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Chapter Text

Prelude – November Sky

November 15, 2022. 2200 PST (Pacific Standard Time).

Trixie was in her new bedroom completing her Earth Science homework. She, her mom, and Lucifer had just moved into Lucifer’s house in the Pacific Palisades, so she still considered her bedroom ‘new.’ The house was an incredible oceanfront mansion and she was still getting used to its size. Her bedroom came with a luxurious walk-in closet with an even more ridiculous en suite.

She was sitting at her desk finishing up the last few questions from the textbook chapters her teacher had assigned. Her freshmen year of high school was well underway and she was feeling good. She had great friends, academically she was doing well, and field hockey had turned into something she loved—and was really good at.

“Babe?” a voice came from her doorway. She looked over and saw her mom—Chloe, Goddess of all Creation—standing there, leaning against the doorframe. “It’s time.”

Trixie was surprised. She looked at the clock and did the math in her head. She’d almost forgotten about the three hour time change. But her mom was right, so she marked her place and closed her textbook, leaving her notebook open on the desk.

“Awesome!” she said. She stood and stretched out her muscles, shaking her limbs loose after sitting in the same place for at least an hour.

Her body was changing rapidly. Sometimes she felt too big for own skin, powerful and tall, and then other times she felt gangly and awkward, not trusting her own reactions or momentum. Her mom had told her it was all part of her current growth spurt, combined with that lovely thing called puberty.

“What’s the weather like there? Will I need anything?”

“Clear, warm, humid,” Chloe answered. Her mom was dressed casually in jeans and a tank top. Trixie wore short cotton shorts and a tank top as well. “Maybe a light jacket?”

“Hmm, ok,” Trixie said, and grabbed a hoodie from the foot of her bed.

She turned back to her mom and followed her down through the house to the living area, toeing on her sandals at the bottom of the stairs. Lucifer was waiting for them.

“Spawn,” he greeted, with a large smile.

“Satan.”

He chuckled and turned to her mom. “Are we ready?”

She and her mom nodded and then Trixie was in the presence of the Creators, God and Goddess of the Universe. Their eyes glowed and their beautiful midnight blue-to-white wings filled the foyer. Lucifer grabbed one of Trixie’s hands and her mom grabbed the other.

Trixie took a deep breath.

Her new home in the Pacific Palisades faded away, replaced with a dark night lit in the distance by very bright lights. The scent of the sea and the sound of the breeze filtered through her senses, and the humidity of the warm night caressed her skin. She definitely wouldn’t need the hoodie.

Trixie stood on a low rise with the Atlantic ocean to her right and the launch platform of the Artemis rocket in the distance in front of her. Launch was scheduled for approximately forty minutes from now, at 0147 Eastern Standard Time on November 16, 2022.

Trixie could hear the crowds, not too distant from their private vantage point. There was an air of celebration in the cheers and chants that reached her ears, an exultation of the potential for something greater.

She looked up at the clear night sky. Other than the Artemis platform, there was little light pollution out here. The stars twinkled merrily down at her, teasing her in their multitudes and igniting an aching yearning for them she could hardly comprehend.

The Artemis I mission was the first great next step in humanity’s exploration of space. It was a triumph of engineering, of perseverance, and of hope…

It was the last feeling—one of hope—that Trixie could sense wafting on the air as she listened to the crowds that had gathered for the launch.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” Trixie said. Lucifer and her mom had returned, all traces of God and Goddess faded into the ether.

“Thanks for suggesting it, babe! This is really cool. And it’s a special occasion for you, so it’s no problem at all.”

“What’d’ya’mean?”

Her mom pointed to the sky. Trixie and Lucifer looked upward. She could imagine the starlight was reflected in their eyes. How odd must it be for Lucifer to look upon his own creations from this angle.

“Getting up there,” Chloe said. “Astronaut. President of Mars.”

Lucifer looked down and so did Trixie, and they made eye contact. He nodded.

“The first step,” he agreed, turning and staring down at the Artemis launch platform.

Trixie considered their words in silence. She of course made no secret of her hopes and dreams over the years, and indeed she had a very specific plan to make them a reality. But there was something different about the tangible reality of the moment, something that vibrated deep in her very soul.

She would get to the stars. She would expand the horizons of humanity. She would realize her potential and be there at the forefront of it all. And today, this Artemis I mission was the first true step on the great journey laid out before her.

Trixie walked forward a few steps, to the highest point on their hill, and sat cross-legged on the short sea grass. Lucifer and her mom came up beside her and sat too. Her mom rested her arm around Trixie’s lower back, and Lucifer laid an arm over her shoulders.

“I love you guys so much,” Trixie breathed, unable to keep the emotion at bay, letting a few happy tears slide down her cheeks. They might be God and Goddess, but they were always there for her, and their support meant so much.

They didn’t need to bring her here, but they did. They tapped into Their Divine power and transported her across the country in an instant so that she could witness this monumental event. They had never questioned her lofty and—some would say—absurd dream of getting to the stars and being the President of Mars. They had instead embraced it and supported her.

“We love you too, Beatrice,” Lucifer said, briefly tightening his arm around her shoulders.

Her mom dropped a kiss in her hair and sighed against the top of her head.

“With all of my heart, Trix.”

They sat like that for some time, some conversation passing, alternating between reverent silence and inconsequential chatter. Eventually, Trixie laid her hoodie over her legs, enjoying the dark of the night but wanting a ward against the chill of the void.

Time passed. The noise from the crowd ebbed and flowed in volume. At some point, a dense mist started flowing from beneath the Artemis rocket.

Trixie perked up.

“What time is it?”

“One forty four,” Lucifer told her. He hadn’t checked his watch or his phone.

“Three minutes!” her mom said.

The gathered onlookers let loose a great cheer and then fell silent. It was almost uncanny, how quickly it had happened. Trixie imagined they were waiting with bated breath too.

“One forty six,” Lucifer said.

“One minute left!” Trixie was practically vibrating with excitement.

“So what will happen?” her mom asked, voice low.

“At ten seconds they’ll flood the platform with liquid hydrogen,” Trixie explained. “Then at three seconds they’ll ignite the boosters. You’ll know from the sound and the light.”

Trixie felt her mom take a deep breath against her side. Goddess had never felt more real than in that moment.

“Can you narrate it for us, babe?”

“Sure, mom.”

“Thanks, Beatrice,” Lucifer told her.

They stared down at the platform. There was a flash of new light and a low rumble reached her ears.

“And here we go! Hydrogen burn-off igniters initiated.”

They watched the area beneath the rocket flow in liquid hydrogen. There was what looked like a sparkler beneath the rocket. Then, a deep red flare.

“Four-stage engine start!” Trixie called out.

Trixie counted down in her head. Three… two… one…

A much brighter flare, and a peal of rolling thunder that almost overwhelmed them. The ground vibrated beneath her.

“Booster ignition!” she yelled, above the noise of Artemis.

Fire flared out from the platform, far and wide. It lit up the area around the platform like it was day. Artemis initially hesitated against gravity and then started to pick up momentum.

“Liftoff of Artemis One! We rise together, back to the Moon and beyond!”

The exhaust billowed out, lit from the top of the plume by the rockets, spreading out farther and faster than Trixie had ever imagined. The immense power of the rocket in front of her was stunning, and it gave her faith that she would eventually go farther than the Moon, perhaps even to the very edge of the Solar System or far beyond.

She craned her neck as the starship continued to rise off the surface of the Earth, defying every natural force that demanded it remain grounded. It left a pillar of light in its wake.

“It’s beautiful,” her mom said.

“Extraordinary,” Lucifer spoke.

Trixie tried to throw her arms around both Lucifer and her mom, drawing them closer. She couldn’t quite do it, but they came anyway. They watched Artemis ascend higher and higher, the impressive sound growing quieter. Eventually they ended up on their backs, looking up at the receding orange flare of the rocket.

“I want to be on that some day.”

“I have faith,” Lucifer told her.

“Me too, Trix.”

They watched for another minute or two. Eventually, a final flare of light reached their eyes. Then, the rocket disappeared from Trixie’s vision.

“That’ll be the boosters,” Trixie said. “It’s in space now.”

As the after-image of the Artemis rocket faded from her vision, she laid in the grass with her mom and Lucifer, watching as the stars once again resolved in the night sky. Somewhere up there was a human spacecraft, speeding toward the Moon.

Trixie knew it was her future.

Chapter Text

A History of the Future

2051: Trixie and Olivia are 43 years old.

The first ELS (exceeds light speed) drones become operational. They are small, the size of a car. Unmanned tests begin, marking the first time in human history any manmade object exceeds the speed of light. Initially, most drones do not return from their interstellar test flights.

Trixie is promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral, which is a 2 star Admiral rank. She is nominally in charge of supply and shipping lanes to the Jovian planets as part of the High Command’s Expeditionary Force.

Rising sea levels start to permanently inundate coastlines around the world. Some cities, like Miami, adapt and change their neighborhoods closest to the sea to something like Venice. Some cities, like Jakarta, cannot adapt and are abandoned. Great migrations of various peoples start occurring.

2054: Trixie and Olivia are 46 years old.

Drones using ELS engines are reliable now, and every single one returns from the interstellar void, filled with new data and observations. Construction begins on the first manned starships that will use ELS engines.

Olivia is promoted to the rank of Captain. She remains the foremost test pilot in the High Command of Humanity and is on the short list to pilot the first crewed faster-than-light test flights.

The population of Mars is now three hundred million. There are dozens of major cities in the equatorial region. Olympus Mons becomes a major tourist hot spot within the Solar System. Every other planet except Mercury has settlements on the surface, like Earth and Mars, or large populations on gigantic space stations in orbit. Mercury will be settled soon due to advances in technology, shielding future inhabitants from the intense power of the Sun.

Desertification on Earth is accelerating, exacerbating rising sea levels and increasing the rate and urgency of human migration. More and more humans are choosing to journey to the stars to settle somewhere else in the Solar System.

2056: Trixie and Olivia are 48 years old.

Crewed ELS spaceflight is on hold. Scientists discover a potentially insurmountable problem—the more massive an object is, the less stable it is at velocities exceeding the speed of light. And as velocity continues to increase, stability continues to decrease.

Trixie is called in to help solve the problem due to her background and advanced degree in astronomy and physics. She works with a large team of the best human minds. It turns out that the conversion of dark matter into dark energy has been stabilized by the gravity of the Solar System, from the Sun and all of the other massive objects. There is little gravity in the interstellar void and thus the conversion eventually destabilizes, particularly for crewed ships much larger than drones. Humans already create artificial gravity on starships, so it is a relatively simple matter of modifying that technology to augment the ELS engines.

Trixie is promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral, which is a 3 star Admiral rank, for her work with the research team that solves this problem.

2059: Trixie and Olivia are 51 years old.

Earth’s population peaks at just over 9 billion. The population of Mars crosses 1 billion.

Construction completes for the first crewed ELS starships. High Command runs them through their paces, first in simulators, and then within the Solar System using SLS (sub-light speed) and NLS (near-light speed) engines. Olivia is selected as the ELS test pilot for the largest and most advanced, a research vessel called Event Horizon. True crewed test flights using the ELS engines will begin soon.

Trixie is one of several 3 star Vice Admirals in the Expeditionary Force, now overseeing deep space operations, which includes unmanned and manned ESL test flights and exploration; and the safety and stability of the space station Galileo, orbiting Uranus, and the space station Kepler, orbiting Neptune.

The High Command’s Fleet consists of three main contingents—Expeditionary Force (EF), Defense and Combat Force (DCF), and Administrative and Logistics Force (ALF). Each contingent has a 4 star Admiral leading it.

Linda dies and ascends to Heaven at the age of 80. Charlie is 40 years old and Rory is 34 years old. Chloe, Lucifer, and Amenadiel ‘die’ and recede from life amongst humanity. Maze and Eve are still the Queens of Hell, and Michael continues to work with them. Michael and Ella wed in 2030 and are still together. Ella is 71 years old and lives on Mars.

This is where our story picks up.

Prologue – First Woman

March 1, 2060. 0700 SST (Solar Standard Time).

“You wanted to see me, Admiral?”

At the familiar voice, Trixie looked up from the hologlass on her desk. She was in her office, just outside the flag bridge of the Discovery, her Carrier-class starship. Trixie was the Commanding Officer (CO) of the Deep Space arm of the Expeditionary Force, and Discovery was its flagship, the largest and most advanced vessel out here beyond the orbit of Neptune.

“Captain Edwards,” Trixie said, straightening in her chair and swiping the hologlass dark. “Please come in and close the door.”

Her wife Captain Olivia Edwards stood in the doorway at attention, staring at the wall behind Trixie. Olivia wore the standard vacuum suit of the High Command forces with her rank and name denoted on it. She carried her helmet in one hand.

At Trixie’s invitation, Olivia fell out of the rigid pose and made eye contact with her, stepping into the office and waving over the sensor by the door. It slid closed behind her.

Trixie stood and walked around her desk, closing the space between them in a few seconds. She stepped up to Olivia and drew her into a hug, which her wife returned. As she backed away, she stole a quick kiss too.

Livvy was grinning at her, lovely features split by the wide smile and sparkling eyes. She had kept her hair shaved close to her head for many decades now, and although Trixie did sometimes miss it, Olivia was as beautiful and strong as ever.

“Have a seat,” Trixie said, waving to one of the chairs in front of her desk. She walked back around and sat in her own chair. Trixie watched Olivia’s eyes go to the wide starfield out of the expansive window behind her. After a moment, she looked back.

“This is a big day, Captain,” Trixie said, inflecting some dryness into her voice with the last word.

She was technically her wife’s superior, and normally that would be a big conflict of interest, but Trixie and Olivia had originally been part of such a small group of qualified Naval Officers at the time space travel really became viable. Their superiors overlooked their marriage with stern warnings to not be inappropriate, and they had made it work for over twenty five years.

So far they had proven that duty was not the death of love, and that love was not the death of duty. Trixie hoped that always remained true.

“Yes, ma’am. It is.”

They shared a small smile.

“Event Horizon passed all final inspections and tests yesterday.”

“It did,” Livvy nodded. “She’s a good ship.”

“She has a good Captain.”

“Thanks, love,” Livvy replied.

Trixie leaned forward, resting her elbows on her desk. “I need you to be honest with me, Livvy.”

“Trix?”

“Is she ready?”

Trixie watched as Olivia opened her mouth to give an immediate reply, but then she closed it and sat back. Her eyes roamed around Trixie’s office for a moment.

Trixie looked around too. Her office had a bookshelf with physical books from throughout the years, and a small conference table in one corner they were not currently using. There was a door to her en suite and near that was a side table with pictures and mementos, chronicling her life, her family, and her storied career. Olivia was featured prominently on that table.

“I have no reason to suspect she is not,” Livvy eventually replied. “We’ve double- and triple-checked everything. Event Horizon has undergone the most extensive stress testing of any ELS vehicle.”

It was the truth, and Trixie knew it to be so. Yet she couldn’t help feeling uneasy about what Livvy would be doing later that day. The ‘first in human history’ was never without considerable risk.

“I know we’ve been over this a dozen times, but I want you to abide by all of the abort protocols, to the letter of the law.”

Olivia stared at her. Her jaw clenched. Then she inclined her head.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “I just want you to be safe, babe.”

“We can’t eliminate all risk from this, Trixie. You know the factors involved here, potentially better than anyone on this ship. There will be forces at play we can predict and attempt to control, but we won’t know until we do it.”

“And it has to be you?”

Now Olivia scoffed. “You know I am the most qualified Naval Aviator and Naval Astronaut for this—by a whole fucking light year!”

“Easy, Captain,” Trixie held up her hands.

“Sorry, ma’am,” Livvy muttered. She rubbed her forehead, looking down for a couple seconds, and then dropped her hand to look at Trixie again. There was something weary in her eyes, and maybe wary too.

“We’ve had this same argument a dozen times for a dozen different reasons. What I do is dangerous, but it’s also necessary. We wouldn’t be here without pilots like me… or leaders like you.”

Trixie stood and turned her back on her wife, standing in front of the window with her legs shoulder-width apart and her hands clasped behind her back. The stars shined back at her. Livvy came to stand next to her after a long silence.

“What is it, Trix?”

Trixie looked at her wife’s reflection in the window, the vista of deep space a comforting presence.

“We’ve had a run of good luck, Livvy,” she answered. “Most of your test runs have gone quite well over the years, and I have no reason to doubt your expertise or your preparation for this. But if we hadn’t caught the destabilization of larger craft when we did, you would have found that out today the hard way.”

“But we did,” Olivia said, resting a hand on her shoulder. “And you were part of the team that solved it. Just like you trust me as a Naval Aviator, I trust you as a leader and a scientist. You wouldn’t have signed off on this operation if you didn’t believe it could be successful, and that has nothing to do with the fact that your wife is involved. You care about the safety and livelihood of every single crew member. It’s why everyone wants to serve under your command.”

Trixie took a deep breath and then turned to look directly at Livvy rather than at the reflection. Her wife did the same. Olivia’s eyes tightened.

“You can’t take this away from me,” she said.

Trixie’s eyebrow rose. “Actually, I could… but I won’t.”

Olivia let out a long sigh. “Thank you.”

“But if I call for an abort—you will abort, Captain.”

Olivia snapped to attention. “Yes, ma’am!” she saluted.

“At ease,” Trixie said. She stepped forward, bringing her arms around her wife again. She felt safe and loved in Livvy’s strong arms as they came around her back. “Be safe out there.”

“Every precaution,” Livvy agreed. “I love you, Trix.”

“Love you too.”

---

March 1, 2060. 1300 SST.

Trixie stood in the center of the flag bridge, aware of all the activity around her and directing crew members where necessary, but her eyes were glued to the large viewfinder that doubled as a window at the front of the circular bridge.

Discovery’s optical cameras were trained on Event Horizon, which appeared as a small starship floating out in the void of space. Ten thousand kilometers separated the two ships, so they were close enough to experience no lag in transmission or communication.

They were well beyond the orbit of Neptune at the moment, though still within the heliosphere. The intense gravitational field of the Sun was less powerful out here. ELS engines could not be activated too close to massive bodies like the Sun, since the gravitational forces at work could pull the ship apart as it accelerated beyond the escape velocity of light.

Trixie was not worried about gravity right now. They were close enough to the outer edge of the Sun’s influence in this region of space that it shouldn’t be a factor for Event Horizon. However, she was worried about her wife, who currently sat at the controls of Event Horizon. There were only three other souls on that ship, the bare minimum crew for this first test flight.

If all went according to plan, Captain Olivia Edwards would become the first human to pilot a starship exceeding the speed of light. All ELS flights thus far were by unmanned craft. Her wife and the other three Naval Flight Officers on Event Horizon would become the first four humans to travel faster than light.

“Admiral Espinoza?”

Trixie turned away from the viewfinder. Though she was the CO on Discovery and also of the entire Expeditionary Force in the region, she wasn’t actually in charge of the ship itself.

“Captain Lopez?”

“Ma’am, I think we’re ready for you.” Captain Kara Lopez nodded at the console in front of Trixie, suggesting with her eyes that Trixie get on with it.

Trixie stepped forward and tapped a glowing icon on the large glass panel. It opened communication between Discovery and Event Horizon.

“Event Horizon, this is Discovery.”

“Aye, copy that, Discovery. We read you loud and clear, ma’am,” came Olivia’s voice, filtering through to the flag bridge from hidden speakers.

“Everything looking good over there, Captain?”

“Yes, ma’am! We’re all clear here.”

“Fire ‘em up,” Trixie commanded, and she looked up to watch the void around Event Horizon start to warp as the ELS engines warmed up. Optical cameras couldn’t correctly process what converting dark matter into dark energy looked like.

She glanced at the large boards to the right and left of the viewfinder. They displayed diagrams and metrics covering the health and wellness of Event Horizon, including all of its systems, its four crew members, and the ELS engines. Biometrics showed elevated heartrates, but Trixie knew that was normal in a situation like this.

“I’m going to broadcast on this channel so you can hear it too, Event Horizon.”

“Go ahead, ma’am.”

Trixie tapped the glass on the console again, switching from direct comms to full channel frequency.

“Attention Discovery! This is your Admiral speaking.”

All activity on the flag bridge ceased as everyone looked at her. She imagined the scene was repeated across the whole of Discovery as people listened to her voice on all channels.

“In just a few minutes we will witness another milestone in our shared journey to the stars. The High Command of Humanity was created for the purpose of joining our interests across nations and cultures to achieve what was previously thought impossible. Traveling faster than the speed of light was the stuff of dreams only thirty years ago, and look where we are now.”

She paused, letting her words sink in.

“Today, under the command of Captain Olivia Edwards, Event Horizon will become the first crewed starship to exceed the speed of light. Today is the first day of our interstellar future. We have expanded across the entire solar system, and humanity’s next step was always going to be across the stars.”

Trixie looked at the boards again. All systems were within acceptable thresholds. Event Horizon was still a go.

“Take a moment to consider your place in this moment. You all play a vital role in the success and wellbeing of the Discovery, and thus you also play a vital role in ensuring we can make this next great leap forward. I leave you with Event Horizon’s comms.”

Trixie swiped across the console and set the comms between Discovery and Event Horizon to broadcast across the ship. She looked to the side and nodded at Captain Lopez.

“Event Horizon, this is Captain Lopez. All systems appear ready from here.”

“Good to know, Captain. We see the same,” Livvy’s voice came through again. “We’re still running the final cycle on the ELS engines.”

Trixie frowned and glanced at the boards. The ELS engines shouldn’t take this long to warm up. Everything looked good to go, though. The area of the boards showing the diagrams of the ELS engines were all green. Dark energy output was within expected thresholds and increasing, also expected.

“Understood. How does she feel?” Captain Lopez asked.

“Fine,” Olivia reported back. “Quiet. I feel a slight tremor in my chair, which matches the simulator.”

The optical viewfinder was entirely distorted now, Event Horizon obscured by the transformation of dark matter into dark energy. Discovery’s sensors were starting to spike with the amount of dark energy in the area, but that was expected too.

Something flashed yellow on the boards. Trixie saw it was the ELS engines. There was a vibration in them that was still within mission thresholds, though outside of normal ranges. Trixie keyed her comm.

“Captain, we’re receiving indications the ELS drives are vibrating more than we would expect.”

“Aye, ma’am. We feel that too. It is within acceptable limits.”

Trixie eyed the boards with some skepticism. Everything was still green except the ELS indicators, which were yellow but stable.

“We’re ready to go, Captain Lopez.” Olivia said.

Trixie met the Captain’s eyes in a hard stare for several seconds. Then she nodded and looked back at the readings coming from Event Horizon.

“Permission to deploy, Captain Edwards. Good luck and Godspeed.”

“Ad astra pro futuro hominum,” Livvy said.

The boards flashed red. The ELS engines were out of sync. Trixie opened her comm again.

“Captain Edwards—!”

But it was too late. There was a dark wave across the starfield in front of them, followed by a bright flash, and then Event Horizon was gone.

Chapter Text

Chapter 1 – Gravity

April 11, 2063. 0550 SST (Solar Standard Time).

Captain Olivia Edwards leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs and staring up at the viewfinder. She was alone on the bridge of her ship, Spero, which was a Harpoon-class cruiser with a crew of twenty and space for forty more if necessary. It was shaped like its namesake, sleek and pointed with swept back wings that held the ELS engines.

The viewfinder displayed a kaleidoscope of nonsense. Spero was currently traveling at forty times the speed of light—almost 7.5 million miles per second—and had been for a little over a month. The ship’s optical cameras couldn’t make sense of the void around them, since they were outrunning the light used to create the images by a large margin.

Spero, which meant ‘to hope,’ was returning from a ninety day mission to the Sun’s closest neighbor, Proxima Centauri. The small red dwarf star was 4.25 light years from Earth, meaning it took about thirty eight days to travel from the Solar System to Proxima Centauri at forty times the speed of light, which was the maximum speed of the current generation of ELS technology.

Thirty eight days there and thirty eight days back, with two weeks in the system around Proxima Centauri to collect data and inspect the planets in the region. Scientists had long suspected Proxima Centauri of having at least one planet within its habitable zone, and Olivia’s mission had confirmed this to be true.

Proxima Centauri b, as the planet was currently known, was similar to Earth in size and mass. It did have liquid water and appeared to have several regions that were in fact habitable by humans, but Olivia’s mission had also discovered that the planet was tidally locked to Proxima Centauri. This meant it orbited the star without its own rotation, meaning one side was always facing the star. One side of the planet was always in daylight and the other side always experienced night. The habitable regions were mainly where day met night, since the front of the planet was too hot and the back of the planet was too cold.

Proxima Centauri b also orbited its star in just over eleven Earth days. This was obviously quick compared to an Earth year, though from the point of view of an observer on the planet, it wouldn’t matter since Proxima Centauri never appeared to move in the sky.

Olivia and her crew had so much new information and data to bring back to the High Command. The mission was a success and she knew that planning would likely begin for a larger and more coordinated interstellar mission. Perhaps even a pioneering settlement or two could be established on Proxima Centauri b? Though there were mountains of questions that would need to be answered first, particularly around food, water, supplies, and critical logistics such as communication, safety, and housing.

“Captain, we’re approaching the heliopause. Permission to run down the engines.”

The voice came over the comms from Engineering. Olivia sat up and tapped a few glowing icons on her console.

“Permission granted, Lieutenant,” she replied. “Welcome home.”

The steady and comforting hum of the ELS engines changed in pitch, signaling the Lieutenant was following her command and bringing them down from maximum speed.

The heliopause was the very edge of the Sun’s influence on space, and passing through it to enter the heliosphere at such a high velocity would be a folly. The force of the Sun’s gravity would not mix well with extreme ELS speeds, and although there had never been any real tests to find out, all the science pointed to any ships attempting it being torn apart.

“Thirty-x,” came the voice again, using shorthand to denote how fast they were going. Thirty times the speed of light.

This had been Olivia’s longest interstellar journey and she was looking forward to getting home, even if it had been surreal to be among the first humans to see another star with their own eyes. The fact that she was trusted with this important mission—this milestone for the future of humanity—was a testament to the fact that she was the most traveled human. She had covered more distance than any other member of the Fleet, having led dozens of ELS interstellar test flights and other missions.

This mission alone added another 50 trillion miles to her total. And it had all started with that very first ELS test flight, a little over three years before. That first test had ultimately been successful, but it almost ended in catastrophe.

As Olivia had engaged the ELS drives, warnings flashed red across her bridge, but then they were already moving through space just faster than the speed of light. When the ship held together, regardless of the warnings, she had gradually increased to about twice the speed of light. The farther they went, the less urgent the readings became. And then, finally, as they passed out of any influence of Neptune's gravity, leaving only the Sun's remaining, readings showed normal again.

She had turned around and returned to her starting position, dropping the speed to just below the speed of light. Trixie—her wife and her Commanding Officer—had sounded extremely relieved when Olivia hailed Discovery on the comms, though when Olivia explained what had happened, it sent Trixie off on a tangent about gravity and physics she did not fully understand.

Two weeks later, Trixie would explain that all future ELS expeditions would begin at the edge of the heliosphere in order get farther from the Sun’s and the planets' influence. It was inconvenient, since it added time to each test flight and mission, but Olivia understood the logic behind Trixie’s decision. Better to be alive and have slightly longer travel time than pulled apart at the atomic level by tidal forces.

Some part of Olivia wondered if there had been celestial intervention that day—to save her ship and crew during that first ELS test flight—but she hadn’t seen Chloe or Lucifer in years and wasn’t sure it mattered anyway.

“Twenty-x.”

Olivia shook herself from her musings. In the time since that first test flight, she had traveled more than 325 trillion miles, equivalent to more than 55 light years, far above the next person in the Fleet. And also in that time, her wife had been promoted to the rank of Admiral, and was now the 4 star Admiral in charge of the entire Expeditionary Force. One of three contingents of the High Command’s entire Fleet now reported to Admiral Espinoza. Olivia was so proud of everything Trixie had accomplished.

She couldn’t help the smile that spread across her lips as she thought of her wife. She remembered back when they were kids and Trixie would wax poetic about the stars, often finding excuses to stare up at the night sky. Olivia had taken it for granted at the time, but her wife was truly a visionary, and Olivia was honored to serve under her command in the Expeditionary Force. Some thought it odd or inappropriate that her wife was her superior officer, but Olivia couldn’t imagine anything else at this point. They had journeyed to space together, and through the entire Solar System together, and would stay together no matter what.

“Ten-x.”

Olivia refocused on the viewscreen. The swirl of incoherent patterns was slowing.

“Five-x. Coming upon the heliopause. Three-x. Two-x. Passing the heliopause.” The ship shuddered briefly, though Olivia was familiar with the sensation and was not worried about it. “One point five-x.”

The viewscreen suddenly went dark, broken only by pinpricks of distant light.

“Zero point nine nine-x.”

“Well done, Lieutenant. Set a course for Neptune and keep current speed. Let’s meet up with Discovery.”

“Aye aye, Captain.”

The starfield swung around in the viewscreen and Olivia watched the reports on her console as her crew turned the ship toward Neptune’s current position, charting a direct course for the most distant planet from the Sun. Discovery was currently in orbit, along with Kepler, Neptune’s original space station, and Copernicus, its newest space station.

The heliopause was about two thousandths of a light year from the Sun—or about 11.1 billion miles. Neptune was about 2.78 billion miles from the Sun, so Spero would need to traverse three quarters of the heliosphere to reach Neptune. At 99% the speed of light, that would take about 12 hours 33 minutes.

Olivia analyzed her console and confirmed that all systems were still running smoothly. She knew Discovery was expecting them, and as soon as they were close enough for line-of-sight communication, they would open transmission between Spero and the Fleet’s flagship.

Discovery should know their mission was successful, too. When Olivia and her crew had first arrived at Proxima Centauri, they’d sent an ELS drone back to the Solar System with news of their arrival. Then, one week into their two week stay there, they’d sent another ELS drone back with information and data they’d gathered. They had much more data to share now that they were back in person.

At this distance, the Sun was a tiny white speck, just barely larger though still brighter than the background starfield. Olivia stared at it through the viewfinder, comparing it to Proxima Centauri. It was hard to comprehend that she had been among the first humans to bridge the great distance between the two celestial bodies. Yet as she witnessed the light of the Sun once again—or Sol, as the High Command of Humanity had taken to calling it—she was filled a sense of longing, borne both by homecoming as well as exploration.

The work she did as a test pilot and a Captain for the High Command of Humanity had brought her farther than any other human. And, so far, she had been lucky enough to return to the Solar System, to her home, and to her wife. She could feel excitement building in her at the prospect of seeing the Fleet and Trixie once again.

She turned to leave the bridge, to prepare Spero for arrival. She checked in with each of the crew, making sure they had what they needed, and inspected the ship as well. Everything seemed to be in pristine condition and in working order. She had no feedback for her very talented crew.

Her last stop was the cargo hold where crates of rock, soil, water, and biological matter from Proxima Centauri b rested. She laid her hand on top of one of the crates for a moment. Who knows what the scientists of the High Command would find within? She hoped only good things.

Olivia arrived at her Captain’s quarters and changed out of her standard vacuum suit into her dress uniform, which also doubled as a vacuum suit. Her helmet was never far away. After all, in the void of space, wearing a vacuum suit and having a helmet on hand could mean the difference between life and death. She rested for a few hours and then completed some tasks on her never-ending list.

Later, much closer to when they should arrive at Neptune, she pressed a glowing button on the wall.

“Attention, Spero! Meet in the hold in ten minutes in your dress uniforms.”

Olivia moved to a console in the corner of her quarters, taking over control of the ship with a silent acknowledgement from the Lieutenant. She input more specific directions and set the auto-pilot. They would soon be in communications range of Discovery. She left her quarters and headed to the cargo hold.

“Attention on deck!”

Olivia entered the hold to her entire crew standing at attention.

“At ease, everyone.”

They relaxed and made eye contact, smiling around at each other.

“Lieutenant Conrad—excellent navigation today.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said, perhaps a hint of a blush on his cheekbones. John Conrad was young for a Lieutenant, but his meteoric rise sometimes reminded Olivia of her and Trixie’s rise through the ranks. Olivia would never be promoted beyond Captain—she did not want to be—but she garnered almost the same amount of respect and awe among the rank and file as her wife.

Everyone in the Fleet knew who was in command of the Expeditionary Force, though. Admiral Dr. Beatrice Espinoza was not someone to be trifled with.

Speaking of her wife…

“Spero, this is Admiral Espinoza on Discovery. Confirm heading and intent.”

The words carried throughout the cargo bay. Olivia and the rest of the crew instinctually stood a little straighter, not quite at attention, but giving the sound of their Commanding Officer’s voice the respect it deserved.

“Discovery, this is Spero. Good to hear your voice, Admiral Espinoza. Heading is ninety-five by thirty, directly into orbit and then into Discovery. Remote control is ready for you, ma’am.”

“Understood, Captain Edwards. Welcome home.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that it is good to be back.”

Things happened quickly after that, now that they were within range of line-of-sight communications with Discovery. The flagship took over remote control of Spero, reducing their speed substantially as they approached Neptune. The small viewfinder in the cargo hold showed the giant planet, its bright azure blue color casting a similar light through the hold. As Spero drew closer, the massive space station Copernicus began to appear as well.

Spero turned slightly to the left, angling away from Copernicus and heading to another, smaller gray speck in Neptune’s orbit. Closer and closer they flew toward the planet, and as they did so, Discovery began to take shape in the viewfinder.

The Carrier-class flagship of the High Command’s Expeditionary Force was a sight to behold. It was a behemoth, needing over twenty thousand crew to keep it in tip-top shape. It was equipped with the best and most modern technology available, including brand new SLS and NLS engines for the most efficient travel through the Solar System.

Olivia could see scaffolding on the outside of the hull and ongoing work underway from various crew members. That hadn’t been there when she departed the Solar System three months ago, so she would have to ask Trixie about it later.

There was a steady stream of smaller ships leaving from and arriving to Discovery. Spero was slotted into the arriving traffic. Their speed decreased even more, such that it looked like they were only drifting closer and closer to Discovery. Neptune was a hulking blue wall to their right.

They passed into the cavernous bay of Discovery, which was filled with other starships, some similar in size to Spero and others a little smaller or larger. The viewfinder showed a large gathering of Discovery’s crew standing near an empty slot, which was where Spero was headed.

The ship settled to the deck with only a slight clang and then fell still. Olivia heard the engines and the systems start to wind down, its long mission finally ended. Then, a warning siren, and the long door to Spero’s cargo hold moved, unsealing itself and lowering to the deck of Discovery. It became a long ramp for exiting the ship.

Olivia stepped forward, her crew behind her. At the sight before them, they all snapped to attention, saluting once and then dropping their hands to their sides.

Trixie stood out in front of the assembled Discovery crew, most of whom appeared to be ranking officers of some sort. She wore a vacuum suit showing four stars and her name, and had her helmet under her arm. Her thick hair had turned mostly grey and white, falling only a few inches to just above her jaw line. Her features hadn’t softened at all with age, and in Olivia’s biased opinion she had only grown more and more beautiful over time.

“At ease,” Trixie said, and then walked forward. Olivia and her crew relaxed. She walked down the ramp with them behind her, meeting her wife at the bottom.

“Admiral Espinoza,” she greeted, as she stepped from Spero’s ramp onto Discovery. All of the assembled officers behind Trixie stepped forward too. Olivia personally recognized many of them, having served with many over the decades, and other names and faces were familiar by their standing in the Fleet along with their exploits.

“Captain Edwards,” Trixie greeted. “And the crew of the Spero,” she nodded at everyone behind Olivia. “Welcome back to Discovery. We wanted to welcome you and celebrate your achievement—the first true interstellar journey.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Olivia said, echoed by her crew.

Trixie smiled at her, transforming her beautiful face into something even more sublime. Happiness, wonder, and love sparkled in her eyes.

Then, entirely surprising Olivia, Trixie stood at attention and saluted her and her crew. All of the officers behind Trixie did the same. It lasted only a moment, but it was a show of great respect, and Olivia had to swallow back the emotion that threatened to overwhelm her.

“You honor us, ma’am,” Olivia said, saluting again but not going rigid. She understood the significance of the moment, as well as the decorum.

Trixie shook her head, smile lingering. “Your deeds honor us all, Captain Edwards. Come, let us debrief.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Olivia said, waving her crew along with her as she followed the Admiral away from Spero and past the assembled officers. There were many murmurs of ‘congratulations’ and ‘welcome home.’ Behind her, Olivia could hear Discovery’s crew start to unload Spero of its interstellar haul.

She watched as several aides rushed up to Trixie, now that the ceremony was over. They each had a hologlass in their hands, either showing it to Trixie or asking her questions based on what was on the screen. Trixie handled them each deftly, doling out orders like it was second nature, but focusing on each one in turn as if they held her full attention.

Olivia smiled, seeing Trixie in her element. She couldn’t imagine a better leader.

---

April 11, 2063. 2115 SST.

“Captain Edwards, please remain,” Trixie said, watching as the last of Discovery’s scientists, officers, and Olivia’s crew filtered out of her state room.

The initial debrief from Spero’s mission to Proxima Centauri had wrapped up. Trixie had given her orders for next steps and follow ups, and now everyone had left to carry them out. Everyone except her wife, who happened to be the Captain of Spero. The door clicked shut, leaving them in silence and the soft light of the Trixie’s formal meeting area.

As the Commanding Officer of the Expeditionary Force, and one of three 4 star Admirals in the Fleet, Trixie was one of the most senior members of the High Command of Humanity. She had been there at its founding in 2044 as a Captain, and had risen through its ranks to her current position as one of its three military leaders. At this point, only the sovereign heads of state of the various nations on Earth—along with the Presidents of Mercury, the Moon, and Mars—held more authority than she did.

Because of her lofty position, her accommodations on Discovery were quite large. Her living area amounted to a suite, with a bedroom, an en suite, a sitting area, and a kitchenette. All things considered, it wasn’t luxurious, but it was far nicer than the Spartan practicality of normal military lodgings. Connected to her suite was her private office, and adjacent to that was the large state room she now stood in with Olivia. Finally, past the state room, was a gallery hosting the recent history and achievements of humanity in space.

Trixie considered her wife from across the long conference table. Olivia was still in her dress uniform, looking regal and distinguished. The years had been kind to her wife, and although at 54 Trixie knew those years were starting to make themselves known on their faces, she couldn’t fathom anyone more lovely than Olivia.

“Ma’am?” Olivia asked.

Trixie waved it away. “We will not be disturbed. Let’s drop the formalities for now.”

“Ok, Trix,” Livvy smiled. Trixie rounded the long table and stepped into an embrace with her wife, enjoying the feel of Livvy’s arms around her. They stood there for a long moment, just breathing against each other.

Trixie could hardly believe what had transpired. Her wife had returned to her from 25 trillion miles away, part of the first group of humans to see another star with their own eyes. Growing up, she always dreamt something like this would be possible, and here they were on the doorstep of humanity’s wide open future.

“I have to commend you once again on your incredible achievement, Livvy. And you made it seem effortless. Across the stars indeed.”

Livvy chuckled against her, and then backed up, kissing her deeply but briefly.

“Thanks, love. It really was something else.”

“And no ill effects?” Trixie questioned, even though they had covered this in the debrief.

“Not so far,” Livvy shook her head. “None of the crew are reporting anything either. The journey itself was rather dull, if I’m being honest. Smooth and uneventful.”

“I would rather that than the alternative.”

“True,” Livvy agreed.

“Walk with me, babe,” Trixie said, turning away and exiting the state room into the gallery.

It was a wide, tall, and lengthy rectangular space, almost like hallway. There were tall windows on one side that looked out upon space, though at this moment they were filled with the azure of Neptune. The other side held various plaques, trophies, pictures, and other memorabilia in glass cases.

Where they stood now, at one end, the glass cases held items from farthest back in time. In fact, the first case held the plaque commemorating the crew of Apollo 1. It had been removed and sent to the Fleet when sea level rise had inundated the original launch site.

Trixie stared at it, the words washing over her.

In Memory

Of

Those who made the ultimate sacrifice

So others could reach for the stars

Ad Astra Per Aspera

(A Rough Road Leads to the Stars)

God Speed to the crew

Of

Apollo 1

“Hard to believe that was almost a hundred years ago,” Trixie said, nodding to the plaque. Olivia considered it for a few moments.

“And how far we’ve come.”

Trixie looked toward the opposite end of the gallery, past the glass cases to the far wall. Neptune was an ever-present blue glow to the right.

The symbol of the High Command of Humanity—a stylized sunburst with a starship racing toward it—stretched high above their heads on that wall. It was a burnt orange color, similar to Sol at the center of the Solar System, and had been adopted when the High Command of Humanity was formed. Trixie recognized it from her presentation all those years ago. Even to this day, echoes of her own words and ideas reached toward their future.

“What are your thoughts about Proxima Centauri b?” Trixie asked, walking slowly forward, eyes flitting back and forth between the items in the glass cases, the majestic symbol, and Olivia.

“You mean other than what I shared in the debrief?” Trixie nodded. “I think if we need to expand beyond the Solar System, it could work… though I’m not sure how many people it can actually support. The habitable regions are limited.”

“But they are habitable. And without the shielding necessary on Mercury and Mars.”

“Seems so, yes,” Olivia shrugged. “We were only in the system for two weeks.”

“More than one full orbit around Proxima Centauri,” Trixie said.

“Yes,” Olivia agreed. “I think there are a whole mess of questions we still need answered, and I know you know that. But now at least we have confirmation we can travel to another star and back.”

“Well, you can,” Trixie replied, drily. “Most traveled human and all that.”

Livvy rolled her eyes. “Just doing what I do best.”

Trixie snorted and paused, eyes falling on another glass case. Contained within was a violet rock, about eight inches across. It was from the first crewed expedition to Saturn, and was from one of that planet’s rings. That had been in 2039, and both Trixie and Olivia were part of that mission.

“That was a memorable one,” Livvy said, walking closer to the case to stare at the rock. “The rings are so much more complex than we had known.”

“And only twenty four years later, there are two space stations with over 50 million souls orbiting Saturn.”

“Don’t forget about the impending settlement on Titan,” Livvy reminded her.

“I haven’t,” Trixie smiled. “It is my responsibility after all.”

As the Admiral in charge of the Expeditionary Force, Trixie held command responsibility over all new settlements beyond the orbit of Mars. She wasn’t technically part of any government, and didn’t have any true authority over civilians, but the safety and security of pioneering populations fell under her purview.

There was also the Defense and Combat Force, which was one of the three arms of the Fleet, but they had not been called into true military action yet. Trixie hoped they never were. It would mean one of two things—either humanity was being attacked by a hostile non-human force, or the various human settlements of the Solar System were in conflict with each other. Nonetheless, the DCF was a necessary deterrent to both of those things.

“I’ve seen some of the reports from Titan,” Olivia continued, and Trixie motioned for her to keep walking. “Do you really think they’ll be able to grow food there too?”

“So they tell me,” Trixie said, clasping her hands behind her back as they walked. “But it’s not my area of expertise. All I know is they seem to be able to transform the nitrogen in the atmosphere into something useful. Oxygen, water, among other things.”

