by P F Walsh
The three ships moved slowly toward the planet waiting for clearance. The message came in,
“Our scans indicate two of you are warships. We request those ships stay at its present location. The diplomatic ship may approach to these coordinates.” Data was sent to the ships and Discovery moved forward. The Domak and Noullk reversed thrusters and held a station keeping pose with all systems on alert.
The Discovery moved to an orbit position near a small space station that did not have docking facilities for starships but had several large square shuttle ports. Discovery established station keeping.
“Captain, I have pinged the tethered freighters and they identify as the three missing Rhhymnet freighters. I am now receiving a signal from the station,”
“Diplomatic ship, you may send a shuttle to meet with our reception agent. On approach, you will see the correct port light up and open. Your shuttle may enter the port and shut down. The port will close and pressurize. After port pressurization, you may exit your shuttle and await our representative.” Allister provided. Sean replied to him, please send,
“Our ship is identified as the Discovery diplomatic exploration ship from the planet Earth under Captain Flynn who will be aboard the shuttle with an away team. The team will be unarmed except for my personal security agent. Assure acceptance of diplomatic protocols please.”
Allister sent it. A small interval passed and Discovery received,
“Diplomatic protocols are accepted and assured. Our reception Agent will function as our representative. Please be prepared to explain your purpose in coming to our system.” The message said.
Allister was perfecting his translation with each transmission, and would load his latest version onto the translators to be worn by the Discovery away team.
The team gathered in the Discovery shuttle bay, Sean stood in front of the team and said,
“This is a tricky contact. They have purchased stolen freighters that we can see are parked in a high orbit. They may have no idea that the freighters are stolen and may be victims in all this. Secondly, we have no authority to recover them, nor does the Domak. All we can do is to explain what has transpired and see how they react. I will be keeping it low key and expect all of you to do the same. We are diplomats, not a police force.” He said. They moved toward the shuttle, Sean, Doris, Rooky the ship’s Counselor, and the Sisters, all dressed in ship’s suits except the Sisters.
As Sean got into the shuttle, he looked over at Allister who was standing there and said
“Allister you have command.”
“I have command.” He acknowledged.
The shuttle closed up and the shuttle/cargo bay began to depressurize. Once the air was recovered, the cargo door opened and the shuttle slipped out of Discovery in a slow approach to the station. As the shuttle grew closer, a portal on the station lit up and began to open and reveal a large bay inside to accommodate two or three shuttles. This bay was empty. Discovery’s shuttle entered the bay and settled onto the metal deck as the portal closed behind them followed by the rushing sound of atmosphere pressurizing the bay. Allister, in communication with the shuttle’s sensors reported the atmosphere being created as suitable for humanoids. Sean waited for the green pressurization door light to come on before opening the pilot’s door and lowering the back ramp. The dim lights in the shuttle bay were replaced by overhead lights that filled the bay with light.
Sean and his group stood outside the shuttle waiting for the next instructions. The Sisters sidled up alongside him and chimed into his mind,
“There is great distress and death here. They must reveal its nature.”
Sean nodded wondering “What now?”
A noise from the wall near the pressure door caught his attention as a panel slid up to reveal a large thick window. Several humanoid figures stood in plain view. One with a red uniform top reached and appeared to press a button. He began to talk through speakers placed about the bay,
“I am the Reception Agent for our world called B’eekan. Please state your business so we know how to respond to your sudden appearance in our system.” He said. Sean stepped forward of his group and spoke slowly through his translator,
“I am Captain Sean Flynn of the diplomatic exploration vessel Discovery from the planet Earth, Member of the Council of Worlds comprising fifty-one member planets and two Associate Member planets, one of whom has provided a military escort to protect our mission.” He said, then continued,
“Our mission started as a compassionate mission to aid a newly discovered colony who sought help and reported that they were witness to acts of ship piracy. Their evidence was convincing and it resulted in the apprehension of a group of pirates, recovery of one stolen freighter ship, recovery of a military ship also stolen. and a large deposit of cargo.” Sean said.
