A day after steuner left for his pirate hunt they had an intruder alert.
One of the sensor probes they dropped all over the system after the last pirate visitors picked up a ship in FTL coming in the direction of Sol system.
That was all it could gather when the ship was flying in FTL.
Simon and Mikael were in their ships and responded immediately.
A moment later there were two more ships approaching the system.
When the first ship jumped in it turned out to be a small cargo vessel and it was damaged by weapons fire.
-This is Captain Simon Black from Terran starship Basilisk. You have trespassed into Terran Council space, state your intentions and affiliation.
Simon hailed the small ship.
-This is Captain Vanli form a Zendari merchant ship Crines we are being chased by two ships who opened fire on us without a provocation please help us if you can.
-Understood Crines ,you have permission to proceed to the asteroid belt, don't approach the third planet in the system or you will be classified as an enemy and fired upon.
-Thank you Basilisk ,Crines out.
A moment later the two ships jumped in and they were both frigate class.
-This is Captain Simon Black from Terran starship Basilisk. You have trespassed into Terran Council space, state your intentions and affiliation.
Simon repeated his hail.
He was ignored by the ships.
-This is Captain Simon Black from Terran starship Basilisk. You have trespassed into Terran Council space, state your intentions and affiliation.
Failure to respond will be considered as an act of aggression and dealt with accordingly.
This earned him a response in the form of weapons fire.
That was a little surprising considering that the enemy was facing two battle cruisers.
The energy beams were absorbed by the shields and barely managed to take them down 2% after a full salvo hit them.
Simon and Mikael responded in kind but their weapons destroyed one ship and cripled the second one after just three shots.
-What was that all about?
Mikael asked through the comms.
-I don't know but they were either very brave or absurdly stupid,board the crippled ship and I will go talk to our new Zendari friends.
They may be able to shed some light on the situation.
Simon said and set course for the ship he just saved.
The Zendari ship was parked on the edge of the asteroid field as it was instructed.
-Crines this is Basilisk. Can you explain to me why they were chasing you and why did they open fire on us?
He asked over the comms.
-Captain Black thank you again for saving us,as for your questions I am unable to answer.
We just wanted to refuel in the neighboring system but as soon as we jumped out of FTL they attacked us without any warning or reason.
As you can see this is a small merchant ship and we don't have weapons other than two point defense lasers and they are meant to protect us from small asteroids.
-Thank you for your cooperation captain Vanli,are you in need of assistance?
He still remembered his encounter with captain Verix and since there was no incident that time there should be no problems now.
-Yes we would like to purchase some fuel from you if that's alright.
They hit our tanks and we lost most of what we had left.
-Wait a moment? I need to get approval from higher up.
He said and contacted the chairman.
-Whats the situation?
Were the first words he heard.
-One Zentradi merchant ship was chased by two unidentified frigate class ships.
The hostiles opened fire on us and we returned fire destroying one ship and crippling the other and it's being boarded as we speak.
The Zentradi ship is damaged and they want to buy some fuel from us. I think it's a good idea but it's not my decision to make.
Simon reported.
-What do you know about the Zentradi?
-Almost nothing,I only met them once before when we were refueling in a system they claimed.
They were aggressive at first thinking that we wanted the system but they had no problem letting us refuel after we explained that we only wanted some fuel and nothing else.
Simon explained.
-So they can be reasoned with?
-Yes and i think that we can get ourselves a trading partner if we play this right.
-Wait for a moment.
The chairman said.
After a moment of waiting he came back.
-You can proceed but with caution,escort them to the moon base and let's see what they have to sell.
-Thank you chairman and i will be cautious.
The call ended.
What Simon didn't know was that there was a council session in progress and it was put through the vote which was unanimous.
The Council wanted to get a feel for interstellar trade.
-Sorry for the wait captain Vanli,I just received approval to escort you to our base on the moon of the third planet. Can you get there on your own or do you need a tow?
-We can get there and once again thank you for the help and sorry for the trouble we brought to your system.
The alien said.
-Glad we could help,let's get going.
They proceeded to the moon base and the merchant ship was small enough to land on the surface.
At the same time Mikael reported no survivors onboard of the frigate they cripled so he just took it in tow and went back to earth.
In the moon base Simon was able to finally see the Zentradi he had saved.
He also learned why they never used a video feed when they were communicating.
The reason was that most species didn't like their looks so to avoid the unpleasantries they avoided using the video feed and also they mostly stayed in their space suits that had darkened visors.
From what he could see they were a humanoid species with two hands, two legs and one head.
But that was all he could say from the space suit.
He was still wearing his armor and helmet so she couldn't see him either.
-So captain Wanli what do you buy or sell?
He started the conversation going straight to the main topic.
-Many things, to be honest I sell anything I can get my hands on in my home system and buy things that are needed in the Zentradi space.
The alien trader answered.
-That doesn't answer my question captain.
I'd like to know specifically what you have to sell and maybe what you want to buy?
Simon said patiently.
Then why don't you take a look at my merchandise inside my ship?
The merchant asked.