by D. J. Holmes
*
Thirty minutes later James sat across from Ya’sia in one of Golden Hind’s large briefing rooms. Thankfully it turned out Ya’sia’s species wasn’t too dissimilar to Humans in terms of height. Ya’sia was a foot taller than James and some of the male engineers and officers she had brought with her were even taller, however they didn’t have to stoop as they walked through Golden Hind’s corridors. What had shocked everyone had been the Crians’ lower bodies. Ya’sia’s species walked on four articulated legs. No one had seen Ya’sia’s lower half in the COM conversation James had had with her and given her other similarities to Humans, everyone had assumed she would have two legs. The assumption had obviously been false and James had mentally grimaced when more than one officer that had been gathered to greet Ya’sia’s party failed to hide their shock. James had just managed to hide his surprise. It had been hard as his first thoughts had gone to the horses that were kept on his estate. He had grown up riding horses and it had been all too easy to picture Ya’sia with a saddle. Then he had remembered the pictures of ancient centaurs that were myths on Earth. Given their other similarities to Humans, the Crians looked as close to centaurs as James imagined an alien ever would.
That thought had been more than twenty minutes ago. As soon as they had descended from their shuttle James had escorted Ya’sia to the briefing room while her engineers were taken to do their investigations. The fifteen minutes James and his staff had spent with Ya’sia and hers were the most awkward of James’ life. He and his staff tried making small talk with Ya’sia and the officers she had brought, but none of her people were interested in conversation. Their answers were limited to one or two words. Even Ya’sia hadn’t said much. James had been the one asking all the questions and her answers had been short and to the point. When she was done, she lapsed into silence and stared at James, waiting for him to ask another question.
With no new questions coming to mind and all too aware of the fact that the answers he had been given so far were all but useless, James gave up after Ya’sia answered his most recent question. Instead of asking another, he lapsed into silence as he waited for her engineers to complete their task. To pass the time, he tried to remember the film he had seen where centaurs had been some of the main characters.
“My species has relations with twelve other species Admiral. One thing we have found is that facial expressions are often shared between different species. Your face just changed, you seemed amused. I’m curious, what were you thinking?” Ya’sia asked.
James was taken aback. She had just revealed the first piece of useful information she had shared. Twelve other species! That was massive. Then he felt his cheeks redden when he realized what she had asked him.
“If you do not wish to share I understand Admiral,” Ya’sia responded when she saw his face change again. “Though I thought you wanted us to become friends.”
“To be honest,” James began as he looked over to Becket, Emilie and Dzedzyk who he had brought with him. “I was thinking about a holo drama I watched when I was a kid.” When Ya’sia looked puzzled he explained. “A holo drama is a holographic story told to entertain children and adults. In this story there were mythical creatures called centaurs that looked a lot like your species does. In the story, they befriended lost Human children and helped protect them from evil men. I was trying to remember the story.”
Ya’sia opened her mouth to display her teeth. “That is interesting. If my species had visited yours in the distant past, I would suggest your myths may be based in reality. But your sector of space was surveyed before my people left their solar system. An interesting coincidence I’m sure and nothing more. Though perhaps you hope my people can aid yours as these centaurs did in your story?”
James nodded. “I was thinking that that would be nice. I hope we can become partners and friends. My people do not wish to simply seek the aid of other species, but to befriend them and work with them.”
“That is a noble desire, one we share with the species around us and our patron. If what you have said about your species is true, I’m sure they would be very interested to meet with you,” Ya’sia replied. “Of course, if you have lied, they may want to pay you a visit themselves, and not to open trade negotiations.”
James chose to ignore that warning. Instead he saw another avenue of questioning he could pursue. “You have mentioned your benefactors a number of times already. Yet you have said nothing about them. Reading between the lines it seems they have helped your species advanced technologically. Who exactly are they?”
“That is not something I am permitted to divulge. I have sent a ship back to my species’ homeworld with news of our meeting. That news will be taken to our benefactors. They will decide if and when they want to meet you. It is their right to reveal themselves to you, not mine.”
Mentally James rolled his eyes, another non-answer. Instead of pressing her, he lapsed into silence, deciding it was best to wait and hope Ya’sia’s engineers would be done soon. It was when I fell silent that she asked her first question, James reminded himself. Perhaps she will open up more if I let her.
He didn’t get the chance to find out, seconds later his COM unit beeped. “What is it?”
“Admiral, it’s Commander Scott, the engineers with me have have finished. They’ve transmitted their findings to Ya’sia and are heading back to their shuttle. Shall I come and join you?”
“Certainly,” James replied and closed the COM unit. When he looked up at Ya’sia she had her eyes closed. Seconds later she opened them and began to speak. When she did, her tone was completely different to anything she had exhibited before.
