CHAPTER 25
The lodge ships hit the correspondence planes and surged out six billion light years away, heading toward Naanac. Jet Tigers swarmed out of Nez Perce lodge ships, darting in sharp arcs toward the single satellite sensor orbiting Naanac. The sensor satellite constantly logged traffic around the planet (which was usually nil). Kill Spotted Horse had planned Wovoka’s first entry into Naanac around the orbital path of the satellite. If a ship came within five thousand klicks the satellite fired a message through a correspondence plane back to Rowan Cartel headquarters near Earth. The sensor satellite was fired on and destroyed by Jet Tigers well before any of the AmerIndian Confederacy’s ships were within its range.
Wovoka stood in the command circle on board a Nez Perce lodge ship, his words being carried to all the tribes simultaneously. “I come before you asking you to accomplish a feat our people have failed to accomplish for seven hundred years. I ask you to engage in the most hard-fought battle in Native American history. Wounded Knee will be a small skirmish compared to the war we are inviting with the UDA. Fear not, Brothers. Today we will win and tomorrow we will win and the next day we will win. The Grandfathers have foreseen this. We will slay the White Man and destroy what he has wrought no matter how many men he throws at us. The Grandfathers will protect us. The time is right for the purchase of a Homeland. The only currency acceptable as payment is blood. For centuries we pretended that land could be bought with credits. We wrangled in the twisted systems of the White Man. Now we pay him the only currency he cannot refuse. Today we pay with blood. Many of you will be slain. Each fallen will be honored as the Native Americans that refused to forfeit, refused to settle for the scraps the White Man laid out for us. Today, we take for our people a Homeland where we can live in harmony with nature the way our ancestors did. I ask all of you to fight, some to die and none to quit.”
Wovoka stood quietly for a moment. Potlatch Weaver's armor gleamed and none looked away from the White Buffalo. Strangely, Wovoka felt comfortable. He extended his arm and the body tank whirred.
“Let loose the dogs of war,” he cried. Tribals on every lodge ship roared.
Wovoka grabbed a rivet gun and pushed off the platform. In zero-g he floated to the top of the new chunnel, swiveling to land on his feet upside down. Other tribals in construction pressure suits were guiding blasteel beams, twenty and fifty meters long, into place. He waited until a crew of six Apaches placed a beam and began firing rivets into the beam at half-meter intervals. He looked a little out of place in Potlatch Weaver's Classic Mako body tank but Celetain had said visibility of the White Buffalo would be important. She wanted the tribals to see him working alongside them. There was much planning to be done, decisions to be made, but Wovoka agreed with Celetain. The Elders needed him less than the tribals did.
Strong Apaches, used to constructing in pressure suits, worked quickly around Wovoka but included him in their joking banter. “I hope you are a better aim with a Decimator than you are with that rivet gun.” The Apaches laughed at Wendigo's jibe. A young tribal came forward and showed Wovoka how to hold the rivet gun horizontally so it would easily slide between the rivet rails.
Construction in a pressure suit was a demanding task. The large tools were not heavy due to zero-g but the work took concentration due to the worker’s constantly changing orientation and environment. The Apache construction packs were familiar with the challenge. They switched orientation and swiveled at strange angles with ease. It seemed to Wovoka that the Apache workers had forgotten that a single mistake with a tool could kill in this environment. He realized the opposite was the case. The Apache workers never forgot and worked through the difficulty with courage and precision.
The Apache workers used soft pressure suits, allowing speed and flexibility. A power tool could nick a pressure suit with the slightest touch. The pressure suits were equipped with explo-foam packets. The small packets of oxygen-laced foam explosively filled a pressure suit if decompression occurred. The foam could be chewed to give the worker up to three minutes of oxygen before suffocation started.
Often decompressions came with a rivet accidentally being fired through a leg or arm. Cutting a bloody tribal out of an explo-foam filled pressure suit was no easy task. While the Apache were safety conscious, they drew the line at safety precautions that slowed work beyond what they deemed a reasonable pace. A half dozen Apache tribals died each year due to construction accidents. No accidents had occurred today and Foreman Wendigo was working hard to keep it that way.
The entrance to the new chunnel was finally completed. Fifty percent larger than the rest of the chunnel would be, it was brightly illuminated with extensive light rigs. Four Apache construction packs were busy installing a Nagasphere to power the new chunnel's shields. A Nagasphere would be placed every quarter kilometer along the chunnel cutting through the two-kilometer thick Free Mantle. They would serve to power the chunnel’s force fields or could be detonated remotely to destroy the chunnel if an unauthorized entry was attempted.
While the Rowan chunnel had relied on a semi-flexible cage design that bent and bounced boulders back away from the chunnel, the new AC chunnel would be rigid. The Tsimshian designed, Apache built chunnel would use powerful force fields to keep boulders away from the structure. The powered chunnel would use Nagaspheres quickly. (Tsimshian tech-jacks estimated a Nagaspheres would be spent every eighteen hours.)
