Chapter 10

“Vert, we have been training for almost a week. We’ve improved and now we’re fairly good, but these Assault Troops are immeasurably better. If we have to make planet fall, I want one of our boy toys on each side of me. What about you?”

“Yeah, I guess so, Relpt.”

“What’s wrong, Vert?”

“I’m not sure, Relpt. I’ve got this premonition that things aren’t going to go the way everyone is expecting them to go.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well everyone seems to be split between two camps. One camp thinks we are going to contact the First Offspring and bring her back aboard with no problems. The other camp thinks we are going to have to fight the locals to get to her, and then fight our way clear to get back to the ship.

“At least the information we gathered makes it look like the locals don’t have a sophisticated weapons system that can reach into space. The best they can do is launch a missile at us. It takes them about a planetary revolution to prepare the missile for a space launch, and the missile is real slow.”

“That sounds good for the ship, Vert. So, what is worrying you?”

“It’s the First Offspring, Relpt. We haven’t contacted her, and we don’t know what she will do.”

“Well, surely the Soldar and Adviser will be able to persuade her to come back on board.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that, Relpt. From what I’ve heard, Zldats say their First Offsprings are always stubborn until they have gone through their first Division, and remember that rumor has it this one is more stubborn than most.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, Oh just about sums it up, Relpt. Ship Commander Shimlt is going to issue orders for the Ship’s company to engage the Masking Field and move into orbit around the planet when the night side of the planet is facing us.”

“I suppose that Thelt will be calling a Patrol Group meeting soon to brief us and tell us we will be on hot standby beginning tomorrow. What do you think, Vert? Are we going to end up in a fight?”

“I don’t know, Relpt. Are you ready for another round of Helve?”

“Sure, why not? Wait a minute!”

After checking their communication tablets, Relpt says, “Thelt just ordered us to meet in the Patrol Group briefing room. I guess what you told me is about to become official.”

“All right, people. Sit down and make yourselves comfortable for this is going to take a while.

“Ship Commander Shimlt decided that our Patrol Group needed to be given a full briefing on the mission, our current situation, and what we might expect in the coming days.

“The mission as it was originally explained to us was, to retrieve the First Offspring. That is part of the mission, but the real purpose of our mission is to ensure the current Supreme Royal Zldat remains in power. To do that, the Supreme Royal Zldat needs his family’s predictions of the future updated. The First Offspring is the most proficient member of the Supreme Royal Zldat’s family when it comes to predicting the future. Therefore, we are to return the First Offspring to the Supreme Royal Zldat’s home.

“Our current situation is a bit more complex. We are currently positioned behind the target planet’s moon. Shortly, Ship Commander Shimlt will order the ship moved into a high, geosynchronous orbit over the position where Gletb left the First Offspring. At that time, the Soldar and Adviser will again try to contact the First Offspring. Hopefully, the locals will not detect us, and if they do, we hope they do not try to attack us. I will address that possibility later in the briefing.

“If the First Offspring does not respond, Commander Shimlt will shift the ship spinward, until contact is made with the First Offspring. In the event the First Offspring does not respond, she will place the ship in low orbit and we will repeat the process of attempting to contact the First Offspring.

“Yes, Blitht?”

“Sir, what will happen if the First Offspring chooses to not respond?”

“One of my fellow officers asked that very question. Commander Shimlt informed us that Zldats have two means of detecting each other: a telepathic connection reveals a Zldat’s location, and a Zldat can detect another by being close to its physical location. She said that is why we will move to low orbit and shift spinward until our Zldats detect the First Offspring’s location.

“I am hoping that the First Offspring will respond. If she does not, this Patrol Group will have the honor of escorting the Adviser during a trip to the planet’s surface. The local’s weapons are more than sophisticated enough to reach and destroy a shuttle, if they choose to attack. However, since the Adviser will be aboard, it will be fully equipped with defensive systems and that should be enough to prevent the shuttle from being destroyed. Still, I would prefer for us to not be aboard if attacked, but we will be.

“Did that answer your question, Blitht?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Assuming the First Offspring is not dead, we will find her. At that point, there are several approaches for returning the First Offspring. If the First Offspring wishes to return with us, we will escort her aboard and return to the ship. If she is being held captive or if she does not wish to return, then this Patrol Group will recover the First Offspring and escort her to the shuttle. The Soldar and Adviser will negate any persuasive effort the First Offspring may make to keep us from carrying her onboard the shuttle.

“Yes, Vert?”

“If the locals are hostile and resist us, how will we be able to retrieve the First Offspring with only our passive, defensive equipment?”

“We are the lead element when it comes to retrieving the First Offspring, Vert. If we need to make a low-altitude pass over the planet, there will also be a squad of fully armed, Assault Troops with us. They will remain in the shuttle until we are attacked. Once we are attacked, we will no longer be restrained by having to comply with Full Diplomatic Protocol. So when we are attacked, we will land at the First Offspring’s location, and then we and the Assault Troops will deploy to retrieve the First Offspring.

