I've written about the fall of Mount Weather but I'm not happy with it. It's rushed and doesn't do justice to the rest of the story. For now, I'm leaving it and trying to finish the story then go back to it. Hopefully my inspiration will have returned by then. Please bear with me.
For those who have favourited and reviewed, thank you! I have taken your comments to heart and strive to write something people like reading. Keep them coming, please. Samdagger.
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Chapter 13
Later that evening when Sol, Raven, Jake and Rory were gathered around the radio, they talked about what they needed to say to those in the Ark.
"So we need to have some of the kids sent down," Sol said. "How?"
"The dropship," Raven said. Sol shook her head.
"If we use that ship, then the ones that need to come down next year won't be able to use it."
"True."
"How many need to come down?" asked Rory.
"Good question. We need Clarke, Octavia, Erin and probably Wells," Sol said.
"Why Wells?"
"Because there is still a whole lot of 'sins of the father' practised up there and when the general population of the Ark find out just what Jaha Senior was up to, they'll blame Junior for it." Jake reluctantly nodded.
"They locked up Clarke for what I knew," he said.
"Okay, we ask for Wells to be brought down as well," said Raven.
"What about Bellamy?" asked Rory.
"I think we need him up there. With Octavia down here, Bellamy would be in protective mode if he came down too. I remember how bad it was in the beginning, Rory. He wouldn't let her do anything! They were at odds from the moment they stepped off the ship. She was loving the ground and he hated it. He tried to keep her too close and she felt just as confined as she did under the floor. She knows that with you here, she'll feel that protection mode too. With both of you down, she's gonna feel smothered." Rory stared at her as she worked her way through what she knew of Bellamy's protective streak. She relunctantly nodded.
"Don't worry, Rory, I'll have the same problem with Clarke and Abby. I know Clarke needs to be down here, but Abby doesn't. I'll have a fight on my hands trying to keep her on the Ark while Clarke comes down."
"Okay, so that's four so far. How many of the prison kids could we bring down and how many of them are the same ones that came down last time?" Sol said.
"I don't know," Raven said. "We'll have to talk to Kane and Clarke about that."
"What capacity of ship would they come down in? That dropship would be too big for just a few people, so how many do we put in it or is there another vessel we could use? Maybe one of those larger escape pods?"
"We don't have any of those left, Sol. In the beginning, several people didn't like living in space and decided to take the escape pods and go back to Earth. A lot of them didn't make it. It was defined as suicide by Earth."
"Actually Jake, there may be one left," Raven said, distractedly.
"What do you mean?" asked Jake.
"There was still one large escape pod left attached to the Ark, because there was a problem with the navigational systems. It was deemed too damaged to use, but they didn't want to jettison it in case they could cannibalise it for spares or raw materials."
"Where is it?"
"Still attached to the underside of the Skybox," Raven told him. Jake's eyes widened as he thought it through.
"Raven! That's there for a reason. No-one can use the navigation systems! They've been totally trashed!"
"I know, but whoever pilots it, doesn't need to use the nav systems, they can use good old eyeballs. They only need to pilot towards a large landmark they can use for a marker. After that, they should be close enough to see the ground in detail and they can then use a compass to point the pod in the right direction. Once they see us or at least our signs, they can land there. Jake, this is doable!"
"And who do you propose to pilot the pod?"
"Don't know, but we could have someone trained on it and they can fly it down."
"Like who?"
"I don't know… Wells? It would give him the reason needed to come to the ground and he's at least interested in mechanics."
"He is?"
"Yep. He's been down to Mecha enough times, looking around as he called it. He was actually helping me when I was repairing some of the broken comm systems and lights."
"Okay, but he'll have to say yes and he'll need to have intensive training on it," Jake warned.
"I think he'll do it, Jake. He's alone up there. His mom's dead and his dad's in prison and he's not stupid, he'll know his dad is gonna be floated for what he did. I think Wells needs to be down here so he doesn't find out the extent of his fathers machinations."
"And so that when the Ark does find out, he's safe from their recriminations," Sol added. Jake nodded.
"Okay, we inform the Ark that we want to use that escape pod and that we want him to train to pilot it."
"How many can fit into the escape pod?" asked Rory.
"It's designed for thirty, but we may be able to stuff a few more in," Raven replied.
