“We can provide the data. How long will it take you to go back to your world?” Lanai asked strangely. Hana narrowed her eyes, there was something with the way she said it. After a moment Hana spoke.
“I need to go back to my ship, I will return in three days to the station with the response. My people have a way of speaking over vast distances.” She said. At her words she saw a strange exchange between Lanai Sumia and the man on her right, Retsar Isani.
“We would be very interested in knowing how such a thing is possible.” Retsar Isani said.
“I can’t reveal anything without authorization from my superiors.” Hana said.
“Of course.” Retsar Isani said.
With that Hana turned and left the room with Chung-Ah.
After the humans left Sumia looked at the closed doors for a moment, and then turned to Isani.
“Faster than light communications, amazing.” Lanai Sumia said.
“Yes.” Isani said. Sumia caught the expression on his face even though it was there only for a moment.
“What is it?”
“Did you notice the way the human spoke?”
“Through their translator?” Sumia asked, frowning.
“Yes, we were told that the devices on their ears translate our words to theirs, and at the beginning of the conversation she would wait for a while before speaking.”
“I assume that she was listening to the translation.” Sumia said.
“Yes, but at the end she didn’t wait at all, she responded to your words immediately.” Isani said.
Sumia thought back and was shocked that she didn’t realize it.
“What do you think that means?”
“It means that these humans are not what they appear to be.” Isani said cryptically.
Chapter Eighteen
Sanctuary
Tomas awoke to a beeping sound, for a disoriented moment he searched the room for the source of the beeping, and then he realized that it was coming from his imp. He sat up in his bed, his movements waking the person lying next to him.
“Mmm… What is it?” Seo-yun asked.
“Shh— go back to sleep, it’s just Nadia calling.” Tomas said.
Seo-yun turned away. Tomas closed his eyes and answered the call.
“Tomas, I’m sorry I woke you, but we need you right now.” Tomas heard Nadia’s voice say in his head.
“It’s three in the morning, can’t this wait a few more hours?” He asked via the imp, his thoughts transmitting via the imp to Nadia’s where hers would then reproduce Tomas’s voice in her head.
“I’m afraid not Tomas. We got a message from the Traveler. I’m at the palace, in the east meeting room, Laura and Elias are on the way.” She said, and after a moment of hesitation, before Tomas could say anything she continued. “We need Seo-yun too.” She said hesitantly. Tomas and Seo-yun didn’t try to hide their relationship, but they have not made it public yet. Tomas sighed. “Alright, we’ll be there in 10 minutes.” He then closed the channel not waiting for a response.
“Seo-yun. Wake up, we need to get up.”
“What?” She asked sleepily.
“Nadia called for a meeting. There was a message from the Traveler. I told her that we would be there in ten.” Tomas said. At that she woke up fully and looked at him.
“Both of us?” Seo-yun said. She immediately grasped what that meant.
“Yes.”
“Well… Okay then.” She sighed and got up.
Ten minutes later they entered the palace meeting room. The rest were already there sitting at the table. As they took their seats no one commented on them coming together. Not even a small quip at their expense, that told Tomas that things were serious.
“Tell us.” Tomas said.
Nadia gestured to Laura, who sat straighter in her chair and took a deep breath and started speaking.
“Traveler sent back a message, they have arrived at the planet Nuva, and Ship Master Kisaragi Hana met with their leader, one Lanai Sumia.” Laura said, the name of the alien she said slowly.
“The meeting did not go as we expected.” Laura continued. “Their leader basically dropped a bomb after a bomb on us. Starting with the reveal that their race, the Nel are a part of a Consortium of races, five in total.”
Tomas didn’t even try to conceal his shock. The Union databases didn’t say anything about that, but then they came through here thousands of years ago, and didn’t really stay to explore the neighborhood.
He looked at Laura, noticing her grim expression. “That’s not all.” He said.
Laura shook her head. “Not even close. The five races combined controlled 18 worlds. All much more developed than the one Traveler encountered. Nuva is a relatively young colony some thirty years old. But the worst news are that the Consortium is at war.” Laura said, and before anyone could comment she added. “Was at war.”
“What do you mean?” Elias asked.
“I meant that they have already lost, or will soon, it makes no difference.”
“Did we learn anything about the people they are at war with?” Seo-yun asked.
“Yes. They gave us all the information on them. They wanted to warn us. The race that attacked them is called Sowir, they were part of their Consortium, the last race to be added, after a some kind of misunderstanding at the beginning. I didn’t yet have a chance to study the information closely. But what I did learn was that the Sowir joined the Consortium, expanded rapidly and when they felt they were strong enough attacked the other members. Killing or enslaving the populations of the worlds they attacked and settling their own. From what the Nel said, only a handful of worlds still stands. And they have no hope, the Sowir are too strong. Nuva is on its own, the Nel home world has abandoned them.” Laura looked around the table. “The data also helped us identify the ships that attacked Voyager. It was the Sowir.” Everyone remained silent digesting the information that Laura dropped on them.
“Voyager encountered them some eleven light years from here, eight from Nuva.” Elias said. Laura nodded. “They are close, and are expanding to the systems not previously held by Consortium.” She said.
Tomas closed his eyes. He brought his people here to be safe and now it looked like he just brought them into even greater danger.
“They will find us eventually.” Tomas said certainly. No one tried to deny his words, they all knew they were the truth.
“We could have years, the nebula protects us.” Seo-yun said.
“Even with our fabricators we can’t hope to outpace the production rates of dozen worlds, our mining operations can’t keep up. Not in a while at least.” Nadia said.
“We could go back.” Tomas said slowly. The room looked shocked that he would suggest something like that, and for a moment, no one said anything until Seo-yun turned sternly towards him.
“No! We are not going back to Earth, this is our home now, and we are not going to run away again.” Seo-yun said. Tomas looked at her.
“If we stay, people will die. That was the reason we came here, so that no one else dies for the stupidity of others.” Tomas said.
“And you succeeded. We are independent, but that doesn’t mean that we will give our home to anyone. We will fight for this world, even if it means some of us must die. Your people know that you want to keep us safe. But you need to understand that we are still free to make our own choices. And I can tell you right now that we will not run away again.” Seo-yun said and the others nodded firmly.
Tomas’s hand raised to his chest unconsciously, trying to touch something that was no longer there. After a panicked second he remembered that he left it behind, and that he had made a promise to Seo-yun, to himself and to his people to lead. He sighed, rubbed his hands over his face and then looked around the room. He looked to the ceiling for a moment steeling his resolve, and then he nodded firmly. He looked to Laura. “Did the message say anything else?”