Shipping Part 4

"They're doing WHAT?"

"Captain Forogrove has been arrested on mutiny charges."

"She saved their asses! She probably saved all of us! Why on Terra would any of them have her face a court martial?"

"You said it - to save their own asses. You know something's fishy in all this."

"True. Hm. That lunatic should have been stopped on Terra. All of us can name five ways off the top of our head to do it. And it wasn't done. Now they want to make the hero of the day into the goat, and make her disappear?"

"Can she even travel to the planet? Aren't captains so bonded to their ships, that they can only go on shore leave for hours at a time? I am, anyway."

"Something's not right. Are we going to let this happen? How long till they do this to any of us?"

"Not on our watches. I don't know about the rest of you, but suddenly I'm not listening to any orders to remove my dreadnought till trial. Lots of technical difficulties, it has. What are they gonna do, stop us?"

"We have more firepower than all of Terra, plus we have the kill codes to their entire arsenal."

"Hm. Let's use it. We don't move till trial. We don't let anyone close to Terra till after trial. We have significant pressure. Let's use it. And I have a wicked idea. Everyone, grab your Communications Chiefs, we're going to do something rather ugly to beat them at their own game..."

***********************

"This court martial proceeding is called to order. Captain, do you want us to read the charges against you?"

"Why? I can read. I'm just curious how you're going to make them stick."

"You think this is a joke?"

"You think I'm stupid? You drag a dreadnought captain off her ship for two months, with no access to ship or counsel, after said captain and ship save your hide, and thought, what? That I'd go insane and die without my ship? That I'd agree to anything you said just to make the pain stop? That I'd save your sorry hide from the punishment you so richly deserve?"

"Watch what you say, Captain, you're being recorded."

"And so are you. You're looking for a scapegoat, Rear-End Admiral, and you're not going to find one here."

There were murmurs around the room. This was not going as planned.

Athena was the only one accused, but Alex, Wang Jing, Inaya, and Carlos had been brought in as witnesses that morning. They sat quietly at the far end of the table, while the tribunal sat at the other. There was a lot wrong with this tableau.

Suddenly, all the monitors around the room crackled and turned on. A cheerful face appeared in each screen. All the dreadnought captains, every single one, grinned and waved. Eldritch spoke for them all. "Hey, so this is where you spirited her off to! Good to see and hear from you, Athena. I was getting worried. I was wondering how secret your criminal trial was going to be. Turns out, very secretive indeed. Rear Admiral, were you really going to try her without her peers present?"

"Of course she was," Athena said quietly. "How else to blame me for all her errors on trumped-up charges before I could spill the beans?"

"Really? Do tell."

"Order! Order! I am in control of this tribunal!"

"Stuff it, Rear Admiral. Tough to be in control when you snuck me off my ship in order to 'report' to you directly, then had me arrested as soon as I stepped in your office. I'm betting the other Admirals don't even know where you're hiding me. Some may not even know that you are hiding me. But when the other dreadnought captains refused to budge from orbit till I was back on my ship, you had to speed up your plans. So, lay out your defense, if you can."

"Dereliction of duty!" the woman all but spat.

"What, for abandoning the bridge when we were overrun to save my crew? For putting our crew's traitors in the brig when they let a hostile force on board against direct orders? Letting my security chief do what they do best, leading the battles to get our people back as safe and unharmed as possible instead of taking over myself and doing a piss-poor job? Only three percent loss of crew life. Each and every death from a bullet. Last I checked, we carry laser pistols. So there wasn't even friendly fire. We were in a war situation, Rear Admiral. Against an enemy that you here on Terra didn't stop. If winning meant I had to cut off the head of every third crew member in order to stop that bitch, you'd better believe I'd've done it. Instead, I'm here, imprisoned, because you don't want the world to know what an incredible fuck-up you are."

"I want to hear more about that part-"

"Silence! Fraternization!"

"Aw, you're so cute when you're out of line. I'm a dreadnought captain, Rear Admiral. I can fornicate with anyone and everyone I please. Did you forget that? Did you forget the charter? I can do whatever I want with any consenting adult while not on duty. Dreadnought captains get that privilege, since we don't do so well away from our ships. You know we only can be away for a few hours, then we need to get back on board. It's the price we pay for our interaction with the ship. Just because I can stay away for a day or two - and you've deliberately held me for two months - doesn't mean you get to call the shots."

"There was no consent! You're pregnant with a dead man's baby!"

There was no hiding Athena's swelling belly, even under the table. "Nice try. You have the registry records. Jabari was witness. We were married while we hid in the closet off the bridge."

