The Valkyries

Chapter 2

 

© Clay Clearbrook

 

 

“…having a few issues with climate control in Three…”

Sean Durick gave all appearances of listening patiently as the head of the Environmental Control Department delivered her quarterly report.

“Christ, Edna.” Steven Barnes, head of the civilian branch of the Resource Acquisition and Distribution Department snorted in disgust. “Don’t tell us a couple of punks got into the master station again!”

Edna Teems blushed slightly and gave a tight lipped nod causing Steven to guffaw.

“It isn’t funny.” Edna gave him a murderous glare that Steven ignored.

“Of course it is.”  He managed to say once he got his laughter under control. “C’mon, Edna.  It’s a Rite of Passage for every graduating class.”  He took on a conspiratorial look. “Let’s see if we can make it rain while old Mister Johnson is impersonating a windbag during the ceremonies.”

Every one present, with the exception of Edna and Sean’s personal aide, Jarred, had to chuckle at that.

“He’s got a point, Edna.” Sean broke in before Edna could fire off a scathing reply. “Hell, I think my class was one of the few that actually succeeded.”  He put a hand over his heart and took on a very solemn appearance. “Not that I was personally involved, of course.” There were a few snorts of disbelief that Sean ignored with a smile. “Seriously Edna, there are enough safeguards in place that there is extremely little chance that those students could do any permanent damage.” He pointed a finger at her. “Plus, I happen to think that it keeps your people on their toes. As long as those kids keep thinking of ways to screw with the environment, your people will have to think of ways to keep them from doing it.  When the students succeed, it means that your people haven’t thought of everything. But I am satisfied that you and your people won’t get caught the same way twice.  When the students are able to use the same method twice, that is when I will start worrying.”

Edna nodded sharply, somewhat mollified, and Sean turned to the next person.

“Okay, Gary, your turn.”  He said, leaning back in his seat as the meeting continued.

After everyone had filed their reports, Sean thanked them all.

“I know all of you have work to do, so I won’t keep you from it.”  He told them, standing to indicate the meeting was at an end. As department heads began to file out, Sean caught the eyes of three and made a small gesture to indicate that they should stay. Jarred noticed and made as if to resume his seat, pausing as Sean waved him out.

“Sir?”  He asked, frowning at the three Sean had ordered to remain.

“That’ll be all for now, Jarred.” Sean dismissed him and waited until the assistant had grudgingly left and the conference room door had closed behind him.

“You know shutting him out like this is just going to irritate him further.” Steven remarked as he took a seat round the large table, this time closer to Sean. The other two, Dr. Mike Garison Chief of the Medical Department and Terry Walers, Department head of the Scientific Research Department moved to take closer seats as well.

As they settled themselves, Sean used the controls in the table surface before him to activate a security shielding around the room.  While it would not stop some one from physically entering the room, it would put an end to any sort of eavesdropping, electronic or otherwise.

“I suppose you have heard the latest scuttlebutt.” He spoke up once the tell-tale indicators in the table showed the security measures active.

“If you’re talking about our soon-to-be guests.” Steven grumbled as the other two nodded. “A full company of Martian Marines?”

“Might as well call them EG Marines.” Terry spat, her face skewed up as if she smelled something rotten. “According to the latest news reports we’ve received, the Martian Government has all but rolled over and bared its throat to the EG.”

“Well, if they pull this off, then they really will be the United System Government.” Dr. Garison remarked.

“Bullshit.” Steven shook his head. “It’ll still be the damned EG and everyone knows it.”

EG, or Earth Gov, was a term that the US had never officially recognized.  It had been coined by the outermost colonies, the outermost of which happened to be Fargone, and had stuck.

“Steven is probably correct.” Sean nodded. “The way it looks from here, despite all the flowery language promising equality, Earth is going to be calling most of the shots.”

“Didn’t the Martians learn anything from Luna and Venus?” Terry demanded.

“Different circumstances.” Sean waved that aside. “The fortunes of war and all that.”  He shook his head and drew a deep breath. “There’s nothing we can do about that.  Our worry should be the Marines they are sending our way and what we plan to do about them.”

“Realistically, what can we do about them?” Dr. Garison asked. He held up a hand and ticked off items on his fingers. “We have no military of our own so a resistance of force is out unless we want a lot of civilian casualties. We are, for all practical purposes, an unarmed Habitat. The light weapons aboard our survey vehicles hardly count. So they could, should we still contemplate resistance, stand off and blast us to hell.”

“But we have always been neutral in any of the conflicts of the inner system!” Terry objected. “What right do they have to force their killers on us?”

“In their eyes, might makes right. Of course, what they say is that it is for our own good.  Our own safety.” Sean sighed. “Mike is right.  They have the firepower to enforce their will and we don’t have the ability to resist. Those Marines are already on their way here and there is not a damned thing we can do about it.”  He paused and shook his head. “The problem we have to address is Project Enceladus.”  With this, he looked squarely at Terry.

“Jesus, Sean.” The shook her head and rubbed her temples with both hands. “Even if we started today, there is no way that we could dismantle everything before those Marines get here…whenever that will be.”

“According to the last communiqué I received, the Marines boarded the USS Striker which boosted out from Mars two weeks ago. That gives them an ETA of two weeks, give or take a week.” Sean consulted a screen inlaid in the table before him. “The Striker is an armed transport graciously loaned to the Martians by the EG to transport a Company of two-hundred and fifty Martian Marines to be stationed at Fargone for an indeterminate amount of time.  In addition to the Martian Marines, the Striker carries a crew of one hundred and a separate EG Marine force of fifty.”

“Three hundred Marines?”  Steven blurted, subsiding as Sean shook his head.

“Only the Martian Company will be remaining.” He said. “The EG Marines are permanently stationed aboard the Striker and will depart when she does.”

“I guess it would be too much to ask that they kill each other off before they get here.” Steven grumbled.

“Probably so.” Sean mused in an off hand way as he studied the data. “Now here is something interesting. According to this, the Martian Company is made up entirely of women.”

“What?” Dr. Garison jumped to his feet and moved around so he could look over Sean’s shoulder at the data.

“See?” Sean pointed to the data in question. “Two hundred and fifty Martian Marines, commanded by a Colonel Corina Twillian.” He touched a few keys and the printed data was replaced by pictures of the Martian Marine’s Commanding officers.

Dr. Garison’s face grew pale and he staggered back to his seat, slumping wearily.

“Mike, what is it?” Sean looked at the Doctor and then back at pictures.

“Those aren’t just women, Sean.” The doctor whispered. “Those are Valkyries!”

“Genies?” Steven exploded, half standing himself. “Those dickwads are sending us friggin Genies?”

“Yes...no.  Not really.” Dr. Garison shook his head.

“Which is it, Mike?” Sean asked softly. “Are they genies or not?”

“Technically, no.” The doctor took a breath and looked up. “They are Valkyries.” He saw the confusion in the eyes of the others and waved it aside. “Yes, I know you’ve heard of them and I know that they are usually lumped in with Genies, but there are basic differences.”

“Such as?” Sean prompted

“Those Augmented persons we refer to as Genies are the result of direct, individual gene manipulation or gene-splicing.” The doctor explained. “Geneticists combine and recombine genes from multiple sources to produce individuals that exhibit some specific augmentation. They are all, basically, clones with enhancements.”

“And the Valkyries are different how?” Steven demanded.

“The Valkyries are not clones.” Dr. Garison turned to him. “They are, however, the result of artificial insemination.  Unlike Genies, Valkyries are the direct off-spring of one female and one male.  Doctors find a prime female specimen and attempt to impregnate her using sperm from a prime male specimen. If the attempt is successful, the doctors inject two sets of specialized nanites into the embryo within the first week of pregnancy.” He shrugged slightly. “Inserting med-nanites into a fetus is common practice these days.”

“But you said they introduce it into the embryo, is there a difference?” Sean asked.

“The baby is called an embryo from fertilization to about the eighth week, at which point it is called a fetus.” It was Terry who answered and she gave a slight smile. “Hey, I’ve had three kids, I know a little bit about it!”

“She’s right.” Dr. Garison nodded. “A lot of the major organs are developed during the early, or embryonic, stages.  From the research I have seen, if the two sets of nanites are not introduced within the first week, then the chances of miscarriage increase dramatically.”

“That still doesn’t tell us what the differences are between a Valkyrie and a Genie.” Steven growled.

“The difference is in their creation.” Dr. Garison replied. “And that makes a lot of difference in the finished product.  With Genies, the geneticists are splicing genes to produce specific enhancements.  Strength, agility, heightened senses, or some combination. But there is a drawback to the s[licing method. For whatever reason, there is always an instability factor.”  He shrugged. “No matter how good the Geneticists may be at gene-splicing, nature demands a say.  The result is that, with every Augment created, there is a chance of some instability.  Usually mental in nature.”

“And the Valkyries?”

“There is no gene-splicing involved.” The doctor turned to Sean. “One of the sets of nanites introduced into the embryo is a set of specialized medical nanites.”

“So?  You said yourself that introducing med nanites is a common practice.”

“Not like these. These nanites are extremely specialized and are engineered to work hand in hand with the second set of nanites that are introduced.  But it is that second set that really makes the Valkyrie.  They are called Combatants which, incidentally, is the Valkyrie’s official designation. Coordinating with the med-nanites, they start working the instant they are introduced into the embryo.”  He shook his head. “I am no expert and the material on the Valkyries has been highly classified for years.  But the long and short is that, together, the two sets of nanites work to correct any defects that may arise during development. Any defect that can’t be corrected causes a miscarriage. They also work to enhance the skeletal structure, the muscles, the reflexes, the senses, everything, beyond the human norm.  The difference is that the nanites don’t introduce anything new.  They simply work with what is already there, boosting it in ways that would not normally occur in a regular pregnancy.”

“So the end result is a superman, or woman without the instability factor of a regular Genie.” Sean mused.

“No.  Not supermen.” Dr. Garison shook his head. “That is one of the drawbacks of the Combatants.  For whatever reason, and to the best of my knowledge they have still not figured it out, the Combatant Nanites won’t work with a Y chromosome. Introduce the Combatants into a male embryo, and yes, the sex is determined at conception, and you will have an instant miscarriage. Only those embryos with double X Chromosomes, or females, can handle the introduction of the Combatants.”

“Okay.”  Sean nodded thoughtfully.  “And how do you know that these…marines…are Valkyries?”

