2140

S.D.N Whirlwind

Ce'luaka Ombri System

Hel'lius Quadrant

Milky Way Galaxy

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The transmission in the middle silenced everyone on the command deck. A silhouette emerged from the still buzzing screen seconds ago. A Quaxir revelled in elegant armour face to face with the Ambassador and Hal'io. A humanoid with blue skin, head wider than most, veins visible in the scalp, the scalp held no hair with plain blue skin littered throughout, with a physique comparable to most humans.

"State your business trespassers, we have hyperspace disruptors activated across the system, comply." exclaimed the Quaxir. "We have pinpointed three Gal'hian cruisers within your fleet, identify yourselves or be fired upon."

"My name is Quinn Huntington, the delegate for humanity, we bring greetings from the Sol Directorate," replied the Ambassador as he stepped further into the middle of the holographic transmission.

"Humans? How can I be surprised, trespassing into Quaxir space with no authorization? One of your battlefleets carrying your sigil has decimated a mining outpost in this system! Explain why I shouldn't kill you right now, and be very careful with the words you say, Ambassador," replied the Quaxir captain.

Sensing the tension rising and the situation worsening, Hal'io gently shoved the Ambassador away from the screen and presented himself to the Quaxir. "Captain, I am Hal'io Gladi from the research caste of the Gal'hia Serenity. We bring the envoys of humanity to the summit of the Ascended in Erumi," reassured Hal'io.

The Quaxir scanned the Gal'hian from head to toe and muttered to one of his colleagues nearby, confused as they were. "Greetings, Hal'io of the Serenity. I am Captain Torqhy of the Quaxiras League. That crest on your chest does not betray your allegiance to the Ascended," said Captain Torqhy.

Hal'io asserted himself in the middle of the transmission beside Captain Gallahan and Ambassador Quinn as tensions de-escalated and fingers unclenched from weapons systems.

"Forgive my rashness, Hal'io Gladi, but an attack happened recently by ships bearing the same sigils on the sides and belly of the vessel you are boarding now," explained the Quaxir captain. "Surely you must understand why we are taking precautions,"

"We take no offence, my friend. Taking care of your own is one of the virtues we Gal'hians stand for," reassured the Gal'hian.

"However, this still does not explain the fact that human warships bearing the same sigil as your "Directorate" have plundered a mining facility near the western fringes of the asteroid belt of Ombri," said Captain Torqhy. "Please allow the humans to explain this daring assault, Hal'io Gladi," he finished.

The venerable Gal'hian sighed and promptly gave way to the Captain and Ambassador. "Greetings once again, Captain Torqhy. It is all a big misunderstanding. Please allow us to expla—" Ambassador Quinn tried to finish when he was interrupted by the Captain in a mellower tone.

"A big misunderstanding? It couldn't have been more clarified than this, Ambassador Quinn. Five of your nation's warships boarded the outpost and looted its refineries to dust. They have also left no survivors at the site, how could it be more complicated than this?" asked Captain Torqhy.

"Those five warships that you speak about, Captain, are hijacked vessels from a human rebel group. One of our shipyards in Alpha Centauri system was raided, and those five stolen ships were a product of that incident," said Captain Gallahan as he stepped up.

"And who you might be, human?" rebutted Captain Torqhy as he glared down Gallahan.

"I am Captain Gallahan Mcknight. I commandeer the flagship "Whirlwind", and I am telling you that, the sailors and soldiers of the Directorate are not a part of your incident, Captain Torqhy," refuted Captain Gallahan, neither backing down from each other's presence as the human angel blues meets the darkened greens of the Quaxir.

"Captain Torqhy, we are merely passing by as Ce'luaka Ombri's hyperlane network is the only accessible one from our hyperdrives. Adjacent networks are raptured and are not traversable without serious consequences," said the Ambassador, "Several Gal'hian cruisers accompanied us on this trip. Is this not proof enough that we are not your enemies?"

