XD:317 (Fourth Fleet Irregulars) Read online

  ‘We are,’ he repeated, ‘to take on an XD crew member.’

  There was more silence as the officers and those crew at work on the command deck struggled to understand this.

  ‘As a passenger, sir?’ Martine queried, tentatively, evidently thinking that there must be some mistake.

  ‘No, as a member of the crew,’ Alex said, fully understanding their difficulty in accepting this. ‘They’ve given her an honorary commission and she’s to come aboard as one of our supernumerary officers.’

  More silence on the command deck, though there was a rising murmur of astonishment elsewhere about the ship.

  ‘A Solaran?’ Buzz asked, with a note of some concern. The Solarans had made contact with humanity more than a century before. The relationship was still considered highly sensitive and their visits to League worlds, even their existence, were a secret as far as the public were concerned. All spacers knew about it, but only the very well informed and conspiracy theorists believed in Solarans, groundside.

  Buzz’s concern was understandable. Solarans were not the easiest of passengers even aboard ships which had been specially adapted to carry them. Conditions had to be kept as near to sterile as possible for them, for a start, and they were also extremely sensitive to noise. It was, indeed, hard to imagine any Solaran being able to function as an officer, even an honorary one.

  ‘No.’ Alex had had to read this part of his orders three times himself before he was convinced that this was not some kind of joke. ‘The lady is from Pirrell.’

  Gasps and exclamations – even Buzz caught his breath.

  ‘Seriously?’ Martine asked, and Alex laughed as he nodded.

  ‘Absolutely,’ he said.

  ‘The Veiled World?’ Rangi Tekawa breathed, his eyes wide with wonder. Rangi looked far too young to even be qualified as a doctor, let alone to be the medical officer. He was, in fact, too junior in rank by Fleet regs to be medical officer aboard a frigate, but rules had been bent, in that, so that Alex could keep him when the Fourth upgraded to the Heron.

  ‘The Veiled World, yes.’ Alex confirmed. ‘Pirrell. The myth of ages, ancient and mysterious.’ As they stared at him, as astounded by this lyricism from the skipper as they were by the news, he grinned again, ‘I’m quoting directly from the Diplomatic Corps briefing,’ he explained.

  That made Buzz laugh, the first of them to relax.

  ‘The less they know, the more dramatic they get,’ he observed, with the voice of long experience. ‘But it would be difficult even for them to over-dramatise Pirrell – do we have any idea what she’s like, skipper?’

  For answer, Alex activated a file and put it on one of the big screens that surrounded the command deck. It looked like a standard Fleet personnel file. According to the file, Shionolethe was twenty two years old, a recent graduate from the Fleet Academy on Altarb, with a high but not extraordinary IQ and specialist qualification as an engineering officer. The accompanying image was of a tall, elegant woman. Shionolethe looked human. She had richly black skin, large, dark, almond-shaped eyes under thin flared eyebrows, broad cheekbones and a wide, full-lipped mouth. Her hair, a mass of soft curls, had been neatly cut to be just within regulation length.

  ‘This is her cover-file, of course,’ Alex said. ‘She arrived at Amali eight months ago, aboard a Solaran ship. She was granted diplomatic credentials, obviously, and since she is the first of her people to visit our space, was accredited as ambassador. Quite how she’s come from that to asking to serve with us isn’t entirely clear, but it is evident that high level discussions have been taking place – these orders come directly from the president.’

  He paused for a moment to allow them to absorb that, though it caused no great surprise. The Fourth had acted under direct presidential orders during the Karadon operation, after all. It was also apparent to all of them that such a decision, allowing a first contact ambassador to serve aboard a warship which was itself undertaking top secret weapons testing, could only have been made at the highest level.

  ‘My orders are to allow her to work in whatever capacity I feel appropriate,’ Alex told them, ‘while at the same time, of course, being mindful of her diplomatic standing and taking every opportunity to further relationships between us and Pirrell.’

  ‘But... why?’ Martine was mystified. ‘After – what, two thousand years, why have they sent an ambassador now?’

