A Very Good reason (Part Six)

The Admiral enjoyed his tea. Bork had panicked a little, but had managed it well enough and left quickly. He started with one idle question, as he waved the spoon, ‘So, engineering tool twenty-six?’’ Tay laughed. ‘Well, we called it a tea-spoon, but it doesn’t measure the tea, so Bork became confused. In the end, it was easier to change it than change him. It’s fine if he knows, exactly, what he needs to do. He’s a clever guy, just a little Xeno about stuff.’ She turned serious,’ Having to rethink the simple stuff has really helped us. Without Bork, well, we would never get out of the human headspace. He’s probably the most important ingredient in the mix, at least for Xeno tech,’

The Admiral looked into his now empty mug. ‘Thank you for the tea. You will not be surprised to know that I didn’t just drop by. I have news for you. I preferred to do it here, quietly, in case you wish to refuse. We dragged you off your ship, and frankly, Captain Zac’Hary is still complaining about that, but your work is important. And how you handled the recovered humans? A miracle. I came to thank you, and make you an offer, and an officer. You will be Captain of Intel Engineering, with special responsibility for all recovered humans. An entirely new department. Feel free to write your own job description, I’ll sign off on it. I know that we need you, and that they need you. I’m afraid the rank stays with the job, so think about it.’

He stood up, putting down his mug. ‘Go to work, Chief. Put it together. I’ll see you first thing in the morning. Tell Bork he is now making my tea from now on. Recipe forty-seven. Call it work experience.’ He put two bars on the table and left.

Slightly faster than the speed of light, Olly and Oskar were there. They spotted the bars, they saw the shocked and silent Tay and found the solution. They crowded the doorway, saluting as hard as they could. Bork arrived with more tea and cake, since he thought this might take some time. Roaden brought something stronger. In bulk.

Tay arrived back to her quarters early. All work had stopped with the victory, then the Admiral, then the drinks. All the drinks. Whatever she had wanted, the crew were rejoicing in being the first ever members of Intel Engineering. Whoopee. As she stumbled to her bed she noticed two vital facts. The first one was a shiny new Captains uniform, carefully placed on her bed. The second was that it was empty. Damn it, Ben needed to be here for this. She carefully hung the uniform up on the floor and slept.

Captain Sullivan was getting some grief. The rumor that someone was chipping off parts of Intel, building something new, was unwelcome news. The entire fleet was here, not some one-off experiment. Then the Admiral had announced the existence of this new department and its new Captain.

Time to make a point or two, ‘Captains. Listen very carefully, the Admiral appointed her. I recommended her appointment. She is responsible for liberating an entire planet, without you, or your ships. She has developed all the Intel you are currently using, and has been from the beginning. She is in charge because she invented the discipline, nothing else. I expect you to treat her as an equal, because I also expect her to outrank you in a month. Get your shit together. The Admiral is, with immediate effect, demoting Captain Hermes of the Auro, Captain Entris of the Cryer and Commander Sisel of the Second Marine Core on the Mantis. Anyone else want to fuck with the Admiral?’

The room went silent as those three members were removed, under arms, from the conference. And so Intel Engineering was born.

Bork woke her up, an anxious and truly ugly face, first thing in the morning. ‘Captain, you must get dressed. The Admiral is waiting for you. I brought him his tea, he said you might be dying after last night. He was wrong, I have checked your vitals, although I await a stool sample. Please, Captain. I made tea.’

Tay gulped down her tea. The new uniform sat uneasily, over-pressed and shiny. She had to admit, putting those bars on had been a big deal. A seriously big deal. Suddenly she had her whole people to think about. It was pissing her off that that was in charge of that. One day she would explain how fucking stupid that was, but not today. There was enough stupid around right now to feed a family of four. She just wanted to kill the fucking Intec and get everyone home.

Admiral Willams had taken a little time over this. Captain Williams had marked it ‘sensitive’. Never a good sign, especially when he held the planet in his hand. Unfortunately, the humans were really bad at being slaves on this planet. According to Captain Sullivan, humans held half the land and were in the middle of a war about the rest. The problem was, they were fighting the Fay. The Intec were playing this one clever, hiding in the mountains and space, sending resources to both sides and controlling the skies.

