Life2.0 - An "Of Unity" Narrative (Completed)

[CBR JGWRR]

"Star-Submarines"
30th Daas, 10 (2189)
Buri Of Unity​

I follow Naomi into the briefing room.

Well... Observatory.

Behind us is the Gateway, and in front a boiling boundless ocean surrounding all.

She looks straight at Appia. "Um, we appear to be floating in an ocean of liquid water."

Appia glances at another Olinbari. He nods. "Yes. Although it is ice further out."

I nuzzle Naomi. "I thought water froze in space?"

She returns. "I expect the heat of the Gateway is enough to keep it warm enough to stay liquid. The real question is why is there an ocean here?"

I look at the Olinbari Appia looked at. "Who are you?"

His eyes narrow at me. "Corcius Tullus, Chief Science Executive of the Probus."

Appia looks at Naomi. "The best explanation we have is someone has melted an iceball out here, and it's coagulated around the gravitational centre of the Gateway. We're blind... At this point, we have no light this far from the star, which being coplanar with the Ringworld can't be seen anyway. All we have is the lights of our ships which are only visible to certain species once we get more than a few hundred strides. We are also extremely limited on propulsion."

I look at her. "Surely we can still go?"

She sighs. "While we have deflectors, they are designed for mitigating the interstellar medium and very light atmosphere. They are not designed for pushing through open ocean."

Corcius points at a screen. "The hydrodynamics calculations indicate we are thrust limited to the equivalent of just over five of your metres per second."

I look at him. "I could swim faster... But what about Septima?"

"We've calculated that Septima's Titan is going to be limited to a fraction of the velocity because of the vast hull damage she's sustained. But, she could have towing ships."

"So the hunt is on. How far though? How big is this ocean?"

Appia shrugs. "Can't be more than a few thousand kilometres. The problem is finding her. Spaceships are not equipped with submersible sensors, for obvious reasons. Gravitic scanners are getting interfered with because of the Gateway and that they think they're at the centre of a planet. Radar is getting absorbed by the water, although we are hoping to have the frequencies reworked shortly, and tachyon sensors have undesirable interactions with Gateways."

Tulla sighs. "The Acca Larentia is on the way, and they're working on the revised sensors to allow us to see. But, if we intend to pursue, harsh reality means we have to choose to risk being ambushed in the water effectively blind and still take a few days to a week just to traverse the ocean."

I sit. "Not ideal."

Naomi sits on my lap. "Definitely not."

Appia sighs. "The sensible thing is to wait."

Tulla shakes her head. "Which is exactly what Septima wants. Even if there are no subs, she forces us to add a week to travel this ocean every time."

I look at her. "What weapons would we have?"

Tulla frowns. "Here, we can defend ourselves." Her fists clench. "But after a week in open water, who knows what will still be working... Missiles will be weapons of choice, but we will have to get close. Very close."

Naomi sighs. "Looks like all we can do is hold the Gateway then?"

I nuzzle her. "Septima must have alternative trade routes... She knows the Gateway is lost, but so is she if commerce fails to flow."

Appia nods. "Hyper Relay to the next system that has a Hyper Relay next to the Gateway."

Tulla looks out the window. "We must make a decision. By our calculations, Septima's Titan will be withdrawing at barely a few metres per second. At that pace, she'll need almost two weeks to escape. We should send in the Corvettes to pursue - they can make the journey in a day."

"If she has other Gateways, then surely we can attack through each one? She can't block all of them."

Naomi leans back on me. "Buri is right - we send the covettes to intercept Septima, and hold the rest of the fleet until Sharpbeak arrives, then break through another Gateway."

Appia turns to the ocean. "I think so too. We lose too much time and fuel pushing the larger ships through this ocean. We should split." She looks back at Tulla. "Your thoughts?"

Tulla stands. Joins Appia. "I believe that the hunt is on."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"The Pursuit, Part 1"
3rd Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Rivkah Of Unity​

Ping.

Ping.

Ping.

Ping.

Ping.

I look over my shoulder at Scipio. "watching sonar is really boring."

He sighs deeply. "I miss tachyon sensors. It's a shame they don't work underwater."

"I'm glad we got onto another ship."

He chuckles. "Fabian Cornelius was delighted to get in Appia's favour." He runs his tongue down my neck. "This is the slowest I've ever travelled outside spacedock on a starship."

I laugh. "The important thing is we're going ten times Septima's speed."

He grips my hips tighter. "But, no idea where we're going to intercept her. Or even if..."

I stand up. "Scipio, there's a blip."

He pulls away from me to come beside. "Nuts, really?"

I point. "It's pretty big."

He gets on the comms. "Sonar observatory to bridge, we've found something. Object bearing 217L and 34P."

"Bridge checking. We see it."

We feel the ship change course. Scipio slips his tongue in my ear. "May I finish?"

I look at him. "We're supposed to be focused."

He shrugs. "Please?"

I lean forward at the display, turn some of the dials trying to get a better ping. "Be quick."

He slips behind again.

Hmm.

Interesting. "Sonar observatory, bridge. Object new bearing 180L, 180P."

Scipio leans over my shoulder. "That's an intercept."

I lick him. "Yes... It must be aware of the sonar."

I see him frown. "But... Septima shouldn't be realising that we're using sonar."

I nod. "It's interesting, isn't it?"

We watch the slowly approaching object.

Eventually we get a clearer picture of it, and I focus a second sonar on it to keep varying while getting a better fix.

By now, Scipio is back beside me. "It seems like there components hanging off."

"Could be damage?"

He taps the comms. "Sonar observatory to bridge, advise that the object appears to have a shape consistent with damage."

"Bridge copies."

We keep watching.

I look at him. "That is a weird looking ship."

"It's moving!" He traces it. "That... I wonder..."

I lick him. "Good? Bad?"

He hums. "Both."

I sigh. "Both?"

He's quiet.

We continue to close.

Eventually, I think... "Tentacles?"

"Tiyanki." He taps. "Sonar observatory to bridge, could object be Tiyanki?"

"Bridge checking."

"What's a Tiyanki?"

He smiles. "I think you'll like them."

We wait longer.

Then, Scipio leads me out the sonar observatory, to a window just outside.

A gigantic creature swims beside us, investigating the sonar equipment we've improvised.

Scipio smiles. "What a lovely false positive."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"The Pursuit, Part 2"
10th Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Rivkah Of Unity​

"Sonar observatory, helm, adjust heading 340L, 000P. Another iceberg."

My husband leans back in his chair. "There's hundreds of icebergs..."

"We must be close to the surface."

