The Martial Unity

The other end of the wormhole opened up a respectable distance away from the laminar worldship, opening up several light minutes away to ensure that no threat or hostility could be interpreted from its actions. WHOOSH

They passed through the wormhole smoothly, emerging on the other side as they drew closer and closer to the laminar worldship cautiously. Because these were two civilizations and species that were alien to each other in every way, there was no shared understanding of common diplomatic practice. This made the entire staff put in charge of the fleet nervous. They were guided by a diplomatic team that tried to guide them in a manner that would make their approach as non-threatening as possible. However, there was no telling what could happen.

Rui’s eyes sharpened as his Transcendent gaze bore deep into the laminar worldship, spotting a fleet of entities emerging from within the worldship as they drew closer to it.

He spotted the familiar presence of the leader of the laminar integuments along with a series of their strange soap bubble-like spaceships and spacecrafts. WHOOSH

They slowly emerged from the Laminar worldship in a process that resembled osmosis, permeating through the barrier before continuing towards the incoming convoy of the Gaian Alliance in an equally non-threatening manner. Rui heaved a deep breath as the two drew closer and closer to each other more and more slowly, concentrating his mind.

The main objectives of this meeting were simple. To establish peace with the Laminar Civilization and to give them assurances that the esoteric ‘infection’ of Gaia, as they might have come to perceive it, would not be a threat to the galaxy or the universe.

This was the most important objective of the meeting. Even though the leader of the laminar worldship had honored his word and sided with them, he knew that didn’t mean that there would be long-term peace.

The laminar integument, despite being, by its very nature, ‘honest,’ was not necessarily kind and good-hearted. He hadn’t forgotten how the laminar civilization had sought to ‘collect samples’ of the native indigenous life in Gaia and study the phenomena of paths. It even stated that it would capture him alive and experiment on him to understand the phenomenon of paths.

They were not friends.

Not yet, at least.

And if this diplomatic overture failed, then war would likely be inevitable. Thus, peace and the establishment of some system of communication were the most important goals for Gaian Civilization at this point. Perhaps even a mutual security agreement would also be on the books if it went really well. The absolute best-case scenario would be a more thorough bond with the laminar civilizations, including but not limited to the establishment of some degree of trade. The second most important thing that Rui sought from them was information. From his brief interactions with the laminar integument, it was clear that they knew far, far more about the universe than Rui did. Rui was extremely eager to get his hands on the information that they were willing to divulge. He also sought information on the Laminar Civilization itself. The reality was that they knew nothing about these strange jellyfish-like aliens and where they came from. The only thing he knew was what he had managed to deduce as he fought the laminars, but the information differential was too great to persist.

There were broader tertiary objectives that he had with the Laminar Civilization, but he put them aside for now. The most important and crucial objective was a peace pact and the establishment of goodwill and a good relationship.

He had made preparations to achieve that to the best of his ability.

WHOOSH

Both the fleets stopped in space a kilometer or so away from each other, unwilling to draw any closer. “I’ll take it from here.” Rui got up, teleporting outside in the blink of an eye.

WHOOSH

He emerged outside, right before his fleet, gesturing with his hand for them to remain on standby. On the other side, the familiar leader of the laminar integuments emerged from its ship, slowly floating towards Rui in gentle motions, propelling against the very fabric of space and time in a graceful manner.

The two leaders approached each other until they were merely five meters away from each other. The exotic beauty of the cosmos spread around them in the background. A tapestry of stars weaving together the entirety of the observable universe.

And yet, their attentions were focused on each other.

 There was a moment of silence until Rui decided to break it with the first word.

“I never got the opportunity to introduce myself to you,” Rui spoke, permeating his voice through the very fabric of space and time. “I do not know if your civilization has the concept of individual labels. But my ‘label,’ my name, is Rui Quarrier Silas Kandria, and I come here as the representative of my world, with the mandate of its civilizations supporting me.”

The laminar integument ‘listened’ to the vibrations permeating through the fabric of space. It had managed to decode the native means of communication to a great extent. Its worldship possessed a capable of decryption department, of sorts, that was dedicated to understanding and decoding native means of communication.

It had come across many unique methods of communication between indigenous alien species, such as chemical exchanges, seismic vibrations, and even entropy in some extreme cases, and had successfully decoded them to an extent where communication was reliably possible.

It correctly understood his words, replying with the thoughts of its photonic consciousness.

“Bid. Welcome. ‘Rui’. I. Tendril. Of. Light. Leader. 2635th worldship. Representing. Laminar. Civilization.”

That was the first time Rui had heard its name. He wasn’t sure how the naming sense of the laminar integuments worked, but the Tendril of Light sounded like an esteemed name.

“Tendril of Light, we come seeking dialogue with the main intention of peace,” Rui began with a straightforward tone, remembering what the Divine Doctor had told him. “An establishment of peace and a good relationship is our highest priority. While our very brief and young history has already been a little rocky, we believe that it is still possible for peace to be established as long as we work together to fulfill our mutual interests.”