by PP Corcoran
Amber’s demeanor became business-like. “Communications. Transmit the greeting message and follow it up with the language packet, if you please.” A fleeting look of uncertainty passed over Amber’s face.
This was the first time that Bruce had seen the ambassador show anything but the utmost confidence and without thinking he said quietly, “I’m sure it’ll work, Amber.”
It took Amber a moment to realize that the admiral had used her first name. In all the time she had been aboard the Rapier, he kept things between them on a very formal level and Amber had come to think that that was just his way. Another stuffy marionette. That was until the day she’d seen the true concern he had for his crew when the three survivors of the Ericson had been taken hostage. That single incident had forced Amber to reexamine her opinion of Rear Admiral Bruce Torrance. She had seen the way he interacted easily with even the lowest crew member, so why was he always so formal with her? No matter how hard she tried, she was never able to engage him in anything other than discussions about the mission, so she had simply given up and resigned herself to his brusqueness. But now he had called her by her first name when he had seen that she was having self-doubts and its effect had been to make her feel immediately stronger as he showed his faith in her. How odd.
“We’re receiving a reply, Madam Ambassador. It’s a request to establish visual communications.”
Amber’s shoulders went back and her chin came up. Showtime, Amber. “Go ahead.”
A grainy image filled the holo cube and for the first time Amber and Bruce got to see the living face of a Deres. As the comms officer worked to clear up the image, a stern voice boomed around the flag bridge.
“Nilmerg. You are not wanted here. Return to the rest of your murdering kind immediately or we shall destroy you where you stand.”
The holo cube cleared and there stood a squat, heavily built figure. The rounded head seemed unnaturally small when compared to the two large, pointed ears on either side of its skull. Bright yellow eyes stared at them, made all the more striking by the green skin darker still than that of the Garundans. A black uniform with several glittering silver bars on the high collar covered the Deres from just below its protruding chin until the image was cut off around the waist.
Amber took a deep breath before beginning in her most pacifying tone. “As you can see, I am not of Nilmerg. I am from the planet Earth and we come in the hope of establishing peaceful relations with the Deres people.”
The angry expression on the face of the Deres in the holo cube spoke volumes as the interpretation software rushed to keep up with the conversation.
“Lies! I shall not fall for this trick, Nilmerg. I tell you for the last time to leave Deres space or I shall fire upon you. There shall be no further warning!”
Amber paused, uncertain how to overcome the intransigence of the Deres. Bruce stepped into the holo’s pick-up range.
“Sir. I am Rear Admiral Bruce Torrance of the Terran Defense Force. I have no doubt that your instruments show that my ship is more powerful than any of your own, yet I have not powered up my weapons or made any aggressive moves toward you. We have approached your planet slowly so as to show you our good faith. All we ask is that you give us the opportunity to talk with you. Perhaps a face-to-face meeting would convince you that we are not Nilmerg?”
The Deres commander stared at them for a moment. Then, “Standby.” And the transmission was cut.
Amber’s shoulders slumped as Bruce walked around in front of her. “That didn’t go as planned but at least he didn’t shoot at us,” stated Bruce.
Amber stood and straightened her jacket. “Thank you for the assistance, Admiral. I must say that the Deres commander was probably the most stubborn opponent that I have faced in some time.”
A beeping from communications caused them both to face the pick-up. Bruce gave the comms officer a curt nod and the holo cube filled with the image of the same Deres they had spoken to a few moments earlier.
“I cannot allow you to approach the planet any closer. You will follow my flagship to the fourth planet of the system where you shall enter orbit and I shall meet with you on the surface.” The Deres leaned closer into the pick-up. “Be warned. Any deviation from my instructions and I will destroy you.”
The signal abruptly ceased, leaving Amber and Bruce staring into a blank holo cube.
“Bet he’s the life and soul of the party at home,” said Bruce.
