by Ben Winston
Small nodded. "I saw that on your web site, I got a link to it from a friend of mine. That happen a lot?"
"Not so much anymore, I think they are giving up on trying to capture one of those ships, at least until they can think of something new to try," Carl replied.
"I'm sure they will, too," Small said. "Okay, I'll talk to the family and get them ready to go. Hell, I think my daughter and her family have already applied to you folks. She'll be thrilled to go. I'll give you a call once we're ready for pick up."
Carl nodded. "I'll have my secretary send you a file on what you need to worry about bringing. Housing will be provided and we'll take care of you until you get set up. You shouldn't have to worry about a thing."
Over the ensuing weeks that Greg was recovering, progress was being steadily made on the base as well as the Alliance. The Greynus finished building not only the military base, but also the massive refinery and foundry in the Sea of Tranquility. The facility was so large that it could actually be seen from Earth.
Two of the Hives that had been assisting with the project then shifted over to their other tasks; the ship yards that would begin building not only the larger support ships to move beings and freight, but also the warships that would eventually protect the sector from the Drellians. While quite large in their own right, the shipyards would not be as massive as the refinery complex had been. In terms of total area, the shipyards would be larger, but not as dense.
The Harclen and Onarians mass produced the sensor drones Mandi designed and were placing them as quickly as they were built. So far, the Onarian area and part of the Harclen area were covered, as those were the two areas closest to the vector the Drellians most often used. Once the Harclen area was covered, Greg had asked that several of the drones be placed along the border of the adjacent sector containing the transit lane. The request was quickly approved and added to the list.
The Onarian Ranger team did locate another Fighter candidate, as well as two more Fixers and a Finder. However, the Fighter candidate was very young, and would not be physically capable of performing his duties for another two years. That did not stop him from being trained though.
The first formal meeting of the Alliance occurred while Greg was still in the hospital. He called Delion in to attend on his behalf, and to represent the interests of the Rangers and their duty to protect the people. She was not happy about it and insisted he also attend the meeting via a special comm channel so he could advise her on what to say and when to speak out.
He agreed, although his doctor, Beth Grien, wasn't happy about it.
One of the things he needed Delion to do was to brief the Ambassadors about the plan for structuring their military, the type and size of the planned forces, and the integration of those forces. He and Delion had a long discussion about the need for mixed race crews and ground forces. She did not understand the need for it and foresaw many problems and issues that could easily be avoided by not integrating them.
Greg argued that by working and training together, the races will gain a better understanding of each other and thus a better appreciation for the races they will be protecting. In the end he managed to convince her that, while mixing the crews and soldiers would be problematic, it would benefit them all in the long run.
As it turned out the Council shared her concerns, and Delion did her best to convince them of the need for it. While they accepted the structure outline, they continued to debate the need to have mixed crews. As far as ship's crews went, there would only be a limited amount of integration because not all of the races breathed the same atmosphere. Racial integration would be more prevalent in the ground forces that were planned.
Even Abraxis offered an opinion for the Ambassadors to debate. He informed them that racial integration was one of the key factors in stabilizing the Alliance, as it fostered mutual respect among the members. Something that would be very much needed once the large scale attacks began. In order to prevail against the forces of the Drellian Empire, the Alliance will need the mutual respect and trust among the races. If the Alliance was to succeed, every attempt at strengthening the ties between races must be made.
The four major races, those that had Ranger teams, seem to understand better because of the actions of the Rangers to date. The cooperative effort Greg had made in defending Abraxis by recruiting the other Rangers was still fresh in their minds. However, the minor races had a little more difficulty understanding the need. To date, all of their extra-racial dealings had been peaceful, commercial interactions and agreements. Only one of those planets had a military, and that was more of an emergency response force than anything else.
All in all, the first meeting of the Alliance council went very well. While Carl had been the moderator, he refrained from entering the debates or offering his opinions. He was there simply as the moderator and nothing more. The humans had their own Ambassador to speak for them.
The event was broadcast to all the planets in the sector, whether they had joined the Alliance or not. The non-member worlds that were in the sector had a vested interest in the proceedings, so it was made available to them. It was also offered as a netcast via the TDI website on Earth. The site had grown so large that bandwidth requirements had forced them to expand the site over multiple servers. Those servers now resided on the moon and had been tied into the Internet. There was even a small part of TDI that hosted commercial web sites for products and services offered on other planets.
The commercial side of the Alliance was doing great.
Grimaldi Ridge was growing almost faster than the drones could get stuff built. Six months after Greg ordered the drones to begin construction on the base, it officially became a city of one hundred thousand beings. Not everything had been smooth, either. They had their share of issues, from racial intolerance issues to domestic assault and even theft. Grimaldi continued to grow, and as with any growing city, there were always problems.
Shortly after the Council meeting, Greg was moved from Stardust Medical Center at Grimaldi to the Struve Rim Military Medical Center in the new military base. It was there that Beth gave Greg the news about his recovery. At Greg's insistence, she called his family together.
"Okay Doc, everyone's here. Lay it on me," Greg said.
