by Jay Allan
“Stars! That…” Leanna couldn’t think of what to say. The Tararian Guard wasn’t equipped to deal with weaponized telekinesis on that scale, and the rare few Tarans with abilities who training with the TSS were closer to theologists and soldiers. They were on the cusp of a conflict with an enemy they’d have no idea how to fight. No wonder they’re latching on to the Bakzen’s offer for treaty negotiations. This might be our only shot.
“And the supplies on the freighter?” Leanna asked after several moments.
“Taken, it appears,” Tonya replied. “There were only traces of an unidentified organic compound mixed in with the wreckage. The Priesthood said their scientists evaluated it and that it wasn’t a factor in the assault.”
Leanna’s brow furrowed. “Was it ours or theirs?”
“Not a factor so it doesn’t matter,” Markus stated. “We have to stay focused on the mission at hand.”
Sam nodded solemnly. “We’re here to learn what we can about the Bakzen and open a dialogue, if possible. This team was structured to make an assessment from both political and military perspectives—once we know more, we can make an informed decision about how to proceed.”
Leanna gathered herself. “Okay, so we’re facing a space-faring race with advanced telekinetic abilities. And they may or may not have genuine interest in holding a meaningful conversation with us.”
“That’s the heart of it,” Sam confirmed.
“Fantastic.” What kind of “contingency plan” could the Guard possibly have in mind against that?
“The Bakzen set the meeting, so all we can do is show up,” Sam said. “We’ll be there in two hours.”
Leanna folded her hands on the tabletop. “All right, so let’s go over our talking points.”
With that, the team got to work.
By the time the two hours were up and the ship had dropped out of subspace at their destination, Leanna felt like she’d devised the best speech possible under the circumstances. Leanna, Sam, and Tonya relocated from the conference room into the Command Center next door to check in while Markus headed to the hangar to get their shuttle prepped.
The Command Center was circular with a viewscreen spanning the front of the domed ceiling. Manned control consoles lined the outer walls and two chairs occupied the center of the space facing toward the viewscreen.
“Any new Bakzen activity to report in the system, Matthews?” Sam asked as they entered the room.
“Nothing significant,” replied his First Officer, a middle-aged man with olive skin and black hair, from his seat in the right chair in the center of the room. “The monitoring probe showed a scout ship near the star, but it jumped away an hour ago.”
“Strange.” Sam turned his attention to the front viewscreen for a replay of the probe’s footage. Sure enough, a dark ship with angular lines unlike anything in the Taran fleet appeared from subspace and passed by the system’s yellow star—almost as though they were studying it—before disappearing again.
“If there’s nothing else, we should launch our shuttle,” Leanna suggested. “We’re only half an hour from the rendezvous time. If they requested a party of four, then this cruiser shouldn’t be here when they arrive. We need to show we have good intentions.”
“Yes,” Sam agreed. “Matthews, you have command. Pick up what you can remotely during our meeting and report back to Central Command and the Priesthood. Stars willing, we’ll be back with you soon.”
“Aye, sir,” the First Officer acknowledged. “Good luck.”
Sam led Leanna and Tonya to a lift, which descended to the lower levels of the cruiser. They exited and traversed a short hall to a door marked Hangar.
“Let’s go make history,” Sam flashed a smile as they stepped through the door into the cavernous space.
Leanna tried to return his smile, but her nerves kept it from reaching her eyes. “Today will be one for the history books.”
They approached a six-meter-long shuttle in the center of the hangar, which had been pulled out from a row of small transport crafts. Beyond, the colossal outer door to the hangar had been opened, with only a force field separating them from the vacuum outside.
Markus was completing a pre-flight inspection of the craft, presently focused on an apparatus mounted on the underside next to the landing gear. He exchanged a knowing glance with Sam as the commander approached. “Pre-flight check complete. All systems operational.”
Sam nodded. “I’ll fly.”
He took the pilot’s station up front, while Markus and Tonya each took a station on the side walls. Leanna opted for one of the passenger chairs at the rear of the cockpit. Without hesitation, Sam manipulated the controls to seal the hatch and power up the shuttle’s engines. He taxied it toward the outer hangar door.
The shuttle accelerated as it approached the force field. With a final surge of speed, it broke through and banked toward the designated meeting coordinates.
When the shuttle was clear, a blue-green haze began to glow around the cruiser as a spatial distortion formed in preparation for the jump. After ten seconds, the ship disappeared into the ethereal cloud, which dissipated like mist into the void.
We’re not really alone. They have our back just a short jump away, Leanna reminded herself. She checked the time on her console; it was 15:55. “I wonder how punctual they are?”
“We’ll find out soon enough,” Sam replied, cracking a wan smile.
In five minutes they had their answer. Space around them glowed with the light of four spatial distortions. Warships began to take shape through the subspace clouds, surrounding their shuttle. Each vessel was twice the size of the cruiser they’d taken to the site, heavily armored and hewn of dark metal that gave the impression it was assembled from disparate parts. The matte finish blended in with the surrounding starscape, the vessels’ outlines only discernable thanks to red lights around key structural points.
The ships took up positions only two hundred meters from the shuttle, dwarfing their tiny craft.
