by D. R. Rosier
The modern world had come a long way. With the newer technologies wars over oil and other resources had come to an end, though territory was still important, and some of the resources.
It would take the Earth a while to realize with access to the solar system and other star systems the dwindling resources of ores and things of that nature would no longer be an issue either. Once they figured that out, and felt it in their gut, the only real solid problem that would be left was the conflict between cultures and religions.
The one good thing about speaking before most of the world powers, was that according to Alyndra there were only a few people in the governments that actually had a problem with A.I.s. It was why she hadn’t sent him any messages during the speech and QA session. Some were skeptical of his message, but not irrationally so. So there was that, maybe they’d leave Mars alone, and even partner with them in the future.
He knew that’s what the A.I.s wanted. Honestly thought, he didn’t care either way. He was more human that way, considering them merely possible allies, enemies, or neutral parties, judged person to person. Most A.I.s though loved the humans to the point of irrationality.
The problem of course, was twenty years ago the governments had done such a good job scaring the crap out of the general populace, that there were die hard hate groups around the world, and not all of them eschewed violence. Chances were the best case would be a neutral stance in the near term, until that could be corrected. It might take generations.
Hopefully, none of those bigots would be in command of a spaceship and its weapons.
Even so, A.I.s were patient, and even he’d be around a very long time. As long as Earth didn’t attack Mars he’d more than enough patience to wait.
Outside of following the summit, the five of them spent a whole lot of time in bed, both together and one on one. He also enjoyed dates, one on one time without sex, and didn’t even mind being dragged out into the city to go shopping all that much. In a way, it was the vacation he’d been waiting for, or it would be without the stress of the summit over their heads.
He cherished the time spent with all four of his mates.
He did do a little work on the energy device, trying to rework it. The whole point of the device was creating energy fields, but it was all about fields to create and stabilize matter. He had to keep the concept because it didn’t work like a normal emitter at all, and have it stabilize an energy to other types of energy fields. Still, he only did so when he had spare time and all his ladies were busy with their own things. It wasn’t that he was lazy, he just longed for a break, and truly his current ships were more than powerful enough.
Of course, planning was something you did while living real life, and another shoe dropped.
They were eating dinner at an Italian place, and he noticed there were people watching them with a curious look on their face. He really hated the face recognition he had now, but at least no one had come up to them yet.
Chrystal froze in her seat, and then sent them all a private message, of course Alyndra would read it out of Nadia’s or Dahlia’s mind, so she’d get it too even without implants.
“The Canosians have entered one of the Kascorix home systems.”
He felt a surge of anger, he knew he shouldn’t have trusted those bastards to keep their word. Not after they’d tried to steal his technology. He almost snarled out the order to fire, but closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He couldn’t let his anger lead him into another mistake. He replied in kind to all of them, since they were in a restaurant in public. Who knew if someone had a sound device and camera pointed at them, or may simply overhear.
“Are they attacking?” he asked in a mind voice that almost sounded calm, but not quite.
Chrystal shook her head, “They’ve launched all fighters, but they’re on standby around the carrier in a defensive position.”
He raised an eyebrow, and was thankful he hadn’t attacked. That didn’t mean he still wasn’t suspicious as hell of the aggressive bird looking species.
“Open a channel through one of the ships there, and… I’ll get the bill. Let’s head back to the ship.”
He connected to the restaurant system and paid as they got up and left. They’d mostly finished their meal, and were in the shuttle heading back to their ship still holding station above the spaceport building.
Chrystal said, “They’re answering our hail. It’s a… vice admiral would be the closest rank I suppose. Vice Admiral Shirnax, and our old friend Captain Shirilla is in the background as well.”
“Admiral, this is Senator Mike Steadman, what can I do for you? Have you come to ensure we are still keeping the vermin out of space?”
The Admiral made an alarming noise with his throat, it took him a moment to identify it as laughter. With beaks, and faces that were fairly set in place, their real language was full of clicks, warbles, and shrieks. Which of course were translated.
Shirnax said, “I have come to speak to you about possibly forming a relationship with your empire.”
He frowned, “Last time we did that, it ended with an attack and my ships destroyed. If I hadn’t anticipated your betrayal many of my people would have died.”
Shirnax ruffled his feathers, “Vice Admiral Virnix was executed for that. He let his greed overcome his honor, and his fear of your greater subspace technology, not to mention your creation technology. He has paid the price with his life, I hope this is sufficient?”
He was intrigued, he was also suspicious as hell.
“I doubt either of us is willing to reveal our home galaxy?”
Shirnax dipped his beak, and lifted it back up. Was that a nod in agreement, or something else?
Shirnax said, “I also imagine if we met here, neither of us would feel safe going to each other’s ship. I have anticipated this issue, and am sending you coordinates. We can meet on the surface of that world, which is empty of all higher life forms as well as animal life forms larger than a meter in size. I will come down in one of our fighters along with Captain Shirilla, who I assure you objected to the previous Vice Admiral’s directions. I would suggest you and one other join us on the surface in one of your smaller craft as well.”
