Amir slumped down in the bed of his cubicle at the naval hostelry at the port, All in all everything had gone to plan. Chloe and Sparrow, had been transferred to the medical sloop and then a few hours later Amir and the princess were disembarking into the port and separating at last as he sought his bunk in the naval hostelry whilst she made for her campus accommodation. No one challenged them, well they’d not genetically profiled the patients yet then. Or perhaps Chloe had managed to fake them as well.
To his surprise just as he was starting to drift off to sleep the comms unit in his room started beeping. Groggily he reached over and lifted the receiver, to his surprise it was Captain Hernandez. “Captain,” he spluttered, “good evening.”
“Good evening, Mr Choudary,” replied the Captain warmly.
“How’s she looking now, the Whittington?” he added.
“I think we’ve crossed the threshold from barely holding on to holding on barely. We’ve got most critical systems stabilised. Had a bit of a problem with the interface, a lot of data got corrupted unfortunately. Also, the Warrant you picked up was the only one to survive the boarding from the Water Recycling detail. We’ll need to get her back on board sharpish as I need that detail back and running. Need every hand I can get to be honest.”
Amir considered this cryptic bit of communication before replying, “Are you saying the Warrants and I should report back on board, Sir?”
“I think that would be wise, in fact I’m issuing an order for you to all return to the ship as soon as Ms Liu and Ms MacLeod are medically fit., Captain of Marines, I know our duty to the Lady Ellis is now complete but I do wonder if she was indeed the target whether they might strike again?”
Amir’s heart shrunk, surely the Captain wasn’t suggesting, was she?
“Yes, I think it would be best if you all return to the ship together. All Lady Ellis’ attire is still on board after all and I’ll imagine she’ll be wanting it tomorrow.”
“I’ll go find her,” he sighed.
Well that changed the whole game. Captain Hernandez was offering to hide the pilot in plain sight. He put down the comm and then looked at it thoughtfully - could he risk trying to contact the princess directly - he’d have to go through the switchboard AI as he had no idea what her comm tag was. If she used the civilian comm - as opposed to the hardened connection all military traffic went on - he could be easily traced by a skilled systems tech. On the other hand he couldn’t just wander the Without hoping to bump into her. He’d have to risk the comm and hope the pursuers the Captain was so concerned about hadn’t regrouped yet after their failed strike on the Whittington.
“Without Hub,” he said, launching the interface with the Without’s controlling AI, “Please locate and connect the comm unit of the Honourable Lady Harriet Ellis, please.”
“Switching to the switchboard subordinate routine,” said the Without Hub. In reality all the role specific AIs were actually subroutines of the main hub AI but few people remembered that except when the Without Hub reminded them.
After a few seconds the slightly different voice of the switchboard chimed: “Mr Choudray,” pulling his own information off his own comm tag, “The Honourable Lady Harriet Ellis is currently located in her assigned quarters. Her privacy settings do not permit me to disclose her precise location.” Alhamdulillah , thought Amir, at least the princess had taken that sensible step. “Would you like me to call her comm tag on your behalf,” the switchboard continued.
“Yes please switchboard,” replied Amir.
After a few seconds the princess’s familiar voice chimed on the comm. “What do you want Mr Choudray?” her voice dripped with hostility and he noted that she had not activated video settings.
“Lady Ellis,” Amir replied as calmly as he could, “the Captain has identified a potential security threat to your person. She has ordered me to return you to the Whittington, along with our other personnel as quickly as possible. Evacuation from the Without will proceed tomorrow in the meantime please remain in your quarters, I shall be joining you as soon as possible to keep you safe until evacuation. If your quarters have an external window, move as far away from it as possible, preferably into a windowless room but if such an option isn’t available to you, remain behind cover and out of eyesight from the window. I will extract you as soon as possible if you can disclose your location to me - not the full address, just give me the sector and block and I’ll find you from there.”
