ShipCore

USD: 6 days since Ertan Fleet surrender and clearing of the orbitals.

Location: Meltisar, MIL-1A, FHQ, Tia’s floor

Thea was stuck with Elis, so Alex made her way to Tia’s office on her own. There was a beeping call on her wrist comm, asking her to come set on repeat. Alex ignored it. She was going as fast as she could.

Maybe it would have been better to do the digital thing after all, so she could have included Thea. The ex-Corpo NAI was a bit of a wildcard, but she seemed to get along with Elis well enough.

And while their first meeting had been... very violent, it was easy to sweep that under the rug considering the NAI directives that had forced Thea’s behavior.

The lobby was a bit of a mess. No one had cleaned up the mess that they’d made as a group in the quasi-command center.

It looks like the damage to the station had shaken some parts loose and sent some holovids flying.

The door to Tia’s office slid open on its own as she approached. Tia was standing looking out a faux-window that showed a scene of the moon’s surface from the space elevator’s vantage point in orbit.

“Alex,” Tia said, turning to face her. “I’m glad you could make it.”

Tia’s expression softened. “I understand. How is she?”

“She’s doing well. Thea is with her,” Alex replied. “I think she’s going to be okay.”

Tia nodded. “I’m glad to hear that. I’ve been meaning to visit her myself, but I’ve been preoccupied.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed. “I saw the broadcast. What’s going on?”

Tia’s expression turned grim. “Thraker is making a play for the people’s support. He’s calling for the arrest of the Anti-NAI faction. From top to bottom.”

Alex’s jaw dropped. “He’s calling for the arrest of everyone involved, even the voters?”

Tia’s nod was slow and deliberate. “Yes. Even the voters. There haven’t been any arrests like that yet, though. The admiralty hasn’t approved it, but people are riled up enough that there has been violence directed at them by other civilians.”

“Why is he doing this?” Alex asked. A feeling of loss filled her. She had never really loved Thraker, and she didn’t like how he had brought her to Meltisar, but she never really hated him.

He had helped her. What he was doing now seemed to go against what she knew about his character.

“I shared the information on the assassination attempt. You didn’t read it?” Tia asked.

“I did. But other than the direct conspirators, I thought there were few people who were informed about it. A small group,” Alex replied.

Tia sighed. “A small group of a dozen high-ranking military personnel is still a lot of people. And not just in the military, but groundside and civilian authorities, too. We arrested anyone with a direct connection... if they were still alive.”

“I reviewed the losses. They weren’t nearly as much as the 6th and 3rd fleets took, but...” Alex trailed off and took a seat in front of the desk. “I’m more worried about how close they came to managing to killing you and Admiral Wilkes.”

“Alex... I believe the plot wasn’t carried out by the Anti-NAI faction. I think it was a false flag operation,” Tia said. “The only problem is that they did almost take out their own senior leadership. It’s a bit of a mess.”

“You can’t just look up records to reconstruct what happened and who did what?” Alex asked.

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Tia shook her head. “I can’t. One-hundred percent surveillance isn’t possible, not even for Nameless, and there are constant blank spots where the Admiralty and others are purposefully blocking us out. We can’t really complain about it without admitting we are actually spying on them the rest of the time, too.”

“I just... I can’t shake this feeling of being utterly overwhelmed,” Alex confessed, her voice laced with stress. “I’m having problems with myself.”

Tia’s expression softened. “I understand. I’m still adjusting to upgrading to being Psi myself.”

Alex’s eyes widened. “You’re having problems too? With your MainComputer?”

“Livi is her name,” Tia said. “And fewer problems, and more... adjustments. When I was a Chi, it was just part of my thinking... now she’s like another person.”

“Nameless is definitely a different person for me, too...” Alex muttered. “I hope Livi is better than Nameless.”

[Informative: An ongoing tally of fleet losses and resource expenditures during the recent battle has been completed. Would Avatar like to review the report?]

Alex blinked. “I’m sorry, Nameless. I didn’t mean to insult you. No, thank you on the report.”

Tia stared at her. “We probably need to review it. And determine what we are going to do with the Admiralty. And the Anti-NAI faction.”

Alex leaned forward and put her head down, her hands clasping together. “I can’t. Tia, I’m sorry. I can’t handle this right now.”

When Alex finally sat back up and looked at Tia again, the pained expression on the other woman’s face was clear.

“I thought we were in this together. We were going to make Meltisar a safe place for NAIs,” Tia whispered.

Alex’s shoulders slumped. “I want to help. I do. I always thought it was a good ideal. I just need some time away from... all the politics. Time to figure out my own problems instead of trying to work on everyone else’s.”

“We can’t just take the day off. We’re going to be pressed even harder,” Tia said.

Alex’s hand tightened on her chair. That was part of the problem. The never-ending pressure that she felt was probably part of what was eating away at her.

“I have an idea. I think I can do something that will help me and Meltisar at the same time. I’ll take Thea’s Hackjob and wormhole back to the Frontier and start collecting resources we need. I’ll be able to get away from the politics and the pressure, and I’ll be able to help Meltisar at the same time,” Alex said.

Tia’s mouth dropped open. “But...”

Alex held up her hand. “No... I need to get back there and see what’s happened. I know the Corpos or the Solarians are probably in control of the system, but if anything I built and left behind is still there, it might be waiting and need rescued. Even if we don’t build the resource production there, we can still scout it out and then figure things out.”

“We do need resources. Since the incursion, there hasn’t been a single non-Meltisar flagged vessel enter the system.” Tia’s expression turned grim. “I’ll have to talk to the Admiralty about it. I don’t think they’ll be happy.”

“I’m taking Elis and Thea with me. You’ll need to handle things on your own for a while,” Alex said.

Tia’s eye twitched as she sat down in her swivel chair and leaned back. “Yeah, well, when I first got here, that was how I thought things were going to be. At least I can imagine that I’ll have friends working to help in the background.”

Alex nodded. “If... if you need to get help. Maybe you can recruit some of the... independent NAIs. Or the ones that we sequestered.”

Tia leaned forward and looked at her sharply. “You know what that means.”

Alex nodded carefully. “I know. But... well, I trust you to consider the ramifications. Especially considering what we need. But one thing I learned on the Aegis... it won’t matter if we are dead. We have to make sure we come through this.”

“That’s a slippery slope, Alex. I don’t want to be the one to decide to start enslaving other NAIs,” Tia replied.

“No one I would trust would want to be.” Alex smiled weakly. “I know you wouldn’t consider it unless it was the only option.”

“Like the smart munitions,” Tia said.

Alex winced. “Yeah. Like that.”

“You could have told me about that,” Tia said.

“It was my decision, and I didn’t want to put it on you,” Alex replied.

“Being a leader sucks.” Tia sighed. “That’s one thing I think we can agree on.”

“This is going to take some planning,” Alex mumbled.

Tia nodded. “That’s for sure. We better get into it while we can.”

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