What Happens in Orbit

Cora was in a meeting. She'd started planning it several days ago, shutting out everyone but Mary and Tabitha from the process.

The processinvolved Cora discovering alotmore about the way Koramin had run the planet than she'd initially wanted to.

She'd seen the crescent-shaped building curling around the sunset edge of the compound but had no idea that it was packed with offices.Busywould have been an understatement.

Mary, one of the few remaining members of Koramin's war council, had a framed degree in her office. Cora had completely lost track of the conversation, instead wondering how the hell she'd managed to get a PhD in Public Administration from Tsinghua University in China.

"Cora?"

She turned. "How many of you went to school on Earth?"

Mary leaned back and forth, doing figures in her head. "All but a few of us."

"Are there not schools here?"

She shrugged. "There are, but Koramin always said, that Earth schools were better for the, uh,humanities, as you call them. We had a lovely exchange program deal with Zhongguo until the Grand Mother ordered the blockade around Earth."

Cora gritted her teeth. "I know what she's worried about, but that won't work. Let's set a goal of getting back in her good graces."

"We can do that rather easily, by getting rid of Koramin's hybridization program. But I'm loath to suggest this. It was her pride and joy."

"Hm." Cora crossed her legs, finally finding a seated position that didn't set her lower back on fire. "Am I right with this? The only reason she's got as much sway as she does is because of their, uh, textile monopoly?"

She'd written this phrase down after hearing it from Ray.

Tabitha nodded, furiously clearing her desk to push it against the wall. "I'll be back."

There was shouting and clattering from the hallway as she ran back in with an oversized IKEA whiteboard and a pocket full of markers, slamming it down into place. "My queen! I'm excited. Koramin never plannedwithus. And you even like to listen!"

The situation felt like a big, tangled mess of yarn. Nobody could compete with the Noxis, because when they tried, the Grand Mother would simply order a blockade. Noxis ships were older and slower, but widespread with a lightning-fast communication network between them.Theycertainly didn't have population issues.

For a moment, Cora toyed with the idea of fixing some of Earth's problems, too.

That would probably be reaching too far. She sighed. Maybe someday.

It would be the opposite of simple.

She chewed at the inside of her cheek as she watched Tabitha draw a webbed diagram. Her talents were wasted in the nursery.

Well, maybe not entirely. It wouldn't hurt the kids to learn from her.

It wouldn't hurt the kids to see you some time.Her stomach turned. She couldn't think about that right now.

"Wait. Do the Noxis have some sort of mental link, like the Yarlott? Or do they just follow her because they don't care to follow anyone else?"

Mary hummed. "They're obligate carnivores. Nowhere else but under her will they have an endless supply of food."

Endless."Endless? Oh!" Cora leaned forward on her hands, trying to lift some of the weight off her back. "Oh. And why don't we fight back? Are there too many?"

"Ion beams and even the newer microwave rifles won't work. They pass right through."

Cora rocked back and winced. "Ray told me- hold on, let's get Ray here."

Moments later, Ray stood in the doorway, breathless and sweating. "Yes?"

She waved a hand towards him. "Come here. Shut the door. What happened to the other subjects? The boys were working under Koramin when they were sent to close out the other missions. Where are they?"

He shuddered. "I told you earlier. They're being held."

"I want to see them. I know you said they're not sentient anymore, but I want to see for myself."

It would be a long day. Mary and Tabitha accompanied them to a lift below the Crescent.

Cora resisted the urge here to ask any questions as she'd started to feel a little awkward, being queen and all, not knowing a goddamn thing.

There were even more offices down here. Not as closely packed, but just as busy. Levels upon levels of rooms packed with imported Earth office furniture. Cora started to pick out boxes and large parts as the lift slowed.

"These were all humans, once," Ray sighed.

"Wait, what? I thought you said there were a few different species used?"

"There were. Only humans made it this far."

The containment cell was at the far end of the hallway. Cora ignored the guards, ordering the rows of bars opened.

She had a gut feeling.

When only the glass layers of the containment cell remained, Cora approached. They'd been well taken care of, three young women her age. It looked like they'd been treated with different ratios of modifiers, all to the same end.

"Where'd they come from?"

