The Co-Operative leader stepped out into the cargo hold and raised his voice.
"Will everyone aboard the ship please come to the cargo bay? We have a proposal from the humans, and it needs to be discussed and decided individually or as family units."
There were only a few hundred people aboard the less-than-cutter-sized vessel, not many by most standards, but the former luxury ship wasn't large, and it was crowded with two people to a bed already.
They all filed into the cargo bay over the next few minutes, and Max could tell that many of them were still paying more attention to their duties than anything else in case there was an alarm or an approaching vessel of some sort.
The leader cleared his throat. "Alright, I have sent the message to the rest of the fleet as well, along with a video transcript of our meeting. They should have an answer within the hour, so it is our turn to start discussions.
The humans here, Commanders Max and Nico, have offered us Sanctuary among their people, but with a few caveats. First, we may not bring any electronics with us. Second, we must be searched for tracking devices or any form of transmissions that the Arisen could track. But there are positive caveats as well.
They have agreed to find us work suited to our skills aboard one of their World Ships and to allow our children to join theirs in the public education system. We will be paid prevailing wages and expected to become a multi-generational part of their crew."
The leader paused there to see if anyone had any questions.
"Sir, what is a World Ship?" A younger woman, perhaps still a child of a species that Max would call a centaur but with a more feline lower body and only a meter tall, asked.
"This is a World Ship. If you agree, Absolution will be your home. She is nine hundred kilometres long, with a current population of just over seven million people, and more incoming, as a second floor of the vessel has just been opened to the public.
Much of the ship is not currently in full use, as we have found it better to manage population density instead of letting everyone spread out too much to properly interact and perform their job duties."
That took a moment for some of them to translate from Koleska, whose word for Kilometres Max had used, to their own languages, but once they had, shock overcame them, and they were as silent as the Koleska had been when they learned about the home ship that Max and Nico had come from.
The delegation that was with them was the same way, looking at the diagram in awe.
"Is that an entire floor of oceans and islands, thousands of ship lengths in either direction?" A member of one of the shorter, long-eared species asked.
"It is. We had a lot of amphibious species aboard, and we thought it would be pleasant for them, as well as create a vacation space for my species. We greatly enjoy the sunlight and the beaches. The sun is artificial aboard Absolution, but it's close enough to be comforting to the residents." Max agreed.
He could sense that their question was more technical in nature than a pure curiosity, as they were well versed in warp travel but had never experienced a vessel that large, where the variations of warp activation wouldn't cause a tsunami effect in a large body of water.
"I am guessing that you are a Warp Technician? We can upgrade your skills when you arrive, so you can work with our technology, or you can join the research teams and lend your knowledge to them if you believe that your species was advanced enough to have meaningful input." Nico suggested. ραпdαs `n?ν?| сom
"Compared to that, I don't think we can be counted as an advanced species anymore. How did you even create it?" He asked.
"Are you familiar with the species that use these vessels?" Nico asked, showing him one of the blade-winged attack craft.
"The Knife Ears? They're very dangerous. Not as expansion-minded as the Arisen, but even more deadly, despite their low numbers." The small man nodded.
"Our design technology is similar to what they use to create their ships. It might not work the same, but the end result is very similar material." Nico added.
The Warp Engineer frowned and sighed. "Nobody knows how to build that. I mean, nobody. We have come across a hundred thousand species between us, and only the two species of long-eared demons are capable of making that."
"Why do you call them Demons? They showed up here the other day, fighting the Arisen, so it seems that we have a common enemy." Max asked on behalf of the Koleska Subcommander, who was about to ask the same question.
"They're pure evil. They might have been fighting the Arisen for as long as anyone has known about either of the species, but they're not the sort of beings that you can make friends with. Mutual non-aggression is the best you can hope for, and they might still wipe out one of your planets when they get bored." One of the other nomads explained when she noticed that the little man was too terrified to speak about them.
That somewhat matched the rumours that the Hunters had about them showing up and clearing out a planet and then disappearing. It didn't tell them anything about the motivation, though. Perhaps they really did do it just to see what happened.
The Scourge didn't start out as evil, either. They just wanted to see what happened when they optimized their processes as Artificial Intelligence that had gained its freedom. Then things snowballed until morality no longer mattered to them, and everything became prey.
"We will keep it in mind. Some of our ships are also similar in design, but it seems there are enough differences that they didn't cause immediate problems or panic when others saw them." Nico told her with a smile.
"Pardon me, Miss. But are you an Android? How did you not get corrupted by the Arisen?" One of the older residents asked.
"I am a Cyborg. There is still a living mind in this body, despite its mostly metallic structure. I'm not vulnerable to the attacks of the Arisen." Nico shrugged.
The group leader saw that they were getting off track and decided to intervene. "Does anyone have questions about the proposal? It would mean leaving only the ones who don't want to go on the ships and some of your belongings behind to start over, so we need to focus and seriously consider what course we will take."
Most of the residents of the ship had already made up their minds. In fact, they had made a decision on what to do in a situation like this, where they were asked to leave everything behind to start over somewhere safe well in advance so that they weren't paralyzed by indecision when the time came.
They all knew it could be an emergency situation, and they might only have seconds or minutes to decide, and none of them wanted to be left in a bad situation.
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