by S. H. Jucha
“These will make a difference,” Tracy added, hefting a launcher.
“This sounds like we’re documenting a negative,” Aurelia said. “It’s like we’re trying to prove where the Colony isn’t instead of where the Colony has intruded.”
“We’ll need advice about this from others who know the Tsargit better than we do,” Harbour interjected, ending that particular discussion. She switched topics, focused on Tracy, and said, “Hangor, Mangoth’s clutch mate, made an interesting comment. He proposed that the Colony might have constructed weapons to repel the next intruders … which will be us.”
Tracy stared at Harbour, who was happy to sense Tracy’s trepidation. That emotion was better for an explorer’s survival than one of revenge for the death of a sibling.
“Let’s gather our gear and see what the Veklocks have to say,” Jessie suggested.
The foursome piled the launchers, satchels of dart drums, and duffels on the platform, and Aurelia sent them to Rissness.
When they arrived at the Jatouche dome, techs gathered their duffels and led the group through the tunnels to the shuttle.
Within hours, the Pyreans were seated across the conference table from the Veklocks, with Tacticnok and Jaktook in attendance.
“The Tsargit has decided, Envoy,” Patrus announced. “Your infrastructure requests have been granted.”
“And our status with regard to Her Excellency?” Harbour asked, gesturing toward Tacticnok.
“The Tsargit has created a special category,” Opalus said. “The Pyreans have provisional status.”
“Are they required to obey the Tsargit’s protocols?” Tacticnok asked.
The triumvirate was suddenly quiet. Not even beaks clacked, which concerned the Pyreans and the Jatouche.
Then Pesart’s beak opened and shut once to attract attention. He said, “It could be summed in this manner. If the Pyreans haven’t been informed of alliance regulations, then they can’t be faulted for disobeying them.”
Jaktook considered the statement. “The Tsargit has placed you in an awkward position,” he said to the triumvirate.
“We’ve received private instructions,” Pesart admitted. “We’ve been directed to instruct the Pyreans, and we’ve been told not to do so.”
Jaktook regarded Harbour, who said, “Understood and accepted.”
“And our final request?” Jessie inquired.
“Despite our best efforts, we were unable to procure the items you requested,” Patrus said.
All eyes turned toward Harbour. “You know our request for offensive weapons, not of Jatouche making, was nonnegotiable,” she said.
“We did, and the Tsargit wishes to offer a compromise in its place,” Opalus replied.
“You heard the envoy,” Jessie said with determination. “We must have the weapons.”
“Is there something else you might want in lieu of the weapons?” Pesart asked hopefully.
“If we were to withdraw our request, it would have to be for something substantial,” Jessie said.
The Veklocks perked up, and Jatouche ears twitched.
Harbour and Aurelia sensed the hopeful anticipation issuing from the Veklocks.
Into the silence, Patrus said, “We’re listening.”
“The Tsargit will build a medical station off Triton … a modest one,” Harbour stated flatly. “The Jatouche will be paid for their services to design, equip, and run it. When all our citizens have been repaired, the Tsargit is free of its responsibility for the station.”
Tacticnok offered her opinion. She said, “The Jatouche could use expanded medical facilities. We’d be pleased to lease the station from the Pyreans, when the Tsargit’s conditions have been met.”
“And in exchange for the medical station, you’ll relieve us of the weapons request?” Patrus asked, wishing confirmation.
“Yes,” Harbour replied.
“One condition amplifies this change, Envoy. Your Pyreans will teach the races the console secrets directly. There will be no intermediates,” Opalus stated categorically.
Harbour chose to regard Jaktook and allow him the decision as to whether he’d forgo the privilege she’d granted him.
For Jaktook’s part, he was perturbed that the triumvirate would request the Jatouche be denied the honor, but he wasn’t about to trade a second medical station to hang onto it. Then again, he did have another idea.
“I see no reason to object,” Jaktook said, but before the Veklocks could speak, he added, “However, I’ve a condition of my own. The Jatouche will be the first race to be trained on the consoles by the Pyreans.”
