When your days were busy, time would do one of two things. Pass by at an extraordinary pace, or grind to a standstill. There was no inbetween, not that Alex was familiar with. The previous two days had fallen into the former group. He had already been busy with the run-up to the first meeting with the Confed about returning to the Artifact. Imperial Intelligence was getting his falsified ARGUS data all lined up, and it was looking good enough that he wouldn’t be able to tell it had been manufactured if he hadn’t been there for a ton of recording.
That had been most of what was on his calendar, originally, until Sharadi pulled his little stunt landing four people in the brig and one under the watchful eye of Eleya’s guard that he had to do something with. Imperial Intelligence was helping with that, too, as was the fairly limited justice system on board. Data analysis of the communication logs and some gentle interrogation had yielded the original plan: bribe him to leave. Only Senator Mateku and Hatae had been informed of this. Sharadi had intentionally kept Kaleta out of the loop about that part, probably because neither she nor Nova would have approved of such dealings when it involved Carbon if she had time to think about it. Hatae had just flown off the handle before the deal could be brought up.
The bribes were also the why behind Mateku’s cane being weapon-heavy. There was a concealed compartment in the pommel that had been housing a roughly 800 gram ingot of manufacturing-grade rhodium. Proof that they were serious, with several more kilos of other expensive metals for Alex on the Starbound if he would disavow the entwinement and allow them to drop him off at any location in the system he wanted.
That one ingot alone was probably worth a hundred thousand dCred, if he could find someone willing to buy a lump of high purity rhodium from a guy off the street at market value. Nobody in Sol, let alone on Earth, would believe for a second that he had a backpack full of rare metal to sell because he’d been bribed by space aliens, even if they were right there in orbit. Alex couldn’t imagine what the taxes on something like that would be, for that matter.
He kept it, of course. And the cane too.
Sharadi’s crew ended up getting themselves a real sweetheart of a deal anyway. They all received a trip back to Na’o in the brig of one of the Sword’s frigates, for the low price of pledging fealty to Alex. To understand the fact it was his sense of honor, his willingness to forgive people in a terrible situation making mistakes... once. And that a step out of line, an unkind word, or anything but absolute obedience would see that protection taken away. They all took the pact.
It was a gamble, yes. But he now had video of all of them swearing their allegiance to Eleya, Carbon and himself, and the throne. All witnessed by Admiral Olan and one of the military’s Chief Adjudicators. Alex felt kind of bad for Tenol and Savane. Cousins from a mid-tier Noble house that was now overwhelmingly dead. Sharadi had tried to hype them up: it was going to be easy. Flash the cash and the Human would walk. Base creatures, after all. They would be there for this triumph, their names alongside his as they helped restore the Empire.
They weren't prepared for the fight, or for Sergeant Zenshen putting a gun in their faces. Or solitary confinement, or interrogation at the hands of Imperial Intelligence. Basically the entire experience after Hatae took a swing at Alex had left them shaken and ready to capitulate on anything and everything. Tenol had broken down crying and thanked Alex when presented with the opportunity to avoid execution, without even hearing the terms. Olan believed that Alex had actually made disciples out of those two, however useful they would be.
Former Lieutenant Nalen would be on that ship as well. He would be spending a year in prison back in Tsla’o space for what was basically assault, his future after that currently up in the air. He had experience the military couldn’t afford to throw away at the moment, but if they retained him he would likely find himself somewhere very far out of the way. Maybe that listening post that Carbon had threatened him with.
Speaking of Carbon, she had two meetings with Eleya in as many days. Both times with positive outcomes, though having a goal they were both working towards for once likely helped. It had been decided that simply calling up Sharadi would not have the right weight - he would just end the call like last time they had spoken. To penetrate the shell he had put up would require something he could not simply switch off. She would be going to speak with him in person.
Alex might be tagging along for this, depending on how the meeting this afternoon went, what the timeline going forward would be. If there wasn’t enough space for the trip, the plan was to request enough time before a joint operation to the Artifact starts, so that the esteemed Lan Tshalen could return to Na’o for a few days. They would even like to bring the erstwhile Pilot along as a goodwill visit of sorts, if possible. Confederation intel would know some of that is bunk, though there was a long and detailed conversation about a new class of Lan being brought up in the salted data he was about to upload.
