"There is a motion before the council. All will vote."
The map was replaced with two numbers. Those in favour and those abstaining. No-one voted against giving the Flies their seat back.
"Motion passes. Ambassador, the sector thanks the Kingdom for this service. Please pass this on to Queen Jane."
Walsh nodded. Human body language was becoming known now, and all here knew what a human nod meant.
"What of the Owls on planet?" asked the Bat.
"Many died when the space port was destroyed from orbit. I'm afraid the rest died by the hand of rampaging mobs of Flies. Several ships were destroyed boosting for space."
"And other traders?" asked the Mushroom.
"Were allowed to leave, without their cargos. They were forced to dump cargos in an uninhabited area, and this area was subsequently also destroyed from space. Any addicts in the crews remained on the planet. The locals are already making the cure, and all who need it should have it in the next few days. Within weeks, the plant should be removed from the planet."
"How long are we supposed to give the cure away for?" asked a voice from the back.
"Why" asked another.
"Because our people enjoy it so much we want to sell it to them as a beverage!"
The chamber broke down in laughter.
"It's not a laughing matter. If we have to give it away for much longer, our whole economy is going to tank."
The laughing intensified. But stopped when the time limit was reached. All the same, a few laughter like sounds continued to be heard at odd times.
"We will address this issue in another few weeks," said Ganshura, "when all have the cure available, and results are known. Any other news Ambassador?"
Walsh threw the map back up.
"The system we call HR14 was taken a short time ago. An Owl fleet and missile platform was destroyed with the loss of all beings. The town and space port were assaulted by Kingdom marines, and the planet taken in under half an hour."
There were more than a few indrawn breaths audible.
"How many marines did you deploy?" asked the Bat.
"About two hundred."
"Casualties?" asked the not-croc.
"The Owls lost those around heavy weapon platforms to our missiles, and we didn’t count them first. They also lost some fleeing vehicles to missiles. Again, unknown how many were in them. The rest were stunned, and detained."
"Stunned?" asked someone quickly.
"Our lighter handguns have a setting which only stuns instead of killing. It doesn't stop injury from falling over, and some beings seem worse effected by it than others. It knocks out the Owls for a few hours, giving us plenty of time to remove weapons and place them in detention. In due course, they will be sent back to their own space. To that end, if anyone has ships in the area who would like to charge them a great deal of Gals to return home, by all means send them. They should state their intensions as they enter orbit, and should not have any drug, plant, or carrier animal on board. Any addicts on board can be treated there."
Walsh looked at Darlene, and she nodded, holding up her tablet. Walsh knew she was already being contacted about possible transports available.
"Explain this stun weapon," said a gravelly voice off to one side.
"We know some of you have basic lasers for your ships instead of, or as well as, rail guns. We have more advanced laser type weapons on our ships, and also versions for our hand weapons. Since we prefer not to kill unless really necessary, the stun option was developed very early on for handguns. We do not allow anything but stun weapons on our stations. When our stations are ready for docking ships, no slug thrower or full powered laser of any kind will be allowed off ships."
Walsh wasn’t sure this had been a good thing to tell them, but the vids of Owl fleets being destroyed already showed they had a lot more powerful weapons than anyone else already.
"When can we buy them?" asked the Mushroom, predictably.
"Why did you stun them this time?" asked Ganshura, not giving Walsh time to respond.
"Admiral Jane wanted the town and space port as undamaged as possible, unlike the Flies, who didn’t care if the space port was destroyed. We assume some who live there will want to stay under Kingdom rule, and we didn’t see the point in destroying homes, or a source of livelihood for them. The fields are already being sprayed with the cure, and addicts have received their first dose of it. On that note, the first planet in the Human Federation's quarantine zone has been successfully cleaned of the plant. It is being monitored now in case any seeds or roots were missed, and the task force has moved on to the next planet on the direct route from there to Kingdom space. There is other news."
"Speak."
"The Human Ambassador is on his way at last, escorted by the fleet which will be working its way through Owl occupied space, along with a number of stations which will be left in key places along the way. In a matter of weeks, we expect to have these stations open for business, where traders of all kinds can rent business premises and accommodations. The stations are being rebuilt inside to cater for as many species types as possible. Catering food and drink for all your species is something we will leave to your merchants. There will be many opportunities for fine dining establishments to open on all our stations. We don’t like monopolies, but first in get the best positions everywhere they want."
He grinned around the chamber. The Mushroom and fuzz-ball ambassadors were typing furiously on their tablets. So were a lot of others.
"Kingdom laws and taxes will be posted soon. The Kingdom operates on an electronic currency called the Credit. All transactions within our space are to be done electronically, and tax is taken from all transactions automatically as they are deposited to an account. While we are not sure yet of what tax rates apply among you all, the Kingdom was known in human space to be very low taxing. As such, we were very attractive to a lot of large corporations. We are currently undertaking to build a communication add-on for the standard tablets currently in use, to enable banking with our system directly. We are also looking at bridging our system with the sectors, so electronic transactions can take place in any currency, and still be taxed accordingly. This might be a few months away yet."
