Relv threaded his way through the busy corridors of the accommodation zone inside of Last Port, a gigantic orbital space station. With his shore leave revoked he was unable to go planet side with the remainder of his crew for what was going to be their last night there before they shipped out. He had been trying to make the best of things and relax so he was out of uniform and dressed casually and very comfortably.
The accommodation zone was packed to the brim with a new colonisation mission about to deploy in two days time. Even during war time the imperative to populate other planets and establish self sustaining colonies before the death of Vaslus was still paramount.
The whole place was hot and smelly from the masses of people crammed into the station and it reminded him of the Abarath when the colonists had been loaded on. He ignored it though and concentrated on the locator chip he'd found lying on his bed in his quarters. It was indicating he should leave the main corridor and proceed down a small side corridor that in turn led to the rear service areas.
He came to a solid door with its glaring red signage that proclaimed "Authorised Personnel Only". The locator chip beckoned him to continue. He pushed gently on the door and it moved freely. It should have been locked shut, especially with so many snooping colonists aboard, yet he was not specifically surprised that it wasn't. He opened the door all the way and was immediately greeted by two very intimidating men. The door behind him was slammed shut by one of them while the other pushed him firmly against the wall and frisked him thoroughly.
When the search was over the men gestured for him to go to a small cleaner's room. He knew better than to ask any questions and complied in silence. He opened the door of the small room. Inside it was cramped, poorly lit and filled along one side with various cleaning implements and chemicals on some open shelving. On the other side of the narrow room was a very crude single bunk. With all the colonists on board the service crews were often pushed out of their accommodation into wherever they could find space.
He smiled briefly and shook his head then sat down on the edge of the bed. It was typical of her to pick a place like this to meet.
"Good to see you again Commander," said a woman appearing in the doorway. He stood quickly and she greeted him with a formal kiss on each cheek. It had been some time since he had seen her last and he drank in the smell of her jet black head plumage as it ruffled against his own. He looked into her equally dark eyes, as usual they seemed carefree, relaxed and innocent, but Relv knew better. In her mid forties she was six years his senior, but still as beautiful a women as he'd ever seen.
"It's good to see you too Mira," he said.
"I hope my boys were not too rough, they tend to be a little heavy handed sometimes."
"No more than usual," he said dryly. "I understand that I have you to thank for my command."
"All I did was force the Fleet Admiral to unclench his buttocks long enough to see that you deserved it."
"Yes I don't think he liked that," he laughed.
"I hear you have been shaking things up a bit too. Just take care with that because my ability to protect you will be vastly diminished when the fleet jumps out."
"You might remember that I never asked for your protection at any point and that you have always come to me. Which makes me wonder why are we meeting right now?"
"I keep forgetting that you are not just another military meat head," she replied with a sweet disarming smile. She squeezed past him to sit on the bed, making sure her belly plates rubbed up against his as she did so. It aroused him immediately, but he quelled his urges. It was never wise to let Mira win that game until they had finished talking business.
"And I know that you are not some innocent well meaning benefactor Mira so let's get down to business shall we."
"Very well, but please sit with me," she said patting the bed beside her. Relv crossed his arms and remained standing. She pouted and allowed her council robes to fall away from her shapely legs. He did not move, as much as he wanted to be between them. "Fine! Oh you are so boring sometimes!"
"If I was easy you'd never have been so interested in me."
"That's not true. You and I share a bond that only a few alive today share. We faced death together on the Abarath and we both survived."
"I would hope our bond goes deeper than that now."
"You are the only person on all of Vaslus that I trust. Is that deep enough for you?"
"All your years spent in the Ezati has made you too paranoid about people."
"My years in the secret police have served us both well Relv. They have put me into a place where I can influence the government and the military. Being in the Ezati is why I survived the Abarath. I was on that colony ship to make sure there were no dissenters when the colony was formed. I was secretly monitoring all of the communications within the ship so I know exactly what happened. I know your Jump Master took control of the ship against the captain's orders."
Relv's eyes widened and he glowered at her. "Is that what this is about? Are you going to try and blackmail me with the threat of treason or mutiny? That's beneath even you Mira."
She smiled disarmingly again and drew her robes away from her legs even further so that she was showing her thighs too. "Sometimes you are too easy Relv and you are lucky I am not easily offended. I survived that ship wreck because of your Jump Master. I was on my way down to the jump room to try and help them break in then arrest him. I never got that far and when the first missiles hit the airlocks shut automatically when they detected the first depressurisation. It was sheer luck that I was close enough to the core of the ship to catch the gravity wave back home, even more so that my section of corridor survived intact and that it had an emergency pressure suit with full air tanks."
"If you are not here to blackmail me then why give me the history lesson after so many years?"
"Because during those many hours, when I was trapped in the wreck with my air slowly running out and my body slowly freezing, I had time to think about just what type of enemy we are facing. We have been expanding across the galaxy for the last thousand years and the first properly intelligent species we encounter murders our terraformers and kills all our colonists without so much as even the briefest attempt to communicate. What type of species does that?"
"One that needs to be destroyed before they destroy us!" replied Relv with fierce conviction. Mira rolled her eyes, covered her legs again and sighed.
"That's a very one dimensional and military way of thinking Relv and a huge turn off by the way. Imagine just for a minute if we could study them and understand them. How many people can we save if we could communicate with them and make peace?"
"So what would you have me do? Should I land on Egra and extend them a hearty handshake? Or better still should I try to stop the attack altogether? I am in this for one thing and one thing only; to exact vengeance. I made that clear from the start."
Mira reached up to him and grabbed his arms and forced him to unfold them then pulled him down to sit next to her.
"Even if I wanted to nothing can stop this attack now and with it you will achieve your goal. However you have to understand it will not end there. This battle is just the first in what will be a long war that may last another thousand years. There are only two ways to end a war. The first is genocide and the second is peace. We can spend the next thousand years killing each other or spend that time trying to understand each other."
The sincerity in her voice took him by surprise. He looked into her dark eyes and tried to see if he was being played.
"What is it you want me to do?" he conceded. She pulled out an security chip and handed it to him.
"Take this and never let it out of your sight. It contains fully authenticated orders for you to take command of the Prominence any time you see fit."
"The Fleet Admiral's flag ship, you cannot be serious! Even if the orders are real nobody is going to believe it and the Fleet Admiral is never going to let that happen."
/> "I can assure you the orders are very real and came at a high price. If it comes to that I have agents throughout the fleet. When the chip is activated they will know and they will identify themselves to you with similar chips. They will assist you and die for you if needed."
"Why?"
"If we want to have any chance to understand our enemy I need some of them alive. If things go badly Relv the Prominence is armed with a very top secret prototype gravity wave weapon that is designed to implode an entire planet. Once we have unleashed a weapon like that there will be no turning back."
"Are you sure you want to give this to me? The Fleet Admiral has me in the front line of the attack and I'll probably be killed."
"Then I suggest you don't blindly follow orders when the shooting starts because I want to see you back here with the Prominence and as many prisoners as it can hold."
"Are you sure you will even remember me, it's a 47 year round trip even with the latest advances in jump drives. You will be an old woman, if you are even still alive."
"Rest assured I have made certain arrangements. I will be here when you return and I will be as you see me now. I also promise you that the first night of our reunion will be even better than this night that we parted ways."
Mira leaned in and kissed Relv passionately on the lips, a sudden hunger in her eyes. Relv kissed her back hard and ripped at her clothes just the way she liked it and it aroused her further. He had never understood her fetish for making love secretly in the dirtiest places, but he did enjoy the benefits.