“Hm… So the only kind of relations we can establish with the Erasi is trade?” Adrian asked.
“Yes, and they are very large, Lord Sentinel. If what we have read on their net is true—and I see no reason why it shouldn’t be—their territory stretches from our galactic arm to the next. They don’t concern themselves much with races that are not on their level. And they don’t know much about us, except that we just came onto the scene. In time, if they deem us worthy, or a big enough of a threat, the Erasi ruling council will reach out. Until then, we are able to trade freely with their corporations or other races that have representatives on their hub worlds,” Björn said.
“Did you find any mention of the Ra’a’zani on their net?” Adrian turned to Gotu.
“No, but there is just too much data, too many races. And their records for our area of space seem empty, at least their public ones. They do have information brokers on the planet, and as far as I can tell, those will be our best bet to learn anything,” Gotu said.
“Much as the Sorvani said, then. Have we figured out how we will be able to pay them?” Adrian asked.
“We have some materials on board, for use in our fabricators,” Björn started. “I have taken the liberty of setting up talks with a few small businesses that are a part of a local guild to which we can sell them. That will give us enough funds for us to be able to hire guides and to do a bit of trading. Maybe set up trading contracts for Warpath, or even the Empire.”
“How do you think that we should go about this?” Adrian asked.
“First things first, we need to get a shuttle to this station,” Gotu said as he changed the holo to show the station. “It is the base for the Erasi. As a new species in their area, we need to check in. They will enter us into their database with the most basic information—what we look like and our language. We will also receive a sample of five personal translation devices, to use and study in order to produce more.”
“Translation devices?” Aileen asked.
“Apparently they have a superior piece of translating tech. It is customizable for any intelligent race, and you wear it somewhere where it is close to your brain. Every being on hub worlds wears one. It makes it so you hear anyone speaking in your language, immediately, not like how our implants do it where we hear an echo. And everyone else hears their own when we speak,” Gotu said.
“That will be useful,” Adrian commented.
“Yes. After that, we park Veritas into orbit around Tarabat and go down to the planet,” Gotu said.
“Well, then, that sounds like a plan,” Adrian said. “Let’s get on it.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Tarabat system
Gotu and Björn watched from the shuttle as Veritas slowly reached the massive station in orbit of Tarabat. On their way here, the two of them had studied the system and the ships in it closely, evaluating threats and trying to discern their capabilities. The Veritas was the largest warship in the system; there were larger ships, but those were obviously cargo haulers. The other warships that were part of cargo convoys were smaller, none larger than 1000 meters, and ships close to that size were few. Most of them fell within 300 to 600 meters in length, in all shapes and forms.
The Erasi flotilla, on the other hand, was a different story. They had twenty ships, and all were saucer-shaped. Ten were around 800 meters in diameter, another eight about 1500, and the last two were 2200 meters in diameter. Smaller than Veritas, but those ships were clearly of a much different make than the others in the system. They had no visible drives, which would indicate that they only used gravity drives, which didn’t need an exhaust. That could make them more maneuverable, but probably not as fast as his ship, which used both types of drives at the same time. And according to the info they’d gotten from the net, those last two ships were of a class comparable to the Empire’s new battleships, and were not the Erasi’s largest ships.
When the Veritas got close enough, they received word from the station that they could come aboard, and Gotu and Björn, along with another three adepts in battle suits, left on board the shuttle towards the station. Adrian and Aileen stayed on the Veritas, as they weren’t sure if the Erasi would covertly take scans or samples, and they didn’t want to reveal their psionics and augmentation.
According to what Gotu had managed to find out, they wouldn’t be on board long. The shuttle approached and passed through a field that held the atmosphere inside; the Erasi station had the same air composition as what humans and Nel needed. And as it turned out, most of life had similar needs, which wasn’t such a mystery to the Empire, as they knew the reason. The People had been responsible for guiding and pushing forward life on many worlds, and they’d chosen life most similar to their own.
The shuttle landed and the five people inside slowly exited. Inside the clean-looking hangar, they were met with three aliens. One was a Sorvani; the other two were new to Gotu, but he had read up on them. One was a slim red-and-black-colored alien looking similar to snakes, which he’d seen on the old vids from Earth, only it had arms on its upper body, while its lower part slithered on the ground. They were another member of the Erasi and called themselves Ssarath. The other alien was a fur-covered biped with a large, hulking torso, but about as tall as Gotu himself. Also a member of the Erasi, they were called Bomtu. All the aliens had some kinds of clothes on, and they approached as Gotu and the rest of his people exited the shuttle.
The three adepts had their heads covered, while Gotu and Björn went forward with theirs still visible. As they approached, Bomtu—the hulking alien—offered them an open package with five devices on it. Gotu had already been told about how their meeting would go about, and had provided the Erasi with images of the Nel so that they could build the devices. One of the adepts stepped forward and took the package, then offered it to Gotu and Björn, who each took one and placed the small, round part on their temples. The devices were very small, about a size of a small coin, slim, and they stuck to their heads.
The leading alien, the Sorvani, spoke first. “Do you understand me?”
“Yes, I understand you,” Gotu said, impressed. He’d been under the impression that calibration of some kind would be necessary. He glanced to the Bomtu and noticed him looking at the device in his hands.
“That was unexpected,” the Sorvani said.
“What do you mean?” Gotu asked.
The Ssarath on the right slithered a bit closer. “The devices need calibration when they are used for new species, and yet they have adapted to your brainwaves immediately.” It angled its head and looked from Björn to Gotu. Then it glanced at Gotu’s tail.
“The two of you are not the same species?” it asked.
Gotu hesitated; he didn’t want to give away too much at their first meeting. “No, but we are both a part of the Empire.”
“You closely resemble each other. And you also look surprisingly similar to a race we are familiar with. Your brainwaves are almost exactly like theirs, only slightly off,” the hulking alien said. “But you are different. They are larger than you, their skin is of a different color, and their eyes are different.”