Abiga floated in her chair in the joint conference room on a Maxcelian ship designed to accommodate both terrestrial and aquatic life. Brixtix insisted on the idea after the disaster at Bolga’s Gap when Tengan ships had been unable to lend support to the mortally damaged Maxcelian fleet. Brixtix’s cousin Praxic stood bravely with his broken ships against the Vo to cover the Tengan retreat, none survived. It had been no easy feat for the Tenga and Maxcelians to retrofit their ships to provide support for the other’s physiology but it had gone a long way in saving lives and improving relations between the former enemies. Abiga regretted that she hadn’t had the idea first.
The room and circular table in its center was physically split by a thin transparent membrane that kept the air and water on their respective side. Politically, the room was split the other way with Abiga, Brixtix, and their heads of government on one side, and the Humans and Canines on the other, of which only Cluster Admiral Desamaro and Norfolk had come.
Prior to the meeting, Abiga had needed to calm Brixtix down. His honor had been besmirched at Desamaro and Norfolk's declaration that they weren’t bringing an honor guard. Brixtix said it was as though they had such an upper hand that they needed no protection while on a foreign ship. Abiga pointed out that they were from an entirely unknown culture and maybe it didn’t mean anything at all. Internally, she knew it was true. The Tenga and Maxcelians were at the mercy of the Humans and Canines, and she hated it too.
“There’s too much we don’t know going into this,” Brixtix whispered to Abiga as the admiral and canine situated themselves. “If they can defeat the Vo like that, why are they even talking to us? Why not just wipe us out? Or ignore us all together?”
“I don’t think this is about us,” Abiga whispered back. “Remember what the human said earlier, Brix. They came to kill the Vo. I’m guessing that helping us was ancillary.”
Brixtix nodded in agreement. “Still,” he said. “This whole situation makes me uneasy Abby. We’re caught between the cold and the night. I can feel Triaxi fuming behind me and I doubt Oganda is any better. Then in front of us, we have the Vo killers. We may not have been their primary concern but they’re sure concerning themselves with us now.”
Abiga couldn’t help but agree. Her meeting with Head Chancellor Oganda had been less than spectacular. The head of state was furious she wasn’t taking part in the initial meeting with the Humans and Canines but Abiga and Brixtix had been insistent. Cluster Admiral Desamaro and Norfolk weren’t civilian leaders, they were military, which made this a military meeting. Oganda had been relentless in her desire to attend, which Abiga was forced to concede on the condition she remained silent. From what Abiga had heard, Prime of Primes Triaxi hadn’t been much better.
The human cleared their throat, stood, then bent at the waist and spoke. “Greetings, I am Cluster Admiral Desamaro Leader of the Last Expedition.” Gesturing to his fully-haired four-legged companion he said. “And this is Norfolk.” Norfolk’s tail wagged three times then stopped.
Abiga looked her rescuers over. They were less imposing than she’d been expecting. She’d never met a sentient mammal before and two in front of her now were small, especially Norfolk. Still, they’d single handily crushed the Vo when she hadn’t even been able to hold them off.
“Greetings,” Brixtix said, fully retracting his talons and relaxing his scales. “I am Commodore Prime Brixtix of the Maxcelians and this is Lead General Abiga of the Tenga.” At the mention of her name, Abiga changed her color to sharply contrast her environment.
“I apologize,” Brixtix continued, addressing Norfolk directly. “But I didn’t catch your rank or titles and I would hate to cause offense through ignorance.” Abiga hid an amused tentacle wag. Triaxi had a knack for speaking with Brixtix’s mouth.
Norfolk stared at Brixtix before looking up at the human. Desamaro placed his hand on the canine’s head and rubbed. They seemed to communicate but Abiga couldn’t decipher how.
