Chapter 211: Chapter 211

It was another hour or so before the others finally got Jenna back up and running. The android had some fresh scars on her exterior, but apart from that she seemed no worse for wear. I didn't get a chance to ask though, since Cammie and Jenny dragged Jenna into their cabin as soon as she was back online.

Sarah did the same for me, she came outside and gently guided me into the ship then up to our cabin. On the way I stopped briefly to leave my little basket of berries in the galley, then at long last I collapsed into bed with my girlfriend.

We slept a few hours, then all six of us were up again by early afternoon. Including Rebecca, after I checked on her and changed her dressings. I also replaced the temporary limb immobilizers with proper lightweight casts for her wrist and leg. She still looked pretty rough despite the new bandages, especially with the right side of her face covered up. She was able to hobble around ok on her own though, once Sarah and Cammie made a simple crutch for her.

We all ended up sitting around the table in the ship's mess, where I shared my little basket of 'manda-berries' with Rebecca, Sarah, and Cammie. Then I made the four of us breakfast, which we ate while we all updated each other on things.

"I've been monitoring the VDF comm channels," Jenny began. "They finished compiling the results of last night's battle about an hour ago. Vysalis personnel suffered a total of twenty-three casualties, including eleven fatalities."

She added sadly, "Seven of those deaths happened here in Ganvis, when General Sidex and his men executed the VDF troops stationed here."

"The enemy forces suffered even higher losses," the AI continued. "Forty-nine killed, including Sidex and all five of his commanding officers. Another thirty-two were injured, and the rest surrendered."

Jenny wrapped it up with the last set of figures, "Three of the Deveronian military contingent were killed, while another nine were injured. Finally, only two injuries were reported among the noncombatants at Moorefield Station, despite there being so many of them in close proximity to the fighting."

"Fuck," Rebecca sighed as her shoulders slumped. "There was one Vysalis death here the other night too. That's a dozen people who came all the way out to the frontier expecting a safe mission and a happy coronation, but because of me they won't be returning home to their families."

I slipped an arm around her waist and gave her a gentle hug as I reminded her, "They were all volunteers love. You didn't order anyone to fight last night."

She shook her head, "I didn't have to Amanda. Those people think of me as their princess, they'd do anything to keep me safe. And I took advantage of that."

Sarah hugged the boss from the other side as she pointed out, "They still volunteered. And it was for a good cause Rebecca. A violent warmonger was stopped, innocent people were freed from his clutches. Who knows how many more lives would have been lost or ruined, if last night didn't happen?"

"I guess," our girlfriend sighed.

The conversation died off for a bit at that point, as we focused on our meal for the next minute or two. Then I looked over at our android and asked, "How are you doing Jenna? I'm glad Sarah and Cammie were able to get you patched up again."

She replied with a wan smile, "Patched up is an accurate description of my current status. My power and data bus module was damaged, and we lack the parts to fabricate a replacement. Cammie and Sarah did their best to repair the existing module, but it's not ideal. There's also some minor damage to parts of my titanium chassis that couldn't be repaired with the tools and supplies on board the Demeter."

"Fortunately my condition isn't permanent," she continued. "We can acquire the necessary parts and tools next time we visit Rolandan-2. Until then, I'm limited to about fifty-percent functionality."

Rebecca joked with a half smile, "You and me both Jenna. Fifty-percent functionality feels about right."

"You're more than welcome to make use of my services captain," Jenny responded. She looked and sounded guilty as she added, "I'm sorry I put you off last night. I let my concern for Jenna cloud my judgement as a Re/Gen unit."

The boss shook her head, "You made the right decision Jenny. Family always comes first, and your sister needed your help."

"That's nice of you to say," the AI replied, "But Jenna and I are not biological entities. It would not have harmed her one bit if she'd had to wait a few more hours for repairs."

Rebecca gave the twins a firm look, at least with her good eye. "Biological or not you two are family. And not just with each other. We're all family, as far as I'm concerned. Your sister needed you, and both you and Cammie needed her. The Tullrohane's doctors took care of me, and I had Amanda watching over me. So Jenna was the priority, and I'm glad the three of you focused on helping her."

"Thank you," Jenny mumbled quietly, and she looked like she was dealing with some strong emotions at that point.

I gave my girlfriend another gentle squeeze as I suggested, "Jenna's out of danger now, so maybe we should get you into Jenny's pod as soon as we're done breakfast?"

The boss took a deep breath, then let it out in a long sigh as she slowly shook her head. "No. We've been too casual lately about showing off what Jenny's Re/Gen capsule is capable of. Even if folks don't know exactly what it is, or that it's got anything to do with Jenny, too many people already know we've got access to something special."

"The Tullrohane's doctors and her captain and who knows how many other folks know about my injuries from last night," she continued. "If I show up a day or two later without so much as a scratch, that's an entire ship-load of people who're going to know without a doubt we've got some kind of powerful healing tech at our disposal. And that we're keeping it to ourselves."

