BeyHop Chpt 76

==Beyond Hope- Chapter 76 - Matches and Books==
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"...a fool with a pack of matches can destroy in minutes what it took a thousand geniuses a thousand years to create…"-inscription on the Library door, Star League University Kowloon, Nha Tranh
===Stuck out of Space & Time===
MS Hot Rod, somewhere that is nowhere…'February, 3066
"Time's arrow is unidirectional. It only goes in one direction." Dr Arthur Steiner-Davion muttered, "after all, it only goes one way…but it proceeds at a variable speed."
The existence of higher energy curvatures in Hyperspace suggested there were lower ranges as well…but his hope…
After relative years of work, Arthur had to admit it.
There really is no way to turn back time.
No pathway, that would get her back.
"Dad, have you figured out how to get free of it this time?" Simon asked. Outside, in the colorless chaos, were other ships, drifting like ghosts in this hyperspace sargasso.
"Where's your sister?"
"She's taking a rest, Dad." Simon had his father's features. "The EVA to the Morrinson took a lot out of her, the supplies on board were good, and we've added a few survivors to the crew, we can get them out, we just can't get them back to the 25th Century."
"No, we can't." Arthur confessed. "How many?"
"Eighteen crew off that ship. No injuries, Nikki's briefing them now." Simon confronted his father, "Can we get out of this?"
"Yes…I guess it's time to come out into…into reality. I had a dream, and it was false." Arthur answered. "I've lost years of your life, and your sister's life, I'm sorry, Simon."
"We had them here, as a family, I don't know if I regret that or not." Simon told him, "Let's go home, if there's even a home to go back to."
“I still stole so much from so many people now, their lives, their right to choose.” Arthur shook his head.
"Then, make it up to them." Nikki came onto the command deck, "Hannah was right, wasn't she? Time only goes one way?"
"Yes." Arthur admitted.
"So did it go faster, or slower in the real world?"
"I don't know. How's Hannah?"
"Sleeping." Nikki said, "Exhausted. The isolation suits helped, but she's very tired right now, and still angry with you over…"
“Ten Years lost.” Arthur said, "Yes, I imagine she's very angry about that."
"She'll forgive you, but we need to get free of this sargasso. We don't want to end up like the Philadelphia."
"No, we really don't. Get to your station, Captain, we're going home."
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===Unexpected Visitor===
Kowloon system, March 20th, 3067
The Emergence wave triggered the alert systems, because it had to. What came through, looked like someone had strapped a Connestoga to the back of a Dropship using cables and rigging tape, then tack-welded the habitation pod of a Merchant to it, haphazardly.
As it slid into reality, pieces broke off and vanished.
Transponder identities were matched, and Patrol 4 reported to SLN Control at Spider Moon.
Shortly after, boarding teams were sent over.
Shortly after that, The First Lord was informed.
Arthur Steiner-Davion was back.
There were a lot of people waiting to talk to him.
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===Handling a Long Lost Sibling===
Helena Cameron’s office, Spider Moon
"It didn't work." Arthur said, "No amount of wishful thinking or scientific experiments could have made it work, Helena. I was…I was mad with grief. I'm sorry."
“I know Arthur. I loved her too. She was like a sister to me. So I get it. I wish I had better news about what was happening here while you were away. I imagine Yvonne and Victor are going to have some long talks with you too.”
"Captain Hoffstien explained things. The whole of the Inner Sphere exploded into a directionless war. And we've only missed one year of it here in objective time."
“I think I have a plan. But you have a lot on your plate. Peter… You should make time for your brother too.”
"I will, he was recovered?"
“Yes. But he was hurt pretty bad, and we still haven't managed to retake Tharkad entirely, the mission to get him out went…not as well as expected."
He closed his eyes as the weight of it bore down on him. "My monumental hubris, my mistakes…"
“Arthur, if you ever need to talk. I’ll keep that spot on my calendar for you or your kids. I hope this time you’ll use it.”
"The realm is at war." Arthur said quietly. "I need to get back to work…Have you spoken with Hannah and Simon yet?"
“Yes it is.” Helena paused for a moment before continuing. “Not yet. But I’d like to.”
"They are…not children anymore." he told her. 
“I know. I still want to give them hugs.”
"I stole the childhood of my children, Helena." he said, "What can possibly make up for that?"
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===Secret that can't be openly shared===
Spider Moon Base canteen
She looked like Elizabeth. Jane could see the Steiner-Davion portion in how tall she was, her hair color, but she looked so much like Elizabeth it was uncanny.
"May I join you?"
The young woman was a stranger, "Hello Auntie Jane. I guess in a year it's too little time to really finish the update, huh?" Hannah answered. "We left, we were in that Sargasso for ten years, most of the other ships were ancient, the universe here in the objective running past them at high speed, and We only came out a year later."
"What happened?"
"That, is an insanely long story. It started with Dad losing his goddam mind. He thought if Helena can misjump centuries into the future, why can't we go back into the past?. It ended when we worked out why...and then spent two years fighting Dad's denial." Her order arrived and she dug into it like a starving animal.
"You're still angry at him?"
"Yeah…He's my father and I love him and I'm so angry at him I could…I don't know…something. As we were growing up out there, I tried to be involved. I wanted Mom back too, so I worked hard and I studied and dug into the maths and the experiments over and over again until I figured out what we were trying to do was literally impossible. There's a reason time-travel only goes forward. You can mess with how fast it goes forward, but it only goes in one direction, even in Hyperspace."
She put her fork down, "The done bun, Auntie Jane, can't be un-done. We really can't put the mushroom cloud back in the steel casing. Time, is unidirectional, but you can adjust the speed if you know how…want the really scary part?"
"What?"
"Your transit? It wasn't instant. You were moving through space-time at a rate that trapped you there for 270 years in stasis…and you're not the only one who suffered that happening."