“Canines are mostly non-verbal,” Desamaro said. “So unfortunately your live translation won’t allow her to reply. However, you can still address her, she understands human after all. As for ranks and titles, Norfolk doesn’t technically have her own but she carries all the rights and privileges associated with my rank as Cluster Admiral. If a formal address is required, then I suppose the Cluster Admiral’s Canine would do.”
Abiga’s color went to blend back in with her environment but she forced it to stay contrasted. To her left, Brixtix similarly struggled to keep his talons in and his scales lying flat. Oganda and Triaxi were a different matter altogether and immediately called for their guards. Or at least she suspected that’s what Triaxi yelled about because she wasn’t being translated. Brixtix had been very serious about the heads of state not interrupting.
“Is there a problem?” Desamaro asked, staring past Abiga and Brixtix at their panicking political leaders.
“No,” Brixtix growled, more over his shoulder to the guards than to Desamaro. They retook their positions besides Triaxi instead of between her and the human and canine. Abiga squirted a small amount of warning ink behind her that conveyed the same message to Oganda’s guards. She had to act fast to defuse the situation.
“While we do not condone the ownership of sentients by other sentients,” Abiga began, keeping her voice as level as possible. “We wouldn’t presume to tell your people how to conduct themselves. Especially, after your spectacular defeat of the Vo that had been plaguing us.” She, as Brixtix had, said the last sentence more to the beings behind her than in front of her.
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Desamaro smiled. “I don’t own Norfolk so much as I’m bonded to her. Humans and canines evolved symbiotically with each other. When humans developed the appropriate technology, we uplifted our friends and closest allies, providing them with the sentience nature cruelly thought to deny them. I would die before I let somebeing own Norfolk.”
Abiga noticed a small change in the tensions in Norfolk’s facial muscles before she leaned over and licked Desamaro’s face. While the Tenga don’t have much in the way of facial expressions, Abiga suspected there was much more to the subtle motions Norfolk made than was apparent. She’d need to ask Brixtix about it, Maxcelians were much more facially expressive.
“I apologize for any dishonor I have incurred for this outrageous allegation,” Brixtix said, closing his eyes. “Please don’t hold it against my people.”
Abiga deflated her head to show the same deference as Brixtix and hoped that Oganda and Triaxi had the where-with-all to do the same. She owed Brixtix great thanks. It should have been her apologizing, she’s the one who made the actual accusation.
Desamaro smiled again, addressing Abiga and Brixtix specifically. “We try not to judge a group by the actions of an individual. However, it is now my turn to apologize because I need to get straight to business. Based on our readings, you’ve both managed to get all your surviving people onto ships to perform your ‘Spike’ maneuver to punch through the Vo and escape the galaxy. As ingenious as your plan was, I need you to break that formation and join my Nova Cannon Squadrons in extragalactic space. We need to leave.”
“Leave? Leave where?” Brixtix asked. Abiga could hear Oganda and Triaxi stirring again behind her.
“This galaxy, this galactic group, this cluster. The Vo are coming and we need to get away.”
“But the Vo were powerless against your weapons,” Brixtix said. “You easily destroyed their fleet.”
“And,” Abiga added. “Based on our readings, your Nova Cannons, as they’re so-called, have been busy capturing new red dwarves to replenish their ammunition stocks. Commodore Prime Brixtix as calculated that you should be able to restock and dispatch many such Vo fleets with just the red dwarves in our galaxy.” She added a noticeable amount of emphasis to the last two words.
“That was only a Galaxy-class fleet,” Desamaro replied. “Our best estimates have the Vo possessing hundreds of thousands of such fleets and that to say nothing of their larger Group-class and Cluster-class fleets.”
“That wasn’t even a main battle fleet?” Abiga asked in disarray.
“No, that would be a Cluster-class fleet. The closest one not engaged in combat is in the Deer Lick Group. It’s far enough away that we have some time but close enough to we need to worry. That’s why we’re leaving.”
Without warning, sirens start blaring in the conference room. Over the loudspeaker, a voice came in, “Commodore Prime, a massive fleet has materialized right on the edge of extra-galactic space.”
