Military Grief
Every captain with a quad drive received a classified message notifying them that they were being remotely updated with new communication software. Alice was stepping back from Noah Lucas when she received hers. It would have to wait, she could feel his worry. She felt like she had to show him that her tears were past for the time being, that she'd be all right, especially since she was expected, and Remmy was on the deck with the Scythe. There was a briefing to get to, one that hadn't been cancelled even though Carl Anderson had been killed.
"I'm all right, I'm sorry," Alice said, the feeling of Noah's hands gently holding her shoulders reassuring, she wanted to step back into his arms until his worry was outdone by what she felt beneath it, genuine caring.
"You sure? I'm getting called away, but I'm here as long as you need me, I'll take the slap on the wrist," Noah said.
"More than a slap on the wrist, sorry to break this up," Minh-Chu said from behind her. Alice had no idea he was still there until he spoke, her senses were tuned into Noah to the point of ignoring everything else.
When she looked at him she could feel Minh-Chu's remorse, he felt like he injured her, and she knew why. "You couldn't have known that no one told me Anderson was gone," she told him. His relief, surprise at her guessing what he was feeling, what he didn't know how to apologize for, was crystal clear in her mind. He was either easy to read, or her empathic sense was better than ever.
"I would have handled things differently if I knew," Minh-Chu said. "I apologize."
"It's all right," Alice said before turning back to Noah. There would be a time to mourn Carl Anderson, another time to spend with Noah if they were lucky, and a time to let her empathic abilities open right up, but it wasn't then, and it wasn't there on the deck of the busy hangar. She started shutting herself off, and found it easier to think, to breathe. "I have a briefing to get to and an update to read. I'm all right," she reassured Noah. "I'll see you soon."
"All right," Noah said. "Soon."
"We have a briefing of our own to get to," Minh-Chu said, leading the way to the main doors leading to the rest of the ship.
Maybe Noah was waiting for something as he hesitated to join him, his eyes searched her face, so she popped up on her toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Not exactly a perfect example of fleet etiquette, but it was her instinct. "Thank you," she said, aware that Remmy stopped a couple meters away, probably with the realization that he almost interrupted something personal.
"I'm on comms if you need anything," he said finally, turning away so he could catch up with Minh-Chu. A few other pilots from Samurai Wing and other squadrons were waiting for them just inside those double doors.
Remmy joined her then. His heavy armour had more scars from high temperature burns and attempted punctures than she could count. He faked a smile for a brief moment, a bad attempt, then his face fell back into a stern shape that looked how she felt. He looked older than he ought to, more serious than she'd ever seen him. She was happy to be closed off, whatever was going on in his head was severe, and she could feel her own anger starting to bubble up. "You heard," she said, a statement more than a question.
He nodded. "We have a briefing." They fell in step beside each other. "It's just us."
Alice checked the order and nodded, looking over her shoulder at Theodore, Yawen and Iruuk. "Stay close to the ship."
"Aye," Yawen replied.
Iruuk looked surprised, as if he was trying to find a way to make the situation better and she interrupted him. They'd find out about what was going on soon enough, she didn't have time to worry about how, or even where the news came from. Once she was facing forward again, walking towards a narrower set of doors with Remmy at her side, he broke his silence again. "He was a complicated man, but I always liked him. This is going to cost the Order."
It was as if Remmy was trying to stoke her anger on purpose, and she didn't mind. "They have no idea what's coming."
They were silent as the passed through the thick armoured doors, up the ramp to the second story briefing room. It overlooked the main hangar with a large window made of metre thick transparent intelligent plating. The room was one of a few surrounding the small control centre in the middle of that wall, and Alice wondered if they were all little fifteen-seater spaces. Commodore Valent, her father showing his official side, his nearly emotionless job-face entered the room at the other end, from somewhere deeper inside the ship. "I'm sorry, I wish there was time for us to do anything for Anderson. I know it doesn't help much, but the Resurrection program is looking into it. They'll know if he's a good candidate in about a week using their new precautions." He looked Remmy up and down.
"Sorry, the armour won't come off unless my crew dismantles it the hard way. Too much damage," he explained.
