479 SETTING THINGS IN MOTION

By the time the Nebuchadnezzar reached the gates of Zion, the mood on the ship was a mix of resignation, hope, and excitement. Some felt it was the end of an era and others felt it was the start of one. However, the one thing nearly everyone on the ship agreed with was that the 11 year old blonde girl named Saga was a little too outgoing and excited about where her new life was taking her.

As someone that longed for adventure to escape her boring life, she thought it was brilliant to be woken up from it. That her previous life was a simulation written by an AI, was just icing on the cake. Now here she was, in a whole other world, with a new dad and different rules that she had to follow to not get hurt.

Saga tested those rules to the max and asked about everything, usually at the same time, and only Neo and Mouse indulged her curiosity. They also didn't treat her like a little kid or talked down to her like everyone else on the ship did. Even Switch caught herself dismissing the little girl she adored a couple of times in frustration, and realized Apoc was right. She was not ready to be a mother yet.

The ship was greeted by Zion Control and Gate One was opened for them. They were directed to land at Bay One, right beside the walkway bridge to enter Zion, and Morpheus denied the need for maintenance. They weren't staying for long, just enough to purge their wastes, refuel, reload the food and water stores, and to top off the reactor's charge.

That made more than a few people in the control center wonder why they had returned so soon after leaving. Word soon spread to many others among the soldiers, guards, and workers, then the ship opened up the loading ramp and Neo walked out with a teenage girl beside him holding his hand and he was carrying a blonde girl with his other arm.

Several discreet calls were made to spread the new word back around and everyone that heard it had understood. The Nebuchadnezzar had been loaded above capacity and were dropping off a couple new rescued people. Almost no one noticed Neo's large backpack or that Mouse was walking behind them carrying two large dufflebags.

They had already said their goodbyes to the captain and the crew, so they walked right across the bridge and entered the hallway to the offices. The guards nodded to Neo and he nodded back. They didn't try to stop him or asked what he was doing, since it was pretty obvious where he was going.

Neo brought the two girls right to Councillor Dillard's office and he had Saga knock, since she was the only one with a free hand. That made her giggle and she happily did so and also shouted that she couldn't reach the hatch's wheel to turn it.

There was a laugh from inside the office and the wheel turned, then the hatch was opened and Dillard stood there. She gave Neo a look full of amusement, since he had his arms full, and she stepped back and waved them inside.

“Please, come in.” Dillard said and closed the door. “Hello, Mouse. It's nice to see you leave the ship without having to be dragged off.”

Mouse's face went red. “It's for good this time.”

“Oh?” Dillard asked and walked around them and sat at her desk. She saw Neo still held onto both girls. “It's all right, Neo. You can let them go for the few minutes I need to talk to them and assign them living space.”

Mouse let out a soft laugh and Dillard gave him a questioning look. “You assumed it's Neo's choice.”

Dillard looked back at the three of them and saw that none of them made any attempt to let any of the others go. She chuckled and nodded in understanding. “All right, let me bring up your records and we'll get them situated properly, which I guess will be with you, then you can introduce them to me.”

The three of them nodded and Dillard quickly went through the process of registering two new citizens, assigned the food and water rations they would need, then glanced at their clothing. She nodded and put their clothing under Neo's authority to acquire, since he already found some for them.

With Neo's whispered permission, Saga introduced herself first and said she was Neo's daughter. He was going to teach her everything she needed to know and she was going to become the best daughter he ever had.

Dillard was amused by that, almost too much to keep contained, because she now had ammunition to use against the man for the teasing he had done to her. Neo let out a groan at the supremely happy look on the old woman's face and she couldn't stop her laugh at hearing it.

Akira introduced herself next and she admitted she was a fair programmer, only she was easily distracted and couldn't concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time. Neo promised again to help her with that, since it had been certain influences on her that had made her that way. She gave him a look of adoration before she could stop herself and blushed and looked away.

Dillard didn't tease him about that, since she had a feeling Akira was not looking at him as a father figure like Saga was. It was a budding potential crush and Dillard had a feeling she should leave the teen's status empty where Neo was concerned, just in case. She changed the records and assigned them to Bachelor Haven without even considering changing the name. The two men were still bachelors, after all.

“Thank you, Councillor Dillard.” Neo said and she stood to walk over to the door to open it for them. “Our next stop is Commander Lock.”

“Ah, you need to inform him of Mouse's change of assignment.” Dillard said and ushered them out of the office.

“And mine.” Neo told her and she caught her breath. “I'll ask if there is an alternate where my family can be assigned, as a whole and not parts. If not, I'll have to see about changing my registered specialty.”

Dillard could only nod and watched him walk down the hallway to an unknown future. She would need to call Councillor Hamann as soon as she shut her door. He needed to know about the change in Neo's status as soon as possible. She closed the hatch and rushed over to her desk and didn't pull the display out from the wall before she placed the call.

