The Veritian Derelict (Junkyard Dogs) (16 page)

In Carlisle's quarters,
Faiza and Carlisle used the two hours or so before the Ensign had to get dressed for the conference helping Carlisle get familiarized with her new wrist computer. Carlisle had a hard time discerning any difference between the new model and her older one, which was not an altogether bad thing. After about twenty minutes spent with Faiza skimming through a small portion of the information that had been preloaded into the computer's data banks, Carlisle retrieved the chip containing the material that had been downloaded, after considerable redacting, from her old unit. She transferred the contents of the chip to her new unit and, with some trepidation, attempted to access the material.

She immediately n
oted that the situation could have been worse. Her historical information appeared to be mostly all there but there was very little information remaining on any Federation military ship type that was less than ten years old. With relief she noted that this left almost all of the material she had accumulated about the New Ceylon Reclamation Center, including the last several inventories. She nodded to herself, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all, they had left her most of the material she thought she'd want to have anyway.

She had just begun looking over some of the
unfamiliar material that the Meridians had added, including an unexpected section outlining the specifications of the
Istanbul
, as well as many modern units currently in use by Islamic navies from all over the Quadrant, when Faiza pulled her out of her reverie.

"
Ensign Carlisle? You've used up about ten minutes of the time you need to get ready for the conference."

With a sigh,
Carlisle prepared to close down the displays but she had one last thought." I assume you've networked these two computers?"

"Yes, I have Ensign. You just need to say 'contact Faiza' and it will connect with my unit."

"Good," said Carlisle."

"Indeed." The younger woman looked thoughtful. "You do know that there is one more reason that my mother and father wanted you for this position, don't you?"
she asked.

"And what might that be?"

"Your hand to hand combat skills," replied the young girl. "They think, and I agree with them, that we will all be safer with you nearby."

"I
...I don't know what to say..." said Carlisle, "Why me?"

"There is much unrest in our home system,
Ensign Carlisle. My parents are not completely sure of the loyalties of everyone on the crew of this ship. Perhaps there is no danger but we must both stay alert. Unlike many of our guests and even some of our crew members, they totally trust you."

"I'll do my best," said Carlisle, blushing. "Thanks for the information."

"Mother was going to talk to you about it. I'm surprised she hasn't already. Nice meeting you, Ensign," said the younger girl.

"You should call me, Tamara, Faiza. I'm supposed to be undercover."

"Sorry, I meant Tamara. See you later."

Faiza
called on the ship's intercom for Shawndra before excusing herself. The elderly woman whom Carlisle had met during her original stay on the
Istanbul
again remained silent the entire time they were together but she quickly and efficiently helped the ensign with her outfit and her hair. At least this time she had smiled briefly and nodded her head in approval when Carlisle was ready to depart for the conference.

Chapter
22.

Onboard Meridian Imperial Diplomatic Ship
Istanbul
, near the Santana Nexus Station, December 3, 2598.

Shawndra led the way to the conference room although Carlisle could have easily used the schematics
loaded on her new wrist computer to find it. She was surprised to discover that the room was the very same one that she and her two companions from the Scrapyard had been interrogated in after they had been rescued by the Ambassador's cutter nearly two months earlier. There was a small group of men gathered near a refreshment table. Lieutenant Harvick was there in his dress uniform but the Ambassador and his wife had not yet arrived. One of the men wore a simple but elegant business suit with a quaint addition, a very old fashioned and very flamboyant orange bowtie. He was also wearing another old-fashioned accessory, a pair of dark-rimmed eyeglasses. This elderly gentleman looked disturbingly familiar to Carlisle but, in spite of her excellent memory, she couldn't quite place him.

Another of the men wore the black suit and stiff white collar of the Christian clergy.
Yet another wore the traditional robes and headgear of an Islamic Cleric. The last of them wore the traditional garments of the Jewish faith. As the only woman in the room, presumably the only person without any strong religious convictions and a Spacer to boot, Carlisle felt more than a little out of place but had little time to do more than register the feeling when Ambassador Saladin and the Lady Sondia arrived.

"Please, everyone," said the Ambassador. "
Have a beverage if you like, then everyone take a seat. We will be setting the agenda for the full meeting tomorrow. We have much to discuss." The group members each took a chair around the table. Harvick glared accusingly at Carlisle in her civilian clothes as he took a seat directly across from her.

Ambassador Saladin opened the meeting.
"Welcome. For those of you among us who aren't yet acquainted, allow me to perform some introductions." The Ambassador started with the man directly to his right and then went around the table counterclockwise, introducing each of the attendees and listing their titles.

