Talosian Chronicles 3: Talosian Alliance Page 13

  When the man looked up at her, Nancy spoke to him. “Mr. Landree, my name is Nancy Holden. I am a civilian psychological councilor working for the people of Terra. I am not associated with the military, nor am I hear to talk about why you’ve been incarcerated. I am here, simply to gather personal information from you. Will you assist me in this?”

  The man sighed. “Go away, I have diplomatic immunity. I would like to speak to my employer, Councilor Amaraliss.”

  Nancy nodded. “I can understand your feelings, Sir. However, I don’t think they are going to allow that since no treaty allowing for diplomatic immunity exists. I will make certain that Councilor Amaraliss is informed of your incarceration though, would that help?"

  The man nodded. “Yes, it would. Thank you.”

  Nancy nodded. “I do still have to get this information, though. I know it’s only a formality, but I’d really like to have it, too; you see, I'm working on a degree in sociology and you are the first person, other than a fighter pilot, to actually be from another society. That pilot was in the freezers for the last four thousand years, so her information was a little out of date.

  “I’m gonna help you, could you please help me?” Nancy asked sounding young and innocent.

  “Well, I guess it beats the hell out of sitting here and staring at the walls. What do you want to know?” Landree said.

  Nancy had been staring at him intently since they started talking, and when he finally agreed to talk, she waved Ian over, and nodded slowly. When Ian looked at the prisoner, he looked to be in a trance.

  “Mr. Landree, why were you trying to get into the AI vault?” Ian asked.

  “I was going to issue the override codes for the ship so we could take control from the Terrans.” The man replied still in a trance.

  “Why would you do that?” Ian asked.

  “Because it doesn’t belong to them, it belongs to the Talosian people, along with all the advances and equipment derived from the technology in this ship.”

  “When you spoke, you said ‘we’. To whom are you referring?” Ian asked.

  “The rulers of New Talos.”

  “Do you know what Councilor Amaraliss has planned for the technology he would recover from this sector?” Ian asked.

  “Minister Amaraliss is going to use the facilities and people here to build a new fleet that will not be controlled by the Talosian Council. With them he will finally be able to put an end to the petty squabbling and disband the Houses of the Council. Once that is accomplished, we can turn our attentions to the other races,” Landree said.

  “What would be done with the existing Talosian Fleet?” Ian asked. Holding a hand up to keep Goya and Pan silent.

  “We have control of half the fleet currently, but the other AI are refusing to accept the new software upgrades that will allow us to use them. We will use those for defense after we finish consolidating power. The ships that we do not have control of, we will issue self-destruct commands to eliminate them as a potential threat. Really, all we need is the fleet from Sol Sector and the rest will fall into place.”

  “That sounds like a good plan. How many of the other Houses does Minister Amaraliss have supporting him?” Ian asked.

  “I don’t know all of them, but there are a few. I do know that four of the major Houses are with us. Five are neutral, and the other three are loyal to Noren and the High Command. Not all the minor Houses are completely loyal to their parent House either. We have the loyalty of almost forty percent of the Grand Council.”

  “Do you know what Minister Amaraliss will do if you fail in taking over the Star Dancer AI?” Ian asked.

  “There are several other options available. Taking the AI was only the simplest.”

  “What do you think is the most likely option he will choose?” Ian asked.

  “Eight loyal Heavy Cruisers are waiting for orders four light days out. As soon as he knows I’ve been captured, he will call them in.” Landree said, getting a little uncomfortable. "He promised to get me out of here once the fighting starts.”

  “How was he going to counter the fact that Councilor Noren and the two High Command Admirals are here and will witness the battle?” Ian asked gently.

  The man smiled. “People die in combat all the time. Their deaths will be blamed on the Terrans in such a way that will cause anger in the Houses that are aligned with Noren. They will send the rest of the fleet to support our actions here.”

  “How did you disable the guards on the AI vault?” Ian asked.

