All That Glitters Ch. 28

Junelliea opened her eyes and smiled at Linsey. "Thank-you so much for letting me see this, Linsey," Junelliea said. "It reminded me how to seek my center and the calm I need, to be effective."

Junelliea moved back to the scientists who were working the description board for the Insectoid. Something was bothering her. Something was wrong.

"OH!" Junelliea suddenly cried out. "He can't see our colour patterns! He is unable to interpret the board!"

The scientists all looked at Junelliea like she had just grown a new head, but Dr. Hitron understood immediately.

"Of course! Junelliea is right, we knew that when we studied the eyes of the deceased Insectoids. We need to shift the spectrum."

Linsey came over and manipulated the description board to provide a light spectrum based on what they expected from the autopsies. She got it partly right.

"He can see some of the colours now," Junelliea told them. "But it isn't quite right. You need to add more browns to the mix."

Linsey got an idea. Since they had gone to Hollander's World to find food, maybe the light from a brown dwarf star is what provides for the creation of the strange nucleobases. Perhaps, that would indicate that the Insectoid's world was circling a brown dwarf star. She shifted the colour pattern to emulate that of Hollander's World and Junelliea jumped.

"He can see it!" Junelliea called out.

And it was immediately clear that he could as he started working his multiple fingers over a device on his wrist which suddenly started making the clicking and whistling sounds.

Linsey showed the image of a person walking. The board showed the word 'Walk' and said the word in standard. A sound came from the Insectoid.

The great beast then walked in the direction of Linsey and said something in in the click and whistles of its own language into it's wrist and the word 'Walk' in standard could clearly be heard from what must be the Insectoid's version of a wrist comp.

The board then showed the image running, and the word 'Run' appeared and was spoken. More clicking sounds could be heard. The Insectoid said something into its comp and the word Run was clearly spoken, to a great cheer from the group!

They had communications!

Just then, the door opened and Fiona Marsh and Capt. Abigale Moore of the Valour came in with several boxes on anti-grav pallets. Fiona marched right up to the Insectoid and opened the box, showing the food stocks within.

Curious, the Insectoid took out an instrument and scanned the boxes, then quickly picked up a fruit and bit into it, immediately spitting out what it had in its mouth. It picked up another type of fruit and more cautiously bit into it, then hungrily devoured the fruit with a few bites. It had food!

Junelliea laughed out loud when she felt the great sense of relief spread through the Insectoid!

"He's happy!" Junelliea called out. "He is not going to starve!"

Fiona laughed along with all the scientists as the Insectoid swiftly devoured fruit after delicious fruit, well, except for a few of them...

Conference Room One, Liramor-23, Piscium System

The brief was definitely different this morning as Mind-Hur was in attendance and they had to decide what to do with her.

"So, if it hadn't been for us bringing her back to her home world, she would have not ticked off the Emperor, and her life would not now be at threat?" Fiona asked.

"That is correct," Raymond responded. "Which is why I extended asylum to her."

"OK, I can accept that, though I am at a loss as to what to do with her," Fiona admitted.

"Well, she is our very own expert on the Pod-Drran society," Dr. Hitron said. "She could quickly correct much that we know is wrong and much that we might think is right but might not be."

"That would give her employment," Fayad said, in the room because of his duties as Acting Deputy Director, his wives Hanalei and Junelliea sitting on either side of an obviously distraught Mind-Hur.

"And a reason to continue living," Junelliea interjected. "This Tae is devastated at the moment, having lost everything because of us. She is now dependant on us to help her and help her we must."

"Junelliea is correct," Dr. Galt said. "Going from someone who has had the ear of her Jurte Pair, basically a step below that of the Emperor, to being ostracized by her people simply for doing her duty, would be exceedingly trying for any person. Add to that, she is the ONLY one of her kind in the Union which would only exacerbate her situation, and you can now begin to understand where Mind-Hur is."

"One thing we can do for her is to assess her level of training and ability," Prof. Smeldt said. "Malton University is known for being able to equate previous education to current programs offered by the university. Including on-the-job training and informal training. That should tell us where she would be in regard to education level. We should be able to place her within our education structure."

