Chapter 12
by Dan Kirk
“You had sex with him, didn’t you?” Gary’s voice was filled with jealousy and the sound of it sparked anger inside of Garret. The newly-promoted, and thoroughly fucked Lukas had been leaving the cabin at the same time Gary was approaching.
“I fail to see what business it is of yours.” Garret snarled as he got dressed in the formal uniform of a ship captain. The old-style coat, dating back to the days of ocean-going vessels on earth was a little heavy, and the four golden stripes of his rank on the sleeves seemed garish, but formal attire was necessary when he was welcoming a distinguished guest like Speaker Ito. Gary was already dressed in his formal uniform with the two thick stripes surrounding a thin stripe on each sleeve.
“Sure, I’ve only been in your bed nearly every night and you’ve stopped me every time I’ve tried to…” Gary snarled at the same time as Garret remembered the feeling of those wonderful legs of Lukas over his shoulder, and his rubbing them over and over as he plunged in and out of the 07 model clone. It’d been a refreshing experience, and he wasn’t about to have Gary ruin the memory.
“Enough.” Garret’s voice showed his anger, and was far too firm for Gary to lodge a protest. Gary’s purple eyes were fuming, but his tongue was silent and Garret took a deep breath to calm down. “Gary, I don’t need you being jealous just because I had sex with someone. Since when is it such a big deal to you?”
“I… I like you.” Gary said softly with downcast eyes. “I just feel… left out now that you’re having sex again.”
“Don’t.” Garret responded with a soft smile and caressing Gary’s cheek with the back of his fingers. Gary looked up and smiled timidly at the touch. “You’re my friend, Gary, and I’m not use to having friends. If the time’s right, we might have some fun, just not at this moment.”
“I can deal with that.” Gary said with a smile. He’d experienced a slight growth spurt, Garret realized, because they were now evenly matched in height.
“Good, now are the cabins ready?” Garret asked.
“All the ‘A’ and ‘B’ class cabins are prepared, it’s going to be a few hours before the rest are ready.” Gary said with a sigh. “The cleaners worked their fingers to the bone getting those done in time, so I gave them a two hour break before starting the rest. Those’ll be ready in time.”
“As long as everything is done on time, it’s your decision on how it gets done.” Garret told him and Gary beamed at the affirmation of his authority.
“Milord, the guests are approaching the docking tube.” Devin said formally as he came into Garret’s personal bedroom.
“Then we need to get down there.” Garret said with a sigh as he finished buttoning up his coat.
“Don’t worry, the reception is ready.” Gary assured him. “We’ve got a welcoming buffet set up in the main conference room. A group of musicians from the R’Kellans will be there for entertainment and tonight, they’ll put on another performance of that play you liked.”
“You’ll join me in my box for it along with the Speakers and their spouses?” Garret asked and Gary practically glowed with excitement.
“I’d like that.” He said softly and Garret smiled before heading out of his cabin, followed by Gary and the twins. It made him feel good to see that smile on Gary’s face. Yeah, he’d probably have sex with Gary at some point, even though he didn’t really want that. He’d do it to make Gary happy though, and sometimes that was a good enough reason… well that and he was remembering how much fun sex could be when it wasn’t something he had to do because he was a pleasure servant.
The port side embarkation area was bigger than the starboard side’s. Here, it was a wide area that was two decks high and allowed for a view of part of the entertainment area. The starboard side was much more restricted because the hangar in that area was still operational. Garret had consciously chosen that they would dock so as to make use of this fact.
Nearly sixty of his crew members, all those not needed for the engineering repairs or dock-side operations, were dressed in their formal uniforms and arranged along the interior bulkheads in a neat formation. His officers were standing in a row in front of them, also attired in their formal uniforms although Alexandra Harrington looked a little upset when her eyes landed on Garret. Gary moved to stand with the other officers, next to Marna while Harrington took a step forward.
“Nice of you to tell me about Lukas’s promotion.” She murmured so softly no one else could hear. Devin and Davin moved further back, standing in between the officers and the line of crewmembers.
“Sorry.” Garret murmured. “I… it was a spur of the moment decision.”
“He’s walking a little funky.” She noted as her lips twitched upwards and her eyes twinkled. “Are there any other enlisted crew members you’re going to promote so you can fuck ‘em?”