"Same recruitment campaign as you. The United States had an external agreement with us to allow it."

"Mmm. Ray, you dumbass." She stepped up and crossed her arms. "They're perfectly sentient. They probably can't fucking talk because your shit formula messed their teeth up."

"Myformula? It's not my formula!"

Cora ignored him. "Am I right, ladies?" Her stomach twisted. They'd been isolated for four years, not a moment without pain. The three inside regarded her blankly.They probably can't hear me.

The guards lingered behind her uncertainly.I wonder."Hey, what are their names? No, I wasn't asking you, Ray."

"Autumn, Laura, and Savannah," answered Mary. She leaned back toward the guard she'd been speaking to, muttering something to them. "They've been playing fast and loose with the rules. Ray didn't have the complete story."

"I thought so. They didn't hide their tracks well enough." Cora pointed to the freshly scraped tile below the rows of bars. "Go ahead and let them out, please."

"God, that still hurts, doesn't it?" Unafraid, Cora leaned forward, inspecting the fangs sproutingthroughthe skin around their lips, wrapped in ropes of bright red scarring. "And what have we done to help?"

"Ah, nothing. Koramin was supposed to have them... taken care of."

"If it's any consolation, I choked her ass out. She's dead now." Cora turned back to Ray, eyes ablaze. "I shouldn't have to explain to you why this is completely unacceptable, yeah? You're aware?"

"They can talk, just notwell," piped up Mary. Tabitha had wandered off to the offices back near the lift. "Yu Ming has been teaching them Zentrin."

Cora held up her hands, trying to put herself in their shoes. She needed them on her roster, desperately, but they'd just spent years having half their rights horribly violated.If not more.She'd be lucky if they didn't kill her in her sleep.

"Okay. Okay. I don't know what they told you about me or what's going on, but all this shit stops today. I'm glad you haven't been being held the entire time, butfuck.This shit does not fly."

Autumn opened her mouth ever-so-slightly, the scarring growing quickly taught, but shut it after a moment. "We're gonna figure this out. I'm queen now. But.. I can't just come down here and say how things are gonna go. Do you- Can I get a doctor down here to look at you all? A good one. One I'd see myself. God, I need to make this right. I'm sorry." As Tabitha came running back with a chair, they regarded her uncertainly. "We can talk. It'll be okay." She sat down, trying not to wheeze.

The three women were able to speak, but it was in a quiet, slurring manner. Ray had been inching further and further away this whole time, his nervous state being compounded by the furious glares Cora was shooting him every few minutes.

It was now or never. Cora leaned forward in her chair. "Would you all... Would you be down to help me get revenge? Well, look- It's not just revenge. If you want to go back to Earth, or live any kind of free life, we need to stand up to the lady restricting our movement. There's none down here, but we have thesecreatures, these Noxis. Their queen has some kind of fucked-up vendetta against us. She sent me back to Earth pregnant, made me risk my life over and over just to get back up here."

"You got a family?" Autumn spoke softly.

"Yeah. A really big one. There's space ports, planets, any kind of life your heart could desire out here. And return to Earth is always an option. I know they've already told you plenty about the alien presence back home." Cora decisively kept any pity out of her voice and expression.

This felt like playing Operation.

Tears were running down Laura's face.

"Shit. God, I can't apologize enough. Ijustgot this fucker to tell me where she was keeping you." She reached out, taking Laura's shaking hands in her own. "We wouldn't even be here if it weren't for these two shitty queens. The Noxis queen, the Grand Mother, wants to have you all killed, myself included. She knew about this program, okayed it, then backtracked like a coward when it didn't go according to plan. Now everybody but her is in danger and she won't even let us defend ourselves. She's using her ships to block us from getting help, getting supplies,anything." Cora leaned in, lowering her voice. "The others think that the Noxis are unkillable. They're these big spiders, terrifying at first. But guess what?" She waited for a moment. "I've killed several with my bare hands. It takes strength. It takes force. They don't have it.Wedo."

"But you're pregnant."

"I am, but... Look, we're playing thelong game. I've got just a few months left. And you'll have every resource available to you if you'll help me."

