A King's Ship (Empire Rising Book 2) (22 page)

“Lieutenant Scott,” James continued. “How are your attempts to understand their COM chatter going?”

“Surprisingly well Sir,” Scott answered. “The translation software the aliens gave the Havenites was easily transferable to our main computer. It seems that whoever is on that planet speaks the same language as Haven’s attackers for our computer can translate the COM signals we are picking up. Though I haven’t found anything useful yet.”

“That’s ok,” James said in an understanding tone. He had already looked at the COM chatter coming from the planet and finding anything useful would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. It seemed that every building on the planet was broadcasting openly without any encryption.

“I want you to put together a team to go through what you can, use your science team and take Lieutenant Becket and a number of the Sub Lieutenants, see if Agent Bell will join you as well. The more we can learn about these aliens the better.”

“Yes Sir, I’ll get right on it,” Scott acknowledged.

*

8
th
July, 2466 AD, HMS
Endeavour,
in orbit around Vestar.

James finally felt ready to make first contact with the planet below him. He had taken
Endeavour
into high orbit around the planet and for two days they had silently watched the planet go about its day to day business. Scott, Bell and Becket had spent the time trawling through the mountains of communication data and just a few hours ago they had felt ready to present their findings.

It seemed these aliens were the Vestarians, their language matched, the visuals of the aliens on the ground matched bodies recovered from the battle over Haven and they called their planet Vestar.

The largest city was called Amack and the impressive structure they had seen from the edge of the system was the palace of their god-king. At least that was what Bell and Becket had taken to calling the planetary leader. As far as they could tell, the government loosely resembled a military junta from Earth’s history. Every city was heavily garrisoned with what looked like military units and there were military outposts and checkpoints throughout the rest of the planet. Their capital was the most heavily defended and the palace where the Supreme Overlord resided was more like a fortress.

From what Scott had picked up from the plant’s communications, the Supreme Overlord had been in power for the last forty years and a cult of personality had sprung up around him. Every residence was expected to have a picture of the Overlord and each morning the whole population was to swear allegiance to him. Almost every visual of the various cities James had seen had contained some statue or poster of the Overlord.

The whole situation still felt surreal to James. Even though they had spent the last two days orbiting the planet watching the aliens, their very existence, not to mention the strangeness of their ways, was still a shock to him. Here was an entire alien civilization. One which did not share the thousands of years of history that every human took for granted in their day to day dealings with each other.

Perhaps the oddest thing of all was the planet’s tech base. Militaristically they weren’t much beyond where Earth’s militaries had been at the beginning of the twenty first century. The satellites in orbit that seemed to serve the sole purpose of monitoring the population were the same. Yet, from what Scott could estimate, agriculturally they were leap years ahead of Earth’s production capabilities, which allowed them to maintain a population almost twice the size of Earth’s despite having about the same land mass to work with. Their buildings were also impressive, especially the tall thin spires that dominated the capital and stretched almost three kilometers into the sky. James doubted human engineers could produce such thin towers that still had the capability to resist the wind strengths they encountered at such high altitudes, for whilst Vestar resembled Earth in many respects, its weather was far harsher.

Despite these impressive technologies, what stood out was the large satellite orbiting the planet. According to Scott’s analysis, it was centuries ahead of even the most impressive technology on the ground. Doubtless it had been the source of the tachyon beam. James had slotted
Endeavour
into orbit at the opposite end of the planet to ensure the satellite didn’t detect them.

There was no sign that any of the other satellites in orbit and the ground observation stations they had detected were able to detect
Endeavour
while she remained in stealth. That made the situation all the more surreal. All the evidence before him suggested that this could not be the planet that the alien fleet which had attacked Haven had originated from. Yet, it also suggested that this planet could never produce a satellite as sophisticated as the one they suspected was the source of the tachyon beam. There were a lot of unanswered questions going around James’ head.

There is nothing else for it
, James said to himself again.
We’re only going to get answers by speaking directly to this Supreme Overlord.