“I hadn’t planned on any.” Garret retorted as his cheeks began to flame.
“That’s good.” She said as she gave in and smiled. “Although I have recommendations for four more to be promoted to Warrant Officer. They deserve it, along with the pay hike.”
“Send them to me and I’ll approve them.” Garret commented, relieved that she wasn’t really that upset. Sure, he was the captain, but keeping his X.O. happy was always a good thing to consider. The airlock cycled at that moment and Garret turned to stand beside his X.O.
“Can we talk sometime soon?” Harrington asked him softly, out of the side of her mouth. “There’s a lot going on and I feel like I’m being left out of the loop.”
“You’re right, we do need to talk.” Garret admitted, but stopped from berating himself for not being the one to initiate this. “Tell one of the twins to fit you in. It’s going to be busy the next few days and you’re going to have to pick up the slack from me like you’ve been doing.”
“I can handle it, sir.” She whispered as the first person stepped through the open airlock.
“Permission to come aboard?” Speaker Ito asked politely as he reached Garret. He was dressed in a black, silver, and gold robe. Speaker Haxong was on his right in a traditional Thai outfit of gold brocade and black silk while Speaker Tsu Ma wore a gray robe offset by blue ribbons up the sleeves and a blue belt. All three inclined their heads to Garret as the senior statesman spoke.
“It would be my honor and privilege to offer you shelter and transportation on your journey.” Garret said formally as he also inclined his head. They were the formal words used by Lefhaus Admiral Lorden when he escorted the Speakers for Shinawa to the conference on Peladon that gave birth to the Republic as a real governing system. Toshiro Ito’s lips quirked upwards slightly at the phrasing, having recognized them immediately.
“We thank you for your welcome, and your hospitality.” Ito said as the first of nearly two hundred aides and security personnel began to filter into the embarkation area. It would soon become very crowded in here, and all the passengers had to be checked in and shown to their cabins. Some of that would take place during the reception party.
“Hospitality is an honor to give as well as to receive.” Garret quoted, ending the formal introduction. “My officers and I have prepared a small reception for you and up to thirty of your senior assistants, if you wish.”
“We would be honored.” Ito said with a smile and Garret took a step to lead the people towards the conference room. Of course this had been arranged already with their protocol officers, so it wasn’t a surprise and they’d already selected who from their staffs would attend. His officers and senior enlisted began to mix easily with the staff members for the various Speakers, and by the time they reached the conference room, several conversations had already begun, most about the ship.
“It is a beautiful ship you have here.” Ito said as they entered the conference room and moved off to a side so the others behind them could enter more easily.
“I expected something less comfortable, given its beginnings as a warship.” Haxong said with a slight accent. On Shinawa, the common language was usually taught as a second language after whatever local dialect was spoken by the residents.
“O’Leary shipyards did a spectacular job with her refurbishing.” Garret said as the R’Kellan musicians struck up a popular folk song from New Kyoto’s past.
“Your musicians… are they not from one of the Wanderers?” Tsu Ma asked politely as he stared at them with curiosity. The name he used was a common one used for the wandering tribes. They floated in the spaces between the various Republic planets, rarely making planetfall, and even more rarely taking passage on a Republic ship. They had no representation in the Republic government, and rarely cared about any Republic laws except those dealing with stellar navigation. They were fierce defenders when attacked, and during the Great War had shown that they did respect the Republic by providing crucial intelligence at least twenty-six times regarding Imperial movements.
“They are from the R’Kellan tribe.” Garret informed the Speaker, who raised an eyebrow at that.
“How did you get a troupe of R’Kellan entertainers to take passage with you?” Haxong asked with real curiosity.
“We advertised our need, and they responded.” Garret answered. “They did not answer when I asked why, beyond saying they wished to see the Republic a little more closely than they could otherwise. Tonight they are performing a new play. I found it to be quite entertaining when they performed it last time. It would be my honor if you and your spouses would attend with me in my box.”
“I will be there.” Tsu Ma said immediately and was instantly followed by an affirmative response from Haxong. Toshiro Ito nodded his head as well, and Garret let out a small bit of the breath he’d been holding. The room was fairly full now, and he was about to suggest trying some of the assorted foods set up by Garret’s staff when Speaker Ito turned to him.
