Orbital Academy 19

"At the meeting then." General Winchest agreed. The two Generals shook hands briefly, a regretful understanding passing between them. General Hunter remained for some time after General Winchest left, staring at the wall. With a curse he spun on his heel.

*I suppose there's some things I can take care of that'll reduce my stress a bit.*

***

Even as he exited the elevator, General Hunter felt noticeably better. Technically the elevator used up their precious emergency power, but the lights in his office were dimmed, and the small amount of power used to take him there were probably balanced out by the effectiveness of the minds within.

"How are my girls holding up?" He asked, trying to affect a good-natured grin and only managing a tired grimace. At the desk, the two women he had come to think of as his only respite from the problems he was facing recently. Technically the third was also present, but he still wasn't quite sure how he felt about her, even though he had apparently known her for five years. His office was small enough that the two extra physical bodies made it a tad crowded, but he gained comfort by their presence.

"I really wish you wouldn't call me that sir." The woman who sat at his desk gave him a reproachful look before turning back to the screen built into the desk. Standing next to her, Hunter's wife Errisa gave him a smile before returning back to the same screen.

"Right, I'm sorry Hannah." Hunter winced. The small white-haired girl who had been intended as his wife was always so serious and grave that it was difficult to gauge what jokes would bother her, but Hunter was beginning to get the hang of it.

"No apologies necessary sir."

"I like it." Errisa's smile was enough to be worth the small break all on its own.

"You are his wife, it's alright for him to call you 'his girl'." Hannah explained.

"I have absolutely no preference what Hunt calls me, but I'm technically not a girl, so if we're going for factual correctness..." Blue had taken to lowering the register of her voice, mostly so that Hunter could tell the difference between her and Errisa, and at this point he had gotten used to the disembodied voice. He still hated it when she called him "Hunt", but there wasn't much he could do about it now.

"How are you three holding up then, is that better?" Hunter half laughed, half growled.

"Quite well sir." Hannah responded respectfully. "I think I should be able to start handling Chief Errisa's duties within a few days, if I continue learning at this rate."

"So fast?" Hunter's eyebrows rose. "Are you sure we aren't pushing that schedule a little hard? It took Errisa many years of experience to get to that point."

"Many years of experience which I was able to transfer directly to her dear." Errisa noted.

"You did? Are you two...er...compatible then?"

"The hardest part is isolating which memories to give her, really. Hannah has a ridiculously fast transfer rate, but we're limited by how fast my old ports can transfer. She doesn't need every job-related experience I've been through to get a firm grasp on the job...and she most certainly doesn't need any of my personal experiences."

Hannah was blushing so hard that her normally pale face was almost entirely red, and despite himself Hunter couldn't help but laugh.

"It's not funny sir. There are some things I just don't need to see." Hannah muttered, and her blush was enough to make him chuckle even more.

"I'm sorry again, Hannah."

"Shame on you." Errisa made a face at him over the blushing girl's head. "Making fun of poor Hannah's embarrassment."

"Can I help it that I find it funny to embarrass those around me?" Hunter chuckled. "Besides, I'm not the one who showed her...I shudder to think of what."

"Oh my goodness, was it that one time he tried that trick with his fingers that he read about on the network?" Blue broke in. Her vaguely electronic laughter echoed across the room. "I must've mocked you for weeks after that one, Hunter, good times. I called you 'The Reverse-"

"Anyways," Hunter interrupted hastily, "I didn't come up here to socialize. What can you ladies report." Errisa grinned at his discomfort, but turned back to the console.

"The amount of coordination we've been able to achieve is amazing, for having so few workers." She said, tossing him a handheld screen full of schematics. "We've got three generators under construction, and if all goes well we'll have them ready to switch on in less than a week."

"Good. And Blue, will our electric and gravaton systems be able to take the generators."

"That's where we're a little lucky Hunt. Behind the shield we're working with about a third of the space and a quarter of the humans, and you should see the cost in energy we're saving. Makes a girl wonder how much she could save by ejecting another half of you."

To his credit, Hunter had broken the habit of visibly cringing at Blue's little jokes, even though all three women would be able to read his spike in heartrate and adrenaline. Sure enough, Blue's laughter crackled across the room again.

