Battlefields and Bloodlines

Epilogue: A Decision Made

"Carter. You can't tell anyone about this. No one. I mean it. I need your silence." I said, vehemently. "No one can know."

"Are you wanting to..." Carter asked, hesitantly. "End it?"

I shook my head. "No. I just need time. Time to prepare. Time to...I don't know yet. But I need you to not say anything and to hide that result however you can."

Carter looked at me for a long minute. "I can delete that particular result and pretend like it didn't go through. But it's one of the mandatory ones. They're going to want you to come back in to take it."

I sighed. "I know. But not yet. Please remove it?"

He nodded, tapped the console a few times and then sighed too. "They'll know it was manually removed. I'll have to answer for that."

"I'm sorry." I said, softly. "I just need time."

He nodded. "I understand. And I'm trying to give that to you. I'll think of an excuse, don't worry about me. Just...worry about you. And whoever the father is."

I snorted. "I think you can guess."

He shrugged. "I didn't want to assume but...yeah, I can guess."

I stood up. "Thanks, Carter. I owe you one."

"Oh, you sure do." He assured me.

I muttered something in the affirmative and left the room. I walked out of the medical center and immediately bumped into Vaughn.

The worst person I could've bumped into at this moment.

"Hey! What's up?" I said, trying to act casual.

She squinted at me. "You're guilty of something. I'll find out what it is eventually. But that's not important right now. Come here."

She dragged me over to a corner and motioned for me to sit. I did.

Vaughn took a deep breath. "I am the bearer of further bad news."

Anything she could tell me couldn't possibly occupy my thoughts more than the information I had just received, so I waved at her to continue. "Go ahead. Hit me with it."

Vaughn looked at the ceiling, then back at me. "We're heade back to Ragnaran."

I frowned. "Why? I thought everything there was fine?"

"The Council has decided you've had enough time, Khasee. It's time for you to make decisions. They've moved up the timeline. There's an immense amount of pressure from the general public on Ragnaran to get you back there." She sighed. "The downside of having a beloved politician as your father. People want you around. They want to see you. You're not only the symbol of an alliance, you're the symbol of bloodline resilience. Which is immensely popular with the average Ragnarei."

I blinked. "Well, this is...unexpected. I thought there would be more resistance."

Vaughn sighed again. "So did I. But apparently, Ragnaran is ready to not only secure a complete, lasting alliance with humanity against the Federation, they're also wanting something to look to. Which is you. Also, the Maragorans just invaded Gehran."

"I don't know what that is, Vaughn."

"It's one of the outer planets with a heavy Ragnarei population. The Ragnarei are taking this as an act of retaliation and they are ready to rally against the Federation with humanity at their side. Humanity has made promises to help. Dr. Voelker has finished their planetary defense system. The prototype will be tested on Gehran. It's all coming together."