Chapter Seventy (Nakteti)

Nakteti was first the Captain of the Boom or Bust and then the It Tastes Sweet once the Boom had been separated into its component parts. One a wayfarer space station, one to become a refinery to process ores collected from the asteroid belt; one to become a shipping station to move the ore and manufactured goods back to the Unified Civilized Systems; six shuttles capable to ground to space; and finally into the smaller, sleeker ship that was named It Tastes Sweet which Nakteti would use to seed the system with buoys, arrays, and do more in-depth surveys of the other planets with probes.

For the first three years everything went smoothly. Buoys in both realspace and jumpspace proclaimed the system was owned by the newly christened Tnvaru Leedimak Consortium, the arrays slowly unfolded and began to gather and transmit data, and the probes showed that the area was rich in resources.

It had been the first colony the Tnvaru people had been allowed in the two centuries they had been a Near-Sapient species overseen by the Unified Near-Sapient Council. It had gone well, the colony. It had expanded rapidly in the three years.

Nakteti thought all of that to herself as she stood watching the It Tastes Sweet be pulled into a repair and refit docking slip by tractor and pressor beams. She knew she was crying, staring at her ship, which had been carefully removed from the vast military cargo vessel that had hauled it from Guardian 442 Station.

The Tnvaru ship was battered and beaten. The front torn open, holes in the main body, rents and tears in it, all of the crudely patched with what appeared to be every available metal. It had been attacked by a Precursor war machine, one of the fearsome unliving robot warships from a war between ancient species that had started over a hundred million years before. The same Precursor that, following its programming and its own logic that drove it to destroy any other species, had destroyed the entire colony that Nakteti had watched begin to grow.

//Goodboi is here Nak-nak// the large robot next to her sent to her implant.

Only it wasn't a robot. Nakteti had learned that over the weeks she had come to know it. It was the brain of a sentient species wrapped up by a heavy alloy frame. It was eager to please, eager to help, and tried to reassure Nakteti at every turn that it was friendly.

//People come Nak-nak// the cyborg, the 'goodboi' told her over her implant.

She heard the door open then close behind her. She knew it wasn't her crew. As soon as they had arrived most of them had been moved to medical care. She worriedly clasped her gripping hands and her catching hands together, all four hands squeezing each other.

"We'll get her fixed up, Captain Nakteti," A rumbling voice said from behind her.

"My clan cannot afford this. My consortium is undoubtedly bankrupt, the majority of my clan is dead, and my people can not afford to pay for this," Nakteti said softly. "We Tnvaru are not a wealthy species. It is only through luck that we were even granted permission to start a new colony and even then we could only afford to found one in the Great Gulf."

"You requested assistance. It is just minor repairs. To be honest, your ship is, well, to put it nicely, easily repairable by even trainees. It will do the repair crews good to work on it, get back to some basics," the unseen being said.

Nakteti knew it was a primate. One of the ones who called themselves Terran or human, depending on the mood. She had learned that Terra was the planet they were all from, sometimes referred to as TerraSol. They also called it dirt, or Earth, and sometimes jokingly referred to themselves as Earthlings.

They were larger than they had appeared at first. Larger than even the Lanaktallan Overseers. Twice the size of a Tnvaru, outmassing them by a factor of ten. Nakteti knew the rule: Twice the size, eight times the weight. But human muscle tissue and bones were dense. They were just so big compared to her people and the people of the Unified Civilized Species. They were predator primates, omnivores, who smelled of aggression at times. She felt a slight ripple of fear knowing the being was behind her.

//No scared Nak-nak// Fido sent to her datalink. //Human friend//

"Is our ship so primitive to you?" Nakteti asked, feeling slightly sorry for herself.

"No, ma'am," the unseen human said. "Not primitive. Many people build ships of old tech as a hobby, for fun, or for specific purposes. Yours was a specific purpose, built to be a colony support ship. Jumpspace is the safest FTL travel type, especially if you may have gestating beings on it. There's more than a few groups who have gotten together and pooled their skills and time to create a colony ship much like yours."