Rebecca sighed again, "Considering how many people were injured or killed last night fighting on my behalf, I can't just show up fully healed like nothing happened to me."

I couldn't argue with any of those points, but that didn't make me feel any better about my girlfriend's situation. I quietly reminded her, "Our genetic modifications will help you heal faster than normal, but without Jenny's help you're never going to get that eye back. And there will be scars love."

She hesitated just a moment, then flashed both Sarah and I a smile as she joked, "I thought girls liked scars? And an eye-patch will only add to my rep as a dashing dangerous rogue captain."

"Anyways I'm not saying I'll never use Jenny's services again," she added before either of us could protest. "I'm just saying now's not the time. Let's at least wait until the dust settles here."

Jenny pointed out, "There are conventional medical solutions that don't involve my Re/Gen pod. I can't vouch for their efficacy, but I know Rolandan-2 has med-tech that can grow replacement organs, I'm sure that would include eyes. They also have techniques for eliminating scar tissue."

"Right," I nodded. "So you could use Jenny's services next time we visit Rolandan-2, then claim you had work done while we were planet-side."

Rebecca shrugged, "We'll see. We could also just wait, the problem will solve itself once the Tullrohane's gone back home."

Sarah commented, "I don't think the Tullrohane's going home. Not without their queen."

"They'll leave," Rebecca replied. "Eventually. They came here to do the coronation, not drag me back to the Imperium. So..."

Her voice trailed off then she sighed once more, "Either I keep putting that off, and they stick around out here indefinitely. Or I give in and get it over with, then they can return to their homes and families."

It took another two full days for the 'dust to settle' as Rebecca put it. Although that turned out to be a poor choice of words, due to the number of funerals that took place in Ganvis during that time.

We attended all of them, as did almost everyone else in the area. The little cemetery was a busy place for a couple days, and that was something nobody liked to see. Still, the community came together to honour their dead, and to help the survivors with their grief.

The day after the last of the burials Cam and Jenna met up with Jaycee, then all three of them set out to see if the Demeter's fighter could be salvaged. They even enlisted the help of a couple locals, including a farmer who had some equipment that Cammie thought would be able to turn the small craft over so it was upright again.

Nyssa was still recovering from her leg wound or she probably would have been out there too, keeping Jaycee company. Instead she ended up hanging around the Demeter with Jenny.

As for my girlfriends and I, we had business elsewhere. The three of us climbed into the shuttle, then with Sarah in the copilot seat and Rebecca in a passenger seat behind us I got us airborne and accelerating skyward.

It only took two hours to reach the Tullrohane since the cruiser altered her orbit to meet us, and soon enough I had us touching down in one of the big ship's hangars. Like before they had everything secured and pressurized by the time we were ready to exit the shuttle, and our new aide arrived while Sarah and I were helping our girlfriend out of the small craft.

Rebecca was still dealing with the broken leg, but she'd already healed enough to graduate from a crutch to a cane. Her wrist was coming along nicely too, but it would be another ten or twelve days before she'd have full use of those limbs. As for the most serious injury, she was still wearing a bandage over part of her face, that covered the area from her nose to her right ear and from her cheek-bone up to her forehead.

"Your highness," Sergeant Magniveen greeted the princess with a bow. He was wearing a very fancy-looking dress uniform today, all polished boots and shiny buttons and perfect creases in his clothes. "And Miss Voss, it's a pleasure to see you again. I'm told you requested that I act as your aide during your visit today?"

I greeted him back, "Hello again Sean. And yes, I hope you don't mind? I wanted to thank you for all your help that night."

We also made sure to introduce him to Sarah, and she was as surprised as I'd been when she found out he was one of Gwen's siblings.

After the pleasantries were out of the way our aide led the three of us through the cruiser's corridors to Captain Magoda's office, where she and Lady Magniveen were waiting. Sure enough Gwen had no idea her brother was on board the Tullrohane, let alone that we'd met him. Or that he'd taken part in the attack on Moorefield Station. So my girlfriends and I got to enjoy that little reunion, although the two Magniveen siblings were both far too professional to give us an entertaining show.

It mostly boiled down to the royal secretary being surprised, happy, angry, then embarrassed, all in the span of a half minute. Meanwhile the sergeant's emotions seemed to progress through happiness, embarrassment, and finally awkwardness. Then Captain Magoda spoke up and got the meeting back on track.

"As of three hours ago there are no longer any Vysalis Defence Force personnel on Deveron-8," she began. "The Deveronian government has taken control of the situation at Moorefield Station, and as I understand it President Arun's intention is to focus on rehabilitation and repairs, rather than revenge or punishment."

The cruiser's captain continued, "We've also been informed that the Deveronians completed their internal investigation last night, regarding the leaked intel that resulted in so many deaths during that action. Apparently General Myers was the culprit."

