Eric Olafson, First Journeys (Vol 2)
Copyright© 2018 by Vanessa Ravencroft
Chapter 23: Guests of Honor
The military band sounded like a bunch of Nilfeheim kids blowing through plastic hoses and with about as much skill, punctuated by an instrument that made a noise that would put a wounded fangsnapper to shame. Fectiv whispered, “If that’s their best band, used for ceremonies, I wonder how their beginners sound?”
Ninio had a hard time whispering, even though I knew he tried. “I can’t wait to get a few of their recordings. Can you imagine them playing Funtuty tunes?”
I shrugged. “I guess, to each his own!”
After the band had played four more tunes, they finally put us in a wheeled vehicle. It had two tiers and the upper one was open and had two rows of seats. The entire vehicle was painted and decorated in the Union’s colors. We were asked to go up to the second tier and all the way to the front.
In front of us was a row of vehicles with rotating lights on their roofs, so we participated in a parade through the streets of the capitol city. The streets were lined with crowds waving Union flags and cheering, but there were a few groups carrying signs and they had messages printed in Union standard, such as ‘Union go home’ and ‘We got rid of the Nogoll now we need to get rid of the Union!’
I only noticed that Bennett was sitting behind me when he leaned forward. “Look at those ungrateful dick faces, they didn’t get rid of the Nogoll, we did! I don’t see the point of courting these primitives. A nice virus or a P bomb and we’ve got the system for ourselves.”
“I’ve had it! When we’re back on the ship, I’m putting you on report!”
“I’m sitting behind you with a dagger and a loaded gun and you won’t make it back, trust me!”
I turned and snapped, “And you’re messing with a Neo Viking who’s getting more pissed by the minute! The best thing for you is to shut up and report yourself. You might need some serious reconstructive surgery before your court hearing.”
He paled and hate glittered in his eyes. The other Human cadet sitting next to him was clearly afraid and said, “You aren’t serious are you?” Neither Waite nor I could respond as the Admiral called us to attention and then ordered us off the vehicle.
Harel and Uley had an anti-matter mine strapped to their bodies and there were twenty more Nogoll dressed up as Yokuta, ten of them would go on a tour of the ship and the others would run into the forum with the Union honor guests and detonate themselves. Harel and Uley had the same orders. Go to a crowed area and detonate the anti-matter charges.
Neither one of them really wanted to commit suicide like that, but neither of them had much hope. If even one of the others followed through, the Union wouldn’t have any mercy and would hunt the rest down. Once they knew what to look for their sensors would find them.
Colonel Cornelius O’Hare was concerned. He was on security detail for the Admiral of the Fleet. Fleet Security wouldn’t let the highest officer out of their sights. Col. O’Hare was with the Psi Corps and was one of the eight officers permanently assigned to the Admiral’s security detail.
Admiral McElligott was a high profile target and there had been thousands of attempts on his life over the last three millennia. Would-be assassins were usually agents hired by Union enemies, and there were the occasional attempts by some fringe group or mentally disturbed individual. There were voices before the Y’All Crisis who questioned the legitimate right of the Immortals to be in such leading positions and for for such a long time. It all culminated in the Peace Hawk debacle. Those voices almost disappeared after that.
It was clear to almost everyone that it was better to have individuals with long experience, such as Stahl and McElligott, in leading positions. The Fleet was by far the largest organization in the known galaxy and it was simply practical to have someone on the top who could oversee projects that took half a century to complete and had the irreplaceable experience of centuries. In all those centuries none of the Immortals ever stepped out of line and tried to rule or dictate the Union’s direction. McElligott still took his orders from the Assembly and he did so without question.
None of the Immortals was as popular or beloved as Admiral Stahl, but he didn’t need security. He was more often than not in his nearly invincible battleship. Even though he wasn’t as popular as Stahl, McElligott was well liked and, for a man of his position, had surprisingly few internal or political enemies. But a few enemies in a Union and a galaxy as large as this still added up to a large number and it was Cornelius O’Hare’s job to keep the Admiral safe.
Why the Admiral of the Fleet had to come to this backwater planet was anyone’s guess. It was an impressive gesture to have an Immortal show up in the flagship, but way too little preparation went into this trip, especially security-wise.
O’Hare was a good telepath and most Yokuta were friendly and had positive thoughts about the Union and their own potential membership, but there were about thirty percent undecided and ten percent felt violently opposed to any ties to the Union. It was those ten percent that caused him concern. Yet the local police had recently gone through a big purge themselves, having been the puppets of the oppressors for so long.
Cornelius O’Hare sat in the wheeled bus, below and behind the driver. With his eyes closed he looked like he was sleeping but he had his mental eye on the crowd around the bus. Psionic crowd scanning wasn’t easy, even for a good telepath. You had to shift through hundreds of brains in mere seconds and look for an aggressive impulse that was strong enough for the being to act. He couldn’t simply stop the visit because someone was thinking badly about the Union or the Admiral. Thankfully, he’d had the best psi training and while it was demanding, he was experienced and he wasn’t alone. There were ten Marines of F.A.S.T (the Fleet Anti-Terror Security Team) posing as regular Marines in parade uniforms. While they had no psionic talents they could smell trouble a kilometer away and react fast.
He hated to be disturbed but Poul, a very good telepath and good telekinet from Phantas, wouldn’t have done so if it wasn’t necessary. He used the psi radio, one of the devices only the Psi Corps had. “Hey CC did you have a chance to scan our cadets?”
“No, I figured they were just freshly processed kids.”
“They missed a Purist! One of them is full of hate and has serious ideas about hurting another cadet. Right now he’s being held back by his own fear of actually using a weapon and killing someone but it seems the threshold for violence is getting lower.”
“Monitor him closely. I’d prefer to deal with that in the ship. It would send a bad message to the Yokuta if we arrested one of our own right before the meeting. I doubt this would go down well with the Yokuta or the Admiral.”
“I agree. I’ll keep my senses trained on them and I should be able to interfere telekinetically if needed, but that would mean you’ve got to scan more of the crowd.”
“I don’t expect any trouble from the locals. Their police should be able to handle the few local trouble makers and I haven’t sensed any real violent opposed thoughts so far, even from those who are against our future presence or their membership.”
We left the bus and entered something like a Congress Center. A big structure surrounded by tended parks and statues. It was basically a flat roof held up by a number of tall columns. Under the roof was just one open area. Long buffet tables stood on one side. A raised platform with a lectern, local and Union flags and large, physical 2D view screens completed the ambiance.
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