“Sorcha!” Alesia shouted as she exited the vehicle she’d driven up from the city to the Titan compound. “Sorcha!!”

Sorcha was standing outside the main entrance, her head buried in her pad looking over the design that she and the Avalonian engineers had put together. Joseph, Joran and Centi were busy piling up a huge amount of high energy cable on the other side of the path. It had been a while since she had heard that call but the latent instincts in her mind kicked in and her head turned to see Lessy waving up at her.

“Hey Less! Long time no see.” Sorcha smiled and drop to a knee and set her hand down.

“Got a minute to talk?” Alesia asked nervously.

“Ehhh…”

“I know, emergency and all that.” Alesia said. “But this is one of those personal moments that requires a friend to listen for a few minutes.”

“Ok, I understand.” Sorcha smiled. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.” She said to the three men working outside and then headed inside.

Alesia sat nervously waiting on Sorcha’s palm until they arrived at her room and Sorcha let her off on the bedside table.

“So, what’s up?” Sorcha asked a little nervous as well. It had been a long, long time since the pair had been together. Longer still since they had an actual personal conversation.

Alesia shifted from foot to foot for a moment, contemplating how best to forward. “Well firstly, I’m telling you this both because you’re my friend and my boss. Though if you weren’t my boss I’d be up here anyway…”

“Ok…you’re rambling a bit.”

“I am rambling, aren’t I? I don’t ramble often do I?”

“Alesia! What is it?” Sorcha said firmly and stared her friend in the eyes.

“I’m pregnant.” Alesia said.

Sorcha’s eyes widened and then slowly her mouth drew into a smile, opened and emited a high-pitched squee noise.

“Less…that’s…that’s…wonderful news!” Sorcha beamed and kissed her friend on the top the head.

“Is it?” Alesia asked wringing her hands. “I mean it’s what I wanted but now it’s here I’m not…so sure?”

“I don’t follow…”

“I have no idea how long this pregnancy will last!” Alesia started. “It was two Earth years with each of us for my mum and the only reason she’s still standing is because of Titan medicine! We don’t have that here! And I’ve so much work! SO much work! If I spend the next few months vomiting and lying down it won’t get done! There’s so many people counting on me…”

“Lessy…”

“…and Loona will want me replaced. I already threatened…”

“Lessy! Stop!” Sorcha said loudly.

And Lessy stopped.

“Loona will demand nothing. She’s away on Earth. Resettlement has been paused. We’ve plenty of time to fix the mess we’ve got. You will be fine. You’ve put a good programme in place, you just need to trust people to follow it. If we need you then we’ll consult you. But you won’t be an invalid.” She reassured.

“I…I suppose…” Alesia said.

“Will you be staying here?” Sorcha asked. “I understand if you want to go home.”

“Of course I’ll be staying here.” Alesia said. “I committed. I’m in this until the end.”

“Good!” Sorcha beamed. “I know we haven’t talked much lately…”

“At all really.” Alesia chimed in.

“Exactly. But if you left…I’d really miss you. We haven’t been on different worlds…ever really?” Sorcha said.

“I know, that’s my fault really. I got really worried by what happened in the holosuite, it was my fault. I just thought you needed space for a bit. I hate being apart.” Alesia said with some sadness in her voice.

“Well how about you make me dinner later this week?” Sorcha asked.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Alesia said. “Though Moze is the better cook. You could bring Joseph!”

“Why would I bring Joseph?”

“Still going to deny it’s serious with you two?” Alesia chuckled.

“Eh…I dunno what it is.” Sorcha shrugged. “Better question. Have you called your parents?”

“Not yet…”

Sorcha started tapping on her pad. A few seconds later it beeped.

“Hey Dhan! It’s Sorcha! Lessy has some news for you!” Sorcha said grinning from ear to ear.

And Lessy gulped.

****

Loona stood at the head of a row of rather distinguished people on the hangar deck of the Gyfjon. The very same hangar deck that only three years before had received the fleeing Stanislaw Lem.

Beside her, looking uncomfortable in full dress uniform stood Navarchos Bass. He was followed by Centurium ColVanos, Captain Gwenn and Commander Ibanez. Opposite stood Ambassador Bass at the head of her own distinguished column. Niall was busy grumbling to Darren about being dragged into diplomatic matters when there was a Nobel Prize to receive.

