by M. D. Cooper
There was a moment of silence, and then Yves cried out,
Jeannie held the ship as steadily as she could, while Marion set the winch to wind up at its maximum speed.
Ten seconds later, there was a thud, and then Marion called up,
“Fuckin’ goin’,” Jeannie muttered and applied the skiff’s max burn.
Connie watched the altimeter; they were barely climbing out of the bottom cloud layer. The skiff’s collision alarms started to wail, and Connie saw an amorphous form moving toward them from below.
“Upsurge!” she cried out. “We hit that, and—”
“I know!” Jeannie shot back. “We’re done. I’m heading into the vortex.”
The skiff slewed starboard, and Connie felt the ship drop precipitously. They came to the center of the whirling clouds where the winds were almost still, and Jeannie pushed the burn to max.
The small craft began to climb through the clouds, passing through the near-boiling water layer and into the hydrosulfate and ammonia deck. The winds began to pick up more, but so did the skiff. Connie began to breathe easier as the skiff crossed over twenty kilometers per second; when they hit thirty-five, she glanced at Jeannie and clasped her shoulder.
“Now that is fuckin’ flying. Amazing work, Lieutenant.”
They burst free from Saturn’s cloudtops just as the engines cut out, and they lurched forward from the cessation of thrust.
Jeannie was shaking as she glanced at Connie. “We hit escape velocity ten seconds before we ran out of fuel.”
“Faaawk,” Connie whispered. “Uh…I guess set a beacon for a pickup from Hyperion. I’m going to go check on Tanis.”
Her fingers were shaking as she lifted off her harness, and she nearly forgot to check that atmosphere in the back cabin was safe before she palmed the cockpit door control. It was, though, and once the air pressure had equalized, the door opened, and she stepped through to see Yves and Marion staring intently at the woman strapped into a chair.
Her SCLSS suit was detaching from her face, and the woman pulled it away, coughing as she drew the long tubes out of her throat.
“Wait a sec,” Yves said as he scowled at the unfamiliar woman. “Who the hell are you? Ident says ‘Kiora Adams’.”
The woman glanced at Connie, who gave her a lazy salute. “Nice of you to join us, Tanis.”
Tanis nodded weakly as she jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “Just so there’s no confusion, I am never going to set foot on one of those cities again.”
Marion grinned as she shook her head. “I knew it. I guess we’re read in now.”
“Read into what?” Yves planted his hands on his hips. “Did I just risk my life to save some random woman?”
In response, Kiora Adams’ face began to change before their eyes, until the person sitting before them wore the face of Tanis Richards once more. She winced and rubbed her cheeks before looking up at Yves.
“Welcome to Division 99, Private.”
ENEMY OF MY ENEMY
STELLAR DATE: 03.04.4085 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Hyperion Station
REGION: Saturn, Jovian Combine, OuterSol
“The oligarch doesn’t want to point the finger at the Diskers yet,” Leona said. “So they’re chalking it up to ecoterrorists who are protesting the Ouranos Project.”
The words were Leona’s greeting as Tanis settled into a seat at the back of a bar on Hyperion. For once, Tanis was herself, no cover in use, and it was Leona who was posing as a contractor working with the TSF—one who supplied the special mounts needed for compressed helium tanks.
Something the Kirby Jones currently needed, thanks to a ridiculously incompetent drone operator.
“Hello to you, too,” Tanis said, double-checking that Leona’s privacy shield was working properly before continuing. “That seems reasonable. I understand there’s debate over simply clearing out the city and dropping it into Saturn rather than fixing it.”
Leona gave an exaggerated shrug. “I guess the newer cities have a better pontoon structure…and engines to boost the city off Saturn in case of some sort of calamity. New Amsterdam is one of the older ones. At the very least, they’re talking about upgrading the other old ones now. Shuttles can’t keep up with the people bailing off those cities.”
“And here I thought that this stop at Saturn was just for appearances.”
Leona snorted. “I did too, to be honest. I mean, I knew there was a TSF officer that had non-standard connections to the Diskers, but I didn’t think we were days away from the biggest catastrophe in OuterSol since the Io Incident.”
“I’m glad we managed to keep that thing afloat, though,” Tanis replied. “And I never want to see one of those cities again.”
Tanis met the JSF colonel’s eyes and saw an inexplicable sadness in them. “What is it?” she asked.
