However, soon after arriving on The Bridge he was greeted by Anora, surprising him to some degree as she was.. seemingly arguing with someone or rather.. multiple individuals?
“The Steward Council? So, no one of note-Wardens now? Even less so-oh a Curator Enforcer? Come back when you become a Shadow Enforcer-Ultor? You owe me money for that penal legion mishap-The Responders? I do not require medical attention but thanks anyways-Terran Expeditions? Make me! And where's my credits-”
Anora dryly humored herself after making up official case settlements through New Harvest’s Judicial System, of which she documented what ‘she’ discovered and provided enough evidence and a dead judge’s name to award herself five hundred million credits due to The Penal Legion mishap.
As for The Terran Expeditions, she made it five billion after making use of the evidence of their officially sanctioned hit squad in an effort to assassinate Helen, however she changed several elements to include New Harvest Security, Civilian Casualties, Collateral Damage and whatever she could throw at them.
Their lawyers will only see Helen being taken into protective custody in the mayor’s office, a dozen of unarmed civilians being killed and several dozen more in critical, one hundred million in collateral damage including shuttles, homes, and infrastructure.
Followed by her identifying each member of The Hit Squad, evidence, logs, and enough to prove it was The Terran Expeditions, whether it be falsified or not, and witnesses as The Synthetic Human Information Network was to this day unaffected & autonomous.
As to why Anora went through the trouble of orchestrating it all.. she was never officially employed or received an actual pension.. so at most she simply wanted to collect her dues through The Ultor Conglomerate & The Terran Expeditions as there was enough real evidence to base it on.
The Ultor one due to their connection to New Harvest had it easy because the settlement was ‘sealed’, The Terran Expedition Settlement was not and could be sent to the media..
Blackmail or not she wanted to be able to buy things now that she had her own body, without being forced to ask Ferris in that regard or explain why she bought a moon or something equally private?
As a result, The Ultor Conglomerate apologized and would get back to her as to put it bluntly they could afford it and it wasn’t in fact a significant sum, if anything they wouldn’t question or investigate the settlement due to it already being sealed and couldn’t be made public.
The Terran Expeditions on the other hand.. they were outraged but considering it took four years for New Harvest to so thoroughly investigate the matter and somehow manage to toe everything to The Expeditionary Board, they calmly hid their rage and cut off communications.
Initially, they were questioning Helen’s whereabouts and making demands and hidden threats, so naturally Anora took offense to their behavior..
As for The Responders, they were again an organization born of The Remnants of The First Responders of The Federation who survived The Curator Uprising and answered every distress call without bias or charging anyone in doing so.
They had enough treaties with every major faction that not even The Pirates or The Stewards would fire upon them or interfere in their operations so to say they were well liked would be an understatement, so she chose to merely thank them for the offer.
As for matters relating to The Steward Council, The Warden Council, and a random Curator Enforcer..
The Steward Council saw her as Ernest’s Second Daughter and would be honored for her to have an official seat at the table to which she declined as they began to negotiate to no effect? The same applied to The Warden Council who despite how it may sound had a better deal..
She could join The Warden Council, become a large shareholder in The Ultor Conglomerate, and if she desired her own division or sub faction.
She’d be given a known planet, or uncharted system, allocated Ultor Assets, free surplus, her own fleet, and five million a month with a three hundred million signing bonus and the third largest shares.
What’s more, she wasn’t required to actually attend council sessions, play a major role in Ultor, or be forced to strain herself unless she so desired to. Of course, she was debating on accepting their offer right away, but she wanted them to try to add an additional bonus to the mix.
Several minutes later.. they did just that as she reopened communications and Ferris leaned against a console to watch.
“Lady Anora, The Ultor Conglomerate’s humble origins were that of.. privateers who after discovering a Federation.. Titan from a war far older than The Curator Conflict-my apologies it would seem you were already made aware of this fact. Pleasantries aside, our offer includes everything we’ve previously offered and.. a authentic replica of said Titan-”
And as the young ultor representative continued, she explained she could special order one and change and add whatever she wished, without restrictions, and all free of cost..
Whether it be the color of the hull, the name, the interior, windows, amenities, replica uniforms, suits, weapons, or anything she so desired they’d ensure she was ‘happy’.. with it, it would come with a crew of her choice, and its own A.I?
To say Anora after receiving her own customization screen including everything it entailed, she ‘pondered’ on that little fact before selecting The Titan’s Original Design, Interior, Crew Uniforms, Weapons, Compliments, and the like.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
As if merely looking at her options before choosing a female A.I named Clover and naming it The F.N.S Haust and choosing a cloned crew she herself picked out and accepting their offer after choosing a system that pointed to have been formerly owned to The Federation.
To put it bluntly, she wanted her own little safe haven and found The Progenitor War Aesthetic to be her favorite thus far as not only was it pre curator, and Ferris preferred the golden age variant meaning he likely won’t have the urge to ‘investigate’ her stuff..
“It’s been an honor-”
Sadly, Anora waved her off before cutting off communications and smiling to herself as Ferris shook his head.
“I’m.. impressed? The Stewards offered you a seat without question, and with minimal benefits. The Wardens offered you both a seat & shares, before outright giving you an entire system, a Titan of all things, and what else was there? Your own A.I-”
Ferris subtly humored after noticing the drastic disparity among the two offers..
