by S A Pavli
“Ah, Captain Constantine. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. This is not a military mission so no need to salute.”
“Thank you Admiral and welcome to the Omega Centauri cluster. I hope you all had a good trip.”
“It was long and somewhat tedious, so we are happy to have arrived.” The Admiral’s English was clear and faultless, with a slight American twang to it.
“Yes, we are fortunate that it was a shorter trip for us.” The Admiral gave a non-committal grunt.
“I have spoken briefly with Captain Hamerlatenen. You have been having, shall we say, interesting times.”
I did not correct his pronunciation of the Captain’s name; I judged it would not be well received by the Admiral.
Tell me about these aliens,” he continued. “Are they a threat?”
I thought carefully about what to say.
“The Dansai, that’s the humanoids, are friendly. Mostly because they want our help against the reptilians, that’s the Saraya. As for them, the Saraya, they have shown aggression towards us, but that may be because they believe we are Dansai.”
“Technologically, how advanced are they both?”
“I believe they are both behind us, particularly in AI, automation and robotics.”
“Is there any threat to our expeditions?”
“We, sorry, the Hianja ship, is well able to take care of itself. It’s level of tech is well in advance of the aliens. Our ships are more vulnerable to a heavy attack. But together, I believe we can beat off any attack.”
“Mmm. So we should join forces as soon as possible.”
“Absolutely Admiral.”
“What are the feelings about helping the Dansai?”
“We have come to no conclusion at present Admiral. But there is some sympathy towards the Dansai. I believe whatever we do should be a joint decision.”
“What do you think Captain.” The Admiral emphasised the ‘you’.
“I think we should try to be an honest broker at first. If that fails, break the Saraya blockade on the Dansai planet. Then try again to be an honest broker.”
The Admiral chuckled.
“Good cop, bad cop, good cop again.”
“Exactly.”
“Alright Captain, thank you. I believe you have deciphered both of the alien’s languages?”
“Yes Admiral.”
“Good. I will arrange with the Hianja technicians to get a copy of your language translation software.”
“Since the software is actually ours, that will not be a problem,” I said.
“Talk to you later Captain.”
“Yes sir.” The picture faded and I sat back thoughtfully. The Admiral seemed a decent sort. I knew that in addition to the Kuàisù Niao, or Rapid Bird as she was called in English there were two frigates, the American Surf Rider and the European Atlantis. They made up a formidable military force.
I rejoined Manera and she gave me an enquiring look.
“The Admiral of the Earth fleet wanted a private word,” I explained.
“Aha. You gave him the benefit of your expertise?” she enquired with a mischievous expression.
“Oh yes. He was very appreciative.”
Hamolatonen announced that the Earth fleet would be linking up with us and we would be exchanging visits. The Earth crew were anxious to meet the Dansai and get some time on planet as relief after their long trip. Preparations for our visitors went ahead. It was just a few minutes later when the Earth ships announced they had exited Hyperspace a few hundred thousand miles away and would be with us in a matter of hours.
There was some excitement on board the Settang at the forthcoming visit of the Earth visitors. Uniforms were spruced up or replaced by more stylish ’civvies’ and the ladies made a special effort to wear their elegant best. The robotic staff were recruited to set up furniture, and fittings and to prepare food and drinks. I was consulted on what was appetizing for Human taste buds, a job I found amusingly entertaining. Predictably, this made me the recipient of many droll remarks regarding how I had managed to get the ‘worst’ job on board.
The Earth ships made rendezvous some hours later and we prepared to receive our visitors. Three tenders, one from each ship floated across to the Settang and were docked in our spare bay. Once the bay was pressurised we assembled a small delegation and made our way to receive our visitors. Our delegation consisted of the Captain and two of his senior officers, the Guardians Commra and Lanatra, Manera and myself.
It took a while for the huge bay to be fully pressurised, but eventually the blue lights came on and we trouped through the doors. The airlocks on the tenders opened and literally dozens of individuals walked out of each ship.
“Whoa! I reckon they must have all gone stir crazy,” I said. “Couldn’t wait to escape.”
“Stir crazy?” asked Manera.
“What happens when you are locked up for a long period,” I explained. “Although I have no idea what it actually means,” I added.
“I can imagine,” she laughed.
I spotted Admiral Deshi at the front of one of the groups and we made our way towards him. We exchanged handshakes and shoulder hugs all around. Captain Hamolatonen gave a little speech of welcome and then invited everyone for refreshments.
“Perhaps, later on, we can have a tour of the ship Captain,” suggested the Admiral. “It is very impressive.”
“Certainly Admiral, it will be a pleasure,” replied the Captain. We had all been connected to the translation program via our comm devices but conversation was awkward because only one individual at a time could speak. It occurred to me that it should be possible to download the translation program to multiple processors and make them available on multiple channels. This would allow more than one conversation to take place at the same time. Talk to Colrania later I decided.
