To Planet Nurat

After many grueling hours helping them come up with a satisfactory treaty, I leave the room mentally exhausted.

"even though that whole process was painful, I think it was worth it, since it will guarantee peace between the two empires."

Emilia who is with Xuilana, sees me and runs over to me.

"how did it go."

I sigh and smile.

"it is no longer a ceasefire."

Xuilana asks surpised.

"do you mean there is going to be guaranteed peace?"

I nod.

"yeah."

I put my palm over my face and reply.

"but it also means, that me and Emilia are going to be observed and studied by Cochlean scientists."

Xuilana asks.

"do you know when and where?"

I sigh.

"yeah they've got a small colony planet called Nurat."

she looks down with a gloomy expression on her face.

"so you are going away for some time?"

I shrug my shoulders.

"Premier Vaatnoir didn't specify how long we would be at that planet."

Raylee who has been listening in on the details asks.

"but why would they take you there? instead of their capital planet?"

I respond.

"well apparently that planet is still very prestine and is still filled with all kinds of wildlife, and is not polluted unlike their capital planet."

Raylee replies.

"wow that is surprising, they are really going out of their way to send you to one of their cleanest planets."

Xuilana asks her.

"how do you know all that?"

Raylee answers.

"a couple of years back I went to live among the people of The Cochlea Galactic Authority, to expose some of their harsh treatment of the Cyclops and Orc people."

Xuilana responds.

"so you are the one who wrote that in depth account?"

she nods with and replies with a prideful smile.

"of course, and I even had to use a pseudonym to

cover my true identity from the secret police."

Xuilana praises.

"you did great work with that piece."

I then ask.

"so what do you know of planet Nurat?"

she shrugs her shoulders.

"not much, planet Nurat is one of their best guarded secrets."

I sigh.

"well hopefully it is as good as they describe it."

Emilia then asks.

"so are we going onboard on their ship?"

I answer.

"we don't have to, they've allowed us to take our ship and follow them there."

Premier Vaatnoir and President Shataluv finally leave the room and shake hands, I then say to Emilia.

"let's hope that Premier Vaatnoir gives us a little bit of time before we have to go with them."

Premier Vaatnoir looks at me and speaks in elvish.

"it is time for you the two of you to fulfill your part of the treaty."

I ask.

"right now."

after he nods silently, I ask pointing at Xuilana.

"can I bring her with us?"

he shakes his head.

"no we only need the two of you."

I look to Xuilana and sigh.

"sorry."

she replies.

"it's okay, you'll be fine without me."

Premier Vaatnoir whistles at at someone and then moments later a female cochlean with long light brown hair, who seems to be wearing non military clothes approaches us, he then says to us.

"this is Chrislantine, and she will be at your side the whole time while you are with us."

sensing like there is some ulterior motives about her coming with us I ask.

"is there a reason why we need her with us?"

he answers.

"she is fluent in both our language and the elf language and since none of you speak our language, she will help the both of you interact with our scientists without any misinterpretation."

I look at her and extend my hand.

"my name is Brian Rodriguez, it is a pleasure to meet you."

she gives me a weird look and then looks at Premier Vaatnoir, like she is waiting for him to give her permission to shake my hand, and after he gives her a slight nod, she shake my hand.

"Chrislantine, and I'll be in your care."

Emilia also offers her hand.

"the name is Emilia Schmidt."

she shakes her hand.

"it is an honor meeting, our long lost ancestors."

I think to myself.

"yeah that's right the cochleans seem to think that we are part of their evolution just like the elves."

I then say to Premiere Vaatnoir.

"let me say good bye to my friends before we get going."

he replies.

"as you wish."

I go towards Raylee and Xuilana and say to them with a smile.

"I don't know how long I'll be gone, but I just want thank the both of you for being friends with me."

Raylee blushes.

"I'm just a reporter, calling me a friend is a bit of much."

Xuilana hugs me and kisses me on the cheek.

"in this short time we've known each other; you have become an important person in my life, so please take care of yourself."

I look to Emilia who is grinning from ear to ear and I ask her.

"what?"

she replies.

"being here has really changed you huh Lieutenant?"

I ask.

"is that bad?"

she smiles.

"no it's nice seeing this side of you more often."

I ask in a joking manner.

"you calling me soft now Schmidt?"

she giggles.

"there is no need in getting offended, I meant it as a compliment."

I clear my throat.

"well then let's get going."

as me and Emilia make our way towards the hangar bay we wave goodbye to Raylee and Xuilana, I then think to myself.

"don't worry about us, me and Emilia are soldiers and are capable of defending ourselves, if it ever comes to that."

we also wave goodbye while passing by President Shataluv and General Nadezhad, I then ask Emilia.

"so what do you think about this whole thing?"

she answers.

"I don't know, but I think we shouldn't completely trust Premier Vaatnoir."

I reply.

"yeah, I also feel like he has an ulterior motive."

we arrive at the hangar bay and enter our ship, I then hear Emilia telling our chaperone Chrislantine.

