Ep.#14 - "The Weak and the Innocent" (The Frontiers Saga) (26 page)

Captain Navarro sat in his office onboard the Avendahl as they maintained their position in high orbit over Corinair. His family was safe, as were the families of everyone serving under him. He was fortunate that most of his enlisted were single and felt no loy
alties to the nobles of Takara who had rebelled against House Ta’Akar. Many of them had, in fact, looked up to Casimir Ta’Akar as a symbol of the honor that Takara once, and should have always, represented. He was the man who had given up everything to try to remove the black stain from his world that had been placed on it by his brother, Caius.

Although Captain Navarro despised what the nobles had done to his homeworld, he anticipated liking this new assignment. His family was only a fifteen minute shuttle ride away, and he and his senior officers had already worked out a rotation that would allow each of them to be home three nights out of each week, with a full two days off per month, not a small accomplishment for a ship that was technically understaffed.

Yet, as he scrolled through the latest reports from Admiral Dumar, he couldn’t help but long for the glorious battles he could’ve fought if he was not stuck in the Darvano system for the foreseeable future. The Avendahl was a far superior ship to anything he had seen in any of the reports from the Sol sector, except for the battle platforms. He did feel confident that his ship could prevail against one, nevertheless.

His door chime sounded, breaking his daydreams of combat. He pressed a button on his desk to open the door.

The door split in half, the two pieces disappearing into the bulkhead.

“Ensign Permon,” the captain greeted. “What messages have you for me on this morning?”

The young ensign smiled, mildly entertained by his captain’s unusually cheery mood. “I thought you might like to know that Lieutenant Chandler of the Mirai reports they have arrived safely at Karuzara, and that Mister Hiller has successfully returned the data cores back to the Ark facility.”

“That is good news, indeed.”

“He also thought you might find the following information mildly entertaining. It seems Miss Ta’Akar has convinced the Admiral to let her redesign and modify their last remaining 402s.”

“Makes perfect sense,” the captain said without hesitation, much to the surprise of the young ensign.

“Sir?”

“The ‘Falcons’, as they call them, were never designed for atmospheric flight. To be honest, they are an antiquated design that was flawed from conception. Their only real strength was their main propulsion system. And seeing as how they only have a few of them left, I don’t see the harm in trying to utilize them as efficiently as possible. I had half considered making such recommendations to the admiral myself, but it wasn’t really my place to do so then.”

“But sir, she is just a child, and a female child at that.”

“Do not underestimate that
female child
, Ensign,” the captain warned him. “You’ll likely regret it.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Was there anything else?” the captain asked.

“There was one other message,” the ensign replied. “It is encrypted, and requires your bio-signature to decrypt. It is marked for your eyes only, sir.” He reached out and handed a small data chip to the captain.

“Thank you, Ensign. That will be all.”

“Yes, sir.” The ensign turned and exited the captain’s office, the door automatically closing behind him.

Captain Navarro stuck the data chip into a small slot on the comm-panel built into the top of his desk. He sat upright, looking straight ahead as a small beam of pale-blue light shot out of the comm-panel and spread out right and left, forming a triangle of light. The nearest side of the triangle extended outward until it enveloped the captain and then began to pan upward, across his chest, neck, and face. The light disappeared and the comm-panel indicated the message was decrypted and ready for playback.

Captain Navarro pressed the button to play the message.

“
Captain Navarro. Your presence is requested by several lords of noble houses of Takara, to discuss the future of the Takaran people and the Avendahl, as well as those of the Pentaurus cluster. Please respond with your preferred time and place for such a meeting to the coordinates contained herein. You are required to come alone, without military escort or weapons of any kind. These matters are most urgent, Captain. An immediate response is recommended.
”

The message ended, leaving only the return message coordinates displayed on the comm-panel’s control screen. He knew that the coordinates would be in deep space, where a comm-drone no doubt currently waited for a reply, making it impossible to trace the origins of the message, or who had sent it.

The captain leaned back in his chair, staring at the painting on the far wall.
Where to meet?
he wondered.
Someplace the nobles of Takara would be unfamiliar with. Better yet, someplace they would loathe going.