“Well, Captain Constantine. Fancy meeting you here.” The familiar voice interrupted my thought and I started in surprise and turned around. The attractive girl who had just spoken smiled sweetly at me, grey eyes twinkling.
“Alice Jensson!” I gaped at her. “What… how?”
She laughed , mouth open, red lips and even white teeth. I remembered those red lips and a moment of deja vu seized me.
“Liutenant Alice Jensson, hot shot military fighter pilot on the Surf Rider, at your service.” she said, holding out a slender hand. I shook the hand and then we embraced. She smelled of flowery perfume and female hormones. In the past, as rookies at the academy we had been lovers. But on graduation, Alice had other ideas. She had become a pilot and I had moved on to the Space Exploration Service. The last time I had seen Alice was at the astronaut academy in Florida, after my return from first contact with the Hianja.
“Alice, you are looking good,” I said. “How did you get on the expedition?”
“Talent of course,” she said, as if it was obvious. “Fantastic place this Omega Centauri cluster.”
“Isn’t it. Stars on top of each other, within a few hours travel.”
“What about the locals?” She took my arm and walked with me. “Humanoids and reptiles, at war. What have we have blundered into?”
“Yes, it is very tricky. We’ve had brushes with both.”
“But we have to side with the humanoids right?”
“We would prefer not to take sides. But we may have to.”
“You are turning into a politician Con.” Her smile removed any criticism from her words.
“I guess Hianja pragmatism is rubbing off on me.”
“Talking about Hianja pragmatism, where is your girl friend?”
“Ah… circulating I guess.” I tried to spot Manera but she seemed to have gone ahead with the Admiral and the Hianja Guardians. “How was your trip?”
“Tedious. And we don’t have the benefit of artificial gravity. ” She hopped up and down to show her delight.
The damaging effects of weightlessness and radiation exposure had long been overcome by the use of drugs. But weightles
sness still imposed many tedious restrictions and privations to daily life, like carrying out one’s ablutions and enjoying a drink.
“God yes,” I agreed. “Do you know that on some Hianja luxury starships and Space stations, they actually have swimming pools?”
She gave a little scream of disbelief.
“You don’t have one here do you?”
“No. This ship was designed by robots for robots. I don’t think they are into swimming as a recreation.” We both laughed at the idea.
We were interrupted by a couple of other girls in military uniforms.
“Alice, don’t keep the Captain to yourself,” said one, a good looking redhead. “I’m Jean , Australian and proud of it.”
“And I’m Kerry, American and ready for it.” Her friend, a tall burly blonde gave me a saucy look.
“Ignore her,” said the red headed Australian. “She’s all talk and no action.”
I shook hands with the girls and we exchanged banter while we made our way to the reception area which we and our hard working robots had prepared. Since the proportion of males to females on starships was usually well in favour of the females, I was fairly sure the girls were not in need of any sexual variety and were almost certainly teasing me.
We joined the others and my companions left me to ‘circulate‘. I was introduced to many other of my Earth compatriots, male and female, pilots, officers, scientists and even a few politicians. They were all delighted to be moving around under gravity and enjoying food and drink. Conversation was animated and the translation program struggled to keep up.
A little later we were treated to a few speeches by all our leaders. Manera was a very popular figure and I had no opportunity to speak to her. Alice became my guide, introducing me to all her colleagues. I was questioned continuously about the Saraya and the Dansai had to repeat much of what I said.
Towards the end of the evening Alice came over to me.
“Con, I have a favour to ask,” she said, leaning towards me confidentially.
“Sure kid. Anything.” I looked at her enquiringly, expecting some kind of unusual request.
“Can I take a shower?”
“Uh?” I looked at her blankly.
“I haven’t had a shower for six weeks. A nice long hot generous shower.” She looked at me longingly and I chuckled.
“Darlin’ look, why don’t you go and ask Manera. If I say yes and we head for our apartment together… Well, need I say more?”
“Sounds good to me,” she said with a cheeky expression.”
I gave her a reproving look and she laughed.
“Um…” She looked conspiratorial. “Can I er… take the girls as well?” She nodded towards Jean and Kerry who were looking hopefully at us.
“Dear God!” I laughed, shaking my head in disbelief. “Come on then, let’s go speak with Manera.”
Chapter 15
Over the next few days we got to know our friends in the Earth ships. There was much to-ing and fro-ing between the ships. Word got around and we got many requests to use our bathroom facilities, so much so that Captain Hamolatonen issued an open invitation to anyone who wanted a shower to come and avail themselves!
We eventually got word from the Dansai that the destruction from the lone bomb dropped by the Saraya had been cleared up and isolated and all population moved out of the area and inoculated against radiation sickness. Disaster had been averted by the presence of the Peacekeeper fighter and the Dansai were hugely grateful. They invited us all back.
A joint meeting of our four ships leaders came to the conclusion that we had no choice but to help the Dansai break the blockade of their planet, in as peaceful a way as possible. We made preparations to talk to the Saraya, But first we had to demonstrate our superior military power.