Now the Rear Admiral was smug. "Not according to your own Chief Therapist! She claims you raped his dead body!"

"Nonsense. You have the logs. No such thing happened, and the vids prove it."

"She was there! She saw it! And you have no access to the ship's logs to contradict sworn testimony!"

"Really? She has the upgrade implants. Did you subpoena her personal records? Or the ship's logs? Or were you just trying to make this a kangaroo court without evidence, while denying me access to my own records to prove otherwise?"

"Chief Navigator! You were there! Tell what you saw!"

"I was covering the Captain while she and the Chief Doctor worked on keeping the Chief Engineer alive. Our opponents punched into the hallway from a position of cover. Stray bullets were flying everywhere, and laser shots. If you think our Captain is good enough to fuck a dead body in the middle of an active war zone, you're fucking insane."

"I have the Chief Therapist's sworn affidavit!"

Athena cocked her head, looked at her Chief Therapist. Alex sat there, staring at the table. Wouldn't look at Athena or anyone. She'd been strapped into a helmet designed to keep her from using her ability on anyone in the room. "Alex, did you lie to this psycho?" she asked softly.

Alex wouldn't look at her, only the table. She shook her head slowly.

"That's a rather big lie to tell. I can only assume you're being bribed or blackmailed. My guess is on the latter. Maybe some day you'll tell me how I could accomplish a rape of a dead man during an active battle when the vids and witnesses tell another story."

The rear Admiral was back to her usual smirk. "You don't have access to the vids, so you can't prove your version," she said smugly.

Athena snapped her fingers. One screen fuzzed, went blank. The screen aside of it suddenly held a split screen of the captain she'd displaced to run the vid. With a clear time stamp, the image showed Carlos and Alex and Jabari and Athena, working frantically to save Darien's life. And how it didn't work. And how heartbroken they were, to lose one of the top officers.

Athena rapped on the table to get their attention. "Now, I'm going to let it play again. Notice one thing: Alex isn't even looking at us, she's covering the far hallway like she was ordered to do."

And the vid played again, highlighting that detail.

Athena arched an eyebrow. "Do you think these are just vids, Rear Admiral? These are actual ship's memories. Not something that can be doctored. If you don't believe me, ask the other dreadnought captains to ask their own ships for confirmation."

Though she didn't, each captain checked individually, and their affirmations filled the silence. Text from their ships scrolled as a secondary testamonial.

"I'm not sure why my Chief Therapist chose to lie to you under sworn affidavit, but since it's now clear she did lie, I move to strike her testimony from the official record."

"Denied!" The rear admiral was livid.

"Overruled!" That from every dreadnought captain.

Athena shook her head. "Did you forget? If a dreadnought captain is tried, it isn't the military hierarchy that chairs the tribunal. It is their peers, the other captains of the dreadnoughts, that perform the task. Did you even check the rules before you arrested me? No dreadnought captain has ever faced a court martial. Why? Because we go down with our ship. We have no reason to live if our ship dies. We can get our people out and safely away, if we have time. But that's all. You're a fool. And you wonder why you got bounced so hard from dreadnought command? Of course you'd never pass the captaincy test. You're a sneaky, lying, blackmailing little bitch, who tried to get me killed by your Terran problem, then had to scramble when I actually succeeded."

The captains perked up again. "Oh, do tell!"

For some reason, the rear admiral seemed unable to speak. She tried. Her throat wouldn't work.

"Think about it. A person with mental talent on Terra, and no one did anything about it? Come on. A competent sniper. A convenient bomb. Shooting the shuttles out of the atmosphere, and shake heads sadly over the innocent vacationers caught in the crossfire. Hell, a convenient tactical strike, from squad up to nuclear weapon! If we could figure out how she was playing her mind tricks within hours, and defeated her within days under extreme duress, how come Terra was paralyzed? They don't have audio-silencing helmets anymore? Or loudspeakers to drown her out? Something doesn't add up, people, and this jumped-up piece of shit trial is just a major piece of theatrical distraction. Basically kidnap me, while pregnant, keep me away from my ship? And the best medical care I could get with my own ship's doctor? When I solved their problem for them?

"This is just a guess, but a good one: Miss Rear Admiral over there is a rear admiral because she couldn't make the cut for dreadnought captain. Everyone knows we're an elite unit to ourselves, and we make our own rules on our ships. And we get the cushy jobs, because we've got the surgery that patches us into the ship's AI. She had to take captaincy of a smaller ship, one without AI, and claw her way up through command levels via the back door, so to speak.

