Min walked through the halls of the Plataea, flexing his new arm as he headed towards one of the training decks. As part of his recovery, he had been assigned to oversee the training of Delta-company. Supervising a ten-mile run with a group of children between the ages of six and eight was a light workout even for non spartan personel, but for a spartan, it was practically a vacation. Still, Min felt a certain restlessness in his bones. The captain had assured him that the best of the Plataea's science division were analysing the debris from the creature he had killed, but every time he thought about the strange icy creature with glowing blue eyes, a shiver ran down his spine.
He still couldn't quite get the experience out of his head, even after the two weeks of post-surgery leave he had been all but forced to take. Ideally, he would have headed back north, seeing through the rest of his squad's time at the research facility, but that was no longer possible. After the encounter with the 'Other' as the locals had called it, the captain had decided to post another two satellites in orbit above the north. Combined, they had near total surveillance over the entire region, and were tracking any storm that even slightly resembled the one Min and his team had encountered.
Whatever the captain decided. Min knew that he wasn't going back north any time soon. Spartan teams were all but competing for the few away missions that were sent out every few months, and with his team having been on three such missions in the last two years, he knew that they would not be up for redeployment for a long time. Instead, he and his team would be stuck at the Plataea, aiding in construction and using their time to patrol both the UNSC's camp and the native district that was quickly becoming a town on its own.
Min had considered requesting construction duty, especially with the newfound interest he had found in it while building his little cabin in the north. However, there was no room for his own ideas in the planning of New Currahee. Pre-fabricated designs and plans used on colony ships like the phoenix needed little input or alteration, and Min found that he missed planning out his own hall's many additions and adaptations as he went about the menial work of directing steel, rebar, and concrete into place for another mid-rise building.
Min had thought about bringing up his dissatisfaction with the captain and making a request, but the man was off in the native capital, attending the wedding of the new sovereign and wouldn't be back until the end of the week. Instead, he had sent his request to the XO, and Jennifer had promised him to bring it up the next time there was a meeting between her and the captain.
With nothing to do but wait, Min felt as if there was no way to put off what was probably going to be the hardest part of his idea. He would need to tell his squad. Pulling himself together, Min steeled his resolve. He was a spartan. He had faced down the endless waves of Covenant armies, been bombarded from above by their fleets and their plasma, he could have a discussion with the three people he was closest to in all the world.
Kurt all but slouched back into his seat as he ordered Kai to see to their departure. The celebrations for the new ruling dynasty had lasted more than a week, with games and contests and more food than Kurt had ever seen in one place. The Westerosi seemed to be obsessed with food, to the point where Kurt was fairly sure that the only learning and innovation the entire civilisation tolerated was to do with cooking.
Still, even through the foul smell of the city and the utter lack of hygiene and urban planning, the food was good enough that Kurt had requested more recipes from the cooks than he had alliances or trade opportunities with the houses of the continent. That was not to say he had been lax on that front. At least a dozen northern houses would be seeing a good amount of farming equipment sent to them come the spring. The Age of Enlightenment in Earth's seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had seen a large jump in innovation, not surpassed until the industrial revolution over a century later. Autumn had managed to take quite a bit of her knowledge on history and worked with a team, made up of a mixed assortment of officers and soldiers with experience in farming, to make a series of historical recreations that had been great advancements compared to their Westerosi counterparts. While the Westerlands had long been the first kingdom to receive and benefit from the advancements the Plataea produced, Kurt had decided that with his relationship with Tywin newly rocky, and the goodwill of enough of the other kingdoms that had been earned with their participation I the war, it was time to branch out and begin the slow uplifting of the rest of Westeros, and with luck, the entire planet.
Kurt let out a deep sigh, swiping through the various reports and documents that had been sent from the Plataea, as well as summary reports from the various away missions in Essos and Sorythos. Teams Kilo, Romeo, and Tango had mapped out a full accounting of the cities of Myr and Tyrosh, and were about halfway done with Lys. Kurt almost chuckled when he read the report. The first two cities had been comparatively simple, simply posing as traders and wandering the city by day and sneaking by night. Lys, the city of pleasure, on the other hand, was decidedly more difficult, at least for his spartans. Lys was supposedly an island paradise filled with brothels and bordellos that catered to every taste, and to wander the city without visiting any such establishments made his spartans stick out. He had had to almost order team Tango to enter a brothel to dissuade a tail they had gained from a suspicious guard. His spartans might not have had the possible side-effects of the thyroid implants his generation had undergone, but being raised as spartans had kept them all very distant from the subject of sex in anything other than a clinical manner.
