She shook her head, “Assuming I have kids.”

  Julie’s lips twitched, “Yes. We’re not going to make you or anything. But if you do choose that path, that’s the assumed future we see. If not, these new small ships will be the new standard, until the next time we grow as a race.”

  Julie shook her head, “I showed you this so you could relax, Ashley. This when it comes out, will calm our populace, no one will fear an existential crisis because of you. Harbinger, the Final Communion, and the Coalition will fear our fleet far more than they fear you as well. You simply won’t compute as a huge danger any longer, which was my point in bringing you here. Yes, some on the council approved of you being read in before it went public, as a way to put you in your place, but most don’t fear you already.

  “I didn’t mean to put even more on your shoulders. Don’t worry about the future, and have kids or not based on family values and what you want, not out of some grand destiny for humanity. We’ll get along just fine either way.”

  She nodded, “Will you be lowering the minimum requirements?”

  Julie shook her head, “No. With phasing out the Gibson drive in the near future, that is possible, but we already have enough mages, and the best tend to be the smartest. This new ship is just part of the equation, the fleet mage service also supports ground and marine action, so lowering the requirements would likely get people killed, because they’ll be less capable in other areas.”

  “That makes sense.”

  Julie nodded, “How do you feel about this?” she asked, as the intelligence officer took them back to Irilia, and then initiated a course back to the shuttle they left in a field in the middle of nowhere.

  “Umm, shock, good, worried, still processing. A little conflicted, and there’s the small matter of the other bomb you dropped on me, kids.”

  She shook her head, “Initially. Good because I feel a huge weight off my shoulders. Not just at being the only one capable of such things, or that my very existence might cause a panic in the populace and hurt the Union, but also because now I don’t have to worry that an expansionist element on the council might try to order me to lead an invasion.”

  Julie’s lips twitched, “I hoped so. It was never your fault, but now you can really let that stuff go.”

  “Worried, because while a mindless ship can’t go rogue, it also has no integrity or moral standards of its own. That depends entirely on the person in command of it, which is a good thing, I think. Until the uneven balance of power becomes too tempting, and the council orders an expansion by force. Or until Harbinger gets their hands on one.”

  She could’ve always told the council to go stuff itself, and resigned from the fleet mage service. A ship was a different story, all they’d need to do is find an ambitious captain. But it was the lesser of two dangers, and if that happened at least it’d be a government order, one elected by the people. That wouldn’t make it right, but a private citizen conquering the neighboring interstellar government would be far more alarming.

  Julie nodded, “As you said the other day, in a profoundly simple way. Humanity needs to grow or die, that is the question before us. Let the council worry about it, and just do your part. You’re still powerful, and ships or not I’d hate to see you go.”

  She said, “The new speeds will also open up peaceful expansion, when we can cross known human space in less than five minutes, it becomes very reasonable to search the stars for more M class planets around G type stars, or close enough to that to terraform. The human sphere could grow a hundred and forty-four times as large, before travel at such speeds would take a full day. There has to be many hundreds of worlds in an area that large.”

  Julie grinned, “That may have been discussed a time or two, yes.”

  “Thank you for showing me, but ask me how I feel about it in a week.”

  Julie asked, “Regrets?”

  She snorted, “Because I’m only one special snowflake among many now? No. Not even a little bit. Except maybe that you don’t need me to smash Harbinger any longer, I was really looking forward to getting that call.”

  Julie snickered, “I’ll see what I can do, but we do tend to send cadets in as a last resort.”

  She sighed faux mournfully.

  She shrugged, “But the important thing is they go down, I don’t need personal revenge. I can live with a ship doing it instead, when that fleet is found. So no more fighters, missiles, shield emitters, lasers… and only one tiny ship class, that’s going to take time getting used to.”

  Daniel said, “It is pretty amazing. By the time we graduate half of what we’re learning will be obsolete.”

  Julie said, “The current fleets will take about a decade to fully phase out. Operations will mostly be the same though. Just a few different systems.”

  She slapped her forehead, “I am so selfish. How about you, maam, how do you feel about it?”

  Julie looked at her suspiciously, “What do you mean?”

  Her lips twitched, “Well, maam. I know how you spooks like to be all sneaky and invisible, maam. No more scout ships.”

  Stacy giggled.

  Julie laughed, “Well, only when the enemy gets the technology up and running. Until then we still get to spy.”

  She tilted her head, “You know, now that I think of it, if done right a gravitation field could be created to cancel out a ship’s gravitational imprint in space time. It would be extremely complicated, microgravity fields inside the bulkheads and hull.”

  Julie shook her head, “If there was such a program, it would be classified.”

  She smirked, “Of course, maam.”

  Julia laughed, “Are you sure you’re not a spook, you always get more out of me than I get out of you. Not that I verified anything.”

  Ella interjected, “When is the announcement?”

