Earth Song: Twilight Serenade (34 page)

The councilors were also a study in varied reactions. Leon Kutchokovic looked at her in rage, his face screwed up with the passion of his emotions.  Jeanette Cutter, the youngest of the councilors having only been elected from Plateau the previous spring, looked surprised and a little hurt. No doubt she thought she should have been consulted on this beforehand. The truth was Minu didn’t know if she could trust her or not.

Giselle Baum, the councilor from New Jerusalem and the only other female, looked a bit surprised, but also curious. She’d been an ally in funding battles and respected Minu greatly. Kamla Ito from Peninsula looked dumbfounded, while Idi Manhane from the Desert Tribe appeared not bothered in the least. He inclined his head towards Minu in respect as if she’d just made a good chess move.

The final two councilors, Enrico Pablente from Summit and Luigi Bono of the Boglands had their heads together and were talking.

Minu waiting patiently for the cacophony to calm. It took almost fifteen minutes. Fights had broken out in the viewing area and Beaumont called out the sergeant at arms to clear the galley. That was fine with Minu, she would have requested private audience soon anyway. Naturally, it was Leon Kutchokovic who first managed to be heard.

“What is the meaning of this, this, this outrage?! Who gives you the authority to turn our back on the Tog?” he demanded, red-faced and looking like one of his wild ancestors who had almost conquered the entire planet.

“You did.” Leon shut his mouth and drew back in surprise. “Well, the Planetary Council did more than a hundred years ago. The Chosen charter is specific in my powers, and drawn up under the supervision of our masters, the Tog. It detailed under what terms I serve, the power that authority grants me, and how we as humanity can gain our freedom.

“There are two ways. One is the Tog simply release us.”

“Is that what is happening?” the Chancellor asked.

“No,” Minu told him, “because I was instructed that they do not need to. The other condition is that we purchase our freedom for a sum to be determined by the Tog.”

“So you have unilaterally spent us into poverty?!” demanded Ito of the Peninsula.

“No, again, I didn’t have to. The Tog informed me a while ago that we owe nothing. Zero, zip, nada. And we never have. They kept this from us for almost a century, in their words, for our own protection. They believed we would be a threat to ourselves if turned loose on the galaxy too soon. So all we need to do now, is ask. And our freedom, our Awakening, will be granted.”

“And then we are on our own,” Kutchokovic snapped, “free to be victimized by any species who dislikes us. And thanks to you, that is a great many.”

“I won’t deny I’ve pissed off a few,” she said and turned to look at Kutchokovic, “I tend to have that effect on some weak willed individuals.” Kutchokovic colored red and spat something in Russian. “As a species under protection of another, we have them to protect us. This is a fact. However, it is us who’ve been doing the protecting for years now. Rangers stand guard on many joint Tog/Human ventures all over the galaxy. Other minor species come to us, a species ourselves only infants in their eyes, for protection! And in other ways, we’ve exceeded the Tog as well. We will now go from their wards, to their allies, and stand as equals.”

“The Tog are a higher order species,” Giselle Baum pointed out. “We cannot be their equals.”

“We will be in their eyes. Furthermore we will stand by their sides at the Concordia as seconds to the Tog.” There were gasps among those who understood the meaning of that. “The Beezer have voluntarily stepped aside to allow us this honor. As an act of friendship.”

More surprise. The last the council knew, the Beezer were still furious for humanity for nearly destroying their Portal Spire.

“I have here the details of the transition,” she said and held up a tablet. Her assistant was transmitting it to the council at that moment. “In it are how we will handle the transition from the Chosen and Rangers being under Tog control, to our new arraignment with the Bellatrix planetary council.”

The councilors all tried to speak but Minu held up a hand. “Now there are details we need to discuss in private. Please adjourn the public council meeting for a private one.” She turned to the Chancellor and looked at him.

“Oh, if you wish,” he said and he looked to his assistant.

The doors out of the chamber were sealed. Above them, clamshells slowly closed over the press platforms. She had to smirk as she heard some of them cursing her as the doors closed and cut off their view.

Once they were secure, she continued. “As all the councilors are aware, the Chosen have been in possession of a number of starships now for almost a year. Thanks to the salvage operation we now have a dozen front-line warships, and dozens of support craft. We also salvaged eight transports that were traded to the Beezer.”