The doctor stood and walked back behind Sean to look at the pictures again and pointed out a woman of obvious Asian descent.

“I’ve seen that one.” He proclaimed. “During a trip to Mars for a Medical Conference.”

“Why would a Valkyrie be at a Medical Conference?” Terry demanded.

“She’s one of their medical officers.” Dr. Garison said.  “A damned good one, if I remember correctly.  I was quite impressed with her abilities.  In fact…” he moved back to his own place and activated the station for that seat.  He worked for a moment and then nodded to himself. “I thought so. I took some pictures of some of the people there and she was in one of the photos. Her name is Mey Ling.”  He pressed a button, transferring the picture to Sean’s station.

Sean studied the picture and compared it to the one in his list and finally nodded.

“It looks like the same person.” He said.  “The only difference I can see is that this one has a tattoo and this one doesn’t.”

“That threw me off for a moment, as well.” The doctor agreed. “By law, all Genies on Mars are required to have a specific tattoo identifying them.  Not a big deal when it comes to regular Augments since they are usually easily identifiable due to whatever enhancements they have been tailored with. For the Valkyries, the tattoo was a winged skull, though, from what I was given to understand, the colors differed for various reasons.”  He shook his head. “That is the same person, I’ll bet on it.”

“If it is, then she’s had the tattoo removed.” Steven put in. “Is it possible that she’s gone renegade and that she is trying to hide in this company?”

“No.” Sean waved that suggestion aside. “If she were renegade, then the last place she would be would be in a military unit.  She would be trying to pass as a human civilian.”

“Get that thought out of your head, Sean.” Dr. Garison snapped. “A Human civilian?  The Valkyries are human, Sean.  Never doubt that. They may be Augments, but they aren’t Genies and they are every bit as human as you and I.”

“Okay, they’re human.” Sean grimaced. “But the concept is the same.  She wouldn’t try to hide out in a military unit, especially not an all female one.”  He glanced back at the list of photos again and read the captions, chuckling. “And she surely wouldn’t try to do so as Major Mey Ling, Company Medical Officer.”

“So it is the same person.” Dr. Garison sighed. “And she has removed the tattoo.”

“And from what we know of the Martian Government, even before it surrendered to the EG, for an Augment to attempt to conceal its nature is a very serious offense.” Sean spoke aloud. “One that can get the Augment in question quickly terminated.”

“That’s true.”  Dr. Garison nodded.

“Something here does not add up.” Steven gave both the doctor and Sean a puzzled look. “Why would an Augment remove her tattoo, get placed in a Marine Company consisting totally of females, not even bothering to change her name, and get her self sent out here?”

“I think it is beginning to add up.” Sean disagreed. “For one thing, I’ll wager that entire company is made up of Valkyries.  And I’ll wager that being sent out here to keep an eye on us is mostly bullshit.”

“How do you figure?” Dr. Garison demanded.

“Look at the current political climate on Mars, people.” Sean spread his hands. “We know through our sources that the current Pro Earth-Gov Administration is at odds with a good portion of the Martian Military.  We know that if there is a power struggle the EG will step in…and they know it as well as we do.  Sooner or later, the Military will have to give in or risk a civil war.  But if they give in, if they haven’t already, then they will have to toe the EG line concerning Augments.  Meaning that they will have to dispose of them.  All of them.  Genies and Valkyries.”  He actually laughed as he thought it through. “I’ll bet that, on paper at least, that this Marine Company we are being graced with is nothing special. Some one, this General Hemmers most probably, is trying to save some of them.”

“By sending them here.”  Steven shook his head. “They’re being exiled and we have to deal with them.”

“Exactly.”  Sean mused. “But consider, if they are being exiled here, in an attempt to hide their true identities, then they are not going to be very loyal to a system that goes out of its way to make sure their kind are…disposed of.”

“Wait a minute.” Terry held up a hand. “If we can identify them so easily, why can’t the EGs?”

“For one, they probably don’t have records of the Valkyries.” Dr. Garison said. “And if I were the one in charge on Mars, I would make damned sure that such records no longer existed. And Two, the only way we knew is because of shear blind luck. If I had not met Mey Ling, we wouldn’t know a damned thing more than we did before we entered this room.”

“Interesting.” Sean mused as he pulled up a larger photo of the Marine’s Commanding Officer. “If we believed all the EG hype about the Valkyries, I would expect them to look like giant, hulking female ogres.”

“That was one of the scariest things about the Valkyries.” Dr. Garison shrugged. “Without that tattoo, there is absolutely no way to tell them apart from any other women.”

“Until they start kicking ass and taking names.” Steven snorted.

“Exactly.” The doctor nodded. “But it wasn’t their abilities that got them black-listed by the EG.”

The other three looked at him as he sat there, looking at the picture of Mey Ling.

“Well?” Sean demanded when it seemed the doctor wasn’t going to continue. “What was it then?”

“The Valkyries weren’t as…malleable as most Genies.” Garison went on. “Compliance is one of the things that the Geneticists try to breed into the Genies.  Probably one of the causes of the instability.”

“Meaning that the Valkyries can disobey orders.” Steven sat back, thinking.

“And they did, on multiple occasions during the eugenics conflict.” Dr. Garison nodded. “Every one knows that the Valkyries were instrumental in ending that conflict.  What is not as well known is that they did so in direct opposition to their orders. Exactly what they did and why is never really explained.  However, it is believed that, in the years following the conflict, a majority of the Command Valkyries were summarily, and very quietly, executed.”

Sean gazed at the photo of the Commanding Officer for a moment more and then shook his head.

“I guess we’ll just have to see what happens when they get here.” He said, clearing the screen. “But back to Project Enceladus.”  He looked at Terry.

“As I said at the beginning, there is absolutely no way we can dismantle the entire project before the Striker arrives.” Terry shrugged. “Damnit, I knew we should have used one of the construction shacks for this.”

“And the arguments for containing most of the Project in the Hub Access still apply.” Sean told her.

“Since it is in the Access, isn’t there anyway that we can simply have it tugged out?” Steven wondered.

“We’d have to tear down the scaffolding and pressure seals.” Terry shook her head. “We could do it and move it out, but the question would then be, where to put it and then repair four pressurized hangers and a docking slip so that our guests won’t notice that we had made alterations.  It can be done, but not in time. We might hide the project, but there is no way that we can hide the fact that we had something there.”

“Could we make it look like damage?” Steven wondered. “Make it appear as if one of our support ships had an accident and smashed up the hangers and docking slip?”

“Again, not in time, unless you actually want to crash a support ship into the Access.” Terry snorted.

“I don’t think we want to go to that extreme.” Sean drawled.

“I know this is not my area, but why don’t you just build a partition around it?” Dr. Garison asked.  When the other three looked at him he shrugged. “Wall it off, tell the marines that we are doing a bit of re-construction and put it off limits?”

“And if they decide they want to inspect it?” Steven demanded.

“They won’t.” Sean mused. “Not at first. I don’t think these…Valkyries…are going to come in and start throwing their weight around.”

“Perhaps not.” Steven growled and jerked his head towards the door of the conference room. “But we all know that certain people are going to be going out of their way to get those Marines into that area.”

“Which makes the concept of hiding the Project moot, doesn’t it?” Terry agreed.

Sean sighed.  As much as he might hate to admit it, the two had a point. Even way out here, in the outer reaches of the Solar System, people were not all of the same accord when it came to the United System Government. The feelings ran from total antipathy towards the EG to complete acceptance of it.

“Sean, if those Marines discover the importance of Project Enceladus and learn that we have purposely with held our discoveries from the EG, you are the one that is going to get hit hardest.” Terry spoke softly.

Sean shrugged and stood.

“We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.”  He said. “For now, let’s go with Mike’s Partition. Now you all better scoot before Jarred has a conniption.”

He waited until the three had left and then pulled up the file he had bee looking at earlier, focusing once again on the Marine Commander.

*****

“The Striker is docking, Sir.”

“Jarred,” Sean Durick snapped, not bothering to look up from his cluttered desk. “I could care less.”

In the two and a half weeks since his meeting with the Board, Sean had had little time to worry about the arriving Marines.  Keeping an endeavor like the Fargone running smoothly was no easy task. Especially these days when they were, for all practical purposes, cut off from trade with the inner system.

There was, it seemed, always something that demanded his personal attention.

Though Governor was his official title, the old title of Station Manager seemed to be a better fit.  It was his job, along with the Board of Directors, made up of the various Department Heads, to keep the Habitat running smoothly and safely. Not an easy task, especially in this day and age considering the political atmosphere.

Just within the last week they had learned of violence flaring up not only on Mars but within some of the more distant Outer Colonies as the EG flexed its muscles and attempted to assert its control.  These incidents had prompted the EG to tighten its trade policies even further, threatening to make what had already been cut to a trickle non-existent.

In the past, Fargone had welcomed the various vessels from the colonies and from Earth that transported goods and tourists but those days, with the increasing tension between Earth and the Colonies, were long gone.  Now US Ships stopped and boarded every Colonial vessel they came across, impounding any that were found to be in violation of any of the multitude of minor or major regulations the US had seen fit to impose upon the Colonies. Of course it didn’t help that colonial rebels would hijack any unarmed Earth vessel they could get their hands on!

Nor did it help that the US had discovered that some of the colonies in the asteroid belt and on Mars had begun developing military Genies!

From his sources, or Dr. Garison’s sources, rather, Sean knew the US was behind on their information.  He knew for a fact that Martian Military had several hundred of the unstable Augments scattered among their regular units. Of course, with the new laws in place, and with what amounted to surrender before the first shot was fired by the government of Mars, there was no telling what would become of those Augmented soldiers. Frankly, Sean did not give them odds for surviving the first year under the US yoke.

Of course some of the Martian population was known to be resentful and had even broken away from the main government, claiming their independence from both the United System and the Mars government, aligning openly with the so-called rebel colonies. Though he had no proof, he felt certain that the government of the Martian Moon Demos had long ago began to secretly transport specifically tailored Genies to Earth.  Anything to destabilize the Earth Gov, and break the strangle hold it had on the colonies. Or rather, to break the strangle hold the colonies felt the EG had on them.

Officially, Fargone maintained strict neutrality.  There was right and wrong on both sides and the escalation of hostilities, Sean felt, arose more from the petty posturing of politicians, flag waving idiots, and scum that used government to get rich at the tax-payers expenses on both sides, than from any real, tangible, difficulties.

