Mutineer (Empire Rising Book 7)

by D. J. Holmes

  James could feel his excitement rising as Dural spoke. He felt like a schoolboy again, he had a hundred questions. It was just like when he had first met Ya’sia, suddenly the galaxy was opening up before his prying mind. His officers were clearly feeling the same thing for more than one tried to speak at once. When everyone paused and looked at each other, Scott was the first to try again. “Your Trading Alliance, Ya’sia has shared a little bit about it, but we would be very interested to hear how your species went about forming it.”

  “That is a long story,” Dural responded. “Whilst my species recognizes the need to have a war fleet for the defense of our civilization, we have never enjoyed violence. Within our own politics and then as we encountered neighboring species, we never sought to impose our will upon others. Initially our ancestors took a policy of non-intervention in our neighboring species’ development. However, over time as we watched some of our neighbors begin to develop space technologies and, specifically, weapon technologies, we decided it best to reveal ourselves. As I’m sure Ya’sia has shared, there are ten other members of the Varanni Trading Alliance, they are the species that we have developed the closest relationships with. They all agree that the advancement of our differing species is aided far better by cooperation and trade than war. There are forty-three other species with whom we have some kind of diplomatic relationship, however none have progressed to the point of admitting them into the Alliance.”

  “Forty-three,” James couldn’t help but blurt out. Ya’sia had mentioned nothing about forty-three other alien races. He been struggling to get his head around the idea of eleven new alien races, now the number was fifty-four.

  “Yes Vice Admiral, though we ceased our survey missions centuries ago, there are many neighboring species that we have diplomatic relations with. Additionally, there are a number more that we are aware of that we have not revealed ourselves to yet. Some have not yet developed the ability to reach space, others, like your species, have not yet been deemed ready to meet us.”

  Gupta asked the next question that was on James’ lips before him. “Why have we not been deemed ready?” To her credit, James noticed she did much better at keeping her facial expression and body language under control as Dural turned to her.

  “Your species was deemed too primitive and violent to be contacted,” Dural explained. “Clearly your civilization has exceeded our expectations in terms of your technological development. Your disposition towards violence may be another matter. However, given the current threat such a tendency may prove useful.”

  Despite the earlier excitement, James wasn’t surprised when none of his officers jumped to ask another question. He didn’t know whether he should feel insulted or complemented by Dural’s comments.

  After a short pause, Scott was the one who broke the silence. “Vice Admiral Somerville has filled us in on what you shared with him about these Invaders and we have started to analyze the data you have shared with us, but is there anything else you can tell us?”

  “No, not at this time,” Dural replied. “Varanni High Command was only beginning to analyze the data we have available when I was dispatched to bring Ya’sia’s fleet back. I will not know more about these Invaders until we return to my homeworld. I do know that the senior fleet commanders are very concerned. That in and of itself communicates a lot.”

  Again silence descended around the dining table. James understood. The Varanni civilization, never mind their Trading Alliance, was a wonder that was almost unimaginable for his officers. That they were concerned about these Invaders spoke volumes as to the threat they posed.

  “So tell me, what culture or nation-state does your family belong to?” Alma asked as he turned to Yue. Alma’s question broke the spell of silence and within moments the other two Varanni officers turned to speak to the Humans they were seated beside. At the same time, Ya’sia drew Gupta into a conversation and Maleck began to speak with Becket. The dining table was soon filled with conversation as everyone continued to eat the ample supplies of food that James’ cook had provided.

  James was pleased for two reasons. For one, it looked like his plan of hosting Dural and his officers was starting to work and, two, it meant he had Dural all to himself. Over the next five minutes he continued to fire questions at Dural, every answer only served to spawn ten more questions in his mind. Very quickly though, he realized that Dural didn’t enjoy simply answering question after question and their conversation developed into a back-and-forth where James allowed Dural to ask a question for every one he answered.

  “I am curious Vice Admiral,” Dural said a little quieter than normal after he had broken off from talking to James to listen into several of the other conversations going on around the table. “It seems strange to me to see so many former enemies sat around a table together. From even the little I have heard, many of your nations have been at war with one another just very recently. Have you had problems getting your staff to work together as one?”

  “No,” James said with a shake of his head. “In all honesty, I have not. I think we have the Flex-aor to thank for that. Everyone here recognizes the threat they pose to all of my species. That has allowed us to put past grievances aside. It helps that we respect each other. I was able to handpick the best officers for my fleet.”

  “And outside your fleet, are your nations getting along better now?”

