Leaving the diplomatic elevator from the shuttle bay behind him Seinu started across the concourse. It was a six tiered open park near the edge of Dome-Exi’s primary shopping centre. Each tier held clusters of shops, open air pavilions, grassy fields and wandering water ways. Each stream spilled over the edge of the tiers to flow through the neighbourhood below until they emptied into a wide pond that filled the bottom tier. A calm boating lake with a section marked off for swimming.
It was of course all part of the station's water and environmental reclamation system but it had been skillfully woven into the fabric of the station. It was also a very exclusive neighbourhood, you needed a lot of credits, influence or good standing in Cultarvian society to access this section of the station. It made it one of the few public areas Firi and the twins would let Seinu venture out into. Tensions were high, people were worried between the disease ravaging one of their farming world's and the looming threat of war between the Farndos and S'Grael; everyone was jumpy.
The markets were fluctuating, the volume of goods moving through the station was down, mainly because the colony under quarantine had ceased all shipments which had everyone alarmed as there was no official news. Visiting merchant ships had dropped by five percent as local trade partners started to avoid the nearby space lanes controlled by the arguing alien nations. No one wanted to be caught off guard if it all exploded and so far Seinu had been unable to weave a solution.
Sighing morosely as he emerged from a street market full of trendy stalls the silver and charcoal avali leant against the railing and stared across the next tier without really seeing it.
“Are you OK? Cal asked, the armour clad vampire bunny hopped up to balance atop the railing, helmeted head scanning the crowd, “You smell sad.”
“I am a bit,” Seinu sighed and smiled at his bunny boyfriend, he was still getting used to having a boyfriend, let alone two of them. Right then he wanted nothing more than to hold Cal in his arms but he'd get scolded if he tried it. Both of the bunnies took their duties as his bodyguards seriously. According to his visor Cri was on the roof of a building a short distance away, watching at range just as Cal shadowed his body.
“The decisions I've had to make this last week have not been easy,” he smiled, “At least the decisions concerning work, the decisions we've made together as a three have been great.”
Seinu allowed himself to smile as Cal shifted, a little embarrassed and turned his head to regard the crowd. The three of them had a lot to learn about each other; their personalities, likes, dislikes, how their alien anatomy worked. It was a voyage of discovery Seinu was enjoying though and he thought the twins were too.
“Ok enough wallowing and being melancholy,” Seinu pushed off the railing and started to glance at the stalls, “I wanted to find a stall arrggghhh.”
He let out a startled yelp as Cal suddenly landed on his back and forced him to the ground. Seinu was about to demand an explanation when the low-level forcefield projected by his visor registered several impacts along his back. Rolling over he realised it was several globs of molten metal, the plasma bolt that had hit the railing had burnt right through it, scattering molten metal everywhere before whizzing over his head to demolish the stall opposite. Green flame was spreading rapidly over the fabric awning as the stall owner dived for safety.
An alarm was blaring, a section of the nearby path popping open to release several emergency drones. Seinu barely noticed them as staying on all fours he obeyed Cal's urgent directions to run for the nearest building. Another plasma bolt shattered the railing and set fire to a stall selling exotic alien fruit before the familiar crack of an avali rail-pistol overhead indicated Cri had opened fire. He was about to move toward shelter behind the nearest building when Cal cut in front of him, his Avali halberd held ready and met the thrusting sword of the figure who attacked from behind the corner Seinu had been heading for.
“Stay there and reinforce your forcefield,” Cal's voice ordered over the speakers in his visor. “Stay low and don't move.”
All the while the little bunny was fending off the whirling attacks of the Cultarvian assassin. His halberd span so quickly and then with the casual thrust of his left hand Cal tossed his attacker into the wall of the building. They crumpled and didn't get back up, a second attacker was shot through the shoulder by Cri who was now perched atop the building above them and a third would-be attacker was stunned as one of the emergency drones shot them with a low level electrical charge. Just as things looked clear the stall to the left of Seinu burst apart, a crate stored behind the counter exploded, shards of metal and plastic bouncing off Seinu’s forcefield as two more attackers leapt out of hiding.