“I find that eminently satisfactory,” Harbour stated flatly. Her eyes dared Opalus to disagree with her.
“If our condition is accepted, Envoy, then Advisor Jaktook’s condition is also,” Opalus replied.
“It is,” Harbour replied.
“Then we’re agreed,” Patrus replied.
The triumvirate rose, clicked their beaks in unison, and departed.
“Envoy, do you intend to tell the triumvirate that you’d already obtained weapons?” Tacticnok asked.
“I considered informing them, and then again, I wouldn’t wish to tell them,” Harbour replied, a serious expression on her face.
It took the Jatouche a moment to recognize Harbour’s play on Pesart’s words. Then they chittered loud and long.
“We’ve chosen our team,” Harbour said. “It includes the five of us and the two Crocians. In addition, we’d like to invite Jaktook to join us.”
“It’s good of you, Envoy, to remember us,” Tacticnok responded. “You wish to protect us, but it’s not necessary. More important, we don’t wish it. The Jatouche must have a stake in directing our future, and that includes gaining firsthand knowledge of potential impediments.”
“We came to realize that, Your Excellency, and I apologize if we were slow to understand it,” Harbour said.
“It’s been our habit to be more tolerant of younger races,” Tacticnok said solemnly.
Three Pyreans endured the rebuke. It was deemed to be deserved. On the other hand, Harbour and Aurelia were grinning. They could sense Tacticnok’s mirth.
Harbour came out of her seat, knelt, and opened her arms, and Tacticnok hurried into the embrace.
“We’ve been good for each other and our citizens,” Tacticnok whispered, her furry cheek nuzzling Harbour’s.
-14-
Journeys
In their temporary quarters aboard Rissness Station, Devon hefted two launchers and a satchel of drums. He said to Tracy, “You’re with me.”
Devon led Tracy to the bay where the Jatouche had set up the target practice. The med techs had created three more faux reds.
When Tracy first saw the reds, she halted.
Devon saw several expressions cross Tracy’s face, but the final one remained fixed. It was anger.
Devon had already demonstrated the launcher’s operations to Tracy. Their purpose in the bay was to give her time to become familiar with firing the weapon. He watched Tracy chamber a dart, take aim, and remove the center red’s head.
In short order, Tracy removed the heads of the other reds. She wore a satisfied expression. Then she quickly chopped the bodies down. Before she fired her final dart, she removed the drum, stored it, and destroyed the remaining segment with the dart in the breach. Then she handed the launcher to Devon and walked out of the bay.
“You should have seen her,” Devon later said to Jessie. “There was cold deliberateness in her elimination of the targets. She made sure to remove the heads first. It was my thought that she didn’t want to see them looking at her.”
“Do you think she’s a danger to the team?” Jessie asked.
“Hard to say,” Devon replied. “It’s not like the tenderhearted need apply.”
“That’s true, but if she’s too aggressive, she’ll destroy our cohesiveness,” Jessie replied.
“Then I think it’s a good thing that she’s made herself res
ponsible for Jaktook. That should keep her feet on the deck,” Devon opined.
The two men looked up at the sounds of Mangoth and Hangor entering the main room. They were led by Jaktook.
“We explore,” Mangoth boomed.
Harbour collected Aurelia and Tracy from their rooms, and the team gathered around the central table.
“I’ve a complex query,” Hangor said. “Jaktook, do you have recordings of the Colony members?”
“I’m sure they’re in the archives,” Jaktook replied. “They would have been captured during the Colony’s incursions into our dome.”
“The second part,” Hangor said, nodding his snout appreciatively to Jaktook. “Aurelia and Devon, would the recording help us with star locations?”
“Absolutely,” Aurelia cried out.
“That’s brilliant,” Devon added enthusiastically.
“It might not at the start of our journey,” Aurelia explained. “But eventually, the star display will indicate the shortest route from our present dome to the Colony’s star. It will give us a means of targeting the other stars that are closest to their world.”
Jessie and Harbour smiled at Hangor, and Mangoth swatted his sibling with a resounding thwack.