The room was filled with a rainbow of color before crystallizing into a coherent 3D image. Floating in the middle of the room was a representation of the Galaxy and the new fleet. Abiga disbelievingly double checked the reading on her tablet. The map was correct.
The fleet sat just on top of the galaxy over the galactic core. It was enormous in both size and scale. It outnumbered the Last Expedition fleet by a wide margin and had several ships larger than their Nova Cannon ships. The largest ship, if it could really be called a ship, was a ring as thick as a large star with an aperture wider than a solar system. It seemed as though every other ship could pass through the ring at the same time.
“Good, they’re here,” Admiral Desamaro said upon seeing the holoprojector. “Lead General, Commodore Prime, I need you to move your fleets into position in front of the Double Dutch, that’s our Galactic Ring Drive. My Jump Chief will provide your pilots with specific coordinates. Fair warning, ring jump formations are tighter than you’re probably used to. Even tighter than your Spike.”
Abiga dropped her gaze from the projection to look the Cluster Admiral in the eyes. He made no sign that he was joking.
“That entire thing is just a galactic jump drive?” Brixtix asked, in disbelief.
“Yes,” Desamaro said. “It needs to be that big for the right physical mechanisms to be the dominant forces at play. As I understand it, the jump window, which is the time between initiating the jump and the jump taking place, is based on the light lag it takes for information from the center of the ring to reach the edges.”
Abiga had always been bothered by how the Vo had suddenly shown up without her sensors detecting their incremental approach by stellar jump drive. They must have the same Galactic Ring Drive technology as the Humans and Canines.
Norfolk, without warning, shouted which caused Desamaro to look down at his tablet.
“Shit,” he said under his breath before swiping up and off the top of his tablet towards the holoprojection. The 3D map in the middle of the room expanded until another new fleet came into. It had materialized a dozen galactic widths away from the Double Dutch. How Desamaro had managed to integrate his technology with the Maxcelian holoprojector so quickly, she didn’t know.
“We detected a large Vo fleet dropping out of ring warp,” Desamaro announced to the rest of the beings in the room before returning to the work on his tablet. Norfolk looked dutifully over his shoulder.
Abiga turned back to see Oganda staring in awe at the holoprojection. The new Vo fleet was larger than the newly reunited Last Expedition fleet and had its own massive Galactic Ring Drive. Usually, she liked being right but this wasn’t one of those times. Triaxi was trying to talk to Brixtix but he was waiting for Abiga.
“I say we go with the Humans and Canines,” Abiga said, immediately upon noticing Brixtix. “As much as I hate putting ourselves in their pocket, I don’t see any other options. This is a whole new scale of combat we’re not ready for. That new fleet will wipe us out if we don’t go.”
Brixtix went onto his tablet and began some calculations.
Abiga continued undeterred, this wasn’t the first time she kept explaining while he double checked her plan. “You’ll need to get Triaxi on board as fast as possible. I’ll need her support to convince Oganda.” Abiga suspected Oganda might just oppose the idea because she proposed it.
Brixtix finished checking over the jump schematics and the time of arrival of the new fleet before looking back at Abiga. “That could take hours that we don’t have but look at this,” he said sharing his screen with Abiga. “The Last Expedition galactic jump formation is spike shaped. We just call this the same Spike plan as before with some ‘minor’ modifications and we don’t need approval. Although, Triaxi and Oganda might try to have us removed after this.”
“We’ll swim down that river when we get to it,” Abiga replied and Brixtix nodded in approval.
“Here’s the situation,” Desamaro said, returning everyone to the same conversation. “The Vo are here and they’ve brought a large Cluster-class fleet. We can hold them off but your fleets need to move now. The Ring Drive is already spooling up and any ship not in formation when it’s done gets left behind, ours or yours. You need to decide now whether you’re coming or staying because the Humans and Canines are leaving.”
“We’re in,” Abiga said.