Guardian Stone 2: Stone and the T-Raptors
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"That is probably my fault. I should have suggested civilian clothes. Your uniform is somewhat unique here."
"It worked out well. We had a nice visit with some of the locals. That little boy will have a story to tell his friends and the pastry shop had a bit of a business boom."
Sam discussed their purchases and the souvenirs they had purchased for their parents. Hank went on to describe Josh's actions in the recent crises and his role in the formation of the T-Raptors. Josh spoke of the many planets they had been fortunate enough to discover. He also described the growing friendships with Glarin and Gar. Hank provided an invitation for the King and Queen to visit the station the following day before the interview and receive the grand tour. Both were excited at that prospect. Hank also extended the invitation to Prime Minister Cor and his wife. The evening went on until about 9:30 when Hank noted that the following day would be a big day and they should get some rest.
### On Station 1 in Frote orbit – October 6 – C Day 402 ###
At 9:00 a.m., King Estes, Queen Risa, Cor and Mina arrived on station and the tour commenced. They were taken through the different decks in the military section and shown warships, mining ships, commercial ships and shuttles. A visit to the raw materials section was next. That was followed by a visit to the farms. The habitat area impressed all particularly when they learned the capacity of the station. King Estes was particularly taken with the mountain range down the middle of the habitat area. Several of the dwelling quarters were shown so they could see the variety available. Lunch was at the meeting lodge near Mt Denali II. The shopping areas of the station were shown as well as the new ventures from some of the stations entrepreneurs. Hank also arranged a meeting with several Glarin and Gar. From there Kar and Loriella took over while Hank and Sam prepared for the coming interview and read the known questions.
At 4:00 they all returned to the Royal Palace. At 5:00 Hank and Sam teleported to the studio where the interview was to be held. Preparations were made and a light snack was provided. Then it was show time.
Chapter 10: Interview
FWNA Studios on Frote – October 6 – C Day 402
"Good Evening citizens, this is Fila Tomas for the Frote World News Agency coming to you with a special news event. This evening, our guests are General Henry Stone and his wife Samantha, she prefers Sam, of the Antoran Fleet. Both are from the planet Earth. They are visiting Frote to become acquainted with us and our planet. They are guests of King Estes and Queen Risa. They are also here so that the King and Queen can meet their new Daughter in Law, Prince Kar’s bride, Loriella Adams also from Earth. This broadcast is being sent live to all vessels in the Antoran Fleet as well as to those planets able to receive it. Our thanks to the Antoran Fleet for relaying this broadcast to the various planets able to receive it. The Stones have asked that I address them by their given names, Henry and Sam. I would like to thank Henry and Sam for this opportunity to learn more about them and the Fleet. They have agreed to answer question for the next two hours and again the next time they are in system. That too will be a two hour session. Clearly some details will be secret since we do not want the enemies of our civilizations to learn of things that can be used against us.”
“My first question Henry, is how did you come to be commander of such a large fleet? I understand that you had not previously held an upper level command rank?”
“Fila you are correct, I retired from the United States Marine Corps on Earth as a Major, and only a few years prior to that, I had been a Sergeant. Certainly not the background anyone would expect for a Command General. Apparently, the Fleet had a number of potential candidates under observation for quite a number of years and for reasons of her own, our prime AI, Barana, selected and recruited me. However, the training regimen they devised for me was pretty advanced and daunting. I suppose that it helped that I am a reasonably strong telepath and that turned out to be an important aspect of the qualifications for commander. I have been exceptionally blessed with an extraordinarily talented command staff who understand what we are about and have the opportunity to perform the services we are sworn to provide, namely to protect the rights of sentient beings to their pursuit of life, liberty, peace and happiness. We also have millions of others who support this goal. The vigor that all have applied to this effort has been amazing. Those we thought initially were our enemies, likewise share in this intent and have joined us on the stations. We currently have humans from three different worlds, as well as Linan, Glarin and Gar working toward this same goal.”
Sam added, “We have all been surprised and pleased to see how readily the four species have been able to work together. We fight together, we work together, we explore together, we live together and yes, we play and party together, as do our children.”
“How is it you came to realize that the Glarin and Gar were not the enemy you thought them to be? Everyone expected a long protracted battle with heavy loss of life, yet as I understand it, there was no loss of life except for some friendly fire by the Gar.”
