Then I noticed there were stairwells and ramps leading both up and down, along the length.
Down led to another deck, this one not as long, but covered in dirt. It had obviously been designed for Trixone, and again, people and butlers were waiting in various sections to talk about whatever was mixed in with the dirt in that place, or to add things to it. There were bar areas there as well, which I found surprising, but a popup told me the Rogue people had found out the plants liked their alcohol as much as we did.
Up led to a series of conference rooms.
The clunk of the docking clamps was more obvious down here. There was a short pause, and the inner airlock doors opened, followed a moment later by the outer doors. The station airlock was already open, and a very large crowd of station denizens were waiting, with the red flower Trixone being in the lead. It led them onto the ship, greeted the man and woman who were the official hosts, both of them diplomats, and then headed for me, where I was standing out of the way of the inflow.
“Greetings, Admiral,” it said to me, bowing its flower for a moment.
“Commander will do just fine,” I said quietly.
“Greetings also to you,” it said, the flower looking at the three women with me, and apparently ignoring what I’d said. It looked back at me. “Is there somewhere where we can talk privately?”
“How privately?”
“Just the two of us.”
“Why with me? Wouldn’t a diplomat be better?”
“Not just yet. We have plenty of time for diplomacy. This is station business.”
“You won’t mind my aides accompanying us?”
The flower contracted a bit on the end, but returned to its normal shape. Was that a frown?
“That will be fine.”
“This way,” said Leanne. “If you care to follow me?”
The flower bobbed, and it started shuffling after her. We followed along, as she led us to the nearest up ramp. At the top, she led us a short way down the central corridor, and into a small conference room. Half of the floor was covered in dirt, and the plant went straight for it. There was a small table in the middle, with four chairs on one side. We sat on the normal deck side, and the plant moved to face us on the dirt side.
“Your attention to detail is welcomed,” it said. “Very tasty as well. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” said Tamsin.
“I must admit to some deception, I’m afraid.”
“You’re not here to discuss station business?” I asked.
Shocker. Not. I repressed a smile. So were the others.
“Unfortunately not. This may come as a shock to you, but I represent a group who wish to defect.”
“Defect?” asked Leanne. “How many, what species, and what exactly do you mean by defect?”
“Defect in terms of joining the Imperium.” It must have understood the shock on our faces now. “Let me explain.”
“You’d better,” I said. “But we’re probably not the best people to be talking to about this.”
“We think you are. Since the Rawtenuga first started ravaging this part of the galaxy, it has become apparent our warrior sub-species is both incapable of defending us, and also not particularly interested in doing so.”
“Not interested? How can they be not interested?”
“It is part of the way they were originally propagated. Their instinct is to expand our territory, always looking outward. And for millennia they have done so. We here know of the Keerah and the Ralnor over in the center of the galaxy, and how they stopped the original push that way. But both species had no real interest in taking our space from us, although they’ve been tested from time to time. But until the Imperium was discovered, we’d never had an enemy capable of pushing us back.”
“And now you have two?” asked Serena.
“Yes. We understand the Imperium is relatively small, and so can only affect a small amount of space. But the Rawtenuga are a completely different threat, particularly here as they push inwards through this area of space. We have nothing which can counter them effectively. This is mostly our fault, of course.”
“How?” asked Leanne.
“We destroyed all animal warrior species we couldn’t conquer. When I say we, I mean the warrior class, and so long ago no-one remembers who or what was destroyed. Those we left alive, became vassals to design and build things for us. Animals have always been better at building than we will ever be, but channeled in the right direction, they developed ways for even us to do our own building. This of course was many millennia ago. We achieved balance with the other two dominant species, and our warrior sub-species concentrated on consolidating our third of the core galaxy. And as you should know, there are areas within what we consider our space which we still do not control.”
“When did the Rawtenuga show up?”
“Oddly, about the same time the Imperium did.”
I looked at Serena, who looked at me. We both knew why this was happening. The time line shift had obviously changed the Rawtenuga in much the same ways it had the Keerah. Much more warlike than before, and a change towards outward expansion.
“All very interesting,” I said. “But you still haven’t explained what you mean by defect.”
“We want you to join this system to your Imperium.”
“And how many of you are there who want this?”
“Hard to tell without coming out into the open. Perhaps fifty five percent of the station population across all species, and thirty percent of the planet?”
“But you’re not sure?”
“No. And without an indication our defection will even be considered, the question will not be asked formally.”
“What of your warrior class? What will they think?”
“There are very few of them left here. Our defense fleet was destroyed, as were all previous ones. The only warrior sub-species here now are for local control of rule breakers. Or are still seedlings.”
“You mean police?” asked Serena.
She wasn’t talking about the seedlings.
“Yes.”
Serena and I made eye contact again.
“And what do you want me to do?”
“Take word to your Imperator. You have saved this station twice now, but it is only a matter of time before this system is lost, and most of our lives with it. Only with Imperium help can we survive.”
“I’m not sure I can do that.” I paused, and it waited for me. “But tell me something. Do all of your species have the warrior stinger?”
“Stinger? What stinger are you referring to?”
“The one which kills if it touches the skin of an animal.”
“Is that why you war on us?”
“Partly. Your warriors attacked us. But a stinger which kills on contact is a strong motivation for fighting back.”
“I can see that. But I don’t understand.”
“What don’t you understand?”
“None of our species have a stinger.”
“What is it then which comes out of what we call your flower?”
“This?”
Its stinger emerged, but wasn’t as long as the warrior ones, which could have been because this plant was not as large as the warriors were.