Ivan Kal - Out of the Ashes

Retsar Isani leaned to whisper in Adrian’s ear. “The Laas Rett are wearing the colors of the family house they are protecting. That was forbidden the last time I was on Nelus.”

“What does it mean?” Adrian whispered back.

“It means that families have much greater control on Nelus than I believed. Laas Rett are supposed to police and protect the people, not the families. That’s why they always wear gray. The color of Nelus skies, representing the whole.”

Adrian turned his attention back to the approaching group. The Laas Rett were all focusing on the emissaries and any possible threat. But the three emissaries were openly looking around, peering at everything. And from what Adrian could interpret of their expressions they were not impressed in the slightest. But then Adrian wasn’t an expert in Nel facial expressions. The third emissary, the one dressed in green and black, seemed reserved. With a few more steps brought them standing face to face with Adrian and his party. As the three turned their attention to Adrian they noticed Akash and Sora sitting on their hind legs on both sides of him. Adrian could see their eyes widen and the one dressed in red and blue took a step back. The Laas Rett tensed, but before anyone could react more, Retsar Isani stepped forward.

“Greeting council members.” Isani said, clasping his hands elaborately in front of his chest.

The emissary dressed in red and blue stepped up to him, “Retsar Isani. I would have loved nothing better than to take you under arrest for treason. But the ruling council voted to exonerate you because your actions resulted in the successful defense of a Nel system.” He reached over to his wrist unit and a holographic screen appeared. He did something and a moment later Isani brought his own up and after glancing at it put it down again. Adrian assumed that he received something from the emissary.

“I appreciate the council’s decision. But without the help of the human ships, Sowir would have taken the system and killed everything on the planet.” Isani said.

The emissary smiled in a condescending way and turned to Adrian. “Ah, of course. The people of Nelus give their thanks, for your help in defending Nuva.”

“It was the right thing to do.” Adrian said.

Before anyone could say anything more, Isani spoke. “This is Sestar Niraas of house Sav Ral,” Isani gestured to the lead emissary dressed in red and blue, “And these are Sestar Nimuse of house Jar Tel and Sestar Jusan of house Dai Ven.” He said first gesturing to the female Nel dressed in purple and brown, and then to the one in green and black.

Adrian bowed his head Nel way in a respectful nod, but that of an equal. And Isani continued.

“Council members, this is Fleet Commander Adrian Farkas, commander of the human First Fleet. His companion is Ship Master Paul Isaacs, commander of dreadnought Leviathan.”

Sestar Nimuse and Sestar Niraas bowed their heads in a short dip that conveyed superiority, while the Sestar Jusan matched Adrian’s bow. Adrian’s eyebrow rose at that, he tried to discern what that meant but Sestar Nimuse spoke,

“What is the purpose of those beasts.” She said looking at Akash and Sora, she was obviously not comfortable in their presence.

“There is no need to worry, they won’t harm you. I must admit that I didn’t even realize they were here. They are always by my side and I often forget about their presence.” Adrian lied and brought his hands to rest on the two wolions heads, scratching their ears. And right on cue, they started purring, which sounded more like growling.

Isani stepped close to Sora to prove that there was no danger, “There is no need for alarm Sestar. I have spent a lot of time in their company, and I assure you that they are harmless. Humans often keep animals as pets.”

“Yes, there is no danger.” Adrian said, “Now if you would please follow me, we have prepared a meeting room for us.” With that Adrian turned and led the party deeper into the ship.

Jusan sat in a comfortable chair in the human meeting room. He was surprised to see that they provided furniture that accommodated Nel tails. His delegation sat on the one side of the table, while Retsar Isani and Adrian Farkas sat on the other. The two beasts sat on the floor beside the table. Behind the humans were two of their Laas Rett equipped with a full body armor, while their two Nel counterparts stood behind the Nel delegation. Jusan looked at Niraas on his left, and saw that he was bothered. And he understood why. Nothing went according to Niraas’ plan. Before they came to the human ship they met on his yacht. Niraas as the leader of the party set their policy, his plan was to intimidate the humans, and wrangle out of them a trade agreement. The man really believed that it would work, that these humans would be easily impressed by them. That they would offer some simple pieces of technology and that the humans would jump on the opportunity. Sure, Nelus might have some things that were not present on Nuva, but Jusan seriously doubted that Isani or Sumia wouldn’t tell the humans exactly what kind of technology Nel possessed. Niraas was a fool, he didn’t even entertain the possibility that what the humans said about building ships for them was true. Which meant that it was Tavaar who didn’t believe, or simply didn’t care. Jusan knew that they wouldn’t even try to make an alliance. Tavaar wouldn’t allow anything to come between him and his rule of Nelus. Even if it was a doomed rule. Because without help, Nelus will fall. And the delusions of Tavaar and the rest of the council will only seal its fate. Jusan knew that he was powerless to do anything about it. He couldn’t usurp the authority of the others, and even if could, people on Nelus have been fed the same delusions for decades. They trust that the council can keep them safe.

Jusan remembered the meeting, how Niraas and Nimuse went over the scans of human technology, dismissing it immediately as primitive. Overlooking the glaring indications that they were not. The size of their ship should have at least put them on guard. But no, they trusted the analysts of house Nor Ral, who served only to confirm Tavaar’s will. Everything that Jusan has seen, from the records of battle at Nuva, to the inside of the big ship told him that Tavaar was wrong. Yes, the humans used metals for construction of their ships. But everything he has inspected showed him an amazing level of complexity. Nel discard anything that becomes obsolete once a new thing comes along. Once better materials became available they stopped using the old. Who knew what these humans managed to do with their “primitive” materials.

But in the end it didn’t matter. He was not here to aid the talks, his only task was the sphere. He glanced to the other side of the table at the human, Adrian Farkas. He tried to discern any kind of a clue to whether the human’s knew about their – and Nel – origins. But their expressions, while similar, were not exactly the same as Nel. But it seemed like they knew, it was the only explanation for their apparent desire to help Nelus, and their involvement with the defense of Nuva. Finally the silence was broken from the human side of the table.

“I assume that your people had the chance to look at the rough proposal we sent you?” Fleet Commander Adrian Farkas asked.

“Yes, we had. But before we can talk about that, there is another thing that we need to discuss.” Niraas said.

“Of course. What do you wish to discuss?” Fleet Commander asked.

“With your proposal was included the information about your actions in the Nuva system, and your plans about the future. You brought a lot of ships and materials into the system, constructing a station and a number of “defense” platforms. That is not something the council can allow. Nuva is, after all, Nel territory.” Niraas said, “We require that you remove your presence from Nuva, before any kind of agreements can be reached.”