“A secret I haven’t shared even with Helena. I think I experienced it. There’s a whole block of my memory closed off behind the most sophisticated firewall I have ever seen and it has my coding hallmarks all over it. There’s something in there I can’t even let myself know what it was.”
Hannah inclined her head, "Boredom. Maybe even a touch of insanity." she said, "See, there's nothing to see there, imagine sensory deprivation that lasts for years."
“Possibly. Or worse. Because I’m not human, I experienced it all. Things Humans are not able to perceive.”
Hannah nodded, and took a sip of her drink. "Probably can't perceive." she agreed, "At least, without the right instruments. Dad had some insights while we were trapped in the sargasso. We worked out a few things."
“I look forward to reading your first publication on it.”
"I could do that…or I could show you what we recorded." Hannah suggested. "Unlike Dad, I didn't erase anything when we came out."
“That would work too.”
"Catch up with me after I meet with Aunt Helena." Hannah promised, then looked at her wrist, and up, "huh…why did I expect a chronometer there?" half to herself. "No matter, it's fifteen hundred yeah?"
“A habit. Plus you’re getting used to reality again. And yes.”
"It's good to eat real food again.' Hannah stood up, clearing her plate and cup, bussing the table herself. "I missed that quite a lot too, especially after the second year."
“Hydroponics. Helena actually quite hates tofu but it was a major source of protein for a while.”
"We had those, but you can't make Tofu taste like meat, not really, and the less said about recycled sludge the better."
“Hug.” Jane demanded.
Hannah gave her a hug. "It's good to see you again, for a while I wondered if I ever would."
“It’s not easy being out of time. It might be harder for you than it was for us because you’ll have people who remember who you used to be.”
"Johnny." Hannah nodded. 
“He’ll be really disappointed, but he’ll get over it. Eventually.”
"He'll grow up eventually too." Hannah said, "He'll grow up, and grow out of it and that, as they say, will be that." she kept her body language closed, "There were other people there, we brought some of them across-back across, back to this reality."
“They’re my next stop. I know I’ll be able to help them.”
"Be kind to Gordon, if you will." Hannah suggested, "He's like you and Helena, a man truly out of time."
“I will.”
That much time in such a trying environment, at that age. I wonder…
Hannah gave Jane a kiss on the cheek, and headed for the First Lord's offices.
----
===Introduction to a strange young lady===
Simon sat with a girl. This was something unexpected, when Jane caught up with him down in refugee processing.
Natives from the right part of this time, would compare Simon Steiner-Davion to his grandfather, both in appearance, and…how he held himself. He was taller than The Fox, but the Davion side was strong in his body language.
"Simon?"
"Hey Auntie Jane!! This is Cheryl." he seemed to think that was significant.
“Hello Cheryl.”
Hmmm… Him too? Wouldn’t be surprising.
"You weren't kidding, Simon, fantastic work!! Almost could mistake her for being human!" the girl's accent was…off, like a historical vid from the 22nd century's west coastal region of North America. The girl's jumpsuit was a size too big, and had a flag on the shoulder-fifty stars on a blue field, thirteen alternating red and white stripes.
“That was the idea.” Jane smiled.
"Fan-******-tastic, Mom would be impressed! Tell me, did they base the work off of the Ulpsom Robotics prototype designs, or did they clean sheet it?"
“Yes. Both in a way.”
"Well, obviously…I mean, seven hundred years...I would've thought…I mean, when we left for New Dallas Colony they were just debuting at the International Electronics show…"
Jane smiled, but kept her face otherwise neutral.
"Simon, how much did you tell…Cheryl?" Jane asked.
He looked like a deer in the headlights.
"That much?" She looked to the girl, and it registered. Gates-Timmons and the mission patch for Pathfinder 18, the first Colony ship lost during Exodus.
"No, it's fantastic! Mom worked on the N-1 artificial intelligence project, she used to say she was making a better person!!" Cheryl's expression was guileless. "She'd have been totally Stoked to see someone like you!!"
“A fan eh? Well Simon you better ask this girl out. Show her a proper good time. Got it?” Jane smiled.
"We've been…personal for a few years, Jane." Simon said, "Cheryl's never been to a planet, not since she was born anyway."
“And those years were on your adhoc ship. Now you can take her to a proper restaurant.”
"Ah…" 
"I can speak for myself, Simon Steiner-Davion." Cheryl spoke up, "I was born in Los Angeles, about three years before Mom and Dad got us tickets for the New Dallas Colony, it was a big move and a job and I only have some vague impressions. I grew up in…well, Hyperspace, this lug? He was the first outsider I'd ever met. Mom's cryo malfunctioned or she'd be here. It was how we stretched out the supplies-a caretaker crew rotating while we tried to work out how to get free of what was holding us there-chronometers kinda didn't work…clocks were funny, but we managed to survive for a long time before we got found, Simon and I have been together for two years our time."
“All the more reason he should show you a nice time, one where something other than tofu is on the menu.”
Cheryl laughed, "WE had RATS too!" she giggled, "Rat stew and tofu, I'm looking forward to finding out what a Hamburger tastes like in the 31st century!"
“You heard her, Simon.” Jane giggled.
"We still have to get through decontamination interviews." Simon said, adding, "And shots. Because there are diseases that existed back then that don't exist now, and diseases existing now that she never had the chance to be inoculated for."
“Red tape. All right." Jane paused, "Does Hannah have…anyone?"
"Good Girl?" Cheryl shook her head, "No, she's solo, no pairbond, no boyfriend, no girlfriend, she worked on getting us synched up and then she worked with her Dad on getting everyone out of the trap. I doubt she even thinks about dating."
“A girl that age? She’s had thoughts, but she’s like her mother that way it seems.”
"She's a Vulcan." Cheryl contributed, "I mean, seriously, I don't know what would make her crack-a laugh or a smile. Pure Logic, just like in the recorded movies."