"How?" asked Jake.
"When they came down in the dropship, some of the kids were strapped to the wall standing up. I guess they didn't have enough seats for everyone."
"And you want to do that with the escape pod?"
"Not quite. Those escape pods were not built with straight up and down walls, they were built on a slant. We wouldn't have enough room to have people stand up, but we can have them sitting back against the walls and strapped to them."
"How many could we fit in?" Raven was quiet as she thought about it.
"Maybe 5 or 6 more, so maybe 35 or 36."
"Including the pilot?"
"Yes." Jake nodded.
"Alright, so we just have to figure out who else to bring down. We have Wells, Clarke, Octavia and Erin. So 31 or 32 more.
"I think we need some of the kids that came down from before mixed in with some of the kids due to be floated," Sol said, staring at the fire as she thought it through.
"How many of each and who do we want down?" asked Jake.
"Clarke needs to do a count on who's in prison right now, how old they are, what crime they are supposed to have committed and more importantly, their 18th birthday," Sol said.
"I agree," Raven said, nodding her head.
"Raven, how many of the 100 do you think could be triggered to remember? If you had some of them you could trust, then what if they could be triggered and they help Clarke get the others to the ground?"
"How, if they're in prison?" asked Raven. Sol thought about it some more.
"You said the escape pod was on the underside of the Skybox, so why not have Clarke and the others stage a 'jailbreak'?" Raven and Jake were surprised.
"That's not a bad idea, Sol," Raven said.
"I don't know," said Jake. "If they're caught, they run the risk of being arrested."
"Then they had better not be caught," Raven replied. Jake was about to object when Raven stopped him.
"Jake, when we were down last time, we did these do or die things all the time, some paid off, some didn't, but we deemed them worth the risk. It's not down to us, Jake, it's down to Clarke and the kids. Not us, not Abby, not Kane and not Bellamy. It's the rest of my people who are risking it, so it's their choice. Remember, Clarke's our leader so it's her decision." Jake was taken aback by Raven's attitude, but he knew Clarke was seen as the leader by the Commander and her people and wouldn't deal with anyone else. He reluctantly nodded his head.
"I don't like it but that's because it's my daughter."
"We're grown-ups by grounder standards, Jake. You just have to remember that. Ark rules don't apply." Jake was silent while he thought through everything he'd learned and tried to figure out how to adjust his own way of thinking.
"You've said that Murphy was one of those people who could survive almost anything," Sol said to Raven. "Would he be one of those who could come down?"
"Maybe if we can trigger him, otherwise he's just a selfish jerk who likes to bully," Raven replied.
"What about some of the others you've told us about? Monroe, Sterling, Drew or Atom?"
"I don't know. Clarke would have a better idea about them. I really think we need to talk to Clarke alone about this or with Octavia, but not Kane or the others until we need to," Raven said. Sol nodded.
"So what do we say to Kane?" asked Rory.
"We ask that a census of those in prison be taken. We need to know who's due to be floated. Once we know how many need to come down, then we can figure out who else we can stuff into the escape pod," Sol said.
"Do we tell Kane about the jailbreak?" Rory asked.
"Not yet. We can tell Clarke and Octavia, but Kane will be told once it's all organised and those needed are already on the escape pod," Sol said.
"How late are we telling Kane?" Raven asked, having an inkling what Sol had in mind.
"When the pod's ready to launch. We tell him that Wells needs to be taught how to fly it, but not when it's actually going to be launched."
"So we tell Kane that they are coming down just about the time they launch?" asked Raven.
"Exactly. If he objects, it's too late."
"You can't do that!" Jake said, objecting.
"Jake, sometimes we had to do things behind the backs of the Arkers to get things done. If we hadn't then we'd never have gotten peace. Abby was too gung-ho in her Chancellorship to let us do what was needed, hence the need for Raven's Gate - our secret way out of the compound."
"But-?" Jake started.
"No, Jake. To get things done, we need to be able to do things without needing an adult's permission first. How many things do you think they'd agree to and let us KIDS do it? If Kane knew about the escape pod and our plans for it, then he'd put his own adults on board instead to send down. Those adults have no idea about the ground. When they came down, they stayed behind the fence. They didn't even go hunting for food. They sat behind the fence, huddled together like sheep! They didn't do anything to try to start a new life. They were too busy pretending they were still playing by Ark rules!"
