Warrior Chronicles 2: Warrior's Blood (8 page)

“Why can’t we?” Keen asked.

“That’s actually a great idea. We would need a lot of the resins, but it could be done.” Kim Point was on video from the Argyre site, where she was coordinating the preparations for a third colony site. “I’ll have some of my engineers start studying it. There will still be size limit, but I think it’s probably doable. I have enough to make a small test section. Maybe fifty meters square. Where do we want to try it?”

“Everyone will want it, but build the first one here. The wolves need to see the sun more than we do, and most of them are here.” Everyone knew that Cort’s main concern was and always would be the animals. They had talked about it once in another administrative meeting. Cort made it clear back then that he would tolerate no cruelty to the animals. The result of that meeting made negligent animal cruelty a major offense which resulted in one year of community labor. Intentional animal cruelty was a capital offense. Death was the only punishment for capital offenses in The Ares Federation. Coerced mating had also been addressed at that meeting, which had dealt with criminal regulations. The term was removed from use and replaced with ‘rape’. The only punishment for rape was death. The penalty had been exacted only one time since that meeting, and that death was broadcast across the planet.

“Agreed.” Kay loved the wolves as much Cort did. Especially Sköll. She reached down and stroked the big wolf’s neck. They were inseparable. Cort was happy with the loss of his wolf, though. Since John’s death, like when Cort first met her on Earth, Sköll had been Kay’s strength.

Cabinet meetings such as this one were held once a month. Most decisions were made by consensus. On occasions when
a consensus couldn’t be reached, Keen would make an executive decision. Usually he sided with whoever had the most knowledge about the topic at hand. There was definitely a hierarchy though. And at the head of it was Cortland Addison. Like the namesake of the federation he had founded, he didn’t meddle in the affairs of others much. But when he did, the rest of the government listened. In all matters of security and defense, Cort had not only the final say, but the only say. In resource allotment and freighter scheduling, Cort’s requests had priority. He seldom offered more than an opinion in other planetary matters, but when he did, he was afforded that same respect. So the first park on Mars would be at Aeolis. There was no more discussion to be had on the matter.

Keen moved on to the next topic.

--

An hour later Kay and Cort were in his quarters. Sköll was playing with Cort’s companion Zandra. Even their relationship was complicated. In public, they both stayed very close to their humans, constantly on guard. Once they were together in a room with humans they knew, they would groom each other and cuddle for hours. Other than Sköll, Zandra was the only wolf on the planet that had killed a human.

Two months after the battle for independence, Cort and Rhodes had been walking through the common area where Cort had killed part of the mercenary team. A female colonist approached them from behind and tried to stab Cort through his FALCON suit. The blade was useless against the carbon nanotubes of the suit, but before the men could even turn around, Zandra had crushed the woman’s throat with her jaws. Cort had insisted every wolf in the colony get meat from the woman’s body. “They need to know that we are an acceptable prey. It’s the only way they will defend
themselves
against us should it be necessary.”

After a brief investigation, Rhodes learned that the woman had been the sister of one of the men General Taps had sent to assault the Aeolis site. When he checked the colony rosters later, he found another twenty-one people who had been closely related to people Cort had killed. Most of those were loyal to the colony. Only one of them showed any desire for revenge. From that point forward, he was monitored closely whenever Cort was at the colony.

Kay watched the two wolves clean each other’s paws and said, “I miss John. More than I miss Clare’s father even.”

Cort sipped his coffee. “I do too. He and Clare were my first friends in this time,” Cort laughed, “Do you remember when you asked me to teach you how to fry bacon? The look on his face was priceless.”

“That was great. How was I supposed to know you had just fed a dozen men to the pigs? I didn’t think a human stomach could hold that much. He was so embarrassed.” Kay held her mug to her lips and said, “I think that’s when I realized I loved him.”

“He loved you the minute I carried you into the cavern. He was mad that I let you head brush against the plastic curtains. Some of your hair got caught in one of the zippers. He saved it. Put it in a little container. Always carried it around with him.”

“That was
my
hair?” Kay was surprised. I thought it was his late wife’s. I was never brave enough to ask him about it. Her eyes filled with tears.

“You should give it to Rand or Clare. They both knew and loved him.”

“Rand, I guess. Who knows when Clare will finally come here?”

They fell silent for a few minutes. A chime went off. Cort said, “That’s the new freighter. Why don’t you join me?”

--

Once the new module was in place and connected, Cort went inside and changed into his FALCON. Four security officers were on station. Two were at the terminal module’s airlock and two were at the new junction between the modules. The incoming freighter was already pressurized, which meant that there was some form of life on it, whether plant or animal.

“I’m sorry Mrs. Gaines. You have to wait here. No civilians are allowed into the terminal module,” a man in a nanotube suit like Cort’s said to her. The man looked over her head and saw Cort wink.

“It’s alright, Kay. I’ll stay here with you until the module is cleared,” Cort said.

Kay watched the procedure taking place at the other end of the module. A woman stepped out of the freighter and through a scanner. When she passed through it, Kay saw her face. Both security men stepped out of the way, so as not to get run over by the Science Director.

“Clare!” Kay ran down the module. “Oh my Gods! It’s you!” She turned to Cort as she ran, “You bastard! You knew!”

