Chapter Summary: Miranda returns to Runway. And Brittany schemes. Just your ordinary, every day kind of thing.
Chapter Word Count: 5,251

Miranda sighed. She'd agreed to the resurrection ploy primarily to make Andrea and her daughters happy. But it came with a number of drawbacks. One of which she was facing now. She'd agreed to a press conference to announce her reappearance. Once it was over, she could get down to business.

But first she needed to deal with the current Runway staff, so they wouldn't be blindsided by her plans.

"Miranda Priestly, here to see Emily Charlton," the tall Clan Memory acolyte assigned to be her assistant told Emily's assistant.

"She's not in," the assistant said, receiving a glare from Miranda.

"She didn't believe it was me," Miranda stated. "She can come out here or I'll go in after her. We don't have time for histrionics. If she wishes to keep her job she will cooperate."

The assistant got up from her desk and slipped into Emily's office. Coming back out she said, "You may go in."

"Of course," Miranda said. She walked to the office door, her assistant following. When Emily's assistant tried to object, Miranda shut her down with another glare.

Sweeping into her old office, Miranda took note of how little it had changed since she'd disappeared. Even the desk was the same. The desk a pale Emily was sitting behind.

"Emily. Have you ever known Andrea to lie about something this important?" Miranda said.

"She's been working with those Aztec aliens," Emily said. "Maybe they tricked her?"

"Really Emily? Aztec? They're Mayan, as one can clearly see by examining their clothes. And why have you not done a spread with them yet? Andrea could have made arrangements," Miranda said.

"You're dead," Emily said. "You've come back to take away Runway." She started hyperventilating.

"If you don't calm down, I will have you removed," Miranda said. "As majority stockholder it would be well within my rights."

"Majority stockholder? You've been dead!" Emily shrieked.

"In my absence, Andrea has continued to purchase Elias-Clark stock. We now own more than anyone else."

"But Irv," Emily sputtered.

"Irv owns a paltry one percent of the voting stock. He has no say in the operation of this magazine," Miranda said. "After tonight's board meeting he will no longer have a position with the company. He has interfered for the last time."

"Will you at least give me a good recommendation?" Emily asked, sniffling. "I'll have my things out of your office before the end of the day."

"You are not going anywhere," Miranda said. "You will be given a fair chance to fix the problems caused by Irv's interference."

"I can stay?" Emily said, staring at her. "I'm not fired?"

"I've been gone too long," Miranda said. "If you can fix it, you can keep it. And don't miss the board meeting tonight. It should be educational."

"Yes, Miranda. Thank you, Miranda," Emily said, crying. "Thank you. I'll fix everything, I promise."

"And Emily?"

"Yes, Miranda?"

"Do something with this office, it looks like a shrine in here. Make it your own. That is all." With a smirk, Miranda left the office.

Once they were in the elevator, her own assistant, Buffy, asked "Do you think she can do it, Lady Miranda?"

"Of course," Miranda said. "This is not a charity. If she wasn't capable she would have been fired. She just needs a little guidance, and practice dealing with the Irvs of this world."

"Yes, ma'am," Buffy said. "When will you tell her you will still be involved with Runway."

"Tonight, at the board meeting. She will still be Editor-in-Chief but she needs tempering. Irv did not do her any favors when he made her editor. You can clearly see her struggle against him and to keep Runway alive in the last few years. Given her inexperience, that Runway has not folded is a miracle."

Miranda looked around the large room. The board meeting the night before had gone well. Irv was out, and she was now Chairman of the Board. Emily had been reaffirmed as Editor of Runway under her guidance. Over the next few weeks she'd be reviewing the other magazines in the Elias-Clark portfolio. They could all use a firmer creative touch.

The reporters were practically vibrating in their excitement. They'd had a week since the aliens had announced finding her to build up to it. A week of digging up old scandals and interviewing anyone they could find.

"Miranda! Miranda!" They shouted as she stepped out onto the stage, behind the podium.

"Questions?" Her new assistant asked. "You!" She pointed at a chubby man in front.

"Miranda, what was it like when the aliens found you?"

"I was surprised," Miranda said. "All I remember is the plane crashing, and then waking up to all of these women staring at me." She waved at a small group of aliens, dressed in a mix of hard suits and uniforms.

"Did you recognize them?"