"But, here's the thing: what if the test that selects good captains for the dreadnoughts, for the surgery, is actually a test for latent mental ability? That would uproot a long, looong held belief that mentalists are scum, now wouldn't it? And that the military stumbled onto a surgery centuries ago that would help them integrate into civilization, let them be productive members of society? And then kept it a secret? Can't have that, now can we?

"And now here I come, little miss hotshot and her awesome ship, and under immense pressure we develop the tech that makes that surgery affordable to everyone. Recovery reduced to almost in-and-out surgery. The implications of an entire crew plugged into the ship if they chose, of those 'fucking mutants' actually becoming desirable, or a marketable commodity? Can't have that, now can we? That would overturn some long-held... 'traditions,' now, wouldn't it?"

There was a lot of silence, except for strangling noises from the rear admiral.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe you have a traitor in your midst. I don't know if Miss Rear Admiral there set her up to cause chaos and disorder, or if she wanted to bring the system down, or if she just wanted me specifically out of commission. Or if this was a test to bring down all the dreadnought captains. I think we were manipulated to get her onto my ship specifically, so Rear End Traitor could justify blasting my ship out of the universe. Maybe even make the other dreadnought captains look unreliable, dangerous. But a genetic mutation that allows for mental ability isn't what's on trial here. I am, for no other reason than that I succeeded, where she failed. And I lived to tell about it, with new tech to make me richer than their military budget. This will turn the world upside down. I don't know how far the conspiracy goes, but if I were the upper echelon, I'd suddenly be scrambling to erase my logs. Because if I were the dreadnought captains, I'd suddenly be ordering my security and communications and engineering people to break in and copy everything they can."

Carlos smiled for the first time since the trial started, cocked his head. So did Wang Jing and Inaya. From the vid monitors you could hear the whispering of captains giving orders, and underlings scrambling to obey.

"Hope you locked down your private logs, Miss Real Admiral, because they're the first ones that'll be hacked." The rear admiral, who'd stopped struggling with her lip-locked mouth as Athena talked, turned pale.

"See, you've now had two months of public trials, putting all the insurgents in public view for their alleged crimes? And you got nothing out of them - because there was nothing to be had. The conspiracy wasn't there. They followed a naive religious zealot because her mental ability was so warped that she capital-bee Believed it was the right thing to do. Did you search the ghettos for a suitable candidate? Did you push her into it? Make suggestions? Give her false hope and gifts? Food? Medicine? Suggestive drugs? Maybe train her? You're damn lucky she didn't follow the usual cult leader tropes and take over the planet when she broke out, while you dithered and twiddled your thumbs. I would have thought that her followers that survived would need intensive therapy instead of publicized trials. But then you tried to get your mitts on my people, who were swayed by the words of a persuasive lunatic. My people are getting therapy on ship, while they stay in the brigs till they're rehabilitated. They're being fitted with plugs too, and Ely is directly helping with the treatment. And the other dreadnoughts are talking to each other to make sure our new tech will not be abused.

"Meanwhile, down here, you have ghettos filled with broken people who can't live in society because you won't let them. Why not? Aren't they people, who deserve a chance? Why not spend some resources to find a way to integrate them safely into society? Oh, that's right, you're too busy carving the world into us versus them. And covering your tracks. Well, I'm changing the game. I have a ship willing to work with multiple people who are bonded to itself, I have volunteers from those very ghettos who are willing to take a chance at a different life, and I have access to the components and surgery to change their lives for the better. Maybe even change society. And that's the real threat, isn't it, Madame Rear Admiral? How dare I, who is everything you wanted to ever be, thwart your private hatred games?"

There was a pounding on the door. Simultaneously, the captains on their vids were receiving reports from their officers, describing whose log reports they'd broken into and downloaded.

"Ah. I believe that's my cavalry. See, Miss Rear End Admiral, you thought to keep this private, and make me disappear quietly. Except you didn't know just how tight I am with my ship. Though I haven't been able to communicate properly since you arrested me, through the shielding you kept on my prison cell, I've been able to get enough messages back and forth. I've stayed sane. I'm going to bear healthy babies. And my crew will now escort me back to my ship, while arresting your sorry ass for high treason. And we'll take you with us. For your own protection, of course. Wouldn't want what happened to me, to happen to you, before we know everything you've been up to, now do we?"

The doors blew open, and tactical crews from the Dreadnought Elysium poured in. One cluster took each of the tribunal members into handcuffs and escorted them out. Another gathered their files and computer access ports. One group tossed laser pistols to her chiefs, who immediately turned their weapons on their Chief Therapist.

"Ah, yes. A loose end. Chiefs, please escort our former Chief Therapist to a shuttle and remove her to our ship." Alex was placed in cuffs, and still helmeted, led out. Another squad led by Wang Jing surrounded their captain protectively.

