Sheridan held his head in his hands, as Ivanova tried to restore order to the meeting beside him. He had dealt with an extremely stressful situation with the Berserker, but the contract negotiation that was going on seemed to be determined to make him go either deaf, or insane. Still, he was alive, and the station was intact. Maybe if he thought cheerful thoughts the rest of the world would turn out nicer. Looking at the mob in front of him he figured that would never happen.
At least the few transport pilots he got from Mandelin 4 weren't complaining about it yet. Then again, that colony relied on food exports to get any credits in, so there wasn't much they would do. They would ship their excess food here, and sell it to whoever was willing to buy. Babylon 5 benefited from the fees they paid from docking and storing the food here, they benefited from having a central place to sell food, and other colonies benefited from the food available to be bought. He sighed again. At least the Mandelin system was a boring place, where nothing exciting was going on.
If only he knew.
***
Velholm relaxed as he returned to the Eclipse battleship. The freighter had been decent enough, but he enjoyed being able to stretch out without worrying about either falling out of a hammock or hitting someone. Returning to his quarters, he relaxed in the desk chair, enjoying the solid feel of the deck beneath him, and the gravity pulling at him. Although they had only traveled in the ship for a couple days, the gravity from the acceleration wasn't as high or as reliable as the gravity from the plating below, and he had missed it. For security purposes, they had not included gravity plating, in case anyone went aboard the freighter. As a result, the half G while on the freighter was relaxing, it wasn't the same, and the solid feel of walking was a mild narcotic to him.
Looking over the reports, he saw that repairs on the Eclipse were proceeding well, and that the Mandelin 4 colony was on its way to getting the second crop going earlier than usual. Even better, the droid farmers had managed to expand the arable farmland by five times its original amount, and the colony was reporting higher than usual yields, thanks to the droids' tireless efforts, the new fertilizers being produced, and the fast-growth crops that were being delivered. It appeared that Mandelin 4 was well on the way to becoming an organic powerhouse in the local space, and it was necessary to take the next step. Deciding on the appropriate colony locations would require the assistance of the Verentor, but the surveys of this system would only take about a week.
Of course, he would have to breach the subject with Governor Brogin carefully, as several of her people might not want to live on a rockball. Still, there were always humans who wanted to explore new frontiers, and were willing to put up with a little hardship to do so. It had been that way in the Empire, it certainly looked that way locally, and it would probably be like that in the future as well. Of course, given Earth's current problem with overcrowding, it could even be possible to get colonists from there as well. But the timing would have to be critical, as having the new colonists arrive at their destination within a day would be a blatant tip-off to the EarthForce authorities that something unusual was going on. The necessary solution would be for the ship to keep the people contained within the passenger holds, while the ship merely waited until the time was right for a passenger ship to have reached the colony site. Another alternative would be for a single ship to transport the colonists, making multiple runs, and having the passenger pods attached to a central station. Of course, the central station's crew would have to make sure none of the other passengers saw each other, as that would be a dead giveaway. But at that point, they might as well build the additional ships, as that would be the easiest way to make sure the appropriate crew contacted the appropriate passenger compartments.
He began composing the message to Governor Brogin, bringing up the idea of additional colonization as a possible idea to increase her influence with Senator Varenska. He knew the normal costs of colonization were fairly high, but with the technology available, those costs could be decreased easily. If the reduction in costs could be explained as a government subsidy, then more people could afford to come to the new colonies that would be set up. Of course, those people would have to be screened, to prevent any of the recent independence movements or any of the anti-alien groups from getting in, but with Teleso's assistance, and over a week for her to work through all the people who were applying, it could be done.
Of course, if all the colony ships were groups into a single wave, it would be far easier for TIE Defenders to escort them to the waiting area. The convoy principle was a sound strategy, as if Raiders wanted to grab a freighter, they would only have the one chance, and that one chance would involve closing through a warship's field of fire, not to mention the swarms of fighters that would be launched as well. Plus, if all the freighters were equipped with their own jump engines and armor, the Raiders would find it next to impossible to harm or catch anything.
***
Governor Brogin read the message, and was a little shocked at the proposal. Of course, the offer to increase the number of colonists under her control was a bit surprising, but still, she would have to deal with several thousand more people under her authority. Not to mention the difficulties of communications, and enforcement of regulations. Thinking for a moment, she realized that another layer of bureaucracy was all but required. Her office would become the system government, and the other colonies would each send their representatives to her office, or even communicate via the communications system the Imperials used. Of course, with a multi-colony system, like Earth, she would have to be careful with the other colonies to prevent any independence movements from getting started. But that would be part of her new job, and she had better get started.
