Chapter 31
“My lord, we can establish communications with Calos if you so desire.” Officer Arnold said without expression after Garret had shared the contents of Lukas’s message with them and Masako. “I have a ship on training exercises at the far edge of the system. They are to conduct a wave-fold jump for new crewmembers that have not been through one before. I believe if they increase their acceleration rate that they will be able to establish communications within three hours.”
“Give the orders.” Garret said immediately. There was little danger in broadcasting messages through wave-fold guides, at least danger of revealing their location so long as there was no mention of where they were or other details that might give a clue to their location. Unlike radio signals, wave-fold guide communications could not be ‘traced’ back to their source. If you know what frequencies were being used, you could listen in on a conversation from anywhere in the galaxy no matter how near or how far they were. That was one reason why encryption was so important to signals broadcast by this method, and why some sensitive messages were sent by courier ship instead of by broadcast signal. Any signal could eventually be decoded, and some things were just too sensitive. In this situation though, he needed information quickly to decide what to do.
“While we wait for the ship to reach speed, shall we continue with our agenda and acquaint you further with your holdings here?” Holden suggested and Garret nodded.
Three hours later, Garret found himself wishing he could abandon Calos and move here permanently, but he was terrified at the thought at the same time. It was almost heady the way the men and women he had met looked up to House Atrix, and he soon learned the answer to their reverence towards his House. The older generation was more stoic, but the younger generations raised alongside and trained with clones produced by the bolt-hole program were practically religious in their regard of House Atrix. There were no religious books or any form of religious faith beyond a belief in an overriding ‘Creator’. Most of the religious types had died amongst the old colonists who had first come here, and the scientists and administrative types sent by House Atrix were mostly atheist. Someone had taken the Atrix employee handbook and turned it into a part of the education program, and it had mingled with the reverence of the locals for the House that had saved them from eventual extinction. The Republic would look dimly on their stressing the importance of House Atrix over that of the Republic, but Garret could see how it had become a necessary part of the society’s structure.
They worked hard to build and train the fleet, and feed the clones grown to help save the Republic if it ever failed to defeat the Sol Empire. As a result of the hardships to feed such a large army, they had integrated clones fully into the societal structure. This planet proved a point that a large part of a clone’s loyalty to the Republic came from their indoctrination during training and not just from the genetic manipulation. Sure, they were inclined to intense loyalty from the genetics, but it was their education in the Gestation and Education facilities of the Republic that sealed that loyalty to the Republic. Here, even the fully human children from colonists and researchers alike had an almost religious-fervor quality to their loyalty to House Atrix. It was a dangerous combination in several ways, as Masako pointed out to him while they waited in a small, windowless room on the space station for the transmission to Calos to be connected.
“My lord!” Devin exclaimed as he appeared on the screen. “We hoped you’d get the last message and get back up to speed quickly. Wait, you’re not on the courier ship?”
“Where we are is of no concern at the moment.” Garret replied after Davin had stopped speaking. There was a slightly noticeable delay in their transmissions. “What is happening?”
“The terrorist attack that damaged the Adamant wasn’t Jordanite in nature.” Davin said after the delay. “It appears that Leonev has more cards in his deck of tricks than we expected. Simultaneous attacks were carried out across the Republic and his ships attempted to use them to break the blockade in the confusion. They got a few people, including two Speakers and several senior officers, but Chief Speaker Ito and Speaker Lars were not hurt. Admiral Lumbardon also survived the attack on him. We have rounded up the Jordanite cells we know of though, because they were involved in the attack on Speaker Tremere. We’re tracking down the Leonev terrorists as well. There are rumors on Calos though that your ship was destroyed while you were on your honeymoon.”
“I see.” Garret said. He knew he’d have to appear soon on Calos to stop those rumors.
“My lord, the government on Calos is considering martial law.” Davin continued. “Speaker Tremere has called a conference with their leadership and is urging them to remain calm. The arrests we have facilitated with local police appear to be calming things down, but following the initial news, the people are growing more concerned that the Republic cannot protect Calos. Similar fears are being reported on other planets as well.”
“Leonev is one crafty bugger.” Garret murmured as Masako leaned forward.
“Davin, keep this line open.” She said. “I am going to mute and darken our end.”
“Yes, my lady.” Davin said as Masako muted their end of the transmission and cut off the visual feed. She turned to Garret with a look of concern in her dark eyes. “It is imperative that the Republic come back with a victory against the traitors, and they must do it quickly. You have the means at hand to turn the balance a bit, use it.”