“COMs, open a channel to the planet, run my words through the translation software,” James requested.

“Should I direct the channel anywhere specific or to the entire world?” The COMS officer queried.

“No doubt the Overlord will want to hold a private COM conversation once we reveal ourselves but first I want the whole planet to know we are here. That will make it harder for the junta to spin our arrival to their favor. Until we find evidence to the contrary I’m treating this Overlord as a potential hostile,” James answered.

“Channel open,” the COMs officer announced.

James took a deep breath and began, conscious that this might be the first time this planet had ever heard the words of an alien species. “People of Vestar. My name is James Somerville. I am the Captain of a human exploration ship called the
Endeavour
. My ship followed a fleet of warships that attacked one of our planets to this world. I am here to open diplomatic relations with your people and to ascertain where this fleet of warships came from and why they attacked my people. I would like to formally introduce myself and my people and request that we open diplomatic dialogue between our two races.”

Finished, he nodded to the COMs officer to cut the transmission. He had spent hours preparing what he wanted to say and in the end he had decided to keep it short and sweet. He didn’t want to come across as too hostile but at the same time he wanted to make it clear that attacking human worlds would never be tolerated. The Admiralty may not be happy with his decision not to mention Britain, not to mention the government, but he had decided he didn’t want to let the aliens know that their race consisted of various fragmented nations. It would weaken his position too much if they thought they were only dealing with one faction of another race.

“Sir, the readings from that alien satellite have spiked. It looks like it is powering up,” the Sub Lieutenant Malik reported from the sensors station

“It’s sending out a tachyon beam,” Scott shouted in excitement, “the satellite is transmitting a message, same direction as the one we picked up previously.”

“It’s beginning to accelerate and change its orbit,” Sub Lieutenant Malik chimed in again. “Looks like it is trying to intercept us.”

“Can we match its velocity and keep our distance from it?”

“Yes Sir,” Navigation answered.

“Then make it so,” James said. “I suspect it is guessing our position based on the origin of our COM broadcast. If we can keep the planet between us and it, we should be able to remain invisible. Keep a close eye on it, let me know if it launches any probes our way,” he added as he settled down into his command chair to await a response from the Supreme Overlord.

Once we thought we were alone in the galaxy, now we know that is far from true. Yet when all is said and done, many are surprised to find that so many of the aliens we have encountered share our flaws of pride and self-centeredness.

-Extract from Empire Rising, 3002 AD

30
th
June, 2466 AD, Amack, Vestar

As James stepped off the shuttle he couldn’t help but be overawed at the structure before him. They had landed in the Overlord’s palace and as he looked up it seemed as if the white spires in front of him stretched up into space. Behind them he could see even taller spires that were all but blocked out by those in front. Directly in front of him there was a giant set of white steps that led up to the main entrance to the palace structure. They dwarfed those of the Haven Council Chamber by a factor of over a hundred.

No one had come to meet them so, shrugging, he walked towards the steps. Beside him strode Major Johnston, Agent Bell and Lieutenant Scott and to each side they were flanked by six marines in full combat armor. The Overlord had chosen not to reply to James’ message personally, instead a text message had been sent back requesting that James and his officers come to the Overlord’s palace to discuss their requests in person. There hadn’t been anything about coming unarmed so James had decided to bring as much firepower as they could fit into the shuttle. If nothing else, it would show the Overlord that human military technology was far more advanced than their own.

When the last marine stepped onto the stairs a loud crunching noise rumbled from beneath their feet. Everyone looked around in alarm but as the stairs suddenly kicked into life and began to move upwards they relaxed again.

“They are one giant escalator,” Bell said, “I’m sure glad we didn’t have to walk all the way up them. I thought the Overlord planned his palace this way just to get sadistic pleasure out of making anyone who came to visit him exhaust themselves just walking up the steps.”

“Me to,” James said, “but let’s keep the chatter to a minimum, no doubt there are bugs everywhere recording everything we say. We’ll have to keep our thoughts to ourselves.”