***
Senator Varenska was a bit startled when the request came in from Governor Brogin. The governor wanted to subsidize colonization efforts to her system, but with the right to reject anyone that she chose. If someone was rejected, they would not be charged anything, and it would not count against them for other colonization efforts. Included was a list of reasons that a person might be rejected, and Varenska smiled as she read over the list. The obvious limits were groups that wanted independence would not be allowed, along with a surprise request. Since Governor Brogin expected to be dealing with a number of alien species, people who were anti-alien were also being declined. Varenska thought about the proposal for a while, and smiled. It was obvious to her who was really doing the colonization, and the scale of capacity indicated by that offer was another incentive to her decision. Also, she knew a couple of senators with districts on Earth who were having a problem with overpopulation, but the people there were loyal to Earth. They had never had the money to emigrate, but this offer could help them significantly. Sending a request to meet with them over lunch, Luchenko decided she also wanted to speak to Governor Brogin's "representatives" again, and sent a message to them as well.
Remembering the offer to from them to build a small device, she had spoken to a couple of engineers, and they had designed a simple looking structure. It could easily fit into a small box, but the components required for it would take several days or even weeks to be built, and had to be done under almost laboratory conditions. There was no way a colony like Mandelin 4 could muster the technological base to build the item normally, so completing the item would give her an idea of the technology base that was working behind the scenes. Even better, the component was critical to producing advanced laser weapons, so one of the pro-Earth companies could use it to help fabricate a new generation of weapons for Nova destroyers. The new weapons could be as much as twenty percent more powerful, giving whoever possessed them a useful advantage.
If the results were impressive enough, then she just might be able to start offering a few spacecraft contracts to them. There was a shuttle contract coming up, and the current provider's leadership were very anti-alien. It had irked the government for a long time that they were effectively funding an organization with extreme anti-alien beliefs, and this might be a good way to take them down a notch. Of course, the old contractor might send a few people out to cause trouble, but if Governor Brogin's friends couldn't handle a little competition, then they might not be worth her time after all. She began making the necessary contacts, and setting up the first round of trials and contract negotiations.
***
Governor Brogin read the message, and forwarded the critical parts of it to Commander Valeyin, her Imperial Liaison. Overall, Varenska approved of the colonization request, and had already begun talking to a colleague, which meant she needed to get some sort of pre-fabricated colony building built on one of the outer planets. Adding that request to the message, she finally decided on a meeting over lunch, to see how the new colony would be laid out initially.
***
Bester stirred in his room. He had been on-planet for a month now, and yet he had not been able to find any trace of that powerful mind he had sensed earlier. He had been idly eating lunch in a restaurant, discussing a few of Psi-Corp's policies with an associate, when his friend had suddenly remarked, "I don't sense anything."
Bester looked up from the policies for a moment wonder what she had meant by that, when he became aware of how quiet it was, mentally. Normally, he would be able to hear people as a background buzz, but right now, it was quiet. He began trying to gently listen around, attempting to find the source of the quiet, but there was no centralized location. The quiet covered the restaurant, and seemed to be limited by the walls, not by any radius from a person.
Suddenly, the field dropped, and both of them recoiled for a second, startled by the sudden sound of voices coming in from all over. Instinctively their blocks slid into place, putting the buzz back at a comfortable level, but still, they had both realized that someone here had blocked a pair of Psi-corp senior members, and they didn't know who it was.
Deciding to tackle the problem himself, Bester had gone back to his office, and had spent the next few days roaming the city mentally, trying to track down whoever or whatever it was. But that mind of power had vanished as completely as it had covered the restaurant, and he had been unable to spot it. Now he was frustrated, as someone that powerful would be a valuable asset to Psi-corp, and he had no idea who it was or how to find them.
***
Captain Jones read the report, and consulted the list of the planets in the Mandelin system, along with the Survey results. Thanks to the probe droids, she could survey an entire planet in a single day, and get an accurate read on mineral capability and possible colonization sites at the same time. With all the information in hand, she sent it back to Commander Valeyin, for her lunch meeting. In the meantime, with all the planets in this system mapped, she put in a message to Governor Velholm, requesting permission to begin surveying the surrounding systems, intending to get good information on their mineral wealth as well, in case additional colonies were required.
***
Commander Velasking looked over the bridge of his World Devastator. The Givas was the fourth World Devastator that had been constructed so far, and he had been responsible for building everything the colony on Mandelin 4 had needed. The amounts required hadn't even strained the massive factories deep within its hull, so the engineers had been enjoying their time by building smaller items, each competing with the other for the most unusual items. He had seen the item request that had come in, and had smiled. Someone wanted to test his skills, but the component requested was fun looking, and he sent it down to the engineers, knowing they would love to play with it. He figured it would take them about four to five hours to build it. But the other part of the request came in a few hours later. He was to design a stealth system for Teleso's Defender fighter; so current sensor systems in use would not be able to detect her.
***
Governor Velholm smiled as the adjusted requests went out. He knew the product could be built easily, but actually appearing with it before a normal trip from Mandelin 4 to Earth would normally arrive would be a bit hard to explain as another coincidence. As a result, he intended to have Teleso transport the component in her Defender, and deliver it directly to Senator Varenska's office. He figured that would be the final incentive to convince her to support the Imperial cause.
***
Teleso read the message from Velholm, and smiled. It had been too long since she had enjoyed a decent challenge, and penetrating one of the most secure places in the known galaxy without being seen either as she entered or left would be a definite test on her abilities. Since she would also need to land her ship, and make sure it wasn't detected at the same time, that would give an additional challenge to her. Reviewing the known layout of where Senator Varenska's office was in Earthdome, she began to plan how to make her entrance.
