The Solarian Celebration: Book 3 of the Alliance Conflict (7 page)

Lorano waved his hand dismissively in response.

Carank realized that he had just thoroughly and completely won this argument.  He celebrated his victory by pulling the label maker out of his pocket, printing out the words ‘Altian Energy Pyramid’, and sticking it on the side of the pyramid.

Lorano saw Carank’s handiwork and replied, “The label isn’t very convincing.  You wrote it in Alliance basic.”

Carank was looking around for something else to label when he noted that Lorano’s eyes had slightly glazed over and he appeared lost in thought.  Carank waited a moment and asked, “What are you thinking?”

Lorano remained silent for another moment and responded, “If this is an Altian pyramid, then Altians must have found this planet 4 millennia ago, built a pyramid on it, and then suddenly left.  Why would my ancient forefathers abandon an entire planet?”

Carank said, “Who knows?”

Lorano said, “I am not sure who knows.  Someone must have known.  Perhaps now it is only us that know.  Come on, it’s getting late and the nearest water source is about 1 kilometer from here.”

They left pyramid and walked to the edge of a small stream.  They could still easily see the pyramid in the distance.  Carank bent down and took a water sample and a second soil sample.  They saw a small worms scurrying near them. 

Carank put the remaining empty jar on one side and the lid on the other and carefully scooped the worm into vial.  He tightened the lid and held it up for examination.  “This should work,” he summarized.

It was indeed getting late.  Carank saw that the planet had rotated well past its perihelion and the sun was starting to set.  They hurried back to the corvette and reentered the ship through the connector tube.

Once inside, Lorano retracted the connector tube and sealed the exterior of the ship.  Carank then activated the decontamination unit.  The unit ran through a full cycle, blasting them with ultra-violet light, a chemical bath, and a water rinse.  The computer then scanned for foreign particles.  The panel beeped that they were free from contamination and unlocked the door to the inner hull.

They removed their flight suits and reentered the corvette.  Carank hid the vials back in the make-up kit.  He doubted that anyone except Lexxi would ever search the kit.

Lorano entered the control room and plopped heavily down into the control room seat.  He was tired after walking over 2 kilometers in a heavy flight suit and frustrated that he hadn’t planned ahead better.

The expedition could have been far more successful if they had had a ground car or even a hover cart, an air and water analyzer, and a portable diagnostic computer.  All that they had to show for their expedition were pictures of the planet and some small soil samples.

Lorano piloted the corvette up and out of the atmosphere.  They micro jumped back to their initial entry point.  Lorano calculated how much time they needed to jump to Solaria and found that they still had 2 days to spare.  He decided to actively scan the entire system before they left.  The system was about 8 light hours from end to end, so the scan would take them 16 hours.

Seventeen hours later they jumped to Solaria.

Freshly promoted Admiral Solear exited the shuttle and proceeded directly toward the bridge.  He saluted the 20 or so humans standing at attention without stopping or even slowing down. Funny, he thought, the humans don’t seem to bother me anymore.

He deactivated the force field and entered the bridge.  He half expected Lexxi to snap the field shut the second he entered.  However, the bridge was completely empty.  Solear took a seat in the first officer’s chair and said, “Computer, contact Jim Donovan and tell him to come to the bridge.”

…Contacting.  Connection established.  Message sent…

A few minutes later Jim entered the bridge.  He said,” Captain” and held a salute until Solear stood and acknowledged him. 

Solear said, “Jim Donovan, effective immediately, you are promoted to the rank of captain and have been given command of the
Sunflower
.”

Jim replied, “Thank you, I think.  This seems a rather sudden promotion.  What is going on?  What are you going to do?”

Solear replied, “I have been promoted to admiral.  The
Sunflower
has been ordered to guard the Waylon system against Hiriculan aggression.  The Altians towed an unused space station there to provide us a base of operation.”

Jim looked incredulous and replied, “Is 64 people enough to man a cruiser and a space station?”

Solear answered, “The Senate authorized another trip to Earth to obtain 16 replacements.  With 80 total humans, we should be able to fulfill the basics of our mission.  We will dock the
Sunflower
at the space station for the most part and use all available personnel to run the station.

Jim asked, “Admiral, are we going to be reinforced with any alie…”  Jim caught himself just in time and switched to “Altians or Advranki?”

Solear shook his head and said, “No.  Apparently the Navy doesn’t have any beings to spare.  Further, the Senate doesn’t want to recruit the 500 or so humans that we need to properly resource it.”

“Okay,” Jim responded, drawing out the ay a little too long.

Solear didn’t seem to notice the sub-context of the response.  He replied, “Unfortunately, the 16 humans are all we are going to get for the foreseeable future.”