"This is the Ayatollah
Mahmet Barzai, he is representing the Jade consortium of the Islamic Alliance." The distinguished old man nodded his head. The Jade Consortium was one of the most powerful of the members of the Islamic Alliance, representing even more people and more planets than the Meridian group. The Ambassador moved on to the next of the officials.

"This is His Eminence Bishop Steven Sinclair who is representing the Kiwi Group." The Kiwis were made up of five planets that had been settled by immigrants from
the ancient countries of Australia and New Zealand from the Southern Hemisphere back on Old Earth. By Federation standards, they were a small group. By Santana Quadrant standards, they were one step from being a major player. Clancy Davis-Moore hailed from one of the Kiwi planets.

"This is Rabbi Murray
Geller who represents New Tel Aviv." The planet had been colonized by Jewish settlers and had almost immediately become a force to be reckoned with in Quadrant economics and politics.

"This gentleman is Dr. F. C. Talbot, of the Talbot Institute." Carlisle's eyes grew wide and she found herself in a state of mild shock. Yes
, the man across the table from the Ambassador was considerably older and looked a bit more frail than the man in the many videos she had watched, but as soon as it had been pointed out to her, he was unmistakably the same Talbot that she had spent so much time studying. Maybe the eyeglasses had helped disguise him somewhat.

"This is Lieutenant
Lawrence Harvick, the Federation liaison for my mission here at the Nexus and this is Dr. Tamara Carlisle, a military historian, who is tutoring our daughter about the Federation as well as advising my wife and I on Spacer matters." To her complete surprise, Talbot gave Carlisle a knowing wink. She was pretty sure no one else had seen him do so.

"First off, thank you all for coming.
As I said, we have much to discuss over the next few days and agreeing on an agenda beforehand will make things go much more smoothly."

Bishop Sinclair had looked very uncomfortable after Talbot
was introduced. As was his style, he immediately made his feelings known. "What is this avowed atheist doing at this discussion?"

"Dr Talbot is here at our invitation
," said the Ambassador. "He represents a...a different viewpoint."

"And who ever said that I
was an atheist?" said the old man, mildly.

"All of your anti-religious ravings for one thing,"
replied the Ayatollah.

"You mustn't mistake my criticism of organized religion as criticism of God,
whoever he or she might be." replied Talbot, with a smile.

"You play with words
...." began the Bishop.

"Gentlemen, please," said the Ambassador. "We are here to have an open discussion on the rising tensions out here in the Santana Quadrant
and set the agenda for our meeting to address these problems. In my opinion, we are fortunate to have Dr. Talbot here for this conference. He was passing through the Santana Nexus and will be on his way back to the Sol Terra Quadrant within the next two days. I invited Dr. Talbot because he may just ask some of the hard questions that we have been avoiding. I admit it was something of a gamble to ask him here but, bear with me, I think we may find some of his insights to be valuable."

Rabbi Gel
ler had been smiling throughout the entire exchange. Finally he spoke up. "I, for one, welcome the distinguished doctor. I have been perusing his writings and find that some of what he is saying has merit. Not all, mind you, but some certainly."

The other two clerics glared at the Rabbi. He merely smiled
blandly back at them. Carlisle sensed that these three distinguished gentlemen had been down this road before. The Ambassador attempted to direct the discussion.

"
As I was saying, we are here to discuss what steps we can take to ease the tensions out here in this part of the Quadrant," he said.

"The aggression on the part of several governments in the Jade Consortium towards our colonists on Hobart must cease immediately," said the Bishop.

"I think you are mistaken as to who the real aggressors are," countered the Islamic Cleric.

"The raids on Kiwi freighters began over six months ago, our people were merely defending their property," said the Bishop.

"I do not know who is responsible for the raiding," said the Ayatollah, "but I can assure you, they do not represent the Jade Consortium. I suggest you attempt to get a handle on the pirate activity in your part of the Quadrant rather than blaming us!"

"Gentlemen, please," said the Ambassador. "The tension between your groups is well known. We are gathered here to discuss solutions, not to retread well
-worn paths!"

"I think I see a pattern here," said Talbot. "These raids were and are being staged by forces that wish for the tensions to increase. I would ask
each of you who has the most to gain from having your governments at one another's throats?"

The Bishop and the
Islamic Cleric glared at each other for a moment before the Bishop grudgingly said, "The Kuwaitis."

The Ayatollah
paused in thought for a moment. "That is possible," he said, "They have been acting very subdued as of late, they would bear looking into!"

Carlisle watched in fascination as the diplomatic summit worked its
tortuous way through a number of the Quadrant's poli
tical rough spots. The discussion was often contentious and passions flared repeatedly. The Ambassador and, surprisingly, Lieutenant Harvick, managed to calm everyone down each time the conversation threatened to get really nasty. Finally, after an exhausting three hours and the hammering out of what appeared to be a workable agenda, it was time for the meeting to end.