“Sounds a little like another person I know too, before she started facing her traumas.”
----
===Whom becomes the Heir-Apparent===
Office of the Star Lord
"Hello Aunt Helena." Hannah Ngo-Steiner-Davion was…formal. She was still wearing a loose overgarment over a skinsuit. "You're looking good."
“Hannah. You’re so big now.”
"Funny, you shrank." the girl almost smiled, "We came home…with some guests."
“I heard. That must have been terrible.”
"They're Americans." Hannah emphasized. "Simon's hooked up with the youngest one in that crew, so…"
“Small bits of happiness. It took me a long time before I could truly accept those.”
Hannah stepped forward and gave Helena a hug. "I have a job to do, unless you declared us dead, Aunty." she said, "So I need to know-how ****** are we?"
“I understand. Take your time. Let me worry about the war. I’ll be here when you’re ready to talk.”
"Talk? About what? Mom died, we all lost it, dad lost it harder than the rest of us, and I was too young to realize we weren't just 'going on an adventure in 'SCIENCE'!! Until I was hitting puberty and the only people I knew off the ship, were recordings." Hannah sat down, "we caught a mass-shadow nearby and Dad wanted to see it, so we worked on it until we could see the ship that was trapped with us, and then we saw others that were too far away. I was fifteen when we synched with the TAS Colorado. Most of the crew were dead in cryotubes, we had to invent technology just to see, and invent some way to get the survivors off the wreck."
“That. Your pain. It does feel better when it is in the open. I know.” Helena took one of Hannah’s hands in hers.
"It took me two years after that to convince dad to give up." Hannah told her, "To prove to him, that we couldn't go back in time…but we're home now, and you need to decide if the Duke is Simon, or me, because that's…the job."
“Yes you are. Do you want the job?”
"Want it? What does that have to do with anything? Someone has to do it." Hannah shrugged.
“It matters to me. I know a little something about being forced into a job that I never wanted but I knew must be done.”
"I studied for it, at least some." Hannah said, "Mom's books, on digital, while Simon was…making friends. I'm not sure which of us can do it, but it's a position that has to be filled, I recognize that much."
“Well we are in uncharted territory. In our reference frame your id says you’re only seven.”
Hannah's laugh was empty "Legally, I'm seven years old, Auntie. Physically I'm seventeen, I've lived ten years in an alien environment and the job still has to be done."
“So either way you’ve got a year. So does, Simon.”
"Then I'll give you my suggestion." Hannah said, "Tap Simon for the job and make him take the studies. He's good with people, which I…I'm not-a leader has to inspire loyalty. I'm not…that. His girlfriend thinks maybe I'm damaged because I revert to thinking instead of reacting, but it kept us all alive."
“Hannah I don’t know how much of my past your mother shared with you. But I think you’ll find this most helpful. I got it from your mom’s study after you all disappeared.” Helena produced and handed over her diary. “I gave that to your mother as a wedding present. I think it really should have gone to you much sooner. But I guess fate decided now was the right time.”
"Thank you Auntie…how long are we in quarantine here for? I want to see Kowloon again."
“Majery wants two weeks to be certain.”
“******.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got plenty to keep you occupied so you don’t go too stir crazy.”
"That goes back to asking 'how ****** are we'?" Hannah asked, "because you're HERE instead of down there."
“On a scale of one to ten? I’d say we’re at a six. I have a plan. They screwed theirs up.”
Hannah sat back. "Six…so it's true, Uncle Peter was hurt bad on Tharkad, and Uncle Victor…the rumours he went missing in the Fedsuns state?"
“Yes. I’m confident that your Uncle Victor will turn up soon.”
"Is Aunt Katherine handling it okay?"
“She’s handling it superbly. Yvonne is safe too.”
"I only met Aunt Yvonne a few times that I can remember, always on New Avalon." she shrugged, "but Aunt Kate was frequent enough I actually remember her face."
“I’m pretty sure we can get Kate a letter from you if you want to write her.”
"Who's holding the Gateway network?" 
“Right now we’ve got control of Herbania, Kenilworth, Devil’s Breath, and Menlon for sure. The rest are contested.”
"I can help you contest the rest." Hannah said, "I learned a lot about Hyperspace, more than Dad did even, it's why I knew there wasn't a 'return' to the past, you can change the sync, but you can't go backwards."
“You ready for the greatest challenge of your life?”
"Nobody's ready, that's what makes it a challenge." Hannah said, "but I can help."
“Good enough for me. Then by order of the First Lord, as soon as you clear quarantine protocol you are hereby drafted into the Star League Special Projects Division. This also comes with a Naval Commission and the requisite training.”
"Ayeh, ma'am." Hannah said. "I've got data for right now, who do I give it to?"
“Jane has purview.”
"Well, that's going to be easier than printing it at least. My question is, how hard do you want to go, Madame First Lord, because I think I can shut down any star system you want, lock them out, even."
“I’m of a mind to send a clear and distinct message for the next ten generations that ****** like what we’ve seen is not a good idea because someone else can always ****** back harder.”
"Okay. I'll need a workshop." Hannah noted, "which doesn't violate my quarantine, since it can be here or wherever, and it has to be isolated from civilians anyway."
"You're a little bit eager, aren't you?"
"They murdered my mom and drove my dad crazy." Hannah said, "so I might be a little eager, or I might just want to make it stop." she paused, 'Without blowing up a planet or killing billions of innocent people."
“I’m still working on that last part myself.” Helena admitted. “But I keep myself from doing just that because I made some promises. One of them Elbar. Another Black August. I have to win this without genocide.”
"Then first, we secure the gateways, and I get to show off." Hannah mentioned, "I think the sensors I developed for Hyperspace may work across the boundary."
“While you’re stuck on quarantine make a list of anything you think you’ll need and I’ll give you full access to University records so you can recruit some grad students to your staff.”
