“Good morning, Cerato. I am Steven Caldare. We spoke via the vidphones.” Steven offered his hand and the older woman offered hers in return.
“No one may touch the Cerato,” the woman said. “I’m Gillian Caylen, grandmother of the Cerato. Welcome Mr. Caldare. Allow me to introduce the others. This is my husband Mischka Caylen,” she said indicating the older man to her left. Mischka offered his hand. The two men shook hands.
“This is my bodyguard Wilhelm.”
Mischka sized up the visitors as he shook hands with each. While Mr. Caldare had the soft hands of a businessman, the bodyguard’s firm grip spoke of hours of training much like the Apaugallas. Both were dressed in odd form fitting suits with the PSC company logo on their left chest area.
Gillian continued smoothly. “This is Tashi Broccoti, the Elder of our village.”
Tashi shook hands with the men as well. The look he gave Mischka caused Mischka to chuckle softly. They could easily beat these two in a fight.
“This is Nik Landis, the Cerato’s bodyguard.” Nik nodded from his position behind Angel.
“Welcome Mr. Caldare. I thought you were bringing two ships,” Angel said once the introductions were finished.
“I did. I have two core ship designs. One that can land and takeoff through the atmosphere of a planet, like this ship, and one that cannot. My other ship is of the type that cannot, so it is orbiting your planet. But the two look much alike. Would you like to see the ship first, before we chat?”
Angel nodded and the group followed him to the ship. His bodyguard fell in behind the group, looking around as if to detect dangers.
“The hull of the ship is made from military grade steel alloys, light but strong. The cockpit is made from a proprietary polymer and allows both the pilot and navigator a full 360 degree view of the area.” Steven continued on to explain the landing gear in technical terms that Angel did not understand and would wait until later to ask about. She stifled a giggle as she saw Nik yawn. Like most people on Llanelyn, he found tech boring.
Steven headed for the platform, noting the flash of excitement in Angel’s eyes. So she wanted to see the inside of his ship. “The cockpit will only hold four,” Steven said. “Wilhelm, please remain here.”
Tashi and Nik held back, allowing Angel, Gillian, and Mischka to join Steven on the platform. Steven accessed a control panel on the forearm of his suit and the platform began to rise up. Once the platform had locked into place, he offered the pilot’s chair to Angel and the navigator’s chair to Gillian. He showed Mischka the jump seat behind Gillian and took the jump seat behind Angel for himself. He quickly explained the usual flight stick, speed, and directional controls. While the older woman nodded during his explanation, he noted the rising excitement in the young Cerato.
Angel looked outside the ship to where Nik stood away from Tashi. He was reading the datapad he carried. He looked up to give her the all clear signal Torvuld had suggested. Yesterday, she had asked Torvuld to monitor for approaching ships from the Data Center and to allow them to land. Torvuld’s natural suspicions had pointed out several flaws in their plan. Nik had convinced her to adjust her plan, including Tashi as an additional guard, changing the positions of the people in the landing party, as well as having other Apaugallas secreted nearby in case of trouble.
At Nik’s signal, Angel’s excitement grew. That meant only two ships had come, that their energy signatures were similar enough for this one not to be a decoy for a warship above, and that neither carried weapons. It meant that this man was being truthful, as far as Torvuld could tell.
“Have you ever been in a space vessel before?” he addressed Gillian.
“A friend of ours has a small freighter. Mischka and I have been onboard several times. He has let me take the controls more than once.”
“And you Cerato?”
“I was never able to go because of school.”
Steven decided on a sudden change of plans. “How about a short flight then? That would allow you,” he indicated Gillian and Mischka, “to assess the ship in flight and would allow the Cerato a short flight to assess the capabilities of the ship.”
Gillian turned pleading eyes to Mischka and he nodded with reluctance. “That sounds great,” she said turning back to Steven.
