Fleet Scout Ch. 02 - Fleet Insurgent

Sorry for the wait, someone decided to throw a pandemic and quarantine while I am on the road. In the interests of getting the next part posted, Fleet Insurgent will be a two-parter. Thank you for the kind comments, please stay safe and healthy, or have a speedy and complete recovery.

|3.1

Even with the hatch sealed, the roar of the falls filled the world around them. Then, when Addie opened her hatch, and the sound became an almost physical presence inside the ship, so much so that Leah could feel the rumbling vibration in her bones.

Atalanta had chosen a landing place on a large spit of land that jutted into the river and rose a dozen meters above the water. Leah was leery of being so close to the river, but Addie had pointed out that there was a collection of large trees growing here already. These were nothing like as large as the specimens on the canyon edge, but they hadn't grown overnight either.

"You don't want to upset the Anek and this is the best way. If the water level does come up, I've still got twenty-eight seconds of fuel for the reactors. That's more than enough to get me to the canyon rim."

Leah just nodded and Addie had parked herself in the center of the triangle formed by the three trees, settling onto the rocks.

"What next, Captain?"

Leah didn't respond, just looked around the cabin. After a few seconds, she lurched into the toilet and emptied her stomach.

"There are anti-nausea injections in locker M-1," Addie said quietly.

Leah straightened up and wiped her face. "I wasn't motion sick, Addie."

"I didn't think you were, your vital statistics are all normal. If you are still feeling ill, I have several..."

"I'm not sick," Leah interrupted.

"I know, Leah. You're scared."

Leah's sigh nearly became a sob. "Is it that obvious?"

"Leah, come out and sit down."

Addie opened the toilet door for her and Leah went and perched on the edge of the right hand pilot's couch for several seconds. Then she got up and began to pace.

"You should really drink some water."

She managed a chuckle. "Are you sure we shouldn't conserve?"

"I think I know where we can get more. Take the bottle marked L3 in the cold unit."

Leah went to look for it and found a liter sized steel and glass bottle.

"Okay."

"That's one of Finn's bottles of 'never-recycled' water. It's from ice on Celestial Reverie."

"Addie, I really shouldn't drink this."

"Yes, you should. I'm giving it to you. There's eighty liters more in storage if that's what's bothering you."

Leah took the top off and tried the water. It was achingly cold in her mouth and throat, washing away the bitter taste in her mouth. She drank more and sighed.

"Thank you, Addie. I was going through this situation in my head, cataloging what comes next. And then it hit me, how much trouble we're really in here. I could choke the shit out of Finn for falling out and leaving me with this."

"I assumed that he didn't have a choice."

"I know, but still."

"I agree that he can be aggravating at times."

"And don't tell him I threw up, please?"

Addie laughed. "If he does ask, I'll refer the question to you. There is a very high probability that he will not ask."

"I need to tell you something, Addie."

"Okay, Leah."

"Here's the thing; I am a really good pilot. That's what I was doing when I tried out for the Scouts, flying logistics on Hub."

"Your record is commendable as a pilot, I agree."

Leah smiled at Addie's neutral tone. "I'm not as good at being a Scout, yet. I am going to need your help here, Atalanta. If you see something that doesn't seem right to you, ask me. I'm not going to be offended, promise."

"I'll do my best, Leah, I promise. I don't know a lot about exo-diplomacy though."

"Me either, gorgeous. Did you manage to contact anyone else when we scattered?"

"Intermittently, for several seconds. I sent the search parameters you gave me. They shouldn't have...Attention! Three unknown entities are approaching from the riverbank. Are those the A'nek?"

Leah glanced at the screen. "Yep, that's them. The other Scouts?"

"I have high confidence that the search parameters were successfully sent. Remember that you shared them previously with the other scout captains. It's going to be okay, Leah. You're tough and smart and you have been training for this for your entire life, just like me. The Anek have stopped twenty-two meters away."

"Then I guess it's time to get back to work. Thank you, Atalanta."

"Rule the Sky, boss. Opening main hatch."

Leah was relieved to see that Lakshmi was part of the Anek trio that had arrived. Then she recognized Thalia and Wisdom. Knowing all three of them had come made her want to cry suddenly.

"Here you are again, too close to the water," Lakshmi said.