“Without consulting the Council,” Kutchokovic pointed out.

“I was not required to do such, and felt no need to. As a result of that trade, the Beezer are now formally allied with us, both militarily and as trading partners. That brings the total to four species who are our allies.”

“You include the Traaga, of course,” Luigi Bono said.

“I would count them if I were you. While one of the weakest species of the Concordia, and quite short on luck, they have worked with us extensively. The Rangers have been working to train a small cadre of military personnel from their species with… limited success. We hope they will prove as invaluable as the Rasa someday.”

“The filthy lizards that tried to kill us all,” Kutchokovic spat.

“Well, sometimes you can make friends with people who once did their best to kill you,” Minu said evenly. There were chuckles around the council chamber and Kutchokovic realized he’d stepped in it. His people having once been even more brutal than the Rasa. Many of the tribes had once had to join together to put them in their place.

“Still how do you propose to protect us with only a dozen ships?” asked Jeanette Cutter. “We have the utmost respect for the Chosen’s ability, especially your daughter and her ship.”

Kutchokovic snorted, but Minu ignored it.

“We have plans underway to remedy that. And I wouldn’t call a dozen front-line warships made by the Lost a weak force. We’ve made plans on the short, intermediate and long terms. Here is a view of what we hope to do.”

An hour later she’d finished her detailed plans and most of the Council was impressed, if concerned. If she could succeed it would forever change the course of human history, while failure would be equally as eventful.

She added her final card: “We believe that time is almost up. If we don’t strike now, others may gain access to those resources. The results to not only us, but likely the entire Concordia, could be disastrous.”

“Why us?” asked Enrico Pablente, his arms out stretched. “Are there no others who can do this? The Tog, perhaps?”

“They saw in us abilities they lacked. They are not a warlike species. And neither are the Beezer, despite their powerful builds. Oh, they can fight if cornered, but offense is not in their nature. For good or ill, humans are a natural warrior species. We can and have stood toe-to-toe, so to speak, with the most powerful species in the galaxy.”

“And kicked their asses,” Dram’s deep baritone boomed from behind her. There were more nods from the Council.

“I don’t want to do this to start a war. I believe one may be coming whether we like it or not. You have the data from our last trip. The T’Chillen and Mok-Tok are fielding more ships, new ships that are being built somewhere. And then there is that mysterious ship that came to our rescue. And the Squeen, while not our enemy or our ally, must be factored into the equation.

“Have any of you read this… outrage?!” barked Kutchokovic suddenly and Minu smirked. She’d wondered when he’d get around to that. “This, woman, is making demands you cannot believe!”

“Nothing there is unreasonable,” Jeannette Cutter pointed out, “and her sex is not germane to the discussion.”

“Not unreasonable?” he demanded. “It says here, the office of the First will be changed to this, how is it pronounced?”

“Imperator,” Minu said calmly, “it’s Roman in origin, Latin.”

“Fine,” Kutchokovic growled, “this Imperator will be the commander in chief of all Bellatrix military forces!” Minu just nodded.

“I think you will find her position now is fairly similar to that,” Kamla Ito said, his expression far from pleased. “Though maybe with more authority, less need to consult.”

“But the document grants legal autonomy!” Kutchokovic cried. “Under this Imperator will be as many Legates, more Latin I assume, as she deems necessary.”

“One for each branch of the old Chosen,” Minu interrupted, “and new military branches including the black navy. The star structure will necessarily have to be retired.”

Kutchokovic ground his teeth and continued. “Further, they are given a specific budget that equates to… fifteen percent of planetary income!” He nearly roared the last part.

“It also gives the planet fifty percent of all profit the new military earns directly, be it from salvage sales, or contracts.”

There was an appreciative hum of conversation between the councilors. Minu went in for the kill.

“Since we began our service for the Tog, the Chosen have been working for them creating salvage, research, and other projects. Normally that money would have went towards paying for our release. The Tog informed me that all of it went into an account for us. You can see the balance is quite huge.

“The Chosen have worked, fought, and died for that account thinking it was just for our freedom. And we did it proudly. Half of it is yours, our gift to the people of Bellatrix.”

Leon Kutchokovic sat back, defeated. Almost all the rest of the councilors were talking excitedly about all the money and how they could spend it. That 15% seemed like a pittance to them now, but Minu knew it wasn’t. Over the long run, they would find that the military got the better of that deal.