Though it was for all practical purposes completely self sufficient, Fargone had always relied on trade to bring in funds to purchase items that they could not, due to ability or EG proprietary laws, make themselves.  Now, with that trade being threatened even more, Sean and the Board were being forced to consider other options.

Some had simply suggested that if the EG would not allow trade through, then they should ignore the laws and simply produce for themselves what they needed. A stand Sean found himself in agreement with. A majority, however, led by his own aide, had voted down that notion, believing that these troubled times would pass. 

“Besides,” Jarred had argued, “If we were to do this, we will give the US even more reason to exert more control over us if we flaunt their laws.” Jarred was one of the few that refused to equate the United System to Earth Gov like most of the Fargone population. “We’ll forfeit our status as neutrals and, at least in the eyes of the US, put ourselves firmly in the Rebel camp!”

Jarred’s argument had swayed a majority of the Board, and so now it fell to Sean to attempt to figure out how to procure the items the Habitat would need.

Grimacing, Sean laid his stylus to the side of the compad he was working on and began the process of shutting down his work station. He then closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat, rubbing his hands over his face. “Sorry, Jarred.”  He mumbled.

After eight weeks he should have gotten used to the notion that Fargone would be playing host to a contingent of soldiers forced on them by the United System Government. Should have but hadn’t. And learning exactly who and what these Marines were had not helped him in the slightest.

“Sir, I am certain the passengers have begun to disembark!” Jarred announced, looking pointedly at his watch.

“The Striker is an armed and armored US Transport vessel, not a passenger liner.” Sean snorted as he stood.  In his jeans and flannel shirt, he looked more like a backwoods man rather than the station manager of one of the largest and oldest space habitats in the system.  His short cropped beard and collar length brown hair only added to the backwoods image. The few streaks of premature gray, however, gave him a bit more of a distinguished look.  Purely accidental, of course.

“They are not passengers, Jarred.” He rumbled, ignoring the scowl Jarred gave as he looked over his boss. “They are friggin Martian Marines and I don’t want them here!”

Jarred said nothing though the scowl on his face spoke volumes.

“Alright.” Sean sighed, half walking, half floating from behind his desk. This close to the hub, gravity was, at best, only half that felt in the rims of the three rings of the habitat. “Let’s go see your ‘passengers’.”

The docking cavern, located in what had long ago been designated the north end of the habitat, was a massive cavity in the hub, or spindle, open to space at all times. Approaching ships were ordered to terminate all but basic life support and then hauled into the great maw by tug boats and either guided into one of the hangers that could be sealed and pressurized, in the case of smaller ships and shuttles, or moored into a birthing slip, in the case of ships as large as the Striker.

Unloading ships in the hangers was a simple task once the hanger was pressurized.  Unloading a moored vessel was a bit more complicated.  Once locked into place, docking tubes were extended from the habitat to the ship, much like ancient gangways connected airliners on Earth to airport terminals, allowing passengers and crew to disembark. Larger tubes were run out to offload any cargo that had to be maintained within an atmosphere.  The remainder of the cargo was offloaded in vacuum and moved into an empty slip-hanger.  From there, once the hanger was pressurized, the cargo would be distributed through the habitat.  Items to be sent to Earth or one of the colonies were loaded in the same fashion. 

As they drew closer to the hub, elevators moving them through the largely uninhabited portions close to the hub, gravity steadily decreased. Rather than stopping to don the specialized magnetic boots used by maintenance workers and cargo handlers, boots that would stick to the floor, allowing them to walk in zero gravity, the two men simply grasped hand rails that lined the walls of the hallways, and propelled themselves down the passages until they reached the receiving area. Transparent walls gave them a good view of the moored ship as they floated into the waiting area. It also showed that half the great cavern had been separated by a hastily assembled ‘wall’ that hid anything on the other side from view.

As they entered the vast room, Sean purposely avoided looking towards his aide, knowing the younger man would be giving him a dark, I-told-you-so look.  They were late.  The first of the soldiers were already milling about in the area and more were swimming out of the boarding tube.

Seeing them, Sean glanced at Jarred, pleased to see the man’s reaction as he noted that all the Marines seemed to be female. He, of course, had been forewarned by the information he had received and shared with his advisors. He sighed inwardly as he thought of the time he would have shared such information with his Aide. Though they both tried not to show it, they both knew that Jarred’s increasingly Pro-US stance and Sean’s decidedly anti-EG stance had driven a wedge between them.

He turned his attention back to the off-loading Marines as Jarred picked his jaw up off the floor and moved to accost one of the soldiers and asking, politely Sean noted, for the Commanding officer. After the soldier had pointed out the individual, Jarred graciously thanked the soldier and made his way toward the indicated officer.

Sean knew he should follow, but he took the moment to get first impressions. None seemed to be flailing around like cadets unused to zero-gee.  Indeed, they all seemed to be very competent.  Keeping at least one foot, with magnetic boots, connected to the metallic floor while they assembled their gear and¼.

“Sir, may I present Colonel Corina Twillian? Colonel, this is Governor Sean Durick.” Introductions complete, Jarred backed away, though not so far that he could not hear and be available should the governor need him.

“Governor Durick.” The woman looked exactly like the photo he had seen but now, in person, he was surprised to note that she did not look to be much older than a woman in her mid to late twenties. So this was what the commanding officer of a Company of Valkyries looked like.

“Colonel Twillian.” Sean forced himself to nod politely yet he could not bring himself to smile. “Welcome to Fargone.”

“Really?” Corina tilted her head ever so slightly and Sean could swear he caught a tinkle in her eye. “I was under the impression that our welcome would be...questionable.”

Despite himself, Sean finally essayed a small smile.

“That, Colonel, would be an understatement.” Obviously this woman had decided to cut through the crap right off the bat...so he would oblige her. “Honestly, I would have to say that we resent your presence here.”  He paused to take a breath and glanced again at Jarred. “However, I understand that you are not to blame and that you and your...company...are merely following the orders of your superiors.”

He looked past her at the women still gathering.  The flood from the docking tube had become a trickle and already officers were attempting to form them up into some semblance of ranks.

“But you are here.” He flicked his eyes back to the Colonel, “So I guess the only thing either of us can do is make the best of it.”

“Those are my thoughts as well, Governor.” Corina nodded. She glanced around quickly, her eyes lingering briefly on the partitioned section of the docking cavern visible through a window that looked out over the area, and then on Jarred, before drawing herself up into a position of attention. “”With all due respect, Governor, would it be possible to get my people settled?  I assume that arrangements have been made for quarters?”  She gave a sheepish grin. “I would really like to get myself and my people back into some semblance of gravity before the anti-nausea meds our medics pumped us with begin to wear off.”

“Anti-Nausea?” Sean looked sharply at the Colonel and then back towards the women forming up in the vast room.

“Uh.” Corina actually looked embarrassed.  “It seems that most of us don’t handle long periods of zero gravity very well.”

“You don’t....” Sean could not help the slight chuckle of surprise that escaped, nor could he help but notice the way the Colonel’s face, framed by the bright red hair that escaped from beneath her white beret, seemed to glow with embarrassment. “Of course.”  He signaled to Jarred. “This is my assistant, Jarred Aimes. He has people ready to escort your people to their quarters.”

“We don’t have barracks, I am afraid.” Jarred began, stepping forward. “But we have made an apartment complex in First ready for you and the crew of the Striker.  The gravity in First is about three fourths of a full Earth Gravity.  Will that be satisfactory?”

“It should.” Corina nodded. “According to our Chief Med Officer, it is the complete absence of gravity that causes problems.”

“Good.” Jarred started to turn away and then turned back. “I almost forgot, do you have special requirements for officers?  Should they be quartered separately? We do have special quarters set up for you and the Striker officers, of course, but without knowing how your unit was set up, we did not know whether to make separate quarters available for your other officers.”

Corina thought for a brief moment and then shook her head.

“If at all possible, just show them to the complex and let them arrange things as they feel best.”  She paused. “I do hope that my quarters are not too distant from where my people are quartered, however.”

“Not at all.” Jared waved her concern away. “You are quartered in a single housing unit right next door to the apartment complex.”

Sean considered the woman before him silently for only the briefest of moments before reaching a decision.

“Jarred.” He turned to face his aide. “Why don’t you get with the Colonel’s XO and start getting these people and their equipment to their quarters.”

“Sir?” Jarred gave his boss a quick look, one which Corina interpreted as irritation. The assistant instantly smoothed his face into a look of mild curiosity.

“I do have other work to do.” Sean gave his aide a mocking grin. “I am sure the Colonel and I have some things that we need to discuss and I would like to get that out of the way as quickly as possible. I can take care of that and then see her to her quarters.”

“But sir...” Jarred, for a brief moment, looked alarmed and then he calmed himself and even gave a forced smile. “Of course. As you said, I have people ready to guide them to their quarters.  I’ll get them going and then remain here to guide the Striker Crew.”

“Some one else can take care of the Striker’s personnel, Jarred.” Sean frowned at his assistant’s sudden obstinate streak. “This won’t be their first visit to Fargone. I want you personally to see that these…ladies…are shown to their quarters and given all the assistance they require. Am I understood?”

For a moment Sean thought Jarred would continue to argue.  Finally however, he nodded and turned to Corina and gave a slight bow.

“Colonel, I will speak with you later. Remember, if you need anything, just contact me.” He said, giving her a look she could not decipher and then turning to float towards the assembled women.

“He means well.” Sean sighed, watching the smaller man move away.

“I am sure he does.” Corina risked.

Sean shot her a look, one eyebrow rising as he attempted to divine the meaning behind her remark. She matched him stare for stare and finally he shrugged.

“Shall we go?” He motioned towards the door through which he and Jarred had entered mere moments before.

Corina, following Sean’s example, kicked away from the floor and used the hand rails to propel herself along the passages behind Fargone’s Governor. 

The elevators, Corina knew from her research, or rather, Rese’s research, ran along and through the massive spokes that connected the rings to the spindle. The spokes pierced the hull of rings one and two and, from a person observing from ‘ground level’ in either of those rings, it would appear as a great metal column stretching from the ‘sky’ to the ‘ground’.

Ring three was more like the habitats Corina had visited in both earth and Mars orbit.  Once reaching the ring, the spoke stopped, rather than marring the carefully cultivated landscape. Elevators were shunted into the space between the inner and outer hulls and zipped around the perimeter, emerging in a sub station just below the ground level.  In those other stations, the elevators were commonly called sub-ways after ancient underground train systems on Earth.

