15: Staking Their Claim

There is nothing more admirable than when two people
who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife,
confounding their enemies and delighting their friends.

Homer (720 B.C.)

“I hate to keep stating the obvious,” Gary said, “but do you think taking an enemy officer and multiple combatants to our home before it’s even built is wise? The idea violates every security concept imaginable. Hell, we don’t have any ramparts to breach yet. They can walk around where we plan to build the gate!”

“They know we’re associated with the Glaznik,” Al countered, “as it’s how we communicated with their ship. It won’t take them long to discover we’re living right beside them. But we have more advanced technology. Our sensors are better, we move faster, and our laser arrays operate at greater distances. If anyone threatens us, we can cripple their ship before they reach striking range—hopefully without killing so many.

“But there’s more at stake. Since we’re assuming the role of the region’s policemen, we don’t want to appear terrified of the local bully. We need to project confidence, so everyone accepts our position and our enemies are nervous about provoking us. You don’t stop attacks by continually halting the next; you eliminate them by convincing your foes it isn’t worth their time. We also want to encourage everybody to come here, whether for security, trade, new technology or just to feel us out. It pays for us to advertise ourselves, even to our adversaries.”

“Face it, there’s no one nearby to notice how brave we are.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s establishing the right mindset. If we can’t convince our enemies we’re unafraid, how will we declare it to those we visit? By welcoming these captives into our homes, we’re conveying we’re unconcerned with potential invasions, and well equipped to defend ourselves. If someone does mount an attack, and we handily defeat them as we just did, it’s free advertising for our services. When other worlds hear of it, they’ll seek us out. It prevents us from having to traipse from system to system, persuading others to join us and leaving our new home undefended.”

“That makes sense, but still, you like taking chances, hoping to surprise everyone. You crave drama. There are multiple holes in your plan. If the Tissk see we possess no home base or planetary defenses, it may embolden them to take us out before we get established. Even if a direct assault won’t work, subterfuge might. Capturing another world’s ship and coming here, pretending to seek help, they could readily draw near enough to launch a successful attack.”

“That won’t occur before we deliver our ultimatum, which they’ll either accept or reject. Hiding in the shadows like scared kittens doesn’t project confidence and indicates we’re easily intimidated. Letting them know we’re ready for one and all, afraid of no one, speaks volumes about our success. Plus, I want to butter up our involuntary visitors. Gurrstlk is already on our side, and Kclekt knows better than anyone our true capabilities. If we demonstrate the strength of our ideas and the benefits of our technology, they’ll convince their people for us. While Kclekt will release compromising information about us to win friends, he’ll only reveal how fierce we are. Or that we’re open to trading and developing other worlds in ways the Elder Ones couldn’t. In the end, I’d rather not start a protracted war. Not when we can entice them to surrender their weapons for the opportunity to trade for the tools to succeed without resorting to terrorism.”

“All right, you’ve convinced me,” Gary relented. “But I’ll dedicate myself to making our facilities secure as quickly as possible. I don’t like taking chances with our future.”

“And what do you propose? Launching a space station with a fleet of battleships? Construct ground-based defenses? It’s simply not going to happen. It’ll take us hundreds of years to gather the resources and manufacture the tools. No, what we need are people willing to help. If they start coming to us, they’ll bring the supplies to trade and the personnel we’ll need to utilize them. As they become familiar with our ideas and how beneficial our expertise is, they’ll do whatever we want to access the technology. No, we need to be above board. We can’t hold ourselves as the moral compass for the region if we’re not utterly transparent. It’s in our best interest to lay our cards on the table.

“Yes, we’re facing a daunting challenge building a sustainable home with such a limited population. Yet it means we can accept virtually unlimited numbers of visitors and emigrants willing to study and learn our ways.”

“That might introduce problems of its own.”

“Yes, but given their current limitations, they won’t all arrive at once, but spread out over decades. And while we’ll have to process them, they’ll allow us to build our facilities enough to supply everyone else, as well as supporting a growing community. Spreading our information wealth also means the entire region will rapidly modernize, while the technology is easy enough to regulate given our sophisticated communications. We’re hardly a shrinking economy, but one which needs to expand quickly to survive.”

“You make a convincing point. But the rest of us don’t like always being blindsided.”

“Well, I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve, but I’m unsure how long I can keep pulling rabbits out of my hat. I’m more concerned with the unknowns we face than our fortifications. There’s always something, however minor, which can radically alter outcomes, or force last-minute compromises. Thus, I’d rather move fast and establish ourselves, so we’re prepared for the eventual lesser challenges before they become monumental.”

“As skeptical as I am, you’ve got a record for seeing things on a broader scale than the rest of us. It’s just easier for us to back you up if we know what tricks you’re planning to pull.”

