The Azrican Corridor

Roland Egris strode into the room, taking in the sights. He had just sold his catch from his latest hunt to the butcher's and he intended to spend his coin on hot stew and strong drink. He found a table by the hearth and took his seat, people watching as he waited for a server to take his coin.

A data packet traveling at faster than light speed approaches the planet and any communication stations listening to space would receive the data packet and it once received would wait to be opened by the communication engineer(s). The data packet has not traveled in waves like a radio signal, but as a collection of particles drifting like a massive cloud spreading in all directions making the source difficult to detect as the gravity of masses such as stars and planets changed the trajectory of the particles.

“Grand Admiral, we’re receiving some sort of communications from deep space. We are unable to pinpoint the exact location of origin.”

Monika Davis-Sheffield curled a hand around her chin and raised a brow. She stood up from her seat and paced along the deck of the A-4A-1 Lexington Concord. It was the commanding starship of the Interstellar Fleet on an orbital trajectory around Eden Prime, the hub of the Federation.

“What does it say,” asked Monika. She gestured for the communications engineers to begin decoding or opening the data packet. Their hands furiously began to work moving holographic consoles and screens as Monika supervised.

"We are the Arraen Technocracy, we pursue knowledge in all its forms and begun searching for other life. If you are reading this message and would like to reply, simply input your message and remove the attachment we have placed to signal the packet to return to us. The attachment is a gift from us to you, its a blueprint for a nanobot designed to function like an advanced white blood cell, but will go after tumors as well. Once you remove the attachment the packet will return to us. We hope to hear from you." The message fades and the image of the ruler Alarren Vorgal sitting at his desk fades as well.

“Replay the comms,” Monika ordered as she continued to pace back and forth along the bridge. The message had been interesting. It had been a while since a non-UCON nation had contacted the Federation.

“Record this message,” said Monika.

“Greetings Nation of Arraen. You communications packet was much appreciated with the nanobot technology attachment. We are The Federation under the United Coalition of Organized Nations. My name is Grand Admiral Monika Davis-Sheffield. I command the interstellar Fleet of The Federation. Please state your directive and any requests of the Federation.”

Monika nodded to her crew. The packet was extracted and uploaded onto a console screen. The grand admiral walked over to the holographic display hovering over a conduit and placed her index finger against her lips. It was a beautiful technology and one that the Federation had not yet mastered.

Another data packet entered the star system minutes later and waited to be opened as the other had. The packed seemed slightly smaller and with no attachment as scans would detect.

“We’ve got a response, Grand Admiral,” Quexis replied to Monika. He swiveled in his seat and stood up. The packet was uploaded onto the main display.

“Scans show that it hails from the same origin.”

“Open it.”

“Roger, Grand Admiral.”

The image of Alarren comes on screen and he begins speaking, "We have received your coordinates and have dispatched one of our vessels to meet you. They will not attack unless attacked. The Captain has been instructed to allow your people on board so that you may learn about us."

A massive object would be detected on any deep space scanners at this moment. The ship moved at incredible speed, much faster than light. It would not be long before it reached its destination.

"We have shared our knowledge and ways with no other species that we know of, my people are excited to meet you. May our nations coexist in ways that lead pushed us forwards."

The message ended and the object had already reached the star system's edge.

"Object detected at FTL speeds on trajectory for our coordinates, Grand Admiral," Quexis said to Monika. A tracking holographic display blinked onto the main screen.

"Grant them permission to enter our spacial territory," the Grand Admiral ordered with a wave of her hand. "And contact the ambassador. Randy Herner will want to speak with our incoming guests. He is the Minister of Terran affairs after all." It was subtle but Monika narrowed her eyes. She disliked the man.

"They will be arriving any second, Grand Admiral."

"Where are they?"

"Already at the edge of Regnant System," Quexis replied.

"That's our system," said Monika. The Chief Comms Engineer nodded. He was in disbelief, too.

The massive ship came to a slowed drifting orbit over the planet. The ship was huge, from the surface it had a length the diameter of the moon, but it's actual size was more of the length of its radius. The ship sent a message saying, "we have journeyed great distances to meet you, we wish to have you come to our ship. The coordinates for the designated hangar has been sent. We look forward to meeting you in person."

A swarm of fighters patrolled the ship's perimeter in case of attack.

Oniad was a small planet on the far reaches of the Regnant system. It was mined for precious minerals crucial to colonizing other systems. The Lexington Concord was floating on the planet’s orbit, following it. It was a massive star ship that could rival the size of smaller space stations.

