Chapter 79

It was the 22^nd clock cycle of their trip when Lanoize’s Atewa Task Group and Dóchas exited FTL near Atewa 5^th Fleet Headquarters. Sarah’s Clan listened as Captain Laonize on AHCD47 contacted System Control to identify the group.

After an acknowledgment there was a delay of several minutes before they responded again, “AHCD47, our system indicates that you are not scheduled to arrive for another two days.”

“That was our projected ETA. Is that a problem?”

“Not that we are aware of, it is just unusual. We see that one ship and its escorts are using temporary ids. Do they have permanent ids?”

“Yes. They are Órarduine ships. The prime ship is Dóchas. Her escorts are DBM01, DBM02, DBM03 and DBM04. They are monitoring our dialog.”

“Thanks. Dóchas, initiate your ident beacon,” requested System Control.

“Initiated,” replied Joyce.

“Dóchas, who is the ship’s Commander?”

“Sarah’s Clan commands Dóchas.”

Laonize said, “System Control, this is ADHC47, you should have received this information from Operations. If not either of us can provide it via encrypted transmission.”

“Operations notified us of your pending arrival accompanied by a group of non Atewa ships. It did not include all the details and some of the information was incomplete, such as who was in command of that group of ships.”

“Ah ... their command structure is different than ours. Considering the roles they fill on the bridge list Admiral Sarah and Admiral Rusty of Sarah’s Clan as the ship’s commanders. Joyce’s primary role is navigation. Maeve and Aoife’s primary role is communications.”

“Thanks. What rank are they?”

“In our terms, they are all Admirals but they seldom use the title.”

“Understood. Use approach vector 43b. At the outer boundary Approach Control will give you pier assignments and vectors. We were just notified that you didn’t receive the packet at JP3. A courier will bring a replacement to you in the next couple of hours. It contains correspondence for Dóchas.”

“Fine. We will transfer the information to them.”

The ships were about halfway to their destination with Briana’s Clan on the bridge when Cass said, “Star, initiate a voice connection with AHCD47.”

“Aye.”

A few moments later, “Dochas, this is AHCD47, Communications Officer Lentz.”

“Good evening, Office Lentz this is Cass. Could you connect me with Security?”

“Aye.”

A few moments later she heard, “Officer Nilmnote here.”

“Good evening Nilmnote, this is Cass of Briana’s Clan.”

“Good evening, how can I assist you?”

“We’ve detected several small ships pacing us. There isn’t any indication of hostility so we’ve held off scanning them. Are you aware of them? If so what is their purpose?”

Chuckling he responded, “Snooping.”

“Is this normal?”

“I’ve only seen them on the approaches to our bases. I suspect it is something they do at many locations, but in a more circumspect manner. I’ve inquired and was told I didn’t need to know.”

“Which is an answer. Thanks. We’ll keep an eye on them.”

“Would you like us to show you around the station once we have moved to our new ship?”

“Thanks. Let us know when you’re available then we can sort out a time.”

“Will do. Out.”

Cass contacted Dóchas Security and said, “Your impression of those small ships pacing us was correct. They are remotely controlled.”

“Thanks.”

At the Approach Control boundary, they were directed to their respective piers. Their locations were such that AHCD47 and Dóchas were on either side of AHCF19, Laonize’s new ship. The moorings for the other ships were only a short walk away on adjacent piers.

As soon as their ships were connected to the station’s piers Laonize contacted Sarah’s Clan. “I’ve been advised that in an hour or so the Fleet Operations Commander, along with several other officers, will visit you. Besides coming to welcome you they have an itinerary for your visit. Also, I would like to drop by tomorrow afternoon to go over our to-do list.”

Sarah replied, “Thanks, we will be ready for our visitors. As we’ve said before, you are welcome to visit anytime. Once on board our Security will let us know that you are here and send you in our direction.”

“I know you’ve said that before but I am not really comfortable with just showing up and walking in. Also, in 3 days’ time, on the 6^th, the Admiral is hosting a reception in honour of your visit. Besides ship’s officers the attendees will primarily be his direct reports along with some of their immediate staff.”