She stood clumsily, addressed the vids. "Thank you, people, for your timely intervention. I appreciate your hard work. Please send my regards to your excellent ships and crews."

Eldritch, as always, shook his head. "We'll never know just how tight you are with your ship, will we?"

"I'm still sane, aren't I? And that bitch is mine. I will make her pay for every law she's broken, for every second she's kept me from my ship and people."

"Does she know this was broadcast live over the planet?"

"Not yet. But she will, when she gets around to contacting what she thinks are allies that will get her off. Who won't touch her, now that she's proven she's a traitor."

"Ouch."

"Indeed. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to see real sunshine for the first time in months, instead of by static vid. Then I have a ship to hug." One by one, the captains gave her jaunty salutes as the vids winked out.

Outside - sunshine on the skin feels wonderful! - Athena stopped for a moment, watching prisoners being escorted onto her ship's shuttles. And basked in another glow entirely, of a full connection with her ship.

She nodded to her squad. "Go ahead and pick a shuttle, people, I'll take the express." When they looked at her, puzzled, she took a step forward - and vanished.

Carlos' jaw dropped. Inaya just shook her head. Wang Jing looked impressed. "Did we just witness the first corroborated evidence of a teleport? While she was pregnant?"

"Damn. She's that tight with the ship..."

*******************

Even through the shuttle, Alex could feel the hate. The helmet was gone. It was like being repeatedly slapped on a raw wound, burning over and over again. You betrayed the captain.... you betrayed the ship.... you betrayed us....

And I won't let you go numb, because you deserve every moment of my crew's loathing.

Even the ship hated her. That shook her.

It got worse the closer they got to the ship, more and more waves of loathing directed solely at her. Even dragging her through corridors and rooms to the captain's office, maneuvering past new passengers and crew - they'd all watched the live vid - they stared at her with disgust and revulsion. It was like living on Terra, in a ghetto, all over again...

Not because you have a mental ability, but because you betrayed my captain. The one who put her reputation and career on the line for you. Who would have made you rich beyond compare. Who lost two months of her life, while pregnant, separated from me, because of you.

One person on this ship didn't hate her. Ahead, dimly, there was one bright spot: a person who was loved, reassured, being told the most wonderful things. Clearing up a grave misunderstanding. Relief, support, reassurance. Being told about a promotion, and future prospects, and a life with the person he loved.

They approached the captain's office door, it slid open, and the new Acting Chief Engineer stepped out.

He had been so afraid. He'd seen the vid, didn't understand how his captain could have been sleeping with both himself and his own boss, was it all a lie? But now he knew what was going on, understood everything, agreement, belonging...

His face was shining with happiness - till he spied Alex coming towards him. Then she watched it all drain out of his face like a light going out. And the hate, it filled him too. He breathed deep, then spit in her face.

I deserved that.

He gathered his new engineering crew behind her, and she was shoved through the darkened doorway, guards flanking her.

The captain was there, comfortably installed in a supportive chair. So was Jabari, who had refused to go to the court martial though they'd been sent a subpoena. They were monitoring Athena. Carlos, Inari, and Wang Jing still had their pistols leveled at her.

Their hatred was palpable. It crawled over her skin.

I wish I could just die.

"I won't let you, darling. You have waaay too much to atone for."

Alex was shoved roughly into a chair.

"So. One question, and one only. Why?"

Alex stayed silent.

"What, now you won't talk? When before you blabbed, lied, countermanded chain of command? Disobeyed my direct orders? Okay, the hard way." Athena cocked her head. "Ely?"

The feedback was so loud, it could be heard in the room, coming from Alex's ear plugs. She screamed, and screamed again, and again, and again, till her voice was raw. Eyes and ears streaming, the pain lanced through her head, going on and on forever and ever...

"Okay, we got it all. You can let go."

The ship took her at her word. There were two soft thunks and the ear plugs fell out. Thin trickles of blood followed from her ear canals. Only a few had enhanced vision enough to see glints of the thinnest wires as they slithered out of her body and pooled below her chair.

Athena snorted. "You're a fool. If you had been bribed, or blackmailed, or extorted, I'd have helped you. I wouldn't put it past the rear admiral to kidnap a family member of yours and hold them hostage for your false testimony. But you sold me out for a promise of promotion? You were lied to, honey. That piece of shit didn't have any power over who gets promoted. You sold us all out and almost caused an interplanetary incident over a lie."

Alex's face crumpled.

"So. What to do with you. Ely no longer trusts you; you can't stay under arrest here. But we can't have you blathering secrets from your time on the ship either. Even if someone believes your lies, how can we protect ourselves and our crew? Jabari, ring her."

