CHAPTER 11 – AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE
13:31 (Universal Time)
Friday, November 1, 2335
Command conference room, Executive Deck, frame level # 505
A.M.S. NOSTROMO, in low orbit over the planet Nordland
TOI 700 System, 101.2 light-years from Earth, Dorado Constellation
When Janet Robeson entered the command conference room of the NOSTROMO, situated on the same level as her executive suite, she immediately noticed the preoccupied look on Tina’s face. Tina was already in her chair and typing something on the computer pad of her position at the conference table. The next thing that Janet noticed was the small number of participants to the meeting called earlier by Tina. Apart from herself and Tina, there were only five other participants present: Dana Durning, Ahmed Jibril, Rose Tillman, Allan Ashford and Keiko Nomura. Normally, staff meetings called by Tina would count at least twelve participants. This made the fact that she, with no official permanent position as a ship’s staff member, had been invited in, somewhat surprising. Janet sat down at the table and waited, expecting more people to join the meeting. However, Tina then spoke up in a subdued voice, addressing the whole group.
‘’Thank you for coming, my friends. As you may know, I was called this morning to the TRAFALGAR by Admiral Yamashiro, along with the captains of the other ships in our fleet orbiting Nordland. A number of news were then passed to us by Admiral Yamashiro, some good ones, some very bad ones. First off, I must warn you that what I will be saying about the bad news is classified ‘Top Secret’, so you will have to keep that info to yourselves. I will now start with the good news, which are not classified and which you will be allowed to brief your respective staffs about afterwards.’’
Tina paused for a short moment before continuing.
‘’At the meeting on the TRAFALGAR, we were told by Admiral Yamashiro that the services of six large cruise liners were hired by the Spacers’ League government in order for them to come here and temporarily house the survivors from Nordland whose homes were destroyed or badly damaged during the fighting with the Predators. We will thus be able to transfer the people we are presently sheltering aboard the NOSTROMO to those liners once they will arrive.’’
‘’Uh, why not keep those people here, instead of forcing them to move to another ship, Tina?’’ asked Dana Durning. ‘’Our ship is at least as comfortable as any liner.’’
‘’Because Admiral Yamashiro wants us to leave as soon as possible for Earth, so that we could have the NOSTROMO repaired on an urgent basis. I will explain that further during the classified portion of this meeting. The only survivors who will stay on our ship then will be the 34 orphaned children who were adopted by members of our crew. By the way, Admiral Yamashiro assured me that those adoptions will legally stand: Chairman Gasparov, when informed about those adoptions, including that of little Frida Thorund, immediately signed an executive decree recognizing those adoptions, so that there could be no future legal disputes about them from anyone.’’
Janet Robeson, who had taken to heart the adoption of little Frida by Jehanne de Domrémy and Pieter Nordlung, nodded her head in satisfaction.
‘’That is an excellent piece of news, Tina. I was really afraid that some bigots in Providence would challenge Frida’s adoption on the excuse that an android can’t adopt a human child.’’
‘’And Chairman Gasparov clearly saw that possibility and moved quickly to slam the door on those bigots, of whom there are unfortunately too many around the Spacers’ League. Apart from those six large liners, the government, along with the Saturn Corporation, which owns the TOI 700 System, will be sending a small fleet of cargo ships transporting specialized construction crews, equipment and materials. Those crews will be tasked to do the cleanup and reconstruction needed to return Nordland to a habitable status. Right now, a full third of all buildings on Nordland have been either destroyed or significantly damaged, either during the fighting or by the Predators when they invaded the system. There is also the matter of the tens of thousands of bodies, either Humans or Predators, still lying in the ruins of New Oslo. Those bodies will have to be gathered and either interred, in the case of our dead citizens, or incinerated in the case of the dead Predators, before any reconstruction could start. This task will thus be a long one and the best estimates to date are that it will take at least six months to return Nordland to some degree of normalcy and to be able to return the surviving refugees to their homes. The Saturn Corporation will take a major financial hit in order to rebuild Nordland, so Chairman Gasparov decided to offer substantial financial assistance to CEO Dominguez, to help him in that task. Be reassured, though: there will be tight financial controls over that government aid package, in order to prevent any of that aid from being siphoned off by corrupt officials and corporate executives.’’
‘’A wise move indeed!’’ said Janet then. ‘’Whether we like it or not, there is still plenty of corruption and graft to be found around the Spacers’ League. And I will not even talk about what can be found on Earth.’’
‘’You are too right about that, Janet.’’ added Tina in a sober voice. ‘’I am now going to start the classified part of this meeting, which I will remind you is classified ‘Top Secret’. First off, the civilian casualties on Nordland are nothing less than ghastly. On arrival on Nordland, the Space Predators killed anyone who resisted their invasion, using indiscriminate firing, then started slaughtering the survivors in order to turn them into meat for their consumption. The early counts show that a bit over a quarter of the original population, or more than 570,000 people, were slaughtered by the Predators. If not for our intervention, the remaining people of Nordland would then have ended up like cattle heads, kept in corrals and awaiting slaughter as Predator food.’’
The participants around the table either shivered in horror or closed their eyes for a moment at those words, so Tina paused for a few seconds, to give them time to recover from the shock.
