First Encounters

The doors slowly hissed open revealing a bare corridor which stretched on for a few metres, halting at another door. The air was crisp and sterile. Glancing at his two companions, Sir Iason made the first move from the airlock and proceeded down the corridor. Sir Raoul and Sir Gideon followed a few steps behind; both of them unusually silent for once. Their constant bickering and teasing had been enough to drive Sir Iason insane on the flight to the small blue planet.

The three of them had been handpicked by the Queen to visit the planet and negotiate an alliance and trade of information and resources. Sir Iason as he was the one closest to the Queen as her confidant and Sir Raoul to assess the Earthian beings from a biological view point. Sir Gideon was chosen for his superior combat ability and his ability to protect the two Blondies from any attack. Not that Sir Iason was expecting anything to actually cause any harm to him.

Already Sir Iason was feeling sick at having to converse face to face with the little creature which they had been speaking to through video links. From the images, Sir Iason could see that the fat round creature with several folds of skin on his face and neck was an ugly being, and already he was not looking forward to meeting any more of the human race, as the fat little creature had called his kindred. To actually meet the one from the screens without the protection of the monitors was horrifying enough, and he was sure that on the way he was going to meet more of the fat things.

"Sir Iason? Are you okay?"

Sir Iason paused in his thoughts and glanced back at his close friend, Sir Raoul, "I am fine, Sir Raoul. Why do you ask?"

Sir Gideon coughed into his gloved hand, staring straight ahead, "I'm afraid that you look like you've swallowed something foul, Sir."

Sir Raoul smirked as Iason realised that he had been expressing his discomfort through his facial expression; a rare sight for many of the Blondies for Sir Iason who had a stoic expression and rarely ever showed any of his emotions.

"So meeting these humans make you uncomfortable, that is astonishing," Sir Raoul sighed with his smirk spreading into a large grin, his deep blue eyes twinkling with mirth.

Ignoring sir Raoul's enjoyment at seeing Sir Iason's displeasure of negotiating with the lowly humans, Sir Gideon followed Sir Iason, "I would advise to ignore him or better yet, leave him behind, but due to our orders, we can't."

Sir Iason sighed, nodding his head in silent agreement and continued walking down the corridor, his golden hair billowing behind him.

Seeing Sir Iason agree with Sir Gideon, Sir Raoul scowled and raised his nose to the air, "Well aren't you unlucky that I have to accompany you."

At this action from his friend, Sir Iason allowed a small smirk to appear on his face.

oOoOoOo

Riki stared at the door. Just behind it were the aliens sent to negotiate with the world leader for a peace treaty. Being 26 years old and in such a high position of command, Riki considered himself lucky to be part of the hand selected personnel for greeting the Aliens and escorting them to the world leader, Manon.

"So how is the little brat these days?" Bree asked as he leaned against the wall, disregarding the protocol required. His long wavy blond hair was tied back in a loose pony tail, "Last time I heard that he caused some trouble in the armoury."

Sighing heavily, Riki relaxed from staring at the door, and glanced at his friend, "He's been better behaved since Katze and Guy took him somewhere," he paused pulling a smoke from his pocket, "But where they took him, I have no clue."

Lighting the smoke, Riki offered one to Bree, who shook his head, "You know I don't smoke," he wafted his hand to dispel the smoke Riki had just exhaled, "You let Guy and Katze deal with him then, poor kid."

"It was them or getting grounded from leaving the house, ever," Riki puffed, "the brat nearly caused one of the grenades to detonate in a stock of gunpowder."

Bree laughed, "And just what was he trying to do?"

"He was trying to make a firework or something," Riki shook his head, "Silly kid, he could have just bought one from the shops."

"A firework?" Bree asked, his grin faltering.

Riki paused, "Yeah. He wanted to light one for Mimea next month," Stubbing out the cigarette Riki looked into Bree's eyes, "Not one for his birthday."

Bree moved from the wall and placed a palm on Riki's shoulder, "I'm sorry, I had no idea."

Putting his hand over Bree's and slowly pushing it off, Riki gave a weak smile, "I don't know how to deal with this. If it was the rebellious stage, I can easily deal with that with a knock to the head."

