The Black

Cory stepped off the shuttle and onto the promenade of Port Royal. The transportation and freight hub was abuzz with activity, and he was forced to wait several minutes before he could make his way to the inner command area. The sentry quickly glanced over his credentials before nodding to himself and letting Cory through into the sensitive sections of the station.

“Ah, Cory.” Commander Silu welcomed, “I appreciate you comming. How have you been.”

Cory raised an eyebrow at Silu’s offered hand, before accepting the very human greeting. “I am well but struggling to keep busy. The incursion has put a hold on new freighter manufacturing, and there are no new berths available, as of yet.”

“The incursion is playing havoc with many things…. We got word of the loss of another Delmar world this morning…. That makes 5. I’m afraid, refitting and crewing the new additions to the defense fleet are taking precedent.” Silu mused just as they reached his office, “Have you considered any other options?”

“I… No, sir. It’s hard to consider leaving behind my career to start over. It feels too much like I would betray Olyvia if I did.” Cory responded before quirking an eyebrow, “Uncle, you didn’t request me all this way just catch up…”

Silu smiled crookedly at his nephew, “You are correct. Of course, we didn’t.” His door hissed open and the two of them walked in to find Admiral Mackenzie Grarzia sitting in one of the chairs.

“Mac?” Cory gave his brother-in-law a confused look.

“It’s been a little bit; we haven’t seen you since the funeral. How are you holding up” Mac asked gently.

“I’m doing well enough. So, what is going on.” Cory responded as the three took their seats. Silu settled in behind his desk, while Mac and Cory ensconced themselves in the remaining furniture.

“The Incursion has forced our timetable. The refit of the Armada is going as quickly as it can, but I am still short in other areas if we are to stem the tide.” Mac began. “I know you were never interested in a military berth, but I need seasoned sailors.”

“I was wondering if this would happen. I’m no warship captain, Mac.” Cory sighed.

“I know, but you are a Sailor, a blooded one at that.” Mac’s tone was careful, “I don’t want to push you into a frontline warship’s Berth, what I need from you, is something else.”

“I’m listening,” Cory leaned back in his chair, “What do you have in mind.”

“I need captains that know the Unity, know its people, and know how to defend himself and his ship. I have several ships on the tail end of their refit. During our war, we used them as armed troop transports. Along with upping their armament and shields, I have had them retrofitted with medical facilities as well as stores of materiel and supplies.” Mac explained. “I need captains that are willing to sneak into occupied space, evacuate who they can and aid resistance groups logistically. You will also be authorized to destroy any enemy shipping you wish, but your primary mission will be to save lives, gather intelligence, repatriate captured merchant-men, and stay alive.”

Cory sat for a moment, contemplating what lay before him. The news that the Thermian Government had sided with the Vorath had put new perspective on the fateful events aboard Celest. It was widely believed that the attacks on Delmar shipping were the precursor to this invasion. “I’ve never heard of any military doing anything like this. It almost sounds like I would be a Pirate.. in a positive sort of way.”

Silu snorted, and Mac chuckled darkly, “This part of the Galaxy has never fought what Humanity calls “Total War”, outside of possibly the Corth/Vorath conflict. We will need to disrupt the enemy’s logistics, as well as fight them head on. I mean to fight as dirty as possible. I mean to save the people the enemy wants dead. I mean to deny the enemy supplies to wage war. I mean to create so much turmoil on the planets that they deem worthy of enslaving, that they have to fight multiple smaller fronts on top of us.” Mac’s smile held no humor in it.

Cory’s face blanked at the understanding of what Mac was proposing, “I… would like to think on this. How long do I have to decide?”

“The ships are basically done, save stealth coating and armaments. The captain’s berths will be first come first serve.” Mac responded, “I can say this. Each captain will be involved in the final steps of their own command. These troop transports were seldom named. They will need one. The captains will also have final say on who we approach as crew, and exactly what weapons they wish on their ship, within reason.”

Cory’s eyes widened at the implication, but he chose to keep his cool, “An interesting proposal. I will give it some thought.”

