“Good, but I would also like to have heightened security aboard and guards at the entrance to the bridge and engine room. If your Earthlings question it, I would suggest you simply tell them it’s standard operational procedure on this ship.”
“Ok, I’ll agree to that, but it feels strange to me treating my fellow Earthlings like this.”
“Tibby, I have seen some of the reports on your Earth’s history from the Federation recon satellites, and from the looks of it, your planet has never been at peace. Countries were always spying on each other and trying to steal each other’s technology. I find it hard to be very trusting of people who harbor such an aggressive and warlike nature. Frankly, I am shocked to find you come from such a planet, because you hardly fit the image that I get from the broadcasts I’ve seen.”
“Honestly, Commodore, it’s not really all that different on Earth than it is in the Federation. The only thing is you have it all condensed on one planet and over several countries instead of over a galaxy and hundreds of planets. I suspect our broadcasts make it seem a lot worse than it actually was.”
“I just realized I’m probably the only one on the ship who knows enough English to communicate with the Mars colony, and I’m assuming that they all speak English. After all, it is an international colony. I wonder if when Cantolla performed the brain scan on me for the learning band, it recorded my language? If it did, she can use the learning band to teach it to some of the crew before we bring visitors aboard.”
“Tibby, I know for a fact that she did, because Commander Wabussie contacted her for a copy to use in training the FSO agents who have been scanning broadcasts from Earth. I have used it myself, so I could view some of the transmissions forwarded to me by Wabussie.”
I quickly contacted Cantolla and asked her to use the learning band to teach as many of the crew English as she could in the next few hours, starting with my senior staff first, and then the housekeeping staff that would be encountering them. Cantolla said it would not be a problem, as she could download all the data into the main ship's computer, and that each crew member had their own learning bands in their quarters, accessing and learning English (as I knew it) in about 20 minutes. She said it was so simple a procedure that she had made the download while we were talking. Once I ended my conversation with her, Stonbersa issued an order to the entire crew to use their learning headbands at their earliest convenience before the Mars crew boarded the ship.”
By the time I returned to the bridge, we were entering orbit around Mars. “Open another channel to the colony,” I said to Verona. By now A’Lappe had joined us on the bridge and was busy at a control console monitoring scanners that were reading things on the surface.
“Tibby, you should know they have a weapons system and have it tracking our ship. It’s very primitive by Federation standards and not any real threat to us, our Reverse Magnetic Force Field can handle anything they might use to attack us; but if our shields were turned off, they could do some minor damage to the NEW ORLEANS."
I nodded to A’Lappe and then began speaking as Verona activated the com link to the planet. “Mars colony, this is Tibby Renwalt on the space yacht NEW ORLEANS, are you reading me?”
“Roger that, did you say NEW ORLEANS? That was the name of an Earth City!”
“NEW ORLEANS is where I was from on Earth, I named my ship after the city.”
“Excuse me sir, but is that YOUR ship that we are seeing on our screens? The one in orbit now?”
“Unless there is another ship up here, it is.”
“You call that a ship? It’s HUGE. Your ship could carry hundreds of the ships that brought us here.”
“If you think this is large, you should see a Federation star ship; they're several times larger than this ship. Is Captain Slater there?”
“Yes sir, one moment sir.”
“Mars colony, do you have vision transmission capabilities? We’re picking up sound but no visual images.”
“Yes sir, we do, but we’re not picking up anything from you, either.”
I turned to A’Lappe. “Could you look and see why we aren’t picking up each other’s visual images?” A’Lappe turned back to his console and began to look at various readouts while making several adjustments to the controls. Suddenly an image appeared on the screen of a small room with electronic gear in it and a man in his early 30’s; he had light brown hair and wore a khaki colored shirt and matching slacks. “We have your image now,” the young man said. As he spoke, an older man who appeared to be in his late 40’s stepped up to the screen. He too was dressed in a khaki colored uniform, and I noticed captain bars on his shirt.
