That, it seemed, wasn't going to be needed. Orange had made a separate crew dining facility for them, so all that was needed was running back to the kitchen and splitting the portions between two sets of dishes. They were magical ones that, when she checked with Sam, had been made mainly by Farlo Ross. The things were very nicely decorated, but weren't real, which meant that one of the crew had to drag a tiny chest of things around, but they couldn't functionally break either.
When they got into the executive dining room, the others were already speaking at the table, which looked like old and heavy stone, rather than polished wood or glass. It didn't exactly fit, Tiera didn't think, but it did leave an impression of power and made a statement.
No one thinking that would get the idea that the new Space Fleet was less than a rough and ready organization, would they?
"Here we go. Sorry it took so long, but we had to learn our way around the facilities here. It's a bit different, using recaptured heat like we do." Tiera turned her outfit a deep green, since that's what servers wore, and made sure to plate the food herself, which put the others at the far end. Orange nodded to her and then looked boldly at the door, which was so obviously being guarded by Sam and Wendy that it was nearly funny. After all, neither of them was an overt threat, where they?
Havar and Karen were at the far end of the table and seemed
relaxed,
both of them looking like they dined with Ancients all the time. That, and they gave the impression that they were truly more interested in the food than the meal probably deserved. It wasn't fine cooking after all. Tiera was hoping for edible.
As soon as she worked her way around the gray stone expanse, the world hanging beside them out the window, Tiera shifted her clothing again and sat down, which got more than a bit of attention from Julie.
She didn't touch the food, but licked her lips a little, staring at Tiera, who'd moved in by Havar at the far end.
"Thank you niece. I must say, this is all very nice. I can't believe that you all went from horses to this in a few years. It took hundreds to make that step the first time humanity did it. It's far beyond impressive." She was actually trying to be seductive, which was a little odd, from what she'd seen of the woman before. That time she'd clearly tried to down play everything.
Tiera waited for Orange to stand, which she didn't, just obviously taking the first bite herself. The Noram people all used poison detectors, including Doris, who made a point of checking Julie's food for her, and then passing her amulet, an older kind on a small copper bit, to Alice. The food was clean, but it was a good point. If it had come on tainted, they could be in danger after all. She should have checked it in the kitchen.
Julie looked at the door again, understanding that having a guard there wasn't exactly right, since no one would be able to attack them easily, but she didn't comment on it. Orange did though, lying about it so smoothly that Tiera found herself believing her for a moment.
"We're experimenting with ceremony. That sort of thing draws an organization together after all. It marks them as a specific unit, which is binding. I don't know if I like the idea of guards all over the place, myself, but it's a good idea to have something. Perhaps a valet or two? This ship is a true marvel, White. It lacks weapons, or a true faster than light drive so far, but it's nearly indestructible and can be made to do things that we would have loved during any of the old wars. Tiera destroyed a house, in atmosphere, ramming it. She plowed up earth doing so and the hull was perfect after the event. Plus, the whole thing can be carried in your pocket, on demand. That isn't a joke either. Literally in your pocket." She spread her hands and then slapped the table. She grinned while doing it, and her plate didn't move, then fixed the woman with a hard glare. "The best part? It uses virtually no energy. No fuel at all. We can collect heat from the sun, or our own bodies, but that's all we need. Even if the Treaty wasn't in abeyance, this would be allowed in any land, and should be."
Tiera nodded. It wasn't that she cared that much about some Ancient Treaty, it was that she understood what Orange was doing, making sure that Julie had the information she needed to do her assigned job, which was making sure no one hurt the world, with the rules being gone for a bit.
She nodded and touched the table herself, petting the rough stone, making it seem more like she wanted to hop up and mount it than like she was considering policy. Havar noticed, and so did Doris, though she wasn't having to cover nearly as much as the large man was. He wanted Julie and it was work for him to pay attention to his food instead of just staring. Even with a shield on.
Sam was doing better, over at the door, but it was clear that he'd dropped into a trance to make it happen. Wendy watched, and was busily digging her own fingernails into her left palm, trying to keep herself under control. That meant, whatever it was that this version of White was doing, she was working pretty hard to influence everyone in the space with it.
It actually was needed, but wasn't what the real Julie should have been trying to do. She might mention that the guards were too much, or ask if they could join them, but she wouldn't try to steal their minds. Tiera...
Felt fine, really.
The woman was attractive and she could see the allure, but her shield seemed to be keeping her mind clear without too much struggle. She took a bite of meat ball, which was decent really, having just enough onion and green pepper to keep it from being bland, and then looked up at the woman, not knowing if anyone else was catching on to the whole thing. Orange was clearly working to resist her, but Doris seemed very much like her normal self.
Tiera smiled and looked at her meditation instructor.
"Doris, are you immune to this kind of coercion?"
She didn't ask what was meant, and simply nodded.
"Yes, dear. As are you. I think that it's rather a sign that something is wrong. Julie, what is it? Do you fear us so?"
White... Laughed. It wasn't something that fit, being too manly by far. Tiera got it, and finally, it seemed so did Orange. She moved quickly, a single blow lashing out faster than Tiera could follow, which, amazingly, White dodged by throwing herself backwards before it happened. It was still close and the fight didn't last long, even with the pearl colored woman showing far more ability than Tiera would have dreamed. She seemed to know what was coming and acted before it was launched.
Still, Orange was faster, stronger and in the end the superior fighter. She knocked Julie out with a few sharp blows and then looked at the rest of the room.
"We'll need a brig. Is she working against us? Why?"
It was Doris that answered, her voice calm and not showing any worry over the fight at all.