“Didn’t I tell you he was the brightest of the clutch?” Mangoth roared.
While the group reacted to Mangoth’s enthusiasm, Jaktook requested a tech obtain the recordings, which would be transferred to the Pyreans’ comm units.
Hangor produced a device. It contained star charts and alliance dome data. Unfortunately for the Pyreans, they couldn’t operate or read his device. The same was true for the Crocians and Jatouche, when it concerned the Pyrean comm units.
“Jaktook, Mangoth, when we finished our first exploration, what was the first alliance dome?” Jessie asked.
“Yes … the cats,” Mangoth supplied.
“Is that what you call Shevena’s race?” Harbour asked, remembering the name of the dome administrator.
“They are properly referred to as the Sylians,” Jaktook corrected, eyeing Mangoth.
The Crocian turned his snout away, as if to say he’d no intention of apologizing for his penchant to characterize the races by their appearance.
The following morning, the team was ready.
The decision was made not to bother with vac suits. Instead, the Rissness Station techs supplied the Pyreans and Jaktook with lightweight metal mesh suits to inhibit the injection of venom. However, the bite of a red could still crush an arm or leg or decapitate an explorer. The Crocians chose to forgo the mesh suits and rely on their armored skin.
Harbour and Aurelia’s backpacks carried the makings for greens and their comm units.
Jaktook packed several devices for himself.
The team numbered eight, and they carried ten launchers and satchels of drums. The Crocians each swung an additional launcher and the accompanying satchel over their backs. All other gear was left behind at Rissness dome, where the team began their first journey.
Jaktook and Hangor guided the team through the many journeys it took to reach the Sylian’s dome.
Shevena, the dome administrator, was on duty, and she greeted the explorers, whose medallions announced them. She eyed the odd tools in their hands. They were identical. Weapons, she thought.
“You explore again, Envoy Harbour?” Shevena asked, when her ear wig signaled a completed update.
“We do,” Harbour replied, as the team stepped off the platform.
One gate in the Sylian dome was unused, but the team made no move toward it. Prior to the start of the exploration, each explorer had an opportunity to comment and argue with the strategies, but from this point forward, Aurelia would lead them.
Aurelia slipped her comm unit from her pack. During the first exploration, she’d recorded their numerous attempts to find their way home. She would use that same information in reverse to direct them toward the dome they knew the Colony had occupied.
Aurelia reviewed the expedition’s final journey, which would now be their first journey. “We arrive at gate three, and we exit on gate one,” she said. With that pronouncement, she established the routine that the team would use as they prepared to exit a dome.
“Three to one,” Jessie repeated to the group. “Load your launchers. We’re leaving alliance territory, and we’ll approach each dome as if we expect the Colony to occupy it.”
Jessie pulled a drum from his satchel and attached it to his launcher. Then he triggered the loading of a dart into the breach.
Devon and Jessie investigated the breach of each team member’s weapon to ensure a dart was loaded.
“Gain the platform, and assume your positions,” Jessie directed.
The explorers had practiced their orientation. Facing a console, Devon and Jessie would flank Aurelia. They would be in the forefront. Jaktook would be in the center, and Harbour and Tracy would guard the rear. Mangoth and Hangor would protect each side of the platform.
Jessie called out, “Weapons up.”
Jessie’s words and the slap of launchers into the explorers’ hands interrupted the thoughts of alliance members moving through the Sylian dome. They stopped to stare.
Shevena watched Jessie. When he hand signaled, she sent them on their journey.
The Messinants energy connected the platform to the dome, and the team left for the first non-alliance star. They found the dome empty. Devon ran to the console and set gate one for transfer. The explorers took their places on the new gate, and Aurelia called out, “Arriving four; exiting three.”
Devon ran to join the group, and the dome sent them to the Q-gate’s entwined location.
The team kept to their routine. Except for Hangor, they were veterans. As such, they were acutely aware of the danger and how fast the Colony members could strike. However, Hangor needed no convincing to follow procedures. Mangoth’s horror stories had convinced him of the need to do that.