“I said I would give you an apology if it turned out your claims were true Admiral. It seems I owe you that and more. You must accept my sincerest apologies. My engineers have found no indication that your technologies have been unnaturally advanced by an outside source. In fact, it seems a number of your technologies were novelties to my engineers. Your species has obviously devised different ways to accomplish similar technical capabilities to what my species and the species we are familiar with have. That may in part explain your quick advancement. I’m sorry I accused you of things you denied.” Midway through her speech Ya’sia stood and walked around the conference table. When she came close, James stood, though it felt like she still towered over him. She held out her arm. “This is how all the species we have relationships with great one another.”
James held out his arm, not quite sure what Ya’sia expected. Knowing or guessing James was unsure, Ya’sia took the lead and grasped James’s elbow with her hand. James returned the gesture, grasping Ya’sia’s elbow. Ya’sia then squeezed gently before releasing. James did likewise.
“There,” Ya’sia said as she showed her teeth again. “You wanted to be friends. That is how friends greet one another.”
James was taken aback. Ya’sia’s change in demeanor was sudden and complete. “You have to excuse me Admiral,” he replied. “Things seem to be moving quicker than I can keep up with. You’re saying your engineers are completely satisfied that we have no relationship with whatever species is arming hostile races in our part of the galaxy? They can be sure about this simply from inspecting some of our technologies?”
Ya’sia moved back to her seat as she spoke. “They are as sure as they can be at present. I intend to send our findings back to our benefactors for them to confirm. However, their assurances are enough for me. Nearly eighty years ago another species that our benefactors are friendly with was attacked by an alien race. Many of their worlds were devastated. The race that launched the attack had been surveyed just four hundred years prior to that. They had been deemed hostile, but no threat to their neighbors because of their slow rate of technological advancement. Their attack came as a complete surprise. It was suspected that another alien race had covertly passed on weapons technologies to the aggressors. However, no hard evidence was found. With the recent Flex-aor attack, both my species and our benefactor
s have concluded that there is a nefarious race out there. The similarities between the technologies used by the Flex-aor and the other race has not been found in your technologies. Given that, I am happy to take you at your word. And I hope you will accept my apology. If what you say is true, your rate of technological advancement has been very impressive. That in itself made it hard to believe. Perhaps as we get to know one another, you could share some of your species’ history with me. I’m very interested to see how your technological advancements have come about so quickly. Especially given what we do know of your species’ history.”
James didn’t know where to begin. He opened his mouth but didn’t say anything for he hadn’t decided which direction he wanted to take the conversation. He decided he better begin with Ya’sia’s apology. “I must confess, your stern warnings had us all worried. However, now that you have shared a little bit more of the events that brought you here, I understand your concerns. Your apology is happily accepted. Hopefully the relations between your species and mine can be more amicable going forward.”
“That is certainly my desire,” Ya’sia replied.
“That being the case, I have to ask,” James followed up. “What do you mean when you say my species was surveyed centuries ago? What do you know of our history?”
Ya’sia showed her teeth again. “There is much you don’t know. It’s hard for me to know where to begin. And there are some things I cannot tell; they are not my secrets to share.”
“I appreciate you have commitments to your species and these benefactors you speak of, as I’m sure you understand I have commitments to my own people. But I hope we can be as open with each other as possible,” James replied.
“Indeed, that will be helpful. Let me start here. Centuries ago, just after my species developed the technology to leave our solar system, we were contacted by our benefactors. They had been watching our development. When they thought the time was right, they approached us and welcomed us into the galactic community in our area of the galaxy. We have relations with twelve other space faring species. Thirteen if we count your species. Beyond that, we know of many others that are not yet in a position where our benefactors feel the time has come to contact them. Our benefactors discovered our world almost a thousand years ago when they surveyed the space around their homeworld. In those surveys, they also discovered your homeworld and covertly learned some of your history and current level of development. To be honest, your species was listed as a violent species prone to constant warfare. It was determined that it would take your species many centuries to make any real technological advancements, and that assumed your continual wars didn’t drive your species to extinction. Hence my surprise that your species now has the capabilities it has. A follow-up survey was not scheduled for at least another two centuries. It was thought that by then your species might be in a position to be contacted. Though that estimate has been shown to be woefully inaccurate.”
James nodded. He could understand why someone would look at Human history and think Humanity was a species addicted to war. He also understood why the sheer number of wars and conflicts that had occurred in Earth’s history might make someone think Humanity risked destroying itself. Though James’ reading of his own history suggested that it was often times of intense wars when the most rapid technological advancements occurred. Perhaps that is why we are so much more advanced than Ya’sia expected, James surmised. “It sounds like whoever carried out the survey of our history and technology knew what they were doing. There have been many wars between different factions within my species. I’m afraid that didn’t really stop when we developed the technology to leave our own solar system. What about your history? Does your species have different warring factions, or have there been wars between the galactic neighbors you speak of?”