#
Rapier settled into high orbit around the fourth planet following the tacit instructions received from the lead Deres ship to the letter. Coordinates had been received from the Deres which identified a location on the planet’s southern landmass along with the order to send a single shuttle to that location which must contain only the flight crew, Ambassador Isa and Admiral Torrance. Captain Laka, Bruce’s flag captain, had expressed his unhappiness that the admiral intended to leave the ship and meet with a group of aliens who had already forcefully expressed their dislike for the Rapier’s presence in the system. Laka argued that Bruce should at least take along a small marine contingent to ride shotgun but as Amber had pointed out, the Deres wanted Bruce and herself to be the only passengers on the shuttle and getting them to trust her was going to be hard enough without turning up with a bunch of Wraith-suited armed marines. Reluctantly, Bruce had been forced to agree with Amber and he vividly remembered the look of unhappiness on Laka’s face as he entered the shuttle for the flight down to the planet.
The short flight passed in almost total silence as Bruce and Amber marshaled their own thoughts for the impending meeting. Bruce stared absently at the passing terrain as it flashed past on his seat’s viewer. The slightly too-green ocean soon gave way to a fertile jungle, which in turn gave way to rolling grasslands. The planetologists put the age of Planet Four as roughly the same as the two life-bearing planets in the 23 Librae system. About 3.8 billion years. But Planet Four was located towards the edge of the Goldilocks zone for this type of star so it had a lower mean temperature and although the vegetation appeared lush, the oxygen level in the atmosphere was lower than Earth’s, which meant Bruce and Amber would have to wear breathers. A minor inconvenience, and one that Amber worried could hamper her talks with the Deres as a breather encased the nose, mouth and lower portion of the head and neck. Amber wanted the Deres to see her whole face, even if that meant passing out within a few minutes from oxygen starvation. The Chief Medical Officer of Rapier had ended her argument with the simple expedient of refusing to allow her to leave the ship if she refused to wear a breather. The look on her face had been that of an unhappy teenager losing an argument with her parents. Bruce couldn’t recall ever meeting a more stubborn woman.
“Five minutes to the landing zone, Admiral,” called the shuttle pilot.
Across from him, Amber was total calm personified. Her eyes closed as if asleep but there was a tell-tale tapping of her right index finger. Bruce was glad to see he wasn’t the only one feeling slightly apprehensive. Perhaps a few words of encouragement would put them both at ease.
“Ambassador.”
Amber replied without opening her eyes.
“I assure you, Admiral, there is no need to be nervous.”
Bruce felt his mouth fall open and the planned words of encouragement failed to materialize. He wasn’t nervous. He wasn’t the one tapping his finger. He was trying to put her at ease, not the other way around. Instead, Bruce scrambled for something else to say. “Just reminding you to wear your breather, Ambassador.”
Amber’s eyelids remained firmly shut but her lips creased in a small smile. “Yes, Dad. I promise I’ll be good.”
Bruce sat back in exasperation as the shuttle made the final run into the landing zone.
The pilot’s voice came back through the intercom. “One minute to landing zone. We’re picking up some faint artificial energy readings from the mountain range seventy clicks to starboard. Do you want us to abort, Admiral?”
Bruce brought the re
adings up on his display. The pilot was right, the readings were very faint. Had the Deres managed to sneak another ship down to the surface and were waiting to ambush them? No, surely not. They knew that Rapier had enough firepower to blow any of their ships out of orbit without breaking a sweat.
“Proceed on course but keep an eye on that power source and I want a complete record made of it. Maybe it’ll give us some worthwhile data on the Deres power systems that Rapier doesn’t have already. Keep me appraised if there’s any change in its power output or position.”
“Aye-aye sir. Thirty seconds to touchdown.”
The faint rumble of the landing gear extending was followed seconds later by the gentle tug of his seat restraints, then the slight bounce of touchdown. The crew chief appeared beside the exterior hatch, his breather already attached to his face. Bruce released his buckles and slipped on his breather as he stood awaiting the crew chief’s signal that the cabin pressure had equalized with that outside the shuttle and it was safe to crack the hatch. After a few moments, the crew chief still stood patiently beside the hatch, controls unmoving. Bruce turned to see Amber standing to one side, her breather hanging from its straps on the side of her seat.
Bruce shook his head in exasperation. It was like working with a five-year-old! “The crew chief won’t open the hatch until he’s sure it’s safe for all the crew, Ambassador. Emphasis on the all.”