He asked, “Why meet at all?”
Shirnax replied, “A very small step of trust between us, we must do something besides stare at each other across light years if an accommodation between us is to become possible.”
He still didn’t trust the overgrown bird, but he was curious as hell. He was comfortable creating treaties and allies under the umbrella of the empire, with other empire worlds, but considering the politics of such treaties outside of not only the empire but the galaxy, he’d decided simply not to go that route. Taking on aggressive evil races were one thing, but treaties of mutual defense, and revealing the location of the whole empire? No, he wouldn’t do that on his own authority, he was loath to do it with his own world, much less on behalf of his galaxy.
“I am a senator of one world in an empire of diverse worlds and races, which are ruled by the Xaran. If we do this, I would need to get their approval, and most likely the second person on the planet would then be a Xaran.”
Shirnax replied, “That is acceptable.”
He nodded, and then went on, “There is more. The Xaran are an amorphous race of beings, and masters of DNA. The one with me would no doubt want to touch one of you, and become one of your race for a short time.”
Shirnax ruffled his wings and somehow managed to look alarmed.
He added, “This is so the Xaran could understand your race on a deep instinctive level. Your memories would be safe, but they would know you at a basic level, your instincts and what drives you as a species, on the whole. The benefit to this is less chance for a misunderstanding. The Xaran would insist on it in this situation. On the good side, it is a very quick way to build up trust. This is assuming of course, that they agree to send someone.”
He wondered if Shirnax would say yes, he also wondered if X
enia would kick his ass. Probably not, they were a very logical race in their base form.
He added, “In return for this knowledge that the Xaran would gain, if they and you agree, I will furnish you with a database of similar information and taboos of the races in our empire. Of course, all location information and other tactical data would be removed.”
Shirnax replied, “That makes things easier to agree with. I will standby here for the next twenty-four hours for your leader’s reply.”
He almost smiled, but held it in. Who knows what baring teeth would mean to this race?
“Very well, I will get back to you soon.”
The connection dropped, and he blew out a breath.
“Chrystal, package up that conversation and send it to Xia?”
He figured the princess would be better to go to first, she’d bring it to her mother, Empress Xenia, if she thought it a good idea.
Chrystal said, “Done.”
Nadia said, “This should be fun, so much for waiting on the summit.”
“Yeah, I wanted to stay here to offer a subtle support with our presence, but this thing with the Canosians could be huge, if they aren’t setting us up for another betrayal that is.”
Dahlia smirked, “You’ll never get that vacation.”
Alyndra said, “The odds are we’ll get one eventually,” he could feel her amusement.
He snorted, “Nice. Any idea if Shirnax was on the level?”
Chrystal said, “Not enough information, it could go either way. Although, I won’t be letting you off the ship until you do a full backup.”
Dahlia grunted, “I’m also not pleased you agreed to go down without us.”
He shrugged, “I get that, but this body is replaceable, yours isn’t. The second person had to be a Xaran. Who knows, maybe they won’t even agree to try to open relations. The Xaran seem pretty insular outside of the Empire, very patient and willing to grow at a snail’s pace as more worlds in our galaxy join the empire. That’s a good thing in my opinion, it makes them trustworthy. But… they might not go for this at all.”
Alyndra squeezed his shoulder, “We’ll know soon.”
He smiled, that was true. The Xaran were slow on some things, but they were very responsive on these kinds of requests or questions.
“Alright, let’s get out of this shuttle, I could use an after-dinner coffee.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
The throne room quieted as the Empress rolled in and took her place on the dais. He was logged into his android, since just two hours after they left the shuttle, an emergency session was called. He probably should have seen this coming, the empress wouldn’t take such a step as allying the whole empire with another race from a different galaxy without a vote.
He stood with Chrystal only, although Nadia was logged in to her Xaran android as well, she worked for his father now. He caught her eyes and she smiled at him. It didn’t bother him really, she could do whatever made her happy, as long as she came home at the end of the day and was faithful to their family’s bed. He still had her council and advice in the privacy of their home, so he truly wasn’t even losing out.
Xaran was only twenty minutes away at L2 subspace, and he’d considered just going in person so Alyndra and Dahlia could be here in person, but he decided he didn’t want to leave Earth unless the vote went their way, there was no point in abandoning their support of Celia for a disappointment. As it was, Chrystal was sending back a live feed of the chambers so they could watch, and comment privately if appropriate.
Xenia said, “As you know, Senator Stedman of Mars went to Andromeda to ensure the Kascorix wouldn’t ever bother us again, taking on that task alone. You all know about the Canosians, another race from another galaxy who the Kascorix threatened, and you know they betrayed Senator Stedman at the end of their campaign. That betrayal was known to be about their desire for our technology, but we have no way of knowing if it would have actually ended there. Fortunately, the senator had anticipated this possibility, and fought them off and forced them to withdraw.
“Well, they returned. They came back to the Kascorix worlds in order to contact the senator, and perhaps build an alliance of some kind. I will now show you the conversation they shared and then explain why we are gathered in an emergency session.”
