S’Cinf sat on his perch in the Colony ship’s Center Room and watched the Command Pack perform their assigned duties. Kthpok monitored systems and worked their consoles. Muttered conversations could be heard coming from several places throughout the room. From time to time a rating would leave his station to walk over and confer with another in quiet whispers. The Run Point took a deep breath and let it out in a soft, bored whistle. It seemed everyone had something to do except him.
On its course to the inner planets the fleet was passing another gas giant with a large complement of moons. A group of scientists had been revived and were now huddled near the science suite. These Kthpok appeared to be enjoying themselves taking readings, examining the magnetosphere of the planet, the elements in its atmosphere, wind speed, and whatever data that could be collected. Images of the gas giant interspersed with pictures and data about the orbiting moons flashed on an auxiliary screen above the scientists.
Acting on an impulse to do something S’Cinf worked his keyboard and called up the picture of the gas giant to his screen. He took a moment to study the bands of vibrant color that covered the planet. “I wonder if there’s something in there we can exploit?” he said in a soft whisper. Before he could open a communications link with the science station a Lieutenant posted in the Scanning suite called for the ship’s Captain, J’Nes. The movement caught the Run Point’s notice and he watched as the captain walked over.
An image of still another moon was projected on a screen. Excited chatter coming from the science suite brought the Run Points attention back to what the scientists were doing. It was easy to see why they were so excited. The formations on that moon were contorted and twisted while covered with brilliant and unusual colors. A moment later the Kthpok leader glanced back at the scan station to see that Fleet Admiral P’Mar had joined the Scan Officer and Captain J’Nes.
That’s interesting, thought S’Cinf. Shifting his tail out of the way he left his perch and headed for the suite where the three Kthpok were conferring. As he neared the scanning suite the Run Point was able to overhear what was being said.
“…unable to know the count for sure,” reported Lieutenant D’Pan, the Scan Officer. “They’re too far away.”
“If the distance prevents a count, how can you be sure of what’s coming?” asked J’Nes.
“I’m the best scanner you’ve got, Captain,” replied the officer in an offended tone and gestured at his equipment. “I can work this equipment to show the warts on a female’s tail on a dark night.” The captain didn’t seem as impressed as he should have been but the Lieutenant continued. “We’ve been scanning the inner planets since entering the orbit of the outer planets. We also have the record generated by the computers as this system was being evaluated. What I see is a large metallic mass heading away from the inner planets. I checked the computer before calling it to your attention and this mass wasn’t observed moving around the system during the initial evaluation.”
“That is unusual,” commented the Fleet Admiral, “but not unknown.”
“In addition to the sighting there’s the electronic emissions we’ve detected coming from that mass, the location of the mass, its speed, and destination. There’s also the fact that it’s accelerating,” said the officer with an emphatic swing of his tail. “It all points to one conclusion.”
“What?” asked S’Cinf as he entered the conversation. “What conclusion are you talking about?” The three Kthpok fell silent when they realized that the Run Point had joined them. “Well?” he prompted.
At a gesture from Admiral P’Mar the scan officer responded. He ducked his head in respect as he spoke, “I’ve been monitoring the inner system, Run Point.”
“That much I heard. What did you find? Lieutenant…?” he let the question trail off.
“D’Pan, sir,” the officer replied. “There’s a force of ships heading out system on an intercept course with us. The distance prevents us from getting an accurate determination of class and number. That will come as they close.”
“If you can’t determine the count,” asked S’Cinf, “how can you tell they’re ships?”
“The sunlight reflecting from the hulls,” was the immediate reply.
“Sunlight?” S’Cinf questioned. “How…?”
“That technique’s been used for many years by astronomers to determine the elements in a planets atmosphere, your Eminence,” volunteered Captain J’Nes.
The Run Point bobbed his head in understanding. “I see. What else?” he asked.
“This new fleet originated from the fourth planet,” said D’Pan.
