WoWS3 Chpt 56

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==Weapons of War Saga: The Final March- Chapter 56 - ==
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===Getting to Know the family===
Terran Hegemony in Exile Embassy'''
Tharkad, Lyran Commonwealth
8th April, 3145
"You're part of the family, Mai." Petra Roberts said. 
"She is there because I-" Mai asked.
"No, she is there, because instead of trying to negotiate, or talk or identify herself, she tried to be sneaky." Petra corrected. "She is there, because you did your job."
"And you would have done better?"
"No." Petra shook her head, "Look at me, I'm thirteen., Mai, My focus is on science and engineering, not a tactician, not a strategist. I would've ****** up worse than she did, and I would never have been in your position because I'm not trained for that. She was, you are, I'm not."
"You are a Scientist." Mai said.
"Yeah…for a given value of it, officially I'm an eighth-grader attending middle school when her aunts and mother aren't dragging her across interstellar distances on family business. I keep my Science work separate from my 'living work'-most of the others at school don't know I'm already educated to post-doctorate in physics and maths." Peri said
"How do you hide it?" Mai asked
"I screw up on schoolwork, even the teachers don't know. Thus, my 'grades' end up consistent with my grades in things like literature and civics, where I'm about grade-level."
"You…deliberately screw up." Mai worded
"Yeah. I do. I plan which parts of the test I'm going to get wrong and by how much. Just enough to let the teachers feel like they're useful, and just enough that I don't buck the curve for the smarter pure-biological students, because it's helpful having friends. I think I'll only need a couple more years of that before I can stop bunking my test scores."
"You're misusing your potential, then. Do the adults know?" Mai pressed.
"Mom knows and she is angry about it, Helena knows, Truk knows. Thing is, part of the experiment, is one of us learning how to live in physical reality as a human, so I hide my potential until it's socially acceptable among my human peers to be as smart as I already am. I can't start pushing limits until I can do it credibly among other human beings."
"What would be the point?" Mai asked, "you already have so many advantages…"
"What's the point when a Clan warrior bids down?? Wouldn't the optimal solution be to use the most force, all at once, without rules? Is that not the easiest, simplest way to win?"
"To an extent. The march of technology has changed how warfare is fought. It used to be without a doubt the best way was to send all you have, soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder, storming across the battlefield. Then the machine gun was invented. Then the Tank. And eventually it was figured out that with the advent of technology maneuver was more important than sending everything you possibly could."
"But even then it is not the right way to win, is it?" Petra asked, "let me put it in that context for you-the easiest thing, would have been to ship me in a core, and let me run remotes-in that form, I can run dozens…but it's not the right way unless I'm trying to be a universe into and of myself."
"Have you done that?"
"Only in sims. That experiment did not turn out great."
“Connections, people to keep us honest and humble but to also support us and help us. It is something I let slip out of my own life outside my AIs for a very long time.” Helena joined them. “Yes sometimes the fact of shared genetics can be either a boon or a bane for forming such connections but it is not in me to turn my back on family if I can help it. So now you Mai Roberts are free of your chains placed on you by others. Now you must decide what chains you place on yourself of your own volition. I won’t lie I could use a few more experienced Captains right now, but as family I would worry about you.”
“I have much to think about in that regard.” Mai said quietly.
“So you do. There is one more thing I must tend to before I begin my return trip to New Lazarus.”
“I am curious. Would you really have set everything aside if Alaric had the answers to your questions that were acceptable?”
“Yes. Even now if it were possible I would go to Terra, rounding up every person that would face a death sentence under Clan Wolf rule and go so far, so deep in the Periphery with them that they would never have to fear such a fate. I would set aside facing the last of my demons, the power, the legacy. Because I believe in something different. Integrity. Rule of law. Compassion.”
“You ran your own game on Alaric at last night’s function.”
“Of a sort. The real truth of who and what I am and why I am able to engender the sort of support I do is something I simply cannot explain in a way that will make sense to a normal human being. It is true I do my best to be as loyal to the people who follow me as they are to me but also a lot of it simply comes down to the fact I’ve lived nearly four hundred years. That’s a lot of perspective that no one has the life experiences to understand.”
Petra shifted restlessly, and mumbled something.
"What was that?" Mai asked.
"I said, it's not just Helena. If his answers had been solid enough, Mom would've switched sides. Kolossus is worried and so's mom."
“We’re all worried Petra. I know more is coming, it is the cycle of history. Until humanity truly starts learning from it, it is doomed to repeat it. If it is the Homeworlders and they are already starting to poke around the Periphery and near Periphery we could be in a lot of trouble.”
"They're not really worried about Homeworlders, except as possibly they might burn with the rest." Petra countered, "Bigger threats, Kolossus thinks they're a certainty."
“That is a distinct possibility. Perhaps even a certainty. But I have to wonder if there is something else going on there…”
"Waaaitaminute…are you talking about aliens?" Mai scoffed.
"I'm not, Kolossus thinks they're out there." Petra said, "Erin thinks so too, but I gots nothing for proof they even could exist....Except a planet that exploded with more force than the entire output of the human race since the industrial revolution of the seventeenth century."
