by M. D. Cooper
“I feel like the bad kid called into the principal’s office, though they never offered me coffee. So, I guess you have that going for you.”
“I assure you, Captain Kylie,” Tanis said. “We aren’t here to punish you. There’s a much bigger conflict than this spreading across the Orion Arm than this skirmish, but Sera and I think that something crucial has gone on here. We’re just trying to piece together all the details.”
Kylie took a deep breath and sat up straighter. So, she had been sent to the principal’s office. Awesome.
“We know a lot about what’s been going on in Silstrand,” Sera said. “Nadine’s reports have provided a number of details, as have Rickets. We know about Lana, the nanotech from S&H—”
“The nanotech that is in you, now,” Tanis added.
“How do you know that?” Kylie asked sharply.
“Because I sold it to them,” the Field Marshal replied. “The specifications for the nano inside you came from this ship. Though I can see that S&H did not do a particularly good job engineering it.”
Kylie frowned. “What does that mean?”
“Bob analyzed some of the nano that fell off you as you passed through the ship. There are flaws in S&H’s implementation. They’ve also done something that violates the license I gave them. I believe that Smithers and I have a heart-to-heart coming soon.”
“Does that mean there’s something wrong with the nano in me?” Kylie asked, wondering if it was related to how she had reveled in some of the fights throughout the day…maybe even how she’d killed her father. Lana had also become less emotionally stable as time went on. Perhaps the nano was to blame—at least partially.
When Tanis nodded, Kylie felt a rush of worry.
“The way they weaponized it allows some of the nano’s preprogrammed imperatives to alter your behavior. It’s a violation of the Phobos Accords, which, in turn, violates my contract with them.”
“The what?” Kylie raised her eyebrows.
Tanis sighed. “Another time. For now, we need to learn more about Peter Rhoads.”
“I killed him. Next question.”
Tanis leaned back in her chair. “Just like that? No reason? Just killed your father?”
This woman was really going to make her say it. Kylie clenched her teeth, ready to put up a fight, but then sighed and gave in. “What else is there to say? My father became a genocidal maniac who used technology to control his family. He wiped out at least one world already, was going to wipe out more, and the only way I could free my family was to kill him. It was too late to reason with him. I’m not even sure how human he was anymore.”
“So, he was augmenting himself?” Sera asked with a frown. “That doesn’t match what we know of him.”
“Yes. He became the very thing he opposed. Seems almost like he was losing control,” Kylie said. “At any rate, he seemed to think it was OK to kill people for doing the very thing he was doing himself. Any more questions?”
“We’re not the enemy,” Tanis said calmly. “We want to find out how your father built this fleet, who was backing him. Any idea where he—”
“He fell in with a General Garza guy. From some place called Orion, according to Ricket. He gave my father raw materials, specs, and funding. When my father realized that Garza was using him, he killed him. Right in front of me.”
“So…” Tanis reached up and grabbed her pony tail, pulling it forward and flicking the end. “You met General Garza. On your father’s ship. And now he’s dead?”
“Yes. Just about three or four hours ago by now.”
“Garza? Today?” Sera asked slowly, as if she had heard it wrong.
“Yes, Garza. No offense, but you guys don’t have a hearing problem, do you?”
Sera and Tanis looked at one another.
“How many clones has he made?” Sera asked
Tanis shrugged. “Damnit…the fool. He can’t have any plan for reintegration, it’d be nuts.”
Clones? Gross.
“Look,” Kylie said as she rose to her feet. “I’m grateful you were able to stop my father’s fleet. It’s not the sort of legacy my family and I want to leave behind, but if you don’t mind…” Kylie motioned her hand toward the door.
“Sit back down,” Tanis said. “There is much more we need to discuss. For starters, we need to fix what the nanotech did to you.”
Kylie complied. The Field Marshal’s voice brooked no argument. “By fix, do you mean remove?” Kylie asked. “I’ve become rather attached to it. No pun intended.”
