Chapter Text
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 9: Long Distance Runaround
Scene 6: Landing Escort
9.6
Landing Escort
Captain Skip Howard was interrupted in the middle of a tour of the incredibly impressive space station of the frost giants by a call from Commander Jason Bates, Commodore Yui Song’s first officer aboard the U.S.S. Mako. The call also interrupted Commodore Yui, who was currently aboard the purple space station.
“Commodore, Captain, be aware that Captain Carter has resumed command of the U.S.S. Escort and is currently on course to the atmosphere of Asmorgan IV. Her trajectory is congruent with a landing that will put the Escort in close proximity to the compound of the holy landers.”
Gwinheldr, the elderly frost giant who had been escorting Captain Howard through the giants’ space station, overheard the message. “We received notice a few moments ago that Blue Orbital Command has cleared and invited all three ships of your task force, for approach and landing.”
“Did you attempt contact?” Commodore Yui asked.
“No response,” Bates replied.
“Esteemed Elder Gwinheldr, thank you so much for your hospitality,” said Captain Howard. “I apologize for the…”
“You stay where you are, Skip,” Yui Song interrupted over the comm link. “Esteemed Elder, we have an unusual situation and I very much hope you can help Captain Howard understand what may have led to this development.”
“I do not understand the problem,” the elderly female giant responded. “If you have an emergency arising within your group, our laws may severely limit our ability to help.”
“I appreciate that, Esteemed Elder,” replied Commodore Yui. “I am confident in Captain Howard’s sensitivity to your laws.” Yui Song’s voice changed as she addressed her subordinate. “Skip, I’m counting on you to gather the context and make sense out of this. I need answers sooner rather than later. Jason, get me back aboard Mako. We’re going after Rhonda. Yui out.”
With that, Captain Howard was left with a confused and somewhat concerned elderly giant, more than twice his size.
“I do not understand the urgency,” Gwinheldr said. “I thought making a landing would be expected.”
“Esteemed Elder, could we return to the conference room?” Howard asked.
In response, the elderly frost giant reversed direction and gestured down the hall they had been traveling through. While her gigantic security detail did not reach for their equally gigantic weapons, there was a sense of increased alertness that sent a chill down Howard’s spine and through his escort. He and his party were unarmed and while their gigantic hosts were not deliberately threatening, it was quite evident their weapons would not be needed if they wanted to do grievous harm to their relatively minuscule visitors.
“We will not ask for your assistance beyond answering a few questions that will hopefully help me understand why Captain Carter took this action without first requesting permission from our commanding officer,” Howard offered as they walked back along the corridor toward the conference room they had left nearly an hour previously.
“It’s particularly concerning because Rhonda Carter lives and breathes protocol,” Howard continued. “For her to not even acknowledge communication from the lead ship in our task force… Ah, thank you,” Howard interrupted himself as his hosts opened the door to the conference room they had inhabited a short time earlier.
“It means something is very wrong,” Howard continued as he sat down at the conference table, then: “Oh, blessings of the galaxy!” as one of the giants brought him an enormous tankard of what turned out to be some sort of very strong ale. He had to stand up to lift the tankard high enough to drink from it. It was like taking a sip from a very large pitcher.
“We had thought it very clever that each of your ships was dispatched to one of our stations,” one of the other giants at the table opined as Captain Howard drank a bit more deeply. “You were amused that Captain Carter happens to dye her hair the same color as the fur of the people she was visiting.”
“I don’t know what she might have learned or encountered among the blue to cause her to suddenly take a trip to the surface,” Howard worried. “Without asking permission,” he added.
Another of the giants had been reviewing information on a hexagonal pad - a pad large enough to serve as a viewscreen for any average office aboard the U.S.S. Beagle.“Esteemed Elder, our sensors indicate the alien craft has landed just outside the compound and several of the aliens have exited the craft and are walking toward the compound. Sensors indicate the aliens are not armed.”
“Thank you General,” the elderly female giant responded. She turned her attention toward Captain Howard. “You appear relieved, Captain. Were you concerned your colleague was about to attack the compound?”
“I won’t pretend not to be,” Howard replied. “An irrational decision toward violence would be a potential reason for Captain Carter’s strange behavior. I have to admit, I find her current behavior even more puzzling. We had heard rather grim stories about the holy landers and their religion via subspace radio traffic…”
“The writings of Ben Urri Urri,” Elder Gwinheldr responded. “I have read some of his writings as well. Child sacrifice. Sexual abuse. A locked down culture under the control of a priestly caste. We engaged in a large, multi-faceted investigation when his writings came to light. But we found no evidence of any of those abuses in this system. The holy landers are extremely annoying. But not evil. The blue believers seem to be very happy and to all appearances enjoy a very egalitarian culture. They consider the anointed to be living gods among them, but they opened every corner of the compound for our joint investigation. There were no places the investigators were not welcome.”
“The blue are not in any way oppressed?” Howard asked.
“They are sickeningly happy,” the elderly giant responded. “They seem to delight in feeding the anointed. Those closest to the compound live very close to the land. But even the blue in the coastal cities, far away from the compound regularly experience religious ecstasy. I was part of the investigation team. I couldn’t stand all the noise, but the blue really seemed happy.”
“So are the writings of Ben Urri Urri a fiction?” Howard asked.
“We have no way of knowing. People from our homeworld colonized at least 8 star systems and at least 5 of them are shared with the anointed,” Elder Gwinheldr replied. “Ben Urri Urri’s subspace podcasts come from another system.”
9.6