Chapter 8
When the Commodore, Captain Moser and Angela returned from their meeting with the Admiral, the Commodore informed the crew of the plan to revisit reality one and look for a base on what they knew as Astraeus 5. Once she had finished and the crew had started to prepare to move the ship to Astraeus 5, Dev and Billy approached Angela and asked her if she knew when they would be in a position to investigate the Captain’s controls.
‘The Admiral has said that we can’t start pulling anything apart until we have another ship. Let’s just hope that there’s at least one in reality one’ replied Angela.
Two hours later, the ship was resting on the planet’s surface in reality one, a short distance away from this version of the base in which the ship had been found. They decided that they needed to be far enough away that, on the one hand, anyone in the base wouldn’t know they were there yet, on the other hand, they were close enough to be able to monitor the base for activity.
A short while later a small contingent of the ship’s marines entered the base and radioed back that the base was, as far as they could tell, identical to the one on Astraeus 5 and that there was no sign of life. There were two ships in the forward hangar, both identical to the one they had arrived in. With this information, the Captain sent the remaining marines and two suitable pilots to the base to remove the ships. The marines were tasked with removing any ordnance and moving it to a pre-agreed site in a crater a kilometre away from the base. It was hoped that this would be far enough that Zero’s forces wouldn’t find it, yet would mean that the team wouldn’t need to attempt to transport and store it in their own reality. Once the current mission was over, they would make a formal decision as to what to do with it.
After three hours, the base had been cleared of everything that could reasonably be removed and the two ships returned to Columbus.
The process was repeated in realities four and ten without any hitches. The only difference was that, in reality four, there was no ordnance, which meant that their stay was relatively brief, and in reality ten, there was only one ship and a small amount of ordnance in the rear hangar. They managed to clear out that base in just over an hour.
After they had finished in reality ten, the Commodore decided that they needed a break before visiting reality two, so returned to their home reality, as the plan with reality two was to contact the space station and seek support. They needed to feel refreshed before doing that, as they weren’t sure what kind of reception they would get. She also wanted to make sure they had enough ships available to be able to demonstrate a show of force, should the reception be hostile. Now that they had seven ships, they needed to ensure they had sufficient crew and marines to support future visits to other realities. She therefore drafted in Captains George VanDelden, Beth Doolan, Mark Besant and Shu Wan. She would captain the sixth ship, with ship seven being left at Columbus, so that Angela and her team would be able to work on the Captain’s controls. She then made plans to transfer as many people as possible, including marines and support staff, to crew the six ships. She hoped that most of them wouldn’t be needed but wanted to take no chances.
The following day, the Captains and as many crew as possible were transferred to Captain Moser’s ship for training. Fortunately, most of the basic flight controls were sufficiently similar to what they were used to that the Commodore hoped that training would prove to be a fairly straightforward process.
the training was taking place, food and other provisions were loaded onto the remaining five ships that would form the visiting party. Other crew members were gathered together at the naval base and readied for embarkation.
Three days later, the Commodore and the five Captains were happy that they and the crews were as prepared as could be hoped for in the limited time available. Captain Moser’s ship was then provisioned ready for departure. Later that day, the six ships moved to Astraeus 5 and moved into a ‘V’ formation above the planet in a position that gave them a clear view of New Oregon, with the Commodore in the lead. Although they were a long way from New Oregon, they hoped that this would mean that they wouldn’t materialise in reality two in the same space as was already occupied by another ship.
As soon as they were all in orbit, the Commodore called the other Captains and informed them that she was about to check that the area was clear in reality two. Two minutes later, she returned and confirmed that there were no ships in the vicinity and that they could all make the transfer.
One hundred thousand kilometres from the space station, they received a radio message asking them for identification.
‘This is Commodore Ellie Powell plus support ships of the Imperial Navy of the Lincoln system seeking assistance from your Government’ replied the Commodore.
After a short delay, they received a reply. ‘We have checked our database, Commodore, and have no record of the Lincoln system. From our scans, it is clear that your ships are incapable of inter-stellar travel. Please explain how you got here. Until we receive a satisfactory explanation, please hold your positions.’
‘The story is complex, Control. I am happy to explain how we got here face to face but not by radio. If you are able to arrange it, I would be pleased to explain the circumstances of our arrival to your naval Admiral or other senior officer. This can be either on your territory or, preferably, on this ship.’
‘You realise this will take time to discuss, Commodore?’
‘I am happy to wait for further instructions, control. In the meantime, to demonstrate our peaceful intentions, we will remain in our current position until advised further. If you would like to send an observer, we will be happy to entertain them while we await the decision.’
Fifteen minutes later, there was a call from the station. ‘Commodore, I’m afraid that we are unable to accede to your request. The Admiral is currently unavailable and the Commodore does not believe that ships such as yours could have come from a system such as you say. All nearby systems are well known to us and, despite an exhaustive search of all records, there is absolutely no record of a Lincoln system. There is no record of ships such as yours in our database and your ships are not equipped with the transponders that all ships are required to use. Unless you start to leave the system within the hour, we will have no option but to engage a naval response.’
‘What, that’s it? No attempt to discover what we’re here for?’ asked an exasperated Ellie.
