James Wittenbach - Worlds Apart 03

by Bodicea

  “I am sure I don’t.”

  Two paws appeared at the top of the couch. With a heave, Queequeg brought himself up.

  “Why would you risk this ship and our whole mission over those ungrateful females?”

  “You’re a cat, that’s what I would expect you to say.”

  “Let me ask you this, boss. How many colonies are on our actual itinerary.”

  “One hundred sixteen,” Keeler answered.

  Queequeg looked shocked that the commander knew the answer. “Supposing we do end up paying call on all one hundred eleven. Statistically speaking, at least forty of them, probably more, are going to be dead. You were lucky. Your world survived, but a lot of human worlds didn’t. Medea didn’t. If the Bodicéans want to stare oblivion in the face and say, ‘Come and get us,’ then I think the universe has selected them for extinction, based on stupidity. If you talk to the Old Man, he’ll tell you the same thing.”

  Keeler downed his shot, which went straight to his gut like a burning meteor. “I am going to talk to the Old Man, after Lear gets back, and I will ask him.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  The pace of activity in the War Room had quickened, urgency electrified the air. Four tactical personnel on full-time watch monitored every move of the Aurelian fleet, still holding position behind the orbital margin of the sixth planet, as it had for six local days. Additional personnel at other displays kept tabs on the Aves, Shrieks, and probes that were off- Pegasus.

  Lear had returned from her mission, and met with Keeler, Miller, Honeywell, and Tamarind. She provided them with an accounting of her meeting with Coronado, leaving out the parts dealing with hot baths, wine, and nudity; a secret she would take to her grave.

  “The good news is, Coronado is willing to negotiate with us.”

  “Is she?” Keeler asked dubiously.

  “I was sent with a message from her. They know we are preparing to defend the planet, and they have invited to begin peace talks aboard the Aurelian World-Ship.”

  “Right,” Keeler said skeptically.

  “And they will hold off on any action against Bodicéa while Peace Talks are going on.”

  “Was she thinking about bombing them while she made the offer?”

  “Nay, she was thinking about us, and all the ways our technology might be useful to her people, but I believe her desire to negotiate is genuine.”

  “They would keep us busy while they prepared their assault,” Honeywell suggested.

  “With our senior officers on board the world-ship, we would hesitate to use our big guns,”

  Miller suggested.

  “Coronado suggested that the negotiations could take place at a place of our choosing. She suggested the base on the outer moon of Bodicéa. The terms under which she is willing to negotiate, suggest we may have something more valuable to the Aurelians than the planet Bodicéa.”

  “What would that be?” Keeler, thinking it probably wasn’t the recipe for Janeberry pie.

  “They have offered to leave the system, in exchange for the technology we use to navigate hyperspace.”

  “Oh, is that all?” Keeler said, turning to Honeywell. “You can relax gentlemen, our janeberry pie recipes are safe, as are the first-born children of my first officer.” He didn’t add, I never liked that kid anyway.

  “I think the path of negotiation is worth pursuing.”

  Miller snapped angrily. “We don’t know how many systems they’ve destroyed using conventional drive. If we gave them access to hyperspace… not only would we forfeit our only tactical advantage, we’d be sentencing billions to annihilation. I can’t believe you are even considering it!” Miller almost shouted. “We’ve seen what the Aurelians did to Medea.”

  “Coronado strongly suggested that the Medeans annihilated themselves rather than allow themselves to be integrated into the Aurelian body.”

  “Really?”

  “She implied that they were a violent, war-like people who did not want to accept the enlightenment the Aurelians offered. So, they turned their weapons on themselves.”

  “I refuse to accept that,” Miller objected. “Humans do not exterminate themselves. The Aurelians came. The Medeans resisted. The Aurelians wiped them out.”

  “The evidence could be interpreted to support Coronado’s version of events,” Lear said calmly.

  “I didn’t see any evidence that the Medeans possessed orbital wepaonry.” Miller said, waving toward his report on the cratering patterns found on the Medean surface. “Can we even trust them at all?”

