Chapter 12

It took the Elizabeth four hours to traverse the distance to Lagrange 3E, and the outcome was similar to what occurred in Lagrange 3F. He left a small contingent of Marines, had the sub-administrator clear the way forthe feeding operation when the fast cargo ship arrived. He arranged for an apartment for himself while Elizabeth arranged for the safe house.

Rather than stay, he got back to Elizabeth and moved to the next station on the orbit. Each station followed the same pattern, at each one he left another contingent of Marines, so by the time he got to Lagrange 3B he was down to three squads plus his original contingent.

At Lagrange 3B, however, he saw evidence of invisibility-circuited ships near the station. Elizabeth sounded General Quarters. Jeffrey had Janet bring the ship to just a couple kilometers from a cluster of gravity wells with no associated visible mass. He played through the by now familiar announcement about invisibility circuits, cannibalism, and free food. Yet none of the alien ships turned off their invisibility circuits.

Jeffrey had both rail guns target all the ships in the cluster, and fire a half second burst at each. Within ten seconds, all the alien ships in the vicinity of Lagrange 3B were visible and began lining up per Jeffrey's instructions. He then docked the ship.

Jeffrey left Mbaka and Smith on board, but took all the rest of the Marines with him. As they advanced from the airlock, Elizabeth showed Jeffrey three aliens that still hid themselves in invisibility circuits. Jeffrey halted the advance, spoke aloud, amplified by his suit's external speaker. “All invisibility circuits are illegal in Human Space. Violations will be met with deadly force.”

He waited ten seconds, took out his pistol, cocked it and aimed directly at one of the violet blobs that displayed on his visor. The violet turned off and the alien appeared. This one was bipedal, in place of a mouth was a multi-tentacled orifice, some of the tentacles finger-thick and short, while others were halfway down to the floor and thin. The alien spoke in a thin, whiny voice, “Who are you and why do you threaten me?”

Jeffrey noted the other violet blobs began sidling away, and Jeffrey took aim at the one of the left. It appeared and a second later the other one did also.

“This is Human space, under Human law. While here you will obey Human law. I am the enforcer of Human law. In other stations, we didn't even stop to give you aliens a chance to stop violating our law, we just killed any alien using invisibility circuits, either in their ships or on their persons. Now,” continued Jeffrey, “Do you have a way to communicate these rules to your fellow aliens here?”

“No.” came the reply from the first one to have appeared.

“Really? A technologically advanced species cannot communicate?” Jeffrey knew they were lying, and decided to call its bluff. “Perhaps a direct method of communication will do.” He raised his pistol and pointed it at the second one to materialize.

“No, no, no, no. We can communicate.”

“Good. Now we are getting somewhere,” said Jeffrey. “Tell all your alien friends that to use invisibility will bring instant death. Go ahead, I'll wait.”

“It is done.”

“Good. Now. What do you call yourselves?”

“We are the Vorsh.”

“No, we met the Vorsh. You are not them. Try again.” Jeffrey looked at the alien directly in his eyes, noting a nicitating membrane like a cat's or a snakes. “And lying to me is going to be another way to get yourselves killed.”

“We are the Vzzvv.”

“And wo is in charge of the Vzzvv? Who is your leader?”

“We have no...” began the first of the Vzzzv to speak. Jeffrey interrupted him by raising his pistol again.

“The third alien to appear spoke up. “I am their leader. I am Vzzgk.”

“Hello, Vzzgk. I am Jeffrey Sokolov. I am a Navy commander and the governor of all the area in the orbit that this and the other five stations occupy. We have been developing a set of laws that specifically govern aliens in Human space.” He outlined the rules; no killing humans, no eating each other, no eating humans, etc. “How many of the Vzzvv are there on this station?”

“Not many. Five hundred twenty.”

“Have you yet utilized the virus that hypnotizes humans?” asked Jeffrey.

“We only began to do that, but haven't had a lot of success.”

“Good. Stop doing that. The virus use is illegal. We understand the aliens of this section of the galaxy think they have power over Earth and our solar system, but that is not the case. We don't want to give you the impression that we are easy to kill off, so we are going to be aggressive in our rules. But if you follow the same laws we make our citizens obey, you can mingle with us, once you register with the Navy or Marines. Oh, and there is free food for aliens, courtesy of the Navy.” He called Janet by radio to file an immediate report and requisition additional food for the aliens on this station. He then had Janet take Elizabeth to Lagrange 3A to load another thirty Marines, as well as bring back additional Human food and alien food.

Then he took his group, along with the aliens, to the Administration office. The sub-administrator dropped his jaw when Jeffrey and the Marines and the psychiatrist entered his office, followed by the three aliens. Jeffrey introduced himself, informed the sub-administrator that he was in charge in place of the Administrator, but that he, the sub-administrator needed to continue doing his job. “And I need to tell you that your station has been infiltrated by five hundred twenty aliens. These are Vzzvv, and their leader here is Vzzgk. They were planning on hypnotizing your people into not seeing them, but they have invisibility circuits so that wouldn't havealways been necessary. However the use of those circuits is illegal and my Marines will kill them on sight – or not sight, really. But we know how to detect them. On other stations we just shot them if they used the devices, but I figured we could get on better if we gave them a chance to understand that there are consequences for trying to invade and evade us.

“We have a ship coming containing a large amount of food...”

“Good,” interrupted the sub-administrator. “Our people have begun to worry when the food stopped coming,”

“But until it gets here, we have some Navy ships coming to set up a feeding station. We also have a supply of food for the aliens. They get free food once they register with the Navy or Marines. The next ship should be here in a couple hours.”

Things otherwise went as they had in the other stations, Jeffrey arranged for quarters for himself and commandeered vacant warehouse space for the Marines. When Elizabeth arrived from Lagrange 3A, she first disgorged her contingent of Marines, then her shuttles delivered palettes of human and alien food. Then she arranged for the safe house.

