After answering a number of other more trivial questions this meeting was soon wound up and we were returned to our shuttle.
I whispered to Rachael, ‘‘I have a job for you. As we have not celebrated Christmas since we have been on Alkarr and as we are on Earth, or be it Earth’s orbit, we must do something about it. During your visit to our aunt and uncle can you get a tree with some decorations and a small present for every member of our family and I am sure you will not forget Sabrina; I do not want her to feel left out. Also you and I will prepare a Christmas dinner for everyone so they can get a taste of an Earth celebration. Here is a list of what food to get.’’ I passed her the list.
‘‘What a great idea,’’ replied Rachael taking the list from me.
I handed her most of money we still had from our last visit to Earth. We then made contact with our aunt to let her know Rachael would be visiting them and staying for at least one night or maybe two. We then hired a taxi to take her to their house. No sooner than she had departed than I asked Alenna to accompany me to the duty free shop, as I needed to get a present for Rachael. We then returned to the shuttle before taking off for the trip back to our cargo ship. It was 22nd of December and I wanted Rachael back on board for the morning of the 24th so we could set everything up for the following morning. I kept in regular contact with Rachael, getting updates from her every few hours. She had purchased a tree with lights and decorations along with some hanging decorations. The presents were generally toys for the younger children and art items for the older ones and for the wives hairbrush sets, not forgetting Yarkeli for whom she had a large puzzle as we know she liked to do things like that. Rachael had also purchased a hairbrush set for Sabrina as hair is such a big thing with Alkarrens and anything hair related is always appreciated. Rachael had various different Christmassy wrapping papers. Rachael and I would definitely have our work cut out wrapping all those presents.
Early on the 24th, Jenna, Luka and I went and collected Rachael from Earth. There was a lot of interest and curiosity from Jenna and Luka as to what was in all the boxes Rachael had with her. She had carefully hidden everything within plain cardboard boxes so as to not give anything away. On arrival at the cargo ship we took everything to the entertainment room then I locked both doors to the room informing Alenna that no one was to go in there as we had a surprise. Now it was not usually possible for me to be left in the entertainment room without one of the wives with me as Sabrina was on board so I had a choice to let Rachael do the setting up of the tree, decorations and wrapping the presents all by herself or let Alenna know, so she could chaperon me and help. I did not want to leave all the work for Rachael to do. On the other hand I wanted it to be a surprise for Alenna as well. As for the chaperoning, this was totally down to having Sabrina on board. I thought perhaps we could reverse the chaperoning and have Sabrina accompanied for a couple of hours instead of me. I pleaded with Alenna and after some humming and hawing she finally agreed, for this occasion only, but only for two hours. Luka and Perri were given the task and had to spend two hours with Sabrina in the galley, which quite frankly was not a problem because they both got on well with her. This left me able to help Rachael. The setting up of the tree and decorations did not take too long, but wrapping all the presents did and I was fast running out of time. Soon there was a knock on the door with the demand that time was up. I had no choice in the end, I had to leave it to Rachael to finish off and stack all the presents under the tree. I grabbed a piece of wrapping paper as I left. Lara escorted me to my man cave, where I set about wrapping Rachael’s present. It was not too popular that the entertainment room was out of bounds for that evening and they all kept asking what was going on in there. I just kept saying wait, you will all see first thing in the morning and then it will all become clear as day. I used one of the large monitors in the galley to entertain them all. I had found a Christmas family film to which they were all glued. I was endeavouring to get them into the Christmas spirit and it was starting to work. The children were up early the next morning as they were very curious as to what was in the entertainment room. After we had eaten breakfast all the family gathered outside the room. I unlocked the door and the children then rushed in, first with screams of excitement as they all headed for the tree and then stood there looking at the presents underneath.
Ellie bent down to look at the presents and said, ‘‘This has Misty’s name on it and this has Luka’s in fact they all seem to have someone’s name on.’’
They now turned to me to see what was to happen next. I said, ‘‘Looks like Santa has been. Merry Christmas everyone. All please take a seat.’’
