Chapter 20
“Welcome home.” Masako said as Garret stepped through the docking hatch and onto the Adamant. The corridor was filled with the acrid tang of welding going on somewhere nearby, and Garret’s nose wrinkled at the all too common smell. Masako was dressed in a black and red robe today, with her belly showing the first signs of her pregnancy.
“How are you doing today?” Garret asked her softly, giving her a brief hug.
“Better.” She answered with a shrug as he broke the hug. “The good doctor has said there will be no damage to me or our baby although he does recommend other living conditions until the ship’s repairs are completed.”
“The apartment in New Prejat won’t be repaired for several more weeks.” Garret told her as they began walking through the corridor. Their apartment on the planet had been badly damaged by the assassination teams, just as the Adamant had been badly damaged in their failed attempt to stop the escape of General Leonev.
“What news from the Defense Council?” She asked Garret and he let himself sigh as they passed a shipyard team currently welding a blown bulkhead back together.
“Admirals Seward and Hollings did quite a number on several defense installations when they took their fleets to join Leonev on Obduros and Arcturos.” Garret answered. “It will take months to get those installations back up to operating conditions. We’ve finished securing the rest of the fleet. It appears we still retain control of nearly sixty percent of the fleet.”
“That’s good news.” She said with sincere feelings.
“It’s still not enough to invade without losing a good portion of our military strength.” Garret sighed. That was the sad truth. They could conceivably invade the worlds being occupied by the treacherous Leonev, but they’d take heavy losses doing that. Those losses would make them vulnerable to outside invasion, most likely by a Sol Empire seeing an opportunity to take advantage of an old enemy’s weaknesses.
“Then what are we going to do?” She asked with a worried frown as they got into a lift and it took them up to one of the ship’s upper levels. Their adjoining cabins had been destroyed during the space battle and so they were living in one of the A class cabins. His mother had invited them to stay on the Lars Estates, but Garret and Masako both felt better being here. In the back of his mind, while he talked with his fiancée, Ada gave him a warm welcome and began to fill him in on the progress of the damage repairs.
“We are going to Calos.” He told her with finality.
“I mean about the traitors.” She pointed out, digging him in the ribs with an elbow as the lift came to a stop.
“The Republic is instituting a blockade of the traitor worlds.” Garret said as he led the way out of the lift and down the ornate passageway. Their cabin was a multi-room suite, the second largest on his ship. “We’re re-commissioning some forty ships that were decommissioned in the last year. Also, a general call-up is being made of all military officers and enlisted who were discharged for non-punitive reasons, and we’re reviewing the punitive cases to see if any were unjust. Those that were separated unjustly will be offered their commissions back.”
“How long will this blockade go on?” She asked as they entered their suite. The main room was a casual sitting room with several sofas and armchairs. Deci smiled as they entered and disappeared into the small food preparation room to return with tea and biscuits for them. As they sat on the couch Garret nodded at his friend who smiled before returning to his earlier task at a portable computer further back in the room.
“He’s awful quiet.” Garret noted.
“Don’t try to change the subject.” She scolded him gently while pouring tea for the both of them. “Deci is doing a wonderful job adapting to the role of a household servant. Oh, and no more taking him to your bed every night, either.”
“He’s my friend!” Garret objected. “I want my friend, not a servant.”
“He wants to be a servant first, and until he’s use to the role and the boundaries, I don’t want you confusing him.” She retorted. “You and he both agreed to follow my instructions when he said he wanted to learn how to be a proper servant. When I’m satisfied he knows his boundaries, you can take him back to your bed.”
“If you insist.” Garret said with a sigh. He missed Gary a little more each and every day, but Gary had died during the battle, his body incinerated by the laser beam that had destroyed the swimming pool and so much more. Only Ada’s ability to track crewmembers with transmitters had allowed them to know for sure what had happened to him. Deci had cried with Garret in Garret’s bed the first few nights after the battle. They’d kissed each other gently, tasting the salt of each other’s tears, and shared their grief at losing someone they both had cared about.
