Conflict!

by Dale Moorhouse

  “Thanks,” I replied, “I’m eager to see it and get set up over there. I will see you tomorrow morning if not sooner.”

  I gave Chocolate the news and also let her know as of tomorrow morning she wouldn’t have to come to Mother of Glory to report in again. She smiled and nodded, “Yes, Ser, I heard the good news on my way over.”

  I thought to myself, “Get your act together, Jase. It isn’t like you always to be the last to know.”

  Silent was right about our personal quarters too. Elaine had picked a suite that was high up in the housing unit that was one pillar over from a supporting wall and our new headquarters. Our floor was a little over half way up the stack and around the other side, all I could see was fields and forest separating us from some of the other support pillars that were made to look like huge trees part way up and then painted to look like sky in the distance. The nearest pillar with housing held the WTC barracks. It was only a kilometre from a supporting wall that looked like a mountain range and was set up as a training area to teach skills required for when we were dirt-side.

  There was a landing stage large enough to accommodate a couple of Elsies on the side of the pillar facing the headquarters building which was built into the “mountain” at the end of the support wall. The whole area was reserved for military and government use, the Elders had their offices there, and their residences were just two floors below mine.

  As Elaine was showing me around, there was a knock at the door, and Tuxedo came in accompanied by Ginger, and the original Terran crew. Shortly after, there was another knock. Jacky and Ishmael came in with their arms loaded with food, followed by a couple of Ish’s staff carrying even more goodies. They had a long thin table with them and quickly set it up on the balcony outside, placing appetizers and food items on it with buckets of ice and ale at each end and bottles of wine and harder stuff in the middle.

  I’d questioned Elaine about the size of the place as she had been giving me the tour and she'd replied, “This is only a little larger than the new suites everyone else is getting. It is the largest of three sizes with the smallest quarters going to single people and the next two available to mated couples based on their preference. Many of our staff are so used to tiny quarters they feel uncomfortable in quarters this size but are ok in the mid-sized suites. Rusty has a mid-sized suite two doors down from us because he requested a workspace of his own for personal projects.”

  “What does he think of his new quarters?” I asked.

  She replied with a smile, “He and Silky will be over in a little while, you can ask him.”

  Ishmael and Jacky had the unit two doors down on the opposite side from Rusty. Tuxedo and Ginger were in the suite between Rusty and us while Silent, and his mate Suzy, were in the unit on the other side. I had never met her and in fact, hadn’t even known Silent was mated, the topic somehow never came up, Silent seemed a very private person. I was even more surprised to find out she was working with Dimitri and Sergei managing our relationships on Terra and quite good at it.

  She has an air of quiet confidence about her that puts me in mind of Ginger with a dab more assertiveness. She is one of the few all-white Mmrrreeowwn I’ve seen that isn’t an Elder and has a slender build and fur about the length of Vanilla’s. When I mentioned this to Elaine, she laughed, “They’re sisters, born a year apart. She is also a Med-Tech I and certified mental health professional like Vanilla and me. She consults with teams that are having trouble communicating effectively and also mediates disputes between trading groups. That is why she is working with problem groups on Terra.”

  When all of the welcoming people showed up, we had close to thirty guests, most of whom came in, welcomed Elaine and me had a drink, some food and then left again. By the time a deca had passed, there were only Ginger, Tux, Ishmael and Jacky and Rusty left. Whatever food was left was on a small table in the galley. The long table and garbage had all been cleared away by Ishmael’s staff who took some of the leftovers to enjoy for themselves when they got back to their quarters. We were sitting around talking about the new ship when I was reminded by Ish that we hadn’t named her yet.

  I replied, “I’ve been thinking about that, and while technically she was built as a warship with her new purpose I’m not sure I want anything about her name to even hint at her origins.”

  As we had been sitting there, the deck was slowly getting darker and what appeared to be stars were lighting up on the underside of the deck above us. I got up and moved out to the balcony and was pleasantly surprised, Elaine had seen to having a moon placed in the sky. The others had joined me, and I mentioned the moon.

  Rusty spoke up and said, “When Elaine asked about some features of the night sky I really liked, I remembered the times I was dirt-side with you and told her Terra’s moon would make a beautiful addition to our night sky. I worked with the engineers to make sure it changed phases and transited the night sky, rising in the East and setting in the West.

  “Once I showed them a video image of moonrise and the phases that it went through they were able to build a model and lighting that is close enough to the real thing it's almost like magic. I just programmed it to take twenty-five cycles to go from full to new back to full again. About the only thing missing is clouds, but we figured we could do without those, the rain was as much as we felt most who have never been on a planet would be able to tolerate. Every few cycles it will rain for a twenty to fifty centas and the time of the rain is random so it can come at virtually any time. It's entertaining to watch people’s reactions when they experience it the first time.”

  As we watched the transition to full-dark, I turned to the others and said, “Sunrise.”

