Divine Intervention

Dad and I had been sitting in the Org's Phoenix waiting for the call or message or whatever from Marlin to come in for what felt like days. He looked so nice in his ceremonial armor, obsidian black with silver trim, mans looked so good! I was in my dockworker boots, cargos and a T-shirt because I just genuinely didn't care for formalities.

"You should have dressed more formal, Calliope. This is a meeting that could change your life, more than likely mine forever." Jorg says staring out the massive starboard side windows. I know I should take this more seriously but I'm the heiress to Anvil whether I want to be or not. And if Leonard...HE didn't want me to have it then it shouldn't have been left to me.

His bastard daughter.

"Jorg I promise you we're going to be okay. I have a name for me with the UEE, albeit not the greatest but I have a reputation." I say laying on the floor absorbing the warm sunlight through the roof window.

He sighs and sits at one of the seats around the meeting table.

"Please, for both of us take this seriously." He says gently, looking at his reflection in the table's glass. "I've got a lot invested in this myself, just...do not mess this up."

I sit up and look at him with shock. "Wait, you put cash into this?! Or did you find some sort of Tevarin investors?!"

He sighs again and rests his right cheek on his hand and looks at me disapprovingly.

"I have no financial investment, Calliope. And those I spoke to refused to pay as well, I was speaking more on faith invested in my own daughter, let alone humanity as a whole. As humans put it, do NOT fuck this up."

The way he said that made me feel like I was making a shit descision and it was too late to back out.

The door to section D, the snub bay opens up and I spring to my knees while drawing my trusty pink Coda from a holster under my shirt.

And out walks Marlin.

"Put it down or you'll vanish." She says with a smile. Dad stands up at the table and gives her a gentle bow while I de-cock the pistol and holster it back under my shirt.

"How did you get onboard and I hear nothing? No docking request, no call, nothing. HOW?!" I hiss and she just smiles from ear-to-ear.

"I can do all sorts of 'magical' things, observe." Marlin says before snapping her fingers, and all the windows fade to black then I feel the ship move.

"We're is the location invite? She was told she would recieve one." Jorg says utterly confused.

I feel a thump in the floor, and dad nods when I look at him.

"One..." I say as I focus on them while dad carries on.

"We knew you'd come up to orbit and wait, so we just decided to come to you and take you where we needed to be." Marlin says warmly.

Two...Three...Four...Five? The whole time I'm counting the thumps while she asks dad how he's been doing and what he's been up to.

No more thumps, the ship's movement feels calmer and now I'm thinking about where we could possibly be.

"Nyx, Tohil, Horus, Magnus, Weird loop for Hadrian, Kiel..." I mumble to myself trying to figure this all out.

"Two of those require us to move through Xi'an space, and we're not doing that. Stop trying to figure out where we are, you're never going to figure it out." She says confidently.

"You really brought me back to Tanga. US back to Tanga. What's your game here?" I say angrily as the memories flood back in.

She looks shocked AND pissed. I'm an okay combat pilot, excellent medic, but above all I am a divine navigator.

Don't test me, woman.

"Did you teach her this?" She growls at Jorg. He smiles and tells her 'no' while displaying the first instance of bird lying I have ever seen in my life. He's covered in feathers, his tell is hard to read.

"Anvil is based out of Terra, but I feel like taking you there would have defeated the purpose or been too on the nose." Marlin says still in a state of awe.

Thud.

"We landed, hard surface, metal and plenty of vibration through the floor so there's a lot happening outside with machinery?" I mumble once more. Jorg laughs out loud and Marlin looks nervous.

"Anything else you wanna point out?!"

"Yeah, four sets of feet, a small order of security to make sure we comply just got on my front elevator and exited my ship."

She says no more, turns and walks to the floor lift that leads to the cargo hold.

"You really should consider becoming a UEE specialist, you can bring your whole team." She says, almost sounds like begging.

We load up on the front lift to exit while she takes the longer route through the hold.

