First Journeys Chapter 21

- Guests of Honor

The military band sounded like a bunch of Nilfeheim kids blowing through plastic hoses and with about as much skill, punctuated by an instrument that made a noise that would put a wounded Fangsnapper to shame. Fectiv whispered:” If that is their best band used for ceremonies, I wonder how their beginners sound?”

Ninio had a hard time whispering so it seemed, even though I knew he tried.” I can’t wait to get me a few recordings. Can you imagine them playing Funtuty tunes?”

I shrugged.” I guess, to each his own!”

After the band had played four more tunes, they finally put us on a wheeled vehicle. It had two tiers and the upper one was open and had two rows of seats. The entire vehicle was painted and decorated in the Union colors. We were asked to get on the second tier and all the way to the front.

Before us a row of vehicles with rotating lights on their roofs and so we participated in a parade through the streets of the capitol city. The streets were lined with crowds waving Union flags and cheering, but there were a few groups carrying signs and they had messages printed in Union standard, such as “Union go home” and ” We got rid of the Nogoll now we need to get rid of the Union!”

I only noticed Bennett sitting behind me as he leaned forward.” Look at those ungrateful Dick faces, they didn’t get rid of the Nogoll, we did! I don’t see the point of courting those primitives. A nice Virus or a P bomb and we got the system for ourselves.”

“I had it! We are back on the ship; I am putting you on report!”

“I am sitting behind you with a dagger and a loaded gun and you won’t make it back, trust me!”

I turned and snapped.” And you are messing with a Neo Viking that gets more pissed by the minute! The best thing for you is to shut up and report yourself. You might need some serious reconstructive surgery before your court hearing.”

He paled and hate glittered in his eyes. The other human cadet sitting next to him was clearly afraid and said.” You are not serious aren’t you?”

Neither Waite no I could respond as the Admiral called us to attention and then asked us of the now stopped vehicle.

Harel and Uley had an anti-matter mine strapped to their bodies and there were twenty more Nogoll dressed up as Yokuta, ten of them would go on a tour of the ship and the others would run into the forum with the Union honor guests and detonate themselves. Harel and Uley had the same orders. Go to a crowed place and detonate the anti-matter charges.

Neither one of them really wanted to die and commit suicide like that, but neither of them had much hope. If even one of the others followed through, the Union would not have any mercy and hunt the rest down. Once they knew what to look for, their sensors would find them.

Colonel Cornelius O’Hare was concerned. He was on security detail for the Admiral of the Fleet. Union Intelligence and security would not let the highest officer out of their sights. He was with the PSI Corps and one of the three agents permanently assigned to the Admirals security detail. Admiral Mc Elligott was a high profile target and there were thousands of attempts on his life over the centuries. Almost exclusively agents and assassins hired by enemies. Of course there was the occasional attempt of some fringe group. There were very few voices before the Y’All Crisis who questioned the legitimate right of the immortals to be in such leading positions for such a long time. Those voices have almost disappeared after that war.

It was clear to almost everyone that it was better to have individuals with that enormous experience such as Stahl, Decker and Mc Elligott in leading positions. The Fleet was by far the largest organization in the known Galaxy and it was simply practical to have someone on the top who could oversee projects that took 500 years or knowing the organization from the ground up. In all those centuries none of the Immortals ever stepped out of line and tried to rule or dictate the direction. Mc Elligott still took his orders from the Assembly and he did so without fail. Of course none of the Immortals was as popular or beloved as Admiral Stahl, but he didn’t need security. He was more often than not in his nearly invincible battle ship. Even though not being as popular as Stahl, Mc Elligott was well liked and for a man of his position had surprisingly few internal or political enemies, mostly due to the fact that Mc Elligott had stayed out of politics or taking sides. But few enemies in a Galaxy as large as this was still a lot and it was his job to keep the Admiral safe.

Now why he had to come to this backwater planet was anyone’s guess. Of course it was an impressing gesture to have an immortal show up in the flagship, but way too little preparation went into this trip, especially security wise.

