The oppressive cold of November gave way to a warmup in December. This was typical weather for the Colony of Eden Prime, specifically the capital of the Colony which had no name yet. The other settlements were recent editions. After the record cold and storms of November the populace was currently leaning towards, North Pole, Arctic Place, and less popularly, just plain Earth based on the artificial ice age experienced by their home world for the last thousand years. Apiyo had a few real ones on the table, the front runner being Alexandria. The colony government thought it might be appropriate given that it was being considered as an off world back up for the collected knowledge of the System’s Alliance. Iron Wall had already purchased land rights for a data warehouse, it was likely a done deal. Apiyo and her ministers were eager to bring more actual business to the colony. It would mean actual jobs for people other than farming. This would bring more wealthy people, more money, more taxes, which could grow the capital ‘city’.
Tyler’s condition was the same. He was still in a coma. It had been just over five weeks since the attack on the LSR’s embassy. Allison had been debriefed by SA authorities, the LSR’s legal authorities, and her own Military command. It had been declared by all of the above that she was in the clear. Tyler shooting her never made it into the official reports. She’d received commendations from both militaries and civilian governments.
Allison had also been awarded several bounties for capturing both the terrorists, and four wanted mercenaries, because she wasn’t an adult they had been placed in a trust for her, administered by Aurelius corp. Normally she wouldn’t have been able to collect but she was on leave and was using civilian equipment. The corps and SA did not want to pay but Eyre apparently made some politely worded threats, including to her own people as the mercenaries had stolen from Aurelius corp. The wording on that trust was less restrictive than her actual big trust. The total was just over one and a half million credits. She was easily able to afford her bike insurance. She deftly avoided paying for driving lessons by making the military do it.
Allison tried to visit Tyler daily but between school and her increased training regimen from Major Ghai her time was limited. Included in that training regimen after Allison pressed Major Ghai were fully funded driving lessons. He tried to get her to do it on her own time, but she pointed out that her training in actual military ground vehicles couldn’t go forward without her having a license. So, by the time Christmas break was on the near horizon she had her license to drive four wheeled and hover vehicles. It was a mixed blessing, she still didn’t have a car, she wasn’t licensed to ride her motorcycle, nor could she since it was winter, but she could start training in military ground assault vehicles. Which meant tanks and armored personal carriers instead of starfighters and starships.
Helen’s habitation had arrived, along with a specially designed hanger for Allison’s supplies. This kept Bit out of military hands. She still had to deal with her mother’s permission and military permission to leave the star system because she was active-duty military, but it was less of a hassle to take Bit out for a flight. Basically, taking a four hundred million credit armed military fighter with an FTL drive out for a joyride was not something she could do, however with her own personal craft she could. The issue was then she had to pay for civilian registration of the fighter, civilian space travel fees, deep space search and rescue insurance, and she had to file all of her flight plans directly with civilian space control. The latter was easy, she just had Bit do it, but still it was remembering to tell Bit to make the flight plans.
School was, well school. Allison had avoided being alone with Trixie, ever, under any circumstances. Ajay and Besho as well as their circle of friends had avoided tangling with Allison in any which way shape or form since the video of her fighting off eight-foot-tall giant aliens came out. Some HoloStar uploads had happened that revealed more details such as her ripping open what appeared to be a ship haul with her bare hands, these were quickly taken down and scrubbed by the System’s Alliance, but they were still seen. This basically set her apart from her peers. She was prickly at the best of times before, which kept her fellow students at a distance. Now that she was an Intergalactic super heroine of sorts, they were actually intimidated by her. This had not dissuaded Trixie, Aryna, or the other cheerleaders from associating with her. As much as she wished that had been a fringe benefit. A new girl arrived at school about a week after it started. Unlike every other person on the colony besides Aryna and Allison, she was fair skinned and fair-haired. Her name was Hope Carter and she was from the UK dome. She’d been quiet since she’d started. Much to Allison’s surprise she’d been adopted by Major Ghai and his wife. Allison had bonded with her when she witnessed Major Ghai dressing her down about her school uniform like a drill instructor. They hadn’t been fast friends but their shared dislike for Major Ghai’s antics had given them a chance to bond.
The tribunal had ended official meetings. Nothing came out of it that Allison had been involved in. The news declared the issue of AG-AP-01 closed. Allison had another spotlight shone on her because of the Embassy all over again. Thankfully that had faded in the last five weeks, so things were mostly back to normal for her.
