Starship Engineer

The slow-burning of human-controlled space laid a lot of guilt on my conscience. Hundreds of millions were fleeing the central systems toward the Rim worlds. Admiral LaRoche's Federation welcomed them with open arms as they typically brought resources in the form of ships and skilled labor. My Arcadian Collective of the Bradbury system was not known to be a safe haven, so we did not see any refugees seeking asylum.

Although we badly needed skilled labor, I was fine with not having to integrate new citizens. Edmund's replacement, an old man called Hyperion, was not flexible in his duties. He had served as an Intelligence Officer in a now-defunct Navy that the quadrupeds had destroyed. Hyperion would prefer to isolate suspects in unique colonies. Edmund took the opposite approach, gave suspected spies a long lease, and observed them until they made a mistake. This way, he gathered more intel. Every day, I had to spend over an hour with Hyperion, and it was always the worst part of my day.

Not a single star nation went untouched by the ripples of war. Some were in a strong defensive position and only had to deal with pirates. However, many nations relied on open trade across human space. As resources were plundered or were unable to reach their destination, factories went into disuse, and citizens went hungry.

The Godfather organization tried to fill the hole, but I learned that Eve had disappeared. She had taken all of the transfer of power codes of the Brotherhood Council with her. Without the codes, Brotherhood assets were inaccessible. It was mayhem as rogue Brotherhood agents tried to consolidate their power, raided Brotherhood caches they knew about, and set up their own micro powerbases. I watched from afar, reading the reports and waiting for the return of the Void Phoenix.

Seven months after The Purge, the Void Phoenix returned to the Bradbury system. Abby had not been able to outrun the wave of chaos unleashed. They had numerous close calls getting from Earth out to the Rim Worlds. I was excited to see my children again. It had been almost 18 months since I had sent them away for their protection. Instead, it had put them in much greater danger.

When the Void Phoenix entered the system, it had gone through a number of intense fights, and the hull looked to have been repaired half a dozen times. When it docked with the shipyard asteroid, I ran the fleet from where I went to greet them. I was surprised as Abby looked older; even with the SNAIL treatments, her eyes showed the burden of command. I wondered if I had changed that much in my own time. First, Abby gave me a stern dress for putting her in command of the ship and protecting my children. Then I hugged her for keeping the children safe.

I was shocked when all my children marched out in Marine uniforms and stood at attention, each bearing the lieutenant rank. Abby explained the only way to get discipline into the bunch was to enroll them all in Marine training. Abby was the Commandant of the Marine Academy and had logged their training during the voyage; they all actually held these ranks in the Arcadian Collective. I studied Celeste first, and her eyes remained forward at attention. I smiled as I had thought it was impossible to tame Celeste. Maybe I was a little disappointed, but I was proud of her.

I walked the row. Nova and Venus had blossomed into teenagers. I had missed them and our time together in the Sword and Sorcery game. I questioned Abby on their rank, and Abby sent my PerCom all the test results from conditioning and VR performance evaluations. They had completed all the academic, physical, and practical leadership testing requirements. I nodded and gave them the praise they deserved, 15 and holding rank in the Marines. I nearly jumped when Venus said, thank you father, in my mind. She had gained a lot of control over her Sylvan DNA.

Amos, my adopted son, was next in line. He had put in a lot of muscle in the last year and a half. I looked at his scores, and he scored exceptionally high on the Badger suit certification. I congratulated him and called him my son before moving on. He smiled at that recognition—then returned impassive.

The two Wren twins, Ezra and Emil, were next in line. Both were hulking brutes now, even compared to Amos. They both had captain's bars, and I looked at Abby for an explanation. She said the two were actually in command of this platoon. That surprised me as the two had been Celeste's lackeys in all her troublemaking. I nodded to both and moved on.

