The Ascent

Chapter 12

"Did you hear about Innman and Arden?" the short Hispanic junior officer said as she heated her meal in the Torchbearer's dining area.

"They sold the stock in their companies and left on a jump ship," the tall bald senior NCO standing in line behind her said.

An older mustached technician leaned around the bald man to join in the conversation. "I heard Sunny was sending a jump ship out after them to arrest them."

"Why would he need to do that?" a junior spacer asked as he cleaned a nearby table. "Their families are staying at one of his corporate resorts. One word from him and they're all under arrest or even killed."

The other diners set their meals down. "Really?"

I leaned back in my chair and asked Chris, "What do you think?"

He sipped his coffee and shrugged. "I have no idea. I certainly wouldn't be surprised if he took offense at them running out on him. But then, who knows if he even considers them important enough to worry about."

I smiled. "So you're saying it depends which is greater, his arrogance or his pettiness."

"I did hear why they left."

"Oh? Why?"

"They were upset that Sunshine allowed Sherman to keep the ships that joined his Consolidated Colonial Space Force. And that's not all." Chris leaned closer and lowered his voice. "They're talking about reorganizing the fleets. Moony and Sherman are both maneuvering to be supreme commander. I think Innman, in particular, thought he should have the position because of his prior history with Sunshine."

"What of Arden?" I asked.

"He's a patriot. He still wants to go back to the Patriotic Free Government of the Thousand and reclaim his homeworld, but now that Bright Fortune has fled back to the Cack homeworld, Sunshine has no interest in it." Chris drained his cup. "Anyway, expect some big high-level meetings soon. There's definitely going to be some changes."

* * *

I left the dining room and returned to my quarters where I worked through my inbox. I noticed a formal complaint from the flight deck master of the Blaylock in regards to Cruze's abrupt departure and filed it in the category of things to be dealt with when Hell froze over.

I had worked through the first half of the items when a fleet-wide announcement flashed Sunshine's royal ideogram on my display. I had left my door open and could hear the alerting tone echo throughout the ship. An announcer spoke in the whistling clicking speech of the Those Who Dwell Within followed by a human interpreter who was obviously paraphrasing a machine translator. "Please stand by for an announcement from his radiance, Shines Like the Sun."

Sunshine appeared on the display in all his tropical glory and began to speak. "You have, no doubt heard that Innman and Arden have both chosen to leave us. Since there may be some confusion due to the abruptness of their departure I wish to clarify the reason.

"I did not ask them to leave and would have preferred them to stay. Though they may flatter themselves by thinking they have snuck off, I assure you they cannot outrun my jump ships and there is nowhere in human space or Indweller space in which they can hide. However, because of their former service, I allowed them to run off.

"I would not have it said that I use anyone while they have something to offer and abuse them the moment they do not wish to help me. God knows I have treated them better than they have treated me."

He paused a moment in thought before continuing. "At this moment, we are nearing our final goal. Soon a great challenge and greater rewards will stand before us all. Summon up the courage you showed in stopping the first Indweller acquisition. If you find it lacking, you may leave knowing I will not blame you or seek revenge. But if you trust me, I will see to it that you are well compensated so that any past inconvenience or hardship you suffered will seem a small thing indeed.