Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (65 page)

The information added by the Ensign regarding the
android crew of Traveller being installed with a comprehensive medical program
was patched through to Toormis on the Bridge who acknowledged and would see if
there was a way to treat Torquay’s injuries.

The Administrator read quickly through the summary of
the massive amount of data and Earth caught his attention, he brought up the
data and began studying. The elated feeling he felt just a little earlier
disappeared as the schedule of missions to the planet were to increase, and it
hinted at widespread Confederate flight restrictions initiated by a possible
inter House war. His eyes opened wide as he saw the projected acquisition of
nuclear weapons from Earth and how it coincided with the assets to be attained
and traded from the Intervened Houses of Irrimus,
Ursa
and
Forox
. “They are going to use nuclear weapons!”
he said out loud but read further and saw that Ennack was to be under
Trigealian Intervention following a nuclear strike by one of the resistance
groups, possibly Irrimus rebels. He quickly cross referenced that Volen had
only minor space traffic restrictions in that sector.

The Administrator sat back stunned as he started
understanding the information. He took some reservation in the fact this was
unverified data but he had no way of checking with his Space Command colleague
at this time, plus he might not know anyway he realized. The Administrator
flicked the ship’s intercom “Toormis, report to the Communication’s cabin
immediately!” he said.

A few moments later Toormis entered. He looked at
Peter sitting in a seat doing strange body movements and touching areas of
space around him. Toormis looked at the Administrator and pointed at Peter with
a blank look of amazement on his face.

“Starfighter simulation, Norfian style,” the
Administrator answered.

“Oh really?!”
I must try that.” Toormis said and walked over to the
Administrator. “What is it?”

“It’s the data we recovered from the Ensign,” the
Administrator answered with a slightly strained voice. “It was named the
‘Smuggler’s Almanac,’ by the Ensign and for good reason. It has all manner of
information regarding the activities of Volen. But what I can make out so far
is that the Trigeals have been aware of their activities and have sanctioned a
great number of them.”

“Well, nothing unusual about that. No one understands
what the Trigeals get up to anyway. They do whatever they want. So what have
the Trigeals got going on with Volen now?” Toormis asked.

The Administrator lost his Norfian composure and
grimaced. Toormis cocked his head and lifted an eyebrow. “This isn’t like you
Drex
. What is it?”

Volen smugglers have been getting nuclear weapons from
Earth, trading for them no doubt with advanced technology. It coincides with
their schedule to trade the assets of Irrimus along with
Ursa
and
Forox’s
assets.”

“Trade with who!?”
Toormis cut in.

“None of this data gives
a who
,
only a from,” the Administrator answered.

“Hang on, Irrimus is under Trigeal Intervention. Both
Ursa
and
Forox
are allies of
Irrimus. They aren’t intervened… are they?” Toormis’s jaw fell open and he
stared at the Administrator. “Let me read that!”

Toormis almost threw the Administrator out of the seat
as he forced his way to the screen. He read and read and finally sat back. “Do
you think it’s real?” Toormis asked of the Administrator.

“I don’t know Toormis. We have no way to verify any of
this even if we did get the Communication’s Console on line. The only thing we
really know is Lord Ambrae and the Emperor knew something about it and
look
at what happened to them as well as Irrimus. I have
already verified Earth has a nuclear
weapon’s
program
and has used them recently in a global war. We all know Volen has access to
just about every planet and system in the Confederacy, they will do anything
for profit.” The Administrator explained.

“But why use fusion bombs?” Toormis asked pleadingly.

“To incite a response from Ennack, creating
retaliation against her and to plunge the Confederacy into war,” the
Administrator answered slowly and looked at Toormis closely. “It was going to
happen anyway.
A war between either the Houses or with the
Trigeals.
This way it’s just a war between the Houses and the Trigeals
retain power no matter who wins.”

Toormis went red in the face, and stood up quickly. “I
just can’t stand by while Irrimus or anyone else is bombed with poison. What
are our options Administrator, you are a military tactician,” Toormis said
angrily.

“Yes, I’m military Toormis. But this is a politically
motivated development. The goal of this plan as I see it is chaos and
destruction. The only winner will be the Trigeals. Not even the Volen will reap
the profit of their actions if they have no one in the position to trade with
them; unless maybe there are aliens after all. But the Trigeals are the true
enemy here.” The Administrator explained calmly.

Toormis sat back down and looked at Peter ‘flying’ a
Starfighter from his seat. “OK, OK I need to think about this…
The use of nuclear weapons to upset the Confederacy.
Those
weapons were banned and have been forever, but Irrimus,
Ursa
and
Forox
lose a few cities to untraceable nuclear
blasts. Then one goes off on Ennack a little later and it is blamed on Irrimus
rebels. Then Trigeals will step in to retain order on Ennack but no one really
knows if the weapons will be used on them or not, the Houses will panic. Fights
break out and it all escalates to full blown war and when the dust settles the
Trigeals rebuild the Confederacy just like they did all those eons ago when
they first arrived. Am I getting the picture Administrator?” he said with his
face screwed up like he was in pain.

