Daughters of Demeter

=::= Day 122 - Jenna's PoV =::=

Rebecca looked around the corner of the shipping container, then carefully sighted down her carbine and squeezed off another burst. She kept her weapon raised and aimed as her eyes scanned left and right, looking for more targets.

Amanda fired a couple single shots from where she was crouching off to my left, then Finn's big hunting rifle barked out one more round from his position atop one of the empty metal containers.

After that things were quiet, just long enough that a few of the others started to lower their guard. Along with their weapons. That's when I caught the slight movement downrange, accompanied by a glint of light reflecting off something shiny.

I pulled the trigger and my carbine kicked with a three-shot burst. A half second later the motion I'd been tracking came to an abrupt halt.

We were all quiet for another couple seconds, until Finn broke the silence. The local lawman asked, "That the last of 'em?"

"I don't see anyone else out there," Amanda replied.

"All quiet on this side boss," one of the militia men reported.

Then Rebecca asked me, "Jenna do you see anything?"

I exchanged a quick burst of communication with my sister before replying, "No captain, I don't see any more movement out there. And Jenny tells me the remaining grav-sled is retreating north at speed. They're already more than ten kilometres away and show no sign of slowing or doubling-back."

"She'll continue monitoring them," I added. "We'll have plenty of warning if they or anyone else should head our way."

This was the fourth time raiders had attempted to attack Ganvis Station in the last thirty-five days, and the fourth time they'd been stopped in their tracks. Thanks to my sister we always knew when someone was approaching the settlement. Between the spy satellites and the Demeter's scanners there was simply no way for anyone to sneak up on us.

At first most of the craft that came to Ganvis carried refugees, families looking for somewhere safe and stable and far away from the war. With the fighting all but over the flow of refugees came to an end. In fact a few recent arrivals even packed up and headed back where they came from.

Now we were seeing renewed bandit activity, which made me think at least some of them were probably ex-military. It wasn't hard to imagine soldiers deserting Taggart's army in increasing numbers as they suffered one defeat after another, then go on fighting to line their own pockets instead of helping their former president line his. They weren't finding it any easier here though, and I sincerely hoped that they'd get the message and stop trying.

I also hoped that the civil war would finally come to an official close. We were three days away from my sister's sixty day estimate, and to her credit the fighting seemed almost over. Taggart was still at large though, and still had enough people loyal to him that every few days we'd hear news of another skirmish somewhere on the other side of the planet.

Fortunately the combat on this side of the world appeared to be over, for today at least. Finn and his militia set out to check the bodies and the two downed sleds, while Rebecca Amanda and myself watched and provided cover just in case. It was only about five more minutes before Finn gave the all clear, and the three of us were free to return to the ship.

As always my sister had the Demeter's ramp down and main airlock open by the time we returned. She and our girlfriend were both there to greet me, and Sarah was there to welcome her two girlfriends back on board as well. The ship's ramp raised up as the airlock doors slid shut behind us while Cammie and I shared a kiss and a tight hug alongside Jenny. Our other three shipmates were doing the same, the captain had our navigator in one arm and engineer in the other.

Then as all six of us finally made our way up to the main deck my sister announced, "An FTL came in from the Persephone while you were busy captain. It's a video file. If you like I can direct it to the big screen in the ship's lounge, after you've got yourselves some refreshments?"

"Thanks Jenny," the boss replied. "Sounds good."

Sarah asked, "We're not expecting them back again any time soon, are we? They were just here what, ten days ago?"

"Eleven," I replied.

Then my sister corrected me, "Ten days, thirteen hours, and twenty-four minutes since their last visit here ended."

Both Sarah and I rolled our eyes. The engineer stated, "Either way, we're good for another ten days at least right?"

"At least," Amanda confirmed. She and Rebecca started preparing drinks for everyone as the foxgirl added, "Their last visit they brought us about twenty days worth of supplies, but we haven't been going through them as quickly as normal. I think we all got used to rationing back when there wasn't any other choice."

