Destiny Stone (A.I. Destiny Book 4)

by Timothy Ellis

  "Neep!" exclaimed Anna in surprise. "Welcome to Seasprite."

  She hoped she’d hidden her surprise. She had the sense Neep was a bit conflicted in his role as a Mediator, from her conversations with him on the Mediator Homeworld.

  "Thank you for your welcome," said Neep.

  He had sensed Anna’s surprise, and knew where it had come from.

  Patters put out a paw.

  "I’m Patters," she said. "I’m a weapons and combat specialist," she added, somewhat mischievously.

  Neep smiled his Lemur-like smile, and shook paws with the big cat.

  "Nice to meet you," he said politely, but his eyes were shining his amusement.

  Snark and Anna had debated the usefulness of having an empath with them, before the Mediator came on board. Snark couldn’t see the point, but Anna had convinced him their powers would be useful in knowing what the Brotherhood were up to, and to understand the Valderians as mercenary enemies. Who knew what they might need to do moving forward? It would also be useful from a team perspective, in making sure they were all in tip top mental condition, as well as physically. Snark had almost balked at this. Psychoanalyse him? No chance. Anna had sighed, and countered some of the other team members could benefit, including her. Snark had sniffed, humphed and grumphed, but gone along with it.

  Anna and Patters led Neep to the lounge area, where the others were waiting. There were some exclamations of welcome from the team members who'd been on the planet as they recognised Neep, and then as these petered out, Mouse jumped up on the arm of a chair, and squeaked.

  "This is our smallest team member," said Anna, "but the mightiest in technological understanding, Mouse."

  "Pleased to meet you, Mouse," said Neep, who jumped up on the chair, put out a paw, and solemnly shook paws with Mouse.

  Neep blinked his large round eyes, and they all stood and sat around looking at each other, wondering what to say next.

  "Have you been in space before?" asked Sissness.

  "Oh, yes" responded Neep readily. "I’ve been on several mediation missions before, so this is nothing new, but never on a ship like this before."

  He'd almost added, 'Or with a team like this,' but stopped just in time. He was a bit overwhelmed by humans, being as they were so new, so unknown, and looking so different, even though they were very easy to read, once you got used to their body language and expressions. Cats were new to him as well, but being much the same size, and alike in physiology, weren’t as daunting physically. Snark was a bit of a character, but the others were all very pleasant beings. He could sense some underlying tensions already, and was curious to see how he could help.

  Sissness volunteered to show Neep to his cabin, and to give him a tour of the ship. Neep paused at the door.

  "I’m very much looking forward to helping you with your mission," he said, which seemed to suffice as a general introduction, and followed Sissness.

  The others discussed having Neep aboard, with mostly positive comments, with Snark still expressing his reservations, although he reassured them all he would 'play nice'.

  Mouse showed Snark the enhancements he'd made to remote communications with the Seasprite computer, and Snark was impressed. If he was on a planet or station, he could more quickly and easily interface with the computer, to help with tasks such as coordinating the combat droids, remote piloting, and getting data. Snark was sure they would need the combat droids again. He wanted to spend some time practicing controlling and coordinating the units, as he believed they would be needed when they arrived in the Scylla system.

  Jamie was also interested. He could seamlessly coordinate with Seasprite through his PC, but knew Snark felt left out, not having this capability. Jamie was also interested in working with Snark to work out the best way to manage the combat capability they now knew they had.

  Jamie set a course for the jump point leading towards the Scylla system. Two jumps was all there were now between them and their goal. They would rendezvous with the bears and beetles at the last jump point, just before jumping into the Scylla system. While he was glad to get there, he was slightly apprehensive at what they might find. There were several scenarios they'd worked through, from being ambushed at the jump point, to ambushes on their destination planet, to out and out conflict anywhere between here and their destination.

