Warrior One - Fleet Action Pt. 08

"How soon can you have translator buttons ready?"

"Minutes, sir. My people are working on them now."

"Comms, message received, 'We will send over three people to meet with you on your biggest ship.'"

"Reply, "We will be happy to meet with you. Tell them to use the upper front shuttle bay. Show them where it is."

"Aye, aye, sir."

"Commander Beckett, you have the con," Ezra said as he got up from his chair.

"Aye, aye, sir. I have the con."

"Quinlan, you're with me. Laff... damn. Tanner," Ezra shouted.

"She is on her way to the shuttle bay, sir," said Candle.

"Good. Candle you're with me too."

"Yes, sir."

Ezra was excited and nervous about meeting new, what he hoped would be, friends and allies.

Chapter 182

"Cass?" Gillian asked.

"Ma'am, I detect no life in the plant matter below. I do, however, detect microbial life inside the plant matter. It's currently dormant but does appear to be able to 'wake up' if food is introduced into the plant it inhabits," Cass replied.

"And what kind of 'food' does it require?" Gillian asked.

"I... you... "

"Spit it out, Cass," Gillian said.

"Blood, hemoglobin to be exact. Doesn't matter what species, it just needs to have hemoglobin running through its veins, ma'am."

"Vampire plants?" Gillian asked, almost laughing.

"Not the plants, ma'am, they are normal trees, but the biologic that inhabits them..."

"Vampire germs?" Gillian asked.

"You could say that, ma'am," replied Cass.

"Ridiculous," Laff said.

"How advanced are these germs? Will they detect us, wake up, and attack?"

"Unknown, ma'am."

"I see. Advice, Colonel?"

"Yes, we avoid them at all costs, until the science types can have a look at them."

"Good, that's exactly what I was going to order. Cass, is there a way around these?"

"Yes. Two blocks over. Back a block then left for two blocks," Cass replied.