"don't touch anything in here, we don't need any unnecessary problems with our ship, if you go touching stuff."

she sits down and nods.

"yes ma'am I'll be careful."

I then ask her.

"so we just follow the battleship that Premier Vaatnoir came in?"

she nods.

"yeah."

she show me a device that she is holding and says.

"here I even brought along this communication device so that we can keep in touch with the battleship."

Emilia asks annoyed.

"how long were you planning on keeping this from us?"

Chrislantine stammers.

"sorry, I didn't mean to."

I sigh feeling bad for her.

"go easy on her Emilia."

Emilia says to her.

"well if they say anything to you, let us know."

I then take my seat at the pilot chair and say to Emilia.

"come on now, take your seat."

I turn on our ship, I run a system diagnostics check to make sure that our plasma thrusters are in working condition, our carbon dioxide scrubbers are clean so that we are breathing in clean air, our ammunition and fuel are well stocked, checking that our hyperdrive is up and running just in case we need to emergency jump, also checking that our ship's shield is at one hundred percent, so that we are protected from space debris, even though checking most of these things is completely unnecessary, I then think to myself.

"everything seems fine with the ship."

I ask Emilia.

"we good to go?"

she gives me a thumbs up.

"yeah everything looks good."

the hangar bay doors finally open up, allowing us to leave, I then pull on the throttle and fly out of the Nibius Prime Planetary Defense Station for the first time with our ship, I then smile and think to myself.

"at least we get to visit another planet and not worry about having to fight for our survival."

Emilia takes notice of my smile and asks.

"so what's got you all happy now?"

I answer.

"was just thinking that it's nice we get to visit planets and not having to worry about fighting a war."

she replies.

"yeah, after the many years of fighting, we finally get some peace and live somewhat normal lives."

we look out the cockpit window and spot the huge Cochlean battleship, that is still docked with

the Nibius Prime Planetary Defense Station, I turn back and ask Chrislantine.

"why are they still docked?"

she replies.

"they are doing the final procedures of undocking with the defense station."

I sigh.

"well I guess we can get a good look at this battleship, while we wait."

I fly us in closer and start slowly scanning the whole battleship in awe with how primitive it is, Emilia makes a comment.

"these designs remind me of the early war ships that were built when humanity had five colony planets."

Chrislantine replies to her comments.

"this is our empire's strongest battleship, it is our pride and joy, and the both of you are acting like it is not impressive."

I reply.

"don't take it the wrong way, it's just a sight to behold, seeing things like this."

Emilia adds on.

"yeah, we are just used to seeing technological advanced ships built by artificial intelligence."

she asks.

"so this artificial intelligence threatened your whole race?"

I respond while still flying close the Cochlean battleship.

"yeah, the machines rose up against us during the great human Civil War, and since the was really took a toll on us, we've been fighting back with our backs against the wall, always at a disadvantage."

she asks.

"so there was no way in reasoning with them?"

I shake my head.

"no, they seemed more interested in exterminating every sentient life in the milky way galaxy."

she writes down what I said on a journal she took out, and then she asks.

"so what caused them to start attacking humans?"

I respond.

"there are few theories of what started the nightmare, but no one knew for sure."

she scribbles down what I said and then asks.

"like what kind of theories?"

I answer.

"some say the artificial intelligence gained self awareness and saw the human race as a threat to

all life."

Emilia then adds on.

"then there was talk about a rogue group of human scientists that were testing how intelligent they could make the A.I."

she continues.

"both sides of the human war blamed each other since they thought they were using the machines for their benefit."

she shrugs her shoulders.

"but no one really knows, since history usually gets lost in the past."

Chrislantine fascinated with what was said, asks.

"do you two think that A.I from your galaxy will come find you?"

I reply scared of the thought of them coming over here.

"it would be a disaster if they ever come here, since none of your ships will stand a chance against their ships."

she sighs.

"well at least we have you two, if they do ever come."

her communication device goes off and we hear the foreign Cochlean language come through it, she looks at us and says.

"every thing is ready now, just follow the battleship."

I nod and then ask

"I'm assuming we are not flying all the way there, so how are we going to follow them when they warp jump or something?"

she answers.

"don't worry our ship's leave a slip stream in space and you should be able to go through it without putting in the coordinates."

I reply.

"okay, that's good."

I think to myself.

"at least we will save some our fuel."

the battleship finally undocks with the Nibius Prime Planetary Defense Station and starts flying away, creating distance from the station, I then ask Chrislantine.

"how far will they fly out before doing a warp jump."

she points out of the cockpit window and says.

"they are doing it now."

the battleship speeds up for a second and disappears in a split second after, leaving behind a trail of white light in the void of space, Chrislantine points at the lights and says.

"if you follow the trail, you should be able to warp jump where they went."

I pull on the throttle and head straight for it at full speed, and then a couple seconds later we have jumped from Nibius Prime into the orbit of another planet, Chrislantine stands up and says as she approaches the cockpit window.

"welcome to Planet Nurat."