Euthara (23 page)

Two of the Captains let the smiles grow on their face while the rest looked around at each other as if trying to figure the whole thing out.

“I’m sorry,” Jon said. “Yes, I’m upset my sister is a captive and being held against her will. Not only that, but also the fact the King seems bent on executing her. I ask you who here would feel different?”

That seemed to calm the assembled Captains and wiped the grins off the faces of the two Jon had already marked as trouble makers.

“The facts are, her flight group was engaged over my Embassy grounds without provocation,” Jon said. “They were defending themselves and the Embassy territory. The King is also using her as a pawn against me to make me leave before I can help you. If I leave now and never come back he’ll send her to me safely, minus my bond mate that is.

“If you toss in the fact she’s a Princess through my bond with Deatra, now the King is holding royalty against every law set down. Then if that isn’t enough, he refuses to allow Deatra to speak to me or return to my side. Another law he’s breaking by holding my bond mate from me. He’s seems to like laws and rules when it suits him and break them when it doesn’t.”

“A false bond that invalidates your claim to the throne and removes the title of princess from your sister,” one of the trouble making Captains said with a smirk. “That will soon be corrected from what I understand.”

Jon’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the two sitting on the other end of the table. “Just what do you mean by that?”

“Nothing more than the Princess Deatra will soon be free of your influence,” the Captain said.

“First the bond is real,” Jon said. “I have no mental powers and she was the one who bonded to me. Second, if anything happens to her...” Again Nefeit squeezed his arm and gave him a look.

The Captain stood up as he spoke, “You’ll what?” Guards shifted in the room, waiting for any sign of aggression.

“Sit down Captain,” Jon said.

“I’m done with this little farce,” the Captain said. “I’ll take my ship and crew and leave as you said I could.”

“Sit your ass down Captain! I said you could do that after this meeting, and this meeting isn’t over,” Jon said. He stood up and planted both fists on the table top as he leaned towards the Captain.

“You’ve proved nothing here and, as far as I’m concerned, you’re not my Prince and you’re meddling in things you have no right too,” the Captain said he turned towards the door and started to walk to it. “So, I will take my ship and crew and leave this station. You have no right to hold me or my crew. This is an international station and per the laws of this station I can come and go as I please.”

“No you can’t,” Jon said. “I’m lord and master here and I revoked that treaty when I took command of this station. This station and everything on it is ADF property now and you are under my laws. Furthermore, I have every right to hold you. I’m going to hold you and put you on trial and then execute you.”

The Captain stopped and spun around as he spoke, “You have no right to revoke that treaty. It’s was enacted by the ouncil of planets and it takes a member from each race sitting on a council to change any law on this station. I laugh at the thought of you putting me on trial. What crimes am I supposed to have committed?”

“Oh, we’ll start with murder,” Jon said.

“I’ve never killed anyone,” the Captain said.

“You command a vessel and you’ve never had to fight anyone or send someone to their death?” Jon said.

“Well of course I’ve been in battles,” the Captain said.

“Murderer,” Jon said.

“Same could be said for you or anyone else in this room,” the Captain said.

“We’re not talking about anyone but you,” Jon said. “You can’t arrest me as this is my station and I’m the King here.”

The Captain looked around the room for support and found none. The other Captain, that had seemed to be in support of him, looked away when their eyes met. The Captains that were neutral to the whole situation and starting to see the light of what Jon was saying just frowned at him.

“Now for the last time,” Jon said. “Plant your ass in that chair or I’ll have you arrested. The choice is yours to make, but make it quick.”

The Captain hesitated as he tried to decide just how serious Jon was.

“I’m being deadly serious,” Jon said. “Sit your ass down right now!”

If there was one thing Deatra taught him was that authority and being in control of a situation matters in situations like this, especially with the Eutharan people. With his title up in the air it was far more important to press the advantage and show them who was in charge. It was a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation for them. If Jon was to be the next King and they didn’t do as he said then they would have problems down the road when he took control.