"That's an unknown. She feels wrong however and has been working to subject the rest of you since she came aboard. She also doesn't fear the Baron here, which should be the case. I can't work out why Julie would try to do that, in particular. If asked I would have said that she was one of the more avid supporters of this program."
Tiera moved over and took the woman under the arms. White was larger than she was, but she dragged her to the corner of the room and formed what seemed like a thick glass box around her there, to keep her in. Then, as an afterthought, she made certain it had air flowing both in and out. She had a sudden urge to just send her off into space, but held back, since they needed to chat with her first.
"She's likely a clone of White, not Julie herself. The mind inside her is Cordes however. I can't say for certain, but it seems to be the same one that Tor and Cordes Blue have..." That worried her, a thing that overwhelmed her own fear suddenly. "Gray, or at least a clone with a Gray mind, told me once that she was planning to wipe out everyone, except for clones of the Ancients, trying to make a perfect world or something. There were a few lines in there that sounded like she was talking about bringing back the dead too."
That got a grunt from Alice and an angry look that seemed half ready to go on a killing spree. Tiera could feel that herself, but tried to keep the rage in. She was so angry at the moment, but didn't know why. That had been her life for a long time, so she had coping skills for it at least. Casting around as hard as she could, she fought for silence within her mind again. It was a struggle, but helped a bit.
Alice moved and hit the table top, hard enough it made a powerful thump, though it didn't move at all.
"Damn them!" Her accent was suddenly a lot thicker than it had been, and she hit the thing several more times in frustration, her eyes getting huge. "They have no right to do this! We're only now getting the world back, and they want to kill us all off? Cordes is behind this, I don't doubt. Even dead the bastard can't let well enough alone, can he?" She glared at the waking form of White, who didn't stand, or even sit yet, just groaning a little over in her new home. "So, we need to strike, find out who's working with him, who he's infected with his warped mind, and kill them all. Before they can do whatever it is they have planned."
That got Tiera to move toward her, both understanding the sense of her solution, and agreeing with it, and ready to fight, right then, if she had to.
"Except that
Tor
is one of them and I won't let you do that. We
have
to find some other way." Which started a whole lot of different reactions from the room suddenly.
Karen started to cry, if silently, and Havar looked just a little too vindicated for the situation. Sam had a weapon in his hand, and Doris was holding very still, watching Orange closely. That last one made sense, because it was clear she was about to attack, and it had been Tiera that was telling her what to do.
Instead she gritted her teeth hard, making powerful jaw muscles stand up on either side and exhaled in a long hiss. It made her sound like an angry cat, but she didn't lash out at anyone at all.
"I understand Tiera. I'll try to think of another way for your brother." It was a remarkable concession, but Karen sobbed a bit, wet tracks going down her cheeks already.
After a moment of silence, the room refocusing on her, she shook her head. It was one of the most forlorn things Tiera had ever seen. The move of a person truly defeated.
"We can't though, can we? He isn't just some Ancient, or only a good fighter, he's
Tor
. He's
The
Builder. Perhaps one of the greatest that has ever lived already, and he's only twenty. Every moment we wait he gets more powerful and we have less and less that we can do to stop him. We can't take him prisoner. I don't mean we shouldn't, I mean we
can't
. He'd fight us on that, or run, and in either way he's better than we are. I'm not even certain we can kill him really. Maybe if he disarmed and lost his shield, but if it was all out, and he had just what he normally does on him? No."
That got a dark laugh from the new cell on the far side of the chamber, the black glasslike floor and walls gleaming, but coldly now that the mood had changed.
"Ah, a bit of a wrinkle in the plan then?" Julie spoke warmly, but not in the same voice she'd used before at all. "It's more than that you know. You can't stop us. I planned this out for over two thousand years, setting every piece in place perfectly, readying the day. Everything had gone well, within what I expected as well.
Everything
. I'd ask you to join up, but I don't think so. Not now. You aren't going to change your minds." She sighed, and then chuckled again, seeming almost pleasant and conversational. "No worries, you won't be totally lost. We've recorded all of you, you know. Blue saw to that. The fact is that you can't win, and never could."
There was a pause, one that seemed to take forever to Tiera, as she watched the woman reach down, her knees bending, to touch the floor. At first she didn't get it, but Sam did, and he yelled suddenly.
"Off! Off!" It was panicked, and an odd way of communicating it, but Tiera got it anyway.
She dropped into a focused state, not having a choice, and ran at full speed toward the glass wall she'd put up, making it drop just before she smacked into it. Cordes White was still bending down, which was slower than running, but she didn't have near the same distance to travel either, so it was a real race. The woman looked up, her incredibly lovely face smiling at her, the ice blue eyes twinkling.
The soft hand touched the floor, well before the distance Tiera had to travel was covered, but nothing happened for a moment. Just as the impulse started to go out, into the ship, seeking the amulet to turn the whole thing off and kill them all, there was a crunch, as White collided with her shield, which was an hard as stone compared to her delicate flesh.
Then they fought, which ended a few moments later, with another sickening crush, as White had her head caved in by Orange. The woman stood back and looked at the scene, not moving at all.
White was dead. Probably even past saving with a healing amulet, since the back of her head was truly caved in, bits of gray matter showing from under the blood. Tiera was on the ground, and had been under Julie, trying to keep her from touching anything, while getting ready to do something similar to that herself, if she could.
Teamwork was a good thing, so she didn't feel bad about it, over all.
"Crap. Fucking, total, unbelievable
crap
! Well, a little flaw in our plan then, if all the clones are willing to die in order to see this done." Alice looked at Doris and seemed ready to lay waste to anyone that got in her way.