Dranke watched as the Raven docked with Spacecommand's satellite docking stations. It had been a long search for the Hnnet, and in a sense they had been successful. He was sure General Selin would not see it that way though. The General had wanted Dranke and his crew to track the alien fleet back to their home planet. The Hnnet had thwarted all attempts to locate their bases, and the best that Dranke had managed is to locate their sentinel robot program. He was not very sanguine about his meeting with the General.
The docking maneuvers completed, he saw a woman coming through the airlock. She had the insignia of spacecommand on her lapel, and the rank of lieutenant displayed on the sleeve markings which were displayed prominently. Quite an honor. Fenie had obviously noticed her rank as well and she saluted "Welcome aboard lieutenant." The captain, Dranke greeted her with a handshake "To what do we owe this honor lieutenant?" He was as curious as the other crew members. Usually some cadet was sent to escort them to a waiting room.
The lieutenant smiled tightly "The General is away on urgent business, but I have been tasked with debriefing you. Of course we have your full report which just came in recently, but the General needs more. Now more than ever, we need to gather intel on the aliens." Dranke looked nonplussed "Pardon my bluntness lieutenant, but what has changed since we left?"
The lieutenant said quietly "I'm not at liberty to discuss this with the whole crew, but there are developments we have to take into account while dealing with the Hnnet." She looked like she was going to say more, changed her mind and turned, beckoning for them to follow. Dranke, Fenie, Vaxe and Piteer followed, leaving a skeleton crew, including the new cadets Sette and Dex.
They were ushered into a waiting room and the lieutenant sat at the head of the table with the crew members seated in a circle. The lieutenant spoke gravely "I am Nina Decee, the head of the alien task force. While you have been away, we have been in touch with other aliens who have approached us. They call themselves the Jexx. They are probably not as advanced as the Hnnet, but they are friendlier and have shared some of their tech with us. I think they are interested in trade. The politicians are not involved in negotiations with the Jexx, and it looks like we may end up having some trade agreements with them." The whole crew was a little taken aback by the sudden revelation and they just stared. After a while, Dranke broke the silence "How does this change things?"
Lieutenant Nina Decee looked grimly at the young cadets who were looking at her expectantly. "The Jexx are at war with the Hnnet. Apparently, they may ask us to help in the war effort." She held out her hand before more questions came. "We have still not decided, but at this stage, the Leader seems to want to keep his options open." Dranke looked worried "With all due respect lieutenant, from what we have seen of the Hnnet, they are so technologically ahead, we must be looking like ancient humans look to us. And we have a good chance of being inducted into what they call the Hnnesset, but they are evaluating us." Nina nodded "And that is what the Leader has a problem with. The time scales the Hnnet indicated are too long for us."
Dranke was crestfallen. He had hoped to see more of the Hnnet, and this news deflated him, but he understood that the decisions taken by the Leader would have been debated and decided by the worldwide Congress. He was merely the captain of a ship. He waited to hear more...
Nina said "Your ship is to immediately visit the Jexx world alongwith Niket's starcraft which is already on it's way to the planet. The task is to go though their weapons and spacecraft pilot training. Of course you have to keep an eye out for whatever intelligence you can gather. I know we all feel that it would be better to be aligned with the Hnnet, but these are not things for us to decide. We have advised the Leader and General Selin has asked for an audience. But as things stand, you have your orders.
Fenie looked at Dranke, willing him to say more, but Dranke just stood up, signalling that the meeting was over. They were also told they would have an observer on board. Her name was Kell, and she was waiting by the door as they exited the waiting room. Dranke shook hands with her and made the introductions. The Raven was to head off to the Jexx planet, and Dranke just wanted to get some sleep; their adventures in the recent past had taken their toll on him. Piteer and Vaxe took control of the bridge, with Kell hovering over the controls, giving them the coordinates they needed for the jumps leading to the Jexx world, as the rest of the crew went to bed.
Pic courtesy: pixabay.com
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