The Unscheduled Mission (28 page)

On Park’s screen, two of the Alliance ships incandesced briefly under phaser fire and he gave his orders as well. “Terran Fleet, cease fire! Rebbert, can you hear me?”

“Switching to Alliance frequencies, Skipper.” Marisea reported. “Try again, sir.”

“Lord Rebbert, this is Parker Holman,” Park called. “Very nice to hear from you again, but what are you doing here?”

“Stopping a war, it seems,” Rebbert replied, “although it looked like you were starting to get a handle on it yourself.”

Park thought his ships had been caught in a losing situation, but he kept his mouth shut. It was possible none of the Alliance, Rebbert included, realized the danger the Terran ships had been in. All they knew was that four ships that should have been vaporized on the first volley had lasted… How long had they lasted? Park was fairly certain it was much longer than Ronnie had estimated.

“Did we?” Park replied, a slight grin on his face to mask his uncertainty.

“You managed to destroy a carrier ship,” Rebbert noted. “That’s the first time any has been lost in a small action like this. Your ships shouldn’t have been able to touch it.”

“Any survivors?” Park asked.

“We’re getting reports, yes,” Rebbert replied, “but one shot killed their engines and the other destroyed the bridge. Admiral Fillonstot is dead, I fear.”

“I hate to speak ill of the dead,” Park replied, “but good. I’ll do the same to any bastard who threatens to destroy the Earth.”

“Did he now?” Rebbert asked. “Interesting, that was well beyond the scope of his orders. Perhaps he was blustering, trying to intimidate you?”

“I like to think I’m an honorable man, my lord,” Park replied formally, “and an honest one. And I tend to assume others are like me. So if he said he wanted to destroy all the cities on Earth, I’m willing to take him at his word, and frankly it would not have been prudent to do otherwise.”

“Not worth the chance, I would agree,” Rebbert replied, “and I would do the same to any who threatened Dennsee. For that matter he was threatening my son as well, who just happens to be a duly appointed ambassador from an Alliance world as is Sartena, assuming she accepts her new assignment. The Diet would not have looked favorably on that. In fact, as of almost a week ago the Diet does not look unfavorably on Earth and the claims of its people.”

“Really?” Park asked. “Tell me about it.”

“I’ll go into detail when we reach Earth,” Rebbert promised, “but I’ve been busy building a coalition of allies in the Diet. It took a while and some of those on our side surprised even me.”

“It’s not entirely over yet,” Rebbert warned everyone several days later in Van Winkle Town. “Our majority in the Diet is slim and we have some powerful enemies, but for now we’re in pretty good shape, I should think.”

“But you brought an official inquisitorial squadron,” Terius pointed out. “This could still go badly, couldn’t it?”

“Only if you kill and eat some of the members,” Rebbert laughed.

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Terius replied, sounding serious, but was unable to keep a straight face when he added, “They’re too old, tough and stringy.”

“Well in two cases it wouldn’t be cannibalism even if you stretch the definition to include all human species,” Rebbert laughed. “Not every Alliance world is human, you know. Anyway, pending the results of this investigation, I think we have enough members of the Diet convinced that the best way to resolve our problems would be to make you a part of the Alliance.”

“Representing ourselves on the Diet?” Park asked pointedy.

“Hopefully soon,” Rebbert replied. “First there is a probationary period in which you are accepted as associate members of the Alliance.”

“What does that mean?” Terius asked suspiciously.

“Well, you can choose a representative from among the sitting Diet members,” Rebbert told him. “I hope you might allow me that honor, and we have declared that the Covenant is broken. You are no longer bound to the Earth. We agree that you own everything in interplanetary space. I’m sorry, but that does not include the Oort Cloud. Such regions are
 
considered intersystem territory in every system even though we understand that by scientific definitions they are fully a part of any stellar system.”

“Could be worse,” Arn shrugged. “So we can at least leave the system and see this Diet in action then?”

“You have the right to do so,” Rebbert replied, “but there are a few provisos. Some of our allies only joined us if you would agree to certain restrictions.”

