by PP Corcoran
“What of the spacefaring civilisation found by our survey ships in Messier 54? We know, for a fact, that they are a result of Saiph intervention. But what of our own colony world of Janus? Is it not realistic to think that as its population grows and humans are born and raised on that world that they grow up considering Janus, not Earth to be their home? I can foresee a day, in the not too distant future, when Janus wants to be its own world and not simply a colony. Rather than lose them, let us embrace them as an equal into the Commonwealth Union.
“As you can see, Prime Minister Bezled and Chairman Tarrov stand by my side. They have agreed in principal to the establishment of this Commonwealth. At the end of this broadcast, they will return to Garunda and Pars to seek the approval of their people. I have ordered a plebiscite to be carried out on Earth and Janus, thirty days from today. It will ask one question…… Do we form this Commonwealth Union of Planets?
“In the meantime, consider this question: Do we face the future together? Or do we struggle on by ourselves and hope we can overcome whatever else the universe decides to fling in our path?”
The camera zoomed in to show only the face of President Coston. “I have faith that you will make the right decision. Thank you for your time and goodnight.”
Kuiper Belt - 31 Aquilae
‘The Others’ ship that slipped into the Kuiper Belt of the 31 Aquilae system, home to the Garunda, came to a halt and was using a small body approximately a hundred kilometres across to mask its presence from the many energy signatures that it had identified as spacefaring vessels closer in system.
When the six vessels dispatched to erase the alien species detected on the fourth planet had not returned, this single destroyer deployed from the nearest fleet base to find them. It had taken two months at maximum cruising speed for them to reach the system.
On its approach to the system, the destroyer detected no signs of the ships it was sent to find, so the captain decided to drop back into normal space further than normal, just beyond the system’s Kuiper Belt, about sixty AUs from the system’s star. It allowed his ship to coast in unpowered. Covering the distance had taken his small ship nearly three weeks but it had been worth it.
The Kuiper Belt, surrounding the 31 Aquilae system, extended from around thirty-eight AUs from the star to around sixty AUs. Similar to the Sol System’s asteroid belt, but far larger, it was composed of mainly small bodies left over from the formation of the 31 Aquilae system. Although circular in shape, the belt actually extended approximately ten degrees below and above the elliptic, which made the belt actually more donut shaped than circular.
It was this ten degree angle above the elliptic plane that the destroyer captain was using to his advantage. He positioned his ship to look down into the solar system to get a clear look as to what lay in system. The presence of so many spacefaring vessels had surprised the crew. This system was not supposed to be capable of spaceflight yet, which was why only six ships were dispatched to ensure its destruction. That had obviously been a mistake.
It was obvious to the captain that the race from the fourth planet had already been conquered by a technologically more advanced race, a race his people had not yet met. From his ship’s readings of the inner system, there appeared to be heavy inter-system traffic indicative of mining operations in the asteroid belt and, if he was not mistaken, the beginnings of construction of ship yards in orbit around the fourth planet. He had seen enough. The fleet must know of this new threat.
With the same alacrity as he had used to get his small ship into the system, the captain edged his ship away again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Pars
Planet Pars - Perseus Arm– 6,400 LY from Earth
As TDF Northern Lights smoothly entered orbit around Pars, its crew hastily prepared its single shuttle for departure. Northern Lights was one of the new fast courier ships, designated Clipper class, entering service and was specifically designed to get a small number of passengers from one planet to another as quickly as possible. The ship was designed around its Gravity Drive. Engineers fitted the biggest and most efficient drive into its small hull, then squeezed the most accurate navigational computer into it. This allowed it to make longer jumps in fold space and to make micro jumps, thereby dispensing with the need for the normal reaction drives, which other larger vessels needed to use within a system.
With the successful formation of the Commonwealth Union of Planets the month before, the need for small courier ships of this type to shuttle diplomatic missions around the new Commonwealth had already risen exponentially, and they would see a lot more of these little Clippers in the future.
On board today, the Northern Lights carried a very impatient Dr Jeff Moore and a small, handpicked team from Research and Development eager to take up the Persai invitation to share their insights into Saiph technology. Accompanying them was Ambassador Aaron Beckett and his assistant, Dr Patricia Bath, who had come to Pars to establish Earth’s diplomatic presence along with a group of diplomats from Garunda with the same intention. Last, but not least, was Rear Adm. John Radford, tasked by the Joint Chiefs to assess the Persai military strength.
John had been a last minute addition to the team after Adm. Wiggans from the Joint Chiefs’ personal staff had fractured his leg in a skiing accident. It was felt that John’s input, as the only flag officer to have actually met and defeated ‘‘The Others’ in a fleet engagement made him an ideal replacement.
