So Close, Yet So Far. (Galactya-Sereniani First Contact)

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The Union Navy Officers sat silent as they listened to the ongoing discussion. The Rear Admiral knew that this was a tense situation, especially considering how bad the Stoinian-Venterran First Contact had went, and this was a relatively similar scenario. Now, Stoinia and Venterra were at war, and to the Emeraldians, it seemed that a war between Sereniani and Galactya was likely, even if the Serenianians were even Human or not. As they briefly left the meeting room, Captain Xanderson, the one who had previously handled the Galactya-Union First contact, finally said something.

(CXa)“What an odd bunch they are, they certainly look like Pacificans, but it’s hard to tell if they are or not, but why do you think they seemed so worried about that deal? Rear Admiral?”

(RA)“I’m not sure, but it seems as if their government will be less willing to negotiate with the Galactyans than these mere airmen.”

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”Yes, that’s probably it. I knew it couldn’t go smoothly, but this is just nerve-wracking. And they probably think that we’ll kill them or something if they don’t find an agreement… oh Comet, this is horrendous. I hope Ayukenaq manages to calm them down a bit… what do you think, Tangadon?”

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“The main emotion they ware experiencing was fear, and stress, they ware holding it in the whole time, but then Laurisa snapped. They’re really young, i have no idea why the Serinari sent them in to negotiate. Here’s my suggestion: first, tell them that the Gill-Atarnië guarantees their safety and that it will make sure that no matter the outcome of the negotiations they will be allowed to safely return home. Second, we should probably hold a break, they are in no state to negotiate. Say that i offer them to have dinner with me on my ship. We want to show them that we do not treat them as enemies, but as friends. That will get the negotiations flowing better.”

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”Sounds like a good plan. If they won’t be able to go back to Taivaallinen immediately we could also host them here. We have a diplomatic resort that overlooks the closest flower forest. Now we just have to wait for Ayukenaq to bring them back here in a more manageable state. I don’t want the Empire to wage war on their federation, but if the situation at the Wormhole doesn’t change we will be forced to and… I just feel sorry for them! As you said, they are so young, and they are going through so, so much…”

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“Indeed, I’m also sorry for them. The serinari are quite the peculiar people. I hope we get a peaceful solution to this. Also, a question as I’m not informed the best on the situation: where exactly in the sector does the wormhole go to? Close, far, not even in it?”

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”We’re still in the process of calculating it, but from the data sent back by one of our telemetric capsules we managed to send in the black hole without the Sereniani noticing, it seems as though the other end is at the limits of the known Sector, hundreds if not thousands of light years away. From the data given to us by the Union Of Emerald, it seems to be located near Venterran Space.”

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“A gateway to the other side of the sector… this wormhole is a greatly important tactical asset, giving us the ability to project power so far away… The Venterans are a problem tho. The serinari are human by what it looks. If the Venterans find them there will be quite the conflict. I think that we can agree that we can’t let them get the other end of the wormhole under their control”

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”Well of course not. We can’t let them do so not because of any danger posed to us, but because of our human allies. The Drakari Imperium has humans as one of their species, the Emeraldians are humans and even though the Trianarö don’t identify themselves as humans, it won’t make a difference to the Venterrans. To be honest though, we can’t be sure if all that we hear about them is true. After all, it’s information that has been given to the Union by the Stoinians, that are their sworn enemies. It wouldn’t be surprising to discover that most of the information about them has been warped and bloated to make them look unilaterally bad and cruel. Then again, it is better to prevent than to cure, so we should still be careful.”

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ABHS-1A, TFS Space

“The hell is that?”

“I dunno.”

“It doesn’t look like a supply pack.”

“Disable it and pull it in for study.”

“Alright.”

Eastivilp Spaceport

Meanwhile…

“We are about halfway to dying here!”

“Calm down, Laurisa-”

“How can I calm down?”

“We can’t continue negotiating if you don’t calm down.”

“I asked for a moment for a reason!”

Calio looks at the Governor

“Sorry, she’s having a moment. Do you need something?”

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The Rear Admiral Finally speaks up when the Venterrans are mentioned.

(RA)“That Location is based on rough estimates of Stoinian Charts, which were quite detailed, besides Stoinia and the Treccuu, of course, Stoinia’s Charts for Stoinia itself were finally revealed when the Union Requested that Volunteers for their “Foreign Legion” are sent to Stoinia. Now, as for the Venterrans, by the accounts we have been given by Stoinia, they are heavily modified humans, along with a bunch of other species, much like Galactya, but they are strongly Anti-Human. If the Serenianians are close to there space, they would be in danger of an invasion by a superior enemy who had managed to make it the Stoinian Capital and an Enemy who is capable of Glassing worlds, making them entirely uninhabitable. Multiple Stoinian Worlds have been glassed, including a planet known as Ignis, which had a population in the Millions, and now is nothing but Glass.”

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The Governor disregards Cailio’s question, and looks at Laurisa with a confused and worried look.

”What makes you think you’re going to die here…?”

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Laurisa looks up to see the Governor

“Why wouldn’t you? You would do it in a heartbeat if we were actually fighting. We can’t accept a joint occupation of the wormhole. You need that if we want to cooperate. I can’t do that because of xenophobia. What do you need?”

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”I need you to calm down and come back to the Meeting Room. We can find a different solution to our problems, but only if we work it out together. You six behaving like this isn’t helping anyone.”

”Come on. We’re doing everything we can to avoid having to attack your people. Let’s get back inside. I believe the High General has a couple of proposals for you.”

