Scaevola's Triumph (Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy Book 3) (50 page)

"I'm not," Lucilla protested, then added, "but I can see what others might think."

"Look at the facts," Antonia said. "Admiral Gerenthe took a task force to the planet, defeated the enemy and recaptured the planet without sustaining damage to himself, and then appears to be hiding the means of exactly how he did it. His only demonstrable fault is that he made out the action was more furious than it was, that he was braver rather than more intelligent."

"And he refuses to disclose his methods, so that other Ulsians can learn from him," Lucilla said. "I'd say that's pretty bad!"

"He hasn't refused," Antonia pointed out. "Nobody else knows about the existence of this 'secret method'."

"But that's awful. Something has to be done!"

"Not by you, at least not with this ammunition," Antonia cautioned. "You'll only lose."

That evening Gaius agreed with Antonia. He had listened with interest, he agreed with Lucilla that something was wrong, but he recalled for Lucilla's benefit the advice of his old teacher, the General, 'Don't initiate a battle you don't have to unless you know how to win it.'

* * *

The ceremony, when it eventuated, felt quite bizarre to Lucilla. In the first place, everybody wore trefunes, hence, as she remarked to Vipsania, anybody could be under those hoods.

This was perfectly true, but also totally irrelevant. The identification of all officers was by DNA, and that was all registered. Anybody could be under a trefune, but only the true officer had the authority. In fact it had been known in the past for some officers to have substitutes for such ceremonies, while they were off elsewhere drinking.

And so, after four hours of tedium, Admiral Gerenthe was given the supreme rank of Space Marshall, and so was permitted to command multiple fleets and army groups.

The subsequent celebration was even more tedious. As Gaius remarked later, there was not even any wine, or food or drink of any type, which was partly understandable since one could not consume food while wearing a trefune. Everyone stood around meditating, or listening to music that Gaius found to be totally lacking in interest. The Terrans were quite pleased to finally leave, return to their apartment, and have their own celebration.

The question was, what next?

Chapter 36.

What next was soon answered. The Terrans were settling down to breakfast, and Lucilla was just beginning to answer the question of what they should do that day with her usual, "The same as yesterday. Nothing changes on this planet," which was partly true, and had been designed that way for millions of years, when their communicator flashed. They were requested to attend an emergency briefing, immediately, and a shuttle would be at their node in the next minute. There was no time to finish breakfast.

Lucilla was partly irritated, but she was also curious. Something was going to happen! They gulped what they could of their food, then quickly went to their capsule, which, as Vipsania remarked, was typically on time when the outcome was to be less than desirable from their point of view. Nevertheless they entered the capsule, pressed 'Go!' with no idea where they were going, and the capsule set off towards its pre-determined destination. When they arrived they found an escort, who led them into yet another of those plain, non-decorated rooms. There they were addressed by a senior and very pedantic and serious-looking Ulsian delegate from the Principal Ulsian Military Committee.

"We have a problem," he said slowly.

"Which is?" Gaius asked politely.

"You."

"Excuse me?" Gaius asked slightly less politely.

"I mean, 'you' in the plural, as Terrans, and not you personally. It is a situation that is very difficult."

"Perhaps you should explain?" Vipsania suggested.

"That was my intention," the Ulsian said, with an irritated tone. "It involves several million years of history, and it involves the present. It is very involved, so please listen and in particular, don't interrupt. I apologise for interrupting your breakfast so please, make yourselves comfortable, request whatever food or drink you wish, and we have available whatever you want, then please let me explain without interruptions, if you can manage that. Ask questions at the end, when you are aware of the basic facts."

The Ulsian then proceeded to tonelessly explain the following historical facts. Several million years previously, Ulsian ships had made contact with another civilization originating from a planet they call Ranh, which had by then independently attained the technology to make interstellar travel possible. They had explored a number of planets near them, and had settled on two. They had also found, by means of observing some of the inevitable traces of technology, that there was another technically capable planet that was expanding in their direction. Accordingly, they set out on a furious expansion in that direction, and eventually ran into the Krothians.