Standing around the boat bay on the Northern Lights, John found himself disagreeing strongly with the Joint Chiefs’ assignment of him to the Pars mission. BatFor One was due to return to Garunda in a week’s time following its stint in the hands of the shipyards which had been repairing the damage from the battle with ‘The Others’. As its commanding officer, John felt his place was there, ensuring that it was at its peak performance and ready to deploy – not light years away inspecting Persai ships which, from what he had gathered from the briefing pack, represented the equivalent of a small Terran battle force. Sure, the additional ships would always be helpful, but couldn’t some staffer from the Joint Chiefs’ staff have been sent instead of him? He thought irritably. Since arriving on the Northern Lights, John had had his head stuck in the briefing pack and had only managed to catch glimpses of his fellow mission members as they had boarded. The Terran delegates he had only previously seen pictures of.
John sighed as he waited impatiently for the civilians to board the shuttle. The Garundan delegation was already aboard and had been chattering away like a bunch of excited schoolchildren. John felt a smile grow on his face. Who could blame the Garundans? Less than one year ago, they thought that they were alone in the universe and were still using primitive steam engines. Now, they were an equal part of a multi-star system commonwealth that had jumped their technology forward at least three hundred years.
John’s train of thought was broken as Beckett and Bath entered the boat bay, accompanied by a very animated Moore. John felt the smile return to his face as he watched Bath, whose pictures, he had to admit, did not do her justice, pretend that she was interested in whatever Moore was talking about. Bath noticed that John was watching her and rolled her eyes at him. Caught unawares, John let out a small laugh, which he managed to cover with a not very convincing cough.
“Something caught in your throat, Admiral?” asked a smiling Patricia as she walked past him and entered the shuttle.
For the first time in a long time, John didn’t know what to say. So he just shook his head and followed the small group into the shuttle. Maybe this mission wasn’t going to be as bad as he thought.
#
As the shuttle descended through the atmosphere John got his first proper look at Pars, the home of humanity's latest ally in the struggle against ‘The Others’. The shuttle pilot had piped into the passenger area the feed from the nose camera. John had to admit that he wasn't overly impressed so far. Speeding past below the shuttle John could only see kilometre after kilome
tre of rolling grass land and every now and then a herd of large herbivore which scattered in all directions as the shuttle shot past at almost tree top height. There were no signs of any buildings or even crops anywhere to spoil the completely natural look. Any passing survey ship would take the planet to be uninhabited. It reminded John of the veldts of southern Africa except the green of the grass was slightly off.
“The grass doesn’t look right.” Commented John more to himself than anyone else and immediately regretted opening his mouth.
Jeff Moore lent forward in his seat behind John so his head was protruding between the headrests.
“Oh that’s probably because of the slightly different shift in the yellow light emanating from the local star. We see because of light bouncing off things and getting into our eyes, the colour that bounces off is what it looks like. Chlorophyll looks green because it stores the red and blue light and bounces off the green and yellow light which go to our eyes…”
John turned in his seat and gave Jeff Moore a look which cut him off in mid-sentence.
“Thank you Doctor for your succinct explanation.”
As Jeff’s mouth was left hanging open in mid-sentence John could make out a muffled laugh from the seat across the aisle from him. Turning his head John regarded the source of the laughter. Patricia Bath was trying her best to fain interest in her PAD which she was holding up at eye level. Noticing John’s attention she tried to regain control of herself but continuing shaking of her slim frame gave her away.
John set his face in his best admiral’s scowl and returned his attention to the passing terrain.
The shuttle was following a Persai ship that had met them as they had entered the upper atmosphere and as John read the scrolling read outs along the bottom of the image he noticed that both ships had slowed significantly. Perhaps they were at last approaching their destination.
With a small bump not completely cancelled out by the compensator's the shuttle crested a small rise and without warning dropped like a stone into a wide canyon. John heard a short gasp from Jeff Moore and for once John had to agree with him. Laid out before him was a canyon the like of which John could only equate to the Valles Mariners on Mars. The shuttle continued to drop as the canyon walls towered above the shuttle. John’s repeater showed him the extent of the canyon as the shuttle levelled out after a descent of nearly 8 kilometres. The canyon was only 2 kilometres across at its widest point, narrowing to under a kilometre in places and it ran for over 3000 kilometres. A massive, jagged scar that ran across the equator of Pars.
John felt pressure on his headrest again as Jeff used it to pull himself forward.
“This canyon was probably formed by some massive tectonic event in the crust of the planet millions of years ago…”
John tuned him out as Jeff continued to wax lyrical about similar events that scientists had discovered in the solar system. Johns full attention was focused on the scrolling read outs in his display and he brought up the virtual keyboard and began to tap away frantically. This got the attention of Patricia Bath and she unlocked her restraints and stood in the aisle so she could better see what had so interested the admiral that even the incessant lecturing of Jeff Moore had failed to distract him. As Patricia lent over to get a better view of John’s display he sat back with a satisfied grunt. On his display a series of red blocks began appearing.
“What are those Admiral?”
John let a small smile appear on his face. “Those Doctor Bath…” As John extended a long finger and pointed at the red blocks. “Are weapons emplacements. Damn well shielded from electronic and optical sensors but definitely there and, from the sniff at their power readings that I can get, I’d say that they would give even the batteries on our most powerful warship a run for its money. These people are serious about protecting where ever we are headed.”
