“I am quite surprised that you are accepting of this plan, Rep. Smit.”

Ammer laughed bitterly. “Accepting is not the word for it, Minister Zimm. I think that this colony idea has about a one-in-four chance of working. Maybe.”

“Then why not say so! Why not tell the body that this is a vile and despicable choice that dims our glory!?”

“Rep. Blrrr, I’d love to do that. Really. But you know why. All of you do.”

Leader-of-the-Avartle-Caucus cocked her head. “The Titan Party.”

“Exactly. The Deputy Floor Leader has reached out to Empire. She hasn’t been able to get a firm commitment on what they’d do if the Titan Party was brought into the coalition; Minister Segdi says she won’t deal in hypotheticals, and…well, Pane Segdi has always gotten along with the Floor Leader. I can’t imagine her knifing Qorni over the possibility of the Titan Party joining. Now, if it became a reality…well, we all know that Qorni probably can’t hold it together.”

“But if she can,” Zimm said, “the damage they could do as a part of the government would be immeasurable.”

“Not only that! The precedent it would set would be calamitous! The Titan Party have never been accepted to the majority! Once they are, it could make some think their views were glorious truth!”

“Even the willingness of Floor-Leader to accept them,” Leader-of-the-Avartle-Caucus said, “would be a victory for them.”

“Exactly,” Ammer said, running a hand through his thinning hair. He almost missed being just a staffer. Hells, he was wondering why he hadn’t simply told Inna that he’d be her pet and given up this whole fight. It would have been a damn sight easier.

He looked around at his allies, and shook his head. “Believe me, I despise this. This bill is not what humans need, not at all. But I’m not going to gamble with your peoples’ futures to help my own. My hope is that this at least solves the most acute part of the crisis, and that soon enough, we will be in a secure enough position to bring the government down.”

“Deputy Floor Leader Armac is aware that we will not stay in the grand coalition if the Titan Party is brought in, is she not?”

Ammer laughed. “Minister Zimm, Loona Armac would rather jump out of an airlock without a pressure suit than work with the Titan Party. If Qorni tries to bring them in, that’s a red line. All of this is designed to prevent that.”

“We appreciate that, Representative-from-Avalon. You are a friend of Deputy-Floor-Leader. Please let her know that the Caucus-of-Non-Titans cannot stand by forever. You will not betray our peoples to help your people; we will not risk your people to keep ours secure.”

“Honourably said!” Blrrr agreed. “Your decision is glorious and honourable, Rep. Smit. If we must make gloriously difficult decisions, we will do what we have to do.”

“We hope it does not come to that,” Zimm added. “But we have all suffered. If we must, we shall again.”

Ammer sighed, and wiped his eyes. “Well, that is appreciated, more than you can know,” he said. “And I will reiterate what I said at the start of the meeting, I’m the only human representative, I’m not sure I merit a position as vice chair of these caucuses.”

“Our rules have long been clear; the vice chairs are the senior members of each non-Titan species, with the exception of the chair’s species. These rules were written intentionally thus. True, we expected a Tusolan representative before a human one, but who knows? Perhaps you will welcome a Tusolan representative to our group before you retire.”

“Well, that probably means keeping the Titan Party side-lined, Minister Zimm,” Ammer said.

“Agreed, pathetic, adorable, honourable human! So let us fight them to their doom!”

****

There was a hiss as the main access airlock of the Zeno’s Paradox matched its pressure with the air outside and slid open. There was a small amount of hustle and bustle as a few dozen passengers stepped off, squinting as the bright light of a natural star reached their eyes for the first time in a few days. What was once a celebrated and much talked about affair, the landing of the Zeno’s Paradox carrying visitors from Earth and returning Avalonians was now rather run-of-the-mill. Occasionally a visiting dignitary would warrant the rolling out the regal purple carpet but today was not one of those days.

At least as far as the general public knew.

Secretary Xanthopolous watched the crowd disperse at the bottom of the gangplank waiting for one visitor in particular. He didn’t take long to spot. Military men always stood out from the civilians even if they weren’t in uniform.

“Admiral.” Darren approached him and extended his hand.

“Mr Secretary. I didn’t think members of the government came to greet us lowly troops.” The admiral returned the handshake.

“Not usually but I thought I’d make an exception for a Texan.” Darren grinned. “Good to see you Ted.”

“I’m New Mexican…”

“Close enough!” Darren winked.

“I wish I could say it was good to see you too Mr Secretary.” Ted said as cordially as he could muster.

Darren’s smile faded a little and he turned with Ted and started to walk towards his car. “How’d Tig take it?”

“Pretty well all things considered. The posting is for two years so I shouldn’t miss too much of Cesar’s childhood. I suppose two years to him is only a few a months.” Ted sighed.

“Still, Doc Archer tells me they grow up fast whether they’re Human or Titan or a bit of both.” Darren opened the boot of the car and Ted dropped his bag in.

Darren got behind the wheel and waited for Ted to sit in the seat beside him before starting the engine and heading out of the space port and onto the connecting road heading towards Atlantis.

