Guardian Stone 1: Stone Genesis by Don Koch

know to manage troops. Well Sam, shall we do this the slow way or the fast way?"
    "Lets go the slow route, I want to try that elevator again. Never been on something that fast with inertial dampers. It's kind of fun."
    Barana commented in a disappointed tone, < Aw phooey, I was going to do a fanfare and make a popping sound as you arrived, maybe even a double pop. > 
    Sam said, "I hope that was a joke."
    Barana directed a private thought to Sam, < It was but I don't think he knows that yet. *chuckle* >
    Hank and Sam arrived five minutes ahead of schedule to find that everyone was already there. As they entered, Sgt. Wall came to attention and stated, "Commander on Deck."
    All in the room came to attention and Hank said, "At ease everyone. That is going to be hard to get used to. Please, everyone be seated. Let's start with introductions all around, let us know who you are, what are your areas of expertise and interest, then we can get down to business."  After introductions, Hank continued, "Barana would you please give us a holo map showing us the position of the main force of the Glarin as well as our position along with a scale to show the distance between us. Also show us where they are expected to be in annual increments with a year marker to show location." The map came up instantly as he spoke adding the data as he requested.
    "If you are wondering why Sam and I are here while still on our honeymoon, it is because we have new information that we feel should not wait. You folks are my primary advisors and general strategy group and we will be having more meetings over time to discuss developments, suggest alternatives and options. That assures the decisions I have to make are not done in a vacuum. Barana will be a part of this group as well. Most of you already know this, but some do not. Barana, is fully sentient and self aware, has access to mountains of data that we collectively could not begin to comprehend and is in fact the station. What the station feels, she feels. Barana is an equal partner in what we face. This is not common knowledge and will remain that way for a while. Frankly that is her preference and I happen to agree with it, though for slightly different reasons than hers. On a personal note, I can also attest to the fact that she is developing a wicked sense of humor."
    Barana flashed a thought to Sam, < he caught the fanfare comment. >
    Sam responded, < I think you are correct and I did not tell him. >
    "About 30 minutes ago we received new intelligence, thanks to Sam, that may change some of our assumptions. There is a second, though considerably smaller force of Glarin approaching this system. Barana please add group B to the plot with the same incremental data. This new group as you can see is a lot closer to us than the main group. I think this is what we could loosely term, 'a revoltin' development.' Barana is currently running a scan of our entire front to see if there are any more surprises out there. This one was not discovered earlier because of its proximity to the path of the main force and its small size relative to the main group. Also, you can do the math but it certainly appears that this smaller group either started here a lot earlier than the main one or can exceed the 6xSL that we have assumed for the Glarin. At their current speed, the main force is 25 years away but the smaller force is only 8½ years away. We had hoped to be ready for an encounter when the main force was 3 years out and thought this would give us about 22 years to prepare. This new data gives us only 5½ years to be ready with a force sufficient to face the additional threat because we do not want to wait until they are actually in system before we react."
    "If we assume that the maximum speed of the closer force is still at the Glarin maximum, 6xSL, then there are some questions that need to be answered, such as:
    How is it they are where they are and why?
    Is the intent of this group the same as the main