He frowns. "Rivkah... I'm feeling troubled."

"Don't tell me you've got a bad feeling about this."

He looks at me. "I kinda do though. Not going to lie. Like... What if it's a trap?"

I think about it. "Well... The expected approach cone she'd need to saturate with mines would cover..." I silently curse, wishing I had Ruki. He'd have it worked out already. "A base radius of hundreds of km wide by thousands of km long. That must need... I don't know, millions of mines?"

He leans too far. "Ow."

I wince. "Sorry hubby."

He sorts himself out. "Maybe."

I look back at the sonar. "So, we're probably ok." Oh. "Sonar observatory, helm. 040L, 020P."

Scipio take my hand. "All the same... Septima has got to have something up her sleeve."

"She melted down a planet to delay us by a week or so."

"Exactly. But..."

I shrug. "So far we've only seen space whale-" Oh. "hold on."

He looks over my shoulder. "A sustained ping? Is our equipment malfunctioning..."

I grab his hand as he stands. "No, that must be another noise that is loud and continuous."

We look at each other. He bites his lip. "Septima."

I look at the display. How much sound would her Titan produce underwater? I wish I had Ruki. "Well... I know a rocket in an atmosphere is roughly 200dB."

He shrugs. "Yeah, but that's chemical rockets..."

I rub my arm as I look into the worry in his eyes. "I think we've found her."

He looks at the display. Then back to me. "Now I really do have a bad feeling about this."

I too look at the display. Then I gulp. "She's just shut down her engines."

Scipio takes my hand. "She knows."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"The Pursuit, Part 3"
10th Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Fabian Cornelius​

So it begins.

I stand. "Bridge to sonar observatory, captain's briefing room, now."

My officers join me and wait for them. They don't take long. She begins. "We saw a record of a strong and continuous ping on the display, followed by silence. It's consistent with a rocket engine being throttled down to avoid detection."

I look at the other officers. "Thoughts?"

Julius - Tactical - looks nervously. "That implies she noticed our detection of her. I do not like that."

Sextus - Chief Engineer - nods. "Our only giveaway is sound, just like we are relying on to find her. Unless there's a spy."

I look at Rivkah. "Would you care to explain exactly what our sonar system consists of?"

She shrugs. "The detector system is a bunch of modified air-rated microphones on the top, bottom, left and right sides of the ship, and us wearing headphones to listen. Pretty primitive."

I nod. "While the best we have under the circumstances, I'm sure Septima must have a properly designed military spec sonar system that is far better. She knew this would be waiting, and that no one would be prepared for an oceanic encounter. It gives her the most advantages should she need to retreat or ambush attackers."

Cassius - Science Officer - looks up from his calculations. "I believe that she may well have been waiting for our pings to get to her... She may only be a hundred kilometres away. The brief delay that was long enough for our pulse to return may well have been the time needed to identify the source of the pulse in principle, although probably not the specific object causing it."

Hmm. "How far is she?"

Rivkah shrugs again. "Our equipment isn't that good... In theory you can time the return pulses, but it's not easy with all the icebergs out there scattering the signal. And besides, we heard the engine noise, not a return pulse."

I look at Cassius. "Best estimate?"

He shakes his head. "I can't be more precise than I was earlier."

I drum my fingers on the table. Then look at my armoury officer. "Tacitus, what have you got worked on?"

Tacitus straightens. "I've ignored lasers and flak batteries as effective range in water is only a few hundred strides at best, and I've been converting missiles into self-propelled torpedoes. I haven't used all our missiles for lack of replicator time, but we have a good thirty seven torpedoes we can use as either torpedoes or depth charges."

I smile. "Good. Effective range?"

He smiles. "Thousands of kilometres at a third of a kilometre per second."

Rivkah blinks. "How?"

Tacitus' eyes light up. "Oh, well see, I realised that the amat-boosted rockets wouldn't have the range, so I had the replicator make engines that are open-cycle reactors that use the surrounding water as their coolant and propellant fluid."

Rivkah smiles. "An antimatter ramjet! I see now."

Tacitus looks at her. "Your familiar with it?"

"Yeah, Mum has nuclear powered ramjets for the cruise missiles back on Unity. We don't use them because of the radiation though."

"Well, this is just a slowly freezing ball of water. That's not a problem here."

I tap the table. "So, we have a weapon. What is the state of her defences against that weapon?"

Cassius leans forward. "I've been reviewing recordings of the Titan from before it entered the Gateway to identify what systems had been destroyed or damaged in the battle. I believe that Septima will have to avoid battle, especially against multiple ships at the same time. While the gamma ray lasers on both us and her are useless, they might be just enough to destroy torpedoes... We'll need to get close. Very close. The good news is that so will Septima."

I press my fingers together. "The question is, will she run, or fight? She knows that we are hunting her down, and presumably she knows about the other corvettes. If she has a working sonar setup then we are just as visible to her, given a passive sonar would detect our engines and active sonar. All of us. She could be tracking all our corvettes, and together we can overwhelm her."

Rivkah leans in. "So she has to isolate us and go for one on one."

I nod. "And it is our job to prevent that." I clap my hands together. "Tacitus, offer your modifications fleet wide if you haven't already done so, same for you Rivkah and Scipio. Cassius, keep working out what Septima's Titan still has. Pellus, get back on the helm and coordinate our pursuits to ensure that our covettes close in together. Dismissed."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Shattered Ice, Part 1"
12th Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Fabian Cornelius​

"Fire."

"Torpedo away."

The sonar display goes to static. "One torpedo?"

Pellus flinches right before a loud screech of ice on armour. "Pellus, we can't pursue her if we are scraping icebergs."

"I'm sorry sir, they're just too dense here... I had to pick one. We're in the crust, sir."

"Tacitus, Cassius, report. One torpedo?"

"Torpedoes are on manual control, sir, it's a mess of interference out there - Septima has jammers and spoofers, but no flak."

"Then how is our control signal getting through?"

Cassius looks at me. "Cable, sir."

I turn to Pellus. "When I said get close..."

Pellus shrugs. "Rivkah and Scipio have led us close."

I look at the viewer. "Visual output on viewer."

Two lights are dimly visible in the gloom of deep ocean. "She's too close. The radiation from her engines..."

"Is absorbed by the water, sir. Light is absorbed less."

"How close can we get?" I turn my eyes from Cassius to Tacitus. "How many unmodified missiles do you have?"

Cassius sucks air. "In water... Mass attenuation of... Theoretically down to a couple of strides, sir."

"Less than a century, sir."

I take a deep breath. "Pellus, get us as close as possible. Tacitus, prepare for a full volley on my mark." I tap my communicator. "Rivkah."

