"Greetings. I'm Commander Dau-Natara-Comu, captain of the warship Haw"

I remembered out first meeting with the Heereen enough to catch the little but still important differences between this introduction and the previous one.

"I'm diplomat Callus, from the Human Senate. We are here with a representative of the Teculpa-Ryon clan and members of the Citadel of the Rafkin Colony Ship Sot'Quan.

"We are at war with the Sot'Quan. We're considering this just a truce"

"I hope we can change this in something more... durable"

"You're not part of this, diplomat Callus. To respect our pact, you shouldn't endanger yourself this way"

I couldn't think about the creature that was in front of me as the one I spoke with on the Heereen ship. His voice was different because coming from a different translation device and the fish tank made him more... vulnerable, so exposed and in plain sight.

"It's my duty to be here an I need to talk with all of you. It's about the informations i'm collecting for you too"

"You are talking like a spy" said Yutan, growling like a cornered wolf.

"We were all friends, few weeks ago" I answered "There was no need of spies... And I think shouldn't be now"

"We need information to correct the galaxy"  said the Heereen. When they talked about their final purpose, the translator device had always difficulties to understand correctly, giving back strange phrases lacking of soundness.

I had to ignore that "Probably... but I need informations too"

"Ask"

"What about the siege of the Teculpa Tau?"

"The Arata System"

We were all surprised by the rapidity of the answer. The name of the system was probably more information than how much we all other had been collected until that moment. Obviously it wasn't the official name that our races would share, but there was a taste in it... it didn't come from Heereen, it was about... history.

"The siege of Arata System" It was also a good name of history books. "What about it?"

"Our mothership is there... searching"

"An Heereen mothership!" shouted out Balthor. "So near to us!" I could see the scared elephant in him, once more.

"It's an exploration vessel. We didn't want to interfere with your civilizations but Teculpa Origin found us. We knew they would try to collect hostility against us talking with their siblings so we had to contact you"

Heereen were big squids floating in black, mystic water... you can be very open minded but it's still difficult to relate with them. Teculpa Origin were just Teculpa. Teculpa could kill each other for no reason, but they're still able to have a conversation while reloading guns.

The idea of coming to us and lying about their purpose, however, was still dumb. "Why exploring Arata System?"

"Our researchers thought it was the home world of Teculpa Origin"

I saw Yutan jumping a little every time the Heereen said the word 'Teculpa' as they were always speaking about his mother. Loranna Artell explained me it was quite like that... when you hatched from an egg and your first weeks of life are managed by the newborn priests, race and family can easly overlap. On that last calling about Origin Ryon's commander came nearer to the fish tank.  "Why are you so interested in Teculpa?"

"They are our enemies and they are" again, the translator hesitating "wrong".

"He is talking about Origin" I specified "I hope you're not considering Teculpa a great unified family, Yutan"

"I know we are not. But what about them?"

"They didn't shot you" said Balthor, probably thinking it would help.

It's very diffcult to be a diplomat, when you are surrounded by people thinking all other people are enemies of everyone. It wasn't politics, it was more like a royal rumble. "Let's recap. You went down on a planet in the Atara System but Teculpa Origin asked Teculpa Tau for help and now they're surrounding you"

"Precisely. We're here to prevent Sot'Quan from joining them"

"They're still a legion"

"They can't match our technology"

I had a shiver. Time technology. The Heereen was talking about time technology.