Jeffrey sat down in the hardly-ever-used Administrator's office with Vzzgk. He told Vzzgk that Earth wanted to have ambassadors of all the alien races, to be together in one place, the Lagrange military station between Earth and her moon. He asked Vzzgk to identify such an ambassador, and imbue him or her with authority to make decisions for the whole Vzzvv people.

“This is unusual, governor-captain,” began the alien leader. “We usually just conquer a people, not negotiate with them.”

“Well that's not entirely true,” interrupted Jeffrey. “You negotiate with all the other alien races in a council outside our solar system. You can negotiate with us. We will treat you all fairly, as long as you don't try to do nasty things to us, like hypnotize us, eat us, blow up our sun, things like that.

“I have just the Vzzvv to represent us. Her name is Aia. She will not betray our people and can negotiate with yours.”

“Very good. If she is acceptable to my people we will both be happy. Are there other aliens on this station, aside from the Vzzvv?”

“There were, but we ate them.”

“Now, you see, you have to stop eating sentient beings. That's one of the laws here,” Jeffrey tried to control his anger, with some effort he was succeeding. “We will not tolerate any such behavior. I hope that is clearly understood, because if not, we will have a problem.”

“What kind of problem?”

“As you are likely aware, Humans have been fighting each other for a long time. We have developed a taste for war. We are a generally peaceful people, but when we need to go to war, we do so very,very well. You don't want a war with the humans.”

“Oh.”

“So it is imperative that you cease behaviors that we deem unlawful.”

“Yes, governor-captain, I can guarantee the behavior of all the Vzzvv in this station and on the ships.”

Very good.” Jeffrey stood, and in the universal response to a leader standing, the alien also stood. He didn't understand why, but did anyway. “Now,” said Jeffrey, as he escorted the alien leader out the door to the office, “prepare your Aia for her job. We will have a ship going in that direction very soon. We can take her along. Remember, no invisibility circuits.”

Jeffrey then had the sub-administrator contact the mining ships surrounding the station, to inform them that supplies will be forthcoming, but until then the station will offer free food. And that there was now an alien presence on the station, but that the miners had nothing to fear. There was a contingent of Marines to be semi-permanently installed on the station for security.

Jeffrey's psychiatrist had analyzed a portion of the population, and concluded that they were not traumatized like the people were on Lagrange 3A. This was a relief to Jeffrey, as now they could concentrate the mental health workers on one station.

Jeffrey then introduced Marine Lieutenant Honjo Kamakura, who came with the emergency contingent from Lagrange 3A, to the sub-administrator and his team, including the Security Officers and their chief. “Kamakura is in charge of the Marines on this station. Security decisions are his to make. But you will all get along.” He then took Kamakura down to the Marine barracks, along with the Chief Security Officer, and had them assemble all the security officers, and Kamakura to assemble all the Marines, except for those on security duty.

In a makeshift presentation Jeffrey explained about the Aliens that had invaded their solar system. The ones who landed on Lagrange 3A were the biggest problem, but they seem to have stopped the problem where it was, and was now able to reverse it. He outlined the technology the aliens used, such as the virus. They had used a human to modify the virus to affect human physiology and psychology to the utmost. They did this by making audio and video devices affect people in a hypnotic trance-like state, and this made them more susceptible to the suggestion that they couldn't see the aliens.He explained how to protect against the method, and what to do if they encountered people who seemed to be so affected.

Jeffrey told the Marines that any Marine on patrol was authorized to shoot to kill any alien who hid using the invisibility circuits. “However,” he cautioned, “every alien death will be investigated and if your killing was not justified you will be in a heap of trouble.”

“Sir,” one of the young Marines inquired, “What's a heap?”

“Old talk for a pile. So you would be in a pile of trouble. Do you understand that, kid?”

“Yes, sir.”

He continued, “I want, at this time, to restrict that authorization to the Marines. Security Officers, your work is appreciated, and you will be expected to cooperate with the Marines. But they are responsible for any lethal activities. Clear?”

There was a smattering of “yeah's,” and “Yessir's,” But Jeffrey was not satisfied. “Are We Clear?”he spoke louder and more emphatically.

This got the right response - “Yes Sir!”

After the briefing, Jeffrey took Kamakura and the security officer chief aside. “Honjo, I want you to take my apartment for the duration.” Then he turned to the security chief , “Chief, what's your name?”

“Bill Parker.”

“Is that a New Orleans accent?”

“It is, sir. Lower Ninth Ward. Played for the Saints for a while, until I injured my knee. Took up security in Space. Here I am.”

“Well, glad you're here. I want you two to work together. Do you have space in your office for Honjo?”

“No sir, they kept taking office space away from me and put my guys into a closet!”

“Okay, so here's what's going to happen. You get to use my office in the administration suite. The two of you work out how. I intend security to be happy here, but effective. The Marines are here to protect you from outside forces, mostly the aliens, but also pirates and insurrection. Security is here to police the Human population. But you both need to support each other. So anything involving aliens, Kamakura is in charge, and your guys support his guys. The Marines will support your people, but remember they do things in a more ham-handed way. They will be far more lethal. So Honjo will have to temper his guys. Clear?”

They both answered in the affirmative.

The Marines set up two feeding lines, one for the Humans, the other for the Aliens. Both lines were busy, but they didn't mingle. The alien food was in boxes, which they took to their hiding places or their ships, the humans ate at tables served by Navy and Marines. So far, both peoples were happy.

Jeffrey was satisfied that things were going well. He had Janet come aboard the station, and he took watch on Elizabeth, so Janet could have some time off. His lieutenant had been on constant duty, and as some consideration, he also gave Torres some time off. They were to stay at one of the safe houses.

