Chapter 3: The Meeting

A two-hundred-light-year jump seemed to be significant, but in fact, it was absolutely tiny. The Milky Way Galaxy was so large that it could be measured in over 52,000 light-years from one side to the other. It seemed as if humanity was cursed by how far away things were, but thankfully, the ability to fold space was available. It was the only way such great distances could ever be achieved.

Kane sat on his seat, staring at the screen that showed a slightly closer look at the Galactic Core. It was beautiful in all aspects. The colors of red, blue, and purple, along with the dots of stars, glowed. The core of the galaxy was a place that seemed pretty but was, in all respects, a place to avoid. Located near the center of the galactic core was the devourer that was known as Sagittarius A. The ambassador had enough knowledge that the center of galaxies was nothing more than massive giant stars that exploded in flicker life spans when compared to the smaller stars around the galaxy. These stars radiated vast amounts of light and radiation, and when they died, they would create supernovas that spanned astronomical ranges. It is expected that life or whatever is there could be harmed from 10 to even 100 light-year span distances.

Kane was shaken out of his thoughts at the view screen when he heard another person’s voice.

“The gate is closed, sir,” the navigator said.

“Ambassador...” The captain called out to Kane. “Do you have a specific time when the T’rintar are coming?”

Kane lifted his left hand and opened it up. He activated the projected interface as he keyed in the buttons to show him the time. The numbers all showed up.

“Anytime from now to the next two hours,” Kane said as he closed up his hand.

“It’s time to wait...” William responded. “I don’t see anything on our sensor screen. Do you see anything on yours, petty officer?”

“None, sir,” she replied.

The captain unbuckled his restraints and stood out of his seat as his magnetic boots clicked to the deck. “Notify me when the T’rintar shows up,” he said as his eyes looked at Kane. “Ambassador, I would like to have a word with you in my office.”

Kane nodded his head as he watched the captain walk towards the elevator. He stood up and could feel the weightless environment but was used to it. He walked behind the captain as they stepped into the elevator.

The doors closed behind them as the captain pressed his thumb on the panel. There was a light tug on their bodies. The magnetic clips held them on the deck as they went down a level. Kane remained calm as the elevator stopped. When the doors opened up, they walked out to a small passageway that was a deck above the center main deck. Not far from the elevator was the CO’s office. He stepped next to the door as it opened up and let them inside.

Upon the doors closing, Kane noted the interior. The office was nothing extravagant, but there were computer displays that showed the various cameras from the ship. This room had a wooden mounted desk and a red vinyl chair to it. Famous portraits depicted the UHN Gabatrix as they were mounted into the wall. Besides that, there was nothing else spectacular about the room.

The captain walked up to his chair as he sat down. He had a grip on the armrests to keep his body steady in the weightless environment. The man looked at the ambassador as he stood looking back at him.

“Ambassador, I want to talk to you to make sure we are on the same grounds of what is going to happen here. Do you understand?”

“I do, Captain,” Kane said.

“We’ve had little time to get ready for this meeting if everything is going to happen according to plan.”

“I understand. It’s why I packed light as it was.”

The captain played with his light beard for a short bit. “There are some things that I need to make sure you understand. It’s important that I let you know a little bit about me before this all happens.”

“What is it?”

The captain stopped playing with his beard as he sighed and lifted up his left arm. He pressed his right hand to his arm and activated a computer projection. A 3D image projected from his augmented arm of various spaceships. He then took his right hand, grabbed the photos, and keyed it in on the overhead displays in the room. The camera feed changed to the 3D-projected ships that were on his arm.

He deactivated his left arm and rested comfortably on his chair. “Take a good look at those images, Ambassador. What do you see?”

Kane was no military aficionado. He looked at the images, and they appeared to be schematics of spaceships of some sort. “I see a cylindrical image with a gun on the top and bottom. There are two ring-like structures near the back end of the ship. The bow seems to have a large round curve to it. I see a red color depicted on the ship.”

The captain nodded. He looked at the image. “This is the recent intel that was sent to us. If we left any sooner, we wouldn’t even have this information. That is how blind we are at doing this. We made a leap of faith, broke the record book on the longest jump ever, and then hoped that our aliens wouldn’t destroy us upon seeing us.”

Kane nodded. “They won’t attack us. I can feel it in my instincts.”

“I don’t see a fleet here to meet us. That’s a good sign, at least. The fact remains ... this ship you are looking at is defined as the Italx Mark 3 Battleship. This is the most common warship used by the Aksren clan, at least according to the Syn’s computer databanks. It is bigger and meaner than our old little Gabatrix. I ... know this type of warship well.”

“What do you mean?” Kane asked.

The captain looked down. “Kane, how much do you know of the JJ-78 Disaster?”

