by Saxon Andrew
“I would have brought three fleets.”
Cami chuckled, “That’s the Colony side of you talking.”
“Even so, I’m not capable of seeing beyond a possible threat.”
Charlie smiled, “I like the way you think Stoney.”
“Thank you. Are you sure about this Cami?”
“Will the three of you chill out; they know we can still destroy them. That’s enough of a threat; we don’t need a fleet to drive that home.”
Cami turned to Charlie, “Why do you say the coming meeting might surprise me?”
“Do they know you’re telepathic?”
Cami thought a moment, “I honestly don’t know.”
“You should tell them before you arrive that you are.”
“Why?”
“Just as you have doubts about them, they must also have doubts about us. They are aware we can destroy them and I’m sure they’re discussing that before you arrive. You need to eliminate anything they might do to hide anything before you arrive. Springing on them that you’re a telepath after you get into the meeting is not the behavior of someone that’s trustworthy.”
Cami stared at Charlie and sighed. After a moment, she said, “Connect me with the Triangulum Controller.” Charlie nodded and turned to his console.
• • •
Cami looked up at Charlie and said, “We’ve been asked to delay our arrival for another twenty hours.”
“Why?”
“I can’t see his thoughts from here, but I’ve agreed to wait.”
“Why can’t you see his thoughts?” Stoney asked. “I thought you could find the thoughts of someone at great distance.”
“Their planet is on the other side of the black hole and no one can see through a black hole no matter what the distance. Right Coco?” Coco nodded.
“So what do we do for the next twenty-four hours?” Sweets asked.
“Let’s take a trip to some of their planets and see how they’re doing.”
“Where are they located?” Charlie asked.
“Does your navigation system have the coordinates of the planets that were inhabited by the Core Aliens?”
“It does.”
“That’s where they settled. Head toward some of them and we should find them.” Charlie changed course and headed into the core of the Milky Way.
• • •
The next day, Charlie arrived at the Capital Planet of the Triangulum Civilization and he turned around to Cami, “Are you certain we can defeat this civilization. What we’ve seen on the planets they’ve colonized makes me wonder if that’s possible.”
Cami shrugged, “They were clearly prepared to develop those planets before they arrived. But we have the advantage of being able to detect their ships.”
“Would that be enough Cami? And if we launch an attack against them, they could go after Britannia.”
“Charlie, I messed up by waiting too long to come and take a look,” Cami admitted. “However, we’ve never revealed Britannia’s location to them.”
“That doesn’t mean they haven’t found it.”
Cami sighed, “I know.”
“There’s no way we can deal with the Colonies and this civilization simultaneously.”
“I know that Charlie!” Cami snapped back. “If it came down to brass tacks, I might have to bring the Colonies in to confront them.”
“They’d learn that we’ve been helping them,” Sweets added to the conversation.
“Before we start panicking, let’s go see what they have to say.”
“Coco and I will stay on the ship.”
Coco looked up at her mother, “That isn’t a good idea Mommy. I need to be there.”
Stoney chuckled and everyone turned to him. Stoney raised his shoulders, “Look at this as a positive.”
“What in hells bells do you mean by that?!” Charlie asked.
Stoney held up his hands, “Well, if they can be trusted, you’re going to have a hell of a fleet to command.”
Cami chuckled, “This coming from a Colony paranoid.”
Stoney smiled, “Oh well.”
She turned to Charlie, “Take us down to the spaceport; all of us will be attending the meeting.”
• • •
The ship landed and a Triangulum Officer greeted them as they exited the ship, “I have a shuttle to take you to the meeting. Please follow me.”
Cami was impressed by the officer’s size. This was the first time she met one of them in person and he was over six-feet tall and had to weigh more than three hundred pounds. His head rested on his large shoulders and his legs and arms were powerfully built. His light brown color was something to see and his eyes were green.
The shuttle landed in the center of the city and the officer led them to a large columned building. A female alien met them at the top of the stairs and smiled, “Please follow me.” Cami heard Coco’s thought, “I know why they delayed us.”
“Why?”
“The leaders from all their planets are waiting for us inside the building. They started arriving after you revealed you’re telepathic.”
“What’s the general thought of the group?”
Coco didn’t reply and Cami looked at her. “They’re extremely anxious, Aunt Cami.”
The female led them to two large doors, and they opened as they approached. They walked into a huge chamber and saw it was filled with thousands of the aliens. The Controller stood at the front of the chamber and announced, “Please welcome the Planet Leader from our ally.”
The room stood up and clapped as Cami and the others walked down the aisle to the front of the Chamber. “They applaud just like we do,” Cami thought. She didn’t need Coco to sense the apprehension in the huge gathering. She had no doubt they knew she was here to pass judgment on them. She wondered if they might be passing judgment on her as well.
They arrived at the front of the room and the Controller nodded to the table on the raised dais, “Please join me.”
