by M D Cooper
Cyrus eyed her. “If it was so great, why did you leave?”
“That’s complicated, and I can’t get into it. But the point is, I have contacts there, and they may be able to help. The Star Ember was one of the lowest-tech vessels they had, it was barely an afterthought for them to give it to me. It’s possible they’d be willing to supply backup for us to resolve the conflicts in Serenity.”
“A war fleet for hire?”
“Not hire. More like a loan to a friend. But I don’t intend to fire on anyone.”
“Then what good is a fleet, or even a single ship?”
“The issues in the Serenity Ordus stem from people having a myopic, insular perspective on their troubles. That’s what Dana reiterated today. Everyone’s hung up on minute differences between cultural elements on different moons and social strata, when really, we’re more or less the same. To unite the system, we need to put things into perspective.
“Serenity acts like it’s alone in the universe, and we need to remind them it’s not. Rather than fighting amongst ourselves about trivial, pointless issues, we need to be united against the real evils that are out there. Bringing in a show of force from Star City might be the wake-up call people need.”
Cyrus nodded slowly. “You may be onto something with that.”
“Let’s go make the call.”
A CALL FOR HELP
STELLAR DATE: 12.27.8938 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Celestiana, Serenity System
REGION: Orion Freedom Alliance, Perseus Arm
“I feel like I should go,” Pharis said, clenching her hands into fists, then stopping herself and shaking them out. “The plea for help should come from one of the people who pushed this over the edge.”
“I think we qualify, as well,” Cyrus said, placing a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “Besides, this is a three-week trip if we’re fast. You can’t be away from the Ordus for that long.”
“Percy has agreed to get me onto the Laurentian Wind,” Antaris added. “It’s an older ship, but well armed. We’ll be able to hold our own against any marauders.”
Pharis turned to the Laurentian scion. “And if whomever comes after us is more than just a marauder?”
“Then we better hope that the Wind can still fly like it, or that Terry and Cyrus come back with help.”
“Just remember,” Cyrus warned, “bringing an outside force is to remind people that there’s a bigger world out there than just our system—and also to keep things from getting out of hand. I doubt the people of Star City want to end up being our police force.”
“I know I don’t,” Antaris murmured.
“Someone is going to have to,” Pharis insisted. “Or several someones, depending on whether each world forms its own government, I guess.”
Terry nodded in agreement. “I suspect that’s how things will start. Though some sort of system-wide government will have to be formed. I suppose we’ll have to see what the house militaries decide to do.” She looked at Antaris, whose lips pursed tightly.
“Laurentia’s is likely to be divided. Our officers come mostly from minor houses, while many of the rank and file are drawn from the general populace. That’s typically the case in the older houses, whereas younger ones like Charlemis have more common—I mean regular folk in theirs.”
“Then you need to see if you can pull off a coup in your own military,” Cyrus suggested. “If you can do that, and the Gallas fleets side with the populace, which I think they might do, then we’ll have a chance to pull together some order from chaos.”
“Maybe you should stay for that,” Pharis said to her brother. “You have contacts in the Guard. If they can be convinced to not attack the people—or at least do nothing until new leadership emerges—then we’ll have a good chance to limit bloodshed.”
Cyrus gave her an encouraging smile. “I think that task is better suited to you. If you tell the Guard to stand down, to fall back to their barracks and ships—perhaps even to provide humanitarian support where needed…that could bridge this divide before it gets too wide.”
“Me?” Pharis sucked in a breath as she spoke the word. “I don’t know where to start with that.”
“Start with Connor, but also with Captain Herald. He’s the senior-most officer in our space force. If you can convince him, the others will fall into line.”
She nodded, and Cyrus gave her a quick embrace and a kiss on the cheek. “You’ve got this, sis. Just trust your instincts, and try to think of the people. Everything is going to work out.”
“One way or another,” Antaris said darkly.
* * * * *
Terry settled into the Star Ember’s cockpit and activated the ship’s grav drives, quickly putting them through a preflight check before signaling Mia that they were ready to disembark.
“Sure hope they don’t make a huge mess of things while we’re gone,” Cyrus said as he settled into a seat next to her.
She glanced at him, an eyebrow raised in concern. “You’re worried they’ll screw things up? What happened to all your ‘You can do it’ rah-rah?’”
“Well, I don’t think they’ll mess things up on purpose, but things are fluid. It’s a lot to cope with.”
“All the more reason for us to get out there and then get back quickly.”
Cyrus gestured to the console. “Don’t let me hold you up.”
Terry wasn’t sure if he was being snarky, and glanced at him to see a smile on his lips.
Winking in response, she said, “I won’t, then.”
Mia responded with a terse farewell and reminder to eventually come back for Rosa, before the bay doors opened for the Star Ember to disembark. They backed out into the black, and Terry rotated the ship, gaining a few kilometers of distance from the Celestiana before hitting the grav drives.
“There’s their ride,” Cyrus said, pointing at a Laurentian shuttle approaching the freighter. “Fingers crossed they know what they’re doing, getting on a ship that could be loyal to Kristina.”
