or not is anyone’s guess,” Davis said,
looking from face to face as he tried to judge their reactions. “It’s totally
your call. Do you want a third wheel or not?”
“The Calavari are already Star Force, so they’re not a
third wheel,” Stephan said assuredly. “If no one else wants their help, I’ll be
glad to take it.”
“How many of them are there?” Victoria asked.
“They’ve assembled a team of 1.6 million, mostly
comprised of techs and workers, with enough supply ships to sustain
themselves.”
“Done deal there, I think,” she said, glancing at the
others for confirmation, getting a few nods and telepathic equivalents in
response.
“I should probably say that the Elarioni are offering
a much larger fleet to the mission and some 22 million personnel.”
Attrick whistled. “That’s
one hell of a colonization effort.”
“And potentially useful if they cooperate,” Stephan
added, “but not to me.”
Attrick looked at
Draven-246. “What do you think?”
“Depends on how willing they are to take orders.
They’ll heavily outnumber us and may think that gives them the right to play
loose with the rules we set down.”
“It is a risk,” Davis agreed, “but I’ve discussed this
with some of the Star Force Elarioni that transferred over and they seem to
think the offer is legitimate and would be very useful.”
“What does Ariel think?” Attrick asked.
“If she hadn’t okayed it I
wouldn’t be bringing it to you guys.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Attrick said satisfied.
“Same here,” Draven agreed.
“Alright then,” Davis said, clapping his hands
together once, “that’s done. So now to the big question.”
The ten Archons looked at him for a moment, getting
some weird looks on their faces when he didn’t say anything…then Davis laughed
once, breaking his straight face.
“Nah, there’s nothing. Just messing with you. Get
going,” he said, motioning towards the door, “do your thing.”
Victoria blew out a breath in a half laugh as she
swung herself off the couch top, standing up. “ Punked by Davis. That’s a first.”
“See you in 50,” Britt said to the Director with a two
fingered salute as they got up off the couches and headed out, with Attrick lagging behind a bit and giving Davis a curious
stare.
“Problem?”
“You did that to check and see if we’d found a way
around the Ikrid blocks.”
The air in Davis seemed to go out, with his facial
features sagging a bit. “And I thought I had an answer.”
The Archon smirked as he casually headed towards the
doorway. “Learn to live with doubt.”
Davis stayed on his chair, back to the wall ‘window’
and watched him leave, then slowly shook his head in dismay. Somehow the
Archons could always read him, and it’d become his private little war to find a
way to hide whatever cues he was giving away and from time to time to test the
limits of their awareness.
It certainly seemed like they were reading his mind,
but at times he was able to conceal things from them…or ‘punk them’ as Victoria
had put it. Today was just another datapoint in his
ongoing quest to try and figure out the riddle of the way their minds worked,
and he had a feeling it was going to take him another hundred years or so
before he made any real progress.
Davis returned the chair to its original position and
headed back to the landing bay and his waiting ship, his task here done. He’d
be returning to Atlantis directly while the 10 Archons would each be heading to
their own MCV -class jumpship escorted
by a flotilla of cargo ships and a handful of warships. They’d be leaving the
system within the next 6 hours, with the Calavari and Elarioni ships meeting up
with them at Venus and then transitioning over to the star in a long convoy
that would begin making the numerous jumps required to travel across Epsilon
Region and beyond the ADZ to the mostly uncharted wilds of the neighboring
galaxy where they’d start
looking from face to face as he tried to judge their reactions. “It’s totally
your call. Do you want a third wheel or not?”
“The Calavari are already Star Force, so they’re not a
third wheel,” Stephan said assuredly. “If no one else wants their help, I’ll be
glad to take it.”
“How many of them are there?” Victoria asked.
“They’ve assembled a team of 1.6 million, mostly
comprised of techs and workers, with enough supply ships to sustain
themselves.”
“Done deal there, I think,” she said, glancing at the
others for confirmation, getting a few nods and telepathic equivalents in
response.
“I should probably say that the Elarioni are offering
a much larger fleet to the mission and some 22 million personnel.”
Attrick whistled. “That’s
one hell of a colonization effort.”
“And potentially useful if they cooperate,” Stephan
added, “but not to me.”
Attrick looked at
Draven-246. “What do you think?”
“Depends on how willing they are to take orders.
They’ll heavily outnumber us and may think that gives them the right to play
loose with the rules we set down.”
“It is a risk,” Davis agreed, “but I’ve discussed this
with some of the Star Force Elarioni that transferred over and they seem to
think the offer is legitimate and would be very useful.”
“What does Ariel think?” Attrick asked.
“If she hadn’t okayed it I
wouldn’t be bringing it to you guys.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Attrick said satisfied.
“Same here,” Draven agreed.
“Alright then,” Davis said, clapping his hands
together once, “that’s done. So now to the big question.”
The ten Archons looked at him for a moment, getting
some weird looks on their faces when he didn’t say anything…then Davis laughed
once, breaking his straight face.
“Nah, there’s nothing. Just messing with you. Get
going,” he said, motioning towards the door, “do your thing.”
Victoria blew out a breath in a half laugh as she
swung herself off the couch top, standing up. “ Punked by Davis. That’s a first.”
“See you in 50,” Britt said to the Director with a two
fingered salute as they got up off the couches and headed out, with Attrick lagging behind a bit and giving Davis a curious
stare.
“Problem?”
“You did that to check and see if we’d found a way
around the Ikrid blocks.”
The air in Davis seemed to go out, with his facial
features sagging a bit. “And I thought I had an answer.”
The Archon smirked as he casually headed towards the
doorway. “Learn to live with doubt.”
Davis stayed on his chair, back to the wall ‘window’
and watched him leave, then slowly shook his head in dismay. Somehow the
Archons could always read him, and it’d become his private little war to find a
way to hide whatever cues he was giving away and from time to time to test the
limits of their awareness.
It certainly seemed like they were reading his mind,
but at times he was able to conceal things from them…or ‘punk them’ as Victoria
had put it. Today was just another datapoint in his
ongoing quest to try and figure out the riddle of the way their minds worked,
and he had a feeling it was going to take him another hundred years or so
before he made any real progress.
Davis returned the chair to its original position and
headed back to the landing bay and his waiting ship, his task here done. He’d
be returning to Atlantis directly while the 10 Archons would each be heading to
their own MCV -class jumpship escorted
by a flotilla of cargo ships and a handful of warships. They’d be leaving the
system within the next 6 hours, with the Calavari and Elarioni ships meeting up
with them at Venus and then transitioning over to the star in a long convoy
that would begin making the numerous jumps required to travel across Epsilon
Region and beyond the ADZ to the mostly uncharted wilds of the neighboring
galaxy where they’d start
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