On the ship, Jeffrey saw that much of the ship was less than shipshape. There was a good deal of litter on the deck, nicks and scratches on the walls and bulkheads, spills and stains in a variety of places. If he had an adequate sized crew he would put them to work cleaning, scrubbing, painting and otherwise making his ship better. As it was, he did have Elizabeth's remotes. He put them to work cleaning up the ship. He asked Elizabeth to take the responsibility for keeping the ship in better repair.

He went down to the engineering section in which the golden drive was seated. He found Yuki looking over the controls, checking things off on a list on her tablet. She looked up and greeted him. “It's good to see you on the ship again!”

“Thanks. What are you up to?”

“Checking on the status of our drive. I won't know anything about it unless I can measure and test. So we have a baseline of information that we can compare further or later use. So far everything looks good, sir.”

“That's good,” said Jeffrey looking over the drive.

“The thing that has me so concerned,” she continued, “is the condition of the alien golden drives. They seem so poorly constructed and pitted. I'm not sure if it's because of the construction or because of poor maintenance. Or over use.”

He asked, “Have you analyzed the composition? Are there impurities in the gold, and if so what are they?”

“No, I haven't gotten to doing anything more than a surface analysis. That's in the plans.”

“I'm so glad you are with us, Yuki. You have made a lot possible. Keep up the good work. Is there anything you need, anything I can get you or make for you?”

“Not just now, Captain,” she replied. “If I think of anything, you know I won't let you leave without knowing what it is.”

“Good. How are things going with Heinz?”

“Okay.”

“That's all?”

“I like him, but I'm not sure we're compatible. Don't worry about me, sir. If I decide to break it off, it will be gently. But I'm not thinking about that just now. After all, the sex is great.”

Jeffrey put his fingers in his ears, and mockingly said “Lalalalala, too much information.”

“Oh Captain, you threw us together, I think you had it in mind.”

“Guilty as charged. But don't do anything you feel uncomfortable doing. You're important to me, and your happiness is vital. So if you want to dump him, that's your prerogative, just be gentle. I don't need fighting and unhappiness on the ship.”

“Yes, sir. Dad.”

She gave him a hug. Jeffrey felt pleased that she looked up to him. He was proud of her and their relationship. “Okay, I need to get back to the rest of my ship. Carry on girl.”

“Aye, sir.”

He continued on a tour of the ship. He stopped at the smelting and replication area. Here he saw the remotes and robots cleaning up after a manufacturing run. Elizabeth explained that she had just made a new batch of ammunition for the rail guns and for the pistols and carbines. Jeffrey thanked her for her foresight – keeping on top of the needs of the crew and the Marines. “CAPTAIN, YOU ARE BY FAR THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE ENTIRE REGION, PERHAPS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM. AND CAPTAIN, YOU ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO ME.”

“Elizabeth, we together make a powerful team. I can't do half or a quarter of what I do without you. You make me possible.”

“THANKS, DAD.”

On his way back to the bridge, Jeffrey pondered his ever-growing familial situation. He had lost his wife a decade ago, and had mostly ignored the pain until it became a dull throb in the back of his mind. Losing his parents was much less a blow to him, but still, they were what set him on the course tobecoming himself. But he never continued his own family. A new family was growing on him, Yuki, the brilliant young woman with no social skills, the Chong family, and even his AI. He had a life, but it was not complete, yet. Something to think over.

On the bridge he reviewed the recent conflicts, looking for some pattern that showed a larger picture that wasn't evident on the surface. Each group of aliens he had run across were primarily distinct from all the others, the exception being the small group of non-Vorsh in the Lagrange 3A station. And there was only one example of Ay-Yuyuyah – the blob Thelin.

Thelin ended up as an adviser to Admiral Kutuzov, which may or may not have been a good thing – depending on what Thelin's real motives were. Was the information he had been giving Kutuzov valuable to Kutuzov, or to Thelin? These questions deserved a more professional analysis. He asked Elizabeth to locate Heinz, the IntelTech specialist. She reported that he was in his cabin. “Is he asleep?” asked Jeffrey.

“NO, CAPTAIN, HE IS, AS YOU PUT IT, CANOODLING”

“Oh. Never mind.”

“IS THERE SOMETHING I CAN HELP YOU THINK THROUGH?” the AI asked.

“You know, it has been a while since I've asked for your intelligence estimate. Yeah.” He outlined his thought process, questioning the motives of Kutuzov's adviser, wondering what else they could do to gather more intelligence on their own, rather than relying on what the aliens told them or stumbling across aliens or their technology by accident. And how much was the accident really accidental?

“I'LL THINK ABOUT IT CAPTAIN. ALSO, I WANTED TO REPORT THAT WE ARE GOING TO NEED MORE RAW MATERIALS – MORE HEAVY METALS, MORE NOT-METALIC SALTS, AND I THINK THERE ARE SOME USES FOR ALUMINUM THAT WOULD IMPROVE OUR INTELLIGENCE GATHERING.”

“Can it wait for us to get back to Lagrange 3A?

“YES, CAPTAIN. I JUST DON'T WANT TO CANNIBALIZE MYSELF TO MAKE AMMUNITION.”

“Okay,” said Jeffrey. We'll try to keep that from happening.”

The rest of the evening shift was uneventful. His crew that had been on leave began returning. Janet walked, more like sashayed, onto the bridge, wearing a colorful long skirt and a revealing blouse, with some light jewelery that tinkled when she moved. Her hair normally gathered into a severe bun or tight braid, was loose. She seemed happy. Jeffrey looked up from his data pads and asked, “Wow, what's gotten into you?”

“Oh, I don't know. I feel good.”

“Elizabeth, pay attention here. Humans like to get a night off every now and then. Look at what it did for Janet!”

“HI JANET. YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL.”

“Thanks, Elizabeth. Captain. I'd better get into uniform.” And she sashayed back off the bridge.

“I THINK JANET IS PREGNANT”

“Really? How can you tell?”