"Oh," Nakteti said. "I thought perhaps my poor Sweet was too primitive for you."

"No. Old tech is some of the best tech," the primate said. "May I step up next to you?"

Nakteti had noticed that humans were very careful, were very polite, very conscious of their movements around other species. She has seen them together. They were boisterous and often touched one another or invaded one another's personal space.

She found it comforting.

"Yes. If you wish," Nakteti said quietly, reaching out with her lower hands, her gripping hands. She pressed them against the clear barrier between herself and vacuum. "My poor Sweet."

//Sweet goodship//

The human moved up, moving close, and did not pull away from Nakteti when she reached out with her catching hand and touched his arm.

"You escaped a Precursor in an unarmed ship. You brought your survivors through this," the human said softly. "You experienced things, as a Captain, that you can told about, you can be trained for, but you never know how you will react when it actually happens. If it is any consolation, as a fellow Captain, I agree with every one of your decisions."

"But we are so far from home," Nakteti said. "My people are overpopulated The colony failed, which means that my people will have to be moved to other worlds at great expense, we will have to pay that expense, as a species. This was our chance, our chance to start climbing up from Near-Civilized to Civilized."

The human shook his head, reaching out and putting one warm heavy hand on the fur of Nakteti's shoulder. "You seem civilized to me."

"There are many standards that the Unified Civilized Council require for elevation. One of which is the ability to found and properly administer a colony world. My people failed," Nakteti stated. She reached up with her catching hands and put her hands over his.

"You didn't fail, you ran into a Precursor machine. That's like saying someone who was murdered failed to hold a job," the human said softly. "Your colony didn't fail, it was murdered."

Large tears fell from Nakteti's eyes as she considered the human's words.

"What will happen to my people, human?" She asked, letting go of the human's hand, pulling her hands back from the barrier, and hugging herself tightly. "They must think us all dead, unaware that some of my crew and I survive."

"I do not know. What I do know is that your Councils have requested human assistance and already the Terran Confederacy has moved military forces in to protect the planets and people of your territory," the human said.

"But why? Over just one colony?" Nakteti asked, hugging herself tighter.

"That Precursor was the first. Many more have arrived in Council Space. Not a few, but estimated hundreds and more every day. We fight to keep them from burning entire worlds," the human said.

//Oldboi badboi//

"Can you embrace me? I am distressed," Nakteti said.

The human knelt down, wrapping his long primate arms around her, and gently hugged her. She put her arms over his and squeezed tighter until he got the right pressure. She reached out and touched Fido with her gripping hand on that side.

She watched as the Sweet was docked, locked into place by massive struts that attached to her ship's battered hull. Figures, tiny at the distance, little more than specks, began drifting over the hull. She stood there and watched even as the twinkling of torches and welders began to sparkle.

"I have seen enough, human," Nakteti said. She leaned her head against the human's arm. "You can release me now, I am not so distressed."

"If you are sure," the human said. He released her, standing to his full height.

She turned around and looked up at him. He wore one of the Terran uniforms, on one shoulder a patch of a human hand grasping a planet and squeezing it until dust/vapor shot from it. Her implant, updated when she had boarded the station, labelled him as 'Major Carnight, TerraSol Confederate Military." She 'touched' his icon and saw that he had been assigned to escort her.

"May I ask where we are? We were at Guardian 442 before this," Nakteti said.

//home Nak-nak home goodboi is home// Fido said. She reached out and touched him again.

"Orbital Station 3-15," Major Carnight told her, as if that was all that was needed.

"Oh," Nakteti answered.

Major Carnight shook his head. "Come with me. I'll have the corridors cleared. You can see where you are."

"May I hold your arm?" Nakteti held up her grasping and catching hands on that side. The human held out his arm and nodded in his species method of non-verbally signalling assent. She grasped his arm, amazing at the firmness of his muscles, like metal. Almost like the alloy making up Fido, who she touched with her other two hands.