“I know it well enough. It was the time when we and the Itreans would meet face to face. It would mark the beginning of the war between both races.”

“That is the basis of that event. True ... yes, that is what happened, but far more occurred than ever. I want to make sure that you know this. What were the UHN ships that were present that day?”

“Umm ... one was the Drake. I can’t remember the other.”

“Two UHN battleships were present that day,” the captain said as he kept a cold look at Kane. His voice displayed a side of seriousness even more so than before. “It was the UHN Drake and the UHN Cabot. We were on a three-month deployment that was over three light-years from Cipra. Our goal was to explore the outer systems pretty much as most military ships go.”

“You said we...”

The captain nodded. “Yes, I did. I was the XO of the Cabot.”

Kane seemed to think about it for a moment. “Wait a minute. I think I remember the news in how they mentioned it. I knew the Drake was involved, but the Cabot, I can’t remember much. There was only one surviving ship from that incident, and it wasn’t the Cabot.”

“Well, you are right. The fact is that I remember everything vividly that day. Before the whole incident occurred, the Drake was suffering problems with its emergency Direct Fusion Drive. It was ... having a malfunction. The engineers spent days trying to fix it. I was originally an engineer myself, and I worked with DFDs before. I asked the captain if me and some of the engineers could go and provide assistance to the Drake. It felt routine, and the captain agreed. I was shuttled over to it.”

“What happened next?”

“My team and I worked for an hour. We found out the problem and got the DFD to work again. I was about to reach the shuttle with the team when they showed up...” The captain looked at the images of the ships. “It was nothing but a shock to us. We thought at first it was a UHN ship that jumped in.” He sighed. “Nothing was scheduled for visits through that deployment. We were all amazed at the scene. “Aliens ... actual alien ship came to us that was in that system. It looked similar to that ship you saw there, and it was painted green. With the information we have now, we know that it was a T’rintar battleship much like this.”

“How did you react?”

“My team and I were trapped on the Drake. The captain of the Cabot, Commander Kavan, told us to wait for the shuttle transfer. It was understandable. Everyone was tense. Even with the discovery of the Equatis Wreck on Mars, we still had no rehearsed method of contact protocols. I went up to the bridge and watched the whole event take place...”

“I can’t believe this...” Kane said as he displayed shock. “I didn’t know you were actually present in the first contact with the Itreans.”

“It seemed promising. We sent out communications to them, and they would wait a while before they sent a message back. We had no idea what we were saying to each other. It got to the point we were flashing our lights and using mathematics as a way to talk to them. We never saw each other’s faces. Maybe they didn’t feel comfortable doing it. Amazingly, things seemed to work well. At least nobody was shooting at each other. We ended up hearing a word that they used for a little while. It was used in a specific way and tone that we identified as a name word. We figured out they were calling themselves the Itreans. It was a curious moment. They were pretty far from us, and their tone didn’t sound threatening. Perhaps they were curious about us as well.”

“I know it didn’t go well.”

The captain sighed again. He nodded his head at the screen. “About thirty minutes later, we got a gate opening signature. These were much closer to us than the T’rintar. Two ships came into the system. They were those Battleships ... two of them.”

“Oh...”

“We sent the same communication, but these guys didn’t give a fuck. They opened fire immediately when they saw us. I still ... remember the alarms and shooting. The Drake and Cabot were doing everything possible to repel the missiles they were throwing at us. Those ships ... they were just better than us. According to the intel we have now, we were fighting the Aksren clan. They appear to favor the red color for some reason. They got closer and closer as we tried to make a retreat, but they were gaining on us. I remember the Cabot getting hit by one of the rail gun rounds they fired at her. The shot went clean through the centripetal ring like it was nothing...”

Kane was shaking his head.

“There is nothing like feeling that you’re powerless. We had to escape, but we had nowhere to go. The T’rintar were too far away, and there was too much confusion going on. We kept shooting at the missiles, but they kept coming. Finally, we got a message from the Cabot. Kavan informed us that one must live, and the other must perish to tell the tale. He ordered the Cabot to initiate a full burn at the Aksren. He didn’t run anymore. He just went straight towards them. He told the Drake to get as far away as possible so we could open up a gate and get the fuck out. I begged Commander Kavan not to do this. I knew that crew ... they were my family. I was with them for over two months, and we were ready to return home. You know what his response was to me?”

Kane shook his head again in response.

