The Unscheduled Mission (3 page)

“These rooms will also give us a convenient location to caucus in after sessions with the Galactic negotiator,” Arn remarked.

“
Alliance negotiator,” Dannet corrected him automatically. “We don’t call ourselves Galactics, you know.”

“Whatever,” Arn shrugged carelessly. “We can caucus in one or more of these rooms.”

“One of our ships would be better,” Park maintained. “These rooms could be bugged, you know.”

Terius looked puzzled at the expression and fiddled with his torq. A few moments later he looked scandalized. “Eavesdropping on negotiators at a diplomatic conference?” he asked aghast.

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Park replied.

“I think I have to agree with Parker this time,” Arn told Terius. “I know that sort of thing is a horrible breech of protocol, but spying is fairly common throughout history in cases like this.”

“Not our history,” Terius told him stiffly.

“When was the last time you had more than one Mer nation?” Park asked pointedly.

“We have no such recorded time,” Terius replied, as Park knew he would, “although there are legends…” he trailed off.

“See what I mean?” Park asked. “Dannet, how about within your
Alliance? Are there spies?”

“It’s not considered proper,” Dannet replied.

“It never is,” Park shot back, “but do worlds spy on one another?”

“It happens,” Dannet admitted reluctantly, “but the penalties are great when caught.”

“How many don’t get caught?” Arn asked.

“How could I know that?” Dannet countered.

“Exactly,” Arn nodded. “You hear about the clumsy attempts, but the point of spying is to not get caught at all. If it happens at all, it probably goes on all the time. Terius, Park is right we should only discuss business in one of our ships.”

Terius agreed very reluctantly and then helped them get settled into their rooms, ordering a meal they could share together in a common room, nearer the conference area. Park and Iris excused themselves to bring something up to Tina and Sartena joined them. “I’m mostly along for the ride, I think,” she admitted to them. “I’m not all that important you know, not like Captain Nrenth.”

“You were invited up because you’ve been doing excellent liaison work between us and the other survivors we picked up,” Iris assured her. “You may be just a ship’s navigator in your own navy, but you’re here to represent your people.”

“The captain does that,” Sartena maintained.

“And so do you,” Iris closed the subject.

Harat Jance was a large, rotund, genetically altered human from the Planet Nardoxon. His entire body was covered in long sleek brown fur, although he wore clothing. The short-sleeved white shirt with black pin stripes ands high conical collar along with the blue and pink polka-dotted kilt were standard formal wear for diplomats from his world, according to Dannet.

“Had I known that, I would have worn a swim suit and a towel, “Arn grumbled. “How would he have known?”

“All right,” Jance
 
spoke in a commanding voice. “Let’s get started. Now according to the first clause of the Covenant, you Mers…”

“The Covenent is dead,” Arn interrupted.

Jance ignored him. “are required to stay peacefully on your planet and…”

“Did you hear me?” Arn demanded. “I told you the Covenant is dead. There is no Covenant. It was illegally drafted and imposed and it has since been broken. There is no Covenant.”

“The Mers of Earth are required to respect the Covenant,” Jance began again and was promptly stopped.

“What is your game?” Arn asked angrily.

“Excuse me?” Jance replied, finally taking note of Arn’s presence. “But you, whoever you are, are not a Mer and this does not concern you.”

“The hell it doesn’t,” Arn shouted back. “Earth is my home world and my people and property are at stake here.”

“You are not Mer,” Jance replied stiffly.

“What gave it away?” Arn countered. “The legs? No, look at me! You are negotiating with me every bit as much as you are with my friends and allies, the Mer.”

Jance looked arrogantly at Terius and told him, “You are not allowed to bring outside negotiators to these talks.”

“He didn’t, furball,” Arn jumped back into the fray. “I and my people have been living on earth since before any other intelligent species. We share the world and system gladly with the Mer and the Atackack, but it is our world and system as much as it is theirs.”

“And you say Arn is the better diplomat?” Park whispered to Iris. “I doubt I could have done worse unless I started clubbing this Jance over the head with an antelope’s thigh bone.”

“Where would you find an antelope’s thigh bone these days, dear?” Iris asked as Arn and Jance started arguing back and forth.