One of them lunged at Cal, a pair of curved, serrated knives glowing wickedly as they attacked the bunny, forcing him back away from Seinu and toward the side of the building where Cri couldn’t get a good shot. The security drone that had been helping sparked and dropped as the other assassin threw a knife through its optical array and then leapt at Seinu.
Cri’s shots went wild as the assassin closed on Seinu, ducking to keep the avali between Cri and her. She jumped him and the vibrating, hissing knife rammed against Seinu’s forcefield. Without thinking about it he reformatted the shield around her knife and it and her hand plunged into his chest. Closing his slime around it he re-polarized the shield and thrust her away and she rolled off screaming and clutching the stump where her hand had been. Shivering at how easy it had been to fall into Sleriki instincts, Seinu took several steps back and ejected her knife, kicking it away from him, her hand wouldn’t be coming back however.
The Avali hugged himself and watched the aftermath, Cal had dispatched the remaining assassin and another two attackers had been felled by the group of Cultarvian guards who had been shadowing him as part of his security detail. There were also now four heavy duty security drones circling Seinu whilst another made short work of the fire and a sixth drone was burying the screaming assassin in quick hardening foam.
It was all over so quickly, Seinu still hadn't quite had enough time to process it and what he’d done when another security guard jogged over, “Ambassador, are you uninjured?”
Seinu nodded, not quite trusting himself to speak, the guard nodded and held a quick conversation with Cri and Cal and the others before turning back to Seinu, “We think we got them all, but they could have a secondary ambush prepared at the obvious evacuation routes, if you'll come with us inside we are securing you here until my people have triple checked all the exit routes.”
Seinu nodded and allowed himself to be ushered into a nearby building. Once he was out of public view he sat on the floor and hugged his knees, his visor filling up with messages from his family. He held Cri's hand and reassured his siblings that he was fine, shivers running through his body as he reacted to the shock of being shot at and attacked. It was already roaring across the public channels, Homestead was in uproar, an assassination attempt in public; keeping the secure channel to the Odyssey open Seinu shut down all other channels to his visor and sat with the twins, everyone else could wait.
For now he was just glad he was safe, despite all their planning and prep he hadn't quite been expecting that.
In the end it took about two hours to safely extract Seinu from Homestead to the Odyssey. Once he was safely in the confines of the pack-tents in the snow-dome he’d been bundled under a big Avali hug by his entire family. It had been nice and helped him work through the emotions and terror at having been actually shot at. Most of his family had moved apart a bit but were still in the room, everyone was staying nearby as Seinu lay on a beanbag holding Cri and Cal in his arms whilst he rested his head in Selenu’s lap.
“Is Firi still shouting at their security people?” Seinu asked as he lifted his ears up, “She was very angry.”
“She’s calmed down a bit and is reviewing the footage from Cri’s armour,” Selenu said, “How are you feeling?”
“Less shaky than before,” Seinu sat up and hugged the twins, “That was terrifying, I thought we could sort this out before someone took a shot at me.”
“Well we taught them not to mess with us,” Cal chirped angrily, holding Seinu’s hand between both of his large paws, “We kept you safe.”
“That you did,” Seinu leant down and rubbed his muzzle against Cal’s snout, shivering a bit and leaning back against his sister as Cri sat up and hugged him back, “But this is going to complicate things, I am betting you aren’t letting me back over there?”
“Heck no,” Cri chirped angrily, “We don’t know if we got them all, no way you can go back over there with such a known threat on the loose.”
“Also you should never have let that knife in,” Cal grumbled, “I saw what you did with that last assassin who made it to you, it could have been rigged to detonate or anything.”
Seinu shook his head, “It was just a knife, Cri couldn’t get a clear shot so I took care of her weapon, it was what we trained me to do in situations like that.”
“Still,” Cal grumbled, “They should never have gotten that close, someone had clearly briefed them on us, on the Cultarvian squad. I heard they even scrambled the security over-watch drones, this was very well planned, all that stuff with the poisons Chantelle had detected was just a smoke screen for this.”
“From what Firi said it was expertly done,” Selenu sighed, “Someone had clearly fed them all the info on your security detail, so that proves our theory is right, someone on Dalant’s staff is playing us all against each other.”
