“You don’t sound surprised,” Gregor said.
“Some of us had faith,” Oz said. “How is the Sunspire?”
“Repairs are going well, we’ll be on patrol in two days.”
“We could use a hand with repairs here once my people are finished prying people from the wreckage in Port Rush. Can you spare anyone?” Oz said.
“No, I’m afraid not. I need my crew at full strength and my ship with a full compliment. It’s bad enough that things are being held back by this New Years’ celebration in a few days.”
Oz stood and walked towards his ready quarters. His uncle hesitated a moment then followed. As soon as they crossed the small, secure hallway and into his ready room he turned on the other man. “All right, this is your first visit to the Triton and the second time you’ve spoken to me since you got here. What do you have to say to me in person that you couldn’t say over comms?”
Gregor McPatrick didn’t seem fazed by the sudden turn in conversation. “Straight to it, all right. You’re a coward for abandoning your post with Freeground Fleet. Several commands abandoned after you left, and I believe your example is partially responsible for the political failures at home. The wrong people were in power, and you gave them an example of desertion, corruption, and a failing resolve in the military. It’s why I’m here, it’s why there’s a ship full of outcasts with me.”
“The military was failing before I left. I was already branded as an untrustworthy commander. I left because they made everything I earned look like a farce, and I knew I would be more helpful elsewhere,” Oz replied, trying to keep calm. He’d squared off against his uncle before, but never about something so important.
“Help whom?” Gregor replied. “Jacob Valent? Your friends? Who did you want to help out here?”
“Results prove me right,” Oz growled. “Thousands of refugees down there, hundreds of people on this ship, owe their lives to Jacob, Ayan, Minh-Chu, Jason, Laura, and yeah, they owe me, too. Those are people who would still be in bondage or dead if we didn’t step in. In case you didn’t notice, our little band killed two galactic war criminals a few days ago, and we nearly broke ourselves doing it. That’s more of a difference than any group of people from Freeground can claim they’ve made. You left us and brought allies to the table, but tell me those negotiations weren’t easier because they’d already heard of us.”
“He’s right, Gregor,” Carl Anderson said from the doorway. “They were already gearing up when we arrived in the Virrig System. The British were coming either way. They knew the importance of setting up a forward position in the Rega Gain system weeks before we got here. We just advanced their plans.”
“We made sure it all happened in time,” Gregor said.
“A few hours’ difference, maybe. Not enough to say it was meaningful,” Carl said.
“Without Alice and Jacob Valent, those two war criminals would have either escaped or dug in enough to build infrastructure, and hold until more ships could arrive. They were killed, the offensive lost its teeth. The other garrisons on Tamber are isolated, not coordinating. It’s just a matter of time before we dig them out.”
“And what did you do while the Valents were off being heroes?” Gregor asked.
“He-“ Carl Anderson started, but halted as Oz shook his head.
Terry Ozark McPatrick looked to his uncle, staring him in the eye. “I gathered with the best soldiers I’ve ever known and held the line. Just like you, my parents, and the Freeground Military taught me to do. I fought for what I could protect until the day was won.”
“When you feel that someone else is in charge and you’re not powerful enough, are you going to up and leave again?” Gregor asked.
The thought made Oz chuckle. His bond with Triton was deeper than anyone but Ashley could hope to understand. “There were two times in my life where I’ve felt accepted, at home. The first was on the First Light, the second is on this ship. I’ll die on this ship someday. Whether it’s tomorrow, or after a century of service, I’ll know I’ve died in the right place.” The statement seemed to take both men aback, and Captain Terry Ozark McPatrick pressed on. “I’m glad you’re here, Captain McPatrick, and I’ll work with you, I’ll even learn from you, I’m sure. Just don’t expect reverence on my ship, or to have your opinion treated with any more weight than any other captain in this fleet. You don’t want to help rebuild the Triton? That’s fine, I know you’ll make yourself useful elsewhere. Just don’t expect to find family here.”
