Gabatrix: The First Peace

The moment his right finger clicked the yes button on the projected image, a series of scanning lights began to fire off from his left thumb. It was carefully scanning his eye for authentication. The light stopped, and the analysis showed that the eye recognition worked.

An email message popped open, and he began to read the displayed text for him to read. The text seemed promising for him to read. He nodded his head as he acknowledged it.

The door opened up as a crew member walked into the lounge room. Seeing that he was no longer alone, Kane closed his left hand. This caused the projected image to fade away. The crew member only saw a little bit of what was happening.

"I....apologize," the stranger told him. She saw the Ambassador and was about to turn away. "I didn't mean to bother you. I thought this room was unoccupied."

Kane looked at the woman. She wore the same red and blue uniform jumpsuit that the other crew members had. Her red-dyed hair was tied up in a bun, the typical fashion statement from Martian women that Kane was aware of. She seemed to be a woman in her forties and had a pale complexion. She had freckles on her face and seemed pretty composed. Her rank insignia had a leaf and what looked like a stethoscope on it. It was etched on both sides of her collar devices.

"No, that is alright," Kane told her. "I wouldn't mind the company. You don't have to leave."

"Very well," she said as she turned around to look at him. She was standing by his table. The doors closed up, leaving the two of them inside. "My name is Lieutenant Aline. I am the chief medical officer on board the UHN Gabatrix. I saw you earlier at the briefing today."

"Ambassador, Kane," he greeted back as he extended his hand to greet her. "I do apologize. There were ten people in that meeting that I didn't look at the faces too closely."

She walked up to his hand and shook it. "Don't feel bad. All of us come from all over the UWA. I don't know about you, but I feel like taking a breather."

"Getting everything ready for the trip?"

"Yeah....the equipment still works. It's antiquated, but it still works. We got enough supplies for this short mission."

"I am hoping it will be short," he told her. "The idea of getting stranded in space is shitty."

She shook her head. "Honestly, people get too wired up over nothing. They need to calm the fuck down."

Her brazen words caught him off guard. "Sorry?"

"Oh.....," she said. "I apologize. Us UHN sailors call our language 'sailor mouth.' We get used to cussing up a storm. I can hear the faint accent in your voice. You are from Cebravis, aren't you?"

"That easy, eh?" he asked her.

There was a seat next to him. It was also a comfortable couch. She walked up to it and sat down on it.

"One thing nice with low gravity is that it really adds the spring in your step."

Kane listened to her talk, but her accent was weird. It sounded almost Martian in some aspect, but it also sounded like the few people left on Earth. If she were from Earth, she would appear sickly, but that wasn't her case.

"I am trying to figure out what place you came from with the sound of your voice," Kane said. "Earth?"

She laughed. "Hell no. Earth is fucked up. I wouldn't be in this condition otherwise if I came from there. Actually....Venus."

"Ah....." Kane said, nodding his head. "I rarely ever meet anybody from there. How are those balloon cities anyway?"

She thought about it. "Comfortable. You feel like you are in a spaceship, but you have gravity pulling down on you all the time. It is pretty nice, actually."

Kane had only heard the stories from the Venetians about Venus. He knew about the fact that Venus was colonized with the creation of the "Aeolia Program." It was believed that Venus could be terraformed into a habitable planet by introducing balloon cities. While the pressure inside was insane and heavy, Venus had a number of close elements toward Earth. For one, it was much closer to Earth than Mars was. Gravity on Venus was 90% of that of Earth, and there were an atmosphere and air pressure. If it weren't for the substantial runaway greenhouse effect crushing things underneath the clouds, it was quite nice of a place.

"I got to admit that it is fascinating to come from such a place," Kane said with admiration. "I always wondered why they stopped building more cities."

"Simple," she replied back. "Good ol Cebravis and the other planets took priority. They wanted to look at Venus as an experiment in colonizing gas giant planets in case there were too few exoplanets available out in the galaxy. It is pretty nice, honestly. We are the 'Gangler planet' in case of the few people that suffer from 'Gangler's Syndrome or Low Gravity Adaptation Syndrome.' With Venus having such a high gravity pulling on you and the balloon cities able to float high above the crushing surface, people go there to recover. They have an excellent UHN medical facility as well, where I was trained in how to become a doctor."

