“Yes, there is no danger.” Adrian said, “Now if you would please follow me, we have prepared a meeting room for us.” With that Adrian turned and led the party deeper into the ship.
Jusan sat in a comfortable chair in the human meeting room. He was surprised to see that they provided furniture that accommodated Nel tails. His delegation sat on the one side of the table, while Retsar Isani and Adrian Farkas sat on the other. The two beasts sat on the floor beside the table. Behind the humans were two of their Laas Rett equipped with a full body armor, while their two Nel counterparts stood behind the Nel delegation. Jusan looked at Niraas on his left, and saw that he was bothered. And he understood why. Nothing went according to Niraas’ plan. Before they came to the human ship they met on his yacht. Niraas as the leader of the party set their policy, his plan was to intimidate the humans, and wrangle out of them a trade agreement. The man really believed that it would work, that these humans would be easily impressed by them. That they would offer some simple pieces of technology and that the humans would jump on the opportunity. Sure, Nelus might have some things that were not present on Nuva, but Jusan seriously doubted that Isani or Sumia wouldn’t tell the humans exactly what kind of technology Nel possessed. Niraas was a fool, he didn’t even entertain the possibility that what the humans said about building ships for them was true. Which meant that it was Tavaar who didn’t believe, or simply didn’t care. Jusan knew that they wouldn’t even try to make an alliance. Tavaar wouldn’t allow anything to come between him and his rule of Nelus. Even if it was a doomed rule. Because without help, Nelus will fall. And the delusions of Tavaar and the rest of the council will only seal its fate. Jusan knew that he was powerless to do anything about it. He couldn’t usurp the authority of the others, and even if could, people on Nelus have been fed the same delusions for decades. They trust that the council can keep them safe.
Jusan remembered the meeting, how Niraas and Nimuse went over the scans of human technology, dismissing it immediately as primitive. Overlooking the glaring indications that they were not. The size of their ship should have at least put them on guard. But no, they trusted the analysts of house Nor Ral, who served only to confirm Tavaar’s will. Everything that Jusan has seen, from the records of battle at Nuva, to the inside of the big ship told him that Tavaar was wrong. Yes, the humans used metals for construction of their ships. But everything he has inspected showed him an amazing level of complexity. Nel discard anything that becomes obsolete once a new thing comes along. Once better materials became available they stopped using the old. Who knew what these humans managed to do with their “primitive” materials.
But in the end it didn’t matter. He was not here to aid the talks, his only task was the sphere. He glanced to the other side of the table at the human, Adrian Farkas. He tried to discern any kind of a clue to whether the human’s knew about their – and Nel – origins. But their expressions, while similar, were not exactly the same as Nel. But it seemed like they knew, it was the only explanation for their apparent desire to help Nelus, and their involvement with the defense of Nuva. Finally the silence was broken from the human side of the table.
“I assume that your people had the chance to look at the rough proposal we sent you?” Fleet Commander Adrian Farkas asked.
“Yes, we had. But before we can talk about that, there is another thing that we need to discuss.” Niraas said.
“Of course. What do you wish to discuss?” Fleet Commander asked.
“With your proposal was included the information about your actions in the Nuva system, and your plans about the future. You brought a lot of ships and materials into the system, constructing a station and a number of “defense” platforms. That is not something the council can allow. Nuva is, after all, Nel territory.” Niraas said, “We require that you remove your presence from Nuva, before any kind of agreements can be reached.”
The human looked at Niraas with an expression that could only be disbelief, and Jusan turned to Niraas with a similar expression. That was not something that they talked about in the preparation. He glanced at Nimuse, and saw no surprise in her. She knew about it, which meant that they withheld things from him.
“We have no intention of taking control of Nuva. Our only motive is to protect the people living there.” Fleet Commander said.
“And yet you have been taking our people to who knows where. We will require that our people be brought back to Nuva, and all your presence removed from the system.” Niraas said.
“We stopped being your people when you abandoned us to the Sowir!” Isani said harshly.
“That is not your decision to make traitor! Nuva belongs to the council!” Nimuse said.
“Lanai Sumia, the leader of Nuva colony declared our independence. You have no claim on us!” Isani responded.
Then Niraas spoke up, “And where is Lanai Sumia? She has been taken to an undisclosed location by these humans. Why should we acknowledge her decree, even if she had the power to make it – which she does not – when she is nowhere to be seen?”
“We believed that we would all die, it was decided that few should be saved. And Sumia went with them to provide guidance.” Isani said.
“It matters not. She had no right to make such a decree. Nuva is, and always will be Nel colony.” Niraas said, and then turned to the human. “You will remove yourselves from our territory. Only then might we discuss some kind of a trade agreement.” Niraas finished in a condescending tone.
For the entire exchange, Jusan watched the human Fleet Commander. His extremely Nel like expression went from inviting at the beginning to neutral, and now hardened and calm. Jusan could see that this person knew, not believed, but knew, that he was equal to anyone. Jusan could just for a moment see pity in the human’s eyes, pity for Niraas and his belief. And then it was gone, replaced with icy gaze.
“Trade agreement…” Fleet Commander said. “Our proposal was for more than that. We offered you ships so that you can fight the Sowir Dominion.” He said in a calm voice.
Niraas managed to collect himself a bit, but still a touch of condescension entered his voice, “Ah, yes. Our experts determined that any ships you build using this “fabricating” technology of yours won’t be of use to us. But we are willing to make a trade agre—”
“Won’t be of use?” Fleet Commander interrupted. Niraas bristled. It was a great insult to be interrupted in the middle of a sentence, especially for a council member, but Fleet Commander continued, not giving him a chance to say anything, “You haven’t even seen our technology. You didn’t inspect our ships, and from what I see you didn’t even look at the recording of the battle we provided.”
“We examined the recording. We were not impressed.” Nimuse said.
“So you will not accept an alliance with us against the Sowir?” Fleet Commander asked.
“No. We see no benefit in such an agreement. A trade agreement is more to our liking. We will of course offer some technological advances that your people obviously lack, in shipbuilding and other areas. But nothing until you remove your presence from Nuva.” Niraas said.
That was when Jusan stood up. He glared at Niraas.
“What are you doing? We need help, Sowir are still a threat and you are throwing any chance of an agreement by insulting them!” Jusan said.
“A threat? No, they overextended by trying to take on all of the Consortium by themselves. The fact that we have seen no sign of them on Nelus for a decade, proves it. They don’t have the strength to fight us, a fact confirmed by the evidence at Nuva. They were defeated by these primitive ships, and our outdated models. No, Sowir pose no threat to Nelus.” Niraas said.