RavensDagger

  Chapter Eleven - A History

  MINT was good at what they did.

  In the private, subtle world of intelligence agencies, spy-corps, and national security apparati, MINT was far from the biggest pyer. They recruited fewer members, had a rge suite of automated spyworks, and did very little by means of traditional, person-based spy work.

  Instead, MINT operated as the high-tech ter to the Earth Alliance's own spycraft agencies, of which there were many. Instead of employing bribes, honey pots, and listening devices, MINT was oting edge of data interception, and on Mars, there were no ws to proteyone from MINT's reach.

  If someone was bribed, MINT khen they dealt with it in a loud, obvious way.

  There was no allowing spies to lio deliver false news, there was no accepting corrupt politis, there was n people who could disguise themselves as passersby to snoop in on someorash.

  If you acted against the i of the Empire of Mars, then someone dressed in bck would knock at your door and you'd be disposed of. It was all very nid , and MINT made sure o remove ahat they couldn't firm was a threat.

  The average person didn't actually fear MINT at all. Mostly because MINT's public image was backed by Martian propaganda. If you didn't fuck around, you'd never have to find out. Don't try to sell critical information to the enemy, and you'll live a long, happy life of moderate taxes, free healthcare, and cutting-edge toys.

  MINT had a retionship with Ivil. They didn't like w with her. She liked w with them. They were professional and quid most importantly reliable.

  The Imperial Navy tried to be all of that, but it had flig allegia times, and with so many members picked from obligatory military participation, there was a frequent issue with inpetence.

  MINT picked its operatives from people who excelled. The highest raudents of Martian uies, the best officers in the navy who wanted a slower-paced job with fewer risks of disiion.

  In any case, Ivil wao explore the Held Together but before she started to wander around the ship, she decided to explore its history.

  One of the tablets MINT had given her tained heaps of historical data, information on battlefields and hundreds of academic texts. At least until the tablet reized Ivil, then it gave her access to encased information. Everything MINT had gathered on the Held Together i five days or so.

  That included the ship's entire publid some private, history.

  The history was... muhe Held Together had been through some iing times, but overall, there wasn't anything too special about it. It was an old ship that had ged hands and had survived. That was all. There were probably a thousand just like it in the system.

  Except this was the one where she'd find love.

  There was a knock at the door, and Ivil gnced up. She sensed someone oher side, shifting their weight from side to side nervously. There had been a few people moving by, and Ivil imagihat it was mostly the crew just going through the paces.

  She stood and wandered over to the door. "Yes?" Ivil asked.

  "Hi!" came Twenty-Six from the other side.

  Ivil opehe door, then looked down to meet the young woman's eyes. Twenty-Six jumped, automatically reag out to grab onto one of the handholds on the wall. "Hello, Twenty-Six," Ivil said. " I help you?"

  Twenty-Six nodded. "Yes! I mean, you , if you want. But I'm not here for help, I'm... uh, I'm bungling this up. I start over?" Ivil gestured for Twenty-Six to do so and the meic took a quick breath in, then smiled. "Hey! Did you want to e and check out the kit? Hawk's cooked something up nice."

  "Sure," Ivil said. "Aren't you supposed to be in the hangar?"

  "wenty-Six said. She flushed, leaning forwards a little, spiratorial. "The st passenger arrived! So I don't o sit around anymore. Once I'm doing up it'll be time to get back to work. This old dy has enough work to keep me busy for ten lifetimes, you know?"

  "I see that," Ivil said. "Give me just a moment to sort through my things."

  "ht, right, I'll wait... right here!" Twenty-Six said before pushing bad away from the doorway.

  Ivil closed it carefully, then turned. She g her refle itle washroom's mirror. She looked just fine, but she brushed off some dust from her outfit anyway. A quick sort through her things had all of the more sensitive tablets tucked away again, just in case. Then she ening the door and found Twenty-Six poking at a small vent above and muttering to herself.

  "Is everything okay?" Ivil asked.

  The meic jumped, then turned, looking a little guilty. "Yup, just fine!" she said.

