“What if Ruwalch becomes a member with voting privileges, but none of the other planets in the system do?” Admiral Burke asked.
“Then Ruwalch can’t share any commerce with the other planets,” Jenetta said. “It’s as simple as that.”
“I think it sounds simple, but can we disrupt their form of government like that?” Admiral Ahmed asked.
“All we can do is specify the terms for annexation,” Jenetta said. “It’s up to them to decide which road they choose to travel. I’m sure Larry and my sister Eliza have explained all of the options. It’s just a matter of waiting to see what they decide.”
“And if they decide not to request annexation?” Admiral Hillaire asked.
“Then we pull our forces out and use them to patrol and defend the G.A., just as we’ve always done. If we hear from the Ruwalchu again regarding an incursion by Denubbewa into their territory, I’m sure we’ll return— if we can afford to free up the assets and assuming this Board agrees that returning is the best course of action.”
“There’s another small issue here,” Admiral Hillaire said.
“What’s that, Arnold?”
“The Hudeerac territory. If we accept the Ruwalchu territory in annexation, the Hudeerac territory will be entirely surrounded by G.A. space.”
No one spoke for several minutes while they thought about the galactic territorial positions.
“We’ve always had good relations with the King of the Hudeera and most of his subjects,” Jenetta said. “I really don’t think it’s a problem.”
“The Hudeera were part of the THUG pact that tried to boot us out of Region Two and take it for themselves,” Admiral Bradlee said.
“That was a small but powerful group of nobles who managed to seize control of the government for a short time. The king tried to stop them, but they had amassed too much power through the support of other nobles greedy for new territory. It was they who signed that agreement with the Uthlaro and displaced the king. He eventually reclaimed power and ended the association with the Uthlaro before the Hudeera engaged us in combat. We had an excellent and valuable relationship before that event, and afterwards as well.”
“So we’ll allow them free travel through our space?”
“As long as they continue to obey G.A. law— yes.”
“Okay,” Admiral Bradlee said. “I have no problem with that.”
“Any other comments or suggestions?”
When no one spoke up or showed signs that they wanted to add to the topic, Jenetta said, “Then we’ll resume this discussion when and if the Ruwalchu petition for annexation.”
~ ~ ~
“Commander, I’ve just learned that your forces are pulling back towards the G.A. border.”
“Yes, Prime Minister,” Eliza said. “We’ve received orders for all ships to return to Region Three of G.A. space and resume patrols to locate any possible Denubbewa ships. I mentioned that.”
“But you said you’d give me time to resolve our issues with the members of the Gilesset who still refuse to endorse the annexation petition.”
“I said I would make sure the Ares remained here for at least two more full days. Prime Minister, it’s been three full days now, so I’ve met my commitment.”
“But we’re defenseless.”
“As are many of the planets in G.A. space. Our patrol area was Region Three. We were ordered to come here and aid you in fighting the Denubbewa. We’ve done that. But now we have to return to Region Three to protect the planets there.”
“I can pay you to stay and protect us.”
“It’s not up to me, Prime Minister. Once our engineers complete their assessment of an issue I reported as requiring investigation and file their report with my captain, we’ll be leaving as well.”
“But I gave you the cyborg.”
“And we’ve destroyed all of the Denubbewa we could locate in the Confederacy. I’ve given you several more days to complete your annexation petition, and now it’s time for us to leave, unless there’s something that Quesann agrees is reason for us to delay our departure. The promise that you’re trying to prepare an annexation petition has worn thin over the many weeks since we first discussed it. I’m sure the G.A. Senate will evaluate the petition fairly should you ever get a consensus on that action.”
“How much longer can you wait?”
“It’s really out of my hands. Once the engineers complete their investigation of the potential problem I reported and find that the equipment is working fine, the captain will order the ship to depart your space.”
“How long do you believe that will be?”
“Hours. Perhaps as long as one day. Then we’ll be gone. I’m sorry, Prime Minister. We’ve explained that the only way we can give you uninterrupted protection is if you’re a member of the G.A., or at least that you’ve submitted a binding petition for annexation.”
“Promise me one more full day and I’ll deliver it, or I’ll have the heads of the three Gilesset members who are preventing the unanimous approval of the petition mounted on a spike.”
“I’ll do my best, Prime Minister. I’ll plead your case with my captain. I can’t promise anything other than that I’ll do my best.”
“Thank you, Commander. I do appreciate everything the G.A., Space Command, your captain, and you have done for my people. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
“I hope you can convince the Gilesset holdouts to see things your way. Good day, Prime Minister. Carver out.”
Eliza looked at Captain Gavin and shrugged. She was sitting in his office, across from him at his desk.
“I guess he’ll either convince the Gilesset to go along or we leave tomorrow,” Gavin said.
“Yes, sir. And if he comes through with the petition?”
“Then a small part of our taskforce will remain here to patrol this territory until the G.A. Senate either adopts or rejects the petition. At that time, the Space Command forces in this part of space will either increase or leave completely. In any event, the CPS designated for transporting the supervisor cyborg to Quesann leaves tomorrow.”
