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The P’G’Maig shuttle looked nothing like a standard shuttle.  Nothing about it was reasonable or practical.

It was triangular, with spikes that extended from each angle.  They were over ten meters long, and made the whole craft unnecessarily large.

But that was surely the point, Brooks thought.

It certainly helped that the ship was plated in gold and platinum, shined to an almost mirror-like finish.  It was over the top, and very consciously so.

“Good for reflecting lasers, I suppose,” Urle noted over the live feed back to the Craton.

“I’m sure it has other defenses as well,” Brooks commented.

“Captain, we should not be discussing such things,” Decinus chided.

Brooks nodded to the other ship – only under magnification was it visible to the naked eye.  “I guarantee you that Ks’Kull is noting our shuttle’s defenses as well.”

Decinus frowned, but said nothing else.

Their destination was visible, if just barely.  Ks’Kull would not agree to board the Craton, no matter the guarantee, and Brooks would not let himself or Decinus go onto the Hev flagship.  So they’d had to compromise.

The small floating station was as close to neutral ground as could be had.  It was little more than a boxy rectangle, shielded against radiation, that contained a single room and two airlocks.  It had the barest minimum of computers, maneuvering thrusters, and general mass, so each side could be as reasonably certain as possible that it was not a trap.

He’d brought it, but allowed Ks’Kull to send in his troops to check it under supervision.  So many layers of potential tricks and traps . . .

Ks’Kull had had a list of demands that had to be appeased prior to agreeing to a face-to-face.  Only four members to each delegation, no weapons, and N’Keeea was not to come.

Brooks had been fine with all but the last, but N’Keeea himself had shrugged it off.

“It is wise,” he had said.  “If Ks’Kull was there, I would try to kill him myself.  And if I was there he would wish for me to be killed.  Anything else would be foolish.”

He’d actually demanded an open recording made, which Brooks was happy to allow.  Let anyone see; it would help make everything as transparent as possible.  Not that anything about this would be secret; they all would be recording for posterity.  It was the only way to be sure nothing underhanded was done, and that everyone’s word was honored afterward.

The most odious part to him, though, was Ks’Kull’s final demand.

“I will not make deals with one who has not killed.  Your diplomat is nothing to me – it would insult me to speak with it.  But you, Captain Ian Brooks, your reputation is known.  You do not approach my greatness – but you have known blood.  Therefore you will speak on behalf of your people and the disgusting, reviled, traitorous, filthy T’H’Tul.”

“Very well,” he’d agreed.  It wasn’t like he had a choice.

It was not his forte, and not where he wanted to be.  But Decinus had wisely pointed out something; “I may be the diplomat, Brooks, but you seem to know the Hev far better than I.  Therefore it may be best if I simply assist you.”

For the rest of his party he’d picked Logus and Kell.  Or, at least, the latter had asked.

“Absolutely not,” Brooks had said.  “This is going to be an extremely delicate matter, Kell.  I mean no offense, but you have a tendency to be far too blunt for me to even-“

“Do you trust the Hev?” Kell asked.

Brooks paused.  “No,” he admitted.

“That is why I must go.  He will not play by the rules that have been set.  Why should you be so foolish?”

“There is,” Decinus said carefully, “The issue of your . . . presence, Ambassador Kell.  While I understand other species do not feel it as keenly as humans, it will be detrimental if Ks’Kull felt threatened by your presence.”

“Then he will not feel it,” Kell said.

And as he said the words, the unnerving pressure that they felt simply was gone.

Brooks found himself almost uncomfortable with the feeling of normality.  “Is this difficult for you?” he asked Kell.

“It is an effort,” he admitted.  “But difficult?  No.”

Brooks looked to Decinus, then back to Kell.  “So long as you swear you will not speak unless I directly speak to you and will follow all my cues, I will welcome your presence, Kell.”

“I give my word,” Kell replied.

And now Kell did not even look like himself.  He had taken the guise of a different person, one heavyset with a balding pate, and wore the uniform of a Response Officer, sans unit insignia.

Logus seemed fascinated by it.  “Did anyone see him change?” he asked the others.  “Kell, how hard is it for you to do that?”

“To change shape is the natural state of a Shoggoth,” Kell told him.  “It is holding it the same that takes effort.”

“Remarkable,” Logus muttered.

Their shuttle was now approaching the meeting room.  Brooks scanned it again, and Urle fed him the results of his own scans from the Craton.

“Still detecting nothing suspicious on their ship or in the meeting cube.  Once you dock, though, we are incommunicado.  Best of skill, Captain.”

“Thank you,” Brooks said.

He looked to the others.  “Initiating docking procedures.”

The shuttle docked without incident, and Brooks stepped into the antechamber leading to the meeting room.  His system indicated that Ks’Kull’s shuttle was still docking, but everything seemed normal.

“Ambassador Decinus, I would appreciate it if you take our gift forward,” Brooks said.

Decinus nodded, taking their diplomatic gift; a meeting with Hev demanded such an offering, and theoretically Ks’Kull would offer one in return.  Just what he would offer would indicate highly how he viewed the coming meeting.

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