Race rivalry gate ghosts.., p.35
Race Rivalry (Gate Ghosts Book 3), page 35
Peña and the twenty-five sisters who’d accompanied her touched hands to chests and tipped heads. They held the position until Nira returned the gesture.
“We’re honored by your presence, Captain,” Peña formally intoned.
“Thank you,” Nira replied. Then she introduced the four individuals who accompanied her. Her efforts were intended for the citizens who were observing this initial meeting. The sisters and SADEs had exchanged data the moment they were within comm range.
Then Peña did the same for Doell and the department heads. Afterward, Peña led the entourage to the main tunnel, one level down, and the waiting transports.
As the vehicles traveled swiftly along the wide corridor, Nira asked, “What’s wrong with some of these people?”
Peña had carefully observed Nira and knew where her gaze had settled. “You’re looking at clones.”
Immediately, Doell and the department heads within earshot were alerted.
“We’d gotten the impression that the clones held stations of indentured servants,” Nira said, “but their condition speaks of abuse.”
Doell winced, and deliberately he averted his gaze from Nira.
“We’ve made some progress in clone treatment, but we’ve limited medical resources,” Peña replied.
“With your permission, Peña, I’d like to give Merlie and Fatima a task, under Luther’s and Minimalist’s supervision,” Nira said.
“You’ve additional Jatouche resources aboard your Quadrant?” Peña inquired. To Nira’s uplifted eyebrows, she explained, “During the conflict, we captured data about the amazing technology.”
“No, but the class one freighter, the Norloth, has supplies. We’ll need a large, dedicated bay,” Nira requested.
“Kornel Havel is the medical director,” Peña replied. “He’ll arrange your location. As to Merlie and Fatima, their assistance in this task will be a good introduction to the populace.”
Nira’s transport passed a woman. When she smiled and raised a hand to the vehicle, Nira noted that the far side of her face was heavily scarred.
Noting Nira’s sudden quiet, Peña chose to take the group immediately to medical. She introduced Nira to Director Havel and shared the request for a bay.
“When would you like the bay operational?” Havel asked.
Nira regarded Minimalist, who replied, “Captain, the freighter crew can have the first load of equipment on the pad within eight hours.”
“There you have it,” Nira said to Havel.
The director hemmed and hawed for several moments. Then he said, “I was thinking in terms of days.”
“Director Havel, this is Fatima,” Merlie said. “If you would take a minute and dedicate one individual to her to indicate the bay that we could use, she will handle all the arrangements.”
Merlie turned to Nira and added, “I’ll work with the Thartath sisters to move the equipment from the cargo shuttles to the bay.”
“Excellent division of labor,” Nira said. “Luther, please contact the Norloth. I want three of the Jatouche repair labs offloaded. You’ve manager duties. Minimalist, you’re with me.”
When most of the group left, Havel stared at Luther, Merlie, and Fatima.
“Director,” Fatima prompted. “Who will assist me?”
Luther connected to the shuttleport, accessed a comm channel, connected to Captain Yerli Hershey, and relayed the request.
Yerli shared the images collected by Luther and sent many of them to Lily.
The crew chief examined the images,
Then Lily connected to her crew, regardless of whether they were on duty.
In the domes, Peña, Nira, Minimalist, Doell, the department heads, and Knut assembled in the operation director’s conference room.
Nira quietly regarded Harlyn, the originator of the subtle messages to her husband, before Doell drew her attention.
“Not to sound unwelcoming, but why are you here, Captain?” Doell asked.
“We’re here for Peña,” Nira replied, indicating the sister with her fingers.
“Then, after here, you’ll sail to Beta One,” Doell surmised.
“Not at all, Director. Why would we?” Nira inquired.
“I thought you were here to assist the sisters, in general,” Doell replied.
“You misunderstood me, Director. We’re here to assist a particular sister,” Nira explained.
“What are we missing?” Knut asked bluntly.
Nira gazed in Harlyn’s direction.
The research head half-heartedly raised a hand and said, “Guilty.”
