The Sol system had gone quiet, after the drama and excitement of the day before the news as usual didn’t quite seem to know what to do with itself. Most of the talking heads and report shows were regurgitating scenes from the day before and endless analysis and guesses about what might happen next.
A few shows, the more popular ones had rustled up government ministers and UN officials who had all clearly been sent out with their carefully prepared instructions on what they were allowed to say. The UN was also talking about sanctions against the people involved in giving the orders as was the European Political trading alliance and the whole blame game circus was out in force.
Ka’er had thankfully taken the lead and was hosting the UN Secretary General at the Avali Embassy for discussions. As Diplomat Seinu and his staff needed time to “recover after the shocking ordeal.” From what Seinu had learnt Monet of the Kasvane had invited himself and the local Coalition Inspector had decided to go along too, so the Secretary General and Earth were in for an unfun afternoon.
Seinu was sort of glad to have time to spend with the twins, he was waiting in the communal room that linked their private bedrooms for them to arrive. Through the window he could see the Odyssey’s drones assembling, printing and locking together the components of the new Hastalan Waste Removal ships. The Odyssey had quite calmly returned to Luna orbit that morning and resumed work on their official reason for being here. Ka’er had insisted and it had spooked the politicians and media, the Odyssey had flitted back to work as if nothing had happened and the humans were not sure how to react to this.
Turning off the news feed, Seinu turned to look towards the door to Cal’s room. He was worried about them both; after they got home last night Cal had wanted to sleep and Cri had been too out of sorts to do much but talk and worry. Cri had a long talk with Kathy, the human friend Cal had made down on Earth and then he’d gone to his room and Seinu was too polite to intrude on a bunnies private quarters without being invited.
Now it was the day after, when he got up Cal had knocked on Cri’s door and his brother had invited him inside. And that is where they had been for the past few hours. The twins had been in there for hours but it was getting close to the time they had asked to meet with him so Seinu was waiting.
Seinu had worked out more or less what had been going on from talking to Ki and Kathy. He also understood that socially it was very rare in Bunny society to question the party leader, survival required everyone to do their bit and a Foraging Parties leader was in charge and obeying them was instinctual and unquestioned. But Cri and Cal were no longer surviving day to day, they were not at risk of predators eating them or a simple lapse in attention or judgement putting everyone at risk. Cal didn't need a party leader, he needed his brother to recognize that he was an individual now, a person. Cri also needed to adjust his thinking, he wasn't a foraging party leader anymore. Cri was a smart Diplomatic Attaché and bodyguard who needed to treat his brother differently than before. It was a big learning curve for them both and the changes had happened slowly, but Seinu was pretty sure now it was all out in the open they'd sort it out.
After all despite everything and what they'd learnt they were bunnies and their whole society was geared around working together and communicated this was just a new topic that traditionally would never come up. But now Seinu was pretty sure the twins would sort it out, he was quietly confident and so after he had received a message about an hour ago that they both wanted to see him he'd come along and was now waiting for them. He hoped they had worked out the friction that had marred their interactions over the last few months. Ki and Kathy seemed to think they had been making progress and had stopped hiding their feelings and then Cal had gone and been kidnapped which had sort of brought it all to a head. So now Seinu was waiting and a few minutes before the time they had agreed the door to Cri’s room opened and the bunny brothers stepped outside hand in hand and froze as their eyes landed on Seinu.
Seinu smiled at the bunnies, enjoying their wide eyed reaction to his gigantic, twelve foot tall, yellow furcoated, orange slime haired Sleriki body, “Hi boys, how do I look?”
The pair of vampire bunnies walked over, staring up at him then started to walk around him, eyes wide, curious, noses sniffing the air. Eventually after a couple of minutes Cal reached out to press a paw against Seinu’s body, gently pressing down against his soft, malleable slime flesh.
“You are huge” Cal whispered, “Where did this come from!?”
