Goddess of the Moon (Young Ancients: Tiera) (45 page)

She
ran down the specifications, which got Kolb to smile a bit and shake his head.

"Well,
so much for not militarizing space then. Can you three handle this? It isn't a
game. Tiera is charging you with protecting the colony, and if we lose, that
won't be easy to do."

Karina
crossed her arms and pouted a bit, "I won't be bought off with little
ships, not even a fleet of them."

It
was her brother that spoke then, sounding old suddenly. Dry and practical. Also
like he wasn't going to argue with her.

"Kari,
you're staying here. You know why that has to be. Right now you're the only one
in the family that's safe. By all rights I shouldn't be going, but..."
Looking at the kids he didn't explain.

Taman
changed the topic.

"When
will you be back? Can I go on the next trip?"

Wisely,
she didn't ask Tiera, but the Prince, who used the distraction like a pro.
Which he was, so that made sense, didn't it?

He
regarded Taman as if she were a young Princess herself, and gave a seated half
bow.

"We
can't know exactly, but my best guess would be a month or two. We can contact
you, but for right now, we need to be very careful about what we say that way.
It's why most here haven't been contacting home each day. If something starts
to go too wrong, I'll make an effort to get in touch with Karina, or you, so
that you can put a fleet up to protect this place." There was a serious
tone to it, as if she, her tiny six year old self, might just be the one he
actually connected with for that.

"Oh.
Be careful. Come on Terry, Karina... We need to let them leave now." There
was a bit too much care done in it, and the others seemed to think it was a
trick. Taman's team, that was. The Princess and her brother.

The
people going with her all acted like it was perfectly normal.

Except
Kolb.

"We
need to move fast and watch for stowaways. I suggest we go now, before they get
a chance to make a good plan. Do you all have what you need?"

Tiera
thought, and nearly winced, because without Regina, she really didn't.

Still,
it was time to go.

"Once
we get out off the air lock, follow me at half speed, the ship isn't far."

Then,
without telling anyone else what was happening, they went.

No
one had even bothered to get a room yet, though they had hundreds of them. They
all just followed along with her, as she went to the bridge, running a bit, so
that all the kids and princesses wouldn't have too easy a time following them.
Then, as Ali and Trice both took seats along side of her, making them all seem
important, she used the hand control to move straight upward. Quickly.

After
a minute, Kolb, who had been looking around the vastly oversized room with
windows all around, except at their backs, since there was ship there,
obviously, spoke, a bit bemused.

"How
long will it take us to get there?" He smiled, but only in that slightly
sinister fashion he had when he figured someone was going to get a beating.

She
didn't know, but looked at the Earth, which was low on the far horizon, the way
they were pointed. Then, her hand touching the light pink sigil on her armrest,
which was under the floating hand control, she focused, and the Earth was
suddenly closer, if a bit lower. She re-aimed almost instantly, tilting the
ship, and did it again, twice.

"We're
home." Her voice was a bit sing song on the words, but Kolb just took a
deep breath, and hardly seemed surprised, or pleased, at all.

"So
we are. We should get into orbit. You can do that?"

"I
have before, so let's see? We should call Alice, so that we don't freak her
people out, thinking the aliens have come."

Ali
clapped a bit, like a child, but a happy one, and Alphonse, pulled his new
communications device, then set up the line for them and hit the sigil. Like
usual, it didn't take long for it to pick up.

"Fleet
Admiral Orange. Go."

"This
is Alphonse Cordes, I was just checking in to make certain you know that we're
visiting?"

"Oh?
From the Moon? That's a bit of a trip. Are your arms tired?" There was a
hint of tired playfulness to the words, but not outright doubt.

The
Prince gave the device in his hands a skeptical look, like Alice Orange just
might be drunk. Trice waved her hand at him, demanding the device, which he
gave over easily enough.

"Orange?
This is Trice Baker. We're really here. Tiera made some ships. They're a bit
faster than the old kind, I think."

That
got Kolb to walk up to the dark and curly haired girl and lean over her
shoulder, as if they were old friends.

"Alice,
it's a jump ship. We just traveled a lunar distance in... Call it two minutes?
That was mainly due to the corrections needed, I think. Is that right,
Tiera?"