  Sissness had been working on the maps with Jamie and Anna. The map they'd found at Winter was ancient, and they'd overlaid it on more modern mapping they could find for the planet, called Scylla Prime, on current nav maps. They believed they'd pinpointed what they thought was the site of the Waterfall from Anna’s and the Grand Mother’s visions, the painting at the Scots Homeworld, and the murals at Perdita.

  Neep spent some time getting to know the crew, even though they were busy at their tasks. Especially as they were busy at their tasks, as it gave him insights into their true natures, as they weren’t on their natural guard as much. They seemed a very tight knit team, who had been through a lot together. He could sense some tensions, including between Sissness and Brindle. Brindle was an interesting cat. She seemed to serve no real purpose in terms of speciality, but was adept in keeping them fed, and sometimes, amused. She seemed to have a jarring personality in terms of the rest of the crew, though. She and Snark were close, physically and emotionally.

  He could see Jamie and Anna were deeply entwined emotionally, Jamie more so, and Anna reluctant to commit to a relationship. He could see she was afraid, perhaps of emotional closeness. Was there some pain she'd experienced, not long ago? Yes, and some unresolved grief and loss. He could see why she didn’t want to be emotionally close to anyone at present. Jamie was clearly frustrated, although Neep suspected they had a physical relationship. Jamie was the type to need emotional attachment. It was all interesting.

  Anna was an enigma to him. A strong personality, she also needed others to feel less alone, but had trouble expressing herself to them. She tended to be 'hot and cold'. And she had visions. This was not entirely new to Neep, but not something he himself had studied. Even though they were empaths, his kind were not Seers or Visionaries. They worked with what was in the physical universe.

  And Jamie. Irrepressible, confident, optimistic Jamie. He was hiding some of his frustration and fears behind humour, as well as his, what? Need to achieve? He'd failed sometime in the past, and wanted to learn to avoid mistakes in the future. He didn’t know much about human psychology, however he suspected being quite young for his species, this was quite normal. It was among the young of most species.

  Sissness was a very interesting cat indeed. Introverted and highly intelligent, she liked to be useful, and what else? Useful particularly to Snark? Hmmm. He sensed her dislike of Brindle, and could see superficially why, but what was underlying her antipathy?

  Mouse. Potentially the most intelligent being on board, despite his small stature and brain size, his affinity with technology was amazing. He also wanted to contribute to cement his position on the team, and felt grateful to the crew, but also, conflicted in being beholden to them. He liked a challenge, and although the ship was more technologically advanced, it was a wealth of new knowledge and opportunity. He'd linked himself to their quest, rather than trying to get home. Why?

  Patters was aloof. Clearly an important member of the team, she was sometimes taken for granted, Neep felt. She was deeply centred in herself, and the most 'together' of all the team. She was difficult to get to know though.

  Neep needed time to unravel the complexity of the team relationships, thoughts, and feelings. It was the one thing he didn’t have much of, before they arrived in the Scylla system. If he knew the Valderians, and he did, they were likely to have forces there. This is where the team thought they'd find the Destiny Stone, and it was likely to be the place where conflict would ensue. He kept up his observations, trying to work out where he could be of use, and what he could do in time.

  Sixty Six

  Tranquil had skirted around the Mediator's pla
net while Seasprite was there, trying hard not to be noticed, and was now well ahead of Seasprite. This time, the personal approach wasn’t going to be a good idea. Jane sent a vid instead. Tranquil forwarded it directly to Crystal.

  Crystal was surprised to get an email which lacked all the normal routing data. She was even more surprised who it was from, and it was a vid rather than text. She opened the vid.

  "I am Jane," said the human, dressed much as Snark had been, in tight red.

  Crystal paused it immediately, and looked this human over. She noted the simple tiara like crown on her head, and the four stars on each shoulder. She sat at a simple desk, with a most amazing picture behind her, showing what seemed to be a gigantic city in space. The body language showed control of self and self-confidence well above the average. The face seemed to radiate honesty, and was neither authoritative, nor commanding. Neither had been the tone of voice. And yet, the command this human projected was obvious. She unpaused the vid.