“It is hard to explain what was witnessed by Erin and Esme as anything else. But I do wonder if whatever caused that incident is intelligent, or even a threat. Either way it is something way beyond us as we stand now.” Helena nodded.
"How would Alaric's answer have related to that, though?" Mai asked.
"Because if it's out there, then it's possible for us-and getting to that level might be the only way we survive…according to them." Petra explained, "I'm not so sure that's even rooted in possibility, we don't know enough, but if it WERE possible, then the logical course would be to encourage whoever can get there first, to actually get there before we're all noticed, because one thing Big K has found, in studying alternate biochem and monitoring non-terrestrials, is that only predatory species have the pressures to evolve intelligence. Humans are predators, if they're like us, or ever were..."
“Also consider that currently humanity only takes up a small percent of the Milky Way. We have encountered non-sapient alien life on a number of worlds. Can we really expect that trend to hold true?” Helena added.
"But everything we've found in reality so far, is non-sapient…which bucks the trends." Petra noted, "that trend bucking has Kolossus concerned-based on chemistry and environment, the Inner Sphere alone should have hundreds, maybe thousands of non-human sapients, but there's only Humans, and human-made AI."
“In the end my ambitions, well humanity’s survival is one of them. The most important one really. Everything else is vanity in comparison and I’d gladly set the rest aside for that goal.” Helena nodded.
"And Alaric's answers…" Mai speculated.
"He can't grasp the problem, and he's not the guy to oversee solving it." Petra commented, "He's too vain, too focused on what HE wants."
“And while I do have some vanity, it doesn’t rule me. I can act against it.”
"Hence, best option." Petra noted, "which is nice, because you're already a friend."
“And family. But really I’m not perfect and I know my soul will have a lot to answer for. Yet I also have the name recognition.” Helena chuckled.
Petra checked a chronometer, "Mom's late. Did she pick up a guy last night at the party?"
“Not that I noticed.” Helena admitted.
Petra dusted her dress, "then I need to find out if she's having…difficulties."
“Alice, you know where she went?”
“She made me promise not to say anything.” Alice’s voice came from the embassy’s comm panel.
Petra scowled, "If you know, then go get her!"
“That would be a reasonable compromise.” Alice answered.
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===Managing the Admiral===
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Alice found Rear Admiral Roberts, and contrary to what she assumed was a popular idea, the Admiral was not sleeping off a dead drunk, nor engaging in harmful behaviors.
She was sitting in her underwear, having difficulty choosing what to wear.
“You know I’d be glad to help you pick out your outfit. And I’m not sure why you’re making me keep it a secret that you’re just running late.” Alice’s voice came from the comm panel.
"When I swore you to that secret, I had something completely different in mind." Amanda said tiredly. 
Alice's sensors picked up on the physiological signs. "You're in a depressive state." she concluded, matching the indicators to data sent by Truk for just this purpose.
"I guess I am. I forgot my pills back home…" Amanda admitted.
“That’s not good. Discontinuation syndrome can be a bitch from what I understand. Is it too late to get an emergency order?” Alice asked
"Don't tell Petra, okay?" Amanda sighed. "I just want to sleep…"
Alice shot an order through her commlink, and a heads-up to Helena. <She forgot her prescriptions back at Lazarus. Her manic state has dropped into a depressive.>
<Bloody hell. Okay we’ll have to rope in a professional to sort that out. I am not familiar enough with the intricacies of antidepressants and which ones Amanda are on to know how to solve that problem. 'But I know how to solve the unsaid side of the problem.>
<You might ask Petra. I can't, I promised not to, but you can, you didn't make that promise>
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===Placing Calls===
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"Your mom. She's on a prescription." Helena Cameron's tone was inqisitory.
"Yeah, one of the lingering side effects of..what she did making us….oh crap, did she forget her pills?"
“Yes. I know enough that there are consequences for her doing so, for so long.”
"May I use the comm station and make a call, Your Majesty?" Petra asked, "On the emergency band?"
“Of course, Petra.”
Petra dashed away to the Embassy's call-center.
Elspeth barely dodged out of the way of Petra in time as she was coming out of the call-center.
“I was going to get a coffee, but it seems there’s an emergency situation. How can I help?” Elspeth asked.
At the center's relay control board, Petra didn't bother with normal access passwords, instead jumping straight to her own back-doors.
"Come on…come on…" she glanced at the timekeeping monitor. fifteen hundred local time there, so Vendetta should be in her office…
<<"What's up, Precision? Why are you calling me on an emergency number right before I have a class??">>
"Mom left her pills behind, I need her scrip." Petra said as Elspeth entered silently behind her.
<<"She WHAT?? ******, how bad?">>
"Not sure, I haven't' seen her, but the last time she took it was over a month ago, and she's late for a funeral."
<<"Allie or Famine?">>
"Allie. Can you just text-send it?"
<<"On the way, you should get the attachment…I've added 'emergency care' instructions, FOLLOW THEM.">>
"Will do…" Petra absently set the attachment to 'print' on the teletype. "Thanks, sis."