For a moment it looked like Amber was going to argue with him but she simply shrugged as she recovered her breather and fitted it. Bruce turned back to the crew chief who, although his lower face was completely covered by the breather, Bruce could swear had laughter lines around his eyes. Is it unprofessional if I roll my eyes? He wondered.
The hatch opened and as the ramp extended the first breath of chilled air entered the shuttle. Bruce paused in the hatchway for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the bright natural sunlight. With a reassuring tap of his PEP in its leg holster, he stepped down the ramp closely followed by Amber. The high-pitched sound of screaming turbo fans drew his eyes westward where, low on the horizon, he could make out a dark dot approaching at speed. The dot grew into the shape of a small ship. A thin elongated body with swept forward wings and a tri-fin tail tipped with what looked like engine intakes. The ship changed course slightly, angling over to one side, giving Bruce a good view of the upper wing surfaces and fuselage. A prominent, lozenge-shaped pod sat atop each wing about halfway down its span. Bruce gauged them to be weapons pods of some kind as they had a small circular cutouts on the forward edge but no corresponding cutouts to the rear. Bruce put the ship to be about fifteen meters long. The wide windows of the cockpit high above the conical nose section and smaller porthole-type windows extended the length of the main body. The vertical tail section was adorned with a symbol that Bruce thought resembled a Chinese character but in bright yellow. The ship circled the landing zone once before the two engines on the lower tail sections rotated vertically to change thrust direction and a small bay opened directly below the cockpit to reveal a jet exhaust. The similarity to early Earth vertical takeoff jets was remarkable, thought Bruce, as the jet wash blew dust up from the ground. Amber put her hand up to cover her eyes as Bruce simply closed his eyes and allowed the lighter debris to wash over him and the smell of high octane jet fuel filled his nostrils. So they still rely on carbon fuels to power their smaller ships noted Bruce.
The small dust storm subsided as the high-pitched whining of the turbo fans dropped away and peace returned. Amber was still attempting to clear pieces of loose grass from her clothes as a hatch set directly behind the cockpit opened and a folding set of stairs extended. As soon the steps locked in place, four rifle-toting Deres, wearing the same all-black as the Deres commander, rushed down. Two took up positions a respectable distance from Bruce and Amber, their weapons held loosely in their arms but leaving the two humans in no doubt that it would only take a fraction of a second for them to bring them into a firing position and cut them down where they stood. The remaining two Deres moved off and took positions to the bow and stern of the human shuttle. Presumably to ensure that no one tried to exit the shuttle on its far side. The sight of the armed Deres made Bruce think Captain Laka’s suggestion about the marines might not have been such a bad one after all. Oh well, we’re here now. Bruce consoled himself with the thought that he was pretty handy with a PEP, so at least he might get one shot off before meeting his maker.
Resigning himself to his fate, Bruce waited patiently for the Deres’ next move. He didn’t have long to wait. One of the rifle-toting Deres raised a hand to his uniform collar and spoke too quietly for Bruce to hear. It may have been too quiet for Bruce to overhear, but whatever the device was the Deres was using traveled on a general signal that the PAD was able to pick up and transmit to the humans. The ear bugs in both Bruce’s and Amber’s ears came to life. “Marshal Poll. It is true, they are not Nilmerg. I’m not sure what they are. We see only the two of them. The taller one has what I believe to be a weapon but it is holstered. The smaller one appears to be unarmed but I cannot guarantee that it may not have a concealed weapon. What are your orders?”
“Be vigilant Tier, I am coming out with Deputy Lex. Let us see what these aliens have to say.”
At the top of the stairs the figure of the squat Deres commander appeared and then stepped respectfully to one side to allow another Deres to exit the shuttle first. This Deres was dressed differently from the others. He was still dressed rather formally but his attire struck Bruce as more civilian than military.
“It looks like you may actually get the chance to talk to someone in their political leadership, Ambassador.” Bruce whispered out of the side of his mouth.
“Thank god. I wasn’t looking forward to speaking to the commander, he struck me as your typical military Neanderthal…. No offense intended, Admiral.”
