First Admiral 01 First Admiral

by William J. Benning

  “It’s still an awful big risk, Praetor Maximus,” Billy countered.

  “First Admiral, I have every faith in the Thexxian people, please allow the newcomers to disembark,” Margallan requested, almost pleading.

  “Very well,” Billy nodded, and touched his right collar tab again, “WATO, bring them out.”

  A moment later, Billy saw on the Tele-screen, the remaining Cargo Bay doors on the left side of the Aquarius open, and the ramps deploy. For several seconds the great crowds of Thexxians fell silent with anticipation.

  Then, the first of the Garmaurian blue uniform overalled Thexxian refugees emerged, confused, startled, and bewildered, onto the two hundred ramps of the Star-Cruiser. A great roar sounded from the waiting Thexxians followed by, yet another, huge forwards surge of the crowd. Once again the Civil Militia line buckled under the pressure, but held resolutely firm. Despite calls from some relatives, recognising their refugee loved ones, the first stunned and startled newcomers were swiftly and gently ushered into the Reception Centre. There would be plenty of time for familial reunions, however, the bureaucracy for returning the slave miners to the land of the living would keep them apart for just a few more hours.

  “Welcome to your new home,” a tearful Falkus Margallan spoke a welcome and words of encouragement to every single one of the new arrivals, even a few words for the frightened and overawed children.

  Behind Margallan, the squads of Reception Technicians waited anxiously and eagerly to help and support the new arrivals. Slowly, the processions of startled and confused liberated Thexxians began to weave their way from the Aquarius into the Reception Centre to cheers and calls of recognition from friends and strangers alike. Watching the Tele-screen, Billy noticed one young adult female, walking down one of ramps, clutching a small bundle to her chest. She had no sooner reached the foot of the ramp than she collapsed onto the Landing bay. The crowd in the immediate area let out a huge gasp of concern and began to surge forwards as if to help the young female. With ghoulish efficiency the Tele-screen camera operators zoomed in on her.

  Billy watched on the Tele-screen, in growing horror, as she began weeping uncontrollably whilst clutching her bundle with one arm and supporting herself from the ground with the other. A black-robed Reception Technician tried, unsuccessfully, to cajole the weeping female to her feet in the full glare of over five million watching Thexxians. It was then that the dam finally burst. As it had threatened to do from the start, the crowd surged forward again. This time, the Civil Militia and Alliance Security Technicians could not stop them as they spilled towards the terrified lines of refugees.

  “No, no, no!” Billy exclaimed as he saw the crowd breaking through the security line, and sprang immediately into action.

  “Security Officer,” Billy called into the Comms Net, “Cease the disembark, repeat, cease the disembark!” he ordered, and pushing past Falkus Margallan, who was surrounded by bodyguards, rushed out onto the Landing Bay, “deploy all Security personnel to the Cargo doors!”

  The doors to the Reception Centre were closed behind Billy Caudwell as he tried to dash towards the first Landing Ramp, where Reception Technicians were struggling to push their charges back to the safety of the Aquarius. As Billy struggled through the surging crowd, he could already see Security Technicians gathering inside the first Cargo Bay and pulling the refugees and Reception Technicians to safety. Their comrades were also starting to regroup on the ramps, fending off the Thexxian crowd trying to board the Star-Cruiser.

  Above the yelling, struggling and screaming, a Thexxian voice was trying to restore order via a loudspeaker and was failing dismally as the crowd tried to clamber up the ramps. Billy Caudwell, having set the force shielding on his P.E.S. to maximum, was angrily pushing and barging his way to the first ramp, when he stumbled upon a young girl, barely a toddler, in a small blue Alliance overall. She sat on the cold Landing Bay floor as adult Thexxian feet and legs swept dangerously past her in all directions. Already bleeding from a cut to her forehead, the white blood visible against her olive skin, the girl cried loudly for a parent who had gone missing.

  “What’s your name then, sweetheart?” Billy smiled and asked the small girl, scooping her up into his arms as people jostled and barged around him.

  The child stopped crying almost immediately and stared at Billy’s smiling face as he reset the force shielding of his P.E.S. to protect the young Thexxian.

