WoWS3 Chpt 39

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==Weapons of War Saga: The Final March- Chapter 39 - ==
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===Daughters dealing with a Runaway Mom===
Helena Cameron's Office
New Lazarus, Star League in Exile
13th November, 3144
"Progress report, Majesty." Precision had done something with her hair this morning, and there were a few other…traces.
"Are you…you're wearing makeup!" Pestilence accused her young sister.
The girl froze, "I didn't..ah…screw it up did I?" she asked more meekly than Helena had yet seen.
“No. You did well. Not too much and good color choice for your features. I’m happy for you. You must have met someone you really like to take this sort of step.” Helena Cameron smiled.
The girl flushed red, then, visibly, regained some shreds of her poise. "The progress report. We've had three answers since the test broadcast."
"Three?"
"Yes, ma'am. Clan Diamond Shark's facility at Alyina, Irian-a location in the Former Free Worlds League, and a beep from Timbuktu in the Lyran Commonwealth. There's a hacker there named Jordan BigTools who piggybacked off one of their tests and bounced his through a DRUM in the deep periphery along the march line for Serpent."
"Bigtools? Really?"
"I kinda suspect that's a 'handle' or something, he was cagey as fu-ah…he didn't give personal details that anyone would believe. The source in the ex-Free Worlds League quoted Blake at me, and the Sharks immediately wanted to know how we doped to their secret project. Their guy threatened Lawsuits." Precision explained.
“Well, it is progress.” Helena chuckled.
"We also broke the distance record for A-station transmission something like fifteen times, based on the responses." the girl added, "Which means a lot, for people who account for that kind of thing."
“It also means we have long range comms again. This will make Juanita and Victoria’s jobs a lot easier in particular. Are you ready to move on to experiments with our mobile HPGs?”
Precision seemed to be waiting for something else.
"Okay, spill." Pestilence told her young teenage sister.
"I want to retrofit the onboard for a destroyer to see if it's going to work on a mobile, but ma'am? I think we can start exporting the 'a' station model to allies right now. It works, the Sharks admitted they came to the same general conclusions and their guy, once he stopped sputtering about IP theft, agreed theirs looks a lot like ours…except ours is about half a billion C-bill equivalent cheaper."
“Alright, let’s get one to Redburn right away. Skye will be second. Then one to Tharkad. Terra’s HPG still works according to latest intel, they’re just not using it.”
"Um…is there someone you can put in charge of overseeing manufacturing? I mean someone good, I…I kinda…Imetthisguyataconcertandwe'regonnabedatingandineedtimeoff." she stammered, "also, I…I kinda need everyone to call me 'Petra' now, like, all the time…"
“Of course. You two go have fun. I’ll take care of spreading the word and I am certain Truk can handle the manufacturing.”
"How do I tell mom I'm dating?" Pre-...Petra asked, "and when should I let him meet her?"
“My best advice. Just be straight with her, and tell her you like him. I know it’ll be scary, but it’s the best way really.” Helena walked over and hugged Petra.
The girl hugged her back, "You're the best auntie…okay, next to Sam you're best."
“I’ll take what I can get.” Helena smiled. “Now go on. Don’t want you being late.”
"Ahem." Pestilence leaned in the doorway, "Madame Director-General? A moment?" she eyed her sister, "One word…Chaperones."
“I suppose you’re right. But I’m the aunt, not the mom, so I was going to leave that detail up to your mom.”
"True, but Mom's gone and hopped on Amusing Anecdote this morning to go make life miserable for the Cappies along the Davion frontier. She left a note."
“True. I guess I got caught up in the moment and forgot we haven’t tested our mobiles yet. Hmmm… Pestilence you free to chaperone?” Helena asked.
Pestilence sighed in visible irritation, "You don't understand. Primary's done this before-when it gets uncomfortable and we need her near, she retreats into some task or another to hide."
“I know. And I’ll work on that.” Helena told them.
"Mom left?" Petra asked
"Mom left." Pestilence scowled, "While you were busy. She left a ****** note!"
“Come here, Pestilence. I’m more than your aunt you know.” Helena said gently.
Pestilence came in, and laid the paper on the desk. Once Pestilence approached Helena embraced her.
"Gone hunting. Watch your sister, follow Helena's instructions. 
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Yo Ho Ho.
