by Jeff Sims
Fruid’la called another conference with all of the admirals. IT had apparently corrected the earlier issue because he was able to connect without issue. Fruid’la verified that everyone was present and said, “GBAGs, I believe that we are ready!”
Fruid’la waited for the cheers to subside and continued, “Split each flotilla into individual ships and allow them to operate independently. In order 1 – 330 you will jump back to the Hiricula – Neto hyperspace lane. Then you will jump to the 14 minute mark of Hiricula system and proceed to jump around the outskirts one ship at a time.
He paused for a breath and continued, “Fourteen minutes should be far enough away from the system that we can escape detection. Remember, it isn’t the Hiriculan public that we are trying to avoid, the High Council fears that there may be a spy or an informant on Hiricula. We cannot afford to be detected now.”
Fruid’la waited for each admiral to acknowledge and said, “Once you have navigated around Hiricula, proceed directly to the Hiricula – Netron hyperspace lane. Then jump to Netron and micro-jump around that system. The entire fleet will rendezvous at the Netron – Opron hyperspace lane.
He paused, turned to face Admiral Valod’la’s monitor and said, “Admiral Valod’la, since you will be the first to arrive, I have a special mission for you. I want you to send one cruiser on ahead to Opron and execute a secret order. The order will be sent to you directly after this conference.”
He turned back to face everyone and said, “GBAGs, Let’s keep the formation as tight as possible. I want to maintain a 70 second gap between ships throughout the entire journey.”
Fruid’la ended the conference and cringed at the logistics required to move this massive fleet. Seventy seconds was the minimum gap required for safe passage through hyperspace. One really didn’t want to bump into the ship in front or behind. For a normal fleet of 30 ships, this meant that the first ship to arrive had to wait about 1 ½ hours for the last ship to arrive.
For the mega fleet or super armada, the first ship would arrive at Netron and have to wait over 16 hours for the last ship to rendezvous. Fruid’la had given considerable thought to what position the command carrier should take.
He certainly didn’t want to arrive too early and wait around for the others. He also didn’t want to sit and wait here for his time to leave. Therefore, he decided the command carrier would go 61st – a perfect position; closer to the front, but not actually in the lead.
Fruid’la walked the length of the bridge to the huge monitor. He began watching lights flick out of existence. The big monitor may be useless in battle, but it was certainly able to perform this task with ease.
Number 59 disappeared. Seventy seconds later number 60 left. Fruid’la really wanted to contact the captain of the Relentless and ask if he was ready to go. However, he eventually decided against it because he wanted to see if the captain could perform this task without his helpful guidance. His patience was rewarded 70 seconds later when they jumped into hyperspace.
Chapter 5
Baxter Bunnyhop, a junior senator in Solaria’s world legislature, gave a short speech. He thanked the principle participants involved in the construction of the building. He smiled and waved to his multitude of fans from his former television show, and blew a couple of kisses at an attractive female. Finally, he introduced Ambassador Lone, the Hiriculan ambassador to Solaria.
Ambassador Lone cut the ribbon in front of the new government building and announced, “The new government building is officially open. Everyone, please come inside a take the grand tour. There are refreshments in the main lobby.”
The crowd gathered in front of the new building was fairly large. It wasn’t huge, but it certainly wasn’t small. It was a respectable sized crowd for such an event. In fact, it was sized exactly the size that one would expect a crowd to be sized for an event such as the opening of a new government building. An exact count could have been obtained, but no one really wanted to be bothered to stand around and count everyone.
The appropriate sized crowd cheered and slowly began making their way into the building. Loid and Ponwe held the doors and waited for everyone to enter. The crowd had looked rather large when it was gathered on the lawn directly in front of building, but it seemed to disappear once everyone entered the massive building.
Loid and Ponwe looked at each other. They realized that they were still holding the doors open, but everyone had already entered the building. Finally, Ponwe moved slightly and allowed his door to swing shut. A moment later Loid did the same. There was a sudden, awkward silence between them.
Loid said, “How is your wife?”
Ponwe said, “She is doing very well.” He paused and left the sentence unfinished. He had wanted to say ‘considering she gave birth earlier this week’.
He didn’t though because Loid already knew that. In fact, the pregnancy and upcoming birth had been a daily topic of conversation between the two for the last few months. It was certainly a better topic than discussing restaurant menus.
He continued, “Doctor Prued’mo did an excellent job delivering the baby. My wife checked out of the hospital the day before yesterday. She is currently at home resting.”
Loid asked, “What did you name your daughter?”
Ponwe said, “We decided to keep Frogribt, so that both children will have the same last name.”
Loid responded, “That is wise. I heard somewhere that that is a Solarian custom.”
Ponwe nodded in agreement and continued, “Finding a female Hiriculan and Solarian sounding female name was nearly impossible. In the end, we settled on Kiera Frogribt.”
Loid smiled at the sound of the name. He said, “A three syllable name. That is pretty impressive.”
Ponwe said, “Solaria isn’t like Hiricula. Additional syllables in names are not a sign of birthright or status. We could have given her a 4 syllable name like Anastasia if we had wanted to do so.”
