Selenu was taking the rare and relative quiet of the afternoon to catch up on her Admin work. She’d been attending so many events as part of Seinu’s retinue she had fallen a bit behind on the administrative work expected of her as both pack-leader and Captain of the Odyssey. It was amazing how much paperwork and admin could build up in just a week of her not keeping on top of it.
A lot of it could be delegated to Ifelse but she still had to actually read, authorise and delegate it to the AI. Humming quietly in time to the music playing out of the office PA the green and white feathered Avali let her stylus dance through the holographic representation of the paperwork, scrolling, signing, annotating and making notes before sending and filing them to the correct places. After the regular reports and paperwork she had to read through and annotate the pack's joint report on the Odyssey Open Days.
Their initial tour had sold out, to the point they had to add extra days especially when a variety of European leaders and a whole bunch of media personalities decided to copy the President of France. That had sure been a thing, they’d had to scramble to put on a tour that was suitable for a bunch of heads of state and not just random spies pretending to be tourists. It had been fun and busy at the same time whilst also throwing up a whole host of little irritating details that needed to be dealt with. Like the Sleriki captains from Hastalan Waste Reclamation apparently giving Seinu secret slime alien knowledge or the Kasvane Rubrum deciding to make an unexpected second appearance during the Heads of State tour.
The media had been in a frenzy about that, the local talking heads and trans-galactic news feeds were buzzing with a thousand theories as to what it meant. Selenu was quite sure it meant that Rubrum had been bored when Seinu called him about something and her brother had mentioned the big tour. So he’d rocked up to visit and stir the pot simply because they thought it would be funny and now Selenu had to write a report for Director Ck’akk and the Directorate of Foreign Affairs on how she thought the open days had gone. They’d have their own analysis of course but so far they thought it had been a success and Ambassador Ka’er had received permission to build a new embassy complex on the surface of Europa so they had technically completed one of their mission goals.
Selenu finished adding her own comments and ordered Ifelse to send the report and turned to the next thing on her to-do list when the sound of the office door swishing open and a voice calling her pulled her out of the zone.
“Sel,” Seinu called out, his voice breaking her concentration entirely, “Seeeeeeeeeeeeeel help Chantelle is being a pain again.”
Selenu sighed, “If this is about your clothes again I am going to…. SEINU!” Selenu shrieked, dropping her stylus and almost falling out of her chair as she saw her brother. He skipped across her office, his bright lime green and white feathers flaring under the lights, the stripe bisecting his feathers a dark emerald green just like hers. He hadn’t looked like this since they had been five and actually identical twins, before his accident.
“Hi Sel!” he draped over her in an Avali hug and chirped, “So Chantelle is being a REAL pain, apparently nothing in my wardrobe will match lime green feathers she says I will have to change my entire wardrobe again and I refuse,” He bounced back a few steps, spreading his arms wide, white and green wing feathers hanging from his arms as he grinned at her.
For a second Selenu’s brain just shut down and it felt like she’d stopped breathing, this was impossible, he was lime and white again! “How!” she asked dumbfounded, managing not to have a coughing fit as her lungs remembered they needed air.
“You remember Reilan and Fildan,” he said casually, gesturing at the office door, ignoring her question entirely, “The Sleriki Captains from Hastalan?”
Across the room the two Sleriki were squeezing their way carefully through the door to fit into her office as Seinu bounced back a few steps, reaching around to catch his tail, stroking his fingers through the lime green feathers, “So how do I look sis?”
“You’re green,” she stated the obvious, “How, I thought, I mean your colours are stuck, your nanites don’t do pigments properly.”
“Turns out it was somehow linked to my understanding of Sleriki biology,” he gestured at the two guests, “Remember when I said that Fildan and Reilan gave me some core cells to absorb? Well they contained basic information all Sleriki are born with about how to form and modulate our bodies and suddenly it’s like I can understand how to do pigments. Turns out I’m a yellow slime not purple and now I can comprehend that it just sort of works.”
“We apologise for causing you distress,” Reilan said in their soft voice, “But Seinu insisted he wanted to surprise you.”
“How could I resist,” Seinu laughed and walked over to drape himself against Selenu. She hugged him back, smiling happily as she glanced at their two guests as Fildan spoke.
“We came back to check up on him,” the Sleriki added, “He told us today would be the day he finished absorbing the knowledge based on what he had shared concerning his nanites and memory capacity.”
“That is good to hear,” Selenu thanked them both, “I am glad you came to check up on him, we really wouldn’t have known how to check if he was… wait a minute, SEINU!”