  “There, that’s right,” Billy soothed the young girl, amidst the mayhem, violence and chaos around him, “let’s get you somewhere safe, and try to find someone who knows you, shall we?”

  As he turned to barge his way to the Aquarius’ ramp, Billy noticed the silence around him. From that first moment, Billy felt very intimidated and wondered if he had broken some unspoken Thexxian taboo. Perhaps aliens were not meant to touch Thexxian children. As he stood on the Landing Bay, only a dozen yards from the safety of the Aquarius, Billy started to notice that the noise, the shouting, the screaming and the mayhem was starting to die down. Within a few seconds, it had ceased entirely. Even the loudspeaker exhorting calm had fallen silent.

  In the very uncomfortable and disconcerting silence Billy started to walk the twelve or so yards to the ramp of the Aquarius. Every step seemed like an eternity making Billy feel more and more anxious as he passed the hundreds of staring Thexxian faces. It felt to Billy as if their eyes were burrowing into his flesh. There was no shouting, no calling out and no struggling to get to relatives now. Billy felt like one of those characters in an old western movie, who, new into the town, was met with silence, hostility and mistrust.

  Warily, Billy watched the crowd, keeping his head held high and calculating the distance to the safety of the Star-Cruiser. If the worst came to the worst he might need an escape route from the furious vengeful Thexxian mob. The Alliance security cordon were also quietly holding their positions and staring at him. After what seemed a lifetime he reached the foot of the ramp.

  “Sir, can I have my daughter back, please?” a young Thexxian woman broke through Billy’s anxious silence.

  For a moment, Billy did not comprehend what was being said to him. However, the open arms gesture of the young woman was a universal sign of “give to me” which Billy instinctively responded to. In the gut-wrenching silence he gently passed the precious burden over to who Billy suspected was the little girl’s mother.

  “Thank you, sir,” the young woman smiled, turned and disappeared back into the crowd of Thexxians who stood in eerie silence around Billy.

  “First Admiral! Don’t move!” a breathless Falkus Margallan called out as he dashed towards Billy followed by his retinue.

  “Praetor Maximus, tell me what I have done wrong, have I offended your people?” Billy asked nervously watching the last of the Thexxians on the Landing Bay fall silent.

  “First Admiral, far from it!” Falkus Margallan puffed and smiled and indicated Billy to turn to face the silent crowd.

  Slowly, Billy stepped up onto the ramp, and turned to face the crowd, and for a few anxious moments waited for whatever verbal or physical assault was about to follow. He carefully calculated that he could make the safety of the Aquarius with a swift darting run through the silent staring Alliance security cordon. Later he could worry about how he could patch up the damage in the relationship with the Thexxians. Billy noticed that even the refugees in Garmaurian blue had stopped and were staring at him in silence.

  “This is really bad,” Billy said softly, and prepared himself for the dash to the safety of the Alliance Star-Cruiser.

  As he was just about to bolt, one of the dark-clad female Thexxians, an elderly woman with a shock of wavy grey hair, in the crowd folded her arms, in the shape of a cross, in front of her chest, slowly knelt onto her right knee and bowed low. Slowly, other individuals around her followed suit; in pairs and groups, they followed the lead of that one female, knelt and bowed. Startled and confused Billy looked round to Falkus Margallan who smiled knowingly a
nd put his hand gently onto Billy’s shoulder.

  “What is this Praetor Maximus?” Billy started to ask, and saw great swathes of the crowd cross their arms, kneel and bow, until all the Thexxians except Margallan were bowing.

  “First Admiral, the Thexxian people have accepted you as one of their own. It is called the Bar’amp and it is the highest mark of respect and thanks that a Thexxian can bestow,” Falkus Margallan smiled.

  “But,” Billy stammered confused and highly embarrassed.

  Looking round like a startled hare for an escape route, Billy found that everyone was bowing to him. The Thexxian civilians, the Civil Militia Officers, the older refugees and even the Alliance security cordon were all kneeling to him. Being accustomed to military salutes, he had no idea how to respond to the Thexxians, and felt embarrassed and very uncomfortable at being bowed to. That was something Billy considered only happened to royalty, and he most definitely was not royalty. Turning again to Falkus Margallan, he was shocked to find the Praetor Maximus, and his bodyguards, all bowing as well.