-Mom"
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“Your mom also traces back to my first daughter Stacey. I know, makes the family tree kind of weird, but I’m not giving up on your mom. She is troubled and she needs family. She’s just really bad at accepting it. So am I in a way really, but that’s my burden to bear. Right now Petra has a date with a boy she likes and I intend for her to have what happiness she can. So we’ll make do until I can get your mom to realize she needs to be a mom more than a captain.” Helena said
"She's still getting a chaperone." Pestilence stated, "If for no other reason, than because I don't want to have to clean up the mess if he disappoints her. I want to borrow some of your bodyguard detail. Liam and Sissons."
“Yeah those two are good at being discreet.” Helena agreed
"Sissons?” Petra asked, "big Elemental-girl?"
"Yeah. See, you, little sister, are a national asset going on her first date with a boy from a fairly influential family locally. First date ever. My first date turned into a brawl in the tavern and he didn't call me back after because I had to have him arrested for espionage...so, you get grown ups following you and capable ones, just in case your boy becomes a target for someone looking to screw with the family-this is the downside of having royal connections.", Pestilence told her young sister. 
"Espionage?“ Helena asked.
"The spy we caught from Clan Wolf's Watch back in '41." Pestilence told her, "I went out on a DATE with him, he tried to pinch me and black-bag, I thought Juanita briefed you…"
“Ah. Well New Lazarus is a fairly stable place but yes we’re becoming known now and that means people are going to start being susceptible to dumb ideas. So you’re getting my two best to be safe.” Helena explained.
"In other news…" Pestilence continued, "Truk told me to bring this, it arrived while you were getting ready for the meeting, Petra." 
"Share?", Petra asked
"Port Orphan checked in. Erinyes is home,and she helped a crew she dubs 'The wunderkids' build a replica of the HPG test article we built at Kolossus and here. Petra, your experiment has confirmation."
In the envelope was an offprint of a calculus equation, more a proof really, of a hyperspace principle only recognizable by those who were trained navigators or HPG techs.
Petra glanced at it, absorbed it, examined it, and then pumped her fist in excitement "YUSS!!!"
"I think you might want to consider appointing a new Minister of Communications, madame First Lord, someone not named 'Blake' or 'Toyama'." Pestilence added.
“Well now, seems I have job candidates to review.” Helena told them.
"Yeah, find the grayest-faced bureaucrat you can find, Jerry Blake was, according to data, a 'visionary' and Conrad Toyama was an 'idealist'. I recommend somebody with a soul of pure boredom and a talent for enjoying powerpoint presentations a bit too much-leave the charisma for the sales department."
“So I’m looking for a Kevin from Accounting type. Got it.”
"Speaking of accounting…We've got a graft problem." Pestilence added, "which is why I was on my way up here. Someone's tapping funds who isn't supposed to be tapping that much."
“Inevitable but let’s get to the bottom of this.”
"Uh, how much?" Petra asked, concerned.
"About two percent of the military budget, which is a hell of a lot of tapping-and that's AFTER we deduct for regular losses due to incompetence, mistakes, and ordinary frauds."
“You have any leads yet?” Helena asked.
"Well, after we traced Petra's unauthorized spending and eliminated it from the search…" Pestilence explained.
"You've been spending money?" Helena questioned the young teenager.
"It was a good idea, really!" the girl's eyes went wide.
"We're looking at around ten point five times ten to the twelfth power in C-bills heading out for no goods and it's in the support line for the Capellan Expedition, which means either Golden Hind is building another station somewhere using official funds without filing, or someone in our logistics is spending the equivalent of a provincial defense every three months on…I have no idea, but Juanita assures me it's not intel."
“Okoye from accounting, Lethman from investigations, and Betts from judicial services. Add anyone else you think you’ll need. You even have my permission to utilize one of Victoria’s new recruits if you think it goes that far and is that pervasive.”
Then Helena looked at Petra, "How much did you spend?"
"About a hundred thousand…but it was for a good reason!!" she insisted.
"She bought a ranch, and a house…which was NOT authorized. I already spoke to the realtor, so I need you to make it authorized." Pestilence stated.
“Okay so what is the reason?” Helena questioned
"Can't attend local schools without a local address." Petra sulked.
“And using mine would be complicated.” Helena concluded
The girl nodded silently, looking at her shoes.
“Just ask next time. Okay? I’ll sign off on this, as discreetly as I can so it doesn’t get complicated.”
"I think…" Pestilence mused, "if we put a permanent detail on the house, say, posing as parents?"
“Hmmm… Liam and Sissons are already on the detail.”
