Talosian Chronicles 2: Star Dancer (49 page)

Ian looked at her in confusion. “How can anyone look at the available information and see any other result?”

“Politics. In the old system, before the fall of Talos, when a person joined the defense services, you surrendered your house allegiances for the greater allegiance of all of the Talosian people. That is no longer the case; many of our Commanders have retained their house alliances. Those houses have gained considerable power because of the war. Power they are not willing to lose.

“You and your people are a completely unknown quantity to our people. I expect that many in the Grand Council will oppose either annexing you, or even forming an alliance with you if you insist on retaining your independence,” Serena finished.

“What about High Command? How do they view the situation?” Ian asked.

“Admiral Goya is the current head of High Command. He is a good man, and he holds no illusions about what’s really going on out there. But, in a lot of cases, he is hampered by the orders he receives from the Ruling Council,” Egran replied.

“Then too, you only have our words on the situation, and they are admittedly biased. The Alliance of Races is very powerful, but the Talosian position on the war is doing damage to our position with our allies. If the current trend is to continue, I fear that we will be left to our own devices soon. As it is now, when arriving at an allied base, we receive a cold reception until they know who is in command of the ship. They know that some of us are still committed to the Alliance, and they go out of their way to help us. But if one of the separatist Commanders arrives at an allied base, they usually have to wait, and then only enough repairs for them to get to a Talosian base are completed.

“It has gotten so bad that most separatist Commanders simply won’t stop at an allied base anymore. In multi-race battles, Talosian ships are always assigned to non-critical missions or duties. The situation is not good. If we lose the alliance, we will lose the rest of our planets very quickly and the Talosian Alliance will cease to exist.”

“There’s nothing Admiral Goya can do about it? Why can’t he replace those ship Commanders?” Ian asked.

“Politics,” Egran said. “Ship commanders cannot be appointed without Council approval. Which resulted in the Council making sure the Commanders they wanted got appointed instead of those that were actually qualified and should have been placed there.”

Serena shook her head. “Anyway, you don’t need to listen to our problems. But we did want you to know what you might be getting involved with if you decided to join us. They might even call for you to be replaced as Commander.”

Ian shook his head. “No, I won’t step down, and from the sound of it, we probably won’t be joining the Talosian alliance, at least as full members.”

Serena nodded. “I can understand that. Egran and I do hope that you will be willing to at the least share technology, and perhaps consider building ships for us. From what we’ve seen just in this last battle, you’ve made some pretty impressive advances.”

Ian looked at her in confusion. “Haven’t the Talosians? It’s been centuries, you should be way ahead of us by now.”

Egran looked uncomfortable. “Well, not that many of our resources have been put into research. In the early days, we were focused on rebuilding a home world, and population. We really had to scrape to get resources. Plus most of our scientists were killed in the Caldarian war. By the time we had people getting to the point where we were before the destruction of Talos, the Empire descended on us, and we’ve been on a war footing ever since.

“The locations we had gotten built were some of the first targets destroyed. Even the few places we had in the new home system have been hit by raids. It’s almost like the Empire knows when and where to hit us.”

“You think if we begin building your ships and weapons, they won’t be able to find us?” Ian asked.

Serena was the one to answer this time. “No, because there aren’t that many people that know you even exist. When the Alliance of Races passed the word about you, the sent the message to Admiral Goya directly. He contacted me on an encrypted channel and asked Egran and I to check it out. So far, only Admiral Goya, and our navigators know where you are. Word about you is bound to get out, if it hasn’t already, but your location is on a need to know basis.”

Ian nodded. “I’ll have to talk it over with my people. However, they might not be ready for this for a few days. We lost some good people down there, and as it stands right now, most of them want to just leave the planet.” He took a drink of his coffee. “You said the Alliance of Races told you about us, do you know how they knew? We haven’t seen any other ships except for the Caldarians.”

“Not a clue. I imagine the Firella located you. They are an ancient race we knew nothing about until the Alliance of Races formed. They’re energy beings that hold an advisory position on the Council. They have no need of starships anymore, they can move through space at will.” Serena explained. “I’ve never met or even seen one, and there are no holo’s of any either. I think half the Talosian Alliance doesn’t believe they even exist.”

Ian nodded again. Seeing that both Commanders had finished their meals, he asked if they wanted more. When they both declined, he offered them a tour of the ship, which they accepted.

They finally ended up in the same landing bay the two Commanders arrived in.

“This is just amazing! Ian. I cannot believe you only have thirty-five hundred people in your organization. How did you manage to do so much with so few?” Egran asked.

“We had a job to do, and we just focused on that. Actually we were really lucky that more didn’t go wrong and more people didn’t get killed. Although, those that did die really affected the rest of us. It’s going to take some time to recover from this,” Ian said.

“Did you lose someone special to you, Ian?” Serena asked.

“Yes, I lost a very good friend. His name was Elias Johnson. He... he always seem to keep me grounded, and focused on the mission. He had a way about him that made everyone want to do their best. He was a good man, and a better friend,” Ian finished sadly. “He died trying to save a little girl. I knew her too. She was sweet, cute, and should have had a full life ahead of her.”

“War is never fair, and it always seems to kill those that we need most.” Serena said softly. “There is little to do, but morn their loss, remember them, and keep them close to our hearts, so they can continue to guide us.”

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hey finished the tour, and talked a little more before the two Commanders had to return to their ships. Shortly after returning to his ship, Commander Egran called to apologize and wish Ian well. We was being recalled to New Talos, and would be departing within the hour.

Serena said she had been ordered by Admiral Goya to remain on station and render any and all aid to Ian and his people, unless Ian asked her to leave. Ian thanked them both, and wished Egran a safe and uneventful journey.

