by M. D. Cooper
She stared into her father’s eyes, almost unable to breathe at the sight of him. “Stars, Dad, I thought you’d never get here!”
“Yeah, I know you had to wait a few months, but at least you knew I was alive.”
Krissy let out a happy laugh. “Dad, you’re the great Finaeus Tomlinson; you wouldn’t let something as trivial as being sent outside the galaxy stop you—though I suppose you bested that, too, only ending up in the Perseus Arm.”
Finaeus snorted. “‘Only in the Perseus Arm’. You make it sound like it’s just next door.”
“Considering that you could have been spending the rest of your life exploring a dwarf galaxy and staring up at the Milky Way every night, I’d say that Perseus is pretty much right next door.”
“I would have renamed it,” Finaeus said.
“What?” Krissy asked, perplexed.
“The Milky Way. We call it that because of what it looks like from the inside. Out there…given the inclination…I would have named it the…Spaghetti Bowl Galaxy.”
“Always thinking with your stomach, Dad.”
Finaeus nodded. “No reason to change up what works.”
Another pinnace flew through the bay’s grav shield and settled on the next cradle over. Finaeus took Krissy by the arm and led her toward it. “Come, let’s introduce you to your new president, and Field Marshal Richards.”
“I’ve met Sera before,” Krissy reminded him. “Back before her self-imposed exile. Stars, I used to buy her birthday presents because you always forgot. Her, I can handle; it’s Tanis Richards that has me worried. I hear she’s rather imposing.”
Finaeus laughed. “Yes, she’s a bit like you, in that respect.”
Krissy smacked her father’s arm, but was happy to have him back, bad humor, inappropriate remarks, and all.
They approached the pinnace’s ramp, and Krissy separated herself from her father. She would need to salute her new CO and the president.
As expected, Sera and Tanis were the first ones off the pinnace, walking side-by-side down the ramp. Neither were anything like she expected.
Sera looked nothing like she had years ago. She was wearing a skin-tight, light blue outfit, which was complemented by her dark blue lips; her face, unnaturally pale, was framed by long, black hair. She strode casually down the ramp, laughing at something Tanis must have said over the Link.
Tanis Richards, Krissy’s new boss, wore a crisp, white uniform that was cut for a female figure, but not overly so. Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and her eyes seemed to take in everything around her with a single glance.
Her posture was far more rigid than Sera’s, but there was a subtle fluidity to it—as though she were a dancer, masquerading as a soldier.
As they reached the foot of the ramp, Krissy saluted sharply, a gesture which Tanis and Sera returned.
“Madam President, Field Marshal Richards,” Krissy said by way of greeting.
“Seriously, Krissy?” Sera winked. “You’re my cousin, you don’t have to salute and be all formal.”
“It wouldn’t do to have accusations of nepotism fly about,” Krissy barely managed to say before Sera wrapped her in a fierce embrace.
“I don’t care. Thank you for saving Sabrina and everyone aboard. You took a big risk.”
“I’ll take risks to stand up against the Grey Division any day,” Krissy replied. “Bunch of self-righteous—”
Krissy looked at Tanis and flushed, though the other woman was smiling at her.
“No need to edit yourself on my behalf,” Tanis said. “I run a call-it-like-I-see-it sort of operation.”
Krissy offered Tanis her hand. “I’m glad to hear it, and glad to meet you, Field Marshal.”
She noticed a grimace pass over Tanis’s face and wondered if the woman was entirely comfortable with her new role. Last she’d heard, Tanis Richards was governor and general; field marshal was quite the step up.
Alongside the admiral’s—not general’s—stars on Tanis’s lapels, Krissy saw that only one bore the TSF’s crest, while the other bore a symbol she assumed to be the ISF’s.
“There is no Grey Division in my Transcend, anyway,” Sera said. “From what Finaeus has explained, and from the evidence I’ve seen, they have been nothing but an arm of Airtha for centuries. I’ve created a plan to disband them, audit their staff, and create a new R&D division.”
“I like the sound of that,” Krissy admitted.
“I was expecting Admiral Greer to meet us,” Tanis said. “I saw the Galadrial at dock, so I assume he arrived safely?”
Krissy nodded. “He arrived a week ago. His ships are undergoing refit and repair, and he’s out inspecting the progress. I expect him to be back here on Keren in a few hours. He did want to be here to greet you, but his tour took longer than expected.”
