Talosian Chronicles 2: Star Dancer (48 page)

“You really are serious about keeping advanced tech out of our hands aren’t you?” Hawkins asked. “They’ll shoot at you.”

Ian shrugged. “They can shoot all they want. They can’t hurt anything but themselves. In most cases, all they’ll be shooting at is an unmanned drone. However, they will have fighter support, but I doubt they’ll be needed. The drones are shielded against missiles.”

“I’ll try to warn them. But again, I doubt they’ll listen,” Hawkins replied. “Do you need the number to contact the President?”

Ian glanced at Star who just smiled.

“No, that won’t be necessary. Thank you for the offer,” Ian replied. “We will be returning the bodies of the fallen Marines as well as any of your pilots that we recover. We will have them delivered to Peterson Air Force Base. I’ll call you ahead of time so you can make the appropriate arrangements.”

“That would be perfect, son, thank you,” the Admiral replied. “Why don’t you call the President, and see if you can get a nap before your meeting? You look beat.”

Ian smiled. “The reason I look beat is because I just took a nap, Admiral. It has to do with how we learn complex things. I needed to learn the history of what happened with the Talosian people since Star Dancer crashed here, so I took a nap so it could be downloaded into my brain.”

Ian saw Hawkins shudder visibly. “That sounds creepy as hell.”

Ian chuckled. “It’s actually not so bad. Anyway, I’m running out of time, so I should let you go.”

“Okay, good luck with the President, as well as the meeting. I hope to hear from you again soon,” Hawkins replied.

“You will Admiral. We’re still going to try to get you to recommend foreign officers we can approach, but it’ll be a while. We’ve got a mess to clean up and government investigators demanding entrance to the community,” Ian replied. “We might just pack up and leave those investigators wondering what the hell just happened.”

Hawkins snorted. “That would really piss them off! Talk to you later, Commander.”

Ian nodded, and disconnected the call.

“Would you like to eat before you call the President? I can schedule the meeting with the Commanders for an hour from now,” Star asked.

“Actually, I was thinking that inviting the Commanders here for a meal would be good, if the schedules match. I’m more worried about the meeting with the Commanders than I am the President. I’m worried they’ll want their ship back,” Ian replied. “Would you ask Jenny if she would like to have dinner with us when the time comes?”

“I asked, she said she would love to, and will be ready when the time comes. I’ll make an inquiry as to the timing for the other commanders. Sir, they can’t take the ship unless you and the crew agree to it. The oath you swore predates the existing Alliance, therefore it cannot be used to force you to follow their orders. Legally, you are independent from their command. Additionally, the entire crew swore an oath to protect this sector, which means that we cannot leave here until enough defenses are built to allow this ship to leave for an extended period of time. That is the law,” Star informed him.

“I thought as much, but the reality of the situation could be very different. The Alliance is at war. They are losing, and need every ship they can get. I am certain they would want this ship back and would be willing to try to take it by force if necessary. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but it could,” Ian replied. “That’s why I’m worried about the meeting. Could you please connect me to the President? I might as well get this over with, so I can get back to worrying about the Commanders.”

“I am announcing you as the Commander of the
Terran
Defense Force, since we now know that the
Talosian
Defense Force is a viable entity and we are not actually a part of it,” Star replied.

“I understand, Star, thanks.”

A moment later, the President of the United States, sitting at the head of a cluttered conference table, appeared on his monitor. Ian gave a slight bow of his head. “Madam President, I am Commander Ian Williams of the Terran Defense Forces. I was told you asked to speak to me?”

“I must admit Commander, that I was expecting someone a little less human, not to mention someone a little older,” the President replied.

“I
am
human, Madam President. I was born in Denver Memorial Hospital nineteen years ago. I grew up in a small town outside of Fort Collins, Colorado. There is a long story here, but I got this position because of genetics. My entire crew, as well as those that have agreed to help us, are as human as you are. We were all born and raised on Earth.”

