Earth Song: Twilight Serenade (28 page)

“Prescott, glad to see you again,” Minu said. “You worked on the field deployment of the shock rifles.”

“Correct ma’am,” he said.

“Coming into an established division, hopefully you won’t find too much work waiting for you?”

“No ma’am,” he said. “We had some losses to fill after Planet K, but that’s pretty much taken care of. We’re ready for service.”

“Excellent,” Minu said and turned to the other woman. She’d come in the Trials just before Minu. One of the few back in those days. And one of the ones she’d informed about the hidden details of the birth control all female Chosen had installed against their will.

Unlike Minu, she hadn’t spent time in deep space having FTL flight slow the years. Her long blond hair was cut short now, and sown with a scattering of gray. But the face was still the same hard, intense lines as before. Minu wondered if the woman had pulled any strings for this promotion.

“Heather, good to see you again.”

“And you, ma’am.”

“Is Division Six ready for service?”

“Not quite,” she admitted. Minu lifted an eyebrow and she continued. “Fort Kalashnikov is proving difficult to bring on line. Local supply problems.”

Minu looked at Gregg who nodded, then shrugged. Minu sighed and let her shoulders fall a bit. The decision to build a fort in the Rusk territory had been a necessity of her master defense plan, and a sore spot from day one. They’d resisted it every step of the way, even considering all the jobs and income it brought to the region.

“Do you need help with that?” Minu asked Gregg.

“No,” he said without hesitation, “we’re behind schedule but we’ll get it done.”

“Your reports are amazing,” Dram said. “An entire star system, in an impossible to find location next to a neutron star?”

“Magnetar,” Minu corrected. “Apparently it’s different.” Lilith floating nearby nodded her head in agreement. “The entire system within that nebula is invisible. You could fly around in there for weeks, months and not find anything. And the bonus is there’s no reason to look around in there, because I have a plan.”

“Don’t you always?” Dram asked, then winked.

Chapter 30

Julast 8th, 535 AE

Office of the First, Ft. Jovich, Peninsula Territory, Bellatrix

Minu closed her office door as the last of the meeting attendees filed out. As it latched closed she sighed and almost fell back against it. Seven days since getting home and she’d been putting in non-stop fifteen hour days in preparation of leaving yet again.

She stretched, feeling her back crack as she crossed to her desk. The worst part was that she was missing zero gravity in space more than anything. She was also regretting leaving Cherise in Aether with the salvage operation.

Minu had plans within plans, many of them started dozens of years ago. Before she was ever First, long before it in fact. They all went in the same direction; increased security for humanity. Ever since the Rasa vendetta it had been her driving goal in life. Really one of her only goals. Having a family was just an accident.

She passed her desk and went to the side door. It was originally just a file room. After she’d sent instructions it had been expanded into her workplace nursery. Opening the door, the rich musical tones of a woman singing came to her ears.

Ariana was singing a lullaby, sitting with Mindy in her lap, the little girl cooing and watching the older woman with bright jade colored eyes.

Ariana winked as Minu closed the door quietly while continuing to enjoy the tableau. The woman had been her assistant for many years. Minu used to joke about the woman’s propensity to being always pregnant.

Ariana finished her song and spoke. “Glad you finished, she’s hungry.” Mindy gazed around. Spotting her mother, she reached out with a pudgy hand.

“Hi baby,” Minu said as she walked over and took the baby. Mindy pulled at the fold in Minu’s uniform impatiently as her momma settled into a chair and slipped a shoulder out of her jumpsuit. In moments Mindy was suckling busily.

“And you were worried you’d be able to make enough milk?” Ariana joked as she got up and stretched noisily. “I’m kinda glad I’m done.”

“After eight, you’d think you were ecstatic,” Minu said in a fake mocking tone. Ariana just shrugged.

“I’m going to head home, if you don’t need anything more, First?”

“No, I’m fine. I’m going to nurse Miss Hungry here and then do a few notes before turning in myself.”

“And you’re heading for the island tomorrow?”

“That’s the plan. Missing my man too.”

Ariana and headed for the door, stopping just before she left. “You two can’t let life pass you by. Remember that before you spend the best years of your life in space?”

“I’ll try, Ariana.”

A half hour later Mindy was sleeping in her crib and Minu was back in her office. The connecting door was open so she could hear the baby if she woke up. The vista overlooking the equatorial sea was, for a change, calm. Romulus was casting a green glow across the ocean and only rare whitecaps were visible.

Minu sat in her chair for a minute admiring the view before turning back to her desk. Recessed controls activated the room’s substantial holographic display capabilities, displaying a huge map of the galaxy just as she’d left it.

The map showed the better part of two arms, including the one where home was located. Star systems of import were oscillating blue/green while others representing hazards or previous combat engagements were red or orange.