“Fine,” the Captain said as he took his seat again.

“Now to continue,” Jon said as he looked over the table of people. “I think the King and some of his higher ups are the cause of the population decrease. I’m working on finding out what the cause is and if he’s connected.”

“Preposterous!” one the two Captains said.

The other four Captains just looked at each other as if they were considering what Jon was saying. So far everything they heard somehow fit with what they had seen in the past few years since things had gotten worse.

“How dare you accuse the King of anything like this,” the other Captain said.

“Unfounded accusations from someone who has been here for only a month or less. You have no idea what’s going on here…”

“There are four pregnant women on Ghost Station,” Jon said as he cut the Captain off.

“Congratulations,” the Captain said. “What’s so unusual about that?”

“They’re all Eutharan,” Jon said as he watched the reactions around the table. “Two of Deatra’s handmaidens and now two females that wanted to join their bond mates.”

The four that seem to be sided with Jon started whispering among themselves. While the other two Captains clamped their mouth shut so tight their lips turned white.

“We’ve also isolated the cause of the problems,” Andie said as she stared at Jon.

Surprise crossed Jon’s face as he took in what Andie had just said. She hadn’t had time to tell him before the meeting and figured now was as good a time as any. It had taken her whole team two weeks to figure out what the cause was, and now they were working on a cure for it. It didn’t look good from what they had discovered about the contagion so far.

“Please continue,” Jon said.

“Well,” Andie said as she stood up. “We know it only affects the females making them infertile. It works over a prolonged exposure and takes about four months to fully set in.”

“The nanites would stop any foreign substance from taking hold,” one of the two Captains said. “That’s what they’re designed to do.”

“I was getting to that,” Andie said.

“I’m sure you were,” the Captain said.

“How about you shut up and be quiet so we can get this done in timely fashion,” Andie said as she glared at him. “You both are doing nothing but wasting our time here.”

“Just who do you think you are?” the Captain said.

“I’m the person that’s about to drug your ass so all you can do is listen and watch if you and your cohort don’t shut your mouths this instant,” Andie said. “If you don’t believe me say one more word during this meeting.” Andie pulled a hypodermic injector from her pocket and twirled it in the palm of her hand as she gave them the best evil grin she could muster. The Captain’s mouth started to open and Andie arched an eyebrow and took a step towards him. He quickly closed his mouth and crossed his arms as he sat back in his chair his friends followed suit with a pale face.

“That’s what I thought,” Andie said as she pocketed the hypodermic injector. “Now, as was brought up, the nanites can cope with some of the toxins. But, the rate at which they are introduced was high enough that the nanites, after a while, couldn’t cope. Sure, they could protect the person for a month or so but eventually the saturation in the host’s system became too much even for them.”

“Any idea if it is natural or engineered?” Jon said. He was still grinning about the event between Andie and the two Captains.

“Engineered for sure,” Andie said. “It’s a targeted toxin and specifically designed to do its job and nothing else. It looks for specific markers in a host to know if it should attack that host or not. For example, every race, except Humans, are immune to its effects. This is because Humans and Eutharans are very close cousins. We’ve discovered the first stages in all Humans that have been on the planet. Males have much lower levels as the toxin kills itself. Most Eutharan males that have been exposed for a long time show no signs and we’ve actually found markers that tell the toxins to self destruct.

“The effects carry on to the female animals on Euthara because they share enough of the base traits to make the toxin react. At least that’s what we think; it’s possible it was an unintended effect by who ever made the toxin. I think it was engineered to lie dormant in plants and animals as a delivery method to the population except it effected them too. However, that’s just my theory and I can’t prove it.

“One more thing, if a host is removed from the continued contamination the nanites can remove the toxin and the host returns to normal. It seemed to be engineered to do this as if the makers wanted to be able to turn it off and allow nature to take its course once again as if they had some agenda.”

“Interesting,” Jon said.

“Oh, you haven’t heard the interesting part,” Andie said.

