Alien Galaxy: Niseyen Galaxy, #7

By Maxine Millar

Alien Galaxy opens with a dispute between Jaynar and Terra as Jaynar has decided to annex Mars. Since the Niseyen have been given a huge amount of information in expectation of a joint Terra forming mission, Terrans are a mite annoyed. Diplomatic solutions are hampered due to there being no Niseyen embassies on Terra however two Air Traffic Controllers recruit some rather remote help after airport ground crew and two engineers get busy. They devise a strategy that stops the Jaynar ships in their tracks. This forces the inclusion of Terrans. Unfortunately, the Intergalactic media broadcast the dispute. The Keulfyd find out about it and are alarmed. They can count to five (planets) and dislike the impending change in status, politics, alliances and economics that will eventually result if this settlement attempt becomes permanent. They decide they want a claim too. Skulduggery results.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Maxine Millar
• Release date: Mar 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463033784

Maxine Millar

Maxine lives in New Zealand, on a life style block. She now writes full time.

Book preview

Introduction to the Niseyen Galaxy Series;

The Niseyen, originally Human, were kidnapped off Earth by a Race of Aliens called the Kaldalei, about two to five thousand years ago. Nearer five, some thought. Others insisted there had been multiple influxes. They were dumped into slavery. Landing on a frozen world, stripped naked because slaves were not allowed to wear clothes, many of them froze to death when forced to sleep outside the climate-controlled cities. But a baby boy was born, with a full pelt of dense fur. He became known as the father of their Race. Most were descended from him and, legends had it, a few others like him. Most of the Niseyen were furry. A few were not, about two per cent, looking like normal Humans, and called ‘jare’ but almost all of these jare had short hair the same length as their body hair.

The Niseyen population had grown to 14 billion at its greatest but was now down to just over four billion on the Niseyen planets and possibly another one billion in space and on other planets. The population was halving every generation or so despite all the Niseyen could do, technologically, to prevent this. For some unknown reason, the Niseyen were becoming infertile. Also, the sex ratio was now six males to every one female and every generation there were less and less females. This is unhelpful when one wants the population to grow.

In Alien Alliance,

In Christchurch, New Zealand, 416 Terrans were tricked by an Alien, Paswalda, who landed on Earth and who said he had been employed to pick up 10 people and transport them to the planet Torroxell for trade talks and up to 400 others could come as paying passengers. He was lying. He was short on cargo and decided they would make useful income for him as slaves once they had accumulated enough debt to make this inevitable and he would get a percentage of this money because he would then claim they still owed him the airfare and he would get a fee (under-the-table) for having provided them. He also got well paid for transporting them by them giving him rare and valuable trade goods as barter for the airfares.

Unfortunately, soon after they arrived, Torroxell was attacked by a pirate fleet, the Terrestrial population mostly wiped out in the initial gas attack and a secret guerrilla war then proceeded using Biological Warfare since that was their only weapon.

An Alliance with the Okme Race provided the weapons; the diseases.

An Alliance with the Priskya, fish, the original owners of Torroxell, provided the Communication Network and some of the Intel.

An Alliance with the Cats, also native to Torroxell, provided most of the Intel and some of the fighters plus part of the Communication Network.

An Alliance with two Niseyen men (Aswin and Kazwa Celon, Az and Kaz), provided the method of distribution of the diseases and Intel.

The strategy was asymmetrical warfare.

Combined, they won although with shocking losses.

In Alien Backlash

The problem was initially the effects of war; deaths, injuries, traumatized survivors, non-functioning infrastructure and generally people needing help. So Sarah McDonald, now Torroxell President, sends a ship off to the Niseyen world of Petislay, the home planet of Aswin and Kazwa Celon (the two Niseyen men) for settlers and personnel to run the infrastructure, and sends another two ships, one towed, back to Earth for settlers, refugees and help in general. These ships, colloquially called Flying Fortresses, are massive war ships.

But the Keulfyd, the people behind the pirate attack, are seriously miffed at being beaten but more about the virus itself which was used in self-defence against their Race. The virus spreads, as viruses tend to do but it got off planet which became a major problem for the Keulfyd. So the Keulfyd decide to send a fleet of warships to teach this planet not to attack the Keulfyd (they forgot they attacked them first) and to interrogate these impertinent people who, if they weaponized the virus, should also have the cure; which they want. Astonishingly, the people on Torroxell refuse to surrender and they fight back but worse still, they win.

In Alien Checkmate,

This story paralleled Alien Backlash as Terrans, Zeobani and two Cats flew to Petislay for Contact and help without a lesson on how to fly the ship or an instruction manual. This caused problems such as discovering life support wasn’t switched on and neither was the heating. An interesting encounter with the Captain of a Niseyen Military ship resolved these issues but exposed others such as problematic cultural differences.

