Blood Impulse

Part 6.1

Homebound Sector, Ariea, Valkar, Eagle's Talon

How could Command do this to her? General Clarke himself had said that there were no black marks on her record, so why had Alise Cortana been assigned to what was regarded as the worst ship in the entire fleet? To say that she was disappointed did not even begin to cover it.

The Singularity was an aging class of ship, nearly obsolete. Out on patrol, the ship operated without a direct connection to the cortex, humanity's vast interplanetary data network. It remained completely isolated for weeks, if not months at a time. It meant that the crew had nothing but each other to entertain themselves with. And with a crew populated by criminals, disobedients and other undesirables, Cortana had no doubt that environment would not be one that she would enjoy. Compared to her posting here, it would be nothing short of hell.

Yet, she had no choice but to abide Command's orders. It was probably a punishment for her failure to protect Secretary Gives. For all she knew, Admiral Gives had requested her new assignment to be on his ship. Perhaps he wanted to evaluate what sort of person had let his brother die on her watch. Her insides twisted at the thought. There was absolutely no way to know what Secretary Gives' heartless brother would have in store for her.

She tried not to let that scare her, but the Admiral's reputation far preceded him. When he set out to hurt someone, to break someone, there was no force in the worlds smart enough to stop him. People questioned his loyalty to his old ship, they questioned his choice of crew, and they questioned his sanity, but they did not question his ability. He was one of the deadliest people in human history. There was no one more feared and less understood.

Not even his brother had pretended to know Admiral Gives' real intentions, if he had any. According to the Secretary, the past that had brought Admiral Gives into power had also transformed him into true sociopath: a logical, antisocial monster without conscience. No rumor or fact about the last thirty years offered any counter-evidence toward that claim, but Cortana supposed she would soon be able to make that judgement for herself.

Her possessions had all been packed away to take to the ship, leaving her small apartment as bare as it had ever been. The plain furniture had come with the place, and would stay to welcome whoever was next assigned to these living quarters. Lodging of some likely-disappointing variety would be waiting for her on the ship. Soldiers like her travelled light, with just a duffel of personal belongings.

Even her uniforms would be replaced once she made it to the ship, since they were specific to her assignment. The basics of the uniform were always the same for the Marines: black cargo pants and a tactical vest with a uniform shirt underneath. It was the shirt and the patch on the vest that changed.

Working for Command directly, the prestigious golden emblem decorated her vest, and was stamped onto all her shirts. Once she arrived to her new assignment, that symbol would be replaced by the Singularity's own insignia. She had already been given the replacement patch for her vest, but refused to put it on. It felt flimsy in her hands compared to Command's.

The golden abstract emblem earned a great deal of respect wherever it was worn. The Singularity's simple red and yellow sun would earn the opposite, since her crew was regarded as one of the worst in the fleet. Once upon a time, this insignia would have earned respect to equal Command's, but that had been a long time ago.

During the War, it had been a symbol of victory, of sending the Hydrian Armada down in flames. During the Frontier Rebellion, it had become a token of hate, of the central planets' dominance. In the Dead Years, the decade that had followed, this flaming sun had been a badge to be feared. But that was all history, those had been the years when the ship had been the flagship. The Singularity had lost that position fifteen years ago, and with it had gone the ring of silver stars that had once circled her emblem, leaving it plain and fragile.