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Onboard the Heavy Cruiser Alexis, in Dianis Orbit
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The matriarch watched the planet below turn to night. So few lights, she thought. By galactic standards, Dianis was a desert if measured by radiated night light. The few large cities in northern Isuelt could barely be picked out by their dim yellow lantern glows: Stith Drakas, Neuland, Zursh, Mineforest, Toll Haven, and Rhinehart. I’ve not been to those. And now I won’t, at least not for—
“All hands to shift stations. Shift to commence in five minutes.” The announcement came over the all-hands circuit.
“We’re waiting for Spirit’s Fury,” Breia said from his crash couch to the right of hers. “Their field generator is ancient. Takes time to ramp it up.”
“Well, we are Ancients, after all,” the matriarch quipped.
Breia was immersed in his multi-func, but Margret laughed, “Speak for yourself. I’m not three hundred and fifty years old.”
The matriarch hated feeling sentimental; it was a weakness. The world below, seen through the wall-size holovid, had made an indelible impression on her. Even if she had been there for only three days.
Breia, in his typical, myopic manner, said, while he scrolled through his display and punched in numbers, “It’s been three-hundred and thirty-two years, to be exact, since the last ITA engineers left Dianis. The provincials call it Epis Exodi.”
The matriarch wondered why this world had become so important to her. There were, after all, eighty-three planets in the federation, and, technically, Dianis was not one of them. She’d reviewed the helmet videos and communications log of the assault team from the encounter with Quorat, the corsair. Lettern had made a lasting impression on the Assault Marines judging from their helmet camera angles. The matriarch had watched the interaction between Corporal Meridia and Lettern. Those two were made for each other. The video feed from the lander crew bay during the ride back to Wedgewood was equally instructive. Lettern instinctively trusted Meridia. He would protect her, and she would protect him. I need some way to get those two together. I need them in this fight together. She could feel a premonition stirring. Is it a stray imagining or a perception? That was always the problem of being a sensitive: deciphering the early wanderings of a muse.
Margret interrupted the matriarch’s gaze at the night side of Dianis as she took her station on the crash couch beside. “At least we didn’t let Ghost-I win Coroscone. That would have been a disaster.”
“Are you sure,” the matriarch asked. “Maybe the planet would be ready for uplift sooner if the Drakans and Paleowrights conquered Isuelt, and then with a little help on the other continents, we could achieve a governmental quorum sooner. With the Auro Na helping the Drakans, they would be hard to stop.”
Margret looked askance at her, pausing in the process of buckling her safety harness. “Good thing I know you’re joking because, after all I’ve just been through with Ghost-I, I can tell you his goal is not peace and tranquility. I’ve been up close and personal with that man’s mind, and he wants one thing: World domination. The man has grandiose visions, and he knows that I know. That’s why I think they shifted tactics in the end and sought a one-year delay in the election of the Coroscone.”
“Madam Matriarch, your call with Chief Darinarishcan is going through,” said Andromeda in her audio implant. “He will be online momentarily.”
The matriarch acknowledged the update and said to Margret, “I think they opted for the year delay because they knew we were finally besting them.”
“It took a while,” said Breia from his crash couch.
Ivan’s image replaced the holovid of Dianis. At wall size, his face was daunting. Every crease, scar, and care line magnified five-fold.
The matriarch reduced the image size to something more tolerable. “Evening, chief. We’re shifting out in a few minutes, and I didn’t want to miss you before we left.” The entire task force, including the battalion of Marines and the Special Forces company, was leaving to be replaced by one lone IDB interdiction cutter with a five-man crew.
“Thank you, ma’am. I hope you appreciate the delicacy of the situation here in Wedgewood.” Ivan could, via his own holovid, see Breia’s glare. “The situation is too...” he sought the right word “...variable to allow you and the counselors back into Wedgewood. There has already been rampant speculation that you were responsible for the appearance of the Nakish killer in Murali’s tent. You and the assailant were both fascinated by the pegmatite. Some believe you sent him. I know it was an unfortunate coincidence, but try explaining that to the locals. We did well by having Bratchert healed to the extent where he can recover here in town, but even that has generated speculation and suspicions. Mbecca and Sedge have tried calming the nerves of the populace, telling them that my men and I are on their side. Alex has helped reinforce that, as has Lettern, but the fight with Quorat has not gone down well. The townsfolk, rightly so, are angry about the killings and want Quorat’s body delivered to them with the weapon he used. The general environment here is potentially hostile. Because of that, we’re also leaving, soon, within the hour.
“I understand that Counselor Breia has his investigations to pursue, but there is also the simple math that you cannot physically travel from Terrabac fi Sur to Wedgewood in less than twenty-three days. No one here in Wedgewood may do the time calculation of you getting from here to Terrabac in less than a day unless you came back to Wedgewood and drew their attention, especially Sedge. Word will reach Wedgewood of your exploits up there. The contest of sixthsense skills, and that the vaunted Ghost-I of Neuland was successfully challenged by the high priestess of the Sea Horse Isles.” Here, Ivan exhibited a touch of a rare smile, “Then, maybe you might become a bit of a celebrity, as the powerful priestess who came to Wedgewood before doing battle with the Ghost.” Turning serious, he said, “The oligarch, when he heard through his Timber Keep pathic of Ghost-I’s failure, he became vocally supportive of you, dismissing any speculation—”
An announcement came over the all-hands comm circuit, “Two minutes to out-system shift; all hands remain at their shift stations.”
“Go on,” the matriarch said.
