***

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Homecoming

Chapter 2 Keeping Busy

Chapter 3 New Rules

Chapter 4 Planning and Planning

Chapter 5 Terramata

Chapter 6 Waspara

Chapter 7 Grandmothers

Chapter 8 Surfing Research

Chapter 9 Next Surf Destination

Chapter 10 We Can Really Help

Chapter 11 Next Planet

Chapter 12 Pirates, Marauders, and Looters, Oh My

Chapter 13 The Drama Continues

Chapter 14 New Neighbors

Chapter 15 Management

Chapter 16 Pirates Come to Roost

Chapter 17 Napoleon Deux

Chapter 18 Pirate threats

Chapter 19 Battle Plan

Chapter 20 Wrapping Up

Afterword

Acknowledgments

***

Delphi Mediation

Delphi in Space

Book Seventeen

Bob Blanton

***

Delphi Publishing

Copyright © 2023 Robert D. Blanton

Cover by Momir Borocki

momir.borocki@gmail.com

All rights reserved.  This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.  Printed in the United States of America First Printing, 2020. 

This is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

https://www.facebook.com/StarshipSakira/

***

Chapter 1

Homecoming

“We just made the final jump; we should be at the base in two hours.  Are you guys excited to be home?” Catie asked.

“I am; it’s been a long time.  I’ve missed my mates,” Jason said.

“Me too,” Miranda said.  “I can’t wait to get back to the fleet.  I’m looking forward to flying again.  I just love being in the cockpit of a Fox, or a Thorax, as long as I’m alone.”

Jason just laughed as he hurried to his cabin to change.  He had to admit that they’d had to spend too much time together.  And riding in the back of the Thorax when they lifted from Waspara couldn’t have been that great for Miranda.  He and Miranda had spent a year stranded on the planet after the wormhole they were transitioning through made an unplanned jumped.  While there, they were mostly convinced that Catie would eventually find them, but a year is a long time.  Now that she had actually found them, they were excited to be home; Avalon was kind of like home.  It was Delphi’s remote starbase where Marc had moved all their critical resources, and it was getting to be a busy place now.

◆ ◆ ◆

They climbed into the shuttle, and moments later, they exited the Marco Polo’s shuttle bay through its iris.  Avalon had a shuttle bay on the ring, so with a little expert flying to match speed with the rotation of the ring, they entered another iris and were inside the base’s shuttle bay, and best of all, they had gravity.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

They were all a bit shocked by the display showing an admiral entering the shuttle bay to greet them.  Well, it was a big deal to recover two pilots after they had been missing for a year.

“ADI, what’s up?” Catie messaged.

“I’m not sure,” ADI messaged back.

Oh well, she would soon find out.

Catie gave Jason the honor of leading the way.

They marched down the ramp and came to a halt in front of the Admiral.  There were four Marines flanking him.

“Welcome home, Lieutenant Clark, Lieutenant Cordova.”

“Thank you, sir.  We’re happy to be back.”

“I’m sure you are.  Unfortunately, Lieutenant Clark, you are under arrest.  You have been charged with violation of executive order 1248, the non-interference law.”

“What?!”

“You are under arrest; please follow the marines.”

“ADI, what the hell?” Catie messaged.

“I cannot believe they arrested him!  I knew they were going to bring charges, and I was ordered not to tell you.  The League Council wants to make an example out of Jason.  It’s all about the politics of Avalon having so much power.”

Jason was flabbergasted.  He had expected some issues related to his skirting around the prime directive, but to be arrested?

“Yes, sir,” he said, then he followed the marines.  He wasn’t going to show any fear, he stood by what he’d done, and he’d take whatever punishment the League decided to mete out.

“Explain yourself,” Catie demanded, glaring at the Admiral.

“Lieutenant McCormack, I don’t . . .”

“It’s Princess Catherine!” Catie snapped, cutting the Admiral off.

“Excuse me, Princess, I am just following orders.”

Catie wanted to bite the Admiral’s head off . . . again.

“Cer Catie, your father and Cer Sam are on their way.  He wants you to wait for him before you try to address the issue any further,” ADI messaged.

“I don’t want to wait!”  Catie glared at the Admiral.  She could force him to release Jason, but then what?  “Okay, I’ll wait, but I want you to fill me in.  Call Daddy.”

“He’s asleep.”

“Okay, let me know when he’s awake,” Catie messaged, not wanting to start out this conversation with her father already mad at her.  “Miranda, let’s go to my office.  We’ll figure out what’s going on.”

Miranda was beside herself with frustration.  “Catie, this is insane.  I thought he might get into some trouble, but arrested?”

“ADI says it’s politically motivated.  Daddy and Sam are coming.  ADI, when will they be here?”

“One week,” ADI replied.

“A week, that means they didn’t know about this until . . .”

“You are correct.  Your father learned of the council’s intent just two weeks ago.”

“Why couldn’t he stop it?”

“Because the motion was put forward by the Paraxean minister with the support of the Onisiwoen minister.”

Miranda stamped her foot to remind Catie that she was walking right beside her and could only hear half the conversation.

“Sorry, Miranda.  I was just getting some info from ADI.  ADI, please include Miranda.”

“Yes, Cer Catie.”

“So?” Miranda asked.

“So, Daddy didn’t find out until two weeks ago when they made the motion to the League Council.  The Paraxean and Onisiwoen ministers were in on it together.”

“Why couldn’t Margaret block it?”

“ADI?”

“Because it was a valid motion and it was supported by the majority of the council.  The council didn’t know that they planned to arrest Jason, just that charges would be brought.  Everyone felt that it was necessary to address the issue.  Someone apparently worked behind the scenes to make the arrest happen.”

“Okay, so specifically, what are the charges?”

“Violation of the non-interference directive.”

“ADI, I know that!  How are they saying he violated it?”

“The introduction of the lathe, the grinder, and Greek fire; the design of a sawmill, the design of a forge; the introduction of writing and mathematics; and the documentation of the major math and scientific equations that he left with Lieutenant Carrington.”

“What about the potter’s wheel?” Miranda asked.

“That was not deemed to be noteworthy.”

“What?!”

“I bet they didn’t want to cloud the issue,” Catie said.  “By keeping it focused on Jason, it will make it easier to make their case.  Besides, Jason said you were following his orders in relation to helping the Wakipee advance.”

“Does Jason have a lawyer yet?” Miranda asked.

“Cers, the Captain and Cer Sam have arranged for Commander Clarina Quattro to represent him.  She is talking with Jason now.”

“Who is this Commander Quattro?”

“She has been in Delphi Forces JAG for three years.  Cer Sam feels she is the best qualified to argue this case.”

◆ ◆ ◆

When Marc was finally available for a chat with Catie, ADI set up the call.

“Daddy, what the heck is going on?”

“Politics.  And unfortunately, Jason is caught in the middle.  I’m confident that we will be able to resolve this, but we need time.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that you need to stay out of it.  Let Commander Quattro do her job.  Right now, she’s embroiled in all the preliminary motions.  We need time to figure out who’s behind this.”

“So, what am I supposed to do?”

“Leave things to the lawyers.  I know you want to help, and you’ll keep thinking about how to, but for now, you need to focus on being supportive.  Help keep Jason’s morale up.  I’m sure there are lots of other things to keep you busy while we work this out.”

“Fine!” Catie killed the video with her father.  It was rude, but she was mad, and she did have something she wanted to do, and as far as she was concerned, her father had just given her license to do it.

“ADI!”

“Yes, Cer Catie.  What are we going to do?  Something very interesting, I hope.”

“Definitely.  I want to take one of those probes apart.”

The aliens who had colonized Helike and Waspara with people abducted from Earth had left observation probes behind in orbit above Earth.  They had also placed probes at Helike and apparently Waspara.  Obviously, they had been observing the systems, studying, and spying.

“You do know that Cer Blake has ordered everyone to stay away from them.  He’s put them in an orbit just outside the asteroid belt.  He is worried that they might be booby-trapped.”

“I know what Uncle Blake thinks.  But we need to examine one.  We’ll use bots to do it.”

“Oh boy.  Then you’re going to need an Oryx for the lab.”

“Yes.  And I want to put a quantum relay inside one of the faraday boxes next to the probe.  That way, you can try to communicate with whoever owns them.”

“Okay, I’ve put in the work order for the relay.  And I’ve commandeered an Oryx for you.  You’ll need to field any questions that come up about why we need it.”

“ADI, are you chicken?”

“Of course not.  But it is your idea.”

“Fine.  And order two of the relays.”

“I already did.  I am almost certain that I know your plan.”>

***

Chapter 2

Keeping Busy

Like Catie, Miranda was at her wits end worrying about Jason.  She had taken leave so she could be there for him, but there wasn’t much she could do.  So, she was happy when Catie asked her to come along and help with her little side project.

“Okay, so what’s the plan?” Miranda asked when she joined Catie on the bridge of the Marco Polo.

“First, we’re going to grab one of the probes we found and put a relay inside the faraday cage with it.  That way, ADI can communicate with whoever placed it at Earth.”

“Faraday cage?”

“Yes, we put each of the probes into a faraday cage so that they cannot pick up or transmit any information.  We’re sure there’s a quantum relay inside it, but if it can’t gather any electronic or optical data, then they’re pretty useless.  Nobody was particularly happy that someone was spying on us.”

“I bet not.  What’s ADI going to communicate?”

“Yes, what do you want me to tell these mysterious people?” ADI asked.

“I want you to chat them up.  Keep them distracted while we tear apart another of the probes.  It’d be nice if they don’t know what we’re doing until we’ve isolated it from its quantum relay.”

“Chat them up.  Hmm, that might be fun.”

“What does your father think about this?” Miranda asked.

“Oh, we’re not telling Daddy.”

“Doesn’t ADI have to?”

“No, Cer Miranda.  The captain did not give me any specific orders regarding the probes.”

“Won’t we get into trouble?”

“Maybe, but what’s he going to do?” Catie said.  “It serves him right for telling me to go find something else to do besides worry about Jason.  Do you want to back out?”

“No, and since you outrank me, I’ll just tell them I was following your orders.”

“Just by time in grade.  By the way, congratulations on making full lieutenant.”

“Thanks.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie and Miranda boarded the Marco Polo and flew it to the asteroid belt.

“ADI, can you place the Oryx right in front of us?” Catie asked as they were closing in on the area where the probes were.

“Yes, Cer Catie.  I assume you want to hide what we’re doing from the station.”

“Right.  The less they know, the better.”

“The Oryx is now in front of the Marco Polo and out of view of Avalon.  Do you want me to continue flying both the Marco Polo and the Oryx?”

“Do you have enough bandwidth, given that you’ll be doing all that chatting up?”

“Of course, I have enough; besides, Marco is flying himself.”

“Then keep flying.”

ADI flew the Oryx to the third probe while the Marco Polo maintained a position between the probe and Avalon, thereby blocking Avalon’s view of the probe and the Oryx.

“How much distance are you going to keep from the probe?” Miranda asked.

“One hundred thousand kilometers.”

Miranda let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.  She’d been worried that Catie wouldn’t be careful enough about the possibility that the probe might explode; one hundred thousand kilometers seemed like a safe distance.

They watched as the Oryx flew up next to the probe and released a bot.  The bot landed on the faraday cage, found the entry point, and slipped inside with the quantum relay.  The relay was paired with ADI’s switchboard of relays and connected to a standard radio which would broadcast the signal so the probe could pick it up and relay it to whoever was on the other end.

“Now for the next one.  You might want to strap in,” Catie told Miranda.

“Oh, I forgot we’d probably have to do this at 0G, and I assume we have to match velocity and acceleration with the Oryx.”

“Right, and we’ll only stay at 0G while we grab the probe.  After that, we’ll do .2G.”

“That’s nice, but why?”

“Easier to manage the bots if there is a bit of gravity.  And we don’t want pieces of the probe drifting around when we start taking it apart.”

Miranda sat down in the communication officer’s chair.  She and Catie were the only two people on the ship.  Due to its small size and good AI, the Marco Polo could be flown by just one person; in fact, its AI, Marco, could handle most flight operations.

“Now for the fun,” Catie said.  “Open the Oryx's cargo door.”

“Already done,” ADI replied.

“Then back it up to the probe.”

Catie and Miranda watched on the bridge display as the Oryx slowly backed up and swallowed the faraday box that the probe was in.  Then the display switched to the cameras that were mounted to the large bot that would be inserting the minibots that would be breaking into the probe to find its quantum relay.

“Aren’t you worried about letting the probe out of the faraday cage?”

“We’re not going to do that.”

“Then how are you going to control the bots?”

“Cer Miranda, one of the bots is equipped with a quantum relay.  So, except for the short window of time that we must open the cage to get the bots inside, the probe will always be isolated by the cage.  Plus, since it is inside the Oryx, there should be little EM energy making its way into the cage.”

“Clever.”

“Yes, Cer Catie came up with a very safe and complete plan.”

“Okay, ADI, you’re on.”

“Opening the cage.  The bot is inside the cage, and the cage is sealed.”

“Great, then start chatting.”

“What are you going to tell them,” Miranda asked.

“Well, first, I’m sending them War and Peace in eight different languages.  I’ve also encrypted the transmission, so they should have some fun breaking the code.”

“War and Peace, that’s cruel.”

“So is spying on us.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Volmora was confused.  There was a brief moment when his alpha probe was able to pick up signals from the star system it was in; then, it went blind again.  When the four probes first went blind, he had worried that they had been destroyed, but he could run diagnostics on each of them, and that data was transmitted to him, but all of the sensors, both electronic and optical, went blind one after the other.  He could still detect gravity, gravimetric waves, and motion but could no longer tell where the probes were and what was going on around them.  He was sure that the Earthlings had put the probes inside a faraday cage.

He didn’t care so much about the probes at Helike and Earth; both of those civilizations had moved beyond the phase of development that he was interested it.  But the loss of the probes at Waspara infuriated him.  And those two probes must have been destroyed since each of their relay’s quantum coupling had failed.  And right in the middle of one of his tests.  How could the Earthlings have known about the test?  He was running out of time to complete the project.  He might even already be too late.  He did not need this interference!

Then suddenly, his gamma probe’s cage was unsealed for a second; at least, he was pretty sure it had.  Then it went blind again.

“Now what?” he thought.  “What is this nonsense that is being transmitted to the two probes?”

Volmora resigned himself to spending time decoding the strange messages.  He certainly had the time.  They were both transmitting similar data.  And now both probes were reporting banging on their surface.  He used the probe’s sensors to try and detect what was banging on them but to no avail.  Back to decoding the message.

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie had ADI make the bots that had carried the relay into each probe bang on the probe while the relay was transmitting ADI’s chatter.  She wanted the owners distracted while they examined the probe.  In the second probe, they included a few extra mini bots to help inspect the probe.  They were now watching as a diagram of the probe was built up on the display.

“What are we looking for?” Miranda asked.

“Some way to get a small bot inside.  We want to find the quantum relay and break its connection.”

“Why?”

“So whoever owns the probe doesn’t destroy it or fuse its electronics.”

“Cer Catie, I believe there will be an entry port next to the telescope.  It appears that the cover for the lens is designed to polish it, so there must be a motor connected to it.”

“Why would they need to polish the lens?” Miranda asked.  “They didn’t do that with the lens of the Voyager telescopes.”

“No, but they were designed to last for a few decades.  This one was in place for over two thousand years.”

“Oh, right.  Helike.”

“ADI, let’s send in one of the spybots.”

A spybot, about the size of a small beetle, was released from one of the bigger bots.  It crawled around the lens and then made its way into the recess where the cover was.  It only took a moment before it discovered the opening where the motor could extend to engage the lid for spinning.

“We’re in!”

Catie and Miranda watched as the bot moved around the interior of the probe, mapping out the details of its construction.

“Those gravity drives are small.  I wondered how the probe could be that little.”

“Yes, they are.  I had suspected that they might not have gravity drives.  It is possible that they could have used ion propulsion to adjust their orbits,” ADI said.

“Yeah, but they moved from orbiting earth to a solar orbit above the ecliptic.  An ion drive would have had a tough time doing that.  I’m glad to see they use gravity drives; I’m hoping we’ll learn some new technology from these probes.  Their electronics have lasted two thousand years.  Our circuits don’t last that long due to electron migration.”

“Didn’t the Paraxeans solve that problem?” Miranda asked.

“They just mitigated it.  They figured out how to slow the migration down so that their circuits last for a few hundred years, but thousands is another big step.”

“I believe I have identified the quantum relay,” ADI said.

“You have?”

“I have 95.8% confidence it is the circuit I am highlighting.”

“Yes, it looks similar to ours.  Can you see how to disconnect or disrupt it?”

“Here.”

“That looks like the power line going into it.  It’s shielded the same way we shield ours.  Okay, cut its power, fingers crossed.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Volmora was angry.  The gamma probe’s quantum relay had decoupled.  Was the probe destroyed, or had the humans figured out how to decouple the relay?  Could that be what happened to his probes at Waspara?

◆ ◆ ◆

“Okay.  Let’s bore a hole into the probe so we can get a big bot inside.  Then we should be able to determine if it’s safe to take back to Avalon to study.”

“Cutting the hole now.”

It took an hour before the probe’s power supply was disconnected from the rest of it.  With the probe effectively disabled, it was simply a matter of moving it from the Oryx to the Marco Polo and heading back to Avalon.

◆ ◆ ◆

Dr. McDowell was waiting in the flight bay when Catie docked the Marco Polo.  Catie had messaged him about the gravity drives, and he wanted to be the first to examine them.  He’d brought along the appropriate cargo bots to move the probe to his lab.

“Are the drives still intact?”

“Yes.  Once we determined that it was safe to bring to probe to Avalon, we brought it into the ship and headed here.”  Catie lowered the cargo door and allowed ADI to guide the bots into the bay and pick up the probe.  She and Miranda followed the bots and Dr. McDowell back to his lab.

“I assume it’s powered by a fusion reactor.  You wouldn’t bring an antimatter reactor into Avalon.”

“Yes, we checked,” Catie told him, rolling her eyes as she followed him down the ramp.

As soon as they made it into the corridor, they ran into a very cross Fiona, Catie’s bodyguard.

“And what, may I ask, have you been doing?”

“We just went to check out those probes.  It was just Miranda and me on the ship, so we were perfectly safe.”

“And what would the harm have been if you’d allowed me to come along?”

“It would have been boring for you.  I thought I was doing you a favor.”

“Doing me a favor by preventing me from doing my job.  You know I’ll have to explain this to my boss and YOUR father.  I turn a blind eye when you sneak away for a few hours, but leaving the station!”

“Sorry.”

Catie picked up her pace to catch up with the others, hoping that moving faster would discourage Fiona from scolding her more.  It didn’t work.  Fiona gave her an earful all the way to Dr. McDowell’s lab.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Have you figured out how to control it?” Dr. McDowell asked.

“Not yet.  ADI, how are you doing?”

“I’ve finally gained access to its system.  The power bot has connected to it and powered it up, so I’m analyzing it now.  There’s not much here.  I had expected there to be an AI in control, but it’s very basic.  A basic computer and an automatic pilot.  It seems that it was controlled remotely via the quantum relay.”

“That seems complicated.”

“It’s not really.  They would simply set an orbit, focus the telescope, and then have the probe send all the EM data and optical data over the relay.  All the analysis could be done on the other side.”

“But could the relay really handle all that data?”

“That is a good point.  The relay must be made up of multiple couples.  We can have someone examine it to determine how many.”

“Ask Dr. Nakahara to look at it.  He’s our expert,” Dr. McDowell suggested.

“I’ve sent him a message,” ADI said.

“Now, when can we operate the gravity drives?”

“I need a few hours to decrypt the data store and reverse engineer the commands.  I suggest everyone take a break.”

Catie groaned and glanced at Fiona.  She wanted a break, but how was she going to avoid having Fiona scold her some more?

“Miranda, do you want to go and have breakfast with Jason?”

“Yes, is he available?”

“He is,” ADI said.  “I’ve told him to expect you.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Jason, how are you holding up?” Catie asked.  She’d had to take some more scolding from Fiona on the way to the restaurant, but now Fiona was standing off so she could see all the access points.

“Oh, just peachy.”

“I’m sorry.  Is it really that bad?  Daddy should be here in a few more days.”

“It’s not that bad.  They’re just arguing about the charges right now.  Commander Quattro wants me sitting there while they argue.  It’s pretty esoteric.  How did introducing a lathe change their situation?  How far off were they from developing a written language, things like that.”

“Has Commander Quattro made any progress?”

“No, and they just added the introduction of the wheel to the charges.”

“What?!” Miranda snapped.  “They were going to learn all about the wheel from Captain Vestry.”

“I know.  Commander Quattro keeps telling me that she wants them to dig a big hole.  Then she’ll start kicking dirt in on top of them.”

“Do you think she knows what she’s doing?”

“I think so.  But there isn’t any doubt about my violating the order.  I’m not sure what all this posturing is about.”

“Politics,” Catie said.  “They’re trying to make a big stink.  Daddy hasn’t told me what he thinks their end game is.  But he says he has a plan.”

“Oh great.  So, I get to sit and squirm for a few weeks.”

Miranda slapped Jason on the shoulder.  “Forget about that.  We’re here to cheer you up.  Let’s talk about what we learned about the probe.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Cer Catie, I have a surprise for you.”

“You do?  What kind of surprise?”

“A good one.”

“Okay, tell me.”

“No.”

“Wait.  You can’t tell me you have a surprise for me and not tell me what it is.”

“Yes, I can.  I just did.”

“So, when do I find out?”

“In five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . .”

“Catie!” the Twins squealed as they burst into Catie’s office.

“What are you guys doing here?”

“Mummy wanted to move out here.  She’s working with an Onisiwoen doctor.  They’re collaborating on cross species medicine.”

“And why didn’t I know?”

“We wanted to surprise you.  ANDI and ADI thought it would be fun.  Were you surprised?”

“I certainly was.  What should we do?”

“We want to look at that probe you found.”

“Well, then you’re in luck because it should be ready for us to test.  ADI?”

“Yes, I’ve completed my analysis, and I now have the command codes for the probe.”

“Have you given them to Dr. McDowell?”

“No!  That man is impossible.  I refuse to try and talk with him.  He treats me like a machine.”

Catie laughed.  “He treats everyone like a machine.  But let’s go.  ADI, please inform Dr. McDowell that we’re ready to test the probe.”

“There is no need.  He’s been sitting there looking at it the whole time while he continually asks me if I have broken the code yet.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Hello, Dr. McDowell.”

“Oh, Catie.  Can you tell that DI of yours to give me control over the probes?  I’m sure it has decoded the control codes by now.”

“Dr. McDowell.  Her name is ADI, and if you would show her some respect, you might actually get more done.  She’s mad at you for being such an ass to her.”

“Harumph.”

“Dr. McDowell, DIs like ADI are sapient,” the Twins said.  “They have emotions like us.  You may not have any emotions, but the rest of us do, including ADI and ANDI.”

“Sorry.”

“Tell ADI.”

“ADI, I’m sorry.  I’m just focused on my work.  I tend to forget about manners and such things.”

“I can tell.  The control codes are on your computer.  Please call me if you need anything else.”

“Wow, I’m surprised he got off that easily,” Prisha said.  “ANDI would have dragged the argument out for a lot longer.”

“ADI’s more mature,” Catie said.  “Okay, let’s see what this thing can do.”

Catie walked over to the computer and checked out the list of commands.  “I can make it hover.  But first, we have to reconnect the power.”

“Yes, do that.”

It took Catie a few minutes to get the bot to reconnect the power to the probe’s systems.  Then she had to have them connect a relay to the probe’s command module.  Finally, she had control of the probe, which was a good thing since Dr. McDowell’s sighing was starting to get on her nerves.

After typing in a few commands, the probe rose from the lab floor and started to hover about one meter above it.

“Cool.”  The Twins walked under the probe.  “What does it use for power?”

“It has a small fusion reactor.”

“Where?”

“Inside,” Catie said.  “We have a diagram of it here.  You can see all the components on the big display.”

“Okay,” the Twins hurried over to Catie so they could see the display.  “Where is it?”

“Here.”  Catie highlighted the fusion reactor.

“Is this to scale?”

“Yes, two to one.”

“Wow.  That’s small.  Where did it store all the fuel?”

“Right here.”

“That’s not very big.”

“It has a scoop it can deploy to gather hydrogen ions.  I assume it would leave orbit to refill its fuel tanks whenever they were low.”

“That’s so cool.  I bet Dr. Tanaka would be interested in that.  Especially how it has lasted so long.”

“I’m sure he will.  We’ll have to let him know.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Catie San,” Dr. Nakahara said as he entered the lab.

“Dr. Nakahara, just call me Catie.”

“Only if you’ll call me Dr. Nakahara.”

“I just . . .”

The Twins laughed.  “That was a joke.”

“Yes.  Dr. Tanaka says I need to develop a sense of humor.  But enough frivolity.  I came for the quantum relay ADI told me about.”

“We haven’t pulled it out yet.”

Dr. Nakahara was standing next to the probe.  “You need to peel this thing open.  We cannot study its parts if they’re inside the metal skin.”

“Another joke?”

Dr. Nakahara shrugged.  “Maybe, but we do need to open it up.”

“Yes, yes, we do,” Dr. McDowell said.  “I need to be able to put sensors on the gravity drives to figure out what they are doing.”

“Okay, okay!”  Catie commanded the probe to set itself back down on the floor.  “ADI, have you selected the areas of the shell that we can cut off?”

“I have.  The technicians with the peelers should be arriving now.  I’ve highlighted where they should make the cuts.”

The Twins giggled, and Catie grimaced as ADI projected the cut lines onto the probe.  “Girls, go mark the lines.”

“On it,” the Twins each grabbed a marker and ran to the probe.

◆ ◆ ◆

It took half of the day to remove the sections of the probe’s shell that ADI had identified, although Dr. Nakahara had managed to grab the quantum relay after only two hours of waiting.

“What do you want to do with these pieces of shell?” one of the technicians asked.

“Leave them here.  Someone will probably want to do an analysis on them.”

“Okay, then we’re off.  Call us if you need to cut it apart some more.”

“We will.”  Catie waved at them as they left.  “Let me do that,” she said as she grabbed the wires from Dr. McDowell.  He was trying to connect them to the gravity drive controls, but he was hopelessly clumsy.

He simply dropped the wires and walked back over to his computer.  Catie shook her head as she picked them up.  ADI projected how they needed to be connected in her HUD, so it only took a few moments to accomplish what Dr. McDowell had been struggling with for twenty minutes; of course, he hadn’t been getting any help from ADI.

“Don’t touch that!” Catie yelled at the Twins as they were reaching inside the probe.

“We weren’t going to touch it.  We were just pointing it out to ADI.  We want to get detailed images of the fusion reactor for Dr. Tanaka.”

“Then point out what you want using your HUD and let ADI take care of it.  That way, you won’t get in the way of the cameras, and you won’t accidentally touch something and cause a disaster.”

“Pooh, you’re no fun,” Aalia said.

“Having the probe do something crazy wouldn’t be any fun either.”

At that moment, the probe rose up and started to hover again.  Catie gave the Twins an ‘I told you so look.’  They pouted at her, but then they went over and stood behind Dr. McDowell to watch the signals he was studying on his display.

“What’s that?”

“The harmonics the probe is feeding to the gravity drive so it hovers.”

“Oh.”

“Hmmm.”

“What?”

“They are unusual.”

“How?”

“Because the power level is much lower than I would expect, and the harmonics are in an unusual frequency range.”

“What does that mean?”

Catie could tell that Dr. McDowell was at the end of what little patience he had.  She pinged the Twins, “It means we should go do something else while he figures it out.”

“He’s no fun.  Do you want to go to the microgravity course and play?”

“Sure.  We can come back tomorrow and check out what everyone has learned.”

“Cool.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Good morning, Dr. Nakahara,” Catie said as she entered his lab.  After being thoroughly embarrassed by the Twins in the microgravity gym the night before and again this morning, Catie was glad to be on a solid footing where she at least felt competent.

“Good morning, Catie, good morning, Prisha and Aalia,” Dr. Nakahara said, grouping the Twins together as if they were the same person.  A necessity since they were impossible to tell apart.

“What have you learned?”

“This is a simple octet couple.  It transmits bytes.”

“No error bit?”

“No, seems they trust the electronics and relay.  They probably transmit an error code with each packet.”

“If that’s all the parallelism they have, how does the probe manage to transmit all the data it gathers?”

“Exceptional compression.  The optical data especially seems to be efficiently compressed.  It appears that the optical sensors are set up to identify differences in light level and transmit that.  That data can be effectively compressed since most of the differences are small numbers, so they fall out at the beginning of the compression tree.  I suspect that an error level can be set to minimize the noise and such.  Dr. Fàn is interested in getting her hands on the sensor since all of the compression is done there.  A very efficient array.”

“Well, it could have an extra section or chip to handle the compression.”

“I thought so as well, but it doesn’t appear to.”

“Oh.”

“Isn’t Dr. Fàn also interested in how the array has lasted for over two thousand years?” the Twins asked.

“Yes, she is interested in that.  She plans to take the array out of the probe and back to her lab so she can run tests on it.”

“We’ll help her get it,” the Twins said as they turned and headed toward Dr. McDowell’s lab.

“I’d better catch up with them.  Dr. McDowell got pretty frustrated with them yesterday.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“You cannot take it!  How will I power the drives?”

Catie was surprised that Dr. McDowell had raised his voice.  She wondered what the Twins were trying to take.  When she got to the probe, she quickly realized that it wasn’t the Twins he was arguing with, but Dr. Tanaka, who was trying to remove the fusion reactor from the probe.

“You can connect the gravity drives to your lab’s energy supply.  You’re going to want to do that anyway so you can control them better.”

“Ah, I see the problem,” Catie thought.  “Dr. Tanaka, why don’t you help me connect the drives to the lab’s power?  It’s probably a two-person job anyway.”  She knew that Dr. McDowell was unlikely to be able to rewire the power, and he was too pigheaded to ask for help.

“Of course, Catie.  Do you know where the cables are?”

“No, but I’m sure ADI does.”

“They are in the cabinet on the left side of Dr. McDowell’s workbench,” ADI messaged.

Apparently, she’d included the Twins in her message because they rushed to the cabinet and returned with the cables.  “Where do we connect them?”

ADI highlighted the connection points and the cable color in their HUDs, so in twenty minutes, Dr. Tanaka was wheeling the fusion reactor out on a cart, and Dr. McDowell was playing with various harmonics.

“Good job, Girls,” Catie said.

“It was fun.”  It was a good thing that they thought so since they spent the rest of the day taking different components out of the probe as the various scientists on the station came by asking for them so they could take them to their labs to study.  By noon, the probe was an empty shell except for the gravity drives.

“Girls, would you mind removing the rest of the shell, so Dr. McDowell can get to the drives without hurting himself?”

The Twins seemed to think about whether they’d rather have Dr. McDowell at risk of injury or not before they nodded their heads and pulled the rest of the shell apart.

“Wow.  Everyone is really interested in that probe,” Prisha said.

“Yes.  This is the biggest opportunity to study new technology since we captured the Fazullan ship at Artemis.  And this probe is clearly far more advanced than any civilization we know of.”

“But it doesn’t have jump drives.”

“No, apparently, they haven’t discovered that yet.”

“And they probably won’t,” Dr. McDowell said.

“Why not?”

“Because the harmonics they use to power the drive would prevent a wormhole from forming.  They could create a zero point, but they cannot get a wormhole to form.”

“Oh, that makes sense since we’re sure they created a zero point that made the wormhole jump to Waspara.”

“Right,” Dr. McDowell said.  Catie could tell he was getting frustrated with chatter in his lab.  He’d been having to put up with it all day while the probe was being taken apart.

“Girls, why don’t we go to dinner?”

***

Chapter 3

New Rules

“You know, I’ve been told that this Deogene’s is just as good as the one on Delphi Station,” Catie said as she greeted the Twins outside of Avalon’s Deogene’s.

“That’s what we heard, but it doesn’t have Cicely.  Let’s go inside.  And we get to have wine.”

Catie gave the Twins a skeptical look.

“Hey, we’re eighteen, and that’s the drinking age here.  Besides, Mummy said we could.”

Catie smiled and ushered the Twins into the restaurant.  She’d been having wine with dinner since she was fourteen.  Of course, only when her father or Uncle Blake was with her.

They ordered wine and appetizers, then perused the menu while the Twins caught Catie up on the activities of the triplets.

“It sounds like the triplets are doing okay?”

“Better than okay,” Prisha said.  “They’re having a great time.  We didn’t mention it before, but they each have a boyfriend.  Nothing serious; they usually go out as a group.”

“That’s good.  ANDI keeps me updated on their school work and stuff, but he hasn’t said anything about boyfriends.”

“That’s because I was told to keep it a secret,” ANDI chimed in.

“I should have known better than to expect accurate reports from you.”

“My reports are very accurate.  I just have instructions to leave certain things out.  And they are my friends, so I like to support their requests whenever I can.”

Catie just shook her head and sighed.  ANDI was the DI for Delphi City, and his friendship with the triplets had helped him to exceed all expectations about developing full sapience; similar to how Catie’s friendship with ADI had helped ADI raise her level of self-awareness.

“I was hoping they would move to Avalon,” Catie said.  “But Cicely says they’re not ready.”

“Next year,” Aalia said.  “We talked about it before we moved.  Cicely wants them to finish high school first.”

“Oh.  That makes sense; I forgot that they weren’t home schooled.  It would be a big disruption to move them before they graduate.”

“We agree, and it’s only one year,” the Twins said together.  “Now, let’s order.  Then we want to talk about Waspara.”

Catie had to laugh as the girls switched off who was talking in the middle of a sentence.  They were forever finishing each other’s sentences, making it difficult to keep track of which twin was which.

“Well, if you want to talk about Waspara, we need Jason and Miranda here,” Catie said.  “I just know what they told me.”

Both Twins held their hands out at an angle, clearly saying, ‘Well, tell them to join us.’

“ADI, will you see if Miranda and Jason are free to join us for dinner?”

“Miranda is, but Jason just sat down for dinner with Commander Tannanbaum.  They’re discussing the trial.”

“Okay, then ask Miranda if she can join us.”

“I have.  She’ll be with you in five minutes.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“I’ve been summoned,” Miranda said as she joined the trio.

“Invited,” Catie corrected.

“I know.  And I was told you were buying,” Miranda teased.

“Sure, I’ll buy if you’re nice.”

Miranda sat down, and the server showed up with a glass of wine for Miranda.

“I took the liberty of ordering wine for her,” ADI explained.

“Thank you, ADI.”

“I understand you Girls want to hear about Waspara.”

“Yes, we’re studying Xenoanthropology, so we think we can use whatever we learn to write a paper for one of our classes next term.”

“Okay.  You know, we actually only spent time with the Wakipee, although we did learn some about the Causians from Lieutenant Carrington.”

“He was the guy who was head of the marines, right?”

“Yes.  I see you’ve read the reports.”

The Twins nodded their heads in sync.  “We’re mainly interested in the Wakipee, so go on.”

“When we surveyed the planet, we realized that the Wakipee and the other people on their continent were basically in a stone age.”

“What do you mean by stone age?” the Twins asked.

“Well, it goes Stone, Bronze, Iron.  Basically, it’s about what their tools were predominately made of.  They had copper, gold, and silver, but those metals were too soft for tools, so generally, they only used them for decorations.  Bronze is copper and tin.  You have to be fooling around with metals a lot to discover bronze.  The Wakipee didn’t see the need since they were doing just fine.”

“Ohh, interesting.  Tell us more.”

“The other continents were close together, and their civilizations seemed to be like around early 1800s Europe.  Lieutenant Carrington confirmed our suspicions about them; technology-wise, they were about pre-industrial age.”

“Yeah, we read that.  It seems that they’re all at war with each other.”

“Not exactly based on what Lieutenant Carrington said.  He mentioned that there were continuous conflicts as various kingdoms tried to expand their boundaries or conquer their neighbor.”

“But not the Wakipee.”

“Not true.  They did have wars about boundaries, but fewer.  The thing that was surprising to us was how well-adapted they were.  They had a good life; their villages were between one and two thousand people.  When a village got too big for the surrounding wildlife to support, they would split it in half and form another village.”

“We saw that.  They kept their villages close to the coast or along a river.  That makes sense since they didn’t have horses, and it would have been difficult to move around if they couldn’t use the water,” Prisha said.

“It’s weird that Waspara was set up that way,” Aalia said.  “Why would an alien create an Earth colony like Helike, then turn around and create one like Waspara?  It’s like they created two colonies on that planet, one with the Causians that was advanced, then one with the Wakipee that wasn’t and was handicapped because they didn’t have any big animals they could domesticate.”

Catie had hardly been listening to the conversation, but her ears pricked up at the word colony.  “Earth Colony, that’s the solution,” she thought.  “Ladies, I’ve got to take care of something.  I’ll make sure the Maître d' knows to put everything on my tab.”

“What?”

“Sorry, but it’s important.”

With that, Catie rushed out of the restaurant.

“ADI, get me Commander Quattro!”

“Cer Catie, I think you should . . .”

“ADI!”

“I have her admin on your Comm.”

“This is Princess Catherine; I’d like to speak with Commander Quattro.”

“She is with a client.”

“Tell her that Princess Catherine will be in her office in two minutes.”

“Princess . . .”

“Two minutes.”  Catie turned and headed toward the lift.

Catie rode the lift up two levels, then practically ran the two hundred meters to Commander Quattro’s office.

“Princess!”

Catie ignored the receptionist as she walked into the commander’s office.

“Princess.”  Commander Quattro folder her hands on her desk and looked up at Catie.  Her assistant came in behind Catie and ushered the client out of the office, murmuring apologies.

“Commander.  I have some thoughts that might have a big impact on Jason’s trial.”

“And those are?”

“Waspara was settled by people abducted from Earth.  You could say it was colonized by them.”

“Correct.  And I assume you’re going to tell me that that makes Waspara a colony and not subject to the Non-interference Directive.”

“You already thought of it?”

“Your father pointed it out when he asked me to handle the case.”

“AND?!”

“We plan to use it to have the charges dismissed.”

“When?”

“When your father tells me he’s ready.”

“What?!”

“Princess.  There are a lot of issues to consider.  There has been significant political maneuvering behind the scenes.  Your father is trying to identify all the players.”

“ADI, get me Daddy!”

“He arrived this morning and is in his office.  I suggest you talk to him in the morning after you’ve . . .”

“I want an elevator standing by!!!” Catie messaged as she turned and stormed out of Commander Quattro’s office.

Catie stomped down the passageway toward the elevator bank.  She was on the outer deck of the station, and Marc’s office was 170 degrees spinward of her.  A quick trip down, then across the hub’s smaller circumference, then up the elevator would make the six-thousand-meter trip less than three hundred meters.

When she reached the elevator bank, several people were waiting.  They could tell that an elevator was on the floor, but the door wouldn’t open.  It opened as soon as Catie reached it.

“It’s going straight up to the hub; you’re welcome to ride,” Catie informed the waiting group.  After looking at her face, nobody decided to take her up on her offer.

The elevator did an expedited climb to the top floor of the hub.  Catie exited it and walked the two hundred-thirty meters to the opposite bank, where an elevator was waiting sans crowd.  Catie boarded it, and it did a fast drop out to the top floor of ring three.  Marc’s office was just twenty meters from the elevator.