When Ya’sia shook her head James’ eyebrows rose. He was surprised to see such Human mannerisms in an alien species he had just met. “No, there have been no wars between factions within my species since our benefactors introduced themselves. They make sure that all of the races in our community do not attack one another. At times tensions can rise, however, they have never spilled over into open conflict. We all know that our benefactors would quickly put an end to any attempt to use force. In truth, the battle my species’ ships fought against the Flex-aor was the first naval combat we have ever engaged in.”
“Ever?” James couldn’t help blurting out.
“Yes. Our benefactors have tasked us with protecting two of our smaller neighbors and we have maintained a large war fleet in the event that something like what the Flex-aor attempted to do ever occurred. We have fought in many simulated battles and joint operations with our benefactors and our other neighbors. However, we have never had to fire a missile in anger before. Sadly, I was not leading the forces that confronted the Flex-aor so I am still awaiting my first experience of true combat. I suspect once we reach the Flex-aor homeworld, that will change. How many battles have you fought in Vice Admiral James Somerville?”
James had to stop and think for a moment. He honestly had no idea what the number was. “More than you certainly,” he replied with a chuckle. “If I had to guess, I’d say the number is at least fifty, though it could be quite a few more.”
Ya’sia’s eyes widened at James’ response and her staff all turned to look more closely at James. “More than fifty? Your species has fought more than fifty naval battles against each other in your lifetime?”
James nodded again. “I’m afraid they have. Wars of aggression between different factions in my species are not uncommon. I like to think I have always been on the side defending my nation and trying to stop the aggressor, however, I’m sure others would look at it differently. But the number shouldn’t be too surprising to you. Not if you have encountered the Flex-aor. Six years ago they invaded my species territory with over three thousand warships. We fought many battles against them before we finally drove them off.”
Ya’sia stood. “Three thousand?” She immediately looked to her staff officers.
James wasn’t sure but he guessed he was seeing surprise or concern on their faces. “Yes,” he said to confirm her question. “There appeared to be several fleets roughly the size of the one that you defeated working together. Our working theory is that the Flex-aor normally operate in fleets of five to six hundred ships. We believe that they decided to combine a number of their fleets to try and wipe us out. From our analysis of the debris, we believe several different factions within the Flex-aor species were fighting side-by-side against us.”
“Your species managed to defeat three thousand warships? That is a feat almost as impressive as the speed of your technological advances. If the Flex-aor had come against our neighbors with three thousand ships, they would have wiped out their planet. Perhaps they could have attacked my species’ homeworld. Though I believe our benefactors would have stepped in before they would have been able to attack our planet. The ships you see around my flagship constitute more than seventy percent of my species’ Navy. Neither we, nor our benefactors, thought more would be needed. If what you say is true, we have to reassess the strategic situation.”
“Then I’m afraid you’re going to have to,” James suggested as he spoke slowly. His mind was racing. Now that Ya’sia was acting friendlier, she was giving a lot away. The Crian’s technology certainly seemed impressive. Though the lack of battle experience and the fact that their entire fleet consisted of only four hundred warships meant they were not nearly as big a threat as James had initially feared. As he was thinking through what Ya’sia had revealed, another thing she had said came back to him. “You have said a couple of times you are on your way to the Flex-aor homeworld. Does that mean you know where it is? Have your benefactors surveyed their homeworld in the past?”
Rather than answer verbally, Ya’sia pulled a small device from one of the many pockets in her uniform. She placed it on the conference table and give it a single tap. She then closed her eyes. Moments late
r a holographic projection of space appeared. At its center was the X-40 system. Both Ya’sia’s and James’ fleets were marked on the projection. A series of lines and dots marked a number of systems that traced their way back to Earth. Ya’sia was showing that she knew where James’ homeworld was. James wasn’t too pleased with that. Sadly, he berated himself for even revealing what his species called themselves. He had thought giving away that piece of information was harmless. The map also showed a couple of systems that led away in the direction Ya’sia’s fleet had come from. Clearly, she didn’t intend to show James or his staff where her own homeworld was. For the moment James was alright with that, for on the projection were eleven systems that led from X-40 to a twelfth system that was clearly marked as the Flex-aor homeworld. James looked over to Lieutenant Dzedzyk. He needn’t have bothered; his navigation officer was already taking notes. When James looked back to Ya’sia she had her eyes open and was also looking at Dzedzyk.
“There’s no need to record what I’m showing you; I will be happy to share this information with you. After all, you have allowed my engineers access to some of your own technologies. It seems this star map would be a fair trade.”
“Thank you,” James said with genuine emotion. “This will be very helpful for my species. May I ask, what are your intentions for the Flex-aor homeworld? I assume you brought your entire battle fleet this far for a reason.”