The Right Things
Andrew J. Talon
Disclaimer:I don't own Atomic Betty, nor am I making any profit from this endeavor.
Fine, yes, I'm writing another one. Happy?
Beatrix sighed as she stood, stretching and wincing as the bones of her spine popped. She rubbed the back of her neck, before turning away from her garden, and smiling at the young man standing before her.
"Noah! How are you?" Noah smiled with a shrug, his blue two-piece BDUs rustling minutely in the mild breeze.
"Not bad… We came in for a stop over at L3 Kennedy Station, and I thought I'd visit a while."
Beatrix nodded, and hugged the young starship captain strongly, before releasing him and leading him to the house. "I've made up some fresh cookies. Come on in, stay a while."
Noah smiled wanly, and kept that expression, even while eating the chocolate chip cookies. He sighed deeply.
"Now, don't you go trying to apologize for Betty again…" Noah shook his head.
"Can't blame a guy for trying… You should be in command of the Messiah. Not me. They offered you the commission, didn't they?" The much older woman sighed and sat down, shaking her head.
"Yeah… 'Fraid I'm a bit too old for such things though, despite evidence to the contrary."
"You saved the world," Noah pointed out. "When the Galactic Guardians had all their operatives pull out, you stayed. The Martians would have killed us all…"
"Maybe… Maybe not." Beatrix shrugged. She smirked. "It's a good thing the Martians watched all those War of the Worlds movies. Otherwise, we might not have defeated them."
"But you gave us the stars," Noah pressed. "You turned your ship over to the Americans, who finally managed to build our own fleet of starships. Without those, we couldn't have defeated the Martians… Or the Galactic Guardians."
"I'm not denying I've done a lot. But you've done great things too, Noah. Don't ever sell yourself short," the grandmother insisted with a gentle smile. Noah returned it weakly.
"Betty will be fine. Her training will keep her safe." Beatrix shrugged. "It could have been worse. The jury might have gone ahead with the death penalty. Noah… Don't fret about the things you have no control over, allright? I tried it. It never helps."
"But I…"
"You, are a captain, in the Allied Fleet of Earth," Beatrix told him firmly. "You command the most advanced, and powerful starship ever built by humans. Most advanced and powerful ever built by most any race in the galaxy, as a matter of fact. So act like it." Noah shook his head again with a sigh, and smiled at her.
"Guess being love sick is more hazardous than I thought, hm?"
"It always is…"
"And now, Ambassador Penelope Lang, representative of Earth to the recent Celebra summit," intoned the UN speaker, to the resounding applause of the several hundred delegates. The elegant young woman, dressed in a simple bottle green pantsuit, nodded with a smile to the speaker, before taking the microphone.
"My report, on the recent summit should be in everyone's possession. If it is not, please ask the computer terminal in front of you to display the needed information," Penelope stated smoothly. Once a sufficient number of heads nodded in confirmation, she cleared her throat.
"Delegates of the Allied Nations of Earth. Despite the interstellar media's reports, there is considerable interest among the worlds formally under the power of the Galactic Guardians to join the Alliance of Planets. However," she turned a page on her hard copy of the report, "a number of reservations have also been expressed."
"Among them are concerns about Earth's significant military power. Our fleet of warships is the largest of any single planet, and our ground forces, aided by Martian and our own technology, are massive. At the moment… Our total military personnel exceed fifteen million. And fully one third are now deployed."
"Remnants of the Galactic Guardians still remain," responded the delegate from Israel. "And, without them, the worlds they once controlled are now virtually defenseless from outside threats. Not to mention that the GG functioned as the de facto police force, and civil service."
"This was not discounted, sir," Penelope replied patiently. "However, the fact that the humans are the dominant population of the military seems to give some worlds the idea that we have designs on conquest." A flurry of protests sprang up at this.
"Conquest! After what we did for them!"
"My children didn't die to set up a new tyrant!"
"Ungrateful sheep!"