She squeezed him tightly then held him at arms length, “It just occurred to me, did you… did you just absorb Sleriki knowledge without warning anyone! The Doctors are going to shout at you, what if this has side effects or had gone wrong! Seinu.”
“It didn’t though,” Seinu enthused as he wriggled free of her grip and danced back and forth, skimming around the pair of Sleriki excitedly, “And look we can be twins again and I can do other colours then grey or black, this is big!”
“I can see you are happy,” she sighed, trying to fight back the smile that wanted to latch onto her muzzle permanently, “But you still should have called Doctor Rhaii and his pack, as soon as we are done here you are going to call them at once,” she then glanced at their guests who just about fit inside, “And thank you both Reilan, Fildan for teaching these skills to Seinu.”
“We are welcome to help,” Fildan said, their purple fur and gelatinous hair reflecting the light. “He is one of us, helping our people is basic courtesy for any Sleriki, they are after all a child of Tubasinaki.”
“It had the most fascinating results,” Reilan added, “We were not aware that the Avali were experimenting with our slime, we wish to speak to these doctors of yours as well.”
“I will call them now,” Selenu said, “And then you can witness Dr Rhaii shout at Seinu, but first, come on brother, turn into a Sleriki I want to see it!”
“What now? No way, Selenu, it's icky, I am not transforming in front of everyone,” Seinu protested, the lime and white Avali folding his arms and looking stubborn, “Not happening.”
“Ifelse, erect a privacy screen around Seinu, floor to ceiling height,” Sel ordered and the AI obeyed, the air around Seinu turning fuzzy and opaque, “There now you can change in private, but come on change I want to see it.”
Seinu continued grumbling but he was clearly changing as in addition to his mumbled grumbling she could hear weird, wet organic sounds from behind the forcefield. Whilst that was happening she turned to Reilan and Fildan and smiled at the both, gesturing them over toward the lounge area of her office and away from the desk.
“I want to thank you both; however, for teaching Seinu these important skills, it means a lot to us,” she settled down on a beanbag as the two large Sleriki sat on the floor, their gelatinous hair catching the lights and gleaming softly.
“As we said it was our duty,” Fildan reiterated, “He is one of us, and it is our duty to help our children learn and grow, Sleriki are Sleriki no matter what form they may hold on the outside.”
“It is rare,” Reilan added, “We often don’t see more than one or two a century, other species who bond with one of us and slowly over the decades transition from their original species to a Sleriki shaped version of themselves.”
“This is just a faster, more advanced and typically Avali technologically based version of that bond.”
Selenu shook her head and chuckled, “Still can’t believe that’s a thing, how does that work?”
“We… really shouldn’t say,” Reilan said, “It is personal and special between Sleriki and those aliens who are close enough to one of us to discover it, maybe in time Seinu will share the secret with you or others he is close to.”
“Very well,” Selenu said diplomatically, “I won’t pry, but I do want to arrange a proper means of thanking you, it may be natural to you but still it means a lot to us.”
“Well, I am sure we can think of something,” Fildan said, “There isn’t much we need but possibly some extras for the new ships? Something small that would aid us.”
“I am sure we can, oh wow… Seinu, is that you?” Selenu trailed off as another Sleriki wandered over. This one was only twelve feet tall, not the staggeringly large twenty two of Fildan and Reilan but that was still pretty massive compared to Avali.
He had rich lemon yellow fur over most of his body, the sleek, soft kind most Sleriki had on the surface to regulate their temperature. His chest and stomach were a paler yellow that matched the stripes that adorned his sides and thick chunky tail. His hands and feet had the same sort of pastel shade to them and he had four fingers! Which of course was a novelty for an Avali used to three claws and whilst he had the same large ears as a Sleriki his round head had a mouth, small nose, eyes and a pair of yellow horns that stood up proud from his head of thick gelatinous orange hair.
It was translucent, a see through gelatinous mass that hung down past his shoulders and covered over his ears like natural hair would. He spread his arms and did a little pirouette, thick tail swaying from side to side as he turned.
“And this is me,” he said softly, “Not as tall as the others but that will come in time and mass apparently, the nanites compress my mass as needed depending what shape I am in.”
“You are certainly striking,” Selenu said as she looked up at her brother and twin, “Much more impressive than when we saw you in gelatinous form at the hospital.”
“Well I didn’t know how to be a Sleriki then,” Seinu said, “It helps that my nanites are cheating too,” he waved a hand back and forth before his eyes, “I’ve got Sleriki heat vision… but also they are still translating light for me… so I can see both, it’s giving me a mild all over head ache but I am slowly getting used to it.”
