Talosian Chronicles 2: Star Dancer

by Ben Winston

  “I understand, Star, thanks.”

  A moment later, the President of the United States, sitting at the head of a cluttered conference table, appeared on his monitor. Ian gave a slight bow of his head. “Madam President, I am Commander Ian Williams of the Terran Defense Forces. I was told you asked to speak to me?”

  “I must admit Commander, that I was expecting someone a little less human, not to mention someone a little older,” the President replied.

  “I am human, Madam President. I was born in Denver Memorial Hospital nineteen years ago. I grew up in a small town outside of Fort Collins, Colorado. There is a long story here, but I got this position because of genetics. My entire crew, as well as those that have agreed to help us, are as human as you are. We were all born and raised on Earth.”

  “So now that the alien threat has been dealt with, what are your intentions, Commander?” a man to the president’s left said, he was wearing four stars on his shoulders, and a green uniform.

  “I don’t think I understand your question, General. Are you asking if we are going to attack and take over the rest of the planet?” Ian asked.

  “I had something like that in mind, yes,” the General replied.

  “No, we have no plans or intention to attack the forces of Earth, nor do we intend to unseat any of the existing governments, no matter how much we might disagree with them. That is not our purpose,” Ian replied. “We are simply here to protect Earth from forces that it has no chance of defending itself from on its own. We love our planet, it’s our home, and we don’t want to see it conquered by aliens and the population turned into slaves. By the same token, we will not allow one country to capture any advanced technology that will give them an unfair advantage over the others. We are here to protect the planet, not just a single country.”

  “But you gave our Marines at Talos advanced weapons in order for them to be able to fight?” another officer said. He was off screen, and Ian couldn’t see who it was.

  “Yes we did. If we hadn’t, every one of those Marines would now be dead. We did what we could in order to ensure the survival of those troops, as well as protecting the Talos community from destruction. I should mention that those same Marines surrendered every piece of technology back to us once the fighting was over,” Ian explained.

  “Commander, how do we know the aliens that attacked this planet were only attacking you? We have no proof that the rest of the planet was ever in danger?” the President asked.

  “That is simple actually. Talos and our ships in orbit were attacked first because we were the only force that could seriously oppose them. If you examine the data from Cheyanne Mountain, you will see that several of the inbound deep space missiles had been targeting U.S. cities. New York and Washington were on that list too,” Ian replied.

  “No, what I meant to say, Commander, was, how do we know that the whole attack wasn’t simply staged by you?” she clarified.

  “What purpose would we have to do something like that?” Ian asked confused. “Madam President, every one of us swore an oath to protect the planet, not to attack it. We won’t even fight back against Earth troops, of course we don’t actually have to, we have shields and armor that you don’t have the weapons to even dent. Why would we stage an attack, when all we would have had to do was simply attack and take over?”

  “We’ve been told that you are shorthanded, that there are only a couple thousand of you. Perhaps this attack was staged by you in order to gain our trust. Once you had that, you could take over subtly, without very much resistance.”

  Ian thought about it a moment. “I suppose I can see your point. However, all I can do is reassure you that is not our intention. Currently, you have several government uh, investigators harassing our people that are still on the planet. I would ask you to please remove them. We lost a lot of people in the last attack, and the civilians down there are grieving. They really don’t need to be harassed by those folks.”

  The president shook her head. “No, we need to make certain that you aren’t doing anything in there that is a threat to the American people. There was a reason the aliens, if that indeed is who they really were, attacked you. We want to know what it is, and what to do about it to keep them from attacking again. As for your ‘protection’ we would have liked to have had the opportunity to try diplomatic channels next time. Perhaps we could have signed a treaty with those people. So on behalf of the people of the United States of America, I am ordering you to land your ships and surrender to our troops immediately. As for the settlement in New Mexico, you will allow the investigators into the community, and you will assist them in any way possible. Further, I am ordering you...”

  Ian shook his head and calmly said. “No.”

  “Excuse me?” the president said.

  Ian grinned at her. “I said ‘No’ madam President. You have no authority over me, you do not speak for the entire planet, and even if you did, there is no way we would ever surrender to you. Earth is not ready for the technology available on this ship or in the town. As it stands right now, your investigators cannot get into the community on the surface, and they never will. If they resort to using violence, I need to warn you that the shield protecting the community is reactive, your bullets will bounce off, and could possibly hurt your troops.”

  “Are you threatening me, young man?” the President asked.

  “No Ma’am. I simply trying to tell you that your troops could be hurt because of a passive function of our protective screen,” Ian explained. “Look, I’m not a politician, and frankly, we don’t have any diplomats. What I’m telling you is the truth to the best of my ability. We do not answer to you, nor do we answer to any Terran authority at this time. Our only purpose is to protect the planet from alien attack and to try to help in any other way we can without interfering too much. I am asking you to please allow us to continue as we have before, but frankly, we are going to anyway. We are no threat to you. If you don’t believe that, then I apologize, but it is the truth. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a ton of stuff to see to after the battle. Madam President, Generals, I bid you a good day.”