Within five hours the component was finished, and it was given to Teleso, where she loaded it aboard her Defender, and launched. Engaging the hyperdrive, she changed into the underwater outfit she had selected, as the water near Earthdome would provide a wonderful opportunity for her to hide her fighter there. The skintight outfit was not only waterproof but also designed to shed water, while a small tank of compressed air the size of her fist would provide all the air she would need.
She came out of hyperdrive on the other side of Earth's moon, and shut down many of her systems, while bringing up the stealth system. She had to decelerate enough to avoid having a re-entry trail when she hit the atmosphere, yet be fast enough to get to the Earthdome on time. Watching a shuttle leave a nearby ship, she angled herself to follow it, deciding to hide in its wake and follow its reentry path down to hide her own. To avoid detection by the ship that had launched it, she came around behind it, so its drive emissions would hide her own. Following the shuttle after it had sufficiently cleared the mothership, she got to within fifty feet, and reached out with the Force. With her mind linked to the shuttle pilot's mind, and the Force guiding her hands, she would not be discovered by anyone.
After the reentry burn had finished, she angled away from the shuttle, and gently landed in the water nearby. Proceeding underwater, she got within a half mile of Earthdome, before she finally inverted her Defender. With a hatch on top, she had to have the craft upside down to avoid the water rushing in and filling the cockpit as soon as the hatch was opened. Slipping into the water, she began swimming towards the shore.
Arriving at the shore, she waited a few moments for the water to drop off her outfit, and began sensing the building ahead, trying to find the sentries and electronic equipment she knew would be covering the entrances and exits. There! There were twelve guards on duty outside the building, with another dozen inside. The security cameras were covering the entrances, and recorders were connected to them so even if she did manage to hypnotize the guards, the recorders could still be examined, showing her penetration. So the way to get in would be to literally show the same image to the cameras. Reaching out again, she began to sense the best way into the building.
***
Bester was staying up late, again. Ever since he had sensed that mind of power, he hadn't been keeping up with his normal duties, and a lot of paperwork had piled up on his desk. Deciding to get some of it done tonight, especially the items due tomorrow, he was going through everything there, trying to get it down to a manageable level so he could continue looking. But something seemed to tug at his mind, and he let his mind roam free again, curious as to what might have caused it.
***
Teleso felt the other mind suddenly again, and knew she had to deal with him before she made her penetration. That mind could potentially disrupt her at a critical moment, so she began to set up a mild deception for him. It wouldn't kill him or harm him, but it would cause him to see all clocks as two hours later than usual, until the next morning.
***
Bester finished reaching out, annoyed at the minor distraction. He thought he had sensed that mind again, but obviously he was mistaken. Looking back at the clock, he was startled at seeing the time. Returning to his work, he figured he wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight. Making himself concentrate on the paperwork, he began to go through them, trying to get everything done as quickly as possible.
***
Turning her attention back to the building, Teleso began to nudge the cameras, setting them to transmit the same image over and over. She would have to be careful though, as if someone walked in front of a camera, and the main operator didn't see him or her, the alert would go off. While normal penetration would allow for some possibility of actually disabling a guard, this one had to go so smoothly nobody even knew she had been there. Sneaking past the first set of guards and cameras, she walked inside with a guard, blinding him to the fact she was there. The camera was similarly deceived, and she was inside. Resetting the outside cameras to their normal operation, she started walking towards the Senator's office.
***
The guard had been watching the interior heat monitors for a long time, making sure nobody was trying to hide inside the building, for who knew what. It was a simple fact of life that all of the oxygen breathing creatures discovered so far were warm-blooded, so if anybody was inside the building, they would either have their own air supplies, or be visible on his scope.
***
Teleso sensed the guard's mind, and realized what he was looking for. She stepped next to an air vent, and began to bring her metabolism down. It could slow her down if she got in a fight, but avoiding a fight had higher priority. Returning to her approach, she was only a few doors away from Senator Varenska's office. Suddenly, she sensed two more presences in a room to her right, and began to hypnotize them when she realized what they were actually doing.
***
Bob had been careful in his approach to the matter. He had brought a cooler, but in that cooler had been a small piece of dry ice. Susan had wondered what the dry ice was for, but he had explained about the thermal sensors. They had been dating on and off for a few weeks, and this was their first night together. They had decided to be a little daring, and were currently in Bob's office, where they were holding each other gently. They both knew about the guards patrolling the building, and didn't want them to burst in on them. They began to caress each other gently, building each other up.
***
Teleso almost chuckled at what was going on. These two could provide perfect cover for her if she wanted to use them as a distraction, but the sheer innocence of it stopped her. For all their intelligence, they were touching each other for the first time. She began to sense their hesitation, their lack of experience, and decided that she could help. Sneaking into Senator Varenska's office, she dropped off the package, and then began to meld her mind to theirs. Since there were no cameras or guards to worry about, she had hid herself under the desk in case anyone stopped in. Guiding their hands, she began turning random wanderings of each other's hands into definite patterns, but making sure it seemed as though each was learning in the process.