Leona pursed her lips and swallowed before replying. “I lost two people…and we didn’t save our pontoon. If you hadn’t succeeded….”
“Dammit,” Tanis shook her head. “I’m sorry about that. I hope you’re going to give Kameron his just desserts.”
Leona’s expression took on a cast of grim determination. “Oh, he’ll get that and more. Though your people are already agitating for him to be turned over to the TSF.”
“Sorry about that,” Tanis replied with a shrug and a tone of voice that said just the opposite. “I had to report all this into the local Division commander. Once Connie pulled the fire alarm to get our skiff down to rescue me, the local detachment knew an op was going on—they weren’t too happy to have no knowledge of it, either. My ears are still ringing from the local commander’s tirade.”
“Oh?” Leona quirked an eyebrow. “Was that Colonel Furst, or General Hildebrand?”
Tanis gave the JSF officer a narrow-eyed gaze. “Nice try, Leona.”
“Part of the job. If anyone asks me if I tried to get intel from you on the local Division structure, it helps to be able to honestly say ‘yes’.”
“I trust that you didn’t let on anything about your arrangement with the oligarch?” Leona continued.
“Of course not. I’m working an angle to get permission to go to Earth, and if that works, I’ll be taking the Kirby Jones there just as soon as our helium tank situation gets squared away.”
Just then a vid came on the nearby holodisplays, talking about the investigation into the near catastrophe with New Amsterdam. Tanis glanced at it, a smile gracing her lips as she saw ‘Colonel Leona of the JSF’ being credited with saving the city.
“Good work, Leona,” Tanis said with a wink.
A look of disgust crossed the colonel’s face. “I fucked up. Royally. You’re the one that saved New Amsterdam. Keeping your involvement under wraps puts me in the limelight—not something I like.”
“Was a team effort,” Tanis replied with an amicable shrug. “You and your AI…Chelsea, I believe…were instrumental in helping us.”
“And your AI…” The woman let the words hang.
Tanis gave the colonel a measuring look. “Leona. You know I’m an L2. I can’t have an AI.”
“Right, sure,” she gave Tanis a wink. “I’ll keep Darla’s secret for you.”
Tanis must have let a measure of surprise show on her face, because a triumphant expression came over Leona’s.
“I knew it! It took a lot of digging, but when Chelsea and I sorted it out, I had to kick myself for missing something so obvious. What patrol boat as small as yours has two AIs on it? Even working for the Division, that seemed unlikely. It didn’t take long to find that there were a few times where Darla was in places that the Kirby Jones was not.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Tanis replied with a shrug. “But I still don’t have an AI in my head.” She paused to tap her skull. “Not enough room in here to squeeze one in.”
“Either way, she’s with you somewhere,” Leona’s eyes traveled across Tanis’s torso. “With the mods you have, she could easily be anywhere in there—even though you’re skinny as fuck.”
“Willowy,” Tanis corrected her. “You high-g people all look like squat lumps to me, if it helps at all. I’m willowy, you’re stumpy.”
Leona snorted. “I’ll take stumpy any day. OK, now that we’ve settled that, when can I expect to hear from you again?”
“Officially, the Jones is supposed to swing back around to Vesta. If it heads there, you’ll know that I’m already on my way to Terra on my own. If the ship heads to Terra, then…well…you’ll also have your answer.”
“No scenario where you just say ‘fuck it’ and go to Vesta with your ship?”
Tanis shook her head. “I want to find out who is behind this as much as you do, Leona—probably more. I don’t like that Alden is blackmailing me, but I’m onboard.”
“I lost two of my people down in those clouds,” Leona said quietly. “I’m just as motivated as you are.”
“Then we understand one another.”
Leona’s eyes narrowed. “I hope so. I don’t know Alden well, but I’ve been around him enough to see that the man does not make idle threats. If you don’t play ball, he’ll destroy you.”
Tanis rose from the table and thought through a number of responses, before simply nodding and walking away.
* * * * *
“Seriously?” Leona scoffed. “Sure, she’s one tough bitch, but he has all of Jove backing him.”
“Tanis? She’s a bleeding heart. There are limits to what she’d do for revenge. Besides, she and her team got close to Alden before he had Specters protecting him. It’s a different ball game now.”
“You don’t think I could take her down?”
Leona picked up a beer that had thus far sat untouched and took a draught.
