Chapter 187: Chapter 187

Cammie and Jenna stayed in the hold to seal up the ship and stow the grav-sled, while the rest of us continued on up to the main deck. We took the lift in engineering, then when we headed forward into the mess area I was surprised to find two more people there waiting for us.

Rebecca stopped and looked to my sister as she asked, "Nyssa do you know Gwen Magniveen? And Jace Wheeler?"

The royal secretary remained seated at the dining table, while Jace got to his feet to greet us. He was dressed casual, with a simple tee over some rugged pants and a pair of work boots. Meanwhile Gwen was in another stylish skirt suit and blouse.

"Howdy miss," Jace greeted Nyssa with a friendly smile on his face, "We met briefly back on Deveron-8."

My sister nodded once, "Yeah, Amanda introduced us when she was showing me around Ganvis Station."

Gwen added, "Hello Miss Voss. We haven't been formally introduced yet, but I know who you are."

"Right," the captain nodded, then she did the formal thing. "Nyssa, this is Lady Gwen Magniveen, secretary to the crown of Vysalis-4. And Gwen, this is Amanda's little sister Nyssa Voss."

Before anyone could respond the boss looked to my sister again and added, "Why don't you stay here with Jace and Gwen? Amanda, Sarah, Jenny, we need to have that conversation. My quarters, now."

It was clear from the captain's tone she was ready to get down to business. Nyssa dumped her bag on one of the chairs then joined Jace and Gwen at the table, while the rest of us followed Rebecca into her cabin. I ended up leaving my duffel on the floor just inside the door, then sat on the bed next to Sarah. Meanwhile the boss settled into the chair in front of her desk, while Jenny remained on her feet.

"When the Tullrohane showed up at Deveron-8 that ruffled more than a few feathers," Rebecca began. "On the bright side, it also turned out to be something of an opportunity. Having a Vysalis cruiser turn up like that meant I got dragged into some high-level talks with the Deveronian government."

She frowned slightly as she added, "That interim president of theirs keeps saying he's just a simple farmer. But I have to say, Arun's doing a damn good job looking out for that planet's interests."

She was mostly addressing me, since I was the only one who was out of the loop for that incident. So I figured the others wouldn't mind if I interrupted with some questions.

"What does that mean for you?" I asked with a confused frown. "Or what does it mean for the Demeter?"

Rebecca shrugged, "It means opportunity. While you were running into unexpected trouble in the asteroid field, I was negotiating a diplomatic courier assignment for the Artemis."

When I tilted my head slightly in confusion the boss elaborated, "Between the drought and the former regime's corruption, Deveron-8 basically defaulted on all the contracts it had to deliver food to other worlds in the sector. And thanks to their former president, the Deveronian government doesn't have any diplomatic or defence ships of their own anymore. And we all know their defence grid isn't that great either. So now that the drought's finally over they've got some new problems."

She continued, "First off they need to forge some new trade agreements so the government can start raising funds to continue their reconstruction efforts. Second, they've got a huge problem right now with smuggling. That's both food going out, and more weapons coming in."

"Which in turn brings us to the third problem," Rebecca sighed. "There's more violence and raids happening, especially in the remote areas well away from the capital. Little warlords are cropping up and looking to carve out their own tiny empires, before the new government has a chance to establish law and order."

That made me grimace, "Shit. So where do we fit in? This sounds like a lot more than we can handle on our own."

Sarah smiled as she pointed out, "That's just it cutie. We're not on our own. Her royal highness has a fully armed and staffed cruiser at her disposal."

My eyes widened as I looked back and forth between my two girlfriends, "Wait seriously? Didn't you just say having an Imperium warship on their doorstep ruffled a bunch of feathers?"

"At first," Rebecca nodded. "But the Tullrohane isn't an Imperium ship, she's a Vysalis ship. And more importantly, as of thirty-six hours ago she's currently on loan to the Deveronian government. The VDS Tullrohane is now providing port control and system defence services to the people of Deveron-8, thanks to the generosity of Vysalis-4, her government, and her royal princess."

The cute engineer chimed in with another smile, "Which means the Tullrohane's stuck at Deveron-8 while the Demeter's free to come rescue you and attend to other business. Or in other words, our girlfriend can keep putting off her coronation as long as we can find excuses to avoid returning to Deveron-8."

"Right..." I nodded slowly.

