There was a pause. The team could imagine the Station Commander was relaying this to the surface of the planet, and getting further instructions.
"Welcome Snark. Please follow these instructions to dock at our station."
Jamie took the ship in, having to avoid other ships both docking and undocking in the process. Once the docking clamps were secure, further instructions arrived informing them an escort was waiting to take them to the main office of the station.
Jamie, Snark, and Anna cycled through the airlock. A large brown bear-like creature, recognisable from the kind of books Anna and Jamie had read as children, stood at attention. It wore a green uniform with yellow strikes on the shoulders. It was quite enormous, had the four-legged centaur body, and towered over the others, particularly Snark. It was covered, where they could see, in thick brown fur, and its brown eyes glistened over the short snout. Of course, it showed some impressively sharp pointy teeth.
The bear waved them in, and led them down a corridor. Another bear brought up the rear. The team were wearing their belt suits, but were hoping they wouldn’t have to use their concealed weapons, which had been set to stun.
They passed through a huge, high-ceilinged concourse, with many different shaped, coloured, and sized bears, and a number of other species as well. These were mainly ones they could recognise from this sector, and other sectors, even some deer-goats. They were stared at discreetly as they passed by with their escort.
The bear led them through some more corridors, to the office area. They were pointed to some enormous chair-like lounge seats, and made themselves comfortable. One of the bear guards stayed with them.
There was a receptionist, sitting at a large desk full of equipment and screens, who spoke into a console, and then seemed to smile at them. It was impossible to know what sex it was, but it seemed to look like an oversized teddy bear. Smiling involved baring lots of sharp teeth, so they weren’t sure it achieved its purpose of reassuring them.
"The Station Commander will see you shortly. Would you like anything to drink?"
They indicated their thanks, but declined any refreshments. Who knew what they would be? Anna had some quite unexpected thoughts about Honey.
An internal door suddenly opened, and what they assumed was the Station Commander appeared. A large brown bear, wearing a similar uniform to their escort, but with more yellow, and some gold decoration, he held both arms out as if in welcome.
"Greetings! I am Commander" untranslatable name "of the United Federation of" another untranslatable name. "Welcome to our station."
They all stood. Snark returned the greeting.
"Thank you for your welcome. I am Snark, a Cat of the Plains, representing the Cat Homeworld."
He introduced Anna and Jamie. The bear ushered them into his large office, and sat with them in some over-sized chairs in the corner, with a large window framing a view of the planet below. A desk stood in another corner with a good view through the window.
He looked closely at Snark, and then at the humans. He was obviously very curious about them. Snark explained their translator units hadn’t been able to translate names.
The Station Commander smiled.
"Call me Growl, for short."
"You are very similar to a species on our original homeworld, a bear," said Anna carefully. "Would you mind if we called your species, bears?"
"Bear," repeated the Station Commander. "Not at all."
He looked at them closely again.
"What is your purpose in our system?" he asked politely.
"We’re on a mission to search for an artefact stolen from my homeworld," said Anna, "some centuries ago. It has some significance to me. I’m accompanied by Jamie, from the new Duchy of Hunter's Run in sector ten, where humans like us are settling. And we’ve been joined by Snark, from the Cat Homeworld in sector eight. We also have some other colleagues on board our ship."
"We’ve heard of the humans entering sector ten," commented Growl. "I never expected to meet you in this part of the galaxy though."
"We're also being pursued by a fanatical religious organisation called the Brotherhood," said Anna carefully.
Growl looked directly into Anna’s eyes, then looked at Jamie and Snark.
"The Brotherhood."
"You’ve heard of them?" asked Snark.
"Yes. We have intelligence there is a member of the Brotherhood who has hired the Valderians as mercenaries. We didn’t know what the purpose was though."
"The Brotherhood are powerful in sector nine," said Anna, "and expanding into sector eight rapidly, but have not moved into this part of the sector yet. But they have ambitions to. They're using the instability left by the defeat of the owls, and a warlord called Bhatet, as well as the arrival of the humans, to gain more power and influence. As a sect, they recruit followers into their religious cult, and then use them to run their drug businesses, and other criminal activities."
Growl remained silent.
"We're looking for allies in this part of the sector, to help us against the Brotherhood," added Snark.
Growl considered this for a moment.
"Of course, I’m only the station commander here," said Growl.
Snark guessed he was more than just the station commander. He exchanged glances with Anna and Jamie.
"I would need to report upwards regarding your request."
"Of course," said Anna. "We’re looking for alliances, but we’re also willing to help species know more about the Brotherhood, so they can make up their own minds about how to respond when they do move more into this part of the sector."
"Thank you. You’re more than welcome to use the facilities on this station, while we process your request."
The meeting was obviously at an end. They got up, and Growl followed them to the door.
"Just one thing," he added.
"Yes?" asked Anna.
"Your ship, the Seasprite."
"Yes?" asked Snark.
