Gabatrix: The First Peace

The mirror showed a reflection of what he looked like. He still looked great. He wore a light blue shirt that had gold reflective ring patterns on it. It displayed almost an orbital like concept. It was simple, elegant, and perfect for this meeting. He wore two gold metal bracelets that lined over his wrists. Kane also wore his dark blue pants that also had a similar gold like pattern to it. He debated about his magnetic shoes but decided to keep the original red ones that he had. The pants were slightly loose but still didn't float around too much.

"You can never wear too-tight pants," he said to himself. "Never know....the Itreans might not like big bulges too much."

A part of his mind seemed to concentrate on what he was going to say. His mind would dance around at the observations he was looking when it came to their ships. He might not have been a military aficionado, but he was remembering the patterns that he was seeing. It was his job to examine social and cultural patterns. The more and more he thought about it, the more it kind of bugged him. Perhaps more information was simply needed.

He was checking the gold belt and gold edges to his pants. The clothing felt comfortable.

"Well....let's hope the T'rintar aren't insulted over clothing. Little to no knowledge of what makes them happy or sad. I might be wearing the clothing that says 'up yours' to them, and our ship gets blasted to bits. Hopefully, this will all go according to the plan."

His mind went back to his home. He knew there wasn't much left. Humanity might have been doing better than it was a hundred years ago, but it was still a fragile system. The UHN had their backs to the wall. These peace talks had to work, or the Itreans would continue to pound the defenses to dust. Any hope of peace was needed.

"Enough..." he said. "I look good....let's do this."

He looked at his former clothes that were folded up and clipped it to a hangar. The hangar was magnetized to the wall to prevent it from floating around. He pulled it off and then stowed it safely. He left the room and proceeded out of the office.

It was a short walk to the central passageway. Simple yet effective in design, the UHN Gabatrix had its central passageway go from the bow to the stern in one long walk. If you walked all the way forward, you would reach the gate array probe launcher and manufacturing facility. To the aft section was the engineering and power module. Eventually, you would enter the thruster assembly section.

Kane knew where he was going through. He walked down the passageway as a couple of crew members were clearing the forward section of the ship. He could tell everyone wanted to vacate the area. He could only imagine why, though. Some were probably afraid of the T'rintar or afraid of disrupting the process or meeting. Some were perhaps curious as to what the T'rintar or Itreans looked like. He still had little information on them. The Syn's computers were still being decoded and fixed by the time they left.

He felt like he was about to remember something, but it was quickly forgotten when he could see what was ahead of him. As he walked, he opened up his left hand and activated his hand display. The projected 3d menu popped up, and he patched in to call the captain. There was a short pause, as Captain William responded. It was audio-only.

"Captain, what is the status on the Atra?" Kane asked as he passed the forward thruster assembly.

"We are about five minutes from docking with them," he replied. "I have an armed detachment of men waiting at the main hatch."

"Captain.....I am nervous about the idea of doing that. Any sign of threats could agitate the Itreans."

"And sometimes you need to make sure to defend your ship...," he replied back. "Sorry, Ambassador. I am compelled to agree with you, but there is a reason why they sent a warship to do the peace talks. They didn't send an unarmed vessel to do these talks. They are demonstrating a sign of strength to us. It is my belief they will have armed people to meet us as well. It is good that I maintain that image, or it could weaken our position."

"And here I thought you didn't know diplomacy Captain," Kane smiled.

"If it is one thing I have learned in my service is politics ambassador. Even UHN officers learn to be politicians."

"Alright.....the armed men can stay," Kane relented. He still wondered if that was a bright idea or not.

He could see the passageway lead near the port and starboard hatchways. He could already see three men by the door as he got closer. There was a man and a woman that was dressed in some sort of Kevlar like bulletproof vests. They were armed with some kind of assault rifle. The last person was a soldier dressed in a spacesuit power armor of some sort. This man was decked for battle. The power armor was brown in color but had a series of gadgets all over it. He looked like he could do a spacewalk with ease. On his right arm was a large gun, most likely a machine gun that had a series of displays for him to examine. The weapon itself was like an attachment to his suit. This armored man must have been what the mighty UHN Marines were. Kane had only heard rumors of what the space marines were like. They were able to walk the outside hulls of ships, be deployed from dropships or pods from space, fight in any type of environment, and carry the best fighting equipment that a soldier could ever take. The UHN Marines were the best of the best.