Gregor McPatrick looked stricken for a moment, then composed himself and withdrew from the cabin. “I’ll have your effects from the Sunspire brought over,” he said on his way through the door.
“I’m sorry,” Doctor Anderson said after Gregor was gone. “I knew there was history, it had to come out.”
“Don’t worry,” Oz said. “He had to have his shot, I turned away from everything he respects. I knew I’d have knocks like that coming when I deserted the Sunspire.”
“You seem happy here,” Doctor Anderson said. “It’s quite a ship, even in its condition.”
“We’ll rebuild. It’ll take a year with an ideal crew, longer with the people we’ve got, but it’ll happen. I believe in what Jake is doing, and what Ayan wants to build. Triton will benefit from everything they do, and then they’ll benefit from Triton.”
“You’ve done more than I would have imagined, I can honestly say that I’m proud of everyone from the First Light. You’re the root of something incredible, and I’m glad I’ll be here to see it,” Carl Anderson said.
“Thank you,” Oz replied. “That means something coming from you.”
“I only wish,” Carl Anderson said before hesitating and crossing the room to the transparent hull. Two dozen battered destroyers and carriers from the British Fleet moved past slowly in formation. “I wish it were during a different time.”
“War,” Oz said. “The ship computer has seen it too.”
“The war of our time, and that’s saying something when we’re expected to live to two hundred years or more,” Doctor Anderson agreed. “Eve has made another appearance, promising immortality and paradise to the most dedicated Order of Eden humans. I thought we were going to have it easy when reports of Eden Fleet ships withdrawing and disappearing started flooding in.”
“Now they’re recruiting humans who sign up for their cult,” Oz said, joining Doctor Anderson to take in the view. One of the largest ships, the BSF Hammer, was starting to pass the Triton slowly. “It won’t be just frameworks next time.”
“Religious fanatics, only the promises of eternal life are real,” Doctor Anderson said. “Everyone who worried about framework technology, and how it could change the galaxy were absolutely right to raise the alarm. This will be galactic war.”
“How much time do you think we have before they try to take Rega Gain again?” Oz asked.
“With the beating we gave them, and the increasing presence of the British with their allies? I think they might try to go around this system first.” The pair stood in silence, watching the BSF Hammer go by with three heavily damaged Carthan battle cruisers keeping pace. Carl Anderson finally broke the silence. “Do you think we can win, Oz?”
“Yes,” he replied. There was no hesitation, as though the word was at the ready. “Especially if they have to take a turn at licking their wounds.”
“Speaking of taking time,” Doctor Anderson said, trying to shake the melancholy. “Are you coming down for the New Years’ celebration on Friday?”
“No, we’re having something here. We’re holing up in the Botanical Gallery for twenty hours of leave. I’ll authorize a holo-uplink to the party down there. We’ll be there in image and spirit,” Oz said.
“Good, I’ll make sure I pass through here on my way down to Tamber,” Carl Anderson offered his hand and Oz shook it. “I feel like I’m in the right place for the first time in a while too, Oz.”
“It’s good to have you here,” Oz replied.
* * *
“It never stops raining here,” said Burke, expanding the collar of his grey jacket into a hood. “You’d think he’d pick somewhere sunny.”
Wheeler stepped around the corner into the alley to find Burke and Doctor Thurge there. She was dressed in a long, multi-layered coat that had a pulse module somewhere inside that repelled the rain above so it fell around her. Burke had spent his money elsewhere, or lost it, judging from his simple spacer’s attire. “It’s where I could be without drawing attention,” he said.
“Finally,” Burke said. “So, what’s next? You have a line on some cash somewhere in this mess?”
Lucius Wheeler looked from Burke to Thurge, who raised an eyebrow. “You’re still out for revenge, aren’t you?” he asked.
“Profit is easy. Getting even takes skill. It takes resources,” she replied. “You promised the latter, just like I promised my family on the Palamo that I’d avenge them.”
