Author's note
For those who have asked for nit, this chapter actually has some sex in it :-)
Have fun.
Talemaster
*
Earth was looming large on the screen. We had come out of hyperspace several hours ago and were on our final approach.
I am not given much to sentimentality, but seeing Earth so clearly before me always touches me deeply. I had not been home for some time and I was looking forward to spending a few days on the planet where I had grown up.
We would not be allowed into any regular spaceport on Earth. Being a scout ship returning from a virgin world we would be directed to a quarantine station in the middle of the Simpson desert on a continent that has been known as Australia for more than a millennium. There the ship would be carefully examined and decontaminated, if necessary, before being allowed to travel on. We had carefully purged all computer records on board of material we didn't want the Federation to see and had left the Oktonian library and the other stuff behind on Olympus where it would be safe from prying eyes. I had also made an edited version of our arrival and subsequent activity and loaded it on a memory stick. I was sure to be pulled in by Federation High Command who were dying to know what we had been up to, I guessed. I wasn't far off the mark.
The moment we were on the ground we were boarded by Federation officers in biological hazard suits. I think they were surprised to see all of us in our Olympus fatigues, but no one said anything about that. After determining who is who I was asked off the ship and escorted to a decontamination chamber. I had to take my clothes off and put the contents of my pockets into a tray before I was motioned into a shower. After I had washed myself down with that awful shit that comes out of the shower, under the watchful eye of a quarantine officer who made sure I didn't miss any bits, I was led into another shower where I could finally cleanse myself properly with soap and clean water. It's important to do that well since the decontaminant they use stings on the skin if left on too long. They gave me a hospital gown and led me into another room where a doctor did a thorough health check.
I must have passed because they gave me my clothes and other stuff back, which had also been treated. The moment I was dressed a Colonel and a Major of Federation security escorted me to a waiting shuttle. We were the only passengers in an aircraft designed to take about a dozen people.
The flight attendant was a sweetie. She served me with a meal and a few beers on the two hour long flight under the disapproving stares of my surly escorts. We transferred to a limousine while still on the tarmac. There was little I could see through the heavily tinted windows of the vehicle. I didn't know where we were and my escorts simply had not answered my question when I asked where we were going.
After passing through several checkpoints we eventually wound up in some underground complex in front of a lift guarded by a detachment of armed soldiers. My escort presented some documents to the officer in charge and we were cleared to proceed. Eventually we wound up in some office. There wasn't much to see. A desk, a computer terminal, the obligatory Federation flag in a corner, the Federation coat of arms prominently displayed an the wall behind the desk and a rather pleasant looking female Federation Major behind the desk.
My escorts presented their papers again, the Major signed the documents and dismissed the goons.
"Welcome to Federation headquarters," she said to me when we were alone. "I trust you had a pleasant journey."
"Wonderful," I said. "Those two gorillas were a bundle of laughs."
"Don't be too hard on them Major Walters, they were under orders not to engage in any conversation with you. We are trying to keep your visit here rather quiet."
She pointed to a door and said: "You may go in, General Taubner is expecting you."
General Taubner's office, though larger, was equally Spartan in decor. Evidently an office where he saw visitors. He would do his work somewhere else. The General was in uniform, seated behind his desk, the only items on the polished surface being a peak cap, a swagger stick and a dossier with my name on it. Military traditions die hard, I thought.
Seeing I was wearing my Olympus fatigues I gave the General a smart military salute.
"Sit down Mayor," he said. "I wanted to meet you before I have you tell the committee about your observations in the forbidden zone. You are the only Federation officer ever to have been there. Naturally we are all curious."
"With the General's permission. I have documented our journey to Olympus and our activities there. Perhaps it might be prudent to see what I have before deciding how much of it and to whom the material should be shown. It's all on here."
I handed the General the memory stick and gave him the encryption key from memory. The General typed the key into the computer after loading the module. He watched my presentation twice before commenting.
"I see what you mean. I think I will sit on this for a while before deciding what to do. This is dynamite."
He pushed a button on his computer and instructed his orderly to cancel the committee meeting and to tell them something urgent had come up he had to attend to.
He turned to me.
"This is excellent work, You are supplying us with tangible information about this sector no one has been able to gather so far. Our first glimpse of an Oktonian male, better knowledge about their fleet, the list goes on. We owe you much. In recognition of your work I'm promoting you Colonel."
"I am flattered, General, but you mustn't do that. In fact I would like you to stop all payments to me as of now as a matter of urgency."
"You surprise me Major, I thought you would be pleased."