"Really?" asked Rory.
"Yeah. Even Bellamy was sickened by their attitudes to the ground. We are not going to be able to do anything with their 'adults-know-better' attitude, Jake. WE need to do this for ourselves, not the adults. This is our time, Jake. This time it's us that can make and keep the peace and not the adults who hate anything that is different to anything they've ever known. We KNOW we can do this, it's just the adults who THINK we can't." Raven was passionate in her speech and Jake took the time to really think about what she said.
"Okay," Sol said after some time, "We call the Ark or rather we call Raven's den and talk to Clarke and Kane and then once Kane's left, we talk to Clarke and Octavia about what we want done. We tell Clarke that we want Wells to train as a pilot and only if Wells agrees, do we tell Kane that he wants to be trained as a pilot. With so few people actually trained as them and two of them down here, I think Kane would go for it."
"So we tell Kane Wells is going to train as a pilot because at the moment they have more vessels than pilots?" Rory asked, trying to sort it out.
"Yes," Sol said. Raven nodded her head and Jake just kept quiet.
"Anything else we need them to know?"
"Not right now," Raven said. Rory nodded. Just then a figure walked through the gates. Raven looked up at him and then, with a huge grin on her face, she took off and flung herself at him.
"Lincoln!" she yelled as she raced across the ground. Lincoln's head snapped towards her and he grabbed her as she launched herself at him.
"I remember!" she whispered into his ear. They hugged each other hard before Lincoln let Raven go and stood back.
"It is good to see you, Raven," he said, looking around.
"She's still up on the Ark," Raven said, guessing who he was looking for.
"Why are you here?" he asked, knowing it was too soon.
"Four of us were sent down a year early, Lincoln. We have no idea why."
"Who?"
"Me, Jake Griffin, Clarke's father, Sol Armstrong, who died last time when factory station crashed to the ground and Aurora Blake, Octavia and Bellamy's mother. Down here she goes by Rory." Lincoln was astonished.
"I thought Clarke's father and Octavia's mother died before coming down?"
"They did last time, but this time we were sent down. Come on, I'll introduce you and we'll tell you all about it."
"I need to see Chief Anya first," Lincoln said.
"Okay, come find us when you're done and we'll tell you all about it and maybe by then, we'll be able to call the Ark and you can talk to Octavia." Lincoln smiled, nodded and set off for the Chiefs tent. Raven strolled back to the others.
"Who's that?" Rory asked.
"Your future son-in-law," Raven said, cheekily. Rory just looked at her.
"That's Lincoln!?" she asked, looking towards where he went. Raven nodded.
"Yup. I'll tell you now, Rory, Octavia found her soulmate in him and he found his in her. Those two are meant to be together. Bellamy fucked it up when he tortured him and then stood by while Pike killed him. She will not let that happen again. She will leave us and join the Trikru as soon as she can and nothing you or Bellamy says will matter. She will choose him every time." Rory nodded. She wanted to get to know her future son-in-law. From what she'd been told, he was a good man. A healer and always trying to be a peacemaker. She smiled to herself. At least one of her kids would be looked after, all she had to do now is figure out what to do with Bellamy.
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They called up to the den an hour later and Lincoln was beside them, listening to them talk about what needed to be done. They hadn't told them about Lincoln yet, they were waiting until Kane left. After they'd asked Kane to make sure they had enough space, Kane signed off and left. Clarke and Octavia were still on radio duty so they stayed. Raven waited for ten minutes before she called back.
"Raven's den, Raven's den come in," she said.
"Raven? What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Is Octavia there?"
"Yes," Clarke said, looking at Octavia who looked equally confused.
"Hei, ai hodness," Lincoln said into the mike. Octavia sat up straight in surprise.
"Lincoln?" she whispered, not quite believing what she was hearing.
"Sha, hodness," Lincoln replied.
"I love you, Lincoln!" she said, tears threatening to fall.
"I love you too." This time, Octavia's tears did fall.
"I wish I was down there with you," she said through her tears.
"If Raven and Sol get their way, you will be soon," he said.
"What do you mean?" asked Clarke.
"Are you alone?"
"Yes, it's just me and O." Raven took over.
