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"The Byandi Ambassador, Porra, is similar to our Ambassador at Large, with permission to open dialogue with new species, in this case, us," Fiona explained. "Let's head over to the Military Wing in control and we will look at the information you have brought us."
Fiona took them back to the lift to head up to Central Control and the Military Wing.
"M. Branchette, you have been involved with many local, international, and interplanetary police actions of late with their needs to access your abilities. You are now about to enter a new level of security above and beyond all of that sir," Thenton told Luc.
"I will be making use of your expertise on something very unique, and potentially life saving for thousands of people. You will be remaining here until after this has been completed, you will understand why once you see the data.
"Trust me, young man, this is something that you will be proud to be part of," Thenton finished.
Fiona led the way into the Military Wing and let them all in. Once inside, Holstern decided to let Fiona know of her suspicion.
"Vangelia wasn't the empath in that duo, was she?" she asked of Fiona.
"Actually, Vangeliya is a Grand Master Empath," Fiona replied with a smile.
"Oh, so the other woman, Junelliya, isn't an empath then?" Holstern asked.
"Yes, she is. In fact, she is on an order far above Vangeliya. She is classified as a Master Class Empath, something that is not only rare, but also usually only found in much more mature empaths, who have years of experience behind them. Despite her youth, Junelliya is as powerful an empath as it is possible to be," Fiona imparted to a surprised Holstern.
The Military Wing was very busy, with people doing planning all over the wing. They came to a small room where a young woman was sitting with a nurse holding her hand, a Commander with Intelligence insignia conducting a debriefing.
"Are we interrupting?" Fiona asked.
"Not at all," Katanya replied. "It is time for a little break and a snack right now."
"How are you doing, Ria?" Fiona asked.
"Very well, ma'am," Ria replied. "Your people are being very good to me, much better than my last family had been, minus Mistress Aurelia."
"I'm glad to hear that, Ria," Fiona said. "It makes me feel good that you are able to help us after all that has happened to you.
"May I ask you a question?" Fiona asked, getting a nod from Ria.
"The collar that they took off of you before you entered the ship, what would have happened if you had left the property with that still intact?"
"There is an explosive device on the collar," Ria stated. "Had I left the property with the collar on, it would have given me a brief shock of pain to warn me that I was leaving the control area. If the warning is ignored, then it would have activated the explosive ring on the collar and I would have died."
"What happens to slaves who are sold? How do they transfer the ownership of the slave?" Fiona asked, already knowing the answer.
"The slave collar has to be deactivated before a slave can be moved from one ownership to another," the young girl answered. "Then the collar is reactivated under a new code for the new slave owner."
"So, once the new code is imparted, the slave is then restricted to a specific local?" Fiona demanded.
"Yes, unless they are sent on an errand for the owner. The owner has the ability to set permissions for a slave or slaves to move to specific places. The collars are keyed to a world sensor net. If a slave wavers from a route, or from a locale directed by the owner, the net will know and advise the owner, who can remotely activate the collar, giving pain or death as required," Ria stated simply.
"A slave who ignores the warning would be killed?" Fiona asked.
"A slave who does not obey commands is of no use to an owner," Ria replied. "Such slaves are severely punished the first time, terminated on any future inappropriate behavior."
Fiona looked pointedly at Luc Branchette, who suddenly understood what his new role was going to be. He silently nodded to Fiona.
"Thank-you Ria. We will let you have your snack now," Fiona said with a smile.
The group moved to the conference room.
"So, for those who are not aware, we are about to attempt to rescue something close to 30,000 Union slaves being held on six Alliance of Planets worlds," Fiona started the brief. "There are fifty-two companies that are illegally holding large numbers of kidnapped Union citizens as slaves. We want to rescue those citizens, however, without a key to their collars, we cannot get them off the planet without killing them.
"One of our operatives got into the Gordon Estates and raided their computers with the help of that young girl, which is why she is now here on this platform. On that computer was the mechanism for activating, de-activating, and making use of the features of the slave collars, that were just described by that young lady.