“I promised that you’d have a good run, an in-road. You threw them off-balance enough to put a divide between Ayan and Jake. That’s all I needed,” Wheeler replied. “Now, I’m done testing my luck for greater causes. I think I spent the last of it getting off the Ferryman before the Warlord emerged from its wormhole.”
“So you’re just going to leave us like this?” Burke reached inside his coat. “That’s bull-“
Wheeler’s pistols were out and pointed at the pair before Burke’s hand touched his weapon. “I’m leaving you just like this, and if you see me again it’ll be because there’s a damn good reason for me to get drawn back to the Rega Gain system. Right now, I can only think of reasons to leave and never look back.”
“Why did you want us to mess with Ayan’s love life, anyway? I thought it was leading to something, but now I’m just disappointed,” Thurge asked.
“For a while, some of us got to see the future,” Wheeler said. “And the future with those two together didn’t leave much room for people like us, or the Order of Eden. Now they’re broken, so the galaxy gets to be wild wherever the Order isn’t around, and that’s a lot of space to get lost in. I’m not going to leave you two with a grudge against me, though.” He holstered one of his guns and pulled a heavy bag filled with Galactic Currency from his inside jacket pocket. He threw it to Thurge, who almost dropped it once the weight of if landed in her hands with a satisfying chink. “Twenty eight thousand, more than you earned. I have a transport waiting, so good luck, and goodbye.”
He backed out of the alley, stepped around the corner, and activated his stealth system. Wheeler turned on the hover systems in his long coat and accelerated down the street towards the spaceport at the centre of Whule. “A good tactician knows when to retreat,” he said to himself. It was time to leave Kambis, to avoid Tamber and the Rega Gain system.
Epilogue
The First Watch
Domed and square shelters from the Enforcer 1109 and the Triton were set up on the island they would come to call home. Logs discovered in a small research bunker told them the history of the Haven Shore settlement, and it was a peaceful one with a legacy of zoological study. All the shelters and the ships that survived since their arrival and through the siege occupied less than one percent of the land.
The mountain splitting the middle of the land mass protected half the jungle from a shockwave that blew the other half flat. Two of the larger shelters took advantage of the cleared land. They were open domes with frames built inside, but given time, they would build the interior rooms, and hallways.
The smaller shelters were set on an expanse of white and blue quartz beach sand. It took the help of the British military to move and set up in one day. Ayan was proud to announce a day of rest for New Year’s Eve.
A platform overlooking the beach and freshwater ocean beyond had been set up. It served as the main celebration area. The next morning it would take a different role, as a landing space for shuttles. Ayan sat at an iron wrought table, drinking black tea, a gift from the crew of the Fair Weather Trader for prying them from their wrecked ship. It was bright for evening, like early twilight in period movies she’d seen about Earth.
There were minutes left to the galactic year, and she smiled at the approach of Liam Grady bearing two fluted glasses. “It’s not champagne, but it tickles the nose.”
“What is it?”
“I think Agameg said it was Upbub, but he was pretty busy serving. I asked him if he’d like to take a break, he’s been working tirelessly on search and rescue, but he seemed happy tending bar.”
“I don’t think Agameg is happy unless he’s working,” Ayan said. “Considering the fighting and rescue work over the last week, I’m surprised anyone has the energy to be here, let alone dance the new year in.”
She spotted Doctor Anderson through the dancing crowd at the other end of the platform and cleared her throat. “Do you mind giving me a moment? Doctor Anderson said he had something important to tell me.”
“I’ll be back before the year turns,” Liam said, bending down to give her a timid kiss, but she leaned into it and pinched his bottom lip between hers before letting go. “You’d better be.”
Ayan stood and straightened her loose fitting, white and blue dress before Doctor Anderson was close enough for a hug. He kissed her on the cheek and smiled at her. “You look beautiful,” he said as they sat down.
“Thank you,” Ayan said. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“I know, and I’m hoping that continues on after I’ve told you something I’ve wanted to share for ages.”
