The Rylerran Gateway

by Mark Ian Kendrick

  Once the chatter of this revelation settled down, Anoon continued. “After receiving word that Andakar had arrested, er, detained, its PD and then declared independence, we decided it was time to formally reveal ourselves to you. We did not want, I repeat, not want to continue to have to, er, appropriate any more pharmas from your star lanes. It has never been anyone’s intention to bring harm to those worlds which needed them.” Anoon looked around the table smiling. He hoped he was convincing someone he was being sincere.

  Siloy’s mind was working fast. He was just about sure that when Corren and his contingent arrived in two day’s time one of the first things his lawyers would do would be to restrict Andakar’s allotment of Tetra-G. That would be the first thing he would do to make sure their face-to-face meeting would go as he desired. That’s why one of the first things he did after his declaration of independence was to order an inventory of every fuel container known to exist anywhere on the planet. So far, it had been determined they had at least a two-month’s supply, possibly more. That didn’t count supply ships still in the pipeline. Fortunately, the time he felt he had bought immediately quintupled if not sextupled, once Darreth and others had brought to his attention that warp conduits existed between stars.

  “I believe there is a far more important matter we need to discuss other than a so-called alternate supply of Tetra-G,” Siloy answered. “That would be your contact with our PD.”

  Anoon leaned back and grinned. “Can you say ‘played’?”

  Siloy’s head tilted slightly, trying to understand his meaning.

  “I played her. Plain and simple. I led her to believe she was in my confidence. I received payments from her for bogus information. She was led to believe I would reveal where we were located. But everything’s different now. She has rightfully been jailed. You have surprisingly declared outright independence, which is something we were utterly incapable of doing. We have gathered enough evidence to know now that despite your Space Navy’s need to, uh, get rid of us, you are on our side.”

  Siloy snorted. He needed a lot more convincing. “You and your people have shown a distinct lack of responsible leadership in proving that point.”

  Anoon shook his head. “If you mean those people who might have died as a result of our pharma appropriations, then I truly, truly am sorry. But you know as well as I that most of them would have died anyway. As far as I’m concerned we, uh, lifted only strategically needed pharmas which would not be greatly missed, as well as those which would provide us with what we needed. We did it to further the exact same cause as did you.”

  Anoon stood now. All eyes were on him. “And I commend you for your amazing bravery. You single-handedly have done something that’s never been done before. You removed a singularly corrupt PD. You declared true independence from this-this Consort that’s run our lives like eternal parents.” Siloy’s senses were piqued. He could almost hear venom dripping off every word Anoon spoke regarding the Consortium.

  Anoon paused for effect as he looked at everyone present. “I offer you an alliance. You provide us with protection. You have a Space Navy that can prevent the Consort from finding us. From finding our source of kajite. A source for you as well. Our surveys prove a fifty-year supply at present consumption levels for us, Andakar and,” he looked at Rish Illigan, “Rylerra. That might not be much, but the survey isn’t completed yet. We suspect there’s a much greater quantity. But we need more bots to find out. Bots cost money. Andakar is wealthy. Andakar might be willing to help us to help themselves.”

  Siloy was greatly intrigued with the offer, but was equally concerned with how the man was proposing his deal. “We have no way to process kajite. I’m sure you know this. Our economy is geared almost entirely toward the production of pharmas.”

  “Not Andakar, sir. Rylerra. We’re well aware of the profitable mineral wealth generated on Rylerra, the production facilities and the smelting plants. Its infrastructure is already tuned for processing ore. I offer you a far better deal than I believe you are aware of.”

  Siloy looked at Rish. He hadn’t spoken at all during this entire discussion. Leaning back in his chair, Rish told Anoon exactly what he thought about the man’s proposal. “What makes you think we want to have anything to do with your-your deal?”

  “Because we believe you will have no choice but to follow Andakar’s lead and declare independence alongside them.”

  “Outrageous.” he began. “I have no interest – .”