“Stars…” Leanna breathed. We wouldn’t last three seconds if they decided to take us out.
The Tararian Guard officers were clearly thinking the same thing.
“Better start talking,” Sam told her.
“Right.” She took a deep breath and released it slowly with her eyes closed. Once centered, she focused on the view out the front window. “Tonya, please open a comm channel to the Bakzen ships.”
“Aye,” she acknowledged, a slight quaver to her voice betraying her anxiety about being surrounded by the alien enemy ships.
Leanna suppressed a wave her own doubts about the approach while they waited for their communication request to be acknowledged.
A minute passed without any response.
Sam frowned. “Try aga—”
“Incoming call! Voice only,” Tonya exclaimed.
Leanna leaned forward with anticipation. “Open the channel.”
Static sounded for a moment over the hidden speakers in the room and then a deep voice said, “You speak for Tararia?”
Leanna and the others looked at each other with shock. The words had been in perfect New Taran—their standard language—without the computer needing to perform any translation.
Sam motioned to Tonya for her to mute the channel. “The initial communication came through in universal text code. I could see them figuring that out, but how do they speak our language?”
“It’s possible they’ve been intercepting our communications,” Leanna postulated. “Or maybe the communications in past centuries were more extensive than the records indicated.”
“Well, the dialogue is open. It’s on you now,” Sam said while looking to Leanna, worry in his eyes.
I can do this. She took another deep breath and nodded to Tonya to unmute the call. She began her prepared speech, “Thank you for granting us this audience. We are here on a mission of peace. Our peoples first made contact years ago, but it’s time for us to foster a relationship for this ne
w generation. We call ourselves Tarans—”
“We know who you are,” the Bakzen voice cut in, “and Tarans are no friends of ours.”
Not the best start. Leanna remained calm. “Relationships take time to build. We have come here as you instructed, just four of us in this shuttle. This is a chance to get to know one another.”
“You answer to the Priesthood. We don’t need to know anything more.”
I guess I can forget my speech. “Then why did you call this meeting?” Leanna asked.
“The Imperial Director has a message for you,” the Bakzen replied.
Leanna perked up. “Is that your leader? I’d welcome the chance to speak directly with such an esteemed individual.”
Fifteen seconds passed. “Yes, he would like to relay the message directly. We will tether you for a jump,” the Bakzen stated. “Remain in position.”
The call disconnected.
“Going anywhere wasn’t part of the plan,” Tonya protested.
Sam and Markus exchanged glances. “Our orders are to hear them out and assess the situation,” stated Sam.
“Yes, I can’t turn down a meeting with their leadership,” Leanna agreed. “We can make much more progress in discussions with a decision-maker.”
“It also gives us the opportunity to evaluate their core technology and infrastructure,” Markus chimed in. “Their homeworld is where we want to go.”
Leanna nodded. “Which is where, I wonder?”
“Far enough away to warrant a jump,” Tonya replied in a terse tone that underscored she wasn’t pleased with their decision.
“I’m curious how they navigate without the beacon network,” Sam wondered aloud.
“Hopefully we can have all sorts of productive technology exchanges once we get things worked out,” Leanna said half under her breath.
Sam cracked a smile and glanced back over his shoulder at her. “I think you found a theme for your negotiations.”
Within a minute, two of the large Bakzen crafts advanced toward them, stopping a mere fifty meters to either side while the other two moved away and initiated jumps. An energy field extended between the two remaining vessels, ensnaring the shuttle.
“Containment net locked,” Tonya said.
Before Leanna could question the action, an aura of blue-green light illuminated around the vessels—the start of a subspace jump. The swirling light enveloped all three crafts. With a shudder, the shuttle slipped into the ethereal subspace plane.
Leanna stared with wonder out the front window at the dancing ribbons of blue and green light swirling around them. She’s been on plenty of subspace jumps in her lifetime, but rarely did she get to witness the travel from outside the confines of a conference room.
Three minutes passed while the four officers waited with anxious anticipation. Then, a starscape began to show through the subspace backdrop. The blue-green cloud dissipated, revealing a brownish planet surrounded by several expansive spaceports filled with vessels bearing the same rough, dark aesthetic of the Bakzen battleships.
“That didn’t take long—they’re closer to Taran space that I would have thought,” Leanna murmured, taking in the sights.
Sam whistled, looking over the vast spaceport. “I’m impressed.”
“This is at least on par with our own technology,” Tonya observed. “I wonder if we’ll be going down to the surface?” A chime sounded. “Looks like another call.” She opened the comm channel.
“Tarans…” a low Bakzen voice bellowed. “You never should have come after us after you tried so hard to chase us away.”
“Uh, thank you for agreeing to meet with us,” Leanna hastily replied. “Are you…?”
“Yes, I am the Bakzen Imperial Director,” the voice replied. “Your freighter violated our territory. That was a nasty trick to play.”
“We apologize for the misunderstanding,” Leanna responded. “But, that’s a system we’ve occupied for supply distribution for some time. If we can just sit down to discuss this, I’m sure we can come to terms. There’s clearly a lot we can learn from each other.”