She knew that both rings one and two had once been designed in similar manners. The spoke extensions from top to bottom had been added just before the station had been moved, for the express purpose of adding structural stability during the move.

She had expected to step out of the elevator at the ground level of Ring One, or First as they obviously called it here, so was a bit surprised when the elevator slowed to a stop about half the distance to the ring.

“We get off here.” Sean announced as the doors slid open. “We’re at about half a Gee here so you should be okay.”

Seeing her confused look, he smiled and she was surprised to note that his cheeks dimpled slightly and his eyes seemed to twinkle with mirth as his lips spread.

“My office.” He explained, correctly guessing the reason for the confusion. “I live on First but I make it a habit of separating my work from my home when ever possible.” He shook his head in a rueful manner. “Though I am beginning to think that I spend more time here then I do at home.”

Corina nodded and bent to remove the magnetic attachments to her boots.  In half gravity, they would not really be needed. Or so she thought.

“I would leave those on for now.” Sean told her. “Until you get used to moving around in the lower gravity, they will help keep you stable.        

Corina nodded and followed him out of the elevator, carefully noting the turns and twists they made through various passages until they reached the Governor’s offices.

She was just a bit apprehensive as he ushered her into his private office and sealed the door behind them.

The office was stark as far as personal decorations went.  A few flat pictures adorned the walls but most of their surfaces were taken up with massive screens that showed what she assumed were live feeds from various points in the habitat as well as the interiors of several of the nearby construction shacks.

Sean moved behind his desk and Corina noticed, after he had punched in a series of keys on a keyboard built into the desk surfaces, that three of the large screens went blank. She made a mental note.  Obviously there were things that he did not want her seeing.  Not yet, at any rate. She had noticed that at least one of the screens had shown a view of the Landing Bay…or rather, the side of the bay that had been blocked from the view of the Striker and all who had arrived aboard her.

While he busied himself at his desk, Corina took the opportunity to look at two of the personal pictures on the wall.  One was a child, her long blond hair flaring as she romped in a field with what appeared to be a German Sheppard. Judging from the resemblance, Corina deduced that the child was some how related to the governor.  The next picture was of a young blonde woman, obviously the girl’s mother.

“Your wife and daughter?” She ventured, attempting to break the ice. She turned at the sharp intake of breath and caught the Governor looking at her with haunted eyes.  The look faded and he straightened.

“My daughter.” he indicated the picture of the little girl. He took a deep breath and gestured to the other picture. “My wife, her mother, died in an accident on one of the construction shacks a several months ago.”

“I’m sorry.” Corina spoke softly, keenly aware that it was still a very emotional subject for the man. He waved away her apology and gestured for her to have a seat in one of the offices few chairs.

“Governor....” She began as she took a seat, stopping as he raised a hand and grimaced.

“Colonel, I am not sure exactly what we are going to do with you and your people so perhaps it would be better if you informed me of exactly what your orders are.”

“My orders are to report to you.” She spoke slowly. “It was my understanding that, as of boarding this station, I was to place myself and my company at your disposal.”

She left it at that and waited to see what the Governor would do with it.

“So we’re right back at the beginning.”  Sean scowled. “Colonel, I don’t know how much you or your people know about Habitats, but we are, for the most part, closed societies. While we do maintain a small police force, one thing we don’t need is a permanent military presence getting in the way.”

“Perhaps I can make a suggestion?”  Corina ventured.  She really needed to get to know this man, and letting him close himself off to her or the company was not a way to achieve that.

“Please do.” He made a gesture for her to continue and leaned back in his chair.

“It was made clear to me that this would not be a short term assignment, sir.”  She began. “In fact, though it was never specifically mentioned, General Hemmer made it known that we, my company and I, should consider Fargone our new, permanent home.  You could, of course, order us back to Mars.  But I should warn you that we would remain here until another unit came to take our place.  Whether that unit will be a Mars unit or one drawn from the US Military, I couldn’t say.  But there will be a military presence here.”

“You are telling me that, while I have complete authority over you while you are here at Fargone, I don’t have the authority to remove you.” Sean pointed out. “So far, I haven’t heard a suggestion of what we should do with you.”

“For reasons of our own,” Corina spoke carefully, “My Company and I would rather remain here on Fargone. That being the case, we would like to find a way to integrate ourselves with your people. I would suggest, then, that, right from the beginning, we treat Echo Company as a reserve unit.  As you said, you have no need for a standing military.  I suggest that we keep only a portion of the company on duty at any given time and that we rotate that duty.”

“And, like a reserve unit, those that are off duty can be placed in civilian jobs.” Sean mused, finishing her thought.

“Precisely.” Corina nodded.

“Hmmm.” Leaned forward and tapped a few commands into his work station, calling up a file that he now displayed on one of the recently blanked screens. It was the file that identified her and her company. “A pretty sketchy file.” He mused, turning to glance up at it. “For one thing, it doesn’t list any secondary skills that we might be able to use to help us integrate your people.”

“I am sure that I can get with my HQ personnel and provide you with such a list, if you would like.” Corina offered.

“An interesting file.” Sean continued as if he had not heard her. “More interesting by what is omitted than by what is included.” He turned back to her and smiled. “I believe you, Colonel, when you say that you and your company would rather remain here. I imagine that the current political atmosphere on Mars is particularly disturbing.  Especially for Valkyries.”

Corina froze for the briefest of instants, and than sat back in her seat, her eyes narrowed as she studied the man before her.

“Might I ask how the Governor came across that information?” She finally asked, her voice a lot calmer than she felt.

“You might.” Sean smiled and jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards the view screen displaying the Company data. “One of my advisors recognized your Chief Medical Officer. Major Mey Ling, I believe it was.  Though at the time, it was just Captain Mey Ling.” He crossed his arms on his desk and leaned forward. “Of course, my advisor told me that, at that time, Mey Ling sported a rather unusual tattoo on her forehead.  A Winged Skull, I believe it was.”

Corina closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath as her thoughts raced.

“And might I inquire what the Governor is going to do with this information?  She asked, opening her eyes.

“Well, for one thing, The Governor is going to get quite irritated if the Colonel doesn’t stop referring to him in the third person.” Sean replied, smiling to take the sting out of his words. “Be at ease, Colonel. To the best of my knowledge, only four people on this Habitat know who and what you are. Eventually I believe that you will have to be honest about it, I would rather our people get used to you as…Marines…first and Valkyries later.”

“You meant to say get used to us as Human first, didn’t you?” Corina demanded, picking up on the hesitation in his comment.

“Yes, I did.” Sean surprised her with his honesty. “Though my medical Advisor assures me that even the most…extreme…augments are still human, you must realize that the EG Propaganda has, for some time now, tried to instill the notion that Augments are some what less than human.”

“EG?” Corina tilted her head at the unfamiliar term.

“EG.  Earth Government or Earth Gov.” Sean explained. “It is what the Outer colonies call the United Systems.”

“Fitting.” Corina muttered.  She shook her head and gestured for the Governor to continue. “You were saying?”

“EG propaganda.” Sean nodded. “News media, historians, what-have-you, they have all painted the same picture of Augments.  Creatures of science, they are called.  Not creatures of Nature.  Thus, not quite as good as the original. And it has worked.  Even the EGs most dedicated opponents, even if they don’t buy the entire propaganda package, fear Augments. And because of that same propaganda machine, most people don’t know the difference between your run of the mill Augment and the Valkyries.”

“But you do?” Corina lifted an eyebrow, surprised at the bitterness in her own voice.

“I do now, thanks to Dr. Mike Garison.” Sean answered, naming his medical advisor.

“And?” Corina prompted.

“To be honest, when Mike identified you as Valkyries, I about shit myself.” He smiled. “The last thing I needed on this habitat is two hundred and fifty unstable superwomen. I admit that bringing you here, to my office, alone, scared the hell out of me.”

“But you brought me here anyway.” Corina muttered.

“I did.” Sean nodded. “Because, deep inside, I was afraid of all the stories I had heard about the Valkyries.  Yet I trust my people, Colonel. And when Mike says all those stories are just so much bullshit, then I have to trust that he knows what he is talking about.”

“I am going to have to meet this Doctor of yours.” Corina raised her head.

“Hah.” Sean barked a laugh. “It took everything I had to keep him away from your barracks until after I had a chance to warn you. He was anxious to talk to Captain, excuse me, Major Mey Ling.”

Corina straightened in her seat.

“Back to the problem at hand.” She started. “Where, exactly does that leave Echo Company?”

“First, let’s get you settled.” Sean leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “I want you and your ladies to get used to the Habitat. Do any of you have any civilian clothes?”

“No, sir.” Corina shook her head. “Or rather, not all of us. We did not have a very large space or weight allotment aboard the Striker. It was agreed to allow for a few personal items. Some might have chosen to bring civies, but most chose other items, believing that we would probably be able to purchase civilian clothes once we arrived.”

“Okay.” Sean thought for a moment and then nodded, more to himself than to her. “Here’s what we’ll do. The Habitat will pay for a complete set of civilian attire for each member of your Company. After that, you’re on your own in that department.”  He paused. “You mentioned that it was your intention to purchase clothes once you got here.  How were you going to do that?”

“Despite popular thought, Valkyries were not slaves to the military.” Corina snorted. “We were paid regular military salaries based on time in service and rank.  Just like any one else in the military.” She then reached down and, after unclipping it from her belt, sat her personal AI Unit on the desk before him.

“This is Andy.” She explained. “My personal AI.  We are each equipped with one and all our financial records, both personal and unit oriented, are stored on them.  My Unit is the Master unit, all the others are slaved to it so I can access all those records and have them transferred to you or the appropriate persons.” 

“Nice.” Sean nodded in appreciation as he studied the hand held unit. “I’m afraid that personal Artificial Intelligence Units are not common out here.  They are just one of the several high tech items the EG has blocked trade on…at least as far as the outer colonies are concerned.”  He paused and looked up. “I have to admit that knowing each of you have one of these is a bit unsettling. Some of the systems in the Habitat are a bit, dated, to say the least. With units as advanced as these, it would be child’s play for you to access those systems when ever you want.”

“Andy, can you interface with the Governor’s systems?” Corina demanded aloud.

“Sure thing, Ma’am.” The tiny voice that issued from the unit startled Sean for a moment. “I can access just about any system on the habitat, if you want.”

“I thought so.” Sean nodded.

“Andy, stand by for new parameters.” Corina demanded, switching the unit to programming mode.