Steven withheld a laugh and merely smiled instead. These two women were easy to read. “Let me talk to Wilhelm then. However, I will need the pilot’s seat Cerato.”
“Fine. I’ll let grandmother stay in the navigator’s seat since she has more experience than I.”
Steven lowered the platform and explained the change in plans to Wilhelm, Tashi, and Nik. “We will probably be gone for a couple of hours, not much more.”
“We will head to the lunch area and await your return there,” Tashi said, indicating to Wilhelm in such a way that it was clear he intended the bodyguard to accompany them. Tashi trusted Mischka to protect the women.
Steven nodded in agreement and started raising the platform again. Angel and Mischka stood to allow room for him to slide into the pilot’s seat. Angel noted Tashi and Nik with the bodyguard heading away from the area.
“Everyone needs to strap into the harness system,” he instructed.
Angel followed Mischka’s lead as she slid into the shoulder harness, then the leg harness, tucking the cumbersome long robes around the harness straps.
Steven slid expertly into the harness, settled the slim ear clip for the microphone over his left ear, connected the suit to the controls on the chair, and switched the control panel to single pilot mode all in the single fluid motion of someone used to the maneuvers. Angel felt the engines come online. Steven adjusted the flight stick and Angel noticed the ground slowly drop away. He flipped half of a bank of switches and the ship moved forward as it continued to rise. Sooner than Angel anticipated, the blackness of space enveloped the small ship. She heard her grandmother sigh and her grandfather chuckle.
“Tis always relaxing up in the stars,” Gillian said softly.
Steven smiled, liking the genuine honesty of these people. He entered the coordinates to rendezvous with his other ship. “What I want to show you are the shield capabilities of my ships. Unfortunately, neither ship has any weapons for an active demonstration, but I have another way.”
Gillian glanced to Mischka and he shook his head. He did not want to offer up the weapons on the planetary defense shield for this demonstration.
Steven hailed the other ship as they neared it. “Hey Tom and Nang. Let’s play bumper ships.” He punched a button on the console to dispatch the camera drone that would record all the action.
“Yes, sir,” a voice said back over the communications system, the accent thick and unusual.
Steven turned slightly to address his passengers. “Watch as the shield comes up around Tom’s ship. You’ll see the energy field as it distorts the area around it deliberately.” He paused for a few seconds, waiting. “There it is. Do you see the slight glimmer?”
Gillian spoke for the group. “Yes. Is it always visible? I would think that would show it to your opponent and diminish the element of surprise.”
Steven chuckled. “Yes, ma’am, it would. Normally it is not visible. But to show you the shields, we can make them visible. Now I will raise our shields.” They all watched as the space around their ship started to glimmer.
Steven increased their speed a little and headed directly for the other ship. “One of the training exercises that we put our pilots through is called bumper ships. Basically, we are on a collision course for the other ship. The shields will prevent any damage, but unless you hit perfectly, the ship may glance off unevenly. The trainees learn how to control the ship quickly while also learning to trust the shields.”
Before the ships could even warn of an impending collision, Angel felt the ship suddenly change direction awkwardly. Gillian giggled from the front seat like a little girl as Steven turned the flight stick to head back for the other ship. Several minutes and multip
le bumps later they were all laughing as the other ship spun away from them.
Steven hailed the other ship even as he adjusted the controls. “Tom, switch to normal mode. This is too easy.”
“Yes, sir,” came the voice again as the shimmer disappeared around both ships.
Again Steven turned the ship towards the other ship, but without the shimmer, it was harder to tell when the bump and spin would happen. Several bumps later, Steven caught the other ship from underneath and bounced it several times before backing off. He chuckled when the communications system squawked in a different voice that held well checked laughter, “We surrender to your skill, sir.”
“I’m still undefeated,” Steven said. “Alright. Let’s merge the shields now.”