“What do you mean?” He asked her.
“I will return to Calos immediately.” She said firmly. “My presence there will assure people you are still alive. Meanwhile, I will tell them that you are working with the military on the problem at hand. That will give a reason for you to not return for a while. It will also look good, as long as you meet with some success. You said the Adamant was severely damaged, but is the AI still operational?”
“I hope so.” Garret said with a smile. “Yes, I am thinking of that hulk of a ship here that needs an AI computer.”
“Send me home in a ship capable of carrying the computer core back here, along with the personnel necessary to accomplish that task?” Masako asked. “Then the ship can return here with the cargo and personnel necessary? How long would it take to install the core?”
“It’ll take at least a week.” Garret said with a shake of his head. “It’s not like Ada is an inexperienced AI needing full training. She’ll just need to acclimatize to her new ‘body’. That will take the longest, and why I say a week. The computer core, as long as the physical connections on the ship here haven’t been altered, well it’ll only take a few hours to install her here.”
“You need a flagship, and it will make a good one.” Masako said firmly. “My husband, do what you do best, lead men into battle. Find and destroy those enemy bolt-holes.”
“You’ve seen the way these people look to me, to us.” Garret said, realizing that they had also been treating Masako with a great deal of reverence as the ‘Lady Atrix’.
“It is discomforting, but we will not abuse their loyalty, will we?” She asked and stated at the same time.
“No.” Garret said with a shake of his head.
“You know the old story of how the Great Houses were first imagined?” Masako asked him and he nodded. It wasn’t something often taught outside the Great Houses. He didn’t think the Republic people would be too happy that their system of government was based on a fictional story written centuries before the first colony ship left Earth. That story had ‘Great Houses’ in it that had provided the germ of an idea whose end result was the Republic’s current system of government. Sure, other political theories could be applied, and had gone into the mix, including Plato’s concept of a ruling class, a worker class, and a warrior class. Like the early government of Earth’s old United States, the Republic’s government had come from several political philosophies, not just one or the other. Still, the fact that part of it was based on a fictional book meant to entertain would have unnerved many people.
“Yes, I know.” Garret said with an amused smile.
“This place makes me think of calling our firstborn by the name ‘Paul’.” Masako said. “These people remind me of the fanatics in that book who supported their Messiah.”
“Would you want to doom our son to a future like that character’s?” Garret asked and she chuckled while shaking her head.
“It was just an odd thought.” She said. “We lay our plans, we work towards them, and we turn our backs for mere moments and something comes along to ruin them.”
“That is what we get for being ‘defensive’ about this civil war.” Garret muttered she nodded before reaching out to the control panel. With a nod, she turned the communication back on and Davin’s face filled the screen again.
“My lord?” Davin asked immediately.
“Masako will be returning with sealed orders from me, and will assist in reassuring the people that I am alive and well.” Garret said crisply. “I have further business that I must attend to at this time. If anyone asks, I am in conference with military officials. When people sniff around to find the truth beneath that cover story, you will let them find out that I am on an urgent military mission aimed at hamstringing Leonev’s efforts.”
“Understood sir.” Davin nodded. “How long will it take the Lady to return?”
“Not nearly as long as it took for us to get where we are now.” Garret said, certain that whatever ship they sent her with, it would be able to jump further than the little courier ship. “We will signal again with her estimated time of arrival once she is prepared to leave.
“Yes, my lord.” Davin stated.
“Davin, how is the Adamant’s AI?” Garret asked.
“She’s shut down, but otherwise functional.” Davin answered with sympathy. “The ship itself has been towed back into space dock, but they’re saying it doesn’t look good. It’d be quicker to probably build a new ship. The fleet’s already ordered the AI to be removed. I think they’re considering installing it in one of the ships currently under construction. It’ll be a while before any of them are ready for her, but at least the AI will live on.”
“Don’t let them transfer the AI.” Garret ordered sharply, waiting a second for the look of surprise to form on Davin’s face. “Get in touch with Captain Lars and let him know I need that AI. He’ll make the necessary arrangements. Oh, and I’ll warn you now, Masako won’t be returning in the same ship we left on.”
“I think I understand, sir.” Davin said.
“Unless you have anything more, end transmission.” Garret ordered. “We will contact you, do not try to contact us directly.”