“It was worse than that,” Chantelle said softly, she was sat on a beanbag next to them reading a tablet, “I just got a final report from the head of Cultarvian Security,” she reached out to brush back Seinu’s mohawk, “They found taps in all three lifts off that level, as well as a bug in the monorail, it’s why they had to escort you out by shuttle in the end they couldn’t guarantee all the systems were clean.”
Seinu sighed and lay back against Selenu frowning softly, ears twitching, “This is going to make life difficult, but very well.”
“Forget all that for now,” Selenu chirped, “No one will be expecting you to do anything today, so just relax and forget all about it for a bit.”
Seinu nodded and pushed himself up, hugged his sisters and then held out a hand to the twins, “You’re right, I am going back to our room to just forget about it all for a bit.”
“Do you need anything else?” Selenu asked, a tinge of worry in her voice.
“No, it was just a bit shocking, they clearly don’t know that under the surface I am a Sleriki, being stabbed was still not fun and my body just was on automatic when I melted their whole hand into slime.”
“Yeah, I understand that was not a nice experience, I am here if you need me ok?”
Seinu nodded, hugged Selenu one last time before he headed off, he needed some more time to process what had happened and plan for what was going to happen next.
“We do not accept your assertion that the mineral surveys we have been supplied are falsified, your blatant attempt to keep the planet's mineral wealth to yourself is sickening.”
T’Lorp’s voice was loud, the anger in the gelatinous, multi-sentient moss alien was palpable, their long tactile tendrils swaying back and forth agitatedly, “Our demands are quite reasonable, you will hand sovereignty of the planet to us and you may retain your university as an ambassadorial complex.”
F’rarrk hissed, “We will do no such thing, the planet has been a part of the S’Grael imperium for centuries. You have no legitimate claim to our University planet, we admit traditionally it would lie within the sphere of interest as per the coalition rules but your ascendancy to galactic civilisation came six centuries after we had colonised the planet so supersedes your claims.”
“Please,” Seinu broke in before T’lorp could respond, speaking out of the screen, his direct link from his office on the Odyssey letting him see the conference room were the meeting was taking place, “We are circling around old arguments,” the avali waved one arm, wing feathers ruffling, “The Illuminate proposal is what we should look into, we are willing to pay for a new, independent mineralogical survey of the planet, the scans you are using are centuries out of date.”
“So you claim,” T’lorp rumbled, the mass of moss quivering, “Which we note the Illuminate profit from, we know you are the S’grael’s preferred mineral extraction partners, so of course you hide the wealth of the world from everyone.”
“Avalon no longer have any mining packs stationed on the planet,” F’rarrk growled, “It is a university, a centre of learning and education, Avali come to us to study not to grub rocks out of the ground any more.”
“Please gentlemen,” Dalant started to say but T’Lorp let out an angry, wet, grumbling hoot.
“We are T’Lorp, we are not singular, we are multitudes,” they pushed thier tendrils against the controls of their carriage, “Again you insult us and as the Avali says we go in circles.”
Their compact anti-gravity cart pulled back, “As the Avali says we are going in circles, this mediation is over, good day to you all,” their cart then carried them out of the conference room and into an elevator and away.
“Well fuck it,” Seinu growled, turning on Dalant, adjusting the zoom on his screen to focus on the Cultarvian, “Why did you call them that, you know they find singular address insulting.”
Dalant glared at Elegon, his aide then turned back to Seinu, “Sorry, it slipped out, I don’t think we were going to get anywhere anyway, they were looking for an excuse to storm off anyway.”
“We are not budging on this,” F’rarrk hissed, the large worm uncoiling from their seat and slithering down onto the floor, head curling up to loom above them all, teeth flexing in annoyance, “The sovereignty of our University world is not up for discussion.”
“I know,” Dalant groaned, “I was hoping this conference would help us find a solution, but for a supposedly enlightened patch of moss the Farndos are being intransient and it isn't helped by you hiding over on the Odyssey Seinu.”
“That’s low even for you Dalant,” Seinu chirped angrily, “You know my security detail won't let me step foot over there whilst there is a chance those radicals are still on the loose and gunning for me.”
“We know,” Frarrk hissed, “Quite why we can't have these discussions on the Odyssey I don't know.”
“Because T'Lorp refuses,” Dalant groaned sinking their head into his hands, “After their last meeting with Seinu over there last week they seem to think it gives the S'Grael and the Avali an advantage.”
