by M. D. Cooper
Kylie was sad to think of her mother as growing old and tired. “There are rejuvenation techniques she could use to help out with that. I’m not talking mods but simple procedures.”
“Oh, Kylie! You know no one here goes for that. I’ll pretend you never said anything.” As she spoke the words, Hannah cringed and rubbed her belly.
Kylie was at her side in a few quick strides. “Is it contractions?”
“Just some gas pains.”
“Are you sure?” Kylie’s eyebrows crinkled together. “The look on your face.”
“I’m sure. It’s gone already. Besides, it isn’t time yet. I wanted this baby to stay in place until we can all be back together. A few more days and everything will be as it should be. You’ll see, Kylie!” Hannah waddled out of the nursery and Kylie watched her go. Considering how Hannah paused every few steps, the young woman may well be wrong.
The baby might be making an appearance before Hannah expected. Although, it was just a human birth, so what could be the harm in that?
* * * * *
Hannah cringed, her hair soaked and plastered to her face, as she tossed her head back and forth. “Oh, please!” She cried out in pain and grabbed the side railing of the bed in the private room on the medical deck.
Her legs were bent as she pushed and Kylie gripped her hand. “Just another push, Hannah,” Kylie said…again. She had been saying it for hours, but this time, she really meant it as she wiped Hannah’s forehead with a wet washcloth.
“Another one is coming.” Hannah squeezed Kylie’s hand and her eyes opened wide as she breathed rapidly through her mouth.
The doctor and his nurse bustled around Hannah with more calm than Kylie felt the situation warranted. The nurse was prepping a special incubator, as though they expected the baby to be born in trouble, even though it was just a few weeks early.
The doctor slid his chair over toward Hannah.
“Bigger pushes, Hannah. Bigger pushes.”
“I can’t!” Hannah cried. “It hurts so bad.”
“Isn’t there something you can give her. Pain medicine? Something?” Kylie asked.
“No!” Hannah shrieked. “No medicine. The baby—”
Kylie nearly snapped in anger. “The medicine doesn’t make you not pure, Hannah. If your baby isn’t born soon…you know it has to come out, don’t you? If it’s not medicine, it’s a C-section.”
Hannah shook her head furiously. “No one is delivering my baby but me.”
“Then take the medicine.”
When Hannah agreed, Kylie turned to the doctor. “You heard her.”
He sighed. “Ms. Rhoads—”
Kylie’s eyes narrowed to a fine point. “Move it! She’s your patient. Not my brother!”
The doctor retrieved a hypospray and, after the current contraction passed, pressed it against Hannah’s lower back. Hannah smiled, her expression a little goofy as relief flooded her face. With a sharp intake of breath, her hand squeezed Kylie’s again. “I’m ready. I can do this.”
“Then let’s do it.” Kylie bent down, holding onto Hannah’s hand hard and helped her into a seated position. Hannah grunted under the strain until she screamed.
Four minutes later, David Rhoads the second, was born with a set of fierce lungs that he exercised with wild abandon. Kylie never saw anything more miraculous than that first moment when the baby was placed upon its mother’s chest.
Congratulating herself on a job well done, Kylie washed off her hands and headed out into the hall. When she saw David running toward the medbay, her expression soured and anger filled her heart.
David was out of breath when he caught up to her. “Is the baby? Was he born?”
“Where the hell have you been?” Kylie asked, putting her hand on his chest.
David sighed. “I have an entire ship to run, Kylie. Don’t go telling me how much Hannah needed me. Having a baby—”
“Don’t you say it’s woman’s work. Don’t you dare.” Kylie’s eyes widened and she felt the surge of anger growing stronger. “She needed her husband. Not me. Four hours she pushed. Four. You have a first officer. You better start using him. People run the ship every day while you sleep, and that’s a lot longer than four hours.”
David opened his mouth to speak, but Kylie wasn’t done. “This is a big damn spaceship so you better find someone else to make your meals for you for the next few months. Hannah is going to have more important things to do than grab your dinner.”
As she spoke David’s expression grew dark until he pushed her hand away. “Who the hell do you think you are, lecturing me? The great and mighty Kylie Rhoads, right? She was going to have an amazing future but what did she become instead? A junker and some mobster’s whore!”
Kylie slapped him. “Say it again and you’ll find out exactly what happens to men who cross me, David. I had some unfortunate circumstances, but sure as hell beats being here and being married to a boring luddite like you. Treat Hannah like a queen or so help me, you’re the one who will find himself floating back home.”
David backed up with a look of disgust on his face. “I should have you locked up for talking to me this way, but since you’re my baby sister—”
Kylie strode toward him pushed her index against his chest. “I’d like to see you try. Let’s see what Daddy thinks about that when we arrive.”
David narrowed his eyes. “If I tell him about your nano and your AI, you really think he’ll listen to a damn thing you say?”
