2.50.
Emperor Thatress scowled as he reviewed the financial data from the last few months. Intergalactic trade was at an eight-millennia low. Tax revenue was at a twelve-millennia low. He scanned the reports from his lessors and was forced to take a calming drug in order to keep from strangling one of his concubines to relieve his frustration.
The Yonohoah had effectively embargoed his empire. No orders were coming in from the Acklatics or the Triumverant. On an intergalactic scale, the trade ships that were en route were contacted and turned that they were no longer welcome, and that they must either turn around or find another galaxy as a port.
Stocks were falling quickly, and the financial disaster was only getting worse. Not since its foundation had the Rosanteans encountered such a dilemma.
While Thatress approved of the efforts of his generals in claiming the darkworld known as Earth for the empire, they had truly throoped the fumugal. First of all, the enforcer had been defeated by the primatives! That was a humiliation that staggered him. He had ordered the Captain Yoko’s genetic line be barred from reproduction to prevent anyone from his family from serving the empire in the future over such a colossal failure.
Second, their attempts at painting Earth as a den of villainy in need of gentling and correction had backfired. The data from the Toormondas that they had included in their fleet was incontrovertable, and it gave credence to the logs provided by the Earthlings of the peasant craft which the enforcement vessel had followed to the system in the first place.
He hadn’t been directly involved in the decision to attack earth. He hadn’t really been paying much attention to the actions of his military over the last decade or so, preferring to focus on securing his genetic line and legacy. Or as his opponents would put it, he’d been engaging in endless sessions of debauchery and hedonism while letting the government run itself.
He was fine with that characterization, although he’d executed one pundit who had tried to argue that this was the preferred and desirable state of the Rosantean Empire. The implied insult against the emperor was too much to bear.
If only the Earthlings had fallen into his lap before the Yonohoans, he thought. The ‘misunderstanding’ in first contact which was the Rosantean’s default tactic in opening negotiations with unknown civilization could have been swept under the rug.
Instead, they were exposed and humiliated.
So he made the mistake that so many authoritarian rulers did when they were embarrassed.
He doubled down and sent a fleet where a single enforcer had failed.
~~~~~
The lights came on in the girl’s dormitory, signaling the start of the ‘day.’ The cycle that the Toormonda followed the day-night cycle of planet Totola, which was about an hour shorter than planet Earth, but Sarah had adapted quite well, waking up as the girls began moving and talking.
She rolled out of bed and began dressing. The Mirella and her friends invited Sarah to join them for breakfast, so she joined them in the cafeteria area after they had finished their morning ablutions.
“How long do you think we’re going to stay around the proto-star?” Sarah asked her companions as they were munching on Yonohoan breakfast tubers.
“Are you in a hurry to study something else?” Alaria asked. “I am enjoying the present topic of study, personally.”
“It’s fascinating,” Sarah asked. “I’m just wondering if we’re going to spend the entire Toormonda trip on this one project or if we’re going to go back to looking for black holes before we have to turn back.”
“It is a discussion that should be brought up with the entire class,” Vanya agreed. “The search for a great devourer was the agreed upon topic of study when we hired the Toormonda. If we change our purpose we should come to a mutual agreement.”
“So we’re going to vote on it,” Sarah asked.
“Yes,” Vanya said. “Before the education period begins today I will put it forward that we should change the topic of study from black holes to developing stars. If everyone agrees, then we will remain here until it is time to return. If not, then we will have to discuss how long we will continue the current projects before we return to the hunt.”
“How will you vote, Sarah?” Mirella asked.
“Does my opinion matter? I’m not really part of the class,” she pointed out.
“You are part of our Toormonda. You may not understand how to play Topoka with the rest of us, but you are learning and growing,” Mirella insisted. “And you are forming memories and bonds of friendship that will last long after you return to your people. That makes us one of you, despite your saggy tits.”
“Hey!” Sarah scolded, laughing at the insult which was intended in jest at her age. She sighed. “I think that I’ll be happy either way, so I’ll abstain if that’s possible. I am enjoying myself, but I think I’m learning more about Yonohoan culture than I am about the universe itself.”
“That is a valid area of study, especially for an earthling,” Vanya pointed out. “We are pleased to help you in such a pursuit.”
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“Thank you for your efforts on my behalf,” Sarah said, using the same formality that she had grown accustomed to when educational matters were being discussed. “I do greatly enjoy exploring the differences and similarities between our people. Perhaps when I return home I’ll write a book about how we are the same but different.”
“That is a good goal,” Vanya agreed.
