The Admiral and the Assistant

Grimthorn reviewed the notes from his debrief of Captains Apine, Derrin, and Banab-- the three captains of the Arcturan detachment who had collided-- or not?-- during training exercises.

He worried over the notes. Everyone one the bridge of the Swordheart had seen the collision. All their reports were very similar, and matched with Grimthorn's recollection of the event.

The three captains, however, remembered none of it. As far as they were concerned, there had been no collision. The electronic records showed no collision either.

Some quick questioning of the other ships of the Arcturan detachment showed that none of them remembered the collision, either.

Only the Swordheart had seen the collision that had never happened.

Only the people of the Swordheart, Grimthorn corrected himself. The Swordheart's instruments and recordings also showed that nothing of the kind had ever happened.

Something deeply weird was going on here.

He'd been thinking himself in circles about this problem. He didn't wan't to take the Arcturan detachment on any more exercises until they figured this thing out, but it wasn't clear what they needed to figure out. The problem only existed in the memories of a couple dozen people who'd been on the bridge of the Swordheart at the time.

Grimthorn shook his head. He needed Kinnit on hand to think through this kind of thing. She was better at coming up with theories on weird stuff.

He set that problem aside. Pushing away that problem meant he could focus on his next problem.

He pulled up a set of work he'd started a week ago. He frowned at the data on his console. Hundreds of options scrolled by, and he started trying to sort out what was best. He quietly spent an hour sorting through data, growing increasingly frazzled.

Kinnit was in full swing planning the wedding, but the planning of the honeymoon had fallen to him.

Kinnit had dived headfirst into choosing venues, music, flowers, and all the hundreds of things that went into a wedding. Initially, Grimthorn had felt a little left out of the planning, but he'd attempted a brief foray into helping her choose colors, and it had gone poorly enough that now he was grateful to be clear of the whole thing.

Besides, Kinnit seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. All he had to do was foot the bill and stay out of the way.

He did end up with a role to play in the process, though. The honeymoon. Kinnit was planning the day of the wedding, and it had fallen to him to plan the week following.

Of course, he wanted it to be memorable, meaningful, special. He wanted it to encompass all their hopes for each other, all their love, to be entertaining, busy, but still leaving them time for each other.

It had seemed simple enough, until he'd started looking.

As it turned out, the galaxy was jam-packed with destinations for honeymooners. He had already spent a week looking through hundreds of destinations. Each and every one promised the experience of a lifetime. He spun through an abbreviated list of destinations that was still long enough to fill a hundred lifetimes with the "experience of a lifetime."

He sighed in frustration and cleared his console. He sat back and rubbed his face. Going through each option was not an option. If he tried, his experience of a lifetime was going to end up being reading sales brochures for thousands of resorts.

He leaned back in his seat, frowning at the ceiling. What kind of experience did he want for them?

What did they enjoy together?

His frown softened. Most of their time together had been spent battling pirates, or Insectoids, or saving the Imperium from one disaster or another. That was all fun, and good, and important.

His mind wandered back. All of that was good, but the moments that softened his heart, the ones that really mattered to him, were the little slices in between the adventures, the quiet times spent reading together, or talking, or hearing her share her day with him. The simple moments of togetherness.

A smile settled slowly onto his face.

The excitement was wonderful, but the calmness of spirit was what he treasured about her.

With a renewed focus and an idea, he sat forward and started searching again. Quickly he narrowed the list down. He nodded at the option he'd pulled up.

It was a little unconventional, but for them, a honeymoon on Waldyn would be perfect.

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Kinnit sighed happily, looking at all the options. Lucy and Lieutenant Lena Solborne had joined her again to help her planning. They were gathered in one of the Rec rooms on the Swordheart, looking at options.

The more time they spent planning, the more excited they all became. Today they were looking at cakes.

"I know a baker that can definitely help you, hon," Lucy said. "He'll deliver anywhere in the galaxy, and I can personally vouch for him. He'll make you exactly what you need."

"Oh, thank you, Lucy," Kinnit said. "I just don't know what to pick. There are so many options. Do I even need a cake? Why is the cake such a big deal in Imperium weddings anyway?"

Lucy shrugged.

"Like everything else, it's tradition."

"They're all so pretty. It seems a shame to get such a fancy cake just to eat it."

"Well, it's one more thing at the wedding for everybody to enjoy."

"What do you mean, everybody? It's just one cake, isn't it? Would there be enough for everyone?"

"They're pretty big," Lieutenant Solborne said.

"How big?"

"Um... give me a second..."

Lieutenant Solborne fiddled with her scanner for a minute, then turned on holo mode. It projected a holo of a wedding cake onto the table. The holo was dim and flickering-- Lieutenant Solborne's scanner wasn't really powerful enough for a good holo projection-- but it was good enough to give a sense of scale of the thing.

