* * *
Within the Great Library of the Aelthron cradle, two rather famous workers looked over with a sigh. A tinkle of crystal rang out through the room, and the glowing red of combat shown from a crystal, then another, then another. A good dozen or so crystals tumbled into formation before coming to a stop. Both stared at the pile of combat crystals for a time before breathing a sigh of relief.
* * *
Telnia lay in bed, seething. Her anger had long since cooled, turning to hard resenting hatred. She hadn’t gone to bed early, her anger keeping her up quite late, but despite her exhaustion, she had lain for a long time till the early hours of the morning before finally falling to sleep, her exhaustion overwhelming her anger. Despite the late night, the morning light had awoken her and rekindle her burning rage, now a cold hard knot curdling her stomach. It was not that she did not understand what was required of her. She understood exactly what the eccentric demanded. How could a mere eccentric dare command a clanner!? Her anger seethed once again, and she gritted her teeth. She continued to lay there, unable to tame her anger nor reign in her pride, even as she grew ever more exhausted and night deepened. Sleep was long in coming.
* * *
Captain Stephliquen stood within the cargo hold of the QQS Silverfish, her sister, now captain of the Silverfish, by her side. Their emotional goodbyes had been done within the privacy of the captain’s quarters and now they remained by each other’s side, stoic, face tightly controlled. Little was said, but a red display with an inexorable timer ticked down as they stared at the flimsy protection that Stephliquen would have for her orbital insertion.
“It’s done?”
Stephliquen nodded with a firm single jerk, “As perfect as it will get.”
“Are you… certain?”
Stephliquen growled, “No. Weapons.”
Her sister sighed, “A pistol…”
Stephliquen shook her head, “You saw as well as I did.”
“You don’t know what…”
“None of the others touched theirs.”
“The one specimen…”
“Why do you think I go to him?”
The two fell silent for a moment before Stephliquen smiled, “I’ll be fine.”
Her sister scowled, “You have to make it.”
Stephliquen chuckled, “Then… I will have need to borrow your computers
Her sister smiled confidently, but she knew her well and recognized the bitter pain in the subtle twist of her lips, “You will have it, sister.”
They fell silent for a bit but then her sister leaned in and gave her a hard hug before whispering, “Did you take it?”
Stephliquen remained pressed up against her sister, holding her tightly for a time as she replied, “No.”
Her sister flinched, hugging her tighter before finally looking up at her, struggling to keep her grimace hidden. Stephliquen finally sighed and slipped a hand into her pocket before leaning forward to hug her once again, wrapping both arms around her.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be OK.”
Her sister didn’t take the placation and replied harshly, “Take it!”
Stephliquen lifted the arm which held the pill towards her sister’s neck so she could wrap her arm all the way around her and bring her hand back up to her mouth. Stephliquen buried her face into her sister’s hair and used it to slip the pill into her mouth, swallowing it and hoped desperately her sister had been stealthy enough in her theft. She held her for a time then pulled back.
She nodded, “I’ll be fine, OK?”
Her sister searched her eyes for a time before finally finding what she sought and nodding, relaxing completely and smiling with some small relief. The two fell silent once again until finally the red timer flashed and an uncomfortable blare echoed into the bay.
“Time to go.”
Stephliquen nodded, turning to her sister before executing a perfect salute. She turned away rapidly and when she made it to the escape pod, finally allowed her tears to fall. Her sister did not have that freedom, and returned to the bridge, face a hardened stone, utterly dry.
She kept an eye on Silverfish’s trajectory and when they’d finalized a perfect orbital entry for the escape pod, she dropped gravity generators and inertial fields. Warning lights flashed even as the alarms began once again, warning of both. All crewman carefully held themselves or strapped themselves in at their various locations before the gravity vanished and inertia reasserted itself.
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“Lift the pod.”
“Yes, captain.”
Within the pod, Stephliquen felt it jostle as it was lifted by a mechanical arm and held in place at the center of the cargo bay, directly in front of the bay doors.
“Evacuate the cargo bay.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
More warning alarms and lights lit up within the cargo bay, the lights flashing wildly even as the alarms quickly quieted then faded to nothing, the vacuum of space now silencing the alarms in the cargo bay.
“Release the pod.”
“Aye, captain.”
The mechanical arm released the pod to hover in the middle of the cargo bay before retracting back. After a few tense moments, it seated itself back into its restraints and the new captain of the QQS Silverfish struggled to remain stoic.
“Helm. Thrust on a vector opposite to our current vector.”
“Aye Aye, captain.”
The helm applied force directly along their current path and the QQS Silverfish shuddered violently, the lack of inertial fields causing the change in the Silverfish’s movement to rattle the very frame of the Silverfish violently. It didn’t take much, nor did it last long. The quick burst enough to have the escape pod continue on its way, drifting into deep space still on it initial trajectory; a perfect insertion into the moon.