As the group ascended the steps in silence they had time to look at the various statues that lined either side of the escalator. James had already seen images of the aliens from
Endeavour’s
optical scanners but the statues fascinated him nevertheless. The aliens were quadrupeds but they seemed to stand at almost the same height as the average human. As they continued up the steps each of the alien figures was looking him in the eye and more than one was clearly designed to intimidate visitors. At least that was the effect they had on him,
who knows what those facial expressions mean for the aliens
, James reminded himself.

The statues were painted green to resemble the color of the alien’s skin. Analysis of the dead bodies from Haven suggested that the alien’s skin actually resembled scales from reptiles back on Earth.  As James studied the nearest statue closely he could make out markings in whatever material the statues were made of that looked exactly like the scales from the pet snake he had as a child. The thing that marked the aliens out and their most fascinating feature was their extra set of arms. Four legs he was used to, most earth mammals and reptiles had four legs. But four arms, that was something entirely new and the human like hands with four fingers and a thumb at the end of each arm was more than a little unnerving.

We will look just as strange to them
, James reminded himself.
At least if there are some similarities it might make it easier to communicate.

When the group neared the top of the steps they stopped moving and James and the others ascended the last couple of steps themselves. Before them the giant door into the palace opened as if it had a mind of its own. Inside there didn’t appear to be any lights and it looked like they were about to step into a giant black hole.

“Lead the way Captain,” Bell said with a smirk on her face.

She is actually enjoying this
, James thought as he shook his head and moved forward.

“Greetings Captain,” a voice said from the darkness as James crossed the threshold. The ear implants Scott had given them automatically translating the alien’s speech. “Welcome to the palace of the Great Supreme Overlord Tal’Nack. I greet you on behalf of his benevolence.”

“We thank you for your welcome,” James said into the darkness. As his eyes adjusted he made out a shape in the darkness. Stepping towards it he held out his hand. “It is customary among our people to shake hands when meeting someone for the first time. My full name is James Patrick William Somerville.”

“We have no such custom,” the alien said as he turned and headed further into the palace. “If you would follow me, we have prepared a room for you to wait in until the Supreme Overlord is ready to see you.”

James looked back at Bell and her face clearly said what he was thinking,
that wasn’t the best of starts.

James led the group after the alien. He couldn’t help but watch the alien as it walked. Like the statues outside, it was clothed in a tight fitting military uniform which didn’t leave much to the imagination. No one knew the specifics of how the aliens reproduced but the rest of the alien’s body was very impressive. As it walked its leg muscles bulged under its own weight, suggesting the alien could propel itself at a much greater speed if it wanted to. Its torso was equally covered in muscles and there wasn’t an ounce of fat apparent anywhere.

James was sure that if Major Johnston or the other marines accompanying them were ever to don such form fitting uniforms their bodies might portray the same bulging muscles and lack of body fat. Yet seeing it on a potentially hostile alien was unnerving and intimidating.

For five minutes they walked deeper into the palace, following the alien who hadn’t given his name. As they went, the amount of light slowly increased until they could see everything clearly. That only served to increase the feeling that everything about the palace was designed to intimidate visitors. Above them were vast open spaces that, even though he tried his hardest, James couldn’t see the top of. All around them there were more statues of aliens; some were in diverse military uniforms equipped with strange looking weapons. Others depicted aliens in various stages of hand to hand combat with muscles flaring as they sought to overpower each other.

“You may wait here,” their host said when they rounded a corner and entered a small room with a number of seats. They were obviously designed to allow the four legged aliens to sit down but they looked as if humans could use them without too much difficulty.

“You will be summoned by the Supreme Overlord when he is ready for you,” the alien said, spinning around and leaving before James could ask him anything further.

“Well this is not how I expected things to go,” James said to the group loudly, happy to let any nearby alien bugs pick up his anger at the way they were being treated.

“No,” Bell agreed. “But then again, on reflection, maybe this is what we should have expected.”

“Explain,” Johnston said.