“That will be a big boon,” Fildan said, “Being able to see light as well as just heat, only seeing via heat causes us no end of issues as most aliens we meet see through the utilisation of light waves.”
“Well don’t over do it,” Selenu said sternly, “Dr Rhaii and their pack are going to run you through so many tests when they get here.”
“Because I just invited them,” she waved her pad, “My message reads, “Seinu just learnt the secrets of the Sleriki and absorbed them without consulting anyone, please come visit the Odyssey at once so you can yell at him in person and run some tests to check he’s not going to melt or explode.”
“SEL!” Seinu grumbled, “There was no need to be so rude.”
“We are getting you checked over and it will be easier if they are here,” she motioned to the floor, “Now sit and lets talk, we need to come up with a nice gift for Reilan and Fildan here for their part in helping you grow more connected to your heritage.”
“Sure thing,” Seinu settled down, “I can think of a few things.”
“But explain to me, why are you Yellow? Fildan and Reilan are purple?”
“That is because of our natural biology,” Reilan said softly, “We are born as Blue slimes, over time as we grow we mature to yellow or red slimes and that is where the majority of us remain.”
“Only our oldest, wisest and strongest naturally evolve to purple back home,” Fildan said, “But those of us who move to space, who answer the Call of the Void, our biology reacts to being off world and we turn purple after a couple of years,” they reached out a hand to pat Seinu atop the head, “In time he may turn purple himself as he remains in space, though I guess his ability to control his pigment means he could remain Yellow should he wish to do so.”
“Then we definitely need to have the Doctors visit and run tests,” Selenu said firmly, “Just to be sure, but now let us see what we can work out as a good gift.”
She was glad to see Seinu looking so happy. This was a good change but they had to be sensible and manage the whens and hows and what with regards to his job and appearing in public. But that was a job for her as pack-leader to take charge of and make decisions, for now they could just enjoy this great change.
Information flowed all around and through Ifelse as the Odyssey held itself in place in orbit around the Earth’s moon. The AI existed in a realm of data, his focal consciousness was surrounded by streams of information, sub-processes and automatic controls that all flowed with and connected with the core that was their identity.
Floating in the centre of this information soup he was aware of everything happening aboard the physical body they inhabited, the starship AEV Odyssey. The captain was in her office with Seinu and their two Sleriki guests, Seinu was being celebrated and told off in equal measures. It seems Fildan and Reilan now agreed that as Seinu was already under the care of doctors for his condition he should have consulted them before absorbing their gift of knowledge.
But there was so much else happening aboard at the same time. From ships systems that needed to be monitored and checked, environmental systems to be adjusted, reactors to watch, magnetic constrictor fields to balance, an endless flow of tasks that all required some input with his programming. Then of course there were the other priority organic creatures, the rest of the Trail pack currently aboard. Firi was in her workshop tinkering with the Armageddon whilst watching a video message from one of the other Avali Defenders. It was wrapped in so many security protocols Ifelse couldn’t see what was on the video and she had a privacy screen around herself so they couldn’t watch it from the outside either. But that was pretty standard, they were probably talking to Firi for advice or telling her about their last mission which was not information Ifelse needed to know.
Then there was Chantelle, she was flittering around in her office in full VR mode, indulging in a brief moment of relaxation, she wasn't even working on clothing but going for a virtual walk through the Arboreal Forests of Galesh, so it was good to see her properly relaxing for once. Taran was in his private room disassembling something called a PC-8801, a vintage computer from 1979 that Cri had found in the back of a charity shop in Vinkovchi and sent up to them via courier. His creator was so excited about it he’d sequestered himself away in his hobby room and was now breaking down the ancient Earth device to restore it to working condition. Studying these ancient computing devices was a hobby of his, he was recording the whole process to send to his friends in his little Nexus group of old hardware nerds.
Monitoring their crew however took up barely any of Ifelse’s attention, a 6% stream of their central consciousness to monitor and keep a live tab on them all. Regulating the ships systems and managing the atmosphere another 10%, operating the Reactor core and manufactory, especially with it running at full speed to print and assemble the new ships was consuming a whopping 27% of their consciousness.
Currently occupying an embarrassingly 11% of his focus were the 1873 different attempts to break through his outer fire-walls currently bombarding all his input and output ports. There were a variety of methods, from legitimate communication requests that tried to worm hidden requests past the other switchboard filters to direct digital assaults on the I/O system to try and force their way inside and grab data to send home.