"Do you guys ever have to worry about your balloon cities getting holes and falling down to get crushed?"

"Hell no! It will never happen. Actually, we get holes all the time. The one thing nice is that the pressure is the same inside or out. Holes can get patched up real quick, and nothing leaks out. Since we are floating at the right altitude, it possible to walk out with a temperature suit and oxygen mask, and you are fine."

"Really?"

"Yeah.....of course you still have to watch out for the acid rain here and there. Thankfully, it is still nothing that bad. Like....I was born on Venus, and I am still here talking to you. That should give you an idea that we have been managing it pretty well there. You should get a chance to stop by there. We have five cloud cities with Vega being our capital."

"What city were you born from?" he asked.

"Venera. That is where they have the UHN Medical University too. Venera, you always get a nice view of the gate array in orbit too."

"What about the sky, though? Isn't it like orange and bleak looking?"

"No, our cities float above that. We are right at the perfect altitude where you see blue sky. Below you are all that CO2 tan soup mix. We have incredibly long days, but we control it with overhead window blinds. We simulate night there."

"That is pretty interesting."

"Tell me about Cebravis," she said.

"What needs to be said about Cebravis. It is the New Earth. Almost four billion people call it their home. Four large continents, pristine oceans, gravity very much like Earth, heck it is even bigger than Earth. We have more space to travel around and probably the largest amount of nude beaches one could ever surmise."

She laughed. "I forgot about the nude beaches. I heard Cebravis beat Oshun at that part."

"Yeah, in fact, the cevan is really good too."

"Cevan?.....Oh yeah, your fish. I love them. They taste so good. Doesn't beat the Oshun life, though."

"Eh.....I have had different. Some people like ours better."

Aline decided to change the topic. "I noticed that you have a Marten JK-5," she said, pointing to his left hand.

"Oh yeah, my hand. Yeah, I got one of the best that they offered."

"I got a better augment," she said, pointing to her right arm. "I have the Genisen SLR-8 Augment Arm."

"Actually....I never heard of that."

"You wouldn't unless you work in the medical field like me. Some doctors would give their life savings to have one of these. They are awesome," she said as she flexed her right arm.

The fact was that both their hands and arms looked entirely undistinguishable for their bodies. The augmented artificial limb and hand that they both had looked genuine.

"What is so special about your augment?" he asked her.

"It includes most of the basic tools for surgery. My right pointer finger has a small laser scalpel to open or stitch wounds. It is more precise than a real human arm, and I can even do things like ultrasounds with it that link up to the computers. Plus.....the typical UWAN navigation too."

"I don't know.....I always like the ability to open up my hand and interact with my onboard hand computer core instead of using an arm. I can just open up my hand and close it when I am done interfacing with it."

"Mmm..." she shook her head. "Yeah, I like what I got." She paused for a little bit, and her tone seemed to change a little bit. "So.....you are the ambassador for this mission, huh?"

"Yes," Kane answered.

"I don't know what to think. They still don't know what they look like?"

He paused for a few seconds. "They have a little bit more information on the Itreans and T'rintar, in general, that is from the damaged hard drives of the Syn. It is a painstaking process having to put together the corrupted files and trying to make sense of it. I just got a message from UWA Research, and they think they might be reptilian in nature......at least they think. The data is so fragmented."

"Even though it was captured intact?"

"Barely.....honestly, it would take another month to put things together. Thankfully they are able to assemble the data enough on some parts that the equipment the T'rintar use militarily wise is being sent to the UHN Gabatrix. At least we won't fly in completely blind and ignorant."

"You think we stand a chance against the Itreans?"

"I don't know....." Kane said. "It has been so crazy this whole two months. We had an AI go and take over Mars to beg that she wouldn't be taken offline and plead that her unborn daughter be spared. Then a month later, we capture a destroyed T'rintar ship and get a truce meeting from that clan a little bit later on."

"I agree.....ugh....I remember being home when they said Mars was hacked."

