Seraph’s Gambit- Episode 39

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Ariana

Ariana stood in the mess hall. Behind the kitchen partition, Javi stirred something in a bowl. His eyestalks kept shifting from the bowl to his handheld screen, a confused expression on his face.

After a moment, he noticed Ariana and smiled, “Ah, Ari, I am trying to make a Rokma dish for the technical crew onboard. I’m just not sure the rest of us will be able to digest it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she said, her voice breaking and unable to contain her despair, “You staged a coup. You got innocent people killed.”

Javi stopped stirring. He stared blankly at her for a long moment before realization started to dawn on him. His whole body lost some rigidity, causing the bowl and spoon to almost fall from his grasp. Hastily, setting them down, he flashed his eyes back up to her.

“I wondered if the Rokma would know. Coming here seemed a worthwhile risk to take, though.”

“Yes, they know. And I should have too.”

“I never lied to you.”

“That’s what you’re going to hide behind? A technicality?”

“I’m not trying to hide it. Just…” Javi said wistfully, “…trying to soften the blow.”

“What the hell, Javi!” Ariana bellowed, “You were a professor at the goddamn PUG naval academy. What made you go out and found a terrorist organization?”

“I didn’t found a terrorist organization. I founded a movement. The PUG grabbed a lot of power during the AI war. And they’ve never let it go. As a student of history, I could see where this would lead if they weren’t stopped.”

“So, you decided to overthrow them? And you started by murdering a bunch of people?”

“Overthrow them, yes.” Javi said, and then hastily added, “Non-violently. We staged protests and rallies. We ran for elections.”

“It seems you were successful with that in some places.” Ariana said, “We’ve had to avoid a dozen populated systems controlled by LFD.”

“Actually, we were incredibly ineffective. Until Mitchell joined.”

“Mitchell. Mitchell. Why does that sound familiar?”

“His father was the rich merchant you had to escort through the Usar system during the war.”

“Someone let that entitled asshole get them pregnant?”

“Apparently.” Javi said with a sigh. “Anyways, he joined and turned the movement around. At first, I thought he was only doing it to help his Dad’s business out. Less PUG authority means less regulation. But he had money and was very charismatic. At least to certain types of people. I thought our goals were similar enough. But the movement evolved. It went from being a counter weight to being a bludgeon.

“I fell for his charisma too. I didn’t stop things when I might have had a chance. Things turned violent. But I thought it was only against those that would oppress us. Over time, that became easier. Eventually, Mitchell hatched his grand plan. Destroy the PUG and we would all be free. It sounded good in speeches. But then he revealed the central AI and his talking point became a practical goal.”

Javi slunk even further, “I don’t know where he got the technology. We had a fair number of Echanic’s among us, so it’s possible they had some of the original designs. Who knows. But we started gathering ships.  Preparing for the assault. That’s when I decided things had gone too far.”

“That’s the line for you? After the central AI is built, and he’s already gathered drones? Not during a violent coup?”

“Apparently.” Javi said, without conviction.

“Well,” Ariana said, with a sigh of her own. She looked over at her old mentor and shook her head, “The Rokma know you’re here and they know you’re wanted by PUG. They haven’t pulled their repair teams yet, so hopefully that means they don’t care that much.”

“I wouldn’t count on that.” Javi said, with a nod of his eyestalks.

Ariana turned to see Squee standing in the doorway. He had a conflicted expression on his face. Ariana’s stomach tightened. She gave Squee a pointed look, waiting for him to speak.

“The council has decided to help.”

Continue to Episode 40

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