“I am First Admiral Caudwell of the Universal Alliance, General, and you have fired upon my vessel twice without provocation. I am entitled to defend myself from aggression,” Billy responded bravely.
“We recognise no Universal Alliance,” the creature threatened, ”stand aside or you will be considered enemies of the Bardomil Empire and be destroyed!” it blustered.
“As you have already fired upon my vessel twice, you may consider yourself whatever you please,” Billy replied calmly, ”however, these people are under the protection of the Universal Alliance, so stand down your weapons or face the consequences.”
“You are only one ship along with this pathetic handful of Thexxian criminals,” the Bardomil General guffawed, “what do you think you can do against us?”
“If you interfere with our activities General you will find out,” Billy responded and cut the transmission, then turned his attention to the View Screen.
As if on cue, and as if due to a push from some invisible hand, all of the red triangles on the right of his View Screen began to move forwards and fired their weapons at the white circles on the left. Once again, the force shielding of the Black Rose held firm as the Bardomil vessels moved forwards unleashing the full fury of their weapons systems. Once more the weapons fire bounced uselessly from the force shielding of the Black Rose. However, the forward momentum of the Bardomil vessels had to be stopped before they overwhelmed the Thexxian position.
Billy Caudwell, sitting safely aboard the Black Rose, adjusted the forward projection of the force shielding; pushing it out to the furthest limit of its capability. Then, with one deft push of a button from Billy, the entire Bardomil force stopped dead in space. The Bardomil use of electro-magnetic weapons and drives for their spacecraft meant that Billy Caudwell had only to use a broad wavelength pulse in order to overwhelm the electro-magnetic systems. Rather like creating an overload in an electrical system, the huge jolt over a wide spectrum had effectively overwhelmed and knocked down every system and safety protocol in the Bardomil ships. In every vessel of the Bardomil force the technicians and pilots were scrambling desperately to restore all of the vital systems, including life support, before they and their crewmates suffocated or froze to death.
The Thexxians sensing an easy victory over their most hated enemies started to move forwards to deliver the final blows to the stranded Bardomil Fleet.
“Rearguard One, call your people back, we have to get away from here,” Billy requested anxiously.
“Acknowledged, Gatekeeper,” the Thexxian voice replied, “this is Rearguard One, return to formation.”
To a chorus of complaints and yells of disapproval from their communications frequencies, Billy opened a powerful Jump Gate just behind the Thexxian Saucers; drawing them swiftly and relentlessly to the new planet. Billy Caudwell had no idea whether there were any other Bardomil vessels in the area or how many. He had to make good an escape as quickly as he could for fear of a major Bardomil force operating close by. Billy had no time to sit and discuss the specifics of the situation with the Thexxian Saucer crews; he just had to get them out of that area and lodged safely around the new planet.
With the last of the complaining Thexxian Saucer crews safely deposited at the new planet, Billy prepared to take the Black Rose through the Jump gate. A brief scanner sweep indicated that the Bardomil were struggling desperately to reinstate the major systems of their ships. Billy hoped that the Bardomil had learned an important lesson from the encounter.
The Bardomil would be cautious when next they met up with a vessel, no matter how small, from the Universal Alliance. To reinforce the lesson, Billy sent a large dose of Centrium radiation out through the force shielding. The Centrium, when combined with the alloys in the hulls of the Bardomil ships caused the surface of the vessel to fluoresce a bright yellow colour. Billy Caudwell, having crippled their vessels, was now sending the Bardomil the message that he could also have destroyed them when they were vulnerable. He had, however, chosen not to do so, and had instead painted their ships a luminous yellow colour that would eventually fade.
The Bardomil crews’ humiliation with their comrades and their near-death experiences would drive home the message not to tangle with Billy Caudwell. With that done, Billy Caudwell took the Black Rose into the Jump Gate, and disappeared from view in a huge white blinding flash of light.
The first part of the plan was well under way.