"Sol and I have come up with a plan. There's an unused large escape pod on the underside of the Skybox. It was left there because the navigation system doesn't work. We want you to ask Wells if he would ask Kane to be trained as a pilot. At the moment, you have more ships than pilots. If Kane gives him the go-ahead, he will be trained. What we want to do is have him pilot that escape pod and you, Octavia, Erin and whoever we can get to fill it up will come down here."
"When?"
"We don't know. Wells will need to be trained for a few weeks first, but we want you to stage a 'jailbreak' with whoever you and us decide needs to come down. We want some of the original hundred - triggered if possible - and some of those due to be floated. I don't think they'll be allowed to live past 18 for long, the Ark is too draconian to change overnight. There are still kids due to die and I want to save as many as I can!"
"Kane has already triggered Murphy," Clarke said.
"We could need him, but Kane may also need him up there to find all those hidden places Jaha and his cabal use."
"Any idea on the other's trigger words?"
"None," Raven replied. "Octavia may know Miller's, but I have no idea about Monroe's, Sterling's, Drew's or anyone elses." Clarke and Octavia thought about it.
"Maybe we could trigger Miller with 'second dawn'," Octavia said.
"Okay, what about Monroe?"
"I have no idea unless it's poison gas or acid fog or something like that."
"Isn't that how she died?"
"Yes, but these memories seem to be triggered by something monumental in their lives. Me, Octavia and Kane were all triggered by a name, but Anya wasn't."
"True, and no-one else seems to have a significant other among the clans so we can't use those names."
"Clarke, could you visit some of the hundred and try triggering them? I realise you can't go very often and can't meet with more than two or three, but I think it could be done - if we can find their trigger words."
"I may be able to help there too," Octavia said. "I'd like to be the one who sees Miller."
"That's good. What about if Murphy tries to trigger others in lockup? He's still there, isn't he?"
"Yeah, Kane can't free him because Murphy admitted setting the fire," Clarke said.
"Well if Murphy can find those hidden places before you stage that jailbreak, then he could come down with you.," Raven said.
"Okay, we'll think about who we know could help us and what their words could be. We'll talk some more in about a week, okay?" asked Clarke.
"That's fine," Raven said. "Talk to you later," she said before signing off.
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On the Ark
"Well?" asked Octavia. "Any ideas on trigger words?"
"Not really. I think we may have to go through everyone's names from the ground, clan names and anything else we can think of from down there."
"We can't just sit in the visiting room reciting names, Clarke!"
"I know, but how else are we going to trigger some of them? We may be able to use 'ring of fire' with some of them and grounders with others, but some of them will be harder to trigger. Wells, Atom, Derek, Fox and Roma are just some I can think of where I have no idea what would trigger them."
I think Mount Weather may be a trigger too," Octavia said. Clarke nodded.
"I think I need to go see Wells. Do I trigger him or leave him ignorant and just ask him to learn to pilot one of the vessels?" Octavia thought about it.
"Ask him first and if he's resistant to it, then see if you can trigger him. No matter what you do, his dad's still gonna die, only this time he'll die before his kid."
"I think either way it's gonna hurt. Wells is the complete opposite to his father in character. He was always a gentle soul while his father was more political and more ruthless. I just didn't know how ruthless until they showed up and arrested me and told me that dad had been floated for treason." Clarke shrugged.
"Then he needs to be with us on the ground. He'll be thrown to the wolves up here." Octavia paused for a second. "You know, now I can remember the last time, I now know what that saying means and it's very appropriate for the Ark!"
"Tell me about it! I've learned more on the ground than I ever learned in either school or Earth Skills. Looking back, I wonder why Pike taught that class. What training did he ever do to go to the ground? Unless he had specific training, he had no idea about the ground. Teaching us tracking from a book is about as much use as a sword made of grass!" Octavia laughed at the image of Indra wielding a grass sword.
"Well, we'll just have to set up appointments to see those in lockup and try to trigger them."
"I'll look into trying to trigger some of those that went down with us but have been released from prison already. Can you believe that out of all of us, only six have been released? I think Kane or whoever he appoints as his new Head of Security should take it upon themselves to check on the progress of those reviews," Clarke said, rubbing her eyes.
"Monty should be here in a while and can take over. Do we trigger him and Harper?"