Horrified, Leah looked at the water flowing nearby, then back at the three of them. "Seriously? Those are in there too?"

Lakshmi put a hand on her shoulder and she immediately felt the amusement of all three of them.

"They live only in the dark places in the under-wet," Laskhmi said. "You are safe here."

Leah relaxed a little. "I almost jumped out of my skin when you said that."

There was another pulse of humor, more intense this time. Leah felt it but was barely able to smile.

(You are early, Leah Jones, but very welcome) Wisdom said. (What is this thing that brought you here?)

"Remember when you asked me how we could fall from the sky and remain whole? This is how. She's something we call a ship and her name is Atalanta. Would you like to meet her?"

When the four of them had reached the hatch, Atalanta had already lowered the access ladder. Leah climbed up and the three Anek peered inside.

"Atalanta, these are the people we met," Leah said. "This is Wisdom and her sisters Lakshmi and Thalia."

"It is my very great pleasure to meet you," Addie said. "Thank you for allowing me to remain here."

The three talked among themselves for a moment. Finally, Lakshmi climbed inside, reminding Leah of how much larger Anek were. With her aboard, Addie's cabin was immediately cramped. Lakshmi must have had the same reaction, she looked around briefly and climbed back out. Thalia did the same thing in turn.

"I am content to stay outside," Wisdom said, when Thalia emerged. "Is this a living creature or a device like Yuri Bogdanovich's gifts?"

"Excuse me for interrupting," Addie said. "I am a combination of machine and living creature."

"This is a fascination," Wisdom said. "If you are willing, I would like to spend time talking with you, when time permits."

"It would be my very great honor," Addie said in her "let's play Monopoly" voice.

"Then we shall. Leah Jones, you are here alone, fear and sadness and rage in your heart. Has Finn Morgan departed the path?"

Leah swallowed against the lump in her throat, concentrating on not bursting into tears again. "He was captured by the wrong thinkers. But he is probably alive. More of the wrong thinkers have come. They tried to capture all of us. Finn fell out and forced Atalanta to take off without him so that we could get away."

(So many of you already, I assumed your sky home was empty. This is not correct.)

Leah shook her head. "There are many, many more of us up there. I'll need some time to explain everything."

There was gentle amusement around her. Lakshmi pulled Leah into a hug and all three of them sent her reassurance.

(Leah Jones, you are safe here. Tell us as much as you know)

Fleet Graving Facility, Orbital Platform Jupiter-Alpha

Enduring Light (Hub), Low Orbit.

"They still up there?" one of the vacuum welders asked.

Her partner rolled his eyes. "You think they got bored and left?"

"Hey, I'm an optimist."

"Listen up, fam," the shift supervisor said as he came through the hatch. "You all know that we've got three shuttles full of RD goons parked on the hull. They burned through the personnel hatch on the admin deck but it doesn't look like they're quite sure what to do about our blast doors."

"What about the Softies?" someone called.

Williams, the shift supervisor looked grim. "They overrode the emergency protocols and opened the entire deck to vacuum. No survivors."

An angry growl spread through the incoming shift workers. The Outsiders, welders and construction hands, had their share of differences with the Softies, the admin and operations crews, but they were all Fleet. If anyone was going to kill the Softies, it would be them.

"Luckily, it doesn't really look like these groundhogs know what they're doing," Williams said. "I'm going to go out and teach them a few things."

This time the growl was one of approval and agreement. As Williams suited up, the rest of the Outsiders chose their preferred instruments of low-tech mayhem. Most of them chose the ubiquitous prybars used to set hull plates, but cartridge welders and line throwing guns were popular choices as well.

The oncoming shift scattered to personnel locks throughout the platform. They emerged in small groups, bottlenecked by the size of the airlocks. A few were immediately picked off by sentries near the shuttles, but it didn't slow the rest of the construction hands as they appeared all over the outer hull. Already acclimated to the difficulty of orbital work, they moved quickly. Some leapt off the hull while others began to fire their makeshift weapons. The heavy slugs from line-throwing guns were slow enough to see, even dodge, but the actinic light and deep shadows made it difficult for the rebels to see all of them. Several visors were cracked and two of the Groundhog ambushers were knocked off their feet. Without the grip provided by the magnetic boots, both began to float away from the station.