<<"When you get home, we're going to have another long talk about making sure Mom takes her damn pills, Petra!!">>
“Alison Stabler, we’ve got a situation that might require a Doctor. Talk to her Highness, we’ll probably have to borrow you for a bit to get the meds we need from the Lyrans.” Elspeth opened another comm channel.
Petra jumped in surprise, "Oh shit….you didn't-you did. Uh…this is..kinda…awkward, isn't it?" 
“This is about family. I get that. So I’ll keep quiet about all this as best I can.” Elspeth smiled.
"Thank you!!" Petra paused, "who's 'Allison'?"
“One of my friends and personal doctor to Helena Cameron.” Elspeth answered.
Petra checked, Vendetta had already closed the link on her end, leaving her to shut down the rest of the connections, which she did, before…"sorry about this, I was in a hurry and-"
"How did you do that?" Elspeth asked, "That's Royal Seal restricted access."
"I..wrote it?" Petra admitted, "I'll close off the backdoors…"
“Yeah, wouldn’t be good commo security if we didn’t close off vulnerabilities but you should also leave yourself some, just in case. Never know when they might come in handy again. It’s funny. You actually remind me a bit of myself at your age. I was a bit too smart for my own good too. And what is even funnier is my best friend’s younger sister is also too smart for her own good and has a whole pack of people around her that are all the same in their own way and they’re about your age.”
"I hope you had better hair." Petra cracked with a grin, "mine just, you look at it the wrong way and it's tangled!"
“Mine was stringy and frayed all the time. Took me a while to figure out how to care for it properly.”
“It’s so silky looking now… Makes me jealous.” Petra complained.
“Work. It takes work. Now I believe you were in a rush to tend to your mother. If you need someone to talk to that isn’t your mother or Helena Cameron I’ve got duty in this call center for the rest of the month for my surface time. After that I’m back to Billie Hoel. Now hop to.” Elspeth smiled.
“Right.” Petra grabbed the print out and scurried out of the call center.
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===Choices that need to be made===
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“There is one other matter I do need to discuss with you, Alice.” Helena said.
“You need to make me choose.” Alice told her.
“Yes. I would be glad to declare you neutral and not involved in my war if that is what you wish, but I’d also have to cut your funding completely.” Helena warned.
“This isn’t a fair choice.” Alice noted.
“I know. You’re still tied to your hull and that means you need lots of support. If you get it from me or Trillian that makes you a valid target of war for Alaric. But I will do the best thing I can for you if you decide to stay in my service. I would ask you to keep looking after my Lori. She’s a valid target of war too as my daughter. Do what you can to keep her safe.” Helena told her.
“Can I get a bigger allowance at least?” Alice asked
“It would be appropriate to bump you to Commodore with your expanding responsibilities, especially once Roderick and Lori get married.”
“Then for Lori. I’ll do it for her.” Alice commented.
“And all the extra shopping I just let you afford.” Helena laughed. “But seriously I do hope you will all eventually choose the Envoy style bodies for yourselves or we develop a synthetic body that does allow you all to be autonomous from your hulls. It seriously bothers me how much it feels like I’m forcing you all into a type of slavery by holding the purse strings like I do.”
“I know. It is what makes the situation tolerable. I don’t know if I’m quite ready to face the prospects of being like the Envoys, but maybe someday I will.”
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The funeral itself was pretty quiet as an affair, despite the presence of the Archon. The press were kept well away from things.
On the whole, dignified.
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===Invasion Plotting===
Command and Control Room
McKenna Class Battleship, SLS McKenna’s Pride
Enroute to Gienah
11th April, 3145
Khan Alaric Ward looked at the holo projections of his War Council.
“As anticipated little has changed. We now have a better measure of their high command and how they fight.”
“So we still strike Terra as planned?” Ramiel ‘Warbear’ Bekker asked.
“Aff. The Lyrans we can roll up with ease as they do not have the industry to pose a challenge. We know the Terran system. That is where we shall have our decisive battle.” Alaric nodded.
”I have concerns. What if they find our staging area? We need to leaves covering force for our troop transports.” Warbear commented.
“Aff, we should modify that slightly. Have our ships jump in 25 AU from the Nadir point. It is far enough away that unless the Republic has seeded their system with an improbable number of observation satellites they will go completely unnoticed. If somehow they are spotted they should have sufficient Isegrim and Fighter Escort to hold out long enough for our Warships to wheel about and catch whatever is attacking them in a pincer.”
”The system defense stations?” saKhan Garner Kerensky asked.
“We can bypass all but the ones around our priority targets. Titan and Earth. All other colonies, stations, and outposts in the system can be bypassed.”
”The enemy would be a fool to not attempt strikes at Bolan and Dieron to cripple our fleet production. We should keep Warships in those systems to ensure the enemy does not have free reign on them.” Sukhanov stated.
“Bolan is far too distant a target for Lady Cameron to strike at, especially without alienating the local populace that joined us willingly without coercion or conquest. It is safe. Dieron will have served its purpose if we can capture Titan intact. I intend to ‘go all in’ as the lower castes say.”
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