by S. H. Jucha
Miriam dropped Mickey’s link and connected to Deirdre and Darius, who were in system. Franz’s command protected two freighters loading at an alliance world.
When Miriam ended the links, Cordelia organized the ship assignments — freighters, carriers, and squadrons. As far as Deirdre and Darius were concerned, it was faster to let a SADE handle the process.
Cordelia transferred via traveler from the Rêveur to a carrier, and Francis sailed the liner in system.
Immediately, Trident squadrons made for the carriers, which waited at the system’s periphery for them.
It would be two more days before Darius’s freighters were unloaded and ready to sail. Deirdre’s freighters would take even longer.
Before Cordelia’s carrier departed the system, she connected with Mickey.
Cordelia sent.
Mickey chuckled at the interpretation.
Mickey replied.
Outpost One: Harbour, Cordelia thought. She liked the name, and she knew others who might.
Third watches served the carriers and the Tridents, as the ships cleared the Crimsa system’s gravitational pull. Cordelia programmed the vectors and executed the transits.
* * * * *
Alex received the messages from Orbit and Miriam that the carriers had arrived at Pyre. A smile crossed his face at Mickey’s action to co-opt the carriers to act as freighters to speed delivery of supplies for the outpost. He was tempted to sail the Freedom for Pyre but held back for two reasons.
The obvious conflict was the veterans had just deployed planetside in another system that had been designated red.
The dome’s ring had been destroyed earlier by Darius’s command. The nine transports, which orbited the dome’s planet, had been left untouched by the command.
Z and Miriam operated the city-ship’s rail gun to launch clusters at the transports. All ships had responded passively to the metal balls that shredded their bows.
The transports weren’t traps. They’d deposited shuttles on the planet, and the veterans anticipated three hundred sixty adults and generations of juveniles on the planet.
The other reason Alex chose to remain away from Pyre was that he agreed with Mickey’s decision. He wanted the outpost completed, or as near to completion as it could get, before the fleet was required to sail.
It had been a while since he’d dreamed — the kind that played through his mind whether awake or asleep. He’d been grateful for the relief, the peace, and had hoped he was done with dreams. But they were back.
This one was odder than usual. It didn’t provide shapes, not even details. Colors merged one into another. Then they abruptly disappeared.
Alex had no idea what the colors meant, but the intent was clear. It would soon be time to mobilize the fleet. To where, he had no idea. But if the fleet had to sail from alliance space, it would be best to ensure the resistance was sufficiently organized to continue without most of the Omnian support.
Critical decisions remained as to who would govern the Pyrean outpost. Alex had discussed choices with Renée, Tatia, and Julien. However, he wondered if they had the right to select those individuals.
“We could leave the decision to the Tsargit council,” Tatia had offered. “That body should be able to develop a short list in a Hyronzy annual or two.” Her delivery had been so deadpan that Alex had laughed and applauded the delivery.
“What’s required is a mix,” Renée had said. “We’ll need to select key individuals from the alliance races to satisfy the Tsargit.”
“Experience is the number one requirement,” Tatia had pointed out, “and only the veterans have it. Without them, there is no resistance.”
“It appears the Tsargit council prefers a wait-and-see attitude to change,” Julien said. “The councilors won’t want the responsibility for appointing the outpost leaders. That’s to protect their positions. If the resistance were to crumble, they might be seen as responsible for its collapse.”
“Then it falls to us to select the outpost’s principals,” Alex said, acquiescing. “The sooner we do that, the better. When the carriers finish supporting the station’s buildout, the leaders need to be in place to orchestrate their deployment using the commands’ surveys.”
After the discussion ended, Julien spoke to Alex privately. He shared a thought. “For this post to be successful, it’ll require support at engineering levels and intelligence.”
“I’m aware, Julien,” Alex replied, “but I won’t force our people to serve at an outpost so far from Omnia. They signed up to be part of the fleet, which rotates home, whenever opportunities present themselves.”