"They're getting married anyway, They can pose as fosters, but it's a secure arrangement if my little sister here insists on trying out 'domestic normal life'." Pestilence proposed.
“Agreed. And being a remote ranch not many people will even be around to notice if she gets regular visitors.” Helena nodded. “I’ll have the orders cut before you can say ‘the dog ate my homework’.”
Helena grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and began writing. After a few moments she handed it to Pestilence and began typing on her terminal.
“That should cover things. I hope Reimu is enjoying her vacation…” Helena mocked frustration.
"What about mom?" Petra asked.
"Mom left." Pestilence stated, "Mom left us again. She can earn her way back. I have work to do, we're going to be fighting the Wolves again, soon."
“If I have to hop on a Destroyer and chase her down, bend her over my knee and spank her! Then drag her back here to be a proper mom I will, but first I’m going to send her a polite message.” Helena told two daughters.
"Please don't. Mom will come home. She always does." Petra plead, "It's okay, really, it is."
"How did Veronica react?" Helena asked.
"She's…I guess she cares?" Pestilence shrugged, "She didn't seem too upset that mom headed out on her own with just the ship and her crewmen, but then, she had to be there when mom was at her worst. So I don't really know."
“Well any time any of you feel the need for a hug, come see me. In the meantime I’ll try figuring out how to word this message to get your mom to come home and stay home.” Helena told them.
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===Captain Roberts on the Loose===
Capellan/Davion border
14th November, 3144
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"Engage." Amanda Roberts ordered.
The cappie convoy was forming up to assault Spica in the Federated Suns. Assault dropships were forming to protect landing ships, fighters were spread out, and the local militia aerospace had already burned out against them.
Her own fighters, spread out under cold thrusters and arrayed, lit their engines to full in strike wings and escort formations.
"Boarding shuttles prepare, we're going to splash their transport dropships and steal their ride home."
It was systematic, precise, and relentless. The Capellan pilots were not unskilled, and they did inflict casualties, but not fast enough, or in enough numbers to really offset the sheer advantage of a combat-capable cruiser in the hands of an expert raider who cut her teeth in Corvettes.
“They didn’t even get close.” Tamra shook her head at helm.
"That would be WHY we came in where we did." Amanda explained, "Deep space interceptions, according to the received wisdom of the texts written after the Ares Conventions took effect, is prohibitively difficult, so most militaries don't plan for it."
“And our ATACs link to our fighters means our gunnery was quite superb.” Her executive officer (XO) Oh added.
"Signal from the last boarding team, they've taken the final JumpShip."
"Tell 'em to charge and dead-head for home port." Amanda instructed, "I'm sure Helena can make use of the extra hulls. CAG, are there beacons out from the Dropships we nailed?"
"Ayeh, and lifeboats."
"Contact the local airspace control, give them the notation and location and request aid in conducting SAR."
“What if they say no?"
"Tell them if they don't come out to retrieve those Cappies I'm going to make sure nobody comes to help them again."
“Signal from Port Lazarus. Oh my…” Her comms offer seemed shocked.
"Route it to my sea-cabin." Amanda said, "If it's getting THAT look, I better read it."
By order of the First Lord and Director-General, Amanda Roberts is to return to the New Lazarus system and remain there until she can learn to be the kind of mother her children need.-Helena Cameron
"Well, we know the improved HPG works." Amanda mused, "Comms, send back the following:
Ahem, 'Will return to port when possible, drive charging and route allowing. Sent from Spica system, this day 14 November, 3144, Roberts' end."
"Aye ma'am…can she really do that?"
"I don't want to find out if she can get Christienne to back her on a custody argument, and he's the man who owns my letter of marque and reprisal. They get along, and he agreed to transfer control to her before we left Port Orphan…so yeah, she can do that."
“Sounds like family drama I want no part of.” Her comms officer shook his head.
"It's either that, or they need Amusing Anecdote for a mission in the other direction." Amanda offered. "Bonuses pay the same to the crew either way."
“I read the message, ma’am. Pretty clear to me you’re in some hot water with the family.”
"Well, I don't remember leaving the stove on, but…" she spread her hands. "Either way it's not your problem, Tamra. We charge our drives and the battery, and we head for New Lazarus…and Daoshen gets to keep a fraction of the navy we came out to sink. Such is life."
“Aye, ma’am. Permission to speak freely, ma’am?”
