[Book Four] Chapter 8: Taking charge with new energy

Chapter 8: Taking charge with new energy

It has been nearly a year now that Rick had given his project to the council and there were some problems. The new human parliament was blocking its greenlighting. Because the idea was from a Human they believed they had more right than the others species in decisional matters and were owning the school, and their entitlement was creating conflict with all the other races. Something that Rick didn’t want at any cost and that went against the purpose of the school.
Those idiots clearly didn’t know that Rick didn’t care one bit about being human and had absolutely no agenda about ‘humanity first’. He thought about just eliminating them all but got denied by everyone in his entourage. Reluctantly, Rick fell back on his contingency plan. Since the council was not making a decision, he received no funds from them which meant that so far the school was going to be a private one belonging to him. That wasn’t a bad thing in itself but that defeated the purpose of the species working closely together. Now he would have to bypass everyone, legally of course, and hold the reins of the future of the galaxy. It was some huge responsibility that he didn’t want to have to shoulder, both morally and financially.

Thankfully, David and EDI had worked wonders and a week before, the first test of the new RED energy generator was successful. That has not been an easy thing to do. They needed to find a system devoid of life and remotely, from another system, activate the generator since the thing could potentially destroy half of one.

Currently, Rick was on his way with Jane to see their mother who was still the councilor at Hackett demands. She wanted nothing more than to retire but the idiots of the parliament would have put forward one of them as a replacement and nobody wanted that. Being a hero, the mother of one and doing a very good job, Hannah’s popularity was very high so the parliament couldn’t vote to dismiss her without appearing like loonies or greedy assholes. That’s why in the end she kept the job.
After passing the security, they reached their mother’s office and found she wasn’t alone. Hackett and Anderson were also there.

“Hello.” Jane said, walking in first followed by her brother.
“Commander, Wald.” Hackett greeted back.

Anderson simply nodded and Hannah hugged her two children though she did not let go easily of her son. Their relationship so far has been improving steadily thanks in part to Hannah taking care of the children with him but there was still a lot of work to do.

“We’re not interrupting anything, are we?” asked the young mother.
“Just a conversation about the parliament.” Hackett replied.
“They bicker like children when they’re not making unreasonable demands.” explained Anderson.
“Nuke them and no more problems. However, I've been told it’s wrong.”

“Every night, I dream of it, son.”
“... That’s fucked up.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you were in my place.”
“If I were in your place… Yes, no, let’s not go there.”
“And now, I’m the one who will have nightmares.” Joked Steven.
“In any case, we can’t, of course, do that even if it’s tempting I admit.”
“What did they do this time?” Jane asked.
“They’re saying that since the Citadel was destroyed in Earth’s orbit it should stay there once it is rebuilt.” announced Anderson.
“... Yes, let’s nuke those morons.”
“Finally! You see things my way. About time Jane!”
“Is their objective to fight with all the other species? Because that’s what will happen.”
“I would say possibly but they don’t have the intellect to go that far.” her brother replied.
“I can’t disagree with that. Anyway… what’s with the impromptu visit?” their mother asked.
“I came to talk about my school project among other things. Any development?”
“Not in the least.” replied Hannah.
“The parliament is adamant that since it’s a human project it should be led by humanity. Of course everyone else disagrees and things have stalled.” Anderson explained.
“What about the other species? Are they causing trouble?”
“Yes, but nothing that can’t be negotiated. Mainly, they want a certain quota of their respective people participating in the project, either in the staff or as students.” Hacketet said.
“That can be negotiated, yes. It defeats the merit based enrollment in the school a bit but as long as I can veto anyone it’s fine.”
“Veto?” the Fleet admiral asked, puzzled.
“It’s my school.”
“But funded by the council, they have control of it.” Anderson said.
“Except I never received a single credit for its construction. So far I financed it all myself.”
“What do you mean?” inquired Hannah.

Flaring his omnitool Rick displayed the current state of the school.

“I mean that three quarters of the school is already done. Meaning, it belongs to me since I paid for it, meaning the council and more specifically the human parliament can go fuck themselves. It’s a private school now and while I’m ready to negotiate for some support from the different governments and the council it would be an act of generosity from me, nothing more. I don’t need them.”