  “My family built the armor. We know that there is a weakness in the power systems that will disable the suit in such a way that the Marine will end up locked in a dead suit. If no one opens their visor for them, they’ll suffocate in a few minutes." He frowned again. “I left the visors closed so they wouldn’t call for help. I didn’t know about the other Marines inside the doors. That isn’t doctrine.”

  “I’m losing him,” Nancy said.

  “What? What the fuck? Go away! I have nothing to say to any of you!” Landree said. “I want to speak to Councilor Amaraliss!"

  Ian nodded. “I don’t think so.” Ian turned back to the Marine guard. “Resume isolation protocol. No one is allowed to speak to him without clearance from me. Understood?”

  “Yes Sir!” the Marine said. He had already reset the cell for isolation.

  “Well, fuck!” Ian said. “This’s going to make things more interesting!"

  Chapter Ten

  Terran Defense Ship TDF Star Dancer

  Lunar Orbit, Selene, Earth’s moon

  Sol System, Sol Sector

  Commander Ian Williams, Commanding

  After thanking Nancy for her assistance, the three men returned to Ian’s ready room. All of them were quiet, each working through the implications of what they had learned; none of them liking the outcome of their thoughts. Finally, just before they entered Ian's ready room, Goya asked what Ian was going to do with the information.

  Ian smiled slightly at the older man and asked Jenny and Mel to join them. The Admirals also asked if they could have their aides join them since action might be required on their part. Ian had Mel call them in for the Admirals.

  Once everyone was there, Ian called in Star and had her scan the room for listening devices. To the surprise of the visitors, two were found. One on Admiral Goya and the other on Admiral Pan’s aide.

  Once those were destroyed, Ian looked at Mel and Star. “Star, block all outbound communications immediately. Locate and apprehend Talosian Councilor Amaraliss immediately, use armored Marines. Bring him here when you get him. Please ask Luke, Laura and Councilor Noren to come to my ready room at their earliest convenience. Upgrade sector security status to yellow.

  “Once all that is done, I want every action Amaraliss has made scrutinized since he got off the ship at the Pleiades station. Consider him as an enemy spy, because that is exactly what he is.”

  Goya and Pan were quietly filling in their aides to the morning’s activities as well. Ian turned to Mel.

  “Mel, see if you can get facilities to set up a couple of temporary offices for the Admiral’s and their aides on this deck, preferably next to ours. They are to have full access to comms and whatever facilities they might need."

  Mel had been taking notes and nodding.

  “Sir,” Star said. “Councilor Amaraliss has been apprehended and is awaiting a Marine escort. Councilors Noren, Belden and Johnson have officially objected to the arrest based on diplomatic reasons. However, they have agreed to await a full explanation by you when they arrive. I took the liberty of adding a protection order for the Councilors to the Marines as well.

  “All security footage of Councilor Amaraliss has been compiled, and is awaiting analysis. May I ask what I am looking for?”

  “Any questionable actions,” Ian said. “Any potential acts of sabotage or terrorism. Since it was his aide that tried to take control of you under his orders, he is under suspicion."

  Star nodded once. �
�I will do my best. Is this classified, or may I ask for assistance?”

  “It is classified, I don’t want this asshole’s actions to influence the Talosian mission here, since it is obvious that he was not acting with their knowledge or approval. Any and all information discovered should also be made available to the Admirals as well,” Ian said. “As for assistance, who would you ask?”

  “This would be a good task for Maia and Harmonia to undertake. Of course, Mathias and I will also go over it,” Star explained.

  Ian nodded. “Okay, but make it clear to the two ‘youngsters’ that no action is to be taken against anyone without prior authorization from either security or myself."

  “Mel, please schedule a mission briefing ASAP, with Colonel Anders and Major Swift. Coordinate with the Admiral’s aides to make sure they can attend as well,” Ian said.

  Mel and the other two aides had taken over the conference table since it had computer interfaces and comm suites built into it. All three were working hard to carry out the orders issued by their various bosses.

  Ian’s door announced a visitor, but this time did not wait for permission before opening. Luke Belden followed by Laura Johnson, Councilor Noren, and a shackled Aramaliss entered. Two Marines took post outside the door, while two others took a post inside. All four Marines were dressed in the new combat armor and carried live pulse rifles.