“All the more reason to clone the engineering of the Messinants,” Julien replied. “It would make transfers quick and convenient.”
“How are the SADEs doing?” Alex asked.
Julien shared daily summaries with Alex of the progress made at the yellow-designated domes.
Earther squadrons provided overwatch for the domes, and three SADEs worked at each location. Relays were set up to provide comm from the platform decks through the tunnels to the ships above.
However, SADE-to-SADE communications were faster via cubes. It also gave the SADEs an opportunity to see if they achieved lockout of the connected Q-gates.
“The SADEs have already discovered another disguised layer,” Julien replied. “What’s intriguing is that access of the sublayer requires simultaneous input at two different panels far apart on the console.”
“Were the Messinants capable of such a feat?” Alex asked.
“Kasie showed Juliette and Esteban images of the Messinants that are embedded in the consoles,” Julien replied, and he shared the images with Alex.
“Humanoid proportions,” Alex commented.
“Which is why SADEs believe that two operators were required to access this layer,” Julien replied. “This encourages more questions. Why two operators? What other sublayers are accessed through multiple panels? The discovery indicates that there most likely exists a sublayer that the SADEs expect to eventually find. It should give them access to what lies beneath a dome.”
“Virtual or direct access?” Alex asked.
“Both,” Julien replied.
Alex thought about the ramifications of Q-gates across the galaxy. It was both exciting and worrying.
Julien had his own thoughts. The SADEs’ primary goal was to assist the resistance because this was Alex’s request. B
ut discovering the energy sources and technology for the domes and the Q-gates were their secondary goals. While it would aid many worlds in the near future, it would serve the SADEs well in a much more distant future.
* * * * *
“It would be nice if this planet was like the last one,” Tacnock remarked to Jess, and he chittered.
Jess chuckled at the memories Tacnock’s remark evoked. After the Ot-Totlanyan world, he’d chosen another red-designated system.
At that system, the Freedom had tested the transports orbiting the planet, found them to be passive, and the Tridents and travelers had chopped them up and burned them to ash.
The veterans expected two hundred adults with their offspring planetside.
Jess, Lucia, and the veteran leaders conducted a survey, expanding their search outward from the ten shuttle landing sites.
Julien provided the first odd piece of information, summarizing the Tridents’ overview of the planet.
Sharon overflew the planet’s surface for the entire day before for an indication of the answer to Jess’s question was spotted. The carcass of a gray lay on a rocky uplift.
The traveler was within five meters of touchdown, when Julien sent,
Within a quarter hour, Julien had his answer. Insectoid adults, the remains anyway, were found in various unexpected places.
Julien sent.
That was the essence of Tacnock’s remark. The environment of the previous world had taken care of the insectoid invaders just as it had probably dispatched the species uplifted by the Messinants.
The planet they surveyed now had a broad equatorial band of hot, dry, dusty terrain. No Colony shuttles had landed anywhere in this region. However, the polar regions held water and foliage.
There was a dome, which meant a sentient species might exist, if it had managed to survive the rigors of the desiccating world.
Sharon chose a polar region at random, and flew toward the site of a shuttle landing, which Tridents had identified.
Recalling the previous world, the veterans kept the ship closed. But, as they detected multi-legged herbivores moving through the trees and avians in flight, they considered it safe to drop the ramp.
Immediately, the veterans, except for Lucia and Aputi, hurried to assume their favorite positions — seats on the ramp’s edge.
When Sharon’s helmet received the signal of the ramp’s drop, she slowed the traveler’s velocity before the admiral signaled her.
Moments later, Sharon sent,
29: Twin-Polar World
When the traveler reached the height Jess desired, telemetry provided excellent details of the natives, or at least their encampment. None of the locals could be seen.
“Deserted?” Tacnock queried.
As the Jatouche spoke, several females exited a dirt-and-stick hut. Their gender was easily identified by the twin rows of breasts displayed on their chests. Their clothing consisted of animal skins wrapped around their waists and covering about half their thighs.
