The first half of this chapter continues on from the last one, but the second is the start of something else. All I'll say is: what is Queen Nia up to now? Samdagger.
Chapter 9
The next day, both of them were all snug in the cold weather gear and stood outside on the corner as Cooper outlined her idea for the guardpost and gates, pointing out where it should be and how tall. Bellamy nodded as he realised her vision of what they should do. He saw that the guard post would be a good twelve feet off the ground and with gates almost the same height, it would be a good way to keep thieves out. He'd run it by Murphy as well to see if he could see any flaws in the design.
"How do we reach the guardpost?" he asked.
"Well that's a little bit of a problem. I had thought to have a ladder up to it against one of the walls and enter through a trapdoor. With the ladder at the side, the gates could be opened fully. But if we did that, anyone in the guardpost couldn't get down if the gates were open, nor get up to it either."
"Any other way we could do it?"
"Making stairs would require a lot of wood and we'd have to figure out where to put them. The only other way would be to knock a hole in the warehouse to enter it and I'm not sure we should do that. It's a very old building and I don't want to interfere with its structural integrity." Cooper paused as she thought. "Maybe we could do that from the other building. We haven't started to repair that one yet so it would be easier to do."
"I can see that, but until it is repaired, we have no way of getting up there," Bellamy mused. Cooper stopped as she thought of something and went to check it out.
"Bellamy, what if we put the ladder further along the wall, out of the way of the gates and have a small walkway to the guardpost instead?" she said, pointing out what she envisioned.
"That could work," he said, thinking it through himself. He'd still run it past Murphy for his input for security, though.
Bellamy nodded to himself and they went back inside where it was warmer.
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Once inside Bellamy went to talk to Murphy, taking Cooper's rough sketch with him while Cooper got something to eat. She sat down beside Clarke and opposite Raven.
"So what's going on now?" she asked as she dipped her spoon into the stew.
"Well, we can't do much until this snowstorm's over and then we can only do things around here until Spring," Clarke said. Cooper nodded.
"I still need radio parts," Raven said.
"There may be some at that army/navy place," Cooper said. "Once this weather's settled more and we can get out and about, I'd like to take a couple of people and the wagon - if it's available - and go and empty the place. There's some clothing and other supplies we can use and probably some we don't have a clue what it was for! Either way if we bring it back, we can have a look at what we've got. I'm sure there is some electronic stuff there, Raven."
"Sweet! Can I go?" Cooper looked at Clarke who just shrugged.
"Fine by me," Cooper said. Raven grinned and returned to her food.
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Two days later, the snow stopped and the sun came out. It was still too dangerous to travel as the sun would start melting the snow but the temperatures could fluctuate enough to refreeze it and turn it into ice. Cooper went out and looked at the stables to see how much room they had and where things could be stored. The old stable block could hold six horses and had room for items such as tack and feed. It would do for now, but Cooper had envisioned more wagons and horses for trading between the Skai villages and the surrounding Trikru villages. They may not become nomadic traders, but they could still do some business. She went back inside and went to the maps.
The store she and Bellamy had first found could be emptied out when they had enough room to store it all, the army/navy store would be emptied too and the barracks at Carlisle may be a good enough place to turn into a rest stop for wagons if they do decided to become traders. She next checked where the stations actually were. With them landing where Raven had projected them to land, they were scattered all over. Finding somewhere they could live was going to be difficult if they wanted to be near each other. Freight station was the farthest away and Cooper hoped that the Plains Rider clan had taken them in over the winter - and that those in the station behaved enough to take instruction from them in how to survive!
Next she looked at the maps Clarke had copied from the Commander - with her permission - of the clan lands and their borders. She was checking out any areas where there were no villages near enough that they could have several villages themselves. The only place she could see like that was, unfortunately, inside Azgeda territory. For some reason, Azgeda had nearly the whole of the eastern half of Canada AND also had Michigan within their borders. In fact, Michigan bordered Podakru, who were to the east and Trikru to the south. From the maps she had in front of her, Cooper noticed that Michigan seemed to be uninhabited. Not one village was marked on the maps, which Cooper thought was odd. She looked around for someone to bounce ideas off and saw Murphy.
"Hey, Murphy, come here," she called. He went over to her.
"What's up?" he asked. Since his return from leading Jaha off to find that mythical city, he had mellowed out and wasn't such an idiot or thug. Cooper liked this version of him. Maybe whatever happened out there made him grow up and realise the world didn't revolve around him.