The jaws of the three Admirals dropped at what they saw and what they heard.

“You’re going over everyone! And they can’t do a thing about it because it’s legal!” Hannah finally spoke and laughed at that.
“It’s more than that. You’re taking control and forcing everyone’s hands.” said Hackett in realization.
“If they’re not capable of using the power they have responsibly I would let them have no choice but to make them use it the way I want. Either they get on the train or are left behind. How many species do you think will choose the latter option?”
“Not many, especially since you already have some of them who wouldn’t care. The Krogans and Asari, coming to mind first.” said Anderson.
“The volus too. It’s an incredible opportunity for them to make money and invest in people, I don’t see them not participating. It’s possible but unlikely. I’m sure the quarians will participate. They have a lot to prove now that they are back on the Galactic stage.”
“They could always try to remove you or destroy the school.” said Hannah.
“The school is being built in a secret location so I doubt they could destroy it now. Once operational no Military in the galaxy could make a scratch on it.”

At that moment, he showed the specs of the school itself.

“It’s the size of a small town, how will you protect it?” asked Anderson.
“First thing first, it’s mobile.” Rick said and showed the bottom of the school where immense propulsors could be seen.
“It flies?!” exclaimed Jane. “You never told me that!”
“I wanted to surprise you.” her brother replied in a content tone.
“How? The amount of eezo needed for that would be astronomical. The financial cost would cripple you. I know you’re rich, I don’t know exactly how much but no one person in the galaxy would be able to afford that in the long term.” inquired Hackett
“That’s correct. That’s why we’re not using an eezo core reactor to power it up.”
“... You created a new source of energy.” stated Anderson in awe. He knew Rick well by now that’s why it was a statement and not a question.
“Not me. Or at least not alone. Once I presented my energy problem to David Archer, he shared with me his work; harnessing the energy of the big bang…”
“That’s impossible!” exclaimed Hackett.
“You’re right but it was more recreating it on a very very very small scale. I added some ideas on how it would be possible, EDI and David worked on the numbers and Tali worked on the design based on the school blueprints. In the end we came up with this. I barely did anything in truth.”

The image displayed changed from the school to an object of cylindrical shape.

“That’s an odd shape for a reactor.” said Hannah.
“That’s because it’s easier to push into and pull from the main frame and also to transport.”
“What do you mean?”
“That's the new reactor that you're seeing in 1:1 size. Its length is 28 cm and its width is 12cm.” Rick replied with a smirk hidden by his helmet. The smugness in his voice wasn’t missed though.
““““WHAT?!””””
“You heard me. It’s small enough that you could put it in a bag and walk around with it.”
“That small thing has enough power to lift that big city?!” Jane asked.
“No. It has a thousand times the power to lift it.”
“How?!” Hackett asked.
“Can’t really share that with you. You’re working for the alliance after all and I need the monopoly of that thing but! What I can tell you is that It’s complicated to make and not without great risk. One mistake and it’s half a system that disappears so the method of creation can’t be made public or some assholes will cause trouble.”
“My God.” exclaimed Anderson.
“That’s why I’m not ready to share the technology yet. I don’t trust the people in charge to use it responsibly among other things. Anyway I digressed, the point I was trying to make is that it can generate so much power that no weapon could go through the school shields powered up by it. So the school is not going to be destroyed any time soon. At least not from the outside. The best part? There is no radiation emission, it’s completely safe.”
“The parliament will definitely want that technology. So will other species.” said Hackett.
“Too bad it’s private and if they think about using force well… I let you imagine what a GR-Cannon installed on the school and powered up by this could do.”
“You wouldn’t…”
“No Jane, I wouldn’t. I’m working hard for peace, putting a GR-Cannon or any kind of weapons on it would go against that. I don’t want to be the one responsible for the creation of the successor of the atomic bomb. Impact wise on the world I mean.”

His answer prompted everyone to sigh in relief. Theoretically with that much fire power he could take control of the galaxy by force and no one could stop him and that simple thought scared them a lot.

