Sevs blew out a breath and relaxed slightly. "Alright, change of plans."

All around him, he felt his whole squad and Susan tense, waiting for the mission to get a whole lot more dangerous. "So they sent a comm to our fleet. They are here to talk."

"So not Tarlaki," Soshal muttered.

"Now we are not heading back, but we are going to land in their hanger instead of boring a hole in their ship." Sevs continued but was interrupted by Jason.

"That would be pretty rude to just go through the wall when the door is open." Everyone ignored him, and Sevs continued on.

"The new objective is-"

"Wait, why are they letting a bunch of enemies just land on their ship? That seems dangerous." This time it was Bexy cutting in.

"Would you let me finish?" Sevs glared at her. Sheepishly she shut her mouth and nodded.

"So we are chosen to be part of the guard for a diplomatic delegation. We and two other ships will land and secure a hanger, then the diplomat will land. The rest of the attack ships will return." Sevs finished.

"So, guard duty?" Carl asked. "Do we know how many charges?"

"Wait a sec getting details," Sevs said as he was pinged again. This time it was from the captain leading the guard communicating the plan to the squads he had taken charge of. After he scanned the message. "We have 10 minutes to prepare once we lang. Then a three-person delegation is coming. Two people I have never met and General Winters. Wow, we are sending some of the top brass."

"Any info on the newcomers?" Soshal asked. Sevs shook his head.

"Apparently, they are able to talk to us. Well, not really, but our computers can translate in near real-time. There wasn't any video, or I'm sure they would have sent a picture along."

With the remaining time, the squad talked about what they might expect. It was all wild speculation as they had almost nothing to go on, but it was fun nonetheless. Spooner than anyone was really ready, for they were landing. Last-minute preparations were made as they vouched down. Guns were checked, and straps tightened.

Once the ship touched down, they ran out and took cover around the hatch before methodically securing the area with the other teams. It was just a hanger and nothing more. There were no ships in it or people or anything. There were a couple entrances which were soon guarded. It was mostly a show of good faith to let them come here and secure the hanger as there wasn't really anything that they could do if the ship decided to close the hanger doors.

Or at least that is what Sevs expected the newcomers to think. They probably didn't know the humans would respawn and had very little to lose other than a few of their cheapest ships. If they really needed to, Sevs gave them decent odds of still being able to take the ship, if not sabotage it before they were driven off.

This was a strange way to talk? He wondered whose idea this meeting was. Why couldn't it have been over hologram? Especially if they had to have a computer translate anyways. Maybe it was a cultural thing?

The area was secured in plenty of time for the diplomatic ship to land. Again Sevs wondered what the point was. It would have been child's play to shoot it down, but they were here as guards.

The ship landed, and the three occupants walked out and greeted the captain in charge of the guard. They talked for a few minutes, but ultimately it didn't change much.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

A few minutes later, the door at the back of the hanger opened, and humanoid figures stepped through. Sevs had a position to get a good look at them. The first thing he noticed was that they were unarmed. At least they weren't holding obvious weapons.

The second thing was their size. The shortest one was at least two heads taller than him. They wore no helmets; instead, their faces were covered in fur, with a slight muzzle sticking a few inches out of their face. Their ears started at the top of their head and folded down to their chins like a basset hound.

"They are dogs!" Jason sent over comms.

Sevs didn't join in on the discussion about the new species, but he had to agree it looked far too much like the anthropomorphic dogs that were all too popular on the internet for a while.

These were everything the Tarlaki were not. Where the space elves were thin and agile, even when they were walking, the dogs lumbered. Sevs looked at their torsos and figured everyone was the size of a world-famous strongman, at least.

He quickly revised their ability to take the ship if they wanted to. Their weapons were optimized for the flimsy yet numerous, Tarlaki. These brutes looked like they could take more than one hit. If they followed the trend, then they would be the ones who were squishy.

The group of dogs was half the size of the humans. They didn't try to take the hangar or even push back the human guards. They simply formed two lines to make a tunnel.

After the lines were formed, a particularly tall one walked down the aisle. When it got in front of the humans, it barked something. Sevs queried his computer for a translation.

"Welcome, hairless apes."

The human rep stepped forward, "Thank you for your hospitality, walking dogs."

Sevs hoped that everyone had some tough skin as, with different body language, those could be rather dire insults. Both of the parties' negotiators seemed to understand. The human spoke again first.

"We are called humans. In all our records, we have never come across your kind."

"Humans…" The dog growled something that vaguely sounded like the word, but it was clear that it was having trouble mimicking human speech.

"We are Grrrrelen." The mixture of grumbling constants was not something humans could say easily, but the lead diplomat made an admiral attempt.

"Grrelen…. In our long travels, we have only found Tarlaki." The human said in a neutral tone. Sevs figured he wasn't trying to give away too much information.

"The space elves? Thin weaklings, that fight like cowards?" The Grrrrrelen inquired.

"I believe you know them. They are quite numerous."

"Our people have long been at war with them. They brook no peace and refuse all talks; they are not worthy opponents. They only still stand because they breed like locusts. This star is one of the ones between our borders. It is on the far edges of the border but still on the border." Came the rumbling response.

"We are not friends with them either," the human allowed, but Sevs noticed that he didn't give away nearly as much information. He couldn't help but think that was a mistake. The reasons not to overshare were clear, but still, they needed friends.

The human was not done speaking. "When you say this system is on your border, are you saying you lay claim to it?"

The Grrrrrelen buried its teeth, and Sevs prepared for action, but the choppy growl was something that didn't sound nearly as threatening as it looked. Once everyone realized it was a show of mirth, the mood calmed down.

"No, we do not want this rock," the Grrrelen stated simply. "It is not worth the effort to colonize. We knew that the space elves had found this place and were coming to oppose them. We do not let them grow more than we have to. But instead, we find you something new."

"We are glad to hear that you don't claim this system." The ambassador said. Just the right amount of emotion seeped into his voice that Sevs was sure it was intentional. Sevs, though, was very glad that they didn't have to face an immediate challenge to the system. That would have been very like the system.

"We expect the Tarlaki to come soon to claim it, though. We will fight them, but we do not have their numbers."

Sevs knew the angle the ambassador was playing. It was clear he was talking around the point, testing out the waters. The Grrrrelen were not stupid. It seemed as if their leader laughed again.

"Are you inviting us to join you in combat?"

"If you are willing."

"We are always willing to fight."