Speaking Fire

The control council beeped softly, outside the range of hearing for most humans, but well within earshot of the Alteriians. "Beep... beep... beep..."

The Corporal stood up from his moniters and work-station aboard the K.R.S. Santilos, and gave an Alteriian Salute to the commander resting peacefully at his command station, going over the lastest war-reports over the skirmishes at (location erased) with the marauding flesher fleets.

They had not appeared in great numbers as of yet, but their probing skirmishes had surprised the defending Alteriian fleets more than once, often catching them at their most vulnerable points, and seeming to know instinctively where to hit the the metal ships and board.

The Corporal sighed softly... The Alteriian's highly advanced drone armadas carried aboard their famous battle-cruisers were no match one-on-one against even some of the lowlier fleshers. The amount of damage their could do to the larger flesher "vessels" however, was greater then they would have against normal ships with shield technology. This meant that fighter, cruiser, and frigate battalions had to work in extreme precision to keep the fleshers off of each other while pounding them with their heavier weaponry.

The (obscenity erased) fleshers had become more aggressive as of late... There must of been some kind of restructuring within the hive minds in order for them to dare challenge Alteriian space superiority...

The Corporal stopped his musings, and looked at his softly beeping monitor.

"Commander?" he intoned, leading on to his explanation. Better alert the commander to the Coalition vessel, even if he already knew about the poorly armed and low-sophistication stealth vessel.

The Coalition posed no direct threat to the sleek frigate class scout ship.

The Commander, Captain Saergilmesh, remained seated where he was.

"And the type, Corporal?"

The Alteriian at the Logistics module chimed in instead, "It's a Coalition stealth destroyer, Venus class." His voice halted. "Well. The Coalition equivalent."

Light Alteriian humor, not intended to degrade the unknown vessel but to amuse themselves, sounded throughout the ship.

Commander Saer settled more deeply into the plush cushions of his Omnimbus map. It was new technology, that allowed any commander to navigate any situation that might arise by allowing him to view space by directly contacting his neural network with the ships sensory inputs. With limits of course. He literally "saw" space around him, instead of having to depend on ancient view screens, videos, or reports from other Alteriians.

He confirmed the Corportal's reports, and then exited the system, blinking a few times as his mind un-hinged from the doorway to the sensory realm... everything always felt a little... too sharp in that place.

The executive officer on duty commed in, his low voice filling the command room. "Sir, they are sending a transmission, requesting permission to board-free." (Broading-free meant that they would send no more then three representatives, and would bring no weapons. The "White Flag" of Space communication.) "Looks like they want to talk Commander."

Sear nodded his head...
"Very well then, open up Docking bay three, and meet me at the Docking doors along with Yalteric and Raicheylla. Looks like we have visitors to hear. Check them for weapons and explosives before they board."

The coalition ship drew ever closer...

Desidruis signaled his pilot with a movement of his third eye, located roughly in the human equivalent of the neck. This eye used to serve the strangely shaped avians, known as Amatons, by allowing them to see directly below them as they flew using a complicated system of pressure valves located in their lower spines. Now, the largely useless third eye of Amatons were graphed with communications and omni-technology, allowing Amatons to communicate with each other without a single visible gesture or word.

The navigator pressed the "open hatch" button, and he walked onto the spec-and-span floor of the Alteriian military frigate.

"Commander," he began, using the term of respect due to the Alteriian in command of any vessel, "My name is Desidruis, as I am sure you already know, I am the military commander of the entire Coalition force."

Even before Desidruis began speaking, the wise Alteriian captain was observing his every movement, deciding upon his character, physical abilities, potential strengths, and a wide array of other useful information, that just so happened to include the out of date commandos which he stood next to. You could tell just as much about a man by what company he kept as you could by what actions he takes.
Captain Saer looked approvingly at Raicheylla, who appeared to be doing the exact same thing, even as Yalteric probed the shuttle for any surprises.

Commander Saer looked unimpressed. "That you are. I will be blunt. Tell me, Desidruis, why are you in Alteriian space? You know that violates inter-spacial law. Your ship is armed."

Desidruis looked equally unimpressed with Saer, despite all the reasons that he should have been. "These are dangerous days Commander."

The Alteriian decided to let the infringement pass, as he was curious as to the avian's intent, and because Desidruis was correct. These were dangerous times.
At the same time, Saer concluded that the commandos were young, talented, but easily imprint-able fellows. Probably exactly what a shrewd military commander wanted from his bodyguards.

Desidruis's guise cracked for a moment, he had not expected his broach of law to pass so easily with an Alteriian. He briefly chided himself. The Alterrians, unlike many other great powers of the world, were not corrupted officials and senseless bureaucratic pinch-thrifts. They were exactly the allies he wanted.
"Then I too will be brief. I have a proposition from Coalition command."
Desidruis paused a moment for effect.

Saer did not look surprised, fazed, or in any other way show emotion, besides a slight inkling of boredom, as if Desidruis was wasting his time. Desidruis thought a little harder and decided that's probably exactly what the Alteriian was thinking.

