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Alaytion Archives: Caudialomo Sapiens
Alaytion Archives: Caudialomo Sapiens
Alaytion Archives: Caudialomo Sapiens
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Alaytion Archives: Caudialomo Sapiens

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The Alaytion Archives chronicles the evolution of a group of scientists from their humble beginnings on earth in the 21st century outwards into the galaxy ten centuries into the future. After dispatching the enemies of the Alaytion Empire, the Blink Alliance settles in with the Alaytions on their home world and sets about finding solutions to their remaining problems in a fulfillment of an ancient Alaytion legend.

Al DesHôtel
Science Fiction 132,000 words

LanguageEnglish
PublisherAl DesHôtel
Release dateOct 4, 2011
ISBN9781465864499
Alaytion Archives: Caudialomo Sapiens
Author

Al DesHôtel

Greetings! I started writing science fiction in the late 1980's because I always felt that most science fiction was missing a few things. The routine, every day life occurances always seemed to be glossed over or not mentioned at all in lieu of the high excitement items. While my writings have plenty of high excitement scenes there are also mention of routine things and how they apply from the every day life to the storyline.The Alaytion Archives series started out as an idea of an alien race and how an every day ordinary person with above average intelligence could end up far in the future with them. As it evolved I kept finding more and more of the story to write about and it now currently spans 5 novel length books.Another genre that I've taken up in recent years is action-adventure. From the basic shoot 'em up type scenes to complex interlocking plots of advanced spy novels.Like many authors I weave my every day real life experiences into my work so that it becomes more alive and exciting.-Al

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    Alaytion Archives - Al DesHôtel

    Book 4 of Alaytion Archives

    By Al DesHôtel

    Copyright © 2007, 2011 Al DesHôtel

    Cover Art Garry Spoor

    Smashwords Edition License

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

    Author's note: All characters depicted in this work of fiction are 18 years of age or older. All characters are fictional and any resemblances to actual persons living or dead is a coincidence.

    This is the fourth volume of the history of Kaajii Morrell. It was compiled from the historical records of the Blink Alliance beginning with the assimilation by the Alaytion Empire in 3027. Additional data was obtained from the archives of the Terran government, used by permission of his holiness, Pope Xanix XIII. Every effort has been made to assure completeness, but because of the possibility that the information from Terra was censored we cannot guarantee the accuracy of this compilation.

    Information obtained from the Prati, while complete, is translated with some difficulty and certain linguistic liberties were taken to make it readable by someone having a basic understanding of Standard English.

    Further information included in this history was obtained from the archives of the Alaytion Empire. What information we have obtained from the Alaytions is still considered sensitive and therefore, of necessity, has been severely edited for inclusion in this text.

    -- Archives of Sans L’Toriel

    R223-12 loo wewn, Chief of level 17 history

    ONE

    February 4, 3028

    The crimson light breaking over the palace walls reminded Kaajii of the late evenings on earth when he was very young. He had to remind himself that the distinction here was that the light from the star was actually red. The lone supergiant of the system provided illumination for the now ten planets of the Alaytion system. He stared out the window for nearly half an hour watching the sunrise. He had risen early this morning after a very sound, albeit somewhat alcohol induced sleep the night before.

    He listened as one of his wives stirred in the bed behind him. Without turning his head he could tell that Aleasha had risen. Of his four wives only she could exit a bed so quickly in the morning. He heard the soft patter of her feet as she approached. Good morning my love. He said without turning.

    She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss and then disappeared in the bathroom to his right. Now out of his meditative state he finished dressing and quickly tended to business in the other bathroom.

    Departing out of the imperial bedroom suite he was nearly run over by a servant scurrying down the hall with cleaning implements. She profusely apologized to him and begged forgiveness. Assuring her that it was all right he went downstairs to the main level of the three-story palace. One of the maids noticed his passage and dashed off, presumably to notify his imperial advisors. He went down to the smaller dining hall and sat down at a table and turned on a terminal. A servant waited expectantly to take his order.

