The confidence in Julie’s voice was a statement in and of itself. She wasn’t trying to convince people, she was simply stating her reality. Every eye in the cabin was on her as she finished.
“I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure that out,” Mark responded slowly. It was obvious that he didn’t want to upset Julie but he needed her to see reason. “We all have. We can’t just push pause and take all the time we need to figure this out. Noridia either has, or very shortly will have, a ship above our planet that can take out entire cities and battle groups from orbit. Not to mention the fact that they’ve apparently got a shipload of very respected Earthers bamboozled into thinking they’re the good guys. If we didn’t have those time pressures then sure, I might have some ideas that would perfectly fit your description of a long shot—but with the Noridian threat literally hanging over the heads of everyone on Earth we don’t have that luxury.”
Julie and Mark held each other’s look for a long moment until she turned to Iron Jaw. “Major, when the Noridians attacked us on Stiger what did you do?”
Iron Jaw exchanged a glance with Major Reagan and then said, “I removed the threat.”
“So why can’t Earth just do what you did and take over the Noridian ship,” she asked?
Major Reagan jumped in, “We could probable handle any ground attack from the Noridians but Julie you’re right about the real threat being their ship. It could take out any ground forces we muster and it’s a longshot that our missiles could bring her down. I’m sure the generals would love to board the ship and take it over but they won’t be able to. By the time our people realize the threat I doubt the Noridians are going to be giving tours.”
She turned to Captain Silva, “After we arrive on Larga tomorrow can you immediately get me on a ship bound for Earth?” Before he could answer she said, “I’m also going to need you to get me aboard the Noridian’s ship once we get there. You’ll do that for me won’t you?”
“Julie, what are you thinking!” said Mark at the same time that Semi said, “It could be suicide for you and Earth.”
In a firm soft voice Julie informed them, “Maybe no one from Earth can get on that ship but Silva can get me onboard. I’m going to do what Major Reynolds did; I’m going to remove the threat.”
Chapter 32
Dr. Mark Spencer
“No Semi, once again you need to please understand that Julie she is serious,” said Anzio.
“But this is insane,” said Semi. “She is not a violent person and if she fails the Noridians could retaliate against the whole planet!”
When Julie had walked out of the shuttle a heated debate had started up.
“Then I guess we’ll have to make sure she doesn’t fail,” Major Reagan interjected.
I was about to speak up when Hiromi said, “We volunteer to go with her.”
I had no doubt who ‘we’ referred to but I was momentarily distracted by the fact that they were both wearing what looked like Japanese Katana swords strapped to their backs. Where did they get Katanas?
“Silva, I want to know how many Noridians are on that ship and I want a layout of where they’ll probably be,” was Major Reagan’s prelude to taking charge of the conversation. “Semi, I also need to know if I can count on you to be our ally; not our protector and not our owner, just our friend that will help us in our time of need.”
It was obvious to me that Semi was somewhat out of her element. She was used to a universe that plodded along in a methodical manner and where everyone took the time to come to the most rational decisions. She was simply behind the curve when it came to keeping up with short-lived Earthers that could and would make quick decisions based on principal and a sense of justice—rationality be damned.
“It is not that simple,” she exclaimed. “If Silva and I aid you it could be seen as the Coridian Dynasty initiating conflict against the Noridian Dynasty. I cannot endanger our entire Dynasty no matter how strong my personal feelings are.”
I couldn’t help but notice that she’d said this last part while looking directly at Anzio. Apparently I wasn’t the only one that noticed. He walked over and sat down beside her with his arm around her shoulders.
Silva’s voice broke the silence.
“Semi, I have overwhelming respect for you and unending gratitude for what you’ve contributed to our dynasty over the millennia but I’ve learned some things living and working with the Earthers and I can tell you that, even if they invited our protection now, in a few decades or centuries they’d rebel against us.
“In all the galaxy they really are unique. I’m not saying that makes them better and I wouldn’t trade places with them, but they think differently than the rest of us. If they can find their potential they really could make an impact on the galaxy, and if Coridia can’t harness that then I hope we would at least be smart enough to make them our allies and leave them considering us friends.”
Semi started to respond but Silva continued, “I am going to help them. I would prefer to have your blessing but I am going to help them.
“Major Reagan,” he continued. “We need to find a way to do this that doesn’t endanger the Coridian Dynasty.”
“Do you have any ideas on that?” the major asked.
“Yeah, and you’re not going to like it one bit but I’m afraid it’s the price for my cooperation.”
Majors Reagan and Reynolds shared another glance and then looked back at Silva.
“I can’t give you any of our weapons.”
There was silence in the entire shuttle. Everyone had assumed that once we got to Larga with its galaxy-wide connected databases there would be no problem giving us the kind of weapons that would let us stand up to these guys one-on-one.
“I can get you onboard that ship but if I give you advanced weapons,” Silva continued, “then Semi would be right; the rest of the galaxy would assume that the Coridian Dynasty was pulling the strings.”
Before a red-faced Major Iron Jaw Reynolds could speak Silva quickly went on, “Think about it major; inside their ship you’ll be at close quarters anyway. If we do this right your biggest weapon is the element of surprise. I’m going to need your help but I think I can offer that to you.”
I was sitting in a padded chair with Anzio in a room on the Noridian ship that made no sense whatsoever. All six chairs faced a huge observation port or view screen that occupied the entire wall, but it was totally blank. Maybe it was a window or even a communications screen that just couldn’t operate at superluminal speeds or maybe it was just broken. For that matter it could have been the Noridian equivalent of a movie theater and we just didn’t know how to load the film. At any rate because there was nothing to see it wasn’t a very popular room and Anzio and I had created a habit of using it to share a midnight snack and some private conversation.
Tonight’s hors d'oeuvres were courtesy of what the ship’s food processor thingy produced when I asked for an appetizer. This was actually its third attempt after I’d rejected the first two. It was some type of course cheese that tasted slightly gamey accompanied by a fruit mixture that was spreadable. It was really quite pleasant once you got used to it.
“There’s no dust,” I said. “We’ve now been on three different spaceships and never once have we seen a speck of dust.”
“No odors either,” added Anzio. “This is actually more impressive to me. You know that was the hardest thing for our scientists to get used to on your space platform, Laze Fair One—no one ever figured out how to remove the smell of 300 people living in a closed environment.”