by Jeff Sims
One said, “Hello, I am Savan’aa and this is my sister Sierr’aa. Thank you for taking the time to visit with us today.”
As if she had a choice. Even though she had submitted her resignation from the Alliance Navy she still had to complete an exit interview for it to be accepted. If she didn’t complete the interview, she would technically still be considered in the navy and an enemy combatant.
When Shole and Kolvak landed the transport at the main space station in Conron, they were immediately placed in a make-shift holding area in the main hangar bay along with all of the other ‘retiring’ members of the Alliance Navy.
Sierr’aa said, “Please state your name and the reason for your resignation.”
She and her sister had been assigned to this duty since they were both fluent in Alliance basic. She briefly wondered for the umpteenth time why the Hiriculans didn’t put translation devices in everyone’s mouths. It would have made this interview much faster. Well, technically it wouldn’t have sped it up, but she wouldn’t have had to do so many of them.
Sierr’aa hated this part of the interview process. What were the interviewees supposed to say? They had been defeated militarily, forced to resign, and many of their friends and co-workers had been killed. This was her 103rd interview and she had heard nearly every answer imaginable so far.
Most tried to say something witty like ‘I am resigning because you told me to do so’. Others get creative and said some variant of ‘I was forced to resign because you blew up my ship’ or ‘you invaded; in case you hadn’t noticed’.
Shole responded, “I am tired of the exercise policy.”
Well, at least that response was original. Sierr’aa definitely hadn’t heard that one before.
Savan’aa, out of complete boredom, said, “And what is it about the exercise policy that you found so offensive that you decided resign?”
Shole said, “Mostly the fact that I had to do it. Are you two twins?”
Sierr’aa responded, “Yes. So, you don’t like to exercise or you don’t like the fact that the Alliance Navy made you exercise.”
Shole had grown weary of the charade and didn’t bother to answer. Instead she said, “I think you two are the most beautiful Hiriculans that I have ever seen. Your skin is such a beautiful shade of turquoise. It almost shimmers. Did you have it chemically enhanced?”
Savan’aa responded, “No. We just spend a lot of time at the beach. There is a pigment in Hiriculan skin that reacts to sunlight. If we stay in the sun for lengthy periods of time our skin lightens and glistens. I believe the Alliance basic word is tanning.”
Shole said, “Ah, like the Humans. Their skin darkens slightly when exposed to the sun.”
Sierr’aa said, “Are you familiar with the Humans. Did you get to meet any of them?”
Shole responded, “Yes. I accompanied the Humans to the Waylon system and taught them a few basics like how to align a transverse conduit and how to optimize the deuterium in a plasma reactor.”
Savan’aa was slightly interested, despite the basic functions that Shole had just mentioned. This was the first interview in which anyone had mentioned the humans. At least now they finally knew what had happened to them. Savan’aa asked, “Why were they in Waylon?”
Shole said, “The Navy gave up on the Humans because they were far too violent and sent them to Waylon. The Navy put an old, decrepit space station there to serves as their base of operations. As I stated, my job was to teach the Humans how to maintain the key systems. With luck they will be able to stay there without blowing themselves up. Actually, I should have received a medal for my incredible skill in pedagogy.”
Sierr’aa asked, “Is that a real possibility?” and Savan’aa continued with “And why did the Alliance Navy give up on them?”
Shole said, “Yes it is, them blowing themselves up I mean.”
She proceeded to mention many strange things the humans did like slapping each other for no reason, chewing on their hands, yelling at one another, and pushing each other into walls. She even mentioned the failed diversity training. When she finished, Shole smiled politely for effect.
“Is there anything else of importance that you wish to share?” Sierr’aa asked.
“I remember one time that all sixty-something of them lined up on both sides of me and made me walk between them. It felt awful. I was certain that one of them was going to step out of line and kill me. They didn’t, obviously, but it was very scary.”
Savan’aa asked, “What was the point of that exercise?”
“I have no idea. I guess it was just to make us scared of them.”
Sierr’aa added, “It kind of reminds me of when I visited Neto, but not really.”
Savan’aa visibly sighed and stated, “Switching subjects, the report shows that you were one of the last beings to leave the Conron Naval Shipyard and also one of the last two to resign. Is there anything particularly relevant about that?”
Shole: “We, Kolvak and I, were deep in the bowels of the space station when the alarm sounded. The ion diffusors on the station were experiencing carbon sequestration. We had to clean the insoluble precipitate away from the particulate reactors to keep the reaction from forming an undesirable catalyst.”
Shole continued, “By the time we finished scrubbing them everyone else had left. So, we packed our belongings and left just before the Hiriculans, er you, arrived.”
Sierr’aa said, “I see. Do you intend to apply for reinstatement once the decade long cooling off period has ended?”
Shole: “No. I believe my career with the Alliance Navy has ended.”
Savan’aa said, “Your resignation has been accepted. Good luck in your future endeavors.”
“Next.”
