The Black Planet (27 page)

‘I think the murder of your mate and your child so the rest of your race could invade our universe would stand as a very serious chance of consideration.’

Orlath was silent for a long time.  ‘Because Barbra conceived, that would make our races compatible.’  Let me think for a moment Captain.  ‘Because I am from a sentient race and had a mate who conceived.  I can be adopted by that race.  Because I am sentient they have to listen to my appeal.  They have no choice; that is the right of every citizen in the universe.  I also have plenty of evidence to back that up.  If they grant me the right of citizenship of your world then by proxy your race also becomes sentient.’  Orlath fell silent as he thought things through and Steven kept silent. 

‘If this happened captain.  If this was ruled on and I was given Earth citizenship, then you have a foothold in our universe.  If your world applied for citizenship of our universe then your world would already have met at least one of the criteria; that is having beings from a sentient race living on and adopted by your world.  Of course compatibility with that race also counts.  The letter would have to be drafted very carefully Captain.  We could not mention murder.  In fact I doubt if this would even reach the highest echelons of the universal council.’

‘You mean some clerk somewhere would just rubber stamp it?’

It took a moment for Orlath to understand the term, ‘I see what you mean.  It would be an officer of the council, but a lowly one.  Of course it may seem like very little but if you applied for universal citizenship for your planet it could be a huge stepping stone. Universal citizenship isn’t easily gained captain;  it is a long arduous process with many steppingstones to navigate. There are almost always objections and as your race is meat-eating there are bound to be many.’

‘What else is needed?’

‘Money.  The grant of a substantial amount and an annual payment.  Most races have many worlds so the payment is easily met.  It is shared amongst all.’

‘Even though only the home world is actually safe?’  Steven asked to clarify the point.

‘Yes that’s right Captain.  Although there is something you may not be aware of.  Occasionally races fragment and form new home planets.  If they can get enough support and pay the price then they receive immediate protection.’

‘I bet that doesn’t happen very often.’

‘It does Happen Captain.  Sometimes naturally.’

‘How can it happen naturally?’

‘Some planets have a very mixed population.  The more diverse it gets the more inclined it is to wish for its own identity.’

‘Do you mean a lot of mixed marriages or just diversity in the population?’

‘Mixed marriages of course.’

‘So they become an entirely new race.’

‘Exactly Captain.’

‘Are you people a part of this universal council?’

‘Yes of course.  If your people became a part of it then mine would be forced to stop the war against your home planet.  They would have no choice.  Arbitration would be mandatory, compensation could even be sought.’

Steven sat back, ‘could I possibly leave you alone for a while Orlath?’

‘I am your prisoner Captain, do as you wish.’

When Steven left, Orlath rolled on to the bunk in the cell.  In seconds he had drifted off into a deep sleep.

Buzz found Steven in his office, ‘how did it go Bud?’

‘We owe Charlie a huge favour Buzz.’

Buzz scratched his head, ‘what for?’

‘Our prisoner is the key to the whole shebang.’  Steven explained everything.

‘Holy shit,’ was about all Buzz could think of to say.

Chapter 58

Steven paraded up and down in front of the Earths council and he wasn’t happy.  ‘I am not asking you to make this man Human, I am demanding that you make him human.  Give him the opportunity to say yes to an offer made by you.  Show our humanity and show our compassion.’

‘Why the hell should we?’  Grunted the Australian member.  ‘This guy is responsible for this whole damn war.  It’s his DNA that started it.  I for one am in agreement with his father, the guy is a pervert.’

Steven snapped round, ‘you have no idea how my skin crawled when he first told me he had slept with a human woman.  I said nothing about how I felt and just let him talk.  This isn’t about any form of bestiality, this is about two sentient beings, falling in love, caring for one another.  She was his sole companion while growing up as was he to her.  Who didn’t watch beauty and the beast as a child and like the beast more than the girl?’

‘Yeah but we all knew that the beast was really human,’ the Australian concluded his argument.

