SS Vigilance-Kal'shebbol Orbit
Khaln sat in his office contemplating his discussion with the captain. What could he do? He didn’t want to risk the lives of his crew. He was glad when his comlink beeped forcing him to take his mind off the problem at hand.
“Sir, we just detected an unknown ship. Long Rang sensors picked it up a few seconds ago. It must have reverted within the last minute but we didn’t detect it.”
“Can you get me a visual?”
“Not yet. A wing pair off the
Unity will be in range within a minute.”
“Fine. Give me a live sensor feed.”
“Yes sir.”
Khaln turned away from his desk to press a button on the wall. Within a second his office had reformed into a command center. Smiling he took his seat in the replica bridge chair. He’d heard that Grand Admiral Thrawn had something like this on his flagship the . He’d never found anybody who could tell him for sure one way or another, but he wouldn’t have been surprised if Thrawn did have something like this.
A screen in the very middle of the far wall became active with the sensor feed from the wingpair. In the bottom right-hand corner of the screen it identified the wing pair as the x-wings, Red 3 and Red 4.
Slowly on the screen the image of the ship began to grow. At first it appeared to be a cylinder around 300 m long with various outcroppings at weird angles. As the X-wings came closer it became obvious that those outcroppings were weapons and engines. The ship appeared to be covered with some weird glyphs.
“What in the name of hades is that?!”
The exclamation disturbed Khaln from his study of the alien ship.
“Bridge! Transmit a message to that ship on all standard and non-standard channels. Use electro-magnetic radiation, light whatever.”
“What should the message say?”
Khaln took a deep breath.
“Tell them that the Outer-Rim Sovereignty greets the Aing-Tii monks.”
“The Aing-Tii monks? Who the hell are they?”
“Don’t worry about that. Transmit the message immeaditly. Withdraw the wingpair to the
Unity.”
“Yes sir.”
Khaln concentrated on the screen. The Aing-Tii monks! He’d never actually believed all the stories he’d heard about them. It all went to show that the galaxy still held many secrets.
“Sir. There is no response from the ship. Wait a minute. Sir the ship just disappeared!”
“Where the hell did it go? You can’t just appear and disappear. Could it have engaged a cloaking device?”
“I don’t know sir. I don’t see any signs of it anywhere. There wasn’t a regular run up to hyperspace or anything. Holy @#%$!”
Khaln jumped out of his chair at this exclamation.
“Bridge? What the hell just happened?”
“Sir I’ve never seen anything like it. They just appeared out of nowhere.”
“Who’s they? The Aing-Tii?”
“Yes the Aing-Tii. Sir,
Unity is moving to come between us and the Aing-Tii vessel.”
“No! Order Captain Delarn to hold her position! Do not respond.”
“Yes sir.”
“Lower shields.”
“Sir what if they have hostile intentions?”
“I’ll take that risk. Lower shields.”
“Yes sir.”
“And I’m coming to the bridge.”
“Yes sir.”
Khaln quickly got up and left his office. As the Commanding Officer of the fleet his office was only a few steps away from the bridge. As he stepped into the Security Foyer he nodded to the guard beside the blast-doors who opened the door for him. As he entered the bridge the young ensign standing just inside the doors announced his presence.
“Legion-General on bridge!”
He roared out for all to hear.
“As you were.”
Khaln walked up to the current captain of the
Vigilance, Senior Lieutenant Wairthan.
“Have they done anything?”
“No sir.”
“Fine. Transmit an invitation for them to come onboard the
Vigilance. Let’s see how they react. Use all the methods we tried before.”
“Yes sir.”
“And search our database. See if you can find anything about the Aing-Tii. And I don’t care if it’s an unsubstantiated rumour or a story or whatever.”
“Yes sir.”
“Sir the Aing-Tii ship is moving closer. They’re extending an umbilical to the airlock A-3.”
“Fine. I’m going down there to greet them. I’ll go with 4 guards.”
“Yes sir.”