"Mind-Hur, there are many things you need to do over the next few months" Fiona stated. "One of the most important is simply to learn our language. With that, you can be assessed for your education level and determine where you stand vis-à-vis our education structure.

"You will have a job, of sorts, which will be to advise us on the likely moves of your own people. You are uniquely suited for this job. You will also likely be our face to your people when we send messages directly to the people, verses to the political structure of your people.

"This will mean that you will be the face people see when new developments present themselves to your people. You could be the face of improvement, of change for your people. A positive influence on your people and culture.

"Would you like to be that person, Mind-Hur? Would you like to work for us to help us help your people?" Fiona asked.

Mind-Hur blinked several times, but it was the look of delight on Junelliea's face that told everyone when Mind-Hur had accepted her new role.

The Wanderer, Piscium A Society Home World, Twelve Light Years from the Piscium System

The Wanderer winked into existence high above the gravity well of the planet and made its way down toward the ancient generational ship now being used as an orbital station, the four Valour Class vessels acting as escorts for the ship against any stupidity on the part of the Pod-Drran.

The station was in a geosynchronous orbit around the planet. The Wanderer came to a stop 200km from the station and broadcast its intent to retrieve the Emperor's negotiation team. It sent out a VIP shuttle.

The shuttle made good time getting to the station and entered the dock indicated to them. Ten of the people were waiting on the dock. The shuttle pilots were surprised that the dock did not need to depressurize nor pressurize while vessels came and went. They used the shuttles sensors to surreptitiously take as many measurements as possible.

The negotiation team entered the rear of the shuttle and buckled themselves in as instructed. Fortunately, the instructions were clearly printed for them in their own language on pamphlets in the facing seats. A single human female working as a steward helped them through the process.

The hatch to the shuttle closed and it swiftly left the dock, heading to The Wanderer, where it docked.

The passenger gantry snugged itself to the hatch which opened shortly thereafter. Raymond Clark was waiting for them at the hatch.

"Welcome to my ship, The Wanderer," Raymond greeted them. He handed each of them a small gold wristlet that he showed them how to place on their left wrists, and a discreet earpiece that, while made for human ears, fit theirs just fine. As soon as they had these devices in place, they were able to make use of the translator circuit of the ship and on their limited wrist comp.

"Please follow me," Raymond said, turning and leading them up the gangway, a strange looking smallish Terran female nearby. Despite her size, the other Terran was obviously armed with swords, making her a Rai.

A Jurte Rai, then, the Senior Delegate, Kome-Nar Ro, thought, putting the term of bodyguard for senior personnel into a perspective he could understand. The delegate found it amusing that Raymond Clark would have such a small Jurte Rai but realized that this person was likely a skilled warrior to have such an esteemed position. His thoughts on the situation changed slightly when he made that realization. He hoped his counterpart, Nam-Hur Ro, would figure this out and stay out of trouble but Nam-Hur was known for attracting trouble.

"I do hope the air you are breathing is palatable?" Raymond asked solicitously.

"It has strange smells, but it is acceptable," the Kome-Nar returned.

"I am pleased. Mind-Hur Tae said much the same," Raymond stated.

"You have had one of our people on your ship?" another delegate, that Raymond recognized by his Ga-Den as a scientist, asked.

"Yes, Kur-Han Kai-Ro insisted that we show proof of the size of the Terran Union," Raymond explained. "The only manner in which we could prove this was to take one of your people on one of our fast ships.

"Kur-Han had hoped to send a member of the Warrior Class onto our ship, however, we decided that we would take Mind-Hur, the scientist that we had already dealt with. I am surprised you have not seen her report."

"We have not," the Kome-Nar replied. "We were not even aware that there had been face-to-face contact between our people."

"I'm sure we have a copy of that report, should you wisht to view it," Raymond said.

They came to a large open space where several people were lined up, dressed in the distinctive coloured jumpsuits that the Union people liked to wear.

There was a large, colourful crest on the wall showing a Ro? In colourful costume walking along looking up at stars above its head. It had the distinctive alphabet of the Union above and below it.

"The crest of my ship, The Wanderer, the name is written in our script below the image. Above it says in an ancient language 'quaerere et invenire' which means 'to search and discover'. The image depicts a wandering male, looking at the stars, in the ancient dress of my people," Raymond explained.

