Prologue - Denial[]
With A Bared Sword[]
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Oh, the power to be strong
And the wisdom to be wise
All these things will come to you in time
On this journey that you're making
There'll be answers that you'll seek
And it's you who'll climb the mountain
It's you who'll reach the peak
- Son of Man, Phil Collins
New Avalon Institute of Science, New Avalon
Crucis March, Federated Commonwealth
18 June 3052
Kate was vaguely aware of a chirping.
She wasn’t sure how a bird had gotten into her dorm room, the windows couldn’t be opened and no pets were allowed. But it was damned annoying, and it was waking her up.
During three years of military education, the young woman had learned that you sleep when you can because the enemy, in this case the professors, will sooner or later give you no chance to sleep. Not being awake was a precious commodity and this damned bird was - !
Her eyes snapped open and the blur of white in front of her told a familiar story: she had fallen asleep at her desk again. With what felt like a herculean effort, she lifted her head off her forearms, blinking away the tears as her eyes adjusted to no longer being shielded from the lamps.
The two person dorm room was as far away from how she’d been raised as she could imagine. The blonde was academically aware that some people lived in such poverty that the cold plastic floor and thinly-plastered cement block walls would be considered a step up. Field exercises had been a shock to her system, but those were outdoors so there hadn’t been any expectation of a roof and walls there.
It was a double room, but her roommate for this year hadn’t arrived yet so the upper bunk was still a bare mattress, while Kate’s was made up to the expectations of drill sergeants. She probably ought to actually sleep on it, she thought, remembering being screamed at by a platoon lead and accused of thinking ‘the issue bed wasn’t good enough for her’.
The bird was still chirping and it wasn’t until Kate finished rubbing her eyes that she realized it wasn’t a bird - the shared comm-unit between the two desks was pinging for an inbound call.
With a groan, she pushed her notes on the right arm mechanism from a Guillotine Battlemech aside, picked up the comm-unit and dropped it in front of her, stabbing the accept button. “What?”
“Kathy, you have ink on your face.” her older brother said in a choked voice.
She was about to yell at Victor for waking her at - she looked at the comm’s clock - more than an hour after midnight, before she remembered that Victor wasn’t on New Avalon. He probably wasn’t even in the star system yet - there was no way he could be calling her so this was a dream.
“Godammit,” she muttered, “Why can’t I dream about a solution for this damned myomer bundle, not a prank call.” Her finger found the disconnect button and pressed it.
Arching her back, Kate twisted, trying to work out the familiar aches of sleeping hunched over her desk.
…wait, why was she feeling those aches if she was dreaming?
The comm pinged again and Kate groaned. Then, with great reluctance, she accepted the call. Once again she saw her brother’s face appear on the small screen. “Victor, why are you calling me in the middle of the night? How are you calling me in the middle of the night?”
“Kathy, you need to come to the castle now.”
“Wh-what?” She wiped her eyes again with the heel of one hand. “Hi Victor, long time, no see, you look well…?”
Victor looked like he wanted to swear. “Stop playing around.”
“Oh I’m sorry, it’s the middle of the night. I was asleep!”
“With ink on your face.”
“Fine, fine!” She turned away and yanked open a drawer, looking for a mirror and some wet wipes to get the ink off her face. Her brother made an angry noise and Kate looked back at the comm. “What now?”
“Don’t you know better than to fall asleep at your desk?”
(Someone in the background on Victor’s end said something like “whole family of kettles”)
“What are you even doing on New Avalon?” she asked, finding the wet wipes but no mirror. Taking one and wiping her cheeks blindly, she looked back at the comm, “Am I getting the ink off?”
“A bit higher,” Victor said dumbly, indicating his own cheekbone.
“Thanks. Why are you early?” She paused and remembered her manners. “Welcome back. I’m glad you made it through, but why call me in the middle of the night?”
Victor took a deep breath. “Kathy, you need to come back to Castle Davion right now.”
“Why?” she asked, but Victor had kept speaking and continued over her question:
“Dad’s dead.”
That… Kathy’s mind locked up. Was she wrong, was this a dream? A nightmare, really? “Wha- wait, no…” She shook her head in disbelief. “How?!”
“He had a heart attack at his desk!” Victor half-shouted. “This is why you shouldn’t sleep on it! Don’t they give you a bed at NAIS?!”
“Don’t yell at me!” she shot back. “You’re not an instructor here.” A dreadful prospect pushed her shock aside for a moment. “Oh god, you’re not going to be an instructor here, are you?” That would be all she would need, having to take classes from her brother during her final year.
Victor looked horrified. “No! …stop changing the subject.”
“Dad can’t just die at his desk!” Kathy protested, pushing her chair back. “Why wasn’t someone looking after him?” A hollow feeling gnawed at her. Dad couldn’t really be gone. New Avalon had the best medicine anywhere, near enough! It was just a heart attack! People survived those all the time, didn’t they?
“I don’t know! You’re the one here on New Avalon! Why are you even in your dorm? NAIS doesn’t even have classes right now!”
“Castle’s frantic with the war going on! I’m working on my dissertation, and it made more sense to be here near the library,” she said. “But… are you sure it isn’t an assassin? Dad’s not old! He can’t just have a heart attack!”
Her brother slammed his hands on the sides of the comm unit. “I don’t know yet. I just got here. Are you going to get moving? Or do I have to call your security detail to drag you back here?”
“Don’t shout at me!” she snapped hotly. Dad’s dead and all Victor can do is scream at me like a drill instructor?!
Someone else caught Victor by the shoulders. “Let me.”
Victor turned angrily on the interloper but, for a wonder, he calmed down. “Fine, see if you can talk to her.”
Another blond replaced her brother on the screen. Kate didn’t know him, but he wore the uniform of an AFFC Hauptmann and had the unit patch of the Tenth Lyran Guards, where Victor commanded a battalion. “Your highness,” he said crisply.
“Hauptmann.”
“The doctors are still checking your father,” he continued and then hastily added. “I’m sorry, they say there is no chance of resuscitation. But,” the man moved on: “There is still the chance of foul play. For your safety, the royal family are all to move into the tightest security. I’m sure NAIS is very good, but it’s not Castle Davion.”
The angry energy drained out of her. “Yes.”
“Thank you,” he said sympathetically. “I’m very sorry.”
“Yeah.” Tears began to form at the corners of her eyes. “Me too.”
“Me three,” Victor said softly from off the screen. “Kathy, I’ll… I’ll see you here, okay?”
“Would you like me to call your security, and get it set up?” the blond asked supportively. “It would give you a chance to get cleaned up.”
“Thank you.”
The call cut off and Kate sat staring at the blank comm screen for a long moment. Then she swallowed and pushed herself back from the desk, sharp, stinging tears running down her cheeks. She could go to the Castle in the NAIS sweats she was wearing, but she should at least get her boots on.
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