“So are you going to tell me why I got ordered to spend two years out of the solar system away from my wife and baby boy?” Ted asked.

“Not quite yet, Admiral. You’ve waited this long, another hour won’t hurt.” Darren said and pulled the car off the main road onto a much smaller road.

The car wound its way for the next hour through forests and over bridges towards a high set of peaks to the north of Atlantis.

“I thought the Secretary of Defence would have someone to drive his car for him?” Ted asked as he watched tree after tree wiz by. The sun had dipped behind the mountains and the only light came from the headlights of the car and the soft green glow of the gas giant above.

“I don’t need a driver. I’ve been driving cars long before Avalon had them.” Darren grumbled. “Besides, where we’re headed is kept need to know. Better for everyone that way.”

Ted nodded and continued to watch the road. He hadn’t seen Darren like this before. He was focused on the road but Ted could tell he was a bit on edge. He wasn’t sure what he had gotten himself into but it was certainly big.

The road ahead took a large sweeping turn to the left as it cut through the forest. Ted’s heart near jumped out of his chest when instead of following the road kicking up a cloud of dirt as it sped between the trees.

“Jesus Christ Darren!? Are you trying to get us killed!?” Ted said clearly a bit concerned at the speed Darren was driving between the trees in the thick, dark forest.

“Relax Ted.” Darren spoke calmly. “We’re still on a road if you know where to look.”

Ted shifted uncomfortably in his seat and stared out the window. After a minute or two it became apparent Darren was right. The trees either side seemed to form a column easily wide enough to get the car through.

The pair carried on in silence. Ted was now making a list of questions in his mind and ordering them by priority about just what all this was about. Ten or so minutes later and the car pulled up in a clearing. Darren paused, just looking ahead.

“Lost?” Ted asked.

Darren turned to Ted and grinned.

A split second later the car shuddered and started to slowly drop into the ground. It took Ted a moment to get his bearings but it quickly became obvious that the clearing wasn’t a natural formation but a platform that was now sealing over above them, obscuring the stars and the emerald giant above.

The lift stopped and Darren turned to his left and gave a salute to two guards operating the controls and started off down a very wide, well-lit tunnel.

“Where are we?” Ted asked.

“You ain’t in Kansas anymore, that’s for sure Toto.” Darren replied with a smirk.

A half hour later Ted was following Darren on foot through a steel walled base. Darren was steadfastly refusing to answer any questions until he was ready. What Ted had managed to glean was that the base was underground, likely deep beneath one of the mountains they had been driving towards. There were comparatively few people for the size of the base. A lot of what was going on around them appeared to be automated, though that was Avalon’s way given there were only a few million of them.

Ted followed Darren into a briefing room and was happy to see two familiar faces sitting behind the table.

“Ryan! Mukta! What are you two doing here?” Ted said setting his bag down and extending his hand.

“Waiting for you.” Dr Chandrasekhar said returning the handshake.

“So you know what’s going on then?” Ted asked sitting.

“We do. And from one pilot to another, I promise you’ll love it.” Ryan said.

Darren sat in the chair at the head of the table. “Alright, alright, that’s enough. I know you’ve been wondering why you’re here.” Darren’s demeanour had changed. He was no longer his usual jovial self. “Before we proceed you should know that this is classified by both Avalonian and Earth Governments as beyond Top Secret. Nothing said in this room leaves this facility. Understood?”

“Understood Mr Secretary.” Ted replied. “So why am I here?”

“Preparedness Admiral Martinez, preparedness.” Darren replied.

“I don’t follow sir…”

“Back in 2004 when I was a private serving my first tour in Iraq I had this lieutenant. He always used to say ‘boys, hope for the best but plan for the worst’. They were wise words then and they’re wise words now.” Darren said.

“Prepared for what?” Ted asked.

Darren smiled, just a little. “A few years ago a small group of Titans attempted to abduct citizens of this world. We didn’t want to rely on Pryvani or the Titans on this rock for our security. We drilled, we trained, we planned and we developed EMP weapons to disable small ships and anti-grav devices. When those Titans turned up they got an ass whoopin’ they didn’t see coming.”

“Now we’re entering a new era, one that hopefully will be one of peace and prosperity where we all hold hands and sing songs. But new eras bring new threats and both Earth and Avalon are determined to work together to ensure we can defend against these threats without the need for Titan assistance. We’ve been working on a bit of an exchange program for the last decade or so. That’s why you’re here, Admiral, and that’s why Doctor Cee is here as well.” Darren continued.

“Dr Chandrasekhar…” Mukta corrected.

“Do the Titans know about this?” Ted asked.

Darren shook his head. “No, and they don’t need to know either. We will cooperate on defence from now on but I can’t imagine they’re going to give us a Kuklopes class cruiser to play with so we have to develop our own toys.” Darren grinned and pressed a button on the table and the wall lit up behind him showing a wireframe that was vaguely familiar to Ted as an XF-112 experimental orbital fighter. Though it wasn’t quite the same. “This is the Acolyte Starfighter. A joint project between the Avalonian Guard and the JTSA.”