“How will you go forward with this?” Hannah asked.
“Once the construction of the school is done I’ll pass the word to the council and ambassadors to tell them that I’m going forward with them or without them. It will be difficult at first as I don’t have as many teachers or teachers prospects as I want but I still have the list of the people who were part of Project Safeguard. I’m sure many will be interested. So as I said earlier, they either get on the train or are left behind. The governments can sponsor the school and have some advantage like some particular students being enrolled or a specific subject thought or have privilege over a student like recruiting him before I do. You know, things like that. Just so you know it’s first come first serve and how helpful the government has been to the project will determine lots of things. So far, Humanity is not in the best place on the rankings.”
“How long before it’s operational?” Anderson questioned;
“For the complex itself? Two to three months. Furbishing it? Three more.”
“You really did it in two years.” Jane said in amazement.
“Of course. Did you expect any less from me?”
“No, I just can’t get used to you always doing the unthinkable.” she replied with a smile.
“I suppose your life will never be boring then. Now on an unrelated note, I have other results to share.”
“Are they as shocking? Because your new energy source almost gave me a stroke and I’m not sure my heart can take it.” said Hackett.
“No, not at all. It’s about old projects. The catsuit is finally complete. It still needs to be tailored for women but that’s a detail that someone else can work on. I also upgraded the camo armor with a headgear that has the same abilities however it offers no protection whatsoever.”

Once again he replaced the image on his omni-tool with another one. This time it displayed a hood completely recovering the face and neck of anyone using it.

“The problem with it is that I couldn't put the specificities of the helmet in it. So I had to create a special eye patch to add to it. The features are not as numerous as the helmet but for someone in recon it’s enough. Thermal and night vision, a zoom, a scan and target tracking.”

This time he displayed his new invention alongside the hood.

“That’s great news!” exclaimed Hackett looking at the specs. “Do you have any prototypes?”

Putting his hand inside his coat he retrieved a hood and an eyepatch and carefully handed them to the Admiral. For the first time, Steven could test things himself and didn’t waste a second before putting the hood first then the eye patch.

“It’s still visually responsive. That must be the scan… Yes it is. Huh, it even displays the weight of a person. I didn’t know that.” He said as he was looking at Hannah who frowned at the possible implication. Understanding that he may have walked on a mine he quickly went against the nearest wall and leaned against it to test the camo effect.

“How is it?”
“Perfect.” Anderson answered.
“Well not with the eyepatch but otherwise, yes.” added Jane.
“I’m used to my helmet so I can’t really tell but do you have trouble breathing or do you feel constricted?”
“Not at all. I do feel like something thick is engulfing my head but that’s not really a bother.”
“I’m trying to put an air filter for it but so far I haven't had any success and I’m sure you’ve noticed but you can’t go to hazardous places with it. Putting a mask over your mouth will be necessary.”
“A minor inconvenience. The prospect of armor like that largely outweighs it.” the admiral said as he removed both accessories from his head. “Anything else?”
“One thing. The new thermal clip”
“I thought Tali finished it during the war but we didn’t have time to produce it.” Jane said.
“Yes and no. She did finished it but I was not satisfied with the result so we went back to it.”
“What was the problem?”
“The time for the clip to change for the other was too long. She’s still working on the prototype for the sniper rifle and SMG. it won’t be long before she sends me everything. Before the end of the month, I suppose. She’s rather busy at the moment.”

And with nothing else to talk about Rick and Jane left but not before the latter reminded Hannah and Anderson that tonight was family dinner. Once the three Admirals were alone, Steven spoke up.

