Gabatrix: The First Peace

"Wormhole to Luna is good," Ramírez commented to Tara'Talar. The gate array over Luna shows that the wormhole is solid.

"Won't they know we are coming?" Kane asked.

"Yes and no. The gate arrays are used all the time. It is designed to register to scanners as soon as a ship comes out of it, but not before it. One of the advantages of having gate arrays linked together and why we have to scuttle them is when a siege gets out of hand. We can't let the enemy capture them. The moment that we jump in though is when they will know."

"We are heading in," Tara'Talar said.

Everyone braced themselves as the rear engines ignited briefly to push the Atra. Everyone felt the slight bump of inertia push them back. Slowly the ship lurched through the gate array and into the wormhole being generated.

Once again, Kane watched as the ship went into the tunnel of light and energy. It was brief as the vessel began to feel a slight lurch. The tunnel moved quickly as suddenly the ship emerged 20 light-years from its current mark.

The Atra emerged from its exit point. The massive ring array used over Luna was emitting its energy in keeping the wormhole stable. The T'rintar warship had arrived.

Kane felt the sudden shift of being in a new location. He shook it off as he looked upon a new location.

Not far from the green warship was Earth's moon. They were far above the surface. Lights were everywhere below the ship as they could see the vast colony of Luna Base and the military base that protected it.

The sight was amazing for Kane. They were near the northern point of Luna, but Earth could not be seen from the angle. The moon was tidally locked to Earth, but Sol was illuminating the side that they were located. The sun was virtually right behind the Atra, radiating its intense yellow light. The engines pushed the Atra away from the gate array to gain as much distance from it as possible.

"We have arrived....." Ramírez said.

"Picking up your colony....." Tara'Talar said. "I am picking up two UHN warships."

Kane watched the display as two Magellan Class Battleships were using their vectoring thrusters to turn their forward nose directly at the Atra. It was here that Kane was starting to see the slight differences between the former UHN Gabatrix and the newer ships of the UHN defenses. The Magellans looked similar but had eight forward missile tubes compared to the six. The railgun turrets were bigger. The engine modules were slightly different in appearance, and the ships were somewhat longer. The ring module was shaped somewhat differently, but otherwise, they were slightly more advanced than the Gabatrix.

"They are getting closer to us," Tara'Talar said.

"Hail them! I will try to convince them to stop," Ramírez replied.

Tara'Talar began to punch the commands into a sequence. It was audio only for the video display. She gave the gesture for Ramírez to speak. Kane watched as the two battleships began to aim their railguns directly at the Atra. The battleships were not that far from their location.

"Attention UHN warships, this is the Atra," Ramírez called out to the console. "Do not fire on us! We have the crew of the UHN Gabatrix onboard. Do not fire!"

Tara'Talar was watching the screen. She was shaking her head. Kane was watching as the ships were closing in on them.

There was a response that finally came in. It was Graham that addressed them from one of the UHN warships.

"Enemy warship surrender your vessel, and prepare to be boarded! Failure to comply will result in the destruction of your ship."

The UHN warships were getting closer and closer by the second. They were on the other side of the gate array flying in formation together. Their centripetal rings were spinning.

"I am picking up....." Tara'Talar tried to explain. "Your people are going to kill us."

Kane watched as the lead warship opened up its forward missile tubes. In another couple of seconds, the warships were going to start shooting the Atra.

Suddenly, something substantial emerged from the Luna gate array. It was huge and white. The UHN Mnemosyne dropped in from the wormhole that was still open. As soon as the ship had cleared from the exit aperture, the gate array powered down, and the wormhole collapsed. The New Olympians had arrived.

Ramírez remarked at the incredible sight. The New Olympians were full of surprises, and this was a unique case. Perhaps they were right; they avoided the other colonies and Sol. They never left orbit except for this one unusual case. Maybe it had to do with the fact that trillions of lives were at stake, but in the end, no one truly knew. For one thing, was for sure; no one was indeed expecting it.

The super dreadnought had placed herself directly between the firing line of the two Magellan Battleships and the Atra. The Mnemosyne made sure not to aim its massive cannon at the two warships. The other two battleships activated their forward thrusters to halt their advances and to avoid a possible collision with the massive warship.

It had worked. The New Olympians were now protecting the Atra inadvertently.

"I am picking up communication between the New Olympians and the Luna defenses. Putting it in," Ramírez said.

They could hear an audio message. It was Graham as he was addressing the person in charge of the Mnemosyne.

"Attention New Olympians," Graham said. "You are in the firing line of an alien warship. Move and engage the Itrean threat!"

"Oh.....I am sorry," Fleet Admiral Fumi replied to him. "Uh.....where are they?"

There was a short pause as if Graham was trying to figure out what was going on. He responded back to her.

"This is Commander Graham of the Vespucci," he correctly addressed himself. "Identify your ship immediately."

"This is Fleet Admiral Fumi Yuki of the UHN Mnemosyne. How may I help you out?"

"Stop trying to play coy, ma'am," Graham said. "Check your scopes. You have a warship not far from you! Help us dispatch them or allow us to finish the job."

"Oh...., I am sorry. Our scanners are not operating correctly. Where is the ship?"

"Fleet Admiral!...." Commander Graham replied. "You have a warship directly to your port. Destroy that ship!"