"This is gonna be one of those good news/bad news things, so what do you want first?" Beth asked.
Mandi already had tears in her eyes, Bella looked anxious and Jolene was scared. Greg smiled at all of them. "The bad is easier to deal with after the good. So give us the good news first please."
Beth nodded. "Okay, internally, you're doing very well, much better than any of us ever expected you to do. Most of the damage to your internal organs has been repaired and you are healing amazingly fast again. Additionally, we managed to rebuild your genitalia testes and prostrate. You should at the least regain full use of that organ, but we will have to wait and see if you will produce viable semen. As you already know, your right leg is almost completely restored and there is a better than expected prognosis for that as well. Basically, you are going to recover with no long term side effects from this injury."
"You didn't mention the left leg, Beth. Is that the bad news?" Jarad asked.
She nodded. "It is. I've consulted every specialist I can think of to find, trying to find some way to restore your leg. The problem is the nerves simply are not coming back. We rebuilt the hip and buttocks, but the nerves just aren't reforming. At this point, there really is only one alternative left if you want to fly again; cybernetic replacement."
"I kind of figured there was something going on when nothing seemed to be happening. So, what's the issue with giving me a cybernetic leg?" Greg asked.
"It involves some rather complex neurosurgery for one thing. We would also have to remove the hip we rebuilt and replace it with one strong enough to support the leg. Then the control connections would have to be made. As I understand it, the control matrix will have to be grafted to your spine. It's a very tricky surger
y that has to be done at the same time as we are installing the leg. However, once it’’s done, the connections are finished and your central nervous system accepts the new matrix, you shouldn't be able to tell the difference between it and your real leg.
"If you make it that far, then you'll have to learn how to walk again. You're looking at a long rehab," Beth finished.
"What are the odds he'll reject the leg?" Sharon asked with tears in her eyes.
"Sixteen percent of humans reject the graft. The bad news is that if it does fail, he'll lose the left leg too, or worse. At that point, no further attempt can be made that isn't experimental and very dangerous. There is a chance that rejecting the graft will be fatal," Beth replied.
"What about non-cybernetic prosthetics? He won’t be able to fly again, but he'll still be alive, right?" Mandi asked.
Beth nodded. "We could fit him with a prosthetic leg, but he will only be able to walk with crutches since the prosthetic won't move."
"Not much of a choice, really," Greg said. "How soon can you do the cybernetic leg?"
"We can do it tomorrow, if that's your choice. Greg, think hard about this. Really think it through; this could kill you or paralyze you," Beth replied. "Talk to your loved ones. Listen to what they have to tell you. But, in the end, the choice is really yours to make. I'll leave you guys alone to discuss it," She said, and after kissing her daughter on the cheek, left the room.
"Well, I think you guys know what I want to choose. I also know Mandi is against it. Is anyone else?"
Struve Rim Training Base
Medical Center
Struve Crater, Selene
Earth's Moon, Sol System
Bella and Jolene were against the surgery, but understood why Greg wanted to have it. Jarad understood Greg's reasoning and agreed with him. However, Mandi and Sharon had to be convinced. In the end, they still weren't convinced, but agreed that the decision was Greg's.
Bella asked her mother to return to Greg's room so they could inform her of his decision. When Beth heard it, she wasn't surprised.
"Beth, I've decided to have the operation to install the cybernetic leg. However, before I do, I need to take care of a couple of things first. Will I have time for that or do I need to start getting ready now?" Greg asked.
"I kind of thought you would chose this. That's why I had Marcus begin building the leg and put the team on stand-by. There isn't much you need to do to get ready for this, so you should have the day to do what you need to get done. We scheduled the OR for oh-six-hundred tomorrow morning. Will you need more time than that?" Beth asked.
"I don't think so, I just need to talk to Delion before she leaves and do a couple of other small things. What do you mean by a team? So far it's just been you and Doctor Rainwater, hasn't it?" Greg asked.
"I'll let Delion know you want to talk before she leaves, be right back," Jarad said and stepped out.
Beth nodded at Greg's question. "Yes it has, but this is something entirely different. There will be four doctors working on you, with a crew of eight nurses assisting, as well as Marcus, Leonard and his medical nanomachines. One of the doctors, Doctor Hasbro, is also an engineer and will be the primary doctor installing the leg. Two others are neurosurgeons, and then there will be me." Greg had begun laughing at the doctor's name, and Beth grinned. "Be sure to razz him about the name when you meet him. He really does get a kick out of it."
“Who’s Leonard?” Greg asked.
“The new medical AI for the military base. He was named Leonard McCoy after the fictional medical officer from Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek. While I approve of the name, I refuse to call him ‘Bones!” She replied.
"We have a cybernetic engineer already? How did that happen?" Mandi asked.
"When we recruited him, Michael was already one of the leading scientists working in the field of cybernetics and animated prosthetics. When he got up here, he pretty much sent himself back to school by diving into everything Abraxis had on the subject and even contacted medical professionals from other races to get their knowledge. He's probably one of the best, if not the best, cybernetic surgeon available in the galaxy. Marcus and Leonard, have formally asked Abraxis to record a new medical specialty for him and the other doctors studying this; Cybernetic Medicine.
