to stab him on the surface of that underlying pain.
Cara shouted.
Andy closed the channel.
Andy nodded, running the particulars of the plan back through his mind. There would still be Lyssa’s contingent of Weapon Born in reserve around Sunny Skies if something broke through to attack their position. Besides, they would be able to see anything that split off to come after them.