Ian held an interactive ‘town meeting’ over the network so everyone could attend. Since it had an effect on their decision to leave, Ian explained about the arrival of the Talosians, and the information they brought with them.

When he told them that Serena had asked if they would be willing to build a dry dock facility, as well as begin weapons research and construction for the Alliance, the people seemed to lock in on it. They asked a lot of questions about how to defend the facilities so they wouldn’t get attacked if their location were ever discovered. They also wanted to know how many people would be needed to man these facilities, and what kinds of weapons would they build.

Ian explained that it would probably be an expansion of the things they have already been doing. They would have to build a huge space dock in order to accommodate multiple ships at a time. They would also have to begin mining and refining operations and all that entailed as well. If they accepted the task of becoming a military shipyard and weapons facility, they would need thousands more people, in almost every field imaginable.

They would also need to greatly expand their military. He explained that for the time being, one of the Talosian ships would remain in the system to assist them as needed including protection, unless Ian sent her away.

“Commander, you have given us all a great deal to think about. However, in all the preparations and changes that are happening, we would like to hold the ceremony soon. However, the, uh,
people
down here are making that impossible. I’m afraid that we will have to hold the funerals up there,” Luke replied, officially.

“I understand Councilor, if that is the will of the council and the people, we will make the arrangements immediately,” Ian replied.

Luke nodded tiredly. “If you can give us a few hours to think about this, and make our decisions, we will get back to you, Commander. I can tell you, it most likely won’t be very long.”

“Thank you, everyone. To those of you watching, that are crew members, or in the military, I ask that you consider what this will mean to all of us, as well as the people of Earth that we have sworn to protect. My staff and I will wait for your answer. Good evening, everyone.”

By the time that meeting was over, it was almost eighteen hundred hours, or six p.m. He thought that everyone would eat their dinner, and sleep on it. At best, it would take a few days before the council would get back to him. He was surprised when he had a call from Luke that evening, just before turning in for the night. The citizens had spoken, and decisions had been made.

Assisting the Talosian Alliance with weapons and ship building facilities passed, provided ample protection could be either built, or brought in by the Talosians. The recruiters could be put back to work to get the people that would be needed to fill all the positions that would be created.

As for the town, they voted almost unanimously to move off-world and take up positions working on the new projects that would be created. The wanted to leave immediately however, since housing was available on the moon, with a few families temporarily living on
Star Dancer
. A formal request for the funeral ceremonies to be held at the Commander’s earliest convenience was also given.

“I guess that no one wants to stay down there and build the hydrogen engines, or any of the other stuff that was developed down there?” Ian asked.

Luke shook his head. “The people working on those projects want to move to something else. Truth be told, the development phase has been over for a while. We only need to find a place to build them and set up training facilities for the techs to work on them.”

“I thought we already had contracts with a few automakers for those?” Ian asked.

“They’re not finalized yet. I think they’re waiting for the manufacturing and training facilities. Either way, that is already being taken care of. The people just want to get the hell out of here. Whatever you decide to do with the place after that will be fine with us,” Luke said.

Well, if no one is going to be there, and we don’t actually need to hide as much as we have been, I don’t see a reason to leave anything there. We’ll get everyone out of there, then have the drones reclaim everything. We’ll let those inspectors with nothing but sands to sift through,” Ian said with a sarcastic smirk. “I’ll make the arrangements. Tell everyone to start packing. We’ll begin transporting everyone up here the day after tomorrow.”

Luke nodded and wrote something down on his desk. “How do you want to handle the wounded US Marines? They won’t be released for a few more days.”

“It’ll take a while to get everyone moved, but if they still aren’t ready to be released when everything gets done, we’ll just bring them up here too. We can return them to their unit from here just as easily as we can from there,” Ian replied. “I’ll speak to Commander Serena about borrowing her shuttles to aid us. Once we see how quickly this is going to go, we’ll schedule the funerals.”

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A
week and a half later, the town of Talos, New Mexico has gone. The area it had been in looked exactly like it had before they had started building the community. In a private moment, Ian cried as he watched the town Elias had built be completely destroyed. Ian sat down at his terminal and entered a request for the drones at Talos.

At the base of the small mesa that had served as the backdrop for the town, there was a small monument. On it, there were the names of all the men and women that had died there, including the U.S. Marines that gave their lives to protect it. At the top of the list was written the name Elias Arthur Johnson.

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he two great starships had extinguished their running lights. The only light was the navigation beacons and the light spilling from the landing bays. The ships mourned the fallen.

Ian entered the shuttle bay where floating biers held the dead in stasis. At his request the mortal remains of Andreya Stavros was the first bier. Ian bent, disabled the field over her small body, and picked it up. Silently he turned and walked back down the ramp. The biers, guided by Star, began to follow him. As each left the cargo bay of the shuttle, the family members fell in beside each bier. The hologram that was the physical representation of Star, in full dress uniform, would be the last one in the procession. Ian led the silent procession down the hyper missile ramp into the port side maglev tube. There he turned and began the long walk to the forward most missile tube. On his way, he would pass by all the caskets. Empty biers fell in behind the procession, each carried only an American flag, with a card listing the name of the soldier or pilot it represented. As he walked, tears ran down Ian’s face blurring his vision, but he continued on. Behind him, Andreya’s brother walked beside her bier and her mother walked beside the bier carrying Andreya’s father. Ian knew the next bier carried Elias. He had planned it that way. Luke Belden, Laura, Andrea, Kyle, and Stephanie escorted him.

Ian reached his destination. The bier slid into place inside the last open casket. Placing Andreya’s body back on the bier, Ian kissed her softly on her cold forehead. “Please forgive me little one," he said very quietly. Her brother, who had been doing a good job of holding back his emotions, burst into tears. Ian stood and backed up, taking a moment to compose himself.