“Well, as Pearl and Forrest can attest, we’re in the ‘costly’ business.”
MEET WITH TEAM
STELLAR DATE: 03.04.4085 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: TSS Kirby Jones, Hyperion Station
REGION: Saturn, Jovian Combine, OuterSol
Tanis had harbored a similar reaction, but she also knew what it was like to lose teammates. It was like losing family. Even worse, if you didn’t like your real family.
Darla didn’t reply, and Tanis walked on in silence, making her way through the station’s small commercial district, which catered to the contractors and Terrans who were looking for something the military stores didn’t have to offer.
She saw a shimmering green gown in a window display, with bolts of blue-green electricity running down it. She imagined what it would look like swirling around her and almost slowed to take a closer look.
Darla crowed.
Tanis snorted.
As they waited for the train, Tanis flipped through her datadrops, wondering what was keeping Harm from responding to her. If he didn’t get back to her soon, she’d have to report in to Admiral Kocsis directly.
Damn, I hate having a split chain of command.
Of course, she also loved the Kirby Jones, and she knew that if she were to go fully into Division 99, she’d lose her command of the ship.
She didn’t want that…but she was also enjoying the spy game more than she originally thought she would. Even though she would never get credit for it—and though it would give her nightmares for some time—she was glad that her job had put her in the right place to save New Amsterdam.
They’ll just have to get someone else the next time…because screw Saturn. I’d rather dance with GE’s black-hole-holding arrays at Ouranos than go back to one of those floating cities.
She pulled her thoughts away from Saturn and back to the datadrops, growing less certain that there’d be anything from Harm with each empty source.
Stars…I hope something hasn’t happened to him. It’s been almost two weeks.
Then she saw a message about a lonely Hawk looking for a sea creature to spend time with. She dove into it, and the code in the message led her through a series of other posts and ads until she’d pieced together Harm’s message.
[Tanis. Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. Had some issues here, but I’ve found and eliminated the mole in the Division—or at least one of them. I’ve advised Kocsis of your situation, and he’s onboard. He wants to arrange for some sort of backup for you, but I’ve convinced him that I should be enough. I need you to meet me at the Kjorn Hotel on Luna before you head to Earth. Good work on Saturn. I’ve not seen an official report yet, but I’ll eat Cassie Hawk’s pink hair if saving that city wasn’t your doing. See you on Luna.]
Tanis passed the message on to Darla, who sighed with relief.
Darla snorted.
* * * * *
Twenty minutes later, Tanis walked into the Kirby Jones’s galley—the only room outside of the holds that had enough space for the whole crew to meet.
Even so, it was crowded. Jeannie and Smythe were sitting at the table, along with Connie and Marion. Liam was leaning up against the wall near the chiller, while Seamus was sitting on the floor alongside Yves—both of whom leapt up when Tanis entered. Susan and Lukas were sitting on the counter, and they slid off at her entrance, as well
.
“As you were, everyone,” Tanis said, waving her hand for the crew to resume their seats. “You here, Lovell?”
A pillar of light shimmered into existence near the sink.
Tanis nodded in acknowledgement and surveyed her crew. Some looked uncertain, while others appeared to be curious. Connie was grinning like a fool, obviously certain that she knew what Tanis was about to divulge.
“What about Darla,” Liam asked. “Is she with us, as well?”
Seamus swung a leg out and kicked Liam in the foot. “Damn, you’re dense, aren’t you?”
“What?” Liam asked defensively.
Tanis held her hand up, and the pair subsided. “Everything I’m about to tell you is classified D99 Alpha 1. It never leaves your lips or minds. However, the thing I’ll tell you next is not something I’m authorized to divulge, though most of you have figured it out already.”
She paused for dramatic effect, watching Liam’s scowl deepen.
“Darla and I are paired.”
Marion shouted, “I knew it!” at the same time Liam exclaimed “What? For how long?”
“Right, and you have to keep pretending. Honestly, Darla and I being together isn’t as classified as us being Mickies, but the TSF would like to keep the fact that L2s can get AIs on the QT for as long as possible.”
“Can we put a pin in the fact that you’re Division, and go back to you and Darla?” Lieutenant Smythe asked. “Are you telling me that she’s been with you the whole time? What about when we flew from Vesta to Ceres? You weren’t aboard then, but Darla was.”
Lovell replied.