The doors hissed as they started to open, cutting their conversation short. Stubbing out his smoke and standing straight, Riki motioned to Bree to do the same. Although he was a lower rank than Riki, Bree was able to join Riki by his request. As Bree was a well known technician, he was able to use the excuse that the new science that the Aliens brought may need to be analysed and recorded. Manon bought the case easily, which was why the two of them were now stood watching the doors slowly open revealing the Aliens.

"All bets on them being covered in slime and gross," Bree whispered to Riki as the door fully opened and a the spray of disinfectant smoke spilled out. Riki laughed softly in return and waited.

Through the smoke three figures appeared, striding through the doors without even noticing the billowing smoke.

"Are they trying to choke us first?" A voice from one of the figures asked the other as they cleared the smoke.

"No, this is some sort of disinfectant gas," another replied, "I believe they want to keep the environment sterile, which is understandable, since we may not know what could be lethal to either of us."

"I see," the first voice sighed, "But they could have at least put out warning signs so that we knew what to expect."

Riki and Bree exchanged quick glances as the mist cleared and the aliens became visible to them.

"Oh my, and what are these delightful creatures?" the second voice asked, his voice laced with curiosity and something else which felt very sinister.

Riki blinked several times to make sure that his eyes were not playing tricks on him for the three aliens which had strode through were not what Riki had expected.

The one which had spoken had dark blue eyes which flitted from Riki to Bree. Golden blond hair which curled slightly, reached past his broad shoulders. His height was a good two foot above Riki and Bree. He was wearing some kind of white body suit, knee high boots with a small heel, and a red cloth crossed his chest; a golden emblem of two moons glittered at him.

The other two were of the same height, except that one had longer light blond hair which was perfectly straight and instead of a red sash, had a dark blue sash. The other had shoulder length golden blond hair and a green sash. Together, the three of them were very intimidating and powerful; their strength radiating off their handsome physiques .

"Probably some poor creatures that Manon has got as lapdogs," The blond alien with the green sash said to the red, rolling his green eyes, "Although, one of them seems to be hostile."

Riki turned to Bree to see that his friend had bristled at the thought of being a lapdog to Manon. Even though Bree worked with Riki and was part of the same military group, Bree refused to acknowledge the world leader, voting instead for Daryl to be world leader. The vote resulted in Manon's leadership.

"Bree!" Riki hissed, "Ignore it."The three aliens stared at Riki and Bree. Sir Iason was the first to speak, "I understand, do forgive my colleagues misunderstanding. We had assumed that humans all bore a likeness to your world leader, Mr Manon."

The Blond with the green sash approached the pair of humans, as Bree contained his anger, "They seem to be well trained," he glanced at the Blond with the blue sash, "Sir Iason, maybe we can negotiate for some creatures like this for servitude as well?"

The one called Sir Iason nodded slowly, his eyes fixed on Riki. Holding back a growl in this voice Riki spoke up, finding that he had to correct the misunderstanding that the aliens had come across, "We shall be your escorts to Mr Manon's office where the negotiations for peace between your kind and us humans can commence," he paused for effect, "I'm also afraid that we will not be using humans as part of the negotiations, I apologise for any misunderstandings."

Bree snorted, and turned away, leaving Riki to deal with mess, "Mr Manon," he paused, "Well he's a special case I think we can say." As he said this Bree coughed into his hand, trying to contain his laughter, "My colleague, Bree, does not support Mr Manon in world leadership, I'm afraid, so I apologise for his behaviour."

"I see," Sir Iason slowly nodded, the other two blonds watching the exchange between Riki and one of their own, "I take it that you offer his support then?"

Riki frowned, "It is the military duty to be loyal to the planet, despite who ever is the world leader. My opinion has no say."

The blond alien with the red sash stepped forth, "And who are you, anyway?" His deep blue eyes moving up and down Riki's body, "I doubt that this Mr Manon has sent some lowly grunts to escort us instead of himself, although, sending someone has at least amazed me."