"Wasn't he the one who kept pushing for orbital bombardment?" I asked with a frown.

Lady Magniveen nodded, "He was. The Deveronians believe that was a cover, that he was putting on a show of force by supporting something he knew would never be approved. According to my Deveronian liaison, they uncovered a series of payments Myers had been receiving from Sidex over the past few years."

Captain Magoda took over the explanation, "They were also able to decrypt Myers' communication logs, and confirmed he leaked the entire plan to Sidex almost as soon as we'd completed it. Including the Tullrohane's orbital path and sensor logs. So Sidex knew when you were coming, and when it was safe for him to move without being seen."

"Myers was arrested last night," she added. "He's now being held in a high security detention centre awaiting court martial. If he's found guilty he could be facing execution for high treason."

That just left me with one question about the whole mess. "Did we ever find out for sure why he kept trying to attack Ganvis? I know the first attack was supposedly motivated by revenge, they were after Mayor Wheeler, but why come back again? I can't help thinking General Sidex would probably still be alive if he'd gone literally anywhere else on the planet."

Rebecca's expression grew dark as she commented, "So would those seven VDF soldiers he executed at Ganvis that night."

Magoda nodded grimly before answering my question, "According to Lt. Maguine's final report, the initial attack was indeed motivated by revenge. Sidex made sure to strike while your highness and the Demeter were absent. He also made arrangements through Myers to ensure the normal lines of communication were down, so nobody at Ganvis could raise the alarm or call for help. If not for your timely arrival there'd have been no word at all until long after Ganvis was under Sidex's control."

"That explains the first strike," I replied, "But why come back again afterwards?"

The cruiser captain explained, "Thanks to Myers, Sidex knew her highness had sworn to end him. He also knew the princess was ultimately responsible for thwarting his attempts to take the settlement. And finally, he knew she'd be at Moorefield Station during the attack. So he wanted her ship. My security chief believes Sidex was hoping to seize the Demeter, and he probably meant to execute any crew he found on board."

My girlfriends' expressions grew even darker at that, and mine as well.

Meanwhile Captain Magoda continued, "When he realized he couldn't get past the Demeter's defences his fall-back was to escape with the Artemis instead."

After a few seconds Rebecca sighed, "Thank you captain."

"Now if you don't mind," she added, "I promised a couple doctors I'd go and tour the ship's infirmary. Maybe the sergeant could show us the way?"

Sarah added with a hopeful grin, "I don't suppose we could visit engineering as well? If there's time afterwards, I mean? I've been dying to see the inside of a Callisto-class engine room, ever since they launched the class vessel nine years ago."

The princess looked like she was holding back a smile as she rolled her eyes, "We'll see. Assuming it's not off limits or something."

Sgt. Magniveen asked our blonde girlfriend, "Is that a normal engineering thing? You like to see other ships' engines or something?"

"Sort of," Sarah replied with a grin. Her expression shifted to something like pride when she added, "My daughter Katia designed the jump drive integration for these cruisers. I've never had the opportunity to see her work first-hand before, and I doubt I'll ever get the chance again."

Both Rebecca and I nearly face-palmed at that, while the sergeant and Captain Magoda both stared at Sarah for a second or two. No doubt processing the idea of the cute young blonde having a daughter old enough to design starships.

Fortunately neither of them questioned her on that. Instead Magoda seemed happy to get the lot of us out of her office. Then while she returned to her duties on the ship's bridge Gwen and Sean accompanied us to the infirmary.

That wasn't really about touring the place though. Rebecca met and thanked the two doctors, as well as the rest of the Tullrohane's medical staff, for all their hard work over the last few days. Then she went and personally thanked each of the injured VDF soldiers who were still there recovering from their wounds.

After that Sarah got her wish, when Sgt. Magniveen led us all to the Tullrohane's engineering section. Sean went on to introduce our girlfriend to the cruiser's chief engineer, a friendly middle-aged man named Lieutenant Ian Quinn. He seemed very happy to find out one of the princess's consorts was another engineer, and was more than willing to give her a tour of his engines. The sergeant tagged along as well, which meant Rebecca and I were more or less alone with Gwen for a little while.

"If I may speak freely your highness?" Gwen asked softly. When Rebecca nodded the noblewoman continued in the same quiet voice, "I was somewhat surprised to see you're still recovering from your injuries. I thought you had some technology to take care of that?"

Rebecca replied just as quietly, "Not the time or place for that conversation Gwen. Short answer is it wasn't necessary, my injuries weren't life-threatening."

Gwen sighed, "Thank goodness for that. I do wish you'd be more careful though, your highness."

"I will," the princess replied. "I promise."

Then she glanced at me for a moment as she seemed to hesitate. Finally she looked back at her secretary again and asked in a slightly wary voice, "Maybe it's time we talked a bit more about this coronation thing?" Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by novelFirｅ.net