Vortex incursion, p.37
Vortex Incursion, page 37
Samuel was correct. The TM partners waited in line to greet Cordelia with hugs. Then, imitating Samuel, they shook hands with Julien for their introductions.
The councilors had been more reserved, as was Lisa.
Julien noted that one individual stayed in the background, and he queried Samuel. Then he approached Fillery Partus and extended his hand.
“I’m Julien. I lead the outpost,” he said.
“Hello,” Fillery managed to say. She kept her hands at her sides.
The bay’s audience watched Fillery’s refusal to shake Julien’s hand.
The copilot stood in the traveler’s hatch opening. Heat suffused her face at the councilor’s affront to Julien. On an impulse, she jumped to the deck, pretended to stumble, and bumped into Fillery. “Apologies, for my clumsiness,” she said.
Fillery was focused on the impact from behind her, which is why she didn’t immediately realize that she’d lurched forward and Julien had caught her. Her head jerked forward just as Julien released her.
“Our travelers’ steps can be tricky, even to fleet members accustomed to flying our ships,” Julien said, by way of apology. He’d caught the tiny tremors that flashed through Fillery’s body at his touch.
Cordelia had seen them too.
The guests were led to a conference room, and the councilors sat at one end of a conference table.
“I’ll remind everyone that this is a Naiad Council meeting and must be conducted as such,” Claudia began. Her eyes drifted briefly toward Lisa, Samuel, and the TM partners, who sat against a bulkhead. “Julien,” she continued. “You requested this meeting.”
Julien stood to address the councilors. He’d picked up council protocols from Samuel as they ascended decks to reach the conference room.
“I wish to thank the councilors for making time for us in your busy schedules,” Julien said. “As well, my thanks to Samuel for arranging our meeting aboard the Freedom. Finally, we appreciate the excellent articles published by the Truth Matters partners. You did a wonderful job of calming the concerns of the Naiad citizenry about our approach.”
“We’ve heard from others about why your fleet is here, Julien,” David interrupted. “As you lead the fleet, we’d like to hear from you.”
“You’re human,” Julien replied. “If you knew our history, you would know that is reason enough to come to your aid. Five colony ships were launched from Earth. Your planets represent the descendants of the fourth colony ship that we’ve located.”
“What of the other three?” Ramiro inquired.
“One group of colonists made planetfall without difficulty. The other two struggled mightily but managed to persevere,” Julien replied. “The descendants of all three ships participate in the conclave, an association of many races.”
“Are you requiring us to join the conclave?” Fillery asked.
“We’re not requiring anything of you, Councilor,” Cordelia replied, not bothering to stand. “We offer our help, and you’ve the right to refuse it.”
“So, if I said leave, you’d exit our space?” Fillery inquired.
“Of course not,” Cordelia replied. “You don’t have the authority.”
Claudia could have kissed Cordelia for her rebuttal. She wasn’t aware that the SADE had caught the slight twitch of her lips that had threatened to become a smile.
“You were saying about your purpose here, Julien,” David prompted.
“The Alexander chased the Dominance here,” Julien replied. “That was the start. It’s your troubles that concern us. We’d have been content to introduce our aid in small measures. However, circumstances make that slow process obsolete.”
“Why not let us be?” Fillery asked.
Claudia hushed the noise that broke out from the TM partners.
“If you think you can deal with the Krackus alone, then, by all means, request the council ask us to leave,” Cordelia replied. “But, perhaps, you’d better start with the enormous sphere that was to collapse your nearby anomaly. Some of our leading engineers and comm specialists theorize that the anomalies exist with shared harmonics. That would mean collapsing one might make the others unstable.”
Cordelia stared coolly at Fillery, waiting for her response. She heard nothing, but she did detect the woman’s gritting teeth.
“I like Cordelia,” Gemma whispered to her brother.
Samuel, who sat on the other side of Gemma, touched her forearm. Then he indicated his ears and pointed to Cordelia.
Gemma smiled and mouthed, “I know.” She’d wanted Cordelia to hear her.
“Well, now that we’ve settled the critical value of our visitors’ presence,” Claudia said, delivering a smile to everyone at the table. “Julien, Cordelia, I’d like to know your immediate plans.”
“Factfinding,” Julien replied. “On the advice of Captain Havard, I’ll speak with Samuel and Lisa Dyehouse. Then we’ll sail the Freedom to Delhart. I need to hear from Cremsylon and those aboard the Alexander. Finally, we’ll visit Kilmer. The protectors are vital to understanding how best to deal with the alien races on the anomalies’ other sides.”
“Will the fleet journey with you?” James asked.
“It would be most appropriate,” Cordelia replied. “We suspect the greater need for Tridents will be at Kilmer.”
“Do you intend to start a war with the Krackus?” David inquired.
“That is never our intention,” Julien replied, “but the Krackus must understand that they won’t be allowed to traverse the anomaly under force. If they have a case to make for claiming these worlds, they can state it to us. If their intention is domination for its own sake, then they must be taught the weakness of that strategy.”
“When do you envision that you’ll leave our space?” Fillery asked.
Cordelia’s silver bells, ringing harshly, echoed through the conference room. “Councilor, you should reserve that question for your children’s children’s children. It may take that amount of time to teach the Imperium Empire the foolishness of its ways.”
“Are there any pertinent questions?” asked Claudia, which soured Fillery’s expression.
“If I may, Councilor Hoffing, I’d like to ask Julien a question,” Lisa requested. When she saw Claudia’s hand indicate her and then Julien, she focused on the outpost leader and asked, “What about the opportunity for more sisters to assist the mining companies?”