They strolled in silence, passing case after case, each piece of history reminding them of something of their shared past. Eventually, they came to stand under the tall emblem of the High Command of Humanity. The starship stretched above their heads, racing toward the sunburst at the top.

“Trix, what do you think is next?”

Trixie turned her eyes away from the emblem and looked at her wife.

“For us?”

Livvy nodded. Trixie knew the affirmation included not just them but also the rest of humanity.

“You always were the dreamer between us,” Livvy said, chuckling softly.

Rather than give a glib answer, Trixie entertained the question for the serious inquiry it was. She pursed her lips in thought, meeting Olivia’s eyes and then returning her gaze to the sunburst above them.

“I think our future becomes less linear now,” Trixie told her.

“What do you mean?” Livvy asked, when Trixie didn’t continue for a few seconds.

“For decades now, we’ve looked ever outward—first to the Moon, then to Mars, and then to Jupiter and beyond. And once we reached Neptune, and established our presence here—” Trixie glanced at the planet beyond the windows—“we immediately sought to leave the Solar System. We knew that would take ELS technology and rapidly developed it. And then we did it. Then you did it.”

Trixie thought back to that fateful mission, when Olivia had piloted the first crewed ELS starship. She’d thought everything had gone wrong, that she had lost the entire crew and her wife, along with the interstellar hopes and dreams of humanity. But not long after Olivia’s ship had disappeared into the ether, it had returned, triumphant in its maiden ELS voyage.

Trixie had wondered more than once if her mom or Lucifer might have intervened, since the sensors had shown extreme stress in the ELS engines just before Olivia had activated them, but she hadn’t seen either of them in almost six years. She knew she could pray to them if she needed to, but they were God and Goddess of the Universe, and almost certainly had larger matters on their hands. If they had intervened to save Olivia, she might never know, but she sent another silent thank you their way just in case.

“And today, you’ve returned from another star. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that. It’s something I always wanted to see, and now my wife Captained the starship that was the first to do it. Not only that, but you bring news of a potentially habitable world, so that humanity can keep expanding outward.

“I have no doubt we’ll do it. At the same time, there is more to see and explore here in our Solar System. Countless moons to settle. More investigations into the capabilities and resources of Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Science will continue to advance, starships will continue to get faster, and more stars and worlds will become reachable.

“Maybe we’ll settle Proxima Centauri b at the same time we send expeditions to other nearby stars—perhaps Alpha Centauri A, Barnard’s Star, or Wolf 359. We have some evidence of planets near those stars, and some could be habitable.”

Livvy rested her hand on the wall, on the bottom edge of the emblem, where the exhaust of the starship ended in a straight line.

“I hope we’re still at the forefront, Trix. Of all of it.”

“Me too, Livvy. And for a time at least we will be. We still have some good years of service left in us,” she said, grinning at her wife.

“Why haven’t we sent drones to those other stars?” Olivia asked.

“Who says we haven’t?”

Livvy turned to her, eyebrows raised. Trixie turned as well and leaned against the wall, crossing her arms.

“When?”

“Recently,” Trixie replied. “As soon as your first drone returned here, after you arrived to Proxima Centauri. We had proof the drones could travel at least that far.”

“Where are they going?”

“Alpha Centauri A, Barnard’s Star, Wolf 359, Sirius, and Ran. They range from Alpha Centauri A at 4.35 light years to Ran at 10.48 light years. I expect we’ll see the first drones return from Alpha Centauri A in about two months.”

“And the others?”

“Varies, obviously. Ran, the farthest, is a six month round trip at the fastest. By Christmas we should have something.”

“Wow…” Olivia breathed. “So much potential! And so many things happening at once.”

Trixie nodded. “Indeed, love. And thanks to you, we now know the journey is not only possible but safe as well.”

Trixie saw her throat move as she swallowed, eyes roving around before focusing on Trixie again.

“Thank you for trusting me, Trix.”

“Babe?”

“I can’t imagine how hard it is to send me off into the interstellar unknown, but you’ve done it time and time again, trusting me to make the right decisions for my ship and my crew in deep space with no other recourse but ourselves. It means a lot to me.”

Trixie reached up, placing a hand on Livvy’s shoulder and squeezing gently.

“As a personal matter, sending my wife into interstellar space is nerve-wracking. As a professional matter, though, sending the most distinguished Captain of the High Command of Humanity into interstellar space is an easy choice. There is no one else I would trust as much as you in these endeavors, Captain Edwards.”

Her wife came forward and wrapped Trixie in another hug, this one much tighter and more urgent than the last. Trixie held her, dropping kisses into her closely shaved hair. Trixie rubbed her back a bit, patted it twice, and then stepped back. Livvy shared a watery smile with her and then wiped the corners of her eyes.

“It’s been a long day, Livvy. Get some rack and then we’ll talk more tomorrow. Our planned leave is coming up.”

Her wife perked up. “That’s right! It’ll be good to get back home.” Then she grabbed Trixie’s face and laid a big wet smooch on her lips. Trixie laughed out loud as Livvy backed away, wiping her face with the back of her hand.

“Dismissed, Captain,” she winked. “Love you.”

“Yes, ma’am!” she saluted. “Love you too.” Then she turned and walked away, down the long gallery and through the door at the other end, out of sight.

Trixie stood there, glowing blue from Neptune and orange from the backlit emblem above her. Her eyes rested on the long line of glass cases again, the recent history of their stellar adventures laid out before her.

---

April 12, 2063. 0500 SST.

Charlie Martin, 44 years old, exited the quick shower after his morning workout and donned his vacuum suit. Here on Mercury, standard vacuum suits came with extra radiation shielding and insulation, given the relentless pounding the planet took from Sol.

Charlie’s apartment was in Block A, Quarter A, City Alpha. It meant he was in the first group of settlers to arrive on the closest planet to the Sun. His expertise was in bioengineering and agricultural science—he had Master’s degrees in those fields—so when the call came for able bodies and minds to pioneer the next great settlement in the Solar System, he was a natural fit.

Given Mercury’s unique rotation and orbit, the powers that be in the High Command of Humanity determined it could be an incredibly viable source of new food for humanity. The planet was tidally locked with Sol in a 3:2 orbital resonance, meaning it rotated three times for every two orbits around the sun. Since its orbit took 88 Earth days, that meant the planet rotated three times every 176 Earth days. But given its high orbital velocity and slow rotational velocity, one complete Solar day on the planet—one sunrise to the next sunrise—also took 176 days. One day on Mercury was actually two Mercury years in length!

There was a whole bunch of new science happening here on Mercury, and Charlie was excited to be part of it. Sol shone on any one particular spot of Mercury for about three Earth months at a time, and due to advances in agricultural science, that timeframe represented well more than one full growing season for various kinds of crops.

Because of the intense radiation on Mercury, and the vast temperature differences between day and night, scientists had developed modified greenhouses to allow crops to grow. They filtered and concentrated Sol’s energy, piped in converted gases necessary for life, and supplied the water the plants needed. Charlie’s occupation was to oversee a few dozen of these greenhouses.

He donned his modified helmet and stepped out of his apartment into the blistering light of day. His Mercury vacuum suit came not only with extra radiation shielding, but also internal systems to keep him cool, during the long day, or warm, during the long night. He looked at the digital readout in his heads-up display. Currently, it was 560 degrees Fahrenheit.

City Alpha was busy. There were already a few million people living on Mercury, and City Alpha was the oldest and most populous. Everyone wandering along the sidewalks was wearing the same vacuum suit, and the heads up display in their helmets let them know who was behind the polarized glass. Charlie greeted a few as he walked toward his greenhouses, on the outskirts of the city. A few electric hovercraft passed on the wide thoroughfare as he strolled along. Mercury had less gravity than Earth, so his boots came equipped with adaptive systems that allowed him to move reasonably normally.

He looked up at the dark sky. Sol obviously took up a huge portion of it—three times larger in the sky here than it was on Earth—but otherwise the rest was the darkness of space. Mercury had essentially no atmosphere, so there was almost no filtering of Sol’s light, which was what caused Earth’s blue sky.

Charlie arrived at the greenhouses he oversaw and stepped into the first one. It was a long, low structure, about ten thousand square feet in size and ten feet tall. There were other workers here already, tending to various planets and ensuring systems were running smoothly. On this part of the planet, they were about halfway through a day cycle, so the growing season was well underway.

He looked up, visually inspecting the pipes and hoses that fed water into the misters, which came on every two hours or so. He didn’t see any leaks or other obvious problems, so he walked over to a panel on the wall and checked the pressure of the system. Everything looked good.

Water. Something he had taken for granted on Earth… until there was too much of it. Tipping point after tipping point had passed, and now both the Greenland and the Antarctic Ice Sheets were melting at destructive rates. Desalination was viable with current technology, and indeed that was happening on Earth, but oceans were rising faster than humans were taking water of out them to desalinate. This was mainly due to the instability of the climate and how difficult it was to find adequate locations for permanent desalination facilities.

Desalinated water was used for two purposes. The first was to supply the population of Earth with fresh water, which was quickly becoming scarcer and scarcer. The second was to supply various settlements throughout the Solar System with fresh water, since there was only a small and finite amount of frozen or liquid water on other planets and moons.

For instance, Mercury’s poles were in constant darkness due to the small axial tilt of the planet, and due to this there were large reserves of frozen water at both the north and south poles. Because of the size of the agricultural operations on the planet, though, the polar ice would quickly be exhausted as a source of freshwater. Hence the need to transport in large quantities of desalinated water.

As much of that water was recycled as could be, resulting in only a small overall loss of imported water over time. Charlie had only the highest level understanding of the logistics behind desalinating water on Earth, loading it into starships, and transporting it around the Solar System, but it seemed to work quite well and no one in any leadership position seemed concerned about running out any time soon.

“Charlie,” one of the technicians greeted him. “You’re here early today.”

“I was up with Sol,” he joked, in the common refrain of everyone on Mercury. “How are you doing, Luc?”

“Good,” his subordinate shrugged. “Everything seems to be on track here. We should be able to harvest in another two weeks or so.”

Charlie nodded. “And yield this cycle is up overall.”

“True. We’re getting better at this.”

“Keep up the good work, Luc. I’m going to check on the other greenhouses.”

“Sounds good. See you later, Charlie.”

Charlie exited the first greenhouse and walked across a small path to the adjacent greenhouse. His suit’s cooling system kicked in, even though he was only outside for a few seconds. As a half-angel and an immortal celestial, he could survive on Mercury just fine without any protection, but that would reveal his true nature to everyone else and he didn’t want to do that.

He continued to make the rounds through the greenhouses, interacting with this technicians and other staff, receiving updates on progress and any problems that might need his attention.

Charlie felt fulfilled by the work he was doing. He had been a pioneer here on Mercury, and now was involved in bleeding edge agriculture, which was helping to lead humanity to a better and brighter future. Just like he was half-angel, he was also half-human.

And that reminded him—he’d have to visit his mom and dad in Heaven sometime soon. It had been a few months. Perhaps when he got off work in a few hours.

---

April 12, 2063. 0700 SST (1608 PDT).

Aurora Morningstar Decker, 38 years old, stood on the balcony of the penthouse atop Lux, staring out at metro Los Angeles. What was left of it, anyway. Rising sea levels, frequent and intense atmospheric rivers, and constant wildfires had changed LA.

All of the low-lying beaches were gone. In many places, the coast had moved inland by up to a half mile. LAX was defunct, partially underwater and unusable. Inland areas and elevated coastal areas had survived inundation, but many were slowly succumbing to other climate-related problems.

The California coast was famous for its intense atmospheric rivers, prolonged periods of high winds and rain sweeping in from the Pacific. At higher elevations, these huge bands of moisture caused massive quantities of snowfall. Forty years ago, in the 2020s, intense atmospheric rivers were problematic, making travel impossible, causing mudslides, and flooding inland areas with up to twenty inches of rain.

Now, in the 2060s, there were becoming entirely untenable. One after another, the rivers would sweep across the Pacific and into California, dumping unfathomable quantities of moisture onto the land. Whereas before six to eight feet of snow in the mountains would have been quite a bit, each river now dumped an average of eighteen to twenty four feet of snow. The mountains were all but impassable. All the ski resorts had permanently closed.

At lower elevations, the one to three feet of rain at a time had turned the California Central Valley into an ebbing and flowing inland sea. Whole cities and towns were abandoned because they could no longer sustain permanent inhabitants.

And then there were the wildfires. Rory snorted at the irony of it all. All that rain and snow, and wildfires still tore through the state every summer and fall. But such was the state of the climate. Intense atmospheric rivers in the winter and spring, and then burning hot drought in the summer and fall. From a surfeit of precipitation to a dearth…

Los Angeles had fared alright overall, particularly compared to other major metro areas in the state. Some percentage of LA’s surface area had been lost to coastal inundation, but the majority of the metro area was still habitable, regardless of the emergence of distinct wet and dry seasons and the wildfires. People adapted, and so did the infrastructure around them.

Rory couldn’t deny that the city had seemed more and more empty in the last few years, though. For a long time, Lux was still the premier nightclub in LA, and was filled to the brim every night with souls looking for a good time. Rory became a co-manager in 2050 when she was 25 years old, and had taken over management in 2059 when her mom and dad had permanently left Earth.

Since she became the sole proprietor, and especially in the last two years, she had noticed nights where Lux was not full in increasing frequency. The migration of humans off of Earth was starting to affect every day life in many ways, and she saw the reality of that in the diminishing crowds of Lux.

Rory sighed, leaning her forearms on the railing and resting her chin on them. As a full angel and the trueborn daughter of the God and Goddess of the Universe, she didn’t have to remain here, or even on Earth at all, but this was her home. She was born and raised in LA and couldn’t fathom permanently leaving it.

Part of her knew she was holding onto a past that had disappeared into the mists of time. Her half-sister was gallivanting around the Solar System and hadn’t been back to Earth in more than a decade, as far as she knew. Her mom and dad were the Creators and had the entire Universe at their fingertips. Something as provincial as Earth probably didn’t even rate a mention on their Divine list anymore. Charlie was on Mercury, Ella was on Mars, and the rest of the humans she’d known and grown up with had either died or emigrated from Earth to other parts of the Solar System.

It was hard to let go of Lux. She could still imagine what it must have been like for Trixie, her mom, and her dad to live here, before they lived in the house in the Pacific Palisades. Rory had loved that house, but it had disappeared into the sea with the rest of the neighborhood.

These bouts of melancholy would occasionally come upon her. Perhaps she should head up to Heaven to see everyone again. It had been almost six months since the last time.

Rory stood straight and rolled her shoulders.

Whoosh.

Her crimson wings entered the physical realm, bristling with their sharp blades. She loved her wings. She brushed her short hair away from her forehead, looked up into the sky, and then disappeared from Earth with a phantom gust of wind.

---

April 12, 2063. 1700 SST.

Linda Martin strolled through the Beatific Gardens on the outskirts of the Silver City with Amenadiel, hand-in-hand with her longtime husband. She had been in Heaven for a few years now and had enjoyed every moment of it. It truly was paradise.

Amenadiel walked beside her with his wings out, having no need to hide his angelic nature while here in the Silver City. He looked the same as ever, and she looked as she did when they had Charlie, rather than how her aged mortal body had appeared when she died. Amenadiel had explained it as a ‘residual self image,’ not that she fully understood what that meant, so she accepted the rationale with a smile and shrug.

“It seems like we’ll never see all of these Gardens,” Linda commented. “I swear we’ve taken this route before, but this all looks new and different.”

The Beatific Gardens were eponymous, filled with stunning plants and flowers planted in such a way to make them nearly Divine. It was a peaceful place and Linda found herself wandering the winding paths nearly every day.

“I think that might be the point,” Amenadiel responded, chuckling a little. “An eternal paradise can’t have a Garden that never changes, or becomes rote.”

“Hmm,” Linda considered, looking around and soaking it all in. “How do we know where we’re going then?”

“Because we do,” Amenadiel shrugged. “The Silver City wouldn’t be so welcoming if we could constantly get lost.”

“True,” Linda agreed.

They walked on in silence for a while after that, enjoying the ambience. Eventually, they came upon a circular area with a fountain and white benches in the middle, multiple paths branching off through the Gardens. Linda guided them to a bench and they sat down, leaning against each other. Amenadiel’s wings faded in and out through the back of the bench.

Whoosh.

“Charlie!” Linda exclaimed, bounding to her feet and engulfing her son in a hug.

He was as tall as Amenadiel, though his skin was a lighter brown and his face shared some of both of their features. Given his height, he dwarfed her, but her embrace was strong enough to rock him back on his heels, his loud laughter ringing out over the Gardens.

“Hi mom!”

She eventually parted from him and stood back to look up into his face. He was smiling broadly, skin crinkled around his eyes. He wore khakis and a t shirt and was barefoot. His eyes drifted to the side, over her shoulder.

“And dad,” he added, and Linda stepped aside as father and son hugged as well.

It had been a few months since Linda had seen her son. She was ecstatic he had made time to come here and visit with them.

“Son,” Amenadiel said. “It is good to see you.”

“Same!” Charlie replied. “Always lovely to see you both. I know it has been a bit… sorry for that.”

Amenadiel waved it off. “We know you are very busy, Charlie.”

“Still, it’s nice to know you haven’t forgotten about us,” Linda prodded, a smile on her face to let Charlie know she was mostly joking.

“Never!”

“Come sit,” Linda said, returning to the bench. Charlie sat between her and Amenadiel. “Tell us things.”

“Things?”

“How have you been? How’s Mercury? Anything new and exciting happening in your life?”

Charlie smiled again at the rapid-fire questions, though he started answering them, explaining how quickly the settlements on Mercury were expanding, and how swiftly the agricultural work had yielded improved results.

Linda couldn’t really picture it—living on Mercury. But before she had died on Earth, she knew that humans had settled on or around every planet in the Solar System. She had never left Earth, and never wanted to.

“Sounds like it is going well for you, Charlie,” Amenadiel said, his deep baritone rolling across this secluded spot in the Gardens.

“I think so,” Charlie agreed, nodding his head. “We’ll harvest soon and then, for select crops, we’ll have a shorter growing season before nighttime. We want to try—”

He cut himself off as a new voice reached their ears.

“…should be just in here.”

Linda looked to the right where the voice came from. Emerging from around a corner of dense plants, Rory came into view. She was followed by Dan, Charlotte, Penelope, and John.

“Wow, isn’t this quite a reunion?” Rory asked, stopping and putting her hands on her hips. She was smiling at Linda, Charlie, and Amenadiel.

“Hello, everyone!” Amenadiel welcomed. “John, Penelope—good to see you. Dan, Charlotte—you as well. And Rory, causing trouble as usual I see?”

Rory smirked and shook her head. “You know it, uncle.”

“We were just catching up with Charlie here,” Linda said, waving everyone forward. “Want to join us?”

“That sounds great, Linda,” Charlotte agreed. She grabbed Dan’s hand and walked forward, sitting on a bench opposite Linda, Charlie, and Amenadiel. John and Penelope sat next to them. Rory remained standing, looking back and forth between the benches with a pleased look on her face. Linda thought she looked good, with those unique red wings, short colored hair, and the nose piercing. Rory certainly had perfected her look.

Greetings were passed around, and then the group got to the business of catching up. The Beatific Gardens sung with positive emotion and laughter as some of the Silver City’s most cherished beings gathered once more.

---

April 12, 2063. 1900 SST.

“Thanks for meeting me for dinner! It’s been too long.”

“Agreed, babe,” Lucy Kyo said, hugging her childhood and longtime friend, Sophie Monroe.

“I haven’t been here before. Have you?” Sophie asked.

They were standing in line at the hostess stand of a restaurant called Terra, waiting for someone to greet them and walk them to their table for their seven o’clock reservation.

“No, but everyone says it’s awesome,” Lucy told her. “Maybe one of the best on Kepler.”

The hostess appeared, checked them in, and led them through the crowded restaurant to their table, which was next a giant window overlooking Neptune. The azure planet cast a muted blue glow over the entire restaurant.

Lucy lived with her husband on Kepler. Their two kids had enlisted in the High Command of Humanity. One served in the Expeditionary Force and the other in the Defense and Combat Force. Sophie also lived here, though she was a widower since her husband had died about a decade earlier of cancer. Their only child lived on Kepler too and had a thriving career as a financial analyst at a large investment firm.

“You look great,” Lucy told her friend.

“You too,” Sophie smiled at her.

Now in their mid fifties, Lucy knew they had aged rather well, retaining the shape and beauty of their youths while maturing in the classical ways—lighter hair and some lines around their eyes and mouths.

Lucy was an author of chemistry textbooks for high school and college curriculums, though she only worked part time these days. Sophie had recently retired from a wonderful career as a managing director of a boutique clothing line. Both had resided on Kepler for almost a decade. Lucy and her husband had followed Sophie here, when Sophie left Earth after her husband’s death.

The server came around and they ordered drinks and an appetizer. The restaurant was filled with the low murmur of voices and the clinking of silverware on plates.

“Did you hear the news?” Sophie asked.

“Probably not. Haven’t been paying attention lately.”

“Spero returned. Olivia’s back!”

“Oh, wow! And her mission? Was it successful?”

“That’s what they’re reporting,” Sophie affirmed. “They orbited Proxima Centauri for two weeks before returning here.”

Their drinks came. “Cheers,” Lucy said, holding out her drink. Sophie touched their glasses together and they each took a sip. Lucy enjoyed the flavorful cocktail as it burst across her tongue.

“That’s crazy to think about,” Lucy continued. “Olivia’s seen another star.”

“Yeah,” Sophie laughed. “Though if anyone could do it, it’s her.”

“Definitely,” Lucy agreed, smiling over the rim of her glass as she took another sip.

She considered her other two best friends for a moment. All those years ago, they had both gone into the U.S. Navy, and now they were some of the most experienced and respected officers in the High Command of Humanity. Livvy was one of humanity’s best pilots and Trix was the Admiral in charge of the entire Expeditionary Force.

Knowing those two as long as she had, Lucy wasn’t surprised by how far they’d made it, nor by how much they’d driven humanity into the future they were currently living. Kepler itself wouldn’t have been possible without Trixie’s foundational research as part of the original team investigating high speed space travel.

“It’s been a bit since we’ve seen them,” Sophie said. There was something wistful in her voice, and when Lucy focused on her she saw that Sophie was looking out of the tall window at Neptune.

“I think they’ll be on leave soon,” Lucy said, trying to remember the information from the last group message between the four of them. “I imagine they’ll go home first, but maybe when they get back?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Sophie agreed.

The appetizer came. They placed orders for entrées and dug into the delicious plate loaded with roasted Brussels sprouts dribbled in a bacon maple glaze. It was delectable.

Lucy enjoyed the rest of their dinner date, catching up with Sophie on all that had transpired since they’d last met. Though they both lived on Kepler, the space station held more than ten million people and was a functioning metropolis, so they didn’t meet up every day or even every week.

Lucy hoped she would see the other two members of their quartet sooner rather than later. Their friendship had survived decades and billions—trillions?—of miles. Getting the band back together was always a treat.

---

April 12, 2063. 2030 SST (MST+0).

Ella Lopez, 75 years old, sighed as she settled into the recliner in the living room. The kids had just fallen asleep and she was finally, blessedly, able to put her feet up and rest a bit.

Dim light came in from the windows, the vernal Martian twilight partially obscured by high, dusty clouds. Since Solar Standard Time was actually Martian Standard Time +0 (MST+0), the time zone Ella resided in, it was late in the evening for her on the Red Planet. This also meant the standard day length on Solar Standard Time was 24 hours 39 minutes 36 seconds, which was one Martian day. All of the Solar System except for the surfaces of Earth and Mars currently existed solely on Solar Standard Time.

There was a certain kind of sense, having most peoples and settlements across the Solar System on the same time, as much as was possible. It made for a unified business day as well as easier travel, communication, and other logistics. Her body clock had gradually adjusted to the longer-than twenty four hour Solar Standard Time (and Mars Standard Time) and now she barely thought about it.

In order to keep dates somewhat consistent across the Solar System, though, Mars skipped a calendar date every thirty six to thirty seven days. Midnight on Mars in SST/MST+0 gradually got more and more out of sync with GMT+0 on Earth, and every five weeks or so Mars skipped forward one day - for example, from 24:39:36 on February 6 to 0:00:00 on February 8 - to keep the overall SST/MST+0 calendar aligned with Earth's. Earth still housed the heads of most human governments, so adhering to its calendar was logical... even though the High Command of Humanity had made the decision to standardize to the slightly longer Martian day as the common denominator across the Solar System soon after it had been formed. 

Mars was an interesting place to live. With a similar rotational speed and axial tilt to Earth, it experienced seasons much like Earth did. Given its farther distance from Sol, though, one Martian year was about twice as long as an Earth year, meaning the seasons were also about twice as long.

The similarities between Mars and Earth ended there. Mars had very little atmosphere, and most of the planet was a dry husk covered in sandy soil and rock, its famous red tint provided by the iron oxide they contained. The sky was often a pale yellow rather than the deep blue of Earth, due to the way light filtered through the thin atmosphere. Sandstorms were a frequent nuisance, but all Martian settlements were built to easily withstand them.

Daytime temperatures in the summer, where Ella lived just north of the equator, peaked around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Nighttime temperatures in the winter, far south at the pole, bottomed out at -175 degrees Fahrenheit. Earth’s temperatures had actually grown more extreme than on Mars, which was one of the reasons why Ella had emigrated from Earth to Mars sixteen years before.

Ella wasn’t in the first pioneering group to settle on Mars, but she hadn’t been far behind them, and since then she had witnessed the Martian cities and population grow tremendously. The last time she had heard a figure, the population of the planet was somewhere about 1.3 billion souls. Most of the major cities were clustered around the equator, given the milder conditions, but some newer cities had started popping up farther north and south, as technology and reliable access to critical resources had improved.

Equatorial and mid-latitude regions that weren’t covered in cities housed huge and sprawling complexes of greenhouses. At some point in the last year or two, Mars had surpassed Earth for agricultural output. There had been an odd celebration when that happened, with people cheering at human ingenuity and advancement yet mourning the fate of Earth at the same time.

Ella hadn’t been back to Earth since she left. Reports she’d read or seen on the news were almost never positive about her birth planet, and truthfully she led a comfortable life on Mars. Michael visited for a few days every week, though he wasn’t here now, and they still went on amazing dates and generally loved each other deeply. His mission to change Hell continued, and the progress he, Maze, and Eve had made there was astounding.

Her digital watch beeped, startling her out of a light doze. She shook her head to clear it. Best not to fall asleep again in the chair, otherwise she’d be quite sore in the morning. She glanced at her watch.

Her white eyebrows raised up her forehead, almost meeting the fringe of her white hair.

Ella reached over and grabbed her hologlass from the side table, flicking across the screen and opening the message in full for her to read. She smiled as she got to the end of it, tapping a quick reply and setting the hologlass down again.

Trixie and Olivia were going to be on leave soon, and their first stop was home here on Mars. Trixie sent her a message indicating their arrival time and asking if Ella needed anything.

Trix,

I’m excited you and Livvy are coming home soon, and I’m sure they will be too! I don’t need anything but thanks for asking. See you soon!

Love,

Ella

Ella got up out of the chair and puttered around the house, making sure everything was set to rights for the impending arrival of Trixie and Olivia. She looked in on the kids and smiled at their sleeping forms.

Homecoming was always such a joy to behold.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2 – The Martian

August 4, 2052. 1248 SST (1700 PDT).

“She’ll be here. She promised.”

Sophie eyed the sky, finding it blue and clear. The late afternoon heat beat down on them. She checked her watch and saw that it had just struck five o’clock. The funeral procession was supposed to start now.

“Give her a few minutes.”

Sophie huffed, not wanting to believe Olivia in that moment. Her emotions were all over the place. Her husband of twenty years had died of cancer a few days earlier. It wasn’t a surprise, after the long wasting illness, but she still felt it deeply in her soul. To love and have lost after so long?

Lucy laid a hand on her shoulder in comfort and solidarity. She and Lucy were wearing modest black dresses, the color of mourning, with low black flats and small black handbags.

Olivia was in her terrestrial dress uniform, black slacks and jacket over a white shirt with a short, black ceremonial tie. She had her ribbons, medals, and other signifiers of everything she’d accomplished on her left breast. Her hat was black with a white brim, the burnt orange logo of the High Command of Humanity on its front. Shiny black shoes completed the outfit. She looked the height of a military officer.

A low rumbling reached their ears, quickly gaining in volume and pitch. Sophie looked to the sky again, and then she saw it. A sleek gray vessel, bearing down on them. That would be her.

She watched as some of the tension flowed out of Olivia. Sophie could understand why. Trixie was holding up the somber motorcade that would bring them all from the funeral to the burial plot.

The small aircraft screamed overhead and made a sharp banking turn, seeming to defy gravity as it rounded on the parking lot adjacent to one of the last green parks in metro LA. Its thrusters reversed, blowing a cloud of dust and heat away from the waiting cars and people.

Sophie’s heart started to race. She had two of her three best friends here already, and although her heart panged in grief for her husband, it was also overflowing with a warmer emotion for the support of her friends and family.

Trixie would complete their little circle. They’d all made a pact at the end of eighth grade, when they had decided to play field hockey in high school, to always be there for each other. Time and circumstance had forced years, families, and untold distance between them, but somehow they always found their way back to each other.

There was another rumbling vibration and then the small ship settled onto the ground, landing struts digging into the pavement. Sophie could hear the lowering pitch of the engines as they immediately wound down.

“She certainly knows how to make an entrance,” Lucy muttered.

“Give her a break. She came straight from Uranus,” Olivia rebutted.

“Ladies,” Sophie cut them off. “I’m just glad she’s here.”

The ramp lowered and a figure in a dress uniform similar to Olivia’s ducked out of the ship before the ramp even reached the ground. At first, she held her cap in her hand as she trotted across the burning pavement, and then before she reached them she put it on.

Trixie was the tallest and fittest of them, and she had retained that fitness into her 40s. She cut a dashing figure in her uniform, the 2 stars of her Rear Admiral rank standing out proudly on her collar. Like Olivia, her left breast was flooded with accolades.

Behind her, a stretched black SUV rolled out of the aircraft.

Ten feet away, she abruptly stopped and saluted, looking directly at Olivia. There was some sort of military decorum at work Sophie didn’t quite get, but she went with it as Olivia returned the salute and Trixie relaxed afterward.

“Sophie,” she breathed, closing the distance and stepping into her space. Sophie brought her arms around Trixie as her friend did the same.

She rested there for a moment, clinging to her longtime friend, so glad she was there though devastated at the reason why. But no tears came. She was all cried out.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Trixie continued, words puffing into her temple because of their three inch height difference.

Sophie tightened the embrace and then backed away. Trixie nodded at Lucy and then her eyes lingered for a few seconds on Olivia.

“Admiral,” Olivia said.

“Wife,” Trixie returned, a tiny smirk briefly appearing at the corner of her lips. Sophie saw the deep love for Olivia in her eyes. Then Trixie looked back at Sophie.

The stretched black SUV pulled up next to them, at the front of the waiting funeral procession.

“I know I’m a few minutes late. I hope you’ll allow my staff to drive us?”

The coy smile on Trixie’s face reminded Sophie so much of their youth she nearly toppled over, but she held it together. Here was a Rear Admiral in the High Command of Humanity, come down from on high to grace them with her presence for something so pedestrian as a funeral. The girl she once knew was but an echo of the woman standing before her, yet the signs were there all the same. She was still the same Trixie.

The driver and passenger doors opened, and two other people in dress uniforms stepped out, briefly saluting Trixie, but then opening the back door for them. Sophie climbed up into the spacious stretch limo, getting déjà vu from when Lucifer picked the four of them up from the club when they were in high school.

But this was more than twenty five years later. The occasion was entirely different. The four of them settled into the plush leather benches and the SUV rushed away. Sophie looked out the back window, watching as the funeral procession faded into the distance.

“Bit fast?”

“Sorry, Sophie,” Trixie responded. She had taken her cap off and was holding it in her hands again. Trixie was making direct eye contact with her, warm brown eyes staring into her blue ones. “But it’s protocol, and I can’t change it.”

“Protocol?” Lucy asked.

“Security,” Trixie said, and shrugged.

For the first time in Sophie’s life, she thought Trixie might look uncomfortable. She had turned her eyes away and was looking out of a tinted window.

Olivia leaned forward.

“Earth isn’t safe. High Command has rules in place for Trixie’s rank.”

Trixie waved it away. “That’s not important. We’ll meet the rest of the procession soon enough.” She focused on Sophie. “Sophie… I just want you to know, whatever you need, Livvy and I are here for you.”

“Me too,” Lucy added on.

Sophie turned her head away from her three soulmates. She would not cry. No tears today.

She swallowed, quite thickly, and then looked around the interior of the stretch SUV at them. They were all looking at her with love and compassion in their eyes. It wasn’t pity—she would have hated that—and she was glad they understood.

“Where should I go, Trix?” she wondered.

“Hmm?”

“Away from here.”

“Off Earth?”

Sophie nodded. Trixie considered it for a moment, making eye contact with Olivia then looking away.

“If it’s distance you’re looking for, Kepler is a good choice.”

“That’s, um, Neptune, right?”

Trixie nodded. “Exactly. About the farthest you can get from here right now. And it’s a wonderful place, totally new and modern and literally exploding in terms of the population.”

“And you’re in charge of it?” Lucy asked.

“Not really,” Trixie said.

“Not yet,” Olivia added on. Trixie smiled and shook her head.

“The Admiral in charge of the Expeditionary Force has purview over it. That’s not me.”

“Not yet,” Lucy echoed. She was grinning at Trixie.

Sophie couldn’t help but grin either. Then the four of them were laughing and it was like old times. They regaled each other with stories of the last few years. Sophie told them of the good times with Mark, her husband, and they all hugged before they got out of the SUV at the burial plot.

The burial went smoothly. Sophie was wrung out and had very little emotion to give, so she kept a stiff upper lip. Then there was a small reception at Sophie’s house with her close family and friends—Lucy, Olivia, Trixie, and Sophie got another fast ride in the SUV—where the four of them ended up in the back yard.

The lights of metro LA obscured most of the night sky, though at one point Sophie found Trixie staring upward. Olivia and Lucy were giggling about something a few feet away.

“Thank you, Trix.”

“Soph?”

It was her nickname, rarely heard on Trixie’s lips. For some reason, it made her lip tremble and her eyes water.

Sophie stepped forward and hugged Trixie, squeezing her tightly. Trixie’s arms came around her and then she felt a cheek against hers and she couldn’t help but leak a few tears against the bulwark that was Beatrice Espinoza.

“Thank you for being here. I know it was sort of last minute and I know you have a million responsibilities, but I’m so glad you were able to come. It means the world to me.”

“It’s no problem at all, babe,” Trixie said, still holding her, and smoothing her hair down the back of her head. “I’m sorry I was a few minutes late. The transfer at Andromeda wasn’t smooth.”

“At the Moon?”

Trixie nodded against her.

Sophie chuckled, a bit wet, and backed out of Trixie’s strong embrace. She really did cut a dashing figure in her dress uniform.

“That’s crazy. Life is crazy. I can’t believe all that stuff you talked about is now really true.”

Trixie smiled at her, and it was like the sun breaking across a mountaintop.

“If you decide to emigrate to Kepler, you’ll see it for yourself.”

“Is it hard? To be back here?”

“On Earth?”

“Yeah.”

“Sometimes,” Trixie affirmed. She looked around, then upward again. There was a wistful mien to her. Sophie realized something in that moment.

You could take Trixie out of the stars, but you couldn’t take the stars out of Trixie.

“Would you have ever come back if not for this?” Sophie asked. Trixie’s eyes dropped to hers and she could see the truth as plain as day.

“No.”

“And after tonight?”

“There’s nothing for me here, Sophie. Especially if you leave for somewhere else. I love you and Lucy but this isn’t where my future lies. It’s not where my heart is.”

Sophie stepped forward and pulled Trixie into another hug, much gentler this time.

“You don’t have to justify it to me, Trix. I’m just so glad you came. I missed you, and I love you.”

Trixie took a deep breath against her. Sophie felt all her curves and muscles. Trixie was a titan of humanity.

“I love you too.”

Later, much later, Sophie witnessed Trixie take off, the bright orange thrusters glowing against the dark night, and then she was racing away, upward into the night sky. Lucy and Olivia came forward and put their arms around her shoulders, and she leaned into the support of her best friends. They watched the small craft disappear into the darkness.

---

April 13, 2063. 0630 SST.

Trixie walked into her state room on Discovery right on time for her morning briefing.

“Admiral on deck!”

All of the other officers and staffers already there stood and saluted her, remaining at attention. She glanced around the room, seeing it was full to capacity. Everyone had clearly gotten the message she wanted to start on time today.

Two large screens showed the faces of the other 4 star Admirals in the Fleet—Scott Hammer, in charge of the Defense and Combat Force, and Evelyn Pelonelli, in charge of the Administrative and Logistics Force.

“At ease,” Trixie said. “Please be seated.” She walked the length of the long table, turning at the far end and taking the one open seat at the head of it.

Every ranking and important officer in the Expeditionary Force was assembled here this morning. Three Vice Admirals, four Rear Admirals, six Rear Admirals (lower half), and ten Captains. Some had just arrived from other parts of the Solar System late the night before or very early this morning. Slightly rumpled vacuum suits proved this.

Admiral Hammer was calling in from his command post on the Moon and Admiral Pelonelli was calling in from her flagship Invest, which was currently orbiting Earth.

Around the edges of the room, in temporary chairs brought in for large meetings like this, various staffers and other personnel attached to the Admirals and Captains waited to be called on as needed.

Trixie set her helmet beneath her chair, as most others had, and then considered everyone in the room in silence for a few moments. Scott and Evelyn loomed large on the screens at the sides. The three of them together were the leadership of the High Command of Humanity’s Fleet. They reported to no one except the heads of state whose nations and planets comprised the High Command of Humanity.

“Thank you all for coming, some on short notice,” Trixie began. “We have much to discuss. Several critical things are happening—or will be happening—at the same time, and we need to make sure we have full operational and command alignment on them.”

She nodded at the large screens. “I invited Admirals Hammer and Pelonelli to listen in this morning, in case we need to ask for assistance or support from DCF or ALF. Thank you both for joining as well.”

“Of course, Admiral Espinoza,” Evelyn said. Scott simply nodded.

Trixie laid her hologlass on the table and tapped it a few times. A third screen flickered to life, displaying what was currently on her hologlass. She rotated and zoomed the image, showing a map of the outer Solar System—everything beyond the orbit of Mars—with glowing indicators for various human settlements and Fleet assets.

“Currently, we have eight major space stations orbiting Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, with a combined total population of approximately 150 million. And these numbers are growing every week. Copernicus in Neptune’s orbit has already exceeded all estimates for growth.

“We also have the coming settlement on Titan, which will initially house two million souls, with a potential for another four within the first year. At least three other moons are candidates for similar settlements in the next few years too.

“Mars has over 1.3 billion souls and will pass 1.5 billion in less than a year. The Moon has twenty million, Venus’s space stations have fifteen million, and Mercury has three million. That all means we are currently responsible for around 1.5 billion souls and within a years time that will exceed 1.7 billion.”

At the raised eyebrows around the room, Trixie smiled, knowing what they were thinking.

“Nominally we are not responsible for the settlements on Mercury, the Moon, and Mars. They have their own functioning governments and elected leaders. But they are part of the shared collective of the High Command of Humanity, and if some disaster were to strike them, we would come to their aid. So consider it an indirect responsibility at the very least.

“My point with rehashing all of this information you all already know is that the scope of what we do, and thus how we must do it, has expanded greatly in a short amount of time. As the leaders of the Expeditionary Force, we have to ensure we’re well-positioned to keep up, to maintain our duties to the peoples spread across the Solar System.”

Vice Admiral Richard ‘Ricky’ Ordonez, in charge of deep space operations, leaned forward to speak.

“Everyone here read the report you sent out, Admiral Espinoza. It was full of good suggestions for improved operations and minor tweaks to tighten up the Expeditionary Force. Is there more? Because we’re ready to carry out your orders, ma’am.”

“There is more, Admiral Ordonez,” Trixie said. “But I’m glad to hear you actually read my report.” She offered a smile and a few chuckles filtered through the room. “The items in that report are based on what we need to do here at Sol in order to be ready for the next great step. An interstellar expedition.”

Her eyes landed on Olivia, sitting along one side of the far end of the table, one of the ten Captains in the room.

“As everyone is well aware, Captain Edwards returned yesterday from Proxima Centauri, the first crewed expedition to another star. We have drones on missions to five other stars. Our mission in the Expeditionary Force is to be at the forefront of expansion and exploration, and to push the bounds of human innovation and settlement throughout the Solar System and beyond.

“Well, folks—we’re at the ‘beyond’ stage. And we need to get ready. All of our exigent duties here at Sol will remain, and yet we have to prepare our forces to make the leap to another star, whether that is another crewed expedition or something far larger, such as a true expansion to another habitable world.”

“Admiral,” Scott spoke up. All eyes turned toward his screen. “I was glad to see you suggested consultations with DCF for security in unknown space. We have qualified personnel ready and willing to journey to another star.”

“Good to know,” Trixie nodded. “Thank you, Admiral Hammer. But before we start thinking about that, we need to discuss several things today.”

She tapped her keypad again, and then a short, bulleted list was super-imposed over the glowing map of the Solar System.

“Fleet integrity, supply chain resilience, emerging human migration patterns and trends, crew recruitment and readiness, and command priorities. For the last, I fully intend to shift around some responsibilities for folks in this room as we start to organize for the future. Don’t be insulted. It’s in the spirit of alignment with expansion.”

“Admiral Espinoza, might we add future selection for expansion to the list?” Evelyn asked. “I imagine the first interstellar settlements may be smaller than we’re used to.”

“Yes, of course,” Trixie said, keying it in so it appeared in the list.

“Security as well,” Scott added, and Trixie added that to the list as well. She had already suggested something like it in the report everyone read prior to this briefing, so it should have been there already.

“Let’s get started,” she said. She made eye contact with Vice Admiral Jane Thayer, in charge of shipboard operations and Fleet integrity. “Admiral Thayer, I’m assuming you read my questions and suggestions in the report?”

“Yes, ma’am,” she said, and waved over an aide. “We have some thoughts on your ideas and answers to all of your questions.”

“Very well. Shall we review?”

Jane nodded and, with the help of her aide, went through all of the information and ideas. Most of the folks in the room participated at some point. Trixie might be in charge of the Expeditionary Force, but she was only one woman, and she had surrounded herself with ambitious and brilliant people for a reason. She wanted their input. It was the only way something like the High Command of Humanity had thrived for so long.

The rest of the morning went similarly, as the group wound through the other topics on Trixie’s list. A few hours later, the group left the state room with many new orders and ideas on their minds, somehow both energized at the lively conversation and exhausted at the sheer enormity of what was coming.

Trixie felt good, though. Olivia’s successful round trip Proxima Centauri had changed everything. Trixie was in her current role because she had a long history of thinking several steps ahead, and she couldn’t rest on her laurels now. The Expeditionary Force would be prepared to tackle the new challenges coming their way.

As Trixie retreated from the empty state room into her private office, her hologlass buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out, seeing that Admiral Hammer was calling her, and cast it on the big screen adjacent to her desk. His face appeared there immediately.