“That’s the main native planet,” supplied P’Mar.
S’Cinf sent a quelling look at the admiral. “I know that’s the main native planet,” the Run Point said.
“The force’s course intersects ours well outside the orbit of the fifth planet which, as you know, is also inhabited,” said D’Pan cutting through the budding dispute. “That’ll occur within six days.”
S’Cinf’s tail began a slow twitch as he pondered the news. “That seems to indicate the natives do have a military force,” he commented. “They wouldn’t send freighters to investigate something coming from outside their system. In addition, their scanners are capable enough to’ve picked up our mass.
“So, they’ve dispatched a force to meet us before we reach their inhabited planets. That’s what I’d do.” The Run Point looked over at the admiral. “What’s your recommendation, admiral?”
“I want to revive enough of the crews to have people at all defensive stations before the native force reaches us,” P’Mar replied.
S’Cinf’s tail stiffened in surprise. “I thought you said we couldn’t survive, let alone win, a fight.”
P’Mar bobbed his head. “We won’t,” he replied. “But I still want the crews revived.
“I understand that our original intentions were to keep the crews in suspension until a viable colony had been established or at least discovered,” he replied and gave a shrug of his tail. “But the drive problems on the Deliberate changed that. The arrival of or impending interception by an enemy force requires our ship weapons stations be posted.” The admiral paused for a moment to let the Run Point consider his request. “We’ll have an early test of our ability to convince the natives we’re peaceful. But if it doesn’t work and they attack I refuse to die without a fight.”
“Very well,” said S’Cinf with an approving sweep of his tail, “you can have your people. The revival’s been approved.”
He glared at Captain J’Nes and Admiral P’Mar standing before him. “And our plans had better, must succeed. It’s not just our lives that are at stake. It’s our entire people. The extinction of the Kthpok as a species is what we’re facing.”
The admiral bobbed his head. “We understand what we have to lose, Run Point,” he said, “and we will not fail. We will time the revival of the additional packs to keep the drain on our supplies to a minimum yet allow sufficient time for recovery. Our vessels will be defended.”
“There’s another factor, your Eminence,” added J’Nes. “If we’re successful in deceiving the natives we’ll have all the supplies we need.”
P’Mar gave a snort then added. “And if we’re not successful we won’t need what we have. We’ll be dead.”
“There is that,” replied S’Cinf.
With a twitch from his tail that signified dismissal the Run Point turned and moved back to his perch. Once there he resumed watching the images received from the probes sent to the gas giant. At this point he wasn’t going to inject himself into the preparations to meet the oncoming natives-. Preparing for a fight was the admiral’s responsibility.
Two days before the fleet was scheduled to intercept the native force S’Cinf stalked into the Center Room. As the door slid shut behind him he paused on the landing to survey the activity at the various consoles. Before he could move further into the room the officer-on-duty hurried over, saluted and adopted the proper pose.
“Your Eminence, how may I assist you?” asked the OOD.
S’Cinf considered for a moment before answering. A quick glance at the badge on the Lieutenant’s harness gave him the officer’s name. “I would see the Fleet Admiral, Lieutenant M’Ton. Have him called to the Center Room immediately.”
The OOD dipped his head in acknowledgement. “At once, my Lord. If I may?”
At a twitch from the Run Point’s tail the Lieutenant hurried over to the communications suite to summon the admiral. Unsure of how long it would take for P’Mar to arrive S’Cinf moved over to his perch and logged onto the system.
A few short moments later the admiral arrived in the Center Room and hurried over to where the Run Point waited. After adopting the same respectful pose as Lieutenant M’Ton but with an adjustment for his higher rank P’Mar spoke. “What is the Run Points wish?”
The Kthpok leader looked up from the screen he’d been watching. “I’ve realized that we have no way to communicate with the force that’s coming to greet us. At least with the beast humans they’d learned our language so they could understand their instructions. It’s obvious these creatures won’t be able to speak our language nor we theirs.” He gave a questioning twitch of his tail. “How’re we going to convince them we’re peaceful and that they should assist us?”