“Understood.” Davin said before ending the transmission on his end.
Garret them summoned Officer Arnold to direct that a ship be prepared to take Masako back to Calos later that night, local time. After that, he hashed out some ideas with Masako before using the terminal in the room they were occupying to write out orders that would be stored on memory sticks. He also composed a report to Admiral Lumbardon at Fleet Headquarters to advise him that the Atrix bolt-hole had manufactured a ship similar to the Adamant, but that it needed an AI computer core. He also informed the Supreme Commander of Republic forces that he would be using Ada’s core for that ship, and requested permission to officially commission the vessel as Adamant. AI cores were very valuable and they were normally in a well-protected section of their ship, so it wasn’t unheard of for a core to be transferred to a new ship if its old ship was too heavily damaged.
At Masako’s urging, he also returned to the small courier ship to brief Lukas and its other crew on the current situation. Then he released them from confinement to the small courier ship and allowed them ‘liberty’ on the bolt-hole’s station. He would need them since they were familiar with the Adamant design and could assess the material condition of the enhanced ship currently in dry dock here. Masako insisted that they could be trusted to keep the secret of the bolt-hole’s real condition, and he was inclined to believe her at this point.
She left a few hours later, on a ship based on the same design as the Tarawa assault flagship. Nearly all the ships built at these yards had been slightly altered, and this version of the Tarawa class was not only more heavily armed, but had more cargo space and passenger space. It was also three percent faster than its sister-ships produced by the Republic and had enough power to make it back to Calos from the other end of the anomaly within two jumps. That would shave nearly a full day off of her return to Calos.
The only downside is that the ships of the Atrix fleet had been re-finished over the course of the last year when the bolt-hole had learned that he was the heir to House Atrix. They had seen video of his Adamant in action over Lemos and had refinished most of the active fleet to a similar silver finish instead of the darker, muted colors painted over the citeesium armor of most Republic ships. The Anwhal transporting Masako home would be obvious that it didn’t come from a Republic shipyard.
Then again, when its blue and silver uniformed crew were seen, it would be obvious that they weren’t part of the standard Republic navy.
As the Anwhal departed Atrix Prime orbit, Garret traveled down to the planet to begin what was a very uncomfortable experience with the locals. Baron Ferdinand all but threw his youngest sons, a set of twins just over sixteen at Garret, fully expecting him to take the two off to a private room, or maybe enjoy them there in front of Paolo Ferdinand and his entire ‘court’. They were dressed in the blue and silver uniforms with the emblems of junior officers on their cuffs. Instead of the expected orgy, Garret talked with them about their training, and did what he felt was a good job of not wincing as they talked about the ‘honor’ and ‘ethics’ of House Atrix.
He’d revived the old employee handbook when he’d reclaimed House Atrix, and had marveled at its archaic, stilted language full of the highest ideals imaginable. Even he would have had a hard time living up to some of the standards in that book when it came to ethics and honor, but these people seemed to live and breath those words and he felt like cursing the ancestors he’d never known for their allowing it to be written like that. Dinner at least was more tolerable as Baron Ferdinand’s third and second wives sat near Garret and chattered constantly about how their ancestors had survived their early days on the planet.
The story of the hard days and massive efforts by those early colonists gave Garret the clear impression that these people were full of passion, and had an all-or-nothing mentality that had provided fertile ground for the high ideals set by House Atrix to their employees. That book had been written knowing most of its contents would be scoffed at, and it had not been expected to be taken literally, rather more as an ideal. These folks had no way of knowing that and had turned it into an almost-religion, and as the head of House Atrix, Garret was its focus.
For the week it would take the Anwhal to return, Garret conducted reviews of nearly every single soldier on active duty in the ‘Atrix Guard’. Under Arnold’s direction, the fleet performed complicated maneuvers and even a full-scale battle drill. Four days after Masako had left, he watched the fleet and marines perform a mock planetary assault that left him impressed more than he wanted them to know. The clones and true borns of the fleet were technically competent, as competent as any Academy trained graduate. In fact, he reflected that the Academy had a second campus it had never known about, located out here on the other side of the spiral arm of the galaxy. They were better than any Republic troops he’d ever known, though, and that was because of their spirit. They fought with a passion he’d only heard of from the suicide hordes of the Sol Empire’s fanatical death squads. All of those had been true born Earthers, the most fanatical of Earth’s forces, thrown away as shock troops when even clone troops couldn’t make a breech in enemy lines.