“Why then do you come here. It sounds as though your mission was complete?” The Agent said through the speakers.
Not quite.” Said Sean, “There were four freighters that were hijacked, three freighter crews were rescued after they were set adrift, but one crew died after running out of air in their escape capsule, so murder was added to the piracy claims. We have two of the surviving pirates who will stand before justice for their acts. The situation of justice pursuit now falls upon
B’eekan.” Sean said.
“How is that possible, we are not pirates, nor do we provide haven for such criminals.” Said the Agent. Sean looked at the Sisters, they nodded that he spoke true.
“Because those three pirated ships lie tethered in your orbit.” Sean said. The Agent was startled, and turned to conduct an animated conversation with the others behind the glass. Sean could not hear what they were saying. This went on for quite a while until Sean interrupted,
“Perhaps we should sit down together and discuss this issue. I understand that you are placed in a difficult position. He said. The group once again turned to Sean and the Agent answered,
“In what manner do you believe you could help resolve this, what expertise or authority do you bring?” The Agent said curtly.
“Let me introduce my crew to help you assess. “Sean began to point at each member,
“This is my security Officer Doris Lang, Next to her is Rookt-Nab a legal savant, and finally the two Sisters of Mak’am, they are truth sensors and can detect thoughts of malice or untruth, they are never wrong in their detections.”
Is that all your crew captain?” The Agent asked.
“No, I have three other crew members not counting the ship’s AI. There is Welkt-Tor the ship’s engineer, Halkt-Bar our Navigator, and Jess’m-Tak our ship’s Doctor. Aboard the Domak, the escort ship, there are others but mostly military service members and I do not know their names. What is your concern?” Sean asked.
More animated conversation among the group behind the glass went on until finally some sort of consensus was reached. The Agent appeared to draw in a deep breath and pressed the ‘talk’ button,
We cannot sit together, and we cannot return the freighters. Our world is in chaos, we stand separated from you by a thick glass wall because our world is being consumed by a voracious, spreading plague we cannot stop, or even get under control. Our people are dying by the hundreds each day. We cannot even bury them since the plague cells grow within the grave using the remains and sprouts growths that spew spores into the air. Our deep religious beliefs, the only thing that is holding us together, does not allow cremation.”
He paused looking down for a minute and then continued,
“Those freighter ships are being used as a cemetery, since the plague cannot thrive in a vacuum.” He finished looking relieved to confess their plight. Sean turned to Rooky,
“What do you make of their situation?” He asked.
“Captain, it appears the ships were acquired in an ‘innocent’ purchase as defined by most law I’ve studied, so no crime has been committed by B’eekan. Ordinarily, they would be asked to return the vessels and suffer a financial loss and m
ust look to recover from the pirate Seller. As we know that can’t be successful, they have no assets that they did not steal from others. However, one could maintain that the ships have been soiled with the possibility of plague spores and should be written off as unrecoverable. The carrier will have recovered the cargo at the asteroid, so the loss is not total. Perhaps there would be an insurance claim that would make the carrier somewhat whole in this matter. In any case, I feel that B’eekan needn’t fear much of a recovery demand.” He finished. The group behind the glass had been listening and nodding their heads. Sean spoke up,
“Agent, my shipboard doctor’s specialty is infectious diseases. I am certain he will want a microscopic sample of the virus cells to examine to see if he knows of something to help. Would you permit him to see if he can assist? Can you arrange that?” Sean asked.
More animated discussion behind the glass ensued, and then,
“Yes, we can arrange that. Be extremely cautious Captain, this virus is living death, that’s why we isolate ourselves behind this glass. It’s not to protect us, it’s to protect you. It will take a solar to get a sample prepared and shuttled up. Please retire to your ship and we will notify you when the sample is ready.” he said.
