Chapter 4: The Ambassador

The marine and armed personnel that were assigned to protect Kane almost seemed perplexed. They kept quiet to themselves, obviously, but this meeting just seemed weird. Ifra was anything but an enigma. This was the same race that conquered a colony, and yet they appeared harmless in physical appearance. The only thing that stood out was the claws, but claws won’t make you win a space battle and ground combat.

“If it’s alright,” Kane addressed his guards. “I don’t think I need an escort.”

“We will remain here, Ambassador, and guard the hatchway,” Daisuke replied.

“And don’t worry. The T’rintar ambassador remains with me. I won’t leave her side.”

“Aye, Ambassador...”

Kane was happy about that, at least. He felt that Ifra was harmless. If she was there to bring a ship down, then the Atra should have done it way before. She even sent her own guards back to the Atra. These were all acts of good faith. It was best to respond in kind. He had full rights in how he would conduct this mission now. The diplomat of another race was with him, and he was with her.

“Let me help tour you through the Gabatrix, Lady Ifra,” Kane told her.

She smiled and nodded her head by tilting it towards the passageway. She was gesturing to him in what direction to go.

He turned his head to the passageway. “If you follow me, Lady Ifra, I will...” He felt something clutch his arm, causing him to stop speaking.

Kane turned his head back to the Itrean ambassador. She had her left hand and claws wrapped around his right arm. The claws felt sharp, but again, they didn’t pierce his skin. Instead, the claws maintained a solid grip. She was gazing at him, and she had a somewhat worried look.

“Human named Kane,” she said in a friendly tone. “You are here for me. I am in charge of this diplomatic meeting. I am to remain close to your side. Failure to do that would mean failure by the human race to uphold their words.”

Kane was trying to figure out her motive. She seemed to be nice in her tone, but her words seemed to be threatening at the same time. On the one hand, he tried to be reciprocating her words, and on the other hand, even he had to acknowledge that first-time meetings with an alien race could go in any direction. For now, he felt that the best course of action was to make her happy. This type of behavior existed in some diplomatic traditions with human cultures in the past. The men of the Middle East on former Earth were known to even hold hands as a gesture of good faith and friendship to diplomats of other nations. Ifra was acting in a somewhat similar style by wrapping her claws around his arm.

“Where do you wish to go?” he asked her.

She smiled at him. “I wish to see this ship. Show me. I wish to learn more about you and the people of this ship.”

“Then I will do as you wish.”

Kane walked forward as Ifra followed along. Her grip was firm as the claws held onto him. He almost felt like a father escorting a child. Ifra was so short by comparison. If anything, the talon-like fingers would eventually chafe his right arm.

They began their walk down the central passageway to the center of the ship. It was a lengthy walk. The gravity shoes that Kane had and Ifra’s foot wrappings kept her in place on the deck as they moved forward. He would notice her tail moving around even in the zero-g environment. As he looked down at her, she would be watching his facial movements with intense curiosity.

“Am I hurting you?” she asked him.

“My arm? No, I’m fine.”

Her eyes winced a little bit. She lessened her grip a little bit in response.

“I am waiting, Kane,” she said.

“With what?”

“Tell me about yourself and your race,” she responded with a couple of clicks in her voice.

“Oh ... my apologies. All of this is ... well ... enough stalling on my part. My full name is Jonah Kane. My first name is Jonah, and my last name is Kane. Do you have a full name instead of Ifra?”

“No. I am simply called Ifra.”

“What if there are other people called Ifra?” he asked her.

“Then they are called Ifra,” she made a chirp and a series of clicks after her words. Kane was starting to see a pattern in her communication. That almost sounded like a chuckle from her.

“The reason why I ask is having a first and last name would help prevent confusion. The wrong people could be called out to perform a task.”

“That does happen with us, but it’s not an issue. Rank titles are a part of our names ... Jonah Kane.”

“You can just call me Kane. Jonah is my first name. We always address each other by last name in formal communication.”