The idea came from the Earth fleets military tacticians. Having decoded the Saraya communications protocols, we were able to not just listen in, but to send bogus messages to their fleet. We constructed a number of false messages to their warships which warned of attacks by Dansai warships. The Saraya warships would arrive to find nothing. In the meantime, Dansai warships could then direct their own forces against vulnerable and undefended targets.
The Dansai handed over control of their forces to our master AI, which coordinated the attacks. We wanted to preserve the illusion that we, the aliens, were not part of the attacks, which were carried out by only Dansai warships. Each attack involved overwhelming superiority in numbers by the Dansai, leading to a very rapid victory and return to safety. They were old fashioned ‘hit and run’ guerrilla tactics which could only be carried out because of our superior information on the disposition of the Saraya ships and the dissemination of false information.
Within a few days, the Saraya had lost a number of ships and their blockade of the planet was in serious disarray. The Dansai forces could pick off the Saraya ships at will and it was just a matter of time before the confused and uncoordinated Saraya ships would be decimated. They had no choice but to withdraw their forces, but before they did, we contacted their leadership. It took a number of efforts before we found the right location and got through to their high command.
We had decided that we would not reveal our identity to the Saraya. The Dansai had argued passionately that we should reveal ourselves, and that doing so would have greater effect of the Saraya. I was sure that they were correct, but we could not take it upon ourselves to put the Earth Federation and the Hianja Federation into official hostilities with an alien civilisation. We did not have that mandate or authority. It was important that, as far as the Saraya were concerned, we were Dansai.
Our control room was officially ‘manned’ by the Captain and his officers, Guardians Commra and Lanatra and myself, as well as three senior officers from the Earth ships. We were in direct communication with Admiral Deshi and the Captains of the other two Earth ships.
The view screen showed the emblem of the Saraya navy. The bold writing around the emblem announced that death was preferable before dishonour. I wondered how often, across the civilised species of the Galaxy, those words had been used as the excuse to send soldiers to their deaths.
The screen cleared to show the bridge of a starship. In the foreground stood three figures, two in military uniform and the third in the odd uniform we had seen before, a white tunic with a bold dark red band around the waist and running vertically from chest to groin. One of the two military spoke first.
“Who are you? How have you contacted us in this way?”
“I am the General in command of the Dansai military forces,” said Hamolatonen, then waited for the translation program to finish. “I am here to negotiate an end to this war.”
“Negotiate an end to this war? Do you think we can trust the Dansai?” The Saraya commander scowled out of the screen at us.
“If you abandon your blockade of our planet and return to your homes, we will not pursue you.”
“You think, because your ships have had some success recently, that you have us on the run?” He leaned forward, to emphasise his point. “We will change our communications protocols. Then we will see who has the upper hand.”
“We have new computer systems that can break any encryption. Without reliable communications your battle fleet will be picked off one at a time. You can prevent any further loss of life by agreeing to leave now.” Hamolatonen looked impressive as a military leader I thought. Perhaps an ancestor of his had been one. He also leaned forward to emphasise his words.
“Your blockade will end soon because we are receiving reinforcements from other Dansai planets. Leave now and save yourselves from further losses.”
“Why should you care about our losses?” The Saraya commander held his head up in a way that I guessed showed suspicion. “If you really have the advantage, you would use it to destroy us.”
Hamolatonen paused, before speaking slowly and with emphasis.
“My leaders have decided that continuing hostilities between our species is
destructive to both. This is a big galaxy with many planets. Let us stop fighting the wars of the past. Condemning our children to the same stupidity. Our ancestors were wrong. We can change that, and I offer you that chance. Will you take it?”
Before the Saraya commander could speak, the individual in the white tunic began to harangue him rapidly. We again picked up odd words like ‘Dansai liars’, ‘..a trick..’ and ‘cannot be trusted’.
“Who is this individual?” shouted Hamolatonen fiercely. “Why do you listen to him?”
“He is a representative of our government,” said the Commander, interrupting the white robed individual. “He speaks for the people.”
I was surprised because I had thought that he was some kind of priest.
“Then should he not allow your government to make the decision?” asked Hamolatonen.
The commander grunted and scowled as the white robed individual continued talking. He turned to him and held up a hand to silence him
“Would you wish me to continue until my force is completely destroyed?” he asked angrily.
“They are bluffing,” said white robe with a contemptuous chop of his hand.
“I have lost five ships. That is nearly…” The commander stopped himself from completing the sentence but Hamolatonen completed it for him.
“That is nearly one third of your force,” he said. “You have another eleven ships, and we know exactly where they are. Would you like me to tell you?”
The Saraya commander gazed out of the screen, his face an inscrutable mask.
“No,” he said with a weary wave of one hand. “I believe you. I will speak with my officers. May I know your name sir?”
“My name is not important,” said Hamolatonen. “If you withdraw, my government will send representation to your government by robot courier. You can choose to answer or not. Thank you.”