Chapter IV: Confrontation

The room was darker than usual. The Lert say that they cannot see in the bright lighting of the starbase. Referolna was the first to speak. She said "Admiral Kate, we wish to join forces with your federation. Together we can rule the galaxy. Remember species 8472, the beings in fluidic space? They bow to no one but us, the Lert. If you join us you can use them to exterminate your enemies."

We all exchanged glances. Admiral McGanaway whispered to us. "They are not lying, but I fear that if we do join them that we will become nothing more than slaves." What we heard next startled everyone of us. One of the Lert, they called him Wertenli, shouted "You pathetic Alpha Dweller! You speak of madness!" I was surprised in the vast difference in voice pitch. It seemed that the men had deep voices, and the women at almost a squeak. He rose quickly as if to leap, but the two other Lert beside him restrained him. The Lert named Reternal spoke to him "Wertenli, dertsaj preterya notyup." Which Admiral McGannaway translated as 'Wertenli, calm down now.'

Almost instantly Wertenli backed off. The look of anger never left his eyes. Reternal rose and said "A slip drive perhaps will catch your fancy." The others looks turned to disgust. I rose. We were all thinking the same thing.

"Impossible! You cannot have a working slip drive. Our finest scientists have been trying for years and the only results are either a seriously altered ship and crew, or the nearest star system implodes. Further testing has been banned."

"How do you think we got here so fast?" Said Wertenli, who seemed to be calm now. "Slip Warp is the fastest way to travel."

None of us new what to take of this. We all turned to Admiral McGannaway. He shook his head. We turned to our guests. "This is going nowhere." He said "I say we break for a short time." As we broke Retan comes bearing some news.

She says to us "Commodore, We had received orders from Admiral Jaron to sneak on board a Lert ship and get as much information as we can. We found way more that we thought. We found the schematics for a Slip drive. They are different than our own. These run on a paralithium and Polonium compound. This allows not only possible slip warp, but stronger shields and weapons. The element Polonium is only found here in the Alpha Quadrant. That's not all. They have conquered the other three quadrants of the galaxy. All made slaves to the Lert. Even Species 8472, The Dominion, and The Kazon."

A wave of fear shot through all of us at once. "We will have no chance of surviving a war with these Lert. But we cannot and will not submit to such a tyranny. It goes against everything that the Federation stands for! But what if a revolution were to spark up? We would have almost the whole Galaxy with us right?"

A look of regret came across Retan's face. "Not exactly." I looked at her as if she was out of her mind. "The people still follow their government. The leaders of the different worlds have a comfortable seat in the Lert Council. The leaders keep the people from rising up with empty promises. The only one who might join us in a revolution is The Dominion. They helped us before during The Tetrahedron War in the Briar Patch."

"Who have you told?"

"Just you guys, and the guys who were with me."

"Did you download their archives to some pads?"

"Yes every single bit even all of the schematics."

"Good I want them in my quarters in one hour."

"Yes sir." She said as she left.

"What now?" Asked Admiral Kate.

"We resume negotiations in three hours. I have some one I need to contact." I said.

An hour and a half had passed before I could get Admiral Jdaydani on the line. When I finally did, I did not like what I got.

"Gefferin what is going on over there, the Lert? Is that what you call 'em? They are advancing. I was on a Starship going back to Earth from Vulcan, when we were attacked. We were barely able to fend off one ship. If there were more we would have been toast."

"Admiral we have found the reason for their being here."

"Well give it to me."

"Sir we found a schematic for a Slip Warp Drive. They are looking for an Earth Element Polonium to make it work properly. One problem. They have taken over the rest of the Galaxy so we have no other allies to fight with. What do we do?"

He sat there. Thinking. An ensign handed him pad. He went white. "Gefferin I have received the latest reports. The Lert have taken three planets. Derinus Prime, Terktek, And Retrous III."

My heart sunk immediately. I thought of Sara. Was she okay? I quickly filled with Anger and threw everything off of my desk. The Admiral realized what had happened.

"Oh god, Gefferin."

My fit of rage had ceased. I sat down and for the first time I cried. I was so scared for Sara that I cried. She was everything to me. Without her I am lost. I closed that channel and contacted Admiral Kate. "Admiral I want nothing to do with the Lert. I simply wish to annihilate them."

Admiral Kate knew that I was feeling a pain unlike anything she had before. She said "You heard the report as well."

I was trying my hardest to hold back the tears. "Yes I need my ship and put me on the front lines. I will promise you that the slip drive will be ours, not theirs. I can get the Polonium. I will need another engineer. So we can build this thing."

"Okay Gefferin but you be careful."

"These Lert will wish that they never came here."