“As it stands, you’ll be dead in a year,” Tanis replied. “The nano living inside your body is from a different age. One where everyone had many more fundamental modifications than you do. S&H should have known that—maybe they did, and maybe they didn’t care. But the nano in your body will wear you out. It’ll suck you dry.”
“So you’re going to take it?” Kylie asked, feeling sadder than she expected.
Maybe she was being overly defensive.
“Only if you want us to,” Tanis replied. “I feel like after everything you’ve been through, you deserve to keep it—well, a non-fatal version of it. We’ll help you and Marge understand how to use it better.”
As she spoke, Tanis’s left hand changed and became a sphere, then a gun, then a long-stemmed rose, before resuming its shape as a hand and assuming a normal skin tone again.
“Holy crap,” Kylie breathed. “I’ll be able to do that?”
Sera snorted. “Well, first you’ll need to have your arm cut off.” The President cast Tanis an appraising look. “I thought you had a new one grown before we left Scipio.”
Tanis shrugged. “I did, but I haven’t gotten around to swapping it out. New arms always itch like crazy for a week.”
“New arms?” Kylie asked. “How many have you lost?”
Sera laughed. “Six that I know of.”
“It’s eight…I think. Either way, Kylie, we’ll do whichever you wish, though I’m in favor of you keeping it. You’ve proven yourself resourceful. We have a lot of work to do, we could use a woman like you.”
Sera nodded in agreement. “I suspect that you could never go back to life as a junker now.”
Kylie relaxed and leaned forward in her chair. “I feel like you’re offering me a job.”
“Maybe we are,” Tanis said and nodded to Sera. “But that’s her department. I’ll let you both hammer out the details. I need to attend to something on the bridge—Smithers is being an ass and needs to be slapped around that little planet of his. I also really need a BLT.” She pushed herself back from the table and headed for the door.
Kylie called out to her, “Can I have one too, since you’re up?”
A burst of laughter escaped Sera’s mouth. “I doubt anyone has ever shouted out a BLT order at Tanis like that before—at least not in a long, long time.”
Kylie’s stomach turned. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No, you’re fine. Refreshing.” Sera crossed her legs and leaned forward. “I’ve read the files The Hand has on you. Agent Devonire had you marked for recruitment. Like Tanis said, we could use a good woman like you.”
“If The Hand uses people like Nadine Devonire to manipulate situations and get to people, I’m not sure I’m interested.”
“You have two brothers, don’t you?”
Kylie nodded. “David and Paul.”
“David is safe, but where do you think Paul is?”
“I don’t know.” Kylie shrugged and thought back. “Before I blew Dad’s brains out, he said Paul had part of the fleet with him. Probably…” a shiver raced up her back, “…out on a mission.”
And a mission from Peter Rhoads meant comply or face extermination.
Sera nodded. “We use people like Nadine to try and stop things like what your father did. She d
idn’t perform to the best of her abilities, though this whole mess with the nanotech certainly threw a wrench in things. I owe Tanis a few thousand I-told-you-so’s for that.
“Either way, we’ve lost track of Paul Rhoads, and who better to track him down and stop him, then his very sister. You know the stakes. This is the sort of work The Hand does. It’s not always pretty—well it’s almost never pretty—but we’re on the brink of a pan-human war here. Tanis and I are trying our damnedest to stop that from happening. Your help could go a long way.”
Kylie had to admit that she liked the idea of stopping Paul herself rather than having some spy she didn’t know do it.
“So how would this go down? I would work for you? Report to you?”
Sera shook her head. “Not directly. I’m all over the place. We have a chain of command. I could have you report to Nadine or—”
“No offense, but I think I need some space on that front.”
Sera nodded, a look of understanding in her eyes. “Think about it. I just got word that Colonel Grayson has just brought your family aboard. Why don’t you go meet with them? Marge has provided much of the information we needed on your father’s control system. We’ll talk more later.”
“Thanks,” Kylie said as she rose once more.
