Homeworld (Bedouin's Travels Book 5)

by Ben Winston

  Yes, this new world was alien to the survivors, but they adjusted. The ability to adjust had been one of the main criteria in the selection process for the pods before The Fall.

  Ben and the survivors of Terra had been granted more than just their planet. Hjoolous told Ben that he would be getting four habitable worlds as well as two research facilities and all the mining resources of six star systems. However, other than allowing the planning for mining and operations required for the task they had been given, Ben refused to allow the colonization of the other four worlds. Every ship refitted or built was desperately needed by the Empire for the war effort. At this point in time, there were simply no ships that could be assigned as protection for any new colony worlds. In time, if they grew to the point where expansion was no longer optional, but required, or the war finally ended, he would revisit allowing that to happen. Of course, he would also reconsider if it became possible to protect another colony.

  Considering the number of people requesting citizenship, as well as the humans the Empire estimated needed to be rescued from Lizard farms, Ben was worried about over-population. One of the facilities Terra inherited from the Empire was doing research on terraforming. Ben asked Jorga and Marcy to contact the facility and inquire about terraforming the planet Mars, and possibly Venus, although he thought it might be much more difficult to do. He also spoke to Gail about creating a defense plan for the habitable world in the Centauri system.

  In a way, colonizing the Centauri system made more sense because the survey reports from that system reported vast deposits of ores and minerals that were used in starship construction. However, spreading out even that little bit would make them a much larger target for the Lizards and could possibly draw unwanted attention from their enemy.

  Ben and the Council approved the immediate construction of combat drone assembly plants to be built on the lunar surface. The drones, specifically the ground version, were weapons the Empire simply did not have, but wanted very badly. When the Commanding General of the Marine assault division Yolinar had assigned to Terra saw the reports of the actions of the drones, he became very excited and asked for a demonstration.

  Ben arranged for the General's entire command to defend itself from a mock attack by the human controlled drones from only one Base. Mother handled damage assessment as most of the weapons used by both sides were energy weapons. The General was given the island Stardock was attached to as a defensive position, and he was allowed a week to prepare for the assault. The City and Aerie itself were considered off-limits and out of bounds by both sides. Before he departed back to Hyclarion with the Emperor, Yolinar agreed to be the official referee for the 'battle'.

  Because he was interested, Hjoolous and Ben were also present in the command center, but only as spectators.

  The battle officially began at midnight local time, and Gail, as the attacking commander, took full advantage. She had her ground drones deployed underwater, off-shore of the island.

  General C'barlin, the Assault Unit Commander, had been given two squadrons of fighters as air support, just to balance the forces and ensure a fair test of the weapons. However, the pilots had only been told the 'enemy' were unmanned fighters and nothing else. They would have to rely on scanners and observation, just like they would in a real battle. Conversely, Gail was not given any information on the disposition of her 'enemy' on the island. She only knew they were there, but not how they were placed.

  A division was roughly a hundred thousand troops, but that number also included support personnel as well as artillery, armor, and infantry troops. Gail was attacking using a hundred ground drones, fifty aerial drones and two hundred troops. By any measure, the outcome of the battle should have been a foregone conclusion, and General C'barlin did win the battle, but not by much. Mother estimated that at the time the last drone was finally destroyed, C'barlin's overall force had been reduced by seventy-five percent, and the command post had been overrun, forcing C'barlin to evacuate to his secondary position.

  The only remaining questions about the drones were the patent infringement issues incurred when the drones were rebuilt for the defense of the planet. Ben issued an official apology to the original patent holders of the technologies used and offered a profit sharing contract based on the percentage of each drone's construction that used the patented technology. Since the technology involved dealt with a classified Imperial weapons system, the Emperor was prepared to intervene if needed and force agreement, but as it was, the company accepted the agreement as fair without argument.

  Ben and the Council decided to build the main government facility at Stardock, the planetary Capitol. The plans for the remaining facilities were retained and proceeded to be built underground in their originally planned locations. By placing the Capitol on the surface, it made the government psychologically more available to the residents, but still kept the infrastructure safely underground.

  Before the war began, Terra had a population of less than five hundred million. Now that it had been discovered and officially proclaimed to be the Human homeworld, the population once again threatened to overwhelm the planet. So, in addition to Ben's plans for Mars and Venus, many new residential and commercial facilities were being planned to be built underwater near the existing cities. Of course, the whole works was going to be added to the transportation system as well.

  At first, the suggestion to build underwater was resisted, even by some of the 'survivors'. However, they soon discovered, or perhaps the term should be rediscovered, undersea farming. There was a very large demand for products of this type of farming in the Empire. Not only for food, but also the pharmaceutical industry. Once people knew how much money was to be made, there was a small 'land rush' to claim parts of the oceans that were ideal for certain types of vegetation. As with the dry-land farmers, Ben and the council put regulations in place to prevent damage to the environment due to over-farming.