"Yes.
I'll have us in a stable orbit in.... about now." Then she took her hands
from the controls and stood up, stretching. Everyone stared at her as if she
were insane, except Kolb, who simply looked at the Earth below them for a bit.
"There we go. You should come and visit. I think this thing even has an
auto-pilot..."

They
had work to do, but were early by several days. It would give her a little
chance to show off after all. Orange would appreciate her work, even if no one
else ever thought it was special. Though the others seemed pretty impressed,
she realized. Ali was smirking at her, and shaking her head, as if she hadn't
realized Tiera could do that kind of thing. Or maybe she thought she could have
done it too and was just sad that someone else had beaten her to it? It was
possible after all, since she was a builder too, and not exactly bad at it.

Trice
was giving her a wicked look that spoke of something harsh, but tinged with
sadness, and the Prince... Simply called the Palace. Or more particularly, his
little sister Varley.

"Veronica
Cordes here." She sounded normal, as far as Tiera could tell. Not harried
or panicked, which was a good sign. Hopefully.

"Hey
sis. We got in a few days early, and Tiera wanted to see if you'd like to go
shopping with her and the girls? Those being Ali and Trice? I know that
Patricia has been talking about nothing but seeing her little friend Alison. If
you ask me,
someone
has caught the motherhood fever."

From
her seat, Trice giggled. It sounded forced and fake, but she did it at the
right time, which had to be better than waiting too long.

"Well,
I do like them better when I can give them back at the end of the day, but I
would love to visit with her. Is she walking yet?"

"She
is! The other day she even said her first word. It was 'meh'. At least Raul is
counting it, since she was turning down her strained peas at the time. She's
been walking for several months already. Two, now, I think."

Tiera
counted on her fingers and realized that couldn't be true. The girl was more
advanced than that, almost certainly, and over a year old. So this was some kind
of code? She didn't get the meaning if so, but without the right key, she
wouldn't. That was the point, after all.

Alphonse
seemed to get it though.

"Oh?
Excellent. You should teach her my name, since I'm planning to be her favorite
uncle. That will be hard, with the other ones being space pilots and military
fliers, but I'm committed to trying. Hey, I know, why don't we stop by and show
you Tiera's new craft? It's not too bad, for a first effort. She's acting all
proud and gloating however, since the ceilings aren't too short. Not even two
feet over head. We could meet you at Timon's house? Or really, next to it? This
thing is a bit of a beast, size wise. On the North?"

There
was a silence from the device, then a soft laugh.

"All
right, as long as it's a beast, I guess I can't say no, can I? Alison and I
will be there, say, this time tomorrow?"

"Sounds
good, sis. See you then! Be ready to do some hard shopping."

"I
will. It's so nice to hear from you all. I can't wait." She sounded
sincere, but off. Only a little though. Like she was fighting tears.

Then
the device was turned off firmly and the Prince looked at Trice and shook his
giant head.

"So
you got that? She's ready to leave in two hours, and will meet us outside the
North wall of the Capital? We'll need to go in a much smaller vehicle, to throw
off any watchers."

Tiera
pretended to be relaxed about it, and pulled out a single moon shaped disk and
waved it at Sara, who'd just been standing there quietly.

"It
looks like you're up then, Miss Debri. I brought this one for you. In case this
happened. I'll take it down to the planet this time and teach you to fly it.
Kolb, can you hold the ship here? Ali?"

She
was the only person that had ever flown the new craft, so she sort of needed to
go, if they had only two hours to get it all done. But she wanted to make sure
someone stayed with the thing, to prevent theft. Not that a lot of people could
even give that a good try, but the ones that might were the last people that
she wanted to have a crack at it. A jump ship, as Kolb had put it, was a big
deal. They could be to the new colony and have it half destroyed in minutes, if
they wanted, in a ship like hers.

"We
can do that." This came from Ali, who looked scared and determined at the
same time, as if they might just have to fight off an invasion, by themselves.

The
hangar was at the back, which meant walking for a while, the Earth normal
gravity leaving her feeling good by the time they got to it, about fifteen
minutes later. The ship was big, and they weren't exactly running or anything.
The space itself was large enough and she helped Sara put the thing up,
starting from the clear bubble and ending up with a light tan thing that looked
like a Timon craft. One not made huge or anything either. It was a bit boring,
but that was the point. When they set down, no one should think anything in
particular of it.

