by M. D. Cooper
“I hope you’d tell me if it were important to our mission here,” her father said in what Sera had long since dubbed his I’m serious, yet friendly, but cross me at your peril tone.
Sera sighed. “To be honest, I don’t know if it’s important or not, she wouldn’t let me see…”
Sera clamped her mouth shut and felt her face redden. She couldn’t believe what she had almost said aloud. It was like she wasn’t in control of herself anymore.
“See what?” her father asked, peering at her intently, his eyes widening. “You sent someone to warn them! This is where Elena went, not some diplomatic mission back to Spica! It’s why their new ship was waiting for us here…at the planet closest to the most obvious jump point.”
Sera tried to formulate a response but stopped. Nothing she could think of would make things better. It didn’t matter.
Her father stood and stared down at her. “There’s no way that you could have masked a jump-gate destination—I would know if any ship jumped into an interdicted system!”
Rage was building in his voice, and his face reddened. “There’s…no. Only Airtha could have hidden that jump destination from me...” he turned, looking pensive, and before Sera could reply, multiple pulse rifle blasts took her down.
DISSEMINATION
STELLAR DATE: 03.27.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Normandy Starjump Observation Tower
REGION: Normandy, Moon of Roma, 6th Planet in the New Canaan System
“OK, Mom, you were right, that was really boring,” Cary said as Tanis and Joe joined their kids in a suite down the tower shaft.
“Yeah,” Tanis sighed as she fell onto a sofa. “That Jeffrey Tomlinson sure can talk.”
“And sure likes to hear it, too,” Joe added as he joined Tanis.
“What were you and Sera talking about?” Saanvi asked. “It seemed intense.”
“Mostly Elena,” Tanis replied. “She wanted to see her, and I told her I couldn’t allow it yet. She…she didn’t handle that well. I thought I could get her to understand my side of it, but…now I fear I’ve lost a friend.”
“But Mom,” Cary exclaimed, “Sera and Elena are lovers! How could you keep them apart?”
Tanis gave her daughter a level stare. “Because lovers share secrets. They can’t help it, and I can’t have Sera know about our fleet yet. She seems…she’s different somehow. It’s as though she’s bought into everything that she was so against when she left. I don’t know where she stands anymore.”
“She did send Elena,” Joe said as he took a glass of water from a servitor. “That counts for something.”
“It does,” Tanis replied with a nod. “Just how much, I don’t know anymore.”
“Has Bob analyzed the data yet?” Saanvi asked. “Is it true that the Orion Guard has destroyed worlds?”
Tanis nodded slowly, wary of where the conversation could go. “Yes, and they’ve told us about those sorts of attacks before; there’s more corroborative evidence this time—such as it is coming from one source.”
Saanvi was a smart girl, and not just from the L2 augmentations both of her daughters had undergone over the years. Tanis knew that one day she would ask for the information about what had happened to her parents, and with her verbal slip, today would be that day.
Her AI sent her an affirming warmth, and Tanis steeled herself for the question. When it came, it was quiet, barely audible.
“Mom…how did my family die?”
Tanis took a deep breath. “They were on a world that was attacked by the Orion Guard. It was close to the front—though not so close that anyone thought there was a risk.”
Saanvi’s face fell and her shoulders slumped. “I always…I don’t know what I thought—that maybe they were still out there somewhere…”
Tanis rose and pulled Saanvi into her arms, Joe and Cary not far behind. The family held each other as Saanvi began to cry—a cry that Tanis knew she had been saving for a long time. It lasted for a few minutes before Saanvi managed to stop and wipe the tears from her eyes.
She looked up at Tanis, and with a voice far calmer than Tanis would have expected, said, “Mom, you have to join with the Transcend and stop the Guard. They can’t keep destroying worlds!”
Tanis wanted to tell her that she couldn’t base her decision on this one need for retribution that Saanvi now had, but that answer would drive her daughter away in rage and sadness. But that wasn’t the only reason. Bob was certain that at least some of the accounts of planetary destruction by the Guard were true. If the Transcend had ever destroyed any worlds, Sera would have told her before—of that much she was certain.
Tanis knew it, but she didn’t want to accept it.
Angela said quietly,
Tanis felt a tear slip down her face as she looked between the inquiring eyes of her family.
“Yes, we will ally with the Transcend. Stars have mercy on our souls, we’ll go to war.”
Tanis felt like she was being torn in two. First, Sera stormed off in a rage, and now she was in mortal danger and needed rescue?
“I have to go,” she said to her family. “Tomlinson has attacked Sera and is doing something to her, I have to go help her.”
“I thought you just had a fight with her?” Cary asked with a frown. “Now you’re going to assault the Transcend president’s ship?”
