Chapter 19

I could see questions in the minds of the bridge crew as they looked at one another in amazement. Even Tali seemed preoccupied with the revelation of the ship we had fought against. We never would have expected to have been facing Mac’skarian forces like this. We towed the ship within range of the towing beams of the space dock. Vish’ala then piloted our ship into her port and powered down the engines.

“Hobbs, please run diagnostics on the ship and run through what occurred during the battle,” I called out. “Have a report ready in the next hour to go over any issues that come up that we should deal with before our next enemy engagement. Coordinate with Evie on any adjustments, repairs or upgrades that would be needed. Confirm with Tali and Alta what is planned for the Claw, and I am sure with their help you will produce many ideas.”

Hobbs replied with a ‘yes, sir’ over the speakers as I rose from my chair and turned to Tali.

“Please leave the Obsidian docked for now and have your drones assist in any work Ev needs done.”

She nodded with a soft ‘yes, sir’ before disappearing in a flash of light. Vish’ala fell into step behind me as we left the bridge and made our way to the ship’s docking port. As we entered the main corridor, we saw a number of our newly trained security forces posed on either side of the airlock. I walked over towards the doorway and stopped a few feet away.

“Alta, please release the airlock doors and notify the captain and his party we are ready to receive them.”

I heard a ‘yes, sir’ from the speaker systems and waited for them to arrive. I felt some nervousness as the waiting continued, wondering what would happen in the next few moments. My train of thought was broken as the sounds of the airlock going through its opening sequence. The doors opened to reveal three Mac’skarians, the captain and two other male members of the crew.

“We have come to surrender,” announced the captain with mild annoyance in his voice. “I simply ask that you spare my crew. As their captain, I will take responsibility for our actions against you.”

I couldn’t help but smile, “The security is merely a formality, given our recent scuffle. I am sure you understand full well how it needs to be handled. I welcome you to Trak’alta Station, though it was only an outpost a year ago. Over that year we repaired and expanded to add new defense systems as well as building the space dock. We also began a refit and upgrade of the one salvageable Lionel Cruiser we were able to find amongst the wreckage. She isn’t close to being finished yet, but once she is, I will feel a bit more at ease.”

He eyed me warily, “You still haven’t explained how you are in command of this place.”

“If you would follow me,” I said, gesturing towards the depths of the corridors. “Once we arrive at the conference room, we can go over all of that, so that we can put your mind at ease.”

He merely nodded and glanced at the two with him before following as we guided him from the docking ports and moved into the station proper. Twenty minutes later, we entered a conference room where we gestured for them to sit before taking our seats across from them.

“Before we begin, we would like to create a temporary interface for your ship’s systems,” I began, causing a look of distrust to appear on the captain’s face. “This will be done to allow your AI to be here to confirm information for you. I figured you would be more at ease to hear confirmation from yours, rather than ours.”

He spoke to his companions before turning back at me and nodding. A few minutes later an amber hologram appeared in the room. This one was male, like Hobbs, attired in the traditional Mac’skarian military garb. A few seconds later Alta and Tali appeared behind me.

“My name is Hugh Stargazer, the AI to my left is Alta and to my right is Tali.” I steepled my fingers, “To answer the main question on your mind, yes, I am the commanding officer here. Tali, please transfer the necessary information to the AI of their ship.”

Her eyes flashed as the information was sent and, a few moments later, their amber AI’s eyes began to glow.

The captain bowed his head slightly, “I am Hertal. To my left is my first officer, Jul’ktar, and to my right my security officer, Drevno.”

“I will explain what happened briefly, which will then be confirmed by your AI. I stumbled upon a crashed scout ship by chance. I myself had sustained a head injury and had been suffering from amnesia. Tali, the AI for the scout, determined that I was a prime candidate for the Omega Protocol and activated it. Per the Omega Protocol I am the highest-ranking military member here, present company included. Based on how it is set up, only the official Liger council has authority higher than myself. Only Vish’ala and Tali were left of the original crew, and, once the ship was functional, we set out to the closest Mac’skarian facility, which ended up being here.

“When we arrived, Alta was in stasis, as Tali had been when I found her, but the real surprise was to find nearly three thousand Mac’skarians alive and well. There were periods of stress at the beginning, but we have come together to build something special here. We did have an issue where we had to gain materials for our repairs and upgrades. While there is no issue collecting the goods, we came across a Neornith vessel that recognized us while in hyperspace. We exited far away from here and hoped to hide but even with the new hull, they found us.

“They responded violently, and we had a bit of a time trying to avoid their attacks. We got lucky with a few attacks; given it was a scout against a much larger vessel, I counted ourselves lucky. We had upgraded our systems, but it was still a narrow escape. They activated their self-destruct rather than be captured or allow their secrets taken. We were extra careful to watch for threats when we came back and then adjusted our plans to get the White Claw ready for a potential battle. We weren’t expecting you to come or to find more Mac’skarians who had survived the attack three hundred years ago.”