“YOU KNOW I HAVE SENSORS ALL OVER THE SHIP – WHEN SHE WALKED ONTO THE BRIDGE, I DETECTED A RISE IN HORMONES THAT SUGGEST SHE IS KNOCKED UP.”

“Huh. Well, how about we keep it to ourselves, let her make whatever announcement she wants to.”

“MUM'S THE WORD.”

“What's that mean?”

“NINTEENTH CENTURY ENGLISH – MEANING I WON'T SAY ANYTHING.”

“Oh. I thought I had a pretty decent vocabulary. I wonder of it's etymology? Never mind.”

The crew continued to report aboard. Jeffrey got notifications from the Marines that there had been no overnight problems and the Security Office chief also called with the same report. Jeffrey had the crew prepare to disembark. He radioed the alien ships telling them to continue their good behavior, and that their rations were still available.

Then Elizabeth moved off, slowly at first, so as to avoid breaking anything on the way out, then picking up speed, until they were traveling at four times the speed of light toward where they anticipated Lagrange 3A would be. Janet had the bridge, Jeffrey lay down in the ready room. He slept well. His last thought before dropping off, was he needed to add the rest of his crew as family – not quite as close as Yuki, whom he now thought of as a daughter, and the Chongs, but Torres and Digger, Janet and Sneaky, even Smitty. Like other people thought of cousins or other close relatives. This was more a mental adjustment on his part, but also included the decisions of those other participants.

After a few hours, they slowed down and took a position near where the Lagrange station would come into view following its orbit. More precision would have been preferable, but at light speed, let alone four times light speed, every millisecond could take you hundreds of kilometers off course. After a few seconds of astrogation, Elizabeth announced they were exactly where they needed to be, only an hour early. Jeffrey decided to wait there rather than chase toward the station and then whip around and chase back after it. He went down to the galley, grabbed a breakfast, and ate leisurely. Torres also came in for breakfast, asked he he could join the Captain and sat down when invited.

“Well now I've gone and done it,” said Torres, wagging his head.

“Done what?” Jeffrey was pretty certain what the conversation would lead to.

“I went and, God this is embarrassing, Janet's pregnant.”

“Ah. Congratulations.”

“You don't understand, sir. This is a problem for her and for me. There are Navy regs that require we serve in different times and places.”

“Not on my boat. I am not releasing you to standard Navy regs. If we are going to hear the patter of little feet on my deck, well I'm all for it. Commodore Yusef thought this was a great experiment. I concur. The experiment continues. So you two going to get hitched?”

“Uh...we would like to, but thought the Navy...thought we were going to have problems with the Navy.”

“Okay, let me fix the Navy part. I'll take away some of their bile by promoting you to Lieutenant. You'd make a good Marine officer.”

“Uh...thanks, I think.” Torres had been pushing the food around on his plate. He now ate in a hurry. Jeffrey finished his meal, bussed his table, and suggested they go talk to Janet, on the bridge.

There, Janet saw the two enter, saw the shit-eating grin on Torres' face, and said, “Uh, oh. Torres, what did you do?”

Jeffrey answered instead. “Janet, Mr. Torres here, informs me of your, ah, delicate condition.”

“Delicate, my ass, sir.” Janet smirked.

“Well, then, your condition. Your knocked-uppedness, your preggers, your mom-to-be-ness. That condition. And that you and he, while wishing for a more or less stable relationship, feared the Navy would put you out to dry. Well I've come up with a solution. You get married on my boat. He gets promoted to Lieutenant, and the two of you continue in your service to Earth, while raising a little brat, here, on my boat. What d'ya say?”

She turned to Torres, “You discussed this with him?”

“No, sweety, he did all the discussing. Really.”

“I would surely have liked to have been part of that discussion!”

“Okay,” said Jeffrey. “Talk. Nothing has been cast in stone, so what are your thoughts?”

“Damn it, Captain,” said Janet in a voice that told Jeffrey she was a bit pissed. “You already did the thinking. Those were my thoughts. I just wanted to have them myself.”

“Sorry. Janet, what would you like to do?”

“I want to marry this lunk, have a few kids, and continue living and working on this boat.”

“Okay then. When do you want to get hitched?”

“Tomorrow?”

“Okay. Be on the hanger deck at 1800 hours.”

“Aye, sir. And Ajo,” she added to Torres. “Dismissed.”

Torres, a look of confusion on his face, said, “Yessir. Ma'am.” Then saluted did a perfect about-face and skedaddled off the bridge.

The station began to loom up on its wide curving orbit, so Elizabeth began speeding up to match orbital velocities with it and the cloud of miner's ships surrounding it. They made the usual announcement of their presence, came within parking distance and settled. The large fast freight ship that had brought the food for the station had left, back to Earth to replenish then service other stations. But Jeffrey noticed several freight ships on the docks, unloading their wares.

Jeffrey notified Jonson that he was back and would be up to his office in a bit. He came onto the station on one of the shuttles.

He then dropped in on dePaul. “Colonel, I've left Marines at each of the stations; more for those with alien presence.” Lagrange 3B had by far the largest congregation of aliens, so he left more Marines there. He left Lieutenant Honjo Kamakura in charge of alien security. The Security office seemed best primed to run security for the Humans on the station.

He suggested the Lt. Col. requisition additional troops for all the Lagrange stations. If things calm down, in time those reinforcements can be shipped elsewhere, but as it was things just were too unsettled.

He made his way up to the administration offices, reclaimed his office, and went through the administrative decisions that had been made in his absence. Things looked pretty solid. He then called for the psychiatrist that had seeing Omotunde to come to the office. When he arrived, Jeffrey inquired on Omotunde's stability and ability to serve. He gave Omotunde a tentative clean bill of health, so Jeffrey had him come to the office.

When Lt. Omotunde arrived, Jeffrey said, “Doc, here says you are well enough to come back to work, to do some intelligence analyses. What do you think?” Jeffrey twirled a pen while awaiting a response from the Nigerian-born Marine officer.