  Julie said, “Unless there’s a leak, in about two months. A month before you come back from summer break, for your second year. That’s how long it takes to build a ship this small with no engines and a tiny reactor, and there’s sixteen in the first run, so we’ll be able to defend all of our stars simultaneously. Scouting for new planets to expand, in an open direction, will be done two months after that.”

  Crandall said, “The fleet will also save a mint without needing missiles, those things are expensive.”

  Julie nodded in agreement.

  Her pounding heart slowed as Crandall held her tight, their bodies recovering in the post haze of satisfaction.

  Crandall asked, “Do you think that ship could take you?”

  “Worried?”

  Crandall shrugged, “Not really, but I like my woman being indestructible.”

  She snickered, “It would at least be a fight, three or more would likely kill me fast. Of course, they can’t attack planetary bodies, so I could just stay on the ground and stick my tongue out at orbit.”

  She was fairly sure she could take one rather handily simply because it was more integrated, literally a part of her, but she’d be in real trouble against two, and three would finish her without a doubt. She wasn’t going to say that first part out loud though, because it would inevitably get back to the council, and they didn’t need to hear her saying that, even as pillow talk.

  Crandall nodded, “That makes sense, I don’t think they’d do it without good reason. I got the idea from Julie that they wanted the future with star sorceresses running about, and now that they can kill you, they ironically have no reason to unless you go crazy.”

  She said softly, “I hadn’t really thought about making babies before tonight. I mean, it was in the future, after the Harbingers were toast and I’d put in my time. I was thinking at the ten-year service mark, that I’d decide then, whether to pursue a family or stay in the service another ten years for full retirement. I’m still a teen for goodness sake, and I can’t be sure how I’ll feel when that time comes yet, but I think I do want children eventually. The idea of being a mother, the thing I’ve never had, is appealing to me.”

  He asked, “How many?”

  “Oh, two dozen ought to do it.”

  He gave her a look, and she giggled.

  She said, “Two or three, tops. I think. You?”

  He nodded, “It’s expected, to carry on the family line and all that, but I do for myself as well, but like you not anytime soon. I need to do my traditional ten years, then I have to get married, get involved in the family businesses. It’s all family tradition to serve a tour, but not as our lifetime career choice, which is usually politics, business, or both.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  He nodded, “I think so. I’m proud of my heritage and the kind of man my father is. If we don’t keep our hand in, then we could be replaced by one of the bad ones. That sounds arrogant, but it’s how I see it. It’s also why military service is a tradition in both my and Daniel’s families, it gives us perspective, discipline, and a respect for all the little people.”

  She giggled, because that last part had obviously been a joke.

  He winked, “Seriously though, it puts us in touch with the people depending on us, and who support us, and who we respect and won’t spend their lives frivolously on things that just aren’t needed. It keeps us honest, I suppose you could say.”

  She had a feeling the way he’d been raised had a lot to do with it too.

  “So I guess if we get our wish, I won’t ever be an admiral.”

  He smirked, “No, you won’t.”

  That confidence thrilled her in truth, the implied claim on her made her want to go again, but no way could she let it pass.

  “Getting a little cocky, mister?”

  He grinned, “You said if. Just confident, in you and us, as crazy as that is.”

  She bit her lip as he pulled her atop him, eager to show him just how much she felt the same way, and they didn’t speak again, until it was time for him to leave for his dorm and say good night.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The hot bubbling water felt good on her back, the steam slowly rising from the frothing surface of the hot tub. The enclosed air-conditioned glass pool house on the estate really made a lot more sense to her now, the summer was too darn hot on Irilia to truly enjoy being outside very long.

  The rest of the school year had passed without anything major happening, save perhaps their platoon had taken top platoon of the year, by a small margin as the competition was fierce. Her Solis score had been two twenty-five then, hardly the drain Daniel had feared she’d be at the beginning of the year, and it was two seventy-one that day, two months after their summer vacation started. It appeared that Cahill’s predictions on that were proving out, she’d be at her full capability as a mage by the time their first semester of second year ended.

  The drama among the cadets was fairly steady, and she’d grown used to the idea she’d be a lightning rod for disruptive opinion in her career. On the good side, Zane’s father had been indicted and convicted for fraud, and for reckless endangerment and a whole lot of other things for putting his psychotic son in a position to harm the fleet. She couldn’t be sure, but Julie thought his support in the fleet had melted away, there might be those out there that disliked her because of it, but none of them were going to stick their neck out to take a swing at her. She was far too visible and high profile.

  The last two months had been relaxing, and she was already ready for the new year to start, but they had another month to go.

  Not that she was going to complain. Save her workouts and daily magic practice, as well as an occasional spar with Ella and the boys, their days were pretty wide open to enjoy life, relax, eat out, and take in the city activities, shows, and clubs.

  It was just the four of them that day. Stacy was staying the summer there as well, but she was gone at least three days a week and sometimes a night or two, with Brent who was staying with family on Irilia that summer.