  "Are you sure?" Ivil stared her down, and Twenty-Six folded almht away.

  "The filters on here might not be quite as new as they should be," she admitted. "I ged them, I remember, but uh, it's been a mihat might expin the smell in the spine, actually."

  "You know, I do think Missy fleeced me for more than this trip is worth," Ivil said. "I'm sure some of that go into the ship's maintenance budget."

  "That would be wenty-Six said. "I'll float it by the captain. e! Have you seen the galley yet?"

  "I haven't," Ivil said.

  "It's really ! e on!" Twenty-Six bounced ahead of Ivil, the lravity of Ceres basically letting her every step carry her almost all the way to the ceiling . There were ways to walk in lravity that prevehat kind of bounce, but Twenty-Six didn't seem to care for it.

  Ivil followed. "So, the st passenger arrived?"

  "Yeah! She's a princess!"

  "Pardon?" Ivil asked.

  "I know!" Twenty-Six gushed. "An actual princess, on our very own Held Together! Wait... I think she's trying to go undercover. Um, maybe don't repeat the fact?"

  "I'll keep it to myself," Ivil said. She couldn't help but wonder what that meant, however. There were a few small nations that were monarchic, so there were a few princes and princesses around, if one cared to look hard enough.

  "Thanks!" Twenty-Six said. "The captain be a bit of a grump sometimes. She's a nian though. So! You're an archeologist? What's that like?"

  "Astro-archeologist," Ivil corrected. "Though that's mostly just semantics. We study archeology the same way it was studied oh, only the ruins we look for tend to be old stations, a y domes, or spaceship wrecks."

  "That's so cool!" she gushed. "Have you been to a lot of old wrecks? We've towed a few. Salvage pays really well sometimes, even if the Held Together isn't made for it."

  "Iing," Ivil said. "Astro-archeology is often about disc what actually happened and rec it for posterity. A lot of what happened during the First Inter-System War is actually lost to history. Too many EMPs, too many ships that wiped their own memory banks and servers in case of capture. All we have are first and sed-hand ats of some of the bigger, more important battles of the war. Especially those past the belt."

  "That makes sewenty-Six said. "That's a cool job."

  "Thank you," Ivil said. "How long have you been a meic for?"

  "Ever, basically. Have you ever been on Saturn?"

  "I've flown by," Ivil said.

  "It's rough out there. Titan's hough! My family's all made up ers."

  Which meant that they lived within Saturn's rings. There were some three dozen small moons within the ring that were all rge enough to build ies. Not to mention the space stations scattered around the gassy giant. "Hydrogen miners?" ivil asked.

  "And rare metals," Twenty-Six firmed. "I'm a fifth geier, you know? Ah, not that I've been home in... a while. Anyway! This is the galley!"

  The end of the spine opened into a small airlo with several doors. It quickly repressurized before Twenty-Six opened one of the doors and led Ivil into a cozy little dining room. The ceiling was loadded, and there was a detly rge round table in the tre of the room. At the back was a ter, behind which the ship's kit and pantry were tucked away.

  Iingly, the floor around the table was made of gss panels id out in a circle. Ivil ghrough the floor at the Crevice below. The view wasn't all that nice, mostly gantries and the robotic arms desigo capture and move ships around, but the very idea of looking through the floor was iing.

  "That's inal," Twenty-Six said. "One of the few fully-inal bits left on this old gal. It's really nietimes, when we're in deep space. The only other view out of here is in the cockpit, and you 't really just sit around there to watch, you know?"

  The dining room table was gss as well, which Ivil supposed only made sense. "It's an iing desigure," she said.

  "It's one of my top twenty-six favourite spots!" Twenty-Six said with a ugh. "e on, you've got to try Hawk's cooking. He does miracles!"

  ***

  RavensDagger

  Oh no! She's cuuuute!Some of my stories are on TopWebFi!-amon Bun-Stray Cat Strut-Lever A-Dead Tired-Heart of Dorkness-SpeddonVoting makes Broccoli smile!

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