Tgon-Gee looked at the Humans across the table from him as they were greeted by the Fifteen Clan leaders of the Cainth. He saw that there was joy at seeing each other and he found this unsettling because he knew all the efforts the Cainth had made to destroy the Humans in the past. How can they forget so easily? He was a great judge of people’s expressions and he could tell that these were sincere. If the Alliance knew this relationship existed, they would destroy the Cainth down to the last child. No one would be allowed to live. How could they run this kind of risk? It’s just been plain luck that the Alliance had not sent a representative to check out what was happening in this system. Who do I side with? Do they have a chance against the 820 races of the Alliance? Well, that’s why I’m here.
Terl looked around the room and told everyone to take their places and then introduced everyone and gave a brief description of their duties. He then looked at Tgon-Gee and said, “I’m sure you have some questions you want to have answered. Why don’t you begin, Excellency?”
Tgon-Gee looked at his Fleet Admiral and then said, “I’m at a loss to understand why you Humans did not destroy the Cainth Empire when you had the opportunity especially after they killed your colonists. They have also tried to destroy your species for more than 200 cycles. How could you even start to trust them?”
Everyone looked up as Danielle entered the room late and she saw everyone looking at her, so she looked at the huge Glod Ruler and said, “Actually, if they had fired one shot at our fleet as it entered their system, we would have destroyed their ability to wage war. We would not have wiped out their species because it would remove from the universe a race that may prove vital in the future. We have learned our lesson from making war on ourselves; you only lose when you are the aggressor. If there are any survivors, they will make it their ultimate goal to have vengeance. The issue between our races was one of fear; we represented a danger to the Cainth because their history had shown how stronger races conquered weaker ones. We also discovered in our initial discussions that it was perfectly fine for the Cainth to outright lie about any agreement they made.”
Dorg noticed that Tgon-Gee looked startled when he saw Danielle. He had not taken his eyes off the Glod ruler when everyone else was looking at Danielle. “What has him upset?” Dorg wondered. It only lasted for a moment and Tgon-Gee regained his composure.
“Then that’s all the more reason to attack, isn’t it?” Tgon-Gee asked. “I’m struggling with how you can possibly trust them.”
“We had to find a place where both of our races could co-exist and know that the other was not an enemy but ally and friend. We found that place where no Cainth would ever lie or deceive. It was located in their Clan laws. It is perfectly acceptable to deceive anyone except another Clan Brother. The worse possible sin a Cainth can commit is to lie or agree to things that they know are false to another Clan. There are rituals designed to instill this in every Cainth from the time they are first able to communicate to when they die. Their Clans cling to the belief and trust that their brothers will always be honest and will protect them if needed.”
Terl then stood up and said, “Tgon-Gee, we did not tell them this about us. This Human female could see it just by watching our interactions with them and each other.”
Dorg noticed Tgon-Gee’s distress. He probably wouldn’t have noticed it if it weren’t for the earlier reaction.
She suggested that the Humans had to become our 16 ^ th Clan,” Terl continued. “After much discussion and questioning of the Humans, we voted to include them into our Family of Clans. We also had to agree that in order for us to learn from our encounter, that we would no longer be an aggressor to any other race that isn’t directly attacking us. After what happened and the mistake we made with them, this was an agreement that we had no difficulty passing and incorporating into our Clan Governing Codes.
Danielle continued, “After we were voted into their Clan structure, it was important that we provide protection from the Alliance so we began the process of modernizing their defenses. We’re continuing that as we speak.”
Tgon-Gee looked at Danielle and said, “You have no absolute proof that once you arm your former enemy that he won’t turn on you.” Terl stood up and everyone in the room could see his anger.
Danielle said, “Just a minute Terl. He’s right. There’s nothing preventing you from attacking us again except the violation of your most sacred codes.” Then she looked at the Glod Crown Prince and said, “Just as there is nothing preventing any of your warriors from killing you and taking your place.”
Tong-Gee jumped up and slammed his hand down on the table and said, “No Glod Warrior would ever think of doing that, it would violate the Vermeal Succession. He and all of his descendents would be destroyed for such an act.”
Danielle looked at Terl and asked, “What would happen if one of your clans attacked another?”
Terl said, “They would be killed to the last living member.”
“What would happen if one of your clans failed to come to the defense of another clan?”
“They would be censured and lose their voting rights and will pay a debt to the clan they ignored.”
Danielle looked again at Tong-Gee and said while looking him directly in the eye, “We Humans have a saying; it is worse to suspect a friend of wrong than to have them actually do it. If one has to live their life in constant distrust of everyone they encounter then everyone will distrust them. Now I ask you Excellency, can your race be trusted?”
Tgon-Gee looked Danielle in the eye and said, “No.”
