He brought up the file, computers talked, shook hands, and he was startled to find out the data was in a format his systems could handle smoothly. Of course, he put it into a non-vital transfer buffer, and brought it up through a non-integrated system.

The holographic recording had been edited so they couldn’t tell what part of space it was in, but the scene of the ship coming out of a yawning Warpgate was difficult to fake, especially with all their other alien ships around.

More Kappa were crowding into the view to look and watch as the view circled, the scored and peeling name was still etched into the hull... and so were the waving tentacles and smears of psychoplasmic growths splattered across the smooth lines of the ship.

They watched with hard faces as we breached, boarded, and shot down what remained of the crew, purging everything with white fire. They were less than pleased to see us scanning things, and a little amused to see us pitching so much stuff into the disintegrators.

They saw all the vids of the ship, including the major compartments, both during being shot up and afterwards.

There was still shit on the hull as we fed it into the solar furnace to burn and be reduced to component materials.

When it finished, the Vivic Energy Datafile formed the footnote. Despite himself, the Admiral leaned forward to look at it.

“This... was the white fire you used against the things of the Warp?” he asked.

“Yes. This knowledge is common knowledge among Humans, the Elvar, the Goblins, and the Ruk, among others.” He froze at mention of the last. “I ask you to disseminate it as widely as possible among your own people. It is of no threat to the living at all. I will even supply you with a vivic generator and basic weapon for you to examine and see if you can replicate, free of charge.”

He was looking at me as if I’d grown an extra head or two. “Forgive me, Countess, but this... generous behavior is not something we have come to expect of your people.”

I flicked my hand, and my golden mindclaw came up. “This is the color of my soul. If you know what this means, then I need explain no more. If you do not, merely satisfy yourself that I am not one of the Humans you have dealt with before, and we can leave it at that.”

“I see.” He bowed slightly to me. “I have a mathematician coming. What specifically do you ask of her?”

“The supporting mathematical theory of the Gravity Weaving Conduit drive, Admiral. Do not fear that we are stealing technology from you. We have already deduced how it works and improved upon it significantly.” There were interesting ripples to his scaled skin it would take me more effort to read precisely. “If you have the theoretical foundation, I will return a working example of the drive to you, with complete schematics and theoretical confirmation. If you do not, I will presume you stole it and do not know how it works, give you your gift of vivus, and be off.”

“That is... quite unprecedented, Countess Sama Rantha,” the admiral replied quietly.

“It can potentially triple the speed of your Sundiving Drive, so I am not unaware of the tactical and strategic implications, Admiral. However, they do not concern me. You simply do not have the numbers to be a threat to the Human species.”

He bridled, but probably didn’t have enough information to refute that. “What is your motivation for doing so, then, Countess? It cannot simply be a gift.”

“Mmm. No, it is intended as a sign that perhaps there can be a better relationship in the future between your people, and those who follow me. As for the Tellurian Empire, I would not hold your breath.”

He did not miss the implications. “You are rebels?” he asked directly.

“That would involve fighting, and we aren’t at that stage yet. And no, I’m not looking for a fighting alliance. I’d be satisfied simply with better understanding, since you’re still going to be needing to shoot most humans you see, more than likely.”

“I see.” He turned as a Kappa in blue-green shades came onto the bridge, more delicate in appearance, and with a robe more than a uniform. They conferred quietly as her dark eyes studied the holo of the alien before her, and she quickly got into her element.

“You are capable of understanding ninth-dimensional hypergravitic calculations?” she asked me.

I lifted a slow eyebrow. “You only went to the ninth level? No need to do more.” I waved her off dismissively. “This is obviously not your technology.”

“Wait, wait!” she blurted out, her little test having failed. “The gravity weaving theories and formulae extended up to the twelfth dimension!”

I held her eyes for a moment, and nodded slowly. “That is the bare minimum required to modulate them properly, correct. Show me your math, Apriori. Do not worry about translating it, I am fluent in the notation.”

She looked to the admiral, whispered a few things, and he indicated for her to send it over.

Lt. Nii-Kol scanned it, cleared it, and brought it up.

There was reams and reams of it, of course, with plenty of irrelevant notations and scientific jargon that didn’t contribute or explain much, but certainly looked impressive. The formulae wandered off on all kinds of tangents here and there, but all and all, it was some fairly solid TL 12 theory.

“Interesting.” I waved most of the math away, save for a certain page of calculations. “Admiral, Apriori, I must confess my surprise. Seeing your reactions, I had assumed you might want the drive. However, it looks like you have the underlying math correct, and really should not need it.”