Riki smiled, "I am the military Commander of all the Earth's fleets,, Riki Dark and this is my associate Bree Loveday. Bree deals with technical support and is a top engineer. We have been chosen to be your escorts for the duration of your visit."

"A military Commander? I'm impressed," the blond with the green sash said to Sir Iason, "I believe I have found someone to discuss military business with during this stay." He turned to Riki, "I am Sir Gideon Laget. I am the Military Leader of Amoi, I suggest that we could share our military experiences with one another."

Bree stepped up to Riki, his composure regained, "I think that we are a little short on time. Mr Manon just sent an IM reminding me of how time can be used, but not wasted., He scowled, " the idea of him sending me petty sayings is sickening."

Riki grinned, nodding his head, "If you would please follow us this way," he motioned to the three aliens, "and we'll take you to Mr Manon."

oOoOoOo

Sir Iason followed the two humans while Sir Gideon chose speaking softy to the Military Commander; Sir Raoul had opted to walk next to Sir Iason.

"Fascinating, is it not, Iason?" Raoul whispered to his best friend, "To think that such lovely looking creatures are kin to that fat pig of a leader, Manon."

Iason smiled, "What I find interesting is that there is some political unrest between the natives and the World Leader."

The blond human, Bree glanced back at the pair of aliens, his face creased in confusion before he was spoken to by Sir Gideon. He answered the question directed to him swiftly and was soon absorbed in the conversation.

Raoul put his head to one side, "With that guy's looks, I think I understand that Bree's dislike of the World Leader" he paused, "But that Bree is kind of annoying. That Blond hair, no human should have such hair."

Iason sighed, "This is not Amoi, Raoul. It seems that hair colour does not signify power and wealth. Did you not consider this when you saw the brown hair of that disgusting human, Manon?"

Raoul scowled, "Blond haired creatures should only be us Blondies, is that not what her majesty taught us?"

"Don't be getting yourself wound up over something so trivial, Raoul," Iason scolded, "We should be focusing on the negotiations."

Raoul stopped scowling, and a playful grin spread across his face, "Focusing on the negotiations? Sir Iason, was it not you I saw staring at that beautiful Riki? Although, I have to admit, his outward appearance is enough for me to wish that he was not human. To be able to train him myself, oh the possibilities are endless."

Iason remained silent, his eyes watching the gentle sway of Riki's hips .

"But, it seems that I won't be able to do as I wish," Raoul carried on, not realising that Iason was no longer giving him any attention, "He's a human, and they don't have slavery or servitude here. Where did they ever go wrong? Do they not have pets? And if they do, what are their pets? Something even sweeter?" He shook his head back to clear his hair from his face, "Iason, please at least get me a pet. I'd love to get my hands on one."

"You'd love to get your hands on anything, Sir Raoul," Sir Gideon said dryly.

Raoul stopped speaking and suddenly realised that he was talking loud enough for the others to hear, and thus their own conversations had come to an end.

The two humans were further ahead, muttering to one another with Riki giving strange glances to Sir Raoul every so often. Sir Gideon was now walking abreast with Sir Raoul, with Sir Iason trailing behind.

"My hands like to touch because I'm a scientist, Sir Gideon," Sir Raoul retorted, trying to regain his composure, "I like to get a feel for things for scientific research."

Sir Gideon raised his eyebrow, "And you think you have the right to research on pets?"

"Everything I do is done in the name of science, Sir Gideon," Raoul snorted, raising his nose in the air, "And what can I research if not pets?"

Iason sighed as the two bickered, and noticed that the two humans had become increasingly wary of the Blondies, their movements becoming more light and alert. The one named Riki was walking behind the blond human, his strides measured to stay between the human and the Blondies. A clever way to remain in both a defensive and offensive position.

Once again, Iason found that his gaze was drawn to the young Commander, his eyes stripping the outer clothes from the lithe body of the human. The human was clothed in black leather trousers and a skin tight short sleeved shirt, which showed the rippling toned muscles which flexed with his every move. So visually removing the humans clothing was easy, however, imagining the human in naked form was almost too stimulating. Closing his ice blue eyes, Iason halted his thoughts and focused on the negotiations which would soon begin.

oOoOoOo

"Welcome, welcome to our planet," Manon grinned, his chubby face laden with cold sweat, "It is our greatest pleasure for you to visit our most humble planet." Rubbing his hands together and bending his back slightly in deference, the man looked like a walrus.