Now, a week later, Deci had all but forgotten Gary except as a fond memory while Garret’s heart still felt pangs of grief.
“Once again, how long will this blockade of the traitors last?” She asked.
“Until they surrender or we have the military strength to overcome them without weakening ourselves to the point of being unable to fend off the Empire.” Garret answered. “That’s also one of the reasons why you and I are going to Calos.”
“Explain.” She said as he took a sip of the tea. It was quite good, and Deci was definitely getting better at preparing it the correct way.
“Tremere and Morevan have both heard rumors from Calos that the Calosian Congress is attempting to make a deal for the Imperials to re-occupy the planet.” Garret said as the headache from earlier in the day returned. “Even with the news of Leonev’s treachery, a lot of the general public on Calos has really taken a liking to the idea of House Atrix settling there. The first billion in grants and loans have gone through, and the planet’s economic planners are reporting a five percent drop in unemployment and are projecting that rate will drop to under ten percent within the next year. That’s even with the cuts to the grants we’re going to have to make to fund the war effort.”
“Elections are in six months for the Congress, aren’t they?” She asked and Garret nodded. “If these trends continue, the population might just support candidates who approve of House Atrix and who will follow Atrix instead of the Imperial sympathizers.”
“Yes.” Garret agreed.
“So we must return to oversee things directly instead of through our factors.” She agreed. “We should also move our wedding so it is done there, on Calos instead of on Peladon.”
“I agree.” Garret said with a sigh. Billy had postponed his own wedding, planned to be a small ceremony anyway. Now Garret would stand by his brother as his brother’s best man in a week, just before Garret and Masako left Peladon.
“It should also be a big affair, not the quiet ceremony your brother will have.” She added, and Garret nodded in agreement, already having considered that. “Now, tell me what we are doing about the new colony worlds?”
“Lumbardon has already planned how to begin recalling them to the military.” Garret admitted. “At my insistence he’s going to give them a choice to stay and continue the work of terraforming those planets, or to return to the military. He’s having me make a recording for them.”
“He knows the clones have a healthy respect for you.” She reminded him and his headache grew worse. During the battle he’d gotten a concussion and ever since then he’d had headaches. The doctor said it was stress related and not to worry, but Garret wondered if he’d suffered more damage than the doctor thought.
“Yes, they do.” Garret agreed with her.
“Have there been any more problems with that?” She asked Garret with a worried tone.
“Just a few grumbles about it being unhealthy for the Republic to have clones so loyal to one person.” Garret shrugged as he sipped his own tea.
“You would think by now they know that the clones are loyal to the Republic first, and that they see you as the embodiment of their loyalty to the Republic.” She stated.
“How would you know that?” Garret asked her with a bit of surprise.
“I asked several of them.” She answered with a shrug and he gaped at her for a moment. None of the critics he’d already faced down had bothered doing that!
“What did they say?” Garret asked her with genuine curiosity. Yes, he’d spent the first six years of his life in a G&E center, but he’d spent most of the rest of it in the Lars family. As much as he understood clones better, the source of their seemingly extraordinary loyalty to him was confusing.
“I asked them what it was about you that made them trust you more than other officers, or other humans.” She began her explanation with the question she had asked and continued with Garret’s nod. “They all tried to explain it differently, but the bottom line is that you make them dream.”
“I make them dream?” Garret asked with more confusion.
“You are a clone, but acknowledged in ways that no clone has been in many years.” She continued to explain. “You are a Speaker, something that no clone has been since long before the Great War began. The Republic recognizes you as being human. They see you as a bridge between True Borns and clones. You embody to them the hope that the Republic might see them also as real humans, as a real part of the Republic. That is why the clones on those ships followed your words and were actually able to rebel against the orders of their human officers. You lifted them out of blind servitude they have always known and you make them dream of their own humanity. That is why some of the other speakers are troubled by you. They believe that if you wished, you could use your influence over clones to stage your own coup as Leonev tried.”
“I would never…” Garret started to protest, but stopped as she put a hand on his arm and shook her head.