"This is not a warship?" Kome-Nar asked, noting the sword at the images waist.

"It has the capabilities, Kome-Nar, however, its primary role is to seek out and meet new species, including yours," Raymond explained.

Kome-Nar thought the name and imagery to be apt for such a vessel.

The negotiation team looked at the people standing opposite them in their distinctive outfits. The Pod-Drran wore their own distinctive dress, the Ga-Den, a long, colourful, metallic looking wrap around gowns knotted at the left shoulder that hung down to just above the ankles. The Warrior Class wore a baldric over their right shoulder that helped to hold up the large swords they wore on a belt at the left hip, while members of the other trades wore distinctive pouches, the Pol-Mar, at their left hips, sometimes supported by a thin baldric if the filled pouches were heavy.

The colour of the Ga-Den signified the class of the one who wore it. Gold-green colouring for the Warrior Class, Yellowish-green for the Medical Class, while the techs tended to wear colours of yellow-blue. The Public Services Class, including bureaucrats, wore colours of purple-green. Merchants wore Ga-Den of red-green colour. Those who were responsible for basic sanitation and other sundries of the society, wore gowns of yellow-black.

"I would like to introduce my senior people to your team, Kome-Nar Ro" Raymond spoke.

"First, this is my partner, Liea Samson, she is part owner of this ship," Raymond indicated the smaller Terran beside him. "She is Rai," he said be way of explanation.

The Senior delegate suddenly noted the differences between the Terrans, some being rather flat chested and larger than the others, some being of rather large chests and smaller than the average, though there were plenty that had significant chests that were of the same height as the larger ones. The females of his own people had four smaller breasts with which to suckle a brood, they tended to be taller, stronger, and just plain meaner than the males.

These people likely have twins, Kome-Nar thought.

He bowed to the smaller Rai, noting the colour of her jumpsuit, a bluish-green that he was told was called turquoise. "Your partner, Raymond-Clark? Does this mean your are a bonded pair?"

"No," Lea replied. "Partnership can imply a bonded pair, what we refer to as marriage, however, in our case it means business partners. We are significantly well off by the standards of our people, Kome-Nar. We purchased this vessel together, though either of us could have purchased it on our own."

"Purchased? You mean you own this vessel?" Kome-Nar asked.

"Well, yes," Lea replied. "I did say we are significantly above the standard of wealth for our people. This is a private vessel, Kome-Nar, as is indicated by the exterior and interior colours of the ship.

A look that could only be interpreted as stunned surprise, flashed over the faces of the delegates as they took in this information. The cost to the Empire of building a ship of this size was well known to the delegates. They could only assume that building a ship of this size would be of equivalent cost to the Union. That made the pair formidable businesspeople if they had earned the ability to purchase such a vessel.

"My ship's commander, Captain Henadi Noor, a Rai," Raymond continued the introductions, indicating a tall Rai whose skin was a darker than the owner pair. The Rai was wearing a jumpsuit of black and wore several ribbons of different colours over her left breast with a gold star above. She also wore a colourful patch that was the ship's crest on her right breast, with a blue rectangle below it, above a name tag that likely had her name on it, not that Kome-Nar could read the script.

"My ship's medical doctor, Ayesha Seito, a Dae, and her fiancé, Sean Murphy, a Ro and a member of the ships security team," Raymond said.

"Fiancé?" asked another member of Kome-Nar's team.

A person who intends to become a mate to another," Raymond explained.

Kome-Nar was left wondering if this was a joke as the white clad Dae was so small that he thought initially it was a child, while the Ro was as tall as any Rai of his people but massively broad of shoulder. He wore a black jumpsuit with various items attached to a belt around his waist.

The tight smile on his face was pleasant and non-threatening. When he extended his hand Kome-Nar was immediately aware of the power the Ro had. He was by far the strongest person that Kome-Nar had ever been presented to!

"The head of my security section, Major Harold Thom, a Ro," Raymond continued, showing one who was more typical of the build for Ro's of the Pod-Drran.

If he is the head of security, best not underestimate him, Kome-Nar thought even though the Ro wore no obvious weapons.