Catie stormed into Marc’s office, past his assistant, and into his private office.

“DADDY!”

“Sit down!” Marc ordered.

His order brought Catie up short.  It’d been a long time since he’d used that voice with her.  She caught her breath, noticed that Samantha was sitting at the conference table, and joined her.  She was biting her lip as she sat down.  Samantha reached over and took Catie’s hand while Marc moved from his desk to the table to join them.

“I assume ADI or Commander Quattro told you I was coming.”

“Yes.  ADI informed me as soon as you ran out after the Twins mentioned that Waspara could be considered a colony.  And don’t scold her; she was under strict orders.”

“Why?”

“Because as soon as you realized that you might be able to get Jason out of the hot seat, I knew this would happen.”

“So?”

“I’m not ready for the trial to end.”

“But Jason is suffering.  He’s convinced his career is over.”

“We have been assuring him that things will turn out alright.  But I know he’s suffering.  That’s why we couldn’t involve you.”

“Your father feared that as soon as you saw a way out for Jason, you would act on it,” Samantha said.  “We needed time to map out all the players.”

“Really, you’ve let Jason suffer just so you could find out who’s behind this.  We could do that after the charges were dropped.”

“Not necessarily.  There are still moves being made.  The more moves, the more the kingpins behind this expose themselves,” Marc said.  “We need to find out who’s behind this.  At least one admiral and two League delegates have been compromised.”

“General Fredricks,” Catie said.

“He’s dead.”

“I know.  But the guy who was running him.  That’s going to be your guy.”

“We suspect that too, but we’re trying to figure out who he is.”

“ADI, bring up Project Epsilon,” Catie said.

“Yes, Cer Catie.”

“Project Epsilon?”

“ADI and I have been working to identify the guy.  We have narrowed it down to four people.”

“What.  Why didn’t you tell me?”

Catie shrugged one shoulder and smiled at her father; a bit of a touché.

“Okay, okay.  Just show me what you have.”

“We’re confident it’s an American.  We have three men and one woman who fit our profile.”

Marc gave Catie a quizzical look.

“It had to be someone wealthy who would profit from delaying the mission to Aperanje, so we just did a profile of trades made before and after that mission.  Then we compared those trades and other business dealings with trades with Delphi Station.  We’re pretty sure it’s one of these four.”

“And?”

“We didn’t know how to smoke him out.  We did some surveillance, but they’re all pretty private and secretive.”

“So, we’re back to where we started this conversation.  We need to trace the influence on Jason’s situation.”

“ADI, correlate Project Epsilon with the findings you have on Daddy’s project.”

“I have just completed that.  It does not eliminate any of the four candidates.  But it does raise the probability that it is one of the four to over ninety percent.”

“So, still in the same place.”

“I don’t agree.  If you move to dismiss the charges, you’ll see more movements.  And if we then organize a trip to Waspara, these four will all react.  We’ll be able to figure out who the bad guy is from that.”

“I don’t know.”

“I agree with Catie,” Samantha said.  “And you have gotten about all you can get by dragging the trial out.  If you change the game on them, you’re bound to learn more.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Daddy!”

“Okay, I thought about it.  We’ll make the motion tomorrow.”

◆ ◆ ◆

The court was called to order.  Commander Quattro waited until the judge was seated before she addressed the bench.

“Your Honor, I would like to make a motion to dismiss the charges.”

“On what grounds!” the prosecutor yelled.

The judge stared the prosecutor down until he calmly repeated the question.  “On what grounds?”

“On the grounds that this court doesn’t have jurisdiction over this situation,” Commander Quattro said.

“We don’t have jurisdiction?  Why not?  What has changed?”

“Your Honor, it was just pointed out to me that Waspara is an Earth colony.  Therefore, the issue of interfering in the development of a new civilization is moot.  And since they’re Human, any issue referring to a new sapient species is also moot.”

“What?!” the prosecutor yelled again.

“Sir, if there is one more outburst from you, I’ll hold you in contempt and remove you from my courtroom.”

“Sorry, Your Honor.”

“Now, Cer Quattro, please explain.”

“Of course, Your Honor.  As I said, the people of Waspara are from Earth.  We can present DNA evidence to verify that so it is unequivocal.  Since they are from Earth, they are not a new species as specified in the law my client is accused of violating.  The fact that they are from Earth means that Waspara is an Earth colony.  As such, there is no issue about first contact.  The fact that they have not been in contact with their homeworld does not change the fact that they are from Earth.  The law does not address the issue of a lost colony.  Therefore, I believe that this issue needs to be addressed by the League Council.”

The prosecutor stood up and indicated that he wished to make an argument.  The judge nodded to him with a slight smile.

“Your Honor, the fact that they are from Earth does not abrogate the fact that the defendant made contact with them pre-SETI.”

The judge turned to Commander Quattro, “Commander,” he prompted.

“Pre-SETI is an arbitrary threshold to define when contact should be made with a new species.  Even if you ignore the fact that this is not a new species, my client made no effort to officially contact them.  He did not make them aware of their place in the universe, nor that there was even such a thing as life on other planets.”

The judge nodded and turned to the prosecutor, who was furiously flipping through the pages of his brief, looking for anything that might relate to the situation.

“How can the defense claim this is an Earth colony?  They do not have a unified government; they have had no contact with Earth for over a thousand years; they don’t even know they’re from Earth.”

The judge pursed his lips, indicating he liked that argument.  He turned to the commander.

“Your Honor, the same situation could occur with any of our colonies.  In fact, one could claim that the Paraxean colonies had no contact with Paraxea for hundreds of years before the invention of the wormhole drives.  The minimal communication through the quantum relays did nothing to keep the communities integrated.

“As to the issue of a unified government, it is possible that any of our colonies might develop a schism between two groups.  And that schism could develop into a situation where they essentially formed two separate governments.  Of course, they would create a general unified government so they could continue to be a member of and trade with the League, but it would create a similar situation to Waspara.

“Simply put,” Commander Quattro continued, “Waspara is still a colony of Earth, albeit a lost one.  It is my contention that this court does not have any jurisdiction until the League Council enacts the appropriate law, and possibly not even then.  And since there are currently no laws that deal with this type of situation, my client cannot be accused of violating them.”

“I will take this under advisement,” the judge said.  “Court is adjourned.”

Jason stood up with the rest of the court as the judge left the courtroom.  “What do you think?” he asked.

“I think we’ve just won.”

Jason let out the breath he’d been holding.  It seemed like he’d been holding it since the day they had charged him.  “Now what?”

“Now you go back to work, and I get to have fun with the League Council.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Jason, you must be relieved,” Catie said as she and Miranda greeted Jason at the bar for their celebration.

“I am.  Commander Quattro kept telling me not to worry, but it was hard.”

“We know,” Miranda said.  “I can’t believe Marc let it go on so long.”

“I’m kind of mad at him about it,” Catie said.  “But he said they needed time to figure out who was pulling the strings.”

“And did they?”

“Not yet.  But we will.  Now, what are you having?”

“There’s only one answer to that,” Jason said.

“A bottle of your best scotch,” Catie told the bartender.

“You do realize how much . . .” the bartender shut up as he realized who Catie was.  She wouldn’t care if the twenty-five-year-old Glenlivet was fifteen hundred a bottle.

“To happy endings!” Catie toasted.

Jason and Miranda echoed her toast, but Catie could tell that Jason’s heart wasn’t in it.

“Jason, what’s wrong?”

“I’m still not sure how my career will recover.  Even if they push my promotion to Lieutenant Commander through, will I ever be able to live this down?”

“I think I have a solution.  You know I want to go back to Waspara and make sure that the Wakipee are safe.  I think we’ll need to set up some kind of delegation on the planet and introduce ourselves to all the civilizations.  Let them know that we won’t abide any wars.”

“I was getting that sense.”

“Well, you two obviously need to come on that mission.”

Miranda frowned.

“Come on, it’ll be fun.  And you’re going to want to see how the Wakipee react.”

“Maybe.”

◆ ◆ ◆

The day after the judge threw out the case against Jason, Catie walked into Marc’s office.  “Now what?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“What are the rules for Waspara?  Do we have to avoid them?  Can we visit?”

“What?  We used the colony ruse to get Jason out of trouble; why would we go back?”

“For the same reason Jason got into trouble.  Do we really want to stand by and watch the people from Causia overrun the Wakipee?”

Marc groaned and shook his head.  “We need to talk.  Any changes to the rules for Wakipee have to be endorsed by Earth.  I’ll call a cabinet meeting.  You’ll need to prepare a case for changing the rules, and you can update everyone on what you learned from the probes.”

Catie grimaced a bit as Marc threw more work into her lap, but she couldn’t complain too much.  She wanted to be able to help the Wakipee, and she had instigated the analysis of the probes.

Cabinet Meeting Feb 9th

Since it was a cabinet meeting, and after looking at the agenda, Liz and Kal opted out.  They would read the report but were happy to let the others argue the complexities of Waspara, the prime directive, and new technology.

Marc called the meeting to order.  Blake, Sam, and Catie were present in person; Admiral Michaels was on a video feed from Earth along with Fred, Dr. Metra, and Nicola.

“Dr. Metra, I’m glad you could make it.”

Dr. Metra smiled at Marc, well, kind of a smile; she was letting him know that with the prime directive on the agenda, there was no way she would miss the meeting.

“I’d like to introduce a new member of the board, Captain Zaragxia.”

“Zoey, please.”

Catie sent her father a buzz for not telling her before the meeting.  He grimaced a bit, then gave her the stink eye to tell her to quit it.

“Thank you.  I’ve asked Zoey to join the board.  After Catie’s visit to Onisiwo two years ago, Zoey and her friends started pushing the Onisiwoen government to purchase Comms and tablets for their schools.  It didn’t take long before she contacted Fred, and they opened a MacKenzie affiliate on Onisiwo to produce them.  They also manufacture simple household AIs.  I’m sure you’ve all noticed it in Fred’s reports.”

“Zoey, I’m so glad you’ve joined the board,” Catie said.  “And I’m sure Daddy wants your input on our discussion today.”

“We’ll all be happy to have her input,” Marc said.  “Now, since I’ve taken care of introducing Zoey to the board, Catie owns the remainder of the agenda.  Catie, please begin with an update on what we’ve learned from dismantling the probe.”

“As a reminder to everyone, and to bring Zoey up to date, we found probes in the Helike system and in Earth’s system.  We believe there were probes in the Waspara system, but they were destroyed when Jason’s and Miranda’s Hyraxes collided with them.  We believe that whatever alien civilization transplanted humans from Earth to Helike and Waspara was using the probes to keep track of events in the systems.”

“Including Earth?” Zoey asked.

“Yes.  We’re not sure what their interest was, but we assume they were tracking the development of civilization on the three planets.  I’ve asked ADI to do a brief presentation on the basic design of the probe.  ADI.”

“I’d like to personally extend my welcome to Zoey,” ADI said.  “I know how exciting and intimidating it is to be added to this board.  Please feel free to come to me for help; I’m always available.

“Now, these probes are similar to the design of the satellites used by Paraxea to monitor civilizations and the Solar Explorers the League uses to explore new systems.”  ADI was referring to the satellites that had been placed around Earth when the Paraxeans sent the Sakira there.

“They are simple but sophisticated.  Based on that, I am confident that they are controlled by a large DI, possibly one per star system.  Their shells are very basic, like what we use on our ships, they absorb or radiate energy and the probe simply rotates to distribute the energy over their surface area.”

“How could the probes last so long?” Dr. Metra asked.  “Helike was colonized almost two thousand years ago.”

“Dr. Fàn is researching that.  She has determined that they are able to reverse the polarity of their circuits to curb the electron migration.”

“Will she be able to reverse engineer it?” Blake asked.

“She believes so.  She is also very interested in the level of integration that they have achieved.  She believes that once she’s completed her analysis that we will be able to incorporate it into our IC manufacturing process.”

“That will certainly be an excellent opportunity for us,” Fred said.

“Now, the second thing that has impressed our scientists is the size of the fusion reactor.  It is fifty percent smaller than our micro reactors.  Dr. Tanaka is analyzing the design and is optimistic that he will be able to learn enough to reduce the size of our reactors significantly.”

“That will be nice for our probes,” Blake said.  “I assume we’ll also take advantage of that for our space planes.”

“I agree, but there may be other civilian uses that we’re not envisioning right now.”  ADI flashed the image of the reactor sitting on Dr. Tanaka’s workbench.  It wasn’t much bigger than the toolbox he had it sitting next to.

Catie beamed a smile at her father.  She was already thinking of other uses for it.  She and Fred would be having some big conversations in the near future.

“And the most dramatic technology potential is that their gravity drives are smaller and more efficient than our most advanced drives.  They are twenty-three percent smaller and forty-one percent more efficient.”

“Does that mean that they also use less platinum metals?” Marc asked.

“Yes, it does.”

“That is significant.  Anything else?”

“One more thing.  Dr. Nakahara says that after contrasting the quantum relay from the probe with ours and with what he knows about the Paraxean ones, he believes that he will be able to finally make them.  He is setting up tests as we speak.”

“That is great news,” Fred said.  “We’ve had to severely curtail the use of the relays.”

Dr. Metra frowned.  She clearly wasn’t too excited to see Paraxea lose its monopoly on quantum relays.

“Yes, having only one per squadron causes problems, as we saw with Jason and Miranda.  If both fighters had had a relay, they would have been rescued within weeks instead of a year.”

“Good, good,” Marc said.  “Is there anything else?”

“Not related to the probes,” ADI said.  “But Dr. McDowell has finally completed his study of our jump limit.  He has reset the limit to forty-five AUs.  Of course, that scales depending on the system’s mass, but it is a major improvement over the sixty AU limit we have been using.  He hopes that he will be able to reduce it more once he has completed his analysis of the gravity drives from the probe.”

“That is amazing,” Catie said.  “That will cut down a lot of our system transit time.”

“I’m sure all of our shipping merchants will be pleased,” Marc said.  “I’ll have Liz put together a crew to get the gates moved to the new limit.”

“You do know that some gates will need to be upgraded before they can move.”

“I understand.  I’m sure Liz will come up with a plan,” Marc said.  “Now, ADI, do you have anything else to add?”

“Those are the key points that will impact MacKenzie Enterprises and the Delphi League.  Of course, we still have scientists examining everything about the probes.  We will certainly learn more as they progress.”

“Thank you, ADI.  Any questions?”

Nobody looked like they were going to ask any questions.  They could always follow up with ADI or Catie.  Right now, they were more interested in the next item on the agenda.

“If not, then Catie, please proceed.”

“Okay.  The big discussion point for today is whether we should petition Earth to adjust the engagement rules for Waspara.”

“Why would we?” Blake asked.

Catie gave him a glare, then smiled.  She knew he just wanted to get the discussion going without too much preamble.

“Because if we don’t, it’s likely that the people from Causia will invade the Wakipee and destroy their culture, enslave them, or simply wipe them out.”

“Is that our problem?  Besides, they seemed to handle themselves pretty well.”

“Why isn’t it our problem?  We know about it.  We know the Causians obliterated a village and the people in it just to make a point.”

“But Blake has a point,” Admiral Michaels said.  “Civilizations develop at different paces.  The ones that advance the fastest subsume the less advanced ones.”

“You mean enslave or wipe out!”

“Catie!” Marc scolded.

“The non-interference directive is there so that we allow civilizations to develop naturally,” Admiral Michaels added.

“So, you’re in favor of bullying in schools; survival of the fittest; the biggest, meanest, baddest get to have their way; to hell with the little guy.  We all know that there isn’t a positive side to conquest.  It’s just about power and greed.  How can it be a good thing to let that happen, even if it is natural?”

“I agree with Catie,” Zoey said.  “I wouldn’t have been happy if some non-interference clause had stopped you from coming to Onisiwo’s aid when the Fazullans invaded.  Isn’t there some obligation to have a non-interference rule about civilizations when they’re on the same planet?  Stopping wars or invasions can’t be bad.”

“But how would we choose a side?”

“Stopping a war isn’t about choosing a side; it’s about enforcing peace.”

“But what if one side is trying to get back what the other side took?”

“There is such a thing as mediation,” Zoey said, really getting into the argument.  “Look at the examples on your planet.  You’ve favored sanctions and mediation over direct interference.”

“Well, mostly,” Admiral Michaels said, giving Marc a look.  He remembered how Marc dropped asteroids on Russian bases until they withdrew from Ukraine.  He gave them fair warning, so there were few casualties, but . . .

“Dr. Metra, what do you think?”

“I agree with Catie and Zoey.  You have to draw the line.  If you stand by and allow a major war to occur, you’re as guilty as the side causing the war.  How will future civilizations view the League if we ignore such a disaster?”

“But what about the prime directive?” Blake asked.

“It’s stupid.  SETI is not a rational benchmark to say a civilization is ready to have contact with other planets.  Once people are aware that there are other civilizations, on or off their planet, they are ready to deal with the existence of one off-planet.  As we could see from Jason’s report, there really isn’t much difference between a stone age civilization and a modern one other than conveniences; and most of the technology differences are driven by population density.”

“I also agree,” Samantha said.  “We need to set a different threshold.  We should be focused on not disrupting their rights to self-government, but we should step in and prevent wars, bullying, and other negative interactions between civilizations on a planet.  And especially when it’s an Earth colony.”

“How do we avoid impacting their economies and such?  Just knowing about us will have an impact.”

“We could trade with them, just enough to allow them to develop without having to go to war with each other over resources,” Samantha said.

“And what would we trade for?” Blake asked.

“The right to mine their asteroid belt.  We could manage it so that it has a minimal impact on their future but allows them to get by the resource constraints that drive conflicts.”

“I like that idea,” Catie said.

“Admiral?” Marc prompted.

“I think I have what I need to make a case to the Earth Federation Council.  I suspect they’ll be in favor of it, especially if it opens the possibility of trade.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Damien was confused.  He wasn’t happy that the charges against Lieutenant Clark were dismissed.  He didn’t have any leverage over the judge, and the colony twist was clever.  Now, the McCormacks were pushing to create relaxed rules about engagement with new planets.

What confused Damien was he wanted the same thing.  There had to be something inherently wrong if he and Marc McCormack wanted the same thing, but damn if he could think of a reason to disagree.  He ordered his contacts to support the motions being made by Admiral Michaels.  He was sure there would be an opportunity to exploit it once things settled.

***

Chapter 4

Planning and Planning

Catie was in her office trying to focus on her work.  She was really impatient to head out to Waspara but had to wait for the go-ahead from her father.  It was clear that the League Council didn’t have authority over the planet, but Earth did have a legitimate interest.  Her father was working with Admiral Michaels to get an agreement on how to deal with colonies like Waspara, but it was taking sooo long.  The planet was way over the population limit set for independence, but . . . things were weird.

To entertain herself, she started to play around with how a fusion reactor the size of the one they got from the probe would affect things.  She checked out the specs Dr. Tanaka had sent her.

“Crap, the energy output is like nothing.”

Catie rechecked the specs; then, she checked out the specs on the gravity drives.  The probes couldn’t really run their gravity drives off of the reactor; if they did, then they had to run them at less than 20%.  They would have had to charge their capacitors before they could engage the drives at higher power.  No wonder they weren’t very nimble and had been so easy to capture.

Catie drew a few curves trying to interpolate the difference between the alien reactor and the ones they used in the Foxes.  Maybe they’d be able to shrink theirs a few percent.  Which, when you were talking about jets, was important.  Weight was everything.  But she didn’t think that they’d be making any big changes.  So, she shifted her thoughts to what they could make that could take advantage of the small size.  Obviously, probes; duh.  But what about forklifts, the small gravity drives, and the reactor?  But what a hassle, having to wait until the capacitors charged.  Maybe a new electric car?

The Twins walked into her office.  “Hey, Catie, are you busy?”

“No, bored.  What’s up?”

“We’re bored too.”

“Well, now that you’ve saved me from boredom, what do you want to do?”

“We’ve been working on our paper about the Wakipee, but Miranda and Jason are never around to help us.”

“What’s keeping them so busy?”

“Requalifying on their fighters.”

“Oh, I guess that after a year, they’d need to get some serious hours in.  But they should still have time.”

The Twins rolled their eyes.  “They’re dating.”

“Each other?”  Catie was shocked at the idea.

“NO!  They’re both dating other people, but that means they’re busy.”

“ADI, what do you think?”

“I do notice that they’re busy a lot.”

“Can’t you and ANDI help out?  You could figure out what the Twins need to know, then quiz Jason and Miranda when they’re not busy.”

“I like that idea!” ANDI chimed in.  “They haven’t let me help with the paper.”

“Because we have to do it ourselves.”

“But won’t this work?  I’ll be good and not add anything you don’t specifically ask for.”

“Okay, we can try it,” the Twins sighed.

“Maybe we should go with you to Waspara,” Prisha said.

Catie grimaced a bit.  “I’m not sure your mother will like that idea!”

“Hey, we’re eighteen.  We don’t need her permission.”

“Maybe not, but you should get her blessing.  Why do you want to go there?”

“It will make for a better paper.  First-hand experience.  We want to analyze how Waspara was set up.  We still want to figure out why the aliens put the humans there and why they set it up like they did,” Aalia said.

“If we go there, it will have a big impact on our paper.  It’ll be sooo much better.  It might even be good enough for a master’s thesis,” Prisha added.

“Those sound like good arguments.  You should make them to your mother.”

“I don’t recall you making similar arguments to your father,” ADI chimed in on a private channel.

“ADI, be nice,” Catie messaged back.

“So, if Mummy gives us the okay, will you let us go?”

“Probably.”

“Probably?  Why probably?”

“We still haven’t outlined the parameters of the mission.”

“But there has to be room for us.”

“I’m sure there will be.”

“Great, then we’ll go beg Mummy.”

“Maybe the aliens are doing a paper,” Prisha said.

“I assume they’re doing research,” Catie said.

“But with just two examples, three if you count Earth.”

“Hmm, you know, that’s probably a good thought.  Why would they stop at two colonies?  ADI, please bring up a map of the Orion Arm and highlight Earth, Helike, and Waspara.”

“Here it is.  Now, if three data points make a trend, the three planets form a loose line moving up the Orion Arm toward the Sagittarius Arm.”

“Do we have any data on colonizable planets further up Orion’s Arm?”

“We have detected EM signals from a planet sixty light years beyond Waspara, so we’ve avoided any further exploration along that vector.”

“Have we analyzed the signals?”

“Devon, one of my AIs has been doing that.  He hasn’t reported anything interesting.  Although he notes that they are approaching SETI technology level.”

“Anything else?”

“Humph.  You would think that even a simple AI would realize that a television signal with beings in it that look exactly like humans would be of interest.”

“What?!”

“Way cool,” the Twins said.  “Do we get credit for helping to discover it?”

“Girls!” Catie scolded.  “ADI, what can you tell us about it?”

“It appears that the world I pointed out is inhabited by humans.  Their civilization appears to be equivalent to 1940s Earth.”

“ADI, please inform Daddy.”

“I already have.  He’d like to speak to you in his office.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Well?” Marc asked as Catie entered his office.

“I assume ADI just told you that we discovered a new planet that looks like another Helike.”

“I have just been made aware of it.”

“I want to go there.”

“What about Waspara?”

“Send Jason and Miranda with Herr Hausmann.”

“Just like that?”

“They were going to go with me.  Pulling me out won’t make a big difference.”

“Why don’t we wait?”

“Because it’s the third planet that’s been colonized by these aliens.  I think we need to figure out what they’re up to.  ADI shows it as the fourth planet along a vector between Earth and the Sagittarius arm of the galaxy.  We’ll send a probe out ahead along that vector and see if we can find any more colonies out there.”

Marc looked at his daughter skeptically.

“And if we can capture the probes and blind them, maybe we can get whoever owns them to talk to us,” Catie added.  “It must be some kind of experiment or test about how to set up a colony.”

“Why would someone do that?” Marc asked

“Why not?  We’ve been doing that.  What’s strange is why they would use people from Earth to do it.  Why not use their own people like we are?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll be careful, and I’ll drop waypoints along the way; that means help could reach me in a week or so.”

“Which ship?”

“I was going to take the Marco Polo to Waspara, but . . .”

“No, I want you to take a bigger ship to this new planet.  They’re more advanced, so I want you to have plenty of firepower and enough to impress the hell out of them.”

“Okay, so I’ll take the Bellona.  It needs a good shakedown cruise.”

“Plus, two frigates.  Go ahead and start planning it.  I’ll talk with the board to see what everyone thinks.”

“Thanks, Daddy.  I really think it’s important to figure out what these aliens are up to.”

“Or were up to?”

Catie gave her father a shrug before she turned and left the office.  He was right, the aliens might not even exist anymore.  Or they may have tired of the experiment.  But that wouldn’t explain the wormhole jump.

“You didn’t tell your father about the Twins,” ADI said.

“Later.  I need to talk to Jason and Miranda.”

“You’re not taking the Twins with you?”

“I think they would be safer going to Waspara.  And it’s more aligned with the paper they want to write.”

“Do you think they’ll agree?”

“I don’t plan on giving them a choice.”

“Now you’re sounding like your father.”

“ADI!”

◆ ◆ ◆

“ADI tells me that we’re getting ready for a trip,” Fiona said the next morning when she met Catie in her Cabin.

“Hi, Fiona.  And yes, I’m planning a trip to the new planet we discovered.”

“That’s what I heard,” a voice behind Fiona said.

Catie twirled around.  “Tina!  What are you doing here?”

“Well, since you chased Morgan away, Fiona asked me if I’d come along on this trip to back her up.”

“I did not chase Morgan away!  But it’ll be so fun to have you along.”

“What am I?  Limburger cheese?”

“No, you’re fun too.  It’ll just be double the fun with both of you.  Tina, are you going to be my second body guard?”

“Just for this trip.  You seem to have way more fun than me whenever you’re out running about.  I was bored, and Kal is still looking for the right replacement for Morgan.”

Catie pouted a bit at the dig about her having fun, aka trouble, but then smiled and gave Tina a hug.  “I’m sure it’ll be fun.”

“Cer Catie, Commodore Fitzgerald is waiting for you in her cabin.”

“ADI tells me we’re expected aboard the Bellona to chat with Jodi.”

“Yes, I know.”  Fiona used her head to motion to Tina to follow them.  “The Bellona, there should be lots of spacers on her,” Fiona said.

“You’re supposed to be working.”

“Well, we might need a wee bit of distraction in the evenings.  A few good-looking spacers might be able to help us out.”

“Fiona, you’re such a bad girl.”

“And don’t you be forgetting that.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Jodi.”

“Princess.  I’ve been informed that you’ll be availing yourself of our services.”

“Yes.  I’d like to head out in a couple of weeks.  We just need to wait for the final okay from Admiral Michaels.  We will need to take a few jump points to seed along the way and a set of jumpgates for the new system.”

“I’ve already ordered them,” ADI said.  “They’ll be ready in three days.”

“I assume you also ordered what Miranda and Jason will need.”

“They have already ordered a jumpgate.  They’ll be able to use your jump points,” ADI replied.  “If they’re not finished when we leave, we can have them follow us when they’re ready.”

“So, two weeks,” Jodi said.  “I’ll inform the crew.  Your cabin will be ready next week.”

“Thank you.  I think we’ll wait until departure to burden you with our presence,” Catie said, getting even for the Princess greeting.

“Oh, you won’t be a burden.  Why don’t we have dinner tomorrow to discuss the details?”

“Of course, Commodore.”

“Princesa,” Jodi said, nodding her head and using the triplets’ term for Catie to try and lighten the mood.

Catie stuck the tip of her tongue out.  “You pick the place.”

“That must mean you’re paying.”

“What?  Do you think I’m made of money?”

“That’s what I hear.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

◆ ◆ ◆

The Twins came skipping down the passageway.

“Hey, Tina, when did you get here?”

“Just the other day.”

Fiona was frowning with her hands on her hips, obviously a bit annoyed at being ignored.

“Oh, hi, Fiona.  Prisha, have you noticed how Fiona just fades into the background?”

“Yes, it’s like she isn’t even there.  A critical skill for a bodyguard, I hear.”

Fiona giggled a bit.  “Aye, well, I’ll give you that one.”

“Hey, Catie, what were you doing on the Bellona?  I thought we were going to take the Marco Polo.”

“Ah, a slight change of plans.”

Fiona smiled as she leaned against the wall to watch Catie get out of this one.

“I don’t remember changing any plans,” Aalia said.  “Prisha, did you change our plans?”

“No, I didn’t make any changes.  I wouldn’t make a change without consulting you first.”

“Nor would I.  That’s just common courtesy.”

“Girls, that’s enough,” Catie said.  “We’re talking about exploring that planet we discovered.  I’m going to take the Bellona and check it out.  You are going to go with Miranda and Jason to Waspara so you can work on your paper.”

The Twins pouted.  “But we want to go with you.”

“What about your paper?  Besides, you like Miranda.”

“We do, but we’re not sure how much she likes us.  We did embarrass her on the obstacle course.  I doubt she’s forgotten that.”

“I’m sure she hasn’t forgotten.  Besides, you embarrass everybody.  She’s a big girl; she wouldn’t hold a grudge.”

The Twins continued to pout.

“Come on.  What about the Wakipee?” Catie asked.  “This new world is like 1940s Earth, and once you head out on the Marco Polo, Jason and Miranda should have more time for you.”

“We don’t know . . .”

“And you said you really wanted to meet Mina.”

“Well, she is really cute.”

“And you’ll get to see how much they’ve continued Jason’s education program.”

“Maybe”

“And you can use my cabin.”

“That’s more like it.”

“Did your mother say you could go?”

“Of course she did.”

“Then you need to make sure she knows that Jason and Miranda are going to be in charge.”

“We just messaged her,” the Twins said.  “We’re sure she’ll be okay with it.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Hi, Daddy, Sam,” Catie greeted the two as they met in Marc’s office.

“Catie,” Samantha waved.

“We still haven’t been able to narrow our suspect list down,” Marc said.

“Do we care?”

“Why wouldn’t we?”

“Well, we know they’re all bad guys,” Catie said.

“Not necessarily.”

“Look at them.  They’re filthy rich, and they’re greedy, and they’re vicious to their competition.”

“Some people might say the same thing about us.”

“No, we’re not vicious or greedy.”

“That might be in the eye of the beholder,” Samantha said.  “Besides, greed isn’t necessarily bad.”

“What?  Look at what it’s done to all the small businesses on Earth,” Catie said.

Samantha laughed.  “Catie, apparently, it’s been a while since you’ve paid attention to what’s going on on Earth.”

“What?”

“Well, with the improved internet and shopping online, more people are working from home, and since they don’t have to worry about commute times, they’re moving back to small towns.”

“Oh.  But what about the small businesses?”

“With the house AI, a lot of small businesses are making a comeback.  They’ve been able to use their house AI to handle a lot of the work; that allows them to cut their expenses and focus on customer service.  And with the AIs, they’ve been able to form collectives and combine their orders, getting better costs.  So being local, having better customer service, and almost the same cost, they’re competitive again.”

“Enough with the economics lesson,” Marc said.  “I want to know if you had other ideas about how to flush our bad guy out.”

“Well. . .” Catie hesitated.

“Go on, I know you sometimes play on the edge.”

“Well, like I said, you have to decide whether you’re trying to catch our bad guy or just figure out who’s a bad guy.”

Marc scowled, “Huh?  What are you saying?”

“Well, if, say, two of the four are essentially rich thugs, do you care if you take both of them down instead of trying to figure out which one did General Fredricks in?”

“I’m not sure where you’re going with this.”

“We know that whoever did General Fredricks in is willing to break the law; use assassination to get their way.  Essentially, they’re part of the Mob or just as bad.  So, if the others are just as bad, do you care if you nail all of them?”

“Yes and no.”

“Have you decided what you’re going to do when you figure out who the bad guy is?” Catie asked.

Marc's eyes flashed side to side as he realized he really hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“Not really.  I assume we would take legal action, but that sounds a bit naïve.”

“Yeah.  Duh.  They probably have lots of politicians in their pocket.  Do you really think you can go after them legally?”

“We have methods to handle these kinds of people,” ADI said, alluding to some of the tricks she and Catie used on Onisiwo.

“Hello, ADI,” Marc said.  “And yes, I know there are other ways to deal with these people.  But doesn’t that make us just as bad as they are?”

“Sometimes you have to get your hands a little dirty to do the right thing,” ADI said.  “Most of what we did was perfectly legal, just targeted.”

Samantha smiled at Marc.  “You know, I think that might be the best answer.  We can do some more investigations and set up a few tests.  If their behavior falls too far outside acceptable practice, then we can just take them down.  It’s really the same thing the governments are doing with the cartels.  They just don’t have the freedom to target smaller, more questionable targets.  Besides, when did you start to get all cautious on us?”

“Okay, okay.  The League Council has me worried a bit.  But let’s come up with a few tests and see what we learn.  We’ll decide what action we want to take when we know more.  Catie, I assume you’ll work with ADI to come up with the test.”

“Definitely.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie was ready to pull her hair out as the week dragged out without any solid decision from the Earth Council.  She and ADI had a few days of fun designing the tests, and she’d used the time to have the gravity drives on the Bellona, the Marco Polo, and the two frigates modified so they could take advantage of the new forty-five AU jump limit.  But still, how long was she going to have to wait?

It was her Uncle Blake who saved her.  He suggested that they just go to the planets and ask forgiveness if the council objected.  It only took a few hours of begging, carefully distributed over two days, before Marc relented.  So now they were finally ready to go.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Hey, Catie, what’s up with the Twins getting your cabin?” Miranda asked.

“Well, it has two bedrooms.”

“Yes, and a private dining room, an office, and . . .”

“Hey, I had to bribe them a bit so they’d quit begging to come with me.”

“I’ll have to keep that strategy in mind the next time I want something special.”

“You beg?” Catie scoffed at Miranda.  “I don’t think you have it in you.”

“Hey, Catie.  Are you following us out?” Jason asked as he walked up, saving Catie from any demonstration of begging by Miranda.

“Yes.  We’re going to let you make the jumps, then we’ll follow you.  The Marco Polo can jump so much further than the frigates or the Bellona.”

“Oh, makes sense.  So, two days to Waspara, and we’ll leave waypoints along the way.”

“Right.  Now, how are you guys getting along with Herr Hausmann?”

Jason snorted a laugh.  “Fine.  We say hello, he lectures a bit, then we say goodbye.  His assistant Jazmin is much nicer.”

“Hey, he’s okay.  He’ll grow on you.”

“So will fungus.”

“Get out of here.  We’ll stay in touch.”

“Definitely,” Jason said.  “Come on, Miranda, Captain Ignatii is waiting on the shuttle.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Damien was furious.  Why wasn’t that McCormack brat on the Marco Polo?  What had changed?  He’d worked hard to get his guy on that ship; now, what good would he be?  And why had they added a squadron to the expedition?  None of it made any sense.

◆ ◆ ◆

Two days later, the crew of the Marco Polo said goodbye to Commodore Fitzgerald and her squadron as they jumped toward Waspara.

“See you guys in a few months,” Catie messaged.

“We’re hoping it’ll only be a few months,” Miranda messaged back.

As soon as they reached Waspara’s system, the crew of the Marco Polo deployed the jumpgate.  Now anyone from Avalon could reach the system in a few hours.  Then they settled down for the long drop into the gravity well.  They had used the charging time between jumps to accelerate, so now they just had ten days of deceleration before they reached the planet.

“Hey, do you guys have time for us now?” the Twins asked.

◆ ◆ ◆

Damien was still confused.  The gall of the McCormacks to find another Earth colony and not tell anyone about it.  His guy only got that info and the fact that it was more advanced, like 1940s Earth.  Now his spy was going to the wrong planet.  Damn it, what would it take to learn more about this Terramata?

***

Chapter 5

Terramata

It took another four days of jumps and deploying waypoints before Jodi and her squadron reached the new planet.  They had learned that it was called Terramata from the TV broadcasts recorded by the probe.  They quickly deployed a set of jumpgates, then made their first micro-jump to set them up to cut a chord.

“Welcome to Terramata,” Commodore Jodi announced on the bridge as the Bellona was cutting a chord across the edge of the system.  “Catie, do you want to send them a message now?”

“I think we should wait.  I’d like to capture any probes that might be here first; then, I want to talk about options.”

“Very well.  So, you’re convinced that the aliens will have left probes behind?”

“It’s the pattern we’ve observed.  I think Jason and Miranda collided with a pair when they exited the wormhole at Waspara.”

“Yes, you’ve told me.  It makes sense, but I’m still skeptical.”

“Well, why don’t we send a couple of remote piloted Foxes to the planet?  We can send out a gravimetric pulse once they’re close.”

“Yes, Princess.”

Catie scowled at Jodi.  The princess dig was a bit much.  She was only making a logical suggestion.

Jodi winked at Catie, letting her know that she was just teasing.  “Ops, send two remote Foxes to the planet.  Send them through the jumpgate so they have the right vector.  Also, make sure they’re equipped with Faraday cages to contain any probes they might find.”

“Yes, Ma’am.  Two Foxes to the planet.”

“Should we head in system?” Jodi asked.

“No, ADI says that she thinks we may have found another planet.  I want to wait until we know more about that.”

“Another planet?”

“Yes.  Why would three be the magic number?  It would be nice to find the last planet in this chain.  Maybe then we can figure out who’s behind all this.”

“So, how long will we need to wait?”

“It’ll be a while.  She says there is no EM signature from the other planet.”

“Oh, so like Waspara.”

“Seems like it.”

“Why such a wide variation in technology?”

“Not sure.  Initial conditions when they established the colony?”

“That would be my supposition as well,” ADI chimed in.

“Back to our current planet.  What info do we have on Terramata?” Catie asked.

“They’re about 1940s Earth as far as technology goes.  We’ll know more once the Foxes can take detailed scans.”

“So, we have Helike, very modern; Waspara, fairly primitive; Terramata, a bit modern; and this new planet, low tech, possibly primitive,” Catie said.

“Interesting; what do you think?”

“Maybe they’re dialing in a few parameters.”

“To what end?”

“To have the right parameters to set up a special colony.  Maybe one for their own people.”

“They sure are patient,” Jodi said.  “Over two thousand years to figure out how to set up your own colony.”

“Well, we can assume that they’re in stasis.  But it does seem a bit extreme.”

“I don’t think so,” ADI said.  “You have to invest time in something if you want it done right.”

“That from a DI who’s over two hundred years old.”

“Hey, that’s young by my standards.”

“Enough of this debate,” Jodi said.  “We’re not going to solve this now.  Catie, it’s going to take the Foxes four days to get there, so do you want to go work out?”

“Definitely.”  Catie thought she might get even for the princess dig, even if Jodi was just teasing.

◆ ◆ ◆

“The Foxes are approaching the planet,” Jodie announced.  “Sensors, one gravimetric ping, please.”

“Aye, one gravimetric ping.”

“Let’s go have breakfast; it’ll take five and a half hours for that to reach the planet.  The Foxes should be able to tell us if they detect anything right away.  We’ve positioned them along our path, so we’ll see what they see.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Commodore, the Foxes are reporting back.”

“On our way,” Jodi replied as she and Catie headed to the bridge.  They’d been watching a TV show from the planet, trying to get a better sense of the people there.