  Siloy held up his hand to stop Rish from speaking. “Rish, I propose an hour recess. We have a lot to think about. You and I have much to discuss before we even consider what Mr. Tilshar has proposed.”

  Rish exhaled loudly and shook his head.

  Siloy sat across from Rish at a table in a private dining room down the corridor from where the negotiations had been taking place. The room was quiet. They were the only two people there. “Rish, how long has it been since you were back on Earth?” he asked.

  Rish looked up at Siloy. “Six years, three months and some odd weeks.”

  “Not that you’re counting. You regularly communicate with the Supreme Board of Directors, right?”

  “FTL comms are sent about production, profits and other items as are required.”

  “And you willingly came to Andakar despite us having detained our PD.”

  “I did because you insisted. You were quite urgent in your request.”

  “It was because Anoon was quite adamant about you being here. Seems he’s been keeping tabs on a lot of us. Which proves there are some disloyal Citizens who have funneled a lot of information to him and his people for quite some time,” he said with a grimace.

  “Disloyal. That’s an interesting word.”

  “I don’t use it lightly either. Loyalty is an extremely important trait in anyone, of course. Loyalty to one’s family. Loyalty to one’s employer. Loyalty to one’s planet. After all, one becomes a Citizen of a planet, not a Citizen of the Consortium.”

  “Go on.”

  Siloy leaned forward and pushed his plate out of the way. “Rish, your son and daughter were born on Rylerra. They attend school there. You have ties to Rylerra that are far greater than your ties to Earth. You know it and I know it. They will soon be old enough to be Citizens of Rylerra. You are a Citizen of Earth.

  “It’s also obvious from our initial meeting with Anoon that he’s not stupid. Both of us can see that. He’s managed to provide leadership to a band of outcasts. Those loyal to him have literally thrown away their Citizenship to follow him for a-a dream. A dream that’s within our reach now. Within their reach…. Within your reach.”

  “I have no intention of being disloyal like you’ve chosen to be,” he said, his nostrils flaring. The recent election in every province on Andakar was still gnawing at the man. It made no sense that this local official was literally speaking for an entire planet. He looked away, unable to hold Siloy’s stare.

  “To who?” Siloy said coldly. He was goading Rish. But he could see it in Rish’s eyes. He saw it in the meeting. Rish was vacillating. There was more at stake here than a nebulous loyalty to a collection of businesses.

  “To… to…” But Rish couldn’t complete his statement as he drew in a deep breath. He looked away, then back at Siloy. “How did you know?”

  “Because you’re far too fair to Rylerra. Your record proves it. Time and again, you’ve stood up for Rylerra’s rights over the interests of the Consortium. I’ve read the tax revenue reports, seen the profit margin vids, and was told about the deals you’ve personally brokered. There’s enough there to know that your interest lies with your adopted planet and not to Earth Central Planning.”

  Rish was absolutely amazed Siloy pieced all that together. “No one has ever called me on this. Not even the Supreme Board of Directors.”

  “Because it’s not quite affecting their bottom line just yet. Just as you planned it. How old are you Rish?”

  “Sixty-two.”

  “Wha
t will your legacy be when you’re replaced?”

  Rish was still filled with both anger and amazement. Siloy saw right through him. And here he was talking to a local administrator of another planet about it! “Nothing,” he said slowly.

  Siloy just looked at him. “This is your chance, man. Now. Leave something behind you can be proud of. Something your children will remember you for.”

  An hour later, the meeting room was full again. Siloy took his seat next to Rish. Anoon and his fiancée sat to the side. Siloy’s lawyers as well as Rish’s took their places. Guards stood outside the doors once again, making sure no one could enter and more importantly, hear anything. The long rectangular window at the far end of the room had been black this entire time, but now a tiny portion of the limb of Andakar was viewable 142,000 kilometers below.

  “Rish and I have discussed your offer. We’ve decided we need to see your kajite reserves and do an assay on the sample you brought. If all goes as we expect, we will discuss the next phase of this negotiation. We will, in turn, offer you something far more than just protection.” Siloy wanted to hover the nebulous offer in the air for Anoon to ponder. The unspoken offer was to divulge how to by-pass the suppression of the conduit detection circuit in their nav systems. After all, they would need a quick way to get ore to Rylerra if it turned out to be viable.