“Incoming comms,” Quexis reported to Monika. The Grand Admiral nodded and waved a hand.

“They are requesting that you join them on their ship,” the chief engineer said with a questioning and suspicious tone to his voice. Monika’s eyebrow quirked in curiosity.

“Open Comms Link with their ship,” the Grand Admiral ordered. A few seconds later and the two ships had an open line between them so that both commanders could speak in real time instead of through messages.

Monika Davis-Sheffield stood in front of a holographic screen which would be project across the comms.

“Greetings. I know that you requested that I come to your ship but I cannot grant this request. The Lexington Concord would be more than welcome to have you on board our ship. Seeing as this is our territory I am sure that you can compromise and comply with our request,” said Monika.

"We will comply, our wish to have you onboard our vessel would be to show you our ship and see if our people could teach you anything new to benefit your species. We understand now that we could learn more from you. Our Representative and his guard will arrive shortly to meet you." The communication closed.

Tharren Helvus, diplomatic representative of the Arraen Technocracy, waits patiently while the remote controlled soldiers were connected to by their child operators. The ship had taken only a few minutes to cross the gap of empty space between the two starships. The pilot flawlessly landed at the designated landing zone.

Without warning the bot-soldiers poured out of the ship and took defensive positions with weapons out but lowered. When given the confirmation it wasn't an ambush waiting for them, Tharren wasted no time exiting the ship and waited at the end of the ramp to be greeted.

Randy Herner was not aboard the Lexington Concord in person. Instead a projected hologram of the man stood waiting beside Grand Admiral Monika Davis-Sheffield. He was as clear as day aside from the white-blue coloring. There was a grin on his face as the newly discovered nation’s representative stepped onto the deck of one of the Lexington Concord’s docking bays.

“Welcome to the fringes of the Federation,” Randy said with wide open arms. It took all that Monika had to not vent him out of the bay. A slight twinge in her brow was the only signal that she was annoyed by the Minister of Terran Affairs.

There was also a representative of UCON present in the gathering. It was a Hykan capsuleer pilot by the name Braig O’deen. He was a scatterran man and stood head and shoulders above anyone else in the room, otherwise he looked human, just disproportionally so.

“I am afraid that I will have to ask you to leave your escort here unless they are willing to disarm themselves completely,” Monika said to Tharren Helvus. “There are no weapons allowed onboard unless soldiers of the Federation.”

The bots stood upright, reached their weapons over their backs, and a series of claw like machines pulled the weapons apart and scattered the pieces across their bodies to be additional armor.

"I hope this is satisfactory." The representative said as he approached.

As he grew closer his appearance could be seen much better. The left side of his face was covered over with artificial transplants that linked to his brain. Both of his arms had been replaced with artificial limbs containing cybernetic implants dotting his arms almost randomly in appearance. His torso was mostly organic, save small implants projecting out where his heart and lungs would be. Last his throat had a device fused to his flesh on either side. When he spoke there was a slight, but noticeable, electrical hum to his voice.

“It will do,” Monika said before she turned over business matters over to Randy .

“Ahh. Well, as I said before, I and the Federation are most pleased to meet you. Welcome,” the hologram of the minister stated. “You will have to forgive me. I was not able to attend the meeting due to the circumstances of how fast you were able to travel.”

“My name is Randy Herner, and I am the Minister of Terran and Foregin Affairs,” the mousy looking man said to Tharren Helvus.

“Ain’t much of a looker, is he?” Braig said in a low whisper to Monika. He got a reprimanding look in return.

"I understand. You're species is the first we have encountered. If we had known the speeds of your vessels we would have arrived at such speeds so your people could prepare. We hope the nanobot design we sent you isn't something your people have already created. Disease was one of the first impurities my people cleansed. We would love to see your ship, tell us of your people and their ways. We will collect all you will allow and share it with the rest of my people. In trade we can share what we will allow with you."

Meanwhile in the large ship a room, one of many for the same use, had children ages 8 to 14 each at an Operation Station that sank into the ground. In these bowl-like cubicles each child had a system of controls and machines surrounding them. Hanging down from the ceiling to each cubicle was a series of cables attached to a helmet that wrapped around the child's head and allowed them to see through the eyes of the bot soldier they controlled. A tube slid into each child's mouth on a surgically made slit and fed them without impeding their abilities to talk. Although they primarily spoke through their cybernetic implants so each could share information with the whole squad faster than it took to open their mouths. Speaking with their mouths was used when talking to an officer in the room as they were on a private net for working together without interruption.