Eventually, Omotunde said, “Sir, I don't have any bad dreams, I have no fears, no flashbacks. I think I am ready to serve.”

“That's good. But if you do suffer any of these, even small things, I want you to, I order you to report immediately to me and to a psychiatrist. Welcome back to work, Lieutenant.”

“Thank you sir. I'll get back to work today.”

“Make it tomorrow. I have some things I want to run by you, but let's start fresh, okay?”

“Yes sir.”

After Omotunde left, Jeffrey thanked the psychiatrist for his diligence in keeping Omotunde sane. “All in a day's work, sir,” he replied with a nod.

He then filed reports for Kutuzov, Yusef and the staff on his stations. He requested a promotion for Torres, notified them that Torres and Bianca were getting married and elected, at his insistence, that they would continue to work on his ship.

After he finished his work he decided to go walkabout again.

He paid a visit to the Chong family, and found they were busy figuring out the restaurant, Lee and Sul were down at the restaurant, while Kim was in the apartment, doing homework – her schooling still counted. She was glad enough for the relief from schoolwork to make Jeffrey some tea and cookies. Things were looking very hopeful for the Chong family, and Kim was delighted that Jeffrey had taken an interest in them. “You and your parents are special to me,” said Jeffrey, stirring a cube of sugar into his tea. “My wife died ten years ago, before we were ever able to start a family. I'd like to think of you and your parents as an extension of my family.”

“I would like that,” said Chong Kim. “I haven't been able to get to know too many people being out on the ship, and some that I've met I would rather I didn't. But everybody associated with you seem to be good people. You bring about the best in everyone.”

“Aw, gee. Thanks,” Jeffrey blushed. “So what are you doing for schoolwork?”

“A curriculum my Mom picked out for me. Right now I'm wrestling with calculus, but it seems to argue with spacial geometry, and I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate what we know about faster-than-light travel with astrophysics. I'm getting confused.”

“Well, I've got a little time, maybe I can help you figure it out. And where I fall short, maybe Elizabeth can chime in.”

“Really? Way cool!” And she brought the tablet to show Jeffrey what she was talking about. He thought he understood her dilemma, and spent the next hour showing the ranges of differences, and where the standard differential equations fell short when incorporating Quantum Mechanics in Einstein's Universes.

Shortly afterward, Chong Sul and Chong Lee came home. Kim jumped up from the table and excitedly told her parents they had a visitor, and he had shown her how to do the problems correctly, and that he made it so she could understand! Jeffrey rose when they came into the kitchen where he and Kim had been working. Sul said, “I've been trying for days to find a way to explain all the little things she couldn't put together, but I couldn't put it together either! How did you do that?”

“Let's let Kim explain. Kind of a test.” Jeffrey sat back down and crossed his arms. Lee made more tea, but listened in to the conversation. Kim began to explain how things changed depending on the scale you worked on. At sub-atomic scales, the rules differed from the Newtonian – scale – that is to say, our scale – and universe – sized scales. Time used to be thought of as a constant, but that was shown not quite to be the case. By the time she was done, her mother and father had a glimmer of understanding, but it wasn't quite as certain as Kims.

“Do I pass the test?” Kim asked Jeffrey.

“Let's ask you Mom and Dad. Folks?”

“I must say, she understands this much better than me,” said her father. Her mother nodded in agreement and sympathy. “But I now know what she was talking about. I understand how things come together, while before I just got along with the Newtonian Physics.”

Lee said, “When I was her age, I had trouble putting this all together too. But I didn't have a person as smart as you to teach me.”

“Aw, gee,” said Jeffrey bashfully. “Kim, I think it's unanimous. You pass!” Then to her parents, “I'm going to need to go in a few minutes. Tell me how the restaurant is coming along?”

“It's beautiful, Jeffrey,” replied Chong Lee. “I think as soon as we can arrange for some food we will begin – we'll open it up. We've been posting flyers everywhere, talking to the neighbors, everyone seems excited.”

“Great! I understand there are some freighters outside the station with food. Were you able to talk to a distributor?” asked Jeffrey.

“No. Nobody told us there were any deliveries. I thought we had to wait.” Chong Lee said.

“Let me look into it. Tomorrow morning. See ya!”

The following morning, he asked Jonson about the freighters on the dock. “Sir, he said, “they contain our foodstuffs for the grocery and food distribution warehouses. But we can't get them to unload.”

“Why not?”

“The union said they hadn't been paid yet for all the work they had done over the last two months when the aliens were here. The warehouses said they hadn't been paid either – the aliens just took the food. So they just sit across a table from themselves staring.”

“Why is this the first time I heard this? Don't you think this is the kind of issue I need to be part of?” Jeffrey asked, his anger rising.

“Sorry, sir. I was trying to figure a way to handle it, I guess it just got away from me.”

“All right. Get me the union leaders and the warehouse leaders and the ship captains, here, in my office in one hour. This takes priority.”

Jeffrey also requested that his chef send over some fresh Kolachis, and coffee for the conference. When the union bosses arrived, they sat together at one end of the conference table, and the warehouse owners came and sat in their own clique, as did the ship captains.

Jeffrey hoarded the sweet pastries in front of himself, poured the coffee into his own cup, made a show of stirring the sugar – he usually took without sugar, but wanted the effect to be memorable. One of the union leaders got up to get a kolachi – Jeffrey asked him his name. “Kowolski. Stosh Kowolski. Hey, these kolachis are good!”

“Great,” said Jeffrey.“Stosh. Sit here by me.” Now there were two people eating the sweet-smelling fruity pastries. One of the warehouse owners got up and reached for one of the kolachis. Jeffrey had him sit on his other side. Eventually all the participants were sitting around Jeffry's end of the table discussing the merits of apricot vs. prune kolachis, one of the ship captains said he thought the cinnamon were better than both the fruit types, but he was shouted down.