“Your language...,” she said. “It is so easy to learn and speak..., but at the same time, it is a curious idea.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our language is ... I don’t have the word for it. Some of our words are based on stories of our past. Some of our words are very precise. It is designed to ensure that the trillions of our inhabitants absolutely understand each other.”

“Trillions?” he asked with surprise.

“Yes ... did I use the wrong number? You have thousands, then you have millions, then you have billions, and then you have trillions. Am I correct?”

He nodded. “Yes. That ... is a surprising number. Our population is in the billions.”

“How many systems belong to your people?”

Kane was going to be careful with his words. He knew what he wanted to say, but he didn’t want to inflame the issue any more than possible. Instead, he just responded, as statistics would show.

“We currently control seven systems,” he said.

She nodded. “So, you originally had nine?”

Kane knew it. She decided to bring it up as he thought about Cipra and Eutera. Now they were gone. Her people were responsible for the attack on Eutera. He kept his thoughts and emotions still on this matter. He would have to ask her more about this later. This was the beginning of this meeting, and it could be a fragile one.

“Yes ... we had nine systems over a year ago,” he told her.

“I am sorry about Cipra. The Aksren can be cruel. They are cruel to my people. They are a clan that sees only what will bring better improvement and sat ... satis ... sa...”

“Satisfaction...” He told her. He was surprised to hear her say that. “You know about Cipra?”

She nodded her head. “Our spies learned about the siege on your planet that you called Cipra. We knew that you lost all of your people.”

“You know all about Cipra! This information can be valuable to us,” he exclaimed to her.

His rise in tone caused her to grip his arm harder. “Kane ... let’s continue.”

“I apologize. I ... lost a cousin on Cipra,” he told her. “I watched on our media that Cipra was lost due to the Itreans. Our fleet had to evacuate as the Aksren would destroy our cities.”

She nodded. “I am sorry, Kane...” She said with a series of undertone clicks. “The Aksren wanted live specimens. They found many on Cipra when they conquered it.”

Specimens ... those words were haunting in Kane’s mind. He remembered the fact the Aksren fleet could nuke cities and whatever weapons they might have had, but instead, they used simpler weapons to dominate the battlefield.

“Specimens?”

She nodded. “It was the goal for the Aksren to gather as many specimens for experimentation as possible. They wanted to send a message to your people that you violated their space.”

“What ... type of experiments?”

She looked down as they continued their slow walk. “More aggressive than we have ... the type that involves more death in turn.”

“Are any of the people on Cipra alive?”

She closed her eyes. “No. The Aksren had them all killed after the experiments were completed.”

Kane tried to keep his composure. There was no hope for his cousin.

“I ... am sorry too.”

“We are here for the same reason human named Kane. We seek a peace between our clan and your people. Together, we are stronger, and together, we can survive against the other clans of Itrea.”

Kane acknowledged her words. They reached the doors on the left and right as they kept moving forward. The passageways were clear beside the guards in the rear distance. Kane only knew so much of the ship but did his best to explain what he knew.

“You are onboard the Gabatrix,” Kane explained. “This ship is named after a famed pioneer by the name of Ciro Gabatrix.”

“The Atra, the ship I come from, is named after the third moon of my home planet, Atrea.”

“Most of this ship consists of rooms for various operations and maintenance of the warship. This is a battleship, but it is also designed to explore new systems and planets.”

“Our ships are more designed for combat, but we do have research ships that perform the same tasks.”

Kane nodded. “I noticed how similar our ships are, though ... at least on the outside.”

Ifra looked at the hallway, then back to him. “It is not the same in the inside.”

“But I noticed that you operate with rotating rings like our ships. You are walking on some sort of magnetic wrapping ... err ... shoes ... boots?”

She looked down at her clawed feet. “We call them fol’taps. They work like your magnetic boots.”

“What I mean is that you breathe oxygen as we do. You walk on two legs, two feet, and have two arms.”

Ifra seemed to think about it as they walked past the doors that led to the forward thrusters of the ship. She would look at him and then the doors.

“Yes ... we do,” she said.

“I admit I am surprised with your height.”

“Do you have an issue with how tall I am, human?”