Captain Zac’Hary didn’t enjoy being off his ship, but it was exciting to be on a human warship. Until recently, he wouldn't have believed it possible. He didn’t realise that he reminded every human of a T-Rex, a memory from the very early days of media. He met the Admiral in his quarters . Admiral Williams was polite, and someone had prepared an excellent cup of tea. ‘What can I do for you, Admiral? What is so terrible that you needed my old bones over here?’

He handed the Captain the folder. Zac’Hary took it, looking quizzically at the admiral, ‘On paper, no less. How quaint.’ the Admiral shook his head, ‘Not quaint. Secure. Read it and you will understand.’ He pointed at his map. ‘APXINTEC3. Our next target.’

Williams wore a grim smile, nodding at the planetary map. ‘This. This is our worst nightmare. You told me, once, that you people make bad slaves. So do we. And now we get to see what happens when they meet. The Intec are hiding, keeping themselves in lower orbit. It will take minutes to destroy them. What I need, Captain, is a plan for our people. If this is as bad as the first time we met, we are looking at hell.’

Captain Zach’Hary hissed, the pain of those early days and the cost. He didn’t notice his tail sweep across the desk. He had been there. Humans, they had such short lives.

Humans had called it green hell, they had called it the garden of bones, they both had many names for it. The only time the humans and the Fay had fought. Arrogance and advanced weapons, against human farmers and bloody-minded defiance. The Fay had recognised their faults, but many had died. The surrender was no polite conversation, it was built over corpses, over a mountain of the unyielding dead.

‘You bring me this? You dare? Your people are killing mine. This is a war. Make your people surrender. I have been here before, Admiral. This time we will hold you to your word.’

Williams raised his hands, ‘Yes.I know you were there. This is not a war. We will end this today. I need you to make our people safe, above all. I’m asking you to help. The Marines will answer to you and I, Captain. We will end this war using human hands and human voices.’ He turned to the map. ‘Or they all die.’

The simple truth was that the treaty between their people was long known and simple. Never in arms, never in conflict. Blood bought blood, allies in all. The price had been paid. If the inhabitants didn’t willingly end their war, well they would die at the hands of both species.

Captain Zac’Hary read the file, sitting silently in his office. It felt good to be back on his ship, but this news would shake the very foundations of his people. Unless they presented the situation as resolved, held the Intec responsible and, well, outright lied if necessary. The term ‘Classified’ was going to appear on a lot of documents shortly. What he was looking for was a solution. After much thought, he called the Admiral. ‘I have a proposal, admiral. We have one that we both trust, that has shown some skill in this area. I will name Engineer Tay as my ambassador in this matter. I suggest you do the same. We will agree to abide by her judgement. Otherwise, I must summon our military and I believe that will end poorly for us all. She must seek an end to this ...skirmish, and quickly.

Tay expected a briefing on her new responsibilities, a pat on the head for taking the job and a work schedule that would keep her tired for the foreseeable future. She did not expect a grim-faced meeting with the Admiral and Captain Zac’Hary, and a task so outside of her expectations that she, momentarily, thought she was at the wrong meeting. No such luck. ‘Captain Tay, we realise that this is unexpected. You have the trust of both of us, and a deep understanding of both species. Captain Sullivan is currently removing the Intec from the planet. With luck, the humans and fay will take that as a sign to end their hostilities.’ He paused, watching Fay’s reaction. So far, so good. He continued.

‘Remind them that we can give them worlds, as many as they want. I don’t want our military on that planet unless all else has failed, although you may summon whatever you need. We will stay in orbit until called.’ The admiral looked at Captain Zac’Hary, ‘We are in agreement here, while we have this window of opportunity. Should you fail, the Fay will be summoned and, together, our forces will crush both sides.’

Captain Tay walked back to her office, taking a moment while she waited for the shuttle and Intel to be prepared. She had refused any military equipment, preferring to rely on her own gear. She had no intention of shooting anyone. She called Roaden in and dumped the entire department on him, saying that she had been sent to deal with some ‘new issues.’ She allowed him to assume it was with the new department. Then she found herself heading to APXINTEC3. She wondered what the locals called it.