“Of what?” Saran Auernhammer asked.
“I’ve been sending messages to my family with hints about what was happening between the sisters of Beta One and Two,” Harlyn admitted. “I had no idea if my husband even understood the cryptic passages. Apparently, it worked better than I could have imagined.”
Most of the senior managers were appalled by the breach in company protocols, but Ricardo and Knut applauded and added their compliments. Peña tipped her head in acknowledgment of what Harlyn had done.
“Well, this is certainly a surprise,” Doell managed to say. “Captain, could we ask how you intend to assist Peña?”
“There’s a carrier above us, which the sisters constructed,” Nira replied. “We’re giving that to Peña. It contains a single traveler. The Jargats were given the ship’s other travelers. Presently, outpost crews pilot those craft.”
“Who absorbs the cost of these things?” Doell asked worriedly.
“You’ll pardon the operations director,” Peña said. “He thinks first in those terms. The demands of the job, you understand.”
Doell apologized with a weak shrug of his shoulders.
“The carrier and the traveler are gifts from Outpost Five to assist Peña with the needs of this planet,” Nira explained.
“Are they for the sisters or for X-Ore?” Lemil Boydston, the accounting head, asked.
“We’ve understood that you’re no longer associated with the company,” Minimalist said.
“We are, and we aren’t,” Lemil responded.
“More clarity, please,” Minimalist replied.
“Technically, we’re an X-Ore mining planet, but we’ve been cut off from everything ... personnel approvals, supplies, ore shipments, and uh ...”
“Were you about to say clones?” Minimalist asked. His eyes bored into those of the accounting manager.
“Peña has made the ordering of new clones moot,” Saran said defensively. “Her sisters are taking up the work.”
“We’d expected Peña and her sisters to be with us for a long time,” Jeffrey Witcher, the engineer, said. “With your present of the starship, I’m wondering what that means.”
Nira saw the department head was staring at her. She indicated Peña and said, “Why don’t you ask her what she wants to do with her carrier?”
“The carrier represents a lifeline for our kind,” Peña said. “It would have been our ultimate goal. Now we’ll consider new priorities.”
“Before this particular discussion proceeds, I’d like an update on the disturbed association between Miriamal and the chairpersons,” Nira requested.
“What are you talking about?” Patty Bonnet of comtech asked.
Nira shrugged and was about to shift the subject.
“Please don’t leave us empty-handed,” Ricardo pleaded. “We’d like to know what’s been going on out there. Much of our information used to originate from Beta One’s corporate offices. Those sources dried up when Miriamal landed on that planet.”
“The Dominance made a trip through an unexplored wormhole near the Daimler system,” Nira explained. “Three chairpersons traveled aboard the ship.”
“How do you know this?” Elisabeth inquired.
“At the time, we had no direct proof,” Minimalist replied. “SADEs deduced this from a collection of small data points.”
“Go ahead, Captain,” Ricardo encouraged.
“It was many days before the Dominance returned,” Nira continued. “Afterward, communications between Beta One and Kilmer suddenly died.”
“That’s it?” Knut asked suspiciously.
“Not quite,” Nira replied, smiling at the grizzled pilot. “Details of what the Dominance encountered were filled in when Chairperson Dyehouse visited Delhart.”
“Dyehouse set foot on the CenGas planet,” Ricardo said in surprise. “That had to be a first.”
“She was probably frightened,” Minimalist offered.
“What did they find?” Peña inquired.
“According to Chairperson Dyehouse, there’s an occupied system on the other side of the Kilmer anomaly,” Nira replied. “She described three ships in orbit. Based on the chairperson’s descriptions, the SADEs believe two of the ships were technically advanced battleships.”
“I imagine Miriamal didn’t allow the chairpersons recorded imagery,” Peña mused.
“You’d be correct,” Minimalist replied.
“Cremsylon ordered Killian and his companions to investigate the system,” Nira said. To the bewildered faces, she added, “These are three SADEs who operate a scout ship. Their small ship shouldn’t provoke a hostile response. At least, we hope not.”
