The Commander (25 page)

“Sir?”

“Never mind. This looks very US Navy to me. I suspect our Captain Robertson had a hand in this.”

“Not for me to guess, sir. I got word that Lieutenant Faulkner will be here directly to escort you down to the planet.”

That was a bit of good news. Carrie Faulkner, the mechanic, had blossomed under Amanda’s tutelage. After all the publicity following the International Space Station incident, Amanda had adopted her as a protégé. Carrie’s dry humor and down-to-earth nature had enhanced her celebrity status.

Amanda was not surprised to discover Carrie had a bachelor of science in criminal justice. How she wound up as a mechanic on the moon, no one knew. With Amanda’s help, however, Carrie left her toolbox behind and grew into a first-class public relations liaison.

When the notification went out that Luke was seeking crew members to serve aboard
Lulubelle
for his expedition, she was the first person to sign up. Thanks to her degree, she was awarded a lieutenant’s rank and put in charge of public affairs and governmental relations. For the past two days she’d been running back and forth to the planet, doing advance work for Luke’s visit. It was her first real-world experience with the power of her implant.

“I understand the way my implant translates their language when they talk to me,” she remarked when giving Luke and Tyler an update. “But I don’t get how my words come out in their language.”

Luke shrugged. “Let’s just hope what you think you’re saying is what they’re actually hearing.”

One of the problems she solved was what to call the planet. The literal translation of the locals’ name for their planet was Earth. Carrie implemented the untranslated word, Jigu. Accordingly, the Jiguans were their official hosts.

George infiltrated their planetary computer network and sucked their entire history into his archives. He also absorbed the current status of affairs from their media broadcasts.

Luke wondered how the planet had created such a fantastic force field technology when they were pacifists.

“Meteors,” George said.

“Meteors? You mean like chunks of rock?”

“Exactly, Commander.”

Perhaps it was the result of a planetary collision eons ago. Whatever the cause, meteorites bombarded the inhabitants routinely. To survive, the entire population had focused on science and technology to eliminate the threat. One of the benefits, aside from the resulting force field technology that rivaled that of
Lulubelle
, was a single planetary government dedicated to supporting the lives of its citizens.

Now that it was time to meet the rulers of that government in person, Luke appreciated Rogers’ help in getting ready for the formal occasion.

“Did you know a lot of them folks have blue skin?” Rogers asked.

“Red and green ones too, from what I hear,” Luke replied. “Why? You got a problem with skin color?”

Rogers smiled. “Not at all, sir. Just find it an interesting characteristic.”

“
According
to a source of mine, it is supposed to be a good sign of the population’s intelligence. It means they’re not intent on killing each other.”

“That’s a nice change.”

“Knock, knock!” Carrie’s voice sounded from the entry way. “Time to go, Commander.”

“Tell her I’ll be a few more minutes,” Luke said, examining his uniform. “I still need to figure out some of these doodads.”

# # #

After an interminable spate of formalities, Luke finally took a seat at a large round table across from Chancellor Bo’erm. The chancellor’s entourage had erected an enclosed pavilion in a park in the center of the capital city. The Jiguans had designated most of the park for Luke’s contingent. Inside their perimeter, Luke’s ground force created a landing pad for shuttles that were traveling to and from the
Lulubelle
each day, as well as a barracks and officer’s quarters.

Luke directed his team to set up a bank of replicators at the edge of their boundary and teach the Jiguans how to use them. It was Luke’s intention to seduce the locals into coveting the incredible machines.

His misgivings about sharing the technology didn’t apply here. They had a planetary government that was popularly elected. If there was an elite wealthy class that hoarded the benefits of society, George hadn’t found it. Based on Luke’s research, the Jiguans were the perfect example of a society that could adopt the Nobility’s advanced technology without decimating their own civilization.

In preparation for the night’s festivities, the chancellor’s staff had provided furnishings for the pavilion that included the elegantly fashioned round table. As the proceedings got underway, half of the thirty representatives at the table were members of Luke’s crew; the rest were the chancellor’s retinue.

But first was the reception line. Luke and the chancellor stood side by side as all of the delegates filed by. Each leader made introductions to the other. Even George had difficulty translating the names. Chancellor Bo’erm introduced Minister Boe’rm, Secretary Be’orm, and Senior Vice Deputy Bo’rem.

Luke quit trying to memorize names and just smiled, saying, “How nice to meet you.” He felt rather like Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw’s
Pygmalion,
all dressed up with no real idea how to conduct himself in a formal setting.

The meal was on par with most of the diplomatic banquets that Luke had attended. The food was bland, no doubt selected to avoid unpleasant surprises. When the dishes were cleared away by liveried attendants, the chancellor, as host, spoke first. “Commander Blackburn, let me repeat once again on behalf of everyone on my planet; thank you for coming to our rescue. I do not believe our power generators could have held out much longer. We are all of us so very grateful.”

“Our pleasure, Chancellor,” Luke replied.

The chancellor wasted no more time. “What have you learned of these intruders? I am not complaining, but your associates are tight-lipped. We hope that you will come to trust us with the information that is vital to our survival. What can we do for that to happen?”

Luke acknowledged the question with a smile. “Let answer your second question first, Chancellor. We do have faith in you. I hope you feel the same way about us. Our primary objective is to create alliances with other civilizations. As you have witnessed, we are facing a great enemy in this part of the galaxy. I hope that our two cultures will work together as friends.”

