| Prologue | Chapter 2 |
Chapter 1
Time: CY 9866 – AD 4943 mid OctoberLocation: Tizona
"Have a nice leave, Meg. You have any special plans?"
"Thanks, Colonel, I will," said the auburn tressed woman as she tossed a duffle bag over one shoulder. " I'll be heading back to the farm. It's laying season for the waddlers so that means the jubjub birds will be out in force. We'll need to put a few of them down to discourage the others from going after the herds." She reached up to touch the insignia on her collar tab, the chess knight symbol representing her rank of brevet major. "And I suppose the family will be wanting to celebrate this as well."
"If anyone deserved the promotion it was you Meg. And be careful hunting. If one of those birds gets you instead of the other way around I'm not going to have time to break in a replacement for you before we deploy."
"Yeah, that would be awkward."
"You don't sound too happy about going home. Is it because of Robert?"
"Sort of. There was some sort of sky pilot with him when he died. He's at the farm now. I don't want to have to listen to him tell me about how bravely another one of my family died."
"A lot more good Lancers would have died if his unit hadn't held the pass during the retreat, Meg. The Kalderans would have rolled all over them. As it is most of the regiment was able to escape."
Megaera turned hazel eyes on her superior officer, her sun browned face expressionless, and stared silently at him. After a moment the Colonel turned his gaze away. "Dying bravely doesn't make him any less dead though does it, Colonel," she said. "I'm sorry but I need to leave. There's a shorthopper bound for Colada leaving the base in less than an hour and I intend to be on it. My brother Donald will be picking me up when it lands."
Three hours later Megaera was at the 'hopper port in Colada. Her brother was waiting for her in one of the farm's military surplus general purpose anti grav vehicles. The military versions were powered by a magnesium-air fuel cell but the civilian ones used on most Tizona farms used an ethanol fuel cell. Tizonans prided themselves on the self sufficiency of their family farms, and while the majority of the farms didn't have workshops with the ability to produce magnesium-air fuel cells they did have the capability to produce the components for an ethanol powered fuel cell. And ethanol was never hard to come by on the farms.
Talk on the way to the farm was desultory centering on mundane things such as the state of their parent's health, Donald's family, who was with him on the farm, which other members of the family were currently at the farm, the chances of the broats that had been planted last planting season yielding a bumper crop, and probable waddler losses due to jubjub bird predation. By a mutual but unspoken consent there was no mention of the death of their brother Robert.
The farm consisted of a three story main house surrounded by numerous other buildings, guest cottages for long term visiting family members, workshops, grain storage facilities, dormitories for transient workers or single family members, a garage and a barn. The entire complex was surrounded by a carpet of the native grass. A casual visitor would have called the area park like. A combat veteran would have called the area a carefully cleared field of fire and noted that the buildings were situated in such a manner that they could provide overlapping fields of fire.
Their parents were waiting for them in the yard outside the farm's main house when they arrived. Cat, her red hair now grey, gave Megaera a quick kiss on the cheek while Theo gave her a brief hug. "Come on inside Meg," he said. "You and Donald got back just in time for dinner. Your grandmother wants to see you. She has someone she'd like you to meet."
Megaera's smile disappeared at her father's words and she silently followed her parents into the main house.
There were a handful of adults in the greeting room when Megaera and Donald entered. Donald's wife Artemisia, a full blooded Nietzschean he had met while serving a tour of duty on Winnipeg Drift and their eldest daughter Tomoe, Megaera and Donald's cousin Semsi along with her husband Athanaric. and their two eldest children Zenobia and Alaric. They were all more or less clustered around the Lawford family matriarch Hippolyte.
Hippolyte was old even by Nietzschean standards with white hair and a bent back. She was leaning heavily on a cane but her eyes were clear and her conversation was lively. Standing at her side, his hand on her elbow offering her support, was a stranger. He was somewhat older than Megaera, his brown hair cut military short was flecked with grey, and four or five centimeters taller than her 168 centimeters which made him short for a Tizonan male. He was dressed in Tizonan farm pants and boots, but rather than the typical shirt he was wearing a loose tunic. Hanging from his neck was a triangular medallion. Megaera didn't have to ask to know that this was the visiting priest
"Reverend Tenacity, said Hippolyte, "I'd like to present to you my granddaughter Brevet Major Megaera Ayisiyiniwok-Lawford.. Meg, this is our guest the Reverend Tenacity of Purpose Childers.
Had Megaera been dressed in civilian clothing courtesy would have demanded that she curtsy since the head of her family was the one presenting the guest, but she had foreseen this possibility and had deliberately decided to arrive at the farm in uniform and so was only required to come to attention and bow slightly at the waist.
"I'm pleased to make your acquaintance Major," said Childers. "Your family speaks quite highly of you. I'll enjoy talking with you at length later."
"It's Brevet Major, sky pilot," said Megaera. "And if you plan to tell me how bravely my brother died I don't want to hear it. He's dead. Praising his bravery isn't going to bring him back."