Chapter 28
Like creatures having been stuck in constant darkness for many years, as many of them had been, the Thexxians emerged blinking and squinting against the bright orange sunshine of the new pink-skied planet. Some shielded their sensitive pink eyes from the bright light with their arms as they shuffled quickly into the comfortable gloom of the cooler shade of the Landing Towers. Many of the females clutched their children to them as they tentatively crossed the landing pads to the Reception Areas. The Praetor Maximus and the military had said that it was safe here, however, a lifetime of mistrust of anything new or unusual was very hard to break in younger minds that had known nothing but the confines of a refugee space vessel.
“It’s the eyes, isn’t it First Admiral,” the Praetor Maximus spoke gently as he stepped next to Billy beside the hatchway of the Black Rose.
Billy, slightly surprised at this seemingly magical appearance from nowhere nodded quickly in agreement.
“I see those eyes looking at me, pleading with me to save them from the misery of their existence, to make things better for them, every time I go to sleep,” the Praetor Maximus said sadly.
For a few moments, Billy felt the immense sadness of this leader who had struggled and fought to protect and hold together the remains of his people for all the years of their flight from the Bardomil.
“Well, they’ll sleep safely tonight Praetor Maximus,” Billy responded softly, “I’ll show your military people how to operate the scanners for the ground defences, not that I think you’ll have any trouble from the Bardomil or anyone else way out here.”
“Thank you once again, on behalf of my people,” the Praetor Maximus said.
“There’s no need,” Billy replied, “now, if you’ll excuse me I’ll just go and make sure Physician Laxxor is managing,” and stepped back into the Black Rose.
A moment later, Billy appeared at the teleport plate close to one of the large Mess Halls in the heart of the base. As he walked through the stark, militarily grey corridors with the harsh bright lights, Thexxians scurried about their business. Passing through the large communal barracks blocks he saw row upon row of cots set out for the refugees. Many of the cots were already occupied by the dark-clad Thexxians, some of whom seemed to be sleeping fitfully, tortured by their own particular traumatic memories.
In one dormitory, he stopped where an elderly female was gently caressing the head of a young Thexxian child, a boy, who lay, eyes closed, partly covered by a blanket on one of the low-level cots.
She sat gently crooning to herself as she softly stroked the child’s hair, holding his hand.
Billy watched for a few moments feeling slightly guilty at intruding on such a personal moment, and at the same time marvelling that all over the universe parents and grandparents would be tending to children in the same way. From beneath another cot came the sounds of a young black clad Thexxian squirming, lashing out and calling for someone in her sleep. Some scars will take time to heal, Billy thought, as he gently lifted the sleeping Thexxian child onto the cot. The elderly female looked at Billy, at first with suspicion, and then, seeing that he was not likely to murder them all, returned to tending the youngster.
“Have you eaten?” Billy asked her patiently.
She nodded slowly to him, without interrupting her lullaby, and Billy saw in her pink eyes a combination of exhaustion, fear and anxiety, that was mixed with a degree of relief. There was also something else that Billy could not quite comprehend.
“Why don’t you get some rest,” Billy suggested to her.
For a moment she stopped her song and stared at him as if he had suggested something preposterous.
“I must watch over my grandson,” she said emphatically, like a child given a task that they felt had to be carried out rigorously to the letter, or they would face the wrath of an angered parent.
“There you are, Griva,” a younger female voice said behind him.
Startled, Billy turned quickly to see a younger Thexxian adult female, in the usual dark clothing. Confidently, she stepped forwards and took the elderly female gently by the hand, and began to pull her away from the cot and the young Thexxian. Strangely, to Billy, she did not seem to complain, and compliantly, still singing her lullaby, got to her feet without releasing the little boy’s hand.
“Come on, Griva,” the young female Thexxian said gently and began to lead the still singing elderly female from the room.
It was then that it struck Billy that all was not well with the elderly female.
