softly, “And retrieve all our missiles
and shuttles, I don’t think we’ll be fighting today.”
I was surprised to have rather mixed feelings about
that. Mostly relief, but there was some disappointment in there as
well. I guess with the adrenaline build up I’d turned a little savage.
“Incoming message ma’am.”
“Put it on Al, and call me Alicia please,” I replied.
I heard Kristi gasp, and had to admit the Seltan had an
intimidating appearance. He looked at least seven feet tall, and had dark
black hair, and brown eyes sunken into a craggy and angular green face.
His ears were rather larger than human, and the nose was bulbous. He
looked more built than a linebacker without an ounce of fat on his bulging
muscles.
What really stood out however, was his two sets of
arms. The bottom set were huge and defined by large muscles, and he had
them crossed over his chest. The upper set were rested on his sides and
were even more muscular. I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley,
that was for sure.
“I am Dral, force leader of the Seltan empire. I
apologize for the subterfuge that brought you here, but I had reason.
One, I wanted to see if this new treaty I have heard about was worth anything,
or just a piece of paper. Two, I wanted to talk to all of you, and
honestly this was the easiest way to get you all here.”
He smiled disturbingly, “I wish to broker a peace, and
perhaps more, there is much you don’t know.”
What the hell could he mean by that?
“This is Alnot, leader of Leira. What do you mean by
that, and why would we ever trust you?”
Dral nodded, “Because those cowardly Knomen no longer pull
your strings, we have hope that you will deal with us honorably.”
Alnot replied, “What do you want of us?”
Dral was silent for a moment, “I would have at least peace
between us, perhaps even join you in your treaty, there is much to
explain. Much that has been hidden from you by the Knomen in times
past. I ask that you hear my words, and spread them to the worlds and
their leaders that you’re allied with.”
Alnot frowned, “We will listen, beyond that I cannot
say. There is much blood between us.”
Dral bowed his head, “Yes, that is regrettable, and part of
my words to come. Yet, we have never threatened your world itself, when
we could have. Our actions were… I get ahead of myself, let me
start from the beginning.”
I was fascinated, and despite the translation his words… now
he had me doing it, his speech was a little odd. I told Al to bring us
some coffee, one of the maintenance droids could handle it, with the repair
nanites all over the ship they no longer had a job anyway.
Dral started talking, his tone of voice oratory, as if
teaching us, “Long ago, when we first discovered FTL, when most of your worlds’
populations lived in caves, we joined the Knomen empire. They came to us,
much like many of you, and we fell for their good sounding words and
lies. Yet, when their dishonor became apparent, we had no choice but to
break off, and go on our way.
“It was a large war, the largest the Seltan had ever seen or
been a part of at that time. Eventually, we beat them back, and they
started to fear our border, if not respect our honor. We hold all the
stars between the Orion arm, and the Core. Next to us, we were surrounded
by two other races. On one side we had the Drenil .
The Drenil are a peaceful species, and quite strange.
“They have no true shape, and are amorphous.
Thankfully, they are as peaceful as they are powerful.”
I frowned when Alnot interrupted him, “Amorphous, all life
is like we are, what tales do you spin?”
Dral growled, “Be patient, listen to my words, but hear
this. Implicate me as a liar again and I will burn your world to
ash. We have honor, something you dogs perhaps wouldn’t understand.
If the situation wasn’t what it was, I probably wouldn’t even bother
and shuttles, I don’t think we’ll be fighting today.”
I was surprised to have rather mixed feelings about
that. Mostly relief, but there was some disappointment in there as
well. I guess with the adrenaline build up I’d turned a little savage.
“Incoming message ma’am.”
“Put it on Al, and call me Alicia please,” I replied.
I heard Kristi gasp, and had to admit the Seltan had an
intimidating appearance. He looked at least seven feet tall, and had dark
black hair, and brown eyes sunken into a craggy and angular green face.
His ears were rather larger than human, and the nose was bulbous. He
looked more built than a linebacker without an ounce of fat on his bulging
muscles.
What really stood out however, was his two sets of
arms. The bottom set were huge and defined by large muscles, and he had
them crossed over his chest. The upper set were rested on his sides and
were even more muscular. I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley,
that was for sure.
“I am Dral, force leader of the Seltan empire. I
apologize for the subterfuge that brought you here, but I had reason.
One, I wanted to see if this new treaty I have heard about was worth anything,
or just a piece of paper. Two, I wanted to talk to all of you, and
honestly this was the easiest way to get you all here.”
He smiled disturbingly, “I wish to broker a peace, and
perhaps more, there is much you don’t know.”
What the hell could he mean by that?
“This is Alnot, leader of Leira. What do you mean by
that, and why would we ever trust you?”
Dral nodded, “Because those cowardly Knomen no longer pull
your strings, we have hope that you will deal with us honorably.”
Alnot replied, “What do you want of us?”
Dral was silent for a moment, “I would have at least peace
between us, perhaps even join you in your treaty, there is much to
explain. Much that has been hidden from you by the Knomen in times
past. I ask that you hear my words, and spread them to the worlds and
their leaders that you’re allied with.”
Alnot frowned, “We will listen, beyond that I cannot
say. There is much blood between us.”
Dral bowed his head, “Yes, that is regrettable, and part of
my words to come. Yet, we have never threatened your world itself, when
we could have. Our actions were… I get ahead of myself, let me
start from the beginning.”
I was fascinated, and despite the translation his words… now
he had me doing it, his speech was a little odd. I told Al to bring us
some coffee, one of the maintenance droids could handle it, with the repair
nanites all over the ship they no longer had a job anyway.
Dral started talking, his tone of voice oratory, as if
teaching us, “Long ago, when we first discovered FTL, when most of your worlds’
populations lived in caves, we joined the Knomen empire. They came to us,
much like many of you, and we fell for their good sounding words and
lies. Yet, when their dishonor became apparent, we had no choice but to
break off, and go on our way.
“It was a large war, the largest the Seltan had ever seen or
been a part of at that time. Eventually, we beat them back, and they
started to fear our border, if not respect our honor. We hold all the
stars between the Orion arm, and the Core. Next to us, we were surrounded
by two other races. On one side we had the Drenil .
The Drenil are a peaceful species, and quite strange.
“They have no true shape, and are amorphous.
Thankfully, they are as peaceful as they are powerful.”
I frowned when Alnot interrupted him, “Amorphous, all life
is like we are, what tales do you spin?”
Dral growled, “Be patient, listen to my words, but hear
this. Implicate me as a liar again and I will burn your world to
ash. We have honor, something you dogs perhaps wouldn’t understand.
If the situation wasn’t what it was, I probably wouldn’t even bother
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