“They’re trusting us, so we have to trust them,” Terry said. “That’s the best we can hope for right now.”
He sighed and nodded, stretching his arms overhead before rocking his head side to side. “I suppose, yeah. I guess if nothing else, we’ll find out if they’re compatible.”
“Not before they do,” she replied with a laugh. “Okay, minimum distance achieved. Let’s boogie.”
“Boogie? That a word you picked up in your travels?”
“Sure is. Right along with ‘damn skippy’.”
“Is that a dance?”
Terry laughed. “No, it means ‘yes’.”
“Those people you left Serenity with were weird.”
“Oh, you have nooo idea.”
The Celestiana was still in the neutral territory near the Perseus, and as such, no house ships were nearby, so no one hailed them as the small ship boosted on an outsystem vector.
Once they were beyond the moons’ orbits, active scan washed over them a few times; each instance causing Terry’s insides to twist up from the tension. However, nothing came of it.
“You can relax. No one wants to go chasing one little ship to see what they’re up to when the whole system is on the brink of war,” Cyrus said, placing a hand on Terry’s thigh.
She shook her head. “Yeah, I think I’ll keep a low-level freakout going here. There are still a few ships on patrol at the edge of the system, and the radio is faster than the Star Ember.”
“I suppose it is. Even so, let’s not worry about things that haven’t happened yet—at least, let’s not add new things.”
Terry chuckled as she made a final vector adjustment. “Okay, things are all set. Eddie, let us know if anything unexpected happens.”
“What are we doing?” Cyrus asked with a wink.
She snorted. “Well, not that. I’m starving.”
He laughed while rising. “I see how it is. I’m just an appetize
r.”
“Damn straight.”
“Is that like ‘damn skippy’?”
“Close. C’mon, before I eat you.”
Cyrus laughed. “Wait, I thought we weren’t doing that? Now I’m confused.”
Terry rolled her eyes and made sure he could see it. “At this rate, I’m going to make you cook for me.”
STANDING DOWN
STELLAR DATE: 12.27.8938 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Laurentian Wind, Serenity System
REGION: Orion Freedom Alliance, Perseus Arm
“Captain on the bridge!” a lieutenant shouted as Antaris strode through the entrance, Pharis at his side.
The crew rose, turning to salute him, a few eyes sliding to the empty captain’s chair. A man stood next to it, and the Laurentian heir immediately recognized Kell Zimmer, one of the oldest and most well-respected captains in the Laurentian Guard.
“Captain Kell, did Kristina transfer you here?” Antaris asked, his brow lowering as he recognized a few other faces that he last knew to be on other ships.
“We did a bit of internal reorganization,” Kell replied with a smile. “After it became clear that you were traveling with the Charlemis heir to the Perseus, your sister ordered us to pursue and fire on your ship.”
“And since Pharis and I still have our skin, you opted not to do that,” Antaris replied.
The elder captain nodded. “One of the captains attempted to follow orders, but his crew chose otherwise. We sent back faked sensor readings, and your Commander Perry passed those back to your sister and the fleet. So far as they know, you managed to reach the Perseus, but we’re waiting for you to leave.”
Antaris heaved a sigh. “So we have ten hours until the Perseus comes around Serenity, and the rest of the fleet can see that the Celestiana has left.”
“Or less,” Kell replied. “Communications are down between each of the moons, but there are still satellites in orbit that belong to each house. We hacked a number of them, but eventually, a good feed will reach your sister.”
The unspoken question, ‘So what do you want to do?’ hung in the air following Kell’s statement.
Antaris glanced at Pharis, who had arced an eyebrow, apparently also curious what his next step would be.
I guess this is my moment of truth. Do I step away from responsibility, or embrace it?
He’d never been one to shy away from duty in the past, but right now, it was almost impossible to even know what his duty was. In the end, it was Terry’s sentiment that swayed him.
Leaders exist to serve the people. Not the other way around.
“How many ships do we have?” he asked Captain Kell.
“Ships unwilling to fire on their leader, or ships willing to adjust their allegiance in light of new alternatives?”
“Their leader?” Antaris asked. “I take it that Kristina didn’t share my—”
He stopped himself, wondering if it was wise to tell the men who had risked their futures for him that he had resigned his commission.
The knowledge that the truth would eventually come out won, and he finished with, “Resignation with the fleet?”
Kell laughed. “Oh, she did. She told Perry and I. Neither of us accepted your resignation, and as your two direct subordinates who would have taken over in your place, that means you have not, in fact, resigned.”
Antaris frowned. “Is that the way the regs work?”
The elder man shrugged. “Who cares?”
Nods came from the crew all around the ship, and Antaris felt his heart swell. It seemed that the men of the Laurentian Guard valued him as a leader more than they valued tradition—something unheard of in the Ordus’s militaries.
“Looks like a lot is changing,” Pharis said from his side, a relieved smile on her lips. “So how many ships do we—er, you, have?”
