ARTIS PRIME

by Tobias Roote

  Gossie updated RIGA with what she had already surmised. “We have been transported inside the hangar deck of the Tesperadus, RIGA. We are now apparently held by the SCN Tesperadus.”

  “Gossie, record everything you can while we are here. This feels... different. Amazing!” RIGA instructed. She felt a little disorientated and bewildered and wondered if it had something to do with the ‘transport’ method. Making for the exit she hesitated momentarily before commanding the hatch to open.

  As the hatch opened her senses took in the environment around them. Her sleek courier ship was now suspended above the deck by at least two feet. TA stepping off area had been provided, which was unnecessary, but she used it anyway.

  Around her were a large contingent of fighter aircraft with stubby wings and wicked looking gun turrets. Missile pods seemed to hang off every external section. She could see that they were designed to carry a single pilot. Sensing the proximity of enquiring minds in the immediate vicinity, it took a second, or two to realise they were housed within the fighters. AI’s then.

  “Hello friends” She sent a hail across the mental net that she perceived and was rewarded with a tumult of welcome’s, before the network security governor stepped in and closed the connection. Oh well, I would have done the same, RIGA thought. She wondered if her AI had managed to connect with any of them before it was locked down.

  Approaching her was a middle-aged man dressed in green coveralls; behind him marched two security guards. The man had a small mass of cropped hair under his nose, and she stifled a chuckle at the weirdness of the decorative growth. These humans did strange things with their body hair. In the Empirum, it was unusual, if not unheard of to see any facial hair. There were treatments that made it unnecessary.

  “Hello, Captain, I am Chief Mcguire in charge of the hangar deck. I will be looking after your fine ship while you are aboard the Tesperadus. Do you require any repairs or supplies? I’m ordered to assist you in anyway possible while your ship is in dock.”

  “Thank you, Chief Mcguire. My name is RIGA, no title required. My ship requires nothing,” RIGA said as she stood and warily looked up at the two security guards.

  Noting her concern, Mcguire waved at the two men. “These gentlemen are here to escort you to the Bridge, the Captain has need of your services, – RIGA.” He smiled disarmingly, as he stood aside and indicated for her to follow them. Both guards looked keenly at RIGA, apparently liking what they saw. It had been some time since she had been amongst humans that didn’t know her, especially males. They separated so that RIGA could walk between them.

  RIGA beamed a command to her ship, ‘close hatch, secure from intrusion.’ She didn’t want them nosing around her ship too much. She was rewarded with a chuckle from Gossie for her paranoia, but she closed the hatch anyway. Mcguire looking after RIGA was startled by the sound of the blast shutters dropping over the cockpit. He looked a little disappointed as he walked away, RIGA noted, looking back as she walked.

  She fell in step with the security detail, and while they walked across the hangar deck, she examined them closely. They were well-armed, with holstered flechette-style weapons, as well as some form of explosive projectile hanging from their shoulders. Strange device, she thought as she also detected some form of laser underpinning the barrel. She noted it was purely decorative, then realised it was a targeting device because these humans, like Empirum biologicals, had a problem with precision firing over long distance.

  They arrived at an elevator at the end of the deck. As RIGA looked critically at its capabilities, she observed that it was basically a simple designed vertical box device. She wondered how the crew would move about efficiently between decks, when they could only go up or down. She made a note to ask at some point.

  RIGA sensed eyes on her, observing cameras in the elevator, as well as along the route they were taking. Analysing the signals, she thought she detected an AI behind the observation and sent a friendly welcoming message. Receiving no reply, RIGA nonetheless observed the surveillance cut back from then on. Still able to message her ship, RIGA instructed Gossie to strike up a conversation with the ship’s AI if possible. she received an electronic nod, a shorthand signal they used. Gossie must think they might be listening on their frequency.

  As RIGA arrived on the bridge, she was escorted immediately into an adjoining room, where she was confronted with four white uniformed personnel, who she deemed to be part of the senior command structure. Her database quickly collated the differences, she would understand more once she had the structure sorted. She noted the room was shielded and could no longer contact Gossie.

  “Hello, you must be Ambassador Rigel.” A young woman approached her directly,

  RIGA responded with a smile, “Please call me RIGA, its my name. Ambassador is my title when I’m dealing with others of similar rank.”

  “Thank you - RIGA, May I introduce you to everyone?” and taking her arm she guided her round the room. First introducing Captain Jennings, then the officers, who all remained aloof and decidedly taciturn. The Captain then dismissed the female officer and RIGA was left facing them with the two security guards at the end of the room, out of earshot, but within reach.

  The Captain explained. “RIGA, I understand that where you come from they don’t use titles. Here you would be addressed as Miss, Ms, or Ma’am depending on your age, or status. So, you may get called by a variety depending on whom you are speaking with.”

  “That’s all right Captain. I am unlikely to be offended by any form of address,” RIGA responded, smiling politely while watching his eye movements and listening to his heartbeat. She detected anxiety, probably not misplaced given that he was meeting a strange person in out of the ordinary circumstances. Still, watch this one closely, she thought.