On arrival at Petislay, individuals welcomed them as they struggled with the complexities of absorbing a new world and some Niseyen teachers provided a remarkable solution. But the government didn’t welcome them and they were not granted citizenship which caused a multitude of problems. Helene, Mayling and Nanelle went back to Torroxell with settlers, to provide assistance to run the planets’ infrastructure.

Meanwhile Az, Kaz, Kelly, Li and Stella, now a tight knit group, became aware of Dijina and her knowledge of how the Cleaners delivered their deadly cargo. Finding she was critically ill, and had knowledge they needed, they snatched her and headed for Torroxell in an Okme ship but got found before they reached Torroxell resulting in a three sided confrontation. A rescue came from Torroxell and they all reached Torroxell safely.

Back on Petislay, Donny, Dan and Simone decided to stay, each for reasons of their own. The Cats had their own agenda and the Zeobani proved to be a capable and delightful crew, mostly.

In Alien Deception,

This story commences with coping with the aftermath of the second war so it immediately follows Alien Backlash and overlaps with Alien Checkmate.

President Sarah MacDonald and her daughter Katy are seriously injured and various factions on Torroxell seem to be taking advantage of the chaos by starting an organized crime wave or two but Allentom, (the geek from Alien Checkmate), proves a valuable asset.

Anne, who was kidnapped at the end of Alien Alliance, surfaces on Oberterk, the planet of the Zeobani where Az and Kaz had been enslaved. Anne causes mayhem for the Keulfyd and then for the Nashi.

Anne then plots with Mathew Weston, the military mastermind behind the original counter-attack on Torroxell in Alien Alliance. Sarah diverted him and many other ships away from Torroxell due to various tip-offs that the Keulfyd are planning another attack. Orbiting Oberterk with Mathew, are a number of other ships, all staying together. From Anne, they discover the Zeobani on Oberterk are planning a counter-attack on the Nashi who invaded Oberterk. Maybe they’d like some help?

On Torroxell, Sarah and others had been planning a non-military Sun Tzu type offensive against the Keulfyd to protect Torroxell but this planning has gone slowly due to the crime waves. Then Anne discovers the real threat is that a war on multiple fronts has already been unleashed, covertly, on Torroxell targeting utilities and essential services and including biological warfare.

In Alien Extortion

Sarah revives the original plan to get the Keulfyd to negotiate by offering them information that exonerates Humans from being blamed for causing the virus ravaging the Keulfyd, plus offering a cure and vaccine in return for a Treaty. Seems reasonable but it appears it was unacceptable and the Supreme Commander would rather more billions of his people became ill and millions die rather than he have to lose face and negotiate. However some of his own people disagreed especially when the Okme withdraw from all the Keulfyd words in a move Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King would recognize. Meanwhile the viruses the Keulfyd unleashed on Torroxell are causing some considerable problems but three Niseyen perpetrators, now on a prison island, devise an ingenious escape plan and end up negotiating for a lighter sentence and two get recruited instead, in return for information and cooperation.

The Supreme Commander is assassinated for failing in his duty and Treaty negotiations start. Both sides now need another ruler as Sarah announces she’s stepping down.

in Alien Franchise

The story begins from the perspective of a Niseyen spaceship crew arriving to pick up refugees from Terra. These include some from a war zone and others who are environmental refugees. Four orphaned girls, refugees from Bangladesh, strike up an alliance for mutual protection but things get hairy at their destination which was supposed to be Torroxell but the President of Torroxell has a better idea.

At the same time, two fleeing Keulfyd see Torroxell as their only possible safe destination but the Torroxell President disagrees leaving them caught between the Torroxell Shield and Keulfyd warships.

And meanwhile, back on Torroxell an election is looming with various factions interfering and resulting in some very dodgy tactics especially from the media and social media who, combined, are set on influencing the results in their favour. But most of them forget something. Numbers. Chris, a Cat, gains the Presidency and convinces Sarah to be Vice President since Sarah has experience in the role.

Index of Main Characters and the worlds of the Niseyen Series

On Torroxell

Sarah MacDonald; now Vice President, former President of Torroxell, ex Canadian, ex Computer Programmer, Astronomer and Director of SETI.

Dai Ineffid; Sarah’s husband and Leader of the Niseyen on Torroxell.

