Negotiations Underway

Chapter 6: Revelation

Approximated Earth Date: 3. May. 2235

Stay calm. Stay close. Stay silent. Keep calm, stay close, be silent. The thoughts bounced around Teresh's head.

He held onto his box with an iron grip through the gloved fingers. There was nothing in it, it was just the weight of the box itself that he had to hold up. It was just so that he could appear that he was busy, and that he was meant to be there as a helper. The box was also just large enough to take two hands to hold but small enough so his head could poke over the edge to see what was going on.

He kept his eyes on Tom, seeing how he held himself. His posture was looser, and he began chatting with the two others in dark clothing. Their own helmets were built with that same dark glass that he was used to at this point. More streamlined in appearance, he was told that this was how their military looked. It certainly fits the part. Intimidating colors, regalia, symbols of status, truth be told they actually resembled the valaxi military in many ways. So close that it even surprised Teresh in many ways. Perhaps humanity could add to the valaxi's pre-existing imperial guard and navy. It was the strongest in the galaxy, and with the addition of the humans it would only become stronger.

Damn it, I wish I knew what was going on, his thoughts rumbled.

Tom seemed to be doing well. He was talking with them, a conversation going back and forth. Teresh watched as they clasped hands, and even closed them into a fist and hit one another. He thought it was an aggressive display at first, but he heard Tom's tone remain light, the others laughing along at the display. Perhaps it was a specific kind of social interaction between humans. Goodness there was so much to learn.

Before he knew it, however, he was given a wave by the two and Tom began to walk forward. Ushering their small group to the side, Teresh was barely able to catch glimpses of their hangar and the other ships coming in and out. It was incredible to watch them in motion, ships of all shapes and sizes moving through the space in perfect order. Just as much as the spaceports owned by the valaxi. The humans seemed incredibly good at maintaining order amongst themselves and each other. He could even view massive hangar bases in the distance, though apart from the rest of the architecture. There were about three such bases. Weird to have so many, but perhaps they were meant to be different sections of the military? Even at a glance the human military was quite sizable in comparison to the other child species like his own, before they were decommissioned of course. Nothing compared to the valaxi of course, but still impressive.

He followed Tom towards the right-hand side, making their way towards clearly artificial architecture. The humans seemed to favor metal structures, very blocky and pragmatic. As they neared, he watched as a few small ships entered through their gravity field and flew deeper into the tunnel structure present in the hangar's rear. Quite sophisticated too, it didn't seem limited by the shape or size of the ships coming in and seemed incredibly stable. Almost to the same quality as the one's they possessed back home, though that wouldn't make any sense. He wasn't an engineer, so he was definitely wrong, but their technology was far more advanced than he imagined. Full on gravity generators usually took quite a while to develop, but here they were. A lucky breakthrough? Gifted scientist? The possibilities were endless.

No time to think further on that subject, he had to keep up his performance.

The group came to a massive, wide, rectangular door. A loud brassy sound went off and the metal doors slowly parting and opening with a flashing red light on the wall. Up until they came to a halt, hearing the heft of their weight settle. Following Tom, they walked in and stood in the center. There were some garbled words that came through the room, a male voice by the sound of it. Soon after, there was a loud hissing sound and visible gray clouds of water vapor or mist permeated the room. Teresh recognized this as a decontamination process, and after a time the red light turned green. Tom directed them from this sparse space to a door off to the right-hand side, stopping to tap his head. Teresh fumbled and quickly turned his translator on.