Chapter 32 - Untimely Arrivals

The next four weeks passed peacefully. We saw visits from several ships, but none were heavily damaged. The longest stay was the corvette Aspen, which arrived with a missile jammed in its starboard tube. Terrence and Louis spent four hours with the AI carefully manipulating the missile until they could pull it free from the launcher.

My tapestry was completed, and now hanging near the first door separating the enclave from the visitors part of the colony. Janice had claimed the loom and was working on her own tapestry. She had composed a snowscape on a moonlight night. It was an impressive picture with lots of shadows.

My daughter continued to grow. She was now able to sit up on her own, and it was not uncommon to find all four babies sitting in a circle and babbling together. I was a bit worried about her starting to grow teeth, but Bethany assured us that we had several months before we needed to be concerned about teething babies.

James and Yvette did spend hours in conference and sending messages to Admiral Himmel in Borneo. We were shocked to discover that someone in Central Command had noticed that Ishtar had never been formally designated as a colony and used that fact to demand that Admiral Himmel not interfere with Chief Scientist Johanes "lawful researching duties." The Admiral had tried to elevate this issue, but was blocked by someone working in Research. We were forced to accept that he would only have a limited ability to support us in our fight with the scientist.

"Why not let the scientist have the artifacts?" Maria asked one morning in our recreation room while we were discussing the fact that he was due to arrive. "It's not like you are researching them."

"We've already set that up," Yvette responded. "The whole reason we announced to Admiral Himmel and Central Command that we had the things was in the hopes that they'd come and take them away. The problem is that we've received orders regarding the visit. The Chief Scientist is going to establish a temporary research base here and conduct additional probes into the nearby systems to seek the source of the artifacts."

"Which is what we didn't want to have happen," James admitted. "The whole reason we held the artifacts at first was to avoid causing too much excitement and having multiple scientists demand that we open our planet up as a base camp for additional research. We had hoped we'd get a reasonable scientist to request that we send him the artifacts."

"And instead, we got... I can't even think of how to describe the man coming to visit," Tina said with a sigh.

"James," Edith's voice called out. She was on sensor data today so everyone looked up. "We have a jump point opening, but it's funny."

"Explain funny," James said as he rose to his feet.

"Well, it's not in line with any of the local planets," Edith said. "It appears to be a Confederacy ship, but it's not a class I recognize."

"Wait," Janet called out. "The IFF is working. The ship appears to be Sir Paridell."

All conversation in the recreation room halted. "I'll be in the command post in a moment," James said.

James turned to walk out of the room. Brittany, Kitty and I jumped to follow after him. We found ourselves leading a wave of people leaving the recreation room. Some immediately turned down side corridors, but I followed James as he made his way to the command post.

The pace was a bit too fast for easy conversation. Worry had me biting my lower lip as everyone proceeded silently. We came up to the tapestry, which had already been moved aside to reveal the door, and stepped inside.

Inside we found Edith and Janet sitting at the main stations. Edith was following the readings on a screen. She seemed a bit worried. Edith had her left hand over her ear. Her right hand hovered over one of the controls.

"Yes, Sir Paridell. I understand that you want a parking orbit and do not want to dock with the repair station. We are trying to identify the best location to have your ship park," she said.

"The ship will park directly above your colony," a gravelly voice growled. "Understand that as of now, I am in charge on Ishtar."

"Sir, this is James Rabb. We were expecting a scientist. Is this Chief Scientist Johanes?" my master called out.

"This is acting Governor Johanes," the man growled. "Now I need Sir Paridell parked directly above the colony. Give me the coordinates."

Everyone in the command room gasped, but James reached out and hit the control to cut off communications to the ship. "Put him in orbit on the opposite side of the planet from us. If he doesn't have the brains to just scan why should we help him?"

Janet nodded, flipping the control back on. "Sir, I'm sending you a signal. Follow it and you'll establish the parking orbit."

Edith watched her console. "He's about two hours out," she said. "No other ships are in the system."

James nodded as the gravelly voice spoke again. "Good. Now I need to meet with you as soon as possible. I want to teleport in and meet with James and Yvette. I understand you do have teleport capability."

James turned off the microphones in the room again. He looked over his shoulder to see Terrence and the twins standing there. "Tiffany, gather up anyone who has been fitted with battle armor and get them armored up. Terrence, we'll meet this jerk in the visitor's teleport room. Get over there and start powering the system up."

Terrence and the twins dashed out of the room. Yvette put a hand on James' arm. "We can't antagonize this man right away," she reminded my master.

"I know, but if we allow him to push us around too easily, he'll try to completely take over. We have to stand up where we can," James said.

"James," Janet cried. "He's going to want an answer."