The ‘Atrix Guards’ fought with the same passion as those death squads, but without the will to throw their lives away. Instead they focused on overwhelming the enemy so the enemy would die and they would live on to fight the next enemy. Sure, he only saw this from the training maneuvers, but he knew it was accurate just from those. Lukas and Liam concurred after getting to know counterpart clones in the Atrix Guard. Garret frowned when after the first day he saw them no longer wearing the black coveralls of Republic soldiers but the blue and silver of the Atrix levies. Lucas ignored his glare and deftly deferred Garret’s questioning of the uniform change with a promise he’d change back when they left, but it was easier for him this way.
By the day the Anwhal was expected to return, Garret felt like he’d gotten a fairly good handle on the society of Atrix Prime. He found he liked the earnest way the people went about their lives, and their dedication to the highest of ideals was endearing, if a little overwhelming at times when directed so strongly at him as the embodiment of House Atrix. There were no 10 Model clones on the planet, another order from the last head of House Atrix that no models bearing the resemblance of the original Garret Atrix were to be produced.
“These classes are the only segregated, pure clone classes held on the planet.” Governor Holden said to him as they prepared to enter a room in one of the main education facilities on the planet. He had saved it for last, and Garret found he was really intrigued. “The 05 Model series has several deficiencies, which is why their production was ceased in the Republic. We’ve fixed most of them, but the Model series still requires careful handling.”
“Then why continue them?” Garret asked.
“Because they were one of the last Models to be designed by Bronson Atrix.” Holden explained and Garret understood based on knowledge of this society so dedicated to Atrix. “In many ways they have come to be the glue that binds all the different parts of Atrix Prime society together. This class is around the age of fourteen. On a regular basis, families and military units that do not have a 05 Model with them will be brought in under controlled circumstances to meet the young 05 Models. You must understand, no geneticist has managed to create ‘psychic’ genes, but the 05 Model is the closest we have come to that. They are especially sensitive, and extremely faithful to anyone they ‘bond’ with. If they like the visitors, they leave with that family or military unit and spend the rest of their lives as part of that family. What causes them to choose a specific family group or sometimes individuals, we don’t know. I for instance have never attracted one of them.”
“What’s so special about them?” Garret asked.
“They’re extremely sensitive to the needs and desires of those they choose.” Holden answered with a slight grin. “All of them are bright, intelligent and can perform most duties except committing acts of violence. Unless something happens to break their psyche, like the murder of someone they consider family, they’re as peaceful as you can imagine. Those that go with military units go through the most violent training with that unit without flinching and actually make great battlefield medics. We’ve had training accidents and 05 Models have carried the injured out no matter the danger to themselves. In the first batch we produced, we had one young 05 Model whose family’s home caught fire. He managed to carry out all the children and the mother before going back in for the father. The 05 was so burned and suffered from so much smoke inhalation that he died soon after, but he’d saved the entire family. After that experience, the 05’s became very much in demand, although we only produce forty per year so as to not overwhelm the ability of our society to support them. They get extremely jealous of their ‘families’ when it comes to other 05’s, although they don’t express that jealousy of other clones or true borns, just other 05’s.”
“Interesting.” Garret said and nodded at Holden to lead the way into the room. An older woman was leading the class as they entered, and didn’t stop her lesson as Garret entered the room after the Governor who shut the door behind them. To Garret’s surprise, the lesson was an advanced anatomy lesson, outstripping what he knew of the human body without calling up the information from a memory stick.
Forty sets of green eyes looked at the teacher without turning towards Garret or the Governor. All had fiery hair that was a bright red, and a set of freckles along their cheeks and running under their eyes up to their noses. Garret was well-accustomed to telling the differences between his fellow clones, but these forty red-heads had him stumped. Even after five minutes of studying them, he couldn’t tell the difference between one or another. That was very unusual for him and he found he was very intrigued.
“Class, we have visitors.” The teacher said when she finished her lecture on the nervous system of humans. Her silver bun bobbed as she bowed her head to Garret. “I am confident you recognized the Lord Atrix.”
“Greetings, Lord Atrix.” Forty voices said in a teenage warble that bobbed between light and deep tones as if all of them were cracking at the exact some moment. It unnerved him, but he smiled and bowed his head to them.
“Greetings, students.” Garret said and turned to the teacher. “Greetings, honored teacher.”