"Alright Cass, I want you to trace that biologic back and see where it came from, clear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Gillian watched as Caster floated off, following the plant. Turning she nodded at Laff who had his marines turn around and head off in the direction Cass had laid out.

~~~~ WO ~~~~

When Ezra and Quinlan entered the shuttle bay, there was a tech from Quinlan's section waiting. Quinlan huddled with the tech accepting something from him. Nodding Quinlan said something to the tech who hurried away. Stepping over to where Ezra waited, Quinlan held his hand out.

"My team finally got the language translated. We will be able to talk to them in their native language, Captain... err... Admiral," Quinlan said.

"Great. And Captain would have been fine between us," Ezra said smiling at Quinlan taking one of the small translator buttons from him.

"Shuttle approaching, sir," Tanner said as she listened to her radio.

"Get ready people. We don't know what species they are, so brace yourselves," Ezra said as he pinned the translator button to his collar.

The shuttle was small. Smaller than a human, shuttle. Ezra wondered how three and maybe a pilot could fit inside. Although, he didn't see any propulsion apparatus on the surface of the ship. As it noiselessly hovered over the deck, he wondered at its medium of propulsion. The shuttle gently settled to the deck of the shuttle bay, not really touching the deck. A door in the side opened and a ramp slid out, again not touching the deck.

Ezra and the crew with him waited. Then three beings quickly exited the craft. Ezra was surprised. Very surprised. They were Avian but had arms instead of wings. Covered in feathers the three stopped to look over Ezra. All three were standing upright and stood no taller than five feet tall. Their feet were bird-like, each of the three forward-facing toes having sharp claws. Their hands were three fingers and a thumb. Their faces were without a beak, although there did appear what could be a vestige of what was once a beak as lips.

"They are human, like the Sinn Fein," one of them said.

Quinlan started to speak, but Ezra held up his hand.

"They are. Then we should have nothing to fear from them."

Ezra turned to Quinlan and taking a button from him, he slowly walked toward the three. Holding the button in his hand, he looked at all three of the diminutive beings and nodded.

"No you don't," he said.

The button translated him into their language. All six eyes widened.

"Take this and pin it to your collars, here," Ezra said pointing to the button on his collar.

"Of course," one of them said stepping forward to take the button.

Ezra motioned Quinlan forward and took the other two translation devices from him, holding them out to the other beings standing in front of them. They nodded and pinned them to their collars.

"I am, Admiral Ezra Nichols. I am the commander of this fleet and I welcome you to my ship, Warrior One," Ezra said. "I also promise no harm will come to you, and you will be free to leave at any time you wish."

The three looked at each other. No words were spoken, at least that the translators could hear. There were several chirps from the one on Ezra's collar. The three finally faced Ezra. The individual in the middle stepped slightly forward.

"We are the Laflureians... interesting. I am Bid D'old, my companions are Bly D'flo and Bek D'lak. We are the commanders of the three vessels before you. We gladly accept your hospitality." Ezra and Quinlan were both surprised that the device had translated the name of their species.

"Then... how should one address such as yourselves?" Ezra asked.

"You may use our given name. I am Bid, he is Bek and she is Bly."

"I see. You may call me Ezra."

"Thank you, Ezra. I hope I pronounced it correctly?"

"You did Bid. Did I pronounce yours correctly?"

"You did," Bid said his eyes smiling. His cheeks did pull back as if he was smiling, but his stiff lips never changed position.

"Good, I'm glad. Now if you will accompany me we will adjourn to a conference room."

"Ah yes. Please lead on. Who is the man that handed you the devices?"

"That is Commander Quinlan. Quinlan, I'm sorry, what is your first name?"

"James, sir," Quinlan said smiling.

"This is James, my linguistics officer."

"Thank you for these wonderful devices, James," Bid said.

"You are welcome Bid," Quinlan replied.

"And this," Ezra began, waving Tanner over, "is Captain Joyce Tanner, commander of our Marine contingent. Joyce, Bid. Bid, Joyce."

"Marine?" Bid queried. "Is she also female?"

"Can those types of questions wait until we get to the conference room, Bid?"

"They can, Ezra."

"And yes, Joyce is a female of our species."

"Then I assume you are male?" asked Bid.

"I am," Ezra replied as they left the bay to go to a conference room.

Chapter 183

Gillian and her team headed down the street two blocks over from where they had started. Snow covered the street and all the ground vehicles on the street. There was no order to this street. The vehicles were parked any which way, it even seemed that some had crashed into each other in the distant past. Silence persisted, the only sound that could be heard was the crunching of their boots in the snow. Then there was a roar. Not a wildcat roar. More of a bear-type roar. At least that's what it sounded like to Gillian.

"Hold!" she shouted.

The point men stopped. They were several meters ahead of the main body. Gillian walked on, to catch up to the two point men. Colonel Owens was right beside her. Gillian knelt beside the corporal.

"Did you get the direction that came from?" she asked.

"Yes, Ma'am. It came from directly ahead of us. In fact, you can see the animal if you look closely. It's just beside that light ground vehicle about twenty cars down," he said pointing.

Gillian zoomed her visor in and sure enough, the animal was squatting over another that looked kind of like an earth deer but wasn't. Not with six legs. The bear-like creature only had four legs, but its face was all mouth, with two tiny eyes above and no discernible nose.

"Colonel?" Gillian asked.

"Corporal, max stun, two rounds, fire when ready," Laff said slapping the corporal on the shoulder.

The corporal dialed in his stun setting, pulled the buttstock to his shoulder, lined up his shot, and fired two rounds in quick secession. The first round hit the animal and it yowled until the second round struck. It collapsed to the ground and laid still.

"Colonel, four men to check it out," Gillian said.

"Yes, Commander." Laff turned toward the group of Marines behind them signaled for four to move up to them.

When they got there, Laff gave them their orders. The two point Marine's kept the rifles on the bear-like thing. Gillian scanned the street farther down from the animal, looking for any kind of movement. Although bears were loners on Earth, that didn't mean this animal was.

"It's still breathing, Colonel," the radio squawked. "It's out cold it would seem, sir."

Laff waved the rest of his team forward. Gillian stood when Laff did and they walked down to where the animal lay on the ground.

"Sure is an ugly thing," one of the Marines said as they passed by.

Gillian looked down at the thing. It was ugly, but its teeth were sharp looking and so were its claws. Its fur, however, looked very soft and warm. The team moved on to the next cross street and headed back to the clear street to do their initial exploring.

~~~~ WO ~~~~

"We have so many questions about you," Bid said when they first sat down.

"As have we," Ezra replied.

"How should we decide who goes first?" Bid asked with what sounded like a chuckle.

Smiling, Ezra just nodded. "Why don't you go first, Bid."

