Chapter 34

Sarah, Aoife, Maeve, and Claudette were coming up the stairs linking the tunnel to Central Square when they heard Colleen say, “Where are you? The groups headed back to Atewa and Monque will be departing shortly.”

“We were checking out the tunnels but are on our way up to Central Square,” responded Sarah.

“How are they?”

“They look like a construction site. Parts of the main corridors running east – west are close to being useable. The side tunnels connecting to the buildings under construction are passable, but that depends on the status of the building.”

“That sounds like we are further along than what’s in the summaries.”

“Well there is still a lot of work to do before they are put into service.”

“How soon will you be here?”

“Now,” said the four as they stepped through the door causing Colleen to jump.

“You surprised me even though I could sense you were close. We have a transporter waiting if you want to ride with us.”

“Sure, if there is room,” agreed Sarah.

“There is.”

Seeing them enter the reception area at the spaceport Carzekote said with a smile, “We looked for you earlier.”

“We were checking out progress in one of the construction areas,” replied Claudette, “and we sort of lost track of time.”

“Well we are glad you made it before we left.”

“Did you all find enough recordings?”

“Oh my, yes,” beamed Ecarzoe. “The selection is fantastic, enough that we each have a unique collection of nearly a 100 songs. While most are just vocal recordings, we did select quite a few videos as well.”

“Based on your expressions, you all seem to think spending the extra time here was worthwhile.”

“We do,” replied the group.

Gilconte inquired, “Would it be a problem if we delayed sending our other staff here?”

“We don’t have a set schedule so no, other than we are anxious to meet them,” replied Sarah. “What is your reasoning for the delay?”

“We were thinking of delaying them by no more than a couple of weeks by your calendar. Doing this would give us time to discuss our observations and what we perceive to be opportunities. More importantly we wanted to review the songs with them and discuss how to bring them to market.”

She glanced at the Monque group, prompting Delmkoe to smile as she said, “We have a similar plan for going forward. As to the delay to the other group leaving, we discussed this with Sharon’s Clan. They indicated that their plans had us being back for a week before the other group left. They also noted that the time between arrival and departure could be extended, but preferably by less than a week.”

As she was speaking Kara and Sharon joined them. Kara added, “Since we had that discussion, both of us have reevaluated that limitation. If necessary it can be extended, but as you’ve noted it delays the visit here for the rest of your staffs.”

Kistanria said, “Kara, I think a week will be more than sufficient. We can review the videos and what we have learnt on the way back. This will prepare us for sharing with the other staff members, we should then be able to decide how to proceed while they are here. In our case, we want to find out whether any of them have contacts that can help with marketing the music.”

“It is our intention to stay in contact with Ecarzoe, Delmkoe, and Kistanria,” confided Othalkinze.

Keriann said, “That seems like a smart move as it could facilitate 3 way exchanges of goods.”

“Good point,” responded Carzekote. “That is one idea we hadn’t consciously considered yet. We just thought that by sharing strategies on how we handled your projects it would enable us to be a better resource for you.”

“That is between the two of you, as long as it doesn’t impact our relationship.”

“We won’t let it,” firmly stated the groups.

Sharon said, “While we enjoy chatting with you all the longer we do so the longer it is until we begin our trips, so shouldn’t we begin saying our good-byes?”

Carzekote turned to Sarah saying, “Thank you for hiring us and the hospitality you’ve shown us.” As they hugged she added, “We look forward to you all visiting us and our World.”

“We are pleased that you all chose to accept the opportunity that we offered. All of us are looking forward to associating with you all.”

As the Órarduine and their agents embraced each other, both groups were pleased with the shared feelings.

As the groups headed toward their ships the Councilors remaining said, “Have a speedy and safe trip, with the blessing of the Gods and Goddesses.”

While the two shuttles readied for departure Kathryn said, “Sure hope this works out the way we think it will.”

Cabd said with a smile, “I wouldn’t worry.”

Her comment drew the group’s attention. Aoife said, “I didn’t realize you were here.”

“From a perception aspect, I wasn’t until now.”

“What did you think of our visitors?” inquired Maeve.

“My sisters and I agree with you all in that you’ve selected people who are capable of doing a great job representing you. As you’ve perceived, they are all honest, ethical, and hard-working, although some of them have reservations about others in their organization. However, you will soon have an opportunity to evaluate them yourselves. This groups’ sudden interest in your choir’s music surprised us.”

“It did us as well,” responded Joyce.

Aoife added, “I think seeing the choirs performing in the holiday setting contributed to them recognizing the potential. When we were in Sol we used music as a way to introduce ourselves to those on Earth.”