—————————————

Jezzaria stepped into the observation room in the Ceres research facility. She could see Warren on the other side of the glass, working on the last-minute bits and bobs that came with a test of this magnitude. He noticed her arrival and gave a quick wave before returning to work.

They had pushed back her latest checkup with Atticus so that she could be here, and she folded her wings tightly to settle down into one of the chairs to wait. Soon enough, Warren walked in to greet her with his customary embrace followed by effortlessly scooping her up to bring her lips to his. “Hey, gorgeous.” He whispered before setting her back down.

“You nervous?” She asked quietly, “This is your discovery.”

“Yea… I’m terrified. At least we learned our lesson. They are sending a drone first.” Warren said quietly.

Director Johansson watched the couple from his private observation room before returning to the data log as he lent another set of eyes to today’s test. The optical scanners were locked on a massive object, keeping station outside. It was little more than a giant cluster of 340 S.O.L. Grade Fusion generators attached to 4 kilometer wide ring. There was a matching ring in orbit over the Martian shipyards on Phobus.

Today’s Test was the culmination of the Young Protige’s accidental discovery. Those calculations had been painstakingly peer reviewed before the course of action was decided. Even Humanity could not safely generate the types of power required to safely duplicate the accident inside of a ship. Jezaria had been granted access on account of her knowledge from before the reclassification of the project, and she had been the one mention an external system to Warren. The young man had taken the idea and run with it, quickly roughing out the concept that had produced the two monstrosities that were currently solidifying their data link from halfway across the Sol system.

“Director, Phobus reports ready on their end.” Johansen’s aid mentioned.

“We are ready here, Begin.” Bjorn stated formally. He smirked slightly as he watched Warren see the notification, parting with Jez with a quick show of affection.

Warren stepped into the control room proper just as Bill took his seat, “Ready Boss.” The young man offered as he quickly ran through his part of the pre-ops checklist.

“Guidance, Go!”

“Navigation, Go!”

“reactors, Go!”

“Sensors, Go!”

The individual stations sounded off until it circled back around to Warren, “Vessel, Go.” The young man stated. He would be remotely guiding the Prewar Terran freighter during this test.

“Initiate Startup sequence, T minus 15…. MARK!” Bill called out.

The transmission came from Phobus, confirming the time synchronization, and moments later the main screen in the mission control area flared to life with an image of the ring floating over Ceres. Warran held his breath as he watched the power numbers soar. The interior edge of the Ring suddenly flared to life as the very fabric of deep space itself seemed to warp and writhe in on itself. The Fusion Core readings began fluctuating under the strain as the Ring began ripping at time and space itself. The violent maelstrom seethed inwardly from the edges of the ring for several moments before the power numbers began to stabilize and a smooth event horizon coalesced.

“Boss, the Core’s will overheat in 30 seconds..” Warren’s urgent tone registered as Bill quickly looked over everything a final time.

“Go Lieutenant, You are cleared for entry burn.” He stated after a moment, and Warren immediately activated full power on the old freighter’s main drives. The elder Vessel shuddered to life as it began to glide into the glassy smooth convex distortion. A ripple flickered across the almost lens-shaped anomaly as the Freighter was slowly engulfed before disappearing from Ceres station’s sensors.

“I’ve lost contact with the test vessel.” Warren stated formally. He leaned back in his chair, his part of the test done. He was just about to stand up and go talk to Jez when The Com station linking Phobus and Ceres together spoke.

“Phobus reports reception! Uh… Boss? You need to see this…” The man quickly sent a vile to the main viewer and hit play. The other side of the experiment snapped to life showing the same convex liquid lens shaped event horizon just as an object broke through. The aging freighter was slowly birthed into the orbit above Phobus shipyards. She sparked and flared with burst power conduits. Her hull was heavily scorched and almost crushed in places as the Atmosphere she had been pressurized with for the test vented violently from half a dozen fractures. The smoldering Hulk drifted aimlessly, completely unresponsive as the last of it exited the Ring’s central anomaly.

“Jesus… What the Hell happened…” Warren whispered as both rings were hastily shut down before their core’s overheated. He looked over his shoulder to see Jez standing up next to the observation rooms enormous windows. Her horrified expression caught his gaze as the images of the stricken test vessel hung in the view screen.