  RIGA decided to provide a jumping point to overcome formalities. “If I may pre-empt your ‘de-briefing’? I’m not sure what that word means precisely in your terms, I would like to thank you for intervening in the matter of the unknown fleet. They have been part of an enemy force attempting to destroy me and my ship across the galaxy over the last few months. I believe it has much to do with my contact with your world and the potential trade between us. Would you be aware of any of this?” RIGA asked him directly. As an afterthought she added. “...and where is Mr Osachi, I must speak with him, as a matter of urgency.”

  “Oh! Mr Osachi may be available to you later, depending on, er, ...how this meeting proceeds, As it is, we are as much in the dark as you are, hence the need for a proper debriefing of your situation Miss,... ah, RIGA. We are keen to understand the nature of the problem on our borders.” The Captain concluded.

  RIGA had no intention of playing military games and she could see the immediate signs of one being played out here. She needed to bypass this if she could, not knowing what their response would be if they realise her reasons for being here.

  “Well, Captain. Then I fail to see how your ‘de-briefing’ can proceed further. I would like to thank you for your timely intervention and now, I really would like to meet with Osachi.” RIGA set her position clearly. Osachi obviously had the ability to command these ships to intervene on her behalf, he would be the right person to discuss her mission. Clearly, Captain Jennings had his own agenda, although she could sympathise with him on the issue of the enemy ships. They had been on his border for a while clearly without any intervention by the Terran Navy. That alone was strange.

  The Captain’s back straightened in shock as he realised she was, in fact, dismissing him.

  “Are you refusing to discuss your presence here, and the fact you are risking the provoking of a war on our borders, by your unexpected arrival?” he responded, his anger more pronounced, although he was holding his voice in check.

  “Captain, I am here on a diplomatic mission to uncover and identify the source behind those ships, and to deal with the build up of armed fleets marauding our systems. We believe those ships on your border are part of that conspiracy. I need
to discuss this with your senior military and political figures, as they may represent a threat to both our empires,” RIGA explained.

  “I see. It is not normal practice on our world to discuss military subjects with civilians who do not have sufficient clearance with which to be briefed. As you are not even of our world, it would be highly unacceptable for me to disclose any information to you, a civilian we rescued from a small private craft.” The Captain set his stance in what would be seen by all as a stubborn refusal to be ordered about by a mere girl.

  One of the other officers coughed pointedly and the Captain swung his attention to him.

  “You wish to comment Lieutenant Wright? I would welcome your input if it helps us move forward.” The Captain said as he pulled back, almost in deference to the other officer,

  Their political officer, RIGA remembered noting the subtle play and realising that perhaps the Captain wasn’t as secure in his position as he perhaps should be on his own ship. Interesting, she thought.

  “Sir, Ah! There is a briefing document on your view screen, Miss.. sorry, RIGA, is the officially designated representative from her people, They are the Galactic Empirum, and number in excess of fourteen worlds. I believe RIGA was on her way to us to discuss the outcome of our request to be included in their Empirum, for trade purposes.” The officer looked at RIGA apologetically his eyes seeming to implore her to not take offence before returning to the Captains’ face where a quick look was exchanged between them.

  RIGA couldn’t quite tell what it meant, but she returned her attention to the Captain and acknowledged the Officer’s statement. “Your Political Officer is correct, Captain,” she said turning her head towards the officer and nodded at him. “Thank you,” she said.

  The Captain walked stiffly back to his screen, possibly to verify that he did indeed, have a document on his virtual desk. He stabbed at the screen and opened the file. RIGA watched as his eyes took in the contents, noting as he did so that his eyebrows raised, and his face changed colour, clearly embarrassed. She wondered how he was going to handle the situation. She hadn’t much experience of these Terrans, but had noted their tendency towards arrogance.

  He looked up and smiled. She could see it was a pained expression forced upon him by his oversight. Still, it wasn’t a pleasant look.

  8. Formidable Credentials

  “Ms RIGA, it appears Mr Wright, my PO, is quite correct. I’m out of order, please forgive me. I admit I had put the file to one side not expecting to be involved in this matter directly. I’m not a trade or political beast, I’m afraid, so had declined to place importance on the matter. I see clearly this was an error of judgement.” The Captain offered an apology which RIGA could see was not for her benefit at all, but to meet his obligations to his officers.

  RIGA graciously nodded.

  “May we begin again?” he asked as he came back to the table and sat down. He glanced briefly at the Political Officer as he sat, and RIGA couldn’t mistake the blackness of the look.

  The officers around the table visibly relaxed as they perceived their superior officer take the issue in his stride, as any good leader should do, and turn it around back into positive territory.

  For her part RIGA decided to provisionally accept the apology, and undertook to be forthcoming, despite her own misgivings that she wasn’t talking to the right person for this mission. “Yes Captain, if I may I would like to update you on what I know of the enemy, and what I perceive to be their intent. In return, I expect a fair exchange of any information you have that might relate to my investigation, no matter how high a security risk you deem it to be.” She looked the Captain directly in the eyes and noticed when he began to respond negatively, already expecting it, she now added.