“We’ve had several opportunities to interact with them during their visit. We liked that as it gave us the opportunity to expand our knowledge of the Monque and Atewa.”

“I thought you were familiar with all the other species,” queried Jill.

“We are in general terms, but you don’t really know a species until you have interacted closely with some of them.”

“Oops, I should think my questions through before opening my mouth.”

“No offense was taken and I think it was a fair comment. Now I have a question for you all. Why did you approach Aine and her sisters to give seminars on Deities?”

Smiling Sarah said, “While we have chosen to place our faith in you and your family, we didn’t feel we should give the seminars. Our concern was that if we gave the seminars many would feel that we were telling them to place their faith in You. We also felt that Aine and her sisters giving the seminars would provide a broader understanding of the relationships between mortals and deities. We think this will make it easier for all of You to interact with our family in the way we discussed.”

“So this is due to the hostility that you’ve seen between religious factions in other Worlds.”

“Basically.”

“Not sure I should say this, but those situations arose due to worshipers literally following ancient teachings without trying to understand the environment existing at the time they were given. Another aspect of this is the fact that the meanings and intent of words change with time, which adds to the complexity of understanding the original teachings.”

“Agreed. This is why we like the idea of interacting with your family in a more direct manner while maintaining the same level of respect.”

“I need to be going, so we can continue our discussion in the future. I’ve enjoyed our sharing.”

As they watched Cabd walk away, Sarah wondered if she had overstepped their bounds. She was therefore startled when she heard Cabd say, “You didn’t overstep anything. I do have another obligation. There are also some things that I and my sisters need to talk about. While what I said about misinterpretation is true, it wasn’t the best explanation. It is something we need to work through so that we convey the issue correctly. We will talk about this another time, as it is an issue that will arise again.”

“Thanks,” replied Sarah. When she looked around she noticed the rest of group looking at her with a smile. “Guess you all heard.”

“Yep,” they replied.

It was the morning of the 24^th of Twelmonth when Sarah’s Clan stepped on to Dóchas’ bridge. “Good morning, Star.”

“Good morning. Are you going to Tara today?”

“Probably not,” replied Sarah. “Are we overlooking something?”

“Not that I am aware of,” replied Star, the AI. “At 06:00 hours we received messages from two of our special courier drones. These indicated that the drones were in this System and operating cloaked. Their primary destination is here, and they will arrive at about 12:10 hours. According to their ids they are from Marthanóir and Fiontar, and the ids have been verified. Rather than wake you all I chose to have FOC send two flights of Star Fighters to check the drones out as this seems a little unusual.”

“Good choice,” noted several of the Clan.

“It seems strange that both would send a drone, especially since they are traveling together and can mind-link?” queried Alison.

Terry said, “Especially as it is the most secure way that we have to communicate.”

“True. At times we do sort of treat our mind-link as secure, but is it? Now I am anxious to see their messages,” added Sally.

Star said, “The Star Fighters will use ferrets and their associated spiders to confirm that the drones are from Marthanóir and Fiontar and then shepherd them here.”

“Good call. Was System Control Center informed?”

“Only that we had sent out 2 flights on an unscheduled exercise.”

“When is our group projected to exit FTL?”

“In 42 hours, which is 22:00 hours tomorrow.”

“We need to let the other Command Staffs know,” noted Erin.

“Yes,” added Sarah. “I’ll contact them and schedule a meeting here for when the drones arrive.”

“Agreed,” the others replied.

Later, after reviewing the couriers’ messages with the other Command Staffs, Sarah said, “An interesting synopsis of their journey. While taken together the evidence indicates a stalker, if you left anything out then it doesn’t. The only hard evidence is their sensors detecting an FTL transition several hours behind them at the last jump point.”

Crystal of Maureen’s Clan noted, “To me there are several soft events that justify their decision to contact us. One is that apparently quite a few of the crew and passengers felt a significant level of fear or danger during this last leg, beginning just before making their last FTL transition, a feeling that hadn’t occurred prior to that point. They didn’t notice that their sensors had detected an FTL transition several hours behind them until later. Another is that three different passengers expressed concerns prior to that jump point, all relating to a potentially dangerous event occurring during the remaining leg of the trip. These concerns have validity as among their people these three have a good reputation of sensing future events. To me the fact that Molly’s and Jackie’s Clans chose to contact us using the drones rather than mind-link is an indication of their concern.”

Chester of Keriann’s Clan suggested, “Concern about contacting us via our mind-link raises a couple of questions that I don’t think we’ve considered. One is can a telepath eavesdrop on our mind-link exchange? Another is whether others can sense our ability to mind link?”

