by David Buck
‘Now Steve, from what you are telling me we get a deal of equipment from the Traders that we really need. However we can only get the deal if we also do an unknown deal with the Maveen that is confidential. The first deal scares me as we suddenly have alien technology with all the ramifications, and the second deal terrifies me, in part as it is unknown. The second deal could possibly see us under attack from the galactic races from what I understand of the political situation.’
Steve gave a wry grimace as the Australian prime minister stopped speaking for a moment and he replied.
‘Sir, the key fact is that if the Traders and Maveen remain then we will get attacked by the galactic races. In the very unlikely event we defeat both Traders and Maveen we still get attacked by the galactic races for possessing the advanced technology. The present course allows us to argue that we only have defensive alien technology, which we will incidentally need from my understanding of the state of the galaxy.’
Ian then added what the US president had told him after speaking with Gindane.
‘The Barus commander mentioned that a fleet was expected at some stage. However the president told them to leave and take the Tilmud frigates with them. We are preparing further defences against the fleet, but I assume we could not implement defensive alien technology quickly enough for our current problems.’
Steve was not surprised by the news, as he had previously evaluated that the Barus were compelled to act by their so-called edicts. He had thought enough about the complex problem to make a conjecture or two.
‘So when the Traders landed they had all their sneak ships functional and they could leave, as they would have hardly landed here otherwise. I think that the loss of the two smaller Trader ships is what is driving the deal negotiations and is what also leads us into dispute with the Barus. So once the Traders and Maveen leave then so the Barus should also leave. We can later argue that we compelled them to leave by agreeing to the deal. Also from a military perspective, I think how the second Trader ship was disabled should provide an insight into our own defensive efforts. We should be considered how to drive a Barus fleet away with our current technology.’
There was a moment of silence before Ian Ridge spoke again.
‘I can see your point too well, the moment we downed the two Trader ships we brought this on ourselves. Alright Steve, please give an agreement in principle to the Traders. I will spend the night arguing the issues with the world leaders and get them to pass on your suggestions to their military. The bit about damaged ships precipitating this crisis should hobble the argument for further force on the Traders nicely. Now tomorrow I want as much information about the Maveen and their offer that you can find out.’
Steve thanked the Australian prime minister and quickly motioned Rebecca to come over to the command chair, before he replied again.
‘Well sir, we actually surmised something today, and Rebecca Rynn-Smith, who is on the mission team, will advise you of this matter.’
Rebecca took the satellite phone from Steve and nervously introduced herself, and Ian Ridge graciously replied.
‘Your father was Professor Stuart Rynn-Smith? Well your father has the gratitude of many Australians and other people around the world. So Rebecca, you have observed something of interest about the Maveen?’
Rebecca took another nervous breath and replied to his question, even as she fought down the cultural discomfort of remembering of her late father in public. She described the Maveen sub-probes, the roles the Maveen use them for, and their actions on Middle island.
‘Sir, I think the Maveen have been here before several thousands of years ago.’
***
Chapter 13
The atmosphere in the meeting room onboard the Aurora Discovery was tense for an early morning meeting. For his part, Steve was already feeling frazzled, as both Ian Mitchin and Vladimir Stenin, one of the Russian nuclear physicists, were adamant that they should withdraw and send in soldiers to take the main ship. Dan was close to ropeable and he sarcastically lashed out at both men.
‘So gentlemen we find ourselves in a difficult situation already by having used force to destroy two of their sneak ships. Yes I know they lost one of them in a collision with a submarine. Look at what actually happened, six Maveen research probes drove off the US 5th fleet. Now you want to pick a fight with those ships, the eight remaining sneak ships and the main ship herself. If we then actually win we get to pick over the bones of those ships for a few weeks, understanding very little I might add, before an alien fleet appears and attacks the planet. Also we do not know what the Trader hyper drive section will do, or for that matter the Tilmud will do either. So do tell me what part of my analysis you do not understand?’
Ian looked over at Dan and gave him a baleful look as he replied.
‘Dan, we want the main ship as it represents hundreds, possibly thousands of years of research. We are convinced that if we force the surrender then we can send the aliens off world later without their ship. You heard our president yesterday when he stated we reject the authority of the aliens over us. A few of us think that if we take out enough sneak ships the main ship will then surrender anyway because she can then longer leave the planet. I recommend a simple solution, they made an emergency landing here and we took them captive, no deals and no arguments.’
Steve looked around the meeting room, and more than a few nodding heads confirmed Ian’s point of view. The argument had been flowing around the room for two hours now. Steve considered the lines of reasoning and knew that emotion played a big part of the recommendations of the science mission members. He now gave voice to that emotion as a prelude to another line of reasoning.
