The Phoenix Project (16 page)

    
Nadine turned and walked to the command
chair of the
Yamato
at the center of the stuffy bridge. She thumbed the
intercom on and set it to broadcast across the ship.

    
“This is Lieutenant General Nadine Hanover.
We are proceeding to the coordinates of the defunct wormhole. I am your
commander for this mission. What appears to be alien craft have been detected.
All hands are ordered to battle stations.”

    
A klaxon immediately followed the
broadcast.
 
Only moments later as the
shouting and running began to die down, the main monitor showed a view of forty
Alliance ships
blocking their way. Nadine inhaled a breath at the speed of their approach. The
ships transmuted from tiny specs to a cloud of warships obscuring the view of
the three alien craft in the background.

    
“Report!” Nadine directed to the science
officer.

    
“It’s the Third Alliance Battle Group.”

    
“Is there a signal between the Alliance warships and the
other vessels?”

    
“No Ma’am,” he responded.

    
“Contact the Alliance flagship. Tell them General Nadine
Hanover requests to confer with them.”

    
“Aye Sir,” the communications officer
replied from the opposite side of the bridge. “Captain Hubbard is responding.”

    
“Put him on.”

    
The screen showed a nonchalant officer in
his late thirties.

    
“General Hanover, how are you?” Joshua Hubbard
asked.

    
She attempted to probe deeper into the
man’s consciousness before answering. She was surprised to find herself blocked
by a field of nondisclosure.
 
The captain
was within the bubble of influence created by a Defensive. Elliot Fredericks
stood behind the Captain but kept his focus entirely on her.

    
“Captain, are you in command of this
mission?”

    
“No Ma’am. You need to speak to my commander.”
Captain Hubbard motioned to the intense man behind him. “General, this is
Admiral Elliot Fredericks.”

    
“Thank—you, Captain,” she said and turned
her attention to the Defensive. “Admiral, how are you?”

    
“I’m fine. Are you well rested?” Nadine
caught the reference. The others there would perceive a challenge. Underneath,
Nadine knew he was referring to her true identity.

    
“I am.”

    
“General, why do you approach our aft
quarter in an aggressive stance?” Elliot asked.

    
“It’s a prudent measure given your presence
here.”

    
“You will note that we have not gone to
battle stations. This is more of a diplomatic mission that we have embarked on.
If you intend to fire on those ships out there, then we will have no choice but
to respond,” he said.

    
Nadine felt uncertain of herself now that
her edge was nullified. “Certainly not. We are more concerned with your
intentions in these circumstances. You have approached these ships with a full
battle group. Our interests involve the protection of those ships from your
advances.”

    
“Then our interests coincide here.”

    
“Perhaps. What would you propose?”

    
“A joint venture: We will communicate a
simple text message to meet in person along with a language packet for
translation. Each of us will send a delegation to greet this new species,”
Elliot replied.

    
“What if they refuse?”

    
“We’ll fall off that bridge when we come to
it.
 
Would you care to send the text
message? You do have more experience in these situations.”

    
“Thank—you Admiral, I’d be delighted. In
response to your gracious gesture, we can take an Alliance shuttle of your choice to the ship
if your request is accepted.”

    
“Agreed.”

    
Lathiel was horrified to see a fleet of
heavily armed ships confronting them. After one group arrived and scanned them,
another swarm arrived a moment later. A language packet was transmitted minutes
later. They downloaded it into their translator and responded with a broadcast
to all of the Earth ships.

    
“Admiral, the alien ship is signaling,” a
surprised communications officer said to Elliot.

    
“Let’s have it.”

    
The message crackled across the speakers
and a voice that sounded Human except for a slight rolling of consonants was
heard.

    
“We accept your request. You may approach
our lead ship and dock at our starboard hatch. Two of our people with greet two
of yours.”

    
“Transmission ended,” the communications station
reported.
  
Joshua looked up to his
friend. “It was in English!”

    
“The language packet worked,” Elliot said. “Signal
the Coalition General.”

    
Joshua nodded to the officer in charge of
communications. Nadine appeared a moment later on the main screen.

    
“You heard the transmission?”

    
“Yes, I will depart for a shuttle
immediately. Which of your ships shall I dock with?”

    
“The
Excalibur
,
I will
accompany you to the alien ship.”

    
“I look forward to it,” she said and showed
a crocodile smile.

    
“I’ll see you there. Portside hatch, level
twenty—one,” Elliot said. She gave him a curt nod and ended the transmission.

    
Elliot turned to Joshua and Madison.

    
“Take command of the fleet. Open fire only if
the Coalition forces try to destroy you or the alien ships. Contact HQ
immediately to advise them of recent developments.”

    
Joshua nodded and Elliot turned for the
left hand exit at the back of the tech—heavy bridge. He walked past Joshua’s and
into a lift. The elevator’s fast descent down the shaft didn’t account for the
sinking feeling he had in the pit of his stomach.