Admiral P’Mar bobbed his head to show he understood the question. “We’ve prepared a short documentary of how we came to be here for an introduction,” P’Mar replied without preamble. “It’s based on a visual record of the battles we endured with the humans. I gave the techs a general idea of what I wanted and had them use their imagination. It’s taken them several days to complete to my satisfaction.” He gave a brief bob of his head in wry humor. “I think it gets our message across without requiring them to understand our language.” The admiral paused for a moment then spoke again. “Would you like to see it, your Eminence?”
There was no hesitation in S’Cinf’s response. “Show me what you’ve prepared!” he replied with a definite bob of his head.
The admiral gestured compliance with his tail. “Communications!” he called loud enough to carry over the muted noise of the Center Room. “Have Intro One opened and displayed to this terminal.”
The communications officer, Lieutenant L’Art, swung his head around to verify where the admiral was then made some entries on his keyboard, consulted the list that appeared on his screen, selected an item and then turned back to his commander. “It’s coming up now, admiral” he announced.
S’Cinf craned his neck to watch as the specified monitor flickered. A moment later a transmission header appeared then the message began. In rapid sequence the Run Point saw various pictures of cities, factories, farms and recreation areas. All were showing Kthpok going about their normal routines. The Run Point’s tail began a slow, methodic swing as he considered what he was seeing. It was obvious to one who knew about Kthpok society that care had been taken to erase any sign of human property.
The Kthpok leader watched the presentation unfold and a sense of nostalgia for what they’d lost came over him. The next images showed a beautiful blue-green and white planet in a black field. A picture of a Kthpok was superimposed on the planet with a blinking violet dot off to one side. The Run Point bobbed his head. Anyone watching would understand from that sequence that the Kthpok came from the planet shown. The orb shrank and dropped into a schematic that S’Cinf recognized as the solar system they’d fled. The pulsing violet dot indicated the position in the system of the Kthpok home planet.
After a few seconds the schematic disappeared and a new image appeared: that of a human matched with a blinking blue dot. The solar system schematic returned and a blinking blue dot came from out system on a course straight for the Kthpok planet.
Next came a sequence of images showing Kthpok ships leaving their home planet and being attacked. S’Cinf saw pictures of Kthpok ships exploding, Damage Suppression Packs struggling to repair damage, missiles being fired and pulsers trying to stop incoming missiles. The schematic of the solar system was superimposed over the images of fighting to show the location of the battle by using the blinking dots. The dot representing the Kthpok force shattered and disappeared. The blue dot representing the humans continued towards Fairen.
Once again the Kthpok home planet was shown but this time the human fleet was in orbit. Explosions appeared in space as the enemy attacked defenses based on the moon and those in orbit. Then another sequence was presented which showed images of humans running through the corridors of the Lunar Defense Complexes blasting every Kthpok in sight. A moment later a nuclear explosion on the moon was shown.
Images of cities and Kthpok were shown once again. This time the buildings, vehicles and people were destroyed by nuclear fireballs. A Kthpok family huddled in their home disappeared in a blinding flash. Entire cities and forests were shown inundated in flames. The planet reappeared only this time its surface was marred by dark blotches of smoke and bright flares of explosions.
The scene shifted to show a small force of ships with battle damage prominent accompanied by the purple dot. The Run Point recognized the Colony Ships and knew he was seeing the remnant of the Kthpok fleet. A schematic was shown with a blinking purple dot leaving the system. The blue dot representing the humans was in pursuit. Then the screen blanked.
There was a brief pause and S’Cinf swiveled his head back to look at P’Mar. “That was very well done, Admiral,” he said. “It should explain to the natives where we came from and why,” he said. “But what asks for help?”
P’Mar didn’t answer the Run Point’s question instead called out, “Communications! Activate Intro Two.”