“Looks like the locals are built for this colder region of the planet,” Menous remarked.
The females were squat. Their solid, thick bodies possessed powerful arms and legs. Coarse reddish hair covered their skin, and a pair of teeth, resembling blunt tusks, protruded upward from the lower jaw.
“Observe,” Homsaff said. She sent an image from the ship’s telemetry and highlighted an item.
“Insectoid skull,” Lucia said.
“A large adult, probably a red,” Aputi added.
“I count three of them on the posts,” Tacnock said.
“Good hunters,” Homsaff remarked, adding an appreciative chuff.
The females added wood to stoke the embers of what appeared to be a communal firepit.
Two young females walked one behind the other. A long pole was balanced between them on their shoulders.
“What’s on the pole?” Aputi asked.
“Meat,” Homsaff replied. “It’s for roasting on the firepit.”
“It’s cylindrical like ...” Lucia said, before she halted.
“Like an insectoid body,” Jess finished.
Some of the veterans swallowed repeatedly to prevent retching.
Every race aboard the traveler had evolved a society that cultured protein, except the Dischnya. In most cases, it had become a necessity to preserve the ecological balance rather than deplete the planet’s food stock. So the idea of eating sentients was more than an abhorrent concept.
“The locals eat what they hunt and kill,” Homsaff surmised. “The skulls are trophies. They’re displayed to demonstrate the prowess of their hunters.”
After the prior planet, the SADEs monitored the survey traveler’s telemetry to prevent harm to the veterans by exposure to dangers from the present world.
Aputi frowned at Tacnock, who chittered in good humor.
The Trident captains reported quickly that they had trouble detecting the camps, and they suggested the travelers should fly close to the ground to spot them.
Julien relayed the captains’ concerns to Jess, who spoke to the veterans.
“Have the ships wait until dark,” Simlan suggested. “The firepits will give their locations away.”
Jess grinned and relayed the idea to Julien.
The planet the Tridents observed had a dual spin. If an observer regarded the polar regions, the world appeared to lie on its side and roll on its equatorial belt. Simultaneously, it spun slowly around its pole-to-pole circumference. From space, the twin motions gave the planet a wobbly motion.
These spins made the
term nightfall rather subjective. The polar areas vacillated from light to dim to light to dark. Then the cycles repeated, and the vacillating series lasted two-and-a half Omnian days.
When Julien informed Jess that the survey of the camps was complete, the veterans and the SADEs met in an engineering bay, with its substantial holo-vid.
“You can see, Captain, the camps are widely dispersed,” Julien said, as the view of the planet rotated in the display. “The local race’s overall population is quite small, and we suspect it might be dwindling.”
“You’ve an option, Captain,” Z added. “You can allow the environment to take its course. In time, neither sentient race will exist on this planet.”
“You’re speaking in decades, centuries, or millennia,” Aputi declared hotly. “That’s not fair to the natives.”
“I’m inclined to agree with my large friend,” Tacnock said. He looked up at Jess for support.
“We defeat the insectoids on whatever planet we find them,” Jess said firmly. “We don’t pick and choose.”
“Well phrased, Captain,” Miranda said. “We’d hoped you felt that way, but we considered it necessary to offer you the choice.”
“A traveler did manage to capture some valuable imagery during the region’s dim period,” Julien said. “We’ve enhanced the display for you.”
The veterans watched a group of males walking along a trail. The male on point would periodically examine the ground, often bending down to smell it.
One moment, the males were on the trail, and the next, they weren’t.
“The traveler stayed overhead for more than an hour,” Z explained. “I’m continuing the vid at the point of action.”
A red and two grays slithered down the trail.
In the blink of an eye, the red-haired males leapt from concealment. They brandished spears, which they jabbed behind the insectoids’ heads, pinning their adversaries to the ground.
The red and the grays thrashed violently, using their legs to stab at their attackers.