“This is ridiculous Mr Choudray,” she replied, “I have just arrived, my security detail from the university is already in place guarding my room. I no longer have any need for the Navy’s protection.”
“Lady Ellis,” Amir said, barely masking his frustration, “this is not a request. I have received a direct order to extract you from the Without. Our attackers were well organised and ruthless - obviously the forces of another state agent rather than raiders or pirates. In such circumstances the risk that one of your civilian security detail has been suborned is worryingly high. Your safety is better protected aboard a Naval Ship; even a damaged one.”
“Suborned?”
“Bribed,” Amir continued, “or blackmailed, whatever. It is clear from what transpired during the boarding of the Whittington the enemy’s primary target was you - either for kidnap or assassination. Probably more likely a kidnap attempt intended to paralyse the Lord Mayor, your father, and at the same time make some sort of military incursion into Corporation space. Hard to say what - unlikely to be something to trigger an all out war; but certainly some of the outlying withouts may be threatened. Do you want to risk that my Lady.”
“No,” she said reluctantly, “But how do you think I’d be better protected on a crippled fourth rate ship?”
“Third rate; the Whittington is a ship of the line,” Amir corrected her defensively; strange he didn’t normally get attached to a posting but he must admit even though he’d only been aboard a short time he had warmed to the ship and its Captain. “In any case those are my orders and I must stand ready to carry them out. Your location if you please and quickly this call may be being traced. We can discuss matters further when I reach your quarters.
“Fine,” the princess said, letting out a frustrated sigh, “it’s Academic Sector, Block 346.”
She was about to continue when Amir cut her off. “That’s enough I’ll be able to locate you from there. ETA 47 minutes. Choudray out.” He cut the comm connection, gathered his meagre supplies and checked he was still wearing a side arm and then after a short while shoved his naval sword into his duffel. Then trying to move calmly out of the dormitory in case he was being watched he ambled in a diversionary pattern, pretending to be browsing shops and cafe windows, towards the transport ring. A petty measure, easily seen through by anyone half competent, but it was what he had been trained to do.
The transport hub was busy when he reached it; a shift change must have recently happened. Good, he thought, the masses should hide his presence. Of course if he was being tailed the tail would have the same advantage. Instinctively, he patted his side arm.
The ride to the academic sector was relatively short and few people departed with him when the transport capsules stopped. Twenty minutes left but the Academic centre was very large - this Without had been built to be a research hub and really the rest of the Without was there to service the academics and researchers embedded here. Amir asked the Without Hub AI to supply him with a sector map. Block 346 was located just a few minutes from the university’s main campus and was almost certainly a block reserved for university academics, ancillary staff and students. It was about 15 minutes away on foot, but of course the closer he got the more diversionary tactics he’d need to deploy. Although if the enemy knew where she was located as well, all they had to do was watch the main entrance to the block and follow him. Amir dismissed this thought, either they would be there or they wouldn’t. Either way it was his job now to deal with it or die trying. Shit.
As he got closer he activated his trump card; the company, when he had passed out as a second lieutenant, had fitted him with a search and extract implant. Contained within it was a complete tactical suite of search and extraction protocols and tools. One of which, he was delighted with himself on activating when the princess had first arrived, could scan a person’s ident and then use it for short range tracking. He was certain the enemy wouldn’t have been able to also rip the princess’s ident. He activated the implant as he got close to the block. As soon as he did a tactical display appeared on his vision, like a HUD, but invisible to everyone apart from him. The tiny highly specialised AI contained in the implant started to pull up tactical suggestions for entering the building as a sole extraction agent. As he followed the implants advice to access a service door at the side of the building there was a sudden ping as the ident tracker picked up the princess’s implant. Immediately the implant produced a new entry plan and transit route for evacuation based on her quarter’s specific location.