Nicole; Planetary Switchboard Communications and Air traffic Controller for Space Traffic

Crew of Delkidl (Niseyen spaceship)

Jidikram; Captain

Luddkiv (Ludy); Chief Medical Officer

Kiol; Head of security

Crew of Mismun (Niseyen spaceship)

Tekijid; Captain

Terrans on Terra (and then on Delkidl)

Cairon; appointed Leader, Archaeologist

Lena; voted in as Leader, formerly small business owner and Recycler

John Walters; World renown Hydroponics expert; trouble-shooter

Nichelle; Architectural Engineer with training in Robotics and Geology

Lalita; Design Engineer, with training in Robotics

Penny; Runs the Mars Air and Space Traffic Control and Communications Network

Yu; Astronomer

Diego; Astrophysicist with military experience

Nabil; Volcanologist

Rick; Geologist

Stan; Mining Engineer

ALIENS

Cats

Description; Large purple quadruped, two hands with fat fingers, vaguely resemble a cat

Chris (correct name unpronounceable), now President of Torroxell and Leader of the Cats.

Kepi

Troglodytes and leader of the Troglodyte faction of planets.

Description: vaguely resemble a skinny brown bear.

Trlin; Leader of the Kepi on Mars.

Keulfyd

Description; vaguely resemble a walrus, minus the tusks and whiskers and with ears visible. Large. Varying colours. Generally over 300kg and can be up to 700kg. Walk on four legs and have two arms with five fingers and an opposable thumb.

Aldriding Supreme Commander

Kaldsivin; current Supreme Commander

Kasthidill; former Supreme Commander, (assassinated).

Sikleffidisk; (Siki), former Chief Medical Advisor to Kasthidill

Lidisihad; (deceased) unintentionally carried the virus from Torroxell to Oberterk from where others spread it further.

PLANETS

Iseawakyl Prime, Capital planet

(The political governing city on Iseawakyl is Deketiff, which is located on the island which bears the same name.)

Orjikdon

The only Keulfyd planet that remained mostly virus free due to their quarantine succeeding.

On board Ilkindesill, a Keulfyd warship

Captain; Edmursiran

Deputy Captain; Gikidecd

Lanejdix; Military Planner

Aislenda; Intelligence Officer

Sijadkell; Lead scientist

Loridsyl

Makers of the Defence Shields and other military equipment.

Description; Look like a shrub. Brushes function as hands but also tiny camouflaged hands. Varying sizes and colouring. Originally an ambush hunter. A well-disguised small carnivore.

Kasjeindid; in command of the Shield.

Vijinixin; Controller of the Shield Control room. Second in charge of the Torroxell Shield. Computer geek. Military analyst.

Prime planet; Gekeldesoo Prime.

Niseyen Planets; Petislay, Medala Prime (original planet) and Jaynar

Description; Human, generally tall. Most are brown furred with brown head hair and brown or black eyes. No hair on the palms of their hands but with thickly furred feet.

Allentom Jakidiss, now Chief Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages/Partnerships and also Chief Returning Officer for Torroxell.

Dai Ineffid, Vice President, husband of Sarah, former space ship captain, former banker.

Kudales, Parliamentarian on Torroxell, good friend of Dai and former bridge crew for Dai.

Okme, (those who own and run the Healers)

Description; Tall, 6-7’, grey, skinny, humanoid and bipedal. Four fingers and two thumbs.

Kumenoprix (Ku), now parliamentarian on Torroxell, one of the council of five. Ex Doctor for Cukudeopul, another late Keulfyd Supreme Commander (died of natural causes)

Chapter One

Torroxell, Capital City.

Sarah roused to the alarm on her bracelet and sat up in panic but quickly realized it wasn’t the twin’s nurse but the operator at the Planetary Switchboard, Nicole. What?

I’m so sorry Madam President, um, Madam Vice President…

What is it?

I was asked if I could get you or your husband to help. There is a major problem on Terra. All the Niseyen ships have been warned off and they are threatening to fire on two of them.

Who are threatening to fire? Sarah was aware Dai had woken and turned the light on. Her phone was on ‘speaker’ and he was listening.

Umm, I guess it’s the army, no the Air Force. They said overhead.

You mean we’re threatening to fire on the Niseyen? What country is?

America. They’re furious. Actually, heaps of Terrans are furious so there’s little objection.

What caused this?

The Niseyen said they are going to claim Mars as theirs. They agreed to work in partnership with us and then took everything we had and decided to go it alone.

They what?! But they got all our data, all our research and we got there first!

Yes, but there’s no one there now. Remember they all got taken off after a year on planet for the medical checks and what with the finance drying up, they haven’t been replaced yet. There’s no one there. They say we can’t claim it. The Niseyen I mean. They say ownership needs continuous habitation.

Funny how that didn’t count here on Torroxell! I put them back on the Treaty! Sarah glared at her Niseyen husband.