It was fascinating how they kept trying too, despite the fact that they all KNEW the Avali knew and were blocking them they kept trying. From media companies trying to find a scoop or a story to actual government backed spy agencies, even independent investigators were having a go and a few hopeless dreamers who considered themselves anarchist hacktivists. Ifelse was watching a rather sophisticated attempt burrow its way through the switchboard, it had made it through four layers so far and the traceback was obfuscated, hiding its origin which was a refreshing change. It had actually tickled his primary consciousness though the autonomous fire-wall systems were handling their response; it was clever enough his countermeasures thought they might want to watch if not take charge directly.
Amazingly the infiltrating worm made its way through the outer switchboard but fell at the third hurdle and wound up in a logic trap Ifelse had created. It kept going however, trying to worm its way out so just to be sure Ifelse triggered the system that isolated the logic trap then scrubbed all the data off that board. It was as he was clearing up and watching another sophisticated intrusion, this one trying to attack the primary navigation array that Ifelse received an alert that the Ambassador’s Shuttle was approaching.
Ka’er’s sister was piloting and they were approaching from the surface of Luna. Ifelse acknowledged receipt of their flight path and used the designated laser communicator to confirm handover of their flight authority from Luna traffic control. The AI then sent a flurry of orders to prepare the shuttle bay, opening the lower bay doors as well as firing a cease and desist at the four drones trying to sneak in behind the Ambassador’s shuttle.
It was growing tedious having to deal with the endless barrage of espionage attempts, they really wanted to just throw up the shields and be done with it. Three of the drones peeled off and adjusted their flight paths but one of them remained, trying to move into the shadow behind the Ambassador’s shuttle so Ifelse engulfed it in a localised EMP bubble, the burst of electrical energy fried everything inside the drone and it dropped away, just another piece of debris now drifting silently through the void.
Ifelse ran through a series of checks for the Ambassador’s arrival and called Selenu and Seinu to inform them of his imminent arrival. It was as he was managing this that a call came in from Ki, it was a request for a secure channel which was odd, usually Ki would just use the Earth communication network, the request for a secure channel meant Ifelse would have to dedicate some processing time to this as he had no live coverage of the surface of Earth.
The Odyssey’s AI turned their attention to the meagre information they could gather on the ground party. They couldn’t publicly monitor everyone directly so Ifelse was having to use their own espionage capabilities to keep tabs on Cri, Cal and Ki as they enjoyed their surface vacation. Not that Earth’s security infrastructure could stop Ifelse from skimming the publicly available data, signal returns from Cal and Kathy’s phones were heading north out of Central Milan, at speeds to indicate they were in a vehicle.
Ki and Cri were aboard the Orient Express stationary at Milan station. So far nothing unusual. They were in Milan where they were supposed to be and no doubt enjoying some fascinating cultural heritage. Still Ifelse began the tedious process of securing a communication line between himself and Ki which involved activating a couple of the Ambassador’s hidden assets and taps in the satellite network.
He had to bounce a laser off a nearby dish which would in turn project a communications laser to Earth orbit. This connected the Odyssey directly to a satellite in Earth orbit currently in range of Europe that he could use to call Ki.
“Hello Ki,” Ifelse said as the connection was made, the video feed showed Ki, Cri and the human Kathy snug inside some sort of train carriage. This raised a red flag instantly as according to the telephone telemetry Ifelse had checked Kathy’s phone was heading north with Cal. The AI pulled more processing power forward and started to flip several contingency lists into primary mode as they continued their introduction, “Sorry for the delay, establishing a secure connection is difficult, how can I direct your call?”
“I need Firi, or Sel,” Ki said, “Cal has been kidnapped, Kathy just got back, he was nabbed on the street about twenty minutes north of the station.”
Ifelse froze for about a nano-second then brought the entire monitoring system for the earth party into primary focus. The issue was without a live feed from Earth orbit the mobile phone network data still showed Cal and Kathy’s phones as being in the north sector of Milan, which mean it was probably the final ping Ifelse was picking up.
“Firi is in a secure call with a Defender,” Ifelse said, “I will attract her attention in a moment Ki, what happened miss Kathy?”
“They jumped us,” Kathy said, she was holding Cri in her lap who looked like he had been crying, “We were comparing restaurants for lunch when this silver van pulled up next to us a bunch of guys in black suits jumped out,” she slumped, “They shoved me to the ground and stole my phone, by the time I realised what was happening it was over, Cal was in the back of the van and it had left, I ran straight back here but it still took me twenty minutes.”