Powering up an emergency staircase Amir ran to the seventh level, as he did he unclipped the side arm and drew it. Panting, he burst through the fire door on the seventh floor and then raced after the directions his implant was projecting as transparent arrows on his vision. Still panting he slowed and tucked his weapon hand into his jacket; as he reached the princess’s corridor and started walking. He could see a security officer standing discreetly in the corridor not right outside the door but in easy reach of it.
“I’ve got orders to remove Lady Ellis from this location,” he flashed the order transcript to the security guard.
“With all due respect sir,” the guard began, “but my own orders are to ensure Lady Ellis does not leave this room for at least 24 hours.”
“I’m afraid orders from the Admiralty supersede civilian directions,” Amir started, turning towards the door. That was a mistake.
As he took his eyes off the guard his implant threw up a red warning. Snapping back round he was just in time for a round aimed for his back to graze his left arm. He was wearing body armour but Naval armour was only rated for low velocity round protection, the high velocity round ripped straight through it. His own weapon hand he instinctively whipped out of his jacket and fired off two shots without even thinking about it. One of them hit the security guard’s head and he collapsed into a pool of blood. Amir used one of the naval overrides encoded in his implant to force the princess’s door to unlock and hastily entered, dragging the body in quickly.
“This is a posh room, recycler unit inside?” he shouted as he entered and a stunned princess just pointed him to the hatch on the far wall; he dragged the body into and shoved it in the recycler, “well that’s one problem dealt with. Get into your flight suit whilst I hide this.” The princess looked visibly shocked at the sight of the body which Amir has just shoved into a biomass decomposer but she immediately began shedding the dress she was wearing and pulling on the flight suit.
‘You were serious?” she finally said, now dressed in the flight suit and looking at the recycler.
“I’m always serious,” Amir muttered. He hoped the dead guard hadn’t sent an alert out before he took his shot. That would be pretty much game over. His plan was to get the princess out of here and back into military accommodation where if they were attacked there might at least be a few other naval personnel to support him. He briefly wondered why the Captain hadn’t ordered the local naval forces to support him before realising these weren’t admiralty orders but the Captain’s. Well on her head be it when this all went south. Normally he’d be rushing to get the princess back into their shuttle but instead he had two others to get out as well, which meant waiting. Quickly he deployed a vial of clean up nanos - a small amount on his sleeve to repair the material and most on the floor to clean up the blood (not that it would hide it from a proper forensic kit but it should stop any casual observers from noticing); the nanos would soon follow the blood trail under the door and into the corridor.
He flashed over the directions back to the dormitory suggested by his implant to the princess, “you walk calmly ahead following the directions. I’ll be behind you looking out for threats.” Amir had already surmised that the reason few people got off at the transit hub in this sector was that it was a walkable distance from the dock area; a fact Amir’s implant suggested they utilised. The implant via a very winding route took them out of the Academic sector and into a service corridor that linked the two sectors. Technically it should be off limits but it was crowded with civilians hoarding their transport allowance. It was hard to keep his eyes on the princess but somehow he managed it without appearing to be deliberately weaving through the crowd.
A few minutes later they entered the dock area and Amir moved up to walk at the princess’ side. “We’ll be less suspicious walking to the docs if we walk together,” he remarked. The princess just nodded as they strode into the naval dormitory.
“I need to check in with Seaman Ellis”, he said, having decided that they didn’t have enough time to set up a new ident for her. “She’s being redeployed to the Whittington, new recruit on first deployment” he added by way of explanation for the desk who was looking puzzled at her unmarked flight suit - but a new recruit wouldn’t get name and ship’s badges until she had reported aboard. He was nowhere near as good as Chloe was but he had used his time walking to set his implant to the task of faking some records, but that was a bit fruitless as the implant just wasn’t designed for that kind of work. So having thought of no other way to get the princess past naval security, technically he had press-ganged the princess into the Navy - but the princess didn’t need to know that or what the consequences of that might be for both of them just yet.