It seemed adequate. Three armed people might have seen a bit short in one instance, but Kane felt that any more than that would be too hostile and threatening. Even three might have too much the other way. Regardless, this was an event that could end as quickly as it will start.

"Hello...." Kane greeted the armed personnel.

"Hello, Ambassador," the man in the power suit responded. "My name is Sergeant Daisuke. I am responsible for your protection."

"Good to see you, Sergeant," Kane responded. "I truly hope we won't need it."

"Deterrence is everything, sir."

"Just promise me that all of you will not raise your weapons at them. Remember that it is a peace mission."

"Understood Ambassador," one of the other armed personnel replied. "We give you our word."

Kane went and noted the scene. He looked at the floor. One of the things that he asked that were implemented before his arrival was to make the Gabatrix's hatchway look perfect and beautiful. A large emblem was painted on the deck. It had a red outer lining to a center picture that depicted the wind and waves of Cebravis. While someone from another colony or Mars might have declared foul on using a planet for a basis of a painting, Kane had no issue. Many agreed that the Cebravis painter Galren Lee was one of the greatest painters of the 23^rd century. His artwork was copied and placed into the deck. Beside him was the hatch door. The farthest stars could be seen if you peered through the window long enough. It was designed in a battle to have the heavy duraplast hatch windows sealed.

The armed personnel moved over to the side. The man and the woman with assault rifles assumed a position outside of the hatchway. Sergeant Daisuke went and assumed a proper safe distance. The heavy magnetic boots still produced a sizeable magnetic bang on the deck wherever he walked. Obviously, the environment was weightless, but the armor was designed to turn the person into a walking tank. Kane could only imagine how the marines could walk around with all that gear even if it were weightless.

His attention was diverted back to the center of the ship. He could see a group of individuals come walking to him. One he recognized as Doctor Aline. She was heading straight his way. The other individual was that of Commander Ramírez. Aline meant something was up, but Ramírez was a person Kane didn't want to see.

Kane could only imagine the worse when it came to seeing both. This was not what he was looking for. He kept it cool and decided to put his hands behind his back as they approached him.

"Ambassador....." Aline told him as she came to a stop. "I might have to put a stop to this meeting."

"You got to be kidding me...." Kane said. "No."

"I don't think you have a choice Cebravan," Ramírez addressed him. "This meeting has to be stopped."

"Why?"

"I am afraid that I cannot allow this meeting to continue because of the possibility of contamination," Aline said. "I wasn't given enough information until I learned about it. This meeting is being rushed so quickly that our sensors won't give us enough data about what germs the Itreans might be carrying. If we meet face to face, there is the possibility that we could get infected with a pathogen that could kill us all, or we could end up killing them."

"This meeting is important!" Kane said. "Any delays, and they could call it off. They could turn their weapons on us and kill us all anyway."

"Under the doctor's orders, this cannot continue," Ramírez said. "I must agree with the doctor on this."

Kane wasn't going to have any of this. "I am surprised you didn't run-up to the captain on this. I am going to contact him now. It won't be much longer before they are here."

The ambassador lifted up his left hand. He tapped his wrist as the display screen popped up. Ramírez gave him a defiant look as he folded up his arms. Kane patched in on the bridge.

"Captain! I need to talk to you," Kane addressed him.

The audio-only response filled the room. "Ambassador, what is the issue?" Captain William responded.

"Captain, I have the XO and Chief Medical officer, both telling me that this meeting can't continue."

"Are they with you?"

"Yes, they are."

The voice seemed to shift a little bit. Kane could almost recognize that it was directed to a new set of people.

"Ramírez....Aline, this meeting is being backed by the UWA and UHN. Why is there a holdup, and why didn't you address me on this first before confronting the ambassador?"