Shole patiently waited a few more minutes for Kolvak to finish his interview. They had rehearsed their answers on the transport ride from the Conron Naval Shipyard to the main civilian station. Shole had stayed pretty much on their script – talk about the humans and make up a false excuse for their tardiness. She thought that the ion diffusers story was a particularly good touch.
Kolvak joined her and together they walked out together of temporary staging area where the former Alliance Navy personnel were waiting to formally resign and into the station’s main commerce area.
They needed to find an apartment, or at a minimum a storage area as quickly as possible. Their belongings were still sitting on the Navy transport. The Hiriculans had only given them six hours to remove their items from the transport before they reclaimed it.
Kolvak stopped in front of a monitor that displayed open apartments. There was a fair selection left, but none of them were ideal and all of them seemed overpriced.
Kolvak said, “I am surprised there are any left with the influx of almost 3,000 recently retired beings from the Navy stationed in Conron.”
He briefly considered rewording the sentence to something a little clearer. However, he decided to leave it as it is because he really didn’t want to obfuscate something that should have been clear initially.
Shole shook her head. “I don’t think very many of the soldiers are staying here. Most of them are going back to their homes.”
Kolvak said, “Do you want to go back to Advranki Prime?”
“No. There is nothing for me there now. Let’s stay here. I heard that a couple of the larger commercial freighter maintenance firms are hiring talented engineers. We should be able to get jobs fairly quickly. What’s the apartment situation?”
Kolvak studied the monitor again. The prices were too high; they would have to share an apartment. That really wasn’t too much of a problem though because they spent most of their evenings together anyway. Suddenly, his eyes focused on one apartment in particular. It was significantly cheaper than the others, was in a nice location, and was roughly the same size as the more expensive units.
There was a catch though. The apartment was for married couples and/or families only. Kolvak briefly considered asking Shole to
marry him. He quickly decided against it though. Then he reconsidered his initial position – the apartment was just too good to let go.
He pointed to the screen, specifically at the point where it stated married couples only. He said, “Let’s put a deposit on this apartment and then go get married.”
“I guess,” she replied.
Chapter 16
Today is the day, Solear thought.
He spent the last week attending a few celebration dinners and even one retirement banquet. Solear had sought to retire with as little fanfare as possible, but that became nearly impossible after his stunning and decisive victory.
It was time. Solear left his quarters on the military base and walked the short distance to the admiralty building. All of the other admirals in the entire Advranki-2 system were waiting for him inside.
Advranki-2 wasn’t nearly as populated as Advranki Prime. Like Advranki Prime, the majority of the population lived in large cities. However, the largest city on Advranki-2 would look like a suburb on Advranki Prime.
This meant that there was quite a bit of open land on the planet; and while the citizens weren’t wasteful with space, they also weren’t nearly as limited. An excellent example of this was the main naval base on the planet. The buildings on the base were spread out with a bit of green space between them. It seemed wasteful to Solear, but it certainly looked nice.
His immediate destination, the admiralty building, was a case in point. It was a one story building with green space on every side. The building itself was tiny. There were only two rooms in it; a formal conference room and an informal stress relief / meeting room.
Despite his six decades in the navy, he had never set foot in this building. Part of it was due to the fact that he was just recently promoted to admiral and the rest because he had spent very little of his time stationed on his home world of Advranki-2.
He would still be allowed to enter the building even after he retired. It was a well-deserved perk for reaching admiral and a very thoughtful gift from the military. Of course he wouldn’t be allowed to participate in any admiralty business and may be asked to leave if sensitive subjects were discussed. Still though, it was nice.
He wondered as he walked the last few steps to the building if he would ever use the perk. Some would view him as a source of knowledge and inspiration, but he was certain that most would probably view him as a tired old being with nothing better to do than relive the past.
He reached the entryway just as his communication pad activated with a priority message received via the star chip. Solear dithered a moment, but decided to open the message before entering. He read it. He reread it. He read it a third time desperately hoping that it would somehow say something different. It didn’t.
He couldn’t believe what he had just read. He figured that it was some poorly considered prank. He opened the door and saw that the other four admirals were also staring at their communication pads in disbelief.
One of them saw Solear enter and said, “Is it true? Is it really true?”
Solear replied, “I don’t know. I just read the message. I thought perhaps it was a joke for my retirement.”
Solear looked around the room and saw the grim faces of the other four admirals in the room. He quickly realized that it wasn’t a joke on his behalf. It was worse; far worse. He sat down in one of the four empty seats.
The chair activated the moment his weight touched it. The smart cloth and cushions beneath him gently rearranged themselves until he was perfectly supported. It activated heating elements in one spot and cooling elements in another to provide a consistent temperature.
He moved slightly, just to fool the fabric. It momentarily adjusted to his new seating position. The chair felt amazing. He moved a second time, again trying to trick the chair. He didn’t know why, but this didn’t seem like the time to feel overly comfortable.
This time the chair responded by giving him a massage. It moved him ever so slightly in a constant rolling motion. The fabric adjusted as he was being moved so that it maintained constant pressure and temperature. Despite the situation, he felt himself relaxing. He gave up moving and let the chair work. Perhaps relaxing was exactly what he needed right now.
