Sydney Chambers: Military Attaché: The Confederacy

By B. T. Jaybush

After defeating the pirates infesting 16 Cygni, Sydney Chambers sets out on her career as Military Attaché ... which, under Confederate law, makes her the highest-ranking official in the system. Her first priority is the repair of her ship the Cahan Morrigan, of course, which is handled in the main by Arega Heavy Industries (AHI), Cygni's local spacedock. While in dock Sydney officiates at the wedding of Chloe O'Shaughnassey and Krista Sperry, both of whom she had rescued from pirates. She then expends effort to persuade her parents and her brother to relocate to the 16 Cygni system, for their own good and that of Cygni. Cygni has applied for full membership in the Confederacy, but it is a time at which the future of the Confederacy itself is in doubt. Governmental rot is quite apparent to those in the know, such as Sydney, and she wants her loved ones close in case things fall apart. Meanwhile, the rot in the Confederate government catches up with Sydney and finds Congress replacing her as Military Attaché, which replacement she doesn't mind at all ...except that her replacement is a clownish-looking fop from Frontier Fleet, an organization at the core of Confederate governmental rot ...

• Language: English
• Publisher: B. T. Jaybush
• Release date: Dec 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393309383

B. T. Jaybush

B. T. Jaybush is the pen name of Brian and Timothy Jaybush, a father and son team specializing in Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Paranormal worlds. Winners: 2008 Zirdland.com Novel Writing Contest (“Relics”) Finalists: 2010 Santa Fe Screenplay Contest (“Outpost Station,” the screenplay version of “Sydney Chambers: Captain”) On the web at: www.BTJaybush.com Brian Jaybush cut his teeth by reading Asimov's I, Robot at age 10 and progressing insatiably from there. He has been writing all his life, starting as a journalist in junior high school and continuing with legal and technical writing and a 30 year career in the telecommunications industry. BA History, 1975; Juris Doctor, 1978. Timothy Jaybush also began reading and writing science fiction at an early age, leading to an uncanny ability to construct unexpected and entertaining story lines. In addition to working full-time, Tim graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Philosophy.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Sydney Chambers sat back in her desk chair and stretched mightily, then glanced at a clock on the bulkhead opposite her.

Ms. Frye, she called out to her aide who was working in an outer office, we’re shutting down in five. I’ve had enough of paperwork for one day. I have to get ready.

Camilla Cami Frye, that aide — who normally time-shared her services between Sydney and Outpost Station Managing Director Walter Rudolph, her legal guardian and foster father, when they were aboard Outpost Station — stepped into the Arega Heavy Industries office that Sydney had co-opted during Morrigan’s repairs. She hesitated just inside the door, looking sheepish. Cami was formally a lieutenant in the Outpost Station Security organization and was normally satisfied with that position, but she had been happy to respond to a request from Sydney to become the military attaché’s aide. She had recently made her way to Arega to assist Sydney during repairs to Cahan Morrigan. Sydney had seen the potential Cami carried the moment they had met, when Morrigan had first arrived at Outpost Station, and had in the interim made her an unofficial aide ... turning the aide status into adjutant and militia liaison, even before Sydney had formally undertaken the job of military attaché. Cami had taken all these things in stride as much as could anyone who was only eighteen years of age, and performed them all to the best of her ability ... which was saying a lot.

Wow, her boss muttered and added an appreciative whistle. Dress whites? What’s the occasion?

Chloe and Krista’s wedding, Cami answered.

Sydney nodded, though a look of puzzlement clung to her features. You’re going?

Have to, her young adjutant told her, suddenly fidgeting. I’m in Krista’s coterie.

Sydney nodded, more knowingly this time. Ah. That explains the dress whites, then.

Cami stopped twitching and looked suddenly eager. Yes, Ma’am, she enthused. It was either these or a bridesmaid gown and the ones Krista picked are ... well, they’re not of a style that I can handle.

She didn’t have a whole lot of time to pick, Sydney said soothingly, given the schedule.

