CHAPTER FOURTEEN

John looked at himself in the mirror. He adjusted the collar on his TERRA uniform but it didn’t seem right. Nothing seemed to fit right in this uniform.

“You sure this looks ok?” John asked Franklin.

“Looks good to me,” replied the owner of Smitty’s Pub.

John fidgeted some more with his uniform. It felt tighter. His time alone didn’t keep him in shape. Not surprisingly as he didn’t work out at all. He would have to double up on his exercise regimen to lose the few pounds he gained. He wanted another opinion if the uniform looked good on him. Luckily Franklin was preparing the pub for the day’s business. The captain was using the mirror in the back to adjust his uniform as Franklin was behind the bar putting away some mugs.

“Screw it! It’ll be fine.” John abandoned the mirror and took a seat at the bar.

“You’ll be ok,” assured Franklin. “You were only away from your position for a little over a month.” Franklin didn’t know the circumstances surrounding the captain temporarily stepping down from command. He didn’t care. He, like the rest of the crew, was happy John had assumed leadership again.

“Seems like a lifetime to me,” quipped John.

“Bah! You’ll pick it right up again. Besides, you’ll be so busy meeting with the Senfo that you won’t have time to worry how your uniform feels.” Franklin placed a glass of water down for the captain.

PHOENIX was en route to the Senfo homeworld at the request of the commonality to evaluate the progress of rebuilding their fleet. Apparently, communications from the Senfo officers serving on PHOENIX led the commonality to conclude they needed to speed up their reconstruction progress and become more involved in the search for the Screen.

“Yeah, you’re right,” as John sipped his water.

“I had a group of Senfo in here last night,” said Franklin. “They’re pretty happy to be heading back home, even if it’s only for a few days. I just hope none of them leave.”

“Why’s that?” asked John.

“They drink like fish. You’d think for being so small they wouldn’t be able to handle alcohol but they can out drink anyone. My sales have gone up twenty percent since they’ve come on board.”

John chuckled. He had a hard time imagining the cute little aliens drinking glass after glass of beer.

“If we were back home, I’d be able to cash in and retire from their bar bills,” said Franklin.

“Vish to Captain Roberts. The senior staff meeting is in fifteen minutes.”

“I’d better get going,” as John hopped off the bar stool. “Thanks for letting me hide out for a bit.”

“Anytime, captain.”

********

A few hours later PHOENIX and her escort fleet were in orbit of the Senfo’s planet, Flutori. The commonality wasted little time requesting John’s presence down on the planet. The captain went down, accompanied by Bret and Jacks. Bret was surprised that the captain requested him to come along. This meeting hardly required the skills of the senior communications officer but John offered no explanation wanting him along.

The commonality was clearly frustrated at the pace of their reconstruction efforts. They asked John how they could speed up their efforts. They went over every detail of their processes to identify areas where efficiencies could be improved upon. Bret was bored the entire time and had nothing to contribute to the meeting. What was the point of him being here? His expertise was communications, not operational processes.

In the end, it was decided that a group of engineers from PHOENIX would remain behind, along with ten ships from PHOENIX’s group to provide defense of Flutori in case the Screen decided to attack. The commonality was pleased with the meeting and anxious to implement the proposals made by John and Jacks.

Danuo remained with his guests as the other members of the commonality left the meeting chamber. “We have selected a residential pod that can house the engineers. If you provide our constructionists the biological specifications of each engineer, they can modify each pod to their needs.”

“I’ll have Doctor Myers transmit the biometric data of our engineers staying behind,” promised John as Jacks brought up its holographic DAT and transmitted the request to PHOENIX.

“As we are in agreement, this meeting is concluded.” Danuo stood up and tipped his hat to John, Bret, and Jacks, who each bowed slightly in return. “You have brought relief to the commonality when we learned you resumed command of your starship.”

The Senfo officers on PHOENIX must have reported John’s temporary sabbatical. “Thank you but the ship was in good hands with Commander Olson,” replied John.

“Have you selected the liaison who will be coordinating the efforts between your engineers and our constructionists?”

John nodded. “I’ll give you the name tonight once I’ve spoken to him.”

“Very well,” as Danuo tipped his hat again. “I will see you at the banquet at dark time.” The commonality was hosting a high level dinner with PHOENIX’s senior staff tonight. It was their way of thanking the humans for all their efforts in helping the Senfo.

As Danuo left the chamber, John looked over to Jacks. “Why don’t you head back to the ship and update Julie on our progress.”

“Yes, John Roberts.” The captain waited for the Ni to leave before speaking to Bret.

“Let’s take a walk,” John said to Bret. The two exited the meeting chamber and walked down the long hallway. “I’ll get right to it. I want you to stay behind and be the liaison to the Senfo.”

Bret was stunned by the captain’s words. “Me? Why me? I’m not an operations officer.”

“This isn’t about operational processes. They’ve got that down pat. The liaison’s going to need to make sure the Senfo stay on track with their construction. This will be the first time they’ll be working with engineers from other worlds. I need someone who can mitigate any cultural differences that might slow things down. From what Julie’s told me, you’ve done a remarkable job working with Rudov in the comm. position. I’ve also seen how well you’ve been bringing the different aliens on PHOENIX together during social engagements. This is right up your alley.”

