“At ease captain. Sit down.”

Tess relaxed her shoulders, pulled on the chair next to her, and sat next to General Harton. Usually, when meeting her superior after a mission, her whole body ached in pain because she hadn’t had time to readjust to Earth’s gravity, but thanks to Nate’s fully continuous artificial gravity, she felt better than ever.

“I’m surprised seeing you back so quickly. Taking into account your last transmission, I was expecting you half a year from now.”

The old man, grey hair cut short, was talking to her in a calm and disinterested manner.

Tess Foncet didn’t fall for his indifference. The general was like his office: everything was clear when you looked closely.

Oliver was the one who had given her the tools to appreciate the true nature of the room she was sitting in, and her own experience working with the general made her see through the unflinching expressions of the old military officer.

The office was small, ceiling low. The room hadn’t been big to begin with, and the general had covered the steel walls of the bunker with wooden walls. The ground was a magnificent Mongolian carpet, and the furniture was all antiques from Asia. The world globe under the painting of a portrait of Richard Wagner had been built by hand, and the miniature of a mining vessel, the Kongo, flagship of the largest mining corporation on the market, was almost a meter long and half of that large. It was the original piece, upon which all ulterior 3D miniatures had been based.

At first glance, it was a beautiful office, but Oliver had told her the true meaning of each and every one of those details.

The same thing could be said for general Harton. A former British officer who had been part of the Asia seas war, he had lost a leg and his eyes after a torpedo strike. He was not blind, as he had cybernetic glasses stuck on his old wounds, and he walked with the aid of a carbon leg and a cane with a wolf head.

The man was meticulous in his job at the United Nations, and he had always pushed for peace and welfare. But Tess saw through the tics, the micro-expressions, the light indicator above his glasses showing when he was closing his eyes.

“As I told you, our radar system was heavily hit by the pirate attack. We were unable to send long-distance transmissions. We could have sent a short wave message earlier than we did, but we did not want to be intercepted before we reached the station.”

“I see…Yes, that’s what was written, isn’t it? There remains a lot of shadows in your report though, captain.”

“I knew my short-wave message would be picked up by the media. I could not let speculation filter in my report. I will leave the experts to conclude once they find the debris of the ships around Jupiter.”

“And the Saviour?” There was no suspicion in the general’s voice.

“With the exception of the fuselage around the reactor and the communication system, it is operational and intact. Everything is written in my report.”

“I know, I read it, I read it. I am surprised though. A railgun missing a ship twice in a row?”

“I left it out of my report, general, but I have to agree with you.”

“And so?” The old man grinned.

“I think they missed because of internal disturbance.”

“One of the pirate’s crew members would have had some semblance of remorse?”

“It seems the most logical explanation to me, general.”

They looked at each other for a moment.

“I see. It would have been preferable to send an encrypted message, but if you couldn’t, not writing any potentially wrong hypothesis as you did is acceptable. There is no reason for us to court-martial you, for the moment. If the investigation shows any discrepancies with your report though, that will obviously not be the case anymore, but it is not your style, isn’t it?”

“No, it couldn’t be further away from my style, general.” Tess laughed.

The general smiled as well.

“Now, between us, what do you think really happened?”

Under the desk, Tess clenched her hands on her knees.

“I really don’t know. I think we witnessed a military operation, American or Chinese considering the tech, that we shouldn’t have seen. Our arrival distracted the spec ops and their hostages decided to act, in a self-destructing way.”

“And no images of those hostages’ ship?”

“None. I was more focused on the railgun shooting at us than aiming our cameras at the other ship.”

“It would have vastly helped the inquiry about this case, and it goes against protocol, captain Foncet.”

“I am aware.”

The general sighed.

“Not to worry, I am happy you all got out of this mess alive. I heard you requested a new crewmember, again?”

“You know that each time my crew grew in size, our performances rose sharply.”

“I understand. It is your ship, you are the captain, but the United Nations will not permit a raise in salary as long as those performances are not proven. In other words, his payroll will be deduced from your crewmates’.

“Could you just take it from mine, please?”

“…No. You are going to be under the spotlight for a while, captain Foncet, and I would like for your paycheck to stay decent. One of the UN’s last pride is that our astronauts are very well paid. If you want that new crewmate, you’ll have to convince your other members.”