Neon was next, and he was lean and fit, but his eyes told me he was just bearing with this parade. He had an astronomical IQ and was genetically engineered illegally by his mother. She wanted her son to have every advantage in life. He did as he had the genetics and access to the most advanced technology in our galaxy growing up. I noted he had completed dozens of certifications in engineering. The only thing holding him back was his infatuation and loyalty to Celeste.

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The next Marine in line was Dartanion. Her had his wings and was an excellent pilot, almost as good as Zoe. I patted his shoulder and congratulated him on his achievements. He had been instrumental in helping get the Void Phoenix out of a number of encounters. He still had his thirst for risk and adventure.

Luca was last in line. He was two years older than the Nova and Venus. He was the only one in the row who cracked a smile on seeing me review his records. According to the VR evaluations, his scores were impressive, and he had incredible leadership skills.

I stepped back and gave the group a choice, they could return to university on the planet or accept their commissions in the fleet. They would move to the command track to eventually captain their own ships. Everyone except Celeste and Neon accepted commissions in the fleet for command tracks.

I met with Abby after the children—not children anymore—had been dismissed. Abby retired on the spot. She informed me she would serve as an advisor to the Naval Academy, but it was time for her to hang up her boots. Buckie had been doing her duties while she was gone, and he could continue. She admitted her role in causing so much death throughout human space had done more damage to her mental state than she thought.

And just like that, I lost another advisor and friend.

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Desdemona looked at the holo-projection of the battle raging around the second planet in the system. The two Sylvan city ships were bombing the hatcheries of the quadrupeds. Her Fateweavers, Cosmic Discord, Indomitable, and Valkyrie focused on preventing ships from escaping the system.

This core system was packed with the quadruped Chosen. The Chosen were the heart of the leadership of the expansionist species. This victory would cripple the depleted race. They had only just started to use more advanced technology on their ships as they realized the inevitability of their defeat.

Technology ceilings had been so engrained in their civilization that it took repeated monumental defeats to spur them to break the laws. Desdemona had learned a lot about the species even though they did not communicate with others. They believed that might made right and quantity over quality.

The captains were not stupid but lacked the speed, sensors, and weapon power that the Sylvan and her fleet passed. The First Citizen of the city ship Ren'ffer, contacted her. She opened the screen and briefly discussed plans for the bombardment of the inhabited moon.

After nearly three years of this war, Desdemona had gained the respect of the space elves. They deferred to her judgment on most things now. The city ships were also a great platform for resupplying her Fateweavers, Leopards, and her supply ships. It allowed them to push from system to system, rapidly destroying the quadrupeds.

There was some hypocrisy in what she was doing—exterminating the quadrupeds. They were preparing to defend themselves from the Malevolents who would do the same thing to humanity. It was something she had thought about many times.

In the end, she decided the galaxy was a petri dish, and only the strongest organism in it would survive. It was how the Brotherhood had raised her—humanity was the strongest. However, she was not even human. She had Sylvan DNA in her, and the Sylvan now knew it because she told them. It was one of the reasons they had been deferring to her and trusted her.

Desdemona knew she would have to make a decision soon. Deven Wellsping was suspicious of her, and he was right to be suspicious. She had three paths open to her. Submit to Deven when this war is finished, plan a coup and remove him, or take her fleet and establish her own stronghold.

She had been planning on the last option for the last two years now. She had six Sylvan city ships in her fleet and thought she could convince at least three of them to join her in establishing a coalition to fight the Malevolents. She even had the perfect system selected. They had cleared a system of the quadrupeds that had three habitable planets and one habitable moon. Three light years away was a resource-rich system.

She had plans to merge the human and Sylvan races, taking the best of both of them. She needed to convince the First Citizens who joined her that it was the best course of action to save the galaxy. They would combine the DNA in a laboratory and would incubate the children. They would be able to grow hundreds of thousands of fast-growing children in a decade to crew a fleet much stronger than anything that the Arcadian Collective could.

First she needed to finish the extermination of the quadrupeds.

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