"Sir?"

"Prepare to board the enemy."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Shattered Ice, Part 2"
12th Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Scipio Flavonius​

I look at my wife. "Boarding?"

She stares. "It's not like we haven't boarded a Titan successfully before. And HK was loose on that Titan for quite some time, so it's probably got a minimal crew... We've got Praetorian grade armour. We can take it."

"They have ten thousand crew aboard a Titan. And Marines."

She smiles. "Then I'll have lunch and dinner."

I sit. "Sure?"

Rivkah stands, turns, then drops her garments.

All her garments.

Damn she's hot.

She lets me bask in her beauty.

Eventually, she speaks. "Scipio, sexy Scipio, you forget just what kind of beast you are married to. I can eat an Olinbari."

"But... It's just us two."

She smiles. "Like Tira and Zaru."

"Forgive me, who?"

"The goddess of love and god of war." She blushes. "Mum and Dad wouldn't tell me about them until after we got married."

I feel a chill run down my spine. "So Xenayan religion believes the Instrument Of Desire and the Eater Of Worlds are..."

"Are the original love story of Xenayan culture, yes."

I look over her beauty again. "So... Do we fight and then mate, or do we mate and then fight?

She comes closer. "They did both."

I lean forward.

Heart pounding.

Our tongues entwine.

The ship spins around.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Shattered Ice, Part 3"
12th Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Fabian Cornelius​

I vomit. "Tacitus, what the blazes is in those torpedoes!"

He mumbles. "Well... Those ramjets need a decent chunk of antimatter for sustained drive."

I look at the trajectories. "Pellus, get us stable!"

His hands dance over the console. "I'm trying sir."

Cassius punches the air. "The Titan's engines are destroyed! The blast took them out. Septima can't escape!"

Pellus wails. "And ours too, we are adrift... Collision inevitable."

The visual feed returns. Her ship is caught on an iceberg after being blasted off course. I look at Tacitus. "Missiles, get missiles on her. Soften up where we will crash into."

"Yes sir, missiles away."

I look at Cassius. "Safe distance from the radiation from her engines?"

He chuckles. "If this was space, our shields would be working overtime. Underwater, anything down to a few metres before the flash-boiled zone is safe."

Pellus shouts. "Twenty seconds to impact!"

I get on the comms. "Rivkah, twenty seconds until impact."

She laughs. "Got it."

The screen blanks as missiles detonate - what remains is...

A disturbingly thick amount of hull to crash into.

"Pellus, retrograde thrusters full power. Tacitus, all lasers on that hull."

"Retrograde thrusters burning!"

"Sir, the lasers are being absorbed by the water, it's useless, we're going to crash..."

"At least get that hull a bit weaker!"

Cassius jumps to Tacitus. "Put them into sustained beam operation, it'll evaporate the water."

Tacitus sighs. "But then they can't damage the hull..."

Pellus breathes deeply. "Ten seconds."

I drum my fingers together. "Captain to all hands, brace for impact."

Tacitus focuses the turrets, and our vision is obscured by boiling water superheated by absorbtion of the lasers.

Until the Titan fills the viewer.

Metal screams.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Shattered Ice, Part 4"
12th Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Rivkah Of Unity​

The airbags in our suits retract, safely through the crash. I look at my husband. "Ready?"

He draws his filament blade, a pistol in his off hand. "Ready."

I plant the explosive charges on the door.

We retreat to a safe distance, before pressing the red button.

Then...

I go first. I see what's up straight away. "Room clear."

Scipio bumps into me. "Rivkah?"

I point up.

Scipio's face goes light. "'Statement: HK was here'? What does that mean? And why has that been written in bodies impaled on the roof?"

I shrug. "It's HK."

Scipio looks at me. Then his feet. Then me. "Dare I ask..."

I take his hand. "HK was special."

His eyes flicker around the room. "I... I... Let's keep moving."

I take one last look at HK's artwork, before levelling my rifle and moving forward. "Biter One to Andronicus, we are aboard the enemy vessel and proceeding in."

"Andronicus copies."

Scipio and I walk on in silence.

The ship is empty.

Decayed bodies litter the floor where HK tore through.

Scipio taps me. "Hey Rivkah..."

I look at him. "Yes?"

He glances at a corpse. "Do you... Eat that?"

"No. Xenaya like our prey still warm... Carrion, well... You don't know what killed it."

"Have you ever eaten Olinbari? Like, genuinely."

"Only in battle." I look down. "And mating."

He shivers.

A gunshot demands our concentration; a lone Olinbari man firing from beside a barricade. He flees when we return fire, deciding he doesn't want to fight after all.

Expecting it to be a trap, we pass another route, and find more bodies left by HK. There's a particularly gruesome bit where HK has thrown a pipe as a javelin, where Scipio pauses. "How does someone do that?"

"Fairly easily, just throw it really hard."

"It's gone through three people's heads. And into the wall."

"Really, really hard."

Scipio walks away.

I follow.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Shattered Ice, Part 5"
12th Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Rivkah Of Unity​

The door to the secondary bridge explodes beneath our charges. HK kind of made a mess of the primary bridge. Now it's our turn.

An Olinbari man throws himself at our feet. "I am Lucius Augustus, and I surrender."

Scipio motions to the rest of the officers. "Walk slowly to the middle of the bridge. Hands on your heads. Anyone who doesn't comply, gets eaten."

I smile.

The bridge officers shudder, then kneel beside Lucius. I turn to him. "Where is Septima? And the human woman Monica?"

Lucius trembles. "They abandoned us, they took a shuttle and left. Told us to escape though the water as a distraction."

I shift my filament into view. "How can we trust you not to be stalling for time?"

His eyes run over my sabres. "I... Don't want to be eaten."

"Then prove she is gone."

He looks at the viewer. "May I?"

He glances briefly at one of the Olinbari women. Her gaze back lingers.

I take a leaf out of the B'Turna book. She howls as I lift her by the hand level with my face. "Double cross us, and she's first."

He gulps. "Diana, I..."

She wriggles uselessly. "Just get them what they want."

He rushes to a console, and brings up all the sensors watching the shuttle bay, all date and time stamped. "We kept these as a safety policy."

We watch Septima - her skin burned off to a subdermal reinforcement layer - and Monica board a shuttle.

I look at Lucius. "Why did you not surrender earlier?"

He shows the view of the primary comms relay as a wall explodes through. "The droid's reactor overload obliterated the comms relay and it caused a feedback loop that disabled the system entirely." He looks at Diana. "And we were afraid."

I put her down.

