Road to nowhere, Arc 4 of "Gone with the Sun"

Chaprter 41 Between worlds

A foot on the ground

Peacemaker, Normandy, and Overlord docked at the Citadel before sending their shuttles to Earth. Tevos had left the airlock with a spring in her step, off with Sparatus and Garrus to mend fences with the Salarians.

For all crews, it was time for a bit of shore leave. T'Soni headed for the Presidium, still a construction zone; Karin, Chloe, and Kelly close behind. Tevos would pick up Liara later.

Sanders and Miranda joined Ashley and Cortez, who would take Hackett on to Arcturus before running supplies out to the Exodus chain ("It's the steak and eggs run."). Hannah escorted them all to Anderson's old apartment – now the favored pied-à-terre of Normandy-class commanders.

"How did this place survive?" Liara wondered out loud.

"In a way it didn't." Sanders was their guide here. "The whole Strip was vented when thirty thousand husks came. Only the casino and the arena are up and running again, so far. The place was mothballed and clamped. Most of the population was evacuated to the wards and almost the last act of the Presidium techs was to drop the atmosphere retention fields."

"What happened to the husks, cannibals, and whatnot?"

"They were exploded to space. The keepers restored the fields, but then the crucible dropped them again. It took a month to recover enough power to raise them at last. Meanwhile even the tech survived, mostly."

Conveniently, the apartment was rented out to the Alliance fleet by Anderson's estate. Sanders went upstairs, fossicking through some remnants of her life with Admiral Anderson (and muttering darkly about missing items of personal hygiene). Cortez began checking the Alliance News Net on the big screen, keeping the audio field tight, so long as Liara was practising 'Moonlight' on the piano.

The medics looked around curiously at the multiple bedrooms. Chloe was fairly impressed. "So, this is how Admirals live."

"I wish." (Hannah). "David got this on the proceeds of his salary as a Councilor."

Karin and Hannah brought out tea, coffee, and something fizzy in a glass for Kelly, who was lying back on a sofa with eyes closed. She'd kicked off her shoes and propped her feet on the table. Michel clucked disapprovingly and proffered the glass.

"Sorry, Chloe, my feet are just killing me."

Sanders gave her a bath bag full of… feminine things. "Here, pet. There's a spa pool upstairs. We'll get you clean and rested before the shuttle to Melbourne."

"I thought I was going to Russell."

"Not this time. Brynn's gone into labor, and you'll be next, quite soon. Huerta's still a war zone, with Silon in charge it's an organized war zone but still no place for you."

Kelly looked around. "Maybe I could have baby here?" Chakwas and Michel met this with a stern medical shaking of heads. Lawson, rolling her eyes, explained:

"Jacob's asked for Karin, there's zero chance of the good doctors leaving you behind, and where you go Hannah goes."

"(*Sigh*)"

"Just weeks to go, sweets. Maybe days."

Liara turned. "That's unfortunate. I'd hoped to be around."

"Sorry, T'Soni. You and Tevos have to meet Bellerophon this evening at the dock."

Cortez sat next to Kelly and examined her feet. "Aren't your ankles swollen? Those feet look kind of gracile for the weight you're carrying. Who'd be a woman, eh?"

She gave him a rueful grin. "It's worth it, sometimes."

Miranda appeared at the top of the stairs. "Bath's ready. Come on, Chambers."

"But then you pay for it. That's a precious cargo, but it's a long haul."

Kelly began, slowly, getting to her feet. "That's okay. Maybe one day someone will share the tow."

Cortez watched her pick up the shower bag. "I think you could have your choice of more than just one. Wait up. There's no elevator to the top floor. Stand right there." He got up, cradled Kelly bodily ("Awk!") and carried her up the stairs, Michel watchfully following. "Right, this'll do."

"Very gallant. Thank you! Stop grinning, you lot. Wait up, Cortez." He got a peck on the cheek.

"Awww." (Michel). "Come on, bath then bed. Shuttle in the morning."

By any other name

Hannah came up, having snagged herself a cold beer. "What's going to be the name of the boat? Something suitably martial?"