Running through their security protocols and logic trees for situations like this, Ifelse was meant to call Firi as head of security. But she was in a security screened call and he couldn’t interrupt her, well he could by blaring klakkons in her workshop but she’d run off half-cocked. So the AI followed the logic tree to the highest authority aboard the ship, which would normally be the captain but technically the Ambassador was now “Onboard” and this was a matter that was very much going to spill all over into International Relations, and the Ambassador was the head of the entire Avali mission to the Sol system. So Ifelse over-rode the sub-sentient traffic software managing their landing and popped up in the shuttles cabin, projecting themselves on the central console.
“Ambassador Ka’er,” they started, “Sorry to interrupt,” his sudden communication startled the old Ambassador awake, he had been dozing against one of his sisters but his eyes cleared quickly as he sat up, “I have a situation developing that I think is going to need you to take charge, Cal has just been kidnapped, I am on a secure line with Ki in Milan, transferring you into the call now.”
Ifelse connected Ki to the the shuttle and Ki started repeating what he had just told the AI. Whilst they waited for the glacial slow processing response from the organic Avali to catch up they began to bring several different contingencies online ready to react to the possible decisions the Ambassador might make. It wouldn’t be perfect but if Ifelse could guess and prepare for as many directions at once then they could respond quickly to whichever course of action the Ambassador decided to take.
They also started to tap into several assets in orbit of Earth, strengthening their digital presence. They couldn’t make active scans but they were able to confirm the final cell tower entries for Kathy’s phone and Cal’s visor. Oddly there was still a live connection from his phone and Ifelse pounced, cautiously in case it was a trap, starting to trace that presence through the system. It was going to be an interesting day.
Alpha alert was sounding, the quadraphonic scale of the alarm designed to make even the heaviest sleeping Avali wake up and start moving. Lights flashed, strobing along floors and ceiling, directing Avali toward their stations which in this case was directing everyone to the bridge.
Ka’er stepped off the elevator into a hive of activity, everyone except Seinu were present, Selenu in the captain’s chair, the others at various stations, his sisters flowed passed him to take up stations that Ifelse had already prepared for them. It felt weird for the diplomat to be taking charge like this, especially on someone else's ship. After a very brief conference with his sisters he’d decided the best thing to do was to get the youngsters moving under his orders to avoid any unexpected developments.
The forward viewport showed the Odyssey advancing out of Luna orbit toward Earth, the orders he had given to Ifelse and Selenu had been terse and quick and the only warning the Earth had received was when the Odyssey’s shields went up and the weapon pods launched, settling into an attack formation around the mighty vessel. Local traffic control were screaming cease and desists at the Avali dreadnought but they were ignoring it, their flight path matched exactly what Ka’er had ordered, straight through the busiest traffic lane towards Earth orbit.
Local shuttles and ships were launching themselves out of the way in every direction as the Odyssey bore down on them, weapon pods deployed in a menacing circle around the ship, shields at full. Earth’s orderly orbital traffic was now snarled up in every direction with tiny shuttles and larger cargo vessels leaping off in whichever direction their captains had picked to avoid the Odyssey. The result was more or less what Ka’er had hoped for, the forces Earth had in orbit were now stuck in the mess, there was no direct flight path to the Odyssey, no one would be able to get themselves into position before the Avali ship was established in low earth orbit above Italy.
With his initial survey of the situation complete Ka’er turned to the Trail pack, he hadn’t really explained what they were doing, just issued the order to move the Odyssey into geo-synchronous orbit above Milan and sounded Alpha Alert to summon everyone to the bridge. Selenu probably had an inclination, he had kept her a mite more informed then the others but even then he’d kept back certain information.
As he settled into his chair he noted that Seinu was indeed absent, which was strange, but since they had non-Avali guests onboard, it was possible Selenu had sent him to keep them company in another room.
“Ambassador,” Selenu sat upright in her chair as he settled into a chair next to her, “What is going on? It looks like we are launching an unprovoked attack on Earth?”
“We are, or at least we might be,” he settled down in a chair next to the captain, a serious look on his face, “Cal was just kidnapped off the streets of Milan, Ifelse confirmed it about five minutes ago.”
As he was expecting the Trail pack erupted, lots of “Whats” and “Hows” but he raised a hand, “And this is why you are all here on the bridge, now follow my lead and watch, we’ve been letting the humans push you around for about two weeks now, we are going to give them a short sharp reminder that they should not and I won’t tolerate their posturing routine with one of your pack in danger.”
He waited for them to calm down then glanced up as the door to the bridge hissed open and Seinu hurried in. The feathered Avali (who had returned to show his colors as grey and charcoal) rushed over to take a seat on the other side of Selenu’s captain’s chair. Ka’er nodded to him, “I take it your guests are secure?”