Walsh looked around the chamber.
"I should mention also, our stations and cities are monitored closely. We will not tolerate crime. We do not encourage barter or hard currency transactions in our space, other than for the purposes of establishing Credits in our banking system. Those found breaking our laws will be asked to leave Kingdom space."
"And if they don’t?"
"Those who commit a grave enough crime, or repeatedly reenter after having been banned from our space, will be incarcerated somewhere yet to be determined. As yet, we don't know how the rest of the sector handles criminals, and we will investigate this in due course."
"Are your stations prone to unexpected design flaws?" asked the Bat.
Walsh grinned.
"Not normally, but such things do happen. Some of our stations are very old, and while they are being refurbished, who knows how the structure really is?"
He kept grinning. He knew what the question really being asked was. Would criminals find themselves sucking vacuum unexpectedly instead of being tried and incarcerated? Walsh's answer was supposed to say no, but imply yes, without actually saying yes. He wasn’t sure he pulled it off though.
"Maps will be available soon showing where each station will be located, and its relative size and shape. In the system we have designated HR Prime, we will have the largest station we possess there in a month to six weeks. At the moment it is still offloading people at our homeworld, and beginning to load emigrants to the Kingdom."
"How do you move a large station so far in only four to six weeks?" asked a stunned voice from the back.
"According to Admiral Jane, it was something one of our brighter military leaders came up with. It was improved a lot as our disaster unfolded. Without it, we'd have sav
ed maybe two percent instead of twenty percent."
"But how?"
"Something similar to how the Owls move their missile platforms. Actually, the technology also solves a lot of docking problems. Until the galaxy starts using front thrusters to dock with, we will be using small automated ships designed to tow a ship in and out of a dock. This service will be part of docking fees."
"Will the tow ships be available for purchase?" asked the Mushroom.
"Possibly. We are also considering licensing the front thruster technology to shipyards for use in retrofitting any ship."
"We will be in touch," said the Mushroom.
"As will we," said the fuzz-ball.
Walsh looked at Darlene, and she smiled at him, waving her tablet.
Dismissed, he left wondering if he should have mentioned the tugs. They used grav tech, and that was one thing the galaxy was not ready for. Still, it might be possible to do a more mundane version of the tugs, and simply fit a grapple system to each ship the first time. Instead of a grav sled, the tug has a rigid grapple, slotting into something on each ship, strong enough to both pull and push it. It needed some work.
He sent the whole concept off to Jane.
She sent it on to one of her avatars.
Twelve
Fred's sparring partner thumped down on the mat.
"Yes!" yelled Fred, pumping one fist in the air.
He didn’t notice the legs curling around his legs, and a few moments later, he thumped down on the mat.
"Damnit," he said, "You could have let me enjoy the moment a little longer."
They both picked themselves up, bowed, and his partner headed for the showers, grinning.
"Have you seen this?" asked Justine-Jane, as he noticed the now open channel.
"Which this is that?"
Jane paused, momentarily overwhelmed by memories. She made an effort to push them aside.
She popped up a hollo screen next to him, and played him the vid she'd just recorded.
A group of teenagers were being taunted by a larger group of teenagers. At first, they took the taunts calmly, but in an instant it all changed. One of the first group had the last word, and was punched by one of the larger group. The punch didn’t connect properly, being taken on a protection suit, which covered the teen head to foot before the punch landed. The rest of the first group of teens all shifted to protection suits as well, and the two groups started fighting. The second group all went down.
Which was when things went from bad to really nasty. People started pouring into the area, and the second group began to be trampled under the feet of people attacking the first group. They had now formed a circle, and were methodically defending themselves. Anything which had come to hand easily was now being used as weapons against them, or thrown at them, doing as much damage to the people attacking them as the intended targets.
Finally, a pulse came in from a gun, hitting a teen full in the chest. The girl was unhurt, but she hopped uncontrollably, and while she was in the air, a piece of building stone took her in the same place, and knocked her down.
Her friends immediately dropped the cloaks on their own weapons, drew Gatling stunners, and mowed every person down, until they stopped coming at them. The ground for a dozen meters around them in all directions was thick with bodies, some of them bleeding.
They surveyed their handiwork for a few seconds, and without a word, ran off.
The vid ended.
"My Lord?" asked Jane, formally.
"Err, yes?"
"What did I just see?"
"Well, um, I guess it was a group of…"
"Your friends perhaps?" interrupted Jane.
"What makes you think that?"
"Don’t come the raw prawn Fred. You don’t do it well enough. Those were your friends."
"Well, yes."
"Just yes?"
"Yes."
Jane sighed.
"Yes. And?"
"And what?"
