Power Concedes Nothing
'Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will,' Frederick Douglass.
As Ed Mercer sat in Admiral Halsey's office, he recalled a meeting there two years previous. His mouth felt dry as he remembered the taste of lager and poor-quality pizza that had been on his breath that morning.
The tone of that meeting had registered firmly as being at best a cautious endorsement, though once it ended, he had walked out in command of a ship for the first time. It was an achievement of a long-held ambition that had left him feeling strangely hollow, as if his command of The Orville were compromised from the start.
It was an insecurity that he had struggled to shift in the years since, and it occurred to Ed that his increasing dislike of returning to Earth could be related to this sensation.
His mind wandered back to the bridge, where he had left Kelly in command of the re-fit following their return from The Sanctuary planet. He stared out of the window, at the traffic hovering past.
The door opened behind him. He and Halsey were relatively familiar, though he did not risk looking anywhere but straight at the empty chair in front of him, which Halsey sat in, placing a paper file on his desk as he did so.
'Welcome home, Ed,' Halsey offered.
'I've hardly been away,' Ed replied.
Two days had passed since he had last spoken in the council hall of Union Central in defence of the rights of Moclan females.
'How's the re-fit going?' Halsey asked.
'Going well. We're on schedule to depart for Retepsia tomorrow,' Mercer replied.
Halsey drummed his fingers on the file on his desk. He took a sharp inward breath that ended in a sigh, before leaning back in his chair, his hands gripping the arm rests.
'You're not going to Retepsia,' Halsey said.
'We're not?' Ed asked.
'No,' Halsey confirmed. He pushed the file over to Ed's side of the desk.
Ed opened it and glanced at the title on the cover page.
'You've got to be kidding me,' Ed said.
'They are our own, Ed,' Halsey replied.
Ed closed the file and placed it back on the desk in front of him. He rubbed his chin for a moment, noticing for the first time today that he had forgotten to shave. He blamed his morning beer for the oversight.
'So, what's this about?' Ed asked.
Halsey did not directly answer Ed's question. He briefly touched the display close to his right hand. A screen appeared above Halsey's head on the wall behind him. In its centre was a man in his early 60s, with white hair, dressed in what appeared to be a pressure suit in front of a dappled grey concrete wall. A video message began:
'Union Central, I am Sheng-Ji Yang, Chairman of the Human Hive, rightful rulers of the planet you know as Chiron. My followers have recently become aware of what you have termed "the Kaylon threat". We request a visit from your Union to discuss this matter. Yang out,' the transmission finished.
The image was replaced by what appeared to be a blue copy of the yin yang symbol.
Halsey switched the viewer off.
'And you're sending us?' Ed asked.
'Yes,' Halsey confirmed.
Ed shook his head slightly. All he knew was that what little solid information had made it back to Earth about its first deep space colony was immediately classified. The headline to the entry in the Union officer data bank on Chiron read:
'Early Earth colony. Now widely believed to be isolationist. Contacts received to be treated with utmost urgency.'
He had memorised this line in the year after Kelly left, partly as a reminder that things could always be worse.
'Are we going alone?' Ed asked.
'Yes,' Halsey replied.
'And that's as much information as I'm going to get, isn't it?'
'You'll have everything we know when you return to The Orville.'
Ed sighed. He looked at the ceiling for a moment, then faced the Admiral.
'You do realise this could all go to hell,' Ed said.
'Yes, I do Ed, but sending a heavy cruiser could be misinterpreted. We want to approach this as an opportunity, not a confrontation,' Halsey replied.
'They do not share our values.'
'Just go with an open mind.'
Ed thought that a cryptic note to end the meeting on, though he recognised the implied dismissal. He stood up, shook Halsey's hand, and walked out of his office.
He made his way down the glass staircase into the central atrium of Union Headquarters.
This four hundred metre space at the centre of the structure was topped with a glass roof, supported by triangular steel rivets, which, on a clear day such as this one, let the light pour onto the white marble finish of the floor and the inner walls.