It went much better than Cora had expected. The same could be said for the meeting she lead now, surrounded by the remnants of Koramin's war cabinet. They all seemed to be on the same page. The year-plan was relatively simple. They would join the coalition meeting tomorrow, later invite the Yarlott emperor to her coronation, start chipping away at the Noxis blockade using some of Tabitha's novel ideas, especially the ones Koramin had shot down asboring. Have the ladies combat-ready in a quarter. Cora remembered the footage they'd shown her. That wouldn't be hard.

Cora particularly liked what Tabitha had presented to them. It was familiar, not exactly anicetactic, but it would work just fine if they'd understood the general mindset of Noxis followers.

Every time Cora thought about whether what she was doing wasrightor not, she stopped herself. They had to do what they had to do. She'd always fantasized about situations where she'd be given this kind of decision-making authority. She'd have judgement unclouded by greed. Cora had never imagined that she'd fall face-first into control of an entire planet. It was exciting.I can do a lot of good here.

Mar rubbed his face over his hands. "Why are you all here?"

Tai frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Koramin wasn't born like that. Cora's already becoming too... Like us. She shouldn't be doing this alone."

"What do you mean, like us? She has to."

"She's fine, Erie's with her," said Leo from the doorway. "And it's not like she's beginning from nothing. Koramin left her everything she'd need." He stopped himself sharply, squinting at the floor. "Now that I'm thinking about it... That's really convenient, isn't it?"

Tai leaned back, looking at his hands. "I thought the same. Ray knows more than he's told us, and Cora always says she'll talk later. I think she doesn't want to tell us either."

The moment he heardRay, Mar kicked his left leg out of the bed. "Oh, yes. I'm done resting." Mar inched himself sideways, Tai barely catching him before he collapsed to the floor. "You saidRayis helping her?"

"Ray ishelpingwho?" Came the voice from across the hall. "You know you can't get up yet, Mar."

"Like hell I can't," he muttered. "Two-headed dumbass."

"I heard that."

"No, you didn't." He groaned, frustrated, as Tai and Leo helped him into a wobbly standing position, only for Tai to suddenly collapse, the others falling like dominoes.

There was an exasperated sigh followed by Ray's even more exasperated entrance.

"Just wait, I have something that can help."

"We have quite a bit of our most recent batch of Modifier. We're obviously stopping subject acquisition, but I'm offering an alternative, so our hard-working researchers aren't left in the lurch. Left, uh, jobless," she added, casting an apologetic glance at Erie. She still hadn't kicked her habit of using her native idioms and redneck-isms. He shook his head. "I know humans too well. Prospective subjects will come to us." Cora looked down at the meeting notes she'd made. "Any questions?"

"How do we justify our actions against the Noxis?" It was Danger. Cora fought the urge to smile. Mary had done a fantastic job preparing them to win over Koramin's remaining loyalists.

She set down her tablet. "How do they justify their actions against us? We can't act like what Grand Mother has done are just these, uh, natural consequences. It's clear as day to me. She's so focused on allowing them to spread and managing their food supply. I hear the excuse that they're obligate carnivores. We aren't obligated to be eaten! She gets to set up arbitrary boundaries acrossourstar system? Seriously? Why have we all been so fair to her as she wrings us- Sorry, Erie. As she takes more from us than we could ever get back in trade." Cora huffed, straightening up. She would need to eat soon. "We don't have to justify athingto her. In fact, we're going to start asking her to justify why she hasn't done more for her own kind. They're not mindless creatures. I've even lived with two Drager, a mother and her daughter. They're capable of so much more and she treats them like her endless supply of foot soldiers. We need to make sure that they know this." Cora regarded her notes, fixing her facial expression. This next point had been carefully choreographed. "We'll start with simply sowing discord. I want to propose we focus our force on something else. We rescinded our forces from the Rellemara asteroid belt after the Grand Mother dictated we do so. Butherforces are sparse in the area. We retake the remaining mining operations, as quietly as we can. We'll be using smaller forces, stealth ships. I want it to look like solar flares, accidents, random Noxis attacks. As long as we're careful, we can keep the Yarlott on our side."

"And how are you proposing we do that?"

At least they were being respectful this time around. Last meeting led Cora to discover that if the wartime council couldn't reach an agreement, it was hashed out in combat. The one thing Cora didnotwant to do.