***
Bob had planned for a simple half hour of rubbing, but the tension building up between Susan and him had caused their body temperatures to rise sharply. The dry ice was sublimating too quickly, and the heat in the room was building up.
***
The guard on duty noticed the sudden heat spike in one of the rooms, and grabbed his radio. Within a matter of seconds, twelve guards were on their way to the office, determined to prevent any threats from being carried out at Earthdome. Arriving at the door, they asked the guard for the current status, and he reported that there was no movement from the heat source yet, and it was still rising.
One of the guards had a small fiber camera, and he slid it under the door, and began waving it around from left to right, until he finally saw what was going on. Smiling, he passed the screen around to the others, and they all had a light chuckle. They filled in the guard who was watching the heat monitors, and he called off the security team that was on the way, explaining what had happened. Everybody decided that this was something that did not need to be reported, and electronic records of the time were edited. Several had to hide chuckles when they were told, and everyone there was in a much better mood for the rest of the night. A few of the guards were ordered to clean up the mess when the two left, as something this cute had to be kept secret.
***
Teleso smiled as the guards began relaxing and leaving. She had managed to deliver the package, and had also slipped out a side door while the guards were at the door looking. Slipping out towards the beach, she sensed the two lovers one last time, and grinned. Any hesitation they had before was long gone, and they were enjoying each other thoroughly. She swam back out to her Defender, carefully made her way out of the atmosphere, and gently went into hyperdrive and left.
***
Bob and Susan finally relaxed, and they slowly began to look around the room. Chairs were knocked over, papers were all over the floor, and the carpet seemed sticky in several places. He looked at the clock and was startled at the time. They had been in there for over two hours! He felt Susan stirring next to him, and she looked around the room as well. Remembering some of what they had felt during the previous hours, the both looked at each other and said, "Will you marry me?" Giggling like children, they both held each other close, before they finally began to separate and start to dress and clean up the room.
***
Bester finally got the last few sets of paperwork finished, and went to sleep. He knew that since he had to get up at 6 that morning, he was only going to get three hours of sleep, so that should be enough. He quickly put himself to sleep, trying to get as much rest as possible before morning.
***
Next morning, Senator Varenska came to work, and briefly wondered about the cleaning crew down the hall. Normally they came by after everyone had left, so it was a bit puzzling. Still, she was glad they weren't running that vacuum cleaner next door, and she went to her desk. Pulling out her chair, she nearly sat down when she saw IT. There was a package on her chair, with a little tag on it and wrapped in paper saying Happy Birthday. Carefully removing the tag, she opened it and saw that the package was addressed to her, and was signed, "From your friend, Brogin".
Gently opening the package, she saw the equipment nestled inside a few layers of packaging, and she gently took it out. It seemed identical, but the best person to tell would be the engineer who designed it yesterday. Calling him up, she asked him to stop by her office at ten thirty, to examine something.
If her guess was right, then this monitoring and application component had been built and delivered within twelve hours, while if she had requested an EarthForce laboratory to produce it, they would have required at least six days to construct it, never mind the one week travel time for a military vessel to bring it from Mandelin 4. Even more amazing, was the way it had been delivered to her office, without any of the guards on duty even noticing what had happened. She was convinced. These people were serious about the level of assistance they could provide, and the technology base they possessed.
Clark did have allies of his own, but if she could show that these unknowns were better, then she could whittle away at his support, while placing herself in a position of power as their representative. If she could find the schedule for the next weapons test proposed by Clark's allies, and arrange to have her new friends there as well, her new friends could get a good idea of the firepower being wielded. If she could get a good idea of the firepower they wielded as well, that would help as well, providing her with a chance to compare the two. Unfortunately, without more information about them, things would have to be very desperate before they would trust an unknown group of humans versus President Clark.
That lunch, she met with her friends, and discussed the colonization offer from Governor Brogin. The others were a little startled at the request, but they were willing allow the posters to be put up in their districts, along with the restrictions and requirements listed on it. The three friends of hers were a little curious at how an agricultural colony managed to scrape up the money for colonization, but Varenska just smiled. Distracting the topic with thoughts about the Nightwatch, the others were quick to voice their loyalty to Earth, as was expected. The lunch went in random politic decisions from there, but the hidden message between them was that Nightwatch was getting dangerous, and might get out of hand soon. President Luchenko, of the Russian Consortium, was especially interested, as the potential migration would ease population pressure in some of her districts.
Returning from lunch, Varenska saw the report on the component, and smiled. The engineer who had designed it was shocked at the precision that had gone into it, but the way it was built also suggested assembly line methods, instead of the handcrafting needed for an Earth company to build it. Still though, the ultimate test would be the company that needed it to build their new lasers, and it would be arriving there that afternoon.
In the meantime, she had to start whittling away at Clark's power. She knew that the company that built the shuttles normally was a good friend of Clark's, and donated several thousand per month to his coffers. Once the contract was brought up in a few days, she could introduce their bid in. Of course she would need a name for the company, but a quick message to Governor Brogin should take care of that.