Dai, was very well aware of this little incident, since he was the one that had been specifically sent in haste to Torroxell and instructed to try to rectify it any way he could, only to find that Sarah and Helene had beaten him to it having had no intention of doing the Niseyen out of their share of a planet.

Yes, that’s one of the things that’s really pissing people off. Nicole said, "That we could have done them out of a much more valuable planet and we didn’t. We didn’t even think of it."

Sarah groaned, I’ll be there in a few minutes and I’ll drag my bloody Niseyen husband along too.

Accurately summing up Sarah’s mood, Dai scooped up his clothes and scooted off to the main bathroom leaving the ensuite one for Sarah. He was so pleased they’d recently added that tiny extra bathroom. All the rooms in this apartment were rather large, having been designed with much larger creatures in mind so the bedroom was amply big enough. His mouth was dry at the thought of these bloody aggressive Terrans threatening a Niseyen ship. Why didn’t the idiots just make a run for it? They had a Shield. But why oh why, did they decide to cheat the Terrans? Bad idea.

As they headed for the Planetary Switchboard, Sarah said,

Just so you know, Terran laws on the occupation of Mars are a little different to Interplanetary Laws, which is why we decided to make the first permanent settlement International. A previous International Treaty dictated that no country can lay claim to Mars.

Dai noticed the glare he was getting and figured they’d have added ‘planet’ to that if they had known about the Niseyen.

She continued, So when this expedition was being planned, any country could send a settler if they helped pay for the venture or in other ways contributed to the settlement. It didn’t have to be an equal contribution which would make it impossible for poorer nations. But there were rules. The settlers must be healthy and well trained, preferably in multiple areas but there were exceptions made. I gather the passenger manifest is still being worked on.

Dai figured out what she meant by that. He would not like the job of choosing who went and more to the point who didn’t. He’d had enough trouble with turning down applicants to join his crew, with the further problem that he could be over-ruled on that given he didn’t own his ship. The military did. All past tense. He had another job now; or three.

As they entered the Planetary Switchboard, Dai asked his still furious wife, May I deal with this?

Sarah looked at the switchboard operator, Any more news?

No Madam.

Sarah nodded and motioned Dai forward thinking she was so furious it was probably a good idea that he handle it and at least the Niseyen Captain would be more likely to accept his call than hers. And she could listen, evaluate and take over if necessary.

Dai took the mike saying, Who am I speaking to? Dai Ineffid of Torroxell here.

Louisa of Terran Space Traffic Control. I didn’t know what else to do. This could start a war.

Dai heard the fright in her voice which mirrored the fright on the face of the operator here. Oh well, the Terran females were a little less aggressive than the males; apart from his wife of course…

"Can you do a priority punch through to the Communications Officer of the lead Niseyen ship?

"Yes, she’s the Delkidl, the lead ship that is being threatened I mean. Through now."

Dai smiled; this Louisa had had the punch ready to go. He did like people who knew the little extras their systems had and weren’t afraid to use them; once they were officially authorised and he’d done that. The responsibility for any resulting flack was now his, not hers.

Dai heard the indignation and annoyance presumably from the Communications Officer at the punch over-riding and quickly said,

Dai Ineffid from Torroxell here! Don’t disconnect me! I’m trying to help you. Get your Captain.

What the Hell can you do?

Mediate! I know both sides, I’m married to one Terran and my daughter is another! A few minutes later Dai heard another voice,

They’re bloody maniacs! They’ve disabled my ship!

How did they do that? Well that explained why they hadn’t taken off, Dai thought.

"They tricked us! We thought there was a union dispute of some sort. Sounded like a typical Keulfyd fracas where the loaders had not been paid for a job and were determined to finish it in order to get paid. So we let them load. The hold was sealed off from our side anyway. They had these bloody huge machines. As one finished loading it moved away and we were so distracted by what else was going on that we didn’t keep an eye on them and when we tried to check we found the cameras were all disabled so we couldn’t see what was going on. We never thought. Next minute they’ve got these huge machines, eight of them, attached to the legs of my ship! They parked them so our other ship, the Mismun couldn’t see what they were doing either. Of course, we said we could compensate and still lift off but one of them said,

It’ll be a bitch to land though, they’re chained on.

He was right. When we looked, after they so nicely cleaned one camera for us so we could see, they’d used our typhoon tethering hooks. We can lift off but we can’t land with these stuck to us. Not safely. And those huge chains and the added weight. I don’t know what they weigh and they might break the legs off my ship! And getting them off in space will be a huge problem not to mention the drag as we take off and they’ll slow us down. That’s if everything stays together. And they’ve got all these warplanes surrounding us and they’re bringing other weapons up. They could overwhelm our Shield.