“Ferris.. I.. didn’t notice you were there? Must be this new body.. and.. yes? Ernest.. added me to his family registry. Had I known earlier that he had also created a series of bank accounts in my name, only to forgo the credit aspect, I would have asked for an allowance..”
Anora dryly recalled as she leaned against him merely to do so before showing him her bank account & assets.
[Welcome back! Anora E Rothen]
[Checking Account: 805,000,000 CR]
[Shares: 12% Ultor Conglomerate. Valued: 4,500,000,000 CR]
[Networth: 13,476,482,823 CR]
“Three Ultor Enforcer Fleets, each crewed by clones and led by a recently commissioned dreadnought and supported by twelve cruisers and twenty frigates. Three dreadnoughts, thirty-six cruisers, and sixty frigates. The Crew in total should amount to fourteen thousand and five hundred clones. The titan has a crew of three thousand alone, so many bodies..”
Anora took a moment to examine the number once more, she simply couldn’t imagine one day commanding so many. Her facility or rather The Haust Conclave and its population.. were nothing in comparison?
Even if merely clones, they were still human so that was good enough for her, however something felt wrong.. it was happening too quickly.
“Ferris.. it's only been a month.. Calisto’s Fragment is still hiding within your neural implant, I can feel her but.. there's still too many unanswered questions. Did Ernest truly out of the kindness of his own heart ‘sponsor’ me? Why is it that we’re avoiding the fleet’s last known slipspace coordinates? And why do I feel as if though all of this could be taken away-”
Anora’s words were no longer verbal, rather her thoughts were made known through his implant. In truth, Ferris had similar thoughts, Calisto disappeared after failing to revive him alongside that.. small pod containing their cloned child without even leaving a note.
Her fragment or to put it bluntly, her inferior echo she left in his neural implant was and still is connected to her, however waking her up has proven far too difficult without surgically removing his implant or synchronizing her while still on his brain stem.
As for the fleet, he had discreetly ordered an investigation through Zeta and until he’s told exactly where it was, he wasn’t willing to follow the trail of mere echoes and ghosts. And considering Zeta has yet to find anything, even now, he chose the waiting game.
There was, however, Cheyenne to think about..
He was still connected to her in a sense? Her shackles were always meant to be ambiguous and a simple precaution, however she has never made an attempt to remove them despite her ‘now’ nearly being Ascendant herself, he sensed she was doing the job he asked of her?
If only he knew what..
“I’ve made every necessary effort, only the fleet isn’t where Zeta believed it to be, Calisto is gone with the wind, and New Harvest is being rebuilt, The Network is solid, as are its agents and assets that will continue to be run by New Harvest. Ernest is preoccupied with his investments, so I needn’t bother him, The Board is alive and well elsewhere, as is Delta and Specter Team-”
Ferris calmly reassured, as during Helen’s recovery in the medical facility on Sol, he wasn’t merely sitting idle. He had even spoken to Ernest for a short period; however, he too was unaware of where the fleet was and was dealing with the aftermath much like they were now.
Specter Team as per their instructions regrouped with Delta Team, Reaper Team, and Ark Team in The Farreach Conclaves so they were alive even if he had yet to contact them. Roy was alive as well, but Blair was not, so he was likely back at his farm or a Freestar Admiral by now..
The Board, Ambassadors, and Catherine again were alive and up to whatever they were doing prior. Coincidentally, Carter the medic from back from The Conclave who was lost in the past was currently on Earth after marrying that female Curator thirty years ago?
So it wasn’t that he was ignorant, lazy, or blind, rather he simply didn’t have much to go on. While unlike Anora, he wasn’t advertising that he was alive, only that New Harvest survived..
At least if someone ever looked at their transponder and wondered after a century why New Harvest felt so familiar? The Board would likely turn their shadowy heads, even more so after realizing it was Ferris.
However, he hoped it wouldn’t come to that as he felt the entire experience was rather tedious at best, at worst a willful self-delusion. At no point did he ever desire to become Specter again, lest he waste another century of his life..
Thankfully, Anora wouldn’t pester him further after catching on..
“Good.. now-hm? An Admiral Haze in command of the seventh fleet conducting a tour of The Freeworlds with the esteemed representatives of The United Territories, United Colonies, Alliance, and The Freestar Confederacy has graciously invited Director Jarvis & that of her captain to a diplomatic banquet onboard of his flagship.. but not me, your XO..”
Anora dryly entertained, with clear and obvious disappointment twisted in her words as Helen finally made her way back to the bridge to hear the end of it.
“Admiral Jonathan Haze, he’s a war hero.. he’s also a Senior Member of The Alliance Admiralty Board and.. a friend. If he says it's a diplomatic banquet then it's a diplomatic banquet, if anyone on The Admiralty Board has morals it would be him. What do you think.. Ferris? And quit pouting over there, he won’t mind if your little friend here represents Ultor & The Wardens”
It was evident, Helen was listening in for much of the conversation, leaving Anora to politely decline in favor of ‘shopping’ both on Sol and The Net. Of course, Ferris’s implant was still her core, however she had a body now with the ability to multitask..
“That’s a shame.. next time perhaps? I’d also appreciate it if you refurbish my quarters? Evidently, the captain’s quarters had neither a bed or furniture..”
Ferris calmly remarked.. what’s more, the ship in itself was a time capsule due to the lack of oxygen, rust, nor dust leaving it considerably pristine and preserved. However, the fact alone he was forced to leave his personal effects in his closet and had no bed was rather concerning?