“Welcome to class 05-PC-83, Lord Atrix.” She said formally. “Would you care to address the students?”
“I thank you.” Garret said formally. He’d found using formality with the locals, even the ones of the same generation as Holden who might remember life in the Republic, was the best approach. As she stepped back, he moved to the front of the class and pushed down the uneasiness as forty sets of light-green eyes followed his every movement. From addressing other classes, he had an idea of how to make this as quick as possible. He had wanted to see them, and it would have been an insult to just pop in without interacting with them. “Shall we repeat the Atrix creed?”
“Atrix stands to help those in need, first and foremost.” They recited in perfect unison, something even another set of clones would have a hard time accomplishing even this perfectly. There wasn’t the least bit of a difference from their intonations to their breathing patterns. “Whether through healing by our knowledge of the human genome, the creation of new life to make our worlds better, or by picking up the sword to defend our fellow humans, we live to serve, protect and defend.”
“Perfect.” Garret said with a smile. “Who will tell me what those words mean?”
Forty identical hands went up at once, each to the exact same height and all forty faces held identical looks of eagerness. Garret pointed to one boy in the front of the room, but towards the end farthest from the door. The boy stood immediately while the other thirty-nine dropped their hands and looked at the selected boy.
“I am Frederick.” The boy said solemnly and Garret nodded at him to continue. “The Creed tells us that our lives are meant to serve the needs of humanity.”
“How does it do that?” Garret challenged him and he actually smiled as the boy crunched up his nose while he thought. “If House Atrix wants people who can recite their lessons by rote, that would be easy. Don’t just recite and repeat, analyze and reach conclusions about what you are being taught.”
“Yes, my lord.” Frederick said thoughtfully with a slight blush of his cheeks. “I think I know the answer.”
“Then tell me what you think.” Garret said with an encouraging smile. This was the biggest flaw he saw in the Atrix Prime education system. They taught their students to question everything. Was their planet really round? Did fire really burn? Did water really turn to steam when heated enough? One thing they never questioned was the ‘Atrix Creed’, and while Garret was cautious about how he encouraged them to question it, he did want to start that happening because he was absolutely uncomfortable with blind loyalty.
“We are creations of House Atrix, designed to support those who need our help.” The boy said and Garret felt an eyebrow lifting in reaction. “We are 05 Models, and we’re unique in all the models produced here. We exist to support and provide services to the other humans who need our help. We’re nannies; clean their homes; prepare their meals. For others we help tend their gear and give them needed massages or other relief as part of their units, and we tend those wounded in training, or if we go into combat, I think we would tend those wounded by the enemy.”
“Is this what you dream of, Frederick?” I asked him.
“Yes.” He said firmly and with conviction. Garret smiled at him. “What if you had a choice to do something else, like command a ship?”
“Why would I want to do that, my lord?” The boy asked with furrowed brows. “I suppose, I think that if I was with a unit and they were wounded and needed to be evacuated I’d do that.”
“I see.” Garret said. “Do you believe you are a part of humanity, or are you something separate, built to serve it but never really a part of it?”
“I’m as human as anyone else, sir.” The boy said with a slight chuckle and then he looked embarrassed before he sat down quickly.
“Who disagrees with him?” Garret asked the rest of the class, all of them immediately looked down at their desks instead of at him. The gesture was so uniform that he almost laughed before he noticed a boy in the exact middle of the class who was frowning. Ah, so there was individuality amongst these clones!
“My lord, if I wanted to be in command of a ship just because I wanted to do that, could I?” The boy asked and there was the sound of thirty-nine other boys drawing in their breath at the same time. Garret smiled.
“Why couldn’t you?” Garret asked him.
“I’m an 05 Model, we’re sensitive you know.” The boy answered as he quickly stood up and faced Garret, obviously a trained response when speaking to an instructor, even if a temporary instructor like Garret. “I mean, it’s not necessary for us to follow the same path as everyone else like us, is it?”
“Within reason, no.” Garret answered with a smile. “Our genetics and other factors do give us some limitations, but within those limitations, I believe we should all be free to pursue our dreams.”
“So if I want to one day command a ship, I should pick a group of Naval Guards to bond with.” The boy said with a hint of finality in his tone.
“Yes, that’s right.” Garret said with a chuckle as Holden looked askance at him. “Does anyone have any questions for me?”