“Phobus reporting they have recovered the vessel. Initial reports recorded a hull temperature of 2100K.” Coms reported.

“Jesus.” Bill looked over at the face of Warren as the now ghost white young man slowly turned back to sit in his chair. “Compile everything, let me know when Phobus recovers the flight recorder. LETS MOVE PEOPLE!”

Warren snapped out of his stunned state, and he quickly began pulling and compiling everything he had from the entry side of the operation. He finished quickly, sending off the packet before taking his leave. Bill nodded his permission as Warren stood up, and walked back to the observation room.

Jezz immediately reached for him as he returned to her, pulling at his shirt until he scooped her up into an encapsulating embrace. The freighter could have easily been his shuttle during his accident. “I know, but it didn’t happen. We know now.” He softly comforted her as she buried her head against his shoulder.

“What happened... I saw the images…” Jezz asked after a moment, releasing her embrace, and taking his hand as they left together.

“I don’t know yet. We do know that the test ship’s outer hull melted under some kind of heat or friction transmission. They are waiting for the vessel to cool before they recover the interal recorders. We should know more in a day or two. Let’s get lunch. I don’t know when I will be called back.”

Warren was walking intentionally slowly. Ceres was one of the first adopters of first generation artificial gravity. The upgrade had been expensive, and the first generation Gravity plates were only designed to be capable of a minimum of force equivalent to 2/3rds Delmar’s gravity. Jezzaria was still struggling with the excessive gravity, but was doing better after two weeks of agony. They had brought a prototype antigravity harness, made by Atticus; and Jezz had almost given up. She could stand and walk, albeit slowly, now. Her wings were completely useless, and Warren had to help her don a smaller separate harness designed to ease the pressure on her wing joints at her shoulders. Upon hearing the Jezz was not needing the antigrav harness, Atticus had demanded a medical exam the moment they returned to Luna, and Jezz was wearing a bio-monitor tied to her Com unit so he could watch her vital functions live. It was currently adhered to the underside of her left upper arm and was feeding real time telemetry to the artificial being. He had already recommended that she up her caloric intake to compensate for the extra energy she was burning through, which had proven to improve her quality of life.

She was leaning on Warren by the time they reached the café, grateful for the comfortable chair and a glass of water. “Oh, that’s better. It's getting easier, but I never thought walking could be such a struggle. I don’t think I could even lift my wings right now without the harness.”

“Are you sure you don’t want the antigrav? I can run and go get it.” Warren asked as the waiter arrived.

“I’m ok. I promise, it is getting easier. I don’t want to give up if I am still improving.” Jezz was relaxing in her chair, wings drooping slightly.

“Just tell me if you need a rest. I can carry you home if you need it.” Warren gently squeezed her hand as the waiter returned.

The two of them made it through the main course and were headed back to drop Jezz off in their quarters to rest when Warrens com chirped, it was Bill. “Yea boss?”

“Warren, we just received the compilation of data from Phobus. When can you two get back.”

Warren raised an eyebrow, “I’m dropping Jezz off at our quarters to rest, I can be back in 15.”

“That won’t be necessary. I want both of your eyes on this, just in case your good luck charm has another spark of brilliance.” Bill broke into a chuckle at Jezz snort. He had taken to calling her that after the second slip drive breakdown. Considering the day’s revelation, she was forced to concede the point.

“We will log into the conference call in 15 then, I assume Phobus is on the other end?” Warren responded, still smirking amusedly down at his angel. She was still refusing to be carried, and stubbornly putting one foot in front of the other.

“They will, see you there. Bill out” the connection closed just as Jezz stumbled slightly, leaning heavily on Warren as he caught her fall.

“Hey, I had it.” She grumbled. Still trying to stand on her own.

“You did, until you didn’t.” Warren said softly. He effortlessly overpowered his exhausted angel before changing tones entirely. “Now, that’s enough exertion for the day. Atticus is not here to patch you up. Lay still.”

Her resistance ceased as she heard her mate’s command. Jezz melted into his arms as he tucked her wings in to support them as well, “good girl” he whispered.

