Chapter 14

Ananu date – 8^th day, 8^th month, 6^th year

It was 10:00 hours the next morning when the Iridien, Monque, Atewa, and Órarduine delegations settled into their seats to begin their first full day of discussions. “Good morning,” said those from Sarah’s Clan.

Judy continued with, “We hope you had as an enjoyable time yesterday evening. Please remember that the dining area is available for meals whether we are there or not. As we agreed to yesterday, we will begin with a presentation of our plans for this area by Eibhlin of Maureen’s Clan. Eibhlin.”

“Thank you Judy. Our approach to settling here is likely very different from the way others settle a new planet. We know that it is very different from the way the Connemare did it. We are able to use our approach for several reasons. First, our reconnaissance teams visited here on a rotating basis once it was decided that this is where we would settle. The primary purpose of these visits was to gather data on the planet and the solar system in general. Second, while they were here they initiated some preparations for settling here, as well as bringing supplies for future use. Finally, at the time we started surveying this system our available transportation was only our 7 Dóchas class ships and 1 freighter. This changed when the Dutsuz offered us the use of 3 freighters. The increase in cargo space allowed us to significantly revise our plans for moving here. A significant benefit of the additional cargo space was that it gave us space where we could continue manufacturing items during the trip.

“Our current plan for this settlement is shown on the map you now see. While not exactly to scale, it is pretty close. The grid is in 1 kilometer squares with the current boundaries being 7 by 7. The squares are numbered beginning with 1 for the square adjacent to Central Square, which is noted as that. A letter for the compass direction is added to the number to further identify them. Central Square is where we are currently. This structure is temporary and is similar to the one located at 1N. Once the building at 1E is complete, our offices both here and at 1N will move there. The buildings at 2E and 1E 1S are what we refer to as a Common building. These buildings are designed so that they can be used for a wide range of purposes. They are typically 3 stories tall. Initially these 2 will be used for manufacturing or similar operations. The construction at 1E 2S and 2E 1S is the hub for a residence group. A Residence Group consists of 8 - 14 floor towers placed in a circle around a three story Residence Hub.

“Our goal is for every clan to have a residence on the planet within a year. Included in this are the buildings for manufacturing that are underway in both 2E and 1E 1S, as well as several others. How many will depend on future needs. Initially the residence suites will be similar to those we have on our ships. As more towers are completed the size of the suites will increase. In the initial stages of moving into the residences we will continue to dine together in the Residence hub. When the suites expand enough to accommodate a kitchen and eating area our dining arrangements will likely change.” She then outlined plans for the spaceport, agriculture, and other areas. “So that pretty well summarizes our current plans.

“We did not initially intend to take this approach. Initially we planned to have almost everyone living on the planet in habitats similar to those we used on Mars. Security issues are what prompted us to rethink our plan. A significant contributor to this was the perceived threat posed by the Durale. To counter this we felt that we had to keep our ships manned at a higher level than we had initially planned to do. However, the availability of the three additional freighters made it easier for us to revise our plan to meet that requirement. As noted earlier they provided us with more cargo space, and space where we could continue some manufacturing. With our recon teams making frequent trips here it gave us the opportunity to move supplies here as well as start preliminary preparations. A key preparation was setting up the aggregate operation. Questions?”

Secretary Baraska said, “You didn’t mention what appear to be temporary structures to the west of here.”

“Those southwest of 1W 2S are temporary residences. This is the area that we expanded to accommodate those who recently arrived from An Clochán. Those at 2W, 2W 1N and 2W 2N are for our recreation and entertainment activities. Our primary recreation is indoor sports, such as volley ball, basketball, gymnastics, pool, martial arts, etc. Beyond them are fields set up for outdoor sports. Entertainment is music oriented and includes dancing. The indoor sports and entertainment activities will move to Common buildings at some point.”

Captain Tuska said, “You didn’t mention the building that is directly east of here and is likely off your map.”

“It is off the map as it is 12 km from here. It is a place for meditation. It is also the place where the Councilors will take their oath of office. They serve an 8 year term but will reaffirm their oath every year. I believe that that will be covered at another time.”

“So we can visit it?”

“Certainly. Sunrise from there is very lovely, or it has been every time I’ve seen it. The sunset is almost as good.”

As the questions tapered off Brigid said, “Thank you, Eibhlin. Let’s take a short break then James will give us a presentation on how our government is organized.”

It was late evening on the 10^th day of Eigmonth when Sarah’s Clan left Tara Ardchlár for Dóchas. They were approaching Dóchas when Molly said, “How was your evening with our visitors?”

