Spider Moon CGNAS, January 19, 3081...
"...Free Stars was a movement in the early colonization boom, It's part of why my ancestors helped your ancestors escape from Old Earth." Alicia Li explained. Amanda was enraptured in spite of her feigned lack of interest. "You might liken it to fraternal orders that crop up from time to time, or a religious movement, or political philosophy-it has all of those. Your mother was...uninterested in it."
"Mom had a lot on her plate." the young girl said calmly, "She was kinda focused, wasn't she?"
"She was. I think knowing how little time she had made her a bit hyper-focused until just near the end." Li agreed. "Where did you hear about it? we don't discuss that with...planetsiders that much."
"The War Diary." Amanda said, "mom left book marks in the copy she left us, I sometimes read it to try and understand what she was really thinking. Commodore Cu'ong spoke to Colonel Ngo about it when they were discussing the supply situation and the progress of the war against the Rimjobs, from there, I visited the Library and looked for every reference in it I could, all of them were Rockjacks or people who dealt with that part of our society, but nothing was...defined, definitive or descriptive except for some Rimjob propaganda pulled out of Dinh Diep. I thought it was interesting, and guessed you would know more."
"Most adherents are separatists." Li confessed, "It's mutated over the last thousand years, but in general the principle is that you can leave if things get bad, that there are always other places you can go, to start over again, if all else fails, like it did for the Yizroelis or the Ell-Dees on Old Earth, or the peoples in the South China Sea after the World Government handed them to China in exchange for integration into the Terran Alliance. The majority of the colony ships that left Earth for everywhere, were crewed by believers in the Freedom of the Stars, which shortened into 'Free Stars'. First into the Belts, and then into interstellar space, but it didn't tend to last with the passengers-the groundsider colonists had their own ideas about faith, and culture, and what constitutes 'freedom'."
"is it unified anywhere?" Amanda asked.
"You don't have to give up your gods, or your politics to believe in Free Stars, Amanda-except among some of the weirder branches. The first principle is motion, the second is self-reliance, losing the grip of 'group identity', so there really isn't a 'uniform' set of doctrines." Li told her, "Hence, why I serve a Nation subordinate to an Empire that is subordinate to a political state, instead of choosing the life of a nomad, see? I, myself, am reliant on myself, I can choose whether to trust and obey, or defy, and it's a conscious choice."
Amanda frowned "That's really confusing, you put up with me, you put me up to following Assembly meetings and doing political...stuff. how is that letting me be an individual?"
"You're still a child, still learning responsibility." Li explained, "The social contract is a trade of mutual responsibility. I provide you with the best parenting I can because I chose to accept that responsibility, I could have denied it, Kelli Whyte would have understood it if I had stepped back from that, you would not have suffered...but, I chose to raise you, and in line with your mother's principles because doing is follows my principles." Li passed a bulb of tea across, and Amanda caught it one-handed with a clapping sound. "Also I'm fond of you and your brother." the Commodore added. "of the two of you, I had hoped you would be interested when you grew older."
"Why not Pat?" Amanda asked.
"because you can do jump calculations." Li explained, "You were practically born to be a Spacer, I see how you behave in public, occupying as little space as you must, you're naturally neat and mentally orderly, heck, I have training officers who spend untold hours trying to break bad habits you never developed-Amanda, Patrick is a Grounder to his core, he's..." she sighed, "And you get TDS, the sickness you experienced when you visited Outreach."
"what about it?"
"Great navigators often suffer heavily from what medical people outside the community call Transit Disorder Syndrome. Visions, nausea, it's a sign of real talent, especially for Jumpship Navigation. I suffer a touch myself, but my ace Cutter bosses suffer from varying strains of severe cases, something about how your brain is naturally wired, makes you the sort of person my ancestors, at least on my Mother's side, would look for when recruiting in the Gravity Well."
"By 'recruiting' you mean the stories had a basis in fact, that Rockjack traders would...spirit people away?"
"By 'spiriting away' you mean 'freeing from slavery or worse'? yes. those activities kind of tied us to Kowloon in ways we probably didn't mean to-the Rim Worlds were brutal overlords, and practiced chattel slavery, and it was partly humanitarian and partly maintaining stable numbers, but often we would 'recruit' people from worlds to join us, this as a very long time ago, we don't do it now...at least, this branch doesn't-we have better means now."
Amanda nodded, "The Coast Guard. Mom didn't have to push the expansion so hard-but she did."
"She wasn't interested in the philosophy, but she saw value in it, I hope you do as well."
"I want to learn more. Why keep it a secret?"
Li brayed a laugh, "It isn't!" she says, "it's one of thousands of philosophical schools through human space, we're just...selective about it thanks to old wives tales and a very real and rational caution in the presence of some other viewpoints, such as those held by Feudal governments and local overlords!"
Amanda sipped her tea from the bulb, "I'm not in charge down there." she said after a moment, "Mom did a good job setting things up, 'Duchess' or 'Duke' is pretty much vestigal...can I...I want...can I apprentice? maybe start early on my 'five years' of service?"
"School first, Amanda." Li told her, "You may feel your role is vestigal, but millions of people look to you anyway because of who your mother was, and how much you resemble her. I will consider allowing you to select a Junior Reserve slot with the Youth program, but only if you meet your responsibilities firmly, and without hesitation. Hesitation in space kills more people than shoddy equipment."
"Where do I start?" Amanda asked.
"in the Well, Amanda. This spring, if it's still there, you will begin as a Seaman Apprentice with the Vin Drin Lap Junior Cadets, learning the ropes, so to speak. To reach the next level you will have to be signed off and transfer to Giap Island for Blue Water duty, and you will have to qualify for submarine training."
"Why subs?"
"Because piloting a Dropship on instruments, is a lot like conning a submarine, first off, and secondly, most of the skills for a submariner are direct equivalents to Space duty. We don't normally draw groundborn personnel from the other branches, but we draw heavily from Submarines and Aviation. You'll have to qualify for both, if you want to serve as an Officer of the Coast Guard's Blackwater squadrons...and to do all of that, you still must pass your school exams, so get studying."
