67. Representative Talks

Upon Agirakana's jump-out at the designated coordinates of the Hamilapilatra system—the core star system of the Alze Empire—contact finally came from the Alze side, which had previously maintained radio silence. They claimed to desire peaceful dialogue.

After negotiations between Maria and the Alze representative, a meeting was scheduled for three-six hours later at a coordinate two AU toward the Arzenn direction from the jump-out point. The Alze side would send Admiral Marco as their sole negotiator; we would send myself, as the representative.

Admiral Marco, having been released from confinement, was a relief—though his rank had also been promoted from Major General to the same rank as mine: Admiral.

Over lunch in the small, everyday dining hall within Agirakana’s Captain's Office, Maria and I casually discussed the upcoming talks, as one might discuss the weather.

"Maria, thanks for the negotiation with Alze. So, aside from the meeting location, they didn’t bring up anything else?"

"Yes. Nothing from their side. Though we haven’t fought Alze, the situation likely reads to them as if we’ve dispatched a surrender delegation. I don’t think they’d have any demands—no reason to."

"I see. Since their envoys will be arriving by spacecraft, should we send escort vessels from our side up to the border?"

"Captain, even our destroyer is larger than Alze’s capital ships, so sending escorts might come across as overly intimidating."

"Alze’s coming to Agirakana—what’s intimidating about it now? Wouldn’t it feel a bit lonely, just one ship drifting in?"

"Is that so? I don’t follow that logic. Whether they arrive with ten ships or a hundred, they’re still Alze vessels—what difference does it make?"

“We’re not destroying them, you know. If we get good footage from this meeting, I’m thinking of broadcasting it to the Alze side too—gives them a little face-saving, doesn’t it?”

“I understand.”

“This, uh, marinade on the mass—pretty tasty. Did Maria make it?”

“Thank you. I’ve been studying cooking a little at a time. I’m glad the captain enjoys it.”

“Thank you, too.”

……

“Intelligence from the probe. Five vessels have launched from Arseen toward Agirakana. One medium, four small—standard configuration. Agirakana has already detected them. Shall we dispatch two torpedo squadrons to escort them from a safe distance?”

“Do that.”

“Captain’s order: I’ve just issued it to the aerospace fleet. The meeting will be tomorrow afternoon, correct?”

“That’s right. You’ve made sure the reception preparations are complete, haven’t you?”

"Yes. We'll be using the facility that housed the Arze Fleet last time, though the interior finishes and overall grade have been upgraded."

"Leave that to me."

"Understood."

With nothing particularly urgent to do until the Arze Fleet's vessels arrived at Agirakana, he decided to write a novel for the first time in ages, fingers tapping at the keyboard while staring at the monitor in his Office. He was needlessly using hyperspace comms to maintain a real-time connection to Earth’s NET, pausing occasionally to glance at the news feed. Occasionally, stories about Ichijō’s Nichia Group surfaced—apparently, every company within the group was performing admirably. Political news from Earth, however, held no interest for him, so he’d programmed the feed to omit such content entirely.

Before he knew it, a substantial amount of time had passed. Then Maria arrived, informing him that the Arze delegation had arrived.

"Captain, the Arze delegation fleet will arrive momentarily. Shall I display it on the monitor?"

"Please do."

The monitor on the desk showed five Arze vessels. A vertical formation: two small ships, followed by a medium-sized one, then two more small ships.

The Arze ships, with their spindle-shaped hulls and central-axis cannons serving as primary armaments, advanced in perfect single-file formation—apparently a deliberate gesture to signal their lack of combat intent. The strike force on our side appeared quite distant, faint and white, almost indistinct. This view was likely captured from one of the other strike group’s vessels, but due to the focus being on the five Arze ships, the Agirakana—pale and softly luminous from the light of a distant star—dominated half the screen, its presence overwhelming, almost domestic in its quiet insistence.

The Arze Fleet approached the Agirakana slowly, then vanished into the shaft leading to the Spaceport.

