Spacer Clans Adventure 2: Naero's Gambit by Mason Elliott Read Free Book Online Page B

loud.
    “Can you use the ship’s functions to communicate audibly, through the computers and sensors?”
    Alala ’s voice came over the speakers suddenly, blaring loud.
    Naero clutched her ears and the voice modulated its volume.
    “This is not as efficient, but we will comply, if this is what you wish.”
    “I t is. These others that I will bring on board are more than just others. They are my friends, my family–they are part of me. I see them that way. Like Om. Like I am part of you. You must keep them safe and not harm them, if at all possible. They will not harm you. They will only seek to understand and guide your further development.”
    “W e will comply. If they attempt to harm us, we will force them to leave, but we will do our best not to harm them.”
    Naero got on her com and gave instructions to her ships, asking for volunteers and teks for a special Clan mission .
    A mission unlike any other.
    She sat on the main bridge in the captain’s chair, thinking while the new crew of volunteers assembled themselves from among all the other ships.
    Then she had an idea.
    “Alala. I have a new purpose for you.”
    “W e stand ready. Inform us.”
    “I want you to go out on patrol. I want you to be a guardian. A protector.”
    “V ery well. This sounds acceptable. Will you go with us? Where will we patrol? What are we seeking to protect?”
    “W e’ll decide some of that as we go along. First my people need to get to know you, and you need to get to know them. What I’m proposing here is a partnership. A learning opportunity for everyone.”
    “Y et…what is our primary purpose?”
    “O pen space remains a dangerous place, much of it still unknown. I want you to go out there on the border and the fringe areas to help and protect others, people who may need help. To patrol and observe. To learn and to know. To gather knowledge. You have many special abilities that no other ships have. We’ll be trading in these border areas for a long while and will stay in touch. We can rejoin each other from time to time to direct and discuss your progress and the crew’s.”
    “O m tells us that this venture sounds both logical and beneficial, and that we can trust you and…most of your people.”
    “Y ou always have a right to defend yourself and your crew against any threat, but you must also use your discretion as you have done thus far. Preserve sentient life when and where possible. I only have one other request.”
    “Y es?”
    “I need to study your ion cannons and learn their secrets.”
    Naero instantly felt Alala ’s hesitation and resistance.
    “U nfortunately, Naero. For some reason, our current protocols do not allow us to divulge any of our operational secrets. We hope this will not keep you and your others from wishing to work with us. Om says that it is the remains of our initial, primary Kexxian programming–not to allow our secrets to fall into the hands of others.”
    “E ven me, Alala?”
    “A pologies. Even you, Naero, our maker. If you joined with us completely, like you did before, we could not resist sharing such secrets with our maker directly. You could perceive all that we are in a short time.
    “Yet in your current status, you cannot teknomance with us, and so our primary programming remains intact. Even we cannot break our own protocols. But I will warn you that the ion cannon tek is extremely advanced and well-protected, with many dangers and protocols of its own built right into the tek that are alien even to us. I do not understand it all fully. To protect ourselves, we have been forced to modify that ion tek in several crucial ways. Doing so was complex and dangerous. It took a very long time.”
    Naero blinked and raised one eyebrow.
    What could Alala mean by all that? Almost as if the ion guns were part of the KDM. But they weren’t. Naero knew that for a fact.
    Alala continued.
    “ Naero. You must warn these others about these matters as well. To avoid confusion. We are