A pure fractal made in Apophysis 2.09, mirrored and overlaid on itself
“Well, Admiral, since you all are out here and were permitted to survive over in Froloov, maybe you can help us.”
I knew Adm. Chenggis Chulalaangkorn was furious, not least because he could not tell the whole story of how the Frolooviar had just tried to kill us all, and because he generally did not play well with the more opportunistic members of the planetary consortium he served as a full fleet admiral. He was actually not even supposed to be in this situation, but he had to come off his post on the Ventanan frontier and swap that with Adm. Elian Bodega because of a situation I still cannot talk about – and that had him dealing with situations he really could not stand.
“I understand that in a galaxy in which there are rival galactic empires trying to snap up everything, we are doing our best to take on allies that make up defensible space,” he had once said at a high council meeting, “and because of this I will refrain from making comments suggesting that some individual civilizations are not worth all the trouble they cause.”
The Lakusiachui had their star system back to a three-pulsar nebula that made approaching consortium space from that direction difficult, so of course they had an easy path in getting accepted by the consortium and were not so much a bad member, but …
“They consider themselves having done us a favor and always are ready to have the favor returned,” my uncle, Adm. Benjamin Banneker-Jackson said.
So, because we had time to observe the amazing process by which the Frolooviar had eradicated humanity who did not have sense enough to run for its life when they were done with us in their star system – “like bacteria irradiated on produce,” my first officer Helmut Allemande observed – the Lakusiachui made note of the fleet's presence and how we had prepared to return an artifact needing a specific type of a containment field. They noted it, and then asked for a favor.
“They are insufferable,” Adm. Chulalaangkorn said, “but we must suffer them anyhow, so of course I said yes.”
One of the Glitter Queens of the Lakusiachui was going to get married to a royal in a neighboring star system where they had an ancient colony, and needed an escort to her husband. Her kingdom wanted to really make an impression. Ten good ships from their consortium friends to accompany the royal barge sounded about right to them.
“They are getting five,” Adm. Chulalaangkorn said, “and only because the high command's position is that we need to keep them happy. What would make me happy, listening to them ask for ten entire starships, I will not say.”
What also made the Lakusiachui happy was the “celebrity admiral,” my uncle, and his flagship of the five, the Amanirenas, being part of the package. My uncle was famous for his science across the galaxy, and had been brought back to the fleet because of one of predictions coming spectacularly and disastrously true. The Lakusiachui knew nothing about the details; all they knew was that having my uncle along added to the glitter.
Not that Her Majesty and the royal guard perched around her like a crystalline sheath needed any help glittering. Adm. Banneker-Jackson and I were permitted to glimpse all of them while discussing the security details – we actually took the royal barge inside the Amanirenas's slightly extended shields, and set up an additional force field to keep Her Majesty's resonances with her guards from disturbing communications on the royal barge.
This was the key to the matter of why Adm. Chulalaangkorn was so angry.
“So, you know as a civilization the danger it is to have your more highly developed royals travel on your long-distance vehicles,” he said. “You've been a member of the consortium for thirty years, and instead of just updating your technology, you just keep grabbing the nearest fleet ship on its way to do whatever fleet ships are out here to do and borrow it to shore things up. You don't want to solve your problems. You want to stay lazy and have me compensate. They can thank whoever they worship that I am loyal to the goals of the consortium, and that Benjamin Banneker-Jackson is a diplomat at heart and is in the vicinity.”
“Yes, ma'am, that does sound like that would have been a disaster looking for a place to happen – Adm. Chulalaangkorn hasn't even come aboard the Amanirenas yet and I don't even want him to have to say anything to us about anything when he does,” Lt. Cmdr. James Doohan was saying.
“Good thinking, Lieutenant Commander,” I said. “I would say that the admiral's growl is worse than his bite, but that would be an outright lie. Keep up the good work – as we stay ready, we don't have to get ready.”
Adm. Banneker-Jackson and I were the ones who actually got to be invited to the royal reveal on the Lakusiachui colony world, where the queen and her prince consort would be joined in marriage. We had to put on special glasses, because …
Same pure fractal, overlaid in a different way
“It was like all the cameras on every red carpet in the galaxy snapping and flashing as the queen emerged,” my uncle said. “She is a beauty in her own way, and they were acclaiming her with all their glittering might. Glad we were invited.”
“Are we finished or are we done, Admiral?” Adm. Chulalaangkorn demanded the moment Adm. Banneker-Jackson and I got back to the bridge of the Amanirenas.
“Mission accomplished, sir; we are making best speed back to rejoin the fleet,” Adm. Banneker-Jackson said. “I have shared that your command is urgent, so we have taken the royal barge into our cargo hold and will drop it off at Lakusiachu 5 on our way.”
Adm. Chulalaangkorn had been none too pleased to know that the royal barge could only do the equivalent of Warp 3.5, because historically, a royal approach could not be seen as being in too much haste. At Warp 3.5 it had taken a month – still long enough for all kinds of ritual messages to be sent back and forth and ritually considered and answered. Even the Lakusiachui had not dared to ask that the trip be done at mere light speed for the traditional ritual length.
“They can read the room a little better than that,” I said to my uncle.
“They are crafty, but not stupid,” he said. “Chenggis Chulalaangkorn is more flexible than he lets on, but there is a limit, and any sentient being that has ever interacted with him knows that meeting that limit is not what you want.”
“Nope,” I said. “Glitter is bright, but so is the shrapnel from your life's plans blowing up, at the least of the blow-ups.”
“Exactly,” my uncle said. “The Lakusiachui are highly intelligent, and they got their mission accomplished too, yet again, by asking for just enough, but not too much. Well-played on their part.”