Dad and I touch ground and it's a warehouse! Walls almost a hundred feet tall, bright white lights, robotic arms placing parts and welding some...this looks like a manufacturing plant. Off in the distance I see Legionaires, Arrows and Retaliators being built, so we're definetely inside an Anvil plant.

We're led through the assembly line catwalks above, given the grand tour of place and seeing how ships are built. I know it's taboo to have an alien in here but dad could care less for this stuff. Anvil was instrumental during the wars so it would make sense that he'd be so uncaring about it.

"I didn't know Anvil had a manufacturing facility in Tanga, this is kinda odd." I say as I watch a canopy gets bolted on to a Gladiator bomber.

"They don't. YOU don't."

I have so many questions, but I said fuck it in my mind and I'll just ask later. Marlin ends the tour and we walk down a shitload of hallways that hum at the same frequency as capital engines, so my mind begins to wander. Again, fuck it. I'll ask later.

Marlin was running her mouth about something but I had tuned out because this place made me oddly aware of my surroundings. We round a corner and into what looks like a boardroom with a bunch of REALLY old guys and some younger ones sitting around.

At the head is nobody, which Marlin takes while dad and I stand there awkwardly. There don't seem to be any extra seats so in perfect unison we stand at ease, and some of the bigwigs nod approvingly.

"Let's cut through the fluff." Marlin starts. "I have Moira Arnold and her trainer from the Messer era here-"

"My name is Calliope, and Jorg is my father. Let's set that straight right here, right now." I growl and dad nudges me with his elbow.

"Stop, behave yourself!" He grits at me as quietly as he can.

The execs look around at each other and murmur amongst themselves, while Marlin looks furious. She goes on to explain my upbringing, the child soldier program, Tevarin POWs, everything and the execs look like they could care less.

"Let's just negotiate this thing. I'm tired, cranky, and wanna be back home on Terra." I say in a grumble while standing at rest. "Leonard left this company to me against his better judgement and my understanding is the UEE is open to buying out ninety percent, correct?"

The grinning, nodding and hand-wringing starts around the table.

"I've done some thinking, and I'm good with settling on selling you ships at a heavy discount, but we're going to switch to a mostly civilian market."

Jaws. Hit. The. Floor. Dad vibrates with a growl and the execs look ready to shit themselves. Marlin stands up and yells across the table at me.

"We had a deal! You offered to sell out in exchange for Tevarin migration!"

I smirk.

"No, I offered you a majority share of the company in exchange for Terran LAND and the Tevarin migration! You literally forgot the scope of the deal here!" I roar.

The exec's head swivel and stare right at Marlin.

A monitor at the back of the boardroom clicks on and it's a camera in my home boardroom of that entire exchange and my presenting the offer.

"HOW DID YOU GET THIS?!" Marlin shrieks in terror and the room is full of heat radiating from the old bastards and younger guys learning the ropes.

The video loops a particular part over and over:

"If you're serious about selling that much of the company to the UEE, let me know and I'll discuss it with the higher-ups."

"What about her proposition, Marlin? Would you even entertain her empty-headed idea of unity?"

"Just bring them here? That's it? You're making a wish with a genie so choose your words carefully."

"Bring them here, AFTER I get a Pioneer to build the settlement. After that I want the promise that the UEE will never interfere with their lives. Assist us when needed but never mandate who they are or what they do unless they try to hurt people."

"Thanks Ravi, that's enough." I say out loud. The entire room stands up and shuffles out the door, Marlin suddenly looks scared shitless while the monitor snaps off.

I turn to watch the old guys walk out and see a woman standing in a corner with her arms crossed, and my head starts to hurt.

"There will be no retaliation for this, and Marlin is hereby relieved of her duties once again. Please take your leave, I will be in touch about your proposition."

We step out the door and I hear a whimper before the door closes.

"Freyja, please don't do this to m-"

Click, the door seals.

"We need out of here now, and we need to talk." Dad says as we hustle back to the Phoenix.

We load up, fire the engines and fly out of a fucking massive floating manufacturing plant.

Didn't know Anvil did mobile manufacturing ops, but holy shit I'm actualy scared right now.