“Humanity is doomed.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” replied Anderson.
“Then we mustn't have seen the same thing, then. He has a spaceship the size of a small town and can obliterate anyone with it.”
“You know he won’t do that.”
“I know but he may if someone gives him a reason.”
“The parliament?” Hannah questioned.
“Mainly.”
“Hmm… maybe we can make a discredit campaign?” proposed Anderson.
“Putting the delay on their heads and making them look bad in front of the whole Galaxy? Risky.” ventured Hannah.
“Yes, we can counter it with you and your daughter making a proclamation that you’re supporting the project but that they don’t because it’s not in their best personal interest while showing that the other species are ready to work without humanity.”
“After all the trouble we went through to have a place on the galaxy scene, I don’t see the people staying quiet about it. That could work.” said Hackett.
“If we play it well only their image would be tarnished or at the very least humanity’s image wouldn’t take that big of a hit.” Anderson listed the potential consequences.
“We can also threaten them first behind the scenes. They could be…  intimidated and understand that it’s in their best interest to let go of their stupid ideas.” Hannah proposed.
“I won’t hold any hope of that happening. But it cost nothing to try.”
“The hell it is! Some of those assholes may attack my children and grandchildren!”
““...””
“Yeah, they would fail and would be in deeper shit. Rick will not show mercy and make them wish they were dead.” sighed the redhead.
“Which may be a better outcome.” said Anderson.
“We don’t need to make a decision now. We have six months for that, so let’s take our time to think things through.”

At Hackett words Hannah and Anderson nodded in agreement.

____________________________________________________________

When they came home for lunch they found both Dorothea and EDI taking care of the children. All three of them. Sandra Orianna Andersson was born six months earlier in June from Miranda and was currently sleeping alongside Adam in their cribs. Arianna was building a tower with some blocks with her trusty ‘Mandy’ by her side. When she heard the elevator of the penthouse open and her parents saying they were home, she stopped what she was doing, picked up her plushy then stood on her little legs before running towards the entrance.

“Daddy! Mommy!” she shouted in joy.

Rick bent down to scooped her up in his arms and spinned, making her laugh.

“Oh, baby. Daddy and Mommy missed you so much!” he said, kissing her face everywhere.
“Me too!”
“Mommy wants a hug too!” Jane said extending her harms and Rick gave her their daughter.

Immediately Arianna was gently squeezed against Jane’s chest and received another kiss and some pats on the head.

“Did you behave while we were gone?” she asked her daughter.
“Hmm.” answer the baby redhead.
“Is that a yes or a no?” asked Rick who wanted her to get used to speaking more.
“Yes.” replied Arianna as she wiggled around in her mothers arms to face her father.
“We’re proud of you.”
“What did you do while we were away?” Jane asked.
“Draw! And played blocks.”
“That’s amazing! Can we see?”
“Yes. After eat.”
“After eating, baby.” Rick corrected.
“After eating.” she repeated and got a nod and a smile from her father.
“Did Dorothea tell you that?” questioned Jane.
“Hmm, yes.”
“Lead the way?” asked Rick.
“L-lead?”
“It means showing the way to others.” he explained.
“I can!” she replied with confidence and moved her legs in the air.

Arianna was put on the floor and without wasting time ran towards the living room, her parents looking at her going in silence. When she heard a strangled sob, Jane’s head turned in a flash to look at her brother. Crying brother. Immediately she embraced him to offer comfort.

“What's wrong?” she whispered in worry.
“It’s nothing.”
“Rick, you’re crying. The last time I saw you do that you were eight.”
“It’s stupid, you don’t need…”
“Rick.” she said firmly but not without kindness as she grabbed his head with her two hands and made him look down at her.
“I just… I thought about Samara…”
“Oh, Rick… You wondered if she would have been like that?” she asked and Rick simply nodded with his eyes closed.
“I’m sorry… I just had a flash and…”
“There is nothing for you to be sorry about.”
“I feel bad because… It still hurts so much but… I’m happy and it feels so… wrong.”
“It’s not. There is nothing wrong with you being happy. If anything she would want you to be happy. And she’s with Analysse and her grandparents, she’s not alone. I’m sure she’s happy too with them but quite sad that her father feels that way.”
“... You’re right and… If she’s anything like her mother, she’d tell me to suck it up.” he said letting out an amused breath.
“Come on, let’s get you some rest.”
“No, I’m fine and we’re about to have lunch.” he said as he wiped his tears with his hands.
“Are you…”
“Daddy?”

Arianna’s voice came from behind them. Turning around, Jane saw their daughter’s worried face looking at them. She had come back when she saw that they were not following her.