"Sir!" Ramírez said. "We believe that the Itreans may carry a virus or pathogen on them. They could risk infecting the crew and killing us all. We might even bring it back to the colonies and infect them in turn. We can't carry out with the meeting until it is safe."

"I must back up the XO fully on this, sir," Aline added. "We risk infection or us infecting them. This meeting cannot be made until guidelines are established with the...."

"Aline, I might have expected this from you," the Captain almost snapped back. "Your job is the health of the crew. I am afraid that this meeting must be made. It is under my attention that the hatchways have built-in bacteria scanners, correct?"

"Yes, sir, they do," she replied.

"Then use them. If they have a disease with them, then we will contact them and inform them that they pose a risk to us."

"We still don't know if the bacteria and virus scanners will pick them up or not, sir. I cannot risk the ship's crew."

"Captain," Kane protested. "I cannot support their ideas on this. Any delay could irritate this situation. They themselves would know if we have a disease or not. They wouldn't risk a meeting like this if they could get infected themselves."

"Noted. Unfortunately, doctor," Captain William said. "We already know the risks this mission holds. We will let the scanners do the job. My priority is this mission. Lives are at stake back home. The UWA and UHN rescind your orders, Doctor."

Doctor Aline nodded her head. "I.....I am sorry, sir. I didn't mean to cause harm to this."

"It is alright, Doctor. You were performing your job. Unfortunately for the XO, I must express some anger on this part. I want you in my office right now."

For a second, Kane actually felt sorry for Ramírez. He looked down and nodded. "Aye....sir."

"We are two minutes from docking with the Atra. Let the ambassador do his job. That is all."

The 3d projection from Kane's hand ended, and he closed up his hand. He put his hands behind his back. Doctor Aline seemed apologetic on that part. Ramírez turned around and headed back down the passageway.

"I had to state my protests," Aline said. "I am not against the meeting. I wish you luck, Ambassador."

The doctor turned around and left. Kane simply rotated his body towards the hatch. He could see the faint outlines of the Atra as it closed in on the Gabatrix.

Outside the ship, the Atra could be seen in her full glory. The warship was slightly larger than the Gabatrix. Even the Magellan class Battleships didn't meet the same size as the Itrean warships. The T'rintar vessel was like a giant alligator or crocodile that was exposing her side to the Gabatrix. The vectoring thrusters were bringing the ship closer and closer to the UHN ship. Carefully and slowly, the ship came within twenty meters having her bow pointed at the opposite side of the Gabatrix in perfect parallel. Both ships had their centripetal rings spinning. It almost looked a duet in space. The Atra came to a full stop and then began to extend a docking hatch ring to connect to the docking hatch ring of Gabatrix.

Kane kept himself composed. This was it. A meeting with an alien race. He and the other guards would be the first to see them face to face and possibly live to tell the tale.

The docking rings fully connected almost with no issues. Kane could hear a small thump sound as everything was in perfect sync. It surprisingly didn't take long. He could hear the sound of rushing air being pumped into the connecting hatches. Kane took long breaths as he kept his excitement down.

"God, they are probably going to be menacing," he said almost quietly to ensure the guards couldn't hear. He watched the purple-tinted window of the hatch.

The overhead sensors of the hatch began to activate. Initially, the sensor lights indicated a red light. It flipped to green and then had an additional light turn on. This light was depicting a second red light, but it was showing a progress bar. It must have been the way the ship to notify crew members that the pathogen scanners were working. Eventually, that second red light switched to green.

It was a sign that everything operated smoothly. The T'rintar were coming. They would arrive at any moment.

Finally, the hatchway door opened with a slight whoosh sound. Kane kept composed, but his heart was beating fast. He held a firm stance. Sergeant Daisuke had assumed a forward side stance. His machine gun was pointed down and away from the door to assume a non-hostile stance while keeping himself ready. If the T'rintar meant to board the Gabatrix and assault the ship, they would be met with a hail of the finest UHN weaponry available.

