Steven Gordon 3: The Modloch Empire (24 page)

Everyone there already knew about the
evening ball, but most had decided not to attend. What they didn’t
expect was the delivery of hand written invitations in their own
language on embossed golden cards. The cards were sealed in a
decorative envelope; most didn’t know what to do with it until they
saw the Emperor open it. They followed suit. Inside was a green
acceptance ticket that the Emperor handed back to the young woman
who presented it to
him
. ‘If you have no wish to attend just
hand the card back.’ He told his guests.

It was the first time many of them had
seen paper outside a museum. It had the impact that was desired and
not a single card was placed back on the silver presentation
trays.

CHAPTER 30

Lady Jane now had a small army of staff
who fussed about and did her bidding. Protocol standards were on
high alert. With so many different races and so many different
standards set by each race, she thought it was a miracle no one had
been offended yet. She in turn was helped by the Modloch master of
ceremonies who had his own army of helpers. He helped keep her on
track. He was a wizened old Modloch who had served the Emperor’s
family for his whole life. A strange admiration had grown between
the two.

Of course he thought it unfitting for a
lady and the sister of a Queen to be doing such lowly work. Yet he
admired her for it. She in turn enjoyed his no nonsense approach
and his very high standards. Together they were a force to be
reckoned with.

Behind the scenes Humans and Modloch
ran in terror at their approach. All except for one.

Jane scowled. ‘Is it that time already
Sergeant Kelly?’

‘
Sure is
lady.’

The master of ceremonies grasped her
shoulder with his wizened old hand, ‘You have other duties to
attend to my lady.’

She sighed in resignation. ‘Thank you
Transalis. I shall attend them forthwith. I will see you again
after the meal.’

He bowed, ‘I shall look forward to
it.’

She took a moment to check her
appearance and took Kelly’s proffered arm. Neither of the two
seemed, from their outward appearance anyway, to be pleased with
the arrangement. Kelly stood out as handsome in his second world
war dress uniform. He was, however, a little self-conscious of all
the medals he was wearing compared to everyone else. He had already
received many strange glances.

They joined the line as they entered
the dining hall. To begin with the guests weren’t quite sure what
to do. The master of announcements explained what a buffet was to
them and why this particular form of Human dining had been chosen
for this evening.

The aliens sniffed the air as though
they were in heaven. Kelly thought it smelled a lot like his old
hayloft. Servants appeared and held plates for the guests. In fact
they were more like large bowls. The Humans had added a little
surprise: the bowls for the top guests were made of wood and many
exclaimed delight. Each guest took a sample of the food offered
then if they liked it had a little placed in their bowls. The bowls
soon gleamed on the tables.

The Human guests peeled off to a
different table where more edible fare was provided. Jane kept an
open eye on the guests and was pleased to see that they returned to
the tables many times. One sat close to her and Kelly. After
chomping away for a good ten minutes he leaned over. ‘Kind Lady,
could you tell me the name of this plant again?’

Jane eyed the hardy stalk in his mouth.
‘It is called sugar cane sir.’

‘
Delightful,
absolutely delightful.’

She wasn’t quite sure what species the
guest was of. Nor did he look anything like any creature from
Earth. Large molars showed as he chomped down on the cane. His
mouth was beak-shaped but soft. His skin was a midnight black, and
she could just make out some kind of hard scales sticking up out of
his collar.

‘
You should be
careful sir. The sweet sugars that come from this cane are not very
good for your teeth.’

‘
That doesn’t
surprise me.’ He slurped. ‘Nothing this good ever is. We have
nothing like this on our world.’

‘
My family used to
grow a little of it.’ Admitted Kelly.

‘
You don’t say. On
government contract?’

‘
No sir we owned our
own land. A homestead really. We had enough land to grow crops to
feed ourselves as well as a cash crop of sugar cane. It took in
enough revenue to see us from year to year.’

‘
Do you eat it like
this?’

Kelly laughed, ‘Yeah we sure did. We
can’t swallow it though, just sucked the sugar right out of
it.’

‘
Is this sugar you
are talking about a by-product?’

‘
It sure is. We get
many different types of sugar. You get molasses, or you can refine
it into white sugar and all the different grades of sugar in
between. You can also turn it into alcohol.’

‘
Now that might be
something to try. Will we be provided with this later?’

‘
When the dance
starts, alcohol will be provided.’

‘
What is the name of
this alcohol from the sugar?’

‘
Rum.’ Kelly
provided. ‘Dark or white. I prefer the dark.’

‘
I am looking forward
to that now. Excuse me but my plate is empty.’ He flicked a wrist
at a servant who approached and lifted his bowl.

Kelly looked round, ‘We seem to be a
bit of a hit. The food anyway.’

‘
It is hardly
surprising.’

Kelly turned his attention back to
Jane. ‘How so?’

‘
Haven’t you been
taking any notice at all?’

Kelly sighed, ‘I have a job to do lady.
I have spent my days and nights stuck in a freighter in orbit. I
think this is my third visit to the planet and it will be as brief
as the last two. I haven’t had much time to investigate the
cultural history of this planet or any other either. I couldn’t
really care less about these people or their diet. I was, however,
interested in your take on it.’

‘
You really like the
sound of my voice that much?’

‘
I like women, and if
I actually have to talk to one then I would rather it was an
intelligent woman, and not some dumb broad who can’t think past her
next pair of nylons or how she looks.’

‘
You are not a nice
person sergeant.’

‘
Never claimed to
be.’

Jane was eyeing him coldly but Kelly
didn’t flinch. ‘From what I can gather, this world was once full of
life as diverse as that on Earth. As the centuries passed the
Modloch race became dominant. Slowly they pushed out any
competition for food. The only animals to survive live in the most
inaccessible parts of the planet and in an environment that will
not support grass. Their success was also their own downfall.’