“Ah yes, I can see her deployment orders here,” that was the one thing his implant had managed to do once he’d enlisted the girl, “I guess you guys must be in a bad way if you’re scratching up greenlings.”
“Aye,” Amir acknowledged, “this one only got conscripted a few days ago - she hasn’t even started basic.”
“Jeez, what’s the posting board playing at?”
“I guess they heard about our situation and are desperately deploying any unassigned personnel for us.”
The clerk continued the process of booking her into a cubical dorm - or as they were known in the Navy; coffins.
“Come on Seaman,” Amir said casually, “I’ll show you where to go”
“Yes sir,” she replied, surprising Amir with her presence of mind to actually call him sir.
Amir led them past the ‘cemetery’ levels up to his own room. “You’re going to be staying with me until tomorrow,” Amir said, “there’s not much extra security here but at least it’s Naval and not civilian.” He led her into the room and secured the door at maximum security, “take the bed if you like or watch some media or whatever, just don’t bother me I’ve got to plan how we’re going to extract the other two tomorrow.”
“Was that man going to kill me?” the princess finally said after ten minutes of pacing around the room and trying out the bed and the easy chair.
“Probably, I can’t be certain but probably?”
“Probably!” she exclaimed, “he could have been protecting me.”
“Possibly,” admitted, “but he shot me first. I wasn’t going to mess around when someone takes a pop at me.”
“I guess not,” she said begrudgingly.
-----------------------------------------
They sat in silence for the next couple of hours. Amir had stopped to throw the princess a ration bar but that had been their main interaction until she retired to the bed and fell asleep. Amir got up and made himself comfortable on the easy chair. His extraction plan hadn’t really progressed beyond just marching into the naval hospital and just presenting his orders to return Chloe and ‘Ms MacLeod’. Not a great plan by any means but what else could he do; he set his implant for threat monitoring and slowly let himself go to sleep, still none the wiser about what they were going to do tomorrow.
When they woke up Amir decided he should detour to the Without’s quartermaster’s office to draw some equipment for the princess. He marched them both over there, with the princess protesting loudly at the 4.30 am start he had enforced. They reached the quartermaster’s office.
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“Warrant,” he began, “I’m Captain of Marines Choudary from the Whittington, I’m escorting this recruit on board.”
“I heard what happened; you must be in a bad way to be sent here scouring for greenlings.”
“Indeed,” Amir replied, “it wasn’t quite like that but yes we need all the hands we can get right now. We’ve not got much by way of supplies left on board. Could you issue her with two sets of number 5s, a set of number 2s, a couple of number 3s,” before reluctantly adding, “and a side arm and holster.” The princess raised her eyebrows at that. “We can’t have a sailor wandering around unarmed Seaman.”
“Here you go,” said the quartermaster, who was surprisingly amenable for a quartermaster, the swearing as he rummaged in various storage bins was really quite mild, handed the princess a now stuffed to bursting duffle bag, a holster and belt and finally a pistol. “Sign here, Seaman.” He said offering a tablet out to her. The princess signed it quickly.
“Right,” said Amir, “get that belt and holster on, secure your weapon and grab your stuff - we’ve got a tight schedule.” Amir watched and was again pleasantly surprised she didn’t fumble getting the belt on or securing her weapons. The duffle was slung up on her shoulder, although the obvious struggle to lift its weight would have been immediately noticed by another sailor or marine. Finally the quartermaster pulled out a set of badges from the printer: a set of name badges, shoulder badges for the number 3s and 5s, a cuff badge for the number 2s and finally a set of Whittington’s ship badges - a black cat sitting calmly on an ancient cannon.
“Basic training just keeps on getting easier doesn’t it,” remarked the quartermaster.
“This one hasn’t even completed Basic, I don’t know what they’re playing at - she must have got a Petty Officer who was really pissed off at working in the postings board,” Amir said, feigning agreement. “Come on Seaman,” he said to the princess, “we’ve got a shuttle to catch.”