“Fildan and Reilan taught me how,” Seinu said, reaching down with one hand to stroke Cal’s hair, “It was going to be a surprise when we met up down on Earth but Selenu and Ck’akk have forbidden me from doing this in public for now.”
“You really are just a great big Sleriki,” Cri chirped, clambering up one of Seinu's legs so he could perch on his lap, “I like your horns, and the orange hair suits you, much more colourful then all those greys.”
“I am glad you like it,” Seinu reached down to gather up Cal as well and hugged both bunnies against him, “Are you two ok? Ki and Kathy both told me things had been a bit fraught before Cal went and got kidnapped.”
“We… are ok,” Cal said looking at his brother, “We spent a long time talking,”
“I’m going to try and be better,” Cri said softly, “I’ve been insensitive and not paying attention to how everything has been changing.”
“Change can be difficult to spot,” Seinu said, “Especially when it happens slowly over a few months.”
“I dunno,” Cri chirped and tilted his head back to look up at Seinu, “This change is real in our face, and impossible to miss.”
“Mmhmmm,” Cal grinned, “So are you going to show us what you can do as a big huge slime alien now? I think you have today off, no?”
“I’d love to,” Seinu said with a smile as he hugged them both again, “I have learnt a lot about myself as well these past few days and I want to share it with you both.”
Cri and Cal settled down to listen as Seinu started to explain what he had learnt from the visiting Sleriki.
Kathy watched the moon slowly spinning beneath them; through the porthole she could see the outline of one of the new ships taking shape. Whilst she’d been watching one whole segment had been locked together before her eyes. She could well see why they had wanted Avali made ships, they were sleek, technologically superior and easily assembled. The human half turned from the view as the door opened and she smiled at the blue and white Avali who walked in.
“Miss Chantelle, good to see you.”
The avali was dressed in a long flowing dress, it left her arms and wing feathers free to drift and flutter out behind her. The fabric of the dress was bronze that complimented the banding that separated the two shades of her feathers. The silky material had then been augmented with lines of crystals that caught the lights, they shimmered and glimmered as she moved. Long trailing wispy silk scarves caught around her shoulders and woven in-between her wing feathers fluttered behind her to complete the ensemble.
She was elegant, refined, she made Kathy in her thick jumper and sensible shoes feel frumpy and under-dressed. Even the goggles covering her eyes matched the dress and she had a warm smile as she crossed the floor, skirts whirling around her Avali feet.
“Sorry to keep you, my last call went on much longer than I expected, are you well?”
“I’m fine thank you Miss Chantelle,” Kathy said as she moved away from the window and settled down in the human shaped chair, “I was talking to Cal, he's very excited to see London, are we sure that plan is OK?”
‘It’s fine,” Chantelle smiled ruefully, “It’s why I asked for this meeting before you head down,” she held up one hand, her claws sparkling in the light from the lacquer covering them, “The London Metropolitan Police are having kittens; I gave them advance warning that Cal would be touring London with you and Firi and they're insisting on giving you all a full escort,” she sighed and settled carefully into a chair, “We'll be resuming Seinu's social calendar with his trip to Balmoral to see the King of England so you'll have about five days to enjoy London before that starts.”
“Well that'll be fun,” Kathy grinned, “Please tell me Firi is bringing the hammer?”
“Full armour, shields the works, and you'll have a quiet trail of diplomatic police surrounding you with a shield of iron.”
“Well,” Kathy laughed, “That’ll make it interesting, I've never done the London museums with such an escort before,” she leant back in her chair and looked out at the moon, “Is my idea to head down today and secure our luggage from the train company OK?”
“Oh yes that's a big help, Taran is going to fly you down whenever you're ready, the Orient Express people will be waiting for you at Charing Cross station,” she held out a folder, “They’ve also sent us this.”
Curiously Kathy took the folder and opened it, after skimming the front page her eyes went wide, “This is too much.”