The shimmer appeared again as he adjusted the controls. Slowly he approached the other ship but as they approached, they did not bounce off. Steven adjusted more controls and the shimmer opened between them and the other ship. Angel looked around to see the shimmer only outside of both ships.
“Impressive,” Gillian said. Mischka grunted in agreement.
“With the shields merged this way, they can withstand double the intensity of weapons. Multiple ships can merge this way, though as there is a limit to the increase as the ships get further apart.”
When Angel’s party remained silent, Steven said into the microphone, “Tom, let’s synch up, then I’ll flip around.”
“Yes, sir.” Steven focused on the controls, then turned loose of the flight stick as the other pilot took both ships through a series of maneuvers. Steven leaned forward and flipped a single switch. Angel felt the ship change direction until they were flying backwards, still being controlled by the other pilot.
“Tom is controlling both ships now. In this configuration, we can have multiple ships looking at various angles without fear of actually bumping into each other, thereby eliminating blinds spots when escorting larger ships or groups of ships. The flight control synch is proprietary to my ships.”
A few maneuvers later, he signaled the other ship to stop. “Cerato,” he said turning to face Angel. “Is there any other capability that you would like to know if we have or see in action?”
Angel looked to Gillian and Mischka who both shook their heads. “Not at this time,” she replied, a twinkle of mischief in her eyes.
Steven nodded and said, “Tom, I’m going to extract and return to the surface. Meet me at the rendezvous location.”
“Yes, sir.” A brief pause. “She’s all yours sir.”
Steven took the flight stick and they pulled away from the other ship. “We’ve separated the shields,” Steven explained as they saw the shimmer rise between the ships He turned the ship back towards the planet.
“Would it be possible for Grandma to take the controls?” Angel asked.
“Certainly,” Steven said, before Gillian could say anything.” He briefly explained the controls, switched the control panel to dual pilot mode, and then relinquished the flight stick to Gillian’s control.
Gillian drew on her memories from piloting Rhodri’s freighter. However, this smaller ship responded quicker. Several dips and turns later, with everyone laughing from the sharp maneuvers, Gillian settled the ship back onto a normal course.
Steven grinned at her as she indicated he should take the controls back. “I think you missed your calling as a fighter pilot.” He started the sequence to retrieve the camera drone.
“I’m content with such excitement once every few years. The ship I piloted before was a C7T, highly modified for speed and maneuverability. She holds nothing to this ship for maneuverability though.”
“Thank you,” Steven said. He paused for a few minutes, waiting until a blue light blinked on before increasing speed. “So do you think my ships can protect your cargo shipments?”
“Aiy,” Gillian answered. “Though why you would want to is the question most troublesome to us. And I do not believe that publicity alone is a good enough reason. I suspect there is more to why you are here.”
Steven admired the old woman for her candor. “You are right. As I told the Cerato on the vidphone, a mutual friend asked for a favor.”
“General Peterson? Or Dr. DeWitt?”
“Technically neither or both were probably involved in getting the request to me. Ma’am, please understand that my friend wishes to remain anonymous for now. Should he ever want to tell you, that is his business.” He paused to look at the trio. “Do we have an agreement?”
Mischka growled from his jump seat, “We need to discuss this.”
The remainder of the trip was silent, each lost in their thoughts. Gillian suspected Joel had orchestrated this, but she no had no clue as to how. There was something more to this offer than just mere help. Angel was glad to have been able to see Gillian at the helm after all the stories Mischka and Gillian had told of being on Captain Rhodri’s ship, but sad to see the short trip end. Mischka distrusted the offer, though the capabilities of the ship had impressed him. Rhodri had not found anything negative on the man or his company. He hoped Tashi or Roth had something. Steven contemplated what else he needed to do to secure the older man’s cooperation.
Finally the ship landed back outside the village. Tashi, Nik, and the bodyguard could be seen walking towards them from the village. As Steven finished the landing sequence, “When does your shipment go out?”