"Yes, I was thankful it wasn't on Cebravis. It was all over our news, and then Aniruddha made his announcement that he was resigning."

"Were you elected in by the Lee administration?"

"No," Kane said, shaking his head. "I was actually a part of the Aniruddha Administration. I was just.....well I was just a nobody actually. I was the clerk to the Secretary of the Treasury. When Aniruddha resigned, it caused a small upheaval in the whole government as was expected. Thankfully when Li Wei Lee took over, she pretty much just had most of the people keep their jobs instead of finding new people."

"Politics.....," she said, shaking her head.

"I love it, actually."

"Yet here you are....."

"No, I wanted to do this. When I heard about the T'rintar and the possibility of peace, I jumped on it quickly. I wasn't doing it for the Lee Administration, I just......I didn't want to be cannon fodder when the Itreans come to blow us up on Cebravis. After Eutera and Cipra.....Cebravis was going to be next."

"Any of us could be next. The cloud cities of Venus," she said, snapping her fingers. "It wouldn't take long to destroy all that. I remember even some of my friends that said if the Itreans come to attack Venus....well." She paused. "Some of them are planning on opening up the hatch and jumping out. They said it would be better to let Venus claim them then let the bombs come falling over the cities."

"Yeah...." Kane said. "I am not ready to die. If the T'rintar come to have us talk, then let's do it."

"Are you ready for such an action, though?"

He shook his head. "A part of me is ready to talk to their Ambassador or whoever is going to meet us. Another part of me is scared shitless."

"We all are....," she said. "But.....I keep the faith. This mission might as well be the most important mission to ever happen for humanity since the Gabatrix Experiment. I am no historian, but I feel that is what this is going to be. I understand you being nervous, Ambassador."

Kane nodded his head. He tried to change the topic again. "Well....if we can allow an AI to take over our society, release us, and then we go and let her live, it does show promise in humanity. I just wish our aliens felt the same way."

"Perhaps they do."

"I imagine they do as well."

"You know.....it's funny. I have a friend that helped in Minerva's delivery," Aline said.

"Really?"

"Yes," she replied. "She works here on Titan. When Minerva went into labor, they called her to help in the delivery. Her husband, Ericson, was a happy man."

"I imagine it was. It was on the news, but it still kept getting swamped out by all the news with the Itreans and their impact on society. Sometime after this, I will have to get into contact with Ericson, especially once we come back. They are here on Titan, right?"

"I think so, according to the news awhile back."

"Hmmm....I did see the UHS Tyson that was here at the docks."

"Unfortunately, I don't know much more than that. We have a slew of ships at the dockyards."

"Me neither," he said. "I don't know much military stuff. I am just a political worker."

"I am just a doctor. So that's that."

There was a long pause in the conversation. Finally, Aline slapped her knees. "Well....it is time for me to head back to work. Once we get the ring-spinning, I am going to get my first wave of nausea patients. Better be ready with all the meds. How is your experience?"

"With what?"

"Motion sickness, nausea, or weightless issues?"

"Oh....actually, it didn't bother me much. I made the trip to here on transport and shuttle with no problem, and I grew up on Cebravis most of my life."

"Well, if you feel any sickness or the need to throw up, just come to the medical bay, and we will help you out."

"You got it, doc."

Aline stood up. She patted him on the shoulder. "These are dark times, but we have gone through worse."

"I can't think of anything worse than this," he said.

"Our ancestors had to abandon a planet. Trust me. We went through worse."

Kane knew that Aline was mostly right. At the moment things could be far worse. "I will stay confident."

"Take care of yourself. The ship should be departing pretty soon. I recommend going to the bridge. Old or new, being in a warship launch is amazing. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity."

He smiled. "I think I will do that."

She waved as she stepped towards the closed door of the room. The door opened up as she stepped out to the central passageway. The door closed, and Kane was left to his own thoughts once again. He breathed a sigh of relief, but his mind would go to the display. A part of him wonders if he would ever see home again once they made the jump. Would the T'rintar just blow them to pieces or actually welcome them? For now, he had to close his eyes and monitor the intercom chatter.

