Tomorrow's Paradise World: Colonize (16 page)

“Well, I am afraid that, will not be possible. Our brig is only large enough to hold about one hundred people. Usually, there is no one in it. Right now, that is the case, as we only awakened about six hours ago. Although this is an unusual request, as you know I trust you implicitly, so I will make arrangements to hold the others. How many are there?”

“We estimate about one thousand five hundred.”

“That is a lot, but we will make the arrangements. I will have to ask security to do some recruiting, but we will make it possible. When will you need all of this ready?”

“Over the course of the next couple of days. It will take quite a while, to get their ships towed over to your ship. Do you have ships available to help us with that effort?”

“Yes, we have sixty cargo vessels and fifteen shuttles, all at your service.”

“Great, do you have any pilots that can pilot a battle ship?”

“I think I can find a few. Most pilots could handle that task anyway.”

“That is true. Thank you so much Andrea, it should cut our time in half. Probably, we will have everyone safe and sound within two days. I’ll see you when you arrive.” Victor turned off communication with the mothership.

Victor said to Ylil, “It is not hard to guess, who was in that ship that got away. He was fooling us all along. Leading us to believe he was in the mothership. It is unfortunate that he will return to Homeworld, with all of his recordings of the entire battle.”

“You were right he is an intelligent, clever man and thanks for calling me brilliant. Andrea was nice. It was really good to see that a captain of so many people could be such a good person considering that she came from the same challenging background as you. I look forward to getting to know her more.”

“Yes, it is very fortunate that we are dealing with her and don’t worry, I’ll tell you all about why we trust each other so, as she said, implicitly.”

By the time Victor talked to Taerg there were only fifteen battleships not disabled. He halted his efforts as Captain Harvey took command, ordered them to land in their docking bays and await further instructions. Taerg’s three squadrons returned to base without a single scratch.

All the pilots and co-pilots were completely exhausted. In fact, everyone on the base was tired. It was agreed that they would get eight hours of rest before joining Captain Harvey in her coordinated rescue efforts. All except Victor, Ylil and Taerg. After they had their rest, they would board the
Luminous
and see what those four squadrons had done on the far side of the planet. None of them had good feelings about what they might find. They all remembered that after the thirty two battleships came from around the planet, they had first landed on their mothership, probably to replenish weapons. After they investigated the villages, then they would visit the grand council and make an eagerly anticipated report.

*              *              *

As Andrea walked into the meeting room to talk with Victor and his beautiful wife Ylil, she smiled. She was glad to see that her mentor and friend from the academy was well. She had heard so many rumors that caused her to be concerned. She knew that these rumors were untrue. Lies told and spread by Captain Anderson and his minions. This was the reason why she volunteered, to command Mothership.

Like Victor, she was a computer engineer and computer scientist that excelled in leadership abilities. However, she reminded herself that she was no genius. Not like Victor. He was by far the most brilliant man she ever knew. His mentoring, had lifted her up above so many others in their fields of expertise.

Her friend Jim would be proud of her, if he was still among the living. She remembered when he was killed, faithfully doing his duty to the very end. She recalled the final conversation, she had with him. Victor was there. He was desperately trying to convince him not to obey orders. Jim was Victor’s friend too. They were all a part of the same science class at the academy. Victor was their senior mentor, already with a degree in computer engineering. He was assisting the professor of the class, while waiting to be placed in the computer science, academy division.

Victor told him that if he obeyed the orders he was given from the professor and the professor’s military friends, he was certain to die. This experiment of death, had wildly ran out of control, influenced by the ambitions of the commanding officer. Jim would not listen to reason. For that he died. The terrible thing, was that she was there to see him die. So was Victor. It was horrible. She could vividly remember his screams. Just thinking about it raised the hair on her arms and the back of her neck.

The lessons of this tragedy, would be embedded on both their memories forever. She learned a number of important things that day. One, that Victor Marcus truly was a good person. The other, be very careful during command. Prudence was needed when being commanded and especially while making command decisions. Always be open to other’s opinions. People's lives were sometimes at stake. When they were, be extra cautious. Make sure orders were as sound and as safe as possible. Regardless if they are for, or from you.

