by Mark Wandrey
“First we're far too exposed on the galactic stage now. If there are species in the Concordia that aren't aware of us they're either minor or uninvolved. We've fought wars and major actions against several higher order species and came out on top each time.”
“Not as much with the Mok-Tok,” Jasmine pointed out.
“My predecessor can claim the results for that fiasco,” Minu reminded her to which she nodded somberly. No one still knew where Jacob had disappeared to. The only certainty was that he hadn't left the planet. “The benefits to leaving the Tog include being able to make political alliances with other species far in excess of the one we have with the Rasa. We'll be able to sign new leaseholds, and none of our profits will be owed to the Tog. We'd gain unrestricted access to the Concordia databases, and we all know what can be gleaned from that. And finally, we'd have the right to declare vendettas, and wars.”
The look around the table was not one of exultation, of that much she was certain of. Kenneth, as the newest member, didn't have as much information to work with so he was accessing a tablet to look up information. As a martial arts instructor, Minu knew he was unfailing in his attention to detail. He might be a hitch in this move. Cherise was tugging her bottom lip, her eyes unfocussed as she thought. Bjorn was sold from the moment she'd mentioned the database. He sat back with a blissful look on his face. Gregg was solidly in her camp as was Dram; both wanted the military flexibility and were tired of serving under the Tog. Jasmine was shaking her head ever so slightly.
“You really consider this the best course of action?” Dram asked as a way to start the conversation.
“What do we really still gain from the Tog?” she asked her own question in reply.
“Anonymity,” Jasmine said.
“In a manner of speaking,” she countered. “I think we'd all agree that this anonymity is becoming more and more marginalized. We've been attacked here once, we have aliens on the planet all the time. Frankly, I'm surprised they haven't figured out where we are just by taking a fucking picture of the night sky.” She took a deep breath and released it slowly through her teeth. “I understand we all have strong feelings about this. Some positive,” she looked at Gregg and Dram, “some not so positive,” then at Cherise and Jasmine. “Some of you just don't know what to think.” Kenneth looked up from his tablet and sighed, nodding his head. “Just know this, I've talked with P'ing and hse told me everything I told you. There is no debt, and they're willing to ally with us militarily. At least with their starships, and from what Lilith says those stealth frigates are pretty formidable.
“We're at a crossroads here, everyone can agree on that, right?” Nods around the table. “We may well have passed the point of no return, actually. It passed while I was gone last time and the previous First escalated hiring out the Rangers as a mercenary force for hire. We're on too many radars, made a few friends but more enemies. I fear if we tried to withdraw at this point it would do more damage than to push forward.”
She looked them over and considered carefully what she said next. “You've had enough faith in me to put this single star on my sleeve. I have a plan that could not only make humanity safe, but give us a seat at the big table.” Now they were all nodding and glancing at each other, most smiling slightly or giving a little shrug. “So I'm asking you to trust me again.”
Minu walked into her smaller office in Stevens Pass and almost collapsed into the old overstuffed chair. It was the same one she remembered from her childhood, sitting in her father's lap and playing with computer chips while he read reports. Chosen would come in and he'd give orders and they'd leave. From her early formative years she saw what it was to be Chosen and had caught the bug. She couldn't quite bring herself to take the chair and move it to Ft. Jovich, her unofficial seat of office. It rightly belonged here.
Her feet and back hurt and the baby kicked through the entire meeting. She had almost three months to go and was convinced she'd never make it.
Minu leaned back with a sigh and put her feet up on a small side table then took a long sip of tea that she'd brought back from the meeting. It was an herbal blend suggested by her doctor. Not bad tasting. After her feet hurt a little less she picked up the phone and dialed her office at the fort.
“Office of the First,” answered a feminine voice.
“Afternoon, Ariana.”
“Hi Minu, what can I do for you?”
“We need to start making some arrangements for an extended deep space mission.”
“Sure. How many are going, and who?”
“I’ll have a list in an hour.”
Chapter 4
Octember 29th, 534 AE
Unknown location, deep space
Aaron stared at the walls of his tiny compartment and tried not to think about how long he'd been there. It wasn't hard to really, there was no concept of actual time passage. The only way he had to mark days was by meal delivery. Twice a ‘day' he was provided trays of shipboard nutrients, similar to what Lilith's Kaatan had provided before it became more proficient in making human foodstuffs. His best guess was a month.
A few weeks ago he'd been briefly interrogated by one of the ship's crewmembers. The Squeen didn't offer any details of who was doing the interrogation. He was merely asked who he was, what he'd been doing on the Tanam ship, and a few other unimportant facts. That was it, and he'd been returned to the tiny stateroom and hadn't seen another soul since.
The only other thing they'd given him was some clothes (obviously created by the ship) which could be placed in a cleaning slot that returned them in five minutes, and a standard issue tablet with extremely limited access to the ship’s network. He'd tried a few creative hacks, each time it cost him a day of suspended activity. Eventually, he stopped trying and merely used it to write some rudimentary games and keep a sort of diary. It wasn't easy to keep any sort of an accurate record, considering his rudimentary access didn't provide date indexes.