“Captain, I have need to speak to you in private.” Ito said in a low tone, and the other two Speakers immediately backed off with short bows of their head. They moved together towards one of the buffet tables where Marna and Harrington immediately moved to greet them.
“This way, if you please.” Garret said, pointing to one of the side doors. He noticed his two bodyguards following them, as were two 09 model clones that were obviously Ito’s escorts.
The trip to Garret’s cabin was made in silence except for the muffled sounds of their footsteps. When they entered the cabin, Devin, Davin, and the two other bodyguards remained outside. Ito looked around the cabin for a moment before Garret directed him to the couch that had a chair nearby and a small coffee table.
“May I offer you some refreshment?” Garret asked and Ito shook his head no.
“Do you remember meeting me when you were younger?” Speaker Ito asked softly as he sat on the couch and Garret took the armchair.
“I was barely seven.” Garret said as he thought back to that day. “I’d been in the Lars household for less than a year. I remember Billy talking me into trying to sneak into mother’s study so that we could hear what you were talking about. You weren’t there, though, you were talking to father.”
“Yes, and I wonder if now, as an adult, you might have some idea what we were discussing?” Ito said with a fond smile.
“The fact that I wasn’t really a 10 Model, but rather a replacement clone of Garret Atrix.” Garret said with a neutral expression. “Is that right, Speaker?”
“Yes, it is correct.” Ito said without losing his smile. “Please, call me Toshiro. Your family, the family of your genes as well as the family of your raising have long been allies of House Ito. It was House Atrix that led the negotiations leading us into the Republic, and it was House Lars that helped us remember our voice when we debated the mass-production of clones. You know we opposed that?”
“Yes, but the Emperor was brought back to life by cloning.” Garret noted. It was one of the earliest cases of ‘replacement’ cloning. The Japanese Emperor had joined many of his citizens in fleeing Earth. Those of his people who had converted to Jordanism had come close to breaching his compound in Tokyo before loyalists secreted him and the survivors of his family onto one of the colony ships.
They had settled on Shinawa, which had been almost as naturally comfortable for human life as Peladon. Unfortunately, in the first few years of the colony there, a virulent plague had swept through the population, killing nearly twenty percent of the population before doctors found a cure. Among the dead were the Emperor’s three children and his wife. He’d remarried of course, but had proven to be incapable of fathering children. When he’d died ten years later, the Imperial line had died with him, and his remains had been preserved in a cryogenic capsule. Nearly a century later, he’d been reborn by cloning techniques developed by House Atrix. In modern day Shinawa, like the Japan of old, the Emperor was largely a ceremonial figure, but he held great importance to the average citizen of Shinawa. House Ito was the dominant House on the planet, and was largely considered guardians of the Emperor’s honor.
“Yes, and so Timat Lars knew that he could trust me with his great secret.” Toshiro said with a fond glance at Garret. “His original plan included having me reveal the secret of your birth to you after his death. Do you know the secret of the gestation chambers?”
“Yes.” Garret answered. Timat had told him one time, and made him promise to never tell another soul. It was a closely held secret, something only a few thousand people in the Republic really knew. The Empire and the Federation had of course discovered the secret in order to produce their own clones, but even they kept the secret of the gestation chamber from their population, for good reason. “At its heart, the chambers consist of a womb, the uterus and other reproductive parts of women necessary for growing a human baby. Instead of cloning an entire human, they clone just the uterus which remains viable in the fluids of the gestation chamber for up to sixty uses.”
“Yes, I figured you’d have been given that secret by Timat.” Toshiro said softly and he gave Garret a very direct look. “You do realize that you were grown in a chamber alone, instead of with several other clones.”
“Yes.” Garret acknowledged.
“Perhaps what you do not know is that the womb you were nurtured by was cloned from Laura Atrix herself.” Toshiro said softly. “The Atrix family tradition is strict when it comes to the cloning of replacements for their line. The story of the original Garret and his first clone haunt them to this day. Timat wanted to take as few chances with you as possible. That is why he asked his wife to consent to raising you.”
“And you were to be the guardian of this secret, to tell me and enable me to lay claim to House Atrix after Timat’s death?” Garret asked, but he already knew the answer. It was merely confirmed when Toshiro nodded slowly. “You have everything in your possession that I would need to lay claim to the House.”
