The Alliance

Capital - Narana 2

The Council chambers were mostly full, with only a few chairs sitting empty. Representatives from hundreds of star systems were in attendance, from across the Alliance.

Seated on an elevated platform in the center of the room was a blue skinned humanoid, his long white beard braided with beads of gold, and a great lavender colored turban seated upon his head. He pointed a silver gavel and spoke. "The Proconsul's seat acknowledges Lady Narana Calisda, Representative of Rasmirra."

All eyes turned toward the diminutive woman, standing behind her podium, a blue android standing beside her. She cleared her throat and spoke. "Representatives, I stand before you today, not in my own interests, not in the interests of my people, but instead as a citizen of the Alliance."

Many of the collected individuals looked at one another, and several others that had been carrying on quiet conversations with their assistants stopped and turned their gaze upon the young woman.

"The outer colony of Ridjal was attacked over two weeks ago, a mere twenty light years from my own home of Rasmirra. We only learned of the attack when shipments of ore were not delivered on time, and thus we launched an investigation. As you can all see from the images and sensor data that I just sent, the colony was destroyed. A survey team descended to the surface and found no traces of survivors. Nearly three thousand people were slaughtered."

With that, the council chambers erupted into a roar of questions and conversations all taking place at once. The Proconsul banged his gavel and the room went silent. The Proconsul turned his golden gaze upon her, and spoke, "Please continue, Representative Calisda."

She cleared her throat, "The results of our investigation were largely inconclusive, although the data gathered has been forwarded to all of you for further analysis. My request is that others also perform their own investigations, perhaps a different process might reveal something that was missed. Thank you."

The Proconsul nodded and began stroking his beard while his assistant, a fellow Oraed-Shai wearing lavender robes and bearing a shaven head, spoke into his ear. The Proconsul nodded and addressed the Council, "It is our understanding that something atrocious has occurred, the perpetrators being unknown. Speaking for the entirety of the Alliance, an act of this nature is horrendous, and needs to be rectified immediately. A jump ship will be prepared upon conclusion of this session, and interested parties may contact the Office of Justice about lending assistance. If there are no other statements, the Proconsul moves to end the session."

As the gavel rang out a final time after a few moments of silence, Narana looked down for a moment, concealing a smirk. She looked up to see Five staring at her with his unblinking eye.

"Your shuttle is arranged to take you to the jump gate. Shall we send for your personal belongings to meet you at the shuttle pad?"

"Yes, Five, that would be suitable. I cannot wait to return to Rasmirra."

Capital - Narana

Narana sat on the balcony, drinking her steaming uzari tea, gazing out at the sprawling metropolis that covered the entire planet. Shuttles and freighters passed by overhead, ferrying passengers and cargo. The smell of the planet was that of machines, quite different from the lovely bouquet of her home planet of Rasmirra.

The door chimed behind her, and she granted permission without a second thought. Her aide, a humanoid shaped android that had been painted in muted shades of blue, strode in. While she had no love for artificial creatures, she knew that his loyalty was unquestionable.

"Come here, Five, and tell me what you see." She motioned for him to approach with one wave of her hand.

Five approached, and made a pass with the single eye that sat in the center of his face. He spoke with a flat tone "This is the city of Capital, White Sector. Ambient temperature thirteen degrees Celsius. Wind speed is negligible. It is currently morning. There are approximately three thousand vehicles in the sky within local proximity. Is this sufficient information?"

She shook her head and smiled. "Ah, androids. Yes, Five, while the information is nice... how does the city look?"

"I am unsure of the parameters you desire. Could you please elaborate?"

"Never mind, Five. Never mind. Please pull up the itinerary for today."

She took a sip of the steaming tea as his eye light rapidly flickered between teal and dark blue.

"You have a meeting with Bhar Gustali in an hour, and the Great Council is holding a session four hours from now. It would behoove me to remind you that Bhar Gustali is not a man to be kept waiting, as we need those trade agreements desperately after last season's incident."

She nodded and took another sip, "Find a bottle of... what was it that his people enjoy drinking again?"

"Wine from the purdalla plums, mam, it seems to have a euphoric effect on his species."

"Yes, yes, find a bottle of that and have it set to deliver to the meeting room five minutes after my arrival."

"The mercenaries sent a transmission as they emerged from the jump gate, they should be in orbit within the next hour. They are awaiting your command to stand down, or else they will be pursuing Gustali's ship as it leaves Capital."

"Excellent, everything is in place then."

The Voice of Rain

Azandir stood on the observation deck as the ship, the Voice of Rain, passed through the Gate. One moment, the electric azure haze crackled in front of the window, and the next he felt curiously out of place for a moment, before the stars shifted. He breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that his destination lay only a few more hours away.

His hands gripped the railing, although only one was made of flesh. The other was a cold chrome facsimile, an amalgamation of alloys, polymers and circuitry, a reminder of the recent conflict with pirates. Although the replacement was fully functional, he was still growing accustomed to the metallic prosthesis. While regenerated cells could regrow the missing limb, once they arrived at a suitable facility, he felt that the replacement was just as suitable to a ship's captain that had weathered the storm.

He looked deep into the darkness before him, and could barely make out their destination, a small speck of light on the horizon, just to the left of the ship's prow. He looked forward to returning to Tranquility Station, a massive city floating in space where he could deliver cargo, relax for a few days, and have the ship repaired from the damage it recently sustained.

The soft footfalls of his falauhr Second-in-Command alerted him to her presence. She inquired with a soft voice, "Shall I have the approach codes and combat records transmitted?"

"Yes, Karalla. Also make arrangements for the crew to have some recreation time while we have the necessary repairs taken care of. We're going back to the Barrens as soon as possible."

"But sir, what about the pirates?" her voice sounded worried.

"This time, we're bringing along some friends."