  “Did you detect any deception?” Keeler asked Lear.

  Lear nodded her head. “Coronado believes that the Medeans were responsible for their own holocaust. I couldn’t tell whether the Aurelians launched the final attack or not.”

  “Maybe they ran out of patience with the negotiations,” Honeywell suggested.

  Lear frowned. “We all know that technology alone is insufficient to navigate hyperspace.

  Even if we provided them with the technology, they might not…”

  “We can’t take that risk. I’ll destroy Pegasus and the World-Ship before I let them get anywhere near Hyperspace technology.”

  Keeler looked a little taken aback by the fury of Miller’s argument. “Don’t give yourself an anuerysm, lieutenant. I agree. Surrendering access to hyperspace is not on the table.”

  Miller relaxed. Tamarind looked on, unperturbed as usual. Keeler raised a hand for calm.

  “I agree, hyperspace travel is our primary advantage over them. I am not going to hand it over.”

  “I only bring it up as a tool to get them to the negotiating table. That’s the only way I would look at it. It’s a negotiating chit,” Lear insisted.

  “What did you call me?”

  “If we can keep them discussing the issue, it gives the Bodicéans time to construct a defense.”

  Miller shook his head. “Haven’t you heard? The Bodicéans aren’t constructing any defenses.”

  Lear looked surprised. She had proceeded to the War Room immediately after departing her ship. She had not received a briefing on Miller’s presentation to the Bodicéan Circle.

  “Didn’t you meet with them?”

  “Za, I spent half a day sitting in a stuffy room with a group of nominally hygienic women who basically agreed that any attempt to defend themselves would mean compromising their principles of pacifism. They would rather live on their knees.”

  “You were unable to persuade them to construct any defenses at all?”

  “Neg, they are planning non-lethal, non-violent defenses.” He displayed the report for Lear’s review. “As you can see, their most critical assets will be protected by sturdy macrame and papier maché projects, probably made by Miss Harmony’s 3rd Gradient Art Class.”

  Lear scanned the reports. “These defenses will never stop the Aurelians.”

  “Not unless the Aurelians hate craft fairs as much as I do.”

  Keeler looked at the reports. “They might stop the Lake of the Loons Gardening Club, but they’re not invading.”

  “And last I head, they didn’t have orbital thermonuclear devices.”

  “If they did, it would sure take out the ground-monster problem in New Cleveland.” Keeler put in.

  “Could we be serious, gentlemen,” Lear insisted, sharply enough to make them sit bolt upright. “I will have to meet with Ciel again. She has to be persuaded to defend her planet, or, at the very least, permit us to do so.”

  “Good luck,” Miller told her. “They way I see it, a third of the Bodicéans are ready to join the Aurelians, a third of them of them, don’t want anything to do with either one of us, and the other third thinks we are agents of the Aurelians.”

  Keeler summarized. “Which makes zero thirds that would have anything to do with us.”

  “You should also know that Solay is using the crisis as an excuse to use the indigenous security forces to crack down on political opposition,” Miller continued, or so Ju
bal and Tobias had informed him.

  Keeler sighed. “Now I remember why all the politicians on my planet were skinned and eaten 4,000 years ago.”

  “Solay is our best ally,” Lear insisted. “If I can get through to her, she would listen to readon. She has no more desire to live under the Aurelians than to ally with us. She is a patriot.”

  “Or an opportunist,” Miller countered.

  Keeler’s communication link chose that uncomfortable moment to chirp. True to form, it played the Armpit Avengers Fight Song. Keeler snapped it. “Go!” he ordered, then regretted it.

  It sounded too imperious.

  “Commander, this is Doctor Reagan in Hospital One. Could you come down here?”

  “Uh… not right now. I’m sort of busy… planning a war.”

  “Maybe you mis-heared me. Aye sayed, could you come down to Hospital One, Right Now?”

  Keeler sighed. “Ten minutes, Keeler out.”