****
Legion General Khaln stood on the inside of the hatchway that the Aing-Tii ship had connected their umbilical to. Patiently he waited for the Aing-Tii delegation to come on board. Slowly the improvised airlock opened to show the Aing-Tii delegation. It was composed of 5 short quadrupeds standing upright on their rear legs. They lacked a mouth though 4 tongues protruded from the top of their heads. Their whole bodies including their tales were covered with bony armoured plates. Their plates were covered with painted glyphs and symbols reminiscent to the glyphs on their ship. The tongues of one of the Aing-Tii who Khaln presumed to be their leader waved around in the air. Khaln took a step forward and extended his hand to the Aing-Tii. The tongues waved a bit more until one of the Aing-Tii appeared satisfied that Khaln and his companions presented no threat to them.
"Hello, I am Af'khas the leader of the Sanhedrim."
Khaln frowned. The Aing-Tii had not voiced any words. It seemed as if they communicated telepathically. Glancing around he could see by the expressions on their faces that they hadn't received any sort of telepathic message.
"The Sanhedrim? I thought you were Aing-Tii monks."
"We are Aing-Tii monks. The Sanhedrim is the warrior caste of the Aing-Tii."
Khlan looked around. His companions were regarding him as if he was crazy. He had to admit that if he was around a superior who started talking to himself he'd have serious doubts about their intelligence.
"I am Legion-General Khaln. Commanding officer of the Kathol Combat Response Taskforce. I also am empowered to represent the senate and the people of the Outer-Rim Sovereignty."
"The Aing-Tii know of this Outer-Rim Sovereignty and your presence here in the Kathol Sector. I have been delegated by the ruling conclave of the Aing-Tii to negotiate with you."
"Negotiate? You wish to form an alliance?"
"Hardly. The Aing-Tii were severely weakened by Xireon Jiren's quest to retrieve the Blade of Klain. We wish to be left alone. We will continue our fight against the slavers in the Kathol Outback. All we ask is that you leave our homeworld alone and that you restore order to the Kathol Sector. The slavers have grown exponentially during our period of weakness. We would appreciate you aid. There would be no long term alliance."
"What would we get in return?"
"You would receive technology of the like that you have never seen before. Our sanhedrim warships are unique in your galaxy."
"Have you ever done something of this kind before?"
"No. The only over governments that ever had a strong presence here was the New Republic and the Empire. The empire supports slavery. We would never stand by them. As for the New Republic we never needed an alliance."
Khlan nodded.
"What about the Kathol Protectorate? And the Kathol Republic?"
"The Kathol Protectorate is most of the reason that slavery is on the rise. They're promoting the slave trade all across the Kathol Sector. The Kathol Republic does a good job of keeping out slavers. They won't and can't however expand their role to encompass the whole sector. You can. Your Kathol Combat Response Taskforce has enough power to unite and control the whole sector."
"Fine. I agree to your deal. How many of your warships will you supply us with? And we'll need somebody to teach us how to use and maintain them."
"You won't be able to use our regular warships. We have a group of 20 new warships, to be given to you and your men. As for learning, the crews will find sufficient information onboard."
Khaln gaped.
"20 warships! How soon can I get them?"
"Once we return to our ship they will be brought in system."
"Fine. I believe our business is concluded. Good day."
"Good day to you Legion-General Khaln."
Af'khas and his delegation turned and left the
Vigilance. Khaln turned and grinned at his companions.
One of his guards looked at him bewilderedly.
"Sir, what the hell was going on back there?"
"Those were the Aing-Tii monks. Their leader was an Aing-Tii called Af'khas. He is the leader of the Sanhedrim which is the warrior caste of the Aing-Tii. They have offered to give us 20 of their warships in return for uniting the Kathol Sector, getting rid of slavery and leaving them alone. I used my powers to agree to their deal. Know let's go to the bridge. Our new warships should arrive shortly."
Khaln was whistling as he turned and began to walk towards the bridge.
"But how do you know all this? All we saw was you talking to yourself."
"They communicate telephatecally. They're known to be force users so they probably use the force. Know let's go to the bridge."
"Yes sir."