“It wasn’t your time yet. Warn the UHN and the UWA of what happened today. He closed the channel. I knew those crew members were brave, but I never imagined the heroism that day. The Drake got a safe distance as we started the whole process, just like you saw at Titan today. The Cabot was distracting those Aksren good. They seemed to focus their attacks on the Cabot. We were ... shocked when we saw the T’rintar open fire on the Aksren as well once they got into weapons range. It seemed like we almost had a common enemy. The Cabot was getting battered more and more. We saw the Cabot and the T’rintar take down one of the Aksren, but the Cabot took too much damage. We were about to jump out when it finally exploded. I returned back to Mars in the Drake. My ship was lost. That ... was the JJ-78 Disaster. Our first face-to-face meeting with an alien race, and it was a shooting gallery.”

“I sympathize with you, captain,” Kane said as he looked down.

“I ... ended up going a little crazy for a couple of months. They described it as a form of PTSD. They wouldn’t let me command or enter a ship for a while. In reality ... I don’t think they were ever planning on putting me back on the ship again.”

“But this mission...”

“I volunteered. They knew that this was a suicide mission. I admit that I was a bit surprised, as well. I think in the end, they knew that I was the perfect person to do it. Both Commander Ramírez and I were going to be put on the Gabatrix. UHN command knew my experience with the T’rintar. When two people of the same rank are present, UHN decides who the CO is and who is the XO.”

“We will succeed in this mission, Captain. I swear it.”

“Be warned...” The captain told him. “You volunteered for this. We are stepping into unknown grounds. I believe in this mission to the fullest. It’s always important that we know about the colony of Eutera before you see them. I believed the T’rintar to be innocent ... that was until the colony was attacked. The first colony we lost, even if it was a small one, was done by the T’rintar. Now we are dealing with them. There will be crewmembers that will display animosity towards this meeting. They are sworn to the orders of the UHN and the UWA. This mission may be the hardest one to be ever achieved, but it may warrant the greatest results.”

Kane seemed to think about it. He nodded his head.

There was a small beep sound that came from his left hand. He activated the projection on his left arm as it displayed an audio signal.

“What is it?” Captain William asked.

“Captain, report to the bridge immediately,” the navigator called out. “We are picking up an exit aperture that is 5,000 kilometers away.”

“Almost right on top of us. That has to be them. Put us at Condition 2, but don’t arm any of the weapons. I will be up there immediately.”

“Aye, sir,” the navigator said. The channel closed, and William deactivated his arm.

“It is time...”

They were back on the bridge in less than a minute. Kane could watch as the exit aperture had fully formed on the large display. The wormhole was much like they had seen before. It appeared at around 40 degrees to the port bow and twenty degrees vertical.

“Keep tracking it,” Captain William told his weapon’s officer.

“Sir, I’m tracking a signature appearing from the event horizon of the wormhole,” the officer replied back to him.

Kane watched as a spaceship flew through the exit aperture. It was a green cylindrical ship. It had two spinning centripetal rings near the aft section. It had a dorsal and ventral cannon in the midsection of the superstructure. Besides the cannons, the ship also had a vast missile launcher array connected to two large forward thrusters. The forward section consisted of smaller guns and what looked like a possible bridge section. It also had two large torpedo tube launchers in the lower front bow. All in all, it seemed very similar to those Italx Mark 3 Battleships that William had shown Kane earlier but painted green.

“Analyzing...,” the weapon’s officer said as he looked at his console.

Kane watched as the ship cleared the exit aperture of the wormhole. Its forward thrusters activated as it slowed to a stop. There was a momentary pause as the vessel remained in place. After about ten seconds, the ship’s vectoring thrusters began to activate. It was slowly beginning to turn directly at the Gabatrix.

“Identification complete,” the weapons officer confirmed. “Sensors and recent intel identify this to be a T’rintar Italq class Battleship. It is a similar design to the Italx Battleships used by the Aksren.”

“Hmmm...,” the captain said as he played with his beard a little bit.

“Sir ... this is the common battleship used by the T’rintar. This is the same type of vessel that matches those that attacked Eutera.”

“The same ones that disabled the Champlain and overpowered Eutera’s defenses.”

Kane seemed to acknowledge what was just said. He noted something that seemed important to him and decided to keep quiet. He could see a forward-mounted cannon on the ship. Altogether, this ship looked like it was armed to the teeth. The battleship was bigger than theirs. But there was no further activity from it.

“There are no further vessels that are here, sir,” the navigator responded. “I am detecting a closure from the exit aperture of the wormhole.”

Kane could see as the wormhole shut down and collapsed. He nodded.

“Captain...,” Kane told him. “This is promising. They only sent one ship to meet us. They kept their word.”

William himself nodded. “I agree. They had the opportunity to send more, and they didn’t.”

“Sir, the T’rintar vessel is training its dorsal and ventral guns to us!” the weapon’s officer replied.

“Do you detect anything powering up?” the captain calmly replied.

“They wouldn’t come here alone to blow us up...,” Kane said quietly.

“I ... I don’t pick anything up,” the weapon’s officer replied.