Last but not least was Nonah. She was looking considerably more excited than everyone else in the party. The shuttle carrying the party from Earth was to take her to England where she would be received by representatives from the British Royal Family and the European Government. It was all quite a lot to take in. She had spent decades writing about princes and princesses from Earth and now she was going to meet some in the flesh.

Loona and most of the other Titans weren’t too interested in making conversation. They were busy craning their necks and taking in the sheer scale of the enormous hangar deck from Human scale. It seemed to be as big as the main military landing pad at Titan Station, only this one came with enormous deckhands. Though the deckhands had been ordered to keep their distance as not to startle any of the delegates from Earth. The only Titan they would make any contact with would be Commander Tam who would carry the delegations to the Ward Room for the negotiations.

The conversations and distracted gazing stopped as a klaxon sounded, signalling the hangar’s outer door was now closing, ready for pressurisation. A minute later the inner door opened and a ship no bigger than one of the deck hands slowly flew in. With the distinctive whine of gravitic impellers it settled gently on to the deck in front of the welcome party.

Normally this is where the deckhands would rush about securing the ship and the honour guard would stand to attention but this was not the normal meet and greet. A few seconds later the hatch hissed and out stepped Secretary-General Ridgemont.

Loona stepped out of line and extended her hand and shook Ridgemont’s in typical Earth fashion.

“Secretary-General, it’s an honour to meet you in person.” Loona said ignoring the fact it technically wasn’t in person. “May I introduce, Navarchos Aertimus Bass, Flag officer of Gama Fleet.”

“Navarchos,” Ridgemont said. “I am honoured to meet the man who prevented the massacre of the crew of the Stanislaw Lem.”

Bass shook her hand. “It was a team effort. The Lem’s crew were more than capable of taking care of themselves.”

“Speaking of the Lem’s crew.” A voice said from the shuttle steps.

“Admiral.” Gwenn said and stepped out of line and gave her a loose hug. “I’m always happy to have you aboard. How’s your new office on Asimov Station?”

Xú Mùlán smiled. “I have to say, I thought I’d prefer the view over Earth to the methane lakes on Titan but I find myself missing it.”

“Your Highness.” Ridgemont turned to Prince Antero and bowed. “I thank you for your apology broadcast. I must say, you look better in uniform than robes.” Ridgemont said and extended a hand.

“Please,” he said smiling. “I’m only prince when I’m at home. Here I’m plain old Centurium ColVanos.

Niall, Darren and Izzy did their best to feign diplomatic smiles to varying degrees of success. It was quite obvious to all there that the three would much rather be somewhere else. Nonah did much better. Even if she wasn’t just about to be somewhere else, she would have done much better than her fellow Humans. She enthusiastically shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with the Secretary-General, Undersecretary Esmeé Xylander, Admiral Xú, Russian President Sasha Bogomolov, Latin American President Valentina Cabello, and the ASEAN premier, Phạm Công Quyền.

“Normally we’d offer a more formal reception with an honour guard and band but I thought given the circumstances it would be better to skip that and move straight to the negotiations.” Loona said.

“I am no fan of ceremony in the best of times Madam Deputy Floor Leader.” Ridgemont replied. “What is the itinerary?”

“Well, given our different sleep cycles we’ve scheduled eight hours of negotiations with two hours of breaks in between. Food will be available when required. And we can take extended breaks for sleep cycles.” Loona explained. “I hope that suite your needs.”

“You ever been in negotiations with teacher’s unions Madam Deputy?” Ridgemont asked. “They can go on for eternity.”

Loona chuckled. “Oh I know that all too well Madam Secretary-General. All too well. Shall we get on our way?”

“Yes, and speaking of which, I’d rather not have a whole fleet of Titan ships orbiting Earth while these negotiations are proceeding. Or do Titans prefer gunboat diplomacy?” Ridgemont replied.

“Gama Fleet is here as a matter of protocol, to honour the leader of a friendly world. I’ll have the fleet head out to Titan Station immediately.” The Navarchos said.

“I would appreciate that Navarchos. Now as we say on Earth, let’s get this show on the road.” Ridgemont spoke with a flourish.