“And you?” Jim asked.

Solear said, “I will only be there a few months to continue to train and mentor you.  After that, you will be required to protect the system by yourselves.”

Jim had several more questions about the strange mission, but kept them to himself.  He said, “Switching subjects, what about a bridge crew?”

Solear answered, “You will have to fill the positions with Humans.”  He briefly paused and continued, “Ace has done an excellent job piloting this ship.  Do you think that he would leave the fighters and become the ship’s pilot full-time?”

Jim:  “No.  Ace wouldn’t accept the position if meant that he had to stop flying fighters.  I do have a different person in mind though.”

Solear said, “I will defer to your judgement.”

Jim said, “Computer, contact Russ Brand, Colin O’Neal, Christopher Armstrong, and Gus Swanson.  Have them report to the bridge.”

…Acknowledged.  The requested personnel are on their way.”

Jim had given considerable thought to how he would arrange the bridge crew if he were ever promoted to captain.  This task was easier than it sounded because the Victory Games simulation of the captain and officer roles made testing various configurations effortless.  Since Jim had practiced running simulations he knew exactly who he wanted to assign to what role.

Edward Williams, or Ace, was the toughest decision.  He was the best pilot on the ship, and according to Admiral Dolen, the best in the galaxy.  He deserved to be the leader of the squadron.  However, he was still just a teenager and hadn’t yet developed the skills for leadership.

The four humans entered the bridge and came to attention.

Solear saluted and said, “Jim Donovan is now the captain of this ship.  Please give him your attention.”

Jim said, “Men.  We have a new assignment.  The Senate is scared that the Hiriculans are going to try to seize Waylon from Alliance control.  Our mission is to patrol the system and ensure that the Hiriculans do not try to annex it.  The Altians have moved a space station into the system to serve as our base of operations.”

Russ looked around and asked, “Just us?”

Jim replied, “Yes, though we are going to get 16 reinforcements from Earth.”

“Humans?” Russ asked.

Jim nodded and said, “From Earth.  The reinforcements are from Earth.”

Everyone chortled at the gaffe.  Jim said, “Kip, I am promoting you to commander.  You will be in charge of the space station.  Your fighter wing will be permanently assigned there.”

Jim shifted position and looked at Colin.  He said, “I am going to reorganize the bridge duties.  Colin, your position of Chief Engineer is now an officially an officer’s role.  As such, you have been officially promoted to lieutenant.”

Colin said, “So, I am now officially in charge of engineering and maintenance, correct?”

Jim said, “Yes.  I would like you, or someone from your engineering team, stationed on the bridge as much as possible.  During battle, you will assume the role of weapon’s officer.”

Colin nodded in acknowledgement.

Jim continued, “Further, you are also the 1
st
officer and will assume command should I become incapacitated.”

Jim then turned to Russ and said, “Russ, I need a volunteer to retire from piloting fighters and pilot a cruiser instead.  Do you want the job?”

Russ had been the last person to decide to return to the cruiser during their last shore leave and was the only person other than Jim that had expressed a desire to do something other than fly fighters. 

Russ said, “I accept Captain.”

Jim said, “You will also have to be the communications officer for now.”

Jim said, “Gus, you and the other 3 original members of Ghostrider squadron are now assigned to First squadron.  You are the new CAG.”

Solear asked, “CAG?”

Jim said, “Sorry, another English acronym.  It stands for Commander Air Group.  On some Earth vessels, there are multiple squadrons of fighters.  A CAG is the senior commanding officer of the embarked fighters.  Since we only have one squadron, the CAG is synonymous with squadron leader. “

Solear asked, “By embarked you mean?”

Kip answered, “It means that the CAG flies in a fighter and is part of the squadron.”

Russ commented, “Wow, we are going to be running a tight ship.”

Jim replied, “Yes.  But from now on we are going to keep the bridge door open.  People will be able to come and go as they need.”

Solear said, “Congratulations everyone on your new roles.  We need to submit our request for replacement personnel now.”

Russ answered, “Well, we need 6 replacement pilots and two replacement crew members.”

Colin said, “We also need an engineering staff for the station.”

Kip said, “And more maintenance workers.”

Russ logged into the bridge workstation, identified himself as the communications officer, and sent a request for 6 pilots, 4 engineers, and 6 maintenance workers.”

Solear said, “Captain, we need to go to Space Mining Platform #1.  It is called the Anvil in Alliance basic.  After that, you will dock the ship at the Conron Naval Supply Depot for the next couple of weeks.  I understand that the Navy has arranged a few classes for you.”

Jim looked at Solear and said, “Are you leaving us?”

