Euthara (15 page)

“All the more reason to listen to what I have to say,” Jon said.

“Is that a threat?” the King said. “Because, it sounded like one to me.”

“No, not a threat,” Jon said. “I’m just stating the simple fact your people need protection and I have the fleet capable of doing that. I’m even working on the problem of your dwindling population.”

“Good luck on the population problem,” the King said. “Our scientists and biologists have been working on the problem for a very long time and found no solution. I don’t know what you think you’re going to accomplish.”

“I have an idea or two about what’s causing it,” Jon said. “Did Deatra tell you we left one of her bonded hand maidens behind at the station?”

“Yes,” the King said.

“Did she tell you why?” Jon said.

“Not really, something about her bond mate,” the King said.

“Yeah, she's pregnant and the baby is in good health,” Jon said. “I was afraid bringing her back here would cause her trouble.”

“Impossible!” the King said. “There hasn’t been a birth on Euthara for the past five years.”

“I know, there’s something going on and I plan on finding out what it is,” Jon said. “I’m going to fix the problem for the people. No matter how much we don’t see eye to eye it’s not going to change that. You can play your little games and try to hinder me at every corner I turn. But, I want you to know, you could just be hurting your people in the process of trying to hurt me. The choice is yours to make.”

“I don’t believe you, you’re a pirate and a liar,” the King said. “I will get to the bottom of what’s going on and then you’ll pay.”

“Not if I expose you first,” Jon said. “Anyway, this conversation is over now that you have stooped to name calling. By the way, I’m Ga’sahde, so until you’re ready to restore the treaty don’t call me since you don’t want to talk to the Ga’sahde. I won’t be accepting any calls from you until I see a mass broadcast about the treaty. Good bye.”

The King started to say something as Jon disconnected the communication. The screen faded and disappeared as Jon stood up and walked to one of the windows. He was thinking about the events of the past few weeks. He understood why the King was fighting so hard to keep the Ga’sahde out of the equation. What he didn’t understand was what the King hoped to achieve by fighting his every move. It was almost as if the King didn’t care that his people were suffering. Jon feared there was more than what he had found so far.

“You’re serious,” Andara said.

“Hrm?” Jon said. He turned around to face the Duke.

“About the pregnant hand maiden,” Andara said.

“Oh, yes, very serious,” Jon said. “It leads me to believe that there’s some type of contagion here on Euthara.”

“You’re not afraid of being contaminated?” Andara said.

“Not really,” Jon said. “It looks like it wears off and isn’t really harmful. Andie, our Chief Medical Officer, thinks the nanites will protect us anyway.”

“Our nanites don’t,” Andara said.

Jon blinked and stared at Andara. “What did you say?”

“I said our nanites don’t protect us,” Andara said. “Why would you think your nanites will?”

“That was something I never took into consideration,” Jon said.

“What?” Andara said.

“Never mind,” Jon said. “You’re free to roam in the house. Help yourself to food or whatever you need. All calls will have to be authorized and monitored of course. If you’ll excuse me, we’ll pick this back up later.” Jon motioned to Nefeit and took her hand as she got up. They left the room together leaving Sam and Oojoung behind who had returned to playing.

Once they were outside Jon said, “What do you think about that?”

“About what?” Nefeit said.

“I think the nanites might be the problem,” Jon said. “Every nanite we have is controlled by either the station or our ships. The same would go for the Eutharan people except it would be the planet and ships.”

“You think someone tampered with the program for the nanites?” Nefeit said.

“Possible,” Jon said. “When our ships return to the station the software that run the ships, including the nanites, are all updated when the ship docks. I’m willing to bet that the programs on the main core here on the planet update the ship’s software when in range.”

“Then that makes no sense,” Nefeit said. “The hand maiden was close to her people’s ships so her program wouldn’t have changed.”

“True, however we updated those ships and installed up to date software on them,” Jon said. “Since the hand maidens were Deatra’s and technically they were in the ADF we switched their frequency and command routines to use our database.”

“If the ships left here would the nanites switch to the local system?” Nefeit said.

