Exiles

  Chapter 21 A New Beginning

  The last forty-eight hours had been a blur, the crew were exhausted. The long and detailed negotiations had gone back and forth for hours in the ready room, but finally everything was in place. It was a hell of a plan and not without it risks, but if they all held it together and pulled it off, it would be a major coup. A significant step forward in bringing some peace and stability to one small corner of the universe. Against all the odds of the stacked dice that Jasper, the Brethren, and others were rolling against them.

  The Draconion's had taken some convincing, hardly surprising given the circumstances, but Tasha, the former Presidents daughter, was a smart kid. It was the first time they’d met her. Admiral Faiz and his XO Viqaas had been playing that one close to their chests. They announced several hours into the discussions they’d have to confirm any deal with the President in waiting. Until that point he’d assumed he’d been dealing with military rebels, exiles who’d just happen to escape the fall of their planet. It was a strange system they had, a bit like elected royalty. Once the President assumed office the chain of command followed the line of inheritance, until a new election was held. Tasha, as the only daughter of the late widower, was a symbol of hope and defiance to her people so long as she remained free and alive. It had taken several hours of delicate discussion just to get her off the Sultan and onto the Themis. Thankfully it had been worth the effort, she was aware of the risks and the alternatives, and agreed it was a gamble worth taking, for all their sakes.

  The Talmari had proved to be more stubborn than he expected, preferring either to shove everyone implicated in the ‘meat run’ out of an airlock or put a bullet in their head, no questions asked. Well, he had to admit, when you’d had your world overrun by the Anterian’s and most of your people slaughtered in front of you, it's hard to remain rational and objective. What you had to do was get them to take a step back, to see the bigger picture. To think not only of revenge, but of the possibilities for the survivors. How they could reduce the risk of it happening again. A hard sell, but it was worth it. They were some of the best fighters he’d seen and he felt safer having them at his back.

  Horra was different again, inscrutable and incisive, you never knew which way she was going to turn or how her contributions might shift the tone and tenor of the debate. Yet for all her fearsome reputation, as the ultimate matriarch amongst her people, she never did anything without consulting the senior sisterhood of the surviving clan groups. They’d had several time-outs for them to reach a common position, although more often than not that common position was Horra’s.

  Logan, the man he’d expected to cause him the most trouble, had been the most supportive. He was the yin to Horra’s yang and, since the attack on the Raiders base, they had become firm friends with a mutual respect for each other. However Logan did not consult, he was elected to lead and lead he did. Once he made a decision the rest of men and women under him were expected to adopt and follow it to the letter. Ford didn’t doubt for one minute this was a legacy of his role as a union leader, where, in any dispute, unity of thought and action were the key to success. However Logan was no fool and never sought to lead people down a path he knew they wouldn’t follow. He also recognised a good deal when he saw one, or at least the best offer that was on the table, and when to take it. He was as strong as his people allowed him to be and never gave them the opportunity to see him in any other light.

  The hardest bits hadn’t been the more audacious components of his plan, but the adoption of a common uniform for the crew of the Themis. It was universally agreed, with the finalisation of the crew assignments and the configuring of the Themis crew quarters to accommodate everyone, it was necessary for the crew to have something to draw them together. Something they could all identify with. Especially now the Amastra had been repurposed as a civilian transport for all non-combatants who did not wish to remain on board. The problem was what. After a lengthy debate they finally had a solution everyone could agree with.

  All human crew members would adopt Ford’s proposed uniform for deck duties. Midnight Blue with pale green piping and collar plus gold and silver flashes on the shoulder to indicate rank and ID. All non-human crew members would keep their traditional species specific uniforms, but adopt Themis colours and rank insignias. Likewise combat armours and armoured EVA suits would not be standardised to a single ship wide issue, but everyone would adopt the new Themis colours. Midnight blue with gold and silver insignia, unless camouflage missions dictated otherwise. The one unifying element that bound them all together was the ships badge. A symbolic eagle, it wings wrapped protectively around an amorphous blue green planet. Curled around the eagles head, above it, was the legend ‘For Justice’. Wrapped around the bottom, under its talons, a single word ‘Themis’. He wanted it to be a clear unequivocal message to anyone they encountered from now on. All Ford had to do now was feed the updated specifications to Alaster, who'd roll out the uniform modifications to the crew, and let the nanobots and fabricators do all the hard work.

  There had also been some discussion about rolling out the neural interface to all crew members. There'd been a few tense moments when he explained it wasn’t ready and they were still ironing out some technical issues. It was hard not to agree with the argument it looked like the original crew were being treated differently from everyone else, so a compromised was agreed. The interfaces would be withdrawn from active service, but all crew members would trial the interface during training in computer simulations. The data would be then be processed and used to refine them, to a point where they could be safely deployed in real world situations. Ford smiled to himself. It had long been apparent from the data, that Alaster the ships AI had collated and analysed, that the key issue was the crew didn’t know or trust each other well enough. This had triggered the excessive emotional feedback in the neural interface. By operating as a conventional crew they would have to learn to trust each other. Bond and grow to the point where the neural interface could be safely deployed ship wide.

  Finally it was done. The talking was over and everyone was on their assigned ship, in their assigned quarters, ready and waiting. The main hanger deck cleared and ready to take on board ships once more. Messages had been sent. All they had to do now was wait and get some well deserved rest. Ford ordered everyone to stand down and get some sleep for the next twenty-four hours, he was handing over control of the ship to Alaster.

  He closed his cabin door behind him and collapsed into his bed, drifting off into a deep untroubled sleep. Blissfully unaware of the exchanges taking place between Gaia and Alaster about the relative merits of the human race and others. Their weakness and their strengths and if they really were the ones the Ancients had hoped and longed for.