“Oh, Kylie?” Sera said as she approached and placed her hand on Kylie’s arm. “Tanis and I want you to know how much we appreciate how hard you worked to keep Lana and the nano safe. We know how instrumental you were in that. Tanis has a lot on her mind right now, but she’s grief-stricken over what selling her nano to S&H nearly ended up doing to Silstrand.”
“And you?” Kylie asked.
“She did it to save my life. I have mixed feelings. Life rarely gives us black and white scenarios.”
Kylie laughed bitterly. “Now that I can relate to.”
REUNION
STELLAR DATE: 10.08.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Deck 93 Hospital Ward, ISF I2
REGION: Outer Silstrand System, Silstrand Alliance
“Kylie,” Kate whispered as Kylie entered the room in the I2’s main hospital.
“Hi, Mom,” Kylie said softly, her heart filled with dread. Her mother looked so small and fragile in her bed, Kate’s eyes haunted and sad. They were glazed over as though she wasn’t quite awake yet. Maybe she was still medicated, though just to see her awake…to see her alive…
“What happened, honey? What happened to your father?”
“I…” Kylie felt a sudden surge of emotion she hadn’t felt since this whole thing had started. “The fleet…I mean…Dad. He had you all under his control. He was going to kill people. Worlds of people. I had no choice…”
Kate stared at her in silence, eyes unblinking. There was no judgement in those eyes and it was that kind of look she remembered from her childhood.
A sob lodged in Kylie’s throat and she covered her mouth with her arm and squeezed her eyes shut.
It wasn’t though. It really wasn’t. She’d killed her father. She’d shot and killed him as if it had meant nothing, but it meant everything.
“Come here.” Kate patted the mattress beside her. It wasn’t what Kylie had thought her mother would say.
Before she realized it, she’d climbed onto the mattress, collapsed beside her mother and began to cry. She felt her mother’s arm wrap around her shoulders and that just made Kylie cry harder, rocking back and forth as uncontrollable sobs overtook her. No matter how hard she clenched her jaw, it just couldn’t be stopped.
When another set of hands touched her shoulder, Kylie gasped with surprise. David peered down at her. “David?!” Her sobs ceased as her eyes widened with delight, and he laughed.
“Never count me out. I made it to the shuttle in time, got hit in the head but I made it.” He reached up and rubbed his head. “Doctors here have me all patched up, though. Right as rain.
David moved in to hug her, and Kylie accepted it, placing her chin onto his shoulder, allowing the grief and forgiveness to wash over her.
“I’m sorry,” David’s voice shook, “I didn’t mean…I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry too, David.”
He shook his head, his eyes lined with thick tears. “Nah, baby sister, you freed me. You freed all of us.”
“My kids,” Kate whispered, her hands on each of their cheeks. “Finally, back where you are meant to be.”
Kylie couldn’t stay, but she didn’t tell her mother that. Not right now. “What about Paul?” she asked instead. “He’s out there, somewhere. He doesn’t know…”
“We’ll find him,” David said with a glint in his eye. “We’ll make him understand.”
And if they couldn’t? “The fleet needs you, David. You have to get all these people back to their homes. Your son needs you too. Hannah, our mother. Let me do what I do best. You do what you do best. Take care of everything here.”
David nodded reluctantly. “We’ll get it done. One way or another.”
Kylie hugged him again and squeezed her eyes shut. By any means necessary, they would get it done. She just hoped that when they did find Paul, he could be reasoned with and made to understand the error of Dad’s ways.
She was tired of hurting and killing. Kylie just wanted to heal.
* * * * *
After a long visit, Kylie was glad to step outside her family’s hospital room and into a long, brightly lit passageway. She stood and stared out of the windows at the park in the hospital ward’s center when a voice took her by surprise. “I’d like a minute, if you don’t mind.”
Kylie turned around and took in the sight of Grayson. Back in his SSF uniform he was dapper once again embodying everything Kylie had fought against so hard, but to know he was all right, to know the lengths he had gone to help her, Kylie felt all pretenses disintegrate.
