There was a commotion from the sensor pit below.
"Sir, I'm picking up a Cephilusk ship on long-range sensors," the crewman called out, his voice tight. "The signal is originating from the last known coordinates of the Christopher IV."
Lochem's hands gripped the railing. "Can we hail them? Request assistance?"
"I've been trying, sir. They aren't responding. I also haven't received any acknowledgements for our distress signals."
"It is entirely possible that our long-range communications are offline," Tabitha's voice interjected. "The extent of the damage to my systems hasn't been fully analysed yet. I'm waiting on further diagnostics."
Lochem set his jaw. "Continue the course. We'll make contact once they are close enough for short-range comms."
Captain Raymond Malone stepped forward, his face etched with worry. "Commander, a moment."
Lochem looked over to Mayvheen, who nodded before he stepped away to join the Captain. "What is it, Captain?"
"That Cephilusk ship," Raymond said, his voice low. "It's sitting right on top of where the Christopher IV was ambushed. Would it be wise to approach them in our current state? The Tabitha is severely damaged and vulnerable. If our distress signals aren't going out, and if these Cephilusk intend to cause us harm, we won't be able to defend ourselves or let anyone know what happened."
"Are you saying we shouldn't trust our new allies?" Lochem asked.
"Not at all," Raymond replied. "I'm just saying we shouldn't throw caution to the wind. Not after what happened at Khatsey, and we don't even know for sure if that ship actually belongs to the UIC."
Lochem glanced at the display. He had chosen to prioritise their defences earlier, and he felt the weight of that defensive choice now. "You told me to trust my gut, sir. I think we have a duty to investigate."
Raymond studied Lochem's face, then gave a small, approving nod. "I might not agree with your decision, but I believe in your method."
Suddenly, the bridge alarms chirped a high-frequency greeting. "Sir! I've just picked up a short-range communication from the Cephilusk ship! I have a 'First Shoaling Lahkush' wanting to speak with you."
"Open the channel!" Lochem ordered.
The main viewscreen flickered to life. A Cephilusk figure appeared, presumably First Shoaling Lahnkush. His skin was a warm orange-red, and his motor tentacles moved with aggressive, fluid precision. It was an unsettling sight.
"UIC Tabitha, this is the UIC Diaghaltha under Cephilusk command," Lahnkush's voice echoed, cold and wet. "We ask again: respond."
"UIC Diaghaltha, this is Commander Lochem Ahaffa," Lochem replied firmly. "Can you hear us?"
"We have received your response," Lahnkush said, his eyes pinning, and triggering an instinctive fight-or-flight reaction in the watching crew. "Our cultural docket indicates that your ship is commanded by a cahptine?"
"Cahptine? Yes," Lochem said. "I am currently the acting captain."
"No. Not acting," Lahnkush hissed. "We are only to deal with your material captain."
Raymond stepped into the frame, placing a hand on Lochem's shoulder. "It's okay, Commander. I'll take it from here." He looked at the screen. "UIC Diaghaltha. This is Captain Raymond Malone. We need urgent assistance. We've sustained severe damage to our armour and long-range comms–"
"Ah. Captain Malone. It is well to be met with you," Lahnkush replied. "I am First Shoaling Lahnkush. Before we proceed, we are required to go with the waves."
Mayvheen looked at Lochem, bewildered. "Go with the waves? What does that mean?"
"I'm not sure," Lochem whispered back. "Red tape, maybe? Standard procedure?"
"Speak of your experiences, Captain," Lahnkush demanded. "How extensive is the damage to your ship?"
"It's quite serious," Raymond admitted.
"It is as you say. You would be easy prey for an opportunistic pirate. Why did you risk coming here in such a state?"
"This was the last known location of the Christopher IV."
"You speak truth. But the ship you seek is no more," Lahnkush said, his skin colour subtly tinting to look more yellow. "My intellect tells me you already know this."
Lanhkush considered his words, his eyes narrowing. "Captain, does anyone else know you are here? Did you reach out to any other yumans?"
"We tried, but our communications are dark."
"Do you mean to say that if something were to happen to your ship, it would be an unsolvable... [TRANSLATION ERROR]?" Lahnkush's eyes narrowed even more, like a predator about to pounce. "The restricted zone is not safe for yumans. You were fools to have come here."
"Shoaling, I assure you we aren't as defenceless as we seem," Raymond countered. "Humans do not go down without a fight."