Wendigo finger tapped into the construction frequency every few minutes to direct the Nagasphere installation packs around the work being done by the riveting teams.
Every chief and every lodge ship captain was given the command codes for detonation of the chunnel. Each lodge ship had to transmit a pass code before a shuttle or outrider ship from that lodge ship could enter the chunnel. If the pass code was not sent the chunnel would automatically detonate as a ship passed the first section.
The size of the chunnel amazed Wovoka. The chunnel was two hundred meters in diameter as opposed to the old chunnel's measurement of fifty meters.
It was being built for Zeta class outrider ships, which could carry five thousand passengers. It would take some time to get hundreds of thousands of tribals down to the planet's surface. After heated debate, the Elders had decided two thirds of the AmerIndian Confederacy would be allowed to live on Naanac during the first year. The other third would have to man the 30 lodge ships, the 620 outrider ships and the 5,100 fighters that would still need to be active in Naanac's orbit and beyond.
The first six-hour shift change came and the Apache and Brule packs were efficiently replaced by new packs. Wovoka stayed and more than a few tribals smiled at Wovoka’s endurance and dedication.
Elder John ducked his head and pulled himself into Keokuk's small workstation. The doorway was large enough to allow easy entry to anyone shorter than a meter and a half, but Keokuk had the top half meter of the door blocked with an assortment of comp modules. Keokuk pulled his comp set from his eyes, swiveled and stood as soon as he realized his visitor was an Elder.
“No, no, please sit back down, Keokuk. I am in your domain now.” The old man sat on a comp crate, for there were no other seats in the cramped workspace. John looked Keokuk in the eye. “How long have you been studying fleet battle tactics?”
Keokuk hesitated. The question told him clearly that John knew exactly what had gone on between him and Wovoka at the Steel Circle battle. “Since I graduated Elementals,” Keokuk answered.
“It was impressive work. You think fast.”
Keokuk sighed. “Thank you. I'm used to playing on my comp set. We lost more than a few tribals in those deflector ships. I don't like having that blood on my hands.”
“We could have lost many more. You made the wisest choice, considering. Actually it was your brother's command, not yours. You are quite a bit smarter than your brother, aren't you?”
The question was direct and Keokuk was immediately uncomfortable.
“No, I am not smarter than Wovoka. Perhaps
, I have more imagination.”
John shifted slightly on the crate. “I looked at your record. You have paved the road for your brother. You helped his pack get missions they would otherwise have been passed up. Wolf Plume’s appointment to Jade Dagger was your work. Why the help?”
“I haven't done anything for Wovoka that he wouldn't have done in a little more time. He is a fantastic soldier, a strong leader.”
“But once again you are in his shadow. Now that shadow is longer and darker than ever.”
Keokuk looked away from John. “Wovoka is where he belongs. Of course, I am jealous. Is that what you want me to say? What does it matter? My brother and I have struggled to maintain a civil relationship for years.”
John sat back, relaxed his posture. “I know that. I don't mean to press you. I'm sorry. Frankly, Wovoka needs you now and the AmerIndian Confederacy needs you to help him. I think you know that and it is why you have given your brother a pass on some of the issues that are between you. Thank you for that. Let’s talk about you now though. Your work is some of the best in the AmerIndian Confederacy. But unlike your counterparts - Sliver, Hammer, Gunsmoke - I see a quiet power in you. You can do much more than you are doing now.”
Keokuk sat quietly, his discomfort growing.
John continued. “In a matter of hours there will be a decision that every tribal will have to make. Whether to go make a home on Naanac or to stay on the lodge ships and fight the difficult battles that will be required to protect Naanac. I will admit your skill would be a tremendous help to those who settle on Naanac. The tribals who go down will need imagination. But I could use you more here. There is no doubt that I am going to lose Ela, my assistant. She will want to build a home on Naanac with her husband. I want you to fill that position.”
Keokuk leaned forward. “That's an interesting offer but frankly it might be a step down for me. Chief Shakespeare has given me a significant amount of control in Tsimshian matters. Also he has to routinely smooth feathers over my choice to embrace Christianity.”
“I am fully aware of your Tsimshian influence. I assure you that serving me will increase your influence on AmerIndian affairs. As for you proselytizing, I am not comfortable with that. Christianity has always struck me as intolerant and inflexible. Tribals have told me that when asked, you will tell them flat out that they are going to hell unless they accept salvation through Jesus Christ. I find that extremely judgmental. However, I am here because I think your strengths far outweigh your weaknesses. I am eager to use your skills, in full knowledge of the problems I will have to deal with. Think about my offer. I would like your decision when the chunnel is completed.”
John rose, and Keokuk rose as well to help him out of the workspace. “I will consider this offer, Elder Wisdom and I think you will find, in time, that my Christianity is a strength, not a weakness.”