“Which is stupid,” Frarrk grumbled, “But fine, what do we do next? Seinu by telepresence is getting us nowhere.”
“I want to see those mineralogical scans T’Lorp was going on about,” Seinu said, “I want Chantelle to look at them, she’s a trained platentologist, we need to pin down exactly where they got them from, they are total fabrications.”
“I know that,” F’rarrk growled, “But they won’t believe anything we produce, all three of us are tainted apparently and not to be trusted, should we consider reaching out to someone else?”
Seinu sighed and leant back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, “We need to pull this back from the brink it is…” he was cut off as a chime rang out and a cultarvian appeared on another screen.
“Master Dalant,” the worried looking, fleece covered official said, “The Farndos Embassy has just boarded their ship and is requesting permission to depart.”
“Depart?” Dalant sat up, “Depart to where?”
“They are requesting a flight path to align with a warp jump back to their home-world.”
“Patch me through now,” Dalant hurried to stand before the screen as it switched to the internal view of the Embassy’s ship, “T’Lorp where are you going?”
“Home,” the Farndos rumbled, “These discussions are over, inform the worm that next we speak it will be as we claim our rightful world, these talks are over.”
The screen went dead and then switched back to the traffic controller. Dalant sighed and shook his head, “Let them leave.”
The screen flicked off and the Cultarvian negotiator turned to the others, “Well that’s it then, I think we can say these discussions are over.”
“Indeed,” F’rarrk bunched up and slithered toward the door, “I must make arrangements to depart as well, it seems I must recommend we deploy a fleet to protect the University, the time for Diplomacy is over.”
Seinu sighed, “I need to report to Ck’akk that things have fallen apart here,” he sighed and rubbed his temples, “I had been hoping we could avoid war.”
“You did your best Seinu,” F’rarrk hissed, “Give my best to your sister, I don’t think I can delay departure to say a proper goodbye,” with that the big worm slithered off into the elevator and Seinu turned to the cultarvian.
“Well great this is a shit show, I need to go as well, the Odyssey will probably be ordered someplace else as soon as I finish updating the lluminate.”
“What will you do?” Dalant asked, “Will your government pick a side?”
“Probably not,” Seinu shook his head, “Both are our trading partners but if they decide to go to war over this we will not pick a side, it is not our way.”
Dalant nodded and flopped back in his chair, “Well I wish you good luck Seinu, it was nice to meet you.”
Seinu nodded and shut down the call with Homestead, closing his eyes he let out a deep breath before speaking, “Ifelse, connect me to Avalon on the Quantum-Nexus link, get the Director online as quickly as possible.”
UR-87g-Alpha fell behind as the Odyssey powered into warp, the star Homestead station orbited left behind them as they raced away at light speed. Cal watched the stars whirl into blue shift as the ship twisted the fabric of the universe to move faster than light, ripping the mundane laws of physics apart to propel them at impossible speeds.
The copper and grey furred bunny pressed his snout against the window and watched for a long moment. He loved to see the Odyssey go into warp but after a few moments the sense of speed was lost as the exterior view became mundane and static. Sighing he shook his head and turned back to where Seinu was sitting behind his desk, he was typing furiously on a keyboard, he’d been sending messages all morning since the diplomatic conference on Homestead had fallen apart.
“Where are we going?” Cal asked, wandering over to nudge Seinu’s paws away from the holographic interface, “No one has said, but everyone is suddenly super busy.”
Seinu turned to smile down at him and Cal felt his heart beat faster as the Avali just smiled at him. Ever since he’d worked up the courage to ask Seinu out on a date with Cri just having the avali smile at him made him feel good. Seinu leant down and nuzzled his head, running his talons through his thick unruly head-fluff. Cal pressed closer into his touch and rested both of his big paws on his leg and chirped in approval.
“Love you,” Seinu whispered and his forked tongue licked out to touch Cal’s nose, “But we are off to join Expeditionary Fleet Nested-7-Omega.”
“What is that?”
“An Avali fleet,” Seinu ran a hand through Cal’s head-fur again, seeming to take comfort in touching his soft fuzz. Cal didn’t mind, he clambered up into the Avali’s lap and sat facing him, small feet resting against his stomach.