Dai could hear the near panic in his voice and asked,

Is what I’ve been told true? Did you take all their data and all their help and then tell them you were going to leave them behind and claim Mars for the Niseyen?

Yes, those were my orders.

Well you contravened their laws for a start, quite apart from a few other comments I could make personally. But I’m confused. I understood you were going to take them too, weren’t you? At least as support crew? I thought it was going to be a joint venture?

No, we were ordered to leave them behind. They assumed they could come too and I guess we encouraged that.

Dai groaned, So you were effectively going to steal the planet off them?

There was a long pause, then the Captain said, I was following orders and we have the technology. They don’t.

Yes they do. It might not be as good as our technology but they can certainly, eventually, Terraform Mars according to my Terran wife and she will be right. It’s the finance they don’t have. Also, it’s their belief that it’s their solar system. They think all those planets are theirs. There’s never been anyone before to dispute that.

Yes, well I didn’t like my orders either but I never thought they’d just hand us all their stuff and then they just assumed they were coming too. They even said they realized we had better technology and we could be in charge. I felt awful but I was following orders.

There’s a difference of a racial opinion. Terrans think we’re all the same Race, Niseyen think there are two Races. What’s your opinion of your orders now?

I don’t think it was a good idea but what can I do? I had no idea they’d react like this.

Clearly you don’t know them. I can tell you how to get out of this with no casualties. I know Terrans. I can accurately predict what they’ll probably do. Do you want to listen?

Yes, I’ll listen.

"You realize you can’t lift and get away without a fight and they will shoot you if you try?"

We thought that might be the case.

It is. The way to get out of this is to drop your Shield, open your passenger doors and in effect, surrender. They will immediately calm down. Their professionals are hot fighters not cold. You surrender and agree to take their scientists and settlers with you and you will have some grumbles from them but soon all will be alright and most of them are very forgiving. With their hot tempers they have to be. Looking sideways, Dai saw the approving smile on Sarah’s face.

We can’t do that!

Then you will have effectively started a war with Terra. Is that what you want? Wouldn’t you rather be known in history for preventing a war with the people who saved our Race? Think man!

What if they storm on board and take my ship?

Isn’t even that risk better than a war? You started this.

There was a long pause and then the voice, presumably of the Captain spoke again,

What do I tell them then?

Tell them you are going to take them with you. Tell them you’ve decided your orders, I don’t know, weren’t fair, caused much more trouble then you thought? You know your boss, what will get you off the hook?

Trying to prevent a war I guess, he sighed. I can’t honestly blame them. We thought it was unfair and they were so nice to us before we shut the doors and told them they couldn’t come, I mean. They sure changed quick!

Do you blame them? How would you feel if you were having a planet pinched off you? Especially if you’d done decades of groundwork!

So, I just tell them…what do I do?

Dai turned and asked the operator, Nicole,

Can you tell the Terran operator they’ve changed their minds about not taking Terrans? They agree it’s wrong and they are prepared to open up. Dai smiled and listened as that was conveyed and then he listened as he heard the Terran operator get through to the American White House and communicate that message to someone on the switchboard who promised to pass that communication on. He assumed that message would get through in a few seconds…

A few minutes later he heard,

We’ve got the guy in charge of the Air Force on the line. We told him we’ll open up to those who want to go to Mars, but he’s telling us to open up anyway. What do we do?

Do as you’re told and open up.

But they’re outside and they’re armed!

Are you?

Yes, of course!

You’re supposed to be scientists and explorers! Put your weapons away! Better still, hide them. If you’re unarmed, they won’t shoot you.

That doesn’t make sense.

Yes it does, it makes perfect sense to Terrans. If you’re unarmed, you pose no risk and you’re cooperating so they won’t shoot you. Trust me. They’ll get in real trouble if they shoot an unarmed person. Dai stayed on the line wondering about the sounds he was hearing and finally heard,

Is this Dai Ineffid of Torroxell?

He recognized a Terran accent. Oops, they were on the bridge. Yes.

What’s your part in this?

Dai heard the suspicion in his voice, The Terran Space Traffic Control Operator contacted me to see if I could help mediate and I told the Captain to open up. Combined, our Operator, the Terran Operator and I had the technology to force communication through to the Niseyen ships.

That’s handy. We got more riled up because they refused to communicate. Well they did open up on your orders but they’re not happy.

Dai decided not to say he somewhat lacked the appropriate authority and was in no position to give them orders,

I understand that, I was once a spaceship captain. It’s against all regulations to allow armed and foreign people onto the ship and especially onto the bridge. But I advised him to do that. To, if necessary, let you on board to prevent a war. They had been ordered to acquire Mars for the Niseyen. Ever been given orders you didn’t like? Ones that left you stuck between a rock and a hard place as my wife would say?

