by Bob Blanton
“So?”
“Breakfast for two.”
“Oh.”
“That and the fact that Miguel didn’t eat in the restaurant at his hotel those days. Ipso Facto, they must have been together.”
“Well, he was pretty hot.”
“I’m happy for her. She hasn’t been with anyone since Logan.”
“You can’t count that; he was spying on her.”
“But he was romancing her. She had fun.”
“Well when we get back, you can go in and get Dr. Metra to do a makeover so you’ll be able to get around as Alex or whoever. Then you and Yvette can go shopping for men.”
Board Meeting – Oct 3rd
“Good day, everyone. This should be a quick meeting,” Marc announced once his Comm showed that everyone was logged in. “Fred any business issues we need to deal with?”
“Not anything that can’t wait or isn’t in the monthly report. It seems we have more important things to spend our time on.”
“You would think, but the galaxy keeps spinning. Last week, I had to deal with a colonist who decided he would help us out by picking the choicest piece of land and moving out of his condo and onto it.”
Everyone laughed at the thought of Marc dealing with such minutia, much less the audacity of the colonist.
“Dr. Metra?”
“It’s in my weekly report, but our process for growing and delivering organs for transplants is up and running. We’re meeting twenty percent of the world-wide demand now and should be able to ramp up to seventy percent by the end of the year. We’ve had a dozen emergency requests, where we needed to ship one of the pregrown organs. So far, they’ve all been a success. We’ll have to see whether the patients decide to have an operation to replace them with one grown from their own DNA, or just go on with the pregrown organ.”
“That’s excellent news. I’m sure we’re all very proud of the accomplishment. Now, Kal, anything to report?”
“Most of my Marines have deployed to Onisiwo, so things are quiet here. Chief Nawal has everything under control and the Prime Minister seems to be happy.”
“Good. Then let’s turn our attention to what’s on all of our minds, Onisiwo. Blake, what’s the status?”
“We’re still playing cat and mouse with the Fazullans. They send a probe through, we destroy it. The probe we sent into their system is continuing to send data back, but we haven’t found a key vulnerability yet. But we’ll keep looking.”
“Have you contacted the Onisiwoens yet?” Samantha asked.
“We’re waiting until the probe gets closer. Don’t want to have too much delay. Hopefully, we’ll awe them with our technology.”
“I think the fact that you’re in their system should be enough to awe them,” Kal said.
“One would think.” Marc laughed a bit. “Now Catie and Samantha, how goes it with our erstwhile allies, the Paraxeans?”
“They’re pretty much committed,” Samantha said. “We have a few more issues to iron out, but I’m sure we’ll get there this week.”
“Good. So Admiral Michaels, what about Earth?”
“I think we’ll get there. They still don’t get the idea of a United Earth, but fear that the Paraxeans will come out as the dominant race in the galaxy should be a big enough stick to get their attention.”
“Anything we can do?”
“Get the Onisiwoens and Paraxeans on board, but give me a few days’ lead time. Earth is going to want to be first. That’s my ace in the hole.”
“Okay, anyone else? . . . No, then get back to it.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Cer Catie, the captain is preparing to make the first communication with the Onisiwoens,” ADI informed Catie.
“Tell Charlie to meet me in my office in twenty minutes.”
“Done.”
Catie got up, it was 0500 ship time. She hurried through her morning routine and then got dressed. A message from Samantha told her to wear her dress uniform.
Charlie arrived wearing a version of an Onisiwoen uniform that they’d had made for him.
“You’re finally going to contact my people?” Charlie asked.
“Yes. Please be seated and we’ll join the conference.”
Catie turned on the main display. Blake was wearing his admiral’s uniform, her father was wearing the fancy uniform they had designed for him as governor of Artemis, and Samantha was wearing a uniform similar to Catie’s.
“We’re preparing to open the channel,” Marc said.
“Daddy,” Catie said, “you know that as soon as you make contact, the relay cat will be out of the bag.”
“Yes, I assume Charlie has already deduced that we have faster-than-light Comms, so unless you’re going to keep him on the Roebuck, I think that ship has sailed.”
“Okay,” Catie said, glancing at Charlie who was giving her a stare. “I thought we might be able to fool you.”
Charlie snorted.
“This is President Marc McCormack, with whom am I speaking?”
“This is General Zeemar and Ambassador Tuleian. Can you explain who you are and what this dire emergency is?”
“We will. Would you like to join via video link?” Marc asked.
“Of course we would,” the general said. It took a couple of minutes before the general and the ambassador’s images showed up on the monitor. At that point, Marc ordered ADI to add the video link to their transmission.
“Who are you?” General Zeemar demanded as he realized that he was not looking at Onisiwoens.
“I’m hoping you can recognize Charlie,” Marc said.
Charlie leaned forward. “General, I am Charmaxiam Margakava; I was the leader of the mission to Ditubria. I believe we’ve met.”
“You do look like Charmaxiam Margakava, but that mission was lost over five years ago.”