Kane shook his head. “I was expecting you guys to be taller.”

“Girls...,” she corrected him.

“What?”

“We are women. The term ‘guys’ is something that I learned about your language. It is often used to apply to a group of males.”

Kane nodded his head. “I apologize. I meant no offense.”

“I am not insulted. Yes ... we are shorter than the other clan members. I am the average height of my people.”

“There is so much that I need to learn about your people. The Itreans, the T’rintar, the Aksren, and the Shal’rein.”

“Don’t forget the Yutilians...,” she added.

“Yutilians?”

She used her right hand and pressed it to her chest. “I am a Yutilian. There are three races in the former Itrean Empire. The races include the Yutilians, the Aksren, and Shal’rein.”

“But didn’t you use the term for clans as well?”

“Yes. The Aksren clan consists of the Aksren race. The Shal’rein clan consists of the Shal’rein race. The T’rintar clan, which means ‘unity’ in your language, consists of mostly Yutilians and have some Aksren and Shal’rein families.”

Kane seemed to understand a little bit about it, but he still needed to understand more about this. He reached another set of doors.

“These doors lead into the conference room,” he explained. “Not far from here is the hangar facility and lounges.”

“Nnn...” she thought. “Our ships do have a similar design to yours.”

“Where would you like to go?” he asked her. “We can go check up on the bridge, or we can find a place to sit down and talk with each other alone.”

“Do you have a room inside the L’ilils?”

“L’ilils?”

“The centr ... centri ... century ... the rings?” she struggled to say.

“Ah ... you are talking about the centripetal ring. Yes. The ship is designed to serve as a space station in orbit. When it is still, it has a place for the crew to operate more easily. I know that your ship has the same spinning structure.”

“Yes. Our ships have very little gravity onboard.”

Kane expressed some shock. “You guys ... err ... girls have the ability to generate gravity besides centripetal force?”

“Yes ... but it is very light. I am no engineer, but I remember somebody telling me that it involves charging the deck with some sort of energy. The gravity is very, very low, and we still use these fol’taps to keep us ... to keep us...”

“Anchored?”

“Yes,” she said with a few chirps.

“That is interesting. I wish we had that ability. Even the tiniest amount of gravity right now would help prevent deteriorating health conditions for us.”

They reached past another set of doors. These doors were bigger than the other doors. It had the words “Hangar Bay” written in both English and Chinese.

“I noticed that other language on your doors,” she commented.

“Chinese? Oh yeah, we have Chinese as a second language.”

“You have two languages that you speak?”

He nodded his head as they walked past. “We actually have many languages that we speak. I imagine that a people of trillions would have a variety of languages as well.”

“Yes, we do. I wish that I had a chance to study up this Chinese.”

He shook his head. “It helps in some places of the UWA, but don’t feel bad. It is a requirement that all members of the UWA and UHN are proficient in English.”

“I know three languages,” she said.

“What is the main language that you speak?”

“It is called U’ck’ck. It is the main language spoken by 75% of all Itreans as a whole. There is the language known as Kly’Atrea. It is spoken by the second majority that considers it an older language of our past. U’ck’ck is much easier for the population to speak and use.”

“It almost reminds me of Latin. A friend of mine that serves on another colony of Aphadus, is an expert on human history. He told me about a language that Earth ... err ... that was a world the human population came from, that spoke a language called Latin. Eventually, everyone stopped speaking it, but it has roots in the history of future languages.”

“You don’t know history?” Ifra asked.

“I am afraid that isn’t my ... realm of expertise. I have my friend that helps out on that. I will have to thank him again for providing some things to me before we made the trip here to meet you.” They walked past another set of doors. “You said that you wanted to go to the centripetal ring?”

“Yes.”

“Very well.”

“It is always good to know your history,” she told him. “It will become lost in time, and then you will forget who you are.”

“Yeah ... I just wish that ... heh...” He said with a chuckle.

“What is it?”

“We spend hundreds of years trying to find out if we are alone in the universe, and now here I am talking to an alien.”