Math person and military guy glanced at one another. “Research into the Gravity Weaving Conduits was abandoned after the loss of the Courage of the Intrepid, Countess Sama Rantha. We have been unable to determine where the error in our math and engineering lay. There have been improvements in our Sundiving Drive, as I’m sure you know, but we do not use gravity conduits.”

“Ah.” I reached out, grabbed the virtual screen, and presented it back to them. “Apriori, do you recognize this?”

“Yes, that is page two hundred and fourteen of the modulation matrix dynamics calculations. It is the heart of the underlying theory.”

I reached up, and changed a symbol. Her skin mottled instantly.

“The drive on the Courage of the Intrepid was set up according to this formula, not the proper one. I looked at the residue of the hardline connections and frequency modulations and settings, since the actual programming was long corrupted.”

“But... But that formula would have opened a subspatial rift and sent them right into it from spatial sheering!” she protested.

“Which is probably how the ship ended up in the Warp, and was lost, Apriori.” I waved it away. “Your theory and technology was sound. I do not know why the settings were not correct, but that is a matter for your engineers to hash out.

“I am convinced the technology was yours, Admiral, Apriori. Send over a shuttle, and I will deliver to you the drive, a vivus generator, and a vivic hand weapon for your perusal, and you have my blessing to replicate all of them.”

They rocked a little, and the Admiral actually bowed his head slightly. “I will send one over immediately, Countess.”

“Open the aft dock and guide him in, Lieutenant,” I called back to Nii-Kol, who acknowledged the order. If they had a bomb on board, I was going to be irritated, but he didn’t know how good the shields around the aft hanger were.

“Is that all you have come for, Countess?” the Admiral asked, clearly wondering about something.

“I may be in contact in the future for opening a more tentative relationship in more secular matters, but yes, that is largely the conclusion of my business here. We came for courier duty, and little more.”

A third figure moved into the hologram. This kappa was a lighter yellow, with shades of red ornamenting his hide delicately here and there. “Countess Sama Rantha.” His voice was, in Kappa terms, very delicate and refined, soothing to hear, probably. “It has been extremely rare for the kappa to meet one of your species in a situation that is not violent. If a relationship could be built that might lead to a more lasting peace between our people, the Kappa are open to sitting down with you in a more formal manner.”

“Vocaii,” I greeted the ambassador, unsurprised there was one aboard the mothership of the fleet. “I regret to say that I do not speak on behalf of even a significant portion of my people, merely one element of them. If we do sit down, it will be to talk about business on what amounts to a personal basis, not between the whole of our peoples.”

The ambassador seemed slightly amused. “You are forthright, Countess.”

“Well, certain elements in the Empire would consider me a traitor to humanity for not trying to kill you all on sight, so forthrightness in words, rather than in rail guns, is preferable to all concerned, I trust?”

He inclined his head slowly, looking rather birdlike, despite their oddly-shaped heads. “Is there a way we can contact you?” he asked, rather daringly.

“There are several, but we haven’t built up enough mutual trust for me to leave them with you. When it is time, I will return, and we will see if a relationship can be established, Vocaii.”

“We shall await your return then, Countess.” I was about to sign off when he continued abruptly, “I heard you mention the Ruk, Countess.”

“Yes, we have dealings with the Ruk, Vocaii,” I confirmed calmly, and the lightness with which I treated it awed them all the more. “Forgive me for being surprised that you know of them, Vocaii. They were long withdrawn from galactic affairs before you stepped into space.”

“Their names resounds down the long halls of history, the wise elders who oversaw the galaxy for eons. And you say you are dealing with them?”

“Establishing contact was not trivial, but that is how relationships start, Vocaii.”

“It is so, Sama Rantha.” He bowed again. “Peace and the Way go with you, Countess.”

I showed eight canines. “I can absolutely guarantee that peace is not something comfortable riding with me, Vocaii!” I half-laughed, and the holo faded out.

I had not the contacts or infiltration to see what the Kappa and their allies were going to think about this, but it certainly was going to reverberate through their society. Of course, they’d keep my name and face secret, as there would be spies eager to learn this information and contact me themselves... they were reputed idealists, not fools.

------

The drive, generator, and fighting knife with a hilt sized for their short-clawed hands was scanned and loaded, and the shuttle was sent off from the deck. Things were closed down, we signaled departure, and the Kappa even withdrew respectfully to leave us a clear course out of the system.

We headed for the nearest jump point, flared a fake Warpgate, and went into stealth and the Harmonic Drive together, shooting for the edge of the heliosphere where we could crank up the Tachyon Drive and really get moving.

I had them set an alternate course out of here, moving through and around new systems on the way out, as we weren’t going to be heading in any further.

Omega gravity readings said Dark Matter entities were almost parked on top of three of the phlos. Yeah, no, we weren’t going to go skipping around them to find other surprises.