"I was in what they call stasis when they arrived, so no, I had no idea who they were," she said. "Or where I was."

"Miranda, you look the same as you did when you disappeared years ago. Is this some alien fountain of youth?" Anther reporter asked.

"If it is, I don't recommend it," she said. "I didn't age but I missed years of my daughter's lives. I didn't see them graduate from high school. And I missed years with my wife."

"Miranda, what do you plan to do now?" Another reporter asked. "Will you be taking over as editor of Runway again?"

"No," Miranda said. "Runway currently has a competent editor. I may give her advice but the Elias-Clarke Board has asked me to take over as Chairman and guide all of the Elias-Clarke media properties."

"Rumor has it that Irving Ravits was fired at last night's board meeting," another reporter said. "Is there any truth to that?"

"Irv has retired," Miranda said. "The Board thanked him for his long service while I was missing and sent him home."

"Who's this?" she was asked, the reporter pointing at her assistant.

"My assistant and liaison with the aliens," Miranda said. "They've taken an interest in fashion."

"So, you'll have the aliens appearing in your magazines?" someone asked. "They've refused to be in other fashion magazines."

"In the time I spent with them I built a wonderful rapport," Miranda said. "Also, my wife, Andrea, has been spending time documenting their culture and they could see the synergy."

"Having their own nude beaches couldn't hurt," the chubby reporter said, to a burst of laughter.

"Runway is about fashion and the impact it has on our lives," Miranda said, giving him a repressive look. "We are not running some prurient rag."

"That is all, gentlemen and ladies," Miranda's assistant said. "Please address further questions to the Office of the Chairperson of Elias-Clarke." Saying this, she ushered Miranda out of the room.

"That didn't go too badly," Miranda said, as they entered a private room elsewhere in the building. "No real questions at this point."

"Give them time," Andy said, greeting her with a hug. "The Clan so rarely gives interviews that they really don't know what to ask. And then there are the paparazzi. As soon as they start taking pictures, things will start to heat up."

"You don't seem to have a problem with them," Miranda said.

"The 'alien watchers' know I have that column about alien life but that doesn't sell photos," Andy said. "And I'm never here in the city. I'm boring."

"You are never boring, darling," Miranda said. "Underestimated, yes, boring, no."

"Photos of myself with the girls don't sell," Andy said, shaking her head. "Though now you're officially back, they probably will. How did they react to you not being editor of Runway?"

"No reaction," Miranda said. "They've probably forgotten what that really means. And just remember me as someone famous."

"Emily doesn't get followed around, so I suspect you're correct. With you gone, no one had that kind of reputation," Andy said. "And Irv's retirement?"

"Gave them the official statement and no one questioned it. If they'd seen what Irv was doing to Runway and the other magazines there would have been an uproar. Emily managed to keep Runway alive but it was no thanks to Irv. He did everything he could to sabotage her and the magazine. Retirement is really too good for him."

"Well, he can't touch it ever again," Andy said.

"How were you able to get away?" Miranda asked her.

"Cassidy is doing a dry run today and I was making her nervous," Andy said.

"So they chased you away," Miranda said, laughing. "Well, it's their loss. I shall take you to lunch and then we shall do other things."

"And Buffy?" Andrea said pointing at Miranda's new assistant standing silently near the door.

"She'll be fumigating my new office, and installing some interesting bits of tech," Miranda said.

"You don't need tech," Andy said, puzzled.

"Lady Shadow insisted, though I suspect it is really some of her spy tech and is more for her than I."

"Sounds like her," Andy said. "Any chance to wire the world and get more data for her models."

"She has your best interests at heart," Miranda said. "She can be a wonderful advocate, from what I've seen."

"Oh, yes, definitely," Andy said. "She's like a spider collecting everything in her web."

"That was a boring press conference," Brittany said.

"That's how Miranda wanted it," Rachel said, reminding her of a previous discussion. "Just enough attention so she could spend time with her girls and Andy but not so much that they can't move without bodyguards."

"I offered to spice things up," Brittany said, pouting. "But she said no."

"Plenty of time for spice in the future," Rachel said. "Have you heard anything new from Santana?"

"No," Brittany said. "They found that abandoned control room but most of it doesn't work. San really thinks there's something there. They had a whole team disappear and it took them days to find them. And they still haven't figured out how that happened."