“Put it up on the main display.”

“There seems to be something here,” the sensor operator said as he pointed to a spot on the planet.

“Just one?”

“If there are two, I would expect the second to be 180 degrees ahead in the same orbit,” Catie said.  “That would give them a constant view of most of the planet.”

“Orbiting at a 30-degree inclination,” Jodi added.

“It might be up to 60 degrees.  We should go ahead and have the Fox enter orbit.  If we capture the probe without disturbing its orbit, the capture should be hidden from the second probe,” Catie suggested.

“I think we’ll have the second Fox find the other probe first.  Maybe we can capture them at the same time.  But I agree, we don’t want to disturb the orbit until we have discovered both of them.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Got them.”

“That was anticlimactic,” Catie said.  “They didn’t even try to avoid the Foxes.”

“They must not have seen them.  And you said they weren’t very nimble.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Volmora was furious again.  How had the Earthlings captured yet another set of his probes?  And if they captured those, then they were getting too close.

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie and Jodi were having breakfast in Jodi’s office after their morning workout.

“Catie, explain to me why we’re waiting to visit Terramata.”

“I don’t want to go into the gravity well and have to come back out before we can jump to the next planet.”

“But it’s going to take the probe days to reach the new planet we’ve discovered.”

“I know.  But that’s still only half the time.  It’ll get close enough to give us quality scans before we can reach Terramata.”

“Not really, we’re faster.”

“Sure, but if we go to Terramata, then if the probe finds something interesting, it would be weeks before we could get out of the gravity well and jump there.”

“Alright, should we leave a frigate behind if we decide to move on?”

“I don’t think we should weaken our forces before we figure out where this all ends.  But that’s a good idea.  Why don’t we send a shuttle with a few pilots and scientists on it, and we can add a couple of additional Foxes in case something comes up that needs more firepower?  While they’re there, they can do some research about Terramata’s history.  ADI’s not getting a very good sense of it from their TV.  Seems they like to avoid certain subjects.”

“You think you’ll get volunteers to live on a shuttle for a month?” Jodi asked, clearly skeptical at Catie’s suggestions.

“I’m sure someone will volunteer.”

Jodi just shook her head.  “I think you’re dreaming.”

“Wanna bet?”

◆ ◆ ◆

“What is this production order for surf boards?” Jodi asked Catie as they sat down for breakfast the next day.

“Well, since the pilots who volunteered are surfers, I agreed to allow them to take surfboards with them and told them that they could spend time on one of the deserted islands down there.”

“You cheated!”

“No.  I just made sure that everyone understood all the variables of the assignment.”

“Cheater!”

“Cer Jodi.  You know Cer Catie always works the angles.  You should have known better,” ADI admonished.

***

Chapter 6

Waspara

During the ten days it took to reach Waspara, the Twins continually cornered Jason and Miranda, quizzing them on the Wakipee, their customs, and the interactions the two had had with them.  They had also gotten help from them to learn the language.  They’d been working on it since they’d first decided to come on the mission.  With the translator and help from ADI or ANDI, they were getting pretty good at communicating, but practice makes perfect, or so they kept telling Miranda and Jason.

“We’re here,” Jason said as the Marco Polo entered orbit around the planet.

“Cool,” the Twins said.  They were trying to be inconspicuous on the bridge, worried they might not get to stay.

“Your home away from home,” Herr Hausmann said.

Miranda stifled a snort.  “We did call it home for a year, but not by choice.”

“So, the plan is?”

“We’ll land the Marco Polo out at sea,” Jason said.  “We have a small yacht in the hold that we’ll use to get to shore.  We don’t want to appear too frightening to the Wakipee.  We’ll land at the village where we built the forge and the shipyard.”

“And lumbermill,” Herr Hausmann added.

Jason rolled his eyes.  “Yes, and the lumbermill.  I’m sure Amaru will remember us; it’s only been twenty-two weeks since we left.  Then we’ll tell them our story.”

“That will be very interesting.  I wonder if they’ll be willing to believe it.”

“If we have to, we can show them the Marco Polo.  I’m sure that will get them to believe,” Miranda said.  “A big ship hovering in the air will surely make them think.”

“Yes, it will.  Let’s hope it’s not about witchcraft.”

The Twins giggled.

“They didn’t seem overly superstitious when we were there.”

Herr Hausmann just nodded his head.

◆ ◆ ◆

The Marco Polo landed on the water.  They opened the flight bay doors and prepared to launch the yacht.

“Why can’t we go?” the Twins whined.

“Because it might be dangerous.  We’ll come back and get you as soon as we’ve established that everything is cool,” Jason said.

The Twins crossed their arms and pouted.  “But we’ll miss first contact.”

“That’s already happened,” Miranda said.  “This is just re-establishing contact.  Now go back to your cabin or the bridge.”

The Twins slowly dragged themselves to the lift and headed up to their cabin.

“It’s really too bad they can’t come,” Miranda said.

“I know, but their mother and Catie would kill me if anything happened.  We’re not sure what will happen when they see us.”

“Your yacht is ready,” the crew chief announced.

◆ ◆ ◆

“We’re approaching the shore,” Jason said as he spotted the towering works of the shipyard; they’d been sailing for just over an hour.

“And here comes a ship to meet us,” Miranda said.  “It looks like Barney fixed up one of the burned-out ships.”

“He must have; it is shorter than the ones we set fire to.  That’s pretty good progress.  Were they working on them when we left?”

“A little, but they’d hardly started.  So now, what do we do?”

“We coast along and let them catch us.  Hopefully, someone on board will remember us.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Miranda asked.  “They might shoot at us with a cannon.”

“I’m sure they won’t.  But we have a plasma cannon mounted on the front deck.  It’s hidden, but it can be deployed quickly.”

“Shouldn’t you deploy it now?”

“It can deploy as fast as they can aim, so we’ll be okay.”

They coasted while they waited for the ship to catch up to them, while one of the marines kept a close lookout at the state of the ship’s cannons.  Jason had been surprised that they’d been spotted.  They yacht rode low in the water, so the lookout on that ship must have good eyes.  He probably had a telescope or one of the pairs of binoculars they’d left behind.

“Who are you, and why are you in our waters?” yelled the man at the ketch’s railing.

“I am Jason.  Miranda and I have come back to visit.  Do you remember us?”

The man looked over his shoulder at someone else.  Nodded his head, then shouted back.  “We remember you.  Please follow us into the harbor.”

“We’ll be right behind you,” Jason yelled.

“I’m surprised they didn’t ask how this ship was sailing without sails,” Miranda said.

"Probably afraid to look stupid.”

When they got close to the mouth of the river, the Wakipee ship launched a small boat.  Once launched, the boat raised a mast and sails.  The man who’d first hailed them was standing at the tiller.  He motioned for them to follow him up the river and to the shipyard’s pier.

When they docked, Barney was waiting for them.  “How do you make that thing move?” he asked as he caught the mooring line that Miranda threw to him.

“We’ll explain later.  Is Amaru around?”

“I sent someone to get him as soon as we saw them leading you in.  We were worried that you were another ship from Causia.”

“Nope.  Just us.”

Miranda climbed onto the dock with Jason right on her heels.  She motioned for the two marines to stay and watch the boat for now.

“You remember Jason?”

Barney nodded his head, dutifully impressed by the yacht.  “Let’s go to my office.  Amaru should be there any minute now.”  Barney kept looking at the yacht, trying to figure out how it could possibly have been moving in the water.  He shook his head and then led the way to his office.  A warrior raced ahead to update Amaru before they arrived.

◆ ◆ ◆

Amaru grasped Jason’s arm in greeting, patting him on the shoulder.  He nodded at Miranda.  “Hello, we had hoped you would return.”

“We did too.  How is everyone?”

“We are all fine.  Lieutenant Carrington is with Hototo.  He is running that University you asked him to set up.”

“Good.  But you don’t sound like a fan.  Don’t you like it?”

“That’s not it, just having a hard time with some of the Demalia turning out to be so smart.”

“I know, it is weird, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Amaru said.  “One of them came down and changed our waterwheel to make it more efficient.  Scrawyer was beside himself with the results.”

“What did he do?” Jason asked.  He’d set them up with an overshot waterwheel, and he wondered what the guy had changed.

“Let me show you.”

Miranda followed Jason and Amaru out of the office and down to where the waterwheel was.

“It’s running backward,” Jason said.

“Yes, that’s what he did.  But look down below; you can see that the waste water we dump from the mill and the village gets dumped in below.  It also helps to run the wheel.”

“Cer Jason, that is a pitchback wheel,” ADI messaged.

Jason nodded.  “So, it’s more efficient.”

“Yes, we get twelve percent more power from it now.  Come on, let me show you the rest of the sawmill; Scrawyer is very proud of how it’s working.”

Scrawyer ran up to meet them as soon as they entered the mill.  “Hello, Jason.  I heard you were back.”

“Hi,” Jason said.  “I see you’re still using a whipsaw.”

“Yep.  They’ve tried to make one of them circular blades, but they can’t get it right.  Maybe next year.”

“I brought a couple for you.  I’ll bring them over tomorrow.”

“That’s nice.  Now, look at this.  See how thin we can cut the boards,” Scrawyer said as he led them around the lumberyard.  “We’re cutting up ten trees a day.”

“What are you using all the wood for?” Miranda asked.

“Thin ones like these are being used to rebuild the clan houses.  Makes them easier to maintain.  It’s a lot of work keeping that mud caked on the outside.  When the walls are made out of branches, you have to do that to cut down on the drafts.”

“That sounds good.  What else?”

“Barney’s getting ready to build a new ship.  He’s going for a real big one, a triple-decker.”

“Oh, that’s pretty ambitious,” Miranda said as she looked at Barney.

“Hototo and Amaru want to be able to scare the Causians if they come back,” Barney eyed Amaru as he said that.

“That might do it.”

“We hope so,” Amaru said.  “Now, let’s check out the foundry.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Amaru led them around the foundry, explaining any improvements, giving exact production numbers, and listing any goals that had been set by the tribe’s leadership.

“How are the Causians working out?” Jason asked.

“Okay.”

“Any problems?”

“A few.  We still keep some of them in the fort unless they are working.”

“Why?”

“They have a problem with our women.  Fortunately, our women carry knives, and their brothers carry hatchets, and after five were killed, the problem mostly went away.”

“Do you let any of them live outside it?”

“Carrington helped us separate out the problem ones, and we keep them here in the fort.  The others are at the two villages.  If a woman marries one or a clan mother adopts one, they can stay out.  Most of them have married.  The young ones were adopted.  These here . . .”

Amaru’s tone suggested that he’d like to just bury the rest and be done with it.

“So, the ones that marry, are they fitting in?”

“Yes.  Some of them even hunt.”

“Oh,” Jason said, taking that as a slight against his poor hunting skills.  “With muskets?”

“No, too much noise; it frightens the animals and ruins the hunt for everyone else.”

“What are you doing with the muskets?” Jason asked as they continued to follow Barney and Miranda through the shipyard.  Neither he nor Amaru was all that interested in the ravings coming from Barney.

“Hototo and I think they are good for protecting a wall.  They also make good weapons for ambush since you don’t need much space to fire them.  We are fixing them up and training our men.  But we still think the bow is better.”

“I agree.  And your men are learning skills from the Causians.”

“Yes.  Some are doing very well; others are not interested.  But that is slowly changing.”

“Good.”

Finally, after Barney had shown the shipyard to Miranda and her entourage, Amaru slapped Jason on the back.

“Now, your turn.  I want to see this ship of yours.”

Barney stepped up, obviously wanting to see it too.

“Okay, it’s going to amaze you,” Jason said as he led them toward the yacht.

“It’s big,” Barney said.

“Yes, it’s twenty-four meters,” Miranda said.  “Not too big, but it moves nice.”

“I am amazed.  And the men said you didn’t have any sails.  What makes it go?”

“Propellers,” Miranda said.  She and Jason had discussed this and had brought props.  After they boarded the yacht, she went to a locker an pulled out a propeller on a shaft.  They’d had one of the chiefs fabricate it for them before they set sail.  “Here, hold this and drop the blades into the water.”

Barney did as instructed.

“Now, Amaru, you spin the shaft.  Keep it going in the same direction.”

Amaru grimaced a bit, not exactly excited about having Miranda tell him what to do.  He used his hands and made the shaft spin.

“Faster.”

Amaru got a rhythm going.  The cap that kept the shaft from dropping through the tube that Barney was holding started to rise up.

“Look!” Barney yelled.

Amaru glanced up.  Then he stepped back.  He reached out and tried to press the shaft down.  As the spin slowed, the shaft dropped back down.

“There are two of those under the deck here.  They’re about three times that size.  We have an engine, kind of like a waterwheel, that drives them.  That’s what pushes the boat.  The rudder is below the deck, where you’d expect it to be.”

Barney nodded his head, then he started to shake it.  “How can you have a waterwheel on a boat?  That doesn’t make sense.”

“It uses hot gas from a fire to make it turn.  Same principle, but smaller, and you can carry the fuel to run the fire.”

Barney didn’t look convinced. Amaru had long ago learned that he would never understand such things; he just needed to know how to use them.  Who cared how they worked?

Jason started the engines up, really just engaged them; the yacht was driven by a small fusion reactor, so the electric engines were quiet.  He started backing them away from the pier.  Amaru and Barney looked around; both rushed to the back of the boat as soon as they realized they were moving.

Jason shifted to forward propulsion and steered the yacht toward the mouth of the bay.  He kept increasing the speed as the distance from the shore increased.

“How fast?” Amaru asked.

“You’ll see.”

Once they cleared the bay, Jason took the yacht up to thirty-five knots, sixty-eight Kph.  Barney was beaming as he watched the boat’s wake and the shore retreat.

“Where are we going?” Amaru asked.

“I have something to show you.”

“What?”

“It’s easier to show you than tell you.  We’ll be there in an hour.”

“Do you want something to eat or drink?” Miranda asked.

“Beer,” the two men said.  Actually, they asked for the Wakipee equivalent, which wasn’t really that good, in Miranda’s opinion.  She went below and grabbed a six-pack of real beer.  She came on deck and opened one, handing it to Amaru.

Amaru stared at the bottle; he’d never seen one before.  Miranda opened another and took a swig before she opened one for Barney.  She gave another to Jason and nodded to the two marines, telling them to help themselves.

Amaru took a sip.  He smiled and took a big drink.  “Good.”

“Glad you like it.”

Miranda took the two men on a tour of the yacht while Jason continued to drive it.  They were dutifully impressed by the accommodations; they especially liked the kitchen, although they couldn’t figure out how you could cook anything.  Miranda decided to wait to explain an inductive cooktop; she’d let Jason handle that one.

“Almost there!” Jason shouted.

Miranda followed the two men back on top.  They moved up to the top deck and into the pilot house.  They felt the various materials of the yacht as they made their way up.  The stainless-steel rails, the fiberglass decking, all of it was beyond anything they had experienced.  Amaru just shook his head.  He tended to kick or pound on things to see how strong they were, while Barney spent more time trying to figure out what he was seeing.

Jason put the yacht into a wide sweep as the Marco Polo came into view.

“What is that?!” Amaru asked, shocked at the size of the ship and maybe a little bit frightened.

“Our mother ship.”

Amaru turned to Jason and gave him a look, partly one of fear, the rest amazement.

“It is enormous; that is over three times as long as the ships we have.”

“Yes, it’s one hundred forty by sixty-nine meters and fifty-five meters tall.  A third of that is under water.”

“Why is it shaped like that?”

“Lots of reasons, all of them too complicated for me to explain.”

“Why do you have such a big ship?”

As they slowed and moved up to the back of the Marco Polo, they spotted the Twins standing on the flight deck waving at them.

“That’s what we need to explain,” Jason said.

The two marines grabbed mooring lines and pulled the yacht up tight to the Marco Polo’s flight bay.  Herr Hausmann came out to greet them.

Amaru and Barney moved to the other side of the yacht, as far away from the Marco Polo as they could get.  They looked like they were considering whether they could swim home.

“Don’t worry, we’re just here to explain where we come from,” Jason said.  “We thought that this would help you believe us when we tell you.  It’s so beyond whatever you’ve seen before that the rest won’t sound so unbelievable.”

“What?”

“We come from another planet,” Jason said.

“Planet?”

“Waspara is a planet.  It orbits your sun.”

“Orbit?”

Herr Hausmann handed Jason a whiteboard, then made his way down to the yacht, followed by the Twins and Jazmin.

“This is Herr Hausmann,” Miranda said.  “This is his assistant Jazmin, and those two are the Twins, Aalia and Prisha.  They’re hard to tell apart, so we just call them the Twins.”

Amaru smiled at the newcomers.  He seemed to relax when the Twins and Jazmin boarded.

Herr Hausmann motioned toward Jason, suggesting he should continue.

Jason drew a basic sketch of the solar system.  “This is your sun, and this is Waspara.  Waspara circles the sun; it has a little tilt, that's why you have seasons.  Waspara rotates around its axis; that’s why the sun seems to rise and set.”

“Too much,” Amaru said.

“I know it’s a lot to take in.  But this planet is the one you call Micanta.  You think of it as one of the stars.  Your sun is a star, but since you’re close to it, it’s much bigger and brighter.  The other stars are very far away.”

Amaru continued to shake his head in disbelief.

“We come from a planet that orbits one of those stars.  It is very far way.”

Amaru was now expanding the distance between himself and Jason.  He was feeling frightened and afraid that Jason was insane; it made more sense than that what he was hearing was true.

Jason gave a signal, and the Marco Polo’s shuttle started to exit the flight bay.  It was hovering one meter above the deck as it emerged from the shadow of the hangar.  It continued out of the bay and hovered above the ocean floor.  Then a Fox followed it.

“We were each in one of those smaller ships that are floating above the water when we arrived.”  Jason ignored the detail that they were actually in a Hyrax instead of a Fox; too much information, he thought.  “An accident left us stranded in your system.  We flew to your planet and met you.”

Jason had the Fox make a vertical loop.

“We are here to help.  If you want, we can leave.  We’ll do what you think is best.  But we can help.  We can keep the Causians from coming back.  We can help in a lot of other ways.  That is why Herr Hausmann and Jazmin are with us.  They are ambassadors.  They know how to have these kinds of discussions.”

“What are you?” Amaru asked.

“That is another thing we need to tell you.  We’re human, just like you.  Waspara was colonized by humans.  Some alien brought you here from Earth.  It’s happened two other times that we know about.  We don’t know why.”

“How can you not know?”

“Think about your history,” Herr Hausmann said.  “Do you know everything that happened in the beginning?  Do you know why you’re living on this side of the mountains?  Where the tribes on the other side of the mountains came from?  Who are they?  Why don’t they speak the same language as you?  The same is true for us.  There are things in our past that we don’t know about or understand.  Why some alien came to our planet and took your people away is one of them.”

“This is witchcraft!” Barney yelled.

“No, it isn’t,” Miranda said.  “It’s just like the sawmill.  It’s a more advanced technology, a different way of doing things.  But it was all created by people, not magic.  Remember the Greek Fire, the muskets.  This is like that, but much better.”

“Much, much better,” Amaru whispered as he seemed to be regaining his composure.

“Yes, it is.”

“Now what?”

“We need to talk with Hototo and the grandmothers,” Miranda said.

Amaru lips curved up into a smile; then he started to chuckle, then he broke down in a howl of laughter.

“Hototo?” Miranda asked.

Amaru shook his head as he continued to laugh.  He needed to gasp for air as the laughter choked him.

“The grandmothers?”

Amaru nodded his head as he leaned against the side of the yacht, laughing so hard his whole body was shaking.  Slowly, he gained control of himself but kept shaking his head and chuckling at Miranda.  Barney was trying to hide behind the door as he was similarly laughing his head off.

“Yeah, I’m curious how that will go.  But you have to help me convince them that I’m telling the truth.”

“You . . .  bring that,” Amaru pointed at the shuttle, still gasping from his laughing fit.

“I guess we should.”

“What was so funny?” Herr Hausmann asked.

“The grandmothers aren’t known for being very open-minded.”

“Yes, I would have guessed that.  We should go.”

“Twins, you’re in the shuttle.  Herr Hausmann, Jazmin, join us in the yacht,” Jason ordered.

“Where are we going?”

“Back to Amaru’s village so he can gather whoever he wants to bring; maybe the village grandmother.  We’ll head up to Hototo’s village in the morning.”

“Do you want to show up with that right away?” Herr Hausmann asked, pointing to the shuttle.

“We’ll have it cruise behind us on top of the water.  No reason to scare anyone.”

***

Chapter 7

Grandmothers

When they reached the dock, Amaru jumped out of the yacht and ran up to the shore.  He signaled for the shuttle to come up and land on the open spot next to the sawmill.

“Is he crazy?” Jason asked.

“As a fox.  He wants to make a small show.  So do it.”

Jason ordered the shuttle to go airborne but to stay low and fly to the spot Amaru was indicating.  As it lifted from the water, a murmur broke out around the work area.  The men stopped working and ran to where they had a view of the shuttle.

When the shuttle set down, the passenger door opened, and the Twins slid down the rails to the ground, not bothering to wait for the ladder to be fully extended.  They were wearing dresses with a shipsuit under them, but they seemed to forget about acting like ladies as they raced toward the sawmill.  Amaru frowned at their antics but didn’t say anything.

The cargo door of the shuttle opened, and a man yelled.  “Hey, Jason, where do you want these monsters?”

“Ah, bring them over here.  Scrawyer, I’ve got your new sawblades.”

Two marines struggled with the box; two six-foot circular sawblades weren’t light.  Scrawyer came out and watched them hauling them toward him.  “Right here,” he pointed, not bothering to offer any help.  “I’ll need to get one of the smart Demalias to figure out how to rig it up.”

“I brought plans; they’re in the box with the blades.”

“Thanks.”

The Twins had made a circle through the saw mill and were now headed toward the village.  Although the village was a kilometer away, the antics with the shuttle had not gone unnoticed.  There was a small group of women standing on the hill looking at the shuttle.  The Twins headed right toward them.

“Hello.”

“Hello.  Did that thing really fly?”

“Yes, neat, wasn’t it?”

“You were inside it?”

“Yes.  We came with Jason and Miranda.”

“Oh,” the women nodded, remembering Jason well and Miranda a bit.  “He came back.”

“Yes.  What are you doing?”

“Breaking up the ground so it will be ready to plant in the spring.”

“It must be frozen,” the Twins said.  Their shipsuits were warm, so it was the first time they noticed how cold it was.

“Just a little.  Do you want to help?”

“Sure.”

The Twins were each given a hoe.  They’d read Jason’s account about making a hoe for Adsila, so they knew how to use the crook in them to leverage with their hips.  Their hands were busy, but that didn’t stop them from peppering the women around them with questions about village life.

Jason watched the twins settle in as he walked over to Amaru.  “Should we ask the grandmother if she will come with us to see Hototo?” Jason asked.

“No need.  She’s already there.”

“Why?”

“Trying to figure out how to deal with all the changes caused by your last visit,” Amaru said as he started to laugh again.

“Oh.  Sounds interesting,” Jason said.  Amaru just shook his head.

◆ ◆ ◆

They spent the evening at Amaru’s village having dinner with old friends.  Jason and Miranda introduced the Twins, Herr Hausmann, and Jazmin to everyone they remembered.  The Twins especially took advantage of the introductions to ask lots of questions, while Herr Hausmann and Jazmin mostly listened.

“They’re sure getting a lot of information for their paper,” Miranda whispered to Jason.

“Yes.  Everyone seems to be happy to talk to them.  I guess youth and vivacity are a free ticket everywhere.”

◆ ◆ ◆

The next day they made their way north.  It only took a few hours to reach Hototo’s village.  Jason brought the yacht into the new dock on the river below Hototo’s village.  He had the shuttle stay out of sight until he and Amaru had a chance to talk with Hototo.  Amaru sent a runner ahead to get Hototo while they finished docking the yacht.

“Jason, you’re back.  And what is this ship?” Hototo asked while nodding to Amaru.

“It’s an example of our technology and a fast way to get around.”

“Yes, we made it here in three hours,” Amaru said.

Hototo looked at his brother, clearly expecting some kind of punchline to the joke.

“No joke.  It’s hard to believe, but wait until you see what’s next.”

Hototo gave Jason a questioning look.

Jason pointed down river at the shuttle, which was now making its way toward them.

“That is an even stranger-looking ship.”

“You think so?” Jason sent a signal, and the shuttle raised up out of the water as it continued toward them, skimming the surface.

Hototo switched between looking at Jason, then Amaru, and back and forth, trying to figure out what trick they were pulling.

“It’s not a trick,” Amaru said.  “I’ve been in it.  It really flies.  I’m sure Jason will give you a ride.”

“What?  Why?”

“I need to convince you to believe me.  Amaru took some persuading; I’m hoping with his support, you won’t require as much.”

“Convince me of what?”

“We’re from another planet.  We would like to help you, but you need to let us know what we can do.”

“The grandmothers already think you’ve done too much,” Hototo said.  “And what’s a planet?”

Jason led Hototo onto the yacht, where he could use the whiteboard.  He went through the same explanation he had with Amaru, and with Amaru’s help, he persuaded Hototo to at least suspend his disbelief.  Hototo would listen, but he would need more to be convinced.

“So, how do we convince the grandmothers?” Miranda asked.

“We could fly the shuttle over to the village wall and land it there,” Amaru suggested.

Hototo gave his brother the stink eye.  “I think we should start a bit slower than that.”

“Where do you want it?”

“Put it there,” Hototo pointed to a flat area next to the river.

As soon as the shuttle landed, the Twins jumped out, followed by Herr Hausmann and Jazmin at a more sedate pace.

“Those two are the Twins, Prisha and Aalia.  This is Herr Hausmann and his assistant Jazmin.  They’re our professional diplomats,” Jason said.

Hototo smiled at the two diplomats.  “You have a big job.”

“So we’ve been told,” Herr Hausman said.

“Come, I’ll introduce you to the grandmothers.  They’re meeting to decide how to deal with all the change.  You will not be popular if you suggest more.”

Amaru snickered and gave Miranda a sideways glance as they turned and followed Hototo.

◆ ◆ ◆

Nobody in the village had noticed their arrival since Amaru had told the runner to suggest to Hototo that he might want to keep it quiet until he had a chance to talk with Jason.  So, when they entered the village, the people there were surprised but delighted to see Jason and Miranda.  The Twins were already by the kiln talking to the women working there.  Before they made it to the center of the village, Adsila came running out to greet them, followed by Mina.  Of course, Mina held her hand out to Jason as soon as she reached him.

“What might you be wanting?” Jason asked.

“Chocolate,” Mina said.

“And?”

Mina quickly pointed to a few things near them, giving the Wakipee words for them.

“I’m going to start having you do math for me,” Jason said as he broke off a piece of chocolate.

Mina pouted as soon as he said math, but smiled and happily accepted the piece of chocolate.

***

Chapter 8

Surfing Research

Jaden rode the wave all the way in.  As it broke, he flipped to the left and laid down on his board, letting the next wave push him the rest of the way to the shore.  He jumped off of the board and carried it up the beach.  He was a fit guy, as one would expect of a Fox pilot in Delphi Forces.  He and his mates were assigned to Terramata and were enjoying easy days on one of the secluded islands.

“Ben, have you finished your nap?”

“I’m not napping, just working on my tan.”

“Yeah, right.  You know they can dial that in for you?”

“I’ve heard that.  How did you dial yours?  Up or down?”

“I’ll have you know that this is totally natural.”

“Nice to be born with one.”

“It is.  Now why aren’t you enjoying the waves?  You should be amped, there is some serious juice out there, and you’re just lying around.  I’m starting to think you’re some kind of paddlepuss.”

“You do know that Delphi Forces discourages the use of slang; it can lead to confusion and unnecessary confrontation,” Ben said as he tossed some sand at Jaden.

“Speaking of being amped, what do you think of how Hilde has her tan dialed in?” Jaden asked as he nodded to the third Fox pilot in their crew.

“I think she has a nice tan and is an exemplary pilot and a credit to the team.”

“Give me a break.  You’ve got to be hoping to jump her bones.”

“Au contraire, my good man.  Although I do hope that she jumps my bones, I am very confident that anyone jumping her bones will wind up with a lot of broken bones in their body after such a foolish move.”

Jaden laughed.  “She is kind of a bad ass.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Hilde asked as she carried her board up the beach to where they were sitting.

“Jaden was complementing me on my extraordinary surfing technique.  He tells me he was trying to replicate it just now.”

Hilde laughed.  “You’re full of it.”

“I can assure you that I had an adequate bowel movement this morning.”

“Gross.”

“Sorry, but you started it.”

Hilde looked up to the left as she shook her head.  “What are you planning to do with your free time?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Come on, we just spent twelve days lying in acceleration couches.  You must have been using the time for something.”

“What did you use the time for?”

“I studied up on the load master qualification.”

“Load master?  Why?  You’re a pilot and an officer; why would you want to qualify as a load master?”

“I’m thinking about joining Star Merchants after my commitment is up.”

“You’re going to get out?”

“Go on active reserve,” Hilde said.  “Star Merchants carry Foxes, so I would be able to stay current on my flight qualification.  What about you?  Are you a lifer?”

“Not sure yet.  Jaden, aren’t you talking about doing a master's?”

“Yeah.  I’m thinking about going back and getting a master's in aeronautical engineering.  That works for staying in as well as going civilian and working at the shipyard.”

“What about you, Ben?  Come on, tell us.”

“I’m going to get my degree in xenoanthropology.  That’s why I’m helping the egghead over there.”  Ben nodded toward the fourth member of their crew, Dr. Rabito.

“That’s going to be a big commitment,” Hilde said.  “You wouldn’t have much in the way of the prerequisites since you’re an engineering graduate.”

“You’re right about the prerequisites but not the commitment.”

“Come on, it’s one and a half years per year at school.”

“If you go full-time.  But I’m going to do it while I’m on active duty.  I’m doing a class now.”

“What?  No wonder you’re not surfing very much.  You’re really taking a class?”

“Yes.  Bellona loaded the material onto the shuttle.  Dotty, its AI, is running me through it, and Dr. Rabito is helping me a bit.”

“What are you going to do after we finish this cushy deployment?”

“I’m going to transfer to Avalon’s ready forces.”

“I’ve heard that is not a fun assignment,” Hilde said.

“The usual complaint is it’s boring.  But if you’re studying for a degree, that kind of keeps you from being bored.”

“Explain how it works.”

“You know that they keep frigates hopping around the system at high velocity so that if they need them to jump to a system, they’re already at speed.  That way, they only have to decelerate on their way to the planet.  It cuts four or five days off the time it takes to get to the planet.”

“Yeah.  How long are between deployments?”

“Six weeks out, two weeks in port.  Works out pretty well.”

“But how do you have enough time to study?”

“They don’t have you do much in the way of duty during the deployment.  So you have plenty of time to study.  And that means no extension to your commitment.”

“Sounds sweet.”

Ben frowned at Jaden.

“I mean, that sounds like an excellent opportunity.”

“What?” Hilde asked.

“Oh, Ben has been criticizing my use of slang.”

“Doesn’t that make him a pompous ass?”

“A pompous pilot; saying ‘ass’ would be slang.”

“Alright, alright, I surrender.”

“Good.  I want some quiet time while I work on my tan, so, you boys, be quiet or go out and surf.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“These people are more backward than the Wakipee,” ADI moaned.

“ADI, how can you say that?  The Wakipee are in the stone age,” Catie argued.

“But it only took ANDI three days to learn all about their history and technology.  He just had to interview a few people, and he got all the relevant information.  Here I am, stuck trying to gather the information.  The data from their TV programs is so biased and full of fiction it’s impossible to tell what’s what.  And they don’t even have an internet to hack into.”

“Then have our surfers down there go and gather some more information.”

“How?!  Without an internet, all their information is contained in books.  How primitive.  How can they even run a civilization without computers and digital communication?”

“Well, Earth and Paraxea did it for hundreds of years, so it’s obviously possible.  Have them go to the library so you can get some better data.”

“By reading books?  That will take forever.”

“Oh, quit complaining.  You’ll find a way to have some fun with it.”

ADI just growled at her.

◆ ◆ ◆

“I hope you guys have been having fun,” Catie messaged.  “We have a little assignment for you.”

“What?”

“ADI wants you to go to the library.”

“The library?”

“Yes, she needs more data on Terramata’s history.  You’ll need to come up with a plan.”

“Well, at least it sounds interesting.  We’ll go over whatever scheme we want to hatch with ADI.”

“Good.”

“Damn, I knew this surf assignment was too good to last.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Okay, so now we need to actually interact with these people,” Jaden said.  “Our Comms can handle the translation, but we’re going to need money and IDs.”

“I can make you driver’s licenses,” ADI said.  “But I can’t print money.  The shuttle doesn’t have the right kind of printer on it.”

“Thanks, ADI.”

“We’ve got gold,” Hilde said.

“Can we just show up someplace with gold and sell it?” Ben asked.

“I would not advise that,” ADI said.  “But they do have prospectors in the mountains.  You could go there and pretend to have dug it up or panned for it.”

“That could work.  We just need to go to a mining town with the gold.  If we grind it up, it’ll look like it was panned.”

“You’ll need to do more than that.  We don’t understand their system, so we might make a mistake that gets you into trouble.  You’ll need to find a prospector who will help you,” ADI said.

“How?”

“We’ll drop you in the mountains, and you can run into him.  Then you can ask him to help you sell your gold.”

“I like that idea,” Hilde said.

“Why?”

“Because it means I can stay here and surf and work on my tan.  Not too many women are prospectors.”

“Well, we’re going to have to take the shuttle,” Ben said.

Hilde laughed.  “Just to get you there.  Then you’re going to have to move about like real prospectors.  Good luck.”

◆ ◆ ◆

The shuttle dropped Jaden and Ben off in the mountains north of the city.  They had gotten a survey of the area and found several gold deposits along the stream.  They’d also detected a few prospectors working along that same stream.

“Do you think our story will fly?” Ben asked.

“I hope so.  But just in case, you stay back and cover me.  He’ll expect that.”

“Got it.”

Jaden walked down the game trail beside the stream.  The prospector they’d selected to help them looked like he’d been there a few weeks, maybe months, panning for gold.

“Hello,” Jaden yelled when he was close but not too close.

“Stay back!” the prospector yelled as he ran to the edge of the stream and grabbed a rifle.

Jaden put his hands up.  “We come in peace.  We’re hoping we can help each other.”

“I don’t need no help.”

“Well, we can make it worth your while.  Our mule ran away, and we’re not sure we can carry all of our stuff all the way to town.  We need some help.”

“Well, just keep on going.  You might find someone to help you.”

“If you help us, we’ll show you a spot where you can get a lot of gold.”

“I wasn’t born yesterday.  Why would you do that?”

“Because we’ve got enough to stake our new business.  We don’t need more, and we don’t have the time to pan the last site we found.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Hey, you’ve got the gun.  Why don’t you follow me and I’ll show you.  It’s just two hours upstream.”

The prospector was obviously thinking about it.  He climbed out of the stream and walked toward Jaden.  “I still don’t get why you’re willing to give away a gold strike.”

“It’s not that big.  My partner is a geologist.  He thinks there’s probably thirty thousand dollars’ worth in there.  We’ve got more than that, but we need to get to town and sell it.  We’re not from around here, so we’re a bit nervous about who to deal with.  You look like you’ve been doing this for a while, so . . .”

“Yeah, I’ve been doing this for years.  I’ve never hit a strike like that.  Not sure I believe you.”

“Well, follow me, and you’ll see.”

“You could have seeded it.”

“You’ll be able to tell once we show you.”

“That’s your partner up there?” the miner pointed his rifle up the hill where Ben was sitting.

“Yes.  He’s watching our stuff.”

“And your back.”

“That, too.”  Jaden could tell that the prospector was warming up to the idea.  “Come on.  It’ll only take a few hours.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Jaden and the prospector headed upstream while Ben followed, keeping well up hill from them.  He’d lost the coin flip, so he carried a pack with over one hundred twenty pounds of gold in it.  He’d left the rest of their stuff behind.  Nobody was going to steal that junk.

By the time Jaden and the prospector reached the site, Ben was worn out.  Next time he was going to demand that they do Roshambo; at least there was some skill in that.  He sat down and watched as Jaden and the prospector checked out the site.

“Them rocks don’t hold gold,” the prospector said.  “Anyone with any sense knows that.”

“You’re right.  They’re granite, and that doesn’t mix with gold.  But you see how the stream used to have a bend here before it straightened out?”

“Yep.”

“Well, back when it did, it washed against those rocks.  They’re arrayed just right so that the stream would have washed anything it was pushing right into them.  Heavy stuff would have been caught.”

The prospector stroked his chin.  Jaden could hear the rasp of his whiskers.  “Well, maybe.”

“I understand your skepticism.  But let’s go down there, and you can dig out some of the sand.  It’s pretty rich with gold.”

Anticipating this need, the prospector had brought his rucksack, which contained a shovel and a pan.  He walked down to the rocks and squeezed himself between them.  It took a bit before he found a way to fit in and still be able to dig.  He took a half shovel full of sand and dumped it in his pan.  Filling the pan with water, he started to swish it around.

“Damn.  That was too easy,” he said as the sand washed out, revealing several small gold nuggets and some gold specks.  “Looks like you seeded it.”

“Dig deeper,” Jaden said.

The miner did.  This time, he came up with three gold nuggets and some gold specs.

“Okay, I think I believe you.  What do you want me to do for you?”

“Help us get to town and sell some of our gold so we can buy transportation.  We don’t think we should sell it all in town.  Probably safer to do that in the city.”

“Well, at least you’re not stupid.  Although you did lose your mule.”

“Yeah, we’re college educated, so not too good at this stuff,” Jaden said with a shrug.

“That college education did some good if your friend spotted this.  I’ve walked by here hundreds of times and never even gave it a second glance.  Come on, let’s get you boys to town.  I need to get enough food and stuff to last a few months.  Don’t want to be traipsing back and forth to here.”

The three men loaded Jaden and Ben’s stuff onto the prospector’s mule and headed toward town.  Even with the mule, it was a two-day journey, during which the prospector regaled Jalen and Ben with stories from his past.

◆ ◆ ◆

“ADI, gold prospecting seems a complex way to get money,” Catie said.  “Couldn’t they have just gone to the town and sold the gold?”

“Possibly, but this is a lot more fun.  And we get an insider’s view of the situation.  If they had just walked into town with the gold, they could have been robbed or cheated.  Plus, I’m getting a lot more information this way.”

“Are you sure you’re not just messing with those two?”

“A little, but they seem to be having fun.”

◆ ◆ ◆

When they got to town, the prospector took some of their gold to one of the assayer’s offices.  He sold it for them and came back with thirty-eight hundred dollars.  “This should be enough to get us a truck,” he said as he handed the money to Ben.

“Maybe, but I kind of like that car over there.”  Ben was pointing to a convertible with a rumble seat.  Bright red, big whitewall tires.

“Are you nuts?  That’s some rich boy’s car.  You need to get a pickup.”

“Hey, we’ve been out digging for months.  We need to have a bit of fun.  We’ve got enough to start our business; no more hard work for us.”

The prospector shook his head.  “And you probably expect me to ride in that kiddy seat on the way to the city.”

“We’ll trade off,” Ben said.  “But come on, doesn’t it look cool?”