"If you're going to tell me I'm a shit mother, you're right." Amanda said, "My parents were better, my brothers are fantastic, but not so much me. I just never…worked it out."
“Well, then take it from someone who realizes she’s probably never going to see her dad again. Figure it out. It may take some time but it is never too late. The fact that I’m here at your helm is proof of that. My dad was no saint but because he finally figured out he loved me and valued me more than being a pirate, well meant a lot.”
"I thought your dad took a job with Kolossus..? You should see him again! They promised!!" Amanda was more visibly upset by the implication. "He's supposed to be-"
“We’re on parole. We’re not exonerated yet. We can’t have contact with each other.”
"If they have the net up by the time we get back, you call your dad." Amanda urged, "I'll pay for it myself, Word was given dammit."
"You were supposed to stay at New Lazarus, Ma'am." Tamra's tone was armor-piercing calm. "Why did we put to sail-the real reason?"
"I don't know what to do there." Amanda admitted. "I…when I was eleven, I was taken from my family and…and mutilated by a cult. I didn't see any of them again until I was almost seventeen, and I barely remember anything from the time before I was taken, I don't know what to do as a parent."
“There’s no one right answer beyond love them and making sure they know they are loved. The details differ for the latter. And yeah maybe I don’t have a clue what you’re going through. I was piloting small craft for my Dad’s capers by the time I was eleven. But I never knew my mom. She was out of the picture by the time I was two. So I do know if it’s important, a way will be found despite adverse conditions.” Tamra said calmly.
"Engineering, get my drive charged." Amanda sighed, "Everyone else, maintain overwatch at condition gold for now-the Cappies might be sending in reinforcement and we do NOT want to be caught out."
“Aye ma’am.” Her XO Oh said with a tone that indicated the discussion was indeed over for now.
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===Unpleasant Pillow Talk===
Melissa, Vesper Marches
Former Lyran Commonwealth Region
20th November, 3144
"If you think waking up in bed with a stranger is weird, imagine how weird it is for me...I'm supposed to bring you in alive." Famine said, "Don't worry, the paralytics do wear off."
Vedet Brewer couldn't move.
"Y'see, I'm like, optimized for killing people. Usually that's a precision work, go after the specific target, and nobody else…so imagine how ****** up it was, that I had to kill your bodyguards, but I have to bring YOU in alive."
She knelt on the bed face to face with him, "This is truly ****** up." she told him, "It's ****** up and I don't like it. Not neat, not clean, not orderly."
Vedet’s breathing was ragged, if not for the drugs he’d almost certainly be screaming.
"Now, I'm going to bundle you off to the ship, and we're going for a nice shuttle ride, and when you regain your hands, keep in mind, I didn't need to drug your Hesperus Guards to take them out."
Vedet was clearly trying to struggle against the drugs but their effect meant he was a prisoner in his own body.
She carried him with freakish strength through the corridors of his new palace, past the bodies of his men-most of whom had died brutal deaths, to the courtyard, and a waiting shuttle.
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===Involunteered Summons===
Small Craft, In system Transit
Melissa, Vesper Marches
20th November, 3144
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"W-wherrre ahr Y…tk'ng mah." Vedet Brewer forced his lips to move.
"Your Archon has requested your presence." she told him, "which is funnier than you imagine, because you held the job long enough to oversee the near destruction of the nation you ruled…badly. It's inelegant and inefficient, but Her Majesty offered a nice bounty for your safe, live, return."
“I..wa…nevhr..giben..a chance…” Vedet worded
"Not a statesman. You can call me 'Famine', and were it not for relationships with my primary, we wouldn't ever have met…" the shuttle's lock closed and it started to lift as she strapped him into one of the chairs on the flight deck. There was no pilot.
Then, she sat down facing him, as the shuttle's empty pilot's seat mocked them both, and the shuttle burned for orbit.
Vedet just stared at the empty seat. He had always suspected, but now he had confirmation.
"I'm not flying it." she told him unnecessarily, "Now, there are several reasons why they'd send me. I'm very skilled, I don't care, and I'm immune to reasoning being three big ones. Smaller ones include the cook who was setting you up with a polonium midnight snack. Cheer up, he's dead too."
“Tha… I was…suppossd tbe Archon.” Vedet shook his head.