  The last year had seen a lot of change, and on the whole, she wouldn’t have traded it for anything. Her challenges different than the past, but she had a lover, close friends, and a large group of steady compatriots in arms. A large sense of accomplishment as well, and a poised acceptance of her chosen path in life, with integrity and ambition seen through empathy.

  The new ship, it was probably better that she hadn’t known about that project, or she may not have joined the mage fleet. Once those ships were running around, the Harbingers would be sunk. They certainly wouldn’t need her help to take them down anymore, but as she’d told Rebecca during the winter semester break, after the first semester that wasn’t the only reason that she was in fleet anymore.

  It was a worthy career, and a place to make a large difference and be a part of something bigger than herself. Where she’d met the people that stood at her side, and that had enriched her life in so many ways. It was also hard, in a satisfying way, between the workload and the danger.

  The new ships hadn’t just taken her purpose, they’d also removed her one true doubt. That she was a huge danger to her fellow cadets, all the assassination attempts and attacks, would also dry up. They’d still be afraid of her, but they’d fear the fleet’s new ships far more. That wasn’t to say she wouldn’t be vigilant about that, just in case, but she expected the constant attacks of last year would be at an end.

  The ships also took another worry off her plate that was separate from her career plans, she no longer feared being a divisive figure out in the Union that would lead to unrest, violence, and unreasoning fearful responses. Now that the ability to take her out existed, it would soothe a lot of fears.

  How those ships were used, and what they otherwise did, wasn’t her responsibility. So while she worried a bit about those possible dark paths, she had enough faith in the Union to hope they’d only expand along the current border curves of their third of the human sphere. Expand outward in an ever-widening galactic territory.

  It hadn’t been that long since Councilor Evans made the announcement of their breakthrough, spouting that the Union had never been better well protected from within or without, and that a massive growth period was about to take place as they expanded onto new worlds. A little over a week now, but the initial reaction did look promising.

  Crandall said, “You’re doing it again.”

  She giggled, “Deep thoughts.”

  Crandall nodded, “Not allowed on vacation.”

  She snorted, “It’s what I do, deal with it, or we won’t be doing anything involving deep.”

  He chuckled, “That’s playing dirty.”

  She winked.

  Daniel said, “My father’s about to make an announcement. Harbinger is done. or at least, their remnants will no doubt go to ground and go inactive for a long time.”

  She tilted her head, “The new ships found their fleet?”

  Daniel nodded, “Also cleared out three Harbinger bases and training facilities, in three different dead systems. At a light year a second, it didn’t take long for the first batch of ships to check the thousands of stars in our territory.”

  She bit her lip, “Good. They probably have q-ships left, but those will go inactive too.”

  Ella replied, “Probably, the fleet response to a piracy act will be faster than they can board a victim’s ship.”

  Crandall asked, “What about the other governments?”

  Daniel shrugged, “Nothing so far, they probably fear we’ll invade them, but they’re not in a position to do anything until they regain parity.”

  The news really didn’t bother her. She’d found herself, and she belonged at the academy, with her friends and lover. The harbingers were gone or at least gone quiet, but it was a chaotic time of change, all that chaotic whirlwind that surrounded her was a presage to this new age of humanity, and she’d be at the center of it in the fleet mage service.

  There was no question where she wanted to be, or where her loyalty lay.

  Afterword:

  I hope you enjoyed this story, if you did please leave a review. Reviews are the lifeblood of independent authors, and I would greatly appreciate any constructive feedback or opinions.

  This was the second book of the Star Sorceress series.

  About the Author: If you have any comments or suggestions you can send me an email at dlharrisonauthor@gmail.com If you like my work, or even if you don’t, please consider leaving a review of this book. I can also be found at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7456808.D_L_Harrison

  Other books by D. L. Harrison:

  http://www.amazon.com/author/dlharrison

  The Formerly Dark Mage, by D. L. Harrison – This stand-alone fantasy book follows the life of Silvia and takes place in a world unique and separate to our own.

  Silvia is a dark mage. Unfortunately, she finds herself about to be sacrificed. Someone must have told her evil master about her plans to kill him and take over. After that, things just seem to go downhill. She has no choice but to escape the kingdom of Zual, something that to her knowledge has never been done before. She will need to deal with many issues she never had to face before.

  Among those issues, the white mages, and her conscience.

  The Rise of a Dark Mage - This stand-alone fantasy book follows the life of Cassandra, it takes place in the same world as The Formerly Dark Mage, but happens three hundred years later, long after Silvia is gone and some shocking changes have taken place in the world.

  Cassandra is a dark mage in the kingdom of Zual, she’s also a mage prodigy.

  She hates both her kingdom, and her master. She wants him dead, not to take his place, but so she can leave and explore the world. Her ambition will drive her to rediscover the secrets of the strongest of magic.

  She is determined to succeed, or she’ll die trying.

  Celia Winters Novel Series

  Witch’s Moon: A Celia Winters Novel Book 1