Solear replied, “Yes, I have to leave for a couple of weeks.  The Solarians are demanding my presence at a ceremony next week.  Apparently I am going to receive an award for finding Old Solaria.”

Russ said, “How about us, we helped find that missing planet.  Do we get an award too?”

Solear did not respond. 

A minute later Russ said, “We are being hailed by a transport.  It wants to dock in our landing bay.”

Solear responded, “Allow it land.  Then assemble everyone in the checkerboard room.  Our visitor is here to give diversity training.”

…………..…..

Victor and Crista Bullpeep were sound asleep when the priority message arrived.  Well, since they were sleeping on Earth, they were using the aliases of Victor and Crista Tyrano.

Victor yawned and looked at the time on the bedside clock.  It showed 3:00 am.  Victor said, “You set your alarm for the wrong time.”

“It’s not my alarm.  And I didn’t program my clock wrong.” Crista replied, stressing the word my.

Victor answered, “Well, it isn’t my alarm.”  He sat up in bed and sighed.  They were leaving Earth today and Victor had really wanted a good night’s rest.  Oh well, he thought, he was not going to get it.

The alarm sounded again.  This time Victor recognized that it was his other alarm.  He said, “Computer, acknowledge.”

…You have an in-coming emergency message from the Alliance Senate…

Victor rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and said, “Computer, play the message.”

…Victor Bullpeep.  The Alliance Senate had decided to expand the human experiment yet again.  Please proceed immediately to Earth and obtain 6 replacement pilots, 4 engineers, and 6 crewmembers.  This is the final recruiting mission to Earth…

Victor groaned and lay back down in bed.  He knew that the
Sunflower
had gone on a mission, but he hadn’t seen any newscasts about the results.  Of course, the news was a little spotty on Earth.  He briefly wondered if it would be a violation of the directive from Advranki Prime to broadcast just one 24 hour Alliance news show.

Crista rolled over, took his hand, and said, “Great, there is really nothing I can imagine that would be more fun than staying on Earth even longer than necessary and completely missing the Solarian celebration.”

Crista paused for a moment and said, “Correction.  I can think of something.”  She grabbed her communication pad and made a show of creating a profile for an on-line human dating site.

Victor opened his palm and showed Crista the controller to her shock collar.  He pretended to press it and said, “Why would you want another man when I have your heart in the palm of my hand?”

Crista rewarded Victor with an inappropriate hand gesture and a suggestion as to where he could shove the controller.

Victor smiled and got out of bed.  He had promised Crista that they would be home in time to see the celebration, but it now appeared that he was going to have to renege on that promise.

Victor, Crista, and the then 20 human pilots from the
Sunflower
returned to Earth approximately 3 months ago to recruit a 2
nd
set of pilots and a full crew.  Victor decided to stay on Earth after the
Sunflower
left because he felt that leaving before the launch of their newest products, the super-cooling and super-heating devices, would look suspicious.

So, they had stayed on the planet for the launch.  Then they decided to stay for the Victory Games world pilot championship.  Now it seemed they would be delayed again.

Victor said, “It’s only 16 humans this time, if we hurry and recruit them perhaps we can still catch the hindquarters of the celebration.”

Crista replied, “We don’t have the scientists to create false covers or orders. The humans will notice they are missing.  Besides, how are we going to corral 16 humans by ourselves?”

Victor said, “Don’t worry, I have a plan.”

“Care you share your epiphany with me?” asked Crista.

“Victor: “Well, it involves going to Walmart®.  As you know, they are open 24 hours a day.”

Crista feigned delight and replied, “Ooh, count me in.  You know there is nothing on this lousy planet that I like better than to go shopping at Walmart®.”  She paused for a moment and added, “Especially at 3:00 am.”

They snuck out of the dirigible hangar and over to the shipping and receiving area.  There were several large supply trucks parked there.  They grabbed the keys and hopped into the one on the far left.  Victor chose it because it was parked in a convenient location. He pulled the truck out of the spot and drove through the parking lot.

The place looked strange at this hour.  The plant and corporate offices were dark and the parking lot was virtually empty.  The addition of the super-cooling and super-heating units had forced them to grow the facility from one building to a rather large manufacturing and research campus.

As a result, space, or a lack thereof, had become an issue.  Amy Weisman, the CEO of Victory Games, asked Victor if they could build a facility in nearby Canton or Medina or possibly tear down the hangar.

Victor responded instead by purchasing the company next to him for an astronomical price.  For some unknown reason, Victor really wanted the entire company located in the same general area.  Victor argued at the time that he had made a commitment to Akron and wanted to be a good corporate citizen.  However, the real reason was that he didn’t want to travel anywhere.