“The Orient Express company felt it was the least they could do, a private carriage from London to Istanbul, via the Simplon Tunnel. Once Seinu is done with his diplomatic visit with the King of England the whole pack will be joining you and the twins for your return journey.”
“I take it, you've already accepted it?” Kathy queries, “Including this stop in Milan?”
“I’ll admit there is lots of politics about the whole pack returning to Milan on a goodwill tour, but the rest of the trip should be relatively politics free.”
“Very well,” Kathy smiled, “It’ll be fun, how leaked to the press is this?”
Chantelle smiled, “By the time you land at London City airport, it will have been leaked to every news outlet, Ambassador Ka'er's people are taking care of that, Cal would also like you to be his guest at Balmoral.”
Kathy's eyes went wide at that, “Well… great, I get to meet the king… and his Queen, oh boy I do not have the clothes for Balmoral, I’ll need to pick up appropriate clothing in London, have they sent the itinerary and clothing list? I vaguely remember that's something they do, as there are dress codes.”
“Ah yes they did,” Chantelle waved her hand though the air as if typing on something Kathy couldn't see and her phone went ping as an email arrived, “I’m still getting my head around it, some of the terms are outside my experience.”
Kathy picked up her phone and watched as it unlocked itself, it was an Avali model the Trail pack had given her to replace the one that had been stolen in Milan, “I can probably help with any terms you don't know, but Miss Chantelle I have to say if you all dress in the style you're wearing right now for the formal evening events you'll fit right in.”
“Do you really think so?” she stood up and twirled for Kathy, “This is something I put together based on some things I saw in your fashion magazines, I adore fashion and you Humans wear the most brilliant things.”
“It’d be perfect,” Kathy smiled, “Though that's the sort of thing we'd only wear on a special occasion, you'll need tweeds and other hardy clothing for the moors and less formal occasions.”
Kathy paused for a moment thinking, then she grinned and jumped up, grabbing Chantelle's arm, “Shopping time and you're coming with me, I've seen those fashion ideas of yours, Cal showed me, they're good but that's all cosplay, based on anime characters I'm going to show you real Earth fashions, human style.”
Chantelle blinked and her ears twitched, “What is an anime? No I mean ah I really can't, there is so much to do here.”
“Selenu and Seinu can do it, they're smart birds, we are going shopping, for real fashion,” she shook her head and smiled, “My parents literally own one of the worlds greatest fashion houses, it would be a crime for me to not teach you about real Earthian fashion, I'm not taking no for an answer, you can fly the shuttle to London and you can keep tabs on the others from Earth.”
Chantelle wavered for a moment, but the allure of real Earth fashion shopping with a native won. Part of their mission here was to observe and learn about human society. And rushing off to do something like shopping was a very human reaction. So Chantelle sacked off her plans and led the way to the shuttle after pushing her usual work onto Seinu and Selenu. It was going to be a great trip, Cal had real good taste in human friends!
The room was designated as Manufacturing sub-node Gamma-Four-Beep. The only way to reach it was via a maintenance hatch then by crawling through a service tunnel to reach this octagonal room of white tungsten and dark orange aerogel. Each of the eight walls held a hatch that led to a service tunnel that gave access to one piece of machinery or another. The ceiling of the small space had a projector and a bundle of cables that allowed one to monitor the primary nano-factory.
Taran had turned it into a private little nest, with a large beanbag, cushions, a weighted blanket and he'd installed a food replicator. He could monitor the factory, talk to Ifelse or his pack and do most of his job from the cosy little sanctuary. He loved his family, his sisters and brothers but all their high powered Diplomacy work was a bit much so the teal and orange Avali had made this little hideyhole for himself for when it all got overwhelming.
Curled up on his big beanbag, snuggled cosily under his weighted blanket he was reading the holographic projections from the factory and managing the assembly of the new ships. The last several days had been chaotic, the fallout from Cal's kidnapping had kept everyone running around and Taran just wanted some peace and calm to do what he was good at. Engineering and coding, troubleshooting construction issues and slowly but surely turning the plans into a pair of real, finished, working ships. Sprawled on his back he had the projector built into the ceiling displaying holograms and status displays. It was better than any screen and he could run everything from the cosy warmth of his little nest.
