Pearl of the Stars

“I stand by my actions. Whatever I did, it was for the good of the Council.”

Captain Grace Ifhans replayed Hynes’ words over and over in her head.

“I stand by my actions. Whatever I did, it was for the good of the Council.”

He’d repeated the same words, never deviating from the uniform phrase. Even when she’d ordered he be subjected to the interrogation technology worryingly, his mind had given the same response.

I stand by my actions. Whatever I did, it was for the good of the Council.

It made Grace think long and hard. Did the Council know of Hynes’ actions? Did they authorise his deeds? Did the Council knowingly risk the lives of thousands of sailors just to prove a point?

There were too many questions to which she needed answers and she was certainly not going to get those answers from Major Hynes. It made no difference what questions she asked or from which direction she approached, Hynes did not falter.

“I stand by my actions. Whatever I did, it was for the good of the council.”

Well, fick that. There was much work to be done. To be perfectly honest, Hynes was the least of her worries. As she and Captain Jane Erstwhile strode along the bridge connecting Echo Dock to its accompanying military installation, reinforced plexi-glass all that separated the two women from a painfully slow death, she did her level best to put Hynes’ betrayal to the back of her mind.

“I never thought I would be minutes away from attempting to broker a treaty with the fickling Others,” said Captain Erstwhile, her words punctuated by the clicking of stiletto heels upon the metal beneath their feet.

“Believe me Jane, you are not alone in that,” Grace replied, the two women keeping an even pace. She had selected Captain Erstwhile to join her in negotiations. Of all her remaining unit commanders Jane Erstwhile was the one she trusted most. “In all honesty I thought we would be forced to take the other of the Council’s options, and destroy the Others home system. Never did I think this to be the likely outcome.”

“Needs must,” Jane replied with the slightest of shrugs. “Were it not for our encountering of this new and powerful foe, you and I would be preparing for battle right now.”

“A different kind of battle anyway.” Grace allowed herself a tight-lipped smile. She certainly did not expect negotiations to run smoothly however with the video evidence from the Panzer, she knew the Others representatives would have little choice but to agree to terms.

***

Overseeing proceedings, General Bates and Superior Flight Officer Graves, his Others contact, stood at the forefront of the meeting room. Captains Ifhans and Erstwhile sat at one side of the conference table and opposite, Others Captains Holt and Bane, both of whom were highly decorated.

Bates started by showing the video from the Panzer, depicting the incredibly advanced race and their ability to render Council weapons and shielding next to useless. The Others officers present watched open mouthed, knowing full well their own technology was on par with that of the Council.

“This has not been doctored in any way?” Holt asked, his haughty demeanour evident in the tone of his voice.

“Not at all Captain,” Graves replied. He had originally thought the same thing but his technicians had triple checked. If those files had been doctored, there was no evidence that was the case. “What you are watching is raw footage.”

“There must be a reason we have never before encountered this race,” said Holt. He was a young man, his record exemplary.

“From what intel we were able to gather, this race has developed at an alarming rate,” said Grace, addressing Holt directly. “The chances are that this race did not exist before the war between our two peoples began.”

“That’s impossible!” Bane scoffed.

“Is it?” Captain Erstwhile retorted. “We have observed this race over an extremely brief period of time, during which they have made exponential technological advances. Understand Captains, the threat they pose is very real.”

“Neither our Fleet nor yours can defeat this enemy alone,” said Grace quietly, lighting a cigarette as she did so. “But together there is a chance, albeit a slim chance, that our two great peoples might prevail.”