"You both did some incredible work today," he said.
Alice wondered why Jake was so stern, holding so much back. It was tempting to read him, but she was afraid to let her guard down so her empathic senses could start collecting everything in the room. She couldn't imagine anyone in that room was in a healthy state of mind. "Thank you," she said, standing beside Remmy. She didn't feel like sitting, especially if he couldn't, and from the look of his armour, that was the truth of it.
"I'm just glad you put me and my crew back to work after the Raven was damaged," Remmy said.
"We're working to repair her, don't worry," Jake said. He took a deep breath, looked at the command and control interface on his right arm for a moment. "I wish there was more time," he started quietly. "But we're being pressed. Before the Order made their second move today, trying to take out the command structure of the Rangers, even before the Edxi tried to take the system, the fleet had a plan in place to counter the beginning of an Order invasion. It's specifically a counter-move to Order ships arriving in the solar system, and SOCU are a huge part of it."
"Tell me we're striking back," Remmy said.
"Yes," Jake said. "Strategically. First, every captain with a quad drive just got a simple notification. I know neither of you checked it, so let me tell you what that was. Thanks to the success of your mission," he looked at Alice, "and what we discovered during our battle with the Edxi about their communications systems, ships with quad drives can communicate with each other almost instantaneously over any distance. I'll spare you the technical details, but this is the first time any human has had that capability in a mobile form. It's a huge tactical advantage, and another reason for our enemies, including the Edxi, whose tech isn't nearly as fast or reliable as ours, to want to capture one of our quad drives. We can't let that happen, you know about the safety measures in place."
Alice and Remmy both nodded. There were multiple solutions. If someone tried to break the seals on any of the technologies in a quad drive, they would melt down, reduce itself to a pile of base materials. If someone tried to hack one, even in person, the encryption was dynamic, changing every millisecond. Without the paired consoles, the quad drive was unusable. As a last resort, the quad drive system would convert into a bomb, building a charge up in milliseconds and going nuclear. The explosion generated could wipe everything off the surface of an entire earth sized planet. She was happy the Clever Dream's quad drives were setup so they could be ejected, just in case they were about to get caught.
"So, we're talking coordinated strikes," Alice offered.
"When possible." Jake said. "Using your quad drives, the Clever Dream and the Scythe will go far behind enemy lines, and using a new type of accumulator torpedo, you will wipe out Order of Eden installations. You will each have five of these torpedoes. The Merciless will be your new base of operations, we'll be seeking out our own targets."
"Why do we need a new type of accumulator torpedo?" Remmy asked.
"It's a design the fleet has had for weeks. We didn't want to use them, they break several conventions set down by the old Galactic Courts, which have reformed, but the British tell us that they are deeply corrupt. We're disregarding the old conventions. These torpedoes have antimatter generation systems that can create half an ounce of heavy liquid antimatter in less than a second, have scan shielding, cloaking systems that are on par with the Clever Class Corvettes, and the same shields our new Uriel fighters use. You will each receive a list of targets, will have a little discretion, and if possible, we'd like you to use the new communication system to time your strikes down to the second. We're not worried about the Order finding out that we have new communication tech, it's more important for them to see how well coordinated we are, it gives their ranks more reasons to fear us. The targets we're giving you keep civilians out of harms' way, but the intelligence is getting stale, so act according to what you see."
"Are we the only two ships on this mission?" Remmy asked.
"For now, yes. Every SOCU ship was supposed to be on this, but one hasn't come back yet, and the rest are needed to help guard the fleet while we retreat."
"Retreat?" Alice felt like her stomach did a backflip.
"The Order has sent every ship within a hundred light years in our direction. The first wave is holding position outside the solar system. We're going to buy the ships we have as much time as we can, but there is no way we can hold the system with the damage the fleet has taken. Don't worry, we'll bloody their noses on the way out, and we'll be back. Meanwhile, it's up to you two to show the Order that they can't afford to hold this system if they expect to defend their backs. The Merciless will join you, going after a third group of targets once the Fleet has set up in a new location."