When he felt the time was right, Jeffrey interrupted the discussion of pastry and coffee to bring the attention to the reason they were there. “Ladies and gentlemen, I have a station here with ten thousand hungry people. What do I have to do to get those ships unloaded, the warehouses full, and everyone profitable again?”

The union leader, Stosh Kowolski, who first came to the kolachi end of the table, said, “Governor, my workers feel they should be compensated for the work we had to do when those aliens were here.” The other union representatives agreed.

But the warehouse owners said, “They cleaned out our inventory – everything! And didn't pay us a green cent.”

Jeffrey asked if they were covered by insurance.

“Well, yeah, but that doesn't begin to cover it. The lost profits, the start-up costs, not to mention damage to our warehouses.”

The ship captains were represented by one who said, “We just want things unloaded and go on our way.”

Jeffrey sipped his Italian roast coffee. All three groups looked to him as he savored the aroma, the deep, rich flavor. He then put the cup down, gently, and said, “So, for the dock workers, it is a matter of compensation for work done that wasn't paid for.” Dock workers nodded at the summary of their position. “The warehouse owners want more compensation than their insurance covered.” The warehouse owners looked at each other then back to Jeffrey, and nodded in unison. “And the ship owners don't care how it is worked out, just so it is worked out.” The captains agreed.

“So here's what I am going to do. I will pay the dock workers for work they did while under the influence of the aliens. I will pay the warehouse owners for damage that wasn't compensated by their insurance companies, and I will see about getting reimbursed by the aliens. Is that satisfactory to everyone?”

“Unions will agree to that. We'll get right back to work.”

“Warehouse owners agree. Thank you Governor.”

“Just so you all realize that I am going to collect from the aliens, you cannot also collect from them. Is that clear?”

“Normally, we would try to collect directly from the offending party,” said one of the warehouse owners. “But I think we can let it go just this once.”

Everybody agreed, shook hands, wiping their sticky fingers on the napkins. The dock worker's representatives left first, to get their workers back going. The ship captains thanked Jeffrey for his intervention, and then the warehouse owners thanked him for his judicious and timely decision-making.

With the representatives gone, he shared the rest of the kolachis with his office staff.

Reports started coming in of the warehouses filling up, section grocery stores were being resupplied and restaurants were talking about opening. Jeffrey called Chong Sul and told him the good news, so he and Chong Lee locked up and went to the nearest warehouse. They camebackwith a small inventory and a promise of a full delivery within a couple of hours. They began heating up the cooking oil they had just bought, prepared the kitchen for all they would do, then waited for the delivery.

When the delivery came, they quickly put the food away in the appropriate places – cooler, freezer, dry storage. Then Chong Lee began prepping her food, cutting beef into strips, marinading, cutting vegetables, making noodles, starting chicken to make broth, and soup and all the things one used it for.Within a few hours, they opened the doors. A few curious people walked in, sat down and were immediately greeted with a plate of appetizers.

“We didn't order this,” said the man.

“This is gift. On the house.” Chong Sul replied. “Our first day open.”

The customers then placed an order; a beef dish, ate it lustily, and were effusive in their praise. hey came back a couple hours later with some friends. Soon the restaurant was as busy as could be expected – every chair filled. Kim took orders, Sul and Lee cooked, and Sul and Kim served. They worked hard all night, but it was a successful first day.

They counted their earnings at the end of the day, and on top of the tips had made enough to buy adequate food for the next couple weeks. Chong Sul then took a portion of the take, divided it and gave a portion to his wife and another to his daughter. “We did good today. More tomorrow!”

On their second day open, Jeffrey visited the restaurant. He saw the sign outside the restaurant read King's Feast in gold letters on a bright red background. He entered and was greeted by Chong Sul, who insisted his wife and daughter come out of the kitchen. When they saw what the commotion was all about, they both ran up to Jeffrey and gave him a big hug. It was not busy in the restaurant, so Chong Lee had been doing prep work for later that evening. Kim had been helping out, folding napkins and placing utensils in the napkins – either fork, knife and spoon or spoon and chopsticks. She placed them in different piles.

Chong Sul then sat Jeffrey down, Kim brought tea for them both, and water and soup. Jeffrey said, “I don't know much about Korean food, so I should let you order for me.” When the food was ready, the whole family came to the table. Chong Lee brought Jeffrey beer and her husband a glass of fruit juiceto go along with the meal, then they all sat down to eat. They thanked Jeffrey for getting the warehouses going again. Then they said a prayer thanking God for their food, and for each other, and for Jeffrey. He, not being a religious man, said nothing, but knew enough to be quiet during the family's religious obligations.

Lee said, “Jeffrey, you have done us a great gift. You have taken us under your wing. You were our angel, and we are happy and proud to know you.”

“I don't know what to say. I only did what I thought was right.”

“You don't know God, but God knows you. Just remember to do good works.” Said Lee sincerely.

“Something I told Kim the other night when I was helping with her homework,” he nodded to the young girl, “I think of you as part of my family. You are all important to me.”

Chong Sul lifted his glass of juice in a toast, Jeffrey lifted his beer.“To family!”

They continued eating their lunch, when Jeffrey broached the other reason he had come to the restaurant. “Sul,” he started. “I guess we have a decision to make. You seem pretty happy here in the restaurant. What about the Mistral? Were you going to continue to do mining, or did you want to concentrate on the restaurant?”

“Jeffrey, at this time, I think I need to concentrate on the restaurant. If you lease Mistral to another miner, then we can maybe go back to it later. But for at least the near future, I had best help out here.”

“Very well,” said Jeffery,I'll see about doing that. I need some minerals for Elizabeth, so I guess I'll just work with my old broker. And you really need to stick with this restaurant – this food is out of this world!” Jeffrey sat back, finished his beer, then said, “Can you come to Elizabeth tonight? We are going to have a wedding – Torres and Janet are getting married at 1800 hours.”