  “I have the authority from my government to pursue my own line of enquiries, but I would much prefer to use this as an opportunity for us to work together.” RIGA calmly stamped her independent authority on the meeting. She was used to getting her own way and despite putting it politely she had already had enough of the Captain’s attitude.

  Captain Jennings frowned, already not liking the broad remit he was being asked to share with a foreign power. “I will try to see if I can accommodate you on that RIGA. However, it might require the information to be conveyed in private, despite your obvious official status, there is much that is unable to be discussed openly, even around this table.” His eyes locked on hers.

  “Fair enough, Captain,” she acknowledged, but didn’t like the evasive tone of his voice. Her biometric analysis was telling her to be careful here, that the Captain would try to maintain face in front of his officers, but put her down when there were no witnesses.

  Deciding to push forward in the hope of securing positive results, she continued. “If I may use the interface hookup to your screens I should be able to provide you with a greater level of detail?” RIGA indicated the desk unit where she saw the same set of connections used to link communication devices that Osachi had available when they met previously.

  Seeing the nod from the Captain, RIGA placed her hand over the interface casing covering them discreetly. Her nodes extruded and linked into the data-net of the ship. It was fire walled to this room only, but it was not a sophisticated barrier, she noted as she accessed the graphic display and set up the linkage to her own systems.

  The Captain saw what was happening and visibly paled. He whispered across to the Political Officer, she shouldn’t have been able to hear, but her audio system could do easily so she listened.

  “What! is she a damned cyborg?” The Captain whispered behind his hand while Wright noted her watching them closely and chose to say nothing, just pursed his lips. He seemed equally ill at ease at the revelation. RIGA wondered at the problem. There had been no issues when she had previously used this type of connection with Osachi. What was she missing here?

  The other officers were intrigued by her ability to access their interface in such a manner, but held back from openly asking her how she did it, instead watching intently as the heel of her hand pressed close to the interface.

  RIGA explained how she evaded the attacks on her person and the subsequent hostile fleets that had attempted to intercept and destroy her ship without giving away technical information on just how she had done so. These people did not strike her as allies to share such information with. Her safety depended on her being able to outrun or outwit the enemy. She simply refused to explain the details of the ship’s tactics in evading the enemy.

  RIGA passed over files of the ships, drive signatures and tonnage and what other information she had gleaned from her ship sensors in the hope they would be recognizable by the Captain’s sensor operators. If they could be commonly identified, then they had a starting point for her investigation.

  “...so, as you can appreciate, the very fact that there was a reception committee waiting for me at the very Station where I was introduced to Osachi, and where our talks began leads me to believe that our two empires already intersect somewhere on a clandestine level, although not officially, or I would have been made aware of it.” She paused and just looked at the Captain.

  “Captain Jennings, my government concurs with my analysis that we are clearly dealing with a black market which, by its very nature, will probably be involved in exchange, or trade in proscribed technology. Therefore, we have a mutually vested interest in investigating and stopping it.” RIGA completed her comprehensive debrief and sat back to watch the reaction. It wasn’t long in coming.

  The Captain turned from piercing her with his deep brown eyes and addressed his officers, directly ignoring RIGA. “Actually, whilst that is a good summation it goes a lot deeper than you, or your government believe, and at this point I think it is time that we closed this meeting.” Without turning his head towards her, he raised a finger dismissively at RIGA to halt her expected demand for reciprocity.

  “Thank you, gentlemen. Hopefully the information you have obtained from Miss, er, RIGA’s debriefing answers
a few questions. Please submit you conclusions for consideration at the earliest opportunity. I want us to move swiftly on this new development.” With that he dismissed his team.

  He turned back to her and stood up, pulling his uniform jacket straight as he did so.

  “RIGA, follow me please.” The Captain turned to the other officer who had spoke up for RIGA. “Wright, please join us.” The Captain immediately moved to open a door that until now she hadn’t noticed. It was also heavily screened. Interesting!

  They entered the Captain’s office situated behind the bridge. It was comfortably laid out, with tasteful and expensive furnishings. A young man sat at one of the easy chairs as they entered.

  “RIGA,I believe you know Mr Osachi.” The Captain gestured towards the man sitting in the comfortable chair drinking some beverage out of a cup; it smelt like the drink she remembered from previous visit that they called it ‘Coffee’.

  Osachi put down the cup and hurried over with a wide grin on his face. “They wouldn’t let me see you until they had finished the debriefing,” he said apologetically.

  “Yes, ahem! I’m sorry about that Raachi,” the Captain said. “I believed we were dealing with a simple civilian rescue. My misconceptions have been pointedly clarified. However, Ms RIGA requires information that I don’t want made available so we have regrouped in here to continue the meeting.”

  “Obviously, your family’s involvement with RIGA gives you privileged access to this meeting and I know you understand the importance of maintaining confidentiality, or at least you will do by the end of my explanation,” he said as he walked around to his desk.

  The Captain sat down in his chair and pressed a button. A red light flashed above the doors, one presumably leading to the Bridge, the other where they had come from. After a few flashes the red light went static and was then ignored.