    Give me a kisrit platter this morning -- Uil’l Kaajii said, having trouble remembering the girl’s name.

    Yes my Emperor, at once. She bowed deeply and departed.

    Turning back to the now ready terminal he keyed in his access codes and read the mail from the previous night. Hastily answering some of the messages and deleting the rest he keyed in a command to switch over to the status network. Once in, a few keystrokes yielded the status of the blink ships orbiting overhead. Satisfied that all was well he checked on the status of the captains. All were accounted for, including Cheryl, one of his wives.

    The servant brought in his breakfast, a sandwich on a biscuit-like roll. It had meat not unlike sausage and cheese on it. A side order of parmiata, something that passed for beans, completed the meal. The juice was orange juice replicated to his personal specifications. Although he liked some of the Alaytion local foods he found that the juices here tended to be too acidic for his palette. He played a game of chess against the computer while he ate, losing after nearly twenty moves. Not bad for so early in the morning, Kaajii thought.

    After finishing breakfast he got up and left, headed for the roof of the palace where a shuttle was waiting. As he approached the outside door the guard opened it for him and saluted. Still early morning the heat outside was a mere 37 degrees centigrade. Cool by modern standards here on Alaytia. The pilot of the ship was already awake and ready as he approached. The door/ramp had begun to open when he was still some forty meters away.

    Once inside he sat in the right chair and strapped into the harness. The pilot, used to his mannerisms, checked the door status and snugged up her own safety belts. She knew all too well that when her emperor strapped in the way he was doing that she was about to be treated to a swift ride. True to form he looked at her and smiled, raising his eyebrows slightly. Then he slapped the vertical lift control to full maximum.

    The small shuttle ship leapt off of the roof of the palace and began ascending at some three thousand meters per minute. After the landing gear was locked in the up positions he tilted the ship upwards and cut in the aft power unit. The larger gravomagnetic drive bit into the thick gravity of the planet and drove the small ship even faster. In a ballet like smoothness Kaajii cut the vertical lift and performed a roll maneuver while changing the main navigation display to a planet-local tactical readout.

    As the image on the screen flickered and stabilized he could see the planet and ships around it displayed in wireframe representations. He keyed in the identification command and the names of the identified ships appeared. Picking his ship, the blink ship Phoenix, he adjusted their vector to intercept it.

    Not to sit idly by the pilot had spent her time keying in the necessary commands to get a landing bay status of the Phoenix. She displayed it on the left of the two monitors to Kaajii’s right. He noted it and gave her a hand signal for bay seven. While she was busy taking care of the landing clearance arrangements Kaajii put the ship into a series of barrel rolls, toying with the view of the starfield. The pilot concentrated on one of her video displays to her left to keep from looking at the rapidly spinning view out the front of the ship. She had learned early on being the personal shuttle pilot to the emperor of Alaytia that he could put the ships through some pretty sickening maneuvers. It was best not to watch.

    Arriving in the controlled area around the Phoenix they were given immediate clearance for docking bay 7. Kaajii flew the ship in on manual control, foregoing the luxury of the automatic systems. However, on manual control he was kept busy compensating for the varying gravity fields of the zones of the landing bay as he crossed over them. Fortunately for his pilot the internal gravity field of the shuttled dampened the effect. He picked a spot well in and to the starboard side of the bay and set down on a designated landing spot. Once on the deck he got up and left, leaving the details of securing the ship to the imperial pilot. He was greeted at the starboard exit by two of his personal servants. Someone had notified them of his arrival.

    Being the Emperor of the Alaytion Empire he had been assured that the servants were a regular part of the perks that came with the post. He had allowed his wife, Yitzi, the Empress, to handle the affairs of state when it came to things like this. She assured him that the servants would take care of his every need so that he may have more time to do things that were important. The two servants meeting him this morning were part of the permanent servant staff aboard the Phoenix. They bowed when he approached and fell into step behind him.

