Eighteen hours later a crewman extended one of the ship’s claws normally used for mineral extraction and snagged the beacon from space. Lem watched from the helm as the claw brought the beacon into a holding bay. There crewmen attached cables to the beacon’s data ports. Three seconds later the download was complete.
Lem went to the conference room beside the helm with Benyawe and Chubs and pulled up the beacon’s files and projected them in the holofield above the table. There were images of the Formic ship; 3-D models; information about the ship’s trajectory, speed, and estimated date of arrival at Earth, but nothing new, nothing Lem didn’t know already. No weapons analysis. No identified weakness. Lem waved his hand through the field, pushing files aside and bringing others to the forefront to take a closer look. Worthless, worthless, worthless. It was all old news. His hand moved faster. He was getting impatient.
A man’s head appeared. It was a vid. Lem stopped.
The man looked to be in his fifties—old for a space commission, but not that abnormal for high-ranking officers. Lem made the appropriate hand gesture, and the vid began to play.
“I am Captain Dionetti of the Space Trade and Security Authority, commanding officer of The Star Seer. As the evidence in these files shows, an alien vessel is approaching Earth at incredible speed. We have been tracking alongside it for the past three days, and we will continue to match its speed and monitor it until it reaches Earth.”
“Don’t monitor it, you idiot,” said Lem. “Destroy it.”
The captain continued uninterrupted. “Two weeks ago, reports circulated among the ships here in the inner Belt that an alien vessel had attacked an unspecified number of ships near Kleopatra. News of this engagement spread quickly among the ships in the area. Several clans and corporate vessels decided to stage an offensive against the alien vessel once it reached our position. I and other STASA officers made repeated attempts to quell such an illegal and unprovoked attack—”
“Unprovoked?” said Lem.
“We reminded miners that attacking any ship is against space trade law established by STASA and ratified by the U.N. Security Council. We do not know this alien ship’s intentions, and such aggression might justifiably provoke it to defend itself or retaliate, thus putting all of Earth in jeopardy.
“Sadly, the mining ships ignored our counsel, and a total of sixty-two ships joined in the assault. Our vessel recorded the events from a distance, and the vids of that battle are included amongst these files. I am saddened to report that all sixty-two ships appear to have been destroyed. As you will see from the vids, the alien vessel is fully capable of defending itself if provoked. Therefore, by the authority invested in me by the Space Peace Act and the Space Emergency Response Act, STASA is issuing a cease-fire against the alien vessel. Any mining ship which fires upon or attempts to obstruct the alien vessel will be subject to arrest.”
“Cease-fire?” said Lem. “Tell me this is a joke.”
“Typical STASA,” said Chubs.
“The human race is a peaceful species,” continued the captain, “and STASA will do everything in its power to maintain that peace. Rather than provoke our alien visitors and assume malicious intent, we will extend to them the hand of welcome and begin diplomatic efforts to establish a lasting, peaceful relationship between our two species. If the intel in this beacon reaches Earth before we do, we implore you to notify STASA of our escort and to make preparations to greet the alien ship with the proper delegates and peace offering. God protect us. End of transmission.”
The man’s head winked out.
“Are they insane?” Lem said. “A peace offering? He watched the Formics wipe out sixty-two ships, and he wants to shower them with gifts? Unbelievable.”
“He saw the Formics’ firepower,” said Benyawe. “He’s trying to prevent another massacre and maintain calm. Firing on the Formics is only going to lead to more deaths. You can’t argue with that. He’s doing what he thinks is best for Earth.”
“He’s wrong,” said Lem. “We saw their firepower too. We saw what they did to El Cavador. That doesn’t mean we’re suddenly going to crawl into bed with them.”
“I’m not saying I agree with him,” said Benyawe. “I’m saying he’s asking for diplomacy over rash action. I see his point of view.”
“His point of view is boneheaded arrogance. You didn’t see these creatures up close, Benyawe. I did. And believe me, a nice present in a pretty pink bow isn’t going to make them our best friends.”
“What do we do now?” said Chubs.
“We get to Luna as fast as we can and pray the political idiots don’t roll out the red carpet.”
“Faster than our previous speed?” asked Chubs.
“We can bump it up a notch,” said Lem. “We’re trying to avoid collision threats, I know, but our previous speed was still a little cautious. Let’s push the safety parameters.”