“Well I think the latter is true when someone see us apparently loose awareness of our surroundings. As to eavesdropping we could set that up as an exercise for our Security Teams.”

“We need to discuss that. Now as to their concerns, the Sentinel Ring data may give us an indication of whether they are being followed, and if so how far their shadows are behind them.”

“I will contact the Intelligence groups when we finish here,” added Calvin of Kathryn’s Clan.

“Okay,” declared Kelly, “now that we’ve sorted that out, what defensive measures do we want to set up? We don’t have a clue as to the size of this group and we won’t really know until they come out of FTL.”

“We agree,” responded Maureen.

“Well,” said Rusty with a smile, “Taiséalai and Iolar were scheduled for exercises next week. You could initiate these to start earlier when we get finished here. It will take an hour or so for those at Tara to return.”

“I like that idea,” responded Calvin of Kathryn’s Clan. “Doing that will make the exercise a bit more realistic. If I estimated correctly we should be within a light hour of their projected FTL exit location before our incoming group arrives.”

Eibhlin of Maureen’s Clan added, “We have some of our cruisers out of service. Although the maintenance could be pushed, I think it would be better if we could borrow some temporary replacements.”

Kelly of Keriann’s Clan said, “We will lend you one, with its Star Fighters.”

The Flight Operations members of Sarah’s, and Siobhan’s Clans chimed in with, “We will as well.”

Keriann added, “Even though the crews have worked closely together this will be a good experience for them.”

Maureen said, “Moncha has been advised of our intent and is initiating preparations.”

“Scathach has initiated preparations for us,” added Rebeca of Kathryn’s Clan.

“Shouldn’t we let the Atewa and Monque know what’s up?” inquired Aisling of Siobhan’s Clan.

“Yes, but I don’t think we’ve reached that stage in the planning yet,” responded Alison with a smile.

“Are we over reacting?” questioned Amber.

“Maybe,” mused Alena. “However, it’s been too quiet.” Her response caused them all to chuckle lightening the mood.

Aoife said, “I’ll advise the Monque and Atewa of the situation and our response.”

“Fine,” responded Aisling. “Don’t be surprised if you get a lot of questions.”

“Oh, I am expecting them, but with what little we know there is not much more to say, is there?”

“I wonder what Aine and her sisters know about the distance that a paranormal can project emotions,” pondered Jill.

“Aine, are you available?” inquired Aoife.

“She isn’t in System at the moment,” responded Morrigan. “She should be back tomorrow. What’s up?”

“Well a courier arrived a little while ago from Molly’s and Jackie’s ships. They suspect that they are being stalked,” answered Aoife, and then shared what they knew.

“Interesting combination. We’ve heard claims that a very strong paranormal could instill sensations of fear or foreboding at great distances. Supposedly the entity would need to see the target for it to be effective, but just seeing the ships could be sufficient.

“What are your plans?”

After hearing what they had planned she said, “Mind if I go with one of the ships.”

“Not at all.”

“Knowing Creidne it is likely that she will join one of the other ships.”

“Fine. We are going to let the Atewa and Monque know of the pending arrival as well as the possibility of stalkers.”

“Good idea.”

It was shortly after the other Command Staffs had left Dóchas when Aoife said, “Good morning, Captain Reyonte.”

“Good morning, Admiral Aoife. How are you all doing this morning?”

“We are just fine. I am calling to let you know that Jackie’s and Molly’s Clans will enter our system around 22:00 hours tomorrow the 25^th. Due to the position of their FTL transition their projected path to Ananu has them passing over your position. The separation will be greater than 5,000 km.”

“I’ll bet you all are pleased to know that their arrival is eminent,” he replied with a smile. “It is good timing as the New Year celebration is only 2 weeks away.”

“Oh, definitely. They wanted to be back for it if the timing worked out.”

“Is there anything else about this that we should note?”

“Well we aren’t certain whether there is more to this situation or not.” She then shared the contents of the message they had received.

“Interesting, there have been reports by some of those rescued from pirates about feeling overwhelming fear and terror shortly before being attacked. The timing seems a little different this time, although our information is quite sparse, primarily because victims of pirates are seldom heard from again. I gather you are planning a welcoming party near the FTL transition coordinates.”

“Yes. Since we don’t have any idea of the number of ships, or types, that may be involved, we’ve decided to start an exercise in the arrival area. It has just started, so those taking part should be in the area well before the projected FTL transition.”

“Let us know how we can assist. We will be ready.”

“Thank you. We will have a better idea of whether or not their concern was valid early tomorrow morning.”

“Interesting. I like your idea of an exercise in that area. Would you mind if one of our Task Groups was nearby, or joined you, at some point?”