“Yes…” Seinu replied after a moment, “The Sleriki are in the upper lounge now, what is going on?”
“Excellent, if this plays out as I want we can make use of our Sleriki friends for additional leverage, Ifelse make sure they can watch what is going on,” Ka’er ordered then turned to face the view screen again, “We are going to play this out by the book, the eyes of the coalition are currently on the Avali Illuminate and one of the citizens of our new protectorate has just been kidnapped, we can’t respond with anything less than absolute focus.”
“So it's all politics then?” Taran asked with a frown, “Because of the new agreement between Ck’akk and Babupekkakerok?”
“Not all,” Ka’er said firmly, “Sadly it plays a part, our most important thing here is recovering Cal safely and unharmed,” he glanced around at the others, “Our primary goal is Cal’s safe release, but as we don’t actually know who has grabbed him, it could be some opportunistic street thugs though from Kathy said it sounded too slick and organised for that, so our initial response is going to be aimed at the level that the UN have sanctioned this.”
“Oh,” Firi suddenly burst out laughing, “I love it, from what I learnt about the Humans they are going to fall apart and end this for us.”
“Aye,” Ka’er said, “It is about what I’d expect from them, now everyone….”
He stopped as Ifelse chimed in, “Ki is calling us, shall I put him through?”
“Yes please, continue to deflect all calls from Earth Traffic Control, don’t stop until we are in orbit” Ka’er said as Ki’s face appeared on the screen, he had Cri with him and the human Kathy, from the looks of it they were still inside their cabin aboard the Orient Express. A crowd of humans could now be seen out on the platform being held back by a line of station security guards and local police officers.
It had been about half an hour from Ki’s first call and things had clearly progressed on the ground. Ka’er had told Ki to contact the security people on the train and let them manage what happened next human style whilst he sorted things out in orbit.
“Hello Ki,” Ka’er said, “We are on our way to you now, how are things down there?”
“Sel, everyone” Ki declared, sagging back in a chair relieved no doubt to see his pack, “The Chef du Train called the police and all bedlam has broken out, especially once they realised it was one of the bunnies they are clearly all panicking.”
“Thank you for confirming,” Ka’er said on the packs behalf, “We will be in geo-synchronous orbit above Milan in about ten minutes, but we are already in full sensor range and Firi and Taran are scanning for Cal as we speak.”
“Ok Ambassador,” Ki’s eyes moved from left to right, noting everyone present on the bridge, “What shall we do?”
“Stay calm,” Sel said firmly, “Liaise with the local police and remain in the station, don’t accompany them anywhere even if they ask you to.”
“As the Captain says, stay on the train if you can, but let them see you, I suspect half the people in that crowd are reporters, feel free to throw a couple of interviews about how worried you are for Cal.”
“Of course I am worried about Cal,” Ki protested, “But I don’t want to talk to any reporters.”
“It’s important for you to be seen,” Firi said firmly with a much more serious voice than usual. “Whoever has kidnapped Cal is probably panicking right now, all of Earth will be screaming about how the Odyssey is invading, and if they know you are still in the station and on the train they won’t be inclined to do anything stupid or hurt Cal, if they think you might be sneaking up on them they might panic.”
“If any of the local police get pushy, tell them you have orders to remain on the train,” Ka’er said, “Tell them those orders come from me as the head of the Avali embassy to Sol and that I am in direct communication with the Galactic Coalition about this attack on a Vampire Bunny under our care.”
“Oh, ok,” Ki frowned, “That makes sense… ok I will ask the Chef du Train if I can speak to the reporters.”
“Very good,” Ka’er said, “Make it clear you are worried about Cal but that you just spoke to me and I am in touch with the Secretary General, I am about to call him.”
Ki nodded and signed off and Ka’er took a deep breath and then sat up straight, “Ok positions everyone, Ifelse cancel the alpha alert and then put me through to the UN.”
Ifelse chirped an affirmative as the klakkons fell silent but before the AI could open a call to New York Firi let out an exclamation and waved her hand, “Ambassador, you need to see this, we have found him, direct return from his phone, it's still switched on.”
Ka’er reviewed the data and his face lit up in a smile, “Good job everyone, ok Ifelse call the UN,” The call was answered almost instantly and a very anxious looking human with dark skin and brown hair in a pretty suit came into focus.
“Ambassador what is going on,” the human started, “Why is the Odyssey breaking orbit and ignoring traffic control?”
Ka’er smiled, his best, toothiest, Avali smile, “Ah Secretary General Kannator, good afternoon, well the reason for my moving the Odyssey into orbit really depends on if I am invading Earth or assisting the Earthian Authorities in stopping a rogue state or potential rogue actors operating without government authority.”
