Chapter 15

The Órarduine Command Staff representatives were standing just inside the habitat when the Iridien ships began arriving. Their approach and landing was identical to two days earlier. Only this time when the ramps lowered they immediately exited and headed toward An Clochán's entrance. After they had passed through the airlock into the arrival area, the Command Staffs went to greet them.

They said in unison, "Welcome back. We trust you had a pleasant trip."

"It is a pleasure to be back," said Egulle as he slipped his helmet off. The others followed his lead and removed their helmets.

"Órarduine," said Egulle, "I would like to introduce Reyonte and Laonize of the Atewa World. From the Monque World, we have Tuska and Marika." Arenta then introduced her colleagues from the medical group.

Immediately following these introductions, the Órarduine clasped hands with the newcomers and introduced themselves.

"You can use the lockers or open hangers for your gear," said Sally. "To use a locker, place your hand on the hand symbol inside it before closing it, that will key the security lock so that only you can open it."

"Commander Egulle," said Sarah, "do you want to do full introductions here or in the conference room?"

"Let's do them in the conference room."

"Judy," said Arenta, "are the androids from our department active?"

"I don't know, but Casidhe or Tiff may."

"Tiff, Casidhe, do you know if the androids from the medical department are active?"

"Yes," they both replied in unison.

Casidhe said, "I believe they are scheduled to go back this morning. Right now they are assisting us."

"Excuse me?" replied Arenta with a surprised look.

"We have them assisting our staff in reactivating your other androids. We don't know what they were like before, but they are really quite helpful with this process."

"Okay..." It was clear from Arenta's response that she didn't quite comprehend the answer.

On entering the conference room Aoife said, "There are refreshments on the counter. Please help yourself. From our perspective, you can sit any place. If the chairs are uncomfortable, please tell us so we can find something more comfortable."

When everyone had their refreshments and taken a seat Egulle said, "I heard Arenta asking about the androids. How is it progressing?"

"Can we hold that for just a moment?" asked Sarah. Egulle nodded. "Let's quickly introduce ourselves and provide a thumbnail sketch of what we do." Sarah began the introductions. When Casidhe and Caitlyn introduced themselves they noted that this was their first meeting.

When the Órarduine finished Reyonte said, "Thank you for the warm welcome. I am the group commander for the Atewa Task Group and Laonize commands one of our ships."

Then Tuska said, "We also wish to thank you for the warm welcome and excellent refreshments. I am the group commander for the Monque Task Group. The introduction you provided to your world through your videos and other information is greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, we are not as well prepared. Our scribes are at this moment preparing a similar collection of information about our world. We expect to have this available later this week."

Then Marika said, "I am commander of the prime ship in our Task Group. Our crews have also found your videos very interesting. We hope that more of us will have the opportunity to visit with you."

"Commander Egulle," said Casidhe, "in answer to your question about the androids, we are currently projecting completion of this batch late tomorrow morning. We ran into some mechanical interface issues that threatened to derail our efforts, but they were resolved. The first group of androids was returned to your ship very late last night. Were there any comments about them before you left?"

"Not to me."

Zolta said, "I heard several. They primarily expressed surprise at the number of questions asked after being given an instruction or assignment. One staffer said that she had never seen androids so interested in defining the limits and parameters of their assignment."

"Good," said Casidhe causing several puzzled looks. "Zolta, your observation indicates that they are learning. It will take some time before it is apparent, but they should become much more effective in their duties."

"Four androids," said Caitlyn, "have told us that Durale Dutsuz attempted to give them commands. They failed as the Durale did not have the authority, besides not expressing the command correctly. Later, an Iridien in the presence of a Durale, made an attempt with a similar command. They accepted the command, but did not complete it, as it did not fit within their defined responsibilities. Also, there was no directive requiring them to acknowledge not completing a task in those circumstances. Antopolis has sent your security director the names of those acting on behalf of the Durale."

"Come to think of it," said Egulle, "I don't remember seeing any androids on the bridge this morning."

"They were still here then," said Casidhe. "All but five left a short while ago. The five still here are assisting us with updating the other androids programing. These five are now qualified to assist in configuring the androids on your ships."