In the years after he graduated Union Point, Ed would often sit at one of the coffee shops that lined the edge of this area and enjoy the feeling of watching the Union in action, as officers moved between the exploration offices on the eastern wing to the military offices on the west.
Today, as always, Ed noted that the junior officers appeared to be far more harassed than their senior counterparts. Many of them were sticking to a mantra that Ed learned by rote at Union Point – 'walk as if you have somewhere to be'.
Ed's destination was the northern exit, and the outdoor shuttle pads for departing officers. Above the automatic door to the pads was a screen indicating which officer was due on which ship at the orbital Union dock yards. He noted that the screen seemed far emptier than it had before the Battle of Earth, though he attempted to supress such melancholy thoughts as he made his way to his lift back to The Orville.
In less time than he anticipated, he found himself providing a retina scan for identification at the access door to the shuttle pad. He smiled as he contemplated the irony of an anti-theft measure which kept him out and the pilot of his shuttle in.
Ed climbed the steps up to the pad. He keyed in his command code for the access hatch to the shuttle, which opened slowly.
'Are we ready to go, Gordon?' Ed asked as he stepped inside.
'Absolutely, ready when you are,' Gordon replied, placing an e-reader to one side.
'What were you reading?'
'Battle Cry of Freedom. You're right – it's terrific.'
Ed smiled, pleased that his friend was enjoying the recommendation.
'Let's go,' Ed stated.
'Aye, sir,' Gordon replied.
The hatch hummed shut. They took off, achieving a steady altitude before ascending gradually through the evening traffic. Union air traffic control cleared a path upward. Gordon smiled as the shuttle rose above the New York skyline, looking over his shoulder briefly at the Statue of Liberty receding into the distance. His attention shifted back to the front window.
'That's one of my favourite views,' Gordon said.
'You never mentioned that before,' Ed replied.
'Well, I'm from New Jersey, Ed. I didn't want you to think I'd gone insane.'
Ed smiled, contemplating some of the recent changes in his pilot. Gordon often played the fool, on one occasion pretending not to know that Washington D.C. was once the capital of the United States.
Ed knew him well enough to see around the corners of this and other half-truths. His friend was well, though inconsistently read, and had enough determination to graduate from Union Point despite a chequered upbringing.
'We didn't finish that conversation from earlier,' Ed said.
'No, I guess we didn't,' Gordon replied.
'Look, Kelly's right about most things, but I wonder if she hasn't written you off prematurely.'
'And maybe being a pilot is fine. It's what I do best.'
As the shuttle escaped from the exosphere, Gordon eased the craft from an ascent to an approach vector. The Orville was in view at the dock yards.
'I may have a mission for you. A hard mission,' Ed offered.
'Harder than the Krill ship?' Gordon asked.
'Probably.'
Gordon nodded. They were closing on docking in the shuttle bay, so he slowed their approach accordingly. He recalled a bet he had made with John a year ago on who could cover the distance between the quantum drive and the shuttle bay in the fastest time (without destroying the shuttle), though he decided that this was not an appropriate time to attempt a ship's record.
'Are you interested?' Ed asked.
The shuttle landed as Gordon contemplated his answer to that question. He had been restless recently. Driving The Orville no longer held quite the same appeal as it once did, though his attempts at the shipmaster's programme had so far proved fruitless.
'Yeah, why not?' Gordon confirmed.
The re-fit had passed by without incident for Kelly Grayson, who had spent the hours since Ed's departure behind the desk in her office, writing a post mission report for The Sanctuary incident. Union policies mandated a detached and impartial style for these reports. It had taken her four hours to write three complete paragraphs that morning.
The door chimed.
'Come in,' Kelly said.
Talla Keyali entered. Kelly looked up from the desk for what she registered was the first time in two hours. She adopted what she hoped was her best command expression.
