Chapter 14

The Iridiens and Órarduine were just finishing dinner at An Clochán when Virginia said, "Commander Egulle, could we use the material from your presentations in our evening news program?"

"We don't see why not. What did you have in mind?"

"We think our viewers would like to hear about the Alliance of Worlds. The material in Unetzen's presentation provides a wealth of information about you. It would answer many of the questions people on Earth are asking, like 'who are you and why are you here?' We are sure that many governments on Earth have a growing uneasiness regarding the increasing number of aliens in the solar system. A part of this is due to the lack of information getting to Earth. With more ships arriving in a week, their uneasiness will grow. You may not be aware of it but many of Earth's modern science fiction stories have portrayed visitors from space as being predatory and tyrants. This view was reinforced by the reports they heard about the IC and their intent to harvest everything on Earth. This information, some of which was grossly distorted, provided quite a bit of fodder for opportunists to use in preying on people's fears and stir up unrest. It is fortunate that Grand View TV station approached Sarah's Clan with a request for an interview on the IC engagement. That interview, which included all of Sarah's Clan, was moderated by Lorelei. The interview had an exceptionally large number of viewers. It did a lot to defuse the growing anxiety, but there is still a lingering fear of other worlds."

"We saw that interview and thought it was well done. The intent of the IC was to harvest Earth, and that was not overstated, if anything it was understated. We know of other places where they essentially stripped the planet bare. In answer to your original question, yes, you can use the material. We would prefer to hold off on mentioning the Dutsuz renegades until we have solid information on them."

"Thanks. Without making it a special program the material we saw today will easily last more than two weeks, as we can only use 5 minutes or so at a time. I should have raised this earlier, but one aspect I found a little confusing was Unetzen's use of the English word 'world'. Unetzen seemed to use it in referring to groups of planets, such as the Atewa World."

"It was used to refer to multiple planets as that seemed to be the best conceptual translation. Each group of planets, or World, is inhabited by a common species that at one time had numerous ethnic groups. In the majority of these Worlds, these ethnic distinctions have mostly disappeared. This is due to intermingling as the World has developed and grown. The Atewa and Monque are similar to us in that respect. Today, each of us is essentially a composite of those who came before us. I am not familiar enough with the other Worlds to make a comment on their ethnic issues. I can say that I haven't seen any such issues when we have carried out joint operations. There is apparently a problem in the Dutsuz World with one ethnic group. Seschun can help you, if you want to pursue this further."

"So the Iridien World would be similar to a country on Earth, but encompassing multiple planets spread across several solar systems."

"I think that is a good analogy."

"Thanks for the clarification. We will need to highlight this in our news briefs."

Doug said, "When are you going to approach the people on Earth?"

"Our original plans were to have done so by now. As you know, several things have happened to disrupt those plans. Another issue is that we are having difficulty on deciding which government to approach first. We are reasonably certain that the first government we meet with will try to use our meeting to enhance their importance on Earth."

Virginia said, "True. Have you considered making a general broadcast to Earth? It would upset some governments as they attempt to control any information going to their constituents, some governments will even try to block a general broadcast, but even with the blocking, such a broadcast has the advantage of reducing the significance of a first meeting."

"I am surprised you didn't suggest an interview," said Orgaine with a smile, "then you could claim the notoriety." Several laughed as Virginia blushed.

"Well, I was edging toward seeing if you were interested in participating in a live interview," replied Virginia with a smile. "If there is any notoriety, then in a way we already have it, as we have met you. Then again, the Órarduine really have it because you met them first and have had extensive discussions with them. But seriously, from Doug's and my perspectives, we would love to do a live interview. It would be best for us to know more about you first in order to build up a rapport. The presentations are a great start."

"Would spending a few days on our ships help?"

Virginia looked at Doug before saying, "We think so. It would at least be a start as we would definitely become better acquainted."

"Good," replied Egulle. "When would you like to visit us?"

"Lorelei. Earl," said Virginia, "would you cover for us tomorrow?"

"Sure. Do you want us to include the spots about AW?"

"Yes, definitely. Orgaine, with Lorelei and Earl covering our evening news program for us, we could go back with you tonight. But we would only do that if you are comfortable with us coming so soon."

"Sure. Actually, we need to be leaving. How soon can you be ready?"

"We need just enough time to stop by our suite to pick up our travel cases."

"Good. We will meet you at the exit." Turning to the others he continued with, "Órarduine, this has been a very interesting and productive day. Thank you for hosting it."

"You're welcome," replied Erica. "We have enjoyed our time together."

A short while later, the Órarduine and Iridiens exchanged good-byes before the Iridiens went out to their ships, accompanied by Virginia, Doug and several others from the Communications Group. The Órarduine watched from the entrance way until the three ships had departed.

Once the ships were out of sight Sarah said, "Guys, I know all of us are tired, but we need to discuss today before we turn in."