"Could we review the situation with the androids?" said Reyonte of the Atewa World. "We understand the issues prompting the review of the Iridien androids, and agree that the programming needed to be reviewed for security reasons."

Egulle said, "I believe either Casidhe or Caitlyn are the most knowledgeable about the work being done on the androids. Would one of you review what is being done?"

"Certainly," replied Caitlyn. She then described what they had found on evaluating androids program logic. As a part of the review, she showed examples of the logic decision trees that made it difficult at times for the androids to function correctly. Most of the historical issues with the functioning of these androids was thought to be due to these programming logic errors. Some issues were attributed to them being unable to either attenuate their sensor input, or change the input polling frequency. These issues were corrected in the revised programming. The subtle changes to the androids prime directives were outlined, and how they would be reflected in the way an android functioned. She emphasized that a key reason for making the change to the prime directives was to make it more difficult to tamper with an android's allegiance.

The group listened very closely to Caitlyn's review. When she finished, they had a multitude of questions about the changes. Both Casidhe and Tiff helped her respond to the questions.

"There is one more item I just realized that we overlooked," said Casidhe. "Each of the androids now has a traditional Iridien name in addition to the identifier previously used. They will respond to both. We set it up so a crew member has to ask in order to learn their traditional name."

"Good," said Egulle.

"Caitlyn, Casidhe and Tiff," said Reyonte, "thank you for being so patient with our questions. We now see the wisdom in the changes you have made. At some point, would your people be willing to look at ours? We don't have nearly as many active androids as the Iridiens as we have not found ours to be as reliable as those Egulle has on his ships."

"We would be willing," said Sarah, "but, shouldn't we wait until we see how the Iridien androids perform."

"We were not expecting an immediate answer."

Marika of the Monque World said, "We face problems similar to those expressed by Reyonte. At the same time, we recognize that since you are a small world, you have limited resources. Perhaps we can assist you in other areas in exchange for assistance with our androids. Sarah does make a good point, so I propose we table our request until things settle down a bit. Besides, there are some Dutsuz ships that will be arriving soon and we don't know their true intent."

"Can we shift to another topic?" said Tuska of the Monque World. After pausing for someone to object, he continued with, "The morning the Durale Dutsuz attacked An Clochán our sensors recorded several flashes of light before the first ship exploded. Our weapons experts think it was a laser, but aren't really certain."

"It was a laser type weapon," said Sally. "We have several located around An Clochán as one means of defense. This was the first time they were fired at a significantly shielded object."

"At that distance, you must be putting a lot of power into it, and we are surprised that thermal bloom wasn't a problem."

"We will need to get back to you on estimated power. These weapons are a derivative of our ship-board weapons. An Clochán Fire Control fired four synchronized shots using four weapons each time. We are now fairly certain that it could have been done with one shot. The four shot approach was used for several reasons. There are some power losses due to the Martian atmosphere and we wanted to be certain we wouldn't inadvertently hit an object beyond the target. So for each round the energy level was increased and the aiming point slightly shifted. By synchronizing the shots between the four weapons, we increase the effectiveness at the point of beam convergence."

"Thank you. When you move, will the weapons be left to defend this habitat?"

"We haven't reached that decision yet."

"Egulle," said Reyonte, "we saw that you were interested in establishing an Iridien outpost here. Will that be available to us as well?"

"We are interested in setting one up, but it was really an idea that was floated the last time we met. If one is established then we see no reason that it shouldn't be available to other alliance members. Out of curiosity, what do you see as the benefits of having one here?"

"Our staff sees this as a good location to maintain a cache of emergency supplies. This is the reason I asked whether the weapons would remain. They would provide a level of security. With that addition, we would need to establish access procedures."

"We were thinking along the same lines. As currently envisioned, it wouldn't have a permanent staff, so there should be frequent checks. At the moment, it is just an idea and we've asked the Órarduine their thoughts."

"With regard to the outpost," said Sarah, "we've talked about it since you brought it up. We have no problem with you placing one here. If you do, then we need to address how they will interact, reciprocal access and other operational details. As we noted before, we don't know how those on Earth will react to one being here. With few exceptions, they don't seem to mind ours. Our civil engineers can assist you with choosing a location. Actually, if it is reasonably close to us then it is likely to be thought that it is just us expanding."