“Pretty enjoyable,” responded Joyce. “As before, they all seemed to enjoy the music. Several joined us in dancing. Thazoe and Nanria really seemed to enjoy themselves dancing with us again. Overall it was a nice time.”

“Great.

“Since we don’t have a meeting scheduled with the visitors for tomorrow, we were looking over the variety of topics we’ve covered in the last 6 days. In doing so we see some inconsistencies between our comments immediately after a topic and those made later.”

“We’ve noticed that as well,” responded Jill, “but the differences didn’t seem very significant.”

“Well our concern is that those differences could grow and lead to misunderstandings. Not so much among us but with them. So we think we should document our view of what we’ve agreed too and share it with them before they leave.”

“Good idea,” replied Sarah. “We presume you have a suggestion.”

“Of course, which means you are good teachers.” Her comment caused many to laugh or chuckle. “So, our idea is for us to divide up the topics among us. We would then review our notes of the proceedings so we that can lay out a formal response or position on each one. Earlier we shared this idea with the other Councilors and they approve, so are you agreeable to taking a few minutes to distribute the topics? We don’t see this as taking very long. Then, with tomorrow being an open day, we should be able to complete the reviews by late afternoon so we could go over them together.”

“That should work as our closing meeting is on the 8^th.”

Kelly of Keriann’s Clan said, “Some of us have notes on specific issues, along with our thoughts on handling them, so we should share those.”

Tiff of Siobhan’s Clan added, “We’ve been thinking about this since Molly’s Clan raised the idea. At first we were concerned because we all have a lot of catching up to do tomorrow and we weren’t sure we had time. However, after looking over our notes, we agree. If we run late then we do it after dinner.”

“That is our impression as well,” said Jackie’s Clan.

“In thinking back over the meetings and our discussions,” said Conan of Siobhan’s Clan, “this should be fairly easy to complete, unless someone gets carried away with wordsmithing.”

Crystal of Maureen’s Clan added, “Once we have them finalized we should share them with our visitors before the closing session begins.”

Alena said, “Molly, we presume you all have a suggestion on who does what.”

“Yes and no. Our Clan has some thoughts but we have not shared them yet.”

“So...”

Sarah’s Clan was just sitting down to breakfast on Dóchas when Caoilinn said, “Are we still on for this morning?”

“Yes,” replied Sally. “Their Spec Ops teams are meeting us at Donegan Cove on Carey at 11:00 hours. It appears that all of their teams are participating. Forecast is that it will be heavily overcast, but dry.”

“Good. See you there.”

“Is the area at Donegan large enough to accommodate that many cruisers?” asked Alena.

“Probably, but some are landing at the range then coming over on transporters,” responded Cathan.

“What about the suspected agents?”

“I haven’t heard very much about them. Our Intelligence group may have heard something, but for some I think it may take quite a bit of time before they are sorted out. When we shared our impressions with the Monque and Atewa their Counterintelligence groups were pleased with the information. This was because many of our observations were consistent with theirs. However some that we noted hadn’t triggered their interest, although they are now doing a closer review of those individuals. We have biometrics for all of those we suspect so we can monitor them when they visit us.

“The Iridiens have a difficult situation as there are at least 2 who have access to their Counterintelligence files. Trizalski and Orgaine indicated that they had a solution but didn’t elaborate.”

“Have any of them been to Tara?”

“Yep, and they partied like everyone else, or at least they seemed to.”

Sarah said, “It is almost time to start the morning meeting.”

Doug said, “This table sure is quiet this morning.”

“Well it is difficult to talk while eating,” replied Joyce. “The food tastes especially good this morning; either that or I am hungrier than I thought.”

“I agree that it is good. Is it true that the Iridiens are leaving in three days?”

“Yes,” responded Erin. “The Atewa and Monque will be here a little longer. They are going to evaluate several asteroids as possible sites for their fleet service facility.”

“Are they going to be near us?”

With a smile Erin responded with, “Depends on what you mean by ‘near’. Their preference is for it to be about 15 to 20 lm from Ananu. Initially they plan to share a facility. Long term they will build another so they each have their own. When they do, the separation will be at about the same distance from each of us.”

“I presume there is a reason for them not using a common one.”

“We all have secrets. Long term it makes sense as their interests may not always be aligned, so separate facilities would avoid awkward situations.”

“What if there is an emergency?”

“We have the impression that they would do the same as we would, which is render all needed assistance.”

“Aren’t the Iridiens going to have a facility?”