“We will let everyone know.”

It was mid-afternoon the next clock cycle when Sarah’s Clan greeted Laonize as she entered Dochas’ bridge. After exchanging greetings Laonize was in introduced to Aine, Morrigan, and Ariu.

Laonize said to them, “It is a pleasure to finally meet you as I’ve often seen you at Tara Ardchlár.”

“That is true for us as well,” responded Morrigan, with Aine and Ariu nodding in agreement. “Sarah’s Clan has spoken highly of you many times.”

Laonize said to Sarah’s Clan, “It amazes me that you let me walk around your ship unaccompanied.”

Sarah’s Clan smiled as Sarah said, “You are among the few that have that privileged. Besides, you’ve been to the bridge and several other locations often enough that you don’t need an escort.”

“Thank you for the honour. Do you have all the dock services you need?”

Claudette replied, “So far yes. This is the first time we’ve been in this position so it is a new experience for us.”

“So how did you build your ships?”

Claudette gave her a brief summary on how their ships were built then said, “We haven’t decided on the approach we will use in Celia System. Observing how you build your base and what we see here should be quite a learning experience and will provide us with ideas. We expect to learn even more now that you’ve asked us to monitor construction of your space station.”

“Well you all monitoring the construction benefits us as you will be looking at it with a different point of view. As to building ships, would you like to visit the ship yards here?”

“Sure. If we can then there are several other Órarduine we should include.”

“Let me see what I can set up. One of the reasons I wanted to come by this afternoon was to make sure you were still agreeable to having our crew members’ families return with us.”

“Yes. When we last discussed this you weren’t sure of the numbers, so it could be pretty crowded at Tara until we begin occupying the permanent residences.”

“Crowding shouldn’t be a problem. First, the head count is about 2100, including children. Second, the bulk of their possessions will be on a Fleet Cargo ship that is returning with us. It has the same cruise capability as our warships so it won’t delay us. The primary reason for the additional ship is that it is carrying some special equipment for our base. Its cargo also includes temporary shelters, along with their support units, like those we brought before.”

“Great. As for the trip, we can accommodate significantly more than half of the dependents. Does that leave you enough room to operate effectively?” asked Sarah.

“Yes, that would help a lot. We could accommodate all of them but it would be at a level we only use for an evacuation.”

“As soon as you have the list of families and their sizes our staffs should get together to sort out who goes where. Our Staffing group is responsible for assigning compartments.”

“Thank you. Intelligence seems to think our trip back will be more problematic but I don’t have details yet. Oh, I almost forgot, the group that was spying on us has been transferred to another unit assigned to this station.”

“Not detained?” queried Sally with a puzzled look.

“Not officially. That will occur after we leave.”

“How is the transfer to the new ship going?” inquired Joyce.

“Very smoothly. The interfaces for the new ship’s systems are almost identical to those on AHCD47 as the improvements are in capability. I have moved and most of the crew will be transferred before tomorrow. This will give us more than enough time to evaluate our equipment and prepare for departure, even with making room for the families.”

“This won’t sound right, but don’t overcrowd your ship, especially since it is new to you,” said Jill.

“I understand your concern and with your assistance neither of us should be too crowded.

“The Commanders of this Fleet for Operations, Intelligence, and Strategy want to meet with you all the day after the reception, on the 7^th.”

“Topic?” queried Rusty.

“A general discussion of issues in the area surrounding Celia System and how to handle them. As we alluded to before, the commercial traffic in that sector will increase. Due to the increase there are expectations of problems arising.”

“So they want to know more of our capabilities?”

“It is more likely to confirm some of our observations, and learn more about your tactics. Law enforcement here was very pleased with the data we provided on our spies. There were times that it seemed like they were more interested in how we obtained it than the information. Apparently our answers satisfied them. After we left our head of security told me he was glad that I was there. He was of the opinion that my presence discouraged them from being more persistent.”