"I'm sure glad that's not a problem anymore," Cammie said. Her ears were folded back and her tail twitched around at the thought, before her mood picked up again. "According to Mr. Jace some of the farms are expecting their first harvest soon, since y'all made that first delivery here way back when? And there'll be more farms looking at their first harvest in the next thirty or forty days, on account of them pumps me and Sarah fixed up."

By that point everyone was seated and all but Jenny and I had drinks in hand. Our girlfriend had a glass of soda on the table in front of her, as she sat with my sister and I in the large comfy chairs to one side of the lounge. And the other three had liquor in their glasses, they were cuddling together on the sofa with Rebecca in between her two girlfriends.

After a sip of her drink Amanda responded, "That's great news! I just hope they can finally end the war, then maybe get people working on the terraforming equipment. It's great that Ganvis is going to be ok, but I'm sure we'd all be happier knowing the rest of the world wasn't still at risk."

"Agreed," Rebecca nodded as she raised her glass. Then she added, "Jenny do you want to queue up that vid from Gwen now?"

My sister nodded, "Of course captain."

A moment later Lady Magniveen's image appeared on the large screen, in a recording that was probably made from her cabin on the Persephone.

I noted her outfit looked fancier than usual, and both her hair and make-up also looked like they'd received some special attention. It didn't look like she was going out on a date, but rather the impression I got was she'd dressed up for some important matter of state. As secretary to the crown she was after all representing the princess, and perhaps all of Vysalis-4.

"Greetings Princess Rebecca," Gwen began, "I trust this missive finds you well?"

Her professional demeanour faltered almost immediately as she added, "Please tell me you aren't still actively taking part in any combat operations? We've come too far and made too much progress to risk losing you in some skirmish fighting someone else's battles."

"Speaking of progress," she continued as her professional attitude returned once more, "I have wonderful news to share with you, regarding your suggestions for the Fuminja Cluster. I don't mind saying that this took some doing, both on my part here and on the part of our representatives in the Senate. Fortunately the Navy is still politically weak following Trogawa's court martial, since she made sure to frame the Epsilon research as a Navy project rather than something Imperium Intelligence was sponsoring."

After a brief pause Gwen continued, "I'm not sure if this has been broadcast sector-wide yet, or if it's only been seen within the Fuminja system. Either way I made sure to secure a recording so I could share it with you, and the people back home."

"Oh no," our captain groaned.

The image on the screen shifted from Gwen in her cabin, to her and a couple other people standing behind a podium that bore the official government seal of the Fuminja Cluster. Lady Magniveen was on the left, in the middle was an older balding man in some sort of business attire, and on the right stood a blonde middle-aged woman wearing an Imperium Navy dress uniform. She looked rather grumpy, while Gwen and the gentleman looked pleased.

A moment later names appeared on the screen, identifying all three present. The Navy woman was Captain Kate McClure of the ISS Kennington, and the man was Anthony Lloyd, Governor of the Fuminja Cluster. And the reason for our captain's dismay was as clear as the text floating beneath Gwen's face. It identified the diplomat as Secretary to Princess Rebecca of Vysalis-4.

"Citizens and denizens of the Fuminja Cluster," Governor Lloyd began, "I bring you great news today. I'm excited to announce that we have finally reached an agreement with the Imperium and its Navy, thanks in part to none other than Princess Rebecca Piper and her diplomatic attaché here, Gwen Magniveen."

Her majesty groaned again, "Did they really broadcast this? Now everyone's going to know about that stupid princess stuff..."

"Shush," Amanda chided our captain. "We're watching this."

The Fuminja governor talked a bit more but didn't actually say much yet. Mostly he was repeating old information everyone already knew, like about how the Imperium were funding immoral research at Fuminja Epsilon and the Navy vessel was lurking around the sector waiting to act on secret orders. He also recapped the Demeter's involvement, and how Captain Piper and her crew were wanted for 'questioning' regarding those actions.