She gestured, bringing up a detailed graphic on the table's central display.

"Modified large-beam microwave rifles. They disrupt communications even at a very low power level. Most of the mining staff are Roshak. I know we've questioned the morality of simply executing Foshar. Please considerthiscasualty report we received. We may not have the privilege of morality-driven choice for much longer." Cora hoped she would never have to explain this to her children. The guilt was already turning her stomach.

Well, feeling like this means I'm keeping my humanity. Or just... that I'm hungry.

She waited for the cabinet members to finish writing and start the hushed conversation among themselves.

"Will we be taking Roshak as well?"

Fuck, yeah."Takingmay be a strong way to phrase it. If everything goes by the plan, we can rid them of the Foshar puppet leadership. They could be allowed to live as they please, without that sick death cult strangling them down to nothing."

"Why not just liberate Roshak first?" This was Miedzna, the cabinet member she feared most. They were the oldest, having served even before Koramin's time as queen. Their skin had faded to a dull green, showing signs of tearing around the elbows. Hyper-traditionalist, they were a devout member of Takka's Sunbearer religion, demanding crystal-clear moral justification for every action, even if it were already clearly immoral. Koramin must have hated them.

Cora would never demand action without justification, but she couldn't simply say that.

She wasn't Koramin.

Today, they'd gotten Miedzna to play right into her hands. "Miedzna, that's... I like that idea. They deserve the right to live without having their culture squashed at every opportunity. Would you suggest we target their liberation first?"

Miedzna laced their fingers together slowly, gingerly. "I'm loath to suggest this, but I hear that we now have some of Roshak's finest mercenaries. Why not use our forces to take the mining colonies back, and let them, eh,handlethe puppet queen?"

"On what timeline?"

Thoughtfully, Miedzna regarded the others. They had a gravelly voice that set her teeth on edge. "We... want to avoid igniting any further conflict. Perhaps we make it look as if this was a natural consequence of the ongoing rebellion, simply offering them our ships and weapons? The timeline forthisline of action would be within the quarter."

Cora leaned back, pretending to think. Mary's face held a faint, serene smile. They'd spent hours practicing how they'd get Miedzna to agree directly to taking out the Roshak Matriarch and her Foshar military detachment.

They'd even managed to requisition Mar's old crew for it. They hadn't been hard to find.

Everything was going perfectly.

Except.

Cora wasn't sure when she'd started seeing the late queen again. It had definitely started sometime after she'd killed the elders, but it hadn't been so clear at first. A glimpse around a corner, a quick meeting of familiar eyes in a crowd.

Now, the bitch wouldn't leave her alone.

I did kill her, right?

She stood in the corner of the room, waving encouragingly, in that sickeningly sweet way she reserved just for Cora.

She shook her head, returning her focus to the cabinet as they cast their votes.

The first time she heard Koramin's voice again, Cora knew she had to start taking better care of herself. Ithadto be the stress. There was no other clear reason for her to be receiving fashion advice from the queen she'd strangled to death in a blind rage.

Granted, Koramin didn't seem bitter about it at all.

It came after Cora had started undressing by herself in the old royal quarters. The others were always a littletooeager to help her get dressed, and she desperately needed the quiet.

"Cora, dear, why don't you open the wardrobe to your left? Perhaps you find something that suits you better. The robes I wore when I was carrying Tarina should be there still.Yes, the blue ones."

After a moment of stiff indecision, she shrugged.Hell, why not?She reached for the carved handle, pulling it to find several sets of robes on hangers, including a set in a deep royal blue. Cora carefully extricated the flowing garment from the others, holding it out at arm's length. "I didn't think we were the same size."

The sleeve ends were embroidered in overlapping layers of red-orange-yellow, forming an Earth sunset gradient.

"Who are you talking to?" The door to the washroom opened, revealing Tarina in a billowing fog of scented steam.

"Your mother," replied Cora, immediately making a face. "Sorry. That wasn't phrased right."

"Oh."

Cora scrunched her eyes shut. "I don't know what's happening. Don't think about it too much."

Tarina tilted her head thoughtfully. "I won't. Those...wereher favorite maternity robes. Can I help you?"