"It is the ship which was attacked by the Valderians at Winter, and then defeated the pirates in the next system?"
"Yes, that’s right," said Snark.
"Thank you. We heard about those incidents. Your ship is, well, getting a reputation."
Anna wasn’t sure what kind of reputation they had, but didn’t want to enquire. It was interesting the bears knew about the incident at Winter.
"Thank you for your time, Growl," she said.
"Aye, thank ye," repeated Jamie, speaking for the first time.
Snark nodded.
They went out into the reception area. The guard was no longer there. Obviously, they were free to move around. They left the Station Office.
As they walked back towards what they hoped was the concourse, they discussed their meeting.
"He wasn’t giving anything away," said Jamie, who'd been told not to speak much, as his accent might be difficult for translators to understand.
"No," said Snark. "He knew all about Seasprite and our recent adventures though."
"We shouldn’t underestimate any of the species around here," warned Anna.
"We seem to be making an impact," said Snark.
"What do you think they’ll do?"
"Take up our offer of information, although their intelligence seems spot on," said Jamie. "I think they’ll think twice about helping us though."
"It is a bit much," agreed Anna. "We turn up here asking for help, without having established a relationship or anything first."
"We’ll see what happens," said Snark. "You never know."
They found their way back to the Seasprite using a navigation tool they found at an information kiosk not far from the main office.
Fifty Nine
It took some time for Growl to come back to them with another meeting time.
Snark, Anna, and Jamie were again seated in Growl’s office. Growl indicated they were waiting for another official to arrive, who'd come up to the station from the planet.
The door o
pened, and instead of a large brown bear, a small grey bear with fluffy white ears appeared. It had a squashed in snout, and a button black nose.
Growl introduced them all.
"This is" untranslated name "of the Federation’s Alien Service."
"Glad to meet you all," said the new bear politely. "Call me Bill for short," he said.
They nodded, surprised at the name. Bill sat in the oversized chair, even for him, and blinked at them several times, with large hooded lids over his yellow eyes.
"We’ve considered your request," he started. "We would like to understand more about the Brotherhood organisation, and in exchange, we are prepared to offer some assistance in your mission in this sector. To be able to determine what form our assistance will take, we’d need to know more about the nature of the mission, and where you will be headed."
"Thank you," said Snark. "Of course, we can provide more information for you."
He was wondering just how much information they should give. Bill looked at Anna and Jamie.
"We would like to establish relations with the humans entering sector ten. We've heard much about Queen Jane, and what is now called Hunter's Run. We have also heard about the travels of the Seasprite." He stopped for a moment. "We are a curious species, and have set up an effective intelligence network. We can see you humans will be quite powerful, as you appear more advanced technologically than this part of the galaxy, and we would like to make sure we're friends rather than enemies."
Bill smiled a funny kind of smile.
"We'd also like to know more about the Brotherhood, as we've heard conflicting stories. We know they've hired a substantial Valderian force, and are wondering what their intentions are."
Anna suggested Sissness and she spend some time with Bill, to talk about what they knew of the Brotherhood. They would also talk more of their mission, and find out what kind of assistance might be on offer. She invited Bill to visit the Seasprite. It might give Bill an opportunity to see what the humans had, and what they might be able to offer the bears, without giving too much away.
Bill was impressed by the Seasprite, although he declined to eat anything Brindle had prepared. Brindle had tried to find out what bears ate, but apart from fish, berries, fruit and vegetables, and maybe nuts, couldn’t really narrow it down. Brindle was a little miffed, but realised she really had no idea what Bill could eat, and so calmed down quickly.
Anna and Sissness gave Bill a modified history of their travels and their mission, without giving away too much detail. They told him they were headed in the direction of the Scylla system, but not their destination, but they felt the Brotherhood would already know this, so they had little to lose in revealing it.
They also gave Bill as much information about the Brotherhood they felt was useful to the bears, while highlighting the danger of the sect, and how it recruited its members and destroyed societies at the same time. They told as much as they knew about their criminal activities, and how they were secretive and dispersed. While the Brotherhood had access to substantial military might, this wasn’t collected in one place, at a ‘homeworld.’ As a sect, there was no ‘homeworld’ as such, more a series of smaller groups operating out of other being’s societies, but controlled by the ‘Inner Circle’. It wasn’t known if this 'Inner Circle' were located in one place, or dispersed.
Bill kept his features guarded, and didn’t let them know how much of their information was already known by the bears. At the end of their discussions however, Bill was ready to offer assistance to them.
"We are not a powerful species in this sector, but as traders, are well connected with other species, who are. We're always wary of the Valderians, not just as mercenaries, but their constant warring amongst each other. They tend to pick on weaker members of the sector, and the council is particularly inept, or unwilling, in bringing them to heel.