"This is the clan map that Clarke brought back. Look at this," she said, pointing to Michigan. "What do you see?" Murphy bent over the map and studied it carefully.
"If that's Azgeda land, why are there no villages on it? Wouldn't that be a better place to live or farm?" Cooper nodded.
"That's what I was thinking. Remember that stupid history class where we were assigned a state to research? I think we were 16 at the time."
"Yeah, I was given Arkansas!"
"I got Michigan," Cooper replied. Murphy looked interested.
"What did you find?"
"That Michigan is good farmland and produced a lot of the foods that the Americans ate. Wheat, Asparagus, potatoes, blueberries and a whole lot more. You're right, this would be the perfect place to set up a farming community."
"What's the history of it? I mean the new history of it. Why does Azgeda have it and why is it left empty?"
"No idea. Clarke's going to see the Commander tomorrow and I'm going as her guard."
"We have four people who can be her guard, Cooper, you don't have to be one of them now."
"I know, but I prefer it when she goes to the tower that it's either me or Miller. I haven't seen the others and how they act and interact with the locals to judge if they'll do their job properly yet," Cooper admitted quietly to Murphy. He looked at her and slowly nodded.
"I understand," he said, "but Guy, Henry and Liz Torman have proved themselves to both Miller and Bellamy. Not so sure about Walters, though."
"What's wrong with him?"
"Nothing, he just seems like his attention wanders a bit, but he does everything you ask of him."
"Okay then he can be a warehouse guard if he doesn't pan out as Clarke's guard," Cooper said.
"So what are you going to ask the Commander?"
"Why Michigan's empty and why does Azgeda have it? Did they always have it or was it a prize for wiping out another clan before she became the Commander?"
"Alright. Bellamy showed me your sketch of the guardpost and gates you came up with and I agree that it would be a better way to guard this place," Murphy said, changing the subject."
"See any flaws in it?"
"For the gates, no, but the guard post and the way up to it could be tricky in winter. The ladder would have to be wooden to be able to use without getting frostbite and the walkway to it could be covered to provide shelter in storms or high winds," Murphy replied. Cooper nodded as she thought about it.
"I was thinking of how to reach it from the warehouse or the other building but that would require a hole knocked into the walls and I don't trust them not to collapse. Maybe when we're redoing that other building, we can retrofit beams to it through the walls, but I think we'd have to deconstruct that part of the building to do it safely. We don't have the skills to do it the way they did before the bombs."
"We've lost a lot of skills that are needed right now," Murphy said, looking around. "I mean, look at what we are doing here. Up on the Ark, this would never have happened - well except for Nygel, and she only got away with it because she had dirt on just about everyone she did a deal with."
"Nygel's not getting anywhere near our setup!" Cooper said vehemently. "She could destroy everything we've built with one word!"
"I know."
"Where was she stationed?"
"Granary."
"Well, shit!" Cooper said. "That's the one bad one near us we haven't been able to get to yet."
"I know. I volunteered to go there in spring to check them out." Cooper stared at him.
"You!?"
"Yeah, I know, I don't know how that happened," he said, looking a little embarrassed. Cooper laughed.
"Looks like your body or brain made a conscious decision to help people!" she said, still laughing.
"Meaning?"
"Sometimes we do things and have no idea why we did it," she replied. Murphy looked at her.
"Why were you locked up? I know it was a murder charge." Cooper sighed.
"The week before I was arrested, I was in Factory in B section, corridor 4 when I saw Guard Hufman ogling an underage girl. Murphy, she was no more than ten! I called him out on it and everyone around heard the argument. He said he was just watching her in case she did anything suspicious and I pointed out that there had been several people walking through that corridor and he never looked at any of them to see if they were acting suspicious. He stormed off then. A week later, I was arrested for his murder. I didn't do it, Murphy, but maybe someone in that corridor at the time did it and blamed me because I argued with him. All I know was I was arrested and convicted of a crime I never committed." Murphy nodded along and silently sighed to himself. Cooper was just another one wrongly convicted. Murphy swore blind that sometimes, the guards got lazy and never bothered to investigate properly. As soon as they had someone to blame, they did and never looked further. Katherine Wigzell had been arrested for something she didn't do. The real thief came forward and confessed it was him and he was arrested and locked up. Katherine was not released though and that was when they figured out that they didn't give a crap about them or justice, just getting them off the Ark to save on air. Both of them died in the fight at the dropship. Two lives wasted because of the Ark council's abuse of power!