“Please, pardon her, sir,” the young female said, almost apologetically, turning back to Billy, and pulling the edge of the blanket over the silent and motionless child’s head, ”Griva lost all of her family when the Bardomil destroyed their ship many years ago.”
The realisation that the little boy was dead struck Billy like a hard stinging slap to the face. In the stunned silence, Billy said nothing, and watched as the gentle old female, still singing to her long dead grandchild, was quietly led away.
Some scars take a long time to heal, Billy thought, and some never do.
Still shaken by the experience, Billy made his way to the vast communal Mess Hall. Teg Portan had been a regular visitor to Garmaurian military establishments, and Billy had memories of the confident, exuberant, boisterous, noisy horse play and thrown food that accompanied young military Garmaurian adults in Mess Halls. It came as quite a surprise to Billy to find, not the yelling and shouting of playful banter, with harassed and overheated N.C.O.’s trying to maintain some semblance of discipline, but a low murmuring drone of muted conversations.
“First Admiral Caudwell!” the familiar voice of Laxxor called from one of the garishly coloured benches, accompanied by a broad smile and an expansive wave.
Long lines of dark-clad Thexxians queued up patiently in front of the Food Synthesisers which doled out large grey bowls of the hot, nutritionally-enhanced, yellowish porridge that Billy knew was called Qar’gah. For a moment, Billy looked around the Mess Hall and saw Thexxians, seated at the great long forty-seat benches devouring their meals with great relish.
“First Admiral!” the familiar voice called again beckoning him over to the bench.
Row after row of murmuring Thexxians watched Billy, some still filled with suspicion, as he walked towards the beaming Chief Physician.
“It appears your Qar’gah is a runaway success,” Billy said to the physician, with a smile.
“Isn’t it wonderful!? A few weeks or so of Qar’gah and we can begin to vary the diet, and get a proper nutritional routine started for the children!” Laxxor beamed, gesturing for Billy to sit next to him.
“Yes, that is excellent,” Billy smiled, slightly amused at the infectious optimism and excitement of the Chief Physician, who for so long had struggled, like the Praetor Maximus, to hold his people together despite the odds stacked against him.
“Would you care to try some Qar’gah ?” Laxxor smiled shoving a large spoonful of the yellowish mush that had been the staple food of the Thexxian penal system for centuries, towards Billy’s face.
“No, thank you,” Billy smiled diplomatically, gently pushing the proffered spoon away, “I’ve already eaten,” he lied with his stomach lurching at the thought of the porridge.
“Well, waste is the enemy of survival, as we Thexxians say,” the Physician shrugged good-naturedly, and continued to eat his own meal.
“So, why is everyone eating Qar’gah?” Billy asked, “The Food Synthesisers can produce anything they want to eat.”
“You don’t give people rich food when they’re not used to it,” Laxxor explained, “Some of these people have lived on survival rations for months, even years,” he continued, “Their systems are just not used to anything else. Rich food would go straight through them and drain what little minerals and nutrients their bodies have left. It would kill hundreds of thousands. So, I started with Qar’gah because it is simple, and it can be used to deliver all of the nutritional supplements that they need,”
“Then start varying their diets once they’ve reached a certain level?” Billy asked.
“That is correct First Admiral….You sure you won’t try..?” Laxxor once again offered Billy a spoonful of yellow mush, which Billy waved down, politely, shaking his head.
“Well, their appetites seem healthy enough?” Billy asked looking around the bench he was seated at where the dark-clad Thexxians devoured the yellowish porridge in a suspicious silence.
“All in all, the majority of the people have fared far better than I had hoped. We are still going to lose the ones who were just too weak, too ill or too elderly. But, there is nothing wrong with most of them that a month of Qar’gah, and a good daily ration of fresh fruit and vegetables with some decent sunshine won’t fix. We’ll see some flesh on their bones again,” Laxxor continued, whilst eating the Qar’gah with relish.