I neither confirm nor deny.

Funny, my wife uses that excuse as well. Is it standard?

Pretty much. So, what happens now?

Dai noticed the man’s suspicious tone was gone and he sounded almost cheerful. Relieved, he said,

Why don’t you supervise the Terran settlers and scientists and get them on board with their supplies. They’ll probably need about three to four days to travel considering they’re coming from all over the planet. When you’re happy, disengage the extra ballast. Dai distinctly heard a chuckle,

Yeah, one of the scientists thought of that one.

Dai refrained from saying it was a brilliant idea. He didn’t want to alienate the Captain. He wondered who the Captain was. In all the drama, he hadn’t introduced himself.

I can stay on the line if you like, he offered.

Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. Things are a bit tense right now.

I can imagine, he said thinking he could too. He looked up as someone came in and noticed someone else, probably Sarah, had thought to order breakfast. He noticed he got some too so figured he was in favour. He also noticed she was feeding the whole Control Room staff. Then he wondered who was paying for this but no one came near him to ask for payment. So she was paying for this? She must be pleased with him he thought. He normally got left with the bill when he was in trouble. And then he clicked to the not quite so subtle message he suspected his wife had intended. Sarah was, in effect, telling Nicole, the Operator on duty, that her action in calling the Vice President up in the middle of the long night had been the right decision. The next shift, would also get the same message and by tomorrow the whole planet would know what happened, if information travelled as fast as it usually did. Of course it would, and he would get 10,000 opinions as to how he could have done this better. Or whether he should have done it at all.

• • •

Dai stayed in the Control Room for the next fifteen hours chatting to the Americans and the spaceship crew and pretty much anyone who wanted to moan or let off steam as Sarah ensured he got fed at regular intervals. He learnt from Jidikram, the harassed senior Captain, that there were priority flights coming in from all over Terra and that nine of the space agencies had at least two representatives that had places reserved for them. America was well over-represented since they had four space agencies, were already virtually packed by virtue of pinching off future or cancelled flights. It helped that the Niseyen ships were parked in some place called Nevada which, Dai learned, was in America.

He got told indignantly that an armed contingent of some description was on the bridge and had announced they were staying until the Delkidl and the Mismun were loaded and the Terrans ready to depart. Extra water was being loaded and it would apparently take nearly three days pumping to fill the tanks. That was yet another indication that they had never intended to take any extras with them. The Terrans would not miss that fact either he thought.

He discovered the Captain, Jidikram, was not one he knew and the captain of the other ship, whom he hadn’t spoken to yet, was Tekijid. His ship, the Mismun was likewise open and his bridge was also under armed guard. Jidikram was the lead ship Captain and the Mismun had also opened up on his orders.

Is everything settled? Dai asked Jidikram.

Yes, from their point of view anyway! I have to put up with armed trigger-happy Terrans on my bridge and at all of my doors and now they’re telling me they intend to start loading tomorrow afternoon. Next, they’ll be asking if they can eat here. And none of them went through the Checkers and Cleaners!

Dai laughed out loud at the thought of politely asking attacking soldiers to go through the Cleaner and Checker before attacking.

"Yes well alright, it’s not that funny. I could have anything on my ship now. Things that shouldn’t be here."

You can do a ship clean on the way.

Jidikram sighed, thinking. A deck by deck, room by room Check and Clean with the mobile units, I can’t even think how to do that. I’ve never had to do it!

I have. Start on either the top or bottom deck and go deck by deck. Tell the passengers what you are doing and why. They should be a bright bunch and they should understand Bio-security. Once a deck is clear, no entry back into it except via Checkers. No entry unless essential. As you are doing a deck, order a standstill and confine everyone except the sweepers into a small area. Section it off. It’s all in the manual.

Oh, yes I do remember. It’ll take a week or two!

Put it down to experience. I’m off home now to my wife and children. I’ll be back in about twelve hours but get the operators to call me if there are any emergencies.

Chapter Two

Torroxell

As Dai wearily walked home in the evening, he hoped things would continue to improve. He wondered how those involved on Terra were coping with injured feelings. Entering his apartment, he found the usual pre meal-time activity as he passed the nursery. Popping his head around the corner he saw that Kelly’s twins were gone and just his own were there. It was feeding time so he scooped one up and gratefully sat down, bottle in hand. Checking the name on her wrist he saw it was his daughter, Jilla. The name was a mix of his mother’s name Illa and Sarah’s mother, Jillian. Everyone liked the name. Sadly, Dai’s parents were long dead so would not get to see their grandchildren.

