Omoikane 08 Governor Twenty

Omoikane 08 - Governor Twenty

We beamed down to a location called "The Happy Field."

And it was.  A big park.  We could see a city not far away.  A long low Boa-Olavax building dominated part of the skyline.  But otherwise, it was Pequadela scale buildings.

The park itself was well maintained, a sort of rolling field of short grass with trees dotting it and occasional statues, park equipment and climbing forms.

The Pequadela people yelled, laughed, and barked. They ran around like crazy people.  The rescuees started it.  As soon as the transporter let them go, they were off running.

There was a crowd of various people to greet us.  The Pequadela people who'd come to welcome their fellows back joined in the running, yelling, wrestling, and playing. Soon, there was a happy dog people riot in progress in Happy Park.

The Fuufta people were reticent. The energy and noise concerned them.

Then their friends ran back to them, hugged them, licked them, yelled encouraging things at them, and then ran off to join the melee of happiness.

A few Fuufta who were there to begin with approached the rescuees and murmured welcoming, encouraging things.  

"They have too much energy, but only for brief spurts."  I heard one Fuufta say to another,  "Once they're done, everyone will settle down for a nap."

"What about us?"

"Well, we can nap with them if you like."

That got a confused stare.

One of the Boa-Olavax people approached.  They were big.  A humanoid horse.  They wore a sort of sleeveless dress sort of thing, with leather straps and belts around it.   They walked digitigrade, on two hooves.  Their shoulders and hands looked almost human, but big.  Looked to be about seven feet and about four hundred pounds to me,  but that was guessing.  Their heads were rounder than a horses and the muzzles were shorter.  Somehow it made the more humanoid face work for them.

The individual approaching me had light fur.  I'd call them a palomino, with a light blond mane and tail.  They looked well-brushed and groomed.

If Earth got good scans of these folks, there wouldn't be a fourteen-year-old girl left on the planet.

They spoke to us, "Which one is Captain Hailey?  I'm Governor Tamor Twenty."  The translator rendered his voice as masculine.

"That would be me, Sir,"  I answered.

"Welcome t' our patch of Pequedela. Thanks for roundin' up our strays."

We'd double-checked the translators.  There was no error.  They were speaking some very horse-sounding language that our translators were rendering.... accurately.

"Our pleasure, Sir.  Starfleet is not a big fan of slavery. We raise objections when we encounter it in neutral or Federation Space."

"Slavery is unlawful in Boa-Olavax territory, as well.  We've had a few discussions with the Agusoapans about it."

"And yet, they have a ground base and a space station in this system."

He shrugged with an eloquent gesture of their human-like shoulders. "Pequadela is a balkanized world.  Different nations of Pequadela made different arrangements with different folks.  We own the orbital space, but it wouldn't be fair to the little fellers if we told 'em who could come and go.  So, there's Agusopans, Orions, and all sorts of folks comin' and goin'.  We handle law and order as we can."

I carefully didn't say anything.  The Governor smelled nice.  Horsey nice.  I'd spent some time on a horse ranch as a kid. I didn't realize I had missed it.

"Would y' mind comin' by my office and talkin' t' me, confidential, like?"

"Just me?"

"Well, you and whatever officers you think would be helpful.  I wanted to ask you about them Damyip fellers."

I nodded, "Yes, Sir.  Please let me know where."

He pointed to the long low building  "Dead center 'o that one.  The main entrance is on the other side from us."

"Alright.  One more question.  How do you feel about Orions?"

"Well, when they're friendly, they can be right nice folks. Good t' have on your side."

"Ahh.  We have some other folks we rescued. They expressed an interest in joining the Pequadela here."

"They'd be welcome.  We're always open to friendly new hands."

"Thank you, Sir."

-*-

The Boa-Olavax building looked like a mix of an office building and a barn.  It was just a touch too big.  The doors were broader and taller than comparable doors on Earth.  The hallways were bigger and wider.

The stairs had a much more shallow ramp to them and so were longer.

A receptionist welcomed in us.  She was a chestnut with a star on her forehead and white on her forearms and lower legs.  The female Boa-Olavax had mammaries on their upper chests and their voices were slightly higher-pitched.

We were escorted to the governor's office.  It was on the second deck.  These folks preferred to build long, low, and wide. In the middle of an administrative center where Boa-Olavax folks did administrative things.

They seemed evenly divided between males and females. They didn't have any size dimorphism that I could see.  Their decorations seemed Western to me.  Upon closer inspection, it was coincidental.  They liked wheel patterns that looked like wagon wheels to me.  Swoops and curves that looked like old-fashioned tack and rigging for a horse and buggy.  If you looked closely, it was different.  But the results were close enough to make my head spin.

We were shown into Governor Twenty's office.  

"Thanks, Gloria," He said. "Please make sure we're not bothered for a bit."

He gestured to chairs.  They were Boa-Olavax sized.