Trixie closed the door to her office and turned to look at him. She knew he could see her standing there via the embedded camera in the screen.

“Scott,” she greeted. Equal in rank, they didn’t need stand on formality when others weren’t present.

“Trixie,” he returned. “I thought that was productive.”

“Agreed. I’ll check back in with my team when I return from leave. For now they have their orders.”

“About your leave…” Scott said.

“What about it?” Trixie wondered, settling onto the sofa opposite the screen. She crossed her legs and leaned back, looking up at the other Admiral. She was curious what this was about, since her leave was about start and would last two weeks.

“I’m assigning you a full unit of APD special forces,” he told her, direct and to the point.

Trixie frowned at him. That was unexpected and, in her mind, absolutely unnecessary. She couldn’t fathom where he was coming from. And technically he didn’t have the authority to just do that. She could decline.

“Scott…I don’t need it.”

“Yes, you do,” he said. He was in his mid 60s, about ten years her senior, born just before the turn of the century. His voice was a gravelly rumble, and his lined and weathered face was topped by sparse white hair.

“But—”

“Trix,” he cut her off.

They’d known each other for decades, and in all of that time, he had used her nickname only twice. And he had never cut her off.

“You haven’t been back to Earth in, what, ten years?”

“Something like that, and you know this.”

“It’s not good. It hasn’t been good for a long time, but things are more rapidly deteriorating. Many nations, some key members of the High Command of Humanity, are in danger of collapsing.”

Trixie swallowed against a rough emotion that threatened her for a moment. It was hard to think of her birthplace—her birth planet—in such bad shape, but she knew it to be true. She did of course read the news and tried to keep up with current events.

“Ok,” she said. “What does this have to do with my leave? And why does that mean I need a full unit of Admiral Protection Detail special forces?”

“Emigration from Earth is accelerating. We talked about it just this morning. But if we don’t manage this carefully—and I know you’re thinking about it—we’re going to exceed capacity of off-Earth resources and settlements. Mars is already on the precipice of something like that, though I suspect there is at least another year before things become truly dire.”

“The last time I spoke with President Bailey, she assured me she had the Fleet assets she needed to handle it. Evelyn said the same.”

President Caitlin Bailey was the current elected President of Mars. She and Trixie spoke on occasion, mainly related to the High Command of Humanity and the Fleet.

“While not untrue, it’s easy to underestimate the situation.”

Scott held up his hands at Trixie’s mutinous look. Trixie swallowed back a scathing comment about him not trusting the judgment of women, since she knew it wasn’t true at all. But the situation was frustrating.

“I mean no disrespect, Trixie, but you don’t really live on Mars, and you haven’t really lived on Earth in twenty five years. The situation on Earth is becoming untenable, and I am doing my utmost to make sure that doesn’t spill over to Mars. Of course, if it did, there would be different problems, but the influx of émigrés from Earth will strain Martian systems, local police, and other resources.”

“Did you speak to the President about this?”

Scott nodded. “Yes, and there are contingencies and plans in place, but in the interim she asked me to assure your safety and protection while you’re on Mars. Hence the APD unit.”

Trixie sighed. She could still say no, but she wasn’t sure it was worth the fight anymore. She’d had APD units for brief durations for various reasons in the past. They were usually unobtrusive and not too bothersome. She just didn’t like that it was necessary.

“And you genuinely think this is necessary?” she asked, staring up at him again and locking eyes.

He considered it for a moment, then nodded. “Yes. At the very least, for my peace of mind. For all of ours.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“We wouldn’t be here without you, Admiral Espinoza,” Scott said, smiling at her. “Some desperate fool doesn’t get to take that away from us.”

Trixie glared at him, entirely nonplussed. He grinned and bared her gaze.

“You were already a Rear Admiral when the High Command was formed. You’ve done as much or more to get us here.”

“Sure, Trixie. But,” he continued, holding up a finger, when he could see she made to interrupt, “regardless of the truth of that statement, I have a permanent APD.”

Well, that shut her up. Trixie tried to imagine what that would be like. Always having APD special forces as her shadow, or escorts, or both. She didn’t much enjoy that vision of the future.

“Ok, ok. Where and when are they meeting me?” she acquiesced.

“They’re already aboard Discovery. They’ll accompany you as soon as you depart for your leave. The Fleet has provided a new Hercules-class limousine for you and Captain Edwards.”

“What? Why?”

“It works out nicely,” he shrugged. “She has plenty of space and privacy for you two, and enough accommodations for the APD unit.”

“You know, Scott, I don’t feel like you’re giving me much of a choice here.”

Trixie watched as his face softened. “You always have a choice, Trixie. I can’t order you to do anything. I’m asking as a fellow leader of the Fleet, and as your friend, to do this for me?”

She stared at him, then inclined her head in agreement.

“I probably saw it on the manifest if she’s here already, but what’s the limo’s name?”

A full grin broke across Scott’s face. Trixie’s heart dropped. She knew what that sort of look meant.

“Imperatrix.”

Scott’s laughter seemed to echo around her office even after she cut the transmission. She cradled her face in her hands for a few seconds, getting her bearings, then stood and pulled out her hologlass as she moved over to her desk. She had a few last-minute items to take care of before she and Olivia departed for their planned leave.

---

April 13, 2063. 1145 SST.

[Captain Olivia Edwards 11:45 am] I’ve just been removed as pilot. Confused

[Admiral Dr. Beatrice Espinoza 11:45 am] I’ll explain shortly. See you in 15 minutes?

[Captain Olivia Edwards 11:46 am] Is this your doing?

[Admiral Dr. Beatrice Espinoza 11:46 am] 🙄

[Admiral Dr. Beatrice Espinoza 11:46 am] No

[Captain Olivia Edwards 11:47 am] And now I just saw the equipment change

[Captain Olivia Edwards 11:47 am] What gives?

[Admiral Dr. Beatrice Espinoza 11:48 am] I’ll explain in…12 minutes now. See you soon

[Captain Olivia Edwards 11:48 am] 👍🏿

Exactly twelve minutes later, Trixie stepped into the private Officers’ Departure Lounge, which was where officers aboard Discovery usually left from, for any approved leave. Olivia was already there, pacing by the window, which right now overlooked some of Neptune and some of the dark starfield beyond it.

The gas planet was between Discovery and Sol, so they were orbiting the night side at the moment. Giant, bright flashes of storms hidden in the atmosphere flickered across the dark surface.

“Trix!” Olivia said, turning and coming over to her.

Decorum in the Lounge was usually set aside since officers technically had to already be on leave to set foot in here. Their leave started at 1200 SST, and it was now 1201. They weren’t wearing civvies but were dressed down in the most casual vacuum suits the Fleet provided. Olivia’s helmet was on one of the couches and Trixie’s was beneath her arm.

Trixie merely raised an eyebrow when her wife stopped in front of her with an expectant look.

“What’s going on?” Olivia prompted.

“Nothing bad, I assure you. Relax, Livvy.”

“I’ve never been removed before. From anything.”

“It’s not personal. There’s a change in personnel.”

“What?”

Trixie sighed and rolled her eyes, though not at Olivia. “In his infinite wisdom, Admiral Hammer determined I need an APD unit assigned to me while on leave. He apparently discussed it with President Bailey and she requested it.”

Olivia looked taken aback. Trixie understood how she felt.

“But…why?”

“He fed me a line about my safety, since emigration from Earth is speeding up.”

“Huh,” Olivia grunted, clearly thinking things through. “So the equipment change is for the same reason?”

“Yes,” Trixie nodded. And here she rolled her eyes again. They might as well fall out of her head at this point. “A new Hercules-class limousine called Imperatrix.”

Olivia cocked her head, then pursed her lips…then tried and failed to suppress the smile and the chuckles. Trixie admired the way her eyes lit up when she laughed. But she still pouted at her wife.

“It’s not funny.”

“Yes it is!”

Trixie dropped her bag and her helmet, and pounced forward and caught her wife in a bear hug, tickling her sides as she did so. Olivia squirmed and started to laugh even harder, eventually gasping for breath. Trixie let up and stepped back, now smiling fully as well.

“Not fair,” Olivia wheezed. “You’re bigger and stronger.”

“And don’t you forget it!”

“So if you can’t be the Princess of the Universe, I guess Empress of the Solar System works too?”

Trixie made a noise in her throat, something between a groan and a scoff, and then moved farther into the room, sitting down on one of the couches. She left her bag and helmet where they had fallen for now. Olivia sat next to her.

“This is a change, though.”

“It is.”

“Do you think there is any real danger, Trix?”

“I’m not sure, Livvy. I find it hard to believe, to be honest. Maybe that’s naïve.”

“Maybe…”

Livvy rested against her side in silence for a moment. This would be their first leave since late the previous year. Trixie was looking forward to two weeks on Mars.

The door to the departure lounge slid open. Trixie looked up and saw a familiar face enter and stand at attention with a salute.

“Admiral Espinoza! Captain Edwards!”

Trixie stood and saluted back, then walked forward and held out her hand.

“Commander Jordan, at ease,” Trixie greeted, shaking the other woman’s hand.

“Commander, good to meet you,” Olivia added, also shaking hands.

Commander Rachel Jordan was in the APD, and had led two units previously assigned to Trixie for various Fleet matters. Trixie knew her to be competent and efficient.

“It’s good to you see again, ma’am,” Rachel said, nodding at Trixie. “And it’s nice to finally meet you, Captain Edwards.”

Livvy smiled and deferred to Trixie with a hand motion.

“You’re heading up the APD unit?” Trixie asked.

“Admiral Hammer didn’t inform you, ma’am?”

“Admiral Hammer likes to be mysterious,” Trixie deadpanned.

“Aye, he does, ma’am,” Rachel agreed. “But yes, I am the CO of the APD unit assigned to you and Captain Edwards while you’re on leave. My unit has twenty of the finest men and women of the APD. We’ll meet them onboard the limo, ma’am.”

“Twenty? What does he think is going to happen?”

That was an unbelievable number. Based on Trixie’s prior experience, APD units had six to eight total personnel.

“Best to be safe, rather than sorry, Admiral,” Rachel shrugged.

Trixie made eye contact with Olivia and scrunched her brows together. Livvy considered it for a moment and then shrugged as well. Trixie sighed. Of course she would just roll with it.

“Are we ready to go?” Livvy asked.

“Admiral?”

“Yes, I’m ready,” Trixie said, picking up her bag and her helmet. Olivia did the same and they followed Commander Jordan out of the Departure Lounge into the staging area. Various members of the Fleet saluted all three as they passed, and many did double-takes at Trixie’s presence. She was used to it.

Trixie’s eyes kept drifting to the firearm strapped to Rachel’s side. It looked like a plasma pistol, one of the most lethal ordinances in the Fleet.

They stepped from the staging area into a larger bay that held three small starships. The far left ship was the brand new Hercules-class limousine, Imperatrix. Trixie nearly growled when she saw the name etched into its side. The side ramp was open, stairs extended down to the floor of the bay.

Beyond the three starships, the bay opened into space, but they were protected by a field of energy that kept the habitable environment in and the void of space out. She could see Neptune looming there, flashes of lighting rippling through storms across its dark surface.

“She’s a good ship, though new,” Rachel explained. “She’s been through her paces and is ready to go. Everyone else is on board and you can meet them at your leisure.”

“I think we should meet them before we depart,” Trixie said. “If they’re going to be our shadows for two weeks, I’d like to know them.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Rachel nodded, and led the way up the stairs into the starship.

To the left down a short hallway was the bridge. In front of them was a large open area, currently set up for leisure and recreation. To their right was the entrance to the accommodations, which included a suite for Trixie and Olivia as well as berths for all members of the APD unit.

Trixie and Olivia went through a meet-and-greet with everyone, enduring many salutes and ‘ma’ams’ and other forms of deference. Trixie found it to be a strong group, many with years or even decades of experience in APD. Commander Jordan was the highest ranking member of the unit and its CO. There were no enlisted members, only commissioned officers.

“Ma’am, we should depart,” Rachel eventually said.

“Nice to meet all of you. Thank you for taking on this assignment,” Trixie said, gracious even though she didn’t agree with the unit’s necessity. She couldn’t take out her frustration on them. They were simply following orders.

Trixie and Olivia left them and made their way through the rear of the ship that contained all of the accommodations. They arrived at their suite in the back, double doors sliding open of their own accord. Trixie knew facial and iris recognition were embedded in its mechanics.

The suite itself was what Trixie expected, knowing the details of the Hercules-class limousines, but it was still quite a bit more luxurious than she was used to, even while on leave. These limos were for dignitaries, diplomats, and heads of state. She was none of those things.

“Alriiiight,” Livvy said, nodding and smiling as she walked into the center of the large sitting area. “Moving up in the world.”

“You wish,” Trixie smirked.

They toured the rest of the space. It contained a full kitchen and dining area, a large bedroom with a king bed, and an attached bathroom with marble and glass amenities. At the back of the sitting area were several long windows that showed them a view of Discovery’s bay and the void beyond.

Trixie set her bag on the bed and returned with Livvy to the sitting area. They stood side by side looking out of the windows, watching as Discovery continued to orbit Neptune. There was a brightening edge on the far right of the planet from their vantage point, meaning they were coming back around into the light of Sol.

“They were packing some serious punch.”

“I know, Livvy.”

“Two of them had plasma rifles. Did you see that?”

“Yes, I saw.”

“I don’t like it, Trix…” Livvy trailed off. Trixie looked over and saw her wife’s face pinched in anxiety. “This feels different.”

Trixie slipped an arm around her waist and leaned into her. They rested against each other for a few long silent moments.

“Maybe it should,” Trixie eventually said. “Everything has changed now. You just came back from another star.”

“That doesn’t change anything here, Trix.”

“Perhaps not yet, but it could soon. That’s what the briefing this morning was for. We have to lay the groundwork for everything to come. Expansion won’t just be the Solar System anymore.”

“How does that equate to us—you—needing twenty APD forces with plasma weapons?”

“I’m not sure,” Trixie said. “I haven’t worked it all out yet. But Scott said something about Earth ‘becoming untenable’ when he dumped this all on me. I have to imagine it’s more than climate change at this point, since that has been a slow-moving disaster for decades. And that has me worried about the High Command…”

Olivia slipped out of her arm and turned to face her. There was nothing but love in her eyes.

“Trix?”

“The whole reason the High Command has actually worked for two decades now is the member nations knew they needed to pool resources and people to make a difference. The reason we have settled across the Solar System is because for once in its existence the human race was able to work together. What if we lose that?”

“I don’t see how we would. Or maybe I don’t understand how the two things correlate,” Livvy said.

“The High Command of Humanity was founded by almost every sovereign state on Earth. Since then, the few holdouts have joined as well. That caused a Pax Terra we have never before seen. Yet, as we all know, conditions have continued to deteriorate for the nine billion people there.

“At the same time, very successful settlements on the Moon, Mars, and Mercury were established. They’re functionally part of the High Command of Humanity, of course, but exist in a bit of a vacuum compared to the nations of Earth—”

She cut herself off, noticing Olivia’s smile. Then her wife snorted and raised a hand to her mouth.

“What?”

“…’exist in a bit of a vacuum’…”

Trixie thought back over her words and chuffed a laugh too.

“No pun intended. Really derailed me there. My point is that all of the off-Earth settlements are becoming more and more attractive to people emigrating from Earth, but soon—and this is what I think Scott was saying too—we’ll reach an inflection point where the influx of people from Earth will outpace what we’re able to support off-Earth.”

“We have other moons, and can keep expanding on Mercury, Mars, and the Moon. We can build more space stations in orbit too, and not just around the Jovian planets. There are options.”

“True, but we need the foresight to do that now, rather than when we’re already years behind the curve.”

“I seem to remember exactly that during this morning’s briefing, babe,” Livvy told her.

“What if it’s not enough?”

“We’ll figure it out. You’ll figure it out. You always do. And now we have at least one potential habitable world in another system, and perhaps many more when the drones you mentioned get back.”

“That’s a massive undertaking,” Trixie replied. “Any initial settlement will need to be small due to the logistics involved.”

Olivia stared at her for a few seconds. Then she came forward and drew her into a loose hug. Trixie thought she smelled like home.

“These things can wait two weeks. We’re on leave. I still don’t quite see the connection between all of that and the APD unit, though,” she said.

“If there is discontent with the ability to support more people on Mars, or in the space stations, that comes back to the Fleet. To me, Scott, and Evelyn.”

“Mars has a President!” Livvy exclaimed. “A position you’ve dreamt of since we were little girls, might I remind you. Surely President Bailey is on the hook there.”

“Mars would be nothing without the High Command of Humanity and the Fleet,” Trixie said. “There would be no President of Mars without the support we provide to the people of Mars.”

“So what you’re really saying is you indirectly created the position you always wanted to have?” Olivia asked, stepping back and smiling at Trixie.

“Livvy…I’m trying to be serious here.”

“I know, Trix. But I don’t think it’s necessary right now. You set things in motion this morning that will, as you said, help lay the groundwork for what’s to come. You have to trust in the people you selected to help lead the Expeditionary Force.”

“I do.”

“Then relax for now, babe. We have two weeks at home, and then we can get back to it. The Fleet will get one of its fearless leaders back soon enough.” Olivia smirked. “Or, dare I say…its Empress?”

“Shut up,” Trixie chuckled. “I can’t believe Scott named her that.”

“I can,” Olivia giggled. “It’s just like old times, when we all used to joke that you would rule the world, or the Universe, or whatever.”

“Seems like the same stupid jokes have followed me for decades. Plus, you know my mom rules the Universe with Lucifer.”

“Indeed,” Olivia agreed. Before she could say anything else, a low ding announced someone at the door to their suite. They shared a look.

“Enter,” Trixie called.

The double doors slid open and one of the APD forces stood there. He saluted and stood at attention. He was one of the two with a plasma rifle strapped to his back. He also had a plasma pistol as a sidearm.

“At ease, Lieutenant Hernandez,” Trixie said.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied. “We will be leaving soon. The journey is 2.655 billion miles and should take approximately six and half hours. We’ll be traveling around 60% the speed of the light. Have you two eaten lunch?”

“No,” Livvy shook her head.

“I haven’t either,” Trixie added on.

“Once we’re underway, we’ll serve you lunch in here. Or in the common area if you prefer, ma’ams.”

“Serving us lunch isn’t necessary, Lieutenant. I’m sure we can manage on our own.”

“Admiral Espinoza, it is an honor to be part of this APD unit. Please allow me to coordinate meals for you and Captain Edwards.”

“I insist—” Trixie cut herself off when Livvy laid a hand on her arm.

“We would be delighted, Lieutenant Hernandez. Thank you.”

“No problem at all, ma’am. Anything else I can get either of you right now?”

“I think we’re good. Thanks again.”

He saluted and left. The double doors slide closed.

“I don’t need to be waited on.” Trixie grumbled.

“Just go with it, babe. It’s a short ride to Mars. They can’t keep this up for two straight weeks.”

“I’ll hold you to that, Captain Edwards,” Trixie replied, staring her wife in the eyes, unable to stop the smile from spreading across her face when one broke out on Livvy’s.

Imperatrix departed Discovery shortly thereafter, heading for the Red Planet. Trixie and Olivia enjoyed their lunch in the privacy of their suite, talking about their plans for the upcoming two weeks on Mars.

---

April 13, 2063. 1900 SST (MST+0)

Rather than dock at the spaceport in orbit around Mars, Imperatrix must have received clearance to descend directly to the Red Planet. Trixie and Olivia watched it rapidly grow in their viewfinder from a small red speck to something with shape and form, and finally to a vast red and gray plain that took up their entire view.

As they drew closer to the surface, features and cities started to resolve, and Trixie could see their home city before too long. It was one of the oldest, yet still looked orderly and well-built from far above, the spiral patterns of its districts and streets geometrically quite beautiful.

It was, naturally, called Olympus, and was now home to 45 million people. The view of the other cities and the extensive greenhouses disappeared as the limo drew closer and closer to the surface, leaving only Olympus in their viewfinder. More details emerged—structures, vehicles, and the Fleet shipyard where they would be landing.

Trixie and Olivia changed into their Martian vacuum suits, meant to protect them against the weak Martian atmosphere and the sometimes extreme temperatures. Though, on many days, if it weren’t for the lack of breathable air, vacuum suits wouldn’t be necessary, since for much of the Martian year Olympus was relatively mild.

They donned their helmets, picked up their bags, and exited their suite. The APD unit was assembled in the common area. Many saluted and stood at attention again, but Trixie waved them off.

“There is no need for all of that. We’re on leave. Let’s keep it casual.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Commander Jordan said.

Trixie laughed. “That too. Unnecessary.”

“That’ll be a harder habit to break…ma’am,” someone said, and then there was laughter all around.

The ship vibrated as it landed in the Fleet shipyard. Trixie heard the engines start to wind down. Commander Jordan stepped forward and grabbed everyone’s attention again.

“Admiral, Captain—we will go straight from Imperatrix to the waiting vehicles, and then straight from here to your home. If for any reason we need to stop while we’re outside of the base or outside of your complex, keep your heads down.”

Trixie felt her eyebrows crawl up her forehead.

“Understood?” Commander Jordan prompted.

Trixie didn’t take offense at her tone. Not only had she just instructed them to be informal, but they were also charged with her and Olivia’s protection.

“Yes, ma’am!” Olivia saluted.

“I understand,” Trixie said, rolling her eyes at her wife.

The door opened and the stairs extended. Trixie saw the distortion of the air where the Martian atmosphere met the controlled environment of the ship and started mixing.

“Let’s go,” Commander Jordan said.

Trixie and Olivia were hustled from Imperatrix, firmly in the middle of the large group of APD forces. At some point, one of them took her bag from her. The vehicles were only fifty paces away, so they were on them quickly. A lead APD member had the rear door open before Trixie and Olivia actually arrived at the vehicles, and then they were inside.

What amounted to a motorcade left the base at great speed. Trixie and Olivia were in the fourth car in a line of seven, with two more on the sides toward the front and two on the sides toward the back. It was essentially a small phalanx of large black SUVs, which were modified like all Martian vehicles to work in the Red Planet’s different gravity and atmosphere. And they were all electric, of course. The High Command of Humanity had learned some lessons from Earth.

The roads seemed suspiciously clear, though that could have something to do with the lights and sirens the SUVs had all deployed. It was in the evening here in Olympus, in MST+0, and Trixie stared out the windows at the fading light of the Martian day.

Eventually, they made it to Trixie’s and Olivia’s home, which was actually a large fenced complex in an upscale, suburban area of Olympus. The gate opened before the lead SUV reached the entrance and the motorcade roared on through, killing their lights and sirens as soon as they were inside. Trixie watched the gate close behind them out of the back window, the trailing SUV waiting there until it was firmly shut.

The line of vehicles ascended the shallow driveway to the long, low house at the top. The hard-packed Martian sand filled their yard on both sides. The shadows were long and the light was weak as Sol dropped to the horizon.

“We’ll remain out here until you get settled. We will need to debrief before the end of the day and make plans for the next two weeks,” Commander Jordan said. She was in the SUV with them.

“We’ll come out and find you in a little while,” Trixie said. “Thanks for the smooth transfer.”

“My pleasure, ma’am.”

Unloading was a quick affair, though not as quick as loading was, and then Trixie and Olivia were heading into the house through the foyer, which was a transitional area. Once the exterior door was sealed, the area was flooded with breathable air, and they could strip off their vacuum suits, leaving them in slacks and white shirts.

“I’m still processing what just happened,” Olivia said, sounding a little bewildered, and perhaps even more bemused.

Trixie nodded but pushed through the next door into the house.

“Trixie! Olivia!”

“Ella!” they both shouted. They glomped onto their old friend in a tight three way hug.

“That’s a bunch of scary black trucks,” Ella nodded to the window.

“Story for another day,” Trixie waved it off. “It’s lovely to see you! How have you been?”

“Wonderful, Trix,” Ella smiled. For a seventy five year old, that smile could still light up the Heavens. “And you two?”

“Good,” Trixie made eye contact with Olivia. “Lots going on. But we’re glad to be here!”

“Yup,” Olivia agreed, nodding her head. She was looking around.

“Where are they…?”

“I sent them to brush their teeth—”

“You’re here!” twin voices yelled, and then Trixie had an armful of a grinning nine year old. Olivia did as well.

“Hi, loves,” Trixie smiled, first at Theo, then over at Millie. Millie was currently hugging the life out of Olivia, arms wrapped tightly around her neck and face buried into her shoulder. Theo stared up into Trixie’s eyes.

“Hi mom,” he said, a giant smile on his face.

Millie leaned back then. “Hi moms,” she corrected, with a third generation eye roll Trixie knew had been passed down from Chloe to Trixie to her.

Olivia laughed out loud and swung Millie around in a joyous reunion. Ella stood back to watch it with a tear in her eye, a warm and loving smile on her face. Trixie hugged Theo closely again. She took a deep breath, settling the emotion in her chest.

Trixie and Olivia were home. And they once again had their twin son and daughter in their arms. For just one moment, Trixie could forget about the weight of the future pressing down upon her.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3 – Children of Women

May 15, 2053. 2249 SST (MST+0).

“Mom? Lucifer?”

Trixie stared up into the cloudless Martian night sky. She was standing in her and Olivia’s glass-enclosed patio, surrounded on five sides by clear, thick glass and the sixth by plush carpeting. She dug her bare toes into it, viewing the bright constellations and stars above her.

There wasn’t much light pollution here in the suburban outskirts of Olympus, so her current view of the sky was better than almost anywhere on Earth. She saw the beautiful vista but barely took any of it in, focused on her plea.

She wiped more tears from her cheeks as they spilled out of her eyes, more than a little annoyed at herself that she couldn’t stop crying, but unable to stem the tide. She sighed and walked forward, leaning her forehead against the cool glass of the outer wall of the patio.

Trixie closed her eyes and repeated the words in her head, this time directing it more like a prayer. She was alone out here, the house dark and silent behind her. Olivia and Ella were asleep, and though her wife stirred when Trixie got out of bed, she was soothed back into sleep by Trixie sitting there for another few minutes.

Trixie had dressed in loose sweat pants and a tank top and padded silently on bare feet through the dim house. Unlike Earth, Mars was quiet at most times, even in a major city like Olympus and especially at night, when only the wind broke the darkness.

She stood straight again, looking forward through the glass wall at the low lights and houses of their neighborhood, and the faint outline of the mountains beyond the red plains outside the edges of Olympus. The stars were bright tonight, and she knew somewhere up there were Earth, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, shining down on her as well.

“I know it’s been a little bit,” Trixie said, to no one in particular and the entire Universe at the same time. “But if you’re listening, I’d really like to see you right now.”

Her lip trembled and her eyes watered. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear the tears from her vision. Her breath caught.

Reflected in the glass in front of her were her mom and Lucifer. God and Goddess of the Universe. Their Divine glow faded rapidly and then their midnight-blue-to-white wings faded from existence too. Both of their brows were pinched in concern.

“Trixie…?” Goddess asked, stepping forward and reaching a hand toward her.

Trixie turned and flew into Her arms as the last bit of divinity disappeared from her mom’s eyes. Trixie reveled in the feeling of being wrapped in the hug, bringing her own arms around her mom’s back and holding on.

She felt Lucifer move up to her left side, laying a hand on her shoulder. She gripped her mom more tightly for a few seconds. Then she let go and turned to Lucifer, hugging him as well, and his arms went around her. It reminded her of all the times she had relied on his embrace growing up.

“Beatrice,” he murmured, his posh English accent incongruous with the Martian surroundings.

“Trixie, babe…? What’s the matter?”

Trixie backed out of Lucifer’s arms and brought both hands up to her face, wiping her cheeks again and then laughing a choked kind of sound as she faced her mom and step-God for the first time in several years.

She didn’t have a clear plan when she came out into the patio tonight, but now that she’d called them here, it was so good to see them. She could hardly remember why it had been so long. The minutiae and responsibilities of every day life? She shrugged the thought away.

“Thanks for coming,” Trixie said, hating the way her voice sounded but pushing past it. If ever she was allowed to be vulnerable, this moment was it.

“You never have to thank us for that, my dear,” Lucifer said. Oh, how she had missed his voice.

Trixie nodded. “Can you Know?”

She watched her mom and Lucifer look at each other. Then they gazed back at her and shook their heads.

“After all this time, we’re not about to break that rule. Not until you tell us what’s going on. Please, Trix,” her mom said, stepping forward again and resting her hands on Trixie’s shoulders.

Trixie was a few inches taller than her mom and so she stared down into a Creator’s eyes, reading the love and concern in them. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, nodding once and dropping her eyes. Her mom’s hands fell to her sides and the three of them stood there in the silence of the night for a moment.

Trixie waved them to sit and they settled into the patio furniture, her mom and Lucifer sitting closely together on the loveseat. She took one of the cushioned chairs.

“Livvy and I received some bad news today,” she started, swallowing against a tightness in her throat and glancing up at the stars again for fortitude.

“Where is she?” Chloe wondered.

“Sleeping,” Trixie answered.

Trixie looked down again and saw that her mom had crossed her legs and was leaning sideways into Lucifer, who had wrapped an arm around her shoulders. They appeared as their pristine image, not a day older than thirty seven, as they had been when they first met back in 2016. Chloe wore heeled boots, jeans, and an open jacket over a casual blouse. Lucifer wore a three-piece suit.

“I guess I’ll start at the beginning,” Trixie said.

She collected her thoughts for another long moment, preparing herself to relive everything again. The gaping wound was still so raw.

“After we were married, Livvy and I were both so busy with the new space race. We were some of the first to head back to the Moon, then on to Mars, and farther beyond. She was the foremost test pilot and at the bleeding edge of everything we were doing, and I was rising through the command structure because of my research and my work on modifying the military to suit space travel.”

Her mom and Lucifer were nodding along with her words. They knew all of this. But it was important context for the story Trixie was telling. At some point, her tears had abated, and for that she was thankful.

"We were married in 2034 and by 2040 we realized that if we ever wanted to start a family, we either needed to do that immediately or seek an alternate solution. We chose the latter. We had our eggs harvested and frozen. We always planned to come back to them and start a family. Modern technology is truly wondrous and it shouldn’t have been a problem, even in our mid forties as we are now.”

Trixie stared at them, finding it hard to continue for just a few seconds. Saying it out loud made it real.

“Shouldn’t have,” her mom said, more of a statement than a question. Trixie nodded.

“Indeed. We just came from the fertility clinic where our eggs are stored here in Olympus. They did some tests on them and…well, it seems we were too late.”

Trixie clenched her jaw.

“You said with modern technology your age normally is not a problem?” Lucifer asked.

“It’s not our age,” Trixie replied, blinking rapidly again. Her eyes were warm and stinging. “Our eggs were all irradiated and sterile. And that’s almost certainly true of any that might remain in us.”

She wrapped an arm around her stomach and bowed her head. She couldn’t stop the tears from flowing once again. She and Livvy had put their family on hold for the future of humanity, and it looked like they’d sacrificed the former for the latter.

“Trixie…I’m so sorry,” her mom said, and suddenly she was there, kneeling on the carpet in front of her. Trixie found her hands clasped in Chloe’s, who looked up at her with beseeching eyes.

“I am so sorry for your loss.” And here her mom’s voice hitched. “I know you would be an amazing mother. But I don’t understand. What happened to your eggs?”

“The greatest irony of them all,” Trixie said, through blurry eyes and a runny nose. “There wasn’t enough shielding from radiation during the early space travel and exploration we did. Neither of us seems to have any other ill effects except for sterility.”

Trixie’s nostrils flared and she tried to hold it back, she really did, but then she heard a sob escape from her own mouth and she broke down. Her mom surged forward and pulled Trixie up, embracing her again. Lucifer joined the embrace and they stood that way for a long time, rocking each other against Trixie’s grief for a love’s labor lost.

Eventually Trixie found herself sitting once again, except this time she was between Lucifer and her mom on the sofa. The Martian starlight still shone down on them.

“Trix, oh my Trix,” her mom said. Lucifer laid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her toward him, and she leaned into him as her mom leaned into her other side.

“Beatrice, we are here for you,” he said. She felt his stubble against the side her head.

“Thanks,” she breathed.

“It’s not fair,” she heard her mom say.

“No, it is not,” Lucifer agreed.

Trixie could only sniffle in response.

“You and Olivia are the pioneers leading humanity into the future. You’ve both expanded the horizons of what is possible. When Lucifer’s Father created the conditions for humanity, he never imagined leaving Earth. And yet you have done that. Who knows where else you’ll go?”

Trixie looked over toward her mom at the words, seeing a steadfast passion and determination in Chloe’s eyes.

“What are you thinking, my dear?” Lucifer wondered. Trixie looked back and forth between Them as They stared into each Other’s eyes, briefly glowing with Their Divine power. God nodded and then His eyes faded to their normal color.

“We must right this wrong,” her mom said, sitting up straight.

“I agree, my love,” Lucifer said.

“What do you mean?” Trixie asked, somewhat alarmed at whatever had passed between the two deities she sat in the middle of. The cosmos itself could have been in Their eyes.

“We can fix this, babe,” Chloe told her. “We can undo what was done to you.”

“Reverse time?”

“No,” her mom shook her head.

“Not at all, Beatrice,” Lucifer added on. “But we can use our power for something good for you and Olivia.”

“I don’t understand…”

“What if we could give you and Olivia the family you always wanted?” her mom asked. “What if we could make both of you pregnant right now?”

“Is that something you would want? That Olivia would want?” Lucifer questioned.

Trixie looked back and forth between them again. She knew the words she heard, but her brain could hardly process them.

“…yes,” she said. “Livvy hasn’t stopped crying since we left the clinic, and only did because she was exhausted and fell asleep.”

“I want it,” a new voice came, and they all looked over to see Olivia standing in the doorway to the patio. The sleep had barely left her eyes, yet she was staring intently at them.

Trixie held out her arms and Livvy came over, squeezing in between her and Chloe.

“What about you, babe?”

“Yes. A thousand times yes. It might be selfish to use your power like that… but yes.”

“It is not selfish,” Lucifer said. “It is a small thing we can do in the grand scheme of the entire Universe, but such a large thing for both of you.”

Trixie looked over into his eyes, seeing the truth in his words, and leaned into another hug with her step-dad. He might look younger than she did now, but she still cherished his paternal love and support. Olivia briefly hugged her from the other side, and Trixie could feel Chloe’s weight too.

“How?” Trixie asked, sitting up again.

“Leave that to us,” her mom said.

“And you are sure?”

“Yes, Luce. Absolutely.”

“Very well,” he nodded.

His eyes flared into a brilliant coruscating glow, outshining the stars above, and she saw Goddess’s do the same. The patio was suffused with the warmth of Their divinity. It fell over her like comforting blanket.

Goddess lay a hand on Olivia’s abdomen. God lay His on hers.

Something shifted, the fabric of time and fate rewoven. God took his hand away, and so did Goddess. The divinity bled away and the stars encroached again.

“It is done.” Lucifer’s voice was a low rumble.

“Thank you,” Trixie whispered.

“Thank you both so much,” Olivia added.

“You bear your egg fertilized by Olivia’s egg,” her mom told her. “And you bear your egg fertilized by Trixie’s,” she said to Livvy. “Twins. A girl and a boy.”

Trixie’s breath came out in a long shudder. She rested a hand on her stomach again. She knew it was impossible, but it seemed like she could feel something.

“Thank you,” she repeated.

“We love you,” her mom said. “Both of you.” They all embraced again.

“Love you too,” Trixie said, her voice a quiet rasp in her own ears. She was held in the Creators’ and her wife’s embrace for some time afterward.

---

April 14, 2063. 1055 SST (MST+0).

Mars had about one third of Earth’s gravity. With modern technology, it was easy enough to generate gravitational fields approximating Earth’s gravity inside structures, though once outside that became much less practical. Thus it was that Trixie, Olivia, Theo, and Millie wore special boots as part of their Martian vacuum suits, which helped them move around in the lighter gravity.

“Nice one, Millie!” Trixie called out, watching as her daughter feinted left then right around Theo, controlling the field hockey ball with aplomb and heading straight toward Olivia. Millie took the shot, aiming for the top left corner of the goal. Olivia smacked it away.

“Aww,” Millie complained.

“It was a good shot,” Livvy said, nodding at the nine year old. “But you’re telegraphing where you’re going to shoot with your eyes.”

Livvy smacked the ball back into play. Theo ran up and took it from Millie, who chased him down the field toward Trixie. All four of them were wearing helmets to complete their vacuum suits, which made practicing field hockey a little awkward due to their bulkiness, but getting outside and running around was always a good thing.

Trixie watched her twin children battle for control of the ball as they made their way toward her. She defended one goal and Olivia defended the other. Millie tried to get fancy and lost her footing, falling over as Theo broke away. She was up and running after him only two seconds later, but he put on a burst of speed and took his shot.

Trixie easily blocked it but smiled in pride at her kids. They were getting better and better. Millie caught up to Theo and they both stood there, chests heaving as they stared up at Trixie.

“That’s some good stick-work, you two,” she told them. “Over-committed a little, Millie?”

Her daughter nodded. “Yeah, mom.” She looked at Theo. “You’re too fast!”

Trixie chuckled. They were both sprouting like weeds. Soon enough, Millie would be able to keep up with Theo, if both of her mothers were any indication.

She admired them for a moment. They were a perfect blend of Trixie and Olivia, no doubt a result of the Divine intervention that brought them into being. Their skin was darker than Trixie’s but lighter than Olivia’s; their dark hair could grow out but was quite curly; and their eyes were a dusky olive, reflecting both parents’ back at them.

Livvy walked up, her stick thrown over a shoulder, stopping just behind the twins.

“Why don’t you two go clean up and then we’ll get some lunch, ok?”

“Ok, mom.” “Sure,” they said, and raced away into the house, laughing at something along the way. Trixie and Olivia watched them go.

Commander Jordan moved toward them. She and most of the other members of the APD unit were patrolling the yard, mostly around the perimeter.

“Commander,” Trixie nodded.

“Admiral. Captain. They’ll be fine athletes.”

“Thanks,” Livvy said, smiling at the compliment. “With all the churn in their lives, it’s good to simply play when we can.”

“Aye,” Commander Jordan nodded. “Now, about lunch. I would much prefer if you ate here.”

Trixie turned to fully face the Commander. “Explain.”

To her credit, the Commander didn’t back down. “It’s much safer than venturing out into Olympus. There is only so much we can control, and once you’re in the urban center, any number of things can go wrong.”

“Are we to be prisoners in our own home, Commander?”

“No, Admiral. But I would recommend exercising a modicum of caution.”

Trixie looked over at Olivia, who had pursed her lips. They both knew their twins were looking forward to an afternoon out and about in the city. Trixie looked back at Commander Jordan and softened her gaze a bit.

“Commander Jordan, I have every faith you and the fine women and men of this APD unit will prevent any harm coming to my children, my wife, and me. But we are not going to remain locked away in here the whole time we’re on Mars. So what will it take for you to be comfortable with this?”

“Stay away from the south side. And the intake centers. Sticking close to here and remaining in the suburbs would be best. There are plenty of great restaurants around here.”

“Why the south side and the intake centers?” Livvy wondered.

“They’re crowded and a little unstable at the moment. We’re in the midst of another wave of immigration to Mars. Protecting the four of you there would be difficult.”

Trixie breathed slowly in and out, considering the information. None of her briefings had included that specific information, nor had President Bailey mentioned it the last time they met. It did align with some of the things Admiral Hammer had said, though.

“Fine,” Trixie said. “Sounds like a good compromise for now. But I will be discussing this with President Bailey—and soon.”

“As is your prerogative, ma’am,” Commander Jordan nodded.

“We’ll be ready to leave in thirty minutes,” Trixie said.

She turned away and Livvy followed her back to the house. Once the outer door was sealed and the air was breathable, they shed their vacuum suits and helmets. The gravity boots weren’t necessary inside, so they left those by the door as well.

“The kids are washing up,” Ella greeted them, as they entered the kitchen. “Decided where we’re going for lunch?”

“Somewhere nearby,” Livvy told her. “The APD unit wants us to stick to the suburbs for now.”

“Oh?” Ella asked. “Why is that? I never have any problems in Olympus.”

Trixie sighed and looked up from the local map on her hologlass where she was inspecting restaurants. Ella was looking back and forth between her and Livvy.

“I’m not precisely sure, and I’m starting to wonder what I’m not being told,” she said.

“Trix?”

“It just seems like there is a missing piece, Livvy. We’re getting veiled warnings and vague hand-wavy explanations about emigration from Earth picking up, but other than a theoretical refugee crisis, which in no way is happening here at this very moment, I really don’t know why there is so much caution.”

“Yeah…” Livvy trailed off. “We haven’t needed anything like this is in the past while on Mars.”

“Hmm,” Ella intoned. “I don’t like it. I’ve never felt unsafe in Olympus. But if the Fleet thinks you need protection, for some reason, it’s probably best to be safe rather than—”

“—sorry,” Trixie cut her off. Then she rolled her eyes. “Sorry, Ella. Didn’t mean to interrupt you. It’s just, well, I’ve heard that one before.”

Ella walked forward with a smile on her face and briefly hugged Trixie, who returned it before the older woman stepped back.

“No problem, Trix.” Her eyes turned away. “Michael?”

A beat, then the kitchen was filled with the wings and Divine glow of an archangel. Michael hadn’t changed at all over the years, except to soften at the sharper edges of his attitude and personality. He and Ella had been married for many years and they were happy with each other.

Trixie watched him take in the occupants of the kitchen. Then he turned to Ella and swept her into a hug, wings disappearing, landing a kiss on her lips through her giggles. Trixie and Livvy smiled at each other, recognizing the deep love for each other they exhibited.

“Oh! Shit, is there APD surveillance in here too?” Ella asked, eyes suddenly wide.

Trixie waved it away, immediately understanding her anxiety. “Don’t worry about it. My mom and Lucifer warded this entire complex against Divine knowledge being discovered. Only you, me, Livvy, Millie, and Theo can be aware of any celestial happenings here.”

“Got it. That’s good!” Ella exclaimed, wiping a hand across her forehead to mime her relief. Then she cocked her head to the side. “How have I not known that after living here for so long?”

“Never came up,” Trixie grinned. “Hi, Michael,” she greeted him.

“Hey,” Livvy said.

“Beatrice. Olivia,” he returned. “To what do I owe the pleasure, Ella? Not that I am complaining of course, but I believe I was due here in another two days.”

Trixie still found it a little uncanny at times to hear the nasally Midwestern voice coming out of an almost carbon copy of Lucifer’s face.

“We could use some backup today,” Ella explained. “They have a large Admiral Protection Detail unit assigned to them, and they’re all worried about something. So I figured it might be a good idea to have an archangel with us too.” She waggled her eyebrows at Michael at the word ‘archangel.’

Michael frowned. “Are you in danger here?”

“Not that I know of,” Trixie said, trying and most definitely failing to keep the frustration out of her voice.

Michael looked at Livvy, who shrugged. “Ok…” he said. Ella laid a hand on his arm.

“Regardless, I would feel better if you’re here. You ok with that?”

“Of course, Ella.”

“Great! We’re getting some lunch,” Ella told him.