  “If I may advise you, commander,” said Tamarind at last. “I would send an immediate dispatch to the Aurelians. You should tell them that any weapon launched in the direction of Pegasus will be destroyed . You should tell them that any unauthorized ship that approaches Pegasus will be treated as hostile.”

  “Immediately?”

  “The Aurelians approached this system with an attack plan. They are going to carry out that plan according to their existing schedule. The diplomatic feints are distractions to keep us from realizing that the attack is imminent.”

  “I don’t agree,” said Lear. “If we keep them in negotiations, we can buy enough time to find a way to save Bodicéa.”

  Keeler addressed her. “I think you should return to the surface. Get in touch with Ciel, and find out with the status of the treaty is in the Circle. Try to persuade her to let us protect them while they decide, then stall them on ratification.”

  Ciel sighed. “I don’t know that I have any influence with Ciel.”

  “You have more than any of us. I’ll have an Aves ready to launch in two hours.

  Communicate with Ciel and tell her you’re coming. Do you know where she is?”

  “She’s in Serenopolis.”

  “Go to her,” Keeler ordered. “Lt. Cmdr. Miller, continue our defensive preparation.”

  “Za, commander.”

  “As soon as Ex Commander’s Lear’s ship is underway, I want your battle-plan in front of me. I know I’m probably just going to approve it, but I want to see it anyway.”

  “I would also advise you to begin evacuating our personnel from the surface,” Tamrind said. “It’s automatic with Going to Battle Situation Two, but we may not have time to get everyone if they strike too soon.”

  They rose from the table as one, business concluded. Keeler tapped his wrist. “Hospital One. I am en route.”

  Tamarind stood by the hatch with his arms crossed. If they ever made a statue of him, this would have been a good pose. “Lieutenant Alkema, you must return to the surface as well.”

  “Why?”

  “I promised Ciel’s daughter that you would visit her again.”

  Alkema rolled his eyes. “Thank you for making my life awkward.”

  “It was necessary.”

  “Do you have any idea what it’s like to have a pubescent girl infatuated with you?

  “Aye, I do.”

  “Really?”

  “Do you remember N-TEC?”

  “Non-Threatening Eye Candy? The teen-boy vocalizing ensemble? Za, my older sister had a major Jones for them.”

  “Za, I was Jarad, the shy one.”

  “Wow,” Alkema said. “You can admit to that?”

  “A warrior has no use for vanity. I used to receive messages from tens of thousands of young infatuated girls.” He smiled awkwardly, which may have been the only way he knew how to smile, as it was his rarest expression. “I gave her my word. It was wrong of me to pledge your honor, but it was necessary.”

  Alkema sighed. “I guess if you can admit to being the shy one, I can pay her a vist.” A strange expression crossed Avril Lear’s face. She began muttering to herself. “Ciel has a daughter. I have a son. I was able to make a connection with her before based on our religion.”

  Thousands of kilometers below, in the city of Serenopolis, it was night. Ciel sat at her desk, poring over reports from her own circle, and from Pegasus. Astronomers on her world had detected the faint line of objects, of ships, that made up the Aurelian fleet. The sensors on Pegasus could see them even more precisely, as the Aurelians positioned themselves just outside the orbit of Celestine, the sixth planet.

  The proposed treaty had been presented to the Inner Circle for consideration. It had taken the better part of three days to decide what to do with us. The Circle Covenant had not contemplated the issue of treaties. With the planet unified, and the rest of the Commonwealth fallen, it was presumed there was no one left with who to make a treaty. So, would approval of the treaty require a simple majority as would be the case for most laws, or did it equate to a

  “High Resolution,” requiring the concurrence of nine of the twelve. Some argued that, given the implications for planetary culture, nothing less than a unanimous vote should be the standard.

  Reviewing historical precedent, it was discovered that two-thirds was the standard for treaty acceptance in the High Circles of the several provinces and nation’s that had come together to form the planetary government, and that a two-thirds vote had been required for a territory to join the planetary union. So it was decided, eight of the twelve of the inner circle must vote for approval.