He looked up as Sarah came in, pinched Belin off the nurse and sat beside him feeding their son.

Everything sorted?

Not what their captains would call sorted but everything is calmer. Both ships are awaiting Terran settlers and scientists and extra supplies for them. The timetable is that they’ll lift off in about three Terran days’ time and the military are staying on board until the ships are loaded.

So how come we got roped in as mediators? What’s it got to do with us?

I asked that too. One answer was political in that there still are no Niseyen embassies on Terra but the main answer was technology. Apparently when things are quiet, the operators of the various switchboards chat. You knew the original switchboards installed on your Flying Fortresses and all our planets were the same technology, although old, and designed to link everyone up? The equipment is military. Essential and urgent orders had to get through hence the punch.

Sarah nodded.

Well one unintended outcome was that the operators all got to know each other and chatted, particularly the Terran and Torroxell ones. Remember all this is Niseyen technology. I’m told they found it fascinating and explored the functions perhaps more thoroughly than they would have had it been Terran technology. Someone taught the ones here about the emergency punch and she told the Terran lot. Probably they all know. When things got really tense today, the Niseyen ship Captain and the Air Force who were threatening him, pretty much stopped talking to each other.

That’s bad diplomacy.

True. Louisa, who was the operator on Terra, called the ones on duty here and explained the problem and they knew they could force through a communication line to any Niseyen ship they had the number of. Louisa on Terra knew the ship’s number. Nicole here, decided we could negotiate and they were both scared the problem was going to escalate. So it was simply that one knew the number and could force a punch through and the other thought we would help.

So where did this rule about needing continuous occupation to continue ownership of a planet, come from originally?

The Keulfyd of course. To justify pinching a planet. It happened so long ago I don’t remember the details but I think it was the Okme that were the victims. They were developing a planet but they left every winter because the planet was so cold that machinery wouldn’t work and the Okme kind of stopped working too in extreme cold. They only occupied the planet for about half the year and it was a long year. The Keulfyd waited until they were well along the way of developing it and then they took it over. They revived an ancient law about abandoned planets being up for grabs and annexed three planets at the same time under that excuse of a law. That so-called law is also why our taking over of Petislay had to be before we were really ready and once we were down we had to stay down. The Zeobani helped us. They had more experience in adapting planets and hate the Keulfyd. They were real keen to stop them being able to interfere. That law makes it more difficult for poorer and less technological planets to develop other planets, especially planets with a lot of alteration required before people can live on the surface anywhere on it.

Sarah sighed, That sounds like bullies. But I’m bloody mad. This order to take over Mars. It was Kaldsivin, the Jaynar President?

Yes.

I don’t feel so guilty about the mission I set Anne now.

You miss her, don’t you?

More than I thought I would and she missed seeing the twins born. She did see them in the incubator though. I’d like to meet that bloody Kaldsivin in a dark alley one night.

Dai wasn’t quite sure how literal that comment was and cautioned, She never goes anywhere without a security escort. You wouldn’t get near her.

Sarah grunted and Dai wondered again if she was serious. But she had aimed Anne at the Jaynar President and let her go. Anne’s mission was scary but Anne had a very unusual ability which should give her access to information others didn’t have access to. Provided she could get a job at the right place with the right Race, at any one of several crucial locations. Sarah had agonised over whether or not to forbid Anne’s husband Jodin to go with her. Jodin was downright terrified for Anne and also terrified of the depth of Anne’s antipathy for Kaldsivin. It was Anne who had discovered the true nature of the recent intended and hidden attack on Torroxell that would probably have succeeded without her warning.

It was Allentom who confirmed that Kaldsivin had had a strong supporting role for the wrong side in the last war on Torroxell (the second undeclared one), and Anne knew that too. In the end Sarah had decided the decision about Jodin going too was for Jodin and Anne to make. Jodin had gone with her. Allentom, Dai thought. What a gift she had been. The brilliant geek from Petislay who had discovered how to alter the history of bracelets, among other things. The woman who had recently altered Anne’s and Jodin’s bracelets to fit a normal profile rather than reveal Anne’s Terran origins. For Jodin’s bracelet, she had omitted his Oberterk sojourn and then he and Anne had had several weeks to learn their new legends before they arrived at Jaynar to team up with Sijkah (Sij) and Hajaxil (Jax) who had gone on ahead of them.

Chapter Three

Torroxell

The next morning Dai walked down to the Space Traffic Control Office and nodded politely at the Operator as he sat down and waited for her to patch him through.

How are things going? Dai asked as Jidikram came on the line.