“Those who know you also know you would never rebel against the Republic.” She said in a soft voice. “You believe in the Republic in a way that few people have ever believed in it, and therein also lies the core of many clones faith in you, and also the trust of people like my father. Marja and Timat Lars knew what they were doing when they raised you.”
“I…I don’t know what to say.” Garret stammered as his head swam.
“Then say nothing, just think on what I’ve said.” She replied with a smile. “Your faith in the Republic is one of your greatest strengths, my husband-to-be. Do not forget that and do not forget to share that faith with others. It will be one of our greatest assets in this civil war.”
“Speaker, Captain Harrington is here to see you.” Deci said. Garret hadn’t even heard the door chime, or Deci coming back into the room, but he turned and nodded at his friend.
“Show the good captain in, Deci.” Masako said and Deci bowed his head before turning back towards the entrance. Moments later, Harrington entered in her tight-fitting black coveralls with the silver eagle of her new rank on each shoulder board. She snapped to attention when she stood in front of the couch where Garret sat with Masako. He was wearing a denim suit, not his uniform, but he sensed the formality in her gesture was more for his current military rank than his civilian attire.
“Commodore, welcome back aboard.” She said formally when Garret had nodded his head at her.
“Thank you, Captain.” Garret said with a smile. “Have a seat.”
“Yes, sir.” She said before smiling as she sat down. Deci appeared with another cup for her and poured some tea, mixing it with milk and honey as she preferred. She took the tea with a nod and Deci disappeared quickly.
“How is the crew adjusting?” Garret asked first off.
“They are doing well, sir.” She answered his question after taking a sip. “Right now, they’re so busy working with the repair crews that things haven’t really set in for them. Most of them were former military, so being in uniform again isn’t that much of a change. The pure civilians were given a choice of continuing to stay aboard with equivalent military rank or being reassigned to one of the ships still flying as civilians under the BGL flag. None of them chose to remain civilian.”
“How are you and Ada getting along with the change in command?” Garret asked his next question and she chortled.
“Ada is doing just fine, although she constantly comments on how you might have made a different decision, and reminds me that when this war is over I’ll either move on to command another ship or be your civilian executive officer again.” Alexandra Harrington answered. Garret wasn’t sure which she’d choose, but he knew that if she chose to stay in the military, she’d be sure to get her own command of at least a heavy cruiser when one was available. “Sir, I didn’t get a chance to say this after the memorial service, but I think Gary would have been touched by the things you said, along with all the others you talked about.”
“Thank you, Captain.” There was terseness in his voice as he responded. It still hurt too damn much to think about Gary being gone forever. “How are Captain Mjolnar and our Security Chief getting along?”
“The turf battle between them lasted a whole thirty seconds.” Alexandra laughed with real humor. “Mjolnar handles assaults on other ships and defending the ship from invasion while Gunder handles master-at-arms type duties. Now they’re like two peas in a pod. The marine commandant now has a full complement of two hundred marines on board, and our ship’s complement is now up to three hundred and twelve. Repairs will be completed by the time you’re ready to go to Calos, and we’ve been scheduled for three months of space dock time while we’re there. They’ll do the renovations to the port side hangar bay, undoing the changes that made it into an entertainment deck and putting it back into operational condition as a real hangar again. The entire lower section except the engineering spaces will be returned to their original condition as well. We’re keeping most of the top-side renovations except the theater is being returned to a troop assembly area, and the top deck is being returned to a gymnasium and recreation area for off-duty troops and shipboard personnel.”
“What about the flag facilities?” Garret asked and she smiled.
“We will have a full-sized bridge and combat information center by the time we’re done with our yard time.” She assured him. “Also, it won’t be jury-rigged this time.”
“That’s good to hear.” He chuckled. No more damn swimming pools or lounges on either side of the bridge. Now the spaces on either side of the bridge would have the intervening bulkheads taken down and made into one big operations center as it was originally intended. What was currently a restaurant and lounge on the top deck would once again become a planetary assault command center. The best news was that the military would be paying for all the changes of making Adamant a full warship again, and they’d pay to put her back into shape as a passenger line when the war was done.