It took me another half minute to process all of that. And when I was done I was left with two big questions, both of which were sitting in the ship's mess with my sister.

"So what's Gwen doing here?" I asked. "I'm sure she'd have been happier staying on a nice big brand-new cruiser. And what about Jace, what's he got to do with all this?"

Rebecca smiled, "That would be the diplomatic mission I mentioned earlier. Deveron-8 needs to set up new contracts, but thanks to the previous regime they don't have ships and they don't have anyone with diplomatic experience. Lady Magniveen's got that covered. She's made a name for herself in this sector, and she's already proven her worth when it comes to negotiating with local governments."

"Jace will be acting as her bodyguard and advisor," she continued. "He's got the right mix of skills in that he's a Deveronian who knows farming, but he also knows the sector and understands the practicalities of space travel. And he's no slouch when it comes to politics, both local and sector-wide. I have a feeling he got some of that from Ella, being raised by the town mayor probably helped in that respect."

I frowned as I thought that through, "Ok but he doesn't actually have any government credentials, does he? And there's a huge difference between small-scale local farming and dealing with interplanetary shipping and logistics concerns."

"Yeah," the boss's smile faded at that point. "Gwen can handle the high-level stuff, she's met with Arun and his people, she knows what they want and what they have to offer. Jace... Let's just say Ella pulled some strings to get her boy off-world. I know she talked to Arun before asking me. She claimed Jace was getting moody being stuck hanging around Ganvis, she said he missed travelling the stars. But I think the real reason is she's worried about his safety."

Rebecca sighed at that point, "With the renewed raider activity it seemed like the only thing keeping Ganvis safe was us. Nobody would even think about hitting the place as long as the Demeter was parked there. I think Ella figures they're going to see some heavy action now that we've shipped out. And if Jace was there, he'd be helping defend the town along with the rest of their militia. So Ella cooked up an excuse for us to take her son with us, to keep him away from that potential mess."

Hearing that left me worried about all the farmers and their kids and everyone else we'd met and made friends with at Ganvis Station. Still, I knew the Demeter could be back there in less than a day at Jump-1, now that she'd delivered her passengers and got me up to speed on the situation.

I asked, "So that's the job then? You want me and Nyssa to take Gwen and Jace on a diplomatic mission. Where are we going, which world?"

My girlfriends both exchanged a look with each other, and with Jenny who'd been silent through the whole conversation so far.

Then the captain shook her head, "Not quite. I'm sending Gwen and Jace on the Artemis with Nyssa, but you'll be staying on the Demeter with us."

"No," I stated firmly. "I already told you my sister's not ready for that. If we have to send the Artemis then I'll go with her."

Rebecca shook her head again, "You can't. It's too dangerous -"

"If it's dangerous then there's no way I'm sending my sister!" I interrupted. "Especially not by herself! How could you possibly think I'd be ok with that?!"

The boss replied patiently, "You didn't let me finish Amanda. It's not safe for you. Or me, or the Demeter. The danger is specific to us."

I frowned, "How so? Is this something to do with the Kelsonian family? In that case the Artemis could still be at risk, if someone makes the connection or figures out she used to be Jameson's ship. And in that case it's still not safe sending Nyssa and the others on -"

"It's got nothing to do with the Artemis," the exasperated redhead insisted. "And nothing to do with the Kelsonians or Ecclestone's World either. It's just us, specifically us."

I sighed, "How? What world or system is so dangerous to us in particular?"

That's when Jenny finally broke her silence. She gave me an apologetic look as she asked, "Do you remember what I said about the world where I was created? The subject came up shortly after Cammie joined the ship, when the four of us were telling her about where we'd come from."

"I remember," I nodded slowly. My ears drooped as I thought back to that conversation, "Your planet was on the losing side of that war a few centuries back. You said it's been under a trade embargo ever since."

The AI corrected me, "A technology embargo. The world is still able to trade with other planets in the sector, primarily for food and other commodities, but they are not allowed to import or export any advanced technology."

Rebecca took over again, "It's called Korantis-12, and in the four decades since I arrived in this sector I've only ever been to that system once. It was early on, not long after Gabe and Ella and I got here. Like Deveron-8 it's way off on its own, with nothing else of interest anywhere nearby. It wasn't a profitable job so we stopped going there, and as far as I know it's not a popular destination for any other small or independent freighters either."