I then nodded to Rachael. This was the sign for her to hand me the first present from under the tree.
‘‘Right,’’ I said holding a present, ‘‘this one is for… Honey.’’ I handed it to her and her mother Perri assisted her in opening the present. Rachael passed me the next present which was for another of my younger daughters. Rachael continued to pass the presents one by one until all had been given out.
I took out my present to Rachael and thrust it into her hand at the same time whispering to her, ‘‘Merry Christmas sis, it’s been a long time since we last had Christmas together.’’ I then kissed her on the cheek.
She had not forgotten me and handed me a present, I felt moved as I have not had a present given to me for many years.
Alenna said to me, ‘‘This surprise has been wonderful, do they always do this on Earth,’’
I replied, “A lot of countries celebrate Christmas this way and it’s not finished yet, there is a Christmas dinner that Rachael and I will be preparing. I am also hoping to rope Minty into helping us and she can also chaperon me.’’
I then put the monitor on in the room and selected another very Christmassy program for the family to watch and listen to as they enjoyed their presents. During the morning I asked Minty if she was willing to help do the dinner. She loves cooking so jumped at the chance. Minty was also intrigued to know what we were preparing for dinner, Minty Rachael and I went to the galley and started the cooking. As Alkarrens do not eat meat there could only be a few options. I had gone for salmon as everyone likes fish though no one has ever tried salmon it will be interesting to see how they like it. The meal consisted of salmon, new potatoes (these were an import to the UK as they are out of season). We also had peas and sprouts. Finally it was all topped with a cauliflower cheese sauce. For dessert there was a choice; Christmas pudding with custard or jelly and ice-cream. As predicted without exception all the children went for the jelly and ice-cream. As for the adults it was about half for one and half for the other. By the looks of it, some were not over enthusiastic with the Christmas pudding though the custard went down well. Finally later that day Rachael presented a large cake and some yummy chocolate biscuits. It had been a good day and everyone had enjoyed themselves. The next two days were spent just relaxing and enjoying the more family based programs from the broadcasters.
Then it was the day of the UN meeting where hopefully the terms of the alliance membership will be signed, it was unlikely we would hear anything early. It was late evening when I was contacted by the Prime Minster with good news. After much debate the terms of membership had been signed. Only four countries had abstained or left in a huff. The few others who had minor grievances had finally given in, as they did not wish to miss access to any advanced technology. All we had to do now was wait for the call to collect the ambassador and her daughter. This wasn’t received until the following day. I had been on tenterhooks then finally we had the call. Alenna, Lara and I boarded the shuttle to fly to the designated airport to collect them and very soon we had returned to our ship. Lara and Alenna again took control of the situation and I was taken by Jenna to the galley where Lumi and Perri were cleaning up after a meal, Jenna virtually ordering them to chaperon me before leaving to ret
urn where the ambassador was being entertained by Alenna and Lara.
Lumi invited me to take a seat. She then produced my meal that I had missed during the time I had gone to Earth to collect Erika and her daughter Sonja. I was somewhat hungry and thanked her. After I had finished the meal they then both accompanied me to the bridge where I started to prepare the ship ready for our return to Alkarr. When I was ready I called up Jenna as we needed her to do the calculations for us to star drive. I looked out of the bridge window at Earth while we waited for her. At this time I did know when I would be returning again. A week later we had arrived at back at Alkarr. At once the authorities were informed of our return. The priority now was for Alenna and Lara to escort the ambassador to the transport zone. After our family had said their goodbyes they left to proceed there. Later Alenna explained to me that on arrival a private shuttle was ready and waiting to take Erika and Sonja to a government building at a main city some way off. I was unaware at this point in time as I had not been informed to the fact, that last trip to Earth was to be the last time we would be transporting her anywhere. From now on Erika would have a seat on the alliance council and would be provided with her own chauffeured transport.