“Uncle Michael!” Theo shouted, interrupting any further conversation. He streaked across the kitchen and hugged Michael around the waist. Millie came racing in after him and joined the hug.

Michael laughed and reciprocated the double hug as best as he could.

“Can we see your wings?”

“Can we go flying?”

“Where are Aunt Maze and Aunt Eve?”

“How long will you be here?”

The questions came rapid fire, and all four adults looked bemusedly at each other over the nine year olds’ heads.

“I’m here to accompany you to lunch,” Michael answered. “Aunt Maze and Aunt Eve are in Hell at the moment and won’t be joining us today.”

Trixie had been amazed at how well Millie and Theo took to celestial matters. She knew part of it was the twins hadn’t experienced (or couldn’t remember) a world without explicit knowledge of Heaven, Hell, and celestial beings; yet they were now old enough to start grasping what it all really meant, and they were just as enamored with it all as they’d always been.

They were fond of their Uncles Michael and Charlie, and their Aunts Maze, Eve, and Rory. They didn’t get to see most of them very often, but when they did they were always excited to be with them, full of questions about what they were doing. And they always asked if they could go flying. Rory had taken them once a few years prior and they simply couldn’t get enough, though opportunities were limited.

Their affection for their aunts and uncles was but a candle to the bonfire of their love for their Divine grandparents, though. Trixie had long wondered if there was some intrinsic connection between her twins and her mom and Lucifer—since the Creators had quite literally laid on hands to conceive them—but either way Millie and Theo were in awe of Chloe and Lucifer, and God and Goddess were besotted with Millie and Theo.

“Alright!” Livvy said. “Time for lunch. Let’s get ready and head out!”

After a brief huddle in which Trixie and Livvy decided on a burger joint down the road from their house, they all put on their vacuum suits and gravity boots and exited the house. The APD had pulled the convoy of black SUVs up to the house, ready and waiting for the group.

If Commander Jordan was surprised to see Michael in their midst, having no possible knowledge of how he came to be with them, she did not voice it.

Trixie and Olivia got into an SUV with Millie and Theo, and Ella and Michael rode in another one. APD forces spread throughout the other nine vehicles. Trixie felt a little ridiculous going only a short distance with such a large crew, but pushed the feeling away and focused on the moment.

They arrived at the burger place—Mars Attacks!—during the busy lunch hour. They were told to stay in the vehicles while the APD forces swept the area and vetted the other patrons as best as they could. Millie and Theo were getting antsy, probably quite hungry from their exertion that morning.

“Why do we have to wait?” Millie asked. Theo was staring out of the window at the restaurant.

“Our Admiral Protection Detail needs to make sure it’s safe,” Livvy said.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Theo asked, looking to them.

“Nothing is ever perfectly safe,” Trixie said, not wanting to get into the details with them at the moment. “It’s always a good idea to pay attention to your surroundings. But we should be fine here today. These are just precautions, so don’t worry too much about them.”

Millie nodded, a very serious look on her face. “I’ll keep an eye out.”

“Babe, please relax and enjoy lunch,” Trixie said. “We have the fine folks of the APD to look out for us.”

Trixie was trying to head off Millie’s next obsession. She knew her daughter well, and indeed understood that Millie took after her rather than Olivia in many ways. Theo was the opposite and seemed to be a clone of her wife at times. But with Millie, if she got an idea in her head, she would pursue it vigorously. Trixie didn’t want ‘keeping an eye out’ to be her next idea.

Millie stared at Trixie for a long moment, considering her in a gaze so similar to her own. Trixie now understood what Chloe must have gone through when Trixie was younger.

“You couldn’t do anything anyway,” Theo said, pushing against Millie’s shoulder.

Before an argument could start between them, the rear passenger door opened, revealing Commander Jordan. She had opened the door on the side of the vehicle facing away from the restaurant.

“Ma’ams,” she nodded. “This is as good as it’s going to get.” She stepped back and allowed them space to exit the SUV; Livvy went first, followed by Millie and Theo, and lastly Trixie. They were immediately flanked by two other APD forces. Michael and Ella were walking up behind them.

“Let’s eat!” Theo shouted, and that seemed to get everyone moving.

Trixie endured the curious, questioning, and strange looks from the other patrons of Mars Attacks! as best as she could. Olympus was a large city, so even this close to her house, she didn’t recognize anyone. Nonetheless, it was awkward to be surrounded by extremely well-armed APD forces in the middle of a serene suburban restaurant. But they got through the line and then their order, taking the number to a large table ‘outside’ on the patio.

Mars often had patios at places like this, but they were actually glass enclosures much like the patio attached to Trixie’s and Olivia’s house. They afforded a great view of the surroundings and the sky, but they were climate controlled and had breathable air.

Trixie, Olivia, Millie, Theo, Ella, and Michael took off their helmets and placed them on the floor between their feet. Michael didn’t need the helmet or the vacuum suit at all, but he needed to keep up appearances when in mixed company. The APD unit kept their helmets on, a few taking up sentry positions around their table and the others patrolling throughout and outside the restaurant.

Livvy made eye contact with her and they smirked and rolled their eyes at each other. It was all a little much but they would have to live with it for now, until she and Livvy could figure out just what the hell was going on.

Their food came and they dug into the delicious burgers and fries. Potatoes were grown in greenhouses on Mars and livestock were housed in giant climate controlled stables, fed with grasses, clover, and hay grown in greenhouses as well. A small percentage of beef was likely still imported from Earth, particularly rarer or the highest quality grades, but Mars had more agriculture than Earth now, so food was not in short supply here.

Trixie hadn’t seen recent numbers, but she wouldn’t be surprised if Earth and Mars had entirely swapped positions in terms of net exporter versus net importer. She did know the outlying space stations, around the Jovian planets, now received much of their imported food from Mars.

Livvy glanced over at Trixie and raised her eyebrows. Trixie had finished her burger and was munching on her fries. She nodded at Livvy and they looked over at Millie and Theo, both of whom had devoured most of their meals and were working on the last of their fries.

“Millie. Theo,” Livvy said, catching their attention. Their eyes darted to Livvy.

“Mom?” Theo asked, around a mouthful of fries.

“Gross,” Millie giggled.

Theo swallowed, looking a little embarrassed. “Sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” Trixie grinned at him. “These fries are good,” she added, for his benefit. He nodded rapidly, stuffing the last of his order into his mouth.

Trixie sobered. “That aside, though, your mom and I wanted to talk to you about the future.”

“Yes,” Livvy agreed. “You remember during our last video message when we mentioned a new school opening up on Trixie’s ship?”

“I do!” Millie answered. “It will be a full K-12 school opening on Discovery in August.”

“That’s right, smartypants,” Trixie affirmed.

“We’ll be going into fourth grade in August!” Theo said.

“Indeed,” Livvy smiled. “And do you both remember a few years ago when we brought you to Mars from Kepler so you could live with Aunt Ella and go to school here?”

“Mm hmm,” Millie agreed.

“Duh,” Theo said.

“Don’t be rude, Theo,” Trixie told him, though she was still smiling. “Do you remember why we did that?”

“Stability,” Theo parroted, clearly remembering the word.

“Consistency,” Millie added.

“Right again,” Livvy laughed. “And what do those words mean?”

“You said you wanted school for us to be like what it was for you,” Millie answered.

“That’s right,” Trixie said. “And while Kepler does have good schools, we didn’t want to keep bouncing both of you between school, babysitters, starships, and everything in between. Aunt Ella volunteered to watch you while you went to school here on Mars, and your mom and I visited during every leave we got. And of course we loved seeing your faces during our frequent videos.”

Due to the distances involved, live video chats weren’t possible, so Trixie and Olivia would trade video messages with Millie and Theo, treating them almost like video diaries to each other.

“We love you both so much,” Livvy continued on. “And we’re so proud of how well you’re doing in school, and how good you’ve been for Aunt Ella.”

“Thanks,” Millie mumbled, blushing. Theo kept silent, watching and listening.

“Now that the High Command of Humanity is opening a fully operational school—including boarding if necessary—on Discovery, we thought it would be a good time to bring you back out there with us. You could live full time on Discovery with me, and Livvy as well when she’s not deployed.”

Theo’s eyes widened. “Really? That would be awesome!”

“But what about school here? And Aunt Ella and Uncle Michael?”

“They’re coming too, obviously,” Theo scoffed.

“Actually, Theo, my home is here on Mars so I will be staying here,” Ella cut in, speaking for the first time in a while. Michael watched from his seat next to her. “Your moms offered me your house to live in permanently, so that’s what I’ll be doing. We can still send video messages and you’ll still visit when your moms come back here on leave.”

“But…I’ll miss you,” Millie said, pouting with watery eyes. Theo didn’t look happy either.

“I know, little ones. I’ll miss you too. But your place is with your moms, and now that’ll be possible.”

“We have some time,” Trixie told them, as gently as possible. “The school doesn’t open until the new school year starts in August, so we’re not pulling you immediately out of school. You’ll finish third grade here on Mars.”

“We want you with us, my loves,” Livvy said. “We also wanted to ensure your education was the best we could give you, and for a time that was here on Mars.”

Millie’s pout had morphed into a contemplative gaze. Theo had crossed his arms and was glaring at the table.

“Mille, Theo,” Michael said, leaning forward. “Aunt Ella and I will always have a place in your hearts, and we’re only a recorded video away, but we’re not your parents. Your moms are, and they love you deeply. They want what’s best for you, which later this year will be going to Discovery and starting fourth grade there. You’ll be with your moms! You won’t have to rely on passing recorded videos back and forth, and only seeing them for two months out of the year.”

“Thanks, Michael,” Trixie told him. “He’s right, you two. We love you and want what’s best for you. That’s why you’ve been on Mars for a few years now, and why we’ve all endured this difficult separation. But now it’s time to come back together as a family.”

Millie took a deep breath and exhaled. “Ok,” she nodded. Theo’s eyes snapped to her. He mumbled under his breath.

“What was that, Theo?” Livvy asked.

“Fine,” he said, a little louder.

Trixie knew this was another big upheaval in their lives, after so many others over their short nine years, but in her heart of hearts she knew this was best for them, and for her and Livvy. They had missed Millie and Theo so much, even though they did see them for two weeks four times per year while on leave and during the constant back and forth of the videos.

They needed to bring their family back together more permanently. Trixie had pushed hard for some sort of educational system on Discovery, since its fixed crew had grown to over twenty thousand permanently stationed there, and many with families. Given the distances involved in travel throughout the Solar System, splitting families up by sending civilians off-ship was a great personal strain for most, particularly since direct communication still traveled at only the speed of light and needed line of sight to work.

The High Command of Humanity had half worked around this by building a cadre of NLS drones that carried communications and mail between all human settlements and between Fleet assets. But it wasn’t yet commonly possible to have a live video chat between Neptune and Earth, for instance.

The exception to that rule was when Trixie had invited Admirals Hammer and Pelonelli to sit in on her staff meeting the other day. That had been a live video across 2.7 billion miles using bleeding edge technology that wasn’t yet widely available, due to its cost and resource needs.

It took overcoming the long-accepted theory of special relativity to achieve, combining the concepts of quantum tunneling and quantum nonlocality into a unified principle of how gravity and anti-momentum interacted in space-time. Since video images transmitted via electromagnetic radiation had no mass, they were not constrained by gravity, and with the help of dark energy’s anti-momentum, those waves could be made to near-instantaneously transit across unfathomable distances between two attuned dark energy emitters.

But dark energy emitters were not—yet—common pieces of technology outside of Fleet assets, so most of the general human population could still only directly communicate while within a few hundred thousand kilometers and line of sight.

Trixie didn’t blame Einstein or any of his colleagues for the flaw in special relativity. They were working with only half the variables, and had no way of objectively knowing how dark matter and dark energy factored into the overall picture. If Einstein had access to quantifiable observations about both, Trixie was sure he would have realized the so-called relativistic effects of high-speed travel were mitigated in space-time by the power of dark energy.

She shook her head. She could contemplate these matters another day. In the short term, the emerging science meant someone like her wife could travel trillions of miles, faster than the speed of light, and then return having aged at the same rate as the people she’d left. Longer term was more of a mystery, but Trixie was excited to see where it all went.

Lunch passed somewhat pleasantly from there, particularly after Livvy suggested they all get dessert. Millie and Theo perked up and seemed to, temporarily at least, forget about their departure from Mars in a few months. Soon enough, they were all climbing back into the SUVs and racing off toward home. The afternoon from there was filled with games and leisure, and Trixie enjoyed herself immensely. She could tell Millie, Theo, and Livvy did as well.

Michael departed before dinner and Ella went with him, calling out that she wanted to see Maze and Eve and that she’d be back later that night.

With the admittedly limited help of Theo and Millie, Trixie and Livvy made dinner and the four of them sat on patio in the pleasant Martian evening. By the time dinner was over, though the kids were yawning from the active day, so they were sent to wash up and get ready for bed. Trixie and Livvy followed them and tucked them in to their separate beds in the same room. Once they moved to Discovery, they would each have their own space. Though there were more than enough bedrooms in this house, they were young enough and twins as well so it didn’t yet matter.

“Good night, my loves,” Livvy said, kissing Theo’s forehead and then Millie’s. Trixie repeated the action.

“Sleep tight,” she added.

“You too,” Millie yawned, curling around on her side and closing her eyes. Theo was trying and failing to keep his eyes open.

“Night,” he managed.

Trixie and Livvy exited the room, leaving the door cracked, and then stood in the hallway. Trixie stepped up to Livvy and rested in her embrace for a moment, breathing against her. Then they walked hand in hand down the hallway to the living area. The last bits of twilight were starting to fade away.

Trixie squeezed Olivia’s hand and dropped it, turning toward their office that was connected to the living room.

“I’m going to call President Bailey.”

“Right now?”

“Yeah, Livvy. I’d like some answers.”

“Want me to sit in?”

Trixie shrugged. “If you want.”

“I’m sure you’ll tell me everything,” Livvy smiled. “I’ll stay out here and start Avatar 22. Join me when you’re finished? I know you’ve already seen it.”

“Sure,” Trixie nodded. “It’s really good.”

She continued on into the office. There were two terminals set up, one for each of them. Trixie sat in front of hers and woke it from hibernation. It performed a retinal scan and a fingerprint scan to unlock, and then she had access to all of her private files as well as the Fleet’s network and databases if she needed them.

She scrolled through her contact list in her video messaging software. When she reached P, President Caitlin Bailey appeared with her private contact information listed. Since they occasionally chatted about official High Command of Humanity or Fleet matters, they had exchanged direct contact information.

She glanced backward as she heard the opening notes of Avatar’s score and slid closed the door separating the office from the living room. She looked back to the screen and tapped the President’s name.

The call initiated and she could see her own face in the lower right corner of the large hologlass, with the word ‘Connecting’ flashing across the middle of the glass.

President Bailey picked up the call; there was a brief burst of static, then voices in the background, and Trixie was looking at a ceiling. The view tilted and suddenly the President’s face filled the screen. Trixie caught a brief glimpse of the President’s family behind her as the President walked out of the room.

“Trixie?” President Bailey asked.

“Good evening, Madam President,” Trixie answered. She was greeted with an eye roll and huff.

President Caitlin Bailey was in the first wave of emigration from Earth to Mars back in 2039 when she was only 24 years old. She’d had a nascent interest in government and politics, and as the new Mars colony established itself, she was a consistent voice and presence in matters relating to establishing political systems.

By 2050, as the population on the Red Planet quickly exploded, it became clear the various local governments needed more direct oversight that wasn’t tied to the Fleet, and as a result, there was a constitutional referendum that formed a planetary government. The first democratic election for the President of Mars was held that year. Caitlin Bailey was well known enough to be a front-running candidate in that first election, though she ended up losing by a thin margin to a slightly older man who had also been in the first wave of settlers.

She accepted a chief position in that administration, impressing everyone with her attention to detail and ability to cut through the noise to ensure Mars and its citizens had the resources they needed. She firmed up supply chains, increased agricultural output, and focused on infrastructure improvements as cities continued to expand and be newly built.

She won the next two elections in 2056 and 2062 by landslides, now serving in her second six-year term at 48 years old. If she wasn’t limited to three terms by the Constitution of Mars, it was feasible she could be President for another forty years.

Trixie raised her eyebrows at the dark skin and hair of the President’s face on the screen in front of her.

“Ma’am?” she asked.

The President had arrived to what looked like her office in the official Presidential Residence. Trixie watched as she closed the door and moved to her desk. The image suddenly changed and Trixie then saw the President sitting down at her desk, looking into what must have been her own terminal. She set the hologlass down on the desk and gave Trixie her full attention.

“You know you don’t need to call me that,” President Bailey said.

“I beg to differ, ma’am. As a head of state in the High Command of Humanity, you’re my superior. That demands respect, Madam President.”

“A conversation for another day then,” the President said. She was dressed down casually in slacks and a blouse, clearly having settled for the evening.

“I apologize for bothering you at such a late hour, ma’am.”

“It’s alright. I thought you might call.”

“Madam President?”

President Bailey sighed. “I spoke with Scott. He told me about the APD and your questions.”

“I see, ma’am. Then you probably know I have some questions.”

“Indeed.”

“Ma’am, I’ve been here for many years, and been an Admiral for quite a few of them, and this level of security has never been necessary. Am I missing something?”

“Other than what Scott and the Commander of your APD unit told you, you mean?”

Trixie nodded.

“Not particularly,” President Bailey said. “We’re facing increasing pressure from Earth. Mars is growing as fast as it can, but I will not let it become another Earth. We already killed one planet. We’re not going to kill two.”

“I understand, ma’am. But what does that have to do with me? Do you need me, Scott, and Evelyn to bring more Fleet resources to bear?”

The President smiled at her, white teeth flashing in between her lips. It was hard to believe she was seven years younger than Trixie and had already been the President of a planet for seven years.

“Not exactly, Trixie. And the APD unit is an insurance policy. I don’t expect anything to happen, but best laid plans and all that.”

Trixie blinked a few times and considered the President through the video messaging service, who waited patiently for Trixie to continue.

“I…” Trixie trailed off. She considered herself fairly smart but all of this wasn’t adding up. “I don’t understand, ma’am.”

President Bailey glanced off to the side for a moment and then back to Trixie.

“I can’t blame you for that. How about this? Accompany me tomorrow to the intake centers here in Olympus and then out to the Utopia Planitia where all the new construction is happening? It might help make things more clear.”

“I’d be honored, ma’am. Will it take all day?”

“Most likely. Is that a problem?”

Trixie shook her head. “No, ma’am. I just need to know what to tell my wife and children.”

President Bailey smiled again, and somehow it was warmer than her previous one.

“Ah, yes. Give my regards to Captain Edwards, and little Millie and Theo. I hope everyone is doing well?”

Trixie contained her surprise at the President’s knowledge of her family. They hadn’t really ever discussed their families before. She supposed it was politician’s job to know a little bit about everyone, to the extent they could.

“Yes, ma’am. Quite well. Millie and Theo are growing so fast, it’s unbelievable. I’m having a hard time understanding where the time went.”

“I know exactly what you mean, Trixie. My sons are fifteen and ten now, and I feel the same way.”

President Bailey leaned forward and typed something into her terminal. Trixie’s terminal and hologlass pinged with a new message.

“I just sent you the contact details for the head of my PPD. Have your Commander contact her to arrange everything for tomorrow.”

“Will do, ma’am. Thank you.”

President Bailey waved it away. “No thanks necessary, Trixie. See you tomorrow?”

“Aye. Good night, ma’am.”

“Good night, Trixie.”

The glass went blank. Trixie leaned back in her chair, considering the conversation. Why was everyone being so cryptic? First Scott, then the APD unit, and now the President of the entire goddamn planet.

Hopefully she would learn more tomorrow. She shut down her terminal and exited the office back into the living room. She glanced at the large display of Avatar 22, pleased to see she didn’t miss too much of the movie. Even after all these years and movies, they were still entertaining and well-made. The MCU had eventually fizzled out after fifty five movies, so by that benchmark Avatar still had a long way to go.

Trixie settled onto the sofa next to Olivia and curled into her side.

“So?” Livvy asked, with one eye on the movie. Kiri’s great-granddaughter had just infused herself with Eywa.

“President Bailey is taking me to the intake centers and then out to new construction in Utopia Planitia tomorrow. Maybe I’ll get some answers then.”

“All day?”

“I think so,” Trixie sighed.

“That’s ok, babe. Millie and Theo will understand. And getting answers will be nice.”

Trixie leaned into her even more and Livvy wrapped an arm around her.

“You’re comfy.”

She felt more than heard Livvy’s chuckle. Silence descended and their full attention turned to the movie. Trixie wondered if they’d ever find something like Pandora out there in the stars.

---

April 15, 2063. 0830 SST (MST+0).

Trixie stood outside near the house in her Fleet vacuum suit, which contained all the trappings of her 4 star Admiral rank and the High Command of Humanity. Olivia, Millie, Theo, and Ella were watching from inside the house through a bay window. Trixie was surrounded by the twenty members of the APD unit. Commander Jordan stood next to her.

They all looked up as the Presidential transport vessel descended carefully into the large open yard surrounding the house. There were other, smaller vessels patrolling around the larger ship, seeking and protecting against any threats.

The ship settled onto the hard red dirt and the rear ramp lowered to the ground. It resembled a smaller version of the Hercules-class limo Trixie had arrived to Mars on.

Trixie, Commander Jordan, and the rest of the APD unit walked forward. She glanced back and waved at her family, who were all waving out at her. She blew them a kiss, then faced forward again. As they approached the ship, President Bailey stepped down the ramp, flanked by a full cadre of PPD members.

The two Protection Details took the measure of each other. Commander Jordan stepped forward to greet her counterpart on President Bailey’s team, who also stepped forward.

The Presidential Protection Detail for the President of Mars existed in a gray area when it came to the Fleet. Trixie was Commander Jordan’s superior, from a military perspective, and ultimately if she disagreed with something Commander Jordan wanted to do, Trixie could overrule her and that would be that.

President Bailey’s Protection Detail was technically part of the High Command of Humanity, as were all off-Earth settlements, but Mars had a sovereign government and thus these agents were not part of the Fleet’s military command hierarchy. It presented some logistical challenges, particularly if any problems arose. So, earlier that morning, Trixie had discussed with Commander Jordan, and they had both decided Trixie would cede command of the APD unit to President Bailey and her PPD Commander if an emergency arose.

But—and Commander Jordan was very clear on this part—if anything were to jeopardize Trixie’s safety, or if orders from President Bailey or her Commander countermanded anything relevant to Trixie’s safety, Commander Jordan and the APD were free and clear to act in the best in interest of the Fleet and the Admiral they were charged to protect.

Trixie hated the caveat, though she understood why it was necessary. President Bailey was a head of state and technically her superior since the Fleet reported to the High Command of Humanity, but Mars was only one planet. The Fleet had purview over the safety and wellbeing of all humans, not just humans on Mars. When it came down to it, all of the High Command of Humanity’s military courts would side with Commander Jordan regarding an action taken to prevent Trixie’s death that was somehow also deleterious to President Bailey’s health.

Trixie saluted the President, who moved over to her while the Commanders discussed plans.

“Let’s hope they play nice,” the President grinned.

“Aye, ma’am,” Trixie smiled back. Clearly she was not worried at all about today’s excursion, given her relaxed posture and tone of voice.

“It’s good to see you in person again, Trixie,” President Bailey said, coming into her space for a brief hug. Trixie returned it, again attempting to keep the surprise off her face and out of her stance.

“You as well, ma’am,” Trixie replied.

President Bailey looked over her shoulder and waved up toward the house. Trixie looked back and saw everyone still standing in the bay window. She waved briefly again as well.

“You have a beautiful family.”

“Thank you, ma’am. Same to you, from the brief glimpse I caught at the beginning of our call,” Trixie laughed.

President Bailey returned the laugh as the Commanders walked up to them.

“Ma’ams,” they both said. “We’re ready for you,” Commander Jordan added.

“Perfect, let’s go,” the President said, striding forward and onto the ship. Trixie followed her, ascending the shallow ramp into the hold, and then walked up a short flight of stairs to the main cabin. It was divided into several sections and looked like a large executive office suite. Trixie could see the bridge through a door near the front. The PPD and APD forces filed in behind them.

President Bailey waved Trixie through a side door to her private office. As the door slid closed, she saw one PPD and one APD member stand to either side of it. They all had plasma weapons.

Shortly thereafter, the ramp clanged shut and the ship lifted off. Trixie sat in the offered chair in front of President’s Bailey desk and declined the refreshments on the sideboard. She’d already had breakfast. She and the President took off their helmets, setting them on the desk.

“We’re doing our best to manage the intake centers,” the President said. “Even so, you may be surprised by how chaotic they are. We’re getting one to two hundred thousand people from Earth every day now. In just the last month, we’ve received approximately 5.1 million new settlers. The birth rate here on Mars is also higher than anywhere else in the Solar System. You can probably start to see what we’re facing.”

“Is there any more recent rhyme or reason to migration patterns, ma’am? That last report I reviewed before I left for this leave suggested the bulk of emigration from Earth was coming from central Asia due to rampant desertification and crop desiccation.”

“That’s still true,” President Bailey told her. “But there are some other things we’ve noticed in the past few months. More Americans than before, for one. Older populations as well. I don’t know the precise root causes for either, though I suspect the latter is due to holdouts who can’t hold out anymore. And as a migration wave skews older, I have to look to our healthcare systems to ensure they’re prepared as well…”

“I see, ma’am,” Trixie said.

“I’m sure you do, Trixie.”

“Ma’am?”

Trixie didn’t detect any sarcasm in President Bailey’s voice. Nonetheless, it was an odd thing to say.

“You tend to see the bigger picture,” the President explained. “You have for years. You have to in your role. For you, it’s not just Mars—it’s the entire Solar System.” She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her eyes. “I can’t imagine that much responsibility.”

“Begging your pardon, ma’am,” Trixie said, smiling ruefully across the desk. “But you’re the sovereign head of a planet with well over a billion people. My command post in the Expeditionary Force isn’t the same at all.”

“I’m not sure I agree,” President Bailey responded, leaning forward, resting her elbows on the desk and staring into Trixie’s eyes. “Tell me, when the space station Copernicus opened in orbit around Neptune and you considered the impending migration, what were your priorities?”

“Safety, stability, and welfare, ma’am.”

“What did welfare include?”

“Housing, food, functioning utilities, healthcare, and education.”

President Bailey nodded. “All things I and my team must consider every time a new city opens here on Mars. So in actuality you’re functioning much like a President already.”

Trixie opened her mouth to respond but the words caught in her throat. Truthfully, she had never looked at it like that. She was doing her duty based on her role and rank in the Fleet of the High Command of Humanity, and if that meant she oversaw the creation of a functioning society in every new Jovian space station, so be it. It was simply part of her job.

“Perhaps, ma’am. It’s an interesting perspective. I wasn’t elected, though. You were.”

“I’m not an astrophysicist. I didn’t help pioneer the technology that brought us all across the Solar System. I’m not effectively in charge of quintillions of square miles of space.”

“Where are you going with this, ma’am?”

“Just food for thought, Trixie. I’d like your critical eye on the intake centers and the new development in Utopia Planitia. I’d value your thoughts and recommendations later on, if you’re amenable.”

“Of course, ma’am.”

“Perfect, we’re almost at our first stop.”

President Bailey rose from her chair and Trixie stood as well. They exited the President’s office with their helmets in hand. Trixie felt the slight shudder as the ship settled again. All twenty members of the APD and all fifteen members of the PPD surrounded her and President Bailey. They put on their helmets.

The ramp descended, letting in the bright light of day. Trixie and President Bailey were shepherded forward by the Protection Details. As they emerged from the ship and Trixie’s eyes adjusted, she could see they were on top of a large structure. The same sentry ships were circling overhead, prepared for any threat to their President.

“Over there,” President Bailey pointed, and Trixie followed her finger with her eyes.

Large ships landed and departed every minute or so. Groups of humans wearing cheap, unmarked vacuum suits disembarked and got into long lines, though ‘lines’ was a loose term for the writhing mass of humanity on the ground near the landing pads.

Other humans in neatly pressed and recognizable vacuum suits attempted to direct everyone where to go, but they were fighting a losing battle.

Trixie looked to the front of the lines and saw emigrants entering a building marked Processing. It was slow-going, though. And none of this was helped by the fact that they all seemed to have whatever worldly possessions they owned with them, ranging from a backpack to several large suitcases.

“Every day is like this,” President Bailey spoke. “As I said, we’re doing the best we can, but we’re barely keeping up. And intake is a relatively easy process, now that everyone’s biometrics are digital and easily verifiable. Actually settling them is the real bitch.”

“Could you not introduce a quota, ma’am? Cap the number of arrivals per day?”

“And send them where, Trixie?” the President asked, turning to look directly at her. The Protection Details shifted restlessly around them.

“Mercury is expanding but can’t accept more than they already plan to. The Moon is already at peak population. I’ve heard Copernicus is settling people faster than anyone expected, but soon enough that will also max out. All of the other space stations have some capacity, of course, but that’s on the order of a few hundred thousand or one to two million—total.

“We’re on track this year to settle somewhere around sixty million new arrivals here on Mars, based on the current rates. We can only assume that will continue to increase for the time being. So it could end up somewhere around seventy million.”

“Sorry, ma’am. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Don’t apologize, Trixie. That wasn’t a reprimand. A quota is a good idea but it’s infeasible in our current reality. And we can’t leave these people to starve or drown on Earth.”

“If only we were able to build space stations more quickly. And settle more moons. The settlement on Titan will come online soon, but that will initially house only two million people. Barely enough to make a dent in all this, ma’am.”

“We’re all doing the best we can with the resources we have, Trixie.” President Bailey laid a hand on her shoulder. “No one truly blames me for this crush of people from Earth, and no one truly blames you for anything going on in the rest of the Solar System. The fact that we have settled on or around every planet is a testament to the great work you and the Fleet have been doing for a long time.”

“I don’t disagree, ma’am,” Trixie said. “Yet seeing the reality of these intake centers certainly sharpens my perspective. It’s even more critical we bring more assets online, and more quickly, whether they are space stations or settlements on more moons.”

Trixie was also thinking about Olivia’s recent interstellar mission—and the drones they were waiting on returning from the other stars—and the possibility of future human settlements far from the Solar System. Those were likely years away, however. Real problems needed to be solved now.

The President dropped her hand to her side. “Let’s head back onto the ship. I still want to show you the new construction in Utopia Planitia, and that’s a bit of a ride from here.”

“Of course, ma’am.”

The APD and PPD forces guided them back onto the ship and soon after they lifted off, heading north and west out of Olympus, which sat on a large, low plateau west of Tharsis Rise and south of Valles Marineris.

Utopia Planitia was a huge, shallow depression just north of the Martian mid-latitudes. It was at the avant-garde of new settlement on the planet since it was relatively far from the equator, and thus less moderate in temperature. However, due to its topography, particularly near its center, it was well-protected from the worst of the Martian sandstorms and didn’t experience temperatures as cold as other areas with similar latitudes.

Instead of landing and touring on the ground when they reached Utopia Planitia, the Presidential transport made a few wide circles where the new city was spreading across the rocky red sand.

Trixie and President Bailey looked through a large optical viewfinder in the main cabin area. There was an enormous amount of activity below. A new city grid was taking shape practically before their very eyes.

“When does it open, ma’am?”

“As soon as possible,” the President responded. “Naturally we’re going to call it Utopia, though it is a rather conspicuous name.”

“Aye, ma’am,” Trixie agreed. “Doesn’t it frost here every morning, even in the summer?”

“Sure does. But the coldest it ever gets in winter is only -25 Celsius. Our infrastructure can easily handle that.”

The tour continued from there. They made a number of circuits around the whole area. Trixie took it all in, experiencing firsthand true planetary expansion. She’d been part of space station settlement for a long time, and had been peripherally involved in the pioneering Martian settlements twenty years earlier, but she had been focused on space travel and exploration, and so had not seen this. The coordination it took to rapidly build an entire city was mind-boggling, especially considering they wouldn’t stop with just this one city. Soon all of the Utopia Planitia would be covered by either a mega-city or multiple linked cities.

Eventually they departed for Olympus once again. President Bailey had the ship return to the Presidential Residence where she and Trixie took a late lunch and discussed what Trixie had seen. They bounced ideas off each other, both women drawing on their experiences to look at the problem from all angles. They didn’t land on too many specific action plans they could execute in the short term, but Trixie came away from the conversation and the day with a stronger sense of purpose and mission.

Prior to her leave, in her staff meeting, she had addressed some of the same problems head-on, but she had been looking outward. She always had been. Home wasn’t on Earth. It wasn’t behind her. It wasn’t even really here on Mars. Home was out there in the stars, with Livvy and Millie and Theo. The future of humanity lay beyond the Solar System, and as she had told her wife, she was laying the groundwork for that.

But she couldn’t forget or ignore the impending problems on Mars, or they would all soon be repeated across the Solar System. The High Command of Humanity and the Fleet needed to get ahead of them. Trixie knew they could.

---

April 26, 2063. 2315 SST (MST+0).

The buzzing of Trixie’s hologlass woke her and Olivia. She fumbled around the nightstand for a moment before picking up the device and bringing it to her bleary eyes.

It was Admiral Scott Hammer. Trixie glanced at the time and saw the late hour. The call was a live video call, meaning Scott must be on-world. That was a surprise.

She accepted the call but left her video off for the moment. She rose and turned on the bedside light, apologizing to her now-awake wife with her eyes, and got out of bed.

Scott’s face appeared. He was walking through some sort of command structure in a shipyard. Trixie could see the starships through the window behind him.

“Trixie—”

“One moment, Scott,” she said.

She set the glass down, pulled on sweat pants and a tank top, and then exited the bedroom and headed for the living room. Scott didn’t need to see a naked Livvy in the background.

She sat on the sofa and activated the video.

“Sorry to call so late, Trixie,” Scott restarted. “Did I wake you?”

“Yes,” Trixie nodded, “but that’s ok. I know you’d only call at this hour for something important. What’s going on?”

“I’m here to pick you up, Trixie. We’re heading to Earth.”

“What?”

“The High Command of Humanity has called an All Hands meeting. It’s in three days.”

Trixie processed the information, staying silent for a moment. Built into the charter of the High Command of Humanity was the ability to call an All Hands meeting, but it had never actually been done. The logistics of bringing together every head of state on Earth and across the Solar System along with every 1 star Admiral or higher in the Fleet were insane. And this was seemingly on short notice too.

“I’m supposed to be heading back to Discovery tomorrow. With my wife.”

“I know that, and I’m sorry. She can head to Discovery and you’ll meet her there later. Or you can pick her up on your way past Mars after the meeting.”

“Olivia has to report for duty, Scott. You know this.”

“Ah, yes. Sorry. I did know that.”

Trixie had never known Scott to forget anything, or be distracted.

“What’s going on, Scott? Why now?”

“We’re about to find out.”

“You don’t know anything?”

“Not really,” he shook his head. “Just educated guesses. At least some of it is probably related to what President Bailey showed you a couple weeks ago.”

Trixie let out a long breath. There was no way she could wriggle out of this and return to Discovery. The Fleet existed because the High Command of Humanity existed. To ignore this summons would be considered, at best, derelict of duty, and at worst, treason.

“And you’re on Mars because…?”

“Like I said, picking you up. President Bailey will use my limo to travel to Earth and we’ll both head there on Imperatrix.”

“Fine.” She let her head fall into her hand. “Fine. What time do we leave?”

“Oh six thirty sharp. Your APD unit will be informed shortly. I expect they’ll want to head to the Fleet shipyard around oh six hundred.”

“I need to break the news to Olivia, Millie, and Theo. Anything else, Scott?”

“Not tonight. And sorry again, Trixie. If it’s any comfort, I’m frustrated too.”

“Not your fault—right?” she glared at him. It was half-playful, half-serious.

He laughed out loud. “Not this time!”

“Good.”

“I’ll let you go. See you in a few hours.”

“See you soon, Scott.”

The call ended and the hologlass blanked out. Trixie collected herself for a few moments before rising to wake her children, to tell them and Olivia the news.

She would be returning to Earth for the first time in almost eleven years.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4 – Dark City

June 18, 2060. 0900 SST.

Trixie stepped into the bay of Discovery behind Admiral Hammer, the 4 star Admiral in charge of the Defense and Combat Force. Her eyes cut to the low stage placed toward the back of the large space, where at least one starship had been moved to make room for today’s gathering.

Most of the temporary seats arrayed on the deck before the stage were full and she saw Admiral Pelonelli, the 4 star Admiral in charge of the Administrative and Logistics Force, already occupying a chair on the stage.

“Attention on deck!” someone called, as Trixie and Admiral Hammer drew near, and there was a rush of sound as nine hundred Fleet officers—from 3 star Vice Admirals down through Commanders—stood as one at attention and raised their hands in a salute.

Trixie had to force herself not to stop and do the same. She saluted as she walked with Admiral Hammer toward the stage, though she did not defer to him or Admiral Pelonelli like she normally would.

“As you were,” Admiral Pelonelli said, having stood and moved to the podium on the stage. Her voice rang around the bay. Incoming and outgoing traffic was paused for the moment, so the bay was a silent hall filled with the gleaming hulls of starships. Neptune lurked beyond the force field at the open edge of the bay.

Trixie crested the short staircase to the stage behind Admiral Hammer, passing by the other 3 star Vice Admirals in the Fleet to her seat near the podium. As she took her seat, setting her helmet beneath the chair, she looked out over the audience and caught her wife’s eyes.

Olivia winked at her, a bright smile on her face. Trixie’s lip twitched but she mostly held back the answering smiling. Livvy’s widened.

Admiral Hammer took his seat on the other side of Trixie. He nodded toward Admiral Pelonelli, who still stood at the podium, looking at them. She nodded back and turned to face the crowd.

A hush fell over the bay; fidgeting and rustling ceased, and everyone focused on the leader of the ALF.

“Greetings, officers of the Expeditionary Force, and select officers of the DCF and ALF. Thank you all for making the journey to Discovery, the flagship of the Expeditionary Force. Today we gather to celebrate the accomplishments of Vice Admiral Dr. Beatrice Espinoza!”

Admiral Pelonelli’s voice was loud and clear, sweeping over every occupant of the room. Trixie was stoic as the words washed over her, nodding her head once, but otherwise keeping to the decorum of the moment. Admiral Pelonelli turned partially away from the seated crowd toward her.

“Admiral Espinoza, please rise.”

Trixie did and snapped to attention, offering a rigid salute.

“Ma’am.”

Admiral Pelonelli smiled back rather than saluting. She turned to face all of the officers fully once again.

“For one year now, the Expeditionary Force has been led by a coalition of Vice Admirals—recently including Admiral Espinoza—since the death of the previous CO, Admiral Henley. All have conducted themselves admirably in the face of the intense duties of the Expeditionary Force.

“Today, though, we gather to elevate Admiral Espinoza from Vice Admiral, where she is currently in command of deep space operations, to the Flag Officer 4 star rank of Admiral, and the Commanding Officer of the Expeditionary Force!”

In civilian settings, there would likely have been cheers or applause at this point. However, the Fleet was a military organization and followed those rules, so although there was a dense positive energy in the bay, every seated officer remained silent and watchful.

Admiral Pelonelli lifted something from the podium and turned to Trixie. She was still standing at attention but did allow her eyes to wander from the Admiral’s face to what was in her hands. It was the diamond-shaped 4 star pin of her new rank.

“Admiral Espinoza, it is my utmost privilege, on behalf of the Fleet of the High Command of Humanity, to bestow this 4 star Admiral rank upon you. For your recent and historical endeavors leading humanity to the stars and expanding the horizons of our existence. For your tireless and selfless work ethic in the face of insurmountable odds. And for your indefatigable hope that we can be better, that we can go farther, and that we can exceed our known bounds.

“The member states of the High Command of Humanity voted unanimously yes to promote you from Commanding Officer of deep space operations to the Commanding Officer of the entire Expeditionary Force.

“Congratulations and thank you for your service, and I look forward to the rest of your career in the Fleet. I’m sure we’ll all be astounded by where you go, and what you do.”

Admiral Pelonelli moved forward, stepping into Trixie’s space, and reached up to her collar to remove the triangle-shaped 3 star badge of her former rank. It was swiftly replaced with the 4 star diamond. The other Admiral saluted her, which Trixie briefly returned.

Trixie took a deep breath. She was officially a 4 star Admiral.

As Admiral Pelonelli stepped back, the bay erupted in cheers and applause in celebration. Trixie smiled and could barely hold back a surprised laugh. She glanced at Admiral Hammer and his eyes twinkled merrily at her, clearly knowing about the break in protocol well in advance.

Trixie walked forward to the podium and rested her hands on the edges, looking down at the assembled officers of the Fleet as the noise of their celebration quieted down. Behind her, she heard Admiral Pelonelli take her seat.

“Thank you, Admiral Pelonelli,” Trixie started. “Thank you as well, Admiral Hammer. Thank you to the High Command of Humanity for trusting me with this leadership position. And I want to extend a special thank you to everyone here today, and to everyone that will later watch the recording.

“Without all of you, the High Command of Humanity and the Fleet would not exist, and it is because of your tireless efforts every day that we can stand here on Discovery, while orbiting Neptune, and look to the future of the Expeditionary Force and the Fleet.

“We recently proved crewed ELS travel is possible. This significantly expands the possibilities of our mission in the Expeditionary Force, and I am looking forward to working closely with all of you to continue helping humanity get to the stars.”

Trixie paused and looked beyond the seated officers and the parked starships to the blue of Neptune outside of Discovery.

“When I see Neptune out there,” she continued, pointing in that direction, “I see the limitless potential of what we can achieve when we work together. You cannot see Neptune with the naked eye from Earth, yet here we are in its orbit only a few decades after we first went back the Moon. Our progress has been outstanding, and I expect that to continue as we look farther afield.

“Thank you everyone. I am honored to lead the Expeditionary Force. Ad astra pro futuro hominum.”

She snapped to attention and saluted outward, toward all of the seated officers, and they all stood and saluted back. Trixie’s long career had led her here. She was now one of the three COs of the entire Fleet.

---

April 28, 2063. 1845 CDT (Central Daylight Time).

Imperatrix departed from the Moon only thirty minutes after it arrived. Some of the crew changed out, and Scott picked up a few things from the base, but otherwise it was just a pit stop on the way to Earth.

The ship was quite full with both Admiral Protection Details and two 4 star Admirals. Scott’s aides and staffers were also aboard; Trixie’s would meet her on Earth. She could hardly move anywhere without needing to step around someone, so she eventually settled for scrolling through the duty roster on her hologlass in the silence of her suite.

After a time, she was satisfied with the new and ongoing orders for her immediate subordinates—the Expeditionary Force’s 3 star Admirals—and their orders for their subordinates. This was important because all of the Fleet’s Admirals would be on Earth for the All Hands meeting, so normal operations would be in the hands of the Captains and the Commanders for a few days. She blanked the hologlass, set it on the low table in front of the couch, and turned to look out of the large windows of her suite.

En route as they were, Trixie had a clear view of Earth hanging like a dappled blue and white marble in the void of space. She was ambivalent about this surprise return to her birth planet. There were good reasons she had scarcely been on Earth in the last few decades, but it was still the home of the majority of humanity.