There was some discussion on the finer points that continued. Minu made sure that they understood that the people, through the planetary council, had the ability to ask for a vote of no-confidence of the Imperator, though not the Legates. Those served at the pleasure of the Imperator.

Should the people or their representatives remove the Imperator, the Legates would be required to vote for a new Imperator. There was nothing to stop them from voting in the old one, but she didn’t come out and say that.

The Planetary Council could also, through a unanimous vote, stop a military action underway, and, through a simple majority, request (emphasis on request) the military to proceed with specific actions. The military also became the planetary defense force to settle any disputes between the tribes, not that there had been any armed conflict in more than a century anyway.

The Rusk and Peninsula tribes initially rejected the vote. Minu insisted it be unanimous to alter their charter, and not just a supermajority. The other five councilors turned on the Rusk and Peninsula saying they were standing in the way of positive progress towards a free and prosperous Bellatrix. After all, wasn’t freedom what humanity had always wanted?

The Peninsula tribe was cowed by that pretty quickly. The economic benefits were undeniable, and while they detested the military as a people, Kamla Ito admitted he saw little difference in this new arrangement. The funds could help many poor to a better way of life.

The next vote was six-one. Kutchokovic found himself with little to no choice as the sole holdout. He was cast as holding the entire planet back from its destiny. In the end he bowed to the inevitable.

Minu left four hours after she’d arrived. She came in as the last First among the Chosen, and left as Bellatrix’s first Imperator.

Chapter 35

Octember 21st, 535 AE

Sanctuary Island, Plateau Tribal Territory, Bellatrix

Minu had never seen so many vehicles at her little island ever before. The ceramic concrete landing pad accommodated her personal red aerocar as well as Gregg’s easily enough. The other nine cars parked on the lawn and the Kaatan’s shuttle settling into the lake just off shore? It looked more like an estate sale than a party. “Nice little party,” she grumbled.

The intervening weeks since the Planetary Council had approved her plan and named her Imperator had gone by in a blinding blue flash of events. She’d been back and forth between Midgard and Bellatrix more times than she could count. Thousands of humans and maybe that many Rasa now lived and worked there, many in orbit. And the first shipments of Midgard grains had been sold on the Concordian food exchange. The reaction to the new food grain was overwhelmingly positive.

When she hadn’t been traveling between worlds she’d been giving interviews to the press. The story of her elevation to Imperator was a big one. The story of humanity having a fleet of starships was bigger. But the story of the impending Awakening and mankind’s freedom was the biggest since the Tog had returned.

After countless interviews by herself and other PR specialists of the Chosen, most believed the average person understood what was about to happen and why. Polls commissioned by the Chosen revealed an overall favorable, if anxious, opinion on the move. The huge balance of credits soon to be transferred to the planets government helped that soundly into the positive category.

Soon after the starship revelation official recruitment began for the black navy, as the space navy was being called. There were so many applications that temporary staff needed to be hired to process them all. Cherise had overseen two new contracts just to build spacesuits.

The details of the Beezer involvement in space ventures and their operating a spacegoing merchant marine service created considerable interest from those with a less military-bent mentality. When Minu spoke with Bad Cold he was more than willing to allow recruitment of humans into their ranks, and soon had more than he’d bargained for when Rasa and some Traga wanted to sign up as well.

Aaron had stopped in her office one day to pick her up for a rare family dinner and saw some images of recruitment meetings. Humans, Beezer, Rasa and Traga all milling together. He’d seen it and laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Minu wondered.

“What are you going to name this alliance? The United Federation of Planets?”

“Funny,” Minu had said. But it got her thinking.

She realized just a few days ago that the big date was rapidly approaching and they needed to leave soon. Aaron reminded her that her birthday was just around the corner. Minu didn’t really care, but Aaron scheduled a party anyway.

“Look, we’re leaving soon and might be offworld during Mindy’s birthday, so let’s just have a little get-together.”

“Okay, but keep it little.”

It was fairly cool at the island in Octember, but when the party was conceived and planned the attendees quickly spiraled out of control. “We could move it into Tranquility,” Aaron suggested.

“This is our home,” Minu had said, “not an apartment off of Groves Industries.” And that was that. So they’d ‘borrowed’ a field tent from Ranger supplies and set it up against the cabin. A field expedient heater was set up as well. It would be okay for a few hours.