"Prey rarely goes down without a fight," Lahnkush replied. "It is of no consequence for a predator."
"Captain!" a crewman shouted. "I'm detecting multiple small robotic drones launching from the Diaghaltha! They're heading straight for us!"
Raymond's jaw clenched. He looked at the screen, his voice booming. "I'm warning you, First Shoaling Lahnkush! Our railguns are aimed and charged! On my command, at this range, they will rip your ship to shreds!"
"You would dare fire on a UIC battleship?" Lahnkush sounded amused. "We are sending... what is the yuman Musqarak word? Sardiq? To assist you."
Lochem turned to Mayvheen. "Mayvheen, get to the armoury. Discreetly arm as many personnel as you can. I'm authorising your access now."
"Do you think it will be necessary?" she asked in a shaky voice.
"I don't trust them," Lochem said, his eyes on the screen with the incoming drones. "Our dynamic armour will vaporise anything that drills through the hull, but if these aren't 'friends' as he mentioned, we need to be ready for boarding parties. Hurry. And be discreet."
Mayvheen took the navtab and ran.
The viewscreen flickered, the ripples from an interference momentarily warping the intimidating form of First Shoaling Lahnkush. The silence on the bridge of the Tabitha was heavy as Captain Raymond Malone leaned forward.
"Shoaling Lahnkush," Raymond began, his voice tight. "Have you managed to relay a message to Lunar Command regarding our situation?"
"I have not," Lahnkush replied, his large eyes blinking slowly. "And I would prefer not to. Not yet."
Raymond's concern sharpened. "May I ask why not?"
"The outcome of our meeting has not yet sunken to the depths of clarity."
"You have to admit," Raymond countered, "the circumstances of our meeting are unfortunate. We arrive at the last known location of a destroyed ship, only to find our Cephilusk 'friends' waiting for us."
"It is as you say," Lahnkush said. "We came to investigate the missing ship, like you."
"And what are the results of your investigation?"
"The ship was destroyed. Not an unexpected outcome for this part of the sector. After all, the restricted zone is dangerous."
Raymond's jaw set. "Is it because– did youi"
"No, Captain," Lahnkush interrupted sharply, his nodules throbbing with a sudden, deep pulse. "Do not ask what you intend to ask, lest you add a great offence on top of your threat from earlier. Tread with caution. I have not yet decided what the message to your Lunar Command will report. There is still so much that could go wrong here."
Raymond frowned. "First Shoaling Lahnkush, I don't think I like your implied threat."
"Threat? We are not threatening you. You assume our words are veiled in deceit?"
"I do," Raymond said plainly. "But let's speak plainly. Cephilusks value truth, do you not?"
"It is so."
"Then return the favour. Speak your truth with us."
Lahnkush tilted his head, his tentacle limbs coiling. "Captain, you might not know this, but we were instructed to conceal our truth when dealing with yumans."
"Why? Who instructed you?"
"Our cultural mediators and diplomats. We were told that yumans aren't always ready to listen to truth."
"So you intentionally deceive us?"
"Yes," Lahnkush replied with a gnarling sound that the translator struggled to parse. "You yumans are so obsessed with diplomacy. And, more often than not, the truth is not beneficial to diplomacy."
"Neither is manipulation," Raymond snapped.
"Manipulation? Captain, you misunderstand. We don't conceal our truth to manipulate. We conceal our truth to preserve our new, fragile friendship."
Raymond leaned in, his shadow stretching across the command deck. He was angry now. "Then pretend I'm not a human. Pretend that the UIC Tabitha is a Cephilusk ship. Speak your truth!"
"Very well. If you wish it to be so."
The Cephilusk's eyes flashed with a sudden, predatory anger. "Captain Raymond. If you were a Cephilusk Speaker like we are pretending, you would be stripped of your rank. You do not fear the Concordat. You have no reverence for it. To you, it is something common, something that just is."
Lahnkush's voice turned harder. "You do not remember what others will never forget. Before the Concordat, the universe was chaos. You have no understanding of the sacrifices that were made– the billion souls that were extinguished to bring shape and form to this peace. Yumans are still a young species. You are arrogant and impulsive. You have put the Concordat's strength in jeopardy by coming here with a damaged ship."
"We had to know who was responsible—" Lochem interjected from the side.
