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Urle’s internal clock noted that it was only twenty-two minutes later when they received a signal back.

“We have received a one-word reply,” the comm officer said.  “‘Yes’.”

Urle sat up.  “Ambassador, are you ready to speak to your people?”

The Hev nodded, holding himself a little taller.

“Receiving live signal.”

This time, the signal was video as well as audio.

The Hev that appeared before them was tall, with broad shoulders and a face that seemed like it had been mangled at some time in the not-too-distant past and healed only crudely.  Yet it fit with the flinty eyes.

“Ambassador.  Who are our new allies?” the Hev demanded curtly.

N’Keeea said nothing, but gestured to Urle, who stood.

“Greetings, in the name of Union Humanity.  I am Commander Zachariah Urle-“

“Human ship with Sepht crew?” the Hev demanded.

“Right now I speak to you from a Sepht ship that accompanied us, but these are the only Sepht in the system.  But I am afraid we have not been introduced-“

“How many ships have you brought?” the Hev demanded.

“We are two, counting this one,” Urle said.  “May I know your name?”

“Two ships?!  Are you an advance force?  How did you get past the P’G’Maig?  Are there more than this engaged with them already?”  The Hev sounded alarmed, angry, and confused all at once.

“Sir,” Urle said.  “I can explain – we have achieved permission to pass through the lines.  We are not here to fight for you – we are here to negotiate with the P’G’Maig for your survival.”  He gestured to N’Keeea.  “Our Ambassador, Decinus, will tell you more.”

The Hev would have none of it.  He let out a strangled sound of rage, reaching forward for the camera, so quickly and furiously that Urle wanted to recoil.

The signal cut off.

N’Keeea was cringing.

“Th-that was Grand General G’Kaackt . . .” he said softly.  “But he . . . I am afraid he does not place much belief in negotiations . . .”

Decinus looked quite worried.  “Let us try again in a moment.  Perhaps after the General takes a little time he will be willing to speak to us again.”

“Captain!” a sensor officer cried.  “We are being painted with targeting lasers!”

Urle bit back a curse.  “Maneuvering thrusters, pull us back-“

“Missiles have been launched,” the sensor officer continued.

Urle’s threat board was already lighting up.  Stars, that was a lot of missiles.

“Why are they firing on us?!” Daa said, glaring at N’Keeea – who, for his part, had nothing to say, simply folding his head over and putting both hands over his snout.

“Ambassador – is this a warning, or a real attack?” Urle asked N’Keeea sharply, watching the distance tick down.  The nearest missile would reach them in thirty seconds.

N’Keeea said nothing.

“They would not dare to attack us!” Decinus said.  “We’re here on their behalf!”

Urle watched the missiles come closer.  “It seems they do not agree, Ambassador,” he said.  He waited a few more seconds, until he felt sure that this was not merely a warning.  “Arm all PDCs, engage countermeasures – break their damn locks!  And pull us back, we can drag those missiles through some dense debris fields if we move . . .” he sent the signal to the engines, getting them to move already.  “This way.”

Daa was up in N’Keeea’s face.  “Ambassador, we have to know if this is a false attack or not!” she was saying sharply.

“Leave him be, Captain,” Urle ordered.  “I need you to take command – helm, give me control access.  Defense grid, let me interface with the PDCs.”

The ship was smart, like all ships, but he could add his own intellect and reaction speeds to both endeavors.  Sitting back in his chair, he lost visual with the rest of the command center, leaving only audio on, and began to see through the eyes of the sensors.

A handful of missiles had struck debris as the ship had put it between them.  Not too smart, then.

The Bright Flower had very little in the way of armaments, not when so much of her space was taken up by her specialist equipment.  But at least that equipment told him a lot about the missiles.  He scanned them all, noting any that seemed jittery, like they had a bad thruster.  A lot of them did, and he devised a counter-fire pattern that could exploit that, predicting their likely maneuvers, and aiming to put flak into those paths.

They had only two missile tubes and a dozen missiles of their own, but several were designed for destroying enemy missiles, so he loaded them and with the ship’s help gave them headings.

“Two away,” he declared.

The missiles were twelve seconds out.  The Maig had, at least, detonated theirs by now.  And these were far more threatening – not just because the Bright Flower had far fewer defenses, but the missiles themselves were larger, with heavier payloads.

Several were intercepted and destroyed by the counter-missiles, others by their PDC fire in short, controlled bursts.  But they didn’t get them all.

“Rotating the ship – all crew, brace!”

Most were already in their seats, but Daa and N’Keeea weren’t, the ship told him.  Through the eyes of the ship’s internal cameras, he saw as the Sepht Captain grabbed N’Keeea, throwing him into his seat and herself over him, gripping on with every limb.

Urle tried to slow the turn as much as he could so as not to hurt her; but it would be close.

He couldn’t dodge the last two missiles.  But if he angled the ship just right . . .

He felt the g-forces pulling at his body, saw Captain Daa holding on for dear life.  Just a few more seconds of these Gs . . .

The ship rotated on another axis, and he hoped his calculations were right . . .

“Brace for impact!” he cried.  A klaxon was going off, a deep, throbbing sound for Sepht ears.

The ship shuddered as it was hit.

But the alarm sirens were not declaring catastrophe; he fired the counter-thrusters, finding they all worked, while damage reports poured in.

“Impacts,” an officer called.  “On radiators 7 and 31.”

Urle turned his vision back on, decoupling from the system.  He saw the eyes of the crew looking at him, almost in awe.

“You moved the ship so they’d hit the radiators instead of the main body?” one asked.

He saw that two crew members were helping Captain Daa, who looked nearly unconscious.  He moved over and helped bring the Captain to her seat.  She had risked her life to save N’Keeea, who was still just sitting there, saying nothing.

“Yeah,” he finally answered the crewmate.  “Too much risk of loss of life if they hit the hull.  Or a reactor breach.  Are there any other launches?”

“Negative, Acting-Captain.  We’re pulling back, and they’ve stopped target-painting us.”

“Continue to pull back,” Urle ordered, feeling suddenly exhausted himself.  Daa was rapdily coming to, and he was grateful for that.

“Damage report,” Daa said, shaking her head, rubbing a tentacle across her brow.

“The two radiators are at 32 and 17 percent efficiency – all others fully intact.  Debris from the hits caused minor damage to seven sensor nodes, and pierced three spots on the hull – decks 7, 8, and 12 have depressurized hallways, but not in occupied areas.  A minor leak from water tank 3.”

“Casualties?” Urle asked.

“None that we know of, Acting-Captain,” the officer said, his relief palpable.

Oh thank the Stars . . .

Urle’s legs trembled, and if they’d been in gravity he might have had to lock his knees to keep upright.

“Captain Daa – how are you?”

“I’m fine,” she said shortly, glaring at N’Keeea.  “What are your orders?”

“Given that she’s your ship, I’d like to know your recommendation,” he said.

“We get the flaff out of here,” she grumbled.  “And put Ambassador N’Keeea in the brig.”

Urle looked at the Hev, who was now shivering as well as unresponsive.  “I agree with the former.  As to the latter . . .”

Decinus stepped over, putting his hands on N’Keeea’s shoulders.  “Please,” he said.  “Allow me to speak with him.  He was just fired upon by his own people.  I don’t think it takes an expert to understand that he is having some difficulties.”

Urle took a deep breath.  “I agree, Ambassador.  Take him somewhere, see if you can get him calm enough to talk to us again.  But as soon as the zerodrive is charged, we are heading back to the edge of the system.”

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< Ep 6 Part 21 | Ep 6 Part 23 >