    A short, brisk walk to the docking bay 7 elevator bank and then a long ride up to the main body of the ship gave Kaajii time to go over the preparations in his mind one more time. As the elevator stopped at the top of its travel the three disembarked and walked to the port side level 6 tram. Once aboard the next car that appeared Kaajii pushed the button for the bridge.

    On the way he received several calls from people requiring decisions on technical matters. He had given explicit instructions to his imperial advisors that he was not to be bothered by any official Alaytion matters today. So far, he hadn’t been. He looked across the tram car at the two servants who looked back at him expectantly. The loyalty and obedience of the Alaytion people was quite remarkable. Having risen to the title of emperor by marrying the empress and the imperial princess he was still surprised at how easily the Alaytions accepted his rule.

    He thought about the promises that Yitzi and Aleasha had made to him. So far every promise had been kept. Today he would keep his word to them and fulfill a promise also. If he could pull it off the Alaytion people would be out of their immediate danger so that he could concentrate on other problems. Indeed, with a workforce numbering nearly two million at present everything was geared towards today.

    The chime dinged and a synthesized voice announced their arrival at the bridge. As the doors opened Kaajii and his two servants stepped out and walked down the short corridor on the bridge level. Once the doors opened to the bridge the servants took up their positions on either side of his command chair and sat patiently. They knew full well that they were to stay out of the way until they were needed.

    The communications chief, Rick Englemann, greeted Kaajii by announcing his presence to the bridge crew. To Kaajii’s surprise everyone stopped what they were doing and stood and saluted him. He looked around and then gave them a snappy salute in return. Being organized in a military fashion the Blink Alliance had served him well.

    Good morning ladies and gentlemen. We have a job to do, so let’s get to it. Status reports? Kaajii asked for and received the status reports from all of the major departments on the ship. He also received summary status reports on the other three blink ships. With ships of 30 kilometers in length this process took some time to complete.

    Kaajii watched the tactical display as the four ships moved into tetragonal positions around the planet of Alaytia. They all moved out to what was just a short distance past synchronous orbits. The extra blink field adjustment coils of smaller ships mounted in steering frames were displayed on separate screens. The four main blink field generators would provide the power with the smaller ships used to control any discontinuities.

    Kaajii called for and got confirmation from the other three captains that they were ready and waiting. He got an acknowledgement from Rick that the recorders were running on all telemetry links, data feeds and nearly four thousand video pickups. Yitzi walked onto the bridge, having risen later than Kaajii this morning. She walked over and gave him a show of affection and then took her seat to his immediate right and got comfortable to stay out of his way and quiet.

    Once everything appeared ready the emperor activated a general communications circuit with all ships listening. Rick had already given him the signal that all planetary air and space traffic had been halted. Nothing was flying except for the starcrusher class blink ships. Kaajii then had the gravity generators turned on to adjust the field lines around the planet. Calling for minor adjustments in the field was something that took time and patience. One change would precipitate a dozen others. Only a few people really understood what he was doing, most just followed orders.

    The tactical display showed the planet of Alaytia with the four ships orbiting it. The gravomagnetic field made for a good line up indicator on the blink field. They were similar enough to be considered the same. As the adjustments neared completion Kaajii would call for fewer and fewer adjustments, instead spending time studying the displays. He would call for different views to see it from another perspective. Three Alaytion scientists were reading off orbital parameters every thirty seconds in rotation. Interspersed with that a blink Alliance male voice would be heard every once in a while giving a changing status on blink field generators, gravity generators or power busses. Rick had the volume on the communications circuits subdued to a minimal level.

    At the end of the adjustment period which lasted for some six hours Kaajii finally gave the order, Engage. All looked on, at first thinking that nothing had happened. Some twenty people in each ship rapidly checked orbital parameters to see if the realignment of the orbit of the planet of Alaytia had been successful. Since the ships and the planet had moved as one during the translation it was difficult to tell visually since the relative distance from the ship to the planet remained constant.