Her grip fluctuated a little bit. “I admit we encounter so few aliens ourselves. It is a very rare event.”

“How old if your ... well how far back is your history?”

“Our knowledge goes back at least 300,000 years, but some believe that it is even older than that.”

“I can imagine that a race of trillions would have a variety of different beliefs of their origins.”

“There is some variety, as you said. While the majority believes in a common source of directions, the history sadly gets lost as hundreds of thousands of years go by. Cherish your history, human. It is the key to your past achievements and possibly the future.”

Kane noticed that they walked past the elevators that led to the other decks and the ventral and dorsal bridges. They were getting close to walking past the central area of the ship and were getting closer to the centripetal ring.

“You said that T’rintar consists of the Aksren and Shal’rein races,” Kane asked. “Aren’t you at war with the Shal’rein and Aksren clans?”

“We are at war with the clans, not the race. We were once a united Empire of peace. I would even say that we are a ... the word you use ... a Republic? When the Itrean Civil War broke out, we split into three clans. The Yutilians ended up with Aksren and Shal’rein families that lived in its space. We are a unity of those races. 11% of our population is Shal’rein, and 9% of our population is Aksren. The rest are Yutilians like myself. The Aksren clan is made up of about 98% Aksren. The Shal’rein also have about 97% Shal’rein.”

“Ah ... I think I understand now. You are a more diversified clan, then?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have to worry about betrayal or racism against those other races in your clan since you are fighting the other clans that have those same races in them?”

“Nnn...” She seemed to think about it. “It does happen. The Aksren and Shal’rein use spies to watch us, but the Aksren and Shal’rein of our clan swear loyalty to us, and there are countless battles that they give up their lives to defend clan T’rintar. The Aksren that live with us are nothing like the Aksren of the Aksren clan. The Shal’rein are very much the same. We have Shal’rein among our troops that fight well, and our spy network that is made by them is considered the best spy network of all the clans.”

Kane seemed to smile. “I am beginning to see how you found us first. Diversity can lead to strength as a whole.”

“You understand why this is important to us, human?” she asked. “Your people would be a great help to our ongoing struggle.”

They were approaching further and further to the near stern section of the warship. They could see the massive spinning corridor that would lead to the enormous passageway tubes to the centripetal ring itself.

“I suppose you Itreans traverse something similar to this, right?” he asked her.

“Yes.”

“Alright...,” he said as he walked near the spinning tube. The central tube consisted of four large passageway compartments. The center portion of this spinning cross was a two-way elevator. When one would enter it, the two would be in the middle of the spin. They would have to press the button and have the lift lower them into the ring. The feeling was odd on the body as the gravity pressed down on the body combined with the centripetal force that would press them to the elevator wall. Kane was aware that the beginning transitions of going through the tubes were hard on the human body. He knew that crew members were used to this to a certain point. The man paused a bit in his walk.

“Why have you stopped?” she asked him.

“I ... apologize,” he told her. “I’m used to the gravity of my planet. I’m not used to being in these rings.”

“I admit that I do not enjoy it, as well. New Atrea is perfect with its gravity.”

“Tell me about it when we climb through this elevator. I don’t want to think of vertigo. Follow me.”

They climbed into the elevator together. Immediately, the magnetic shoes and magnetic wrappings clamped onto the rotating deck. The force was rough as he pressed the button, and the doors closed.

Ifra lost her footing in the spin as she fell onto Kane. Her hands and claws gripped onto his shirt. Even though her claws were not sharp, the dull talons buried into his chest and stomach. He felt a roar of pain as she steadied herself and felt the elevator move.

“Oww ... ow...” he said. His hands went to hers. His body felt pressed to the wall of the elevator as the elevator moved downward as fast and safely as possible.

Ifra realized what she was doing. “I am sorry. I did not mean to hurt you.”

She lifted her claws away from him as the elevator continued to lower. The fabric of Kane’s shirt didn’t seem to be damaged, though.

