"Yes, Ma'am," Rear Admiral Iaffer said, forwarding the orders as he continued to speak. "May I ask why you're changing your order? It's not like you."
Most people wouldn't get an answer, but Iaffer was worth the effort. "The Cluster is going to be one of the most difficult fronts in this war. I know the Admiralty disagrees, that they expect me to have a victory here then return to the brighter systems within a year. They are wrong. Overlord Dron knows it, I know it. The fact that Citadel has anything in this area confirms that they know it. We're going to need power in space, because it'll take time for us to establish the relationships we need to create a network of listening posts and spies. Regardless of how hesitant the commanders in the Haven System are to do what it takes to break that deadly wheel of ships in orbit, we'll need them and their ships. I'll punish every one of them savagely and we'll promote their subordinates, make them our people, indebted to us in more ways than one, and we'll have a proper force by the time the rest of our ships arrive from Order of Eden space. Maybe we can salvage some good people from what Tafford left behind. We'll make sure the rest get a chance to prove themselves if they survive."
"That more than answers my question, thank you, Ma'am," the Rear Admiral said.
"It's not what you expected, though?" Admiral Scanlon asked.
"To be honest, I wasn't sure what you'd say. It's so rare to see you reverse a decision that I had to know what you were thinking. That is, if would be willing to share."
"Then this will come as a shock: Tell Rinder to stop grinding the gears. Make best speed to our original destination in the Cluster, not the Haven System. We can't afford to arrive anywhere without our faster than light systems in good repair. My ships need to be ready for anything."
"Yes, Ma'am," Rear Admiral Iaffer said.
The data around her updated and the image of a blonde-haired pilot with dark brown eyes was added by one of the listening and decoding agents aboard a ship near Tamber. She was marked as a Former Lorander Security Pilot named Edda Paley, call sign; 'Dame.' The woman was discovered and highlighted because she was credited with Wheeler's capture. Scanlon sucked air in through her teeth as though bracing for a blow and let it out, saying; "A former Lorander officer is becoming a Haven Fleet hero, a legend."
"Lorander has made it clear they want nothing to do with the conflict," Rear Admiral Iaffer said.
"Yes, but for over a century Lorander has been offering humans an opportunity to start over for a low-ticket price. They're transported out of the galaxy to new worlds, ideal worlds, where they begin new lives as Lorander colonists. It's been confirmed: Regent Galactic has proven that it's not some scheme, Lorander has really been seeding nine different galaxies with humans. It was their solution to the enemies encroaching or rising in the Milky Way. For that whole time Lorander has been bringing new technology and wonders back to the Milky Way on their return trips, invigorating trade, expanding knowledge and thrilling billions. This pilot, part of Samurai Squadron, is called Dame. It's the archaic, female form of 'knight,' and in some cultures the name for an anointed leader. Her being a hero, and from Lorander, who the galaxy loves, makes her an inspiring example. She's one more reason why people between the bright starts of Order of Eden territory and the Core Worlds might see Haven as the right side in this war. Haven, the heroic underdogs, when we know what they're doing will eventually crumble into disorder and invite more invaders to plunder humanity. Dame is an example we can't afford people to see, especially in the Cluster. Put filters in place throughout our entire hyper transmitter network so news about her doesn't spread. We can't have anyone believing that any part of Lorander culture supports Haven."
"Yes, Ma'am," Rear Admiral Iaffer said, putting her order through as it was uttered. "I'll be surprised if more than one or two solar systems ever hear her name or see her face."
With a sinking feeling, Admiral Scanlon turned her full attention back to the holograms orbiting her in the middle of the large space. There were other commanders working, one of them focused on their longer-range missions. The face of Jaden Holm - nicely chiselled and stern - drifted in front of one of her subordinates. I hope Captain Holm and his Justicars get Alice Valent in hand. I might need that kind of leverage if Haven Fleet keeps finding stand-out heroes.
Twenty-Two
The Feeling of Distance
* * *
Zero gravity racing was one of the most dangerous pursuits in the galaxy, there was no doubt, the statistics didn't lie. The most glaring statistic was the death toll. Every Free Flying Course, that was; a course where the racers weren't allowed to wear more than a thin suit, a helmet, and their flight modules, had a death rate of over thirty percent in the amateur races. Yet it was the favourite form of the sport compared to armoured or ship racing.
Most zero gravity courses were built in a large containment vessel or maze, and both types always had an atmosphere. With an atmosphere you had sound, air so explosions bloomed large and bright, a slightly higher survival rate for the racers because they didn't need their helmets to breathe, but most importantly to the thrill of it all: it felt like you were flying.