"We need to find a way to deactivate those collars without having to have the codes from the fifty-two different major owners. If we can do that, we can then make a raid and get our citizens back. If we cannot, then we can only raid one company at a time.
"The Alliance worlds will not tolerate multiple raids. We need to be able to do this one time, rescuing as many of our people as we can. We will not get them all, however, this will put notice to the Alliance Worlds that the Union means business and put a major dent in the traffic of free Union citizens as slaves.
"We now have irrefutable proof that many of the pirate syndicates have sponsors among the Alliance worlds. If we can make a major dent in their profits by taking back Union citizens, then we may cause a major rethink of the sponsorship of pirate syndicates by Alliance of Planets companies.
"That is why we have decided to forcibly recruit you M. Branchette. Your expertise with computers will be a major asset to us in creating devices that can override slave collar safeguards that prevent the collars from being deactivated by any but the owners. That is the final key to our planning strategy for the rescue of our people.
"If we cannot find a means to deactivate the collars, we may have to go to war with the Alliance of Planets in order to retrieve our citizens. Will you help us, Luc?" Fiona asked.
Luc looked around the room at the faces looking at him. He knew he was good with computers and electronics, but this was asking a lot of him. If he messed up, people would almost assuredly die as they could not remove the collars. However, if he could find the key, then the Union could rescue all its missing citizens.
Luc made up his mind.
"I will help you. I will do my best to figure this out. This will be something that I can tell my grandkids, that I helped save thousands," Luc stated.
"Good. Now let's take a look at the information that you pulled off those computers," Thenton said.
Luc gave over the memory unit and the information on it was input into the small, independent computer in the conference room. The information was an indictment against the Maderan's Reach and its officers, showing the number of times they had raided planets, company facilities, and ships in space. It also indicated the total number of people that had been taken as slaves by the ship in its eight years of operation, which numbered close to 5,000.
Also in the memory was information from when the ship was the flag ship of an Alnitah admiral, who is now a senior member of the Alnitah Pirate Syndicate. It showed times and locations for meetings between members of the syndicate and their sponsors and even identified the sponsors, including Armstrong Gordon, head of the Gordon Companies.
"That's pretty damning," Thenton said. "I do hope that you have control over the evidence?"
"Yes, sir," Luc informed them. "There are only three copies of these memory units, one is with me and now is in the hands of Commodore Marsh. She will sign for the device.
"The second is being used by the prosecution in the trials of the crew of the Maderan's Reach, under the management of the Navy Office of the JAG of Sector Twenty-Three.
"The third is in the hands of Captain. Brenden Closs, Senior Intelligence Officer for Sector Twenty-Three. The computers themselves are sealed as evidence and under lock and key on Pallanders-4, in a secure area with controlled access. The orders are not to move them without the express permission of Cmdre. Dostier," Luc told them.
"Good. That will help us when we take these bastards to court, should we get the chance," Thenton stated.
"Luc, thank-you for you assistance in this matter. As usual, your work is top notch. Now, I want you to concentrate your efforts on the information brought back by our operative on the Gordon Company's control of the slave collars. We need a key that can open these collars quickly and safely," Thenton told him.
"I'll get him to HR and find a place for him on the platform," Fayad said, standing along with Luc. "Then, we can start on that electronic key."
Once Luc had left the room, Fiona then went into issues for the pending raid.
"Once we have a plan of action, Adm. Ramison will order all fifty-eight sector commanders to give up 50% of their anti-pirate patrols for the raid on the Alliance Worlds," Fiona said. "That will be roughly eighteen ships per sector or 1,044 ships.
"We have worked out all the strategies that we need and figured out the closest staging areas before and after we jump on the Alliance planets. What we need now is a controlled area that will allow us to put upwards of a thousand ships where we can practice the strategies and tactics that we have developed," Fiona finished.
"Oh, I have just the place for you," Holstern stated. "You can use the Punarjanm system for our preparations. There are no populated planets in the system and both of the assets that are there are controlled by the Navy.