Captain Navarro smiled as he touched his intercom button. “Ensign Permon, Please send Lieutenant Solomon to my office. Also, I’d like to send a message via jump comm-drone.”

“
Yes, sir.
”

* * *

Kata Mun studied the Tannan technician sitting in the waiting room. “I was hoping for someone a little more presentable,” she told Abby in hushed tones.

“We don’t have a lot of Tannans that speak fluent English, I’m afraid,” Abby explained. “Those that do are needed on the l
ines to interpret between Tannan and Terran technicians.”

“What about your interpreter?” Kata asked. “He seems quite nice.”

“Yes, he is, but he is not Tannan. He came over from Earth the same time I did. He married a Tannan woman rather early on and became fluent quite quickly. It seems he has a previously undiscovered knack for languages.”

Kata sighed. “Oh well. At least we might get some sympathy out of the viewers.” She looked at Karahl. “Shall we?”

Kata Mun exited the office and walked across the lobby, flashing the smile that had landed her the job as anchor years ago. “Mister Aronsana?”

“Arons-Anah,” the man corrected her as he stood.

“Aronsanah?”

“No. Aron is first name. Sanah is family name.”

“Oh, of course. Mister Sanah. I’m Kata Mun. I’m here to interview you.”

Mister Sanah looked confused, and a little frightened. “Did I do something not correct?”

“Oh, no. Nothing like that. I’m a reporter.”

Mister Sanah still looked perplexed.

“I report the news.” Kata pointed at the porta-cam Karahl was holding. “The news? I record what’s going on in the world, talk to people such as yourself. Find out what you think about things, then broadcast it to millions of people on many different worlds.”

“I am to be seen by people on other worlds?” he asked, his look of confusion momentarily turning into a smile.

“Yes, many worlds, and many people.”

His frown returned, this time more worried than confused. “But not the Jung, yes?”

“No, not the Jung. We don’t broadcast to the Jung.”

Mister Sanah smiled again, shrugging his shoulders. “If you like?”

“Yes, I like. Thank you. Please, if you’ll follow me into the next room where we won’t be bothered.”

Kata led Mister Sanah into a small conference room and pointed to a chair for him to sit in, then took a seat herself one chair over.

“Will my people see this as well?” Mister Sanah asked.

“I don’t know,” Kata replied. “Do your people have video broadcasts of news events, things happening that your people should know about?”

“Yes, of course. We call them
Tela boro intersnee.
”

“What does that mean in English?” Kata wondered.

“I think, ‘Today’s events of interest.’”

“That sounds about right.” She looked at her porta-cam operator as he finished setting up. “We ready?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Karahl answered. “Mister Sanah, if you could just turn a little more toward me, so we can see your face better?”

Mister Sanah turned a little, looking for confirmation from the porta-cam operator and smiling when he got it. He reached up and pushed his hair down in an attempt to look presentable, straightening his coveralls as well.

“We’re recording,” Karahl announced, the red light on the top of his porta-cam lighting up.

Kata paused a moment, getting herself ready and leaving a long pause to mark the interview starting point for later editing. She turned to the camera, her smile returning as she spoke. “I’m here at the gunship production facility on Tanna, in the 72 Herculis system approximately forty-seven light years from Earth, and just over fifty-five light years from Tau Ceti. The 72 Herculis system was one of the first systems to be liberated by Captain Scott and the Aurora more than ten months ago, long before the main forces of the Alliance arrived in the Sol sector. Since then, the Tannan people have welcomed nearly one million Terran refugees, and have provided abundant amounts of propellant to the Alliance. In exchange, the Alliance has provided the Tannans with the Takaran fabricator technology, which has greatly accelerated the Tannans recovery since the Jung were driven from their world.”

Kata turned to face Mister Sanah, as her porta-cam operator readjusted his focus and moved the camera slightly left to include the interviewee in the shot.

“With me today is Aron Sanah, an assembly technician here at the gunship production facility on Tanna. Mister Sanah, thank you for speaking with us today.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Miss Mun,” Mister Sanah replied politely.

“May I call you Aron?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Aron, how has the Alliance treated the people of Tanna since they removed the Jung from your world?”

“Very well.”

“Have they done anything positive for your people? Have they made your world better? Worse?”

