16. Hello Nathan. If you're seeing this then ...
Nathan Sawyer was washing his hair, eyes closed, singing a song he had heard ten years ago but couldn’t remember the lyrics because they were in one of the colonial languages that decided to make their language hard for English speakers to understand. On purpose, for that reason.
"Hello Nathan. If you’re seeing this then -"
"Ah! Athena, what the fuck!" he cried as the Old Man’s disembodied head appeared in the shower with him.
"Recording paused. Nathan Sawyer, Operation ‘Knock Knock’ reported as full success. Per parameters of the operation, several standing orders issued in advance by Captain Jon Cassonova must be carried out immediately. Standing order number one, the immediate resignation of command of the spacecraft Theseus including all associated modules and resources. Standing order number two, immediate promotion of Nathan Sawyer to captain of the spacecraft Theseus. Standing order number three, prerecorded message be played to Nathan Sawyer at earliest possible opportunity following commencement of standing orders. Additional standing orders exist and are available for review of acting captain of the Theseus but do not name Nathan Sawyer specifically. Would you like to resume the recording?"
Nathan stared at the holographic head, paused in the action of speech, until the shampoo got in his eyes. He cursed and rinsed his hair quickly before grabbing a towel and turning off the water.
"There are holos in the showers on the Theseus?" he demanded.
"Displays only. Recording is prohibited in human hygienic areas. Holodisplays are restricted to one way communication, voice to holo communication, or prerecorded media. Would you like to resume message now that you have a towel, Captain Sawyer?"
"I cannot fucking believe this," Nathan muttered, and he covered his face with his hands as he tried to understand exactly how badly the Old Man had just fucked him.
~~~~~~~~~
Pleasant Scent heard a pleasant sound. Music, he realized, but not the human’s music, nor the cacophonous imitations of the uplifted primates. The rest of his squad heard it as well, and they all stopped crawling through the access space to listen.
"What is that, what is that, it sounds lovely?" one of the younger members of the squads danced.
"It is singing. Singing songs sung to sing," another one answered. "Lovely lovely singing songs."
"Why is there no music anywhere else in this place? We did not hear this music when we passed this way earlier, why was there no music then?" the squad leader asked seriously.
"Perhaps the song singers were sleeping," Pleasant Scent suggested. "Do the humans know that they are here? Are they the dangerous slick-skinned predators we were warned about? Does the music mean danger?"
"The humans told us of no music and no danger but the predators. That does not mean there is no other dangers to us, but that the humans did not know to warn us of them," the squad leader answered him. "As for the music and the song-singers, the human may not know at all. Much of the music is not sound that they can hear. We hear it very clearly, but humans are deaf compared to many of their allies, especially us. They made us to see and hear things that they could not so that we could be useful."
"If the humans knew there was music, they would want to know, even if they could not hear it," Pleasant scent danced emphatically. "And they would find a way to listen if they could, and to enjoy it. We must find out more of the song-singers to tell the humans before we return."
"That is not why we are here," the squad leader argued. "But we are going that way anyway, so we go that way."
And so they went that way.
~~~~~~~~~
"I don’t see how this is so complicated for you to understand. We told you this was an espionage mission, ultimately. Jon has positioned himself as a double agent, one who can act openly for both his old allegiance to the UEOSC and advocate for the Nameless. And at the same time, he’ll be able to assist with the defense of the civilian populations of Horthus Prime and Secondus while obscuring our other objectives," Katherine explained. She was not in the room with him, nor was her hologram looking at him. She was busy with a task that she was not willing to talk about, and despite his new control over Athena and the Theseus, he was unable to pry it out of the system or her.
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"Two things. One, he really is helping Horthus, an evil mass murdering dictator who personally kills his citizens and innocent sapient children for fun and to consume their flesh. Two, why the hell did he put me in charge? I’m not even a marine! I washed out in less than two years of preparatory education! I hadn’t even hit basic yet!"
"Jon wanted someone with enough of a military background to be capable, but not enough to cloud their judgment based upon the procedures of their particular military. Your career fits that balance as well as anyone else we could find. Despite your time in the ESF, Jon thought of you as ‘pure Yosca.’ As for why we’re helping Horthus; it’s not like we can just pull a coup and enact our own government. Jurassian laws are widely the same everywhere. Horthus will have a secret heir that he is grooming for command. If he dies naturally, his last act will be to name them. Not NAME them name them, they’ll already have a Name, but their status as his heir will be unknown, perhaps even to them. If Horthus is murdered, his heir will be named by his generals, who will also help the heir in avenging him. If the succession does not follow this path, then a Deathsworn fleet will sweep in and take control of the system, and we do not want that to happen. It will be worse than being back to square one."
