Road to nowhere, Arc 4 of "Gone with the Sun"
Chapter 36 The Bartered
Hard Bargains
Sparatus and Victus followed Garrus and Riley through the dock access to an honor guard. Once formally on board, Sparatus' first priority was to find the asari councilor, but Overlord was docked on the far side of Orizaba and the groups didn't meet till 1700 military time, nearly two hours after arrival, for a light repast where dextro- and laevo- snacks were served.
Hackett looked unusually relaxed. Tevos had described her journey in breathless detail, then approached Victus regarding a Normandy-class frigate for the council, cost no object. This could have been a problem; the dock had only produced six, split between the human and turian military. Four were already commissioned. The dock's schedule didn't allow for further builds till late next year.
Sparatus was definite that the unassigned turian vessel would be needed for assisting allies such as Wrex and the Volus – finding potential temporary colonies nearby, for example. For the next couple of centuries or however long it took to properly knit the galaxy back together. Tevos looked very disappointed. Vakarian went with Riley to Hackett and had a private word.
The result was fascinating; Hackett conferred with his senior staff (Coats, Shepard senior, Mikhailovich) and let it be known that since they had Normandy it would not be unacceptable for the last human frigate to be reassigned to the asari military. Vakarian and Victus advised that heavy hints about money and crew had been dropped.
After some negotiation, it was determined that the asari would defray the costs of two frigates to be built at the end of the next accounting cycle. Since one human ship had gone to an independent mercenary group, the asari captain should be civilian, which was actually appropriate for a Councilor's ship. It was very strongly suggested that the captain should be Dr Liara T'Soni, and the executive officer should be asari military; Hackett suggested Coreen Lemaes, in whom he had confidence.
These conditions were accepted, and made Councilor Tevos very happy. The only difficulty was that Dr T'Soni could not be immediately notified; she was in conference. Admiral Shepard undertook to let her know.
Hard Lessons
Sparatus, Victus, and Vakarian met in a secure bubble around Peacemaker's conference room.
"Don't blame yourself for letting Overlord and Normandy beat us here, Vakarian."
"It's hard, sir."
"You didn't do a trial run the way Overlord did – there was too much fitting out of the blitz pod to finish – and the Normandy pilot has been this way many times."
"But I should have anticipated it wouldn't be plain sailing."
Victus shook his head. Only Vakarian had been in the co-pilot's seat during transit, but Victus and Sparatus had a memorable view from stations set up in the lounge.
"You did well. Why is the geometry of the relays so difficult?"
"That's restricted. Human-classified, but not at high-level. I can tell you, but it should not leave this bubble. The reason is something I want to chase up, though."
"Yes?"
"They're going to have strong encryption and IFF. Also there's an out-of-band command and control channel. The IFF is to be permissive until hostilities begin. The clear implication is, there's potential for using reconfigurable relays as a trap for pursuing Reaper forces."
"Ah. Any other little surprises up their sleeves?"
Vakarian hesitated: "Riley's been told to ensure we have our IFF updated by the end of this watch. But there's more. I can feel they're keeping something back. It seems to be on a need-to-know basis, T'Soni just said later. In twenty minutes, at the end of the current watch, there's a ways-and-means conference chaired by Coats."
That was the current captain of this ship, Orizaba.
"But that's probably just concerned with fleet movement details, they've finished with offshoots from N-5 and are looking to advance the main stem again. Few stars exist this far out of the galactic plane. But they've got frigates and cruisers scouting out rogue gas giants with magnetic fields so the FTL cores can be discharged."
"Understood." This matched Sparatus' discussions with asari and salarian staff.
"Both Hackett and Admiral Shepard are heading back to Sol system in…" – Victus checked his omni-tool – "two and a half hours, at the end of the next watch period. Hackett's moving on to Arcturus after that."
"Are we returning to Earth also?"
"It would be advisable, Councilor, though there's time if you or Vakarian have people you need to see. Coats for example is on the skeleton crew this week."
Vakarian agreed. "Peacemaker really should be undocked not long after Normandy."
"What are your immediate plans, Vakarian?"
"I could check on Wrex next. The Krogan cold-sleep ships are a twelfth of the way to Tuchanka. But he won't like being woken up. In my opinion, and the Primarch concurs, after we've ferried you back it's time for Peacemaker to join T'Soni. When she's not being a taxi for Tevos, she's on some classified project the humans needed asari help with. Maybe she'll eventually spill the beans."