"Blue, hon, you know how Hunter won't give you access to the core systems? It's because of little jokes like that." Errisa said, exasperated.

"You humans and human-adjacents are such worrywarts, I could improve your core systems by at least seventy-five percent." Even without a face Blue gave the impression of a pout.

"That's kind of what I'm worried about." Hunter growled. "So you're saying the electric systems are almost back online?"

"And with human workers too, it's practically a miracle."

For the first time in as long as he could remember, Hunter felt the stress on his shoulders lessen just a bit.

"So you're saying we can get our generators up and running soon? We won't be at the constant risk of the Terrans cutting life support?" He asked.

"It might be a little premature to start releasing dopamine sir," Hannah broke in quietly, "you see-"

"They can't control chemical interactions Hann." Errisa interrupted quietly. Hannah blinked, looking uncomfortable as if his chemical interactions offended her, before the reaction was quickly masked by her normal professional seriousness. Hunter's brow furrowed. Perhaps his plan to have her take over Errisa's Chief of Information position was moving too quickly.

"-pardon me. Your relief might be premature," she continued, "since we still won't be able to turn the generators on."

"Why not? They'll be built, they'll run on the systems won't they?"

"And they'll generate heat sir. Normally we'd fire heat packets into space to vent the excess energy but...I'm afraid even synthetic systems would only last a few weeks. Organic material wouldn't even last that long."

"Can't we just vent the heat out into the wrecked Orbital? Cook the Terrans instead of us?"

"That would only exacerbate the problem General. Heat packets aren't as simple as typical heat transfer, or else they wouldn't disperse so cleanly into space. At our current level of technology the packets would simply bounce and amplify, and we would...'cook'...that much faster. We need a direct avenue to space."

"I see." General Hunter sighed. "Even with that being the case, I still want them hooked up and ready to turn on at a moment's notice. If the Terrans cut our last generators out there I'll take 'frying in a week' to 'asphyxiating in two hours'.

"8.21 days and 1.389 hours, respectively." Hannah corrected in a mumble.

"Humans tend to round." Errisa said gently, laying a hand on the smaller woman's shoulder.

"I think it's because their brains can't handle significant digits." Blue snarked. "And Hunt, your meeting is in 6.1832941232222103 minutes as of right...now. At your glacial pace you'll arrive right on time if you leave now." Hunter rolled his eyes, but he grinned in spite of himself.

"Alright Hannah, you're with me. It's show time." He said, rising heavily to his feet.

"Colloquialism?" Hannah asked over her shoulder as she followed Hunter to the elevator.

"You'll get used to them." Errisa smiled as they stepped inside. "If you don't understand them, I find it helpful to adopt a thoughtful air and nod."

***

Just as Blue had said, the doors to the impromptu meeting room slid closed behind Hunter just as the clock on the wall ticked over to 2200 hours.

"Chiefs, Captains." He greeted the assembled ranks as he entered. The table was horseshoe-shaped rather than it's normal circle, and it had been divided into two with a seat for him in the middle. On the left sat Kathryn, Mabel, Pepper, Adamsly, and an empty seat which Hannah sat in; his Chiefs. On the right sat General Winchest and his various Captains from Orbital Academy, most of which Hunter hadn't bothered to learn the names of.

"Thank you for meeting with us General Hunter, we know there are pressing matters on your time." One of the Academy captains said as he took his seat. Hunter merely nodded in acknowledgement. It felt disingenuous to accept their thanks given the bombshell he was about to drop on their heads.

"Right, we should get this meeting underway." Hunter glanced at his Chief of Security, Kathryn, exchanging a look. She nodded, once, and he relaxed a little bit. Security was in place.

"I'll start, shall I?" General Winchest asked. Without waiting for an answer he turned to the assembled Chiefs and Captains. "General Hunter and I made an agreement, just before the Terrans' Shrike Team attacked. In exchange for Orbital Academy's assistance in this threat, and as a measure to prevent the conflict our Orbitals had from ever breaking out again, Academy would act as overseeing Orbital to Pivot. General Hunter will be stepping down from his position of command, and taking a Chief role from here on out. Most of the normal day-to-day decisions will still be left up to him-"

"In case you hadn't noticed General, there's nothing 'normal' about Orbital Pivot right now." Chief Pepper broke in with venom. "Thanks to the fact that you *didn't* assist us in the threat. It's unlikely that we'll get back to 'normal' in the next decade."