"Anyway, I'll bring the Doctors by later so you can meet all of them, and we can go over the details involved in this procedure. Tomorrow is going to be a long day for all of us, Greg. It's very important we all get a good night's sleep," Beth finished.
"How long will this take, Beth?" Sharon asked.
"Both medical AI agree that under ideal conditions, it will take around ten hours. But, if we run longer, don't panic; it only means we ran into something else that needed to be dealt with. After the surgery, if everything goes smoothly, Greg should actually recover pretty quickly,” Beth replied.
"Greg, Delion said she'll be here in a few minutes," Jarad said as he returned to the room.
"Great, thanks Dad," Greg replied. "Doc, I thought I was the only patient here, how come there seems to be so much activity out there?" Greg asked and nodding to the door Jarad had just used.
"To begin with, you're not the only patient anymore. We have a lot of new recruits coming in that need help. You were the first, but about two hours ago, shuttles began arriving," Beth replied.
"We've been recruiting the training cadre we're going to need, Greg," Jarad began. "Most of those arriving here are from the list Wilma gave us, as well as a few others we got on our own. Some of them need some medical work done. If I could, I'd offer free treatment to all vets regardless if they joined us or not."
"That's a hell of an idea, Dad!" Greg replied. "See if there is a way we can either expand this facility in such a way as to accommodate them. I don't know how many takers we'll have, but it sure can't hurt to make the offer. Be sure to stress that treatment is not dependent on their joining us, and it is open to all countries that wish to use it."
"Greg, while I agree that is a very noble and honorable thing to offer, we're already stretched thin with recruitment and transportation. What you're suggesting will increase the load by an order of magnitude. I'll make the suggestion to Carl and the planning and construction people, but stress that it is a goal for the future, not something we need to do right now," Jarad replied. "The civilian medical facility is running at maximum capacity as it is, and we need to make sure we don't max out this one, or we won't be able to treat our own soldiers."
Greg nodded. "You're right, I guess I just get over exited sometimes. There is so much we can do to help, that it's easy to forget that so much help is needed it would overwhelm us."
"We do what we can, as we can, Son," Jarad replied. "We'll get there, we just need to keep plugging along."
Greg nodded. "Yeah, I know. So, Mandi, how's your research going?"
The family talked until Delion arrived, and then politely left. They did have duties to get back to.
"Commander, you wanted to see me?" Delion asked as she entered the room.
"Delion, how many times do I have to tell you that, when we're alone, you can call me Greg?" Greg replied smiling. "You used to do that."
"That was before you got promoted. Before we were social equals, now I am your subordinate," Delion replied reasonably.
Greg shook his head. "Not really, you're my co-worker. We are equals, I just have different duties than you do. I am still just a Ranger Fighter, the same as you. In fact, I'm not even that at the moment!" he grinned and waved at his covered lower half.
She smirked at him. "Even if you cannot function as a Fighter, you will still be the Commander. As such, you are my superior."
"I'm also your friend, so please call me Greg, Okay?" Greg asked.
She sighed. "I will. What did you need to see me about, Greg?"
Greg smiled at her in return. "I wanted to tell you that you did a great job at the meeting. Even though you do not agree with my plan for integrating the military, you explained it v
ery well."
"Actually, after hearing what Abraxis had to say on the matter, I am more inclined to agree with you. She did have some very good points," Delion replied. "Without the trust and ingrained cooperation from our military, the Alliance would fall apart right after our first major set-back. Add to that a mixed crew, it shows that no single race will be favored over the others, and it would serve to reassure the member races. I was in error to disagree with you, I simply had not thought it through as far as you had."
Greg nodded. "You would have eventually. You're a bit more open-minded than some of our contemporaries. I even had to convince Jarad of the need for it. Fighter Joyce had simply assumed it would be that way as that made the most sense to her." He shrugged. "Each individual is different, and we all have our own ways of resolving problems we are confronted with."
"Is that what you wanted to speak to me about?" She asked.
"No, not really," he hesitated. "I've chosen to undergo an experimental medical procedure that has the potential to end badly for me. As my second, I wanted to make certain you could pick up for me if that were to happen. Don't get me wrong, I intend to fully recover, but this needs to be done anyway, so it might as well be done now. Abraxis, please secure the room, and enter privacy mode."
As Abraxis acknowledged the order, Delion looked very uncomfortable. "Greg, I'm not… this is something I do not wish to discuss. Nothing will happen to you, of that I am certain."
"I understand, Delion. I appreciate your confidence in me more than I can tell you, but even if nothing happens to me during this surgery, there is still the possibility I could die in combat. Hell, any of us could. But as leaders, it is our duty to make certain any knowledge we have is not lost with us. I know it's unpleasant, but it is a necessity."
She nodded. "I understand."
"Okay, now, tell me; what would you do if you found the kill codes for the Abraxis Prime Nexus?" Greg asked.
