Operation Orion - Kevin Dockery [91]
“Ahoy, USSS Pegasus! This is Olin Parvik, commanding the Starguard II. Welcome to the Darius system! Want to get together for a cup of tea?”
“Captain Parvik,” Carstairs replied. “I would like to invite you aboard to share the hospitality of the United States Navy, spacefaring version.”
Four hours later, the Starguard II and the Pegasus were running parallel courses, both ships decelerating toward the inhabited belt of the Darius system. Parvik made the transfer in a personal shuttle that was the envy of every human who saw it: a speedy and maneuverable little craft that was 80 percent engine and 20 percent cockpit. It was large enough to carry six, but Parvik flew it alone and docked it easily inside the frigate’s drop boat bay.
Jackson, who owed his life and those of his Teammates to the jaunty Assarn, was the first to greet Olin Parvik as he came aboard. The pilot, who himself had been saved from slavery or death by the timely intervention of the SEALS, returned the LT’s embrace with a firm hug and a clap on the back for Sanders, Carstairs, and the chiefs. He nodded coolly at Consul Char-Kane, who returned the gesture with aloof disdain; Jackson remembered that their two races were very distrustful of each other.
Nevertheless, ten minutes later, Jackson, Sanders, the captain, the XO, Char-Kane, and Parvik were gathered around a table in the officer’s wardroom. The top of the table was a flat-panel viewscreen, and it currently displayed a detailed schematic of the entire Darius system.
“The Orion conference has been canceled,” Parvik explained bluntly. “The Shamani filed a preliminary protest over the attack on the Lotus and blamed it on the Eluoi. The Eluoi, in their inimitable fashion, claimed that the Lotus was on a spying mission and they were just defending themselves.”
“That is typical of the Eluoi,” Char-Kane noted, a surprising edge of bitterness in her usually passionless voice. “They are ever twisting the truth to blame every circumstance on the wrongdoing of some other people.”
“True enough,” Olin Parvik agreed, looking shrewdly at the Shamani woman.
“Did either side say anything about a shield driver?” Jackson asked.
“Not so far as I know. I’ve never heard of a shield driver, myself,” Parvik said. “What is it?”
“Well, it’s some kind of new defensive technology,” Carstairs said smoothly when Char-Kane made no attempt to answer. Even though Parvik was an ally, the captain wasn’t about to show all his cards. After all, the shield driver recovered from the pirate base was currently secured in the hold of the Pegasus. “We’re not too sure ourselves but gather that it was at the heart of the Lotus affair.”
“So they called off the conference because of that?” Jackson asked.
“Well, that got things started. Then, when the delegation from your world failed to arrive, the Eluoi—and Tezlac Catal in particular—declared that to be proof of bad faith. The old wizard even suggested that his poor, helpless people were being led into a trap. So he took his delegation and left, and the Shamani Consul de Star did the same thing; I think she was worried about further Eluoi treachery. We Assarn could have gone ahead with it if we’d only had someone to talk to,” Parvik said, shaking his head.
“Who’s the Consul de Star?” Carstairs asked.
“She is the leading diplomat for a planetary cluster,” Char-Kane explained. “It is a rank several grades higher than my own, as Consul de Campe.”
“Were you part of the delegation?” Jackson asked Olin Parvik.
The pilot laughed heartily and for such a long time that the LT began to feel a little foolish. Finally, Parvik wiped his eyes, and shook his head, clapping the SEALS officer on the shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But the day my people let the likes of me attend a diplomatic conference is the day the galaxy starts to spin the other way!”
He quickly grew serious. “I really am sorry. I know you’re not well acquainted with my people.”