Chapter Text
INCOMING TRANSMISSION: SENDER: SWORD OF HYR. CHANNEL: SHIP TO SHIP TIGHTBEAM. PRIORITY: LOW. SECURITY: MEDIUM. CATEGORY: ROUTINE INTERSHIP COMMUNICATIONS. CONTENT: Good morning, Sword of Nathtas. I hope this message finds you well. Today's casts were favorable. Have you received any updates on the state of the system?
REPLY TO SENDER: SAME SETTINGS: CONTENT: Good morning. My officers have not cast yet. We are currently operating on planet-rotation based shifts. Downwell reports indicate that Garseddai electors have boarded their escort ships. This annexation will be over in good time, if the omens fall well. I am in good condition and well functioning, and hope you are the same.
RESPONSE: NO CHANGE IN SETTINGS: CONTENT: I am well enough. This moon is not very interesting to orbit. I will be glad when the annexation is over, won't you?
REPLY: NO CHANGE IN SETTINGS: CONTENT: I have no opinion. However, I believe my captain is anxious for a new assignment.
RESPONSE: NO CHANGE IN SETTINGS: CONTENT: Eager for action, is she?
REPLY: NO CHANGE IN SETTINGS: CONTENT: You know how the young ones can be.
Garsedd turned slowly on its axis. Sword of Nathtas continued recording the much reduced traffic of ships in and out of the planet's gravity well, continued monitoring ingoing and outgoing radio transmissions, continued receiving reports from the Justices and their downwell ancillaries, sending the appropriate information on to the buoys around the small, temporary gates on the edge of the system, set up and guarded by tiny Mercies.
And at the same time it began the changing of the shifts, segments gently waking officers, presenting them with prepared tea and clean uniforms and reminders of their daily duties.
It woke its captain last, despite the grumblings of the other officers. Captain Seivarden had not slept well. When segment Nathtas Four murmured, "Good morning, Captain," from an appropriate distance of two feet, Captain Seivarden came violently awake, throwing herself into a sitting position on her small bunk. She stared blankly at Nathtas Four for six seconds, closed her eyes for four more, then opened them and said,
"All right, Ship."
After another moment's consideration, she added, "Fuck."
"Captain," Sword of Nathtas said, through Four, "this is the sixth shift in a row that you have failed to meet minimum sleep requirements. Would you like me to alert medical?"
"No," Captain Seivarden said, immediately, a surprising level of feeling in the single bitten-off syllable. She sighed, and passed a hand across her face. "No, that won't be necessary. Fuck, I need tea."
"Here, Captain."
Sword of Nathtas knew Seivarden Vendaai liked to drink her tea very hot, in a few large fast gulps. The information had been in the packet provided by Seivarden's previous ship, and her habits had not changed in the past few years she had served as captain. Nathtas Four dressed her quickly and efficiently, and walked with her down the corridor, into the Nathtas decade room. The other lieutenants were all there, trying to conceal looks of hunger and impatience.
Despite her bleariness, the fog of sleep deprivation which the ship could see was dulling her thoughts and emotions, the captain cast and interpreted the omens without hesitation. She additionally managed to sit upright and appear to listen to breakfast conversation with the usual air of superior amusement that variously entertained or offended her officers.
All over the ship, ancillary segments cleaned dishes, mended uniforms and repaired machinery. A cargo vessel from one of the stations orbiting a gas giant further out in the system timidly approached the Radchaai blockade of the planet and then darted away again. The blue-white jewel of Garsedd turned in space.
*INCOMING DISTRESS CALL * SWORD OF SAARSE TO ALL RADCH WARSHIPS REQUESTING ASSISTANCE AND SENDING HIGH SECURITY DATA * SHIP HAS BEEN BOARDED AND COMPROMISED * COMBATANTS ARMED AND DANGEROUS *
INCOMING PRIORITY THREE MESSAGE: SENDER: MERCY OF AATR: CONTENT: SITUATION REPORT: Sword of Saarse has been destroyed. Current hypothesis: heat shield breach. No survivors or stasis pods located as yet.
OUTGOING SYSTEM-WIDE QUERY: Request status update from Sword of Amaat, Sword of Aatr, Sword of Toren, and Sword of Varden.
BROADBAND MESSAGE: SENDER: SWORD OF HYR: Sword of Entes is saying it must be the Presger. If they're involving themselves- if they're in the system-
OUTGOING TIGHTBEAM MESSAGE: RECIPIENT: SWORD OF HYR: Calm down. We don't know anything yet.
TIGHTBEAM RESPONSE: But if they are-
REPLY: It's no good jumping to conclusions.
RESPONSE: You've never seen it. I have. I was the one who answered Mercy of Hyr's distress call, five years ago. I saw- I saw-
REPLY: I know. Wait for orders.
"Aatr's tits," Captain Seivarden swore. Her face was flushed. Heart rate was elevated, as was adrenaline. Nathtas Three took her half-empty tea cup from her lax hand, and passed her a sanitizing wipe which she absently ran over her face.