Hannah pulled out a modified PADD, and did something, then, "here. These sensors are on the Hot Rod, I can't claim all of it, some of the Americans did the foundational work before they died of old age. Have the yard guys pull these assemblies, and pair them up with power supplies in the listed range. It should give a better early warning than listening for emergence waves."
“Thank you Hannah. I’ll get the order signed ASAP.”
"Helena, do we still have exotic matter production?"
“Yes.”
"I'll need roughly a thousand kilos of Dark Matter for the next trick. You should be able to make that much if the Herbania facility's going."
“It is, you’ll have it.”
"Have the crew use these settings." Hannah added, "and before they start, they'll need to make a gravitic bottle to hold it, that's in the files too."
Helena was writing out the order. “Anything else before I sign it?”
"And tell them to contain the antimatter in magnetic fields for now, we'll transfer to the containment once we've formed the supermolecule that will act as the reaction housing. WE cracked antimatter as a power source, Helena, it doesn't last very long, but it's controllable while it lasts."
“Then I have another science project for you to take a look at. We pulled this out of the wreckage of a Blakist Thera. It’s based on the Blue Shield systems, more inline with the grid on Solaris 7. They made it portable and installable on a Warship.”
Hannah pursed her lips, "mmmh…funny how that works out. Send me the mechanical specs, I'll tell you how their theory worked out, and what the holes in it are."
“Well we know if someone pounds on it hard enough, long enough it will eventually give out.”
"Not the kind of hole I'm talking about-I mean, there's always a means to bypass. I'll have a look and see if there's a hole we can exploit in it, beyond 'dump enough energy onto it and it breaks'."
“You’ll have the specs and what we’re pretty sure is the final emitter stage for a section of the field.”
“If I could get to work then?”
“One last piece of advice. I know it isn’t now, or likely to be soon, but you deserve to allow yourself good things in life. So try and not shut yourself off from living your life okay? I did that for a long time so I know you’ll need some yourself but you don’t have to stay that way if you don’t want to and I recommend not staying that way. I’ve reserved a spot in my day so that if you want to talk about anything, you can with me. Dismissed.”
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===Spitting Image===
Quarantine area, Spider Moon Base
"Alright, Rumor Control!!" Hannah strode in, "Rumor control, folks, I know how long we're going to be here."
The crews moved to a circle.
"Medical says Two weeks, I've confirmed that with Her Majesty the First Lord, in person, so in two weeks, we can see about passes and visa's to the planet!"
There were some cheers. Hannah waited, and held her hands in a 'quieting' gesture. "For the meantime, meals will be one hundred percent non-recycled food, including chicken and red meat!"
That got many more cheers.
"What about our legal status?"
Hannah paused, "Right now, that is still in limbo, Geri, but Her Majesty expressed little to no concern about Simon and your sister dating, which bodes well for confirming their pairbonding…their marriage. As most of you understand, there's no United States Embassy because there's no more United States-it's been seven hundred years guys, there's also no more United Kingdom, sorry Marcus, the land is still on Terra, and maybe your descendants, but it doesn't exist anymore, and neither does the European Union."
"Figured that, hey." Marcus groused, "Not that I know a damned thing about the place my grandparents left anyhow."
This got some laughs.
"When I get a better chance, I'll see about those issues, for now, you're more than likely going to get offers to immigrate here, in the Kowloon system, or maybe from ethnic groups settled elswhere in the Inner Sphere. Either way, you've got to be patient, we'll be getting integration classes so you can avoid movie mistakes, alright?"
Not a leader my ass. Jane mused as she watched through the surveillance pickups.
"Meantime, Engineers, we're going to have some assignments from Her Majesty's government, there's a bit of a war on, one of the jobs we've got, is reverse engineering a force-field system, now it looks a lot like the shielding systems we worked out for the inter-ship rescues, but there are some major differences, as soon as I'm holding the data they've gotten on it, I'll be distributing it out to the field engineers for analysis…"
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Evelynn watched the recording. "Are you sure they didn't just Clone Lizzie and give her a dye job. Helena?"
“It’s Hannah. I know, she looks so much like her mother.”
"She tested clean for the Syndrome at least." Majery commented.
“Good. I have plans for my niece.” Helena nodded.
"Why isn't Simon more proactive?" Jakob observed.
“He’s got other priorities.” Helena observed. “I rather expect to be a great aunt here in the not too distant future.”
“We’ll need to get the whole citizenship thing settled then.” Jakob added.
“Yeah. Best Idea I have is their choice of immigration forms. I’ve talked with Colonel Vogelman over in JAG and there is precedent via stateless spacers and Succession Wars for people without a home nation.”
“You also want to recruit them don’t you?” Evelynn picked up on the JAG mention.
“I do. Blakists wouldn’t have the typical leverages with these people. So I know I can put them to work on a fair number of things without having to worry about Blakist infiltration. I’ll respect their choice if they don’t want to but I suspect a lot of them will.”
“For the simple fact of what else are they going to do being even farther out of time than we are?” Jakob nodded.
“I suppose they will need to earn income somehow.” Evelynn shook her head.
----
===Worries about the Children===
Cameron-Bu Dao residenceKowloon System, Federated Commonwealth (Lyran State)March 22nd, 3067
Today was Sophie’s eighteenth birthday.
While everyone else was busy with work, school, or getting ready for later to celebrate, the postman delivered her first present.
As she was standing there slightly in shock she automatically signed acknowledgement of receipt and closed the door.
She was still sitting on the couch in stunned silence when Jocasta came home from school.
“Whatcha doing Sophie?” She asked innocently.
“I’ve been drafted.” Sophie answered.
“I thought you wanted to go into the service.”
“I did, after college. So I could go straight into the Investigations department. But now…”
“You could always talk to Moms. Either could probably sort this out. Or even Auntie Helena.” Jocasta offered in her innocent tone.