“Standing by.” The voice, warm and damned near human a moment earlier was now cold and mechanical.

“Andy, under no circumstances will you or any AI unit slaved to you access any system on the Habitat Fargone or any vessels or construction shacks assigned to it without the express voice permission of Governor Sean Durick.”

“Will the Governor please speak for voice recognition purposes?” the mechanical voice demanded.

“Uh…this is Governor Sean Durick.” Sean spoke when Corina motioned for him to do so, his bewildered eyes locked on hers. “Is that enough?”

“Sufficient.” Was the mechanical reply. “Will there be an over-ride code?”

“No over-ride code, Andy.” Corina shook her head. “Only Governor Durick can authorize access to habitat systems. Acknowledge, update, and download to all Company AI units.”

“Parameters acknowledged and updated. Parameters downloaded to Company units.” The mechanical voice responded. The AI unit then surprised them both by continuing in the human sounding voice. “Attention, I have correspondence for Governor Durick from General Hemmers.”

Sean looked up at Corina.

“Don’t ask me.” She spread her hands. “I wasn’t informed of any correspondence. General Hemmers merely informed me that there was material embedded within Andy that I would not be able to access without your permission. But he did suggest that it might put you at ease if I were to put you in control over how much access our AI’s had to your systems.”  She gave a sour smile. “I thought, at the time, that he was merely afraid that one of us ground-pounders would accidentally vent one of the rings to space.”

Sean shook his head and tapped a command into his work station.

“Andy, I have called up my personal files. Can you access and transfer the correspondence?” He asked when he was finished.

“Piece of cake.” Andy replied with no discernable hesitation. “Correspondence transferred.”

Sean glanced through the material that was now displayed on his desk screen, pursing his lips and nodding occasionally.

“Thank you, Andy.” He said. “Now, if you would transfer your financial records…ah, thank you again.”  He tapped at the console for a few moments and then nodded and looked back up at Corina.

“I have routed the financial information to our central banking.  Your people should have access to their funds within an hour or so.”  He sat back again. “But as I said, the first set will be courtesy of Fargone.  I’ll have people sent over to the barracks to get you all settled. I want you and your people to consider yourselves on, what’s the word, furlough?  Furlough for the next few days. Get out and explore the Habitat.  No uniforms, no talk about Valkyries. Got it?”

“Yes, sir.” Corina responded.

“Good.” Sean nodded and indicated his desk display. “It is going to take me a bit of time to go through this material your General Hemmers sent me and I really want to do that before we talk further. I will have some one take you to your quarters and I will see you in three days.” He stood and held out a hand to shake Corina’s hand. “Colonel, I know you still have questions and concerns, we will address them.  For now, simply relax and enjoy your time off.  You and your people can go anywhere in the Habitat that is accessible to the general public with the exception of the Hub.  For now, consider that off-limits.  Understand?”

“Yes,sir.” Corina took the offered hand, thinking of the partitioned section of the Hub and the view screens Sean had blanked when they had entered his office.

“In that case, Colonel, on behalf of the people of the habitat, welcome to Fargone.”

*****

“That Mr. Aimes gives me the creeps.” Sarah bitched later as she and Mey Ling unpacked their gear. She then smiled. “But I could get used to this!”

When the guide the Governor had called had led Corina to the quarters that had been reserved for her, it had taken her all of five minutes to decide that this place was just too big for her alone.

She had had her own quarters on Mars, but they were nothing compared to this. There were four bedrooms, a large living area, a separate den, a fully stocked kitchen, and separate quarters for two maids and a cook! Seeing the size, she had requested, very firmly, that her XO and the Company’s primary Physician move in as well.  She had also made the same firm request of Sgt Major McGills.  Of the three, only the hardened non-com had had the gall to refuse.

“You can’t really blame her, Cor.” Mey Ling said as she hung a set of dress blues in a spacious closet. She was the last one to get settled so Corina and Sarah were in the room she had chosen, watching her unpack and place things…just so.

“Gods, I knew it.” Sarah looked around in disgust. “You’re an obsessive neat freak!”

“I prefer the term, Organized.” Mey Ling shot back and then turned to Corina, her hands on her hips. “Seriously, could you picture Tara spending any length of time away from the company?  In her mind, she has to be close by to undo whatever damage we officers decide to do to her precious Marine Corps.”

“You have a point.” Corina laughed. Though the Martian Marines were only distantly related to the old US, as in United States, not United System, Marine Corps, Corina felt sure that Tara McGills would have been right at home with those old-timers. Her tone then turned serious. “I know you haven’t had much time, but have you gotten any feel on how we’re going to adapt to the Habitat?”

“Actually, I started seeing signs of adaption before we even reached the Barracks.” The Company Medical Officer replied.  “The instant we left the zero gee the Combatants…”

She paused as Corina’s AI, stuck in its holster on her belt, gave a loud squeal.

Corina snatched the unit out of the holster and addressed it directly.

“What is it, Andy?” She demanded.

“Recording devices detected.” The AI reported. “I have neutralized those detected.”

“Thank you, Andy.” Corina frowned. “Please inform Sgt. Major McGills and have her begin a sweep of the barracks for similar devices.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Corina returned the unit to her belt and regarded the other two women.

“Spying on us?” Sarah lifted one eyebrow.

“It would appear so.” Corina nodded. “Not something I would have expected from Governor Durick.”

“You just met the man, Cor.” Sarah protested. “Though what I want to know is why Andy or our units didn’t know about the bugs the minute we walked in.”

“Code phrase activated, most probably.” Corina mused. “They were probably programmed to remain inactive until something we said activated it.”

“Such as Combatants.” Mey Ling put in. “They must have gone active the instant I said it.”

“Probably so.” Corina nodded. “Another item that makes me think the Governor might not have been behind it.”

“And why would that be?” Sarah demanded.

“Because he knew what we were before we even got here.” Corina informed them. Both women stared at her in shock. “The file on us that was forwarded to him.” Corina explained, nodding towards Mey Ling. “Some one on his staff recognized you, Mey Ling.”

“Me?” Mey Ling slowly settled to sit on the edge of her bed. “How could anyone recognize me?”

“It seems you attended a Medical Convention a few years ago.” Corina explained. “The Governor’s Chief Medical Officer attended the same convention.  A Dr. Mike Garison?”

“Mike?” Mey Ling gasped, a hand flying to her mouth, her face turning beet red.

“Mike?” Sarah turned to the Medic. “You’re on a first name basis with him?”

“We…ah…sorta hung out together during the convention.” Mey Ling stammered.

“By hung out, do you mean…” Sarah prompted.

“We hung out, okay?” Mey Ling blurted, turning an even deeper shade of red.

“He knew you were a Valkyrie?” Corina asked. Mey Ling nodded.

“He was quite knowledgeable about us.” She said. “We spent several hours talking about it the first night of the convention. One thing led to another and…” she trailed off.

“You ended up in bed together.” Sarah finished for her.

“So what?” Mey Ling shot back. “What’s so wrong with that? It’s not like you haven’t been with a man before!”

“Once.” Sarah nodded, a sly grin on her face. “Before I realized that my tastes lay…elsewhere.” She turned serious and looked back to Corina. “So the Governor knows who and what we are.”

“He does.” Corina confirmed. “I don’t know what will come of it, but for now, he has requested that we not advertise what we are. He wants the people here to get used to us as regular people and Marines first before we let that cat out of the bag. So let every one know that, for the time being, we are still…undercover.”  She passed on the remainder of what she had learned and Sean’s orders.

“So, for the next three days, we are on furlough. Let’s make the most of it.” She said.  She then looked pointedly at Mey Ling. “But first, continue what you were saying about us adapting.”

 “Right, adapting.” Mey Ling took a deep breath and gathered her scattered thoughts. “When the Combatants sprang back to life, the Med nanites were able to function again.  Seems the little buggers don’t care how much gravity there is, so long as there is SOME gravity.”  She spread her hands. “My people have orders to start giving every one complete physicals as soon as they get settled in.”

“Good.”  Corina nodded. “They should have time to get that done before everyone is fitted with civvies.”

***

Having never visited even the smaller of the habitats in the inner-system, Corina had had no concept of what to expect.

Having seen Fargone in space during their approach had given no clue of what life might be like within the massive rings of the habitat.

It had not been until her guide from the Governor’s office had led her out of the corridors and elevators into the open air of First that the true enormity struck her.

She had stood, frozen, looking out over a massive landscape that curved gently upward in directions her guide told her were called east, or spinward, and west, or anti-spinward. The curves to the North and South were much sharper, with the cultured landscape giving away to sky-blue walls that stretched up and over.  Here and there, large columns stretched from the ‘sky’ to the ‘ground’.

From her vantage point, she could see bike trails, parks, small ponds, and buildings.  Things one would expect to see on the surface of a planet, not enclosed in a huge metal donut floating in space.

And this was the smallest of the three rings of the habitat!

The other two rings, her guide had informed her, were large enough to have clouds and even rain!

At first she had thought that one would have to travel towards the hub to get from one ring to another, but her guide had set her straight on that, pointing out an inter-ring transfer station as they passed on their way to her quarters.

Apparently the rings were connected via a series of spokes similar to the spokes that housed the elevators to and from the hub.  A person wishing to travel from First to Three simply boarded a First-Two tram and was whisked off to the second ring where he or she would transfer to a Two-Three tram to complete the journey.

After getting settled and dressed in her complementary set of civilian clothes, she had taken advantage of the three day furlough, wandering the entire habitat.  Some times in the company of her officers, some times alone.

She tried to spend an equal amount of time in each of the three rings, visiting the various stores, restaurants and cafes, and nightspots.  The irony of it was not lost on her when she saw her first free ranching cattle on Two, something that was still centuries in the future for Mars.

One thing that amazed her was how the people she met and spoke with received her.  She had expected resentment or even outright hostility.  The resentment was there, to be sure, but not the hostility.  And the resentment was not, for the most part, aimed directly at her or her people but rather at the US, or EG as most called it here.

As the third day of their furlough drew to a close, Corina sat alone in a small café on First contemplating what the next day would bring.  She had heard nothing from the Governor or any of his people during the entire three days.  Mey Ling, she knew, had spent most of her three days in the company of Dr. Garison, but if he was sharing information with Mey Ling, she wasn’t passing it on to her commanding officer.

From talking with her platoon leaders and with Tara, she knew that her people were starting to get over being awe-struck and were ready to get on with their job…whatever that might be.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“Huh?” Corina looked up from the cup of coffee she had been nursing to find Sean standing over her table, smiling down at her. She started to rise, settling back down when he waved at her to remain seated.  He pulled out a chair and seated himself.