    
The lift stopped with a soft chime. Elliot
left the elevator with a sense of reprehension in his gut and walked at a fast
stride despite his misgivings. The docking port looked cold and unwelcoming as
he waited for his nemesis to arrive. Finally he heard the mechanical clang of
metal hitting metal. After several slow seconds, the hatch slid open.

    
A woman of average height and a thin but
solid build appeared at the docking bay’s exit. She stared at him with a mix of
apprehension and anticipation of their meeting. She was very beautiful to
Elliot’s aesthetic appreciation, and also incredibly dangerous. Nadine stepped
down to the deck from the raised hatch and extended a hand as a show of
cooperation for the passing crew.

    
“Admiral Fredericks, it is good to meet you
in person.”

    
“Likewise,” he said accepting the
handshake. “Please accompany me to the shuttle bay.”

    
She walked with him in silence to the
primary shuttle launch located on that deck. Nadine ignored his hand presented
to help her onto the fifteen foot long ship and seated herself into the place
next to the pilot’s chair. It was only once the shuttle’s doors were closed
that she spoke.

    
“I didn’t know the Alliance planted people in the military.”

    
“We have only done so in defense of our
nation. The Alliance
isn’t in the habit of planting spies within their own fleet.”

    
“I am not a spy,” she hissed. “We only do
so because we would never be accepted into the fleet if our abilities were
common knowledge.”

    
Elliot opted not to respond and instead concentrated
on the specifics of launching the ship from the bay. They pulled along side the
Ferine ship towards the indicated docking hatch. When they heard the thump of
the port meeting their ship, they both got up and walked to the hatch.

    
Lathiel and Ranik stood at the vibrant blue
hatch of their ship awaiting unknown guests.

    
“What do they look like?” Ranik asked.

    
“I have no idea.”

    
“Do you think that they’ll look anything
like us?”

    
“Probably not. You’ve seen the Nevargh,” Lathiel
replied.

    
“More reptiles?”

    
“Who knows? They may have ten arms.”

    
“What do we do then?” Ranik asked.

    
“Greet every one of them.”

    
“I hope they at least have skin.”

    
The hatch opened to reveal two humanoid
figures without markings, high ears or enlarged fangs.

    
“It’s a male and a female,” Lathiel
remarked in a Ferine whisper too low for most races to hear.

    
“Is your translator working?”

    
“I think so,” Lathiel replied, fingering a
small two by one inch gray ribbed box attached to the breast of his cloak.

    
“Good.”

    
The two alien creatures stepped into the
corridor after a brief look at an environmental analysis to confirm their
ship’s readings. The female stepped ahead of the male and extended her arm.

    
“I am pleased to meet you. My name is
General Nadine Hanover, head of diplomatic relations for the Coalition.”

    
The two Ferine looked quizzically at the
extended arm. The male took the opportunity to interject.

    
“It is a gesture of friendship. We grasp
hands to show that we have no weapons,” the male supplied.

    
“An interesting gesture,” Lathiel said.
There was a hint of a growl to their misunderstanding ears as he grasped her
hand.

    
“Are you angry?” Nadine asked.

    
“Certainly not,” Lathiel responded.

    
“We are not used to your ways, Sir. In our
culture a growl is an aggressive stance.”

    
“Oh, I see,” Lathiel said. “With our
culture it is a gesture of respect.”

    
“Well then, thank—you Sir.” Nadine said.

    
“My name is Lathiel, skipper of this ship.
My associate here is Ranik.”

    
Both of the Humans realized the grace and
majesty of the beings in front of them. They both had vertically slit eyes and
both had nearly cat—like markings to their skin. The two Ferine stood at
approximately six feet, four inches tall and had elongated teeth. Nadine
couldn’t help but think of them as handsome cat—men.

    
“What is your name?” Lathiel asked of the
male.

    
“I’m Elliot Fredericks, Sir.”

    
“Call me Lathiel.”

    
“Lathiel, are you the beings responsible
for the wormhole?”

    
Both of the Ferine took on a guilty countenance.

    
“We are here because of that unfortunate
event. A great war is raging in our space and the weapon was meant for others.
We did not know that it would open a wormhole, much less have any impact on
your civilization,” Lathiel said.

    
“You admit to your role in this?” Nadine
asked.

    
“Of course. We did not know it would strike
your system.”

    
“So you acknowledge your complicity in
this?”

    
“General,” Elliot said.

    
“They admit they caused this destruction,”
she said.

    
“They had no idea that this would be the
result. You heard them yourself,” Elliot said.

    
“We are sorry. We never intended for this
to happen,” Lathiel said.

    
“But it did,” Nadine retorted.

    
“The impact on us was far greater than the
impact on your nation,” Elliot said.