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“THERE IS A LOT OF WEIRD quantum effects going on, Destota.” Mallory said. She was on a long board with antigravity jets on it, floating around under equipment in the computer core of the Eternity. I was standing next to the actual computer core, which struck me as a very anti-climactic object. It was a silver object no larger than a beverage container, sitting in a magnetic holder mounted to the deck. I was told that this was for quick release in the event of the ship being captured. “I don’t know why, either.”
“Maybe it’s the effects of the new drive?” I asked, absentmindedly.
“It’s possible.” She grunted as she ripped out and replaced a damaged relay. “But it’s also possible that we need to consider going down for maintenance.”
“Once we reach Vandor, we can do that.” I replied, passing her a relay. “Why exactly are we the ones doing this?”
“Do you have anywhere else you’d rather be?”
I pondered that question. Ivata had the Marauders running sprints up and down the main corridors of the Eternity. At almost six kilometers long, it made for an amazing place to run. However, Vandor had about twelve percent more gravity than Earth, and Falsun was even smaller than Earth even, so the Marauders were collapsing at an alarming rate, lacking both the ability to activate resources of deep energy the way that our genetics could, as well as the strength we possessed overall. So, Ivata of course pushed them harder and harder.
“No.” I replied honestly after thinking about it. Colonel or no, Ivata would run me until I collapsed vomiting also.
She grinned at me from under the console and passed another relay out to me. “You know, this alliance with the Phelbs might hurt us more than help us.” She pointed out. “Once we defeat the Gilbaglians, don’t you think their knowledge of us could make us an easier target?”
“Do you really think that it will go back to the way it was?” I asked. “In my experience, once you fight with someone they tend to be your friend for a while.” Not quite true, I figured, since Venlent had decided to join the Phelbs and was apparently considering marrying the next Pope. But I thought of Vearse, Kelis, and Peter, who would fight next to me any day.
“Yeah, true. They’ve already started asking about our longevity and our genetics.” She said. I handed down another relay. “And our medical technology.”
“I don’t see much issue sharing medical technology.” I said calmly. “I hated them for so long, but when I was down there on Earth, I saw they’re not much different from us, just...they don’t think like we do. They don’t think of peace first. They’re more like the humans of Earth that was ten thousand years ago, more than they realize. Caught up in a caste structure without any ideas of advancement.” I shook my head. “I almost felt bad for them, in a way. They’re not evil, just horribly misguided. Whatever God they worshipped that lead to the uprisings that Madaline was a part of, that part of their society died long ago.”
Mallory stared at me for a moment. “I never expected you to say something like that.”
“You never expected me to ask you to marry me, either.” I pointed out.
“Good point. But I mean, we trained for years, hell, the Night stalkers were created to fight Phelbs. I joined the program to become a better pilot and learn leadership skills, I never expected you to stop trying to eradicate them all. I didn’t want to stop either.”
“I agree.” I said, passing down another relay. “But when we saw them on Falsun and even one of my soldiers joined them and said they were different. I must believe that humanity can endure. Especially if we are going to survive against the Gilbaglians, we need to be stronger together.”
“So that’s a yes on medical and genetic technology?”
“Only if they renounce their religion.” I said firmly.
Mallory dropped a tool and swore. “If they what?”
“If they renounce their religion and become a normal society. If they want to worship in privacy, fine, but they won’t get one drop of our knowledge and technology if they want to continue being a religious race that rely on Gods and kill in their name. It would be far too dangerous otherwise.” I said.
“That...makes more sense than I expected coming from you.” She said, nodding.
“You keep acting like I’m a muscle-bound idiot.” I said, annoyance in my voice. “You forget that I had the highest academic test scores out of our entire battalion.”
“I do forget,” She said. “Because all I ever heard from you is ‘kill kill kill!’.”
“Well, that’s usually a good option.” I smirked.
She snapped a panel closed and held out a hand. I helped her up and she nodded. “That should do it for now. It was all the relays for the weapon systems, they were starting to burn out and fuse.”
“Should we have Vandorian Arms begin some engineering on something more...damaging? Like particle beam or maser?” I asked.
“It couldn’t hurt.” She admitted as we walked towards the doors. “I heard they were working on some kind of particle accelerator that works in conjunction with our main cannons.” The only real issue with the weapon systems of our fleet is that once we fired, we lost control of the projectiles and that made us weak when the fleets started to maneuver. We couldn’t afford a standoff shooting war with the Gilbaglians the way we had previously.
“I’ll contact them.” I said. We walked towards the long spine where the Nightstalker recruits and Marauders were supposed to be running. Instead, the bulkheads were fairly sweating as the trainees were ordered through push ups and being screamed at by Ivata and four other instructors. I frowned and walked over to the Major. “What...is going on here?”
“A fight broke out.” Ivata explained. “Marauder and Nightstalker. Don’t worry,” He said under his breath. “We won. But still, not the environment I want to foster.”
I nodded. “A fine plan. Will they be ready for any kind...”? I stopped and looked at a soldier in the front leaning rest grinning at me. “Vearse?” I asked. “What are you doing down there?”
“Can’t miss a good chance at training, sir.” He replied, sweat running down his face but his smile was radiant. I shook my head and turned back to Ivata.
“Will they be ready for any kind of combat actions in the next few days?”
“I’d be surprised if they were ever ready for it. They simply do not have our strength or reflexes.” Ivata said in frustration.
“All right. I’ll talk to the doctors and see what they can do, and I’ll discuss with Davon what they want to do.”
Ivata nodded. “Colonel?”
“Yes, Major what is it?”
“Thank you, sir, for finding a way to peace. I couldn’t bear more humans dying over a religion that was fading.”
“Don’t thank me,” I replied. “Thank the Phelbs. They’re the ones that stood down.” I turned and walked with Mallory. “May I borrow your office for a little while?” I asked her.
“Of course,” She replied. “Planning to talk to his holiness?”
I grinned. “For a bit, yes.”
—-