Marge wagged a finger in Kylie’s mind.
Kylie opened her mouth to say something, apologize, something, but David backed away and held up his hands. “I’m going to go meet my son. Don’t be around when I get back, Kylie.”
Seemed like sound advice to Kylie. She strode toward the lift at the end of the medical deck.
Kylie sighed and rolled her head as she waited for the lift. Marge was right, but she didn’t know what to say in response.
LIBERATOR
STELLAR DATE: 10.02.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: RFS Ark of Justice
REGION: Interstellar Dark Layer, Silstrand Alliance
Days passed and though Kylie played the role of the proud Aunt, the cool reception from David made it clear, she wasn’t welcome.
There’d be time to visit with Hannah and the baby once she was moved out of the medical ward, so Kylie kept to herself. She tried to keep busy, anything to keep her mind off Nadine’s betrayal and Grayson abandoning her.
Instead, she and Marge spent hours playing Snark. Marge also liked to listen to narrated stories—specifically cozy mysteries set on remote space stations, to pass the time. She tried to get Kylie into them, but they really didn’t appeal. It surprised her that an AI loved to be entertained so much. Marge just wasn’t like anything she had ever imagined before.
Kylie suspected it came from being held on Heaven against her will in an AI farm. Marge hadn’t been able to access the link and hadn’t been able to amuse herself in any way. She’d never considered that sort of thing before, but now she could see how inhumane…or inAIane…it was.
So, even while Kylie was snooping around on decks she had no right to be on, an occasional giggle or snort would come from her AI.
Strange.
That night Kylie hung out in executive lounge nursing a gin and tonic while the crew worked to transform the lounge for the celebration.
There was talk about expectations, living up to standards, and serving the most perfect meal anyone had ever eaten. The wait staff displayed more nervous ticks than Kylie had seen in one place since she left the SSF. She didn’t need to ask what was going on, she knew all too well. The Ark of Justice was due to dump out of the dark layer any minute now, and when it did, there was to be a celebration.
Kylie kept an eye on the holodisplay as the crew placed white cloths on the lounge’s tables, topping them with small vases.
As she spoke, the endless nothing of the dark layer was suddenly replaced by a bright starscape, the light glinting off a vast fleet.
Kylie’s breath caught as she considered the scope of the fleet. Somehow, despite the Ark of Justice’s size, she had assumed that it was really just one of a dozen ships her father possessed. Even that had been hard to comprehend.
“The Revolution Fleet, what a sight!” a crewmember called out behind her.
For all she knew, there could be thousands of ships out there. Given the instability of the region, a fleet like this could carve out a new empire.
“Look,” someone called out. “There’s his ship, the Liberation! Peter Rhoads is on that ship!”
One of the staff reached out and touched the holodisplay, highlighting the vessel. If her estimation of scale was correct, the ship was massive, easily five kilometers long.
The design was familiar. Kylie wished she still had the SSF fleet catalogues in her mind. But even without them she could tell that it was not some converted vessel, or an ancient design. The Liberation was a new, modern military ship. Not something her father found in a salvage yard, or bought from a struggling system.
She could make out multiple classes of ships, cruisers, destroyers, light attack craft, even some single-pilot fighters flitted about.
So much for stealing a shuttle and running off. It would take half an hour just to fly through the fleet.
Kylie had never imagined her father’s movement would reach this stage—not anything remotely close. Now that she saw what he had built, she felt an anxious flutter in the pit of her stomach. Soon, she’d face off with both her parents and she hadn’t the foggiest clue what she was going to say.
She could toe the line, tell them everything they wanted to hear. But Kylie wasn’t sure she could stomach such a thing. Instead, she might get sick just thinking about it.
Kylie drained the last of her gin and tonic, the ice rattling around inside as she tilted the glass back.
“Good drink?” asked the bartender, a woman with long black hair and almond-shaped eyes who was hard to ignore. In her fitted vest and tight, matching pants, she was the most shapely thing Kylie had seen since being drugged and dragged on board.
“Not too bitter. Just the way I like it.” Kylie popped the slice of lime in her mouth and sucked the extra gin off before she pulled it free.
“You don’t seem nervous at all.”
Kylie was glad her outward nonchalance had held so well, but decided to be honest, probably the result of the alcohol. “Looks can be deceiving. I’m very nervous, but not in the way you might think.”
“Oh?”
“Peter Rhoads is my father. Try that one on for size.”
The woman took Kylie’s glass away from her with a wink. “It’s not that big a ship, and you’re the only one out of uniform. Kinda figured who you were. But I think being Peter Rhoads’ daughter earns you another drink.”
Hell, yes, that sounded about right. Kylie leaned her arm back on the rear of the chair and watched as the woman splashed three fingers of gin into the glass before adding the tonic. “How about you? What do you get flying among the stars with my crazy family?”