He was a good telepath and most Yokuta were very friendly and had positive thoughts about the Union and a possible membership, but there was about 30 percent undecided and ten percent felt violently opposed to any ties to the Union. It was those ten percent that caused him concern. The local police was not very helpful in providing any pre visit intelligence and claimed they had everything under control.

He now sat in the wheeled bus below and behind the driver, with his eyes closed he looked like he was sleeping but he had his mental eye on the crowd around the bus. Psionic crowd scanning was not easy even for a very good telepath, you had to shift through hundreds of brains in mere seconds and look for an aggressive impulse that was strong enough for him to act. He could not simply stop the visit because someone was thinking badly about the Union or the Admiral. Thankfully he had the best Psi training and while it was demanding. He was experienced and he was not alone and besides there were ten Ultra Marines of F.A.S.T (Fleet Anti-Terror Security Team) posing as regular marines in Parade Uniforms. While they had no Psionic talents they could smell trouble a mile away and react fast.

He hated to be disturbed but Poul from Phantas a decent Telepath and good Telekinet, and one of his colleagues would not have done so if it wasn’t necessary. He used the Psi Radio one of the great little devices only the PSI corps had.” Hey CC have you had a chance to scan our cadets?”

“No, I thought they are just 3 day cadets freshly processed.”

“They missed a Purist! One of them is full of hate and has serious ideas about hurting another cadet. Right now he is held back by his own fear to actually use a weapon and kill someone but it seems the threshold for violence is getting lower.”

“Monitor him closely. I prefer to deal with that in the ship. Would send a bad message to the Yokuta if we arrest one of our own right before the meeting, I doubt this would go down well with the Yokuta or the Admiral. ”

“I agree. I will keep my senses drained on them and I should be able to interfere telekinetically if needed, but that would mean you got to scan more of the crowd.”

“I don’t expect any trouble from the locals. Their police seem to be able to handle the few local trouble makers and I have not sensed any real violent opposed thoughts so far, even from those who are against our future presence or membership.”

We left the bus and entered something like a Congress center. A big structure surrounded by tended parks and statues. It was basically a flat roof carried by a number of tall columns. Underneath the roof was just one open space area. Long buffet style tables one side. A raised platform with a lectern, local and union flags and large physical 2D view screens instead of field screens completed the ambience.

I grinded my teeth, because the band just had to play again! While that band simulated musically the life skinning of Nubhir wolfs, a number of quite obvious elderly Yokuta in colorful official looking garments climbed onto the platform and assembled behind the lectern.

One of them with an even more colorful robe place himself at that lectern and the band thankfully stopped playing.

“Welcome and our all deepest felt thank you, Union Citizens and Union Soldiers who have fought so gallantly and gave us back our freedom.

“We have suffered terribly for over threehundred of your Standard years under the joke of the Nogoll.

“We still can’t really believe our fortune and to all of us it is as if we all walk on five inches of air above the ground, heads up and proud to be Yokuta and free on our own world.” He wiggled his trunk that ws much slimmer and smaller than that of the Elly. It appeared to be a thank you gesture. To the yells and cheers that punctuated his speech.

" Much damage has been done by the occupants. Physically robbing resources and polluting without care since it was not their home, killing many hundred thousand over the centuries those who tried to fight the oppressor. Cultural damage by stealing our artifacts and melting our religious icons for their war machine, forbidding Yokuta art that was not approved by our former masters and mentally for making us being ashamed of what we are and thinking that being slaves is a natural place for Yokuta. The Nogoll are gone! Not only from this planet, but gone and so severely beaten that they can never return!”

At this point he paused a little longer and the assembly and the crowds all around the open sided building cheered as his image and his words were transmitted to the huge screens and I was sure they had similar screens all over outside as well.