“Good luck, Sir,” replied the quartermaster, “you’ll need it - green as grass that one.”
As they left the office the princess finally boiled over. “Who did he think he was talking to! I’ve never been treated with such disrespect. Doesn’t anyone have any manners in the Navy.”
“No,” Amir said bluntly, “and he treated you exactly like any other greenling.” You best get used to it, Amir thought, he’d made an irreversible change to the girl’s life. He’d probably be dismissed in disgrace - or executed - but it was the only plan he could think of and that was that in the end. Welcome to the life of Naval service princess. “Don’t touch that gun unless I explicitly tell you to. Even if we’re being shot at. Understood?” the princess nodded.
Next Amir led them to the Naval hospital. He reported to the Able Seaman running the reception, receiving a crisp salute. He quickly explained his orders and asked for directions to Chloe and Ms MacLeod and was relieved to find they were both on the same recovery ward and had been deemed fit to resume the majority of their operational duties but not combat duties. He marched them directly to the ward. This bit was relatively safe - it would be foolish for their enemies to attack the hospital unless they really had the numbers to wipe out the hospital’s admittedly modest security detail.
“Let me guess - we’ve been invalided out?” came Chloe’s voice as he entered the room but was startled into silence when she saw his companion.
“Lady Ellis,” Sparrow exclaimed, “why are you here? It’s too dangerous to associate with us”
“Hmmm, I can’t say I disagree but this asshole has a different idea.”
“A) I have direct orders to return all of us to the Whittington, B) your security guard fucking shot me and C) it’s Sir whilst you’re a sailor and you better get used to it.”
“Amir,” said Chloe, dropping the proper address out of surprise, “what have you done?”
“No fooling you, is there?” Amir replied sardonically, “I guess there’s no hiding it. I faked some records and press-ganged her.”
“You did what!” roared the princess in real fury. A nurse rushed over and told them all to be quiet or leave.
“It was the only way to get you into the hostelry and get some proper naval uniforms and we’d have been too suspicious without them.”
“Suspicious, and did I hear you shot someone?” Chloe suddenly said, sitting up.
“You heard right, Captain thinks our attackers mean to finish her off on the Without - so we’ve all got orders to head back to the Whittington - and from the bullet wound to my arm I’d say she’s right.”
“Wait, stop,” interjected the princess, “we hadn’t finished talking about the small matter of you press-ganging me.”
“Naval Regulation 231, during times of emergency any officer of the rank Lieutenant Commander or Captain of Marines or above may conscript any civilian who has completed less than one year of their work or study assignment.” Amir parroted off.
“Right and what does that actually mean,” she said huffily.
“It means he’s signed you up for 45 years of Naval Service,” Ms Liu sighed, “the only ways out are to get a wound so bad the bots can properly fix you and you’re invalided out or the firing squad if you desert. Doesn’t matter who you are - that’s the law.”
“What so I’m some lowly soldier now!?” her voice rising again.
“Seaman,” Amir corrected, “but if you get your physical condition up quickly, I’ll be able to recommend you for officer training.”
“What bloody difference does that make?”
“A lot,” replied Chloe, “your name will definitely get you in if you can meet the fitness requirements. I’m sorry Lady Ellis but not even your dad can change things now. You’ll just have to make the best of it.”
“You’ve ruined my life,” the princess whined.
“I’m doing my best to save it,” Amir snapped back, “and you need to start acting like a sailor if this is going to work.”
“You’ve ruined my fucking life,” she said again before sarcastically adding, “sir.”
“Your complaint has been noted, Seaman,” Amir said, equally as sarcastically, “and you lot - we’ve got to get moving.”
“Back to the Whittington?” Chloe aid.,
“Aye, those are the orders,” Amir stated.
“What about me?” Sparrow asked timidly
“What about you,” Amir replied, letting out a small smile briefly, “Captain’s orders include you Ms Macleod.”