"Thank you."

"It sounds like you have some preliminary plans," said Chester of Keriann's Clan.

"We have some standard plans for outposts which are typically modified to fit the location. Since we started down this road, and if you would like, I can give you a verbal overview."

"Great," replied several.

"As mentioned its prime purpose is to store supplies. It will have facilities so that a small group can live and operate from there for an extended time. For us, a small group is defined as approximately three Spec Ops teams. Permanent staffing at such a facility is not likely, but depending on activity in this sector it could appear that way. Besides supplies, it will be a place to rest and do any necessary maintenance or repair. If all three of us have the same objectives for the base, then it will be much easier for us to set up while we are here. Also, with more using the base, perhaps we should reconsider whether to have a resident crew with short rotation."

"How would those on Earth feel about us having a base here?" asked Marika.

"If you are up front about your intentions, we think they would generally be more accepting. Even so, harassment by some countries is a possibility. We would expect the countries with surveillance satellites to continue monitoring activities here. There are certainly some groups on Earth that would be very angry about another bunch of 'aliens' inhabiting their sister planet. These groups could make visits to Earth quite dangerous for you and your host."

"Egulle," said Aoife, "when you and Virginia do your interview, you may want to consider mentioning this. I would emphasize the storage and equipment repair aspect."

"We will mention it when we see them this evening."

"I was kind of surprised that they didn't come with you today," said Aoife.

"We were together yesterday from breakfast until just before we went to bed last night," replied Orgaine. "We suggested they visit with others on our ship today as that would broaden their view of us."

"We enjoyed their company," added Egulle. "At first, we felt we needed to explain everything we were doing. It wasn't long until Doug suggested skipping the explanations as they didn't think they were necessary. He pointed out that the explanations were interfering with our tasks and they wanted to avoid that. He was right. Several times they provided comments that gave a better perspective of an issue. From this, we were able to develop a better solution. So we are pleased to have them around."

"Is there anything else to cover regarding the outpost?" asked Sarah.

"Only that we need to determine a location, so we can determine what modifications need to be made to our standard plan."

Caitlyn said, "I am willing to be your contact here."

"Excellent. Zolta will be our project manager, although he didn't know until just now." Several chuckled.

Zolta said, "Caitlyn, correct?" When she nodded he added, "When we break, we can discuss how we want to do this."

"Good."

"With that behind us," said Sally, "we presume everyone realizes that it will be sometime tomorrow before we have intel from our Wolf TG regarding the incoming Dutsuz ships." Everyone nodded. "Okay. The last time we met we had a list of topics we wanted to cover and we didn't complete it. Since we have new people here we should review the topics and our decisions so far."

"Before we do that," said Egulle, "We would like to add observation of the work you are doing with the androids to the list. Also, Arenta and her colleagues are staying over, as is Seschun." Both nodded in agreement.

"Why don't we plan on doing the observation while the new visitors are on the tour after lunch? For Tuska, Marika, Reyonte and Laonize, we will just add that stop to the tour."

"Tara," said Zolta, "I wouldn't mind touring your facility again, and I think that is true for all of us. I should warn you that we will likely have many more questions."

"Egulle," said Casidhe, "since we are geared up to reprogram the androids, do you want to begin sending those from your other ship?"

"We would appreciate that, but don't want to burden you."

"We think," said Caitlyn, "it would be best to have both your ships fully operational, and you indicated that without the androids that was marginal."

"Yes, it would be better to have all the androids operational." Egulle looked at Zolta and Orgaine who both nodded. "When we break for lunch, I will send instructions to the other ship to send theirs down. We should shift our fleet closer to Mars."

"It would make things more efficient," said Rusty. "The other advantage is that it will slow the Dutsuz down after exiting FTL as they will need to look for your location."

"When we have the data on the incoming Dutsuz fleet, do you want to video conference?"

"I think that would be a good idea," said Orgaine. "It would probably be most effective if we had a conference call when we first share the data, and then again after we have had time to study it."