She stood and moved into the display, using her finger to draw a line in space between Bellatrix and Serengeti. The computer responded by creating a visible white connecting line. Minu drew another from Serengeti to Herd Home and from Herd Home to Coorson.

She continued like that for almost an hour before she was done. The connections were numerous and spread across both arms of the galaxy. She made a sweeping gesture, brought up a calculating subroutine, and touched the lines.

“Proposed Route Totals,” she typed in. The computer program, created by Lilith, generated the totals.

“Total Distance Outlined – 7,200 Light Years.”

Minu whistled. That was quite a space lane she’d outlaid. Of course, it connected a half dozen major worlds and twice that many minor ones.

She called up the control program once more and typed in “T’Chillen.” The computer caused a dozen worlds to illuminate. She assigned them a color and pattern. Then did the same with Mok-Tok and Tanam.

Her space lane passed within a dozen light years of ten worlds belonging to one of the three main aggressor species that fell within the Higher Order species. Of course, this was one of the main reasons she’d turned the Beezer into her traders. They were not directly on the table as aggressors in the game she was playing.

After the battle on Serengeti Minu had done her research. The Tanam hadn’t attacked there as a move directly against the big grazers. No, they’d been after the humans directly. Or perhaps indirectly to draw out the Tog. Either way, there had been no straight-up, or even incidental violence against the Beezer anywhere. As non-defined adversaries, the Ibeen under the Beezer command should be essentially safe.

There were pirates in the galaxy, at least according to the Tog. Ancient or cobbled together ships that prayed on surviving space stations mostly. They also led raids on small, undefended species worlds. Only Higher Order species had orbital defenses. Only they could afford them.

Even though the pirates targeted worlds and weak orbital structures, an unarmed spaceship would likely fall prey as well. Minu was pretty confident the Ibeen could take care of themselves in that case. They were both fast (by comparison), but also slightly armed and with adequate shields. No match against an actual capital ship, even a tiny one. But still enough for most situations.

Besides, the Beezer could fight, when cornered. And having their ship boarded in space would fall under the very definition of being cornered.

Minu next typed in an extremely important world. Nexus. It was a long way off. More than ten thousand light years from Bellatrix. Then another, Aether. Just over a thousand light years. And finally Enigma. fourteen hundred light years distant from Bellatrix. She made the measurement from there to an earlier system and nodded.

“Okay,” she said, “I think this could work.”

The ancient wall clock chimed twelve times and she looked up. Made from native wood, it had belonged to her father. That and the sapphire around her neck were the only possessions of her father’s in her office. She wondered how two hours since Ariana’s departure had passed so quickly.

She made a gesture and the map was saved and the hologram shut down. Then Minu went into the adjacent room and closed the door. She slipped out of her uniform and dropped it over a chair. She stood naked next to the crib and reached out to stroke Mindy’s raven black hair, then flipped off the light before climbing into the little bed.

Minu preferred to cuddle the baby at night, but the girl was a wiggly thing and every time she moved Minu half woke up out of instinct. She wanted to get some quality sleep in the five hours remaining before she needed to get up so she slept alone.

As she pulled the pillow close she felt he hardness of the beamcaster pistol under the top edge of the mattress and nodded to herself, glad her housekeeper hadn’t moved it. Surrounded by a fort full of soldiers and with a gun close at hand, she drifted quickly into an almost dreamless sleep.

Chapter 31

Julast 9th, 535 AE

Chosen Administrative Headquarters, Steven’s Pass

Minu woke a couple minutes before the bedside chronometer would have gone off, as was common for her. She only tended to need such a wakeup when on foreign worlds where the day-night cycle were interrupted.

She got up and after checking that Mindy was still asleep she thanked whatever higher powers might be listening and slipped into the shower which also took part of the space.

She came out toweling her hair dry just as Mindy turned her head and looked around.

“Morning baby,” Minu cooed. Mindy responded by pushing with her legs and rolling herself over.

“Oh, wow!” Minu exclaimed and ran over. Mindy was on her belly and seemed as surprised as her mother. “What an awesome little girl you are!” Minu said and scooped her up.

Mindy noticed the bare breasts and instantly forgot that she’d been about to fuss about being picked up. So Minu tossed her towel over a chair and plunked down in it so her daughter could have breakfast.

“Commanders always eat last,” she said, one of her father’s bits of leader wisdom.

At 0530 exactly she sat Mindy down in her office chair for a minute. The baby looked curiously at the unusual place she’d found herself and that bought Minu the minute she needed.

She pulled open the bottom drawer of her desk and removed the pile of files there. The bottom of the drawer looked normal, until she pushed hard in the center of a knot in the wood. The drawer gave a click and she pulled it out, sitting it on the floor.