"From before... Marine?"

"Ah, yes. The FOP was... no that's not correct. Marines. The FOP Navy has just recently ended an interstellar war. There are two branches to the Navy. One branch is the Marines that are onboard almost every ship in space. They protect those inside if an enemy happens to somehow board us. They also make ground assaults to clear planets of the enemy. The other branch is the Navy. The crew of this ship we call sailors. They keep the ships running and fly them."

"How many crew do you have on this ship?" Bid asked.

"I'm afraid until we get to know each other better, that will have to remain private information, Bid."

"I see. So Captain Tanner is here to protect..."

"All of us, but if you were to turn hostile..."

"I see. We have no desire to turn hostile unless you do."

"We feel the same. We are trying to become a fleet of exploration instead of a fleet of war."

"Will you disarm your ships?"

"No! We learned the hard way with the Gar," Ezra said.

"Gar?"

"Quinlan?"

Quinlan touched a device in front of him. Text appeared before him. He read the English translation, then typed in a different word for the Gar.

"Ah, yes, the evil enemy from the core," Bid said. "Gar, is what you call them?"

"Yes. You have fought the Gar?" Ezra asked.

"No, they knew better. A long time ago, they attacked our home planet. None of them survived. They have left us alone since then. We only settled on the third planet in this system recently."

"I see."

"What system are you from?" Bid asked.

"Ah, yes. We are from Earth, some twelve hundred light-years from here in the Aurora const... you wouldn't know that name. Ah..."

"Never mind Ezra, we don't really need to know. I was just asking to see if you would try to tell us or claim secret information."

"I see. Any other questions?" Ezra asked.

"Indeed but, I'm sure you have some pressing questions of your own for us," Bid said nodding at Ezra.

"We do. Thank you," Ezra said smiling.

~~~~ WO ~~~~

Twenty minutes after turning back onto the clear street, the point men halted raising their fists into the air. Colonel Owens and Commander Saraid both slowly moved up to them. When they were both kneeling beside the corporal, he pointed down the street. There was a herd of deer-like animals shuffling along slowly. Once in a while, one would stop and nibble at some tough brown grass poking up out of the snow along the road.

"Wonder if they are dangerous?" Laff asked no one in particular.

"Well those antlers sticking out of their heads look awfully sharp," Gillian quipped. "Corporal, keep going, slow and easy. The Colonel and I will be right behind you."

Colonel Owens grunted as the corporal and private moved out, smiles on their faces. Gillian was smiling too, as she moved out with Laff right beside her pumping his hand in the air to let the rest of the Marines know to move out. The two-point men slowly moved forward keeping an eye on the herd of animals in front of them. Gillian was looking farther forward, watching for trouble past the animals. Laff was also looking farther down the street.

The animals in front of them slowly increased their pace as the humans got closer to them. They didn't look malnourished or in need of food or water. They seemed to be a bit skittish of the humans coming up behind them, but not afraid. The two marines on point were now very close to the animals. The animal in what Gillian thought of as the rear guard position, turned and looked at the corporal. He just looked back and walked alongside the animal.

Soon Gillian and Laff had passed the small herd. Then the trailing group was alongside them. Once all the humans had passed them, the herd of animals fell in behind and paced the human herd. Gillian couldn't help herself as she started to giggle. Laff looked at her, then toward the rear, and saw that the deer-like animals were only slightly behind the rear guard. He chuckled as he turned forward.

Chapter 184

Gillian was kneeling beside Laff as they scanned the end of the street they were walking along. It had ended suddenly. They now faced wide open country. Grasslands covered in snow. Who knew what was hidden out there? Could there be more of the white bear-like creatures? So far, the only dangerous thing they had run into was the white-furred creature. Looking behind her, Gillian saw that the herd of deer-like creatures was getting restless. Then a loud yowl came from behind them. It would appear the creature they stunned had awakened.

"Shit!" Gillian huffed turning back to the front.

She heard two rifles fire. Another yowl came from behind them, then was silent. The herd of deer-like creatures settled down.

"I had to kill it," Staff Sergeant Glen's voice came over the radio. "Or we would have a stampede on our hands."

"That's okay. It should have been out twice as long as it was. Are you sure it's dead?" asked Laff.

"It should be. It has a big hole where its chest used to be," Glen replied. "Assuming it's built the way we are."

"There it that. Very well, keep your eyes open."

"Roger, Glen out."

"Ma'am?"

"Yes, Cass?" Gillian replied.

"It is getting dark quickly. You should probably head back to camp. I will fly cover," Caster said.

"Thank you, Cass. Colonel, let's get them turned around and head back to camp."

"Okay. Glen, let's head back to camp, you have point."

As the group passed the deer, they looked at where they were going and one shook its head and walked in the direction they had been going. The rest of the herd followed. Gillian couldn't help but think that maybe they knew something.

"Cass, where did that plant end?" asked Gillian.

"Not far from where it was decimated. About two blocks back in what looks like someone's backyard."

"Thank you, Cass."

"You're welcome, Ma'am."