"No. I thought of continuing the Normandy class theme but nothing suitable presents itself. So far I'm thinking Lucen, or perhaps Aegis. I've got to make a decision before taking on stores, and that means before I head to the dock."

"Hm. Aegis was Athena's shield. It had the Gorgon emblazoned on the front, not nice. Planners took names like Overlord somewhat arbitrarily but the seaborne phase of the Normandy invasion was Neptune. A water god's name, maybe?"

"No thanks. I'm not calling it Kalahira."

"Come with me. Let's check out the possibilities." They moved to the library.

…

Cortez returned downstairs. Liara was now checking the extranet with Hannah.

"So, Bellerophon's your pilot? Funny name for a turian."

"Doesn't work like that, Steve. He's named after a character from olden times, that's a turian thing. That hero gave his name to many things including a planet. Bellerophon's the human name for a similar planet so given some other features as well, the autotranslator net picked that as the closest to the turian."

Cortez nodded. "Ah well. It's a good name for a ship's pilot, anyway. Greek mythology."

Liara looked up. "Oh?"

"Rider of Pegasus. A winged horse. You know horse?"

"A horse is a primitive beast of burden, right?"

The Admiral shook her head.

"Er… in principle yes, Liara. But so is a water buffalo. Some say the myth's foundation in reality was a ship with sails, which looked like wings."

Cortez took that up. "A horse is accounted as a beautiful creature, Liara. A warrior's transport, except a special kind of horse – a unicorn – could only be tamed and ridden by a virgin female. Kind of appropriate. Got any unicorn names?"

This got a laugh from Hannah, then: "Wait, Pegasus rings a bell."

Liara had heard of horses, anyway. "Even unicorns… but Bellerophon? I thought the rider of Pegasus was… um… Perseus?"

Cortez was impressed. "Pretty good for a non-human, Doctor T'Soni."

"It's an archaeologist thing. I've read lot of human mythology. Not much of it stuck, but I can look it up if I recognize it on a tondo."

"Okay. Well for the Greeks, Perseus wasn't the rider, that was a later romantic accretion. Mythmaking in action. Bellerophon was the original."

"Got it!" Hannah stood up from the extranet terminal. "Pegasus can be a Normandy class name."

"How?"

"It's the code name for one of the bridges targeted during the invasion which gave its name to Overlord. That side took Pegasus bridge in a fabulous bit of military derring-do. The opposition was a régime which had enslaved most of Europe and put large numbers of folk in ovens."

"Ovens! Actually, that rings a bell? I think I've heard about that. Appalling."

"No kidding."

"Wasn't that, um, centuries ago?"

"Right, but the conflict brought the biggest death toll in war – up to that point. It's still a defining event."

Liara considered this. "Pegasus bridge was a Commando mission? Low casualties?"

Hannah consulted the extranet screen again.

"Regular army, but airborne. Three glider platoons –"

"Gliders!"

"They were towed by bombers to within a few kilometres, Steve. The gliders made no noise at all which was important for a stealth night action, lots of fog of war, and this will make you laugh; the Pegasus operation was designated Deadstick."

"I don't think we're naming the ship after that."

Liara looked confused.

"I should explain. A dead stick landing, to a pilot, is like what made us nearly crash on the Ardat-Yakshi planet, whatever it was called. Admiral?"

"That's classified."

"Shucks. Anyway, there's no motive power. For normal aircraft in those days that meant the wooden propeller stopped, a 'dead stick.' Okay? But of course every totally normal glider landing is 'dead stick.'"

Liara did not look impressed. "That was bad security."

"Eh?"

"The name of the military operation gives a clue to its nature."

Hannah nodded. "Quite right. A lot of the operation names weren't vetted by the Allied security establishment, because Overlord and Neptune were so secret, their own spies weren't permitted to know about it. Fortunately, by that time the western allies had such complete command of the security sphere that their opponents never even got to hear of the names."

The door bonged.

"That'll be Tevos, Steven. Would you let her in, please? Liara, will Pegasus do?"

"Appropriate for skyborne commandos. And for asari. I'll take it. Now please, please convince the Councilor."

Next chapter: #42, "Good Cop"

Saturday, July 25, 2015