“This is Captain Slater, he said. That’s quite some ship you have up there.”
“It’s even more impressive inside, Captain,” I replied. “I would be pleased to have you and a few of your senior staff join me this evening aboard my ship for dinner and to discuss the events that have transpired since I left Earth over 60 years ago.”
“We’d be honored to accept your offer, but I’m afraid we have no means to reach you, as we no longer have any craft capable of achieving orbit.”
“That is not a problem, Captain. We have ample means to transport you to the ship. Just let us know where we can land a craft and how many of you to expect for dinner, and we’ll come down and pick you up.
“Could you give me a few minutes to consult with my staff and determine how many of us there will be, and let me get back to you in about 30 minutes?”
“Certainly Captain, we’ll keep the link open on our end, just notify us when you are ready.”
I saw the captain nod to someone out of camera view and then the screen went blank.
“What do you suppose they are doing now?” Kala asked me.
“I suspect he is doing just what he said; contacting senior people in various departments, trying to decide who should come and who should stay and maintain things until they return.”
“How many people do you think will come up?” Kala pondered.
“My guess would be no more than ten, most likely six. I imagine that their food selection on the planet has been very limited, and I’m betting they have little to no meat at all, so I’m hoping we have enough fubalo steaks onboard to give them a real treat.”
Kala laughed. “You’d do anything to have fubalo steaks as often as possible. It’s a good thing we don’t have several cases of Lyonian wine, or you’d insist we serve that too.”
“We still have the bottle that we received from the maître d' at Tezu Lagong. We never drank it since we were there.”
Kala gave me one of those looks that indicate disbelief. “Tib I don’t think one bottle would be enough for your staff and your guests from Mars.”
“I wasn’t thinking of them, I was thinking of you and me. It would make for a nice evening before the fireplace listening to some soothing jazz.” I wiggled my eyebrows as I said the last.
“Sounds wonderful, but we're going to need to wait for about seven months before we can do that.”
“Seven months? Why do we need to wait so long?” I said with some dismay.
Kala gave me a quick stare and then looked down at her abdomen. Suddenly, it hit me; I had forgotten for the moment that she was pregnant. “Oh, you’re right!”
Just then Captain Slater appeared on the com screen. “NEW ORLEANS, this is Captain Slater, I’ve spoken with my team here, and there will be seven of us accepting your offer to visit your ship. There is a small landing pad on the one side of our facility; we’ll turn the landing lights on so you know where to land. I’m hoping you have a craft small enough for our pad. I am afraid there is no place here large enough for your ship to land.”
“We have a number of ships aboard of all sizes, so that won’t be a problem. The NEW ORLEANS never lands; it’s much too large to land and always stays in space.”
“Might I ask a favor for myself and those accompanying me?” Slater began. “We have a bit of a water shortage here on Mars, and
as a result we've had to ration rather strictly. We’ve been restricted to bathing once a week and only for a very brief time. I fear we might be somewhat unpleasant to be around. Would it be possible for us to shower on your ship before we dine?”
“Most definitely, Captain. We have an ample supply of water and even have several swimming pools aboard the ship. The ship has numerous cleaning units that can clean your clothing while you bathe. How soon would you like for us to pick you up?”
“Give us an hour, and we should be ready. I’ll make sure the landing lights are on at the landing pad, and you can send your transport craft down at any time.
“Kala, could you get with Piesew and have him arrange for some facilities for our guests to freshen up, and Marranalis, could you see to a shuttle to bring our guests up?”
“I’ll get it taken care of, Tib.” Both Kala and Marranalis said in unison.
“A’Lappe, I would like for you and Cantolla to be present at the meal tonight as well. I'm going to want an assessment of the colony’s capabilities here in terms of long-term survival."
An hour later Marranalis dispatched a shuttle to the surface to pick up our guests. He made sure all of the crews had used the learning bands and could speak English. I was hoping all the members of the Mars colony spoke English as well, but there was no guarantee of that. As it turned out, all of them did, as well as several other Earth Languages.