Apiyo was still struggling with her daughter’s recent exploits. It was hard to see your child in the same light as you did before you saw her fighting off a horde of giant bugs and then blowing up a planet along with a fleet. Then finding out she fought off six armed terrorists in an evening gown and had come out on top. Apiyo was finding it hard to align her darling, sweet, little girl with the absolute bad ass the public at large saw her as, especially when she struggled to get up for school in the morning and to remember her chores.
Aryna and Allison had been spending a lot of Allison’s somewhat limited spare time together. Rumors were going around the school Aryna and Allison were in a relationship. It certainly would look like that to outside observers. Maybe they were in some weird way, but it was purely plutonic. Aryna was teaching Allison the fine art of knife and sword fighting. Their bows had recently finished fabrication, so Archery was now on the list. All three of the combat skills were part of Aryna’s upbringing. Though Queens no longer took part in duals tradition ran deep with the Qual’sa. Alongside the combat lessons, Aryna was teaching Allison the finer points of diplomacy, social graces and how to be a proper noblewoman. Of course these were all from a Qual’sa perspective. The lessons were far from being done with according to Aryna to truly master each art would take a human lifetime. Of course, Qual’sa were long-lived and patient people. Humans, not so much. Allison was a quick study and hungry for more knowledge.
Allison was thriving on her hectic schedule. It kept her from considering Tyler’s situation. It also kept her somewhat insulated from the issues between her mother and father, in fact it kept her pretty insulated from her mother. This suited Allison fine. Her mother had been awkward with her since she’d got back after the storm. The afternoon found Aryna and Allison in Bit’s new private hanger, which was sizable enough and durable enough they had set up an indoor archery range. It had been designed for three fighters and their associated equipment.
*****
Aryna inspected the bow Allison handed to her. The pair had gone with a very basic design. Bows weren’t exactly a weapon of choice among humanity in the thirtieth century. These were based on Qual’sa traditional bows. They were made of liquid metal. Allison had been pretty passive during the whole design phase besides making Bit do draw calculations and demanding they be made out of liquid metal.
“Perfect, if a bit, well, plain.”
Allison looked at her own bow which was currently just a handle. She’d had Bit calculate the optimal draw strength for both. That way her dhampir strength could be taken into account. She could snap a bow used by Aryna easily if she pulled too hard. She frowned.
“I seriously do not see the value in a bow. I mean I have laser pistols.”
Aryna turned to Allison.
“Archery is not about the weapon; It is about the one who wields it. Archery is an art for the Qual’sa. It teaches patience. If you can hit something with a bow, you can hit it with anything. All Qual’sa soldiers had to master archery before they could wield our standard pistols and rifles.”
Allison activated the bow and the arms oozed into existence stretching a metal wire between them. She looked it over.
“I don’t see it. Shooting a bow is completely different then shooting a pistol or rifle.”
Aryna slipped on the archery glove she’d ordered, then put the quiver on. She proceeded to unleash three arrows at the target in front of her. It all happened in less than five seconds. The arrows plunked into the target one after another. All dead center. She looked at Allison.
“If a soldier can do that, then what can they do with an automatic energy weapon?”
Allison was dumbfounded. After a few moments to get over what she’d just witnessed she walked up to the target and pulled out all three arrows. She held them up.
“Yea, but they barely stuck in it, even a synth leather jacket would probably stop them.”
Aryna took the arrows back and checked them for damage before putting them in her quiver. She looked at Allison.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“And if they were monomolecular edged?”
Allison remembered how much damage just holding the blade Olga had launched had done to her hand.
“Okay, still they move so slow, of course you can hit a stationary target. Your pistols travel near the speed of light, try dodging that.”
Aryna shrugged.
“You wanted me to teach you the art of martial combat, this is part of the training. Archery helps you master your breathing. It takes much more coordination than shooting a gun. None of this is about how effective it will be in combat. It is about learning the art form. I dread when we get to Rah’gov’fa if you don’t have the patience for archery.”
Allison collapsed her bow and studied the handle without looking up.
“What on Eden Prime is Rah’gov’fa?”
“It is the Qual’sa hand to hand martial art. The first ten years of training is learning how to breathe correctly, that’s it, no other training.”
“What? You need lessons on how to breathe?”
Aryna sighed.
“Yes, because it is the best way to center yourself. You do it all the time when you’re shooting.”
“But ten years? That seems just a slight bit excessive, don’t you think?”
“You are a short-lived species; It is hard for you to have the same perspective as me. It is like a month to you. I’m trying to take that into account here, but you have to have some patience.”