Which is why he was surprised when one of the hatches hissed open and Selenu clambered into the chamber. She was wearing the sleek navy blue shipsuit that was their official uniform and carrying a small hamper. She clambered in and without a word buried into his blankets to join him on the beanbag.
“Finally found you Taran,” she chirped as she hugged him, “This is real cosy but why are you all the way down here?”
“Sel…” Taran’s ears twitched back and forth nervously, “How did you find me sis? I made sure Ifelse couldn't tell you about this room.”
She threw a sardonic smile at him and ruffled his crest feathers, “I can always find you, I can find any of you at any moment of the day. I'm your sister, the pack leader and if I can keep Firi in check, tracking you down is child's play.”
Taran smiled and leant sideways to rest against her, “It’s nice to see you, I've missed you all.”
“I figured as much,” Selenu replied as she stroked his ears, “So why are you hiding down here?”
Taran closed his eyes then sat up, pushing the blanket down and turned to face her, “Because sometimes it's all too much, this ship is our home but its been non-stop strangers visiting for weeks, Seinu's job is never ending, functions and parties and standing around dressed in nonsense whilst people lie at us all evening and then Cal got kidnapped and its reporters all day long.”
He shook his head and jumped up, “There is no privacy, no sense of calm, I can't do my job up there, apparently the factory control centre is an important tour destination as is the AI core. So I'm down here where I can have some peace and quiet and get on with things.”
Selenu sat there listening to his rant then reached out and pulled him into a big feathery hug, “We all knew there would be jobs like this, Seinu, our family being a Diplomatic pack would involve days and risks of being busy. Our next job should be a lot quieter though,” she smiled, “They’re not all preventing wars and naval engagements or dealing with crazy species like the Humans.”
“Promise?” Taran asked as he leant against her.
“I promise,” she stroked his soft head feathers, “Ck’akk has already given me some idea what we might be doing next. But we need to get to the end of this job first.”
Taran took a deep breath then sprawled back on the beanbag next to his sister, “Ok, but I need two things… First, I need to stay here when you all go to Earth. With the delays from our unexpected invasion yesterday I need some time uninterrupted to get those two new ships assembled.”
“That's reasonable,” Selenu said, “But will you be ok on your own for a few days? Everyone else is expected to go down to England then on this train journey.”
“I’ll be fine,” the teal and orange bird took a deep breath, “That’s the second thing I need, I hate it but I need one of Ka'er's engineering packs, one of those working on his new mining colony and embassy, preferably a team used to zero-g and nano-fabrication.”
Selenu raised her ears, “You just told me you're sick of all the visitors and then you ask for more people to come aboard.”
“At least this would be Avali, but I need some help. Ifelse is good but if i can have a pack to help it'd speed things up no end.”
“Ok,” she hugged Taran and smiled, “I’ll speak to Ka'er and get you the help you need, now bring me up to speed then I call the Ambassador, we'll need to prepare a room for the pack he sends us.”
Taran sighed, closed his eyes to centre himself then reached up and started to re-arrange his holographic displays, “Ok let me show you where everything stands and what I need… hopefully that will help you determine which one of his packs will be best to help.”
Selenu nodded and settled in by his side, getting cosy as they both lay on the beanbag beneath the projections.
Ck'akk set down the tablet she’d been reading, the collated reports of her pack, chief Advisors, Ambassador Ka'er, Seinu and Selenu Trail and Defender Firi backed up with K’ask Awau’s analysis of what had happened in the Sol system made for fascinating Reading.