“Did that answer your question, Vert?”

“Yes, sir.”

“We were not aware of it, people, but Ship Commander Shimlt, the Soldar, and the Adviser spent many time units developing contingency plans. They tried to imagine every possible scenario we might encounter, and they prepared a plan to resolve every foreseeable problem.

“The final part of this briefing is, what you can expect during the next few days, and that is relatively easy to answer. At the end of this briefing, the members of First Squad will return to their rooms. They will dress in Field Utilities and report to the shuttle bay’s Ready Room with their loadout equipment, but passive defensive equipment only. They will remain there until relieved or until ordered to make planet fall. They will be on standby for ten time units. Third Squad will report to the training area. Second and Forth Squads are off duty for the next ten time units. Then Second Squad will relieve First Squad and Forth Squad will report to the training area. After this meeting, I will prepare and post a duty schedule on the Patrol Group Bulletin Board. If you are not on standby or in training, then you are to rest and prepare for your next rotation of duty assignments.

“I imagine you have hundreds of questions that are just waiting to be asked. Hold them until you get to the Ready Room. I will be spending most of my time there, until we make planet fall. I can answer your questions while we wait. It will give us something to do besides just sit and stare at the walls.

“There is one final topic regarding the additional complexity of our situation. I am under orders to not address the details, but Ship Commander Shimlt wants our Patrol Group to know that based on the analysis of the data obtained, she views the target planet as hostile and it has a rudimentary spacefaring capability. Directive 1495 is now in effect. You may take it as a given that you are not to share this information with your shipmates.

“That is all, people. Go take care of business.”

While walking back to their rooms, Relpt asks, “What are we going to do regarding Directive 1495?”

“Well, considering the way Thelt informed us of that fact, I don’t think that part of our briefing would be a good thing to discuss publically or privately until it becomes public knowledge. I for one don’t want to be the one blamed for leaking that information.”

“Yeah, that is a good idea, Vert.

“Thelt said he would be spending most of his time in the Ready Room. What did he mean by that?”

“You are joking, aren’t you, Relpt?”

“No.”

“Okay, I shouldn’t have to explain this to you, but Thelt is an officer and our Patrol Group’s Explorer Leader. Right?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now officers are supposed to lead their people. Right?”

“Yes, we all know that?”

“All right. Now as the Explorer Leader, it’s Thelt job to be with us when we make planet fall. Therefore, he wants to be in the Ready Room when we receive the order to load and launch. He will make sure we expedite boarding the shuttle, and are properly secured for the trip down. In order to lead, he needs to be in a position to lead, and that position is in the Ready Room.”

“We have a good officer. Don’t we, Vert?”

“Yes, Relpt, we have a very good officer.

“Right now, we need to get some rest. I suspect Thelt is going to keep us busy doing ten on, and ten off. Between training and standby duty, we are going to be very busy. Ten off may sound like a lot of time, but we have a lot of things that will need to be done during that time.”

“What sort of things, Vert?”

“Well, among other things, we need to make sure our boy toys take good care of us, and since they will be the ones who will make planet fall with us, we need to take good care of them.”

During First Meal, three Ship Days later, Vert says, “Well, the first potential problem has been resolved. The Soldar and Adviser made contact with the First Offspring, and she is close to the spinward coast of the continent we explored.

“The Soldar and Adviser are discussing the Supreme Royal Zldat’s need for the First Offspring to return. The Rumor Conduit says the First Offspring is not ready to depart, and will not be ready for a long time.”

“Does that mean we are going to forcefully retrieve the First Offspring?”

“I’m not sure, but if so, I doubt it will happen in the near future. Remember, we Time Distorted thirty Solar Revolutions into their past, so we would have an adequate amount of time to complete the mission. Well, so far we’ve been here less than a tenth of one Solar Revolution. The Soldar and Adviser will talk with the First Offspring until they decide that talking will not help us to complete the mission peacefully.”

“Does that mean we could be here for the next thirty Solar Revolutions waiting for the First Offspring to agree to return with us?”

“Yes, that is a possibility, but I doubt the Soldar and Adviser will wait that long.”

“Vert, since we made contact with the First Offspring and since the Soldar and Adviser will be talking with the First Offspring, possibly for a long time to come, do you think we will need to remain on hot standby?”

“I doubt it, Relpt. Once the Soldar and Adviser are convinced the First Offspring is in no danger, I expect Shimlt to return us to our normal duty assignments. That will probably happen in the next couple of Planetary Revolutions.”

“What about our training sessions with the Assault Troops?”

“I think that will continue, but at a less intensive pace and level. After all, we are still designated as the Patrol Group to make planet fall, when necessary.”

“What do you mean by when necessary? I thought it was if necessary.

“No, Relpt, it has never been if necessary. The First Offspring must return with us so she can update her family’s predictions. That means someone will have to go down and bring her back to the ship. The only questions that need to be answered are first, how the locals will respond; and second, if the First Offspring will come with us voluntarily.”