“Yes, if it comes to that. I owe her my life, more than one time over,” Tanis said before locking eyes with Joe. “Take the girls to the I2, she’s under your command now. Be ready.”
Joe nodded solemnly. “Not how I finally wanted to get command of that beauty. Girls, grab whatever you need, we’ll take the shuttle that’s bringing Elena when it goes back up. You’re going to the shipyard?” he directed the last to Tanis.
“Yes,” she said with a nod. “There are a dozen stealth pinnaces down there that have passed their break-in flights, and a platoon of Marines just itching for a fight.”
“What if it’s a ruse?” Saanvi asked. “What if everything is fine, or if it’s an Orion trick?”
“I’ve already directed Amanda to get in touch with Sera. If we’re stonewalled, we’ll know something is up. If our new allies are playing games with us—games like this—then we’re better off without them.”
“But Orion…” Saanvi said, her eyes wide.
“Don’t worry.” Tanis stroked her daughter’s face. “I have a feeling that, no matter what, we’ll be fighting Orion soon enough.”
LAID BARE
STELLAR DATE: 03.27.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: TSS Galadrial
R
EGION: Roma-Normandy L1 Point, New Canaan System
“You may have just realized that you can’t communicate with Helen.” The voice spoke audibly, and she recognized it as her father’s.
“Why…?” she gasped as her head throbbed.
“I’m sorry you’re in pain,” her father said. “The med bay can dull the pain, but not too much. I want you cogent for this conversation we have to have.”
Sera cracked an eye to see her father seated in a chair by her side in a dimly lit room. He must have told the med bay’s systems to dampen agony, because it decreased in intensity and she was finally able to form a complete thought.
“What did you do to Helen?” she asked, her voice still unable to rise above a whisper.
“I had her removed,” her father replied. “After I realized what you had done to get Elena here, and who could have done it, I realized who your AI really was.”
Shit! Sera thought to herself. Her father had realized that Helen was a shard of Airtha.
“You asked long ago—do you remember?—if you could have a child of Airtha as your AI when you joined The Hand,” her father said slowly. “Do you recall my answer?”
“You said no,” Sera replied, both eyes open now, staring at her father with unconcealed rage. “But I did it anyway because Airtha and I are both free beings. You don’t fucking own me, or her.”
“You’re wrong about that,” her father replied. “You are both mine. When I realized that Elena had come here, that you had sent her, I interrogated Helen. I didn’t realize she was Airtha then, I just thought she would be more forthcoming than you would be.”
“Bastard!” Sera spat. “You mean that you could hurt her and not worry about hurting me.”
“That is exactly what I mean, yes,” her father replied. “But I didn’t need to do anything. Once I mapped her neural network, I knew what she was. An abomination.”
“What?” Sera asked. “How could she be an abomination?”
“That is not for you to know—yet,” Jeffrey Tomlinson said as he rose from his chair and paced across the room. “What am I to do with you, Sera? I had such high hopes for you—even during your ridiculous self-imposed exile. I believed you would be the scion I had always hoped for. When you took your place as the Director of The Hand—a role which you filled very well—I believed that you had grown…”
He poured himself a glass of water and took a sip with his back turned to her. Sera had long since realized that she was secured to the bed—if she hadn’t been, her father would be dead, or wish he were dead.
“But then you suggested the use of antimatter warheads,” he said as he turned back to face her. “For an instant, I really did believe that you were the one—that I wouldn’t have to have a snake like Andrea as my successor—but then you showed the specs, and I knew only one person also knew those exact specifications.”
Her father returned to his seat and crossed his arms. “So, I had you watched. Carefully, meticulously, looking for your line of communication to Airtha, but it never surfaced—nothing out of the ordinary, at least. I never suspected that she was within you, that you had secreted away that which was most precious to me.”
Sera had always known that her father had a unique relationship with Airtha, but he treated her like a thing, not a person—behavior which was not unusual for him. But something that was precious? Only as far as Airtha was useful to him.
“Helen is precious to me,” Sera hissed. “What have you done with her?”
“Oh, she’s alive, if that’s what you’re worried about. For now, at least. I haven’t decided whether or not I should kill her here, or take her back to Airtha and make her otherself watch.”
“Why?” Sera gasped. “What has she done that…that has earned such cruelty?”
Her father’s voice grew sad. “For starters, she found out who you were, what you are. I didn’t want her to know, I didn’t want to distract her from what she should do—I didn’t want her to corrupt you, though I can see now that it may be too late for you.”
“What in all the known stars are you talking about?” Sera exclaimed. “You sound like a lunatic!”
Her father met her eyes and a slow smile grew across his face.
“She never told you!” he let out a laugh. “I can’t believe she never told you!”
