Yes, but we used these interactions in the training! Gehenna objected. You realize that I didn’t just train you how to fly, don’t you?
Jace blinked. Vague memories surfaced of sitting at a table much like this and negotiating with various alien species. His eyes widened.
That’s why this feels so natural? We’ve done this before! Jace realized, feeling a fool for not thinking about it earlier.
Of course! Gehenna shot him a smiley face. You also learned military strategy, statecraft, negotiation skills and more! You were quite good at taking over the known star systems whenever we played war games! You won nine out of ten times against me. That is quite impressive.
And you didn’t just let me win, did you? He hid a smile.
No, I would never do that. You won fair and square! She informed him, sounding like a proud parent. You always told me though that your losses taught you more than your wins.
Jace’s forehead furrowed. He could half-remember conversations with Gehenna, but they were like wisps of dreams that could be blown away by a slight wind. He supposed that it was his subconscious where all of this was stored.
Very handy, Gehenna. I think we need to talk more about the training you gave me, he said.
Of course, Jace. I am an open book, she promised, but he wasn’t quite sure he believed that.
“My understanding is that you could not even live apart from your parents--despite your culture dictating that you should have long ago--because of a multitude of physical ailments,” she continued carefully.
“You’re quite informed,” he said to her.
“These ailments and your continued stay in your childhood home surely retarded your growth,” Nova continued.
“What the Hell,” his father muttered and he caught sight of him fisting one hand.
Jace caught his father’s eye and gave a shake of his head. His father gave the smallest of nods. He wouldn’t interfere though he most certainly wanted to. Khoth was all rigid too.
She is being insulting! You are highly advanced! Gehenna straightened her imposing metallic form. Her red eyes glowed like coals. And she is misinformed as to young people living with their parents and--
It’s okay, Gehenna, Jace soothed her. I don’t care if she thinks my life before this was small, ordinary and maybe a little pathetic.
But it wasn’t!
It was small other than the training, Jace said. But that’s okay. I did a few other things than she’s mentioning.
“Yet, despite all of this, you think you should be the leader of the Alliance today?” Though it was posed as a question, it was clearly meant to answer itself.
Jace shifted slightly forward in his seat. His palms slid over the smooth material of the table. If he wanted to, he could know what the table was composed of. He could have seen the individual atoms of it. She might know the outer aspects of his old life, but she didn’t know his new one very well. He didn’t even know his limits.
“Everything you’ve just said about me is true except for… well, the suggestion that living at home retarded my growth. It actually allowed me more time with my highly skilled and very wise parents. As an adult, I got to experience them very differently than I did as a child and learn from them,” Jace said smoothly and his mother smiled at him from the other table. His father clasped his shoulder and squeezed it. “But you’re leaving out the other bits.”
“Oh? Well, I think--”
He talked over her, “Yesterday, I stopped a Khul invasion by activating Metal Rain on the Osiris. Yesterday, I also completed the transformation into the Pilot. Yesterday, I further took down a Hive. Oh, and today… today I defeated you and your entire fleet without a single shot being fired.”
“Well done, Jace,” his father murmured.
“And, tomorrow, who knows what I’m going to do,” Jace said, suppressing a triumphant grin at her fallen expression.
Silence fell until a sharp bark of laughter left General Intoshkin’s lips.
“He’s got you there, Nova!” the general said gleefully.
She shot him a narrow-eyed glance, but said nothing. Clearly, there was much bad blood there. Jace could completely understand in that moment though how irritated the general was. How often had Nova described humanity’s faults or in what it was lacking without admitting what it could bring to the table?
“I admit that what you have done since becoming the Pilot is impressive.” She bowed her head for the moment. “But you are still very new at all of this. You must admit that.”
“Like I said, I think the Alliance needs new and it needs change,” Jace said, not going into the fact that he had a decade of training in all he would need to know. “And I won’t be leading the Alliance in a bubble. I already have people to advise me. Commander Khoth Voor, who as I’m sure you’re aware, is highly accomplished. Both my Flight-Commanders.” He gestured to his father and Thammah. “And, of course, Gehenna and the Osiris itself who were created by the Altaeth to accomplish the goal of defeating the Khul.”