"Gentlemen," said the Ambassador, "I thank you all again for coming.
Dinner is scheduled for seven o'clock this evening. I expect quite a number of people will be there who will be part of the larger meeting tomorrow. There will be a reception at six pm and we will all have a chance to get better acquainted. I believe all of you have already moved into your temporary quarters. Please let us know if there is anything that you need. Otherwise I think we are finished here for the day. I will see you at the reception."

The three religious leaders filed out, leaving the Ambassador,
Lady Sondia, F.C. Talbot and the two Federation Navy officers, one of them undercover and out of uniform, in the room.

"Dr. Talbot," said the Ambassador. "I thank you again for coming. Your insights and your perspective are greatly appreciated."

"You are too kind, Excellency," replied Talbot. "The pirate or terrorist activity -- whatever you want to call it -- in the Quadrant is particularly problematic. The Kiwis and the Jade Consortium are being distracted from the real threat." The old man stopped and shook his head. "I fear some kind of grand gesture on the part of these rabble rousers is imminent. Are the Federation forces on alert?"

"
I trust that you'll pardon my saying so, Dr. Talbot," said Harvick, "but I am not at liberty to discuss such things. I'm sure a man of your proven experience can understand?"

"Of course," said Talbot
, with a smirk. "How could I be so thoughtless?"

"A simple oversight," said Harvick. "I understand that you meant no harm." He turned to the Ambassador. "Do you have further need of my services, Excellency? I
should return to my quarters and transcribe my thoughts on this meeting while the impressions are still fresh."

"
By all means, Lieutenant," said the Ambassador, "Go and finish your duties."

Harvick
gave a slight bow before turning and leaving the room.

"
He's certainly a strange duck," said Talbot after Harvick left. Alone in the room with only the Ambassador, Sondia and Carlisle, Talbot leaned in close to Carlisle and spoke softly, almost conspiratorially. "I don't suppose that you are the same Tamara Carlisle that has been researching certain destroyer actions during the Succession War, are you? Or should I say,
Ensign
Tamara Carlisle?"

Carlisle gulped. The old man
chuckled good naturedly, "Don't worry, my dear, your secret is safe with me. How goes your study?"

"My
...my committee only signed off on my dissertation about a week ago, Sir," said Carlisle. "It's still working its way through the rest of the system."

"I understand, of course. So
tell me, what did you find out?"

"That you were right about everything you'
d been saying, Sir. It was nice to have made a contribution towards solving a mystery."

"Janssen made it into a mystery,"
Talbot chuckled, "I only wrote about what I saw and about what we did. Now if you want a mystery, you could find out what happened to Prince Merrikh, the youngest son of the former emperor who was at the heart of the Succession nonsense in the first place!"

"He was killed in the
final battle, certainly," said Carlisle, "when the Succession flagship was destroyed?"

"
Yes of course, officially..." responded Talbot, "but I believe there were several trustworthy people who came forward afterwards and said that he had never boarded the enemy flagship in the first place."

"How could anyone follow up on something like that fifty years later?" asked Carlilse.

"As I said, Dr. Carlisle, a mystery worth solving," said Talbot with a knowing smile.

"
Great discussion," said the Ambassador. "I was hoping the two of you would have a chance to talk. Later I think there will be time for you to discuss things further. Right now I suggest you both take some time to freshen up a bit. As I said, dinner will be served at seven but there will be a social that begins an hour earlier." He looked directly at Carlisle. "It is at the social that we all will need to be especially vigilant." He paused for a moment, "Faiza told us about her conversation with you regarding...ah...certain other responsibilities. We had intended to ask you ourselves but the opportunity had not yet presented itself."

"
You mean the bodyguard part?" asked Carlisle. The Ambassador nodded, seemingly a little embarrassed. Carlisle set him at ease. "It's okay, really. Actually, I'm honored though I don't really know how much good I'll be. How do you want me to handle the reception?"

"
Faiza will not be in attendance. Just stay close to Sondia and me. I suggest that you speak very little, act as though you're really shy and somewhat in awe of the company. Just observe." That last part, about being somewhat in awe of the company, wasn't going to be difficult at all, thought Carlisle. "Oh, just so you aren't surprised again, Mr Clancy Davis-Moore will also be at the dinner. Don't worry, he has also been informed of your special status."

The remaining members of the afternoon conference dispersed and headed back to their quarters. Carlisle tried to g
et through some of the information on the various representatives of the various governments she was about to go and interact with but her thoughts kept returning excitedly to the meeting she had just attended. Not only was F.C Talbot onboard the
Istanbul,
but he also knew about her research. She looked forward with mixed emotions to further interaction with the great man.