He started walking toward the blue jumpsuits and when he looked Roquette was hurrying to catch up. He held out his hand palm down and turned it to point a finger toward Telini; she turned around and repeated the gesture. He saw Rollins stop, turn ninety degrees to his right and head into the market. The jumpsuits reached Telini and Gomez before Lewis did. He stopped abruptly and Roquette followed suit. Rollins picked up something off a table but kept his eyes on Lewis. Lewis pointed two fingers at his own eyes then gestured at Telini.

He walked slowly over to Roquette and said. “Remember that tracker Captain DeLeah put on Telini?” Roquette nodded and he continued. “I don’t think the people in the blue jumpsuits are from Ladzoo nor do I think we can assume that they are hostile. Let’s be discrete and get closer.”

She nodded again and walked off to talk to Rollins. Lewis came around to the other side of the table from Telini and winked at Gomez when she looked at him. She turned away and went back to paying attention to the conversation that Telini was having with the blue jumpsuits.

“Well, you have a transmitter of some kind on your person. It was not difficult to track you here,” white cord explained in an accent that made him sound like an outsider, while Telini listened attentively. “We just want to ask you some questions and we’ve come a long way to do so.”

Telini said. “So, I take it that’s more than a request.”

Gold Cord spoke up, looking hurt. “Not at all, friend. Feel free to refuse, then we will have to list you as an unfriendly and find other means to obtain the information we’re looking for.”

Lewis stepped around the table and up to the man with the gold cord. “Lieutenant Lewis at your service,” He offered his right hand, a gesture which brought a couple of muzzles up pointing at his midsection, he ignored them and continued. “Is there a place where we can discuss your needs in private, perhaps up there?” he said, pointing at the balcony where he had first seen them.

“I see you anticipated our arrival, Lieutenant,” Gold Cord said. “My name is Lieutenant Commander Slee and your man here was just about to tell us where you came from and why.”

“No, he’s not. Not until we establish some ground rules. Do you have carte blanche from your command structure as far as information goes?” Lewis said in a neutral tone.

“No,” Slee said. “We are here to harvest information, not to share it. Don’t worry; your people won’t be damaged in the process.”

Lewis looked Slee in the eye. “I’m not worried about my people. As soon as I contact my captain, I’m sure he will agree to an exchange of information, but I guarantee it won’t be one sided. Can we leave this area?” He turned to Telini. “Raise Captain DeLeah for me, will ya?”

“Yes sir”

Telini put a finger to his ear and spoke quietly in English a few times, then looked up and shook his head at Lewis. As Lewis scanned the faces around him he caught an amused smirk on white cord’s face. He turned back to Slee.

“Do you have a jammer on our frequency?” he asked.

Slee nodded to Lewis, saying. “Let’s go sit somewhere. There are some tables over there.”

He pointed towards the center of the market and walked in the direction he’d indicated. As the group passed through the crowd Lewis spotted Blair, who was leaning on a table and examining some leather goods. Blair looked up at Lewis and raised one eyebrow before turning and walking away, ahead of the group. They arrived at an area where several food vendors encircled twenty or more tables, of which more than half were occupied, and they were small enough that when they sat they took up two tables. Silver Cord motioned Telini and Gomez, along with one black cord to sit with him. Lewis settled in with gold, white, and black.

Lewis addressed the man with the white cord. “OK, I get the gold and silver being officers and black for security. So what does your white braid designate?”

The man looked at Slee, who nodded to him. “My white braid shows that I’m a communication specialist. Who is your communication technician?”

“Is there a difference between a specialist and a technician?” Lewis asked.

“A specialist,” He answered. “Has a higher degree of training and since you are a field unit I assumed the latter is more likely.”

Lewis chuckled. “Did it occur to you that you are in the field? Or are you just that much better than we are?”

Slee grimaced. “Hey cut it out you two. I don’t think this is a good place to start a fight. Let’s get down to business, are you here from the planetary union?”

Lewis shook his head. “How about you lift that signal jammer and I’ll talk to my captain?”

“We’ll do that in exchange for answers”, Slee said, nodding to White Cord. “Go ahead.”

Lewis spoke to the other table. “Telini, try again.”

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

In a moment Telini brought him the headset. Lewis put it on. “Hello, Captain.”

Lenon’s voice came across clearly. “What’s going on? You weren’t due to check in for another seven hours.”

“We have some people here who have some questions, and I wanted to find out how you wanted it handled,” Lewis told him.

“Military, police, government or what?” Lenon asked. “Did they turn off Tony’s tracker for a while?”

“I don’t know who they are yet, and yes they did. Would you like me to ask?” Lewis said.

“Please do that, I’ll wait,” Lenon replied.

Lewis turned to Slee. “What agency are you with?”

“We are with the intelligence branch of the Submerged People’s Coalition,” Slee told him.

“Military, I think.” Lewis said into the mike.

“OK, tell them to come by and see me. Meantime, tell them anything you want to. Do they have the ability to listen in?” Lenon asked.