Slowly the two Warrants picked themselves up. Chloe went over to Sparrow and drew the curtain round the bed and then helped both of them into their cleaned and repaired flight suits. After a minute or two they both stepped out.
“You know your career, if not your life, is going to be over after this,” Chloe whispered into his ear.
“I’ll hopefully have saved her life so hopefully it’s just my career on the block.”
“I hope so too,” replied Chloe.
They quickly collected Chloe’s weapon from the weapons locker in this part of the hospital and then Amir grabbed another and threw it at Sparrow. “Put that in your holster.”
“Sir,” Sparrow queried.
“Just put in the holster, Rita, your Naval personnel, you have to be armed.”
They left the hospital. Chloe was moving noticeably slower than she had been before the attack, which was going to make things harder. They moved across the main concourse towards the military area of the docks where their shuttle was berthed. They should be fairly safe when they made it inside the military area. Until then though there was 600 metres of exposed concourse to cross first. This was most undoubtedly the most dangerous moment of the whole journey. Amir was reading threat assessments his implant was producing whilst trying to decide whether they should move as a group around the princess - that would potentially give her some protection against a sniper attack but would doom them all in an area of effect attack. Whilst splitting up would vastly increase the success profile of a sniper attack. Amir decided to stick together.
“Right, everyone stick close around Lady Ellis,” he said, “but make it look casual.”
They fell into a loose group around the princess, Amir took the side closest to the buildings that he thought if there was a sniper they’d most likely be in place there. Nervously they began the crossing. Chloe tried to get Sparrow to engage in some casual conversation but Sparrow wasn’t really up to the task. Professional silence then, thought Amir, that was fine too he guessed. Much to his surprise he found himself two minutes later at the entrance checkpoint.
The sentry saluted him as he approached. “May I ask your business, sir?”
Amir flashed the sentry a copy of his order transcript and their idents from the Captain before summarising for him. “The Captain has given me orders to transport these personnel back to the Whittington. After all I have the chief engineer here and the only surviving systems tech from our water recycling detail - so pretty essential.”
“And your third member, sir?”
“Just a new recruit assigned to her first posting. They probably assigned her to the Whittington before we even left London. Still every hand at times like these.”
“Indeed, Sir,” said the sentry raising the barrier, “safe journey.”
“Thank you corporal,” he told the marine NCO.
“Well that was uneventful,” muttered the princess, “almost like you didn’t have to conscript me.”
“Uneventful is good you realise,” Amir retorted, “it must mean your suborned security guard didn’t get a report out.”
“Plenty of time to bicker on the shuttle,” interrupted Chloe, “let’s just get to the shuttle and then we can work out if we can actually make this work.”
“We have to,” sighed Amir, “if we want to save our necks - whether that’s from the attackers or the Admiralty I don’t know.”
----------------------------------------
They finally entered the shuttle and Amir went to the comm to book a priority departure slot. After a couple of minutes arguing with the Lieutenant in charge, who complained but eventually consented to do his job. Then Amir reported to the quarterdeck of the Whittington their departure, programming the autopilot and then spinning his chair out and relaxing finally, deactivating his implant.
“Well, so here’s how I see it going,” Amir started, “the Captain, for whatever mad reason, is going along with all this so that’s one thing in our favour. Sp - I mean Rita, do you know anything about water recycling?”
“Mr Choudary, I have an extensive database of all the ships systems encoded in my mind. My programmers felt it necessary I had a full understanding of the ship's systems so I could act as back up to the Ship’s AI if it was disabled.”
“That’s useful, why didn’t I know that?” He turned an inquisitive eye to Chloe.
“Only the Captain, the Doctor in Charge and myself are cleared to know that,” Chloe answered, “it’s to stop everyone panicking that the pilot could take control of the ship.”
