Celeste walked into the large room. It was the biggest room she had ever encountered on a Grekk vessel. She hadn’t known such rooms existed on a battlecruiser. There was a long table in the middle and chairs on one side. On the opposite side was a long display.
Commander Shail and the Zandrax had agreed to conduct the negotiations virtually. She was sure neither side trusted the other side to actually set foot onto their facilities. From a negotiating point of view, such a scenario wasn’t a bad omen. It was basically two differing sides adopting a neutral mechanism to speak with each other. Initially, the Zandrax had suggested a neutral location, such as their moon. Commander Shail had immediately declined the offer because there was no way to know what covert activities were existent on their moon. Instead, he had proposed using this mechanism to do the negotiations. The Zandrax had been quick to agree to it. There was going to be no need to build any trust as both sides already knew what was at stake and what they each wanted.
She feared that no matter what outcome was achieved through the negotiations, the Zandrax couldn’t be trusted. Commander Shail shared her opinion on this matter, but they both still had a role to play.
Celeste took a seat near the middle of the table. Commander Shail would be beside her. Unlike other negotiations where she would take the lead, for this one, it was decided the Commanders on both sides would start the negotiations and be assisted by their respective negotiators.
After she had returned to her quarters she had briefly highlighted what the Commander had shared with, but intentionally left out the portions related to the Grekk Emperor’s family dealings with Depiom. Without a clear understanding of the reasons behind negotiating, Tara had been angry. She had paced up and down the room complaining why the Grekk had to bow down to the Zandrax. On the other hand, Phog had remained silent. Eventually, he had voiced out that the Grekk need to be careful with the Zandrax.
As Celeste stared at the blank display in front of her, she glanced around the room. Two young Grekk officers had slowly come in and taken their seats. They were probably there to assist the Commander and her. She wasn’t aware who else would be present from the Grekk side for these negotiations.
“Envoy, you are early,” a voice interrupted her thoughts.
It was the XO. She hadn’t expected him to join the negotiations, but felt it was better to have more people inside the room.
“The Commander asked me to sit in,” the XO highlighted. “I am not sure why though. Did he mention anything to you?”
Celeste shrugged. “I wasn’t told who would be present from the Grekk side.”
The XO took a seat on the other side of the Commander’s chair. “I do not understand why we are negotiating with them, but I guess we will find out soon.”
Commander Shail had chosen not to brief his own XO on what was about to transpire in these negotiation proceedings. That was a risky move. The XO may unnecessarily react when certain information was revealed. She would let the Commander deal with him. In preparation for this negotiation she had spent some time with Phog to dig through anything he may know about Commander Anetho. However, Phog had been unable to shed any further light on the Zandrax Commander.
“Are we ready?” Commander Shail asked.
Celeste hadn’t noticed him enter the room until he was standing next to her chair.
“Affirmative, Commander,” the XO replied. “I have also initiated that other task you requested.”
Commander Shail smiled. “Excellent. Let’s begin.”
He gestured to one of the young Grekk officers who opened the transmission feed with the Zandrax. The display screen remained blank.
Commander Shail strummed his fingers on the table. “Where are they?”
Then, a single image appeared on the display. There were only three Zandrax people. Commander Anetho was at the centre. He was flanked by a male on his right and a female on his right. The female looked oddly familiar. It only took Celeste a moment before she recognised the female. It was Axane, the female negotiator from her trip down to the planet. Why was she here for this meeting? Axane was looking down at her device and hadn’t yet noticed that the transmission was live.
“Commander Anetho, I understand you have a proposal for discussion,” Commander Shail began.
“Don’t waste my time,” Commander Anetho sneered. “We have vast amounts of Depiom on our planet. Our proposal is simple. We will not share the Depiom with other space-faring species as long as you give our species a seat at your Imperium Alliance.”
Celeste heard a small gasp from the XO. At least, he now knew what was going on. She didn’t like the Zandrax Commander’s tone. The way he said your Imperium Alliance alluded to multiple problems. It was clear he had no negotiating skills. Such a hostile tone by him wouldn’t help pacify his opponents.
“That is correct,” Commander Shail said. “We are agreeable to the terms as long as no vessels transport any Depiom from your planet.”
Commander Anetho turned to his right. “My daughter Axane here would like to show you something.”
Daughter! Celeste was stunned. She couldn’t believe Axane was the Commander’s daughter. She gripped her chair firmly and hoped that Commander Shail didn’t notice anything. This only confirmed that her prior negotiation had all been a setup. It all became clear to her. That was why Axane had been so carefree and fearless at the negotiating table.
One part of the display flickered and an image of three freighters was shown. The freighters were smaller than those used by the Grekk. They were the kind of freighters that were primarily used for transport.
“These are our freighters ready and loaded to transport our Depiom at my command,” Commander Anetho announced.
“What is the purpose of showing us this?” Commander Shail shot back. “Those freighters could be empty for all we know.”
Commander Anetho snickered. “Why don’t you ask your elite Hunter squadron who are observing our freighters to scan the cargo? We will return in a short time.”
With that the transmission was cut and the display went blank.