  “Ian, normally I would never protest an order you give, but this is violating diplomatic courtesy. This action alone could very well destroy whatever relations we could have had with these people,” Luke said anxiously. He didn’t like questioning one of Ian’s orders and really only did so for the benefit of the visitors.

  “I understand your complaint, Councilor. However, events have transpired that you are unaware of,” Ian said, and explained everything that had happened that morning. Admirals Goya and Pan stood as witnesses to the events. Noren turned slightly, and punched Amaraliss squarely in the jaw, dropping him to the floor, unconscious. The two Marines at the door looked at each other and performed the quiet ‘golf clap’ and dipped their heads at the Councilor in silent salute.

  “Councilor Noren, please don’t think I am being critical, but it will be difficult for him to answer questions now,” Ian said, trying hard not to grin, and failing.

  “My apologies Commander, I should have let you do that,” Noren said. “The question now becomes, what do we do to get our asses out of this mess?"

  “We can’t,” Ian said. His reply shocked the two Admirals. “Landree referred to Amaraliss as ‘Minister’ not “Prime Minister”, or 'President’, or “His Majesty”, or anything else.”

  “Oh Gods!” Pan said. “Amaraliss isn’t the leader!"

  Ian shook his head. “Nope, he’s a peon just like Landree is. Whoever is really behind this is safely back at Talos, issuing orders and plotting while Noren and the two of you are here trying to figure out how to deal with us without pissing everyone else off.

  “The problem is, since this was discovered here, the real enemy has plausible deniability. He can simply blame it all on us, claiming we influenced all of you somehow. No matter what happens at this point, your trip here has strengthened him. It might just be enough for him to start making a move on the leadership,” Ian said, thoughtfully, then shook his head. “No, he needs the facilities here in order to do that. Remember, Landree said that they were having trouble getting the AI on the other ships to accept the new programming?”

  “That’s right!” Goya said. “The ships won't fire on Talosian targets. Which leaves the enemy without teeth.”

  Ian nodded. “Although the Commanders of those ships are loyal to the enemy, the AI are still loyal to High Command.”

  Goya nodded. “Only to an extent. We can’t tell them that their crew is in rebellion against Talosian authority and have them vent the ship. They won’t do that. What they will do is lock out all command functions, and set course for the nearest Talosian Base, not an Alliance Base, a Talosian Base. It constitutes the only time a ship can and will jump to hyperspace by itself. Once it arrives, it slams a lock out on the hyperdrives that has to be reset by a dry dock facility.”

  “I’m preparing a private message to all the Commanders I know that are loyal. May I tell them that this is a friendly port?” he finished.

  “Yes, you can,” Ian said. “But, we’ll need a list of those ships to give to the defense command, or they will be destroyed in hyperspace. I already set our defense condition to Yellow, which means that all ships not on the list are to be considered hostile. So far there are only two ships on that list: Star Dancer and Prometheus.”

  Goya nodded and turned to his aide. “Brekka, please make sure to give Mel a list of ships we know are friendly.”

  “Yes Sir,” the young woman replied and got back to work.

  “In light of this new information, do you recommend shifting our work priority to defensive systems and stations, Commander?” Luke asked.

  Ian looked thoughtful for a moment. “Yes, but I think the station builders should be split. We will need Pleiades Two, but we are also going to need the Earth orbital. It can take over the system defenses as well as handle inbound recruits from Earth. We need more people as fast as we can get them, but we have to maintain our security from the planet. In all actuality, I would say the Earth station should be our next priority.

  “As for the rest of the projects, most of them were military anyway. The fighter base and flight school on Mars are going to be essential.”

  “What about the refit of Star Dancer and Prometheus?” Luke asked.

  “I haven’t asked them about Prometheus yet, but for now, they’ll have to wait. We need both ships active for defense,” Ian said.

  “Refit?” Goya asked.