“Really! That's great!” shouted Kim.

“I don't know,” said Lee. I hate to close on our second night.

“Please, Mom, She's a real friend. We can go, then have them come to the restaurant afterward.”

“All right, all right. We'll go, then have them come here, then we'll give them our gifts, then restaurant as normal.”

“Yay!” shouted Kim. “We have to go shopping, Mom.”

“I don't have anything to wear,” complained Lee. “And what to buy them for a gift? Husband,” she continued. “You continue chopping vegetables. Your daughter and I are going shopping.”

They carried the dishes to the buss station, Kim filled the dishwasher, ran it, and put everything away. They made a sign that told potential customers they would be away until 20:00. Then Kim and Lee went shopping, Sul went to the kitchen to chop vegetables, and Jeffrey went away.

He had Elizabeth inform Janet about the restaurant's request that they spend time there after the wedding. Then he went to his old broker's office. “Governor!” Jonathon called out. “I am so glad to see you! What brings you to my little office?” Indeed, it was a little office, crammed with all sorts of electronics – commodities prices computers, communications, calculating equipment.

Jeffrey told him about Mistral, and said he was looking for someone to lease her. “I have just the person. She's a recent widow who used to work with her husband. Her ship was destroyed by pirates, and she is looking for a small ship. Let me have her contact you. Her name is Sandra Knutson.”

Jeffrey thanked Jonathon, and took his leave. He then went back to his office. He asked Jonson if he knew where he was likely to find Lars Olson, the security chief. He hadn't seen him among the security officers, and none of the officers he had captured before taking over the station from the aliens could say where he had gone. Jeffrey met with Omotunde, and asked him where Olson was likely to be hiding or hid. Omotunde said he would see what he could do to find the security chief.

Jeffrey then told Omotunde of his concerns about the aliens, and asked for an analysis. He would then compare Omotunde's analysis with Elizabeth's.

He then returned to the ship, got dressed in his finest military uniform, and started planning on what he was going to say to the couple. He left the decorations up to Elizabeth, who knew more about such things than he did anyway. When the time came, he walked to the shuttle bay, saw that the shuttles had been removed. There was a small crowd, but it seemed to be growing larger and larger by the moment. Jeffrey then noticed that people were entering the ship via access tubes. Elizabeth had apparently docked herself and extended the flexible tubes as gangways.

By the time 1800 rolled around, there were several hundred people dressed in fancy dress on the hanger deck. The decorations were tasteful – long strips of shiny aluminum foil in pastel shades of pink and blue. A red carpet stretched from the back of the hanger, the aft end of the ship, to the front, where a platform was erected.

On both sides of the carpet were lightweight but sturdy benches so all participants could be seated. On each bench was a small pile of flimsies with a text of the program. Jeffrey walked to the platform and stood at attention. The noise of the crowd died down a little. Then from the back of the hanger deck a bosun's whistle sounded. All noise quieted, people took their seats. Then a sound like a long braying of a donkey echoed throughout the room. The sound continued for a long time, then was joined by other, higher sounds, recognizable now as the bellows and pipes of a lone bagpipe.

The piper, dressed in a navy plaid kilt and jacket, with a matching colored bagpipe, began piping a tune, “Wedding at Malborough.” Nobody recognized the tune, or likely had ever heard it before, and after the bagpipe had been playing for some time, it was wondered by some whether they would ever hear anything ever again. Then the tune stopped and the piper started again with a dorian-mode rendition of the Wagner Wedding March. It was almost recognizable, and some people took it for what it was, atune played on an instrument that didn't have the right notes for it, but played with enthusiasm and a pedal-point drone. The piper marched slowly, to his own beat, the drone continuing on. Ten steps behind the piper, the newly commissioned Lieutenant Oso Torres marched, matching footfalls with the piper. Torres was in a new dress uniform with his lieutenant bars shining brightly. The officer's cover, a cap, flat on top, rising to the front, with a Marine badge on the front sat uncomfortably on his head, not something he had ever worn before. He wore a sword, a ceremonial blade, that was much more than that. The saber was a real fighting blade, even though it had hardly ever been out of its scabbard. Torres was sure that his ears would fall off if the piper didn't stop soon.

Then, as the piper reached the platform, he turned around, played the last of the wedding march, then let his bags deflate, although many people could still hear the loud ringing in their ears. A solo flute picked up the music, filling the air with a piece originally written for solo violin, a sweet and melodious piece by the old master JS Bach. The flutist came into view – Yuki – in a low-cut turquoise dress that swept the deck as she walked and played. Behind Yuki came Janet in a sheer white dress, with a formfitting body suit underneath. She seemed emotionally numb, but kept herself erect as she walked behind her friend playing the Bach piece.

At last, all participants were assembled, the music stopped and people were just getting over the blast from the piper. Jeffrey spoke in a loud, clear voice.

“All you who are gathered here today are witness to a beautiful thing; the joining of two friends into one. The mating of Human families into a cohesive whole, the development of a partnership that will grow into a solid, single unit.

“This couple has tried each other out. They have held each other lovingly and tenderly, and have initiated a love that has transcended their stations. They hold many things compatibly – they are both combat professionals. They are both shipmates. They hold friendships in common. They have defended our system from attack by alien hoards and have pursued evil.

“Today they embark on a journey together, as shipmates, as bedmates, as friend to their captain and crew. They together bring the best of their lives here, they together stop being just one or just the other, or just two individuals, they become a family.

“As part of this ceremony, I give a charge to both of these, my officers; Do not sell your mate short. Neither one of you shall do anything hateful to the other. Never let the sun set on your anger. Bring hope to your offspring, lead them in light of the love you display for us all today. You are both extraordinary individuals. If one shall fail, the other shall be there to lean on. Always let this be so.