  Anoon took the container from the desktop and slid it toward Rish. “I realize you will not be doing the assay yourself, but may I offer this to you in good faith. I assure you this is a typical sample.”

  Siloy continued smoothly, “As a good faith gesture as well, one of our pilots, Lieutenant Commander James-Po, will accompany you back to Ethlacos. He’ll transport the assay team. Allowing you safe passage away from this star system is contingent on your agreement to cease all pirating operations in our star system.”

  “You have my word that no more misappropriated pharmas will fall into our hands. I gave orders that no ‘pirating’ operations were to proceed while I was off-world. None of our ships are currently in any starlane.” With that, he offered his hand to Siloy. Siloy shook it after a moment’s hesitation.

  “We have your word, but you can see we both,” Siloy glanced at Rish, “have our lawyers here. We will need your signature on the documents they draw up for this agreement.”

  “I may not be a formal Inhab Citizen anymore, sir, but I am perfectly willing to sign a monumental agreement such as this. I assure you this arrangement will be favorable for all of us.”

  “You what?” Darreth exploded.

  “I told him you would pilot the shuttle that would follow them to Ethlacos.”

  “Dad, you’re having me trail along with a known pirate over a promise?”

  “And a formal signature. I assure you it’s all legal. Son, you are in a unique position now. Not only have you and Naylon become some of the most famous people on this planet because of your adventure through that dimensional gateway, you are personally well known to Anoon and his followers. Who better to seal this deal?” He took a sip from his glass of selkwine.

  “But they know me as something quite different. I’ve taken their people into custody. Some of them have died as a result.”

  “We’ve worked all that out. This offer of kajite is far more important than people you stopped in the past or how many people might have died as a result of their thoroughly illegal activities. You know what this means if it’s true about their ore. Corren Grusics himself will be here very shortly. The first thing I know he’ll do is to cut off our fuel supply as a leverage point. Thereafter it will be a matter of determining how well we’ll be able to sustain ourselves in the short run. You will be instrumental in making history, son.” One of Siloy’s famous smiles drew across his face.

  Darreth sighed audibly. It was stressful enough that in just a few days he would be signing a formal document with Naylon to make them partners. He and Naylon had already determined exactly how their contract would look. Although they could have simply signed the documents and moved in together, both of them wanted their family and friends present. After all, the public expected it. They had talked about a private ceremony, but that was impossible with their high level profile. Vid would hit the newsgrid. Vid for the entire planet to see? Of their joining? It seemed ridiculous.

  Rish Illigan stood in the shuttle bay with Siloy on the Guardian space station.

  “Tlor has informed me your shuttle’s nav system has been converted to detect conduits and that you’ll be heading for the closer of the two in our system. The pilot has already been briefed on the procedure to get through it as well. We’ll have marker buoys staged on this end within a week for return traffic. The department that will be staging them offered to mark the Kaskalon end at half the cost of the buoys.”

  “Half?”

  “The department head has already assured me he’ll write off the other half. Think of it as good will for our neighboring planet. The data about the conduit suppression circuit is being sent along in your shuttle, too. You can have your people start modifying your ships as soon as possible.”

  “Who else knows about those conduits? It won’t take long before every Inhab knows about it,” Rish told him.

  “So far, only a handful of people even know of the conduits’ existence, much less how to modify the nav systems. There aren’t more than a dozen and a half people on Andakar who even understand how the nav systems work and all of them are pilots and maintenance crew loyal to Andakar. So, I recommend only those people you can absolutely trust be made aware of the filter and how to circumvent it. It’s going to take several more weeks before a replacement command module can be programmed without the suppression circuit. But enough of that,” Siloy said with a dismissive wave of the hand. He opened his briefcase and pulled out a rolled up flimsy, which he gave to Rish. A bright purple spot on the casing cylinder was glowing.

