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  "The final war, the one we’re so casually discussing here, is an existential one. Covenant and Buchanan are mutually exclusive and cannot coexist. Our way of life is at stake here, and I´d much rather wait until we are ready because if we lose…" He let it hang in the air, and the silence was deafening.

  In the end, it was Evan who stood to speak.

  "I think we understand what’s at stake. The question of war and peace is one in which the Head Servant has always had final say. We know where Lunde stands on the issue, and the rest are split. The question is do we still trust Head Servant Lunde to deal with this?" First Janissary Ivanov stood up and sent Alexej a challenging stare before he spoke.

  "I vote to remove Alexej Lunde immediately and name his successor. I further propose that we name Evan Hordvik his successor. Those who agree, please stand up." Immediately, Borge and Janev stood while Lunde, Johansen, and Petrovic remained in their chairs. The rest looked to Evan, clearly undecided. Mark saw that Alexej, red-faced and fuming, was about to say something, but he restrained himself. This was how it was always done, unless the succession was planned. He looked at Evan, whose face was still unreadable, and then at Ivanov, who smirked.

  "It seems your support is dwindling," he began, but Mark cut him off sharply.

  "Not so fast," he said and stood.

  "I’m allowed to vote, remember. I haven’t before since my role is an advisory one, but I choose to exercise my right in this matter. I stand with Alexej,” he said.

  "Actually," Evan interrupted as Mark sat down. Ivanov stared at him, as did several others.

  "I agree with the Head Servant. We’re not ready. Listen, I don’t care about the position. I want Buchanan eradicated just as much as you do. But I’ve seen war. I’ve walked through the nuclear wasteland of the North, and I know what a single nuke slipping through would do to this city. When we´re ready, fine. I´m all for it. But we´re not. So let´s stop this nonsense and let Head Servant Lunde do his job."

  Mark let out a relieved breath once he realized Evan—the Hordviks, actually—had finally taken sides. His and Alexej´s side. Evan would assume power sooner or later, but for now, the militants, led by Ivanov, had suffered a major defeat. Nothing could have made Mark Novak happier.

  Chapter 2

  Renee

  Renee was running as fast as she could. Darkness surrounded her, and she feared that enemies would emerge from the shadows at any moment, and that would be it. She had done covert work before, infiltrating the Covenant through the northern border, but this was her first time inside Corpus territory. What she´d seen had frightened her.

  She didn't have far to go, but the area was crawling with headhunters, savage killers who preyed upon escapees from the Corpus, those living dead who took their chances and usually ended up dead.

  She slowed to a fast walk, peering through the darkness and trying to find her contact. She had secured the information, something to do with the production schedule for Bliss, which made no sense to her. Since scrambling technology effectively covered the entire area, there was no way to retrieve the info electronically, which was why Buchanan had decided to send in an agent.

  "Frenchie," she heard a voice to her left whisper. Holding one hand to the gun strapped to her thigh, she turned toward the sound.

  "Frenchie," the voice said again.

  "Who's there?" she whispered back. A person emerged from the shadows clad in black and with a painted face. He was almost invisible but for his pearly white teeth grinning at her.

  "216045. Authenticate," the man said, still grinning. She felt the beginning of a smile herself.

  "06F215C892," she said. Now that he was closer, Renee saw his face wasn't painted at all. He was the darkest man she had ever seen, and she recognized him from one of the briefings before the mission.

  "We have to move quickly," he said. "The boat´s just two klicks south of here. They´ll only wait another hour before taking off." Renee nodded. They were to head straight down to the coast, find the hidden boat, and move out to where a small submarine would be waiting. The sub would take them west and drop them off deep inside the Dead Zone, where an airship would pick them up and bring them back to Buchanan.

  "I'm Grey, by the way," the man said.

  "Renee. Let's move."

  An hour later, they were climbing aboard the sub. As soon as the hatch closed, the submarine dove. One of the submarine operators showed Renee and Grey to a small cabin where they could rest while the sub took them safely out of Covenant waters.

  Renee sat back on the bunk, relieved that her first mission had been a success. It had been a close call before she had met Grey. She only hoped it was worth the risk, and that the intel would be useful. Personally, she had no idea what the production of this Bliss had to do with anything military. She had come to understand that Bliss was some kind of drug that made people forget certain things or even hallucinate. As a former colonel of the French forces in the North, she also knew that information usually consisted of thousands of small pieces that only made sense once put together. What she didn't understand might be the final piece of a puzzle that made everything else make sense. She smiled. Less than six months ago, she had been accepted into intelligence service training, and now she had conducted her first mission.

  She wondered how many, if any, remained of those who had been at the cabin that weekend when they went through their first tests. How many were on active duty now? Perhaps it was her military background that made her transition into active duty so quickly. Either way, she was glad she didn't have to spend years training before doing something that actually mattered.

  Renee hated the Covenant. She hated the Moon people, who had bombed her homeland into oblivion. During a war that lasted only 48 hours, they had nuked every city, killed most of her people, and taken the rest of them as slaves. She was glad she hadn't met any other French while inside the Corpus—she didn't know what she would have done. She wanted her revenge, but she was determined not to fall prey to hasty emotional actions that could jeopardize her life and others. But one day, she would have her revenge.

