Fire and Ice

Chapter 42 † Kayleigh

I woke up wrapped in warmth. I felt my head rise and fall, and turned it slightly to find a dark blue IF uniform. Oh yeah. Ender. I sit up gently so as not to disturb him and check my arm screens.

0826.

Perfect.

A warm hand gently comes to rest on my back as I feel Ender shift beside me. I stand up quickly, walking over to the cell door.

"Kayleigh?" Ender calls sleepily. "What's wrong?" A loud crashing sound comes from down the hallway, followed by footsteps. I take a step back from the cell door and put my back against the wall, hiding as best I can behind a small wall the cell door is hinged on.

I hear heavy panting from the other side. Ender is standing up in front of the bed, arms poised to defend himself against whatever came hurtling down the hallway.

"I'm here to let you out," a man's voice gasps, still panting heavily from the physical exertion. I hear the sound of jingling as footsteps sharply clip towards the door. As the cell door creaks open Ender glances at me, quickly, but the miniscule change in his focus was enough to give away my not-so-clever hiding spot. Blond hair in a stylized swoop pokes in the cell door, a young man's face turning to face me. His face morphs from concern to confusion.

"How'd you get in here?" He asks softly, still confused. Ender and I both point at the ceiling tile I wasn't bothered to have moved back last night. He looks up and lets out a soft ahh sound. He motions for us to follow him, and his head disappears from the door. I push off of the wall and walk towards the now open door, coming shoulder to shoulder with Ender as I do so. He backs up slightly to let me out of the door first, but then is immediately back at my side.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Burke," the man states, walking down the hallway I presume he came sprinting down to get us.

"Why did you release us?" Ender asks.

"We mutinied," he explains. "Captain Hemmingsway and Commander O'Shaughnessy were perfectly happy to remain unperturbed by the Locke and Demosthenes treatises. But the rest of the crew agreed with the points made in the vid of you two."

"Are you sure it's not because there's big, scary, unfamiliar alien vessels surrounding the ship?" I implore. Ender stiffens beside me as Burke stops and turns around to glare at me, mouth agape. I raise one of my eyebrows at him and fold my hands behind my back.

"What," I bite, "you know I'm right."

"No, no, Vice Admiral. I know you're right, but how? How did you know?"

"The sixth sense. Can we keep the ball rolling Lieutenant Commander? I don't have all day to stand around in this hallway while you gawk." I gently side step Burke and continue down the hallway. I hear him and Ender scuff around to try and follow me as I saunter towards the bridge.

†

After a few minutes of walking we arrive on the bridge, brightly lit with screens and datapads. All officers snap to attention when Burke, Ender, and I walk in. An officer leads Petra in through a different door, and Ender runs over and hugs her. I walk to the central chair, where Burke has situated himself. He pulls some scans from various sensors onto a datapad and hands it to me.

According to the data, the ships are made from an unknown metal, and are arranged differently than IF craft, which raised concern. I notice that the ship is emitting a frequency at 17 megahertz, which is the Intergalactic Senate peace frequency. I hand the datapad to Ender and Petra. They both quickly tap through the data, analyzing.

"Sir! They are requesting to speak with the captain!"

"Can we project an image on the forward battle screen?" I ask. That would put them far enough away that they would be able to see me.

"Well, yes, but what about the captain? He's in the brig!"

"Project the call on the screen," I command. "It'll be ok."

"So what're we gonna do?" Burke asks.

"Wing it," I answer as a large image of Ambassador Gloku replaces the sensor data and analyses that were on the forward screens.

∞∞

School is cancelled for an indeterminate amount of time. Probably until the rioting stops.

Yesterday the public voted that Earth should be United under one leader. Peter is currently on a flight to Geneva for political talks and the elections. Riots are breaking out internationally to dispute claims from different candidates, Peter included. His seem to have the most support, however some of his opponents have dedicated and vile people fighting for them. They're the people inciting all of the current violence. They're terrified that twenty year old Peter Wiggin will end up with the entire planet at his disposal.

The masses are already eating out of his slimy hands, so this amount of fear and anger directed at him seems futile. I hear a ringing sound from my desk and walk over to find a video call waiting for me.

It's Peter.

My stomach drops. I don't wanna talk right now. I force my hand toward the screen, toward the ignore icon.

I open the call.

"Hello Valentine," Peter chirps cheerily. He still appears to be on the plane, judging by his dimly lit surroundings.

"Hello," I reply curtly.

"What, no affection for your dearest brother, the one who will soon rule the planet?" I shrug.

"Just irritable. Cabin fever is starting to take its toll."

"Ah yes. Don't worry, I think we can end some of the rioting today."

"Fat chance. It's best to let angry people be angry."

"That may be true, but the mob mentality is beginning to take over even the people of good sense. Best to squash the rioting before people become completely unreasonable." I shrug again while I internally shudder at the thought of police at the riots.

"Any reason you called? It's unlike you to just want to say hello."

"I just wanted to check on you. It must be terrifying, I imagine, knowing that mobs could break into our house at any time for no reason other than that they simply wanted to."

"So you just wanted to check and make sure your pawn was still in fighting shape." Peter lets out a small chuckle.

"If that's how you want to spin it."

"Have you heard anything about Ender from the IF?"

"No."

"Good day then."

I shut the screen off before he can say anything else.