There wasn't anything wrong with what had happened, agents of an Earthian government kidnapped one of Seinu's babu. Since the Illuminate had stuck their wings into the vampire bunnies business by arranging to uplift them, protecting those residents of BPE under their care offworld was their duty. The whole report read like a drama novel, political chicanery, an Avali ship looming in technological superiority in orbit above the barbarian world. An Avali Defender putting all to rights, rescuing the hostage without harming the innocent population of the planet whilst her Diplomat assistance exposed the corrupt politicians pulling the strings. Of course Ka'er had a covert ops pack at his disposal which had done most of the actual rescuing, Firi had been one big huge extravagant distraction, a role she played with aplomb.
Ck'akk was quite sure the Directorate of Propaganda would turn it into an exciting show in due time once they received a sanitised version. Defender stories were always popular with the population at large. Leaning back in her chair she stared out the window at Avalon for a long moment, the sky was dark and clear and the stars shone brilliantly down on their tower. After a couple of moments she turned to the other Avali sitting with her.
“J’ask, what is your analysis of the situation, specifically concerning the new mining concerns on Europa.”
The head of the Department of Avali resources frowned from behind his tinted visor then pushed it up to expose his eyes and looked around the room, “This incident won’t affect mining operations, the first usable oars should be extracted from Europa on schedule.”
He leant back considering the data before him and sighed, “The issue is as always the unpredictable nature of the Humans, we are technically in partnership with the UN. Using our tech to mine the moon and using their refineries before sharing the profits,” he leant back and tapped his claws on the table, “I had concern about the security of the mining colony, but with the Embassy being given permission to be built on the surface and this incident in Milan we have every right to station a proper garrison on the moon as well. I say we just do it now, have them turn up with the embassy construction crew and they’ll be all settled in before the goodwill of what just happened wears off.”
“That matches my assessment of the situation,” Sah, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs said softly, “We have a lot of good will amongst the mainstream Human population and their governments are all running scared. Ka’er and Seinu have both used this situation brilliantly to put a halt to the Human’s constant espionage, at least for now.”
She frowned softly, “It won’t last for long but it has made our position stronger, the local Coalition is also on our side and the Kasvane got involved as it happened in a system with one of their gates, the idea that they could close it because of,” she paused to look at her data-slate, ‘The Deplorable actions of these Human officials’, has spooked their entire Mercantile class, their economy would collapse if the Kasvane shut down the Fold-Way gate.”
She smiled wickedly, “Security Minister Monet made it quite clear if anything like this happened again there would be no second chances. It scared them all.”
Ck’akk nodded and turned to look at her brother Ra’lett, “What do you think brother?”
Ra’lett had a whole array of holograms spread out before him, “I’d say the situation on Earth is pretty nominal and in our favour. What we need to do now is capitalise on the unexpected bonus this situation has given us here at home.”
Ck’akk’s ears perked up at that, “What do you mean brother?”
“The conservative faction centred around Admiral Ja’rekk are actually on our side for once. It may have been a show but Defender Trail plummeting out of the skies live on camera to defend the honour of the Avali and rescue one of our allies who’d been kidnapped by insidious alien forces plays very well with the conservatives”
The Avali patted his holograms down, “Pick Major Yu’sarf to deliver the garrison and the Embassy construction crew. It’ll show the Admiral and the conservatives we respect them and are standing up for Avali principles. They will be so busy crowing about how cowed the humans our PR department can bring more of their less hard-core supporters over to our side seemingly with their blessing."
Ck’akk smiled, “I can live with that, anything to pull Je’rakk’s feathers. Very well everyone, we all have work to do. Let's get to it and bring this to a close. The Odyssey will be in Earth orbit for about another two weeks. Let's wrap this up and I’ll get instructions to Ka’er and Seinu. Thank you everyone.”
The Avali watched her advisors and family leave and settled down into her chair, calling up her communication systems and composing herself. It wasn’t ideal that Cal had been kidnapped but the political gains from the fallout made it all worth it in the end. The Avali and Humans would grow stronger making their economic base more solid and the effects at home would strengthen the resolve of her faction to keep updating and changing Avali culture and society for the better!
To be continued…