"Pallanders-4 is responsible for the refit and new builds of Navy vessels, while Liramor-30 provides metals and other materials to the shipyard. Having a thousand Navy ships in the system for security wouldn't hurt either," Holstern finished.
"It's perfect," Thenton said. "Sector Twenty-Three is relatively centralized and in an area that is not heavily populated with inhabited planets. The Punarjanm system is relatively isolated, which is why the pirates set themselves up there in the first place. It's the ideal location for our exercises prior to the event.
"The major drawback is that the pirates know about the locations but with that many warships in the system, they are not likely to mount an attack against our assets there.
"In one month's time, the annual synod of Sector Commanders at Terra Navy HQ will take place. Some time during that synod, Adm. Ramison will advise the Sector Commanders of this operation and demand the tribute of anti-pirate vessels to this Task Force," Thenton finished.
There was silence for a moment while all those in the room thought about what was going to happen in the near future.
"Wilhelmina, there is a meet and greet courtesy of the Byandi delegation tonight," Fiona told her. "I do hope you have something appropriate to wear? Though formal mess kit will suffice, should you wish to dress in something more civilian in nature, we are about the same size and I can lend you something from my closet."
"I have been to so many functions in formal Mess Kit, that I find myself looking forward to attending one or two in something of a more civilian nature. I would gratefully accept your invitation to raid your closet, Fiona," Holstern replied.
Liramor Interspecies Embassy, Hotel Deck, Liramor-23, Piscium System
The party started early but people came and went throughout the evening. The curious were there to meet the delegates and also to take in the embassy.
Many dignitaries were on hand, including Antoine Liramor and his daughter, Annette Liramor.
Many of the senior members of the UDC had arrived during the day, including the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Charles Ronter, who had brought with him small delegation of Senators from the Senate Oversight Committee for Foreign Affairs.
For many of the members of the UDC and the Senate, it was their first time meeting with aliens. Now they were being introduced to seven unique lifeforms.
The Byandi were sponsoring the meet and greet but they included the five other life forms that had travelled with them on the Insectoid ship.
Besides the Pod-Drran, the Byandi, and the Insectoids, there was representatives from the Toolend, the Harradi, the Asocan, and the Paacon. While the Harradi, the Asocan, the Byandi, and the Paacon were bipedal, only the Harradi and the Byandi were vaguely humanoid in appearance. The UDC personnel and the Senators were almost overwhelmed by what they found themselves involved in.
Most of the delegates were talking through the computer language matrix, though humans could talk directly with the Pod-Drran in attendance and with the Toolend, who spoke very passable standard.
"Mind-Ur, you were the Pod-Drran who was granted Union Citizenship by the President?" Minister Ronter asked for the larger group.
"That is correct, Minister," Mind-Ur replied. "I have been here on the platform ever since. I have been taken in by the Union and provided meaningful employment for myself and the members of my House. For this, I am truly grateful, Minister."
"Your House has been instrumental in showing the way to the agreement that we now have between the Union and the Pod-Drran. It is we who are grateful, Mind-Ur. If we had not come to this agreement, we might have had to go to war with the Pod-Drran. Only the Gods know what might have happened," Ronter stated.
"We would have lost, sir, and been destroyed," Mind-Ur stated unequivocally. "The Pod-Drran do not make war like humans do, Minister. They would not have been able to stop the destruction of their fleets nor of their home world. The only members of the Pod-Drran that would remain are those that are now on this platform and citizens of the Union, sir."
"We note that the Fleet Shem is still moving towards this system," one of the Senators mentioned.
"Yes, that is correct, Senator," Mind-Ur replied. "They will likely continue in this direction until diplomatic protocols are finalized between the Pod-Drran and the Union. This is a face-saving measure for the Pod-Drran elite, sir. They can only turn around once they have something significant to show for the time and effort that was put into moving the fleet this far from the home world."
"Thank-you, Mind-Ur for your candid reply. It has been most useful," Ronter said, giving the Senators a significant look. The members of the Senate Oversight committee had been dithering about accepting the Pod-Drran agreement.