“None taken, Ambassador. I’m sure after a few days of negotiation you politicians can decide what color the sky is.”
“Touché, Admiral.”
The two Deres reached the bottom of the steps and approached the waiting humans. They stopped a few feet from them and both sides stood for a few seconds in awkward silence, eying each other up. Amber decided to get things underway.
“Greetings, sir. I am Ambassador Isa representing the Commonwealth Union of Planets and this is Rear Admiral Torrance of the Terran Defense Force, commander of the human ship in orbit above us.”
If the two Deres were surprised at being addressed in their own language, neither showed any visible reaction.
“I see your technology allows for your ability to interpret our conversation without the need for bulky computers. Impressive indeed. My name is Aral Lex and this is Marshall Poll, head of our space forces. I myself am a deputy within the House of the People and I have been sent here on the express instructions of Commissioner Malas himself to offer you whatever it requires for you to switch your allegiance from the Nilmerg to the Deres.”
Amber and Bruce exchanged a furtive glance before Amber replied. “I believe you are mistaken, Deputy, we are not allies of the Nilmerg. We are explorers who have come to your star system seeking peaceful relations with both the Nilmerg and the Deres. Believe me, Deputy Lex, we harbor no ill will to the people of Deres.”
“Then why were your ships escorted from the edge of the system by a Nilmerg warship to their home world? And why are you here now if not to make demands of us!?” Poll demanded.
“It was sheer coincidence that a Nilmerg warship and not a Deres warship was nearby when we arrived in your system if I …”
“I do not believe in coincidence, Ambassador.” Poll interrupted gruffly. “Like us, the Nilmerg would have detected your vessels approaching the system as, no doubt, you were aware of the presence of the Nilmerg. You chose to meet with them first!”
“That was not our intention, Marshall. Ships of the Commonwealth have the capability of traveling between points in space through a technique called Fold Space. It is impo
ssible to know what awaits you at your point of arrival beyond any general facts you already know about your destination. Detecting a ship near your point of arrival is beyond us.”
Bruce winced as Amber revealed key facts about the Commonwealth’s star ship design but it was out there now. Let’s hope she doesn’t decide to reveal any more of our capabilities.
Amber’s disclosure seemed to stop both Deres in their tracks and Amber saw the mix of fear and admiration in their eyes. She also sensed an opening.
“The Nilmerg are also aware of the capabilities of our ships and their reaction was very similar to your own. I must admit that they too were skeptical of our intentions in your star system. That was until we told them the reason the Commonwealth chose to visit this system as opposed to any other star within easy reach of the Commonwealth.”
Both Deres were hanging on every word that Amber was saying. “Have either of you gentlemen ever heard of a species called the Saiph?”
#
Bruce was relaxing in his cabin aboard Rapier after the short flight back from the planet’s surface. Unbidden, a grin came to his face as he remembered the look on Deputy Lex and Marshall Poll’s faces as Amber had recited her story of the Saiph and how they had traveled the stars, spreading their DNA on many worlds. Of how the Commonwealth consisted of descendants of these races and of the missions launched by the Commonwealth to the other worlds to find out what had become them. The best part was the look on Poll’s face when he realized that the hated Nilmerg were made of the same stuff he was. Priceless. Bruce thought he was going to choke to death on the spot. Of course they refused to believe any of it without proof but Amber had come prepared. Before leaving the surface she allowed the Deres to take a sample of her DNA for comparison against their own and that of any captured Nilmerg they wished. Her parting shot was one that had the effect of leaving Deputy Lex speechless. Amber explained that prior to leaving Nilmerg to meet with the Deres, she had proposed to them that if both sides were agreeable a temporary halt to hostilities would be immediately imposed with the longer term aim of both sides engaging in peace talks which the Commonwealth was willing to broker. Further, the ships of SurvFlot Two would be deployed as peacekeepers. Both Deres and Nilmerg had the opportunity to get good readings of Admiral Torrance’s ships and knew full well they were more than a match for any of their ships that wished to breach the ceasefire. Deputy Lex had promised to take Amber’s proposal back to the Commissioner and the House of the People and gain an answer forthwith.