  As Ian ended the transmission, he heard the President say ‘wait’, but frankly, he had nothing to say to her.

  “Sir, the Commanders would be delighted to join you for dinner and have accepted your invitation. They will arrive in forty-five minutes. Where would you like for me to set it up?” Star asked.

  “I didn’t think of that. We kind of stole the command conference room and the rest of the conference rooms are purpose based. I suppose we could do it in here, or in my quarters. I would prefer here, having it in my quarters might send them the wrong kind of message,” Ian explained.

  “That will do nicely, sir,” Star replied. “What would you like on the menu?”

  “I have no idea. I don’t even know if they can eat the same things we do. Are they Vegan? Would steak be wrong?” Ian asked.

  “Replicated food can be altered to ensure it is acceptable physiologically in most cases without altering the taste of the food. I will speak to the medical sections of the two ships and discover what the two Commanders can or cannot eat. I will also try to discover their preferences. For now, I will tentatively set the menu as steak and a baked potato with a side salad.” Star Paused for a moment. “Sir, their dress uniform is very different than the ones we currently have. Would you like to design one before they get here?”

  “Uh, yeah, I felt silly wearing that pirate costume. Could you ask Jenny to stick her head in here for a moment?” Ian asked.

  Jenny joined Ian and Star and after seeing what the Talosian Commanders would be wearing, Jenny quickly and expertly designed a new dress uniform for them to wear. The rest of the arrangements went off without a hitch, since Star made damn sure they did.

  Both Ian and Jenny greeted the two Commanders as they arrived and escorted them back to his ready room.

  “I apologize for having dinner in here, but we used my command conferenc
e room for a Combat Information Center during the last battle, and we couldn’t tear it all out in time,” Ian explained. He spoke Talosian because, while the two new Commanders spoke English, they didn’t do it very well. Talosian was easier for them.

  “This is fine, Commander,” Commander Egran of the Pegasus replied. “There are a lot of wonders that we’ve seen here already. I don’t know what a Combat Information Center is, but I look forward to finding out!”

  “Commander Ian, with your permission, may we drop the titles? We are, after all, all of the same rank,” Serena asked.

  Once they got settled in at the table, Serena spoke. “Ian, since we made contact with you, we’ve been in contact with our High Command. At this time, no decision about you has been handed down, since they feel that the Council needs to be informed. I don’t mean to be so blunt, but I would like to have your feelings about joining us.”

  Ian nodded. “I appreciate your candor, Serena. I’m not a very good diplomat myself. Frankly, I’m afraid that you came her to take the ship back. We’ve all sworn an oath to protect this system, and the ship is part of that. Now, please don’t take that to mean we are not interested in forming an alliance with you. I did get time to review your history before you arrived. I know the situation with the alliance and the war with the Empire. I think we might be able to offer some help, but I can’t justify taking the ship away from this system until it has much better defenses in place.”

  Serena nodded, and was about to answer when Egran spoke. “Ian, this food is wonderful, what is it?”

  “Replicated dishes from Earth. I had no idea what to feed you, so I stuck with what I know. I had Star make sure it wouldn’t hurt you, and you could eat it. This is called steak,” Ian said pointing to the piece of meat on his plate. The explained the rest of the dishes. Finishing with, “if you’re interested, Egran, I can have Star send you a copy of her culinary database.”

  “I would like that, thank you!” he replied, and took another bite.

  “This is a really excellent meal,” Serena said. “It sounds like you have a good grasp of the situation, Ian. But I should warn you that not everyone in the Alliance sees it the same way we do. There are factions that feel we are winning the war against the Empire, and that our inevitable victory is simply a matter of time.”

  Ian looked at her in confusion. “How can anyone look at the available information and see any other result?”

  “Politics. In the old system, before the fall of Talos, when a person joined the defense services, you surrendered your house allegiances for the greater allegiance of all of the Talosian people. That is no longer the case; many of our Commanders have retained their house alliances. Those houses have gained considerable power because of the war. Power they are not willing to lose.

  “You and your people are a completely unknown quantity to our people. I expect that many in the Grand Council will oppose either annexing you, or even forming an alliance with you if you insist on retaining your independence,” Serena finished.

  “What about High Command? How do they view the situation?” Ian asked.

  “Admiral Goya is the current head of High Command. He is a good man, and he holds no illusions about what’s really going on out there. But, in a lot of cases, he is hampered by the orders he receives from the Ruling Council,” Egran replied.

  “Then too, you only have our words on the situation, and they are admittedly biased. The Alliance of Races is very powerful, but the Talosian position on the war is doing damage to our position with our allies. If the current trend is to continue, I fear that we will be left to our own devices soon. As it is now, when arriving at an allied base, we receive a cold reception until they know who is in command of the ship. They know that some of us are still committed to the Alliance, and they go out of their way to help us. But if one of the separatist Commanders arrives at an allied base, they usually have to wait, and then only enough repairs for them to get to a Talosian base are completed.

  “It has gotten so bad that most separatist Commanders simply won’t stop at an allied base anymore. In multi-race battles, Talosian ships are always assigned to non-critical missions or duties. The situation is not good. If we lose the alliance, we will lose the rest of our planets very quickly and the Talosian Alliance will cease to exist.”

