The Babylon Project: The Peace Maker Chronicles
Chapter 1
Note: A few thoughts before you read this. The whole idea for this story started when I looked at my best friend 'Birga ans said,"You know, I should write something just to piss off the whole flaming committee from Through a Hyperspace Looking Glass. We kicked around a few ideas and this story was born. I had thought about having the Dilgar make first contact with Earth, but the time line just didn't mesh. Instead I decided that humanity should just be itself: sneaky, underhanded, and brutal. In that spirit, I hope you enjoy the story.
And yes, the title is a Terry Pratchet joke. If only I could find a troll.
ooo000OOO000ooo
It was the start of a new age.
It was the end of peace.
It was the year 2156 and humanity had finally achieved peace. The human race had been through a lot. From the terrorist nuking of San Diego to the horrors of a third world war, the species had endured. Now they were just tired of fighting.
The inhabitants of Earth had begun their expansion into the solar system, starting with Luna and moving onto explore Mars. But this year the entire universe would seem to become a smaller place. April 7, 2156 looked to be just another day for the asteroid miners of the Belt Alliance. Station 17 was cataloging another dozen asteroids for possible collection while sending out maneuvering craft to bring in the ones that had been selected yesterday.
Jerome Garibaldi was on the sensor station when he started getting the strangest readings any human had ever seen. He checked the system before alerting his section chief. "Hey Bill. Got something weird happening from the direction of Jupiter."
William Garner was a twenty year veteran of roid mining, with a bank account to prove it. At thirty seven he could retire and live quite well for the rest of his life. But mining held a certain allure for him, so he kept coming back.
Garner floated over to the sensor station and looked at the display. He would have sworn that he had seen every sort of weird crap that could happen out here in the Belt. As the readings registered with his brain he knew he was wrong."What is that Jerome?"
"Beats me. It doesn't match anything in the database, and I'm getting squat from my own imagination. Whatever it is, it's not natural though." Garibaldi answered as he cycled the information for them both to see.
"How's that?"
"The interval is too regular. Oh, it's almost off the scale, but the energy pattern is cycling at almost a terahert. Unless we suddenly developed a pulsar out here, that is not a natural occurrence." Garibaldi was at a loss to identify exactly what the thing was.
As they watched the blue funnel disgorged a shape and then shrank into itself. Zooming in they could make out the shape of a purple hulled ship turning to face them. It was almost like they were posing for the camera as they started the slow trip toward the station.
The comm tech spoke up,"We're getting a radio signal from them. Looks like whoever it is wants to talk."
ooo000OOO000ooo
Three days later the simple communications protocols, as well as the more advanced Centauri ones, managed to work out a basic translation algorithm for the two languages. With the ability to talk to one another the Captain of the Centauri battleship announced that the Human race was a long lost off-shoot of the 'Great Centauri Republic'. With a remarkable level of physical similarity to Humans the commander of the mining outpost accepted the story as plausible and requested instructions from higher authorities.
The response was slightly surprising, instructing them to give the coordinates for Earth to the aliens and send them along to meet with a diplomatic team there.
When the battleship reached Earth they were greeted by an outwardly ecstatic Earth Force. The brass realized that this alien species were probably so far advanced that they could wipe out the entire human fleet without much effort. But this did not mean that they were happy about the alien presence at Earth. They would have preferred to keep the Centauri at arms length, except for the fact that it would take any ship they had access to nearly a month to reach any such place.
As the leaders of Earth Force were meeting with the President to discuss the arrangements for the meeting they all had an ill feeling.
President Michelle Harmon was ex-military, retired when her body couldn't handle being a Gro-Po anymore. She came from a long line of mercenary/warlords base out of a chain of small valleys in western Asia. But since getting out of the service she had been playing the political game, and playing it quite well. She had jumped from one elected office to another for twenty years, then in the biggest upset in history had become President. It was both her political and military background that made the brass nervous.
"Be seated please." She said in an almost disinterested soprano. She swept her red bangs out of her eyes and opened the file before her. Instead of looking at the information she locked her eyes on the highest ranking man in the room and spoke,"Does anyone here really believe this story about humanity being a off-shoot of the Centauri?"
When no one answered in the affirmative she continued,"In that case I think we need to get some more direct information about these people. Starting with a genetic sample and everything we can get from their ship's computer."
The man at the far end of the table cleared his throat,"Ma'am. Are you saying that we are not going to pursue diplomatic relations with this race?" "Admiral Townsend. That's exactly what I'm saying." She let the information settle in for a moment,"I don't like being lied to and manipulated. Now they may have the upper hand technologically, but their bodies appear to be just as fragile as ours."
"The problem, ma'am, is that they are wrapped in that technology." The Security adviser said from her right. "And all the scans we've done have indicated that the outer skin of that ship is an advanced composite we might have come up with in a few decades."
"So all we have to do is get past a few meters of ultra hard material and then we start hitting soft targets." She shot back at him.
Her grin was actually appealing to Admiral Frank Townsend. Somewhere between animalistic and childishly amused that screamed that she had a plan. What remained was to see if it was feasible."Madam President, Are you suggesting we use breaching pods to assault that ship?"