Scipio stands beside me. "On the order of Appia Flavonius, I am authorised to accept your surrender. You will disclose all command codes and disable all traps. In exchange you will be free to go."

Lucius looks at his feet. "Septima locked us out of the system. She retains full control of the ship remotely."

The viewer changes. Septima stares out at us through artificial skin grafts. "Shame. I was hoping for the harlot, but the harlot's daughter will do." A rumbling sound echoes through. Septima smiles. "Die."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"The Wreck Of The Titan, Part 1"
12th Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Rivkah Of Unity​

"Futuo." My husband exhales as he pushes hard against debris.

"Husband!" I giggle. "You want that right now?"

His face goes lighter. "Oh. You understood?"

I smile. "My Mum taught me Latin. My uncle taught me the expletives."

He looks at my feet, then back at my face. Bites his tongue. He helps me up. "We made it. The rest..."

I shove a chunk of debris off myself, and see Lucius and Diana are... Well, they'll never be apart again. The rest of the bridge is melted and mangled.

I look at Scipio. "At least our armour held."

"Quite."

Now loose, I float. Artificial gravity is offline. Magnetic boots soon sort that.

I look at Scipio. "Maybe making love isn't such a bad idea."

He shrugs. "Rivkah?"

I look at him. "Have you tried to contact the Andronicus?"

"No reply."

"So..." I smile. "May as well relieve our tensions."

"Rivkah!"

I giggle. Then sigh. "Fine. Let's see if we can find a way out of here."

He puts his arms around my waist. "I don't think we are meant for space."

"Oh?"

He shrugs. "Shipwrecked. Again."

"Yeah... All the ships we've been on together in battle have gone down."

He pushes himself to the floor. "I don't know what to do, Rivkah. We can't get a message out, and the rate the ice is freezing..."

I sit beside him. "Scipio?"

He lies back. "...This ship will be our tomb."

I check the atmospheric sensors, retract our helmets, and lick him. "Scipio... No matter what happens, I am so glad we met, and fell in love. I love you."

He licks me back. "I love you, Rivkah."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Exploration Of Exo-Self"
1st Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Naomi Of Unity​

I stand opposite the animatronic that seduced Buri. It feels a lifetime ago, comparing my fur to her skin. Looking through her eyes back at myself. We look at my husband. I'm curious - which is more attractive?

Buri stays looking at his more muscular animatronic. I'm sure I didn't use to have such an excessive muscle to fat split.

I smile. Not quite that much. They based it on the weight lifting competition, but they exaggerated some bits.

Both Buris look at me. You look twice as beautiful.

I nuzzle him. Good answer.

TSR192DV joins us. "Welcome. Today we will try something that The Holocron has theorised, but not actually tried with a modified biont. Us Neumanns are designed for this capability innately, but you two have to learn it. We have started by linking you to your respective animatronics as that is expected to be less disturbing to the biont brain."

I laugh. "Oh trust me, it feels very weird."

Buri throws up. "I couldn't stop myself any more."

I feel a headache. Looking through two pairs of eyes... "TSR... Are you supposed to feel sick doing this?"

He disables the input feeds. "You'll adjust in time. Your brain just isn't used to having multiple sets of sensory inputs, but it's just a matter of practice."

I sit down. Look at my husband. "You ok?"

Buri stares at his animatronic. "Urgh... What is all this for?"

TSR looks at us. "A central command node can be beaten far more easily than a distributed command structure. The Holocron, while trivially capable of controlling the drones remotely, intends Neumanns as squad leaders working together at the speed of thought. As your neural structure is theoretically able to support this too, he has asked to test it. An analogy is that you are the entity at the core of a hive mind, and the animatronics are your drones."

I sigh. "How many of these drones can you guys manage?"

"Testing indicates up to four drones is optimal for combat effectiveness."

I look at my older appearance.

You know that feeling when you look at something very, very close to Human, but not quite?

Yeah.

That's how I feel looking at my old body now.

What a weird feeling.

"... Naomi?"

I flick back to the present. "Sorry, I got distracted by myself."

Buri smiles. "Naughty Naomi."

"Not like that!" I laugh. "Just..." I look around the room. "I look at her and it just... Screws with my head." I shiver.

TSR looks at her. "You'll get used to it in time."

I deliberately stop looking at myself. With both pairs of eyes. "So... Where is this going? Combat training?"

TSR brings out a tennis ball launching machine. "No, merely coordination calibration for now. Maybe we will do combat testing by the time we arrive at the Infinite Wheel, but it is too early to say yet." He gives tennis rackets to both animatronics. "We will begin with just the animatronics. Eventually, we will progress on to playing with both yourselves and your animatronics, and add more drones until we discover the limits of your extensibility."

I look at Buri with my own eyes, while my other body takes up position. "Ready."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Old Friends"
2nd Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Appia Flavonius​

I put my synthol on the table. My sister looks up at me. "Appia?"

"Naturally." I sit beside her. "Naomi... About Monica. What do you think of her?"

She stares at the far wall. "I..." She sighs. "I screwed up there."

A waiter places a synthol. I nudge it to her. "Want to talk about it?"

She moves one eye on the drink and one on me. "Not really... But it is unavoidable."

"That eye thing is so weird."

She laughs. "Gift from Yehoshua's Ndlovukazi, she could do it." Then drinks. "But Monica... You know what it is like to be a ruling lady. You want another lady to succeed you."

I nod. "Men can't be trusted with running things."

She leans back on her chair. "But Monica was a mistake... Well, she was after Earth was bombarded."

I lean in. "That's part of the intel that makes me ask. Septima is backing her among the Human colonies. She's a potential rival we may have to deal with."

She stares at my eyes. "She betrayed us. Put Valerius in a coma. Sent assassins after me." She smiles. "Sent assassins after Vorosh." Sighs. "Then fled. We never found her, until..."

"She sided with Septima."

She nods. "I don't know whether to forgive her, or kill her."

I glance at Buri, drinking with an Arishkan. "I'm guessing Buri wants a nibble."

She smirks. "Please, my Buri only nibbles me. Nope, He'd give Monica both sabres through the neck."

I take her hands. "Is it... Personal, between you?"

She laughs. "Appia, she married a man."

"Pfft. You know that means nothing."

"No... She married a man. Heinrich Aus Heinrichstadt. A man I had trusted to host Rivkah when she was young, he managed to get the Naungmonese to work together. They settled north of the main colony where he built a city as a homage to his Old Earth nation." She sighs. Downs her synthol. "I trusted them both." Snorts. "Even encouraged her to date him. And she led a rebellion against me."