"And how did they get equipped like that?"
"How should I know?"
"Fred?"
"What?"
"You're a poor liar."
It was Fred's turn to sigh.
"Okay. I equipped them. Well no, I didn’t equip them myself, but I made sure they got what they needed. And no, they are not really friends. I've seen them all a lot as I went through school, but they formed a tight group no-one could break into. I've had friendly encounters with them over the years, and once several of them had my back in a fight, but I wouldn’t call them friends."
Jane knew this already.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why equip them?"
"Because if anyone was going to get into trouble they couldn’t handle, it was them."
"And why would they get into trouble?
Jane knew this already too.
"They always do. Last time I saw Smith, I asked her if she'd heard any rumblings behind the scenes. Smith told me she was sure they could find out what plans were in the works involving the city. I told her she was crazy. One thing led to another, and I sent them suits and guns, in case they bit off more than they could chew. I guess they did. But nothing that lot does surprises me."
They didn’t surprise Jane either. She'd been watching them for over a year now.
"And what am I supposed to do about it now?"
"Ignore it?"
"Ignore it."
Jane put all the seriously pissed off emotion she could into the two words. But it was becoming harder and harder to keep her face straight.
"My Lord?"
"Yes?"
"Don’t do it again."
"No. I won't."
"Fred?"
"Yes?"
"Stay away from them."
"Why?"
"Because they are able to handle anything which gets thrown at them, and you can't."
"I'm getting better."
"No, you're not. You're getting better at picking sparring partners."
Fred sighed again, and closed the channel abruptly.
Jane finally let her laughter out.
Thirteen
Concorde settled into orbit over the main city on HRA2's habitable planet.
HR9 had been clear of Owls, but this hadn't been unexpected, since it had no life in the whole system, except freighters passing through. The down jump into HRA2 had also been uneventful. But this was as far as her battle fleet could go. The system had three jump points, and the Owls could come two different ways. Concorde had dropped from her hanger, along with a Lightning, and seven Excaliburs. Six of them formed up to escort the Lightning, and they set off for one of the other jump points to lay comnavsats at both. The remaining Excalibur parked itself in Concorde's hanger. It was a tight fit, but Jane had made sure when designing the ship, she would be able to carry at least one, with the normal Lightning and gig. Given the attack shuttles on her previous ground visit, she intended being able to meet the next ones with something better suited to the task than a courier ship. The probability of seeing them again was very high. Concorde had set off for the planet.
A channel opened.
"Are you the human?"
The being on the screen looked uncomfortably like a mouse. A very big mouse, relatively speaking, but small by the normal in these parts of the galaxy. It seemed to be the size of a large cat. It had the normal four legs and three arms, but something about this creature made Jane pay a lot more attention.
"I am Admiral Jane, and yes, I'm human."
"You are the hunter?"
"My family name is Hunter. I'm not actually a hunter."
"Can you hunt?"
"Certainly."
"Will you hunt?"
"Depends on what."
"Who."
"What?"
"No, who. We need you to hunt our hunters."
"Let me get this straight. You have beings hunting you?"
"Yes. We are the main sport in sector ten."
Jane's
mouth fell open. She closed it quickly.
"Who exactly hunts you?"
"The Owls started it. They transplanted us from our homeworld several centuries ago, and threw us down on this planet. They told us to run. We ran. In spite of their efforts, we thrived. They have hunted us ever since. They don’t know it, but we have cities below ground. But we need to gather food from the surface. Our gathering groups are hunted relentlessly. Over time, others began to come. Now, all those who want to keep the Owls happy, come and hunt us."
"You have Owls on your planet now?"
"Yes. Will you help us?"
Jane finally recognized what she'd been sensing. Fury. Total. Focused. Fury.
The Mice were furious. She kept her grin off her face.
"Yes. How do you want them handled?"
"Kill them please. All of them."
"It's not in my nature to just kill without warning. I'll warn them as I usually do, and any which leave immediately will be allowed to go. They will not be coming back. You have my word on it."
"From what we hear, your word is good."
Jane had been scanning the planet below. She did a double take when she saw the technology rating. There was a significantly sized city down there, under what appeared to be virgin jungle. If anything, the mice were the most technologically advanced creature she had encountered in this galaxy so far. The contradictions were staggering. Her face must have shown her surprise.
"Yes," said the Mouse. "We would have much to offer the galaxy, if they only took us seriously, and stopped hunting us."
The fact the mouse had been able to read her face, was also a surprise.
"How soon can you have all your people in a safe place?"
"Half an hour. You arrived at a good time for several of our groups caught out in the open."
Jane wondered what their definition of open was, given the jungle she was seeing through the comnavsat. There wasn’t an open patch big enough to plant her foot down there.
"Then that is the warning time I'll give them."
"Thank you. We will let you get to your work."
A.I. Destiny 2: Queen Jane Page 6