Allison shrugged.
“Well, carry on, Master Yoda.”
“What are you talking about?”
Allison waved her hand dismissively.
“Just a movie I watched, never mind. So, I guess you’re going to teach me to breathe now, pretty sure I know how, you know since I haven’t suffocated yet.”
Aryna poked Allison’s shoulder.
“You’re the worst student I’ve ever had.”
Allison shrugged.
“I’m the only student you’ve ever had.”
Aryna frowned and began teaching Allison the proper breathing technique for archery. The pair kept at it for a few hours. Allison finally threw up her hands.
“Seriously. I know how to breathe, yesh. You know what we have to do when we’re testing flying in a gravity well without inertial dampers? Breathe! Gah. How did you stay sane doing this for years on end?”
Aryna smiled.
“Because the alternative was much worse.”
Allison collapsed her liquid metal bow. She hadn’t fired a single arrow. The frustrated teenager rubbed the back of her neck and started pacing around the edge of the massive hanger Eyre had dropped on the planet behind Helen’s home. She stretched out and finally turned to Aryna.
“What could be worse than this?”
Aryna motioned around herself.
“You see a physical world. I feel it. I can also feel what is outside of it waiting to consume me when I am no longer able to be contained by this body. There is a void, and it seems to hunger for me. I do not understand but I sense great danger, and I should sense nothing.”
Allison sat down on a workbench.
“What do you mean a ‘void’, like space?”
Aryna shook her head.
“It is hard to put into words, but I do not want you to carry this burden when you carry so much already. Time travel… it is possible, according to you, there are two versions of history, one the Silwrath were monstrous xenophobes that were capable of erasing people from existence. Or entire species. A fact proven because you have a ship from that alternate timeline suspended in temporal shields on Earth. In that alternate timeline a Sythlin base was attacked the planet turned to glass around it, but it was preserved in the timeline because it had temporal shielding. This is all proof that time travel is possible. So, if time travel overwrites the future as we know it, what exists outside of the universe and its layers of existence, such as hyperspace? That is what I speak of. A question I would love to ask your Dark Mother.”
Allison waved her hand.
“You’re giving me a headache. There’s a void, it’s hungry. What the f… does that have to do with breathing exercises?”
Aryna smiled.
“It is how I center myself, remind myself who I am, that I exist, it strengthens my sense of self. So, when I casually touch someone, I don’t share thoughts and memories. So, when I’m angry I don’t crush things. I’ve seen videos of your Dark Mother ripping a ship in half with her force of will, in her rage she shattered an entire continental glacier. That power lives in you. I can feel it. You have the same capacity for destruction as I do, that my ancestors did, that the Dark Mother had. If you do not learn to control yourself, you could wipe out entire star systems in a rage. As my great-great… grandmother did. We didn’t need weapons of mass destruction. She compacted a star until it went supernova. It is why I’m teaching you to use weapons this way, it is not about the weapons, you are already a weapon. Compared to the power of a truly formidable mind like ours, weapons are nothing.”
Allison rolled her eyes.
“You’re bumming me out Aryna. So, why, if you’re so powerful did your mother not just crush the Sal’nash? Rip apart their minds, crush their ships?”
Aryna’s face darkened.
“I would like to say she did not try, but she did, they were protected. We swore we would never use our powers that way again, after the civil war. The innocents that were killed in the trillions… I hold the memories. It was the first memory I was given by my mother after the Ancients told me my future. Her first lesson on how dangerous I would be since the Ancients had called on me to be her successor. You do not want that kind of blood on your hands. I wish… I wish I could have saved you from what you had to do to the Sal’nash. It needed to be done but you should not have to carry that burden.”
“I’m over it, and you’re wrong. I don’t have that power because if I was a goddess’s daughter I would definitely wish away all these stupid pimples. Oh, and I’d fix Tyler with a snap of my fingers. Also, I might make my mom just a little less, well mom.”
Allison held up her fingers about a centimeter apart. Aryna put her hands on Allison’s upper arms.
“My friend, the truth will come to you one day and on that day, you’re going to regret not believing me. Don’t you have to be at the base for training soon?”
Allison sighed.
“Yep, Major Ghai is a modern-day slave owner. I wonder if he has a whip somewhere secretly.”
Aryna frowned.
“There are modern-day slavers out there already, and you would do well to avoid comparing Major Ghai to those monsters. I’ve been getting dispatches from LSR security briefings. Its horrific.”
Allison stuck out her tongue.