Perhaps he would need to do something about that. If they were indeed stuck on Westeros, as both the now very talkative AI Mendicant Bias, and his various science teams indicated, then they would need to start putting down real roots. It pulled at Kurt's gut to think about it. Though his spartans weren't his children biologically, he saw each and every one of them as his, and Kurt would rather die than see any of his children hurt. Now, there was the distinct possibility that he was going to have to start discharging his children from the UNSC. It was an outcome that he had rarely contemplated. Of course, he knew intellectually that the war would end, hopefully with their victory. He had also hoped, however flutily, that his children would survive the war. So far, he'd done a good job if he did say so himself, and spartan casualties had numbered less than a dozen across the three companies. Now, Kurt was facing a reality that he had barely contemplated.
The war was over, or if it wasn't they were sidelined for the foreseeable future, and Kurt had to face the very real possibility that without the ability to return to the front, he would need to pivot to colonisation. That pivot would mean discharging UNSC personnel for the purpose of forming a colonial government, and his spartans would be amongst them.
A fear Kurt had never felt pulsed through him, a fear he wondered if Catherine had ever felt. He would need to send his spartans out into the world, not to fight, but to live. How would his children, who had been raised to slaughter Covenant soldiers, respond to the quiet lives of civilians? To the prospect of jobs, homes, families? Would they adjust, would they be left in the wind with the level of indoctrination that he had instilled in them to make sure they survived?
Kurt had never thought he would regret what he had done, and he still didn't, but now he wondered if he might have added at least one or two socialisation classes in the training of alpha, beta, and gamma companies. Quickly he noted down his realisation, so that he could go over it with Jennifer and Mendez. Even if he couldn't go back and help his first sets of children, he could incorporate this new perspective into the deltas' training. Better now, early on in their upbringing, than later.
A knock at his door jolted him from his thoughts, and Kurt mused that more and more, someone knocking at his door was the only time outside of sleep and sometimes meals that he was not worrying about the future of his ship and crew.
"Come in." The door opened slowly, creaking slightly, and reminding Kurt he needed to have the hinges oiled.
"Captain." Hazel walked in, followed by Jane, Rhaella, and Elia.
The four women entered his office, with Ser Arthur and Ser Barristan standing at the door.
"You Grace, Princess." Ser Barristan said, looking entirely uncomfortable with where he was.
"Perhaps this should not be discussed now. The celebrations of the wedding are still underway, and it would be quite rude to depart now."
"I don't care much for indulging in courtesy with Cersei Lannister." Elia said, sounding entirely fed up with the new queen.
"Elia, please." Rhaella quietly admonished, stroking the Dornish princess's arm and calming the aggravated woman.
"Lord Kurt. What Elia means is that both she and I are rather eager to return to our children, and that with the agreement to ferry Aegon, Rhaenys, Ashara, and Edwyle back to Dorne, Elia is impatient to travel back to her homeland."
Kurt leaned back in his chair. It was true that the only thing delaying the transfer of the Targaryen and Dayne hostages was their attendance at the wedding. Elia was also right that Cersei Lannister had become unbearable since she had married Robert. The young Lannister queen had always been selfish, concerned mostly with her own wishes and desires and considering the wants of others as distantly second to her own. Already, the preferred duties of the Red Keep had flipped. Under Aerys, the job of guarding and attending to the king had been seen as near suicide, so vicious was his temper. Now under Robert, most of the servants vied to serve the king, for it meant not only a day with the boisterous and jolly man, but time away from the rather demanding queen.
Even Kurt and his people hadn't been immune to the newfound power of the queen. Already, three of his alpha company spartans who had accompanied him to King's Landing had been ordered around by the new queen. Their refusal to engage in her demands, all of them rather petty so far, had sparked some rage from Cersei, but a few words with Tywin, who had then sat his daughter down, had quieted her demands, though not her petulance over their defiance.
