Twilight Serenade, page 11
part #6 of Earth Song Series
“We have another daughter,” she said.
Aaron nodded. He already knew, but he let his wife say it. Besides, if he said anything just then, he’d have broken down and cried like their new baby.
Minu looked around and realized they weren’t alone. A pair of Squeen were just outside the isolation shield of the medical bay. Aaron gave her a ‘later’ look, so she shrugged. Lilith floated a meter away, the look on her face one of utter and complete dumbfounded joy.
“That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. Can I see my sister?” she asked.
“When can we cut the cord?” Minu asked the MI.
“Whenever you are ready,” it replied as a scanner wand passed over the baby several times. A robot with laser arms stood by.
“No,” she said, gesturing the machine away and turning to Aaron. “Look on my equipment belt.” Minu said and gestured to where she’d dropped her clothing when the MI took over her care.
Aaron found her old combat knife on her belt. “This?” he asked, drawing the somewhat scarred blade. He recognized it. It was the same one she’d been through the trails with, taken her first life with, fought the Tanam highborn with, and carried on countless missions.
“Yes,” she said, nodding. “MI, will you sterilize the blade, please?”
A robot took the knife, disappeared into a wall slot, and emerged a moment later. The blade steamed slightly, but when Aaron took it gingerly, it was only warm to the touch. “Do you want to?” he asked.
“It should be the father,” Minu said and smiled. She was still light headed and disconcerted by the robots doing unknown things between her legs. “I’ve done the hard work.”
“Yes, you did,” he said. Minu opened the blanket, and a robot deftly clamped the cord on either side, a centimeter from the baby’s belly. With a quick easy slice, Aaron cut the cord and a robot cauterized it.
Lilith was obviously eager, something Minu had seldom seen from the mostly emotionless girl. As she floated closer, Minu felt the telltale flutter of the girl’s gravity neutralizing field. Lilith held out her arms, and Minu introduced the sisters.
“Do you have a name for her yet, Mom?”
“She’s Mindy,” Minu told her, “Mindy Groves.”
Aaron moved over and put an arm around his older daughter and one around his wife. Minu reached out and touched Lilith. And now they were four.
“Hello Mindy,” Lilith said seriously to the newborn, “I am Lilith, your older sister.”
“You know she can’t talk yet, right?” Minu asked.
Lilith looked at her confused, then with a little twinkle in her eye, she smiled.
“Nicely done,” Aaron chuckled. And then Mindy began to cry.
“Is she ill?”
“No,” Minu said. “She’s probably hungry.”
“Shall I have the MI produce something for her?”
“No,” Minu said and reached for her daughter. “I’ve got this.” She placed Mindy against her chest, and the baby began feeding enthusiastically.
“Oh,” Lilith said, looking nonplused, “I understand now.”
“If birthing is complete, we need to discuss issues,” the Squeen said, speaking for the first time.
* * * * *
Chapter 15
February 15th, 535 AE
Dervish Star System, Galactic Frontier
Against the better judgment of the MI, Minu insisted it give her some drugs to normalize her system and return some of her stamina. Aaron’s sudden and unexpected appearance meant the Squeen couldn’t wait for her to recover naturally.
Mindy had nursed from both breasts, puked a little, cried for a minute, then passed out. The MI temporarily took charge of her. “We will monitor your infant to be sure there are no lasting effects of the birthing.”
Minu was back in uniform and almost out the door when she suddenly stopped and turned around. “MI?”
“Yes, Commander Groves?”
“If my daughter is augmented or modified in any way or advanced in age so much as one day when I return, I will dig through this ship until I find your core, rip it out with my bare hands, and pound your circuits into smoking ruins. Do I make myself clear?”
“Perfectly.”
Minu nodded and exited the med bay. Aaron gave her a dubious look. The ship had synthesized a proper Chosen uniform for him, but the beard was still there.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked. Minu fell into his arms, her head against his chest, and sighed as his powerful arms encircled her.
“I am now,” she said. “That was quite the dramatic return, but your timing couldn’t have been any better.”
As they walked, Aaron gave told her the quick version of his adventures. How he was captured and interrogated. How the Tanam tech died trying to dissect the shock rifle, which made Minu grin. And how he was taken off-world on a ship and sent to parts unknown, only to have his ship attacked.
“That much jives with the Tanam’s story.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “The ship was all but destroyed. If I hadn’t managed to get into a storage locker that held a spacesuit, I would have been dead meat. After the battle, a Squeen boarding team found me and took me prisoner. At first, they thought I was working for the Tanam.”
Minu rolled her eyes and snorted. “Like that was a possibility.”
“I know, right? It wasn’t easy convincing them I wasn’t, so the captain of the ship that trashed the cats, the one that’s waiting to talk to you, decided to take me to meet his boss. You’ve met him.”
“Quick Finder?”
“And another one named Strong Arm.”
“What’s with those names?” Minu wondered.