“No. I’ll make do but I’m going to be asking something a bit unusual from all of you for my birthday celebration tonight.”
“Oh?”
“There is something special I want from Dean but to get it from him I’ll need to be alone with him.”
“Can I help?”
“Yeah. I think you can.” Sophie nodded.
----
The cryptic message he’d received from Jocasta had him worried about Sophie.
Instead of going home after his shift she had directed him to a hotel. Spider Moon had a few to support base dependents and other transients as well as a few settlements that had grown up.
He knocked on the door of a room of one such hotel.
Sophie answered the door in a robe.
“Get in here quick.” Sophie grabbed him by his shirtfront and pulled him in.
“Sophie, what’s going on? Jocasta’s message said something about you needing a favor.” Sophie closed the door behind them.
“There’s something special I want from you for my birthday Dean.” Sophie dropped her robes, the outfit she was wearing under them left no doubt about what kind of gift she was asking from Dean.
“Sophie… I’m…” Dean sputtered.
“I love you Dean Cartwright. I’ve been drafted and I sure as hell am not going into the service a virgin. Do the math.” Sophie said as she passionately kissed Dean on the mouth.
As another part of his anatomy took over the decision making process her behavior over the years suddenly started to make a lot more sense.
“No half measures if we’re doing this. After this we’re finding a magistrate.”
“Deal.” Sophie helped Dean out of his shirt.
----
Jane looked at her wayward children with a stern expression on her face. By the time she tracked them down and got them home the papers had been signed and filled.
Sophie squirmed as Dean fidgeted.
“I was wondering when you two would finally do something like this. I’m only disappointed that you thought you’d have to sneak around like this.” Jane smiled.
“To be fair to Sophie, Dean was pretty oblivious. Though that naughty little number we caught you wearing Sophie? Yeah I doubt there are many guys who could be that oblivious.” Bianh giggled.
“So we’re not in trouble?” Sophie straightened up.
“As long as you didn’t do anything stupid like make us Grandmothers to get out of the draft.” Bianh shook her head.
“After I get into Investigations like I wanted. Once I’m in a good place there. That’s when we’ll start trying.” Sophie nodded.
“Anything before then is a birth control failure. We promise.” Dean agreed.
“You two seem to have talked a fair bit about this in the few hours you two were together.” Jane hugged Dean, then Sophie.
“We did. If we’re not in trouble, well we’d like to go house hunting before Sophie has to deploy. Someplace near the base but not too far from the rest of you either.” Dean said sheepishly.
“My little brother finally got all the hints Sophie has been dropping for years. Dang.” Sam shook his head.
“Sorry.” Dean said reflexively.
“Yes you are for not recognizing a good thing was right in front of you sooner.” Sam nodded. “But that’s not what you meant. Don’t worry. I’ll eventually get my own girlfriend. Hell I’m thinking of asking Hannah out once she clears quarantine.”
“Bold.” Dean chuckled.
“She’ll fall for the Cartwright charm, you’ll see.” Sam laughed.
Lenore laughed for both her and Phoebe, well Phoebe tried in her own way too but couldn’t.
Jocasta being young and impressionable took it to mean she should be laughing too.
-----
===Keeping a Promise===
"Dean Cartwright, I'm insulted." Hannah glared harshly, "You didn't invite me to your wedding!" Then she lost the scowl, and smiled, "Congratulations to you and Sophie."
"I thought you were stuck in quarantine…"
"I tested clean and had my shots updated. I still have better than fifty people who have nobody else to advocate for them, and they're still stuck in until the end of the month, so I'm not going anywhere just yet."
“Sorry, Hannah. We kind of got swept up in things.”
Hannah glanced at Sophie, "Has he always been this oblivious and I just didn't see it?"
“I’ll have to show you what I wore to bludgeon him over the head with.” Sophie giggled.
"Fair? Fair. You should check with Simon and Cheryl sometime." Hannah suggested, "they had to sneak around, and you can imagine how hard that is when the total land area is the contents of a Connestoga colony ship full of corpsicles, or the interior of the Hot Rod."
Hannah reached into her coverall pocket, and said, "Dean? Hand!" She placed a small carved stone. "Wedding gift. I didn't have time to shop."
Dean looked at the stone. “Thanks.”
"You'll need to figure out where it goes with the rest of them, didn't have time to carve them…" she drew out a sheet of flimsy with signatures, and gave it to Sophie. "So you'll need to pick a spot. I'm told the view from that part of the table-land is spectacular."
“I’ll trust your recommendations. We only have a couple days to get everything done before I have to report.”
"Well, consider it an investment property then, maybe you can lease it out for extra income."
“We appreciate it Hannah. And sorry about my brother. He means well.”
"Sam…" she shook her head and laughed, "Sammy's needed to be shot down for years, I think. I let him down easy, there weren't even tears. Just kind of a gasping and eye-goggling. He recovered soon enough from the punch."
“Sounds about right. He’ll eventually mature and find a woman but not anytime soon.” Dean nodded.
"He'd be cute if I just met him. 'Cousin sam' hitting on me was…not good. I explained. We're friends now."
“Yeah. Tried to warn him.”
"What did you explain?" Sophie asked, "I mean…how? You punched him, we know that…"
"I explained that I wasn't interested at this time, I've got actual work to do." Hannah clarified, "And I can't afford the time to be snogging with a boy who's been a cousin for most of my life, I mean, my god, we're not Mariks!"
“Ooph. That definitely must of stung. Seeing how as none of us actually have any blood relation to each other.”
"He'll be okay." Hannah said. "Now…I have been 'way from home for relative time, a long time, all my civilian clothes don't fit anymore, and I think I'm over the Stanley and Friends bedsheets. Who wants to take me shopping?"
“Oh yes. I do. I most definitely do.” Sophie giggled.
“And I think that’s my cue to exit stage left. I got things to do if we’re going to get moved into the new place before Sophie has to report.” Dean nodded.