"Let me show you something; a sim I found in the system after I saw you on that sky luge track," Noah told Alice as they considered the idea of playing a sim together. Talking, cuddling, even making out for a while wasn't getting old. It was hard for either of them to stay apart; the attraction was real and always beckoning, but they didn't want the physical to too rapidly outpace the rest of their relationship. Oh, there was a part of Alice that really wanted it to. It felt like she'd learned more than enough about him to take things as far as they could go in the bedroom, and there were moments when holding back was the last thing she wanted to do. They needed a distraction, something almost as fun but not as intimate if there was such a thing. Besides, they weren't alone on the Corsair anymore. Her Nafalli crew had assembled a shipping crate and docked it to the Corsair's underside so the bots could be crammed in there. Space aboard Noah's ship had been reclaimed in the minutes it took for them to assemble the fabricated panels in space then push the security robots through the airlock into it. Then Theodore, Yawen, Krooke and Woone boarded the Corsair. It was Yawen's idea to split the crew so both of the Clever Class ships could be manned and ready for anything and Alice saw no reason to delay other than the obvious one; the fun of having the whole ship to Noah and herself.
Regardless of that single reason to hold off from crewing the Corsair, Noah's new crewmates settled into quarters that may not be so temporary. As they made themselves at home and Theodore started a watch on the bridge, Alice and Noah retreated to his quarters.
That's where the idea of sims came in. The ultimate playground was only limited by the programs they had and what they could imagine if they had time to design their own. When Alice saw that they were on the starting line for a Zero Rig race - a zero gravity racing course where the participants only wore their form-fitted suits without thrusters or even a helmet - she was delighted. "I didn't know there were Z-Grav race sims in the database. I didn't even think to look, Freeground outlawed most of these race types a long time ago."
"The crew I grew up with used to hit the races every chance we got," Noah said, looking up at the interior of the giant globe around them. There were at least a hundred thousand simulated people there in stands, rumbling with anticipation as they spoke amongst themselves, waiting for the next race to start. There were several courses built around each other, the acceleration and deceleration rings dotted with obstacles and grip points that looked like long, snaking rails that could kill you as easily as save you if you were going too fast in the wrong direction. They were at the starting point of a maze. "This arena is probably still in orbit around Vanden, it was one of the best. I never saw the same tracks twice, they were always changing. Before you say anything; yeah, there were a lot of deaths, especially in the Unlimited Velocity Zero Rig races, but unless you're in a seat right next to a bad corner, you don't see that stuff close up.
To me, when I was a kid, I didn't get that real people were dying, and when I finally did understand, I knew those racers were competing because of the rush, maybe just for millions of credits, or both. I knew there was nothing they'd rather do, so I always bet a few plat when I could afford it, that's the only tribute - aside from fame and racer guys or girls - they wanted."
It was clear to Alice that Noah was explaining himself just in case she thought these deadly races were wrong, immoral, but he didn't have to worry. If there was no need for her in the military, she was sure that at least part of her time would be spent thrill seeking, and this would be one of the places she'd end up. The suit she wore was her favourite colour - powder blue - and it was decorated with piping that made the shape of it a little more exciting, accentuating here and there. While the piping followed different lines in some places, his green suit was just as form fitted. "They definitely capitalized on the eye candy too." His avatar was a perfect scan of his real body, and she made sure he saw her look him up and down before grinning at him innocently.
"Why do I get the feeling that you'd love to visit a place like this outside of a sim?" Noah asked, smirking. "I totally wasted my breath with that whole speech explaining why I didn't think people risking their lives for a race wasn't totally wrong, didn't I?"
Alice looked down into the transparent metal tube she hung over. There were pads above her, some kind of push off point. "Well, kinda, yeah. At least now I know you aren't one of the people up there who just want to see racers go splat."
"Or the mess when a racer hits a bar so fast that they lose a limb or get split in two. There are fans who only come for the blood, you're right." Noah added. "I like the speed and the competition, though."
"You ever race?"
"No, not on a track. We used to turn the gravity off on one of the ships and use it a course sometimes, though. We'd be kids in full containment and brace suits, keeping the speed way below safety limits but feeling like we were moving at a million klicks a second. I still get a buzz from speed when I can feel the world moving past so fast that touching it would spin me out."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Alice asked. "What's this race?" she tapped her slender shoe against the edge of the tube beneath her feet.
"It's a maze. We go in through different tubes, take different routes through checkpoints using the sides to push ourselves around. The pads overhead are boosters that push us if we make contact. There are red rings that can slow us down if we curl into a ball, they also help you redirect your momentum depending on how you stretch out as you pass through them. Those rings aren't in this course, they're kinda too expert mode for me. At one point in the maze we meet up, and whoever has cleared more track at that point wins. There's a death match version of this with more racers, where they can catch each other and disable or kill their opponent if they've cleared more track."
"But this version is speed and dexterity only," Alice said, not seeing any weapons within the transparent tubes below her. There seemed to be so many twists and turns that it was more a course of knots. "We could do something else when we meet in the middle…" she added with a wink. "There's plenty of time."
"What?" Noah asked. Either he didn't hear her or wasn't sure he heard her right.
That's how she'd leave it, at least until they ran into each other somewhere in the labyrinth. Alice pushed off, touching both her hands on the acceleration pads above her at the same time, crying out in surprise and elated excitement as she was shoved down the transparent metal tube at speed. At first, she took it like the sky luge, feet first, arms crossed, looking at the upcoming, gradual corner between her shoes. Then her suit made contact with the smooth tube, and even the low friction material didn't slow her down much as she slipped along the curve. When she saw Noah rush past her one tube over, he was face first, grinning. "Those launch pads were for your feet," he said over a comlink that was provided by the sim.