"The Shadow Broker? Not likely."
"As you say, Primarch. But Liara's asked for some company. She's never been at the controls of any spacecraft bigger than a shuttle before, with the sole exception of some sort of research ship around Hagalaz – and I'm told she only piloted that one to send it at ramming speed into a Cerberus cruiser. Lemaes is as much a novice pilot, and there's a doctrine evolving that exploration frigates should proceed in pairs."
"One cloaked, one scanning, right."
"When we're done with asari projects, we'll visit here again at the fleet's next stop."
"Where's that?" asked Sparatus.
"Orizaba and the rest of the fleet will be proceeding to the N-6 waypoint, which means in a little over eight hours nearly all the crew will be in cold sleep, for some time."
Garrus nodded. "Humans don't live any longer than we do. The next leg of the track will take over two months by FTL."
Soft Bargains
An antenna quivered.
Seventeen fifty. Time to wake him properly, before I fall asleep too. Disengage here from there… right.
"We are about to have a domestic."
"Wha?" Very groggy John. No implants.
"Do bear in mind, your bones aren't as solid as they could be. Pain in your tendons will help tell you when you're at risk."
"Wait, what?" Wow, that was fast waking. Soldier stuff?
Kelly slid off the bed and began dressing. "We have about ten minutes before the shift change and we can expect visitors. Doctors, at least, visitors, probably." Panties, good. Stockings, there they are.
"Watch change. It's not a shift, it's a watch. I guess it wouldn't do to find nurse in bed with patient." That's the bra done. Lower tunic, blouse.
This got him a smooch on the cheek. "Indeed not. It would amuse your mother, I think, but Chloe would dine out on the story for years." Upper tunic, hurry now. Hat fell off, oops. Wait for it.
"How about wife in bed with patient?"
Bingo. Kelly looked around, watching John's reactions from the corner of her eye. She couldn't see a suitable niche, cupboard office, or desk for being inconspicuous behind.
"Not marrying you." Cloak.
!
"Still not quite the done thing, anyway." Non-sterile feet. Going to have to tell the room's VI to lightly disinfect.
!?
"Told you we'd have a domestic." Oh dear, John looks very sad. She took one rapid step towards him, big smooch. Finger on lips. "It's not you, not really."
This was a very compact trauma centre. Everything folded into neat cupboards. Well, she'd just have to wing it. You never know what that bad lot Michel will do. I predict Liara. Probably not Garrus, hope not, could be awkward.
John wasn't so sad, now. Good. More… thoughtful. Uh oh.
"What do I have to do? Stop being a soldier?"
He'd got to the bottom of that awfully fast.
"Well, yes… but no. Because then you wouldn't be you. And it would not end well."
Petulant expression. Well that's better than those wounded eyes.
"I can't be a soldier, and I can't not be a soldier." He was looking a little grim. "But women live longer than men anyway, and I'm older than you to begin with. Statistically, you'd be a widow one day even if I wasn't a soldier."
"Please. We'd be different people. Right now, the loss would kill me. Better not to have you in the first place. This was never meant to happen, anyway."
"Says who? Suppose I put down all the Reapers?"
"Doesn't matter. And I refuse to be the reason for Reapercide. It's still a form of genocide. And there would always be some new threat."
Now it was his turn for a sigh. "I'm not going to win this, am I?"
"Not at this time. You'll find someone… not put off by the risks and perils."
"But we'll be different people one day."
"John, you haven't been listening, and we're running out of time. I have to go back to Earth soon. I want you to look out for Miranda."
"Miranda!?"
"Yes. She's becoming a little… antisocial. Be careful of her please. She's important to you, and you're important to her."
"Are you suggesting what I think you are?"
"Just make sure she has something to live for. She's not taking risks exactly. But I don't think she cares, any more. "
There was a very diffident knock at the door, which meant someone was being diplomatic. The access panel showed green. That silly Chloe set me up.
Kelly shook her head, sniffling. Need tissues. "John, I know I can't have you. If I try, you won't come home one day. Although, actually…"
She approached the bed and crouched so her face was level with his; Shepard noted a teardrop.
"… you can always have me. Anytime at all. Okay?"
John was nodding slowly, but in understanding, not agreement.
"Where's home?"
– Next chapter will be #37, "Second Dog Watch…"–
Thursday, July 23, 2015