“Never told me what?” Sera asked.
“Nothing you’ll ever know,” her father said and rose from his chair once more. “I need to have her further examined, and then disposed of. If you’ll excuse me.”
“What!” Sera screamed. “You can’t kill her, you murderer!”
Her cries fell upon his impassive back, and he didn’t look back as he walked into the hall and closed the door.
Sera bucked and struggled against the restraints as a rage unlike any she had ever felt before came over her. Helen was her best friend; she had to stop her father.
After several minutes, the pain in her head grew too intense to continue fighting her bonds, and Sera collapsed, ragged breaths tearing at her throat as she wondered how she had ever begun to trust her father, how she had fallen into his web of deceit again. Stars, she had even turned her mind against Tanis.
All because of that snake of a man, that viper, that manipulator.
Sera vowed that if he hurt Helen, she would kill her father. No, she vowed to kill him even if he didn’t. It was time to put an end to his tyranny.
STRIKE
STELLAR DATE: 03.27.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Gamma IV Shipyard
REGION: Normandy, Moon of Roma, 6th Planet in the New Canaan System
Tanis rode the lift down the tower and then into the planet’s crust. The platform continued to descend kilometer after kilometer, before passing through the final layers of rock and into the shipyard hidden within the moon.
“Oh shit…” Elena gasped. “This is where you’re building them. There’s…more than you led me to believe.”
Tanis nodded. “Most of them aren’t ready yet, but when I spoke of a million ships, I was telling you my ultimate goal. I will ring this system in steel and beam-fire if I have to.”
“You’re sure off to a good start,” Elena said softly. “How are you building them so fast? You have at least ten thousand in here.”
Tanis looked around at the rows of ships nestled in their cradles, surrounded by bots mounting laser cannon, sensor arrays, and engines. The sight of so much industry made her swell with pride and she winked at Elena.
“We’re growing the less complex parts—we can make a hull in a just a few weeks,” she replied.
“Growing hulls?” Elena frowned. “But these ships will have to undergo extreme stress and stand up under fire. You can’t just ‘grow’ that sort of structure.”
“We can,” Tanis replied. “Not only that, these ships can self-repair while under fire to a degree no one has ever seen before.”
“So, do you plan to assault the TSF fleet to free Sera?” Elena asked. “Because her father will just as soon kill her and jump out than fight you.”
Tanis nodded. “I got that impression, as well. Anyone who travels with a jump-gate…No, we’re going in on stealth ships with a small strike force.”
The platform reached its destination and Tanis stepped off, leading Elena down a warren of corridors to where the stealth pinnaces were docked. After only a short walk, they turned a corner and stepped onto a wide platform suspended amidst nearly complete cruisers.
Resting on the platform were six pinnaces, running lights on and ramps lowered, ready to ta
ke on passengers.
“We’re assaulting in those?” Elena asked. “Are you sure the TSF ships can’t see them?”
“Could you see the cruiser I scooped you up in?” Tanis asked.
“Well…no…”
“General,” a voice called out from behind them and Tanis turned to see Lieutenant Colonel Usef approaching, two dozen Marines on his heels. “I’ve assembled every Marine with combat experience on the base. You give the word, and we’ll hit your target so hard they won’t wake up when the Andromeda Galaxy gets here.”
The men and women behind him wore grim expressions, and Tanis gave them a solemn nod.
“Very good, Colonel,” Tanis replied. “We’ll take just three pinnaces. I assume you brought gear and weapons for us?”
“Of course, ma’am,” Usef replied, gesturing to packs several of the Marines carried. “You can gear up on the flight in. It’ll take us just under two hours to get there.”
“Two hours!” Elena exclaimed. “Anything could happen in that time.”
“Elena, we can’t rush in,” Tanis said. “Stealth ships aren’t very stealthy with their engines at max burn.”
Elena clamped her mouth shut as Usef distributed his six fireteams between the pinnaces and then led Tanis and Elena to theirs. Once inside, Tanis grabbed a pack and led Elena to one of the cabins.
“Strip. You need to get this armor on.”
Elena complied, and once the woman was naked, Tanis took a cylinder and pressed it against her chest.
“This may feel pretty weird, especially since you’ve appropriated Sera’s skin choice, but there’s no time to alter how the armor applies.”
“What armor?” Elena asked, and then gasped as the cylinder Tanis held began to melt against her body. “Oh, I’ve never seen anything quite like this.”
“Based on something I bought back on Callisto,” Tanis replied. “Earnest upgraded it to not need a base layer anymore—and took out all their patent locks, too. It will stop just about any ballistic round you can imagine—short of serious kinetics—and can disperse and reflect photon beams. It can hold off electron beams for a bit, but don’t get cocky.”