"If I were a Lyran citizen, that would matter, I'm not, I'm a foreigner doing your government a favor. The drugs should be wearing off soon, you'll be able to move about the cabin and speak clearly by the time we've docked with my ship, at which point, my partner will oversee your needs on the journey to Tharkad, where you will…" here, she reached into her leg-pocket and produced a document, "...be turned over to the Archon, Trillian Steiner, for a private meeting of a nature not to be disclosed to Famine-(that's me) after which, your case will be decided publicly either by a decree, or by a fair trial…I don't get that bit either, but apparently it has to do with your replacement as Duke of Hesperus whacking one of my sisters and almost killing Roderick."
“Hogarth?”
"Yeah. Trillian's not thrilled. She was thrilled enough to tell Lori Cameron to send me to fetch you, 'by any means necessary, but alive and intact'." Famine shook her head, "Which is really quite uncomfortable for me. Since I prefer to just ice someone and move on with as few traces as possible, but Lori passed the order, so a Royal Princess and Ambassador trumps my chosen expression of my skillset."
With that Vedet just seemed to slump in his seat.
"Hey, cheer up, I didn't kill any of your family members." she said brightly. "I didn't even TRY."
“Hostages? To ensure my cooperation?” Vedet was speaking much clearer now.
"Not to my knowledge, I imagine by now they're finding the bodies and getting pissed, but unless there's a follow-on team for hostage taking, you're it." she shrugged. "Anyhow…the Archon wants this meeting to be confidential and before she has to make any public declarations. My control officer suggests she might not even kill you herself."
“I was never close to becoming Archon, not for real, was I?”
Famine shrugged, "I don't know. I don't do politics, just assassinations, and I don't even get to do that this time."
“The Vesper Marches are going to collapse now. You know that right?”
"If you let it come apart that far, you were never really in charge." the voice on the comm from the panel said, "Famine, are you terrorizing our guest?"
"Uh, no?" For a moment, Famine looked like a confused little girl, as if something just didn't connect in her head, and Vedet could SEE it.
“You are a strange little marionette.”
"Ooh, that sounds like a nice name…" Famine mused, "maybe that's what we'll put on my next identity…Marion, Nette!" the childish quality amplified for a moment.
“How much longer until I am in a cell? I find myself wishing to be alone with my thoughts for a while.”
"We're docking in a few minutes, then it's up to Victoria if you get a cell, or a stateroom." Famine told him, "I think it'll be a stateroom, because she had the linens changed."
“Small comforts.”
The shuttle banked into a docking formation and he could see the bulk of a warship out the windshield.
"Where is my son?" Vedet 
"I don't know." Famine said, "He wasn't where I got you, or I'd have to figure out how to bag two people under that time limit."
“With any luck he is with his mother.” Famine told her hostage.
The shuttle docked.
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M5.4 Class Drone Destroyer, SLS Victoria Cameron
"You could've done it more cleanly!!" Victoria Cameron scolded Famine right in front of the prisoner. "You left a trail of bodies, Famine."
"If you wanted them alive you should have sent the Alpha team." Famine said bluntly, "I needed the space to carry him out, they were in the way…and anyway, this whole mission has been weird as hell for me!"
“Yeah, me too. Okay let’s get the dog and pony show over with.”
"Is it a cell?" Vedet asked as he was escorted into the room.
"Stateroom your Grace." Victoria told him. "Her majesty requires your presence on Tharkad for a confidential meeting, you are to be treated as appropriate to your station, within limits…which is why Famine will be disciplined for her…overzealous method of securing your presence and safety."
Another man entered the CiC.
“This is Hauptmann Herzog. All you need to know is Trillian insisted on sending him as an observer. If you feel your rights as a Lyran noble are being disrespected, you can ask to see him and he will make note of any complaints and I am not to deny access to him and do my best to accommodate any of the requests he makes on your behalf.” Victoria introduced the man.
“Pleasure to meet you, your Grace. I shall see you to your room.”
Vedet passed his kidnapper, still waiting, and noted how empty her eyes really were. Like buttons, or a statue's eyes.
The other one wasn’t much better. He could see the ire under her eyes.
"She is not all there, is she?"
"Famine is…unusual, there is something absolutely missing from that woman. I, for one, am grateful she is under control." Herzog noted. 
“She is useful though. Keep in mind Hauptmann that that man is the source of two attacks on a dear friend of mine and the daughter of a woman I care for a great deal and see as a sister.”
“I understand. I will ensure Duke Brewer is as quiet as a church mouse, offering no disruptions or distractions.”
“Good.” Vicky just nodded.
