Delays

Emely frowned, tails twitching behind her as she paced the narrow strip of floor between the bench seat where the others were sat and the table in this tiny room. They’d been escorted there almost as soon as Dustin had finished explaining their reason for being in the system to the station commander - and then just left to wait. It’d been over four hours now without any word; a quick check in over comms with Sola indicated that neither Meli nor Trea’k had heard anything either.

“Are they doing this on purpose? We are here due to a council recall, that’s high priority.” The fox girl mused, biting her nail as she went back over the protocols in her head for a third time before pausing in her pacing as strong arms encircled her.

Dustin held the redhead against his chest for a moment before tilting her face up to his. “Calm down, Emely. I’m sure it’s just that they’re taking their time - or that the folk that dislike us are dragging their heels. Have patience, and we’ll be seen soon - or if not, they’ll have to let us know what’s happening. It’s not as though we’ll be expected to sleep on that bench after all, we’re guests and not prisoners here.”

His words did little to decrease the Feliax woman’s annoyance at the situation, but they did calm her enough at least to pick up her tablet and resume her review of the next steps of their encounter with the council. Dustin sighed as he watched her sit at the desk, tails still puffed with frustration. As he was about to open his mouth to speak again in another attempt at calming the frustrated redhead, the door slid open at last to reveal a rather flustered looking Vex’ess clerk.

“Ambassador’k, I am so sorry for the delay.” The insect man said, bowing deeply before inclining his head to Yril’k and rattling off a burst of the chittering Vex’ess speech too fast for Dustin to catch all of it - the general gist that Dustin got was one of deep respect to the overqueen’s chosen. Whether that meant Yril’k or was a message for her to pass on to Trea’k he couldn’t make out, but he didn’t dwell on it as the clerk hurried them out of the tiny cabin and down towards the shuttles without any further delay.

Once they were on board - and an automated flight path had been locked in - the clerk visibly relaxed. “I again apologize for the delay, and for the rush - but I feared they would find another reason to stall your travel to the inner ring if I didn’t act swiftly. The bureaucracy is in uproar about all this - every faction seems to have come out of the woodwork and we’re all working at cross-purposes.” The man shifted uneasily, his eyes flickering to Yril’k for a second before he continued “administrative caste biology is ill suited to this level of stress; I find myself of late wishing I could approach some of the paperwork the way a queensguard would.”

That earned him a chittering chuckle from the warrior woman, and Dustin couldn’t help but grin - remembering how Yril’k had once been a handmaiden to Trea’k, what seemed like a lifetime ago. “You could ask for…” he began, but the insect raised all eight hands quickly. “Please, ambassador - while I might be frustrated by department politics, I fear losing the additional features of my form would make me quite inefficient for carrying out the hive’s will here. In any case, that is not the topic at hand. While we are in transit, we are mostly safe from prying ears; I have a message to relay to you from my superiors.”

Dustin nodded, sitting forward attentively. The clerk stared at the ceiling in recall for a moment, before speaking. “The overqueen and your allies believe that hostile elements on the council have wormed their way through the bureaucracy. Judging by the steps taken to delay your transit into the inner system, that belief seems to have been proven correct. There doesn’t appear to be a risk of direct action against you - but I would advise you to act carefully while on the inner ring. It’s likely you’ll be here for several days - despite our best efforts, the meeting is being delayed. Efficiently so, to my immense personal frustration.”

Wincing at Dustin’s expression, the insect man carried on rapidly. “I have at least been able to arrange for you to have a suitable ambassadorial suite at your disposal in one of the habitation zones; I believe council-envoy Veil’k, and the Rabyth council-envoy who’s name escapes me… what was it? Lenn? Linn? Something like that, Rabyth names are so hard to remember. Anyway, they will be waiting for you there to discuss the situation from a political point of view. There’s only so long the others can keep you from your meeting, but in the meantime, I believe they are hoping you could do a bit of… ‘snooping’, I believe is the human word? To try and ascertain why so many factions are moving at this time.”