‘Well this time the beast isn’t, and you had all damn well better get used to it.  There are thousands of species out there and many intermarry.  You need to get used to this idea now, or we would be as well as just surrender ourselves to the mercy of the Albany.  I can assure you there will be none.  Twenty years from now it will be the Albany who are defending this solar system from the Modloch and we will be little more than a footnote or curiosity.  Just another meat eating race that was wiped out and no one remembers the name off.’

Steven felt his passion rising close to the surface and took a deep breath in order to try and calm himself down.  Another of the committee took the opportunity to jump in.  ‘Captain Gordon, we have never met but I am the representative from Brazil.  You do realise of course we don’t even have a department for foreign affairs.’

‘Then make one for God’s sake.  There’s nothing to stop you and if you don’t we will all bloody suffer.’

‘You need to calm down Captain Gordon, before we got your request we didn’t even know such a thing existed.  Now you say this Albany majored in political science.  Two years, is that long enough to consider him an expert?’

Steven regarded the Brazilian for a moment, the man was right and Steven saw it.  It helped calm him a little.  ‘I am sorry sir if I got carried away.’

The man waved a hand, ‘the responsibility that lies squarely across your shoulders just now Captain Gordon far outweighs any responsibilities that we have at the moment.  You cannot be expected to carry everything on your own.  That is why you called for this assemblage of representatives from all over the World.  We will lighten your burden if you allow us too.  Now please finish stating your case.’

Steven took a deep breath, ‘to answer your question sir, the intellectual difference between our two races is more like a chasm.  Their years are also longer than ours with less holidays.  I checked.  A two year course for an Albany student would be the Earth equivalent of a seven year doctorate.  There is also something else you need to consider.  This Albany was injected with the DNA of his own child.  He never once became sick like so many of the others.  This is patient Zero.  I have talked with some of our top DNA experts and they believe with his cooperation they could well develop an antidote to their serum.  Even if a person were taken hostage they couldn’t be used to make serum.  There is a theory that an antidote built with Orlath’s DNA could prevent the binding of any serum to our DNA from any product derived from his son.’

‘Why would we need his cooperation?  He is a prisoner, we could force him.’  Stated the Australian.

Steven whirled, ‘because we don’t need to.  He will help us willingly.’

The head of the council raised a pencil he was taking notes with, ‘Captain Gordon, you mentioned in your email you believed that we were are risk from the Modloch emperor did you not?’

‘I did sir.  Right now the Modloch Empire is struggling after a protracted war against members of their own race.  They are in dire need of cash.  That is why this treaty is so important to them.  They can make a packet off of selling the exotic grasses we sent them.  Our solar system has barely been tapped for its resources.  The Engineer from The Burning Wind, our Modloch ambassador has survived the ordeal from our sun.  That is because his people live on a planet that is close to the gravity of our own planet.  That makes their bodies much denser and able to withstand the neutrons from our sun.

After the meeting with Orlath I did quite a considerable amount of research on the Modloch race and the type of treaty that we are supposed to be signing up for.  It is a trade agreement only.  One where by we will provide a considerable force to help protect the assets we jointly own.  The ships we have built are Modloch ships.  That of course makes them vulnerable to a race that designed and developed the ships.  The emperor has offered us Modloch staff to help train our people.  Again that makes us vulnerable.  They will learn about the wealth of our solar system and believe me these people have no problems wiping out non sentient races.  He has a whole planet of people capable of living on Earth.  It is not without the bounds of possibilities for him to order the whole population of that planet to relocate on Earth.’

‘You mean after he has wiped us out?’  The head of the council interrupted.

‘Yes sir.’

‘You believe this treaty gives us no protection from the Emperor himself.’

‘None.’

‘You believe him capable of carrying out a plan like this?’

‘I have discovered nothing to persuade me otherwise sir.’

‘Thank you captain Gordon.  I know you want a quick decision on this so we will not keep you waiting for long.’

‘Thank you sir.’

The council watched him leave and more than a few sighed with relief.  Suddenly one of them burst out laughing and was soon joined by the others.

‘I am amazed he thinks we won’t grant his wish,’ laughed the Brazilian.