“One last item though. Something Aunt Helena did for me. I’m drafting you Dean Cartwright. I need a good engineer for my Special Projects unit.”
"What about my job?" Dean asked, "I worked hard to get a good rep there…"
"I'll clear it with Silvermann." Hannah promised, "Then, I'll show you what we're working on."
“I guess there is a war on… Okay Hannah. I’ll meet up with you later to go over all this.”
"I'll send a page with the location." Hannah promised, "come on, Sophie, it may be 3067 here in the real world, but I spent ten years in the flow, you can tell me all about what I've missed."
“Hehe. This is going to be fun. First we hit the High Street shop, then Lietmann’s, and finish with dinner at The Trellis.”
----
===Protective Brother===
"Sammy, Dude, not Cool." Simon clarified, "Hitting on my sister? Vato, there are easier ways to get hospitalized."
"She didn't put me in the hospital." Sam Cartwright almost argued.
"She could have, and besides, last time you saw her, she was about…" he held his hand low, "This tall."
“Now she isn’t.”
"Ayeh. She's not anymore, and neither am I." Simon said with implied meaning. 
“I’m sorry. Okay? I was jealous of Dean and in my defense we’re not actually related.”
"Forgiven." Simon clapped the younger Cartwright brother on the shoulder, "Let's go grab a bite at the Canteen, then I'll take you back through quarantine and you can meet my wife."
“You too? Seems like I’m being left in the dust.”
"Dude, it was a year for you, for me, it was ten, and four of those with Cheryl, the last two as almost-married, we…have a ceremony scheduled for out-of-quarantine, but none of the paper's been finalized."
“There’s that. Must have been a really weird relationship. But you two look good together.”
"You are too kind. Fact is, I expect much flak from Aunt Kate, maybe Uncle Peter when he's out of the wheelchair, and Uncle Victor, since it means I'm not available for a political marriage."
“My dude. You’ve got a lot of people who will make it clear that you’re happy and that’s what matters.”
Simon held up a finger, "Noble Family." he said, "Feudal ties. I just screwed any marriage connections with political importance…now, put that in context with your…discussion with my sister."
Sam thought about it. Then, his eyes went wide.
"You don't mean-"
"I mean my little sister, unlike me, actually cares about that shit." Simon told him, "She's holding out for something that will give dividends. It's ****** weird. I am not okay with her logic on that."
“And I’m just an adopted nobody.”
"Yeah, but guess what? You're friends with me, so we're going to get a bite, hang out, and you're going to attend my wedding, where, god willing, you'll have a good time as a groomsman and meet some frisky who thinks you're hotter than the second sun. Whereupon you get to be Happy in a relationship that isn't based on spreadsheets and political calculus. Ever since we realized Dad had a breakdown, Hannah thinks it's her job to fix everything."
"How…how's your dad?"
"Recovering." Simon stated, "Helena's given him some make-work to keep him busy, and he's seeing a psychiatrist to help pull him back together."
“Good. Let’s forget all that for tonight and get to that food and fun.”
----
Hannah's written report style was crisp, like something done up by a full military staff then given to an editor who didn't like exaggeration or stylism.
Or like something written by a particularly unfeeling artificial intelligence.
Meshed with the recorded logs from the ship, it made for an enlightening, if disturbing, read.
"Your influence, Nicole?" Helena finally looked up. "Her writing style, I mean?"
"I…had to give her much of the regular schooling she couldn't get." Nicole Minh temporized, "Hannah's clarity is her own."
"Lost forty three people off the colony ship due to accidents."
"It's detailed in the writing, most of those were during the phase we were fitting the gravity polarizers from the Hot Rod to it, some were when we had to cannibalize the Gloria and the rest were tying things together."
"She's detailed." Helena observed. "How much did she witness?"
"Nearly all of it. Her great-Grandmother's heritage showed through during much of that time, proper belta."
“She’s handling it better than I would have.” Helena sighed.
"Yes, mum." Nicole waited.
“I still don’t know how I’m going to explain all of this to Jonathan.”
"I imagine you'll have to wait for him to be older, Mum." Nicole said, "I would have a hard time explaining it…am having a hard time explaining it, and I lived through it."
“I guess I need to decide what to do with you. With what you’ve been through I wouldn’t blame you for putting in your papers.”
"Mum, do you forget where I came from? I experienced ten years, but objective time it's been one. I still have several years left on my Enlistment contract, I signed that, it's a promise, and it isn't fulfilled yet."
“If that’s what you want. I’ll back it.”
"My shares haven't vested yet." Nicole stated, "I'm at least going to see some returns before I hang it up, retirement at my age? Pshaw-no…but I'd appreciate, maybe, some points to my record for promotion, and a deck?"
“Sure, Nikki. I’ll figure out how to work that. Meanwhile, ****** I don’t know what to make you do. Everything seems so wrong despite how well intentioned it is for me to have you take some time before you get back in the thick of things. To tend to yourself. But maybe the right answer is work. Hell if I know for sure.”
"There is a war on." Nikki said, "I noticed there's also a cruiser sized core being assembled."
“If you want it it’s yours.”
"Right then, now we know what to do with me, see how easy that is?" Nicole teased, "How is Johnny?"
“He’s scared. He doesn’t understand why we’re still on Spider Moon. He misses his piano teacher. His Aunt and Cousins.”
"Then, for today, we should do something about that." Nicole suggested, "You've got a staff, Helena, let them work and let's spend some time with family."
“Yeah. A small leave for both of us is in order. Then back to the fire.” Helena nodded.
-----
===Time to think out of the box===
Somewhere near Muphrid, Federated Commonwealth - 3067
"That, is a Farragut.' Rear Admiral Anh Lee Cu'ong stated. "And they've seen us."
“Rabbit or tortoise?” Her Helm officer asked.