As she stared at Earth, her thoughts turned to Olivia, Millie, and Theo. Millie and Theo were more curious than upset at her leaving for Earth, since they knew they would be staying on Mars for a few more months anyway. Olivia had been surprised, and then a little annoyed just like Trixie was at the unknown reasons behind the All Hands meeting, but in the end had shrugged and determined duty was calling them apart. It wasn’t the first time, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

Her suite door dinged.

“Enter.”

It slid open, revealing Scott standing there, along with the backs of two APD forces guarding the door, facing outward from her suite.

“Admiral Espinoza. May I come in?”

“Of course, Admiral Hammer,” she waved him in. The door closed behind him. She watched as he walked forward, his gaze also captured by Earth, which was slowly growing bigger and bigger. He turned to her after a moment and then sat at the other end of the sofa, placing his helmet on the low table next to hers.

“What is it, Scott?” she asked.

“I am not certain what to expect, Trixie. This All Hands meeting is unprecedented.”

She nodded. “It is.”

“This is a disruption to normal Fleet operations.”

“We’ve been over all this already, Scott,” Trixie sighed. “Are you worried about the purpose and outcome?”

“No, not precisely. But to galvanize every leader and Admiral like this is no small task.”

“You’ve already told me your suspicions, right? Now that we’ve successfully crewed a mission to another star, the High Command of Humanity needs to look at the bigger picture and reassess itself. And that may require some Fleet reorganization.”

Scott nodded, leaning back and crossing his arms. “Yes, I do suspect that is at least one big reason for the All Hands meeting…”

“But?”

“But I also think it might have something to do with Earth itself.” He nodded out of the window. Earth had grown considerably in size. They were only a few minutes out now. “Very few Fleet assets or leaders spend much time on Earth. And generally for good reason of course. We all have responsibilities and duties elsewhere in the Solar System.”

“I’ve read the reports. I know how bad it’s getting.”

“We’ve all read the reports. And seen the pictures. But we’re not actually there.”

“We’re doing the best we can, Scott. Our resources aren’t infinite, yet we’ve settled upwards of 1.5 billion people off of Earth. I think that’s a pretty damn good accomplishment,” Trixie said.

“Of course it is! No one’s arguing that. But—for example, I’m sure you read the Great Salt Lake finally dried up a few years ago?”

Trixie nodded.

“Well, the salt crust eroded enough to expose the soil, which is filled with arsenic and other terrible things. Every time the wind blows, it carries toxic dust to the millions of people in metro Salt Lake City. There’s an ongoing evacuation of the entire area, but it’s slow-going. And it’s not handled by the Fleet, since it’s on sovereign US soil.”

“Where are they going?”

“Wherever they can. Climate refuge cities like Minneapolis, Chicago, or Detroit. Any off-Earth settlement with capacity to take them. Other countries sometimes.”

Trixie took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Earth loomed large in front of them now. She could see a giant storm swirling in the Caribbean, which was in twilight and heading toward darkness as evening came to America’s eastern seaboard.

“Maybe that has to be part of it too, Scott.”

He raised an eyebrow at her.

“The High Command of Humanity is a consortium of sovereign nations. The Fleet has no purview or jurisdiction or even obligation to help in the situation you just described. We’ve always looked outward, and upward. You defend Earth, but you don’t police it or offer direct military aid. That’s not part of your duties. I look after off-Earth settlements, but I don’t organize migration from Earth.”

“You think the High Command should empower the Fleet more?”

“I don’t think ‘empower’ is the right word. But the Fleet only exists because the High Command of Humanity exists. Or at least that is how it was in the beginning. I wouldn’t be surprised if there has to be some sort of reconciliation of the two in the coming months or years.”

Scott made a pensive noise and stared off into the distance. The room darkened as the ship fell into the shadow of the Earth. Trixie looked up, toward the top of the windows, since Earth was above the ship from their perspective now. They seemed to be racing along the divide between shadow and sunlight.

They passed into the atmosphere with a small jolt. The ship rotated and flattened the angle of trajectory. If Trixie wasn’t used to such maneuvers, the shifting view out of the windows would have easily made her sick. But she was an old pro at space travel and knew what to expect.

As they glided into the upper atmosphere, the dark of the void shifted to an indigo and then a dark blue, and as they dropped lower through 50000 feet, they passed back into sunlight and the classic cerulean skies of Earth faded into view. They were coming in high over the Atlantic US coast, somewhere between Washington, D.C. and New York City. Trixie stared downward, looking at the long shadows the setting sun cast over the clouds and the landscape below.

They were high enough that she couldn’t make out anything distinctive, though the coastline was vastly different from when she grew up. Major coastal cities were mainly remnants of what they once were, since all low-lying areas and neighborhoods were uninhabitable now due to saltwater infiltration.

As they passed over the coast, Imperatrix turned northward. Scott and Trixie were silent as they watched from the windows. At New York City, they turned westward again. Trixie’s brief view of the giant city showed only two and a half boroughs remaining. The sea had reclaimed the rest.

From there, it was a straight shot west to Chicago. The headquarters for the High Command of Humanity was in the new urban core, near where the river met Lake Michigan. At one time, it had been in New York, but deteriorating conditions there forced the move.

“The Great Lakes are becoming the new global population center,” Scott commented, as they watched the Finger Lakes pass by below. Buffalo and Lake Erie were up ahead.

“I know. Access to freshwater, protection from the worst of the tropical storm systems, consistent precipitation patterns, arable land, and only somewhat moderate warming overall compared to other places.”

Scott nodded. “The area bounded by Duluth, Minneapolis, Madison, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Toronto, Sault Ste. Marie, and Marquette are important to the global economy now, perhaps the most important single area on Earth.”

Trixie’s lip curled at the corner in an ironic smile. She remembered the sentiment of the Southern Californians of her youth. No place on Earth was better, or would ever be better. Yet decades later those Midwestern places people always scoffed at were booming while California suffered the brunt of climate change on multiple fronts.

They were crossing Lake Erie now. Michigan was up ahead. Trixie watched it approach, seeing the newly giant sprawl of Detroit as they came closer. Downtown Detroit was a gleaming forest of skyscrapers, the third biggest city in the country now, behind only Chicago and Minneapolis. It had come a long way from the deep depression of the earliest twenty first century.

Halfway across Michigan, Imperatrix shifted again and their altitude and speed started decreasing. Trixie felt the swoop in her stomach from the change in gravitational forces. The sun was low on the western horizon now, minutes away from setting, though they were currently racing it westward.

As they crossed Lake Michigan, gliding downward and southward, Trixie knew twenty years before they would have needed to be careful about other aircraft, particularly so close to major aviation centers like Chicago O’Hare. Commercial aviation had collapsed, though, due to the scarcity of petroleum and the crumbling need for travel due to changing and shrinking economies.

Now, commercial flight was usually handled by ships powered with new technology similar to Fleet assets, though it was cost prohibitive for most. The globalization of the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries had slowed and then mostly stopped as migration off Earth sped up.

Chicago came into view. It had always been a large city, but now it was truly immense. Much of its former suburban sprawl had been subsumed into its ever-expanding urban core. Trixie saw endless rows of skyscrapers, much more than Detroit, separated by tall tracks on which ran the magnetic trains used for public transportation. The final remnants of the glowing sun reflected off the walls of glass, briefly blinding her.

Then the angle changed and they were slowing further, heading toward where Chicago O’Hare used to be. Now it was a High Command of Humanity base and shipyard, full of parked, arriving, and departing terrestrial aircraft as well as starships.

Imperatrix came in low and fast, sweeping around the base at an extreme bank, bleeding speed as she did so. After completing almost a full circle, they paused in a hover, and Trixie could feel the roar of the thrusters as they repositioned to point toward the ground.

The ship lowered swiftly, dropping into its large parking slot. There was another shudder as it finally settled to the ground, and then the rumble of the engines quickly died down.

“Welcome to Earth,” Scott said.

“Thanks,” Trixie replied, drily.

They both stood, grabbed their helmets, and headed out to the common area of the ship. The APD forces were forming up, and Commander Jordan as well as Commander Bryan Roberts, Scott’s APD leader, were calling out orders. Scott’s aides and staffers were hustled out of Imperatrix with four APD forces, leaving Trixie, Scott, and the rest of their APD units.

“Admirals,” Commander Jordan said. “We’ll be heading into Chicago. You’re both staying at the JW Marriott across the street from High Command. Questions?”

“Same drill as Mars, Commander?” Trixie asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Commander?” Scott asked. Trixie saw him send a pointed look to Commander Roberts.

“Aye, sir,” he responded, and then waved to another APD officer, who stepped forward and handed two plasma pistols to Commander Roberts.

“Here you are sir, ma’am,” Commander Roberts said, stepping forward, and holding out the pistols. They were in holsters with belts.

“What’s this?” Trixie asked.

“Precautionary measure,” Scott said. “Though this is sovereign American territory, you are entitled to protect yourself as a Flag Officer in the Fleet. It’s also a symbol of your rank here on Earth, where they still hold to old military traditions.”

Trixie stared at Scott. This had never been necessary before, and she had been on Earth as an Admiral, though never as a 4 star Admiral. She pursed her lips but moved forward to take the pistol, holster, and belt. She settled it around her waist. It would take a little while to get used to the weight on her right hip.

“Still remember how to use it?”

Trixie’s eyes snapped to Scott. He was smiling.

“Don’t test me.”

He laughed and held his hands up, taking the other pistol and strapping it on.

“Let’s move,” Commander Jordan said.

In a replay of her arrival to Mars, Trixie and Scott were swept out of Imperatrix toward a waiting herd of imposing black vehicles. The fading heat of the late April day washed over her as she tasted Earth’s air for the first time in years.

She glanced back as they rushed across the concrete. Imperatrix sat there, gleaming in the fading light, the sleek starship looking out of place in the terrestrial shipyard.

Scott and Trixie were guided into a giant limousine that was somehow familiar. It almost looked like the Beast of old, something American Presidents used in the early twenty first century. Yet instead of American flags waving from the hood and trunk, flags representing the High Command of Humanity, the Defense and Combat Force, and the Expeditionary Force rippled in the breeze.

The motorcade consisted of another limousine similar to theirs, at least a dozen black SUVs, and probably another dozen black sedans. Commander Jordan got into their limousine with another APD officer.

“Move out,” Commander Jordan said, keying her comm with the sensor on her glove. Trixie was pressed back into her seat as the limousine sped away in the center of the large group of vehicles, all of which had lights flashing and sirens blaring.

After a moment, Commander Jordan finally took off her helmet. The other APD officer did as well. Trixie and Scott had never put theirs on, since this was Earth after all, and theirs were between their feet on the floor.

The tinted windows added to the falling dusk, and the sharp edges of Chicago faded into bright urban lights as they wound their way closer to the city center. There was no traffic to impede them, and after a time Trixie saw why: interchanges and intersections were blocked by local terrestrial police, forming barricades with their vehicles.

“I need to meet with my staff tonight,” Trixie told Scott. “My understanding is they’re already at the hotel?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“The All Hands meeting starts at 0900 tomorrow. How about you and I meet at 0700? And then we can meet with our teams at 0730. The Fleet still needs to be functional while we’re all here.”

“Sounds good, Admiral Espinoza.”

“Commander Jordan, what’s the protocol for tonight? And tomorrow?”

“Ma’am? In terms of the APD?”

“Yes.”

“Tonight whenever you are outside of your room, you will be accompanied by at least two APD forces. Two will always be stationed at your door as well, regardless of whether you are present. Tomorrow, Commander Roberts and I have sketched some logistics with our CO, but we’ll also need to work in concert with the protection details for all of the heads of state in attendance.”

“I see…” Trixie trailed off.

“Aye, ma’am. Pardon, but tomorrow may be a cluster.”

“Just remember your duty to Admiral Espinoza, Commander Jordan. She takes priority, over other protection details and heads of state.”

Trixie looked at him, and Scott turned his eyes to her.

“I’d say the same thing to Commander Roberts about me, Admiral Espinoza. As I hope you would too.”

Trixie eventually nodded. He was right.

“I don’t mean to take any of this lightly, but this situation is unprecedented, as we’ve all talked about. The Fleet and the High Command of Humanity exist in a gray area relative to the sovereign heads of state we’ll be meeting tomorrow, so command hierarchy will be malleable. Priorities will be all over the place. Hence the need to make clear your priority, Commander Jordan.”

“Yes, sir!” she responded, saluting briefly and clenching her jaw. Trixie saw her hands twitch, as if she wanted to reach for her plasma pistol.

The limousine began to slow. Commander Jordan tensed and looked around, out of the windows. The motorcade was coming upon a checkpoint strewn across the highway. The vehicles here looked different from the local law enforcement along their route. Trixie could see several High Command of Humanity flags.

Commander Jordan relaxed.

“The area around headquarters is on lockdown, given the attendees for tomorrow’s meeting. This checkpoint will get us into the secure area,” she explained.

“What about all the people that live here?” Trixie wondered.

“They either temporarily left or are sheltering in place.”

“Seems draconian.”

Commander Jordan shrugged. “Martial law.”

They passed through the checkpoint without issue and then sped onward, drawing closer to the river and the lakeshore, and the headquarters of the High Command of Humanity.

It was full dark now, and the lights from the vehicles threw alternating red and blue patterns on the buildings they passed.

Chicago looked so different from the cities on the Moon, Mars, and Mercury, and from the various space stations in orbit around the other planets. The city had been beautified over the decades, built up shiny and new over the decrepit ruin of the early 2030s, though Trixie couldn’t help but feel the crushing weight of artifice.

In terms of the ongoing disaster of climate change, Chicago was one of the most protected cities in the world, given the location near Lake Michigan and its blunting impact on the worst effects, but it had gentrified itself out of reach of most of the human population remaining on Earth.

Unfortunately, places like Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, and New Orleans were where people were also still settling, mainly because it was so cheap to live in those cities. But that also came with the constant onslaught of climate uncertainty, and disaster after disaster, such that infrastructure was strained to the breaking point or non-existent in some cases.

And the middle of the country? From Las Vegas to Lexington and everywhere in between, summers were simply too hot, too dry, and too long to sustain much development anymore. Class distinctions, once driven—to a certain extent—by the coastal elites, now existed in a much simpler dichotomy. The climate refuges of the Midwest and Canada were where the money flowed.

The rest of the Earth was the same. Each continent had carved out climate refuges. Inverness in Scotland and Geneva in Switzerland for Europe. Irkutsk in Russia for Asia. Kampala in Uganda for Africa. Encarnacion in Paraguay for South America. And Canberra for Australia. Other major population centers had either been abandoned or dwindled to mere shadows of their former size.

With enough human migration off Earth, would human-caused climate change eventually slow, stop, and ultimately reverse? Trixie thought it was likely to be true, but it could take centuries to see any sort of real, positive impact. And they didn’t have that long to figure out the challenges facing them now.

The motorcade pulled up to the JW Marriott, guided into the half-circle roundabout in front of the massive 80-floor hotel by waiting police and other law enforcement. Their limousine squealed to a stop outside of the lobby doors, flanked on all sides by other vehicles.

“Hold,” Commander Jordan told them, listening to something in her earpiece. Eventually she nodded and looked to the door closest to the hotel, which was soon opened by Commander Roberts.

“Sir. Ma’am.” He held the door wide. Scott slid out and Trixie followed him, standing and stretching her legs briefly before Commander Jordan guided her forward with a firm hand at her back. APD forces were arrayed around them, looking outward, plasma weapons pointed downward but held ready.

Scott entered the hotel behind Commander Roberts; Trixie followed him; and Commander Jordan was behind her. As soon as they were through the double doors, another Fleet officer stepped forward to greet them, saluting briefly before getting down to business.

“Admiral Hammer, Admiral Espinoza. I am Captain Garenji Alsam, the Commanding Officer of the joint APD forces for both of you and Admiral Pelonelli while you’re all Earth-side. Here are your room keys—8010 for Admiral Hammer and 8001 for Admiral Espinoza. We’ll bring your luggage to your rooms shortly. Any immediate questions for me?”

Trixie held out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Captain Alsam.” He shook her hand. “Thank you for taking such good care of us. I will need to meet with my staff this evening. I’m assuming there is a secure location here in the hotel for that?”

“Yes, ma’am. We can set you up in one of the large conference rooms.”

“Perfect. Have it ready in 30 minutes.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I’m all set, Captain Alsam,” Scott said. “Good to see you again.”

“You too, sir.”

The group broke up then. Scott wandered over to some of his staff who were waiting in the lobby, followed by Commander Roberts and several other APD forces. Captain Alsam attended to some other business. Trixie headed to the elevators, followed by Commander Jordan and three APD forces.

It was a fast ride to the eightieth floor, all things considered, and when she stepped out, the tall windows by the elevators showed a magnificent view of the city. Trixie turned and headed for her room, which appeared to be on a corner of the building.

Commander Jordan stopped her outside the door and held out her hand.

“Room key please, ma’am.”

“Surely Captain Alsam already saw to the room’s security.”

“He did, ma’am. But I was not here.”

They stared at each other for a moment before Trixie relented and handed over the key. Commander Jordan and one APD officer entered the room, leaving Trixie standing in the hallway with the other APD officer. She eyed his uniform.

“Lieutenant Evans.”

“Ma’am?” He briefly made eye contact but stayed alert to their surroundings, even though they were alone in the long hallway.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Admiral Trixie Espinoza. Thank you for your service,” she smiled and extended a hand, knowing she didn’t need to introduce herself, but doing so anyway.

He seemed to relax slightly, though she could tell he was still alert.

“Nice to formally meet you as well, Admiral Espinoza. I’m Lieutenant William Evans. I joined your APD when you left Mars.” He shook her hand.

“All clear!” Commander Jordan shouted, exiting the hotel room with the other APD officer. Trixie smiled again at Lieutenant Evans before turning to Commander Jordan.

“Thank you. I’m going to freshen up. Are my bags in there already?”

“Yes, ma’am. By the bed.”

“Perfect. I’ll be out in…” She looked at her holowatch. “Twenty-five minutes now.”

“Understood. See you soon, ma’am.”

Commander Jordan handed the room key back to Trixie and then took up position on one side of the doorframe. Lieutenant Evans stood at the other side of the doorway, and the third APD officer stood opposite, facing the doorway. Trixie saluted them and entered the hotel room, shutting the door behind her.

It was a corner suite, large and spacious, with wonderful views of the lakeshore and the nearby portions of the city. The screens had been lowered, likely for security, so Trixie peeked out at the view for a moment before heading through the living area to her bedroom. She pulled her hologlass out of her pocket and sent a message to her staff and the Expeditionary Force’s 3 star and 2 star Admirals to meet her down in the lobby, and that casual dress was fine this evening.

She quickly unpacked, undressed, and stepped into the walk-in marble shower. She washed efficiently and then redressed in a casual terrestrial uniform that told her rank and name but was comfortable and not showy. She fitted the cap onto her head while looking in the mirror, staring at the emblem of starship racing toward the sunburst. Lastly, she clipped the belt with the holster and pistol back around her waist. She knew Commander Jordan wouldn’t let her leave the suite without it.

Trixie tapped out another message on her hologlass, this time to Olivia, sending her the brief details of her journey and arrival to Earth. Olivia had already headed back to Discovery, so her wife would receive the message on the next NLS drone out to Neptune.

She sent one final message. It was a recorded video message to Millie and Theo.

“Hi my loves,” she smiled, holding the hologlass in front of her face. “I’m here on Earth in Chicago, which you probably remember from your lessons is near the Great Lakes. The big meeting is tomorrow. After that my hope is to head back to your mom on Discovery. When I get there, we’ll send you a joint video message. I love you so much! Stay out of trouble and treat each other right. See you soon.”

She ended the recording and hit send. She walked over to a window and moved the screen to look out again, this time tilting her head up to the night sky. Clouds had filled in since sunset so she couldn’t see any stars or planets, but somewhere up there were Millie, Theo, and Mars. And, more distantly, Olivia, Neptune, and Discovery.

“Look out for them,” she whispered, sending the words to her mom and Lucifer. Then she turned and exited the suite, ready to lead the Expeditionary Force into the unknown future.

---

April 29, 2063. 0845 CDT.

Trixie, Scott, and Evelyn led the Fleet delegation in full dress uniform across the street from the JW Marriott to the High Command headquarters. They were surrounded by APD forces and at the front of a large group of all of the Admirals in the Fleet, from the 1 star Rear Admirals (lower half) to the 3 star Vice Admirals who reported directly to them. Security was tight, so Trixie had not yet encountered any heads of state. She expected to shortly, though.

The clouds from the previous night hadn’t dissipated, casting a pall over the city and cranking up the humidity to an uncomfortable level. Chicago was quiet around them except for the distant wail of sirens as they walked between the steel and glass canyons.

On the other side of the wide urban thoroughfare loomed the headquarters of the High Command of Humanity, which took up two full city blocks. There were three tall towers with a broad, ten-story base that filled the rest of the space. The starship racing toward the sunburst was emblazoned over the main entrance, stretching at least eighty feet high.

Fleet assets guarded the entrance. They all saluted Trixie and the rest of the group and let them through. As they passed into the cavernous lobby of the building, Trixie saw other delegations milling around, many with flag pins she recognized.

The 3 star Admirals and below broke off from the group. They would watch and participate in the All Hands meeting from tiered balconies above the main meeting hall, the floor of which was reserved for the various heads of state and Trixie, Scott, and Evelyn.

As Trixie watched them go, her eyes were drawn to two figures walking toward them, flanked and followed by their own protection details.

“Admirals! Good to see you!”

“Mr. President,” Trixie, Scott, and Evelyn all said in unison, snapping to attention and saluting. “Madam President,” they added.

Caitlin Bailey, President of Mars, and Charles Kingston, President of the United States of America, came to a stop in front of them. President Kingston held out his hand to Scott and President Bailey held hers out to Trixie.

“It’s good to see you again so soon, Admiral Espinoza.”

“Likewise, ma’am,” Trixie replied, shaking her hand. President Bailey moved on to Evelyn and then Scott, and Trixie shook President Kingston’s hand and watched him shake Evelyn’s.

The Presidents were a study in contrast. President Kingston was as fair, blond, and blue-eyed as they came. President Bailey was a striking Black woman with dark skin, darker hair, and deep brown eyes. They were around the same height and both wore tailored suits. Kingston wore the American flag pin on his lapel and Bailey had the Martian flag pin on hers. It held the classic symbol of the shield and sword of the god of war, though it was red on a black background rather than black on a white background.

“Shall we?” President Kingston wondered, graciously holding out his arm to Evelyn. She smiled and took it.

“Of course, Mr. President,” Evelyn answered.

“Madam President?” Scott wondered, holding his arm out to President Bailey. Her eyes cut to Trixie, but she waved the President off.

“I’ll be fine, ma’am,” she smirked.

President Bailey took Scott’s arm and followed the other two, with Trixie bringing up the rear. They were all surrounded by their various protection details.

As they moved further into the building toward the meeting hall, they passed other heads of state Trixie recognized, usually sharing brief words, though everyone was starting to flow in the same direction now. There were flag pins and heads of state Trixie didn’t immediately recognize too, though Earth still had well over a hundred sovereign nations so it was not unexpected.

At the entrance to the meeting hall, there was a traffic jam as High Command and Fleet security haggled over protection details and whether—and which—weapons would be allowed inside. Trixie watched for a few moments in disbelief. How had they not answered this question already?

She stepped forward after a few more seconds, unhooking her belt and handing over the plasma pistol to the nearest security agent.

“Commander Jordan, please relinquish your rifle and pistol, and instruct your team to do the same. You may keep your stun guns.”

Trixie could tell by the tightening of the Commander’s eyes that she wanted to contest the order, but Trixie flattened her own gaze so that her words brooked no argument.

Commander Jordan looked to Captain Alsam, who nodded, and then every Fleet APD officer was in motion, handing over their plasma weapons for safekeeping. The Presidential Protection Details near them started doing the same thing.

There was a lengthy clatter of weapons being safetied and set down. Scott and Evelyn handed over their plasma pistols.

“Perfect, that’s settled!” President Kingston said, voice warm and garrulous as always. “Thank you for providing a simple solution, Admiral Espinoza.”

“No problem, sir.”

President Kingston retook Evelyn’s arm and moved into the meeting hall. Trixie followed along behind Scott and President Bailey. The APD and PPD forces swarmed around them, and Trixie almost giggled at how uncomfortable they looked without their weapons. But if no one had weapons, then surely the risk was diminished.

Trixie found herself in awe of the meeting hall as soon as she crossed the threshold. She had seen it in videos and virtual meetings, but had never been here in person.

It was an impressively large, ornate, circular room, with a high ceiling and tall windows spaced evenly around the circumference. There were pictures, paintings, and mosaics spread along the walls too, representing the recent history of the High Command of Humanity as well as the history of human space travel.

In the center, there was an immense circular table with enough seats to fit every head of state and the trio of 4 star Admirals. The center was open and painted on the floor was the emblem of the High Command of Humanity. There were seats around the outside of the room for aides and staffers, and they were slowly filling up as more and more people entered the room.

There were several tiers of circular balconies as well, and Trixie saw they were at least half full of other folks invited to this All Hands meeting, including all of the 1 to 3 star Admirals in the Fleet and their support staff.

She followed both Presidents and Admirals further into the room to the table. Presidents Kingston and Bailey left them and continued to their seats. Trixie, Scott, and Evelyn found theirs. They had placards identifying them. Trixie’s read:

Admiral Dr. Beatrice Espinoza

Commanding Officer, Expeditionary Force

Fleet of the High Command of Humanity

Scott sat to her left and Evelyn sat to her right. Trixie took off her cap and set it on the table in front of her. Scott and Evelyn mirrored her actions.

“I’ve never been in here before,” Evelyn said, looking up toward the ceiling.

“I haven’t either,” Trixie told her.

“I have, but only once,” Scott said. “Back in ’56 when you were leading the team to solve the ELS problem with larger ships. There was a contingency meeting with DCF about what to do if crewed ELS travel fell through.”

Trixie didn’t know what. She cocked an eyebrow at Scott.

“What contingencies?”

His answering grin was wry.

“None. We had no good options. Everything was riding on figuring out the solution to that problem. So it’s a damn good thing you did.”

Trixie scoffed, shaking her head, but not bothering to correct Scott. It hadn’t been her alone that solved the problem of ELS spaceflight in larger starships, but rather an entire team of the best physicists and Fleet specialists. She was one member of that team.

The room was filling in rapidly now. Trixie looked around the table and saw many familiar faces, either from meetings she’d attended or briefings on High Command leaders she’d read. The heads of state were all at the table, and their staff were sitting around the edge of the room. The various protection details were milling about in the space between.

The steady stream slowed to a trickle. Then the last person entered and the Fleet guards pulled the doors shut. There was a moment of charged silence around the table and up in the tiered balconies before President Kingston stood with his arms spread wide.

“Welcome everyone to the High Command of Humanity!” he called, his voice booming throughout the hall, aided by some sort of amplification. “This is the first ever All Hands meeting in the history of the High Command, and I want to thank the G9 members for calling us all together.”

The Group of Nine—or G9—consisted of the United States of America, Germany, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Uganda, Paraguay, the Moon, and Mars. It was a very different group from the old G8 or G20.

“I would also like to thank every member head of state for attending today, bar none, and our visiting Admirals from the Fleet’s Administrative and Logistics, Defense and Combat, and Expeditionary Forces.”

A murmur rolled through the hall, acknowledging the President’s thanks and everyone in attendance. Trixie caught the mystified air underneath it all. President Bailey must have as well, since she stood up, joining President Kingston as the only two standing at the round table.

“I know you are all wondering why we called this urgent All Hands meeting, something we’ve never done before. Believe me, we did not make this decision lightly. But the High Command of Humanity was formed for all humanity, and we need the eyes and ears of every representative leader here today.”

Prime Minister Vivian Ardern of New Zealand stood next. She was the granddaughter of the late Jacinda Ardern and also the youngest head of state in the room at only 30 years old, following in the footsteps of her grandmother who, at the time, had been the youngest female head of government when she’d been sworn into office back in 2017.  Prime Minister Vivian Ardern was both the head of government and the head of state since New Zealand had long broken away from the last remnants of the former United Kingdom.

“I was 11 years old when the High Command of Humanity was formed in 2044, in response to an avalanche of disasters across the globe. New Zealand has in some ways been spared from the worst of those disasters, but even so we recognize we are not invincible and must rely on the shared strength and determination of the High Command of Humanity to secure the future.”

President Pedro Menendez of Paraguay stood after Prime Minister Ardern.

“Me uno a mis colegas para darles la bienvenida hoy.  Nos hemos unido por una razón.  Esto es fundamental para el futuro de la humanidad.”

The translation lit up across the glossy surface of the table in front of her: I join with my colleagues in welcoming you today. We have come together for a reason. This is critical to the future of humanity.

The President of Germany came next. Like New Zealand, Germany had long ago combined its head of state and head of government. The Chancellor position did not exist anymore.

“Deutschland brennt!  Ganz Europa brennt!”

President Fischer’s exclamations reverberated around the hall.

Germany is burning! Europe is burning!

“Jeder Sommer bringt unerbittliche Hitze und jeder Winter bringt schreckliche Kälte.  Der Zusammenbruch des Nordatlantikstroms ist fast abgeschlossen.  Wenn es passiert, wird Europa fallen.  Heute versuchen wir, dieses Problem zu lösen.”

Every summer brings unrelenting heat, and every winter brings terrible cold. The collapse of the North Atlantic current is almost complete. When it happens, Europe will fall. Today we try to solve that problem.

Japan, Canada, Uganda, and the Moon remained in their seats.

“I want to thank my fellow leaders for their impassioned words,” President Kingston said, just as the silence ensuing from President Fischer’s words stretched into awkwardness. Everyone knew there was no stopping the collapse of the North Atlantic current.

“Before I turn it over to President Bailey to describe our fundamental purpose here today, I do want to ask our colleagues from the Fleet a question.” President Kingston stared over at Scott, Trixie, and Evelyn. “Why does the Fleet exist?”

Trixie looked at Scott, and then at Evelyn. Evelyn put on her cap and stood up.

“Honored leaders,” Evelyn started, “thank you to High Command of Humanity for having us here today.” Her eyes swept the hall. “The Fleet was formed by the High Command of Humanity from every sovereign nation at its founding, creating a military structure to support the shared endeavors of all humans. The Fleet exists to advance the aims of the High Command of Humanity throughout the Solar System—humanity’s safety, security, and welfare.”

“Thank you, Admiral Pelonelli. Admiral Hammer?” President Kingston asked. Evelyn remained standing as Scott put on his cap and stood up on Trixie’s other side.

“Not much to add, Mr. President. If the High Command of Humanity is the first coalition of every human nation, then the Fleet is the first coalition of every human military. We bring an economy of scale and hard-won expertise to ensuring the future of humanity is secure, whether that is close to home or far away at the corners of the Solar System.”

“Thank you, Admiral Hammer. Admiral Espinoza?”

Trixie put on her cap and stood slowly, the words of the five leaders and both Admirals ringing in her head. Scott and Evelyn had given rote, textbook answers; perfect, in one sense, but lacking something, in another sense, particularly after President Fischer’s plea.

And wasn’t the Fleet more than logistics and defense? Wasn’t it more than just a military? Trixie didn’t think she would have pursued her career for so long if that was all she felt it was, or all that she truly believed it was, deep down.

She thought of Millie and Theo. Of Olivia. Of the future she desperately desired for her family, and indeed for all of humanity. Wanderlust had first led her to the stars, and while the feeling had never faded, it had changed over time. She had come to realize that Earth was not humanity’s destiny, no matter how long they had been on the planet or the fact that it was their original home.

Perhaps that was the real reason why Trixie had so rarely come back to Earth, regardless of what she told her family and friends. Earth was like looking backward, and if the human race were to survive, to thrive, it had to look forward.

“The Fleet certainly serves tactical purposes, Mr. President,” Trixie started. All eyes were on her. “An organization the size and scope of the High Command of Humanity cannot run without something like the Fleet to support it, to defend it, and to expand it. At their simplest, the Administrative and Logistics Force supports it. The Defense and Combat Force defends it. And the Expeditionary Force expands it.

“We have a command hierarchy like a military. We give and carry out orders like a military. We use military parlance and consider ourselves members of the greatest military humanity has ever seen. But that is not all the Fleet is.”

Trixie paused, looking President Kingston in the eyes, and then sweeping around the table at the other four standing leaders. She could see Presidents Menendez and Fischer looking down at the translation of her words, though she knew they understood at least some English.

“The High Command of Humanity was formed at a time of great loss in the history of this planet. Cascading disasters forced world leaders to look at their shared future and come together in a way that was different from every attempt before. And to support that, the Fleet was born.

“I signed up in ’44 at the beginning as a Captain, my US military rank at the time. It was a chaotic moment as we tried to align two brand new organizations and still maintain the momentum we had already created to explore and settle across the Solar System. Yet we always had the support and trust of every leader in the High Command of Humanity, and the Fleet flourished as a result of that.”

Trixie’s eyes settled on President Bailey. The other woman had a knowing smile on her face.

“That was almost twenty years ago. In that time, the Fleet has grown considerably in size and purview, and now you cannot visit any off-Earth settlement without encountering Fleet assets. And while we are a military of sorts, we are not an occupying force.

“When I look upon the Fleet, I see the hopes and dreams of the entire human race. I see the vision of our possible future, as we continue to explore and settle the Solar System. I see the aspiration of humankind since the 1960s and perhaps much longer—to look up and not only gaze upon the night sky, but to know we can make a home across the stars.

“Humans will always have a place on Earth, but given the words of President Fischer, we have to accept that our place here is diminishing. The Fleet helps ensure we have other options. The High Command of Humanity’s motto is ad astra pro futuro hominum, to the stars for the future of humanity. I believe it. We all need to believe it.”

Trixie stopped talking, breath heaving in her chest a little. Long ago she may have been embarrassed at speaking so much, but she was made of sterner stuff now. Scott started clapping to her left, slowly at first. She turned her head to glare at him, though as she did so, Evelyn did the same to her right.

The two Admirals were swiftly followed by other leaders around the table, and other Fleet personnel up in the balconies, until it seemed as if the entire hall was applauding her words. The noise continued on for some time.

Trixie stood still and let it wash over her. She hadn’t given that speech to engender applause, though she was glad her sentiments had resonated with everyone present.

Eventually it died down and the five leaders and three Admirals were left standing in the silence. President Bailey nodded at President Kingston, and he sat down. Presidents Menendez and Fischer and Prime Minister Ardern did as well. Trixie, Scott, and Evelyn took their seats as President Bailey remained standing.

“I thank you for your words, Admiral Espinoza,” she started, still with that knowing smile on her face. “And you could not have pre-emptively proven my point more perfectly.”

Trixie’s lips thinned. What was President Bailey getting at?”

“But before I do get to that point, I want to play a quick recording for everyone here today. It is rather old, but I believe you will all find it illustrative for what comes next.”

President Bailey nodded off to the side and the lights in the room went down as the windows darkened too. A projector lit from the ceiling, shining its three-dimensional image down into the space above the symbol of the High Command of Humanity in the middle of the circular table.

Trixie’s eyes widened slightly as she read the text that appeared there in the darkness.

Marriott Marquis Times Square, New York City, November 2025

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Olympiad Finals

The text bled away and a moving image faded in, one that was burned into her memory…from her own perspective, not from the outside like this three-dimensional recording showed.

She stood on the stage in a white pantsuit, 17 years old, presenting on her life’s work up to that point. She had won the Olympiad that day. The ghost of her past self was saying something. The sound came up in the middle of a sentence.

“…what’s next? What does that mean for the future of humanity? Our history here on Earth is fraught with conflict, deprivation, and war, some of which continues through today. I am often asked and quite honestly do wonder how we can even contemplate traveling through our Solar System and beyond when we can barely tolerate each other and fix our issues here on Earth.

“That is what I am here today to discuss. A system of governance, cooperation, defense, and shared vision that will bring us to the stars. Per Virgil, it is inevitable. If you stand under the Apollo I memorial, you will feel the hardship of those aspirations.”

The words ‘High Command’ appeared on the screens behind the younger version of herself. Trixie was uncertain why President Bailey was showing this to everyone, and it was uncanny to see a version of herself from so far in the past. But none of this should be a surprise to anyone in the room.

After all, the High Command of Humanity did use the symbol she created for this presentation, the starship racing toward the sunburst. And at least a high level overview of her own career, including this moment, was taught in public education throughout the Solar System, and in Fleet basic training and academies.

Trixie’s voice continued, echoing forward through time.

“If we are to properly take advantage of the technological advances that will allow us to traverse our Solar System as well as interstellar space beyond it, we need a system of government—of checks and balances—that transcends the concept of sovereignty here on Earth. We’re hardwired into the idea of nationhood, and have been for centuries, but that does not work when we factor in multiple planets, solar systems, or perhaps even galaxies some day in the distant future.

“We’re a tribal species by nature, and we love to demarcate boundaries between people and places, but if we can fluidly travel millions, billions, or trillions of miles, that will not work. The High Command of the Solar System will begin as a multinational collaboration to get us across the threshold of our Moon’s orbit, and will evolve and develop into the diplomatic, defensive, and scientific arm of the joint human effort to expand beyond Earth…”

The sound faded out at that point and the image dissolved. The projector turned off as the lights came up and the windows once again let in the soft glow of the cloudy Chicago day.

Trixie felt the low heat on her cheeks in what seemed like the sudden spotlight, but ignored it and sat there with her head held high, a questioning gaze in her eyes aimed toward President Bailey.

“We’ll forgive Admiral Espinoza for getting our name just slightly wrong,” President Bailey started, chuckling at her own joke, and some laughter rippled out across the hall.

Trixie didn’t feel like it was aimed at her so she allowed herself a small smile too. Truly, the name ‘High Command of Humanity’ was better anyway, since ‘High Command of the Solar System’ was rather limiting compared to their interstellar ambitions.

“In all seriousness,” President Bailey continued, “we can all see the vision Admiral Espinoza had almost forty years ago. A vision that brought the High Command together nineteen years later, that brought us to new heights of progress, and which brings us all together here today.

“But Admiral Espinoza was not content to rest on her laurels. She pursued an advanced degree and is one of our foremost experts in exotic matter, knowledge which has underpinned many of our most critical technologies, from the SLS, NLS, and ELS engines on our starships to our nascent ability to communicate instantaneously across vast distances.

“Then she entered the United States military and had a meteoric rise, consistently among the first to pilot new starships and visit moons and planets. She was a pioneer of off-Earth settlements on orbiting space stations. She helped create the supply lines that feed, clothe, and house humans across the Solar System.

“And today she is the Commanding Officer of the entire Expeditionary Force, which is comprised of ten thousand commissioned officers and just over a million enlisted ranks. The Expeditionary Force nominally covers quintillions of square miles of space within our Solar System; if that wasn’t enough, Admiral Espinoza’s purview recently expanded to cover the interstellar void and the stars we can reasonably reach with existing ELS technology.”

President Bailey took a breath. There was complete silence in the hall. Trixie felt the weight of a thousand stares, though she didn’t duck her head or flinch away from the attention. It was not in her nature to back down from a challenge. She held the other woman’s eyes.

“I could spend another twenty minutes listing her achievements and accolades related to the Fleet and the High Command of Humanity. But you can also find them in textbooks throughout the Solar System, and you only have to ask those who serve under her command for the long list. So I won’t do that.

“It’s actually the other things Admiral Espinoza accomplishes that are worth mentioning. In her spare time, what little there is of it, she consults with experts in emerging sciences regarding our settlements on Mercury, Mars, and upcoming moons such as Titan. She precipitated charity drives on Kepler and Copernicus for newly arriving settlers who have nothing more than the clothes on their backs. She pushed for a permanent K-12 school on her flagship, Discovery, to allow families of Fleet personnel serving there to stay together.

“Admiral Espinoza is a wife, a mother, and a friend. She is an inspiring leader, as we all just witnessed, and both an excellent tactician and a sound strategist. She is constantly five, ten, and twenty years ahead of the rest of us. And she has been here for practically all of our modern space age, from the first Artemis mission to now.”

Another short silence ensued. Trixie wasn’t sure if it was for effect or if President Bailey was collecting her thoughts. She hoped this ended soon and they got to the reason for the meeting.

“Which, finally”—a smile, and chuckles throughout the hall—“brings me to my point today. The situation here on Earth is changing rapidly. The High Command of Humanity needs to change with it. Our coalition of governments works well when we need to pool resources to accomplish new objectives. It also works well when we need to share knowledge and experience across diverse backgrounds. Those purposes will never cease, and our coalition will continue.

“Yet…we are not a governing body, at least not a complete one. We make progress by committee, move forward by consensus. At home, we’re all tied to the nations, planets, or Moon we represent. Our purview as heads of state is the security and sanctity of our sovereignty. Admirable, but we have to be bigger than that now. We have to act on the bigger picture.

“That is why the Group of Nine brings a motion before this All Hands meeting of the High Command of Humanity to create a new position in the Fleet. This new position will have purview over the entire Fleet and indeed be both the head of government and head of state for the High Command of Humanity. Our motion is to create a 5 star Admiral rank known as Fleet Admiral, which is a lifetime appointment so long as the Fleet Admiral faithfully and honorably executes the duties of the office.”

Excited murmuring broke out across the hall. Trixie glanced sideways at Scott and Evelyn. They were both looking at her with warm emotions on their faces. She felt a churning in her gut as she suspected where this was leading.

“And should the motion pass by unanimous consent of all member states, the Group of Nine also brings forth a nomination for Fleet Admiral.”

President Bailey nodded at Trixie. All eyes bore down on her.

“Admiral Dr. Beatrice Espinoza.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 5 – Ghost in the Shell

April 30, 2063. 2240 PDT.

Lux was heaving.

Rory sipped her scotch, enjoying the burn in her throat, and leaned back against the booth. Her Father’s booth. It still had pride of place between the dance floor and the bar, and any night Rory was at Lux it was hers.

The music thumped around her, lights flashing on the walls and the ceiling. The bar was full and the dance floor was overflowing. One of the two bouncers stationed at either side of the booth had told her the line to get into Lux stretched around the block.

She took another pull of the scotch. This was Lux at its best. Full to the brim, energy growing, leading toward something greater as the night went on.

Rory crossed her legs beneath the table, smoothing her short black skirt down her legs. She also wore a crimson button down shirt, exactly the color of her wings; and in honor of her Father, the God of all Creation, she completed the outfit with black Louboutin heels. She had deep smoky makeup around her eyes and had slicked her short hair back, fully revealing a face that was half of each of her parents. Except for the piercings of course.

“Miss Decker,” a bouncer said, leaning into her booth. She threw back the rest of the scotch and cocked an eyebrow at him.

“There is a disturbance—well…something outside Lux. They are demanding entry.”

Rory cocked her head. It seemed like the night was about to get interesting.

“How vague. Who or what is outside?” she asked.

But the bouncer wasn’t listening to her. His hand had gone to his earpiece, and suddenly his attention was diverted toward the stairs and the elevators above. He went rigid and so did the other bouncer near her booth.

Dancing and revelry continued around them unimpeded, though Rory could see her entire security staff, those visible at least, on high alert. Her wings twitched in the ether.