"You aren't wrong, either of you really. We have the details largely worked out with Doran and Oberyn, and the messages your brothers and Ser Arthur have sent have likely made it to Starfall and Sunspear by now."
"Then we may depart soon?" Elia asked. "I long to be reunited with my son and daughter. I'm sure Rhaella would agree, and the lords of Westeros would not begrudge two former royals wishing to return to their children."
"Likely not." Kurt nodded. "I'll make the arrangements, and we should be able to leave by tomorrow or the day after. I will have to inform the king, his new council, and Tywin."
Elia and Rhaella exchanged glances and smiled. Standing as one they made to leave.
"By your leave then, my lord."
"Wait just a moment." Kurt said, getting up out of his chair.
He reached into a drawer, pulling out what looked to the two women like a small black box. Crossing his desk, and the rest of the room he stood in front of the two ladies.
"I believe I explained to you, Lady Rhaella, about my culture's use of rings as a signifier of marital commitment."
Rhaella's eyes widened, looking at the box. It was true, Lord Kurt had explained to her the significance of rings in Terra weddings. In a later conversation he had explained the concept of engagement and wedding rings as different things, though he felt no need for her to wear two different rings, and the concept was not familiar enough to Rhaella for her to ask.
"Even though we have announced our engagement and invited the nobles of Westeros, it would be good, in my opinion, that we demonstrate it more physically."
Kurt popped open the ring box, revealing thick and sturdy band of silver. There were veins of black across the silver, and Rhaella thought she could make out words carved along the inside of the ring. Gingerly, she picked up the piece of jewellery and turned it over in her hand. Now that she could examine it up close, she could see that there was indeed something written in the common tongue along the inside of the ring.
'With this ring, you have my solemn vow.'
"My Lord." Rhaella said, covering her mouth as Elia leaned in to read the lettering.
"I had hoped that this might be further proof of my sincerity." Kurt said, looking almost bashful for a moment. "I admit I am inexperienced with act of romance, but I hope this is something you can understand is a symbol of my commitment to our arrangement."
Rhaella had many beautiful pieces of jewellery, most of them more expensive and stunning than this one. Rings and necklaces studded with diamonds and rubies and precious gems, but this one seemed to make all others dull in comparison. This was not just a fancy trinket after all, this was a vow, a promise. She had sold herself to this man for the safety of her children, almost expecting to be betrayed, as Aerys had betrayed her so many times in their youths and throughout their marriage. Instead, Lord Kurt had made it clear time and again that what he had agreed to give her in return for her compliance would be hers.
Perhaps it was wrong that his ring made her heart flutter for this man more than anything Aerys had ever done. Perhaps it made her a poor mother to find some contentment in her arrangement with the man who had murdered Rhaegar, but for the safety of Viserys and the child in her womb, she needed this new husband to be satisfied. Never had she thought that he would strive to satisfy her as well.
"I… I am glad for your vow, my Lord." Rhaella said, slipping the ring onto the fourth finger of her right hand, as Dr. Mitsushima had explained to her one session when they had discussed the marriage traditions of her people
"I'm glad." Again, that same smile returned, the look of a man dealing with children, and with his bit done he returned to his desk. "I will speak with Tywin in a few hours, and the king at tonight's feast. Barring any complications, we should be able to leave by tomorrow afternoon."
Rhaella felt relief surge through her chest. It would be good to be away from the Red Keep, and the memories that seemed to haunt her along every corridor and in every room. Elia too seemed happy, more than ready to be reunited with her children and given a chance to return to her homeland.
"By your leave then, My Lord." The two curtsied before leaving the room, Hazel and Jane trailing behind them with Arthur Dayne and Barristan Selmy coming up at the rear.
Watching them leave Kurt turned in his seat, looking over some of the reports from the Plataea sent over by Mendez, Jennifer and Autumn. Scrolling down, Kurt noticed a personal message from his XO. It was rare for her to send messages over private channels. Typically, it was only done if she had a serious disagreement with his actions as a captain, and even then, only when naval strategy and deployment was concerned.
