by S. H. Jucha
“We have it now,” Miriamette replied.
Sunnamis blinked, and Sargut and Suntred flashed their teeth. They’d enjoyed the governor’s reaction.
“I’ll have it converted to a Toralian sheet for you,” Miriamette continued. “After we’ve agreed on the items and quantity, we’ll pay market price upon delivery.”
“Freight charges are in addition to market price,” Sunnamis pointed out.
“You would operate your freighters from Talus after your delivery, wouldn’t you?” Sargut asked.
“That would be my intention,” Sunnamis replied cautiously.
“We’ve several mining sites that are being resurrected. They should be operational soon after you return. I would think the shipping of those products to Toralian colonies and other races would be extremely lucrative,” Sargut slyly suggested.
Sargut and Suntred knew that the three freighters that Artifice had operated were only system capable, but they kept that information to themselves. Exposing that fact would give Sunnamis greater leverage in the negotiations.
“Would exclusive shipping contracts be offered me?” Sunnamis proposed.
“No,” Julien said bluntly. “Exclusivity wouldn’t be on the table. You can expect Omnians to compete for the contracts, which would give President Sargut the opportunity to choose the fairer proposal.”
Sunnamis thought to argue, but the eyes of the Omnians, who stared at her, were hard. She knew she’d pushed too far.
“Understood,” Sunnamis offered in a conciliatory tone. “I can see the ways of colonial business won’t be available here.”
“Correction, Governor,” Sargut said. “Won’t be tolerated here.” When Sunnamis tipped her head in acknowledgment, he added, “Let’s discuss your passenger liner. We’re expecting a flow of citizens once individuals stop interfering in our society.”
Sunnamis momentarily ducked her head at the guilt she felt for participating in the interference. Regaining her composure, she asked, “What travel are your citizens expecting?”
“Our fleet captains have communicated with their crews,” Sargut explained. “Some want to return to their colonies. Others, who are unmated, want to remain. Still others want to retrieve their mates and young to settle on Toral.”
“My liner could provide these services,” Sunnamis said. “The citizens would be charged a fair price,” she quickly added, glancing toward Julien, who had raised an eyebrow. The SADE had made it clear that the Omnians would ensure no one took advantage of the nascent society.
“I think we have the basis of a mutual understanding,” Sargut said. “Miriamette and you can conclude your discussions about cargo. Is there anything more you wish to discuss?”
There was a great deal more, but Sunnamis realized she’d been outmaneuvered. Business wouldn’t follow colonial norms in this system. Maybe that’s a good thing, she thought, but it will be a shock to the colonies’ business owners who come here looking for opportunities.
* * *
Sunnamis’s fleet sailed.
Hector’s auxiliary fleet had transited and was making its way in system, and the Freedom, in the company of Hector’s Trident fleet, was sailing toward Toral.
In the evening, a group sat in the Freedom’s owner suite.
“Sargut, what about your fleet … the battleships themselves?” Alex asked.
“They don’t belong to us, to Talus,” Sargut said, lifting his hands in defeat. “They must be returned to my former colony.”
“Yet?” Alex queried, sensing an extenuating point.
“I’m waiting for a message from the governor requiring their return,” Sargut added, displaying his teeth.
“Do you expect that soon?” Renée asked.
“We’re thinking the exposure of the governors’ treachery will prevent our colony’s citizens and their governor from expediting that summons,” Suntred interjected. “They’ll not want to be seen to be acting in the same manner.”
“Is that because they want to be received warmly by you when they visit the home world?” Julien asked.
“We believe so,” Sargut replied.
“How much time do you think you have?” Alex asked.
“Unknown,” Sargut replied. “Do you have commitments that would take you elsewhere, Alex?”
Sargut had been dreading this moment. The Omnians had provided protection, while Sargut struggled to rebuild the system’s basic services. The greatest challenge was the woefully unpopulated system. If it weren’t for the sisters, progress would have been minimal.
“It’s the three battleship fleets, which have crossed the wall toward our worlds, that has us unnerved,” Tatia explained.
“A Haraken explorer ship and a Trident encountered one of the fleets,” Julien added. “Those two ships are headed inward at this moment. They’re accompanied by an auxiliary fleet of freighters.”
“Knowing your technology, I would think you have imagery of this fleet,” Sargut said.
Alex activated the holo-vid, which rose out of the low-level table between them. Julien retrieved the relevant vids from Hector’s telemetry data.
The imagery had made only a brief appearance before Sargut uttered, “Gotlians.”
“Gotlians,” Alex repeated. “Okay, what can you tell us about them?”