Today, though... Today was moving at a glacial pace. Alex had gotten up at three ship time, which was totally unreasonable, and hauled his ass down to the Xenotech lab so they could finalize all the data that would be uploaded, including the intrusion software. Verify everything was in place and ready to go one last time, and then set a very small script to start up the ARGUS so it would begin recording right at the end of the last fake chunk. He didn’t even have to be awake for that, which was part of the plan.
Also part of the plan? Stopping in at sickbay to get his teeth crammed back in. He didn’t like it but the mediboard did a great job, and the attending doc was kind enough to furnish him with a mild, Human-safe sedative to use once he got back to his cabin. Which he did because he was very awake at that point and he needed to be convincingly asleep within the hour.
When the alarm in their cabin went off at six ship time, everyone was on the same page: he was once again recording live. Neya had put on a guise of formality, acting more like the personal assistant Alex had once thought her to be. Carbon didn’t change her morning routine, the ONI already knew they were married and doing married people things. If anything, she lounged on him longer than normal, held him a little more possessively.
Carbon skipped breakfast and left for the station early. She had plans with his mom, which ONI was also likely aware of as all of those emails had gone through military servers. Neya also bowed out not long after, having little to do and taking the day for herself. Alex spent some time reading a book that the library on board had translated into English for him - a kind gesture that was also funny because if he didn’t turn the visual translator on, there was no data saved on what he was reading. The print wasn’t thick enough for ARGUS to catch, only going down to about a tenth of a millimeter resolution. Could have been a whole file of state secrets. He didn’t know that was what happened. He was just a rube trying to learn about their culture for his little reports, so they’d have to deal with an extra two hours of him humming in interest.
But there was that meeting to attend to, which was why he was now sitting in Eleya’s antechamber waiting for her. They were carpooling. He checked his watch, a chunky retro model clad in shock-resistant black rubber armor, and did the math to convert it to ship time... She was a minute late. Wait, no, he was still three minutes early.
Ed had managed to impart the importance of showing up early, particularly when dealing with government types, which Eleya definitely was. If five minutes early was ‘on time’ to them - a lot of Confed Navy Officers subscribed to that idea - show up ten before that. Make them arrive second. Power move.
Didn’t work as well when the place you were meeting was basically their house. She lived there, after all, she had been there since yesterday for all he knew.
The Empress was right on time, the doors to her inner sanctum swinging open silently on well oiled hinges. Dressed in a new, less ornately decorated jacket with a slightly more Human-conventional collar design, she looked... like his aunt. Eleya was just in that zone for him now. He wasn’t going to tell her that, but she was. She had become a relative in his mind.
Alex still hopped up out of that chair and gave her a bow like they had a much more formal relationship. “Empress. Good morning.” He was wearing his most formal t-shirt and work pants, even had his external translator. Every bit of clothing on him and all the electronics in his pockets - save for the Tsla’o communicator he used to find his way around the ship - were Human made objects he had brought with him. Keeping up appearances.
“Good morning, nephew.” She looked him over with a small amount of disappointment, then scanned the rest of the room, quite empty save for a few Guard still stationed out here. “Where is Carbon?” That sounded like an actual question, and she looked a little bit perplexed.
“She went over this morning.” Carbon had specifically told him not to tell Eleya before she left. It wasn’t a surprise that Carbon hadn’t told her. They may have been getting along better in the last few days but there was a long way to go. It was specifically a mom and daughter event as well, no mention of other relatives. Sure, he could have invited himself along but... He just had the feeling it was something Carbon needed for herself.
Eleya chuckled as a sly little smirk grew on her face. “Ah, that is funny. She is waiting at the transport, yes? She does like to do the preflight inspection herself.” She turned to her private elevator, a subtle hand motion indicating he should follow. With her back turned, it was easy to spot the wireless nodes on her antenna - pretending that she only had an external translator hidden on her person somewhere, as well.
