Chương 120: Nova Wars - Chapter 5^2x(2^2)

The gelatin was red and had a thick skin around it, but strangely enough Captain Devlintee found she enjoyed the taste and texture of it as she slowly ate her meal. There was some worry when she first started eating, how everything's taste started magnifying, but a call to the nurses assured her that it was perfectly normal since she hadn't used those taste buds before. Now she had finished her meal, a strange set of dishes, and was enjoying the rubbery strawberry jello.

She knew she was being watched by everyone with a pulse in the immediate vicinity of a full light year. After all, less than thirty hours ago, she had been killed. Died with the rest of her crew when her ship had exploded with all hands after a hellspace infused nCv barrage slammed home into her unprotected ship., Now, she was sitting up in bed, eating jello. Everything felt new again. She had spent a half hour just combing her fur with her blunt little claws, luxuriating in the feeling.

At the advice of the feline counselor who worked with "Respawns" after she had left the care of the canine in "Respawn Recovery" she had taken an actual water shower. The water had been hot, steamy, and poured down on her. She had stood beneath the water, feeling it hammer through her fur and massage her skin. It had felt amazing. The feline nurse, one 'Tabitha' or 'Tabbi' for short, had told her the euphoria would end in a few days, would slowly become normal and that it would be even better.

A day since she had respawned and she still felt grateful for her literal new lease on life. The fact she had not suffered nightmares was good. Apparently humans could suffer nightmares from traumatic death, but species like Hamaroosan had The Bliss, and it made it easier to do post-death trauma counseling. She had two or three more chances, but with each further one she'd suffer something called unraveling and twisting, which would affect her mind and her quality of life.

She honestly wondered what would come next. She tapped her spoon against the half square of jello that was left and smiled at the way the spoon bounced and the jello shivered. There was a knock at the door and she looked up in time to see Admiral (Upper Decks) of the Warsteel Sharnat, commanding officer of the Third Hamaroosan Expeditionary Force, enter her room with a few aides, two doctors, and a pair of nurses. It was startling just how large humans were.

It was more than their sheer physical bulk, it was like they were somehow larger than their physical bodies. Her eyes were drawn to them immediately, the way their eyes glanced over the entire room, taking in everything. Their stances made her feel like no matter what happened, the humans were prepared to deal with it quickly and efficiently. She understood why her ancestors had held the humans in such high esteem forty-thousand years ago. An aide got a chair for Admiral Sharnat, moving it next to Devlintee's bed.

One of them reached up and turned off the K'Lank Moo Moo Trail Rider Power Hour and Devlintee frowned. She liked the fast paced colorful cartoon and wanted to know if K'Lank would defeat T'Xh'x's evil plan. The Admiral stared at her for a long moment while she tapped her jello with the spoon.

"Captain?" Admiral Sharnat said softly. Captain Devlintee looked from her shivering jello to the Admiral.

"Yes, Admiral?" She loved how her voice sounded. Soft but with a hint of authority, melodious and rich.

"How are you feeling?" the Admiral asked.

"Good. I feel really good," Devlintee said. The Admiral nodded.

"That's good. I was slightly worried about how you might feel?"

"About having been dead?" Devlintee asked. The Admiral nodded again.

"Yes. Among other things." Devlintee bounced the spoon on the jello, watching the jello shiver.

"I was told that you were briefly a resident of what the Terrans call 'Hell' before you came back," the Admiral said. Devlintee shrugged.

"Not exactly. The big demon creature had me, but beyond the stench and the heat, I didn't notice anything too terrible. The demon wasn't frightening at the time, but now, thinking about it, it was a little disturbing." The Admiral sat silently for a moment.

"Did the demon say anything?" Devlintee shrugged.

"Kind of. It didn't make sense though."

"What did it say?"

"That I would cause a lot of excitement. Then it told me to have fun and then warned me not to choke on any male genitalia. Then the demon pushed me through the rip in reality and I woke up here," Devlintee said.

"No idea why it chose you to be first?" the Admiral asked. Devlintee shook her head.

"Just that I was 'good enough' and that was all it seemed to care about."

"Hmm," the Admiral looked thoughtful.

"The rest of my crew?" Devlintee asked.

"A few have Respawned. Roughly a hundred. Mostly the ones that died instantly," a Terran female, nearly a whole head shorter than the shortest male, said. Devlintee liked her voice, full of confidence, authority, and quiet competence and professionalism. It was a voice that commanded respect effortlessly.

"Traumatic Life Cessation Therapy is apparently where the rest are currently placed," a male Terran said. The timbre of his voice made Devlintee shiver pleasurably.

"What do you plan on doing once you're released from the hospital?" the Admiral asked. Devlintee thought about it.

"Resume command, if that's possible." The Admiral looked at the Terrans. Two of the males shrugged.

"Would you object to being sent back home? There might be people who want to speak with you?" the Admiral said.

