The momentum was lifting up through the atmosphere slowly but steadily, below them Constantinople was falling behind, ahead of them the bright blue sky was slowly fading darker as they reached the upper edges of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Cri and Cal were asleep on either side of him, curled up in their chairs, they had spent the night before throwing a farewell party for Kathy. She had stayed behind in Constantinople and so to make the night a memorable one they had taken over the entire upper floor of a very nice Turkish restaurant with views of the Hagia Sophia and the Bosphorus. It had been a very nice evening and a good way to end their little trip with no meetings or diplomatic work needed. Just his pack and his bunnies and their human friend all together enjoying the food and company.
The trip across Europe had been lovely, they had seen the great and ancient cities of the continent. They had visited museums and art galleries, notable buildings and Seinu and Ka’er had met various diplomats, politicians and a good smattering of notable citizens. It had all been fairly pleasant and the long hours between cities, the train rolling through winter countryside with the sun or moon shining down on the seemingly endless fields, mountains and rivers of Europe had been beautiful.
Now however they were returning to the Odyssey, their ten day trip across Europe was at an end and Seinu was catching up on some things as they flew back to the Odyssey. Chantelle and Ki were chatting quietly nearby, swapping photos from their various recording devices and Selenu was piloting the shuttle whilst Firi kept her company in the cockpit. Turning the page Seinu flicked some more holograms of data into the air and settled back deeper into his cosy chair, idly stroking Cal’s headfur as the bunny stirred in his sleep.
The political situation on Earth was calming down, various people had been arrested, a UN security advisor, government ministers in Italy and public opinion of the Illuminate was pretty firmly with them. Certain strata of the press, right wing agitators and political dissidents had spent the past week trying to cast the Avali as the villains. But mostly these attempts to spin the narrative in the favour of Earth had all fallen flat. Even the most aggressive agitators or tin foil hat wearing crazy people had difficulty spinning it into an “Avali are the bad guys” story when the evidence was all over the place and public about how badly the Italian secret services had botched their little operation.
Seinu had to admit the tour across Europe had done wonders to help, hanging out with the British Royal Family and doing spot appearances with Cal had been a brilliant stroke of genius. It had really helped cement their public image and made it even harder for people to find fault. Of course it didn’t stop them trying but they were working against the tide of opinion and information.
Ka’er and his pack were geniuses at this, Seinu had been paying attention and learnt a lot. He was however looking forward to this all being over so he could get back to exploring more important things; like his Sleriki heritage and the knowledge he had inherited from Fildan and Reilan. A light flashed on his tablet and Seinu pressed an activation sigil and a screen opened showing Taran.
“Hi,” Seinu smiled warmly at his brother, “We’ll be home in about an hour, what’s up?”
“Just wanted to let you know the two ships just came out of final gamma stage testing and are ready to be signed off and handed over,” the teal and orange Avali smiled a bit, “The extra help Ka’er sent made a huge difference, do you want me to wait for you to be home before I hand them over?”
“A few hours,” Taran said with a tired sounding huff, “We’ve finished all the testing and they have had all the training we should be able to hand over and be done by the end of the day.”
“Ok, go ahead and hand them over,” Seinu said, “I think our time to depart is approaching so let's avoid any delays.”
“I will have Ifelse lock down the hull and prepare us for departure then,” he glanced off to one side then looked back, “When do you want to leave?”
“I suspect we’ll have to do a variety of goodbyes, probably one final soiree onboard for some bigwigs… I’ll talk to Ka’er and come up with a plan, then send you the finalised departure plan.”
Taran nodded and smiled, “See you all soon, I’ve missed you all,” he then signed off and Seinu moved one hand through and around the holographic controls, sliding blocks into place to put through a call to Ka’er’s shuttle.
The Ambassador’s face flickered into view in the air above him and Seinu flicked his ears politely at him, “Ambassador, sorry to call, but I just spoke with Taran and the Hastalan ships are complete and he is about to start the process of handing them over.”
“Oh very good, seems our little tour and our teams working together got us back more or less on schedule.”
“That was my thinking, so I was wondering are there any final events we need to participate in or host before our departure?”
