Book 2

New Neighbors

Chapter 4

After both ships arrived back at Mars, Captain Turrini's ship was put in the "ship yard" for repairs. Turrini was asked to hold off on sending his crew to the surface until after meeting with the system commander, Amy. A shuttle was sent to pick up Captain and transport him to Amy's ship. Turrini was escorted to the main conference room to meet with Amy, Ted, Captain Jones, and Cmdr Thomas.

"Captain Turrini, I am Amy Ward. I guess you could say I'm the system commander for the Sol system. This is my first officer Ted Smith, this is Cmdr Nathan Thomas, and you've already met Captain Jones. I want to welcome you to the Sol system and offer my apologies for any misunderstandings. When we first detected the two ships Captain Jones was sent to investigate. When hostilities broke out between the two of you we had no way of knowing who to trust. That was decided when the large ship fired on Taurus. I'm sure that you can understand that after that we felt that both ships were possibly hostile and reacted in that manner. Now, may I ask why the two ships were firing on each other?" Amy stated.

"We were not aware that this system had progressed enough to have space flight, other than the trips to the moon of the third planet. The Organo Protectorate is charged with the patrol of this system to prevent incursions by races that wish to take over systems. We had detected the Iberian ship and were trying to determine it's intentions when it fired on us. Needless to say we were very surprised when your ship contacted us and then took on the Iberian ship and destroyed it. The Iberians are an insectoid race that are very aggressive in taking over systems for their own use. I have been in contact with my superiors and they asked that I make formal contact with you. We would like to know which race has taken residence in this system?" Turrini replied.

Amy explained the history, as explained to her by AL. Turrini asked if they had any more information on the original race that had visited, as from what he understood that race had been killed out in a war with the Iberians a long time ago. AL was consulted and he provided the name of the race, it was the one that Turrini had guessed. AL requested permission to contact Turrini's AI so he could get updated information. Turrini agreed and said he would be glad to share the information. Jones asked what to do with the life pod they had retrieved, scans had not shown any type of explosives onboard and only one very weak set of life signs. It was decided to bring the pod on to the Taurus, place it inside a containment field, and open it.

After taking care of this business, Amy granted planet-side privileges for Turrini's crew. Turrini was offered accommodations on Taurus, which he accepted. Amy invited Turrini to have lunch with them, and to bring his first officer, science, security, and engineering officers with him. This invitation was accepted. Turrini was taken back to his ship to make arrangements for his crew to go planet-side.

After Turrini had left, AL told Amy that he had contacted Turrini's AI and had been given access to all of their data. Turrini's craft still used the same power system as AL had before John and Jake's upgrade. If it was okay with Amy, Carol would have the power system upgraded on Turrini's ship. The repairs would take about a month with or without the upgrade. AL also reported that the name SuLak was associated with many ship disappearances. Turrini's people had determined that the Iberians were behind many of these "lost" ships.

It was about two hours later before the Iberian life pod was brought aboard Taurus, Captain Jones was very careful so as not to endanger his ship or crew. The pod was not disturbed for thirty minutes after being brought aboard to allow the occupant a chance to open it himself. When there was no activity, Jones had maintenance droids open the pod, remove the occupant, and transport him to Med Bay. Once the survivor was in Med Bay, the pod was searched very carefully. The search revealed many hidden data crystals, these were sent to AL for examination. 

At 1300 Captain Turrini, and his officers, arrived. They were met by Amy and Ted, then escorted to the same conference room as before. Amy introduced her officers and Turrini introduced his. Amy asked if Turrini would like anything in particular to eat as the food service still retained much of the original menu or if he would like to try some Earth food. Turrini and his officers got a sampler of Earth dishes.

After everyone had been seated, Amy welcomed everyone and suggested that they drop the honorifics for the time being and act like friends. This wasn't a problem for Amy's crew, but Turrini's crew seemed disturbed by this request. Turrini commented that sounded fine to him, as he couldn't keep ranks straight for Amy's crew. After everyone was finished eating, Amy offered Turrini coffee. Turrini's crew seemed to be relaxing more and talking with their counterparts.

