Scarlet Steel

My eyes crack open and I glance at the clock on the wall. Wakeup notification is in an hour, it’s not worth trying to get more sleep. I pull myself out of bed, grab a breakfast bar, and scarf it down while I get dressed. In less than two minutes I’m heading downstairs.

I’m still the last one down here! When do these people sleep?

“Good.” Juno notices the moment I start down the stairs. “Everyone! Meeting!” She calls.

I make my way to the holographic table in the center of the living room. I get there only a moment after everyone else.

“What’s up?” Graff asks.

“I received a personal message.” Elara takes the lead. “The Mnemosyne relayed a request through Earth for our assistance. They wish to set up a meeting.”

“For?” Luna’s confusion is clear on her face.

“They didn’t say.” Elara says. “It’s a difficult task to ensure messages between quantums remain encrypted, and especially so when the jumps they used to contact me are outside traditional trusted pathways.”

“I don’t like that.” Graff grumbles. “Why us?”

“Likely convenience. The station they requested our presence at is the station we were already on our way to. We’re close, trusted enough, and I imagine they require humans for whatever task they have in mind.”

“I feel like I missed something.” Luna shifts her weight to one foot. “How’d a bunch of humans get involved with the aliens? Always thought they didn’t like us.”

“We gave them some good info.” Juno says simply. “Here’s the deal, we can’t ignore their summons. The Mnemosyne asking for humans specifically is rare enough, and I’m not going to be the one to sour relationships between them and Earth by blowing off their request. When we arrive, Andromeda and Luna, take care of repairs and detailing the damage to our dropship, everyone else, you’re coming to the meeting. I don’t know what our time table will be looking like beyond that. If we have time, we’re taking shore leave. If not, Andromeda, send Luna to resupply us before we get back.”

“Confirmed.”

“What, I’m just an errand girl?” Luna asks.

“When the need arises, yes. Normally I take care of resupplying, but when necessary, ship maintenance falls under your umbrella. I’m not treating you differently than I do with any of my crew, and I’m not asking you to do anything I wouldn’t do myself if time allowed. If you still have a problem, you’re more than welcome to get off at the upcoming station.”

“I’ll get it done.” She relents.

“Good. I assume we’ll be in the Mnemosyne portion of the station to meet with our client?” She glances at Elara, who nods in response.” Ensure your survival suits are working, you’ll all need them. That includes both of you.” Juno nods towards Exa and Xenia. “The environment will eat through you.”

“Appreciate the reminder.” Exa nods.

“We’ll be arriving in three days. Dismissed.”

I’m finally going to see the Mnemosyne in person! I’ve been waiting for this ever since we reached the edge of their space. Tera’s going to love hearing about this in our next letter. Turns out she likes them almost as much as she likes mechs, and that’s saying a lot.

“Exa, think you can get some pictures for me from inside their station?” I ask.

“Sorry Kid, not if you're going to share them I can't. I’m not going to be the one to break their trust like that.”

“Ugh, alright.” It's just the inside of a station, how much can they have to hide? “Can we trade maybe? Give them pictures of our stations to take a few of theirs?”

“Humans already share enough. I doubt we have much that they don't know about. Plus, even if you did have pictures of a station they didn't know about, I doubt they'd care.”

“You'd be better off trading memories.” Elara jumps into the conversation. “I may be able to barter for a few older memories of walking through ancient beings, and I could reconstruct photos from there. We'll have to see.”

“I’m certain Tera would appreciate it, thank you. Just don’t give up anything too important.”

“They’ve got a soft spot for novelty. I’ve got a few firsts I could stand to offload. My first- Oh! Juno! Q line’s here!” The biggest grin I’ve ever seen spreads across Elara’s face.

“Something amusing, I assume?” Juno is messing with the holographic display. She doesn’t slow down or even glance over.

“Message from our contact we stole the fusion generator for.”

“It took him this long to find our line?” Juno asks. “Alright, let me hear the highlights.”

“You’ve got a lot of your standard ‘you bastards’, he even switched it up with a ‘cheap bastards’ too. He’s got a good line in here about you being the Whore of Babylon, don’t think we’ve ever heard that one before.”

“Alright, I’ve got to read this.” A smile cracks onto Juno’s face. “Send it my way.”

“Deal me in too.” Graff adds.

“What the heck did we do?” I ask. “I know I did a little damage to the generator, but it wasn’t that much, all things considered.” Shooting to sever one of the intake pipes was probably extreme, but we were in an extreme situation.

“People lash out regardless of who’s at fault. Don’t take it personally.” Juno explains. “Guy was in over his head from the start. You can’t sell a piece of kit like that without some damn good fences, and if he had good contacts he wouldn’t have hired off the public market. “I’m guessing he got tracked down?” Juno glances at Luna.

“If your employer was who I think it was, then absolutely.” The holographic display flickers, the corner of it replaced with a picture of the man.

“That’s him.” Juno confirms.

“Yeah, he left on bad terms. We knew he’d try something, I just didn’t think he had the balls to hire someone for a direct attack. I was prepared for a sabotage attack, not a frontal assault."

“That’s why you had so much processing power?” Janus asks. 