"But they’re just hideous," Cami wailed.

Seriously, Sydney returned with a frown. "That bad? Aren’t bridesmaid gowns supposed to be hideous? You know, so the bride looks better."

Well, yes, but Ma’am, they’re that bad, Cami said forcefully. "They’re yellow and frilly and ... urk! Besides, I always feel more at home in a uniform, no matter what. I haven’t worn a gown — or any kind of dress — in ages! I mean, her gown is traditional and elegant and it’s ... ah, apparently it’s a family heirloom, which isn’t easy to manage on Big Muddy. I have a lot of respect for her mother for pulling that off."

I see, Sydney returned knowingly, and I do understand. That said, Ms. Frye, I had better get going and into my own dress whites. After all, they can’t start the show without me.

That’s for sure, Cami returned. "You going to change here or on Morrigan?"

"On Morrigan," Sydney said decisively, then glanced around. There really is no place suitable to store dress whites here at AHI. It’s a wonder they found us offices that aren’t caked with dust, like their offices are on the ground. Sydney’s first encounter with AHI had been at corporate HQ on Arega’s surface ... and it had been a dusty affair.

Meanwhile, a pair of weeks earlier Sydney had promised to preside at a wedding between Chloe O’Shaugnassey and Krista Sperry, shortly after rescuing Krista from pirates. Chloe’s original request had been to have the wedding one week later; that had slipped to two weeks as Cahan Morrigan undertook repairs. Presiding at weddings was one of the more joyful — if time consuming — parts of her role as captain of the good ship Cahan Morrigan ... and today was the day.

The only hitch was that, to act as captain of the Morrigan, she had to actually be aboard the Morrigan ... and sadly, her duties as military attaché to the 16 Cygni system on behalf of the Terran Confederacy kept her tied to a desk for far more of her time than she liked.

Shall we? Sydney pointed the way to the door and gained a spring in her step as she and Cami left the office, leaving her attaché desk behind and joyfully heading to the part of her assignment she far preferred: being captain of the TSM Cahan Morrigan. Even laid up in repair dock, that vessel counted as the entire TSM presence in the 16 Cygni system. Sydney Chambers was a woman of action; she only felt truly at home on the decks of a fighting ship such as the Morrigan. She hated the desk time and paperwork that the post of military attaché required ... but she had answered yes, of course, when her boss and mentor Admiral Lord Stephen Alexander had offered it to her ... more like forced it on her. It was an important job that had to be done.

The job was important because 16 Cygni was currently in the throes of becoming a full-fledged member of the Terran Confederacy and gaining a full presence of the TSM Home Fleet, which Sydney represented. As a non-member system, Cygni was currently under the auspices of the TSM Frontier Fleet, though that organization hadn’t made more than a courtesy call in ages. Indeed, gaining Home Fleet jurisdiction was the main thing which had prompted Cygni to apply for full membership in the Confederacy after a century of being an associate member. Sydney’s arrival and her elimination of a pirate presence that had bedeviled the system was the rest of the reason. Still, several months in, the application was only slowly working its way through the Confederate system, while Sydney found herself sagging under the weight of ongoing paperwork.

All that aside, though, she was delighted to officiate at the wedding of two such wonderful people as Chloe and Krista, not just because weddings were always joyful, but because they were people that she actually liked.

That liking hadn’t been fated, either. Chloe O’Shaugnassey has first come aboard the Cahan Morrigan when her ship had broken down and the Morrigan had rescued her even as she was on a supply run for her brother, then-pirate Patrick O’Shaugnassey. Patrick was at the time not just any pirate, he was the head of a pirate organization — one of the very groups that Sydney and the Morrigan were fighting. That pirate organization had later been folded into the 16 Cygni militia, but that was a part of a bigger story. The fact was that Sydney had initially had no reason to like or trust Chloe O’Shaugnassey ... but Chloe was such an effervescent personality that the liking had happened anyway. When, a short while later, Sydney and the Morrigan had retrieved Krista Sperry from the hands of a second band of pirates — this one headed by Hans Vattermann, a long-time foe of Sydney — Chloe had been so thankful at having her soulmate back in one piece she had proposed to Krista and thereafter imposed on her budding friendship with Sydney to gain a platform for that marriage. Same-sex marriages were, of course, fully legal under Confederate law while being merely tolerated by the more conservative residents of 16 Cygni’s four worlds.