The hatch irised open on the shuttle and the lithe figure of her older daughter floated out and across the water. The blue crystalline bot that provided the anti-gravity field and moved her around hovered under her, its tractor fields invisible as the water shimmered and reacted to the beams.

“Hi baby!” Minu waved as the bot reached the land and delicate, almost gossamer, legs unfolded like a spider and moved towards her.

“I am not a baby, Mom,” Lilith said with a frown, but Minu could see a hint of a smile under it. Lilith leaned forward and Minu met her for a gentle kiss. That was something new only a few months ago, added by her observant daughter after seeing Minu kiss Mindy often.

“It is an observed human behavior, linked in your studies to transference of immunities,” Lilith had said when she kissed Minu and surprised the older woman. “However my immune system is artificially supported, so that purpose does not hold out. Thus that kiss was simply to reinforce our emotional bonds.”

“I’m glad you could come, Legate Groves.” Minu said and reached into the tingly anti-gravity field to touch her face. Lilith was wearing her dress military uniform, jet black with white striping down arms and legs. Her new Legate rank insignia rode on epaulettes, two gold rimmed white stars on a black panel. The Space branch planetary logo was over her left breast. It was as close to dressed up for a party as she was likely capable.

Minu wondered, what would she look like in a dress? That might be a much more involved project. Minu was in full off-duty, jeans and a buttoned up long sleeve top, hair braided and hanging free to her waist.

“Birthdays are an important thing for humans,” Lilith said. “I would not miss my mother’s birthday. And that title will take some getting used to.”

Minu grinned and headed to her cabin’s door. She could hear all the conversation before she ever got there. She couldn’t make out many voices. There was Dram’s deep baritone laughing at some joke. She could hear the musical lilt of Cherise’s voice singing, and Mindy’s absolutely joyful laughter. She opened the door and went in.

“Been wondering if our star daughter would arrive,” Aaron said and came over. He got a hug and a kiss from her which made him smile hugely.

“I would not miss it for the world,” Lilith said.

The crowd all parted to show the star of the party, Mindy Groves. Even though it was Minu’s birthday, everyone simply adored the baby. She was in her playpen near the center of the great room, completely surrounded by the guests. As Minu had guessed, Cherise was singing her a song in her native language. Bjorn was telling a story about how he’d gotten lost in the woods when he was that age (at seven months old?) to Ted Hurt, who looked like he’d dressed for a formal dinner.

Gregg and his wife Faye were watching the scene while sharing a glass of mead. Their own second child Judith, who was just eight weeks old, was riding a sling on Faye’s back. Jasmine and Ken were talking among themselves, probably about business. Ariana Beck was there with her husband, Shaker Beck, watching over their numerous kids, one in her arms trying to nurse. Minu had been a little surprised her husband was from the Boglands tribe.

And finally hanging around the outside was Sergeant Selain with a fire team of his best. He was there officially as a guest, but everyone knew that any crowd carried risk for the new Imperator, commander in chief of Bellatrix’s military. Out there, a few kilometers away over jungle, a single Lancer would be orbiting as well.

The crowd parted as Minu came through. “How’s my baby?” she asked.

Mindy looked up, her green eyes sparkling with happiness. “Mama!” she said and held up her arms. Minu laughed and swept the little girl up as she giggled wildly. Everyone laughed and a few clapped. Ariana’s two older girls swept in like hawks. They’d been going crazy for a chance to hold Mindy, so she relented. “Carry her outside? We’re ready for the cake.”

There had been gifts already, a simple affair as was the tradition on Bellatrix. Mementos of personal affection. Some keep sakes. A few toys, a couple keep sakes. The most surprising was from Dram. A beautiful framed hologram of Minu and all her friends, taken during their Trials.

“Holy shit,” Gregg hissed when he saw it.

“When did you take that?” Minu wondered.

The picture had them all. Minu, Aaron, Cherise, Gregg, and Pip. They were all in their simple Trial outfits sitting at a table in Steven’s Pass just before the gas incident that had chased them outdoors. Minu was saying something while the others all listened with interest.

“Timing is everything,” Dram said with a wink. “Actually security cameras record everything. I just used my access to pull it up and find this moment.”

Minu held it for a long minute, studying the tableau. They all seemed so young. And there was Pip, before his injury, and still so very much alive.

