From the Ashes: Rise of the Empyrean Empire: Novel 04 by D. L. Harrison

Author:D. L. Harrison [Harrison, D. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-06-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Stacy said, “We’ve come out in the same spot as last time Michael. There are less than half the amount of ships in the system there used to be. Nine, instead of twenty-four.”

I wondered if that meant they trusted us, and weren’t protecting this border as strongly anymore as a result, or if things had gotten a little desperate on the front line. I hoped it was the former.

“Send greetings, and a request to converse.”

Stacy said, “One moment, loading software and configuration change to one of the gravity sensors. We converted it back after last time… okay, done captain.”

Ten seconds later she added, “One of the ships dropped into subspace.”

I said, “May, be ready on shields, just in case this goes sideways and they get aggressive.”

It was doubtful, but there could have been some taboo not in their database we didn’t know about.

The Virgin ship appeared within their sensor net, just nine light seconds from us, and answered our hail.

“Greetings, you wish to converse with us again? For what purpose?”

Well, that was right to the point.

“We reviewed the data you gave us, and have a concern they may one day threaten us as well. We also have an offer we would respectfully request your queens to consider.”

The alien said, “What kind of offer?”

They didn’t have a word for treaty, so I had to wing it with a wordy explanation.

“Our species believes in strength through cooperation, but also respects the rights of others to live as they see fit, which can be hard to balance at times. We would propose a limited joining of purpose between our species while still respecting borders.”

It was impossible to read the alien, their skin was hard which limited facial movement. Plus, they’re faces looked like a pug, except for the large compound eyes and lack of hair.

He replied, “For what purpose?”

“Mutual defense, and assistance. We respect each other’s borders, and territory, except when assisting each other to drive off an invader or other aggressive race. Together in defense, we will both be stronger and more able to defend our separate territories. We will help you fight these aliens, and maybe one day you will help us fight off an invader. We have sixty-one ships we can assist you with at your front lines, if your queens agree to this limited joining of purpose.

“The second one, assistance, merely means if a ship is in distress, and needs help, we will answer it and come.”

The alien said, “To do so we will need to communicate better.”

I agreed, “I propose we pick a quantum frequency we can share, one different from ours and yours. With that frequency, we can limit our data sharing to communications only, and perhaps limited tactical data only related to space battles we fight together.”

We’d discussed it, the crew and I, and any kind of treaty would be worthless if we had to come here and communicate via gravity pulses at ten light seconds or less. The new frequency we’d just use for

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