"We can't!" Remmy batted a padded seat across the room. It flew to pieces against the transparent metal window. "Abandon the system? What good is all this tech, all the training? All the people who we lost if we can't hold here? The Order are just a bunch of brainwashed idiots and corporate-minded assholes with big ships! If we can't hold against them, especially here, what was the point of any of it?"
"Remmy!" Jake barked, finally crossing the room. "No one is happy about this. There is a plan, and I'm putting you and Alice where you'll be the most effective. If you want this to be revenge, if you need to write the names of the people you lost on the side of those missiles in grease pencil before you launch them, then do it. Just do it your way; smart, direct, and strategically. Make them turn their heads, make them fear us like they should."
Remmy couldn't look at Jake, casting his eyes downward, then, finally at Alice. His expression lost its angry edge as he nodded. "Yeah, yes, Sir. I'm the right guy, you've got the right crew on this."
"Good. Go get them ready, meet the new crewmembers we're setting you up with. Don't tell them about the mission until you're out of the solar system. This is classified at the highest level."
"Aye, Commodore," Remmy saluted him, waiting for the response salute before leaving.
Jake turned to Alice after watching him leave. "I didn't want to send you on this mission," he said.
That was not what she wanted or needed to hear. He was her father in that moment, not her commander. She needed the Commodore so much more than Jake. "I'm as right for it as Remmy," she said.
"I know. There's something that keeps coming up in your profile when I review you and the Clever Dream for missions; your internal psyche profile says you have that angry nerve I do. The kind that the fleet loves because it doesn’t mess with our clarity much, but it does wonders for our resolve, makes us want to make that extra leap from destructive to savage. I thought I left it behind with the framework, hoped you did too, but that's not what Fleet's deep dig into our heads says. When I heard Anderson was killed…" he turned to the window.
Alice watched as he tensed more with each step, his hands curling into fists. "I want to think long and hard about everything the Order has, then burn all the most important things they have to slag. It makes me want to grin, I can feel the side of me that enjoys the anger."
Alice knew exactly what he was talking about as she joined him. The people below seemed too calm as they went about their work. She wanted to scream at them, tell them they should be furious, that something happened that made the whole universe feel… wrong, unjust. The mission he was giving her was perfect, but he was right, she had to clear her head, she had to make the targets matter. She imagined striking bases, fleet mustering points, and other places where the Order would notice the destruction. Thinking about it was already starting to clear her head, but she was still angry, she still wanted to horrify the Order from recruits to commanders, all the way to Eve. Alice could still feel the rage beneath everything. "It's like it burns everything else away, removes distraction."
Jake turned to her, he was surprised, and, from the look, a little unhappy. "That's it. If you can't shake it, let it help you. I hope it can, especially since I have a mission for you and your best people. It has to come before this revenge trip Fleet and I are sending you on. Somehow, the Order got a Base Ship into the region, it's based on the Overlord Class Design. I wanted to take this mission myself, but they chose you instead. My hands are tied. You are going to address that threat."
"Fleet wants me to take the Base Ship out?"
"They have a plan, a good one that could save lives. No one can know about this, but it could turn the tide, make it possible to keep the solar system. As an officer, I'm telling you it's essential. As a father…"
"Save that until I've done it," Alice said, able to guess what he was going to say. It would be something like 'if you're in too much danger, or it looks like you're about to sacrifice yourself, then run,' but she didn't want to hear it. "Tell me about the mission. Fleet wouldn't send me on it if they thought it was a waste, if they thought it couldn't be done."
"This requires finesse, stealth. If you stay focused, go quickly, you might pull it off. Just make sure you keep escape in mind after. I'll send you the details."
"Good, I know my crew will be eager to do some real damage."
Jake turned back to the window. "After that you have a three-day transit to your first target. So, do what you have to. Clear your head. Don't take any unnecessary risks. When it's over, I want you back here. If Ayan has taught me anything, it's that anger may get you through some things, but it'll eat you alive when things get quiet, when there's no one to fight. You can make enemies out of friends just so you have someone to fight."
"I'll remember," she said. "I'll leave this out there."