The station AI sent me a station plan with where to put the rifts, and an image of how that area looked now. It was in the place where a standard airlock would normally be, but had been replaced by a fake wall to avoid freaking people out with the illusion of stepping into space. Two arrows were already marked on the deck in front, showing the way down, and the way coming back.
I concentrated, and put both single direction rifts into place. Over the top of one of them, I added the word ‘up’ as a permanent sign hanging there magically, and added ‘down’ over the other one. At the station end on the down side, I put a sign saying anyone with weapons, or cutting or digging implements would not be allowed through. Neither would anything with wheels.
After a moment’s thought, I suggested to the station AI it needed somewhere on hand for people to lock away anything not allowed through, while they were down planet, and possibly an avatar to keep things in order.
I motioned to Serena, and she stepped into the up side, didn’t reappear for over a minute, and when she did, she was no longer wearing a sidearm.
Almost immediately, Tollin stepped out with a woman and two kids behind him, and the kids immediately squealed and headed for the horses. The thunder of hooves and flapping of wings indicated they were about to be reinforced.
More families came through, all of them awed by the scenery and horses, as well as some other animals and birds which began appearing. Among them was my own team, and their AI’s, along with Leanne and Tamsin.
But it was Jill who had the biggest reaction.
“Oh my giddy aunt!” she shrieked. “A unicorn!” She looked around, and took a big breath. “And a pegasus!”
She was rooted to the spot for a moment.
“Oh my fucking god!” she yelled, drawing some frowns from a few of the parents, and ran over to hug the neck of Horn.
The bewildered horse looked at me with a definitely confused look on its face, as she let go, and hugged Wings as well.
Tollin and his family were laughing, as was quite a few of those who’d just arrived. I looked at him with an eyebrow raised.
“Mythical beasts on old Earth,” he said, as if that was all that needed saying.
Eleven
The diplomatic cruiser arrived at the station promptly at midday.
It was the same ship we’d been going to use when we met the fungus, but it had been substantially remodeled around the cargo deck. While about the same size as Judge, it was a completely different configuration, and much older. While it was armed, they were conventional cruiser and smaller turrets, firing what they appeared to be with no upgrades. In a one on one fight, Judge would rip it apart quickly. This also meant it was useless as a warship. But as an armed diplomatic vessel, it was ideal.
If the station denizens considered it odd for a diplomatic ship to be armed, none of them ever said anything within the hearing of any of our AIs.
Judge had been the only ship to jump back, the rest of the team still down on the horses’ planet. The last I’d seen of Metunga was on all fours, with a child on his back, racing another child riding a unicorn. A number of other kids were swimming with a bunch of dolphins who’d turned up to see what was going on. All of them were wearing suit belts, so their parents were not worried about accidents.
I rifted the four of us, myself, Serena, Leanne, and Tamsin, over to the cargo deck of Diplomat, as the ship had now been named. We found a large group of people waiting near the airlock, and as I looked into the ship using my magic sight, I could see areas created on both sides of a central walkway, waiting for beings to sample the wares of different planets. People from those planets, a lot of them chefs, cooks, and sales-beings, were waiting to serve. A lot of butlers were waiting as well, especially in sections which were obviously bars. With the ship being a half kilometer long, and the cargo deck being most of that length, there were a lot of kiosks, bars, and beings to operate them.
Then I noticed there were stairwells and ramps leading both up and down, along the length.
Down led to another deck, this one not as long, but covered in dirt. It had obviously been designed for Trixone, and again, people and butlers were waiting in various sections to talk about whatever was mixed in with the dirt in that place, or to add things to it. There were bar areas there as well, which I found surprising, but a popup told me the Rogue people had found out the plants liked their alcohol as much as we did.
Up led to a series of conference rooms.
The clunk of the docking clamps was more obvious down here. There was a short pause, and the inner airlock doors opened, followed a moment later by the outer doors. The station airlock was already open, and a very large crowd of station denizens were waiting, with the red flower Trixone being in the lead. It led them onto the ship, greeted the man and woman who were the official hosts, both of them diplomats, and then headed for me, where I was standing out of the way of the inflow.
“Greetings, Admiral,” it said to me, bowing its flower for a moment.
“Commander will do just fine,” I said quietly.
“Greetings also to you,” it said, the flower looking at the three women with me, and apparently ignoring what I’d said. It looked back at me. “Is there somewhere where we can talk privately?”
“How privately?”
“Just the two of us.”
“Why with me? Wouldn’t a diplomat be better?”
“Not just yet. We have plenty of time for diplomacy. This is station business.”
“You won’t mind my aides accompanying us?”
The flower contracted a bit on the end, but returned to its normal shape. Was that a frown?
“That will be fine.”
“This way,” said Leanne. “If you care to follow me?”