Cami nodded to some empty seats on the front row and took Coco’s hand. The Controller’s expression changed slightly as Charlie, Sweets, and Stoney sat down on the front row. Cami said, “They are here as observers.” The Controller looked at Coco and Cami said, “She is the one that will decide the future of our alliance.” Coco jerked her head up to Cami and heard, “I need to know if they are good people Coco. Can they be trusted?”
Cami and Coco sat down at the table with Cami sitting next to the leader of the Triangulum Civilization. “She’s rather young to be given such a large responsibility, isn’t she?”
“It’s the young that see things as they are and not as one hopes they are,” Cami replied. “I thought you and I were going to meet alone, and I arrive to find thousands gathered.”
“We’ve been wondering when someone from your civilization would come to pass judgment on us. When you revealed you’re telepathic, I knew that you were going to need much more than just me here.”
“And why is that?”
“Because we also have to know where we stand with you. The leader from every one of our planets is here and they’re here to hear about your intentions.”
Cami looked out at the silent, huge gathering…but the roar of thoughts among them was loud. She glanced at Coco and saw her eyes were wide open.
Chapter Eight
The Controller sat forward and said, “I understand that you visited a number of our planets before coming here. What do you think about them?”
Cami felt a shiver realizing that they could detect her warship. The advantage of being able to see their ships without being detected was off the table. “I discovered that you’re much further advanced in your colonization of your planets than I anticipated.”
The Controller nodded, “We prepared for a very long time before we came here to this galaxy. What do you think about it, Planet Leader?”
“I think that your forces are much larger than I thought possible.”
“Does that pl
ease you?”
Cami stared at the Controller and then looked out at the gathering before turning back to him, “If I were a politician, I would tell you what you want to hear…but I am not a politician. Your number of warships greatly concerns me.”
“Why?”
“Because your intentions in coming to my galaxy aren’t clear. You conquered all the civilizations in the Triangulum Galaxy and that shows that your civilization is aggressive. I know you told us that you aren’t any more, but what if that was a lie?”
“You told me that you’re telepathic; why don’t you just look in my mind and see if we’re being honest.”
“I’m not going to do that…yet. Several of the ones that came with me aren’t telepathic and I want you to tell them why we should trust that you’ve given up your aggressive ways.”
The Controller smiled, “The representatives here would also like to know if you’ve also given up your aggressive nature as well.”
“We didn’t go out and conquer this galaxy,” Cami responded.
“But you did exterminate all the beings that once lived on the planets we’ve colonized,” the Controller countered. “You also told me that you would destroy us if we attempted to come to your galaxy.”
The giant room was silent, and Cami sensed that everyone present was locked in on the conversation she was having with the Controller. “The Civilization that lived on the planets here at the core destroyed the planet my family lived on and made numerous attacks on other planets my species live on. They attacked my species home world and that’s where we met them and stopped their attack. We then came to the core and eliminated them.” The Controller stared at Cami in silence and Cami continued, “I’ve learned that we made a mistake doing that.”
“Oh?” the Controller responded.
“The war with the Core Aliens was fought before I was born but we saw it as a life or death struggle; it was either them or us. But we were wrong.”
“Why? They were attacking your planets?”
“Only their ships were attacking us; the billions living on their planets never fired a beam at us. The babies and children weren’t guilty of the sins of their parents and they died with their planets. I believe that we should have removed their ability to wage war and given them time to change their aggressive ways.”
“Like you’ve done with the Grang and DoRen?” the Controller remarked.
“Something like that. It would have been extremely difficult given the thousands of planets they occupied but we should have made the effort. The only thing we saw was that they were a threat to our existence and had to be removed. I believe that needless killing should be avoided whenever possible. I struggle with whether or not the Core Aliens had to be exterminated.”
“You sat back and allowed the Core Aliens to exterminate the Fagan Civilization.” Cami’s eyes narrowed. The Controller lowered his head slightly, “We’ve found numerous documents on the planets we’ve colonized and there are numerous records of the destruction of the Fagan.”
“Did they reveal the nature of the Fagan Civilization?”
The Controller nodded, “It’s clear they were possibly more aggressive than the Core Aliens. But did their babies and children have to die as well?”
“When that happened, we were outnumbered by the Core Alien’s warships and revealing ourselves to them to stop them would have led to our destruction. It was decided that we would not intervene in that fight.” Cami paused and then shrugged, “However, even if we could have stopped them, we probably wouldn’t have.”
“Why not?”
“Because they joined forces with the Core Aliens and destroyed one of our major planets. They burned it down to the rock mantle leaving nothing alive on the planet. We did manage to prevent more than a thousand slave planets the Fagan were ruling from being destroyed. But that was all we could do without being discovered.”
The Controller’s head moved back slightly, “I didn’t know about any slave planets being saved.”
“You should have seen in the records the Core Aliens left behind that there were numerous planets that weren’t attacked because they possessed no advanced technology.”