“So now that the alien threat has been dealt with, what are your intentions, Commander?” a man to the president’s left said, he was wearing four stars on his shoulders, and a green uniform.

“I don’t think I understand your question, General. Are you asking if we are going to attack and take over the rest of the planet?” Ian asked.

“I had something like that in mind, yes,” the General replied.

“No, we have no plans or intention to attack the forces of Earth, nor do we intend to unseat any of the existing governments, no matter how much we might disagree with them. That is not our purpose,” Ian replied. “We are simply here to protect Earth from forces that it has no chance of defending itself from on its own. We love our planet, it’s our home, and we don’t want to see it conquered by aliens and the population turned into slaves. By the same token, we will not allow one country to capture any advanced technology that will give them an unfair advantage over the others. We are here to protect the
planet
, not just a single country.”

“But you gave our Marines at Talos advanced weapons in order for them to be able to fight?” another officer said. He was off screen, and Ian couldn’t see who it was.

“Yes we did. If we hadn’t, every one of those Marines would now be dead. We did what we could in order to ensure the survival of those troops, as well as protecting the Talos community from destruction. I should mention that those same Marines surrendered every piece of technology back to us once the fighting was over,” Ian explained.

“Commander, how do we know the aliens that attacked this planet were only attacking you? We have no proof that the rest of the planet was ever in danger?” the President asked.

“That is simple actually. Talos and our ships in orbit were attacked first because we were the only force that could seriously oppose them. If you examine the data from Cheyanne Mountain, you will see that several of the inbound deep space missiles had been targeting U.S. cities. New York and Washington were on that list too,” Ian replied.

“No, what I meant to say, Commander, was, how do we know that the whole attack wasn’t simply staged by you?” she clarified.

“What purpose would we have to do something like that?” Ian asked confused. “Madam President, every one of us swore an oath to protect the planet, not to attack it. We won’t even fight back against Earth troops, of course we don’t actually have to, we have shields and armor that you don’t have the weapons to even dent. Why would we stage an attack, when all we would have had to do was simply attack and take over?”

“We’ve been told that you are shorthanded, that there are only a couple thousand of you. Perhaps this attack was staged by you in order to gain our trust. Once you had that, you could take over subtly, without very much resistance.”

Ian thought about it a moment. “I suppose I can see your point. However, all I can do is reassure you that is not our intention. Currently, you have several government uh, investigators harassing our people that are still on the planet. I would ask you to please remove them. We lost a lot of people in the last attack, and the civilians down there are grieving. They really don’t need to be harassed by those folks.”

The president shook her head. “No, we need to make certain that you aren’t doing anything in there that is a threat to the American people. There was a reason the aliens, if that indeed is who they really were, attacked you. We want to know what it is, and what to do about it to keep them from attacking again. As for your ‘protection’ we would have liked to have had the opportunity to try diplomatic channels next time. Perhaps we could have signed a treaty with those people. So on behalf of the people of the United States of America, I am ordering you to land your ships and surrender to our troops immediately. As for the settlement in New Mexico, you will allow the investigators into the community, and you will assist them in any way possible. Further, I am ordering you...”

Ian shook his head and calmly said. “No.”

“Excuse me?” the president said.

Ian grinned at her. “I said ‘No’ madam President. You have no authority over me, you do not speak for the entire planet, and even if you did, there is no way we would ever surrender to you. Earth is not ready for the technology available on this ship or in the town. As it stands right now, your investigators cannot get into the community on the surface, and they never will. If they resort to using violence, I need to warn you that the shield protecting the community is reactive, your bullets will bounce off, and could possibly hurt your troops.”

“Are you threatening me, young man?” the President asked.