“I think the translators struggle with their language. Anyway, the place they took me was like a gathering point in space. They have a huge fleet. And I mean simply, fucking massive! There must have been a thousand ships, but I couldn’t tell what kinds. I think a lot were support ships, freighters and such. But I’m sure there were also a lot of warships.”
Minu nodded and chewed her lip. It explained why no one ever encountered them on planets, not since she’d run into Quick Finder during the Tanam war.
“I talked with them but couldn’t convince them to take me home or even to a portal. They don’t much like going to planets. They said it’s not in their best interest.”
“How did you convince them?”
Aaron stopped outside one of the Kaatan’s conference rooms just before the automatic doors opened. “I offered to trade.”
“Trade what?”
He looked embarrassed and rubbed his beard. “Some of the ship-class EPCs from Dervish. I knew you’d be along sooner or later. I just didn’t expect you to have an alien battle fleet in tow. Sure Strike, the admiral inside, was pretty pissed about that. He wasn’t going to intervene until that weird jump rider showed up and started kicking ass.”
“That was yet another surprise during a surprising day.” Minu sighed and nodded. “Nothing is free in the galaxy.”
“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t think of any other way to get home.”
“I’d have given anything to have you back,” she said and rubbed his furry cheek, grinning a little. “This is interesting…”
“I was going to shave it off,” he said, but cocked his head when he saw the look on her face.
“No,” she said with a mischievous look. Minu took a deep breath and tried not to think about the condition her body was in and the drugs covering it up and stepped into the room.
Sure Strike was seated at the conference table with a tablet in one clawed hand. Seated next to him was a Squeen Minu didn’t recognize. As she entered, they both stood.
“Chosen Groves,” Sure Strike said with a slight bow, “I am Sure Strike, captain of the cruiser Octal 1, in command of the task force which relieved you. This is Tall Glyph, in command of our fighter squadrons and my second.”
Like his leader, Tall Glyph seemed like a typical Squeen. He was a little under a meter tall and a little plump with thick fur in shades ranging from brown to orange with touches of white. Minu committed the color patterns to memory, glad the Squeen were easier to tell apart than the Tog. Tall Glyph’s legs were short, but his arms were long and dexterous, nearly reaching the floor. His face could pass for that of a slightly more expressive squirrel down to the oversized buck teeth. He looked at her with black on black eyes and snarled through his translator, “I lost four good pilots today.”
“I am truly sorry for that,” Minu said and bowed deeply. “We find every loss of life tragic.” Tall Glyph narrowed his beady eyes and let out a snort the translator did not render into English. “First, let me say thank you for rescuing my husband.”
“That was an accident,” Sure Strike pointed out.
“It was,” she agreed, “but you could have left him to die a slow, painful death on the Tanam ship, and you didn’t.” Aaron nodded enthusiastically.
“We didn’t bring him back out of some sense of altruism,” Tall Glyph told her. “We’ve known about this fueling station for many thousands of years, but the People made certain none but them could access it. Your mate explained that you have access.”
“I do.”
“Give us access, then we are done here,” Sure Strike demanded.
“No,” Minu replied. The Squeen couldn’t have been more shocked.
“What did you say, human?” Sure Strike demanded.
“Not just no, but hell no,” Minu reiterated. “If you are under some mistaken impression that I’ll just hand you this fueling base, you are delusional. We’re orbiting just outside the influence of a rare stellar phenomenon the People harnessed as an energy source almost a million years ago.”
“You don’t think we know that?” Tall Glyph barked, his translator conveying his anger. “Our people have observed this facility for thousands of years, as have the deceitful T’Chillen and Mok-Tok. We find your claim to have unlimited access dubious.” Sure Strike watched the interchange without comment.
“You are both aware of the type of ship you are in right now, aren’t you?” The Squeen nodded. “How many Kaatan-class ships of the line have you seen in those thousands of years?”
“Many derelicts,” Tall Glyph grumbled, then shook his head. “But none operational.” His tone was grudging.
“If you want to get paid, call it a ransom for my husband, tell me how many charged, ship-sized EPCs you require. How does one hundred sound?”
Both Squeen’s mouths dropped open.
“Not bad, I would guess.” They nodded. “You can take that compensation, or we can discuss something with more meaning than the four of us trading goods for hostages.”
“What is this you speak of?” Sure Strike spoke up at last.
“An alliance.”
Both aliens appeared amused by the idea. “What could you possibly offer us? We’ve been in space for longer than your species has had fire. Our forbearers date back to the founding of the first society in this galaxy!”
“Yet now you are homeless gypsies,” Aaron said.
For a moment Minu feared her husband had overplayed their hand. Both aliens shook with anger at the statement.
“As such an ancient and pivotal species in this galaxy, you must have known the People,” Minu said.
“We did,” Sure Strike admitted.
“Then you can fill us in on a lot of history.”
“Likely I could, and you are right about our lives now. Still, I see no reason to offer you anything more than the life of this being for a shipload of EPCs.”
Minu sighed. “At the moment, I cannot offer you much.”
Tall Glyph snorted and looked at his commander.