So far, no one had died under her command. She owed much of her success to Victor and this experience. She was grateful that her command was in the science branch of the academy and not in the military. She knew that Victor had changed for the better as a result of this experience as well. After the tragedy, they became good friends. They were never romantically involved, but they knew each other enough to completely trust one another. Victor was a remarkable man. She had great admiration for him. To her, it was an awesome thing, just to be in his presence.

“Victor, it is too bad that people lost their lives in the battle. I saw some of the wrecks outside your base. I know that you did your best to try to avoid this, but you cannot control another person’s actions when they do something foolish. We could not control Jim’s decision, could we?”

“No we could not and you are sounding a lot like Taerg.”

“Who is Taerg?

“A very good friend and a gifted pilot. He rescued me, when my shuttle crashed on the planet. You would like him. As soon as everything calms down, I’ll introduce you to him and his family.”

“Victor, I heard a lot of bad things on Homeworld about you. I knew they were not true. I knew from experience, that captain Anderson is a ruthless man. That is why I volunteered for this mission. Therefore, my being here is no coincidence. I should have realized that you would be okay, but I had to make sure.”

“I understand, I could not think of someone I would rather have in charge of so many lives, on your mothership. What is she called?”

“She is called
Actuator
.”

“That is appropriate for our present circumstance considering we really need to make things happen. I would like to fill you in on what is actually the true situation here, in this solar system.”

“I look forward to it.”

And so it went. Victor and Ylil brought her up to speed on everything. The meeting only lasted two hours and then Andrea went back to the
Actuator
, to resume command of rescue operations.

Chapter Fifteen: Village

After they had rested up and had a good meal for their morning breakfast, the pilots and co-pilots had taken off to join the rescue efforts. Victor and Ylil prepared to board the Luminous. They had taken some medical supplies, food and water to help anyone that might need it. Hopefully, these provisions were not necessary, but they all had a feeling that someone would need them.

Those that had survived the crash landing of their battleships near the moon base were gathered up. With nowhere to go, most willingly surrendered. They were held in the cargo bay of the
Luminous
. Victor, Taerg and Ylil brought them to the mothership, where they would be held until the consequences of their actions were decided. However, there were some that were stubbornly refusing to surrender.

During the capturing process of these, a serious incident occurred. Lieutenant Julia Dixon was in charge of gathering these individuals up. She had fifty people assisting her. Taerg was one of them. While she was escorting this one pilot, he suddenly broke free and went into the wreckage of one of the battleships. She and three others including Taerg, went after him. As they were climbing through the wreckage Taerg said, “It is too quiet. Why can’t we hear him?”

Julia said, “Keep alert and be ready for anything.”

They quietly crept through more debris. When they heard the loud yelling of a man’s voice behind them, they both turned in shock. Only to see at the last moment, a piece of metal swinging down. It glanced off the side of Julia’s head and hit her hard on the top of her shoulder. She immediately fell to the ground. The pilot lifted up his weapon to strike her again, but the piece of metal was ripped away from his hands. Taerg threw the piece of metal away. He then grabbed the man with both of his hands gripping his upper arms just below the shoulders. Taerg lifted the man up off the ground. He spun the man around in mid-air and his powerful hands once again gripped the helpless man by his upper arms. He carried the screaming kicking man over to the damaged hull of one of the battleships. He firmly held the man against it and called for someone to put restraining cuffs on him.

Then as soon as they had the man in their custody. He ran over to Julia. She was unconscious. He could see that she was bleeding from a nasty wound above her ear. He said, “Julia, are you okay?” She did not respond. As he gently picked her up he noticed that her shoulder was bending in a slightly unnatural way. So he lifted her arm and put it on top her torso. He carried her with his right hand behind her knees and his left behind her back. They had a small medical facility in one of the offices. He brought her there. When medical scans had been performed it was discovered that she had a broken bone in her shoulder and she had a concussion. She regained consciousness while they were performing these scans. The first thing she asked was, “Was anyone else hurt?” Taerg assured her that she was the only one harmed and that she would recover soon from her injuries. He told her the man was restrained and in custody.