“Right. And if he is curious as to how you got there so quickly, he’s not talking.” Ivan looked at the matriarch. “Did you...Have you talked to him? About—”
“No.”
“Hmm. Maybe Christina? I’ve seen them talk confidentially. By the way...”
“Yes?” asked the matriarch.
“I think he’s a fan of yours. The oligarch knows what you did up there. He said he asked you to act in the interests of the Western Alliance and is pleased you did so.”
Margret and she exchanged glances. Acting on behalf of one provincial social group over that of another was strictly against ULUP, and if word reached the ULUP Board of Governance, there would be trouble. At the minimum, with the intervention by the Avarian Marines on a Class E world, her actions on the planet would come under board review. In her defense, if it ever came to that, she could cite Ultimate Cause if the board accepted the convoluted logic that the Neuland Auro Na, allied with Nak Drakas, in control of all Auro Na on Isuelt, presented a strategic threat against the Avarian Federation by restricting access to Dianis’ aquamarine-5. In any case, a federation strategic emergency regarding aquamarine-5 had not been declared, but if it was, it would suspend ULUP.
“Chief,” she asked, “how long are you expecting to stay planet-side? There are some things I need you to do.”
His holographic image thought about it. In the background, she could see the waterwheel gears turning the huge millstone inside of the mill on the Twistynook River. “As you know, the only reason my teams are here is to protect you. Now that you are leaving, we will be shifting back to Dominicus III. That’s our duty post. IDB Dianis is shut down. No budget no resources, and Dominicus needs all the help the IDB can give it. There are CivMon teams there that need Ready Reaction support.”
She stared at his image.
Finally, she said, “I will have a formal request submitted to the director of IDB Dominicus to keep you here. The Matrincy will also submit a proposal to Donovan, the IDB Executive Director, and enlist the aid of the ULUP commission to reopen IDB Dianis.”
Ivan’s jaw went slack. He blinked into the holograph. “Seriously?”
“Yes, chief. Seriously.”
He started shaking his head. “That’s fine, ma’am, but even if you restore funding to IDB Dianis, where are you going to get the staff? The field teams? Even the orbital surveillance platforms? Money is only half the problem. Dominicus III is a wreck. With the war—”
“I know, chief, I know.” She watched the mill gears behind him turn. “Chief, do you agree that with the amount of aquamarine-5 just lying around on the surface and the inordinate number of sensitives in the Timberkeep population that Dianis may be strategically important to the Turboii War?”
His shoulders slumped. He hesitated and then said, “Yes.”
“Then we need to act. To protect our assets on Dianis, do you agree?”
The matriarch’s reference to our assets bothered him. Dianis, a Class E, was not part of the Avarian Federation, and that was strictly enforced by ULUP. “Act? How?”
“I have some things I want you to do.”
The sound of the millstone came through the audio of the hologram. Ivan let the millstone roll out of earshot. He knew he had limited leeway in avoiding the matriarch’s demands. Executive Director Donovan would acquiesce to her demands, to a point. “And they are?” he asked.
“First, I want you to find Chief Inspector Forushen and tell him he and I are to talk. Failure to contact me directly will result in his arrest and extrication straight to my office on Avaria. ”
Ivan responded, “Yes.” It was a reasonable request and appealed to his sense of justice.
“You have thirty days, chief, or the Matrincy will intervene.”
He didn’t know what that meant; the IDB never liked it when the Matrincy stepped into their turf. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Second, Counselor Breia will be returning to Dianis in the near future. His ULUP charter as Dianis planetary counselor allows that. You will escort the counselor and assist in his efforts to assess aquamarine-5 deposits on the planet.
Ivan wagged his head. They would see how that would go. He said, “Finding Atch should take precedence.”
“Third, with the assistance of Chief Inspector Forushen and whatever other IDB staff are still loitering on the planet, assist Counselor Breia in identifying potential candidates for recruitment into the Turboii War effort.”
At that, Ivan winced, though the matriarch could not tell what part of the demand bothered him the most: working closely with Breia, the implication that Agent Baryy Maxmun was also still on the planet, or the notion that the Matrincy was going to start actively recruiting Dianis adepts to fight in the war. A clear violation of ULUP.
He took a breath. “Are we done, ma’am?”
“Not quite. One other thing. Stay in touch with the Alon. Let me know if she needs help rescuing their six abducted adepts. It is in the interest of the Avarian Federation that an eventual alliance be formed between Clan Mearsbirch and us. Yes, I know that is in the far future, but now is the time to—” she let the sentence trail off.
Ivan couldn’t help shake his head. All three matronens saw it.
“Thirty seconds to shift,” came the call over the all-hands circuit.
Since they were firmly out of bounds, he asked, “And what do you think I should do about Corporal Meridia and Lettern?”
The matriarch’s brows furrowed.
“Lettern wants to see him again. She at least asked if she would. Lettern is important. The clan thinks she is a hero, and she probably is. I think there are hormones involved. Senior Corporal Meridia, within hours of getting back aboard the Fury, messaged me and asked if he could transfer to the IDB, which, according to his Marine enlistment contract, is allowed because he has over twenty combat drops and three years continuous in-theater combat duty. Meridia asked if he could get a posting in Ready Reaction and would I accept him in my crew for Dianis. He assumed we were here permanently.”
“Can you do that?” she asked.
“Yes, but...Lettern’s a provincial. Strictly off-limits—”
Aged, tested by many battles, Spirit’s Fury finally shifted out.