Ka’er closed his eyes for a second thinking then shook his head, “No, I’d say after all the informal meetings during the train trip we are good for that. Complete the ship handover, then you’ll do a flyby to Europa, bringing the Secretary General, we have a meeting booked to show him the site of the new Embassy.”
“Very well, we’ll prepare for departure then, thank you Ambassador,” Seinu said, "Let me know when to expect the Secretary General, we’ll be ready to fly him out to you.”
“I’ll set that up and let you know when to expect his shuttle,” Ka’er added, “I expect it’ll be tomorrow at some point, he’ll want a tour of the Odyssey too and then we should be done.”
“Very well, see you at Europa sometime tomorrow,” Seinu ended the call and leant back in his chair. He was about to resume looking at his files when Cri clambered over into his lap and snuggled down as a big ball of soft bunny fluff in his lap.
“You need to stop working,” the copper and grey bunny murmured sleepily, “You were up just as late as we were."
Seinu smiled and hugged Cri, smoothing down his thick head-fur, “I was, but I napped earlier, you know us Avali don’t sleep in long batches like you bunnies, I am good for hours.”
“Mrrff no work,” Cri yawned and nestled down sleepily and Seinu chuckled softly, fondly holding the bunny. Instead of resuming work he put on some music and leaned his chair back, just enjoying the cosy company of the vampire bunny in his lap and the beauty of the atmosphere giving away to the stars.
Their trip to Earth and the Sol system was very nearly over.
Standing in the shuttle embarkation lounge Seinu watched as various manipulators gripped the UN Shuttle and slowly drew it into a berth. Seeing that all was in hand he turned back to the two Sleriki waiting with him in the lounge.
“It was nice of you to wait to say goodbye,” the Avali said, “I know how busy you are preparing for the shakedown cruises of your new ships, you really didn’t have to come on over.”
Fildan smiled and placed a large hand atop the Avali’s head, “We wanted to say goodbye young one,” the Sleriki glanced at their companion and Reilan nodded, holding out a small box.
“We brought this for you, take some time absorbing it when you have time,” Seinu took the box, it was a metal bio-sample container with a very complex looking DNA reader, “It will only open for you, it is our memories of home, every Sleriki should know about Tubasinaki.”
“Oh, well thank you very much,” Seinu smiled warmly at the two Sleriki, “That was very thoughtful of you both, but still flying over here will put you behind schedule.”
“The schedule is meaningless,” Fildan laughed, “Only the Director cares about that, the ships will be ready for work when they are ready for work, this is more important.”
“Still thank you very much,” Seinu set the box down on a table, “I will take some time to absorb these memories during our trip to Warfaisser Station.”
“Oh very nice, are you off the UMF?” Reilan asked, “I’ve been a couple of times, we had a job to help retrofit their recycling centre a few years ago, it was a good time.”
“We have tickets,” Seinu smiled, “Compliments of the Illuminate for a job well done, we’re flying there when we depart Earth.”
“Well, have a good time,” Fildan rumbled in a soft voice, “But for now we should be off, your guests Shuttle has docked and we do need to get back to work.”
“Of course, take care and see you soon,” Seinu saw the two Sleriki to the cargo port and watched them through the tunnel connecting to their shuttle. He then stepped back, closed the hatch and made his way across the lounge toward another, more regular sized door. One by one the lights were turning green.
“The humans are about to come onboard,” Seinu said into his communication link with the rest of his pack, “Is the ship in position?”
“Yes,” Selenu replied, “We are in the correct parking orbit for you to watch the new ships launch from the Grand Atrium.”
“Thanks Sel,” Seinu said and watched the hatch, taking a deep breath to steady himself.
“Remember to smile,” Chantelle said, “No teeth, friendly, kind, welcoming, this is meant to be the “We are all good friends still” tour. So don’t get snippy with him and remember to ignore his aides if they try to bait you.”
“I remember,” Seinu said as he walked over to wait before the hatch, adjusting his cloak so it fluttered over one shoulder just so in the errant breeze from one of the grills, “Ok time to be their best friend.”
