Ascendancy: A Near Future Sci-Fi Thriller

by Randal Sloan

  Caitlyn smiled even more. “I’ll do that. I know just the little pizza place that would be perfect for us, don’t you think?”

  Julie nodded, but before she could give her a verbal answer, they were interrupted as the First Lady came up to Julie, giving her a hug. Julie quickly returned the hug, so she didn’t see the look of amazement in the eyes of the team. But to her, the First Lady was now her surrogate mother and she felt very close to her. The First Lady led her off to introduce her to some of the political attendees, including the Senators Julie had recognized earlier.

  Her hostess smoothly introduced her to them. “This is our newest congressman, Representative George Harris, and the lady beside him is Senator Elyse Sanchez. And I know you know the other two gentlemen, Senators Bill Myers and Sam Johnson. All have served with distinction in our armed services at some point before making their way to their current positions. They all chose to come participate in the presentation because of their desire to honor you.”

  Julie gave them all a smile. “I thank you for your honor. I’ve been following each of your careers, and although I may not agree with all of your political views, I do admire your dedication in serving your country and the distinction in which you’ve carried out that service.”

  Julie talked with them for a few minutes. As her hostess moved away, Julie was able to chat with them about some of the things each of them were involved with. When she learned they were all members of the committee overseeing US Space ventures, she told them. “Any of you, if you ever have the opportunity, come visit us on the space station. I’ve pretty well been calling it home up there the last few weeks. We’re working really hard to get the new module open where we’ll demonstrate our new products, so you really should get up to see it.”

  Knowing that might well be the incentive to actually get them to work it into their busy schedules, she went on, “Just let our staff know you’re coming, and we’ll try to get someone to give you a personalized tour. Also, make sure to tell them to let me know, so I can try to meet you while you’re there.”

  As they were enthusiastically accepting her invitation, the First Lady returned. "Sorry to interrupt, but I have one more introduction I’d like to make for our young Lieutenant.”

  Respectfully requesting their leave, Julie quickly followed Lady Catherine. This introduction was to Phillip Madison, the Presidential Chief of Staff. The man gave them both a big smile when she introduced them.

  Lady Catherine told them, “I know you two have talked, but I felt you needed to meet in person. I have a feeling you two will need to work together more in the future. I’ll leave you alone to talk, but Philip, my husband wanted me to be sure to give you his thanks for setting all this up.”

  Phillip’s eyes practically twinkled. “Thank you, Catherine. Be sure to tell him that you’ve requited yourself admirably. I know full well how much enjoyment he has making these presentations.”

  The First Lady just laughed, moving off to speak to someone else.

  Philip turned to Julie. “But still, this is about you, Lieutenant Randolph, and it was my pleasure to be able to set all this up for you.”

  Julie smiled back at him. She really did like the way this man did things. “Yes, I know how he feels about it too. But you also know that I never wanted any of this as I tried to tell everyone. I only did what I had to do to save my classmates. By the way, I appreciate you working it out for the girls soccer team to all be here. That was a pleasant surprise.”

  Phillip gave her a slight bow. “It was the least I could do. But your young assistant is almost entirely responsible for that. She put it to me in no uncertain terms that they needed to be here. Not that I disagreed with her.”

  Glancing around to see that no one was close enough to overhear, Phillip grew more serious. “I just wanted to tell you how much I admire the way you’ve followed up on your commitment to overcome the Organization. I lost a grandnephew to one of their attacks and it’s time someone took care of them. President Scott had wanted to do something similar to what you just did, but his hands have been tied by politics. Although he can’t officially do anything more to show you his thanks, just know how much we appreciate it.”

  Julie nodded. “It was a terrible thing to do what we did, but we saw no other choice. I still struggle with being the one that pushed that button, but as you say, it was long overdue. I’m still trying to find out who has been behind them supporting them. We all know they’re there, pulling the puppet strings, but they’ve done an admirable job of hiding. At least we’ve removed one of the objects they were hiding behind.”