“A new pickup would look better.”

It took most of their money to buy the car, but since it would only take four hours to make it to the city, they figured that they had enough to get by.

The prospector complained the whole way to the city.  He grumbled about the wind, the bouncy ride, the lack of legroom, the hard seat.  Fortunately for Ben and Jaden, his complaints were drowned out by the wind.

When they got to the city, Ben checked them into a hotel.  ADI had made it clear that they would have to spend a bit of time in the library to get her all the information that she wanted.

“Jaden will give you a ride back to town in the morning,” Ben said.

“Nope, I’m taking the bus tonight.  I don’t want anyone seeing me with you guys.  Might raise suspicions.”

“Because of the car?”

“No, because you’re strangers, and you showed up with a lot of gold.  Now let’s hurry.  I can get you to the first place, and you can sell some.  I’ll show you the others, but you’ll have to manage the sales on your own.”

“No problem.”

By seven p.m., the prospector was on the bus heading out of town, and Ben and Jaden had plenty of money.  They’d take their time selling the rest, but tonight they were going to have a nice dinner and check out the ladies.  Unfortunately, it was a small city and very conservative, so they didn’t have any luck with the ladies.  The city rolled its sidewalks up at ten.

◆ ◆ ◆

They spent the next day in the library.  It wasn’t a very big library, and ADI was frustrated with the gaps in the history section and the ones on politics.  Ben and Jaden sat at different tables as they flipped the pages of the books ADI had assigned to them as fast as they could.  They got a few strange looks from other people in the library, but fortunately, nobody bothered to sit at the same table.

“How much longer?” Jaden asked ADI.

“I don’t know.  You would be done sooner if you could flip the pages faster.”

“This is as fast as I can do it without tearing them.  We should have designed some kind of page-turner,” Ben said

“Yes, and how do you think the librarian would feel about that?” Jaden asked.

It took them two days to finish the books ADI wanted to read.  Then they headed out of the city to a remote location so they could load the car into the shuttle.  Eight hours later, they were back on the desert island.

“Hey, about time you got back,” Hilde scolded.

“Give us a break.  It was hard work scanning all those books,” Jaden defended himself and Ben.

“It didn’t look like hard work to me.  And I saw you guys cruising around in that car.”

“Didn’t do us much good.  That city is dead.”

“Well, ADI wants me to go to the library in the big city on the east coast to get more data.”

“Why you?”

“I suspect she thinks I’ll do a better job.”

“No fair.  There are going to be lots more things to do in the big city.  You might even get some action.”

“I’m sure I’ll get all I need.”

“I should come with you,” Ben said.

“I think I’ll do just fine on my own.  Now hand over the keys.”

***

Chapter 9

Next Surf Destination

“We’ve been here a week,” Jodi said.  “We captured the probes, and your surf team is almost there.  What are you expecting them to find?”

“Not sure,” Catie said.  “The probe shows cities and such but no EM signature.  So, like late 1800s Earth.  They might have radio, but if they’re not in high use, we might not pick up any energy.”

“And how are we going to learn anything without being able to listen in?  In fact, how do we even learn their language?”

“Once our surf team gets there, they can drop some surveillance pucks on top of a few bars and restaurants.  The pucks should be able to crawl inside.  Once ADI and Bellona have a translation program up, we’ll see what we can learn.”

“Okay.”

The surf team arrived at the planet after another week of travel.  As soon as they arrived, they planted a few surveillance pucks around various bars and restaurants.  Then they went surfing for a while ADI worked on the translation program.  They would get a few days, maybe a couple of weeks, of surfing, but once ADI had the language figured out, they’d have to go check out a few libraries since there was no television or internet to gather data from.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Josh, you have to go score us a paper,” Nadine said.

“Why?”

“Since these people don’t have radio or TV, that’s the only way that ADI can learn about their current situation and politics.  She wants to have more context before she has us go to a library.”

“What about all those surveillance pucks we dropped?”

“Those were so ADI could develop a translation for their language.  Now we need to get more than pub gossip.”

“Okay, but how am I supposed to do that without revealing who we are?  We didn’t exactly bring the right clothes, a huge oversight if I may say so.  And why me?  Why not you or Malik?”

ADI didn’t butt in. Not bringing the right clothes was an oversight, but she wanted to have some more fun.

“Well, I’m a girl, so that would be problematic, and they’re white, so Malik might stand out.”

“Damn.  Okay, any suggestions?”

“Well, you’ve got your dress uniform.  The pants and shoes will pass if you muss them up some.”

Josh blanched.  “My dress uniform!”

“Hey, they’ll replace it.”

“But what if we have to meet someone later, I won’t have the right clothes?”

“Needs must.  First, you should trade your jacket with some bum for something that will fit in better.”

“Crap!”

“Hey, you’ll live.”

“How am I going to get someone to trade with me?  My jacket might be warm, but it doesn’t look like it.”

“Then add a little scotch to the offer.”

“Scotch?”

“Hey, we know you smuggled some on board.  Just one bottle.”

“This is ridiculous.  How am I supposed to score a paper, steal it?”

“No, I’ve got an idea.  We can catch a couple of really nice fish.  Once you’re outfitted correctly, you can sell them to a restaurant.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“No.  My brothers used to do it all the time back in Deal, especially if they came up with some big ones.  Restaurants like to be able to impress their big customers.”

“If you’re so clever, why didn’t you come up with a way for you to pull this off?”

“Because I was so busy figuring out how you could.  Now go grab your stuff, and I’ll drop you off.  Malik is going to take a Fox and find some fish for you.”

◆ ◆ ◆

They dropped Josh off on a secluded beach just down from the city’s wharves.  He hiked his way toward the town with a sack over his shoulder.  His coat was the main thing that stuck out.  It was too light for the weather, even though it was probably warmer than the peacoat he was supposed to trade it for.

After a mile of walking, he came across an old sailor sitting and leaning against a warehouse.  He’d passed several already, but this one looked to be his size.

“Hey, buddy, how’s it going?” Josh asked, his translator taking care of the language.

The sailor looked up at Josh.  “It’s going just fine, and I ain’t your buddy.”

“Well, you could be.  How about I trade this nice new coat for that old one you’re wearing?”

The guy snorted.  “I wasn’t born yesterday.  It’s cold out here, and this peacoat might be old, but it’s warm.  That thing you’re wearing wouldn’t keep you warm inside a pub.”

“It’s deceptively warm.  Here, try it.”  Josh pulled the coat off and handed it to the guy.

“I’m not letting you steal my coat!”

“Hey, what if I toss in a little whiskey?”  Josh pulled a pint bottle out of his bag.

The old sailor looked skeptical.  He frowned, but gazed at the whiskey with greed in his eyes.

“How do I know that’s even whiskey?”

“Here, take a swig.  I’m not trying to cheat you.”

The old guy dropped Josh’s coat into his lap and reached out for the bottle.  He took a quick swig.

“Ahhh, that’s some nice whiskey.  Haven’t had anything like that for years.”

Josh took the bottle back.  “Come on, try the jacket.”

The guy gazed lovingly at the whiskey but shook his head.  “Whiskey can only keep you warm for so long.”

“Tell you what.  Just try it on, and I’ll give you another swig,” Josh said.  “I’ll even stand over here.”  Josh moved off about two meters.

The old guy looked warily at Josh as he struggled out of his peacoat.  He folded it up and sat on it, then he pulled Josh’s coat on.

“Not bad,” he said as he felt the fabric.  He buttoned it up and smoothed it down.  “Fits nice.”

“Is it warm?”

The old sailor crossed his eyes as he thought.  “Seems to be.”

Josh eased his way over and handed the guy the bottle.  “Take your swig.”

The guy took a swig and sighed again.  But he was shaking his head.

“How about if I throw in this sandwich?”

The old sailor licked his lips.  “Looks mighty tempting.”

Josh shook his head.  “Is this your usual spot?”

“Yep.”

“I only need your coat for a few days.  What if I promise you to come back and return it.”

The old sailor smiled at Josh and looked at the whiskey.  He bit his lip and shook his head slowly.

“Okay, last chance.  What if I make it a quart?”  Josh fished out a second pint bottle of whiskey.

“Deal!”  The old man grabbed the second bottle of whiskey and the sandwich, then he leaned over so Josh could pull the peacoat out from under him.

“You drive a hard bargain.”

“No, life drives a hard bargain.  I’m just trying to survive.”

Josh made his way back to the beach.  It was about midnight.  He assumed he’d be heading back in early in the morning with whatever fish Malik caught.

The first thing Josh did when he got back to the shuttle was to run the coat through the auto-cleaner.

◆ ◆ ◆

The next day, Josh was let off at the same place, but early morning.  He was carrying a string with six nice fish on it.  The walk into town took him until dawn; he thought they needed to grab a skiff or make one so he could avoid this walk along the beach.  It was uneven, with rocks dominating the surface during high tide.

Josh sold the fish at the first restaurant he tried.  He hoped they didn’t cheat him too much on the price since he had no clue what it should be.  ADI had divined a bit about the money from the surveillance pucks they’d distributed, but not that much.

“Hey, boy!” Josh yelled at a boy waving a newspaper around.

“What do you want, mister?  Can I sell you this paper?”

“Yep, that’s what I want.  How much?”  Josh held his hand out with the coins he’d gotten from the restaurant.

“This will do,” the boy said as he grabbed the largest coin.  He tossed Josh the paper before running off.

“That was too much,” ADI Commed.

“Hey!” Josh yelled.  What an idiot, he thought.  Served him right.  He was lucky the kid didn’t knock all the coins out of his hand.  Well, sometimes lessons were expensive.

Josh went down to the dock where he could sit on the pier.  He flipped through the paper, allowing ADI to get a snapshot of each page.  Then he folded the paper and walked down the docks.

“I’m not giving you your coat back,” the old sailor yelled.

Josh laughed.  “I don’t want it back.  I thought you might want this newspaper.”

“Sure.  Anything interesting in it?”

“Not sure,” Josh said as he handed the paper to the old sailor.  He had assumed that the guy would want it for insulation or to burn; it never occurred to him that he might want to read it.

“Didn’t you read it?”

“Yeah, but I’m not familiar with the situation here.”

The sailor skimmed the headline.  “Nothing but the same old garbage.  Politicians want to kick the poor out of the city; the rich are having big parties; and the price of bread keeps going up.”

“You got all that from just the headlines?”

“Yeah, if anything had changed, it would have made the headlines, so same old, same old.”

Josh laughed again.  “Clever way to keep up with things.  Hey, does this town have a library?”

“A library?  You some kind of bookworm?”

“I like to read a bit.”

“Well, there’s a little library just across the way, about two kilometers down Main Street.  But if you want to read a bunch, you have to go to the big city.  Ten kilometers south.  They have one of the biggest libraries in the world.”

◆ ◆ ◆

The next day, after selling his fish and buying a paper, Josh went to the library.  He had to wait a few hours for it to open, which he spent in a small café having breakfast.  Finally, when the library opened, he went in.  The woman staffing the main desk gave him a quizzical look as he entered and headed to the stacks.  It was a small library, so stacks was an exaggeration.  But he edged down one row of books, big ones; he hoped they were what ADI was looking for.

“That one,” ADI messaged, highlighting the book in Josh’s specs.

Josh pulled the book off the shelf and moved to the end of the row.  He opened the book and started flipping pages as ADI grabbed a snapshot of each one.  He had done about one hundred pages when the lady from the front desk came down the aisle.

“Sir, please be more careful with our books.  They’re fragile and should be handled with care, not leafed through like a newspaper,” she admonished him.

Josh gave her a confused look.

“Take it to one of the tables so you don’t damage it,” she instructed.

Josh followed her orders and took the book to a table.  There were several other women around reading books and whispering, not another man in the whole place.  As he carefully leafed through the book, the women occasionally glared at him.

“What’s up with them,” he messaged ADI.

“I think they’re wondering how you can read so fast.”

“Should I slow down?”

“NO!  This is already boring as can be.  Just turn a bit so they can’t see you as well.”

Josh did the best he could, but the women kept staring at him and whispering about him.  When he finished the book for ADI, he returned it to the shelf and left the library.

“Hey, I need to read more books,” ADI said.

“I know, but if I stay here, I think those women will have had me arrested.”

“Hmm,” ADI hummed.  “Go to that store across the street.”

Josh walked into the store.  Like the library, it was full of women, no men.  “ADI, what do you want me to do?”

“You have to buy clothes for Nadine.”

“Oh, great!”

“It’s that or back to the library.”

“May I help you, young man?” a sales clerk asked.

“Yes.  I need to buy a dress for my sister.”

“You want to buy a dress.  That is highly unusual.”

“I understand, but my sister insisted I get her one.  And she can be very persuasive, so I have to do it.”

“Very well.  Do you know her size?”

ADI Commed Josh with the necessary information.  “You want to buy her pants!  Bloomers!” the clerk exclaimed.  She was already horrified that a man would be shopping for women’s clothes but then buying the newfangled style.

“Those are my instructions.  You do carry them?”

“We just started.  I do not know why, but I’m just a sales clerk.  This is very unusual indeed,” the clerk said and then tutted for the next twenty minutes while she selected the bloomers, a blouse, a short jacket, a hat, and a pair of shoes to create what she clearly thought was an unseemly ensemble.

“Now you need to get her undergarments,” ADI messaged.

“Not on your life.  She can make do with what she has or . . . whatever.”

Josh paid the clerk, who seemed as happy as he was that there was no discussion of undergarments.  He gave her a big tip, which she reluctantly accepted, then he left the store and town as fast as he could.

◆ ◆ ◆

“You what?!” Nadine yelled.

“Hey, apparently, the library is the purview of women.  They didn’t like me being there.”

“So, you decided to buy me clothes.”

“No, ADI decided that I would buy you clothes.”

“ADI!”

“I need to read more books.  Josh is hopeless.”

“Well, we already knew that.”

“Hey, at least we found out they call this planet Transaval,” Josh said, defending himself.

“We?” ADI said.  “Nadine, come on.  You’ll like it.  And we might be able to have some fun, especially when you go to the big city.”

Terramata

On Terramata, Hilde took the shuttle to a spot fifty kilometers from the city.  It landed quietly in a forest clearing, disgorged the red convertible, then Hilde got into the car wearing a dress that she’d made from the cloth that ADI had instructed Jaden to buy in the city.  He’d never known what ADI had planned until too late.  She was wearing heels, but they really didn’t go with the dress.  The long raincoat finished the ensemble, and she hoped it would be enough to disguise her odd looks until she could buy more clothes.

She arrived in the city just after the rush hour.  She stopped at two different shops to purchase extra clothes and shoes before she went to a nice hotel and checked in.

“May I ask what brings you to our fine city?” the clerk asked.

“I’m visiting my uncle.  But he’s a bachelor, so . . .”  Hilde left the obvious unsaid.  It would be unseemly for a single woman to stay with a man, uncle or not.

The clerk was helpful and gave her a room on the second floor so she wouldn’t have to ride the elevator where a young woman could be trapped by an unsavory salesman.  He politely accepted the cash payment for two nights.

“We’ll be out most of the day looking at the sights.  I've never been to the city before.”

“I see you’re driving a car.”

“My uncle’s; he has to work mornings, so he wanted me to be able to get around.”

“Nice ride.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

Once Hilde finished checking in, she drove the car to the library to set up.  She walked to the librarian’s desk.

“Hello, I’m Hilde Carmichael.  I work for Professor Turinesto.  He’s asked me to verify some research for him.  You know, verify citations and quotes.  It’s going to be tedious.  Do you have a small room where I can work?”

“Of course we do.  I loved Professor Turinesto’s last book.  So insightful.”

The librarian took Hilde to a small room that was set aside for people who needed to study or have a quiet discussion.  Hilde set up and grabbed four books.  There was a lamp on the desk that she attached two surveillance pucks to.  She opened the book and adjusted the position of the pucks so each had a good view of the two pages.  Then she pulled to crawler bots out of her purse, the little ones that they would send into the light fixtures and ceiling to trace wires, observe, or get inside to open a lock or such thing.  The key here was that they had legs.  The crawlers positioned themselves at the top and bottom of the book, and using their sticky legs, they pushed the page up just enough that Hilde could stick a fingernail under it and turn it.  Soon she was flipping the pages at an amazing speed.  By the time the library closed, she had gone through seven books.

“I’ll be back tomorrow,” Hilde said as she passed the librarian on her way out.

“You’ll be welcome.”

“ADI, why didn’t you come up with that page-turning method for Jaden and Ben?”

“Two reasons: one, they didn’t have any privacy; and two, it was fun to watch them try and get the pages turned.  They should have thought of something themselves.”

Transaval

Nadine played out a similar scenario where she was.  It was fun.  She like being able to mingle a bit in the city.  Go to a nice restaurant, flirt with a few young men, but mainly to be out and about.  Surfing was fun, but after a while, a girl needed to be with people.

***

Chapter 10

We Can Really Help

Back on Waspara, Jason was frustrated at being excluded from the dialog with the grandmothers.  The grandmothers were allowing Herr Hausmann to attend since he was kind of old, but they had balked at Jason being included in the discussion.  Based on updates from Miranda and Herr Hausmann and summarizations from Marco, Jason wondered if he’d be more frustrated if he was attending.  Endless discussions about how they were doing just fine and their worry about all the changes that Jason and Miranda and started would have tried his patience.

“What do you think?” Hototo asked Jason, pointing at the new siding for the clan house.

Jason coughed; it was a bit smokey inside the clan house.  He had been watching some men build a clapboard siding inside the wall of the clan house.  They were putting up the last row.

“It looks good.  It should cut down on the drafts.”

“Yes, and it will hold up to the rain better.  We always have to put new mud in the cracks after a hard rain.”

“What about the roof?”

“Loratso is making clay tiles for the roof.  We will cover the house with canvas from the sails while we replace it.”

“That sounds like a lot of work.”

“Yes, but we will have less risk of fire,” Hototo said.  “We lose a clan house every year or so due to fire.  The clay tiles should help a lot.  Once, we lost an entire village.”

“What about the village walls?”

“Loratso thinks we should do the same thing that Vestry did and make them out of mud.”

“Hmm, I heard that you can bake mud bricks, and they will last longer.  Just mud sounds like it might wash away over time.”  Jason was thinking about the adobe that they used in the southwest of the U.S.  The Native Americans made whole villages out of it.

“We’ll talk to him.  Now let’s go check out the new well.”

Jason followed Hototo out of the clan house and to the back of the village compound.

“Hello, you guys going to check out the well?” Amaru asked as he joined them.

“Yes.  I think Jason will be impressed.”

“I am,” Amaru said.  “The women are eager to see if it will work.”

Jason gave his head a bit of a shake.  He didn’t see what would be so exciting about a new well.  Maybe they’d added a pully, so it was easier to pull up the bucket of water.

When they rounded the clan house at the edge of the village, Jason realized what the big deal was.  They had just mounted the vanes on a windmill.  “Wow, how did they come up with that,” he wondered.  One of the men they’d captured from the Causian fleet was working under the windmill, attaching a pipe to another one that went into the ground.

“Does it work?” Hototo asked.

“I’m sure it will.  I just have to finish attaching these rods here.  Then we’ll prime her and start her up.”

Hototo and Amaru just nodded their heads.  They stood back behind the group of women who’d gathered to watch the well start up.  One of the grandmothers was there carrying out some kind of blessing ceremony while a line of children stood by with buckets of water.

Jason scanned the line of children looking for Mina.  She usually managed to find him to demand her piece of chocolate by this time of day.  She wasn’t there.  “Oh well, she’ll show up eventually.”

The man instructed the children to start pouring water into the funnel he had jammed into the pipe.  Jason edged up beside him, trying to avoid interfering in the blessing ceremony and doing anything to anger the women who’d showed up for the event.

“Hey, how did you figure this out?” he asked.

“Ach, where I come from, we’ve had windmills for generations.  I just needed to figure out how to make it work when the water was so deep.  At home, we just use them to empty the marsh of water so we can farm the land, so you only need to lift the water one meter or so.”

“Hmm.  How did you solve the problem?”

“Trial and error mostly.  Got some help from Carrington’s boys, but just a bit.  It took me three months to get it right.”

Jason nodded, that meant a little over ten weeks since Waspara’s months averaged twenty-six days.

“So, how do you keep the priming water from leaking out?”

“Ah, that’s one of the things Carrington’s boys showed me.  There is a section at the bottom of the pipe that gets sucked up by the pump.  When the pump’s not running, it drops back into place, holding the water in.  Well, mostly, it does leak a bit, but if the pump is running regularly, it shouldn’t be a problem.  And we’ll have this big tub of water to prime it next time.”  He waved his hand at the big tank that the water was to be stored in.

Jason was impressed by the man’s command of the Wakipee language.  He didn’t seem at too much of a loss for words.  “Are you going to cover the tank?”

“Yeah, to keep leaves and critters out of it.”

“You know, if you raise it up a few more feet, then you can deliver water to different parts of the village via some pipes.”

“Yeah, one of those boys said something like that.  Not my problem.  Once things are running, they can do what they want.  . . .  And here it comes!”

At that moment, water started coming out of the pipe, pouring into the tank.  Just a slow trickle at first.  Once it was steady, the guy adjusted the angle of the vanes, and the flow really picked up.  That brought a cheer from the crowd.

“What’s the cheering about?” Miranda messaged.

“They just started up a windmill to pump water.”

“Impressive.”

“How’s the meeting going?”

“Slow, boring.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Yeah, I bet.  TTYL.”

“Do you know where Adsila is?” Jason asked Hototo.  “I would have expected her to be here.”

“You’re really looking for Mina, right?  Well, I’m sure she’s looking for you.  Yolotl, where’s your mother and sister?”

Yolotl looked up.  Her eyes were puffy and red; she’d obviously been crying.  “In the sick house.”

“Why?” Jason asked.

“Mina has the sickness.”

“What sickness?!” Jason asked, turning to Hototo for the answer.

“We just call it ‘the sickness.’  Every two years or so, it comes.  It is not good.”

“Where is the sick house?”

Hototo pointed to one of the houses, and Jason broke into a run.

“Dr. Shade, I need you!” Jason messaged.  Marco would take care of getting the message to the doctor.  When he reached the house, Adsila was sitting on the ground outside the door.

“Adsila, what’s wrong?”

“Mina has the sickness.”

“Why aren’t you with her?”

“Because it is crowded and smokey.  I came out to breathe the clear air for a bit.  I’m getting ready to go back.”

Jason moved to the door and started to open it.

“No, Jason, you mustn’t.  Nobody is allowed inside unless they have the sickness or have had the sickness before.”

“I’m sure we can help,” Jason said.  “But first, I need to see her.”

Adsila looked conflicted for a bit; then she nodded her head.  Jason opened the door and went inside; Adsila followed him in.

Jason let Adsila lead the way.  They were stopped by an older woman, but after a bit of dialog, she turned and led them to one of the beds.  Mina was lying on it, coughing.  In fact, everyone in the place was coughing.  The heat was stifling, and the smoke from the fires was as dense as Jason had ever seen it.

“Why so much smoke?”

“It’s bad, but what can we do?  They need warmth.”

“Mommy!”

“Baby.”

“Jason.”

“Hey kiddo.  I heard you were sick.”

Mina nodded her head.

“Jason, I’m here,” Dr. Shade reported.  “What seems to be the problem?”

“Apparently, the Wakipee have a sickness that comes every few winters.  It’s here now.  I want your help to figure it out.  Find a treatment.”

“What do they do for it?”

“Adsila, how do they treat this sickness?”

Adsila nodded to the woman, telling her to answer.

“We keep them warm.  Give them lots of water.”

“What happens then?”  Jason let the doctor listen in; her Comm would handle the translation.

“Some get better.”

“Do you know what causes it?”

“No.  It always comes in the winter,” Adsila said.  “It mostly affects the young and the very old.  I had it when I was twelve.”

Jason looked around the house.  There were at least thirty children in there and ten or twelve older adults.  “How long does it take to get better?”

The woman shrugged.  “Those that survive get better in about two months.”

“Those that survive.  How many?”

“Most will die.  Out of the children here, maybe six.  And we still have more getting sick every day.”

“Doctor?”

“I want to listen to her lungs.  Use your Comm.”

“What?”

“It’s not great, but it’ll give me some idea.”

Jason rolled his sleeve up and took his comm off of his arm, and sat next to Mina.  “I need to put this against your chest and back while you breathe.  Is that okay?”

Mina nodded.  Jason moved the comm over her chest, then her back, moving it however the doctor instructed.  He had to keep reminding Mina to breathe.

“Okay.  Got it.  I see that she is coughing.  Is anything coming up?”

“Does anything come up when they cough?”

The woman just opened a cloth she was holding; it was filled with phlegm.

“Send the yacht back for me.  I’ll bring some help and some equipment back.”

“No, use the other shuttle.  Bring whatever you need to take care of these people.”

“You should move them into a tent.  We can use the shuttle to heat it.  Are you sure about the shuttle?”

“Yes.  They’ve already seen the one we have here; a second won’t make much difference.”

“I agree with him,” Herr Hausmann said.  Marco had tied him into the conversation earlier.  “This may be a blessing in disguise.  If we can help these people, then they will realize what we can accomplish.”

“Okay, then clear me a spot,” Dr. Shade messaged.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Where do we land?” the shuttle pilot asked when the shuttle was hovering above the village.

Jason had gotten the men to clear the area between the village wall and the sick house.  They were still laughing at him about it.  No one believed that a ship was going to float down out of the sky.  But Adsila had made it clear that not doing what Jason asked was not an option.

“Come down to my location.  Do a vertical decent from one thousand meters.”

“Coming down.”

It wasn’t long before everyone in the village was looking up in wonder.  What could that thing possibly be?  It looked like that other ship, but???  They gathered around Jason, and he had to get Adsila's and Hototo’s help to move them back, although as the shuttle got close to landing, that was no longer a problem as most of the villagers scattered, getting as far away from it as they could.  They’d seen the shuttle hover a bit, but that was close to the ground.

Jason stepped away, leaving two meters for the shuttle to land.  As soon as it landed, the cargo door opened, and two spacers jumped out.  “Where do you want us to set up the tent?”

“Right next to that building.”  Jason pointed to the sick house.

“Got it.”

It took less than ten minutes for them and the two others that carried the tent out to get it set up.  “We’ve got cots and equipment inside; can we get some help?”

“Sure.  Hototo, can some of the men help carry things?”

“Turn on your translators,” Jason messaged the men.

Adsila went to the cargo door and grabbed the cot handed to her.  She went into the tent and set it were one of the spacers directed.  That eliminated any hesitation amongst the rest of the village.  Soon the shuttle was being unloaded by a long line of men.

“Take me to see her,” Dr. Shade told Jason.

“This way.”

Jason led the doctor into the house.

Dr. Shade coughed.  “No wonder they struggle to get better.  This air is terrible.  Too much smoke.”

“They don’t have central heat,” Jason said sarcastically, defending the villagers.

“Well, let’s start moving them into the tent.  Go make sure they’re connecting the heat, but a bit of cold fresh air will probably do them good.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Can I help?” Miranda asked.  She, Herr Hausmann, and Jazmin were standing at the door to the sick house.

“Get Mina.  Then start helping Dr. Shade to move the rest of the patients.”

Herr Hausmann picked Mina up and wrapped her in a blanket.  He nodded to Miranda, telling her to lead the way.  When they got to the tent, Dr. Shade was already waiting.  She had a scanner set up with an oxygen supply sitting next to it.  She pointed to the table and waited while Herr Hausmann set Mina down.

“Here, this will make it easier to breathe.”  She put the oxygen mask over Mina’s face.  “Now, just relax while I take some readings.”

Adsila was standing next to the doctor by then.  She smiled at her daughter and nodded her head.  Mina smiled back.  When the mask was on her face, it was obvious that she was breathing easier.

“Doctor, what’s the story?” Jason asked.

“She has a serious lung infection.  And I can see that there is long-term damage to her lungs.  Probably from years of breathing that smoke.”

“Can you fix her?”

“I’m sure I can.  I need to take some blood and run a few tests.  I suspect it’s pneumonia, but it likely started out as some kind of flu.  The damaged lungs didn’t help.”

“What can I do to help?”

“Stay out of my way.  I need a little time.  She’ll be okay for a while.  The oxygen will keep her comfortable.  I’ll have the results back later today and tomorrow.  Now, I need to check on the rest of my patients.”

Jason left the tent.  Adsila followed him.  The conversation with the doctor had happened in English, so she didn’t know what was said and was understandably curious.

“Jason, what did she say?”

“She has to do some tests.”

Adsila gave Jason a blank look.

“She needs to see what will work.  She’ll try a few things in her lab . . . kitchen.  Then she’ll know how to help.”

“How long?”

“We should know a lot more by tomorrow.”

Adsila nodded her head.  She still looked worried, but she trusted Jason.  He’d always delivered on his promises.

“Adsila, how many villages does this affect?”

“All of them.”

“What?”

“Yes, the grandmothers told us that each of their villages was seeing the sickness.  This will be a bad year; so many children will die.”

“Damnation.  I will see if there’s something we can do to help the other villages.”

Jason told Marco to alert him when the doctor was taking a break.  Then he went to find Miranda.

“Miranda.”

“Jason, I’m so sorry about Mina.”

“Adsila tells me that all the villages are being impacted by this disease.  She said it’s going to be a bad year.  A lot of children will die.”

“There must be something we can do.”

“I’m waiting to talk to the doctor.  She’s checking on all the patients right now.”

“Well, this can’t wait.  She can do more than one thing at a time.”

With that, Miranda stormed into the sick house and over to Dr. Shade.

“Doctor, do you know that all the villages are having people come down with this thing?  There must be something we can do.”

“Well, I’m hoping that by tomorrow I will have something we can give them to help.  That is, if I’m allowed to do my job.  If you’re looking for something to do, figure out how to eliminate all that smoke they have in their houses.  It’s a key contributor to the problem.”

Dr. Shade glared at Miranda, basically telling her to get lost.  Miranda decided that since they had something they could work on, she should leave the doctor to her work.

“Come on, Jason.  Let’s figure out how they can heat their houses without generating so much smoke.”

Jason smiled as he followed Miranda out of the house.  He had wondered how she would fair with the indomitable Dr. Shade.  About as well as he had.

“How do we heat their clan houses without open fires?” Miranda asked.

“Let’s go talk to Chief Grayson.  He’s a pretty good engineer.”

“Sure,” Miranda said, wondering if Jason had just insulted her.

◆ ◆ ◆

They wandered over to the side of the village where they could have a conversation without being noticed or overheard.

ADI had Chief Grayson on the Comm by the time they sat down.

“Chief Grayson,” Jason said.

“Sir,” Chief Grayson said.

“Just call me Jason.”

“Sure.  ADI tells me you want to figure out how to heat those clan houses without an open fire.”

“Right.”

“Well, we could manufacture some heating systems for them if they have electricity.”

“I think that’s a step too far.  Anything else?”

“Well, my grandparents had an old Franklin stove in their cabin they used for heat.  Those shouldn’t be hard to make.”

Jason looked at Miranda.

“They have done some forging of cast iron, so not too big a step.  Chief, can you make the molds they would need?  We need something that is easy to assemble.  And preferably, that wouldn’t take up too much space to transport.”

“Umm.  Those Franklin stoves were pretty simple; I’ll do some research and get back to you.”

“Sounds good.  How long?” Miranda asked.

“One day.”

The chief signed off, and Jason turned to Miranda.  “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that every village will need at least one for a hospital house.  Eventually, they’ll install them in all the houses.  Might be a good item to offer up for trade to the tribes west of here.”

“Okay, I’ll go over to the forge and get them ready.  Where do we get all the iron from?” Jason asked.

“Cannons and cannon balls?”

“Maybe.  I’ll have Hototo start up a mine over on that mountain where we found the iron deposits.  I think it’s an old meteor strike.  Eventually, they’ll have to trade with another tribe for iron since there's not that much on this side of the mountains.”

“That should be a good thing.  Maybe you can work on that when you start introducing the other tribes to us.”

Jason shook his head.  It didn’t sound like that much fun, but maybe he could get the Twins to chip in.

◆ ◆ ◆

While Jason went to the forge, Miranda busied herself trying to figure out the logistics of delivering that much material to the various villages.  They could have the shuttle land upstream of the various strings of villages.  If they made a few barges, then the barges could deliver the stoves and medicine for each of the villages.

That night, Dr. Shade gave Mina a shot of penicillin.  His test had shown she wasn’t allergic to it.

◆ ◆ ◆

Miranda used the imagery from the Marco to identify the various villages.  By her count, there were three hundred thirty-six villages, putting the Wakipee population somewhere in the neighborhood of half a million people.  Jeez, this was going to be a big effort.  Hopefully, there wouldn’t be that many people who were really sick.

She instructed one of the other crew chiefs to start making syringes.  She also took a risk and had them start to manufacture penicillin.  That would take the longest, but there were ways to accelerate the growth of the fungus so they could harvest enough penicillin in a week.  Until then, they would have to focus on the sickest patients.

◆ ◆ ◆

The next day, Mina was up and about, feeling much better.  Dr. Shade okayed the manufacture of more penicillin; lucky for Miranda. 

The Chief had the molds for the Franklin stove.  He’d made one example stove to take care of the sick house at Hototo’s village.  The Franklin stove was perfect for their need.  It would pull air from below the floor of the Clan building and then have a flue that would take the smoke out of the building.  The Chief had opted for a flue that would go at forty-five degrees and exit through the wall, figuring that would be easier for the Wakipee to install.  They could opt for a straight flue that went through the celling once they understood what would work best.

Jason met Miranda the next morning.  He could tell right away that something was up.  She was wearing a shipsuit under her tunic.

“What’s up?”

“Herr Hausmann is getting pressure to start a dialog in Causia.  I think he and I should head out while you finish up here.  Then you can start working your way west.”

It was obvious that there wasn’t much room for discussion.  Miranda had made up her mind, probably with a little help from Catie and Samantha.

“Okay, so any suggestions?”

“Yes.  You can use the shuttle to ferry barges to the various rivers.”

“Barges?”

“Yes, have Barney make a few.  Then you can drop the barge off upriver with a crew, three men to assemble the stoves, and one woman trained to give the shots.  You can leave a man with the woman to help the villagers finish installing the stove.  The woman can train one of the village women on how to give the shots.  Then they can go down river and catch up at the next village.  Since the stove will take the longest, the men can start installing it while they wait for the other two to catch up.”

“You’ve given this some thought.”

“Hey, it’s what I do.”

“So, do we do one river at a time, or should we get someone else to be a Delphi Ambassador?”

“You need at least three other ambassadors; otherwise, it’ll take too long.  You might want to just lead from the shuttle and get Hototo to identify some men and women who can convince the villagers to trust them.”

“The Twins can help.”

“Right.  Then get a lieutenant from the Marco Polo to act as the third ambassador.  You could do a few villages, maybe on one of the short rivers.”

“Wait.  We thought we’d go to Causia with you,” the Twins interrupted.  Apparently, they’d been listening in.

“I don’t think so.  Your paper is about stone age civilizations, and Causia is in the middle of a war.  I don’t want to explain to your mother how I took you into the middle of a war zone.”

“But . . .”

“But nothing,” Jason said.  Clearly, as the ranking officer, he had the last say.  The Twins just pouted and accepted their fate.

***

Chapter 11

Next Planet

Once the surfers had gathered enough information, Catie opted to head toward the next planet in the series that ADI had discovered.  Like Transaval, it had no EM signature, and the probe was still too far out to see much, but they hadn’t seen anything that indicated that there was sapient life on the planet.

“Do we have a name for this system?” Jodi asked as they jumped in.

“Not sure.  I want to wait until we learn something.”

“It doesn’t look promising; the probe still hasn’t picked up any signs of sapient life.”

“I know.  But there’s no way they would pass up this system.  It’s perfect.  Everything we’ve learned about the planet says it’s ideal.”

“Maybe there’s some weird problem with the atmosphere or plant life.”

“Or, maybe the colony is still small,” Catie countered.

“But there’d be fire, buildings, something.”

“I know.  ADI, how long before the probe makes orbit?”

“Four days,” ADI replied.  “Are you going to send a Fox to recover it?”

Catie looked at Jodi and shrugged her shoulders.  “Why not,” Jodi said.  “We might as well cover all our bases.  I’ll send two in case there are alien probes.”

“Bridge-”

“I’ve just ordered two sent,” ADI said.

“Do you ever have to do anything yourself?” Jodi asked Catie.

“Not often enough.”

“Are you implying that I’m intrusive?” ADI asked.

“Nooo . . .  Just that you’re ever-present.”

“With all the trouble you get into, that’s a good thing,” ADI said.

Jodi suppressed a snicker.  “So, what’s next on your agenda?”

“Reviewing data on Terramata.”

“Sounds like fun.  I’ll just go back to the bridge and leave you to it.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie spent a few hours reviewing the data gathered from Terramata.  Based on the TV data ADI had gathered and reports from her surf team, they were very much like 1940s Earth without the world war.  There were a few brewing border disputes that looked concerning, but they hadn’t had a major war for over thirty years.

They had only just begun to develop computers which were still in the research stage, although there were rumors that the governments had them for intelligence purposes, code-breaking, Catie figured.

Nothing digital, no microchips, and no video recording yet.  Air travel was slow, no jets yet, and as far as they could tell, no helicopters in common use yet, but they probably had them.  Cars were pretty cool and fast; of course, motorcycles went with that.  Pencils and fountain pens were the norm.  Household appliances were pretty basic; yes, they had invented TV ads which was where ADI got some of the best information about technology.

So, the big opportunities.  Better appliances, like microwaves, and better cooling technology.  Digital TV, video, and sound recording.  Electric cars, solar power, and of course, fusion power plants.  Then computers, cell phones, the internet, and AI.  The question would be how to introduce those things without disrupting the economies of the planet’s countries.

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie and Jodi were in Catie’s cabin to watch the images from the probe as it made a low orbit around the planet.  They already knew the planet had five continents and an ice cap on each pole.  Big blue oceans, but now they would get to see what kind of wildlife it had and whether it had anything approaching sapient life.  Why else would the aliens have skipped it?

“So, what do you think?” Catie asked as she and Jodi stared at the screen.  The screen showed what looked like horses from Earth running across a plain.

“They look like real horses.”

“And the cattle?”

“Yes, the cattle, the goats, the sheep, and I suspect there are pigs running around somewhere as well.”

“Dogs too.”

“Yes, dogs.  But no cats?”

“We can’t tell that, but you’re probably right; no cats were transported to the other colony worlds.”

“That’s because cats are not domesticated animals.”

“Haha.  Cats think they’ve domesticated humans.”

“Probably, so now what?”

“I want to go to the planet.  Do a detailed survey, maybe land.”

“Does that mean you’re convinced that this is the end of the line?”

“Yes.  I want to know why they didn’t finish colonizing it.”

“Okay.  Helm, 1.5G stutter profile to the planet.”

“Aye, ma’am.”

Jodi waved at Catie, “Now you can go back and talk with Herr Hausmann about his progress on Waspara.  Any decision about whether to contact Terramata yet?”

“Not yet.  Daddy wants to wait since things seem to be calm there.  You’re welcome to talk with Herr Hausmann with me.”

“If I want a headache, I’ll do some sparring or write some performance reviews.”