‘’Chairman Gasparov decided, quite rightfully in my opinion, to not publicize those deaths figures, in order to avoid creating general panic among the population of the Spacers’ League. Thus, if you are accosted in the future by some nosey reporters looking to create shock news, then clam up and report them to our security force. Ahmed, you will then have the authority to expel from the TOI 700 System any such reporters and media types who will cause disturbances or problems. That authority comes directly from Chairman Gasparov, who has slammed a publication ban on the details of what happened on Nordland. We may end up being accused of hiding some dark conspiracy or secret but I will be firm about this and so will Admiral Yamashiro be. Until further notice, the TOI 700 System will be under martial law, with all the rules and limitations attached to that status. So, Ahmed, if some media type gives you trouble, don’t hesitate to lock him or her up until they could be booted out of the system.’’
‘’Got it, Tina!’’
‘’Now, for the most important information I wanted to pass. This part is the most sensitive by far, thus must be kept strictly to yourselves. You may act or take decisions in light of that information but without telling to others the reasons for your actions. Any of you who will violate that secret may end up in front of a military tribunal, and this includes me as well.’’
Tina let that sink in for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and starting to reveal what was all this about.
‘’As you well know, we were able to capture early in our intervention a Predator command post that had been established by the Space Predators in the main government administrative building of New Oslo, the same building where little Frida Thorund and other children were originally taken from by the Predators. Our intelligence experts, helped by the translation skills of our Spirit, have been able to study the information and data contained in the Predator computers captured at the same time as that enemy command post. What was found from that captured data was highly unsettling, to say the least. Two major things starkly stood out in that data. First, the Predators, when they landed on Nordland, were able to seize complete sets of star charts of the Spacers’ League’s worlds and of the Solar System. They then sent away copies of those charts via small courier ships. However, we couldn’t find out where those ships went. We only know that five such courier ships were sent out on high-priority missions, carrying those captured star charts. This basically means that any still existing Space Predator ships can now be assumed to know where our worlds are and what are to be found in each of our worlds, including Earth.’’
The others around the table all looked at Tina with absolute horror in their eyes.
‘’But, that’s terrible news, Tina!’’ said a thoroughly shaken Dana Durning. ‘’This means that we cannot lower our guard ever, or not until all those monsters will have been eliminated from this galaxy.’’
‘’Correct! You can see what kind of panic and hysteria could be created if that piece of news became public knowledge.’’
‘’Wait!’’ nearly shouted out Ahmed Jibril. ‘’If the Predators sent out five courier ships, this has to mean that there are more Space Predators to be found in at least five other star systems.’’
‘’Or lots more, if we assume that these courier ships won’t make only one stop along their itineraries. To date, we were able to inflict catastrophic losses to the Space Predators in two locations: TOI 1231, where the original homeworld of the Predators was; then here, in the TOI 700 System. After hitting those Predators this hard, we would have been in our rights to assume that we have thus eliminated completely the threat from those monsters. Alas, it seems that we still are far from finished with them. TOI 1231 might have been only one of the worlds they were permanently living on. In fact, the sending out of those five courier ships by the Predators would tend to indicate that there could be at least five other systems occupied or exploited by the Predators.’’
‘’Didn’t we capture star charts of the Predator home worlds when we took that command post in New Oslo?’’ asked Keiko Nomura, who commanded the heavy fighter wing of the NOSTROMO, a unit that was now purely private and operated under the flag of the New Haven Planetary Corporation. Tina slowly shook her head in response.
‘’We didn’t! Either because of very strict security protocols on their part or because they were deleted by the Predators just before we captured that command post, no charts pertaining to Predator-occupied worlds, nor information on the strength and disposition of the Predator fleet, were found in the data we captured. Thus, while the Predators know where to find us, we in turn have no clue where their remaining ships and bases are. You can easily figure out from that how precarious the situation of Humanity is right now, my friends.’’
There was a long, stunned silence around the table then, as if buckets of icy water had just been poured on the heads of the meeting participants. Alan Ashford, the commander of the flotilla of various shuttles, craft and flying cranes contained in the hangars of the NOSTROMO, was the first to manage to be able to speak again.
‘’But what are we going to do about that, Tina?’’
‘’Resist and unite!’’ replied Tina in a resolute tone. ‘’First, we will leave this system as soon as the refugees we are sheltering will be transferred to the incoming cruise liners we are now expecting. We will go directly to Earth, in order to get the NOSTROMO repaired on a priority basis at the Avalon Space Yards. For those who may worry about how we will pay for those repairs, be reassured: the High Council will pay for our repairs. Nex, Chairman Gasparov intend to hold secret meetings with various governments on Earth, in order to gain their help and support. This nonsense about Earth playing the aloof observer while we fight off the Space Predators has to stop. The revelation that the Predators now know where Earth is may help us greatly to convince those Earth governments to join us and do their honest part in this war. I said ‘war’ because that is what we are effectively in now: a war with no certain outcome against an enemy who only wants our complete enslavement and extermination. We can either give up and do as if nothing is happening, or we can continue the fight, to the death if need be. On my part, I have no intention to give up and surrender: the outcome then would be too horrific to even contemplate. The NOSTROMO will thus fight, my friends, and this as long as we are alive.’’