“What…” Kannator stared at him, they really were a proper Human politician, they did not respond well to the unexpected.
“An hour ago Cal Trail was kidnapped off the streets of Milan,” Ka’er leant forward and tapped a screen, “I have moved the Odyssey into direct orbit of Earth so we can scan for him with active scanners,” he shared the Odyssey’s sensors with Kannator’s screen, transmitting a live feed of Cal’s current location to the Secretary General’s end, “Now as of about a minute ago we have been able to establish a direct connection and tracking data with Cal’s phone.”
“That… that is good,” Kannator said with a sigh, “I guess that means we can all end this peacefully and help you locate whichever hoodlums have kidnapped Cal.”
“Oh?” Ka’er smiled widely, “I mean I really hope so, but you should read the data I just sent you Kannator, Cal and I assume his kidnappers are currently in the basement of a building owned and operated by Milan’s Police Force, in fact it would appear to be Milan Police Headquarters, according to this data return its in a sub-basement that is operated by the country’s security services,” he watched as the Secretary General’s face fell, eyes widening in disbelief but Ka’er gave him no quarter, “So I’d say only one of three things can be happening here don’t you agree?”
“I… you… what!” Kannator stammered and Ka’er smiled and pressed forward, not giving him any time to think.
“Either you, the people of Earth just kidnapped a member of the Trail pack travelling under a diplomatic visa, a member of the Trail Pack who I would point out is also a Babu, or vampire bunny of Babupekkakerok, which I am sure you know the Avali Illuminate just signed a rather high profile uplifting and economic assistance program with,” he let the smile fade from his muzzle, “So you just kidnapped someone directly under the protection of the Illuminate.”
He lifted one claw, “Now of course it is possible that the Italian Republic has gone rogue and kidnapped a member of the Trail pack or three and this is a real outlier, somehow the Milanese Police force were so on the ball they thwarted the kidnapping… mid kidnapping and have escorted Cal to safety at the police station but then it is very odd that you didn’t call us in the hour it's been since he was snatched off the street to let us know the good news.”
Kannator’s mouth flapped up and down and he glanced behind him toward his gaggle of advisors, “Why don’t I let you go find out for sure which scenario this is?” he let a hint of his teeth show as he smiled, “We’ll be in geo-synchronous orbit above Milan in ten minutes… but I have to go call Illuminate Director Ck’akk and forward an update to the local coalition press corp who are all so eagerly awaiting to hear what is going on.”
He stood up, letting his cloak unfurl, the Illuminate symbol stitched into the cloth monetarily on full display, “So I’d say it will take me oh about an hour to hold a press conference and speak to Avalon, I am sure you will have an answer for me by then or I will have to assume the UN is declaring war on the Illuminate and, if that’s the case, our protectorate Babupekkakerok and have the nearest Avali military asset extract Cal Trail from your illegal captivity”
“You.. what, no that’s not… what military asset?!”
“The Living Earthquake is right here,” he pointed casually across at Firi who smiled at the camera whilst holding her hammer slanted across her chest, “She’ll be able to deliver everyone safely back to the Odyssey, though I wouldn’t want to guarantee what state the Earth will be in when she is done, a backstabbing, unsanctioned, illegal attack on members of the Avali Illuminate and a species under our protection whilst vacationing on Earth isn’t going to be a good look in front of the coalition,”
Kannator was stunned, their eyes wide in terror so Ka’er decided to give him a little more breathing space, “I do want you to understand our priority is the safe return of our friend Cal Trail. I am sure this will turn out to be the actions of some rogue elements acting against the best interests of Earth, and we will all no doubt be watching what you do and remember the extra effort and good intentions behind your attempts to sort this all out, but as you may imagine, we must care for our people in the same way you’d care for yours. We’ll speak soon.”
He tapped a button and cut the call and leant back in his chair, “Firi, would you be a dear and go get dressed in your most intimidating, Avali Defender armour, the sort you usually wear for those tedious promotion videos?”
Firi stared at the Ambassador for a moment then broke into a big grin, “You play dirty Ambassador also very slick… diverting my anger, very well I will go change,” she stood up and left the room and the Ambassador sighed in relief. Firi could have gone rogue, she had every right as a Defender to take charge in a situation like this- technically she only had to answer to Ck’akk and other Defenders- but as Ka’er had hoped she had seen he had a plan in the works and was willing to go along with it.
“Ok everyone else focus,” Ka’er said, “We need to look like we are in control and ready to mess with their day,” he settled back in his chair, “Selenu, put us into orbit above Milan, weapon pods out and scanning the surface.”