"I would rather not be poked and prodded and I dislike the idea of abandoning my duty," Devlintee said. She shook her head.

"I feel fine, Admiral. They say the newness will wear off and I'll back to normal in a few days." The Admiral just nodded then stood up.

"Well, we'll leave you to your recovery," she said.

"As you were." The Admiral swept toward the door. Right as she went out Devlintee sat up. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Hey!" Devlintee snapped. Everyone turned to look. She pointed at the aide.

"Turn back on the Trivee. I want to finish the episode." The Terrans gave low rumbling chuckles as the Aide sheepishly went over and turned back on the trivee. Captain Devlintee smiled as she watched the bright cartoon and bounced her spoon on the jello. 0-0-0-0-0"I knew her before she got killed and I've never seen her like this. It's like she's regressed slightly into childhood," Admiral Sharnat said. She was sitting at a large oval table, her staff on either side of her, the Terrans on the other side.

The big human doctor, without his fearsome plague-mask, just nodded.

"That's to be expected. It's Respawn Euphoria. We'll figure out a way to crack it, but it's largely harmless."

"She didn't seem too interested in anything I was saying," Sharnat said. A Terran feline nodded.

"It's because everything is new. Even eating. The old neural pathways that used to handle that, which are largely well worn and/or blown out, as well as your equivalent of dopamine receptors, are all brand new tissue and neural strands. It takes a few days to calm down."

"That makes it hard to care about anything when even breathing is new and exciting," a Terran human said.

"Well, she represents a complete C+ cannon shot into Hamaroosan society," Sharnat said. She shook her head.

"Already JAG (Judge Advocate General) is trying to figure out her legal status."

"Why?" a Terran male asked. Sharnat had to admit, she had turned off the HUD ID bars. Just something about human names were unnerving. A combination of a vague threat along with a joke that she didn't get.

"Well, she's dead. And even my back right-hand cousin, whose possibly the Hamaroosan Star Conglomerate's worst lawyer, could argue that being dead means that not only is her service contract complete, but she's due her death benefits as well as her Military Service Benefit Awards," Admiral Sharnat said.

"We don't know if getting killed terminates her obligation to service or not." The Terrans all nodded slowly. One, who had a mouth full of sharp, triangular teeth and an auxilary processing wrap across her temples and the back of her head, tapped a long nailed finger on the table and spoke.

"If she is Confederate military, according to the Confederate Code of Uniform Military Justice, her term of service is not over. The guidelines and regulations are still there, and nowhere does it say just Terran Descent Human. It states 'any servicemember' which pretty plainly includes the Hamaroosan." While the bald headed female Terran was speaking black fluid had slowly stained her teeth.

While Hamaroosans had large black eyes themselves, something about the Terran woman's black glossy eyes unnerved Admiral Sharnat.

"Hamaroosan legal codes also have effect," Admiral Sharnat said.

"Not according to the Confederate Code of Uniform Military Justice, they do not," the female Terran countered.

"Hamaroosan inductees sign the same paperwork as everyone else, and in Section 844. C19f they have surrendered all other legal representation and rights, including the Confederacy's Fourteen Basic Rights, and have agreed to only be represented by the Code of Uniform Military Justice."

"That can't be right," one of Sharnat's aides protested. The female Terran flashed a smile of black fluid smeared sharp triangular teeth.

"It is correct. Killing of another sentient, sapient, or partially sentient being is illegal in almost all legal codes found outside the military, with the exceptions, possibly, for self-defense or by actors of the State. By enlisting in the Confederate Military Services, an inductee no longer is an individual person but rather an actor of the State, meaning that there is a distinct legal difference between murder and killing. You kill on the battlefield. You murder in the barracks. That puts it simply."

She steepled her long, pale, almost bloodless fingers with the clear fingernails with bluish nail beds.

"The Confederate Code of Uniform Justice protects a Military Services Member from the vagaries of varying governmental legal codes. It is why Confederate military bases are considered Confederate property and the Confederate Code of Uniform Military Justice is the law on post instead of local laws," the female Terran stated, her voice full of some kind of dark malicious glee that Admiral Sarnat wasn't sure about.

"There are worlds where the Confederacy has military bases where the mere act of handling a weapon is punishable by decades of imprisonment. If the Confederate military had to abide by such codes, every service member would be subject to immediate arrest." She sipped at some reddish drink, which stained her teeth dark red.

"I reviewed her inductee paperwork. She is a member of the Hamaroosan Conglomerate Armed Forces," Captain Shreveree, Admiral Sharnat's left hand second cousin stated.

"Then you needed to check further paperwork," the Terran female countered.

"Upon graduation of initial and skills training, she was assigned to vessels operating under the Confederacy of Aligned Systems flag, which means she then was transferred to the control of the Confederate Code of Military Justice." Her smile got wider, almost cruel.