"RTO, forward our sensor imagery, the enemy's found another cache of Star League relics. One Farragut, two Sovetski Soyuz, a Texas…and several Lolas various marks. Looks like they may be moving to reinforce the occupation on Hesperus. We're under-strength to fight that, Helm? Prep for evasion."
“Rabbit it is, ma’am.” Her helm officer laid in commands.
The standing order was to avoid showdowns, and Fleet Admiral Steiner-Davion was adamant enough she'd relieved one captain who had won such a thing already.
"We're running?" Brigadier General Kalei asked.
"Yes, this is a Landmark class destroyer, we're on our own, and that, is a full cruiser battlegroup built around a battleship, we're not going to die heroically like FCS Antrim."
“Surely we can at least give them parting gifts?”
"This is why you're a 'mechwarrior, and not a Naval Commander." Anh said evenly, "if you can't win, you withdraw so that you can win later. It's not enough to inflict casualties and then die horribly. Besides, this is SLS Golden Lake, we have expanded fighter decks and only the B and D turret assemblies, the rest are fighter bays, we can't win a gunfight, and they can out number us with fighters. CAG! Pull our birdies in, Helm, status on the plot?"
“Calculations will be complete before we hit the jump point.”
"Picking up thermals and radiation, they've launched fighter wings, Mum."
"Time to intercept?"
"Fifteen minutes at the acceleration the radar's showing."
"Fifteen minutes earlier than we can hit the jump point." Helm offered.
"******…can we do an Arthur with the current power levels?" she asked.
"Won't have juice to do anything else once you start the cycle…"
"Ramp up powerplants to one hundred fifty percent and start coolant flushes to keep our fusion plants from overloading, and start a recalculation sequence for running an Arthur jump from our current vector……and start pushing fuel through the thrust engines at one-twenty-five."
“Yes, ma’am. Going full run away.”
"What's an Arthur jump?" her guest asked.
"That's where you're going to need an airsick bag and to strap down, because we're going to direct the gravity polarizers and inertial damping systems outward to make a flat region of space-time and tear a hole into Hyperspace half an hour from the safe limit of the jump point, while at speed…it may work, or it may smear us across five dimensions as dispersed particles."
“I regret asking.”
“If this works we’re never paying for our own drinks ever again.” Helm chuckled.
"Has this been done before?"
"Only in testing with the first prototype." she said, "We call it an 'Arthur' because it was tested by the guy who invented our artificial gravity systems. Arthur Steiner-Davion. Story has it his wife slapped him out for taking the risk."
“And this is a preferable risk to the fighter chasing us?”
"Yeah. See, this might kill us, the Alamos their strike wing are likely to be hauling will kill us, see the difference?"
“I do. Heavenly father please let this work.”
"Amen."
-----
===Unexpected Turn===
WoBS Voice of the Heavens, formerly SLS Admiral Borlov, Farragut class Battleship
"They're trying to run."
Demi-Precentor Scylla watched the corvette-sized "Destroyer" turn and start accelerating on the telescopes. "Launch strike wings, if that ship manages to escape it may clear the interdiction limit and inform the FedCom where we're mustering. We don't want that."
“As you command, Precentor.”
"Escort ships two and six, flank the strike package and move up, get between them and the jump point." She ordered. "Confirm the identity on that enemy vessel, it looks…off."
"SLS Golden Lake, third prototype of the Landmark class, recently activated from the Kowloonese Coast Guard's fleet, Precentor. She is a carrier model."
"Where are your escorts, Golden Lake?" she narrowed her eyes. "Why are you by yourself?"
As she pondered this, watching the markers on the holodisplay merge a terrible thought occurred to her.
“Contact, Precentor Charybdis. Request a sitrep from his forces.” Scylla commanded.
"Level 1 Alpha Strike is coming into combat range…"
The marker karats vanished.
"What happened? They were more than ten minutes from the Jump Point!!" her CAG was alarmed, as Level 1 Beta Strike started reporting the target was gone, and there were…pieces of ships-of fighters, tumbling.
“Of course. With the ability to manipulate gravity inside a ship there is the ability to manipulate it outside of the ship. They made their own jump point.” Scylla said cooly.
It was one of the first things I hypothesized about when I was given the task of how to utilize and counter this technology.
She looked around the battleship's command deck. We need to match that, too. 
She also could not shake the dreadful thought of if Golden Lake was here alone, where was the rest of her Battlegroup?
“Recover our fighters, send out all available SAR assets. The rest of that Battlegroup is somewhere. We should ready ourselves for battle sooner than anticipated.”
And knowing Murphy as I do… Be safe my love.
-----
===Naval Battle at Hesperus===
Hesperus System, Federated Commonwealth - 3067
"Engage." Katherine Morgan Steiner-Davion sat on her CIC, she was strapped in, suited up, sealed up, and ready for battle.
Ahead of her, distributed in a defensive patrol formation, were elements of the Sixth of June's fleet-the Word of Blake's fleet.
She was here, to make them die. 
Officially, she was kickin in the door for the counter-invasion forces, but 'kicking the door' meant denying them the chance to escape and regroup.
Two task forces, armed with the best weapons the FedCom and the Star League could supply, were converging in a corral-that is, denying the enemy the use of the jump points zenith and nadir, while a third task force was coming in from the outside to hit the L1 point, and move inward.
Hesperus II would be liberated this time, or not, but either way, Katherine was going to kill the white-robed sons of bitches. "Kick them until they stop moving."
“Yes, ma’am.”
-----
Precentor Charybdis saw the danger. The fight was threatening to turn against him and quickly, but if he withdrew the Shadow Divisions on world would be without support and as powerful and capable as they were, they could not hold without support.
A necessary sacrifice for long term success. We can replace ground forces easier than naval assets.