“Oh, much better. The fabricators are wonderful pieces of technology. They allow us to build complex systems in a fraction of the time and cost than before. And the Corinairan nanites have helped many of my people. I have a friend, he works the line with me here, his mother was dying of liver disease. Our doctors knew of no cure for her ailment. The nanites healed her in less than one month. Now she is healthy and happy, and playing with her grandchildren.”

“Do you feel the Alliance is treating the Tannan people as equal partners in their campaign against the Jung?”

“Our people go where they need us. Some of them fight and die alongside them. My cousin died serving on the Jar-Keurog. He died defending Earth against the Jung. They do not discuss their plans with us, no. But there is no need. We have no ships to give them. We have no military. But we soon will. What they did give us was our freedom. Everything else is merely extra. A bonus, as you say in English. Freedom was all we ever wanted and we are willing to fight and die to keep it.”

“The Alliance claims the Jung bombed their world as punishment for fighting back. Do you believe their claims?”

“Yes, of course. The Jung came here many decades ago. They did not ask if we welcomed them or not. They simply started bombing us from orbit. For days they bombed. They destroyed nearly everything. They were worse than the great plague. At least the plague left everything intact and only killed the people.”

“Why do you think the Jung bombed your world?”

“To make our world easier to control. There were too many of us, and they were but a few ships, and they were on their way out of the system. They wanted to create a resupply station for ships that would follow. They spared only what they needed. Less than a million people, some factories to make things their ships needed, and farmland to feed not only their crews, but also their new subjects. That very day, my people became slaves to the Jung. Nothing more.”

“Has the Alliance shared their jump drive technology with your people as well?”

“Yes, but only on a few cargo ships, ones in which they installed the technology. But that is only because they are afraid. If such technology fell into the hands of the Jung, it would be catastrophic for us all.”

“Does it concern you that Alliance ships are rarely present in your system? Are you worried that the Jung will return, and there will be no one here to protect you?”

“The Alliance has only two ships and one was very badly damaged in battle. They cannot be every place at once. That is why we are building these gunships.”

“But the gunships are small compared to the Jung ships, are they not?”

“Perhaps, but they are very fast and they have very powerful weapons. More important, they have jump drives. And we can build
many
of them. Hundreds, perhaps. With these ships, we can patrol far out into space. We will know when the Jung are coming, long before they are to arrive. We will have time to send word to the Alliance, so that they can send ships to defend us.”

“But what if they don’t get here in time?”

“Then we will die, but we will die fighting as free people.”

“Aron, other worlds that the Alliance has liberated have complained that many of their people died during the liberation, and that steps should have been taken to prevent such collateral damage. When Captain Scott and the Aurora liberated Tanna from Jung rule, how many of your people died that day?”

“Oh, very few. Less than one hundred, I think. They were very precise, very careful, and very swift in their attack. Captain Scott is a very good man. Very good indeed. It was very gratifying to see them defeat the Jung so easily. It inspired my people. It gave us hope. This is something that no one can live happily without. It is the fire that drives us. It is what makes us rise and face each day.” Aron hung his head down in sadness. “It was something that we were without for many, many years. Now, thanks to the Alliance, we have hope again.”

“Thank you, Mister Sanah, for speaking with us today.”

“You are most welcome.”

Kata paused, saying nothing further until the red light on Karahl’s porta-cam turned off.

“We’re out,” Karahl announced.

“Well, you can’t get an ending any better than that,” Kata said as she let out a sigh of relief.

“Not very long, though,” her porta-cam operator commented.

“We’re going to have a ton of these interviews,” she replied, “and we’ll be lucky to get a full hour special back on Kohara. I’m pretty sure we’ll have enough.”

“Everything was good?” Aron asked.

“Yes, Aron, you did great,” Kata assured him. “Thank you.”

“Very well,” Aron said as he stood to depart. “It was a pleasure to meet you both.”

“You too, Aron, and thanks again,” Kata replied as he left the room.

“You really think all the Tannans love the Alliance as much as that guy?”

“I don’t know,” Kata replied. “The people from Weldon sure didn’t, and some of the people on Capora thought the Alliance had overstepped their bounds as well.”

“The Kalitans sure didn’t mind,” Karahl said as he packed up his porta-cam and got ready to move.