It was enough of a distraction that the Groundhogs were caught off-guard as the roughnecks thumped to the deck around them. Prybars jabbed out like spears, knocking the former attackers off their feet, cracking helmet faceplates, or crippling suit life-support units. The groundhogs began to rally, using their guns to even the odds as best they could, but soon it was over. A corona of bodies, some limp, others still thrashing around, floated off into the blackness. Over half of the roughnecks had been lost but the remaining workers turned the attacker's brutal tactics against them; hatches on the admin deck were all opened on a signal and the angry shipbuilders swarmed inside to deal with their ambushers.

|3.2

The bone growth splint ended with a cheerful little song. Maya got up from the chair she'd dragged near Finn's bed. She lifted the splint from his upper body and swung it out of the way.

"Try to sit up now."

Finn stretched cautiously. It wasn't anything near comfortable, but the agony from the broken bones was gone.

"Here, I'll help you sit. Specialist Benny said you're going to feel weak for a while."

Before Finn managed to refuse, but Maya had an arm under his arms and was lifting him into a sitting position. She added several pillows to prop him up.

"Is that better?" she asked, a hand resting on his shoulder.

"Don't touch me again."

She pulled her hand away, hurt in her eyes. "I apologize and you have my debt."

"I don't want anything from you. I want to be taken to wherever the other prisoners are being held."

"Sorry, the process isn't totally finished," Maya said. "Specialist Benny said you should rest for the next eighteen hours. Commander Newsome wanted someone to keep an eye on you. I thought you might want to talk."

"I'll bet you did. I'd like to be placed with the rest of the prisoners. I can rest as easily in one of your cells as this bed."

"They're not my cells, and you're staying here until...well, until you're not. I don't know what's going on exactly."

"I find that hard to believe. Under what authority am I being detained?"

"How about under the authority of not being able to move? You get up and walk to the door and I'll open it for you myself."

She had him there. He'd done the bone growth thing with a broken hand on Celestial Reverie and he'd barely been able to move it for a day afterward.

"As soon as I can move..."

"Yes, I'll pass along your request. Do you hate everyone, or are you just a really shitty patient?"

"Just the traitors and murderers."

Her eyebrows went up. "No one has been murdered here except the Brothers that were caught in the Bullfrog trap. But all your friends ran away safely."

Laying there, Finn had been getting angrier and angrier for the last two hours, furious that he was a prisoner again. He'd been staying calm, not wanting to give the captors any more information but her judgmental tone immediately washed away his determination to not show emotion.

"You fucking Luddite psychos killed a hundred and forty-three Pioneers and Scouts. Fuck your sick religion, that was my family."

Maya looked like she wanted to spit on him. "The accident is under investigation. It was a tragedy but blaming a community of peaceful farmers for it is simple-minded and paranoid."

"Can you explain how a bunch of tech-hating luddites are going to properly investigate the crash of an interplanetary ship? With a straight face, I mean.

Maya looked uncomfortable, like the idea hadn't occurred to her. "Not everyone was born a NeoPuritan," she finally said. "Smart people convert all the time and I'm sure Gavin has the right kind of people investigating."

"Oh, everything is just peachy then. I'm sure his Drabs will quickly find what they're supposed to find."

"Stop calling them that, it's racist."

"It is? When did they become a race? You assholes hate laughter, music, art, singing, alcohol, herb, and anything else that makes life bearable. Colorless and drab."

"That doesn't make them bad people, you arrogant ass."

"Really? Terrorists and murderers aren't evil anymore? Go away, I'm tired of looking at you."

Finn closed his eyes to get away from her. Unfortunately, his ears still worked.

"I'm curious, what did the aliens pay you to turn on the rest of Humanity?"

"That is the worst attempt at gaslighting I have ever heard."

"You really believe that? Maybe Commander Newsome is right, there are some Fleet officers that weren't caught up in the alien agenda. Is that what you are?"

Finn rolled his eyes. "Alien agenda? Seriously, again with the agendas? Back before, it was the gay agenda, the immigrant agenda, the climate agenda, and every other thing your masters wanted everyone to be afraid of. I hoped that humans would finally grow up a little, and maybe learn something about unity. But here we go again, the secret alien agenda. Give me a break, you traitorous bitch."