One of the admirals said, “Computer, replay the emergency message out loud.”
…Advranki Prime has been invaded by a Hiriculan force numbering 36 fleets, 252 total warships. The Alliance navy valiantly defended the planet but were eventually overwhelmed and forced to resign. As part of the military defeat Advranki Prime was required to succeed from the Alliance and join a new Coalition of Intelligent Races led by Hiricula . Repeat, the Alliance is no longer an active entity…
A second admiral said, “Stop playback momentarily. Admirals, how many ships are in the entire Alliance fleet?”
Solear answered, “There are 42 stationed at Advranki-2 and 42 at Advranki-3. Conron has, or at this point I should say had 21 total warships.”
The first admiral continued “Advranki Prime has, or rather had 108 total warships.”
The second admiral added, “The Altians rotate their ships around to make everyone think that they have far more ships than they really have. I was stationed on Altian for a while and I actually counted them once. They made it seem like they have 105 warships, but the reality is that they only have 84 total warships.”
Solear did some quick addition and said, “The Alliance had 288 total active warships spread across six systems. The Hiriculans have a single, massive fleet of 252 warships. They probably have more stationed in Conron.”
He received several nods and said, “Computer, resume playback.”
…The Alliance Navy stationed at Advranki-2 has one day to send all ships and military equipment to Advranki Prime. The ships must be linked together via autopilot and sent unmanned; with no more than two caretakers. If these orders are not carried out perfectly the Hiriculan Navy will visit Advranki-2 and personally enforce them. A similar message was sent to Solaria, Advranki-3, and Altian…
The second admiral said, “Stop playback momentarily. Admirals, this part is clear. Advranki Prime is now occupied by Hiriculans. The battle must have been horrific.”
The first admiral pointed to Solear and said, “Combined, we have 84 warships and a tactical genius for a leader. It is quite possible that the Hiriculans were decimated in the battle at Advranki Prime. If we send our ships as one fighting force we may be able to push them back out of the system.”
The third stated, “What would you do if 252 warships suddenly appeared here?”
The first responded, “Well, we would be outnumbered 6 to 1. I would be forced to resign without a fight. There would be simply no point in getting everyone killed for no rea…”
The third said, “Admit it; you would also have to resign if you were outnumbered 2.5 ships to 1 ship. If we went to Advranki Prime in force we would be facing 252 warships. Maybe even 360 warships if the Hiriculans have the personnel to crew the captured Advranki ships.”
He received several nods and said, “Computer, resume playback.”
…All Alliance Naval personnel must resign by the end of tomorrow. Those personnel will be given the full protection afforded them by civilian law and will not be arrested or questioned without just cause. Anyone not resigning will be considered an interstellar terrorist and will be treated as an enemy combatant. The former Advranki Alliance Senators thank you for your years of service and ask that you comply with these orders with dignity and respect...
The first admiral said, “Stop playback. The rest isn’t military related. It just says that Advranki-2 must have a general election to decide whether to join to the new confederation.
The third replied, “I can’t believe they want us to resign just like that.”
The second replied, “The demand was very neat and tidy. Hand over your ships and resign and you can join your families and live your life without issue. Resist and you will lose your homes, your families, and more than likely you
r life.”
The third continued, “We don’t stand a chance if we fight and there is nowhere for us to run. If we stay in the Alliance Navy, there will be no safe harbor for us anywhere in the galaxy.”
The fourth finished, “That really isn’t much of a choice, is it?”
All four nodded their heads in agreement. Solear was quietly fuming inside. He wanted to fight. He certainly didn’t want to resign and hand the enemy even more ships. He wanted everyone in that room and on that planet to stand up and fight!
Solear wanted to scream. He really wanted to say something like - I believe that we should fly en masse to Advranki Prime and either free it or die trying. He didn’t though.
The first asked, “How much time do we have to make a decision?”
The second answered, “I am certain that there will be message to the general public very soon. Our star chips bought us an hour, maybe less.”
Solear forced himself to relax. His personal desire really wasn’t fair. He was a bachelor with no children of his own. Both of his parents were dead. He had one estranged sister that he hadn’t seen in over 10 years. So, the threat of never being able to see his family again was not very strong for him.
Solear finally said, “I think we all have visions of flying to Advranki Prime and freeing it. However, I also think we all agree that plan would not work very well. Further, the message made it clear that Advranki Prime has already left the Alliance.”
“Meaning,” the first asked.
Solear continued, “Meaning that we would technically be declaring war on a new Confederation; not defending the current Alliance.
The second admiral added, “Also, all of our soldiers are in the Alliance Navy, not the Advranki Navy. If Advranki-2 decides to join the new Confederation, then we technically no longer have a navy or any soldiers to command.”
Solear said, “This is what I think we should do. I think we should rebroadcast the message to every person in the navy quickly so that they hear it from us instead of the general broadcast. Then, we add a personal message at the end.”