Moments later the screen flickered again. This time pictures of wounded or ill Kthpok were shown. Medical technicians were shown moving from patient to patient administering what aid and comfort they could. Occasionally a tech would dip his head and cover the patient with a blanket. Last came a funeral procession and ejection of a number of bodies into space.
“I’m impressed,” said S’Cinf when the transmission ended. “That ejection into space was a good touch. Commend the Kthpok who developed that sequence.”
“Thank you, Run Point,” said P’Mar, dipping his tail in gratitude. “When he was young one of the communication techs had attended a similar event for a human pet. He modeled the whole thing on what he’d witnessed then.
“As you can see our pictures explain why we’re here and that we have injured among us but it can’t ask for help. When the presentations are completed I’ll speak to them, request assistance and hope they get the message.”
The Kthpok leader bobbed his understanding. “What you’ve planned is satisfactory but I want one change. As the Run Point I will speak for the Kthpok.”
Admiral P’Mar went to object but was stopped by an adamant sweep from the Run Point’s tail. S’Cinf continued, “I have not made a practice of explaining my intentions or decisions, Admiral. But in this instance you need to know why we’re going to do it this way.
“If the natives accept that our intentions are peaceful and then learn about our command structure there may be questions about why the Kthpok Run Point didn’t address them at the initial meeting. I know it’s a small issue but it raises a question.” He stared at P’Mar. “And questions are best kept unraised and unasked if we want our deception to work.”
The admiral dipped his head in submission. “I bow to your wisdom and wishes, your Eminence. If you so order my staff will be instructed to assist you on possible tones and wording.”
“It is so ordered,” said S’Cinf. “Now, how large is the force the natives are sending to meet us? We should be close enough to know that.”
P’Mar paused to consult an electronic pad before replying. “Scans show a decent sized task force coming our way, your Eminence. It consists of four dreadnoughts, eight battleships and appropriate numbers of cruisers, destroyers, and escorts.”
He gestured still holding the pad. “The interesting thing is that it appears they’re following doctrines employed by our Space Navy. Apparently, we and the natives have discovered universal principals regarding space warfare.” P’Mar shrugged. “This force isn’t as large as what we’d’ve sent but it’s more than sufficient to handle our depleted and damaged ships.”
“Since we can’t fight and win,” the Run Point said, “we’ll have to make sure there isn’t a battle.”
The admiral bobbed his head in agreement. Then, at a dismissive sweep from the Run Points tail, P’Mar moved over to his station where he could continue the task of readying his force to intercept the enemy. And he had just two days to make sure they were ready.
“Two hundred fifty,” announced Lieutenant D’Pan from the scanning suite. S’Cinf looked up from his perch where he waited to do his part. He worked hard to keep his face composed but his tail betrayed the anxiety he felt. It wouldn’t stop twitching. “The range to target formation is two hundred,” continued the countdown. “We are now within short range scanning and communications.”
“Have the natives made any attempt at communications?” asked Admiral P’Mar.
“None at present, Admiral,” reported Lieutenant L’Art from the communications console.
The Run Point continued to listen, content to let his subjects do the work they were trained to do.
“I’m picking up targeting scans. They’re ranging on our capital ships. That includes the colony ships,” announced Commander R’Gon, the Battle Officer. “Shall I have our weapons range as well?”
“No!” replied P’Mar immediately, “I will not respond with anything that may be construed as hostile.”
“But admiral,” protested R’Gon, “if they open fire we won’t be able to reply.”
P’Mar swiveled his head around to glare at the Kthpok. “Commander, if this was different circumstances I’d have you ejected from an airlock without a suit for questioning my orders,” he growled. His tone was as frigid as space. “You will carry out my orders without argument or comment. If you question my orders again you will be thrown out an air lock even now. Is that clear?”
“Yes, admiral,” replied the officer and dipped his head in submission. “Our targeting scans will remain at standby.”