“Why are we off to join them?”
“Because this whole region may be about to erupt into war, we have interests to protect, trader packs to inform, allies to talk to,” Seinu rested both his hands on the back of Cal’s head, gently stroking his stiff lop ears, “We have a lot of work to do to keep everyone safe and the Director wants the Odyssey surrounded by friendly ships, if word gets out what we are up to early then someone is bound to try and remove us from the board.”
“Oh…” Cal frowned, “But we are in space, there isn’t a board.”
Seinu laughed and hugged Cal tightly, “I forget how new you are to living in space and our ways, when I say Board I mean it metaphorically, you know what a metaphor is right?”
“I do!” Cal grumped and bapped Seinu’s snout with a paw, “I get it now, like the board in a board game? Like that one we played the other day, Terraforming Ta’Krun.”
“Exactly,” Seinu smiled, “We are a piece on the board, an important piece but one of many assets the Avali have in this sector of space. So we are off to join forces with the Expeditionary force, we are likely to have to take on extra crew-members when we get there.”
“Oh?” Cal perked up, “Other packs? What for?”
Seinu pulled a screen over, “We are likely to be assigned a couple of Marine Packs for extra protection if anything does happen and we are boarded. Some specialists in linguistics, economics and a few other speciality packs who can help us with the things that are likely to happen next.”
“I see,” Cal frowned then smiled, “I can’t wait, I love meeting other Avali you are all so different and cool looking. Will we get to work with some of them?”
“Of course,” Seinu smiled, “You are my bodyguards and,” he held Cal’s head gently and nuzzled him again, “My boyfriend, you and Cri are part of my life now and no one is taking you away from me, other packs are just gonna have to get used to having you around.”
Cal giggled shyly and nuzzled back then hopped down, “Well then if you have messages to send I will go find Cri and we will see about setting up extra tents for the visiting packs in the guest rooms.”
“Oh that’d be helpful,” Seinu smiled and pulled his holographic interface back over, “I’d say we need at least six or seven guest rooms set up and ready for visitors.”
“You got it,” Cal smiled and hurried off to find Cal. It was going to be interesting to have so many different Avali visiting.
The Armada raced through space, the pitiful ball of rock it had been interdicting for the past month was behind them. Solanta the Cultarvian agricultural world had been a stepping stone, a convenient reason to keep his fleet in the sector so it was ready to move when the real prize became available, A month of being the “good samaritan” was worth the tedium to seize S’Grael University. The Armada had been running the quarantine blockade for the past month after the “convenient” outbreak of a new variant of flu. But now his agents had manipulated events into place for them to make their move.
“We will arrive at S’Grael University in fifteen minutes your Majesty,” the helm-Horker said and the King smiled, leaning back on his command throne.
“You did good,” Kyóurgawabadi, the Horker King, rasped in his deep voice to Elegon, the Cultarvian smiled nervously and nodded in thanks, “With the Farndos and S’Grael navies beating the crap out of each over over the University I can sweep in to enforce peace and take possession of the planet all nice and legal like.”
“It wasn’t hard,” the Cultarvian smirked, “Dalant relies on his staff exclusively, it was easy to corrupt all the info briefings so everyone kept insulting each other or causing offence,” they shrugged their shoulders, “The Odyssey was a challenge but Diplomat Seinu was not as impressive as I had been led to believe, he fell for it all just as easily as the other three.”
“Good,” Kyóurgawabadi smirked wider, “Embarrassing the Avali’s pet Diplomat is a glorious bonus, he has been scampering around undoing all the good work my propaganda teams have been managing.”
“Majesty,” the helm-Horker called out, “We are preparing to translate into normal space, do you have orders?”
“Ugh,” annoyed at being pulled away from gloating the King turned his attention to the buttons on his throne and depressed the switch for fleet wide communication, “This is your King,” he started, “We expect to arrive in the middle of a pitched battle between the S’Grael and the Farndos, our job is simple, all ships will disable the combatants on both sides, I want this very clear: We are not to shoot to kill, disable them only,” he smirked and looked around at his bridge crew, “We are the heroes after all, we are here to restore peace. Once the fleets are disabled we will move in to take custody of the planet in the name of the Coalition.”