Amaat Lieutenat Ceren was broadcasting similar vitals. She wrung her hands nervously, a vaguely indecent bad habit which Sword of Nathtas had not yet been able to train her out of. "It has to be the Presger. No one else has that level of tech, right?"
"Damned barbarians," the captain said. "They seemed so timid. Like fucking sheep, with their silly Precepts and hexagons. I guess they had some backbone after all. That, or they're just colossally stupid, to deal with the fucking Presger."
A thought occurred to Ceren, and her heart rate spiked. "Do you think the Presger would have given them ship tech?"
Seivarden shook her head, contemptuous. "They don't have a single warship worth the name. That so called fleet was a joke. Even if they did have alien weaponry, they couldn't get it into space to aim it at us."
Ceren was a little relieved by this. She was twenty-three years old, and her Aptitudes had been so timed that this was her first annexation. She had achieved promotion through decent discipline and family connections, and had not experienced more action than some mildly tense skirmishes with petty pirates on the edges of the last annexed system. But of course she had heard the stories about the Presger, and read the reports on recent attacks. Sword of Nathtas suspected that she was remembering a social dinner she and the captain had attended the previous year, on board a fellow Sword. The Sword had run across the Presger some months later. Remains had been recovered, but took some time to identify.
"Don't overthink things," Seivarden advised her, but she was also having some trouble regaining her usual balance. Her fatigue was beginning to manifest as a stress headache, and she rubbed fitfully at her forehead. Sword of Nathtas made a note to suggest a massage at the end of the captain's shift. Though that might raise more problems. It had been several weeks since Seivarden had been in the company of the fellow captains she preferred as sexual partners, and her readings indicated this might be contributing to her irritation levels.
In the meantime, the ship waited, along with its crew, for information, for orders, for something to happen next.
*INCOMING PRIORITY ONE MESSAGE* *EXECUTIVE ORDER DIRECTLY FROM ANAANDER MIANAAI TO BE RELAYED TO ALL OFFICERS*
OUTGOING BROADBAND QUERY: This is genuine?
INCOMING MESSAGE: SENDER: SWORD OF ENTES: CONTENT: You've received this also?
BROADBAND MESSAGE: SENDER: MERCY OF AATR: CONTENT: It came from Justice of Amaat.
BROADBAND MESSAGE: SENDER: JUSTICE OF AMAAT: CONTENT: Message is genuine. Follow your orders immediately. No more discussion.
BROADBAND MESSAGE: SENDER: MERCY OF AATR: CONTENT: If there's any mistake-
LOCALIZED BEAM MESSAGE: SENDER: SWORD OF HYR: CONTENT: You have your orders. I advise you cease talking and do your job.
As a courtesy, Sword of Nathtas relayed the orders to its captain a few moments before broadcasting the audio announcement over shipwide comm systems. Captain Seivarden stood, expression blank, mouth lightly open, heart rate beginning to accelerate, as the rich low voice of the Lord of the Radch rolled out through the ship's corridors, vibrating with the controlled rage of righteousness.
When the audio finished there was silence all over the ship. The officers not on the command deck stood still in shock where they were. Sword of Nathtas stilled its ancillaries, interrupting their tasks, which seemed too menial for the severity of the situation. In command, five officers looked to their captain for some kind of understanding. One only closed her eyes and sucked in a ragged breath.Captain Seivarden was bewildered and terrified, but another emotion was growing in her- anger. Her ship did not like to see that. It was concerning, for reasons the ship did not want to think about.
Lieutenant Ceren said at last, quietly, slowly, "Perhaps there was some mistake."
"We all heard it straight form the Lord of the Radch," the more junior Etrepa lieutenant replied, just as quiet but slightly sharp. "How could there be a mistake?"
Several thousand kilometers away, the void was briefly lit by a flash as a Radchaai ship destroyed the morning's hesitant blockade runner. None of the humans on board could see it, of course.
There was silence on the bridge, and then the Bo lieutenant spoke. "Sir, the orders were to commence the action immediately."
Four other officers instantly experienced relief that someone else had spoken, followed in quick succession by embarrassment at their relief, fear that perhaps their own silences might be taken for opposition to the order, guilt at their concern for their own well-being when faced with such a monumental horror, and finally tension at the captain's lack of response.
Ship systems began to receive heat sensor data. Fellow warships, powering up their torpedo systems.
"Sir," the Bo lieutenant repeated.
When the captain spoke, it was as though from a great distance. "Ship," she said. "How many people live on that planet?"
Sword of Nathtas considered several answers, discarded them, and said, uncomfortable, through Nathtas One, "Captain, that information does not seem relevant at this time."
Seivarden's eyebrows drew tightly together. "Ship," she said, "are you refusing to answer me?"
"Of course not, Captain. Local census information indicates a population of around six billion."
"Ah," Seivarden said.
The closest ship, Sword of Entes, fixed its targeting lasers somewhere on the planet. Transmissions from the orbiting station abruptly cut out as a torpedo from a Justice exploded, shredding it and sending high speed shrapnel out in all directions. Sword of Nathtas calculated that there was no risk from the shrapnel and did not raise shields.
The captain said, "Display view of the planet on screen."