“Julast 5th, 514,” Minu read the date stamp on the picture. “Has it really been twenty-one years?”

“Yes,” Aaron said, putting an arm around her. “This is your thirty-fifth birthday…”

“You aren’t helping. Besides, some of that I burned off in FTL time distortion.”

“You don’t look a day over thirty,” Aaron said, but it didn’t change the expression of bittersweet memories from her face.

Dram looked at the expressions on their faces and frowned.

“I’m sorry, that wasn’t what I hoped for in that gift.”

“No,” Minu said and looked up at him with a tear in her eye. “This is awesome Dram. I only have a couple pictures of Pip, and next to none with all of us. Thanks.”

“Really,” Aaron agreed with a nod.

Dram bowed his head in understanding. “Memories can bring pleasure and pain.”

“Sometimes both at the same time,” Minu agreed.

Outside the chill was kept mostly at bay by the little Chosen made heater module. A long table was set with treats of all kinds and an enormous birthday cake.

Minu guided the girls to Mindy’s high chair and they managed to get her into it without dropping the baby, though with some difficulty. Minu double checked that the little buckle was in place, and gave the fidgeting baby a kiss. She was looking around expectantly.

Aaron lit the candles and Cherise started the song. “Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Minu, happy birthday to you!”

Mindy looked around in wonderment at all these people singing and waved her hands in wonderment. She seemed a little confused by it all but excited as well.

Cherise cut the cake and put a big slice on a plate then slid it in front of Mindy. “Here you go, baby,” she said.

Mindy looked at it, confused, then reached and touched. Then slowly inserted a finger into it, withdrew the finger and examined it.

Cake was being passed out to all; even the Ranger bodyguards were having a small bite. A few people chuckled as the baby girl sniffed then stuck the finger in her mouth and sucked the sugar off. “We have a winner,” Ariana laughed.

Mindy put it together, and reached out with a chubby hand and grabbed a huge handful of the confection. Some squirted out between her fingers, the rest was shoved into her mouth, also decorating half her face in bright blue icing. The crowd applauded, exclaimed, and generally laughed as the little daughter of the Imperator went at the birthday cake with a vengeance. In only moments her black hair was smeared with icing and she was nearly unrecognizable.

“Oh my, oh my,” Minu laughed, hand to her mouth. She was already thinking about running a tub. Faye was standing a meter away, shaking her head and with a rueful smile. “Was Alphonse that bad?” she asked. The other woman’s face fell and she looked down. “Oh, Faye, I forgot.”

“It’s okay,” she said, “we had his party not long before the virus hit. And yeah, it was this bad. Makes me wonder if I want to go through it again with Judith.”

“You have to, it’s a tradition.” Judith gave a single chuckle and nodded. “We thought we’d combine hers and mine since I’m afraid we’ll still be on Nexus when February 14th rolls around.”

Minu wanted to change the subject but had a hard time:

“I heard you’ve been visiting with Alphonse, that’s good.”

“Yes, we saw him just yesterday. We had lunch, actually. There’s no change, of course.”

“Are you still sure you want to have him in the program?”

“Of course, Imperator.”

Minu did laugh that time. The title just sounded funny to her sometimes. She’d almost wanted to use General or Commander, but that didn’t sound right. “Call me Minu.” The woman nodded. “Are you ready for next month, Faye?”

“I’ll be ready. It’s not too often a translator like me gets to go halfway across the galaxy!”

A short time later Minu and Aaron found their elder daughter trying the cake. Like her younger sister, she didn’t seem to know what to make of it

“You having fun?” Minu asked her daughter. The young woman had a confused look on her face. “What’s wrong?”

“She does not appear to be eating her cake.”

Minu snorted and Aaron guffawed. “Of course not,” Aaron said, “what one-year eats more than a few bites?”

“Then what is the purpose of this ritual?” Lilith persisted.

Minu and Aaron looked at each other as Lilith speared the cake floating in her zero-gravity excursion environment and took a bite of it. Two of Ariana’s kids were peeking from behind a food table at Lilith’s blue crystalline robot with wide eyes. Lilith appeared like some otherworldly being to them. A legend come alive and attending a party.

“I guess it’s more for us than her,” Minu admitted. “People like ritual events to mark the passage of time. It makes us feel better. And we always do certain things at these events.” She looked at Aaron for help.