  “There’s nothing Admiral Goya can do about it? Why can’t he replace those ship Commanders?” Ian asked.

  “Politics,” Egran said. “Ship commanders cannot be appointed without Council approval. Which resulted in the Council making sure the Commanders they wanted got appointed instead of those that were actually qualified and should have been placed there.”

  Serena shook her head. “Anyway, you don’t need to listen to our problems. But we did want you to know what you might be getting involved with if you decided to join us. They might even call for you to be replaced as Commander.”

  Ian shook his head. “No, I won’t step down, and from the sound of it, we probably won’t be joining the Talosian alliance, at least as full members.”

  Serena nodded. “I can understand that. Egran and I do hope that you will be willing to at the least share technology, and perhaps consider building ships for us. From what we’ve seen just in this last battle, you’ve made some pretty impressive advances.”

  Ian looked at her in confusion. “Haven’t the Talosians? It’s been centuries, you should be way ahead of us by now.”

  Egran looked uncomfortable. “Well, not that many of our resources have been put into research. In the early days, we were focused on rebuilding a home world, and population. We really had to scrape to get resources. Plus most of our scientists were killed in the Caldarian war. By the time we had people getting to the point where we were before the destruction of Talos, the Empire descended on us, and we’ve been on a war footing ever since.

  “The locations we had gotten built were some of the first targets destroyed. Even the few places we had in the new home system have been hit by raids. It’s almost like the Empire knows when and where to hit us.”

  “You think if we begin building your ships and weapons, they won’t be able to find us?” Ian asked.

  Serena was the one to answer this time. “No, because there aren’t that many people that know you even exist. When the Alliance of Races passed the word about you, the sent the message to Admiral Goya directly. He contacted me on an encrypted channel and asked Egran and I to check it out. So far, only Admiral Goya, and our navigators know where you are. Word about you is bound to get out, if it hasn’t already, but your location is on a need to know basis.”

  Ian nodded. “I’ll have to talk it over with my people. However, they might not be ready for this for a few days. We lost some good people down there, and as it stands right now, most of them want to just leave the planet.” He took a drink of his coffee. “You said the Alliance of Races told you about us, do you know how they knew? We haven’t seen any other ships except for the Caldarians.”

  “Not a clue. I imagine the Firella located you. They are an ancient race we knew nothing about until the Alliance of Races formed. They’re energy beings that hold an advisory position on the Council. They have no need of starships anymore, they can move through space at will.” Serena explained. “I’ve never met or even seen one, and there are no holo’s of any either. I think half the Talosian Alliance doesn’t believe they even exist.”

  Ian nodded again. Seeing that both Commanders had finished their meals, he asked if they wanted more. When they both declined, he offered them a tour of the ship, which they accepted.

  They finally ended up in the same landing bay the two Commanders arrived in.

  “This is just amazing! Ian. I cannot believe you only have thirty-five hundred people in your organization. How did you manage to do so much with so few?” Egran asked.

  “We had a job to do, and we just focused on that. Actually we were really lucky that more didn’t go wrong and more people didn’t get killed. Although, those that d
id die really affected the rest of us. It’s going to take some time to recover from this,” Ian said.

  “Did you lose someone special to you, Ian?” Serena asked.

  “Yes, I lost a very good friend. His name was Elias Johnson. He... he always seem to keep me grounded, and focused on the mission. He had a way about him that made everyone want to do their best. He was a good man, and a better friend,” Ian finished sadly. “He died trying to save a little girl. I knew her too. She was sweet, cute, and should have had a full life ahead of her.”

  “War is never fair, and it always seems to kill those that we need most.” Serena said softly. “There is little to do, but morn their loss, remember them, and keep them close to our hearts, so they can continue to guide us.”

  They finished the tour, and talked a little more before the two Commanders had to return to their ships. Shortly after returning to his ship, Commander Egran called to apologize and wish Ian well. We was being recalled to New Talos, and would be departing within the hour.

  Serena said she had been ordered by Admiral Goya to remain on station and render any and all aid to Ian and his people, unless Ian asked her to leave. Ian thanked them both, and wished Egran a safe and uneventful journey.

  Ian held an interactive ‘town meeting’ over the network so everyone could attend. Since it had an effect on their decision to leave, Ian explained about the arrival of the Talosians, and the information they brought with them.

  When he told them that Serena had asked if they would be willing to build a dry dock facility, as well as begin weapons research and construction for the Alliance, the people seemed to lock in on it. They asked a lot of questions about how to defend the facilities so they wouldn’t get attacked if their location were ever discovered. They also wanted to know how many people would be needed to man these facilities, and what kinds of weapons would they build.

  Ian explained that it would probably be an expansion of the things they have already been doing. They would have to build a huge space dock in order to accommodate multiple ships at a time. They would also have to begin mining and refining operations and all that entailed as well. If they accepted the task of becoming a military shipyard and weapons facility, they would need thousands more people, in almost every field imaginable.