Earth Song: Twilight Serenade (31 page)

“Nexus.”

Part III

Chapter 33

Julast 27th, 535 AE

Chosen Council Chamber, Chosen Administrative Headquarters, Steven’s Pass

Minu looked around the room at all the faces and tried not to sigh. This sort of thing was what she hated the most about being First. That and having everything depend on her, even when she didn’t have time to make even a fraction of the decisions she would ultimately be responsible. This decision, though, was above even her pay grade.

“Welcome everyone,” she said to a round of greetings.

Around the table familiar faces looked back. Gregg in his tiger striped camo Ranger uniform with two blue-red stars on his cuff. Next to him was Drams imposing figure. A few more lines on his face than in the old days. He was still second among the Chosen, a position that seemed to suit him best. He also led the scouts and wore two black stars instead of golden.

Then there was Cherise, her lifelong friend just back from Midgard. A pair of green stars for Logistics on her Chosen uniform. Ken Benedict was next with yellow stars for training.

Then Jasmine Osgood, silver for science, and Minu with a solitary golden star for command. On her other side was Bjorn, also showing two stars from science. He was now an at large council member, having been displaced from command of science years ago by the previous First.

“Lilith, you here?” she asked the air. Off to one side a holographic generator cast its image into the room. A holographic image of her daughter, still in the Aether system and communicating via the quantum system appeared there.

“I’m here, First,” she reported.

“Then let’s start our reports with training,” Minu said and looked at Ken.

“Thanks you First,” Ken said, and as had become tradition, stood. “The training branch is ready for the next Trials as planned in March. Overall applications are down, though the percentage of females continues to increase.” Minu caught Cherise’ eye and they winked at each other. “I still anticipate enough applicants to fill required slots.

“The current Ranger training cycle is nearly completed and ready to hand off to cadre training at Fort Chriso. As of today, we have two fully equipped and trained regiments of Rangers.”

Gregg beamed like a proud poppa and Dram whistled. “Hell of a job, son,” he complemented.

“Sixty-five hundred,” Jasmine said, her tone not entirely happy. “So many soldiers,” she added.

“And we’re not done,” Minu admitted.

“How many is enough?” the Peninsula woman asked. Their people, of all those on Bellatrix, liked military service the least. And that conviction reflected in their service. Less 1% of the Rangers were from Peninsula, and many of them support. And a bare 5% were full Chosen, mostly science, logistics, and training.

“That’s not something to discuss here right now,” Minu said. “You’ve all reviewed my recommendation to create a new armed force. The Navy.” Minu glanced around at the councilors before continuing.

“The facts are simply that we don’t have the technical expertise within the Rangers to draw on to fill ship board slots. Even with the plan we’re studying to replace the missing CI, each ship will take between ten to five hundred crew members.” She gestured with her computer control and a holographic display came alive showing each class of ship and probably crew requirements. “And that doesn’t include maintenance staff at the firebase in Aether, or the Highguard stations here. As the report from the station commander notes, the training curve for space service is steep. And casualties have been low, so far.”

“Must we man all those ships?” It was Jasmine, of course.

“If we don’t, they are of no use to us,” Minu said.

“Can’t they be kept in reserve? To be called upon when needed?” Dram wondered.

“Not and have them able to be used, and we might only have minutes warning,” Lilith answered for Minu.

“And of what use are they? Warships. Dozens of warships. Will they make us safe? Will the ability to wage intergalactic war make us safe?”

“The only way to have peace, is to be prepared to wage war again anyone who would attack you,” Minu said.

“With no warships, why would anyone attack us?” she persisted.

“Ask the Rasa,” Minu said darkly. Jasmine reacted like she’d been punched. “Jasmine, I respect your point of view but it’s wrong. The galaxy is a dangerous place. We thought there were no spaceships, but it turns out they’re everywhere. And most of these higher order species, in their arrogance, have no compulsion against using them.

“Time and time again we’ve been attacked. Unprovoked acts of violence in deep space.”

“What does the Concordian law say about incidents like that?” Gregg asked.

Minu spread her hands wide and shrugged. “We don’t know. As a dependent, un-Awakened species, vast areas of the law, history, technology files are restricted from us. We’re kids with his dad’s aerocar, flying around the city. But we don’t have access to the manual because Dad won’t let us. He’s afraid we’ll borrow the car, and hasn’t noticed the garage is empty.”

There were chuckles around the room. Minu let them quiet down.

“And before you ask, the answer is; no, I don’t care what the Tog think. They have starships too. And I have an unofficial agreement to cooperate with us as a space based power.”

“Cooperate?” Dram said, a little surprised. “Why would a protector species need an agreement from their client?”

“More on that later,” Minu asked, and gave him a calm stare. No looked back for a time then nodded in agreement. “For now, if we are to go forward with the starships we have, we need crew. And a navy. How does the Council speak?”

The vote only took a moment. It was unanimously in her favor. Even Jasmine agreed, though with obvious distaste.

“Ken, your schedule is ready?”

“I’ve just about got the training schedule finished. There is a proposal for an advertising budget in your office…” he tapped at his tablet. “Now. My staff and I estimate training time of about six weeks dirt side followed by another four weeks up on Highguard. At that point we’d like five Eseel detached indefinitely as training vessels, and an equal number of Phoenix.”

“Consider it done. I’ll arrange for the Eseel to come with Lilith when she makes her next trip home.” She looked down at her tablet and tried not to smirk. “And on the subject of a commander for the navy, I’d like to nominate Lilith Groves.”

There were head shakes, looks of concern, and one pair of stunned eyes from many light years away. Surprisingly it was Dram that voiced a concern.

“She’s quite young,” he said simply.