“You know them better than I do, Suntred,” Sargut offered.
“They’re a poor race, Alex, who inhabits a single system,” Suntred said. “They developed on a planet with an enormous amount of water. In fact, they’re ocean dwellers who’ve had to adapt to changing conditions over the ages.”
“They’re poor and an aquatic race, but they have a battleship fleet?” Renée queried.
“They didn’t construct those ships,” Sargut said. “They’ve some unique items coveted by many races, and the Gotlians trade for goods.”
“Why would the Gotlians need battleships to protect their world, if what they had to trade was so valuable?” Julien asked.
“They don’t,” Suntred replied. “The Gotlians are in dire trouble. Their system is old, extremely old, and their star has been expanding. The Gotlians might never have left their waters, if hadn’t been for the enormous amount of evaporation taking place, increasing the oceans’ salinity. The battleships are for their protection and transport, as their race seeks an alternate home world.”
“Apparently, they found one,” Alex said, and Julien shifted the holo-vid display to show a closeup of the water world.
“That planet would be extremely attractive to the Gotlians,” Suntred remarked.
“What do you intend to do about them?” Sargut asked.
“Unknown,” replied Alex, using Sargut’s preferred response in these circumstances.
“Our concern has been that these fleets could be raiders, or they could be attempting to establish new colonies near human worlds,” Tatia explained.
“Do the Omnians or humans, in general, expect to claim all the worlds between theirs and federacy territory?” Sargut asked.
The question halted conversation. It took the Omnians by surprise.
“That is a question that requires contemplation,” Julien temporized. “We’ve been preoccupied with defending our worlds from Artifice’s spheres and probes. Every Artifice ship or device we encountered tried to kill us. You’ll forgive us if we’ve become overly defensive in our thinking.”
Sargut ducked his head in apology, and said, “You’ve done much for my race, and I’m being rude to you.”
“No, you aren’t,” Alex replied. “Your question is valid, but it does require we adjust our thinking.”
Renée had been making thé for humans and bringing fruit juices to the Toralians. When she heard Sargut’s loaded question, she set her tray down and stood behind Alex. She laid her hands protectively on his shoulders.
To Suntred, Renée’s actions emphasized the burden they’d just placed on the Omnian leader. In essence, they were requesting he consider each race’s acquisition of any
world beyond the wall that approached human worlds. It was an impossible task on so many levels.
“Do you know anything about the other two races who left the federacy territory and headed in the same direction as the Gotlians?” Tatia asked.
“The Dutterites were one of those,” Sargut replied. “They should concern you. Artifice preferred to use them to eliminate other races. They were enthusiastic participants.”
“And the other fleet?” Tatia prompted.
“Unknown,” Sargut replied.
Soon after, the Toralians retired for the evening, and the Omnians continued the conversation.
“Stay or go … it’s an awkward choice,” Tatia said.
“I was hoping Sunnamis might help Sargut defend Talus,” Alex said.
“She’s gone, and Sargut might lose his battleships at any time,” Tatia said, summing up Talus’s dire situation.
“According to the station’s construction schedule, it’ll be nine more months before Talus has four squadrons of Tridents,” Julien noted.
“Hardly a fleet,” Tatia noted. “We’d have to protect Talus and the Toralians for another eighteen months before they’re able to field a full-sized fleet and defend themselves.”
“There is the replacement fleet,” Julien suggested.
“Untested,” Tatia said dismissively.
“Hmm,” Alex said softly, and the others regarded him closely.
-18-
Rendezvous
The Freedom and Hector’s Trident commands made Toral’s orbit, joining the Our People. Close behind them were the auxiliary fleet with the super freighters, a Trident squadron, the Guardian, and the Sojourn.
Most of the explorer crew was released to visit the Freedom and renew acquaintances with old friends. This was especially true for Alex and Renée, who met Teague and Ginny as they stepped off a traveler.
Crews from the various ships spent days mixing while aboard the city-ships.
Mickey and his teams checked the inventory of the super freighters and saw to the distribution of their cargoes to other ships. Most of it went to fill the holds of Alex’s freighters. However, there was much more than those ships could take, and the freighter crews moved on to the city-ships.
When Mickey realized that he still had material to offload from the mammoth super freighters, he sold the excess to Toral. Sargut and Miriamette gratefully accepted the unexpected find. Of course, payment to the Omnians was expected to be delayed.
After a full day and an evening with Teague and Ginny, Alex and Renée went to bed late. In the early morning, Renée woke to find her partner gone.
About that time, Alex was landing aboard the Our People to meet with Hector. The two shared some quiet conversation, which Alex found relaxing, until he was required to focus on business.