****

Sorcha looked out from her office window over the, now well lit, city. She’d secured emergency funding from the Department of Interior to have another fusion reactor built and installed by the Avalonians but it’d be at least two months before it was up and running. For now the entire city was running on a combination of photovoltaic cells, wind turbines and the excess energy from the compound’s generator. It meant limiting the use of the holosuite which had irked most of the Titan staff who were used to socialising in the city but needs must.

Her desk terminal chimed a shrill chime. It indicated a secure call request. Sorcha hurried over and approved it. It took ten or so seconds for the secure connection to be made. She saw she was now in a meeting with Loona, Ammer Smit and oddly, Lysis Xanthopolous.

“Ehhh…what’s going on?” Sorcha asked nervously. Lysis was head of Avalonian Internal Security. The fact she was on the call worried her.

“Sorry for the short notice Sorcha but this couldn’t wait.” Loona said. “Lysis…”

A video appeared on screen. It appeared to be a young woman with blonde hair entering the control room of the fusion power plant. She looked like a cleaner. She conversed with the technician for a moment before hitting him in the back of the head with her mop, as hard as she could.

Sorcha gasped.

The young woman then overrided the safety controls and let the power plant overheat itself.

“Cac ar oineach!” Sorcha half shouted “this was sabotage!?”

“Without a doubt.” Lysis said.

“Who…who would do this!? And why!?” Sorcha asked.

Lysis tapped her screen and a clear image of a woman appeared on screen. “According to your records she’s called Dana. However, if you go one registrant number down…” Lysis tapped again and this time a dark skinned woman appeared “…you get another woman called Dana. Someone created a duplicate registry. We can’t trace the source. It may have been a convenient duplicate that was edited…what we do know is, DNA from the mop shows she’s one hundred percent Human. We traced her back to a breeder in Tuaut.”

“She’s a refugee!?” Sorcha was near out of her chair.

“Do we have any idea of a motive?” Loona asked.

Lysis sighed and shook her head. “The only theory we have is that the Cult of Trell are still operating. Occasionally a cell pops up on our radar and we stomp on it, but it’s been ten years since we last heard from them, Avalonian years that is.”

“What can we do? If someone is turning the people we’re trying to help against us…” Sorcha was going pale.

“The local Archon is going to step up security. Key facilities will be permanently guarded.” Lysis said. “I’d like to apologise…we were far too complacent.”

“Don’t be.” Loona said. “This could be a Titan problem. The building collapse could potentially have been sabotage as well.

“Oh sweet Ifreann na Fola!” Sorcha shouted. “Are you telling me my staff might be in on this!?”

“I’ve passed it to Praetor-Imperator Nix. I’ve asked him to rerun all security checks as a priority. And that’s over and above all but one of the matters he’s dealing with.” Loona said.

“What do I do?” Sorcha said. “I have to trust my people!”

“Be vigilent.” Lysis said. “Do you have a core group you are certain you can trust?”

“Just Joseph and Lessy…the rest…I don’t know.” Sorcha said.

“As soon as someone is cleared I’ll let you know. But best to just keep an eye out and keep anyone you suspect away from the city.” Loona said.

“Myrell went missing for a few hours after the accident…and Manka put up the building that collapsed. She’s also been the least enthusiastic on Human equality.” Sorcha said. “I’ve a small group of Humans still living in the compound still. I’ll move them both to here.”

“There’s no way for them to avoid contact with any Humans?” Lysis asked.

“Not without raising suspicions. I’ll make sure neither is alone. Either I’ll be in or both will be. We just have to hope neither or only one is involved.” Sorcha said.

“Ok, that will work. Hopefully it won’t be too long. I’m just about to go back into negotiations with Earth but as soon as the Imperator-Imperator get’s back to me I’ll forward it to you.” Loona said.

“Ok, ok.” Sorcha said controlling her breathing.

“And for all inbound migration is suspended until further notice.” Loona added. “You’ve done a great job Sorcha. I know it’s been tough but just keep it up and hopefully when this mess is cleaned up I can throw a few dozen more staff and a few billion more credits your way.”

“That would be appreciated Madam Deputy Floor Leader.”

