The Big Shutdown
07 May 2021User319792
"Where the heck were you, Cadence?""I just got back from a bit of resource harvesting. I got into the Cortez after docking the Euclid in Cemiess and I'm doing some trading so I can outfit Octavian. I'm thinking of getting me one of the Core Dynamics Corvette's, too. Why?"
"I thought we had you running some planetary scans for Cubeo First."
We locked eyes, both squinting at the other. I was confused. He looked confused.
"I was in Cubeo for a short time. The Ovid and the Tsu are currently at Chelomey. I didn't know that was an assignment."
He lifted his chin slightly without averting his gaze.
"What," he paused for dramatic effect," what do you think it means when we tell you to go somewhere and do something?"
My eyes darted back and forth, pausing between movements.
"Well, I've always thought of them as suggestions."
He dropped his chin to his neck and his eyes went glassy.
"Anyway, it looks like the Federation is currently taking matters into their own hands with the Hadrian situation. I'm thinking of heading over to Paresa?"
"That's an ixnay, little lady. The Emperor hasn't issued a statement regarding the ACT documents. I dunno what any of these other guys are up to or what they're working on, but I'm not gonna authorize you to head over there and stick your neck out for Aisling's cousin just because The People's Princess says something about something. She is a media baroness, Cadence. She knows how to make people's minds."
If the face I was currently looking at wasn't a part of my ship, I'd have spit on it. I said nothing and let out a blood-thirsty war cry with my eyes. He seemed unamused.
"Cadence, if Hadrian is responsible for coordinating the NMLA attacks, then he's as good as dead. He'll be spit-roasted over a fire fueled by the people you failed to save at Hahn and every other station that went up in flames on the day of the Theta 7 attacks."
That hurt. That hurt a lot. I remembered the initial shock I'd felt at the sight of the devastation. I remembered my first fly-in in the Ovid and any of the vast numbers of people in those escape pods that I couldn't pick up on that first go-round. I remembered the constant temperature waves as I deployed heat sink after heat sink. He thrust his hand toward his holo-sensor and snapped repeatedly.
"Cadence, wake the eff up. I'm not in any position to put your life at risk fighting for a guy that might be innocent just because a woman with control over a vast media machine says she thinks he is, no matter who she is to you or to anyone else. If The Emperor issues a statement about it, which," his eyes looked just above the holo-sensors, tracking back and forth slowly, "... seems highly unlikely, considering their shared history, then I'll get you word on what it is I'm comfortable authorizing you to do. Until then, its a no-go on my part, Cadence. I've only got you and Coral left. Whatever else these other guys in here are up to, and I'm sure they're all doing wonderful things, I'm not putting you in there."
I was still lost in the reverie of destruction and death that followed Theta 7's release. I looked back at him on the holofac.
"What?"
"No, Cadence. You are not authorized to enter into conflict with the Federation forces of the League of Mandu stationed at Harmony's Shield in the Paresa system on behalf of the Nova Imperium and Imperator Hadrian Duval. That's a hard no, Cadence."
"What? Why not? How is this not obvious to you that someone else in the Empire is probably behind this garbage story about Hadrian being the mastermind of the NMLA?"
"Cadence, I have three words for you: The Imperial Hammer."
I'd heard the phrase before. I thought it was one of those catch-phrases the Imperials over at Chelomey used to shout at each other when they were rubbing each other's chests to feel manly. I'd only recently found out it was a burst-fire rail gun, which sounds pretty awesome.
"I don't see what that has to do with anything."
His eyes looked downward and he took a few slow, deep, breaths.
"Cadence, The Emperor is a hard woman. I know you have your own issues with Imperials, and that's fine. I love that about you. For all your hurtful talk about being my slave, I remember when you were one and your first few days of real freedom. I remember you gazing out of Liberation's cockpit canopy with your beautiful child face and the awe written all over your face. The Emperor has never known a day of that in her life, Cadence. She's the former Emperor's daughter and now she's The Emperor. She will kill you and turn to her bowl of blueberries without a second thought. This is not some petty conflict over some political movement's expansion into another system. This is an official-level Federation faction making war on a marginalized-at best- isolationist faction within the outer reaches of Imperial space headed by a man that's repeatedly staked a claim on the Imperial throne that stands accused of masterminding a terrorist attack that targeted stations in every one of the superpower's territory. This is not something I'm going to involve you in without a clear mandate from The Emperor. What if,"
He paused. He'd been cold the whole time. It was as if there was a heat sink right up against his chest.
"... what if you did go out there and helped Nova Imperium win and, immediately afterward, The Emperor demanded that everyone aiding them would need to be rendered for aiding a terrorist mastermind? It's a no, Cadence. You will not be taking part in this conflict."
I twiddled my thumbs while looking off-screen.
"No, Cadence."
The comms cut out and it was instantly 5 degrees warmer in Cortez' captain's lounge.