“Good. Now power up the defensive lasers and keep the Damage Suppression Packs ready.” Once again the orders were acknowledged.
“One hundred fifty,” called Lieutenant D’Pan.
“We are now receiving communications,” announced the communications officer. “They’re sending visual.”
The admiral turned to face S’Cinf. “Run Point, are you ready?” he asked. The Kthpok leader stood to take his place in front of the monitor. It took a few swallows to moisten his dry mouth enough so he could speak then he bobbed his head, affirming his readiness to begin.
“Very well Lieutenant, open communications with visual,” P’Mar ordered.
In response to the communications officer working his console, the main viewer flickered to life. When the image steadied a creature with a smooth triangular head, compound eyes, and antennae was shown. The head was attached to a thorax, which connected to an abdomen. Four legs, two on each side of the abdomen, supported the creature while two more limbs projected from the thorax. The whole creature was an unsightly shade of green.
S’Cinf struggled to keep his face composed. It wouldn’t be diplomatic for him to reveal his disgust in the first exchange. This creature reminded him of a strain of pests from the densest jungles of Fairen and was revolting. He pushed the thought from his mind as he waited.
At a gesture from an officer standing out of range of the camera the Run Point began his speech. He spoke as he’d rehearsed. “I am S’Cinf, the Run Point for all that remains of the Kthpok race. The Kthpok have been attacked and driven from their home system. We come with no hostile intentions towards your people but are asking for sanctuary and assistance.”
A moment after it became apparent the Kthpok Point was finished the native shown on the screen replied. Its speech came across the speakers as chirps, squeals, creaks and squawks. How the creature made any sound at all was a mystery to Run Point but the speech continued for a short time.
“It is apparent we cannot understand each other’s language right now,” said S’Cinf when the native commander stopped speaking. “I hope that will be solved in the future as our two peoples work together.” Although he knew the native couldn’t understand a word he was saying the Kthpok Run Point kept his tone as diplomatic as possible. His diction was slow and precise. He assumed the creatures were recording everything he was saying for study by their linguists. The Kthpok were.
S’Cinf continued, “although you cannot understand our language we have prepared a presentation to explain why the Kthpok people are in your system and what our request is.” At a gesture from the Run Point the communications officer activated the first prepared recording.
The main screen showing the native commander split and added the file being transmitted. Everyone in the Center Room kept a careful watch on their equipment as the tale of their misfortune unfolded. They were searching for any sign the natives were going to launch an attack. As soon as Intro One ended Intro Two was sent in a seamless operation.
At the end of the second file S’Cinf resumed his dialogue. “You have seen why we are here and that we need your assistance. We await your decision.” At that the Run Point bowed his head and the transmission ended.
“That part’s completed,” said Admiral P’Mar leaving his perch and walking over to join the Run Point after it was confirmed the link had been cut. “Now all we have to do is wait and hope they’ll believe our message.”
S’Cinf bobbed his head in agreement. “Was the ending too abrupt?” he asked. “Will they consider that inappropriate?”
The admiral gave a shrug of his tail. “Battle!” he called. “What’s happening?”
“The enemy is holding position,” replied Commander R’Gon. “The targeting continues, concentrating on our capital ships but no other sign of aggression.”
The admiral turned back to S’Cinf. “It appears the natives haven’t been offended, your Eminence. We’ll maintain our watch but all we can do right now is wait for their response.”
At first the wait wasn’t difficult. Reports continued to come in from all parts of the ship and fleet. P’Mar took the opportunity to have the ships of the native task force examined with telescopes and passive scans.
As he studied the images shown on the screen the Run Point contacted the admiral. “Now that you’ve had the chance to see the enemy what’s your assessment of their strength?” asked S’Cinf.