The Controller looked down at the first row and an alien stood up, “She’s right Controller. There is mention of large numbers of primitive planets being left alone.”
The Controller turned back to Cami, “And you prevented their destruction?”
“We removed the Fagan Warships above those planets just before the battle between the Fagan and Core Alien’s fleets began.”
“Weren’t you concerned that your vessels might be detected?”
“Yes, we were. But it was the right thing to do. We decided it was worth the risk.”
“So, what happens if you decide that we are a threat?”
Cami smiled slightly, “Probably the same thing if you come to that conclusion about us.”
“I think you’ve seen that our fleets outnumber yours.”
“I wouldn’t want to do it, but have you included the fleets currently in the Colonies?” The controller’s eyes closed slightly, and Cami added, “One of my principles is to defend my species existence against all outside forces. I suspect the hundred-million warships in the Colonies might not be so easy to overcome.”
“I thought you were about to have a war with them.”
Cami blew out a breath, “We do have some issues between us but I’m doing all I can to prevent that war from taking place. However, defending mankind is not something I’ll put behind my selfish needs.”
The Controller stared at Cami and then said, “I believe these human Colonies would not leave anyone alive on our planets if they attack us.”
“That’s why I gave you our technology…to defend yourselves if the Colonies manage to defeat my planet.”
“We’ve been wondering why you did that; it didn’t make sense if you didn’t fully trust us.”
“I couldn’t wait to give it to you. You had to have time to build up your forces against the day when the Colonies move on us. I came here today to determine if I made a good decision.” The Controller stared at Cami and she said, “Tell the ones I brought here with me why we should trust you.”
“You can just look at my thoughts and see.”
“But the ones that need to be persuaded aren’t telepathic. Talk to them.”
The Controller looked at the three humans sitting on the front row and saw the man and woman sitting beside each other were afraid. He turned back to Cami, “Why do I have to persuade them?”
“Because they will be commanding your fleets in the coming conflict. They can’t do that without knowing you are trustworthy.”
The Controller turned to Charlie and Sweets, “I told the Commander of the human fleet that came and negotiated our move to your galaxy eight years ago that my species has turned its back on being a conqueror. We learned in conquering our home galaxy that it led to nothing but endless trouble and difficulties. Conquest is highly overrated and the product of it stunts the conqueror’s development. We also learned that being aggressive toward other civilizations also leads to being aggressive inside your own civilization. Even if you eradicate a civilization, it doesn’t end there. Every other civilization will learn what you’ve done and combine their forces to defeat you. If you don’t eradicate the civilization, you’re forced to constantly keep an eye on them and any others you’ve defeated. Then you have to prevent the conquered civilizations from attacking each other, and attacks don’t have to be with warships. They can be done through economic and social threats. By the time we left our home galaxy, we were so weary of keeping peace between the civilizations we defeated.” The controller paused and said very deliberately, “WE NEVER WANT TO PUT OURSELVES IN THAT POSITION AGAIN!!”
“Then what do you want?” Charlie asked.
“We want to live in peace and only use our forces to defend us against outside aggression. Conquest is a double-edged sword and we never want to pick it up again,�
�� the Controller answered sadly.
Sweets looked up at Coco, “Is he telling the truth?”
Coco nodded, “He and everyone else here thinks the same way. They are really tired of taking care of other planets.”
Cami looked at Coco, “Can they be trusted?” Coco looked at Cami and shrugged. “What does that mean?” Cami asked.
“They can be trusted but they aren’t convinced they can trust us, Aunt Cami.”
Cami looked at the Controller and saw him smiling, “You were right about children. She’s being very honest, even when she shouldn’t.”
Coco’s expression turned sad, “Have I made a mistake Aunt Cami.”
“No, honey; you haven’t.” Cami turned to the Controller, “It appears you are able to detect my warships.”
“Not really. The giant scanners on our planets can detect small changes in dark matter but our ships lack that ability.”
“I am going to have a new chip brought and installed in your warships that will allow them to see each other as well as the warships in my fleets,” Cami stated. The Controller’s eyes narrowed, and Cami said, “Coco, link the Controller with my mind and allow him to see my thoughts.”
The Controller’s head went back slightly and then his face lost all expression. One of the aliens stood up on the front row and shouted, “What are you doing to our leader!”
Charlie quickly responded, “Share Cami’s thoughts with everyone here Coco!”
The alien sat down and everyone in the room suddenly had their minds filled with what was in Cami’s mind.
• • •
It took an hour before the process ended and the Controller fell back in his chair, “That was…unnerving.”
“I didn’t withhold anything.”
The Controller nodded, “I can see that. It was your father that allowed us to come here.” Cami nodded. “You’ve been through quite an ordeal.”
“That’s life,” Cami replied.
“And that ancient civilization in the galaxy you call Andromeda is what changed your mind about war?”
“Yes. They shamed me and I vowed to never allow needless killing again.”
