Chapter 29

We waited on held breaths for the incoming signal to appear on our display screen. When it did, I was shocked to see a mostly humanoid face staring back at me. There were the typical aspects you would find in a humanoid, eyes, nose, mouth, but parts were exaggerated. The eyes were overly large for the head, reminding me of the ones you would see on anime characters. The skin had a scale like texture one would find on a fish, while the brow had more pronounced scales one would find on a lizard. The scales continued down to a nose that was little more than a bump on the face, with two nostrils on either side. The mouth was a little wider on the face, stretching towards the face’s angular cheeks. There were no ears from what I could see and there was no hair of any kind as well. I found myself looking for signs of gills on the person’s throat but there was no distinctive sign.

“We come in peace and trade,” the alien said, in a soft tone of voice. “We have set our translators to Mac’skarian to allow ease of communication. I am Commander Gratilla Vorsali, of the Jekrina starship Safe Harbor. We did not recognize the ship when it entered the system due to the changes that have occurred since we last saw it.”

Hertal nodded, “Yes, thanks to some new allies we were able to get the ship back into top form and now safety isn’t too much of a worry going between the settlements.”

Gratilla nodded. “We were worried that this ship was from the other cats. We didn’t want their influence to taint the warm nature of the people here.”

“So you are aware of the core worlds and have dealt with them before?” Hertal asked.

The commander nodded, “Yes, we have. Their ships demand payment of goods to travel through their space. They use gravitic mines, which seem to be hidden from our sensors, to pull ships out of hyperspace. They surround the ship and demand a portion of the cargo, or they take your vessel. Most of the others who travel out here give their area a wide berth, as we do when we are near Neornith space.”

“Yes, we have become aware of the issues that plague the stars due to the influence of the Neornith,” Hertal replied. “Right now, we are just trying to make life easier for the settlements out here. We are cut off from the core worlds, which sounds like a blessing, so we need to try and work together. We are hoping to find allies to aid us in the endeavor and fortune has seemed to smile on us. It was suggested that we would reach out to you and another race to see if an alliance of sorts could be forged.”

The Jekrina’s head cocked to the side. “There was a time where we were treated the same or worse by your people. You have come a long way, up until your fall, but we have long memories. I cannot say if all my people will be willing to work with Mac’skarians, given how some have lost goods or friends to the current leadership in the core worlds.”

I took that moment to step forward and come into view of the Jekrina commander. I watched as they studied me for a few moments, uncertain as to why I was there.

“I am Captain Hugh Stargazer,” I announced. “Captain Hertal here serves under my command. I am aware of the issues that the core worlds present and the hand that the Neornith have had in making this happen. While I hope to broker peace with them, I will not give up my goal of uniting the Mac’skarian people once again. It will not be easy and there will be problems along the way, but I hope to make that goal a reality. I hope to broker peace with other races who had been victims of the Mac’skarians and Neornith; to mend old wounds and bring about a more stable and peaceful galaxy. I am on my way to give assistance to the colony down there, and would suggest we meet there, on neutral ground, to talk about a possible alliance.”

The Jekrina’s eyes narrowed slightly, “Just what kind of aid do you hope to give them?”

My eyes widened in shock and the alien commander said, “Yes, we are aware of your species. We had visited your planet when your people were less warlike and more open to things bigger than themselves. We were regarded as gods to some, but we merely wished to help them along. They had so much potential, but now they squander it over petty disputes. They have weapons that could render their world inhospitable, but at the rate they are consuming their worlds finite resources, they may not have long either way. How did a lowly human come to gain the position of command over any Mac’skarian?”

“One of the many things we could discuss when we meet on the planet,” I replied calmly. “As for the assistance I could render, I plan to give them full access to the dormant technology on the planet.”

This time it was the commander’s turn to have a look of surprise and I awaited their response.

“Very well,” the commander replied. “We will land with you on the planet. Given you are not one of them, Captain Hertal and I could ease their fears and make them more receptive towards you. Once you have proven to do what you say, then we will talk.”

“Fair enough,” I said, giving the commander a slight bow of my head. “Hertal, let’s go meet the people of this settlement. I would suggest allowing them the courtesy to know we are coming and to expect the Jekrina to accompany us. If they ask why, you are here, tell them you have found someone who has proven helpful in making the settlements more self-sufficient and who hopes to create trade and cooperation between them.”