‘So you know that a powerful star drive exists, but you cannot get control of it, not to mention the power source used to operate the star drive. Surely if you know it exists and you actually looked at it for a few days then we could build something similar within a few generations? Now even if we could capture the ships here, how do we get access to the separate and probably armed drive module orbiting out in deep space? And finally, how do we deal with the Maveen if they return in force?’
Ian looked at Steve with renewed respect as he replied.
‘Well Steve it is not just a case of seeing the technology and building a ship. Who knows what sort of engineering challenges would occur over the length of time it would take to build the drive and ship. In the same length of time we could get the main ship into space and ferry up colonists for trips to other star systems. After three generations we would be living on dozens of worlds. As for the other parts of your response and questions, I consider that they do not alter the reasoning in my main argument.’
Steve knew that the ideas Ian stated had merit, and several other nodding heads and murmurs of agreement told him that other members were seriously considering the idea. But he knew that a lethal weakness was present and he illustrated his point.
‘Ian, telemetry has picked up the Tilmud ships and we now know that they exist. So we get into space, set up a colony and the main ship leaves to go back to Earth or set up another colony. So now assume that later two or more Tilmud frigates arrive at the colony system. What do we do then given that we have already told the galactic races we do not accept their authority?’
Several people around the room went pale in the face as the realisation of what Steve was saying hit home, and for good measure he continued.
‘Also we would have no friends, as the Tilmud and Jerecab are closest to Earth and would view us as upstart competitors possessing ill gotten technology. All the galactic races would view us as untrustworthy and for good reason. The nasty facts of the situation are that we are playing with several races we just know about by talking to the Traders for three days. So how do we handle the other races? Do we want to risk a war with any of them in the future knowing that do so can only have one outcome?’
Ian and Vladimir looked crestfallen, and Samantha now ventured a comment.
‘
Look I am no military expert, but it strikes me as plain odd that a race like the Traders is on the outer with other galactic races. Yet the Barus kowtow to these Zronte overlords as do the Tilmud. I also get the impression that the relationship between the Traders and the Tilmud is very poor. We need more information especially about our closest neighbours the Tilmud and the Jerecab.’
Ian considered Samantha’s comment for a moment and replied critically.
‘We do have enough information from the Barus commander to know that the Traders are on this planet illegally, and that they have an ambiguous status in galactic affairs due to their independent status. I think that is all the latitude we need to seize their ships, despite the Barus commander also stating we should not attack the Traders, but merely encourage them to leave.’
Douglas now took the opportunity to speak after being silent for much of the meeting. Steve was relieved to see that most of the science team members took serious stock of Douglas as he spoke.
‘The devil is in the detail, and just trying to simply it for our political masters is a zero sum game. This is a complex issue and that is why we are here, and the option to seize the ship must be a military decision not a scientific decision. Now I have every confidence in Steve’s military background, and if he states we cannot do it and get a meaningful result then I am inclined to agree with him. As it is we get a flying start with the two damaged ships and the equipment stockpile.’
Steve decided to bring the meeting back on track if he could and he stated part of the conversation he had earlier with the Australian prime minister.
‘Our prime minister has given cautious approval for the two part deal, and he is seeking agreement with the other leaders. Also he will refuse all requests for a military action to be attempted on the Traders while they are in Australian territories.’
Several of the science members, especially the European members looked upset at Steve’s bald statement, and gave him a baleful look of annoyance. Ian Mitchin however, did not look fussed by the relayed conversation and now gave a smug reply.
‘Okay so we deal with the Traders, we keep the two damaged ships and equipment stockpile. Then when they leave your territory for space we attack them with hundreds of missiles. We destroy most of the sneak ships and drop the main ship into the Pacific Ocean.’
Professor Sanjay Chandransigar interrupted the tense silence with a short laugh that echoed around the room as he now took a turn to speak.
‘Ian, you Americans rely on your technology too much and your glorious battle would sterilise the Pacific Ocean. We can get the same results without battle and you also omit the second part of the deal involving the Maveen. I say we give the general understanding to commit to both deals. However if the Maveen deal is too onerous we would not enter into it and they could just leave. Basically we need to get tangible returns for allowing the Traders to keep their ship and be permitted to leave.’
Several wise heads in the room nodded in agreement at this more moderate assessment, and Ian and Vladimir now scowled around them looking for support. Steve was in agreement to Sanjay’s point of view, and he gave the well respected Indian scientist a nod of gratitude. A crew member entered the room, made his apologies and brought a satellite phone over to Steve’s desk. The science mission talked quietly amongst themselves for several minutes as Steve walked from the room. Steve found a quiet section out of the wind on the side deck, and found he was speaking with Ian Ridge again.
‘Steve I will keep this brief as I want you talking to the Traders as soon as possible. The political leaders of Europe, England, Russian, India and the US have agreed to the two deals in principal. The Chinese have not ventured a reply and the European approval is hazy at best. We will publicly acknowledge the Trader deal as that is now known. The Maveen deal is silently agreed to as requested and will not be discussed or available to the media. We need you take your team across and seal this deal one way or another.’