Loid understood what Ponwe wasn’t saying. Ponwe was a successful architect and had earned that second syllable for his children. The girl could grow up to be an ambassador and be Kier’ne or an architect like her father and be Kier’we.
Heck, maybe she would join the military and become Kier’la. Whatever her eventual career may be, the three syllable Solarian name Kiera could be easily converted into a two syllable Hiriculan one.
Ponwe said, “So, what are you going to do now that the building is done?”
Loid laughed and said, “Well, we aren’t quite done yet. According to our contract with the Solarian government, a maintenance staff has to stay on-site for the next 60 days to ensure that all of the systems are working properly.”
Ponwe laughed, “Sorry, I knew that. I meant after that?”
Loid said, “After that, my plans are uncertain. Hopefully, I can apply to the High Council and have the disciplinary ‘pe removed from my name. I would probably rejoin the military if given the chance, but as you said before; I may have a career in refuse management.”
Ponwe smiled and replied, “True, that sewer system you designed is certainly innovative. I never would have thought to link all of the government buildings in this area together with an underground sewer. The efficiency is impressive.
Loid replied, “Thank you. Now, how about you?” I am surprised that you are not on the supply ship or making final preparations to leave the planet.”
Ponwe replied, “Somehow I didn’t realize that the big manufacturing ship was leaving so soon.” It was odd, he thought, Loid always seemed to know miscellaneous events like that.
Loid said, “Well, if you had been going home on the manufacturing ship then you probably would have known that it is leaving orbit tomorrow morning.”
Ponwe easily remembered once Loid had reminded him. He had said goodbye to several of his coworkers yesterday. It was odd, he thought, all of the older, experienced workers that he had specifically requested for this job were leaving on the supply ship. The only Hiriculan construction workers rem
aining were the younger ones.
Ponwe supposed that made sense. The older workers probably wanted to go home, while the younger workers decided another two months was worth whatever bonus they were receiving. However, he hadn’t really hadn’t given the issue much attention. His main focus the last few days because he had been the new baby.
Ponwe responded, “We really can’t travel with a brand new baby. Besides, Jenna really likes it here. She says that it is peaceful.”
Ponwe naturally paused, as if trying to convince himself of that fact or rethinking an earlier conversation. Loid noted that Ponwe seemed out of sorts. He figured it was probably due to a lack of sleep from the new baby.
Ponwe continued, “I think that we may stay here awhile longer. There are a few upcoming construction projects around Solar City. I am planning on opening an architectural firm and bidding on them. Do you think any of your team would like to stay?”
Loid raised his ear stalks in utter surprise. He hadn’t realized that that Ponwe and his wife had even been discussing staying on Solaria. Ponwe had said something else a little odd – his wife’s Solarian name was Jenna, but her actual Hiriculan name was Jenlid’wa. That was the first time that he had ever heard Ponwe use Jenna in a conversation with another Hiriculan.
Loid replied, “I can’t think of anyone off-hand, but I will ask around.”
Ponwe said, “How about the group that requested political asylum with Admiral Lopeq’la. Perhaps some of them may be interested.”
Ponwe hadn’t met very many of the relatively new arrivals except Doctor Prued’mo. However, Loid seemed to have met everyone and knew something about them. He supposed that it was because of all the time that Loid spent at the obstacle course talking with people.
Loid nodded in agreement and stated, “You may be right. I will ask around for you.”
They had walked several meters into the building and stopped at the doorway outside Ponwe’s set of offices. Loid poked his head into the office and pretended to look around. He whistled softly and said, “The suite looks good. It was really nice of the Solarians to give you a first floor office.”
Ponwe corrected, “Us. It is supposed to be for the entire on-duty maintenance staff, not just me. And it really wasn’t that nice of a gesture; none of the government functions wanted their office directly off of the main lobby.”
Loid closed the door and they walked toward the refreshments. There was still a line, but it was quickly lessening. They got in line and waited for their turn at the buffet table.
Ponwe said, “Going back to our previous conversation, are you sure that you and the other maintenance workers will be okay stationed in the basement for the next 60 days?”
Loid smiled and replied, “I asked them the very same question. They actually prefer the basement. The building’s plasma reactor is there, the main communication hub is there, lighting control is there, temperature control is there, and the securi…”
Ponwe held up a hand to make him stop listing the list. When the other being stopped, he added, “And of course access to the sewer is there too should you need it.”
Loid smiled again and responded, “Let’s hope that doesn’t need maintained during the next two months.”
Loid finished his plate of hors d'oeuvres, gave another cheerful congratulations to Ponwe on the birth of his daughter, and left the lobby. He walked to an area that was unoccupied and pulled his communication pad out of his pocket. He said, “Computer, locate Ambassador Lone.”
…Lone is on the 14th floor, in the northwest corner, and standing in what will soon become the driver’s license bureau…
Loid turned and walked toward the electro lift. He entered and reached out to press a button, but stopped because there were no buttons. He forgot that this particular electro lift was a newer model and was voice activated. He said, “14th floor please.”