When the shuttle landed back aboard the NEW ORLEANS, Marranalis had an honor guard comprised of 30 men waiting at attention. Commodore Stonbersa, A’Lappe and Cantolla, Piesew, and Kala and I were there to greet our visitors. Jenira was there also, having insisted that she must be there; I could not find a legitimate reason to deny her. Kerabac stayed on the bridge to maintain the ship running properly. As the most senior officer on the NEW ORLEANS, it would be the Commodore’s responsibility to greet our guests first. Even though Kala and I were First Citizens, the highest ranking status in the Federation, it didn’t give us right to greet the visitors first.
When the door of the shuttle opened, one of our security people on the shuttle stepped out and stood to the side of the shuttle door as the seven guests emerged led by Captain Slater.
“Captain Slater, welcome aboard the NEW ORLEANS, I’m Commodore Stonbersa, commanding officer of all of First Citizen Tibby Renault’s fleet of ships,” the Commodore said in English. Captain Slater saluted and then stepped forward and extended his hand; suddenly I realized that I had neglected to inform the ship’s crew of the Earth custom of shaking hands. The Commodore stared at the Captain’s outstretched hand awkwardly for a second and then looked at me. I gestured for him to take the Captains hand, and he did, but appeared startled when the Captain began pumping it up and down.
“It’s a great pleasure, Commodore, permission to come aboard?” The captain said.
“Kala looked at me, and in a whisper asked, “What’s going on, Tibby?”
“I forgot to explain Earth customs to you all,” I said. “I fear this is going to get uncomfortable.
Fortunately the Commodore realized that he was out of his element, and he turned and gestured toward me and Kala. “Allow me to introduce you to First Citizens Tibby and Kalana. Like you, Tibby is originally from Earth; both he and Kalana are the highest ranking citizens in the Federation, and Tibby is the owner of this ship as well.”
I stepped forward, offering my hand as I did so, “Captain Slater, I am honored to have you and your fellow Mars team members aboard.” I took his hand in a firm grasp and shook it. . “Allow me to introduce Kalana, in terms of the Federation she is my bond-mate, the equivalent of a wife on Earth.” Kala stepped forward and mimicked me in shaking the Captain’s hand. “It’s my pleasure Kalana, or do I address you as First Citizen?”
“In as much as you have just arrived and are not fully acquainted with us, it is considered appropriate that both Tibby and I be addressed as First Citizens,” Kala answered, “ however we may also be addressed by our other rankings as well. You may also address me as Commander Kalana, and Tibby may be addressed as Vice Admiral Tibby, but he dislikes being addressed by any honorifics and prefers just being called Tibby.”
“Vice Admiral? My apology, the captain said snapping to attention and saluting; I was not aware.”
“That will not be necessary, Captain. The Vice Admiral title is purely honorary. I have no real authority with the Federation Space Force. However, Kalana is a full commander in the Federation.”
“So you have military personnel on this ship as well?” The Captain asked in some confusion.
“At the moment there are only two Federation officers aboard. Commander Kalana and Major Marranalis, both have been assigned to my staff by the Federation. At times we host a number of military officers and government dignitaries aboard the NEW ORLEANS, for various reasons, but at the moment Kalana and Marranalis are the only military personnel aboard.
“What of those men over there?” the captain nodded toward the armed security team that stood at attention along the walkway into the ship.
“Those are part of my own personal security forces.”
“Personal security forces? You have this many men for your own security?”
“Actually, captain, this is only a small portion of my security team. It’s hard to explain, I’ve sort of been providing the Federation military some assistance with some of my own personally trained men.”
“I’m getting the impression that things are not so peaceful in the Federation.”