Tanis nodded. “Understandable, he has a lot to do. I assume that your shipyards are also installing the new shield generators we’ve sent?”
Krissy nodded. “They have begun, yes. Would you like a brief tour of the facility? I understand it is going to be the de facto capital for some time.”
She saw Tanis and Sera glance at one another before Sera replied, “For now, yes.”
It took her a moment to realize that Sera was referencing Khardine’s status as the capital, not the tour of Keren station.
“But a short tour would be nice, before we get to the new administration complex.”
Krissy nodded and led Finaeus, Sera, and Tanis out of the docking bay, while the rest of their retinues continued to disembark. She did notice a quintet of soldiers, bearing an insignia she had not seen before, split off and follow behind the group. Their ranks were strange: a major, two sergeants, a corporal, and a lieutenant.
She assumed it was some elite unit, and nodded with satisfaction before bringing up a point about the shield tech. “There was some grumbling that we’re not being allowed access to the underlying stasis shield technology—just black-box units. Though I understand the need for secrecy, the single source is troubling from a volume and security standpoint.”
“It’s really not up for debate, Admiral,” Tanis replied. “I’m sorry.”
Krissy opened her mouth to reply, but could tell by Tanis’s expression that the field marshal would not budge on this point. At least, not yet. Krissy wasn’t about to give the argument up so easily.
She led them through several sections of the TSF’s docking and administration areas, before they took a maglev to the station’s central shaft.
The center of Keren station was a cylinder thirty kilometers in length and two in diameter. It rotated slowly, providing a gentle 0.7g, and was filled with rolling plains, forests, and lakes. A long sun ran down the center, and Krissy wondered how similar it was to the I2’s habitation cylinders.
One difference was that Keren Station did not use a fusion-based sun to generate its light-energy. Instead, a large solar collector fanned out from the station’s sunward pole and drew in the star’s light. The photons were then funneled down the tube and diffused across the interior of the cylinder.
“It’s comforting,” Tanis remarked as they walked down a broad street toward the administrative buildings that had been constructed for the fledgling government’s use. “Reminds me a bit of Landfall. The domes there shifted the red starlight in a similar way, but you could still pick up the original tones.”
“Domes over Landfall? On Carthage?” Krissy asked, wondering why the capital city in New Canaan would be domed.
“Sorry,” Tanis said with a forgiving smile. “We named Landfall on New Canaan after Landfall on Victoria. Some of us are a bit sentimental, it would seem. Back when the atmosphere was still too thin to breathe, we domed the city so the Victorians could build aboveground.”
“Ahh,” Krissy replied. “I remember Victoria. We studied the—” She stopped when a pained expression came over Tanis’s face. “Um…sorry.”
Tanis raised a hand and shook her head. “I’ve c
ome to grips with it. Time marches on, right? We can’t expect everything to remain the same forever.”
Krissy had to admire the woman’s fortitude. She had studied Tanis Richards as much as possible before her arrival, and there was no doubt about it: the woman had seen her fair share of misfortune.
She imagined herself in Tanis’s shoes. To know that her birthplace and childhood home on Mars was gone, buried under the collapsed Mars 1 Ring, and that every place she had ever visited on Earth was gone, and possibly every place on High Terra, as well.
Add to that list the fact that the Sirians had razed absolutely everything in the Kapteyn’s Star System, and Tanis Richards had few places she could look back on without sadness clouding her memories.
That Tanis was still taking the lead, striding forward, and doing what needed to be done impressed Krissy to no end; almost enough to make up for being passed over for field marshal.
Krissy couldn’t help but feel that Tanis had gotten the position as much because of her control of the picotech and her friendship with Sera than any special skill she may have.
Tanis may have fought a number of impressive battles and won against unimaginable odds, but Krissy had far more experience with mutli-system fleet engagements—not to mention almost five hundred years of active military service on Tanis.
Still, she wasn’t going to side with some evil entity that had enslaved all of the AIs in the Transcend just because she thought she should have Tanis’s job. Especially since Adrienne had gone and joined with Airtha; if that wasn’t a sign of who was on the wrong side, nothing was.
For now, she’d hold her peace. But if Tanis appeared to be in over her head, Krissy would petition Sera for a change of command, special friend or not.
They were still half a kilometer away from the newly constructed administration buildings when Tanis stopped, cocked her head, and cried “RUN!” before turning back the way they’d come.