'You asked to be notified when the crew transfer was complete,' Talla said.
'Thanks,' Kelly replied.
'How's the mission report going?' Talla asked.
Kelly paused. She scratched the side of her forehead, where she realised a headache was forming. Without prompting, Talla walked to the food synthesiser.
'Two glasses of Malbec,' the security officer ordered, returning the drinks to the desk, before sitting down opposite Kelly.
'Thank you,' Kelly offered.
'You look like you need it,' Talla replied.
Kelly picked up the glass of wine and sipped it. She placed it down, suppressing a brief impulse to drink the rest to justify a second glass.
'This is the most difficult report I've written for us,' Kelly said.
'Why?' Talla asked.
'They want me to write it in a way that won't upset the Moclans.'
Talla wore a non-committal expression.
'You know how long it took me to write a version of how I really felt about it?' Kelly asked.
She nodded at her to continue.
'Forty minutes,' Kelly concluded.
Kelly noted that her security officer seemed unusually still. Talla was habitually in constant motion. She usually seemed uncomfortable with sitting for any length of time.
'Would it be a disaster if you told them what you thought?' Talla asked.
Kelly looked up at the framed copy of "Escape" which she had moved to the wall opposite her desk before her focus returned to Talla.
'Well, I would lose my job,' Kelly said.
Talla paused. She stood up, and walked to the other end of the office, before turning around to face Kelly.
'Do you think it's worth losing your job over?' Talla asked.
'I don't know. Ed needs me here, Talla. I can't just abandon him,' Kelly replied.
'You know what I'm going to say.'
'I know. I know.'
'The Moclans have a serious problem in their society.'
'I know,' Kelly replied quietly.
'A man I adore is in prison cause their culture treats women like an infestation,' Talla continued.
Talla placed her hands on her hips. Kelly met her expression cautiously.
'And the official Union log will whitewash the experiences of the few Moclan women who have survived, in exchange for guns,' Talla said.
'I know – it's wrong, but it's not just about principles, Talla. Think of the difference Moclan weapons will make when the Kaylon return,' Kelly replied.
'If you send them what they want to hear, you will contradict everything you've worked for on this ship,' Talla said.
'And millions could die if I don't,' Kelly concluded.
Talla nodded, pursing her lips slightly. She then let out a sigh.
'Command,' she said.
Talla took a sip of wine.
'I'm lucky I can beat the crap out of most of my problems,' she concluded.
Kelly laughed, and realised it was the first time she had in two days.
At that moment, the door chimed.
'Come in,' Kelly answered.
Ed entered the office, carrying what appeared to be a paper file in his left hand.
'I have the next watch,' Talla said, excusing herself.
She walked through the door, which hummed shut behind her. A moment later, the door slid open, she walked back to the table, carrying her glass of wine, and placed it down.
'Sorry,' she whispered to Kelly as she turned to walk back out.
The door slid shut once more behind her. Talla noted with relief that a smile had appeared on the captain's face as she left.
She walked to the lift, which travelled one deck up to the bridge. She sat in the captain's chair, alone on the bridge except for Gordon in the helmsman's seat.
'Surprised to see you here, lieutenant,' she offered.
At first, Gordon did not seem to register her comment. He tapped an instruction into his terminal before rotating his chair to face Talla.
'Yeah, Ed asked me to programme some auto pilots,' he said.
'Why would we need auto pilots?' Talla asked.
'The regulations say missile strike or ion storm,' Gordon said.
'And we're planning for missile strikes on the way to Retepsia?'
Gordon turned his chair back to face his terminal.
'I'll have to let Ed answer that one,' he said as he did so.
Talla looked at the constellations on the view screen as she processed that statement. She had hoped that a routine supply mission to a Union member planet would give her a chance to get to know two young security officers who had joined her staff. A doubt emerged about the future of that mission.
'All senior officers report to the conference room,' Captain Mercer's voice echoed on the intercom.