Sydney found herself liking Krista Sperry as well, for a number of reasons ... not the least of which was that she had suffered at the hands of Hans Vattermann. Any enemy of Vattermann’s was bound to be a friend of hers.

But now the time was almost at hand. Sydney made her way to her efficiently small but comfortable cabin aboard the Cahan Morrigan and quickly changed into her formal dress whites. It wouldn’t do for the presider at a wedding to look less than her best.

––––––––

If anyone here knows of a reason why Chloe O’Shaugnassey and Krista Sperry should not be joined in wedlock, let them speak now or forever hold their peace. Sydney glanced around the hall, knowing there would be no response to the age-old challenge, since she knew everyone in attendance.

There was no family present on either side. Patrick O’Shaugnassey, Chloe’s only living relative and now the commander of a large portion of Cygni’s military, was busy on Militia business in the Cygni B system (16 Cygni being a trinary system containing two main-stream yellow stars plus a red dwarf). Krista’s family, while available, were unable to afford to leave Cygni A-2, Big Muddy, the name of the world on which they lived and where Krista grew up. The place lived up to its name. Life was hard there, harder even than on Chloe’s native Aerieland, which was formally Cygni B-2. Both Aerieland and Big Muddy were home to some of the most impoverished residents of the 16 Cygni system, though it was a tossup which planet was poorer.

At any rate, there was no response to Sydney’s challenge, so the captain continued on with the non-denominational service Chloe and Krista had chosen. While Chloe was nominally Irish Catholic, Krista was of no particular religious persuasion; the two had settled upon the ceremony — as opposed to a non-religious military service — because it resonated with their fantasies and senses of what a wedding service should be. Sydney had been amenable; she was versed in all forms of marriage ceremony, though she had rarely had the need to practice, as seldom as her offices were called on.

No? Good. Do you then, Chloe, take Krista to be your lawfully wedded spouse, to have and to hold from this day forward, until death shall you part?

A’course I do, Chloe responded in her amazingly dense, though surprisingly polished, Irish brogue.

And do you, Sydney pushed on, turning to Sperry, Krista, take Chloe as your lawfully wedded spouse, to have and to hold from this day forward, until death shall you part?

I do, Krista responded, her voice a bit husky.

"Then, by the power invested in me as captain of the Cahan Morrigany upon which this ceremony is held, I pronounce you both, Christa Sperry and Chloe O’Shaugnassey, to be lawfully wedded partners. You may now kiss each other, if you so wish."

The two women so wished; after a moment, Sydney was wishing that she had omitted that particular part of the wedding formula. She found herself leaning toward the clenched couple after a full minute had passed and whispering, Ladies, I know that you’re both happy, but you don’t want to delay the reception for too long.

The couple unclenched a few seconds later, though they continued to gaze into each others’ eyes with vision that only newlyweds can muster. No, of course not, Krista allowed once she had regained her breath, though her blush continued to lend a touch of color to the long, just-off-white gown that she wore. Chloe, next to her, continued to breathe hard, though the tuxedo that she wore somehow worked to minimize her own blush, despite her ginger-colored hair.

Sydney raised her eyes past the women to look at the attendees. Our two blushing brides will be along shortly, everyone, she said breezily, as though newlyweds behaved this way all the time ... and maybe they did. You all might as well head on to the reception, in the large hall on B deck. The bridesmaids and groomsmen know the way and will be happy to lead you. She glanced at those two groups — six men and women in all, including Cami Frye in her dress whites — and gave them all a shooing gesture. Cami nodded, understanding that the brides would be a moment, then turned and briskly headed for the exit, waving to attendees as she went in an invitation to follow her.