“We know what you were trying to do. We won’t let you do it again.”
Leanna glanced at the other officers for an explanation but they shook their heads with confusion. Her stomach knotted. “I’m sure there’s a way for us to resolve whatever injustice you perceive we’ve done to you and work out an arrangement.”
“The window for us to come to terms expired centuries ago,” he replied. “Now is the time to reclaim what’s ours. What you took from us.”
Leanna signaled to Tonya and received acknowledgement that the comm channel was muted. “Do you have any idea what he’s talking about?” she asked no one in particular.
“If there’s a deeper history between the Bakzen and Tarans, this is the first I’m hearing of it,” Sam said.
Leanna indicated for Tonya to unmute the channel, then stated, “Whatever past conflict happened, this is a chance to start over. Tararia’s only wish is for peace.”
“So many of us never had a life because of you. You abandoned us.”
The words chilled Leanna to her core. “What do you mean?”
The Bakzen leader let out a coarse chuckle. “Don’t play dumb. Tararia’s laws are unjust. Your tyranny will not be tolerated.”
“I don’t—”
“You were sent here as a pawn, just like they use everyone else,” the Imperial Director told her. “Well, we’ve had enough! It’s time we send a message of our own. The High Priests will understand.”
Bakzen fighters poured out from the belly of one of the battleships, heading for the shuttle.
Markus terminated the call and swiveled to address Sam, “We need to deploy the bomb. Now.”
“You brought a bomb?!” Leanna could barely breathe. So that’s what he was inspecting under the shuttle… “A show of force is not the answer.”
Tonya released a breath between her teeth. “Twenty seconds until enemy contact!”
“My orders were clear,” Markus said. “We must eliminate the Bakzen threat.”
“Sending a bomb will eliminate any potential for negotiations,” Leanna objected. “We have to keep trying!”
“They’re attacking. Sorry, Leanna. This is our only chance,” Sam replied.
Markus made a series of entries on his console.
Leanna watched him work, horrified. “But—”
“It’s launched.” Markus’ tone was flat.
The Bakzen fighters altered course from their shuttle and pursued the bomb speeding toward their homeworld.
Markus shook his head slowly. “After our attempt with the biological weapon on the freighter failed, we needed to get closer. This was our only option.”
Sam’s and Leanna’s faces drained.
“Wait, you never said… We provoked them? Why in the stars would we deploy a biological weapon?” Sam stammered.
Markus ignored the question. “The Bakzen never should have come back.”
“The diplomacy act was all a setup,” Leanna realized. “You knew we’d fail—this was all a ruse to get close enough to send that bomb.”
On the viewscreen, the projectile sped toward the planet, followed by the fighters. Impact was imminent.
Then, the bomb disappeared from view.
Everyone did a double-take—there was no sign of the weapon.
“Was there detonation?” Markus demanded.
“No, it… vanished,” Tonya replied, checking the readouts on her console.
Markus scowled. “How?”
Tonya shook her head. “I don’t have an explanation.”
Leanna fixed her attention on Markus. “What is this really about? Why does the Priesthood want to destroy the Bakzen without giving diplomacy a genuine chance?”
He hesitated. “This conflict with the Bakzen is bigger than all of us. They never should have been allowed to live before.”
Static crackled on the comm. “You’ll never learn,” the
Imperial Director growled. “We were made so much stronger than you.”
“You’re in violation of Taran law—” Markus cut off as a violent jolt rocked the shuttle.
The four officers fell out of their chairs to their knees.
Metal groaned as the craft was gripped in an unstoppable telekinetic vice.
“They’re tearing it apart!” Tonya cried.
Leanna gripped the console in front of her as tears filled her eyes. This was never a peace mission—we were all expendable. We were sent here to destroy them and now we’re going to die instead… for nothing.
The Priesthood had used her, betrayed her. The promise of glory and a promotion—none of it was real.
She even would have freely given her life for a worthy cause, her people were everything, but instead she was going to die without ever knowing what purpose her death served. She had been sent into a trap—but for what end? Bitterness clouded her mind as she realized that her whole life had been in service to an organization that was willing to throw her away without explanation.
And yet, she couldn’t help feeling that she had failed her mission, even though it was never intended for her to succeed.
The shuttle lurched again under the telekinetic assault, their screams of terror masked by the groan of rending metal.
A crippling sense of loss overcame Leanna as she gripped the base of her console—trying to hold onto something real and solid as her world disintegrated around her. She had no future, and if the Bakzen followed through on their promise, the lives of her people were about to change forever. Her efforts were in vain.
“Stars, please forgive me,” she whispered.
The hull buckled.
* * *
The report projected above Edwin’s desk said everything he needed to know. “So that’s it.”
Rebecca nodded. “Afraid so.”
His gaze flitted to the horrifying images on the screen—a metal case containing the severed heads of the four Tarans that had been sent to protect the future of their people. The note included with the package read: “Do not deny perfection. Truth will prevail.”
The Bakzen’s statements were true from their vantage, but, like so many conflicts, it depended on the perspective. From his side with the Tarans, Edwin saw the brutal act for what it was: a call to action to settle the conflict between their two peoples once and for all.