Unless
they were being watched from space, which they almost certainly would be. Even
crippled, it wouldn't do to forget that the Others had the ability to do things
like that, and probably rebuild when things were taken out of action.

Sara
was actually a capable enough pilot, having had some experience with Fast
Craft, though she claimed she hadn't for some reason. It showed in how well she
made things work though, coming in from orbit on her own, after Tiera got them
out through the back, with Ali making the wall vanish and reappear as soon as
they were out.

Then,
after that, it was all the other woman, who took them down over the ocean in
the east and then flew at no more than a few thousand miles an hour to their
destination, getting slower the closer they got. She kept looking at her watch
the whole time.

"We
have ten minutes until we're supposed to be there. Should I go in now, or hold
here?"

Tiera
looked out and realized that the land to her right, out the front window, was
part of her old County. Not too far from where it bordered the Wildlands
really. That was right by the Capital, if fifty miles away could be counted as
close. She did, given their conveyance.

Alphonse
held out his giant hand, his tan skin smoother than it used to be, with less
freckles. He looked better for it, she thought. Less spotty.

His
voice was a bit dark though. Like he worried about a real attack coming at any
moment.

"Wait
five, then take her in slowly. I want to land about fifteen seconds early, if
possible."

That
sounded like pretty tight timing to her, but Sara managed it, which was
impressive. Sure, the girl was a hard worker, which Tiera knew from the last
several days manufacturing water, but this spoke of something special.
Real
skill and training.

They
opened the side door, and from out of nowhere a hooded woman in all tan, with a
cloak on, carrying a small child who was dressed in tiny magical trousers and a
tunic, with little shoes on her feet, jumped on board. Alphonse slammed the
door with a mighty tug, and then made it part of the craft.

"Go!
Back to the ship! Best speed!"

They
moved straight up and didn't stop, just starting to glide forward when they got
high enough. It was pretty quick, but no matter what the Prince had said, it
wasn't really their best speed. Sara hadn't slammed the controls to the front
or anything.

Trice
stood and hugged the new girl, who looked different than Varley, and when she
reached out with her mind, Tiera understood why. While the baby was clearly an
Ancient by pattern, the woman wasn't the Princess in disguise, but a different
person all together. She had plain brown hair, and looked to be about
twenty-five or so, and was about six feet tall, more or less.

Trice
got her a seat.

"Eloise!
Thank goodness you made it. We're going up now, to Tiera's ship, the..."
She stopped, and looked toward the front, since she'd taken the seat next to
Sara, in case there was any trouble docking. "Say, what's the name of your
ship anyway?"

She
hadn't really thought about it at all. Something occurred to her though, so she
said it, sounding just a little subdued.

"Goddess
of the Moon." That got everyone to look at her, since it was a bit
pretentious. Or a
lot
, really. Still, it was too late now, it had
already been named. It was bad luck to take things like that back.

Trice
nodded. "I like it. It fits.
Goddess of the Moon
."

Tiera
helped set up and coordinate the ship's approach, and didn't mention that the
baby had come without her mother. It was pretty clear that everyone knew that
already. Eloise didn't speak, and seemed very frightened for some reason. She
was clearly a noble though, and was expected, so it wasn't that she needed to
worry about being harmed or abused.

The
next half hour they went just as slow and carefully as Space Fleet did, since a
real docking was a lot different when the whole thing was up to you. It was all
about the angles, as it turned out. By going slow enough, they had a chance to
back off when Sara messed up, and try again. Three times.

Tiera
smiled when the slightly moist girl next to her finally got the craft in, and
the air was being returned to the space around the ship they were in.

"I'd
make fun of you for taking so many tries, except that I'm almost certain I
would have needed twice as many. The first thing we need to do is get Eloise
and Alison shields. I only have one extra on me." She handed it back, and
Trice pulled a second one herself.

Alphonse
waved at them.

"These
are the new shields, that will let you breathe in space. Otherwise, if
something goes wrong, that won't happen and you'll die. Make sure my niece
keeps hers on all the time, even in the bath. Understood? You need to do the
same from now on." He looked at the woman and seemed a bit nervous
suddenly. "Do you have word from anyone?"

She
did it seemed, but it was also clear she wasn't going to say what that was, in
front of all of them. The Prince nodded and let that idea drop then, seeming a
bit out of sorts.

It
wasn't until Eloise was introduced to Kolb that anyone asked the question that
had been eating at her.