Hertal rubbed his chin, “We had heard chatter that there had been an incident that involved the destruction of a Neornith vessel, but there was no sign of who did it. The vessel was filled with outcast members of their society, so they have deemed it a low priority. When we checked we saw it was near some old settlements and stations of ours. We are careful not to attract attention, but this was so far out of where we normally operate, we wanted to see if someone was squatting or using our old stations to cause trouble. It took two weeks in hyperspace to reach this sector and the rest of the time was spent visiting and refueling as we went. We didn’t expect to find such a formidable vessel and it looked so different from our old designs that we didn’t recognize it.”

“Yours, as well,” I replied. “If we had known that you were Mac’skarian, we never would have fired upon you.”

He nodded, “The attack three hundred years ago nearly wiped us out. We are not sure yet how many of our people are out there. We have located two other settlements, besides ours and this one makes four total. Of the four, you are the only ones to really take steps to rebuild past just surviving. It has taken two centuries to get to this point, due to lock outs placed in the surviving AI units. Even now, there are restrictions on what we are able to do. This ship has been in service for about fifty years and is the only known vessel to have survived other than your scout and the one we just lost against. We have tried to update it, but our resources have been limited. The best we could do was collect hull fragments of the other ships and use them to make this ship unrecognizable as a Mac’skarian vessel. Even then we have used it sparingly and this is the farthest we have ever traveled.”

“So when are your people expecting you to return,” I asked, “and how many are there in your colony?”

“There are only another fifty members of our colony waiting for us,” he replied sadly. “The other two colonies we found also have around three to four hundred people in them each.”

I sighed, “That is what we found when we arrived here as well, I was surprised there weren’t more than that given three hundred years had passed since the attack.”

Hertal shrugged his shoulders, “Genetic diversity has been somewhat limited and other than assisting with the most extreme of cases, the AI has refused to help with things like that.”

“Yes, I believe that I know how it happened but not why,” I replied, leaning forward. “Due to a systematic surprise assault across the Mac’skarian Empire, the Liger council enacted the failsafe that is a part of the protocol. From what I could gather, the protocol only becomes active if they believe they have been betrayed by their own. I think it is to prevent the traitors from being able to have full access to all that their empire had to offer. The AI lockout seems to be one facet of that, and it seems key information that should be recorded and stored in the black box memory of the AIs has been removed. The fact that could happen means treachery could very well have been the cause. Perhaps we could assist you to make things a bit more amenable.”

His head cocked to the side, and I saw that he’s companions also looked to be slightly confused as well.

“Once the White Claw is fully operational, we could come visit you and help unlock the AI for your settlement as well as the other two you mentioned,” I explained, causing their eyes to widen with the realization of what that would mean.

“Say you do this for us, what will you demand in return?” Asked Jul’ktar, the officer to the captain’s left.

I sat back in my chair, “My job is to try and rebuild the Mac’skarian race. I plan to do just that, but things will be a bit different. I believe the attack was based on a grudge that had lasted for an exceedingly long time. Probably a race that was nearly wiped out by the Mac’skarians when they were more interested in war and conquest.”

“We were predators on our home world: it shouldn’t be a surprise that we were the same when we reached the stars,” Hertal replied with some heat in his voice.

“Very true but look at where that got your people and where they are now,” I replied. “We need to be working towards lasting peace, but ready for war so that we are never caught off guard. You can’t establish peace through autocracy or a dictatorship. It will only result in the marginalized members of society working towards your downfall. I have no doubts that is what happened and why the empire fell three hundred years ago. My first step is to get this station secure so that I don’t have to worry about its safety during long missions. Once that was established, I had planned to search for other survivors of this apparent purge of your people, but your arrival has altered that. Now I plan to help your settlements become better established and unite us once again.

“From there, it will be our goal to find the rest of our people so that we are whole again. We will work to establish allies and heal old wounds, if possible. I want us to thrive, not be the targets of another purge with the intent to wipe us out once and for all. To do this we will need to work to build new ships and research improvements as we get access to innovative technologies. It won’t be easy, and I know that all the Mac’skarian people have struggled enough over the last three hundred years, but I hope to bring that to an end. To do that I will need help and support from those who currently manage the various settlements and I know that some will not react favorably to my existence. I don’t want to withhold help from your people, nor do I want to have to fight challenge after challenge because the pride of your people calls for them to do so. So I ask for your help to bring a new age to our people.”

Hertal crossed his arms, “You keep referring to ‘our’ people. What gives you the right to use such a term?”

“Besides the fact I abandoned my home, family and life on my home world to do this?” I replied with some irritation in my voice. “Perhaps it is because, thanks to the Omega Protocol, I am part Mac’skarian now, though I am not certain how much of me is. I do know it is enough to have children with Mac’skarian women, despite the difference in our species.”

The three Mac’skarians eyes widened in surprise, and I saw them glance at each other before regaining composure.