Danielle smiled and said, “You’ve just taken the first step toward being trustworthy. I know what that answer cost you. You came here to see which direction you were going to go; with us or the Alliance. You’re trying to find which one is the better choice to help your race. If you report this relationship to the Alliance, it might help your standing in their government. If you find a way to defeat our technology, your race would be a rising star.”
“If you know this, why did you agree to meet with me?”
“Because you don’t like what you see in your race. You want at some level to be able to be an ally. You look at how close the Cainth came to total destruction and you see your own ultimate destruction by one of the races you’ve treated unfairly. You look at us and you don’t know what we’re capable of doing. You don’t see any way we can defeat the Alliance, but we could defeat you to the point of destruction. All we need do is to weaken your military and there will be a line forming to finish the job. That’s why you’re here.”
Tgon-Gee looked down at the table and then looked at Terl and Admiral Dorg and said, “Everything she has said is true. My race doesn’t have the clan structure you have. The only real commonality we have is Loyalty to the Crown.”
“What is the Crowns responsibility to its subjects?” Danielle asked.
“To ensure that the people are protected and cared for and to make sure that justice is done in major disputes between our various nations. The crown also sanctions disputes and rules on the outcome of two zones warriors fighting to resolve their issues.”
“Excellency, if Humans and Cainths were your subjects; what would be your responsibility to them?”
“I would be responsible for their protection.”
“And if you agreed to become a subject of the Cainth, what would happen then?”
“I would still be responsible for their protection.”
“I think we have a way to make agreements,” Danielle said.
Tgon-Gee looked for a long time at Danielle and said, “I would never agree to become a subject of the Cainth.”
“Why not,” Terl asked?
“Because I’ve seen too much of your history and what you have been in the past. I just wouldn’t be able to place my people’s safety in your hands.” Then he looked at Danielle and said, “I would however agree to my people and me to become subjects of this Human Female.”
Danielle’s mouth fell open. She was speechless. Terl looked at the other Clan Leaders and they were nodding at him. Terl turned and said, “The Cainth Empire will also become subjects of Mrs. Danielle and swear to protect any of her subjects as if they were our Clan Brothers.”
The Director stood and said, “Mrs. Danielle Gardner is already the leader of our Race. We would also accept her as our sovereign ruler over any interspecies affairs and accept any of her subjects as our allies.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Danielle stammered. “I don’t know anything about ruling. All I know is when I see the truth, that’s all I can do. I have no idea of being any kind of ruler.”
Tgon-Gee said, “Seeing the truth is often a rare thing. I’ve seen how you see me and my people for who and what we are and you still want to establish a peaceful, productive relationship with us. The price of Royalty is heavy and the responsibility is high, believe me I know. I will agree to work out a relationship with the two of you, Cainth and Human, but only if she is our ruler and I mean our queen. I suspect that each of our worlds will want to run the everyday affairs of our societies, but when it comes to issues between our races, our Queen has the final word. She will not be an honorary queen but one that truly rules. This is the only structure my people will accept. She will be what binds us.”
Director Nicole looked at the SFT and they were nodding at the suggestion. She then turned and said, “We have royalty in our past and it worked. That is always true when you have a good ruler. I think we can all agree here that we have chosen the best. But we need to hammer out succession to the satisfaction of all of us. Tgon-Gee, can you accept her as your ruler and your people give her the loyalty you have from them?”
Tgon-Gee bowed to one knee and said, “I place the future of my people in her hands and pledge my loyalty to her.” The glod Fleet Admiral bent down on his knee and said, “I also pledge my life and family to you, my queen.”
At once, everyone in the room bowed and swore their allegiance to Danielle. Even Tag was on his knee and when she saw him smiling at her she mouthed at him, “Help.”
Tag stood up and said, “I also agree with you. My wife has amazed me with her skills at seeing the truth of any situation. It’s her gift. I know she is humble and does not wish this to be thrust on her, but sometimes history finds the right person at the right time. We have chosen well. I would recommend that we meet again three rotations from now and hammer out the details of this. We also need to move some orbital fortresses to the Glod Home World to insure their protection. We currently have eight that are being charged next to our sun that we were going to add to our own fortresses, however, it’s just a matter of time until the Alliance gets wind of our relationships. Tgon-Gee, you also need to send 500 of your warships to one of our facilities to convert then to power cell technology.”
Dorg was watching Tgon-Gee closely. When Tag spoke Tgon-Gee stood to see him. Now Dorg had no doubt; Tgon-Gee was stunned when he looked at Tag. He seemed to be actually showing fear. What’s going on here?” Dorg thought. “What is he seeing that I don’t?”
Tgon-Gee looked away from Tag and collected himself then looked at Terl and said, “I know you’re short on ships, we’ll be glad to send you some for defense.”
Terl smiled at him and said, “Tgon-Gee, we already have 1,400 of our ships converted and are building an additional 600 in our facilities. Let me show you one of them, Excellency.”