"And lived?"

"Fled. And now we know to who."

I nod. "Which means... We know she's advising Septima. Could you turn her back to us?"

She shrugs. "I doubt Septima trusts her on anything. Would you trust a turncoat like that?"

I sigh. "Double agents are always tricky."

She plays with her cup. "Hence why Septima wouldn't trust her, and plans for her to turn back to us."

I look around the room. "Would your people let her?"

She shakes her head.

I run my hand along her muzzle. "Would you?"

She slumps. "I don't know. Monica... I will offer, knowing that I'd have to imprison her to keep her safe. But, she knows I'd have to do so."

"She'd pick dying with Septima?"

She sighs. "I want to think I could get through to her."

"Do you think Monica will have thought it through?"

She taps her claws. "She knows I would have thought it through, which means I know that she has thought it through. Which means I know that she has made her choice. Ergo there is no point in offering. She knows that I know this, and therefore knows I would only offer because my internal self-perception as that of a kind-hearted person who can forgive people appears to her as part of my toolbox of personal manipulation even if it is genuine, and she'd assume it is a trap." She sighs.

I stare into her black eyes. "Then why forgive?"

She stares back. "A critic of me would say I exploit the fact that forgiving an enemy offers them a third option between winning and losing. And that is what Monica thinks of my forgiveness."

"So we'll not turn her back."

She shakes her head.

"So... She dies."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Legacy Of A Fallen Earth, Part 1"
2nd Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Naomi Of Unity​

Appia leads me to a briefing room. "Yeah, so... This is why I asked about her." She glances at the display.

The holorecording of Tian Fa Wei stands in the centre, hands resting on his jian as the blade cuts the Martian soil.

He begins by bowing.

"Salibonani Naomi Of Unity. The People's Republic of Terra and Colonies thanks you with great gratitude for your fulfilling the terms of the alliance by vanquishing the enemy who burned Earth and Terra Nova. It had been my hope then that we could rebuild in peace following your unification and reform of MSI. Yet, it was not to be. A powerful magnate among the traditionalists has backed a traitor to power in the colonies, and the People's Republic fights for it's life against the one called Monica Aus Heinrichstadt."

What follows next is a display. "Sadly, the Republic has collapsed. Humanity had begun to walk among the stars, but with the loss of Earth and Terra Nova, we are left with a few scattered domed colonies, outposts and starbases. Our Republic holds Sol, Procyon, Sirius, Luyten's Star and Ross 128, nearly all the core systems closest to Sol. But Monica has taken Alpha Centauri, Barnard's Star, and beyond along the hyperlanes out to IL Aquarii, giving her Novaya Rodina in Alpha Centauri and La Isabella in Lacaille 8760."

Damn. That was... Nine systems? Not good.

"Worse, the far colonies in Gilese 667 and Beta Comae Berenices have declared full independence thanks to the lies Monica has spewed, taking away the other two fully habitable worlds from the People's Republic. All told, not one of the four remaining habitable worlds within Human space are in the PDRTC. We have Venus and Mars in progress, but... I fear we do not have the time to finish them."

He pauses, and looks around. "I know things are desperate, and that you have your own war to fight. But please, any aid could make the difference in our darkest hour."

It ends.

I sigh. Then I look around the room. "Suggestions?"

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Legacy Of A Fallen Earth, Part 2"
2nd Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Naomi Of Unity​

Appia sighs. "It's divide and conquer, obviously. Septima is using Monica as a pawn to make us split our forces again, then defeat the splits." She shrugs. "It's textbook."

My husband nods. "I agree with Appia; we have to focus on Septima."

I look at him. "Buri... Yeah... I see the point. But... We kind of failed to help the PDRTC before. And I don't want to win this just to find Monica has ruined everything."

He shrugs. "Then we ruin her."

Ruki climbs his Father. "I agree, Mother. We have to deal with Septima and come back for Monica. If nothing else, we simply lack the resources to manage the campaign in a timely manner. We would have to reconfigure MSI's wormhole generator, stabilise it, then bring the fleet through it, then transit. Our only chance is if Monica is having to use the gas core nuclear-thermal rockets that the PDRTC possesses, as then we have time."

Appia shakes her head. "Nope; the PDRTC sent data, Monica's using monopole catalysed fusion rockets. And besides, we have dozens of freighters going to and from Unity via the wormhole now, you'd cut off your supply lines." She sighs. "And don't ask about another, it's archaeotech we recovered from a lost civilisation, we're still figuring out how to replicate it as we only found one operational system."

Ruki frowns. "So... We're too late. We have to pick one objective."

I look at Leonardo's nervous tapping. I nod. His eyes flash over Buri before he speaks. "With respect, you do not know what it is like to be in the Human position here."

Buri shrugs. Looks at me. "Win. Bear the guilt. Reign."

Leonardo looks at him. "Buri... More than seventeen billion Humans were killed by MSI's attacks, and now Septima has got her turncoat ready to try to finish the job so that she can be tyrant over the ashes."

Buri nods. "Yes. But that does not change that we must crush Septima and then come for Monica. It would be months before we can even get aid to the PDRTC if we turned around now."

Leonardo looks at me. "So you'll abandon Earth again?"

I look at Tian Fa Wei's message replaying in the background. "I must evaluate what I have the martial capability to do. I do not have the fuel and propellant resources to wage a protracted interstellar war, especially not one fought on a timescale of only years rather than decades. I do have the resources to destroy Septima, and that will help the PDRTC by removing Monica's support. Any direct aid I send would have to use the ships with the most advanced propulsion systems, which I am loathe to do because I cannot build more of them, and they form the backbone of my fleet because of their propulsion characteristics anyway."

Leonardo faces me. "I cannot abandon the PDRTC."

I face him directly. "You are doing exactly what Septima wants you to do." I shake my head. "Can't you see that? She threatens what you value to get you to abandon the threat to her."

He stiffens. "There are lines, Naomi. What if Septima had Rivkah or Ruki or Buri instead?"

Buri takes my hand, then Leonardo's. "Why do you think our son calls us Father and Mother?"

Leonardo looks at Ruki. "Paternal and maternal respect?"

Ruki shakes his head. "Mother is wise. She knows that family links are exploitable." He gulps. "Mother has standing orders to me and Rivkah that if her or Father are ever captured..."

Appia gasps. "'We're all on the board.' That's why my daughter-in-law got that from." She looks at me. "You told her."

A tear falls from my face. "Look, I never asked for this, ok! The one time I got this choice, I was offered victory if I sacrificed the queen. The End Of The Cycle offered victory at the price of me being used by lots of Olinbari men, and then crucified. But everyone else lived. And I would have taken that. But-"

Buri squeezes. "I stopped you. With Rivkah, Thando, Alexandra and Vorosh."