“Why would I joke about that?” He followed along, brushing a few silvery gray hairs from his shirt, maybe from Tashen or senator Lehata.
The doors slid open and she stepped inside. “Why would she do that? The meeting is not for several hours.” The very idea seemed distasteful to her.
There was ample room in the elevator but he stepped to the side anyway, the floor shifting as a couple of armored guards filed in behind him. The ozone smell was still there, but he only noticed it when they crammed into such a confined space. Interesting. “She was going to meet my mom for breakfast, and then they were going shopping.”
“With your mother?” She drew that question out as she dialed in their destination, as though she expected it to be a bad translation.
Alex rolled his eyes and used the voice he reserved for small children, enunciating clearly and carefully. “Yes, that would be the one.”
She gave him a sharp look and buried an elbow in his side with a grimace. “There is no need for such condescension.”
Eleya really had gotten more comfortable with him. “Just saying, there’s not a lot of options in the mother department for her.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“There are not.” She relented, watching the decks click by on the display. “Did she take security with her?”
“Yeah, standard team of four.” This was now considered the normal detachment for each of them while in Sol. Two on the ship, two with them. “They’re trying out the new uniforms I suggested, too. A little more subtle than full battle gear.”
“Yes, they should not have been deployed with that equipment in the first place.” Details of that little hiccup had eventually made it back to Eleya, who had requested Alex make some suggestions to the tailors to ensure that future excursions were a little less militaristic looking. “She... Carbon actually went shopping? Willingly?”
“Right? Kind of didn’t see that coming.” Her brief interest in Human clothes at Uncommon hadn’t really stuck in his mind, even though that little smirk she got when he asked if she wanted one of the dresses she was looking at still put a smile on his face. “She was really excited though. It’s nice to see her like that.”
“That is good. It is good they have a relationship like that.” Eleya wilted a little as she spoke, shoulders slumping with an almost imperceptible sigh.
“They’re working on it.” Carbon had been concerned that Eleya would invite herself along, or do something that would put Alex’s mother off in some other way. That was a reasonable concern, even though Eleya’s behavior had been much better recently. Old habits die hard. “Mom is staying on the station overnight, you should meet her after we're done with all the other stuff. She was very excited to hear you’re Royalty.”
That was a gamble too. It was after Carbon had the entire morning with Audry to herself, and as it was going to be in the evening at that point there should be less time for things to go sideways before they would want to depart. His mom was good at picking up signals most of the time. When she wanted to. Maybe they’d hit it off, a prospect Alex was immediately uncomfortable with.
“I would like that.” Eleya nodded once as the lift dinged and the doors opened, looking over her shoulder at him as she stepped out into a shuttle bay. It was a smaller one, barely cavernous, a row of three ships being prepped right now. “Tell me something, Alex. Do you keep your threats as well as your promises?”
That statement didn’t quite jibe for him at first. He hadn’t really made her a lot of threats that he immediately recalled, the closest being that he would help Carbon through her problems however she wanted, even if it meant shutting Eleya out. Promises, though... He did sort of agree to making sure that he’d drag Carbon to request asylum with the Confed if the Empire collapsed. Suppose that counted. “Of course I do.”
“Good.” She stopped and turned, heading towards a large archway that linked this shuttle bay to another directly beside it.
“Aren’t we going-” Alex gestured towards the shuttles. “You know, in the space ships?”
“I have something for you, first. I had intended to save it for Winter’s Nadir, but today feels auspicious.” She waved him along. “It is just over here, I am sure you will like it.”
There was one ship tucked away at the back of the hangar that did not fit the Tsla’o aesthetic. It was about the same size as one of their shuttles, sleek and low on the deck, all sharp angles and lean curves gleaming in the overhead lights. The paint was as black as space itself, tiny flecks of mica shining like stars and fiery red lines tracing back from the dual nose that pulsed slowly. “A Masamune shuttle, one of the GX series. I thought it would be nice for you to have your own ship, something you could use around the system in comfort. If you approve, we could take it today.”