“Such as?” Arn asked.

“They want you to return the two captured ships,” Rebbert replied.

“We paid dearly for
Turnabout
and
Fairplay
,” Park told him. “They attacked us and subsequently surrendered. That makes them our ships, especially after Captain Fizhbin broke his parole
and unsuccessfully tried to steal
Turnabout
.”

“That is very true,” Rebbert agreed. “Spoils of war and all that, but our coalition is not as strong as we would have liked and some key members are nervous at the prospect of Mer and Pirates able to travel intersystem at will. I’m sorry. It was the best I could do with such short notice. To keep those ships might have put some allies into the camp of our opponents and they are led by a small group of worlds from the galactic western end of the Alliance called the Premm.”

“The Premm?” Park asked.

“In their language it means “The True” and they are religious fanatics who control several worlds relatively near each other,” Rebbert replied. “They are human, yes, but, they firmly believe that Earth is diseased and must be disinfected by atomic fire. Their views have traditionally been respected by the Diet partially because the only way to hold the Alliance together is through mutual respect although rarely agreement, but also because while they are the most adamant in this matter there are
 
many who agree with their assessment of Earth people if not their solution.

“But these are more liberal times,” Rebbert continued, “so when this inquest delivers a favorable report, and I am sure it will, you will be able to take your places among us.”

“And
Turnabout
and
Fairplay
?” Park prompted him.

“Yes, you own them,” Rebbert agreed. “Not even the Premm would argue with that, but I think we might gain some important concessions if you surrender them.”

“We might?” Park asked, catching the conditional nature of the words. “I think we might also wait for a more substantial offer. Let’s not kid ourselves. We know why they want those two ships back. They have the star drive and I’m sure most of your Diet, allies and opponants both, understand that so long as we don’t have ships capable of interstellar flight any problem we represent is local. Right?”

“There are some who think along those lines,” Rebbert admitted. “And I do have an offer of substance in exchange for those two ships, but if you refuse, our coalition will crumble and the next attack may be more than even you can handle with your near-magical technology.”

“Magical?” Park laughed briefly, but abruptly sobered remembering that while the scientists of the Alliance probably knew things he could not even imagine, lost technologies like stasis would seem wonderous to them.

Furthermore Rebbert did not know just how close Park’s fleet had come to losing that battle. Ronnie had insisted on several trips outside the ship while they were headed back to Earth to inspect the hull. There was a horribly thin spot on the hull near the bridge although her crew had already replaced the plates there. The other three ships had similar damage and were in Quetso for their repairs.

“So,” Arn cut in, “What is the offer?”

“First is the official recognition of Mer and Pirate and Atackack as people,” Rebbert replied. “True people, that is. Not gene-locked abominations or what you called scam artists. The Atackack were always so considered but as stone-aged primitives they were not an issue for most of us.”

“There is nothing primitive about stone-age technology,” Park told him. “If you think there is, try making a stone axe sometime. And your information is dated. With the exception of the Kogacks, the Atackack can smelt copper and when they can find the tin alloy bronze and similar metals. It’s just that their long-time association with the Mer has made it mostly unnecessary. Why fabricate with bronze if you can trade for steel?”

“You said ‘First,’” Iris noted, “what else are we being offered?”

“Money,” Rebbert replied seriously. “The Diet has agreed to not only purchase those two ships back, but have acceded to your demand for one million years of back rent on Moon Base Lagina.”

“Collins,” Park corrected him. “Moon Base Collins. I never really expected them to cough up that much, though. Come to think of it, how much money is that?”

“Are you acquainted with our rates of exchange?” Rebbert asked.

“No at all,” Park admitted. “If you tell me it’s fair, though…”

“Very,” Rebbert nodded. “There are other such bases that have been leased in our history. Generally the terms of lease were service for service, but we were able to determine an average value. The amount is the greatest sum ever granted by the Diet at one time. In fact they will be paying it off for the next one thousand years, but on your agreement the first payment will be deposited along with those ransoms that have already been paid.”