"Be silent, youngling!" Lahnkush roared, his face tendrils stretching in annoyance. "You should not have come here in your current state. The Concordat must be seen as an unbreakable force of might. It is an intricate dance of strength and integrity. We are both part of this movement."
"But how does us coming here–" Lochem tried again.
"I said be silent! In your heart, you still suspect that it was us who destroyed your Christopher! If you had arrived before us– if we had not come to also investigate– you would have been easy prey for even the smallest pirate frigate. Look at yourself. We can see the innards of your cruiser. You are bleeding life support into space even as we speak. You are a wounded prey."
He leaned closer to the screen, his gaze unwavering. "If word spread that a pirate frigate had overpowered one of the mighty United Interstellar Concordat ships, what do you think would happen?"
"We–" Raymond began.
"No, Captain. You also do not get to answer. It is clear that you did not think at all. The Concordat has many friends, but for each friend, we have many more enemies. There are still species and entities that aren't willing to let go of the old ways. To them, it would be a rallying call. They would smell the blood in the water. If they united, they could overthrow the Concordat. You almost single-handedly plunged the known universe back into chaos."
"You are being overly dramatic, don't you–"
"Dramatic?" Lahnkush's voice spiked, momentarily confusing the translation device. "We are only as strong as our weakest ally. Yumanity should not have been allowed into the Concordat. We said it then. I am saying it now. And with your conduct, you are saying it yourself."
Raymond waited for a heartbeat of silence. "May I speak now?"
"Very well."
"What seems like weakness to you is our strength," Raymond said, his voice dropping into a low, steady rumble. "Yes, we can be arrogant and impulsive, but that is what drives our innovation and determination. You've seen it yourself. We were told we couldn't join. We were told we were too 'young.' Yet here we are. Allies in the Concordat. So I ask you... do what you intend to do."
"It has already been done," Lahnkush replied.
The screen went dark. Lochem and the rest of the command crew turned their attention to the tactical displays. The small, squid-like drones that had launched from the Diaghaltha were closing the distance at high velocity.
The bridge was silent. Lochem discreetly opened a private comm channel to his sister.
"May, the drones are seconds away," he whispered, his knuckles white on the railing. "Are you ready in case everything goes to alku'ahf?"
"I– I'm ready," Mayvheen's voice came back, strained. "I've been distributing weapons to any crew I could find. I pray they won't need to fire them."
"I know," Lochem said. "Me too. Be careful, sis."
A young ensign near the sensor station whimpered as the first drone made physical contact with the ship, a heavy clunk vibrating through the Tabitha's hull. Everyone flinched, waiting for the sound of a hull-breach drill.
Instead, a bright, rhythmic light began to pulse outside the viewports.
"Welding lasers," an engineer announced, his voice cracking with relief. "They're... they're sealing the ruptured plates."
The command crew watched in stunned silence as the drones began to knit the ship's scorched skin back together. It wasn't a perfect fix, but they were doing work the Tabitha's own crews couldn't dream of achieving from the inside.
Raymond let out a breath of relief.
"Sir– I've got the Shoaling on–"
The viewscreen flickered back to life before the commsman could finish their sentence.
"We've relayed your location and status to your Lunar Command and the UIC leadership," Lahnkush said, his expression neutral once more. "We've also made it clear how distasteful and foolish your actions have been today. We are to escort you to the nearest gate and ensure that your ship is ready to make the jump to the Sol Gate."
"Thank you," Raymond said.
"Do not thank me. Yumanity might very well lose their Concordat standing after today. You are not fit to be in the fold. Any member of a flock who keeps on endangering the whole community is eventually ostracised."
"And if the Cephilusk are always there when something goes wrong," Raymond challenged, "how many times could that happen before their good intentions are questioned?"
"It is as you say, Captain," Lahnkush replied, his bright orange skin subtly dulling. "But you and I have never met before now. Between the two of us, only you have been present every time something went wrong. You continue to see enemies everywhere. The person who is struck blind by paranoia sees only darkness. From his perspective, even his friends are terrifying threats lurking in the shadows. This has been enough diplomacy. Come, let us escort you to the gate."
The drones that had latched onto the hull angled their main thrusters. Acting as auxiliary retrograde engines, they began to compensate for the Tabitha's destroyed systems, allowing the crippled cruiser to manoeuvre with a freedom it hadn't possessed since the debris storm.
Together, the human cruiser and the alien battleship began their slow journey toward the jump gate.