Captain,” Kane got his attention. “I don’t think they would come this far to destroy us. I think they are just being careful. They don’t know if we’re hostile.”

“I know...,” he replied. “Remember what I told you. Ambassador, ... do you prefer telling them to stand down?”

“I ... Umm...” Kane said, beleaguered. It was now or never. He could feel a twist in his gut. This is what he volunteered to do. He was the one who had to communicate to them if they even understood his words at all. “Yes. Hail them ... err, contact them.”

The captain gave the nod to him. “Coms ... open up all channels to them. Broadcast our friendly message to them.”

“Wait ... allow me to talk to them. I know enough about those UWA SETI broadcasts. Let me broadcast my own words. Hopefully, they might know English.”

The ship remained still, almost as if it was waiting for something. It seemed like a quiet standoff between warships. Precious seconds were passing by, and the Ambassador needed to do something now.

The captain gestured for him to come to his console. “Coms ... open up a channel from my console and broadcast the Ambassador’s words to the T’rintar ship. Hopefully, they will pick it up. Ambassador, just talk to my console, and it will send it to them.”

Kane approached the console as he could feel his blood pumping. It was the first attempt at communication with an alien race. He clenched his hands a little bit and felt the side of him wanting to run away from the room. All ears were on him now.

“Attention Itrean ship,” the ambassador said. “My name is Kane onboard the UHN Gabatrix. I am the ambassador of this vessel. We mean you no harm. We received your message beacon and wish to negotiate terms for peace. Please respond...”

There was a long pause. Kane knew this was a long shot. He had no idea if they were getting the message or if they even understood it. These two factors would determine if the peace talks would ever happen. He remained quiet for about twenty seconds, but it felt like a minute to him.

There was a series of flashing green and red lights from the T’rintar Battleship. The com’s officer gestured to the Captain to come to him. Kane simply waited as the crew seemed to hold their breath. The ambassador was watching the pattern of lights. He was marking what he was seeing.

“I repeat my message to you,” Kane said. “My name is Kane. I am onboard the UHN Gabatrix. We are here to negotiate peace. We come in peace. Please do not fire on us. We received your message beacon and wish to talk.”

The captain was standing by the communications console. He was pointing to the data that was being picked up on the screen. The communication officer was nodding his head and began to punch in a new series of codes into the screen. Suddenly, they could hear a message being broadcast to them.

“UHN Gabatrix ... this is the warship Atra,” a grumbled female-like voice came through the console. “I am the adjunct. I command the ship. We hear your words. We came here to talk.”

Kane listened to the way the speech was made. It was spoken slowly at first. It was basic and easy to understand. He remarked on the tone of the voice, which sounded aggressive but composed. It sounded like a female voice that had Spanish and French accents to it. He noted that the last sentence actually had a Japanese flare. He could also hear slight whines and clicks in the voice. It was interesting to listen to it.

“That is good. You actually know our language?” Kane asked.

“Yes. Your language is not hard to learn.”

“What is your name?”

“My name is Tara’talar.”

“Tara ... talar. On behalf of the United World’s Alliance, we welcome these talks. Let us discuss this further. How would you like to engage in these peace talks?”

“Human ... we have a diplomat for you to talk to and engage in peace.” A series of clicks could be heard in the voice. “Her name is Ifra. We would like to dock with your ship and send her onboard your ship. Do we have your permission?”

There was a short pause as Kane looked at the captain almost to see what he thought. He displayed a very brief look like he was thinking. He nodded his head in agreement.

“Yes,” Kane said. “We will meet at your earliest convenience.”

“The channel closed...” The com’s officer said.

“Wow ... brief and to the point ... I guess they are not used to saying goodbye,” Kane said.

“Ambassador,” the captain told him. “It is advised that you get dressed. I will handle the rest of this from up here. It should take about thirty minutes to rendezvous and dock with each other, assuming our docking hatches are similar. If need be, we have shuttles as well. It looks like they also use shuttles to some form of degree.”

Kane nodded. “Right ... I am going to get dressed. Wish me luck...”

“Our fate rests on you, Ambassador.”

About twenty minutes had passed. It all seemed so fast. Kane was meeting and talking face-to-face with an alien race. He could have never imagined it. His mind was in a blur of everything that was happening.

Kane was standing in the CO’s stateroom and restroom near the bridge. Captain William permitted him to use it so he could get dressed into his formal attire and look proper to the meeting. Getting changed in zero-g was different and crazy. While the magnetic shoes were easy fitting, the throws of keeping himself balanced and not throwing oneself around on one connected foot were impressive. He was doing what he could, from tripping on his pants and ending up floating in the air from the lack of gravity. The restroom was simple in design. The toilets were designed for zero-g environments. There was a mirror and counter for him to see what he looked like.