Riki looked away as the World Leader continued to welcome the aliens, finding the fat man to be sickening, especially in the way we went overboard in trying to ass-kiss the aliens into getting them to like him. The same way in which he convinced all the ambassadors to vote for him before he replaced them with his own choices through certain means.

Stood behind the World Leader were the three AACs,; Kirie the Ambassador of American Continents, Stee the Ambassador of African Continents and Lusa the Ambassador of Asian Continents. All three of them were wearing black robes with red stripes and were holding portable screens, their fingers recording everything going on whilst relaying orders to their subordinates.

The three aliens, Sir Iason, Sir Gideon and Sir Raoul were stood in front of the World Leader, distaste clearly shown on their faces, even the expressionless Sir Iason was showing signs of discomfort being in the presence of the lowly human who called himself the Leader of the planet.

Bree had already found a reason to leave, something to do with the technicians needing him to help out Katze with some virus which some idiot had accidentally downloaded onto the mainframe. Saying a quick formal goodbye, Bree had left Riki to take the aliens the rest of the way to Manon's office.

Remembering this, Riki smiled softly. The real reasons for which Bree had chosen to leave early were actually to do with the conversation which had been occuring between the aliens about scientific research and pets. From the sounds of it, if Bree and Riki were not human, they were going to ask for them as property. Clenching his teeth, Riki reminded himself that the aliens had only seen Manon and had automatically come to a conclusion on how humans were supposed to look like, which was why he stopped Bree from reacting to the insult.

"Ah, Commander," Manon called to Riki, his face twisting into one of his crooked grins, "The guests need some refreshments, go get some. Show some hospitality will you, lowly dog!"

Biting his tongue and ignoring his desire to hit the pig, Riki nodded and began to leave the room.

"We are fine, Mr Manon," Sir Iason spoke up, "You do not need to send the Commander to cater for us."

Riki stopped and glanced back in surprise at the sharpness of the alien's tone. Not only was Sir Iason frowning, but Sir Gideon looked extremely pissed off. Remembering the alien's position, Riki automatically understood the alien's anger at how the World Leader treated his Commander. The lack of respect for Riki was almost as disrespecting Sir Gideon.

"Oh, no, no," Manon continued, "We must show our gratitude for your peaceful suggestion for negotiations. You are, after all, the first alien threat our planet has received. Any movements towards peace are welcomed with open arms. Any thing you wish will be given to you in order to uphold the peace."

The three AACs nodded in agreement, softly murmuring their respects to the aliens.

Keeping a straight face in order not to cause any problems for the negotiations, Riki bowed respectfully to the members of the room, "I'll return shortly with the required refreshments, sirs." He exited the room quickly, closing the door behind him softly.

"What happened in there?"

Glancing up Riki glared at his best friend,, "Something which does not need to concern you, Guy"

Leaning against the wall, a long brown haired man was waiting for him, his arms crossed against his chest. His outfit was similar to Riki's except that he wore a black trench coat which made him seem even more imposing.

"You look like you've been told to eat shit, especially with that defiant look in your eyes which are screaming out that they want to kill someone," Guy drawled, his dark eyes locking onto Riki's own black eyes, "What did the bastards do?"

Sighing and opening a link on his wrist Riki spoke into the miniature speaker, "Can we get some drinks up to the conference room 12," He glanced at Guy, "And can we have them sent up quickly. Enough for nine personnel."

"Nine?" Guy asked, unfolding his arms, "So five aliens came? That is less than what was expected."

Shaking his head as he finished the transmission Riki smiled, "No, two are for us. I really need a drink before I go back in."

"For us, then that means," Guy gasped in astonishment, "Three? Only three?"

Riki nodded, "Only three, but that is more than enough. One of them is a Military Leader of their planet, and one is a freaky scientist.," he paused, " and the other I think is one from higher up. He seems to lead them, hell, he could be their leader."