“When we met the Operations Lt. Commander we expressed an interest in learning more about what was involved in building a station like this one. He seemed very pleased to hear us raving about what a nice operation he had here.”

“Good. From what I’ve heard about him your trolling for information will be well rewarded.” Sensing Aine, Morrigan, and Ariu’s surprise at her openness Laonize said to them, “I feel that I can speak as frankly here as you all do, besides, we all know the limits of what we can share. While it is something I can do with a few fellow officers, it still has to be done cautiously.”

Smiling Aine replied, “We know. We all realize that even when being frank with us you won’t share privileged information, which is a talent in and of its self.”

“Are you able to join us for dinner Laonize?” inquired Sarah.

“I have plans for dinner with my family.”

“They are welcome to join us as well.”

“That is an interesting idea as it would give them a chance to visit the ships. Let me check to see what they have planned. How soon do you need to know?”

“Any time is fine.”

Three days before their scheduled departure the Atewa Fleet dependents began boarding the Atewa heavy cruisers and Dóchas. The activity on the pier was carefully monitored by Atewa and Órarduine security. Sally suggested to Fleet Security that the apparent increase in Órarduine security was due to it being an active work area and because there were children present. To further reduce the impact on operations each family had a specific boarding time, thus there were fewer people on the pier at any one time. The number of dependents traveling on Dóchas had increased, but was still well within their operational limits. At first the reasoning raised a few eyebrows but it only took a few hours before the benefits were obvious.

It was late on the afternoon of the second day of boarding when Maeve approached Múirne of Ursula’s Clan. “Are the boardings progressing as planned?”

“So far. We’ve had a couple of people try to con their way on board. We informed the Atewa and they came and got them. It was all very pleasant.”

“We suspected some would try. The Atewa Task Group has had that issue as well. The people concerned were detained pending document verification. I am glad Laonize accepted Sally’s suggestion to include our people in monitoring boarding.”

“To change the subject, I’ve noticed that the woman with Aine is always touching her in some way. When she was out here with Morrigan she did the same thing. However, when I see her on Dóchas, or when I’ve seen her at Tara, she doesn’t do that.”

“Very observant. I’ve noticed that as well. Perhaps it is because of where we are.”

“Good point. It is different, not bad, just different.”

When Maeve saw three people storming down the pier she said, “Sally, Cathan, we may have a problem at the boarding door.”

“Aye, we noticed.”

After a moment Cathan added, “The one in the dark clothes is the administrator for the civilian area. We believe the other two work in off-base housing. We’ve advised Laonize of their presence.”

At the entry to the ship the administrator growled, “Who is in charge here?”

Múirne looked at Maeve and smiled causing Maeve to shrug. Maeve replied, “In charge of what?”

“Of these people boarding this ship, what else?”

“What concern is it of yours?”

“Don’t get smart with me. Where are they going?”

“To a new location.”

“Where is it?” he demanded.

“It is my understanding that that detail is restricted, and since I don’t know your security clearance status you will need to speak to either Fleet Operations or the Fleet Commander.”

Captain Laonize walked up just as Maeve finished responding. “Gentlemen, you are not authorized to be in this area so please return to the unrestricted area.”

“Not until I know what is going on. These people have abruptly departed their accommodations leaving them unfit for use. They have to pay for the damage before they go any place.”

“If that is true why did you ask where they were going?”

“So we would know where to send the bill.”

“A marginal reason as Fleet personnel could forward it for you. Where is the documentation for the damage? Before you answer I will point out a few things. First, each family has video documentation of what their accommodations looked like both when they moved in and as they left today. Second, the next billing period will start in 2 days and everyone has already paid for the next period. Third, they all expect to receive their deposits back.

“So should I contact the Legal Adjutant?”

The administrator’s face turned red as he growled, “You’ll hear about this.” The three then stomped off glaring at those in line as they passed.

When the three disappeared into the building those in line started applauding.

Maeve said softly, “I gather they aren’t providing suitable accommodations.”