Alex approached it with no small amount of caution. It wasn’t that it was dangerous, though the tremendous power those engines produced would let you do some very stupid things. No, it was because he had wanted one of these since he was a kid and didn’t want to get his hopes up until he was sure it was real. “It’s not a shuttle.”
The Empress was confused by that statement, squinting at him before looking back at what was clearly a shuttle. “Yes. It is.”
“No, while the Masamune GX8 is in the same size category, it’s a Burner. Look at the size of the engines compared to the central frame. And it’s got the triple-doubles!” He did not consider for a moment that she wouldn’t understand hotrod culture slang coined a hundred years ago. Two engine packs, with two intakes each, and two hydrogen compressors in each intake. He inspected the lower intake on the port engine cluster, a pair of compressors gleaming in the darkness. “They don’t make them like this anymore.”
“Of course.” The confusion was gone. She was either actually well versed in early human stellar spacecraft or very good at acting like she was always in her element. “I have often lamented that, myself. The past often has a pleasing aesthetic that new designs cannot match.”
“Oh no, I mean- Well yeah, it’s a gorgeous ship, but it’s illegal to build them like this now. They don’t have any forward thrust and just enough gravitics for landing. Safety features and all that.” Alex waved a hand at the split nose as he moved forward, past a row of small viewports. The ship was mostly wing and engine, dotted with maneuvering thrusters but nothing that could obviously be used to slow it down. “It’s an atmospheric ship first. The wings are the real deal, you know?”
There was a particular sort of caution in her voice, as though the idea of using it was much less enjoyable now. “Why is there not a proper amount of thrust available to the pilot?”
“Saves mass, you can just flip it and use the mains to do a deceleration burn. That’s why the cabin seats rotate all the way around. Once you’re in the atmosphere it runs like a normal aircraft.” Eleya’s questions made sense to him after having discussed spacecraft with Carbon. The Tsla’o iterated vehicles very differently and hadn’t used conventional aircraft in centuries. He moved on towards the split nose, fingers running down one of the fire-lines. “Can get a little dicey landing it in enclosed bays like this, coming in hot and pointing the wrong way is how most of them crash.”
“Is it so.” Eleya cleared her throat and still sounded less than excited.
“Is this the original paint?” He laid hands on the side of the nose and tried to wiggle it. There was no give, which was good. Allegedly. He’d never had the chance to touch one before, but wiggly and spaceship didn’t generally go together.
“I was informed it has only received updates to the navigation and sensor systems before acquisition, the rest is entirely as it was built and fully functional. Carbon herself inspected it when it arrived, knowing who it was to be given to. She upgraded the comms as well, so it can attach to our networks.”
“Nice. I suppose she told you I wanted one of these?” He walked under the nose and did a brief check down the starboard side, taking a look at the enormous thruster pack around the back. If Carbon had checked it out, he was happy with that. Alex returned to the front, locating the fold-down hatch behind the cockpit. “Looks good out here. Shall we?”
“She did.” Eleya took a very casual step back from it. “I think it would be best if we were to take something less unusual.”
Alex had the locking lever pulled free and he cracked the door open. It extended slowly, lowered to the ground on thick hydraulic cylinders, cool air scented with leather and wood flowing out of the portal as the overhead safety lights came on. He turned back and gave Eleya stink eye as the stairs unfolded. “Less unusual? Like Tsla’o military shuttles? Sol is just awash in those, huh?” Like any child with a new toy, he really wanted to play with it.
There was a dangerous silence coming from Eleya. She folded her arms. “There are far more of them than there are of these.”
He put one foot on the steps. “How many do you have onboard?”
“Forty.”
“Well, no problem then! There are 562 of these left in operation. Seventeen crashed and another fifteen are museum pieces.” It had always been his very favorite ship.
“Museum pieces?” He was not doing anything to convince her this was a good idea.
“This is a classic design. Have you seen many ships this striking? A bunch of frames got used for racing, too.” Another foot up. He could almost reach the cabin light switch...
“I know what a museum is.” Eleya sighed and conceded. “Very well. I cannot imagine Carbon signed this off if she did not believe it was safe for her beloved.”