  Phillip had to agree. “Our intelligence assets have been working on that for a long time, and we haven’t made much headway.” He gave a laugh, “Of course, we still haven’t figured out your Kinza coffee blend either, much to the chagrin of Lady Catherine.”

  Julie laughed too. They were able to talk for several minutes. Julie had to admit she was quite impressed with him and she probed him just a little. Her earlier premonition about him becoming the next President was growing stronger. She suspected the First Lady knew it too, which probably had a lot to do with the way she’d made the introduction between them. Based on those feelings, someday Julie would indeed need to work with him. That would be much better than the other future Julie had foreseen, all of that changed due to the backlash from the attack on her ship.

  She also knew she probably wouldn’t get another chance to talk with him so freely without any politics to affect their relationship. He was easy to talk to and Julie sensed the honor the man used in conducting his business very closely paralleled that of the current President.

  When Zeke came over to see her, Julie quickly made the introductions. “Zeke, this is Phillip Madison, our Presidential Chief of Staff. Phillip was the one who was so helpful in setting all this up, especially the last part of the presentation.”

  Luckily for Phillip, Zeke knew exactly who was to blame. “Nice try, Jules. I know exactly who suggested it. I imagine Mr. Madison was an unwitting pawn in the plot.”

  Phillip laughed. “He has you there. But Zeke, you should know, I happen to agree with her. It was a well deserved honor. Plus, it had to go up to the top, but it was approved immediately. Actually got me points with the boss, something I can always use in this job.” He looked across the room where the President and First Lady were talking with the same group of politicians that Julie had met with earlier. His respect for both the President and First Lady was obvious.

  Phillip couldn’t resist changing the subject. “Zeke, while I’ve got you here, I was curious about a couple of things with your upcoming release of AI systems. In particular, what add-on modules are you going to be including? As you can probably guess, in this job the personal assistant core module will be very useful, but we probably have some rather specialized needs.”

  Zeke smiled and immediately went into a considerable discussion with Phillip about their plans, asking him some specific questions about what he thought might be useful for a second round of add-on modules. Glad to be in the background for a change, Julie just listened to the two of them for a moment. She was surprised, however, to hear the two of them talk in some depth about the design and functionality of the AI “Chaotic Core.” Zeke promised Phillip he would arrange to have one sent over as soon as they had the production line running, for early adopter testing as he called it.

  Julie smiled to herself as she listened to them. I really hope I’m right about him. It’s such a strong feeling, I’d be very surprised if it’s wrong. After meeting him in person, I feel very good about dealing with him in the future. I was already impressed with everything else about him, but now I have a pretty good idea of the depth and intelligence of this man. I’ll have to tell Zeke later about my premonition, although it would have been nice to get a little more confirmation from Lady Catherine first. But, I’ll just have to accept what I’ve been given so far. I really hope that it does work out.

  Moving on as someone e
lse came up to speak with Mr. Madison, Julie and Zeke finally had a chance to speak to Zeke’s parents and Emily. Emily and their mother immediately gave both Julie and Zeke big hugs.

  Colonel Caldwell was in his retired Air Force uniform so he had to remain a little more reserved. After saluting the pair of them, he spoke up, speaking for the entire family. “We’re so proud of both of you. Both medals are well deserved.”

  Smiling, Julie collected a hug from him anyway. After laughing at his dad’s expression, Zeke collected one too, then pointed out to Julie all his dad’s medals. Although none of his were combat medals, the Colonel nevertheless had earned a number of merit-based awards and ribbons.

  Julie was glad to talk with them for a while. Even though she was still the same person she always was, even when speaking to the politicians, nevertheless it was hard work. Julie and Zeke continued to mingle for the rest of the hour until finally Julie received a signal that it was time for her to go. Their escort appeared soon thereafter, her honor guard formed up again, and they set out on another smoothly escorted trip back to the airport. It wasn’t very long before they were back onboard her corvette and on the way back to Space Tech Station.