“Ma’am, I think it best if you remain here. We don’t want to start a stampede.”

Rory rolled her eyes. “What could possibly be the matter?” she wondered. The bouncer pointed and Rory looked over at the elevators again.

The door opened to the stairwell down to the street, next to the elevator that also served the street level. A heavily armed member of the Fleet emerged from the darkness, holding a plasma pistol in their hand with a rifle strapped to their back, immediately seeking threats in Lux.

Four more Fleet forces stepped out of the stairwell behind the first person, all similarly armed. No one on the floor of Lux had realized yet, and Rory couldn’t fathom any reason to panic or cause a scene since the Fleet had no jurisdiction in terrestrial law enforcement.

A sixth person walked out of the stairwell with two more armed Fleet forces behind them, bringing the total to eight. Even through the gloom and the mist and the flashing lights of Lux, Rory would recognize the person anywhere.

Her half-sister had come to Lux.

Rory leaned back against the booth again, signaling a server for more scotch and holding up two fingers. She tracked the Fleet forces down the stairs and across the dance floor. They had pointed their weapons toward the floor and mostly obscured them, though the rifles on their backs did catch a few eyes.

The energy in Lux dipped for several moments before the song changed and something new and more upbeat came on. Then most people seemed to forget about the Fleet’s presence in their midst. Or maybe they didn’t care? After all, the Fleet was a faraway matter, concerned with humans throughout the rest of the Solar System, not on Earth.

Her half-sister was in the middle of the group. Rory could see her cap bobbing up and down as she walked closer, her mostly white chin-length hair swaying with the motion. Finally they emerged from the crowd and stepped up to Rory’s booth.

The two bouncers and the seven members of the Fleet stared each other down. The server walked right into this, holding two glasses of scotch, looking rather poleaxed.

“Trixie, come sit,” Rory said, ending the standoff. The bouncers relaxed at the same time the Fleet members shifted to form a perimeter around the booth, facing outward. The server left the drinks on the edge of the table and fled.

Trixie stepped forward, into the low circle of light around the booth. Though she was almost fifty-five, Rory thought she had aged wonderfully. She had white hair but otherwise her posture, her fitness, and her relatively unlined face belied a thirty-plus year career in the military.

The last time Rory had seen Trixie was…when, exactly? She couldn’t quite remember. Maybe sometime in the early 2050s. So much had changed since then.

“Hi, Rory,” Trixie said. Then she smiled, and Rory was viscerally reminded of the sister she knew growing up. Time hadn’t dimmed Trixie’s glowing sun of a smile.

Rory slid out of the booth and stepped up to Trixie. She noticed the nearest Fleet members twitching as she did so. She brought her arms up and wrapped them around Trixie.

“Hello, sis,” she said, though the words were mostly lost in Trixie’s neck since she was about seven inches taller than Rory. Trixie’s arms came around her back.

They stood like that as Lux pulsed around them. The club was a monument to a past that might have been lost to time, though in that moment it felt more like a memorial to a future they were still writing.

When they parted, Rory wasn’t ashamed there were a few tears on her cheeks, and she choked a laugh when she saw similar streaks on Trixie’s face.

They slid into the booth. Rory pushed one of the full glasses of scotch to Trixie, who eyed it and then took a tiny sip before setting it back on the table. Trixie wiped her eyes and cheeks and Rory did the same.

“You’ve really kept this place alive,” Trixie commented, looking around. The blue and purple lights flashed over her features.

“Mom and dad left it to me,” Rory shrugged. “It’s still the premier nightclub in LA.”

“What’s left of LA.”

Rory nodded and drank more scotch. Trixie’s eyes lingered on her face, then dropped to the glass on the table. After several seconds, she reached out and swirled the amber liquid in the glass. She took another small sip.

Staring at Trixie, it was easy to forget the armed Fleet sentinels around their booth. The emblem on her cap, though—the starship racing toward the sunburst—was a constant reminder. This wasn’t her twenty-something sister changing the world with her research. This was an Admiral of the Fleet of the High Command of Humanity.

Rory took the rest of Trixie in. She was in military uniform, though it seemed more casual than what Rory had imagined. She had a four-star pin on her collar and there was a small placard on her breast with her last name and rank. The uniform was either black or dark blue, though hard to fully discern in Lux.

“Rory…”

“Trixie?”

“I’m sorry.”

Trixie didn’t have to elaborate for Rory to know she meant the rift of time and distance between them. Trixie was more than a generation older than Rory, so there had always been a separation of sorts, but that had grown considerably since the High Command of Humanity was formed in ’44.

“I’m sorry too,” Rory said. Trixie made a face. “I can be anywhere in an instant. It’s not just you, Trix.”

Trixie seemed to deflate. She tilted more scotch down her throat. “No, I suppose not. It is good to see you. You look good, little sis.”

“Thanks,” Rory laughed out loud. “So do you, for an old woman.”

Trixie merely raised her glass, and Rory clinked hers against it.

“What are we cheers’ing?”

“To old women,” Trixie said. Rory spied the telltale smile at the corners of her lips.

“To old women,” Rory said. “Including mom.” Her eyes went to the ceiling. So did Trixie’s. “What’d’you suppose she’s up to?”

“Mom?”

Rory nodded.

Trixie considered the ceiling again. “Keeping the Universe afloat, probably. Or something equally as cosmic.” Trixie’s eyes dropped to hers. “You’re a celestial—can’t you just connect with the host and find out?”

“I could,” Rory agreed. “But where’s the fun in that? Most of the host think this,” she waved around, “is a complete waste of time. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked to permanently leave Earth.”

Trixie gulped more scotch as Rory stared at her.

“Come to think of it…sort of like you did. I’m surprised to see you back here, Trix.”

“Me too,” Trixie muttered. Her eyes swept around Lux. “It wasn’t necessarily by choice. Fleet orders.”

“People can still order you around?” Rory asked, hoping her sister caught the sarcasm in her voice.

She wasn’t expecting Trixie’s snort, followed by some genuine laughter. Her sister was always so serious, Rory felt like she could count on one hand the number of times she’d heard Trixie’s true laugh.

Trixie eventually refocused on her. Both glasses of scotch were now empty.

“You do know how the High Command of Humanity works, right?” It was obviously rhetorical, so Rory did not answer. “The Fleet, no matter if you just enlisted or if you’re a 4 star Admiral, is beholden to the sovereign heads of state who form the High Command of Humanity. So yes, people can still order me around, since I am a 4 star Admiral.”

“I don’t think that’s what you were when we last saw each other…”

Trixie shook her head. “You’re right. I wasn’t.” She took off her cap and turned it around in her hands, staring down at the emblem. “ I was a 2 star Rear Admiral. I was promoted to a 3 star Vice Admiral in ‘56. And then I was promoted to a 4 star Admiral in ‘60, after Livvy and several other test pilots successfully returned from ELS journeys. Now I’m the Commanding Officer of the Expeditionary Force.”

Rory didn’t know what most of that meant, but she rolled with it.

“And that’s the reason for your honor guard?” She waved around. “You’re a muckity-muck now?”

“Something like that,” Trixie said.

Rory watched as her sister’s eyes dropped to the table and stayed there. There was something forlorn, or maybe defeated, about her posture. She couldn’t ever remember seeing Trixie like that.

She signaled for two more glasses of scotch, then simply sat there observing Trixie, whose eyes had traveled back to the cap in her hands. Rory could see she was gripping the cap rather strongly, her knuckles white with the pressure.

Eventually, the server dropped off the scotch. Rory again pushed a glass across the table to Trixie, who set her cap on the table, picked up the glass, and finally raised her eyes to Rory again.

“I take it you don’t follow the news?” Trixie asked, after sipping scotch.

“Why would I?”

“Point. But now I’m going to have to explain. This would have been easier if you had seen some of it already.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Trix,” Rory told her. “What’s going on?”

“This would probably be better up in the penthouse…” Trixie trailed off. “But I’m kind of enjoying this. Feels like old times.”

Rory raised an eyebrow. “And when did you enjoy Lux? You were too young. By the time you were old enough, you were already in the military.”

Trixie smiled a little enigmatic thing that made her look twenty years younger.

“Plenty of times.”

The look on her face was teasing but the tone in her voice was wistful, so Rory decided to let it go.

“We can go up to the penthouse if you really want to?”

“No, this is ok,” Trixie shook her head. Another sip of scotch. “I suppose you’re wondering why I’m on Earth—why now, and why I came to Lux, especially surrounded by armed Fleet personnel.”

“Indeed.”

“I was called back here on April 26. I was on Mars with Livvy, Millie, and Theo. One of—”

“Wait. How are they? Livvy, Millie, and Theo. Sorry I didn’t ask already,” Rory interrupted.

Trixie’s face slid into a different kind of smile, one Rory didn’t think she’d ever seen from her. Some sort of maternal emotion combined with love for her wife was contained in it.

“Wonderful,” Trixie said. “Livvy is a Captain and the most renowned and decorated pilot in the Fleet. She actually just led the first crew to another star and back.”

“Wow.”

Trixie nodded. “And Millie and Theo are doing well. They’re growing so fast! Nine years old now. Sometimes they remind me of myself, and other times they’re so much like Livvy. For several years now they’ve been on Mars but later this year they’ll come to Discovery to live full time with me and Livvy.”

“What’s Discovery?”

“My flagship. It’s currently orbiting Neptune. Holds twenty one thousand crew.”

Rory chuckled. “I’m not surprised you have a flagship. That checks out.”

Trixie gave her a look. “That’s how the Fleet works, Rory. I’m the Commanding Officer in charge of the Expeditionary Force, which is one of three arms of the Fleet. The other two are the Defense and Combat Force, and the Administrative and Logistics Force.”

“Ok,” Rory shrugged, not caring too deeply about the details.

“Which is a nice segue back to what I was saying. One of the other 4 star Admirals—Scott Hammer, CO of the Defense and Combat Force—contacted me and told me the High Command of Humanity had called an All Hands meeting for April 29, yesterday.”

“And that is…?”

“Unprecedented,” Trixie said. The scotch was diminishing rapidly in her glass. “It’s a joint in-person meeting of every head of state in the High Command of Humanity, along with every 1, 2, 3, and 4 star Admiral in the Fleet.”

“That seems like a lot.”

Trixie snorted, or maybe scoffed. “Understatement. Regardless, I couldn’t ignore the summons, so that’s why I’m back here on Earth. The All Hands meeting was in Chicago at the headquarters of the High Command of Humanity.”

“So what happened there?” Rory asked. “Is that why you were wondering about the news?”

Trixie nodded. “How much are you aware of what’s happening here on Earth? Beyond the obvious outward effects of climate change.”

Rory made a so-so motion with her hand. “Mostly what I hear from people around me,” she motioned with her hand. “Lots of people come to LA and Lux from elsewhere, and they always have stories.”

“It’s bad, Rory,” Trixie told her, characteristic seriousness in her eyes and voice. “The President of Germany stood up during the All Hands meeting and essentially told everyone there that Europe is doomed. And it’s telling that his words didn’t cause an uproar or panic. Everyone accepted them as the truth.”

“How could that be?” Rory asked. It was mind-boggling. Europe was huge. Perhaps she had been ignoring the world beyond Lux and the Silver City for too long.

“Europe’s climate, historically at least, is moderated by the North Atlantic current. That’s especially true of Western and Northern Europe, though Central and, to some extent, Eastern Europe benefit as well. Summers and winters both are milder than they otherwise would be for those latitudes. The North Atlantic current also tends to regulate precipitation patterns, leading to relatively consistent rain and snow.”

“Ok, I’m following,” Rory nodded.

“For years, probably decades now, the North Atlantic current has been destabilizing. Slowing in some cases, shifting where it goes in others, outright disappearing into deeper waters at times. This has led to much colder winters, much hotter summers, and increasing drought across Europe. Sevilla in Spain set an all time European record of 139 degrees Fahrenheit last summer, for four straight days. It was a mass casualty event.

“Norway, Sweden, and Finland have suffered catastrophic wildfires because their summers have grown so hot. Most of their boreal forests are gone, and with them much of the fauna too. Oslo, Stockholm, and Helsinki are shadows of what they once were due to rising sea levels, forcing people to move elsewhere. Food insecurity and scarcity is becoming a real problem, even in major first world cities like London, Paris, and Berlin.”

Trixie fell silent for a moment. Rory replayed the words in her head. She took a large pull of scotch.

“I guess I didn’t realize it was getting so bad.”

“Once the North Atlantic current collapses, most of what I just described will become much worse. 139 degrees will become a regular heat wave, and even more extreme temperatures will continue to happen more frequently. Extreme cold too. Without the moderating current, winters in places that have rarely experienced sub-freezing temperatures for more than a handful of days will be brutal. People will have to move.”

“Where will they go?”

“That’s the thing,” Trixie said, shaking her head. “There aren’t many places for them to go. The climate refuges are all either expanding as fast as they can or are already at their natural capacities. If they were to become over-populated, beyond what the infrastructure and the local region can sustain, then they cease to be refuges.”

“So what about all of the other settlements? You know—Mars, Mercury, and the Moon? And I guess the space stations too.”

“Same story there, Rory.”

“But you’re an Admiral! You just told me you’re the Commanding Officer of the Expeditionary Force. Surely there is something you can do.”

Trixie chuckled at her, eyeing Rory over the glass as she then finished the remaining scotch. Trixie pushed the glass aside and waved off Rory’s raised eyebrow toward it.

“No thank you. That was enough for tonight.” She paused, collecting herself. “And I appreciate your faith in me, little sis, but it’s a lot more complicated than that. More and more people are emigrating from Earth—and the Fleet along with every settlement are doing everything we can to support expansion—but there are limits. Too many people too quickly stress off-Earth settlements to their breaking point much faster than here on Earth.”

“Well, what about mom and dad?”

“What about them?”

“Should we just ask them to fix all this? Climate change and everything else.”

Trixie leaned back and crossed her arms. Lux’s atmosphere filtered back into their booth for a moment, loud music reverberating through Rory’s ears. A cheer went up as someone did body shots. The flashing lights accelerated, changing from blue to purple to red and back to blue. The Fleet personnel remained in a protective circle around the booth.

“They won’t.”

“What do you mean? Of course they will!” Rory exclaimed. “I can’t believe you haven’t asked them yet.”

Trixie’s stare flattened, gaze hardening into something unyielding.

“They won’t,” Trixie repeated. “I haven’t asked because I know they won’t. Intervening like that would obliterate free will.”

Rory opened her mouth to argue, but her brain caught up to her and she closed it, teeth clicking together. Trixie was right. Her parents, God and Goddess of the Universe, would never simply snap their fingers and undo decades or centuries of events that led to this moment. It would be anathema to them. Humanity was nothing without free will.

“Shit. Sorry Trix. You’re right.”

Trixie continued to stare at her for another few seconds. If Rory were honest with herself, it unnerved her a bit. This version of Trixie wasn’t something she’d encountered before.

“Thanks,” she eventually said. “Anyway, all of that is what the All Hands meeting was about. There is widespread recognition now that what we’re doing—the High Command of Humanity, the Fleet, the various sovereign nations of Earth—isn’t going to be enough. In the short term or the long term.

“The Group of Nine put forth a motion to alter the structure of the High Command of Humanity and the Fleet. Right now, the High Command consists of every head of state on Earth and Mercury, Mars, and the Moon. The President of Mars rightly pointed out that it is a consortium rather than a functioning government.”

“Forgive my murky history knowledge, but isn’t that what it’s supposed to be? It was formed as a bridge between every government here on Earth,” Rory interjected, trying to remember the details. Having lived in LA her entire life, they weren’t that important to her.

“That’s right, though now we have populations on Earth, Mercury, Mars, the Moon, and many orbiting space stations. And we can’t forget wherever the Fleet operates as well. All told, there are close to four million total Fleet personnel across all three Forces.”

“So…” Rory trailed off.

“The existing structure isn’t precisely working anymore, and over time it’ll less and less. The Fleet has no true authority over civilians, not here on Earth, Mars, Mercury, the Moon, or elsewhere, yet we’re expected to support and grow the orbiting space stations, and also react and respond to needs on the planets and the Moon. There’s been a conflict in the responsibility matrix for some time now, which we’ve all been ignoring in favor of the status quo.

“What’s happening right now on Mars forced President Bailey, who is a member of the Group of Nine, to bring the motion to them and request the All Hands meeting with the entire High Command of Humanity.”

“What’s happening on Mars?”

“A rapid influx of people from Earth. Incredible numbers of new people every day, Rory. Five million per month. The government of Mars, along with the infrastructure, can barely keep up. They’ll soon be overwhelmed.”

Rory stared into the distance, thinking over the details and the problem. The way Trixie described it, huge numbers of people were fleeing Earth every day. It made Rory a little sad. She wondered what Lux would be like in ten, twenty, fifty years.

“So regulate it,” Rory told Trixie. “The flow of people off Earth.”

Trixie smiled again, this time in acknowledgement.

“It’s a good idea, but we can’t. Well, we can’t yet. Current structures of government, sovereignty, and regulations don’t support it.”

“I don’t… Trixie, I have to say most of this is way over my head. I appreciate you coming here—it’s great to see you—but why are you telling me all of this?” Rory wondered.

“Because I love you, Rory. And I trust you. I needed to talk to someone, and I’m not quite ready to head back to Discovery yet.”

Rory reached across the table with a hand, motioning to Trixie. Trixie also leaned forward and took her hand, which Rory squeezed and laid her other hand on top.

“I love you too, Trix.”

Trixie squeezed back and pulled her hand away.

“Earth has more than one hundred individual sovereign nations. Mars and Mercury are sovereign planets. The Moon is a sovereign state. Soon the new settlement on Titan will become a sovereign state too. Then there are the orbiting space stations. They’re nominally under the purview and protection of the Fleet, but we don’t really govern them. Who would regulate migration and travel between all of those things?”

“The High Command of Humanity?”

Trixie shook her head. “That’s exactly the problem, and also exactly why the Group of Nine put forth the motion they did. The High Command has no true authority, only the collective resources and wisdom of the coalition of sovereign states.”

“What was the motion?”

Rory watched Trixie take a deep breath, eyes flicking to the Fleet guards encircling them.

“To create a new position in the Fleet. A 5 star Admiral—the Fleet Admiral.”

Rory wrinkled her nose. She didn’t quite see how that would solve any of the problems Trixie outlined if the Fleet had no authority over civilians.

“And to elevate the Fleet Admiral,” Trixie continued, “to be both the head of government and the head of state of the High Command of Humanity.”

“Um, like the President of all humanity?”

“Yes. The Fleet would essentially become a functioning government responsible for all humans on Earth, everywhere else in the Solar System, and, someday soon, far beyond.”

Rory gulped. She eyed the Fleet members around them again. “Wow. The leader of all humans. Sounds sort of like…an emperor.” She refocused on Trixie. “Did the motion pass?”

Trixie clenched her jaw. Then she nodded.

“So when’s the election?”

Trixie cocked her head. “Election?”

“Yeah, you know,” Rory shrugged. “To elect the new leader of humanity?” She grinned.

Except Trixie wasn’t smiling back. If anything, she looked even more perturbed. The lights in Lux flashed to red and stayed on the color, casting a crimson glow over Trixie’s face and hair.

“The Fleet Admiral is a new position in the Fleet, Rory,” Trixie said, voice low, “which is a military, or very close to one. Admirals are not elected.”

Rory suddenly put all the pieces together and her mouth dropped open.

“No way!” she exclaimed.

“The Group of Nine also put forth a nomination if the motion to create the Fleet Admiral position passed by unanimous consent of the entire High Command. And since it did…”

“It’s you! They nominated you!”

Trixie nodded again but didn’t say anything this time. Rory could see her jaw was clenched too tightly for words. She pretended to bow over the table toward Trixie.

“All bow down to Trixie Espinoza, leader of humans everywhere!” She cackled at her own joke. “Like mother, like daughter!”

Once she sat back and calmed down, she realized Trixie still wasn’t smiling and wasn’t laughing along with her. That slightly defeated, almost forlorn emotion was back in her eyes.

“What’s wrong, Trixie? This is amazing! It’s everything you’ve always worked toward and dreamt of!”

“I’m not sure it is, Rory. I haven’t accepted the nomination yet.”

“WHAT?!”

---

July 4, 2039

“Breaking news tonight, as we’re learning via the United States High Command that the first ever crewed mission to Saturn reached the ringed gas giant sometime late last week. Saturn is now the fourth planet other than Earth that crewed starships have reached, after Mars, Venus, and Jupiter.

“The starship Boundless contains 285 crew from the United States High Command. Its Commanding Officer is Captain Antoine Rider and its First Officer is Commander Dr. Beatrice Espinoza. They will orbit Saturn for three weeks—assessing its rings, its atmosphere, notable phenomena, and its moons—before returning to their base on Mars.

“Captain Rider was also the first Commanding Officer to reach Venus. Commander Espinoza was an early scientific pioneer of dark matter and dark energy, which underlie our modern high speed spaceflight, and was also part of the first crew to reach Jupiter. Commander Espinoza is currently the most traveled human, having covered more distance in space than any other person.

“The United States High Command has further missions planned to Uranus and Neptune in the coming months. There is also a coalition of governments working on prototypes for space stations, which would orbit the four Jovian gas giants and Venus…”

---

April 30, 2063. 1930 SST.

Charlie entered the pub through the airlock. Once the outer door was sealed behind him and the lights all turned from red to green, he proceeded through the inner door and into the pub. When the inner closed, he reached up to remove his helmet, looking around the crowded and noisy space.

It was designed to appear as an English pub, with thick wooden booths and benches, standing tables, and a long bar made of dark wood. Even the taps were the classic copper color of the authentic pubs back on Earth, though with London slowly sinking into the Thames there might not be many left.

Every booth and standing table was full. There did happen to be one open stool at the bar, so Charlie walked over to it and sat down, hanging his helmet on the hook under his stool’s seat. There were large holoscreens behind the bar, on the back wall above the liquor, showing various movies, shows, and news, but he ignored them in favor of getting the bartender’s attention.

“Charlie!”

He turned his eyes to the person sitting next to him.

“Oh, wow! What are the chances?” he smiled, doing his best not to stutter. He suddenly felt rather flustered. “How are you, Stella?”

“Good! But today was a long day,” she told him.

His eyes lingered on her face, taking in the dirty blond braids, light brown eyes, and tan skin. Stella Lansing was a striking woman around his age who defied all categorizations and expectations, and every time he found himself in her presence he seemed to revert to a bumbling teenager.

She had come to Mercury in the first wave as well, and they had crossed paths here and there since their arrival on the planet. He was in bioengineering and agriculture and she was in project management. She oversaw the running of the greenhouses for City Alpha and City Beta.

Technically, she was Charlie’s boss’s boss’s boss’s boss, though she was so far above him in the totem pole here on Mercury that it hardly mattered. They didn’t really work together. They’d never seen each other in a work context, though they did occasionally run into each other in places like this pub, since they lived near each other.

“Agreed,” he said. The bartender walked up. Charlie looked at Stella, then at her drink, and saw that it was mostly empty. “You having another?” She nodded. “One of whatever she’s having, and I’ll take a glass of that new Olympian Pinot Noir,” he told the bartender.

Mars had recently started exporting wine, and it was delicious. Unlike anything ever produced on Earth for sure. The bartender nodded and moved away to get the drinks.

“So how have you been?” Stella wondered, leaning over a bit so their shoulders touched.

“Great, honestly,” Charlie told her. “Our yield this season is going to be maybe thirty to thirty-five percent over last season. Everyone I oversee seems to genuinely like their jobs, which is a big surprise but I’m rolling with it.”

“Why is it surprising?” she asked. He glanced toward her and saw her looking at him. He returned his eyes to the front, staring up at the holoscreens but not really seeing them.

“Dunno,” he shrugged. “A few folks is normal. But everyone? Seems unlikely,” he smiled.

“Maybe, maybe not,” she told him, and he could hear her returning smile.

“Hmm,” was all he said, watching the bartender come back with his wine and her cocktail.

“Cheers,” she said, turning slightly toward him and holding out her new drink.

He picked up his glass and turned toward her, clinking their glasses together. They made eye contact over their drinks as they took small sips.

“How about you, Stella?”

“Good overall. As you said, production seems to be significantly up this season. That’s super cool by itself, but amazing for food security around the Solar System. I think we’re really doing our part here on Mercury!”

Her eyes sparkled. Charlie could feel the positive energy she exuded.

“Our part?” he asked.

“Yeah—future of humanity, stuff like that?”

Charlie laughed. “I guess so.”

“You don’t think that’s what we’re doing here on Mercury?”

He took another sip of wine. “No, you’re right. It’s one of the reasons why I came here in the first place, when there was nothing but empty prefab apartment complexes.”

Stella nodded. She took another sip too, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the bar. Like everyone else in the pub, she was wearing a vacuum suit. Her helmet was also clipped under her barstool.

“Then you know what I mean,” she said. “We have to support the expanding population here, but we export so much of what we grow to Earth, and to Mars, and especially to the space stations. It’s quite the ecosystem they’ve set up.”

“You mean the Fleet?”

“Yup,” she nodded again. “Hard to believe it was less than thirty years ago that the first base went up on the Moon. Now look at us! Spread across the entire Solar System.”

Charlie nodded in agreement, truly considering the bigger picture of humanity’s footprint across the Solar System. Earth might be their original home, but now humans had made a home on or around every planet and at least one Moon.

“Charlie,” she said, rather suddenly, turning toward him again with some kind of pointed look in her eyes, “would you like to—”

She cut herself off as they both felt the energy change in the pub. Charlie looked around and saw everyone staring upward, at the walls, and as he did the same, he realized every holoscreen in the pub had changed to show the same news broadcast. There was a huge red banner across the bottom with BREAKING NEWS in bold white text.

“Whoa,” Stella said. She pulled out her hologlass and activated it. Charlie watched her eyes flick across the screen. “Looks like we just received this on an NLS drone.” Her eyes went to Charlie’s and then back to the holoscreens behind the bar as she slid her hologlass into a pocket of her vacuum suit.

Charlie watched her profile for a moment before turning his eyes to the holoscreens as well. It was showing some footage of a major city, Earth-side by the looks of the sky, outside a large building.

“Is that the High Command of Humanity’s headquarters?” Stella asked.

“I think so…” Charlie said, finding the landmarks in the video. It was definitely Chicago on Earth.

There was a phalanx of armed Fleet personnel exiting the large building, surrounding a figure the camera could not see.

“I wonder what happened?” Stella sounded worried.

Charlie wished the pub used closed captioning, though at that moment new text flashed on the screen. The pub went deathly silent.

“Can they do that?” Charlie asked, almost in a whisper.

“I guess so,” Stella shrugged. “I wonder who they nominated—oh. Oh wow! I love her! She’s practically my idol!” she exclaimed, slamming back the rest of her cocktail and setting the glass on the bar. Charlie saw all of this out of the corner of his eyes since they were riveted on a holoscreen.

“No way…” he breathed.

“What?” Stella questioned, sounding almost offended. “Surely there is no one better for something like this? She’s done so much for all of us! We wouldn’t even be here without Admiral Espinoza!”

Charlie finally tore his eyes away from the news and looked back at Stella. There was a challenging glare in her eyes. Charlie shook his head and smiled at her, trying to disarm the sudden tension.

“No, that’s not it at all. Trixie’s an amazing choice for this. The best choice!”

Stella’s eyes narrowed further. “‘Trixie’?”

“Ah, um, yes,” Charlie replied, realizing his slip-up. “Admiral Espinoza.”

“Admiral Beatrice Espinoza,” Stella reminded him.

“Well,” Charlie started, but then decided to roll with it since she would figure it out eventually at this point. “That’s true, her full name is Beatrice. But she goes by Trixie if you know her.”

“And you know her, Charlie!?”

There was disbelief and maybe even a sort of longing in her eyes.

“I sure do. Some of my earliest memories are of her. She’s my step-cousin.”

---

November 16, 2044

“Breaking news tonight! Every nation except North Korea, Syria, and Iran ratified the Articles of Consortium for what is being called the High Command of Humanity! This is unprecedented in the history of our species—a coalition of almost every nation or state on the planet. And in this modern space age, the High Command of Humanity will also include the Moon. Mars is rapidly growing and is expected to join the coalition in the coming years.

“Unfortunately, the need for the High Command of Humanity arose from a terrible summer and fall for the Northern Hemisphere, with six straight months of record heat. This caused ongoing and related disasters that most of the Northern Hemisphere is still recovering from, so pooling resources and knowledge in the High Command of Humanity is necessary.

“As part of the Articles of Consortium, the High Command of Humanity will also feature a Fleet comprised of three arms: an Expeditionary Force, an Administrative and Logistics Force, and a Defense and Combat Force. The Fleet will be staffed by enlisted personnel and officers from across member states’ existing militaries, and will take several months to be fully operational. The Fleet will be responsible for managing space travel and off-Earth settlements.

“The concept of the High Command of Humanity and its Articles of Consortium goes all the way back to 2025. Captain Dr. Beatrice Espinoza—currently of the United States High Command and almost certainly soon to be an officer of the Fleet of the High Command of Humanity—presented on the concept when she was merely seventeen…”

---

April 30, 2063. 1930 SST (MST+0).

Ella was in the kitchen cleaning up from dinner. Millie and Theo were in the living room. The sun had just fallen below the Martian horizon and darkness was falling rapidly outside of the windows. The lights throughout and outside of Trixie’s and Olivia’s house came on automatically as the sensors detected the onset of night.

Ella put the last of the dishes away and leaned against the counter, enjoying the momentary solitude. Millie and Theo were incredible and wonderful but it was getting harder and harder to keep up with their limitless energy. Washing the dishes and putting them away had turned into a ritual for her, and though she could let the advanced technology in the kitchen do the work for her, she preferred this way. It gave her a moment of old world solace, something that was increasingly rare.

Ella knew she should not take for granted any time she had with Millie and Theo. In a bit less than two months, they would leave Mars and head to Discovery to be with their moms, and after that Ella didn’t know if she would ever see them again. She was an old woman. And she had been born after all the recent medical advances. Her good years were dwindling.

She smiled, even at the morbid thought. She knew what was waiting for her after her death, something few mortals knew. And the fact that she could be with her angel of a husband, forever? It was amazing, and though she knew the Silver City wouldn’t be quite as vibrant and dynamic as life was, she also knew it was a perfect paradise that was always interesting and always exactly what she needed it to be.

“Ella!”

She straightened, primed and ready to defend the children, but then paused as the tone filtered into her brain. It wasn’t panicked, nor was it distressed. Rather, it seemed questioning, almost as if whatever they were experiencing was beyond the horizon of their understanding. She pushed off the counter and walked through the kitchen into the living room.

“What is it?” she asked, as she crossed the threshold.

“Look!” Theo cried, pointing at the giant holoscreen.

He and Millie were laying sideways on the large sectional, staring up at Trixie’s and Olivia’s state of the art holo tech. Their eyes were wide.

“Ok?” she questioned, coming more fully into the room and turning to look at the holoscreen.

She first noticed the BREAKING NEWS bulletin along the bottom. Then she focused on the rest of it and saw what looked like a city on Earth, given the size of the buildings and the color of the sky.

“What’s up, my loves?” she questioned them, walking forward and sitting between their reclined bodies.

“We saw mom!” Millie said.

“She was there!” Theo agreed.

Ella looked at the screen again. It was a recording of the outside of a large building, which was soon identified as the headquarters of the High Command of Humanity. There was a large group of armed Fleet personnel walking toward the camera, arranged in a phalanx around an unseen person at their center.

“Where?”

“When they came outside,” Millie explained, moving and drawing her legs toward her, sitting up and pointing at the holoscreen.

Ella thought she looked so much like Olivia in that moment, it was almost uncanny. Both Millie and Theo were perfect blends of their parents, almost divinely ordained, but occasionally one or the other would echo one of their moms so much. Ella wasn’t sure how to reconcile it. If she didn’t know better, there must have been some sort of Divine hand in their creation.

The text on the screen changed.

“What does that mean, Ella?” Theo asked.

Ella’s heartrate skyrocketed. She rested a hand to her chest. This would change everything.

“It means…” She swallowed. “It means that the High Command of Humanity has changed. They’re putting someone in charge.”

“In charge of what?” Millie asked.

“Everything,” Theo told her, rolling his eyes.

“You can’t be in charge of everything,” Millie rebutted, rolling her eyes too.

“Maybe not everything,” Ella agreed. “But at least where people are. All across the Solar System.”

They continued to watch the holoscreen. The text changed again.

Theo abruptly sat up. Ella looked over, barely feeling like this was real life, and saw that his jaw was hanging open. She looked the other way at Millie and saw the same expression on her face.

“That’s mom!” Millie said, jumping up. “I told you!”

“It is,” Ella agreed. Her eyes were tracking the text on the screen. Her thoughts were wiped away.

“She’s going to be Fleet Admiral!” Theo shouted. He stood on the couch with his hands in the air. He was nearly triumphant.

Ella looked at him again, then she turned her head and made eye contact with Millie, who was still standing next to her. Millie’s eyes slid to hers, and then her face relaxed into something knowing, and suddenly she seemed more Trixie than Olivia.

“Mom’s got this.”

---

September 27, 2052

“Breaking news today as we’re receiving reports from the High Command of Humanity that an ELS drone successfully returned from a test flight for the first time! As a reminder, ELS means ‘exceeds light speed,’ so this is the first time anything human-made has ever traveled faster than the speed of light and remained intact.

“This is a momentous occasion because exceeding the speed of light was, for almost a century, thought to be impossible due to the theory of special relativity. However, given advances in our understanding of dark matter and dark energy, and the technology created to harness them, scientists discovered the theory of special relativity was missing key variables. When they were added, traveling faster than light became theoretically possible.

“And now we know it is actually possible! Rear Admiral Dr. Beatrice Espinoza is the Commanding Officer of the starship Primis that received the drone after its successful journey. The High Command of Humanity tells us she and her crew are already analyzing and parsing the data the drone returned with.

“And who better to lead that team? Rear Admiral Espinoza is well-known for her pioneering efforts with dark matter and dark energy that led us across the Solar System in the first place, and is second on the list of most traveled humans, behind only her wife Commander Olivia Edwards…”

---

April 30, 2063. 1930 SST.

Olivia ended her duty for the day, retiring to her quarters on Discovery. She had returned the previous night, brought across the Solar System by one of the Fleet’s best ships. Olivia was unused the luxury of the starship that had brought her from Mars into the orbit of Neptune. And then she had been picked up by one of the new limousines for the transfer to Discovery, which is something she had never experienced before.

Today’s duties had gone well and she was ready to settle in for the evening. She undressed, showered, and settled into her small Captain’s quarter’s with a glass of the finest tequila from Mars.

The Red Planet had recently perfected a new flavor of tequila that was all the rage across the Solar System, something to do with how the atmosphere and soil affected the agave. Olivia didn’t fully understand the science behind it—she was a mathematician after all—but she definitely enjoyed the avant-garde liquor.

Her hologlass dinged as she pressed a button on the side table to turn on the large holoscreen. She leaned to the side and dug the hologlass out of the right hip pocket of her vacuum suit. The holoscreen lit up, casting an artificial light through her sitting area.

She brought the hologlass to her face, and then she grinned. The latest NLS drone from Earth must have just reached Discovery.

From: Admiral Dr. Beatrice Espinoza

To: Captain Olivia Edwards

Subject: I’m here

Hi there, I’m here in Chicago at the JW Marriott. Journey was smooth and security is tight. Unsure what the All Hands meeting is about but the entire inner metro area is locked down. Commander Roberts is on my ass like no other, but I do appreciate her diligence. I miss you, and I miss Millie and Theo. I will see you soon!

With love,

Trixie

She touched Trixie’s name, glowing there on her hologlass, with her fingertips. She sniffed away unexpected tears, thinking of her wife so far away on Earth while she was here on Discovery orbiting Neptune.

It was so weird. When she was on that journey to Proxima Centauri, she never really thought about the trillions of miles between her and Trixie. But now that she knew for a fact that Trixie was on Earth—the message she’d received was proof—something in her heart of hearts missed her more than anything.

Maybe it was the difference between love and duty.

Trixie had signed off on the order to send Olivia to Proxima Centauri. Olivia knew her wife and her Commanding Officer trusted her enough to deploy her to the unknown reaches of space, to blaze new trails across the vast interstellar distances between Sol and other stars.

That was duty. Trixie had willed it, and so it was. Olivia had made it happen. She had led that ship and that crew to Proxima Centauri.

Yet it was love that had brought her back. It was love that had led her crew safely across the void to Proxima Centauri and back again to Sol. It was love that caused her to grin at her wife’s words as she scoffed at her own tears and wiped them away.

The holoscreen on the wall changed. A banner with BREAKING NEWS appeared across the bottom.

Olivia’s eyes were drawn to it. The city looked familiar, and the sky showed that it was clearly on Earth. The camera showed a large building and a number of armed Fleet personnel leaving it, in a circle around something.

She recognized their ranks and their weapons. Olivia had never fired a plasma pistol or a plasma rifle, but she would recognize those cold metal barrels anywhere. The text on the bottom of the holoscreen changed again.

Olivia’s hologlass dinged. She looked down at it, then back at the screen, and down again.

“…the fuck?”

In Trixie’s absence, Vice Admiral Jane Thayer was in charge of the Expeditionary Force, and had apparently taken the first NLS ship back from Earth. Where was Trixie if Admiral Thayer was already shipboard?

What she was seeing on the news, provided by the NLS drone, would change everything. Humans across the Solar System had existed in sort of government-less limbo for quite some time, and now the High Command of Humanity wanted to upend all of that.

“Who is it?” she wondered, at both the holoscreen and her hologlass, which were displaying the same news transmission.

The text changed again. Olivia leaned back and drained the tequila. Discovery around her seemed suspended in animation, and although she knew it was just her perception, it was as if the constant rolling storms in Neptune’s atmosphere had quieted. She stared at the gargantuan azure planet out her small window and saw only quiescent blue.

Olivia raised her empty glass toward the gas giant.

“To you, Trixie,” she said. “To the future.”

---

April 30, 2063.

“Breaking news across the Solar System tonight! We bring this to you from Chicago on Earth, outside the headquarters of the High Command of Humanity. The Group of Nine brought a motion to the entire High Command, in this first and most unprecedented All Hands meeting, about the future of all of us.

“We are honored to be included in the first press detail to learn more… I am hearing the motion is about new leadership… ok wow, I am not sure if this is the real deal—oh, it is? Ok. Well, here we go.

“The Group of Nine’s motion is to create a new position in the Fleet called the Fleet Admiral. This new position would be the leader of all humans, everywhere, and serve as the head of government and the head of state of our coalition of sovereign states.

“What’s this? Oh, yes, that makes sense. My colleagues behind the camera tell me that a motion like this can only pass by unanimous consent of all member states… Ah, I see. It did pass. And it turns out the Group of Nine also brought a nomination to the All Hands meeting.

“That’s right, citizens of humanity. Our leaders have nominated someone to lead us all—wait, what? Are you sure? Ok! We would all be so lucky if she accepted the nomination. Given all that she’s done, there really could be no other.

“We endorse Admiral Espinoza for Fleet Admiral!”

Chapter Text

Chapter 6 – A Space Odyssey

June 24, 2023. 1300 PDT.

Trixie watched the breeze blow her mom’s dark blonde hair around her head. The midday sun shone brightly down on them, casting very small shadows. Trixie sipped her sparkling water as her mom did the same with her glass of red wine.

Chloe’s eyes slid back to hers behind her sunglasses. She had been watching the crowds around them on the Santa Monica pier. The bar serving them lunch was open air and had a good view of the pier and the Pacific. It was a busy day with plenty of people-watching.

“Freshman year conquered,” her mom said, a tweak at the corner of her lips. She tilted her glass toward Trixie, who did the same with her seltzer.

Trixie’s freshman year had ended the week before. She had done exceedingly well, consistently competing for the top spot in her class. Field hockey had been awesome and she was looking forward to another season starting up in less than two months. She had a great friend group and her work with the STEM Olympiad would continue this summer.

“Yup,” she answered, popping the p. Her mom’s smiled widened and she took another sip of her wine.

“Thanks for having lunch with me, babe.”

“Of course!” Trixie said. “It’s so nice out here.”

She looked around. The June gloom had lifted for the day and the sun was warm and intense. She’d sprayed a little sunblock on before leaving the house, and now she was glad she did since they were sitting in the direct sunlight.

Chloe, as always, looked perfect in her short white denim shorts, teal tank top, and black sandals. Trixie knew she was Goddess and that it was almost certainly the reason why, but she thought her mom looked amazing. Trixie had nearly matched her outfit with similar shorts and a red tank top, though she wore flats rather than sandals.

She and her mom had recently gone shopping to buy Trixie new clothes, since her body was rapidly changing. She had admired herself in the mirror for a few seconds before leaving the house, liking the way she filled out the tank top. It was a new thing.

“So what are your plans for the summer? Other than the Olympiad?”

“Hang out with Livvy, Sophie, and Lucy,” Trixie shrugged. “Definitely train. Gotta stay in shape for next season.”

Chloe eyed her. “You seem to be in pretty good shape already, Trix. Better than I ever was at your age, for sure.”

“Thanks, mom,” she replied, feeling her cheeks heat a little. “You’re looking rather Divine yourself these days.”

Her mom laughed, throwing her head back, hair and shades catching the sun. It was a sublime sound, almost as if the Universe had suddenly invested in wind chimes. Everything seemed a little crisper around them. Smell, taste, sight, hearing—they all came into sharper focus.

The Santa Monica pier was abruptly the center of the cosmos. Chloe’s delight resonated across time and space, and Trixie could feel it. In that moment, she truly understood how powerful her mom, the Goddess of all Creation, really was.

Trixie was humbled, awed…and so proud of her mom.

“You’re pretty amazing, Trix,” her mom said, once she came back to Earth and calmed down. “You’ve rolled with all of this celestial nonsense so well. From the very beginning, too. I can’t believe you knew Lucifer was the Devil before I did!”

Chloe’s radiant smile was still there, shimmering out at Trixie. She smiled back.

“I think I figured it out on the very first day,” Trixie said, remembering it with distinct clarity not present for other memories from the same time. “There was something otherworldly about him.”

She glanced at her mom and then stared off to the Pacific.

“And then he scared the shit out of that bully.”

“Trixie!” her mom said, laughing again.

“Mom?” she asked, throwing an innocent affect into her voice.

“Language,” she told Trixie, though her tone and the smile still on her face did not match the reprimand. “And I really should talk to Lucifer about revealing himself to children.”

Trixie waved it off. “Old news.”

“True,” Chloe agreed. She sipped her wine and then leaned forward toward Trixie, as if she were going to share a big secret. “But anyway, I have the best daughter in the Universe. I would know,” she winked.

“You’re biased!” Trixie giggled.

“Maybe,” Chloe shrugged, leaning back and downing the rest of the wine.

“Does alcohol do anything to you anymore?”

“If I let it.”

“Are you?”

“Maybe,” Chloe repeated, winking again.

Another giggle escaped from Trixie. Her mom seemed light and carefree today, with none of the weight of the Universe on her shoulders that sometimes was there.

“I love this place,” Trixie sighed. She looked around again. “And you got married right over there!”