“Too bad we can’t simply transport him via a CJ Gate,” Eliza said. “I hate to lose the use of the CPS-16 for almost six months.”
“I agree. We don’t have the Gates available yet, but they’re coming. As I understand it, the wormhole/subspace technology used for the new com system is basically the same as that used for the Gates. The Gates that will send people are undergoing much more rigorous testing. If a message gets lost or corrupted, they just send it again. With people, the system must be perfect. You know, it’s hard to believe we can now send a message to anyone in G.A. space— and beyond— in under twenty seconds. We’ll never again have to sit around for weeks waiting for a report or a response from Quesann.”
“It’s too bad we can’t have direct conversations, but I guess the artificial wormhole can only forward the data stream as an outgoing signal in one direction.”
“Are you sure?” Gavin asked. “Or are you just assuming that because it’s the way the Locculo crafted their system?”
“I guess I was assuming it, which is something you should avoid in physics. Although Jenetta was trained as an astrophysicist, wormhole physics only came up in theoretical discussion back then.”
“If I know Admiral Plimley, she’ll start working on a way to establish two-way communications once the Gates are working. If a wormhole can only transmit in one direction, perhaps a new system can have two different wormholes in operation at the same time.”
“Sort of like dual frequencies?”
“Exactly.”
“It would be nice, sir, but there’s still the eighteen-second lag.”
“It’s fun to think about, but I’m damn grateful for what we’ve got right now and I won’t push for more— at least for a while.”
Gavin punctuated his statement with a wide smile, which immediately found its way to Eliza’s face.
~ ~ ~
&nbs
p; “Admiral Holt is calling, Admiral,” Jenetta heard her secretary announce via the com.
“Put him through,” Jenetta said as she activated the wall-mounted monitor that faced her desk.
“Good morning, Brian,” Jenetta said as the pixels that represented Admiral Holt’s appearance ocoalesced into an enormous head-and-shoulders image.
“I wish it was, Jen. I just received a message from one of our destroyers in Region Two near the Gondusan border. The com chief on second watch picked up an S.O.S. message in the clear to anyone who was listening.”
“From one of our ships?”
“No, it seems to have originated in Gondusan space. It appears that a freighter was under attack by an unknown warship. The report states that at first it seemed like the rockets fired at the freighter were duds because upon striking the ship there was no explosion. But then something ate though the hull everywhere a rocket had impacted with the ship and small nuclear blasts peppered the vessel.”
“Denubbewa. That’s how they destroyed the Yenisei and the Salado. Open the hull with acid and then fire small nuclear charges to kill the crew through loss of atmosphere, concussive force, or radiation.”
“It sure sounds like that. Jen, the Gondusan sending the message claimed to be a freight handler. He said he was performing maintenance inside a small tug parked in the maintenance bay amidship. When an alarm sounded about the attack, he sealed the tug. The attacking ship only targeted the freighter pulling the load. The com message said that all crewmembers in the freighter appeared to be dead because no one had responded to his repeated efforts to contact the rest of the crew.”
“First the Ruwalchu, then the Gondusans. I wonder if the Hudeera are next.”
“It sounds like we should move more assets from Region Three to Region Two.”
“That may be just what they want. It might be a diversion. They may intend to attack us in Region Three and expect us to pull— or at least reduce— our forces there even further in response to this attack.”
“The message wasn’t directed at us, and we have no diplomatic relationship with the Gondusans.”
“We’ve never felt predisposed to establish any after they joined the Tsgardi and the Uthlaro in the plan to boot us out of Region Two and take it for themselves.”
“So you’re saying we owe them no assistance.”
“Owe them? No. How many warships do we have close to the border with Gondusan space?”
“Within roughly a thousand light-years, we have one battleship, the Pholus, three destroyers, the Duluth, Stuttgart, and Lima, two Scout-Destroyers, the Atrato and the Magdalena, and a dozen or so CPSs performing various assignments.”
“Are the CPSs all carrying bombing containers?”
“Yes, I’ve issued standing orders that all CPSs should always be armed with bombing containers, unless they’re carrying out some special mission that makes those containers a liability. They only receive fighter aircraft containers or other special containers if their mission calls for it.”
“If it was my decision at this early juncture, I’d send the CPSs into Gondusan space to where the signal from the freighter seemed to originate and have the destroyers and Scout-Destroyers patrol along our border with Gondusan space.”
“And if our CPSs should encounter Denubbewa?”
“Destroy them without warning or hesitation.”
“Okay, Jen, we’re on the same page. I’ll issue those orders. Anything else?”
“I’d be extra alert to anything that might be reported, however innocuous, which indicates the Denubbewa are making a move on us while we’re distracted with the problems in Gondusan space and Ruwalchu space.”
“I’ll put Regions Two and Three personnel on high-alert with orders to report anything suspicious— or at least highly unusual.”
~ ~ ~
“What is it, Cezloom?”
Cezloom, who was staring out the window at the front of his house, said, “It’s a spaceship.”