His mind wandered as the video played, and he looked around at his fellow councilors. Of course, he hardly needed to watch it, since he was there. The room felt… disgruntled, and worried. Hopefully that would fade with the explanation. He knew he’d won some points with some of them, mostly the aggressive civilizations, when he’d taken out the Kascorix threat. Equally, there were those he’d annoyed by taking unilateral action. Although it wasn’t illegal, it did step on some political toes. He wondered if that would influence today’s vote.
When the video completed Xenia continued.
“This vote is about if we should go forward, with caution of course. Senator Stedman of Mars will speak for this argument.”
He nodded to the empress gravely, and then looked around the chamber before he started.
“I do not trust them. Yet, we should move forward. If we move forward, and they try to betray us, we will have lost nothing and will know for sure they are our enemy. We will have time to prepare long before they find our space. If on the other hand, they are being genuine, we will have gained an ally, and perhaps safety from at least one of the galaxies around us.
“I would urge you all to vote to move ahead, either way it turns out, if we are cautious we will benefit from information or support, if we don’t go at all, we will be left in the dark, and in the case of them being honest, we will have lost a strong ally against the predators out there in the universe we don’t know about yet. There is always a risk of course, but in the case of betrayal I won’t allow data of our origins to be captured, or our technology. I truly believe the greater risk is to isolate ourselves in ignorance. Thank you.”
The Empress asked, “Will anyone speak against this mission to a neighboring galaxy?”
There were a few moments of silence, and then everyone stood. He had no idea what it meant, it wasn’t in the official senatorial protocols. He saw the confused look on his father’s face as well when Ted rose to his feet tentatively.
Empress Xenia said, “Very well, the motion passes by unanimous proclamation.”
He was surprised for a moment, that no one objected, but then this time they weren’t voting for war, they were voting for peace or information. The former would appeal to all, the latter in case of failure would appeal to at least the aggressive races.
Xenia continued, “I will be sending my daughter and heir, Xia, along with Xylla. Senator Stedman of Mars will also accompany them. Good luck.”
And just like that, he had another mission he didn’t really want, but at the same time, he felt good about it. Not that he really trusted the Canosians, but Dahlia had been right. He was no longer cut out for simple exploration, it would have simply bored him out of his mind.
They returned to quarters and logged out, and then sent Celia their regrets before heading toward Xaran.
He also sent a message to the Canosian admiral that he’d meet him in three days at the designated coordinates. The trip would only take forty-one hours give or take a few minutes, but he gave another third the time and would go at two thirds speed in L2 subspace, he didn’t want to give the Canosians a true measure of their transit time, which would greatly narrow down the possible galaxies they originated from.
Twenty minutes later, Xia and Xylla’s shuttle landed on their ship, and they set course for the specified coordinates of the planet in Andromeda.
Xia was kind of like a sister to him, and the empress an honorary aunt. They both really loved his father a lot, so they wouldn’t be confined to the third deck and kept off the family part of the ship, but their room was down there.
Xia gave him a full body blob hug, that sounds kind of gross, but in truth was far more pleasant than he w
as comfortable with, and then it was Xylla’s turn.
“Welcome to my ship, Chrystal has set up some nice quarters for you.”
He led Xia and Xylla to the quarters with his mates trailing behind, and went inside.
The room was larger than theirs, but in addition to a very nice bed, night tables, a couch, table, chairs, dresser, and an attached bathroom, there were also a couple of large tubs for their natural forms.
They both transformed into human females, that looked like an amalgam of three of his mothers, Silvia, Kara, and Nicci. They were extremely beautiful, almost to the point they looked airbrushed and fake, and of course the whole mom thing killed the seductive part. Thank god.
Xia smiled, “Thanks, this looks great.”
He nodded, “If you wish, feel free to join us for meals. The trip will take three days to obfuscate our origin point.”
When they smiled and nodded in agreement, he continued.
“We believe the room has everything you need, including clothes.”
Xylla tilted her head sexily, “What about toys, since we know you won’t play with us,” her eyes lowered to his package and he suppressed the urge to run.
“In the night table drawers are a variety, I know you two after all. If there is anything else you want made, Chrystal will manufacture it on request.”
He almost said provide, but he didn’t want any misunderstandings. She was his, and their other lovers. Damn Xarans and their sexual appetites, they made him look like a monk, which was saying a lot.
Xia said, “Very well, the first meeting I’ll be staying on the ship. The initial contact is just too risky as heir, but Xylla will go down with you, and has my confidence and authority.”
“I understand, I’ll do my utmost to keep her safe.”
Xylla bit her lip, and he decided it was time to run away.
“Unless there’s anything else, we’ll see you at breakfast?”
Xia looked amused, and obviously had no trouble reading him.
“Stop it Xylla,” she turned to Mike, “We love you, you know? We wouldn’t push things like that, we just like to tease you. I even almost understand the issue now, your father and I have spoken of it many times the last couple of years. Until breakfast.”