"Tell him that it will take a few minutes to get the teleport room powered up. Yvette and I will meet him there. No concubines though."

"None?" Yvette asked.

"I get a feeling it will be a very bad idea to put a concubine within his reach," James said.

Yvette nodded. "Let's go. Meiko, if any concubines want to watch, do it from the briefing room and make sure none of you are heard. When you eavesdrop from this room we can hear you speak sometimes."

I blushed, but nodded as James gave Brittany, Kitty and me a hug and then left the command post. Once they had gone, I led my sister concubines to the briefing room.

"Everyone," Janet's voice rang out, "it's who we have been waiting for. For concubines wanting to listen in, Yvette has asked that you go to the briefing room. I'll be setting the speakers and view screens there to show what's going on, but the microphones will be off."

I sat down in a chair at one end of the briefing table. Kitty and Brittany found seats to my right and slumped in their chairs. "I'm scared," Kitty admitted as she wrapped her arms around her body.

"Me too," I admitted. As we sat, the many view screens in the room started displaying video of the teleport room. We watched as Terrence dashed in and began powering up the main control.

"I'll be up in five minutes," he said as he hit the switch to signal the command post. "Everything is green on this end."

"James!" Janet called out. "That Chief Scientist is sounding rather impatient. He wants to know why you haven't activated the teleporter."

We watched as James and Yvette dashed into the teleport room. James quickly set about straightening his uniform. There had been quite a bit of debate about the uniform. Yvette wanted James to wear the rank insignia of a Major, but James repeatedly pointed out that no one on the planet had an official rank or the authorization to give another citizen a rank. He insisted that putting rank tabs on the uniform would only escalate the confrontation he was predicting for the initial meeting.

He finished fidgeting and then it looked like he and Yvette had exchanged a couple of whispered words before he turned to face the teleporter. "Put him through."

"Opening communications in the teleport room," Janet responded.

James waited a moment. "Sir, we have the teleporter power up and are ready to initiate transfer. Can I ask how many will be arriving?"

"No! It's not necessary for you to question every decision. And why did it take so long to get the teleporter ready?" the voice growled

Yvette shook her head as James nodded to Terrence. "Sir, when I first talked to you, I was in the communications and tracking station we use to assist damaged ships. There is no teleporter in that room, and we only power up the unit we have after ships arrive in the system. We had to scramble to get to our primary teleport room and prepare to greet you upon your arrival."

"We should have prepared the red carpet treatment," I heard Lindsay whisper. "This man sounds like that might have actually mollified him."

"And he might have decided that he needed the services of a few concubines," Zenita sighed. "I get a feeling this man is going to try to push James until he can charge him with something."

I shivered. On the view screens we could see a teleporter open. The first two bodies through were massive men in battle armor. Their mirrored helmets prevented us from seeing their faces as they stepped off the platform and searched the room.

"It's clear," one of the two spoke. "Three people in the room, all wearing uniforms. One man at the controls to the teleporter. A man and a woman just waiting. Based on our briefing I expect it's James Rabb and Yvette Mimeux."

"How did we hear them?" I heard Heather whisper.

"Stupid idiot didn't scramble that signal," Janet's voice whispered into the room. "Like our systems can't pick up a transmission that's in the clear."

The teleporter flashed again. This time the first figure through was a man. He towered over James and Yvette as he stepped forward to greet them. I immediately noticed that he was wearing an immaculately white lab coat over dark slacks. He strode purposefully up to James and then stood in front of him.

James watched him approach and then the instant the man stopped walking snapped off an impressive salute. Yvette and Terrence mirrored his actions. The man's eyes widened as James held the salute. He scowled, but finally returned the salute. Behind him, two more armored marines followed him into the room.

"No welcoming party?" the man growled.

"We don't have many citizens here," James said. "And most have assigned duties. I felt it best to avoid disrupting the station to greet your arrival."

"The correct thing to do," the man said pulling several sheets of paper from a pocket of his coat. "Now, I brought a physical copy of some orders for you. I'll read them to you so there are no arguments later."

James nodded. In the briefing room, Kitty grabbed my right arm as Brittany put a hand on my left shoulder and cowered against me.

"Central Command Order Number One Four Eight Seven Dash A Forty-Two. The artifacts discovered by probes sent from the planet Ishtar are to be immediately turned over to Chief Scientist Johanes," the man began.

The scientist paused and looked at James. James nodded back. "The AI reports that the radiation level on the artifacts is lethal. They are being kept in a special chamber on Inanna. Access to them is available through a new laboratory and scientific pod. To go there simply leave through the door, turn left and walk down the passage. The third doorway on the right is the laboratory."

"Good, I'll continue then," the scientist said. "The Chief Scientist will remain on Ishtar to analyze the artifacts and to implement a through probe deployment. All unexplored systems within thirty light years are to be probed."

