Ge'Sirn made his way, hand over hand, along the lines strung along the interior of the tube. He felt the drag of the other ship's artificial gravity begin to take hold on him as he neared the airlock, and he swung himself into position to clamber aboard.
N'Drask was waiting on the other side of the airlock. "Welcome aboard," he said.
"Hi, there." Ge'Sirn felt cheerful, comfortable. Back among his own people, dealing with his own kind. You knew where you were, with the Hazari. You always knew where you were, with the Hazari. Hazari were dependable. Everyone knew that.
N'Drask looked gloomy, though, as he led the way to his ship's conference room. "What's up?" Ge'Sirn asked.
"Well." N'Drask flung himself into a chair, and looked gloomier. "I got the stuff, but -"
"But?"
"But when I went back... well, we're going to need another supplier. Wuquen and his gang got careless, and it... melted him, or something. He's gone."
"Uh-huh." Ge'Sirn considered. "Well, we've got a fair supply for the moment... but, yeah, need another source. I'm damn sure I'm not making any of it on my ship, anyway."
"Nor me," said N'Drask.
"How about Wuquen's subordinates? Any of them open for a deal?"
N'Drask shook his head. "Entire base is gone. There was an Alphan ship there, they said everyone was dead. And then I left a sensor drone behind, and I watched them make sure of that. They shot the station with some kind of singularity weapon. Man, it was impressive."
"That's why we need tech of our own. Otherwise, the Alphan incursion is gonna wind up owning us, just like the Borg would if they got the chance. Damn Alphans, we needed them against the Vaadwaur, fair enough, but now they just won't go home." Ge'Sirn paused. "Which sort of Alphans was it, do you know?"
"The Federation. Didn't recognize the species. Some sort of black hairy thing with teeth."
"The Federation...." Ge'Sirn thought for a moment, shook his head. "Never really got a handle on the Federation. Some of the Alphans, fine, you know how to deal. Klingons, don't cross 'em. Ferengi, don't trust 'em. Romulans, don't cross 'em or trust 'em. But the Federation...."
"Near as I can work out," said N'Drask, "it's sort of like the Hierarchy, only run as a not-for-profit."
Ge'Sirn shook his head. "How does that even work?"
"Beats me," said N'Drask. "But they've got some really good ships, advanced tech, the business. So it must work for them somehow. Seems to be four main sorts, but..."
"Four?"
"Humans, sort of like solid-colour Talaxians, seem to be the most common. Tellarites, sort of like short, ugly solid-colour Talaxians, always in a bad mood, you see a lot of them, too. Andorians, blue with white bits and antennae, vicious so-and-so's if you get on their bad side. And they've got a lot of... spayed Romulans, or something, they call 'em Vulcans." N'Drask sighed ruefully. "I got those ones all figured out, thought I had the basics of the Federation, and then...."
"And then?"
"And then a black hairy thing pops up flying one of their ships. Anyway." He stood up. "How'd your end go?"
"Fine, just fine. The Kadirians, they're going to be on board with this, that's for sure. The holograms already are, it's just the flesh and blood ones we need to convince."
"You talk to any of the real ones?"
"Nah. Just the holograms. What the real ones don't know, they won't worry over." Ge'Sirn's leathery face cracked into a grin. "The holograms were excited about it, even. And it worked just fine. So, I'm figuring the next step is to get the Kadirian hologram software and port it to our systems -"
"Kadirian tech isn't that good, though, is it?"
"The hardware is kind of clunky, yeah. But the Kadirians have been running three-quarters of their entire society off holograms for a generation now, so the control software - the AI and self-awareness subroutines - that's at least as good as anything the Alphans have got." Ge'Sirn's grin grew broader. "Couple it with our new gizmo, we will have the edge on them in holographic tech, and that is a big edge to have. And it won't be the only one, either. I've had some ideas."
"I'll just bet you have." N'Drask strode towards the door of the conference room. "I'll get all the stuff we've got. Don't mind telling you, I will be damn glad to get that goop off my ship."
"It's harmless, if you know how to handle it. Wuquen must have been trying to cut costs, or something. Taking short cuts, you know how that works out, with the goop."
"Yeah, well, don't melt yourself, that's all I ask." N'Drask paused at the doorway. "You sure everything worked OK?"
"Smooth as anything. Why?"
"There's been some subspace chatter.... something about the Kadirians, and a Kobali colony. Ring any bells?"
"We did visit a bunch of Kobali, yeah." Ge'Sirn narrowed his eyes, considering. "Everything went just fine, though. Kadirian holos went in, did their survey, chatted to the zombies a bit, went back home. Just fine, no problems."
N'Drask shrugged. "Maybe a coincidence, then. I'll go get your protomatter."
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