Some minor warfare had erupted, and the Krothians intended to exact revenge on this upstart civilization, although their initial efforts led merely to frustration as it turned out that this new species was strangely war-like, and unlike those of their own history did not merely sue for peace when they had a serious reverse, but rather worked harder to exact revenge.

When the first Ulsian ship appeared, this new civilization almost started a war with Ulse. Fortunately, the Ulsians managed to demonstrate that they were powerful, but not aggressive, and were more interested in negotiation. Thus after several years during which the parties attempted to learn how to communicate with each other, the Ulsians explained the basis of the Ulsian Federation, and pointed out that either the Ranhynn, which is what they call themselves in the plural, would either make peace with the Krothians or Ulse would exterminate them. Ulse pointed out the size of the Ulsian Federation, and how they could not have any possible hope of survival, but Ulse also explained their laws on preserving and protecting emerging species. Ulse wanted the Ranhynn and the Krothians to live together in peace, and it invited Ranh into the Federation.

The Ranhynn agreed, and signed a treaty, and held to it for several million years. There was, as often happens with emerging civilizations who tend to think it is really smart to put one over the older civilization, a catch. The Ulsian proposition was that the Ranhynn take responsibility and settle on a star system near Ulse, while the Ulsians did the same on a star system near Ranh. This was a standard means of ensuring the two species kept in some sort of contact with each other.

Accordingly the Ranhynn settled on a planet that they call Plotk, which is some distance from Ulse, as Ulse had already settled the closest systems to it. They nominated the star that you call Sol for Ulsian use.

"You mean," Vipsania interrupted, "they gave you our planet?"

"Yes," the Ulsian replied.

"But . . . but . . ." Vipsania spluttered. "It's not theirs to give!"

"Let me explain," the Ulsian shook his head. "You may lodge protests later."

The situation then became more confused when close examination by an Ulsian party assessed that an intelligent life form could possibly develop on Earth. The Ranhynn were quite amused when the Ulsians informed them that Ulse could not make use of this star system. However, they were less amused when it was pointed out to them that by giving them this star system, they put this system under Ulsian law, and Ulse therefor had been given by the Ranhynn the obligation to protect this emerging civilization. That meant that the Ranhynn had to leave this system strictly alone, and furthermore, Ulse was required to reserve planets for it should it eventually wish to go into space. Accordingly the Ranhynn were effectively prevented from settling in one direction. Of course they had well over a hundred light years before reaching the Krothian zone, and there were other directions.

The Ranhynn accepted the situation, although they had from time to time visited your Earth to check up on what is going on, and as you suspected, they have transported animals, and so on, back to their own planet, and possibly people. They certainly took Quintus when he was offered, so we can assume they have probably done the same on other occasions.

Unfortunately, there had been a further legal problem. Ulsian law, and the law of the Federation, had been written so that a life form that has inadvertently advanced more quickly, or simply started first, cannot take over the planet of a different life form. The words 'life form' have now become a problem, because the Ranhynn sometimes argue Terrans are not a separate life form, and the Ranhynn have prior rights to Earth.

"Prior rights?" Lucilla almost exploded. "How can they possibly reach that conclusion?"

"You and they have common DNA, if you know what that is."

"But . . ." Gaius started. "I thought that'd be impossible. The chances of two life forms developing common DNA sequences large enough to be significant is, well astronomically against."

"Correct," the Ulsian said. "That there were two advanced life forms so close together was at first thought to be a genuinely strange coincidence, but it was soon determined that such a coincidence is just not possible. Indeed, they are the problem. Their star and planetary systems are simply too young to develop advanced life. Indeed, their planets should still have reducing atmospheres, with no significant levels of oxygen, and life should consist of single-cell primitive anaerobes. There is only one explanation possible. My first problem is, can you even understand the answer if I tell you?"