"If that were true, then why would you have not hailed us before your arrival, Ambassador?" disputed the Quaxir Captain, "Why suddenly perform a jump maneuver into Quaxir space without proper jurisdiction?"

"Did you not receive our pleads?" asked Hal'io, a confused expression dawned on the Quaxir's face.

"If we had, would we be having this conversation still? Transfer me the backlogs of you sending those messages locally. If it does not burden your Terran friends, send my technicians the logs that clarify the evidence that your shipyards and the present vessels were involved in the attack in Centauri," replied Captain Torqhy sternly. "I am also a patriot of the Quaxiras League. It is my duty to ensure the safety of my people. By Ascended law, this request of evidence is justified and thus warranted."

"Give me the evidence, and I will let you pass through to Erumi," finished the Quaxir captain.

Sighing in irritation and relief, "Officer Bran, retrieve the requested logs and send it through the local network, everything we have on that raid," said Gallahan. The chief officer nodded and scurried away to his technicians and stations. Hal'io whispered into his crest, and the Gal'hian ships sprung into action as message logs were sent over the local network.

"Captain! Transfer complete," said the officer after a few seconds of digging through the archives. The Quaxir nodded and scanned the documents thoroughly for quite some time until he returned to his idled position in the transmission.

"I have received the documents, and the legitimacy of these logs has been proven, my garrison forces are now disengaging their hyperspace disruptors, you may jump to Erumi," said Captain Torqhy. "May you and your crew bode well with your journey, Captain Gallahan." The transmission ended.

"Great start.." Captain Gallahan said.

"Better than getting obliterated by our allies for dense reasons," retorted Hal'io as he looked out the deck bridge. Three warships of the Quaxir are reinitializing their headings and disengaging from the Directorate's fleet formation. They seem to be heading to the garrison's station beside the binary dwarfs.

"Be advised, all ships full power on sublight thrusters! Rendevouz on jump coordinates at the other end of the system!" Captain Gallahan exclaimed over the intercom. The motionless fleet began moving toward the pinpointed coordinates. The sight of sublight thrusters engaging and leaving streaks of blue along the rear end of the ships never gets old as Hal'io looks over the booming ships.

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The formation moved at a steady pace, passing by Ce'luaka Ombri's asteroid belt, and planets. "This system is one of the industrial centres of the Quaxir, yet I see nothing but eerieness in place of the bustling freighters and commercial vessels," said Hal'io.

"It must have been the recent raid by the insurrectionists that drove them away, made the system go into high alert," said Ambassador Quinn, "I wouldn't blame them."

"You might be right, Ambassador. But being on the fringe of Quaxir borders, Ce'luaka Ombri has always been the breeding ground for piracy," replied Hal'io.

"How that might be?" Quinn asked as he turned towards Hal'io. "I thought you Ascended are united in perpetuity after your Unification Wars," he finished.

"The remnants of the warmongering races still linger in our galaxy. Such races are in every corner of it," said Hal'io with a heavy tone. "Evil will never leave our reality. All you can do is to keep defying it until the end."

"I guess it is the nature of all living beings to be flawed in one way or another. Even the Ascended Council that might be perfect might not be," said Ambassador Quinn.

"Humanity is no different. That is why I question your judgment to uplift us as a species," Quinn continued, "Humanity has been at war with itself even since brothers upon brothers drew blood for the first time," he finished.

"I carelessly pondered about the possibilities of the uplifting program was but a sham. A deed that, one day, will eventually turn against us," Hal'io's demeanour and dreadful display of potency of the voice struck the human. Taken aback, Quinn responded.

"You have done humanity a good deed Hal'io, but know this, our race is young, quarrelsome, and warlike," said Quinn. A faint sigh came with the words that came out of his mandible. the Ambassador turned to face the tall being. "We are not ready for the galactic frontier, humanity fears the unknown, and there is plenty of unknown that came with that subject," the human rebutted.