"So what now?"
"We wait until it's safe to travel and then I'd like to take the wagon and a couple of people to that army/navy place and empty it out. I want to find other places too. If we become traders up and down Trirku territory, visiting Skaikru villages wherever they are, we're going to need stock and supplies."
Murphy nodded.
"Anything else right now?"
"Only getting someone to redo the plans into a proper drawing of what I envisioned. Maybe Clarke can do that, she seems restless." Murphy snickered and leaned closer to Cooper so no-one else could hear.
"It's because she hasn't seen the Commander for nearly a week!" he replied, still sniggering. Cooper smiled. So, she wasn't the only person who noticed how close Clarke and the Commander were getting.
"While we were down with Orchid station, apparently they made the move to make it more than just friends - if you know what I mean." Cooper nodded.
"Yeah, I saw how they interacted when we first came to Polis."
"That's one reason for making sure the guards do their jobs. Right now, Miller's on duty if she's staying as a 'guest of the Commander'," Murphy said. Cooper nodded in understanding.
"Hope I don't need to stand the night watch in the tower!" she said and Murphy laughed again.
"Maybe they'll just get together and then her own people can guard them both without all this pretense!" Murphy said.
"Let's hope so," Cooper said. Murphy nodded and moved off to talk to Bellamy about something else. Cooper sighed, she was not doing well with the inactivity during this cold spell!
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
The following day, Cooper escorted Clarke to her meeting with the Commander. She'd talked to Clarke the previous evening about wanting to know about Michigan and Clarke allowed it. Clarke and Cooper greeted the Commander.
"Commander, before we start, Cooper wants to ask you some questions about one of the areas within Azgeda's borders," Clarke said. The Commander turned to Cooper and raised an eyebrow.
"Commander, while looking at those maps of clan lands you supplied Clarke with, I noticed that Azgeda is mostly within the old country of Canada - with the exception of Michigan State." Cooper produced an old world map to show the old borders. With permission, she took it to the Commander and showed her where she was talking about.
"This is the old Canada/USA border. It goes through the lakes but it goes above Michigan state. Michigan is… was American. I was wondering how they got part of America when the rest of Azgeda stayed in Canada?"
"It happened not long after the war actually. Back then there were lots of little settlements. One of the warlords of that time decided he wanted more land and he fought those in that area and took it all. The rest of the settlements - they were not clans then - got together and repelled him from the borders into their lands. Finally, he settled on keeping the whole of that large peninsula," the Commander replied.
"Why are there no villages there now?"
"Because Queen Nia of Azgeda decided that it should be left alone. She wanted everyone within her grasp. Most of the villages more than three hundred miles from her capital were abandoned on her orders and others established where she told them to."
"So no-one lives there?" asked Cooper, incredulously.
"Not that we know of. If anyone escaped her grasp and still live there, they must be hiding, though from what our spies gather, no-one's checked out that area since the Kongeda was formed. With clans now not allowed to raid or invade without consequence, I think she felt safe enough to leave it empty." Cooper nodded and stepped back. If no-one lived there then maybe they could move up towards it but stay on the Trikru side of it. It was not that far from Tesla station at only a couple of hundred miles. Maybe they could find land to farm on the south shore of Lake Erie somewhere around Cleveland. They should be able to find plenty of things to use in Cleveland.
Cooper stood back and tuned back into the conversation Clarke was having with the Commander.
"When this weather lifts enough for travel, I'd like Cooper to take some people to go find more things for us to use and trade," Clarke said.
"It will be another four or five days at least before travel is safe enough," the Commander said.
"I understand," Clarke said. "Right now we are just planning things out. With the cold weather, they can't stay out too long. I don't want them out overnight. We can't survive that yet." The Commander nodded her understanding and acceptance.
"That will be fine, Klark." Cooper kept herself from smiling at the hard k sounds the Commander seemed to produce when talking to her in her own language. Even though English also had hard k's for Clarke, in Trigedasleng it seemed harder.