The prime minister seemed to confer with others present with him and then resumed talking to Steve.
‘I have with me the Governor General and the leader of the opposition, and we are all in agreement. Steve, you must press the aliens for as many concessions as you can get. The world leaders need to especially know all about the Maveen and their deal as soon as possible. I am heading up to Geraldton later this morning, so you can mention that I am available to help if required.’
Steve thanked the prime minister for the news and promptly rejoined the meeting, now talking in small groups on various subjects. A hushed tone settled around the room as Steve purposely took his seat again as the mission team regarded him in silence. He lost no time in relaying the news to his science team members, and the one key response he noted was one of relief. Ian looked bemused at first then smiled, and even ventured a polite comment as a buzz of excitement filled the room.
‘Well that settles that at least. Our politicians have finally come to the party and we can just concentrate on the deals and the science now.’
Steve now took the opportunity to wrap up the meeting.
‘We will have a short break before we head over to Middle Island. I will ask for an inspection of the key areas of the main ship as soon as we are able to do so. Now I want as much technical knowledge gleaned as possible and we should start with the equipment stockpile.’
The meeting quietly ended and the mission members went into small groups or left the room on various errands. Steve sat back with a sense of relief for a moment that a key decision had now been made.
***
Captain Narindestat stood on a stout cargo crate in the main hold and called the crew meeting to order. He was aware that several senior crew members had given him a long fixed look as he had walked onto the main hold deck.
‘We have not had one of our crew meetings for several weeks now for obvious reasons. Now our relationship is moving at a fast pace with the humans, and I wanted to speak with you about the details of our involvement with this new race.’
Halbindestat raised his hand and the captain gave him a nod of respect as the older Trader spoke.
‘Captain, we still need a few more days to get everything checked over before we could launch. Now the decision we have to make is either to get the Maveen to help us launch into space or take our chances with an empty ship and eight sneak ships.’
Captain Narindestat looked around the deck and several Traders nodded in agreement and fixed him with piercing glances. He knew that they were very concerned about the current situation as he replied.
‘Well the Maveen have come to me to offer their assistance as part of a deal, and all I can tell you is that they will help us in our launch from this world. Note that the specifics are unable and the reasons for the deal offer rather than the Maveen just providing the assistance are unknown. Remember that this is the Maveen we are dealing with here.’
The chief engineer kept silent as several nervous chuckles erupted from the crew and they looked at one another before one of the junior engineers spoke up.
‘Captain, we are not given to idle fright and we are really grateful the Maveen are here. But it does get hard to have any trust in the supposed solution when you don’t have enough information and unanswered questions exist. For example, we have an equipment stockpile that turned up inside those two damaged sneak ships and we have split our own advanced cargo into two lots. It all seems so expedient and arbitrary to many of the crew.’
The captain fixed the junior engineer with a warm smile. He was always delighted with the earnest young Trader's intelligence and development, and was mindful of this as he replied.
‘Beronestat, both we and the Maveen are very much on the outer in galactic politics, and that was one of the main reasons for the initial objective of the mission. The mission was structured in such a way as to allow the Maveen to provide us with assistance as necessary, while we ferried them into a location they would not usually enter. The assurance I have is that loss of this ship and her cr
ew would be unacceptable to the Maveen as we are one of the few races they can deal with in any safety. All I can suggest is that the Maveen had given their word to help us and that is good enough for me.’
Captain Narindestat looked around the hold deck and several crew members still seemed sceptical, but he now added a rider.
‘Look we can still leave just by ourselves and run out to deep space eventually if the Maveen do not help us. However we cannot let the Maveen stay here and draw the unwelcome attention of the galactic races to the humans and their world. Now we should instead focus on our immediate efforts of repairing the ship and ensuring we deal with the humans in the best possible manner. As I said before I am open to suggestions on how to do this from crew members.’
Beronestat looked around at his crew mates and ventured a cautious but energetic reply.
‘Well we have no control over the launch time, so we should just go with what we can fix. Now as to these humans they seem to have an avid interest in learning and they take in everything. The first thing we should do is to show them the key parts of the ship, but keep them away from the covered Maveen ship if we can. So that means we show them the aero spike engines, the main reactor and the bigger ship guns.’
Captain Narindestat gave Beronestat a quiet look of gratitude. Several other traders began talking between themselves about his suggestions as Lieutenant Garendestat continued on with the idea.
‘Well nothing in the edicts preludes letting them see or record key areas of the ship. So we should go with this process, but I agree that the larger Maveen ship should be kept away from human sight. We should also limit their access to scanning technology based on the Maveen carving out the sensor modules on the damaged sneak ships. I think the Maveen did this for a significant reason, and we should not discount their unknown reason for this action.’