“We were captured by an alien starship and taken prisoner. These people rescued us.”
“I don’t believe you. This must be a hoax. With a little makeup, it would be easy to make someone look like your friends there.”
“General, we are communicating via a satellite which is trailing your planet. We are now going to push that satellite into orbit around your planet. It will enter here. Please do not try and destroy it,” Marc said.
As the satellite moved into orbit, Charlie shared details of his mission and the parameters the crew had been given. The general continued to be doubtful of the situation.
“General, the satellite is now entering orbit; your space station should be able to see it now. Here are the coordinates,” Marc said.
“Why isn’t your ship entering orbit?” the general asked.
“General, this is Admiral Blake McCormack. Our ships are at the fringe of your solar system preparing to defend it against the aliens that attacked Charlie and his crew. We cannot afford to spend the time and resources to send a crewed vessel to your planet.”
“McCormack, are all of you people named McCormack?”
“General, let me finish the introductions,” Marc said. “With me is my wife and our interstellar ambassador, Samantha Newman; you’ve met my brother, the admiral; and with Charlie is my daughter, Captain Princess Catherine McCormack. She was leading the mission to return Charlie and his crew to your world when we detected the enemy vessels preparing to invade your solar system. Admiral Blake McCormack was called to bring a fleet to help defend your system.”
An aide entered the room where the General was and handed him a note.
“Okay, we can see your satellite, but if you’re out at the fringe, how come we don’t have a delay?”
“We are able to have instant communication with the satellite, which is why we only have a thirty-second delay with you.”
“Ah, quantum coupling?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, so what do you want us to do? We cannot send anything out that far,” the General said.
“We thought it only right that we communicate with you before we started a small war on the fring
e of your system.”
“What makes you think these aliens are invading us?”
Samantha leaned forward, signaling she would take over the discussion. “General, we had expected that the Fazullans, who are the alien race we’re talking about, would just attempt to raid your system for resources. But when Princess Catherine arrived in your system, we detected an entire fleet preparing to enter your system. It is our belief that they intend to colonize your planet and remove or enslave your population.”
“Why would they do that?”
“Our best guess is that something has happened to their system to make yours far more desirable. We assume you’d prefer not to be conquered.”
“Yes, of course not. But . . .”
“General,” Catie interrupted. “Do you know what a wormhole is?”
“Some scientific mumbo jumbo about space-time.”
“Well, they are real,” Catie said. “We have developed a drive that allows us to form a wormhole. We are not aware of any other race capable of doing so. We first met the Fazullans at our colony of Artemis. After investigation, we determined that their home system was next to a natural wormhole that moves between three different systems as the stars around it move.”
“This is insane!”
“General, please,” the Onisiwoen ambassador said. “Princess Catherine, please continue.”
“Apparently about ten years ago, the wormhole made a significant shift. After that, it started to connect with your system. We would guess that this is the first habitable system it has connected with, and of course, you are inhabiting it.”
“So where are these Fazullans?” the ambassador asked.
“They are currently on their side of the wormhole,” Blake said. “They are still trying to ascertain whether the wormhole is connected with your system.”
“I don’t understand,” the general said.
“They left a satellite in your system that they can connect with by sending a small probe through the wormhole. Since the wormhole moves around, they have been waiting for it to move to your system. We have disabled their satellite.”
“So does that mean we’re safe?” the ambassador asked.
“No. They launched a large probe, essentially another satellite a few days ago. We destroyed it. But they will keep trying.”
“Can’t you just keep destroying it?”
“Possibly; however, the wormhole jumps around inside your system, so it is likely that it will jump to a location out of range of our weapons,” Blake explained. “At that point, they’ll know what is in this system.”
“Won’t your fleet discourage them, make them go home?”
“We don’t think they can go home,” Blake said. “They have the ability to put their people into stasis, so they can survive for years while they wait. The wormhole will be in your system for . . .”
“Three to four months,” Catie added.
“Thank you. And unfortunately, their fleet is much larger than our fleet,” Blake said.
“Then how do you plan to help us?” the ambassador asked.
“We are asking for help from other civilizations,” Samantha said. “We have gotten the commitment for another space carrier from one of our allies and we are negotiating for more from their homeworld.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?”
“What we all want, and what will help, is trade,” Samantha said.
“But interstellar trade, how can that work?”
“Well, it just so happens that Princess Catherine has a company that does just that. It is capable of making a trip between two worlds in just six weeks. Its cargo capacity probably exceeds the capacity of your largest ocean cargo ship.”
“This is giving me a headache. It is so much to comprehend,” the ambassador said.
“I would like to propose that we set up a meeting between you, your trade ministers, and myself. We can let these military types go back to figuring out how to win this war, and we can figure out how to win the peace,” Samantha said.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Ambassador Newman expects to sign an agreement tonight,” Admiral Michaels announced. “She has already gotten a tentative agreement with the Onisiwoens.”