A woman in the line said, “This is likely the worst off-base housing that we’ve experienced. Living in tents would be nicer, just a bit hard to do on a space station.”

“True. What about those who haven’t boarded yet?”

“They are all in either transit quarters or base housing,” replied Laonize.

“Well rather than sticking to the current plan we could just continue boarding until everyone is on board.”

Another woman in line suggested, “The transit accommodations are presently pretty full.”

Múirne said, “We are willing to resume boarding after dinner; however that presumes we can let the people know of the schedule change. If I remember correctly there aren’t very many more, well not nearly many as today.”

After a few moments Laonize said, “Okay. Plan on resuming after dinner, however I need to speak with the other ship’s Captains before we commit to that. I expect they will agree. Departure date is still the 12^th.”

“That is your call,” responded Maeve. “We will follow your lead.”

“As to contacting those scheduled for tomorrow, it won’t be a problem although some arrivals could out of sequence.”

Maeve added, “You know, once everyone is on board we could move our ships away from the piers. The piers look pretty full so Control might appreciate the offer.”

“That is a good idea as I understand that there are some ships waiting. Let’s wait until we have everyone on board before we say anything.”

“Okay. Joyce will figure out a reasonable rendezvous point for us to meet up.”

They had just resumed boarding those waiting when Múirne saw Fleet MPs accompanying several people, who appeared to be reporters, approaching. She said, “Sarah’s Clan, Chloe, Finnian, there is a group coming toward us. The group includes several Fleet MPs and, based on their appearance, a bunch of reporters.”

“Aye, we’re on our way,” they replied.

A few moments later an MP said to Múirne, “These people would like to interview you. Is that okay?”

“Several people who can answer your question will be here in a moment.”

A reporter asked, “Where are these people going?”

Before the MPs or Múirne could reply a person in line said loudly, “To be closer to our spouses.”

“Where is that?”

Sarah replied firmly, “Is knowing that really that important? We think it is great that they have the opportunity to move closer to their spouses. We are pleased that we were asked to assist.”

The senior MP said, “Are you willing to give these people an interview as none was scheduled?”

“Depends on the topic. We will not respond to any operational questions. Any answer to that type of question requires clearance by the Fleet Commander. That also includes attempting to ask those waiting to board similar questions.”

“The MPs have made that clear, but it seems some of those with me are slow,” joked another reporter with a smile.

The Senor MP sternly noted, “Well slow or not, you’ve been warned. Another mistake and the person concerned will be in need of a lawyer.” To the Órarduine he said, “If you don’t mind, we prefer to remain close by as this is a restricted area.”

“We don’t mind at all, this is your facility,” agreed Sarah. Then to the reporters she said, “Ladies and gentlemen, who has the first question?”

“A couple of days ago we saw a news brief about an Órarduine choir. Is that you?” asked a female reporter.

“Well we do have several small singing groups on our ship, and several larger groups at home. Could you expand on the news brief’s contents? That information would make it easier to answer.”

“Here, I have it on my epad,” the woman replied handing it to Sarah.

Sarah and those around her looked at it then smiled. Sarah still smiling said, “It is the image of our choir performing at Tara Ardchlár on Ananu. Based on the background this performance was likely several months ago. I suspect some of the performers could be members of our crew. I am puzzled as to why this appeared in a news brief on your space station?”

“It was in the entertainment section of the news feed we receive from our home World. The article was a review of an album that had just been released and the reviewers were quite impressed with the music. After hearing that there were Órarduine here we came to see what more we could learn about the choir.”

“So you haven’t heard them?”

“No, although the article indicated that the music would soon be available. However, it is likely to be some time before it gets here.”

“Give me a moment while I check a couple of things.”

“Sure.”

Sarah said, “Shannon, is the choir singing this evening after dinner?”

“We’d discussed it as we thought it would be a nice way to welcome our passengers. However, there are only 12 of us on the ship.”

“Can we make that a definite?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

“Well, we have a group of Atewa reporters on the dock following up on an item in their news that referenced our choir. I thought we could invite them to dinner and they could see the show.”