Seinu was glad Chantelle was watching through the ship's cameras. They had decided it was friendlier if he was on his own but she was going to be watching and whispering in his ears if Seinu started to drift from the script. This was after all meant to be their big reconciliation phase but Seinu would rather have had Firi hit them all, they had after all kidnapped one of his bunnies. Still he could do this, he was after all a Diplomat and this is what they needed to do. He finished adjusting his clothing and stood up straight; the airlock was making soft clicking sounds and with a gentle rumble the hatch withdrew into the wall.
On the other side was a group of humans, all wearing formal suits of some kind, seven of them in total and Seinu recognized their leader. With his grey hair and sensible glasses he exuded a sense of power and control.
“Welcome aboard Secretary General Kannator,” Seinu said warmly to the elderly man as he left the shuttle airlock.
“Thank you for the welcome,” Kannator said as he clasped one of Seinu’s hands between both of his, “It was nice of your Ka’er to arrange for us to travel with you to Europa.”
“It was the least we could do,” Seinu gestured toward a door on the far side of the lounge and started to lead the way, “We are going that way anyway and you expressed a desire to see the Odyssey.”
“Yes,” Kannator looked around the hall beyond and shook his head, “I wanted to see the ship and in the spirit of normalising our friendship with our allies after the unfortunate incident.”
Seinu nodded, his ears twitching, “It was indeed quite unfortunate, but the Avali Illuminate was happy to help after one of the National Governments you represent went rogue and kidnapped one of my family.”
“Yes,” Kannator sighed, “I noticed the media have switched to referring to the Odyssey in orbit as you moving to assist us instead of an invasion.”
“Well we did come to help,” Seinu replied with a soft smile, the Avali PR team at the embassy had been hard at work reframing what had happened into more positive language, “We would never invade our ally the people of Earth.”
“I am glad we were able to resolve the situation,” Kannator said, “With your help with no casualties.”
“Yes we got lucky there,” Seinu stepped into a waiting elevator and smiled at the human, “Ka’er had to talk real fast to convince Firi not to level the place.”
“Levelling Milan would have caused… a state of war between our people.” One of Kannator’s aides said, “We are glad the Ambassador could talk sense into her.”
Seinu turned to give the woman a frank look, staring into her eyes in the way he knew unsettled humans, “Yes, I too am glad Milan is safe except for the damage done to one empty building. It is a very pretty city and I enjoyed being received so well by the people.”
The woman frowned, no doubt trying to read between the lines as to what Seinu really meant, humans did so take everything everyone said as doublespeak, which meant just outright speaking the truth would often confuse them. He decided to ignore her and turned back to Kannator, “I can’t imagine how you felt when you realised one of your Nation states had declared war on the Illuminate when their security forces kidnapped one of my pack.”
Kannator sighed, “It got worse when we realised that it was not just another Avali but one of your protected allied species. I am glad Ka’er and Firi were able to defuse the situation.”
“Me too, Cal means a lot to us,” he said softly, “How are things with the Galactic Coalition inspector? I imagine he’s been giving you a headache.”
One of Kannator’s aides stiffened for a moment and looked away sharply and Seinu had to keep his face neutral as the Secretary General glared at the aide in question, “Yes… they have been somewhat brusque with us, and Lord Monet was very unhappy with us, he says the only reason they have not closed the fold-way gate is because you spoke with them on our behalf.”
Seinu nodded, “I realise it was rogue actors behaving on their own, not yourselves and the people of Sol should not be punished because one section of your population attacked us,” he looked at the group of humans, “I was happy to speak to the Kasvane and help calm them down, they do so get upset when people they have trusted with one of their gates act out like that.”
“We thank you for speaking to them on our behalf,” Kannator said, “He was so very angry when he arrived.”
Seinu turned to look at the aide, wondering what they had done or said to make their chief glare at them, “You’re welcome, we are your friends and wish to remain so. One subset of bad actors won’t hurt our friendship and no one was hurt in the end.”