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It took another week before it was safe to travel. Cooper, Murphy, Raven and Alex went to the army/navy store and started emptying it of everything they could use. Raven was looking for electronics of any kind, Murphy was looking for survival stuff and Alex was sorting through the clothing. Cooper wandered between and around them looking at other things. She'd already found some old paraffin lamps and wondered if they could be converted to electrical ones. With Raven and Monty working on rewiring the old buildings with newly found wire and with eight solar panels now fixed to the warehouse roof, they could have electric lights. It was safer than candles.
"Raven?" Cooper said before hesitating.
"Yeah?" Raven said, turning towards her.
"I remember in science classes something about salt lamps? Is that correct?"
"Salt lamps?" Raven asked, wrinkling her nose as she thought through what Cooper was meaning.
"Oh, you mean SALt lamps!"
"That's what I said," Cooper replied.
"SALt lamps mean Sustainable Alternative Lighting."
"Are they easy to make?"
"Yes and no. They are easy to make, but only have a limited life."
"Are they rechargeable?"
"They can be…" Raven said slowly before stopping. "I'll have to think about it and what we have we could make them from." Cooper nodded.
"Well, you've got all winter for that. I hope they can be easy to make, they'd be safer than candles."
"True, but I'd better get back to looking for the stuff we need." Cooper nodded again and Raven returned to her work while Cooper trawled the aisles looking for other things they could use.
Cooper pulled out a box of walkie talkies and several small commercial radios. She took them to Raven.
"These any good?" she asked. Raven took one look and grinned.
"Put it in the wagon and be careful you don't smash them!" she said, as Cooper walked off with them. Cooper loaded them onto the wagon and then stayed there as others brought things out. Cooper stacked everything they brought out and watched as they went back for more. Soon enough, they had a wagon full of goods and still more to get. They loaded onto the wagon where they could and made it back to Polis just before nightfall. Cooper took the horse back to the Commander's stables and handed him over to Rose. She returned to the warehouse to see Raven and Monty talking in geek speak about all things mechanical and electronic.
"Hey!" Clarke called. "Take it all to your workshop!" They nodded and carried the things out of the warehouse through the back door. The rest of them were busy carrying them to Jason and Hanna who were inventorying everything and then telling them where to put it. Cooper pulled out a box of t-shirts and took them to the shelving when told to. Soon everything had been emptied and they once more returned to doing very little until the next shopping trip or trading opportunity.
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A week later, Clarke called out to everyone in general.
"Who's my guard for the day?"
"I am," Cooper replied.
"Good, get your coat, I'm needed at the healer tents." Cooper nodded and got her coat on. She didn't get into full cold weather gear, she needed to protect Clarke and she couldn't do that all rugged up and looking like a barrel. She put on a thicker pair of trousers and another thin jumper before putting on her down coat and hat and gloves. Even on the short walk to the healer tents, it was still cold!
They set off towards the tents and Cooper immediately felt something was different in the city. Having spent a few months there, she was feeling a prickling at the back of her neck. She was immediately on the defensive and pulled Clarke closer to her. She kept looking around her as they walked. People out and about were quiet and didn't stop to gossip like they usually did. Even in winter, they'd stop to greet someone. Cooper saw people nod to each other but not stop. It got even more weird when two women who were best friends and always stopped for a chat, passed each other with barely a glance at the other.
"Let's go," Cooper said, gently hurrying Clarke towards the tents. Tents was a misnomer. It was an actual old world hospital. Whoever was left after the bombs had used it for its original purpose and only the name changed but it was still a hospital. It wasn't one of the large city hospitals, but it was a smaller private hospital. It was big enough for Polis's needs.
Cooper rushed Clarke into the building and saw several warriors also there, seemingly on guard. That was unusual enough but up ahead, the Commander stood outside a room. They moved towards her.
"Commander?" Clarke called out, unsure why the Commander was there and why she was called to help out.
"Heda Clarke," Commander Lexa said, nodding her head once in their direction. When in public, the Commander was always formal with Clarke so it wasn't seen as favouring her above the others.
"What's going on, Commander?" Clarke asked.
"A group of Azgeda warriors were chasing someone. My warriors took them out and then hunted down whomever they were chasing. The woman they were chasing was one of their own. She is a known assassin for the Ice Queen. We have her in custody in there," the Commander said, indicating the room she was standing outside of.
"Why was I called here?"
"We need your help in treating her. She has been tortured and some of her injuries we haven't come across yet and don't know what to do." Clarke nodded and moved towards the room.