The reception went as well as could be hoped for in a gathering on a military vessel ... which means, one with a limited availability of alcohol ... and everyone seemed happy with the cake when the event broke up a pair of hours later. Sydney said goodnight to the brides, plus Cami and her first officer Steve Garvey, who had served as one of the groomsmen, then headed for her quarters to peel herself out of the dress whites and freshen up before hitting the sack ... admittedly a bit early, but paperwork always left her exhausted. Quite a different story from her duties as captain, which tended to invigorate her.

CHAPTER TWO

1

The first item on Sydney’s plate the next morning was notice that her reinforcements were running late.

Admiral Alexander had promised her two copies of a new class of ship, the Wolf class, the first of which had been scheduled to arrive eight weeks after Sydney had defeated Cygni’s pirates ... a timeline that roughly corresponded to Morrigan’s emergence from drydock. The notice informed Sydney that the arrival date for the first ship had been pushed back by an additional eight weeks, not unsurprising in a new class of ships; apparently the shakedown the vessel was undergoing had shaken out some glitches which applied to the whole class rather than to just the single ship. The glitches warranted repair, if not retooling and redesign.

Sydney honestly couldn’t find it in herself to be distressed by the notice. Admiral Alexander had also told her that the first of the reinforcing ships was commanded by a lieutenant newly raised to ship’s captain ... and while Sydney had herself cut her teeth in the position of ship’s captain as a lieutenant, she was also aware that chips tended to rest on the shoulders of such commanders. An extra few weeks before having to deal with the issue seemed a godsend.

Still, it did raise the issue of who was minding the store while Morrigan was undergoing repair.

Ms. Frye, Sydney called out, please get me in contact with Patrick O’Shaugnassey.

Yes, Ma’am, came the adjutant’s reply from the next office. Sydney reflected that she was going to have to have a more formal communication system installed in her temporary office ... and then Cami Frye appeared at her door.

Ma’am, her aide reported, "Mr. O’Shaugnassey isn’t aboard a vessel and is therefore out of communication. His ship has been transferred to the TSM Whirligig, the drydock ship that Admiral Alexander left, and Mr. O’Shaugnassey went with it. Do you want me to try and track him down there?"

Blast these communications, Sydney thought, then caught herself. Ah, well, AHI wasn’t exactly ready to be the center of my command when I showed up. Setting me up in this orbiting office was a huge courtesy. I suppose they’re doing the best they can with decades-old equipment. At least they were ready to fix my ship. No, Cami, just get him a message, Sydney said aloud. The message should read, ‘Need you in charge of system defense for next while. Details on acknowledgement.’ Sign it ‘S. Chambers, MA.’

MA?

Sydney shrugged. ‘Military attaché,’ she clarified with a grimace.

Oh. Right, Cami said with a nod.

You’d better notify Chloe O’Shaugnassey to be available as well, Sydney added with some reluctance. I know that she’s technically still on her honeymoon ... but it’s been two weeks and she’s the only person that Patrick and I both trust as a go-between.

Cami’s face took on a look of hesitation. You want me to contact Chloe while she’s —

No choice, Sydney answered, her voice flat. Honeymoon or no, she has a job to do the same as you or I.

Yes, Ma’am! Cami withdrew from Sydney’s office posthaste.

2

Chloe O’Shaugnassey grimaced at the sound of an incoming call to her hotel room, but reached out and punched the receive button anyway, she being closer to the call box than Krista. Yes?

Incoming call from Arega, office of the military attaché, came the voice of the front desk clerk at Codlaímid, the discreet Inn where she and Krista always stayed when on Outpost Station. Will you accept, or ...

It has been two weeks, Chloe realized in surprise when she glanced at the clock on the room’s desk. Sure and I’ll be takin’ it. Put it through, she told the