“Lieutenant Torres, present the ring for inspection.” Torres reached into his pocket, where he knew the ring was – he had been fiddling with it for the last four hours. He presented it to Jeffrey. Jeffrey said, “Is there anyone here who wishes to bless this ring?”

Chong Lee stood and walked up the red carpet, up the platform. She was dressed in a traditional Korean wedding official outfit – black and gold and red dress with a long jacket with wide sleeves and broad cuffs. She said a prayer in Korean. She then stood beside Jeffrey, who said to Torres,“Please place the ring on Janet's finger. He did.

“Lieutenant Bianca, present the ring for inspection.” Janet took the ring from a string around her neck. The string came loose immediately, and the ring fell into Jeffrey's hand. He wondered how the string held until now, but he had early on learned never ask a magician how a trick worked. Chong Lee said a prayer over the ring Janet had presented. Then Jeffrey handed it back to her and asked her to place it on his finger.

“Are there any here who have good cause to object to the wedding of these two lovers? Not hearing any, I now, as authorized by nautical tradition and Navy regulations, pronounce these two wedded.”

The wailing and caterwalling of the bagpipes started up again, and he played a quick tune nobody recognized, but this time he made a hasty retreat. By the time he got to the end of the red carpet he was ready to shut down his pipes. After the bag deflated, he took out the earplugs.

Janet and Torres walked down the aisle together, arm in arm, greeted by everyone who had attended. Women wept, men applauded, a hastily organized double line of Marines drew their swords and made an arch for them to walk under.

“Thank you, Captain, for letting me help in the ceremony,” Lee said. It is important to me that God have a touch on all such things as this.”

“Lee, I am not a believer, but I am also not a disbeliever. If you present a part of the universe that I cannot see or touch, but that you can, than I think we together have made a greater thing here. Don't you?”

“Yes, Captain, I do.”

“See you at the restaurant!” said Jeffrey. As people began filtering out of the ship through the extended pressurized gangway, the little remotes began removing the aluminum bunting and tinsel strips that had brightened the hanger for the occasion. They carried the thin aluminum strips to the aluminum bin for recycling.

The shuttle bay began to look military again. After the last of the gaily clad visitors had left the ship, the shuttles reentered the bay and locked down. Jeffrey disembarked and made his way to the King's Feast restaurant. When he entered, Chong Sul, dressed in a tuxedo, called everybody's attention, and a round of spontaneous applause broke out. Jeffrey waved, acknowledging the recognition, then sought a way to find an obscure corner, but Lee wouldn't let him. She dragged him to the head of the table which held a splendid feast and beautiful place settings. She rang a glass to get everybody's attention, told them to find the place card with their names. The guests sorted themselves out, and within a minute, everyone was seated.

The Chongs were not drinkers of alcohol, but that didn't prohibit them from offering champagne for those who drank. Lee nudged Jeffrey, and when he looked at her confusedly, whispered, “You toast the bride and groom!” Jeffrey noticed her dressed in a black pantsuit with a black short-waisted jacket.

So Jeffrey rose, held his glass up and said, “Your attention, please.” The hubbub of talk died down, and when the revelers saw what Jeffrey was doing, they also held their glasses up. Some glasses contained the champagne of a traditional toast, others contained a fruit juice or punch or water. But the sentiment was the same; drink to the health and in agreement with whatever Jeffrey said.

“I have known the bride and groom since they first stormed aboard my ship in an effort to arrest me. I'm glad they failed in that first meeting!” Chuckles and a few nervous laughs broke out among the guests. “But immediately afterward, they joined forces with me to wrest control of a Navy vessel from the clutches of mutineers and pirates. In doing that, she drafted me. This put her under my command. After we re-secured the warship they came from, they and a couple others were assigned to me, as a new military person.

“Ojo Torres has become a powerful advocate for competence on my ship. Because of him, we have had success in every endeavor we have undertaken. Janet Bianca was a feisty Petty Officer, who fulfilled all my expectations and exceeded them. Both of these lovers were promoted to Lieutenant, a rank that gives them considerable authority and responsibility.So let me break this toast down to one thing. These are smart, competent, honest, loving, caring, beautiful and handsome, loyal, and determined people, whom I fully intend to keep in my command! So here's to a long, productive marriage! Janet and Ojo!”

Shouts of 'Here, here,' and a smattering of applause rang out. Torres stood and the crowd quieted down a little. “Thanks, Captain for the kind words. I have only one thing to say,”here he took Janet's hand, she stood too. He placed his cup of juice on the table, and it promptly fell off. He looked at the stain on the carpet, shrugged, put his hands around Janet's waist, drew her closer to him, then gave her a tender kiss. She put her arms around is neck, drew him even closer, and kissed him a bit more passionately. After half a minute, they relaxed their embrace, Torres turned to the table, picked up the Captain's champagne glass, and said “Let's get this feast going!” To which everyone laughed and applauded.

The Chong family began bringing out trays of prepared dishes, including some traditional Korean fare, some vegetarian dishes, some standard catering fare – chicken Kiev, stuffed pork chops, eggplant Parmesan and more and more. Jeffrey now saw that the Chongs had changed their outfits again. This time they wore starched pure white chef's jackets, small chef's toques, checked pants and comfortable shoes.

After most people had finished their meals, Kim began busing the tables. Jeffrey saw she was now wearing a formal Korean long jacket – black with embroidered dragons.Then she removed the beautiful table decorations. Lee brought a seven-tiered wedding cake with pale blue and pink and white icing. Ojo drew his sword (he had made sure it was very clean, first,) and sliced the cake – at least the first slices, which he served to Janet and himself. Kim took over the cake cutting and plating, using a more traditional cake knife.

After the ceremonies and speeches and dining were done, the well-wishers cheered Janet and Ojo on as they boarded the elevator to one of the safe-houses they intended to use for their honeymoon suite. Jeffrey gave the couple a week to themselves. If an emergency arose the ship could work without them.