“Yep!” her mom agreed. “That was a lovely day.”

“Luce is pretty awesome, isn’t he?”

“I’m glad you think so too, babe.”

“I miss dad…but Lucifer’s great. Best step-God ever!”

“Step-God! That’s a new one. He’ll love it.”

“Well, I love him, and I love you.”

“Same, Trix. Love you so much!”

As lunch wound on, the hustle and bustle of the Santa Monica pier continued all around them, a slice of the rich and dynamic life along the coast of metro LA.

---

May 1, 2063. 0740 PDT (1011 SST).

“Ma’am, I strongly recommend we leave this place. It is a ruin.”

Trixie ignored Commander Jordan and walked forward, stepping carefully through the debris as she picked her way down the gentle sandy slope to the water line.

The sun was low in the east, casting long shadows toward the water. The sky was free of clouds, its perfect blue marred only by wheeling gulls. Other than their calls and her own steps, the only sound Trixie heard was the crashing of the waves.

She paused near the bottom of the low sand dune and looked around. There were no other people—except for her APD unit—and most of the structures she could see were decrepit shells of what they once were.

Trixie sighed. Santa Monica was gone. She didn’t understand what she had hoped to accomplish by coming here. She knew this barren wasteland of sand dunes and abandoned buildings was what she would find, but something drew her here regardless.

She pushed forward, finally coming to the bottom of the dune and walking right up to the water’s edge. The Pacific endured, relentless and implacable, its waves uncaring of the devastation they wrought.

Trixie heard the APD unit come to a stop behind her. She could almost feel the annoyed tension from Commander Jordan at her back, but she continued to ignore it. Imperatrix waited behind the dunes in the remnants of a parking lot, guarded by a few APD personnel, and Trixie knew it would still be there to take her away from this place, this planet, when she was ready to leave.

She looked up from the waves rolling onto the shore in front of her. Out there in the water, perhaps a quarter mile from where she stood, were the skeletal remains of the Santa Monica pier. Most of it had fallen into the ocean, though there were some supports sticking out of the water and some places where the pier itself remained.

So much of her formative youth was centered around here. Born and raised in LA, Santa Monica and its surrounds were part of the mythos of her childhood. And their house in the Pacific Palisades had been just a stone’s throw from the pier.

Trixie looked around again, an ocean breeze blowing her white hair around her face, free of her cap at the moment. The Pacific Palisades were gone, washed into the sea by inundation and atmospheric rivers. Ocean Avenue was underwater, as were most of the first few blocks of what had been Santa Monica and Venice Beach. The closest anyone lived now was a half mile inland.

Commander Jordan stepped up next to her. Trixie heard the rustling of the other dozen APD guards behind her.

“Ma’am… there’s nothing here. We should go.”

“Memories, Commander.”

“Pardon, ma’am?”

“I have memories here,” Trixie clarified. “I wanted to see it for myself. I lived right over there during high school.” She pointed at where the Pacific Palisades used to be, now craggy rocks and sand occasionally exposed by ebbing and flowing waves.

Commander Jordan glanced over there and then met her eyes again.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” she said. “But there’s no use in looking backward.”

“Oh?” Trixie raised an eyebrow, turning away from the Pacific to face Commander Jordan. “Not even to learn from our mistakes?”

Commander Jordan’s jaw clenched. All things considered, it was a light rebuke, one Trixie hoped the Commander didn’t hold against her.

“You’re right, Admiral Espinoza. We must always try to learn from our mistakes. Perhaps what I really mean is there is no use dwelling on the past, ma’am.”

Trixie watched her for a moment, glanced at all of the other APD personnel around them, and then nodded in acceptance.

“That is true. Well, I looked,” she waved around, “but I won’t dwell. Let’s go.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Commander Jordan said, and the unit fell into step around her as they climbed back up the dune. As they crested it, Imperatrix came into view, in all of its shiny and sleek sophistication. It was entirely out of place here.

Trixie broke into a jog, wanting to leave now that she could see her ship. The APD unit kept pace around her. Their gear and guns made rhythmic clunking noises.

The APD personnel guarding the starship snapped to attention when Trixie came closer, standing down when Trixie waved it off.

“Where to, ma’am?” Commander Jordan asked.

Trixie paused halfway up the ramp into Imperatrix, resting a hand on the edge of the opening as she turned to look back.

“Mercury,” Trixie told her. “City Alpha. I assume Imperatrix has the requisite vacuum suits in storage for all of us?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

Leaving Earth was swift after that. In less than three minutes, everyone was on the starship and settled in, helmets close by. Trixie was just pouring herself some coffee in her suite when she felt the thrusters light up, sending a rumbling vibration throughout Imperatrix.

The view out of her suite windows showed a veritable sandstorm as the powerful engines scoured the dust and debris from the ground. The low rumble flashed into a roar and Imperatrix was lifting off the ground, vertical against the force of gravity.

Trixie steadied the coffee cup on the bar countertop near the suite’s kitchenette. The ground fell away outside the windows, leaving only the endless ocean and the blue sky. The limo quickly ascended and the sky shifted from light blue to indigo and finally to the darkness of the void. The vibrations faded away as the terrestrial thrusters switched over to the dark matter anti-momentum engines.

She carried her coffee over to the window, watching as the ship rotated, bringing Earth back into view again. It was rapidly diminishing as Imperatrix cycled up the SLS drives. Once the starship was out of Earth’s gravity well, far past the Moon, they’d switch over to the NLS drives.

Mercury was currently 33 million miles from Earth. Today’s journey would take 45 minutes. A part of Trixie thought it seemed quick, but light traveled that distance in 3 minutes. Olivia’s state-of-the-art ELS starship Spero, at maximum speed, had covered that same distance every 4.4 seconds on its journey to and from Proxima Centauri.

Earth disappeared from her sight. The view was filled with stars, and as the ship accelerated further into an arcing turn, Sol came into view as well. Shielding in the windows prevented her eyes from damage. She finished her coffee, set the glass on a side table, and exited the suite. Both APD personnel saluted but otherwise didn’t move, remaining by the door.

Trixie continued into the common area and turned to the right, heading for the lone office on the ship. There were some other APD members in the common area and they acknowledged her with salutes or ‘ma’ams,’ and she generally returned their courtesy.

Then she slipped into the office and exhaled a long sigh. She needed to have two conversations before they arrived on Mercury, so she couldn’t spend any time wallowing in her current mood. She took another deep breath, straightened her shoulders and schooled her features, and sat at the desk.

The terminal in front of her was the most advanced tech in the Solar System. It was connected with a paired dark energy emitter in her state room on Discovery. That meant she could instantly communicate with her flagship, across several billion miles, if and when it became necessary.

She unlocked it with her biometrics and initiated communication. There was no sense of the dark energy emitter doing anything, but she knew it was waking up its twin on Discovery.

The holoscreen flickered to life, showing a live view of her state room. The timestamp in the bottom right corner of the video feed said 10:27:04 Solar Standard Time. Trixie watched the seconds increment. After a moment, a figure rushed into view.

“Admiral Espinoza!” he said, looking up at one of the giant holoscreens in the room.

“Lieutenant,” she acknowledged.

Lieutenant Reuben Halstead was one of her longest-serving aides, and also one of her most competent. He knew to come into the state room because as soon as the dark energy emitter on Discovery activated, every aide aboard the ship was notified.

“Ma’am—congratulations!” he said. “We received the news yesterday on the first NLS drone from Earth. All of Discovery is celebrating. The rest of the Expeditionary Force too.”

Trixie suppressed a sigh. “Thank you, Lieutenant—I appreciate it. But that’s not why I’m calling. I need to speak with Vice Admiral Thayer. And after that I’ll need to speak with Captain Edwards.”

“Of course, ma’am. I’ll let them know immediately. But could I ask just one question, Admiral?”

“Go ahead.”

“What happened after they nominated you, ma’am? We only heard you were nominated for the new Fleet Admiral rank.”

It would become common knowledge eventually, so Trixie didn’t see any harm in letting him know.

“Nothing,” Trixie told him. “As of yet, at least. I know this may be hard to believe, Lieutenant, but this was sprung on me. I need some time to understand all of the implications. Maybe we all do.”

“I see, ma’am,” he said. She could see the skeptical look on his face as he stood there in the middle of her state room. She didn’t call him on it, though.

“Any more questions, Lieutenant?” she wondered.

He snapped to attention and saluted. “No, ma’am. I’ll get the Vice Admiral and the Captain.”

“Thank you. Dismissed.”

He left the state room and she stared at feed. It didn’t take long for Vice Admiral Thayer to step into the room and look up at Trixie’s face displayed on the large screens.

“Admiral Espinoza,” she said. “Congratulations are in order, I believe,” she smiled.

Trixie nodded. “Thank you,” she replied. “You’re nominally in charge of the Expeditionary Force right now, Jane,” Trixie continued, getting right to the heart of the matter. “None of my standing orders have changed. How are things running? Do you have everything you need?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jane said. “Recent news of your new rank is the talk of the ship, and indeed the entire Fleet. No one is sure what this really means for all of us. But otherwise things are running smoothly. All battalions in the Expeditionary Force are currently reporting normal operations. Same with all of the space stations.”

“Thank you for the report, Jane. And just to set the record straight, I do not yet have a new rank. I was nominated at the All Hands meeting, but that’s as far as it went for now.”

The Vice Admiral seemed surprised. She blinked a few times. Then she looked down and Trixie could see her brow pinch. When she looked back up, there was a question in her eyes.

“Permission to speak freely, ma’am?”

“Granted, Jane,” Trixie said, attempting to inject some dry humor into her voice. The Vice Admiral did not relax.

“To confirm, you haven’t accepted the nomination?”

“That’s correct,” Trixie nodded.

“I know you. I’m sure you didn’t know this was coming. None of us did.”

“President Bailey could have told me when I was on Mars, but she chose not to.”

“I’m sure the Group of Nine had its reasons. But that’s what I’m talking about. The High Command of Humanity is changing everything with the new Fleet Admiral position. What if they were to nominate someone outside of the Fleet? They would know nothing about how any of this works.”

Trixie considered Jane’s words in the spirit they were given. She couldn’t find fault in any of the logic, and she had been so focused on her own internal struggle about being blindsided, her own future plans, and what this change meant for her family, that she may have lost sight of the bigger picture. It was actually one of the reasons she was heading to Mercury.

“We’d still be the Fleet,” Trixie eventually said. “Except we’re going to become a functioning government for all of humanity. And we’d all have a new CO.”

“I don’t want a new CO, ma’am. I want you. The only reason we’re all here—or anywhere in the Solar System—is because of you. My humble request is that you seriously consider the nomination. There is no one else who can be Fleet Admiral.”

They stared at each other across the billions of miles for several long and silent seconds. The clock continued to tick forward in the lower right corner.

“Thank you, Jane. I appreciate your support and you’ve made your position clear. Now is there anything I should be immediately aware of beyond what you’ve already reported?”

“No, ma’am. Not at this time. We’ll keep Discovery and the Fleet in tip-top shape until you return. Do you know when you’ll return?”

“Soon,” Trixie said. “Within a week or so. I’ll station someone from the APD unit here to receive any urgent real-time transmissions.”

“Understood,” Jane nodded.

“Anything else, Vice Admiral?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Please send in Captain Edwards on your way out.”

“Yes, ma’am!” She stood at attention and delivered a crisp salute before turning and leaving. Her state room was once again silent and empty.

10:31:45. 10:31:46. 10:31:47. 10:31:48. 10:31:49.

Trixie’s eyes snapped up to refocus on the whole frame as the door opened and her wife stepped into her state room. Olivia was wearing her standard issue vacuum suit and had her helmet under an arm. She was looking up at the holoscreens and grinning. She placed the helmet on the conference table.

“Admiral Espinoza!” she greeted. “Or, I’m sorry ma’am, I meant to say Fleet Admiral Espinoza!” she added on, throwing her arms wide in a theatrical flair.

Trixie couldn’t help the light smile that graced her lips. Livvy had such a verve. She hated that she was about to burst her bubble.

“Still Admiral Espinoza,” Trixie said. Her wife’s arms slowly dropped to her sides and then she cocked her head up at Trixie.

“You haven’t accepted the nomination.”

It was a statement, not a question.

“Not yet,” Trixie told her.

“Why not, love?”

“You really expected me to without first talking to you about it?”

“I… yes, Trixie. You know I would support you in this.”

“But what about Millie and Theo? What about our plans to bring them to Discovery? What about the Expeditionary Force?”

“What about them? Becoming the Fleet Admiral won’t change any of that.”

Livvy had placed her hands on her hips and was practically glaring up at Trixie now. Long gone was the playful grin from earlier.

“I think it’ll change everything, Livvy. Right now, I’m an officer in a military. We both are. Being the Fleet Admiral will be something else entirely.”

Trixie’s eyes tracked Livvy as she started to pace back and forth.

“Yes, and I think it’s brilliant,” Livvy said. “This is exactly what we were talking about on the way to Mars. Given what President Bailey said to you, and showed you, and I’m not at all surprised the Group of Nine came up with something like this.”

“But the leader of all humans?! Honestly, Livvy?” Trixie threw up her hands and sat back in the chair, staring upward for a moment.

“Something has to change, Trix. You know this. The Fleet is holding everything together across the Solar System right now, and we’re doing a damn good job of it, but it’s not enough. The Fleet has no real authority in civilian life.”

Trixie looked back at the video feed. Livvy had stopped pacing and was staring up at her again.

“High Command could have made the Fleet a functioning government without the Fleet Admiral.”

“I’m not sure about that. Name one real government that doesn’t have a head of state and a head of government.”

Trixie held her tongue. There was so much she could say to express her frustration at the situation, but it seemed like anyone she talked to had already accepted she would become Fleet Admiral. What if that wasn’t what she wanted?

She leaned forward and dropped her head into her hands.

“What’s really the matter, babe?” Livvy’s voice came to her ears. “Is it because they surprised you with this?”

Trixie huffed into her hands. “That’s part of it. To do it in such a public way…I feel like they backed me into a corner.”

“Would it be the worst thing if you accepted the nomination, though? You’ve been fighting for our expansion across the Solar System and our survival beyond Earth since you were a child, since before we even met. As the Fleet Admiral, you’d be able to do that much more directly.”

Trixie scrubbed her face with her fingertips and then dropped her hands, looking into the video at Livvy again.

“The Fleet wasn’t supposed to be forever for me… for us, Livvy. In another ten years or so I was planning to retire—you know this. But the Fleet Admiral is a lifetime position.”

“And what would you do in that retirement, Trix? Settle down on Mars and live out the rest of your days watching as humans settle other stars? Could you really do that?”

She and Livvy had discussed their careers, of course, and had even talked about retirement in general terms, but this was the first time they were addressing it head-on. Looking back, Trixie wasn’t sure why they hadn’t discussed this before in any depth.

“Well… once President Bailey’s terms are up, I was thinking about running for President of Mars. With everything I’ve done in my career, I figure I’d at least have a shot.”

Livvy’s face softened. “Oh Trix…”

“What?”

“You’d be a brilliant President of Mars. I have no doubt about that. Ever since you first mentioned it back in middle school, I could always see it happening. And then you and I, together, wrote this future we’re currently living. It would make so much sense if you were the President of Mars.”

“But?”

“Maybe if you hadn’t gone into the US military and then the Fleet, maybe if you hadn’t been at the forefront of everything the High Command of Humanity has stood for, maybe if you weren’t second to only me on the list of most traveled humans, I could see you settling down on Mars in ten or fifteen years.

“But, Trixie—and hear me out—maybe it’s time to rewrite that little girl’s dream. She always dreamt bigger than everyone else, and that’s what the Fleet Admiral is. It’s so much bigger than the President of Mars. And just like the President of Mars, I think you’d be a brilliant Fleet Admiral. There is no one else I would trust with so much power.”

Trixie took a deep breath and let it flow out of her. “Thanks, Livvy. Your support and belief means everything to me. I love you tons.”

“I love you too. Are you heading back to Discovery?”

“Not yet,” Trixie shook her head. “I’m going to visit all of the various settlements around the Solar System on my way back out to Neptune.”

“How come?”

“The High Command of Humanity told me I could take as much time as I needed before reporting back to Discovery. They implied there was no one else they would nominate right now, so I thought it might be nice to see everything in person. Get the state of the state.”

“That makes sense,” Livvy nodded. “Does this mean you’ll accept the nomination?”

“I’m not sure yet, to be honest. I have a lot to think about.”

“Sorry I can’t be there with you, babe.”

“It’s ok, Livvy. I think your blunt words helped a little bit.” Trixie took the edge off her own words with a smile.

“That’s what I’m here for. Knocking some sense into my future ruler!”

Trixie laughed. “I think the High Command’s vision is more of a democracy, my dear.” She winked.

“With an appointed leader—for life,” Livvy rightly pointed out.

Trixie waved it away. “I’m going to stop on Mars again as well. Is there anything you want me to pass along to Millie and Theo?”

“Just my love, please.”

“I can do that,” Trixie nodded. “Thanks, Livvy. I’ll let you return to your duties.”

Trixie watched her stand at attention and salute before relaxing again.

“Call me if you need me, anytime. Otherwise I’ll see you soon?”

“Yes, likely in a week.”

“Sounds good. Stay safe. Try not to piss off Commander Jordan too much.”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Dismissed, Captain. Thanks again.”

Livvy gave her another salute, this one incredibly lazy, and then sauntered out of her state room. Trixie watched the door slide shut behind her, then reached forward and cut the connection.

It was true they’d written themselves into this future. Could she then rewrite her own dream? Did she even want to? She reached back in time, somewhere in her memory, to what that little girl would say to her.

In that moment, all she heard was silence.

---

May 1, 2063. 1110 SST.

Charlie was walking from the greenhouses to a local restaurant for his lunch break when a large black electric hovercraft stopped next to him. The front passenger window rolled down. Charlie’s HUD in his helmet identified the person that leaned out of the hovercraft as Stella Lansing.

“Charlie!”

Her voice came over the point-to-point comm in his helmet. She had established the directional link via commands inside her own helmet. He was surprised to see her again so soon after the previous evening. They ran into each other only occasionally.

“Stella? What’s up?”

“I need your help. Can you get in and come with me?”

“Um, well I’m on my lunch break. I need to get back to the greenhouses in an hour. Will it take that long?”

“No worries about that,” she told him. “I let your team know you’ll be taking care of other duties this afternoon.”

‘Afternoon’ was a loaded word since they were currently just past the middle of a Mercurian day, which was about 88 Earth days long, but everyone on Mercury used Solar Standard Time, so the word fit. Sol was shining brightly high in the otherwise dark sky.

“Ok…what’s this about?”

“Get in and I’ll explain on the way. Please?”

Charlie nodded and opened the rear passenger door, sliding into the hovercraft and pulling the door closed behind him. Stella was in the front passenger seat. Charlie’s HUD identified the driver, though he was unfamiliar with the person. The hovercraft pulled away from the curb and headed toward the center of City Alpha.

“I just got word five minutes ago,” Stella explained. She was facing forward but her voice came over the comms between their helmets just fine. “So barely any notice. But it seems as if we’re going to have a visitor. Or maybe she’s already here.”

“Who?”

“Your step-cousin.”

“Trixie? She’s on Mercury?”

“Yes, Admiral Espinoza’s team let us know a short time ago she would be on planet until tomorrow morning.”

“Hmm, did they say why?” Charlie wondered. He was watching City Alpha race by outside the windows. The closer they traveled to the center, the denser and taller the buildings became.

“To inspect operations,” Stella told him. Now Charlie could hear some underlying anxiety in her voice.

“Why are you so worried about this? And why am I here? Shouldn’t the President be greeting her?”

“Normally yes, Charlie. But President Thurno and his whole delegation are still on Earth. I’m the highest ranking person on the planet right now,” Stella said.

Charlie sat in surprised silence for a moment. He knew Stella was much higher on the ladder in the grand scheme of the work that happened on Mercury, but he had never realized just how high.

“Well,” he replied, after a moment, “I’m happy to help however I can.”

“Thanks,” she said. “Being a familiar and friendly face for her will help.”

“What are you worried about?”

“This is unprecedented!” Stella said, voice crackling over the comm. “I don’t think anyone like Admiral Espinoza has ever been on Mercury, or if they have, I can’t remember it. And now that she’s going to be the Fleet Admiral, we have to make sure everything goes smoothly. I’m so proud of what we do here, but what if she isn’t?”

“Stella,” Charlie started, “she’s not like that. Trixie has high expectations and demands excellence…but she’s not a tyrant.”

“…I know. I know,” she replied. “I’m sorry. It’s stressful without the rest of the administration here.”

“I can understand that. Thanks for pulling me in, though. It’ll be good to see her again.”

Stella didn’t respond after that, so Charlie watched as they traveled the final mile into the very heart of City Alpha, where the planet’s government complex was. As soon as the hovercraft passed through its nominal borders, there was an immediate and dramatic increase in Fleet presence.

And then when they reached the gate to the Presidential building, there were heavily armed and armored Fleet units standing ready. They flagged the hovercraft down. Stella and the driver rolled down their windows, uploaded their credentials along with Charlie’s, and after a short wait they were let through the gate.

In the middle of the giant open space in front of the large Presidential building, there was a starship parked, gleaming in the sunshine. It was fairly large compared to the Mercurian vehicles around it. Etched into its shimmering metal was the name Imperatrix.

Charlie couldn’t contain a brief smile. He doubted Trixie chose that name for herself.

The hovercraft circled around the starship to the front of the Presidential building, at the bottom of the shallow staircase that led upward, past tall white columns, and into the grand foyer. More heavily armed Fleet personnel greeted them, opening their doors wide and allowing them to step out. Once Stella and Charlie had cleared the vehicle, the driver pulled the hovercraft forward and out of the way.

“Hello. I’m Commander Rachel Jordan. I’m in charge of Admiral Espinoza’s Admiral Protection Detail.”

“Hello, Commander,” Stella said, nodding at her. Everyone wore standard Mercury helmets, darkened against the intense power of the sun, so they had to rely on their HUDs for what faces looked like.

“Commander,” Charlie greeted.

“Stella Lansing, Associate Chief of Staff to President Thurno. Charles ‘Charlie’ Martin, manager of Sector Four Greenhouses. And step-cousin to the Admiral.”

“Yes, you’re well-informed,” Charlie said.

Commander Jordan snorted. “I have to be, Mr. Martin. My team is responsible for Admiral Espinoza’s protection. Prior to the All Hands meeting, that was hard enough, but now I’m sure you can imagine how much that has changed.”

He simply cocked his head at the Commander.

“That’s a lot of firepower,” Stella said, pointing to the plasma rifle strapped to the Commander’s back.

“Merely a precaution, Ms. Lansing. I hope to never have to use it. But necessary nonetheless.”

“Is the Admiral inside?” Stella asked, motioning toward the building.

“Yes. We’ll escort you.”

Commander Jordan turned and started ascending the steps to the building. Charlie and Stella followed her, and three other Fleet APD personnel fell into formation around them.

Charlie thought the show of force was a little unnecessary, but he really didn’t know anything about the Fleet except that it supported the safety, security, and livelihood of humans across the Solar System. Trixie’s position in the Fleet had already been extremely elevated. Now it was something else entirely.

At the top of the steps, they passed between tall columns under a high veranda and then through an airlock into a small waiting chamber. Once the external door was closed and the environment was flooded with breathable air, the lights in the room turned green. The inner door opened, they passed through it, and Charlie found himself in an opulent marble grand foyer. As the inner door closed behind them, they all took off their helmets.

“This way,” Commander Jordan said, heading left toward a doorway. Charlie and Stella kept following her, through the doorway, then down a long hallway, finally turning right at the end into another room. More APD personnel stood on either side of the doorway.

This room was an office of sorts, well-furnished and spacious. It had two sofas facing each other in the center of the room, and there was a desk on the other side. Charlie immediately recognized the figure standing up from behind the desk. He smiled at Trixie.

“Charlie!” Trixie said. There was a sparkle in her eyes and a matching smile on her face. She came around the desk toward them. She was wearing a vacuum suit with her last name and rank on it. Charlie noted she was still the Trixie he remembered—tall, fit, and intimidatingly beautiful.

“Trixie,” he said, stepping forward and greeting her with a hug. As she brought her arms around him, his opinion of her fitness was reinforced with the strength and solidity of the embrace. “Or should that be Admiral Espinoza?” he asked, as they parted.

She waved it off. “Not for family.”

“It’s been so long, Trix. It’s great to you see.”

“Same,” she said.

“And wow! Talk about a promotion! Fleet Admiral, huh?”

Charlie noted her face dimmed slightly. She took another step back and looked around.

“Yes, well… A conversation for another time. And you must be Stella Lansing?” she asked, switching her focus from Charlie to Stella. Charlie stepped to the side.

“Yes, ma’am,” Stella confirmed. “And it’s great to meet you, Admiral Espinoza. I’ve followed your career for a long time, so this is an honor. I’m sorry the President couldn’t be here to greet you. He’s still on Earth.”

“It’s lovely to meet you as well, Stella. And no problem about President Thurno. I’ll catch up with him some other time.” Trixie extended her hand and Charlie watched Stella shake it.

The APD personnel including Commander Jordan had faded to the sides of the room, standing unobtrusively still, silent, and watchful.

“I admit, I’m surprised—pleasantly—to see Charlie here as well. How do you know each other?” Trixie asked, turning to the sofas and motioning for them to sit. She sat on one and crossed her legs, facing toward where Charlie and Stella sat on the other.

“We came here at the same time in the first wave of settlers,” Charlie explained. “Stella is technically my boss…maybe fourth removed? So she’s the boss lady,” he smiled.

“We don’t actually work together,” Stella said.

Trixie chuckled. “I see. Well, it’s fortuitous, since Charlie and I haven’t seen each other in many years, but I do know that you manage some of the greenhouses here, Charlie.”

“That’s right.”

“It’s one of the reasons I’m here on Mercury. After the All Hands meeting, the High Command gave me some time to consider the nomination. With that time, I’m visiting all of our settlements.”

“You haven’t accepted it yet, ma’am?” Stella asked.

“Not yet,” Trixie shook her head. “There’s a lot to consider, and I need to spend some time discussing it with my family as well.”

“For what it’s worth, I wholeheartedly support it, Admiral Espinoza. I can’t imagine anyone else being a better fit.”

“Thank you, Stella,” Trixie smiled. “But enough about me. My understanding is the greenhouses here on Mercury are responsible for a significant portion of food production for the Solar System, second only to Mars at this point.”

“That’s true,” Charlie said. “And yield is up this season over last. If that continues, and if we can keep expanding across the planet as well, yield should continue to rise.”

“Amazing,” Trixie said, leaning back and lifting her eyes toward the ceiling. “And to think, ten years ago, there was nothing here. I read all the reports, of course, but I was astounded when I arrived at how built up everything is now.”

“It’s a grand experiment that has proven a success,” Charlie said. Both Stella and Trixie looked at him. “What we’re doing here, I mean. Stella reminded me just yesterday, actually. Most industry on Mercury is either in support of the cities here or for exporting goods off world. Soon enough it will be a main engine of agriculture, more than it already is.”

“How so?” Trixie wondered.

“There is so much life-giving ultraviolet radiation here. There are never clouds and the days are three Earth months long. As technology continues to improve, so will our ability to produce more crops—in greater quantity, and more frequently. The only rate-limiting factor right now is water, and even that isn't so much of a problem as it is a reality. And we’re getting better and better at recycling it.”

“Folks like Charlie are driving those improvements every day, ma’am,” Stella cut in. “He’s on the front line in the greenhouses.”

Trixie’s eyes swept back and forth between him and Stella. After a moment, she uncrossed her legs and leaned forward.

“Then congratulations are in order,” Trixie said. She stood and walked over to the cabinet set against one wall. She placed three glasses and a decanter of amber liquid on a tray and returned to the sofas, setting the tray on the table between them and retaking her seat.

She lifted the glass top of the decanter, set it to the side, and poured three generous glasses of the liquid. She set the decanter aside, took her glass, and raised it toward them.

“To blazing new trails,” Trixie said. Her brown eyes were once again twinkling at them.

Charlie reached for a glass and clinked it against Trixie’s.

“To leading us to a brighter future.”

Stella did the same.

“To our only possible Fleet Admiral.”

Charlie pulled his glass back and sipped it. The scotch was an explosion of flavor and burned his throat on the way down. In that moment, he was reminded of Lucifer, and he wondered what the God of the Universe was doing. He suspected Luce was probably off gallivanting in the far corner of the cosmos with Goddess.

Trixie took another sip of her scotch and set the glass back on the table. She glanced at a corner of the room where Commander Jordan was standing as a silent sentinel.

“The Commander won’t like this, but would you two be willing to show me around today? I’d like to see some of the greenhouses as well as the export operations. Perhaps after that we can head somewhere in City Alpha for dinner.”

“It would be my honor, ma’am,” Stella said.

“Please, Stella—call me Trixie.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t!”

“I insist. It’ll be awkward with Charlie calling me that and you sticking to formalities. I promise I won’t be offended.”

“Ok,” Stella took a deep breath. “Trixie.”

Trixie smiled, nodded, and turned toward Charlie with a raised eyebrow. “Charlie?”

“I’m not sure the pubs will be able to handle you, Trix,” he said. “And would that even be allowed?” he wondered, motioning toward the APD personnel.

“Regardless of whether I accept the nomination for Fleet Admiral, I am still an Admiral in the Fleet. I lead the entire Expeditionary Force. I can and do recognize good guidance and advice, and there will certainly be a large APD presence with us throughout the day—but they cannot stop me.”

Trixie’s countenance had changed from what Charlie knew from his childhood to something harder, sterner, and more sure of herself. This was Admiral Espinoza.

“…that’s fair,” he said.

Trixie threw back the rest of the scotch and motioned for them to do the same. Charlie followed her motion and grit his teeth at the volume of the robust liquid he was pouring down his throat. He managed to suppress a cough, but Stella did not. He blinked and Trixie was grinning at them.

“Amateurs.”

“You always were the only one who could keep up with Luce,” Charlie muttered. Stella looked sideways at him, a question in her gaze.

“Ha!” Trixie barked a laugh. “No one could keep up with Luce,” she said. “He was just being accommodating.”

“Who’s Luce?” Stella asked.

“Trixie’s step-dad,” Charlie explained. “My uncle.”

“Oh, that makes sense. Is he still alive?”

“Sadly, no,” Trixie said. Charlie let the white lie pass since there was no way Stella would understand without celestial knowledge, and this was definitely neither the time nor the place for that kind of conversation. “But that was years ago, so no worries. Are you two ready to go?”

“Yep!” Charlie jumped up. Stella also stood from the couch next to him. He could feel the curiosity and confusion coming off her in waves. He wondered if it was because Trixie was somehow different than who she had been expecting, or if there was more to it.

“Perfect. How about the greenhouses first?”

“Of course, Trix.”

Charlie found himself in the peculiar position of playing host and mediator for the rest of the day, mainly because he and Trixie had so much history. Stella handled herself well, in Charlie’s opinion, but it was clear she deferred to Charlie on most things directly related to his step-cousin.

After touring the greenhouses and a brief stop at the giant facility where all foodstuffs were organized for export off world, Charlie and Stella brought Trixie to a restaurant that had just opened a few weeks before. It was serving the finest wine and liquor from Mars, all the rage at the moment across the Solar System, and the food was good too.

The APD unit vetted every place they went and every person they interacted with before exposing Trixie to them. Charlie admired their efficiency though he could tell Trixie was tired of the constraints of the Admiral Protection Detail. He probably would be too, though he understood its necessity.

Trixie might not like to talk about it, but she was the reason they were able to have a fancy dinner on Mercury, of all places, and also the reason humanity had managed to exceed its Earthly bounds at all. She was incredibly important to the fabric of everyday life across the Solar System, and equally as important to their future endeavors.

She’d always had the vision to see beyond the horizon of what most thought possible. Now someone needed to convince her accepting the Fleet Admiral position was the next great step.

---

May 8, 2063. 0825 SST.

As Imperatrix pulled away from Galileo, one of two space stations in orbit around Uranus, Trixie settled into her suite and watched the seventh planet recede from view. She was headed, finally, for Neptune and Discovery. The journey was 1.01 billion miles and would take a little over three hours, with a maximum speed of sixty percent of the speed of light.

She had finished her tour of the Solar System. After leaving Mercury the morning of May 2, she had visited both space stations orbiting Venus. Then on May 3, she had visited the Moon, followed by Mars on May 4, both space stations orbiting Jupiter on May 5, both space stations orbiting Saturn on May 6, and yesterday both space stations orbiting Uranus.

While on Mars, she had spent three hours in the late afternoon visiting Millie, Theo, and Ella. Millie and Theo were far more excited about her nomination for Fleet Admiral than she expected them to be, and had stubbornly insisted on heading to Discovery with her rather than wait until the school year was finished. Trixie had put her foot down and told them no, to which they pouted, but the wait for them would only be two months.

Ella had simply hugged Trixie and told her how proud of her she was. Trixie rested in that embrace for a long time.

Her thoughts returned to the present. Uranus was long gone from view and the ship had attained its cruising speed, heading for Neptune at 111,000 miles per second. With nothing but the void and the stars surrounding Imperatrix, it was hard to fathom that speed, but Trixie knew they were racing outward from the Sun’s gravity toward the most distant planet.

Her tour of the Solar System had revealed a dynamic and rich culture of humans making the most of their situations. Mercury, the Moon, and Mars were amazing—so much had been accomplished in formerly inhospitable places—but it was the space stations that really drew her attention. They were functioning megacities, and although she had been on many of them, she had never really spent the time to consider how many people truly lived on them.

Ten million was just a number, and somewhat incomprehensible in general. But when she was touring the space stations that orbited Venus, ones she had never seen before, she was able to absorb the fabric of every day life there. It seemed as if people barely even realized or mentioned they were aboard a giant floating vessel anymore. Everyday life for them was filled with the same things for people on the planets and the Moon—family, work, leisure, food, love, loss, et cetera—yet it was bounded by the metal and glass of a space station.

The people she encountered had felt privileged to be there. For some reason, that surprised Trixie. Perhaps it was because of her recent experience on Earth, as well as President Bailey’s tour and words on Mars.

That was myopic, though. For decades now, humans had been settling off Earth, to the extent that some places now had a native generation. Mercury, Mars, the Moon, and the space stations were home for them.

Even more startling, and beautiful, was the acknowledgment of every other place in the Solar System wherever she went. On Mercury, it was the agriculture that would support life elsewhere in the Solar System. On Jupiter’s space stations, it was the incredible tech industry that pushed forward all the advances everyone across the Solar System enjoyed. On Kepler, one of the space stations orbiting Neptune she would visit today, it was the banking and finance industries that kept commerce afloat across such vast distances.

Trixie hadn’t really ever considered the complexity of an economy that spanned 2.7 billion miles. She was beginning to see it now. Her focus for so long had been on the Fleet, and more specifically on the Expeditionary Force. Always looking outward, to the next planet or the next goal.

She understood why the Group of Nine and the High Command of Humanity created the Fleet Admiral position and nominated her. Truly, she did. The Fleet had to be so much more in order to ensure humanity’s stability across the entire Solar System at the same time it began to reach out to other stars.

But was she ready to lead them all? Did she even want to? What would it mean if she did?

Trixie had no desire to rule over anyone. The orders she gave out as Admiral were functional and operational, not autocratic. They were legal and just and in pursuit of a better future. If she was suddenly handed all that power, what would she do with it?

The silence of the void greeted her as she continued to stare out of her windows.

Somewhere out there were her mom and Lucifer. She was beginning to think they might be the only ones with the answers she was seeking.

Trixie cradled her head in hands, thinking of the young girl who had dreamt about being the President of Mars. If she could just reach back through time and talk to her…

That dream seemed lost forever.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7 – The Day the Earth Stood Still

October 9, 2063. 1320 CDT.

“Max, come on! We gotta GO!”

“Coming, mom!” ten-year-old Max Dorsey called back, zipping up his backpack and racing out of his room. He thundered down the stairs into the living room where his mom was waiting. She had a small suitcase with her.

“Got everything?”

He shrugged. “Some clothes, plus my hologlass and holotablet.”

“Do you need both?” she wondered, with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes!”

“Ok, fine, but don’t lose either of them!”

“I won’t, I promise!”

“Good. Let’s go,” she told him, and turned toward the door.

“Why do we have to?” Max asked, following her out the door into the bright, hot Texas sunshine. They had a four-block walk to the elevated train platform.

“All of Houston is evacuating,” his mom explained. “Schools are closed. And so is my work.”

As they walked, Max looked around and saw much more activity on their street than normal. Everyone seemed to be rushing around, and many were carrying backpacks or pulling suitcases.

“Because of the storm?”

“Yes, the hurricane,” she agreed. “If it really comes this way, we don’t want to be here when it does.”

Max heard the undertone of worry in her voice. He had seen some of the recent news reports, but he didn’t totally understand them. There was some sort of major hurricane possibly heading their way, but he wasn’t sure why it was different than any other hurricane. There was at least one every year that he could remember, and they hadn’t evacuated Houston before.

“Oh…” his mom said, causing him to look up and refocus on his surroundings. There was a large line of people waiting to ascend to the elevated train station. “We’ll just have to wait, I guess.”

And so they did. They joined the end of the line and slowly moved toward the stairs over the next twenty minutes, watching as multiple trains came and went.

The heat of the afternoon was blistering. Max looked at his hologlass and saw the current temperature was 109. He wiped his forehead and pulled his water bottle out of his backpack. He handed it to his mom after he took a sip.

“Thanks, Max,” she smiled.

They finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, and after another train pulled away from the station, they were able to ascend and wait for the next train. There was a lot of chatter around them, though it seemed to Max like everyone was muted. Many were simply standing and staring ahead, waiting for the train that would carry them away from here.

It arrived after a few more minutes and Max and his mom boarded. There were so many people it was standing room only, so his mom made him hold onto a pole with one hand and her arm with the other hand. The doors closed and the train sped smoothly out of the station.

Max was able to look out of the windows between the heads of the people sitting along the sides. Metro Houston stretched out in all directions, though on the side of the train he was facing he could also see the Gulf of Mexico gleaming in the sunshine. It looked pleasant at the moment, and since there was no way to see the hurricane from here right now, it didn’t seem like there was any possible danger.

Normally the train would stop at other stations, but it was full so it acted more like an express train heading toward the main station on the edge of downtown Houston. The buildings grew taller and more tightly packed as they raced toward the center of the city.

When the train pulled into the large station, the doors opened and the mass of people flowed out of the vehicle into the spacious arrivals hall. There were dozens of trains arriving and departing from various platforms, and there was a large area set up for coordinating evacuations.

Max’s mom took his hand and led him in that direction. They had to wait in another line for ten more minutes. Max passed the time watching the people around them.

“Names?” someone asked, as they stepped up to one of the temporary tables set up for processing everyone.

Max admired the woman’s uniform. She was clearly a member of the Fleet, given its design and color, and the name badge on her chest read ‘POTC Morrin’ with one red bar and crossed anchors beneath it.

“I’m Laura Dorsey and this is my son, Max Dorsey.”

The woman smiled at them. She was younger than Max’s mom.

“Nice to meet you both,” she said. “I’m Petty Officer Third Class Sarah Morrin. I’m in the Fleet and I’m here because we’ve been tasked to help with the evacuation.”

“Nice to meet you as well,” Laura said. She prompted Max with a little squeeze of their hands.

“Hi Sarah! It’s so cool you’re in the Fleet. What’s it like?”

Sarah smiled down at him. “It’s great, Max. Are you interested in the Fleet?”

He nodded. “Yup!”

“It’s all he ever talks about,” Laura laughed. “I think he’ll probably enlist right out of high school.”

Sarah seemed impressed. “That’s very cool, Max.” She looked back at his mom. “I hope the journey here wasn’t too bad? I know the trains are all quite full right now.”

“We had a bit of a wait and the train was crowded, but it was fine. I’m just glad we’re able to get out of Houston while we still can.”

“Yes,” Sarah agreed. “It’s not looking good. Our plan is to evacuate everyone for a period of at least two weeks. That could be extended based on what actually happens with the storm surge and the wind.”

“I see…” his mom trailed off. She looked down at Max and bit her lip. He could see the same anxiety in her eyes he felt from the crowds throughout the afternoon.

“Now,” Sarah said, looking at a holotablet and scrolling through some information. “Unfortunately it looks like the shelters in Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago, and Minneapolis are all full at this point.”

“What? How is that possible?”

“The whole Gulf Coast has been evacuating, Mrs. Dorsey. Houston is the last major city to activate the mandatory order.”

“What other options do we have?” his mom asked.

“Plenty,” Sarah responded. “There is space on the Moon and Mars, and many of the space stations as well.”

“Um, what? There aren’t any other shelters on Earth?”

Max perked up, understanding what the conversation between Sarah and his mom implied. Would he get to ride on a starship?

“Nothing in North America,” Sarah responded. “And, quite frankly, it’s easier to evacuate folks to Andromeda and figure out the rest there than it is to send anyone to Europe or Asia. They have their own problems right now.”

“Andromeda is the spaceport orbiting the moon, right?” Max asked.

“Correct, Max!” Sarah responded. “From there, we’ll figure out what’s best for both of you.”

“Ok,” Laura sighed. “If we don’t have any other choice, we’ll have to do it.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, ma’am, what’s your hesitation?”

“I’ve never been off Earth. Neither has Max. The farthest we’ve been from Houston is Dallas. We haven’t even been outside of Texas.”

“I see,” Sarah nodded. “Well, I assure you traveling between Earth and the Moon is perfectly safe, so there’s nothing to worry about. And if Max is truly going to enter the Fleet when he’s old enough,” she winked at him, “then this could be a great experience for him.”

His mom considered for a moment, looked down at him again, and then nodded at Sarah.

“Ok. Once we get to Andromeda, then what?”

“You’ll have a choice—the Moon, Mars, or one of the space stations. All have room at the moment. The Moon would obviously be the quickest to get settled. You don’t need to choose right now, though. You can talk to your intake officer on Andromeda about it when you get there.”

His mom shrugged. “Ok, I’ll do that.”

“Great!” Sarah tapped a few things on her holotablet. “I’ve put you on the next transport to Andromeda, which leaves in thirty minutes. From here, you’ll want to head past the train platforms and get fitted for your vacuum suits.”

“Sounds good. Thank you for everything you’re doing, Sarah.”

“Not a problem at all, ma’am. Pleasure to meet you, and you as well, Max.”

“Same!” Max said.

“Relax and enjoy the journey if you can. The Fleet will take care of you.”

His mom nodded and then walked around the table, still holding Max’s hand. They followed Sarah’s instructions and just past the train platforms there was another staging area where a large number of people were pulling vacuum suits on over their clothes.

It took only five minutes to be fitted and provided with their vacuum suits, which Max and his mom also put on over their clothes. The Fleet personnel handling this effort instructed them to put on their helmets when they boarded the starship that would take them to Andromeda.

Max and his mom followed more Fleet instructions back outside into the heat of the mid-afternoon to what was once a large parking lot, but now was a staging area for starships. Their transport was called Fortitude and Max saw it ahead of them. There were Fleet personnel swarming around it. He wasn’t sure what they were doing, but he guessed all of the activity was somehow related to getting it ready for its journey.