"Order, order!" The bickering quieted down as the Chairman of the Allied Nations banged his gavel. He then turned and nodded to Penelope. "Please continue, Madam Ambassador."
"Thank you, sir. Now, many of the worlds were interested in acquiring new technology, and our offers of setting up civil works and services for their populations. Cirrus and Tal'larkan, our allies from the start of the war against the Galactic Guardians, are heavily in favor of the alliance and have already pledged to join. Ainrofilac Ubilam, Edenia, Robot Paradise, Crushton, Aquus, Mermidia, Mortavia, and Lynx are all positive about the alliance and would like to join as well. Our offers to allow them places in our military, and our outline of government, seem attractive to them. However, several dozen other worlds are still talking over the Alliance proposal. The three-branch system, adopted from the American style of government has not been practiced on any world other than our own." Penelope sighed.
"And, of course, there is Messiah." The delegates murmured, nodding amongst themselves. The representative of China spoke next.
"Exactly why are they so concerned over an oversized science ship? Granted, it is considerably advanced and large, but still…"
"Because this 'science ship's' primary weapons array can annihilate entire planets," Penelope answered flatly. "And has more firepower than our entire fleet put together. And cannot be detected by any sensor systems currently in use or under development." The delegates rose into an uproar once again.
"What?"
"Why were we not informed?"
"Some science ship! It's a death machine!"
"Order! Order!" The Chairman banged his gavel hard, until the protests finally quieted. He stood up and looked around the amphitheatre.
"The Messiah was originally designed as our flagship. This vessel's advanced technology and weapons would have rendered her for all intents and purposes indestructible and unbeatable, and would ensure that Earth would never again be threatened with conquest. Unfortunately, in an alliance of planets, one world having such a powerful ship is virtually guaranteed to start a new, major conflict as other worlds rush to build their own super ships to regain the balance of power." The chairman turned to Penelope.
"Ambassador Lang has made a proposal that should not only alleviate the fears of other worlds, but should make the Alliance of Planets a reality." Lang took a deep breath.
"I believe… That if we agree to make the Messiah the first ship of the Alliance of Planet's Space Fleet, with a crew composed of members of all the allied worlds, then the Alliance itself will work. Messiah will be the Alliance's flagship, going out to explore, but being able to showcase our power and technology. This will help us show what we can offer, along with friendship, to new worlds and civilizations, but also act as a deterrent against worlds that may be hostile to our Alliance. And she will be a peacekeeper among the worlds of our own Alliance, a symbol of unity." Lang noted that the amphitheatre was silent. She hoped that was a good thing.
"In the end, ladies and gentlemen, if this Alliance is going to work, the first thing we must offer the other worlds in it is trust. Without which, nothing can be done…"
"… Damn, that's big." Paloma smiled slightly at Beatrix's extremely accurate statement.
"Yes, she is. Biggest thing built by humanity, as a matter of fact. Well, biggest thing we can make move. And the fastest." The little shuttle had broken Earth orbit a few minutes ago, and had set course for Mars. Formally the home world of the Martian Empire, when they had attacked Earth nine years ago they had believed that they would have no problems. Watching Earth's various alien invasion programs over the years, the Martians had concluded that as long as they protected themselves against the common cold, they were safe.
They hadn't counted on the fact that humans were far more ingenious, determined, and courageous than their Hollywood counterparts. Or that their own technology would be used against them when Earth finally returned the favor of invasion. The Martians had been allowed to invade Earth because of a loophole in the Galactic Guardian's code: Unless a civilization asks for GG assistance, the GG cannot offer any. But when the GG intervened on behalf of the Martians against Earth, humanity offered Mars two options: Help them fight the Galactic Guardians, and be given freedom and peace, as well as trading contracts with Earth, or go down with them.
The Martians had made mistakes, but they weren't stupid.
And now, with their help, the first ship of the Alliance of Planets Space Fleet was ready to be commissioned.