Chapter 3
Alto Along with an Incident
We had all made our way to our residence. Up to now we had shared it with Lara’s family. This was about to change. Lara’s family had now acquired their own residence in the city and that was not all, we were going back to Alto. Now Alto’s sun had now calmed down and returned to its previous state. As far as I can apprehend from the limited information I could obtain, it turned out to be due to a fairly small but extremely dense object that collided with the sun. Maybe a very small fragment from an exploding neutron star, if that is at all possible, but no one quite knows for sure. Anyway this had the effect of causing the sun to let’s say have convolutions or indigestion, though now it had subsided and had returned to its normal state. We were going back to Alto, this time to collect some of Lara’s family belongings from their residence on the planet. Alenna was arranging this as necessary family business and Lara will be coming with us on this occasion. I am as always, a little curious to see what effects it had on the planet; I already knew that almost a quarter of its atmosphere had been lost. I would have to wait and see as first we had a booking to deliver a cargo of rice to one of our usual clients, another trip to Relnor. From there we would hopefully procced to Alto. I had some time before we departed and it was important that I make that application to allow us to obtain the planetary defence frigates for Earth. Alenna had deviated from the usual where she did all the business just telling me it was your home world so it was up to you. All business involving any military equipment purchase to any alliance world had to be approved by the alliance council. I had a form to fill in which quite frankly was not easy as they wanted to know a lot of information, some I did not have to hand; anyway I made a start on it. I had at first filled in all the easy information. It came to weaponry information which required all the technical data and the yield of the weapons. Then I remembered, the original sales brochure had a link to further information. I accessed the information grid. This was equivalent to the internet on Earth. I found a huge wad of all the information that I would need. The Relnorians had not missed any details; everything was listed even down to the torque of the bolts required to hold the galley table down. After wading through all this data I eventually found the information that I required. Yield of weapon, energy requirement to charge weapon and estimated damage inflicted by the weapon; it was quite comprehensive. After finally filling all the information that was required, the form now needed to be sent to the ambassador on your planet to take to the next council meeting for discussion. I had a choice; I could send it to the Alkarren ambassador or Erika as both are stationed on Alkarr. After much consideration I choose the Alkarren ambassador. My reasoning was that Erika might not know the ropes and unfortunately might not realise what to do with the application until she had some experience and I could not take that chance.
The next day we loaded the cargo of rice on board. There were also a number of empty containers loaded at the same time; these were to be used for packing Lara’s family possessions. I was then told that two of Lara’s mothers from her house would be accompanying us. This did not worry me as I would not expect to be chaperoned as they were married. Though I would be expected to leave the room if they entered if I did not have one of my wives with me, odd that as I was never told to leave the room when I was alone with one of Alenna’s and her sisters mothers and for all that time we spent on their cargo ship. We were ready to leave. I powered up the ship then proceeded to orbit and soon we were in star drive. On a couple of occasions during the trip Lara’s mothers walked into the galley when I was all alone in there, I thought it was a silly rule and did not leave. After all they felt relaxed talking to me and in the end nothing happened or was said by Alenna, besides the children were always running in and out of the galley anyway. Two days after leaving Relnor we finally arrived at Alto. A number of Alkarrens had already returned to their homes on Alto, though at this time there wasn’t any control of any transport ships arriving so we could land wherever we liked. Lara’s residence had a lot of land around it so I took the opportunity to land the ship right next to their residence. The atmospheric pressure was now very close to that which we experienced on Relnor though already it had increased a couple of millibars due to the volcanic activity on the planet. As I stepped outside the first thing to strike me was all the dead vegetation; this world had been truly radiated. Life is very resilient and here and there green shoots of vegetation were beginning to protrude from sheltered areas and there was also the odd insect still buzzing about. Lara along with her mother’s took command and instructed us to what they needed, which was then packed into the containers. They were not that sure if they would return here in the near future so almost everything was packed away into these containers. They had acquired a lot of belongings during their life and time on Alto. It was soon time to leave I could see Lara’s two mothers had tears in their eyes, their life had been good on Alto and they were sad not to be staying.