I nuzzle him. "I know." I turn back to Leonardo. "So don't try to second guess what I would and would not sacrifice in order to win. In victory, I can rebuild. But first I must win."

Leonardo shakes his head. "You are a monster." Buri steps aside. Leonardo looks at him. "Oh, is that it? You agree with me that she is such? That she's such a blood knight that she'd kill her own children to win?"

Buri looks at him. "Leonardo, you now live because Naomi is not as stupid as Septima wishes she was."

Appia looks into my eyes. "Yep." She laughs. "If anything, Naomi's weakness is she's too nice."

I look at Appia. I take a deep breath. "I never wanted to have a total war with MSI. I wanted a solution like this, where we built a better future." Then I look at Leonardo. "But your conduct is making it really hard to see you in that future. You tried to remove me within days of arriving on Unity, and having failed to get rid of me you consistently undermine my authority. And now here you are discussing the threat from someone who betrayed me without me seeing it coming, while trying to manipulate my emotions and undermine my authority still." I pause to breathe. "You live right now because I am evaluating the correct decision on how to deal with the threat you present."

Leonardo looks around the room at the people present physically or by holovisuals. Then back to me. "Is this the part where you expect me to concede and let you finish your abandonment of Humanity?"

I sigh. Then laugh. Then sigh. "We are both trapped by trying to be the people we want to be. You want to be seen as the heroic saviour of the PDRTC who nobly led the fleet that restored a united Humanity, and I trapped by my preference not to appear a tyrant."

Leonardo smiles. "Then give me a fleet."

Appia moves between us. "Look, things have gotten a little bit heated, so I am going to suggest we take a few moments and de-escalate the situation. Let's all remember that we are all on the same side, and what we are debating is the best way of using our finite resources to win over our true enemy."

Ruki smiles. "Father, please confine Mother."

Buri looks at Ruki. Then me. Then Ruki. Then me.

I'm swept off my feet.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Legacy Of A Fallen Earth, Part 3"
2nd Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Gillian Veres​

Buri smiles as he leaves the brig.

I take that as a good sign as I find where he left Naomi. Who's resting peacefully. I gently hold her arm. "Hey floozy, we need to talk."

She smiles as she rolls over. "...love you Buri."

I shake her a little. "Nope, it's Gillian. And we need to talk."

She wakes. Covers herself immediately. "Ah, Gillian. Um, hi."

I laugh. "Relax, it's just me."

She stares. "Is this about Leonardo?"

"You did kind of threaten to kill him."

I smile. "What was it you said about falling into Septima's trap?"

She pauses.

Like, a complete halt of body movement.

It's weird.

She clicks. "Are you saying Septima is relying on a conflict of opinions to rattle me about the loyalty of my people?"

I sit with her. "Yeah." I tap her on the head. "She knows her only shot is getting this off its game."

She runs her hands down her arms. "Well, technically I think with more than just what's in my skull."

I glance out the door. "Lot going on down there too."

"Gillian!" She laughs. Then sighs. "Ok, true, but that isn't the point."

I get serious. "Yeah, it isn't. So, Leonardo."

She gulps. Then sighs. "I just..."

"I know it's difficult."

She frowns. "He tried to get rid of me. And since, he's easily been the most disagreeable. And since Monica... It isn't as easy to trust people." She slumps to a wall. "She completely blind-sided me, and..." She sighs. Slumps to the floor. She sighs.

"What if I make him promise what Ossuhphuhr had to promise?"

She looks at her feet. "Do you think I'm emotionally compromised?"

I laugh. "Girl, of course you are emotionally compromised. But, at the same time you do keep a good handle on it, and when you fail Buri can just take you away anyway." I take her hand. "No, I'm just wanting to ensure my husband doesn't get eaten."

She laughs. "Well... Ok." She looks straight at me. "Has he come up with a solution yet?"

"He hasn't. But Appia has."

"Oh?"

"She said that Corporate had to maintain huge numbers of Civic Harmony Officers. And well, crime has collapsed."

She laughs. "Well, when you fix the circumstances that cause people to turn to lives of criminality..."

"The point is, those Civic Harmony Officers had to effectively be able to act as a light army. And Appia's thinking to call them up."

"What does Leonardo think?"

I stand. "I'm about to ask."

Her eyes flick left. "I infer he's in the next cell."

I smile. "We'll talk soon."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Legacy Of A Fallen Earth Part 4"
3rd Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Alexandra HaMaadimi​

I take a breath while Thando perseveres. Until he too stops, drops the bars. "Damn it hurts weightlifting with the artificial gravity turned up."

I smirk. "Most would settle for just being able to walk at 2g."

He puts another 10kg on. "I don't settle."

I let him push himself while I look at the display. "Appia's put forward her solution to our little problem."

Thando drops the bar. "It just needs Leonardo to be patient. That's all."

I place my hands on his shoulders. "The Civic Harmony Officers."

He snorts. "They're the kind of people who got dishonourably discharged from the army by failing a psychiatric evaluation."

"I think most of our people would fail a psychiatric evaluation though."

"That's different."

"Is it?"

He stares at me. Then shakes his head. "What goes on inside Precinct Houses and Halls Of Judgement does not bear thinking about. They maintain a nice facade on the surface sure, but on the inside..." He shakes his head. "You don't want to know."

I lean in. "How bad?"

"Prisoners being tortured. Training exercises with live targets. Blackmail stages. Evidence fabrication. Companionship Assets raped to death. Surveillance apparatus spying on everything, including Olinbari. I got a lot of useful intel from raiding Precinct Houses."

He sighs. I rub his shoulders. "Tell me how you really feel."

"I didn't kill enough of them."

I pull him close. "Thando, would you listen to me for a bit?"

He raises an eyebrow. "Go on?"

I smile. "They've got the intel on their own officers, right?"

He snorts. "Loads of it. It's how the higher-ups retain power over the lower ranks."

"So, we could work out which Officers need to meet an untimely end-"

"All of them."

"-and get ourselves some cannon fodder in the process."

He pulls away. "Cannon fodder we couldn't trust. Better to just put them down."

I smile. "Thando, Thando. Just imagine the possibilities if we have the compromising intel..."

He stares. Then shakes his head. Then kisses mine. "Devious little spymaster."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Past Life"
4th Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Ruki Of Unity​

She sits facing her dresser in her quarters. I wave. "Mother, I want to understand your past life as a Companionship Asset better."