“My name is Neal, sir.” The boy who had asked about commanding a ship spoke up and looked Garret in the eyes. “I was wondering, the Atrix Creed, does it have any meaning on the outside, where you come from, the proper Republic?”
“The Creed has meaning everywhere.” Garret said, having already faced this question from one of the other classes of mixed clones and true borns. “It’s meaning is found in the actions of individuals who believe in it and follow it.”
“I see.” Neal said before sitting down. There were more questions, and he answered them for thirty minutes as he began to grown more familiar with the clones in the room, he found that he could learn to distinguish them from one another. That was a relief to him as he did not like to believe he couldn’t distinguish any clone from another of the same model.
“My daughter is waiting.” Sven said as they left the classroom and Garret nodded. The old Governor was planning to retire by the end of the local year, which was fourteen standard months long, and wanted Garret to meet his youngest daughter, a woman in her early forties. It was Sven’s hope she could follow him as Governor, and he had waited until there was an opportunity for Garret to meet her personally before he retired.
They returned to the space station called Helix for the meeting, and Garret found he liked the slim, brown haired woman. Helga Holden was a bright, vivacious woman brimming with ideas on things she thought could be improved, and more importantly things she though shouldn’t be changed at all. Garret found himself trusting the woman after a two-hour discussion about political philosophy and governing styles, as well as his expectations for the continued operations of Atrix Prime. He had come here expecting to find a well-organized shipbuilding and clone production operation and instead he had found a full society, a real society that blended clones and true born humans in a way that not even the Republic did. There were no differences here in the legal treatment of clones and true borns, and he liked that. Maybe one day he’d throw open the secrets of this place and let the Republic see how clones should really be treated.
“The Anwhal just jumped into the system.” Officer Arnold informed him as he entered the station’s Operations Center after his meeting with Helga. He’d already decided to confirm her appointment as Governor of Atrix Prime as soon as Sven was ready to formally retire. What he would do about the ‘Atrix Guard’ he wasn’t quite sure. They’d formed it ad hoc without direction from House Atrix proper, but he could see how it was needed. There was always the possibility Earth could find this world, and they had a right to defend themselves. Their association with the Republic was only loose, at most they could be called a Republic colony, but that would destroy the secret of the Atrix bolt-hole and he was not ready to do that.
“Everything appear in order?” Garret asked. The man was called ‘Officer’, a generic rank with six official grades in the ‘Atrix Guard’. Should he formalize that and make a rank structure similar to the Republic’s? He’d have to think about that some more.
“Yes, my lord.” Arnold replied.
“We are receiving a transmission from Officer Rinaldo.” One of the communications officers said and Garret nodded at Arnold.
“On main.” Arnold ordered and the image of the approaching ship’s commander appeared along one curved bulkhead of the circular room. Next to him was Captain Harrington, whose hair had been cropped much shorter than normal and who had a bandage over one cheek.
“Commodore Atrix, I’m sorry about the Adamant, sir.” Harrington said right off the bat before anyone else could speak. “We failed to keep her from being blown up and I accept full responsibility for my failure to preserve your ship.”
“No matter what steps we take, Captain, terrorists will always find a way to strike their target.” Garret said firmly. “Have you learned from the attack? Can you force them to develop new tactics in order to do something like this again?”
“Yes, Commodore.” She replied curtly. “They snuck the explosives on board within the ammunition we loaded for the planetary assault cannons. When they went off, they set off surrounding real ammunition. From now on, we scan all ammunition before stowing it away.”
“What else gets scanned?” Garret asked and her eyes flared.
“Everything, sir.” She grated. “No matter if the shore facilities scanned it first, we scan it again when it comes aboard. It’ll slow the process down, but I’d rather go slow and still have a ship to command.”
“Good reasoning.” Garret assured her. “How’s the cargo?”
“The core is in good shape.” She replied. “We ran diagnostics when it was removed from the ship and we’ve monitored it closely on the journey. There is no degradation of operation, and she’s asleep in deactivated status, although she was quite angry before she consented to deactivation. She wants back in the fight and she wants it fast.”
“She’ll get what she wants.” Garret assured her. “Report to me with what command staff you’ve brought with you. We’ll need to do some integration before we begin installing Ada in her new home.”
“Yes sir, Commodore, sir.” Harrington said before the screen winked out.
“You mean to put her in command?” Arnold asked him in a quiet voice.
“Yes.” Garret answered, looking into the man’s eyes to see if he questioned Harrington being put in command of the new Adamant. Finding nothing there, Garret continued. “I know she’s going to need a good Chief Engineer, though.”