Without warning the shuttle rapidly decelerated and made a radical left turn. The compensator’s failed in their attempts to keep the turn smooth for the passengers. Patricia, standing in the aisle leaning over John’s seat to view his display, tumbled head long into his lap in a flurry of arms and legs saved from any serious injury by the simple expedient of John wrapping his arms around her and holding her close to him as the shuttle once again regained level flight.
For the first time John became aware of the faint smell of her perfume as he looked into her wide emerald collared eyes and felt the warmth of her body next to his. In an instant the moment was gone as Patricia’s face flushed scarlet with embarrassment and she struggled to her feet and attempted to regain her demeanour flicking her hair from her face.
“Thank you Admiral and my apologies for my clumsiness.”
John felt his face break into a wide grin. “My pleasure Doctor. And please call me John, after being so close I feel it’s only right we call each other by our first names don’t you?”
If Patricia’s face could have gone even more scarlet it did. “You may call me Patricia. Not Pat or Patty I am not a pet or a small child.” She said in a stern voice as she sat back into her own seat and secured the harness while John looked on with that ludicrous childlike grin on his face.
“Patricia it is then.”
As Patricia looked away she caught the smiling face of Aaron Beckett regarding her from the seat diagonally across the small aisle. Fixing him with a look that a scolding parent would give a wayward child she said “And you can take that smile off your face too.”
Chuckling softly Aaron could only comment “A good politician should retain their composure no matter the circumstances Patricia.”
In reply Patricia stuck her tongue out briefly in a most unladylike manner before closing her eyes and wishing this flight would come to an end before she could embarrass herself even further.
It seemed Patricia’s prayers were to be answered as the shuttle came to a stop at the entrance to a large cave entrance. The Persai vessel led the way as the human shuttle followed closely behind, its external lights casting strange shadows across the walls of the cave. Jeff Moore let out a low whistle as the extent of the cave was revealed on his display.
“When nature wants to remind you that you are only a small part of the cosmos it does it in style. According to the radar returns the cave is 270 meters high, 160 meters wide and extends for approximately 5 kilometres. Some of the stalagmites are over 70 meters tall. This place even has its own river running through it.”
The next 5 kilometres passed in near total silence as the each of the shuttle occupants marvelled at the beauty of nature passing by above, below and on both sides of the slowly coasting shuttle. The shuttle came to a halt again as it reached the end of the cave, hovering in place in front of what appeared to be an implacable stone wall. As John looked on a sliver of light fractured the wall top to bottom, gradually the sliver widened to reveal what had to be the biggest airlock John had ever seen.
“Now that’s impressive. Although I don’t see any landing pads.” John altered his display to show the pilots display and now it was his turn to let out a soft whistle.
Aaron turned to John. “Perhaps you would like to enlighten us Admiral?”
Touching a few controls John sent the information he was reading to Aaron’s display. “The reason we’re not seeing any landing pads is that we still have something like 2 kilometres to travel.”
The shuttle glided forward and the massive cave doors sealed behind it. An equally large set of what looked like battle armoured doors began to open in front of the shuttle revealing a sharply sloping shaft. This shaft had not been naturally formed. As the shuttle moved along the shaft its smooth sides were indicative of very intense heat, probably from a powerful mining laser which had simply melted its way through the natural rock.
The Persai didn’t do things by half thought John. Even with the best equipment available it would have taken human engineers years to build something like this. The shuttle passed through another two of the massive armoured doors before finally passing through
into what was unmistakably a major shuttle bay which, although not as big as the natural cave at the start of their subterranean journey certainly gave it a run for its money. Shuttles easily the size of the one carrying the delegation were parked around the bay. The scurrying figures of their crews and maintenance personnel allowing John to use their known size to judge the true extent of the bay.
The shuttle made its way an oversize pad located near one corner of the bay where John could see a small crowd gathering. Well, thought John, time to meet the locals. Let’s just hope their as friendly as I’ve been led to believe.
The shuttle bounced lightly on its extended landing gear and the entire delegation released their restraints as the shuttle passenger door opened with a slight hiss and John could feel his ears pop as the pressure equalized. This being a primarily a political mission Aaron Beckett led the way out of the shuttle and down the steps onto the bay floor and towards the welcoming party.
This was John’s first meeting with the Persai. Of course he had seen images of them in the briefing packs but meeting one in the flesh, so to speak, was something else. Whoever had compared them to werewolves had got it spot on. Even down to the slightly bent spines which led to their heads being carried less upright on their necks than a humans would be.
John hung back as Aaron was approached by a Persai with more silver in his fur than the moonlight black of his obviously younger entourage. This older Persai stopped in front of Aaron and raised his right arm and extended it out with the hand/paw facing the ground showing the exposed palm.
Through the translator bug in his ear John heard the Persai address Aaron. “I am Tarrov, Chairman of the Council of Twelve and I welcome you as comrades in arms and hope that together we may vanquish our enemies.”