Season 2 Episode 01: Two Ships

Enemies reunite.

Feb 22, 2025

"A hyperdrive signature just emerged from the wormhole, Captain... it's a Girfinni class destroyer."

Captain Ristrak felt his heart rate increase as he watched the viewscreen and admired the wormhole's terrible beauty while waiting for the light from their new visitor to reach them.

"Zoom the display."

The warship suddenly filled the screen, and a collective gasp filled the bridge.

"Now that does bring back memories, doesn't it?" he said. "We haven't seen one of those for generations. As a kid, I played a computer game in which I blew hundreds of those Girfinnis to smithereens.

"Sir," said the tactical officer Lieutenant Grebeck with concern in his tone. "Shouldn't we be maneuvering?"

"What, you think they want to fight with us?" The Captain replied, shaking his head. "I think we're fine. We know where they live now, and we can visit them anytime we want through their wormhole. They know we'd like nothing better than for them to try something cute and give us an excuse to send a fleet to their homeworld and rub them out."

"But, standard protocol..."

"Standard protocol orders us to treat all Goultaran ships as hostile, and I fully intend to do that. Communications, transmit a nice greeting. Use the old technologies, protocols, and language."

They waited for the lightspeed message to travel through the space between the ships.

"Sir, they've stopped all forward motion."

"See, does that sound like a ship that wants to start a war? Helm, jump us close. I want to talk to them without the lightspeed latency."

The helm officer hesitated and looked at him.

"Do it, Blesha. That's an order," said Captain Ristrak crisply, looking her directly in the eyes. "What is everyone so jittery about? Our ship is the same size and type as theirs but with weapons three generations more advanced than anything they have."

They entered and exited hyperspace in an eyeblink, and the zoom level of the bridge display adjusted to the change, panning over the ancient ship to show every detail.

"They're requesting point-to-point video messaging."

"Set it up," said Ristrak.

The ship on the screen disappeared, replaced by a rather tense-looking Goultaran face. Captain Ristrak chuckled at how the woman's uniform looked nothing like those he remembered from the Goultarans he'd grown up seeing in science fiction.

"Well, an Eridani destroyer. This is a bit of a surprise," she said. "Don't get all jumpy; we mean you no harm."

"Nor us you," said Captain Ristrak, maintaining a forced scowl. "State your business here."

"Our business? What, do you think you own this region of space? We have no records of the Eridani having any presence here."

"Your records are...outdated. Perhaps you haven't used the wormhole network much yet since your people's reawakening. Things have changed, and I need to know your intentions."

"That's not any of your business," she snapped back after a pause. "However, I'll play along since you think you're the boss here. We've come to check on the status of our ancestors' outpost in this region."

Ristrak's orders were to do everything he could, short of violence, to prevent that very thing. His superiors didn't want the Goultarans to think they could just fly around, reclaiming their ancestors' bases throughout the galaxy and rebuilding their old galactic empire. He knew that the humans felt the same way.

"Which one?" Ristrak asked, struggling not to laugh. "Your mining station on Grepin 4 or your secret listening post on Bishlag? I know that's not what you call those star systems, but I expect your translation computer extrapolated their names correctly."

"Maybe," she replied.

"Well, you'll be pleased to know that human warships have already stopped by here and are taking good care of your outposts. They seem to be quite good stewards, and we don't want any violence between you, so don't push them around. Also, their active fleet is much larger than yours, even though their technology level is...similarly primitive."

"Ouch," the woman said with a wince and a scowl, followed by a cold smile. "You don't need to get nasty with me. I am not my grandmother, and we are not at war."

"Be glad of that," he replied with ice in his tone. "The wormhole network no longer belongs to you. You won't be running around, raiding, murdering, and kidnapping anymore the way your ancestors did. Everywhere you go now, you'll find human and Eridani ships watching, sometimes fortifying, wormhole nodes such as this one, exploring and colonizing the galaxy you used to plunder. Speaking of which, you should know that the humans somehow obtained a map of all of your abandoned outposts and have been running around salvaging them everywhere. So those don't belong to you anymore either."

"Have the Eridani been doing that too, suborning our old outposts?"

"No, we have no use for such relics. Whenever we find them, we use them for target practice...while pretending they're still occupied."

The woman's eyes narrowed, and her image left the screen.

"Helm, launch a courier ship into the wormhole to inform Home Fleet that the Goultarans are using the wormhole network again."