“Has she maintained alignment with us?” the Chinese ambassador asked.
“She has maintained alignment with the principles we set out, but she has not attempted to incorporate all this drivel that you people keep coming up with.”
“How dare you!”
The American ambassador leaned in and took the floor. “Look, if we want this treaty to have Earth as its core, we need to make some decisions. President Novak is adamant that she intends to sign an agreement with Delphi so that America is a primary signatory, so unless you want to have every country making its own decision you need to quit this quibbling and come to an agreement.”
“Yes, and my president also intends to do the same,” the Russian ambassador said.
“What are we calling this thing we’re trying to create?” the French ambassador asked.
“The League of Planets,” Admiral Michaels said, wondering how someone could have attended two weeks of negotiation and not already know that.
“We should find a way to stamp Earth on the name,” the French ambassador said.
“I don’t think any of the other worlds are going to be interested in joining the Earth League of Planets,” the German ambassador said.
“But can’t we add some modifier that is uniquely from Earth? What about United Federation of Planets?”
“Unfortunately, the Paraxeans are well familiar with Star Trek. They’ll spot that right away,” Admiral Michaels said.
“What about the Delphi League of Planets?” the British ambassador asked. “It’s uniquely from Earth and Delphi has started all this. Who wouldn’t want to acknowledge the people who invented the jumpdrive and made all this possible?”
“Can we focus on the treaty and worry about the name later?” Admiral Michaels pleaded.
◆ ◆ ◆
As soon as Catie finished her final meeting with the Paraxean president, she hurried to the Lynx and headed back to the Roebuck.
“Set course for the fringe, ten-G profile,” Catie ordered as soon as she entered the bridge. She would have ordered them to break orbit earlier, but nobody could walk around when under a ten-G profile acceleration.
“Aye-aye, Captain. Ten-G profile.”
The ship's speakers blared out, “Prepare for high G acceleration, acceleration in five minutes.”
“Breaking orbit now,” the pilot announced. “Course plotted.”
“Very well,” Catie replied.
◆ ◆ ◆
“The Fazullans launched a second probe. Strategy meeting in five,” Blake announced.
“Did you destroy it?” Catie asked.
“Meeting in five!”
Once everyone logged into the meeting, Blake provided an update.
“The Fazullans launched a second probe. They did this right after the wormhole transitioned to a new location, so we had to use a laser to destroy the probe.”
“How long did it take?” Admiral Michaels asked.
“Thirty seconds to get a targeting solution,” Blake answered. “We decided we couldn’t afford to wait until we reached the range of the plasma cannons.”
“So what’s that going to tell them?” Admiral Michaels asked.
“Do you think any of the wreckage transitioned back?”
“Likely.”
“Then they’ll know something destroyed it. They haven’t sent another one through yet?” Catie asked.
“No.”
“Hmm, I wonder why not.”
“I’m guessing they realized that someone is here and destroyed it. So they’re trying to figure out how to get better information,” Blake said.
“I recommend you expect a series of probes next time,” Admiral Michaels said. “They’re going to want to get more data.”
“Any reason not to
use the lasers now?”
“I recommend we continue to use plasma cannons for now. We want to reduce the probability of wreckage transitioning back through the wormhole. We don’t know for sure that any wreckage made it back. It’s best if we can keep them guessing.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“What happened to our probe?” demanded the Fazullan admiral.
“It appears to have been destroyed. Some minor wreckage transitioned back through the wormhole, indicating that it exploded.”
“Why?”
“Because it would have taken the force of an explosion to create enough reverse . . .”
“Not that, you idiot; why did the probe explode?”
“Either it hit something, or a starship is sitting by the wormhole and destroyed it.”
“Who? The Onisiwoens were barely exploring past their second gas giant. There is no way they would have developed the technology to reach the fringe yet.”
“I cannot explain it.”
“Then what good are you?! I want you to send another probe through, but wait until the wormhole wanders again!”
“It will take us two days to get a probe into place again.”
“Why?!”
“We have to move it up to the wormhole. We only sent one probe to the wormhole and it has been destroyed.”
“Idiots! Why didn’t we position more probes?”
“We didn’t expect to need them.”
“Move at least four up there. I want to be prepared.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Captain, do you want to start deceleration?” the navigator asked Catie.
“No, we’ll deal with our velocity when we get to Onisiwo,” Catie replied. “I want to get into the system as fast as we can, but cut acceleration so the crew can move around.”
“Aye, cut acceleration.”
“How will we manage two jumps?” First Officer Suzuki asked. Since they did not have jump probes in place between Paraxea and Onisiwo, they were going to have to jump to Earth and then jump to Onisiwo.
“We’ll let Earth power the jump to them, then we’ll power the jump to Onisiwo. That will make things easier since they won’t have to adjust for our velocity and vector when we do the second jump.”
“I see, thank you for the explanation, Captain.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“The wormhole just moved,” the Sakira’s sensor operator announced.
