Conscience of Steel

A Lords of the Stars Short Story

Mattias von Schantz

March 27, 3072, Orpheus, Gliese 673

Ellie McBrian rose from her worn office chair and walked to the windows of the small building she was working from. Outside, the dense, steaming jungles of Orpheus climbed the mist-shrouded hills and mostly obscured the two moons hanging in the orange-tinted sky. The smell of damp, decaying vegetation seeped through the ventilation shafts above the window. On the window still, a small lizard sat motionless, waiting to pounce on an approaching bug.

She was a woman in her early 30s. Somewhat plain-looking, most people would say. There was a certain beauty to her, for sure, but she would never stand out in a crowd. You wouldn't give her a second glance if you passed her on the street. Her freckled face and long, ginger-copper-red hair made her seem younger than she was. But something about the way she carried herself would still tell any onlooker there was more to her than met the eye.

She was also a Sunguard Special Agent. She was the Harbinger of justice. Vanguard of humanity. Conscience of the Terran Federation. Fear incarnate. Lupus solitarius tutelae.

Her eyes followed the black dot of a small ship quickly descending through the hazy atmosphere. As it came in for a landing, the emblem on the side of the ship, a menacing black wolf's head in front of a yellow solar disk, signaled this shuttle belonged to the Sunguard as well.

From the cockpit of the ship, the figure of a short-statured man, also in his early 30s, descended. He walked quickly to the weathered, little shed she was staying in.

"Hello, old friend," Ellie said, as she opened the door for him.

Ellie was visibly agitated. "What are those idiots trying to do?", she asked, as she paced back and forth in the cramped room.

Despite the circumstances, Paul couldn't help but smile. Ellie had always spoken her mind, never really taken to the more calculated approach to articulating their thoughts that Sunguard Special Agents usually subscribed to. Her bluntness was like a breath of fresh air. Paul loved that about her. He could always count on her to speak her mind.

"I've been concerned for a long time about some of the decisions the Solar Council has been making." When she said "a long time" she meant it - literally. A few centuries, give or take. "But that doesn't give the Solar Command the right to just step in and take over. Besides, I'm not so sure the Sunguard leadership is going to do any better. They don't differ in policy, just in how they implement it."

She paused, then looked at Paul and shook her head. "No, 'concerned' is the wrong word. That suggests there's some small chance I'm wrong about them. I'm not, Paul! I'm really not."

"I know you're not wrong," replied Paul. "We all know. What do you want to do?"

"What I want to do and what I should do might not be the same thing. What I want to do is to step into that nest of vipers and tell the Admirals I've outlawed their little coup. But that'd just lead to civil war."

She was visibly upset. Not the kind of righteous indignation that Sunguard Special Agents usually showed, but really, truly agitated. Well, she was not like other Special Agents. Not Ellie.

"Well, if that's what you want..." Paul didn't say it to question her. If she wanted to plunge the Terran Federation into civil war, then so be it. He would stand by her, ready to help her consider every consequence. And when the house came crashing down, he'd be there to help her burn it to the ground.