“There is a solution to that, stop reading the news, it’s always bad. See you at home later.”
Allison hopped off the bench, pulled her jacket on and hopped in her dad’s car. With him off in another galaxy he wasn’t using it and now that she was a licensed driver anywhere in the System’s Alliance, her mother saw fit to let her use it until winter passed. Her drive to the base was uneventful. Major Ghai was waiting for her when she came out of her office after changing. It was basically a glorified broom closet with a desk and no windows. He flicked her shoulder epaulet.
“Full Lieutenant, now we just need to get rid of the R beside the bars and you’ll be a real soldier.”
“Aye sir. What is on the schedule this evening?”
He motioned down the hall.
“No training, just a briefing for your next assignment. You’re spending the first two days of your holiday break on Silwra, attending a council session for the LSR. Where you’ll be invited into the Order of The Violet Scale. Apparently, a victory of a numerically superior force is required. You’re also being inducted into the Order of the Crimson Scale, the highest award they have because of your victory over the Sal’nash. Eminence Keer could not grant it, only the high council can. We’ll be providing you with all the details you need to make a good impression. This is the first time the council will be meeting a human in person.”
Allison frowned slightly.
“Sir, how long would I get in the brig if I didn’t show up to the shuttle?”
Major Ghai frowned.
“Do not even joke about that, Lieutenant. And you will be taking your personal craft. The LSR is still weary of our military craft in their area. Due to the antimatter weaponry.”
Allison blinked a few times.
“Uh, sir, my fighter is armed with antimatter torpedoes.”
“A fact I try my hardest to forget on a daily basis. You and antimatter should be kept as far apart as possible after what you did to that planet. In this case, you will be armed with only defensive weaponry, or hardpoints that you cannot change out, such as your particle beams, and your plasma gatlings.”
Allison gave up, she could literally swap out anything on her fighter because Maria had designed it to be completely modular.
“Of course, sir. So, are there any other weapons I should say can’t be removed, like the sixty pack micro missile launchers? Or are we sticking with the gatlings and particle beams?”
He looked down at her.
“What?”
Allison sighed.
“Sir, I can cut out all my cargo space, the enhanced sensor packages and arm that fighter to the teeth. It can hold a hundred and eighty micro missiles, or I can go all the way up to eight conventional antiship torpedoes. I could pull all the weapons out. Did you not receive the specs?”
He stopped, she stopped and turned to face him.
“No, the specs were classified even to me. I suggest you go with minimum armaments. Probably some drones since you won’t have your drone wing. Not the swarm drones.”
Allison nodded.
“Aye sir.”
He frowned.
“It is hard to determine what you’re going to require for mission parameters when I don’t know what your craft can do.”
“I suppose you don’t know it has a wormhole generator built into it, and an omega class antimatter generator then?”
He shook his head.
“I did not. But, It has occurred to me it might be valuable to have a wormhole beacon close to their space. Can you carry one of those?”
Allison nodded.
“Yes sir, but they’re like… really expensive. How are we going to get one of those?”
Major Ghai motioned for them to continue to the briefing.
“Don’t worry about it, just deploy it where you’re ordered too. I’ll take care of the rest. Have your fighter land here to have it added to its arsenal.”
They were about to go into the briefing with SA Command’s Xeno relations team when Allison got a call on her holo-phone. She saw it was Eyre.
“Sir, I have a call I need to take.”
“How important could it be? We have people waiting for us.”
“Sir, it’s the CEO of Aurelius Corp.”
He cleared his throat.
“Make it quick Lieutenant.”
Allison answered the call. Eyre’s face appeared on her AR HUD.
“Hello, Allison, how are you doing?”
Allison smiled.
“Good, and you?”
“The same as usual. I just wanted to warn you that you, your mother and Tearyna are coming to Earth for Christmas. I wish your father could come, but he’s stuck on base due to circumstances beyond his control. Your mothers already accepted our invitation. No need to bring gifts for anyone, just bring yourselves. And that cute pet of yours.”
Allison rubbed the back of her neck, half to check and see if her hair bun was still in place because it looked a bit off in the video call.
“Well, okay, I guess. Thanks?”
“We’ll be having it at your apartment, no need to worry, I’m taking care of everything. That way you can show it off to your family. See you in a week!”
Allison smiled.
“Okay, looking forward to it, I have to go to a briefing now. Sorry, Auntie Eyre.”
“Well get to it then.”
Eyre disconnected the call and Allison grumbled to herself: I would have liked a holiday instead of flying all over the universe… blah.