“A spaceship? What’s it doing?”
“It appears to be landing.”
“Here? The nearest spaceport is on the other side of Oweta.”
“I know. I work there, remember?”
“Why would a spaceship be landing here?”
“How should I know?” Cezloom asked his wife.
“You work at the spaceport, remember?”
“Mussela, I’m just a repairman, not a pilot.”
“Call Tuzhom.”
“His house is closer to that ship’s landing location than ours. I’m sure he already knows.”
“No, I mean call him to ask if he knows who they are and why they’d be landing here.”
“It might be Space Command.”
“Our world isn’t a participating member of the G.A. so Space Command isn’t supposed to land here unless invited.”
“Space Command can land wherever and whenever they want. Maybe they’re here to talk with the Grand Princess.”
“Oh, no,” Mussela said. “You don’t think the Grand Princess has invited them to come here, do you?”
“The Grand Princess doesn’t confide in me. I don’t know if she did or didn’t.”
“Wait, what’s that noise?”
“What noise? The noise from the engines has stopped.”
“Shush.”
After straining to hear for several seconds, Cezloom said, “I don’t hear anything.”
“You were talking. It sounded like people screaming and yelling for a few seconds.”
“It’s quiet now.”
“It’s too quiet. It’s never this quiet at this hour.”
“I see something moving outside the house.”
“What is it?”
“I can’t tell. It looks like a…”
* * *
Chapter Seventeen
~ August 31th, 2292 ~
“I’m pleased to announce that we’ve completed the redesign of our new communications system consoles and actually begun retrofitting equipment in ships that are currently in the Fleet Harbor,” Admiral Plimley said at the closed A.B. meeting in Jenetta’s office. “The redesigned system is just one-tenth the size of the jury-rigged systems we sent to the Ares and the seven Space Command bases in Region Three. In our haste to implement the new system, we totally disregarded size considerations in favor of operability. Priority is being given to those ships scheduled to leave first for patrol or other duties.”
The new com system was still top secret so the A.B. hadn’t wanted to discuss it in the meeting hall just yet.
“As we gear up,” Admiral Plimley continued, “we’ll be sending new consoles out in Quartermaster vessels so ships won’t have to return to Quesann to get the new com systems. We’ve prepared full documentation so the engineers aboard each ship can handle the retrofit in a matter of hours.”
“That’s wonderful news, Loretta,” Jenetta said. “You and your people are to be congratulated. You’ve moved this project along far faster than anyone could have expected. There’s no doubt in my mind that this new system will revolutionize Space Command operations. Being able to send messages and receive replies across thousands of light-years in what is virtually real time provides us with a whole new dimension in our efforts to protect the people and planets of the Galactic Alliance. I applaud your redesign efforts, but I also have to state that having the bulky, initial systems installed in the Ares and the bases in Region Three was well worth the effort. Those systems have given us tremendous peace of mind.”
Admiral Plimley smiled and said, “Thank you, Jen. And I expect you now want to ask me about the status of the CJ Gate project.”
“I didn’t want to take attention away from your important com system announcement, but an update report on that other project would likewise be appreciated,” Jenetta said, returning the smile.
“Okay, here it is. As everyone here knows, we had working CJ Gate booths, so we only had to reverse-engineer the booths developed by the Locculo civilization, may t
hey rest in peace. I say only because to create this incredible apparatus from a proposed conceptual design could have taken decades or longer. So the biggest task in this project has always been the design, development, construction, and placement of satellites throughout G.A. space. I estimate that it will optimally take over two years to establish a very basic system throughout G.A space, and could take ten if we don’t devote every possible resource to the endeavor.
“With regard to the satellites, the most difficult effort on our part was developing an encoding system that, indisputably, both protects our system while ensuring maximum safety for travelers and prevents the Denubbewa from piggybacking on our system the way we’ve temporarily piggybacked our communication system onto their satellites. We believe we have that part of the project resolved now, but we continue to test the system. I’ve promised my staff that anyone who manages to find a way to crack the system code without using insider knowledge will receive a six-month paid vacation in addition to their regular vacation time once the project is complete. And once the new system is in place, they’ll be able to travel back to Earth, or whatever other planet they prefer, in the blink of an eye.”
“Loretta,” Admiral Holt said, “what happens if the Denubbewa, or someone else, manages to crack the code once the system is operational?”
“We simply update the code algorithm. We’re already preparing a backup code that will be available in every ship or Gate location. The activation code will be stored in the captain’s safe or that of the base commander. In less than a minute’s time, the code modification can be installed throughout the satellite network. Should someone crack the code and we learn about it, they’re going to be quite upset to suddenly discover that we’ve just sent them back to square one. In other words, all their effort was wasted and their information is now useless.”
“So you’re saying the system protection is foolproof?”
“Not exactly. I could never guarantee that because nothing is foolproof. What I’m saying is that we can immediately change the code if we learn that someone has cracked the original. But short of an enemy tracking down all of our Gate satellites and destroying them, the system is as safe from tampering as we can make it.”
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