  "Excuse my direct approach, but we have need of your services, and I've only now become aware you exist, having had a report from Seasprite's visit. Apparently your people are well known to the sector ten council, but rarely used because of your distance from our sector. I'm interested in changing this."

  Jane shifted slightly as she paused. Crystal frowned, but didn’t know why.

  "I have ships in your area, but no-one with diplomatic experience. Attached to this email are contact details for myself. My ships have added your system to our coms network. Your reply will be received by me a few minutes after you send it."

  Crystal paused the vid again, and sat there with her mouth open for a good minute. So the reports of advanced technology were true, and included communications. This was something worth testing. She unpaused the vid.

  "The Kingdom lacks several areas of expertise, which complement each other. These are diplomacy and mediation. We have two ongoing situations which require mediation, and we could use someone independent of sector ten politics to teach some of our people diplomatic skills for this area of space. Interacting with non-human species is new for us, and while things have gone well so far, I'd prefer to not have our lack of certain skills come back to bite us later on."

  Jane smiled, and Crystal did as well.

  "I am unaware of how you prefer to be remunerated, but I believe we can offer you an alternative to gals. Where we come from, mediators are often unwelcome, and sometimes killed by a faction which doesn’t want it. It must be one of the problems you face. We can offer you three things. Speed. The ability to get to a dispute or client a great deal faster than is possible for you now. Durability. The ability for your ship to take a beating even if ambushed, and not be destroyed because its speed will get it out of range of any guns before its defences fail. Personal protection. I am wearing body armour now. Even if this room was destroyed, I would not be unduly harmed."

  Her finger jerked, and the vid stopped again.

  This Jane had put her finger right on one of the biggest issues they hadn’t been able to solve. How to keep mediators alive until they completed their task. Now, finally, losing mediators to militant factions might be stopped. The finger tapped again.

  "If you're interested, I can supply you with fast ships, and personal armour. The ships would have no offensive armaments, but substantial defences. The ships would provide rapid communications, allowing for consultations with homeworld during negotiations. The ships can also be outfitted to provide ultra-comfortable negotiating facilities, to meet your requirements."

  Jane paused again.

  "In return for our services, we would ask for your world to establish an embassy with the Kingdom, here in Hunter Prime, from which you would provide us with mediator services when we need them. Your embassy would of course be able to offer mediator services to anyone, and I'll be more than happy to rent you suitable accommodation, should you wish to staff more than an embassy. This is of course a simplistic offer, and will need to be negotiated more fully."

  The finger jerked again. Easy access to sectors nine through eleven? Prayers had been answered. She knew dozens of mediators who would leap at the chance to move there permanently. Filling a mission there would not be a matter of finding people, but of mediating the limitation of who could go. Tap.

  "I appreciate your willingness to help Seasprite's crew on their quest. Should they incur a debt with you, please contact me about payment. While they are entirely unofficial, I am supporting them in the background. I share their concern about who controls this Stone, and at the end of the day, I’d rather see it in the hands of people I know to be honourable and honest, rather than in the hands of megalomaniacs, fanatics, and criminals."

  Crystal nodded.

  "We are in the process of establishing an embassy on the cat homeworld. This includes a defence fleet for our embassy, and the medical team which is learning about cat physiology. Should you wish to establish mutual embassies, I can send an ambassador to your world as soon as agreement on ships is concluded, so the diplomatic team will come with the first of your mediation ships. The Kingdom is interested in trading as widely as possible, and learning about all the species and cultures in this galaxy. We feel your world will add to a good start. However, should you wish to have no further contact with us, we will accept your decision, and you will hear from us again, only in an emergency situation. It is entirely up to you. I look forward to hearing from you or your diplomatic team in the near future. Jane out."

