“Why do you need us?” Lu Bu asked archly. “You already used us for your ‘shot’.”
“I know talent when I see it,” he said evenly as he produced a data slate and handed it to McKnight. “I’m offerin’ a whole host of technical specifications on the Imperial Fleet that’s already stirrin’ up trouble in your Admiral’s neck of the woods, along with a freighter full of hardware to help the cause. I’ve also got about five hundred of those slave-rigged fighters the MSP’s welcome to—if you think your Admiral might find a way to deploy ‘em.”
“Let me guess: you couldn’t find a buyer for them before you had to leave?” McKnight asked dryly as she began to peruse the equipment list. Her eyebrows rose at seeing nearly a thousand suits of old, but still serviceable power armor buried in among power generators, shield projectors, and a smattering of naval weaponry.
“Told you I can spot the talent,” he snickered. “The truth is I was wafflin’ to begin with as to whether I should sell ‘em to another independent operator like Colson or give ‘em to the cause, but your people were rock solid down there so I’ll let your Little Admiral have ‘em if you agree to Captain my ship.”
McKnight was ready to counter his proposal but snapped her mouth shut when she processed his last few words. “Excuse me?” she asked warily.
“You heard me right,” he said simply, “the only operator I got who you’d have to incorporate into your crew is Fisher. He’ll be the ship’s primary gunner because…well, because he’s better at it than anyone else would be. Nobody knows my ship’s weapon systems like Fish, but aside from him you can appoint whoever you want wherever you want. I won’t interfere with your command if you agree to help me do what I just told you I plan to do, and while you’d be clear to get off after we reach our destination—even if you wanted to do that before we finish the job—I’ll need some long-term commitments from you and your people. Once we undertake a given leg of this thing, I can’t have crew jumpin’ ship until that leg’s finished.”
“Back up a second,” McKnight said with rising ire, “you have a ship…and you didn’t bring it to this fight?!”
“That’s correct,” he nodded. “This is a long game I’m playin’, Commander, and the only paths to victory were ones where I kept that piece off the board until now. You’ll understand once you see her—I guarantee it.”
Lu Bu, without warning or any indication she was about to do so, uncorked a vicious overhand left which cracked across Lynch’s jaw with a ringing crack that made McKnight wince. Lynch, to his credit, reeled from the blow but kept his balance and retained his seat.
“Mantis died—your ship could have saved her,” she growled.
Lynch looked up at her with blazing emotion in his eyes, but that emotion abated as he set his jaw and said in an icy voice, “I’m gonna let you have that one, Lu, but cheap shot me again and I’ll give you both horns.” He paused emphatically before clearing his countenance and shaking his head regretfully, “My ship wouldn’t have made a difference for her or for us, and revealin’ its existence would have destroyed our one chance to do this thing. But if you’d care to debate that particular issue I’d be happy to meet you in the gym for some one-on-one discussion—in yet another language you and I speak with equal fluency.”
“We will do that,” Lu Bu said, her hands trembling angrily at her sides.
“Good,” Lynch nodded before returning his attention to McKnight, “I think the fact that I’m willin’ to tolerate that little abuse should be an indication of just how much I need you and your people—or at least how much I think I need you.”
McKnight considered the proposal for several moments in silence. On the one hand, she wanted to verify that he had in fact upheld his end of the bargain by checking out the contents of the data crystal he had given her. On another hand she knew that he was unlikely to bluff about the timelines involved with this mission.
And on yet a third hand, she knew deep down that this had the potential to be the most important thing which she could involve herself in. She had been eagerly anticipating dealing with the realities of overseeing the Sector 24 MSP intelligence and counter-intelligence task force, but she had also known that no matter how good of a job she did in that capacity she would eventually be replaced by someone more to Admiral Montagne’s liking.
She knew that particular ‘someone’ would likely end up being Captain Archibald, who had occupied no small portion of her daily thoughts of late for entirely unprofessional reasons.
But in tactical terms alone, the equipment that Lynch—or whatever his real name was—was offering far outweighed whatever contributions she could make above and beyond what the surprisingly capable Archibald would make in her stead. And the chance to de-stabilize the Empire in such a way as to possibly remove them from the Spineward Sectors altogether was simply too tempting of a target to ignore.
Added to all of that was the chilling, yet exhilarating possibility that she might actually be able to participate in the destruction of an entity which had previously enslaved humanity—and would do so again if given the chance—and McKnight knew that if she remained true to who she was, there was no real choice to be made in the matter.
An AI Core Fragment—especially if it was unique, as Lynch seemed to suggest—was not something she could let out of her sight. The fact that Lynch had just revealed himself to be a scion of the very Imperial House which had caused such mayhem in the Spineward Sectors during the last two years did nothing to alleviate her concerns. Letting him disappear with such an important item…or entity…or whatever it really happened to be, was in no way a wise course of action.
“I would need to hand off this information to Captain Archibald, my replacement,” she said after the pregnant pause, “and I would also need to ask Admiral Montagne for permission before I could accept your offer. I won’t abandon my previous duties, but if your information checks out and if the Admiral signs off…I would accompany you on this mission.”
