Ascension_Age Of Expansion_A Kurtherian Gambit Series

by Ell Leigh Clarke

  He started moving towards her. Molly straightened up against the wall, suddenly even more anxious than she had been a few minutes ago. Her heart started palpitating in her chest again.

  Joel moved closer into her, and before she knew what was happening he was planting a kiss on her lips.

  Several moments passed, and Molly felt herself succumbing to the new possibilities. When he eventually pulled away, her mind scrambled to make light of the situation.

  “Well, I think you should take Ben’or’s sage advice more often.” She smiled.

  “I think I will,” he agreed, kissing her again.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Aboard The Empress, Outer Sark System

  Brock appeared back in the cockpit.

  “How did it go?” Crash asked as he slumped down next to him.

  Brock looked like he was still processing the interview. “It sounds like we have options now,” he reported, a little dazed.

  “Options like what?” Sean interjected, coming over to stand by the console chairs. Karina wandered over too.

  Brock glanced over at Pieter. “You’re up next,” he told him. “Just head straight on in.”

  Pieter exhaled and jumped up from his console chair. “Here goes nothing,” he announced, his nerves showing in his expression.

  As he ambled out of the cockpit, Sean refocused Brock’s attention on his question. “So, come on. What kind of options?” he pressed.

  Brock’s eyes lit up wide. “Like anything. Since we don’t exist anymore, we can do whatever our hearts desire. Like intergalactic spies, for instance!”

  Sean’s face fell. Karina placed a hand on his shoulder. “Well, we’ve been there and done that,” she told Brock, as if speaking for Sean too.

  Brock narrowed his eyes at them. “We never will know quite what you two have been up to over the years, will we?”

  The pair of them shook their heads in tandem.

  “Well think of it this way,” Sean explained. “I died, and I took my secrets with me… So that should give you an idea of how likely I am to tell anyone.”

  Brock snorted and noticed Crash laughing silently to himself. “Well, we can also retire. The General mentioned a great place called Davos where no one will find us.”

  Karina pulled Sean aside. “Hey look, is there somewhere we can go to talk?”

  Sean’s expression changed from one of smugness at his Brock-encounter, to one of concern. “Yeah sure, baby.”

  Then another thought crossed his mind and turned his expression into the one of his dirty grins.

  She patted playfully at his arm. “I’m serious,” she told him.

  “So am I,” he retorted as he led her out of the cockpit and through the little door in the corridor that led to the downstairs meeting rooms and med bay.

  Just as they reached the main corridor at the bottom of the steps, Oz’s voice came over his implant. “Sean, the General would like to speak to you next, please. Could you make your way up to the lounge?”

  Sean’s face flashed with faint annoyance. “Sure,” he sighed. “Sorry, babe. Duty calls,” he told her, kissing her forehead. “Can we do this as soon as I get out? Maybe meet you in the cargo hold… Just this corridor and out of that door, then you’ll recognize where you are. There’s a mocha machine in the little room at the end. It’s not as good as the one in the lounge, but it does the job.”

  Karina nodded dutifully. “Sure,” she replied, letting go of his hand and allowing him to scoot back up the stairs they had just come down.

  Cargo Hold, Aboard The Empress, Outer Sark System

  Sean arrived in the cargo hold where he had arranged to meet Karina again. The new old Little Empress loomed behind her as she hung around, mocha cup in hand.

  “So?” Karina asked as he approached. “What options did he give you?”

  “Multiple,” he said, vaguely.

  “What does that even mean?” she asked.

  “Carte blanche. I can rejoin the Federation at my former rank, or I can continue to hang with these knuckleheads. He didn’t seem to mind either way. The only restriction is that none of us can go back to Estaria.”

  Karina’s brow furrowed. “And what do you think you want to do?”

  Sean shrugged. “I have no idea. Not exactly had a long time to think about this.”

  “No,” she agreed, her eyes focusing on the distance.

  Sean read the signs and put his hands on her arms. “What do you think?” he asked quietly.

  She smiled at him. “I’m glad you asked.”

  He smirked at her sense of humor even as they tackled the delicate subject.

  “We were talking about retiring from the ops life since… well, we were locked in my father’s basement, if you remember.”

  Sean nodded slowly, as the reality of his life changing dawned on him. “You mean…?”

  “Start a family.”

  Sean swallowed hard. “Wow, that’s… a lot to take on,” he said eventually.

  Karina raised her eyebrows almost sarcastically. “Yeah, compared to everything we’ve been through today…”

  Sean was looking dazed. “What about the mission?” he asked.

  “We’re done. You heard the General—we can do what we want. Stay or go.”

  “But, the military is all I know…”

  “Time to try something new, eh?”

  Sean looked down at the floor, scuffing it with the boot of his toe, thinking. “Well, yeah. Maybe.”

  He took a long deep breath. “How about we start with a puppy?”

  Cockpit, Aboard The Empress, Outer Sark System

  Pieter and Jack sat waiting in the cockpit. Brock had gone to see if he could track down the rumors of a second mocha machine, and Karina and Sean hadn’t been seen for quite some time now.

  “Who’s in there now?” Pieter asked.