The trip to the other side of the planet was short, because the moon’s orbit had worked in their favor. It was a brief and quiet trip. Everyone was thinking about what had happened to Julia. Something Taerg said before they left the base had Victor in deep Contemplation. He had his shoulder guard off and he was thoughtfully staring at it. Taerg had said, “Too bad people didn’t have shields.”

Victor said out loud, “Why can’t people have shields?”

Both Ylil and Taerg gazed at him curiously. Taerg said, “What do you mean?”

“We know with a certainty that there will be future confrontations with the Kastat forces. There is bound to be more physical altercations at some point. There are some people in the military that are highly trained in hand to hand combat. This would give them a great advantage over us. We are not trained in such a way and we would not employ such techniques to harm another person. So why not build personal shield devices that we could set up on light armor? We could wear this armor during a battle and be safe from various weapons. My people have hand lasers and other types of weapons. In fact, we should gather these up from the wreckage for study purposes. A personal shield would protect us from these.”

Both Ylil and Taerg agreed that it was a good idea. The grand council would likely give them permission to develop this type of technology. The people on the moon base would be even safer with such armor and personal shields protecting them.

They had the circuit of villages already displayed on a map, in the forward display. Fortunately, this part of the planet had large oceans, so there were not as many villages as the more populated other side. There were only about a thousand villages for them to investigate. They would simply fly over them and the updated sensors would reveal to them, whether the shields were still intact. If they found one that did not have any shields, they would land nearby. Victor and Ylil would enter the village and offer any help that may be needed. They all knew that there would be a lot of explaining to do in that scenario. People would be afraid. While they were doing this, Taerg would check the rest of the circuit of villages and return. If needed, they would travel to another village and offer help and so on. All the while, they would be recording everything for the grand council to review, when they made their report.

After about five and a half hours of checking, they found one village without shields. It was a medium sized village. Infrared scans indicated that there were four hundred thirty-one villagers in the homes and surrounding area. Apparently, no extensive damage had been inflicted on the village itself. Nevertheless, there was a small crater, where the well was supposed to be. This was somewhat of a relief, because they thought they might find a village that had been reduced to nothing but rubble.

However, when Victor and Ylil finally were able to talk to the terrified villagers, they realized that the situation, was worse than it looked. Nine villagers had been killed. Sadly, two were little children, a girl and a boy. They were brother and sister. Although the parents had other children, they were heartbroken to say the least. The rest were adults. One single female adult. One married couple. As well as two husbands of now devastated widows.

When Victor and Ylil first approached the village, the people were very frightened. They had observed two strangers disembark a huge ship that immediately took off again. They did not know the difference between the battleships and the one that these two strangers had departed from. They mistakenly thought that Victor and Ylil, were responsible for their horrible suffering. Victor never felt so terrible in all his life. The villagers were gazing at the both of them with various expressions on their faces. Some were angrily glaring, but no one did anything threatening at all. Those who had lost someone close were experiencing deep emotional pangs of grief. These were easily recognizable. Others were looking at them with untrusting expressions on their face. It took hours, before they started to trust them. Victor’s accent did not help at all, he realized this, so he was less vocal than normal. He asked Ylil to do most of the talking. The turning point of gaining their trust came, when Ylil started to cry. The tears were streaming down her face, while speaking with the widows and parents. The father of the single female adult, approached Victor. All he could do is say one word, “Why?”

There was so much emotion in his trembling voice that it struck Victor, to the very core. He stared down at the ground and his chin started to quiver. He tried to hold back the tears, but it was impossible. He looked at the man and said with an unsteady voice, “I don’t know. I am, so sorry.” That was all he could articulate in reply to such a profoundly sad question. What else could he say? Feeling utterly inadequate for this circumstance, he reached out and hugged the man. The man was sobbing into his shoulder and he kept repeating that one word. That one word that Victor would never forget, “Why?”

They did their best to help them, in spite of feeling not qualified. Some were injured and needed medical treatment. Their medical supplies helped these ones. They informed the villagers that they would report what happened to the grand council. Victor and Ylil assured them of their return, with further instructions from the grand council and more supplies.