"She still has another month doesn't she?" Rachel asked. "Why does she think there's something there? The initial scans came up empty."

"A hunch," Brittany said. "A planetary ring needs a lot more tech than we're finding."

"If she comes back empty handed, I wouldn't want to be there when she gets back," Rachel said.

"She won't be very loud," Brittany said. "She'll just grumble a bit. None of our plans include 'Scare away the Bugs with a McGuffin.'"

Rachel fiddled with the papers in front of her. "Have you thought of other ways we can make use of Andy? Documenting planetary culture can really be done by any of her assistants, now that they're trained for it."

"Of course," Brittany said. "But that's very much up in the air. There are no obvious uses for her talents. And Miranda will be by her side, no matter what. But that's not a plan."

"Self-preservation is always important," Rachel said, "but nothing says it has to be exciting."

"We now have several teams that my model claims are important but I really don't know where to place them," Brittany said. "I suspect there's something wrong with the model but I can't figure out what."

"Maybe you need a different kind of model?" Rachel said. "I don't know how it works but it almost seems like statistics. But maybe that's the wrong approach?"

"I don't have any other approach," Brittany said, leaning back with a sigh. "The model has taken years to put together. If I started over we'd all be dead before I finish."

"So, it's science, not astrology?" Rachel asked.

"Not even close to astrology," Brittany said. "It's a mathematical model of potential possibilities. To redo it would be almost impossible. Even starting from scratch would take ginormous amounts of time."

"Maybe something completely different?" Rachel said. "Something else, some other factor to add to your model."

"But what?" Brittany asked. "I've thought of everything I could possibly need and added it to the model."

"So add something you don't think you need," Rachel said. "Something unique."

"For example?" Brittany asked, frowning. "There are many things I don't think the model needs. That's why I didn't put them in it."

"The model is about relationships, right?" Rachel asked. "Between people and events, past and present?"

"Basically," Brittany said. "There's a lot more to it than that but that does sum it up more or less."

"So, maybe a relationship is missing?" Rachel said. "Does knowing that Andy comes from a long line of Winter Folk make a difference in your model? Or that Miranda's daughters are Wind Clan through her first husband?"

"Not when I added that information," Brittany said. "It filled out a space in the model but didn't change any results."

"How about, Andy's relationship to Miranda's first husband?" Rachel asked. "That gives you a Wind Clan and Winter Folk connection."

"I'm not aware of any relationship between them," Brittany said. "Does Andy know him?"

"Certainly," Rachel said. "They're on speaking terms at least. When Miranda disappeared, he helped her."

"Does he know she's one of the Winter Folk? I'm assuming she knows he's Wind Clan, though we don't know if he knows that we know."

"That's a lot of knows," Rachel said. "But I don't think so. I haven't approached him, have you?"

"Hadn't really thought about it, honestly," Brittany said. "I do have him on my 'to talk to' list just so he knows the Serpent Clan is aware of his presence in our territory. I am surprised he hasn't come to us yet."

"According to Miranda, he's well integrated into Terran society. If she hadn't said anything we would have never known unless we happened to randomly catch him in a Clan genetics scan," Rachel said. "There hasn't been much interaction between their Clan and ours, according to our Clan history. We just don't travel in the same circles. It was very likely a coincidence that brought him to this planet. Most Wind Clan are fairly independent and prefer to travel in family groups. Like your parents did."

"I'll track him down," Brittany said. "Invite him up here. He's a cousin, so I can at least say hello."

"And add that to your model?" Rachel said.

"Yes,' Brittany said. "And now that you've helped expand that part of the model, though we won't know the results any time soon, what about Mother and Ixchel? Any brilliant insight into them?"

"Well..." Rachel paused. "Not a thing. Though I find it interesting that Romana knew our original Ixchel, who was basically her father figure."

"They seem to be getting along very well," Brittany said. "Isn't that a bit unhealthy? For them to have a relationship?"

"Ixchel has no memory of Romana's mother, so not really," Rachel said. "So it's a little one sided. But they have built a rapport. Besides helping each other, they are a lot more stable together."

"I'll have to check my model," Brittany said. "This relationship between them may change things."

"Did sending them to work with Quinn and observe her troopers in action make a difference," Rachel asked.