They followed a seemingly endless flow of people, all in vacuum suits, toward the starship. Max marveled at its size. He looked up at it as they passed into its shadow, heading for the large open bay door along with everyone else.

He followed his mom up the ramp into the ship, which on this level consisted of rows upon rows of seats that were rapidly filling up. He and his mom followed more Fleet directions and took their seats, strapping themselves in like everyone else.

His mom leaned back and closed her eyes. He watched for a moment, wondering if she was alright. She was breathing slowly and deeply, so he figured she was attempting to calm herself down.

Max pulled his holotablet out of his backpack and put in his earbuds. He needed to know more about what was going on, so he navigated to a news app and played the first video.

“Hurricane Jordan continues its relentless march across the Caribbean, after destroying Barbados, St. Lucia, Martinique, and Dominica, it’s now headed for the US and British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Given its size and unprecedented intensity, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, and St. Kitts & Nevis will suffer damage as well.”

The video switched from a talking head to a map, which showed the current position of Hurricane Jordan, centered just to the west of Dominica. There was a projected track along the southern edge of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti; and then it continued straight across Jamaica and the Cayman islands before turning more northward across the western tip of Cuba.

“Current models suggest Hurricane Jordan will enter the Gulf of Mexico after crossing over Cuba, then head northwest toward Louisiana and Texas. The exact location of landfall is still undetermined this far out, but the models are converging on the Houston area as most likely.”

The video switched again to a view of the coastline. The text on the screen identified the small and deserted sandbar as ‘the former Galveston Island.’

“Coastal metro Houston has already suffered one devastation after another, forcing people away from the coast and farther inland every year. But if a storm as powerful as Hurricane Jordan makes a direct hit on Houston, experts suggest the city may never recover. Regular tidal flooding is already increasingly common throughout Houston, and a Category 5 impact could generate storm surges upwards of thirty feet.

“Goat Island and Galveston Island used to provide some protection against storm surge, but they’re almost entirely gone nowadays. The best you can do if you live in the Houston area is to evacuate now. The Fleet of the High Command of Humanity is on hand to assist in the evacuation.

“Because the Gulf of Mexico is still so warm, even if Hurricane Jordan does weaken slightly as it passes through the Caribbean, it will re-strengthen once in the Gulf. Some models are suggesting it could have the lowest pressure and highest sustained winds ever by the time it approaches the U.S. mainland—”

Max cut the video and removed his earbuds as he felt the starship lightly vibrate. He looked around and saw his mom and most of the people seated near them were doing the same thing.

“Are we taking off?” he asked.

“I think so.”

“Cool!”

The view out of the large windows on either side wasn’t moving yet, so they must still be on the ground.

“Greetings everyone,” came a voice over the ship’s speakers. “We’re departing for Andromeda shortly. Please put your helmets on at this time. Our journey today will take about fifteen minutes, so please sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.”

“Only fifteen minutes?” his mom questioned. “Wow.”

“Is that fast?” Max asked

“I think so,” she said. “But I guess it’s pretty normal.”

Max used both hands to put his helmet on. It sealed and locked itself when it touched his vacuum suit. His mom put hers on as well, and soon enough everyone around them had donned their helmets too.

The vibration grew louder and a little more intense.

“Departure in five, four, three, two, one,” came over the speakers.

The ship seemed to lurch for a moment before it stabilized. Max looked out of the giant windows again and saw they were starting to slowly rise off the ground.

“Fortitude comes with gravitational stabilizers so the journey to the Moon should be fairly smooth,” came the voice again. “However, please remain seated for the duration of the journey unless you need to use the restroom. Thank you!”

Max’s mom reached over and slid her hand into his, lacing her fingers between his. He looked up and saw her face was turned partially away toward the windows. He wondered what she was thinking in that moment.

The parking lot and the other starships dropped out of sight. Soon enough, Max could see all of Houston laid out before him. Then, as they rose even higher, the land continued to fall away, and the bright blue sky out of the windows slowly changed to darker blue, indigo, and then a deep blackness.

He could see the curve of the Earth and space beyond. The ship began to accelerate and Earth diminished too, at first filling the windows, then becoming a shrinking blue orb.

Max was in space! This was his first time, and although he understood the terrible reason he and his mom were temporarily leaving Earth, he couldn’t help but be excited about going on a big adventure.

His mom sniffed next to him.

“Mom?”

She sniffed again, looking over and down at him. Her eyes were red and there was some wetness on her cheeks.

“What’s wrong, mom?”

“Nothing, baby,” she said, leaning over and pulling him into a hug. “I’m glad you’re here with me,” she added.

When she let him go, he said, “Same mom.”

“I’m worried about home,” she told him, after a brief silence. “If the storm is as bad as they think it could be…I’m not sure what’ll be left for us to go back to.”

Max processed her statement. He had very little concept of the true destructive power of a hurricane. Houston had been home his whole life. He could hardly fathom a world in which it didn’t exist, or where it wasn’t home. But his mom seemed genuinely frightened about just that.

“That’s why we left, right? We can rebuild our house if we need to. But if we stayed, who knows what would happen to us.”

She smiled down at him again, her upper lip briefly trembling. She blinked and two more tears slid down her cheeks. He wanted to reach up and wipe them away.

“Exactly, Max.”

He knew he had missed something—something bigger than just their house and getting back home—but he wasn’t sure what it was. His mom had turned her attention back to the windows, now showing the darkness of the void and innumerable stars, so for some reason he felt it wasn’t the right time to ask her about it.

Max put his ear buds back in and activated his holotablet again. The AI assistant fed him information about their ship, their journey, and the spaceport Andromeda they’d soon arrive at. He read through it, soaking up as much of the knowledge as he could. There were even a few short videos showing what the spaceport looked like.

“Max,” his mom tapped him on the arm.

He took out his earbuds. “Yeah, mom?”

“We’re almost there.”

“Oh wow, already?”

She nodded. “They said the Moon should be coming into view right about now.”

Max looked out of the windows again, and sure enough the sunlit side of the Moon came into view, seeming to float from right to left as Fortitude drew closer on approach.

His jaw dropped. Intellectually, he knew the Moon was settled, but seeing for the first time the megacity that covered most of the surface was something else. The sprawling megalopolis shone brightly in the sunshine, seeming to stretch to both horizons.

And in orbit around the Moon were numerous starships, small bases, and the giant spaceport Andromeda. It seemed to hang above the Moon like a looming city, vaguely spherical and truly immense.

Floating nearby, in synchronous orbit with Andromeda, was another massive structure, one that could only be a starship of the Fleet. As Fortitude came closer, and the Moon grew larger, text on the side of the spaceport and the other ship came into focus.

“Look at that, mom!” Max pointed. The ship seemed almost as large as Andromeda.

“Discovery,” his mom read. “Must be a Fleet asset. It’s so large!”

“Asset?” he asked, testing the new word.

“Yes, something valuable. Something that large must be important to the Fleet. Perhaps some sort of flagship.”

“So it must be really important?”

“Probably.”

“What’s it doing here?”

“I don’t know, Max.”

He ceased his questions and continued watching as their ship flew closer and closer to Andromeda and Discovery. There were numerous smaller ships coming and going from both, most similar in size and shape to Fortitude.

“Thank you for your cooperation and patience everyone,” the same voice said over the speakers. “We will arrive to Andromeda in one minute. As soon as we’re parked in the bay and the doors open, you may disembark. Please head for the pool of intake personnel.”

Andromeda loomed ever larger until it was all Max could see. As they passed into its shadow, Fortitude tilted downward, relative to the Moon, and headed for an opening in the side of the spaceport. The ship passed through it and he saw a giant bay filled with arriving and departing ships. There were countless people getting into and out of the ships, and countless others moving around the cavernous bay.

Fortitude settled to deck with a final vibrating rumble. The lights flashed a pale green before returning to their normal glow, then the ramp he’d used to walk onto the ship began to lower. There was a warning klaxon as it opened and settled to the floor of Andromeda.

“Come on,” his mom said, grabbing his hand again. They waited for a moment, jostled slightly by all of the people around them, but eventually fell into the line of people getting off the ship.

Max marveled at the size of the bay as he walked down the ramp. It was big enough for dozens of other ships like Fortitude, with plenty of room to spare. He looked back and saw the huge opening they’d come through. It was pointed toward the Moon at the moment, so he was able to look down on the megacity there.

There seemed to be gravity in the bay though everyone had their helmets on. He wondered about the science of it all. So much of this was so far beyond the pale of his experience that he felt like his brain was overloading a little bit.

“Max? You alright?”

He looked back and realized he had pulled his mom to a stop.

“Yeah,” he breathed. “All of this is so crazy!”

“Yeah,” she huffed. “It is.”

They made their way with the rest of the people from Fortitude to the line of intake officers. It was setup similarly to what Max had just experienced back on Earth.

“Your names, please?” the Fleet officer asked. He was a tall, beefy man, much more intimidating than Sarah had been. His nametag read ‘POTC Washington.”

“Laura and Max Dorsey.”

POTC Washington consulted his holotablet. “Yes, I have you here. Coming from Houston?”

“That’s right,” Laura told him.

“Welcome to Andromeda,” he smiled, suddenly seeming much less scary to Max. “I’m Petty Officer Third Class Frank Washington. You can call me Frank. I’m here to help you on your journey today.”

“Thank you, Frank.”

“And how was your journey?” He looked at Max. “Was this your first time in space?”

Max nodded rapidly. “Yes! It was awesome!”

Frank chuckled. He half-turned and reached for something on the table behind him. When he turned back, he held out a small object to Max.

“Great to hear, Max. Would you like this pin? It’s the symbol for the High Command of Humanity. Every member of the Fleet you see is part of it.”

“Thanks,” Max breathed, reaching out and taking the pin. It was of a starship racing toward a stylized sunburst. He knew what the symbol was, of course, having been interested in the Fleet for a few years now.

“Thanks, Frank,” Laura said again. “Max has dreams of going into the Fleet as soon as he can.”

“That’s wonderful to hear! And it’s not a problem,” Frank said. “Now, down to business.”

“Yes,” his mom nodded. “We were told back on Earth that there are still spaces here on the Moon. I think that might be best so we can get settled quickly and wait out the storm.”

“Ah, I see,” Frank said. Max sensed his mom tense next to him. Frank flicked through a few things on his holotablet. “The situation is changing rapidly, almost by the minute. The evacuation related to Hurricane Jordan is only one of several large scale people movements the Fleet is handling right now. The extended heat waves in Central Europe and India have forced major evacuations too.”

“Ok… what does that mean for us?”

“The Moon is full, as is Mars. Mercury is not fit for temporary evacuation, given its extremes, and the space stations around Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn are full. Uranus’s space stations will be full within the hour. That leaves Neptune’s space stations.”

“Neptune?!” his mom shouted, startling Max. He looked up at her. Her face was white. “But—what? How could everywhere else be full?”

“We’re expanding as rapidly as we can, ma’am,” Frank replied. “The settlement on Titan just came online, and maybe in six months it would have capacity for temporary evacuees, but it doesn’t yet. Sending more people to the Moon or Mars would just overwhelm their resources, and that wouldn’t turn out well for anyone.”

Max continued watching his mom as she processed Frank’s words. She licked her lips and drew in a breath.

“Just how many people are evacuating from Earth?”

“Twenty five million related to Hurricane Jordan the shelters in climate refuge cities couldn’t take. Another hundred million from Europe and more than that from India. There’s nowhere for those people to go—no other shelters on Earth—so they’re all coming through here.”

Max looked around. Now that Frank had said it, there were people wearing unfamiliar clothes and speaking different languages all around them. He had been too focused on his mom and this conversation with Frank to notice.

“And all of us will head back to Earth at some point?”

Frank and his mom stared at each other for a long moment. Then Frank shrugged.

“Many, yes. Probably.”

“Ok, so Neptune? How far is that and how long will it take to get there?” she asked.

“Around 2.6 billion miles. Normally it would take about ten hours to make the journey from here, and you would need to wait until tomorrow for a scheduled transport. But luckily for both of you we’re hosting Discovery right now, and she’ll be heading back to Neptune in about an hour. She can cover that distance in a little over four hours.”

“Why is Discovery here, Frank?” Max piped up. “It’s so large!”

“Yes,” Frank agreed. “And we usually refer to our starships as ‘she.’ So you would say ‘she’ is so large.”

“Oh. How come?”

“Old tradition,” he answered. “And she’s here to support all of the evacuations. Her CO knew the space would be needed.”

“CO?” Max questioned.

“Commanding Officer. The person in charge of the ship. Admiral Espinoza.”

His mom startled next to him. “She’s here?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Frank nodded. “As I said, she offered Discovery, the Expeditionary Force’s flagship, to help with the evacuations.”

“Wow,” she said. “Do you think she’ll accept the nomination anytime soon?”

“I can’t say, ma’am,” Frank replied. “Way above my paygrade.”

“I think she should!” Max interjected. With his interest in the Fleet, he knew of Admiral Espinoza. And he knew that she had been nominated for Fleet Admiral over five months ago, but had not yet accepted the position.

“You’re not the only one,” Frank winked.

“So we really have no options other than the space stations orbiting Neptune?”

“No, Mrs. Dorsey. Not right now.”

“Fine,” she sighed. “What do we need to do? And how do we ensure we can come back once this is all over?”

“That’ll all be taken care of. All I need to do is assign you to Discovery for departure in fifty seven minutes.”

“Max, it doesn’t seem like we much choice, but I want to make sure you’re good with this. Do you understand everything that’s going on?” his mom asked.

Max nodded. “I think so, mom. We have to leave Earth because of Hurricane Jordan, which could hit Houston. Lots of other people have to leave Earth too, so we have to go to either Kepler or Copernicus where there’s still room for us.”

Laura stared at him. After a few seconds, Frank started chuckling again.

“Sounds about right, Max! Any questions, Mrs. Dorsey?” Frank asked, winking another time at Max.

“No,” she smiled, reaching over to ruffle Max’s hair. “I guess we’re going to Neptune!”

“Wonderful,” Frank said. He tapped away at his holotablet again. “I’ve signed you up. You can proceed past this checkpoint to where those folks behind me are gathering,” he pointed over his shoulder. “Petty Officer Second Class Madeleine Allard will take care of you from there.”

“Thank you, Frank.”

“My pleasure, Mrs. Dorsey. Just doing my duty.” He stuck out his hand and she shook it. Then Frank bent and offered his hand to Max, and he also shook it, copying his mom.

“Nice to meet you, Max. The Fleet will treat you well, and I hope to see you in eight to ten years time!”

“Thanks!”

They parted and Max and his mom walked past Frank as someone else stepped up behind them to be sorted. Past Frank, there was an open space, and beyond that a group of people was congregating. Max could see a woman in a Fleet uniform off to one side of the group. He followed his mom over to her.

“Officer Allard?” Laura asked.

The woman turned to them. Max thought she was very pretty. She had auburn hair and bright green eyes. She was much younger than his mom.

“Just Madeleine is fine,” she answered. Max heard a faintly familiar accent in her words. “What are your names?”

“Laura and Max Dorsey.”

Madeleine consulted her holotablet and nodded. “Everything looks good. I’m Petty Officer Second Class Madeleine Allard, but you can call me Madeleine. We’re going to wait about five minutes for more people before we head to Discovery.”

“Ok,” his mom answered. “If you don’t mind me asking, do you speak French?”

“Ah, yes,” Madeleine smiled. “Was it the accent? I’m originally from Marseille. Do you speak French?”

“Oui, je parle français aussi.”

Max watched Madeleine’s eyebrows rise up her forehead. His mom had been teaching him French since he was four, so he understood her. Yes, I speak French too.

“Tu le parles si bien! Je n'entends aucun accent.” You speak it so well! I don’t hear any accent.

“Oui, je parle couramment le français.  Mon fils Max parle aussi presque couramment.” Yes, I’m fluent in French. My son Max is nearly fluent too.

“Ouah!  C'est super de vous rencontrer.  Toujours agréable de rencontrer un autre francophone.” Wow! It’s great to meet you. Always nice to meet another French speaker.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” his mom said, switching back to English.

“You speak French too, Max?” Madeleine asked.

“Oui, maman m'enseigne depuis que j'ai quatre ans.”

“Since you were four? That’s very nice. And you’re both from Houston?”

“Yes, we were born there,” Laura answered. “I’m an interpreter for the largest healthcare system in Houston.”

“You must speak Spanish too, then?”

“Yes, quite well.” she replied. Max was just starting to learn Spanish from his mom.

Madeleine dropped the holotablet to her side and straightened, looking at his mom with a newly piercing gaze.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Madeleine started, in an echo of what his mom said to her, “how many languages do you speak?”

Max smiled. He was proud of his mom. Even he knew how rare what she could do was.

“I’m fluent in twenty languages. I can speak conversationally, read, and write in all of them,” Laura said. Madeleine’s face slackened into shock. “I can read and write in another four though I don’t speak them fluently, and I can read and translate about ten beyond that.”

“Um, that’s really impressive, Mrs. Dorsey. I can’t say I’ve ever heard of anything like that before.”

Laura laughed. “Yes, I’m a hyperpolyglot. There are probably less than a few dozen of us alive at any one time.”

“Mom’s amazing!” Max said.

“Thanks, Max,” she smiled at him.

“I have to agree! Which are you fluent in?”

“Is this important right now?” Laura wondered.

“I’m just curious!” Madeleine told her, flashing bright white teeth behind a large smile at them.

“Arabic, Bengali, English, French, German, Hausa, Hindi, Igbo, Indonesian, Japanese, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Shona, Spanish, Swahili, Turkish, Urdu, Yoruba, and Zulu.”

Madeleine’s mouth literally dropped open.

“How many alphabets do you know?!”

“Quite a few.”

Madeleine briefly shook her head. “Wow, alright. That’s pretty amazing, Mrs. Dorsey. That health system in Houston is lucky to have you.”

Laura laughed out loud. “Try telling them that!”

“I might!” She looked at the holotablet again. “Well, it’s time to head for Discovery, so perhaps we can talk more about this later. For now, please follow me as I gather the rest of the group.”

In a repeat of their journey to Andromeda, Max and his mom were shepherded into a ship called Limitless, very similar to Fortitude, along with the rest of the people in their group. Madeleine informed them this was the last transport heading for Discovery before the flagship departed for Neptune, so everyone else was already onboard.

The journey between Andromeda and Discovery took less than a minute, with brief views of the Moon and everything in orbit around it, and soon enough they were settling into a massive bay with many starships not unlike the one they’d just left on Andromeda.

Max disembarked with his mom, surrounded by the other evacuees from Earth who were heading to Neptune. As Max looked around, he saw people of all skin colors around him, many with eyes downcast, all carrying their possessions in backpacks or small suitcases.

There were several Fleet personnel at the bottom of the ramp to greet them and welcome them to Discovery, including Madeleine. After everyone was initially sorted, the entire group was led out of the bay through a wide, brightly lit corridor. Every so often, Max saw there were metal hatches set along the walls. In giant red letters, every so often, 14 also appeared on the walls.

“What does that mean?” Max asked his mom.

“I’m not sure,” she shrugged.

“This is Deck 14,” Madeleine explained, having drifted back through the crowd. “Discovery is the largest ship in the entire Fleet. She has forty four decks.”

“It’s so big!” Max exclaimed. “It looked almost as big as Andromeda!”

“That’s a good guess, Max,” Madeleine said. “Andromeda can serve as a port for more ships than Discovery, but Discovery accommodates more people. She has about twenty two thousand crew and space for another seven thousand, all of which we’ve filled today. There are almost thirty thousand people on Discovery right now.”

Max nodded his head and continued walking in silence, looking all around them. Occasionally they’d reach an intersection, where two wide hallways crossed each other, and at every one of them, someone from the Fleet stood at attention with a plasma rifle strapped to their back and plasma pistol on their hip. Max knew enough about the Fleet to recognize the weapons.

He also sensed the nervous energy in the group of evacuees every time they passed one of the armed Fleet personnel. His mom was giving them some serious side-eye too.

“Don’t worry about them,” Madeleine said, clearly reading the mood of the group. “They’re here as a precaution, nothing more.”

“Precaution against what?” Laura wondered.

“We’re carrying thousands of people evacuating Earth, including all of you. We don’t expect trouble, but we have to be prepared just in case, particularly with Admiral Espinoza onboard.”

“I suppose that makes sense.”

The group walked on. The ship was so large that Max had lost all sense of direction. After several more minutes, they turned right down another hallway and came to a stop at a hatch at the end of it. Madeleine walked forward and turned to face the group, the other Fleet personnel standing to her sides.

“This is a bulkhead,” she said, waving behind her at the door. “Beyond it is all of the extra space we have on Discovery for additional people. Your accommodations will be small, all things considered, but you’ll have a bed, a bathroom, and a desk.

“There are common areas where you can congregate if you wish, and once we depart for Neptune the Fleet will provide some necessities like blankets and toiletries. We’ll also serve everyone a meal while en route.

“I have your assignments here,” she said, waving around her holotablet, “but before we get to that, does anyone have any questions for me?”

“What happens when we get to Neptune?” someone asked.

“Based on space and preference, you’ll determine whether Kepler or Copernicus is right for you. Right now we’re planning on two week stays for everyone, but depending on what happens with Hurricane Jordan, that could be longer, so we’ll also work with you to make sure you’re set up comfortably on either space station.”

“Are we free to go where we want to?”

Madeleine shook her head. “The trip is only four hours. There are critical shipboard operations and duties that can’t be interrupted.”

Max heard some grumbling about that restriction but he thought it was reasonable. They were guests on the ship and had no business interfering with regular Fleet operations.

“Any more questions? Ok, let’s get you all settled.”

The bulkhead behind Madeleine swung open and people stepped up to hear their room—called a ‘berth,’ as Max learned—from her. Eventually Max and his mom collected the information from her as well and passed through the bulkhead, entering another hallway similar to the others. This one had more doors on either side, though, and up ahead Max could see it opened out into a larger space.

They followed the numbers on the bulkheads, turned left through another one, and entered a narrower hallway with even more bulkheads. There were a few other people here, coming and going from various bulkheads.

They finally arrived at their own berth, identified with a large C-14-P239 on the bulkhead, and entered it. Inside, Max saw a small room with bunk beds, a low dresser, and a desk. There was an attached bathroom with a sink, toilet, and cubicle shower too. As Madeleine had said, it was all very small, but at least they had their own space.

His mom parked her suitcase in the corner and sat on the lower bunk bed with a deep sigh. She dropped her chin to chest and stared at her hands. Max set his backpack on the desk and watched her.

“Thank you, Max,” she said, quietly.

“Mom?”

“You’ve been amazing today. I really appreciate it. I know all of this is super stressful and new.”

He walked forward and placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him.

“We’re in this together, mom. We always have been.”

She raised her arms and drew him into a hug. Their helmets clinked together. He rested against her.

“Do you think we can take off our helmets?”

She chuckled. “Probably. Keep it close by, though.”

He backed out of her arms and reached up to remove the helmet. As soon as he tugged on it, the seal broke and with a hiss of escaping gas he was able to pull it off. Laura did the same.

“This is your dream come true, huh?” she asked, smiling at him. “Being on a Fleet ship.”

“It’s pretty cool…” he trailed off, frowning. “But I’m worried about home. I hope everyone is able to get out.”

“I hope so too, Max.”

---

October 9, 2063. 2017 SST.

Thirty minutes later, long after Max and his mom had fully settled into their small berth, someone knocked on the bulkhead.

Max looked up from his holotablet, from where he was laying on the top bunk. He heard his mom shuffle around below him.

“Must be collecting us for the meal Madeleine mentioned,” Laura muttered. He watch her stand, unlatch the bulkhead, and swing it open.

She stepped back quickly. Max sat up. Outside in the hallway stood Madeleine flanked by four heavily armed Fleet personnel. Madeleine had her helmet under her arm whereas the other four wore theirs. They also wore a different vacuum suit than Madeleine, darker with more markings for rank and classification.

“What’s this?” his mom wondered.

Madeline held up her hands. “Please don’t be alarmed, Mrs. Dorsey. Or Max,” she added, looking up at him. “These are members of the Admiral Protection Detail, and they’re here to escort you.”

“What? To where?”

“It seems as if Admiral Espinoza would like to meet you, ma’am,” Madeline said, smiling and shaking her head. Max thought he heard wonder in her voice.

“Why?”

“I’m not sure, but we’re about to find out.”

“Does the Admiral meet with all of the refugees?”

The air seemed to be sucked out of the room. It was the first time anyone had said that word aloud. Max had avoided even thinking it.

“Ma’am,” Madeleine started, taking a deep breath. “Mrs. Dorsey. I apologize for the APD unit, but they are necessary where the Admiral is concerned. I’m sure you understand why. However, they’re not here to harm you, nor are they some sort of police force. Their sole responsibility is to ensure the safety and security of the Admiral, and since she requested to meet with you, they have to be here.

“I don’t know why our CO wants to see you, but I am positive it’s not a bad thing. To answer your question—no, she doesn’t meet with everyone evacuating from Earth, though in all truthfulness this is the first time Discovery has ever participated in a mass evacuation like this. I can at least say for sure Admiral Espinoza is not meeting with all seven thousand of you this evening.”

Laura looked back at Max. He met her eyes and let her decide for both of them. She pursed her lips and looked back at Madeleine and the four Fleet personnel from the APD.

“Max, come on down here,” she called, holding out her hand. He set his holotablet aside, hopped down from the bunk, grabbed their helmets, and stepped up to his mom. She took her helmet, switched it to the other arm, and laid her arm across his shoulder.

“May we at least know all of your names?” she wondered.

“Commander Rachel Jordan,” the one standing behind Madeleine said.

“Lieutenant Emmanuel Inovez.”

“Lieutenant Raul Wilson.”

“Lieutenant Paisley Evans.”

“Nice to meet all of you,” his mom said. They returned her words. “Do any of you know what this about? I want to be sure Max will be safe.” Her arm tightened on his shoulder.

“Ma’am,” Commander Jordan said, stepping forward. Madeleine moved to the side. “I am the Commanding Officer of Admiral Espinoza’s Protection Detail. I can assure you this will be perfectly safe for you and your son. I am personally accountable for the Admiral’s safety and well-being, and I’ll add you to that short list as well for the evening.”

His mom looked down at him. She nodded, he nodded back, and she made eye contact with the Commander again.

“Ok. Ok.”

“Perfect!” Madeleine exclaimed.

Commander Jordan stepped back, allowing Madeleine to take charge again. Max knew the Commander far outranked Madeleine, based on his knowledge of how the Fleet worked, but in this moment the Commander and the other officers seemed to follow her lead.

Max and his mom followed Madeleine, with the four APD officers loosely surrounding them, on a long journey through Discovery. After putting their helmets back on, they routed all the way back to and through the bay on Deck 14, arriving at a lift at the end of a hallway on the other side. They passed several more APD personnel in that final hallway before the lift.

Max’s brief glimpse out of the open bay door was full of only the stars and the void of space, so he knew they were somewhere between the Moon and Neptune. He had never felt the ship move while he and his mom were holed up in their berth, but the journey was clearly well underway.

“This is the express lift,” Madeleine explained. “It will take us all the way to Deck 44, where the flag bridge is, and where we’re going. You may feel slight disorientation in the lift, as a forewarning, since it partially counteracts some of the gravitational dampening we use across Discovery.”

The door opened and they all stepped in. Madeleine pressed the sole button on the console, which turned red. Commander Jordan stepped forward and pressed a small rectangular object against the panel. The red light changed to green.

The lift immediately started moving. Laura swayed next to Max. He reached out to steady her and she latched onto his hand. His eyes lifted to the ever-increasing numbers on the digital readout over the door, climbing steadily from 14 to 44.

The lift arrived and the doors opened. Madeleine stepped off first, followed by Laura and Max, and finally the four APD officers. Madeleine removed her helmet again and held it under her arm, so Max and his mom did as well.

“Whoa!” Max said, looking back and forth.

The hallway beyond the lift was wide and tall, and the ‘walls’ on the sides were continuous windows that showed the top of Discovery and endless space beyond. To the left and backward slightly was Sol, tempered by the glass to not harm their eyes. It was looked smaller than normal to Max

It seemed as if they were floating above Discovery. It was the coolest thing Max had ever seen.

“It’s a nice view, isn’t it, Max?” Madeleine asked him.

He nodded his head, still staring out of the long windows.

“How fast are we going?” he questioned. The distant stars, rather than fixed points, did seem to be slowly sliding along the dark backdrop.

“Nearly the speed of light,” Madeleine answered. “Ninety nine percent of it, to be exact.”

Max had no real concept of how fast that was, so it only added to his awe. Here he was at the apex of the flagship of the entire Fleet of the High Command of Humanity, watching as space flew by at almost the speed of light. And he was on his way to Neptune! He’d woken up this morning in Houston on Earth.

“Let’s keep moving,” Commander Jordan suggested, not unkindly.

Madeleine nodded and waved them forward. At the far end of the hallway, three other hallways branched off with regular walls rather than continuous windows. More APD personnel guarded each of them, and at their far ends were three bulkheads guarded by even more APD officers.

Max looked back one last time at space all around them, and at Sol behind them. It was a weird feeling, racing outward from the center of the Solar System.

“The flag bridge is to the left,” Madeleine explained. “It’s the center of shipboard operations.”

“Can we see it?” Max asked.

“Maybe some other time,” she answered. “Right now, we’re going to meet with Admiral Espinoza. Straight ahead is her personal suite. It’s placed so close to the flag bridge because she has command of the ship, as our CO, and indeed she can manage all of the Expeditionary Force’s operations from the flag bridge if it were necessary.”

“Why are you sharing all of this with us?” his mom asked.

“I’m being polite, ma’am.” Madeleine smiled. “You’d never be able to get up here without an escort, so it’s not a security risk.”

“Petty Officer Second Class Allard is correct, Mrs. Dorsey—if a bit impertinent,” Commander Jordan cut in. Max watched Madeleine stand straight and look forward. “I can’t say why the Admiral wanted to speak with you, but it is a great privilege, so providing you some information about Discovery is no problem. Admiral Espinoza would be displeased if we weren’t good hosts.”

His mom shrugged. “Ok.”

“Proceed, POSC Allard.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Madeleine said. “The third hallway leads to the Admiral’s state room, which is where we’re going. It’s essentially a large conference room. If you’re ready?”

His mom nodded, so they followed Madeleine down the right hallway. The APD guards already there did not move or make a sound, and the four accompanying them kept pace on their heels. Commander Jordan stepped forward and pressed her palm against a digital readout by the bulkhead at the end of the hallway.

It lit up in a rainbow of colors before fading to a steady green. The door clicked and swung inward. Laura followed Madeleine inside and Max followed her, stepping over the low frame into the state room.

There was a long table with numerous comfortable chairs in the center. Around the edges were more seats, several counters with devices, drinks, and food. And on the left and right wall were humongous holoscreens, currently dormant. There were doors to the left and right, both currently closed.

Max’s eyes finished the circuit and landed on the figure standing from the table.

Admiral Dr. Beatrice Espinoza was taller than he had expected, standing several inches taller than his mom and Madeleine. Her helmet rested on the table so he could see her shoulder length white hair. She was wearing a Fleet vacuum suit with four bars on the collar and a nametag that read ‘Admiral Espinoza.’

She was extraordinarily pretty, so much so it practically took his breath away. He had thought Madeleine was pretty, but the Admiral was a bonfire to Madeleine’s candle. Max knew she was in her mid-fifties, and indeed could see a few lines on her forehead and around her eyes and mouth, but they did nothing to diminish her otherworldly beauty.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. There were others in the room too. On the opposite side of the table to where Admiral Espinoza had been sitting, a pretty Black woman sat, smiling over at him and his mom. She had very short, thick dark hair and her nametag read ‘Captain Edwards.’

Max’s eyes widened. That was Captain Olivia Edwards! She was the most traveled human in all of history, covering more distance than anyone else. She was also Admiral Espinoza’s wife. Max could just about die for the perfection of this moment. He had been interested in the Fleet for years now and Admiral Espinoza and Captain Edwards were both legends.

Beyond Captain Edwards and sitting as well were two smaller forms. Max focused on them. There was one boy and one girl—or at least he assumed so given their different hairstyles—and they looked uncannily like Admiral Espinoza and Captain Edwards. Max figured they must be their twin children, Millie Edwards Espinoza and Theo Espinoza Edwards. He didn’t know much about them other than their names and ages.

“Mrs. Dorsey!” Admiral Espinoza called out, walking toward them. She held out her hand and his mom responded in kind, and they shook. “Thank you so much for meeting with me.”

“I wasn’t aware I had a choice,” his mom answered. Max heard the sarcasm in her voice.

“Oh?” the Admiral wondered, eyes cutting toward the APD personnel standing around them. Madeleine stood off to the side at attention, staring straight ahead and not moving a muscle.

“It never came up, ma’am,” Commander Jordan said.

Admiral Espinoza rolled her eyes. Like, a full roll of the eyes. Max couldn’t help it—he started to giggle.

Her eyes slid to him. “And you must be Max. I’ve heard you have Fleet aspirations?”

She had leaned forward and down, and suddenly he was faced with the Commanding Officer of the entire Expeditionary Force, and maybe someday soon the leader of all humans. His giggles cut off and his mouth opened, but he didn’t know what to say.

“It’s alright, Max,” his mom prompted.

“Um,” he swallowed, “yes, ma’am.”

The Admiral waved it off. “Please, call me Trixie.”

“Well…yes, Trixie. I’ve wanted to be in the Fleet for so long! I’m going to sign up right out of school.”

Trixie grinned at him, lighting up her fine features, and stood straight again. Her brown eyes were twinkling in the lights of the room.

“We would be privileged to have you, Max. I cannot wait to welcome you into the Fleet.”

He grinned back at her. The Admiral was not as imposing as he expected her to be. She refocused on his mom.

“Same for you, Mrs. Dorsey. Please, just Trixie.”

“Ok, Trixie,” his mom replied. “Then just Laura.”

“Laura,” she nodded.

Trixie’s eyes next moved to Madeleine, still absolutely still and rigid. Trixie walked up to her.

“At ease, POSC Allard. I have you to thank for this. I’ve sent a commendation to your leader.”

Madeleine snapped a half-salute, hand resting against her forehead. Max could see she was still staring into the distance. Trixie stood there silently for a few moments.

Finally, Madeleine relaxed, dropping her hand and assuming what Max recognized as parade rest. She met Trixie’s eyes.

“Thank you, Admiral Espinoza. I was just doing my duty.”

“Aren’t we all?”

They stared at each other, then Madeleine nodded, and Trixie turned away.

“Come, let us sit,” she said, heading for the long conference table. Max watched Madeleine turn to leave. “You too, POSC Allard.”

Madeleine went rigid again before relaxing. Then she followed him and his mom to the center of the big room. The APD officers moved to the door and the sides of the room, remaining silent and still once they got to their positions.

Trixie, his mom, and Max sat across the table from Captain Edwards, Millie, and Theo. Madeleine sat a few chairs away. To Max, she looked like she was unsure what to do with herself.

“Let’s get introductions out of the way,” Trixie said, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs. “Across the table you have my wife, Captain Olivia Edwards, and our two children, Millie and Theo.”

Millie and Theo waved at them. Max waved back and they smiled at each other. Millie and Theo were wearing Fleet vacuum suits as well, though there was no identifying information on them.

“Pleasure to meet you, Laura and Max,” Captain Edwards said. “You can call me Olivia.”

“Hi Max. Hi Mrs. Dorsey!” Millie called out.

“Hi,” Theo said.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both, and you as well, Olivia. I’ve heard so much about you from Max,” his mom said.

“Really?” Olivia asked, looking at Max.

He nodded. “Yes! You’re the most traveled human!”

“I suppose I am,” Olivia winked.

“Mom’s not far behind,” Millie said, pointing at Trixie.

“That’s all relative, babe, especially when we’re talking about trillions of miles,” Trixie told her daughter.

“Ma’am,” his mom started. Trixie sent a flat stare her way. “I mean, Trixie… why are we here? Not that I’m not honored, but this is all a mystery to me.”

Trixie’s eyes flickered to Max before landing on his mom again. Olivia, Millie, and Theo were silently watching.

“POSC Allard included in her report that you’re an interpreter for a health system back on Earth in Houston—”

“So you’re collecting information on us now?” his mom interrupted.

Silence fell like an anvil over them. Max saw the APD personnel stand straighter at the sides of the room.

“Yes, though not like you mean,” Trixie said. “We have some high level information about every evacuee aboard this ship. How could we not? It would be careless to travel two and a half billion miles at almost the speed of light without some information.”

His mom glared at Trixie for a moment before softening and leaning back in her chair.

“I’m sorry…Trixie. This has been a rough day. Max and I don’t know if we’ll have a home to return to. You can understand why we’re on edge.”

Trixie wheeled her chair closer to his mom’s with a pump of her legs. She laid her hands on his mom’s, looking directly into Laura’s eyes.

“I do understand, Laura,” Trixie started. “I was on Earth earlier this year and while there I was confronted with the ruins of one of my childhood homes.”

Laura scoffed and pulled her hands from under Trixie’s. She pushed off the table and her chair rolled back about a foot.

“What is this? That’s happening all the time on Earth, and everywhere. Why am I here, Trixie? Why are we here?” His mom motioned toward him.

Trixie considered her mom with an even gaze. She seemed unruffled.

“When we arrive at Neptune,” the Admiral said, “you will have a choice, Laura. Between Kepler and Copernicus. One or the other will be your home for however long you stay with us before returning to Earth.

“Unlike all of the other evacuees, however, I am offering you a third choice. You could remain on Discovery and work directly with me and my team. Max would have a place in the school here on the ship. I think given his age and what I’ve seen of his records, he would be in class with my twins, Millie and Theo.”

She pointed across the table. Millie and Theo perked up and grinned at Max. He grinned back.

“Why? Why all of that?”

“POSC Allard reported that you’re a hyperpolyglot. As the situation on Earth becomes more and more untenable, I need someone with your skills on my team. AI can accomplish most translation, but it misses the subtext. It misses the tone. It misses the idioms. Only someone who is truly fluent in a language can get all of that.”

His mom leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs in a mirror of Trixie.

Olivia stood and walked around the table. All eyes in the room followed her, including Max’s. She stopped between Trixie and his mom.

“What my wife is trying to say is that you have an incredible talent. We would love to put you in a position where you can use it to forge a better future for all of humanity,” Olivia said. “You were born in Houston, right?”

“Yes.”

“And this is your first time off Earth?”

“Yes.”

“Max too, I’m assuming?”

His mom nodded.

Olivia looked at him. “What do you think so far, Max?”

“It’s awesome!” he shouted. “I can’t believe I’m here!”

“Stop it!” his mom exclaimed, standing. “Stop manipulating us! You speak to me, not my son. We’re about to lose our home and all you can talk about is the bright future of humanity.”

Max watched his mom drop her face into her hands and start sobbing. Trixie and Olivia looked at each other—Max, Millie, and Theo made eye contact too—and then Trixie nodded at Olivia, who walked back around the table and sat down next to Millie and Theo.

“I apologize, Laura,” Trixie said, standing as well and stepping forward so she was in his mom’s space. Trixie was three or four inches taller than Laura. She guided his mom back into her chair and then—to the surprise of everyone in the state room—kneeled in front of her.

Max waited silently as his mom calmed down and eventually lifted her head from her hands. She seemed surprised to see Trixie there.

“For what?” Laura asked, taking a gasping breath.

“I’ve been told I lose sight of the ‘smaller picture’ as it were. I don’t mean to…but I think I do. I’m not trying to belittle or diminish your situation. What’s happening with Hurricane Jordan is a calamity, decades in the making. Even if it does miss Houston, it’ll hit somewhere else and cause just as much misery.

“The Fleet exists to help humans settle across the Solar System, ever since we realized continuous expansion on Earth is impossible. Because of that, we need talented people like you who can help us bridge the gap between all of our various cultures and languages. I would be honored if you would consider joining my team and helping us. We will take care of you and Max, rest assured.”

“Would I have to join the Fleet?”

“Only if you want to, and only in an advisory capacity. You would exist outside of the current command structure.”

“You said Max would be able to continue school here.”

“That’s right.”

“Could it start soon, tomorrow even? I’m worried what missing two weeks or possibly so much more could mean for his education.”

“Absolutely. Millie and Theo are due back in school tomorrow.”

His mom took a few deep breaths. She wiped her cheeks and sat up. Trixie pulled her chair over and sat in it again.

“May I ask just one question?” Laura asked.

“Yes,” Trixie smiled.

“Why haven’t you accepted the nomination for Fleet Admiral?”

Olivia’s laughter filled the state room. Trixie sent her a pointed glare before returning her eyes to Laura. There was a half-smile on her lips but the warmth in her eyes had disappeared.

“That’s…complicated.”

His mom tilted her head. “I don’t think it is.”

“Oh?” There was a challenge in Trixie’s voice.

“Trixie, you’ve been at the leading edge of everything related to space and later the High Command of Humanity for almost forty years. You’ve been to every human settlement. You came up with the idea for some of them! Food, water, supplies, and everything else is efficiently transported around the Solar System because of you.

“Max and I were able to evacuate off Earth because of you. But it was a bit of convoluted and messy process. We were never sure where we would end up, almost until we arrived on Discovery. If you were the Fleet Admiral, you’d have the power to fix all of that. Evacuations wouldn’t be handled by multiple governments with assistance from the Fleet. The Fleet becomes the government.

“I know you aren’t on Earth very much. It’s a mess, and devolving more and more every day. Many local and state governments have practically collapsed or will very soon. National governments are all over the place. So many people have so little recourse, especially if their country can’t take care of them.

“I for one think the creation of the Fleet Admiral position is a brilliant move, along with turning the Fleet into a functioning government. It obviates all those old nationalized structures. At this point, I think that can only benefit the economy, healthcare, education, food production, and every other major system. If we’re spread across the entire Solar System, we need to start looking at ourselves as more than disconnected groups of people.”

Olivia started slow-clapping, staring pointedly at Trixie.

“I agree Laura, and well said!” she said. “Now if only my wife would listen to reason!”

Trixie blinked and took a breath. She seemed to be refocusing.

“Perhaps a conversation for another day,” Trixie eventually said. “I do appreciate your words, but this isn’t the time or the place.”

“Ok,” Laura shrugged. “I support your nomination, for the record.”

“Thanks,” Trixie smiled. “Does this mean you’ll be joining my team?”

“Can I say provisionally? I want to make sure Max is safe and settled, and if the work you’ll have me doing is worthwhile, then it probably makes sense. But I want to give it a little time. And we’ll have to see what happens with Hurricane Jordan.”

“Yes,” Trixie nodded. “That’s sound logic. We’ll be arriving to Neptune in just under three hours, and it’ll be quite late in Solar Standard Time. Perhaps we can reconvene tomorrow morning at some point? I’ll have some folks bring your things to real Fleet quarters, and they’ll also provide you information about school for Max.”

Laura nodded and looked over at Max.

“Sound good, Max?”

He nodded. All of his Fleet dreams had come true at practically the same moment.

“Definitely, mom.”

Trixie’s face relaxed into a full smile, almost a grin. “Welcome to the team.”