He bowed to us and then pointed to a Union flag.” It is them who under that flag fought for us. We heard of the Union only little via the Nogoll and always thought of them as enemies, worse than the Nogoll. Of course it was all lies and propaganda. Over the last ten day, we of the people’s forum and you on your home viewers have seen what the Union really is. How huge, how powerful and it is not propaganda. Go look at our space port and see how this delegation arrived. Look at the power and the size of their ship. It is only one of many. Now many of us think it is best to join that Union and we were assured that we would not be slaves but equals and that one day Yokuta would serve and command ships like that. We can get as much or as little help from the Union as we want, we can stay isolated or be fully integrated and they ask very little in return.

“Some of you may ask: What is it they want from us ?. They will ask that we accept Union law. All of you have seen the documentaries and documents made freely available what those laws mean. These laws can be condensed into one sentence: Guaranteed rights of liberty to every thinking individual, pure and simple. Even without their ships and power. I personally like those laws so much I want them to be the model of our own laws even if we decide not to join and I know there are many who think like I do. However there are those who oppose this and those who are undecided. To help you see what I see and perhaps join me in voting for an application, we honored one of our oldest traditions and invited a group of young people to tell us about the Union. For this we will accept random picked calls from you the audience.”

The speaker walked away from his desk and waved at us. The Admiral nodded and gestured us up the platform.

Uley saw the Union delegates getting up to the platform. He looked at his partner and made his decision. His hand cramped around the detonator switch. He took a deep breath, as he knew his decision was not the right one, but the only one he saw. He pushed past two Yokuta, jumped over the hip high barrier and ran as fast as he could towards the Podium.

Interlude: Hans

As far as Duke knew he still had control over Hans. The device was active and it could be triggered at any time,however it was no longer inside the Saturnians body but in a little Tough-film bag and in his pocket. Now that he was no longer alone and has someone to help him to get off planet and back home, it was easy to control his temper.

He came out of the Sojo tent and joined the guests. The duke noticed his relaxed state right away and made a few dirty remarks. Then he introduced Hans to a man, one could only describe as average. He was the most average human Hans had ever seen, nothing stood out. He didn’t wear an extremely expensive suit, nor a cheap one. The color of his clothing was of a bland gray, even his hair color was somewhere between brown and blond. Donheer said:” This is Mr. Kelpie and he represents Sinister Sports your new owner.”

The nondescript man held up a little silver device with a blinking green button.” Nice to meet you Mr. Hammer.” With a theatrical gesture he played with the device and brushed his finger over the button. It was obvious that this little man enjoyed having so much power over a being physically his superior.” As you can see, I have the means to destroy you, Mr. Hammer. While your demise will represent a loss of investment money. In the great scheme of things however it is less than a percent point, easily recovered by write offs and post-hum marketing of your merchandise as collectables. Therefore do not think I will hesitate to use this, perhaps crude way of control. If you do the same what you have done for your previous employers, you will find us a generous partner and the rewards will be great. If you decide to do otherwise we have much finer methods of control and Psycho Surgery done right is a wonderful tool.”

Hans had the strong urge to rip the man’s head off or crush his bones one by one between his fingers but he said with his best poker face.“I am a fighter. I care little about management decisions. Give me fights and I fight. Give me opponents and I kill simple as that.”

Now the average man smiled broadly across his bland face.” I think we have a wonderful future together. We want you start early tomorrow, of course there is a brand new Braddock Murphy Vultron in the Garage of your new apartment, which is this one by the way.” He padded Hans on he belly, he had no hopes reaching his shoulders.“It is a big day for you. You get a new costume, accessories and there will be interviews and picture shots. We will Virtu – animate you and sell Avatars of yours. You are playing with the big boys now, quite literally!”

Hans had a hard time to keep calm. It went exactly as the Sojo said it would and by tomorrow this time be on his way to Checkpoint 96 and from there he was a Space bus ride away from home. He already made up his mind not to stay home for very long, instead he planned to go to the Academy, right after he went to a recruiting office and had his citizen ship confirmed. Signing up for military service was a legal way to make up for lost school credentials.”