  When the others looked at me, I saw questions on every face but one. Elaine was smiling and nodding her head “yes”. She quickly explained the significance of sunrise to Terrans, “I’ve listened to many of your older songs, the ones you brought with you from your home-worlds. I’ve read your literature and your poetry as well, it’s a shame so much of it no longer has context for you. Your people once believed much as mine do that with every sunrise there is the promise of new beginnings, new opportunities and the chance to build upon what you did yesterday, a chance to atone for yesterday’s wrongs and a fresh view of a new world. Sunrise is a promise from our creator. Our new home shall be called Sunrise as a reminder of that promise.”

  41

  IT TOOK A CYCLE OR TWO to get everything arranged the way I liked it at the new headquarters. No major moves were required or anything like that, it was more a case of me rebuilding the map in my mind as to where everyone was and placing everything I routinely use where muscle memory said it should be. I also found walking the kilometre to headquarters was enjoyable even if I still had to have an escort. My guard detail was billeted on my level in rooms next to the landing stage. Ishmael’s protection staff was next door to them, and there was talk about combining them into one group before too long. The on-duty guards shared a well-appointed office just across the hall from us, and I often have a mixed detail of Terrans, Mmrrreeowwn and Weasels escorting me.

  Ten cycles after I’d made the move we were preparing for the first mass moves from Mother of Glory docked just outside the huge airlock, held in place with clamps and tractor beams. We were located halfway around the deck from the airlock, and electric open-air trams that carried two-hundred and fifty people and their luggage were coming through on a four centa schedule. It was slow, we expected the unloading of MoG was going to last at least ten cycles just for the personnel. We figured on another ten cycles to unload all of the organics on the unfinished agricultural decks and another two cycles to clean everything up and ready the big ship to transport Terran volunteers.

  Then we got a comm from the mainland Chinese. We knew they had been working on a means of lifting thousands of their people at one time on ships that were basically just giant spheres with decks and seats. They were built by the same companies that made huge liquefied natural gas tanks. For
them, it was just a scaling exercise, and by placing all of the engines, power supplies and such on the outside of the tanks, the interior could be much better utilized for transporting people. The ships could be reused many times and when no longer needed, recycled.

  China also was willing to send anyone who met the qualifications. They had finally realized they could do something about their population rate that would ease their economy and alleviate their food production issues.

  India was embarking on a similar program and was having a race with China as to who could get more ships built in less time. India went one farther and opened transportation up to anyone who could get to the launch sites and pass the qualification exams with the understanding that if a candidate failed to qualify they had to leave the country within seventy-two hours.

  Within minutes China came back with a similar offer and included air transportation to the examination stations. The race was on.

  Three companies in Canada were doing the same thing, albeit with smaller ships but more of them. We decided to use Mother of Glory as a kind of flying Ellis Island. When she was ready, we would place her in a geostationary orbit over Southern Europe where virtually all of the ships could reach her. The only hitch seemed to be pilots. We had hundreds of those flying our shuttles plus the pilots who had returned with the Mmrrreeowwn Cohorts when we pulled out of Mother of Vengeance when we began boycotting the Squids. Another win for us was we didn’t have to unload the agricultural decks on MoG since we would need the food and atmosphere conditioning while transporting the volunteers. I left the final details to be worked out by Stan and Dimitri.

  ◆◆◆

  My meeting with Sarah White-Stripe was a challenge. She had taken her twenty-five cycles of downtime and put them to good use. She spent part of her time helping organize the migration of the Weasels, now Mother of Peril was anchored alongside Mother of Glory at Shipyard Two awaiting the call to move to Terra and start picking up volunteers.

  When her leave was over, she took her fitness evaluations and got a better than average score. I told her I was replacing her deputy commander with a Terran named Pete Sandusky and expressed the hope that he would be more suitable than her last one. She flinched at that but didn’t say anything.

  Finally, I lost patience and said, “Look, if you have clashed with your second in command it is up to you to do something about it. You are free anytime to ask for a replacement. Your deputy commander is supposed to be a help not a hindrance and if you can’t trust your deputy to do their job and can’t take steps to replace them then your days as a senior commander are numbered. You are in charge so act like it. You are one of the best I have at strategy and tactics, and you have bravery enough for ten people. Be brave now and tell me what the hell was happening on your ship.”

  She took a shuddering breath and said, “He was respectful whenever there was anyone around, but when he caught me away from others, he wouldn’t leave me alone. I’d heard about him from some of the women I’d met in the Emperor’s court, he’d always seemed respectful to me. Almost from the moment I took command, he would make comments about our ship needing the firm hand of a male at the helm and even more so for a fleet. I could deal with that when we were alone, but then he started second guessing me with decisions I was making on the bridge when we were in combat. He kept picking and picking, and finally, he tried assaulting me in my quarters after he gained access, saying he had something he needed to discuss with me.

  “I managed to fight him off, and from then on I kept one of the Mmrrreeowwn guards with me at all times. He tried to order one to leave once, my guard told him he would only follow my orders. After that, he left me alone, but he found ways to sabotage me and the last time was when we had a chance to nail both of the FTL globe ships. He deliberately failed to pass orders promptly, knowing that the result would be a missed opportunity. He even bragged about it to me later saying I wasn’t fit to command. I had no way to prove it, although I’m sure at least one of my security people must have heard something.”