Sean and the away team went back into the shuttle and awaited the portal door to open after which, they returned to the discovery. Allister had been listening to the discussion and sending it to the Domak. While listening he had Welly and the drones set up a decontamination booth in the shuttle/cargo bay. Both the shuttle interior and the crew were thoroughly decontaminated.
Two solars later, Dr. Jess’m-Tak with a deep sigh, lifted up from peering into his microscope to rub his back. Then he took off his eyeglasses and rubbed his eyes. He had been studying the virus cells for a whole day without any result either in identifying its provenance, or how to kill it.
“I’ve seen this virus before.” He thought. “This is the same strain I saw on Earth that killed Beztl-Tor.”
Once again, he tried multiple agents that had been successful against other known viruses. Some, the new virus just ate, others it ignored.
“Time for a break.” He thought, “My mind is getting muddled.” He left the setup as it was, and went through a decontamination chamber process from his lab aboard the Discovery after shedding all his hazmat protection, all to be destroyed in the lab incinerator. He headed for the dining room where Sean and Doris were sitting having lunch.
“Having any luck Doctor?” Sean asked, knowing the answer from the expression on the Doctor’s face.
“No, I’m sorry. I have never seen anything like this. This thing is scary, it actually eats some things that should kill it” He said as he walked over to the buffet to make himself a sandwich. He took the sandwich and a drink to the table and sat silently eating it allowing his mind to wander hoping some insight from his subconscious mind would give him an answer. Nobody disturbed him, but nothing came.
He finished up his lunch and brought his dishes over to the dish sanitizer and went to head back to the Lab. As he walked by Doris, she handed him a small bag of darkplant salted cubes to take with him and munch on. Hours later, he picked up the bag and threw a couple of cubes in his mouth. The Doctor loved salty treats and knew he shouldn’t be eating them but they were so good. While he was chewing, he went back to his microscope to look at another test. The virus looked just as healthy as it did before.
“Shit!” He said angrily, emphasizing the ‘t,’ and a small bit of darkplant cube spat out of his mouth onto the sample. A half hour later he came back with a new combination of antivirus agents to apply to the sample and when he looked at it, it was dead. Realization swept across his mind as he discarded that Petrie dish and made a clean sample of the virus. He chewed up some darkplant cubes and spit a small bit onto the dish. The virus began to die immediately!
Several days later the large darkplant sample that the Doctor had taken with him from Mutus Colonium had been converted into an anti-viral drug for the most critical patients who responded rapidly to the medication.
Sean was back aboard the B’eekan station meeting with Shatoom, elected leader of B’eekan, still behind the glass who said,
“Captain, it was the greatest of blessings that you came here even though the trip was founded upon the commission of crimes that made us a party. The deity moves in unexpected ways to bring blessings and sometimes travail. In this case it seems both were in store, but we are grateful. In another annual or two, all on our planet would be without breath.” Sean, using his ever-present translator, nodded and replied,
“I think we have solved several problems on this trip. They all please me, but helping people in distress is a benevolence I enjoy and this one could turn out to be good for a lot of people. The Darkplant that we used to make the antiviral medication is grown on a small colony called Mutus Colonium. It is a colony made up of persons who have been ostracized from their home planets because of social and business errors. They grow this plant as a food source and I am sure they will be glad to share enough to help you stamp out this infection. Some of them may wish to emigrate to B’eekan, and with their help, you might be able to establish this plant on your planet as a ready supply. I hope you will welcome them. Life is very hard on their tiny planet, water is scarce, and food more so. With your permission, I will return to them, give them your location, and ask them to bring more darkplant.” Sean said.
“Without question! Please do, tell them they are welcome, we have plenty of food to share in exchange.” Answered Shatoom quickly.