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The Serniani look at each other for a moment before following the Governor back into the meeting room

They look at the general, and wait for them to speak again.

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”Hello again. I hope Ayukenaq managed to calm you down a bit. I’d like to resume our meeting right now, but I don’t believe your current condition is appropriate for this.”

”Therefore, Contraadmiral Tangadon has kindly offered to host you for dinner on his ship. We would have loved to host you ourselves, but seeing Galactyans eat is… a difficult experience, and we wouldn’t want to make you feel even worse. After that, you’ll be hosted at a diplomatic resort in the city. We can resume the meeting tomorrow, when you will be less tired and stressed.”

”If it’s possible for them, the Emeraldians should also probably attend the dinner as well. After all, it would be important for all of you to learn more about each other, if we want to get out of this situation without conflict.”

”Meanwhile, I’ll contact the Emperors and see if I can find a different resolution. I’m sure they’ll be more understanding once I fully explained the situation in more detail.”

”How does that sound?”

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The Rear Admiral spoke

(RA)“I and Captain Andersen would find suitable to attend that dinner service, Captain Andersen is the Captain of the UES Commander Raven, out Attack Carrier, and is head of its Airwings. She will probably get along well with these Pilots. Captains Xanderson, Heath, and Kellov will return to their vessels. I will also have to consult HighCom about this development.”

(CAn)“I would be delighted to attend.”

(CXa)“I’ll travel back to the Capital Sector to meet up with the 3rd Fleet and tell them the situation, I’ll be at your beck and call, Rear Admiral.”

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The Serniani looked at each other very uncertain. The TFS would probably not approve of them just going to eat with a species they didn’t know… There are around five thousand different possibilities and they just didn’t know what to do.

Eventually, Defender speaks up.

“Sure. I’d like to learn a little about others here. I’m sure everybody else would like to meet everybody else properly without issue. Right?”

The rest of Spark Flight nods, if rather slowly.

“So it is. Can we talk to our Commanding Officer? They’ve been requesting updates for the past hour now and I’ve been putting it off. I appreciate your time, thank you.”

Multispectral Array, TFSS Razor

“Comms Check.”

“Say again, Ground Team?”

“Comms Check.”

“News?”

“3.6 Roentgen.”

“Any other news to pass along?”

“They want a joint occupation of the Wormhole.”

“That’s not happening by an act of the Gates.”

“What we tried saying. We are going to have dinner with our new friends. Hopefully learn something new.”

“Like I said when we started this, dig your own grave.”

“Will’s already written.”

“Fair enough. I want the next update on time, please.”

“It will be, if I remember.”

“Better remember then. See you starside.”

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The High General got up from his chair.

”I’m glad to hear that. And yes of course, you can go talk to your Officer. In fact, me and the Governor will also have to excuse ourselves for a while. I need to speak to them in private.”

”Tell you what, we should probably end the meeting for today. We’ll meet again here tomorrow morning.”

After a while at Governor Ayukenaq’s mansion…

After exiting the Spaceport, the General and the Governor went to the Governor’s mansion in a large private park near the city’s limit.

They went inside, sat together on the living room’s large and comfy couch and started drinking StarBrew together, the Galactyan equivalent to wine.

”I just don’t know what to do. War is pretty much certain at this point, but I don’t want to see those kids suffer.”

”Well, didn’t you say that the Emperors will understand?”

”To be completely honest I just said it to calm the Sereniani down a bit. One was crying, and all of the other ones, except for the Defender, seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It was just a little lie to keep them from feeling worse.”

”Well, we could do what we did with the U’Lnuibians all those thousands of years ago. We go to war with them, but we still try to get as many innocents as we can out of the battlefield. If we were to go to war, we could probably keep those kids here. Their lives would probably be better in the Empire too.”

”I guess we could. But wouldn’t they try to escape?”

”Honey, don’t you remember? Our vessels are activated by our genetic sequence. Like the doors in my office! They wouldn’t be able to enter them, let alone fly them.”

”Oh, right. I guess I didn’t think of that. They probably wouldn’t be happy about it though.”

”Well, nobody is happy about the idea of being held “captive”, but they would come around it eventually.”

”And the alternative would be going into a battlefield and being pushed around by impulsive and uncaring generals and captains.”

”Hm. Tell you what, I’ll actually call the Emperors later and propose this to them. I want to see if they’d be okay with it.”

”Wouldn’t want to do it without their permission after all.”

Meanwhile, on the StarBreaker “Glory Of Sunlight”…

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Tangadon leads the guests to the officer’s dining hall. It was a grand room, heavily decorated and well lit with soft, warm lighting. Besides Tangadon’s starbraker you would only find halls like this in noble palaces. But he was a noble, and this ship was his palace, so to him it was more than reasonable

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“I can feel great nervousness in you, my Serinari friends, but that is unnecessary, as you are my guests here, and because of that you should feel like you are at home. Sit down, the food will be here shortly. It is suprising how similar taste the Edhelrim and humans have. Would you like some wine to start the dinner? Nim miruvor, the finest Ilanor has to offer. It’s name, when translated literally, means “white drink of the gods”. A perfect white wine for special occasions”

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“They’ll be fine. Drinking something so strong at such a young age can be very detrimental for them.”

Defender, the oldest, coming in at 32, has seen what happens when you drink alcohol. It was not happening. He wouldn’t allow it. His friends, no matter the age, and especially at theirs, would not be drinking La boisson du fou.

“Is there water?”

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