“Good point,” Park conceded. “It would be a valuable museum fossil by now, wouldn’t it?”

“If you could find one,” Iris repeated.

“Must still be one or two buried in
Africa somewhere,” Park conjectured.

“Possibly,” Iris admitted, “but we have some pretty impressive bones from the post-mammals if you really feel the need to go caveman.”

“Not, me, but I think Arn might,” Park whispered back. “Maybe I’d better jump in, though. Gentlemen!” Jance and Arn both turned to face him. “Might I suggest we pretend we’re adults now and start these talks in earnest?”

“And who do you think you are?” Jance demanded.

“Me?” Park countered. “Well I think my name is Parker Holman. The gentleman you’re arguing with thinks he’s Colonel Arnsley Theoday. Next to him is a person who thinks he is Prime Terius of the Mer Nation. From there we have people who think they are Taodore Waisau and various members of the Mer contingent whose names I do not yet know. To my left we have a woman who thinks she is my wife, Iris Fain, Sartenna of Planet Tzantsa and Dannet Nrenth of Dennsee. At least they tell me they think that’s who they are. And who do you think you are?”

“I am Harat Jance of Nardoxon, and I represent the Alliance of Confederated Worlds here,” Jance replied coldly. “And I am here to enforce the Covenant.”

“Then you’ve come a long way for no good purpose, Mister Jance,” Park replied.

“How dare you call me, ‘Mister?’” Jance demanded.

“It’s a term of respect where we come from,” Park responded evenly. “Would you prefer, ‘Doctor’ perhaps?”

One of Jance’s aide whispered something to him and Jance finally replied, “It is of no consequence what you call me.”

“Glad to hear it,” Iris muttered under her breath. Park was reasonably certain no one else had heard her.

“You are not signatory to the Covenant so this does not concern you,” Jance concluded.

“Then I don’t think you’ve been listening to Colonel Theoday, sir,” Park informed him, “because if you had you would have discovered there is no Covenant to be signatory to.”

“Oh, I heard,” Jance admitted, “and I have also heard of your people, the Pirates. You claim to have come from out of the distant past.”

“Actually we came out of a bunch of stasis chambers deep underground,” Park corrected him. “Well, not so deep these days. Erosion can do that to you. The point is, we claim the Earth. We claim Luna and we claim all of Sol System as ours. Your Covenant was illegally drafted and enforced and has since been overturned by us.”

“Your claims, Pirate, have no legal basis,” Jance told him. “Even now, Inquisitors of the Alliance are looking for your world and when they find it you will pay the price for your crimes.”

“Find it?” Park laughed. “Take a look outside. It’s the big blue one with all the water. Come on down to the planet and we’ll show you our base.”

“I assure you, sir,” Dannet spoke up, “that, on my word as future Lord of Dennsee, Parker Holman is telling you the truth. I have seen and even lived inside this ancient base he’s telling you about.”

“Indeed?” Jance made it sound like a question, but it was obvious he was certain the young Dannet had been fooled.

“Indeed!” Dannet asserted. “He is also correct about the former Covenant, sir. I was here and I heard the acting Governor of Lagina Base surrender to the Earth ship,
Trenisi
. The Humans’ Terms have already been accepted in principle and your job is to codify the new agreement, not attempt to force the Covenant back into effect. Even in the few short weeks since I’ve been on Earth I can see that won’t ever happen.”

Jance glared at Dannet and then told the assemblage, “I will have to confer with my superiors on this matter.” He then stood up and, followed by his retinue, left the room without another word.

“Well, that went better than I expected,” Park told the others brightly.

“You asked to see me, sir?” Dannet asked as he entered one of the rooms on the far side of the sphere. Then he caught sight of who was waiting for him and corrected himself, “Ma’am?”

“Come in, Lord Dannet,” Jance’s deputy, Taen Gisla, told him. She rose to greet him and seemed to unfold out of her seated position several times before reaching her full and considerable height. Dannet recognized her as a native of a planet called Rearve not only by her very tall and thin build, but her dark brown skin and oversized ears. “Yes, I thought we might have a friendly little chat in between sessions.”