"I can guess what happened," Gaius started, then stopped, as if totally embarrassed by the thought.

"Please do!" the Ulsian almost pleaded.

"In the library, I remember looking up the history of my planet. There were even images of great lizard-like beings. My guess is whoever, or whatever, took those images also transported life from Earth to this other planet."

"That is the only logical conclusion possible," the Ulsian said, "and it's a very good outcome I didn't have to tell you. So you see the problem is, they'll claim that Earth is really their planet. They were abducted, and they merely want to go home."

"But wait a minute!" Lucilla protested. "If this's a legal argument, don't representatives of Earth get a say?"

"No!" the Ulsian replied, then added with a chuckle, "and don't protest. The fact you're not allowed to be represented bars them from making any legal progress. And when you're ready to go into space and the Ulsian protection becomes redundant, you would first have to be offered the opportunity to join the Ulsian Federation. So, as long as your species has peaceful intentions, this Ranhynn attitude is totally irrelevant."

"But with this war going on," Gaius offered, "Ulsian protection won't mean much."

"In the sense you've just put it, that's not the problem," the Ulsian said.

"Then what is it?" Vipsania asked.

"Try guessing!"

"I hate this guessing," Lucilla muttered. "Why can't you simply tell us?"

"Because you'll understand better if you work it out. The problem's of a military/political nature, so with his recent track record, Gaius should be able to guess."

The two women looked at Gaius, who at first viewed this comment with some lack of enthusiasm. But then, suddenly, he sat up, and muttered, "Oh no!"

"Oh no?" the Ulsian asked curiously.

"Suppose I were the enemy," Gaius said, "I would offer an alliance with the Ranhynn, so they could retake their homeland free of Ulsian interference, and as much of the Krothian Empire they could assimilate. Ulse would have lost one side of its domains by conquest, and effectively the other as the two parties would go to war against each other. Ulse would be alone, with only its own manufacturing. Eventually the weight of the economies of the planets helping the M'starn would make Ulse's collapse inevitable. Even worse, either Ulse destroys Plotk, thereby making enemies of these Ranhynn for whatever time, or the M'starn have a launching pad against Ulse virtually on its back door."

"See, you can work it out," the Ulsian said. "If this were to eventuate, Ulse would at the very least be in serious military difficulties, and if we did nothing to protect ourselves against this flank attack, Ulse could even fall. There is some reason to believe that initially the Ranhynn sent a fleet in this direction to assist us in our war, but if this were to turn against us we would be seriously outnumbered. In short, Ulse has a serious military problem."

"So what are you going to do?" Vipsania asked softly.

"A delegation from Plotk has just arrived around Ulse," the Ulsian said. "They wish to make a statement to the government of Ulse."

"You don't know what it is?" Vipsania asked.

"No, but we have to assume it relates to this situation," the Ulsian said. "If they wished to uphold the treaty and fight with Ulse, there'd be no need to send a special delegation, and it is unlikely they would make such a serious formal request unless it related to the war."

"So why are you telling us all this?" Vipsania asked.

"Because in effect you represent your species, and have a right to be present," the Ulsian said, "although I would make one request."

"Which is?"

"You follow protocol, and only speak through your most senior representative, which is Gaius. No, don't protest!" he said, stopping Lucilla. "As a separate species, you have a right to leave the meeting to form a consensus view before you say anything. This is the most valuable asset you have, and Ulse wants you to use it. You don't have to say a word, and most certainly you don't have to agree to anything. In fact Ulse would rather you discussed things with us before making a definitive statement."

"We agree," Gaius nodded, "and," he added with a laugh as he looked towards Lucilla, "even if Lucilla doesn't right now, I think she will."

"You do, do you?" Lucilla smirked.

"Yes, because it gives us the chance to have two says," Gaius said. "One to the Ulsians, one to the Ranhynn, and when have you ever turned down the chance to have an extra say?"