Ivan Kal - Out of the Ashes

But the system they just entered was also important because of another thing. The Union ship that passed through this system on its way to Earth all those years ago, recorded a dawning intelligent civilization on the fourth planet from the sun. Planet they were now approaching.

“There is still no sign of any space capable intelligence in the system, Fleet Commander.” Sensor Handler reported.

“Still nothing from the planet?” Johanna asked.

“No signs of radio, laser, or any other kind of noise one would expect from an inhabited planet.”

“Any signs of cities?” Johanna asked.

“No.”

“It could be that they simply haven’t advanced enough to form communities.” Ship Master Andros Venter commented.

“They had more than fifteen thousand years…” Johanna said.

“The Union ship didn’t record their level of their civilization. For all we know they were just entering the stone age when the Union ship passed through.” Andros said, “And we know that most of the civilizations take a long time to advance to the level of a space faring civilization. I mean even we took a long time to exit our stone age. We are unique in the way that it took us relatively little time from that point to now.”

“You might be right.” Johanna said.

Soon The Second Fleet entered the high orbit of the planet. Johanna ordered the viewing screen turned on, and they were rewarded with a greenish gray world above their heads. The CC was silent as each person took time to absorb the amazing sight above them.

“I found something Fleet Commander.” Turiel’s voice sounded from the speakers. Turiel was guiding the sensors, as an Ai could greatly increase a system’s productivity.

“What is it?” Johanna asked.

“I’m sending it to sensor station now.”

Sensor Handler Mark Reddy tapped the screen on his board and a moment later a part of the viewing screen turned black and then they saw the enhanced image of the ground. The screen showed a bird’s eye view of what was obviously a kind of village. It was primitive, huts made out of wood, with beings moving about.

“I guess they still haven’t left their stone age…” Johanna said.

“Should we send a team to the ground? We could better evaluate their level.” Andros asked.

Johanna thought about it for a bit, and then shook her head. “No. There will be other ships coming through after us, and we have already sacrificed seven days by visiting the planet. Set a course towards the trans-station. But keep our sensors on the planet, let’s get as much usable information as we can. And we still need to drop the comm relay. We can then send all the gathered information back home.” Johanna said.

Nelus system

Adrian watched on the viewing screen as the five ships grew closer to the Leviathan’s position. Adrian turned to Retsar Isani who was standing to his right.

“Three heavy cruisers. Either they trust your opinion of us. Or they think that my ships pose little threat.” Adrian said.

“There are those five patrol ships, light cruisers, with them they outnumber your ships with more than double the numbers. But I am afraid that they are underestimating your ships. That doesn’t bode well for the discussion.” Isani responded in English. Adrian and he started alternating English and Nel when they spoke, in order to better learn each other’s language.

“In what way?” Adrian asked.

“If they don’t consider you a threat, then they most likely don’t see any reason to ally with you. These people are not like me or Lanai Sumia. We were sent to Nuva for a reason. I was born into the lower class while Sumia’s family disavowed her. These people believe themselves better than the other Nel. They will treat you the same way they would a lower class Nel.”

“I guess that we will see soon enough. Come, let’s meet our guests.”

Adrian rose from his command chair and exited the CC. Following behind him were Retsar Isani and Ship Master Paul Isaacs. As he started to exit Adrian noticed that Akash and Sora got up from behind his chair. They went almost everywhere with Adrian, and had claimed the spots behind the command chair as their sleeping area.

“No.” Adrian said to the two wolions as they started to follow, “You two stay here.”

He could see in the debate going between them, whether they should obey him or not. Adrian looked at them sternly preparing to repeat his order, but was stopped by Retsar Isani.

“You should bring them with us.” Isani said, he had spent enough time with Adrian and his wolions to become very relaxed in their presence, “The emissaries will be bringing Laas Rett, thinking to impress and intimidate you.” Retsar Isani warned Adrian that the emissaries would be accompanied by Nel Laas Rett, their warrior caste. He told Adrian that these will not be like the people that were in charge on Nuva during the Sowir attack. Nuva was a colony they dumped those who were not good enough for Nelus. He also cautioned him that from what he has seen of human soldiers we were still much more knowledgeable about the ground war in general. But that Laas Rett were trained to protect and were good at fighting in small organized groups. They served as a special police for the entire Consortium. The meeting would be a lot more informal than the first meeting with the Nuvan diplomatic team. As Nelus was in a state of war and humans already had contact with Nel a lot of formalities would be set aside. Which suited Adrian just fine, he could follow the rules and formalities if he had to, but preferred to set them aside.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to antagonize them.” Adrian said.

“If you knew more of our people you would understand that bringing Laas Rett to a meeting of peace, is an insult. You need to keep them off balance, make them understand that you are not going to be intimidated. And that you are not below them in any way.”

“What do you think Iris?” Adrian asked in his head.

“Retsar Isani knows these people better than we do.” Iris answered.

“If you are sure…” Adrian said out loud. He then looked at the two beasts. “Come along then. But do try not to scare anyone, too much.” Akash and Sora trotted to him and released short barking sounds that Adrian knew signified satisfaction that they got their way. Together they started towards the landing bay. In the landing bay they were met with Sahib and his Alpha squad dressed in full battle armor, again per Retsar Isani’s suggestion. Seven of them took positions behind the party, with Sahib coming to walk just behind Adrian. The other 3 squads of his Wolf platoon were in positions outside the landing area. Just in case.

The three emissaries each chose to come in their own private “cruise” ships, yachts. They varied slightly in appearance, but all were around 100 meters long and triangular in shape, with their front narrow and back wide, like most Nel ships. All Nel ships followed similar design, where the ship’s front was narrow and then it gradually widened towards the end, with a few rough corners or edges, any unevenness was curved giving them a sleek look. While Olympus ships all looked boxy, most shaped like irregular cuboids, with weapon turrets clearly visible on the hulls in most cases. Front and middle were usually the same width, with the end of a ship abruptly widening. The dreadnought class ships were the first departure from that look, with their double-headed axe front of the ship then narrower middle and widened Citadel at the back.

A few minutes later, three small shuttles landed in the bay. After the doors were closed and the air pumped back inside the shuttles lowered their ramps and their occupants walked out. The three emissaries wore long robes that were left open in the middle, each in different color, one was red and blue and the other two, green and black, and purple and brown. Below the robes they wore the skintight suits that most Nel wore. The people following them on the other hand, had much different getup. There were four behind each emissary. And they also wore their skintight suits, but over them they had armor, gray in color and of similar make to those of the Sahib’s team, only theirs didn’t cover their entire body. The only parts covered were chest, forearms, groin, part of their tails, and shins. The helmets on their heads covered the back, top, and sides of their heads with the same gray material. While the front was covered in some kind of black smooth material that left the lower part of their face open to air, covering only their eyes and nose. Their armor and suits had lines colored in slight variations in each group, and the groups themselves appeared to be wearing the colors corresponding to the emissary they were following.