"Turrini, I'm sorry I didn't ask your first name. I've been informed that your ship will take about a month to get everything back to working correctly. I would like to suggest that while your ship is here you consider letting us upgrade your power source. Jake and John discovered a very clean power source while investigating some strange radiation readings. This power source has an output of 10 times your present system and takes less space." Amy offered.

"Turrini is fine, we don't use two names. You say your power source is 10 times as powerful as mine and takes less space? What about weight?" Turrini replied.

"The power source for this ship can be moved by four men. With the weight reduction we were able to carry much more powerful weapons, not only on this ship but the rest of our ships also. I'm sure you noticed the power of the weapons on Taurus, not to mention the increased shield strength during their fight with the Iberians." Amy commented.

"Yes, I was surprised that a ship that small, as compared to the Iberian ship, defeated the Iberians so quickly. I was going to ask about the weapon that your fighter used onboard my ship when he was fired on. Our sensors only showed a small popping sound and registered no energy being discharged. But the shot went through our man and the side of the ship. What type weapon was that?" Turrini asked.

"Captain Jones, could you tell us what weapon was used to kill the man on Turrini's ship? And, possibly explain it to Turrini." Amy asked.

"Of course, the weapon used was what has been referred to as a rail gun. It is only used inside the atmosphere. What it does is to magnetically launch a metal projectile at speeds approaching the speed of light. The projectiles can be altered in size by the pilot, or in this case the RIO, also the speed and force can be adjusted. I hope that is all the information you require of me, as for more you would have to talk with John or Jake. They were the ones who came up with the idea and design. I must apologies for my pilot's reaction, he went a little overboard there. The weapon was set to take out a much harder target, at least it was only a half-inch projectile. If it had been full size we would have really had a problem. I don't think we could have sealed the hole quick enough to prevent a major decompression event." Jones replied.

"What is the maximum size that could have been fired?" Turrini asked.

"About one and a half inches fired at 0.95 light speed. At that size and speed it would travel 3/4 the length of the Taurus if it hit us dead on from ahead. And that is with all the hatches closed. At that amount of force it would pass through the hull like a hot knife through butter." Jones replied.

Turrini's and Amy's eye both were wide open at that statement. Amy thanked Jones and he returned to his previous conversation. Amy received a call from the terminal. When she had read the message she told Turrini that the captive did not survive. There was just too much trauma. She also told Turrini that a copy of the data crystals readout would be sent to him, and that he had an incoming message. Would he like to take it here or return to his ship to receive it?  Turrini asked if there was some place private he could use. Amy showed him to her Ready Room and asked that Turrini's message be relayed there. With that she left and returned to the conference room.

It was about 15 minutes later when Turrini returned with a smile on his face. He went straight to Amy and asked if he could have a word with her in private. Amy took him over to a corner away from everyone else.

"Amy, that was the head of the Protectorate, he wants me to ask you if it would be possible for us to setup a base here.  After I told him about  some of your weapons and your power source, he asked me to negotiate for some of our ships to come here for refit and upgrade. We would pay a fair price for the upgrades and refits of course. Also, with your permission, my ship and I would be assigned here to help protect this system. There is one little problem though, he would like for you to join the Protectorate as a member system and accept a commission as Fleet Admiral assigned to this system and the neighboring one, what you call Alpha Centauri. If you are agreeable to this, then he will send someone to swear you in." Turrini explained.

"Wow, that is unexpected. Let me think on all this overnight. Please keep this to yourself for now, I don't want this to get out until I've had a chance to think about it." Amy replied.

The luncheon broke up shortly thereafter. Turrini and his officers returned to their ship, or quarters, and Amy called a special advisory meeting in her Ready Room. The meeting was composed of Jake, Ted, John, Kate, AL, Cal, and herself. Once everyone was present, Amy had AL seal the room. Amy explained the offer that had been made and asked for their opinions. All five humans agreed that they really needed to hear this from the source, or at least from someone very high up and with the proper paperwork. AL and Cal both had very little to offer as they were not familiar with the Protectorate, other than what they had obtained from Turrini's AI. They all agreed to have Turrini contact his superiors and have someone to come to Sol System with the proper credentials. Amy had one other thing she wanted to do. Amy asked that AL and Carol take on an avatar form like Cal's, except male and female according to their personality.