Tess lowered her eyes.

“I see. That won’t be easy.”

“A crew of five is recommended for a ship like the Saviour, it seems appropriate to me. More than that and you could lose a seat to bring back crews of large ships.”

“I will think about that, general.”

“Good, you’re free to go.”

Tess Foncet stood up, her heart still beating slowly and regularly, just like her breathing. A drop of sweat was sliding on her forehead.

“Tess?”

She turned around.

“Yes, general?”

“Your interview of tomorrow, with the press, I expect you to be as vague as you were in your report.”

“Of course general.”

And after a wave with his hand, the old man finally signaled her she could go.

Tess Foncet felt herself breathe only when she was out of the UN headquarters.

“How does she manage to stay so calm?” Nate was watching the screen above the counter, sitting in the bar room. Honey was on the seat next to him, and Sam, who had been back to bring medical supplies a few days prior, was sipping on a cup of coffee at the table behind them.

They had gathered in the ship’s room to watch their captain being interviewed by the news outlets. She seemed relaxed, her obviously cushy chair placed on a weird metallic circle, and was facing a slender Afro-American woman, sitting in a mirrored setup. The talk show host was wearing a chalk-white dress, in high contrast with Tess Foncet and her usual military outfit.

Honey had explained to Nate that the futuristic circle at the feet of the two women was scanning them and was relaying the data live to the holographic televisions of the viewers.

“To give the feeling you are just next to them.” Honey had told him. Nate would have enjoyed seeing it with his own eyes, but holo-TV’s were expensive. The Saviour had had one, but it had exploded with the rest of the ship.

So the Clarke siblings as well as Nate had to be content with the old regular TV’s of the new Saviour.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Do you know the origins of the vessel that attacked you?” The talk show host asked with a heavy American accent.

“No. Me and my crew were entirely focused on our survival.” Tess responded with a very professional half-smile.

“Haha, of course. This is the third attack on an EMT ship in five years though. Do you now think the weapon laws should be revised?”

Tess’ expression became serious. “No.”

“Come on! Captain!” Honey exclaimed out loud.

“Historically, weaponizing ambulances has always hindered their performances.” Tess continued.

“But is it really the same thing as an ambulance? Ambulances do not cost half a billion dollars to construct, paramedics aren’t trained astronauts.”

Nate thought he saw a grimace on Tess’ face for half a second.

“I did not come here to talk about the laws on weapons.”

“I am sure, but, you have to admit that the question has to be asked, don’t you? You have worked yourself as a second in command in a military ship, you have defended the interests of America and the Western world against the violent conflicts of the beginning of space conquest. Do you really not believe a way to fight back would have made the results of this attack different?”

The live audience started to nod, and a few even started clapping.

Nate felt uneasy. He watched his new captain, being pulled in a political and mediatic game she had not signed up for.

“You are perfectly right, Tina. In my career, I used most traditional weaponry and even unconventional ones. I was credited the destruction of a few pirate ships, all to make space a safer place.” Tess was talking confidently, even smiling. The crowd had become silent. “Despite my accomplishments, I decided to stop. I found that to reach my objective, which has not changed by the way, it is still making our solar system a safe place for all our children, well the job of space EMT was the better solution. We need soldiers to keep the order, obviously. But know that if a law were to be voted, one to weaponize EMT ships, I would give my demission the day after it passes. Did I answer your question?”

The talk show host paused for a brief moment, clearly taken aback, but she quickly recovered, and her mega-watt smile back on her lips, she carried on with another question.

“You met your husband in space, didn’t you?”

The rest of the interview became less formal, and as Nate knew the answers to the remaining questions, he didn’t pay as much attention.

When Honey turned off the TV a few minutes later, the young man finally expressed his admiration.

“How? She’s on live TV, asked atrociously tricky questions, and she doesn’t show any sign of stress. No hesitation in her voice!”

It was Sam that answered him “It isn’t a new thing for her to be under the spotlight. Even if I have to say, the international cable is a first. I believe our captain just became famous today.” She then turned back to her electronic tablet.

Honey was smiling proudly.