  “Authorized only?” Rish asked.

  “You’ll find formal documentation in there, but I’ll tell you one of the main points. We formally request extradition of Zelin Raxi and four of his employees. Raxi a mining operations manager…”

  “Yes, I know him personally.”

  “He’s an accomplice to Alarr in this corruption case. He ordered my son’s vessel to be pursued and disabled. He’s at least partially responsible for your sat being destroyed. He also had Darreth and Rehl followed back here when they recently left Rylerra. We suspect he’ll talk far more than our PD about this issue.”

  “Siloy, I truly am sorry this has happened.” He lowered his voice and drew himself closer to Siloy. “In a way though I must tell you personally that I’m a little heartened about all of it anyway.”

  “How so?” Siloy inquired, with a slight tilt of his head.

  “This is truly a monumental change of events. Who would have guessed this is how history would turn out? You were right. And I intend to be there. Here. At the beginning of all this. We must make it work,” he said firmly.

  We, Siloy thought as he smiled broadly. This was quite unexpected. He had no idea the man would say such a thing so quickly after being invited to join their cause. Maybe Rish was far more unhappy than he had suspected. He squeezed the man’s hand in a tight handshake, then drew him close for a firm hug. “That’s the spirit,” he boomed, patting Rish on the back. “I’ll inform you about what happens after the executives from the Supreme Board arrive.”

  Corren sat at the head of the table onboard their ship while he scrolled through the second flimsy, reiterating their courses of action. Flanking him were Jafar, Abela and Satto. Everyone’s eyes were on their own copies.

  “Jafar, you and Satto will go after Kestin Dryter. He’s a key to how the others went through that gateway. I want to know what he knows. Abela, you will meet with Inanda’s counsel. Determine exactly what has transpired since she’s been in detention. I suspect Siloy will be gloating over his coup. He’ll stumble for sure at some point,” he said confidently. “I’ll give him some time to do that befo
re I head to Rylerra.

  “Since the bodies of those aliens are still in cold storage I want see them personally. The holos are not like seeing them yourself.

  “I will declare the portal an artifact. That status alone will buy time. The proper documentation has been drawn up?” He looked over at one of the lawyers in attendance. He got a nod. Corren continued. “Illigan’s compliance will confirm his continued adherence to corporate law. I will press Efren Llarena for more specifics on what’s on the other side of that gateway.

  “I will ultimately call for Siloy’s surrender after all this is said and done. Afterward, there will be several meetings with CEOs of the major pharmas to make sure I know where their loyalties lie.”

  The vidcomm screen on the desktop lit up. The duty officer on the ship was calling him. “Sir, you requested I let you know when we’re one hour from breakout to Andakar,” he reported.

  “Acknowledged,” he responded curtly. The screen went dark. “As we’ve previously determined, be prepared for these procedures to take at least two weeks.” Then to Jafar, “Any word yet?”

  Jafar looked at the message flimsy to his right. “No sir, the latest communication from Earth still shows the rest of the Board is undecided about whether to expand military ship manufacture. They won’t even discuss a concerted effort to draw other companies in, much less a division, unless this fact-finding meeting turns up a worst-case scenario.”

  Corren leaned back in his chair and briefly rubbed his eyes. It’s already a worst-case scenario after all we’ve looked through, he thought, already tired. I guess I’ll have to make daily reports back to Earth instead of weekly ones.

  Chapter 45

  It was five minutes until insertion to Andakar space. Until now, Corren had spent the majority of his life within twenty-five light years of Earth. Flying out to the fringes of civilized space was not something he cared for at all. He much preferred the boardroom overlooking Hogenakkal Falls any day. But after having gone over such a huge amount of data over the last several weeks, putting aside such things as despising space travel was easy to do. These were clearly the most important series of meetings he would ever facilitate. Once they were completed, he was sure he would go down as the leader with the most foresight of any First Executive in the history of the Consortium. His immediate remedy for these recent actions by Andakar would be talked about for years, if not decades.