  "No diplomatic skills, my bushy tail," she said out loud.

  The credentials on the email made it quite clear the sender had been Queen Jane herself.

  Crystal sat there for some time, wondering where the catch was. Not finding one, she called a meeting of her 'tell'.

  Sixty Seven

  Seasprite rendezvoused with the bears and the beetles at the jump point just before the Scylla system.

  There were twelve ships waiting for them. Six of them were larger than Kingdom Cruisers, and simply bristling with solid shot turrets. The other six were smaller than Seasprite, but packed a wallop. Down the spine of each ship was a single massive rail gun.

  Snark and Jamie had been watching the ships since they'd appeared on the navmap. The big ones had sat there doing nothing. The little ones had been doing fleet manoeuvres. It was obvious to both of them, the beetles could co-ordinate their targeting, and deliver a massive six punch at the same target.

  The Commanding Officers of the bear and beetle forces sent shuttles over to Seasprite for a conference. It was felt it was important to meet face to face, as numerous differences in the two species’ ways of working, technology, and command structures, needed to be understood and worked through. They also needed a briefing on the Seasprite team’s approach, plans, and potential scenarios to make sure things were coordinated smoothly.

  The bear Admiral arrived first, and stumped through the airlock at the head of his command team.

  "Call me Gruff," he said bluntly to Snark and Jamie, who thought the name was most appropriate.

  They led him through to the lounge which had been set up as an 'Operations room' for the meet. The bears filled the space with their large forms, and seemed to dwarf all of the members of the Seasprite team, including the humans.

  Mouse now had a special small grav sled. Snark had seen Pink the fuzzball using one, and sent a request to Jane to find out if the fabricator could make one. The response had included the spec, and Seasprite had had one made. Mouse was already working out how to adapt the tablet controls to suit him better. The cats were also interested, while Jamie had visions of 'boarding' in dangerous and exciting ways, now he's seen the salvage droids operating.

  "Down to nuts and bolts," opened Gruff, as they were all variously seated.

  They were using most of the extended lounge area, which hadn’t really been needed before.

  "While we’re waiting for the others to arrive."

  Gruff used the actual name of the beetles, which wasn’t tra
nslated by the team’s units. They continued to refer to them as beetles, and Gruff picked it up as well, to make it easier.

  There followed a summary of the bear’s ships, weaponry, and firepower. The beetles were already familiar with most of the bear’s systems, as they'd often teamed up on military exercises and exchanges, and been allies as well as adversaries at one time or another.

  The beetle contingent soon arrived, and Snark greeted the Commanding Officer of the beetle fleet, who he'd already arranged to call Hover, due to his alacrity in this activity. He had only two of his senior officers with him, and they made their way to the lounge area.

  The beetles likewise summarised their ship's systems, their strengths, but also areas of weakness.

  Snark and Jamie gave a sum-up of the Seasprite, which was impressive to Gruff and Hover, and their command entourages. Jamie, Snark, Mouse, and Patters remained to talk about their overall strategy, and how to coordinate the forces, given Jamie and Snark were inexperienced commanders, particularly of fleets of ships.

  What about me? Warspite wanted to yell into the meeting. He was finding this secrecy about his presence somewhat frustrating. Still, he was the ace in the hole, and he could take control of all the ships if he wanted to. Or needed to.

  Sissness stayed, as she wanted to document their decisions, for later reference, although she knew Seasprite would also be doing this. Brindle moved over to the kitchen to rustle up some refreshments. The bears and beetles had notified them of their preferences for food, and Brindle was trying to adjust. Insect meal? Ant paste? Fruit compote she at least understood.

  Anna felt she should be present for the more detailed discussion, but knew most of it would go over the top of her head. She repaired to the bridge to keep an eye on things there, although she knew Seasprite would be ahead of her, with anything she could pick up from the scanners. She felt a little useless. This had started as her quest, and had grown into something quite beyond her control.