"Oh, you know what? Get bent, you half-witted rocket jockey. You're just some miserable sonofabitch who's too stupid to see what's right in front of him!"

Finn grinned. "Everyone knows that. Can't you manage a little originality?"

She stormed away and Finn closed his eyes again. Before he could escape into sleep, he heard Maya stomping back over to his bed.

"I want to read you this."

Finn sighed without opening his eyes. "Go away, I'm supposed to be resting."

"Then I'll read it out loud."

Finn opened one eye. "I said no. I'm too old for bedtime stories, and too smart for propaganda."

She read from her tablet, ignoring him:

"'To all sons and daughters of Earth, for immediate and urgent action.'

'The Terran Colonial Fleet and associated subsidiaries, including but not limited to; Fleet Planet Survey, Fleet Logistics Office, and the Colonial Guard, have been determined to be in a State of Mutiny.'

'Fleet leadership has ignored subpoenas from La Direction de la Réinstallation's lawful inquiry into new accusations of criminal behavior. Evidence has been obtained by the Directorate implicating Fleet operations in multiple crimes against the Human Race for the purpose of knowingly and willfully restricting the Natural and Lawful expansion of the Human Race.'"

Finn snorted. "Wait, we restricted natural and lawful expansion?' Did they finally bust us for breaking Boyle's Law?"

Maya frowned and typed something on her tablet. Then she glared at him and went back to reading.

" Upon receipt of this communique, permission and authorization of Fleet operations and activities is withdrawn and voided. All Fleet personnel and property are placed under a Bill of Attainder.

'The Bill of Attainder is a legal and necessary response to widespread treason and is a temporary measure to halt any further damage to the Human Race while lawfully appointed Directorate investigations determine the extent and severity of the treasonous actions.

Therefore, all Terran Colonial Fleet dues, duties, and property are immediately seized by Directorate. All Colonial Fleet and Colonial Guard personnel are hereby ordered to peacefully disarm and surrender to the nearest Directorate authority. All dependents and family members of personnel involved with Fleet Operations are subject to this judgement are ordered to submit themselves to the nearest Directorate authority until their guilt or innocence is determined.

Note that extreme care should be taken in securing any craft equipped with self-aware systems. All possible care should be taken to do as little damage as possible to these systems.

In Service to Humanity, La Direction de la Réinstallation.'"

She held up the tablet for him to see the official seal that Resettlement attached to all their communications. "That's the authority you're being held under, traitor."

"If any of you mouth breathers bothered to do the most basic research, you'd see that your precious Resettlement Directorate has nothing to do with Fleet Ops. If you're not bright enough to read the Hub wiki, give me your tablet and I'll write you some even better bullshit to read. Don't worry, I'll use small words that even you can understand."

Maya was immediately back in his face. It was gratifying easy. He'd always been able to get people mad, but this was getting fun.

"Stop being such an asshole!" she hissed. "AndI am not a member to the New Reform Church. Gavin, my partner, converted after Fleet marooned them here! You're such a technocratic patriarch that you hate the idea of a simple life that much?"

"My life's been pretty simple; I spent every waking moment in the real service to humanity. Day after day, mission after mission, Fleet Scouts have been out here finding places that we can live. What's your simple life? Squatting here in your fucking communal paradise, drinking your craft beer and whining about the Fleet while we go out and die so that you ungrateful pricks can have some kind of decent life."

Finn saw that he'd scored another important hit; Maya's earlier condescension slipped slightly. "There's never been anything on the feed about Fleet casualties."

He shrugged and it noticed that it was a little easier this time. "We're not here to be pitied. We're here to lead the way to new homes, to support the outposts and colonies that need our help. You know, like we were doing here on Erewhon before you started murdering us?"

"Why do you keep using that word, I told you that..."

"Yeah, yeah, it was an accident. Except it wasn't. I saw the steel cable they used with my own eyes. I talked to the man they got to pull it across the runway, before they murdered him as well. Use that tablet for something besides socialnet and look it up; Sparrow's Flame had a perfect maintenance record and a fourth generation AI. Ships like that don't just randomly crash. It was mass murder and your holier-than-thou shit stains were behind it."

"Then where's your proof?" she replied, voice getting louder.

"Well, Gavin and 'Ole Goat Face,' whoever he is, had a big hole blown in Exhibit A's head, but if..."