"Fisa Clarke, she is restrained and we will not be letting her loose. Whatever treatment she needs, will be done while she is restrained." The command was clear in Lexa's voice. This was not a caution, but an order.
"Understood," Clarke said and then moved to the door with Cooper on her heels. On the bed was a dirty blonde woman with many healing scars on her body. What shocked Cooper the most though was that she recognised her. Cooper had seen her while they were in the mountain hiding out. Bellamy had pointed her out as someone who helped him get free from his cage. Echo kom Azgeda.
"Echo?" Cooper called out. The woman turned to her.
"You know me? Who are you?" The words were soft and gentle, not harsh and demanding like most clanspeople asked questions.
"Cooper kom Skaikru of Polis," Cooper responded. The woman's eyes widened slightly.
"Were you in the mountain?"
"Sha, I was one of those the maunon took prisoner, only they told us they had saved us from the savages. We didn't know then what they were doing to your people, but one of the mountain people turned on her own people and showed us what they were really doing. We figured out fast that it was also to be our fate. We started a guerilla action inside the mountain."
"Why?"
"If we were to be killed, it would be on our terms. I was not going to stay quiet and do nothing while they plotted my death. I'd already gone through that on the Ark."
"Why are you here, Echo?" Clarke asked.
"Who are you?"
"Clarke kom Skaikru, Skai Heda." The change in Echo was immediate.
"You are in danger! My queen wants you dead or captured!"
"Were you sent to do it?" asked Cooper.
"No, I was still under suspicion because I was held in the mountain. She thinks I was exposed to too much culture from other clans. She thinks I'm somehow contaminated!"
"Contaminated with what?" Clarke asked, running through everything she could think of that she could have.
"With another way of life, one that does not include terror and murder to keep the people in line."
"So you were not trusted anymore?"
"No, I was under guard at all times and confined to the Queen's palace and its grounds."
"So why are you here?"
"Because I heard her talking to one of her generals. She wants the Skai Heda captured or dead. She is scared of the power of Wanheda." Clarke and Cooper looked at each other.
"Who is Wanheda?" Cooper asked.
"Skai Heda is Wanheda," Echo said as if it should be obvious.
"What does that mean?" Clarke asked.
"Commander of death," Echo replied. Cooper was immediately on guard and she turned to one of the other warriors in the room.
"Go to our embassy and bring back Miller, Murphy and Guy! Go! Now!" she yelled at him. He nodded and ran out of the room and the Commander stepped inside.
"Why are you not treating her?"
"We haven't got that far yet, Commander," Clarke said.
"Why not?"
"Because we've just found out why she's here."
"You have? She would not talk to us."
"Clarke is Wanheda and the Ice Queen wants her dead or captured. I've sent one of your warriors for three more of our guards," Cooper said, still on edge and ready to protect her Heda. Lexa's reaction was immediate with her calling for more guards to surround the healer tents and for several more to enter the tents.
"Clarke is to be protected at all times!" the Commander said.
"Sha, Heda," Cooper said with a slight nod of her head, but not looking in her direction.
"Echo, I need to look at your wounds," Clarke said. Echo nodded her head and Clarke moved towards her. Cooper shadowed her but let Clarke do her work without interfering with her movements. Several minutes later, pounding footsteps could be heard echoing down the corridor and then the door burst open as Miller, Murphy, Guy and Bellamy entered.
"Echo?" Bellamy said, looking at the woman who had helped him.
"Bellomi," she said. "You kept your promise."
"What promise?" Clarke asked before the Commander could.
"To free us from our cages and get us out of the mountain," Echo replied.
"That wasn't me, Echo, that was the Commander."
"But you were in there, helping to free us even before the Commander and the clans arrived."
"They had our people in there. We don't leave our people behind if we can help it," Bellamy replied. Echo nodded once. It was not something the Azgeda did. With them it was everyone for themselves once the queen abandoned them.
"What happened?" Bellamy said, looking at the various injuries he could see.
"Queen Nia wants to kill Clarke or capture her. She is gathering her warriors and wants to go find the Skai villages and destroy them and capture or kill Wanheda in the process." Cooper growled.
"Over my dead body!"
"Quite possibly," Echo said.
"When?" asked Murphy.
