“Our law of non-interference has been in effect for so long it is more than a law, it is a philosophy toward life that all follow,” Syntanian said.
“It is a proper attitude, but it must be ignored for The Way to continue to exist. The ones chosen are the only ones capable.”
“But they are so far away.”
“The distance is not important. They will be threatened eventually, they will decide to help.”
“But why them?” Syntanian said, tilting her head and looking at her friend. “What is it about them that fascinates all of you so much?”
“They are special.”
“What must be done, must,” Syntanian looked away, exhaling. “It would be easier if you would address the Council and give the statement yourself.”
“You know we are unable, so why do you ask?” Cottattanie clicked.
“I guess I want to escape this responsibility.”
“It is time.”
“I hope the next time we meet will be more pleasant.”
“Our cycle is near, this is the last meeting.” Cottattanie stood.
Syntanian sat stunned for a moment. Her species still held death as a precious loss. The casualness of the way the Teckton's spoke of their cycles ending was hard to understand, especially when it was her friend. “I shall miss you.”
“We will be joined when it is your time.” Cottattanie walked to her exit and disappeared through the portal to her ship.
Syntanian left her chambers to see Sethilyl standing in the hall, waiting for her.
“You spoke to her,” she said with no preamble, a statement.
“Yes,” Syntanian said as she started the walk to the Council Auditorium.
“They will agree.”
“How do you know what was discussed?” Syntanian stopped and looked at Sethilyl. Her skin was smoother, her age only two hundred. But, her mind was the most powerful in the system.
“It is only logical, Syntanian.” Sethilyl looked at her and smiled thinly. She was a political matriarch in her own right, just without the title.
“They have no choice,” Syntanian said and started walking.
“I must go.”
“It will mean surgery.” Syntanian smiled at the prospect of having Sethilyl's features mutilated.
“I'm aware of that. But, it will also mean survival for the Compendium.”
“I agree to have you go.”
“Then I will assure your vote,” Sethilyl said and entered before Syntanian.
Syntanian waited a few moments and then entered the large auditorium before a million Pyrinni. Her chair stood in the center of a wall opposite a column of seats stretching farther than she could see. Her image hovered, gigantic, in the middle of the massive chamber. She never got over the feeling of weightlessness that would come to her every time she addressed the Representatives.
“The Saurian's have destroyed much,” she said flatly. Her only way of dealing with the subject was to be as blunt as possible, an aspect not normally part of the Council way, but emergencies made exceptions. “We are not warriors, and the Teckton's hasty development of war vessels has proven ineffectual.” She could see Sethilyl's nodding approval from her seat just a few meters away. She could see Sethilyl giving information to her runners, and communicating through her panel. Sethilyl should have been Grand Matriarch, replacing Syntanian during the last vote. She had the power. She didn't want the position.
“There is only one race known that has the capabilities to counteract the Saurians,” Syntanian continued, “the sapiens.”
“Out of the question!” the Second Mother responded haughtily, her voice broadcasted to each of the Representatives. “These animals are too destructive to be of use to any advanced race. Is that not why the Tecktons quarantined their system?”
“The humans,” Syntanian said, with a raise of her hand to quiet the outburst of agreement with the Second Mother's statement, “are advanced enough to gain shift capability with only minor help. It is their aggressive behavior that will aid them in confronting the Saurians. They are as the enemy.”
Enemy! A word that Sethilyl knew, but never thought to use. The concept of it seemed ancient, drawing her back to something just beyond reach in herself. Something that lay more in the realm of race-memory that actual thought.
“I disagree,” the Second Mother said and sat back.
“Only a carnivore can understand another carnivore.” The Section Three Representative spoke, nodding to Sethilyl.
“The Teckton Cottattanie has asked us to do this,” the Grand-Matriarch said. “She assured me that the forces of the reggf can hold the Saurians for only a few more Counter Rotations. After that they will start to move in, slowly taking each system until they reach us.” She looked across the room, trying to read the faces, but there were too many, almost all too far away for detail. “My proposal is that we prepare a team for First Contact.”
“I agree.” Sethilyl's voice announced itself. It’s very sound bringing support. “I call for a vote.”
After a period of silence the Controller said, “All please indicate their position.”
The numbers flashed, floating, in the center of the great hall covering the face of the old Matriarch: 872,493 for and 462,117 against.
“The vote has been tallied.” The Controller spoke again. “Grand Matriarch, you will be Controller of this endeavor.”
K'ree caressed his lower jaw, misshapen from a very old fight, as he watched the few stars that shone through his main viewscreen. He turned in his seat and looked over the crewman's shoulder that manned the scanner station. He could see the screen, even though his left eye was a cloud his right eye was still perfect. He saw only the two other Protector ships. Their captains were young. He had never fought with them.
“Commander,” the sensor operator yelled.
“Calm, crewman,” K'ree Kean said softly.
“I see a gravity disturbance at three-three mark five.”
“I see it. Lieutenant,” K'ree turned to face his second, “engage wells and bring us directly under the gravity disturbance. Inform the other ships to follow.”
“Yes, Commander.”