“I hope you don’t mind if I join you for a moment?” He asked after the fact.

“Not at all. To what do I owe the pleasure?” She asked, noting the looks that were being cast in their direction by the café’s other customers.

“Daddy!”  Sean had opened his mouth to reply but was cut off before a sound emerged. A blond girl rushed up to the table and stood before him, hands on her hips. She couldn’t have been more than six or seven. “They say they are all out of Chocolate!”

“They probably are, honey.” He said, smiling as he took the girl in his arms and hauled her onto his lap. “Alyssa, this is Colonel Corina Twilliam, she’s the commander of the Marines that just arrived.”

“Marines?” The little girl looked at her suspiciously and then looked up at her father. “What’s a marine?”

“A soldier that is full of hot air, if you ask some.” Corina answered before Sean could. She reached out a hand and waited for the child to take it before going on. “It is nice to meet you, Alyssa.”

The girl shook hands and then seemed to be taken with shyness as she snuggled back into Sean’s embrace.

“As I was going to say, I was in the area and thought I would stop by and see how things were going.” Sean continued. “Though I hadn’t expected to see you at Alyssa’s favorite café.”

“Not anymore.” Alyssa pouted. “I wanted a chocolate shake!”

“I know, hon.” Sean soothed her and then looked back up. “My Agricultural people keep telling me that sooner or later we’ll be able to grow cocoa and coffee beans on the habitat, but for some reason it always turns out to be later rather than sooner. There are a few plants that seem to be difficult to grow on the habitat and cocoa and coffee are among them.” He nodded towards her cup of coffee. “With the way things are these days, we never know when we are going to get a fresh supply of the things we can’t grow for ourselves, so you might want to enjoy that coffee while you can.”

“Duly noted.” Corina took a sip.

Alyssa squirmed in Sean’s arms, showing that she was getting restless so he put her on her feet and stood. As the little girl skipped towards the door, he turned to her.

“We have some things we need to really go over. Can I see you and your staff officers first thing in the morning?” He phrased it as a request but Corina knew it was an order. She nodded. “Good, I will send a guide for you.”

Corina watched him walk out and wondered why she had a sudden sense of doom.

*****

The following morning, Corina was still feeling the sense of dread when she, Major Sarah Hilien, Major Mey Ling, and Sergeant Major Tara McGills were ushered into a conference room already occupied by the Governor, Dr. Garison, Jarred Aimes, and two other people that were unknown to them.

Sean was speaking in low tones with Jarred when they entered and he motioned them to take seats while he finished up.

Wary, Corina nodded for her people to seat themselves and then took her own seat and waited.

“Thanks, Jarred.” Sean spoke aloud, straightening in his seat.

The assistant stood straight and nodded.

“If you’ll give me a few moments, I can transmit these items and be ready for the meeting.” He said.

“I would rather you handle that yourself, Jarred.” Sean shook his head. “I’ll call you if we need you.” 

It was clearly a dismissal.  It was equally clear that Jarred was not happy with it.  With lips pressed together in frustration, he gave a sharp nod and left the room.

Sean waited until the door closed behind the assistant, his eyes narrowed in what Corina felt was barely concealed fury, before he turned to them.

“Thank you for joining us.” He all but snapped. As if realizing that he was letting his feelings show too much, he paused to take a breath and then indicated the people around him.

“You’ve met Dr. Garison, I believe.” He began.  Dr. Garison nodded towards them and then returned his attention to the data pad he had been studying since they had entered the room.  “The fine gentleman here is Steven Barnes. Steven heads up Fargone’s Resource and Distribution Division.”

The man indicated nodded towards them as well. Unlike the doctor, Steven’s attention had been on them since they had entered the room, not on the data pad that sat on the conference table before him.

Corina noted that the final person, a thin sharp faced woman that Sean introduced as Dr. Terry Walers, the department head of the Science and Research Division, also had a data pad before her.  She felt a glimmer of apprehension as she realized that each place on the conference table had a built in work station. She guessed that the workstations probably hooked into a central network.  Which meant that, whatever they were studying on those pads was probably not available on the network.

“I’ve had a chance to go over your General’s communication.” Sean brought her attention back to him. “But before I go into that, I need to know exactly what you know of the situation here on Fargone.”

He sat back and waited while she pulled her thoughts together.

“First of all, I should explain that I know a bit more than the information that was imparted to my senior officers.” She started, indicating Sarah and Mey Ling. “My orders were that I was not to share that information with them with out your express permission.”

Neither of the officers with her gave any indication that they resented being kept out of the information loop.  It was obvious that they understood the concept of ‘need-to-know’.

“Permission granted.” Sean snapped in an irritated tone. “Let’s start with the real reason you are here.”

Corina nodded while her mind raced, trying to decide where to begin.  Finally she decided and nodded again.

“There has been no attempt at subterfuge, Governor.” She stated. “As far as I and my people are concerned, the reasons initially given remain. General Hemmers wanted, needed, a place to hide out a least a small portion of the Valkyries. The current situation on Fargone made it, at least from his point of view, a logical choice.” She paused but did not allow enough time for anyone else to speak before continuing.

“Yes, I am well aware of what is happening here on Fargone. I am well aware of what you are hiding behind that partition in the Hub Access Bay.”

Only Sarah and Mey Ling looked surprised at this announcement, something that Sean noted.

“We know that you found an alien vessel on Enceladus.” Corina went on, shocking Sarah and Mey Ling even more. “We know that you inserted specialized Flippers below the ice surface of the South Pole and have successfully retrieved portions of the ship and reassembled them here on Forgone for study.”

She paused yet again but when Sean opened his mouth to speak, she held up a hand to stop him.

“Governor, it is quite apparent that you wish to keep this discovery to yourselves for now.” She said. “I don’t know what exactly was in that communiqué from General Hemmers.  All I can tell you is what he passed on to me. In his opinion, he was killing two birds with one stone.  He would have a place for us to go into exile and, at the same time, give you what aide he could to help you protect your secret.”

“That much your General states.” Sean nodded. “What he does not state is how he came by that information.”

“That is simple.” Corina shrugged. “We are here, Governor, because we were sent for.”

“Bullshit.” Steven cut in.

“No, Mr. Barnes. No bullshit.” Corina turned to him and then back to Sean as he spoke.

“I made no such request, Colonel.” He stated flatly.

“I did not say you did, Governor.” Corina leaned back. “But the request did originate from your office. It seems some one wanted the US to know about the ship you found on Enceladus.”

Sean had stood, leaning on the table, his face red with anger and Corina continued in what she hoped was a soothing voice.

“This changes nothing, Governor.” Se said. “You are still in over all command and I am to put myself and my people at your disposal. We report only to you.  Hell Governor, you now know more than the rest of the Valkyries do.  As you’ve now learned, I couldn’t even brief them about this without your permission.”

“I don’t understand.” Sean spoke in a bewildered tone as he slowly lowered himself back into his seat.

“Correct me if I am wrong.” Corina told him. “The communication that was intercepted by people loyal to General Hemmers, people who have no reason to either like or trust the US, or the EG as you say, detailed what you had discovered and specifically indicated that the Governor, that would be you, was not willing to share the find with the United System. The person that sent that communication felt that you were not doing your duty.  You were, according to the informant, putting the welfare of Fargone before the greater good of the United System. Unless that communication was a total fabrication,” she shrugged, “you have amassed a good deal of information and have already reconstructed the ships engines here on Fargone. You have ascertained where that ship came from, how long it has been buried under that ice, and what its purpose was.”

Sean stared at her for a long moment.

“Who....” He shook his head. Some one had sent a communication from this office...without his knowledge.

“Who could get away with it, Governor?” Corina shrugged. “Your aide, perhaps?”

“Absolutely not.” Sean shrugged the suggestion aside, glaring at the Colonel. “Jarred has been my aide for more years than I care to mention.”

“And we all know where his loyalties lie, don’t we?” Dr. Garison pointed out. “You know damned well he disapproves of your anti-EG stance, Sean.”

Corina placed her AI unit on the table before her and then addressed it.

“Andy, please upload the file code marked Enceladus to the Governor’s data pad, please.”

“Voice recognition required.” Was the instant response.

“Go ahead, Andi.” Sean stated after Corina indicated that the AI was waiting for him to respond.

“In that file you will find the original transmission that General Hemmers received.” Corina said as the data was transferred. “The transmission is coded official from your office.  Fortunately for us, the sender did not even pretend to be you and was absolutely certain that no one on this habitat or the construction shacks would receive it. You will also note that the sender makes it clear that this is his second attempt to send a warning…the first was intercepted and interrupted by a person loyal to you.  The Sender makes it quite clear that he considered it his duty to the US to send the transmission, no matter what, and so took steps to remove the loyal person before that person could inform you.”

She paused and looked down at her hands for a moment and then looked up.

“Though the sender does not identify the loyal person, I think it would be simple enough to determine the dates on which the transmission was sent and then determine…” she trailed off as the blood drained from Sean’s face and he frantically pulled up the file on his data-pad. When he looked back up at her, his eyes were haunted.

“Marisa.”  He almost whispered.  Color began to return to his face…the dark red color of anger. “A friend of hers had asked her to come to the construction shack to talk.  She told me about it…said that it was important…that was the last time I saw her…twenty-three people were killed in that accident.”  He stood and spun away from her, gazing at the blank wall behind his seat. “A freak explosion in a smelter.  That was all the investigation could come up with.  The entire shack was depressurized.”  His fists clenched at his sides. “Marisa was in the rec room.  It was the one area of the shack where the workers could relax outside their vac-suits.  In the case of an emergency, automatic seals were supposed to slam closed.  They didn’t.  No cause could be found for the malfunction.”  He turned back to her, his face a mask of remembered impotent rage. “Only eight people in that area, three just coming in and five getting ready to go back out, were able to seal their suits in time…the rest...” he left it hanging and shook his head. “None of them died pleasantly.  And now you are telling me it was deliberate?”

“That son of a bitch.” Steven stood as well, his face a mask of rage.

“I can’t tell you it was deliberate, Governor.” Corina shook her head.  “I can only repeat what General Hemmers told me was in the file you now have.” 