“I’m not a Lord, ma’am,” Dannet corrected her stiffly. “That’s my father. I am merely Captain Nrenth, late of the Alliance Ship
Dilligent.
”

“Yes, of course, Captain,” Taen nearly purred. “Look, we need to stand together against these interlopers. You understand, don’t you?”

“I’m not sure I do, ma’am,” Dannet replied.

“These Pirates as they call themselves,” Taen clarified.

“They do not call themselves that, ma’am,” Dannet replied.

“Don’t they?” Taen asked. “I’ve reviewed the recordings at Lagina Base. Tell me, do you know this Black Captain McArrgh?”

“We’ve met,” Dannet replied guardedly.

“Good, good,” Taen nodded. “We’re going to need to identify him eventually.”

“For what, may I ask?”

“Well, crimes against the
Alliance, of course,” Taen replied with a touch of surprise.

“I’m sure I don’t know what crimes to which you are referring, ma’am,” Dannet replied.
“Captain McArrgh rescued me, my crew and the survivors of
Watcher
following the
Battle for Luna as they are calling it. He did so at great personal risk and with nothing forcing him to do so but the compassion in his heart.”

“The Fenishy Accords,” Taen began.

“Have never been signed by anyone from Earth, ma’am,” Dannet finished for her. “Besides, we fired first. Even the Fenishy Accords do not require the rescue of an unsuccessful aggressor. He gave us aid, food and comfort. After landing on Earth he saw to our housing in minimum security conditions in accommodations that were, if I might be so bold as to say it, far better than most military barracks I have been forced to endure. I seriously doubt we would have treated him as well.”

“It sounds as though you could have walked away from your confinement at any time,” Taen opined.

“On a strange world surrounded by unknown dangers, ma’am?” Dannet rejoindered. “That would have been foolhardy at best. More likely it would have been suicidal.”

“Hmm, perhaps,” Taen admitted conditionally, “But it is a prisoner of war’s first duty to try to escape.”

“Escape to where?” Dannet countered. “It is not as easy as the entertainment industry would have you believe to steal a spaceship. Access codes are encrypted and, if you get it wrong, the whole machine shuts down until an engineer comes by to do a total system reset. Besides, I gave my parole, and my ransom has not yet been paid. It would have been dishonorable to try to escape.”

“But your loyalty to the
Alliance,” Taen began to argue.

“Is unquestionable,” Dannet insisted firmly, “and I would have done the
Alliance a disservice to taint her name by violating my parole.”

“Ah, I understand, Captain,” Taen assured him. “It’s quite a common phenomenon and nothing to be ashamed of.”

“What do you mean?” Dannet asked icily.

“Captives often start to identify with their captors after a while,” Taen replied knowingly. “It’s only natural. After all, you know that making trouble will only harm your people, so you behave. After a while, that behavior becomes natural and your subconscious convinces you that your captors are actually your friends. In essence, it’s the same as ‘going native.’”

“I have not ‘gone native!’” Dannet argued.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Taen told him smoothly. “No one would think of holding it against you. It happens all the time, doesn’t it?”

“I have not gone native and I am not colluding with enemies of the
Alliance if that is what you are trying to imply!” Dannet barely kept himself from shouting.

“No,” Taen purred now. “Of course not. I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to get you upset, Captain. You’ve done well. You may go now.”

Dannet had no trouble obeying the dismissal and he hurried out of the deputy’s room, but as he made his way back to the other side of the module, a green-skinned man snapped to attention and saluted him. “You are from Dennsee, ensign?” Dannet asked quietly, returning the salute.

“Sir, yes, sir!” the ensign nodded. Dannet was fairly young to the service, but this one must have been freshly out of the academy.

“Good,” Dannet nodded. “Please do me the favor of joining me in my cabin this evening. I’d like to hear news from home.”

“Thank you, sir,” the ensign saluted again. “I will, sir.”

Dannet reported directly to Park and Iris on his return to the other side of the module. “I just had an interesting discussion with Jance’s deputy,” he announced, stepping into the
Trenisi
, and proceeded to recount everything that had happened.

“Interesting,” Park commented. “Do you think it was wise to invite that ensign over here though? It seems rather convenient he was right there for you as you left Deputy Gisla’s room.”