    Getting confirmations from different sources Kaajii sat in his chair, relieved of the stress of the past several years. He had managed in less than 24 months to re-engineer the orbit of a planet which was on an inward spiral orbit towards its star. The damage from the meteorite was cataclysmic, yet he had reversed most of it. A great cheer went up as everyone realized that they had accomplished their goal.

    Contact was made with the planet below and the information passed along that the realignment had been successful. The crews of the blink ships were wading through champagne as the revelry picked up.

    Yitzi herded Kaajii and the contingent of happy scientists towards the door. Kaajii stopped briefly and kissed the wall of the ship. Thank you darling. I have the most wonderful crew and the best ship that a captain ever had. He then looked to see who was at the helmsman’s console. Lt. Kijmo, you have the bridge.

    Yes sir! The young lieutenant answered. It was the first time that he had ever been given command of this, the most powerful ship in the known galaxy.

    "My emperor, you have indebted the Alaytion people in a way in which they can never hope to repay you. We all owe you our lives. You are truly the Brethik." Yitzi said.

    Kaajii, I have a message for you from Brad. Rick said as the group was making its way through the narrow doors of the bridge. He said to tell you that he is going to take a month vacation and if the emperor doesn’t like it then stick it.

    The laughter was cut off as the doors closed. Lieutenant Kijmo looked around and realized that he was the only person left on the bridge. At nine thousand square meters the bridge was a large, empty room. He got slightly lightheaded at the thought of being in command of the ship.

    --**--

    February 22, 3028 -- Alaytia

    Kaajii walked into the imperial conference room to a table full of advisors. He took his place at the head and waited as the priestess gave a blessing to the session. Also present were Brad and Nonannia Fujimo. The imperial advisor for science led off. Your highness. The relocation of our planet has resulted in several high tides and a marked change in the weather patterns. It rained last week in Jomil. The first rain in over thirty years. We estimate that in some four decades the plant life will be back to normal. The orbit is stable to six points of accuracy. The temperature here in Hoghadeu has already dropped some five degrees over the same average last year. A movement is already planned back towards the equatorial regions.

    About that. Kaajii said holding his hand up to stop her. Weren’t there some pretty extensive underground shelters built before it became absolutely too hot? Kaajii asked.

    Yes my emperor, there were.

    Good. By imperial decree I want the shelter construction continued. In fact I want a great many places to begin construction deep underground. I have several reasons for this. First it is immensely cheaper to provide climatic control inside a dwelling that is underground. The drawbacks to underground dwelling are ones of fresh air, light and emergency egress. The shelters will be built to an engineering code to be drawn up by the ministry of housing. I want a copy of the final regulations and a meeting before they are released. He paused to see that the housing minister was taking notes.

    "We won’t have to worry much about cooling if the housing is built underground. Also we won’t have to worry about a great many of the problems of above ground dwelling. It is tougher to build underground. I have brought with me the technology to do it efficiently. See one of the engineers from the Alliance if you need anything. As for air and light -- they will be provided by artificial means, much like we used at Wink station. The light is cooler than natural light and the air is much purer. A side benefit is that eventually the air will be purified on the entire planet by all of the air generation going on down below. In addition I want a sizable workforce busy razing structures above ground as the ones below become occupied. We will reform the surface. I want most of the population to move below ground. Up top will be parks and natural places. I have seen pictures of what Alaytia used to be like some four centuries ago. I want to return the planet to that state.

    An additional benefit will be the difficulty of detection and attack should we ever face that. Now that we are the most powerful entity in this part of the galaxy sooner or later someone will challenge that. Our time frame is to have 80% of the population underground within 15 years. We can probably beat that but I’m giving it a generous guess for now. Besides the aforementioned benefits we will have more room for agriculture should we decide to continue along those lines. I seriously doubt that we will." Kaajii stopped.

    Begging his majesties pardon but just how will we survive? You have already forbidden the selling of slaves and if we stop farming we will have no means of income. Advisor Jal’tel said.