  James took a breath as he thought through his answer. Ya’sia had warned him not to try to lie or deceive Dural. Once trust was lost, it was hard to win it back with the Varanni. “Not as much as I would like. Here in the Outer Defense Fleet, we have a common cause. Back on Earth or in our colonies, many nations and groups seek their own benefit rather than that of all our species.” As he spoke James couldn’t help but picture some of the members of the Military Subcommittee. “We’re still very much a race that struggles to work together as one. However, when faced with outside threats, we can pull together.”

  “It is very strange to me to think that a species can be divided against itself. Such things would normally make our diplomats stay away from your species. Ya’sia has taken a significant risk to invite you to Alliance space.”

  “I understand that,” James replied with a nod. “And I appreciate that you have taken the risk too. I hope we can repay that risk. I must confess, I am curious myself though. You speak as if you do not understand differing groups competing with one another, how do the different member species of your Trading Alliance get along? Are there not competing factions within the Alliance?”

  “You ask a perceptive question Vice Admiral,” Dural replied as he turned his body slightly to face James even more. He took a moment before he continued. “Perhaps I have been too quick to judge your species. You are right, not all the members of our Trade Alliance agree on everything. There are contentious issues and debates have been known to happen. Never has a disagreement resulted in violence however.”

  “It sounds like my species could learn much from your Trade Alliance,” James responded. “If my species’ experience with war can be helpful for yours, I hope in turn your species’ experience with peace will be helpful for mine.”

  “That is a wise thought Vice Admiral, I am beginning to see why Ya’sia liked you so much,” Dural replied. “Now, you have mentioned this desert more than once. I am eager to see and taste just what you have been talking about.”

  When James looked up, he wasn’t surprised to see Fox hovering nearby. With a nod he gave permission for his steward to clear away the dishes his guests had finished with and prepare for dessert. As he turned back to Dural, he saw that Gupta and Ya’sia had drawn him into a conversation about one of the battles that she had fought in as a Captain.

  Taking advantage of Dural’s distraction, James sat back in his chair and took a moment to look around the dining room. As a species the Varanni were much more reserved than his own people or the Crians he had met. Nevertheless, he was happy to see that all four Varanni were engaged in different co
nversations. For a moment, James allowed himself to enjoy the scene in front of him. He had three different species on his flagship and they were all sharing a meal and getting along together. Despite the pain and sorrow he felt at being relieved of command and the concern he had over the Invaders he knew so little about, he couldn’t help but smile. Whatever the future held for his species and his fleet, the Varanni and the Crians were going to play a significant role in it. And perhaps we will play a significant role in their future as well, James thought as Fox reappeared with the first of the deserts.

  Chapter 28

  It wasn’t the Antarians’ technologies nor new advanced battle tactics that made them such an overpowering force. It was simply their willingness to close to energy weapons range at any cost. Once in weapon’s range, the durability of their ships allowed them to blast away at ours until our commanders lost their nerve and ordered a retreat.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.

  UNS Golden Hind, Monulan system, 6th November 2478 AD.

  James was resting in his command chair as Golden Hind cruised through the Monulan System. He was watching the holo projector intently. The Monulan system was the home system of the Monulans. They were not a part of the Varanni Trading Alliance, but they were friends of the Varanni and Crians. It had been this system that the Flex-aor had launched an attack against. Although the Monulans weren’t as advanced as Humanity, their home system was still a curiosity. Golden Hind’s sensors were detecting many things that his officers couldn’t make head or tails of.

  Just more things to add to the growing list of mysteries we have seen, James thought. Flying in formation with the Varanni Dreadnought had allowed Golden Hind’s sensors to get a much closer look at the warship. For the most part, getting more accurate sensor scans had led to more questions rather than answers. The Varanni themselves were tight lipped. Though Dural had sent engineers to work on Golden Hind’s shift drive, they hadn’t been very talkative about their own technologies.

  Whilst James was disappointed, he wasn’t complaining. Within a day of beginning their work, the technicians had increased the shift drive’s speed through shift space by six percent. They also increased the drive’s recharge rate by thirteen percent, reducing the downtime Golden Hind had to spend in normal space between jumps. Within a week, they had increased the drive’s speed by another nine percent. Even watching what they had done, Golden Hind’s best engineers didn’t understand how the changes worked. His engineers could repeat the changes as they had done on all the other Human warships, but theoretically, the small tweaks the Varanni had made shouldn’t have led to such gains in performance. The only explanation James had been given by his engineers was that the Varanni were operating with a far deeper knowledge of shift space and shift drive technology. What was even more exciting was that the Varanni engineers had left schematics for other changes that would provide an additional twenty percent increase in performance. The only problem was the shift drives would have to be deconstructed and then reassembled piece by piece to make the necessary changes. That was something there wasn’t time to accomplish yet. Even so, James thought, when we do make the changes, we’ll have a thirty percent increase in speed and a reduction in down time between jumps. When we get back to Human space we’ll be setting records for travel between different star systems!