The second meal of the day was just finished and Aaron stuffed the tray back into the same slot that initially delivered it while trying to decide if general boredom would kill him before culinary boredom when the door suddenly opened. He was so surprised he just sat there on the bunk for a minute blinking at the Squeen who stared back.
“You come with me,” it said finally, the alien’s squeaking and snapping language rendered by the translator he still wore, the only piece of equipment he still had from before his capture. Aaron shrugged and got up to follow.
The ship was larger than he'd thought from the previous times he'd been allowed to move about (when he had come on board and then been interrogated). The interior corridors didn't have the short angled feelings of those on the Kaatan, but there was considerably less headspace. He was barely five centimeters taller than his wife but well-muscled and with powerful shoulders.
After a minute the escort delivered him to an armored door he assumed was in the center of the ship. The Squeen entered a code into the access pad and it rumbled aside to reveal a CIC not too dissimilar to the one on the Kaatan. This one was staffed by a dozen of the ship’s masters though.
Luckily Aaron had experienced this sort of environment before so when he crossed the threshold into zero gravity it didn't catch him by surprise. The guard followed him in and took up station by the door as it ground closed.
The CIC was in darkness with the stars sliding by all around them as if he now flew through space. It was set up remarkably like they had once set up the Kaatan before Lilith was born and become the ship’s master. Groups of the rodent-like beings manned the ships’ sensors, engineering, conn, and combat controls while two hovered in the center surrounded by dozens of tiny floating information screens. There was no way to tell rank in the group of beings. The only clothing they wore was vests that held equipment. He pushed off towards the center.
“You have been a problem for us,” one of the three floating in the center said, its voice rendered by Aaron's translator. Two of the three Squeen floated a
way on some other task leaving one behind, the one who'd spoken, to regard Aaron with his tiny black eyes. “I am Sure Strike, captain on the cruiser Octal 1.”
“While I am sorry for the inconvenience, it is hardly my fault that I am here.”
The Squeen regarded him for a moment longer before turning its attention to the screens. “We could have left you in the destroyed Tanam ship.”
“Why didn't you?”
Sure Strike looked back at him and snapped his teeth together hard twice. Aaron wondered if it was a shrug. “I wish I knew. I am aware of you humans from a discussion with the seeker Quick Finder. He told me that your leader, Minu, rescued him and the leader Strong Arm, delivering them from the Tanam some time ago.”
Aaron nodded. The event had happened during the Tanam's failed assault on Serengeti. “Yes, I was there.”
“We are curious about your species,” he said, “and finding you on a Tanam ship, after that earlier incident, caused me some confusion.”
“I can imagine.”
“Can you? We decided to alter course from our planned mission to take you to Strong Arm. He is a leader, I am only a captain. It can be his decision what to do with you.” One of the crew manning the conn spoke a single word Aaron's translator didn't pick up. “And we have arrived.”
The moving distorted star field suddenly resolved with jerking suddenness to show a nearby star, duly shining a ruddy shade of red. The star itself was not spectacular. The fleet floating nearby however was.
Aaron quickly lost count at fifty ships of a dizzying number of designs. Small, medium, large, and hulking, they floated alone and in groups, some moving and some stationary. Many appeared brand new, sleek and dangerous. Other looked to have been thrown together from garbage, incapable of holding an atmosphere and certainly would disintegrate should even the lightest acceleration be applied. Maybe they never did move.
“This is fantastic,” he said in a breathless voice.
“Is it?” Sure Strike asked, the translator rendering a distinct tone of doubt. He gave a broad and grand gesture towards the assembled host. “Welcome to our home, human.”
Chapter 5
January 7th, 535 AE
Jumpoff, Galactic Frontier
“I’ve always wondered what the planet looked like from orbit,” Minu said in the CIC. The walls were turned into huge screens as Lilith often preferred, surrounding everyone with space and a single planet orbiting below the Kaatan. The world was almost all white with a few spots of iridescent blue.
“Ice Ball might have been a better name,” Kal’at joked. Minu grinned and shook her head. The Rasa got more human every year. “We would have loved years ago to know this is the world you used to stage your missions.”
“I’m sure a lot of species would. We’ve used this world as a jump off point for as long as the Tog have been sending us out into the galaxy on errand runs.” Minu glanced at a screen showing a compressed view of the galaxy arm where they were. “I had no idea it was so close to Bellatrix.”
“Four hundred and seventy-one light years is hardly close, mother.”
Minu chuckled and shrugged. Four tactical jumps and two days cruise brought them to the world of perpetual ice that the Chosen had used innumerable times over the decades. To Minu and others it was one step to reach the world through a portal. What it was to her now was a concealed location to allow personnel to move without anyone noticing.
“We’re here within an hour of the scheduled time,” Lilith confirmed.
“Great,” Minu said, “prep the shuttles.”
Three of the Kaatan’s four shuttles were parked in a ring around the portal as snow fell in an ever steady fall. The side of the planet where the portal was located was in a border region of the tidally locked world, never completely dark or light. Minu had visited once when it was raining instead of snowing. Only once, though.