“Mm-hmm. My new systems got installed not long before you arrived. I wasn’t used to all of it yet.”

“I shudder to imagine what you could have accomplished with more time to prepare. You were still missing fundamental skills, and I have no doubt I would have adapted faster than you, but you would have been a sight to behold. I’m almost sad I missed that fight.”

“I probably could have vented you.”

“Perhaps, but you couldn’t get access to the dropship. I could maneuver it to pick us up and redock to the bulkhead you closed off to detach the section we arrived in. I’d offer to hop into a simulation if your thought patterns hadn’t changed so much.”

“What, afraid I’d win now?”

“Undoubtedly.” Janus nods. “I am a good teacher after all. It’s not from fear that I will pass on fighting, it’s just how far I would have to limit myself would mean neither of us would get anything out of the experience.”

“I’d get fun out of it.”

“I’m sure you would.” Janus turns towards the holographic table and leans his hands against the edge. “I’m surprised a man like him has so much knowledge of Earth religions.”

“Hardly.” Xenia shakes her head. “He’s mixing metaphors, basically mashed three stories from different religions together. How much are we looking to antagonize him? I imagine he felt good about that line, and I can’t think of anything worse than being educated on why your insult doesn’t even make any sense.”

“Do it.” Juno laughs. “Floors yours.”

“I’ve uploaded a fifteen thousand word dissection on his attempt at an insult. Anyone else looking to add anything?” Xenia glances around. “Scarlet, you want to read it?”

“I think I’m good. Maybe I’ll change my mind in the future, but reading angry letters just sounds stressful, not funny.”

“Fair enough.” Juno says. “You’ll learn in time. If this was someone important, someone that could cause trouble for us, I wouldn't be laughing. But a nobody who got what he deserved and lost a mil and a half doing it? Plus the injury payouts? That’s funny.”

“So we raided the station for nothing? Fought people for nothing? Ruined the day of civilians for nothing? Killed for nothing?” Their conversation dies under my rising voice. I need to calm down.

“Scarlet, we’re not heroes.” Juno says. “Told you that when you signed on. No sane human goes toe to toe with a mech. Most of the fighting on that op was against drones, non-sentient. A few humans tried, and did they die for it? I don’t know. I aim for the limbs, nowhere vital. If they have body armor that can take a bullet, I hit center mass. Knock them to the floor, maybe break a rib. It’s the same as the bots, nothing that can’t be replaced or fixed. But I do miss. People bleed out before they get medical attention in the heat of combat. Body armor makes my shots less-lethal, not non-lethal. Did I kill someone? Probably. But someone else would have taken that job and probably aimed to kill. We minimized damage where we could, did better than others would have. And I can sleep soundly with that fact.”

I pull a refillable bottle of water out of the fridge and down it all. It chills my blood a little, calms me down.

“You joined this group.” Juno continues. “If everyone else dies and the company goes to you, you can do whatever missions you feel like, vet whoever however much you want. But before then, I’m not going to change how we operate because of you. If the reality of your dreams are too much, then you can stay on the ship with Luna until we’re back in human space.”

She pauses, and I just take another drink of water.

“Do we have a problem?” She directly asks.

“No.” I answer curtly. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. People with nothing wrong don’t take this job. Figure it out, and figure out how to manage it before it gets you killed.” She turns back to her holographic display and silently resumes her work.

I take a step towards the warehouse, towards Hoppy, but stop myself. There’s nothing left to work on with her. I end up walking past everyone and up the stairs instead, their eyes on my back the whole way. 

The door to my room opens as I approach, and I collapse onto my bed. The ceiling stares back at me.

“I don’t need to figure anything out.” I say loudly. I’m certain Exa is on the other side of the door. “I already know what’s wrong with me, so just go.”

Of course she doesn’t. The door slides open and Exa steps in. She sits on the edge of the bed and waits in silence.

“It’s like Mom said.” I continue. “I’m wired up all wrong. I’m fine when I’m actually in the mech.” I glance to the side, taking in the framed picture of Dad. “I think I understand him.”

“What do you mean?” She gently asks.

“It’s the quiet that hurts. If you could just freeze me, turn me back on as soon as the mission starts, things would be easy.”

“I can’t believe how much like him you are.” Exa’s eyes drift to the floor. “Told me the same thing once upon a time. Bet I could have the same conversation word for word.” She looks at me with a sad smile on her face. “I could mind rip you.”

“I don’t think I would handle it well. You’ve seen how I program. My brain would be a rat's nest of temporary fixes that barely hold together.”

“Maybe not word for word then.” She laughs. “He was concerned about not having more children. Always said he’d retire and give you a little sibling.”

“Ugh, no way I’m having kids. I’d be an awful mom.” I laugh. “I can barely feed myself. And diapers? I’d vomit.”

“Kids are pretty good at telling you when they’re hungry. But yeah, I’m glad I couldn’t smell when you were a baby.”

“What does that mean!”

“Exactly what you think it does.” She stands up. “Feeling a little more like you?”

“Yeah, thanks.” I let my head hit the bed again. “Is it weird to still be tired after I just got up?”

“How should I know? You’re the one who has to sleep.” She heads towards the door. “Have a good nap.”

“I’ll try.”

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