The fact that most of the money coming for the changes were actually coming from Garret’s coffers only made it slightly ironic.
“Also, I don’t know if you’ve been informed yet, but your CIC staff and flag staff are supposed to be reporting aboard in the morning.” Harrington added.
“Yes, I’ve been informed.” Garret said and he shook his head as he thought about all the ‘support’ he was going to have. He’d already met Captain Horace Melmaker who would be his military Chief of Staff, marine Colonel Mikhail Barovich who was commanding the Marine forces assigned to his fleet, and newly commissioned Lieutenant Pierre Montagne had already proven his abilities as the CIC Operations Officer. All told there would be thirty-two officers and enlisted personnel coming aboard to support his ‘command’. That didn’t include Mika Melstein, grandson of Harv Melstein, the former conservator of the Atrix estates. The older man had suffered a stroke during the crisis a few weeks ago, and his grandson, Mika was now taking over as the Chief of Staff for the Atrix Estates and would be joining them in the trip to Calos.
“We’ve already gotten their stateroom prepared, we’re dividing up a full ‘flag’ section for them to operate out of, and we’ll be assigning ship’s crew to provide support like cooking meals, cleaning staterooms, and stuff like that.” Harrington stated. “One last thing on my list. The R’Kellans are preparing to depart.”
“Why?” Garret asked with a frown. “I thought I’d made it clear they were more than welcome to stay.”
“You did.” Harrington assured him. “It’s the lengthy stay in dock at Calos they don’t want to go through. They’d rather be among the stars than tied to one planet for that long.”
“Oh.” Garret said softly while he frowned. He’d really hoped they’d stay. Their entertainment would have done a lot to keep the marines and navy personnel happy.
“Their mahdi does wish to speak with you before they leave.” Harrington added and Garret nodded.
“Any time she wishes.” Garret replied and Harrington nodded.
“Is there anything else, sir?” Harrington asked.
“Yes, I might as well update you on what the fleet’s doing.” Garret said calmly. He’d held out this part until the Captain was here, since she already knew the basics of the planned blockade. “You’ve probably noticed that the Lexington has arrived in the system.”
“Yes, they got here yesterday morning.” Harrington nodded while Masako gave him an inquisitive look.
“Lexington is going to command the blockade fleet around Obduros while Essex takes over the blockade of Arcturos.” Garret informed them. “Two escort carriers will lead the fleet blockading Galundon. They’ve already been using the accelerators at Acturos and Obduros to send small ships out to several other Republic worlds. We’ve intercepted most of them and we know now they’re attempting to use the Democracy network to start insurrection groups. We believe they’re trying to convince more worlds to split off from the Republic.”
“Galundon doesn’t have an accelerator.” Harrington stated with a frown.
“No, this is why we’re assigning two escort carriers and supporting ships there.” Garret stated. “As for the other two worlds, Lexington and Essex will lead raids into the system to destroy those two accelerators.”
“Oh my, they’re not going to like that at all.” Masako said softly. She was right. Accelerators were huge, a massive investment of materials and money. They were also a source of income for the planetary governments through fees charged for each vessel using them. The planets, not the Republic, owned the accelerators.
“Won’t that take a long time and allow the enemy to sortie their fleets?” Harrington asked.
“Conventional bombardment would take hours to destroy the accelerators.” Garret agreed. “That’s why we’ve authorized the use of nukes.”
“What?” Masako almost shrieked.
“By the little Buddha, that’s going to be a nightmare.” Harrington said with a catch in her throat. “Aren’t we worried about retaliation?”
“Yes and no.” Garret admitted. “Leonev has nukes at his disposal, but only the ones currently aboard the ships he’s stolen. That’s a total of fifty-four. All the main nuke depositories are on Republic-controlled worlds, and both worlds with uranium deposits are in the Republic. His three worlds couldn’t scrape together enough material to make more than two high-grade nukes. We’ve got two hundred stockpiled and House Tremere will be funding the opening of two mines on Calos to begin getting more materials for creating new ones, just in case. Both the mines were shut down at the end of the war, and their owners sold their claims to him six months ago.”