As we came into land at the cargo port on Alkarr I went to perform the usual manoeuvre of lining up the ship but instead of turning to starboard as would be expected when turning the control stick that way, it continued to drift to port.
‘‘What the…!’’ I cried.
‘‘What’s wrong?’’ said Jenna alarmingly. She was sitting next to me.
‘‘I have lost control of direction!!!’’ I shouted. Everybody was now alarmingly aware of our predicament and the ship was slowly spinning round and around. I put the control stick hard over against its stop with no reaction at first then slowly we came out of the spin. I was now able to line up with our landing zone with some difficulty before slowly lowering the ship to a touchdown.
“What do you think is wrong?’’ Alenna said worryingly.
I replied, “I believe we have lost control of our primary directional thruster on the port side front, which pushes us to starboard. I was only able to stop the spin with the small secondary thruster which fires when the control is hard over.’’
Alenna was now concerned and said, “What can we do about it? We have a number of contacts to fulfil and we can’t spare the time being idle.’’
After checking the computer to ascertain where the fault might be I received a zero response, which did not surprise me as the Relnorians would not want us trying to do any repairs ourselves. I finally spoke up with my answer “There is only one choice,’’ I pronounced, “It’s very important… we need to go to Relnor and have it sorted out, asap.’’
Alenna got out her log and started to study it before saying, “How can we fit it in. We have to be at Molk in six days to collect a consignment of fish.’’
I replied to her, “
As I said we have no choice. It is dangerous to ignore this problem. We can’t make any fast turns. We must find time to have this fault fixed. I am sorry you will not have time to visit your mothers or even be able to leave the ship as its imperative that we leave very soon.’’ I continued with, “You know how the Relnorians work, they will want to look at the problem straight away. If it takes a day to fix we can still get to Molk on time from Relnor.’’
We still had to unload Lara’s families’ containers. Once this was done Alenna left Lara and her mother’s on Alkarr to organise their transport to the city. Everyone who had helped apart from Lara had now returned to the cargo ship and taken their seat on the bridge. The wives who had not yet contacted their mothers due to being busy with the unloading, all now started to call them up on their communicators to inform them what had happened. I proceeded to return to orbit with very gentle turns, although at speed I could always vary the main engine drive each side to alter direction. I was also careful to line the ship up in the direction we would be heading to in star drive, so the computer would not have to turn the ship sharply once the star drive was engaged. Once in star drive the computer would take a direct route to our destination. The second to last thing for Jenna to do before we entered star drive was for her to file our new flight plan and soon as that was done she did her final thing which of course was the calculations we needed to star drive. We were soon on our way to Relnor. We made our way towards our destination. There was no problem while in star drive. On arrival we headed towards the space vessel servicing port. It was not that easy to perform a normal landing, as the ship had the tendency to drift to port. The knack was just to give a very slight blast of the port directional thruster on the starboard side, while giving the secondary, that’s the one for starboard direction on the port side a much longer blast and being careful not to over compensate. After landing Alenna and Jenna left to report the problem with our cargo ship, Jenna always does the communications with a Relnorian as she is almost fluent in Zeln whereas Alenna is good. As for myself I can just barely get by. Alenna and Jenna returned to the ship. We now had to wait. As I said before they would want to look at the problem asap and it was not long before two Relnorians dressed in smart uniforms entered our ship. First they needed to be taken to the bridge. These two could not speak Zeln so sort of gestured the direction they wanted to go with us to. Once on the bridge I watched them remove an inspection plate under the computer console, where I could observe a connection interface. One of them then took an instrument from one of the bags they were carrying before plugging it into this terminal. The one who did this then started looking at the information she had downloaded before nodding at the other who then nodded back at her, as if she was in agreement with her before communicating to her in their language. They put their instrument back in its bag and replaced the inspection cover, before indicating where they now wanted to go next. Alenna, Jenna and I followed them. They went down a deck and stopped outside my man cave and indicated they wanted to go in there.
Chronicles of Jake 2: The Invasion Begins Page 3