    "I won’t have any more Alaytions sold as slaves. In fact I want all that can be found purchased and the money taken out of the imperial treasury. As for agriculture, it can be continued. I’m not saying to stop farming, just that as time goes by it will become less and less important. Now, as to how to have a means of income; we will market products that we develop. Certain things like mass converters are already common among the worlds of the former UPC, as are replicators. We will continue our research and market the improved versions of these. In addition we will begin to market health services. I predict within two decades that Alaytion hospitals will be considered to be the finest medical facilities anywhere. We will have manufacturing, below ground, in pollution free factories. We will provide medical care. Some things like life extension we will keep as secrets and sell only the results.

    In addition we have all the wealth coming from the UPC from the industries that were stolen from me. My secrets that were stolen were also generating profits. The pope has already begun sending regular payments against those debts. There are quite a few worlds that are left in sort of a vacuum, so to speak, over the demise of the UPC. They are looking towards someone to provide them with services. Particularly worlds that are agriculture based who formerly exported their goods. They need a market. It used to be that the markets were all controlled by the UPC. With our defeat of the UPC those markets are now ours. We will have to manage those, at a profit of course."

    I will do as your highness wishes. Advisor Jal’tel said, bowed and sat down.

    Now as for education. The situation at present stinks. And I am being generous with that assessment. I want it corrected immediately. Advisor Wix, since you are the education minister I want a plan. Research what you must, draw upon knowledge from the humans and check the Blink Alliance archives. And I want it by next week. When we meet we will iron out the details and you can begin implementation. The Alaytion population as a whole is nearly illiterate. You have 20 years to achieve a 90% literacy rate among adults. Adult being defined as those over the age of 17. Any questions? Kaajii asked.

    No your highness. The woman said, trying to sink as low as she could in her seat.

    Good. Now that we have solved the problems of the Ventakians, the UPC, the Sellena and the orbit of this planet I only see two remaining problems. The most pressing of which is the stability of the gene pool. Advisor Tyi Roma, being the medical minister what is our status?

    The ill-prepared advisor stood to speak, Your highness. She said and bowed. With the introduction of large quantities of human sperm in the last two years our genetic stability has dramatically improved. We have nearly ceased cloning and the inherent problems associated with that. As you predicted the purebred Alaytion is soon to be extinct. Instead we will have an Alaytion-Human mixture. Due to our already adequate record keeping we have managed to transition over to where we can accurately prevent inbreeding in the future. As per your imperial proclamation several months ago all future marriages will be screened for genetic compatibility and bloodline diversification. We probably won’t have a problem for another ten to fifteen years yet when the present infant population begins to breed. Your own geneticists have already given us a protocol to follow to prevent future problems. The sperm extraction and artificial insemination programs currently in use should be able to be phased out within a decade or less. By that time normal copulation should be sufficient to ensure genetic diversity.

    Good. That is the kind of news I like to hear. I don’t mind doing my part to solve the problem but I do have an aversion to the extraction processes. Anything else I need to know about minister?

    No your highness. Advisor Roma said, bowed and sat.

    Ok. The last pressing problem was how to rebuild the Alaytion economy. As I have already explained I have ways to take care of that. All parties concerned should look at their individual areas and come up with suggestions. In fact of all of you 24 ministers, I want each of you to come up with approximately two pages of status on your particular area and send it to me on a monthly basis. The first one is due by the end of next week. This should help keep me on top of things. These meetings are fine but sometimes I see things in a report which miss my attention during the meeting. Now is there anything else pressing which I should know about? Kaajii asked. Brad raised his hand. Yes Brad.

    Well.. after you took Re out of the system the orbit of the ninth planet destabilized. It is on an outbound trajectory. No hurry, it’s just an ice planet. The celestial mechanics department is working on the engineering plan that you asked for and should be finished with the calculations by this weekend.

    Fine. I’ll look at it then. My guess is that we may end up letting the ninth planet go. I plan to chop it up for raw material anyway. At least that is what I told the celestial mechanics department in a memo last week.

    That’ll work. We need to tweak up the orbit of the three moons of Alaytia sometime in the next month or so. This is what is causing the abnormally high tides mentioned earlier.