He placed a hand on a door and it swished open, revealing the great atrium in the Diplomatic wing. The Earth’s moon was hanging directly above the dome, glowing softly in the light of the sun as blinking lights flowed around it, ships and satellites. He left the rest of the humans trailing along behind them as he looped his arm through the Secretary General’s. It was a friendly action he had learnt helped humans relax and indicated you were friends. Kannator relaxed a bit as they started down the steps toward the centre of the room.
“Welcome to the heart of the Odyssey, this is our diplomatic suite, the grand atrium, we can see the HWR ships from here, they are about to launch.”
He pointed up at two brilliant white and orange hulls hanging in orbit just above the ship, fully illuminated by the light of the sun reflecting off the moon, “We were more than happy to help the HWR in building these ships, they say they will be a great boon to the sector.”
“Yes…” Kannator said, he was glaring at his aide and she fell back and the Human turned to look up at the dome, “HWR basing their sector headquarters in Sol is very important to us. We are glad you were able to assist with this project.”
“It is something we specialise in,” Seinu said as he watched the two ships above them, checking the count-down in his visor. “Captain’s Fildan and Reilan should be in position to start their shakedown cruise in about fifteen minutes.”
Kannator watched the ships in silence for a moment, “Could your Odyssey build ships for the UN government too?”
“We could,” Seinu said, “But now that Ka’er has permission to move the Embassy, he can install proper factories on Europa. Both on the surface to assist the mining operation and in orbit for the delivery shuttles. He could use those facilities to build you ships at a fraction of the price summoning an Odyssey class vessel would incur.”
Kannator frowned at that, “Won’t installing factories incur greater costs though?”
“Not really,” Seinu re-assured him, “It is pretty standard colony equipment to have a nano-factory. To build small scale shuttles is relatively easy for them,” he glanced at Kannator, “We could even take a portion of the first six months mining output to make the shuttles, that way you’d not have to pay anything and then have an Avali cargo shuttle to transport the mine output to Earth orbit for the price of a pilot and several gallons of water.”
Seinu could see Kannator frowning at that, “Of course that would mean the first six months wouldn’t show a return on the investment,” he smiled, “But if we spread the cost of the cargo shuttle out over say twenty four months, a small portion of each month's output going toward the shuttle cost you can still report a profit and it’ll still be higher than projected as the shuttle itself will cost very little to run.”
The secretary general’s eyes started to sparkle at that, Seinu knew that it was important to him to prove to his people that the Europa investment was producing profit. Of course he probably wanted to funnel some of the profits from the mining into his pet projects or his own private accounts but that wasn’t Seinu’s issue to deal with.
“It will make acquiring a cargo shuttle a lot cheaper as well if you use resources from the new Europa mine,” Seinu explained, “The only thing we would insist on is your pilot needs to be signed up to follow Avali piloting standards as they’ll be operating in our Europa enclave territory.”
“I think we can agree to that,” Kannator said with a smile, “Is it really that cheap to produce a new shuttle? It would cost us upward of fifteen million to get one of our shipyards to make it.”
Seinu flicked his ears and considered the question, running data through the inside of his visor, “Well your shipyards have to buy refined materials, ship them from across the solar system. The cost benefit of being able to take the raw materials and have an on site factory produce what you need reduces those costs exponentially.”
Kannator stared at Seinu for a moment and sighed, “I guess you wouldn’t sell us one of those?”
“I am afraid Nano-looms are proprietary Avali tech,” Seinu said with a good show of sadness, “We’d love to but we don’t have the licences to sell them and the local coalition would frown on it too,” he gave the human a sly look, “Of course if you sent two or three students to Avalon to study however and they bring back the knowledge to make them yourselves, that would be ok but you’d have to send people to learn, as private citizens.”
The human frowned, “Is that allowed? I mean… is that even possible?”
Seinu smiled and nodded, “We have entry requirements, they would have to meet certain academic standards but our universities are open. It’d be expensive though, we do charge for foreign students but if they had say a government backed scholarship and a job waiting for them back home to use the knowledge they gained for the UN well that’d be you guys going out there to learn for yourselves.”
Kannator nodded, “You’ve given me something else to think about, thank you Seinu.”