“Three others trailing our orbit by a few thousand klicks,” Kell replied. “Perry has taken the Acadian Light from Gallas back to Laurentia, and last I heard, he has at least ten more captains who are sworn to our cause.”
Fifteen ships against hundreds, Antaris thought with a pang of dread, hoping they could convert more to their side. “And what of our deployment?” he asked aloud.
“With the unrest growing on the ground, your sister pulled over half our personnel to the surface. There are a lot of mixed loyalties between the officers and enlisted. No outright mutinies yet, but a few situations where orders have been ignored. She’s, rather wisely, just as concerned about another house striking Laurentia as she is about the people’s strikes on the surface.”
“I imagine those have reduced our capability as well,” Antaris replied. “What of the heliopause patrols?”
Kell pursed his lips. “She’s sent orders to pull those in, and I’ve passed them along in your absence, though I reduced the draw-down. Out of all the houses, I think we’ve weathered the strikes the best, though it’s hard to tell what Nebracken’s strength is, given how they’ve been arming merchants.”
“What sort of threat do you think they present?” Pharis asked.
“Normally?” Kell cocked an eyebrow. “Not more than we can handle, but allied with Gallas, they would have been more than able to take control of the entire system.”
“Well, that’s not happening.” Pharis’s tone was severe. “Not while I draw breath.”
“Justina is still alive, from what I can tell,” Kell replied. “I worry about what might happen if she declares allegiance with Nebracken.”
“Most of our ships are running on skeleton crews,” Pharis said. “Like on Laurentia, they’re on the ground, trying to maintain order—non-lethally, I hope.”
“You need to do what Cyrus said,” Antaris turned to face her. “Reach out to Captain Herald and take control of Gallas’s space force.”
Pharis’s lips twisted, and she sucked in her bottom one, biting it before schooling her expression. “Are you sure that’s our best course of action? It’s going to create an apparent alliance between Laurentia and Charlemis.”
Antaris shrugged. “I’m okay with that if you are. Besides, either you gain control of your world’s fleets, or someone else will.”
“Okay, then.” She turned to Captain Kell. “We need to get within a few light seconds of Gallas if I’m to have a reasonable conversation with Herald.”
The man glanced at Antaris, who nodded. “No time like the present.”
RAPID RESPONSE
STELLAR DATE: 12.30.8938 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Star Ember, Serenity System
REGION: Orion Freedom Alliance, Perseus Arm
It took three days to reach a viable jump point to Star City’s system. Terry worried that someone would realize where they were going, and intervene, but since no one had jumped on that vector in centuries, the significance must have been lost on any observers.
As they continued their burn to hit the dark layer at an appreciable percentage of the speed of light, a message came in from…nowhere, so far as Terry could tell.
“Get up here,” she called back to Cyrus, a note of urgency clearly audible in her voice.
“Coming!” he shouted, followed by the sound of his feet pounding down the ship’s central corridor. “I thought we had five minutes till transition still.”
“Ummm…I don’t know if we’re going to have to do that.”
She gestured at the console, and his eyes widened.
“Wait…what?”
“They’re already here. Tanis and a bunch of ships, they’re just waiting for an invitation to come help.”
While Cyrus read the message, she re-read it for the third time.
[Terry, it’s Tanis. Good to see you again. We’ve come to help with fifty destroyers, all are stealth-capable. Would you like us to travel down to Serenity with you, or hold back?]
“Looks like they’re half a light minute further out,” Cyrus said. “I guess we don’t need to go all the way to Star City after all. Kinda bummed about that. I would
have loved to see it.”
Terry winked at him. “Well, we’ve got our whole lives ahead of us. Maybe we can go some time when we won’t be in such a rush to leave.”
“Works for me. In the meantime, how the heck did they get here so fast? Did you send a message earlier?”
“Not me,” she shook her head. “Maybe they were waiting to help just in case?”
“Or maybe Dana called for them.”
She blew out a long breath. “I guess. Would have been nice of her to just say so. Must be part of her whole non-interference schtick.”
“Seems a bit interfere-y,” Cyrus said with a laugh. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“Me either.”
“Sooooo,” he leant back and interlaced his fingers behind his head. “What should we do about their offer? Fifty destroyers isn’t anything to sneeze at, but it’s also not a force capable of quelling one world, let alone all five.”
“Oh, you have some things to learn.” Terry couldn’t help but grin. “From what I recall, Iris planned to share stasis shield tech with Star City. That means just one destroyer would probably be all it would take to quell Serenity.”
“Stasis shields?” Cyrus’s brows pinched. “What the heck are those?”
“Impenetrable, that’s what.”
“Fifty destroyers with impenetrable shields…”
Terry nodded vigorously. “Plus stealth that will render them invisible to our sensors—hence the reason we can’t tell where that signal came from.”
Cyrus heaved a heavy sigh. “I guess this is what we asked for, right? Some sort of external force that would ensure the houses don’t just beat the people into submission.”
“Or one another.”