However, that was not what appeared. Three of them came walking through the extended passageway of the linked ships. The two that came forward were surprisingly short in size. Kane was marking everything that he saw. The T'rintar appeared to look like small people that stood at about four feet in height. They walked in brown and green armor. You couldn't see much of their faces. He noticed that they walked in a ceremonial stance. They had tails that swung back and forth. Their boots appeared to connect to digitigrade legs. They made small taps on the deck as they walked on the zero-g environment with ease. They walked in step with each other as they carried an assault rifle of their own. These rifles were long with scopes attached to them. The magazines to these rifles were huge. The guns even had two barrels to them. For people of their sizes, they looked like they could carry a lot. Their helmets made it challenging to identify them. They had a small visor at the area where the eyes should be located. With the armor in the way, it was hiding their appearance very well. They walked in perfect step till they reached the main deck of the Gabatrix. They then turned and assumed a guard stance by the door. They held their rifles up towards the ceiling and towards their chest as some form of honor guard.

Before much could be said, Kane looked ahead at the third person walking up. His eyes widened a little bit. He shifted his stance a little bit at what he saw. The T'rintar behind the two guards stepped forward. Kane could notice it was a she. The T'rintar without their armor appeared to be bipedal reptilians. This woman had yellow-greenish scales for her skin. She stood on digitigrade legs and walked on what looked like red wrappings for her feet. There were green scale patterns that dotted her frame. She wore what looked like white shaw that connected to a skintight suit. The shaw was similar to a dress of some sort that was both tan and white in color. The zero-g environment did cause it to sway around a little bit, but it didn't get in her way.

Kane could tell it was a female due to the breasts on her frame. Even for aliens, they must have had genders. In fact, he could notice that the guards' chest pieces also poked forward a little bit. It was possible that the guards were female under that armor. His eyes went back to the dressed T'rintar woman. She had a tail that swung around as she walked. Her white feathers that lined the top of her head and worked down from her back to her tail. The feathers also poked from her arms, almost as if she looked like a bird in some ways. She didn't have a beak though per se. Instead, she had a nose, mouth, and jaw that poked from her face. She had reptilian-like yellow and black eyes. Kane even noticed that she wore a gold anklet on her right leg. On her right wrist was a gold bracelet almost similar to his bracelet. Each hand and foot had four digits fingers, and she had claws that extended from her fingers and toes. She looked like she could be menacing in a physical fight, even for her smaller size.

Kane decided to break the ice first. "On behalf of the people of the UWA, I welcome you to the UHN Gabatrix."

It seemed tense at first but promising. The finely dressed, T'rintar woman walked up to the Ambassador. She remained quiet but kept a neutral look at her reactions. She was definitely shorter than Kane. She would naturally tilt her head up to the side to look up at him rather than directly lookup. Her eyes would blink a few times quickly, unlike Kane, that blinked routinely. Kane was doing his best to remain collected as possible. Surprisingly her shorter stature actually made the ambassador relax a little bit. He was expecting them to be much taller in person.

"Welcome to the Gabatrix. My name is Kane. I am the selected representative from the UWA people," Kane addressed her again.

Her eyes and face continued to look at him from the side. She was slowly looking at him as if to study him in some way. She simply chooses to remain quiet for a while. He instead simply watched her in turn.

Kane knew that first impressions were important. He worried, but he felt that he should do the same thing most humans do when they meet each other. They should extend their hands in a handshake. Hopefully, that wouldn't appear as an attack of some sort. He lifted his hand up to her.

She backed up a little bit at first. Her feathers lifted up a little bit. She would begin to move her head around curiously, eyeing his hand and arm. Finally, she lowered her nose to sniff his hand. She then looked back up to him.

"I assure you that I mean no harm," he told her. "Your.....captain....err adjunct appears to know English pretty well. Do you understand my language?"

She opened up her mouth slowly. Her feathers lowered back down. Finally, the silence ended.

"I.....know your language, human named Kane," she said. Her voice was slightly light and faint. She had a similar accent that the adjunct had as well. She walked and around him as he lowered his arm down. She seemed to study him again in a very close manner. She even produced a slight grin on her face and snout. She continued to eye him as she was now behind him. Her tail lightly brushed him. She was to his left and then walked back in front of him. Her back was to him. She gave the nod to her guards. They then turned around and headed back into the Atra.