The Jexx planet was directly ahead and Dranke watched the docking of the Raven, that Piteer achieved with ease and finesse. This time they were docking with the military space installation directly. Instructions from the Jexx had been quite specific and clear. There was no mistaking the rolling Jexx intonation as they asked the humans to dock their darkmatter starcraft.
Dranke looked at Kell and asked her to take the lead as he followed and led the rest of the crew out of the ship. The now familiar Jexx barrier showed three Jexx as expected. It was Commander Yod. He made the greeting signal which the crew all mimicked. They were expected to follow protocol after all. Yod turned in his liquid, almost transparent now as he spoke "We see you have incorporated our weapons modules on your ship. That is very good. We would like to inspect these." Kell replied "Of course, we would be happy to give you a tour." Yod turned again in the liquid "We are preparing for an attack on the Hnnet. Your ship will be the command vehicle. I will be honored to command our fleet from the Raven." "Of course. As you deem fit commander."
Dranke was too stunned to say anything. And so were the rest of the crew. Luckily Kell seemed to be able to roll with the punches, and she did not miss a beat in the conversation. Fortunately, the Jexx could not read human body language. Or they might have realized that the humans all had shocked expressions. Dranke decided to diffuse the situation "It will be our honor commander." He said it in a calming tone, meant only for his crew. The Jexx misunderstood it as a welcome "You are gracious Captain." Dranke unconciously nodded, though it would mean little to the Jexx. They were to prepare for the 'attack' as soon as possible. The Jexx had given them just enough time to prepare the Raven and the weaponry. Dranke used the same teams they had used for setting up the modules. They would need to test fire everything. Fenie and Piteer were handed a testing schedule to begin.
Dranke in the meantime, took some time off. The quietest place was the bridge of the darkmatter starcraft, and Dranke in his single focus sat on one of the navigator's chairs. He contemplated this new development which he did not know what to make of. He pinged Kell, and waited for her, as he thought about making the Raven a military vehicle. Even though they were technically 'military', human wars had not been enacted in space, since there had been moratoriums of wars in space right from the days of the Political Wars which had been played out as billions had died in an effort to survive the ravages of the fallout of the war. Humankind had not seen any wars other than minor armed conflicts; and even that ended with the world government under the Leader. Most spaceships did not even have a defensive weapon.
Kell settled down comfortably, sitting opposite Dranke in another navigator's chair "I had expected something like this, but I did not think that they would commandeer our ship." Dranke nodded "I need you to be my advisor Kell. I am not well-versed in politics and at best I can resolve conflicts. But you are the Leader's voice. Tell me what I should be doing now." Kell looked at him in admiration "Captain you are brutally honest. I appreciate your candor." Dranke waved off the compliment "I need to be able to trust you." Kell nodded without answering directly "We should follow the lead of the Jexx. That is the only way we can get to know more about them, and earn their trust. They are treating us as equals. Which is more than they have done for any other species they have come in contact with." "And what happens if they ask us to fire on the Hnnet?" Kell said seriously "The Hnnet can take care of themselves. They are complicit in this intrigue with the Leader. If there are casualties, they are cognizant of the possibility. Our partnership with the Jexx is very important to them. I really do not know why."
Dranke thought of the implications. He had asked Kell for her advice. And her reasoning seemed to be logically sound. He decided to go with it. "Thanks Kell, this helps a lot. I've been very conflicted about this whole scenario, but I guess the Leader knows what he's doing." Kell smiled "You're doing great Captain. The top brass at spacecommand speak very highly of you. I can see why. You are not alone. There are many people working behind the scenes to make things happen." Dranke listened with half his attention. The other part of him was watching the Jexx trio walk into the ship in their curious human-shaped spacesuits. He stood up and Kell followed his lead. "Welcome commander Yod." Yod and his two companions went straight to the bridge. They attached a translator for the hologram and alien figures scrolled down. Dranke watched patiently. Yod turned to him "It looks to be in order. I am inputting our coordinates for the Hnnet system. Prepare the crew for departure."
Dranke pinged the crew with instructions and they trooped in one at a time, lugging their kit with them as they bunked down for the trip. The hologram showed Jexx ships taking off from the planet surface. There were thousands of them. They looked like little pinpricks as they took off from the planet, their engines leaving telltale heat signatures as they overcame the planet's gravity well and reached cruising speed rapidly in formation. They were ready and waiting for the commander's signal. The Raven closed its airlocks and pushed off from the military space installation. The engines fired briefly as they easily matched the much smaller Jexx craft in their formation. Commander Yod gave the signal, and they jumped.
The tracking hologram showed them where their target was. Fenie and Piteer watched it carefully, mentally comparing it to the hologram they were mapping for their own travels.
Pic courtesy: By NASA [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons (http://goo.gl/Vx5JxJ)
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