"Let him speak his piece." General Hunter said calmly. "Let them all speak their piece. Speak them a little less pompously though Winchest, we all know the situation." He glanced at the timepiece on the wall.

"Ah...well yes." General Winchest looked surprised. "I suppose that's it, actually. To be honest, given our conversation we had early I'd assumed...well, anyway. That's really all I had to say. I'll of course do whatever I can to help assist Pivot in its efforts. I know I'm not the most experienced General, but I have some ideas for dealing with this situation. That's...that's all."

"Thank you General Winchest." Hunter's voice was flat, and on his side of the table his Chiefs remained impassive. "Now to fill you all in on the current plan." A small holographic blueprint of the station appeared in the middle of the horseshoe as Hunter continued, ignoring the quizzical look Winchest was giving him. It would take the new General a few minutes to realize that Hunter had no plans on giving up control of the Orbital, he might as well use those moments to fill them all in on the situation.

"Currently Pivot has been reduced to a wrecked shell full of Terrans, with a quarter-size sphere still in our control protected by the shield. Our remaining two generators ar in Terran controlled territory right now, but we've recently completed work on new generators to keep us kicking for eight-point-two-one days should they cut it. Our R&D will work on the heat dissipation problems that will make it last us longer, but right now they're focused on a system of translating silver-plated senstone into an energy source. Once they get the system up and running, the tiny internal station that Orbital Pivot has become will be self-sufficient."

"I thought you were using your senstone stores for the shield itself?" One of the Academy Captains objected.

"There are two layers of shielding, set up in a grid around each room, and we can snap them open and closed independently. Now that we know the Terrans can't get through even one layer, we're going to break down the innermost walls of shielding and use them as a fuel source."

"Now hold on just a minute," another Captain broke in, "isn't there a fucking Terran trapped in between one of those grids?"

"Yes, which brings me to another good point. We don't need a captive Terran that close to us, especially since she's in the way of trying to solve this mess. We're killing her."

"This has gone far enough." General Winchest slammed a hand down on the table. "Chief Hunter you don't have the authority to be making these kinds of calls any more, remember."

"Ah, that would bring us to the final point." General Hunter's voice was quiet, but he nodded to Kathryn, who entered a few strokes into the screen in front of her. "I am not giving over control of this Orbital to you, General Winchest."

There was a pregnant pause, and General Winchest leaned back, obviously at a loss for what to say.

"I...if you break your word now-"

"I'm not breaking my word." General Hunter cut the other man off. "Your part of the deal was to help, and you didn't help a damn bit. I keep my promises Winchest, but I don't give up something for nothing. Right now the situation is as dire as anyone in the Orbit has every seen it, and I don't have the time or the patience to play the political games I'm normally forced to play."

His gaze swept the room as Kathryn's security forces entered through the small door. The Academy Captains were all staring at him, stunned. It was as if they simply didn't know how to deal with a situation like this. He capitalized on their stunned silence.

"Here's how it's going to go. Until this situation is resolved, you are now either officers under my command or guests aboard my Orbital; either way you're following my orders. If you'll serve, I'll welcome the skills you have. If you won't, I'll feed and shelter you, same as anyone else on my Orbital. If you want to fight me, I will order my men to shoot you." He spread his hands. "Those are the only options available."

"You do realize that even threatening to break the Marshall's covenants hold stiff penalties." One of the Captains finally stammered. "You could be in a world of trouble if you-"

"WE ARE IN A WORLD OF TROUBLE!" General Hunter's calm shattered, and he slammed both fists on the table as he screamed. Even his typically un-rattleable Chief's jumped, but it was as if Hunter had unleashed every pent up emotion he had gathered over the past month. "We are living in a refuge core, by the grace of fucking *Terrans*. Our food is limited, our energy is limited, the very motherfucking air we're breathing right now is limited! The only thing that we have in abundance is the heat which is steadily climbing, and the assurance that if we set foot in the ruined wreckage that used to be my castle, we'll be swarmed with the Terrans who will very happily slaughter us. So yes, I will break every god-damned one of the Marshal's covenants. If the Marshal can reach us in here, in this tiny little precarious chip of metal flying through the void, then my punishment will be worth it to get help to the men and women I've given my life to protect."