Yalteric shifted his weight from one foot to the other in the silence that followed as Desidruis thought about what was happening.

The Coalition leader decided to continue at last.
"As you know, the pirates led by captain Wesley in the 7th dimension have become increasingly aggressive as of late. Pirates alone would never demonstrate that much oder and commitment to a cause, so I believe they are being instigated by another power. Regaurdless, these pirates pose a threat to the security of the Coalition, and are doubtless dragging valuable Alteriian ships to guard duty in sectors that were previously completely safe."

Saer looked slightly more interested, as Desidruis appeared to say something worth listening to.

The avian continued, slightly shaken by the Alteriians.
"What I am suggesting is a combined Coalition-Allterian assult to end these vagabonds and renegades once and for all. Believe it or not, the Coalition possesses the resources to destroy the pirates in an open fight, but without a good communications and intelligence network, we can't even find them, very much less fight them. If you Alterrians would lend us an increased portion of your fleet long enough to track these men down, the Coalition will destroy them."

Saer nodded, approvingly. "Under normal conditions," he began, "I would not hesitate to agree to your proposition, but the Alteriians can not spare man-power unless it has significant reward. It is far easier for the Alteriians to simply continue patrolling our borders. You need to, (how do they say it...) sweeten the pot."

Desidruis tilted his wings slightly, the Amaton equivalent of a nod of the head. "Indeed. That would be the second part of the deal. As a reward for this favor, the entire Coalition defense, intelligence, communication, and diplomatic fleets and sectors will be at your command under a protectorate agreement, until you honorable Alteriians decide we have paid off our debt and we are strong enough to take care of ourselves, or potentially a merge of protection."

The Captain blinked. He had not been expecting that. The two other Alteriians in the room were more visible in their surprise, Yalteric shuddering slightly, and Raicheylla swishing her tail side to side.
Saer would have to actually consider this... it was large enough deal with enough far ranging implications that he would need to bring it before Alteriian command.

The elder Alteriian tilted his head slightly after a momentary pause and spoke again in a quieter tone of voice than he had used before. "Desidruis, this plan has validity. High Command will consider it. Raicheylla, escort Desidruis and one commando to the diplomatic wing, Yalteric remain here. I will join Desidruis in a few moments."

The avian commander sat, appearing patient and unperturbed, but in actuality anxious as a coiled snake. He imagined that the Alteriians would not pass up such a generous offer on his part, but the Alteriians he was speaking to were not reminiscent of the psych profiles he had read. They were colder, hardened... just as much light, but less feeling and more photon.

Which was amusing. Those who represented love in the world became less loving when they went out to fight the enemies of love?
He never understood that. Then again, who could ever understand Alteriians?

Shortly, Captain Saer returned to the room, his face set with determination and his eyes blazing with a mysterious purple fire. "Raichylla, engage the quantum communicator." Obediently Raicheylla made her way to the command consoles located on the sides of the wall, and engaged the necessary nodes for inter-galactic communication.

Saer's tone changed to one of intensity, rather than boredom. "High Command, this is Captain Saer of the K.R.S. Santilos, requesting an audience with one of the diplomats from council, priority three." The Captain turned aside to Raicheylla, and gave her the signal to also notify the Lower council of the changed mission, and to retrieve the inevitable new debriefs from the Omnibus.

A voice returned across the room, seemingly coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. "Access granted, Commander Saer. Transfer in progress... transfer complete."

Another voice washed over the blue-gray metals of the diplomacy room, this one heavy with wisdom, and twined around a certain sadness. Nearly all Alteriians had that sadness when war was underway. How many friends had this diplomat made in his hundreds of years of life? How many of them had died in the last few months?

"Captain Saer, it is good to hear your voice again..." The voice trailed off, as if the diplomat had realized there was probably another entity inside the diplomatic room if he was being called. A slight pause. "What is your proposal?"

Captain Saer as briefly as he could explained Desidruis' plans for an alliance/protectorate, underlining the military aspects of the agreement, and highlighting the potential gains for both nations. Captains were as much diplomats as they were military officers, and words flowed more easily with centuries of wisdom behind them.

Heavy silence ensued, as the Diplomat undoubtedly uploaded the plan (still priority three) to the High-Council and the High-Druid, both of which were on special assignment.

Another pause.

Then the wearied voice spoke again, this time a shred of hope clinging to the side of the sadness, as if it was a gaping cliff.
"As the High-Council is occupied, the decision was sent to an Adjudicator, who approved the idea. Our diplomats can steel out the niceties later, and will contact Coalition space. High-Command has also sent you new orders, Captain Saer. Take care of yourself."

The entire debacle had lasted less than five minutes. Most nations would have arugued and fought for hours, days, and most likely weeks to draw up an alliance of such a stature, but the Alteriians were efficient. Very much so.

Desdruis looked slightly stunned. Everything had happened so quickly. The Alteriians just kept on surprising him. "Very well commander, I will return to Coalition space..."

Saer gave him a smile.