    "Ok, schedule another moving party. Is the Halcyon Finis going to be back online in time?"

    Yeah. It’s got another week to go on the new ion drive nozzles. It’ll be ready. Besides we really don’t need the drive just for futzing around with the moons, the thrusters are enough. Cheryl said that her new program for the field equalization will be ready by then too. Should take some of the strain out of the movement on your part.

    Good! I could use a little less stress.

    Thought so. Other than that everyone is happy to be back doing research again. Brad said.

    I’m glad to hear it. Now if only I could get a chance to do some research. Kaajii looked around at his advisors and spotted Wintaka Ere, the advisor on Tomaris the next planet in the star system of the star Omir. Advisor Ere, what is the latest on the colonies on Tomaris?

    Your highness, the colony is doing well. Now that the Ventakian threat has been eliminated the mood there has improved.

    Very well. Kaajii said, suspecting that there was something there worth looking into. Well, for now, I’m going to adjourn this meeting. Remember that each of you owes me a report. Kaajii stood up. All around him stood. He then exited the room.

    TWO

    February 23, 3028 -- Alaytion Imperial Palace

    Yitzi awoke to the sound of muffled voices in the next room. She turned over and felt the bed for her husband. Realizing that he wasn’t there she decided that it was time to get up. Taking a shower she thought about what she would do today. The duties of being the empress had taken a lull as of late since Kaajii seemed to be sticking his fingers into everything. If he kept it up the Alaytion Empire would soon be as efficient as the Blink Alliance. After dressing she went to the sitting/kitchen area.

    Good morning mom. Aleasha said.

    ‘morning dear. I thought I heard someone else in here with you.

    You did, Cheryl and Kaajii were talking when I got up. Kaajii wants you to go with him to Tomaris today. Aleasha said, pausing between bites of a bowl of human cereal and milk.

    I thought I was going to get out of that. Well, I guess I won’t. Yitzi said and then turned to a waiting servant, Just a bubarki this morning with some T-nectar.

    Yes, you highness. The servant bowed and went to fetch the order.

    What’s going on over on Tomaris? Aleasha asked.

    I don’t know. I haven’t really kept up with it as I should have. Kaajii is suspecting that something is being kept a secret there and he will dig until he gets to the bottom of it. My guess is that there are starving subjects there ready to revolt. Yitzi said, accepting the roll and juice.

    Is that all you are going to eat?

    It’s plenty; I’m not really hungry this morning.

    Morning sickness?

    Well, I guess. It’s been getting worse. I don’t remember it being like this with you.

    You weren’t carrying a boy then. Aleasha stated in a jealous tone.

    Well, I best find our loving husband. Bye. Yitzi said and gave Aleasha a kiss.

    Bye mom.

    Yitzi then went back into the bedroom and changed into a flight suit, carefully winding her tail up and tucking it in. She opted for a coil tuck on her back rather than a tight tuck as the coil tuck was quicker to get out of when she had to pee. And being pregnant she felt like she had to pee all the time. She had found that the standard Blink Alliance flight suit fit her well enough, even being pregnant, and was generally comfortable to wear. After exiting the bedroom to the hallway she went up to the rooftop landing area. A small four-person shuttle was waiting. As she opened the door the pilot woke from her nap and started turning on equipment.

    Where to your highness? The pilot asked.

    I don’t know yet. Let me find out. Yitzi said and punched in the code for Kaajii on her comlink. The device activated a radio link to a relay tower which had been erected outside of Hoghadeau and then up to the orbiting satellite network. From there the signal initiated a program which in turn interrogated the personnel databases of all ships in the area. The database from the Ki responded that Kaajii Morrell was located in docking bay 4. She then punched the call button to connect him. After the second ring the voice circuit activated.

    Kaajii

    Honey, Aleasha told me you wanted me to go with you to Tomaris.

    "Yeah, meet me in bay 6 on board the Shintu Maru. Some of the advisors are already there."

    Ok, see you love.

    Bye.