“There’s only one sister in your fleet,” Alex commented.
“It was our decision that copying Miriamopus prematurely wasn’t warranted until we knew that we’d found you,” Hector replied. “The equipment is in place on every ship and set to a pass-through mode.”
“You’re aware of what the sisters have chosen to do,” Alex said. “We can presume Miriamopus has been in touch with them. Have you asked her what she wants to do?”
“She hasn’t shared a decision with me,” Hector replied.
“Then let’s go ask her,” Alex encouraged.
Hector smiled to himself. To a SADE, saying you wanted to visit a sister’s box to hold a conversation defied the norms of communication. SADEs communicated with one another at any time and from any location. Nearness wasn’t a prerequisite. In fact, it was deemed a waste of time and energy. But that’s why Hector enjoyed his time with Alex.
The city-ship’s central comm and telemetry towers extended from the top to the bottom of the ship’s hull through the central hub’s axis, and they linked in a service room. The comm interception equipment was installed inside the room. Near the equipment and connected to it was a small dark box where Miriamopus was housed.
Miriamopus’s sound for humor echoed through Alex’s implant.
Hector’s assent was a wail of his favorite oscillating siren.
Miriamopus held a SADE-to-SADE conversation with Hector that took ticks of time. She wanted to understand why Alex was mixing penetrating questions with simplistic statements.
Miriamopus sent.
Alex broke out in booming laughter, and Miriamopus and Hector added their own cacophony of sounds.
When Alex and Hector left Miriamopus, Alex thought about why Miriamopus wanted to remain aboard the city-ship. He could detect Hector’s influence in her responses. She was impatient with human foolishness, which was a good sign, and she’d adopted Hector’s witty style, which he loved. The Sisterhood and she had definitely parted ways.
* * *
Hector received the pilot’s signal that Asu, Willem, and Adrianna were arriving, and he directed a crew member to bring them to a conference room near the bridge.
Alex greeted his old friends, Asu and Willem, with generous hugs. When he offered his hand to Adrianna, she quipped, “No hug for me?”
“I’m on a diet,” Alex replied, taking a seat.
Adrianna chastised herself. You’ll have to earn your hug, she thought.
“I want to know about the Gotlians,” Alex said. To the confused faces, he added, “That’s the race you encountered at the water world. I’ve seen the telemetry.”
Asu understood what Alex wanted. He flashed back decades to when he’d first met the fledgling New Terran admiral. He’d been confused when Alex had asked him and other Méridien liner captains to look for any oddities in the machinations of a Nua’ll sphere. To his surprise, he’d detected critical anomalies.
“In my estimation, they aren’t an aggressive race,” Asu
said. “Their pursuit of the Sojourn was nonexistent and that of the Guardian was weak.”
“I’d say inept. Their tactics were crude and easily evaded, I’m happy to say,” Adrianna added.
“You did well, Admiral,” Alex replied. When he first saw Adrianna, he was momentarily taken aback. She could easily have been Tatia’s younger sister, except where one was blonde, this one was raven haired.
“According to President Sargut’s liaison, Suntred, the Gotlians have a single system. They’re aquatic creatures and desperate for a new home world,” Alex explained.
“That makes sense,” said Adrianna, as if it answered a question that had bothered her. “They went out of their way to ensure their armament was aimed away from the water world.”
“Another thing, the Gotlians didn’t build those battleships. They purchased them or rather they traded for them,” Alex continued.
“Another mystery solved,” Willem said, pointing at Adrianna. “Inept tactics … they aren’t warriors.”
“Have you heard Orly’s and Smitty’s stories?” Adrianna asked.
“Who hasn’t?” Alex quipped.
“And the monster continues to grow,” Asu commented, with a chuckle.
“I’m thinking by now the Gotlians have discovered what lurks in those waters,” Adrianna said. “They might have moved on.”
Alex chose to test the flexibility of Adrianna’s reasoning. He said to her, “You’re Gotlian. You’re a water creature. Your world is dying. Your race isn’t aggressive. You’re thrilled to find an unoccupied water world. It has some drawbacks … denizens of the deep.”
When Alex finished, he continued to regard Adrianna. He liked what he saw. She wasn’t challenged by his summation. He could see thoughts churning in her mind and reflected in her eyes.
“I wouldn’t leave,” Adrianna said. “Finding the water world would seem too good to be true. Maybe I fought similar challenges in my home world’s waters. My race would find ways to surmount them.”
“Well said,” Alex remarked. He scanned the three individuals across the table — Asu, Willem, and Adrianna. “So, what’s your advice?” he asked.