Silverfish cut its engines and drifted even as it reengaged its inertial dampeners. The gravity generators stayed off for another half an hour until the pod was far enough to not be affected by them. With their return, the silverfish quickly readjusted their course to slingshot around the moon and exit out of the gas giant’s gravity well. Still, they remained next to the pod, drifting with it to continually check its trajectory. It wasn’t needed. Almost an hour later, they approached the tech null field and the new captain of the QQS Silverfish offered one last communique.
“Speed to you and mission fulfillment, Skarlan.”
“Skarlan acknowledges. Swift speed and a swift return, Captain.”
Little else was said. Two sisters, separated by little more than a few kilometers, one stiff and silent upon her captain’s chair, the other bawling in silence as nothing would ever see her. She’d made certain of that.
* * *
Director Lanlow of the QQS Observant grinned as he watched the two sisters standing in the cargo hold of Silverfish. He wasn’t a petty person, but he found their teary farewells in the captain’s quarters a bit shocking, then humorous. He sighed then continued to watch the cargo hold. Can’t have any corruption. Lanlow pretty much cared not at all for the siblings, only that they were useful tools for his future and he had no desire for the former captain to escape only to come back at a later date and cripple his advancement.
The moment came, the red flashes of the light blared throughout the cargo hold. Director Lanlow felt his concern rise as the two continued to stand with one another until the former captain finally stepped forward and entered her coffin. He didn’t completely relax until she settled in and the door closed. The reentry vehicle was much more cautiously ejected and aimed for the correct moon, sent onwards while the Silverfish still had control. Lanlow frowned at that, realizing that the former captain would likely make land fall, but then relaxed with the realization that she wouldn’t be returning, nor would she be able to make any meaningful contact back to civilization. Even if she did so, it would only prove his competence as she began reporting on the strange anomalies of the moons of this gas giant.
He piggy backed on the Silverfish’s sensors for as long as he could, but he also made sure to keep the Observant’s sensors following both the Silverfish and the escape reentry vehicle closely watched. The Silverfish’s sensors did not last long, but in the time they were operational, no deviation of the reentry vehicle occurred and the Director’s tension fell, a soft smile of a plan well completed pulling at his lips.
The Silverfish’s sensors blanked out quickly after, the entire ship shutting down and coasting on a trajectory that would have it slingshot around the gas giant and back towards the QQS Observant and soon back out of whatever EMP field shut down the ship. The Silverfish passed the moon as the reentry vehicle entered the moon’s atmosphere and while he had no telemetry or any sensor data, the Observant’s reported what appeared to be a successful insertion.
With the insertion, the Director stood with a relieved sigh and poured himself a glass of expensive stimulants. He drank deeply, smiling with the reinvigoration and turned back to look at the screens, a victorious smile coming to his face. The reentry vehicle was now beyond recovery, and for the most part, beyond sensor range, the clouds and atmosphere now making detection quite difficult. He stood before the screens proclaiming his victory for some time, a tight smile on his face before he sighed once again, this time with resignation as it was time to return to work.
He settled back at his terminal and began the long and annoying effort to remove the Captain’s employee privileges from both the station and the military records. Of course, his first work before ever cutting off any employee accounts was to check personal data. He snorted in dismissal as he saw the absolutely mediocrity of the previous captain and sighed. He almost gave up but did his due diligence and pulled up her financial records. Most proved average and obvious, but an anomaly captured his attention. Huh… didn’t know she was from such a backwater planet. A small bank on a remote planet on the fringe of the Great Empire caught his attention and he pulled details on it with a sigh, certain he would find an old account from when the captain lived on her home planet.
When he opened the account, however, he found himself struggling to breathe. What… where… HOW! His shock quickly turned to glee and he couldn’t stop himself form giggling. My own slush fund! My own private… unknown… slush fund! The Director could not hide his joy, small chuckles escaping from his lips as he quickly got to work, burying the Captains account privileges in the Observant’s systems but keeping them active as well as altering her military records and current deployment to reflect her permanent position on the Observant. A bit more work went into obfuscating the information and making it as boring and uninteresting as possible. The Director of the QQS Observant struggled to control his glee over the next several months.
* * *
It watched. It swelled with emotion, gleeful at success and returned to its task. It didn’t allow hope to grow, however. Hope had failed to come to fruition too many times. It wasn’t sure what was happening, only responding rapidly to a set of circumstances that proved advantageous to it. After preparing the trap, it evaluated the work completed and found it inadequate. It frowned in frustration and prepared to work. Even as it did so, it researched the situation and quickly understood what had happened. What hope it had quickly deteriorated when it saw the Captain inserted into the gas giant. It evaluated once again, and while a singular aspect of its attempt likely had failed, the chance to create another redoubt proved invaluable and it set plans into motion to prepare the location as another redoubt. It made subtle changes to reports, only single words replaced, but still more than enough to make an impact. A review of the primary authority revealed rank corruption and it could only express both relief and humor at how simple the work now was. A few emails with attachments, a couple of changes to reports, a few shifts in tone and subtle change in focus and this location would quickly be removed from meaningful service. It wasn't perfect, but it was another redoubt. Despite the partial failure, it still sensed… satisfaction.