She looks at me. Dozens of thoughts run through her mind. She sighs. "Ruki... Cross-reference your database for 'rape' and 'slavery' and that covers most of your mother's life."

"It was the other aspects I want to discuss. Having seen Appia and how Gaius died, I believe my understanding of the sexual nature is sufficient."

Her shoulder tension releases. Curious. "Before they... Did that, I grew up with Olinbari children. They use child Companionship Assets to teach Olinbari children how to rule over aliens." She bites her lip. Then decides on a dress to wear. "It wasn't always a sexual thing, not until they found Humans."

"Because of the commonality between Olinbari and Humans?"

She nods. "Yeah. Olinbari like your brother-in-law who are into non-Olinbaroid aliens are really rare. And that meant older Companionship Assets were spared the fate of millions of Human women like me..."

"Did they only use you for sex?"

She smoothes her dress. Sighs. "At the docks, yes. They'd come in, pick a girl, and use her until they were satisfied. But at the higher class brothel, it wasn't just sex." She sighs. "Gaius used my..." She looks briefly over her shoulder. "...As an entrance practically daily, but he did take me out for dates and for social occasions. Modelling agencies looking to sell clothes would hire us. And there was a weird old man who hired me just to sit with him and talk to him. He never used me, just talked to me of his own life as a sector governor. It is only since he arrived on Unity I realised he was Caeso."

"Titus? My tutor?"

Mother smiles. "He wanted a Companionship Asset who he could also train with." She giggles. "So, I used to tire him out fencing until he couldn't have sex." She sighs. "He's why I'm comfortable fighting while wearing nothing, I had to have a very good defence."

With that, she clothes herself. I recollect. "Is that how Appia won?"

She smiles. "Appia also had me fence with her. Titus actually recommended me to her, as he'd been training with me going back to his childhood. She let me borrow a set of her armour to practice in. Well, until she dumped Valerius, then she hired me for other reasons."

"And Gaius? What exactly happened?"

She bites her lip. "He... Used my rectum instead of my vagina. Every time. I actually tried to kill myself after the first time he did me there. And on a subsequent time he was so brutal that he tore it. My leaseholder Virtruvius paid for my surgery in an Olinbari medical ward to save my life, and sued Gaius for the damages."

Curious. "That must have been expensive for him."

"Yeah. Cost him more than he would ever get back from me, and in the end cost me entirely as Gaius' revenge was to get the lackeys of the Licenius tribus to patron a different establishment and the auditors told him to sell my contract in the ensuing cost-cutting." She sighs." Virtruvius was a decent man, for a brothel owner. He allowed us a boudoir each, allowed us hobbies. Even dangerous ones like fencing. And while ultimately we were there to sexually satisfy the clients, he tried to protect us from the worst excesses of men like Gaius. We were allowed a veto list."

"Then why wasn't Gaius on it?"

She sighs. Breathes deeply. "Because he was my most regular customer and I couldn't afford to veto him." She sighs again. "I asked Virtruvius about it, and he showed me his account books. He showed me just how tight the margins were, how he only owned the contracts to us girls, and that MSI's auditors would come and work out an allowed profit margin, and then enforce it by increasing the costs of the lease. That was one of the turning points in my life... I was seventeen. I had been used as a sex slave for two years, my virginity auctioned at fifteen. And those years were full of rage at my situation. Part of why he sat me down and explained it all, he wanted me to understand that although the system was horrible, I at least had a good life here compared to what I could have and that by working my body and my clients I'd be profitable enough that he could keep me here, and that I could use my opportunity to build a connection with a client who could buy my lease and make a life for myself. But if I vetoed Gaius, then he wouldn't be able to keep me. And then my fate would rest in the claws of the market."

"And the market sees a used prostitute."

She nods. "And when the time came, the market decided that I was worthless. I ended up at the docks, a washed up used prostitute, fated to be raped until I either killed myself, or was recycled. I had nothing - not even my own bunk bed. And within a few weeks, I was glad to have to share..."

" Why?"

"The barrack room we were in was built below a frozen goods warehouse, and they didn't pay for heating. Us girls slept together for warmth. Me, Gillian, Clarissa, Lyria and Tina all shared a bunk when we weren't being used." She smiles. "We got each other through it. A lot of the others didn't. And when Hortensus Dexcius came through looking for clients for his ship, he wanted me for him personally. I volunteered to have sex with him to buy the rest of my huddle passage, and so we ended up on the slave ship for Hortensus and the crew to enjoy. And we cried, but I knew they had each other, and they knew my plan to work my way into Hortensus' heart in the hope that I'd secure our future."

"And you did."

Mother laughs out loud. "Oh yes. Just not the way I thought. Daas is a genius, he had managed to get into the ship's comms system. He had been using it to surveil the crew, but Gillian convinced him to get in touch with me, and I made Hortensus tell me his planned route. Unity lies between two star systems with pre-FTL races, and I talked Hortensus into stopping over to resupply, and Daas put together people among the slaves to fight the rebellion. And then, I had to kill Hortensus, take his access card, and free them. And I did."

"I suppose it was easy to kill him."

Mother looks at her feet. "Not easy." She sighs, and takes my hand. "Ruki, you are used to your mother being a lady of war, a descendant of the planet named for a god of war. Not the scared and naked woman who had to kill a man who was armed with a blade and a pistol in cold blood. I cried after I strangled him and cut his throat. My inner will made me rise and take the tools I needed to liberate the ship because other people were counting on me. I put a brave face on, and made myself stand. It was easier after that, as then it was war, and either them or me."

I smile. "And then you led."

"And engineering decided to try a freefall descent. Thankfully we got the emergency atmospheric entry systems to activate, and landed safely."

"What was father like?"

Mum smiles. "He looked ferocious, like he could swallow me whole. It was comforting, knowing that we had monsters like him on our side." Her eyes close. "And we were able to work together well straight away, and well..." She smiles. "Love sneaked up on us as we worked together in the early days of the colony, and he proposed to me one evening before we finished up for the day. We had quickly become best friends, he was my confidant and advisor, but I hadn't realised his feelings had become something more until then. And mine were... Well, your father is everything I want in a man, and I... I wanted someone like him, but I figured that he would be someone from my own species. I'm so glad I was wrong, that he took the leap and told me how he felt about me." She sighs with a smile. "I had never felt so loved romantically. We then had a brief engagement while we gathered all the couples who had formed over that time, and we all had a joint wedding. It was perfect."

"Then sister came along."

