The Ambassador sat in the lounge area of the super liner Princes Royal. He had been appointed Ambassador to the Numerian Comonwealth only two months ago when the Numerians had asked for formal diplomatic relations after nearly 20 years of trading at Colindare Station. Relativley little was known abot them, not even their internal gate network. They had a fast growing merchant service with nearly 300 hulls cruising USSA and Roman colonies. They had well designed gunboats and relatively inexperienced crews. And they were good at the trading game. Very good.
He watched the Gateway expand from a pinpoint of light to a massive swriling expanse of orange fire. The Princess Royal and her Cruiser honor escort slowly moved into the gateway. He knew What to expect on the other side. He had been told an escort would be waiting for him. The route had already been planned out, even to his shuttle ride to the surface and then to the Visiting Embassy building in Orly. From there imported USSA workers would build the official embassy in about a year. Land had already been set aside for them. 54 acres of land. The embassy building only took up 3 acres at its base and was about 12 stories tall. Accomodations for his marine guard and staff had also been arranged. He looked over at those of his staff who had wanted to see this historic moment. Maybe half of the sixty or so staff were here.
Suddenly, the energies of the gateway subsided and they got their first view of Numerian space. A large space station slowly rotated in the distance, its bronze torus gleaming faintly. The ships around it were so small that they looked like specs of shiny dust. Much closer were four bronze destroyers and another ship that dwarfed them. It was likely the battleship Tiroch d'Tauren. Their escort to Numeria. It slowly fell into place beside the liner and her honor guard. From here it was a 5 hour travel to the Numerian Home planet.
His arrival had signaled "favored" trading staus with Numeria and it looked like their merchants were taking advantage of it. A small cloud of freighters waited for his ships to clear the gate area so they could pass through. Several of his staff got up and went about their business. They would be back in time to get their first view of the blue white marble that would be thier homes for the next three years.
His thoughts were interrupted by Spurius Venator, a hired staffer recruited from Roma. "Sir, may we speak privately?"
His eyebrow went up in surprise. Spurius was a rock. Almost nothing but his wife could shake him. And he never asked for favors. "Yes,follow me." He led Spurius to an emptier spot in the lounge. "How may I help you?"
Spurius looked like he didn't know what to say for a moment. Then, apparently deciding on a course of action, He blurted, "There's not enough noise!"
Huh? thought Morlton, Noise?
"I'm sorry sir. i didn't say that right. I don't sense really anything from the battleship. No mind noise at all. It may well be robotic or lord knows what! "
Moralton thought hard. This was not expected at all. The analysis at Langly said that the Numerians really were not very advanced at all. A robotic ship or psi shields turned it on its head big time. "Thank you, Spurius. Come with me. I need you to tell Linda this."
******
Linda Harriman had been intensely surprised by Spurius's revelations. She did not like surprises like this. You get somebody all nicely researched and niched and they throw a monkey wrench into the works. On the other hand, she always liked a challenge.
The cruiser captians had gone back and started a sensor log review and had determined that the battleship had indeed hailed them and passed the journey coordinates to them. And had done so in real time. No other ships had been near enough to do so except for the destroyers and they were in the wrong direction. So that left out a robotic ship, unless it had a very small crew. Considering the number of hatches and several large landing bays that could be observed, the battleship didn't seem to be heavily automated. Unless it was a trojan. It was theoretically possible that a computer could handle a conversation well enough to fool people for a while... Nah, she was looking for something that likely wasn't there. It was likely a psi screen of some sort. But, why? What would they develop a psi screen for? You didn't spend the effort to develop it and put it into a major ship of war unless it served a deliberate useful purpose. She would keep her eyes open.
*****
Moralton was in the forward lounge again. Numeria had come into view at last. Its twin moons and Lagrange points were visibly industrialized and the orbits were dusted with ships of all sizes and descriptions. The Pontiri Military Station had several destroyers attached and a few more moving away or awaiting clearance. The station was clearly capable of supporting a much larger force. If so, where was it? Motion off to his left showed the battleship Tiroch d'Tauren moving ponderously away towards the Pontiri station. At the same time, in a nearly synchronized motion, the four honor guard cruisers peeled off from their positions and began the long journy back to the Gate. He looked down upon the cloud swirled globe below and sighed. Alien races always had their own surprises, be it culture, or diet, or god knew what else. The Numerians were genetically human, just like him, but seemed to be a religiusly oriented culture. one of the things he had learned at the State Department was to never mess with anothers religion. It got them cranky. His valet, Sam, already had his things packed and waiting for him on the shuttle. The liner would be providing passage down to the Orly space port and the Numerians were to provide transport from there on out. He realized suddenly what had been nibbleing at the edge of his mind. On every planet he had ever been to, he had been able to study its people, its architecture, and its culture long before he had arrived. There was so little really known about the Numerians that he had covered it in less then an hour. This would be a challange.
*****
The shuttles overflight over the vast city of Orly had been instructive. Even from above it was a mix of the old and the new with broad swaths of green growing things. The nearby harbor had looked like it had ships with sails mixed in with massive super freighters. It all gave him an impression of the old world in transition to the new. The sudden influx of new technologies and ideas would be wreaking havoc with some parts of their culture. It often did with the lower technolgy cultures. Was that why they had been isolationists for so long? Why, after 20 years did they suddenly request an American diplomat? Why not a Roman one? He had asked the Roman Ambassador to America for any information the ambassador could provide. When asked why, Moralton had told Ambrosius about his upcoming assignment. The Roman had been miffed to say the least. The Numerians had not requested an Ambassador from the Romans. Ambrosius's language had been colorful, to say the least. He smiled at the memory. It had seemed like a good idea to smooth badly ruffled feathers and so he had approached Shakiri d'Ambrach, the Numerian Ambassador to America, about it. She had looked blankly at him and then started laughing. As it turned out, the Numerians had just not thought about it. They saw the Roman Republic as badly fractured and so had maintained relations with each of its provinces seperately. It, she had pointed out, had worked quite well so far and, unless matters changed, would likely continue to work. There was just something about the way the Romans veiwed the univers that made the Numerians uncomfortable. she hadn't elaborated even when pressed. There was one other thing he had learned as well that he just couldn't get out of his head. They didn't allow immigration. He had learned that from Leroy at the State Department. It was highly unusual to say the least. It didn't fit the Psycke profile done at Langly either. The profile had said that the Numerians were highly accepting of strangers and easily accepting non-Numerians into their circles of friends. They took their friendships seriously. So why no immigration? It was something he mused at until the shuttle landed.
_________________ Benno the Mad Wrote:
man, you gotta realise that thor and bos fell out of the patriot tree (like the ugly tree, but instills patriotism instead of ugly) and hit every branch on the way down.
"Gone now, dispersed by the brutal destruction of this one day, was the belief that the Darkman and his army of the dead were so superior as to be invincible. By attempting to destroy the morale of the Marines, the Darkman had restored it to full vigor. Dia De La Muerto had failed in its objectives."
The Gunny: Stand of the 300
Si vis pacem, para bellum
If you want peace, prepare for war
Gunny's color #FF2400
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