----
===Secrets We Keep from One Another===
The Triad, Throne Room
Tharkad, Lyran Commonwealth
24th November, 3144
"...this is a bad idea, Your Highness. They're still a few weeks away, you can change your mind." Roderick Steiner complained
Trillian Steiner-Davion dismissed the concern, "No, I really can't. I need to pull the Realm together and prove to all and sundry who's in charge. I can't have Vedet Brewer forming a separate government and I won't let them make him a martyr to power another half century of unrest, the method for shutting that shit down is clear."
"So…you're going through with it?" Roderick said quietly.
"We'll see. He's a survivor and an able politician, he'll relent easily enough, and we'll put his sedition-prone friends off their game and kill that particular nest of snakes without unduly inconveniencing the Realm." Trillian explained
“We in the Star League are just glad we can help bring this affair to a satisfactory conclusion.” Lori Cameron added.
Trillian grinned viciously, "Yes, it WAS a satisfactory conclusion. I especially like how your assassin managed to not only kill several traitorous officers who deserted Tharkad in her hour of need, but also eliminated most of the Lohengrin traitors that were puppeting Brewer himself. It was quite satisfying to read how your girl took them out."
“We do wish we could have been more discreet but if your Majesty is satisfied, we are satisfied.”
"Oh more discretion WOULD have been nice, but there's Loki, and then, there's everyone else…and your girl did a fine job."
“I will be sure to pass on your praise.”, Lori told Trillian.
“Given the public press releases and general policies, I find I am a bit surprised that Helena does even have such a service.” Roderick admitted.
“That is the mistake many make. Helena does prefer peace, diplomacy, and civil debate but she also knows even the most altruistic and benevolent nation needs a particular solution to particular problems. And that is what Famine is.”
“Must be rather busy, poor girl.” Trillian commented.
“She is, but that is the secret of Famine. She doesn’t mind being busy. But your subtle hint is correct. She is not our only such solution, but best not to spread too many details about that.”
“You’re coming along quite nicely, Lori. A less shrewd person would have let details slip and as much as we might be friends, as nations I mean, there are certain things we should indeed keep from each other.” Trillian congratulated Lori.
“That’s not to say we dislike you as a person, Lori.” Roderick added.
“Oh I understand what Trillian meant. It is true. We do need to keep some secrets from each other. That is the reality of politics.” Lori told him.
----
===Consoling a paranoid spacer===
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"Politics…gah." Trinh Vu Dao looked out her faceplate at the construction site. The Tharkad Relay was coming together nicely, and having the assignment was nice, but being back in the Commonwealth meant dealing with Commonwealth contractors, and Commonwealth officials, and the Lyran idea of 'health and safety' that impeded all the actual work.
“No, I won’t turn the Department of Health and Safety HQ into a pile of rubble.” Stacey Cameron Roberts chuckled as she walked up to her XO.
"It would be more efficient…do you know what they want to force me to do??"
“About a dozen annoying things contradicted by another dozen annoying things that if you try and meet both turn into this endless spiral of stress ulcer, migraine, and non-euclidian geometry?”
Trinh brandished the latest message, "They want me to show up for a physical, someone ratted me out about my ground time…or lack thereof. Some meddling official thinks he understands my immune system better than I do!"
“Well humans are evolved for life on the surface of a world with one gravity. But then again I kept telling you this would be an issue and you should get more surface time, it’d be less stressful overall if you didn’t have to deal with so many government officials complaining about it.”
"I don't need to deal with that, because I don't go where all the diseases and sickness are..but noooo…they're trying to push regs for dirtyfeet on me."
“You are in their environment now. So maybe you should consider that you are now subject to their diseases?”
"Not if I don't go to the surface!" she argued, "Not if I stay where the environment is controlled and the sight-lines are wide, and I'm not at the bottom of a well that's trying to kill me."
“Compared to space the bottom of a well is actually quite tame if you really think about it.”
"All the signals are wrong." Trinh argued, and Stacey finally grasped the real meaning.
"You're afraid."
Trinh nodded. "Kop, yes I'm afraid!! Planets are places made to kill you. There's no way to prevent it."
“Sure, maybe in fifty years it’ll kill you. Space and one mistake. Pfft.” Stacey told her paranoid XO.
She held up a gloved, hand, "Diseases, parasites, natural disasters that arne't preventable, earthquakes, storms, and the air's only kept in by a magnetic field and gravity!!" Trinh argued.