Then the boss stifled another groan as the man finally got to the point, "While we can't deny the Demeter's actions stopped a greater tragedy which could well have impacted the entire sector, if not the whole galaxy, we cannot overlook the destruction Captain Piper and her crew caused. Their actions directly resulted in the loss of over twelve percent of our habitable space, which any resident of the Cluster can tell you is a massive loss."

"Having said that," he continued, "I'm happy to announce that Captain Piper, also known as Princess Rebecca of Vysalis-4, did not ignore our plight. Indeed, she proposed a solution which would replace the territory we lost. And thanks to the hard work of herself and those present here today, that solution has now come to fruition."

At that point an inset appeared on the screen, depicting our captain. Text appeared below her face, identifying her as Her Royal Highness, Princess Rebecca Piper, head of the monarchy of Vysalis-4. It was another recording obviously, and had clearly been made here on the Demeter. Probably some time in the last thirty or forty days.

The boss groaned once more and covered her eyes, while her image on the screen began to speak.

"I get that there's political resistance but honestly this shouldn't be so hard," she stated. "Fuminja's lost their fifth-largest habitable asteroid, the interior is contaminated and they don't have the resources to scrub it and rebuild any time soon."

She continued, "Meanwhile you've got that frigate floating around with a skeleton crew on board, just waiting for the order to decommission and scuttle it. We all know the Kennington's not going anywhere. If she was going to be repaired then the Navy would have either towed her home already, or they'd have sent one of their mobile repair ships. Stripping her of half her weapons and most of her crew makes it pretty clear what they've got in store for her."

"So it seems obvious to me?" the recorded Rebecca stated. "Go ahead and decommission the Kennington, but don't scuttle her. Hand her over to the Fuminja Cluster as-is. They get a hull that's still got two working engines, something they can move around the system wherever they need or want her. She's also got working life support, and whatever sensors and gear the Navy didn't already remove. Granted she's no Fuminja Epsilon, but being navigable as well as habitable should make her a worth-while addition to the Fuminja Cluster's territory."

At that point Governor Lloyd took over again while the inset vanished. He was still smiling as he started thanking our princess. He also thanked the government of Vysalis-4, for backing Rebecca's idea. And he thanked Gwen for her help handling the local negotiations. And finally he even thanked Captain McClure for her involvement.

Gwen said a few words, mostly how she was grateful to have had the opportunity to help out and she was happy that the matter had been resolved in a way that left all parties happy. Except the Navy captain, she didn't look happy.

Captain McClure had her own little speech as well, but she kept it short. The Navy woman basically just formally announced that the ISS Kennington was to be decommissioned in two standard days, then she would officially turn the hull over to the Fuminja government. After that, she and the last of her crew would finally be heading home, on another Navy vessel.

The whole thing ended with a few more words from Governor Lloyd. He was still all smiles as he announced some sort of symbolic diplomatic relationship between the Fuminja Cluster and Vysalis-4, and that Princess Rebecca and her crew were all now recognized as representatives of Vysalis and friends of the Cluster.

When the news recording came to an end Gwen's face appeared on the screen once more. She announced happily, "Your first diplomatic act as the head of our Royal family and a representative of Vysalis-4 was a complete success, your highness. I'm sure you and your crew will also be happy to know you're no longer wanted by the Fuminja Cluster. I have secured official pardons for all of you, and as the governor said in his announcement, you're all considered to have diplomatic immunity any time you visit there in the future."

As the vid finally came to an end I noticed her royal highness our captain had curled up into a cringe, and was hiding her face in Amanda's big floofy tail.

"I'm never going to live this down," she groaned. "If that goes sector-wide I'll never hear the end of it. Ella, Tamsin, hell even Linnz will tease me mercilessly for the rest of my life..."