Rotating rings are often an unusual concept in generating gravity. The elevators would have to lower into the ring and back up instead of having elevators in the center going up. Otherwise, if the elevator would rise, it would have to flip the body around and land on the deck above it once it eventually reached a stop on the ring. The centripetal force could actually cause the body to be projected headfirst onto the spinning deck above.

The elevator finally reached its destination. Kane exited the elevator with an Ifra gripping onto his arm.

They were now inside the spinning ring. Kane and Ifra could feel the centripetal force being pressed down from above. It took Kane a few seconds to reorient himself. The feeling of gravity once again felt good on him. Ifra, on the other hand, lightened her grip. She could feel the force being pressed down on her as her tail went down to the ground. Her feathers seemed to flow more downward instead of floating around.

“You like gripping onto me, don’t you?” he asked her.

“You are my escort,” she replied. “I also admit that I dislike the lack of gravity. I prefer to be inside these rings instead of outside.”

“Do you serve onboard the warships?”

“No. I am not a soldier or a warrior. Most of us live on planets. Our soldiers operate the ships.”

“Sounds almost similar to us,” he said as he looked at the passageway. The elevator doors closed behind them.

The ring’s passageway was either forward or back. It was designed so that if you keep walking in one direction, you will return to the same spot where you were located. This made the internal layout of the centripetal ring surprisingly simple and easy to create. Rooms would be on the left and right of the passageway. There was nothing but doors all ahead of them. If one looked carefully, one could see the upward curve of the ring itself.

A crew member came from behind them and saw both Kane and Ifra. Her eyes looked at the alien with wonder, but she didn’t take long before she turned around and headed away.

“We have a dining hall for the officers,” Kane told Ifra. “I did make arrangements in case you were hungry. Have you eaten?”

“I did eat before, but I would like to sample some of your food. Take me to your place of eating.”

He gestured the way as they made their way forward. Kane noticed that she gripped his arm once again. He had been used to it by now. The feeling felt so unusual at first, but it started to feel a little bit pleasant. Her grip and talons were light. It was much easier to walk now without the sticking of the magnetic shoes or wrappings to the deck. Having some form of artificial gravity helped.

He noticed that she was doing the same action again. Her head was tilted towards him as they walked. She seemed to be studying his face and reactions.

“What?” he asked her.

She smiled a little bit. “I didn’t mean to...,” she tried to say as she made a series of clicks and light chirps, “to claw you.”

“It is interesting to hear you talk like that. I hear you talk normally, and then you begin to make other sounds.”

“I am sorry. My language varies from words we normally speak and words you don’t use. I noticed your language does not have the calls and ... I don’t know what you would call it.”

“Chirping ... bird-like sounds ... I even hear you make clicking sounds.”

“Nnnn...” she reacted. “Your language is very remarkable. It is very precise with meanings. Ours has advantages. Your human tongue cannot recreate our sounds very well.”

Kane’s thoughts wandered a little bit. How did she know the English language so well? How was she able to learn it? His mind would wander about the events that happened so long ago. He felt that he needed to ask. Things were happening so oddly, even if things seemed to go well. This diplomat they sent was seemingly perfect for this role.

They made their way past more rooms. This time, Kane had to concentrate on which room was the officer wardroom. He spotted the first door on his right. He slowed down with her in tow as she looked at where he was looking. The first door read “Officer Galley” in both English and Chinese.

“I do apologize,” he told her. “I prepared for our meeting, but I do not serve on this ship. I won’t be perfect at this.”

“It is important that you are prepared,” she told him. They resumed walking forward. “Did you not know the importance of this mission?”

“Of course, I knew it was important,” he kindly replied. “You gave us a message buoy to be here, and you only gave us a few days to do it. We had to treat it as important, but at the same time, we didn’t know if this was a trick or not.”

She gripped his arm hard. Her talons began to cut off the blood circulation of his right arm, causing Kane to wince.

“It was no trick,” her voice raised. Even her feathers seemed to rise a little bit. “Why would we lure one of your warships out here?”

“Because you could have had a fleet here, and so would we. It could have been a bloodbath. The ... Aksren were already taking our fleets down as it was,” he said as he bit his tongue. He didn’t want to agitate the situation anymore.