"We definitely agree," replied all the Command Staffs.

"Let's link in one hour, as that will give us time to unwind a bit and move to a quieter place." With that those with Sarah gave each other a hug before leaving to join their clans.

When Sarah, Aoife, Tara, Maeve, Judy, Sally and Rusty arrived on Dóchas, they were surprised to be greeted by the rest of their spouses and children.

"Boy, this is a pleasant surprise," exclaimed several of the arriving family members.

"Moms and dad," said Deirdre, "we missed you."

"We missed you as well," replied the arriving parents.

"We thought, if we met you here," said Keri, "then we could spend a few moments with you before you confer with the other clans. This way, if your conference runs late, we still get to be with you for a while."

"That is very thoughtful," replied Tara as she hugged one of their children.

"We're going up to the bridge for a conference. Do you all want to walk up there with us?"

"Cool," replied several children.

"Where are Kennocha and the others?"

"They said they would meet us in our suite later," replied Earnán with a smile. "They wanted to spend some time with their special friends and we couldn't deny them."

"Special friends?"

"There are three women and a man who they seem to really like, a lot," replied Marina. "We have a wager on how long it will take them to realize that they are forming a clan." Several children nodded affirmatively after Marina's comment.

"So, it's serious?"

"Oh, yes. Very much so. We find it interesting to watch," said Iris, "because forming that kind of a relationship here is so much different than the few we saw happening on Earth."

When the group reached Dóchas' bridge they chatted for a while before the children gave each of their parents hugs and kisses before heading to their suite. As they were leaving Kennith said, "Don't stay up to late," resulting in everyone laughing.

"We won't," replied the adults as the laughter quieted down only to cause it to resume.

Tara said, "They are only 8 years old and they are considering a group relationship."

Aoife replied, "I think you are jumping to a conclusion that is based on an interpretation of what they said. From my perspective, I think it is great that our children are building close friendships with others."

"Sorry, you are correct as I totally misread what they were saying. I wonder why. I mean, after all, I had a special group of friends when I was that age. For some aspects of our activities we treated each other like family. I am glad you said something."

"Nothing to worry about. At least with us you didn't put your foot in your mouth, which is likely what would have happened if you continued with that idea and said something to them."

"Thank you!" Tara drew Aoife into a hug and gave her a very passionate kiss.

As they were kissing Aine joined them saying, "Aah ... oops sorry. Hope I haven't interrupted something as we would like to join your conference."

"You haven't," replied Sarah's Clan. "Tara was just thanking Aoife for keeping her from embarrassing herself. You and your associates are most welcome to join us anytime."

"I like those kinds of thank yous. Eithne and Fidelma will be with Molly and Jackie's Clans. Brigit will be with Keriann's Clan. Deidre will be with Kathryn's Clan. Creidne will be with Maureen's Clan. After we finish, and with everybody's agreement, Fidelma and Creidne will leave to join Wolf task group."

"Excellent. We have some time so let's share our observations." With that, the clan melded into one. As their links with each other tightened Star secured the doors to the bridge, automatically moving Dóchas to readiness level 4. Once Sarah's Clan was fully melded together, they established special links with both Aine and Star and began reviewing the meeting.

When the time came for the other Command Staffs to be active in their link, each Command Staff increased the strength of their links with the others. Once the links were fully open, Sarah's Clan could see that all the mentors and primary AIs were present.

Sarah's Clan said, "While waiting, we have reviewed our impressions of today's meeting with the Iridiens, and we see each of you have done the same. Let's do that among us, before we discuss how to deal with upcoming events."

Together they worked in fitting together all the information that they had seen and heard while with the Iridiens. Once they had the chronology of events and actions in order, they went through the events again, adding their impressions. On the next pass, they added the data their Intelligence departments had gathered from various sources.

Once they had put the puzzle together, they decided that the explanation given by the Iridiens fit very well with the data obtained from the Dutsuz. They couldn't detect any manipulation in it to favor either Iridiens or AW. Also, it didn't appear that the Iridiens or the other Alliance of Worlds members had yet realized the full implications of the Dutsuz renegades treachery and subversion. To the Órarduine Command Staffs, it was now clear that the Dutsuz renegades' primary goal was to gain the Órarduine gel immersion technology. The renegades believed that this technology would give them psionic abilities, in addition to greatly extending their life span. By gaining the Órarduine psionic abilities, they believed that they would have the additional power needed to quickly take what they believed was their rightful control of the Dutsuz World. With the extended life span, their part of the Dutsuz World would grow faster than other areas, which would further enhance their control.