  “Crash, I think,” Jack deduced.

  “Brock was looking more nervous once he’d talked to the General,” he observed.

  “Yeah, I noticed that,” Jack agreed. “It’s intense though. Nothing like dying to help you reevaluate your life and purpose. It’s a lot to figure out.”

  “I’d say,” Pieter concurred.

  There were several moments of silence between the pair.

  Eventually Pieter spoke. “What went through your mind as the ship exploded?”

  Jack took a deep breath, thinking about her answer. “That I wish I’d spent less time worrying about the next mission, and more time enjoying life.”

  Pieter nodded, his eyes now glazed over as if deep in thought. “I wished I’d spent more time learning about code. And gardening.”

  “Gardening?”

  “Yeah, it’s something that has always appealed to me. And I’m fascinated by how things just grow on their own if you give them the right conditions. I always thought that once I was older and had more time I’d create some kind of automated garden. You know, where you have a program that adjusts the parameters of what a crop needs.”

  Jack smiled over at him. “Maybe this is your second chance then?”

  He bobbed his head gently, tending the idea in his mind. “I think maybe it is. Plus it has massive implications for growing food in hostile environments.”

  Corridor Outside the Cockpit, Aboard The Empress, Outer Sark System

  Crash came striding out of the lounge. “Your turn again,” he told Molly.

  Molly and Joel had been sitting on the floor talking. It reminded Molly of all of those times when they were waiting to go out on exercise. Except back in her training days Joel was the boss and would never be caught sitting next to one of his trainees, chewing the fat.

  Molly scrambled to her feet. “Thanks, Crash,” she said, touching his arm as he went by.

  “Good luck in there,” he chimed back.

  Molly headed back into the lounge, idly wondering if her new body could take mocha. She sat down in front of the holoscreen that was set up.

  “Hi, boss,�
�� she announced her arrival to him, settling down into one of the new chairs.

  “Ms. Bates, we’ve had a chance to run some scenarios,” he told her.

  Molly watched him expectantly, waiting for the verdict.

  “It seems that we can allow you some contact… Limited contact… With the outside world. But we can’t have anything that will tell the world that you’re alive. So that means only the most trusted friends and family.”

  Molly nodded as she listened to his words, quietly breathing a sigh of relief. She couldn’t bear the thought of Ben’or never being able to see Arlene again.

  “But it has to be discreet,” Lance insisted. “No comms that can be intercepted. You’re going to have to rely on the spy craft to bring people in.”

  “No problem, sir. We can handle it,” she told him confidently.

  He nodded once. “You can all stay at Gaitune, indefinitely. Or at least until you decide what you want to do. At this point, the world is your oyster. I’ll have ADAM send over some tailored options for each of you, and from there you can make your own decisions.”

  Molly took a moment to understand that there were no downsides to the situation. “Sir, thank you so much. I know we’ll all be thrilled to be able to contact the rest of the team. And to return to Gaitune.”

  “Well, you did prevent all-out war within the Federation, so I suppose you’ve earned it,” he responded, shifting awkwardly in his chair.

  Molly smiled. “You’re too kind, sir,” she told him as she started to get up.

  “Oh, just one more thing, Molly. Will you have that delinquent of a nephew contact me next time he’s up at Gaitune? I have some things to discuss with him.”

  “Absolutely, sir. Thank you again.”

  Lance nodded to her and then closed off the connection.

  She started to get up again and then noticed Joel peering in through the window of the door. She waved him in.

  “So it looks like we can contact our nearest and dearest, and Gaitune is still ours!”

  Joel grinned. “Excellent negotiating skills, Ms. Bates!”

  She shrugged. “There was no negotiation. Basically he just said ‘here you go,’ and ‘thank you for your service.’”

  “Nice. Well at least that saves me from having to figure out how to afford an apartment on Estaria without a Federation income.”

  The pair chuckled. “Hey, I was thinking,” Molly said through the giggles, “when we get back to Gaitune… maybe we should go for a beer?”

  Joel suddenly made a serious face. “I don’t know. You know what happened last time I agreed to that?”

  Molly waited for the punchline.

  “I ended up dying!”

  Molly smiled. “Was it worth it?”

  “Definitely.” He threw his arm around her shoulder and they walked out of the lounge and back to the cockpit to tell the others what the immediate plan was.

  EPILOGUE

  Bates Residence, Spire, Estaria

  Carol Bates lounged on the sofa, exhausted. “Leave those, Philip. I’ll get them later.”

  Philip continued to tidy the plates away. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this,” he told her. “Anything I can do to help.”

  There was a pause.

  “I still think you ought to take some time off. To… process.”

  Carol didn’t respond. She was reading a message on her holo.

  Philip appeared in the living room, a tea towel over his shoulder. “You know, it’s bad enough you’re on that thing when you’re working. Can’t you take the night off, at least?”

  “I… er…”

  Just then Philip felt his holo buzz. He glanced down at it to read the message.

  There was another few seconds of silence in the room.

  “Did you just get one of these?” he asked, still not taking his eyes from the message.

  Carol slowly lifted her gaze to him and nodded.

  “We’ve got to get going!” he announced, suddenly animated.