They moved the subject on to other matters, briefly touching on boys and their plans for when the journey was over.
As promised, Vanya called everyone together as they began to disperse to the work stations.
“It was pointed out by our clanswoman, friend and classmate Sarah that our original purpose for Toormonda was to hunt for black holes,” she said, giving Sarah full credit. “Our discovery of the proto-star is fascinating, but it is not the purpose we set out for. I propose a vote to change the purpose of our mission to studying the development of nascent star systems.”
Rather than call out their votes, the room subtly shifted, with everyone stepping forward, backward or to the side. Sarah was caught flat-footed, unaccustomed to the voting method.
“Sarah previously declared that she doesn’t care one way or the other,” Vanya said. “So just pretend that she stepped to the side.”
Some of the class continued to look at her, but Vanya, acting as an alpha, Sarah realized, announced the outcome of the vote.
“We remain to study the proto-star until it is time to return home,” she said.
The class nodded and got to work.
They discovered the anomaly after the first meal break. One of the groups, led by a boy named Jefon, called the others to examine his groups findings. Sarah came to look as well, and she frowned as she tried to make sense of the readings.
Abnormalities around one of the accruing gas giants. He proposed bringing the Toormonda closer to the orbit where the planet was forming in order to study the phenomena more closely, and once more the room shifted as everyone voted by shifting their stances. Sarah took part this time, taking a step to the left to signify that she abstained.
The group quietly dispersed and the Toormonda began to speed towards the orbit swiftly. They could have been there in an instant by switching to FTL, but they would have had to divert power from the science instruments toward the drive, and they had just voted to dedicate the entire trip to this developing star system, so there was no point in hurrying.
Abruptly, the ship’s sensors all powered down, the science stations locked out, and the lights flickered.
“Apologies, students,” the ship said politely. “It seems that we have stumbled upon a restricted area. I have received a military override. All data on your class project has been purged. The Toormonda will soon be boarded by military personnel to verify our manifest and provide further instructions.”
The students began growing alarmed, but Donodo quickly stepped up and calmed them. “Don’t worry everyone, this actually happens much more often than you would believe. In fact, it’s the third time I’ve encountered this situation since I took over this Toormonda. I apologize that your work has been deleted, but your personal safety is not in question. The military will simply verify our passenger list, instruct us to keep this experience a secret, and direct us on which route to take to return home. Which, I regret to say, will be happening ahead of schedule.”
The room calmed down at his reassurances and leadership, and they gathered in the common room to await the boarder.
This proved to be slightly premature, as the military seemed to be in no hurry to perform its examination. Hours passed, and the group dispersed to the different parts of the Toormonda, alternating between nervous chatter and time-passing activities such as playing cards, an activity which the Yonohoans shared with Earth, although the deck was significantly different. As were the games played.
Sarah was trying to learn what she thought of as Yonohoan Poker when the ship’s airlock abruptly opened to admit a figure in power armor. The tall figure stepped aboard, and the students in the common area froze with fear.
The soldier’s helmet puffed into dust, revealing the face of a woman with a beauty mark beneath her left eye, crimson eyes, and a shaved head.
“Gather the passengers together for inspection,” she ordered the students she saw. She spoke High Yonohoan instead of the common tongue, but the formal sounding language was still understandable. “Tell them not to fear. You have unconvered no secrets that would warrant ensuring your permanent silence. You are simply in an inconvenient location at an inconvenient time. No harm will come to any of the passengers of this learning-ship if you follow my directions.”
The children ran off to gather the others, and Sarah stepped forward next to Donodo. He took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, which she returned.
“I apologize for disturbing a secure location,” Donodo said. “I have visited this proto-star twice in the past and had no issues. I had no idea that there were operations in the area or I would have directed the students elsewhere.”
“It is best not to discuss the nature of what you have disturbed,” the soldier said. “Simply rest assured that you are in no danger.”
“Thank you for your consideration,” he said.
Sarah wished that she was half as composed as he was.
The students swiftly fell into formation. The Soldier examined them, then asked them each to state for the record their name and planet of origin. She had no surprises until she came to Sarah.
“You are from Earth?” the soldier asked.
“Yes? Is that a problem? It was a darkworld until recently and--”
“You will come with me. Compliance is not optional. You will not be harmed,” the soldier said. Her helmet puffed back into existence.
Sarah swallowed, looking at Donodo for reassurance. For the first time, he looked shaken.
“Will I be allowed to return?” Sarah asked.
“That is for the High-Inquisitor to determine,” the soldier said.