“I will also go,” Lu Bu declared, prompting McKnight to shake her head in negation.
“You’ve got a family, Lu,” McKnight argued, “you should stay here and take care of them—”
“She wouldn’t be the only person bringin’ kids aboard,” Lynch interrupted easily. “Latest count suggests we’ll have at least six hundred people below the age of sixteen, with nearly half of them younger than five.”
McKnight shot him an incredulous look. “You’re bringing families on this mission?!”
“I gave those families a choice,” he shrugged. “They chose to sign up; I won’t be doin’ anything to put ‘em directly in harm’s way—which is why we need to leave ASAP. The longer we hang around, the more dangerous it gets for everybody who’s goin’. If it helps any, I don’t foresee any bumps in the road for about a year since it’ll take us that long to get to the first stop.”
“I don’t think I—“ McKnight began, but Lu Bu cut in over the top of her.
“I will come,” the powerfully-built woman reiterated. “I do not know yet if my family will come, but I believe they will.”
McKnight was alarmed that families would be present aboard Lynch’s ship, but her tactical mind filtered that particular variable out quickly enough and left her with the inescapable truth that this was still the most important mission available to her.
“Fine,” she said cuttingly, “but I still need to ask permission.”
“You do that,” he nodded, producing a second syringe and handing it to her. “You and Lu can give yourself shots of that so your minds don’t go hazy.”
“What about compartmentalization?” she riposted after accepting the syringe. “I thought you needed this information kept in the dark.”
“I’m givin’ you and your people control of the only ship that can get us where we need to go in time for it to matter,” he said with a cocksure grin. “If we’re gonna work together, we’re gonna have to learn to trust each other. Consider this a gesture that I hope will move us
toward that trust.”
She eyed the syringe heavily. “It won’t be that easy,” she said flatly.
“Nothin’ ever is, McKnight,” he said confidently, “but we’ll get there.”
Chapter XXXIV: Packing Up
“I’m not sure I understand,” Archibald said in obvious confusion after they had completed verifying the information contained in Lynch’s data crystal. “You’re resigning your commission?”
“No,” McKnight said irritably, “I contacted Admiral Montagne via the ComStat network and he has given me permission to undergo a deep cover operation—an operation I just described to you as clearly as I can describe it without compromising its integrity.”
“Forgive me for being a little slow on the uptake,” Archibald said, spreading his hands wide, “but you just lost your first command, which takes its toll—believe me, I know. Aren’t you being a little rash?”
“Rash?” she repeated in alarm. “Do you think this is about me losing the Bastard?”
“Honestly, yes,” Archibald nodded firmly. “I know how bad that loss hurts, but you didn’t lose half as many people when your ship went down as some of us have lost under similar circumstances. You did your job and you got your people off alive—forgetting about the fact that you won the blasted fight!”
McKnight could see that he was trying to help, but she knew that to explain the whole truth to him would endanger the mission. “What if I told you,” she began hesitantly, “that this is about saving the Spine?”
“Then I’d tell you that I’ve got your back, and I’d ask when we’re leaving,” he replied with finality.
“It’s not that simple,” she sighed.
“Yes it is,” he retorted, “you’re ashamed because you lost your ship, and you’re looking to climb under a rock until that feeling goes away. Well I’ve already been under that particular rock, and I’m not going to let you climb under it like I did.”
McKnight finally understood the nature of his objection and she felt a wave of relief—and other emotions, all of them positive—wash over her as she realized why he was arguing with her. And while none of that changed the fact that she had chosen to go, the fact that Admiral Montagne had authorized her in doing so—along with whoever she deemed critical to the mission—meant that she was now on the clock.
“I appreciate that, Captain,” she said, leaning forward and allowing her emotions to get the better of her for the first time since meeting her now ex-husband, “but my mind is made up, and I need to leave in six hours with the rest of my people. At this point, I’ve only got one question for you.”
Archibald shook his head bitterly, “I can’t change your mind?”
“No,” she shook her head firmly, “you can’t.”
He sighed and drummed his fingers on his desk, “Then I suppose the least I can do is answer your question.”
She stood from her chair and placed her hands on the desk, leaning forward until his brow furrowed in confusion at her gesture. She continued leaning forward until her lips were inches from his ear, where she whispered, “Where are your quarters?”
The shocked look on his face was quickly replaced by one which was decidedly more appealing, and for the next several hours Lieutenant Commander Alyson McKnight engaged in some much-needed R&R with the appropriately eager—and surprisingly capable—Captain of the Gamer Gate in the privacy of his quarters.
“I’m not saying we won’t go, Lu,” Dr. Middleton said with maddening calm. “I’m just trying to work through it; you have to forgive me for not jumping at the opportunity to ride off on a secret mission ten minutes after the last one ended!”
“We will have a year before the next mission,” Lu Bu repeated for what felt like the fifth time since sitting down to discuss the matter with her adoptive mother. “That will be time we can spend together,” she insisted as she rocked little Su awkwardly in her sore, battered arms.
“But…on another warship?” Dr. Middleton shook her head doubtfully as she rocked Meng gently in her arms. “Lu, we talked about this. At some point we need to step away from all of this fighting, but here you are asking us to go right back into it. We could settle down somewhere safe, here in Sector 24, and raise these children as a real family.”