“Fine. I’ll let the others know. Right after dinner?”

“Yes. Also, it looks like boarding will resume after dinner. I’ll fill you in later.”

“We heard part of it. It sounds like our Atewa agents are moving forward with their plan.”

“Yes, it does.”

Looking at the reporters Sarah said, “It seems that the choir members with us have a performance planned for after dinner this evening. In light of your interest, you are invited to join us for dinner and to stay for the performance afterward. If you want to do this you will be required to be accompanied by one of our crew while on the ship. There are places you cannot go. If you violate that rule, you will be thrown off the ship via the nearest exit. Dinner will be in three hours. You are welcome to wait here or you can leave and return, presuming the MPs are agreeable.

“Senior Sargent Meynote, would you advise your OIC that you’ve been requested to remain here while the reporters are here? It will probably be around six hours until the performance is over.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Aoife,” said Sarah, “would you contact the Fleet Admiral’s Adjutant and extend an invitation to Admiral Pentalia to join us for dinner and to hear the choir?”

“Sure. Why didn’t we think of that before? Should we include his staff?”

“Well I think some of us did, but felt we ought to hold back as this is Captain Laonize’s operation. The reporters nosing around sort of changed that. As to how many, let’s limit it to just his direct reports.”

Sally said, “I’ll contact Captain Laonize and make sure she knows.”

When Sarah’s attention returned to those around them, Sargent Meynote said, “The OIC approved your request.” His eyes clearly expressed his thanks. “I suspect he will be along to check on the situation.”

“Fine. While on the ship several members of our Security will be with you.”

“Excellent.”

The woman reporter said, “Admiral Sarah, my apologies for not introducing myself when we arrived, and for not recognizing you.”

With a smile Sarah responded, “You are forgiven, provided you don’t use the title.”

“I will try. My name is Anaonize.” After she introduced the others she added, “I know that our Fleet has worked and socialized with you all and has a high regard for you. We’ve heard many individual Fleet members make similar comments, but that is about all we know of you. A few moments ago you had a far off look before you extended this evening’s invitation. Are you wearing some kind of communicator because I don’t see one?”

“Good observation as I am not wearing one. For the most part we are telepathic, which allows us to easily communicate with one another. However that is not necessarily true between us and other species. We have an introductory video of ourselves that we can show you before dinner. Interested?”

“Yes,” responded the group.

Anaonize said, “I’ve never heard of any other group doing that.”

“We do it with the goal of minimizing misunderstandings due to differences in culture.”

Seeing Alena approaching Sarah stated, “You came to assist Múirne?”

“Yes,” agreed Alena. “Aoife will join me in a few moments.”

“Okay,” replied Sarah. Turning to the reporters and MPs she added, “Follow me.”

As she led them through Dóchas’ hanger toward a conference room she pointed out different aspects of the ship. Sargent Meynote noted the two Órarduine joining them and nodded. He immediately recognized them as the Security people Sarah had alluded to.

In the conference room Sarah said, “Please have a seat. There will be refreshments available in a few moments. As soon as the video starts I am going to leave, but I will see you at dinner. Samantha and Melinda will be here momentarily and will be your escorts. While safety is not a big concern while attached to the pier, things can happen. If you need assistance at any time, simply yell ‘help’. If there is an emergency there will be announcements made and if you follow your escort’s directions you will be fine. Questions?” When no one responded she said, “See you all at dinner, and enjoy the video. If you have questions just ask your escorts.”

Later that evening Sarah’s Clan accompanied their guests to the pier outside of Dóchas. Sarah said, “Admiral Pentalia, we hope you enjoyed the music and the tour.”

“Yes. It was a very enjoyable and relaxing time. The music was great. You all have an impressive ship. We are very pleased with the relationship we have with you.”

“Thank you. We have found that our interaction with Captain Laonize’s and Captain Reyonte’s Task Groups has been very rewarding and look forward to it continuing.”

“They are excellent leaders and have mentored quite a few officers for which we are grateful. An announcement will be made shortly designating the Captains as Sector Commanders.”