"I agree with you, Ambassador Quinn, but the nation of Gal'hia and Gala'ad Kal'jud has deemed this effort to be critical. I and my caste must see this through, the situation at hand does not offer any other solution," said Hal'io. "There is no stopping this now Quinn."

"You are one but many species that are currently part of the uplifting program to fight what's to come during these dark times," Hal'io said. "Do you remember when we first met? Our ambiguous meeting was without skepticism, and firearms pointed in our direction," continued Hal'io.

"Your world leaders, as I may recall were not forced to comply with the uplifting program that we are currently having now. Whatever that it is that humanity chose was because humanity chose to do the program and fight the Swarm," rebuked Hal'io.

The Ambassador sighed. "That is what I fear Hal'io. The greed of the old nation-states that fought eight decades ago still permeates the seat of our unified government," said Quinn.

"It has never left our history, greed that is. Even now, I can feel the politicians scheming to achieve their agendas," Ambassador Quinn continued.

"Billions of souls anguished in the flames of that war, Hal'io, billions. All for the purpose of a few bureaucrat asshats to profit from it," said Ambassador Quinn with a grim tone. "I fear this will be the same, Hal'io," followed Ambassador Quinn.

"Human history has never been without conflict, you understand this, yes? You understand the consequences that come with it?" Ambassador Quinn asked the Gal'hian, overlooking the glare of Ce'luaka Ombri's stars.

The Gal'hian smiled. "My people have their own fair shares of mistakes before we came into the galactic stage," Hal'io turned to face the human, his eyes naught denied the lost mind of his. "We are just like you, in many ways. You need to leave behind the horrors of your past, and look towards the future with the everlasting hope your people have."

"Such a fantasy I cannot dream of, Hal'io," said the Ambassador. "Everything that you stated resembles the opposite path that humanity took. There is beauty in humankind, but the chaotic side of itself overshadows everything else," he finished.

"If you have seen what I had seen, you would reestablish your beliefs on how humanity is," Ambassador Quinn pointed out.

"The Ascended Council is built on the foundation of toppled imperialistic regimes. During the Unification Wars, we unravelled teeth we never knew existed." Hal'io's head bent down emotionally when he reminisced about the war before the council's stable rule of the three Quadrants in the galaxy.

"We did things we never knew we could do, Ambassador. We dropped ordnances of untold proportions on cities. Cities bustling with families and younglings, all in the faith that what we were doing was fighting for freedom from tyrannical rule."

"We never knew the horrors of what we did when we were fighting for what we thought was right. It all came crashing down in the end with the pain that burdened us," said Hal'io. His eyes were littered with reflections from the rays of the binary dwarves.

"We all have a foundation that life built for us, Ambassador Quinn. We cannot change that foundation no matter how much we say so," said Hal'io. "You cannot blame me for believing in a species that once reminded me of our own, I still hold hope, and so does a lot of your people." Upon hearing this, Ambassador Quinn sighed and looked towards the endless darkness of space.

"Listen, Ambassador, the only way to achieve absolute harmony with one's self is the ability to accept one's flaws, and move on with unequivocal trust in your capabilities, the right and the wrong," Hal'io said with impunity, leaving the Ambassador unspoken for a time.

"You and I cannot deny the fact that humanity practiced and waged war throughout its history. I have never seen such a species who warred with itself for what it seemed its whole existence. Never, Ambassador." Hal'io broke the silence that lingered for a while. The words portrayed a hideous reality that sat ablaze in the face of the Ambassador, nay denying what the Gal'hian said.

"But that does not mean that humanity is without its merits in its magnificence as a culture and species. I have never seen a civilization so diverse and immersed in their own culture such as yours. It is truly majestic," said Hal'io, his smile naught breaking within the moment as they held eye contact with each other. "There is always the good and the bad, Quinn. We cannot move forward if these two qualities are clashing. Only when they are merged in consensus do we ever truly find peace. Accept who you are," Hal'io finished.