Later that day, she got her reply. The associates would be bidding for the contract under the name of "Von Sluis Corporation". She thought the name was rather funny, but it would work for now.
At least the few transport pilots he got from Mandelin 4 weren't complaining about it yet. Then again, that colony relied on food exports to get any credits in, so there wasn't much they would do. They would ship their excess food here, and sell it to whoever was willing to buy. Babylon 5 benefited from the fees they paid from docking and storing the food here, they benefited from having a central place to sell food, and other colonies benefited from the food available to be bought. He sighed again. At least the Mandelin system was a boring place, where nothing exciting was going on.
If only he knew.
***
Velholm relaxed as he returned to the Eclipse battleship. The freighter had been decent enough, but he enjoyed being able to stretch out without worrying about either falling out of a hammock or hitting someone. Returning to his quarters, he relaxed in the desk chair, enjoying the solid feel of the deck beneath him, and the gravity pulling at him. Although they had only traveled in the ship for a couple days, the gravity from the acceleration wasn't as high or as reliable as the gravity from the plating below, and he had missed it. For security purposes, they had not included gravity plating, in case anyone went aboard the freighter. As a result, the half G while on the freighter was relaxing, it wasn't the same, and the solid feel of walking was a mild narcotic to him.
Looking over the reports, he saw that repairs on the Eclipse were proceeding well, and that the Mandelin 4 colony was on its way to getting the second crop going earlier than usual. Even better, the droid farmers had managed to expand the arable farmland by five times its original amount, and the colony was reporting higher than usual yields, thanks to the droids' tireless efforts, the new fertilizers being produced, and the fast-growth crops that were being delivered. It appeared that Mandelin 4 was well on the way to becoming an organic powerhouse in the local space, and it was necessary to take the next step. Deciding on the appropriate colony locations would require the assistance of the Verentor, but the surveys of this system would only take about a week.
Of course, he would have to breach the subject with Governor Brogin carefully, as several of her people might not want to live on a rockball. Still, there were always humans who wanted to explore new frontiers, and were willing to put up with a little hardship to do so. It had been that way in the Empire, it certainly looked that way locally, and it would probably be like that in the future as well. Of course, given Earth's current problem with overcrowding, it could even be possible to get colonists from there as well. But the timing would have to be critical, as having the new colonists arrive at their destination within a day would be a blatant tip-off to the EarthForce authorities that something unusual was going on. The necessary solution would be for the ship to keep the people contained within the passenger holds, while the ship merely waited until the time was right for a passenger ship to have reached the colony site. Another alternative would be for a single ship to transport the colonists, making multiple runs, and having the passenger pods attached to a central station. Of course, the central station's crew would have to make sure none of the other passengers saw each other, as that would be a dead giveaway. But at that point, they might as well build the additional ships, as that would be the easiest way to make sure the appropriate crew contacted the appropriate passenger compartments.
He began composing the message to Governor Brogin, bringing up the idea of additional colonization as a possible idea to increase her influence with Senator Varenska. He knew the normal costs of colonization were fairly high, but with the technology available, those costs could be decreased easily. If the reduction in costs could be explained as a government subsidy, then more people could afford to come to the new colonies that would be set up. Of course, those people would have to be screened, to prevent any of the recent independence movements or any of the anti-alien groups from getting in, but with Teleso's assistance, and over a week for her to work through all the people who were applying, it could be done.
Of course, if all the colony ships were groups into a single wave, it would be far easier for TIE Defenders to escort them to the waiting area. The convoy principle was a sound strategy, as if Raiders wanted to grab a freighter, they would only have the one chance, and that one chance would involve closing through a warship's field of fire, not to mention the swarms of fighters that would be launched as well. Plus, if all the freighters were equipped with their own jump engines and armor, the Raiders would find it next to impossible to harm or catch anything.
***
Governor Brogin read the message, and was a little shocked at the proposal. Of course, the offer to increase the number of colonists under her control was a bit surprising, but still, she would have to deal with several thousand more people under her authority. Not to mention the difficulties of communications, and enforcement of regulations. Thinking for a moment, she realized that another layer of bureaucracy was all but required. Her office would become the system government, and the other colonies would each send their representatives to her office, or even communicate via the communications system the Imperials used. Of course, with a multi-colony system, like Earth, she would have to be careful with the other colonies to prevent any independence movements from getting started. But that would be part of her new job, and she had better get started.
***
Senator Varenska was a bit startled when the request came in from Governor Brogin. The governor wanted to subsidize colonization efforts to her system, but with the right to reject anyone that she chose. If someone was rejected, they would not be charged anything, and it would not count against them for other colonization efforts. Included was a list of reasons that a person might be rejected, and Varenska smiled as she read over the list. The obvious limits were groups that wanted independence would not be allowed, along with a surprise request. Since Governor Brogin expected to be dealing with a number of alien species, people who were anti-alien were also being declined. Varenska thought about the proposal for a while, and smiled. It was obvious to her who was really doing the colonization, and the scale of capacity indicated by that offer was another incentive to her decision. Also, she knew a couple of senators with districts on Earth who were having a problem with overpopulation, but the people there were loyal to Earth. They had never had the money to emigrate, but this offer could help them significantly. Sending a request to meet with them over lunch, Luchenko decided she also wanted to speak to Governor Brogin's "representatives" again, and sent a message to them as well.