  Evan

  Evan looked around as everyone left the room. They had all turned to him although he was the youngest member of the Luna council. Perhaps it was out of curiosity or apprehension. Nobody knew exactly where he stood on the important matters. He was, obviously, of the Nidaros breed, and these families usually stood for the more progressive courses of action compared to the New Moscow families, which were generally more militant and backward in the eyes of Evan and many others.

  Heading one of the great families was new to him, and taking over had been a surprise. His father, Carl, had seemed healthy enough, and although death from natural causes did happen, even with the longevity treatments, Evan had expected his father to last for decades, if not centuries. Carl Hordvik had been a legend in the city of Legacy and one of the longest ruling heads on the Luna council. Evan had been a rebellious youth, and there had been animosity between him and his father even after Even joined the Janissaries. Only in the last couple of years had the two begun to see eye-to-eye. Different, and seldom in full agreement, they had finally begun to respect one another.

  The surprising death of his father had come just as they were about to make up for lost years, and thinking of it made Evan regret being such a stubborn kid for so long. And yet, it had happened at a time when Evan was ready to assume the responsibility—as ready as he could ever be, at least. However he felt about his father´s death, it had opened up new opportunities.

  Evan realized he´d had an awakening. Before, he had been rebellious and sometimes bitter as he watched the injustices of the Covenant. He was angry at others for living hedonistic, lazy lives while the English did the dirty work for the Moon people. He had felt as if he were watching the decline of his people into something ugly and reprehensible, but as the reality of the situation sank in, he realized he could now make a difference. His new position made him an important figure among
the Moon people. Not only did he have one of the great families backing him, but since the Hordviks were tipping the scales, he also wielded far more weight than his family alone gave him.

  Lately, a plan had begun to form in his mind. Evan had always wanted to change the Covenant. He dreamed of a day when the Moon people could rule without fear, a day when they were able to fully pursue higher goals, such as tending Earth and exploring space, perhaps even a day when they didn´t need to constantly subjugate the English in order to survive. He dreamed of a day when the constant threat from enemies, both within and without, was eliminated. But to reach for such goals, major changes had to be implemented and enormous obstacles had to be removed. Evan needed time to choose his actions wisely, but he would have to make some bold choices. The outcome of those choices would either leave him dead or change the world forever.

  Tina

  Tina smiled briefly, satisfied with the completed checklist. The artificial gravity system was working perfectly, life support showed a surplus of oxygen, which was exactly how it was meant to be, and structural analysis showed no signs of weakness. Everything was all right, which was good considering that the shuttle had been attached to the outside of the ark while traveling more than forty lightyears during the last five years. Tina had slept through most of it, of course, and although she had slept through it the last time as well, it felt different. The last time she took this journey, she slept through the main part of a hundred and sixty-five years. Besides, the last time there had been the tension of not fully knowing the effects of Sleep on the body, the uncertainty of their destination, and the responsibility of being second-in-charge on what had been the greatest undertaking humanity, as she knew it at the time, had ever seen.

  This time, everything had been plotted out well in advance, and all members of the crew were experienced starfarers. Most of them had crewed the Seedseeker with Shefania Merani, although some had come with the later ships in the years following first contact.

  She shook her head, smiling as she closed her tablet. She probably wasn´t the only one who had viewed the Akhab as backwards, simple beings. Friendly and helpful, sure, but to think they held the secret to faster-than-light interstellar travel? No way. When Shefania had first told them she was going to investigate life signals from Earth, she had briefly mentioned the wormholes.

  Star Portals, she had called them, and the Akhab Jujjj had spoken about one located just a year´s journey from Aurora on the fringe of the 55 Cancri A system. Tina had learned that the Akhab were attuned to the portals through what they called their star sentience, and they regularly used them to send signals to each other, communicating freely between systems all over the galaxy. The Akhab, small, furry sentient beings who painted their history on cave walls and used only rudimentary technology, and even then very deliberately held the knowledge of where most of the portals were located. It was like they had a map of the interstellar highways, which was a fitting description when she considered the implications for travel and communication. Shefania had explained that was how the Seedseeker, the exploration ship from Sanctuary—a sprawling human civilization originating from the same ancestry as Earth—had come to Aurora.

  The Star Portal closest to Earth lay four years away, outside the Oort Cloud, reducing the journey between Aurora and Earth to five years. The passage through the portal itself only took a few days, and Tina had slept through it, like most of the crew.

  It was the Akhab who had proposed that Tina and Ramon should accompany the ark: Tina because she was one of the most experienced explorers on Aurora and Ramon because he was the son of Maria Solis. Tina chuckled to herself.

  The Akhab saw Ramon as special, the son of Maria Solis, who held such a special place among them. Maria was not only the second President of Aurora, but she had also been the first human to meet the Akhab, who had immediately recognized something in her. Tina smiled when she considered how Maria had grown from the spoiled daughter of one of the richest men on Earth to become the uncontested leader of Aurora, commanding the respect of the Akhab, the Indira Federation, and even Sanctuary. Her father, who had died horribly during the war, would have been so proud of her. And now her son continued his mother´s legacy, exploring Earth, a planet on which he had never set foot. Everything had come full circle.