Ayan was immediately worried, and put her glass down on the table carefully. “I don’t know what you could say that would make you unwelcome here. I’ve known you too long, and there’s something more. I can’t describe it, but you watched me grow, I know you were there the whole time I was developing. You brought me into being.”
“I wish I could have been there even before then,” Carl Anderson said with a note of regret. “Your mother didn’t want me involved in your upbringing when you were a child, but I watched.”
“My upbringing, why would you?” Ayan covered her mouth with a sudden realization. She’d always wondered who her father was. She recalled stealing one of Doctor Anderson’s scanners when she was very young during one of her check-ups. Her mother was furious as she snatched it out of her hands, stopping her from scanning the room.
“When I met your mother in the outer colonies, we were both very young. I believed in the research they were doing in genetic improvements. The ability for a human being to aggressively cure diseases by being near contagions, to be influential through pheromones like issyrians, to each be paragons of our species was very attractive. What it would mean to diplomacy alone, the possibilities were incredible. We took it too far, but we didn’t realize that until your mother was pregnant with you and we’d already performed the modifications. She wanted children so badly back then, her calling was to be a mother, so when we fell in love she suspended her contraceptives and, well,” Carl Anderson shrugged. “Then, you.”
A tear of joy fell from her eye as she said, “you’re my father,” through her hands. “Twice, you’re my father.”
“I couldn’t let you go through your childhood without knowing me somehow, so I had to be your doctor, at least. And when you were going to be on the First Light, I had to follow you there.”
“And you brought me back,” Ayan said, her breath catching mid-sentence.
“I couldn’t let you go,” Carl Anderson said, a tear rolling down his cheek.
Ayan stood up, knocking her chair over and bumping the table as she crossed to him and embraced her father. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you so much.”
* * *
Zoe squealed and giggled as she swung high between Ashley Lamport and Minh-Chu Buu. They walked along the beach, him in swim trunks and her in a bikini. The night was surprisingly warm, and the cool air coming off the water was just enough to make it comfortable without vacsuit-style clothing. Watchi
ng the toddler turn the pair of them into a jungle-gym, and being with Ashley, who surprised him by being a person he could enjoy a comfortable silence with, was better than Minh thought he deserved.
The Samurai and Skyguard Squadron members who weren’t on patrol overhead had staked out their beach encampment by landing their fighters and shuttles in a half-circle. Light rods sticking out of the sand, holographic feeds from the main dancing platform and the Triton’s party in the Botanical Gallery lit the space just enough. The Warlord was on the beach just past the group.
Zoe spotted Panloo with several other nafalli and struggled to be free of Minh-Chu and Ashley. “Okay, you can go,” Ashley said, releasing her. Minh-Chu followed her example and the gap between them was closed a few steps later.
Ashley’s hand found his as they watched Zoe scamper up the beach and leap onto Panloo’s back. “She’s so happy with her,” Ashley said.
“She’s still crazy about you, though,” Minh-Chu said.
“I know,” Ashley said. “Every time I visit her she lets me know.”
They walked silently for a while, holding hands and looking down the shoreline. They were getting close to the old mismatched chairs they’d set up, stuck partway into the sand on the edge of the waterline. Behind it was a shelter for two.
“You’re quiet,” Ashley said.
Minh-Chu almost reacted by offering an expression from his extensive collection, but smiled and looked at her instead. He’d never seen anything more amazing than her looking back at him with a half-smile, her dark eyes expectant. “You’re beautiful.”
Ashley laughed and kissed him briefly. “You were about to say something else. I could see it.”
“Just words,” he replied. “Words that would fall out onto the sand and wash away.” He turned on his heel and caught her in an embrace, which improved with a long, warm kiss.
Ashley pulled away reluctantly after encouraging whistles from the pilots sitting around a few holographic images from the capitol of Kambis and the Triton. “Okay, before we turn on Crewcast privacy mode, I’ve got a New Year’s gift for you,” she said, breaking away and running towards their seats.
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework Page 57