Remembering the offer to from them to build a small device, she had spoken to a couple of engineers, and they had designed a simple looking structure. It could easily fit into a small box, but the components required for it would take several days or even weeks to be built, and had to be done under almost laboratory conditions. There was no way a colony like Mandelin 4 could muster the technological base to build the item normally, so completing the item would give her an idea of the technology base that was working behind the scenes. Even better, the component was critical to producing advanced laser weapons, so one of the pro-Earth companies could use it to help fabricate a new generation of weapons for Nova destroyers. The new weapons could be as much as twenty percent more powerful, giving whoever possessed them a useful advantage.
If the results were impressive enough, then she just might be able to start offering a few spacecraft contracts to them. There was a shuttle contract coming up, and the current provider's leadership were very anti-alien. It had irked the government for a long time that they were effectively funding an organization with extreme anti-alien beliefs, and this might be a good way to take them down a notch. Of course, the old contractor might send a few people out to cause trouble, but if Governor Brogin's friends couldn't handle a little competition, then they might not be worth her time after all. She began making the necessary contacts, and setting up the first round of trials and contract negotiations.
***
Governor Brogin read the message, and forwarded the critical parts of it to Commander Valeyin, her Imperial Liaison. Overall, Varenska approved of the colonization request, and had already begun talking to a colleague, which meant she needed to get some sort of pre-fabricated colony building built on one of the outer planets. Adding that request to the message, she finally decided on a meeting over lunch, to see how the new colony would be laid out initially.
***
Bester stirred in his room. He had been on-planet for a month now, and yet he had not been able to find any trace of that powerful mind he had sensed earlier. He had been idly eating lunch in a restaurant, discussing a few of Psi-Corp's policies with an associate, when his friend had suddenly remarked, "I don't sense anything."
Bester looked up from the policies for a moment wonder what she had meant by that, when he became aware of how quiet it was, mentally. Normally, he would be able to hear people as a background buzz, but right now, it was quiet. He began trying to gently listen around, attempting to find the source of the quiet, but there was no centralized location. The quiet covered the restaurant, and seemed to be limited by the walls, not by any radius from a person.
Suddenly, the field dropped, and both of them recoiled for a second, startled by the sudden sound of voices coming in from all over. Instinctively their blocks slid into place, putting the buzz back at a comfortable level, but still, they had both realized that someone here had blocked a pair of Psi-corp senior members, and they didn't know who it was.
Deciding to tackle the problem himself, Bester had gone back to his office, and had spent the next few days roaming the city mentally, trying to track down whoever or whatever it was. But that mind of power had vanished as completely as it had covered the restaurant, and he had been unable to spot it. Now he was frustrated, as someone that powerful would be a valuable asset to Psi-corp, and he had no idea who it was or how to find them.
***
Captain Jones read the report, and consulted the list of the planets in the Mandelin system, along with the Survey results. Thanks to the probe droids, she could survey an entire planet in a single day, and get an accurate read on mineral capability and possible colonization sites at the same time. With all the information in hand, she sent it back to Commander Valeyin, for her lunch meeting. In the meantime, with all the planets in this system mapped, she put in a message to Governor Velholm, requesting permission to begin surveying the surrounding systems, intending to get good information on their mineral wealth as well, in case additional colonies were required.
***
Commander Velasking looked over the bridge of his World Devastator. The Givas was the fourth World Devastator that had been constructed so far, and he had been responsible for building everything the colony on Mandelin 4 had needed. The amounts required hadn't even strained the massive factories deep within its hull, so the engineers had been enjoying their time by building smaller items, each competing with the other for the most unusual items. He had seen the item request that had come in, and had smiled. Someone wanted to test his skills, but the component requested was fun looking, and he sent it down to the engineers, knowing they would love to play with it. He figured it would take them about four to five hours to build it. But the other part of the request came in a few hours later. He was to design a stealth system for Teleso's Defender fighter; so current sensor systems in use would not be able to detect her.
***
Governor Velholm smiled as the adjusted requests went out. He knew the product could be built easily, but actually appearing with it before a normal trip from Mandelin 4 to Earth would normally arrive would be a bit hard to explain as another coincidence. As a result, he intended to have Teleso transport the component in her Defender, and deliver it directly to Senator Varenska's office. He figured that would be the final incentive to convince her to support the Imperial cause.
***
Teleso read the message from Velholm, and smiled. It had been too long since she had enjoyed a decent challenge, and penetrating one of the most secure places in the known galaxy without being seen either as she entered or left would be a definite test on her abilities. Since she would also need to land her ship, and make sure it wasn't detected at the same time, that would give an additional challenge to her. Reviewing the known layout of where Senator Varenska's office was in Earthdome, she began to plan how to make her entrance.