  ‘I gather that she’s more in the nature of an explorer than an actual ambassador,’ Alex said. ‘Though it’s apparent that the Diplomatic Corps believe she is here on some kind of fact-finding mission for her people, she says herself that her visit is nothing official, just exploring, curious about us. And curious about the Fourth in particular, it seems. I doubt that it is any kind of coincidence, in that, that Davie North happened to be at Amali himself at the time when she asked if she could serve with us.’

  As enlightenment dawned around the ship and there were more exclamations and some laughter, Alex smiled. ‘At any rate, she is coming to serve with us, so we’ll be taking her aboard at Amali.’

  ‘Is there a medical briefing?’ Rangi asked, professional instincts overcoming his awe.

  ‘Yes – I’ll pass that on to you,’ Alex told him. ‘And I’ll put the diplomatic briefing on the notice board,’ he added, with a little grin as he glanced around at the thrilled-looking officers and crew, ‘So that we can all be up to speed on that and used to the idea before she comes aboard.’

  ‘Used to the idea?’ Martine echoed, staring at him. ‘A first contact ambassador serving with us as a junior officer?’

  Alex grinned.

  ‘It took me a few minutes to believe they’re serious,’ he admitted.

  Pirrell was, indeed, a world that seemed more myth than reality. It had first been discovered by League ships in the time of great exploration, a couple of thousand years before. No contact had been made, though, because the Exploration Corps ship had reported that as they’d approached the system, some kind of forcefield had begun vibrating the ship with increasing intensity. They’d been forced to back off, and the unmanned probes they’d tried to send in had ceased to function before they could get within scanner distance of the system, too. They’d hung around for a few weeks, signalling hopefully, but there’d been no response.

  Other worlds in the region had legends of the Veiled World, though – it was said that no ship could penetrate that barrier, and that very few of their people ever emerged. They were said to be a tall, graceful people, highly ceremonious and cultured.

  No more recent attempt had been made to establish contact with them, however, since it had been shortly after that that the Great Exploration had come to an abrupt end with the discovery of Marfik.

  The Marfikians were a cyborg race, ruthless and unrelentingly aggressive. At the time of first contact they had not yet discovered space travel, but they had very soon back-engineered the Exploration Corps ship and headed out into space, not to explore but to conquer. The League had lost several battles against them and had been forced to pull back, strengthening their own borders and putting all their effort into defending their own worlds.

  Every world in the rest of human space, bar two, had fallen to the Marfikians and remained under their domination. The only two worlds to remain independent were Samart, itself a highly militarised culture which had fought off every invasion, and Pirrell. The Marfikians had evidently never managed to penetrate the Veil, either. Since Pirrell was now deeply embedded within their Empire, however, there was no possibility of trying to reach them.

  ‘It’s incredible,’ Buzz said, making no attempt to conceal his amazement, but going straight to what, for him, was the heart of the matter. ‘Are they willing to share the Veil technology?’

  Alex shook his head regretfully.

  ‘It is, obviously, of enormous importance to the League to learn about the Veil technology and to try to secure that protection for our own worlds, but that isn’t something that Shionolethe is prepared to
discuss. The diplomatic briefing is very clear on that, that she says she is not authorised to discuss that and that we are to put no pressure on her to do so. We are in a very sensitive trust-building situation, here, so we are to respect her silence on that and on any other question she doesn’t feel comfortable discussing.’ He didn’t add ‘all right?’ because he took it for granted that even the most junior member of his crew would follow orders on that, however frustrating they might find it personally.

  ‘Sir,’ Martine confirmed, though still looking bewildered.

  ‘So, is she human, then?’ Rangi asked, taking no notice of this exchange. ‘Physically?’

  ‘No.’ Alex said, and heard the buzz of excitement rise. ‘She’s close enough to pass for one of us, but as you’ll see from the medical profile, her DNA is outside the range defined by the Homo Sapiens Identification Act. She’s smarter and faster, basically, with multicognitive intelligence and superhuman reflexes.’

