The Gathering Storm

Part Five

"This is most disturbing news," said Padre, looking at the information that had just been sent to him.

"Indeed," President Alexander grunted over the hyperspace channel. "We need all the help we can get. Present our case to the Senate. These harvesters present a dire threat to the entire sector. Maybe the New Orions will intervene."

"Heh. That is highly unlikely," Padre said, nearly laughing. "They've taking quite a... passive stance these past few months."

"Do whatever you can, Padre," the President said. "Good luck, Alexander out." The screen on Padre's desk went dark.

Padre rubbed the bridge of his nose. His day was not going well. Some days, being the Ambassador to the Orion Senate was a real pain. And now, he had to beg for help from these people.

The Ambassador got up from his desk and walked out of the door of his office into his secretarial room. A few quick nods to his staff and 20 paces later left Padre in the blinding sunlight and oppressive humidity of the Orion summer. He squinted, and began his journey to the Orion Senate Building.

The Senate Building always struck the Ambassador as an incredibly gaudy building. Most New Orion architecture suggested to Padre a too-brightly-colored version of ancient Baroque with a smattering of onion domes, flying buttresses, and tall spires, covered in hideous gargoyles and blue and gold flags. The Senate building was even worse - it towered over every other building in sight, and its importance dictated that it must, of course, be even more tasteless than the rest of the city. When Padre reached the entrance of the Senate Building, two New Orion guards opened the 15-meter tall doors for him. The Ambassador walked inside, his steps echoing in the cavernous main entrance hallway. He continued walking across the etched silver floor, past more New Orion guards and a smattering of assistants from the other races in the Senate. The stained-glass windows and giant columns cast strange shadows and odd colors on the floor and walls. Padre reached the vast senate chambers - large enough for a cruiser to comfortably dock - and took his seat. He turned on his computer and looked through the agenda for today: A Cynoid-Klackon trade dispute... An Evon colonization request... A bill commending the Imsaeis... This would be an unusually long and boring day.

***

Padre managed to stay awake through the Klackon's attempts at diplomacy, and had struggled to stifle yawns through the droning of the Imsaeis' speech accepting their commendation. Finally, it was his turn to speak. The Ambassador walked up to the podium.

"Members of the Orion Senate," he began, "a grave danger has descended upon this sector. Most of you have heard stories - stories of a race of vicious killing machines. Beings that pilot blue, manta-shaped craft. They are known by many different names in these stories. The humans call them Ithkul or Harvesters. You have heard the stories, and you have most likely dismissed them as the ratings of lunatics. Well, I stand before you now, telling you all, that they most definitely do exist."

The Senate chamber grew quieter than a tomb.

"Three weeks ago, our new colony in the Regulla system was attacked by a fleet of seven Ithkul SuperDestroyers and several support vessels." Padre pressed a button, and a holographic image of the fleet was displayed in the center of the Senate Chambers. A murmur went up from the gallery - true, physical evidence that the harvesters existed. The Ambassador continued, "Only the heroics of Rear Admiral William M. Potemkin and his task force delayed the Harvesters long enough for the civilian colonists to escape."

"It would seem, despite the size of the Ithkul fleet, that this was little more than a peliminary expeditionary force." Padre hit another button, and the image changed. Human deep-space sensor technology had surpassed even the Psilons' in recent years, much to the chagrin of nearly the entire sector - especially the Psilon. However, never before had this been demonstrated so publicly as it was here. Although the image was somewhat blurry, it showed more ships. A lot more ships. "Over 300 more ships of all sizes have entered the Regulla system, and more arrive every day. They have landed colony ships on the Regullian surface. We can determine that over eight million of them are already on the planet. Massive building projects are underway. Huge swaths of land have been taken over by factories and defensive weapons emplacements."

Padre took a deep breath, and then continued.

"Two days ago, this arrived in-system."

The holographic image changed again, showing a single ship.

"You do not get a sense of scale from this picture, but I can tell you that this monster is over 200 kilometers long." A collective gasp came from the gallery. Even the New Orions were listening intently. "It has 98 phasor cannons, 57 proton torpedo launchers, zortium ablative armor, and two layers of shielding. She is a predator. A Leviathan. A massive, killing machine."

"The Ithkul are coming to this sector, ladies, gentlemen, and others. This is an invasion force. It is only a matter of time before they attack Terra, and the human fleet is not strong enough to stop them on our own. We must unite now, or we will all surely die in the coming war," concluded Padre.

A din rose up from the gallery. Everyone tried to speak at once. Finally, the temporary Sakkran Ambassador StormWraith(temporary... for the last 18 months, thought Padre. The only reason that the "temporary" was still in the former researcher's title was because the last ambassador couldn't be confirmed dead... or eaten) bellowed above the noise. "Wess would gladly sssmasssh thessse 'Ithkul' with our own hammers!" he yelled, pounding his fist on the panel in front of him. "But ourss fleet isss ssstill fighting the Nommo fiendssss!"

"Sakkran worms!" shouted Concrescence, the Nommo ambassador. "You attacked us! Our claim upon the Remus system has been validated by the Senate, yet you still slaughter our soldiers! We will not yield!"

"Liarss!" yelled StormWraith. "The Remus system wasss oursss! You took it from usss!"

The argument looked like it would come to blows between the two mortal enemies. The New Orions pounded their gavels and restored order. DIH49 of the Meklar spoke up, his lights flashing excitedly: "We still have not forgotten the Human treachery during the Second Cyber War, Padre. How can we know that this is not some sort of ruse?"

Padre shook his head. "DIH, if you wish, I will show you all of the intelligence information we have to date. This threat is real, and we must act now to stop it." The human Ambassador paused. "I have also been authorized to ask the New Orions for help in defeating this menace."

A buzz came up from the Senate chambers. The humans had never asked the New Orions for anything.

The New Orions smiled to themselves. Even they could sense the irony. The Terrans had grown much too powerful over the last century. Their voting bloc almost rivaled the New Orions', and their star fleet could probably do some damage to the dreaded Red Fleet. Perhaps they needed to be cut down a little bit. "The Confederated Human Alliance has repeatedly attempted to block our efforts to 'interfere,' as you put it, with the matters of the lesser races. You, yourself have argued that 'we can handle our own, internal affairs.' 'Do not bother us, and we will not bother you.' Were these words not spoken by you, Ambassador Padre? And now, you come, asking us for help. This is something that you must deal with, Human. Alone." With that, the Senate was adjourned for the day.

Ambassador Padre walked out of the chambers, disgusted. Politics had reared its ugly head again, as he expected.

"Ambassador Padre! Wait a minute!" a gargling voice cried out.

The aging human stopped and turned around. Yethic, the Trilarian Ambassador, was waddling toward him, an action that almost every land-based species that possessed a sense of humor found amusing. Beside him hovered Thalanor, an assistant to the Psilon Ambassador.

"Yes, gentlemen. What can I do for you?" Padre asked, surprised at the pair coming to see him.

"Perhaps there is something that we can do for you, Ambassador." gasped Thalanor.

***

Two hours later, Padre returned to his office. He left orders - His assistant would be handling any business and attending the Senate meetings - and then left for the spaceport. One of the advantages of being a full-fledged ambassador was access to a New Orion frigate for quick trips back to the Capitol. Rather than the weeks it would take to get back to Sol, the trip would only take three days. Padre wished he could be there faster. He had many more duties above his Ambassadorship, and he had a lot of work to do.