Bret couldn’t argue with John and he was honored that the captain was asking this of him. If John believed Bret could do this, then the communications officer would stay. “At what point do I declare our work here done?”

“That’s the other reason why I want you here. The Senfo will build hundreds of ships and claim their defenses are insufficient. I need someone to give them an objective analysis of where they’re at. We still don’t know much about what Senfo starships are capable of. Once you’ve determined they’ve sufficiently built up their fleet to protect both their homeworld and actively join the alliance, you’ll return to PHOENIX.”

Any hesitation Bret may have had was now gone. “I’ll do it. I’ll have to brief Rudov to take over my responsibilities as senior comm. officer. And captain, thanks for believing in me to trust me with this.”

John smiled and patted Bret on the back. “You’ve been an exemplary officer ever since we started our mission. You always had my trust.”

********

The two returned to PHOENIX to inform the senior staff of the plan. Later that evening, the commonality hosted a banquet for the crew of the PHOENIX. The entire senior staff was present, along with about a hundred other crew members. The commonality went all out for the event. Rows of tables were placed throughout the large banquet hall filled with a variety of different foods. Luckily, the Senfo serving on PHOENIX had educated the ship attendees about Senfo native cuisine. They even had the tables raised to accommodate the taller guests.

The Senfo crew shared with their compatriots about their experiences on the human starship. The most popular topic was the concept of music and Chris Anne’s performances. The singer, who was at the banquet, was the most popular crew member there. He had a large audience of Senfo surrounding him as he explained his artistic craft to them. They were completely enthralled and asked numerous questions. Chris still couldn’t believe that music did not exist on Flutori.

John was standing in the corner watching the crowd. He had talked nonstop for almost an hour to delegates from different regions of the planet. He finally needed a break and excused himself. He was sipping a gray colored drink called iquis that was a popular drink among the Senfo. Although bitter, it had a pleasant taste to it that the captain found appealing.

A Quix approached John and joined the captain in watching the crowd. “Captain.”

“Unarnu,” replied John, recognizing his science officer. “Needed a break from socializing too?”

“I do enjoy interacting with different species; however, my body aches after prolonged discussion,” as the Quix’s body vibrated. “It takes more effort to create the sounds that others can understand. Does your jaw hurt from talking too long?”

John refrained from chuckling. “I just needed to take a step back for a moment.”

“Indeed. These Senfo are intriguing but strange creatures.”

John was curious by her statement. “How so?”

“One would assume that the Senfo would create environments to suit their small frames,” explained Korifluxinina. “Yet they build far bigger structures than what is needed. Their homeworld could easily accommodate humans, Onixins, even my own people. I have inquired with several Senfo why they do this yet none can offer an explanation. It simply is what it is.”

“They do seem to put an emphasis on large size,” admitted John. “I guess that’s good. The Senfo on PHOENIX haven’t had too much difficulty living on the ship where everything is oversized to them.”

“All of us who are serving on PHOENIX have found the experience to be most…, gratifying.”

John smiled at Korifluxinina. “I’m glad to hear that. The welfare of the everyone on the ship, human and otherwise, is important to me.”

“Service to the protectorate is the highest honor. It takes precedent above my personal needs,” replied Korifluxinina. She looked around to make sure no other Quix was nearby. “I admit I have found living among different species to be a most pleasant experience. The human ability to bring different races together to work cohesively is not an exaggerated statement.”

“It’s not too hard to work together when we all have the same goal,” said John, referring to their mission to locate the Screen.

“You underestimate your abilities,” countered Korifluxinina. “Because we share a common goal does not mean all parties can work together.”

“Excuse me,” interrupted Julie as she joined the pair. “Sorry to interrupt but I just received a message from the command deck. The Onixin cruiser BEREBOUT contacted PHOENIX a few minutes ago. They report they’ve picked up several Screen facilities on a planet in the area they’re patrolling.”

“How many?” asked John. He realized he came across as too anxious. The last thing he wanted Julie to think was him wanting to get into another firefight with the Screen.

“They picked up fifty-two structures and detected over six thousand life forms, all Screen. They didn’t detect any vessels in orbit of the planet.”

“It may be a training facility,” speculated Korifluxinina.

“Or a staging area for an attack,” added John.

“I had PHOENIX relay an order to the BEREBOUT to retreat from the area,” said Julie. “I figured you’d want us to go in.”

John nodded. “Head back to the ship and begin preparing the fleet to assault the planet. I’ll remain down here until the banquet ends.”

“Yes, captain.”

“Do you want me to return to the ship as well?” asked Korifluxinina.

“No, I don’t want too many of us leaving and tipping off the commonality,” replied John. “They put a lot of work organizing this event and we need to enjoy it. For tonight, let’s just enjoy ourselves.”

Korifluxinina nodded. “As you wish, captain. I believe I will engage with more Senfo. Excuse me.”

John watched as she slithered over to the banquet tables. John looked around the hall again to take in the scene. He felt fortunate to have gotten past his issues to experience all of this. If he wasn’t captain, he’d be stuck on the ship for the rest of the mission. He reminded himself this was part of the reason he wanted a life in space, to experience meeting different alien races and learning about him. He vowed to himself that never again would he spiral into such darkness ever again.