by S. H. Jucha
Alex and Renée heard wonderful, ethereal music fill their implants. It was so unlike either of their worlds’ contemporary music. It was similar, yet different, to the music that Cordelia had played during her pastoral presentation on the Freedom’s bridge.
Julien played one composition after another, delicately blending them together, as Mütter had demonstrated to him. He began lowering the volume as the vital signs of Alex and Renée ebbed, and then, at last, fading the music out.
Rest well tonight, my friends, Julien thought. Someday we may not be as fortunate as we were today, but until then …
-14-
As the Rêveur exited FTL outside of the Arno system, Julien sent Alex’s pre-recorded message to Tomas and Eric, announcing the successful destruction of the second silver ship with no loss of pilots or Daggers. Julien downloaded the event in its entirety to Cordelia and Z.
Congratulatory comms poured forth for the Rêveur’s crew from people across the planet, the stations, and the ships. The Librans’ welcome to the warriors was warm and celebratory.
While en route through the system, Alex held a conference comm in his cabin with his officers and the SADEs. The primary subject was the status of the long-term plan.
When it was Mickey’s turn, the engineer said,
All the heads in the Co-leaders’ cabin swiveled to regard Alex.
Julien added,
Following Julien’s analysis, a few colorful expletives circulated through the conference comm.
Utter stillness followed Z’s remarks until finally the SADE asked,
Alex started laughing, the relief evident in his voice, and everyone followed suit.
<… Zertrümmerer transferred to T-1 as soon as possible,> Alex continued.
Andrea, Tatia, and Sheila tried talking all at once. Mickey, leaning against a bulkhead in the freighter’s spine, stood quietly listening to the outburst from the officers—very glad he wasn’t the Admiral. Julien was thinking the same thing.
Finally, Andrea restored order. She noticed Alex hadn’t said a word during the entire outbreak.
Alex said and laid it out for them. They learned that Alex had reviewed the vids of the second ship’s destruction with Julien, an exercise Andrea was mentally kicking her rear end for not thinking of it herself. The details of the vids revealed that despite the appearance of the silver ship exploding from a simultaneous strike of multiple warheads, it didn’t. The first eight strikes created crack lines across the shell. Then the next two strikes started an eruption from within the ship. The remaining shells joined the inferno.
Everyone received an image of a point spiraling open into interwoven, curving rays that converged again at a second, distant point.
Cordelia produced a diagram of a missile firing from a fighter. The controller tracked the silver ship, the second-stage missiles spiraled out in her pattern, and the spira
l closed to converge on the moving target.
The room became absolutely quiet, each person immersed in his or her own thoughts. And while the humans ruminated on what the new design might mean in their fight against the silver ships, the SADEs were busy redesigning the second-stage missiles, increasing their size, adding new drive circuitry to manage the spiraling paths, and laying out algorithms that could be selected by the fighter’s controllers. Before a human spoke again, the SADEs were nearly done.
For a brief moment, Cordelia and Z knew what it was like to be truly appreciated and on such a critical matter as improving the odds of turning the tide of destruction away from the human race. It was not lost on either of them that they were also helping to ensure their own survival.
* * *
When the Rêveur made orbit around Libre, Andrea stationed their ship just off the Bau Zwei orbital where the Freedom and the freighter Money Maker were docked.
Alex had called for a face-to-face meeting that included Tomas and Eric. So at the set time, Alex, Renée, his officers, and the twins took a Freedom shuttle to the city-ship. Although the Rêveur had been gone for nearly twenty-three days, to Alex it appeared as if only minor progress had been achieved on the massive ship, despite the fact that thousands of people were hard at work on each vessel. It was a reminder of the sheer size of the city-ships.
As Alex descended from the shuttle, he heard in his implant,
It took Cordelia a few ticks to identify the meaning of Alex’s phrase. Finding several references to blocking out sound by stuffing the ears, she presumed it was the correct one. It was typical of the man’s responses—low key, unassuming. I wonder which character from Julien’s vids you represent, Admiral: the warrior hero or the quiet man forced to fight but who yearns for peace? Cordelia wondered if they would live long enough for her to discover the answer to the question.
Alex pondered Cordelia’s message as he walked into the conference room. He recalled a phrase from an old Earth vid. One character teased another over a woman he had begun seeing, and, in light of Cordelia’s comment, Alex thought a rephrase of the character’s statement most appropriate: “Julien, you old dog you.”
Captain Manet had flown up from planetside in the Outward Bound to join the meeting, transporting a load of Librans to the station before flying to the Freedom. The city-ship’s cavernous bays easily accommodated the converted explorer-tug. At Mickey’s request, Captain Menlo was also present.
As Alex and his people entered the conference room, Tomas surged out of his chair, vigorously shook hands with Alex, and bussed Renée’s cheeks. As Eric stepped forward, Alex delivered the polite Méridien greeting only to see the Leader’s outstretched hand.
“Welcome back, Admiral,” Eric greeted Alex. “I’m pleased to see you safe.”
Alex shook the Leader’s hand, a wry grin on his face. “Leader Stroheim, I would think you didn’t expect us to return.”
“If I was to tell what I thought, Admiral, I did not,” Eric replied. “Circumstances did not favor your success, and driving your ship at 123 percent of power is unheard of in the Confederation. Safety protocols are never released. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be safety protocols, would they? Fortune seems to ride your shoulder, Admiral.”
Alex signaled to everyone at the table that he would conference them. It was his way of being polite. Before most could change their security protocols, Alex had subsumed those programs and linked everyone with the SADEs.
Julien’s files on the event in Bellamonde had been reviewed by those at the table. Alex moved on by providing an update on their missile repurposing.
The only one who was taken aback by an escort entering the conversation between Leaders was Eric Stroheim. But he was learning quickly and kept his thoughts to himself, or at least, he hoped he had.
By now, Z had come to accept Julien’s translation of the Admiral’s implied requests and found he was enjoying the freedom of pursuing information to satisfy the open-ended requests. Several moments later, the combined power of the SADEs had combed through hundreds and hundreds of hours of Confederation monitor ship footage.
At
Julien’s signal, Alex responded,
Everyone lapsed into silence again. The Méridiens had never employed their SADEs in such a manner and were flabbergasted at how easily the Admiral had co-opted them into this obviously very capable advisory group.
While the group began to argue Alex’s supposition, Julien sent,