“No. They will use one of the facilities here. This sector has significantly more strategic value to the Monque and Atewa than it does to the Iridiens. The idea of us hosting a Command Staff school has been discussed. Its students would come from the Alliance of Worlds as well as us. It is definitely a future endeavor and needs a lot more thought. The reason given for having it here is that it will be seen as a fairly neutral location. Doing this has some security implications for us that we need to carefully consider and discuss as a family.”

“Thank you. While I’ve followed your discussions with our visitors on the net, it is much more enjoyable talking to the participants.”

Aoife said, “Well that being the case, how about hanging around until after the morning meeting so that we can chat.”

“For you all, certainly,” replied Virginia. “We always enjoy those opportunities.”

“Well it won’t be all of us, but we’d like to hear your observations of Tara’s night life.”

“We saw you last night with the visitors and you seemed to be enjoying yourselves.”

“We did,” replied Sarah’s Clan.

“The level of activity you saw last night was greater than usual. We think that that was due to the visitors. The sport’s fields and exercise areas seemed to always be busy, especially during the day.”

While the others were chatting Janet, Alison, and Claudette moved to the podium and said, “Good morning everyone. Let’s begin with our morning review of today’s activities for the Dóchas crew.”

It was 14:00 hours when Dóchas FOC said, “Bridge, we’ve just been advised by IGN404 that they are departing on a short excursion to familiarize the new crew members with operations.”

“Did they give you vectors and times?” queried Joyce.

“I thought you all would be at Tara, but yes. It is a six point course over the next 16 hours. It should be on your monitor.”

“Not today. All that is scheduled for the visitors are exchange visits between ships. We plan to go down to Tara for dinner. Hold on, the projected course is now on our monitor. From our perspective it looks pretty reasonable. Their path appears to be clear.”

“It is. We just thought you should know. The only oddity is that Captain Ersatz when he contacted us seemed rather stressed or ill at ease.”

“Perhaps it is the new crew as the Iridiens transferred quite a few of their crew members to it, possibly enough to fully staff it. Judy told us that many of its original crew members were very ill and were moved to either IHBC-12 or IHBC-67 for treatment.”

“Well that would explain all the new faces we saw on the bridge.”

It was nearly 7 hours later when Orgaine said, “Sarah’s Clan, is there a problem?”

“Not that we know of, why?”

“Trizalski has been trying to contact you to set up a visit but we’ve been unable to get any response.”

“We haven’t had any difficulties with other links. We’ll try to initiate one from here.”

“Okay.”

Maeve said, “Communications, we need you to do a full com check with the Iridien fleet. Let us know the results as soon as you complete them. After that run one for all active locations in System.”

“Aye,” replied Orla. “We’ll put the result of the first check on your monitor as it comes in. The second part will take quite a while to complete.”

“Fine.”

“Is there an issue?”

“Orgaine just informed us that they’ve been unsuccessful in trying to reach us.”

“Okay.” A few minutes later she said, “From the 8 Iridien ships in orbit, we are seeing their signals but there isn’t any information in them. We are now verifying communication links with Monque, Atewa, Tara, and our ships. Our sister ships are checking their links as well.”

Aoife said, “Orgaine, we are seeing your com link but it doesn’t have any information in it. That is also true for the 7 ships near you.”

“Thanks, I think.”

“We are currently checking our links with all ships in System. However, it will take quite a while to do that for IGN404.”

“Excuse me, but why?”

“They left on an orientation cruise some 7 hours ago.”

“Interesting, I wasn’t aware of that but it makes sense with all the crew changes. How long is it?”

“Sixteen hours with 6 vector changes. Let’s see, they are currently 1 lh from us, and time wise about half way through the exercise.”

“Okay. Thanks. I’ll be contacting you shortly.”

“Sally,” said Sarah, “what is the status of your exercise?”

“We are wrapping up. Why?”

“Orgaine just informed us that they couldn’t establish a voice communication link with us. Can you have the crews there check their communications gear? Dóchas Communications will likely contact you as well.”

Laughing she said, “Anxious?”

“Yes, as that isn’t the only odd event. Earlier IGN404 left on an intra system orientation cruise as an exercise for their new crew members.”

“Without chaperones I presume.”

“You are likely correct. We don’t know for sure.”

“Do you want us to curtail this?”

“We aren’t that anxious. However, being a bit paranoid, everyone should verify that their hijack fail-safe hasn’t been tripped.”

“Good point, although I think all of us do that routinely.”

“Okay. Use this link if you have any issues.”

“Aye.”

An hour later, Sally said, “All systems here are fine. The Iridiens here haven’t been able to contact either IHBC-12 or IHBC-67.”

“Did they try the other ships in their fleet?”

“Not sure, but I’ll check.”

Rusty said, “Sally, let’s presume that they have a malware issue on at least the battlecruisers, so tell them not to download anything.”