"Arze Fleet has docked at the Second Spaceport. Lieutenant Eris and ground troops have come down to the pier to greet them, and will serve as hosts until tomorrow's meeting. As for the meeting venue, we plan to use the Central Ceremonial Plaza."

"The Central Ceremonial Plaza? The one I visited once when I first became captain?"

"I was not yet born, but that seems likely."

"Another grand, open-air meeting, I see."

"We'll be broadcasting visuals to the Arze side as well, so I thought a venue with some gravitas would be preferable. Hence, the Central Ceremonial Plaza."

"Well, it's not like it's going to rain or anything—no real issue, so this should be fine. We've got time until tomorrow, but as for requests from the Agirakana side to the Arze, I suppose it's just free navigation within Arze territory? In return, we'll provide Zeno intelligence. It's essentially a goodwill gesture, so I doubt they'll refuse. Maria, anything else?"

"Perhaps we should establish an embassy-like presence in Arzeen? Sending Zeno data straight to the Arze government via hyperspace communication all at once would look rather crude, and it would make it easier for them to initiate contact with us. Besides, it'll be handy for future trade relations with Arze."

"True enough. That seems unlikely to cause any problems—no doubt they'll agree. In that case, we'll need to prepare embassy personnel."

"Let's source personnel from the Ground Combat Special Operations Division."

"Japanese staff stationed at the Embassy in Japan have been quite useful, and we should probably hire Arzeans too—wouldn't it be better to have someone on hand just for liaison with the Arze government?"

"Indeed."

"Having a Hyperlane Gate would be convenient, but we can wait until trade actually materializes. For now, we can dispatch a task force vessel immediately, so construction won't take long. That about covers it. Maria, please compile the points I just mentioned and initiate preliminary negotiations with the other side."

"Understood. The negotiator will be Admiral Marco—he should accept them without issue."

"Tomorrow’s meeting will be a simple one, so I’ll leave it to you."

The next afternoon, Maria and I set out together toward the Central Ceremonial Plaza, prepared to attend the meeting.

Waiting beside the table set at the center of the elevated ceremonial platform in the rear of the Central Ceremonial Plaza, Maria and I sat side by side, awaiting the arrival of the Alzé delegation. Along the central aisle, flanked by infantry troops drawn up in formation like sentinels, an open-top car approached—carrying Admiral Marco and several other Alzé representatives, as well as Major Eris, the接待役. From the car, the Alzé delegates seemed visibly awestruck by the plaza’s scale, their eyes darting around with the sort of distracted curiosity one might expect from someone who has just stepped into a museum they didn’t know existed.

Maria murmured beside me: the Alzé side had already agreed to our requests. This was merely a performance—recorded for the archives—but apparently such rituals were necessary, even in the age of interstellar diplomacy.

There were no wind ensembles in Agirakana, so naturally no musical accompaniment—though apparently the bio-noids had all taken up hobbies lately, and some even dabbled in instruments. Might as well form a band if enough volunteers show up, I suppose.

Lost in such thoughts, I stood as well, waiting for Admiral Marco and his entourage to ascend the steps and appear upon the platform where we waited. They climbed the stairs, led by Lieutenant Eris, and stepped onto the dais. A brief nod exchanged, we took our seats, and the talks began.

……

"Admiral Marco, it seems you've been promoted—congratulations. Regarding the Zeno detection protocol: should we detect a Zeno, and if that Zeno reaches a system within the Alze Dominion, we plan to deploy our survey vessels ten years prior to arrival. We intend to destroy it upon discovery, but should we fail to eliminate it—should it escape—we'll still have ten years to evacuate. After safely returning you all, Agirakana will return to the Sol System. We'll send personnel later for the Embassy's establishment—please look forward to it."

"Thank you. Regarding the Embassy, we should be able to provide suitable facilities."

Given the prior consultations had already aligned our respective expectations, the meeting concluded with a handshake between Admiral Marco and myself, in accordance with our customary protocol.