“How many people do you think won’t make it?” Billy asked, an edge of guilt and remorse in his voice, still shaken from the episode with the old woman.
“Maybe about fifteen thousand or so; we’ll make them comfortable, do what we can, put nutrients directly into their bloodstream, try to re-hydrate them, but the rest is really in the hands of The Great Power,” Laxxor said almost matter-of-factly.
“I’m so sorry, if only I had gotten here sooner……” Billy began solemnly.
“No!” the Chief Physician snapped loudly, grabbing Billy’s sleeve, interrupting the silent diners, “You do not apologise First Admiral, not ever……look around you,” Laxxor spoke softly indicating the quiet, sullen faces at the bench, “There are nearly five million Thexxians who yesterday were on the point of starvation. You have given us a chance at survival, First Admiral, never ever forget that,” Laxxor emphasised.
“Still, fifteen thousand seems such a lot of people,” Billy responded.
“Over the last twenty years we have lost tens of millions, First Admiral. What you have done for us is to ensure that no more of us will die out there,” Laxxor replied, “If you like you can come and see the hospital. The facilities are superb, light years ahead of what we had before,” the physician said calmly, trying to set Billy’s young mind at ease.
“Chief Physician, thank you. But, I have a conference with the Praetor Maximus in a few minutes, perhaps next time,” Billy responded.
“Oh, of course,” the Chief Physician replied with a smile, without rancour or disappointment, “duty calls, eh?”
“Yes Chief Physician, we are both slaves to our duty are we not?” Billy responded to a question with a question.
“That we are, First Admiral,” he intoned seriously, “that we are,” and returned to his meal.
Chapter 29
Billy passed through the Mess Hall towards the Administration facility where the Praetor Maximus had established his new office. Despite being the nerve centre for the governance of over five million people, the Administration Facility looked underutilised. In its heyday, the colony had been home for almost eight and a half million Garmaurians, who in time of emergency could be accommodated within the military facility. Now, various dark-clad Thexxian functionaries scuttled around in the vast cavernous stark white facility. Many of them were seated at row upon row of terminals working methodically and patiently as they processed and recorded each new batch of arrivals.
“We are ahead of schedule First Admiral!” the Praetor Maximus announced spontaneously from beside one of the terminals.
“That is good news,” Billy replied, and was ushered into one of the nearby offices.
> “We have landed all of the civilian ships and disembarked almost eighty percent of the people!” he said breathlessly. “Chief Physician Laxxor reports no major disease problems, although, we have fewer medical personnel than we thought. We have had to draft in all of the military medical technicians.”
“Excellent,” Billy responded being unable to think of anything else to say in the face of such exuberance and animation, which seemed to be infectious amongst some senior ranking Thexxians.
“However, our Engineers tell me it will take two to three months to repair all of our ships properly,” the Praetor Maximus reported almost shamefacedly, “and it is not fair to impose upon your hospitality for such a long time.”
“It is not an imposition Praetor Maximus, this is an abandoned colony, no one else has any use for it,” Billy responded.
“First Admiral Caudwell, we Thexxians are a proud people, we do not accept charity without repaying our debt,” the Praetor Maximus said with great dignity.
“It is not charity Praetor Maximus. As I said before, I want your people to join me, but I do not expect them to do so out of gratitude or obligation. They can have a future here, recover their numbers, and, who knows, maybe one day the Universal Alliance will take back Thexxia,” Billy replied.
“Then what terms do you offer?” the Praetor asked surprisedly, still stubbornly believing that this good fortune was some kind of trap.
“No terms Praetor Maximus, just an agreement,” Billy responded “all civil government functions and a small self-defence force, with Garmaurian fighter craft, to protect your new planet, would remain under Thexxian control. I would, however, be given command of the remainder of the military,” Billy made his offer.
“All civil government and a self-defence force!?” the Praetor Maximus gasped.
“I have no interest in political power. The Thexxians are a free people; free to make whatever choices they choose to make,” Billy replied.
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