"I'd like to, but I have no idea how Monty will act when he remembers killing his mom and then she walks in the door." Octavia shuddered.
"I can't imagine how Bellamy would act if we triggered him," she admitted.
"We'll figure it out," said Clarke as Monty came in.
"Figure what out?" he asked.
"Who to take to the ground. Raven and Sol have a plan for us to stage a jailbreak with those due to be floated in the next few months," Clarke told him.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, Kane doesn't know and he can't know. Only you and us and Harper will know what we are planning. Kane will be told what he needs to know. We want Wells trained to pilot vessels and he can take us down, so please don't talk about this outside this room, even with Harper. We can't let one word of what we are going to do get out," Clarke said, almost pleading with him.
"I promise," he said. "Are Harper and I coming with you?"
"We don't know, Monty. One one hand, you'll be two more people on our side, but on the other, Kane probably needs computer experts and with Raven on the ground, we have one down there. Do you want to go down with us? It may mean leaving Jasper behind."
"I need to think about it, Clarke. If I need to stay, then Harper will want to stay as well. I'm not sure."
"Then think about it, talk to Harper about it but only in this room when you're alone." Monty nodded.
"Good," said Octavia. "We need sleep, so we'll leave you to it." Monty gave a thumbs up as he checked the equipment again. The two girls left him to it.
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Octavia went back to her quarters and sat there trying to think back on her previous life and what Miller's trigger words could be. Clarke had gone to see Wells and outlined her plan for him to be one of the pilots. He was a bit hesitant until Clarke told him that by piloting the ships, he'd be saving lives. He knew that he wanted to do something that showed he was nothing like his father so he agreed. He'd go to Kane in the morning and ask to be trained and why. Clarke bid him goodnight and went to her own quarters to sleep.
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Kane was looking through some more files Murphy had found. He saw a lot of the files had been duplicated and he wondered if Jaha or another one of the cabal was paranoid and had hidden several copies of files. One original one he found was a list of all cabal members going all the way back to the war. Armstrong, Griffin and Kane were names that were missing from all generations on the Ark of cabal members, but Blake was there in the beginning. He read through each generation and found that the second Blake's son didn't want to be part of his father's machinations and he deliberately defied his own father. His father basically disowned him and he moved to factory station where he met a woman and married her and they had a child that was Bellamy's father. Two of the first Blake's were in the cabal, but as far as Kane could see, the generations after that had nothing to do with it. He was pleased, the Blake siblings were needed to help him stay in charge and to help him with the people once they were on the ground.
His biggest problem now was to find out what crimes they'd committed that he could prove. The false imprisonment of some of the kids was the first step and when they'd found out which guards had been arresting them and proved to be false, they would be arrested and floated. He really wanted to find a way to arrest Shumway. One of the lists had his family as a founding cabal member so he was definately one of Jaha's people. He's done a thorough family tree search of all guards. He needed a new head of security and he wanted to give the job to Major Byrne. She was not involved in any of it as far as he knew, she would stand up to Shumway and she'd pull the guards back into line. He made his decision and went to find Major Byrne - no, he'd have her come to him in his new office first thing in the morning. He'd feel her out and if she gave the right answers, he'd bring her in on what he'd found. He needed a head of Security he could trust.
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The next morning, Major Byrne knocked on the Chancellor's office door. Kane opened the door and invited her in and told her to sit in the chair in front of his desk.
"Major Byrne, I need a new head of Security. I've given it a lot of thought and I'd like to offer the job to you," he said. Major Byrne started, she wasn't expecting it.
"Sir, Commander Shumway is ahead of me in seniority."
"Yes, he is, but he's not quite what I need. You have an excellent track record for sticking to the rules and laws. I've found some files that Jaha had hidden in here. One was a list of guards that answered to him and not the Chancellor. Another was a list of children, their offenses and when they are arrested. The thing is that some of those dates have not yet happened." Major Byrne was astonished and then furious.
"They were setting the children up to be arrested!" she almost shouted.
"Yes. With Jaha arrested, I've made sure that any child on that list is protected. I've been moving around the ship making sure that those children were not arrested on that date and accused of the crimes they'd decided to charge them with. I've also instigated a review of ALL the prisoners' crimes and trials. I've stopped them from being floated until their offenses are looked into and reviewed by a panel led by one of the council members. He's pulling in help from all over the Ark and not just Alpha. Six of those children have already been released as they could prove they were not where they were accused of being."