Within five hours the component was finished, and it was given to Teleso, where she loaded it aboard her Defender, and launched. Engaging the hyperdrive, she changed into the underwater outfit she had selected, as the water near Earthdome would provide a wonderful opportunity for her to hide her fighter there. The skintight outfit was not only waterproof but also designed to shed water, while a small tank of compressed air the size of her fist would provide all the air she would need.
She came out of hyperdrive on the other side of Earth's moon, and shut down many of her systems, while bringing up the stealth system. She had to decelerate enough to avoid having a re-entry trail when she hit the atmosphere, yet be fast enough to get to the Earthdome on time. Watching a shuttle leave a nearby ship, she angled herself to follow it, deciding to hide in its wake and follow its reentry path down to hide her own. To avoid detection by the ship that had launched it, she came around behind it, so its drive emissions would hide her own. Following the shuttle after it had sufficiently cleared the mothership, she got to within fifty feet, and reached out with the Force. With her mind linked to the shuttle pilot's mind, and the Force guiding her hands, she would not be discovered by anyone.
After the reentry burn had finished, she angled away from the shuttle, and gently landed in the water nearby. Proceeding underwater, she got within a half mile of Earthdome, before she finally inverted her Defender. With a hatch on top, she had to have the craft upside down to avoid the water rushing in and filling the cockpit as soon as the hatch was opened. Slipping into the water, she began swimming towards the shore.
Arriving at the shore, she waited a few moments for the water to drop off her outfit, and began sensing the building ahead, trying to find the sentries and electronic equipment she knew would be covering the entrances and exits. There! There were twelve guards on duty outside the building, with another dozen inside. The security cameras were covering the entrances, and recorders were connected to them so even if she did manage to hypnotize the guards, the recorders could still be examined, showing her penetration. So the way to get in would be to literally show the same image to the cameras. Reaching out again, she began to sense the best way into the building.
***
Bester was staying up late, again. Ever since he had sensed that mind of power, he hadn't been keeping up with his normal duties, and a lot of paperwork had piled up on his desk. Deciding to get some of it done tonight, especially the items due tomorrow, he was going through everything there, trying to get it down to a manageable level so he could continue looking. But something seemed to tug at his mind, and he let his mind roam free again, curious as to what might have caused it.
***
Teleso felt the other mind suddenly again, and knew she had to deal with him before she made her penetration. That mind could potentially disrupt her at a critical moment, so she began to set up a mild deception for him. It wouldn't kill him or harm him, but it would cause him to see all clocks as two hours later than usual, until the next morning.
***
Bester finished reaching out, annoyed at the minor distraction. He thought he had sensed that mind again, but obviously he was mistaken. Looking back at the clock, he was startled at seeing the time. Returning to his work, he figured he wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight. Making himself concentrate on the paperwork, he began to go through them, trying to get everything done as quickly as possible.
***
Turning her attention back to the building, Teleso began to nudge the cameras, setting them to transmit the same image over and over. She would have to be careful though, as if someone walked in front of a camera, and the main operator didn't see him or her, the alert would go off. While normal penetration would allow for some possibility of actually disabling a guard, this one had to go so smoothly nobody even knew she had been there. Sneaking past the first set of guards and cameras, she walked inside with a guard, blinding him to the fact she was there. The camera was similarly deceived, and she was inside. Resetting the outside cameras to their normal operation, she started walking towards the Senator's office.
***
The guard had been watching the interior heat monitors for a long time, making sure nobody was trying to hide inside the building, for who knew what. It was a simple fact of life that all of the oxygen breathing creatures discovered so far were warm-blooded, so if anybody was inside the building, they would either have their own air supplies, or be visible on his scope.
***
Teleso sensed the guard's mind, and realized what he was looking for. She stepped next to an air vent, and began to bring her metabolism down. It could slow her down if she got in a fight, but avoiding a fight had higher priority. Returning to her approach, she was only a few doors away from Senator Varenska's office. Suddenly, she sensed two more presences in a room to her right, and began to hypnotize them when she realized what they were actually doing.
***
Bob had been careful in his approach to the matter. He had brought a cooler, but in that cooler had been a small piece of dry ice. Susan had wondered what the dry ice was for, but he had explained about the thermal sensors. They had been dating on and off for a few weeks, and this was their first night together. They had decided to be a little daring, and were currently in Bob's office, where they were holding each other gently. They both knew about the guards patrolling the building, and didn't want them to burst in on them. They began to caress each other gently, building each other up.
***
Teleso almost chuckled at what was going on. These two could provide perfect cover for her if she wanted to use them as a distraction, but the sheer innocence of it stopped her. For all their intelligence, they were touching each other for the first time. She began to sense their hesitation, their lack of experience, and decided that she could help. Sneaking into Senator Varenska's office, she dropped off the package, and then began to meld her mind to theirs. Since there were no cameras or guards to worry about, she had hid herself under the desk in case anyone stopped in. Guiding their hands, she began turning random wanderings of each other's hands into definite patterns, but making sure it seemed as though each was learning in the process.