The bartender shrugged as she slipped a pair of lime wedges into the glass and slid it over to Kylie. “The gig pays. They don’t tip much, but it keeps me out of trouble. For the record, this will be the first time I’ve met Peter Rhoads. Word is that he’s coming here for the celebration—you can see how everyone feels about that.”
She gestured to the waitstaff and crew rushing about. Some were laying out place settings, while others slid flowers into the vases. A pair of men were arguing as they tried to level a banner celebrating the birth of the new baby boy Rhoads.
“He’s hard to pin down. So, I hear, anyway. I haven’t tried to see him in years.”
The bartender nodded. “I’m sure it’s daunting being raised by the great Peter Rhoads. He flies around liberating all these colonies. He’s never in one place for long.” The woman’s shoulders rounded up again and Kylie suspected she wasn’t indifferent to her father.
It was an expression of disdain. Well, that was interesting.
“So, you don’t buy into what they say? About the AI. Staying pure?” Kylie asked, pushing the woman to reveal more.
“Purebred humans?” The bartender shook her head as she wiped down the counter. “I think if there was such a thing, it doesn’t exist anymore. Our DNA has been monkeyed with and engineered for over seven-thousand years. Plus…ships like that one out there that your father is on, if that was built by hand….” She shook her head. “Look at me rattling off. Sorry, it’s not like me. Drinks on the house, okay?”
“I asked for your opinion and you gave it to me. That’s how conversation works. I’m not going to be weird about it. Don’t worry, I won’t rat you out to my—to the captain.” Kylie might be angry with him for a host of reasons, but she couldn’t disrespect him in front of the crew. It was the one thing she’d promised herself she wouldn’t do.
The bartender bit her lip and glanced over her shoulder. “You want to get out of here? I have somewhere private. I can show you something.”
Show you something, well, was descriptively vague, but Kylie had been aboard the Ark of Justice for weeks. She was going to lose her mind if she didn’t do something at least moderately risky and exciting. If it was a come-on, it was a weak one, but a welcome distraction—especially to keep thoughts of Nadine and Grayson at bay. “I’d love to.”
The woman led Kylie behind the bar, through the kitchen, where chefs and prep cooks were busy preparing a meal fit for a king. They passed a dishwashing station, and then rounded stacks of produce, finally reaching a supply closet.
They stepped inside, and Kylie looked around at the non-descript space. She’d had sex in far worse places, but the musty old smell wasn’t going to add much to the experience. Her new friend peeked through a crack in the door before she slid it closed.
“I know this probably seems strange…”
“Nah, I meet people in supply closets all the time,” Kylie said dryly and crossed her arms. “Are you going to tell me what this is about or do I have to guess? If it’s because I’m cute, I have to tell you, I already have a girlfriend.”
Well, maybe she did. Maybe she didn’t.
“Well, you are cute, but I know your girlfriend, even though I’m not supposed to.” The bartender stepped further back into the closet and leaned up against a supply rack. “Name’s Ricket.”
; Kylie tensed. Finding someone here who knew Nadine was about the last thing she ever expected. Something was very wrong. “You know Nadine Devonire?”
Ricket nodded. “She might not remember me, but I know her. I made you as soon as you stepped out of your quarters. You’re lucky I’m the only one who noticed you’re packing heat. It’s not something your brother would appreciate, or forgive you for.”
“Everyone needs some protection. I didn’t know what I was walking into—still don’t. If David planned on making a move against me…”
“You may be tough, Kylie Rhoads, but even you couldn’t take this ship on your own. Still, the fact that you’re concealing a weapon shows me I can trust you. I wasn’t sure at first. Nadine isn’t with you and I wasn’t sure…”
“She hit me with a rather unpleasant bit of nano to get me here. The only question I had was why, but now I have a new host of questions. Such as, who are you? How do you know Nadine? I’m guessing you know her from before she left home?”
Ricket snorted. “You’ve been sold a bill of goods without a manifest.”
Kylie blinked. “What?”
“Never mind.” Ricket shook her head. “I don’t have time to tell you everything.”
“Bullshit. You tell me everything or this conversation—for lack of a better word—is over.”
“Look!” Ricket’s eyes narrowed. “We don’t have a lot of time. Peter will be on board soon to greet you, the new baby, the family. It’ll be a private affair. His security team will be there. The wait staff has been screened. I need you to get close to Peter and do what it is that Nadine was tasked to do five years ago.”
That was when Nadine was first put aboard the Dauntless.
“I’ve been watching you,” Ricket went on. “You disagree with your brother, you don’t agree with Hannah. You don’t stand for anything they stand for. So, let me tell you what’s been happening. Your father is in league with something. Something big. It’s given him resources to build these ships and to launch his own private war on systems who won’t cease their use of AI and mods.”