The various captains replied with an affirmative and the King ran his eyes over the tactical grid where Lord Admiral Trelg was giving orders and directions. He was one of the King's most competent officers and leader of the fleet, under the King of course, “Make sure those idiot knuckle-draggers who call themselves Captains on my other ships remember their orders, I will gut anyone who kills a ship?”
“Yes your Majesty,” Trelg replied with a polite bow, “Your… informant here,” he sneered at Elegon, he really didn’t like non-Horkers, “Reported the Farndos fleet was due to arrive six hours ago, regardless of which Navy won they will be in no condition to stop us taking control.”
“Excellent,” the King smirked, then shot Elegon a side-ways glance, the Cultarvian smiled nervously. Kyóurgawabadi wasn’t a fan of working with Non-Horkers either, but the fleece-covered, horned alien had proven themselves useful. If this all went to plan he might even keep his promise to make them the new High Priest after he rolled the Cultarvian Collective under his banner and took over.
“Emerging into real-space,” the Horker on the Helm reported and the front screen changed to a view of reality as the Armada dropped out of warp. Ahead of them the dusty ochre sphere of S’Grael University hung in the void, the planet was the greatest centre of learning and knowledge in the Sector. The archives and research labs alone were worth the trouble and expense of rigging this war. It was also host to innumerable visiting aliens, academics, students, scientists. All the local races would be appalled at their people being put at risk over what essentially amounted to a nonsensical border dispute that had no standing in Coalition law. It had taken months of planning and laying false reports to piss off the Farndos to the point they now believed the S’Grael and by association the Avali were hiding stuff from them. But it was worth it, to further his agenda as the good boy ruler, the peacekeeper, the prestige of restoring “Peace” between two warring factions and normalising traffic in the sector would go a long way to helping his current agenda.
“Ships detected,” Trelg reported, “Our Armada is deploying and wait; something is wrong,” he frowned at the screen, “I am not detecting weapon fire or debris and… fuck it.”
He hit a button and the view-screen changed orientation, showing a close up of the fleet in orbit around the planet. Over two hundred ships, both Farndos and S’Grael in design, were drawn up side by side in a peaceful alignment not positioned in battle lines or shooting the shit out of each other they were orbiting in formation with…
“Is that the fucking Odyssey,” the King shouted, surging out of their chair, “And an Avali fleet?”
“It is Expeditionary Fleet Nested-7-Omega,” Trelg growled, “They are in standard orbit around the planet, the Odyssey and the Farndos and S’Grael Flag-ships are all all together in a cluster, this is not a fleet prepared for war…” the yellow scaled Horker clenched his fists, “They are hailing us.”
Kyóurgawabadi shot Elegon a glare, “Get behind my throne and stay out of sight, they cannot see you here,” once the stupid bleater was hidden, cowering behind his throne he ordered his minions to accept the incoming call.
The screen flickered and hissed into life and there was Seinu Trail, Frarrk the S’Grael loomed above him and the green lump of shit in a hovercraft had to be T’Lorp and standing next to the Avali with their perfectly styled black fleece was Dalant.
“King Kyóurgawabadi,” Seinu chirped in Avali, the screen printing what he was saying in Horker at the bottom, “What an unexpected surprise, how can we help?”
“I was responding to intelligence that the Farndos and S’Grael had gone to war,” the King said quietly, trying to maintain dignity and seriousness, “It would appear my intelligence was garbled?”
“Oh yes,” Frarrk hissed, “I am pleased to say that we have come to a satisfactory conclusion to our disagreement, thanks to the hard work of Ambassador Trail and Negotiator Dalant.”
“It was touch and go for a bit,” T’Lorp glorped softly, the Horker King tried not to flinch, he hated the way the ambulatory moss balls spoke, it sounded disgusting, “A traitor amongst the Cultarvian delegation almost tipped us straight into a pointless war, why we’d have blown each other up over nothing.”
“Well isn’t that good,” the King said levelly, “I am glad to hear blood shed has been avoided.”