Opening the message, he scanned over the text, seeing the unsigned forms that she had attached. Eyes widening, he realised what Jennifer had sent, and a part of him seized up in something he had only vaguely felt. Kurt knew a fear response when he felt one, and what he was feeling now was absolutely a fear response. Not to anything physical, there was virtually nothing on this planet that could evoke that from him. Instead, this was a fear that Kurt had only felt a few times, and now he was feeling it for an entirely different reason.
Kurt stood up from his desk, marching out the door towards Tywin's personal quarters. He needed to get back to the Plataea soon, and that meant informing the relevant heads of state. It seemed that Elia and Rhaella would get their wish of a swift departure, as Kurt fully planned to get out the city after the night's feast.
Ashara Dayne was quickly and quietly brought from her room to the glass dome at the top of the Plataea. Just minutes ago, she had been sleeping, feeling for the first time in weeks as if she was finally healing from whatever the birth of her son had done to her. A warmth in her chest had been lit over the time since her abduction, and where once she had felt a strange emptiness when with her son, now she felt more.
The Maesters of the Plataea cautioned her that her journey to healing was far from complete, and to continue to take their medicines in order to fully recover. She had adhered to their advice, if for no other reason than caution that they might take action against a disobedient captive. Now she was being ushered to the top of the great castle, told that Lord Ambrose had returned from the capital with news.
Ashara felt her heart hammer away in her chest. She knew of the deal that Lord Ambrose had made with Elia and Rhaella, of trading their thrones for their safety and that of their children, but there was a marked difference between agreeing to the terms of their captors, and explaining the situation to the lords of Westeros without a response of violence. As the strange doors to what the Terras had called their elevator opened, Ashara found her friend and the former queen seated at one of the glass tables and benches that had been placed around the area. Taking a deep breath to steady herself. Ashara stepped with as much purpose and confidence as she could muster, striding across the room and drawing the eyes of the three people seated at the table.
Lord Kurt was the first to notice her, seeing as he was seated facing her, and rose to his feet to welcome her. Elia and Rhaella followed quickly after, rising and turning to embrace her. Elia wrapped her arms around her first, hugging the other woman close while the two of them sought some comfort in the familiar embrace of the other. Breaking away. Ashara took a moment to inspect her friend up close, seeing that the Princess of Dorne looked as healthy as she had ever been, and was dressed appropriately for her station. Elia's eyes roving over her own form let Ashara know that the other woman was doing the same to her, and tried to convey her own stability.
By contrast, her embrace with Rhaella was almost clinical. The Targaryen queen was hardly someone she was close to, being acquaintances bound only by their shared love for Elia and her children. Still, Ashara had never counted the woman as someone she disliked, and her sudden acquisition of a spine when dealing with their captors had earned the former queen more respect from the Dornish woman than her husband ever had.
"Ah, Lady Ashara." Lord Kurt crossed the table, greeting her with respect before gesturing for her to take a seat at Elia's side.
"Now then, since we are all here, we should begin. To catch Lady Ashara up to speed; the great council in King's Landing has declared Lord Robert Baratheon as king, and with both Lady Rhaella and Lady Elia's support, we have decided that it is time to fulfil our end of our agreement. In the coming days, we will have Lady Ashara and Lady Elia moved from the Plataea to Starfall, where you may then use whatever manner of transport is appropriate to move from there. Lady Rhaella will of course remain here at the Plataea, and by the end of the next year, will engage in a political marriage with myself to ensure a peaceful transition of power over to the new dynasty."
Ashara felt relief surge through her. In whatever privacy they had been able to steal from the Terras within their keep, she, Elia and Rhaella had discussed in hushed whispers on whether or not Lord Kurt would keep to his end of their bargain. With all three of them and their children held captive, there was very little keeping the man from simply changing their arrangement. To hear Lord Kurt speak of the imminence of their freedom soothed some of that worry. Even with her relief almost palatable, Ashara knew that this freedom was bittersweet. After all, while she and Elia and their children would be returning to their home, Rhaella would remain behind, still all but a prisoner to the people who had toppled her family's dynasty.
