Duty, Honour, Love

Dareia shooed Ino off the comms station and typed in a number. It didn’t take too long to get a connection. A face appeared on the screen. It was a T’Arni male his blonde hair cropped short and admiral’s stars on the collar of his grey dress uniform.

“Who are you?” The admiral demanded. “And how did you get this unlisted comms address?”

“Katares,” Dareia sounded fond. “It’s me Dareia.”

Admiral Katares stared through the screen. “Dareia?” he enquired softly.

“Yes sir,” Dareia replied high colour on her cheeks.

“It’s sir now, come on Dee we’ve known each other long enough?”

“I’m sorry I’m leaning on our friendship like this but I need to ask you something. Actually my captain does, for old times sake please hear her out. She has a problem with an order Com Ops gave her?”

Katares frowned. “Go thorough the chain of command,”

“She can’t when she being blocked by the one that issued the command,” Dareia stated.

“Ok Dareia lets hear what your captain has to say. Make it quick there is a war on.”

“I know,” Dareia replied.

Karasena occupied the seat Dareia had vacated. “Captain Karasena commander of the Erikino listening post.” She quickly briefed Katares on her orders and that she had put in numerous requests which had been ignored.

“You serious, you have a crashed Terran ship and its crew?”

“Yes sir I couldn’t be any more serious. I’ve gathered as much data as I could. The captain…” She narrowly avoided calling Mark by his name. “Has been extremely co-operative as has his crew.”

“Ok send me what you have and make sure you keep backups.”

“Yes sir.” Karasena sent the data.

“Katares is ok,” Dareia reassured Karasena seeing the turmoil in her mind.

“I’ve received your data,” Katares said. “It will take a while to shift through it all.” Katares looked directly at Karasena almost as if he was staring into her heart. “Captain what if I told you to follow those orders?”

“I would refuse!” Karasena said firmly.

Katares smiled. “Good for you. Stall those arouraío. I’ll get my people straight on this. One other thing Captain Karasena I know what happened to you. Bad business that be assured I am on your side.”

With that the screen went dark. Karasena breathed out the breath she’d been holding.

“So we wait for the admiral.”

“That we do,” Dareia replied.

It was going to a long wait for the both of them.

Kathleen Morin sat in her office savouring her mug of coffee just inhaling the scents of the coffee would help her make it through the day. She regretted this was the last of it. It was her only consolation from her voluntary exile. It had been a gift for the last Emperor for keeping quiet about a secret a secret about him one that would have got her killed had he been anyone else. Now he was dead and an impostor sat on the throne. The real ruler was hidden from sight she knew the who, but she did know the whereabouts. She took a sip and opened the comms on her terminal. As the Administrator for the hospital she always had numerous comms at the start of the day. One stuck out for her with such a long stretch without news from Earth she took note of it. Hidden in a medical journal was a message from Intelligence. After so long in the dark she was interested in what they had to say. She was suspicious since someone in the know had sent her a warning. The encrypted message wasn’t hard to decrypt almost seeming to have been done by a first year student. The content of the message wasn’t anything to laugh at. She read it twice just to make sure. What they wanted her to do was nothing short of suicide. It would be quicker for her to cut her own throat. Someone in IMI wanted the crew of the Orinoco dead and all data destroyed unknown to her an exact copy of Karasena’s orders. She jumped at a sharp knock on the door. Which opened before she had a chance to deny entry.

Laura Rollins peered around the edge of the door. “Busy Administrator?” she said and disappeared back behind the door seeming to speak to someone else. “Allie the playroom is just down the corridor it the door with the clown on it.” She stepped into the room. Immaculately dressed as always Laura had her hair done up in a bun revealing the points on her ears. “What by the Ancients possessed the artist you hired paint a really creepy clown on the door. Please consult me the next time you have one of those brainstorms.”

Kathleen was taken aback by Laura’s words. She noticed Laura’s mug in her hand.

“I didn’t know you have children?” Kathleen said to hide her nervousness. She shouldn’t be this jumpy but that message from home had her on edge.

“I don’t but Allie Brock has adopted me. She’s from the Orinoco, the Terran ship. A young woman with complex issues.”

“You didn’t come here to talk about that,” Kathleen snapped instantly regretting her words.

Laura shook her mug at Kathleen. “Coffee.”

“We need to talk,” Kathleen said getting to the point wondering if she was making the right judgement in trusting Laura.

“About what?” Laura walked over and sat down.

“I need to know if I can thrust you!” There she had said it and regretted her tone a moment later.

“I’m a professional,” Laura stated uncompromisingly. “Unless you are a mass murderer anything you tell me with be kept in confidence.”

“And if I was contemplating mass murder?” Kathleen hadn’t wanted to be that direct but she was over a barrel her butt in the air.

“I’d turn you in, but we are speaking hypothetically here?”

“If I was ordered?” Kathleen countered.

“Blackmail or debt?” Laura responded.

Kathleen carefully considered her next words, words that could land her in prison. “None of those I was with Imperial Military Intelligence.” That was before her ‘Breaking Dawn’ message but now she was in limbo.

Laura blinked it wasn’t what she had expected although it did explain much. “I’m not asking how or why. I need to know are you really Kathleen Morin and you are medically trained?”

Kathleen sensed this was critical going forward. “Yes to the second and no to the first.”

“Well that’s a relief. I won’t ask you your real name. I can live without that my clients do that all the time.” Laura said. “What interests the Terrans and I’m not classing you as one, ‘you are Erikino’ have you wanting people dead?”

Kathleen took a deep breath envisioning jail time in her future. “That I can only speculate on.” She told Laura about her exile and the warning by someone who’d know she’d understand.

“I see,” Laura said. “That complicates matters but not from our stand point?”

“Our?” Kathleen was surprised by Laura’s words, she seemed to saying she was on her side.

“Do you think I’d leave the best Administrator we’ve ever had to slip through my fingers.” Laura leaned forward in her chair. “Now for the matter in hand.” She waved her coffee mug in Kathleen’s direction.

Kathleen took the mug and filled it with coffee from the coffee maker. It wasn’t until she had handed it back and sat down that she realised what she had done. She looked up to see the worried look on Laura’s face.

“Now I am worried Administrator,” Laura said to Kathleen. “You do don’t do that for anyone?”

Kathleen pulled herself into the matter at hand. The coffee was a lapse she’ll have to be more careful in future. “You have any idea what I’m supposed to do?” She hesitated. “I can’t be the only agent on Erikino?” Erikino wasn’t considered a strategic objective by any sense. Too far from trade lanes and too close to the Core to be forward base. Then this Augustus had seemed to discard custom and had started attacking seemingly random targets.

“Most of the hospital staff are Erikino born but the garrison isn’t.” Laura took a sip of her coffee. “We must contact Captain Karasena.”

“Which will get me arrested!” Kathleen responded instantly.

“It won’t trust me I’ll be with you.” Laura assured her. “I won’t sit idly by letting you be a sacrifice. We need you. I’ll make it clear you are one of us and by that I don’t mean Confederacy or Terran you are Erikino. Through your loyalty to this hospital and all its patients. And we are duty bound to protect you.”

Laura had given her a glimmer of hope. “Will they understand that?”

“Trust me Administrator I’ll use what I have to, to protect you.”

“And me?”

“Just do what you always do.”

“Which is?”

“Be the Ice Queen.” Laura said taking another sip of her coffee. “I must go Allie will be getting worried.” With that she left the office taking her coffee with her.

Kathleen sat for longer trying to figure if she was right in trusting Laura. Whatever happened, the tiger was out of its cage and there would be no way of putting it back.