“Diseases and Parasites can be problems for burrows too. Natural disasters are rare. Gravity and air don’t just shut off because someone forgot to lock out the controls while doing maintenance.”
"There's no maintenance, it's chaos and noise and…" Trinh stopped, "you're laughing at me."
“Maybe a little. Life is chaos and noise.” Stacey straightened up. “Maybe as an AI I have a skewed perspective but I’ve known a lot of humans in my time. They all have one thing in common. They will all eventually die. There is no preventing that. But you can’t be so scared of what might happen that you keep yourself from truly living.”
"Every time I go down into the Well, I can feel it, like some malevolent spirit, clawing and hating." Trinh tried to explain. "Why do you think I do my shore leave on that moon? It doesn't have a biosphere aimed at killing or…trapping me."
“If it’ll make you feel better I’ll go with you.” Stacey told her. 
"I'd be happier if you found a way to delay the appointment until we're done here and can leave." Trinh said honestly. 
“No can do in this case. I think a little tough love is in order. Besides, I can’t override local regs like that.”
A chime interrupted their discussion, and Dr. Fielder, Stacey's medical officer was on the channel. "Good news, ma'am, we got the authorization to dispense anti-anxiety medication for your Planet Phobic Operations officer. This means I don't have to try and ram through a medical exemption."
“Thank you Doctor Fielder, I knew I could count on you.” Stacey said cheerfully. “Come on Trinh. I’ll still hold your hand so you’re not so scared.”
The pair went back aboard, and off to sick-bay.
By mid morning, in the shuttle dock, Trinh had a shiny blue metal medilert bracelet and a pocket full of controlled substances with a shiny prescription.
As she had promised Stacey’s remote was there, extending a hand.
“I’ll be with you every step. So that way you will know you have a friend close by.” Stacey said with a smile.
Trinh wasn’t sure why she took the extended hand in her own, but it did help her to know she wasn’t going to be facing this alone.
----
===The Medical Realities===
----
The trip was still white-knuckle from landing to the Port Medical Center, and Stacey had to wait while the Lyran Commonwealth's medical professionals conducted their duly appointed duty.
"You're her Captain?" a Medical professional asked after the first hour.
"Yes."
"Your Operations Officer has signs of Vitamin D deficiency, early onset osteoporosis, a significantly weakened immune system, and she's on a prescription for drugs we normally arrest people for Having. Is she a Spacer?" Doctor asked.
“Yes. All conditions that are far too common for people like her. I do what I can within the bounds of regs but there’s only so much cultural inertia I can overcome.”
"Then I need to confirm some additional data." he said. "Her passport states she's from the Kowloon system originally, we get a few here and there from that system…"
“Yeah. Only the outer stations and burrows are left as best we can tell.” Stacy commented.
"Alright, this may require some delicacy then…your girl's sterile." he told her. "Her ovaries are necrotic and there are traces of cancerous precursors in her epidermis and bone tissues.”
“That sounds really bad.” Stacey commented
"That's because coupled with the small cell tumors growing in her lungs, it is, now with an intensive combination of chemotherapy and radiation, she might pull through…or, she could be dead in six months. Without them, she's got three." Doctor commented.
“Real numbers doc, what are her real odds even with the treatments?” Stacey questioned.
"We can maybe pull five year survival if everything goes swimmingly and she were in better over all condition, but I'm being honest here, she's probably too far advanced, there's around ninety percent likelihood that we can do everything and she'll suffer for five years and still die."
“Thanks doc. Well. Now how to break this to her…” Stacey nodded.
----
“******…” Trinh rolled her head and eyes back in frustration.
“I wish it were better news.” The Lyran Doctor said.
“Those are really my options?” Trinh asked.
“There is another alternative.” Stacey said.
“What is it?” Trinh asked.
“We do have one last core waiting for a brain scan at Lazarus. It’s not without its downsides and the process will cause neural degeneration of your human self.”
Trinh mused for a moment, "Well, it's not like I'm going to ever have kids, or build a burrow…anyway. I guess I'll find out if the soul transfers." she smiled weakly. "Dammit, I told you planets are killers. Nothing but death at the bottom of the well."
“We’ll argue about that later. Right now I’ll do my best to answer any questions you might have. If you’re really going to consider this option I should do my best to make sure you are properly informed.”
"Can we wait until I'm not stoned out of my mind? Like, in orbit maybe?"
“Yeah. That would be best.” Stacey relented.
----
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