“No Ma’am. I simply trying to tell you that your troops could be hurt because of a passive function of our protective screen,” Ian explained. “Look, I’m not a politician, and frankly, we don’t have any diplomats. What I’m telling you is the truth to the best of my ability. We do not answer to you, nor do we answer to any Terran authority at this time. Our only purpose is to protect the planet from alien attack and to try to help in any other way we can without interfering too much. I am asking you to please allow us to continue as we have before, but frankly, we are going to anyway. We are no threat to you. If you don’t believe that, then I apologize, but it is the truth. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a ton of stuff to see to after the battle. Madam President, Generals, I bid you a good day.”

As Ian ended the transmission, he heard the President say ‘wait’, but frankly, he had nothing to say to her.

“Sir, the Commanders would be delighted to join you for dinner and have accepted your invitation. They will arrive in forty-five minutes. Where would you like for me to set it up?” Star asked.

“I didn’t think of that. We kind of stole the command conference room and the rest of the conference rooms are purpose based. I suppose we could do it in here, or in my quarters. I would prefer here, having it in my quarters might send them the wrong kind of message,” Ian explained.

“That will do nicely, sir,” Star replied. “What would you like on the menu?”

“I have no idea. I don’t even know if they can eat the same things we do. Are they Vegan? Would steak be wrong?” Ian asked.

“Replicated food can be altered to ensure it is acceptable physiologically in most cases without altering the taste of the food. I will speak to the medical sections of the two ships and discover what the two Commanders can or cannot eat. I will also try to discover their preferences. For now, I will tentatively set the menu as steak and a baked potato with a side salad.” Star Paused for a moment. “Sir, their dress uniform is very different than the ones we currently have. Would you like to design one before they get here?”

“Uh, yeah, I felt silly wearing that pirate costume. Could you ask Jenny to stick her head in here for a moment?” Ian asked.

Jenny joined Ian and Star and after seeing what the Talosian Commanders would be wearing, Jenny quickly and expertly designed a new dress uniform for them to wear. The rest of the arrangements went off without a hitch, since Star made damn sure they did.

Both Ian and Jenny greeted the two Commanders as they arrived and escorted them back to his ready room.

“I apologize for having dinner in here, but we used my command conference room for a Combat Information Center during the last battle, and we couldn’t tear it all out in time,” Ian explained. He spoke Talosian because, while the two new Commanders spoke English, they didn’t do it very well. Talosian was easier for them.

“This is fine, Commander,” Commander Egran of the
Pegasus
replied. “There are a lot of wonders that we’ve seen here already. I don’t know what a Combat Information Center is, but I look forward to finding out!”

“Commander Ian, with your permission, may we drop the titles? We are, after all, all of the same rank,” Serena asked.

Once they got settled in at the table, Serena spoke. “Ian, since we made contact with you, we’ve been in contact with our High Command. At this time, no decision about you has been handed down, since they feel that the Council needs to be informed. I don’t mean to be so blunt, but I would like to have your feelings about joining us.”

Ian nodded. “I appreciate your candor, Serena. I’m not a very good diplomat myself. Frankly, I’m afraid that you came her to take the ship back. We’ve all sworn an oath to protect this system, and the ship is part of that. Now, please don’t take that to mean we are not interested in forming an alliance with you. I did get time to review your history before you arrived. I know the situation with the alliance and the war with the Empire. I think we might be able to offer some help, but I can’t justify taking the ship away from this system until it has much better defenses in place.”

Serena nodded, and was about to answer when Egran spoke. “Ian, this food is wonderful, what is it?”

“Replicated dishes from Earth. I had no idea what to feed you, so I stuck with what I know. I had Star make sure it wouldn’t hurt you, and you could eat it. This is called steak,” Ian said pointing to the piece of meat on his plate. The explained the rest of the dishes. Finishing with, “if you’re interested, Egran, I can have Star send you a copy of her culinary database.”

“I would like that, thank you!” he replied, and took another bite.

“This
is
a really excellent meal,” Serena said. “It sounds like you have a good grasp of the situation, Ian. But I should warn you that not everyone in the Alliance sees it the same way we do. There are factions that feel we are winning the war against the Empire, and that our inevitable victory is simply a matter of time.”