Lu Bu drew several deep, steadying breaths as she resisted the urge to scream. Then she realized a small, but significant part of why she had felt the urge to join Lynch’s mission as a thought sprang to the fore of her mind. “I have always been outcast,” she began tremulously, but she was relieved that her mind had finally refined her thoughts into words which might convey how she had felt these past several months, “when I grow up in compound, I have no name. When I am taken from compound, still I have no name—and I am seen as…as…mutant,” she spat the word venomously. “I joined the MSP to find meaning for my life, and I found more than that. I found love,” she said, her gaze meeting Dr. Middleton’s as she felt tears well up in her eyes, “and I found a team…and I found them,” she looked down at Su, who had awoken sometime in the last few seconds and was clearly paying attention to the conversation with as much interest as an infant could muster. “I thought this was enough,” she continued, wiping her hand across her moist eyes, “but then my own world abandoned me—no, they exiled me—“
“Lu, that wasn’t your fault—” Dr. Middleton tried to soothe, but Lu Bu shook her head.
“You do not understand,” she insisted, “I know it is not my fault. But it is a sign—a message,” she explained with feeling, finally giving voice to that message for the first time since coming to terms with it months earlier, “that message says that I should not be here.”
“Lu…that’s just one event,” Dr. Middleton argued as Xun began to roll back and forth in his crib a few meters away. “It’s an important one, I’ll grant you, but it was just one event in a string of thousands which have taken place since you joined the Pride of Prometheus.”
“But it happened to me, Mother!” Lu Bu said, her voice becoming a plea against her wishes. “It happened to me,” she reiterated more evenly, “and I cannot ignore what it means. I am not supposed to be here,” she said firmly before looking down at her three beautiful babies in turn, “I have never been so certain of anything in my life.”
“But it’s not safe—“ Dr. Middleton argued.
“Nowhere is safe, Mother,” Lu Bu said, silently considering whether she should say the next words before adding, “we cannot hide from danger…it will find us wherever we are. I prefer to face danger than to run from it, and I think you will agree.”
Dr. Middleton winced at Lu Bu’s reference to the fact that her daughter, Jill, had died during a Droid attack against her colony several years earlier. It was not a subject which they had opened more than a handful of times, but Lu Bu had thought long and hard about her Mother’s tragic past. If living on a tiny colony—far from the rest of civilization where nothing of intrinsic value existed—created insufficient distance between one’s self and potential harm, then Lu Bu did not think it was possible to escape the dangers of the universe.
And when escape is no longer an option, the choice is between submission and resistance. It would not take a person long to determine Lu Bu’s obvious preference between those opposing paths.
“I just want what’s best for all of us, Bu,” Dr. Middleton said after a lengthy silence. “If it was my choice, I would take us to a Core World—possibly even Capital—where we could at least try to live in peace. But…” she said hesitantly, looking down at Meng and then meeting Lu Bu’s eyes, “it’s not my decision; it’s our decision. And the most important thing in my mind is keeping this family together. But I need to reiterate, so we are perfectly clear,” she said as Lu Bu began to smile at hearing what sounded like an agreement with her choice, “that if I ever say we need to stop…then we need to stop. I’m going along with you in spite of my reservations, and I’m asking that you do the same if the time comes that I think we need to get out of this life and settle dow
n somewhere.”
Lu Bu nodded eagerly. “I only wish to follow my destiny, Mother,” she explained. “I cannot thank you enough for being supportive.”
“I understand how much all of this means to you, Lu,” Dr. Middleton said with a tight smile that, for a brief and uncharacteristic moment, made her look like the middle-aged woman she really was. “I just want you to understand how much you all mean to me.”
“I do,” she nodded, standing from her chair and turning toward the door, “I must inform Yide we will be leaving.”
She ran from their shared berth and made her way to the cockpit, where Yide and his sister were sitting in their usual posts.
“Yide,” she said as she entered the cockpit, but neither of the Sundered youths turned to face her which seemed odd, “Yide?”
“You will leave,” Yide said shortly, his words a declaration rather than a query.
She was briefly confused, then she realized how they had learned, “You were listening?” She was bitter that they had violated her privacy—likely with a surveillance device of some kind in her quarters—but she also understood what sounded like resentment in Yide’s voice when he spoke.
“Of course,” Yide snarled, his lips savagely peeling back from his teeth as he whirled around in his chair. “You came to tell us you were leaving.”
Yide’s sister chirped and grunted something at his side, which her elder brother replied to in a similar fashion using their guttural language.
“We will be going on a dangerous mission,” Lu Bu said, uncertain where this animosity was coming from. “I wish you to know how grateful we are—“
“You think we no want come!” Yide’s sister blurted angrily, and Lu Bu looked at the smaller Sundered with open surprise. That had been one of the first sentences she had ever heard the female Sundered say in Confederation Standard; nearly every other communication Lu Bu had heard from the small uplift had been in the form of ape-like grunts, whoops and chirps.
McKnight's Mission: A House Divided, Book 1 (Spineward Sectors- Middleton's Pride 4) Page 46