  “Ready to go?” Joe asked her as she strapped in to the backup station on the ship.

  “Yeah, let’s go home,” Julie told him.

  CHAPTER SIX

  One Step Forward, Two Steps Backward

  Julie absentmindedly walked into a hangar on Space Tech Station, specifically the hangar being prepped for a special ceremony. She had hopes that this ceremony would become a new tradition at Space Tech, the christening ceremony for the new corvette. Distracted by her thoughts, she almost ran into the young man who had been bringing in the last of the chairs into the seating area.

  “Sorry,” she told him. “I should have been looking where I was going.”

  “It’s ok,” he said. “These are the last two, so I could use a short break.”

  Even doing something as mundane as carrying chairs, Julie could tell he was full of excitement. She had an idea why, so she threw out a fishing line. “I haven’t seen you up on the station before,” she told him.

  “No, ma’am. I’ve only been up here a few days, but it has always been a dream of mine to be here. I just graduated from Space Academy a few weeks ago, and I was lucky enough to get into Space Tech. I’m still in the Space Tech Orientation program, so my rotation up here will only last a few more days, but I’ve already decided that I’m going to put in to work up here more or less permanently.”

  Julie had internally winced at the ma’am, but she managed to hide it from him. He was probably older than her, for God’s sake. Julie knew it wasn’t just luck for him to be in the orientation program that included time on the station. That was reserved for the best of the best. Most everyone else had to work at least six months before they made it up here.

  She glanced at his ID badge. Stephen Jackson. She’d have to look him up later. “Do you go by Steve or Stephen?”

  “Steph, to all my friends,” he told her with a gleam in his eyes.

  “Well, Steph, it’s nice to meet you. Us Space Academy folks have got to stick together. You should introduce me to some of your other friends while you’re up here.”

  “I’d like that, not that they’re going to believe me until they meet you.”

  “Sounds like I need to surprise them. That’ll be fun; especially if you can get some of them in a little side bet.” Julie laughed at the thought. “My fiancé Zeke Caldwell is a Space Academy graduate too, and my best friend Emily will be graduating soon. Send me a VR and we’ll try to get together in the food court.”

  Steph’s eyes had begun to sparkle, thinking of what his friends’ reactions would be. At least a couple of them would freak out. “Thank you, ma’am,” Steph told her. “Maybe we can try it on my off day tomorrow.”

  “I’d love that. Truth is, I don’t get out enough,” Julie laughed. “So tell me, Steph, what is your area of speciality?”

  “I’m actually an engineer. Dual Electrical and Mechanical degrees. Right now I’m on the maintenance team, working at night to fix things, which is the perfect way for me to learn all about the systems on Space Tech Station. I just got ‘volunteered’ to do the setup for this ceremony since I’m low man on the totem pole.”

  “No wonder you’re looking forward to surprising them all. That should make it all the more sweet, I would think.”

  “Yes, but it’s all in fun. If I had told them I didn’t want this duty, they would have picked someone else. I didn’t mind and just look what it got me. A chance to meet you; everyone loves you for what you’ve done for them, especially us younger employees. In a sense, you’re our champion.”

  Julie sighed. “Believe it or not, sometimes I wish I could just be another one of you guys, someone who could just sorta hide in the background. But we have to take what life offers us and do our best at whatever our part is.”

  “Yeah, which is what I’m trying to do, learning as much as I can. Hopefully, soon I’ll be able to do my part too,” Steph told her, his own mood swinging to match Julie’s somewhat melancholy one.

  “I know you’ll do great,” Julie told him.

  Not quite sure what to say to that, Steph gave her a smile. “I guess I’d better get back to it. I’ve got a couple more things to finish up before the crowd gets here. It was nice to meet you.” His mood jumping back to his high level of excitement, Steph gave her a small monk bow of good day to my friend, his bow remarkably accurate.

