Ascent. Part Four:

Adrian crawled through the work week. Opening his eyes let the bright lights scald his brain through them, like they were windows. He got a stylish pair of sunglasses and ignored strange looks from everyone he encountered while wearing them in the academy. The shouting of the cadre and screaming of new cadets hammered his brain, so he got to lunch early, did work with his earphones in while the cadets ate, and stayed late to socialize with the rest of the staff.

Of the staff, he met plenty of esteemed officers and charmed them with quick jokes and impressions of falling down a ladder and breaking his hand. He even did one of these in the presence of Lord Captain Lewin, arm immobilized in a sling to stabilize his collarbone as it knit back together.

Lewin burst into genuine laughter and then looked sheepishly at the floor. Adrian was assured there’d be no backlash from their brawl.

However, none of his new acquaintances had the authority to help prevent his duel. He didn’t bother asking, for that would have been seen as needy begging by a lowborn and soured their opinion of him.

Thursday night came, with a group call in his apartment. Molitor confirmed Mathias Venko the Lesser would be at the Academy taking part in the Admiral Oran lecture series. Tarly confirmed she’d worked late all week and gotten Friday off. Adrian had taken an exam with academy medical and confirmed the cognitive side effects of his concussion had been abated.

They ended the call, and he took a drink from the rum bottle on his night table. The buzz soothed his raging headache enough for him to settle into unconsciousness.

The next morning, he attended his first Oran lecture. The Oran lecture series was named for Flag Admiral Raymond Oran, the first Supreme Commander of the Republican Armada. Forty years ago, he’d led the Great Rebellion alongside the Founder himself Jacob Hallard. He’d served for thirty years after that, only retiring two years ago due to a failing heart. Adrian didn’t blame his heart for giving out. A five-year rebellion against the greatest empire since the end of the dark age, and then thirty years building an entirely new military out of the Imperial defectors and various local ethnic militias that had fought the rebellion was a lot to bear.

Every one of the six Armada academies had an Oran lecture series, where senior Admirals could share their experiences with the entire student body, who would one day take their place in the ranks. Tollyon Green’s had been established a decade ago to legitimize it as the sixth academy. Admiral Oran was the first lecturer, of course.

Anyways, Flag Admiral Mathias Venko the Lesser was a narrow-shouldered gangly man with a quick, info-dumping speaking style and shifting eyes that analyzed everything. As he spoke, Adrian tracked his gaze as he analyzed each row of new cadets. When he reached the staff, Adrian was the first he saw. It felt like being scanned down for a moment, then he moved on.

The lecture lasted forty minutes. Adrian learned plenty about how to motivate his future students. The rest of the staff left immediately. The new cadets marched out to the screams of “hurry up!” from the trainers and upper-class cadre. No matter how fast they walked they were told to hurry more, and any who broke into a run were shouted back down.

 The lines parted for Adrian as he walked down to the stage. Two figures detached from opposite wings and slipped through the cadets to meet him before the stage. They put their shoulders together in a little triangle with one very large side.

“Nice lecture for the spoiled few,” Molitor said.

“It’s all just fluff. We had lower budget speakers at officer college, that’s all,” Tarly said. She took a deep breath and shoved loose strands of black hair back into her bun. In her dress uniform she looked like a stern, sleek authority. The heels only gave more credence to her as a professional soldier. “Let’s review the plan.”

“I’ll get the two of you into Venko’s presence and play blocker if anyone tries to interfere,” Molitor said.

“I’ll lead and play the endangered noblewoman,” Tarly said. “My honor is at stake, and I am being forced to commit a personal violation by superior forces.”

“And I’ll just sit there and flash my academy staff badge and Stars of Hallard. I am a very accomplished lowborn officer, and nothing threatening” Adrian said. Spite knifed into his ribs at how much he had to wear just to legitimize himself as a Colonel. He crushed it, because this was the reality of what he was in Tollyon society. The past week had nailed in that no matter his rank, this was the peak of his status in the Armada.

“Can you even play endangered?” he threw the joke at Tarly.

She made a thin grin at his attempt at humor. “Yes. If you recall, I was the personal escort of Lady Kamilla for three months. I learned much about being endangered in a combat setting from carting that silly girl around,” Tarly said, and laughed. She furrowed her brow and leaned forwards. Her lips pursed as she focused on Adrian’s face. She looked stern, unyielding, but also very vulnerable.

“Convincing impression of the Lady under siege,” he said. “Ready?”

She nodded without breaking character. Molitor slapped their shoulders, staggering them both. “Let’s go.”

They climbed the stage stairs and slid backstage. A mess of voices greeted them. Venko the Lesser stood at the center of a circle of academy staff and his own aides. He was an island of silence and shifting focus on the many subordinate officers talking around him. Sashes of various colors fluttered on all of them. Adrian saw two rear admirals with a single gold bar each. The rest were Colonels and Majors.