“Indeed,” Seinu smiled and brought his hands together and the King almost lost his cool when he suddenly recognized the two short figures standing on either side of the Avali were bunnies, HIS bunnies. Kyóurgawabadi had to take a tight rein on his temper and not react. Both of the bunnies were staring at him, the hate clear in their eyes but Seinu was stroking their hair and whispering to them, clearly trying to calm them down. It was disgusting to see an Avali cavorting with food like this. He focussed on the others and listened as the Cultarvian delegate spoke, “What brought you here if we may ask? I thought you were holding the quarantine at Solanta, you really didn’t have to rush here, were you hoping to join in?”
“Join in? No,” the King snapped, sitting up straight, “My fleet had been operating quarantine for your government in orbit of Solanta, upon hearing that an unsanctioned war had broken out between two local nations we came here to offer peacekeeping services.”
“Ah I see,” Dalant nodded, clearly trying to hide a smirk, “Well we thank you for your diligence your majesty,” the Cultarvian said, “But whilst we have you here I can tell you in person that whilst we are thankful for your help we have made alternative arrangements now for a squadron from the Avali Expeditionary Fleet Nested-7-Omega to assume quarantine duties over Solanta going forward.”
Kyóurgawabadi glanced to the side as Trelg kicked a subordinate, a squadron of lights on the tactical screen had just flashed out as they jumped into warp. The ships had been properly aligned for a return warp to Solanta; there was no way the King could get his Armada back there before the Avali ships arrived.
“Well of course,” he said through gritted teeth, “It was our duty and honour to assist with the Quarantine, if we can be of any further assistance do let us know, our dedication to maintaining the safety and peace of all Star nations is known far and wide.”
“It is indeed,” Dalant said, “We could not believe how generous you were in offering to man the quarantine for nothing. But we do not want to overstep the bounds of courtesy and your good will so we have made other arrangements now so you can return home.”
“Unless you would like to join us?” Frarrk asked, the worm leaning down so he could peer at the camera, giving the King a view of endless dark throat and circles of teeth, “You would be much welcome, we are celebrating the birth of a new era of cooperation. If you join us we can explain to you how this all came about in case the traitor tries anything against you?”
“That reminds me,” Dalant said smiling and holding up a tablet, “If you see this member of my staff be wary and let a Cultarvian security agent know and we’ll take them off your hands,” he shook his head and sighed “My aide Elegon, turns out he has been working to start a war by misleading me and manipulating my team.”
“Despicable,” T’Lorp grumbled and glorped in that sickening way the Farndos spoke, “Once we have him in custody we will no doubt swiftly find out who was behind all of this.”
“I will be sure to turn him over should I see him,” the King said, “But alas if my services are no longer needed I will return home, Horkers Out.”
He waited for the screen to go dark before standing up, “Trelg, take the fleet home,” he rounded the throne and back handed the cowering Elegon sending the stupid alien sprawling over the deck.
“You piece of shit,” he screamed as he kicked them, planting a foot square in the Cultarvian’s stomach, “You got played now everything has been a colossal waste of time.”
“Majesty no!” Elegon squealed and scuttled backwards, “We can still recover this, we have contingency plans and…”
Kyóurgawabadi kicked him between the legs, putting the boot in firmly, smirking in satisfaction as Elegon squealed in pain and curled up double clutching his groin, “You got played you sad sack of meat, that fucker Seinu had your number and put on a show to pull me and my fleet out of position, if I don’t control Solanta I have no leverage over the High Priest, if I can’t sweep in and smash the S’Grael and Farndos in a legitimate peacekeeping action I get nothing; all these weeks of putting my Armada into the perfect position have been wasted.”
He waved a hand, “Guards, seize this useless piece of meat.”
Two of his guards hurried over, dark green claws clamped on either side of Elegon’s arms and hoisted him off the floor. The Cultarvian hung pitifully between them both and the king sneered, “Take this piece of shit down to my personal torture chamber, I will be along shortly to show them just what I intend to do to that fucking Avali when I get my claws on him.”
“Yes Majesty,” the guards replied and started to drag him away. Elegon understandably went mad, squirming and kicking, cursing and shouting but the guards just held onto him. The Cultarvian had neither the strength nor natural weapons to inconvenience a Horker and their tough, chitinous skin.
“You can’t do this!” Elegon howled, “I did everything you wanted, I am still useful.”