"I am, Sir. However, there are compelling reasons why we mustn't go down this road."
"Alright, tell me."
"The situation has changed. I seriously doubt the Chang Corporation is contemplating replacing me. I have proved the viability of producing Pumpernickel on Olympus, something the Oktonian government is incredibly keen on. I will be put in charge of the colonisation of an entire planet, I expect, with immense discretionary powers. As such I will become a key figure for the Chang Corporation and the Oktonian government.
"The moment this becomes common knowledge, as it will, my doings and my past will come under intense scrutiny. If it ever got out that I am still receiving pay from the Federation my credibility would be shot and my position wwould become untenable. They'd have to get someone else. Believe me, it will get out if you continue to pay me. Someone will talk. I don't need the money, as you know. Why then run a risk that can get everything undone when it's not necessary.
"I will continue to liaise with the Federation, this is proper and expected. My excellent personal relationship with General Nakov and his exec is very much viewed as being in my favour. The Oktonians and the Chang Corporation are interested in good relations with the Federation. Let's not jeopardise what we have here for the sake of a few credits and a rank."
"You make a persuasive case, Major. What do you want us to do, if anything?"
"I want the Federation to send me a letter apologising for some administrative error that caused my salary to be continued after I had in fact resigned. I will take the letter to my bank, ask them to identify the overpaid amounts and reimburse the Federation. That covers everybody. Errors occur and it is up to the people involved to correct them when the facts become known. No one can find fault with that."
"This is a good plan, let's do it. Anything else?"
"Yes, my visit here today. Quite a few people have seen me. With my Olympus fatigues I stick out like the proverbial canine testicles. At the moment it won't mean much, but when pictures of me appear in newspapers, as they will once the Olympus project becomes known, people will remember and wonder what I was doing here. Some will talk. We need to offer an explanation for my visit. We should make it official."
"What do you have in mind? Something devious, no doubt."
"I take it Lata is buried here somewhere close by?"
"Yes, in a cemetery about five miles from here. How does Lata get into this?"
"It's one hell of an imposition, but it's the best I can come up with."
"Let's hear it then."
"When we are done here I leave through the front door. I don't know my way around and I would appreciate if you could arrange transport and a room in one of the better hotels close by. I'll pay my own bills, of course. I'll arrange for a suitable wreath through the hotel. Sometime tomorrow you and I and perhaps Bernice, Lata's old assistant, go to the cemetery and lay the wreath on Lata's grave. Perhaps your PR department can arrange a photo and a short article and launch it in one of the gossip papers. It won't be to the detriment of either of us for people to know that a man has come all the way from Okton4 and together with a five star general laid a wreath on the grave of a mutual friend. People will love it. Afterwards we drop Bernice off and have a couple of drinks in my hotel, somewhere where we can be seen and not overheard. I am sure by tomorrow you will have a lot of questions. After that we'll have all bases covered. As I said, it's a hell of an imposition."
"Very neat. I like that idea."
He turned to his computer, pushed a button and asked his orderly to come in.
"Major Dennings," he said, "order some transport, book a room in the Galaxy hotel for Colonel Walters of Olympus Colonisation Command and arrange for one of our VIP bags. Before you do that however, bring us a drink. Ask Colonel Walters what he wants."
I settled for a beer, so did the general.
We had just finished our beer when the Major returned and told us everything was ready. The General ordered her to take care of me and to get me settled in at the hotel.
"Start the rumour mill going at the hotel," he instructed her. "Tell them Colonel Walters is in charge of the colonisation of a planet in the forbidden zone in a joint venture with the Oktonian government and that he is here in a private capacity to pay his last respects to a personal friend and Federation officer who died on duty."
General Taubner got up and offered me his hand. We shook hands and he told me he would pick me up at the hotel at eleven in the morning.
***
Major Dennings booked me in at the hotel, all I had to do was to sign the register and hand over my credit card to be swiped. I had the impression the receptionist was not very impressed with my fatigues. Her attitude changed though when she saw my unlimited Chang Corporation credit card. She was all smiles after that. She would also be wet between the legs. Some women get more turned on by the smell of money than by the smell of sex. She was one of them. Her pussy would be mine if I cared to ask. I wasn't interested. I would rather fuck a whore. At least whores are honest about what they do.
I was ready for a drink and said so.
"Get me an orange juice please. I mustn't be seen drinking while on duty. However, if you were the sneaky kind and added some Gin to my drink, what is a girl to do? You go ahead, I need to get them to take your bag to your room."