The flower bobbed, and it started shuffling after her. We followed along, as she led us to the nearest up ramp. At the top, she led us a short way down the central corridor, and into a small conference room. Half of the floor was covered in dirt, and the plant went straight for it. There was a small table in the middle, with four chairs on one side. We sat on the normal deck side, and the plant moved to face us on the dirt side.
“Your attention to detail is welcomed,” it said. “Very tasty as well. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” said Tamsin.
“I must admit to some deception, I’m afraid.”
“You’re not here to discuss station business?” I asked.
Shocker. Not. I repressed a smile. So were the others.
“Unfortunately not. This may come as a shock to you, but I represent a group who wish to defect.”
“Defect?” asked Leanne. “How many, what species, and what exactly do you mean by defect?”
“Defect in terms of joining the Imperium.” It must have understood the shock on our faces now. “Let me explain.”
“You’d better,” I said. “But we’re probably not the best people to be talking to about this.”
“We think you are. Since the Rawtenuga first started ravaging this part of the galaxy, it has become apparent our warrior sub-species is both incapable of defending us, and also not particularly interested in doing so.”
“Not interested? How can they be not interested?”
“It is part of the way they were originally propagated. Their instinct is to expand our territory, always looking outward. And for millennia they have done so. We here know of the Keerah and the Ralnor over in the center of the galaxy, and how they stopped the original push that way. But both species had no real interest in taking our space from us, although they’ve been tested from time to time. But until the Imperium was discovered, we’d never had an enemy capable of pushing us back.”
“And now you have two?” asked Serena.
“Yes. We understand the Imperium is relatively small, and so can only affect a small amount of space. But the Rawtenuga are a completely different threat, particularly here as they push inwards through this area of space. We have nothing which can counte
r them effectively. This is mostly our fault, of course.”
“How?” asked Leanne.
“We destroyed all animal warrior species we couldn’t conquer. When I say we, I mean the warrior class, and so long ago no-one remembers who or what was destroyed. Those we left alive, became vassals to design and build things for us. Animals have always been better at building than we will ever be, but channeled in the right direction, they developed ways for even us to do our own building. This of course was many millennia ago. We achieved balance with the other two dominant species, and our warrior sub-species concentrated on consolidating our third of the core galaxy. And as you should know, there are areas within what we consider our space which we still do not control.”
“When did the Rawtenuga show up?”
“Oddly, about the same time the Imperium did.”
I looked at Serena, who looked at me. We both knew why this was happening. The time line shift had obviously changed the Rawtenuga in much the same ways it had the Keerah. Much more warlike than before, and a change towards outward expansion.
“All very interesting,” I said. “But you still haven’t explained what you mean by defect.”
“We want you to join this system to your Imperium.”
“And how many of you are there who want this?”
“Hard to tell without coming out into the open. Perhaps fifty five percent of the station population across all species, and thirty percent of the planet?”
“But you’re not sure?”
“No. And without an indication our defection will even be considered, the question will not be asked formally.”
“What of your warrior class? What will they think?”
“There are very few of them left here. Our defense fleet was destroyed, as were all previous ones. The only warrior sub-species here now are for local control of rule breakers. Or are still seedlings.”
“You mean police?” asked Serena.
She wasn’t talking about the seedlings.
“Yes.”
Serena and I made eye contact again.
“And what do you want me to do?”
“Take word to your Imperator. You have saved this station twice now, but it is only a matter of time before this system is lost, and most of our lives with it. Only with Imperium help can we survive.”
“I’m not sure I can do that.” I paused, and it waited for me. “But tell me something. Do all of your species have the warrior stinger?”
“Stinger? What stinger are you referring to?”
“The one which kills if it touches the skin of an animal.”
“Is that why you war on us?”
“Partly. Your warriors attacked us. But a stinger which kills on contact is a strong motivation for fighting back.”
“I can see that. But I don’t understand.”
“What don’t you understand?”
“None of our species have a stinger.”
“What is it then which comes out of what we call your flower?”
“This?”
Its stinger emerged, but wasn’t as long as the warrior ones, which could have been because this plant was not as large as the warriors were.
“That. Its touch is fatal to us, and every other animal we’ve come across.”
“But it’s not a stinger.”
“What is it then?” asked Leanne.
“It is how we fertilize our seed to provide consciousness for the next generation. Like all plants, we produce seed before death. We use what you call a stinger to pollinate the seeds of the departed. Without this, the seeds grow a plant without mind.”
It looked around at all four of us.
“It is not a stinger. In the animal way of thinking, it’s how we make babies.”
Twelve
“They want what?”
I’d told Red Flower I’d see what I could do, and sent it down to join other Trixone, with the promise I’d send Leanne to get it when there was news. Back in my ready room on Judge, I’d coaxed Tollin to join me. Serena had stayed on Diplomat to see what was happening, with Tamsin staying with her, and Leanne coming back with me. Tollin had walked back to Haven station, to get to the rift to Judge through our station living room. He wasn’t all that happy about his family time being interrupted. Especially as he hadn't had his lying-in-the-grass time yet.