“Great,” responded Sarah’s Clan.

Aoife added, “They will do well in that role. We think you’ve made a great choice.”

Joyce said, “We have a few gifts for you. On these memory sticks are the songs you heard this evening, along with a few more.”

“Thank you,” replied Admiral Pentalia and the officers with him. “Have a quiet trip home.”

“Thank you. We hope to.”

The Admiral’s group was near the entrance to the concourse when Anaonize said with a smile, “Did we dally long enough?”

“Don’t know?” replied a smiling Sally. “What was your intent?”

“An opportunity to thank you for a very interesting evening.”

“Where are your associates?”

“After the show they decided to rush back to the office. They are starting on a story about our visit. I will be joining them as we’ve decided to write the story jointly, just how that will work out remains to be seen.”

“We would like to see it when it is released,” commented Jill.

“I’ll make sure you are sent a copy. We will also send a copy to the people you hired as they may find it useful.”

“Great.”

“Would it be possible for me and my photographer to travel with you?”

“It is possible. You realize that it will be at least 60 clock cycles before you will be able to return here.”

“Clock cycles?”

“Basically a clock cycle is a day, or the time from sunrise to sunrise. We use clock cycles because when ‘days’ is used in a conversation it doesn’t necessarily mean the same elapsed time to everyone. For example, Ananu has a 30 hour clock cycle while another location we visit has a 24 hour one.”

“And the one here is 28.5 hours,” added Anaonize smiling.

“Our visit here is in support of Captain Laonize’s Task Group, so we will discuss your request with her tomorrow. We think she will agree. How soon can you be ready?”

“At the latest, two mornings from now.”

“If you are running late, let us know.”

“Thank you. I will.”

As Anaonize started briskly down the pier Sargent Meynote said softly, “She is a very honorable person. I think you all will get along just fine.” Before they could respond he hurried along the pier to catch up with her.

“Now that was an interesting comment,” said Erin.

Keri was waiting for them just inside Dóchas along with Ariu. She said, “All four are freelance journalists. Anaonize and her photographer are well thought of by the MPs.”

Ariu added, “The Admiral and his staff were very impressed with the ship. They will probably want to discuss ship design with you at some point.”

“Great. Did you enjoy this evening?”

“Yes. I find the passengers interesting as well.”

“I expected to see a line,” said Alison.

“We made a couple of adjustments in how we were doing things so this evening went faster than expected,” said Maeve. “Múirne said that there are only about 100 or so left to board and they are expected to be here before noon tomorrow.”

“Good. I am ready to get some rest,” said Alena.

“Let’s do it,” beamed Joyce.

“Not tonight, I am too tired,” laughed several of her clan.

While Sarah’s Clan was doing their morning exercises Cathan said, “We’ve discovered a few bugs that were left by our visitors last night. We are doing a sweep now and we’ve released spiders.”

“Have you figured out who?”

“We think it was someone in their Intelligence group, but not the senior member. We are waiting for the biological analysis. We will let you know when we have the results.”

Sally said, “If they left a bunch of bugs then it likely means there is at least one transmitter on the exterior. We need to add this to our task list while we wait for Laonize to join us.”

“We need to shift to telepathy for all sensitive comments,” noted Rusty.

Sarah added, “We need to quietly advise Admiral Pentalia that we know of the bugs, and who we believe left them.”

“Yes. The report needs to be neutral as we don’t know if he was involved in this.”

“Let’s plan on departing shortly after Anaonize boards. We can leave a package with Laonize to have delivered to the Admiral’s office on their departure.”

Maeve noted, “Sargent Meynote might be a good choice to deliver the package.”

On the morning of the 11^th Captain Laonize stood on the pier watching as Dóchas began her departure moves. In many ways she would have liked to depart now as well, however there were still a few issues with her new ship that her crew needed to resolve. One of those was the new automatic distress beacon that seemed to be more than as described in the manuals. As she turned to walk back to her ship Sargent Meynote saluted and said, “Good morning, Ma’am.”