Hertal nodded and said his goodbyes to the Jekrina commander before cutting the communications link. I returned to my seat as Hertal began giving commands for our approach. Soon we were moving once again towards the planet, with the Jekrina ship following beside us. The small orb on our display grew into a massive planet as the small details of its topography becoming more detailed as we got closer.

The ship veered to the right and began its descent into the planet’s atmosphere. Soon the display cleared from the turbulence of our entrance into the atmosphere, and we turned towards what looked to be the settlement. I turned to the console in front of me and keyed in the sensor information of the settlement. The settlement sat in between the size of our current population on the station and what used to be at the settlement. The station was currently nearing four thousand strong, while Hertal’s settlement was down to fifty from the three hundred or so who had been living there. This one had grown to around twelve hundred souls, but I was still surprised that they hadn’t grown larger. It didn’t make sense that either of the settlements hadn’t grown larger over time, given the natural resources around them.

With the station, it kind of made sense, since there had been so little access to food, medical supplies, and habitable areas. This would have led to limitations of growth to maintain their supplies, so then why were the other settlements so small. Was it environmental? Or could it have something to do with the activation of the protocol?

“Tigra,” I called out, causing the Assent’s AI to appear. “Do you have all the information that we have collected so far in regard to the effects of the Omega protocol?”

He nodded in confirmation, so I continued, “Did this include the medical information that we have collected on the survivors?”

Again he nodded and said, “I have the information of the survivors of Trak’alta station and of the settlement this ship originated from and that now reside at the station. What is it you are looking for, sir?”

“I am not sure, Tigra,” I replied. “Just a hunch that I had that may be nothing. I want you to compare medical data of the survivors, both of the station and of the settlements, to that of Vish’ala. She is the only member of the pre-massacre population that I know of. Look for any variations that could explain lower population counts.”

Tigra’s eyes began to glow as he began to process the data and I didn’t expect there to be much of a wait before he had an answer.

“Based on the data I have, there are some variations in the DNA of the current survivors,” Tigra stated as his eyes stopped glowing. “Based on what I can surmise, there have been serious means of population control used. Now, there were some working fabricators active when you arrived at the station that served to feed the survivors. I suspect the food had something added to it to produce the desired effect. The settlement didn’t use their functional fabricator for food, only for medicine that was needed.”

I sighed, “So anything made by the fabricators was designed to lower the success rate of reproduction with the survivors. Is that still the case or has that been removed now that I have reactivated the AI units?”

Tigra shook his head, “I am uncertain, as we were not looking for such a thing. It is almost as if it was purposely hidden from us. Now that I know what to look for, I can adjust our fabricators to remove the change and I will send a message to the station and the settlement to have their AIs check and do the same. Since I will be interfacing with the AI of this settlement, I will be able to ensure the changes are made before we leave.”

“Thank you, Tigra,” I replied with a smile. “I would guess that the larger population might have meant less of a dependency on the fabricators, though there was still one other reason for it to be this small.”

Tigra cocked his head to the right, so I explained, “If there was only a small group left alive after the attack, then there would be limited genetic data. Over time, the gene pool would become less varied and require more thought and planning before attempting children. Add in possible environmental issues that we are unaware of, and it explains why there weren’t more people.”

Soon I felt the shake of our ship landing. A few seconds later, our display was adjusted to show the Jekrina ship landing a few meters away from us. Once the ship was powered down, we left the bridge and began to move towards the lifts.

“Hertal, take a few of your usual people, including a security detail,” I asked as the doors closed and we began to travel down towards the bottom deck. “Meet with the settlement and prepare them for a meeting with us. Let them know about the Jekrina guests and the meeting we hope to have after our business with the settlement leaders is complete.”

“Understood,” Hertal replied. “Like the station and my home, they run with a triumvirate, and they are quite open and pleasant to interact with. We will need to be more cautious here, as this is where we picked up Rihs’tal, as well as a few others.”

“Good call,” I replied as I began to become lost in thought. “See if you can’t find one or two of your trusted people to start asking around about her. We need to know whether she always lived here, and if not, how she got here. If she is from off planet, that may mean that the core worlds are visiting at least this world and that would change how we would proceed.”

Hertal glanced at me and said, “You really believe that there could be an element here that is working with the Neornith loving Mac’skarians?”