"Not quite Admiral." She pulled a printout from her vest pocket and unfolded it with a snap."This is an invitation from our visitors to send a diplomatic team on board their ship for a tour. Does that give you any ideas?"
That damn grin was becoming contagious as Frank felt the corners of his own mouth twitch,"Yes ma'am, it does. But I have one question."
"And that is?"
"Do you want us to take any of their officers for questioning?"
Michelle's lips opened into a perfect feral smile,"If it's not too much trouble. But the first priority is to get that ship intact."
"Understood ma'am."
ooo000OOO000ooo
"So let me get this straight," Sergent Major William Jacobs said to his briefing officer,"We're supposed to board an advanced alien starship under the guise of a diplomatic party. Once there, hack their computers and neutralize the crew. All this with almost no weapons."
"That's right Sergent Major. Any problems?"
"No, sir. We'll get it done."
ooo000OOO000ooo
'This sucks.' Captain Rondo thought as he waited for the Earth shuttle to open. 'I get to play diplomat to a bunch of primitives all because I got sent on this exploration mission.'
As the hatch opened he thought,'Maybe I shouldn't have gotten involved with that Mollari woman.' The diplomatic party made their way down the ramp and stopped before the honor guard,"Captain Rondo. It's a pleasure to meet you." Sergent Major Jacobs said with his hand out.
"And you Ambassador Jacobs. Let me express my joy at finally rediscovering your colony and accept the hand of friendship on behalf of the Republic." Rondo said as he took the offered hand.'Who knows' he thought,'Maybe they are a lost colony. This might be just the thing to get my career back on track.' "May I present my command staff." Pleasantries were exchanged on both sides and Jacobs had to explain that the two members of his 'entourage' wearing headsets were reporters documenting this historical event.
What they were actually doing was hacking the ship's wireless net and planting viruses in key systems. They were rather surprised at the ease of access, guessing that security was lax due the non-combat status of the ship currently.
When the party reached the bridge the captain started pointing out various stations. He didn't get too far before he felt an uncontrollable wave of fatigue wash over him. Fighting to keep conscious he noticed the 'Ambassador' and his team pull objects out of their clothes. They assembled them into breathers before donning said devices and moving to push unconscious crew out of their chairs.
Jacobs spoke,"Looks like the crew is pretty well out. Call the shuttle and tell the clean-up team they can move."
With a nod the redhead typed a few commands and then gestured toward Rondo. The masquerade diplomat turned around to see the captain barely able to keep his eyes open."You might be wondering both how and why. How is that two members of my team are the best hackers Earth Force has ever recruited. Your ship was under our control before we left the hanger deck."
"As to why. Humans, in general, don't like being lied to and manipulated. At least not when it's so obvious. Our President is ever worse about it." He grinned."Don't worry though. We'll keep most of you alive until we think you no longer have any information we need."
Jacobs slipped a headset on and keyed it for the right frequency."Yes sir. We have the crew incapacitated and are ready to receive you." There was a short pause as he listened."I wasn't aware she would be coming, sir." Pause."No, sir. Not a problem. I respect the President on the basis of her service record alone and would love to meet her."
ooo000OOO000ooo
The President of the Earth Alliance stepped up to the podium and faced the cameras."Citizens of Earth. It is my sad duty to inform you of a tragic event that has occurred. Yesterday, our ambassador went to the Centauri battleship on an open invitation to tour their impressive ship. Upon arriving the entire team was taken hostage and tortured for information."
She waited a moment to let this sink in."When we learned of this hostile action we launched a rescue operation to bring them safely home. Many of our brave soldiers died assaulting a technologically superior force and when they found the holding cells, the Centauri captain was standing over the still warm bodies of the diplomats."
Harmon could just picture millions of mothers and wives gasping at the horrid news." The Centauri crew then tried to destroy their ship rather than lose it to our rescue party. But fortunately our forces were able to avert the disaster and attempted to take as many of the crew alive as possible. The few crew that did not put up any resistance committed suicide before they could be taken into custody."
"We have also learned, from a search of their computer, that the Centauri are planning a full scale invasion. Apparently this was just a advanced scout to determine our weaknesses. From their historical documents we have discovered at least one other race that has had this happen to them."
She paused and shuffled the sheets on the podium."This morning the leadership of the Belt Alliance, in response to this new threat, have elected to join the Earth Alliance. At long last the peoples of Earth are again unified and peaceful. I now call upon all humans to join me in mourning the deaths of our brave men and women who gave their lives in the pursuit of peace. I also challenge all the children of Earth to band together as we prepare for the impending threat of this imperialistic foe. Let us show them what it means to cross Earth."
ooo000OOO000ooo
"So Captain, should we take it from the top?" Rondo looked up with swollen eyes as he was addressed.
In separate cells, on Earth Force bases scattered across the globe and Luna, the members of the Centauri crew were being questioned. This process was not entirely uniform due to the lack of data about this species, so every possible method was being tried. The one thing that was clear was that they were going to talk or life would only get worse.
ooo000OOO000ooo
I realize that there is an inner contradiction between the word of Jacobs and the President's speech. I said that humans don't like being openly manipulated. Not that they don't like manipulating each other.
Thanks to my wife for reviewing for me.