The two of them remained in silence as the information slowly sank in. Several minutes passed as Guy's face slowly contorted in anger.

"That Manon could bloody well blow the whole thing!" Guy eventually snapped, his body tensing at the idea, "Who ever voted him into leadership needs to be shot!"

Riki grinned, all of his friends including himself had voted for Daryl to be World Leader. The mere thought of Manon being the World Leader was not only sickening, but also against all codes of honour. Putting a man who sat in the shadows and used people like pawns to get what he wanted was not an ideal world that the Earthians wanted.

"I agree with you there," Riki patted Guy's tense shoulders as the caterer arrived carrying a tray of refreshments, "Have a drink with me now quickly, before I re-enter the nest of dragons, will you?"

The caterer approached the pair, waiting for further orders from the Commander. Swiping a glass of whisky from the tray, and toasting it to Riki, Guy downed the glass, much to the caterer's protests. Riki shook his head quietly at the caterer and took a glass for himself and downed it. The caterer seeing the Commander do so, remained silent and stared at the glasses of whisky on the tray.

"Good luck, my friend," Guy smiled sadly, " I wish I could be helpful in someway..."

Riki waved his hand, "Nah, you've done enough already by talking to me," he took the tray from the waiting caterer, "Now let's hope the aliens like whisky."

oOoOoOo

Raoul raised an eyebrow at Sir Iason as the young Commander was sent away like a dog to attend to a measly task which was not only degrading for the human for for Sir Gideon as well. Iason tilted his head, silently telling his friend not to respond.

Manon, oblivious to the Blondie's reactions to how he had treated a superior officer, was still prattling on about the benefits of what their planet had to offer in the negotiations. Negotiations which still were yet to begin.

Irritated with the how things were progressing, Gideon decided to leave. He headed for the exit that the young Commander had taken. Iason and Raoul watched his progress, accepting his need to escape from the desire to kill the fat pig of a human before him.

"Oh, Sir, where are you going?" one of the men wearing the black robes, his eyes watching the Blondie's movements, "If you'd like to venture outside, please allow me to guide you." The man approached Sir Gideon, bowing in respect.

Manon ignored the conversation and continued blabbering on his own. Sir Iason and Sir Raoul were showing that they were listening, but Gideon could tell that they were more interested in Gideon's conversation; sir Raoul pouting slightly at the idea he was going to be left with the World Leader. However, Raoul knew he couldn't leave Sir Iason on his own with the human, so he showed his anger and annoyance to Sir Gideon.

"Do as you want," Sir Gideon sighed and opened the door and quickly stepped outside, with human on his heels.

Through the door, Gideon halted in surprise as he watched two humans converse with the young Commander. Of the two who were with the Commander, on of them stood out; his tall intimidating frame towering Riki. Long brown unruly hair was tied back in order to tame it, and his clothes suggested that he was an officer of some rank. As he watched the humans, the Ambassador whom had insisted in following him spotted the small group.

"You have no access here, lieutenant Guy," the Ambassador admonished the officer who was conversing with the commander, "and what are you drinking?"

Gideon blinked at the Ambassador who strode towards officers, and rose his eyebrows in surprise as the two clank their empty glasses before turning to the clearly annoyed Ambassador.

"Oh shit, who the hell is that?" the long haired human cried out when he saw Sir Gideon, "I don't remember a guy like that working here."

Riki grinned at the lieutenant who was gobsmacked at the sight of the alien, "This is Sir Gideon, the military leader of Amoi. He is one of the negotiators who has come to our planet to discuss a peace treaty," As he said this, he shifted his hold on the tray of drinks, "And the caterer brought too many drinks, and we did not want our revered world leader to drink too much, Kirie."

The ambassador grimaced as he took in the commanders words, "Still, the lieutenant has no clearance for this area," he stopped when Riki frowned and shook his head.

"Ambassador, I see you are escorting Sir Gideon," Guy smiled slyly, as Kirie nodded his head, "Then why not allow us to show him around, and you bring in the refreshments?" As he said this, he lifted the tray from Riki's hands and dumped the tray into Kirie's arms, "I'm sure everyone is waiting, Ambassador."