“She deserves it. Tess Foncet is the best captain you can have. If there is one thing you need to know Nate, it’s that our captain is incredible when under pressure. If in a critical situation she tells you to jump, you jump. You’ll have plenty of time to ask why you had to do it afterward because you'll definitely still be alive to ask. She’s the reason we’re all here today. And when you compare it to an ambush with a railgun, where every second lost can mean the death of your whole family, well, an interview with Tina Lovegood, that’s a holiday cruise to the Bahamas.”

His own tablet started to ring. “Well, look who it is.” He answered the call. “Captain? We just saw you on…”

Tess' voice sounded from the device.

“Yes, I guessed as much. I’m exhausted. I’ll take the lift back to the Saviour tomorrow. Shiina will be going with me, and Oliver joins us next week. Is everything ready?”

“Not entirely, but with one extra week we’ll have plenty of margin.”

“Good.” She sighed deeply. “No comments? I could hear you groan about the weapons from where I was.”

“Oh, plenty, but I’ll wait for you to have slept a bit.”

“Thing I’m going to do as soon as my cab arrives. See you tomorrow Honey, say hi to Sam and Nate for me.”

“They can hear you.”

“Mh.” She nodded before ending the call.

“That’s what I respect about her the most.” Sam said with a little voice. “Contrary to my dumb brother, she can let down her mask and show weakness once in a while.”

“Hey!” Honey exclaimed, appalled.

Nate looked at Sam for a moment. Shiina’s mother was back to her work already, cataloging the pharmaceutical drugs on the ship.

She had been back with them for a few days already, but despite that, the young man had never managed to talk one on one with her. She was often humoring her brother, but it barely felt as if she registered the presence of the young researcher.

He had the feeling she didn’t like him much but had no idea why.

“Really Shiina, you shouldn’t have.” Nate held a bag of fresh tea leaves as well as mint shoots for the greenhouse in his hands. He and the Clarke family were together around the pick-nick table in the middle of the trees and the fake bird noises. They were waiting for the captain to begin their lunch. The glass dome under their feet only showed the floor of the lunar hangar. The new fuselage underneath hiding the lack of fusion engine was barely visible from where they stood, as was the new mechanical robot-arm and the extra hydrogen reserves for stranded ships. The view would have become completely obstructed if they ever collected the debris of a destroyed ship: The mission of the Saviour was sometimes to collect precious parts of lost space vessels.

“Oh, I hope you’ll share with everyone. I picked up honey as well, with the mint leaves it is great dessert material.”

“Talking about honey, you didn’t buy anything for your favourite uncle?” Honey said in fake shock.

“No.”

“Injustice.”

“You can have some of the tea, like everyone else.”

The mechanic frowned in disgust. His sister looked at him harshly before turning to face her daughter. “Everything ok on Earth? No problems with the administrative office?”

“Of course I had problems, but I handled it.”

“Oh. You could have called and…”

“It was the usual mom. Paperwork bonanza. You had your job to do, and I had mine.”

Nate distanced himself from the conversation, feeling the rising anger between mother and daughter.

“Sorry to make you wait.” Tess emerged from the trees and sat around the table with them.

The group ate together in a pleasant atmosphere, entertained by the stories of Honey’s past in college.

Once their meal was over, Tess started talking with her captain voice.

“I spoke with headquarters. I estimate that we’ll have two years at most, probably less, before the investigation catches our deception and they start inspecting the new Saviour.”

The mood plummeted.

“Two years…” Honey repeated, disheartened. “Captain, you can’t get court-martialled, if the media realize you lied, all your reputation will…”

“My reputation is least of the issues at hand. To be clear, every issue is the least issue at hand. Everything depends on what we’ll do with the engine. I do not trust general Harton, he’s amongst those who would use Nate’s technology to create a weapon. I have a few solutions, raising awareness would limit what the UN could do with the engine for example.”

“That’s not even remotely enough.” Nate shook his head left and right.

Tess didn’t get offended by his pessimism: she nodded. “I agree.”

“So do I.” Surprisingly, Sam shared her opinion as well.

“But if everything is done publicly, wouldn’t that stop them from creating a weapon with it?” Shiina countered.

“Haven’t you seen yesterday’s interview? The questions they asked Tess?” Honey asked.