  “Vice Admiral, Captain, I’m starting to get trace returns from something directly ahead of us on our sensors,” the sensor officer on duty reported. “I can’t make anything out yet, but we seem to be heading straight for it.”

  “Another surprise no doubt,” Becket commented. “Keep your eye on whatever it is and see if you can figure it out. I’m sure Dural and Ya’sia are already aware of it.”

  James nodded. Dural had demonstrated more than once that Quest’s sensors were significantly better than Golden Hind’s.

  “I think I know what I’m looking at,” the sensor officer said ten minutes later. “It looks like a giant jump gate. It is easily six times the size of the ones we have in the Sol system. But it has the same appearance. At least from this distance.” As she spoke the officer put what Golden Hind’s sensors were seeing on the main holo projector.

  The image sparked a memory for James. “Yes, I think you’re right. Now that you mention it, Dural and Ya’sia spoke of what they called a Way Gate when I first met with them. This must be one of them.”

  “Where is your imagination Vice Admiral?” Scott asked. “Why think they have just developed larger and presumably more powerful jump gates? Why can’t it be some kind of device that opens up a wormhole or some other kind of instantaneous travel?”

  “Now that would be an impressive feat,” Miyamoto responded. “Is that even possible?”

  Scott laughed. “I’m afraid not. I’m sorry to disappoint you Vice Admiral,” she added.

  James guessed she had seen the contemplative look on his face. For a second, he had thought Scott serious. Everyone knew wormhole travel was possible. After all that’s what the Gift was. A wormhole that greatly reduced the time it took to travel from Earth to Haven. However, the Gift was a naturally occurring wormhole. The UN Military Subcommittee had scientists working on forming artificial wormholes, but the research was at a very primitive stage. More promising was the work at the Gift. It was believed other wormholes existed in the maelstrom of gravimetric eddies that surrounded the Gift. But even that research hadn’t produced any results yet.

  “Everything we know about wormholes suggests it would take energy levels that only exist near the center of a star to open a wormhole,” Scott explained. “As impressive as the Varanni are, I don’t think they have such technologies. If they did, I don’t see why they would be concerned by these Invaders. The weapons one could power with such quantities of energy would be almost limitless, both in their range and devastation.”

  “Perhaps its best they don’t have such technology then,” James responded. “I’m not sure I’d want anyone with that kind of weaponry.”

  “Vice Admiral, we have just received a transmission from the Monulan homeworld,” Emilie reported. “They say they are happy to make our acquaintance and that any friend of the Varanni and Crians is a friend of theirs. They thank us for the cultural database you sent and they have sent a database on their own species in return. Ahh, oh my..” Emilie couldn’t help but add.

  “What is it?” Scott asked.

  “The database they sent, it’s rather large. Several petabytes. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for sifting through it,” Emilie answered.

  “No,” James agreed with a chuckle. “But I don’t see why it shouldn’t be you. You can at least categorize it so our researchers can start to make sense of it. That will give you plenty to do in your spare time. Think of it as a lesson to remind you to always keep yourself under control when giving a report to your superiors.”

  “Yes Admiral,” Emilie replied meekly.

  “Scott, you can pick a couple of crew with the necessary skills to help. This may not be the only cultural database we will be given. By the time we get back to Earth I want them in a presentable format that we can hand over to our scientists.”

  “Understood Admiral, I’ll make the arrangements right away. I’m sure Sub Lieutenant Kansas will have no problem overseeing the project,” Scott replied. James had to hide another chuckle when he saw the look Emilie gave Scott. Scott just winked at the Sub Lieutenant.

  Though Emilie’s ire remained visible for a few moments longer, it quickly disappeared when her console beeped. “Ya’sia is requesting to speak to you Vice Admiral,” she reported.

  “Put her through,” James acknowledged.

  “James,” Ya’sia began. “I hope you are enjoying the sights. I see you have opened communications with the Monulans.”

  “Indeed we have,” James replied with a nod. “They have been most open with us. We shared our cultural database with them and they have responded in kind.”

  “It will be interesting to see wha
t they and the species in the Varanni Trade Alliance make of you. Your species has a much more violent past than what we are used to dealing with. Yet that may be what we need. I suspect the Monulans will be surprised to learn the Varanni are allowing a fleet from such a warlike species to travel through Alliance space.”

  “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you,” James responded. “I hope we don’t let you down.”

  “Nor I you,” Ya’sia replied. “I know the price you have paid to bring your fleet with us. I just hope that once it’s all over, your leaders will understand.”

  “That’s a problem for another day,” James said with a wave of his hand. “Was there something specific you wanted to talk to me about? Perhaps this large structure we are approaching?”