I could see Yvette smile at that and wondered why. I glanced around to find Estelle leaning against the wall. "Someone didn't read the reports," Estelle muttered. "The systems the artifacts were found in are fifty to sixty light years away. The closer ones have been stripped by the Sa'arm."

I covered my mouth to hide a giggle as the scientist continued. "During the investigation, all possible support shall be given to the Chief Scientist."

"What kind of support would that be?" Yvette asked.

"Scientific support," the man growled. "I have several assistants, but I'll need more people reviewing data and compiling reports."

"If it's secretarial level help, I can talk to Gina and Donna and see if they can help," James replied. "But if you need lab assistants and junior scientists we don't have anyone with the proper training. And everyone here already has their regular duties."

"What duties?" the scientist barked. "You are a small bunch of untrained recruits dumped on a death world. From now on the only duties you have are the ones I assign."

There was a loud hiss in the briefing room as several of the gathered concubines reacted to the vicious verbal attack that the scientist threw at James. I hugged Kitty to my chest, expecting him to continue screaming.

Edith's timid voice broke through the momentary silence. "James um. I'm getting some strange echoes on the sensors."

James raised a hand signaling for the scientist to stop. The scientist just froze as my master turned away and looked up at the ceiling.

"Explain what you mean by echoes, Edith," James called out.

"The scan isn't clear," Edith said. "It's almost like I'm seeing a Confed ship trying to slip in through our defenses, but why would any of them try that?"

James glanced over at Yvette. Yvette shrugged.

"Get Tamara or Tiffany to see if they can refine the scan," James said. "And let me know what they think."

James brought his hand down and turned back to the scientist.

"Who was that? And what are they talking about?" The man hissed.

"That would have been Edith, who is in the command post. We keep two people in the command post at all times. One watches the system sensors and the other monitors communications," James replied. "We try to keep them to six hour shifts. As for what she's talking about, I suspect that one of the local Confederacy ships is running a stealth drill."

"Why would they do that?" the scientist asked. "I was told this colony was set up to get rid of useless citizens."

There was another hiss in the briefing room as the scientist glared at James. Yvette was seized by a fit of coughing as she stood in the room with the two men. They looked at her as she regained her composure and stood up. "Sorry," she said. "Sir, your information is not completely correct. If we understand how it worked, this colony was established to get rid of some citizens that someone had declared untrainable. However, the colony does serve a purpose. In addition to sending out the probes that brought back the artifacts you are going to see, we serve as a repair and resupply post for Confederacy ships. Admiral Himmel has been keeping the pressure on with regular raids on the local Sa'arm planets, and we see damaged ships regularly."

"But that one isn't damaged!" the scientist screamed.

James nodded. "That's why I suspect that the commander is running a drill."

"James," I heard Tiffany call out. "I've reached the command post and worked on the scan. The echo is definitely a Confed ship running under stealth. They must have jumped in from the Wolf System, but arrived a bit outside the hyper limit so we didn't notice the jump point. What should I do?"

"It could be a Sa'arm trick!" the scientist shouted. "Destroy it now!"

"The Sa'arm don't usually bother with stealth when they visit," Yvette replied.

My master laughed. "Tiffany, see if we can run a counter drill. Get Timothy and Louis to help you move elements of our system defense into position without the ship noticing. The goal should be to be in position where we can send out one big ping and then tell them that they are dead."

Tiffany giggled. "Oh. you want to be mean to our visitors. We can definitely do that though."

The face of the scientist turned red as he stared at James. "What the fuck kind of order is that!" he screamed.

James paused for a moment and then looked directly at the scientist. "I've just told you that part of our duties involve keeping a constant watch on activity in the system. Right now, Tiffany and Tamara are the best at it. The others aren't as good and need practice. If one of our captains decides to run a unscheduled drill, I see no reason not to take advantage of the situation and give our people practice as well."

The scientist glared for a few moments, but then slowly closed his mouth and nodded. "I have to admit that your position has merit. I was unaware that you had any regular duties."

"We stay very busy," James reported. Yvette snorted at this. The scientist nodded, but then looked at the order he was still holding in his hand.

"Well," he said slowly. "You have given me complete access to the artifacts. You are willing to accept my authority. I don't see any other issues that require immediate attention. I was asked by the marines I have with me about relaxation and companionship."

James shrugged. "There are no free concubines on the planet at the moment, so unless you brought some on Sir Paridell, we might have problems there. As for relaxation, after the collapse of most of the colony, we rebuilt for visitors. You'll find that your men have access to a large recreation hall with tables for eating and drinking as well as several console game setups. We have an ice-skating rink, and the replicators can produce skates and ice hockey gear for your men. We even have a basketball court that is for the exclusive use of visitors. The AI in the rooms can provide a map to any of these locations."