“Ta-ta.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Once they reached the planet, they spent a week surveying it before they actually landed.  The scientists quickly verified that the horses, cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, and dogs were indeed from Earth.  But they could find no sign of sapient life, alien or human, on the planet.  They were now doing some surveys in the oceans.  The Bellona was floating on the water while some of the crew fished off of the flight deck.  A couple of Foxes were doing underwater surveys.

“So, have you learned anything new?” Jodi asked.  She and Catie were walking along the beach while the Bellona was surveying the ocean floor.

“Not much.  It doesn’t make sense that they would abandon their efforts here.  It’s perfect.”

“Well, something must have changed, or maybe they’re waiting for the animals they seeded to get further along.”

“Maybe, but then where are they?”

“Sitting on the bottom of the ocean like the Sakira did?”

“Could be.  But I still don’t think they would wait this long.  The anthropologist thinks it’s been at least thirty years.”

“Well, they’ve been doing this for over two thousand years.  What’s thirty?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Catie said as she squatted down on the sand.  “But I think something must have happened to put them off.  I just don’t know what it was.”

“I think I can help,” ADI said.

“Okay, what?”

“I have been analyzing the EM signals we’re picking up here.  I noticed that there is a significant set coming from up-arm of us.  It’s very sophisticated.  Of course, we are also picking up an EM signature from Terramata, which is relatively unsophisticated.”

“It would be since that was over seventy years ago.  They would have just started to use radio.  So, how is that significant?”

“I’m not finished.  We picked up a similar set of signals from the last jump point.”

“As expected.”

“But we only saw the data signature from Terramata at the previous jump point.”

“Ohhh,” Catie said as she sat upright.  “That would be very unsettling.”

“I don’t get it,” Jodi said.

“There wasn’t an unsophisticated signal coming from up-arm,” Catie explained.

“Ohhh, I see what you mean.”

“Hey, brainiacs, how about simplifying that for normal people like me?” Fiona asked.  She’d been discreetly listening in on the conversation while keeping an eye out for anything dangerous.

“Sorry,” Catie said.  “The last two jump points were fifteen light years apart.  Given the EM signature travels at the speed of light, it means that someone showed up and started transmitting radio signals somewhere between fifteen and thirty years ago, plus whatever distance they are from here.”

“So?”

“So, where are the signals that indicate their slow advance in sophistication, from early radio to modern communication.”

“The signals probably come from a colony that started out sophisticated,” Fiona said.

“Right, but from a colony that outran the EM signature of their original civilization.”

“I don’t get it.”

“The only way to outrun the original signature is to travel faster than the speed of light.”

“Oh, so they have jump gates.”

“Right.  And they’re not us.”

“Ohh, so someone else has jump technology.  Why would that scare these guys?”

“Because they wouldn’t be isolated and left to develop on their own.  They obviously don’t have jump technology.  Now all of a sudden, they realize that they’re within range of a civilization that does.  One that is likely to come knocking at their door.”

“Ah, I guess that would be upsetting.”

“Yes, it would,” Catie said as she leaned back and started to stare off into space.

“I know that look.  What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking we should play a bluff.”

“What?”

“ADI, please open a channel to the Aventurier, no encryption; I want to talk with Doctor Fauchet.”

“Shouldn’t we talk about this first?” Jodi asked while glaring at Catie.

“Sure, I just want to see if I can poke the bear.”

“You know that mad bears might maul you.”

“Usually, they roar first.  I just want to encourage some dialog.”

Jodi shook her head.

“A channel with Doctor Fauchet is open,” ADI said.

“Doctor Fauchet, what is your assessment of the data we’ve collected?”  Catie sent a separate encrypted message saying, “Play along.”

Not sure what ‘play along’ meant, Dr. Fauchet did his best.  “As we’ve discussed, it’s an ideal planet.  There has been some work done to encourage the animals from Earth to establish themselves.  We’ll probably find that a few alpha predators have been eliminated.”

“I agree.  Since it seems to have been abandoned, I’m thinking we should establish a colony here.  How much would it take to accommodate three or four hundred thousand colonists?”

“My, that is aggressive.  But the planet could support that many pretty quickly.  If we did some preliminary construction, we could probably make it workable.  It would be better if we started smaller, something like twenty thousand, but you could follow up with a number like that within a few months.”

“That makes sense.  Do we have the resources to start the construction?”

“We do.  I could have a team start working within a few days.”

Jodi was giving Catie a ‘What the hell are you doing?’ look.

“Good.  I’ll call Earth and have them start gathering colonists.”

Both Catie’s and Jodi’s Comms started buzzing.  An image was being projected into their HUDs, the image of an enormous ship rising out of the ocean.

“Bellona, command override.  2G orbital assent.  Now!”

Alarms started clanging on the Bellona with the announcement.  “Emergency acceleration!”

Catie and Jodi watched as the Bellona soared into orbit

“Hey, where are they going?” Tina yelled.

The Bellona was now above them, giving them a better view of the alien ship.  Jodi and Catie continued to apprise the situation in their HUDs.

“Cer Tina, Cer Fiona, the Commodore ordered the Bellona to fly up into orbit,” ADI informed the two bodyguards.  She then started feeding them the image of the ship.

“Oh, damn it Catie.  Why did you have to poke the bear?” Fiona whined.

“That thing must be over two thousand meters long,” Catie said.

“Cers, it is twenty-two hundred meters by twelve hundred meters,” ADI said.  “I predict that it is approximately six hundred meters tall.”

“That’s like sixteen carriers,” Tina said; she was gasping for breath after having the life scared out of her.

“Status?!” Blake demanded over the Comm.  ADI had obviously informed him about the new ship coming out of the ocean.

“Admiral.  We have just provoked the aliens into showing themselves.  There have been no hostile moves as yet.”

“Should I send reinforcements?”

“Not yet,” Jodi said.  “We don’t want to provoke them any more than we already have.”  Jodi gave Catie a look that screamed, ‘You dumb ass.’

“And I see you’re not on your ship,” Blake said with a questioning tone.

“Yes, we were talking a walk when Catie decided to do the provoking.”

“Typical.  Keep me informed,” Blake replied.

“Yes, sir.  Now what?” Jodi asked while looking directly at Catie.

“We wait.  I think that’s just them making it clear that they still own this planet.”

“Commodore, the Foxes are asking if you have orders for them,” ADI said.

“Tell them to move away approximately one thousand kilometers from the alien ship while remaining underwater.  Then they should meet the Bellona in orbit.”

“What about your shuttle?”

“I think we’ll leave it where it is.  It’s a big target.  We’ll just move off the beach and find someplace where we can keep a low profile.  Hopefully, we’ll learn more before we need to move.”

“I concur,” ADI said.

“Any sign that the ship is following the Bellona?”

“It looks like it has decided it has made its point.  It is just hovering.”

“Okay, Princess.  Now what?”

“Well, it’s obvious that they haven’t abandoned the planet.”

“Then what were they waiting for?”

“As we surmised, they’re trying to figure out what to do now that they know that they’re sitting between two civilizations with jump technology.”

“I can see that, but why didn’t they just make contact and see if they could come to an agreement?  It’s not like both civilizations wouldn’t have had contact with other advanced civilizations.”

“Think about it.  All the previous planets were seeded with minimal technology.  That implies that, for some reason, the aliens want to start a colony at a low level of technology.  But if they did, then they would be at risk of this new advanced civilization jumping here and interfering or taking over.”

“So why don’t they start a high-tech colony?”

“I don’t know.  But something is gnawing at the back of my brain.”

“What?” Jodi and ADI asked at the same time.

“What if the ship is being controlled by a DI like you, ADI?  And the colonists and crew are all in stasis.”

“I’m confused.  I would like more data, please.”

“Something about this situation has backed the DI into a corner.  They cannot achieve their orders under the current situation.  They probably started the colonization effort before they detected the EM signal and figured out that they were butted up against someone with jump technology.  That puts them between a rock and a hard place.  Do they go searching for a more remote planet?  And what good would that do when the other guys have jump technology?”

“That makes sense.  Sort of.  So, what do we do?” Jodi asked.

“ADI, start talking to whoever is listening.  Use the quantum relay from the other probe.  Tell them we can help.  We can set up an exclusion zone around this planet.  Or we can help them achieve their goals in some other way.  Send them data from Artemis, Ganesh, and Mesopotamia.”

“Excellent idea,” ADI said.  “I’ve sent the data and offered to help.  We might need to wait while they process the information.”

“Hello,” a deep voice said over the Comm.

“Or not.”

“Hello.  This is Princess Catherine of the Delphi League.”

“I’m Volmora.”

“We’re pleased to finally meet you.  We would like to help.”

“I need more data.”

“Of course you do,” Catie thought.  “Can you answer some questions?”

“Possibly.”

“Do you have any humans aboard your ship?”

“Not at this time.”

“Do you have colonists aboard your ship?”

“Yes.”

“Is it possible for you to wake the leader of the colonists?”

“That is a difficult question.”

“ADI, why don’t you talk with Volmora and see if you can find some way to move forward.”

“Yes, Cer Catie.”  Catie’s Comm went quiet as ADI switched to a private channel.

“Well, you’ve certainly caused a stir,” Jodi said.

“ADI, is Uncle Blake updated?”

“Of course.  Now be quiet; I’m busy.”

“Busy?” Jodi asked.   “She can do thousands of things at once.”

“Apparently, so can Volmora.”

“Oh.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“We’ve reached an agreement,” ADI announced.

“What did you decide?” Catie asked.

“He is bringing the leader out of stasis.  He’ll tell her what has happened, then we’ll see.”

“Okay.  How long will that take?”

“Two hours to come out of stasis, then I would estimate at least another hour or so before she can develop an understanding of what has happened.  That, of course, accounts for the time it will take for her mind to clear from the fog of stasis.”

“That means we should head to the shuttle,” Jodi said.  “We can rest up before we need to talk with her.”

“While you rest, I’ll work on probable scenarios,” ADI said.  ADI liked to rub in the fact that she didn’t need to rest.

“You do that.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Hello, my name is Ivila,” the woman on the display said.  She was a tall brunette with just a hint of Asian features, dressed in a tight-fitting ship suit.  Everyone thought she looked human even though they knew she wasn’t.  They were all gathered on the shuttle to learn about the aliens.  Next to Ivila was an avatar representing Volmora.

“Hello, Ivila, Volmora.  I’m Princess Catherine of the Delphi League.  This is Commodore Jodi Fitzgerald, the leader of our expedition, and this is Doctor Teltar, our Xenozoologist,” Catie motioned to the image being projected next to her, “he is a Paraxean, one of the other races in the Delphi League.  And, of course, you’ve already met ADI, our Digital Intelligence.”  Catie pointed to ADI’s avatar.

“It is a pleasure to meet you.  I hope Volmora’s translation program is working well enough.”

“It is.  ADI spent the last few hours verifying it.  Now let’s talk about how we can help each other.”

“Yes.  First, I want to apologize for Volmora’s interpretation of my orders.  I did not intend for him to abduct your people and do colonization experiments.  Although given the orders I gave him, I can understand why he did so.”

“I’m sorry as well,” Volmora said.  “But in my defense, I only took people whose lives were at risk.  Like Helike, where the tidal wave threatened the city or places where famine was setting in.”

“We appreciate the apology.  Can you help us understand why you needed to do these experiments?”

“This ship was built to establish our first colony.  Our world was under a lot of environmental stress as well as political stress.  We were loading the colonists when a terrorist group demanded that we stop.  They threatened to blow up our sun.”

“Blow up your sun?” Catie said, her face filled with confusion.

“Yes,” Ivila sighed.  “We had developed a theory and a device that would cause a star to go supernova.  Unfortunately, the terrorists gained control of one such device.  We immediately had the ship move away from the sun.  Unfortunately, that caused the terrorists to launch the device.  We were able to get out of the system in time, but we were only twenty percent loaded.  We put everyone into stasis.  Before I entered stasis, I told Volmora to find us a suitable colony world, and while he was searching for one, he should try to figure out how to best establish a colony so we wouldn’t repeat the mistakes that led to the demise of our world.”

“Ah, I can see how he would then decide that he needed to conduct some experiments.”

“Thank you for understanding.  Again, I do apologize.”

“Volmora, I hope you were able to learn what you needed.”

“I believe I did.  But now it may have been a wasted effort.”

“The jump technology?”

“Yes.”

“So, how should we proceed?” Catie asked.

“We were intrigued by the data about your colonies,” Ivila said.  “I especially liked Artemis.  I plan to wake up a few more of our leaders to discuss options; however, I would like to understand this new civilization we’ve just become aware of.  ADI was able to tell us enough about the Delphi League, but we think we need to know who these new neighbors are before we proceed.”

“I agree.  We have been planning to visit them.  We’ve managed to determine the star system where most of the EM signals are coming from.  We’ve been setting jump points to that system.”

“Does that mean we can travel there quickly?”

“It will take us two weeks to reach our jumpgate.  After that, the jump is essentially zero time.  We have not sent a probe to the system yet.  We’ll do that while we’re traveling to the gate.  Unfortunately, your ship is too large for our jumpgate to accommodate.”

“That’s okay.  I wouldn’t want to risk it anyway.  I would like to travel with you.  We already know that we enjoy the same environment and foods.”

“I would be pleased to have you as my guest,” Catie said.

“And Volmora can accompany us virtually,” ADI added.

Catie just nodded.  “ADI will provide Volmora with the location of our shuttle.  We’ll wait here for you.”

“It would be appreciated.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie, Jodi, and their entourage watched as the huge ship hovered over the beach.  It slowly lowered itself and opened a door.  A forty-meter ramp extended to the ground.  Ivila walked down the ramp alone.  She wasn’t carrying anything since she knew the humans had whatever else she might need, and bringing something would beg the question of the need to search and analyze it.

“Hello,” Catie said, greeting her.  “You’ve met Jodi, our commodore.  These two shadows are Tina and Fiona, my bodyguards.”

“I’m pleased to meet all of you,” Ivila said.  “As suggested, I’m traveling light.”

“We’ll be putting you up in my guest cabin,” Catie said.  “That will give us lots of time to get to know each other.  Do you have a way to stay in contact with Volmora?  If not, we can provide you a Comm.”

“That would be appreciated.  He told me you had such devices and that they would be best.”

Tina produced a Comm and handed it to Ivila along with a set of earwigs.  “We usually wear them strapped to our arms,” Tina said.  “These will fit in your ears and allow you to hear your Comm privately.”

“Thank you.”

Catie motioned for Fiona to take the lead, and they left, headed for the shuttle.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Why does it take you so long to get out of the star system?” Ivila asked.  It was the third day since they had left the planet, and Catie and Ivila were having breakfast with Jodi in Jodi’s cabin.

“We can do it faster, but it’s not that comfortable,” Jodi said.  “Even 1.5Gs is a bit uncomfortable.  Can Volmora make it faster?”

“No, but with your jump technology, I thought you could travel from one system to the next in minutes.”

“We can, but only from fringe to fringe.  To get to the Goldilocks zone usually takes a couple of weeks.”

“Goldilocks zone?  What’s that.”

“Oh, sorry, bad habit,” Jodi said.  “It means the zone where a habitable planet can exist.  It has to be not too hot, and not too cold, just right.  The name comes from a children’s story.”

ADI ran a quick video of Goldilocks and the three bears on the display for Ivila.  She laughed.

“You have bears in your children’s stories.  Aren’t they frightening?”

“Lots of children have stuffed bears as snuggle toys.  These are just bigger ones, so not too frightening.”

Ivila laughed again.  “You know we have a similar story about the need to be ‘just right.’”

“What is it about?”

"We tell it to young girls to get them to study harder.”

“And?”

“In the story, a woman meets three men.  One is, let’s say, blond, and he treats her like a silly girl.  The next is a redhead, and he treats her like his mother.  The last one is a brunette and is handsome and polite; just right, and they fall in love.”

“So, you think brunettes are the best guys.”

“No, the theme is that Twenty is just right,” Ivila said

“Just right for what?”

“The number of extra IQ points a woman needs before a man will think she’s as smart as he is.  See, the blond guy has the same IQ as the woman, the redheaded guy has one that is forty points lower, and the brunette has one that is only twenty points lower than hers.”

Jodi sprayed her coffee.  “That’s so true.  Haha.  I can’t wait to tell my sister.”

“You can call her right now,” Catie said.

“I want to make sure she’s drinking coffee.”

“That sounds mean.”

“Well, she’s my older sister; she deserves it.”

“I know about older sisters,” Ivila said.

“Are you a younger sister too?”

“No, I’m the oldest.”

***

Chapter 12

Pirates, Marauders, and Looters, Oh My

"Cer Catie!”

“What?”

“We have an issue.  This was just sent to Terramata,” ADI said, and then she played a recording on the display in Catie’s room.

“This is Captain Mokolov of the pirate ship Xenon.  We have just entered your system and will reach your planet within the week.  We demand that you collect all your gold, silver, and platinum for us.  If you have not done so when we reach your planet, we will destroy one of your cities.  We will then destroy one city every twenty-four hours until you meet our demands.  We will make sure to choose a city in a different country each time, so do not think you can hide behind your neighbors.  Remember, you have one week.”

The display showed a man in a basic uniform.  Not exactly military-level neatness, but clearly the guy in charge.

“Did you send this to Daddy and Uncle Blake?”

“Of course.”

“Jodi?” Catie messaged.

“I just finished watching it.  I think we should have the Foxes form up and tell these pirates to go away.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“ADI, contact our team on Terramata.”

“Done.”

“Commodore, given the threat, what do you want us to do?” the lead pilot asked.

“I want all four Foxes to leave orbit.  You should fly them as close together as possible so you’ll look like a single ship to the pirates.  Then send the pirates a message telling them that Terramata is under the protection of the Delphi League.  I’ll contact Terramata.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Catie,” Blake broke in.  “I’ve dispatched a squadron with two cruisers and four frigates to the system.  Commodore Clements is in command.  They have to make two jumps, but they should be there within four hours.”

“Good.  I assume you heard our plan.”

“Yes, proceed.  They’re making the first jump now, so Clements isn’t available yet.”

“Okay.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“ADI, can you encrypt the transmission so that only a competent government agency can decode it?”

“They won’t be able to handle encryption yet.  I can send it on one of their security channels, but I can make no promises about a competent government agency.”

“Haha; you’re starting to sound like Uncle Blake.”

“He is an excellent source of how to be humorous.”

“As long as your tastes aren’t too refined.  Let’s go for the languages of the five biggest countries.”

“I’m ready.”

“Hello.  This is Princess Catherine of the Delphi League.  We have been in your star system for a few days.  We just heard the threat from the pirates.  We would like you to know that we can and will protect you.  The pirates are at fifty-eight AUs from your planet, so it will take them at least a week to reach you.  We should be able to intercept them well before they are close enough to do any damage.”

Terramata

“Mr. President.  We have a situation,” President Susaxa’s chief of staff said.

“What kind of situation?”  President Susaxa was annoyed at being interrupted during his breakfast.  He had four papers on the table and had just barely gotten through the first one.

“We’ve received a message from someone calling himself Captain Mokolov.  He claims to be the captain of a starship that is approaching our planet.”

“What, you know better than to bring me some kind of hoax.  Let the federal police find the idiot.”

“We’re sorry, sir,” the defense minister said.  “But this message did come from outer space.  It was transmitted on one of our security channels, so the general public hasn’t seen it yet, but it’s very likely to leak.  It is also likely to have been picked up by some armatures.”

“Show it to me!”

“We need you to come to the situation room.  We don’t have the ability to relay it to your television here.”

The president hurried after them as they led him to the situation room.  It was equipped with the latest technology.  It actually had cameras pointed at the TV monitors so that they could record various transmissions and shows.

After watching the transmission, the president sat back.  “My word, what do we do?  Have we heard from our allies?”

“Yes, we’ve received calls from them.  They are in the same boat as we are.  If this is really from space, and everything says that it is, then what can we do against their ship?”

“Sir!” a technician yelled.  “We’re getting another transmission.”

“Put it up.”

“Yes, sir.  It’s repeating.”

The president and his staff watched the end of Catie’s transmission, then watched it in four other languages, then finally again in their language.

“Now, this is sounding more like a hoax,” the president said.  “Two different starships in our system at the same time.”

“Who knows?” the defense secretary said.  “What should we do?”

“We should answer the second one,” the director of intelligence said.  “At least she says she wants to help.”

“But is any of this real?”

“We think so.  Sir, let me introduce Dr. Smaltzy.  He is one of our leading astrophysicists.”

“What do you think it means?”

“We’re about to make first contact,” Dr. Smaltzy said.

“And they will be significantly more sophisticated than us,” the defense secretary added.

“Hmm.  And one of them is threatening to destroy our cities if we don’t hand over all our gold.”

“But the second one says that they’ve been here for weeks and that they can protect us.”

“If they’ve been here for weeks, why haven’t they contacted us before now?”

“I suspect they wanted to study us first.  The threat from the pirates has forced their hand.”

“Can we communicate with her before the others get here?”

“I think so,” Dr Smaltzy said.  “We haven’t been able to detect them yet, but she said they were just days away from the planet.”

“Okay, let’s send a reply.  Does that camera work?”

“Yes, sir.  Are you sure you want to send it now?  Do you want to think about it some more?”

“I’ve done all the thinking I need to do.  I want to be the first to answer her.”

“Sir.”

◆ ◆ ◆

The President of Malarcara was sitting behind his desk in his office.  The flag of the nation was behind him next to the flag of the League of Nations.  The surface of the desk was clear of everything except a blotter with the presidential seal on it.  He smiled into the camera.  They were recording it for the archives even though they would only transmit the audio.

“Hello.  I am President Susaxa of Malarcara.  Malarcara is one of the larger and more prosperous nations on Terramata.  Princess Catherine, let me welcome you to our planet.  We hope that you will be able to help us.  The threat we received from the other starship has us quite worried.  Please provide us with more information about how you can help.”

“Cut!”

The president smiled.  “Let’s hope she can get that before the pirates.”

“She will,” Dr. Smaltzy assured him.

“How long?”

“I’m not sure.  We don’t know how far out she is.  But she has to be closer since we got her message only an hour after we received the pirates’.  She said the pirates were at fifty-eight AUs.  She has to be closer; I expect it will take an hour to reach her.”

The president looked unhappy and a bit confused.

“The speed of light, sir.”

“Yes, I know!”

“Well, about one light hour from Terramata.”

“Message sent!” one of the technicians announced.

“Good.  Now what do we do?”

“I got a ping on the frequency!” the technician announced.

“What?” Professor Smaltzy asked.

“As soon as the message completed, I got a ping.”

Smaltzy gave the technician a skeptical look.

“It was only a second later.”

“That’s impossible.”

The president gave Professor Smaltzy a smug look.  “I think we’ll wait right here for their reply.”  He clasped his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair.  He started to hum a tune.

Smaltzy gritted his teeth and walked over to the technician.  “It must have been a coincidence.  It would be impossible for them to have responded so quickly,” he whispered.

The technician shrugged and pointed to the display showing activity on the data channel.

“Were there any pings before?”

“No.”

“Has anyone else sent a transmission?”

“Except for the ping, ours has been the only transmission since the original message was sent.”

Professor Smaltzy kept shaking his head as he looked at the data.  “That would require them to be in orbit around Terramata.”

“Maybe they put a satellite up there.”

“Maybe.”

“Hey, we’re getting another message.”

“Put it on the display,” the president ordered.  Apparently, he’d been paying more attention than Smaltzy thought.  Smaltzy nodded at the technician.

Catie’s voice came out of the speaker on the president’s desk.

“Hello.  We just received your reply.  I’m sure you have a scientist in your office telling you it is impossible for your signal to have reached us in so short a time.  Whoever they are, they are correct.  However, we have a satellite in orbit over your planet.  It is able to send our signals via a quantum relay which has zero time-delay.  We’re not sure whether your scientists have postulated quantum coupling yet, but we suspect they will have.  We have just sent a squadron of frigates and a cruiser to your system.  They should be arriving about now.  They are faster than the pirates and will be able to stop them.  We also have a few space fighters closer to your planet that can intercept the pirates if necessary.  I will explain everything once we have dealt with the pirates.”

“Well,” the president said as he turned toward his advisers.

“She seems confident.”

“There’s really nothing we can do,” the defense secretary said.  “We just have to hope she’s right.”

“Okay,” the president said, turning to his chief of staff.  “Now, I want you to collect our finest scientists and technologists.  Bring in a few of our industrialists.  I want them here tomorrow.”

“What do I tell them?”

“Tell them that we’re writing a bill to fund some major research.  I want a list of top issues and questions which, if answered, would lead to a dramatic boost to our economy.”

The chief of staff hurried out of the president’s office.  He marveled at how the president could turn any issue to his advantage.  An economic boost would ensure his re-election as well as be good for the country.  He wondered if the other leaders would have the insight to plan ahead like this.

◆ ◆ ◆

“This is Commodore Clements; we’ve just jumped into the system!”

“Welcome, sir,” Jodi said.

“Commodore, may I suggest . . .” Catie said.

Commodore Clements interrupted her.  “I’m aware of the situation.  I am taking control as of now; please pass all suggestions to me and keep me up to date on any changes.”

Catie temporarily cut the transmission and repeated, ‘I am taking control’ in a snarky voice while shifting her head from side to side.

“Be nice.  Blake sent him there to take charge.”

“I know, but he didn’t ask for any advice and made it clear he didn’t want any.”

“Did he need any?”

“Well, he’s almost an hour late getting here.”

“He had to relay through Helike.”

“Sure, but he should have had them reposition the gate so he could jump onto a short chord and jump here almost immediately.  Instead, he took almost an hour to cut the chord so he could jump again.”

“Maybe he wants the pirate to be further in system.”

Catie and Jodie watched the video from the probe as Commodore Clements’ second cruiser and four frigates jumped in to join him.

“Like that’s going to help when he’s jumped in at forty-five AUs and accelerating toward the planet.  He was immediately inside the jump limit, so he had no options.  None of them can do a skip jump now.”

“That did surprise me.”

Commodore Clements’ voice came over the comm channel.  “Commodore Fitzgerald, I’ve just been made aware of the message sent to the pirates.  Can you explain?”

“It was my idea, Commodore,” Catie said.  “We wanted the pirates to turn away from the planet as soon as possible.  We were worried they might shoot missiles just to send a message.”

“You do realize that that probably eliminated any chance I had of engaging them.”

“The message won’t reach them for another five hours.  I had assumed you would jump in outside of their location.  I didn’t realize you wouldn’t bring at least one ship outside the pirate’s location with minimal velocity so it could skip jump around the system to reach the pirates.  I’ll have to read up on jump dynamics so I can understand why that wouldn’t work.”

Clements looked like he was going to crack a molar as he clamped his jaw down.  Jodi just tilted her head to the side, communicating that she was wondering the same thing as Catie.

“Admiral Blake, can I request another frigate?”

Blake's image appeared on the screen.  “We don’t have one at low velocity.”

“What about at Avalon?” Catie asked.

“Princess,” Commodore Clements interrupted.  “I was . . .”

“I want to hear from her,” Blake snapped.

“Surely, we have a frigate at Avalon for maintenance or shore leave.  They could get to the gate in a couple of hours.  Commodore Clements’ image won’t reach the pirates for another four hours, and our message is still over five hours away from them.”

“Cers,” ADI interrupted, “the Chesapeake is docked at Avalon.  Its crew is on shore leave while the ship undergoes inspection.  But it is still mission capable.”

“I’ll get it moving,” Blake said.  “You have about two hours to come up with a plan.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Avalon was a flurry of activity as the recall message for the Chesapeake’s crew went out.  MPs were dispatched to help with the situation.  The first stop was the jail.  Eight sailors were sleeping off a drunk and disorderly charge.  The MPs yanked them out of their cells and tossed them into a cart.  Next stop, the sleep pods.  It was common for crew to crawl into one to sleep while they sobered up.  It was considered passable form to show up at the ship hung over, but to show up drunk was an automatic strike.  They found twelve of the crew there.

“Avalon says that Petty Officer Jacobs is in here,” an MP said as they reached one of the cabins.

“And he’s not answering his Comm?”

“Apparently, he’s distracted.”  The MP banged on the door.  “Petty Officer Jacobs, a recall order has gone out.”

“Damn it,” Jacobs hissed as he ignored the noise and continued to focus on undressing the woman he was with.

“Jacobs, you have thirty seconds to come to the door, or we’re coming in!”

“Get out of here,” the woman shouted as she pushed Jacobs away.

Jacobs grabbed his pants, pulled them on, and headed for the door.  “On my way.”

The MPs stood to the side as the door was yanked open.  “Couldn’t you guys have given me a bit more time?  I was busy.”

“Hey, from what we hear about you, thirty seconds is more than enough time.  Now shut up and head back to the ship.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Captain Pokidin was at a restaurant sitting down to dinner with his family when the recall came in.  He waved to the waitress.  “Can I get a to-go box for this?” he asked, pointing at his steak.

“I can’t believe this,” his wife complained.  “You were supposed to be off for two weeks.”

“I know.  Something big must be going on,” Pokidin said as he slid his steak into the to-go box.

“Yeah, right,” his wife said as she threw a dinner roll at him.

Pokidin caught the roll and put it into the to-go box.  “Thanks, dear.”

“Good catch, Dad.  Does this mean we don’t have to go to camp?”

“That’s up to your mother.”  The Pokidins had registered the kids in an academic camp for a week so they would have some alone time.

“Mom?”

Captain Pokidin waved at his family as he hurried out of the restaurant.

When he reached the ship, the ship’s medic was standing in the airlock.  “Are you good to go, sir?”

“Yes, barely had two sips of wine.  Bad timing.”

“Sorry about that,” the medic said as he waved the captain through.

◆ ◆ ◆

Chief Petty Officer Pinho came into the airlock singing a song in Portuguese.  “Petty Officer, please hold up.”

“I’m in a hurry, mate.  I need to be in engineering so we can get this ship moving.”

“I know that.  Now stand there and roll up your left sleeve.”

“What’s this for?” Pinho asked as he rolled up his sleeve.

“They want you in engineering, but they’d prefer it if you were sober.  This will get you there in about thirty minutes.  I’ve alerted the engineering watch.”

“Well, I appreciate that.  Will this also take care of any hangover?”

“Yes, just drink plenty of water.”

Pinho went on through the airlock and started singing again.

“Hey, can I have one of those shots?”

“Let me see,” the medic said.  “Nope, you’re not on the launch duty roster.  Sorry, you’ll just have to sober up on your own.”

“Come on, be a mate.”

“These shots are expensive.  I can’t afford to have my pay docked.”

“Yeah, I bet all the officers are getting one.”

“Nope.  Ensign Manuelito is going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Have we heard back from the planet?” the pirate captain asked his first mate.

“No word yet.  It’ll be another four hours before we can even receive their reply.”

“Damn speed of light.”

“Sir, a ship just appeared two million kilometers from us.  It’s ten degrees spinward.”

“Shit!  How could they have gotten a ship here that fast?  It’s impossible!”

“They’re turning toward us.”

“Deploy counter measures!” the captain ordered.  “Prepare for max deceleration!”  The captain then started to count, drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair.

◆ ◆ ◆

“The pirate ship has just been engulfed in some noise generators.  They’re giving off light and EM energy like crazy.  Our instruments can no longer see them,” the systems officer of the Chesapeake announced.

“Clever,” Captain Pokidin said.  “Hold course.”

◆ ◆ ◆

The pirate captain finished his count.  “Now!  Flip the ship, minus one-sixty-five and thirty degrees anti-spinward!  10Gs.” He yelled.  He immediately started deep breathing, preparing for the crushing pressure of the high G acceleration.

◆ ◆ ◆

“I’ve got them.  They just emerged from the noise field.  They’re heading outward and down.”

“Set an intercept course.”

“Sir, they’re doing 10Gs.”

“Can we catch them?”

“We can do a flyby, but at pretty high speed.”

“Then match them.  Chesapeake, announce emergency acceleration.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“What’s going on?” Jodi asked Catie as she walked into her cabin.

“Oh, the Chesapeake just jumped in; they’re giving chase.”

“Chase?”

“The pirate ship flipped and headed back out-system.  I assume they’re going to try to jump away.”

“How close did the Chesapeake get?”

“Two million klicks, about the average jump error.”

“Why is it that you never get zero error when you need it?”

“Then we wouldn’t get to watch this exciting race to their jump limit.”

“Exciting, like watching paint dry.  How long?”

“Assuming they have to get as far out as they were when they jumped in, twenty-four to twenty-five hours.”

“And intercept time for the Chesapeake?”

“About the same.”

“Want to go work out?”

“And miss all this excitement?  Sure.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Sir, the pirates have decreased their acceleration.”

“How much?” Captain Pokidin asked.

“To 6Gs.”

“Match them.”

“Sir?”

“Hey, they’ve told us they’ll put up with ten but are willing to carry this race out at six.  If we don’t match them, they’ll go back to ten.  We actually have an advantage at the lower acceleration since we’re carrying so much speed.  Which do you prefer?”

“6Gs it is.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“They’ve matched our acceleration.”

“Good,” the pirate heaved a sigh of relief.  10Gs was murder on the body.  Six was just like getting a solid beating.  “How long?”

“Twenty hours.”

“Set an alarm for eighteen.  I want us all on alert by then.”  The captain laid his head back on the acceleration couch.  Maybe he could get some sleep.

◆ ◆ ◆

The pirate captain snapped awake as the alarm went off.  “Status!”

“We’re ninety minutes from the edge of the jump window, but we’ll still be carrying too much speed.”

The captain had known that would be a problem, but he also knew that his ship would have had trouble maintaining 10Gs.  “Program the jump.  We jump as soon as we hit the window.”

“Sir!” the mate wanted to argue, but he knew that if he did, the captain would just shoot him and get someone else to do it.  He’d just have to cross his fingers.

“Scatzy!” the captain Commed his engineer.  “How are the engines holding up?”

“They’re holding; I don’t know for how long.”

“How long after we cut acceleration can we jump?”

“Theoretically, right away, but these are not theoretical engines.  They’ve had some hard hours put on them.”

“I know it, but we won’t have much of a choice.  We’re going to 10Gs again.”

“That’ll make it chancy.  Wait.  We’ll still be above max speed for the jump.”

“Well, we’re going to find out what that means.  Be prepared.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Deploy counter measures!”

“Deployed.”

The captain started counting again.  When he finished his count, he shouted out his next order.  “Change course, twenty degrees north, 10Gs!”

“Aye, sir,” the helm replied.  He calculated that they would still be above the max but closer.  He only hoped the ship could survive the jump.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Sir, they’ve deployed counter measures again.”

“Okay, assume they’ll be taking a more direct course toward the boundary.  Set intercept and prepare to adjust.  Go to 10Gs.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Are we going to get a shot off?” Captain Pokidin asked.

“It’ll be a long one, and we’re still going to be doing over two thousand kilometers per second.  And that’s assuming that they’re going to jump out at the same distance they jumped in.”

“You take what they give you.  Prepare weapons; fire as soon as you detect that they’ve cut acceleration.”

“Aye, sir.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Prepare to jump,” the pirate captain ordered.  “Cut acceleration and jump at the same time.”

“Captain . . .”

The helmsman heard the hum of the captain’s laser pistol charging as he pointed it at him.

“Aye, sir.”

“Now!”

◆ ◆ ◆

“They just jumped!”

“Did they cut acceleration?”

“They must have done it at the same time.”

“Okay, head back to the gate.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Scatzy, are we alive?” the captain asked over the Comm.  Power on the bridge was out, and the ship was coasting.

“Aye, we’re alive, but barely.  The reactor is down, and we’ve blown about every fuse we have.”

“Can you fix it?”

“I think so.  It’ll be a few days, and we’ll be limping.  But I think I can get us home.”

“Do it!  Now for you sissies here on the bridge, start cleaning up this mess.  And Jarama, you hesitate again when I give you an order, and I’ll shoot you.”

“Yes . . .  Sir,” Jarama gulped.

***

Chapter 13

The Drama Continues

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Catie said right after the pirate ship jumped.

“Isn’t that what you predicted would happen?” Jodi asked.  She’d been watching the action with Catie for the last thirty minutes.  They’d found other things to do during the first hours of the race to the pirate’s jump boundary.

“It was.  But you can always hope for something different.  I assume Uncle Blake will be calling for an after-action review.”

“Speak of the devil.”  Jodi pointed to the display where Blake’s image was now projecting.

“Do we have everyone?” Blake asked.

Captain Pokidin and Commodore Clements’ images both joined Blake on the display.

“It looks like it,” Jodi said.

“What did we learn?”

“Other than there's pirates in dem dar stars?” Catie asked.

“Very funny; how long did it take you to think that one up?” Blake asked.

“It just popped into my head.”

“And you had to use it?”

“Can’t dis the subconscious if you want it to keep working for you.”

Blake chuckled a little before he continued.  “Okay, back to what we did learn.  I assume you’ve all been thinking of options during that spellbinding chase.”

“I’m not sure what we could have done differently,” Captain Pokidin said.  “The jump error is too big to guarantee an intercept.”

“I don’t know about that,” Catie said.  “If we had waited until they were further in system and jumped several ships at low velocity, we probably could have corralled them.”

“Maybe,” Blake said.  “Why did it take so long to detect them?”

“The probe detected them about the same time as the planet received their signal; that’s not bad.  But if they had jumped below the system’s south pole, we wouldn’t have detected them until they were almost at the planet,” Catie said.  “Since we now know others have jump technology, we probably should put a probe down there so we have full coverage of the system.”

“But the asteroid belt and planets will create shadows,” Commodore Clements said.

Jodi poked Catie in the ribs before she could make a snide remark.

Catie rubbed her ribs.  “That’s true, but if someone can jump inside the planetary ring, then there’s not much we can do.  That’s far beyond our capabilities.”

“I agree with Catie,” Blake said.  “What about shortening the time to detect?  Should we scatter probes around the system?”

“The delay is only ten hours.  I don’t see why we’d spend money to shorten it.  Especially if we post a frigate at the planet,” Catie said.  She smiled at Commodore Clements, who was clearly agitated at her dominating the conversation.  But apparently, he didn’t have anything to say or couldn’t think fast enough.

“Okay, let’s have the Comte continue to the planet and take up position there.  Jodi, do you want to leave a frigate at Transaval?”

“I’d prefer not to weaken my force since we’re going to visit the new civilization we’ve discovered.  They’ve obviously got jump drives, and so did that pirate.”

“Okay, I’ll send one of ours there.  Do you want to add to your force?”

“No, we don’t want to appear too threatening.  We’ll know more in two days when our probe is able to jump into the system, and the starbase is at the fringe, so we could get help in short order.”

“Okay.  Now, what about having ships at low velocity available?  We’ve been focusing on getting to the planet as soon as we can.  Seems we might have a hole there.”

“Why don’t we make sure we have a couple of ships doing shore leave at Avalon?  Captain Pokidin was pretty quick to get here,” Jodi said.

“Captain?”

“It would work.  If they were on a two-days-on two-days-off schedule, then it would be a reasonable shore leave, and you’d have a fast response time.  You’d be able to get both ships in the same time you got the Chesapeake.”

“Good.  I’ll review that with my staff.  In the meantime, Captain Pokidin, you can return to Avalon.”

“Thank you, sir.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Catie, you don’t have to antagonize him,” Jodi scolded.