“Yeah, but as I said, I’m running out of rabbits in my top hat. I’m unsure how much longer I can continue dancing around dilemmas.” Al turned, calling to their resident expert. “Mui, how goes the engineer training?”

“Excellent. They’re getting experience with a variety of different advanced concepts. Ivan and I are also working with several engineers and we’re making real headway repairing the Lozzlint‘s FTL drives. Hopefully they’ll be functional before you leave.”

Zita beamed. “I can’t wait to hear the reactions when we arrive with Tissk prisoners. The Glaznik will be so encouraged, we won’t have any trouble securing their cooperation moving forward, though how they can help is an open question.”

“Not quite,” Mui said. “Kaci and I are concentrating on how to augment their defenses. They’re not completely gaseous, so while we’ll need to keep everything extremely light, it’s possible we can help. If so, it feeds into Al’s plans, advertising how beneficial working with us is. If we enable the Glaznik to defend themselves, others will be less inclined to refuse our offers to upgrade their equipment. Hopefully, rather than being a smalltime sandlot bully, the Tissk can become full participants in a growing galactic empire.”

“Republic,” Al corrected. “We’ve had enough with repressive empires for some time. I have no desire to be the Emperor of anything, and walked away from it once. I’m looking forward to being an elder statesman. Offering advice while doting on my kids and letting others take over, allowing me to relax for a change. It’s exhausting constantly circumventing skeptics.”

“I’m not buying it,” Be argued. “You prefer being in the midst of things, just as you thrive on continuously astounding everyone. If you turn everything over to a successor, you couldn’t surprise anyone. Besides, it’ll take time before we’re prepared for anyone else to assume command. While some may visit to request favors, chances are you’ll be journeying to distant worlds, brokering deals and convincing them to work with us. You’re a master manipulator. Sorry, that’s not quite accurate. You don’t manipulate, you motivate. You convince everybody that working with us is their idea and your ideals are theirs. Thus, they end up carrying your torch for you. It’s how we turned the Tandorians around, and convinced the Zssizliq and Zitorians. With dozens of new planets to influence, you’ll be busy wheeling and dealing in no time. We’ll have trouble keeping you on Lamar long enough to play with your damn kids.”

“What about the beacon we left,” Delilah inquired. “Did you ever get the Tissk video protocols operating? If so, can it broadcast far enough to catch passing vessels, either friend or foe?”

“My Lezmonom apprentices decoded and duplicated their transmissions, and Zita did wonders with their language,” Mui answered. “Anyone venturing past will know what we did, and how overwhelmingly we overpowered them.”

“Unfortunately, since their messages reach home decades after they do, they long ago abandoned monitoring signals of any kind. If they’re close enough to detect the wreckage, they’ll scan the region, picking up the beacon’s message. It’s a long shot, at best.”

“However unlikely, it’s yet another reason the Tissk may come gunning for us,” Gary reminded them.

“Not really.” Al leaned back, wrapping his arms around Be and Xi, with Myi serving on the bridge as they relaxed in their quarters. “While they possess the most advanced technology in the region, they can’t travel nearly as rapidly as us. Even if someone stumbles across the debris field and somehow guesses where our new home is, it’ll take decades to respond. The risks are beyond miniscule.”

“We’re all eager to start construction,” Xi ventured. “However long it takes and whether Al chooses to travel between worlds. We can build the society we’ve always wanted. One where we’re beholden to no one and others seek us out for assistance, rather than plotting to do us in. We can begin having children, ensuring we won’t go extinct just because we waited too long. While I appreciate the Lezmonom youngster’s enthusiasm, I’d love to have some of our own. Not only human, as our bond-mates are interested in offspring of their own. Since we’ve preserved a large selection of eggs and semen for each species, we can create a truly polyglot society. If others see we welcome everyone equally, they won’t hesitate joining us, even if only for a limited time. As more join in, there are additional hands to construct facilities faster, as well as extra babysitters.”

“With all the Lezmonom kids, we have more than enough caregivers,” Be countered. “Personally, while I trust Al’s ideas, I’d rather not tempt anyone to kidnap our little ones to blackmail us. We may intimidate them, but desperate people take frantic actions. I’m not sure I could stand by while my children’s lives are at risk—especially knowing how few of us there are.”

__________
“Welcome, gentlemen,” Al said as Captain Kclekt and Second Lieutenant Gurrstlk entered the bridge for the first time, accompanied by their ever-present guards. They’d been allowed to explore most of the ship, but certain areas: engineering, weapons lockers, shuttle bays and the bridge were strictly forbidden. “I’m glad you could join us.” Al turned, motioning towards the large display before them. “Welcome to Goozmn, our new home and the home of the Glaznik.”

“That can’t be!” Kclekt protested. “How did we reach here so soon? This trip should have taken months, assuming we pushed our engines to the breaking point.”