"Deveron-8 and Korantis-12 used to be close trading partners," Jenny spoke up again. "That arrangement came to an end due to the drought and how it was mishandled by Deveron-8's previous regime. According to our briefing, for the past few standard years Korantis-12 has been forced to rely on Ecclestone's World and Tragentis-3 for food. We're also informed that they're unhappy with the rates those planets are charging them. Allegedly their prices are vastly inflated, compared to the arrangement they originally had with the Deveron system."

I frowned again, while my tail started twitching once more in irritation. "Ok? So we're helping patch things up between a couple old trading partners. I still don't see why that's dangerous for us, or why it means I have to send my baby sister off on her first solo piloting mission."

Sarah slipped an arm around my shoulders and gave me a gentle squeeze as she spelled it out for me, "Babe, you and me and Rebecca and Cam are all walking around in the genetically-modified bodies of Korantis-12 military personnel."

"And a couple days ago you found out first-hand what happens if they scan us," the tall redhead reminded me, "Those genetic markers obviously stand out on their scanners the way the Imperium catches military identity implants. We have no way of knowing how Korantis-12 officials might react if that happens."

Jenny added, "The Re/Gen technology was not meant to extend life indefinitely, there's nothing in my database to suggest individuals could live four centuries or more. But I don't have any data to the contrary either. For all I know, if you're identified as Korantis-12 military personnel you might be apprehended for desertion. Or at the very least, you'd likely be detained for questioning."

The boss sighed, "Or they might figure out that we're imposters living in cloned bodies, and I'm sure that won't end well either. Not to mention that the crew of Jenny's old ship probably had relatives back home. There could be descendants of those people alive today, who may not be happy about us using their dead ancestors' forms. Any way you slice it the whole thing is a huge can of worms I do not want to open."

My cute blonde girlfriend gave me another little squeeze as she reminded me, "The Demeter also has a big chunk of Korantis-12 military tech in her secondary hold. To everyone else in the sector it's just a mysterious black capsule. But if we show up at that world and they scan us, they might recognize it as one of their Re/Gen pods. And they might want it back."

Finally Rebecca summed it up, "So that's why we can't take the Demeter on this mission. And that's why it isn't safe for you or me, or Sarah or Cam to be anywhere near that world. Nyssa, Gwen, Jace, they're all fine. I could probably even send Jenna, since she's not built on Korantis tech? But I don't think it's worth the risk, she wouldn't contribute anything unique to the mission that would justify sending her along."

I stayed quiet as I processed all that, and even though I was still frowning my anger and frustration had faded. My ears were drooping down again while my tail rested across my and Sarah's laps. I really didn't like the idea of sending my baby sister off on a job without me, but at least I understood why Rebecca didn't want to risk the rest of us going there.

After a half minute of silence I finally asked, "Why not send the Tullrohane instead? According to Sarah she's a brand new ship, and if the crew is some sort of honour guard then they're probably ideal for diplomacy and negotiations. I'm sure Gwen would have been more comfortable, and they probably could have fit an entire Deveronian delegation on board."

The boss shook her head, "Sending an Imperium-built warship isn't a great way to open diplomatic talks. The Tullrohane already gave one planet a collective heart attack when she showed up, we don't want to do that to another world."

"It's probably not a great way to open up a round of peaceful trade talks," Sarah grimaced.

"Anyways the Tullrohane's busy keeping Deveron-8 safe," Rebecca continued. "She's ideally suited for that sort of role, and I'm hoping her crew are happy to be doing something beneficial instead of just sitting on their hands doing nothing at all."

Jenny chimed in again, "As I understand it, the Deveronian government would normally send their own diplomats on their own flagged vessels for this sort of work. But thanks to former president Taggart they no longer have any ships of their own. Nor do they have any trained or experienced diplomats."

I nodded slowly as that all sank in, "All right. So what are we doing while the Artemis is busy with this diplomatic mission? Are we taking the Demeter back to Deveron-8, so we can scare off any would-be bandits that might be eyeing Ganvis Station?"

Instead of answering my question herself, Rebecca turned to look at our AI. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs novel•fire.net

"I've asked our captain to take the Demeter to the outpost you discovered," Jenny replied with an apologetic grimace. "The AI you met there may be my only surviving sibling. I have to try and help him."

Her expression shifted to a sad frown as she added, "And if he won't accept our help, then I have to stop him."