~~~~ WO ~~~~

"Bid, I and my superiors would like to know your intentions in this arm of the galaxy?" Ezra asked.

"We are basically explorers, yet our homeworld and three other colonized planets down toward the center of the galaxy are beginning to feel overpopulated, we did just move colonists to this system. But there are many planets between here and the core that would suit, not only our species, but yours as well. What have the Gar conceded to you?" asked Bid.

"I see. What they have outlined is they will not come south of a point some 25,000 light-years north of Rigel in Orion. Does that make sense to you?"

"It does. Very well, except for this one planet, we will keep our colonies somewhere along that border, and the only time we will..."

"You don't understand... we would welcome you into our sector of the galaxy. There are more than enough planets south of that line the Gar have made."

"But what if there is contention between us and you for a planet?" Bid asked.

"Well, if you join the FOP..."

"FOP? Ah, the initials on the side of your ship?"

"Yes. Federation of Planets. Each planet has one representative on the FOP council. There is also an FOP court for deciding disputes before they turn to violence."

"And you and your ships are the enforcement arm of the FOP?" asked Bid.

"No. We are the protectors of all within the FOP. As for enforcement, you are either a member or not. The court can decide that a member is in the wrong and suggest a resolution to the dispute, but it cannot be enforced by the court. You don't have to join. You can leave anytime you want. If you have occupied a planet that we also wish to occupy, then negotiations will have to take place. Maybe we can both live there in peace. Planets are big and people are small. Some of our people live their whole lives on our planet without seeing another person."

Ezra stopped there, as Bid looked confused. He was looking at Ezra like he was crazy.

"Explain please?" asked Bid.

"Where I come from on our planet most of us are individuals. The continent on which our people developed believed in individual freedoms and the rule of law and the responsibility that brought. I, myself, since I left home lived in a cabin in the deep woods alone until I decided to join the FOP Navy. Many of my countrymen and women have done the same. Many of our one and two-man scout ships are flown by them..."

"Where those yours?" Bid asked.

"They were. Lieutenant Jordan Dax and Lieutenant Commander Cass Pól initially found your world. They were under orders not to contact you or they would have not left so suddenly."

"Well, they did as ordered. We couldn't find them for ten hours, but then they jumped again and we never saw them again," Bid replied.

"We are getting a little off track here. I just have to make sure you are not our enemy as I'm sure that is what you are trying to do."

"You are correct. Are you our enemy?" asked Bid.

"No. Are you ours?"

"No."

"Then I will notify the FOP we have nothing to worry about from you. Would you want someone from there to contact you about joining..."

"Not just yet Ezra. We wouldn't mind a little trade mission stopping by to see what you have, if we may do the same?"

"I see no problem there. You do have ships capable of hyperspace travel?"

"We do. All our ships have that capability."

"Really?"

"Yes." Bid just stared at Ezra after that single word.

Chapter 185

Back at camp, the group that had been out exploring settled down around a fire, the Marines had built. There were all-weather tents set up and the ships were back from their mission for the night. Caster was hovering above the camp along with Wulver. Hunter was grounded beside the camp, Rider was grounded on the other side facing the opposite way. Nóra was high overhead keeping a watch over the horizon.

The Marines made dinner. It was just field rations but with a little hot sauce and cold water, it was filling and didn't taste all that bad. The group that had eaten wandered off to relive those standing watch so they could get some chow. Colonel Owens left with Staff Sergeant Glen to make their early evening rounds. Gillian, along with Jordan and Pat discussed what and where they would go tomorrow. Of course, Cass, Hunter, and Rider wanted to kibitz.