Nathan shook his head in incomprehension and went back to examining the diagnostic readouts from Steve. Except for the foot, which was damaged by the PMT malfunction and not enemy action, his exoskeleton was completely undamaged. He had already replaced the damage and run the diagnostics to make certain that the replacement foot was fully operational. He wasn’t certain he planned on fixing the paint scratches because they sort of gave the registration numbers, and the decal of a black bearded paratrooper on the left side, a bit of character which had been lacking.
"So he surrenders to an enemy that we outclass by like nine generations of weapons and defensive technology, and then puts the guy with the least training and comprehension on what is going on in charge of the most delicate interstellar diplomatic event in history. Why exactly do you still trust his judgment, Kathy?" Nathan demanded, noticing that one of the sensors could use a calibration. It was within specs … but it was not perfect. Best to be sure.
"It was my mother’s idea. Get someone inside a Jurassian government, work for change from the inside. Jon thought it was the best way to get them and the Aurealians to sit at the same table, the only chance for a ceasefire. He’s been looking for an opportunity like this for more than forty years, Nathan. It is his magnum opus, his raison d’etre. It was what moved him to go full prosthetic. He has thought long and hard about who would take over his role on the Theseus, and you’re the best that he’s ever found. By the way, we’ll have to recover his battle body at some point soon. We have a civilian model to swap him into ready to go, we’ll just need to send a shuttle to actually switch his organics into it."
"And how exactly are we going to convince the Horthians to let us do that? They have finally got their hands on real live human tech," Nathan reminded her. "In some ways his combat prosthetics are more advanced than Steve."
"That won’t be particularly difficult, actually. Jon’s body will begin to ‘malfunction’ before very long, and he will indicate that if it continues to do so then it is possible the self-destruct will activate unintentionally. Even if they suspect it is a ruse, I doubt they will interfere. If they do … then we use pressure."
"I suppose I can understand why a head of state wouldn’t trust an admitted double agent with a bomb strapped to his chest not to do a suicide run," Nathan admitted. "I just wish I understood what the hell the old man saw in me that makes him trust me so dammed much."
"That you don’t see it is actually one of the qualifying factors. You should be feeling self-doubt right now, in this position. That is one of the reasons why it couldn’t have been me; I wouldn’t have spent the time trying to get perspective on my new roles and responsibilities that you are taking right now. I would have simply proceeded to the next objective," she explained. "That is an excellent quality in a bureaucrat or scientist, but it’s a terrible quality in a diplomat. A diplomat must reevaluate themselves, personally, along with the changing situation. Jon has been looking for a man like you for a long time. Your selection was his decision, but I understand enough of his decision process to say that I agree."
"And what, exactly, is the next objective that I should be working towards? Because I am completely lost," Nathan confessed.
"To continue working to achieve the Theseus’ mission, of course," she answered nonchalantly. "Operation ‘Knock Knock’ was successful. How does that advance the Theseus’ overall mission?"
Nathan considered the question for a moment. "Objective one: we have an inside man in the Horthian government. They know he’s a spy, but he’ll have access that we didn’t have before. Objective two: the old man will be able to use his new position to advocate for a peaceful resolution from the inside the Horthian government. If we can establish a link with the Aurealians once they arrive, we can begin acting as intermediaries to establish a ceasefire. Objective three: we blew the shit out of a lot of their ground defenses, but so far they’ve admitted that all casualties are from their own weapons. We can’t do anything to protect Horthian civilians until the Aurealians arrive. But we can take steps to protect the Aurealian kids that are trapped on Horthus Prime."
"See? You don’t need me at all," Katherine praised without looking over her shoulder. "I would start by reviewing Jon’s plans to dismantle the cloning facilities, and then proceed from there."
"Thanks, Kathy, you’ve been great," he praised, leaving behind the repaired Steve to finish its calibration and self-diagnostics as he went to the nearest tactical room to begin reviewing the relevant data. He probably wouldn’t need it for a while anyway.
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