"Nothing visibly," Brittany said, "but they are still with Quinn's troopers. Not putting them in hard suits was actually a brilliant move on Quinn's part. They have to stay engaged with her troopers instead of focusing on the suits."

"Has the relationship between Miranda and them had any affect on things?" Rachel asked. "She's basically being treated as a 'wise elder' by both of them. Shouldn't that make a difference? Or maybe that's what is wrong with your model? Is the problem that you have two teams of two when you maybe should have a team of four?"

"That is certainly a different approach," Brittany said. "I'll have to adjust the model to allow for that."

"What about Coach," Rachel said. "Where does she fit into your plans?"

"Coach is too unpredictable for the model," Brittany said "She's basically a free agent. That's one reason why she was put in charge of our peace keepers. She can respond to changing conditions faster than the others."

"Is she really unpredictable?" Rachel asked. "She seems to have patterns."

"I've tried over the years to build a model that follows her actions and behavior but it never works. What seem like recognizable patterns are unique to her." Brittany shook her head. "I was able to use the model I originally designed for her to predict the actions of the Black Hats but for her it never was very effective."

"Oh," Rachel said. "That must have been a surprise."

"Yes," Brittany said. "I thought I knew her well enough to model her for my predictions but I was wrong, and had to start over."

"But it's still amazing how you've built this predictive model," Rachel said. "I wouldn't know where to begin."

"You build your own models, when you write an epic, and set it to song," Brittany said. "It's a similar thing, just a different kind of connection."

"Oh, I hadn't thought of it that way," Rachel said.

"Something's coming," Cassy said, watching Sophia cook. "I can feel it in the air. It's like right before a thunderstorm."

"Yes," Sophia said, blowing on her spoon before offering it to Cassy. "We are getting ready for war."

"I thought things were peaceful in this Confederation the Clan belongs to. I know there have been pirate issues but that's normal. Someone will always want to do things contrary to the expectations of society." Cassy returned the cleaned spoon to Sophia.

"Within the Confederation, according to our AI advisors, things are peaceful. The last time there was chaos, they redirected the involved parties towards more productive pursuits."

"What does that actually mean?" Cassy asked.

"The last time there was a problem in the Confederation, it was caused by the Clans. So the Confederation put them to work. That is why they are known as the Confederation peacekeepers."

"Ah, I get it," Cassy said. "Turn the troublemaker into the trouble watcher."

"That is an excellent summation," Sophia said, kissing her on the nose.

"So, if the Clans are busy being good citizen, chasing pirates and other lawbreakers, why are 'we' preparing for war?"

"An ancient Clan foe has returned," Sophia said. "It is currently engaged in a running battle with the Clans on the far side of the Confederation but they are really only redirecting it, they don't have the ability to stop this Enemy."

"But we do? Isn't the Clan here fairly small and new?"

"I do not understand it myself," Sophia admitted. "It is not clear why we are expected to vanquish this enemy that none of the other Clans can stop. This enemy appears to be more of a force of nature than a real foe. It is being kept away from population centers by the other Clans using skillful redirection but its path through our sector puts it right through this system."

"And we can't make them go around us also?" Cassy said, frowning. "I suspect there is more to it than that."

"Yes," Sophia said, "but I couldn't really follow Lady Shadow's explanation for why we are the ones expected to stop it and can't just send them around us. Possibly because we are so new that no one would miss us?"

"That can't be right," Cassy said. "I'd miss us."

"Our Clan is not up to full strength, and was believed lost by the other Clans," Sophia said. "If we lose, we will remain lost. If we win, we are a full fledged Clan once more. And that is also too simple of an explanation."

"So, it's all about Confederation politics," Cassy said. "That's really the only explanation needed. Politicians see things in ways ordinary mortals, human or Clan, won't understand."

"I would prefer that my planet and all of the people on it, both Clan and other, not be the price of some political calculation," Sophia said. "But we are not being given a choice."

"What is your role," Cassy asked. "What does a Weaver do when there is a war in the making?"

"Morale, and communicating with the dead and our goddesses," Sophia said. "This Clan is not very religious, as you may have noticed. But we all find some comfort in the idea of higher powers. And the goddesses do sometimes listen to our requests.""

"So, the power of prayer?" Cassy asked.