“He sure knew a good bet when he saw it.” Masako mumbled and Garret agreed. It was good to never forget that Davlan Tremere was very opportunistic.
“Yes, he did.” Garret agreed aloud with her. “Anyway, the Lexington is picking up Lefhaus Admiral Mullholland who will command the overall blockade efforts. Then they’ll head out, conduct the raid on the accelerator, and set up the blockade. It’s going to be a long one, too. Fleet Admiral Lumbardon is going to be scraping the bottom of the barrel to keep a decent rotation for those ships on station out there while still maintaining standard patrols of our trade lanes and other borders.”
“It takes too much damn time to re-commission ships.” Harrington growled. It was a factual statement, something too many people were having a hard time understanding. It also pointed out the fact that Leonev had managed to grab a healthy number of the newest ships, leaving the Republic with the older, less capable ships.
“Medical emergency, cabin 08-12A.” The ship’s loudspeakers blared and Harrington stood up while Garret frowned.
“Isn’t that the cabin we put Aaron Lewis into?” Garret asked and Harrington nodded quickly.
“If you’ll excuse me, sir.” She said before turning and heading out. Garret frowned, wondering what had happened to the young man. Aaron had been pardoned for his crimes based on his honest efforts to warn Garret the day of the coup attempt. The young man’s father had died in the attempt to flee the space station, having been aboard one of the frigates that was destroyed. His mother would spend the rest of her days in a mental institution or a prison cell, and his uncle was free on Obduros leading a rebellion against the Republic. Garret had offered him funds to start up his own restaurant, but Aaron had refused, claiming no one would want to eat at a restaurant run by the nephew of Abraham Leonev.
“Oh damn.” Masako said with a frown. “You think he tried to commit suicide?”
“Probably.” Garret said, standing up and crossing to the cabin’s large windows. The Adamant had been moved to an outside berth as soon as her hull repairs were completed. This cabin was on the starboard side of the ship, giving him an unobstructed view of space. A cabin on the port side would have given a view of the miles-long space station and Peladon beyond that. Although space looked like it always did, he noticed the level of civilian traffic was finally increasing. For days after the battle, civilian ships had mostly stayed away from Peladon, just in case fighting flared up again.
Now they were cautiously coming back.
“Aaron Lewis is not your responsibility.” Masako said from behind him and he frowned before lowering his head.
“Yes, he is.” He argued with her for the fourth time. The thin, geeky kid had been the subject of several arguments between them. “I can’t help feeling I owe him something.”
“Let’s go over this again.” She said firmly. “You feel responsible for him why?”
“One, because of his brother.” Garret admitted with a sigh. “I was there when his brother died because of his own clumsiness. I rarely talked with the brother, but I remember seeing him laugh and smile when he got a holo-message from Aaron one time.”
“That still doesn’t make sense.” She said with a rustle of cloth as she folded her arms over her chest. Garret could see the gesture reflected in the window when he looked up briefly.
“I never said it did make sense.” He countered with a sigh.
“Fine, what next?” She asked patiently. They’d been over this before, but Garret gave into her game and continued.
“I deceived him in order to get the information I needed.” Garret said. “That let me set his mother up and ended up setting him up for a bad situation.”
“That’s plain feces and you know it, Garret Atrix.” Masako said derisively. “First of all, if he knew something illegal was going to happen, he should have reported it to the authorities. Instead he went and bragged to the pleasure clone he was in love with, not knowing it was you. Second, he came out better in the end anyway. He cleaned himself up, got his hair done, and got some good exercise as well as a good paycheck, working on a ship you ordered, I might point out.”
“Yes, yes, and when he was put upon to sabotage that ship, he didn’t do it.” Garret finished. “Now we know if he had done it, the explosion would have cut the data lines from the station’s central core to the section where Leonev landed and freed up his ships. With the link gone, we’d have never gotten the code from him and we’d never have gotten our own ships out of the station’s automatic lock-down. He saved a number of lives right there.”