The silence in the room seemed to echo when he had finished, and Hunter panted slightly as his gaze shifted from face to face.

"So." He finally snarled. "Are you a Pivot Captain...are you a Pivot civilian...or are you dead? Now is the time to choose."

The room remained silence for a while longer, before one of the Captains raised her chin and spoke.

"You said you were a man of your word General? I'll be a Pivot Captain."

"What the hell, Appet?" Winchest didn't seem angry, just disappointed, but the woman continued.

"I can help you train up a security force, men and women to fight the Terrans and take back what's left of the Orbital. But I'll do it on one condition."

Hunter raised an eyebrow, but otherwise didn't answer.

"Let me have my squad back." The woman finished. It took General Hunter a few seconds to make the connection; the Captain was the former leader of the Academy Rookies who had started the war between the Orbitals.

"Take whatever crew you need." He said with a shrug. "If they'll have you back, you can have them."

"If that's the case then I'm on board." Captain Appet said with a brief nod, standing. "I think I'll get a start on that then."

"Keep an eye on her, let me know if she tries to raise hell." Hunter muttered to Hannah, watching the Captain leave through narrowed eyes. The white haired girl nodded thoughtfully, and he turned his attention back to the rest of the assembled Captains. "I believe the rest of you have similar choices to make." He growled.

***

The walk back to his quarters seemed much lighter than the walk down had been.

"Two Captains, four civilians, and no executions." He remarked to Hannah. "That was about as well as that situation could've possibly turned out."

"We could have had all of them agree to help us sir, wouldn't that have been better?"

"If they had all said they were helping us, I would've been sure they were up to something. Now sullen acceptance, that I can buy."

"There still remains the possibility of them being up to something." Hannah narrowed her eyes, and General Hunter nodded approvingly.

"Paranoia is an excellent quality in a Chief, so keep it up. I'll want them monitored, of course, but I think we can-"

"Sir, Blue and Errisa need you back at quarters as fast as you can." Hannah interrupted. "It's an emergency."

A few minutes ago Hunter wouldn't have thought he could muster a run, but he somehow managed to fly down the darkened hallways to the elevator.

"What is it, what's wrong?" He burst into the quarters to find Errisa leaning over the desk screen, brow furrowed.

"You weren't focused, didn't think it through." Errisa said shortly, indicating the screen in front of her. It was a feed from the camera, focused on the square of the shield grid in which the Terran girl was locked. In the corner of the room stood Captain Appet.

"What the fuck." General Hunter breathed, falling into the desk chair.

"You gave her permission to collect all of her rookies." Errisa stated flatly. "That Terran used to be one of her rookies, remember?"

"God damn it, I didn't mean that one." Hunter protested ineffectually. "What is she even doing? How did she even get in there?"

"Must've told the guards she had authorization from you, which she did. They lowered the shields, she stepped over, they slammed the shield back up, it took all of a few seconds."

"That was so insanely dangerous! The Terran could've gotten free!"

"I don't think she cares about danger sir, since she's locked herself up in there."

"Tell her to get out of there this instant!"

"The Terran destroyed the speakers, we've only got audio."

"Then put the audio on!" Hunter ran a hand through his hair, the elation from earlier completely gone.

With a sharp click the room filled with sound, mid-conversation, and Hunter, Errisa, and Hannah were silent as they listened.

"-ink I'm stupid enough to fall for it." The Terran was saying.

"I know you're not stupid Tess, but it's really not a trap." Captain Appet's voice was calm, as if she was talking with a student instead of a Terran.

"If it's not a trap, then what's to stop me from smearing you across your damned silver wall?"

"Nothing." Appet sat down, a little ways from Tess, spreading her hands to show that she was unarmed.

"You think that I'll recognize you." Tess remained standing, her face surprisingly expressive despite the eyepatch. Her expression was halfway between annoyance and pity. "We had some kind of relationship in my past life and you think you'll jog that memory."