"I should note that we do ask that your marines not walk around with heavy weaponry," Yvette said. "Part of the reason that there are only twenty-two citizens on the planet is that there was a war between two groups of colonists. One of the fighters managed to put a hole in the ceiling of one of the tunnels. If you've read about the planet, you'll know our atmosphere is extremely acidic. We got to watch the effects on a human body. It wasn't pretty."

James looked over at the marines wearing battle armor. "The acid eats through battle armor. We've had two serious injuries when citizens in battle armor had seals fail. And anyone exposed in armor for more than two minutes ends up having the armor rebuilt."

"Rebuilt sir?" one of the marines asked.

James nodded. "I've had two encounters with the acidic atmosphere. Both times my armor had to be replaced afterwards."

"Why would you do that?" Chief Scientist Johanes asked.

"Part of the reason anyone is alive on the planet is that I requested that one of the empty pods carried by the ship that brought us here be setup to hold two heavy lasers," James replied. "When Sa'arm ships arrive in the system we can have someone with battle armor mount the laser control chair and ride the laser into the atmosphere. If we cycle through gunners and bring the lasers down after two or three shots, the gunners survive. We have had two gunners put into medical pods but both have fully recovered."

"What happened to them, sir?" the marine in battle armor asked.

"Brad had a minor failure at his shoulder. A few drops of acid managed to soak past the seal. His shoulder was burned down to the bone before we got him in a medical pod," Yvette said. "Amanda had the seals just below her left knee fail completely. The armor amputated her leg at mid-thigh. Some acid had already got into her bloodstream and she suffered damage to her heart and lungs before we got her in a pod. She recovered fully."

The marine removed his helmet. His face looked like it was right out of a recruiting poster. His hair was buzz cut so short he might as well have been bald, and his face was shaved smooth. He stared at James. "And you haven't asked to leave here?" he asked.

James shrugged. "We have a duty to perform," he replied quietly. "Without us, it would be a bit more difficult for the navy to push its raids as aggressively. Right now, they know if they get cut off from Borneo, they can jump here and we'll repair the ships to jump back to Borneo or Kelor and continue the fight."

Chief Scientist Johanes had a sour look on his face. His pursed lips made it clear he did not believe what James was saying. I thought he was about to say something when an alarm started sounding throughout the colony.

"Tiffany?" Yvette shouted out.

"Sa'arm ships just jumped in. The scanners show two cruiser size ships. The AI is saying they are Vervactor class," Tiffany called out.

"Play time is over," James called back. "Tyson, Linus, get the lasers up. Timothy, Louis get the system defenses up. We're going to see how they do against Sa'arm combat ships."

"What's going on?" Chief Scientist Johanes called out plaintively.

"We're inside Sa'arm controlled space," James replied. "They like to visit occasionally and see if they can destroy the station. Terrence, have Tamara connect you directly to Sir Paridell. Use the teleporter to get everyone you can off the ship. After that I hope the captain of Sir Paridell is good because he's going to have to make like a hole in space."

"Sir, can we help?" the marine who had taken his helmet off asked.

"Have you trained on heavy Confed lasers?" James asked.

"On what?" one of the other marines asked. "I didn't' even know that the aliens had laser technology that could be used as ground-based weapons."

"It's crystal based," Yvette answered. "The crystals are destroyed each time you fire. So, I doubt it's used very often. But with our atmosphere it was the best option we had."

James shrugged. "Sorry, I'm sure you could do the job, but everyone we have in armor has done this before. They know the limits on the targeting and the weapons."

"You should let these men do it anyways!" Chief Scientist Johanes snapped. "They'll need training on it for future raids."

"We don't have time, sir," the unhelmeted marine said. "I know you said you wanted to control the colony, but in this case I have to defer to a more experienced marine."

"He's not a marine," the scientist snapped pointing at James. "He's never had formal training. So he and his friends here play a little space cowboy. He still has to accept my authority."

James snapped a salute to the scientist. "Sir. I'm one of our primary gunners and should be hurrying to get into armor. May I be dismissed to attend to my duties?"

The scientist glared at James for a moment and then waved at him. "Go. But your second can stay and explain what is going on. I need to establish my authority here as soon as possible."

James turned and sprinted from the room. I started to stand, but Marie grabbed me and held me down. "No," she whispered. "Tina and Janice can help him into his armor along with the other concubines already in the laser rooms. You should keep watching so you can tell him your thoughts on what happens next."

I wanted to dash to be with my master, but Marie was right, so I turned back to the screen watching quietly as a stream of people started to emerge from the teleporter.