“We were fortunate that Sam discovered a small group of Glarin that were trying to escape the fate of the rest of their world. In addition I have, on occasion, flashes of insight to which I have learned to listen. On the evening of her discovery, I had such an insight and I asked General Josh Adams, father of your new Princess Loriella, to look into the matter and to withhold destruction if possible but not to endanger his expedition. To say he handled the operation masterfully is an understatement. He was able to rescue those fleeing Glarin. With the aid of his AI, Lorena, he was able to determine the true condition of the Glarin and to remedy that situation. In the process he gained a new ally and friend. The Glarin are a friendly and gregarious lot as you will see in the coming weeks. Sam also realized that their mind talkers actually enhanced the capabilities of our own telepaths and new areas were opened to us to explore. Josh Adams later expanded on that. My job is to protect the people in and outside of my command. Life is precious. In the performance of my duties when I was in the Marines on Earth, I had to kill the enemy when necessary. That is never a pleasant thing to do, but I do it when I must. The Antorans placed in my care, a technology so advanced, that the first prerogative is no longer, ‘kill them before they kill you.’ I have been provided options that are not typically present for combatants. The new prerogative now is, can I stop their intended action without endangering their target and without endangering my people. With this advanced technology, the answer is usually yes, definitely, yes, but that does not mean it will always be that way. Well that poses a new additional question and that is ‘can I do this without merely delaying the inevitable?’ Interestingly, the answer to this question is usually a resounding yes. It can be done in a variety of ways. For example, if they have an honor system, remind them that they have it for a reason and remind them of that reason. Provide them with education, not mind washing or propaganda. Provide them with opportunities that have not previously existed. If you look for ways, you will find them. Our technology and training makes that possible. The Gar are honor bound to obey the dictates of their monarch. Their king was an absolute monarch and unfortunately, he was insane from symbiotes with which General Brondin had infected him. Their old system was replaced with a constitutional monarchy much like the one you have here on Frote. Your Prince Kar was the principal architect in assisting Lord Dranz in designing their new governing structure. It is now a true constitutional monarchy much like your own with law making authority in the people. That has allowed a massive change in how their system works and to bring that in alignment with their honor system. I expect much good from them. I can't tell you how happy I am that we did not have to go after the Gar with guns blazing. They were victims and we would have had that on our collective conscience.”
Fila posed another question, “Yesterday, you were touring one of our tourist attractions and had occasion to prevent a tragedy for one family here in the capital city. I have some real time footage of that event that I wan
t you to see.” At that she played the vid footage of the rescue after which she went on, “I understand that there are some capabilities that you would not wish to talk about, but what can you tell us about what we see here?”
Sam said, “I would like to respond to that question for Hank. All of our command officers have an enhancement package installed. The package is physical and is essentially added to their bone structure. The combat troops likewise have similar enhancements. Any station member with exposure to physical harm is provided some level of protection. For example we can literally walk into space without a space suit and we instantly have spacesuit-like protection from the appropriate enhancement. What you saw Hank do yesterday was not a trick. He was moving at about 90 miles per hour. The enhancements he used were reaction reflexes and speed. Persons with these enhancements are basically walking tanks. I even have this installation. We have them because there are people on our home planet and elsewhere that would much prefer to find us dead and there is no shortage of individuals willing to help us in that direction. This is a nice aid to our life expectancy. We are also bulletproof and have visual acuity to 25x. These things are there and on call as needed. Hank responded with what was needed and happily that little boy has an interesting tale to tell as he gets older. There are more enhancements but we prefer to keep those quiet for now.”
Fila then proceeded to ask questions about the Glarin and then Gar expeditions, what they were like, the discovery of the General Brondin’s complicity in the invasions, how he was discovered and what was done. They indicated that the evidence gathering process was still underway for Brondin and in the meantime he was in a high security lock up on Arber with constant station surveillance. Additional questions were posed about how Hank and Sam met and Sam described their second grade encounter. All of the questions were answered with minimal evasion. Hank talked about their recruitment efforts and stories arising from them. Sam talked about life on the stations and living in a multi species environment. The two hours went by very quickly and was extended an additional half hour.
After the interview was over, Fila, Hank and Sam did a post mortem discussing what went well and what felt awkward. Shortly after that the station manager came to report on reaction, noting that he had never experienced such a positive and overwhelming response. The same was also coming in from other planets. He said it would not be possible to top this. The station had also supplemented the program with footage from the stations and the various events discussed.