Space warped and bent back upon itself, forming a hole with another point that existed light years away. Through this hole came a long tubular ship. The Katsurani cruiser, Bree. When its whole body exited the warp hole the three Protector ships opened fire with their particle beams. The thin blue beams cut narrow furrows into the black hull of the Bree.
The Bree turned back onto its attackers. K'ree gave the order and the three ships dispersed, breaking into three different attack vectors swarming the larger ship. Deep red plasma beams burned through space at relativistic speeds. They struck one of the Protector ships causing part of its hull to explode. The other two continued to fire.
K'ree's ship fired missiles. They ejected from the ship on standard rockets. The Bree fired short range projectiles in an effort to strike them down. The missiles own warping engines engaged and their positions changed too rapidly for the projectiles to hit them. These slow projectiles hit K'ree's ship instead, plunging holes through the outer hull.
The missiles hit and explosions erupted from the Bree. K’ree spun on thrusters as K'ree's ship pulled up and away, burning a hole into the already disfigured hull with a particle beam. Plasma beams fired again from the Bree and another Protector ship was hit, disintegrating completely.
K'ree's ship fired missiles again. The Bree erupted in many fires that sprouted into the hard vacuum of space and burned away all her air until she was a dead hulk floating in an empty system.
Sylvan gazed at her reflection absently. She still hadn't gotten over the change. An irrevocable necessity so that the Compendium could survive. She looked about her, her thoughts returning to the present. In the shuttle were ninety-nine other Pyrinni, altered like herself. Each had a contact on Earth. They were to prepare the path.
“Are you ready?” She turned to the unfamiliar voice,
all voices were unfamiliar, even hers, since the operations, to face a changed Sethilyl.
“I am very nervous,” she said, hugging her arms closer to her.
“I've spent time with the Tecktons. Human society will be easier to adapt to. The Tecktons were impossible to understand.”
“I've met a few Tecktons, but I've never seen any of their habitats.”
“Don't worry, Sylvan, you will do well.”
“Thank you, Sethilyl. But I am still nervous.”
Sethilyl smiled and embraced Sylvan. The announcement came telling all to prepare to descend. Each left and approached their individual drop stations. Sylvan knew she was doing right.
The tall strands of kelp slowly rocked back and forth with the tide as translucent beams of sunlight streaked down from the surface. The clear water darkened as he looked farther into the ocean. The kelp grew up from the sea bed and looked like an alien landscape, both dark and serene. The only sound was his breathing, amplified by his regulator. If he held his breath on the exhales he could hear the water, never silent, but just close enough to feel the sound. Small fish darted from him as he approached, stopping just out of reach, seeming to sense that he was slower than they.
Jeremy Harrington had needed this vacation. But even more so, he needed the young woman that now occupied his attention. Her name was Elisa, a Swiss vacationer that he met in one of the Costa Rican pubs a few nights ago. He discovered that she dove as well and asked her to go. This site was recommended by the salesman at the dive shop with a wink and a nudge. The water was crystal clear and her long yellow hair stretched out into it like a blond octopus. Her bikini hid nothing once wet and Jeremy had spent half the dive with a partial erection.
'Tonight,' he thought, 'would be the night.' He dreamed about her and even though they hadn't consummated their friendship they had become very intimate. Jeremy wasn't skilled in matters such as these. Most of his life had been spent working toward a specific goal. He had been married once, but she discovered that his job was his life and left.
He watched Elisa float above him, his face level with her butt, and resisted an urge to reach up and touch it. He smiled, some water threatening to leak into his mouth past his regulator, and touched her anyway. At first she jumped, but floated down to him with a look in her eyes that he hadn't seen for a very long time. She touch his cheek and pointed up. He nodded and floated to the surface with her.
The surf was mild and they easily swam to shore, kissing part of the way. For the first time in five years Jeremy was becoming happy. He knew she was most likely ten years his junior, but didn't care. He would be gone in two more weeks and all this would be just a memory to her and him. Only, he felt it would become more important to him than her, so he paid attention to every detail of the day, her hair, her smell, the way she looked and smiled. He studied her the way he did everything, collecting every tiny piece of data, the way that drove his ex-wife insane.
They walked onto the beach hand in hand. He hadn't noticed the small girl before, but she was standing right on his blanket. She had pale hair, almost white, and was under five feet tall with a very thin frame. She was what appeared to be a little girl, not more than ten or eleven. She gave such a powerful projection of herself that the sense of her was at odds with her visage. Her strong sexuality was off-putting coming from someone that seemed a child.
“Can I help you?” Jeremy asked as he and Elisa approached the small girl. Her response was to hand him a small black object. He opened his palm and she dropped the object into it.
Something very similar to an electric shock coursed through his body. It was similar but just different enough to be recognized as different. He could see the object fall the few inches from her hand to his. It moved slowly, as if the air itself tried to keep the thing from falling. It landed in his hand, the weight of it immense, but he could not drop his hand. Numbness started at the end of his fingers and swept over his entire being. It crept toward his head, as if he were slowly sinking. Slowly, so slowly, his consciousness of the beach dissipated. It shifted into black, a sensory deprived emptiness.