Lewis thought about that for a moment. “Probably.”

“You probably know more about operational security than I do, so just let me know tonight how it went, “Lenon said. “How’s Ladzoo?”

“It’s a mess, but it looks like the folks here are working hard to make it better, “Lewis told him.

“Hey, John,” Lenon’s voice had an edge to it.

“Yes sir?” Lewis asked.

“Try to enjoy yourself, huh?” Lenon laughed.

“I’ll try sir,” Lewis said with relief.

He handed the headset back to Telini, and turned to Slee. “OK, let’s trade info; do you need to call your people first?”

Slee frowned. “I thought I had already explained things to you.”

Lewis stood up. “Then I guess we’re done here.” Gomez and Telini stood up at the other table.

“Hold on, Lieutenant,” Slee said. “Maybe we can work something out. I need to make that call you mentioned. Can we buy your crew some drinks? Lars, put me through to the rear admiral.”

Silver Cord stood up and smiled at Lewis. “Have a seat Lieutenant Lewis, would you like some tea?”

Lewis chuckled. “Don’t mind if I do.”

Everyone sat down, except Silver Cord. He went and bought tea for everyone and Slee conferred with someone on a handheld radio.

Finally, he said. “I have received the parameters for our discussion and I’m allowed to give you quite a bit of data in exchange for the answers we seek. Do you have limitations?”

“I think it’s clear that neither side is going to be giving away sensitive information at this time,” Lewis answered.

“Fair enough,” Slee said. “Is this the first time you or the people you’re associated with have been to this planet?”

“Yes, “Lewis said. “I am no navigator, but I understand we ‘misjumped’. Can you tell me the coordinates of this system?”

“No, our data systems were badly corrupted by repeated pulses,” Slee told him. “Is your company associated with the federation or one of the intersystem corporations?”

“No, as far as I know, DeLeah Ventures is an independent operator,” Lewis answered. “What happened here? Could you give me a brief history lesson?”

“That’s a big question, how about a refill?” Slee looked tired and Silver Cord gathered up cups and went to buy some more tea. “This planet was discovered by a joint expedition between a scientific company, Algo and a merchant corporation called Sylog. They both thought they had hit the mother lode. Sylog wanted to mine the resources and build a spaceport, but Algo argued that the environment should remain pristine for studying. A custody battle ensued over the use of the planet. The court’s decision was to draw a line on the globe and award east to one company and west to another.

Both sides established colonies and all was relatively prosperous for about eighty years. By then there were large cities on opposite sides of the world and then there was an economic down turn in the civilized regions and Sylog went out of business. About the same time Algo’s funding pretty much dried up. A remote colony planet like this one wasn’t much of a priority when things were so crappy back home. The supply ships from Sylog stopped coming and things got bad for their colonists. Algo received a shipment and offered aid, but the amount of anger and venom was high on both sides. When the next shipment arrived the folks from Sylog attempted to hijack it. The ship was destroyed and Algo’s response was to blow up Sylog’s space station. Naturally, Sylog returned the favor. They both spent the next twenty-five years building weapons and blowing up each other’s satellites. A great famine occurred and war became more important than food, business or research. No more ships came from the home worlds. Everyone pulled back to defensible positions and destroyed each other’s outposts. Many naval battles raged with no clear winner in the long run. Terrorist from each side infiltrated the other side and did considerable damage. Sixty years had passed since the last supply ship when Sylog’s capital, New Brannon, suffered a devastating nuclear attack. Nobody knows who did it. But the military and government hierarchy was ninety eight percent destroyed by the attack. Within a few hours every island on the planet had been hit by at least one missile with thermonuclear weapons, some of them were hit by many. That was about two hundred years ago.” Slee sat back and looked over his cup at Lewis.

Lewis looked around at the market, full of people going about their business. He spotted his people hanging out in the crowds and keeping an eye on his location. He noticed a man in a long coat and wide brimmed hat at a food seller and realized that he had already seen him a few times that day. The man sat at a table across the open area and when their eyes met Lewis nodded slightly. The man almost smiled before turning his attention to his food.

“What are your captain’s intentions here?” Slee asked.

Lewis pondered that for a moment. “I think he’s looking for the star coordinates so he is able to return to where he belongs. Who are the power brokers in this area?”

Slee chuckled. “I’d like to think we are, but that would be arrogant, Ladzoo has grown very important of late and the knights hold sway over a huge amount of land. To the north is the nation of Vakum, which looks like nothing more than a loose federation of pirate bands. Port Mist is the newest player, I suspect it is too soon to tell if they will become worthy of consideration.” Slee looked agitated and he set down his cup a little harder than usual. “Listen Lieutenant, we need to know that you will report this place to the federation when you get back.”

Lewis shook his head. “Sorry Commander, not my call. Would you like me to raise the captain so you can discuss it with him?” Slee just stared at Lewis, so he continued. “Better yet why don’t you go visit him? Captain DeLeah is friendly, most of the time.”

“Thank you for your time Lieutenant,” Slee stood and his people rose from their seats in unison.