“As I’ve said, our technology is more advanced than yours. Not only did we arrive in such a short time, it’s only been about two years local time since we left.”

“It’s ... it’s not possible! Even traveling faster than the speed of light, it takes decades to reach other worlds. When we eventually return, most of those we knew and loved are long dead.”

“Again, we know and can engineer things you’ve never imagined. While you race as near light speed as you can, cheating by tapping into the nearest string-theory related shortcut, it’s unnecessary in our case. Instead, by expanding space ahead of us, we’re pulled along faster than you could possibly achieve, without accelerating enough to substantially impact the passage of time. Of course, it requires vast energy expenditures and is a delicate procedure. Otherwise you’ll permanently change the distance between planets. But it’s largely automated, so we don’t worry about it anymore.”

Al turned to Gurrstlk. “Which brings me to you. I’ve been teaching you about following your instinct as it guides you in making decisions, but this is where it comes into play.” The planet Lamar lit up on the display. “I want you to plot a course to our home, at our current speed, which is eight times the speed of light.”

“That’s ... ridiculous!” Kclekt gasped. “The slightest miscalculation would obliterate the entire system, including us.” However, Gurrstlk took his task seriously.

“Consider the options,” Al urged. “If one path doesn’t work, pick another. Each time taking us a little further afield until you find a safe passage. If you don’t find one, evaluate approaching from a different direction.”

“You can’t feel your way through space,” Kclekt objected less strenuously. “It requires precise measurements and multiple calibrations to the Elder’s equipment. The tiniest mistake has catastrophic costs.”

“As your one-time captain pointed out, the small orbiting objects are the biggest consideration. You can apply this approach to any situation, though it was specifically developed for space travel. Once we begin mining the system’s dark matter, it will be much simpler, though remaining intensely dangerous for anyone unfamiliar with the correct path.”

“Pardon me, but what is this ‘dark matter’?” Gurrstlk asked.

“Most of the universe’s mass is invisible, hence the name. Since it doesn’t interact with normal matter, including light, you can’t observe it. Yet it accounts for the speed at which the universe expands. We have techniques not only for identifying it, but restricting it. We mine it by grouping it into distinct clumps. Having the same gravity of visible matter, they pull any debris towards them, freeing select paths into and out of the system. However, Goozmn is relatively free of the rubble you’ll find in most.”

“We never valued pointless research into things which wouldn’t help us militarily,” Kclekt explained. He watched in fascination as Gurrstlk considered his options, unsure whether what Al described was even possible.

“Siss, if you’d take the Lozzlint home to demonstrate how it’s done, we’d appreciate it. It’ll test your faster-than-light engine repairs.”

As they watched, the ship which trailed them for their entire journey pulled around, accelerating and drawing away as it set its course. They observed as it approached the still distant planet without difficulty.

“Siss is like you, as she’s not a natural Intuit. She’s the one I learned how to foster these skills with. You’ll never be quite as confident or adept at this as someone with the innate inclination, but I hope you can identify native Tissk Intuits. While they can’t use these abilities without our aids, we’ll cultivate their potential so they’ll handle approaches like this with little difficulty.”

“Wait, the aids you gave me to counter the effect of our disruptors, allows him to do these fantastic things?” Kclekt demanded.

“They perform a multitude of tasks, including vastly extending your lifespan and curing a host of diseases. But they also identify undeveloped natural inclinations. Yours won’t. Because of your history, we didn’t think it wise to take the chance, so we selectively deactivated certain capabilities.”

“I think I’ve got it,” Gurrstlk declared.

“Just to be sure, lay out the path so we can double check it,” Al suggested. As the novice precognitive entered the information on his datapod, the passage lit up on the display.

“Very good. While it’s not ideal, as it skirts some problematic areas and takes a bit more time, it’s an excellent first attempt. Kindly take us in pilots,” Al instructed. Both Tissk officers fidgeted as the Peaceful Avenger approached the still distant but swiftly approaching planet.

“While they’re useful, I taught you these skills as a learning opportunity. It’s doubtful you’ll have the chance to practice them, as interstellar travel means you’re unavailable to consult with the Tissk. But it gives you a decent idea of the expertise we offer.

“As you can see, we’re just setting up a new home, but don’t yet possess the raw material to construct or repair our ships. That’s why we need you and the other cultures in this sector. In exchange for giving up your ineffective, self-destructive weapons, we’ll open trade, enriching us both. If you provide the natural resources, we’ll build the technology to access these capabilities. Faster, safer travel will make regular commerce with other worlds an option, rather than a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You’ll make trips like this regularly, without having to say farewell to everyone you know each time. With our quantum links, every ship can communicate with both their homeworld and their destination, or request assistance, which can actually arrive in time.”