She stood by the side of one shuttle in her tiger stripe ranger uniform, shock rifle slung barrel down across her back. Her personal squad was with her, led by Sgt. Selain as usual. Kal’at waited by one shuttle and a pilot named Chris Sommercorn, a four-star logistics Chosen from the Summit Tribe commanded the final shuttle.
Minu checked her chronometer as the final minutes clicked off and the portal came alive. The squad of rangers all quietly slid their weapons forward, just in case. And a second later, the image cleared to show the inside of a large bay full of Beezer. The rangers calmed.
Minu waved and they began coming through. In only a couple minutes, sixty Beezer had come through and moved clear of the portal. Each one carried a massive duffel bag and were each decorated in different unique ways with face trimming, tattoos, and scrimshaw engraving on horns. The one with the most ornate decorations moved to Minu.
“I am Pakata,” Minu’s translator rendered the huffs and grumbles of the Beezer into English, “I speak for the Jofo clan on Beezer. We have accepted your contract. Hakaga (Badcold) sends his greetings.” He finished with a modest bow.
“I welcome you, Pakata,” she replied and bowed in return. “I believe your clan has won a most lucrative contract, though there is risk.”
“We understand that, First. There are those among the Beezer that understand risk accompanies possible gain.” Minu nodded. “We also understand what you did for us on Serengeti for what it was.”
“And what was that?”
“You saved us from the Tanam, and we’re grateful and willing to help you.”
“Pakata, I think we’ll get along fine.”
“We stand ready to serve.”
“Please split into teams and board the shuttles then.”
The sixty Beezer quickly divided into three teams of twenty, each heading for a shuttle. Kal’at greeted the leader of his group while Sommercorn met his. The introductions seemed congenial all around and Minu nodded with satisfaction. It only took a short time to get everyone aboard. Pakata and his team came onto Minu’s shuttle. It made for crowded conditions because each Beezer was easily two or three times the size of a man, but they managed. The Kaatan shuttles were bigger than they appeared on the inside because so little room was needed for engineering.
“I wish we had time to retrieve the gear down here,” Minu said to Lilith as the shuttles all took off in formation. “It’s already been sitting here for weeks.”
“And it should remain safe for quite some time,” Lilith pointed out. “We are already stressing my ship’s facilities with so many life forms. It would take hours to transfer all the heavy equipment from the surface of Jumpoff up to orbit. And most of my cargo bays will be occupied by our passengers.”
It had been agreed that the group’s leaders (one for every five) would get cabins while the rank and file would bunk communally in the cargo bays. That was just as well because the Kaatan could only be configured for twenty cabins in its present load out, according to Lilith. The cabins might be spacious enough for two humans, three if you crowded a bit, but only a single Beezer could fit. Add that there were twenty Rasa already aboard under Kal’at (at five to the cabin) and that was just about all the Kaatan could handle.
“I don’t like not being out there with you,” Selain grumbled as the Beezer were finishing loading.
“As we discussed, there will be little opportunity for your services. You are going to be working with the training regime I’ve set up. Once we have the fleet surveyed and if everything goes as planned, you’ll come out then.”
“I still officially disagree with the tactic.”
“And I note it,” Minu said, then held out her hand. He took it and they shook warmly.
“Be careful,” he said and without another word led his men back towards the portal, and home.
The trip to orbit was quick, and for that Minu was grateful. The smell of twenty Beezer crammed into the shuttle horn to horn with seven humans was not conducive to interspecies relationships. She had to remind herself that she probably didn’t smell great to the buffalo like beings either.
&n
bsp; Minu watched the Beezer carefully. They were not the sort of beings that enjoyed enclosed spaces. Their leasehold, Serengeti, was a vast open planet with endless grassy planes and few cities. What large concentrations of habitation that could be found more resembled parks than cities. And to Minu’s knowledge, none had ever been on a space ship. The shuttle had artificial gravity and other than sitting quietly and chuffing to each other, they seemed fine. But she thought it best to ask.
“How are you doing, Pakata?”
“I will be well,” he replied.
“Would you like to see the ship?” Pakata’s head bobbed, more of a shrug to the neckless being, so Minu touched a control. The front of the large cargo area became a display. They were already outside the atmosphere, propelled by the shuttles powerful gravitic drive. A few hundred kilometers ahead they could already see the distant starship. Like a needle piercing a ball, the shape of the Kaatan was both sleek and bulbous, creating an unusual visual effect. It looked like mirrored silver shinning in the system star as it quickly began to grow.
“Strange looking,” Pakata grumbled, “not what I expected.” Minu nodded, she’d felt the same way when they’d first seen the Kaatan class ships. “Does it have a name?”
Minu opened her mouth and then closed it. The ship’s class was Kaatan, but Lilith had never named the ship specifically. Who would name part of their own body? “We just call it a Kaatan. That is the class of ship, not its name. It has never been given a name.”
“It should have one. We name our flying and water ships in the guild.”
The ship grew quickly in size until its full 170 meter length dwarfed the tiny shuttles. Around to the rear, under the needle in the curve of the ball the pair of shuttle bay doors appeared and they made for the landing. Pakata was looking past the ship into the vast star field spread out before them. “Our new home?”