He was as surprised as we’d been at what was being asked.
“The Trixone which talked to us doesn’t represent a majority in the system, or even the local government, but is asking for the system to be allowed to join the Imperium.”
“What does it represent?”
“Station management, I think.”
“This is crazy. It does know we’re technically at war with its people?”
“I’m not sure they see things that way. They know some areas of their space are at war with us, especially in the center of the galaxy, but the rest of them consider themselves not at war, or have no reason to go to war with us. And around here, every reason to ally with us formally against the Rawtenuga.”
“I guess I can see that. But we can’t have a species joining the Imperium whose touch is fatal.”
“It explained that. They don’t actually have a stinger. It’s a part of their propagation method, and from the sound of it, only coincidently poisonous to animals. I might also point out that station is full of animals of one kind or another, and they don’t appear to have a problem.”
“So why do their warriors use it as a weapon?”
“I’m just guessing, but it saves them needing anything heavier. If our touch killed, we’d probably never have developed hand guns at all. They have them of course, but animal species developed them. But when you put tens of thousands of touch-killers down on a planet, without any warning, you don’t really need heavy weapons except for breaking into structures.”
“I guess so.”
He didn’t sound convinced. And I certainly didn’t blame him. I waited while he thought about it.
“I’ll need to take this to the council. But I’ll be damned if I do it today. It’s going to need a lot of people brought in on the discussion, and definitely won’t be a quick decision.”
“What do I tell the plant?”
“Tell it the matter will be discussed at the highest levels, including the results of how this afternoon progresses, and how our people assessing the reactions report back. There will be no quick decision though. And there won’t be any decision until we have a request by a system government. We can however discuss it in the abstract, ready for such a formal request to arrive.”
“What about keeping the Rawtenuga out?”
He thought some more.
“You’re authorized to close the jump points if they request it, at least temporarily. I’m going to have to brief the Imperator anyway, so I’ll ask him to send you orders.”
“They may not be able to handle a closure of the jump points. The system gets a reasonable amount of traders coming through, so blocking them might be bad for the planet or the station.”
“Find out. Can you keep only warships out?”
From memory, the Imperator had done just that already, so it must be possible.
“I’ll figure it out.”
“Good. Thanks for the hot potato.”
“You’re welcome.”
He nodded, still not looking happy, rose, and left. I sat there and pondered if this was a good idea or not. But didn’t reach any conclusions except it was going to be complicated. Too many pros and cons, not the least of the cons being it might be a backdoor attempt to gain access to our systems. I had no doubt many would be suggesting it as it was discussed, and was glad I wasn’t going to be part of it.
Cancel, clear, and delete that. I ought to know by now when I think things like that, the cosmos responds by putting me where I don’t want to be. So I put those thoughts aside, and took Leanne back to Diplomat, and sent her to get Red again.
I waited in the same conference room as befo
re, with the door open, and noted quite a bit of traffic going to and fro now, using other rooms. The mix of species was representative of all I’d seen so far, and included a few I hadn’t. But the white rats were very obvious, as were a few brown ones, and several variations of frogs. Even a llama went past as I watched. All had Imperium people with them.
Serena and Tamsin returned with Leanne and Red Flower. The plant was not quite as steady as it walked now.
“Welcome back, Admiral,” it said. “How were your talks with your Imperator?”
“Preliminary only,” I responded, deciding not to tell it I wasn’t an admiral, again, and I didn’t have any access to the Imperator directly. “This is going to take time to discuss at the highest levels. In the meantime, I have a question for you.”
“Anything.”
“How reliant is this system on traders?”
“What are you asking?”
“Can you do without them for a while?”
“No. Why would we?”
“Protecting you from the Rawtenuga is best done by denying all ships access to this system. Other options are available though.”
“Maybe for a short time, but we rely on trade in the local cluster. Of course, the local cluster is also under threat, and part of it already conquered.”
“Understood. Talking of which, you must understand the Imperium cannot deal with groups, but only with governments. System or local cluster, preferably. We will consider all implications of your request, but a formal approach would need to be made by a government, or an officer representing a government, before anything more than discussion happens.”
“I do understand that. If you can give me any indication of how our request is being received?”
“We’re taking it seriously, but given the war, there will be a lot of opposition.”
“I accept that. There will be here as well. But if my short time on this ship is any indication, the trade possibilities are endless, and there will now be a large call by many of our vassal species to open trade up as much as possible. I want trade opened up, and I wasn’t saying that yesterday. The Nerg are already making noises about wanting to import huge quantities from you.”
Lieutenant Commander Spacemage (Imperium Spacemage Book 4) Page 5