Master of Violence
by AJ Marks
Part 4
Jeff Cerial walked into his office having been called in for an emergency. He sat down waiting a bit surprised when the President, Natile Carter also walked in.
“Thank you all for coming,” she said sounding a bit harried. She appeared as if she had been working hard over something.
He looked around seeing a few others, including Admiral Jorkenstein sitting in the room and wondered what might have happened.
“The press has only started to pick it up, but it won’t last long,” she said to them all. “Admiral, if you’ll update us all as to the situation.”
“Thank you madam President,” Richard said standing up and activating a screen. “Two hours ago the Enterprise was testing a new, more efficient jump drive along with the scientific research vessel Nautilus.”
Jeff had heard all of this before.
“Upon completion of the jump the Enterprise underwent a scheduled alert and patrol,” Richard said, that slightly surprised Jeff. “The captain figured it was a good time for such an exercise, and it didn’t affect the test. However, the patrol encountered something odd, a ship.”
That bit of news caught Jeff’s attention. He wondered what ship had broken down and needed to be hushed, if it could. He could not figure out why they were all there for a freighter or something, unless it was a political ship for some discussions between the colony and Earth.
“Upon further investigation it was discovered this ship wasn’t from Earth, or built by humanity,” Richard stated.
“Um, hold on, what do you mean not built by humanity?” Jeff asked, his curiosity piqued by the curious phrase.
“Just what we mean, this ship is a first contact with aliens,” Richard said.
“Aliens, you mean little grey men?” another person said speaking up.
“Correct, though I’m not sure they are little and grey, but they are aliens. Communications has been slow, but it appears they are learning out language with the help of the scientists on board the Nautilus,” Richard said. “They will be jumping to Earth in one hour along with the Enterprise and Nautilus. They have asked to speak with our leaders, and you are the ones selected to represent Earth and humanity.”
Jeff felt unsure what to think about that. He had been open to the possibility of such things despite no proof that aliens ever existed.
“We also need a way to prepare a real statement to the press about this,” Natile said.
“I suggest the truth,” Jeff said speaking up. “Or at least the truth as we know it right now. What happens in the meeting might have to be modified, but this ship, aliens, and such, no cover up.”
“And the confusion which occurs because of this?” another person asked.
“Which is worse, some confusion now, or complete lack of trust in us later on when the truth does come out, or something even worse happens,” Jeff said. “We all know what happened to governments in the twenty-first century.”
The silence hung in the air for several seconds. They all knew what happened then, mass riots as groups vied for power. It was a wonder they survived as a species.
“You suggest we inform them we have encountered an alien ship and are talking to them,” Natile said. “If talks turn dangerous things could escalate.”
“I’m not suggesting everything, but the major parts, that aliens have been discovered and are arriving at Earth to talk,” Jeff said.
He watched them all think about it for several seconds before coming up with a solution on their own.
“I agree madam President,” Richard said. “The scans of the ship do not indicate it to be a warship of any type. We also don’t know what type of ship it is. Our scanners are ill-equipped to search such ships.”
Jeff watched as she considered the situation. Richard’s communicator went off and he looked down reading something.
“Well, we have a name for their ambassador, Toncor, and they call themselves the Simians,” Richard said.
“We meet with them for sure,” Jeff said. “If nothing else this could provide new scientific breakthroughs.”
The rest of the group appeared thoughtful even as Jeff waited for their answer.
“Inform the captain of the Enterprise that we accept their offer to talk,” Natile said finally and looked around the table. “Unless there are any objections?”
“My only concern is your safety madam,” another senator said, who Jeff had to recall his name, Isa Liam.
“I can assure the senator every precaution will be taken,” Richard said. “I don’t want to be in there either unless there is security.”
The group looked around.
“I’ll have my office release an official statement,” Natile finally said.
“This will cause all types of debates,” Isa said.
“Hopefully people remain peaceful,” Jeff stated.
“Keep an eye on all internet traffic,” Richard said.
“Agreed,” Natile replied.
The President then left the room followed by a few others, leaving Jeff and Isa left in the room.
“Well, not quite what I expected,” Isa said finally.
“No,” Jeff replied considering everything which happened. Things would be very interesting for the next couple of hours, and meeting his first alien race as an official of humanity, it seemed almost daunting to him.
“Well, I have somethings to prepare for,” Isa finally said, standing and leaving the room.
Jeff considered his words and wondered how one prepared to meet an alien race.
*****
Toncor made his way to the shuttle, along with a few others. The translator had been modified to this new alien language, but it was still working on the translations. They had discovered the other ship was some sort of research vessel which had sped up the communications, especially the file they sent over. It was still a bit primitive, but basic communications had now been established.