  It took almost a year of research, but the Terran climatologists figured out that the reason for the ice caps unusual size was due to the Aeries and the artificial weather they created. Duke Tammerain had ignored Imperial edicts and regulations concerning the number and placement of Aeries on the planet and had been over-extracting ohto for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, Ben had promised to fulfill the existing contracts for ohto as part of Terra being freed.

  Faced with an immediate demand for ohto from the Empire, Ben had several large, purpose-built replicators constructed. They would take the compressed doxins and restructure them into pure ohto for shipment off-world. They eventually became the primary source of ohto production for the planet, and the facilities were gradually expanded to cover the demand while the Aeries were slowly decommissioned and dismantled. On the warships and other craft built by the Terrans, this system - on a much smaller scale - was already being incorporated. Once it was rebuilt at Terra, it would never have to be resupplied with ohto again.

  The ships being built would be very different than existing Imperial ships. So different that Ben ordered the construction of a special academy to be built on the cleaned-up ruins of the Great Falls Aerie. At that academy, ships crews could be retrained in the new systems. The new institution would eventually grow to become much more than just a military academy; but to begin with, it would be used to retrain existing crews and technicians. There was so much work needed that Ben ordered the addition of five thousand new construction drones, and three new AI just for this effort. Not all of the drones would be used on the planet and eventually, some of the ones being used on the planet, would be moved off-world.

  Although a great many feats of engineering and technical skill were made, Ben was most proud of the rest of the 'survivors'. Everyone pitched in. Granted, there were only two million, two hundred thousand of them, but not a single one over the age of sixteen failed to volunteer. With the addition of their new citizens, there was a vast pool of skills and labor applied to all the projects that needed to be finished. It was a wondrous and so
mewhat scary thing to see. Even Hjoolous commented on how much was getting accomplished in such a short amount of time.

  Chapter Three

  Office of King Bedouin

  Tower of Government

  Stardock City

  17 Jun. 10267 CE (AD)

  Terra, Sol System

  Ben looked out the big plate window of his office in the Tower of Government. The city of Stardock had changed greatly over the last year and a half. He smiled to himself. The city hadn't been the only place to change.

  Fourteen months after waking up, the survivors of Earth had returned to her surface and found a new world. Most of the underground survival pods were empty now. The pods themselves were being altered into the various and different main offices for each of the Ministries as the Council had originally planned. Some of them were nearing completion and had already been put into service.

  The pod he had lived in had been closest to Argassi and was now being converted into the Ministry of Defense. It would be Gail Greenwold's domain since it was the closest to the main base. Gail would remain as the military leader of the sector at Yolinar's insistence. Ben had made her a General. After the defense of the planet and other actions she had accomplished, Yolinar had her officially listed as an Imperial Staff General as well. Although she would remain under Ben's command, she had the authority to give orders to Imperial troops and was given the responsibility of protecting the sector and all the facilities in it. She was a little overwhelmed at first, but with a little help from Yolinar, she quickly got it figured out.

  Marcy and Kaitlin were busy setting up their new lives together as well as forming the Ministry of Science and Technology. They were living at Argassi and the Ministry was being built there. Even before the war started, Argassi Aerie had been host to a 'polyponics facility'. That is to say it had huge domed structures dedicated to experimental botanical research. It already had a huge scientific community so it made sense to put the Ministry there.

  Although she would have to travel a lot, Deidre decided to base the Ministry of Health and Welfare here in Stardock, as it was the largest city on the planet. In reality, it didn't matter in the slightest where she had put the main offices, and finally decided on Stardock because that was where Ben and Jorga would be.

  He grinned. Jorga's new title was actually 'Queen' instead of Vice-Councilor. She tried not to let it go to her head, but it was clear she was thrilled with the title change. For her, it also meant a change of duties. She was no longer his assistant, but rather more of a co-ruler. Both Jorga and Ben now had their own assistants and aides to handle and coordinate their schedules.

  Jorga, working with Deirdre, handled most of the social issues that cropped up and had even taken over the housing and services projects from Ben. That freed Ben up to give more attention to the defense projects and the integration into the Imperial society and economy.

  Ben's intercom beeped at him. "Highness, your next appointment is here," Sharon Hawkins said. She was his new executive assistant and handled his appointments and scheduling, which had become an almost full time job itself.

  Ben smiled: this should be fun. "Please send the Commander in, Miss Hawkins."

  Commander Phealon Warmake was from a heavy gravity world in the Optheron star system. Yet, despite his obvious strength and much larger than human size, he still moved with grace and dexterity.

  "You asked to see me, Highness?" Warmake asked, bowing to Ben.

  "Commander, it is good to see you again. I really do apologize for not being able to spend more time getting to know you during the transition. Ranger Commander Halst speaks very highly of you," Ben replied. "Which is actually why I asked you to come here today."