Alex refrained from clapping with glee, but he was into the ship in a heartbeat. He didn’t even give the cabin a second glance, taking the steps up to the flight deck two at a time. He skipped the navigation and officer’s stations and slipped into the pilot's chair at the front of the deck.
Eleya huffed up the steep stairs behind him, the translator implant she received a few days ago still giving her some trouble. “You have flown one of these before. Correct?”
“Sure. Not a real one, I mean. Just sims.” Alex clicked into the harness and cinched the straps tight. A quick glance told him he still knew exactly how the cockpit was laid out, all of the screens and controls on either side of him with a wide gap between the consoles. He glanced over his shoulder at her with a big smug grin. “I never crashed or anything.”
Eleya collapsed into navigation’s seat with a regretful groan that didn’t particularly suit her station. “Give me a moment, I-” She paused, out of breath. “I will take my normal shuttle.”
“Hey. I’m a good pilot, I’ve been flying similar craft for over a decade now.” Entirely true. He flipped up the cover for the power mains and twisted the handle one click to systems on. Arrays of switches and screens lit up around him, a cursory glance showing all green. “There was that thing where I drove your niece around for half a year, too. She seemed pretty happy with my skills.”
“So she was.” Eleya stepped up beside him, leaning on the seat and scanning the controls and consoles with keen eyes as her breathing returned to normal.
“Thank you.” Alex would have flown over by himself, but he was glad to have company... No point in showing off if there wasn’t someone to see it. He reached up and clicked main power over to engines, a quiet hum filling the cabin as the reactor spooled up and the thrusters came online. “Your guys on board?”
She turned and looked down the stairs into the cabin. “Yes.” Eleya had her focus back on the controls immediately afterwards, more familiarity in her eyes than Alex expected to see.
Systems were still showing all green, hydrogen stores up over ninety percent, all eight thrusters working down their startup procedures. “See something you recognize?”
“A few things.” She tapped her teeth together in thought before nodding at a few items as she listed them off. “Speed indicator, compass, power distribution, engine outputs... Seems a bit austere. I am left wondering where the rest of the controls are, as well. Unless you plan on pushing buttons the entire way there?”
“Nobody told me you were interested in flying.” He was actually surprised by that. She hadn’t mentioned this at all, but she was a larger bundle of secrets compared to her niece.
“I used to be a pilot, a life ago.” Eleya stood up and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning on the back of the navigation console instead of the pilot’s chair. “That’s how I met Navaren, I flew his dropship. He tended to pace about and give awful motivational speeches to his command while we were in the air and I fu- did not particularly care for that. Dressed him down a few times.”
“Oh really.” Alex was a little interested in hearing about that. They had a minute while the systems check finished anyway. “Kind of wondered how you two met.”
She hummed an affirmative. “He was very cavalier about it all, didn’t take my concerns seriously until I notified him that I would rather not accidentally dump a handsome young man out of my dropship.”
“Love blooms in the strangest places.” He fiddled with the seat, adjusting the back, strapping in, and then sliding it up to the flight position. His feet dangled over a gap in the floor, pedals coming up to meet his shoes, ergonomically angled control sticks sliding out to his hands. There was one last thing... He punched a button over his head and the cockpit lights dimmed as the canopy armor began to retract. Alex didn’t bother to try to contain his grin.
“Windows on a spaceship.” She was annoyed by this information, but did not sound surprised at all. The little portal windows for the cabin apparently didn’t count.
“It’s perfectly safe.” The hangar floor stretched out from beneath Alex’s feet, the ceiling overhead. Holo arrays flickered to life, a comprehensive HUD resolving before him. A few switches flipped and the cabin door sealed, gravitics pulled them up from the deck and landing skids retracted. He spooled the reactor up all the way and tweaked the throttle for a little forward motion. “You told ‘em we’re taking this yet?”
“I had notified flight control that there was a possibility.” It sounded like she wished she had waited until never to give the shuttle to him as she took a seat at navigation and strapped in.
“Great, you should let them know for sure.” Alex spun the throttle pre-chargers under his thumbs and eased it towards the gaping bay entrance. “And tell the rest of the ships to keep up if they can.”