    "Take me to the Ki, bay 6. Yitzi told the pilot who acknowledged the order. Try to land near Shintu Maru if you can."

    As Yitzi watched, the small craft left the city of Hoghadeau below and ascended rapidly. Soon they were outside the atmosphere and the pilot was adjusting their trajectory to rendezvous with the blink ship Ki. The entire flight would last no more than half an hour. Once outside the atmosphere the pilot accelerated the shuttle to a speed that would have turned it to cinders inside the air of the planet.

    Coming up on the ship Yitzi watched as the pilot deftly navigated the ship to the automatic landing capture zone of bay 6. Inside the bay Yitzi could see many ships. The largest of which was the Shintu Maru, being an XT-70 class. It was one of the few ships that actually had wings. Most space ships didn’t need wings for support; instead relying on gravomagnetic drives to work against the gravity field of a planet.

    The pilot set the tiny shuttle down beside the large white bird-like craft. Yitzi thanked the pilot and exited. Once standing on the deck of docking bay 6 she looked up in awe at the majestic white spaceship. Two imperial guards came over to her and escorted her into the ship. Inside, as promised, several of the imperial advisors were waiting. Most she knew, having had them as her own advisors for several years. Only one, sitting on the port side, she didn’t recognize. Kaajii must have selected that one in her absence. He certainly worked fast, she thought, rubbing her pregnant belly. As if responding to her touch the baby within gave a small kick just to let her know it was there.

    The advisors, all being pure blood Alaytions, and hence female, all asked how the pregnancy was coming. Yitzi answered their questions, reveling in the attention. General Chad walked by on the way to the cockpit. He noticed her and smiled on the way by. Presumably he must have told Kaajii that she had arrived since her husband soon appeared in the short hallway that led to the galley compartment of the ship.

    Good morning love. He said, leaning over to kiss her.

    You certainly have quite a party here. She commented.

    Yes we do. Since I have never been to Tomaris before I thought it might be nice if you came with me. I hope you are feeling better now. He said.

    Well enough. It got better after I ate something. Yitzi smiled.

    Good. Well, since you’re here, we’ll leave. I’ve got some work to do so I’ll be on a terminal up front if you need me.

    Ok.

    One of the imperial servants came in bringing a tray of drinks and food just as Kaajii was walking down the aisle. He snatched a glass of juice as he passed by. The servant apparently had them all counted out by the frown that she gave when he took it.

    Once up front Kaajii took the co-pilot seat on the right, Chad already being seated in the left. Kaajii flipped the switch to raise the stairs. Let’s go.

    Aye sir, Emperor Sir. Chad playfully commented.

    Just fly the damned ship. Kaajii smiled and started running through one of the checklists. After setting various controls and communications/navigation settings both men agreed that the ship was ready.

    Chad requested and got departure clearance from the docking bay controller. By the soft voice he could tell that it was an Alaytion in the control room. He gently lifted the ship on the vertical lift unit and nudged the thrusters to turn it around. Once pointing at the main door he lifted the ship higher and cut in the minimum forward power. The ship began to move towards the black starfield outside. As the ship passed the atmospheric containment field it slowed slightly at the drag. Chad watched their forward speed indicator so that he could tell then they were clear.

    Once clear he nosed the ship over to avoid hitting the front of docking bay 8. Heading?

    Try 240 mark 80 Kaajii said, glancing at the astrogation display. He continued adjusting the controls on the power readout that he was looking at.

    On track in two minutes. Chad said as he adjusted the heading and checked dozens of other things that needed to be watched while flying a ship.

    Finally satisfied with what he was looking at Kaajii keyed in the commands to bring up the blink program. The first task was to charge the blink field coil. He loaded the coordinates for the blink point just off of Tomaris that they would blink to. After initiating that he deployed the blink drone. Drone away. He announced. The drone, having a much smaller blink field to maintain, quickly charged its blink field coil. It blinked out of the present spot and then to the spot off of Tomaris. A second later, having collected radar and thermal image data it blinked back. Sending its data on a packet encoded digital transmission the drone repeated the process. Inside the Shintu Maru the computer assembled the data coming from the drone and displayed it on a screen for Kaajii. After the second pass the blink interval was calculated and displayed. Blink path established. Four second blink, all clear.