"Lt. Ululla Mbibo, head of combat training for the ship, a Rai."

The Rai he indicated was as tall as Kome-Nar and had skin so dark that it looked blue in the bright lights of the large space. Her muscle tone was incredible. Kome-Nar was intrigued. He had never seen a person with skin this colour before. She reached out her hand and Kome-Nar took it in his.

He could feel the strength in that hand. The power it held almost frightened him but, on a biological level, he found himself aroused by the sheer power she showed him. This was a formidable Rai! The kind of Rai that any Ro would love to have as his bond mate had she been a member of the Pod-Drran!

Raymond introduced a few more people until he arrived at the Rai that had trailed him in the gantry.

"This is Oshiiru Kimiko, 'Kim', Lea's bodyguard, what you would refer to as a Jurte Rai," Raymond stated.

The smallish Rai was the one with the twin swords on her left hip. Kome-Nar noted the hilt of another, smaller sword at her right hip. The Rai was as small as the ship's doctor and dressed in an odd reddish/purple coloured jumpsuit with symbols of some kind on it in black, it was the green sword hilts and scabbards that intrigued Kome-Nar. He noted the same symbols on the swords as she had on her outfit.

Some kind of family insignia perhaps? he wondered. The Rai did not extend a hand to him. Rather she bowed slightly, never taking her eyes off Kome-Nar or his team.

"What is this!" Shouted Nam-Hur Ro, a Warrior of substantial rank among the negotiators. "This tiny Rai is a Jurte Rai?" he laughed.

"Kim," Lea said, just loud enough to Kome-Nar, Raymond, and of course Kim to hear.

Kim moved. So fast that between blinks she moved from behind Lea then was in front of Nam-Hur, surprising Kome-Nar by her speed.

Kim had been taught all her life how to use an edged weapon, especially a sword. Once a sword was drawn, the moment to use it was that of the wielder. She was taught and always adhered to the five points of a perfect strike:

First, you needed to use the strength in your arms and hands to keep the blade true in the direction intended and not let it be deflected during the strike.

Second, you needed the speed of your blade to keep it moving and ensure that you struck your target before your target could protect itself.

Third, precision dictated where you struck with the blade and how much effort to include in the strike.

Fourth, power was developed as a combination of speed, strength, and precision. Power allowed the blade to cleave through the defences and the object of the strike itself.

Fifth, was timing. The timing of the strike was the decision of the sword wielder. One could only strike when one was ready and not before, however, practice ensured that one was always ready. The wielder chose when to strike.

Similar to human's, the Pod-Drran closed their eyes briefly when the laughed. Kim was ready...

Her sword left the Saya so swiftly it never made a sound. Kim had once heard that rattling a sword in a scabbard made a noise but drawing it should not. She was true to those words.

Despite the height difference, she struck true and with speed to cut through the leather baldric on his right shoulder without touching his skin. She spun swiftly around and struck the knot holding his Ga-Den, then struck downwards to cut through the sword belt between the sword and his body. Three swift strikes were made, with precision, speed, strength and enough power to cut only the object she wanted to cut. Her sword snicked as she replaced it in the Saya at her hip, returning it just as swiftly as she drew it.

Nam-Hur Ro barely had time to stop laughing and open his eyes before his sword struck the deck followed by his Ga-Den, which was knotted loosely on his right hip. As he was not wearing the traditional loin cloth, he was naked beneath it, totally exposed to all present now that his Ga-Den was pooled at his feet.

Nam-Hur roared his frustration and his anger, turning on Kim. Kim leaped into the air and kicked him full in the chin with a strike of her right foot, the sound of which echoed off the walls of the large room. She twisted in mid-air and slammed the bottom of her left foot into Nam-Hur's face. Nam-Hur spun and landed on his face, his ass exposed to all. He didn't move.

"Ayesha," Raymond said.

Ayesha slipped forward and placed her fingers over where the carotid artery was for humans. Pod-Drran physiology wasn't too different from human. She felt a strong pulse.

"He is unconscious. His pulse is strong and he is breathing properly," she stated.

One of the Pod-Drran females, dressed in the yellow-green Ga-Den of the Medical Class knelt and did her own summery. Shortly, she nodded to Kome-Nar.