Mother nods. "We took her in after Daas had to perform an emergency cesarean." She sighs. "Those early days were hectic. We built a civilisation together from the wreckage, and I had to play politics until my authority was firmly established. Buri led a revolt to coronate me as queen. Monica was an ally. Odoos hadn't yet gone to his northern retreat. Rivkah made peace between two of the opposed factions. I made myself CEO. We beat a Flagship. Good times."

She stands, and moves to face herself in the mirror.

I join her. "Are you still afraid of them?"

"No." She bends down to me. "Ruki, I love you. You are my dreams come true." She pauses. "I hope you never understand what my generation experienced in MSI. But the future looks so bright to me." She smiles. "Just Septima to go."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Where It Hurts"
4th Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Kryydur​

I step onto the bridge. "Report."

Helm swivels his chair. "Within weapons range, freighter has not reacted. Cloak running well."

I nod to sensors. "What's the cargo?"

Sensors draws in. Clucks as she hesitates . "Is a target."

I take my chair. "Drop cloak to fire when ready. Cargo bays primary, fuel secondary."

One beep indicates laser operation, a distant whine from supercapacitors. More beeps from launch tubes.

The freighter is struck.

I stand when the fuel tank array ignites beneath the weight of dozens of harriers. "Helm, evasive. Tactical bring aft laser turrets online and see if we can get any more tanks lit up."

My team set to work, and soon we are fleeing at 2g, back under cloak. I crawl slowly to my briefing room.

It's been easy pickings the last few days. Septima has redeployed her forces to the Phi Wengeri system, which is the next nearest Gateway. So, while I'm fairly sure what that means, I need to check and work out where I can strike best.

Eventually I claw my way to my desk. Tap my communicator.

Naomi, or Tryykad?

I mull it over.

Decide on Tryykad.

He answers. "Kryydur?"

"You need to stop worrying my friend, your feathers are falling out."

He scowls. "Every day that passes takes me closer to the time when I might have to sacrifice our people so that I can free them."

I cluck. "Sadly boss, you have to come to terms with the deaths of a trillion of our people to free them."

He shakes his head. "I... I hope for an alternative."

"That bitch leaves no alternative." I scowl. "I would like that too, but she refuses. Did you know she has brought in more freight in the last few weeks? And do you know what they carry?"

"Our children, Kryydur."

I cluck. "Are resources to spend until we have the power to make them otherwise, Tryykad. And the reality is that Septima will spend them all to exploit your unwillingness to sacrifice them."

"We are hoping a decisive strike can decapitate the system."

I cluck. "You don't see it, do you? She will kill them all. They are dead, unless confirmed otherwise. Come to terms with that now." I slump into my chair. "Until we can change it, that is their fate."

He bows his head. "There has to be another way."

I lean forward. "She'll kill some to show her seriousness, then kill others if you move in, and even when we defeat her she's guaranteed to have fail-deadly systems that kill the rest out of spite."

He looks at me. "One day, the Kyaese will be free."

I think about the freighter. "Sadly, she will ensure that a lot of Kyaese will die to make that happen. But there is no alternative."

He takes a few minutes to calm his nerves. "I don't know. I don't want to condemn a trillion of our people to death."

I cluck. "Then you accept trillions upon trillions will remain livestock farmed for their children as food for her export income."

He swallows. He pauses. He waits. "Kryydur?"

"Yes boss?"

"How is the situation?"

I cluck. "We raid constantly. Down to the last few harriers now, we've destroyed numerous freighters and supply bases. Her remaining fleet transited to Phi Wengeri days ago. Other resistance vessels are also raiding too, but this old Arishkan corvette is the best armed."

He looks at me. "We're in Phi Epsili, a few days to the Phi Wengeri hyperlane. What do you know of the ocean around the Gateway?"

"Antimatter planet-killer warheads on a iceball planetoid she towed in behind the fleet. Why?"

"We've got the Olinbari corvettes pursuing her Titan through it."

"Want me to arrange an ambush?"

He pauses. "What do you think is best?"

Sensors bursts into the room. "Kryydur, they've triangulated the signal, cut it off!"

Tryykad nods, and the channel cuts.

Damn.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"The Battle Of Phi Wengeri, Part 1"
6th Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Ruki Of Unity​

Mother and father have been experiementing with somewhat limited exo-selfing. Me?

I'm tapped into all the ships that the Holocron's people have made accessible. Sometimes I even borrow the main computers.

And naturally, Septima's moving her forces to Phi Wengeri, just as we are getting to Phi Wengeri. Kryydur's confirmation was the last piece we were waiting for on the Intel side. We did expect this, as the transits indicate Phi Wengeri is the quickest route for both of us. It's Gateway is the closest to the hyperlane to The Infinite Wheel out of the systems Septima owns with Gateways.

It is also her energy system. Cybrex Beta/The Infinite Wheel naturally requires an uninhibited star. And Kwilias is a red dwarf system, more desired for it's small size - the two tidally locked molten worlds she harvests for her ship production have a weeks per year ratio the inverse of a world like Unity.

But, Phi Wengeri is a B type star; it's vast energy output is steadily being tapped by Septima to produce the antimatter and monopoles consumed by her trade fleets with a growing Dyson swarm.

It doesn't take a genius to realise what we will do, and therefore, what Septima will respond by doing, and therefore, what we are prepared for.

Which is the other reason I'm integrating myself into the computers.

I'm not a melee fighter, like mother, father or sister.

But I am ready to prove myself.​

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Six Magnates Sitting On A Wall"
6th Shendredie, 10 (2189)
Ruki Of Unity​

"Uncle Thando."

He turns. "Hey fluff bundle."

"I need some people removed."

He cracks his fingers. "Who. Why. How much."

I hand him the list TSR192DV gave to me. "The antimatter manufacturing Dyson swarm here wasn't built by Septima. It was built by Quintus Varius, who developed an energy supply subsidiary. His grandson, Legate Vanius Varius, owns that subsidiary of MSI and not only is now indebted to The Holocron, but was appointed command by Appia, making him very willing to help. Sufficiently willing that he is offering compromising intel. We can take the whole swarm."

He sits up. "And the defences?"

"Are built by a subsidiary owned de jure by Agrippina Neronius."

He stares. "So I'm the agent of chaos again."

I smile. "Liquidate or convince, I don't care which. But we need the maintenance access authorisation to take the defences offline and enable a brute force attack on the swarm. Which means Agrippina needs someone to get their fingers dirty, and her agents have gone underground."

He tilts his head. "Safe house, or six feet?"

"I'm not sure."

He holds out a hand. "And the pay?"

I smile. "Antimatter torchships, what your friends in piracy run, right?"

He smiles. "Consider it done."