"Now," Echo said. "Once she has a sufficient force, she intends to invade Trikru lands to find the Skaikru villages." Commander Lexa ordered a messenger sent to Tondc for Indra and Octavia and some more warriors to be gathered on the way. She also sent messengers to the other Ambassadors for a meeting within three candlemarks, no excuses.
Clarke continued to check Echo over and clean up and stitch her up. She asked Echo if she had any other injuries.
"One, on my back. Sword strike." Clarke nodded and asked for one of the restraints to be removed so she could look at the injury. The warriors were reluctant but she barked the order again and this time a warrior removed her left hand and then stood back and drew his sword. Clarke helped Echo sit up and gasped at the large open wound she saw.
"I need you to turn over onto your front, Echo. This is going to require surgery to close."
"Surgery?" Echo asked.
"We need to knock you out to fix this. It's going to be extremely painful and before you go saying you are a trained warrior and pain is just an inconvenience, you will still flinch and I need you completely still otherwise you may be paralysed for life. Let me heal you, Echo and put your pride aside for once!" Echo looked at her and then sighed and nodded.
"May Bellamy stay?"
"Yes, but he must not interfere with my treatment. I may have to cut out some of this dead skin."
"Sha, Heda," Echo said. Bellamy and Guy helped her to turn over after they had removed the other restraint. Once she was on her front, Commander Lexa ordered her to be restrained again. Clarke objected and only allowed it if she could place Echo's body into the position she needed it to be. If her hands were tied above her head, her back wouldn't heal correctly. Clarke placed Echo's arms over the side of the bed just below shoulder level and then the restraints were replaced once more.
"I need a healer with knowledge of the internal muscles and bones," Clarke said to the Commander. Lexa left to order one to assist Clarke.
"Alright, once Echo is sedated, I want only myself, the healer, Cooper and Bellamy in the room. Everyone else needs to leave!" Clarke's words held the sharp edge of command.
"Sha, Heda," several warriors said.
Once Clarke had Echo sedated and she was sure the healer would be helpful, the others left and Murphy and Miller immediately went to the Commander.
"What's going on?" Murphy asked.
"The Ice Nation is on the march to invade my lands to destroy the Skai villages and either capture or kill Clarke!" Both Miller and Murphy looked at each other.
"When?"
"Now. She is gathering her army right now."
"We have two villages out there close to their borders, Commander," Murphy said.
"Three with Tesla Station, " Miller said.
"How far is Tesla from their borders?"
"Around 200 miles, but I don't think their queen cares about that."
"We need to send warriors to help defend both Farm and Tesla stations, and a message sent to Podakru about Hydro being a target too," Miller said. Both Murphy and the Commander nodded.
"I have called a meeting of the ambassadors including the Azgeda Ambassador. We don't think he is aware we know their plans."
"How many warriors can you spare to defend our villages?" Murphy asked.
"I'll be sending Indra to Farm station with three hundred warriors. I'll send General Chester and three hundred more warriors to Tesla station. It would be better for someone to accompany those going to Tesla station. They may think they are being attacked by my people."
"I think we'll send Sterling there. He can act on our behalf. Cooper will have to tell him where exactly Tesla is."
"We also need to send a message to Arkadia and to Factory stations to prepare for an attack if they get through us," Miller replied.
"Maybe Factory can move closer to Arkadia," Murphy said and then reversed his thoughts. "On second thoughts, Arkadia wouldn't be able to feed them all."
"If Arkadia knows where Factory is, Abby may decide to bring them into the fold anyways," Miller said with a grunt.
"This is a mess!" Murphy said with a sigh. If Factory stayed where they were, they couldn't defend Arkadia which was a small distance closer to Azgeda. If they went to Arkadia's help, then Abby would want them to stay with them or at least would think she was in charge of them as well.
"We need Clarke's input on this," Miller said. Murphy nodded.
"We'll have to wait until she's finished with her patient," Murphy said.
"Anything we can do without permission?" asked Miller.
"No, we need Clarke's official approval as our Heda to do anything other than warn the stations."
"Can we send messages to Arkadia and Factory Station?" Miller asked the Commander.
"I can send someone. I will make sure that they do not tell Arkadia about Factory nor how close they actually are."
"Mochof, Heda," Miller said with a bow. The Commander nodded once and then stepped back to the door and waited for Clarke to finish with the Azgeda assassin.
ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
Oho, what will happen next? Hold on to your hats people, it's gonna get bumpy! Another chapter next Sunday. Samdagger.