  “It would have helped if you’d told me all this when it first started, but that is water under the bridge now. He is to report to me later this cycle, I’ll deal with him then. When you get back to your ship, send your security people to my office immediately, on second thought, do it now. I’ll send some of my detail with you and two of them will be by your side until he has left your ship.”

  I’d figured it had to be something like that and was surprised that kind of officer could have made it as far as he did in the Weasel forces particularly since I knew the top commander. God knows I had seen enough of that crap in Terran forces, and I was damned if I was going to tolerate it in mine.

  I commed Sonja whose offices were in the same building now as mine and asked her about harassment of female officers. She said, “It is not tolerated. Unfortunately, it is difficult to prove unless it is witnessed. The penalties if caught, can be very severe.”

  “How about when such actions take place in combat, such as delaying passing orders on time ensuring the failure of a particular action?”

  Sonja said, “On my ship, that individual would be spaced.”

  “Thanks, Sonja, that was all I needed to know.”

  “Jase, are you having problems with a Weasel officer serving on one of your ships?”

  “Not anymore,” I said.

  “Good,” she replied, “I would expect my own brother to be spaced if he had such poor grace as to attempt that behaviour. Let me know how it all turns out.”

  I closed the connection and waited for the warriors assigned to Cheetah to show up.

  I had just finished a quick meal at my desk when a sergeant accompanied by a platoon of warriors showed up. They were pretty evenly split between Terrans, Weasels and Mmrrreeowwn and the sergeant was a Weasel. It only took me asking one question for half the warriors and the sergeant to reply they had witnessed several transgressions committed by the former deputy commander and were surprised it had taken so long for Sarah to do something about him. I got all of their statements recorded then printed them out and had them review and sign them. They had just finished when Deputy Commander Ronald Dark-Fang barged into my office with Jacky hot on his heels.

  I waved her off. When she shut the door, I rounded on him and ordered him back out of the office until we were done. I said, “When these men come out, you may come in; you will knock first and ask to enter just like all of the rest of the officers who serve me.”

  A glare silenced him, and he stormed back out. When the door closed, I told the sergeant, “That idiot is going to sign his own death warrant, when he does and comes back out I want you to place him under arrest, I think you can find an appropriate airlock. The sergeant smiled and nodded, then had his warriors step out and wait.

  As I expected might happen, when the deputy commander came back in and shut the door, he immediately started berating me, my command and our joint operations in general. When he finally came up for air, I yelled in my best command voice, “ATTEN-HUT! Now sit your arse down, shut up, read this document, then sign it.”

  I passed the witness statements over. He read them then looked at me glaring and said, “I refuse to sign this trumped up a pack of lies.”

  I smiled and said, “Refusing a legitimate order during wartime is a capital offence, now I have you on one more charge, insubordination.” I started to from my chair when he hurled himself over my desk, snarling and going for my throat. I was able to pull my molecular knife from the sheath at my waist and took his head in one slice.

  Drenched in blood, I went to the door and called the sergeant in. He took one look and said, “Nice knife work Ser. I’ll comm for a body bag and a clean-up crew. If you have a change of uniform, you may want to consider a quick trip to the head and get cleaned up while we take out the garbage accidentally spilt in your office.”

  I looked down at myself and smiled, “I guess I see what you mean sergeant, I'll attend to that right now.”

 
; There was a head right off the corner of my office, complete with a shower and a spare uniform. I hurried in and took care of business. When I came out fifteen centas later, the body was gone, and the cleaning crew was already taking care of the blood. One of them asked if I was ok and I replied "yes". She smiled and went back to work. I decided I’d had enough for one day, so I commed Tuxedo and asked if it was ale time where he was. He laughed that good-natured laugh of his and said, “For you, it is always ale time. Let’s go to the new Benji’s Place on the ground floor of our living quarters.

  “I hear you got a little knife practice in recently. You can tell me all about it when we get to Benji’s.”

  I told Johnny on my way out, I was going for the day, He just smiled and said, ”From what I hear you earned it.”

  One of our scouts following the Plague’s FTL globe ship had come in with news next cycle, and it wasn’t good. The colossal ship had given our scouts the slip by making a long jump taking it well out of our FTL sensors’ range. We now had evidence the ship could make a single jump farther than the one light-kilocycle range of our sensors. The rebel squids must have been working hard on their new toy because this was the first time we had seen one that could jump farther the equivalent of a Terran light-year much less three. It had taken the scout more than a cycle to get home. The scout and its partners had searched for two cycles before its return, so we were working with data more than three cycles old. The globe ship could be just about anywhere in the arm by now.

  Silent had been keeping track of the big ship’s jumps for nearly thirty cycles. It had been slowly making its way back down the arm towards the system where the new mega-swarm was busy refuelling and building new harvesters. We had scouts monitoring them but had heard nothing for three cycles. The timing between losing contact and the FTL globe ship getting away was too coincidental, besides life had taught me there is no such thing as coincidence.