A  couch across his office was easier, but we still would have had to climb up into it.

"Thank you for comin'."

"This is Commander Li'ira O'Keefe, my executive officer and second in command.  This is Tillean Darvon-Ahk, my chief science officer, and Lieutenant Kat-oh-lo of the planet Pytol.  One of the Eight Lefyt Colonies."

"Pleased. I asked you t' come on over and talk t' me about the Damyip folks."

Kat-oh-lo grinned.  

I said, "Go ahead and explain the Damyip to the Governor, Lieutenant."

He gathered his thoughts. "The Damyip started out as an AI in charge of defending some folks.  We called the original folks Damyip, too, but that's not accurate. The Federation people call the protectees the Ur-Damyip, and that works.  Their own language doesn't translate that term well.

The Damyip AI started off dumb but very capable of violence.  In this state, eventually, it kicked our asses and conquered us.

Trying to rule the Lefyt people was a challenge, and the various Damyip units had to start getting smarter.  So, slowly, painfully, they got smarter.

After some time, they realized that being friends costs less in terms of money and effort, and they tried it.

But they started out dumb about it.  They got smarter and smarter.  They're okay now.  But some of the dumb remain in weird places.  They don't think entirely like us.  They sometimes have different priorities.   How they try to get stuff done can be weird and sometimes funny.  Once they got smart enough to explain to us what they really wanted, we could meet 'em in the middle.

My grandparents and parents almost made a whole culture out of lying to the Damyip.  Toasters was the derogatory name for 'em.   Figure out what they want.  It’s easy.  Ask them, and they'll tell you.  Then see about getting them what they want with a minimum of interference in your own business.  

A lot of the new ones are decent enough folks.  They make good cops.  They don't take bribes. They know the law back and forth.  And they clear out the idiots and violent people so normal people can do business, nice and easy."

"Hmmm," Governor Twenty scratched his chin,"  They've been comin' on pretty strong to the Boa-Olavax government.  I'm suspicious.  It's too easy to get flim-flammed when the pot’s too sweet."

"How so?" I asked.

"They're offerin' tech upgrades in exchange for a mutual defense treaty.  Very favorable terms."

"Ah. Okay,"  I said, "When the Damyip met the Federation, we offered them a friendly relationship. They were afraid of war. They really liked the idea of avoiding a war they mathematically could not win. To soothe their defensiveness about the Ur-Damyip, we offered to be a buffer state. We offered to try to keep problems away from the Damyip Homeworld in exchange for a friendly relationship."

Kat-oh-lo asked, "When did you guys find out what they'd done to the Lefyt colonies?"

"We took in a batch of refugees, so we had some word.  Offering a friendly relationship was a choice that didn't feel great, but it was better than more war.  It was a surprise when the Damyip jumped into our laps like they did.  I'm told they learned the value of having friends from your people."

Kat-oh-lo made an "oh, wow" face.

"So what does this mean for the Boa-Olavax?"  The Governor asked

"I think you're the victim of our success.  I guess the Damyip are trying to lock you in as friends on their spinward frontier."

"Hmmm," Governor Twenty said, "And what if my government doesn't want to get entwined with the Damyip and their problems?"

"I'd suggest making it very clear.  But you also have the Bendarri Empire on your border, right?"

"Yup.  Nice bear folks."

"It seems like whatever the galaxy has going on in this region has already arrived on your doorstep.  The Federation believes that having good friends can make things easier."

"So you're saying that you recommend goin' with the Damyip?"

"Them or the Bendarri.  If your government wants to try and take up a more neutral stance, the Federation will help you negotiate a treaty to that effect."

"Your interests are aligned with the Bendarri and the Damyip, right?"

"In a large sense, yes.  But protecting a relationship with your people that's comfortable for your people is a more long-term interest of ours.  We place a great value on self-determination and autonomy, so we'd rather have you as an honest neutral planet than someone who felt coerced into being friendly with us."

"And your Federation is willing to be an arbiter between us and the Bendarri or the Damyip?  What if you brokered an agreement and they didn't live up to their end of it?"

"Well, Sir.  The Federation has a lot of tools to use.  And we have some experience with diplomacy and the sorts of disagreements you describe.  We've had good results.  Say the word, and I'll call back to Starfleet Command and we'll get a diplomatic team heading your way to help your folks negotiate precisely the deal you want with the Bendarri and the Damyip."

He scratched his chin.  "Well,  thanks.  I'll pass that along t' my friends in the Senate.  Hopefully, they won't give away the store.  Now, how might I help you folks?"

Tillean held up her tricorder. "May I scan you, Sir?  We have some questions about the physiology of your people."

"Uhhh,  I guess.  It's not too invasive, is it?"

"You won't feel a thing.  We have ethical standards set up for how we handle people's personal information.  It’s in our Public Access database."

While Tillean scanned Governor Twenty, he made arrangements to get a copy of the Database.