“And has a history of not following orders,” Jasmine pointed out. Minu was sure that sentiment had nothing to do with Lilith trying to give her a permanent sun tan from orbit the first time they met.

“Both points are valid,” Minu agreed without hesitation. “Lilith is only just recently turned thirteen. However biologically she’s closer to twenty-six. And furthermore, there is no one in our species with more experience in space, more knowledge of space warfare and space travel, or better qualified to lead the navy branch.

“However acknowledging her somewhat unconventional way of following orders and lack of command experience, I’ve promoted Chris Sommercorn to three star, a rank designated in the navy as commodore, and am transferring him to the navy branch. He will be Lilith’s chief of staff, advisor, and head of flight training. In addition, I’ll consult with her for the first few months and provide counsel on command decisions.”

Dram looked at her with a lopsided grin. His look said it all. In his opinion when it came to command decorum this would be the blind leading the blind.

“Since she will be elevated to the council, this will require a unanimous vote by the council. Naturally, I vote yes.”

Minu carried that vote as well. There was a brief round of applause for the newest Chosen council member. An assistant moved her holographic projector from the side to behind the table, and it was official.

“Thank you,” Lilith said and genuinely looked humbled. “I will do my best to serve and…obey orders.” Minu could have sworn it was physically painful for the girl to say that. Minu tried not to let the two for two votes go to her head. The next would be a lot harder.

She called for reports from the other branches. Logistics reported on the Highguard station construction, Scouts on routine checks of common offworld destinations, and Command on the movement of C&C to the forts and away from the Steven’s Pass facility. Next Minu called on Science.

“Jasmine.”

“First,” the head of the Science branch stood.

She looked a lot like Minu, taller but also thin of build. She even shared green eyes, though she had her people’s straight black hair. “Science branch continues to work on planetary research projects largely related to mitigating the effects of our stars increased activity cycle. Data from last month indicated a one point two percent further increase in radiation reaching the planet over the previous ten months. The first test of the solar screen should be ready by the end of Julast. A pair of ship class EPCs have been delivered to the Rasa techs working on the shield station and they’ve begun work to finish the emitters.”

“Any issues so far?”

“We were delayed a bit by an unscheduled redesign,” Jasmine said and looked at Bjorn.

The crazy haired elderly scientist appeared to be asleep, though Minu doubted it. He might well be pushing eighty, but his mind was as powerful as ever. And that included wild trains of thought and dangerously radical ideas.

“Hmm?” Bjorn said and looked around, realizing everyone was looking at him.

“The planetary shield, Bjorn?” Minu asked.

“Yeah, great idea. We should build it.”

“We were,” Jasmine pointed out, “until you stopped construction to change the emitter configuration.” He looked mystified.

“Bjorn,” Minu said, a little annoyed. “Why did you change the specs?”

“Oh,” he said and grabbed a tablet and started punching keys. It wasn’t his, so none of his files were there. “Oh, I seem to have deleted everything by mistake.”

Cherise gently took her tablet back, reached into Bjorn’s holster and took the right tablet and put it in his hands.

“There we are!” the scientist crowed and accessed files. Details were sent to the meeting room computers and displays came alive.

The shield station looked remarkably like the power station around Dervish, and for good reasons. The energy gathering apparatus was similar. They would absorb the power radiation coming from their dying star, convert it to usable plasma power, and use that to operate a shield far beyond its gathering range. Effectively acting like a forward deflection shield on a starship. Radiation from Bellatrix would be shunted around the planet.

The display of the simple station changed before their eyes to one much more robust. It had much more space, and additional facilities that looked very familiar to Minu, and her daughter. “Are those weapons hard points?” Lilith asked?

Bjorn nodded, grinned and examined the design. Then he frowned and started making notes. Jasmine moaned.

“Bjorn,” Minu said before he started to redesign the entire station, “why the weapons points?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked. She shook her head. “I’ve reviewed your reports on the mission to Dervish. The power station was unarmed.”

“And thus vulnerable,” Lilith said, snapped her fingers and nodded. “You may be elderly and somewhat deranged, but you have a very good point.”

“Thanks!” he cackled and went back to making notes.

“He has a point,” Lilith said, “leaving the planetary shield unarmed might be short sighted on our part. Especially since it is so far from the planet, and if we could easily remedy that at this early stage. Salvaged ship-class weapons could easily be relocated from Aether, as the components are designed to fit through a portal.”

Minu looked at Bjorn and smirked. “Bjorn, in the future it would be nice if you let us in on these sort of ideas before you unilaterally change a design?” He grinned and shrugged absently. Minu made a note on her tablet: Get Ted to supervise Bjorn’s design work. “And Lilith, you’re up last.”

“First,” she said from where her image floated. She didn’t bother standing, as she technically already was. “I’ve deployed six Eseel just outside our star system. As agreed, intelligence reports are now being received on a secure data channel. Acting on advice from the Squeen, we’ve encrypted that data with algorithms provided by the Tog. My calculations indicate it would be nearly impossible for a ship to make it through without being detected.

“Are we still planning to deploy our own sensor net?” Minu asked.

“The deployment is almost complete,” Cherise said. “We mostly used local contractors for assembly. We figured less noses in the pie. It slowed it down a little. Someone could figure out what we’re building,” Lilith warned her.

“Being blind is a bigger risk. Anything else, Lilith?”

“Another Kaatan is ready for service once the CI being used in the Fiisk is prepared for return to it. The CI has volunteered to remain where it is for now. Pending crews being made ready for service of the Fiisk, that is. I’ve also completed my review of the second encounter of the super-Kaatan battle riders and conclude then are indeed a new design. Their operation is tactically perfect, but does not match The People’s stand operating procedures. A previously unidentified unknown force is operating these ships.”