“Tomorrow,” Gillian said. “Tis a replacement shipment for the one that was destroyed.” She glanced back to Mischka who shook his head, and fell silent.
Steven escorted them to the platform, then lowered it to the ground. Mischka looked to Tashi who signaled a private talk. While the bodyguard turned to Steven, Tashi and Nik stepped aside to talk privately with Mischka.
“All the bodyguard would say is that they were asked to do a favor for someone. Roth has nothing negative on this man or his company. Everything smells too clean. I don’t trust this.”
Mischka chuckled. “You trust nothing but me and Lenni.” He turned to Nik. “What about you? What do your instincts say?”
“I agree that it seems too good, but without something wrong, why should we say nay? We need this protection.”
“But it may come at a price later.” Mischka glanced to where Gillian made small talk, stalling for him to complete this conversation. “But for now I think we have little choice. He indicated a mutual friend sent him. I have to trust Gillian’s instincts that twas Joel.”
Gillian watched the trio as they talked, knowing that she and Angel would overrule them if the men said no. Angel’s acceptance had been obvious from the first bump of the ships, her delight in finally traveling in space obvious even before that.
Finally the trio turned back having finished their conversation. They returned to where Gillian and Angel stood.
“Aiy, we will accept your help with the freight shipments.”
Steven turned to Angel. “Do you agree, Cerato?”
“Aiy, and thank you for helping us.”
“You won’t regret this. When will the freighter be ready to leave?”
“It will arrive tomorrow morning and should be loaded by lunchtime,” Gillian said. “They had a bit of delay in leaving.”
Steven nodded. “Where is the freighter bound for?”
“Krandul.”
“Alright. The Cerato and I will be in this ship to watch as my other ship plays escort. Provided that she is pleased with our support, I will return home and leave my other ship available for when you need it. It can meet with other clients until your next shipment?”
Before Mischka could respond, Gillian asked smoothly, “Did I hear that you intend for the Cerato to accompany you on this first shipment?”
“Yes, how else can she experience the full capabilities enough to talk about the ships. That was our agreement.”
“No,” growled Mischka. “The Cerato will stay here where she tis protected.”
“She will be safe with me. Have no fear.”
Gil
lian broke in smoothly. “Mr. Caldare, we will need to discuss this further. Please understand that you are asking us to trust you with the safety of our equivalent of your President with only your word that she will be unharmed and returned to us.”
“The President has been out with me a few times,” Steven responded quietly.
“So you claim. We have no way to verify that claim. Since the freighter will not be here until tomorrow, I suggest we escort you to the hotel where you may settle in and allow us to discuss this. We will give you an answer tomorrow morning. In the meantime, you are welcome to visit any part of the village you wish. Would that be acceptable?”
“Yes, thank you.” He indicated Wilhelm. “We will rest at the hotel for a while, then maybe come back out and walk around. Should I let your security detail know when we are ready?”
“No. We do not normally assign a security detail to visitors,” Gillian said. “You are free to wander anywhere in the village. Come, I’ll show you to the hotel.” She turned to the others, meeting Mischka’s eyes. “I’ll meet you at the Cerato’s office in a few minutes.”
Mischka grimaced but nodded, trusting her judgement. “Are you ready, Cerato?”
“Aiy. Until morning, Mr. Caldare.” Angel turned and headed for her office. How could she convince her grandparents that this trip would be safe?
Gillian led them silently to the two-story hotel and asked for a room at the small check in desk. When Steven offered to pay the nominal room fee, she waved him off. “Tis the least that we can do for you, should the Cerato decide to work with you.”
“As you wish. When and where would you like for us to meet you in the morning, ma’am?”
“By your ship, say around nine. That should give you plenty of time to sleep and have breakfast.” Gillian turned to face him. “Please understand our position Mr. Caldare. Angel is our leader, but she is also our granddaughter. We have much to discuss before allowing her to accompany you on such a dangerous mission.”
War of the Innocents Page 20