“I do.” Shinawa’s senior Speaker, the man who was widely believed to be elected as Chief Speaker of the Deliberatorium in the upcoming term, said gravely. “Your father’s trial would not have changed that plan much, with the requirement he not publicize his crime, something the people of Shinawa, I assure you, would not view as a true crime. Now though, the secret, or at least enough of it, is out in the open, published by those who would use it against the Republic.”
“What is it that you want?” Garret asked softly, because he was almost afraid of the answer.
“It is my wish that you lay legal claim to the inheritance of House Atrix immediately upon our arrivalon Peladon.” Toshiro Ito said slowly and clearly, enunciating each word with exact precision. “That will enable you to take possession of all Atrix assets. The Great Houses are under attack from without and within. I suspect the Empire is trying to conquer us in this way because their military onslaught failed at the end. During the war, they constantly attempted to infiltrate agents into the religious groups of the Republic in order to sow discord. Most of these religious groups uncovered the true purposes of the agents and turned them over to government agents. Now, I fear, we were too complacent in accepting the loyalty of all our religious believers.”
“I… I had developed some suspicions along those lines.” Garret admitted and was pleased to see the nod of approval from the Speaker. “What of the Deliberatorium? House Atrix was one of the founding Houses.”
“You will, once you have secured the inheritance of your House, be eligible to claim your Speakership, if that is your desire.” Toshiro stated. “It is expected that you will be able to prove your ability to pass on your Speakership to blood-born heirs, raised in a properly married household. Until that is met, I know the other Houses will not vote in favor of returning Atrix to the Deliberatorium, especially because the fact will not have changed that you are still a clone.”
“So I have to get married and have an heir.” Garret frowned. He had no… desire whatsoever for a woman.
“I will not lie to you, young Garret Atrix.” Toshiro said sympathetically. “We do need you and the vote of Atrix in the Deliberatorium. This movement for democracy has become too popular, too fast. Many of the lesser Great Houses feel the need to accede to at least some of the demands of the people. If Atrix were readmitted to the Deliberatorium and you joined your vote with ours, we could hold back this push until its popularity dies out altogether, as it always does eventually. In 212, a similar push was made, and lasted for five years before dying out.”
“I remember my history lessons, Toshiro.” Garret sighed. “Please, be patient. This is not something I’ve ever wanted. It was always Billy who would take up the Speakership from his mother, hopefully when we were both very old. I enjoy what I do now, traveling amongst the stars.”
“There is no need for you to bind yourself to a planet for all time.” Toshiro’s voice was full of sympathy now, and yet he had a twinkle in his eyes. “You may give your proxy to another House, and they may cast your vote for you, all you must do is show up for the start of the term each year and inform them of how you wish to vote on legislation. House Atrix’s properties and accounts have been overseen by several teams of loyal servants for several decades, and you can choose to leave them in place.”
“What about my wife?” Garret asked with a shudder. “She will have to be pregnant almost from the beginning, and so there will be children right away. How will she feel about my traveling the stars and leaving her with the children? What about the children? Will they grow to resent me because I cannot love their mother the way a man normally loves his wife and am never around? How will I even find a woman who I can get along with well enough for marriage, who won’t be filled with disgust at the idea of marrying a clone?”
“So many worries, and so easy a solution.” Toshiro said with a gentle smile of understanding. “I have a suggestion, if you are willing to hear.”
“Go ahead.” Garret said cautiously.
“I have a daughter, who is of an age with you.” Toshiro began his explanation with a smile, and it never faded as he continued. “She is tired of the life she leads on Shinawa and wishes to see as much of the Republic as she can while she is still young. I’m afraid she is something of an embarrassment, because she has little or no interest in men. For many years I held fears in my heart of her happiness. Do not misunderstand, she does not hate men. She has many young males who she loves as friends. Masako is a study of contradictions.”
“A marriage between her and I would also secure a close relationship between our Houses.” Garret murmured and Toshiro nodded.
“Masako also loves children, and has pestered me to allow her to bear children before she is too old to watch their grandchildren reach adulthood.” Toshiro said with a long-suffering sigh.
“Wait, she wants to see the Republic, traveling from planet to planet, all the while dragging children along with her?” Garret’s voice bordered on incredulous and he felt his head get dizzy at the contradiction.
“I told you she is a young woman full of contradictions, did I not?” Toshiro chuckled and Garret shook his head.