This group of Dutsuz was known among themselves as the Durale. They had left the primary planet some 400 years earlier for a remote planet in the Dutsuz group. Their relocation was just prior to the Dutsuz World joining the Alliance of Worlds. The Durale had strongly opposed their world joining the Alliance of Worlds but could not prevent it; instead they chose to isolate themselves on remote planet in the Dutsuz World so that their group could quietly grow with little interference. They felt that the Dutsuz World was rightfully theirs to govern as they believed that it was primarily due to their efforts that it had been achieved. Their goal was to grow strong enough that they could take back the Dutsuz World. Once they had authority over it, they knew that they could take control of the Alliance of Worlds. The Durale were very careful to never reveal their goal or draw attention to their activities. During this time their explorations had found numerous other species. They were only interested in building relationships with species who had technology or attributes that would further their goals. Once a relationship was established with a new species, they would be convinced to move to the Durale home planet. As soon as the Durale assimilated this new technology, the species providing it began to dwindle in numbers. The Durale then used this new enhanced technology to improve their standing with the other planets and regions in the Dutsuz World. It was through these contacts with the other regions in the Dutsuz World that they quietly acquired space ships normally manufactured for other AW members. During this time the Durale never deviated from their goal of gaining control of the Dutsuz World. With the discovery of the Órarduine, the Durale began preparing to initiate their plans to take over of the Dutsuz World. They were certain that they could quickly assimilate the Órarduine technology. With the addition of this technology they would have the capability to rapidly take control of the Dutsuz World. They were so confident in their abilities that they planned to begin taking control of the Dutsuz World once they met the Órarduine. In their minds they were the masters in taking control of other species and assimilating their technology, as they had so far succeeded every time.

The Command Staffs concluded that the Durale had gotten as far as they did because they never gave any indication of their goal. None of the species they had taken technology from had had any contact with other Alliance of World members. There weren't any members of those species left as they had now all been served for dinner. If they had not penetrated the Dutsuz ship and copied the library, neither they nor the Alliance of Worlds would know the Durale's ultimate goal. The Durale's plan was designed to be unnoticed until they seized control of the Dutsuz World. Blame for all the turmoil would be shifted toward the current Dutsuz government, the Iridiens and anyone else.

"Wow, it is interesting that the information we gathered from the Dutsuz was so context sensitive," said Molly's Clan.

"Our view is that they did that intentionally," replied Keriann's Clan. "They knew what the data meant, but if someone else saw it they would see it as a Dutsuz plan. We could have easily been sucked into that view as well. We think the Iridiens are just beginning to see the context aspect of the Durale data."

"Seeing our composite helps us understand why the Iridiens responded to Olua's attempted mutiny the way they did."

Sarah's Clan added, "Yes. It does imply that the Alliance of Worlds' members have a reasonably non adversarial relationship with each other. That is, they can resolve issues between them without coming to blows. Thus, subversion and treachery are almost unheard of between members of the alliance."

"Well," said Siobhan's Clan, "we agree it does fit with the way Egulle and Orgaine responded to the mutiny. We would have thought that androids and ships systems would have been higher on the list to scrutinize for tampering."

"So how do we want to deal with the incoming Dutsuz ships?" asked Jackie's Clan.

Keriann said, "Before we do that, does it strike any of you strange that the Durale appear to know about our abilities while the other members didn't appear to?"

"I can speculate on several ways that could occur," responded Calvin. "However, it would be speculation. It's likely they look at new civilizations differently than the others do. They likely have moles in the Alliance's intelligence operation. This would give them the opportunity to filter it to benefit their goals. Did they see something in the data that motivated the Alliance to make this stop? While we don't know for certain we should presume that they sent more information about us and what happened here to their command center."

"You're basing your conclusions on the fact that they subverted other civilizations without the Alliance being aware of it."

"Partially. It seems like the attempt to take over the Alliance task group was their original plan. The discovery of us and our abilities just added to the stakes in their attempt. Did their plan call for the mutiny occur here or at their destination? Considering the vastness of space, it seems that the mutinies were set to occur on within a narrow time span."

"So we are only going to know the answers if we can get hold of their command center records or access to them."

Sarah's Clan said, "Back to Jackie's question, let's see what our Wolf Task Group learns. We are especially interested in whether they are accompanied by any of the missing Spec Ops ships. If they are, whose Spec Ops ships are they? Keriann, the Wolf TG is to deploy drones around the incoming ships, correct?"

"Yes. They have Ferrets and Spiders with them. The initial plan is to use them cautiously."

"Unless we determine they are a definite threat," said Maureen's Clan, "we think the approach should be to greet them cautiously, but be prepared. It will be interesting to see how the Iridiens want to greet them."

"We find their willingness to let us evaluate the androids a bit surprising," said Keriann's Clan.

"It could cause some risks for us. By providing the source code they will learn the programming logic we use. On the other hand, we also learn more about their programming logic, so we think the risks balance out. We should bear in mind that if the androids are compromised by the Durale, they could pose a risk when we power them up."