“However, I ask you to look at it this way. Less than twenty years ago, we did not own so much as a shuttle. Now, we have a fleet. It is a small fleet, but it is a fleet. And we will have more ships, I guarantee it. Much more! When that comes to pass, we will work with you in any way you choose, be that supplies, infrastructure, logistics, combat, or even a home out of the stars. Ask the Rasa how we treat our allies. Ask the Traga for that matter.”
The Squeen considered her words for a time before Quick Strike replied, “We aren’t a hasty people, and we’ve always been reluctant to choose allies. Sometimes that is an asset, and sometimes it is a detriment. Most of the time, it has not served us well. Some of our leaders would agree with that statement, some would not. In general, though, we have trouble coming to a consensus.”
“It’s not a human strength, either,” Minu told them. The four of them nodded.
“I do not have the authority to create an alliance between our species,” Sure Strike said, “and I am not sure it would be wise, even if I could. Quick Finder and Strong Arm don’t agree with me. They are convinced the coming of humans was prophesized.”
Minu was trying to ignore the returning pain when Sure Strike’s statement hit her. “Prophesy? What prophesy?”
“That is complicated.”
“Isn’t everything in this galaxy? Take a chance, Sure Strike.” She held out her hand. “Shake my hand and agree to start working with us instead of against us, and let’s begin this trip together. We can work out the details later.”
“Allies and friends help each other,” Sure Strike said as he looked at her outstretched hand. It was identical to the other in color and skin type but one finger short. Something about it fascinated him.
“We will do everything we can to help your people. As First Among the Chosen and military leader of our species, I promise you that.”
Sure Strike reached out and took her hand. Tall Glyph looked on in disbelief.
“Thank you,” Minu said, and Aaron nodded. His wife was amazing. She was a warrior of unlimited ability and a diplomat. How rare was that?
“This is just the first step.”
“But it is a step,” Aaron said.
“Take fifty EPCs as a gesture of our good will,” Minu offered.
Tall Glyph’s eyes widened. “For nothing more than a promise to start working together?”
“You already showed us good faith. You saved my husband, brought him back to us, and lost people fighting alongside us.”
“We ask nothing for that,” Sure Strike said.
“That is why I am happy to do this for you. The best gift is one received without asking for it.” Sure Strike looked at her, then removed a chip from his belt and slid it across the table.
“Here is a sequence of codes you can use to reach us through quantum communication. I take it you have discovered that this technology is in almost every circuit.”
“We have,” she admitted, “though we’re still trying to understand the consequences.”
“The People didn’t realize the implications until it was too late, and the consequences were disastrous. The chip also contains instructions for changing the codes on your equipment.”
“Again, I thank you.” He nodded and stood. “We’ll transmit docking information shortly, so you can begin loading the EPCs.” He moved toward the door. Tall Glyph followed behind, still staring at his leader, surprised by what had just happened. “Sure Strike, can I ask you something?”
“Of course, though I will decide if I am to answer.”
“That’s fair. How do you know so much about the quantum communication functions in the chips?”
“That’s easy.” he said, glancing back at her, “our species created them.”
* * *
With much of the drama and excitement calming down, Lilith was able to dedicate some time to other projects. The ship’s repairs were largely automated, so she examined her extensive project files for something she considered relaxing. She settled on one she hadn’t worked on for some time.
She shifted the files into the active area of the ship’s computer and began sorting them. Ever since she’d stolen the few trillion files from the humans’ computer network, she’d been occasionally working on them. She hadn’t finished sorting them yet; she was still deciding what was useful and what wasn’t. She didn’t delete anything; she stored the different files in different areas of her computers’ archival systems.
A mystery had led her to these files for information, and there was a formidable amount of information. Most of the tribes had brought extensive computer files with them—science, history, art, even family records and pictures. Sorting through them was a formidable task, especially when you didn’t fully realize what you were looking for.
Lilith worked at it for a few hours. To her, it was a form of meditation. She just hoped it was meditation that eventually led to answers.
* * * * *
Chapter 16
February 17th, 535 AE
Dervish Star System, Galactic Frontier
It took almost an entire day for an Ibeen to move in through the maelstrom of Dervish with the Fiisk shielding it, and another to load it at the station. When it was finished, the Fiisk escorted it back out. The transports had formidable shields, but because they were so gargantuan, the shields absorbed radiation from all angles. A single glancing blow from a solar prominence could spell their doom. A slow approach allowed the CI on the Fiisk to predict the solar activity and plot a course around the worst of it. While it took longer, it made more sense than risking one of their few transports.
The Beezer masters of the Ibeen, while loving deep space, were far from impressed with Dervish. Their reaction was closer to horror.
Pakata, master of Ibeen Alpha, had exclaimed in shock when he saw the swirling stars for the first time. “It would be insane to go there,” he’d complained when they pointed out the energy station with its massive, filigreed antennae for gathering the precious plasma. Stars were made of plasma, but not every kind was ideal for filling EPCs and running starships, and obtaining it was time consuming.