“She sounds… interesting.”
“That is as apt a description as any I’ve heard.” Toshiro was in a good mood, but his expression quickly changed back to being serious. “I have brought her with me on this trip if you would like to meet her. It goes without saying that you will also meet with my wife, if you wish to pursue this.”
“There’s no harm in meeting her.” Garret said while his entire body wanted to tremble at the thought.
“Good, then let us move on to other pressing business.” Toshiro said with a clap of his hands and a smile. “Let us discuss these pirates who attacked you. They are causing much concern in the circles of the government, civilian as well as military.”
“Why?” Garret asked as he tried to direct his thoughts towards the changed topic instead of what he’d possibly just agreed to do. “I can’t see them having had a fleet of Mother Ships. More than likely they’ve been hurt very badly.”
“The symbol on their ships, what did you think when you saw them?” Toshiro asked while Garret closed his eyes and remembered the images of the hand and the double-helix on a blue circle.
“First, that I did not recognize them.” Garret answered honestly. Had Toshiro invited him to use his first name because he planned to make Garret his son-in-law? “Second was that it made me think of cloning, but no one involved in cloning in the Federation uses that symbol. For that matter, nobody else in the Republic or Sol Empire uses that type of symbol either.”
“That is correct.” Toshiro agreed. “I know the full report was kept from you by this Captain Leran, and I know now that his first loyalty is to General Leonev, not to the Republic. It is a problem we will have to address during this session of the Deliberatorium. Still, back to the full report. I will provide you with a copy to read later, but for now, every single crewmember and officer of every ship participating in that attack was a clone. There were no True Born humans on those ships. All but one of the clones came from the Federation. The one who did not, he was a clone from the Republic.”
“A 10-11MX model.” Garret said breathlessly as several things clicked in his head, and Toshiro nodded with a gleam of approval in his eyes.
“Exactly so.” Toshiro’s voice sounded pleased.
“The one… there was one, just a few months older than me, who was lost in the last days of the war.” Garret dredged up the memory. “His fighter was hit, and presumed destroyed. There were Federation ships at that battle. None of the other 10-11MX models died anywhere near Federation space or ships.”
“Excellent.” Toshiro Ito stated. “It took the good Captain Leran nearly a day to make that connection.”
“No wonder he took so long to fill out his report.” Garret grimaced. “It also explains why he questioned my loyalty to the Republic.”
“He did more than question your loyalty.” Toshiro said with a frown. “He has filed a petition with GeneCorps to declare the 10-11MX model dysfunctional and he used you as an example as well as this other clone, Johan Pembry.”
“But if I’m proven to not be a 10-11MX model series, then he can’t make his claim.” Garret said with a smile, knowing that even the ‘secret’ verdict against his father was enough to do that. GeneCorps had to be informed of all cases involving clones.
“Which is why his claim has gone nowhere, but as of late there have been so many leaks from within the government, I will not be surprised to see it in the news soon.” Toshiro shook his head as he spoke. “Someone from within the Deliberatorium wishes to make the Great Houses look like self-serving fools, and they are doing a good job at that task.”
“This Johan Pembry, how exactly did he come to be among the pirates?” Garret asked, still trying hard to imagine what would happen to make so many clones rebel against Federation authority. Sure, they didn’t have a real government, more a collection of corporate representatives, but for clones bred for loyalty to rebel… it was hard to imagine.
“He was their leader.” Toshiro stated and Garret’s mouth dropped open. “That is why the government is so concerned, and why Leran pursued his case against the 10-11MX series, under the direction of General Leonev. They worry about a clone rebellion in the Republic, and like the Federation most of our military is made up of clones.”
“How did all this happen?” Garret asked and Toshiro shifted slightly on the couch before answering.
“Pembry was leading a fighter squadron in battle at the end of the war.” Toshiro started with what Garret already knew. “He ejected when his fighter was heavily damaged and was picked up by a Federation Search and Rescue team. They took him to their Mother Ship for medical treatment. The prisoners interrogated at Lemos said he was in a coma for several days. When the Empire issued their cease-fire and request for peace, the Mother Ship was already on her way back to a Federation base for repairs. Republic command received a report of an injured pilot who was comatose, but could not spare a ship to pick him up. It was not known the pilot was Pembry. The Federation never sent his name or identity information.