They started loading this morning. They just turned up with all this stuff and dumped it at my loading bay and ordered that it be loaded, but that’s not the worst thing. After you left yesterday, they demanded I hand over my command key!

Well, what did you expect? Now they know they can load at their leisure and you can’t lift.

How did they know about command keys?!

They do fly some Keulfyd ex-military ships and they have the same system. They also fly Niseyen ex-military ships like all the surplus ones they bought a while back. The army guys guarding your ship obviously didn’t know about command keys but equally obviously, someone told them you might have one and if so, what their function was.

Jidikram sighed at the slight lack of sympathy he noticed he was getting.

Everything going alright otherwise?

I guess so. No one has been shot.

I told you they won’t shoot unarmed people, not these professional types. So long as you make no aggressive moves towards them, they’ll make none toward you.

Except for seizing my ship!

Dai grunted, Are things settled enough for me to back to my normal job now?

I guess so.

When do you start loading passengers?

Tomorrow. They tell me the passenger manifest will be finalised tonight and they’ll start coming on board tomorrow morning and we’ll be ready to go by nightfall. They haven’t even told me how many are coming yet!

Do they know your capacity and numbers?

There was a pause and then Jidikram said, I interrogated my crew and found out that several of them talked. They know approximately how many I can take.

Somehow I’m not surprised. I’ll come back tomorrow.

• • •

Dai went to parliament and entered, nodding to Chris, the President, as he walked in. As he sat down next to Kudales, he heard the expected snide comments behind him assuming he had ‘slept in,’ ‘had more important business elsewhere’ (how true) etc. He quickly brought himself up to date about what was going on minus the far more important business going on of course. As with parliaments everywhere, there was open parliament and closed sessions and the attempted rescue of the Ailiss fitted into that latter category.

Being discussed today was the expansion of the infrastructure and the need for building roads around Capital City, badly needed now the city was quickly expanding and accommodation was getting scarce. There were proposals to start building more apartments. Dai was annoyed. There were enough apartments, just, but too many were empty in order to force rents up. Sarah told him the influx of support staff for parliament were now in the thousands and accommodation was getting expensive due to sharply increased demand partly caused by apartment banking. He listened to the pontificating of those who wanted new development stalled in order to increase the rents and value of all the apartments they had bought. The resulting problems of overcrowding and those who were living in substandard and overcrowded accommodation were irrelevant to such greedy, profit-motivated and self-absorbed people. The thing that got Sarah the most was that these landlords didn’t even feel guilty. Dai smiled, remembering some of the sharper comments Sarah had levelled at some of the guilty parties. But he listened with delight as Chris, the President, asked,

Do we have to have a vote on this?

Dai had noticed how Chris was trying to limit using this tactic, possibly reluctant to force the minor races to see how much leeway she was giving them but it looked as if they would not accept reality and she was getting impatient? This was the second time this week that she had used the same tactic. At the rate of 100 votes being cast by each one of the Cats and Priskya versus one vote for one of the Okme, Terrans and Niseyen, the vote was a foregone conclusion as the Cats, so far, had always had consensus, voting together as one and the Priskya generally followed their lead.

The same could not be said of the Okme, Terrans and Niseyen who voted as individuals, as bribed by lobbyist and occasionally with some consensus with their own people.

Dai thought his own people were showing a flagrant lack of understanding reality. The Okme, Niseyen and Terrans numbered in the millions while the Cats and Priskya numbered in the billions. Simple arithmetic. The threat was enough and Chris forced the building consents through.

I will be awarding three contracts for these apartment buildings; one to an Okme firm, one to a Terran firm and one to a Niseyen firm. And before you all leap in with your quotes, I will award future contracts depending on how satisfied I am with how these contracts are handled.

With difficulty, Dai refrained from laughing, clearly seeing what Chris was up to. Now all these firms would be competing and Chris had already made it clear that she had somewhat different views on ‘success,’ as she continued,

I will be assessing quality of construction, ethical employment and ethical building practices. These are some of my priorities and I will be asking questions like what were the bosses paid and what were the employees paid and what perks, deals, bribes and kickbacks are being used. I also will be dictating the size of apartments as I understand we need a greater quantity of smaller apartments that will be cheaper to rent and own rather than the larger luxury apartments of which I have been assured we have an excess. These apartments will be procurable on a one tenth deposit.

Dai again had to control his expression. That would make home ownership easier and hit the landlords hard. His bank had already been approached to lend the capital and Dai knew his bank were quite happy to lend 90% to those with jobs and the deposit. His bank had also negotiated a ‘buyback clause’ to go into the mortgage contract so the bank and the buyer could avoid costs and time spent on legal procedures.