“No, I was busy fighting with customs.”

“People have no qualms against weapons if it is for a good reason. And I agree with that. Missile launchers would have eased our lives tremendously, whatever the captain may say about it. But a bomb like what Nate describes? With the sole exception of getting invaded by hell-spawned aliens coming from the other side of the galaxy, I really can’t see the purpose of something like that.”

“Aliens? Did…” Nate began as he raised an eyebrow.

Shiina smiled. “No, we haven’t discovered other intelligent life in the universe in the last fifty years.

“Oh.” The researcher responded in disappointment.

Tess put the conversation back on track. “Raising awareness is not enough. If America falls into civil war again, if Europe crashes economically, or if a war in Asia starts again… You only need a good politician, pulling the strings of fear and security…and they’ll build a bomb. A weapon made to protect us from those responsible for all our wrongs. If enough people believe in that…”

Honey looked at his captain in surprise. “That sounds like something Oliver would say.”

“That’s because I spoke to him about it yesterday evening. You think he’s wrong?”

“No.”

Nate had arrived at the same conclusion. “We are not allowed a second chance. The failsafe needs to be stricter. Letting everyone choose democratically is good, but not for this kind of thing.”

Honey grimaced. “That goes against my education.”

“The American dream died a long time ago, Honey.” Sam looked at nothing, her expression dark.

“I…” Honey thought for a moment. “Yeah, I know.”

“What about the security law against the weaponization of asteroids?” Shiina asked.

Nate was the only one looking at her in confusion.

Shiina explained it for him: “It’s a law that was voted by every country in the world, similarly to the nuclear agreement in the twentieth century. Every country has promised to never use asteroids as projectiles against Earth. There was an incident ten years ago.”

“Ah, I’m not up to that recent part of history yet. So?”

“A mining vessel was taken hostage and was used to send an asteroid straight on Tokyo. Fortunately, the attack was spotted quickly enough, and a team of UN mining ships managed to divert the meteorite away from the city. It fell in the Pacific Ocean, but the tsunami it created killed hundreds of thousands. To avoid the same tragedy from happening again, every mining vessel is now under surveillance. To become a space miner you must agree to be under constant observation. There are also new measures in place on Earth to eliminate any potential asteroid threats.”

Honey nodded. “Oliver often jokes about how easier it would have been to assassinate the president than to smuggle a bottle of alcohol with them on the Crater.”

“We need something similar to that.” Shiina continued.

But her mother still had a dark look. “Except the reason why it is so well protected is because they didn’t manage to stop the meteorite completely. Without the two million deaths, no decision would have been taken.”

Nate closed his eyes. “We can’t hope for a second chance. I am no expert on the subject, I am a researcher, I create engine prototypes. But with my technology, even I am confident I can create a bomb capable of cracking a planet in two within a month. Now, imagine in the hands of an expert in bomb-making…?” He let the end of his sentence hang.

“Fuck.” Honey swore.

Tess cut the silence short. “We have two years to find a solution. I believe that Shiina is right, the only way is to aim for a global decision. But the question is how to force every government and how to get the public behind us. How to make them understand. I want us to speak about this subject at least once every week. Think about it, and even if your idea is bad, share it with the others, it could inspire someone else. We have two years to find a decent plan and carry it through. If it doesn’t work, we’ll send the new Saviour into the sun, and me and Oliver will end our lives in prison.”

“Waiting for someone to rediscover my tech and for the planet to explode.” Nate intervened.

“An that could always happen in less than two years from now anyway.” Shiina sighed.

“Correct. It is why I’m counting on you all.” Tess kept her chin up. “You are astronauts. You have been trained to be the best. And in my humble opinion, you are. Together we’ve saved hundreds of lives, together we’ll save everyone.”

“Holy shit. That’s some inspirational speech.” Honey whistled in admiration.

“Shut up uncle, you’re ruining it.” Shiina punched him weakly in the shoulder.

“Ouch, my wound…”

“Wasn’t it the other shoulder?” Nate asked seriously.

The mechanic raised his head. “Nate!? You betray me? What about all this time we’ve spent together on the ship, just the two of us?”

The young man grimaced. “I don’t like the innuendo in this sentence.”

Tess laughed loudly.