Ivan Kal - What War Had Wrought

Axull nodded in understanding. He had already figured out that the wings by themselves wouldn’t be strong enough to make his friend fly. “Did you design them? Or did you model them on something?”

“I modeled them after the animal that I found while exploring a world in the Gatalax sector,” Waiss said proudly. Then he looked at Axull mischievously. “You want them?” he asked with a smile.

Axull returned the smile while he made a negative gesture with his hand. “No, thank you. I am perfectly comfortable with my own body.” Many of the People had taken to ‘improving’ themselves with genetic and physical alterations. Axull, on the other hand, had never had the desire to change the body he was born with. Aside from the reasonable genetic treatments, of course.

“So,” Axull said, “why are you here? I came here as soon as I heard that your world-ship reached us and that a shuttle was on its way.”

“What? You knew for certain that I would be here?” Waiss said grinningly.

Axull let out a chuckle. “As if you would miss seeing Ullax as quickly as possible.”

Waiss looked embarrassed, and Axull felt a bit bad at the jab. He knew how Waiss felt about his twin, and he also knew that his sister wasn’t interested. Not because she didn’t like Waiss, but because she was too busy with her work.

“Well…” Waiss started. “She is in some part why I am here.”

“She is?” Axull asked.

Then Waiss’s face cleared, and an expression of pride and exhilaration filled his expression. “We found one,” he said in a near whisper.

Axull’s eyes immediately widened. “What stage?”

“Just entering stage three,” Waiss said giddily.

“Are you certain that that is not an aberration?” Axull asked.

“We watched them for a long time, they are not an aberration.”

“I can’t believe it,” Axull Darr said in shock. “The first race of higher intelligence we have ever encountered.” He looked disbelievingly at his friend, and then his scientific mind took over and he launched into a series of questions. “Have you established a timeline? How do they compare on the it-scale? Wait, what do they look like?”

Waiss laughed and gestured for Axull to stop. “Slow down, there is time for all the questions and answers. I am here to recruit, actually; we need more people willing to spend large periods of time observing the lifeform, watching over them and doing tests.”

“I’m in!” Axull said immediately. A chance to study another intelligent life was something he couldn’t pass up.

“I knew you would be,” Waiss said, and then almost as an afterthought, he added, “I hoped that perhaps Ullax would be willing to come as well.”

Axull thought about it for a moment. “Her interests lie more in the mechanical arts,” Axull said, trying to prepare his best friend for a possible rejection.

“I know, we talked some time ago. Is she still stuck on the hive mind?” Waiss asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, perhaps she would like a change of pace; it might do her good to focus on something else for a time. She might even get an inspiration on how to solve her problem.”

Axull’s first instinct was to tell him that it was unlikely, but then he thought about it. His sister had been stuck on the same problem for a long time; a change of pace would do her good. “Alright, I’ll talk to her and try to convince her,” Axull said, but as soon as he saw the hopeful look Waiss gave him, he added, “But I don’t promise anything beyond that!”

“Of course, my friend.” Waiss gestured in the direction of the transport tubes. “Tell me what have you been up to lately?” And then as if he’d just noticed his hover-plate, he asked, “And what is that thing you are standing on?”

Axull laughed and pointed his hover-plate towards the transport tube.

July — Sol

“How long is it now?” Gotu, Administrator of Sol, asked Adjunct Larissa, who sat at the communications console in the Olympus Mons command center.

“Two hours past the second deadline,” Adjunct Larissa answered.

“And none of our communications are reaching Tarabat?”

“We don’t know if they are. It’s like they aren’t even there, our messages are just lost. All the relays in between Sol and Tarabat are functioning perfectly,” Larissa answered.

“Sentinel Aileen wouldn’t miss two deadlines, no matter what. In the worst case, she would send the Jewel with the message,” Gotu said mostly to himself. Then, after a moment of silence, he turned back to the adjunct. “Get me a channel to Fleet Commander Stern. Send it to my office.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gotu walked out of the command center and into his office. Once there, he took a seat at his holo-table and saw that a channel with the fleet was already on hold and he accepted it.

“Fleet Commander,” Gotu greeted once the hologram of Johanna Stern’s face appeared in front of him. “I apologize if I interrupted you, but there is a situation and I was hoping that you could help me.”

“Of course, Administrator, what can I help you with?” Fleet Commander Johanna Stern said. She and her fleet had been stationed at Sol ever since the Shara Daim attack, and aside from serving as a defense for Sol, they were tasked with patrolling this side of the Empire’s border.

“We have lost contact with Tarabat, and I was hoping that you can spare a ship to go and scout out the situation,” Gotu said.

“Do you have any idea what could’ve occurred?” Johanna asked.

“Speculation only, but the timing is suspicious. I have received a report from the Lord Sentinel in which he made me aware that Sentinel Aileen had been ordered to give an ultimatum to the Erasi. Either they commit fully to peace talks, or she leaves and the Empire’s forces join the Shara Daim,” Gotu said.

Johanna nodded in understanding. “You think that they have prevented her from leaving and sending a message to us.”

“Yes,” Gotu answered simply.

“I’ll send a ship, Administrator,” Johanna said.

“Thank you, Fleet Commander.”

“I’ll keep you posted,” the Fleet Commander said and closed the channel.

Gotu leaned back in his chair, relieved. He didn’t have any kind of jurisdiction over the Fleet Commander; she was Fleet and Gotu was from Warpath. The Sentinels were chosen from Warpath, but in truth they were separate from them. Gotu had worried that he would need to seek help from Warpath, which would’ve taken longer, but he should’ve known that the Fleet Commander would help. There wasn’t really any political maneuvering or bad relations between the many divisions of the Empire.

Gotu turned to his holo-table. There was nothing really that he could do until they learned what the situation at Tarabat was, so he brought a window with the next report from his queue and started reading.

Tarabat

Aileen and her people sat quietly inside a small four-by-four room. They were hiding in Narateth’s family home, or rather in its basement. Narateth’s race was called Jugat, and they weren’t a part of the Erasi. They did, however, live in its territory. They were a bipedal race that had two trunk-like appendages bellow their mouths, with two bulged eyes on the sides of their heads that made them have a sort of fish-like appearance. Their skin was thick and rough, usually gray in color. The Jugat survived by working as mediators, independent information brokers, or traders. Their kind didn’t have a homeworld or even territory; they lived in family units spread out over Erasi territory.

The Empire had been working with the Jugat ever since Aileen arrived on Tarabat, at first using them as guides, and later as their eyes and ears to the lesser races of the Erasi, those who didn’t have an official member status. The Jugat and the Empire worked well; the Empire paid them generously and they provided a loyal service. Now, on the other hand, they were hiding fugitives, and Aileen wasn’t sure how long the goodwill her people had made for themselves would hold.