This caused a favorable stir amongst the Jiguans. The chancellor quickly shushed them. “We would be delighted with such an alliance, Commander. But I’m not sure what value we offer. Your technology is far beyond ours. Also, I must say that my people would have difficulty taking lives. We are grateful that you destroyed the enemy in battle, but even now I find it disturbing to speak of.”

Luke wanted to tell the guy to
man up
. By the same token, it was refreshing to deal with people so focused on the positive aspects of life.

“I understand your dilemma, Chancellor. Tell me, do you have any problems with disposing of troublesome equipment? Machines that are broken or have outlived their usefulness?”

The change of direction surprised the chancellor. “Of course not, Commander. This is commonplace.”

“Excellent,” Luke replied. “In that case, you may find our alliance a bit easier to accept when I tell you that not a single fatality occurred during the battle. All of the spacecraft attacking your planets were drones. That is, they were sophisticated automatons that clearly had a single objective; to kill everyone on this planet.”

The Jiguans’ astonishment was marked. The delegates burst into exclamations. They asked each other dozens of questions. It took several minutes for the commotion to die down. The chancellor barked at his members to be quiet.

“This discovery was a surprise to our investigation as well,” Luke said.

“What does this mean?”

“I don’t know, Chancellor, but we will find out. To do so, it is our desire to establish a permanent base on your planet with the goal of transferring our technology to you as quickly as possible. We hope that you will start a program of constructing and manning your own spacecraft that can join us in the coming battles.”

This time the chancellor had to get angry to regain control of his delegates. He apologized to Luke profusely for the conduct of his ministers.

Luke smiled, saying he understood what a shock the information was, given so abruptly. “The problem, Chancellor, is that we don’t have time for niceties. The invaders may come back at any time. My fleet is on alert, patrolling your system. Even now, we are building new warships to provide you with some measure of self-defense. But we cannot stay more than a few days.”

The idea that their saviors might suddenly depart, leaving them alone to face a return of the invaders, was more than the formerly peaceful-minded delegates could stand. Luke recalled his own horror when he finally understood that Sam had abandoned him immediately after exposing him to the oncoming menace. The Jiguans must feel that multiplied a thousand times.

The chancellor’s face reflected fear and astonishment. “You’re leaving?” he finally asked, after again quieting his side of the table.

“I’m afraid so. The threat we are facing is widespread, and we have only just started mounting a defense. We hope that you will join us quickly. I suggest that we close for the evening to give you and your ministers a chance to digest this information. I will leave my advisors behind to answer any questions you might have.”

With difficulty, Luke managed his escape from the turmoil he had caused. He snared Carrie on the way out. “Set up a tour of
Lulubelle
for the minister and a half dozen of his people. If they see our technology up close it might help them get on board.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m headed back for the night. Call if you need me.”

# # #

“Still no sign of dead bodies?” Luke asked Tyler. Both men were mystified by the discovery that the Bakkui ships were just drones.

“None at all. But it helps explain why our victory was so easy,” Tyler said.

“George, what’s your take on this?”

“I am in the dark as well, Commander. The technology of the drone AIs is not as sophisticated as our own. For example,
Sadie
is markedly superior to these warships. The enemy machines could be compared to our own reconnaissance drones. They were given fixed targets with a fairly basic mission.”

“No luck on their navigation data either,” Tyler explained. “Just like our own probes, these guys’ memories were spring-loaded to self-destruct. We have no clue where they’re from. It’s possible they’re not even part of the enemy we’re facing, but I’d call that unlikely. They showed up when and where we projected.”

“What about the larger ship we took out near the gas giant?” Luke asked.

“More of the same,” Roth said. “Just bigger pieces. My guess is it was waiting on the sidelines with instructions to engage if resistance was encountered. When we showed up, that was enough to pull the trigger. The question is what should we do about it? Someone sent this fleet out. It seems likely that same someone is waiting for a report. I’m fairly certain we nailed the ships trying to get away, but whether we did or not, you know they’re going to investigate.”

“I agree,” Luke said. “But beyond our patrols, I’m not sure what else to do. We can’t stay here forever and we can’t keep ourselves at battle stations on a continuing basis.”

“I’m not worried,” Tyler said. “We already have a good plan. We had one coming in, and I don’t see any reason to change it. So far, everything that’s happened fell within our expectations. We should just keep pushing forward, building alliances and spreading out. We’re sending updates back to Moonbase. They got all the battle footage.”

“Even so,” Luke countered. “Even though we kicked their ass, we still need to review everything. We know more about the threat. More importantly, I never expected the enemy would be drones. What does this mean for our strategy going forward?”

Tyler nodded. “I agree. We’ll start war-gaming different scenarios. Try to keep us from being surprised in the next encounter.”

The good news was the battle had been their best-case scenario. The Bakkui arrived as predicted and were annihilated by
Lulubelle
’s tactics. Even though outnumbered, the earth forces had wiped out the invaders with relative ease. The icing on the cake was that the local inhabitants had survived and appeared to have skills that added value to the proposed alliance.

But it wasn’t all clear sailing. The existence of a drone-based adversary was alarming. What else was he missing? When was the other shoe going to drop?

Tyler cleared his throat.

Luke looked up from his musings. “What? Something else?”

“
Speaking
of war gaming,” Tyler said awkwardly. “That brings up a topic I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”

“Sure. What is it?”

“It’s about you jumping in, in the middle of the fight.”

Luke was apologetic. “Tyler. You’re absolutely right. I was way out of line.”