P’Mar gave a shake from his tail. “Without a detailed scan or seeing a live-fire exercise there’s no way to tell if they’ve developed weapons or defenses we don’t have. And I don’t want to risk raising their suspicions or scaring the natives into an action we’d regret so I’m not going to order a scan. But from what we can see on the screen,” he tipped his tail at the ships showing on the monitor. “There are missile tubes and laser turrets spread all over those dreadnoughts. They appear to be as powerful as ours.” He gave a shrug of his tail. “The strength of their weapons and armor can only be assessed under fire.”
“That’s one assessment we can’t make right now,” said S’Cinf. “At least not until we’re stronger, have our missile inventories replenished and our plans prepared.”
Admiral P’Mar bared his teeth and snarled in agreement. Then both Kthpok turned their attention back to the enemy formation. Seconds became minutes and there was still no response. The Run Point left his perch to begin pacing a circular path around the room.
When it was coming to an hour since the initial exchange S’Cinf walked over to the admiral’s station. “Perhaps they’re not as intelligent as we thought,” he observed. “Even humans would’ve been able to work out what the message meant.” He paused as a new thought came. “Perhaps they don’t have the capability to receive a visual transmission,” he suggested.
Before P’Mar could remind the Run Point that the natives had broadcast a visual image Lieutenant D’Pan swiveled on his perch. “Fleet Admiral,” he called, “I’ve detected additional scans coming from an enemy dreadnought.”
The two Kthpok hurried over to the scanning suite. “Which ship?” asked P’Mar.
“This one,” said D’Pan indicating the immense vessel.
“Designate dreadnought two as the enemy flagship,” called Admiral P’Mar to his Battle officer. “That’s our primary target if the shooting starts.” Then turning back to Lieutenant D’Pan he asked, “can you determine the purpose for the scans?”
“From their strength and direction it appears the enemy’s testing the integrity of our vessels.”
P’Mar tapped the officer on a shoulder, “keep watch. If they intensify their targeting scans I want to know.” After receiving an acknowledgement from the Lieutenant he turned to the Run Point. “It appears they’ve finally interpreted our messages. The type of scans involved indicates they’re attempting to check the damage our ships have sustained and confirm our story.”
“But we made repairs!” exclaimed the Run Point.
The admiral shook his head. “Wouldn’t make any difference,” he replied. “The patches weren’t made in a ship yard and will be apparent visually. There’ll be burn marks and melts.” He paused to shrug.
“The scans?” prompted S’Cinf.
“Yes, the scans,” confirmed P’Mar. “The carbon scoring and melting could be faked. Those scans probe deeper and can determine which portions of the hull have been replaced. There’ll be differences in the surfaces.”
The Run Point gave a silent oh of understanding. A few moments later the scans cut off. Then the communications officer called for attention. “I’m picking up a transmission from the enemy flagship,” Lieutenant L’Art reported.
S’Cinf hurried back to his station and prepared to face the native commander once again.
“Send it to the main screen,” ordered P’Mar. “The Run Point will take the communications there.”
“I can’t sir,” said the Kthpok. “The transmission isn’t being sent to us. It’s being directed in system.”
“I see,” said the admiral as he nodded he came to a realization of what was happening. “That’s it! They’ve verified that our damage matches with our explanation. Now, they’re relaying our request for assistance to their superiors.”
“Time lag between our current position and the fourth planet?” S’Cinf asked.
L’Art consulted his equipment before answering. “Twenty-five minutes.”
A hunters grin crossed P’Mar’s face as he faced S’Cinf. “We have a little more than fifty minutes to wait.”
“That’s assuming their government can act swiftly,” commented the Run Point.
“Yes,” said admiral, “there is that.”
S’Cinf sat on his perch at the head of the Conference table and stared at the magnified image of a ship shown on the room’s wall screen. No sound was heard beyond his breathing and the air rushing through air ducts. The Run Point made a few entries on a computer terminal. “Number of missile tubes,” he muttered, “spread of laser mounts. Now let’s see what the computer thinks.” A final entry was made with a flourish and he settled back to wait for the results.