    Engaging blink drive. Chad said as he pressed the switch on the blink field. In an instant they were now in orbit around Tomaris, rather than Alaytia. Sensing that the ship was now at the destination, rather than at the departure point the program issued commands to the blink drone to return to its cradle in the nose of the ship. The tiny thrusters on the drone fired. A minute later the docking complete the computer display showed the drone was at secure.

    Drone locked down. Kaajii said.

    Where are we going? Chad asked.

    Well, guess we might as well start with the city of Erveele, the seat of the colony government. Descend to thirty thousand and follow the bouncing ball. Kaajii said, referring to the navigation blip that was being displayed on the windshield of the ship by the navigation program. Kaajii had already selected the city off of the navigation display screen.

    They do know that we are coming, don’t they? Chad asked.

    Sure, I called yesterday and told them to prepare for an imperial visit. The viceroy didn’t sound displeased.

    What else would she sound like, after all her emperor just told her he was coming for a visit. You don’t exactly tell the emperor that he can’t come. Chad taunted.

    Well, considering that Yitzi hasn’t ever been there I would guess that they like running things themselves. They did send an official note of thanks for ridding them of the Ventakian threat. Kaajii said.

    Have they ever said anything about the tides?

    You mean since we moved Alaytia?

    Well, I would guess that you upset the lives of more than one fisher woman.

    They’ll adjust. It’s not the fishing villages that I’m worried about. I got the distinct feeling from talking to people that the entire economy is in worse shape than Alaytia. Not too surprising seeing as how Tomaris is an imperial colony. Normally you don’t treat your colonists as well as you treat your subjects at home. Anyway, I want to take a tour around and see what it is really like. Pictures aside I want to look into the back rooms and under the carpet. Kaajii said.

    I think I know what you are talking about. It’s like the times I went to Allegra IV, something just not quite right. Chad said, pulling back on the yoke of the ship to decrease their rate of descent.

    Speaking of which, we need to send another expedition there. I want to know what is going on there and see what that place is all about. I don’t buy the story about it being merely an agricultural center. I’ve heard too many rumors about some of the free traders going there. Why, I have to ask myself, would a free trader go there? Not for hauling grain, I assure you. A free trader is going to only go where there are large profits and usually the large risks associated therewith. Grain is neither very profitable or risky. Kaajii said.

    Drugs, of course, are the predominate theory. Especially based on what we saw of the dazed citizens. Chad said.

    You know its funny how after all this time the problem with drugs hasn’t gone away. People still seek refuge in their own little drug-enhanced worlds. About the only difference I see now is that the drugs are better. Kaajii said.

    Forty thousand meters. I wonder if it’s just that. I mean I have heard stories from some of the traders and the imperial spies that many, many worlds have drug problems and drug trade. But the stories I hear about Allegra IV don’t exactly mesh with those. I mean there are no stories about poverty, gang activity, prostitution, theft, murder, etcetera that are usually associated with drugs.

    Unless they found a better drug or a better way to distribute it. Kaajii said.

    There’s the Erveele spaceport. Descending. Chad said.

    "Erveele control this is Shintu Maru on western approach. Transponder code 22477." Kaajii spoke into the microphone on the local approach frequency radio.

    "Shintu Maru this is Erveele control. You are cleared for landing, proceed to landing pad 1." The soft voice of an Alaytion said.

    Roger Erveele control. Kaajii said.

    Slowing to mach 2. Chad announced.

    So did you say that you volunteer for the mission to Allegra IV? Kaajii asked, displaying a map of the Erveele spaceport on one of the monitors.

    Me? Well, if you want me to go I will. Chad said.

    Good. Consider it your mission. Pick a crew and plan the trip.

    Well .. Ok. Chad said hesitantly.

    "I thought you

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