Taerg arrived, just as the sun was setting. They decided to leave right away, although many offered them a place to stay. Victor thought to himself, “These people are absolutely amazing. Even after all that has happened to them, they still offer hospitality.”

It was then and there that he promised himself, that he would spend the rest of his life dedicated to protecting these wonderful people.

They arrived docking the
Luminous
in the
Chamber of the Past
, during the afternoon. The people were instructed by the grand council to supply a wagon, which sped up their journey. They spent that night, in Taerg’s old house.

Interestingly, the people of his village had looked after the place impeccably. No one had taken over his house for their own. All the people surrounded them the next morning, asking them questions. They were thrilled to meet Victor’s wife. Years earlier Victor had helped save children from a terrible house fire. This family all hugged him once again. The children had grown. Yenoh, the daughter who made him the high quality shirt was pleased to see he was wearing it. She inspected it to see if it was still okay while he declared to her that it was his favorite shirt and that it was very durable. While he was speaking with her, two little children started pulling his pant leg for attention. Victor kneeled down on one leg to be at eye level with them. Holding his arms wide open he said, “Yenoh, who are these two beautiful girls?” They ran into his arms saying, “Unca Vic!” He was pleased to find out that Yenoh was married and these little ones were her daughters. Everyone in the village were inviting them over. However, Taerg explained that they were here for only the day and would probably be leaving in the evening. The villagers were visibly disappointed. Victor Taerg and Ylil decided they would visit them a little more often.

As they traveled to meet with the grand council, they planned what they would say in their report. It would not be easy, this meeting would likely last well into the night.

After their report and viewing the highlights of their personal video mission recorders the grand council did something unusual. Victor, Ylil and Taerg all thought that the grand council members would leave after hearing their reports. Then reconvene after several hours and let them know what their decisions were. Not this time. This time, they wanted the three of them there, when they made their decisions.

All the members were visibly saddened, when they heard the terrible news concerning the nine casualties of the village. Appropriate arrangements were made to help them, including a personal visit of a grand council member. The other villages that were fired upon, were also in need of help. For them too, their world had become a different place. It was decided that they needed to know the truth about what was going on. Grand council members would visit them too. The grand council would become far busier now. It was agreed, that from these villages would come the future selections of those who would join the defense team on the moon.

The two issues that took the most amount of time to settle were: What to do with twenty four thousand colonists? Also, what would they do with the one thousand five hundred people who were part of the battleship crews?

They decided that the twenty four thousand colonists would be sent to various villages across the planet, to learn the language and the culture. After a year of this total immersion of language and culture, they would make a choice. Either they could remain and become a permanent part of the village, or they could help out with the defense efforts on the moon base. Victor knew that many would fall in love with the village life. Some though, would want to offer their skills to protect what they had grown to love.

As for the battleship crews. They would not be permitted to stay on the planet or the moon. The risk of treachery would be too great. They would be deprived of all technology. Even their personal video mission recorders. For now, they would be held on the mothership, until preparations were made to send them to the moon that orbits the second planet. Their assignment when ready, would be mostly farming. The preparation of the moon, for further colonization in the future would also be a part of their assignment. This would be challenging, but hopefully it would keep them out of trouble. They would have no ships available to them. The only technology they were authorized to possess would be a communication station. Every three months, a report of their status to a ship entering orbit could be a way to voice their concerns. If they were in need of supplies, they would be dropped. The provision of videos to view on the way there and documents to study while there, would educate them on their new system of government. Village councils. They would fall under the authority of the grand council, like everyone else in the solar system. They were told that they could live happy lives, if they cooperated. In fact, if they worked hard, they could be almost like the people in the villages of the planet fittingly called,
Paradise
. Life would be more challenging because of the harsh environment. However, if they worked hard with the equipment, plants and animals provided, they could make their surroundings a better place. They would be supplied various types of vegetation from Paradise and also some non-invasive domesticated animals. So, even though some of them had done terrible things, they were still treated fairly and could live productive lives.