Dustin and Emely quizzed the poor Vex’ess for the rest of their flight in - the shuttle wasn’t nearly as fast as Sola’s, and their escort had apparently opted to put it onto a gentle cruise path to allow them as much time to talk without being overheard as possible. Eventually though, they pulled in to dock on one of the massive needle-like space stations that made up the core of the council’s power. As he waved them off the ship and into the assistance of a waiting navigation drone, the Vex’ess clerk gave Dustin a last nervous look. “Good’k luck.” He said, nerves clearly once again getting the better of him - the entire rest of the time, he’d evidently been working hard to avoid the clicking chitin noises in his speech so common to his species.

The quarters, when they arrived at them, were far more comfortable than the waiting room had been. A main bedchamber, with several smaller ones to allow for different sleeping arrangements (something Dustin was glad of, given Yril’k’s presence in his party), a dining area with a range of largely Velca food on offer, and a acceptable shower. The food was a weird choice, but Emely grinned when she saw it. “There’s not much human agriculture off-world yet. They’d have to fly stuff in from Earth if they wanted to get your cuisine, but they can’t do that when they’re trying to yell at you. But equally, they can’t give you stuff that’s not palatable - so they were gonna pick either Velca or maybe Feliax food as an alternative. Velca’s a good sign.”

As she said that, a final door - with what looked like a study beyond it - opened, and two figures stepped out. “Ambassador! So good to see you. My great uncle tells me nothing but good things about you! I’m Linne.” The voice came from the first of the figures - a Rabyth woman who looked the spitting image of Flass - asides from being closer to Rye’s age, and cramming a sizable amount of bunny-girl cleavage under her smart councillor's robe. Alongside her, a tall Vex’ess inclined it’s head - Dustin couldn’t make out any clear signs of gender from the individual who merely clicked “Veil’k” softly, before gesturing back the way they had come. “We should’k discuss the’k situation’k in private’k.”

Shrugging, Dustin followed the two aliens through into the study, followed by the rest of his party. It was a fairly snug fit, but there was space for them all to sit, even if Sammie did end up perching on one of the three desks as Linne pushed the door shut behind them. The instant she did so, the Rabyth woman’s shoulders relaxed. “Good shout, bug-boy. Cogging hell, but I hate this fucking situation.”

Dustin blinked at the sudden loss of decorum as Veil’k shrugged and replied “back at’k you, bun-bun. Your’k device is still picking’k up no trickery?” In answer, Linne gestured to a faintly glowing green bulb on the side of what Dustin had at first glance taken to be an ornament of some kind on the desk. “As long as it’s green, we’re clear from anything small that those idiots could build. If they try and use anything that’s not physically in here, it’d trip a station wide alert for scanning anyhow. And just to be on the safe side, I built that thing with a secondary alarm if it detects we’re being scanned. The room’s as clean as it can be, Veil’k.”

Emely glanced between the two for a moment, before leaning forward and grinning as she spoke. “So how long have the council representatives of the Rabyth and Vex’ess been dating then?” Dustin blinked, unsure if he’d just heard her correctly - not to mention the fact that if he had, it’d be a massive breech of protocol - before a chuckle from Veil’k made him jump. “A little over four years’k by now isn’t it, my little morsel’k? The reports’k on how observant’k the Feliax member of Dustin’s crew was seem to be accurate’k it would appear’k.”

Linne sighed. “Yes, alright love. But don’t call me morsel in public, you don’t know if non-insectoid species will take that literally or not. I mean, you do look like a handsome cross between a burrow-mantis and a stickweed-crawler, so even some Rabyth might think that you mean to make me into a snack. We don’t want a repeat of the situation with my aunt, do we?” Then, turning to Dustin, she nodded to his hand and the pairing mark there. “I’m disappointed to not meet Engineer Steamtender - or is it Smith by now? My great-uncle told me a lot about her. Maybe when this whole mess is sorted out. Anyhow, we need to get back on topic. Things are not right in the council system…”