"Let me see if I can find them," Fumi said as she paused for a little bit. "Nope, I don't see them."

There was another pause as Graham seemed to be shocked of what was happening.

"Adjunct...." One of the Yutilians addressed her.

Tara'Talar replied back in her native language to her crew. Kane watched as he heard the voices of the two Yutilian women. Finally, she replied back to Kane and Ramírez. Ifra translated for Kane and Ramírez.

"We are getting an outer message," Ifra said. "It isn't coming from in the system. It is coming from somewhere else."

Kane's eyes widened. He didn't expect it to happen, but it did. The voice channel was a distinct Chinese voice. Kane only knew who she was.

"This is Chairwoman Lee," she addressed herself. "I order all warships to stand down. I repeat, stand down. I have been informed about the secret mission to go and talk to clan T'rintar over New Olympia. I have been informed of their arrival over Luna. On behalf of our people, we welcome the T'rintar people to the Sol System. For the people of the warship, I pay my respects for their effort to return our crew back home."

Kane seemed happy to hear the news. It was over. The long journey of over 200 light-years was resolved.

"I instruct all warships to provide escort to Mars. For clan T'rintar, we invite the people to Mars, so we can further negotiate the needs between both sides. I bare whatever responsibilities that may incur hereafter."

"Roger Chairwoman," Graham responded. "Standing down."

"Chairwoman," Fumi replied. "We give our respects to the Atra. We wish them luck on the journey to Mars."

Ramírez breathed a short sigh of relief. He didn't crack a smile, but he seemed relieved of the events. Ifra closed her eyes as she turned to look at the corner display on the bridge. She walked away from Kane as she gazed at the screen.

"Kane.....Ifra.....Tara'Talar....." Ramírez addressed them. He paused as if he was going to say something. He was at a loss of words at first. "I will go ahead and let the crew know that we are returning to Mars so they will be reunited with their families. Good luck with the negotiations out there....William would want that."

He stepped away from the console as he stepped to the bridge doors. They opened as he stepped out. The doors closed as Kane turned to look at Tara'Talar. She gave him a slow tilted nod of her head. He nodded his head back to her. He turned to look at Ifra that was staring at the console screen.

She was looking at the screen that was showing directly ahead of the Atra. The blackness of space and Luna's surface could be seen all too well. She was waiting for something that Kane could clearly tell. He walked up to her.

"You want to see it, don't you?" he asked her.

"I thought it was a myth.....," she said. "I know that I am placing too much hope in this, but I feel that this is correct. I feel my faith restored. I have been guided to here."

Kane put his hand on her shoulder, and it was here that he finally saw it.

Outside the ship, was a wondrous sight. The Atra was in a formation as the massive Mnemosyne was to Atra's starboard side. Starboard of the Mnemosyne was the UHN Vespucci and the sister ship adjacent to it. They were all traveling together in a side by side formation. Slowly, the moon's surface began to wane as the planet slowly came into view. Ifra would watch it all. Earth poked its head from the top of the view as they were approaching the northern pole of the moon.

Kane must have thought about the past explorers and how they felt when they saw Earth for the first time. Being able to see home or at least the origin to all, was beyond imagination. Earth, however, was never his home. It was a wasteland. As more and more of it showed up on display, the more he could see it even in the vast range. The planet was covered in a dark gray haze. A massive hurricane had enveloped the Atlantic Ocean and was heading towards what was left of North America. What he could see was the flooded islands of Europe. A relic of the continent, it was all underwater now. Africa was mostly the same, however, but the ocean was a sickening orange and red color.

For Kane, however, he knew that this was temporary. Maybe it would take a long time, but maybe things would get better for this miserable planet, and whatever inhabitants were left.

He turned to see that Ifra had crossed her arms over her shoulders. Her jaws were partly open as she stared in awe of the sight. Her claws gripped her shoulder blades. Earth had come into full view. The sun was illuminating the entire surface from the direction they were coming from.

"Itrea.....Itrea.....," she said. "Our homeworld......the sacred world of our birth guide us to a better future. Let your light and glory bathe us to a better future. We will help you, and you will help us."

Kane could see that she was closing her eyes and was praying to the image. Tara'Talar stepped out of her alcove and stared in awe at the picture of Earth. She slowly walked up to display. She did the same thing in response. She placed her claws and gripped her shoulder blades. She began to say several words in her language. Chirps, cackles, and a few indistinguishable words were spoken. Finally, she ended with the name "Itrea....."

The ambassador's job was only the beginning of these new events. He put his hand onto Ifra's clawed hand. She altered her grip so that his hand was a part of her prayer. He stood beside her and looked at the screen.

"Itrea......Earth.....," he said.

We watch as other T'rintar crew begins to leave their consoles. They pull their hands out of their controls and stare at the screen. They hear the words "Itrea," and they stare in awe of Earth. They reply in the same gesture. They bow their heads a little bit as their feathers lower down. They all say the same words...... "Itrea."

We look at the scene one last time. We begin to watch the warships as they hold formation. It will only be temporary as the Atra must depart. The people of Mars are waiting for a brighter future. We zoom away slowly as we see Luna and Earth in the far distance. The stars twinkle in the far far distance of space. The gate array can be seen as we see a little bit of the Luna colonies. Eventually, they begin to shrink as we get further and further away.....out into the vastness of space.

The End (For Now)