Council of war

Dustin winced as Rye’s heel slammed down on the table. “Fuckin’ bunch of jerk-offs” the bunny girl spat, her fury directed at the swirling hologram that showed a plan of the galactic council chambers. The assembled women gave a general round of agreement to her assertion - even Aricia, who Dustin wasn’t entirely sure should be in the ready room for this meeting.

“Statement. The masturbatory nature or not of the units designate council, prime unit Dustin called most of us here to discuss our proposed plans for resolving this matter so we can return to dealing with my kin. Can we return to the topic at hand?” Defia being the voice of reason wasn’t exactly what Dustin had expected, but he was grateful for it. She seemed to be different of late, acting more and more human - he really should have a word with Bleu or Trea’k to find out what was going on there.

Meli cleared her throat. “Indeed. So, as I was saying, the council system itself is not that big of an issue. There’s a lot of administrative work that goes on there, and there is a defined protocol for where and how we fly Sammie, but I can fill you in on that during the trip. It’ll be about two weeks, maybe three depending on traffic around some of the more congested star systems enroute to get us there.” She paused, resting one hand on her stomach contemplatively before continuing. “We most likely won’t be dealing directly with many of the council rulers. It’ll be diplomats and ambassadors - plus one or two friends, hopefully.”

Dustin grimaced. “The data Axworth sent over doesn’t paint a pretty picture. Our opponents on the council are trying all kinds of stuff on the galactic news to paint us as untrustworthy, and have got the wider council to call us in over our ship designs. If I had to put money on it, I’d say they’re going to try and claim that our research fleet and Sola are warships, despite the fact that we’re within the design guides. Or…” He paused, frowning.

“What is it my mate?” Trea’k said, glancing up from where she’d been gently helping to groom Aricia’s wings. Dustin shook his head as he replied. “I don’t know. Is it possible they figured out that we’re building a fleet at that hidden Rabyth facility? That would be grounds for them to recall us urgently to answer questions.”

The assembled crew stared at one another for a minute, the implications of that particular secret getting out slowly settling in. “There’s no way they could have, right Sir?” Emely said after a minute or two. “Flass said it was a state secret of the Rabyth, and Axworth and the rest of Star Command have been super careful haven’t they?”

Rye gave a snort at that. “It’s a state secret alright, but who knows who’s been bribed by whom? It’s not like my kind are immune to corruption - nor are Dusty’s. I figure we go in expecting it to be that, but plan for it to just be the weapons on the scout ships too. That way we’re covered for everything.”

The bunny girl’s assessment was one they could all agree with. Yril’k shifted in her seat, leaning forward as she extended one long blade-arm to point in Defia’s direction. “I believe’k that we should decide how’k to handle our Fractal companion first? The sensor sweeps’k in the council system are thorough’k and she is from an unknown’k species as far as they are concerned’k. The same is’k true of Aricia.”

The butterfly girl looked up at the mention of her name. “Me? What about me?” she said softly; she’d not been paying much attention to the discussion of councils and things - it was a matter for her experienced star-traveling friends, not for her. Trea’k patted her gently on the shoulder before answering. “The council is a group of important children of the stars, Aricia. They meet to discuss matters of great import, but like any meeting of important people are often times more focused on themselves than their work. Crucially, they maintain a list of all known species - those that have joined us amongst the stars. And the Lieviran are not yet on that list - your homeworld has yet to reach the level of technology required to join.”

Aricia nodded slowly. “So my being on the ship would be a problem - a Lieviran who has not earned the right to travel according to this council? Then why did you bring me if it is forbidden?” Dustin shrugged in response, before giving the obvious answer. “We don’t put too much stock into what the council says most of the time. There’s a faction that… well, let’s just say they like to pretend the galaxy isn’t as scary a place as it is, and are willing to do some pretty terrible stuff to convince others to follow their delusions.”

“So…” Meli said, drawing all eyes back to her as she continued “…our issues are as follows. What to do about Defia, what to do about Aricia, and what to do in the event that it is the fleet they’ve discovered. If it’s just the weaponry on standard human vessels, a clear statement and reference to the relevant rules plus the fact humans are proctors investigating potentially dangerous rumours should be more than sufficient to clear the situation.”

The Velca pulled up the charts for a number of systems with jump points leading to their ultimate destination. “Taking the issue of our friends next, one option would be to drop them off temporarily in one of the neighbouring systems. However, the odds are that the council will be monitoring all of them - at the very least, our enemies on the council will. I don’t feel entirely comfortable leaving them in a shuttle, or one of the fighters with a weave drive. Our only other option however would be to try and trick the sensors in the council system. Rye, do you have any ideas?”

With a frown, the bunny girl leaned forward. “A few, no idea if they’re gonna work or not. In theory, the shield generators should block any scanning around them. The council knows we have the shield gen tech so it won’t be odd to them… it’d be cramped but I could probably rig up a little space inside the generator’s inactive radius that’ll be a dead-zone for scanning. At least, as long as they’re not doing any deep probes. If that’s the case…”

Defia interjected at that point “Statement. I believe I can transmit a return signal to any deep scanners that will look like a pair of humans. At least, the signal of a pair of humans in an area that is causing significant interference to scanners. It won’t be perfect, but my analysis indicates it might work?”

That earned an appreciative nod by the Rabyth engineer. “Yea. Put those two together, and we should be able to keep them from spotting our guests. Which just leaves the fleet. What are ya gonna do if they’ve figured out you humans are bulk-building your own warships Dusty?”

Dustin set his drink down and sighed. “I don’t honestly know, love. I had hoped we’d be in a position that they’d recognise the danger posed by the Fractal cluster before the fleet became an issue… Meli, what are the likely repercussions of them finding out?”

The Velca woman sighed and shook her head, ears flattening into worry. “Nothing good. At a minimum they could demand you turn the vessels over to the defence fleet - the ones they’ve got hunting pirates rather than dealing with real threats. They could theoretically revoke your proctor status, although our allies on the council should prevent that from happening. In the worst case scenario, they could declare humanity a rogue world and move their fleets to blockade Earth.”

None of the assembled aliens said anything as Dustin and Sammie exchanged glances. “That’d be tantamount to an act of war,” the pilot said, eyes narrowing. “When they didn’t do anything to help the Yuran, or the L’Adra… half the planet would be calling for blood. We’re not that far gone from our history that we’d be happy having our home surrounded by hostile warships.”

Dustin nodded. “Axworth more or less told me the same thing during one of our chats back when I was first training to become Ambassador. He said my main goal should be to ensure that nobody ever tries to mess with humanity, because the risks to the rest of the galaxy are too damn high. Well, actually, he said it with a lot more bluster and pompous words, but that was the gist of it.”

Silence fell over the room as everyone in it considered the situation. Eventually, Emely spoke, the Feliax woman stretching in a way that drew the eyes of almost everyone present as she did so. “Alright then. So it’s my job to make sure humanity doesn’t have to go to war with the council? Finally, something for me to do with massively high stakes.” Then, glancing around, she grinned one of her very fox-like grins. “What? You all get to be cool at blowing stuff up and stopping us from dying while saving the galaxy… my job is talking to people, and it’s high time I had a real challenge.”