  Sue

  Sue sat back in the soft grass just outside Charlestown proper. When she closed her eyes, she heard different kinds of birds chirping and singing and bees buzzing as they swarmed the flowers. Only occasionally did the background noise from town reach her and disturb the peace. She opened her eyes and looked across the fields, the low hills, and the forest to the south. Far out there lay the Belt, separating them from the Corpus. She remembered that some of her classmates had been chosen for the Corpus on that fateful day when she had been chosen for the Janissaries. She wondered what had become of them. She didn´t expect to see most of them again. People seldom returned from Corpus Service, and if they did, they returned broken, like walking corpses. In a few years, Jason would be eligible for Service. She shuddered at the thought. Service was an opportunity, but it could also be a death sentence. She had survived—barely—but without earning the privilege of citizenship. Now that she reflected on it, citizenship didn´t seem as important as it once had. Fifty years in peace could be a full and valuable life. She certainly hoped Jason would see it that way. She didn´t want to lose her little brother.

  A twig broke behind her, and she turned. A familiar face lit up, and Sue broke into a smile.

  "Laurie!" she exclaimed. He was wearing the smart black of the Janissaries, and she noticed the insignia: a single iron bar. She got to her feet.

  "Or should I say Tacticus White?" she said, grinning.

  "Great to see you too, Tacticus Atlas," he replied.

  "I´m not a Janissary anymore. Discharged," she said. Laurie waved her off.

  "I know, I know. But it is customary to use the highest rank obtained, unless a higher civilian rank is earned," he said formally and then grimaced.

  "Ah, enough of that. Come here, give me a hug!" he said.

  They hugged, and Sue was surprised at her reaction. It was so good to have a friend who understood what she had been through but who also knew who she was outside of the uniform. They sat down in the grass and talked. Although they had served in different units, they had both gone through most of their training at Camp Sharpe.

  "Did you hear that Sub Strategos Janev went into politics?" Laurie said. Sue raised her eyebrows.

  "Seems his old man decided to return to old Luna to enjoy the fruits of his labor, leaving responsibility with his oldest son."

  "Who happened to be the commander at Camp Sharpe," Sue finished for him. Laurie nodded.

  "There´s a new guy now. Some fellow from the Luna Brigade. Comet career type, commanded the roundup near the northeast coast after the war. Ruthless but competent from what I hear." When Sue didn´t answer, he continued. "I haven´t been to Camp Sharpe for a while, of course, but the rumors reached us a while back. They also said that Camp Sharpe is being reorganized into an operational brigade instead of a training brigade. Seems they want the new Janissary training base to be closer to the Rift. Once they get it all set up, I´ll be training initiates after next Selection. Could you have imagined?" Sue shook her head.

  "I don´t know what I should have imagined. After all, I hardly remember anything after I joined the Westfold Brigade. Everything I do remember from Service is my time at Camp Sharpe." She hesitated for a moment. “Did you fight? I mean, in the conquest?" He nodded, his usually cheerful face growing dark.

  "I fought. Well, most of it wasn´t really fighting, but I was there. We had a few incidents with French holdouts and ambushes, but we were cleaning house most of the time. Sending French off to processing. Don´t know what happened to them after that, but there sure aren´t any French left up north."

  "Will the North ever be habitable again?" Sue asked.

  "Not for a long time. I don´t th
ink the brass in Legacy cares, though. All that matters to them is that the Covenant rules everything east of the Rift,” he said. Sue felt something tickle in the back of her mind, something to do with the North, but however hard she tried, she couldn´t recall. Laurie didn´t seem to notice as he kept talking.

  "The Moon people think long-term. For them, it doesn´t matter if the North remains a wasteland for the next century. For all I know, they may have plans stretching several centuries ahead. They’re different than us." Laurie´s conclusion said everything Sue knew about the Moon people. They’re different than us. Even their lifespans were different. While Sue had thirty years left at best, a citizen could live for more than a hundred years. Rumor had it that some of the Moon people were nearly two hundred. She shook her head. Definitely different.

  "How long are you here for?" she asked.

  "Just a couple of days. I got a week´s leave to say goodbye to my Uncle Ben, but I lost two days waiting to get a spot on the train." Sue noticed a pang of sadness in Laurie´s eyes. His uncle would be fifty soon. Just like her father a couple of years ago.

  "I´m sorry about your uncle," she said. Laurie took a deep breath.

  "Well, that´s why I serve," he said simply. Sue nodded. If Laurie served faithfully the rest of his time, he´d probably make citizen, and with that, life. While Sue would face mandatory euthanasia in thirty years, twenty if she stayed disabled, Laurie might live indefinitely. They were friends now, but once he became a citizen, a rift would develop between them because of their wildly different prospects and opportunities. That rift would widen as the years went by, and they would become strangers, no matter how close they were now.