‘
I remember someone
saying it was the reason they took to space?’ Asked
Kelly.

‘
Yes, a bid to find
other planets that could support life and produce grass for the
masses. They did not fight with each other. Their only enemy was
famine.’

‘
Yeah. I was told
that’s why they began to build upwards.’

‘
Yes that’s right.
Every yard upwards was a yard of soil they could reclaim for crops.
Their diet was once a lot more diverse. Necessity led them to
produce the fastest growing grasses that contained the most
nourishment. Only the richest with their own private gardens could
produce anything other than grass. That is why those of the upper
classes tend to be taller and much better built that those of the
lower classes.’

‘
Because they can
afford to have food other than grass?’

‘
Food that gives them
more nourishment.’

‘
So we are giving the
rich a new source of nourishment.’

‘
I suppose you could
look at it that way . Although in my opinion, if the Human race is
to survive then we need to win these people over and take our place
within this galactic family.’

‘
Hearts and
minds.’

‘
In this case
stomachs.’

They found themselves laughing.

Kelly’s eyes seemed to take on a
faraway look; Jane noticed. ‘Are you OK Sergeant?’

‘
What? Oh,
sorry...’

‘
You were miles
away.’

‘
Yeah sorry; just one
of those moments that catch you by surprise.’

‘
Would you like to
share it?’

Kelly shrugged. ‘Nothing important
really; had a kid in my platoon once. He was mad about all this
science fiction stuff. Read all these magazines and trash novels
about aliens. I don’t know how many times I told him to get his
head straight and away from all that crap, or he was going to get
his head blown off.’

‘
What happened to
him?’

‘
He got his head
blown off on Omaha Beach on the sixth of June 1944. Didn’t even
make it halfway up the beach.’

‘
I’m sorry to hear
that.’

‘
He wasn’t the only
man to fall that day. He is in good company.’ Kelly took a deep
breath, ‘I was just thinking: now I am in his world. He would have
loved to have seen this place and all these different races. I just
wish he had survived to see it.’

Jane felt touched. ‘War is so brutal
and evil.’

‘
Sure is. It’s just a
pity that sometimes it is necessary.’

‘
Yes there is
that.’

Their mood was lifted a few minutes
later by the arrival of Mya and Rannalld. Mya grabbed Jane’s hand
and held it to her forehead, then did the same with Kelly; she was
very excited to see them. She and Jane were soon deep in a
conversation about her adventures. Kelly found he was being
assessed by her companion.

‘
I believe you met my
brother Gairloch.’ He eventually offered. It let Kelly know exactly
who he was.

‘
Sure did. He invited
me to dinner once with his officers.’

Rannalld nodded. ‘He wrote of the
meeting, and of the common sergeant that had more combat experience
than half the troops in the Modloch empire. I believe he admired
you greatly.’

‘
Your brother made me
feel very welcome. I liked him.’

‘
I would imagine
there are very few men of your status who have met a grand
admiral.’

‘
You might be
surprised by some of the people I have met.’

‘
Maybe I would. I
hear you have also met the Emperor.’

‘
He has appeared a
few times now, but he ain’t coming to see me.’

‘
I hear you have also
been aboard a number of my ships and at least three of my training
camps.’

‘
The Emperor asked us
to review your men and compare them and their training methods to
ours. Who are you, sir?’

‘
I am Grand Marshal
Rannalld, the commander of all of those troops. The funny thing is,
I was unaware of any of those visits until after they had
happened.’

Kelly realised his feathers had been
badly ruffled. ‘You will have to take that up your with your
brother sir. Our commanders did not think it was appropriate to
oppose him.’

‘
I have no doubt that
your commanders also wished for a full report on the battle
readiness of my men.’

‘
Of course they did
sir,’ Kelly didn’t see the point in lying. ‘We also sent the same
report to the Emperor.’

‘
Exactly the
same?’

‘
Exactly.’

Rannalld leaned forward on an elbow. ‘I
still haven’t seen it.’

‘
I think you will
soon enough sir.’

‘
Why do you think
that, Sergeant Kelly?’

‘
Because shit always
runs downhill sir.’

The two women had fallen silent,
feeling the undercurrent of tension between the two males. Mya
reached out. It snapped Rannalld’s attention away from Kelly.

‘
Is everything OK
Rannalld?’

He took a deep breath, ‘Yes of course
Mya, everything is fine.’ He turned back to Kelly. ‘Are our tactics
so different to those you Humans use?’

Kelly thought the question over; more
to the point, the wisdom of answering it. ‘From what I have heard
the Modloch fleet tactics are far more advanced than the Albany. On
that I cannot comment, simply because I have no idea how to conduct
that kind of battle.’ Kelly took a sip of water. ‘However, if our
armies were to meet in battle – Whether it be a land battle or a
ship to ship affair – we would hand your asses back to you in a can
sir.’

Rannalld was shocked. ‘Our infantry
isn’t trained to fight on land, only in space. There can be no
comparison there.’

‘
From a Human
perspective, it don’t really matter much sir. The simple fact is
the tactics the Modloch employ are useless against us.’

‘
In what way?’
Rannalld pressed.

‘
The tactics used by
your infantry or marines are very similar to those of the Albany.
You all like to gather together in a big bunch and
charge.’

‘
That is how it is
done, sergeant. Two beings, locked in mortal combat, the glory of
the charge, shoulder to shoulder with your comrades.’

‘
The Human race
stopped fighting like that a long time ago sir. During the battle
for this city we cut them down in their droves. In every open space
we came across we would find thousands of Albany waiting for us. We
went into cover, set up our section weapons and simply cut them
down when they charged. Our losses were minimal. We lost more men
in the tight corridors.’