Loid exited the elevator and located Ambassador Lone. He walked up to him and discovered that he was talking to a Solarian that he didn’t recognize. Loid was embarrassed at his audacity. Clearly the ambassador had wanted to talk in private with the Solarian because he had chosen such an out-of-way place in the building.
Further, Loid really didn’t want anyone else to see that he was privately speaking to the ambassador. Either way, the point was mute. Both beings had spotted him. Loid walked over and joined the other two.
If Lone was upset that he was interrupted, he certainly didn’t show it. Lone smiled and said, “Hello Loid.” He turned to the Solarian and said, “Jack, this is Loid, one of the engineers on the project. Loid, this is Jack Dogbarks. Jack owns a shipping company and hauled several loads of critical supplies for this office building.”
Jack performed his version of the traditional Hiriculan greeting. Loid thought it was one of the better imitations that he had seen and returned the greeting – correctly.
Jack said, “Loid, please tell your crew how helpful and efficient they were in off-loading the building supplies. Especially the final shipment. They arranged for us to deliver the entire cargo to the manufacturing ship instead of splitting it half in orbit and half on the planet. Again, it was very thoughtful of them.”
Loid said, “I will. And thank you for helping keep the project on schedule. Everyone involved thanks you as well.” He started to turn back to the exit and said, “I will leave you two alone.”
Jack responded, “No. Please stay. I was just leaving.”
Ambassador Lone said, “So, you can leave in two days? It is critical that you leave on time and not stop in Conron or anywhere else.”
Jack replied, “It will not be a problem. I can leave as soon as the cargo is loaded onto my ship.”
Both Lone and Loid waited for Jack to exit the suite. Loid looked at the ambassador quizzically and waved in the general direction of Jack’s retreating figure. He doubted if Lone would tell him anything of importance, but it didn’t hurt to try.
Ambassador Lone said, “Jack Dogbarks and I were just discussing a new shipping contract. He is very adept at navigating the route from here to the Spindle Station and I have some very sensitive cargo that needs to be transported.”
Loid figured that some version of the truth was in there somewhere. At any rate, it didn’t sound like it pertained to him. Loid followed him to the window and looked out to see what the Ambassador was staring at.
“Nice view.” He commented.
Ambassador Lone replied, “Yes, you can see the defense ministry offices to the south.” He then pointed west and continued, “And we have an excellent view of the global EMP command building is right next door.”
Loid said, “We have a small problem.”
Lone had still been looking out of one of the windows. He quickly pivoted and faced Loid and said in a rather commanding tone, “Tell me.” His ear stalks were fully raised.
Loid was slightly taken aback by the abruptness of the other Hiriculan’s movement and tone. He figured that Lone must be feeling the stress of all of these secret initiatives. He responded, “Ponwe and his family aren’t leaving. Ponwe claims that he is going to open an architectural consulting firm on Solaria.”
Lone thought for a moment. He responded, “There is very little we can do. His children are Solarian citizens. We can’t force him to leave.
Loid said, “Maybe we could entice him with a better job offer?”
Ambassador Lone replied, “Give versus force. What is the Solarian saying about enticing someone with a gift instead of forcing them?”
Loid switched to Alliance basic and responded, “Offer a Solarian an uncooked vegetable and then beat him with a discarded tree branch until he eats it.”
Lone shook his head and responded, Yes, I never really understood that one. Anyway, it is too late to make any arrangements. If I had known this information a few weeks ago I may have been able to do something.”
Loid asked, “Switching subjects, what about Prued’mo?”
Lone bitterly responded, “She is truly a po
litical refugee. We don’t owe her anything.”
“Still,” Loid argued. “She is a competent doctor. Many of the workers think that she was sent by the High Council.
Lone replied, “And she has done nothing to dispel those rumors.”
Loid nodded in agreement and replied, “She is a competent Hiriculan doctor; the only one on Solaria.”
Lone thought for a moment and finally relented. He responded, “She is a Hiriculan I suppose, even if she is no longer a Hiriculan citizen.” He paused for a moment and continued, “I have an idea. Get her to a safe location and then use her to lure Ponwe and his family there.”
Loid asked, “Do I also have to provide protection?”
Lone responded, “Yes.”
Loid asked, “Personally? I sort of had other plans that evening.”
Lone: “No, not unless you feel it is absolutely necessary. However, you should you choose people that Ponwe knows and trusts.”
“How many?” Loid asked.
Lone responded, “At least one, but no more than two. Look at this way; if you find them a safe enough location then you won’t have to worry about protecting them.”
Loid nodded approval and said, “Honestly, how do you think this whole thing will turn out?”
Ambassador Lone replied, “I think it will go well. I am confident that the citizens of Solaria will prefer being offered a nice tree branch instead of being forced to eat raw vegetables.”
Loid hoped he was right.
………..…………
The captain of the big assembly ship Fabricator scanned all of the boards in the control room. Everything looked okay. However, the captain needed as much reassurance as possible because the plasma drives and the hyperspace generator hadn’t been activated in over a year.
He rubbed his left hand with his right and shook it a few times. It felt like it was asleep. He knew that the hand wasn’t technically sleeping; it was due to poor blood flow from spending too much time frozen in a poor posture. He shook it a couple of more times to stimulate blood flow.