"There is a finely tuned balance to relations in the sector, and the Brotherhood expanding their influence would introduce imbalance and potentially chaos. Your information only reinforces the view we have they are criminal, insidious, and dangerous, by the very nature of their infiltration into societies, rather than conquering necessarily through strength, weaponry, and ships."
He paused for a moment.
"In respect to assistance, we are prepared to make a number of ships ready to support you in any danger you may face at the hands of the Brotherhood and the Valderians they've hired. As we don’t want to start a war with the Valderians, a war we cannot hope to win, our ships would not be traceable back to our government, and would therefore fly under the banner of independent, or even rogue traders."
Anna and Sissness were pleased. The bears would help them, without potentially damaging their reputation in the sector.
Bill promised to send through more information about arrangements, and left the Seasprite, having been more than impressed at what he understood of their superior systems and technology. Their world would benefit from being one of the first allies in this sector with the humans in Hunter's Run. And they would be prepared to repel any influence the Brotherhood would seek in their system.
Bill was going to put in his report of the talks, also making recommendations the bears contact their allies to band together in the face of this latest threat of the Brotherhood. They couldn’t rely on the ineffective sector council to do anything, so they would need to take matters into their own hands.
Seasprite left the bear system, with a commitment of support, and a feeling of no longer flying into the unknown alone. The bear ships wouldn’t fly with them, but would meet them at a rendezvous just before they reached the Scylla system, and they felt bolstered by having made allies.
Sixty
Warspite sent a vid of all the meetings to Jane. Accessing the cams in the station office had been easy. Jane sent back instructions.
Several hours after Seasprite left, Tranquil walked into the station office, announced herself as a representative of Hunter's Run, and had a short conversation with Growl and Bill. She left them with access to the coms network, and contact details for Jane. Diplomacy would need to be done at long range, but it was now possible.
Her ship met up with the other two, and they headed after Seasprite. Now they were so close, Tranquil had changed the ship names and transponders so they didn’t have human names. The ships now presented as mushroom ships, which they hoped would fool anyone who looked. Their speed could not be covered, but it was getting around about some mushroom ships having had their speed increased in Hunter's Run shipyards.
Seasprite wasn't showing Tranquil's ships on either the navmap or HUD. Jane still didn’t want them to know they were there.
A similar course of events occurred at the beetle Homeworld. The beetles were oversized black beetle-like beings, with the usual four legs, three arms, but also sporting fine gossamer wings which were fully functional, and were another way of moving around, in short spurts.
While not as organised as the bears, they had substantial industry and infrastructure, and a large fleet of ships, mostly armed freighters, but a separate military arm with a full contingent of multi-sized ships. They were less aware of the threat the Brotherhood posed, and more than willing to form relations with the humans of Hunter's Run, as Jane’s reputation had also reached this far.
They were also prepared to support the Seasprite with ships, and it was agreed to follow the bear’s plan of a rendezvous.
Methods of communications were established, and Seasprite flew on to meet the empaths through the next jump point.
Tranquil repeated her visit to the bears, also giving the beetle representative access to the coms network, and contact details for Jane. Seasprite's stop had allowed her to catch up at last, but she kept the meeting short so she didn’t fall too far behind again.
Sixty One
Jamie was with Anna in the lounge, when her eyes looked blankly out at him, even as he was talking to her. He waved a hand in front of her face, but she didn’t react. She
was having a vision.
It was strange when she was ‘gone’ like this. She wasn’t with him, or in the room at all. She was somewhere else.
He knew now not to try and wake her. She would come back when the vision was over. He didn’t like it though. He didn’t know how long she would be like this either. The time she was going through had no correlation to their time. She could be ‘gone’ for minutes, but it could be days of her time.
He looked at her face. It was pale and strained, with her eyes wide open, and staring. It didn’t look like the real animated alive Anna, but she wasn’t asleep either.
Suddenly her eyes focused, and she looked up at him looking at her.
"Oh Jamie," she cried, put her head in her hands, and burst into tears.
Jamie moved over to sit next to her.
"Hey," he said quietly.
He took one of her hands, still wet from tears, and held it tightly. She suddenly looked up, and put her arms around his neck. She tucked her head under his chin, and cried. He held her tightly, disturbed by being so close, and not able to do anything more.
She quieted down, but didn’t pull away. She moved so she could raise her head up to look at him.
"It was Vasily. Being Vasily. Tormenting Anastasia," she was half sobbing, breathing quickly.
He stroked her hair.
"It’s ok, now. It’s ok."
He let her go, and placed both hands on either side of her face. He stroked one side, and then leaned in to kiss her. She didn’t back away. Their lips met, first softly, then harder, and then Anna broke away. She looked at Jamie, and then kissed him back, hard, opening her mouth to his. She put her hands around his back, and pressed him to her. He could feel her breasts against his chest, and sighed into the kiss.
They broke apart. Jamie smiled, and Anna smiled back.
"That was nice," sighed Anna.
"More than nice," added Jamie.
A.I. Destiny 4 Destiny Stone Page 23