Alex was too stunned from the sudden loss of the ship's connection, and secretly enjoying the bliss of a quiet mind with the hate-pressure gone, that she didn't understand what was said till she was strapped tighter in the chair. When Jabari pulled out the metal ring, to be fitted onto her scalp, she shrieked and thrashed, trying to get away.

"No, dear. You don't get away this time. You wanted to die? Sure, you get it, in a way." Jabari was injecting her with a soporific, she could feel the numbness spreading slowly. "Once it's screwed into her skull, take her down on a shuttle and dump her at a ghetto. Make sure her military tag is on her. Though she's demoted to janitor-private, I want her to be able to draw a pittance salary for the rest of her long, long life. But that ring will scramble her vocal cords so badly she'll never be sane again, much less believed. Serves her right for selling us out. Besides, it'll give the rest of our passengers and cargo time to board while that's happening."

She was fading. Jabari was shaving her hair off, and then cold metal was slipping over her bare skin, being fixed in place permanently by screws bonded to her skull. She heard someone ask where they were headed.

"Where else? Theta-Bee Thirteen. We have precious cargo to deliver."

******************

Of course they broke speed records getting there.

But even the fastest ship of the fleet took months to get where it was going in the vastness of space, so Athena used the time to cram as much information concerning the planet, its customs, and its rules into her head as she possibly could.

Not a bad little world, once you get past the complicated structure of the family farm system...

Her lover, now actual Chief Engineer, would lovingly caress her body in bed, and marvel at her growing belly. "Triplets!" he'd breathe adoringly, watching them kick at his hand through her skin.

She was dressed as befitted a proper Firstborn Bride when the shuttle landed at the spaceport, but melded stylishly with a Dreadnought Captain uniform. It shocked the workers at the port - they knew she was the ship's captain, what did this mean? But many of the Heads of Farm were there, to greet the first ship from Terra in over seven months. Learn the news, find out what happened.

They didn't expect her to be holding a particularly-shaped urn and ask to be conveyed to Kaltana Farms.

***************

Darien's mother couldn't stop crying. She hugged the urn that held his ashes like she'd never let go.

That's all right, Athena couldn't stop crying either, though they would never know it was for a different reason than they believed.

Their family grieved for what Darien never gave them. Athena mourned all that he could have been, given more time.

But Athena said she would stay with them, for a few months, while cargo and buyers offloaded, and while food that had been kept fresh in stasis containers was loaded to be moved on to their proper worlds. They had time to get to know her better, and find family members who would eventually raise her children. She'd still have to return to the ship regularly while docked, but she would take any curious family to visit and tour it and wonder about an off-world life, that proved so effective a lure that their firstborn vanished into the stars. Some might even decide to travel with the ship for a while, to help take care of the kids while they were young.

Athena told them some things. About his love of engineering. About his devotion to the ship. About his drive and passion for finding a new way, a better way, a smoother method of operation.

About the way he died, defending his ship and captain.

His share of the tech proceeds would be set up in trust for his children. Their children. Athena would deliver it personally, regularly, on the supply runs.

There was other sperm stored, in case of emergencies. Maybe there would be more children. She was a Firstborn Bride, after all, with the resources of a dreadnought to help her.

They fed her food right out of the ground, off the tree, off the stalk. It was a strange new sensation for her, but it tasted so good!

She promised to make their world a regular port of call to see the kids when they were of an age to stay. If they wanted to. She gave suggestions for making farm tours and pleasure gardens and forested retreats to bring in tourism money, so she could bring new people here. Maybe special cooking classes and people could pay to live and work on a farm. And who knows? Maybe some would fall in love, and stay.

She didn't tell them these were all suggestions she found in Darien's personal logs.

But she, and the ship, would never tell anyone the circumstances under which she and Darien got married. The logs showed it, Jabari confirmed it – they got married. That's all there was to tell, in a dark closet the night before a battle.

Though the personal memory logs of the people there showed it, somehow, their personal memories didn't. Not even Jabari's, though they'd verbally affirm the match every time they were asked. The rest of the crew hiding in that closet would shrug - they had been asleep, they reviewed the vids, they agreed that's what must have happened. It had been a strange night, they were under a lot of stress, with the new plugs and all, who were they to judge what the two still awake said and did? It's not like the logs could be edited, right?

Yes, she was that tight with the ship.

Part 1: https://vocal.media/futurism/shipping-part-1

Part 2: https://vocal.media/futurism/shipping-part-2

Part 3: https://vocal.media/futurism/shipping-part-3