"We agree," said the Órarduine in unison. The Órarduine responding in unison caused the eyebrows of the new visitors to arch. Then they said the following with each saying a word in turn, "We can see by your arched eyebrows our speaking in unison surprised you. We are actively sharing our thoughts telepathically. Speaking in unison can be rehearsed, but it would be nearly impossible to do this without our telepathic link."

Marika said, "I don't think any of us doubted your telepathic ability. I know I didn't, and now I certainly don't doubt your active link. You are the first telepathic people that I have been around that I knew for certain were telepathically linked." Tuska, Reyonte and Laonize nodded their heads in agreement.

"Seschun, do you have language modules in your system for the Iridien, Atewa and Monque languages?" asked Tara.

"Kind of. They are not teaching modules but are set up as reference sources. What did you have in mind?"

"We learned a lot of the Dutsuz fundamental language components and vocabulary from the prisoners. We would like to do that for the other three languages in your fleet. Our reasoning is that it helps if we have some understanding of the words in a language, and their meaning. This helps us understand what is said, without waiting to hear the standard language version. We suspect that many of you understand us as soon as we speak in either Celtic or English."

"We understand most of your native tongue," said Seschun. "Most of us wait to hear the standard language version, to avoid making errors that could cause misunderstandings."

"We have about 15 different native tongues in our family. We have gravitated to using Connemare Celtic as our core language. In writing, it is very similar to Earth's Old Celtic. We have added words to our core language from the other languages when we needed a word or expression that was better at conveying a meaning. This includes words for new objects and concepts. When we converse with those on Earth we always use English, except when in Ireland when we speak in Gaelic." Seschun had a puzzled look. "Our Celtic is very close to Irish Gaelic which is very similar to the language spoken in Earth's four Celtic regions."

Reyonte said, "So Earth doesn't have a standard language."

"No. English is close to being universally understood but there is little interest in moving to a common language. The people of Earth are divided by language, religion, ethnicity, bloodline, and country of origin. There are probably a few more divisions as well. Some divisions are more significant than others."

"With this many dividing issues, aren't they susceptible to being easily taken over?" asked Laonize.

"Well that is one conclusion you can come too," replied Kelly. "Taking control would likely be easier than maintaining control. With a rigid authoritarian governance, the divisions can be suppressed, as seen in Earth's history. However, historically that kind of suppression usually just delays release of the hostility between groups."

"It just occurred to me," said Molly, "that our description of the hostility between groups could give you the wrong impression of Earth. There are many wonderful people in every ethnic group on Earth. Many times the different groups get along very well, especially when times are good, but there always seem to be small groups just waiting for an opportunity to fan discontent and often this leads to violence between groups. Some groups on Earth never seem to let go of the past, so past injustices, real or perceived, are today's flash points. All of these problems are very well known because they are publicized and talked about whereas the successes or good times are ignored. Several predominant characteristics that seem to drive discontent are self-righteousness, envy, power, and greed."

"Let's shift back to reviewing our discussion of two days ago," said Sarah.

"Arenta," said Judy, "unless you want to stay for this discussion, we can go to the clinic now. I am sure they will call us back if we are needed, otherwise we will all be together at lunch."

"Sounds like a good idea. Would including the androids for my area be a problem?"

"No, not at all."

Caitlyn said, "They will meet you at the medical department."

With that, Arenta, along with her associates, rose and left with Judy.

After Arenta and Judy had left those remaining went over their previous discussions. During the review those from Monque and Atewa asked many questions to clarify their impressions of the reports they had received. On many of the items, they delved deeper into the topic. The discussions on each topic also took longer due to the additional input.

Aboard the Órarduine Wolf TG cruisers, Fidelma, Creidne, Caoilinn's, Edana's and Christina's Clan were discussing their approach to the Dutsuz fleet. They were currently on a path parallel to the Dutsuz fleet and 10,000 km behind them. Their closure rate was such that they would be within a few kilometers in three hours.

"We agree," said Caoilinn, "that we are going to use our combined psionic ability to move us into position behind their ships in that hyper-space envelope."

Creidne said, "Fidelma and I will monitor the bridge of the ships not being moved so you can focus completely on your task."

"Are we sure this will work?" said Gloria of Edana's Clan. "We've moved objects before, but none this large."