  ‘Like Davie North?’ Rangi queried, interested.

  ‘No – similar abilities, I think, but different genetics,’ Alex told him. ‘But there is one more thing that I have to brief you about, which we are all going to have to be comfortable about before she comes aboard. Shionolethe is the name on her file, as she has asked that she be known by that while serving with us. Apparently it means something like ‘free spirit in flight’ in Pirrellothian. Her actual name is Chamlorn Lady Ariel Savurai et Mgwamba, Purest of Blood, Grace of a Noble House, Breath of the Karlane.’

  He saw incomprehension, and let that sink in for a moment before he explained, ‘Pirrell, it seems, is ruled by an elite class or caste – the Karlane is the hereditary ruler of the planet, and Shionolethe, though she says she is of no importance at home, is a member of the Karlane’s family.’

  He waited, wondering which of them was going to say it first. Buzz certainly got it first, as his eyes went wide with shock, but it was Rangi who exclaimed.

  ‘She’s a princess?’ he burst out, crowing with delight. ‘She’s an alien princess!’

  Alex waited patiently as the ship erupted with a babble of excitement and delight. The Diplomatic Corps had been quite right; it would take some time for the Heron’s crew to come to terms with the idea of Shionolethe coming aboard.

  ‘No she is not,’ he said, quite firmly. ‘She is, admittedly, some kind of aristocrat, but her titles are apparently quite minor and she is setting them aside anyway while she’s with us. She is to be known as Sub-lt Shionolethe, and her own request is that she is treated just like any other junior officer. It is, of course, a great honour to have her serving with us and obviously we’re all excited about it. But we do,’ he warned, ‘have to get past that, before we get to Amali. We don’t want to make her uncomfortable, after all, treating her like a freak, so we must do our best to welcome her aboard just like any new member of the ship’s company.’

  ‘We’ll be cool, skipper,’ Martine confirmed, rather pink, but resolute, and with that, the other officers nodded earnest agreement.

  Alex smiled, but he was aware of a call coming through to Martine, flashing urgent priority, from that part of the ship now known as ‘the lab’. It had been the old wardroom before the Heron was refitted for the Fourth, and had been converted into accommodation and a work space for the use of the Second Fleet Irregulars. It was Candra Pattello calling – the professor leading the Ignite project team.

  Alex was not surprised to see that she was calling. She had been aboard the ship for two days and had, so far, called Martine on the urgent priority line at least twenty times.

  ‘Candra,’ Martine took the call at a nod from the skipper. He genuinely didn’t mind the constant hassles of having civilians aboard ship. He had the usual spacer view, after all, that groundhogs were barely competent to get their pants on the right way round while aboard a starship, so took their idiocies in his stride. He also considered that the advantages to the Fourth of having such close ties with the Second more than made up for having to cope with civilians. They had several hot-tech systems on the ship thanks to that relationship. It helped, too, to have an officer like Martine who kept most of the day to day hassle off his back.

  ‘Martine!’ Civilian consultants with the Second tended to fall into two camps; those who adopted a kind of ersatz military style and prided themselves on knowing ranks and Fleet jargon, and those who remained emphatically civilian. Candra Pattello was one of the latter, insisting on first names and affecting not to know the difference between port and starboard. ‘How is this going to affect the project?’

  It was always the project to Candra, as if there could not possibly be any other project going on. In fact there was another Second research team aboard along with theirs, a cartographic team.

  ‘Not at all,’ Martine assured her. ‘The visit to Amali was already part of our schedule, and I see no reason why having Shionolethe aboard should affect our plans. We will pay our scheduled visit to Karadon, then proceed to your test site.’

  ‘Yes, yes,’ Candra waved that aside, her concern unabated. ‘But you’re sure, are you, that having this alien aboard isn’t going to interfere with the project? I mean, what about security?’

  Alex was pleased to note, peripherally, the intake of breath around the ship at the professor referring to Shionolethe that way. The crew, evidently, already felt that Shionolethe was going to be one of them, and did not take kindly to anyone speaking of her as ‘this alien’.