Stunned by the lieutenants actions, and not wanting to cause a scene in front of the alien guest, Kirie nodded slowly, "Very well, but I don't wan to see you around here again without clearance!" He then turned quickly, and mumbled an apology for the disrespect shown to Sir Gideon.

Once gone, Guy burst into a fit of giggles with Riki howling with laughter.

"Oh it never gets old!" Guy laughed, holding his stomach, "So you are from Amoi, right?" he said to Gideon, his eyes twinkling with mirth.

Surprised that the human knew of his planet's name he nodded, "Yes, I am Sir Gideon Laget, Military Leader of Amoi," he introduced himself again, "And you are lieutenant?"

Sobering up, Riki answered for his friend, "This is lieutenant Guy. He is part of my elite squad for battle strategies," he paused, glancing back at the door which lead back to the conference room, "he's a good man to work with, despite what the higher ups say."

Guy frowned "Enough of internal conflicts, " he glanced at Riki who shrugged his shoulder, "So, you're called Gabriel then,"

"No, Gideon, you idiot!" Riki snickered, "Honestly, you and names. Its amazing that you remember your name, let alone mine!"

Gideon sighed as he watched the exchange between the two humans, finding their banter to be just as irksome as Sir Raoul's pestering. However, he could tell that the two humans were of very good friends, and that they respected one another. The lack of respect for the World Leader and for the Ambassador, whom he had learned was called Kirie, also told him that there was some kind of internal conflict within the political system. This information was vital for his brethren if they were to complete the negotiations without causing any problems which could lead to unnecessary bloodshed.

OoOoOoO

"What a waste of time," Raoul moaned as he and Iason strolled down the corridor of their ship, heading towards the bridge, "I mean, the stupid idiot didn't even get round to mentioning a treaty."

Iason nodded, his mind elsewhere as Raoul complained about the failed meeting for the negotiations. The World Leader had only rambled on about how beautiful his planet was and about the linage of family and his rise to political power. Not one for listening to trivial speeches Iason had spent most of his time daydreaming about the human he had recently met. The dark haired and eyed creature with bronze skin he itched to touch with his fingertips.

"And then Gideon found an escape from all that nonsense," Raoul rambled on, his face reddening with anger, "I think that he should have stayed with us during that torture."

"I would not personally classify a human who has a far too large an ego to be a torturous experience, knowing you and your hobbies." Iason answered his friend, a smirk playing on his lips.

Gideon had immediately gone to the bridge at a far brisker pace than the others. It was obvious that in his exploration of the base, he had learned many things and had heard things which were not to be said in other's hearing.

Raoul was curious of what Gideon had learned, and had teased the Blondie until said Blondie hurried away without a word.

"What I do is in the name of science, Iason." Raoul mumbled, "Why must I always explain this to you of all people?"

Reaching the end of the corridor where a large steel door blocked their way, Iason turned to face Raoul, "It seems that the negotiations may take longer than what we first assumed, so please don't agitate my staff during your stay."

Raoul puffed out his chest, "And what makes you think that?"

Smiling softly, Iason keyed in the codes on the pad before him, opening the door and revealing the small presence on the other side.

Seeing her, they both immediately dropped to one knee in respect, "your Highness."

OoOoOoOoO

Hello!

This is the short story with a a nice cliffie to leave you all hanging. I wrote this in mind to explain more about Jupiter and well, lets just say that I digressed too much and now I realised that soon it would become an independant story all by itself; which was not what I wanted. This means that you'll have to wait until the mood hits me again to continue this side story. I may just write another short story anyway.

So now you all know what it was like 10 years before the war with the Blondies. As you can see there is some political unrest and conflicts within the government and military. I have had speculation that Raoul is too informal, but please do not worry - Raoul is still my freakish Big Bad Boy and he still has that "Blondie" element to him. Yes, I know this is no longer with the original story of Ai no Kusabi, but I love the characters and placing them in this world is lots of fun.

Please review for me!

Fantasy