“They could be opened up to accept the connection,” Jon said. “It’s a built in system that the user can control if they have access to a com station. Every person has their own access code for their nanites and has limited control over them through that. If they decide to not switch the system or are somewhere there is no system, the nanites operate in a limited capacity. Why do you ask?”

“Switch someone to the local computer and wait for it to update and then compare codes between yours and theirs,” Nefeit said. “It might show you what you’re looking for.”

“Brilliant,” Jon said. He grabbed Nefeit and gave her a kiss as he hugged her.

When Jon broke the kiss and let her go she swayed a bit and Jon had to steady her for a couple seconds, “Sorry, I’m a bit light headed,” Nefeit said.

“No, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to surprise you like that,” Jon said. Jon was watching Nefeit as her cheeks became darker. He realized she was blushing but instead of turning red her skin got darker.

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Nefeit said.

It was Jon’s turn to blush as he said, “Come on, I want to run this by Andie and Mike.”

Jon was standing at the planning table that had holograms of Andie and Mike displayed above it. Mark was standing off to the side listening quietly to the conversation. Nefeit was seated and holding a conversation with one of her troops.

“What do you think?” Jon said.

“I don’t know, it sounds a bit risky,” Andie said. “What if the program they’re using does something else to your system? Remember we had to tailor the program we used to suit them. While they’re similar to us they have different positions for some of their organs and even have some the human body doesn’t and vice versa. As a species we’re very compatible, almost the same but there’s slight differences.”

“I don’t think we need to go so far as to switch you over, Jon,” Mike said. “There’s plenty of Eutharan’s to get samples from. Any amount of blood would contain enough nanites to serve our purpose.”

“All the Eutharan’s I know have been switched over to our code,” Jon said.

“You have a whole planet to choose from,” Mike said.

“Oh, since you said that,” Andie said. “I’ve noticed an improvement among the Eutharan in our crew. Something to note is that there are two more pregnancies.”

“Really, that’s great,” Jon said.

“Strange thing is the two lucky ladies are on the surface, but are bond mates to two of our crew,” Andie said.

“So, what you’re saying is the females are able to get pregnant, and whatever is going on is effecting only the male population,” Jon said. “That’s very interesting.”

“I’m a bit surprised Deatra isn’t pregnant yet,” Andie said. “As you know I ran all the tests and as far as that goes. Humans and Eutharans are ninety percent compatible and should be able to inter-breed.”

“Um,” Jon said as he glanced back at Nefeit. “That’s because I refuse to have sex with her before we get married. Not that any of that is your business. We goof around and threaten each other but that’s the extent of it.”

“Care to explain ‘goof around’?” Mike said. “Wait give me a second to get some popcorn before you start. This should be good.” Mike made like he was looking for something.

“Pervert,” Jon said. “That’s not what I meant by goofing around. I meant we might say things to each other but that’s as far as it goes.”

“Pity,” Mike said. He gave the saddest look he could muster. “I was hoping for some exciting details.”

“I think it’s cute for you to do that,” Andie said. She was chuckling at Mike’s comments and had to catch her breath. “Such a soft hearted and old fashioned guy, you know those are a dying breed.”

Jon moaned as Mark chuckled behind him. “Oh, stuff it, all of you,” Jon said.

“Look, we only need a blood sample,” Mike said as he got serious again. “Any Eutharan not connected to the ADF should do.”

“Preferably male,” Andie said.

“I don’t think it matters,” Mike said. “The nanites could be programmed to look for markers before doing whatever it’s doing to the males. So, even the female nanites will contain the same code.”

“Makes sense,” Jon said.

“The easy part will be getting the nanites,” Mike said. “The hard part will be gaining access to their core to download the programs run by the nanites. Then we can start searching the code for anything out of the ordinary. That will be kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack but not impossible.”

“You going to need more help?” Jon asked.

“I would like to pull an engineering team from the station with equipment to replace this older stuff,” Mike said. “While they’re here we can start overhauling the ship yard too.”

“So things are going well there?” Jon said. He hadn’t bothered to get an update as he knew Brad and Mike were capable enough.