They walked to the conference room, located a few steps from the bridge. Ed was sat at the head of the table, with Kelly in her usual position on his right. Talla sat next to John, diagonally opposite Kelly. Isaac, Bortus and Gordon also took their seats.
'No Claire today?' Gordon asked.
At that moment, Dr Finn walked through the conference room door and took her seat.
'Sorry. A broken foot in sick bay,' Claire said.
'Dann?' John asked.
Claire looked at John briefly, then focussed on the captain.
'What happened?' Talla asked.
'He dropped a wrench on his foot,' John replied.
Gordon took a sharp breath.
'Ok, let's start. I assume Dann is recovering, doctor?' Ed asked.
'Yes, he'll be fine,' Claire replied, shifting in her seat slightly.
'Man, there's a poem in there somewhere,' Gordon added.
Kelly stood up and handed a display pad to each of the officers present. She walked back around the table and returned to her seat.
'So, as you can see, we are no longer going to Retepsia,' Kelly began.
'Our new mission takes us to Chiron, a planet near the star of Alpha Centauri, humanity's first deep space colony,' Kelly continued.
A display of the Alpha Centauri system appeared behind Ed and Kelly on the wall.
'Our instructions are to contact the government there to initiate diplomatic relations. They invited us when they heard about the Kaylon,' Kelly continued.
'Wait, Chiron – aren't they isolationists?' John asked.
Ed and Kelly looked at each other for a moment, then turned their attention back to their officers.
'Yes. I have now read everything we have on them and, frankly, I know little more than you do,' Ed said.
'If I may, sir,' Isaac began.
Ed nodded at him to continue.
'I suggest that I will prove useful in interacting with such a society. I volunteer my services,' Isaac said.
Ed nodded. He had reached the same conclusion and knew that Union Central would welcome the Kaylon departing The Orville for a period.
'Thanks Isaac. I have you and Gordon in mind for an away mission, if it comes to that,' Ed said.
'What do we know about Chiron?' Claire asked.
Ed drummed his fingers on the table as he considered where to start.
'Well, the Unity mission, launched in the late 21st Century, was a bid to save humanity from what then seemed to be a doomed Earth,' Ed began.
'They landed on Chiron in around 2100, and for the first thirty years, there was no contact between Earth and Chiron,' Kelly continued.
'The remaining governments on Earth, mostly enduring near starvation conditions, poured significant resources into setting up a joint programme of scientific education for children in the 2070's, with Earth entering a golden age of scientific progress in the early 22nd century,' Ed continued.
'Weather control satellites, soil reclamation advancements, early matter synthesis,' John interjected.
'Exactly. And while that was happening on Earth, the Discovery mission was sent to Chiron in 2126 to see what had happened to them. They found a world divided into factions who were at war. Only some of them were willing to talk to Discovery,' Kelly said.
'Discovery found some fledgling democracies on Chiron, but also some authoritarian governments,' Ed continued.
'When Discovery II returned forty years later…' Kelly began.
'They were met with radio silence,' Gordon concluded.
Gordon's contribution prompted a silence around the table. Ed nodded slightly at his friend.
'It's believed that one of the authoritarian governments won a war on Chiron. Little has been heard since – the occasional rumour from a trade ship that they heard radio signals from other factions while there, but nothing solid,' Kelly concluded.
'So, when are we leaving?' Gordon asked.
He was gratified that John and Ed had smiled at that, and a half smile had even appeared on Kelly's face for a moment. Ed stood, and led his crew back to the bridge. They took their stations.
'Gordon, prepare to detach docking clamps and set course,' Ed ordered.
'Aye, sir,' Gordon replied.
'Best speed to Chiron,' Ed stated.
'Yes, sir. Departing dockyard on thrusters only,' Gordon replied.
The Orville moved clear of the dockyard.
'Let's go,' Ed said.
Gordon pressed a combination of buttons on his terminal. The Orville propelled itself into quantum space toward its mission.