They reached the door of the officer’s wardroom. It was before lunch and dinner, at least for the ship’s running schedule. The ship’s clock was still in sync with the Interplanetary Time and Date Line. He had no idea if that even matched what her schedule was at all.

“I need my arm,” he told her. She saw that there was a panel by the door. She let go of his arm temporarily so he could press his thumb on the button. The door clicked as the sealed door lifted to allow them inside. Ifra didn’t seem spooked by the process. The moment the door opened, she gripped his arm again. They walked in together as the door closed behind them.

“Here we are,” he told her. “Here is a good place that we can sit down and negotiate together.”

The room looked like a carbon copy of the original conference room in the center of the ship. It was expected for warships like these to have rooms similar to these. The only few differences with this room are that the pictures and paintings were different. One depicted the construction yard where the UHN Gabatrix was being built. Another one was that of the famed Gabatrix Experiment of 2259.

Things still had to be mounted to prevent it from moving around whenever the ship moved. Chairs and tables were always connected to the deck. Silverware was partially magnetized to the metal tables to prevent them from floating around if the vessel made a course change or if the ship’s ring failed to stop spinning. Things had to be tucked away and secured at all times. Kane even remembered the beds with straps on them to ensure the crew wouldn’t float away from where they slept. Kane even wondered how Ifra handled the ships that seemingly had similar problems as well. Even the Itreans had apparently never fully discovered how to manage the lack of gravity.

Ifra disengaged her clawed grip on Kane’s arm, and he could feel the blood circulation return to his arm. He even flexed his wrist a little bit, but he noticed that she didn’t move forward. Instead, she simply turned to look at him.

“Is there an issue?” he asked her.

She looked away for a little bit, seemingly lost in thought. “Let us begin these talks,” she told him.

Ifra began to walk forward. Her tail swung around a little bit as she looked at the chairs. Her feathers seemed to be down and almost flat to her scaly skin. Kane watched her as he helped her to a chair closest to the one where he was going to sit. Thankfully, this meeting was intended to be just for them. The chair, unfortunately, was a little big for her. Because she was much shorter, the chairs would naturally be bigger for her. She hopped up to a chair that was at the end of the table and adjusted her tail so that her own weight wouldn’t crush it. Kane went and had a seat adjacent to her. She didn’t seem uncomfortable, at least what Kane had seen.

“I apologize if things are displeased or if things are not within your specifications when we conduct this negotiation,” he told her.

She seemed to ignore his apology. Instead, she reached forward to her chest. Kane watched as her hand slipped underneath the fabric near her breast. She then pulled out what looked like a pair of two metal-like rods that were stuck together. A feather was attached to the end piece of one of the rods. It actually looked like one of her own feathers or perhaps from one of her kind. Whatever the case was, she placed the metal rods on the table and rolled the strips apart from one another.

He watched as the rods created a digital projection screen. It appeared to be some sort of computer tablet that the Itreans used or perhaps one of their devices. The projection highlighted a series of words and descriptions. It appeared to be displayed in both English and what might have been her language.

“Interesting...,” he remarked. “Is that feather yours?”

“Yes. I am an ambassador. It is a tradition for the diplomat to place themselves into the meeting at all possible. When one calls for peace, they place their own feather into the pen to be used for negotiation.”

“It sounds like you have had to do this a lot.”

She seemed to pause for a moment. “Not enough. We talk and talk, but the other clans simply can’t make peace. It is a difficult goal.”

“I admit that we don’t have much experience with having to negotiate with other races,” he confessed to her. “I volunteered, but this feels so new to me.”

She paused a little bit. “It is for me as well, Kane.”

The man was surprised as she reached her hand and claws and wrapped them around his right hand that was resting on the table. He had been somewhat used to this by now, but her actions seemed to be perhaps intimate in nature. Was this how all Itreans behaved, or maybe it was just her?

He decided just to let it happen. Her face was solemn as she released her grip. She then used her right pointer claw to highlight the words and texts on her rod tablet.