"It has happened," Sophia said. "Though rare, our goddesses have responded to requests."

"This book paints a very different view of your Clan," the host said, holding up a brightly bound book. "Why bring it out now?"

"We are aware of the views of many about our Clan," Rachel said. "They see us as simple space meter maids, ready to slap a ticket on the first person to cross the sun the wrong way. This collection of epic tales is intended to correct that misconception."

"Are they all new?" the host asked, flipping through the book.

"Several are new, yes," Rachel said, "but most date back a number of centuries."

"What inspired you to write them down and publish them?"

"Actually, it was because of me," Andrea said. "I've been exploring their culture. You might have seen my columns?" At the host's nod she continued. "I saw these stories while visiting Lady Memory a number of months ago in their central base. It took me several months to convince the Council to allow me to go there but it was well worth the effort."

"And the stories?" the host asked.

"When Lady Memory first showed them to me I was surprised," Andrea said. "They are a new unexplored facet of their history. Once you read them it is clear how and why the Clans were made peacekeepers for the Confederation. The Clans were not just wandering troublemakers turned into peace keepers. It's a fascinating history that we've been ignoring. So, after discussing the idea, we came up with this."

"And what part did you play in this?" the host asked, turning to Lady Sophia. "Isn't the 'Weaver' your religious expert?"

"The Weaver does give advice to Clan and communicate with our goddesses," Sophia said. "But that is not all I do. Although it has a different focus, the Weaver is also a historian of sorts for the Clan, much like the Memory."

"So, how did you get involved in this printing of the Book of the Serpent Clan?" the host asked.

"Lady Andrea was well aware of my interest in the stories our people tell around the campfire," Sophia said. "She asked for several that I felt were appropriate, that had exciting Clan adventures."

"And she's published before, and we wanted to make this widely available," Rachel said. "This is intended for a wider audience than our own people."

"What should people take away from this when they read it?" the host asked.

"That the Clans are complicated. And that what you see on the surface isn't everything." Rachel shrugged. "The Serpent Clan has become more and more integrated into your civilization as time passes," she said. "We are no longer just 'scary alien women'. But we believe the people of Earth need to see us as we truly are."

"Saying that they are a complicated people itself is a simplification," Andy said. "The Clans in the Confederation have a long, and often bloody history. I've been privileged to have access to that history, while researching my columns, and I was amazed at the depth there was to all of this. History is not just written down. It becomes a part of the fabric of their society."

"So, to sum it all up," the host began, "this is a collection of twenty five tales from the colorful history of the Serpent Clan. What kind of stories will we find in it?"

"There are the standard blood and guts tales, of course," Rachel said. "But there are also quieter stories. A couple love stories. And a few other things. A broad brush to view the Clan by."

"We really hope you enjoy them," Andy said. "They have been specially picked to show the amazing things the Clan has accomplished. But they really only scratch the surface."

"And we've brought enough for the entire studio audience," Rachel said.

"That's good," the host said. "I've got my own copy and won't be sharing."

"It's also available as an ebook from all the the regular media vendors," Andy said. "At a reasonable price," she added. "Free."

"I think that went well," Rachel said, looking down at the empty boxes. "Hopefully they'll actually read them and not just auction them off on the internet."

"Making it free should help with that," Andy said.

"Do you think we over sold this?" Rachel asked. "Sure they are interesting stories that show some different facets of Clan society, but most people won't have the context to make sense of some of them."

"Time will tell," Sophia said. "Until now, we've tried to keep a very low key presence. This book and any others that follow is more than that."

"Do you think we should do a series of books about the Clan, and other Clans?" Rachel said. "I'm not sure there are enough interesting stories to tell. Most of the epics and tales going back thousands of years are war related and don't have a lot of detail or depth."

"What we need is something like the Lord of the Rings and all of those stories about the history of Arda and Middle Earth that Tolkien wrote as background. But that could take years," Andy said, "assuming we could find a talented writer who could take all of the Clan histories and give them the right kind of flair."

"There are some beautiful passages in the Clan histories, where someone with serious talent attempted to write something inspiring," Rachel said. "Unfortunately, there's not a lot of it."

"Maybe we could have a contest?" Rachel said. "Raise awareness of the Clan. That's really our goal. We want people to know who we are at an emotional level and support us from that point of view."