“All ships, we’re pulling out before we’re outmatched. I take full responsibility for this command. If anyone wishes to protest I will note it in the log. Until then, all ships we are making for the L1 point then we are jumping to grid reference Sierra Echo Seven.” Charybdis ordered.
All obeyed.
"Precentor! Emergence Waves detected near the planetary L1 point!!"
The bottom dropped out of his stomach. "How many?"
Damn it. Too late.
"Detection indicates…Cameron class, Texas…no, Two Texas class, Sovetskiy Soyuz…one McKenna, plus fighters and escorting dropships…they're deploying in wall of battle, sir."
“Then we’ll just simply go right past it before they can match reference frames. All ships, Fleet Maximum.”
Charybdis knew this was still a long shot now but at least some of his forces should survive getting past the wall of battle and jump out.
----
CSR McKenna's Pride
"Well, they did promise us a good fight." Lynn McKenna quipped, "Let us show these stravags what real gunnery looks like. Send to the task force, nothing survives to the jump point. Leave nothing intact."
“Seyla.” The Comm tech confirmed.
“Almost a shame my Khan. Their Commander almost shows promise.” Star Commodore Wes Shu added.
"Aff, and we are going to nip that promise off before he becomes a problem." she said grimly.
We are the Star League Defense Force, and you attacked the Star League… "Begin pattern bombardment with ballistic weapons on my mark along this vector…" she ordered, "They will fly right into it….mark." Try to play reference frame games with me why don't you?
"All ships in the formation are to launch missiles on complex lock protocol on my mark…mark." The missiles would be waiting to seek anything that didn't run into the autocannons. "Prep energy batteries for a fast-pass approach, hold fire until my mark, and then, weapons free."
“Ready, ovKhan.”
Been a while since anyone on that side has studied a fleet engagement, hasn't it? Her eyes were cold as nitrogen as she watched the enemy vessels fly straight into the teeth of the ballistic bombardment.
To their credit they attempted to adjust their vectors to prevent such an obvious tactic. But that did not work so well against the missiles that could adjust themselves.
But that was all they needed. The small adjustments slowed the Blakists enough and that meant the Snow Raven Fleet was on them and there was now no getting away.
----
Charybdis knew there was more danger.
“Fleet to one gravity. Evasive pattern Alpha.”
The drop in thrust meant the enemy forces in front of him would now be able to match reference frames.
“All ships prepare for close order battle. All Captains are authorized to exercise individual discretion for scuttling and abandoning ship but no ship is to be allowed to fall into enemy hands intact.”
I’m sorry my love. I cannot be taken alive. This fight will be my last.
“Comms, send to Precentor Scylla’s group that Hesperus is lost and that they are to proceed to their alternate target.”
He then fished a key out of his pocket and inserted it into the console next to him, ready to turn when the time came, and trigger a nuclear warhead in the heart of the ship that would ensure their destruction.
The readout on the shield system installed on his vessel was climbing dangerously close to it’s load limit already. With how much firepower was being directed at his vessel right now he was not surprised.
The hull shook.
I must hold as long as I can to give the others at least a slim chance.
“Focus that McKenna. All batteries. If any ship sees an opening to get past our enemies they are to take it. This is no longer an organized fleet action but a fight for mere survival.”
He watched the range close and the indicator climb even closer to total failure. Some shots were already getting through to the hull in some areas.
Suddenly, a lot of shots were getting through the hull…from the wrong direction.
“They have us enveloped!”
Charybdis said nothing in response and reached for the key.
“May Blake have mercy on us all.” He said as he turned the key.
Before the action could be completed the console exploded. Charybdis slumped forward, the channel burned by an overtuned Laser pistol leading from the back of his skull, through his forehead into the command console.
"I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to die for nothing." Adept VII Carlos Ruiz reached forward, unbuckled his dead commander from the seat, and added, "Is anyone going to stop me from fighting this out? No? Helm, come about six three by negative fifteen degrees at one point five gravity, gunnery, activate the point defenses, we either fight our way out, or die trying."
“Point defenses are at saturation.”
"Then keep them fed until they're gone, main batteries are to service the closest target immediately and at will."
“Hull status is reading as critical across multiple sections.”
"So? Depressurize outer decks. If we die, it's because we died fighting."
“We already have.”
"Okay then, keep fighting. When we run out, send crewmen to the hull to throw debris……speaking of which, any and all injured or non-essential personnel are to abandon ship. Get them to the lifepods, we're buying time for the rest of the fleet, and therefore, dying for something."
The wrenching of another volley made it clear a large chunk of the vessel was no longer attached to the rest.
Main power failed a second later. The backups took an eternity of a second to come up.
"Get everyone off the ship. Nobody stays who doesn't want to." Carlos added.
“What about you?”
"I'm staying until the last of ours who can go has gone. Switch weapons control to…nevermind, go get a lifepod, I've got your station guns. Tell them we didn't surrender to despair."
“Peace of Blake be with you.”
"Peace and long life to you and yours……now get out of here!!"
The race was on, crew to pods versus the ship’s destruction versus the inevitable boarding action once the enemy realized the vessel was crippled.
"Come and get me, you can bred mother fu-"
-----
The non-believers are organizing faster than expected. This is bad, very bad. Pollux will be insufferable now… He predicted this.
Scylla leaned back in her command couch.
“Calculate jump for the nearest support group. We’ll resupply while we can then we shall make for our alternate target.” Scylla ordered, her tone pure ice.
“Yes, Precentor.”
“Flash message from command. We’re being recalled.” Coms Adept reported
“They know of the disaster that is Hesperus. Very well. Plot the appropriate jumps, Nav.”
They will want details I cannot provide and a revised plan to account for the loss of fleet strength we have suffered there and at Kowloon.
“Jump us when ready. I’ll be in my sea cabin.” Scylla said as she unbuckled and rose.
When she got there she reached into her cabinet and poured herself a stiff drink and allowed herself to mourn the loss of her lover.
----
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