It picked up right away and Dillard saw her old friend already had a visitor, Morpheus. “Oh, good. You already know.”

“Yes, we were just discussing it.” Hamann said. “There are also details that are very concerning that should be handled carefully.”

Dillard nodded. “The new girls in his life.”

“Those, too.” Hamann said and filled her in on what happened in the Matrix when Neo and the girls had been threatened, how he punished the others and then healed them, as well as how easy it was for Neo to rescue the girls without causing them either distress or rejection.

Dillard sat back and her mind whirled with the possibilities. They had a few people that would benefit greatly if Neo could bring them into the Matrix to heal them, especially if said healing also caused them to regenerate for an hour outside of it. Of course, it all depended on the frequency that he could do such powerful things, too.

“Even without knowing all the details, we need to handle this very carefully.” Dillard said and both men nodded.

“Morpheus is heading back out soon.” Hamann told her. “He only came back after the crew voted to, and I quote, 'remove the disruptive elements from the ship'.”

Dillard sighed and shook her head. “Damn foolish kids.”

Morpheus looked surprised at her words and Hamann chuckled.

“There's nothing we can do about it now, it's already done.” Hamann said.

“Yes, Neo's gone to Lock to report in.” Dillard responded.

Morpheus sighed this time. “Then I must expedite my departure.” He said and bowed slightly. “Councillors, if you will excuse me.”

“Godspeed, captain.” Both Dillard and Hamann said at the same time.

Morpheus fled and the hatch clanged shut behind him.

“Why the sudden dash to escape?” Dillard asked, curious.

“He wants to avoid suffering another rant from the Commander about how he runs his ship.” Hamann said with another chuckle.

“Oh? Is he still playing up how Niobe chose him over Morpheus?” Dillard asked, amused.

“He is.” Hamann said, just as amused. “Damn foolish kids.”

Dillard laughed. “All right, I can see the disks in your hand. I'll be right over help review them with you.”

“I appreciate that, Robyn. The quick brief from Morpheus confused me.” Hamann said and ended the call.

Dillard grabbed her shawl and wrapped it around her shoulders, then left her office to go to his. Whatever information was on those disks was something she knew was going to become very important to the people of Zion.

*

“There are not a lot of captains that will accept an entire family unit into their crew.” Commander Lock admitted, his voice flat. “Or on their ships, for that matter.”

I held in my sigh at him admitting that. “What about the Logos? It's a fairly small ship.”

Lock stiffened for a moment, then huffed. “Niobe likes you for what you've allowed her to do to me, Neo. However, she does not like you enough to double her crew compliment on a ship designed for a maximum of four people.”

“No, no, you're right. She won't give up her nimble little ship to command something better, either.” I said and he firmly nodded. “What about the Osiris? Does that have a full crew?”

Lock typed the name into his computer. “She's one of our bigger ships and has... seven crew already. There's only one free spot, so even if you double up like you did on the Nebuchadnezzar, there's no spare room for all four of you.”

“Damn, I was hoping for that one.” I said. “What about Ganesha? She's a similar size.”

Lock checked and shook his head. “Full up.”

“The Hammer?” I asked.

Lock tried again. “Two slots, except Roland is strict about who he chooses as crew.”

I glanced at Mouse and he shrugged. “Anything else?”

“The Caduceus and Gnosis are both full, and Novalis is only slightly smaller than the Nebuchadnezzar. You'll have the same space problem, even if one of them chooses to accept a reassignment.” Lock said and kept typing. “I'm afraid there's not much from the active... wait. There is one that might fit.”

Mouse, Saga, Akira, and I sat there and waited patiently.

Lock turned his display to show off a very large ship, nearly twice the size of the Nebuchadnezzar. “This is our largest ship. It patrols all the main subway and junctions stations we have access to and works on new and safer routes, so when the machines stumble across our more used tunnels, we have backups to divert to. They also scavenge mechanical parts when they can, too.”

“Damn, she's got a fat ass.” I joked and received two slaps on my arms as Saga giggled.

“It's big enough there's more than enough room for four more people to join the crew.” Lock said. “Ajax is one of our better captains as well.”

I nodded. “It sounds like it has everything we need, so it's too good to be true. What's the downside?”

“Dad!” Saga gasped.

“Hush, honey. The commander is speaking.” I said and looked at Lock, whom grimaced.

“It stays out for a month or more at a time, at the captain's discretion. Since the ship is so big, it can stay out for much longer than ships half its size. It also docks for much longer in response, since it has so much more to clean out and maintain.” Lock admitted. “The crew are all single people and they like it that way, because they spend so little time here in the city.”

I understood what he didn't say. “If anyone finds a partner, either here or on another ship, they have to leave or transfer?”

“They work hard and party harder.” Lock told us with a nod. “We usually have half of the crew confined to the brig while the ship is docked.”