“I’m sorry, Daddy is being silly.” Rick said.
“Wrong?”
“Daddy thought that Mommy didn’t want Daddy to have dessert.” he joked with a small smile. However, to Arianna who was two years old, the joke went over her head and she gasped in horror.
“No! Mommy!” she shouted and ran towards Jane's legs, the hand nor holding ‘Mandy’ gripping her mother’s pants and pulled in protest.
“I was joking, sweetie. I would never do that to Daddy.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.” Jane answered with a bright smile.

Arianna looked at her with her bright blue eyes for a moment, then nodded before running away again.

“Crisis avoided.” Jane sighed and took her brother by the hand, leading him to the living room.

____________________________________________________________

Lunch went well, though Dorothea noticed Rick’s red eyes but didn’t comment on it. Jane spent time playing with Arianna. It was mainly her pointing at objects and her daughter answering what it was to increase her vocabulary. For the words the objects she already knew she asked what their purpose was. So far the little redhead had a perfect score to her mother’s pride and a bit of astonishment. Jane was also a bit worried, Rick had told her that he believed that their Arianna was effectively like him, a genius, based on some behavior she had. At first she thought otherwise, her daughter had not begun to talk or walk earlier than average but Dorothea and Rick told her that children go at their own pace and that how early they can do something wasn’t a good indicator to determine how smart they were. But as days passed Jane noticed that Arianna was very perceptive and understood easily and quickly some things and concepts, applying them immediately, giving credit to Rick’s thoughts. She didn’t want her daughter to experience the cons of being a genius that Rick was now accustomed to. There was time however to think about planning Arianna’s future, she was not even two yet.

With no current project to work on, Rick simply skimmed through the list of the members of Project Safeguard with EDI to find the appropriate people for this school. Every thirty minutes or so he would take a break and check on his children or when Adam would wail for a reason or another. Sandra had so far been the quietest of the three and the most well behaved, as much as a few months old baby could behave. She would not hesitate however to ‘innocently’ kick her older brother when he was just crying for nothing, Rick had discovered. So far he was enjoying his new life though sometimes like earlier he felt he shouldn’t. It was actually the first time he had broken down like that out of the blue. He didn’t know why, but seeing Arianna running away happily made her think of Samara. He didn’t even bother to find out how that could have happened as he knew that it would only aggravate him more.

The afternoon quickly passed and evening settled. Anderson and Hannah for once were the first to arrive, deciding to leave the office at a normal time.

“After what you showed us this morning, we thought that leaving early to get some rest would be good.” his mother said.
“We’re going to need it. Tomorrow we’re speaking with the Parliament in an emergency meeting.” Anderson explained.

They shared the plan they had come up with and Rick nodded in understanding, commenting here and there on the possibilities and ramifications each action could lead to. However they didn’t talk too much as Kahlee, Miranda and Jennifer came in. The ravenette quickly greeted everyone in passing only as she went straight to her daughter.

“She’s even more gaga with Sandra than I was with Arianna.” Rick said looking at the mother-daughter pair.
““““Was?””””
“Oh, shut up.” he replied at their mockery. It wasn’t a secret that he was completely smitten with Arianna.

He picked up Adam and regretted that Ashley wasn’t here. After her maternity leave was over she went back to work. She had been assigned to lead some Alliance forces on a human colony and keep the peace while aiding the rebuilding effort. It’s been two months now that he hadn’t seen her in person and he was missing her badly. They talked every few days via long distance transmission for the both of them but also to make sure Adam would not forget his mother and know that she loved him. So far he never failed to recognize her and always cried when it was time for her to go back to work or to go to sleep.

Dinner went well and as usual they talked about everything and nothing for a while before it was bedtime for the children. Arianna had her own room now while Adam and Sandra slept in his until they were big enough. The latter only did so on occasion like this one just to give Jennifer and Miranda a free night to focus on themselves. Though Kahlee was trying to get custody of the three of them as she believed that she wasn’t spending enough time with her nieces and nephew. Jane and Jennifer were easy to convince but Miranda and Rick were a whole other matter, especially Miranda. She was already giving away one night because Rick was her father but more was apparently too much for her.

When Kahlee had lamented about the alliance still not having a replacement solution for the destroyed Grissom Academy, Anderson proposed to have her work for Rick in his school.