“Not at all. Our exercise is for Iolar and Taiséalai groups. As we get more information we will pass it on to your CDC. Now I am going let Captain Tuska know.”

“Good. Before you go, we recently received a listing of ships suspected of piracy and have authorization to detain them. I’ll have a copy sent to all of your ships. Take care.”

A short time after Aoife had spoken with both the Atewa and Monque the piracy listings were received.

After looking them over Sally said, “This list has quite a bit of detail.”

“Yes it does,” responded Terry, “a lot more than I expected.”

“We should bring our fleet readiness level up a notch,” said Sarah.

“It is,” noted Sally. “Now we’ll just have a few more things to monitor for the next couple of days.”

“Well you need more to do so you don’t get into so much trouble,” retorted Erin with a smile.

Laughing she responded, “Yea, right. I think it is time for us to go to our martial arts exercises.”

“Darn, I was hoping you were distracted,” groaned Jill.

As Sarah’s Clan was preparing to leave their quarters on Dóchas for dinner Keri said, “We heard that Molly’s and Jackie’s Clan will be here tomorrow.”

Chuckling Sarah replied, “Currently we expect them to transition late tomorrow evening. They won’t be near us until the morning of the 26^th.”

“That is great,” cheered the children.

“It will be great to see them again,” added Iris.

“So how was your day?” inquired Tara as they walked toward the dining room.

As they selected their dinner and went to sit down the children related their day’s adventures. Corey said, “It seemed like there was more activity in Flight Operations than usual when we came up from Tara.”

Terry glanced at her spouses before saying, “There is a suspicion that something, but probably a group of ships, is following Molly’s and Jackie’s group, so preparations are being made to deal with whatever it is. We won’t know until late tomorrow if they are being followed, and if so what it is even later.”

“So they aren’t in any danger?” queried Deirdre.

“It doesn’t appear so.”

“Is that the reason Iolar and Taiséalai left today?”

“Essentially, yes. They did have exercises scheduled to begin in a few days, we just decided to move them up. We thought that doing this added a bit more realism to the exercises.”

“Too bad it wasn’t us going.”

“Oh, I just remembered!” exclaimed Moya, “Earlier today when Victurcz saw me at Tara she asked where she could find Sarah and Maeve. When I told her you all were on Dóchas today, she seemed disappointed. So I told that I would let you all know that she was looking for you.”

“Well we will be at Tara most of tomorrow,” responded Sarah. “I wonder what she wants.”

“Life to be perfect,” blurted Kennith. His face turned red as the others chuckled.

“I suspect that is true for all of us,” murmured Iris.

Before their parents could respond Moya chimed in with, “Based on comments Winz and Maz made, it could be because she is having trouble understanding how we function. Part of this could be that there aren’t any obvious financial transactions associated with our activities. There aren’t any barriers to facilities, food, etc. We have given our friends a brief outline of how things are currently set up, although I am not sure we fully understand all of it.”

“Okay,” said Maeve, “we will look for her tomorrow. We may refer her to Staffing as finance is being handled by them.”

“That seems odd,” commented Jordana.

“It is,” sighed Alison. “It is a temporary arrangement that will likely last for another year or two. At some point we need to have a visible monetary system, especially with the prospect of monetary transactions with other Worlds. So far our transactions with Alliance of World members have either been a form of barter or as credit.”

“Some of our lessons have discussed financial systems and how they work,” observed Corey. “At first they were difficult to comprehend, but once they included examples it was a bit clearer. Even so, it seems odd to have to pay for what you need to live.”

“Well in a way we are paying every day for what we have available to consume and use. We are receiving them in return for the work we do. A currency is simply a way of setting values on each aspect of living, such as food, a place to live, working, etc. The way we are operating at the moment suits our current needs, but as we grow and become active at more locations the need for a currency will grow.”

“That is the impression we gained from our lessons,” responded Iris.

“So everyone in the Órarduine family has a share of its assets?” questioned Earnán.

“Yes,” said Janet. “The size of the share is based on an individual’s contributions. These include time among us, work time, responsibility, roles filled, and etc. Everyone is included, both logical and biological Family members. I don’t remember all the details but we worked them out as a group not long after our Family began to form. Participating in that made the finance courses I took in college worthwhile.”

Jill added, “For me the concept is that we are essentially functioning as the crew on a very big ship. This conceptual ship encompasses all of our operations and assets. Currently we are focused on establishing a physical location on a planet that we can call home, grow and prosper. At some point we will begin spreading out across this planet, and perhaps to other planets. This will result in a divergence of interests at each location with somewhat different needs and priorities. However, even if we live at separate locations we will still retain our core Family bond.”