A moment later data began appearing on a sidebar and S’Cinf dipped his head to read. “Projected destroyer equivalent,” he said. “The size matches our Slasher class…almost.” He continued reading, noting how deadly the vessel was.
“So that’s a small ship,” muttered S’Cinf. “Let’s see about their next size up.”
The Run Point had Lieutenant D’Pan in Scanning adjust a telescope to focus on another enemy ship. In response, the wall screen flickered for a moment then stabilized.
“Now,” said the Run Point, “let’s see what this particular animal has.” Using a talon he began touching a screen, indicating the placement of missile tubes or laser mounts.
S’Cinf was still marking weapons emplacements when the door to the conference room slid open. The Run Point looked up from his task to see the Fleet Admiral walk through the door and strike a respectful pose.
P’Mar glanced at the wall screen and nodded his head. Before S’Cinf could speak the admiral asked, “doing a little study, your Eminence? That’s a cruiser analog. It’s a little misleading to assign it to that category though. Our enemies have packed an amazing amount of firepower into smaller hulls.”
The Run Points tail drooped in surprise. “How do you know that?” he asked. Then his tone became accusing. “Have you ordered scans without my approval?”
P’Mar’s pose became even more respectful if it were possible. “No, Run Point,” he answered. “As per your orders we have not conducted any active scans. Nor has targeting been used.”
“Then how can you make any kind of assessment about the enemy’s capabilities?”
“Although we haven’t been able to utilize active scanning for obvious reasons,” replied P’Mar, “our officers in scanning are trying to get all the data they can from passives. It’s amazing what a skillful Kthpok can find without asking.”
“Have we been able to gauge the capabilities of each class of vessels?” The Fleet Admiral gave an answering twitch of his tail. “Very well. Have a summary sent to me for my review,” S’Cinf ordered.
The Run Point paused for a moment as he looked at the enemy ship. Then he turned back. “I assume your interruption had more to do with wanting to pass on information than in saving me unnecessary work. So what’s your news?”
“You left orders to be notified of any communications by the enemy,” reported P’Mar and the Kthpok leader gave an acknowledging bob of his head. “Communications reports a message came in from the inner planets. A short time later we monitored a transmission again directed at the inner planets which seems to be a reply to the first message.”
“Content of the message?” asked the Run Point.
The admiral shrugged his tail in ignorance. “I would guess that the first message was a question from command and our natives replied. There’s no way of knowing what was asked and what the reply was.”
Two hours after the admiral had been dismissed from the conference room S’Cinf was called to the Center Room. Since the Run Point had just started his rest period he wasn’t in the best of moods. He stalked into the Colony ship’s Center Room, looked around to find where P’Mar was then stomped over to the admiral’s post. “Has the enemy moved?” he asked.
“Not yet, Run Point,” replied P’Mar. “There’s been no change in the status of the enemy.”
“Then why am I here when I should be sleeping?”
“I had you summoned because another message just came in from the inner systems. A moment later a message was directed to us.”
“Very well,” said the Kthpok leader. “What do they want?”
In response, the admiral entered a few commands on a keyboard then gestured at a nearby screen. The Run Point craned his long neck to get a better view. First, he saw an image of an enemy dreadnought circled in green. Then came a picture of a Kthpok colony ship circled in yellow. Next came a schematic that both of the Kthpok leaders recognized as the system they were in. In addition to the planets and their orbits, were two dots. One dot was yellow and the other green. A dotted line led from the two colored dots to intersect the orbit of the fourth planet.
P’Mar looked over at S’Cinf. “If I’m interpreting this message correctly we have just been invited home for a visit. Should we accept?”
“The first step in the plan for the conquest of our new home appears to have been achieved,” said the Run Point. “Inform our hosts we’ll be glad to follow them to the fourth planet as indicated. Once confirmation has been received make preparations to proceed.”
The admiral gestured and Lieutenant L’Art pushed a button. “The response has been sent,” he announced.