John stood before a large hard light display of Naanac. The Elders surrounded him waiting for his words. Floating camera drones carried his image and words to the other lodge ships. He touched the thousands of shifting asteroids on the hard light display and the Free Mantle melted, showing him the bleak grey surface of Naanac. “The distribution of sea and land on Naanac is currently sixty-five percent water and thirty-five percent land. At a comfortable population density there is enough land to support 9.6 million tribals, more than enough room for everyone.
“We are now faced with the task of finding equitable boundaries. In accordance with the beliefs and practices of Native American ancestors, no man or woman will ever own even a single meter of land on the Homeland. Each tribal will have equal right and equal responsibility to every meter of land on this world. Just as there will have to be boundaries established, so that we can live in harmony with our natural surroundings, there will have to be borders established so that tribes and tribals can live in harmony with each other.
“The following proposal is set forward by a consensus, five of the nine chiefs (including our newest chief, Vegas of the Clone Tribe). There are four primary continents on Naanac, which we have renamed Windhome, the Living Lands, Stonelake and Mother Crest. Windhome is the largest and the driest of the continents and correspondingly the most hospitable to settlers. There are forests suitable for hunting and short grass plains that the buffalo herds can be reestablished on. It is also possible, though difficult, to grow wheat on the plains.
“Windhome is to be divided. Half of the continent will remain untouched for three centuries after settlement. Only non-technology exploration and hiking will be allowed in this area. The other half of Windhome is to be divided between the Apache and the Kichai.
“As a new law to the AmerIndian Confederacy, no firearm of any type will be allowed on Naanac, anywhere. Only one punishment will be applied to any violator of this law, permanent banishment from Naanac and the AmerIndian Confederacy.
“The environmental laws on Windhome will be moderate. Comps and plastics will be allowed, but any waste from these units must be gathered and disposed of off world. There will be three star ports on the continent and electricity will be allowed.
“The second continent, the Living Land, is the smallest of the continents. It is covered with the densest jungle terrain found on the planet. Dangerous predators inhabit it and agriculture will be difficult. However, the biological composition of the Living Lands will be a powerful source of healing herbs and totem resources. The Haida and the Brule will settle this continent.
“The Living lands will be divided in half, the second half being untouchable for two centuries. Comps will be allowed on this continent to accommodate Cybershamanism but other synthetic materials not used for research will be discouraged.
“The third largest of the continents is Stone Lake. This continent is a flat black slate, upon which nothing will grow. On Stone Lake is a small four hundred kilometer area that has annual snow. It is the only area of Naanac that gets cold enough for snow during any part of the year. Full Tech will be allowed on this continent and it is, accordingly, given to Zuni, the Tsimshian and the Nez Perce. We trust them to control their waste and pollution.”
“The fourth and last continent,” the hard light display swiveled to the continent as it centered forward to Elder John, “Mother Crest, is a large area of peninsulas and islands laced by thousands of rivers. Fishing is plentiful and the range of fish is considerable. Absolutely no tech will be allowed on this continent. This continent is given to the Diegueño. Here they will restore the Mustang herds and carefully introduce other endangered Earth species into Naanac’s natural scape.
“If you are paying attention you will notice that the better the land you are given the more you will share with others. The more challenge the land offers, the more autonomy from the AmerIndian Confederacy those settlers will have. We invite comments and questions from all tribals.” John became silent.
“Quill, your question please.”
“And where is the land allocated for the clone tribe?”
A wicked grin crept across John's face. “The clones are the newest tribe and therefore no land was allocated.” Murmurs could be heard coming from the crowd. John continued, “The Clones have from now until the settlement to choose any of the continents they wish to settle upon… The choice is yours alone.”
Quill’s concerned look faded and he thanked the Elders and the chiefs. The rest of the questions were handled easily, most being about encroachment of one tribe, family or individual, on another’s boundaries or borders. John explained those disputes would be handled as disputes were handled now in the AmerIndian Confederacy. Investigation by a Solver would be followed by decision by a Kichai judge. He also explained that individuals would be allowed to move from continent to continent at will but would be bound by all of that continent's laws while there.
John addressed the tribals again. “Every tribal has worked hard toward this day, the acquisition of our Homeland. In accordance, every tribal has the right to settle on this planet. Each m
an, woman and child has the right to decide if they will settle on Naanac. However, there will be war and we need strong, quick, intelligent tribals to help defend this Homeland. We need two hundred thousand tribals for defense. The rest will begin to settle the Homeland. Each task will demand hard work. All of those who choose to settle will no longer receive wampum. It will be unnecessary on Naanac. Wampum for those who fight will be doubled.”
John fielded a few more questions, actually comments, from eager young warriors anxious to let their parents and younger siblings settle while they fought. The meeting closed and the tribals continued their work and their celebrations with much discussion over the decision at hand. John was confident that the strongest and most skilled warriors, pilots and jacks would fight while the best teachers, preservationists, judges and builders would settle.
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