‘I’m sorry, Commodore. I have my orders. There have been reports of pirates between here and two neighbouring systems and we currently have no basis to accept that you are who you say you are’ came the terse reply.
‘Control, please watch your screens VERY carefully. You will see something I had hoped not to have to demonstrate at this stage but you leave me with no option.’ With that, she cut the contact with the station and called her Captains. ‘Captains, I’m afraid this isn’t going to be quite as straightforward as I’d hoped. I want you all to go to reality one, where we’ll travel fifty thousand kilometres closer to the station, after which we’ll return back to this reality. Let’s see whether that convinces them we’re worthy of being treated seriously.’
As soon as they returned to reality two, the Commodore called the station. ‘Control, this is Commodore Powell. Do you copy?’
Five minutes later, a red-faced, middle-aged woman looked back at the Commodore. ‘You have my attention, Commodore. I am Major Evans of Security, in charge of security services covering all the space in the system. The Admiral has been informed of your demonstration. She is intrigued, to say the least and has asked that a single ship move to within five thousand kilometres of the station on your current heading. There, a shuttle transporter will meet you. You and up to five support personnel will then be brought to the station. You must all be unarmed. The remaining five ships must remain where they are.’
‘Thank you for your invitation, Major. I accept. I’m sorry but my support personnel and I will remain armed until I see fit for that to change. Weapons will, I can
promise, only be used if there is any kind of attack on any of us and, as part of our standard protocol, will be set to stun only.’
Two hours later, a Commodore Richard Stork and five heavily armed guards greeted the Commodore, Captain VanDelden and three marines. The visitors were escorted to a conference room and invited to help themselves to refreshments before being invited to be seated. The marines were asked to sit at tables at the edge of the room.
As they sat down, a woman entered the room. Commodore Stork and his guards promptly stood to attention and saluted her.
‘At ease’ said the newcomer. ‘Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, I’m Admiral Hannah Craven. I’m in charge of the navy in this system. If you’ll excuse me, I’ve just been to a very long and tedious meeting and am really hungry and thirsty, so will join you in some refreshments. I’ll join you in a few moments.’ With that, she moved over to the refreshments and helped herself to a variety of sandwiches, two pieces of cake, and a drink of fruit juice.
Once she had put her food and drink on the table, she looked to Commodore Stork and asked him to introduce their guests. After the introductions, she addressed the local marines and asked them to leave the room. Seeing that the Admiral was unarmed, Commodore Powell asked her marines to do likewise and passed her weapon to one of them. Captain VanDelden also passed his weapon to a marine.
‘Thank you Commodore. May I call you Ellie? Captain, may I call you George? Feel free to call me Hannah. When we’re in informal situations we try to avoid using ranks if we can. I hope you’re comfortable with that.’
‘Certainly, Hannah’ replied Commodore Powell.
‘Good. Now that’s sorted, I’m intrigued as to how you got here and how you performed your little disappearing trick. You were clearly doing it for effect.’
‘Sorry, I was somewhat frustrated by the blocking tactics we received. We come from another reality, which is very similar to this one. We found, with the help of someone who had landed in our reality following an accident, that there was a military base on what we call Astraeus 5,which is the fifth planet of the system. We’ve been investigating two warships we found there, with the intention of finding out more about the people they belong to. It would seem that they come from yet another reality. The ships we came in are theirs. We have, hmm, liberated seven ships so far. Having examined the ships, we discovered they had controls that allow them to move between eleven realities other than their own, including both our reality and this one. We are seeking assistance and support to thwart them in what may be a programme of attacking systems and taking them over. One ship is currently back in our reality so that a team of experts can analyse the reality jumping controls and, if possible, improve upon them.’
‘I apologise about the initial greetings but we’ve been suffered a number of pirate attacks recently and have lost three commercial ships. Everyone’s on high alert. Thank you for your explanation. That makes sense. It may surprise you to know that we’ve already found a base on Nyx, which is our name for the planet I think you’re referring to. It has been cleared of everything we found there. Before I can commit to your cause, I think that her Majesty the Queen would like to be consulted. Not only is she aware of the existence of the base but she has also expressed a keen interest in developments concerning it.’
‘Sorry, Hannah, I have no idea what a Queen is, other than what I’ve read in history books’ replied George VanDelden.
‘Ah. You don’t have such a person in your reality, then. The Queen is the Head of State and is supreme commander of all military forces. The role is a hereditary one. She is descended from the Captain of the ship that brought us to this system. She is also, nominally, our head of government but these days, her role is primarily to act as an ambassador for the system and approve legislation passed by our government. Nevertheless, she commands utmost respect and loyalty.’
‘I see. We have an elected Governor, who is elected once every five years. The current Governor is called Tamar Horsley’ explained Ellie.
‘Unless you have any objections, I would like to bring her Majesty into the discussion if that’s possible. She’s planetside but can be linked in from there. Despite being comparatively informal whenever she can be, you should always address her as either ‘You Majesty’ or ‘ma’am. She may, however, refer to you by your first name, if she knows it’ said the Admiral.
‘I’m happy with that’ replied Ellie.