“Now that makes sense.”

It was a few minutes later when Gwendolyn in Dóchas FOC said, “Attention all ships. Lifeboat beacons detected. Detecting 2 at 58 lm from us. Phoenix, Fiontar, Eagle, launch special rescue teams. Coordinates being uploaded.”

“Aye,” was the immediate response from all three ships.

Laonize said, “This is AHCD47. Do you need assistance?”

Tuska said, “This is MHCE25. We are launching our rescue team. Coordinates please.”

“Be advised,” replied Gwendolyn, “that we are sending Security teams with our rescue units. The only known ship close to that location was IGN404 about an hour ago.”

Laonize said, “AHCD47 will add a team to our rescue ship. They will follow your lead.”

Tuska said, “Those from MHCE25 will also follow your lead.”

Cathan said, “We have the coordinates and are now departing Donegan Cove. Everyone else is returning home.”

“Aye,” said Sarah’s Clan.

Briana said, “We’ll be there in time for you to go to Tara for dinner.”

“No rush.”

“We heard some interesting comments today from the Monque and Atewa teams. We’ll share those when we see you. As to today’s events, this was a great idea. We should do it again on a smaller scale so that we have more interaction time.”

“Okay. We’ll be ready to leave shortly after you arrive.”

Sally said, “I’ll get a ride to Tara with Zoe’s Clan and meet you all at dinner.”

“Okay.”

“Did you all get the memorandum drafted?”

“Yes. We are going to discuss them after dinner as everyone will be available.”

It was an hour after detecting the signals from IGN404’s lifeboat beacons that TBN23, accompanied by 4 Star Fighters, approached the life boats. After looking them over Anessa, the Commander of TBN23, said, “Taiséalai FOC, we’re near the lifeboats. They all appear to be intact. Markings show that they are from IGN404.”

“Acknowledged. Rescue ships are on the way. Standby.”

“Aye,” replied Anessa.

TBN23 AI said, “I’ve scanned the boats. My sensors indicate about 70 biologicals on each. There also seem to be 3 of our bots.”

“Can you link with them?”

“Attempt in progress.” Several minutes later he said, “They are family. It appears that they’ve initiated short term suspension. I can override it but doing so would likely cause the loss of some, if not all, their recent memory.”

“Since the boats’ systems are stable there isn’t any urgency, so let’s wait. The rescue crews will be here in less than 2 hours.”

“Aye. I forwarded the count to Taiséalai FOC.”

“Thanks.”

A little later the AI said, “I’ve established contact with Dáire. He said that there are two women on the other boat and their names are Shaw and Nikita. They should wake up shortly. He expressed concerns about the intent of those operating IGN404. They are a subset of the crew the Iridiens placed on board. Those on the lifeboats consist of the original crew and some Iridiens. Also, the Durale prisoners weren’t placed in hibernation. Apparently they were only sedated so it appeared that they were in hibernation. All of them are now up and assisting with the operation of the ship.”

“Did you send that to Taiséalai?”

“No. Dáire suggested waiting until the other two woke up.”

“Explain.”

“According to Dáire, when they understood what the crew intended they made some modifications to the crew’s plans. One was to alter the list of people they were going to leave behind in the lifeboats. He also indicated that there were some issues with IGN404’s navigation and propulsion.”

“So he expects them to leave this system.”

“Yes. They believe that the ship will head for a Durale base. From their current position and course, they could initiate FTL before any of us could reach them.”

“Send what we know to Taiséalai Intelligence and advise them that we will know more when we have our three aboard. I wonder why they were still on the ship.”

Close to half an hour had elapsed when the AI said, “Commander, Shaw and Nikita are active. They have asked to be picked up before the rescue teams arrive.”

“We can do that if they know how to exit the life boats. Why the urgency?”

“They think it would be better if none of the others know that they were there. Apparently they hid in the lifeboats prior to the other crew members being placed in them.”

“This is getting progressively stranger. Ask them if they can enter the air-lock and then seal the inside door.”

“Will do.”

Meredith then said, “I’ll take one scout ship. Greer and Tasgall can assist.”

Stuart added, “I’ll take the other ship with Aileen and Gilles.”

“We need to take environmental suits with us, just in case,” added Greer.

“They don’t have suits. As to the air-lock, they can’t verify the outer door’s status,” said the AI.

“Okay. Tell them to be at the door. We will be there shortly. Right now telepathy would be nice.”

“Agreed. Currently we are using a data link. When you are near them they will use their telepathy, but expect it to be very soft, like a whisper.”

“Good, we can live with that,” responded Aileen.