The small group circulated amongst the delegates, learning about the different species that were present. They learned that the Insectoids had brought the group to the Piscium system in order to rescue one of their own, the one known as Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, that there was a Council of Sisters on their great ship, consisting of four Sisters, their assigned Drones, the Drone Rikki, their attendants, and representatives from each of the species present. They learned that the Council of Sisters made all the decisions on the ship and the greater Council of Sisters made all the decisions for the Insectoids and of the Council of Sentient Species as a whole.
The group were surprised by the size of the Insectoids, especially the Sisters. They were also surprised by the Byandi, who went about bare chested, even the females, and being mammalian, the females of course had breasts, though not as large as the breasts of human females. Seeing breasts on display made some of those present somewhat embarrassed.
Most visiting delegates referred to the Insectoids by their Asocan name, 'Djinaëte' (many legged).
Many of the human guests were currently wearing the traditional costumes of their home world, which made for a very colourful parade amongst the humans, much to the delight of the visitors.
Capt. Damyanti Balakrishna was dressed in a sheer Saree, the traditional dress of her homeland. In deference to the Byandi, she wore no top or bra beneath her Saree, the thin material clearly exposing her breasts to the guests and the hosts, who were thrilled that one of the humans would go this far to meeting their own standards of dress.
The Byandi were an aquatic species, having evolved in their ocean and becoming amphibious as a survival trait. They did not need to wear clothing on their torsos as they found the air of their home world to generally be much warmer than the waters and their bodies were self regulating in the water.
The Byandi took in the many pieces of jewelry that Damyanti wore, gold bangles on her right wrist, brilliant and large earrings that hung down almost to her shoulders, a large and very sparkly necklace. They Byandi were fascinated by the broad spectrum of colour offered by the jewelry.
The Pod-Drran too, showed off their own jewelry style, which the Byandi also admired.
Minister Ronter took time to visit with each of the delegates, learning as much about them as he could in the brief time that he had. He realized that he would have to put a senior ambassador in the embassy or promote one of the ambassadors already on Liramor-23 to senior status.
Things were moving much too fast for the Minister, who liked the glacial pace of the UDC and the Senate. However, he knew he had to move with the flow on this one or things would simply overtake him as Mind-Ur had just indicated reference the Fleet Shem.
Ronter found himself in front of one of the Toolend. It looked like a giant octopus but he knew it was quite intelligent, considering it could talk in standard.
"Good day to you, Minister Ronter. I am Mayute," the Toolend said. "Mine is the pleasure to be the future ambassador to your people once relations have been established between us."
"Mayute, it is a pleasure to meet you," Ronter replied. The figure seemed to wheeze to the Minister's comment.
"No, you are not pleased to meet us, Minister. However, we understand. We are not like other species and we know that we initially make others nervous," Mayute stated.
The Minister smiled and nodded his head, not sure if either action was recognized by the Toolend.
"Like many of the other species, we are cautious of what, to us, is new," the Minister acknowledged. "You, the Asocan, the Paacon, and the Djinaëte, are not only new, but so different from our normal frame of reference as to make you truly unknown. It will take us time to warm up to you but I am sure that we will."
"Your people are amazing, Minister," Mayute stated. "We were surprised that they did not run away screaming, which has happened when we encountered other species. The Paacon, for example, took many years to 'warm up to us'.
"Your people not only did not run, but they also invited us to apply for delegate status in this facility of yours. We think that we will do so.
"The Council of Sisters, does not have a single place that they gather, so we are at their mercy when it comes to making decisions and travelling back and forth. Having one place that we can all attend when necessary would help the other species who are structured differently than the Djinaëte model. This place would make a good point of contact for all of us. To us, it is neutral ground and easily accessible with the great ships.
"We understand that your ships can jump large distances. That ships of your size can do this is something that is amazing for us and something that we would like to trade for. To have the ability to jump such distances without the need to be carried by the Insectoid ships would be a great benefit to all of the Community of Sentient Species.