“Oh yeah, better than ok,” Mike said. “Brad, with the help of the Ga’sahde, have the shields and defensive weapons back online. Nefeit sent over some of her own security crew and we have Control manned at all times now.

“I was just about to call Andie and invite her over so she could start requesting what she needs to refit the hospital. Sa’oliq is here and has been requesting some of the parts we need. We gave them an entire level to themselves and set the life support there to emulate their own.”

“Sa’oliq has been requesting parts and supplies?” Jon said.

“Yes, thanks for that,” Mike said. “Those three Dreadnaughts brought more personnel and tons of supplies, including food and stuff from several different planets. Like plants and materials to get the repairs started.”

“Hey,” Jon said as he raised his hands. “I didn’t know anything about that part of it.”

“Oh,” Mike said. “I’ll make sure to thank her twice next time I see her.”

“Are you two done with me?” Andie said.

“Sorry Andie,” Jon said. “I’m still trying to figure this out. I want it to be as low key as possible.”

“I could come down to check on the troops and a certain Duke,” Andie said.

“I think everyone is fine here,” Jon said.

Andie raised her eyebrows and tilted her head as she spoke, “Sometimes you’re so dense.”

“Oh?” Jon said as he raised an eyebrow. Then it dawned on him what she was talking about. “Oh!”

“Yeah,” Andie said.

“I see your point a checkup would probably be good,” Jon said. “Then you can leave here and station yourself in the shipyard's hospital for the time being.”

“Ok, I’m going to get ready for my visit,” Andie said. “You two play nice.”

“Yes mom,” Mike said.

The hologram of Andie faded from view when Jon got an idea. “Mike, I’m pretty sure this is the cause of the problems here with pregnancies,” Jon said.

Mike interrupted him, “I’m not.”

“Huh?” Jon said.

“I’m not sure this is the cause of the problem,” Mike said. “But, I’m willing to check into it.”

“Care to explain?” Jon said.

“The animals,” Mike said. “They’re suffering the same problem.”

“Maybe they have nanites too,” Jon said.

“Do you realize how large that data base would have to be?” Mike said. “That would be almost impossible.”

“Never thought about that,” Jon said. He was a bit disappointed, he was sure he had found the problem.

“Let me look at it and see what I find, okay?” Mike asked. “Anything is possible, so let’s take it one step at a time. The nanites are part of the problem or they would be fixing whatever is wrong. The fact that they’re not doing that tells me something isn’t right.”

“Ok, keep me posted,” Jon said. “I’ll let you get back to work.”

“Stay safe,” Mike said as the communication was shut down.

“You don’t really think Andara will submit to medical examination willingly do you?” Mark said.

“Oh, I have my ways,” Jon said. “When I’m done he’ll be begging to have one.”

Mark laughed and then said, “I bet he will, knowing you.”

Jon winked as he smiled.

“Sir,” an officer said. “A Eutharan patrol has found it.”

Mark jumped quickly and stepped up to the small table as he spoke, “Bring it up.”

The table came to life as a map blinked into existence. “This is her fighter,” the officer said. “Our two man teams say there’s no sign of her though.”

“You tell our teams to converge on that location and secure the fighter,” Mark said. “Have patrols start a search pattern out from that location.”

“Echo Leader,” the officer said. “You’re to secure the fighter. Back up is in route to your location. No one is to approach the wreckage.”

‘Roger that,’ Echo Leader said. ‘However, the ship is intact with visible signs of damage to the engines.’

“That’s good news,” Jon said.

“Very good news,” Mark said.

‘Command, we’re under fire from the Eutharan patrol,’ Echo Leader said over the sounds of gun fire. ‘What are your orders?’

“Tell them to return fire and hold out until back up arrives,” Mark said. Mark turned to another officer as he continued. “Get the other teams moving double time and get support fighters in the air and moving to that location. Issue a general weapons free to all groups.”

Jon shook his head in disbelief as the orders were passed along. He didn’t see Nefeit stand up and move to the back of the room. Mark was watching her out of the corner of his eye as she spoke to someone through her com unit. Mark spun and grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. Nefeit's startled look greeted him.

“Just who do you think you're talking too?” Mark said.