Kitean sat in the new commander's chair and puffed his air-slits in a sigh. This was the newest of all the ships. It was a Battle Cruiser, the Kahai, known as the wayward one. He relished in his new position. He had reached the pinnacle of his power, even greater than Clan Leader. Only there were no longer any Clans, only the Clan of Krishnae, and the people of Katsurani.
“Leader,” Laein spoke without looking away from his screen. “There are two frigate class vessels thrusting through the asteroid belt.”
“Gravity?” Kitean turned his attention to the screen on his chair's console that mimicked the scanner screen, as well as the tactical screen.
“No, they are using normal thrusters, small chemical propellants.” Kitean puffed his air slits in a laugh. They had not been able to detect the canid's ships before when they didn't use their gravity drives. The new sensors gave them every advantage. Kitean looked to the tactical station. They were not in range for the plasma, and there was too much interference for the torpedoes, but they were in range for the newest weapon in the Katsurani arsenal.
“Lock pulse beam on target,” Kitean looked to Tigee, his second and his friend since the beginning.
“They'll be able to detect the lock on, Leader.”
“I know,” Kitean narrowed his eye slits in a grin.
Vladimer Ogronivitch trudged through the thick snow with his dogs scampering about his feet. He held the deer rifle gingerly in his hands. His eyes weren't the same as in his youth, he could barely see the tracks and had to rely on the dog's smell to follow the deer. He remembered when he was a boy and would come out into the tundra for days at a time looking for deer. His body could withstand the stresses then. But now his land rover wasn't far behind, and a night at the lodge followed the day's hunt instead of unsteady sleep in a shelter.
The dogs barked and broke into a full run. He saw her, small and heavily covered in fur. Her pale white face showed through the large parka and looked of fear and strange recognition as the dogs charged her. He yelled at them, calling them back, and walked to her. He smiled at the small, pretty girl.
“Dobray dzen,” he said, smiling broadly at the little girl. She smiled back and held out her hand.
He winked at her and held out his hand, accepting her offer.
“Commander,” the sensor operator said, floating in his chair, “They've locked onto Rikegg's ship.”
K'ree looked at the faint image of the size class twenty ship that reflected the sunlight. The Commander of that gigantic vessel made no effort to hide. “Fool,” K'ree whispered to himself.
“Lieutenant,” K'ree spoke aloud, “send a tachyon message back to Haven and give them this information.”
A heavy blue beam erupted from the nose of the Kahai. It sped almost instantly in real-time to the Protector ship. Everything in a one hundred kilometer radius disintegrated. Alarms sounded on the bridge of K'ree's ship. Lights dimmed and came back on.
“We've suffered severe radiation exposure,” the sensor operator's voice wavered. “That was a beam of anti-matter and plasma energy.”
“Helm, engage gravity wells, get us out of here,” K'ree's voice never faltered, he kept it calm, keeping his crew calm. “Krean,” he turned to his Lieutenant.
“Commander?” Krean faced his Commander and saw the truth. “Dump all the missiles and radio this information back to Haven.”
Krean nodded and turned to his station.
“We've been locked on,” the sensor operator screamed.
The missiles streaked toward the giant ship, only to be shot down by the defense plasmas. K'ree looked to his young Lieutenant hurriedly performing his task. K'ree had never had a family. He had always wanted a son. Krean would have been a good son.
The room was plush. Harrington hadn’t remembered how he got there, but there he was. It was a gigantic circular conference room. There were no windows or doors. Ta
bles ringed the outer walls covered with all manner of drink and food. He was just one of what must have been a hundred other people, from a wide variety of countries. Milling about with them, talking to them, were the little girls. They had an odd look. Sharp angular features. Very pale skin. Not Caucasian, closer to white, or extremely pale. Their hair wasn’t quite white either, but a washed-out golden yellow. They made everyone around them feel at ease. Their sexuality also draw focus from the men in the room, attention and the desire to please.
Harrington spotted a table that seemed to be a bar and made his way there. Most seemed to be avoiding the treats put out for them. Perhaps trust, or concern, Jeremy wasn’t sure. But he held no such compunction. After what he could remember from the visions that ran through his head. Visions were all he could call them.
He reached the table, found a nice bottle of Kentucky bourbon and poured himself a glass.
“Good choice,” the heavily accented voice came from behind him.
Jeremy turned slightly and saw Vladimir Ogronivitch there, grinning at him.
“Seems they knew who to snag,” Jeremy said.
“Da,” Vladimir said, moving to the table, and pouring himself a glass of vodka. He held onto the bottle as he drained the glass, then quickly refilled it. Jeremy thought of copying him, but he sipped his bourbon instead. “I’m glad to see you here. I know I can talk sense to someone.” He chuckled.
“You believe what they showed us?” Jeremy asked
Vladimir shrugged his shoulders and downed another glass. “Means the end to it all if they were telling the truth.”
“Da,” Jeremy said, and decided to match Vladimir’s drinking.
“Gentlemen,” the small voices came to them. The two young girls were standing there. “You left quickly,” Jeremy’s girl said to him, smiling at Vladimir as well.
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