Alice let the grip on the bottom of her foot touch the side of the tube and nearly did a face plant as she flipped end over end, coming up so she was heading down the tube head first. Touching the wall with her hand, she discovered that her fingers and palms had grips like those on the bottoms of her feet too, and she used them to push herself down the course, picking up speed fast. "Sure, you've never done this before, but you've probably seen a few dozen races." He already knows everything there is to know. She thought to herself, more amused than irritated at him.
"More like a couple hundred," Noah replied. He was several bends ahead, slowing down so he could make his way through a tightly twisted set of turns.
Not willing to be easily beaten, Alice pushed off the walls down the course as hard as she could several times, the military training she'd done in zero gravity taking over. After a few turns, it was all fun again as she realized that there were several tricks to this kind of racing that weren't obvious at first. The tubes and her suit were nearly frictionless for the most part, not just slippery, and the surfaces of her gloves and feet were all that could slow her down. The grip bars were also high friction. Those characteristics weren't too surprising, but how you approached contact with the sides of the tubes was all-important. That was surprising and so much fun as she gathered massive momentum while learning to curve her back, twist her body as she slipped along the sides of corners like a slick pea through a curled straw.
The air rushing across her bare face and in her gel slicked hair added to the thrill, which had her laughing, yelling and always grinning. That was until she almost missed a pair of control bars that ran parallel to the inside of her tube. The next corner was sharp. Her glove caught one of the bars in time to slow her down and reposition herself before she reached it, and even then she hit it with her feet hard enough so she had to absorb the impact with a full crouch. A thought ran through her head then; this track is so transparent, that if those bars weren't there, I might not have noticed the corner at all, and then, well, I would have gone splat at what - fifty? Seventy? Even ninety klicks an hour? - but there was no reason to worry. Her avatar would have taken all the damage, and the only injury Alice would have suffered would have been to her pride.
The corner hadn't been a disaster for her, though, and she was crouched down low in its crook. With dexterity that came from her time training in zero gravity sims, she pushed off hard into the next section of gradually curving track. The next feature was coming up - a long acceleration pad along the side of a gradual corner - and she stretched so as much of her suit could make contact as possible as it glided against the side of the tube. Then her body touched it and with a lurch that flipped her stomach upside down while she felt the gravitational forces increase, she slid quickly into the next series of gradually tightening corners, feeling like she was falling head first, shifting and changing the position of her arms and legs as she caught such a rush that she didn't see Noah until he was one long turn ahead.
"I almost want to let you pass," he laughed. "I've never seen anyone have so much fun."
To her momentary dismay, Alice realized that she'd put no thought into what would happen when they met head to head, but Noah wasn't travelling in her direction anymore, he'd stopped in the tunnel ahead on the opposite side from her, standing ready. "How do we come together so I don't clobber you or slam into the side?"
"Easy," Noah said as he leapt up in time to catch her feet as she passed overhead.
Alice was pulled to the other side of the tube, but he slowed her down so her collision was more of a long, sluggish slide. They slowly moved down a leisurely slalom section of the course as they slid together until the pair rested in a strange, low friction embrace. "So, how much of the track did I clear?" she asked.
With a glance to his right, Noah directed her attention to the scoreboard which stated:
ALICE: 28.7%
NOAH: 71.3%
"I nearly broke my neck three times and almost blacked out once to win," Noah said with a shrug.
"Bloody pilots," Alice breathed, not unh
appy in the least to have lost but pretending she was irritated was fun. "We're going to have to do that again. Then we'll show the crew."
"Definitely," Noah replied, his lips drawing closer. "Yeah, the crew would love this."
"Definitely," Alice agreed, finding his kiss warm, caring, and thanks to a few sim settings; unmistakably real. Outside of the brain-bud induced program they were laying together in his quarters, the motion of their bodies minimized except for certain actions like breathing, facial expressions, and kissing. Theodore, of all people, showed them how to adjust those settings, but he was far from her mind as they forgot where they were, a kiss transporting them to a pleasurable place where they could only sense each other.
The bloom of happiness and excitement from Noah was separate from hers, she could feel the difference, and Alice was finally aware of her own feelings at the same time. His wonderful attraction and elation towards her and the moment was still so good that it could be addictive, but she was learning to keep that outside of herself while she enjoyed the reassurance of knowing how he felt. In short: her empathic abilities were only making things better, easier for her as she learned to read and control them.
The simulation was cancelled abruptly, and they sat up with a gasp as a sense of urgency filled them both. Alice pulled the small brain bud from where it was placed on the back of her head. It was the non-invasive type, newer to the galaxy but around just about everywhere.
"Elise, what's going on?" Noah asked the darkness.
"I'm sorry, there's an encoded, classified top priority communication coming in from Haven Fleet Command," she replied. "It's for Captain Valent."
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 14 Page 18