  Ian nodded. “Our folks have come up with a new design for the Heavy Cruisers. They are calling it a ‘Battle Cruiser’ upgrade. Basically, it'll transform the ship into more of a ship-to-ship weapons platform. The weapons systems will be restructured and relocated, along with adding our mass drivers and torpedo launchers. The entire ship would be refit with the new armor we developed, and equipped to handle Shadow and Wasp fighters with Condors. The new configuration would also house two Raptor teams, and all of their equipment.

  “To make room for all of that, the Marine compliment would be reduced to company size and their equipment would only consist of that needed for ship to ship fighting. The command and control suite would also be restructured to reflect the new mission of the ship,” Ian explained. "I would be more than happy to give you a better briefing on it later.”

  Goya nodded. “I’d love that. We’ve never improved past our Heavy Cruisers since they seemed to function well enough.”

  “Sir, Colonel Anders and Major Swift said they will be here by this evening. Do you still want to do the briefing tonight?” Mel asked.

  “Yes please. This is really important,” Ian replied.

  Mel nodded and turned back to her work. Ian addressed the visitors. “Since we have a moment, I would like to take you all down to meet our armorer and get fitted for a suit of armor.” He looked at the guards by the door. “You guys can take the trash to the brig whenever you want. I suppose you should have a medic take a look at that jaw, just to be safe. We’ll take the other two guards with us, join us in the armory as soon as you drop him off, okay?”

  “Yes Sir!” both Marines nodded.

  “Please pass the word to the watch commander for him to meet us back here when we are done at the armorer,” Ian added.

  “Will do, Sir,” one of the Marines replied as they helped a reawakening Aramaliss to his feet for the walk to the brig.

  The old Scottish Gunny Sergeant took one look at Noren and snorted. “’Til be a child’s armor for th’ lass, I ken! I’ve a grandchild bigger than she is! Would ya be wantin’ in pink then?”

  Noren blushed, but laughed along with everyone else.

  “Although I like that color, Gunny, I would prefer green i
f I have a choice!” Noren replied.

  “Ifin ya don’ mind me fer askin’, Miss, why green?” The Gunny asked.

  “So you will all think I am a leprechaun!” Noren said.

  “Uh, Noren?” Ian said, “That’s Irish, not Scottish."

  “Aye,” the Gunny said. “We Scots know th’ difference between a wee man in a green suit, claiming to have a pot of gold, and a small Irishmen trying to get ye to buy drinks fer ‘em!”

  “What? You mean you wouldn’t buy me a drink?” Noren said in mock hurt.

  “Aye Lass, I would, but I’d be ‘fraid I’d get hauled away fer hittin' on a minor!” Gunny said.

  The teasing stopped then as the Gunny got to work. He not only scanned the Admirals and Noren, but their aides as well. When they finished, the Gunny said he’d call them back down when the armor was done to make sure it fit correctly.

  When they returned to Ian’s office, they found a Marine officer waiting for them.

  “Lieutenant Miles, Thank you for coming up here. These three VIPs need guards for the duration of their stay. We have reason to believe that attempts will be made on their lives, and we need to prevent that from happening,” Ian told the woman.

  “Yes Sir. I’ll get all the information from your assistant and send the detail as soon as I get back to the office,” the woman replied.

  “Very good, thank you, Lieutenant. That will be all,” Ian said smiling at the woman.

  “Well, since it’s lunch time, and I’m getting hungry, would any of you care to join me for a meal?” Ian asked.

  That evening, when Ty and Cindy arrived from the secret Raptor training base, Ian told them what was going on.

  “Sir, we have four teams that are ready to go on missions,” Ty reported. “We could send them out to try to locate those ships. The real question is, what do you want us to do with them?”

  “Ian, if I may?” Goya asked.

  “Certainly, Admiral, that’s why I asked you to be here,” Ian replied.

  “Colonel, all you should need to do is get a message to the AI of each ship. I can give you the proper clearance codes, and a specially encoded command. That will let the AI know that its crew is acting in violation of orders, and it should immediately return to a Talosian Base. I say should, because we don’t know what changes they’ve made to the AI on those ships,” Goya replied.