“So we could buy our own ships then?” Marisea asked cleverly. She had been quietly sitting next to her father with Cousin on her lap and most of the people were startled to remember she was present.

“Sadly, no,” Danett told her. “I imagine there’s enough money in the first payment to buy a thousand interstellar ships, but you cannot buy one legally until you can prove you are capable of building one.”

“But it does mean I can keep my promise of one day showing you around Tzantsa,” Sartena told her.

“It seems we’ll all have to get a crash course on galactic economics then,” Park told him.

There were other minor points that Lord Rebbert discussed with them, but the first two were the ones most notable. After the meeting, however, Park and Iris, followed closely by Marisea and Cousin strolled over to the hanger in which Ronnie Sheetz was working.

“I saw you guys on the monitor,” she told them as they entered. “Looks like we got everything we wanted, huh?”

“Except a starship,” Park sighed. “How’s that coming along?”

“I’ve got the prototype drive slapped together,” she smiled. “And a probe to put it in. I think we can take
Phoenix Child
up next week, scoot out beyond Jovian orbit and see if I got it right. I’m fairly certain I did. It behaves normally in all circuit tests, it’s just that this close in to the primary, the Sun that is, it won’t drop into Otherspace, or whatever the Galactics call it.

“Don’t worry,” Ronnie continued with a confident laugh. “The three new ships will all have the star drive.”

“Good,” Park smiled. “I suppose I ought to let Arn and Terius know. They think they’ve traded all that away.”

“Terius doesn’t know me,” Ronnie replied, “but Arn should have known I’d have been studying the star drive since you dropped it in my hands. I learned enough in the first week to know how it works. Everything else has been learning to build the tools that could build the drive. Give us a year or two and we can check out our bank account in person.”

Morrack Nixixn was a thin little man with flame red hair and burning green eyes. Except for his excessively slim build, normal on his home world, Trohavn, he might even have looked like an original human. It was, in fact, a major tenet of his religion and that of the rest of those from the worlds of the Premm, that his people were as close to the Originals as possible given the vagaries of genetic drift.

Nixixn was seated in one of the caucus rooms on Centre, the Alliance world totally given over to the Diet of the Alliance of Confederated Worlds. He was alone, but not for very long. Two minutes after his arrival Carsag Voor, the representative from Graranao arrived and greeted him with an odd, arm spinning salute.

“We are the True,” Voor spoke aloud.

“The True,” Nixixn echoed formally. “Sit now. We have no time for ceremony. Tell me what you have learned.”

“No one knows where the Pirates came from,” Voior reported. “They look almost like us, you know.”

“Many species look almost like us,” Nixixn replied. “They are not Premm.”

“Only the True are Premm,” Voor recited one of the basic religious responses. “There is an archaeologist. He calls himself Farns. He wrote a paper that claims these Pirates predate the Originals.”

“Impossible!” Nixixn replied. “Then they would be the Originals.”

“Perhaps technically,” Voor shrugged, “if this archaeologist is correct, although he was careful to not make that claim. He only pointed out that their morphology and gene structure indicate they belong to a species that is older than any we acknowledge. It is very controversial and he has many detractors. He may be wrong.”

“Of course he is,” Nixixn replied. “No Original would associate with the Mer. They are abomination. No one of the True would and they were the first True.”

“Of course,” Voor agreed instantly. Nixixn came from the principle world of the Premm and thereby outranked him even though in the Diet all representatives were supposedly equal. Standing up to Nixixn could get him excommunicated. Voor shuddered inwardly at the thought. Excommunication required the death of the subject by the most painful means. “I am merely reporting what I learned about him.”

“Of course,” Nixixn nodded. “These Pirates are contained in that benighted system?”

“They have given up their stolen ships,” Voor reported. “They are trapped on Earth with the Mer.”

“They must remain so,” Nixixn pronounced. “It would be disaster should they get out. The Prophecy, you know.”

“I thought the Prophecy referred to the escape of Abomination,” Voor replied uncertainly.

“Those who ally with the Abomination are Abomination themselves,” Nixixn replied. “It would be best if we could clean the Original world right now.”