He slid through the ranks silently, letting Tarly and Molitor make the waves by pushing straight through. One of the Rear Admirals darted towards them, but Molitor intercepted her and stood in place while Tarly slid behind him and looped through the newly created gap to reach Venko.

The Lady Rear Admiral snapped something after Tarly, but Adrian didn’t hear her words, only her tone cracking like a whip.

Tarly went right up to Venko. “My Lord Admiral, I am ever in your service” she said and dipped her knee so low her skirt’s crimson hem brushed the floor.

Mathias scanned her rank and sash and smiled at the supplicant officer. Adrian joined at her side and he felt himself getting analyzed over like a targeting computer scanning for weak points. Venko lighted on the staff tag on Adrian’s chest and also smiled. Then he saw the two Stars of Hallard above, and his eyes went wide.

“Well met in person, at last, Lady Colonel Artreyas. How may I be of service to you?” he said. As the noble, she was addressed first. As a Lady, he offered her his service. He turned the charm up and smiled warmly. The expression was too strong for his narrow face to contain.

“I would only come to call upon you personally in times off in a time of such emergency for myself and the Admiralty. A civilian noblewoman is attempting to make me commit a violation of personnel code and honor, and interfere with Admiralty operations,” she said.

“We already know this involves the trial. This is beneath you,” the Lady Rear Admiral said.

“Oh this involves the trial,” Mathias said. He blinked. “I will hear this out, Lady Admiral Cheyes. You and my chief of staff go conduct an inspection of the academy.” He stared pointedly at Molitor.

“Thank you, My Lord,” Tarly said. Adrian bowed his head.

“Now, I haven’t kept up. I heard you had received a trial by combat. What news?” Venko said.

“My Lord, I will be fighting four duels. The first three are an acceptable matter for I’ve sparred with my brothers since I was a toddler, and I’ve always won. My problem is the fourth. My decrepit aunt chose a champion. I’m being forced to fight a soldier of equal rank, who happens to be my closest comrade.”

Mathias stared at Adrian, who looked at Venko’s chest, so he wasn’t staring the nobleman in the eyes. “You are two soldiers fighting a duel. What is the problem?”

“I promise you that if we fight, Huxton and I will tear each other apart with all the ferocity we could. The Armada will lose two senior officers for this idiotic scheme by my aunt Also the soldiers will see two officers of equal rank being forced to fight on the whims of a civilian for her own personal gain. Like raptors fighting in the pits. That would damage morale badly. All it takes is a suitably heavy pen to change this,” Tarly said.

“Hm, making you fight your own friend. I assume Colonel Huxton is a loyal friend and does not want to fight you, and your Aunt has made certain threats to force Colonel Huxton to agree to the fight?” he said.

“Severe ones,” Tarly said.

Mathias looked back and forth between them. His gaze sharpened as he made his calculations. “Tell me, Tarly. What has your aunt ever done for the Armada.”

“Nothing at all. She has never done anything for anyone at all but herself. She lives for social functions and gossip, and stealing all the wealth she can. My father was a soldier in the great rebellion. He made me heir to the title of House Artreyas and most of his properties because he thought I was the only worthwhile soldier in the family.”

“At the siege of Grahm. Yes, I met him once in the aftermath. He seemed an honorable man,” Mathias said. He scratched his chin. “I’ve never met your aunt. My wife described her as one with plenty of wealth to throw around, and plenty of gossip. I assume that means without money, she’s nothing.”

“She speaks of my father’s dedication to the Rebellion as a mistake. She declared to Colonel Huxton that he wasted my family’s credits supporting the Rebellion,” Tarly said.

Several officers hissed around them.

“And where have you fought in the name of our armada, and all your comrades?” Venko said, his eyes narrowing.

“I was on a secondary front during the Teghetoff campaign, on the battlecruiser Nightwind. I stopped a couple Talwar raiding parties,” she said.

“Far more than she ever has. Now, colonel Huxton, what do you think about fighting the duel?” he said.

“Unacceptable, after all we’ve been through together in service to the Armada,” Adrian said, careful not to insult Tarly’s aunt personally. “The problem is the elder noblewoman’s actions and nothing else.”

“Well, in the off chance you do fight, I need to know something Colonel. Inn your many actions, have you ever slain someone of high blood?” Venko said.

“Once,” Adrian said.

“How was it done?”

“I put two atlatl torpedoes with fifty megaton warheads into his carrier at the battle of Teghetoff. I hit a crack that had already been broken in its armor and that directed the blast straight through the carrier’s internals, crushing the command module,” Adrian said.