  Julie returned his bow, “Same here,” she told him.

  When Steph rushed off to finish his work, Julie looked around the hangar at all the activity. His excitement had rubbed off on her just a little bit. It wouldn’t be long until time for the rest of the group to show up. At least she sensed through their connection that Zeke was finally on his way. She would have liked to have introduced him to Steph. Oh, well, we’ll all be meeting tomorrow evening. Guess I’ll introduce them then.

  #

  Zeke was running late to meet Julie for the christening ceremony. He had gotten distracted putting his finishing touches to the AI that would be used for the ceremony. He had a little surprise for Julie in that program.

  Zeke felt her excitement through their link as he entered the hangar when the ship was located. He wondered what had happened to get her this wound up..

  Smiling she turned to him. “This is it; our latest creation. Soon I’ll be ready to take the fight to the pirates and be done with this whole mess. Then I plan to take a few weeks off before the wedding.”

  Zeke knew she was right about the new ship, but he didn’t believe the rest of her optimism would hold out. He suspected she didn’t believe it either, but if she could have a few moments of optimism, that was good. “I know. You’re right about the ship. The new corvette is going to be even better in some ways, especially with the new armor. Other than that, it’s identical to your ship, not that you can tell by looking at it.”

  Julie nodded. “It’s a shame that with the heavier armor, right now you can’t land or take off from the ground, but I don’t expect any real changes to the ships performance outside the earth’s atmosphere. I still have hopes that I can get the main drive to work in atmosphere. That would allow me to put armor on my ship too.”

  Zeke really didn’t want to burst her bubble, but he had to be practical. “That’s really the problem, isn’t it? Without two ships with full armor, you’re not really ready. What if they all ganged up on you in your ship?”

  Julie didn’t want to admit he was right. “I know. I need to figure it out, but so far it’s escaped me. Maybe I should just build a third ship. Then we need to figure out a plan to get the pirates all in one place so we can wipe then all out at once, rather than try to hunt them down one at a time. I’m glad that everyone knows about the capabilities of my ship so they’ve been leaving me alone, but it’s going to make the job harder now because they’re all staying out of sight.” />
  She sighed. “Guess we won’t figure it out today.” Her smile was back. “Are you ready to get the others in here and do the christening? In hindsight, we should have done this with all of them. I think traditions are important to have.”

  “Yes, I think it’s great you’re re-instituting the old traditions. It’s still funny hearing them call the mining ships by just a number. Even the other named ships didn’t have official christening ceremonies; not even your corvette.”

  “Yes, but knowing that now Space Tech is going full-time into the ship building business, I think it’s appropriate to bring back the christening ceremony. Someday, I see a future where we have a full shipyard attached to our station. Traditions will need to be a part of such an endeavor.”

  Just for a moment, Julie could see it in her head, a glorious future. “We’ve just got to find a way to get there…”

  #

  They held the small christening for the new ship in the hangar with the ship front and center. Zeke had even programmed the VR in the hangar to give them a virtual champagne bottle to break over the nose of the ship.

  Although Julie believed it was important to have her traditions, she still kept the group small. Julie and Zeke were there for the presentation, along with Ted and Carla. As the pilot to assume command, Joe was there, along with Caitlyn, who had been spending quite a bit of time with him. Of course, the Special Envoys were there as well as a small crowd of Space Tech technicians who had worked on the two corvettes.

  Luckily, with the small group, Julie wasn’t that nervous. She would have preferred to let someone else do the honors, but she was stuck with the job.

  “Thanks everyone for attending today. We’ve decided to institute a new ceremony here at Space Tech, a ceremony as age old as that of old earth navies. I’m referring to the tradition of christening new ships. As we begin to build more and more, in the near future I expect we will be putting together crews at the same time we are building their ship, so it will be important for them to have traditions like this.