Brittany stared at the 3D display in her office. She'd moved the focus out so that the entire solar system was visible. It wasn't quite real-time, even the tech the Clan had access to could't handle the amount of data that would require, but it came close. Its effective rate was five frames per second. Fast enough to detect change, but slow enough that all of the parts could work together. The comm traffic required for it to work was using one of the rare sub-space channels. If the enemy reached the system, they would be clearly seen up to a light year out. Plenty of time for Santana to scramble her prized intercept squadrons.

"That's an interesting device," Quinn said, joining her in staring at the display. "What's the in-system time lag on it?"

"Five minutes," Brittany said. "We don't have the computing capacity for anything better."

"In close combat, five minutes is an eternity, but at the speeds Santana's ships move at out there it should be plenty."

"Only if the Bugs haven't changed," Brittany said. "If they're still slow moving when entering a new system, we have a chance of beating them. That would give us first contact under our control."

"Home field advantage," Quinn said. "I'm assuming it's hardened?"

"Of course," Brittny said. "I won't bore you with a description right now but it provides a vital part of our defenses."

"How is it protected," Quinn asked. "It looks like there are defensive abutments in place but what powers it all?"

"We don't have enough staff, trained or not, to completely man our perimeter sensors," Brittany said. "So we used a number of proto AI's, when possible, to control the facilities. A regular patrol checks all of them on a frequent basis."

"So, magic?" Quinn asked.

"Magic," Brittany said, agreeing, before bursting into a giggle fit. "The kind you get when you throw tech at a problem." Taking deep breaths, she eventually calmed down.

"How's the lag between systems?" Quinn asked, after giving her time to recover.

"Not good," Brittany admitted, with a grimace. "It's worse than the old hyperspace relays we're using to route comm traffic to the Ring. We just don't have the right tech yet. I can switch to other systems and to a sector wide overview," she demonstrated by showing the sector view, "but the data at the edges is days old."

"Ouch," Quinn said. "That's not fast enough if the Bugs hit us like we expect."

Brittany nodded in agreement. "There are very few things we can't do well but that is one of them. If we want a fast sector spanning warning system we'll have to do something different or hope for a miracle."

"So how are you handling it?" Quinn asked.

"We have scout ships at the far reaches of our range," Brittany said. "If any of our scanners detect suspicious activity, they can report in faster than the comm links can reach."

"Crude, but any warning is better than one that is too late," Quinn said.

"We'll have something better eventually," Brittany said. "We have some things brewing in the lab that might do it, but it's all theoretical at this point. Turning theory into actual tech can take a while, even for us."

"What is the Confederation using for this kind of warning system?"

"There is nothing like it, in the Confederation," Artie said. "This may look primitive but the Confederation warning systems do not have this range or anything close to it."

"Why not?" Quinn asked. "I would have thought this would be a vital defensive ability."

"The Clans have been the only fast response capability in the Confederation for millennia," Brittany said, when Artie didn't respond. "And they did it the same way. They have listening posts across each sector and fast scout ships ready to deliver a message."

"Surprisingly crude," Quinn said. "So, once we get this working, assuming we survive the Bugs, we can sell it to the other Clans?"

"The Confederation may just co-opt it," Brittany said.

"That doesn't sound fair," Quinn said.

"They aren't a charity," Brittany said. "They know a good thing when they see it."

"And that is probably why there are so many non-interference rules between the Clans and the Confederation. Self preservation." Quinn sighed. "Right Artie?"

"Yes, Lady Quinn," Artie said. "The other Clans learned that the hard way."

"And since we aren't recognized as being at full strength, and won't be until after we defeat the Bugs, the Confederation has access to all of our tech," Brittany said.

"Sucks to be us," Quinn said, grumbling.

"Indeed," Brittany said.

"So, we'll beat the Bugs and do something about it," Quinn said, "and you didn't hear that, Artie," she added.

"Of course," Artie said.

"Artie's one of the good guys," Brittany said. "Sometimes she can't avoid reporting what we're doing but not everything."

"Good," Quinn said. "The Bugs may be the immediate threat but we need to take the long view."

"And we are," Brittany reminded her. "Everything is part of our long range plan, even the Bugs."

"And we have something the Confederation doesn't," Quinn said, smirking.

"What?"

"Us!" Quinn said.