The Discovery, the Domak, and the recovered Corvette left B’eekan after establishing that B’eekan would welcome trading with Earth, the Council of Worlds, and the Twin Planets. They stopped at Mutus Colonium to provide them with the location coordinates of B’eekan and tell them of their immediate need for darkplant. Sean also told them, they were welcome for general trading and emigration. As they were preparing to leave Mutus Colonium, Sean invited the Captain and the XO of the Domak for a final dinner aboard the Discovery.
“Captain, this has been an adventure. After the peace treaty was signed between Lotma and Denknish, most of us in the military service wondered what will we do now?” Said Meeshlin-Hek, Captain of the Domak Destroyer.
“We started out thinking this was a babysitting mission. Hardly! It appears there will be work for us to do that is satisfying. I am sure we will be making another run to B’eekan and Mutus Colonium to deliver some aid products they need. Then, there is the need for exploration. While we were engaged in conflict, we never looked outward. Now, it is clear there are other worlds we should find.” He continued,
“Are you aware that there is statue of you at the Lotma War College?” The Captain asked. Sean was surprised, he knew nothing of this and blurted,
“Of me? Why?” Asked Sean.
“Well it’s a very dignified statue, it was made from a photo of you at the Funeral of Admiral Andregga. You are standing with your hands clasped in front. The engraved caption below says, “How can I help?” I thought it somewhat facetious for a war college, but I see now it’s not. Thank you. You stopped a war just by being humanely polite. Quite powerful and remarkable, really, and now you saved a whole planet from a plague.” He raised his glass to Sean who began to blush. The others at the table joined in with smiles.
After dinner and some preparation, The Domak and the Noullk set course for Lotma with their prisoners. The Discovery set their course for Hhearn.
The trip back to Hhearn was uneventful and their arrival was preceded by one of their courier drones alerting Hhearn they were on their way back. Allister docked the Discovery at the Hhearn orbiting station. Waiting for the Discovery crew to disembark was Nasht-Mer, Wally Henning Ambassador from Earth, and Maja-Ben investigator from SIS (state investigative service).
Sean and Doris came out along with the rest of the crew except for Halkt-Bar who would be OOD (officer of the deck) while the ship was docked. Allister could have filled that role
but Sean wanted to rotate his crew through responsible positions for experience. They all rode down to Hhearn on the same dock shuttle including the two Sisters of Mak’am who then floated off to return to the old Mill Den. It was now late in the Hhearnian solar, after greetings were exchanged Sean and Maja-Ben agreed to meet in the Senior Councilor’s office in the morning for a debriefing on the whole mission. Sean also had a commitment to speak on behalf of Mutus Colonium. But tonight, everyone just wanted to have a nice dinner, a few drinks and get some sleep.
The next morning Sean met Maja-Ben at the Senior Councilor Trakt-Men s Office.
“Captain Flynn, every time you dash off into the dark you bring back surprising and interesting tales, I am sure this will be another one of those sessions.” The Senior Councilor said as he settled himself into his chair and invited his guests to sit as well.
Sean began with his summons to Denknish,
“Councilor, the Council of Worlds ‘Honor Breakers,’ as they are called, have become so ostracized by the Council worlds, their lives have been destroyed in many cases, loss of homes, businesses, and ability to work for food. Many of them have fled over time, and have established themselves on an arid, hot, small planet the call Mutus Colonium where they are forced to live underground in order to survive. They have rebuilt their honor system and were unexpectedly witness to one of the freighters being hijacked. They recorded this event and wished to share the information for considerations of establishing trade and some kind of program of limiting individual terms of shunning. Right now, it is a lifetime sentence.” Sean reported.
He went on to explain they went to Denknish because of their fears of additional abuse. Their reports turned out not only to be true, but resulted in the capture and elimination of the Pirates, return of one freighter, recovery of a Lotma Corvette thought lost in the war, but actually seized by a mutiny, and almost all of the cargo from all four freighters. Sean believed this was an impressive outcome, and illustrated a commitment to ethical behavior. The Councilor was nodding his head, and then turned to Maja looking for confirmation. Maja nodded affirmatively.