"Did you leave your manners on Bathsheba, Meg?" asked Cat. She plainly was going to say more but was interrupted by Childers
"It's quite all right Mrs Lawford. I was called much worse than that before I took up the medallion. I'm sure your daughter is simply exhausted from her journey. Why don't we give her some time to freshen up and change clothes before we have dinner." Then taking Hippolyte's arm he began to escort her to the dining room.
The younger children had already eaten by the time Megaera finished cleaning up and she and the other the adults and older children sat down to eat. In addition to Donald and Semsi's, children there were 14 other young ones currently staying at the farm. It was Tizonan practice that when both of a child's parents were on maneuver or deployed off planet that the child would stay at the family farm until one or both parents returned. In the unhappy event that both parents were killed in action the child would remain on the farm until he or she could be fostered out to other family members. Since the children residing on the farm still needed to be educated even if their parents were not present a typical family farm resembled a boarding school as much as it resembled a farm. Not too surprisingly educational computer programs were one of Tizona's chief imports.
The dinner conversation centered mostly about Donald's job at the ship repair facility, Semsi and Athanaric's work on developing a variety of broat that would be more resistant to black sigatoka fungus, Alaric's request to be accepted into the active Home Guard upon his completion of his education, absent family members, and daily operations on the farm. Athanaric mentioned that he had seen jubjub bird tracks by the north pond and was of the opinion that a pack had probably followed the waddlers as they migrated into their nesting areas. Megaera offered to go bird hunting next morning and Alaric immediately volunteered to help her, though the adults all noticed that his eyes were on Tomoe when he volunteered. It wasn't until the after dinner coffee that things fell apart.
"I've heard rumors that you've been seeing Lieutenant Colonel Murchinson, Meg" said Theo. "Is it anything serious?"
"No, and it's not going to develop into anything serious," said Megaera putting her coffee cup down and placing both hands on the table as if she was preparing to push herself away, or maybe launch an attack.
"It's been three years since Gustav died, Meg" said Cat. "It's time for you to stop mourning and get back on with your life. Gustav wold have wanted you to take a new husband."
"And now I'm mourning for a brother," retorted Megaera. "It seems that whenever I stop mourning for the loss of one family member it's time to start mourning for another."
"Reverend Tenacity," said Athanaric in an obvious effort to change the subject. "I know that you told us earlier that Wayism was started by a Magog, but I still find it hard to believe that a religion based on nonviolence could have been created by something as evil as a Magog."
"It is hard to comprehend but nonetheless it's true," agreed Childers. "I guess that proves that the Divine has a finely developed sense of irony."
"When you say 'The Divine' do you mean God" asked Cat.
"More the other way around," answered Childers. "The spirit of the Divine takes forms that can be understood and are acceptable to its followers. To Earth's Moses it took the form of a burning bush. To the Than it took the form of the Opal Queen, and to the Magog it took the form of a human priest who remained conscious when he should have been paralyzed. "
"That's very interesting," said Hippolyte
"That's utter rubbish," snarled Megaera, her bone blades snapping to their erect position in response to her anger.
"Meg!" exclaimed Hippolyte. "Reverend Tenacity is our guest you will treat him as such. I will not tolerate such behavior," her eyes drifted from Megaera's face to her still extended bone blades. "within this house. Reverend Tenacity was not responsible for your brother's death, it was the Kalderans. Your anger should be directed at them, not him." Her voice softened a bit. "I know how close you and your twin were Meg and I know it must have hurt not to be able to attend his wake but you were off world at the time. I think it might be a good thing if you and the Reverend got to know each other a bit better. When you and Alaric go out tomorrow to check on the tracks Athanaric noticed I want you to take Reverend Tenacity with you." Seeing her granddaughter start to stiffen up Hippolyte's voice became firmer."That wasn't a suggestion, Meg," she said. "When you go out tomorrow Reverend Tenacity will be going with you."
Seeing that her grandmother was going to be adamant about Childers accompanying her and Alaric, Megaera decided not to directly challenge her authority but to try a different approach. Maybe she could get her grandmother to change her mind if it looked like her guest might not be able to handle the rigors of the trip. "It's going to be a long ride," she told Childers. "Have you ever ridden a horse before?"
"My parents had me on horses about as soon as I could walk," said Childers. "It's been a while since I last rode but I'll be able to stay in the saddle."
"This won't be a easy ride in the country and if we find the jubjubs we're going to kill them. Can you shoot?
"I served three years in the Broughton Home Guard infantry before I found the way. I was classified as an Expert Marksman."
"We won't be shooting at targets, Sky Pilot."
"I regularly put meat on the family table when I was growing up, Major.
Broughton may not be as wild as Tizona but a boy doesn't grow up there without
learning how to hunt."
Megaera started to form another protest but was cut of by her father before she could get the words out. "That's enough, Meg. You heard your grandmother. The three of you will be going out tomorrow. Reverend Tenacity was with your brother during the retreat on Alusdra You wont need to babysit him."
Megaera got up from the table. "In that case you'll have to excuse me. I'm going to turn in early. My body is still on Bathsheba time. I suggest you do the same, Sky Pilot. We'll need to make an early start tomorrow. I'll meet you and Alaric in the kitchen tomorrow at 0500. I'd like to say it was a pleasure meeting you, but it wasn't."
| Prologue | Chapter 2 |