The screen on the wall came on and there in the middle of it was a dreadnaught that looked like nothing he had ever seen. It was parked close to a small asteroid that was about one seg wide. The dreadnaught suddenly fired a beam that blew a hole 1,200 degs wide thru the middle of the asteroid and exploded it. Admiral Dorg said, “Excellency, we have 700 of those ships.”
Tgon-Gee looked at the awesome ship and knew that the Humans had totally defeated more than 4,000 ships with only 600 of their small ships. Then he looked at the Human Female and asked, “My Queen, how many ships does your race possess to defend your realm?”
My own people have 7,876 at last count and the Cainth will soon have 2,000. That’s a total of almost 10,000. How many ships do you have in your fleet Prince?”
“We have 3,600.”
“We should have all your ships converted within ninety rotations. Could you get the first 500 there quickly? I suspect that we might need your help after the next battle.”
Misty Nicole looked at Danielle and said, “You will be the first human queen whose realm will not only rule earth but will span the stars.”
Danielle looked at Misty and said, “Perhaps we should name our new alliance the Stars Realm.”
Everyone was silent for a moment and Tgon-Gee said, “I agree; that sounds like a good name for our new relationship.”
Terl said, “Then Stars Realm it is. A great name for a great new entity.”
Tgon-Gee looked at the Human Female and for the first time in his life respected and trusted someone completely. His new government will possess more than 13,000 of those demon ships. He knew he had chosen the right course for his people. It wouldn’t take much contact with these Humans to shame his more violent subjects into seeing how stupid they were and they will get the message in a manner that they will find acceptable. For the first time since the Glod and Cainth lost that initial battle, he felt secure that his races future looked more promising than he had ever suspected.
“Tag, I can’t be queen. I just can’t. I’m not qualified, it’s too much responsibility.”
Tag took her in his arms and said, “Yes you can. You have to accept. Don’t you see the Clan suggestion is just a stopgap? We won’t allow the Cainth to pass laws that we have to obey and neither will they accept ours. We have to have someone that we all can trust to look out for the welfare of everyone equally; someone that will see the truth in every situation. You are the perfect choice. If it doesn’t work, then abdicate after some time has passed and our races have become more comfortable with each other. Until then you must accept this decision. You are also going to need someone to help you schedule your time. You better start thinking about that now.”
I already know who I want for that slot.”
“Who?” tag asked.
“Leila McAnn is perfect for those responsibilities. I’ve already asked the Director to reassign her to my staff. Eric is also going to have a post in my staff. I won’t separate them.”
“Good choice, Darling. Now I have some news you’re not going to like.”
“What?” she said quickly.
“You can’t go with me on the ship to the battle.”
You’re out of your mind if you think I’ll let you go alone. Sung Lea says it’s critical.”
“Darling, the possible futures changed when you were made Queen. Sung Lea commed me a message that says the new relationships will fail if you go. How would you feel if you just promised loyalty to a queen and she then goes into the middle of a space battle? You now have a responsibility to three races that outweigh your own wishes.”
Danielle started to protest but then stopped. Her ability to see the truth allowed her to see the wisdom of what he was saying. “Atlas.” She said.
“Yes Your Majesty,” He answered.
“Not you, too,” she said. “Will you promise to protect my husband?”
“I’ll do my best Danielle. Congratulations on your promotion. I guess that makes your child the crown prince, right?”
“I don’t know, Atlas. We haven’t discussed any form of succession.” Then her eyes got big and she jumped straight up and said, “What do you mean my child!”
“I thought you knew; you’re expecting a child in about 8 months.”
Tag stood there speechless. She looked at him and rushed into his arms tears pouring from her eyes and said, “He’ll be our crown prince. I love you, Tag.”
Tag just stood there dazed and held his wife close and swore they were going to win this war. His child was going to have a future no matter who had to pay the price.
Kosiev sat on the Washington’s bridge looking at the feed from Alliance Central. Tag walked in eating a bag of popcorn and humming. “I’m glad someone’s happy,” Kosiev said.
“Why, what’s wrong?”
“I’m afraid that the Alliance may be forming up at another location. It’s been two weeks since the last battle and there are not a large number of ships in the system.”
Tag looked at the feed and asked, “What are all those dreadnaughts doing around the planet?”
Kosiev said, “I’ve noticed them and they appear to be in the process of being refitted or something.”
“Refitted for what? How many are there?”
Kosiev looked at the sensor readout and said, “Around 800 or so.”
“Can you get a closer view?”
Kosiev turned a dial and one of the dreadnaughts filled the screen. Tag said, “It looks like they are removing the weapons from the surface. Can you rewind the feed?”