  “Falkus!!” Billy hissed to the top of the Praetor Maximus’ head and starting to panic slightly, “what do I do, how do I respond!?”

  “You repeat the gesture to the crowd, thank me and then thank them, and, please hurry, or we’ll be here all day, and my back is starting to hurt,” Falkus responded in a loud whisper.

  Slowly and deliberately, hoping he wouldn’t trip over his feet, Billy took half a dozen steps into the open to allow the crowd to see him. He crossed his arms over his chest, knelt and bowed to Falkus Margallan. Despite being deeply bowed many Thexxians were looking up at Billy’s response.

  “Praetor Maximus, I thank you for this great honour!” Billy said as loudly as he could, trying not to sound nervous and insincere.

  There was a murmur of approval from the huge crowd gathered. With that done Falkus Margallan straightened up, and Billy turned to the crowd crossed his arms, knelt and bowed again.

  “Brave and proud people of Thexxia, I thank you for your great honour!” he called, and, as if bidden by a single command, the Thexxians all straightened and stood up, allowing Billy to do so too.

  Falkus Margallan, ever the politician to seize an opportunity, and with another Praetorian Election approaching the following year, grasped Billy’s right hand and hoisted it into the air like a referee with a victorious boxer.

  “Long live New Thexxia! Long live the Alliance!” Falkus called, and the crowd erupted into cheering and celebrating.

  Astonished, Billy stared at the Thexxian Head of State.

  “Smile, First Admiral and keep smiling!!” Falkus yelled in his ear, “we sign the Treaty of Alliance in two days, and we need to keep the people happy!!”

  So, grinning broadly and secretly feeling rather pleased with himself, Billy Caudwell allowed Falkus Margallan to hold his hand in the air, and to salute the crowd of wildly cheering Thexxians. This politicking is a really dirty game, Billy thought to himself as he smiled weakly and watched the jubilant Thexxians in the crowd celebrate.

  “Just make sure that signing any other Treaty of Alliance isn’t as difficult as this,” he added a mental note to himself.

  Chapter 43

  That evening, back aboard the Aquarius, Billy summoned the Senior Intelligence Officer to his eye-soothingly darkened quarters. The Alliance was potentially in jeopardy, and Billy Caudwell planned to do something about it. The Separatists were a threat to the Alliance and Billy wanted to know everything there was to know about them.

  The Senior Intelligence Officer was named Karap Sownus, and had been one of the first recruits to the Universal Alliance. He had been an Intelligence Technician with the Thexxian military during the exodus, where he had lost all of his family. Karap Sownus was fairly unimpressive to look at as Thexxians went. He was average height and weight for his species. The olive tinge to his skin was as average as any Thexxian could hope for. What made him distinctive were his heavily bowed legs, a sign of a vitamin deficiency whilst young. Like most young Thexxian adults who had grown up during the exodus, nutrition was always an issue. The lack of vitamins had shown itself in his bone structure as he had grown. The bow-legged gait made Karap Sownus roll slightly and appear stiff-legged and awkward as he walked. From behind, his walking frame could be more accurately described as a waddle.

  Being conscious of his appearance, Karap shied away from the closer fitting uniform overalls as issued. He wore his uniform slightly oversized so as to give more material, and a greater chance of concealment, for his lower legs. He also shied away from the leg-hugging black jackboot issued to officers, preferring the lace up short boots issued to the other ranks. With the help of a friendly Medical Officer, Karap had concocted a dispensation which indicated the vitamin deficiency in his youth had weakened his ankles. This made the shorter, supportive lace up boots a medical requirement. Billy Caudwell was unconcerned as to the vanities or uniform inconsistencies of his Senior Intelligence Officer. Karap Sownus had a sharp incisive mind that could understand the nuances of complex, confusing and sometimes apparently unrelated pieces of information and make sense of it. Sownus was also utterly reliable and could also be totally ruthless.

  This was exactly what Billy Caudwell needed from him.