Messiah was nearly two kilometers (one thousand, eight-hundred fifty-two meters) in length. Her nose was a small, elongated sphere, with numerous sensor arrays and fins emerging from it. Her "head" was attached by a long, thin "neck", taking up half of Messiah's total length, that led to a cross-like structure, each arm of the cross sporting dozens of small windows and micro-meteoroid deflection rods. These four modules, each the size of a small skyscraper, held Messiah's crew quarters, bridge, science labs, sickbay, and various recreational facilities, to keep the hundred-plus crew supplied and comfortable. Behind the habitat modules was a gigantic sphere, transparent, high-strength alloy windows braced by web-like support struts. It glowed with artificial light, and even from this distance the multitude of vegetation being grown in the bio-sphere was plainly visible. Behind this was a second sphere, even larger than the bio-sphere, but covered in dull gray hull-plating and thick armor. Behind this was the ship's absurdly-small-looking engine assembly, but only a moron would think this massive ship was underpowered.
"That's the fuel tank?" Beatrix gawped at the larger sphere. Paloma nodded.
"Even with the new binary-fusion reactors, we still need to carry about a million tons of lithium deuteride to produce the necessary amounts of power. The fuel cells provide most of the ship's basic power requirements, but her weapons and engines are directly plugged into the reactor system." Beatrix shook her head with a smile.
"No wonder she's called Messiah. She certainly seems godlike in power." Paloma shrugged.
"Her primary mission is exploration, but with her firepower and the new stealth technology we've added, she's also the perfect reason to avoid war. She's our peacekeeper, operated by members of all the worlds of the Alliance."
"Isn't that huge fuel tank a bit easy to target?" Beatrix asked. Paloma smiled.
"If they can find her while she's under cloak, there's about two meter's worth of trinium alloy armor protecting the hull. Along with her structural integrity field, and she's as rigid as a red dwarf. It'd take ramming an Earth-sized planet at fifty percent of the speed of light to destroy her." Beatrix nodded.
"No wonder you wanted her operated by the Alliance. If it was just Earth…" Paloma nodded.
"Yes. She would probably start a war just by being built." Beatrix grinned.
"She'll be in good hands with Noah. His spirit is very bright and pure, despite the hardships he's endured." Beatrix turned to the younger woman and looked at her seriously.
"He cares for you, deeply." Paloma nodded sadly.
"I know… But never as much as he will for Betty."
"I tend to think of love not in terms of how much, but in terms of how well," Beatrix replied mysteriously. Paloma frowned, but was interrupted as the shuttle finally docked with the massive Messiah.
"Mmgh… Unf…" Maximus IQ could be called many things. A tyrant, an egomaniac, a genius (if he did say so himself), and a monster.
At the moment, all he was was a Lynx with a very bad headache. He opened his eyes, tracing the sounds and smells of an open fire to their source.
"Atomic… Betty…" He breathed, blinking at her. She sat opposite of him, nude from the waist up, her legs tucked up against her chest as she stared listlessly at the fire. She looked up at him, her expression blank.
"Just Betty." Maximus blinked again, and looked down at his body, propped up on some leaf-covered rocks to prevent shock. Her top was tied tightly around his midsection, pressed against his wound. He furrowed his brow.
"Pity, Betty? For your enemy?"
"We're not enemies now. The reasons for us to be enemies are gone," she replied dully, returning to staring at the fire. Maximus frowned.
"How so?" He was utterly baffled. He was a tyrant! A conqueror! Betty looked at him with an incredulous expression.
"The Galactic Guardians are gone. Defeated. We were both sent to this world so that we would never threaten anyone ever again. You have no resources, no weapons of mass destruction… I have nothing. Not anymore."
"… It's ironic, I suppose," Maximus mused out loud, after a few moments of silence. "I wanted to find your home world, in order to defeat you… And yet, your home world defeats us both." The Lynx chuckled darkly. Betty shook her head with a sigh.
"Yes… Very ironic…"
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