Kosiev turned another dial and they watched as missiles were off loaded from the dreadnaught. “Go back and find one of the dreadnaughts that have left and let’s see what they did after the weapons were removed.” Kosiev turned the dial and found one of the dreadnaughts moving away from the planet to a parking area away from the shipping lanes. He then came in close and rewound the feed until the ship was back in the docks and the weapons removed. Then he started the feed at 10 times normal speed and they watched as machinery was installed in the dreadnaught. “What do you think that is?” Tag asked.
“I don’t know. Whatever it is, it doesn’t look like a weapon.”
“Send a copy of this to our engineers and see if they can figure it out,” Tag said. “There are 800 of them being fitted for this and I’ve got to believe it’s not a good thing.”
Five days later Kosiev commed Tag and asked him to come see him aboard the Washington. Tag arrived and said, “What’s up?”
“Our engineers have looked at the machinery going on those dreadnaughts and it’s their opinion that its purpose is to drain the screen around the Planet. I asked them if it would work and they didn’t know but agreed that the Alliance would not be building it if they thought it wouldn’t. They did say, however, that the ships used to drain the screen would have to be outside the range of the asteroids beams. That means at least 800 miles out. They also are of the opinion that the Alliance has no idea just how much energy those forts have stored.”
“What’s the significance of that?” Tag asked.
“Well, to coin a phrase, think about it.” Tag smiled at that. “They design a system to drain a screen that they think is a normal storage system. As you know, one those nine foot power cells can store enough power to run the entire planet for five days. Each one of those forts has more than 25,000 on each. The screen right now is at its full charge level of 110 feet. Our engineers think they can drain power indefinitely and the sun will replace it as fast as they drain it.”
“How can we use this to our advantage?” Tag asked.
Kosiev thought for a few minutes and said, “If their fleet is going to come to the planet, can we decoy them in closer?”
“Can the forts vary the amount of power going into the screen?”
Kosiev thought a minute and said, “Let’s get Colonel Taz on the line and ask; communications, open a channel to the main fort and get Colonel Taz.”
While they waited Tag asked, “What do you have in mind?”
“Well I was thinking,” and Ensign Kelly interrupted him saying, “Colonel Taz is on the com, Admiral.”
Kosiev and Tag looked at the com screen and Kosiev said, “Colonel Taz, do you have a moment to discuss your forts?”
“Certainly Admiral, what do you need to know?”
“Can your forts control the amount of power in the screen?”
“That is something we can do but what would you do with that capability?”
Kosiev then filled him in on what he suspected the Alliance was going to Attempt. “I was thinking that if we could convince the Alliance that their ships were draining our screen, they might move in closer.”
“Admiral, you know that most of the time the screen is not even employed. We allow direct sunlight in to the planet. Usually when we turn the screen on we just turn it on at full power.”
“Colonel Taz, do you have a record of how thick the screen was at the end of the last battle?” Tag asked. Colonel Taz looked away from the screen and manipulated his console and requested one of his aides to send the information to his console.
“Admiral, it was 67 feet thick at the conclusion of the last battle. Its maximum thickness was over 100 feet during the energy bombardment. We had to use some of our storage to fire our beams last time but now the weapons cells are fully charged and we should be able to fire them constantly for 10 hours and not have to draw on the screens power reserve.”
“Could you maybe start the screen at 75 feet and as they start to drain the power reduce the thickness rapidly to maybe, Colonel, how thick would it have to be to stop missiles and beams?”
“Actually, missiles would be exploded at 2 foot thickness and energy weapons would still be absorbed into the power grid.”
“Could a window be opened in the screen over places where an energy strike would do no damage?” Tag looked at Kosiev with a gleam in his eye. “And could you fire a greatly attenuated beam that would have little power?”
“Sure, what do you have in mind?”
“Think about it,” and Tag winked at Kosiev. “If they are draining the screen and you fire your beams at them with maximum power at first and then as you shrink the screen you lower the intensity of the beams, it would look like your system is about to fail. Maybe when the screen gets down to two feet thick, you turn it on and off over various sections of the planet and then you quit firing your beams all together. If they move in closer to penetrate the screen, you fire greatly weakened beams at them that their screens will have no problem handling. I think we will then have them within 40 miles of the screen. That’s when we bring the fleet in. We have a cavern carved out on the moon that will hold three thousand of our ships and it has 800 launch tubes that can launch five ships each in less than five minutes. The remainder of our ships will be parked unpowered on the opposite side of the planet from the route the Alliance fleet enters our system. At that point we englobe their fleet and pick off the ones that escape your beams.”
“All of this depends on them thinking they have destroyed our fleet,” Kosiev said. “They won’t come close if they think we still have ships to threaten them.”
“Well, as soon as the last dreadnaught is refitted, I believe the fleet will be arriving. Let’s hope they form up outside the star drive limit; it shouldn’t take long now to find out.”