The cake she projected was nearly four feet tall, with three tiers. Elegant swirls of frosting ringed each tier, and the whole thing was festooned with piping, ribbons, and flowers made of icing. On the top was a pair of figurines, representing the groom and bride.

Kinnit's eyes grew round.

"Oh," she said. "It's not just a cake, it's a whole... construct. It's huge." Her eyes gleamed as she stared at the flickering holo. She began to salivate a little. "I definitely want one."

Lucy and Lieutenant Solborne laughed.

"Well, there would definitely be enough for everyone to share," Lieutenant Solborne said. "How many people are you going to have at the wedding?"

"Oh, it won't be too many," Kinnit said. "We don't want it to be a big thing for the media to get all wound up about. It will just be us and some of our friends. You two, of course. I want you both as bridesmaids, if you'd be willing.

They both nodded eagerly.

"I know Grimthorn will have some folks he wants to invite. And my..." Kinnit trailed off.

"What's that, hon?"

"Well, I... want to invite my family. From Takkar. This is going to be the most important time of my life, and I want to share it with them, but..."

"But what?"

Kinnit frowned.

"They're not very-- they don't understand the etiquette of the Imperium very well. They still live in a cave. Which is good!" She hastened to add. "I don't want to denigrate that at all, I just don't know how they'd behave in such a formal setting."

Lucy and Lena shared a look.

"Well, hon, it's your wedding, you can invite whoever you want."

"I... I do want to invite them, I just..." Visions of the clambering, swirling, snatching mass of her clan at her perfect, beautiful wedding filled her mind. She trailed off, horrified at the multitude of ways it could all go terribly wrong. "Maybe... maybe I should ask Grimthorn if I should."

Lieutenant Solborne smiled at Kinnit.

"What do you think he'll say?"

"He'll tell me it's my wedding, to invite whoever I want," she said miserably.

Lena patted her back as the weight of new worry settled over her.

Kinnit's scanner beeped.

"Oh, sorry," she said, looking at her scanner. "Priority message. I need to get to work." She stood and hugged both of them. "Thank you both so much for all your help."

"Of course, hon. Anything you need, we'll be right here for you."

Kinnit walked off, frowning with concern at the new message on her scanner.

Kinnit walked into Grimthorn's office. She felt the urge to flirt with him a little, but now was not the time. They'd agreed that work was to be kept strictly professional. No shenanigans while they were on the clock.

She saluted.

"I got your message, sir. What's up?"

Admiral Stonefist sat behind his desk, his face unreadable behind steepled fingers.

"The Ninth Fleet has just received an unusual request."

"Sir?"

"Sehren Senn had been captured."

Kinnit gasped.

"Sir, that's wonderful news!"

"Probably. The requesting officer has requested that the Ninth Fleet-- the ISS Swordheart, specifically-- transport him back to Techterra for incarceration pending his trial."

"Of course, sir. We have plenty of empty cells. Where's the pickup?"

"Hm? Oh, he's on Brolla. Spinward edge of the galaxy." Grimthorn shook his head. "It's just such an odd request. The Techterra Protection Force has their own prisoner transport. Why reach out to the Imperial Navy to transport him?"

"Is there a problem, sir?"

"No, not as such. It's just strange."

"Maybe they're worried because he's such a dangerous criminal. He did kill Sergeant Charr and his Marines on Techterra. That could be enough to cause folks to worry about what else he's got up his sleeve."

"That's true, I suppose." Grimthorn's mouth twisted. "Maybe it was just the police officer I spoke with. He got me wound up. I didn't like him at all."

"Was he rude? I've heard stories about the Techterra police."

"No, not at all. In fact, he was very polite." Grimthorn frowned. "I just... got a bad vibe from him."

Kinnit's eyebrows rose. It wasn't like Grimthorn to talk about "vibes."

"Will the officer be needing transport to Techterra as well, sir?"

"No, he says he's taking commercial transport back home."

She shrugged.

"I don't suppose it would hurt to transport Senn, then. We can send down an armored shuttle with a squad of Marines. I don't think even the leader of the conspiracy could cause trouble manacled to a dozen Marines."

"Hmmm... we should probably send MPs instead. The Marines are still angry about what happened to Sergeant Charr and his men. I don't want to put any of them in a position to test their willpower against the temptation to mete out a little vigilante justice."

"That's a good point, sir."

"I'll arrange the transport, then. Would you organize the security detail?"

"On it, sir!" Kinnit sat at her desk and began tapping at her console.

Grimthorn watched her with an ominous feeling he couldn't let go of. Finally, he shook himself and turned to his work.