I looked at Mouse again and he looked nervous. “We have a choice of splitting up, which is against your vote, we take a ride with the college fraternity boys, or we stay at home.”

“You don't have to decide right away.” Lock said and turned his display back to face him. “They're been out for two weeks already, so you have three to four weeks left to decide if you want to meet with Ajax.”

“That's more than enough time.” I said and stood as I held a hand out to him. “Thank you for the briefing, Commander Lock.”

Lock stood and shook the hand. “I'm just glad your experience on the Nebuchadnezzar didn't sour you on serving in the defence forces.”

“Oh, nothing cold do that, sir. I just have to rework some of my plans.” I said and let his hand go. “You don't happen to have another small non-commissioned ship tucked into your back pocket, do you?”

Lock huffed. “Are you bucking for command already?”

I huffed in response. “Heck, no! I'm going to be too busy to run a ship, even a small one. I figured you had a first officer somewhere that doesn't want to wait for their captain to quit or bite it before they can have their own command.”

Lock chuckled. “I have a couple people that would love it if I did have a ship available.”

“Niobe wouldn't mind the competition if another three man ship appeared?” I asked, a little pointedly.

Lock smiled. “She'd relish it, actually. As long as you had a good pilot and gunner to match her and Ghost. She won't bother, otherwise.”

I chuckled. “That's a good point. There's no challenge for her to overcome if its too easy.”

“Exactly.” Lock said and nodded at Mouse, then at Akira, and lastly at Saga. “Thank you all for considering staying with the defense forces and possibly joining later, respectively. Every hand helps, no matter how small.”

“Small hands grow up!” Saga said and held a fist up into the air.

“Yes, they do.” Lock said and nodded at me. “Don't hesitate to call if you have another great idea to make things easier for me.”

I knew a dismissal when I heard it. I picked Saga up and she hugged my neck. “I have something percolating in the back of my mind, especially after hearing the name Icarus.”

Lock immediately thought about the fable of a man making wax wings to fly, only he grew arrogant and ambitious and flew too close to the sun, which melted the wax and fell to his death.

“I'll keep you informed if anything comes of it.” I said and put a hand on Akira's shoulder. “Let's go home.”

Akira smiled widely and then blushed at reacting like that. She stood and took my hand without being prompted. She still hadn't let go of the laptop I made for her, either. She really loved that thing and took it everywhere with her.

“I got the door.” Mouse said and opened the hatch, then picked up the two dufflebags. “After you.”

“Thanks.” I said and walked out with Saga and Akira in tow and nodded at the guard.

We were escorted out of the command center and to the civilian side of things. I nodded to the guard in thanks and we rode the main elevator down to Level 7. There were only a couple people about, s we easily avoided them and walked down two hallways and reached our door. The machine and water noises were quite loud and Akira gave me a look that said, 'Really? We're living here?'.

“Trust me.” I said as Saga wiggled in my grip, as she wanted to get down.

Mouse put the bags down and opened the hatch. “Home, sweet home.”

Saga pushed off and dropped to the floor and ran inside. Akira made a scoff sound and let my hand go and entered as well. I waved Mouse inside and picked up the two bags and entered as well. Mouse shut the hatch behind me and both girls gasped at the dead silence.

“Like Mouse said, welcome home.” I repeated and both girls turned to me and gave me genuine hugs, then they let go and started exploring.

Mouse waited until both girls disappeared into my room before he turned to me. “Are we really considering joining the party boy ship?”

“Hell no.” I said and he slouched with relief. “I was tempted to laugh in Lock's face, though.”

Mouse snorted and then laughed. “I almost fainted when you said it was a college fraternity ship!”

I laughed, too. “I had to describe it like that, since I knew the larger ship was too good to be true.”

“You did call him out on that.” Mouse said and thought about it. “I wonder if that's why only Ajax goes to the mission debriefings Morpheus and Trinity go to?”

I considered it. “Are they supposed to be captains and first officers?”

“Usually. They also have full crew briefings, only I never go to those.” Mouse admitted.

“Too boring?” I asked and he shook his head.

“Too nerve wracking. All those people gathered together in a tight space? Usually shouting or arguing?” Mouse shivered. “Nope, nope, nope.”

I put an arm over his shoulder and gave him a one arm hug to reassure him. “Hey, do you want me to make up some ramen and extra noodles?”

“Yes, please!” Mouse agreed, happily.

“I'll make up some more bread as well.” I said and went to the kitchen to start cooking. “You might want the girls to know they have to ask for your permission before going into your room and touching your stuff.”

Mouse nodded and walked over to my bedroom door. He knocked once and opened it, then let out a soft chuckle and closed it. He walked over to me and whispered. “They're asleep and cuddled up on your bed together.”

“Go get your imaging device.” I whispered back and he looked surprised, the he grinned and rushed into his room to get it. Having potential blackmail material like that was sometimes essential to have children behave when they didn't listen.