“Well, we know the Overlord wants his citizens to treat him like a god and not just their leader. Is it so strange to think that maybe he thinks that about himself too?” Bell asked.

“If he does, then to him we are just another group of inferior beings to be treated as such. For him to treat us as equals would go against his own self inflated ego,” she added.

“What do we do then?” Johnston asked. “How do we negotiate with a god?”

“I’m not sure,” James said, “for now though I guess we just wait.”

Silence descended on the group as each thought through how one might try to open diplomatic negations with an alien who thought he was a god.
How will he even view another sentient race?
James asked himself.

Having got no further in figuring things out, James was relieved when their host returned an hour later. “The Supreme Overlord will see you now,” he said.

Everyone jumped to their feet, glad to be moving, and followed their host down another maze of corridors. It almost seemed as if the palace had been designed to make it difficult for attackers to find their way to the Supreme Overlord.

After five minutes they rounded a corridor to be confronted by a set of massive doors that were even larger than the ones they had used to enter the palace. Pausing in front of the doors their host said, “I must warn you, do not cross the red line in front of the Overlord’s throne. Any attempt to cross the line will be taken as an act of aggression and the guards will immediately kill you.”

“That’s good to know,” James said, wondering what other protocols they really should be aware of.

Upon entering the room the group were confronted by a host of attendants who stood on either side of the room. Many of them were dressed in a similar military uniform to the alien who had led them through the palace but quite a few were dressed in much more fancy and colorful attire. James guessed that there were over a thousand aliens present.

At the front of the room stood an extremely large chair that James took to be the Supreme Overlord’s throne. It was decorated in fine metals and sparkled with what looked like diamonds and rubies. Worryingly, along the top of the throne were over one hundred Vestarian skulls. Before the throne there were twenty more aliens in military uniform and armed with some form of rifle. Each had his rifle raised and pointed at the newcomers.

Seated on the throne was an alien almost twice the size of any of the others in the room. Like the rest, his muscles bulged in a threatening manner but he was the first alien James had seen with what looked like a layer of fat around his waist and midriff. As he opened his mouth it was clear he had a voice to match his impressive appearance for it boomed across the room. “Ah, our distinguished guests have arrived. They have come a long way from another star system to bring their supplications before me. You may approach,” he commanded.

Leading the group forward, James came to a stop well before the red line in front of the throne. “It is a pleasure to be granted this audience with you Overlord,” he began.

“As I said in our COM message. We are humans, we come from the planet Earth. A fleet of alien ships attacked one of our colonies. They bombarded the planet before we drove them off. My ship is an exploration ship. We followed the alien fleet to this system. We come in peace offering friendship but we would like an explanation for this attack.”

“Attack?” the Overlord chuckled. “Let me assure you human,” he continued, slowly working his mouth around his last word. “The Vestarians have not attacked you. If we did, you would not be standing before me. You would already be our slaves forced to submit to our might.”

“I’m sorry to contradict you Overlord Tal’Nack,” James said in as neutral tone as he could. “The aliens who attacked us looked as you look, they called themselves Vestarians as you do. They came seeking to trade weapons technology and when they didn’t get what they wanted, they attacked our planet. After we defeated them their ships fled to this system. If they were not acting under your orders my people can understand that. But we must know the truth of the matter.”

Tal’Nack jumped to his feet in anger, “How dare you accuse your god of lying and not ruling this world? Not one Vestarian breathes without my say so. If I say we did not attack you, we did not attack you. That is the end of the matter.”

With a wave of one of his hands Tal’Nack sent some form of signal to the guards in front of his throne. In response they formed a semicircle around the human group, pointing their weapons at them. The marines closed in around James and the other officers.

“I will give you one more chance human,” Overlord Tal’Nack said. “Tell me of these weapons technologies you speak of.”

Deciding to try another approach James gave up on pursuing the attack on Haven. “My people have been exploring space for the last four hundred years. We have many technologies that we have developed, both civilian and military. As a representative of my people we would be happy to open formal communications between our two nations. There are many things we could trade to the benefit of all our people.”