The leader waved his hands in the air, ‘for god’s sake don’t give him the impression that he can walk all over us.  We need to play this very carefully.  Not only should we grant his wish but we should seriously consider hiring this Albany and putting him in charge of foreign affairs.  The rest of our race may well think that this organisation is a bit of a joke, but no other race in the universe will.  They will turn to us and we in turn need to be able to turn to our own people and stamp our feet.’

The American didn’t like the sound of it, ‘my government won’t tolerate being told what to do by this council.’

‘None of them will, but they had better learn too.  If we become the official representatives of Earth then the power will come into our hands.  We will have real clout.  These other planets have one emperor and a world council like ours.  That council is responsible for taking their orders from there emperor and making sure he is informed of what is happening.  Our world council will have to be run like the universal council.  They report to many planets as we will have to report to many countries.  It would be our responsibility to liaise between the two.  The Earths Defence Force will sooner probably rather than later, fall under our jurisdiction as well.  Gentlemen, the human race is growing up and we had better heed Captain Gordon.  We also need to find our own feet, begin planning ahead.  We start with this Orlath Cannies.  We get him his human identity, then we bring him on board.  We need him far more than he needs us.  Agreed.’

Fifteen minutes later Steven was leaving the council with a smile on his face.  Buzz suddenly appeared at his side.

‘We got it, they have agreed to make Orlath human.’

Buzz grabbed his arm.  ‘I got bad news Stevie, it’s about your friend Charlie.  Two generals walked in to his regiment’s brig with a squad of heavies and ordered the release of Charlie into their care.  That was a few hours ago.  No one can find him.’

Steven was shocked, ‘did De’ Beer allow this?’

‘The regiment was out on exercise at the time including De’ Beer. It was the man himself who called.  He can find no trace of Charlie.  The man’s going nuts.’

Chapter 59

The Bear sat with the communique in his hand.  He was as white as a sheet.  He handed it to his RSM in silence.  The RSM had to read it three times before it registered. 

‘This canna be right sir.’

‘It’s completely out of our hands RSM.’

‘It’s not right sir.  They can’t do this.  What trial, what court martial, what witnesses, and since when has our army ever supported the death penalty?’

‘I have no idea.  We don’t, there is no rule book for this EDF, these assholes are making this shit up as they go along.’

‘Two generals, who the hell are they sir?’

‘I have no idea RSM, I have never heard of them before.’

The RSM stabbed the communique with a thick finger, ‘what the hell does this mean?’

‘Traditionally it is the man’s own platoon and officer that supplies the firing squad.  The final indignity.’

‘They won’t shoot Charlie.’

‘No they won’t and that puts them right on the firing line themselves.  We are going to have to think this through very carefully RSM.  I will command the firing party myself and brief the men.’

‘You won’t be allowed to take your own weapons sir.  They will be supplied.’

‘I know.  Right now I need to get in touch with Captain Gordon, he may well be able to prevent this.’

Five hours later Steven felt he was going insane.  He still couldn’t find Charlie, no matter what he did he was thwarted at every turn.  He sat with the Bear in his HQ drinking coffee.

‘It’s all got something to do with the intelligence community,’ he informed Steven.  ‘It’s like a blank wall.’

‘It is an ugly beast that has reared its head Mr De’ Beer.

‘Just call me Bear Captain Gordon.’

‘Steven.’

‘Well Steven if you can’t find out anything with your resources then we are all fucked.  Please pardon the expression.’

Steven waved a hand, ‘I feel the same way Bear.  I did manage to get some information on the generals.’  He shoved over a tablet with their pictures.

The Bear growled, ‘I know this pair.  I have seen them before.  Didn’t know who they were though.’

‘Where?’

De’ Beer told Steven about the Jamaican warehouse incident and Charlie’s involvement.  Steven thought it over.  ‘It looks to me like they are cleaning house.  From what little information I can gather they were retired not long after that.’

De’ Beer found himself in agreement, ‘it is possible they were held accountable in some way.  The facts buried along with their carrier.  This war has resurrected a lot of careers.’

‘Aye and no sooner than their carriers are back on track and up pops Charlie.’

