New Neighbors

Chapter 12

Once Mallows got back to the Alpha sector he tried the new communication setup as instructed. The delay was down to 2 minutes, as opposed to the previous 2 week delay. Once he was docked the rest of the ships were scheduled for the same upgrade. Kate and Jones were really excited about the new communication system. There had not been much happening here, just the continued colonization procedures. Mallows also delivered a letter from Jake and Amy to Kate.

All of the refugees had expressed their thanks for a chance to start a new life without being hunted and the wives really enjoyed that their husbands were around more. The men that had disturbed the lizard's nest were just about healed up and swore that they would never bother that lizard again. A more detailed survey of the second useable planet had revealed a valley that the only way in was to fly. It was decided that a small bio-dome would be put there and Blythe, and company, would be settled there. They would be provided with the essential needs to survive, but nothing in the way of nonessential equipment would be available. It would be up to the ones there to make the valley a home. It had been discovered that one of the females refugees was Blythe's mate and she was offered the chance to join him, as were the other mates. All of the women declined. Blythe was demanding that some of the unattached women be sent with him and the others to this valley. Jones explained that nobody wanted anything to do with Blythe, or his companions. Jones did offer Blythe a choice; he could choose to live in the valley or he could choose to be ejected into space, without the benefit of a suit or ship.

It was another two weeks before Blythe's "prison" was ready. Blythe, and companions, were brought before Jones in a public meeting. Jones explained, again, that Blythe and his companions were being exiled to the valley and that they had been classified Persona Nongrada in both Alpha and Sol systems. They would be given the tools to work the land, small weapons to protect themselves from animals, and a secure place to sleep. Food and supplies would be dropped to them on a regular basis until they had a chance to gather their own food. The replication unit would not provide any alcohol, weapons, or anything that could be used to leave the valley. There would be an emergency radio in the bio-sphere in case of an illness or injury. If the radio was misused it would be deactivated. Jones also announced that this valley would be the home of anyone that was deemed unfit to remain in the normal society due to violent behavior. Jones asked if anyone had an objection to this. There were no objections, but several comments that it might be better to just throw them into space. The prisoners were taken to the valley and told that the key to the restraints was inside the dome, the first load of supplies were off loaded and the shuttle left.

Now that all of the communication equipment was upgraded, Kate called Amy and told her what had been done with Blythe and his companions, also that they would be ready for more people whenever anyone wanted to settle in the Alpha system. Amy agreed that the decision to relocate Blythe was a good one. Amy advised Kate, and Jones, to produce more ships for protection of the system as the Iberians were getting more aggressive. Amy also told them that the PDF was not being cooperative in relaying the information to their ships about the Alpha system. Kate and Amy gossiped for awhile then said good-bye. Kate relayed the information about the Iberians and the PDF to Jones and Turrini.

It was a few days later when the perimeter alarm went off. There were about ten ships coming out of hyperspace just outside the system. Toddus was once again the one to respond first. All ten ships had come to a halt on the edge of the system and appeared to be waiting for something, or someone. Toddus observed that the ships had PDF markings and hailed them. When his hail resulted in weapons trying to lock on, he locked weapons himself and called for reinforcements. Suddenly Jones' ship appeared just behind the group and so did many fighters. Every drone in the area locked weapons on to the ships. This seemed to cause some confusion among the new arrivals. When Jones asked what the problem was, the captain of one of the ships replied that they had information that a group of pirates were operating out of this system and they had come to remove them. Jones assured them that there were no pirates in this system, just settlers. The captain was not ready to accept that explanation and said so. Jones asked again why the ships had tried to lock weapons on when they were hailed. The captain said that it was a precautionary measure. 

Turrini's ship arrived at that time and decloaked. Since his ship had very definite PDF markings, the captain's voice seemed a little calmer now. The captain asked for an explanation of Turrini's presents in this system. Turrini told him he was assigned here by the PDF and that the captain should really check his navigation. That this system was part of the PDF, as was the next system Sol. The captain replied that his navigation was fine this system was classified as uninhabited. Jones jumped in and gave the name of the admiral that had been in Sol and assigned Turrini to this area, he also asked that the ships power down their weapons. The weapons were not powered down. When one of the fighters reported that one of the new ships was trying to target him, Jones told the captain to either have all his ships to power down completely or they would be fired on. All of the fighters cloaked as did Jones' ship at that point. The only one who did not cloak was Turrini, he told the captain that to continue in this manner was not the correct thing to be doing. Unless he wanted to be fired upon, to do as requested by Jones.

One of the ships tried to target Turrini. Turrini warned that ship, and the commander of this group, that if fired on he would return fire as would the rest of the ships with him. The talkative captain replied that ships cloaked could not fire. Mallows ship appeared just then and hailed the captain. After identifying himself, Mallows told the captain that he was mistaken. These ships could, and would, fire while cloaked. He also told the captain, who he called by name, that he owed him money for a bet he had lost about a year ago and that it would be nice if the captain paid his debt. This got the attention of the captain, as he recognized Mallows. All of the ships were told to power down their weapons at that point. Jones said that they had to power down completely, this included their shields and everything except life support.

Before things could escalate, five Iberian ships popped out of hyperspace. The reaction was immediate from Jones, Turrini, Toddus, and the fighters. All five ships were fired on, they never stood a chance. By the time the ten PDF ships had added their firepower, the Iberian ships were destroyed. Not even a life pod survived. Several of the PDF ships had taken damage, but nothing too serious. Once the battle was over Jones called the captain and asked if they required assistance with repairs. The captain was more agreeable now, but said they would make it to the closest repair facility. Jones then told the captain to relay a message to his superiors that this system was off limits until the PDF could get their act together and tell all of their ships about this and the Sol systems. The ten PDF ships left the system.

Turrini, Jones, and Kate contacted Amy and told her what had occurred and the message sent back to the PDF. "Begging your pardon Admiral, but this is getting a little bothersome. We have more problems with the PDF than we do with the Iberians. It appears that every PDF ship that has come here unannounced wants to fire first and identify last. I'll give Captain Toddus credit, he hasn't taken any of the threats and acted harshly. He just stays cloaked and calls for backup. They even want to argue with Turrini and Mallows, and their ships are plainly marked PDF." Jones said.

"Admiral, this has been a problem in the Protectorate for a while. The communications between the administration and the line ships is all but non-existent. The higher ups don't feel that the ships on the front lines need to know what is going on as to who has joined and who is still trying to make up their minds." Turrini added.

"Well they are supposed to be our allies, so I guess we should cut them some slack. But you are correct that this is happening too much and too often. I will send a message to the PDF and express our concern that someone is going to get hurt if they don't bring their people up to date. We have not had that many Iberians show up here lately, you seem to be getting all the company." Amy replied with a smile.