My sister and I both had another concern, something a little more serious than our captain's embarrassment. However it was Amanda who spoke up first, and it turned out she was worried about the same thing we were.

"Even if it doesn't go sector-wide it's still public," the foxgirl frowned. "And aside from naming you as Vysalis royalty it also outs Gwen as your assistant and proves that she has a way to communicate with you. We still have a price on our heads, and now those people are going to know they might be able to find us through the Persephone."

Rebecca sat up straight and her expression became serious as she replied, "I know. So does Gwen, so does Tanya. We all discussed the possibility before moving ahead with this. Tanya's confident her ship and crew can handle whatever comes up, but if there's too much heat around Port Ecclestone she said they can focus on other routes. This will bring them some extra credibility with the Fuminja Cluster, and she said they've had good success at both Rolandan-2 and Regulon-4."

"So yes it's a concern," she added, "But both Tanya and Gwen agreed it was worth it to clear our names with the people at Fuminja."

It seemed like Amanda was satisfied with that answer. Both my sister and I were still concerned, but as long as the Persephone's crew were aware of the risks and were confident they were manageable there wasn't anything else to say on the matter.

Then Sarah flashed a wide grin at our captain and asked, "So our Princess Rebecca is now a successful interplanetary diplomat. I think that calls for a celebration!"

Our captain groaned again, but before she could respond my sister suddenly spoke up.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but a planet-wide broadcast has just begun and I think we'll all want to see it," she stated, as the large screen switched back on again.

This time it depicted a tired-looking middle-aged man. His light-brown hair was a bit of a mess, he looked like he hadn't shaved in a few days, and there were some dark circles under his blue-grey eyes. Despite that, those eyes still looked alert.

He was dressed like one of the local farmers, but instead of a farm he appeared to be in some sort of make-shift war-room. There were a dozen large screens on the wall behind him, men and women in uniform were scattered around at different workstations. They were all on their feet though, almost standing at attention as they looked to the man in the middle of the screen.

"Howdy folks," he stated in a friendly voice. "I figure most of y'all know me, but for those that don't I'm Ed Arun. And I'm beyond happy to be able to announce that as of now, the war is over."

There were a few cheers and some applause from people around Mr. Arun, but he just smiled and gestured for people to settled down. Then he continued, "Fifteen minutes ago I was informed that the last of the forces loyal to former-president Taggart surrendered unconditionally."

"Unfortunately it sounds like we won't be able to bring Mr. Taggart to justice," he added with a sigh. "From what I understand, his own men turned on him before they lay down their arms and surrendered."

His voice took on a sad serious tone as he said, "Deveron-8 has suffered nearly sixty days of fighting, ontop of all these years of drought. I'll wager there's not a person out there right now who hasn't lost someone, or suffered some kind of hardship. We've faced hunger, we've faced thirst. We've faced raiders and bandits. And we've faced our own brothers and sisters on the battlefield. And friends, I think we've all seen enough bloodshed and tragedy."

Arun continued with his speech, "Now is the time for peace, time to rebuild. We need to lift our world and everyone on it up out of the darkness, and we need to ensure this sort of thing never happens again. To that end, I'll be helping to form a provisional government with a one year mandate. Our goal is to get Deveron-8 back on its feet. We'll be looking to help anyone who needs it, with whatever aid we can raise locally and from the rest of the sector."

"After that the people of Deveron-8 will have our first open elections," he added, "And y'all can decide for yourself who you want running the show. That's all I got to say for now folks. Good job, but it ain't over yet. Now we rebuild."

There was a second or two of silence after that, then Mr. Arun nodded to someone off-camera and the transmission came to an end. Those of us in the Demeter's lounge remained quiet for another few seconds, before Amanda broke the silence.

"Thank goodness for that," the foxgirl commented. "I imagine there's going to be some celebrations in and around Ganvis tonight as the news spreads."

My catgirl girlfriend added quietly, "And tomorrow we'll all roll up our sleeves and get to work fixing things up again."