Peña laughed pleasantly at the supposition. “How fares the plaid man?” she asked.
“The scouts are well, and Killian is still decorated in Vivian’s honor,” Nira replied.
“Captain, you’ve mentioned an outpost,” Doell ventured. “Does the outpost possess significant warships to deter an enemy fleet?”
Nira eyed Peña.
“Apologies, Captain,” Peña replied to the assumed question. “I’ve spared these citizens some of the realities of the wider galaxy. As well, I’m out of touch with what the Omnians have discovered.”
“To put the answer in its simplest form, Director Doell, there are many outposts, possessing powerful fleets, and there’s a conclave of hundreds of races dedicated to preserving the peace,” Nira replied. “The challenge will be to prevent turning this area of space into a war zone in which to prove to the aggressors that they’ve made a mistake attacking these worlds.”
Harlyn started to speak, but Nira held up a hand. “There’s nothing more to be said or done on this topic. We must wait for the Vivian’s Reflection to return. There’s a more immediate matter to oversee. Do the clones have representatives, and to whom do they speak?”
All Beta Two eyes turned toward Peña.
“Surprised, Captain?” Peña inquired.
“Admittedly,” Nira replied, smiling, “but it’s a pleasant discovery.” To the assembled managers and Knut, Nira said, “If you’ll excuse us, we’ll be seeing to the clones.” Then Peña led Nira and Minimalist out of the conference room.
29: Repair Intimidation
Lily Timmons, the Norloth crew chief, dropped planetside with the first cargo shuttle.
The Storyteller’s traveler waited on the landing pad.
When the Norloth’s traveler landed, the sisters spilled out of their ship. Lily connected with them and was directed to Fatima.
The sisters swarmed over the shipment, and Lily hurried ahead.
Luther and Merlie waited in the engineering bay for the first delivery.
Lily smiled at Merlie to hide her initial reaction, which would have been a frown. The demeanors of this particular group of sisters resembled SADEs more than the militarist sisters encountered in the Thartath system.
At that moment, the airlock hatch swiveled, and six sisters carried two heavy loads through the opening.
A tech, who’d been waiting with a group of engineers and techs, waved vigorously and called out, “This way to the storage bay, sisters.”
Then the sisters were led down a broad corridor toward the shuttleport dome. Halfway down the corridor, two wide heavy doors slid aside at his touch on the panel. He smiled brightly as the sisters filed past with their heavy loads.
Lily grinned wryly. “Looks like there won’t be a lack of help,” she commented. She investigated the space, compared it to the requirements of the incoming shipments, and announced, “We’ll be a little short for accommodation.”
Then Lily’s implant signaled the arrival in the corridor of twenty Beta Two sisters. While she watched, Merlie’s sisters left for more loads, and some of Peña’s sisters picked up the loads and walked out with them.
“I see storage time will be limited,” Lily quipped. She watched the flow of equipment from the Norloth’s traveler, as the loads were dropped in the storage room and moved out again. It was an efficient use of the sisters. One group remained in suits to deal with the surface, and the other group operated exclusively within the dome environment.
The pair followed the latest sisters to hoist some of the cargo.
Lily was shocked to realize that the domes possessed no easy transport system for massive equipment or supplies, and she expressed her reaction to Merlie.
Lily sent.
The designated bay for the Jatouche equipment was a hive of activity. The medical tech, who had been assigned to support Fatima, had given up trying to help after indicating the bay and communicating some of the issues that would confront the sister in converting the space to a medical facility.
Peña had assigned Xena and other sisters to support Fatima.
When Lily and Merlie arrived, power cables were already laid across the floor, and water transfer stations were engaged.
Fatima examined the first loads to arrive, consulted the designs she’d been given, and directed the placement of the equipment the sisters carried.
Lily was saddened to see the loads placed aside in a corner of the bay.
Nira, Peña, and Minimalist had come within range of Fatima’s comm to hear her question to Lily.