Together the three of them walked through empty corridors. She could smell the humans who had been there and she realized that she could smell other species, but all of those species had the slight smell of human under their scents.

Finally they stepped out into another observation bubble, this one showing nothing but gray on the screens.

Major Carnight reached out and tapped the screen, bringing up a complex menu of letters and icons. He tapped a few and the screens went to transparent, the menu changing color to soft amber.

Nakteti gasped. Below her was a planet, over half of it, maybe close to three quarters of it, covered in water. The proto-continent factured into large continental masses. There were white clouds, including a spiral storm over the water. Half was in light from the nearby star, the other half was dark. She could see clusters and lines of light on the dark part. It looked chaotic, no rhyme or reason to where the lights shined. Beyond it stars gleamed brightly and she realized she could see the galactic core.

"Where... where am I?" she asked.

Major Carnight touched her catching hand with his own.

"TerraSol."

//home//

Nakteti grasped the human's arm with all four of her hands as she watched the planet turn before her.

"It's beautiful."

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

Oh dear, a foundling.

They're uploading what happened now.

Oh, Daxin found someone in trouble.

----NOTHING FOLLOWS------

TELKAN GESTALT

A what?

-----NOTE THING FALLOWS------

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Someone who was lost. Usually a child.

Daxin's still alive? Wow.

------NOTHING FOLLOWS------

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM COLLECTIVE

Do not worry, Gramps is good at taking care of foundlings.

Think he's got that raggedy old Fido following him around still?

-----NOTHING FOLLOWS-------

TELKAN GESTALT

Who did ?dnif yeht

I mean, who did they find? What's a Fido? Who's Daxin?

------NO THING FALL HOES------

MANTID FREE WORLD

Fido's and Daxin's are ancient immortals. I mean, ancient.

As to the foundlings, well, according to upload I'm looking at now, let's see...

Well, they appear to be a small race, from your

*********

TERRASOL

Quiet. All of you.

*********

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/

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

Are you all right?

-----NOTHING FOLLOWS------

TERRASOL

We are angry. We are enraged.

We have learned things.

The oppressed and downtrodden call out.

Call out to TerraSol.

Holding their children in their arms they cry out.

Small they are, yet are not all valued?

Is that not the lesson we have all learned?

************

TELKAN GEꓕꓶⱯꓕS

Did I do something wrong?

------NOT HIN G FOLL OW S-------

TERRASOL

No. It was done to you.

This can not stand.

************

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Perhaps you should let us speak?

You are full of wrath. I can hear the hammers pounding the Anvils of Hate and the Wrath Forges.

When you get angry you get a little... um...

------NOTHING FOLLOWS---------

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Breaky?

-----NOTHING FOLLOWS-------

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM COLLECTIVE

Smashy?

------NOTHING FOLLOWS-------

TELKAN GESTALT

You're not angry at me, are you?

----NOTH IN G FOLLOWS-------

MANTID FREE WORLDS

No, dear one. They are not.

TerraSol just needs a moment.

Perhaps, TERRASOL, you should take a moment to compose yourself.

Now, you know how you get when

***************

TERRASOL

War. War never changes.

>TERRASOL HAS LOGGED OFF

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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

OH SHIT!

----NOTHING FOLLOWS------

MANTID FREE WORLDS

oh no no no no no!

------NOTHING FOLLOWS-------

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM COLLECTIVE

um... that's not good.

-----NOTHING FOLLOWS-----

BIOLOGICAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

Uh, did he just say what I think he said?

-----NOTHING FOLLOWS-----

CLONE WORLDS DIRECTORATE

oh, this isn't good...

Sis, you gotta do something.

------NOTHING FOLLOWS------

MANTID FREE WORLDS

You guys take our little one someone safe.

I'll go talk to him.

------NOTHING FOLLOWS----

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/

>DASS HAS LOGGED ON

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DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SAPIENCE SYSTEMS

OK, I'm back, what did I...

Um... what's going on?

Did I miss something?

Why is Mars and Mercury lit up?

Guys?

Guys?

Where is everyone?