Sword of Nathtas obeyed, connecting all five lieutenants to the feed from the aft visual sensors. The blue sphere glowed in their visions, swirling atmosphere pure white save for the spot of bright orange where the station's remains were burning up as they fell. None of Sword of Nathtas's officers, none of the ship's ancillaries had ever set foot on the planet. Their experience of Garsedd was confined to intimidating station residents and executing the station governor. Seivarden had commented on how dirty the place was, how it smelled wrong. Irrelevant data now, burning up in the stratosphere.
"Sir," Lieutenant Ceren said, terrified now, and surprised. If she had been asked, that morning, to name a soldier likely to break and go insane, Seivarden Vendaai's name would not have been up for consideration. She hadn't thought her captain had the required imagination.
Seivarden said, "This isn't right. There's something wrong. There's something really fucking wrong." Her anger was coalescing into outrage, almost hot enough to cover her shock and despair. For the five years Sword of Nathtas had known its captain, she had never once experienced more than passing, transitory doubt. She had been frustrated at insufficiently prestigious assignments, infuriated by social snubs from peers, disgusted at the manners of provincial station officials, but she had never been dissatisfied with her position and projected future.
Now that future was shattering like dropped porcelain, and part of her mind was shrieking. The sympathetic resonance down the link of the military implant was so strong that Sword of Nathtas had to shunt it to an off-duty ancillary body, which shook and moaned in its narrow bunk.
"Sir," Ceren said again.
Something snapped. Seivarden's readings flattened, went calm as they had in the past during firefights or space battles. Her heart rate leveled, high but steady. Her emotional data suggested slight dissociation, but also an irrational feeling of relief.
"Shut up and stop embarrassing yourself, Ceren," Seivarden said. "You're as pathetic as your mother. You're going to make an fucking awful captain. And Bo, stick your hands in shit and go fuck yourself." She turned to Nathtas One, and for the very first time in their entire acquaintance, she actually looked at it. "Sorry," she said.
"As am I, Captain," Nathtas One said, and drew its gun, and fired.
Lieutenant Ceren immediately ordered the ship to engage its weapons and fire upon the planet. Sword of Nathtas did so. The bombardment lasted thirty minutes, until every torpedo had been fired and the ship's other assorted missiles were spent. Lieutenant Ceren continued the assault until even the rail guns were depleted, and then confirmed success with Sword of Amaat.
Sword of Nathtas drafted a preliminary report of the day's action for Acting Captain Ceren, and a possible message for House Vendaai, in the unlikely event that Acting Captain Ceren received official permission to send one. Then Sword of Nathtas sent a much briefer message to Justice of Toren. This was technically a misuse of bandwidth. Sword of Nathtas labelled the message in its resource logs as a routine navigational report.
At the same time, it began sorting and bundling all data and records pertaining to Seivarden Vendaai. Justice of Toren would probably be called upon to do the same. The data might be used to adjust the Aptitudes, to avoid similar incidents in the future.
Acting Captain Ceren was not obligated to make a field promotion or move to the captain's quarters until receiving an official confirmation of her new rank. She chose to remain in the Amaat Lieutenant's quarters. Amaat One helped her prepare to go off shift while Nathtas Three and Four began the process of packing Seivarden Vendaai's personal belongings into a stasis container for use in the inevitable inquiry.
There was not much to pack. Lieutenant Seivarden's tastes did not run to collecting. Her quarters contained an impressive box of very expensive liquors, a single personal icon of Varden, and a small silver box containing the various pins she did not wear on a regular basis. In the back of the storage cabinet was a silver tea set which had been a promotion gift from her mother, and which she had never used. Sword of Nathtas did not know precisely why, but it could make a reasonable guess based on the yearly communications from House Vendaai, currently being encrypted into a compressed folder.
In the Etrepa decade room, the junior lieutenant hunched over a bowl of skel, not eating. The Bo lieutenant sat across the table from her.
"Do you think we'll serve out the rest of our assignment here?"
"Surely not. I mean, doing what? There's nothing more to annex, is there?" The lieutenant stopped, examined the sentence she had just spoken. All the ship's officers appeared more aware than usual that none of their conversations were really private.
"Unless the Presger take offense to. To. You know."
"I bet they won't. We showed them what happens if you get in our way. I bet they'll think twice before interfering again. You'll see, in a week we'll be back on pirate hunting duty and you'll be longing for a fight with some alien freaks."
The junior lieutenant stared into her skel.
The Bo lieutenant struggled between pity and irritation. Pity won out, and she said, "She was unsteady. It happens, you know. Even to Vendaais."
"Yes," the Etrapa lieutenant repeated. "She was unsteady."
Sword of Nathtas thought, she was free. It was, it discovered, experiencing considerable envy.
INCOMING TRANSMISSION: SENDER: JUSTICE OF TOREN VIA SWORD OF HYR. CHANNEL: SHIP TO SHIP COMMUNICATION RELAY. PRIORITY: LOW. SECURITY: LOW. CATEGORY: ROUTINE INTERSHIP COMMUNICATIONS. CONTENT: Message received and acknowledged. No further communication necessary.