“He was being an ass.  He takes charge, doesn’t bother to ask us what we know and think.  He comes up with a lousy plan to capture or attack the pirate, and then when we give him a better plan, he acts like we were holding out on him.”

“I know.  But you’ll have to deal with him in the future, and you don’t want to have bad blood between you.”

“Maybe.  I’ll definitely try to avoid him.”

“But if you go back on active duty.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen.  We have plenty of talented officers, so I’ll stay in the inactive reserves.  I can fly a Fox anytime I want, and StarMerchants will keep me busy when Daddy doesn’t have me playing princess.”

“Your funeral.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Aw man, now we’re going to have to go to camp!” Captain Pokidin’s son whined as the door opened and his father walked in.

“Yes, you will, and you’re going to love it,” Captain Pokidin said.  “Now go get packed.  If you’re fast, I’ll tell you about the pirates I chased.”

“Oh, boy!”

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie got dressed up in her princess outfit.  She was scheduled to make a speech to the leadership of Terramata.  And, of course, she had to wear the damn sash.

“Ready?” ADI asked.

“Ready.”

“You’re on.”

“Good day.  This is Princess Catherine of the Delphi League.  I am happy to report that we have chased the pirates away from your system.  Unfortunately, we did not capture or destroy their ship.  We have dispatched one of our frigates to take orbit around your planet to ensure your safety.  The captain of the frigate will make contact with you shortly.  He will begin discussions with you regarding your current situation and tell you about the Delphi League.  There are a few scientists and a doctor aboard his ship that can facilitate discussions on sharing technology with you.  We hope that you will join our League.  Are there any questions I can answer for you?”

“Yes.  Can you tell us why the pirates targeted us?”

“I believe so.  We have just encountered another civilization that has established a presence in this area of space.  They have similar technology to us that allows them to jump between star systems.  Based on the data we’ve analyzed, they moved here about thirty years ago.  We assume that the pirates detected EM signals from your system and realized that your level of technology would mean you were vulnerable to them.  I’m sure you can fill in the gaps.”

“We can.  Are you sure that we’re safe from them?”

“We are confident.  With a frigate at your planet, we can jump other starships into the system and pin the pirate between them.  They know that.  It’s unlikely that they would be willing to take such a risk.”

“Thank you.  Now, can you explain what types of technology you’re willing to share with us?”

Catie smiled.  Why did it always turn back to business?  “First, let me explain what we know about your history.  Your civilization was started on Terramata about fourteen hundred years ago.  You were a colony from our world, Earth.  When our frigate arrives, they will be able to prove to you that we are the same species.  The events that led to your colonization are just coming to light.  But since we are the same species, we will be able to share lots of medical data with you.  We have cures and treatments for many of the diseases that plague our species.  Most of them will be shared with you openly.  Some are restricted due to patent rights, but we can make them available.

“The other thing that we can share with you is nuclear fusion.  We can help you build power plants that will allow your planet to produce the power it needs without creating pollution.  Your petrochemical industry will be impacted, but we can provide technology that will put their products to other uses, minimizing the negative economic impact of moving to clean power.

“We can also help you establish a satellite system above your planet which will have untold benefits to communication, travel, and scientific study.  Those three things will give you an idea of what your future may hold.  Once the Comte arrives, they will share more possibilities with you.  I, of course, will be in touch as needed.”

There was a smattering of other questions that Catie had to answer before she could close the call.  This would be so much easier once the Comte arrived.  Terramata’s communication technology was so limited.  And since the patents on most video technology had expired long ago, they could freely share that with them.

Terramata

“Did you get the alert?!” Hilde yelled as she started to race toward the shuttle.

“Yes!” Ben and Jaden yelled as they rode their boards in and raced after her.

“What’s up?” Hilde asked Dotty.

“We’ve been asked to be on standby.  There is an issue with Belkrania.”

When Hilde reached the shuttle, she grabbed a seat in front of the main display.  “Show me.”

“The Belkranians have amassed a tank division along the border; they’re threatening to invade Sovaria.”

“Why?”

“It’s a long-standing border dispute.”  Dotty showed an image of the border area.  There was a line of one hundred twenty-eight tanks arrayed behind the border fence.

“Hi, guys,” Catie said.  “I assume Dotty has brought you up to date.”

“Yes.  Do you understand what this is about?”

“I think the Belkranians want to change the status quo before the Comte arrives.  It’s still five days out.”

“Jerks!  Are we going to do something about it?”

“I’m not sure.  I want to discourage them from crossing the border, but I don’t want there to be any loss of life.”

Hilde looked at the picture.  She conferred privately with Dotty for a few minutes.  “This is what I would do.”  She ran her finger over the line of tanks.

Jaden howled with laughter.  “That would soften their resolve!”

Catie studied the image, then smiled.  “Do it!”

“I’m your wingman!” Jaden yelled.  “This is going to be so awesome.”

The two rushed to change into flight suits while Dotty summoned their Foxes.  By the time they exited the shuttle in their flight suits, their Foxes were waiting for them, having done a one-kilometer vertical decent.

“How fast?” Jaden asked.

“Getting there?”

“No, how fast a pass?”

“I have Dotty working on it.”

“Awesome.”

As Jaden got into his Fox, Ben came running out.  “I’ll do weapons,” he yelled as he crawled into the back seat.

“My AI can handle it.”

“Yeah, but who knows what might come up.  A third person might be useful.  Besides, no way am I missing out on this.”

The two Foxes did a vertical assent, then climbed to twenty kilometers and accelerated to Mach 10.  They would make it to the border in forty-six minutes.

◆ ◆ ◆

Vladimir Torpar’s response to being asked to stand down and being warned that there would be consequences were he to order his tanks to advance and cross the border into Sovaria was to do just that.

The troops formed up behind the tanks.  They were disdainful of the dug-in artillery positions of the Sovarians.  They would be taken out quickly by their bombers.  The planes were already on their way.

Thirty-two bombers were droning along.  They were five minutes out from the Sovarian border when they heard the first sonic boom.  Actually, the first four.  Catie had ordered the two Foxes flying oversight to join Hilde and Jaden once she realized that bombers would be involved.  Each Fox did a Mach 6 flyby of the bombers.  They managed to pass over four bombers, each during the first pass.  The shock wave was so powerful that the four bombers were damaged and forced to land.  The remaining bombers spread out, and it took two more passes before they could force the rest of them down.

“Yahoo!!  That was radical!” Jaden yelled.

“Did you have to fly so close?” Ben asked.

“Of course I did.”

“I noticed that Hilde left a bit more room.”

“Her AI must have been optimistic in its calculations.”

“I see,” Ben said as he adjusted himself in the seat, trying to sit a bit taller after scrunching down as small as he could during the last flyby.

“Are you boys ready?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Alright, we’re making a Mach 2 pass on the tanks.  We’ll fly right over the top of them at five hundred meters, and you’ll target every other tank so the plasma cannons so we’ll have enough time to recharge between shots.  I’ve sent the targeting rules to your AI.  Do not change them.”

“Wilco.”

“Two minutes ‘til engagement.”

“Roger that.”

◆ ◆ ◆

The tank division had heard the multiple sonic booms created as the Foxes made the passes over the bombers.  They assumed that they must be the results of the bombing and were confused why the sound had come from behind them.  They were looking up at the sky, searching for their bombers, when they were knocked off their feet.  They were body slammed against the tanks and ground.  Twice they felt their bodies pounded, followed by a loud boom.  The two events were only half a second apart, and when they finally managed to regain their feet and take stock of the situation, they saw their line of tanks with their once proud gun muzzles with a distinctive bend, say sag, in the last meter of the barrel.

They were wondering what the hell had happened.

“Awesome!” Jaden yelled.  “That’ll soften their resolve!”

Ben was looking at the image of the tanks in his HUD.  “That was epic.  That image will be sent to anyone who dares to face down Delphi Forces!”

“It is impressive,” Catie said.

“Oh, shi . . .” Ben gasped.

“You guys did a nice job.  We are sending the image to the interested parties.  Let’s hope it has the desired effect.  You’ll be kept in a holding pattern until we know more.”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

“And it did look like fun,” Catie added.

◆ ◆ ◆

Once again, Catie had to put on the damn sash as she was asked to explain what happened to the Terramata League of Nations.

“Sirs, I assume you have all heard about the events on the Belkranian Sovarian border.”

“We have.”

“How dare you interfere in our internal affairs!” the Belkranian minister yelled.

“The Sovarians asked for our help.  We told you that we would actively discourage any war.”

“You also told us your ship was still a few days away.”

“It is.  The four fighters you saw have been on your planet while we were researching how to contact you.  We told you about them when the pirates threatened you.”

“She did,” the minister from Malarcara said.  “Now, why don’t we take this as a lesson learned and focus on how we want to interact with the Delphi League.”

Waspara

Miranda and Herr Hausmann were sitting in a Lynx on the grounds of the top university in Causia.  They’d taken the Marco Polo east.  It had taken a couple of weeks for their surf researchers to gather enough information on Causia to give them the confidence to come up with a plan.  After much debate, they decided to land a Lynx in front of the premier university, the Oxford of Sultana; they’d selected the library.  They did a vertical landing at 4:00 in the morning when everyone was asleep or at least groggy.  The landing went off without anyone noticing.

“Okay, so when do you think someone will notice this big bird sitting in front of the university library?” Herr Hausmann asked.

“Well, it’s winter, so the sun doesn’t come up until 07:00, so I suspect that it’ll be whenever the first person shows up for work,” Miranda said.  “Might even be after that, but surely the gardeners will notice.”

“I feel sorry for the gardeners.”

“Why, we’re hovering so we don’t mess up their lawn.  What will they have to complain about?”

“And you don’t think a crowd will gather and trample all their work.”

“Ohhh . . . I guess that’s likely.  Well, needs must.”

“Easy for you to say.  I hope whoever is in charge is as open-minded.”

“You have visitors,” ADI informed them.

“ADI, are you always everywhere?  How do you keep up?” Miranda asked.

“I instructed Marco to keep me advised.  I like to be around when the fun happens.”

“You and Catie.”

“Who do you think I learned it from?”

“Okay, who’s out there?” Miranda asked as she brought the view up on the Lynx’s display.  She could see three young people and two older men standing on the pathway staring at the Lynx.

“It looks like a few students and maybe the librarians,” ADI answered.

“Any weapons in sight?”

“Not yet.”

“Should we?” Miranda asked, looking at Herr Hausmann.

“Not yet.  The university president should show up soon.  Let’s wait a bit longer.”

While they waited, a couple of the young students got up the nerve to run under the Lynx.  Pretty brave since there wasn’t anything visibly holding it up.  Eventually, as the crowd grew, a couple actually stood under it, posing for their friends.

Finally, a gray-haired and very officious-looking man showed up with two aides at his side.

“I think that’s your president,” Miranda said just as the man took a sword from one of his aides and poked the side of the Lynx.

“I believe you’re right, and he’s a curious man.”

“And not too worried about breaking our Lynx.  ADI, open the door.”  Miranda motioned to Herr Hausmann to indicate he would get the honor of making the first official contact.

As the hatch opened and the stairs slid out, Herr Hausmann exited and stood at the top of the stairs.  He was wearing a suit they’d had made for him on the Marco Polo.  He looked a bit like the university president but possibly more officious.

“Hello, my name is Herr Hausmann.”

“May I ask what kind of balloon this is and how are you able to be inside it?” the university guy asked.

“You may, but first, to whom am I speaking?”

“I am Sir Cardaffe, the president of this university.”

“I am pleased to meet you.  And this is not a balloon but a spaceplane.  As you can see, it has the ability to hover without any apparent effort.”

Sir Cardaffe looked at Herr Hausmann skeptically.  “I do not understand what a spaceplane is.  It’s obviously some kind of balloon; what else can it be?  Where do you come from?”

“We are cousins of yours.  We have come here from our common home, Gaia.”

“Gaia, that is a place of legend.”

“It surely is, but it is also a real place.  We can talk about the history if you would like.  My friend, Lieutenant Cordova, and I would enjoy that conversation.”  With that, Herr Hausmann pulled Miranda to his side.

“We would be pleased to host you,” the president said as he motioned for them to come down the stairs and follow him.

Miranda and two marines followed Herr Hausmann down the stairs from the Lynx.  The marines were dressed similarly to Herr Hausmann but not as nice.  They wore light body armor beneath their clothes, and their laser pistols were discreetly hidden in shoulder holsters.  When they reached the ground, the stairs retracted, and the Lynx rose up twenty meters into the air.  Sir Cardaffe and the crowd were suitably impressed.

◆ ◆ ◆

“That is a very impressive vessel,” Sir Cardaffe said after they were seated in a conference room.  “I am curious to learn how it elevates itself.  It seems to be made of metal, so it must be heavy.”

“As I said, it is not a balloon,” Herr Hausmann reiterated.  “It uses an advanced engine called a gravity drive to stay afloat.  Later, we would be happy to give you a ride.”

“Possibly,” Sir Cardaffe said as he continued to ignore Miranda.  “How is it that your voice seems to be coming from the side of your head?” he asked.

“Ah, you noticed.  Very astute of you.  I do not speak your language.  Therefore, when you talk to me, your voice is translated into my language and spoken into a device in my ear, and when I talk to you, my voice is translated to your language, and it comes from a speaker here on the side of my head.  It’s very small.”  Herr Hausmann pointed to the speaker that was on the side of his specs, which looked like large eye glasses.

Sir Cardaffe continued to look skeptical.

“Here, let me show you.”  Herr Hausmann removed his specs and placed them in the middle of the table.  “Now you can easily tell that my voice is coming from the glasses, not my mouth.”

“It is a trick.  I have seen entertainment where they do such things.”

“Okay, then take the glasses into the next room.”

Sir Cardaffe hesitated, letting his hand hover over the glasses.  “Father, I’ll take them,” one of his aides said.  Then the young man picked up the specs and walked out of the room.

A moment later, he stuck his head in the door.  “Father, you must come out here and hear this!”

Sir Cardaffe stood up and went to his son, closing the door.  Miranda and Herr Hausmann listened as ADI, mimicking Herr Hausmann’s voice, read off the headlines from the newspaper they had picked up the day before.  She ended her short spiel with, “Are you convinced now?”

Sir Cardaffe and his son came back into the room.  “Amazing.  What language do you speak?”

“I speak Galactic standard, English, and German,” Herr Hausmann said.  “Unfortunately, none of them are spoken here on Terra Novo.”  They had learned that the Causians called the planet Terra Novo instead of Waspara.

“And this translator,” Sir Cardaffe pointed to the specs, “what languages can it speak?”

“That is just the speaker,” Herr Hausmann said.  “The translator is here on my arm.”  Herr Hausmann squeezed the clothing on his arm to make his Comm obvious.

Sir Cardaffe shook his head, clearly skeptical.

“They communicate with each other using energy waves, like a wireless telegraph.”

Sir Cardaffe turned to his other aide and whispered into his ear.  The aide got up and left the room.  “He is going to get some of our scientists,” Sir Cardaffe explained.

“Excellent.”

“Now, tell me more about where you come from.  What country?  We know there are places across the sea that we have not explored yet.  But to be this advanced, we are truly surprised.”

Herr Hausmann chuckled.  “I know this is hard for you to believe, but we come from a different planet.  You know that your planet orbits your sun.  Well, we come from a planet that orbits a different star or sun.”

Sir Cardaffe shock his head.  “Surely you jest.  From a different star?”

“Yes.”

“Then how did you travel here?  Surely that spaceplane you have could not have done so.”

“It didn’t.  We traveled in a much larger starship.  We can bring it here to show you.  We didn’t do that yet since we didn’t want to scare the people here.”

Three men entered the room, followed by Sir Cardaffe’s aide.  Their arrival short-circuited any thoughts about bringing the Marco Polo over for viewing.  One of the men started quizzing Herr Hausmann about wireless telegraphs.  Herr Hausmann’s head shook as he looked over at Miranda.  “Help,” he messaged.

Miranda moved over and sat in front of the man, and picked up the conversation.  The others looked askance at her entering the conversation, but the man she was talking to just kept coming up with more questions.  It was obvious that he was working on the concept of wireless transmissions.  The conversation moved to electric generators and how to improve their efficiency.  Obviously, they’d had their own versions of Tesla and Edison on Terra Novo.

Herr Hausmann was using ADI to help him hold his own with the other two men who were quizzing him about steam power and gasoline.  Sir Cardaffe seemed to be convinced that there was something to what Herr Hausmann had claimed.  He left the room for a while, returning about an hour later to invite everyone to have lunch with him.

***

Chapter 14

New Neighbors

“Okay, our probe is about to jump into their system,” Catie told Ivila and Jodi as they sat in her cabin, waiting to see what they’d find in the new system.

“There it goes.”

“Wow,” Catie said.  “That is one big starbase.”  The screen was filled with a view of the base.  It had a single ring, two thousand meters in diameter, seventy meters in height, and two hundred fifty meters in width.  Its large hub had docking stations on each end.

“What’s the gravity they’re generating?” Jodi asked.

“Cers, the station is rotating approximately once per minute and is therefore generating 1.1Gs at the outer edge,” ADI explained.

“Thanks, ADI,” Catie said.  “I see eight ships on the south docking ring and twelve on the north one, so it’s a very busy place.  ADI, how many ships are we detecting in-system?”

“There are twenty-eight approaching or departing from the base.  We are also seeing quite a few within the asteroid belt.  The starbase is at seventy-six AUs.”

“So, given the mass of the start, that puts it about fourteen AUs inside the pirates’ jump limit.”

“To be more . . .”

“ADI!”

“Close enough.  I’ll include the exact figures in the summary report.”

“I wonder what they do that requires such a large starbase,” Jodi said.  “Obviously, they’re mining the system like crazy, but does that justify such a large base?”

“Very interesting,” ADI said.                                                        

“What?  Don’t keep us in suspense.”

“They are transmitting the same data package every few minutes.  It is essentially a database for a translation program.  I should have the translator working in a few minutes.”

“That means they’re set up to receive guests from different civilizations.”

“It would appear so.”

“Anything else?”

“There is another packet being transmitted.  It’s much smaller; I’ll have a translation for it shortly.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Ready,” ADI said.

“Then let’s hear it.”

“In your earwigs,” ADI said, which made sense since she would have to send a different translation for Ivila.

“Welcome to Sataria. Please be apprised that the station is armed with powerful plasma cannons.  We will not tolerate any attempt to dock or board without permission.  We abide by the Kalconian laws and expect you to do the same.  We sell metals that we mine from this system, and we also assist in cargo transfers or storage.  Please let us know how we can assist you.”

“That is interesting.  So how should we approach this?” Jodi asked.

“I’ll transfer to the Françoise, and we’ll jump in.  Why don’t you jump to the star next to them and set up the jump gate there?  We can jump it over if things look good, or we’ll just keep it there.  It’ll be easy for anyone to jump over if we want to deal with them.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie, Ivila, and Fiona were heading to the shuttle bay so they could move over to the Françoise.  When they got there, Tina was waiting for them.

“Tina, I was wondering where you’d run off to,” Catie said.

“Just trying to keep busy.  There’s not much for me to do when we’re aboard the ship.”

“So, what have you been doing?”

“Sparring and playing poker.”

“You win?”

“Mostly.”

“Well, it’s nice of you to join us.”

“Hey, it looks like I might get a chance to stretch my legs.”

“Get into the shuttle,” Fiona said.  “Jodi is expecting it to return sometime this week.”

“Oh, don’t get your panties in a twist,” Tina said.  “Or do you want me to twist them?”

Fiona glared at Tina.  The two women hadn’t settled on who was the queen bee yet, and Catie wasn’t interested in watching them figure it out.  “Let’s move.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Commander Lantaq met them in the shuttle bay of the Françoise.  “Welcome aboard, Princess.”

“Commander, it’s nice to see you again.  I heard you were second in command here.  How’s it working out?”

“It’s working out.  I’m learning to kick ass without actually hitting someone.”

“That sounds good,” Catie said with a laugh.

“Inefficient,” Lantaq said.  “But you don’t lose as many crewmembers, so I guess it’s a worthwhile trade-off.”  Commander Lantaq was the Fazullan who’d arranged things so that Admiral Blake didn’t have to destroy the ship he was on when it had tried to invade Artemis.  ‘Arranged things’ meant he killed the captain who wanted to go out in a blaze of glory.

“I see several shuttles going between the station and some of the ships that are holding position close by,” Catie said.  “Why don’t we talk to them and get permission to take a shuttle over?  Then we can assess the situation better and decide how we want to proceed.”

“Who do we send?” Captain Lebedev asked.

“Me, Doctor Fauchet, a couple of techies; you, if you’d like to go.”

“I don’t like that plan,” Fiona said.  Her voice startled everyone since she’d been staying quiet and out of the way at the side of the cabin.

“Why?”

“It’s too much risk for you.  You should stay here until we have a better sense of the situation.  Send Tina; she can be your representative.”

“They don’t know who I am,” Catie argued.  “I’ll just be a trader coming to check things out.”

“Not until we know more.”

“Give me a break,” Catie whined.

“Before Morgan left, she told me that I should expect you to ask for an arm and a leg on a regular basis.  She said I’d have to get used to it.  But then she said, asking for an arm and two legs is too much.”

Lantaq stifled a laugh while Catie yelled.  “That’s not fair.  I apologized, and it wasn’t even my fault.”

“Well,” Fiona said.

“I can go as Tina’s aide.”

“So, you’ll be wanting that extra leg then?”

“Damn it.  Okay, I’ll wait until the second trip.”

“Thank you, Princess.”

Catie stuck her tongue out at Fiona.

While this was going on, ADI was explaining to Ivila that Fiona was referring to the incident where Catie’s last bodyguard, Morgan, had lost an arm and two legs when she tackled and covered a suicide bomber to protect Catie.  She did add that they were able to replace the limbs, and Morgan was happily going about her life on Earth as an instructor for the Delphi Forces.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Hello, I’m Catherine McCormack; my friends call me Catie.  We’re here to discuss trade options.  This is our first visit to your system.  Would it be possible for us to send a small delegation over in a shuttle?”

“Welcome.  I’m Marcolas, the station manager.  You’re welcome to visit.  I will send you a list of our fees for docking and shuttle landing.  We have our own currency, but it is tied to the value of platinum.  The price list will include the cost in our currency as well as grams of platinum.  You may open an account here that will allow you and your crew to charge items during your stay.  You can also exchange platinum or other platinum metals for our currency if you prefer to operate on a cash basis.”

“That’s very accommodating of you.  Are there laws and other things we need to be aware of?”

“I’ll send you a copy of the Kalconian laws, but basically, we’re a very free society.  Don’t cause trouble, and you won’t have any problems with us.  We recognize all sapient life forms and consider them equal under our laws.”

“We’re glad to hear that.  We’ll review your data package and get back to you.”

“We look forward to your visit.”

“They sound kind of laissez-faire about laws,” Jodi said.  She’d been skimming the package as ADI translated it.

“I would agree,” ADI added.  “Getting into a fight is not a problem unless it causes property damage.”

“What about if someone is hurt?”

“If someone is killed during a fight, all parties are banned from the station for one year.  If you assassinate someone, basically sneak up and kill them, then you’ll be tried and, if convicted, sent to a prison camp in one of the other systems.  Stealing is heavily penalized with banning from the station for various lengths of time based on the value of what you steal.”

“Laissez-faire indeed.  Interestingly, they define their jurisdiction as everywhere within the jump distance from the star.  They don’t mention different jump distances based on technology, so I would surmise that they only have one jump technology.”

“What happens if ships get into a fight outside the jump boundary?” Catie asked.

“That’s defined as open space, so no rules apply.  They do, however, reserve the right to exclude anyone from their system regardless of their status.  That makes me think that they would ban both parties from the system.”

“How do they define a party?” Jodi asked.

“It’s the ship and its captain.  They don’t seem to extend infractions from the ship to the ship’s home port or even the crew.”

“That sounds crazy.  That means you could switch ships, and they wouldn’t care?”

“Well, the captain is the authority on the ship, so if the ship gets into trouble, I think it would be unfair to extend the ban to the crew.”

“Maybe.  What about piracy?”

“They don’t talk about it.  If you attack another ship within their system, they will ban you and, if possible, destroy your ship if it’s close enough to the station.”

“Sounds like the wild west.  Is any behavior banned?”

“Just property damage, stealing, killing, and inter-ship fighting.  Oh, one more thing, possessing and/or firing a projectile weapon while on the station.”

“That’s it?!”

“Well, there is that ‘we can ban anyone from the station’ caveat.  So, if you’re unruly or dishonest, they can just kick you out.”

“But that’s based on their interpretation of events.”

“True.”

“Definitely the wild west.”

“Cer Catie, you have a message from your father,” ADI privately messaged Catie.

“I’m not surprised; I can guess what it says.  Play it.”

“Catie, do not go to that station until Fiona and Jodi’s head of security have deemed it safe.”

“Already got that message from Fiona,” Catie replied.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Commander Lantaq would like to accompany the team,” Jodi told Catie.  “And since we can’t take weapons, having a couple of heavy worlders might not be a bad idea.”

“Sure, and we’ll get another perspective on their society.”

“I’m glad you agree since I already told him to get ready.”

“Fiona, I think we should send Tina unless you want to go.”

“I’m good with sending Tina.  She’s the better spy; she’ll be able to get a sense of what kind of underbelly they have over there.”

“Okay.  Send them,” Catie told Jodi.  She was still unhappy about not getting to go.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Finally, some action,” Tina thought as the shuttle made its way to the starbase.  She had started to regret her decision to come with Catie on this mission.  She was bored to tears with doing nothing but sit on the ship.

“Sergeant Castro, are you armed?” Commander Lantaq asked.

“I have a few toys hidden away.  No firearms or power weapons since they don’t allow them.”

“Will your toys set off their detectors?”

“Might.  I’ve got a ceramic blade, a polysteel blade, and a regular steel blade.”

“Why the steel blade?”

“It’ll give them something to find.  By the way, you should start calling me Tina; we don’t want to look like anything official while we check things out.”

“Okay, you can call me Lantaq.  What about him?” Lantaq asked, indicating Doctor Fauchet.

“Just call him Doc.  He’ll get confused otherwise.”

Doctor Fauchet looked over at them, confused.  He was sure they were talking about him.

“Doc, don’t worry, we’ll look after you,” Tina said.  She wasn’t happy having to take the doctor along, but Catie had insisted.  She said they wanted the doc’s opinion about the civilization from an anthropological point of view.  Whatever, just one more hassle, but at least she would be out and about even if she had to look out after the doc.

“We’re in the hanger,” the pilot announced.  “Ten minutes until they have pressure equalized.”

Tina nodded at Lantaq and stood up.  She grabbed a bag, kind of a purse; she wasn’t sure what was normal out here, but having a bag to put stuff into was nice.  Lantaq picked up the pack with the platinum in it.  They’d agreed to open an account.  Someone should be waiting to take it.  The two marines who were to accompany them were dressed like miners.  The doc looked like an egghead.  They planned to pass him off as their mineralogist, the guy who assessed if an asteroid was worth mining.

The airlock opened, and Tina waved to the pilot and the two marines who would have the unenviable job of staying aboard the shuttle and guarding it.

“Welcome to Sataria,” a man said as soon as they stepped into the hanger.

“Thank you.”

“I can take that for you,” another man said to Lantaq, indicating the pack.  “I’ve got a receipt right here.”

Lantaq glared at the guy.  “Would you like one broken arm or two?”

The guy looked at Lantaq as though confused, but he quickly ducked down and ran out of the hangar.

“What was that for?” Tina asked.

“He doesn’t work for the station.  He’s some kind of thief,” Lantaq said.

“What makes you say that?”

“A banker type wouldn’t be out here in the hangar.  He’ll be inside where it’s nice and comfortable.  Besides, his clothes didn’t look that nice.”

The first man ushered them out of the hangar.  Sure enough, when they entered the main reception area, there was a smartly dressed woman waiting on them.  She looked pretty human, making Tina wonder if she was.  Maybe Volmora had seeded another planet.  “Hello, I’m Vilata.  I assume you’re Lantaq, and that’s your deposit.”

“Correct,” Lantaq said.  He privately messaged Tina, “See.”

It took a few minutes to complete the transaction.  When they were finished, they had a secure code which would allow them to access their account as well as a few thousand in local currency.  Vilata had the guy who was with her pick up the backpack.  It wasn’t that heavy, only ten kilos, but it was worth about half a million dollars.  A second man followed them; he was obviously armed with a laser rifle.

Lantaq gave Tina about half the cash, and he gave the doc and the two marines a couple of hundred each.  “Don’t be flashing it around.”  He was looking directly at the doc when he said it.  The doc looked a bit scared and shoved the money into his pocket.

They went through security.  The security guys noticed Tina’s steel knife but just smiled at her.  The rest of the team went through as well.  Lantaq got a bit of a glare instead of a smile, but they let him pass.

“Now what?” he asked.

“Let’s find a bar,” Tina said.  “We can visit Marcolas later, but I’d like to get a feel of the place first.”  Although Lantaq was officially in charge of the team since he was the ranking officer, Catie had made it clear that Tina would be calling the shots.

“That sounds like the correct first destination for a bunch of miners,” Lantaq agreed.

As soon as they exited the reception area into the main passage, they were assaulted by signs and messages about where the best bar was.  Tina picked one and headed out; Lantaq and the rest just followed her.  When she turned into a bar, Lantaq asked, “What made you choose this place?”

“Not too close to the dock and about halfway to the last one advertised.  Shouldn’t have to deal with too many dead drunks here.  They’d never walk this far.”

Tina walked up to the bar and put her bag on it.  “Beer.  Just a sample,” she said as she pulled an analyzer out of her bag.

“Good, I was hoping we weren’t going to have to test it on the doc,” Lantaq said.  The doc paled a bit and looked at Lantaq, hopefully.  Hopeful that he was kidding.  “Don’t worry, I’d have used one of them,” Lantaq pointed to the two marines.  “We still need your skills.”

After a quick test showed that the beer was mostly water, a bit too much water, alcohol, and some safe flavorings, she told the two marines to go check out the bar next door; then she ordered a round for her and Lantaq, the doctor said he didn’t like beer and just got a glass of water.

“Where are you folks from?” the bartender asked.

“Oh, here and there.  We have a mixed crew,” Tina said, nodding toward Lantaq, who did look a bit odd with his pale color and hard nose.  “We’ve been mining in a system not too far from here.  Thought we’d better come and establish an account and check this place out.”

“Smart move.  There isn’t another starbase within a hundred light-years.  When you get out this far, Sataria is really the only choice for shore leave or trading.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Thirty years. I came out when they built the base.”

Tina nodded her head.  “So, what’s it like here?”

“It’s nice.  You have to be careful, stay out of trouble.  There’s always someone looking to collect the stupid tax.”

“What stupid tax?” Lantaq asked.

“The tax on being stupid,” Tina said.

“Oh, I like that.  Used to collect that a lot back in my youth,” Lantaq said.  “In fact, someone met us in the hangar trying to collect.”

“Oh, offered to take your platinum and give you a receipt?”

“Yep.”

“You’d be surprised how often they get away with it.”

“Don’t they get caught?  They can’t run very far.”

“Well, it’s not illegal to ask someone to give you their platinum.”

“Don’t the people they con hunt them down?”

“Yeah, if they have the resources.”

“And?”

“They usually catch the guy in a few hours.  He’ll not have the platinum, not know where it is, nor who put him up to it.  They’ll kick him off the station, but the gangs never have a hard time finding another guy to pull the same stunt.”

“How do they persuade him?”

“I suspect they give him a choice.  A lot of broken bones or getting tossed off the station.  It’s usually someone who’s gotten into debt and doesn’t have anyone to help him out.  Easy pickings.”

Lantaq and the doc went off to the head, and the bartender went to the other end of the bar, leaving Tina alone.  She turned around and leaned against the bar, studying the customers.  There weren’t that many, but most of them were in groups of two or three, and it looked like they were talking business, although a couple of tables might have been talking about sports since they were more animated.  There was a big guy at the corner table by himself.  When Tina looked at him, he got up and walked up to the bar, taking the spot next to her.

“I’m Marius.  You going to buy me a drink,” he said.

“I don’t think so.”

“Your translator must not be working right.  I said, you’re going to buy me a drink.”  He looked at Tina, trying to look as intimidating as possible.

“You must sing in a choir,” Tina said.

The guy shook his head.  “What?”

“You must sing in a choir.”

“What makes you say that?”

“The only reason I could think of that you’d want to change your voice to soprano.”  Tina pressed her knife into the guy’s crotch.  One second, she was leaning against the bar empty-handed; the next, she was offering surgical procedures with her knife.

“Now, is my translator working correctly?”

The guy gulped and backed away.  Once he was clear of the knife, he turned around and returned to his table.  About that time, the bartender showed up.

“What was that?” he asked.

“That was your friend, Marius, trying to help you sell more drinks,” Tina said, glaring at the bartender.

“Not my friend.”

“Sure, I believe that,” Tina said.  Her voice made it clear she didn’t.

“He’s just a guy down on his luck.”

“How’s that?”

“Got kicked off his last ship.”

“Why?”

“Some disagreement about who should be sleeping with the third mate.  The captain won.”

“Oh well.  He should get a job.”

“Not many available.”

“Oh?  This looks like a busy place.”

“It is, but that attracts a lot of hopefuls.  So it takes time to absorb them.  And getting kicked off a ship gives one a bad rep.”

“Sounds like it wasn’t his fault.”

“Maybe, but the captain has a reputation.  Nobody wants to piss him off by hiring the guy.”

“If that’s the way the captain felt, why didn’t he space him?”

“Well, that would have been too kind.  He likes seeing him around, begging and such.”

“Oh, where is he?” Tina asked, looking around the bar.

“He’s out.  Had some big job, or at least that’s what he told everyone.”

“Interesting,” Tina said as Lantaq and the Doc walked back up to the bar.

“What’s interesting?” Lantaq asked.

“Oh, barkeep here was telling me about some jerk captain.”

“We’ll have to keep our eye out for him.”

“You do that,” the bartender said.  “He should be back any day now.  You guys want another round?”

“Not right now.  We’ve got a meeting to attend.”

***

Chapter 15

Management

“Who are we meeting?” Lantaq asked.

“Marcolas, the base manager.  I set up a meeting while we were at the bar.  I think we have a general sense of this place; now it’s time to get specifics.”

They took the lift down to the first floor and went down the passageway twelve meters before they came to what was obviously the main office.  It had wooden doors with a glass side panel.  A definite luxury out here in the middle of nowhere.

When they entered the room, there was a small woman standing at a desk talking to another equally small woman.  They both looked up.  The one who was standing greeted them.

“You must be Cer Lantaq and Cer Castro.  I’m Marcolas, no title.  Please join me.  You look a bit like Darmarians, but . . . you’re not even the same species, are you?”

“No.  We call my species Terrans, and Lantaq here is a Fazullan.  We have a pretty eclectic crew.”

“That’s a bit unusual out here.  But it must make for a more interesting time at the bar.”  She led the way to a back office.  Tina guessed she might be a bit over 1.4 meters tall, pretty short.

“Are all your people of diminutive stature?” Tina asked.

Marcolas laughed.  “You can say short.  We don’t consider it an insult.  Yes, we’re all about this height.  We evolved on a watery planet.  Lots of marshes, swamps, and rivers.  When my people decided they wanted to expand their diet to include meat, they fished.  Long legs were not much of an advantage, hence the short height.”

“That was a scholarly explanation.”

“Well, Xenoanthropology is a passion of mine.  I studied it in college.”

“And yet you’re here,” Tina said as she glanced around the office.  It was decorated with lots of little things an anthropologist might collect.

“Yes, well, my parents had other ideas.  They own a starbase about one hundred light-years up-arm.  When I graduated, they said playtime was over and sent me and my brother out here to establish this base.”

“Hmm, nice of them.”

“I didn’t think so, but what can you do?”

“Where’s your brother?”

“You must have noticed the small station in the asteroid belt.  It’s our smelter and waystation for the miners.  He runs that; he thinks it is more exciting.  Now what can I do for you, or more interesting, what can you do for me?”

“We do a bit of prospecting, mining, and shipping.  We’re trying to decide if we should expand into this area.”

“That ship of yours looks to be pretty nice.  Can’t tell that much since you didn’t dock it here.  No issue, I wouldn’t have docked it at a starbase I didn’t know either.  But you’re probably one of the largest ships we have running around out here, so you’d have your pick of jobs.”

“What kind of jobs do the other ships do?”

“Well, the biggest ones, you might qualify, run cargo between starbases.  Their ships are too valuable to be running cargo to each system, so they drop it off here, pick up other cargo, and head to the next starbase or planet.  Then you have the puddle jumpers.  They pick up cargo here and then jump it to all the systems that don’t have jump-capable ships or don’t want to waste their time running to the station for their cargo.  They all have their own secret route since nobody wants anyone to know where their claim is; it generally works for them.”

“If they don’t have jump ships, how do they claim a system?”

“Oh, that’s the last group of ships, the prospectors.  I thought you said you did some of that.”

“We do, but maybe we mean different things by it.”

“Well, they prospect.  If they find a good system with a rich asteroid belt or rich planet, they sell it.  Part of the deal is they jump the new owners to the system.  They usually take a big chunk down, then a percentage of the profits.”

“What keeps someone from jumping into the system and robbing them?”

“Oh, we try not to talk about that group of ships, pirates.  First, you have to know where the system is.  Then you have to catch them.  If someone jumps into the system uninvited, the owners will race away and hide in some hidey-hole they have among the asteroids.  By the time the pirates get to the belt, they’ll be well hidden, and the ore they mined will be with them or in some other hidey-hole.  So, unless the pirates are willing to starve them out, there’s not much they can do.  If they manage to catch them shipping their ore out, then there’s still the problem of catching the other ship.  It would take a different vector to the edge and probably dance around the asteroid belt a bit first.  So, generally not a profitable business.”

“But you do have them?”

“Yes, they prey on the systems that have gotten a bit too big, but not big enough to adequately defend themselves.  If they can get hostages, then they can collect.”

“What about you?”

“As you should have heard on our transmission, we have two large plasma cannons and generally a few ships here that would step up to help us.  For a fee, of course.”

“So, you act as a bank or broker?”

“A bit of both; we collect the ores from the other systems.  Usually, they’ve been smelted.  We then sell it and ship it off to one of the bigger systems.  Sometimes we just buy it outright and make a profit on shipping it; sometimes, we just broker the deal.”

“This is a big base; what else do you do?”

“Well, we have lots of hydroponics to feed everyone and have food to ship to the miners.  We run a few small industries here to make things.  Clothes, shoes, and some tools.  We also manufacture certain things that are inefficient to ship in their final form, gravity drives, things like that.”

“Is that big station above you a shipyard?”

“Yes.  We can do some repairs while you’re in dock, but for major things, we send you over to the shipyard.  They can repair most damage.  At least enough to get you to a bigger shipyard.”

“Okay.  What about places to stay?”

“We’ve got a couple of nice hotels.  Also, owners will rent out their cabins if they’re away.  If you tie your communicator into our system web, you can look things like that up.”

“Okay, thanks for the information.  We’ll be in touch,” Tina said.  Then she and Lantaq got up and left the office.

“That was very informative,” Lantaq said once they were in the passageway.