Kyóurgawabadi smirked and motioned for the guards to stop and walked over to grab Elegon’s chin and turn him to face them, “You did everything I said and still fucked it up, so since I am not about to become the strongest power in this sector I am going have some fun,” he smirked and licked the sheep’s chin with his thick, gooey tongue, “Now I’d rather be torturing Seinu, strap the Avali down and force him to remain awake whilst I ate his bunnies right in front of him then,” he slid his hands down Elegon’s arms, digging his claws, piercing the skin and causing the Cultarvian to squeal, “It was sickening seeing that Avali fawning over my cattle like they are real people,” he shook his head, “But don’t worry, I’ll get him one day, then after I’ve made him watch me eat friends I’ll dismember him, slice and cut and listen to him squeak and shriek and scream as a cocktail of drugs designed to enhance his pain course through him.”
He tightened his grip, drawing blood and listened to them squeal, “Sadly I don’t have the Avali so you’ll do,” he let out a deep wicked laugh and smirked, “I can’t believe you thought I’d set you up as High Priest, you are a second rate schemer and you couldn’t even outwit a worm and a pile of shit.”
He turned away, raising one hand to dismiss his guards but paused as an idea struck them, he motioned for the guards to follow “Bring it,” the King then resumed his throne as the guards dragged the whimpering Elegon around to dump him in front of him, “I may have a use for you after all beyond being an afternoon of amusement.”
The snivelling coward stopped crying and prostrated himself before his throne, “Anything Majesty, I can still serve, I can still be of use!”
Tapping his chin the King considered the useless retch, “Put this useless snivelling alien in a cell, when we get home deliver it to Tech-Master Grelk, I will leave instructions for how I want its memories altered before we kindly and helpful return this traitor to the Cultarvians.”
Elegon’s eyes went wide and Kyóurgawabadi laughed, “What? You think I am stupid enough to hand you over to anyone where you can still be telepathically scanned? Don’t worry, once Grelk is done your memories will show just what I need them to and the Cultarvian and the Coalition will Reduce you to Nothing for your crimes and I will come out of this looking and smelling like roses.”
He waved a hand, “Take them away,” Closing his eyes he leant back against his throne the King savoured Elegon’s shrieks as he was dragged away. It was less satisfying than eating him, but having Grelk use their machines to alter its memories so it could take the fall for this was perfect. Sadly he couldn’t implicate the Avali this time, he didn’t have any Avali prisoners to hand to re-program but the whole plot would end up looking like the Cultarvian separatists had been behind it and he’d be in the clear.
He had been out-manoeuvred here because he trusted an outsider so the outsider could help get him clear of the mess they had caused. The Odyssey and its stupid smug Avali crew had shown him up. They clearly didn’t have proof that he’d been pulling the strings hence why they wanted Elegon but Seinu had two of his bunnies. The scheme may have come undone but he had other moves he could make and clearly it was approaching time to remove the Bunnies from the board and stop the Avali interfering with the Farm.
“Admiral,” he said softly, “Take over here, I have messages to send,” he stood up, “Take us back to SCR-455 and put the Armada in standard orbit, I will then be at dinner, you may join me, we have much to discuss.”
The Admiral bowed, “Of course my liege, may I permit shore leave when we arrive home?”
“No,” the King shook his head, “We will shortly be heading for Wakkr’y, home of the Unmizu and the Kuyorui, that message I mentioned is to the Tribal Chief of the Kuyorui. Since this has all fallen apart we'll be accepting their request to uplift them.”
The Admiral looked surprised, “Wait, really? I thought you said it was a waste of resources?”
“If I was in possession of S'Grael university and the hero who restored peace, then yes it'd be a waste.” he shook his head, “As we're not going to get the University we need to boost our image and technology another way. We'll uplift the Kuyorui, bringing them out from beneath the oppressive governance of the Unmizu who live in their oceans.”
He smirked wickedly, “We’ll swipe EPP tech whilst we suppress the Unmizu and look good and like we care by uplifting the Kuyorui at the same time. See to the preparations.
The King then swept off the bridge, he was furious at being thwarted but he would recover. He had plans within plans, this scheme may have come undone but it all played into his future schemes, he would be victorious in the end and then… then one day, Seinu Trail would be dinner with a side order of bunnies.