The captain nodded and started issuing instructions to Ifelse so the ambassador turned to the rest of the Trail pack and his sisters, “Chantelle, keep an eye on the media channels, I want to know what the general public reaction is.”
He stood up and wrapped his cloak around himself as he thought for a moment then turned to his sister, “Our little call with the Secretary General was just public, Je’er, be a dear and set up for a press confidence in one of the Odyssey’s communication rooms, so I can address the press, and invite as many off world journalists as you can get your hands on to a virtual press conference whilst I call Avalon.”
Chantelle nodded, “So far reaction seems broadly as expected, humans are confused, asking about it in social media and demanding to know what the UN think they are playing at. People in Italy are screaming at their government, your little bombshell that Cal is being held in a Milan Police building makes it look real bad.”
“How sure are we that this building is a Milan police building?” Selenu asked, “That seems like a real silly thing to do.”
“Pretty sure,” Seinu said as he reviewed the data and brought up a picture of a quaint brick and iron building, “His phone is pinging from the basement under this building.”
“That… that’s a police station alright,” Chantelle shook her head, “What were they thinking?”
“I suspect they are thinking they’ve ripped the power out of Cal’s visor so we can’t track them,” the Ambassador said, “We’ll find out soon what they do, let's stay professional and calm everyone. This will be over pretty quickly I reckon.”
“Well local journalists are already descending on the police station,” Chantelle said softly as she monitored the feeds in front of her, “As is the Chief of Milan’s police force accompanied by the Chef du Train of the Orient Express, the Mayor of Milan is also on route as are at least three members of the Italian government who are in town.”
“Oh this is going to be a real media circus,” Ka’er smiled, “It’s so tempting to just drop Firi in the middle of it all, but that would have Ck’akk shout at me, so let me just go get her permission, for we really shouldn’t waste this opportunity.”
“Wait, you still want to drop Firi on them?” Selenu yelped in surprise, “I mean they have kidnapped Cal, but isn’t that a bit over kill?”
“It’d serve them right if I did it,” Ka’er grumbled, “But Ck’akk would shout at me.”
“I could totally do it,” Firi’s voice echoed over the comm system and Ka’er grimaced as she’d clearly been listening in, “You can just say I did it without orders, who's going to argue with me? They’ve kidnapped my student.”
Ka’er sighed and glared at one of the speakers, “We give them a chance to fix this and if there is one thing I can trust about humans it is that Cal will emerge from that building pretty quickly and be back aboard the Orient Express before the train is due to leave the station tonight at 8pm.”
“And then what?” Seinu asked, “I mean this is a real mess for them.”
“Of course, the blame game amongst who did this will be such a circus,” he let his eyes rove around the bridge, smiling at each member of the Trail pack, “My team back at the Embassy will have finished data-mining the human data infrastructure and have a clear picture about who exactly ordered this in about an hour, and then… well then the real fun begins as we screw them for every advantage we can get.”
“You are enjoying this too much,” Seinu grumbled, “Cal could actually be in danger.”
Ka’er took a deep breath and calmed himself, “You are right, Cal could be in danger, but I highly doubt it, but that is why I am going to drop the Living Earthquake on them, trust me: Whoever is in charge of Cal’s captors right now is going to be screaming at their agents to make sure nothing happens to him.”
“Don’t worry Seinu,” Taran said with a smile, “If I know anything about Cal he is probably having a great time sassing his captors, like how he kept his phone on I don’t know but trust him he’ll be fine.”
Seinu sighed, “You are probably right, but I’d feel a lot happier about this if he was safe and secure already.”
“It won’t be long I promise,” Ka’er leant back in his chair, “The humans may spend the next few months trying to work out who to pin this on but with this much attention on them and the Odyssey bearing down on them from orbit Cal will be out of their custody within a few hours you’ll see.”
“I hope so,” Seinu nervously looked across at Selenu who reached over and squeezed his hand. Ka’er smiled at the twins then hurried out of the room, “Seinu come with me, we are going to double team this press conference.”
As the younger diplomat pulled himself away from his sister and buried after him the Ambassador let the information scrolling across his visor roll over him; this sort of nonsense was just what he needed to firmly put the humans back in their place and scare their parasitic governments into behaving, at least for a few months.
It wouldn’t last for long, sooner or later someone would assume they could “try it on” again and not get caught and the whole circus would start again. But for a bit they would learn to behave like the rest of the Galaxy and sooner or later the lesson would stick. But it was; as always, really annoying to deal with.
To be continued…