There was no bottom to the desk. Instead the ceramic concrete floor was visible, and a control panel was set here. Minu pressed her thumb to it and the panel beeped, making a keypad appear. She entered a code then replaced the drawer and the files.

Moving over to one of the flat panel displays set on the wall, she pulled and it swung open to reveal a safe set in the ceramic concrete. Another thumb print recognition and another code. The safe opened to show four smaller safes, all similarly coded. She took the bottom left and did it all again, with still another code.

Only a couple of people would have known that if the code wasn’t entered into the floor keypad prior to trying to open the particular safe she was accessing the results would have been quite catastrophic for anyone in the room. The security of the contents was considered that important.

The door popped open and she reached inside, finding what she wanted. “There you are,” she said and dropped it into a special pocket on her uniform before closing the safes and resetting the monitor.

The baby was just trying to roll herself off the desk when Minu scooped her up and stepped out of her office

Even with only five hours sleep she felt invigorated, cleaned and in a fresh uniform, Mindy riding one hip and her ‘running around’ bag over the other shoulder. Mindy was kicking in annoyance at the beamcaster pistol holstered just under her feet.

In the hallway she could hear the echoes of drill instructors barking orders and the distant thrum of boots pounding the deck. Morning exercises and training were underway. Minu rode the lift down deep into the massive ceramic concrete fort. Deeper and deeper until it was no longer concrete but living stone that surrounded her.

The doors opened and a trio of heavily armed Rangers awaited her. They manned heavy beamcaster turrets with energy shields active. None of them moved away from their weapons, even at the sight of a woman with a baby coming out of the lift.

“Identification, ma’am!” the leader ordered.

“Minu Grove, First among the Chosen!” she responded promptly. A console popped out of the floor and rose to waist level.

“Code verification, ma’am.”

Minu punched in her personal access code. The soldier not manning a turret took out his tablet and examined the display. He must have liked what he saw because he didn’t order the men to open fire.

“Thank you, First,” he said and came to attention. “Stand down.” The two men at the turrets relaxed and pointed their weapons at the ceiling, though still in the general direction of the lift. “Orders?”

“Open the vault, please.”

The man nodded and used his tablet to enter a code. Between the two turrets the wall split and began to swing inwards to reveal the door of a massive vault. In the center stood a portal, shimmering milky white. Little Mindy reached out a hand towards it, her eyes sparkling in the reflected light.

“Release the shields,” she ordered over her shoulder. The slight distortions that had announced the combined forcefield/energy shields guarding the portal disappeared and she strode up to the portal dais.

Minu removed the item she’d retrieved from her safe and pressed its base. Holographic script appeared floating in air above it. She had to hold it a bit away from her as she manipulated the script. Mindy kept trying to grab at the floating script images.

She examined the script and let her mind drift. The script created a meaning in her mind and her fingers worked manipulating them. The rod in her hand pulsed a rich blue and the script flashed.

“Okay,” she said, examining the script for a moment. It almost didn’t make sense until she thought about it. Then she walked over and touched it to the portal. The portal and rod both flashed blue, incredibly brightly. For an instant they were locked together, then she could pull them apart.

The blue glow of the portal changed back to its normal milky white, but the rod remained blue and slowly pulsed. A new line of script had appeared. In her mind it translated as ‘yes or no’. She selected yes and the pulsing stopped and the script faded back into the rod.

“You ready to go, little bit?” she asked Mindy who just cooed and blew bubbles. 

Her pilot picked her up at the planned time in the main flight deck of the fort. A squad of five Rangers had fallen in with her and she sensed the distant hand of Sergeant Selain. Just like the gun under her pillow, she took it for what it was, part of her life, and boarded.

En route she went over the job assignments the Rangers had taken over the time she’d been off world. Just as Gregg has been instructed, they were all on known world security assignments. No active combat roles like Planet K had been. And just as Minu expected, the number of inquiries had drastically fallen after their broker stopped taking bids on those other kinds of assignments.

Gregg had suggested that, based on current trends, they could stop putting out bids on jobs in another year and there wouldn’t be any official complaints to the Concordia. She gave a silent sigh of relief that that particular stage of their people’s history was almost over. Of course that made her wonder yet again where Jacob had disappeared to. His absence had now escalated to an official missing persons investigation when the bills for his apartment in Plateau had gone unpaid for six months.

There was also a message from P’ing notifying her that her initial petition had been granted, so now they were waiting for a final approval and a date would be set. She hoped it was neither too soon, or too far off. That needed to be done for her to move her plan along the roadmap past a certain point.

The transport set down on the landing at Steven’s Pass at precisely 0700. The former headquarters of all Chosen activity on Bellatrix was now only an administrative and scientific headquarters. The building’s five wings, one for each of the branches, were now primarily laboratories and offices.

The five heavy duty landing pads on the roofs of the wings were new. They’d been designed to handle the much larger Phoenix shuttles, the Kaatan’s shuttles, or a pair of Lancers at a time.