Because she was running one direction but facing another, as the words left her mouth she stumbled and was caught by another security officer, this one a woman. “Careful, Dr. Gaines.”

Mother and daughter both looked at her. After a moment they all laughed. The security woman said, “This is going to get confusing.”

Clare, Rand, and Kay spent the rest of the day together in Kay’s quarters. It was the first time Clare had seen Rand in almost ten years. Cort left orders that they not be disturbed for any reason. All communications were to be directed to him. That night, after visiting with her mother and brother all afternoon and evening, Clare went to Cort’s quarters.

“How have you been, Clare?” Cort asked his twelfth great granddaughter.

She said, “Kiss me.”

--

“Cort, I just got a message from Dar,” Keen said over the comm, “Atlantica and The Southern Alliance have asked to send diplomatic teams here.”

“That’s your area, not mine.”

“I know, but Atlantica is asking to send their own security team.”

“No. And it’s not negotiable. I control every weapon on Mars. That’s the way it is.”

“Dar doesn’t think they will send the atmosphere plants if we don’t give in on this.”

“Then start looking elsewhere. I control the weapons on Mars, Dave. Only me. In fact, cancel the contracts for the plants. Nobody blackmails us.”

“Okay. I’ll let Dar know. Keen out.”

Earth

“You can’t do that!” Pan was furious. “You cannot cancel the atmosphere plant contracts. We are too far into the production. We will lose billions.”

“It’s out of my hands, Dr. Pan,” Dar said. “Mr. Addison was quite clear. The Ares Federation will not be strong armed into allowing outside weapons onto Mars. Therefore, as of now, the contracts are cancelled.”

Pan sat down. After he regained his composure he said, “It’s not just the atmosphere plants, Ambassador. We need that data. Without it, nearly a decade research will be ruined.”

“May I speak candidly Dr. Pan? Perhaps you should have considered that before you made threats against Mars.”

“We didn’t make threats against Mars. We only wanted to supply our own security people for our diplomatic team. It’s standard practice.”

“It’s standard practice here on Earth. There are different rules on Mars, Doctor. You should know that by now.”

“Dar, I have to get the data from your astrophysics people. We didn’t have anything in place to observe the comet’s collision because we thought you would give us the data. You had a front row seat. Well, your people did. I’ve seen the vids of the event. It was incredible. Dammit Dar, we need that data.”

“And we will give it to you. But not for the atmosphere generators. There are other supplies and materials we can trade for. Even money. But we will be looking elsewhere for the atmosphere generating equipment. Mr. Addison made that decision.”

“I thought the civilian government ran things on Mars.” Pan’s comment was clearly meant to come across as snide.

Dar was unfazed by the comment. “All decisions made on behalf of the people of the Ares Federation are made by civilians.
Until
you make weapons a part of the discussion. Then Mr. Addison has not only the final say, he has the
only
say. You would do well to remember that in the future, Dr. Pan. In the meantime, I will send you a list of requested materials. Once we agree on the exchange rate, I am sure things will get back to normal and this matter will serve as a lesson to all parties. Good day, Doctor.”

As Dar left his office, Pan cursed the late General Taps yet again.
I wish we could have killed him three more times. He’s cost us more in scientific currency than the Cull did. Never mind the planet we lost.

Aeolis

“Cort you should have seen the look on his face when I cancelled the contracts. I thought he was going to cry synthetics. Seriously. And I just sat there like he was quoting
Shakespeare
. I think you got their attention,” Dar laughed in the vid.

“On to the personal stuff though. Let me get this straight. My tenth great-grandfather is asking me for advice about whether or not he should, what’s the word you always use? Whether or not he should
fuck
his own twelfth great-granddaughter. A young woman who happens to be over three hundred years younger than him, and my granddaughter. That’s what you are asking about, right?”

Cort turned beet red as Dar’s message continued, “Seriously though, Cort. I’ve been trying to look at it from all angles. Biologically speaking it’s easy. Yeah, technically, she’s your relative.
Twelve
generations removed. Genetically, you are
very
distant cousins at best. In reality, because of the Cull, it’s less of a genetic link than the majority of marriages in our time have. As far as kids go, Clare’s synthetics would prevent any kind of genetic anomaly from occurring.

“Then there’s morally. That whole ‘incest’ thing. The concept is rooted in a religious system that is founded on the premise that one man and one woman populated an entire planet that was the center of the universe.
Two
planets now. So that religious system, based on incest, condemns incest, while its god allowed it in several instances. According to the book that condemns it as immoral, that is. A book taught by pedophile men who molested millions of children for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. I’m not even going to grace that with an opinion.

“Now there is legally. You don’t have legal status on Earth. Other than in our family archives, there’s no proof that you even came from the twenty-first century. Or Earth. But let’s apply the laws of your time. First cousins. Most of your English speaking culture allowed second cousins to marry. Some nations even allowed first cousins to. Most of the United States, including California, allowed it. Only seven US states prohibited cohabitation and sexual relations between first cousins. The direct lineage aspect throws a wrench into it, but I think twelve generations, the Cull, and synthetics all negate that argument. Hell, Cort. Some remote tribes from our time still allow siblings to marry.