De’ Beer took a sip of his coffee, ‘Some shit will follow you around to the grave Steven.  It looks like this pair want to bury it along with Charlie.  He is the only witness to the whole incident.  Did you find out where he is being kept?’

‘No it isn’t on the ship you have to report to that’s for sure.  I have no doubt he will be delivered there just before the execution is scheduled.’

De’ Beer sat back with a sigh, ‘my biggest fear is that he is already dead and this is just some form of cover up.  I shouldn’t have locked him up, they would never have caught him.’

Steven found himself grinning, ‘can he still do it?’

‘Do what?’  De’ Beer asked him suspiciously.

‘When we were kids there was a family that had five brothers all bad to the core.  They used to try and ambush us all the time.  Charlie could smell them a mile off, saved us from a lot of kicking’s.’

De’ Beer half smiled, ‘Charlie was in my first platoon.  We go back a long way, I was also his company commander before becoming his commanding officer.  I remember Sergeant Banks who was my platoon sergeant back then, just before I left the platoon; introducing two recruits to Charlie.  He took them into Charlie’s room where he was lying on top of his bed reading a book.  ‘You see this guy here?  If he says stop you stop, go back, you go back.  Go left you go left and go right then you go right, understand?’  One of the Jocks said no, and Sargent Banks turned on him, ‘aye well laddie, neither do we, but we still fucking do it.’’

The two men laughed awkwardly, ‘that’s Charlie,’ Steven agreed.  ‘A good man to have at your back.’

‘Charlie is a good man to have at your back.  He’s a great man to have at your side; but where you really want Charlie is way out front looking for trouble.’

Steven laughed, ‘I never thought of it like that before, but you are most likely right.’

‘Oh I’m right.  You have to watch him though.  Charlie doesn’t always avoid trouble.’

Steven slid a small bag across, ‘let’s hope we can pay him back.’

De’ Beer took possession of the bag and stood, ‘I had better get back to the men.’

Three hours later they were taken to a nondescript freighter and guided through to a closed off part of the cargo bay.  They were shoved inside a small room.  Eddie stood beside De’ Beer as a nervous American MP Sergeant handed out weapons.  When he was finished he stood with one of the American rifles in his hand.  ‘Watch this way.  All of the rifles have been loaded with one round apiece.  Not all of the rounds are live, half are blanks.  That way no one will really know whose shot killed the prisoner.’

‘His names Charlie, you fucking asshole,’ growled one of the Jocks.

‘Can that shit,’ Eddie snapped.

The Jock dropped his head.  The MP eyed him for a moment before going on.  ‘OK guys, I know this is all fucked up but I ain’t got no choice, just like you guys.  Pull back on this handle and release to load the weapon.’

‘We know how to bloody use one,’ Eddie interrupted the sergeant pulling the magazine from the rifle.  He looked at the blank round and flicked it out with his thumb.  ‘Give me a live round.’

The rest of the Jocks did the same and the MP suddenly had blanks rounds being tossed at him.  ‘Give us live all live rounds,’ Eddie insisted.

‘I’m not allowed.’

Bear moved forward with the pistol he had been given.  He cocked it and placed it against the MP’s temple.  ‘Give them live rounds, I know the one in this one is live.  I will kill you and take them if I have to Sargent, do not question my resolve in this.’

The MP broke out into a cold sweat, ‘don’t try anything sir.’

‘Each man, one round, each man bears equal responsibility.’

His eyes flicked to the jocks faces and saw the resolve there, ‘I can live with that sir.’

He dished out the rounds and the men reloaded their weapons.  ‘When the prisoner is taken in your doctor will check if he is fit enough to be executed.  You and your padre may then approach to see if he has any last words.  Once the padre has said his piece you will return to the firing line.  His crimes will be read out by my officer and his sentence.  You will then be ordered to proceed.  You will give the order to load sir, that’s when you cock the weapons.  Aim and fire.  Speaks for itself.  Is that all clear sir?’

‘Perfectly.  May I have a word with my men alone Sergeant?’

The MP Sergeant stood, ‘of course you may sir, five minutes.’

‘Thank you.’

He waited until the man had gone.  ‘Reload.’  De’ Beer ordered.