  ‘Security isn’t an issue, she has nine ack alpha clearance.’

  Security was always, however, an issue for Candra. Every member of the Fourth had the highest possible security classification, but Candra still seemed to think she had to keep ‘the project’ secret even from them. She had not been at all impressed, either, on coming aboard, to be told that she would have to sign an additional confidentiality agreement for operational information. Otherwise, Buzz had told her, she and her team would have to be isolated in the lab with comms disabled at times like this when classified operational matters were being discussed.

  ‘Tell her I’ll call in and discuss it with her later,’ Alex told Martine, seeing that otherwise this discussion might go on for some time, disrupting their meeting. Martine passed this on.

  Alex gave Martine a thank-you look as she broke off the call, and looked around at his officers. ‘So,’ he said, returning to the interrupted briefing, ‘questions?’

  Chapter Four

  ‘Sir.’ Lt Vergan saluted smartly, then remembered and looked confused. ‘Sorry,’ he apologised. ‘Force of habit.’

  Alex looked amused. ‘Very’ Vergan was one of their supernumerary officers, on secondment to them from the deity class carrier Apollo. He was here to assist them with training and technical shakedown on the fighters, helping to get sufficient pilots and techs qualified on the systems for the fighters to go operational. For now they were locked onto their airlocks on the frigate’s belly.

  Very had already established some presence in his new domain. The notice board had sprouted an array of training schedules and organisational charts, and there was a jar of rainbow candies on the desk.

  ‘You seem to have settled in well,’ Alex observed. He was just stretching his legs and talking to people. It was nothing so formal as rounds, which were an official and recorded inspection. This was just Alex, going about his ship, getting a feel for how the crew was settling down. They’d lost eighteen people during the layover at Therik – officers and ratings who’d been on temporary secondment to them and had now returned to regular Fleet service. Launching with four new officers and fourteen ratings would inevitably need some handling to ensure that the newcomers integrated as quickly and smoothly as possible. That would not have been easy even on an ordinary ship, but when you were mixing parolees from military prison, rejects from the regular Fleet and high flying secondees, it took extraordinary skill to weld them into a united, effective crew.

  Alex von Strada had that skill. It was something that came so naturally
to him that he didn’t understand why other people considered it remarkable. Today, at least, it was being made easy for him, since all divisions had been overcome by the general excitement.

  ‘Yes sir.’ Very was as thrilled as any of them. He had applied for this place, not just for all the training opportunities he knew he would get with the Fourth but for the sheer adventure of a tour of duty serving with them. ‘I think you’ll find things in good order, sir.’

  ‘I have no doubt of it, but I’m not here officially,’ Alex told him, pleasantly. ‘Just touching base, you know.’

  Very looked at him, and began to understand how it was that Alex von Strada commanded such loyalty from his crew. He was so austere in public, rigid and unsmiling, an intimidating figure even to the rest of the Fleet. Very had been told that he was very different when you met him aboard his own ship, but the reality of that was just amazing.

  ‘I like the ‘ready room’,’ Alex commented, going over to the door and opening it with an air of interest. This had been Lt Vergan’s idea. Access to the fighters was by vertical hatchways with zero-gee ladders, in a closed-off end of corridor. Very had turned that dead space into a locker room, with shower-lavatories, lockers, a mess table and a drinks dispenser. It wasn’t really necessary, but Alex liked that Very was raising the status of his little department, taking pride in it. He also liked the way that the Lt had blagged the fittings in here from a mate in Fleet Supplies, bypassing official procedures which might have taken days. That was the kind of resourcefulness Alex valued in his crew, and he gave the Lt a nod of approval. ‘Good job.’

  Very grinned back, delighted.

  ‘It was the crew, really,’ he told the skipper, modestly. ‘They were just amazingly helpful – A/S Higgs took a shuttle to collect the gear and people just swarmed in here, fitting and testing things.’ He felt that he could venture a comment, and added, ‘Everyone is just so keen, here.’