“A lot of people saved just as many lives all over the planet, all over the Republic, on that day. All they had to do was their duty and they saved lives.” Masako pointed out once again. “He finally did his duty and saved lives, big deal. I don’t see you fretting about how all the others who did their duty on that day are faring now.”
“The difference is I know him.” Garret half-growled and nearly jumped when he felt her hand on his shoulder.
“I wonder if you have feelings for him.” Masako asked softly, surprising him with something new.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” He snorted and was met by stony silence. He thought about it, and when he felt a very familiar twinge, he let out a sigh. Damn this woman, she knew him too well already! “I wouldn’t say feelings, more like lust.”
“Ah, I figured that must be it.” She said. “Just be careful, I think young Gospedene Lewis is something you are not use to seeing. It will be far too easy in satisfying your lust to confuse yourself with him.”
“What do you mean?” Garret asked in confusion.
“He is mentally weak.” Masako said with a hint of distaste. “That is why I do not like him as much as you seem to like him.”
“How is he mentally – weak?” Garret’s voice nearly tripped over just saying that. It seemed so insulting.
“From what I have heard of his life, he has always been dominated by those with stronger personalities.” Masako said softly, almost with a look of sympathy showing in her eyes. “His mother and his uncle are both people of relatively strong personalities, and seem to have always dominated him, his father, and his brother.”
“Strong?” Garret wondered aloud. “His mother is in a mental institution!”
“Garret, don’t be a fool.” Masako chided him. “She saw years of hard work, deep plotting, and all that go up in flames in less than a few minutes. Even the strongest of people might crack under such pressures. Young Aaron has been dominated all his life by these strong personalities, just as you were raised amidst strong personalities and molded with your own strong personality. Instead of being dominated, you were trained in how to be strong. Who do you know now that does not have a strong personality?”
“Deci.” Garret answered quickly and she laughed lightly.
“Deci is as strong of a personality in his own way as you are.” She said amidst her laughter. “Just look at this servant thing of his. He wanted to be a servant, and when he had to choose between it and your bed, he chose learning to be a proper servant. If Deci was weak-willed, he’d have been back in your bed after one night, but instead he stays out of your bed, because of his own choice. I wager young Aaron would have broken his promise and been back in your bed the first night. Yes, Deci is meek when compared to many others around you, but he is strong in his own way. This Aaron is not.”
“I don’t know.” Garret said with another shake of his head. He could see her point, but he had a problem thinking of any True Born human as weak-willed. True Borns had more choices in their fate than any clone.
“Just remember my words and watch for the warning signs in dealing with him.” She said with a sigh and he raised an eyebrow as he turned his head to look at her.
“What’s that mean?” He asked her.
“You told me he went to a Culinary Institute to learn cooking, did you not?” She asked.
“Yes.” Garret answered.
“Then, I suggest that if he survived whatever this medical emergency happens to be, that you invite him to be our personal chef.” She replied. “Give him a good salary, at least eighty-thousand per year, plus lodging and of course meals. We’ll give him a food budget, and he’ll travel with us, serving our personal meals and meals for our personal staff.”
“That’s right, you’re going to hire your own staff when we get to Calos, aren’t you?” Garret asked and she nodded.
“Yes, and when we get there he’ll pick out the household kitchen staff that will help him when we’re in residence and otherwise serve meals for our staff on the grounds.” She said. “If he learned his lessons at that Institute, he will be more than capable of handling the administrative stuff as well as the actual food preparation.”
“It’s a good idea.” Garret said with a tight smile. He nodded at her and turned to leave, intending to head to sickbay and see what exactly had happened with Aaron Lewis.
“Garret.” Her voice caused him to stop and he turned to face her. She was staring out the window now and turned to lock gazes with him. “Just be sure to fuck him soon and get him out of your system. We don’t need him as a distraction with so much going on right now.”
“Yes, wife-to-be.” He replied with a tight smile, paraphrasing what she usually said to him at times like this. She shook her head at that statement and turned to look out the window again. Deci came up to ask her something, and Garret sighed before leaving the cabin.
Why oh why couldn’t his life ever be simple?
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