The men whipped off their Tam O’ Shanters.  They had been swept for weapons with a hand held metal detector.  Of course it had gone off when it swept over their bodies.  The normal belts and buckles along with money or change they had in their pockets.  They hadn’t even bothered sweeping their headdress as it was obvious the large cap badge would set off their detectors.  Behind everyman’s badge was tapped five rounds of ammunition.  They ripped them out and added them to the magazine in their rifles before reloading them.  The type of weapons to be used in the execution had been stipulated in the orders and luckily for them Colonel Howe’s men had a stash of the correct ammo for their own personal weapons.

The MP returned to wait with them and the hard faced Scots kept their silence.  After a brief wait they were ordered into a large empty hanger.  A pile of sandbags had been set up and a wooden post fitted into a bracket welded to the deck.  Ropes hung from metal rings.  The Scots tensed as the minutes passed.  It was almost a relief when the two interrogators appeared dragging a bloody sack between them.  It wasn’t until they attached the sack to the post that most of the jocks realised it was in fact their friend.  The two men walked to the side to watch with smug grins on their faces. 

De’ Beer and his regimental doctor swapped looks.  Both men were in shock.  A MP Officer approached them, ‘you need to check your man sir.’  He looked pale and swallowed nervously.

The doctor took the first step and the Bear followed hesitantly.  The doctor pressed his stethoscope against the bloody sacking.  ‘He is alive, but I would say barely.’

The De’ Beer took a deep breath, ‘Charlie, can you hear me?’

The sack twitched, ‘Bear.’  The word were slurred but De’ Beer took a deep breath of relief.

‘Do you know what’s happening Charlie?’

‘Execution!’

‘That’s right.’  De’ Beer slid a small silver pin into the sacking.

‘No trial.’  The figure managed before slumping.

De’ Beer felt the rage course through him.  He walked up to the American MP Officer who was waiting with a notepad and pen. 

‘Did he have any last words sir?’

De’ Beer growled, ‘he said there was no trial no court martial.’

The man reeled, ‘that’s impossible sir I have the orders here.  All the paper work.’

‘It’s wrong, I demand my man be returned to me at once and this whole farce called off.’

The large white interrogator suddenly appeared at the lieutenants side with a drawn pistol, ‘it was a closed court martial, he was found guilty and sentenced to death.  If you don’t carry it out you and your men will take his place after I shoot him.’ 

De’ Beer could see the naked hatred on the bruised face of the man.  This was obviously personal and De’ Beer had a feeling he would be next on the man’s list.  ‘So be it.’  He turned and walked away.  Their final chance at a peaceful solution gone.  He knew the jocks under his command would want no peaceful solution, but as an officer it was his responsibility to at least try.  The blood pumped behind his eyes as he spoke to each of his men in turn.  It made focusing difficult.

‘What are you doing?’  Asked the MP Sergeant.    

‘Telling them to shoot straight, now piss off.’

The man took a deep breath and stepped back.

The padre finished praying over Charlie and stepped back.  He nodded to De’ Beer.

‘Listen in.’ De’ Beer growled.  ‘Attention.  Shoulder arms.  Load.’  The men swung their rifles round in front of them and cocked them.  The metal click of rounds being chambered seemed to ring round the hanger.  They could see Charlie slump farther.  ‘Present, Aim, Fire.’

It all happened so fast no one had time to react.  The jocks swung their weapons and the two interrogators fell to the crash of the rifles.  They then snapped off warning shots above the heads of the MP’s.  Men ducked instinctively as the metal rounds whipped round the hanger bouncing off of the metal walls with a strange zipping sound.

‘No one move,’ roared De’ Beer and the MP’s froze.  ‘As you can see we brought our own ammunition and have enough to kill all of you.  Lie on the floor with your hands in front of you.’  They obeyed reluctantly.  De’ Beer walked over to the bodies of the two interrogators.  The large black man’s eyes fluttered open.  He barely had time to register De’ Beers presence before two shots to the head ended him.  Another two shots made sure of his companion and De ’Beer pressed something on his lapel.  In an instant they were gone.