Krissy didn’t bother to ask what they were running from. She joined the mad dash, scanning the surrounding terrain for danger as the accompanying soldiers surrounded them.
A second later, a tremendous crack echoed through the cylinder, and Krissy turned back to see a beam tear through the landscape above them and smash into the new administration buildings.
Krissy was beside Tanis when another blast tore through the station, striking the road just one hundred meters behind them.
“Go!” Tanis shouted to the soldiers as she reached the doors and held one open for the last two stragglers.
Is she reckless or brave? Krissy wondered as Tanis raced down the stairs after them. Doesn’t matter, the outcome is the same.
* * * * *
Tanis counted the group who had escaped the blast. Major Valerie and four of the High Guard, plus the ten TSF soldiers that had accompanied Krissy—though two of those were on her administrative staff. She wasn’t certain how much use they’d be in a fight. Add Krissy, Finaeus, and Sera to that number, and there were nineteen of them, all told.
Tanis clenched her teeth, took a deep breath and turned to Krissy. “Where to?”
“We should get out to the far spur. That will put as much station between us and the Galadriel as possible,” Krissy replied.
“Unless they have two ships and they’re just waiting for us to go somewhere vulnerable,” Sera said.
Krissy frowned, and Tanis knew the feeling. Being shot at by your own ships made for a sickening sensation.
“We go down-cylinder, then,” Krissy decided. “There are no TSF ships docked around the lower rings and, crazy as it sounds, we’ll be safer in the civilian sections of the station.”
Krissy led the way with four of her soldiers behind her. Tanis and the High Guard followed, Sera and Finaeus tucked into their midst. The final six TSF soldiers brought up the rear.
Sera said privately.
Tanis tapped a member of the High Guard on the shoulder and pointed to her sidearm and then at Sera. The woman unholstered it and passed it and two charge cylinders over. One of the TSF soldiers scowled, but didn’t say anything.
Tanis laughed aloud.
“There’s a concourse ahead,” Krissy informed them. “I’ve summoned some station cars to pick us up for a ride down-cylinder.”
Tanis nodded, seeing the concourse ahead at the far end of the corridor. Her nano cloud had just reached it, and its feed revealed a heavily armed squad of soldiers stationed on either side of where their corridor met the concourse.
Krissy hesitated, then began moving backward, drawing her sidearm.
As Angela spoke, the enemy soldiers leaned around the end of the corridor and opened fire on the retreating group.
The four TSF soldiers were now the rear guard, and their armor bore the brunt of the assault. They returned fire, and the enemy troops pulled back around the corners.
“Where’s station security?” Finaeus asked.
“They were evacuating the area because of the big holes in the station,” Krissy said as she moved to the fore of the retreat, her sidearm in hand.
“Seems convenient,” Sera mused.
“It’s protocol,” Krissy replied tersely.
“I meant it seems convenient that the Galadrial would fire twice and miss us both times, all the while driving us toward an ambush.”
“You’re right,” Tanis said. “That first shot was to get us moving, and the second was to keep us going.” She called up to Rachel on the I2.
She brought her focus to the corridor down which they were retreating. The enemy had pushed forward, and the group fell back to an intersection, where they took cover.
Tanis glanced back the way they had come; there was little c
hance of escape that way, as it was likely sealed against vacuum.
Tanis sent a passel of nano down each corridor, as well. The nano would scout, and the soldiers would deal with what she expected to find.
Angela replied.
Although the enemy was using non-lethal weaponry, the soldiers protecting the group were not. Two carried beam weapons, and the others fired high-velocity kinetics, which had already taken out three of the attackers.
One of the TSF soldiers ahead of Tanis took a focused pulse blast in his armpit that knocked him against the wall. He groaned and his arm hung limp.
Tanis pulled up the nano feed of the attackers and the concourse beyond. Instead of their rides arriving, thirty-three more enemy soldiers were rushing to the scene, some breaking off and moving down passageways parallel to the one where the group was hunkered down.
“Damn,” Tanis swore as her nanocloud down the right corridor encountered a dozen enemy troops. She addressed the pair of TSF soldiers that were following behind her cloud.
“I’m going to go clear out the left side,” Tanis said and pulled her jacket off, tossing it to Sera. Then she removed the rest of her clothing, revealing the matte grey default state of her Mark X FlowArmor.
“Dammit,” Sera swore. “And I have to stay behind?”