  Karap Sownus had waddled nervously, sweating profusely and wide-eyed, into the First Admiral’s Private Cabin. The bowing to his lower legs didn’t cause him any pain, but it made him very self-conscious. Once again he shuffled nervously over the same patch of floor by the door, pulling his voluminous oversized uniform trouser legs into a position that would obscure his lower legs. The report that the First Admiral had requested on the Thexxian Separatists was now ready. Karap felt that he had done a good job with the report; however, he was still nervous. This was his opportunity to impress the First Admiral, and he didn’t want it to be his last.

  Having been shown into the private cabin by the guard on the door, Karap had begun to pace the interior of the darkened, sparsely decorated and furnished dormitory like a wild beast trapped in a small cage.

  Up and down the doorway area he had paced for what seemed like hours, but was in actuality only a few minutes. Several times he had stopped and tried to create a deeper shine on the toecaps of his lace up boots by rubbing them against his trouser legs. Over and over in his mind he tried to rehearse what he would say, as the sweat trickled down his back, rejecting each new version as swiftly as he had thought of it. His hands were cold and clammy with sweat, and he was beginning to feel the red-covered report-folder slip from his grasp.

  Silently, and absent-mindedly, Billy Caudwell entered the darkened and gloomy atmosphere of his private cabin from the War Room entrance. He preferred the cooler darkness after the brutally harsh lighting of the War Room, where being able to see developments were of paramount importance. The Social Area, as Billy called it, was the only pool of light in the darkened cabin. The sofa seating set against one of the exterior walls was faced by a clear topped table and several tubular framed armchairs. The First Admiral’s taste for décor was strictly military and sparse. Rehearsing in his mind for the tenth time, Karap Sownus did not notice the First Admiral’s entrance.

  “Officer Sownus, I believe you have a report for me?” First Admiral Billy Caudwell said calmly holding a beaker of Thexxian tea in one hand and another report in his other as he sat down on the sofa.

  “Sir!” yelped a startled Karap Sownus, turning round rapidly and dropping the contents of his report folder onto the floor.

  Apologising profusely, Karap fell to his knees, panic stricken, and began gathering up the sheets and folios of the report he had so carefully prepared.

  Stifling a laugh, Billy Caudwell smiled and set his tea and reports down on the table.

  “Take your time, Officer Sownus, there’s no need to rush,” Billy said calmly, trying to make the situation as hospitable as possible to the obviously nervous Senior Intelligence Officer.

  Unfortunately, it had the opposite ef
fect. Feeling he had been reprimanded, Karap winced as he tried to salvage some of his dignity and decorum from the situation.

  “Yes, sir!” Sownus uttered from his position close to the floor as he swept the dishevelled piles of plastic-like sheeting into their report folder.

  Too terrified to think, Sownus lurched to his feet and scrambled over to the table, where he managed to snap his heels together and salute with his right hand. Realising his mistake he swiftly switched the report to his other hand and saluted correctly, with his left hand, without managing to drop the report folder again.

  “Sit down, Officer Sownus,” Billy motioned to the seat in front of him.

  “Thank you, sir, my apologies for the…..” Karap began and nervously started laying out the contents of the report folder onto the table.

  “Officer Sownus, where I come from, they say ‘when you’re in a hole, stop digging’. It is usually best advised to take two or three deep breaths and start again,” Billy said warmly.

  “Yes, sir,” Karap said quietly.

  As ordered, he took three deep breaths and found himself starting to move from panic level to just major embarrassment.

  “Right then, Officer Sownus, what do we have here?” Billy said calmly.

  “Well sir,” Karap began shuffling two-plastic like sheets forwards, “I managed to tap into the three major Thexxian systems, the Civil Militia, the Praetorian Council and the military, and have identified two individuals as causes for concern.”

  Deftly he tapped the two sheets outlined in front of him and the three-dimensional holographic head and shoulders images of two Thexxians materialised a few centimetres above the sheets.

  “Praetor Gallus Bulbore on your right and sub-General Martus Timmelin on your left sir,” Karap continued, “their movements, as identified from the base’s own security system indicates clandestine meetings between these individuals and also with others registered as known Separatist agitators on the Civil Militia records.”