“I’ve been trying to recruit her ever since I told her about it but she doesn’t want to.” Rick huffed in discontent.
“You never told me that.” said his brother-in-law.
“It never really crossed my mind, I was more preoccupied with helping the students with continuing their education but nothing is being done.”
“That’s probably because of my school. The parliament may not want to invest into two. And considering what mine brings on the table, they are more interested in it.”
“No offense but Grissom Academy was the pinnacle of education, I don’t think that the small school you’re opening could compare.” replied Kahlee, getting a bewildered look from her husband, an unamused look from her brother and a snort from Jane and Hannah. She noticed that she may have said something wrong.

Rick displayed his omnit-tool and showed her what he had shown the three Admirals and Jane in the morning. Kahlee was completely amazed by his school and after a moment of silence to get her bearing made an outrageous statement.

“When do I begin?”
“Oh, now you want to be part of it… Sure…” Rick replied petulantly.
“I didn’t know that you were thinking about something that big! I thought you were talking about a small elite school not… An entire town!”
“You do know it’s not Alliance affiliated, right?”
“It’s fine. What matters is the education the children receive.”
“I guess I found my headmistress then. You got yourself a deal.”
“Headmistress?!”
“Yeah, I’m not giving that job to someone I don’t know and don’t trust. The only other person viable for the position is Miranda but I’d like her better to work directly under me as my VP.”
“Of course you do.” Jennifer said with a knowing grin.
“Not what I meant.” he replied with a wink indicating that it was also what he meant. “You’d be basically in charge of everything, Kahlee. With two exceptions. One is the budget, that’s my part since well, it’s my school and my money. You want to make expenses? It goes through me for approval. Second is the highest levels of each area. It’s reserved for my company.”
“You didn’t speak about that this morning.” Hannah said.
“The idea had not come to mind yet at the time.”
“That would help you greatly to recruit the students if they could see what your company does. It would also make everyone understand that it’s a private school and that you are in control. You’re turning down the Parliament several more pegs.” explain Anderson aloud.
“I am. I really don’t want those idiots having a say in what’s going on within my school. Not after showing how greedy and untrustworthy they are. Though it’s more to have my family close to me than anything.”

Dinner continued for a bit until everyone left. After Rick checked on Arianna, he went back to his bedroom and checked on Adam and Sandra before finally joining Jane in bed, snuggling into her.

“Thank you.”
“What for?”
“For giving me Arianna. For making me happy.”
“You gave me Arianna you idiot, I can’t take credit for her. I do take credit for making you happy.”
“What about you?”
“I’m very happy.” she said and leaned her head forward to kiss him on the lips.
“Are you sure? There are not many bullets and explosions in your life now and you’re not roaming the galaxy anymore.”
“I admit, I miss it a bit but that’s alright.”
“I could hire you as a military instructor?  I didn’t create any course related to that but it would be easy and the school is big enough to have the proper space for training the students.”
“Hmm… When Arianna is a bit older? Until we can put her in pre-school at least.”
“Alright.”
“What are you going to do now? Most of your projects have been completed or are about to be.”
“Movies.”
“Movies? You would spend your time watching movies? I don’t think Miranda will agree with that.”
“Why would I need her agreement? She's my VP, not my boss.”
“Come on, we both know that she’s the real boss of the company for most things which include your schedule.”
“Alright you got a point but that’s irrelevant, I wasn’t talking about watching but making them.”
“Making?”
“Yes. It would be about our… adventures. I’ve the whole script for three movies but I think I’ll just make a series. I need to speak with the whole crew and the council to have their perspective of things and not just my own but the core of the story is there.”
“You’re going to make a whole series about us?” she asked for confirmation.
“Yes. To show how you got everyone working together and how that’s the best solution for everyone.”
“... You’re crazy.”
“I know but I think it’s important to have an accurate description of the most important events that have happened since the Galaxy came to be.”
“Well, good luck.”
“You do know that you will have to participate too, right?”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Unless you want to play your own role, you will have to spend time discussing with the actress playing you, she could become you.”
“Oh God…” Jane said horrified.
“It won’t be that bad, I promise.”
“... Alright, I’m trusting you on that.”

Exchanging one last kiss, they both went to sleep spooning .

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