“I have the perfect man for the ship.” Arnold said flatly. “He helped build her and knows her intimately.”
“That’s good.” Garret said.
Harrington saluted smartly when she met him after the Anwhal had docked with the station. She had few details for him of the actual terrorist attack since the explosion had knocked her unconscious. Markal had dragged her to an escape pod and they’d made it off the ship before the final explosion tore the original Adamant apart. A third of the crew had died in the explosion, and nearly half of the rest had been injured to one extent or another. Commander Westley was still in the hospital and would not be fit for duty for months. It was doubtful that his colorful Chief Engineer would ever return to duty. He had lost a leg as an aftermath of his injuries.
After a short update on who had been in shape to make the journey to the bolt-hole, he dismissed Harrington to oversee the work being done to prepare the AI for her new home. Harrington had left him with several memory sticks full of private updates too sensitive for other means of transmission. He sorted them out in order of who had sent them and loaded them one by one into his implant reader.
Admiral Lumbardon’s was the first, and Garret was happy that the Supreme Commander of the Republic Fleet had accepted Garret’s report that the bolt-hole held more ships than previously expected. The man actually sounded happy, and authorized Garret to use whatever ships he felt necessary to accomplish his mission. Lumbardon also specified that he would treat the ships as being part of a militia force under Garret’s direct personal control as a representative of the Republic’s chain of command. That gave Garret a lot of leeway, and a bit of relief that the Admiral wouldn’t interfere in the bolt-hole’s operations.
Masako reported that the unrest on Calos was subsiding with her return. Garret’s absence explained as being part of a military operation did seem to work as a calming influence, as did the multiple arrests conducted in cooperation with his House Intelligence operatives. She also reported that while Davlan Tremere was taking a larger role than he would have if Garret was there, the old trickster was making no effort to exclude Masako from helping with the crisis management team setup by the government and was actually proving to be as steadfast an ally as he had been so far.
Mika Melstein had continued good news in that the House’s accounts and businesses were operating within expected parameters and while the economy was taking a short, temporary slump, he expected no serious ramifications. Mika also had several suggested avenues for introducing a few of the scientific advances the bolt-hole had made, and expressed his dismay that he had not been able to present Garret with an accurate picture of what was going on with the bolt-hole. Melstein’s every trip to the bolt hole had seen him waiting on the Republic side of the anomaly for a ship from the bolt-hole to meet him, so he’d never seen the planet directly or the space station and its shipyards. Fortunately, the man knew better than to try to submit his resignation.
The days passed in a blur of activity for Garret as the work on getting Ada hooked up to the new Adamant progressed. As the deadline for meeting the Johan Pembry clone grew closer, Garret grew more anxious about whether the ship would be ready on time. Fortunately, Harrington kicked him off the ship after the fourth time she’d caught him hovering over the workers.
“Lord Atrix, you have a visitor.” The voice of the older male secretary assigned to him by Holden interrupted his review of the training curricula for ship officers. The Governor had given him a spacious office on the same level as the Governor’s. It had been something else until recently, as evidenced by the faint smell of new paint, but it was more luxurious than even the Governor’s and featured large bay windows as well as very comfortable furniture.
“Send him in.” Garret said eagerly. Any distraction was welcome at this point, but he gave pause to that feeling when he saw the short red-head enter his office. The boy was wearing dark blue pants and a white shirt, the uniform of his school with his school badge on the left breast, and he had a determined look on his freckled face as he walked into the room to stand on the other side of Garret’s desk. When the boy bowed, Garret wondered why they’d let the boy come here alone.
“My lord, do you remember me?” The boy asked in a voice that shook slightly.
“Yes, your name is Neal.” Garret said with a smile. A small voice reminded him that the 05 Models were sensitive, so he kept his voice friendly. “You were the young man with the question about whether the Atrix Creed applies elsewhere in the galaxy.”
“I knew you’d remember me.” The boy said as his thin red lips parted in a smile. “That’s why I’ve chosen you to bond with. I want to see the galaxy with my own eyes, and I’ll do it at your side caring for you.”
Garret couldn’t help the poleaxed look that crossed his face, because that was how he felt, like someone had hit him across the back of the head with a long axe.
As with all my stories, E provides immeasurable input, grammar checking, and all those other lovely editing thingies that make the story so much better!
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