“It is quite clear from the interrogations that they wanted to study him. The 10-11MX represented new technology, or at least new directions, in cloning and you know the Federation.”
“They always go after new technology in any way they can.” Garret agreed with a nod of his head.
“Yes, and in addition, Pembry’s implants were of a make and model that the Federation has never had access to as well.” Toshiro continued. “The combination of the two new technologies was too much for them to resist taking, and they reported he’d died in surgery, again without identifying him specifically.”
“One must love the fidelity of our allies.” Garret snorted and Toshiro shook his head.
“We have known all along the Federation only allied with us so that the Empire would not be tempted to attack them directly.” Toshiro stated sadly. “Their corporations would rather compete against each other and us. Back to Pembry, though, do you know anything about the family he was assigned?”
“No.” Garret admitted, slightly ashamed. He’d never really taken that much of an interest in the other 10-11MX clones. In fact he’d never met any of them. He’d never even had an interest in knowing them at all.
“The Pembry family was approved by then-Commodore Seward, who is now an Admiral and a firm supporter of General Leonev.” Toshiro Ito was definitely frowning. “As you can surmise, this conspiracy of Leonev’s appears to go back many decades. After a little fact-checking into Admiral Seward, I found she was a classmate of Leonev’s during their Officer Training at one of the lesser colleges. Both harbor a dislike of the Academy. The Pembry father was a former Marine officer who was seriously injured in ground combat. He blamed his superior, an Academy graduate, for the orders that saw him wounded, and he blamed his clone troops for not adequately protecting him. They should never have been approved for raising one of the 10-11MX models.”
“Then how did they pass muster?” Garret asked and Toshiro frowned.
“It was a lack of oversight on the program.” He admitted and grimaced as if the admission left a bad taste in his mouth. “Whatever the cause, being raised in the Pembry household apparently left Johan Pembry with a dislike of the Republic, and of course with your Academy. He blamed his being lost in a Federation Mother Ship, and being experimented on by Federation Doctors all on the Republic’s system of government and his Academy-trained superiors. Johan is not as politically naïve as we might have wished either. He turned his bitterness into subverting the Federation clones.
“With his blue eyes, he was able to convince them he was something new, neither truly clone nor human, and he convinced them that their human masters were holding them back, using them for evil purposes. When the Mother Ship took part in a campaign against another Corporation eight months ago, they saw first hand how vicious their human master could really behave. The Corporation ordered the slaughter of an entire city that was one of the busiest manufactories of their opponents. The idea of killing human non-combatants, including children, is what turned them to following Johan. He led them in an insurrection that saw every True Born human on their ship slaughtered.
“Johan fled to an area, where we still do not know, and managed to set up operations on a barely habitable planet. His first raids were for terraforming and other equipment that would create a long-term colony there. Somehow he got his hands on a few hundred gestation chambers and the technicians to put them into use. Then he began raids for more supplies, culminating in the raid on Lemos.”
“So the raid there really had nothing to do with me.” Garret was both relieved and worried at that.”
“Wrong.” Toshiro said harshly. “The timing of the raid was because he knew you were on the way there. He wanted to… recruit you, even though you were an Academy graduate. Johan has told his clones they would create a new world, a new society, where clones were the norm. He’s not as well-trained as you are, nor does he have experiences like you, just by you being raised in a Great House, when it comes to governance. Johan believed you would be willing, after the way you were treated by Speaker Tremere, to betray the Republic.”
“He’s a fool if he believes I would betray the Republic.” Garret nearly spat the words and was rewarded with a fond smile from Toshiro.
“I see our faith in you is not misplaced.” Toshiro said softly. “That is good. You must remember that if you take the leadership of House Atrix, though, that you need not be deferential in all matters to True Borns. You will be expected to lead, and you must lead. People must see you as an independent leader, although we would appreciate your friendship and alliance with us.”
“I know my duties, sir.” Garret said formally and Toshiro bowed his head slightly.
“I will leave you now, to think these things over.” Toshiro said as he rose to his feet. Garret stood as well and they bowed to each other before the senior man left the cabin. When he was gone, Garret sat back down and let out a deep sigh as his mind began to work everything he’d just learned into some form of logical semblance. It wasn’t easy, and he decided the reception could do without him for just a little bit longer.
He was almost getting accustomed to his world being turned upside down time and again.