“Calculated and genius,” Mathias said, and gave him a little smile. “However, there is a saying in all ranks of the Armada. Big Armada fucks us all. Even I cannot do whatever I choose.”

“Does the pretender Artreyas have a friend at the top?” Adrian said.

“Would you fight them if she did?” Mathias said.

“Yes,” Adrian said.

“Well, she doesn’t. However, it’s not impossible, just difficult to pull the different strings in my own court,” Mathias said.

“What would it take to cut them?” Artreyas said.

“I’ll consider that,” Mathias said with a nod.

“Why can’t you rip them out? You are the Commandant of the region, and the reigning Venko,” Adrian said.

“The responsibilities of power,” Mathias said.

“My Lord Admiral, what is the point of power if you can’t use it?” Adrian burst out. Shit, he thought. Your fucking temper. He looked up.

Venko’s smile widened. “If only, Colonel. However, you two make a good point and demonstrate it well. I’ll consider it. When is the duel?”

“Next Sunday,” Tarly said.

“Then not to worry for I’ll have your answer by this Sunday. As you were,” he said. Conversation over. He marched off and his entourage followed. Backstage fell silent.

Tarly poked his shoulder. “We have a little hope. Just a little.”

No we didn’t, Adrian thought. There was nothing they could offer Venko that Tarly’s Aunt couldn’t offer him in private. He kept telling himself that as they walked. Yet that irritating feeling of hope kept dogging him. If he’d just accepted there was no chance, his heart would stop hurting and he could accept what he had to do to Tarly. It wouldn’t vanish. Even after they met Molitor and he told them he’d gotten a tongue lashing for the rear admiral, it didn’t kill his hope.

“Drinks?” Molitor said and tried to smile.

“Adrian?” Tarly said and mirrored him.

“Yes please,” he said.

They found a bar in an upper-class sector. Adrian sat on a stool on the edge of a hundred-meter chasm and sipped his rum while catching the breeze from passing monorails. The monorails here had vast windows and he could see the padded luxury seats within.

He had no desire to talk and spent his time looking out over the edge, at the lights from windows and open-air platforms going up and down the walls. He picked out scattered strips of green, and even a gardening drone meandering on its helium dirigible bag, snipping dead flowers.

He heard children laughing and looked directly over the balcony and down a level. There was a little open-air shopping mall. An old couple were sitting on a stand, building little drones on order from kids. He saw bright robot eyes, multicolor wings, and giggles as each kid held out a hand and the new drone landed on their wrist.

He remembered he’d never actually replied to Sam Kade. He whipped out his comp and leaned on the railing.

-

Hey Sam.

I want to see her as soon as I can. I will need four weeks due to orbital business. After that, pick a time. Any time.

-

He ordered one more drink and the bill with it. “I’m going downstairs,” he said.

“What’s going on?” Tarly said.

He pointed at the shop. “Gotta have something handy. Kids like toys.”

The old couple were closing down for the night when he came up to them. “Hey, got time for one more?”

The husband vaulted into the cashier’s seat and opened the menu. “Of course son. Pick your options?

Adrian squinted at the different options. He gave up and pulled his picture. He selected a  black body with crimson wings based on her adorable little outfit. He picked blue eyes to match her own. And he added motion sensors in the eyes. He got the shock reinforced body, with a little pocket she could slide things in. No vocals, one little mouth jabbering away was enough.

“Ten minutes,” the old man said. Adrian read the prices and pulled out sixty-one credits.

“Not for military families,” the man said.

He dropped it all in the donation jar, for one of the charities buying air filters for the older, poorer neighborhoods.

The other husband hadn’t shut off the printer or foundry yet. Adrian leaned back, Tarly and Molitor at his sides, as he spun out each component. Then he pulled on black gloves and went to work with a plasma needle, wiring them all together. He finished with a quick plug in to the stand’s computer for the software upload.

“All done,” he said and handed it over to his husband, who passed it to Adrian. The little bug was still warm in his hands. Its black had the sleek shine of printing with highly refined carbon. It had that solid feel of good construction in his hands.

“Thank you,” Adrian said.

“Have fun with the little one,” he said.

Adrian stuffed it in a pocket sewn into the inside of his dress shirt. It settled among dust from the various knives and hidden radio broadcasters he’d stuffed in there over the years.

“Time to go home?” Molitor said.

“Yeah. It’s nineteen hundred,” Adrian said. His comp dinged.

-

Adrian. We live on Tollyon-III’s surface, in the capitol city of Primary. We will meet you at ColdSpace Park, on Saturday Avril IVth, at noon local time.

-

That was a month and a day from now.

“I’m meeting her, a month from now,” Adrian said.

Tarly squeezed his shoulder. They passed a couple well-dressed families gliding on fine sandals towards the elevators. Sobbing accompanied as kids dragged their heels and their parents hauled them along with embarrassed looks around.