“So, Toncor, what do you expect?” Aviella asked. She along with the captain would be going down to the surface to represent the group.
“Don’t know, they are an unknown alien lifeform, this is more your area,” Toncor replied.
“Not really, I dealt more with the mysteries of the universe, not other lifeforms,” she replied back to him.
Toncor nodded, knowing they didn’t have a person on board who could really qualify as an expert in other life forms and help them out. It would be trial by experiment for them all. They had a few names, like Mark Pappas, and Alice Schmit who they had talked to before making the final jump to this world.
The shuttle left the ship and it wasn’t long before Toncor felt the gravity of the planet, a bit stronger than what he was used to, but they had determined the gravity was about 1.2 times stronger than their homeworld. It wouldn’t harm them, but it would limit their ability to move around quickly. The atmosphere was very comparable and wouldn’t require any breathing gear to help them. It made things a bit easier considering the gravity.
“Well finally be able to meet this group,” Hakkas said.
“And see what they are like,” Aviella stated. They had no idea what these aliens might look like.
The shuttle landed on the surface and they headed out the open door to a world very similar, yet very different than what he was used to back on his homeworld. The aliens in front of them were bipedal, looking somewhat like a simian, but taller and some sort of thing on top of their heads. They wore clothing, much like he did. Looking over at Aviella and Hakkas they moved forward to greet this new group.
*****
Mark waited, along with the admiral, standing beside him, and a senator, Jeff Cerial. Mark had been selected due to the fact he had already communicated with them and a friendly name might help with the communications. The fact he was trained in the military helped out in case they were not friendly.
The shuttle landed, looking like a box and Mark had to wonder how the ship moved around and its power source. The doors opened and three figures walked out. They were of different heights, but all were smaller than he was, the tallest might have been a bit smaller than an average female. The shortest was probably smaller than his niece, Angie, who was short.
They were dressed, similar to others, pants, shirt, but no hair. All three were bald, and their eyes were slightly larger than a human and appeared solid grey and he wondered if they saw things like he did.
A larger container came out as well and the two groups met in the center. One of the aliens motioned towards the device, and put on some sort of headphone. Mark stepped forward as well, and repeated the action, he assumed it was all right as no one did anything and the aliens appeared to remain where they were.
“Greetings,” Mark heard a voice say and looked over at the alien. “I am Toncor.”
“Hello, I’m Mark Pappas, captain of the Enterprise,” Mark replied. “I greet you for everyone on Earth.”
“Earth, that is the name of this planet, are you Earthlings?” Toncor asked.
“You might say that. We call our self humans,” Mark replied.
“We are Simians.”
“Perhaps we can head inside and get more comfortable, we’re expecting rain,” Mark said.
“Very well, we can wait for Rain inside,” Toncor said.
Mark blinked before then turned to the others who were waiting.
“Well?” Richard asked.
“It’s a communications device, a translator,” Mark said to them.
“Good idea,” Jeff said, looking up at the sky seeing the darkening clouds.
Mark chuckled a bit but informed the three of what they would be doing, and who to follow to reach the meeting room, and a few others moved forward to help move the equipment to the room.
“So, what do you think?” Jeff asked as they made their way down the hallway.
“Interesting,” Mark replied. “They are the, um, Siemiens, no, not that, but close.”
They walked thought the hallways with Mark looking at the aliens. They appeared to take everything in stride, and were not alarmed with anything. Though they appeared to move slowly, perhaps a bit cautiously.
They walked in and the translator was placed in the middle of the table, as one of the aliens placed a few more of the headphones into the machines. Mark sat down and picked up one of the headphones and put it on. The alien fiddled with each one before he, or she, seemed to be pleased with how it all went.
“Testing, can you all hear me?” a voice said which Mark didn’t recognize and realized the one working the devise had been talking.
“Yes,” Mark said as a few others nodded. “They might not understand our nodding.”
“Oh, right, yes,” Jeff said, as did another senator and Richard.
He heard two other yeses, one seemed to be a female voice the other was Toncor’s ‘voice, or computer translation of it.
“I suggest we introduce each other first,” Jeff said.
“A wise idea,” Toncor’s voice said.
Mark listened as the group went around giving their introductions to everyone. His turn came and he said his name, and position and ship. He learned that aside from Toncor, the captain of the alien ship was Hakkas, and the ship was called the Pakkara. The last person was a female, at least if he went by the voice, and was called Aviella.
It was interesting that they didn’t have last names, and realized he was dealing with an alien race and society. They might not have regular names like he was used to. With the names done, they could sit back and get to discussing what was needed.
End part 4