“I assure you Ms Liu, my programming will not allow me to act in such a way without an explicit order from the Captain or yourself if the Captain is incapacitated, having received confirmation of that from the most senior Doctor on duty.”
“Well that’s all to the good,” Amir said surprised, before adding, “can you still replace the ship’s AI?”
“No Mr Choudary, I would need a direct connection to the interface,” she replied, much to Amir’s silent relief. He was still getting used to seeing the pilot in the flesh and wasn’t quite sure he trusted this strange girl.
“Well in anycase, Chloe, can you draw up a new detail who wouldn’t ever have come across Rita before?” he continued.
“Shouldn’t be too hard,” Chloe said looking up from a tablet, “I’m reading the damage and casualty reports. Dormitory two took a direct hit, the whole sleep shift taken out in the first seconds of the attack. We’ll say Rita was bunked in that dorm but I had called her down to engineering about 45 minutes earlier to go over some worrying diagnostics in our water recycling plant. I’m faking the comms log as we speak. We’ll take our detail from survivors who have been on night shifts the last couple of years; switch them to day shift. They’ll be so grateful they’ll not ask any questions and all Sparrow, I mean Rita, needs to do is introduce herself as the Warrant in charge, and apologise for not knowing them already
“Chloe,you’re going to have to get her in shape and make her look less like her avatar if you can. And do something about her hair - I know the regulations were relaxed but she looks like some haunting from a horror media.”
Sparrow’s head sank at that remark and Chloe glared at him before putting a protective arm around Sparrow.
“Sorry,” Amir said realising he’d been too blunt, “I apologise Ms MacLeod, I spoke harshly, I think I need a rest or at least a stim pack.” Chloe removed her arm from around Sparrow, got up and threw him a stim pack from the supply locker.
“Can’t stop now,” Chloe exclaimed, “we’ve only got seventeen hours to create a plausible reason why the lord mayor’s daughter is now a fucking sailor in the Corporation’s Navy and not studying micro whatever engineering.” Amir had known this was coming - Chloe exploded at him. “I mean Christ Amir you’ve used two different cover stories already by your account. Keep doing that and this will all unravel in hours. And for that matter what the fuck were you even thinking press-ganging the poor girl.”
“I was thinking, Ms Liu,” he replied briskly, “that we were all going to get killed - but definitely her - on the way back here and I needed to get us back here using any means at my disposal. I also figured that the Admiralty would be slightly less likely to have me shot if I at least get the princess here back to London alive.”
“You shouldn’t call her that,” sighed Chloe, “she’s a person and it makes you sound like an arse. Besides you’re going to be crewmates and that starts with being civil unless they skipped that part in officer training.”
“You’re right,” he sighed, “I apologise that that has been how I’ve been thinking of you, Seaman Ellis. From now on, let’s try to treat each other with mutual respect. At the very least you’ll need to fake it when we’re together on board. And I’m sorry there will be no more Lady Ellis: it’ll be Ms Ellis, or Seaman from now on I’m afraid and even just Harriet amongst your peers.”
“Whatever,” Harriet replied sulkily.
“Right,” Chloe said, “now the air’s cleared let’s get on with creating something vaguely plausible.” Six hours later Chloe, Amir and Harriet were still arguing about why she’d been conscripted in the first place.
“Mr Choudary, Ms Liu, permission to speak?” Sparrow piped up from the silence she’d been maintaining, “if you would, I have been running a number of analysis algorithms and it’s clear the most plausible story and the one which will protect you most against future reprisals. I believe we should say she volunteered.”
“No one fucking volunteers for a military assignment Rita,” Amir sighed.
“Not typically, but Naval Regulation 36 clearly states that unassigned civilians or those in their first year of a job or study assignment, can volunteer for service in the Navy so long as they meet the basic requirements.”
“And why would I volunteer to join this shit show,” Harriet snapped at Sparrow who visibly retreated to the far end of the acceleration couch she’d been sitting on.
