do something,” he finally decided. “I’ll consult the other admirals and the US Council, see what can be done; you should give us the data required to test for Xargan infiltration so we can deal with that before any actual decisions are made.”
“We are transferring all the information we have gathered and instructions for running the tests to you now,” Hatos said.
“Good. Hopefully we can defuse this situation…” The transmission ended; Lanis and Hatos could only hope they had made the right choice.
Chapter 4
Insurrection
It had been several hours since Lanis and Hatos finished their lengthy discussion with Admiral Jackson when Lanis went into the park again. A lot of the Petran ships were now being manned by skeleton crews as the majority of the Petrans went aboard the Tarhedia to wait in a more relaxing environment. Most of them were passively avoiding the one Terran in the area - habitually or because they actually disliked Terrans, depending on the person.
There were, however, exceptions - and Lanis soon found himself in the company of Dr. Fanra Kaa’nt and Lt. Commander Benaar Herrun, the two Petrans he had boarded the Petran hyperspace disruptor at Hemreus with. “Well, look who finally decided to come down and relax,” Herrun said.
“I hope I haven’t kept you waiting,” Lanis answered jokingly.
“Heh, somebody has to look after Fanra - poor kid’s afraid of her own shadow,” the Petran soldier commented. “It’s no wonder she messed up as much as she did on the station.”
“Well,” Fanra noted, “I did manage to fix some of the problems I created.”
Despite her comment, it was clear to Lanis that she was more than a little disturbed by the whole thing, and Herrun certainly wasn’t helping. “That you did,” he said encouragingly to the timid scientist before turning to Herrun. “Herrun, is Captain Poteran down here?” he asked.
“Don’t know,” Herrun said. “I’ll check.” If he had figured out the intent behind Lanis’ question, he did not say a word; Fanra and Lanis were now alone.
“You shouldn’t let it get to you like that,” Lanis told her. “People make mistakes all the time; what matters is that nobody got hurt, and at least you know where you went wrong.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. It’s just that…” She sighed. “How do you do it? Control your fear, that is.”
“Knowing something or someone you care about depends on it helps a bit, I guess. Think about what’ll happen if you don’t stay in control, not about whatever might happen if you try to do something. I’m not actually sure whether your intelligence is a good thing or not in situations where your own life depends on, say, fighting back; on one hand, being smart means you’re more likely to understand that doing nothing will get you killed, but on the other hand, it also means you could just freeze up, trying to figure out what’s the best thing to do.”
“That’s easy enough to solve,” Kaa’nt observed.
“Theoretically, yes; but people like you will probably fail to stop it and act before it’s too late. In situations like that, you either have to think fast enough to find the right choice, or you have to force yourself not to think as much as you usually would, which isn’t easy. But unless you’ve got a supercomputer in that head of yours, I strongly recommend the latter.” He paused. “I guess it also helps to be borderline crazy, like Herrun,” he added jokingly.
Fanra couldn’t help but smile at that. “I think he’s trying to help, though - in his own way, that is.”
“Probably,” he said when his wrist comlink beeped. He tapped it. “Baltor here, what is it?”
“Jackson just hailed us; I think you should come here,” Hatos said.
“I’m on my way,” he answered, heading towards the control room. Once he arrived, he saw that Hatos, Poteran and Jackson were discussing whatever situation it was that had prompted the latter to contact the
“We are transferring all the information we have gathered and instructions for running the tests to you now,” Hatos said.
“Good. Hopefully we can defuse this situation…” The transmission ended; Lanis and Hatos could only hope they had made the right choice.
Chapter 4
Insurrection
It had been several hours since Lanis and Hatos finished their lengthy discussion with Admiral Jackson when Lanis went into the park again. A lot of the Petran ships were now being manned by skeleton crews as the majority of the Petrans went aboard the Tarhedia to wait in a more relaxing environment. Most of them were passively avoiding the one Terran in the area - habitually or because they actually disliked Terrans, depending on the person.
There were, however, exceptions - and Lanis soon found himself in the company of Dr. Fanra Kaa’nt and Lt. Commander Benaar Herrun, the two Petrans he had boarded the Petran hyperspace disruptor at Hemreus with. “Well, look who finally decided to come down and relax,” Herrun said.
“I hope I haven’t kept you waiting,” Lanis answered jokingly.
“Heh, somebody has to look after Fanra - poor kid’s afraid of her own shadow,” the Petran soldier commented. “It’s no wonder she messed up as much as she did on the station.”
“Well,” Fanra noted, “I did manage to fix some of the problems I created.”
Despite her comment, it was clear to Lanis that she was more than a little disturbed by the whole thing, and Herrun certainly wasn’t helping. “That you did,” he said encouragingly to the timid scientist before turning to Herrun. “Herrun, is Captain Poteran down here?” he asked.
“Don’t know,” Herrun said. “I’ll check.” If he had figured out the intent behind Lanis’ question, he did not say a word; Fanra and Lanis were now alone.
“You shouldn’t let it get to you like that,” Lanis told her. “People make mistakes all the time; what matters is that nobody got hurt, and at least you know where you went wrong.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. It’s just that…” She sighed. “How do you do it? Control your fear, that is.”
“Knowing something or someone you care about depends on it helps a bit, I guess. Think about what’ll happen if you don’t stay in control, not about whatever might happen if you try to do something. I’m not actually sure whether your intelligence is a good thing or not in situations where your own life depends on, say, fighting back; on one hand, being smart means you’re more likely to understand that doing nothing will get you killed, but on the other hand, it also means you could just freeze up, trying to figure out what’s the best thing to do.”
“That’s easy enough to solve,” Kaa’nt observed.
“Theoretically, yes; but people like you will probably fail to stop it and act before it’s too late. In situations like that, you either have to think fast enough to find the right choice, or you have to force yourself not to think as much as you usually would, which isn’t easy. But unless you’ve got a supercomputer in that head of yours, I strongly recommend the latter.” He paused. “I guess it also helps to be borderline crazy, like Herrun,” he added jokingly.
Fanra couldn’t help but smile at that. “I think he’s trying to help, though - in his own way, that is.”
“Probably,” he said when his wrist comlink beeped. He tapped it. “Baltor here, what is it?”
“Jackson just hailed us; I think you should come here,” Hatos said.
“I’m on my way,” he answered, heading towards the control room. Once he arrived, he saw that Hatos, Poteran and Jackson were discussing whatever situation it was that had prompted the latter to contact the
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