“I hate it when you’re right.” Jezz murmured, relaxing into his arms.

“Not that I can control you with just a word?” Warren teased as he plodded on.

“No,” Jezz lifted up slightly to kiss the underside of his chin, “That part… makes me crazy.” she whispered just as they reached their quarters.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Patrick stepped into the bar and was waved over to the corner by his former first officer. He ordered from the bar, snagging a Delmar whiskey on ice before strolling over to Corellus sitting in the corner booth, “If you only knew the number Human cliché’s you’ve just triggered… Whacha got L.T.”

“Hey, Red.” Cory used the nickname given to him by Cammy. “I need to talk this out with someone. I got a job offer of sorts.”

“It must be a military berth if it has you this twisted up. What did the Admiral Stevens offer you.” Patrick spoke softly, clearly keeping this between the two of them.

“Admiral Grarzia actually. He gave me an offer to captain a… Pirate ship…” Cory murmured, almost as if the words would trigger a response from the rest of the room.

Patrick snarfed into his drink, “Come again?”

Cory sighed, and began from the beginning, “Mac is putting together a unit. He will be going deep into the incursion zone, causing disruption, and foment conflict behind enemy lines. I don’t know what he will be bringing, but he offered me the captain's chair on a converted Armed troop carrier. He has a few of them in their final refit. They have been gutted of their troop transport capabilities and replaced with hospital capabilities and storage for delivering supplies and evacuating people from behind the Vorath’s back.”

“Ook. That doesn’t sound like a Pirate to… Oh” Patrick paused as something clicked, “You will be destroying tonnage as well, aren’t you.”

“Yes… If I accept, I get a say in how my ship is armed, who my crew is, and what her name is…” Cory said quietly.

“And you want to do it.” Patrick said simply.

“To my shame, I want to murder every one of those monsters that helped those pirates take my ship, and my captain from me…” Cory dripped with hatred at the remembrance for a moment before sobering, “But a pirate? The idea makes me sick, even if I wouldn’t be attacking innocent targets.”

“Well, You wouldn’t be a Pirate.” Patrick said simply, “Humanity has a long history of both legal and illegal commerce raiding. What the Admiral is putting together has a name in our culture. We call them Privateers.”

“Priv-a-teer” Cory spoke the Human word carefully, “What is the difference.”

“A Privateer has rules. Many of my people's nations had them in times of war. A privateer could only attack shipping under the enemy’s flag, under the permission of the parent nation. The refugee rescue and the supply of resistance is not a traditional Privateer role, so you would probably be considered more of an insurgency group; but I like ‘Privateer’ better.” Patrick sat back and regarded his former ranking officer, “I know that look. When will you be calling back to accept.”

“I think I may contact Mac in the morning. I don’t know if I will be a good…. ‘Privateer’… but I cannot sit back and wait any longer. Dozer was right, I’m not the man I was before the attack. That man would have never considered legal piracy.” Cory responded slowly, pausing as he noticed the look on Patrick's face. “Patrick, what is it. I haven’t seen that look since…”

“You are right, we aren’t the same men we were, and I’m coming with you. I’m just trying to think of what I am going to tell Cammy... I love that girl, I was hoping I would be able to tell her how I feel before something like this came up. She still spends the nights in my room, at least her nightmares are over.” Patrick looked over to see the confused look on Cory’s face.

“I thought you two were courting. I don’t understand the issue.” Cory leaned back in his chair.

“Cory, Humans don’t communal sleep with strangers of the opposite sex in most cultures… certainly not mine… The only time a woman gets into bed with a man in my culture is… if they want to become intimate with each other, and we haven’t. On top of all that, She’s a cuddler.” Patrick’s eyes glazed over for a second before refocusing on Cory, “You have the same problem, my friend. You need to talk to Jackie. That woman is a saint for waiting this long for you to make a move.”

Cory opened his mouth to counter, only to pause as the memories of the last few months flooded through his consciousness. “I do, don’t I… What should I say…”

“The same thing I am going to…” Patrick clamped Cory on the shoulder, “The truth.”