Ivan Kal - Out of the Ashes

“Have they communicated?” Vit’r’an asked.

“No Dakar. We tried contacting them, but if they can hear us, they are not responding.” Tra’r’an said.

Vit’r’an blew air out of his nostrils, “I’m going up to the Blood Claw. You are in charge here until my return.” Vit’r’an said. Tra’r’an bowed his head as Vit’r’an turned to leave. His crew was all already up on the ship, sending them a message that he was coming he exited the building and went to the shuttle waiting on a platform.

“The Ra’a’zani ship is moving outside of the Earth’s high orbit.” Andros said. Johanna watched on her c-board, as her fleet drew closer. The Ra’a’zani ship was now on an intercept course. They were still trying to contact the Second Fleet, but Johanna still didn’t respond. She would wait until the Ra’a’zani warship came closer to her fleet. Using this time she looked over her ships formation one last time. She chose to use the same formation that Fleet Commander Farkas used against the Sowir with her small touch on it. Her strongest ships were in front and her lighter units behind, the same as Fleet Commander Farkas’. But her differed in that that her lighter ships didn’t hide behind the stronger. The middle of her formation was the Monarch flanked by the two battleships the Claymore and Sovereign. Her light cruisers were behind them and above, the four light cruisers were arranged in a with two on one plane and two on the other. Her three heavy cruisers were below and behind her middle line. There was sufficient room between their lines that all had a clear line of sight to the Ra’a’zani ship, but should they be fired on, the middle line would be able to add their much greater defensive fire.

For twenty minutes Johanna watched as the Ra’a’zani warship moved away from Earth. During that time she looked at the rest of the system, with the updates from the Star Gazer they had the picture of the entire system. Ra’a’zani cargo ships were on their way from the belt to the planet, but when they saw the Second Fleet they slowed, and were turning, going in the other direction. Johanna would love to capture a few of them, but knew that it was probably impossible. As soon as the shooting starts those ships will start running away. And Johanna didn’t want to separate her warships. The two trans-ships she sent to the belt, as she couldn’t risk losing them, but those ships were not equipped for capturing hostile vessels.

The Ra’a’zani warship exited the high orbit and moved towards her fleet, but it didn’t move too far away from the planet before it slowed and came to a stop. It still tried to communicate, but Johanna’s fleet was still silent. Johanna turned to the c-board asking Turiel to provide her with the information on the Ra’a’zani warships distance from Earth. Looking them over and deciding that the Ra’a’zani would stay and wait for her. Looking at her own fleet she saw that within minutes they would enter firing range. Steeling herself, she turned to the Comm Handler.

“Open communications.” Johanna said.

Vit’r’an watched the unknown ships approach. He stood on a platform surrounded by railings, his two clawed hands were planted on them as he watched his bridge crew work. He had brought his ship to a stop, there was no point to going to meet them. He put sufficient room between them and the planet, as he did not know their intentions. He still had materials stored on the planet, and did not want to risk these new aliens trying to bomb his planet. As the time passed with no attempt at communication from the aliens, Vit’r’an became more and more annoyed. He debated going up to them and destroying them, but hesitated. They had a way to enter the system inside the barrier. If he could acquire that knowledge, his position as the next Rakar would not only be assured, but he would become probably the most powerful Ra’a’zani alive. The other clans would do anything to get that knowledge.

“Dakar! We are receiving a communication from the alien ships!” A Taskmaster called out. Finally! Vit’r’an thought to himself.

“Put the message through the translating software, I want to know what they said.” Vit’r’an said.

The Taskmaster looked uncomfortable and confused at the same time.

“What is it?” Vit’r’an asked annoyed.

“It isn’t a message Dakar… It’s a request for a video channel, using our protocols. It’s live.” The Taskmaster said.

Vit’r’an frowned, that was disconcerting. Having their protocols suggests that they had been watching them long enough to learn them.

“Engage the translators, and open a channel.” Vit’r’an said. Then a few moments the main screen on the forward wall turned on and showed the video link from the alien ship. Vit’r’an and his crew stared at the screen stunned. Disbelief and shock spread among his crew. The alien on the screen was a human. Vit’r’an couldn’t explain what he was seeing. The bridge looked clean and bright. Holograms could be seen above the humans manning their stations. The humans were focused on their stations, not looking at Vit’r’an and his crew. All except one. A single human, a female, was sitting in what humans called chairs. Around her holograms were displaying information in human language, but the middle was clear giving Vit’r’an a clear view of her. Vit’r’an immediately noticed everything on the bridge, and if there were no humans it would look unnervingly close to the command room on Ra’a’zani mainline warships. Vit’r’an had spent a lot of time in human presence, and he could see hatred in this human’s eyes. She watched him for a few moments, and Vit’r’an studied her in turn, not able to quite believe what he was seeing.

The human opened her mouth and spoke too softly for Vit’r’an to hear, and then a moment later a computerized voice rang out, speaking in Ra’a’zani. “Did you lose your words Ra’a’zani?”

The translation was not done with a Ra’a’zani translating computer, Vit’r’an knew that immediately when he heard it. It was the humans who had translated their words into Ra’a’zani.

“What are you? What kind of trick is this?” Vit’r’an growled out. The human just cocked her head, and Vit’r’an heard his words translated into the human language.

“I am Fleet Commander Johanna Stern, and I am human. There is no trick Ra’a’zani.” She said.

Vit’r’an showed his teeth. “I don’t know what you are playing at, or how you managed to hide ships from us. But your people will pay for this!”

“We are not playing at anything, my ships are not from the Solar system. And the only ones that will pay are you and your people. You will pay for what you have done to the Earth, and you will pay for what you have done to the human people. But we humans are not like you. Monsters and slavers. So I offer you this one chance. Order all your people in the system to lay down their weapons. Power down your ship and surrender. And I promise you that I will let your people live. Imprisoned yes, but they will be alive. Your fate I am afraid will not be the same, as the one who ordered the deaths of countless human lives, you will be executed for your crimes.” The human leaned forward, “Do the right thing, surrender, and give yourself up. You have my word your people will be spared.”

Vit’r’an barely contained himself as he listened to the human speak. “You dare threaten me!” Vit’r’an growled out, spit flying from his mouth. “I will feast on your flesh slave!”

The human had the gall to look unconcerned, she shook her head sadly. “I had little hope that you would accept. But then again, you Ra’a’zani are savages.”