“There’s more?” Jon said.

“Not much but we think we have the origin of the toxin narrowed down,” Andie said. “It’s still a large area but it’s a starting point for us.”

“Really, that’s amazing. How did you manage that so quickly?” Jon said.

“By accident,” Andie said. “Your little dust up at Euroth provided us the link. We’re providing medical services and as such we’re running blood work ups. Every person in Euroth has three times the amount of toxins in their system as found anywhere else. So, one of the delivery systems is in or around there.”

“What do you mean ‘one of the delivery systems’?” Jon said as he arched his right eyebrow. “You think there are more?”

“Probably, the planet is pretty large. and I think it would take more than one delivery system,” Andie said. “We’re working on something to counteract the toxin, but we’ve been coming up empty. It’s rather hardy and seems to alter itself to counteract anything we do to combat it. That’s one of the reasons we’re leaning towards it being engineered and not natural. Everything we’re learning about it screams molecular engineering. If we could figure out what it was before it was turned into what it is now we might be able to design something to stop it.”

“Or if we find out where it’s being produced we can stop it that way too,” Jon said as he leaned back and stared at the two now silent Captains. “You all can draw your own conclusions on what is happening on Euthara now that you know as much as we do. I beg you all to look at all the facts we have presented, then do a bit of your own investigation and draw your own conclusions.”

“Very interesting finds. I would like a couple days here with access to all your data so that I can come to a conclusion,” Barle said. “Although, I don’t know what difference we can make as we’re only starship Captains and have no real authority.”

“I’m not here to kill Eutharans,” Jon said. “I’m here to help your people, and if all of you can see there’s something going on, then I know I’m on the right track. It also means I don’t have to worry about a fight up here. Then you can report your findings to your higher ups, do more investigation and report on up the chain. Maybe we can make progress together and fix what’s wrong here. I don’t know if the King and the Royal Court are involved or not, but I’m prepared to cross that bridge when I get there.”

One of the two Captains decided to speak up. He was eying Andie warily when he spoke as if waiting for her to make a move. “You’re asking every Captain at this table to switch allegiance to you and away from the King. That is a treasonous act and punishable by death to any involved, including you.”

“Only if I’m found not to be bond mate to Deatra,” Jon said as he smiled. “Which I’m sure the King will see it’s invalidated. Even if something goes wrong, everyone here would be a part of the ADF and would have a home. I’m not in the habit of leaving people hanging out to dry.”

“You’re forcing a situation on the King so that he’ll have to choose one way or the other on your status as an heir,” Barle said. “The only way he can touch you is if he finds you bonded.”

“True and that also creates a problem for him as, if I die, so does Deatra his daughter,” Jon said. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair.

“You’re playing a dangerous game,” Barle said.

Jon said, “Maybe, but so are the King and his court. If he’s responsible, or someone in the royal court is, they’re guilty of genocide. He’s practically doing that with the Ga’sahde anyway. He’s opening up Euthara to any and all scavengers in the galaxy if he continues this silly rejection of them.”

All the Captains nodded, even the two who seemed opposed to Jon.

“I don’t want you to take at face value everything that has been said here. All medical and military references will be available to all of you while you decide. This includes the flight recorders of my fighters and your fighters where my sister was downed,” Jon said as he leaned back towards the table and unfolded his arms. “I even have access to the data collected by the traffic control on Euthara. You’ll see everything about that fight is as I said it happened. I have nothing to hide or anything to lose here. Your people have everything to lose, and some of your people have plenty to hide. All I’m asking is for you take a look at what I have said and the data I have provided and then make a choice.”

The Captains all looked at each other and nodded.

“Good this meeting is over for now. My people have already shown your crews to their temporary living quarters,” Jon said as he stood up. “These guards will show you to your quarters with your crews and I’ll make arrangements for you to have access to all the information you need. You will also have permission to contact any resources you need on Euthara. I’ll give you some time to look it over and then we’ll meet back up and you can choose what you want to do.”