  Carol shuffled off the sofa and scrambled to put her shoes back on. “Let’s go!” she agreed, storming towards the door, without considering a jacket or a bag.

  Philip grabbed his keys, and a sweater, and followed her out.

  Student Residences, Skóli Uppstigs Academy, Spire, Estaria

  Paige emerged from the bathroom still wearing a towel. She was vaguely aware of her holo buzzing on the dresser on the other side of the room. It wasn’t until Maya called her attention to it that she headed over to pick it up.

  Maya suddenly sat up on her bed. “Oh my ancestors,” she gasped.

  Paige read her holo too. “No way!”

  The pair looked at each other.

  “You think that maybe…?” Paige didn’t dare finish her sentence.

  Maya was up like a flash, dithering to repack her case. “I think… yeah,” she exclaimed, busying herself.

  “Shit!” Paige squealed. “Clothes. I need clothes!”

  The dorm room became a flurry of activity as the two hurriedly prepared to leave. They had less than half an hour before they needed to be somewhere else. Urgently.

  Giles’s Office, Skóli Uppstigs Academy, Spire, Estaria

  Giles felt his holo buzz. He ignored it. It buzzed again.

  Slowly he peeled his face off the desk in front of him. His head was pounding with the force of a thousand tiny hammers, on account of the Yollin whiskey he’d been knocking back since four o’clock that afternoon.

  Disheveled, he rubbed his face, then his eyes, and then he peered at the holo.

  It took a second for him to register what the message was telling him. He adjusted his glasses and read it again. Then he sat up, thought about whether it meant what he hoped it meant, or whether he was just being delusional.

  He glanced down at his arm and pinched himself.

  Nope, definitely awake, he confirmed.

  Then it hit him. He needed to get going. Scrambling to his feet and trying to gather his gear at the same time, he started to sober up. Within a few minutes he was leaving the office in a flash, with the excitement of a two-year-old being taken to a candy store.

  A moment later, he stormed purposefully back in to the office. He pulled up the last holoscreen he’d been using on his console and closed down the application form that he’d been filling out, without saving it.

  “Not going to need that anymore,” he decided out loud.

  And then he was out of the door like a flash.

  Bailey Residence, Spire, Estaria

  Arlene was in the kitchen making a snack. Since the new normal had established itself, she didn’t bother to make proper meals any more. She and Anne instead tended to just eat snacks when they were hungry.

  If she was honest, she wasn’t even hungry. But it was something to do. Something to occupy her and fill the void of despair that hadn’t left her.

  Just then her holo vibrated.

  She frowned. She set all the settings to “do not disturb” weeks ago.

  She glanced down at it, read the message, and then carried on making her sandwich.

  A moment later she stopped, opened the holo screen again, and re-read the message.

  “Anne!” she called through to the other room. “Anne! I think we need to pack a bag. We need to go. Now.”

  Anne appeared at the kitchen counter. “Why? What’s going on? Has someone found me?” Her face was taught with anxiety.

  Arlene had tears streaming down her face. “No, sweetheart. No one’s found you. We’re safe. I just think it’s time for us to take a trip back to Gaitune.”

  Anne stood frozen for a second. And then suddenly she sprang into action, shouting for Neechie, while trying to pack up a bag at the same time.

  ***

  The holo message they each received read:

  “Party on Gaitune. Guess who’s back.

  Your pod leaves from [coordinates] at 21:00”

  Hangar Deck, Base, Gaitune-67

  Molly eased back in her chair
as The Empress took the final few seconds to land in the hangar deck. Oz had had to perform a series of bizarre security bypasses in order to get the hangar doors open, but finally they were able to land.

  How’s our other project going? she asked him.

  I’m tracking four inbound pods. ETA six minutes.

  Molly smiled to herself. This is going to be some party…

  Author Notes - Ell Leigh Clarke

  June 28, 2018

  Thank yous

  Massive thanks as always goes out to MA, for not cancelling my show. (EDIT MA: Why would I cancel this awesomeness??)

  Yep, we’ve survived a year.

  And twelve Molly books!

  WOOT!

  While there are no immediate plans to continue the series now that we’ve wrapped up Molly 12, there is nothing to say that we won’t start a new Molly series down the line. For now, we’re working on other concepts. More on those below.

  Huge thank yous also go to Steve “Zen Master” Campbell and the JIT team who work tirelessly to make sure that all slips are caught and corrected, the files are uploaded on time.

  Thank you so much folks. I truly appreciate all your efforts. :)

  Reviewers

  Massive thanks also goes out to our hoard of Amazon reviewers. It’s because of you that we get to do this full time. Without your five-star reviews and thoughtful words on Amazon we simply wouldn’t have enough folks reading these space shenanigans to be able to write full time.

  You are the reason these stories exist and you have no idea how frikkin’ grateful I am to you.

  Truly, thank you.

  Readers and FB page supporters

  Last, and certainly by no means least, I’d like to thank you for reading this book… and all the others. Your enthusiasm for the world, and the characters, is heart-warming. Your words of encouragement, and demands for the next episode, are the things that often stay in my mind as I flick from checking the facebook page to the scrivener file when I start each writing session.