***
Bob had planned for a simple half hour of rubbing, but the tension building up between Susan and him had caused their body temperatures to rise sharply. The dry ice was sublimating too quickly, and the heat in the room was building up.
***
The guard on duty noticed the sudden heat spike in one of the rooms, and grabbed his radio. Within a matter of seconds, twelve guards were on their way to the office, determined to prevent any threats from being carried out at Earthdome. Arriving at the door, they asked the guard for the current status, and he reported that there was no movement from the heat source yet, and it was still rising.
One of the guards had a small fiber camera, and he slid it under the door, and began waving it around from left to right, until he finally saw what was going on. Smiling, he passed the screen around to the others, and they all had a light chuckle. They filled in the guard who was watching the heat monitors, and he called off the security team that was on the way, explaining what had happened. Everybody decided that this was something that did not need to be reported, and electronic records of the time were edited. Several had to hide chuckles when they were told, and everyone there was in a much better mood for the rest of the night. A few of the guards were ordered to clean up the mess when the two left, as something this cute had to be kept secret.
***
Teleso smiled as the guards began relaxing and leaving. She had managed to deliver the package, and had also slipped out a side door while the guards were at the door looking. Slipping out towards the beach, she sensed the two lovers one last time, and grinned. Any hesitation they had before was long gone, and they were enjoying each other thoroughly. She swam back out to her Defender, carefully made her way out of the atmosphere, and gently went into hyperdrive and left.
***
Bob and Susan finally relaxed, and they slowly began to look around the room. Chairs were knocked over, papers were all over the floor, and the carpet seemed sticky in several places. He looked at the clock and was startled at the time. They had been in there for over two hours! He felt Susan stirring next to him, and she looked around the room as well. Remembering some of what they had felt during the previous hours, the both looked at each other and said, "Will you marry me?" Giggling like children, they both held each other close, before they finally began to separate and start to dress and clean up the room.
***
Bester finally got the last few sets of paperwork finished, and went to sleep. He knew that since he had to get up at 6 that morning, he was only going to get three hours of sleep, so that should be enough. He quickly put himself to sleep, trying to get as much rest as possible before morning.
***
Next morning, Senator Varenska came to work, and briefly wondered about the cleaning crew down the hall. Normally they came by after everyone had left, so it was a bit puzzling. Still, she was glad they weren't running that vacuum cleaner next door, and she went to her desk. Pulling out her chair, she nearly sat down when she saw IT. There was a package on her chair, with a little tag on it and wrapped in paper saying Happy Birthday. Carefully removing the tag, she opened it and saw that the package was addressed to her, and was signed, "From your friend, Brogin".
Gently opening the package, she saw the equipment nestled inside a few layers of packaging, and she gently took it out. It seemed identical, but the best person to tell would be the engineer who designed it yesterday. Calling him up, she asked him to stop by her office at ten thirty, to examine something.
If her guess was right, then this monitoring and application component had been built and delivered within twelve hours, while if she had requested an EarthForce laboratory to produce it, they would have required at least six days to construct it, never mind the one week travel time for a military vessel to bring it from Mandelin 4. Even more amazing, was the way it had been delivered to her office, without any of the guards on duty even noticing what had happened. She was convinced. These people were serious about the level of assistance they could provide, and the technology base they possessed.
Clark did have allies of his own, but if she could show that these unknowns were better, then she could whittle away at his support, while placing herself in a position of power as their representative. If she could find the schedule for the next weapons test proposed by Clark's allies, and arrange to have her new friends there as well, her new friends could get a good idea of the firepower being wielded. If she could get a good idea of the firepower they wielded as well, that would help as well, providing her with a chance to compare the two. Unfortunately, without more information about them, things would have to be very desperate before they would trust an unknown group of humans versus President Clark.
That lunch, she met with her friends, and discussed the colonization offer from Governor Brogin. The others were a little startled at the request, but they were willing allow the posters to be put up in their districts, along with the restrictions and requirements listed on it. The three friends of hers were a little curious at how an agricultural colony managed to scrape up the money for colonization, but Varenska just smiled. Distracting the topic with thoughts about the Nightwatch, the others were quick to voice their loyalty to Earth, as was expected. The lunch went in random politic decisions from there, but the hidden message between them was that Nightwatch was getting dangerous, and might get out of hand soon. President Luchenko, of the Russian Consortium, was especially interested, as the potential migration would ease population pressure in some of her districts.
Returning from lunch, Varenska saw the report on the component, and smiled. The engineer who had designed it was shocked at the precision that had gone into it, but the way it was built also suggested assembly line methods, instead of the handcrafting needed for an Earth company to build it. Still though, the ultimate test would be the company that needed it to build their new lasers, and it would be arriving there that afternoon.
In the meantime, she had to start whittling away at Clark's power. She knew that the company that built the shuttles normally was a good friend of Clark's, and donated several thousand per month to his coffers. Once the contract was brought up in a few days, she could introduce their bid in. Of course she would need a name for the company, but a quick message to Governor Brogin should take care of that.
Later that day, she got her reply. The associates would be bidding for the contract under the name of "Von Sluis Corporation". She thought the name was rather funny, but it would work for now.