“Pretty much as I see it, Toormis, yes.” The
Administrator said walking over to get a drink of water from a dispenser. He
got two and returned to Toormis and gave him one.

“Thank you,” Toormis said and took the water and sipped
it. “A smart move would be to get this information to the other Houses. At
least they would have a warning. I would like to be warned of danger like
this.”

“I agree but how can we do that without getting
caught?  We can’t turn the Communication’s Console on nor can we expose
this ship anywhere in the Confederacy,” the Administrator added.

“Ah! But we can send a Communication Console somewhere
else,” Toormis said excitedly but went silent as he continued to think
something through. The Administrator waited patiently. Toormis’s face lit up,
“we have a spare console. I know I saw one in the bottom of the tactical
operations cabinet. We just program it to send a message to… well, all the
Houses I suppose and put the console in one of the escape pods and shoot it
off. It’ll keep sending the same message until it runs out of power or the
Trigeals blow it up.”

“Brilliant idea Toormis,” the Administrator said
impressed. “I can get it to send a message to my colleague in Space Command. I
know he can secretly get messages to anyone.”

“I’ll ready the pod with the console. You get the
message and auto sequences programmed. We need a sizeable distance between us
and the pod when it transmits. A couple of sectors should be enough.” Toormis
said and the Administrator smiled with acknowledgement.

The two men were glad there was something they could
do but Toormis had further ideas in mind and his stride to the door was with
confidence and purpose, more than he had felt for some time. The thought of
avenging Lord Ambrae and all he had lost on Irrimus began to formulate a course
of action in his mind. The thought of nuclear weapons finding their way into
the Confederacy brought out the rebel in Toormis. He’d sooner die than allow
that poison to be used and with Traveller he knew he could make a difference
and recruit other patriots against the collapse of the Confederacy.  
 

Suddenly both Toormis and the Administrator spun
around quickly when Peter let out a small scream and put both arms up in front
of his face. “I guess he just found out what it’s like to crash a Starfighter,”
the Administrator said laughing. Toormis’s face broke out into a broad grin.

“Let him have some fun, he’s earned it. We can manage
this and then there’s something I want to discuss with you both later,” Toormis
said and disappeared into the ship.

Cassy, Toormis, Peter and the Administrator stood on
the Bridge watching the main screen as the escape pod flew off into
space.  It seemed so insignificant in the vastness of nothing but the four
who stood looking at it realized the message it contained might just make a
difference. An eerie silence developed on the Bridge, no one said anything, and
they just stared into space.

“Well,” Toormis said finally breaking the mesmerized
atmosphere and leaned forward to deactivate the screen. “It will take a couple
of time frames for the pod to activate and send its message.”

“Think the Houses will believe it?” Cassy asked.

“I don’t know… maybe,” Toormis replied.

“It doesn’t much matter if they do or not initially,”
the Administrator added. “If and when the nuclear blasts occur it will
certainly wake them up and I’m sure the intervention of Ennack will convince
them. Our main hope is that the House’s don’t war against each other. The true
enemy is the Trigeals and Volen a close second.”

“Let’s see what we can do about Torquay,” Toormis said
wanting to put his mind on something else.

“Didn’t you want to discuss something after we
launched the pod?” The Administrator asked.

“All in good time Administrator. We really need
Torquay to help decipher the Smuggler’s Almanac. He’d be the only one to make
sense out of the Trigeals in all this, but there is one problem we need to
address, the android crew.” Toormis said seriously. “They are programmed with
all sorts of things and we have no way of checking what their response will be
to any given stimulus.”

Cassy looked confused, “it’s only an android Toormis. Set
its function to minimal,” she said not realizing the type of android that would
be used that close to the Emperor.

“It’s not that simple Cassy. The android is a personal
security device for the Emperor and for this ship. I was lucky enough to bypass
activating them when I broke into the ship’s systems. It will have been
programmed for many different scenarios, including handling unauthorized access
and use of this ship. It will probably have an ‘Emperor only’ parameter to all
command changes.” Toormis explained.

“Why not lock one in a room with Torquay and the
Emperor,” the Administrator suggested. “I can get the Emperor’s voice frequency
from file and set up a simple verbal command, such as, ‘diagnose the two
humanoids in this room and record your finding and recommend treatment’. Then
deactivate yourself,”

“We can also set up an electronic field neutralizer
close to it and activate it by remote if it does something dangerous,” Peter
added.

They all looked at Peter amazed. Peter looked back curiously.
“It’s all part of standard operating procedures for Starfighter pilots to be
able to deactivate their ship remotely should it fall into unauthorized hands.
Should work on an android, well... shouldn’t it?” he added.

“Indeed it should,” Toormis answered, once again
amazed with Peter.

Cassy smiled and stood closer to Peter. “Where did you
learn that?”

“From his learning cubes,” he said pointing to the
Administrator.

“Oh how wonderful,” Cassy said and turned to the
Administrator, her eyes shining. “What is in those cubes?”

“Lots of things Cassy.
There is even a program on the care and use of plants
for therapeutic companionship.” The Administrator answered and realized just
what a treasure of knowledge those cubes contained. “I will make a list of the
subjects and you are all welcome to learn the Norfian truth of things.”