“We’d hoped to provide more second-gen sisters to aid your mining worlds,” Julien said. “But many chose to journey to our outposts. The remaining individuals, including first-gen sisters, are aboard our fleet.”
“Where do you intend to deploy them?” Lisa inquired.
“We can’t,” Cordelia replied. “The sisters we carry are averse to integrating with biologicals.”
“Any chance they could be induced to change their minds?” Ramiro inquired.
“The first-gen sisters are similar in their attitudes to Miriamal,” Cordelia replied.
At the mention of the Beta One leader, the councilors either drew back or shuddered.
“Why not encourage the sisters who are supporting us to make more copies?” Lisa offered.
“We’re trying to teach the sisters that individuality has its merits,” Julien responded. “The sisters making copies created the problem in the first place.”
“Anyone else?” Claudia inquired.
“Nothing pertinent to council business,” James said. “Why the Freedom?”
“That’s a long story,” Cordelia replied. “Would you like to hear it over a meal?”
“I didn’t have a morning meal,” Ramiro said. “I saved my appetite for your food.”
Other councilors, except for Fillery, echoed that they had waited to eat aboard the ship. Those clamoring for a meal included the TM partners, whom Samuel had advised to save their appetites. Of course, Oscar, with his heavy frame was happy to eat any time of day.
While the humans enjoyed their meals, Cordelia related the centuries-old story of the initial days of Alex, Renée, Julien, Z, her, the Rêveur, the city-ships, Libre, the Nua’ll, the dark travelers, and the Swei Swee.
Although Cordelia compressed her story to prevent interfering with the entirety of the meal, drink cups and utensils often paused midway to mouths, as humans absorbed the fascinating tale.
While most humans ate with gusto, Fillery picked at her food. When she finally put down her utensil, Oscar promptly picked up her plate and scraped the remaining food onto his plate.
Fillery believed Oscar’s presumption was an affront to the dignity of her position, but it was obvious that he didn’t care. Moreover, the chuckles rounding the table told Fillery that an objection was likely to be met with indifference.
Samuel mused.
Julien sent.
Samuel replied.
Julien attenuated his urge to trumpet his laughter. Samuel could only be indicating Miranda, and he’d never heard her referred to in that manner.
Naturally, Oscar took longer than anyone else to eat. Gemma passed the last serving dish that contained food to Brendan, who handed it to Oscar.
“This is a great meal,” Oscar pronounced and then belched loudly, which made most of the table laugh. “Really good food,” he added, grinning self-consciously.
29: Factfinding
QUADRANT FREEDOM
AXIS CROSSING SPACE
After the guests departed the Freedom, Julien and Cordelia spoke at length with Tocknicka. The Emergence was still at the Gelus rim.
Julien replied.
Cordelia’s next words confirmed what Julien had detected. His partner was occupying her previous role as a rear admiral.
When the conference call ended, Cordelia signaled the remainder of the fleet to rendezvous at the mouth of the Everett anomaly.
Four loops through anomalies later, the fleet arrived at the Felder system. Immediately, the ships transited to Delhart.
The crew members aboard the Alexander celebrated the arrival of their friends, and ship controllers were inundated with comm connections.
Julien cautioned.
Cremsylon waited for the comm furor to die down. Then he connected with Julien and Cordelia.
Cordelia quickly checked controller security to ensure the sisters hadn’t broken the agreement. When she was satisfied, she deduced that the Alexander’s residents were apprising Cremsylon in real time of what they learned from fleet members.
Julien heard Cremsylon’s laughter. The eldest SADE in existence favored the deep tones of the New Terrans.
Cremsylon connected to Denise Bell, the Cen-Gas board chairperson.
“Looks like a party,” Denise said in response to Cremsylon’s call.
Cremsylon noted Denise’s relaxed voice. As the new ships were numerous and appeared similar to the Alexander, she’d quickly reached the conclusion that the remainder of the outpost fleet had arrived.
“Headed for Kilmer, I imagine,” Denise surmised.
“Hardly,” Denise replied, chuckling. “Huge fleet, big problem. The two kind of go together.”
“It’s possible you’ll have visitors,” Cremsylon warned.
“We’d love to host them,” Denise replied. “Give us at least a half-hour warning, and we’ll have someone meet them and tour them.”
Several hours later, a traveler from the Freedom landed aboard the Alexander.
The most anxious individuals to greet the visitors were the nannies, the clone children, the young mickies, Doc, and Bot-boy, who’d remained behind when the suited mickies left aboard the Nyslara.
Julien, Cordelia, and the fleet’s senior commanders descended their traveler into a sea of greeters.
The numerous children escaped the three nannies and rushed to speak with the new visitors. They were especially interested in the alien individuals, touching feathery, furry, and scaly skin.
“Those who accompany you form around the two of you,” Kadie, a nannie, said to Julien and Cordelia, while the children were absorbed with the exotic-appearing individuals.
“Are you special?” Indigo, another nanny, inquired.
“We lead the outpost fleet,” Cordelia replied.
Jewel, a nanny, tentatively reached out a hand, with an extended finger, and Julien held out his hand. Instead of shaking, Jewel pressed his forearm. “SADE,” she pronounced in a pleased gush to the other nannies.
“You too?” Kadie asked Cordelia.
“Yes,” Cordelia replied. “Is it better that we’re SADEs?”
“It’s safer with SADEs,” Indigo promptly replied.
“What planet are you from?” Julien inquired.
“We were told that we were created on Beta One,” Kadie replied.
“Can you tell us about your time there?” Cordelia asked.
“We cared for the youngest ones,” Jewel replied.