“Earth has provided her airframe, flight control and nav systems. We provided the power and the engines. Dr Cee has worked with our new reactor to develop weapons systems capable of penetrating the hulls of heavily armoured Titan warships. Dr Cee.” Darren motioned to the rather unhappy looking woman.

Dr Chandrasekhar stood and tapped a few buttons on the wall rearranging the image to show a plan view of the energy distribution inside the ship.

“As you can see, the Acolyte’s reactor produces exceptionally high energy plasma…” she started.

“Are…are those numbers accurate?” Ted asked.

“They are. I had trouble understanding it as well but Secretary Xanthopolous assures me that the reactor is an Avalonian development and not a Titan reactor.” Mukta said turning to Darren.

“Our folks were inspired by Titan designs, they just improved on them is all.” Darren shrugged.

Mukta tapped on the screen once more. “The cannon is capable of penetrating the armour of any Titan, Drazari or insectoid ship.”

A video played showing an a glowing white pulse with a hint of red firing from a fixed cannon and into an wall of metal that looked almost twenty feet thick. The metal resisted for a second or two before vaporising leaving a hole several feet thick.

“Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying you are developing weapons to attack the Titans?” Ted sounded very concerned.

“Not at all Admiral. We are simply attempting to level the playing field.” Dr Chandrasekhar replied.

“What about shields?” Ted asked. “Armour is one thing but shields are a totally different ball game.”

“Well I’d hope never to be firing at a Titan ship. Insectoids don’t bother to shield their ships. Shielded ships usually project them far from the hull to dissipate the energy over a larger area. If we fire from within the shields then it’s a clear shot.” Ryan said.

“Shields mitigate the damage from the weapon but it can pack a punch as well.” Darren added.

“Are we really worried this much? The Titans have been guarding Earth for millennia. Heck, I’m married to one!” Ted spoke exasperated.

“I understand Admiral. My mom is a Titan and one day I hope to marry Thyllia.” Ryan said. “But we can’t be carried by them. If we ever want to be really respected by the Titan public we need to show them we can fight with them, side by side on their level.”

Ted sighed. “Too much to hope that now we seem to have peace on Earth we couldn’t take that to the stars?”

“I agree with you Admiral. None of us signed up to the military to kill people but to protect folks back home. And that’s what we’re trying to do with these Acolytes.” Darren said.

“Say we do end up fighting a Titan ship, how do we even get close enough to attack them from within their shields? They have computer controlled, fast tracking guns. It’d be a turkey shoot.” Ted pointed out.

Ryan and Darren smiled at each other simultaneously.

“These birds, they move like nothing you’ve ever seen!” Ryan beamed. “No computer can hit them. And the controls…they’re…let’s just say different!”

“Wait! These are real? Not pipe dreams!?”

Secretary Xanthopolous stood and tugged his jacket straight. “Follow me.”

Darren led the party down the corridor and down several flights of stairs to a gangway running along the top of a subterranean hangar.

“My god…” Ted gasped.

He gaped at magnificent sight of twelve spectacular looking spacecraft in the hangar below him. They were both familiar yet foreign at the same time. They had the traditional look of some of the prototype orbital fighter craft he’d seen before but these were far more refined. He could pick out a standard cockpit and two secondary cockpits, sleek wings and two shining engines imbedded into the fuselage. Each wing bore one insignia. One was stamped with the United Nations Emblem and the other with the flag of Avalon.

Ryan put an arm around Ted’s shoulder. “They’re things of beauty aren’t they?”

“And then some…” Ted spoke with undisguised awe. The last time he could remember being this entranced was the first time he laid eyes on Tig. And the seconds, and the third…

“Admiral Martinez.” Darren said with a practiced tone of authority. “I have orders from Admiral Xu Mulan of the JTSA seconding you to the Avalonian Guard. You are to be trained on all areas of the Acolytes in order to evaluate their success or failure as part of the Joint Earth Avalon Defence Initiative. You will work with Archon Carey and report directly to me. You are to speak to no one outside of this facility or any associated facility about this project or your orders. If you do it will be treated as an act of sedition. Is that understood, Admiral?”

Ted snapped to attention and saluted. “Yes sir. Understood.”

“At ease, Admiral, I’m a working man.” Darren frowned.

“Yes sir.” Ted relaxed.

“One more thing, Admiral. It’s too risky to be flying these things around this system. It’d only take one mistake and Valhalla Station is picking up all kinds of interesting sensor data.” Darren said. “You’ll learn in the simulator and when our new base is fully completed we’ll begin full power test flights out of there.”

“New base sir?” Ryan asked.

“Yes Archon. As we speak Avalonian construction crews are carving a hole in a big rock for us to hide in.” Darren smiled down at the ships in the hangar.

“Can I ask where the new base is?” Ted said.

“I thought you never would. A little place you may have heard of.” Darren grinned. “Tau Ceti…”