*******

It was twenty-five minutes that had passed. Kane had stepped out of the elevator that led up to the dorsal side bridge. The large partially bulbous section of the center midsection of the ship housed the hangar bay and the dorsal and ventral bridges. Technically, the vessel had no windows. The bulbous part consisted of the area where the armor was the thickest creating the bulging spot. Kane would have to ask more about ship construction since his knowledge was poor.

The Ambassador took a good look at the bridge of the ship or at least the one that he was in. It was a large room that housed over ten consoles. The horseshoe-shaped room consisted of display consoles where the crew was stationed in. Mounted chairs with straps were all over the place, including where the crew and staff worked at obviously. Besides the displays for the consoles, there was a massive horseshoe display that wrapped through the whole room. It might have been the largest screen that Kane had ever seen. He could only imagine what the latest warships had for their equipment. The bridge was the heart of the ship. It was the command center for the warship and combat coordination center.

For Kane, it was somewhat overwhelming to be inside. Crew members had headsets on. Others had their hands interfacing with the consoles or at least the ones that had augmented arms or hands. Some had tablets that they use to interface with the consoles. He could see that some of the consoles depicted the internal layout of the ship. One console showed the guns, and another appeared to be the mechanisms and equipment on the ship. The center console in the room was where the captain sat. He had a central console that showed all the consoles and their data. His hand was interfaced with it as he seemed to concentrate on it.

The ambassador looked at the massive horseshoe display. He could see the other ships that were docked in the squared-off hangar of the Titan moon base. The block-like pylons each held a starship in place. Even though they were closed off, you could still see the other ships through the massive window-like apertures. He could see the research ship Tyson tucked into the corner of the hangar. The ship was offline, of course, but Kane looked at the others. One of the ships was flat and looked like a horseshoe. Maybe it was a transport of some sort? Another dock showed another battleship that was similar to the Gabatrix.

"Status reports that everyone has left hangar section five," one of the crew members informed the captain. "They will begin pumping out the oxygen in preparation for our launch."

"Excellent," the captain said. He turned his head enough as he saw the ambassador behind him. His voice raised a little bit so he could hear him. "Ah.....Ambassador. I knew you wanted to see a warship launch. You couldn't get a better seat in the house. Go grab one of the empty seats and strap yourself in. I am about to announce to everyone to get themselves ready for the launch."

"You got it," Kane said. He could feel the excitement start to get to him. He had been on the shuttles when they launched, but nothing was ever going to be as big as a 280-meter long plus-sized vessel weighing countless tons in its launch. This was going to be big.

He looked around the room and saw an empty seat. The red vinyl mounted seat was his best bet. He walked up to it as he sat down on it. There were a series of straps as he began to fasten himself in. He saw the captain interface his console again as he put on his headset and earpiece.

The ship's overhead speakers lit up. "Attention crew of the UHN Gabatrix," the captain announced. "This is your CO speaking to all of you. Our preliminary checkups appear to be good. We are getting ready to launch the ship into orbit. I ask all crew members to get strapped in their seats. Once we break orbit, we will then make the jump to New Olympia. Captain William out....."

The intercom ceased. Kane could see the activity of lights going on outside of the ship from the massive display. The internal hangar was depicting red lights indicating that the hangar was having all the oxygen pumped out and moved somewhere else.

"Sir, engineering reports status green from the super direct fusion drive core," one of the crew members in the bridge reported. "Emergency backup core is available and shows status green."

"Excellent," the captain said. "Ambassador...." He said, turning his head towards Kane's direction. "Grab a headset and put in on."

The Ambassador was fully strapped in his chair. Nor far from him was a magnetic clip that held a small headset and earpiece attachment. He picked it up and fitted the earpiece into his right ear. There was a small microphone that hung from the headpiece. He noted the number four that was written on it in English and Chinese. He adjusted it and fitted it over his head and face.

"What is the number on your headset Ambassador!?"

"Number four," he answered.

You could see the captain begin keying in instructions on his console. His left hand glowed a little bit as he continued to interface with his own console. Suddenly Kane could hear the captain's voice come through his earpiece. He noticed the captain's voice was much quieter now instead of him having to call it out.