“We want to be friends,” the Avali said with a smile then glanced up, “Ah they are starting, here they go.”
Both ships suddenly lit up above them, their engines glowing as they ignited and started to move. Both ships gliding steadily through the dark vault of the heavens above the Odyssey on pillars of blue-white flame. Seinu spent some time waxing lyrically about the features the new ships had before resuming the tour. Seinu took them to all the fun places, the AI core, the factory, one of the pack domes full of snow and then of course the bridge. As the bridge doors swished open they could see Sel in her chair and Taran at his station but it was the great forward view that drew everyone's attention.
“Jupiter,” Kannator whispered softly as he walked forward to look out at the massive gas giant hanging outside. It filled most of the view and was slowly growing larger as the Odyssey moved into orbit.
“Indeed we are nearly there, Europa will be coming into view shortly,” Selenu said, “We made good time from Lunar orbit, a little over an hour.”
The Secretary General glanced at the lime and white feathered Avali and frowned, “Our shuttles take two hours to make this journey, how did you manage that?”
“Our drives are more efficient,” Taran chirped in explanation, “Your shuttles can only safely operate at about sixty percent of the maximum speed limit your inter-system traffic rules permit.”
“Oh,” Kannator looked at one of his aides who nodded slowly.
“They are correct sir,” she supplied, “Our ships cannot get up to the same speeds as Alien visitor’s ships, we are still developing our reaction thruster technology.”
Kannator glanced at Seinu and then sighed, “This is another one of those, ‘things we can’t buy but could go learn’ isn’t it?”
The Avali smiled and let his ears twitch back, “You are catching on, indeed, there are technologies out there, some easier to learn than others. But there are Coalition prescriptions about us just selling them to you. It’s why the original coalition parties who came to Earth spent time teaching your people.”
“What is the reasoning behind that?” Kannator asked, “I’ve never quite fully grasped why.”
Seinu held back a scathing comment, the man really was dense, this was basic stuff anyone who interacted with the Galactic Coalitions could learn. But then that was the human way, their leaders got briefings and updates and advice they never just sat down and learnt something themselves. He gestured everyone to a row of seats near the forward view screen, around them lights flickered and holograms glowed as outside a small white dot started to move into view out of the shadow of Jupiter.
“The main reasoning is to do with how societies develop,” Seinu explained, “If I just handed you all the tech to create a nano-loom, the ability to take sea-water and sand and print diamonds and gold what would happen to Earth?”
Kannator frowned, clearly trying to work through the implications but one of his aides spoke up, “Our economies would probably collapse instantly.”
“And that’s the reason why,” Seinu explained, “If you take time to send out some bright young things to learn, who will then bring this knowledge home and teach you all how to build and use the new principles of science and technology your society will grow organically.”
“Ah,” Kannator nodded, “Whereas if you just give it to us chaos erupts, society collapses, upheaval and disaster.”
“Very much,” Seinu explained, “There are plenty of historical accounts of it happening to many societies, so the coalitions decided we aren’t allowed to do it any more. There are uplifting rules, we’ve taught you the basics to explore your own solar system, to create markets, but to expand your knowledge base you need to do it yourself so you can introduce the changes slowly.”
“This is useful information, thank you Seinu,” the Secretary General looked out at the moon Europa which was now a blue/white ball directly ahead. It was slowly getting larger. As the Odyssey started to slow they could see ships, an Avali station and shuttles moving back and forth between the surface and orbit.
“There it is,” Seinu said, “The new Avali mining colony and the orbital station, I am sure Ka’er will be delighted to show you around,” Seinu stood up and smiled as he took the Secretary General’s hand and shook it, “This mine will bring a lot of prosperity to Sol and your people, please remember we wish to be friends, our Ambassador is always happy to hear from you, please do speak to him if you have questions.”
Kannator nodded as he looked out at the view, then nodded, “I will keep that in mind, we would very much like to make this a success for all the people of Earth.”
Seinu then accompanied the human and his party back to his shuttle and saw them off. Their time in the Earthian system was coming to an end and after all the excitement and strange happenings he had hopes that they could at least move forwards in friendship and understanding.
To be continued…