Chapter 6:

Dorfo’s heart was racing after what he had just witnessed. There was nothing that could calm him down. He was waiting for the Terrans to act. His two escorts asked if they should take any action. It had been quite a while since the Fusar fleet had been eliminated by the Terrans. They had cut comms after destroying the Fusar fleet and hadn't made a move since. Dorfo understood why the escorts wanted to take action. He was also well aware that there was no action they could take. Powering up the engines would ensure their death. It was suicide, and he understood that the escorts just wanted the same agony that Dorfo felt himself to end. Yet, he told them to stand by and waited, most likely for death, but he didn't dare contact the Terrans. What would that achieve? They could block comms; their ships obviously had that capability. So even if he tried to communicate, it would ensure their death. His grim train of thought was interrupted when the former councilor's secretary walked onto the bridge.

No one guarded the door, and it was stuck open. Even if it wasn't, Dorfo liked it open. Now he really wished it was closed. The Yoranian woman looked at him with her dark green reptilian eyes and spoke.

"His Excellency would like to extend a call of diplomacy to The Terran Dominion."

She said in her rather loud, vibrating voice. The way she said it made it sound more like "a matter of fact" rather than a request. What was the old man even thinking? The Yor were related to the Tor, not that they had much in common except for being reptilian, but to Dorfo, they may as well have been the same. Before he could give his "polite" response, the old councilor showed up behind her and spoke.

"ShipMaster Dorfo Gin, thank you for accepting my request."

Dorfo didn't accept anything, but he couldn't say no. But he couldn't even really just contact the Terrans either. It was just a bad idea.

"ShipMaster, I would like to act as a contact representative of the Strunin people since I have surmised that this situation is very delicate and requires diplomacy."

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"Sure it does," Dorfo thought. "The Terran fleet will hold a banquet in his honor." He was a wise Strunin after all,head of the great house of Ren, but it seemed he has also lost all sense of reason. What should I say now?

"Your Excellency, welcome to my humble bridge. It is an honor having you on our vessel and choosing our services. I would gladly accept this generous proposal on behalf of me and my crew."

Dorfo was about to say that the communication line was severed and contact was impossible when the Terrans initiated contact to our craft. Well, he wasn't expecting that.

"Strunin vessel, this is High Admiral Mihajlovich Aleksandar of the TW Titan. You appear to have made an FTL jump to the edge of our border. Analyzing the damage of your craft, we have concluded that this was not your intended destination. Furthermore, we see the two fighting craft next to you made a synchronized FTL jump with your craft. We weren't aware that full synchronization was possible in the FTL field, but nonetheless, we would ask you to please jump this system. We see that the other two craft we assume are your escorts have functional FTL drives, so they can sync with your ship and make the jump out of this system. You are free to leave. Thank you. Mihajlovich out."

Before I had the chance to inform the Terrans that this action is not possible because all three FTL engines need to be active for synchronization, the old councilor started speaking to my complete horror…

"High Admiral Mihajlovich Aleksandar, this is ClanHead Garden Ren of the great house of Ren. I ask you to grant me the honor of being the representative for all the Strunin people in this contact. This is a great day. The Strunin Collective and the Terran Dominion have achieved communication."

What the, has he gone mad?

Did he not hear a word the Terran said? I am sure he realized by now what happened to the Fusar fleet. I bet the Terrans find this amusing and are about to turn us into space dust. They were asking us to leave. We could have stayed alive, and now…