Jessica stepped in front of Nathan and turned her back to the Prime Minister in order to speak with Nathan more discreetly.
“He’s probably right, you know,” Jessica told him quietly. “When the Yamaro doesn’t check in, they will send more ships.”
“How long until that happens?”
Tug moved in closer to join the conversation. “Even with the high speed comm drones, there is always a delay of several weeks with communications between the Ta’Akar command and their ships. By the time they decide something is wrong, contact another ship to investigate, and that ship makes the trip here, it might be a month or more. However, if the Yamaro dispatched a message during the battle, that time might be cut in half. Another warship could arrive in a few weeks, maybe sooner if it was already patrolling nearby.”
As Nathan contemplated Tug’s words, the Prime Minister’s aide broke off his conversation with his superior. “Gentlemen,” the aide began, “in light of your rather bold claims, I must ask you what it is you desire of us?”
Nathan could see the apprehension on the man’s face. It was obvious that the idea of taking on the Ta’Akar seemed a fool’s errand to him. “You need to prepare to defend yourselves, as do we.”
“We have no effective means of doing so.”
“You have a military, do you not?” Nathan asked, indicating the uniformed and heavily armed men in the room. “You have ships as well. We have seen many leaving your world.”
“Those are civilian ships, not military vessels. They are armed, yes, but only for defensive purposes, and certainly not enough to defend themselves against Ta’Akar warships. Our military is primarily ground based. Other than a few squadrons of short range fighters, we have no space borne military assets. The Ta’Akar took them from us decades ago as a condition of our surrender.”
“You have missiles,” Jessica added, “with nukes. That’s a bit more than nothing.”
“Not when targeting a heavily shielded warship,” the Prime Minister’s aide corrected. “We were unable to defend ourselves against just one of their ships. You saw this for yourselves. And now we have the additional burden of the chaotic situation on the surface of Corinair. If the Ta’Akar return, especially in force, we will be destroyed in short order. In our current state of disarray, the population would never support any type of resistance. They will simply march in and take over once and for all. Or worse yet, they will remain in orbit and finish what the Yamaro started.”
“If I may, sir,” Tug chimed in. “What exactly is going on out there?”
“The Loyalists are accusing the Followers of polluting the minds of the Corinairans with lies. They believe that such behavior is the reason for the Yamaro’s bombardment.”
“It is entirely possible that the actions of the Loyalists are being instigated by Ta’Akar agents operating covertly on your world.”
“Yes, we have suspected their presence for some time now. But other than causing general disruption, I fail to understand the purpose of such activities.”
“Their goal is to destabilize your government enough to justify seizing control,” Tug explained. The Prime Minister’s aide looked confused. “The original terms of your surrender allowed you to maintain your self-governance. This was necessary due to the delay in communications over even short interstellar distances. Three decades ago, the problem of communications delay was even greater. Direct administration over conquered worlds was impractical. But the original terms of surrender included a clause that allowed agents of the Ta’Akar to take control of the planetary government should that government become unstable.”
“But why now? Was it because of the reports of the sign of Na-Tan’s arrival?”
“Possibly, but I believe there are deeper reasons. This event only serves as a convenient excuse,” Tug continued. “The anti-aging serum
“He’s probably right, you know,” Jessica told him quietly. “When the Yamaro doesn’t check in, they will send more ships.”
“How long until that happens?”
Tug moved in closer to join the conversation. “Even with the high speed comm drones, there is always a delay of several weeks with communications between the Ta’Akar command and their ships. By the time they decide something is wrong, contact another ship to investigate, and that ship makes the trip here, it might be a month or more. However, if the Yamaro dispatched a message during the battle, that time might be cut in half. Another warship could arrive in a few weeks, maybe sooner if it was already patrolling nearby.”
As Nathan contemplated Tug’s words, the Prime Minister’s aide broke off his conversation with his superior. “Gentlemen,” the aide began, “in light of your rather bold claims, I must ask you what it is you desire of us?”
Nathan could see the apprehension on the man’s face. It was obvious that the idea of taking on the Ta’Akar seemed a fool’s errand to him. “You need to prepare to defend yourselves, as do we.”
“We have no effective means of doing so.”
“You have a military, do you not?” Nathan asked, indicating the uniformed and heavily armed men in the room. “You have ships as well. We have seen many leaving your world.”
“Those are civilian ships, not military vessels. They are armed, yes, but only for defensive purposes, and certainly not enough to defend themselves against Ta’Akar warships. Our military is primarily ground based. Other than a few squadrons of short range fighters, we have no space borne military assets. The Ta’Akar took them from us decades ago as a condition of our surrender.”
“You have missiles,” Jessica added, “with nukes. That’s a bit more than nothing.”
“Not when targeting a heavily shielded warship,” the Prime Minister’s aide corrected. “We were unable to defend ourselves against just one of their ships. You saw this for yourselves. And now we have the additional burden of the chaotic situation on the surface of Corinair. If the Ta’Akar return, especially in force, we will be destroyed in short order. In our current state of disarray, the population would never support any type of resistance. They will simply march in and take over once and for all. Or worse yet, they will remain in orbit and finish what the Yamaro started.”
“If I may, sir,” Tug chimed in. “What exactly is going on out there?”
“The Loyalists are accusing the Followers of polluting the minds of the Corinairans with lies. They believe that such behavior is the reason for the Yamaro’s bombardment.”
“It is entirely possible that the actions of the Loyalists are being instigated by Ta’Akar agents operating covertly on your world.”
“Yes, we have suspected their presence for some time now. But other than causing general disruption, I fail to understand the purpose of such activities.”
“Their goal is to destabilize your government enough to justify seizing control,” Tug explained. The Prime Minister’s aide looked confused. “The original terms of your surrender allowed you to maintain your self-governance. This was necessary due to the delay in communications over even short interstellar distances. Three decades ago, the problem of communications delay was even greater. Direct administration over conquered worlds was impractical. But the original terms of surrender included a clause that allowed agents of the Ta’Akar to take control of the planetary government should that government become unstable.”
“But why now? Was it because of the reports of the sign of Na-Tan’s arrival?”
“Possibly, but I believe there are deeper reasons. This event only serves as a convenient excuse,” Tug continued. “The anti-aging serum
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