Offspring Ch. 040

"This is what we have on the Torgons as well as some other bits and pieces that might come in useful. Al is fully briefed on the contents and is ready to help clarify things where needed."

"Thanks, Niels," I said. "Nothing overt is going to happen for quite a while. You will be fully briefed on any attack well before the event. Al will sit on the committee that makes all the decisions as a full member with an equal say. I hope this is satisfactory for now."

"Yes, that'll be fine."

"Tell me, Niels, where do your freighters come from? They look and behave awfully like the freighters we use."

"That's because we buy them on the open market. Traders bring them in with cargo. The hyperdrives are removed and destroyed after arrival, we take them to the mainland, make some cosmetic alterations and incorporate them into our fleet. The Torgons will not let us have any ships equipped with hyperdrives and monitor closely their removal and destruction. It is meant to stop us from leaving the planet."

"That explains a few things. I had always thought your freighters were of Federation construction."

"Now you'll understand why we don't let the Federation go anywhere near them."

"Before we break up there is something I need to tell you. The Tai-pan knows nothing of our alliance or of my plans to deal with the Torgons. I don't want him to know until the Torgon shuttles and armaments are under our control. I suspect you, Niels, will get an invitation from the Tai-pan soon. He will want to meet you and sound you out. Be careful what you say to him."

"I read you loud and clear, Frank. I'll watch my step."

***

We had our by now traditional meal scheduled for 3PM. There were around fifty of us and we didn't want to occupy the dining room when it was busy with the lunchtime crowd. The management appreciated this.

We had decided to turn up to our farewell lunch in uniform. Trevor had new fatigues for everybody, including his men and Talla's girls. He had arranged for new patches. They were identical to the old ones except they read now Olympus Colonisation Command. My uniform, in addition to the colonel insignia sported pilot's wings. He explained he had included them for Juan, Feng and myself because we were qualified pilots. He had also given Talla a set of wings, which was perhaps pushing it a bit. He said he was making a statement. When Talla turned up in her new uniform Trevor whispered to me: "Look at the way her wings move. She is as proud as shit."

I was nowhere near as good as Trevor in reading Talla's wing movements, but even I could see what he meant. Talla had once said she wanted to show everybody that she and her people were good for more than serving drinks and cleaning toilets. The wings on her chest gave a clear message that this was so.

After lunch I was having a few drinks with the Tai-pan and Dr. Chang in the bar. Talla was talking to a group of spacers who were buying her beer.

"Have a look at this," said Dr. Chang. "They are treating Talla like a fellow officer. I would have never believed I would see something like this in my lifetime."

"It doesn't surprise me," I said. "Spacers meet many extra terrestrial pilots on their travels. As far as they are concerned she is one of them."

"It is good to see. Soon there will be many like her, ready to take their rightful place in society. Few things will stay the same. Not before time if you ask me. You are making a lot of difference, Cousin."

"Cousin?"

"We have the same uncle. That makes us cousins. Does it not?"

"I guess so. I feel very honoured to have the revered Dr. Chang as a cousin."

"Alright, then allow an old scholar to give you some advice, Cousin. You have started a revolution. The Angels are coming into their own. They are discovering self worth and ambition. They will want to change things. Many of them will no longer be satisfied with being only the lowly servants of another race, they will want to move on. The poofterocracy that controls things here in the spaceport will not like it. There will be trouble. Better be prepared for it. Martin Luther King, an American civil rights leader of the twentieth century, once said: 'Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.' That's what you will have to deal with here before there is any kind of permanent peace."

"I have no intention of dealing with it here. There is more than one way to skin a cat, as an old Earth saying goes."

"Here it comes," said the Tai-pan, who had been quiet up to now. "Brace yourself for one of Colonel Walters' famous scams."

"Actually, Uncle, this time its no scam. It's strictly in accordance with established protocol and interstellar law."

"Go on, this I got to hear."

"Tell me, who controls the spaceport?"

"The Federation does, subject to a treaty with the Oktonian government."

"The local Federation personnel get their orders ultimately from Federation High Command on Earth. Correct?"

"Yes it is."

"The Oktonians, that means Talla's people, are the recognised government of this sector. The humans are only negotiating on behalf of Talla's people, the Torgons don't officially exist. Still correct?"

"In theory, yes, but ..."

"Not in theory, in law. The humans and the Torgons, if the Federation ever finds out about them, have no legal standing whatsoever."

"I'll go along with that."

"Alright, now imagine this: I turn up with a delegation composed of twenty of Talla's people and a couple of accredited human negotiators at Federation High Command and propose some amendments to the original contracts. First and foremost, the lifting of the ban on women and extra terrestrials, then the removal of the clause prohibiting Oktonians to work for the Federation. As a sweetener I was thinking to offer conditional access to one island to serve as rest and recreation area.

"They would go for this like a shot. According to Bernice Schreiber, senior anthropologist at HQ, the top brass have been unhappy for a long time with the exclusively homosexual staff on Okton4. They would dearly love to change that if they could. I will propose an immediate replacement of 50% of the personnel with heterosexual males and women. Once the new amendments are signed into law we will inform the public of the changes."

"The Torgons will be furious, what do you think they'll do?"

"What can they do other than scream? They can't come out into the open, it would be suicide. We are safe from them. They put the dumb faeries up as the government because they thought they were too stupid to take over. Now I'm going to fuck them over royally with their own policies."

"Well, Frank, I must say this is a good plan. The Chinese community and most of the traders will welcome these changes. So when is this going to go down?"

"First I need to train my ambassador and the delegation. I'll start in on General Taubner and let him know I am trying to convince the Oktonian Government that these changes are in the best interest of all. I also need to install an Olympus embassy here. I'll get Taubner to help me with the accreditation. There is a lot of detail that needs working out. It'll take three months or so to get everything together."

"Anything you want from me?"

"Yes. If you can, find me a freighter to serve as shuttle between Okton4 and Olympus. I don't want to keep using the Pygmalion for supply runs."

"Leave it with me, We need to be off now. Good luck."

We shook hands and that was that.

***

Next morning Juan and Talla readied the Pygmalion for departure. We took off just after lunch.

While we were in hyperspace Juan and I were having a beer in the mess when Juan asked: "Alright, Franco. What kind of shit do you have in those four containers that weren't part of our scheduled cargo?"

I waved Trevor to come to our table.

"Trevor, tell Juan what you've got in those four boxes."

"Twelve medium range space torpedoes, a shitload of guns, ammo, flame throwers and grenades, a few land mines, shit like this." Trevor was grinning from ear to ear.

"Twelve torpedoes? How come? We only ordered ten."

"They come four to a container. The boys on the other end didn't want to fuck around with taking two out and then having to put extra packing in and perhaps getting caught doing it."

"What are the flame throwers for?"

"I thought they might come in handy if we want to clear an area to set up camp in the valleys. Gets rid of the nasties real quick."

Juan blanched. "I'm glad you didn't tell me. I would have shit myself had I known. That's why I didn't ask when I noticed the extra containers." He finished his beer and went to get another one. I think he needed it.

Fourteen hours later we touched down on Olympus. Talla had flown the Pygmalion all the way again. Juan didn't like anyone but himself landing the ship, he took over when we were just above the planet. Talla had performed her duties well and Juan was full of praise for his pupil.