“Good luck.” Loona said.

“To all of us.” Lysis added.

And the channel closed.

****

“Praetor-Imperator on post!”

“As you were. Sitrep,” Vanser said, mocking the barest salute possible. There was no time for protocol. Not right now.

Archiploiarchos Sombrel Daru was the commanding officer of the Dodecahedron’s Signals Intelligence department. She had commanded the Æguji before taking on this position, and it was generally acknowledged that when Grand Navarchos Fasobi retired in a few years, she’d be moved over to one of the fleet adjutant positions. (It was also expected that she’d be adjutant for Lemm Tam; everyone expected Navarchos Bass to succeed Fasobi.) She was an experienced, well-respected officer who had earned her pin.

But given Praetor-Imperator Nix’s current demeanor, and the gravity of the situation, she felt very much like a single-square crewmate talking to her captain for the very first time.

“Sir,” she said, “we’ve managed to clear a lot of the clutter away, but we still don’t have a point of origin.”

Vanser tried very hard not to show his frustration. In truth, Daru’s group had done a masterful job at untangling the Gordian Knot of zig-zags and false positives that the perpetrator had created. Whoever had sent the message to Earth was clearly brilliant; they’d managed to hide their tracks almost perfectly. He couldn’t fault SigInt; they’d done as well as they could possibly be expected to.

But every second that ticked by was a second that a possible key to winning the coming war with the “New Empire” stayed missing. And Vanser desperately wanted to find that key. He wanted to destroy the blasted Federation, and not just because his wife was still devastated at having failed to prevent a mass murder.

Mostly he wanted to destroy them because he was devastated that he couldn’t bring the murdering felgercarber to justice. Not until the war was won. And winning the war might just start here.

“Do we have it at least localized to a province?” Vanser asked, hoping he didn’t sound annoyed as he asked it.

“No, sir, but we’re getting closer. We have….”

“Ma’am! I have important news!” a Ler woman called from a terminal a few rows back.

“Decanus Grtrngg, I’m briefing the Praetor-Imperii; this had best be good.”

“It is glorious! The algorithm that Crewmate Ocle and I created has been successful!”

“Explain, Decanus,” Vanser said, walking quickly toward her.

“It is simple! We identified a potential anomaly in the amplitude displacement of the secondary carrier wave. We adjusted for the pathetic linear cohesion…..”

“Explain it in Archavian, Grtrngg,” Daru said.

“Or Lerish, I can understand it,” Vanser said with a tight smile.

“We have been able to isolate the true origin of the signal!”

While Grtrngg had been explaining this, Daru had been checking her officer’s work carefully. “Decurion Signal-Interpreter, take a look at Grtrngg-Ocle 7.”

The Avartle man pulled it up, studied it for a moment, and nodded. “Brilliant work,” he signed. “It will take some fine-tuning, but the significance level is 49 out of 50.”

“How close do we have it?”

“I feel confident about the city,” Daru said. “Another five hours, we can get you the address.”

“Nice work, Archiploiarchos. And very nice job, Decanus. When this is all over, remind me to buy you and Crewmate Ocle a drink.”

“It is my hope that you will be able to use this to find the vile, pitiful criminal who tried to scare the poor, adorable humans! They are a truly dishonorable creature, and if they are Ler, I wish that they would never see the rings of Fribbulus Xax again!”

“I don’t think it’s a Ler, Decanus. This has Titan idiocy written all over it. But believe me,” Vanser said, “I share the sentiment. Keep me posted, Archiploiarchos. I’ll be en route.”

“Sir?”

“You don’t think I’m gonna let some regional commander take this frakker down, do you?” he said with a smile. “Besides, I met my wife in Tremarla. My ex-wife too, come to think of it. Always liked the city. Like I said, keep me posted.”

“Aye aye,” Daru said, saluting. Vanser returned it, this time with care. Daru smiled to herself. She felt a bit like a single-square crewmate who’d been praised by the captain now. It had been a while, but it was always a good feeling.

But there wasn’t time to bask. “All right,” she said, “Let’s keep working. I don’t want Praetor-Imperator Nix to get to Vorsha and have us tell him he should have gone to Apstilles instead.”

Author’s note: Thank to DX for his contribution.