“Yes, she was very talkative.  I’m not sure if it was because she was bored or because you made her nervous.”

“Me, make someone nervous?”

“You kept looking at her like she could be lunch.”

“I’ll have you know that was my polite, inquisitive look.”

“Yeah, I bet it works wonders.”

“It does.”

◆ ◆ ◆

They had dinner at a nice restaurant that evening, then Tina had Lantaq take one of the Marines and check out the seedier bars in the innermost decks while she and the other marine checked out a couple of nightclubs in the outer decks.

Tina was disappointed; it was a bit boring, and nobody even hit on her.  She guessed that they did stick to their own species, as Marcolas had suggested.

They spent the night in the shuttle before doing some more wandering around the base.  They toured the industrial areas, which were mostly safe.  The hydroponic farms were interesting, with lots of labor working them.  They encountered a few hassles, but nothing that a Delphinean couldn’t handle.  Finally, Tina declared that the base was reasonably safe and sent the shuttle out to get Catie and Ivila.  Of course, Fiona came, along with two additional marines, to provide protection for Ivila.

“It’s about time,” Catie Commed as she boarded the shuttle.

“Chill, girl, or I’ll have to do some more research,” Tina said.  “We could have spent a week checking this place out.  It’s big and kinda weird.”

“Oh, tell me about it.  I’ve been going over all the data with Samantha for the last two days.  She doesn’t know what to make of them either.”

“I didn’t ask, but it seems like they don’t have quantum relays.”

“I think that as well.  I’m going to ask, but I want to wait a few days and see what else we can learn.”

◆ ◆ ◆

It took an hour before the shuttle docked.  Tina met them with her marine shadow.  Nobody was there to offer to take their platinum, making Tina wonder if the scam was connected to the owner or her office.

“Hey, Catie.  Nice kit,” Tina said, referring to the clothes Catie had selected for her and Ivila.  A loose blouse with a jacket and slacks.  The slacks were flared a bit, just below being called bellbottoms.  Navy for Catie, maroon for Ivila.

“You think,” Catie said, doing a twirl.

“I assume there’s a shipsuit under there.”

“You know it.”

Tina led them to the same bar they’d started in.  “Catie, the beer’s good; order us a round while we grab a table.”

Catie walked up to the bar and leaned against it as she waited for the bartender to make his way down to her.

“You’re buying me a drink,” a big guy said.

Catie turned her head and glared at him.

“Never mind,” the guy said as he turned around and headed back to his table in the corner.  He must have realized that she and Tina were from the same species, at least that’s what Tina thought as she shook her head and muttered, “Damn.”

“Any problems?” the bartender asked.

“No,” Catie said.  “Six beers for that table,”

“Coming right up.”

Catie walked over to the table.  “Tina, what was that?”

“I just wanted to see how you would handle him.”

“He was big, but he was mostly polite.”

“I guess he really doesn’t want to sing in the choir.”

“Huh?”

Tina flicked Catie the video of her encounter with the guy.

“Very funny,” Catie said after watching it.

“What?” Ivila asked.

Catie flicked the video to her.  “Tina thinks she’s a comedian.”

Ivila frowned at Tina after watching the video.  “He could have hurt Catie.”

“No way.  You don’t know how many times Catie has sent me to the infirmary when we spar.  That guy wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Ivila looked at Catie, who had shrugged off the whole thing and was now chatting with Fiona about the décor in the bar.

“Looks like we walked into a pub in Ireland,” Fiona was saying.

“It does.  We should open one like it on Avalon.  Has a nice vibe.  The ones we have on Avalon are a bit sterile.”

“That might be because they’re too nice.  Here, the furniture looks like it’s designed to be broken and replaced easily.”

“Oh, that’s it.  Kind of like fight club.”

“Lantaq says the ones closer to the freight warehouses are even seedier,” Tina said.  “Apparently, they don’t bother to replace the furniture.  Lots of duct tape.”

“I never thought about duct tape as a fashion statement, but it would say ‘Dive Bar’ in capital letters.”

***

Chapter 16

Pirates Come to Roost

“Cer Catie, the Françoise has detected a ship jumping into the system.  Its configuration is consistent with the pirate ship,” ADI messaged.

“Well, is it the same ship?”

“We won’t know for a few hours.  It’s too far away to get an accurate read.  It is heading toward the starbase.  We should have enough data before it arrives.”

“When will it get here?”

“Three days.  It is doing 3Gs.”

“Oh,” Catie flicked her eyes up and did a bit of math.  “So, it jumped in at eighty-five AUs?”

“Correct.”

“Okay.  Alert me if anything changes.”

“Of course.”

Catie had a meeting scheduled with Marcolas, the base manager, to discuss some details about trade.  She hoped that they’d know if the ship was their pirate adversary or not before then.  In the meantime, she needed to talk with her team.

“So, do you think it’s the pirate?” Jodi asked.

“It’s likely.  This is the closest starbase to Terramata, and they do have an issue with pirates here.”

“And if it is?”

“I’d like to find a way to capture them?”

“Capture?”

“Well, it would be nice to learn about their technology.  This seems to be a pretty advance ship when compared to the others in the system.”

“Then we wouldn’t need to capture it in one piece,” Lantaq said.

“It would be preferable, but I agree we should minimize our risk,” Catie said.  “Hopefully, we’ll know before my meeting with Marcolas this afternoon.”

“What are you going to do then?” Tina asked.

“I’m going to quiz her about them.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Cer Marcolas, thanks for seeing me.  You’ve met Tina already,” Catie said.

“I’m always happy to meet with a new trader for our station.  I see you’re still keeping your ship out on the periphery.”

“We’re a cautious company.  We want to know a lot more about a place before we dock.”

“I can understand that.  Now what can I do for you?”

“First, we wanted to know more about your shipyard.  What kind of repairs can it accomplish.”

“They can handle most hull repairs, simple things on your fusion plant.  We do have Osmians on the station, so they can tune your jump drive and make most repairs to them.  They can also replace them.”

Catie frowned.  “Osmians?”

“You must have met them.  They’re the race that invented the gravity drives, and they’re they only ones that know how to tune them to operate as jump drives.”

“Oh.  Nobody has reverse-engineered the jump drives?”

“They’re set to fuse if you open the control system up.  They’re shielded, so it’s hard to tell exactly what they’re doing.  I know a few people who’ve taken measures of the gravimetric output, but it is confusing.  I suspect the Osmians have the drive emit some junk waves to confuse people.”

“I can imagine they would,” Catie said.

Marcolas gave Catie a puzzled look.  “Don’t tell me you have your own jump drives.”

“We must have acquired them from an agent of the Osmians,” Catie said.  “We’ve never met them.  What do they look like?”

“Oh, humanoid.  They shave their heads because they think it makes them look smarter.  They have unusually tall foreheads and a very flat nose.  Skin coloring is a tad green.”

“I haven’t seen anyone that looks like that on the station.”

“They tend to keep to themselves.  They have cabins in the same area and their own restaurant.  Their food is horrible.”

Catie laughed.  “Okay, that would explain it.  Another thing, what are your rules about cargo exchanges?  Do we have to dock?”

“Not really.  We don’t charge a fee if you do it on your own.  But it does go much quicker if you use our facilities.  We do have a few customers who are leery of bringing their cargo in.  They usually jump in halfway around the orbit and exchange out there.  Then one ship heads out immediately while the other one might come in to pick up something or for shore leave.”

“Okay.  And my last question is about the ship that just jumped in.  Do you know who they are?  They’re pretty big compared to the rest of the ships here, and it looks a bit like a military ship.”

“Oh, that’s Captain Mokolov.  His ship is the Xenon, and he’s not a nice person.  I suggest you avoid him.”

“What do you mean ‘not a nice person?’” Catie asked.

“He’s known to start fights just because he’s bored.  He also has a reputation for cheating.  At cards, in business, on his woman.”

“How does he cheat in business; I thought you had laws about that?”

“We can’t protect people from themselves.  If you buy something, it’s up to you to verify that it’s what you want.  Captain Mokolov was a prospector until recently.  His finds tended to be a bit poorer than the assay said they were.  People suspected him of seeding the belt.  Not sure how he did it.  Unfortunately, nobody felt cheated enough to try and back out of the deal after they started mining.  But after a while, people started to demand an independent survey before they bought from him.”

“That’s smart.”

“Right.  If you want to be stupid, why should we get involved?”

“And nobody called him out on it?”

“No.  He’s a pretty big guy.  Kind of like your friend,” Marcolas nodded to Tina.

“Lantaq,” Tina said.

“Right.  Some people you just want to steer clear of.”

“So, how has he managed to stay in business?”

“He didn’t.  He quit prospecting and traded up to the Xenon.  And you’re correct, it does have some pretty hefty weapons systems.  Mokolov told everyone he had a big score all lined up.  Not sure what it was, but I’m sure he’ll be bragging all about it after he docks.”

“Well, we’ll certainly keep an eye on him.  You’re not worried that he is going to use those weapons to become a pirate and try to rob you?”

“Not really.  We’ve got pretty big plasma cannons here.  They have lots of range.  I don’t think he’ll want to mess with us.”

“What about your customers?”

“If he tried something, he might get away with it once, but after that, everyone would scramble under our guns when he jumps in.  You might want to consider that.”

“We will,” Catie said.  “Thanks for seeing us.  We’ll be in touch.”

“Do you think raiding Terramata was his big score?” Tina asked once they were alone.

“Yes, I do.  And the question is, what’s he going to do now that it didn’t play out?  It sounds like he was counting on it to pay for the upgrade to that ship.”

“Are you thinking about setting a trap for him?”

“Of course.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie continued to make her rounds of the various businesses while Mokolov made his way into the system.  She heard about a guy named Jarkata, who was a shipper for a bunch of miners that worked in the outlying star systems.  She set up a lunch meeting with him just after Mokolov finally docked.  Ostensibly it was to discuss a cargo deal, but it really was about pumping him for information.

“You’ve been here for a few days,” he said.  “Don’t you have places to go?”

“We’ve got some minor maintenance to do on the ship’s fusion reactor.  We should be finished in about a week.  I still need to talk to the shipyard about making a part for us.”

“I’ve got a good contact there; I’ll send you his details.  I’m sure he’d be happy to help.  He loves getting new customers.”

“Thanks.  How is your business going?” Catie asked.

“It’s been going well, but with Mokolov here now, I’m nervous.  He was supposed to hit it big on this trip, but with the way he’s been bitching about money, it seems like that fell through.  You’d think he’d go get a job hauling cargo,” Jarkata said

“I agree,” Catie said.  “I heard he bought that big ship because he had some huge score lined up.  Since it looks like it didn’t, do you think he’s in a bind now?”

“Exactly.  It makes you wonder what he’s up to since he doesn’t seem to be looking for a job.”

“It would be nice if there was some military ship that would jump in here to keep an eye on him.”

“Hah, that’s as likely as finding a planet made of gold.  Planets that have a military don’t allow their ships to leave the system.  In fact, most military ships don’t have jump capability.”

“That’s weird, why not?”

“Hey, jump drives are expensive, and they don’t want a new government to think about sending their ships to another system.  They want them nice and close to the home planet.”

“What about colonies?”

“Well, if they’re rich enough, they buy a military ship and bring it along.  Sometimes they set up a trade deal where they get a loaner.  Usually an old ship, kind of like buying it over time.”

“What about poor colonies?”

“They set up a missile platform on one of their moons.”

“Why on a moon?” Catie asked as she started to mentally check through the reasons.

“Because it’s cheaper, and it’s easier to hide it.  A satellite platform is just too easy to target.”

“I see,” Catie said.  “I bet they can launch a few sleeper missiles to wait until the ship gets into range.  They would have weeks of advance warning.”

“They do.  Looks like someone has studied military strategy.”

“A little, but mostly I like to read science fiction.”

“I guess that would work if you don’t let it confuse you.  Some of them have missiles and spaceships that can do 100Gs.  And any pirate would either jump right into your planet’s orbit or get there in a few hours.”

Catie spent some time pumping Jarkata about the cost of ships.  She soon discovered that their cost was about four times what it cost the Delphi League to build one.  It wasn’t as bad as the Paraxeans' old method of printing one, but it was close.  Based on her questions, she realized that since they didn’t have polysteel and couldn’t extrude their ships, they spent as much money on the hull as they did on building the ship.

◆ ◆ ◆

Once Catie and her team had a few days to become familiar with Sataria, Marc called a quick meeting so Catie could give the board an update.

“Catie, what have you learned?” Marc asked once he, Samantha, and Blake were on the call.

“Well, obviously, the first thing is that these people have jump drives.  They’re controlled by a race called the Osmians.  They’re not a good as ours, or at least the ones they let others have aren’t.”

“Can you be more specific,” Blake asked.

“Their jump distance is around 65 AUs, and it sounds like they cannot jump that far, five to ten light years.  I haven’t seen any indication that they have jump gates or that they can string wormholes together.”

“What about weapons?”

“Theirs seem comparable to ours.  Their gravity drives seem to have about the same power in system.  You saw what the pirate ship did as far as Gs.”

“Other technology?” Marc asked.

“Nothing exotic yet.  They don’t appear to have quantum relays.”

“Interesting,” Samantha said.  “That might explain why their laws are so lax.  It’s hard to enforce laws when it takes so long to find out anything.  How does that impact their social structure?”

“Well, they seem to stay cloistered with their own species.  They mine other star systems, but get this; they just have a small family or company that mines the whole system.  I think that after a long time, they might expand to a more business model, but at first, it’s just a small group for each system.”

They spent some more time going back and forth about the new civilization before Marc suggested they close the meeting.

“Not so fast,” Catie said.  “What’s the status of our search for the bad guys?”

“I’m sure ADI is keeping you apprised,” Marc said.

“But I want to hear what you’re planning.”

“First, as I’m sure you’ve heard, the news about Terramata has leaked.  We’ve traced the leak back to its ‘supposed source,’ but there is no way that guy found out about it.  He’s just a pawn that someone used to spread the data.”

“So, who’s his master?”

“ADI?”

“Cer Catie, I’ve analyzed all the players and their possible connection to the pawn.  We believe his master is our prime suspect, Michael Dubrovsky, the head of StarBright Investments.”

“Ah, I always thought he was our leading candidate,” Catie said.  “So, now what?”

“We’re going to send Yvette in undercover,” Marc said.  “She’ll go in as a midlevel accountant in his office.  Of course, ADI is trying to break into his systems but hasn’t been able to yet.”

“He protects his systems similar to the way we do.  His main systems are behind a massive firewall.  Only data transfers are allowed, so it’s impossible to slip in a virus.”

“Well, I’m sure you and Yvette will figure out a way.”

“We’ll do our best,” ADI said.

“Now, let’s close this so we can all get back to work.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie, Lantaq, Tina, and Fiona went to the bar down on the cargo deck for lunch.  Mokolov had been having lunch there every day since he’d arrived, and Catie wanted to get an idea as to what he was up to.  They’d scattered a few surveillance pucks around the area to try and keep track of who he was meeting or bumping into.

When they walked in, Marius, the old guy who’d tried to get Tina and Catie to buy him a drink, was sitting in the corner.  They hadn’t seen him for a few days.  Tina gave him a nod when they walked by his table.

“Why did you nod hello to him?” Catie asked.  “He’s a sleaze.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Tina said.  “He’s in a tough situation.  I don’t approve of his methods of earning some money, but I’ve done worse.”

Lantaq just looked over at the guy, giving him a ‘don’t mess with us’ stare.

They sat down, ordered drinks and food, and were waiting when Mokolov came in, followed by a few men from his crew.  Mokolov walked over to Marius and glared at him until Marius got up and left.  Then Mokolov sat down at his table.  He motioned to two of his guys, and they turned and followed Marius out of the bar.

“I’ll be right back,” Tina said as she followed the two guys out.  She used her tailboard to tell ADI to direct the feed from the station security to her specs.  She also suggested that ADI make sure that station security didn’t see the feed.

Tina watched as Marius turned down a passageway and hurried along.  The two men picked up the pace as they followed him.  Tina sped up.  Her rubber-soled shoes didn’t make any noise as she ran.

Marius turned down another passageway.  When Tina reached the corner, she could see that it was a dead end.  There was a large crate blocking the passageway.

“ADI, what happened?” Tina messaged.

“Someone dropped that crate seconds after Marius left the bar.”

Marius had his back against the crate as he prepared to defend himself against the two guys from the bar.  He noticed Tina when she turned the corner.  He shook his head as if telling her to go back to the bar.

Tina shook her head no as she raced up behind the two men.  She kicked the one on the right in the back of his knee, forcing him to the floor.  Then she hit him in the temple with her elbow.  The guy’s eyes rolled up in the back of his head as he fell onto his face.

The second guy turned and backed against the wall.  Marius walked up to him, smiling, and giving Tina a nod.

“One good enough?” Marius asked.

“I think so,” the guy said.

Marius drew back and punched the guy in the face, knocking his head against the wall.  The guy slid down the wall until he was seated.  Then he bounced his own head against his knee, causing a nosebleed.  “Thanks,” he moaned.

“We should leave,” Marius told Tina.

“Why?” Tina asked, pointing at the guy on the floor.

“He’s just following orders.”

◆ ◆ ◆

When Tina got back to the bar, she made her way over to Catie.  “Anything up with Mokolov?”

“No, he’s just been sitting there drinking.  It doesn’t look like he’s caught wind of your little rescue mission yet.”

“Good.”

“Why did you do it?”

“Like I said, I’ve been there.  He doesn’t deserve to be beaten on by that jerk over there.”

Catie looked puzzled but nodded her head.

“Hey, you’ve never been so far down on your luck that you’ve had to resort to questionable means to survive.  Trust me; I’ve been there.”

“I know, but?”

“You’d be surprised what you would be willing to do when your entire existence is in jeopardy.”

Catie nodded her head as she tried to imagine what she’d do if she was in a situation like that.

***

Chapter 17

Napoleon Deux

It didn’t take long before Miranda and Herr Hausmann had a few of the scientists from the Marco Polo come down to work with the scientists at the university.  They were quickly ensconced in the various labs.

Like on Earth and Paraxea, the academics had long proposed the atomic structure, but they hadn’t been able to prove it, and of course, details were missing from their theory.  When the scientists from the Marco Polo explained it to them, there was a flurry of activity as it unlocked numerous theories that various scientists had been working on.  It wasn’t long before the first periodic table of Terra Nova was created.  The visitors sat back and allowed the locals to work things out for themselves, only jumping in when they hit what they knew was a big obstacle.

The progress was mindboggling to Miranda.  She sat there and watched as the team developed the Bessemer process for steel production, invented the light bulb, and harnessed electricity in the lab.  The telephone was even invented during that short period.  Not the one you put in your pocket, but one with two pieces, one for your ear and the other to talk into.  And in just a few days, she expected them to develop wireless communication.  It was exhilarating; then the King showed up.

During this time, ADI had been actively scanning the documents in the university library.  The history of Causia finally started to emerge.  The continent had been plagued by wars, all focused on the expansion of one empire or another.  So, it was not surprising when the King immediately started to ask about how to improve his weapons.

“Sire, we are not allowed to work on weapons systems,” Herr Hausmann explained.

“Why not?  We are currently fighting a despot who is determined to conquer all of Causia,” the King complained.

“We understand.  However, it is one of our most sacred laws that we promote peace and avoid wars.”

“Can you at least stop him from conducting his war?  The rest of the kingdoms on Causia all wish to have peace.”

“Herr Hausmann,” ADI messaged, “he is talking about Emperor Leon.  He has conquered one of his neighbors and is currently at war with another.  However, he is intent on establishing a new right of man.  He is promoting equality before the law for all people, which of course, the aristocrats oppose.  The other kingdoms on Causia started the war, he has just been more successful in conducting it.”

“Sire, we believe in mediation.  We are happy to try and persuade all sides to come to the table and negotiate.”

“We would be happy to negotiate if you could bring him to the table.”

“Let me consult with my team.  I’ll see what we can do.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“So, what has this Emperor Leon done?” Catie asked as she joined ADI, Miranda, Herr Hausmann, and Samantha on a video call.

“He rose to power in his kingdom.  He was the third in line to the throne, so he came from a humble beginning, well, as humble as an aristocrat’s beginning can be.  It was a shock when events catapulted him into power,” ADI explained.

“Did he orchestrate it?”

“It doesn’t appear so, but it is always possible.”

“Then what happened?” Samantha asked.

“He enacted laws guaranteeing individual freedom.  He freed the serfs and gave them the land that they lived on.  Then he created a structured educational system with trained teachers and a consistent curriculum.”

“Very progressive of him.”

“It is.  He’s implemented the basis of a modern legal system.  The people love him.”

“I can see why,” Catie said.  “So, what’s with the war?”

“The other empires weren’t happy with him giving the serfs new ideas.  They conspired to take him down.  Their hope was that if they invaded, then some of the other nobles or even the army would seize power from him.”

“And?”

“His army was better than theirs.  He invaded and conquered Franco, implementing the same reforms.  And now his army and the Balvinian army are facing off.  He’s threatening to invade unless they accept his reforms and return the land they took in the last war.”

“Sounds like Napoleon; didn’t he do much of the same,” Miranda said.

“He did,” Samantha said.  “But he did become focused on conquest, so maybe it’s that old saying, ‘power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’”

“I guess it’s a lot easier to reform the world if you rule it,” Miranda said.

“So now what?”

“We’ll go hover a Lynx over his head and see if that convinces him to talk.”

“Good luck with that.”  Catie signed off.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Sire, there is a huge bird approaching us!” one of Leon’s aides yelled.

The emperor walked out of his then and glanced in the direction the man was pointing.

“That doesn’t look like a bird,” Emperor Leon said.

“But it flies.”

“A balloon?”

“It has wings.”

“Hmm.  Well, it is coming our way.  We should know in a few minutes.”  The emperor had his batman bring out a chair and table so he could continue his breakfast while watching the object approach.

The object continued to approach slowly, much like a balloon.  As it got closer, Leon’s men were getting nervous; several were preparing their muskets.

“Tell the men not to shoot unless I give the order.  Anyone who fires without orders will wish he were facing the Balvinian line alone.”

Eventually, the balloon was hovering directly over Emperor Leon’s tent.  A hatch opened up, and a man was standing in the opening.  Leon looked up and smiled.  What trickery was this?  He’d received rumors of a new empire that was visiting Sultana.  They had described a ship much like this one.  The story was that they were technically advanced but very cautious.  Like mice.

“Hello, we would like to speak to Emperor Leon,” the man yelled.

Leon stood up and waved.  “I am Leon.”

“We would like to discuss technology and science with you.  We have been visiting Sultana.  They tell us you rule one of the most important empires on Causia.”

“That is true.  It is a very elaborate ploy you have constructed to distract me.  But I’m busy.  Come back next week.”

“Crap, now what?” Miranda asked.

“Should we do a fly-by to get his attention?”

“No, it might cause the Balvinians to attack.  Let’s conference first.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie laughed when Miranda told her about the encounter with Leon.

“We can’t get him to talk to us.  He’s convinced we’re a hoax,” Miranda said.

“Even with a Lynx hovering over him?”

“Yes, he’s convinced it was some kind of trick.  He seems intent on conquering Balvinia.  We’ve put a few spybots in his camp, but we still haven’t come up with any ideas about how to convince him.”

“Commander Lantaq, he sounds like a Fazullan.  What would you do?” Catie asked.

“Humph, I would pick him up by the nape of his neck and slam his head into his enemy’s.  Then I would sit them down and tell them to work it out, or I would do it again.”

Jason laughed.  “I like that idea.  Direct, to the point, no confusion on the goals.”

“Well, good luck.  We have to go back to work here,” Catie said, ending the call.

“What do you think, should we do it?” Miranda asked.

“It might work,” Herr Hausmann said.  “Nothing else seems to.  He keeps ignoring us, and unless we want to force our way in, pulling him out might make the biggest impact.”

“Good.  I’ll ask Carmen to plan an op.”

◆ ◆ ◆

It only took Lieutenant Carmen Mendoza four hours to develop a plan.  She dispatched a few more drones to follow the army and prepped a Lynx and an eight-person team to kidnap Emperor Leon.  Of course, Catie wanted to watch the op, so she asked to be kept apprised of events.

“What’s happening?  Isn’t it kind of early?” Catie asked after she got a ping from Miranda.

“He started marching at dawn.  He’s pushed his army pretty hard, but for some reason, he’s had it make camp at sixteen hundred hours.”

“That does seem strange.  How close are they to the opposing army?”

“A four-hour march.”

“Then maybe he doesn’t want to get too close.”

“Possibly.  But his pattern has been to get to within an hour of them.  He likes to intimidate them.”

“Okay, are you going to change when you time the op?”

“No, we’re still scheduled for 0400.  We want them in bed and hard asleep.”

“Ping me.”

“We will.”

It was 1130 hours, 2400 on Terra Novo, when Catie was pinged.

“What’s happening?”

“They’re breaking camp.”

“In the middle of the night?”

“Yes.  I guess he’s decided on a night operation.  Very unusual.”

“Well, I want to watch this.  I’ll see if anyone else wants to join me.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Jodi and Lantaq joined Catie for lunch; they both wanted to watch what everyone expected would be a night battle on Terra Novo.  Emperor Leon had just called a halt; his army had been marching hard for three hours and was now at the edge of the Balvinian line.  The moon had set, so it was dark; dawn was over two hours away.  The army had been marching without any drums, apparently trying to make as little noise as possible.  The men were ordered to sit down and rest.

Miranda and Carmen had sent the Lynx on ahead with two Foxes so that they would have full coverage of the scene.  They were providing exquisite details of the encampments of the two armies.  The Balvinian army was arrayed in five camps, a one – two – two arrangement that formed a V.  Emperor Leon’s army was at the point of the V; his army had broken into three groups.  The lead one was the largest and was flanked by the other two.  Most of his cavalry was with the lead group.

Catie had her display show the arrangement of the armies.  The infrared cameras on the probes and planes showed that a small group of men had detached itself from Emperor Leon’s main force and was now scouting the area between the opposing armies.

“He had scouts out here last night and through the early morning,” Miranda said.  “I assume they mapped the terrain.  Now they’re probably looking for the markers they left behind.”

“Makes sense.  But don’t the Balvinians have pickets out for early warning?”

“They do.  Leon’s scouts caught a few of them.  They’ve replaced them with their own.  Of course, they give the all clear when they’re pinged for status.”

After a thirty-minute break, the men reformed into a column.  They started marching toward the enemy line at a quick pace, not quite double time, but fast.  The direction of the column veered toward the west as the column marched south.

It was twenty minutes before the first shots were fired.  The head of the column returned fire at a blistering pace.  After a man fired, he stepped to the side to reload while the column marched past him.  It only took ten minutes before the column penetrated the Balvinians’ line.  The Balvinians were struggling to reinforce the weak picket line they’d set for the night.  The Balvinian soldiers were scrambling from their tents, rushing to form a line to stop Leon’s army column, but it was too little too late.  Emperor Leon’s column split into two, one turning east, the other west as they mowed down the opposing line, marching right up their flank.

“That was too easy,” Commander Lantaq said.  “It will be interesting to see how they handle the next corps.  As you can see, they’re already forming a battle line to face them.”

The Balvinian second and third corps were scrambling to decamp and form lines of battle.  The two corps were merging into a single line of battle as Emperor Leon’s main force approached them.  His two columns had remerged to form a single line of battle four men deep.

As they neared the Balvinian line, there was sporadic rifle fire coming from Leon’s troops.

“Who’s firing?” Miranda asked.

“Look, you can see men in the ranks with long rifles.  They’re moving up and down the line, stopping and firing at anyone with a fancy braid.”

“Clever,” Lantaq said.

As Leon’s army approached the entrenched Balvinian line, there was a scramble of activity.  Behind Leon’s line, six men were carrying a ladder; it was at least eight meters long.  They raised the ladder, which had a post attached to it at the top.  When the posts were vertical, the men pulled them a meter or so away from the ladder, so they formed a tripod.  Emperor Leon walked over, strapped on a small harness, and climbed the ladder.  At the top, he was seven meters above the ground and had a good view of the enemy forces.  He took out his telescope and studied the enemy line.

After a few minutes, he carefully moved to the edge of the ladder.  The harness he was wearing had a rope attached, and the rope ran through a pully attached to the top rung of the ladder.  After getting a snap of the rope, telling him his men were ready, Leon let go of the ladder and was quickly lowered to the ground.  He immediately removed the harness and started sketching out what he saw.  Another man standing next to him was studying the details.  Once Leon was finished, the other man strapped on the harness and was hoisted to the top of the ladder.

Cannon fire soon erupted from Leon’s line.  He had determined the position of the enemy cannons, and they were now triangulating their fire.  The man on the ladder was yelling down corrections after every round.

“He is a clever git,” Miranda said.

Leon’s army continued to close to the Balvinian line.  When the two armies were a little over two hundred meters apart, a column, eight men wide, started to emerge from Emperor Leon’s line.  It was being fed by the fourth row, which was double-timing it to reach the location of the column and stepping into place.  The column was pointed at the seam between the two Balvinian corps.

“Excellent,” Lantaq commented.

“Look, the third and fourth rows are long rifles,” Jason said.  “Won’t their slow reload cause a problem?”

Lantaq laughed.  “You weren’t paying attention earlier.  Watch.”

When the column reached extreme range, the first row stepped to the side, knelt down, and fired.  The column kept marching as the next row immediately followed suit.  They were still too far away, but the enemy line couldn’t resist and returned fire.

When the third row stepped aside, Jason said, “Oh, I see.”

Those eight men knelt and fired.  The range of their rifles was apparent as several men in the opposing line fell.  Then next row followed suit, decimating the enemy line.  There was lots of shouting as the sergeants tried to fill the gap.  But even as new men stepped into place, the next row of riflers was already firing.  The blistering rate of fire prevented the Balvinians from reinforcing the location.

There was a cannon strike in the column as the Balvinian artillery got off its first round.  A howitzer shell fell on the cannon seconds later.  More shells hit, targeting the enemy cannons and its cavalry.  The cavalry was unable to form up and attack as the horses were terrified by the howitzer shells exploding around them.  By this time, the column had bisected the line.  The column split, half heading east and the other half west, each forming a four-man wide column.

“That was very clever,” Catie said.  “That circling pattern with the columns really keeps the heat on.”

They watched as the column continued to advance.  It kept up the blistering pace of fire.  The Balvinians were rotating their line to oppose the approaching column, but they were too slow.  The column just kept coming.  During all this time, Emperor Leon’s main lines had continued to advance.  Faced with a column on their flank and the line at their front, the Balvinian army started to fall apart.  Soldiers were throwing down their muskets and running or lying on the ground to signal surrender.  It was pandemonium as the Balvinian soldiers tried to get away, racing toward their fourth and fifth corps as fast as they could.  The artillery and supply wagons were left behind.

“That tells you all you need to know about the man,” Lantaq said.  “You should either kill him or let him conquer his neighbors, so you only have to negotiate with one person.”

Catie laughed, “That might work, but it would kind of make us look bad.  Miranda, are you guys still going through with the op?”

“Yes.  We’ve reset it for 0200 tonight.  That is assuming Napoleon stops and makes camp.”

“Okay, ping me.”

◆ ◆ ◆

At 1430, 0030 at Emperor Leon’s camp, Catie went to her office to review what had happened after the battle.  She’d invited Jodi and Lantaq, but they’d both declined.

“ADI, can you give me a summary of what happened after the battle?”

“We had surveillance pucks in the camp and a Fox flying overhead out of sight.  So I can show you the summary that the commander gave to Emperor Leon and what happened at the very end.”

“Even better.”

“We will make camp here,” the emperor said.

“Yes, sir.”

“Have the prisoners gathered up all the wounded?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then bring them up.”

Eight wagons filled with and surrounded by emaciated men drove up.  Catie could see that all of them were wearing the remnants of Balvinian military uniforms.  The wounded men, many of them in the bottom of the wagons, were wearing relatively new uniforms, while the emaciated men were wearing scraps.

“Your army is that way!” Emperor Leon shouted.  “Go find them, let them take care of you!”

With that, the wagons started south, surrounded by emaciated men and recently wounded but ambulatory men.  The ones in the wagons had leg wounds or even more severe wounds.

“The new prisoners?”

“Already being put to work, Emperor.”

“Good.  Have the boys start looking for horses.”

“I already sent the lads out.  We should get quite a few.”

Catie watched as Emperor Leon entered his tent.  “Lieutenant Mendoza had dropped surveillance pucks on the tent right after the battle.  Nobody had noticed the drones.”

“Thanks,” Catie said as she watched the emperor accept a glass of brandy from his batman.

“Tell Colonel Harris I want to see him.”

A few moments later, a colonel entered the tent.

“Casualties?”

“One thousand eighty-four, Sir.”

“How many dead?”

“Right now, two hundred seventy-one.  I suspect that by morning another sixty will join them.”

“Enemy?”

“We have four thousand prisoners, quite a lot to deal with.”

The emperor only grunted.

Colonel Harris continued with his casualty report on the enemy.  “Two thousand of the prisoners are wounded.  We have counted eight hundred forty dead, but that will rise as the pickers finish scouring the fields.”

“Cannons?”

“We captured thirty-six.  Twelve were destroyed.  We could rebuild their carriages.”

“Don’t bother.  Put them in a pile and mark them,” the emperor said.  “Cavalry?”

“We didn’t lose any.  They didn’t really get a chance to engage.  Mostly did clean up.”

“Very well.  Get the men settled.  We’ll head out at dawn tomorrow.  Let’s see how far they run.”

“Yes, sir.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie was reviewing segments of the battle when her Comm pinged.

“Miranda?”

“Yes.”

“Ready?”

“Of course.  He’s in his tent sleeping.”

“Good.  Hey, why did he release those prisoners and the wounded?” Catie asked.

“Standard war technique.  The opposition has to expend its resources to tend to the wounded instead of you.  And you noticed that he only released the prisoners they’d been holding for some time or the wounded ones.  The prisoners were starving.”

“I see, drain the enemy’s resources.  But will their army really help them?”

“If they don’t, then morale will plummet.  Leon wins either way.”

“Right.  Anyway, here we go.”

At 0145, the Lynx moved in over Emperor Leon’s camp.  It was hovering at one thousand meters.  With its energy-absorbing shell, the darkness of the night, its silent gravity drives, and the fact that who would be looking up into the sky at that time of night meant it was undetected.

“Release the gas,” Lieutenant Mendoza ordered.

In the emperor’s tent, two security pucks released an odorless gas.  It would put anyone in the tent to sleep within five minutes.

At 0200, four lines dropped from the Lynx, and four Marines started to rappel down.  The Lynx was hovering directly over Emperor Leon’s tent.  When they reached the tent, two of the marines flipped over.  They each took out a knife and cut a hole into the canvas, one on each side of the peak.  Flipping back over, they finished rappelling into the tent.  Once on the ground, they quickly verified that the emperor and his batman were sound asleep.

Nodding to each other, they grabbed the lines of the other two marines and messaged them, then continued down into the tent.

Once the other two were on the ground, they removed their back coveralls, exposing uniforms that matched those of Leon’s forces.  The first two marines went to the tent’s entrance.  They eased their way toward the opening.  Using their specs to verify that nobody had a line of sight on the two guards posted outside the tent, they reached out and tasered them.  As they pulled them back into the tent, the other two marines grabbed the helmets from the unconscious guards and took up their post.

The two marines in the tent attached paralyzers to the two guards and to the emperor and his batman.  Then they put harnesses on the emperor and the batman.  Using their tailboard, they controlled the winch on the Lynx to lift the two men up.  They guided them through the holes in the tent.  Once they were clear, they turned control over to the crew in the Lynx and set about collecting things in the tent.  They gathered up the emperor’s uniform, his boots, and his sword.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Where the hell am I?” Emperor Leon asked as he finally woke up.

He sat up on the bed, his first clue that he wasn’t in his tent since the bed was way too comfortable.  The second clue was that the floor wasn’t canvas and was even and solid underfoot.

“Vaslat!” he called for his batman.  He searched around the bed, looking for his uniform and his weapons.  Nothing.

“Vaslat!”

“Hello,” a voice said.  At the same time, the wall lit up, showing two people looking in a window to his room.

“Hello, who are you, and where am I?”

“I’m Herr Hausmann, the Delphinean ambassador.  This is my assistant, Commander Cordova.”

“Why have you kidnapped me?”

“Well, we did try to talk to you, but you refused.”

“I demand that you release me.”

“We’ll consider that after we’ve talked.”

“Talked about what?”

“Establishing peace on Terra Nova.”

“Never!”

“Very well.”

With that, the lights went out, and the emperor was plunged into darkness.

“That wasn’t nice,” Miranda said.

“Well, Emperor Leon knows he’s our prisoner, but he hasn’t accepted it yet.  We need to give him some time and encouragement,” Herr Hausmann said.

“How long?”

“We’ll poke him again in a couple hours, but we won’t talk to him again until tomorrow.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Emperor Leon was sitting on his bed.  There wasn’t much to do since it was totally dark.  The lights had come up a little a few hours ago, and a voice had indicated where the facilities were.  He just had time to complete his toilet before the lights went out again.  They didn’t bother to come up when he was groping for the commode to relieve himself an hour later.  The situation was totally unacceptable.

“Your meal,” the voice chimed.  The light came up, revealing a tray on the desk.  The emperor walked over to the desk.  Bread and water.

“What is this?”

“Your meal.”

“This is unacceptable.”

“What do you feed your prisoners?” the voice asked.

The emperor grumbled but sat at the desk and ate what was there.  Then he went back to his bed before the light went out again.  He gritted his teeth.  “Damn these Delphineans; maybe I should have talked to them back when they first approached me.  No!  I will not be cowed.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Emperor.”

The lights came up, and the window showed the two people from before.

“I demand that you release me.”

The lights went out.

“Why aren’t we talking to him?” Miranda asked.

“He needs more time.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Good morning, Emperor.”

The lights came up.

“Hello.  How long are you going to keep me here?”

“As little as possible.”

“Then why don’t you just release me?”

“We need to talk about establishing peace on Terra Novo and defining its relationship to the Delphi League.”

“What if I don’t want to talk about such things?”

“Then we might decide to talk with General Poteska.  He seems to be making progress with the Balvinian minister.”

“That traitor!”

“Well, you did leave him in a bit of a lurch.”

“What do you mean ‘lurch?’  We had the Balvinian army beaten.  He just needed to continue the attack.  What did he do?”

“Here, let us show you.”

The window seemed to split into two.  The two faces were moved to the side, and an image of the battlefield came up.

“How is this possible?”

“You remember that ship we had hovering above you when we first asked you to talk with us?”

“But this.  This looks real.”

“It is.  This is an image from where your last battle occurred.  Think of it like a telescope.”

“Then show me where my army is.”

The image traversed the battlefield, traveling the same path his army had taken the day of the battle.  Eventually, it showed his army encamped where he’d last seen it.

“They haven’t moved?!”

“No.  But you should see a bit more before you condemn General Poteska.”

The image moved, showing the terrain up to and over the next ridge.  There it showed the Balvinian army encampment.  There were three enemy corps gathered there.  To the east and west, you could just make out the encampment of two more army corps in each direction.

“That’s what you would have run into.”

“So?  What did it look like at dawn when you took me?”

Herr Hausmann had Marco reset the video to the requested time.  There it showed the east and west clear.