"I pity you, Ambassador Quinn, you and your species. You will enter the galactic stage, not with a promise of unmatched peace and prosperity within the Ascended. But one ravaged with war and despair," Hal'io now facing the lost soul of the human, his sleek, hawklike eyes piercing the tender blues of the human, but still the Ambassador stared into nothingness.

"Do you have a son, or maybe a daughter, Hal'io?" The question piqued the heart of the Gal'hian. Hal'io was surprised by the sudden change of tone in the Ambassador's voice. "My son was drafted into the armed forces, Hal'io," said the Ambassador. "He is nineteen years old, I want him to lead a long, happy life, and have a family that he will love dearly and then he. This war took that from me. Millions of fathers, mothers, wives, sons and daughters all have their families taken from them."

'Please, Hal'io, do not let them be in vain. I do not know if I will see my son again," said the Ambassador, overtaken by the abyss, as darkness clouded his eyes and thoughts. "I plead with you, make this right. If you are going to take my son away from me, I hope it is worth it all because he is all I have."

"I know war. That is why I try my hardest to avoid it, at all costs, even if it costs me my sanity." followed Quinn.

"I do not know your son or the million other sons and daughters that will be fighting on the behest of the human race. What they will be fighting for and millions of others will cloud your forlorn mind. They will not be fighting for the unending avarice of politicians. Nor the laughter in the slaughter of despotic oppressors. I know with absolute certainty that they will fight because they must." Said the Gal'hian. His voice touched the realms of conviction of one who believes.

"You claim you know war and the horrors that came with it. The horrors that will come if we do not stand and implore our limbs to endure the sinking sand with fury will be much grimmer." followed the Gal'hian. "We need to make a stand, Quinn, or everything will be in vain." finished Hal'io. Ambassador Quinn stood still as the silhouette of the stars slowly faded from view.

The occupied command deck stood at attention immediately as Gallahan gave orders. "Be advised we are preparing to initiate our jump procedures! You all know the drill!" Captain Gallahan exclaimed over the intercoms as the crew hurried into their pods. Suddenly, one bright explosion rattled the undisturbed space behind the fleet. One of the Quaxir titan-class warships had been destroyed, and its debris scattered throughout its initial surroundings.

"Captain! Portside! We are detecting three bogeys trailing the Quaxiras ships!" Chief Officer Bran exclaimed. Captain Gallahan looked over to his portside overlooking the centre of the fleet formation, three unknown warships had attacked one of the Quaxir titans.

"Captain, more are exiting hyperspace! I am detecting three more signatures materializing beside the other ones!" Six in total, six unknown warships, crude and bulky, ample guns and beam accelerators on every surface they can be fitted on these monstrous ships.

"By the god, what the fuck are those things?" remarked Gallahan with a worried tone.

"Captain! Do not engage! Those are Dak'unta pirate battleships! We are heavily outmatched, I suggest we get out of here, now!" Hal'io shouted as the other Quaxir titans had engaged the pirates. Thousands of kinetic ordnances and energy projectiles lit up the dark space in a matter of seconds as they exchanged barrages.

Captain Gallahan looked at the Gal'hian conflicted, "They might be pricks but don't tell me we are leaving them to die!" Gallahan rebutted.

"Captain! I am detecting hyperspace disruptors within our proximity, they are coming from those ships! We cannot perform an emergency jump maneuver!" Chief Officer Bran pointed out.

"There is no choice then," muttered the Captain as he ran towards his command post and smashed the button beside his intercom. A blaring red light occupied the entire command deck. "Redirect our headings towards the Quaxir battlegroup. We are to intercept and engage the pirates!" The Captain exclaimed. Ten human battlecruisers spontaneously recalibrated their headings and moved towards the battlegrounds with three Gal'hian cruisers trailing.

"All stations, this is Captain Gallahan! Direct all power to weapon systems and countermeasures! Prepare for combat!"