“Again, captain, it’s a long story. We can discuss it later, but right now let me introduce you to the others of my staff here.” I quickly introduced him to A’Lappe and Cantolla and lastly to Jenira, who stood by my side almost defiantly in her black attire, her two swords strapped on her back and the painted mark around her eye. I could see some question in the captain’s expression when he shook Jenira’s hand, but he didn’t ask anything and merely said hello to her. Jenira simply copied my action and reached out and shook the captain’s hand.
“Let me introduce you to the others in my party,” the captain said. “This is Doctor Ruth Nelson, head of our biology and hydroponics section.” A tall woman in her mid to late 40’s with short grayish-blond hair stepped forward and shook my hand. Next was Doctor Ichiro Yamaguchi, astrophysicist and geologist.
“Just call me Iggy; everyone else does,” he said as he shook my hand. His Japanese ancestry was clearly evident and he appeared much younger than all the rest and I doubted he was more than 30 years old.
The captain continued, “This is Doctor Naomi Danjuma, our medical doctor, surgeon, and dentist. A woman of many talents and without whose efforts most of us on Mars would not be alive today.” Dr. Danjuma was a petite black-skinned woman, who I learned later was in her mid-40’s but looked much younger. When she spoke it was with a soft voice and a clearly South African dialect. “It is such an honor to be aboard your wondrous ship, First Citizen.”
The next person the captain introduced was a tall man with close-cropped brown hair and a slender build. “This is Lt. Ray Stevens. Until our shuttle ran out of fuel, he was our shuttle pilot. He’s quite handy with mechanical and electrical equipment; we rely on him heavily to maintain things and keep them functional. We’re sort of hoping that you might be able to provide us with some spare parts that we desperately need.”
Ray shook my hand with a firm grip, “Pleasure to meet you, sir… ahh, First Citizen.
“And this,” the Captain continued, “is Doctor Alexey Volkov, a xenobiologist and bacteriologist, and Doctor Winston Hughes our psychiatrist and historian.” I noted that Doctor Volkov spoke with a distinct Russian accent, and that he kept looking at A’Lappe with a huge grin on his face. I was sure that he was most interested in meeting A’Lappe and was full of questions. I could only imagine how he would react when he met one of the Nibarians on the ship.
Once he had finished introducing his team, I said, “I am sure you and your team would like to freshen up. All
ow me to introduce you to Piesew Mecarta, my majordomo. He will show you to quarters where you may freshen up. Then you will be given a brief tour of the ship before we dine.”
I noted that every one of the Mars colony visitors seem to relax after my statement, and after standing next to them and noticing the rather pungent odor they emitted, I could understand why. “That would be most appreciated,” Captain Slater replied.
“If you follow me, ladies and gentlemen, I will take you to your accommodations and will see that you are instructed on the usage of items inside,” Piesew stated, as he led the way toward the inside of the ship. Once they were out of hearing range, I met briefly with A’Lappe, Cantolla and Marranalis. “I would like for you, A’Lappe and Cantolla, to give our guests a brief tour of the ship, as scientists you will know the things they will be most interested in and can answer their questions. For the time being, however, I do not want them in the engineering sections or the gravity wave generator rooms. I also think it important that they not see anything related to the RMFF system, but you are free to answer any questions on theory of these systems that they may ask. I think it would be a good idea for at least one member of the security team to accompany the group on this tour to answer any questions regarding issues of ship's security and our relationship to the Federation, if that matter should come up.” I felt a tug on my sleeve and turned, seeing Jenira standing there. “I want to go with them on the tour!” She signed. She had an earnest look on her face that was hard for me to read; it was not one of eagerness, nor did it seem to be curiosity about the visitors; I wondered just what her motives were.
“Why do you want to go on the tour?” I asked.
“Someone needs to be there to observe and not to talk,” she replied. Though I could not see the need for such, I couldn’t argue with her thinking either saw no danger in allowing her to go with them, so I told her she could accompany them.
Solbidyum Wars Saga 4: Too Late for Earth Page 14