Aaron came out of the lift just as she stepped out of the transport, her bodyguards right behind her. She waved and he came over and gave her a kiss, adding one to Mindy’s sleeping head.

“Been missing you,” he said.

“Been missing you too,” Minu said. The weeks away from home had left huge amounts of work piled up for both to catch up on. Minu as First among the Chosen and leader of the world’s military. Aaron as the president of Groves Industries, an aerospace manufacturer and heavy contractor. “But we need to get going again.”

“We should talk about those plans,” Aaron said.

“Tonight at dinner? The council meeting is going to take up a lot of my time,” Minu said.

Aaron just nodded and followed her into the lift.

“The Chosen council is now in session,” the young scribe spoke. The councilors all came to their feet as Minu entered. “Missing is only Cherise Macubale, head of logistics. Minu Groves, First among the Chosen presides.”

Minu looked around at them, many her lifelong friends, and nodded as she took her seat at the head of the council table. It had been a long time since all eight of them were there together.

“Thank you for coming,” Minu said as she bowed from her seated position. A small antechamber held two dozen seats for observers. As this was a closed session, the only ones there were councilors’ aides and Aaron who was attending their daughter.

“As we discussed before I left, my intention was to salvage what vessels I could find and return them here. My purpose was twofold. First to provide Bellatrix with a more substantial space navy to ensure our defenses against what appears to be an increasingly more powerful enemy naval presence.”

She picked up her display controls and the center of the council chamber, over the table, became a huge holographic display. The map she’d designed the night before came up showing the space lanes between their worlds and their enemies’ locations. The proximity to their enemies was plain to see.

“Second was to develop commerce outside of the portal network, with the help of our allies. And for this, as the other goal, we needed ships.” Minu used the control again. “We’ve succeeded far, far better than we thought possible!”

The display changed, the galactic map dropping to a tiny size to one side. It was replaced with a stylized shape of an Ibeen.

“We now have eight Ibeen back in service and being crewed by the Beezer, as per the agreement I’ve made.” The Ibeen on the display split into eight in a line. “The Beezer will use them for commerce and to aid in any supply efforts we have.”

“We’ve salvaged three more Kaatans like Lilith’s.” Another representative of the Kaatan appeared, splitting into four. “They are not yet operational. Crewing and controlling them is considerably more complicated than the Ibeen.”

“We now control five Fiisk heavy battlecruisers.” Another ship appeared, and split as well. “We have one fully operational, thanks to a salvaged Kaatan. The ship itself was not salvageable at the moment, but it maintained a combat intelligence. The first we’ve found.”

She spent a few minutes describing the Fiisk to the assembled council members, including their use and firepower in comparison to the Kaatan class ship of the line.

“The next finds are the most extraordinary. We salvaged two Kiile class carriers. They were in excellent shape, only lacking CIs and raw materials.” The ship appeared large and rotated for their view. “No fighters were aboard. However before returning the Rasa technicians were able to get the fabrication plant operational, in at least a limited manner. And we also now know what the component blocks we kept finding on junk piles are for. They feed these fabricators, which apparently were only in use by the Lost.”

“And lastly, at the final location we’ve explored, we found a ship of incredible power. One of only five ever built, according the Lilith. A Guul class dreadnought.”

The Guul came up and she spent a minute describing the ship’s mind boggling dimensions and its use, as a siege and defensive weapon of almost inconceivable power.

“And finally, we salvaged the gunboat complements of all the Fiisk and the carriers. Sixty-six in all, ten of which returned with me. A very formidable complement.”

Minu looked around the room at the councilmembers, evaluating their reactions. They varied from appreciative nods to wide eyed amazement. She could see clearly the one negative reaction. Jasmine Osgood stared at the summary screen showing all the ships, mostly warships. The frown on her face was both deep and profound. The director of the science branch was from the Peninsula tribe, and they were known for the disdain of the military.

“Now we get down to the hard details,” Minu said. “Even though we have all these ships secured and can bring them all to operational condition, we cannot crew them.”

“Why not?” Dram asked, the first to speak.

“The same reason we couldn’t operate the Kaatan worth a darn until Lilith was brought out into the world. There are no CIs.”

Minu gestured and Lilith stood up in the antechamber. She moved slowly and carefully under the room’s full gravity. Her standard black Chosen jumpsuit still looked loose on her. “I’d like Chosen Lilith Groves to continue the explanation.”

“I am a combat intelligence,” Lilith told them without fanfare. “When my mother took command of the Kaatan it was stored in an advanced firebase along with many more. The ships, as is routine, is stored without CI. The CIs are basically specialized artificial intelligence programs optimized for operating a starship or its systems. When initialized they are assigned a task and that will be their purpose for the rest of their operational lifecycles.