“No,” Amir said finally, “I think she’s right. You were so moved by the sacrifice the fire team made to secure your extraction, which you should be by the way - those five men died protecting you, that you snuck off to the enlistment office on the Without and signed up. It’s a fucking unlikely story but one that might just work.”
“I agree, I’m going to hack the records now,” Chloe said excitedly, “No idea what I’m going to say about why she enlisted rather than joined as an officer.”
“She didn’t want to wait,” sighed Amir, “tried to become a marine; she’s a bloody amazon with some actual fitness and strength work she'd probably make it as a marine but anyway let's say you were talked out of it and signed up as a sailor instead.”
“Alright, let’s go with that?” Chloe replied, “you got all that sailor? It’s important to say it was all your decision and Mr Choudary had nothing to do with it.”
“It’s a ridiculous story, no one’s going to believe it,” Harriet said from her sulking corner. “But ok, I guess it’s better than the shit ideas you’ve been arguing about for hours,” she muttered quietly.
Great thought Amir, that’s the very first bit of backstory sorted and only ten hours to sort out the rest of it. Her father was still going to be pissed at him but the story might save not only his neck but his commission (he’d never be promoted again or given any decent posting again - in fact it would probably be suicide missions from now on - he knew that already). God knows what Lady Ellis was going to make of being a sailor as well. Still most new recruits started out as bad but for a member of the Aldermany to just enlist in the ranks was completely unprecedented. He hoped that the stubborn mindedness he’d had to cope with so far was part of Harriet’s default personality, as if not the plausibility of their story to anyone who actually knew her would collapse.
--------------------------------
They were still busy creating the story three hours later when the comm started wailing that an emergency broadcast was being received. Amir dashed over to the console and answered.
“Captain of Marines, this is Whittington, 6th Lieutenant Asher, Officer of the Watch. We’ve detected one of the hostiles who attacked us on an intercept course with your shuttle. We have our primary battery functioning again but you are still outside our effective range for another 47 minutes on your current speed and trajectory. The hostile is on course to be in its effective range in 24 minutes according to the intel analysis of the initial attack. The Without has also been notified and their fast attack fighters have been scrambled again, but their ETA is even longer than ours .”
“Well that’s fucking fantastic news,” Amir shouted. How had he not thought of this possibility? He should have sat them in the relative safety of the docks until the Whittington had got closer.
“Sir, I have also been asked to transmit to you sealed orders from the Captain.”
“Go ahead,” Amir replied, calming down and wondering what possible orders the Captain could give him that made a blind bit of difference to them getting blown to smithereens in about twenty minutes' time. Still the secure message arrived on the comm console seconds later and Amir couldn’t resist opening it. There was just one word written on it: slip. Well that was an option and it looked increasingly positive as Amir weighed up the odds of near certain death against certain death.
“Chloe,” he said looking up from the console, “Could we slip - just for a second, we just need to get some distance between us and the hostile.”
“Well the drive is charged now, but without a pilot our chances of navigating it, even for just a second. Well I won’t tell you the odds but they’re not good.”
“Figured, but our odds out here are zero.”
“Also figured, I guess it’s our only option,” sighed Chloe moving over to the main controls.
“Ms Liu,” came Sparrow’s voice, “you still have a pilot.”
“You can use manual controls?” Amir asked quickly.
“In theory, I operate a simulated helm suite in the slip via the interface. So I am used to the idea of physical controls, although I am not reliant on them when in the pod if I so choose. I’ve just always liked using my hands - even though I wasn’t I suppose.”
“Good enough for me,” Amir smiled at her, “get into Chloe’s chair, she can program the engines over your shoulder.”
“They’ll probably go after the Whittington, finish her off, if we clear out,” Chloe said somberly.
“Aye, and I know what you’re thinking Chloe but most likely even if we sacrificed ourselves they’d still blow the Whittington out of the water, in her condition right now, just to show their masters they’ve achieved something,”