  Now, it stood at six in favor, three against, and three undecided. She, herself, was in the latter category. She liked what she had seen of the Aurelians, but she had not seen enough.

  Had it been up to her, they would have waited a year, at least, and studied the Aurelian culture in detail. She was thinking of introducing a counter-resolution, a treaty of friendship and cooperation in place of absolutely joining the Aurelian Union. If necessary, she would make the same offer to the Pegasans, as Executive Commander Lear’s people had come to be called.

  Below, she heard the entrance bell chime. Several people answered, and she heard muffled voices in the foyer. A few moments later, she heard footsteps mounting the short run of stairs to her study. She set aside the extremely secret documents, and turned her attention to the landing. Only one woman was permitted to disturb her, her trusted aide Hippolyta, a woman a little older than she, strong and matronly. “Mistress, Senior Advocate Solay and her aides are here.”

  Ciel sighed and rubbed her temples. “What reason did she give you for coming.”

  “She comes as a representative of the Security Circle, on a matter of planetary security.”

  She pronounced the word ‘planetary’ curiously. In all her years, nothing had ever been a matter of ‘planetary’ security.

  “Send her in, then wait outside. Seal the door.”

  Hippolyta left, passing Solay on the way down. Solay was wearing black and black, as usual. “‘Planetary security?’” Ciel asked. “That seems indiscreet.”

  “Do you not trust your own first aide?” Solay asked.

  “What do you want, Solay? What brings you to Serenopolis?”

  “An airship,” Solay answered, quite to the surprise of Ciel. “As you know, the Security Circle has been gravely concerned with the possibility that either of the powers currently in orbit around our planet have placed agents among our people, and we have taken appropriate steps to protect our sisters and mothers across the world.”

  “Solay, in the last two days, your Security Circle has arrested or detained more the 3,000

  people. The Outer Circle is demanding an explanation.”

  Solay answered in a deadly serious tone. “This is the most dangerous time in our planet’s history. Two alien forces are about to battle for the right to consume our culture. The threat is so grave, that we must temporarily embrace certain policies that would not be necessary under normal
circumstances. We can not afford to be distracted by dissidents.”

  “When the current crisis has passed,” Solay continued, “every one shall be released. Their custody is for the protection of society.”

  “So, why does this bring you to my city.”

  “I have something for you,” Solay said. She reached inside the folds of her gown and withdrew a scroll of paper. She placed the paper in front of Ciel who unrolled and read it.

  “An Arrest warrant for Tobias? You’re mad.”

  “The Monitors in the city of Serenopolis saw him enter the Men’s Compound with two unidentified men. They then proceeded to the quarters occupied by Jubal, the notorious patriarchist, who is also believed to be Tobias’s father. Jubal has been a dangerous dissident for years. His writings have called for male representation in the Outer Circle, not coincidentally, a position embraced by radical elements of your own party, Ciel.”

  “I have known Tobias for more than seven years. He is no radical.”

  “The evidence is more than enough to detain him for questioning … unless you would invoke your special powers to exempt him the security measures every other citizen is bound by.”

  Ciel looked toward Solay, knowing she was trapped. Anything she did on behalf of Tobias would tip the balance in the Inner Circle.

  “Hippolyta,” she called. “Send for Tobias.”

  She turned back to Solay. “If your charges have merit, you may conduct the questioning here, in my presence.”

  Tobias appeared at the head of the stairs, wearing a black kimono with a checkerboard pattern on the cuffs, hem, and collar. He had just come from a salt bath. His hair was wet and slicked back from his forehead. He looked at Solay and nearly scowled.

  “Sit,” Ciel invited.

  “I prefer to stand.”

  Solay approached him. “Have you been to the Men’s Compound lately?”

  “Yes, I was there some days ago. I visited my father.”

  “How do you know he is your father. It’s rather unusual for a child to know the sperm donor who provided his genetic material.”