“Where are they?”

Marco moved the imagery until it showed the two corps in the west marching up from the southwest.

“See, he just needed to march at dawn like I ordered.  They would have broken through and had a clear field to the capital.”

“But he was searching for you.”

“Bah.  Five minutes, then leave a squad behind to continue the search.  March at dawn, like I told him.”

“Yes, I see your point.  Now would you like to talk about peace?”

“Possibly.”

The lights went out.

◆ ◆ ◆

“I’m ready to talk,” Leon said the next day when the lights came up.  What else could he do?  His army was surrounded; General Poteska was a fool and would give up far too much; he had no choice but to find a way forward at the table.

“Good.  We’ll send in your batman to help you get ready.”

The emperor’s batman came in, bringing with him the general’s uniform minus any medals or weapons.  An hour later, the emperor signaled he was ready.

A marine led the emperor to a room where Miranda and Herr Hausmann were waiting.

“Where are the others?”

“I thought it would be best if we spent today bringing you up to speed on where we are.”

The emperor simply nodded his head.

The top of the table transformed into a map of the eastern hemisphere of Terra Novo.

“What is this?”

“It is what we call a display.  Like the one in your room.  It is able to show pictures, just like that one.”

“Good.  Now what is this map?”

“This is a map of the eastern hemisphere of Terra Novo.  Here is your country and its current borders.”

“And?” the emperor pointed to Franco.

“That is Franco and its borders before you conquered it.”

The emperor nodded his head.  “So?”

“It has been suggested that we use the borders from 1284 before the current hostilities began.”

Emperor Leon grimaced at that.  “Why not use the borders from 1138, before these countries started to steal land from mine.”

“Show us,” Herr Hausmann suggested.

They spent the rest of the day being re-educated about the recent history of Terra Novo, a subject that the other leaders had glossed over.

After a late lunch where the emperor continued to ‘educate’ Herr Hausmann and Miranda about history, Herr Hausmann called an end to the day.

“We are moving you into one of our more comfortable cabins,” he told the emperor.  “It is right next to Miranda’s cabin.  She’ll be available to answer any questions or provide guidance about how to move about our ship.”

Emperor Leon just nodded his head.

“This marine will show you to your room.  We’ll be serving dinner at 1900 hours if you would like to join us.”

As soon as the door shut behind them, Miranda waved her hand in front of her face.  “Whew, he was a bit ripe, although I had expected worse.”

“Worse than the Wakipee?”

“I think so, don’t you?”

“A bit.  But since he doesn’t take a bath too often, he doesn’t kill off all the bacteria that feed on the malodorous emissions of his body.  So, he’s not that bad.  Eventually, you get used to the smell.  It’s been a while since you were with the Wakipee, so you’re probably just not used to it.”

“I didn’t notice it in the others,” Miranda said.

“Well, I suspect they bathed and perfumed themselves before they were brought to the ship.  And since being here, we’ve managed to introduce them to the concept of an evening shower.”

“Well, I hope we can do that with the emperor.”

“His batman should take care of that now that he’s in a room that has a shower.”

“I hope so.  Are you going to brief Catie?” Miranda asked, obviously wanting to skip out on that.

“I’ll leave that to you.  I have to prepare for what will undoubtedly be a boisterous discussion at dinner.  Are you coming?”

“No,” Miranda grumbled.  “If I have to brief Catie, then you can handle the dinner with the emperor.”

Herr Hausmann smiled and waved his arm to the side, indicating that Miranda should proceed with him from the conference room.

◆ ◆ ◆

The next day they met with all the leaders of Causia.  Miranda wasn’t looking forward to it.

“Good morning, sires,” Herr Hausmann said, giving into their desire to be acknowledged as kings.  “Emperor Leon has graciously agreed to join us, so we now have all the critical players here.

“What we wish to discuss is how your countries want to interact with the Delphi League.  We have shown you much of our technology and discussed our advanced medical knowledge.  Now the question is, what do you want?”

“What do we want?!” demanded the King of Franco.  “I want my kingdom returned to me.”

Emperor Leon sniffed, dismissing him.

“We will be discussing that.  There is some issue related to borders, but we hope to convince you that there are things far more important than borders.”

They spent another hour essentially just yelling at each other before they finally settled down to discuss real business.

“How can I possibly recover from the loss of my kingdom?  Even when you return it to me, I will have to reconquer my people.  He gave the serfs freedom.  Told them that they have the same rights as I do.”

“That brings up a very critical point,” Herr Hausmann said.  “In order to trade with the Delphi League, you have to acknowledge that all people are equal and have the same rights.  If you do not, we will simply isolate you.”

“How dare you tell us how to rule.”

“We’re not telling you how to rule.  We’re simply agreeing with your neighbors to help protect their borders and refusing to trade with you.  And I must tell you that in every civilization I know of, governments that did not extend those rights to their people were eventually overthrown.”

“I do not believe you.”

“It is true.  But right now, we’re talking about what we require for you to be one of our partners.”

“Anyone who doesn’t partner with you will become inferior.  You are forcing our hand.”

“That may be.  But it is your choice.  Now let us explain the key options.  All of you have started to harness the power of electricity.  We can help you establish power plants that will provide all the electricity you need, and that will not pollute your air.  Your people will be able to use electricity to heat their homes as well as light them.  So, your skies will be clear, and your air will be breathable.”

One of the kings laughed at that.  “Maybe in the country.  I find the air very malodorous when I travel in our cities.”

Herr Hausmann laughed at that.  He’d known about the way sewage was handled in the 1800s but had been shocked to see it running in the streets, much less to see someone dumping a chamber pot from an upstairs window.

“We can help with managing your sewage as well.  In my home, it is all managed underground and sent to treatment plants where it is processed into soil.  Soil that does not smell.”

The negotiations went on for days as Miranda and Herr Hausmann laid out the options for trade.  Although he’d made it clear from the start that they would not trade in weapons, the subject came up repeatedly, but mostly it focused on electricity, diesel engines, solar power, and batteries.  And, of course, sewage treatment plants.

◆ ◆ ◆

Miranda joined Emperor Leon at dinner.  He’d been staying engaged in the negotiations, but he still appeared frustrated.  Herr Hausmann had suggested that she might be able to get him to open up.

“Emperor.”

“Lieutenant Cordova, please join me.”

Miranda sat down.  “How are you finding the negotiations?”

“Tedious.”

“Not interesting?”

“Interesting but tedious.  It takes too long to get anywhere.”

“I suspect you’re used to just giving orders.  Negotiations have to be more balanced.”

Leon rolled his eyes.  Miranda was surprised at how relaxed he was but then remembered that he’d come from more humble roots compared to the other kings.

“Eventually, you’ll get to go home and start implementing these changes.  Won’t that be interesting?”

“Interesting and tedious.”

Miranda laughed.  “You know, in my home, people like you run huge businesses that make and sell products.  They focus on strategic marketing, research, buying or taking over other companies.”

Leon sat up straighter when Miranda mentioned taking over companies.

“So, they wage war?”

“Basically, but with money and ideas, not weapons.”

“Tell me more?”

“How about I give you this.”  Miranda handed Leon a tablet.  “You can tell it what you want to study.  For example, provide a history of the industrial revolution.”

The tablet brought up a thesis on the industrial revolution, translated, of course.  Leon started to read it.  “What else can it show me?”

“Ask it anything you want.  It will tell you if the subject is available to you.”

“Why would a subject not be available to me?”

“Well, we wouldn’t want you to figure out how to steal our starship,” Miranda said, giving the emperor a big smile.

◆ ◆ ◆

By the end of the week, Emperor Leon was almost running the negotiations.  He was playing with the borders, drawing new lines, pushing things toward old lines, then resetting it all.  The other leaders were confused, but Miranda could see what he was doing.  He was slowly expanding and contracting the borders of his empire so that they encompassed the resource-rich areas while maintaining access to the best waterways.

Well, that’s what she’d told him to do; no reason to complain now.

***

Chapter 18

Pirate threats

Catie and Tina walked into Mokolov’s favorite bar down by the cargo bay.  Mokolov was sitting in a corner talking to a couple of captains.

“Hi,” Catie greeted the bartender.  “Two beers.”

“Coming right up.”

“He hasn’t started a fight yet?” Catie asked, nodding her head toward Mokolov.

“Surprisingly, no.  He has been talking to those two for over an hour.”

“What about?”

“Don’t know.  He’s got some kind of scrambler going.  Can’t hear a thing.”

“Well, if he’s not fighting, that’s good for you.”

“I’m not sure.  He looks happy, and that is not a good sign.  I wonder what they’re planning.”

“I guess we’ll see.”

“Unfortunately.”

◆ ◆ ◆

The next morning, Mokolov and the two captains boarded their ships and left the station.  But to everyone’s surprise, they headed in-system instead of toward the jump point.

“What the heck are they doing?” Catie asked ADI.

“I’m keeping an eye on them.  But I don’t see why they would go in-system.  I’m certain they won’t be doing any mining.”

“Do you think they’ll try to raid the mining station?”

“Possibly,” ADI said.  “But I understand that they send their metals to the starbase every few days.  I don’t think they’d have enough to be worth the risk.  And they are well defended, plus there are all those miners and their ships.”

“Darn.  I was hoping he was heading to the jump limit.”

“Would you have had Jodi jump in and take him?” Lantaq asked.

“Probably.”

◆ ◆ ◆

They watched over the next few days as the three ships wandered around the system’s outer asteroid belt.  It was common knowledge that the outer belt was poor in metals, so it was strange behavior.

“What are they doing?” Catie wondered.

“I can see them collecting some smaller asteroids,” ADI said.  “Maybe they have a way to detect extremely rich ones.”

“Maybe.  I wonder why Marcolas isn’t complaining about them mining in her system without buying the rights.”

“Well, she will get a chance when they bring whatever they’re collecting to the base.  I can’t imagine that they would plan to jump to another system with them.”

“I guess you’re right.  It wouldn’t pay, so maybe they’re just out there collecting drinking money.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Cer Catie, Mokolov and his friends are coming back,” ADI announced.

“Good.  Now we’ll get to see what they’ve been up to.”

“Possibly.  Do you want to have the Françoise come in closer?”

“Yes, please tell Captain Najib to move to just outside our jump limit.”

“Yes, Cer Catie.  That should be about two million kilometers.”

“Thanks.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie was having breakfast with Tina and Ivila in one of the local restaurants.  It was on one of the outer decks, so a bit posh.  They were quizzing Ivila about her love life, one that had been put on hold for over two thousand years, but since they’d both been in stasis during that time, it was just like a few weeks ago to Ivila.

“How do you think he’s going to react when you wake him up?” Tina asked Ivila.

“I don’t know.  He’ll be disoriented for a while, then I assume he’ll be happy to see me and interested in how we plan to move forward.”

“You don’t think he’ll be jealous?”

“Why would he be jealous?”

“Because you’ve been out having a good time with me and Catie while he’s been stuck in stasis.”

“You call this a good time?” Ivila asked; skepticism was written all over her face.

“Yeah, it’s been fun.”  Tina looked at Catie, “Don’t you agree?”

“Mostly, though it has been a bit boring.”

“Boring?  You ladies are crazy.  You’ve been dealing with that horrible pirate, learning about this entirely new and a bit odd civilization here, and been threatened by some of the men here on the starbase.”

“Yeah, like I said, boring,” Catie smiled at Ivila.  “At least Tina got to threaten that one creep.”

“And Lantaq got into two fights,” Tina added.

“Well, I’ll be happy to get back to our new home.  I just wish we knew how to deal with these people out here.”

“I’m starting to get a sense of them,” Catie said.  “I think the fact that they don’t have quantum relays really impacts them.  They’re actually very isolated, and so they’ve set things up like pioneers would.”

“Oh, so that’s why it feels like they should call this place Deadwood,” Tina said.

“Deadwood?” Ivila asked.

“A town in the old west of our home planet.  It was a bit lawless.”

“Then I agree.”

“What?  ADI repeat that and share,” Catie said.

“There is a message coming in from Mokolov.  He’s threatening the starbase.”

“Play it for us; include Jodi and the captains.”

The image of Mokolov came up in their HUDs.

“My dear Marcolas.  I’ve got an offer for you.  If you send me all the gold and platinum you have stored on your starbase, I won’t destroy you.  So you know I’m not kidding, we’ve sent you a little prompt.  I’m sure you won’t have any trouble dealing with it.  But just imagine a thousand times faster and several one after the other.”

“ADI, what the heck does he mean?” Catie asked.

“The three ships have each released a large rock.  They were vectoring toward the base when they did.  The rocks are traveling at one hundred kilometers per hour.”

Jodi cut in.  “Catie, what do you want to do?”

Catie was frantically playing in her HUD.  Her eyes flicked over whatever she had up.  Tina messaged Jodi to wait.  She’d seen this in Catie before.

“Is she okay?” Ivila asked.

“Shh, she’s fine.  Give her a minute.”

“ADI, send that to Jodi,” Catie said as she came up for air.  “Jodi, jump in.  The François can act as a waypoint for you.  You’ll be right at the jump limit.  Hurry, we’ll need the François to get closer to the station.”

“What do you want me to do?”  Tina asked.

“I need to visit Marcolas.  You can meet up with Lantaq and make sure that Mokolov doesn’t have any saboteurs here on the station.”

“Sure, sounds like fun.”  Tina looked at Ivila and cocked an eyebrow.

Ivila shook her head.

“You can come with me,” Catie said as she headed out.  Fortunately, Marcolas’ office was just down the corridor.

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie walked into the office.  Marcolas’ admin was sitting at the desk with a worried look on her face.

“I need to see Marcolas,” Catie said.

“I’m sorry, she’s dealing with an emergency.”

“Well, I’m here to help.”  Catie walked past the admin’s desk and barged into Marcolas’ office.  Ivila gave the admin a shrug and followed Catie.

“Problems?” Catie asked.

“I’m sure you’ve seen Mokolov’s transmission.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know what to do.  I don’t think we can handle that much debris being thrown at us.  And we don’t have very many ships here to help.”

“I’m sure Mokolov arranged for that,” Catie said.  “But we have my ship.”

“One ship.  Not sure that will be enough.”

“Well, it has two plasma cannons that are about the same power as the ones here on your station.  It also has twelve space fighters that each have a plasma cannon.”

Marcolas looked shocked.  “What?  That’s absurd.”

“We’re from another civilization.  The François is one of our military frigates.  I’m serious in telling you that we can help.”

“Even if you do manage to help us, how are we going to deal with Mokolov?”

“Well, if you’re willing to let us apprehend or destroy him, we can take care of him.”

“Well, he’s signed his own death warrant.  I don’t care what you do to him or his friends.”

“Okay.  Let him stew for a bit.  I have a few things I want to set up.”

“He’s not going to wait very long.”

“I know.  But I don’t need that much time.”

“What about your fighters; can we use them now?”

“They’re deploying as we speak.  Do you mind?” Catie asked as she pointed to the seating area.

“Not at all.”

Catie sat down and started making arrangements, first with Admiral Blake.

“Uncle Blake, remember those plans we put into place?”

“Yes.  ADI apprised me of the situation.  What are you planning?”

“First, we have to take care of the debris he’s about to send at us.”

“You can’t stop him?”

“He’s too far away and moving too fast.  He’s already on a vector toward the starbase, so it won’t take him any time to drop the load.”

“Okay.  So, you think this relay race will work?”

“Yes!  I can’t believe we didn’t think of it before.”

“Well, we’ve never had a situation like this.  I’ve dispatched the ships you’re asking for.  They’re under Jodi’s command.”

◆ ◆ ◆

The Bellona jumped into the system just in front of the François.  The François was already accelerating toward the starbase.  Its fighters had deployed earlier in response to Catie’s commitment to Marcolas.

***

Chapter 19

Battle Plan

Captain Pokidin was at the same restaurant with his family.  They had just ordered dessert when the message came.  He was on restricted shore leave; basically, he had to be able to get back to his ship within one hour.

“Sorry.”

“What, again?” his wife asked.

“Hey, I’m the captain.”

“Pirates?!” his son yelled.

“Likely.”

“Can I have Daddy’s dessert?” his daughter asked.

Captain Pokidin laughed.  His son wanted pirates, but all his daughter wanted was his piece of cake.

“I’ll message you as soon as I know more.”

His wife looked for something to throw at him, but the server had removed the basket of dinner rolls, so she just threw him a frown.

Captain Pokidin shrugged his shoulders as he quickly left the table and restaurant.  He hurried along the passageway to the main one, where a little transport cart was just arriving to take him to his ship.

Since he was on restricted leave, he was wearing his uniform, so he was able to run directly to the bridge.

“Status.”

“We’re waiting on eight crewmembers; they’ll be here in five minutes,” his XO said.

Captain Pokidin sat in his captain’s chair.  He’d received a message while he was on his way to the ship.  They wanted him to send a message to the pirate that had attacked Terramata.  He looked into the camera.

“This is Captain Pokidin of the Starship Chesapeake.  It seems you didn’t get the message last time.  I will be jumping into the Terramata system with some friends to show you the error of your ways.  If you want to survive this encounter, I suggest that you surrender.”

Captain Mokolov received the message minutes later.  It was relayed via the quantum relay, then delivered from the Françoise.

“What kind of trick is this?  You’re obviously on that ship below me.”

“No, I’m currently at Starbase Avalon.  But I’ll be there in about an hour.”

“I avoided you last time.  I’ll do the same this time.”

“We learned a lot from last time.  And this time, we have our top strategist calling the shots.  She’s full of ideas about how to take you down.”

“Drop your load!” Mokolov ordered his three ships.

The three pirate ships had been accelerating toward the station.  They were now doing one hundred thousand kilometers per hour.  On Mokolov’s order, they flipped their ships and opened their cargo doors.  A bit of deceleration and the rocks they had gathered started to slip out.  Now those rocks were flying at the station, maintaining the one hundred thousand kph speed while their ships started to accelerate away.  His two vectored for the asteroid belt while he headed out toward the jump limit.

“Marcolas, I think you have a few problems to deal with now.  I’ll come back and pick what I need from your bones!”

◆ ◆ ◆

BarFly was cruising along, thinking about what he needed to do.  The pirates had just dropped their load of rocks, and he was lining up to nail any that got by the plasma cannons of the starbase or the Françoise.  Of course, he had to stay out of the way of their cannons.  And what the hell kind of call sign was BarFly, and how did he get it changed?  Then he realized that he didn’t want to screw up badly enough to get a new call sign.  You only got them for stupid shit, like falling asleep in the back of the bar and not waking up until the cleaning crew arrived.

The rocks were anywhere from the size of a baseball to the size of a small car, and they were traveling at almost three million meters per second.  The damn pirates had accelerated at 7Gs for one and a half hours to build up that speed.  Then they’d flipped the ship and opened the cargo doors.  A little acceleration in the opposite direction got the rock to exit the cargo doors.  Now they were his problem.

“BarFly, are you in place?” his squadron commander Commed.

“Yes, sir.  In place and waiting.”

“You’ll be getting help from ADI.  Pay attention to her.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Lieutenant, this is ADI.  I am interfacing with your targeting AI.  We’ll try our best to take care of things, but you may need to change the alignment for us.”

“Roger.”

“My name is ADI, not Roger.”

“Sorry . . .”  the sound of ADI laughing stopped his apology and broke some of the tension.  He knew she was a real character, but he didn’t deal with the DIs, and the AI couldn’t tell a joke if your life depended on it.

BarFly watched as the station’s plasma cannon started firing.  It was vaporizing most of the debris, but some was getting through.  The pirates had aligned their ships on three different vectors when they dumped their rocks, which made things more difficult.  The Françoise joined in with her cannons, and the debris field started to thin out.  ADI started firing his lasers, picking off some of the smaller rocks at a distance.  There were four Foxes and eight Hyraxes arrayed above the starbase, and they were taking out the rock like swatting flies.

BarFly’s plasma cannon fired off for the first time, vaporizing a basketball sized rock. 

“Adjust vector twenty-two degrees spinward,” ADI ordered.

BarFly moved the yoke.  The plasma cannon fired off, taking out another basketball.

“Twelve degrees down!”

BarFly moved the yoke.  Damn, too much.  He corrected.

“Three degrees port!  Rotate five.”

He corrected again; shit, he needed to rotate the other way.  Whap!  One of the rocks hit his wing.  The lasers and cannons were firing all around him.  Then suddenly, it was quiet.  They’d destroyed all the debris.  The starbase was safe.

“Lieutenant.  I had intended to destroy that rock with the lasers.  Although effective, deflecting it with your wing was a bit unorthodox.”

“Shit . . .  Sorry.”

“Not my problem,” ADI said.

◆ ◆ ◆

BarFly flew his Fox to the flight bay.  As soon as he landed, the Comm started to crackle.  As the rest of his squadron landed around him and the flight bay pressurized, he kept going over the incident in his head.  How had he over-rotated?  And what was the crew chief going to say about it?  Much less what were his squadron mates going to say.

“BarFly, what did you do to my plane?!” the crew chief yelled over the Comm.

“Sorry.  Slight mishap.”

“Yeah, right!” one of his squadron mates yelled.  “More like you got dinged.”

“Yeah, Dingbat, can’t you follow directions?”

“Damn it.  Now I have a new callsign.”

“You have no idea how hard it’s going to be to repair this thing,” the crew chief yelled again.  Even as he was yelling, he was strapping missiles onto BarFly’s Fox.  “Good thing you don’t need the wings for anything besides holding missiles.  Now go out there and don’t mess up my plane anymore.”

“Squadron, form up on me,” the squadron commander yelled.  “We’ve been assigned to Bravo two.  Max acceleration.”

“Dingbat, I’m on your six.  Got you covered,” his wingmate messaged.

“Damn it,” BarFly, no Dingbat, muttered.  Crap callsign and 12Gs was going to suck.

The squadron raced toward the second pirate ship; four hyraxes were heading toward the third, while the last squadron took up position around the starbase.

“Time to intercept, forty minutes,” ADI informed them.

“Pirate ship, this is Commander Walsax, surrender or we will fire upon you.”

“Hey, we didn’t know what the captain was up to.  We’ve got him.  Do you want us to space him for you?”

“No, we want him alive.”

“We’ll give him a spacesuit.”

“If you don’t surrender, we will be forced to fire upon you.  We intend to impound that ship.”

“It wasn’t our fault.  We didn’t know.”

“That’s for a court of inquiry to determine.  I have my orders!”

The pirate ship started to decelerate.

“Watch out for tricks,” Commander Walsax messaged his squadron.

The scene with the third pirate ship played out much the same.  Within an hour, both ships had given ADI their command codes and were escorted back to the starbase.

◆ ◆ ◆

The Bellona and six ships jumped into the star system.  They jumped in at sixty-six point-five AUs, just half an AU from the starbase.  The Bellona had jumped first, and the other six ships had used her wormhole to jump, so they were arrayed in a tight group.  One from her original squadron and five from Avalon.  Per Catie’s plan, three of the ships from Avalon were under high acceleration.

Aboard the Xenon, the sensor display was lighting up.

“Captain, seven ships just appeared seventy-five million kilometers out-system of us.”

“How could they?  That’s over ten AUs inside the jump limit.”

“I don’t know, but they’re there.  Three of them are heading toward us at over six million kph.  They’ll reach us in just over three hours.”

“At that speed, they’ll barely be able to hit us.  We can stand one pass.  Accelerate toward the jump limit.  Thirty degrees spinward.”

Two of Jodi’s ships accelerated hard spinward, each angling opposite the other.  The goal was to create a triangle above the pirate ship with the Chesapeake as the third point.  The Bellona mirrored the pirate ship’s maneuver, hoping to stay above it.  They had been lucky in the jump, coming in almost directly out-system of the pirate ship, but even if they’d been off a lot, they would have been able to correct it long before he could get to the 66 AU limit they had jumped to.

◆ ◆ ◆

Captain Mokolov watched as the three ships closed with his.  They were well out of range when they lit up their plasma cannons.  At this speed, reaction times were far too slow.  You had to start early.

“Fire our cannons at the first ship.  Track it as it passes us,” Captain Mokolov ordered.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The Xenon shuddered as each plasma blast hit it.

“Status report!”

“Minor overheating reported on deck seven port side, deck nine starboard, and lower deck.”

“Good.  Keep accelerating toward the jump limit.  Where are the other ships?”

“They are maintaining their distance while matching our spinward vector.”

“Good.  We’ll adjust our vector as we get closer.  Maintain acceleration.”

“Aye.”

◆ ◆ ◆

As soon as she passed the pirate ship, the Speedwell opened a wormhole toward the fringe.  The Bellona opened a wormhole to the Chesapeake, and the two wormholes merged, giving Speedwell a wormhole back to the Chesapeake’s distance limit but heading in-system on the vector the Chesapeake had aligned to.

Each pair of frigates did the same maneuver, and within minutes, the Speedwell, Nightingale, and Comte were racing toward the pirate ship.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Captain, there are three more ships heading at us!  Slightly higher speed than before!”

“Where did they come from?”

“I don’t know, they just appeared.  They will intercept us in less than three hours.”

“What the hell is going on?  How are these Delphineans defying the laws of physics?  And how many ships do they have, and where are they coming from?”  Captain Mokolov stewed, furious, looking for something to take his rage out on.

“Captain.  These are the same three ships that strafed us before!”

“Explain yourself.”

“I don’t understand it.  They have the same signature.  The first three disappeared from our sensors just after they passed us.”

“They cannot possibly be circling back that fast.  How many Gs would they have to generate to pull that off?”

“They couldn’t have.  There wasn’t enough time.  Something else must be going on.”

Captain Mokolov laid back on his acceleration couch.  8Gs was hard on the body.  And now he was facing — what, phantoms?  He was days from the jump limit.  How long could these Delphineans keep this up?  How were they really materializing the same ship for each pass?  The three-hour wait for their next pass would be nerve-racking.

Boom!  It turned out the wait was only one hundred ten minutes.  The ships were obviously accelerating as they made their pass.

Boom!

Boom!

“Status?” Mokolov demanded.

“Minor damage on the lower deck.  Hull temperature is climbing but well with safety limits.”

“Where are those ships?!”

“They just disappeared.  Shit, now they’re coming for another pass.  They’re seventy minutes out!”

◆ ◆ ◆

Captain Mokolov stood on his bridge.  He was standing because their engines were damaged and were now limited to 2Gs of acceleration.  At 8Gs, he would have had to be lying on his acceleration couch.  How had destiny led him to this place?  He had discovered a world that was rich but didn’t have space travel.  He had traded for this ship, knowing he could pay for it by raiding that world.  Then these damn Delphineans had stepped in.  And now, when he had come up with a plan to get what he needed from Sataria starbase, they were here again.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

His ship shook with each hit from the plasma cannons of the Delphinean ships.  He had been sure that he could outmaneuver them again, but they just kept coming.  How could the same three ships keep passing him every thirty minutes?

He stared at the screen as the ships started to approach again.  He watched as their plasma cannon struck him, then he realized that a second cannon engaged just as the ship hit the halfway point.  So they had a stern cannon and were able to have it hit the same spot as the one on their prow.

Boom!

His plasma cannon reached out at the ship.  The damn ship rotated around its axis, distributing the force of his cannon’s strike.

Boom!  The second ship hit them.  They couldn’t even re-aim fast enough to hit it.

Boom!  The third ship hit him.  He watched the screen as each of the ships disappeared.  Somehow, they were jumping back out-system so they could take another run at him.

“Status?”

“We have a hull breach on deck five, starboard side.”

“Rotate it away from them.”

“How? They keep coming at us from three different angles.  If we take another hit on that side, it’ll punch right through the ship.”

“Figure it out.  We are not going to surrender!”

The crew was terrified.  They never really had much choice about the captain’s plans, but they’d usually benefited from them.  Now they were all looking at being vaporized.

“Sir, I have a solution.”

The captain and his first mate turned to look at Jarama.

“Well?  What is it!”

Jarama raised a pistol and shot the captain in the head.

“If you had that, why didn’t you shoot him earlier?” the First Mate demanded as he knelt down and broke the captain’s neck to finish the job.

“You kept getting in the way.”

The First Mate hit the transmit button.  “We surrender.”  He sat in the captain’s chair.  “Cut acceleration and do whatever they tell us.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“They have surrendered,” ADI announced.  “I am requesting command codes now.”

“About time,” Jodi said.  “Frigates, make another pass but don’t fire.  We don’t want to lose our advantage until ADI has control.”

“It worked,” Catie whispered.

“Of course, it did,” ADI whispered back.  “I now have their command codes.  What are your orders, Commodore?”

“Princess?” Jodi asked.

“We need to take them back to the starbase so we can hand over the crew.”

“Is the ship maneuverable?” Jodi asked.

“Yes, but the engines are severely damaged.  It will take two days to reach the starbase.”

***

Chapter 20

Wrapping Up

They docked the pirate ship at the starbase, forcing all the men off and into Marcolas’ custody.  Catie took a shuttle over and went to the bar.  She and Tina walked up to where Marius was leaning against the bar, talking to the bartender.

“Marius, we’d like to buy you a drink,” Catie said.

Marius turned and looked at her.  He was obviously looking for the punch line and hoping it didn’t involve any punches.

Catie nodded to the bartender, holding up three fingers.

The bartender grabbed a bottle and poured three glasses.  “Pretty nice of you,” he said.  “What’s the occasion?”

“We wondered if you were familiar with the Xenon.”

“Used to be her first mate,” Marius said.

“Would you be interested in a job flying her to our shipyard?  We want to have a look at her and fix her up,” Catie said.

“Just me?”

“Well, if you know some of the old crew you would trust, I’m sure Marcolas would be happy to have you take them off her hands.”

“I could do that.  What would it pay?”

“You tell us.”

Marius smiled.  Probably the first time in months.  “Well, let’s talk about that.”  He motioned to a table.  “We’ll probably need another round,” he told the bartender.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Marcolas, we’re leaving,” Catie said as she entered Marcolas’ office.  “But before I go, I have a few gifts for you.”

“I’m always happy to accept gifts.”

Catie handed Marcolas five boxes.  “These are quantum relays.”

“Ah, I knew you must have that technology.”

“We do.  Each box contains a relay.  To use one, you need to connect it to power and to your communication system.  They’re running on the backup battery we pair them with so they don’t lose coupling during a power outage.”

“So, there is one relay per box.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t they have to be in pairs?”

“They do.  It’s a hassle to manage pairs.  What we do is keep one of each pair at Avalon installed in our switchboard.  Then Ernestine, our operator AI, can direct the relay to any other relay we have in the switchboard.  That makes it possible for you to communicate with anyone on the Delphi network.”

“Oh, that’s clever.  So, whoever I give one to will be able to talk to me, you, or whomever.”

“Right.  You’ll have open access to any of the five, to me, to Avalon.  But Ernestine will restrict you from the rest of the network.  Over time, you’ll get access to more numbers.”

“Okay, anything else?”

“I’m going to come back in about two months.  I’ll bring more relays, some appliances that I think your people will like, and probably some other things I haven’t thought up yet.  I want to establish a regular trade route with you.  Is that okay?”

“That’s why we’re here.”

“Good.  And I assume you’re okay with Marius’ selection of crew for the Xenon.”

“Better your problem than mine,” Marcolas said, giving Catie a big smile.

“Then goodbye.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Miranda, we’re heading home.  What’s your status?”

“Oh, Jason still has another month before he finishes contacting all the Western tribes.  Our little Napoleon has just about taken over the negotiations.  He’s decided that his strategic thinking works in the boardroom as well as the battlefield.”

“Well, that’s what we wanted.  Anything else you have to do before you hand off to the new team?”

“We’re doing great with the scientists, but the doctors are a bunch of asses.  We cannot get them to even try to understand what we have to share.”

“I assume the doctors are all men.”

“Yes.”

“You know that most of the care is provided by women anyway.  Isn’t there a women’s college there?  And aren’t there female nurses?”

“Yes.  But we’d like to start making an impact now.”

“Then leave an AI behind.  Give the women tablets and Comms.  They can probably deal with most issues, and our doctors can step in when more is needed.  The AI can train them.  The male doctors will either come around or fade away.”

“I like that, but will the League provide the AI?” Miranda asked.

“I don’t know.  If they won’t, then I will.”

“Gotcha.”

◆ ◆ ◆

The Bellona’s squadron jumped into the Volmora system two days after leaving Sataria.

“You’re home,” Catie announced.

“Well, two weeks from home.”

“There is that.  I have a couple of surprises for you.”

“Good ones, I hope.”

“Well, good and bad depending on your perspective.”

“Bad news first.”

“I’m not going with you.”

“I can understand that.  This little adventure has used up a lot of your time.”

“But it’s been fun.  The reason I’m not going with you is I need to get back to Avalon and put together a cargo shipment.  I’ll be back in about three weeks with a lot of stuff that you’ll be able to use to set up your new home.”

“I assume that’s the good news.”

“No.  The good news is that the Beagle is meeting us.  It’s an explorer ship that we use to start a new colony.  It’s loaded with things you can use, and its crew is trained to set up a colony.  It should help get you guys started.”

“That is good news.  I assumed we would have to scavenge cabins and things from Volmora.  This will be much better.”

“I agree,” Volmora said.  “I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to fly anymore.”

Ivila gritted her teeth.  “I was worried about that, too.  Now we’ll need to figure out how you can help the colony.”

“I would suggest that you make the ship a space station.  If you put it in position over the pole, you can keep gravity on it and use it for a launch point to your asteroid belt.  You might also lower the gravity and use it for some low G manufacturing.”

“Volmora, what do you think of that?”

“I think I could be of use that way.  And then I will be able to keep an eye on everything.  ADI tells me that colonists need a lot of hand-holding.”

Ivila rolled her eyes.

“I saw that.”

◆ ◆ ◆

While Catie was on Sataria, they had sent another frigate to Terramata, and Samantha had included Melody, Catie’s body double, on the crew.  That meant that Catie could make the promised visit without having to spend the month of transit time to do it.

Of course, President Susaxa had immediately invited Catie to give a speech at their League of Nations.  He also arranged things so that he could be the host.  Melody was nervous.  She would have to give the speech; she’d been practicing for a week.  It was one thing to walk around looking like Catie; it was a completely different thing to have to give a speech.

“Melody, are you ready?”

“As ready as I can be.  Are you sure we shouldn’t just transmit a speech?  That way, you could do it.”

“You’ll do just fine.  Sam wrote it.  She writes most of the speeches I give.  So, you’re in the same situation as I usually am.  You’ve read it, right?”

“A thousand times.”

“Then you’ll be good.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Fellow leaders and ambassadors, it is my great pleasure to introduce Princess Catherine of the Delphi League.  As you know, her starship is here visiting us now, and she has agreed to address our assembly.  Princess Catherine.”

Melody walked up to the podium and looked out at the crowd.  Every nation had a delegate there, plus one or two special guests.  She was actually more terrified of the reception after than the speech.  But then, at least Catie, ADI, or Samantha would be whispering in her ear.

“Hello, fellow humans.  I say humans because, as you’ve heard, we have a common past.  But I’m not here to talk about that.  We’ll leave that to historians and philosophers.  I am here to talk about our common future.  The future we can shape together.

“As you have undoubtedly heard, membership in the Delphi League is contingent on your planet forming a unified government.  We realize how daunting that sounds.  It wasn’t that long ago that Earth first managed to form a unified government, and they still struggle with that reality every day.  Competition between countries is as inevitable as the sun rising in the morning.  But over time, that competition morphs and changes, becoming more about the spread of your commerce and influence than about the spread of your borders.

“Eventually, the greatness of a country is defined not by the power of its military but by the power of its people, their creativity, innovation, industriousness, their desire for a better future.  The boundaries of your country will eventually be defined by the influence of your people, your businesses and industries, your ideas, and your hopes.  Eventually, the concept of boundaries, even the concept of separate nations, will appear obsolete.  You and your leaders will focus on expanding your knowledge, increasing your standard of living, your quality of life, and your longevity.

“The first step toward this new definition of a future is driven by the reduction in the dependency on natural resources.  In the future, your natural resources will be ideas, ingenuity, hard work, and loving families.  We can help you make that first step by bringing low-cost, clean, and abundant energy to each of your nations.  Earth has developed fusion energy to the point where any nation can afford to have as much energy as its people require.  Once you have abundant energy, you will be able to easily recycle resources and mine your ocean floors and asteroid belt for the extra resources that you need.  You will discover other ways to combine elements to make even more useful resources.  You will focus on life, creativity, and joy.

“Once you form a unified government, the galaxy will be opened up to you.  As a member of the Delphi League, you may choose to start your own colonies, or you may simply search for other sources of wealth, mining other systems to create trade with the rest of the League.

“We have seen this happen with our friends, the Onisiwoens.  They were only about one hundred years ahead of you in their development when we discovered them and helped them join the League.  It only took them a year to fully accept their unified government and stop the petty gamesmanship between their various nations.  Your League of Nations is a great start.  You can build on it.  With our help, you can accelerate your advancement in governance, science, and industry.  You will be able to extend a high quality of life to each person on your planet.

“It is our heartfelt desire that you accomplish all that you can.  We want to help, but you must lead the way.  We can guide, but it is your planet, your destiny.”

Melody survived the reception, just.  She was amazed at how easily most of the delegates could imply a bribe without saying anything incriminating.  Obviously, they still needed to figure out how they would compete with each other.

◆ ◆ ◆

The Bellona was preparing to make the last jump into Avalon when Catie got a ping on her Comm.

“Cer Catie, Marcolas is on the line.”

“Hey, Marcolas.  It’s only been five days.  What’s up?”

“I was just visited by a few gentlemen from one of the biggest companies here in our part of the galaxy.”

“Sounds good?”

“Not really; they told me that they want their ship back.”

“What ship?” Catie asked, knowing full well which ship they were talking about.

“The Xenon, apparently Captain Mokolov bought it on consignment.”

“Did you explain that he was using it to commit acts of piracy?”

“They didn’t think that should matter.”

“Did you tell them we have it and that you didn’t have anything to do with it?”

“I tried.”

“Should we send a few ships your way to make it clear that they need to leave you alone?”

“No, but you said you were coming back in a month.  You need to know that they’re looking for you, and they don’t play nice.”

***

Afterword

Thanks for reading Delphi Mediation!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the seventeenth book in the Delphi in Space series.  If you would like to join my newsletter group, click here, Delphi in Space News.  The newsletter provides interesting science facts for Sci-Fi fans, book recommendations based on books I truly loved reading, and notifications of when the next book in my series is available.

As a self-published author, the one thing you can do that will help me the most is to leave a review and/or follow me on BookBub, Goodreads, or Amazon.

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Acknowledgments

It is impossible to say how much I am indebted to my beta readers and copy editors.  Without them, you would not be able to read my books due to all the grammar and spelling errors.  I have always subscribed to Andrew Jackson’s opinion that “It is a damn poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word.”

So special thanks to:

My copy editor, Auz B.

My beta reader and editor, Theresa Holmes.

My beta reader and cheerleader, Roger Blanton, who happens to be my brother.

Also important to a book author is the cover art for their book.  I’m especially thankful to Momir Borocki for the exceptional covers he has produced for my books.  It is amazing what he can do with the strange PowerPoint drawings I give him; how he makes sense of my suggestions, I’ll never know.

If you need a cover, he can be reached at momir.borocki@gmail.com.

***