"What do you need me to do?"
"I want you to be the Head of Security and make sure that the other guards not on that list are playing by the rules. That they are doing their jobs properly and that they are not being lazy. I've already done one snap inspection of one of the security offices and found the door unlocked when no-one was in there with the filing cabinets unlocked as well. That is not acceptable, Major. I want you to kick them back into a respectable force. I didn't do that when I was head of Security because I made the mistake of thinking everyone else had the same sense of duty that I did. Finding out that Jaha and several others have been doing things behind the backs of the rest of the Ark, came as a huge shock and I'm ashamed to admit that the clues were there, I just didn't want to see them. I want you to make a better job of it than I did. I'm depending on you, Major. I need you. I need people I can trust and I don't trust Shumway, he's one of Jaha's people."
"You can trust me, Chancellor, " Byrne said, sitting straighter. "I won't let you down."
"Good. This is the file I found naming the families of the cabal. This goes back to when the war happened." Major Byrne was shocked.
"This started way back then?"
"Yes, Major, it did. Four of the most prominent names on that list are Jaha, Sydney, Pike and Shumway. Those four names are still active today. Jaha is locked up, Wells is innocent and has no idea of his father's activities. Sydney is our ex-Chancellor and Pike is one of the teachers. He has access to the workers as does Diana Sydney, Shumway and Jaha have access to Alpha and the guards. I have no idea how systemic this is nor who is involved. This second file is a list of the guards who are Jaha's people. A check into who arrested the kids proves that 80% of the kids were arrested by his people. I want it stopped! I have no idea why those kids were picked, but I do not want anyone accused of a crime they did not commit. We are few enough as it is without killing our own!"
"I'll look into it myself, sir," Byrne said. She was extremely pissed that things like that had been happening under her nose. She was proud when she became a guard and thought she could make a difference, now she was wondering if she'd arrested anyone who was actually innocent. The kids would have been sent to prison, but any adults would have been floated. She felt physically sick that she could have inadvertently helped those who were trying to destroy their own people!
"Good. You'll take over my old office. I'll announce it when this meeting is over. I want Shumway and the rest to understand that they are no longer in charge and that things are going to be different. I want them to realise that you will not bow to them and you are going to kick them back into the kind of guards they should have been. If you find Shumway has just taken over the office, kick him out and if he doesn't go, then arrest him. I locked that door the day I became Chancellor and no-one else has the key. Arrest them for breaking and entering and trespassing and if you find they've gone through the files or anything else they shouldn't, charge them with insubordination as well. I want them out!"
"Yes, sir!" Byrne said, this time her face showed a burning desire to set things right and to help Kane break the cabal.
"Sir, what about those on the ground?"
"They are trying to get a non-aggression pact with the ones who already live there. They are also looking for a place to live. We have to remember that we have no right to any of the land that is part of the Commander's clan lands - that's most of the eastern part of the old USA. If we truly want a piece of land that we can call our own, then it may be we have to check out the Carribean islands, Major."
"Which ones?"
"I don't know, but I want it far out to sea so that no-one can cross into her lands and cause trouble. Having said that, I think either Bermuda or Barbados. Bermuda is the farthest north island and is basically somewhere off the coast of the Carolinas. Barbados is much further south, but is outside the hurricane belt and more importantly, has freshwater ponds."
"Which has more land mass, Sir?"
"Barbados. It's about 200 square miles while Bermuda is a two mile wide ribbon of land that is in the middle of the hurricane belt and only has one freshwater pond. Anyone living there would have to live near that pond and would be subject to the hurricanes."
"How many hurricanes?"
"Two to three a year, and a few tropical storms too."
"Barbados sounds better sir."
"I know, but I don't know how to sell it to the rest of the Ark. Most of them are of the opinion that the world is ours. It's what we've been taught all our lives. We just have to unlearn that and learn to share."
"That's not going to be easy, sir. Most people want to go off and find their own piece of paradise. Some of them think they just have to go find food plants and they'll live down there just fine!"