"All of you, every Hamaroosan in this system, is actually under the purview of that same code, not the Hamaroosan Conglomerate Armed Forces Legal Codexes," she said. Admiral Sarnat blinked. She looked at Shreveree, who had the unfocused look of someone examining data on her datalink.

"This can't be right," Shreveree said softly.

"We lose our Basic Rights? The Right of Consent is limited by the CCMJ? That we can have things done to us or be commanded to do things against our consent?"

"You agreed to consent to all legal orders, commands, and actions when you were inducted into the service," the sharp toothed female Terran said. She looked at the ranking Terran officer.

"Although it is undiplomatic and perhaps I should say it in private, but the Hamaroosan and other species have a strange, almost childish understanding of the legal system that protects them." The general in charge of the meeting nodded.

"I blame their drill instructors." The female Terran nodded.

"A fine place to place the blame," she looked at Shreveree directly.

"How else do you order men and women to their deaths? How else do you order men and women into combat? Someone's consent is getting violated. Nobody wants to die, counselor. Even the Clone War Lyfe troops want to live as long as possible. Consent on the battlefield is extremely limited, and the Hamaroosan ideal of enthusiastic consent for every interaction cannot and should not be applied to warfare." Shreveree just blinked.

"When you order your troops into battle, be it on the ground, in space, or upon water, you are acting with their implied consent, just as your own commander is acting with your applied consent," the female Terran stated.

"Of course, one must always take into account that you are giving orders to heavily armed trained killers, thus the saying: never give an order you know will not be obeyed or cannot be obeyed," she folded her arms.

"It's basic leadership principles." Sharnat had to admit, she had never seen Shreveree completely speechless.

"While, perhaps, under your own civilian legal code, or by Hamaroosan military laws, the subject may be considered to have completed their term of enlistment once they have been killed and Respawned, under Confederate Law all contracts are still in force and according to the Confederate Code of Uniform Military Justice the subject of this discussion is still a serving member of Confederate Space Force." Sharnat rapped on the table with one knuckle.

"I believe that sets her legal status firmly. She's still a Captain, she's still under my command, and she still is a Confederate Space Force service member." The female Terran nodded, smiling cruelly at Shreveree.

"How long until she is able to take command?" Sharnat asked. One of the male Terrans, a canine, gave a shrug.

"Hard to tell. We haven't cracked Hamaroosan Respawn Euphoria, so we have to deal with that. We don't know how long it will last. Then she had knowledge and reflex testing. While a Terran Descent Human would return to command within an hour, we current predict that it may take up to two weeks." Sharnat nodded.

"That is more than acceptable."

"Shall we turn to the fabrication side?" a Terran male asked. Sharnat nodded.

"Right now the creation engines have the templates loaded to replace your losses. Rebuilding is going underway," the Terran tapped the table. Sharnat stared as it showed what looked like a light dreadnought being assembled in fast forward. The keel slid from a massive glowing iris, then it moved down a line with robotic arms and gantries rapidly assembling it from the core outward.

"So far, replacement component failure rates are in the low parts per trillion," the Terran said.

"As you can see, construction of a Terran cruiser class vessel is undergoing at the standard rate of one per six hours." Sharnat raised her eyebrow tufts and flicked her ears in shock.

"At current rate, your fleet should be completely reconstituted in sixteen days," the Terran said.

"It will need, of course, shakedown cruises to identify any mismanufactured or mis-installed components as well as make sure the crews are ready," he tapped the table.

"Right now, your biggest problem is manpower." Sharnat just nodded, staring.

"We're hoping that the return of your Captain means that the SUDS Respawn will allow you to crew the vessels with the former crewmembers before the shakedown cruises are over," the Terran said.

"Are you able to replace the weapons?" Admiral Sharnat asked.

"My briefing warned me that your weapons, armor, and shielding would possibly be obsolete." The Terran nodded.

"We have complete template scans of your weapons, drives, and other components. We were able to upgrade the Creation Engines with your new metallurgy and material sciences. We can outfit your ships exactly as they were." For some reason, Sharnat got the feeling she was being lied to. Not about the fact they could rebuild her ships right down the tool mark impressions on the bolts. Just... something about the word 'upgrade' made her feel like the Terran was lying.

"We appreciate that," Sharnat said. She looked around, then back at the Terran.

"Until I get orders, I'm holding in this system." The Terran just nodded.

"Let's figure out spheres of authority." 0-0-0-0-0 Sharnat sat in her cabin, staring at the wall. On it was projected a realtime visual of the two massive refit and repair vessels. They were capable of handling the repairs for a super-heavy colossus hull in drydock conditions. As she watched a light cruiser keel, what the Terrans considered a destroyer, was being pulled via tractor beam from the glowing red iris. She timed it.

Six point five minutes until the tugs took possession of the completed light cruiser and moved it to a parking berth on the outside of the repair vessel.

"A dreadful thing has been released upon the universe," she whispered to her dark stateroom.