"Thank you, Lord Kurt." Elia offered a wane smile, gripping Rhaella and Ashara's hands in her own.
"Rest assured that we will do all in our power to fulfil the stipulations of the new friendships between our houses. I'm sure that Ashara and I will see you again once the time comes for your and Rhaella's wedding."
"Good." Kurt returned Elia's smile with one of his own before gesturing for one of the soldiers who stood behind him to come forwards.
"Before we conclude tonight's business. I have something I believe belongs to Lady Dayne."
Ashara's gaze darted to the long case that the man behind Lord Kurt brought to them. The man set the case down on the glass table, popping a pair of clasps and raising the lid. Ashara's breath hitched as she beheld the milky while surface of Dawn. Instantly her heart seized in dread, fearing the worst of fates that might have befallen Arthur. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the arms of her chair, and did not relax until she felt Elia's own hands settle over her own.
"Please Ashara." The princess of Dorne soothed her. "It is not what you think. Lord Kurt did not kill Arthur. He is on his way home, back to Starfall, as we speak, hoping to meet us when we arrive."
Ashara's body slowly unclenched, and she held back the tears that had started to pool in her eyes.
"And how does he have Dawn then?" She demanded. "How did you take the sword that has been held by the Daynes of Starfall since the Dawn Age?"
"I won it." Was Lord Kurt's polite and rather dull response.
"A trial by seven was called to determine the succession of the Iron Throne, and your brother was one of the champions who defended the claims of Aegon and the Targaryens. Honestly, my people wanted to analyse some of the local metallurgy, and both Dawn and the valyrian steel we acquired were fascinating examples of the local methods. I'd be more than happy to return the blade with you and your son, as I assume that with his defeat, and the acts he performed which aided in starting this war, your brother will no longer be considered a worthy wielder as the tradition goes."
Ashara had to bite back a scream. How dare he? How dare this duplicitous, traitorous, vile man judge Arthur as lacking in honour enough to wield Dawn? For all that her brother had aided Rhaegar in his actions, Arthur had been duty bound to obey the king and prince he had sworn his service to. Even as the fury to defend her brother boiled in her guts, she held her tongue. It would do her no good to scream and shout at this man, particularly when he still held Dawn in his hands and any disobedience or wrath on her part might convince him to keep her family's most precious treasure.
Putting on a smile, wooden and brittle as it might be, Ashara swallowed her misgivings.
"My thanks my lord. I am sure my brother Lord Dayne will be very grateful for the return of our family's ancestral sword."
"Wonderful." Lord Kurt's face split into that same satisfied smile, the kind that was an almost otherworldly mix of patience and condescension as far as Ashara was concerned.
"By the end of the week, we should have everyone ready for travel to Dorne, and have a good route planned out to properly move you without attention."
Of course, Lord Kurt, and the rest of the Terras of Fair Isle, would not want proof to spread about their strange ships that sailed through the air. The only reason they knew about then was that they had already travelled in one, and Ashara knew that few would believe them without proof, or at least a much more well-known rumour to give their words credence.
Lord Ambrose rose form his seat, prompting the three noble ladies to do the same. Rounding the table, the spartan lord gestured for their guards to escort them back to their chambers and ensure they were properly prepared for their coming journey back to their homeland.
Ashara's last view of the man had him standing at the edge of the massive glass dome, staring out at the ever-growing settlement that even in the dead of night was filled with movement and lights.
Yay! Elia and Ashara and their kids get to go home. Within the next few chapters the Rebellion's story arc should be mostly wrapped up, and the next arc can begin. One thing I'd like to let everyone know, especially those who want the UNSC to have taken a more active role. You have to remember that for the most part, the UNSC has been operating under the assumption that they will not be staying in Westeros long. Up until chapter 17 they thought they were going home as soon as they got the Plataea back in the air. and it was only in chapter 46 with the Forerunner AI waking up that they know for sure they're stuck for a long time. As of now, and the coming chapters, UNSC colonisation proceedures will begin to take effect, and We'll see a much more agressive UNSC when it comes to expansion.
Also, Horrah for chapter 50 and over 200000 words on the story.