  "Highness?" Warmake asked in curiosity.

  "Please have a seat, Commander," Ben replied. "Can I get you anything before we begin? A cup of hot Jolla perhaps?" Jolla was a cinnamon-lemony-chocolate drink that was as popular in the Empire as coffee was to humans.

  "Thank you, Highness. I would appreciate a cup," Warmake replied. He was surprised when Ben got the beverages himself instead of asking his assistant to come and serve them. Warmake found that small fact oddly reassuring, and found his already high opinion of these new humans, and Ben in particular, rise.

  "Do you take it straight or with anything," Ben asked.

  "Plain, thank you," Warmake replied, smiling as Ben handed him the larger mug. Most human cups were too small for him to handle easily.

  As Ben sat down beside Warmake with his own beverage, Ben got to the reason he had asked the busy investigator to come today.

  "Commander, first, let me apologize for taking you away from your investigations for this interview. What you do for us is very important, but there really isn't a better way to do this at this time," Ben said.

  Warmake shook his head. "In all honesty Majesty, there is very little for us to do. Since the change, crime on this world has dropped rather dramatically. Occasionally we might get a smuggling case, but mostly we are dealing with domestic violence and social disturbances. It would seem that our people are policing themselves with regards to the more major, nationally related crimes. At this time, you have not taken me from anything that my people could not handle well on their own."

  Ben smiled and nodded acceptance of the explanation. "That's actually good, but I fear that as we move forward and become more established, that trend will not continue, especially with the rapidly growing number of classified military projects we have. We have a good security force to protect us, but His Majesty has reminded me that I also need to have a national investigative and intelligence service to assist in our protection. Up until now, we have been relying on the Imperial Intelligence people to watch over things for us. However, it is becoming more than they can assist us with. We must create our own intelligence service to protect our nation. We have the administrative staff for it, but we need someone we can trust to handle and oversee operations. Several people, including the Emperor, by the way, have recommended you for that position."

  Warmake had his cup half way to his lips when Ben had finished and he stopped, stunned at Ben's words. "Highness, I am greatly honored! I was unaware that His Majesty even knew I existed!" He looked thoughtful for a few moments. "If I were to accept this position, I would need additional training. My experience has been in criminal cases and not counter-intelligence."

  Ben nodded. "That can be made available to you. It is those very investigative skills and more importantly your instincts that we seek, Commander. Before you agree to this I am also honored to inform you that you have been awarded Imperial sponsorship to the Ranger Academy on Hyclarion. General Greenwold tells me that even Admiral Yolinar wished to recruit you as a security and intelligence analyst. I am sorry it has taken us a year to get here, but things have been a little busy around here lately."

  Warmake chuckled. "That is very true, Highness."

  "Commander, I want you to know that none of these offers are rewards. To put it plainly, there is nothing we could do for you to adequately reward you for the service you have given. Instead, all we can do is ask you to continue to serve and maybe try to make your job easier." Ben sighed. "Not much of a thank you in my book, but for the time being at least, this is what I can offer you."

  Warmake took a drink of his Jolla while thinking. "Highness, my race are good investigators, as we are fascinated with puzzles of all kinds. The drawback to that is that we tend to obsess to the point that we can lose our objectivity during an investigation. If I were to accept any of these offers, I would be afraid of that occurring and damaging an investigation I was a part of."

  "Jance told me about that," Ben replied. "She also said that you were one of the rare few that are aware enough to prevent it from happening. That combination makes you a superior investigator, even compared to the Ranger Inquisitors. I will agree with you that obsession can be bad if left unchecked; however, a certain degree of obsession can not only be admirable, but also very useful."

&
nbsp; In the end, Warmake decided to accept the appointment to the Ranger Academy, but chose to return to Terra for security duty. He told Ben that, for him, the deciding factor had been the fact that Ben had offered him the choice. Under the new administration, Terra offered him a freedom he had not known before.

  Even under Imperial rule, education opportunities were only available dependent on the aptitude scores of a test given at the end of primary education. Even if the person develops skills in a different profession, they would not be allowed to retrain for or adapt to the new skills. Once set in a profession, a being was locked into it. Ben was coming to understand that the Terran method was very appealing to a great many beings, and not just humans.

  Education fell under Deirdre's Ministry and she had told Ben that she was having some difficulty getting the facilities to retrain so many people as quickly as they were needed. Ben had shifted some of the construction effort over to her, but Commander Warmake's comments put the situation in a different light for him. He made a note for himself to take a closer look at post-primary education and vocational retraining. It was beginning to look like the planned academy was going to become a city unto itself.

  The Constitution Ben and the Council had drawn up, and that the people had approved, made provisions for private commerce. One of those provisions stipulated that, if a business venture needed public assistance to get started, then a portion of the profits from that business would be returned to the public for a set time based on the amount of assistance needed.