Sean turned and picked up the data pad he had dropped to the table and skimmed through it, unconsciously rubbing his chin with the finger and thumb of his right hand.  His gaze grew thoughtful and he sat back down and, setting the data pad to one side, called up the work station in the table before him. His eyes widened slightly and his fingers became a flurry of activity as they danced across a keyboard.  He then gave a snort of disgust and sat back, regarding Corina.

“I’ll find out who sent that message, and I will discover if they, who ever they are, are responsible for the construction shack accident.  But one thing I have discovered that neither you nor your precious general were as sneaky as you thought you were.”  He tapped in a command and the work station before Corina came to life and displayed exactly what he was seeing on his own screen. The screen was frozen on a view of the Striker crew disembarking. She recognized the Captain and his XO, of course, but the view centered on a crewman that stood right behind them.

“I shouldn’t be surprised.” Sean shook his head. “At least where you are concerned. By your own admission, you are just a Marine. A Marine packaged in a Valkyrie body, but a just a Marine, nonetheless.”  He held up a hand, palm towards her as she frowned. “No offence meant, Colonel. But you are a soldier, not a spook.”  He indicated the man centered in the screen.  “That man is a spook. To be exact, he is Major Avery Meesner of the United Systems Intelligence Agency.”  He gave a short bark of sarcastic laughter. “I guess it is our good fortune that some of our information sources are still intact…and that the USIA hasn’t figured out that we have a list of some of their major operatives.”

Corina sucked in a breath through clenched teeth.  The USIA, United Systems Intelligence Agency were, from all the reports she had read, ruthless bastards, having more in common with the mid twentieth century Gestapo than any other civilized Intelligence agency.

 “How…” She began.

“How?” Sean actually smiled. “Did you think that just because we were way out here that we don’t have a clue what is going on in-system?  We have friends in the strangest places, Colonel. Every now and then, something catches us by surprise, like you and your ladies.  But that doesn’t happen often.”  He regarded her for a moment. “Tell me, Colonel.  On the trip out here, did any of the crew of the Striker try to get any information considering Mars Augments?  Was there any discussion of them at all?”

“My people were ordered not to discuss it.” Corina shook her head.

“Probably not the smartest move you could have made, but that was not what I asked.” Sean pointed a finger at her. “I asked if there was any discussion.”

“Not to my knowledge.” Corina shook her head. She queried Andy and shook her head again. “Andy has checked with the AI’s of the Company and there are no recorded conversations.”

“And I take it that they were instructed to record such conversations if they took place?”

“They were.” Corina acknowledged.

“Not good.” Sean sighed. “Colonel, don’t you think it strange?  Considering the political situation, I would think that Augments, and particularly what Mars was going to do with theirs, would be a hot topic.  Yet you board a US Military Transport, and no one, from the Captain to the lowest ranking crewman, even mentions the subject?” 

Corina could feel her face getting red and, not for the first time, she thought General Hemmer had erred in tapping her for this command.

“They knew who we were all the time.”  She said.

“Possibly.” Sean agreed. “Even so, I imagine they were more interested in why you were being sent here.  With your tattoos removed, I am sure that it would have been easier to simply disperse you among the regular troops, discharge you into civilian society, or ship you off to one of the rebel outposts. USIA probably came to the same conclusion and wondered what was so important that your General Hemmer would send you here, instead.”

“We led them right to you.” Corina hissed. Sean shrugged.

“It was only a matter of time, Colonel.” He told her. “If you had not been sent, we would not know that some one here had tried to contact the US authorities about our discovery.  And if they had not received some reply, they might have tried again…and instead of a single transport, that also happened to be carrying two hundred and fifty friendly forces, in addition to their regular compliment, we would be looking at a fleet of extremely unfriendly ships and a hell of a lot more unfriendly soldiers.”

Corina considered this for a moment and then nodded.

“One question.” She said after a moment. “If you have, as you say, friends, in the strangest places, how is it that none of those friends knew about the transmission?”

“It would seem that whoever sent that transmission was aware of our contacts.” Sean grimaced. “They were aware and they took great pains to make sure none of them could intercept it.”  He stopped and glared at Corina. “Yes, that does tend to narrow down the number of people that could have sent it.”

The Governor and his advisors huddled together whispering furiously, with both Sean and Steven Barnes gesturing wildly at times while both Dr. Garison and Dr. Walers seemed to be acting as voices of reason.

While they were distracted, Corina took the opportunity to touch Sarah beneath the table and, when her XO looked her way, cut her eyes towards the display in the table before her and then, again out of few of the Governor and his advisors, pointed to the XO, deliberately counted out two fingers and then cut her eyes back to the display again.

Sarah nodded ever so slightly and then, after waiting for a few moments, stood.

As expected, her action caused the Sean and his advisors to break off their heated discussion and turn to her.

“With all due respect, Governor.” Sarah smiled as she nodded her head towards him. “After a three day furlough, I have to make sure our people are still fit for duty.”  She tilted her head towards Corina. “She likes to keep us on our toes and if I don’t make sure everything is fine, she’ll make our life a living hell.”

“Just doing my job, XO.” Corina chuckled.

“That’s quite alright, Major.” Sean forced a smile in return and then turned to Mey Ling. “IF you need to take off as well, Doctor Ling, we’ll understand.”

“Oh no.” Mey Ling shook her head. “I would just get in the way.  Besides, it’ll be safer here with you once Sarah and Sgt Major McGills start cracking down.”

“It would do you good.” Sarah shot back.

“I’m sure it would.” Corina cut in before Mey Ling could respond. “Carry on, Major.  I’ll want a complete report when we finish up this meeting.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”  Sarah came to attention, inclined her head in the direction of the Governor and his advisors and walked from the room. 

Sean watched this with a bemused expression and turned towards Corina.

“We haven’t worked together for very long.” Corina said. “Sarah and some of her people were stationed in another dome, as were Mey Ling and some of her people.” She explained.

“So you were from different units?” Dr. Waler inquired.

“We were.” Corina nodded. “General Hemmers basically doubled the size of our Company before sending us out here.”

She paused as she considered her next words.  She had to take up some time for Sarah to carry out her orders.

“Back to the problem at hand. “ She said. “Leaving aside the question of what the EG knows and what they might do for the time being, perhaps we can return to a topic you and I began when we first arrived.”

“And what topic would that be, Colonel?” Steven Barnes demanded.

“I believe the Colonel is referring to our interrupted discussion on the disposition of her people. Am I correct, Colonel?”

“Yes, sir.” Corina nodded. “Over the past three days, after wandering around a bit, I came to realize that even a habitat as large as this one cannot afford to house and feed a full company of marines indefinitely on the off chance that you may some day need them. But a company that integrates with the population; that performs whatever task given to them to earn their keep; and still maintains their military duty?”

“A military reserve unit?” Steven Barnes demanded, suspicion clear in his voice. “Made up of Valkyries?”

“Yes.” Corina turned and looked him in the eyes.

“It is a novel idea.” Dr. Garison coughed lightly, obviously embarrassed by his fellow advisor’s attitude.

“Indeed it is.” Sean nodded, glaring at Steven. “And that was uncalled for, Steven.”

“With all due respect, Governor, perhaps it was not.” Mey Ling spoke up. When eyes turned to her, she shrugged. “We cannot change what we are, but perhaps it would be better to go ahead and clear the air about it.”

“Perhaps it would.” Steven stood, placing clinched fists on the table and leaning on them while he looked at his fellow Advisors and Sean. “All we know about them is what Mike has told us.  But we all know that Genies are bred for loyalty.”  He lifted one hand and waved it towards Corina and Mey Ling.  “Where does their loyalty lie?”

“You are correct, Mr. Barnes.” Mey Ling surprised them by responding. “Genies are bred for loyalty.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  The problem is that the steps taken to attempt to ensure that loyalty are among the factors that tend to cause the mental instability that Genies are known for. I suppose it is fortunate, to both us and you, that we, the Valkyries, aren’t technically classified as Genies.”

“What?” Steven looked confused.

“I tried to tell you.” Dr. Garison spread his hands. “Though the Valkyries fall under the classification of Augments, they are not Genies.”

“Dr. Garison is correct.” Mey Ling agreed. “Though I am not sure that even he is aware of the major difference.”  She paused. “Very few Genies can breed Mr. Barnes. They are, for the most part, created sterile.”

“And the Valkyries aren’t?” Dr. Garison leaned forward, intensely interested.

“No, we aren’t.” Mey Ling smiled. “Our Med Nanites are set to prevent conception, but if they were reprogrammed, then there would be nothing to prevent a Valkyrie from becoming pregnant and giving birth.”

“To what?” Steven demanded, enthralled, despite himself.

“No one knows.” Mey Ling shrugged. “It has never happened, to the best of my knowledge. It might have happened in the early days, but if so, there is no record of it that I have been able to see. If I were to guess, however, I would have to say the probability would be that the resulting child would be a normal.”  She frowned and shook her head. “Come to think of it, it might not be possible after all.  Reprogrammed Med Nanites might allow conception, but the Combatant nanites would probably cause a miscarriage.”

Dr. Garison started to reply when, laughing, Corina held up a hand.

“I am sure the two of you can spend hours discussing it, but let’s not get side-tracked.” She said, looking from the Doctor to Mey Ling.

“The Colonel is right.” Sean chuckled, turning to Dr. Garison. “You two can discuss it to your heart’s content at a later time. For now, let’s get back to addressing Steven’s concerns.

“Not just my concerns.” Steven shook his head. “They will be the concerns of every one on Fargone when they learn what these women are.”

“Fair enough.” Corina nodded. “We are not unaware of how the Valkyries have been depicted by the US.”

“Are you saying that all the reports are lies?” Steven challenged.

“Of course not.” Corina shook her head. “But there is no denying that they have been slanted and that some out right fabrications have made their way into those reports.”

“The propaganda machine at work.” Dr. Garison snorted in disgust.

“Pretty much.” Mey Ling agreed. “But let’s dispel some of the myths right now. Are we in danger of going berserk at the slightest provocation?  Frankly, Mr. Barnes, you are more likely to do so than one of us.  We are trained from birth and until after we have passed puberty, we are under constant psych evaluations.”

“And what happens if a Valkyrie fails an evaluation?” Steven demanded.

“The valkyrie is terminated. Instantly.” Mey Ling answered, her voice wooden. “There are no second chances. There is no such thing as borderline.”

Steven slumped back into his seat, stunned.

“They terminate…children?” he breathed.

“They do.” Mey Ling nodded, her face bleak. “And yes, I have witnessed it. Thankfully, I have never been in the position of having to order such a termination, but I can guarantee you that had I been in such a position, I would have done my duty.”