“You can have as many minutes as you want.” Kylie gave him a hug, and when she felt his arms wrap around her, she tightened her grip, clinging to him. Grief, despair, gratitude, it all welled inside of her as he gripped her just as hard.
“I never thought I’d see you again,” Kylie whispered.
“I was pretty worried about the same thing.” Grayson’s voice was equally soft as his hands held her tight.
“How we left things…we can’t do that again.”
“I never should have left the Dauntless the way I did,” Grayson pulled back to lock eyes with her. “I’m sorry.”
Kylie bit her lip. Had he ever apologized so effortlessly before? “Me too, but if you hadn’t, maybe things would be worse. You never know. Anyway, I’ve been offered a job. They need someone to track down my brother. I need to get through to him, or…”
“Have you accepted?” Grayson asked.
Kylie nodded. “With this nano I have, my future as a junker is pretty much over.”
“You were always more than just a junker,” Grayson said and stroked her chin.
“And you?” Kylie asked. “Where are you off to?” Could he join her? Should she even ask?
“The SSF has war coming on many fronts. We’re allies with Scipio now, can you believe it? This Tanis Richards must be a miracle worker because she convinced Empress Diana to sign a treaty with the Silstrand President. They’re going to stay on their side of the Fringe and let Silstrand offer membership to systems out there without contest.”
“That feels surreal,” Kylie replied. “Is the Scipian Empress aboard?”
“No. She sent an ambassador, but I guess she was on the ship before they came here. Either way, we have this mess to clean up, President Maverick needs to be—”
“What?” Kylie exclaimed. “That actually worked?”
“Yeah, more or less. He murdered Vaax and declared war on Silstrand—though he’s keeping to Gedri. We haven’t fully surrendered the system, but for the most part he has the run of the place.”
For a long time, Kylie had fought against her strange feelings of loyalty toward the
crime boss. Finally, she understood how misplaced they were.
“Tanis has promised us some very advanced tech for our ships and soldiers, though she has demanded we return the S&H nano—says it violates some ancient laws. Still, I got the impression she was giving us stuff easily just as good. Despite her apprehensions, even she admits she can’t be everywhere at once. That seems to be her one limitation thus far.”
“I missed your formal speaking patterns,” Kylie said, her voice filled with tenderness as she stroked his cheek.
Grayson blushed and he laughed. “General Samuel has recognized my contributions, despite my…questionable operational decisions.”
“So, you’ll get a real command back?”
“Seems like it. A ship of my own, of all things. Good crew too.” Grayson took his hat off and folded the rim. “That would be what I’ve wanted. Maybe I’ll hold off on getting an AI right away, though. You’ve proved I don’t really need one.”
“And you convinced me that I do,” Kylie said. “I guess we’ve come full circle.”
“I guess we have. Will I see you again before you ship off?” Grayson asked.
“Of course,” Kylie leaned forward and stroked his temple with the back of her hand. “There’s a lot I have to explain. A lot I need to tell you. My heart’s just still too heavy to do it today.”
Grayson nodded. “Take care of yourself and your family. I need to get the Polis Fury back out there now that we’re refueled. The rescue operations are going to take a while. Remember, though, I’m only a Link conversation away.” He brushed his lips against hers all too briefly, but in that short amount of time, it whisked Kylie away to a better place.
She held his hands. “Whatever this is, if it’s real, if it’s not, I want to find out.”
“As do I,” Grayson let out a long sigh, “If only this war would wait for us.”
“If only.” Kylie held her emotions in. “Until next time, right?”
“We have all the time in the world…as we always have. I’ll see you soon, Kylie.” Another quick peck on the cheek and he turned and walk away.
Kylie turned and stared the other way so she wouldn’t need to watch him go. She rubbed her arms, feeling isolated and cold. “Be careful, Gray,” she whispered when she was sure he wouldn’t be around to hear her.