"They'll die quickly with that attitude. Those people are definately going to one of the islands, Major. If they don't play nice with the clans, they will be exiled or executed. I will not have dissension and them causing the clans to declare war on us!"
"Can these clanspeople be trusted, sir?"
"About as much as any of our people can, Major. The clans are led by the Commander and they know that if they step a toe out of line, she'll bring the hammer down on them and anyone disobeying her rules is executed. She is about 22-23 and needs to rule with an iron fist, but I get the impression she just wants peace. That piece of information doesn't go any further, Major. We need her more than we need anyone else except for those on the ground and whoever they decide is the one to lead us on the ground. Down there, age is not an issue, it's what you can do, Major. They already see Raven and Sol as two people they can work with and they are teenagers."
"They decide who is our leader?"
"No, but if they decide to work only with one person, then that person is the de facto leader, no matter what title we give them. Each clan has ambassadors in their capital city, if we became another clan, then we'd have one as well and that person could very well be a kid."
"Do we want to be another clan, sir?"
"It would make things much easier, Major. Within this - kongeda - coalition - no clan can fight another without all the other clans joining together and wiping them out. No clan leader wants their clan to be destroyed so they play by the Commander's rules. If we join, we'll be bound by the same rules. They cannot attack us without all the others attacking them. If we don't join, then we are subject to harassment from the clans if they can get away with it. If a clan attacks and kills us, there's nothing the Commander could do, it would be after the fact and we were not part of the Kongeda. I truly believe our best chance of survival is to be another clan and part of the kongeda. It keeps us safe." Major Byrne nodded and Kane did as well.
"Well come along, Major. We'll make the announcement of your new position and your elevation in rank."
"I'm getting a new rank?" she asked, surprised.
"You need it, Major, you need to outrank Shumway if we are ever going to get ahead of all this. We'll jump you up to Colonel. That puts you ahead of Shumway in rank."
"Thank you sir," Byrne said, humbled by the trust he placed in her.
"I need you to help me, Major. Prove it by helping me clean the Ark up and helping us to get to the ground and you'll be given another promotion. I need people I can trust."
"I won't let you down, Chancellor," she said, her head raising and her chin coming up and she was ready for this. It was a long time coming as she knew she would have trouble, but she relished the challenge.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
"Sir?" Byrne said as they walked along the corridor. Kane stopped and turned to her.
"Yes?"
"I think it would be better to gather some of the guards I trust and go to your old office right now. If we announce it and then go, they could clear out or destroy files," she said. Kane pondered on it and nodded.
"Good idea, go catch them in the act. You are now Colonel Byrne and the ranking officer and the new Head of Security, starting from now. Here's the key to the office. It's supposed to be the only one. I'll give you one hour before I announce your promotion." She nodded and left.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Kane carried on and was nearly to his new office when Wells caught up with him.
"Chancellor Kane. may I have a word with you, please?"
"Wells, of course you can," he said, and led him into his new office.
"What can I do for you, Wells?"
"I want to train to be one of the pilots, Sir. Clarke and I were talking about not having enough pilots trained for all the ships we're taking to the ground and I realised that there was one way I could help. I want to train and pilot one of the ships, Sir."
"We need some pilots, but I thought I'd take them from either engineering or the guards," he told Wells.
"I understand, Sir, but I want this. I can be a back-up pilot, just in case, Sir, but I feel that I can make a difference by saving some of our people. It's one way to redeem myself in the eyes of others, sir. I know they think I'm just like my father and only care about people from Alpha, but I don't. I care for all of them. This is something I can do to prove I'm not going to leave them to their fate," Wells replied. Kane looked at him and realised he was serious.
"Alright, I'll have several people trained as pilots. It will probably be next week before the lessons start, though."
"I don't mind, Sir, and thank you."
"You're welcome, Wells. Once we are down though, I suggest you stick with Clarke."
"Why?"
"She can protect you. From what I've learned from Raven and the others on the ground, people down there don't care how old you are, just what you can do. Clarke and Raven have been talking to the Commander about where we can live and what we can do. Those two are our point of contact with those already on the ground. I think Clarke would probably become something like a diplomat or something similar and go to their captial city. You should go with her."
"I'd like that, Sir." Wells smiled.
"Good, I'll contact you when it's all arranged."
"Thank you, Chancellor." Kane smiled as Wells let himself out.