They watched the organics around them and kept a close eye on the hologram, relaying every spoken word to a back up system as the Representative was doing too.

“We are very thankful for your gift. A cure to cancer? How marvelous!” Randy Herner exclaimed. He clapped the tips of his fingers together.

Braig snorted from his nostrils. There was a massive rift between those who were in politics and those who were militant. Politicians were nothing but children in the eyes of the fleet. There was obvious tension between the two branches of the nation.

“Come, come, come,” Randy Herner said to Therran Helvus. “Let’s give you a tour of the Lexington Concord! Do keep in mind that we can’t show you everything. The Federation has technologies that we like to keep to ourselves like any other nation, you know.”

The group made its way out of the bay and into a corridor. There were holographic diagrams on every wall depicting some odd language made up of short hand symbols instead of English or Trade. As they walked through the starship, Randy explained a very small portion of the Federation’s history.

“Eos Paradigm was The Liberator of Terra. She encouraged Terrans to stand up for themselves while under Aschen oppression. The Aschen glassed our Homeworld. She became a symbol of hope and vengeance. This eventually led to the Terrans establishing themselves into two governments. One stayed on Terra in the Sol System and then some of us, the smart of us we believe, came to UCON out here in the Azrican Corridor.”

“Actually, that woman happens to be with us right now,” Randy said as he stopped and turned to smile at Monika Sheffield. She nodded to the politician.

The representative turned to Monika and said, "Our history is fully of people such as yourself. It would be an honor to add a full neurological scan of you to our archives, our operators would benefit greatly from it."

Tharren looked back to Randy and added, "We would be happy to share what you would need to quell any threats the Aschen Empire or any other empire could be to you. We understand your confidentiality towards the inner workings of your ship, but I am curious. What engines do your ships use? We detected shielding on your ships as well, what kind of shields are in place? I ask because I have been ordered to ensure the first species we encounter will thrive and expand. The Council of Knowledge has just agreed unanimously that if any such invasion were to befall your empire, we will aid you however we can."

Several hundred billion souls were focused on every sentence received from Tharren and the alien species he spoke to. There was no work, no moving, just figures standing still across multiple worlds. Every trillionth of a microsecond the entire population's Data Net was updated. By the time Tharren spoke a word his entire empire was aware of it. The weight of his words was heavy on his shoulders as the Council of Knowledge would send instructions or phrases. The operators on the large ship were fully focused on the new species and their ship. Every detail was taken in and analyzed. The body language of the aliens was quickly debated and agreed upon before the humans would blink.

"Analysis shows they don't perform regular neuro scans."

"They will find those words odd and may become suspicious of him."

"Tharren if the aliens are offended by your request to scan the female named Monika, retract the statement and share the importance and regularity of it in our culture."

"Yes Councilmen."

The conversation over their Net took place within the blink of an eye. Tharren pulled up the information needed to properly explain the significance of scanning.

"This species speaks of war and conflict with other empires."

"We will preserve at least one empire of these species."

"They would better serve us as we protect them."

"They haven't needed us in all the time they've been around. They would see us as oppressors."

"We will help them and make them in our image so that we may maintain our own. All agreed?"

"Agreed!"

The Council of Knowledge voted unanimously in favor of aiding this new species they'd discovered. The process took seconds, but the update sent to the Data Net was soon old news as information from Tharren's meeting would update very soon.

Randy Herner looked at Monika nervously and chuckled uncertainly. The Grand Admiral clasped her hands behind her back and said what the Minister could not.

“I am afraid that I will have to decline that request as well. I am the Grand Admiral of the Interstellar Feet. I am sure you can understand why it is important that what is in my head stays there,” Monika stated plainly.

“As for our ship engines, we use electromagnetic ion engines or Hall Effect Thrusters. We also incorporated space folding technology in order to reach the longer distances between stars or systems with Alcubierre Drives. As for what kind of shields we use, well, that I cannot tell you either for security reasons. Most of our technology is highly guarded. It is best to steer away from those questions.”

“Indeed, Grand Admiral,” Randy Herner chimed in with a nervous laugh. “B-But we are more than willing to share our history with you and culture. We have such a thriving culture! It is absolutely spectacular!”