“Children, Major?” Dr. Waler leaned forward, her face pale.

“Dr. Waler, one thing those propaganda reports don’t exaggerate are the abilities of the Valkyries.” Mey Ling motioned towards Corina. “I am a doctor, not a line officer like the Colonel here. Yet I am still a Valkyrie. If it came down to it, I, by myself, could probably take out a dozen or more regular troops before I was stopped.  I am faster, stronger, can take more damage.” She shook her head. “There is no way we can risk allowing a potentially mentally unstable Valkyrie to exist. For our own safety and the safety of non-combatant normals that Valkyrie might come into contact with.”

There was a brief silence when Mey Ling finished that was finally broken by Sean.

“Thank you for that, Major.” He said in a soft voice before turning to Corina. “But what about Steven’s question on your loyalty? To whom are you and your people loyal, Colonel?”

“How do you want me to answer that, Governor?” Corina rested her hands on the table before her. “It would be easy for me to claim that we cannot be loyal to a system that wishes to destroy us. It is the truth, but would you believe it?  I could say that the loyalty of my people resides in their commanding officer. That would be me.  Even if I said that my loyalty was to you, it would be an unacceptable situation.”

“What would happen if your loyalty changed?” Sean nodded. “I see your point on that one. Your people would follow you, not the civilian leadership.”

“Exactly.” Corina nodded. “I should point out; however, that Valkyrie training in that regard matches the training of regular troops. We are taught to respect those of higher rank and to follow legal orders. Regular troops take an oath upon enlistment that requires them to follow orders but at the same time to abide by the wishes of civilian leadership. In the case of the Martian Marines, that means taking an oath to uphold the Constitution of Mars and obeying the dictates of the duly elected civilian Administration.  Valkyries take the same oath when they are inducted but, unlike the regular troops, we are trained from the earliest possible age to respect our duly elected leaders.”

“So you are loyal to Mars.” Steven said.  It was not a question.

“No sir.” Corina looked at him. “The Valkyries are not robots without wills of our own.  Nor are we Genies with an inbred loyalty factor. Loyalty goes two ways.   When we give our oaths, there is an implied oath that the government or administration will keep faith with us, will not throw us away for no good reason, and damned sure won’t try to kill us themselves.”

She looked down at her hands

“That is where the problem arises.” She said in a low voice.

“What problem would that be?” Sean demanded, leaning forward.

When Corina did not answer right away, Mey Ling spoke up.

“We’re Valkyries, Governor.” She said. “You know the stories, the propaganda as Dr. Garison calls it, but you don’t know what it means to us.”  She closed her eyes for a moment. “We have no…attachment.”  She paused again. “Do you know what most of us did with the three day furlough you gave us?”

“Hit the local bars?” Sean ventured, smiling.

“Some of us. There is no difference between us and regular Marines in that regard.” She laughed and then became serious. “But a lot of us spent a lot of time on your third ring, site seeing.  There is a lot to see, a lot to do.  But the one thing that captivated us the most…were the children.”

“Our Children?” Terry asked, obviously confused by the turn of the conversation.

“Your children, Dr. Walers.” Mey Ling confirmed. “For many of us, it was the first time we had ever seen children who were actually allowed to be children. You see, we were never allowed to be just children. Not one of us ever met our birth mothers. Our earliest memories are those of crèche’s we were raised in. Military institutions kept purposely impersonal.  Like the Genies, we were born and raised to be soldiers.  That is the only life we were allowed to know.  We were not given a choice of what we wanted.  Our wishes were of no consequence and quite frankly, we were not even made aware that regular people had choices we did not until much later.  By that time, however, it never occurred to us that we might have a choice as well.” She looked at Dr. Garison. “I did not choose to become a doctor.  That choice was made for me based on my evaluation scores.”  She gestured towards Corina. “She did not seek to become an officer.  That decision was made for her before she was born because someone decided to add a set of command nanites into the nanite mix injected into the embryo that would eventually become Major Corina Twillian.”

“Is that what makes it impossible for other Valkyries to disobey the orders of a Command Valkyrie?” Dr. Garison demanded.

“That is fallacy no one has seen fit to correct.” Mey Ling frowned. “Yes, if Corina gives an order, the chances are it will be obeyed. But we are not robots without wills of our own.  We could not disobey in the heat of battle when hesitancy might cause the loss of the battle.  Other than that, however, we are not only expected to but are required to think things through. We cannot disobey for frivolous reasons, but are expected to disobey if the orders given go against the oaths we have taken, endanger the over-all mission, or are deemed illegal.”

“That is well and good.” Steven grumped, “But let’s get back to the children.”

“It’s quite simple.” Mey Ling told him. “We were trained, conditioned you might say, not so much to protect the government but rather to protect the civilians that elect that government.  Yet not one of us had any experience, any point of reference when it came to civilians.  All we had were those civilians that worked in the districts surrounding our bases.  But here….” She paused, her eyes taking on a far away look for a moment before she brought her attention back to the people seated on the other side of the table. “We saw those children playing.  We saw them interacting with their families. It was…eerie.”

“Eerie?” Terry sat back, clearly affronted.

“To us. Dr. Walers.” Mey Ling assured her. “It is one thing to take an oath to protect…but it is quite another…”

“To see what it is you are protecting. To be a part of it.” Dr. Garison finished for her.

“That’s just it. We are NOT a part of it.” Mey Ling began.  She stopped when a shrill buzzing erupted from the workstation before Sean.  He held up a hand and touched a key.

“Governor Durick here, what is it?” he demanded.

“Uh. Tye Meyers here, Governor.” And uncertain voice come over the speakers. “I’m trying to locate Mr. Barnes…”

“I’m here, Tye.” Steven cut in. “What is it?”

“You told me to contact you if I noticed anything unusual about those women marines, sir.” The voice continued and Steven shot Corina a dirty look.

“What are they up to?” He demanded, glaring daggers the two Valkyries seated before him.

“It’s not them, sir.” Tye said. “But a whole crap load of them marines on the Striker just poured off and they was all wearing some kind of armor and carrying weapons, sir!”

“What?” Sean stood, his face livid. “What are they doing, Tye?” he demanded.

“They just come running off, Governor, and started making their way through the hatches towards that blocked off section of the Access.  They was…holy shit.”

“Damnit Tye, what the hell is going on?” Steven demanded.

“Holy shit is right.” Dr. Garison laughed. While the others had been talking, he had been typing furiously at the keyboard in the table before him.  Now he sat, chuckling as he pointed at the display. “Sean, Steven, you have got to see this!”

Both of the men and Dr. Waler moved until they were standing behind Dr. Garison, staring at his display.  Curious, Corina and Mey Ling stood and moved around so they could see as well.

Corina could not help but smile as she watched Major Sarah Hilien and two full platoons of armed Valkyries escort a group of subdued US Marines back to the Striker.

“You thought they might try something.” Sean accused her. “You sent Major Hilien to head them off!”

Corina gave a slight nod and turned to Mey Ling.

“Major, you might want to check in with your people and see if there were any injuries.” She ordered. Mey Ling nodded and moved aside, using her AI unit to contact her medics.

“I didn’t think they would bring out Battle Suits, though.” Corina continued, grimacing. “I guess that answers the question of whether or not they knew who we were.”

“How’s that?”

“There would have been no reason for the Battle Suits if they thought we were regular Martian Marines.”

“Even if there are two hundred and fifty of you and only fifty of them?” Sean countered. “They could simply have thought the suits would nullify your numerical advantage.”

“No, she’s right, Sean.” Steven was shaking his head. “If they had gotten into the sealed area, they could have held off any regular marines that might have tried to take them. You can only pack so many people into access corridors and it would take only a few people to hold off an even greater number of attackers. Those Marines knew those suits would be needed to defend against a counter attack by a limited number of physically superior soldiers.”  He looked at Corina. “They were expecting to have to defend against your people.”

“Smart on their part.” Corina conceded. “It would have worked if they had gotten there first.”

“But why wait until now?” Dr. Walers demanded. “Wouldn’t it have been smarter if they had tried this while the Valkyries were on furlough?”

“Of course.” Corina agreed. “But it takes time to bring Battle Suits out of storage and get them ready for action. And they couldn’t do that until we left the ship.  Plus, they could not have known where all the Valkyries were during that time. It could not have been until this morning that they were informed that all but Major Ling, Major Hilien, and my self were confined to the barracks.”

She held up a hand as her AI buzzed and she removed it from her belt.

“Colonel Twillian.” She spoke tersely.

“Major Hilien, Colonel.” Sarah’s voice came out of the hand held unit. “We’ve rounded up forty-five US Marines and escorted them back to the Striker, ma’am. We have jammed their communications but we have not boarded the ship ourselves to determine if we missed anyone or if the five remaining US Marines are on board. Major Stilwick was not among those we rounded up. Would you like us to board the Striker, Ma’am?”

“No Sarah, just keep them penned up there until further notice. I’ll have Mey Ling send some of her people around with anti-nausea meds.”

“That would be good, Ma’am.  It isn’t real pleasant dealing with Zero gee. I am totally sincere when I say I wish you were here.”

“I bet you are, Sarah.” Corina chuckled. “Were there any injuries?”

“A few broken bones on our side.” Sara replied, her voice sober. “We weren’t expecting to have to deal with Battle Suits. Five US wounded, only one seriously, but nothing life threatening.”

“Thanks Sarah.” Corina sighed. “Keep them penned there. Until you get orders from me or from the Governor, directly from the Governor, not through an aide, do not allow anyone to enter or leave that ship.  Got it?”

“Got it. Oh, I also took the liberty of using third Platoon to guard all the access ways into the barricaded section. I’ve ordered a total lock down until you and the Governor figure out what you want to do so I imagine you’re going to be getting some irate calls before long by people wanting in or out.”

“That’s fine, we’ll deal with that.” Corina thought for a moment. “Sarah, I want you to get with Tara and have her take the Headquarters Platoon…” She paused and asked Sean where the Crew of the Striker were staying. When he indicated that he would have some one sent over, she went on. “The Governor is sending someone over to guide them.  I want those navy personal contained. We know that at least one of them is a USI agent.”

“On it, Major Hilien out.”

Corina replaced her Ai unit and turned to back to the people watching her.

“Well, Governor. Any more questions for us?”

To be Continued…….. 

 

 

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2014 by Clay Clearbrook

-- and may not be reprinted without permission.