On the explorers’ first foray, they’d labeled two domes alpha and beta. Alpha, which was one journey from the Colony’s dome, was occupied by the insectoids. The team had discovered the Colony constructing an attached dome to house the building of a shuttle and its launch tube. In the battle within alpha dome, Tracy had lost her brother, Dillon.
In beta, a journey outward from alpha, the explorers had found safety. It remained to be seen if beta was still unoccupied by the insectoids.
Jessie halted their journeying two domes out from beta. As hoped, the dome was unoccupied.
Mangoth and Hangor spread nets across the platforms to prevent the Colony coming through the gates, while the team retired for the evening.
After a paste meal, Jaktook and Mangoth spoke privately for a while. Their conversation escalated in tone and volume, which is when they approached the group.
“Problems?” Harbour asked them.
“We’ve concerns, Envoy,” Jaktook said
“Serious concerns,” Mangoth injected, seemingly disagreeing with Jaktook’s characterization of the problem.
“I’m listening,” Harbour said.
“The Tsargit should begin your infrastructure projects as agreed, but they’ll expect a fulsome return from you,” Jaktook said.
“Your circumstances are unique, Envoy,” Mangoth said. “I perceive that the Tsargit might not begin construction until they hear your full report. Jaktook believes they’ll start the work and cancel the contracts if they don’t accept your presentation’s fullness. They’ve done this before.”
“Obviously, you two agree on one thing,” Jessie commented. “The Tsargit can’t be trusted to keep their word, as delivered by the Veklocks. “
“What do we have to do to prove what we discover?” Aurelia asked.
“Document thoroughly,” Mangoth replied.
“We have to defend platforms and consoles,” Devon objected. “We can’t afford to have one of us drop a launcher and take up a comm unit to record the fight.”
“We’ve a solution,” Jaktook said
brightly and indicated Mangoth. “The team is doing the utmost to protect me by placing me in the center, where my weapon does little good.” He dug in his pack and pulled out a device. “I can document the encounter.”
“He’ll have an excellent view,” Mangoth added, patting one of his broad shoulders.
The Pyreans chuckled or laughed. On the previous expedition, Jaktook rode Mangoth’s shoulders to stay above the fray and out of the strikes of the reds and the grays.
“Okay, new team arrangement,” Jessie said. “Mangoth and Jaktook, you take center forward. Aurelia and I will flank you. Devon, you’re behind Aurelia, and Hangor, you’re backing me. Harbour and Tracy, you have rear guard.”
When everyone acknowledged that they understood the new positions, Jessie said, “That’s it. Get some rest. We’ll make contact tomorrow.”
Aurelia rose, drifted her fingers across the back of Devon’s neck, and headed toward the dorm’s door. A soft smile lit Devon’s face, and he followed her.
Harbour gazed at the couple, as they exited. She was happy for them, but that didn’t fill her heart. She turned toward Jessie and sensed the same longing that she felt.
Jessie put aside his reservations and extended a hand to Harbour. To his joy, she took it, and together they left the room.
Tracy eyed the three males, who were left with her. “Nothing personal, sirs,” she said, “but I think I’ll seek private accommodations.”
When Tracy left, Hangor glanced toward his companions. “Perhaps, it was a mistake on our parts not to invite females of our own,” he said.
Mangoth roared and Jaktook chittered.
“I can hear my offer now,” Mangoth boomed. “I’m taking a little trip. Would you like to me accompany me? Where? Oh, traveling domes outside the alliance and seeing if the Colony occupies them. It should be fun.”
Mangoth’s routine had Hangor roaring and Jaktook rolling on his pallet.
When they settled down, Jaktook gazed at the exit and said soberly, “I believe our Pyrean friends are acutely aware of their vulnerability and seek solace.”
“They’re not alone in their feelings,” Hangor admitted.
In the corridor, Jessie halted and smiled wryly at Harbour. “Sorry,” he said. “I don’t know what room Aurelia and Devon chose.”