“You really want that?” Molitor said and jerked his head at the kids. One of the dad’s saw him, saw his sash, and flushed bright red. He hauled his son over his shoulder and hurried along. “Shit I didn’t mean to embarrass him. But really, Adrian.”

“Yeah,” Adrian said.

“Why? Okay, maybe I’m a bit poisoned here but I don’t understand. My children are a money sink and just add more stress for my wife. We had to have them to continue our family line. Why would you want kids when you don’t need them? You are not even a relationship person so you’re not getting married.”

Molitor’s marriage had been a political one. The couple had met on their wedding day and begun the relationship with a twelve-hour celebration where every dance and move had been prepared in advance for them. Watching it come apart had killed any desire Adrian ever had for long term companionship.

It had also told him that Molitor deserved better. “I want to give her the life I never had,” Adrian said. Shouting filled the air and he tensed.

It was just a bunch of drunken men blowing past, talking at maximum volume because they didn’t realize other people existed outside their little social bubble. Tarly rolled her eyes their way.

As soon as the group passed, Adrian cut in front of his friends and stopped them short.

“Hey, it’s fine. We get it,” Molitor said.

“No, you don’t. I do not exist as a person without this uniform. I wanted to be a schoolteacher because my teachers growing up tried, even with the terrible situation they had. I wouldn’t have made it.

“If I didn’t enlist in the Armada, I’d have done what my aunt and uncle did. I’d have gone into the Farrigan forges and worked twelve-hour days six days a week for five credits an hour. I would have gotten either graphite lung or arthritis by the time I was forty and died in my early sixties. The company paying me would have fired me before death to cancel my healthcare, and then claimed my death as a tax write-off.”

“Instead, I chose to go be a soldier and ruin people for a living. I wanted to be a schoolteacher, instead I’m a soldier,” he said.

Shit, he thought. He hadn’t meant to say that aloud. He was just justifying reasons to betray Tarly, because he was going to do it. He had to, and he would keep rising the career ladder..

She must have known, because she stared at the floor. Molitor looked him squarely in the eyes though.

“And there are a lot of people who wouldn’t be alive if you’d become a schoolteacher,” he said. “So I get it. She won’t have to become a soldier just to survive,” he said.

Adrian slapped his shoulder. “Thank you.” He looked at Tarly.

She looked at the floor.

We both know, because we’ve both played this game, he thought.

They had separate places to be that night, but they did take a private elevator together down towards the Anchorage’s core.

They reached Adrian’s level first. The wealth neighborhoods of the Anchorage were either on the surface of the moonlet, or at the very core. Adrian headed for the door.

“Hey.” Tarly seized his shoulder and spun him around. “I hope we don’t have to do this.”

She threw her arms around him and her breathing sighed in his ear. Tarly had a broad-shouldered and square frame that meant her hugs were wide, full body, and felt like she was utterly enveloping him in affection. The best he could do was sneak his arms around her shoulder blades and bury his face in her shoulder.

He had to close his eyes to absorb it all. His dear friend trusting him completely to open up, even as they were about to do this fight.

So he hugged her back as tight as he could, because that was the only way he knew to return it. His arms started shaking.

“In a world without egos, we’d be safe,” he said.

“No, we wouldn’t be anything without egos. Pride is what drives us,” Tarly said. She patted his back.

Their comps dinged simultaneously. They all stopped short together. Adrian heard all their breathing catch in their throats. The air seemed to be sucked out of the room.

“That’s got to be Venko,” Tarly said. Adrian nodded. They kept an arm around each other while opening their comps between them. Adrian paused on his mailbox screen. Indeed, the only reply was from Mathias Venko’s personal address. His hands started shaking, blurring the text. He squeezed Tarly’s shoulder tight.

“Are you ready?” Tarly said.

“No, My Lady,” he said and lowered his comp.

“Okay,” she said and lowered her own. Molitor hit the ‘shut door’ button on the elevator and took to pacing.

“Any regrets before we look?” Adrian said.

“We should have gone more liberty trips together. I was too worried about the impression of a noblewoman hanging out with a lowborn,” Tarly said. “I apologize. You?”

“I should have convinced you to transfer out to the frontier with Molitor and I, instead of us heading back to civilization with us,” Adrian said.

“I might have liked that,” she said.

Adrian raised his comp. “Ready?” Molitor leaned over them, occluding the overhead lights. Adrian swapped his comp to night mode.

“Yes,” Tarly said.

They opened their mail at the same time.

---

Thank you for reading friend. I hope you’ve enjoyed Ascent. so far. If you have, please show your appreciation with a like, restack, and a subscription to my substack. We have two more parts to go, and I deliver a new story every week.