Chapter 11: Downtime
Royal Lodge on Frote – October 7 – C Day 403
Before leaving for the Royal Lodge, Hank had a long discussion with Prime Minister Cor. He explained what Space Inc. was about and that he could expect to have a visit from their envoys in the near future, possibly even during the coming week. He explained that this was a big step toward a peaceful interstellar community that would provide inestimable benefits to all without the control of one’s own destiny being wrested from them. He noted that the AI’s would be reviewing any resulting contracts to assure that they were equitable and that no unfair advantages were being installed. Cor was delighted at the opportunity to be part of the developing community and was certain that the King and Parliament would be likewise. Hank apologized if he had left Cor feeling left out of things that were developing but assured him that he would do his best to keep him in the loop. Cor indicated that he thought at first that might be the case but realized in retrospect that was not the case because so many things were in progress. Hank provided him with contacts on the stations, should Cor need them. The meeting ended very cordially.
Estes said with a grin, “Well my friends, was this location as advertised?”
Sam responded, “This is awesome. Those mountains are as striking as any thing I have seen, how tall are they.”
“The two you are looking at are the tallest on Frote. The tallest is Mt Lenard at 31,224 feet and the other is Mt Chisel at 30,772 feet. Lenard was named after my great-great-great grandfather Fras Lenard when he united all the minor kingdoms on Frote and instituted a constitutional monarchy form of governance about 210 years ago.”
“Then they are both taller than our tallest on Earth and your viewing point is from a lower elevation than ours. That makes it all the more impressive.”
"There are at least 22 other resort locations on this lake that have at least as good a view of those mountains as ours, so this is a very popular destination on Frote. The lake, in spite of the 5,000 foot elevation, is warmed by hot springs making it a place one can swim most of the year. It never ices over even when the snow is three and more feet deep. It has a year round temperature that is 80 degrees, plus or minus about 4 degrees depending on the season. In fact a dip in the lake is on my proposed schedule if that is attractive to you. I might add that there are no predators in the lake, though if there were, you would probably be a tough meal.” He said laughing at his own joke.
Kar and Loriella were already in the water when they arrived at the lake. Kar, Estes and Risa continued to regale them with tales of Frote, places to see and what kinds of caution should be used in certain areas. They continued to relax for the rest of the week and then made a side trip to a small continent that was essentially a wildlife reserve where human visitors were controlled and limited. Some of the animals were similar to creatures long extinct on earth. They were just heading back to the Royal palace when Barana informed Hank and Sam that they had a problem on Saark.
Continuing on he spoke to Cor, “Cor, please let me know how your negotiations go with Space, Inc. I think there is real potential with what that group can accomplish with your participation. It is pretty exciting. I want to be absolutely sure that it does not incorporate inequities and that there be a mechanism to address any that develop, so your feedback will be invaluable. I have to go now, but we will visit again sometime this year. Goodbye for now. All station residents have b
een alerted.”
Chapter 12: Problem on Saark
On Station 171 In Orbit at Saark – October 16 – C Day 412
The planet of Saark is, technologically in its iron age. It has 4 continents of which three are occupied. The fourth is seismically active and there is no permanent village or town located there. Each of the four kingdoms operate mining operations there and by common agreement, no kingdom lays claim to it. No frictions have developed. The four kingdoms are each ruled by a monarch three of whom have been hereditary. All were generally at peace and frictions were few and generally settled amicably. Initial figures suggested a planet wide population far in excess of reality. Instead of 770,000,000, the actual number is closer to 144,000,000. The kingdoms are:
Saark Kingdom
Population
Sanga
86,000,000
Span
27,000,000
Frill
18,000,000
Garman
13,000,000
Saark is a temperate planet with distribution of water and land-masses about equal. There is limited temperature range and much of the economy is devoted to the raising of food. Industrial efforts are limited but shipbuilding is a major industry. Textiles is a small and recent effort but is growing.
On arrival at Saark, Hank and Sam teleported to Station 171 along with their full T-Raptor team. They had a meeting with station commander, General Gunnar Olafson and AI Corina. Olafson started the meeting with, “We just discovered this issue this morning and you are here already. I did not expect to hear anything for at least a week. I am impressed. That gives me a nice comfort level on how quickly components of the fleet can respond if the need should ever really arise. It is good to see you again Hank. This is a long way from how we met three years ago on Earth. My congratulations on your command and what you have done with it.”