Chapter 39

BAU Headquarters
Quantico, VA

"You know, she only does this because she loves." Hotch said.

Emily shot him a look. Apparently telling Penelope not to call the 'Martians' was too specific, She found a loophole. "Act of war? Those were their exact words?"

"Yeah." JJ replied. "We managed to convince them that the administration was not behind this, it was not an official act."

"Not openly official, anyway." Hotch replied. "We may need someone with diplomatic experience to help with this one."

"Know anyone we can trust?" Emily asked.

"One."

It took a moment for the penny to drop. "Ohhh, this day just keeps getting better." She almost snarled. "Matt, you're with me. JJ, you and Tara find those civics videos Spencer lost in his desk and try to come up with some kind of briefing on their political system and current focus. I'll be back."

"Where are you going?" Tara asked.

"Hell."


Home of Elizabeth Prentiss
Alexandria, VA

Emily pushed past the housekeeper who answered the door. "Mom?" She called.

"I'm in my office." Her mother called back. Emily headed that way with Matt in tow. "I guess you heard." Elizabeth said when her daughter walked in the door.

"Heard?" Emily looked past her mother at the televisions on behind her. Each was turned to a different news channel. And her mother was…disquieted. Not good. "No, I haven't had a chance to see the news today. What's going on?"

"At their conference in Helsinki the Russian president said he would turn over the hackers who went after the DNC if our President turned over twelve diplomats he wants to question. He's accusing us of money laundering."

"Us." Emily said. "That includes you."

Her mother nodded. "The president is considering it. In the meantime the Russian government has issued red notices to Interpol. Which means we can be arrested and turned over to him at any time." She gave a very nervous smile and turned back to her daughter. "I was hoping you were coming to tell me you had a contact who could help."

Emily thought very fast. "I might." She said. "But we need your help first for it to happen."

"What can I do?"


BAU Headquarters
Quantico, VA

In the meantime, back at the office, Penelope answered a video call. "Luke!" Tara and JJ were working in there with her on the briefing. They all turned and grinned. "Oh my god!" She said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Luke replied with a smile. He looked tired and perhaps a little off, but unhurt. "I'm hanging in there. They gave me a tablet to call you, I'm sending my contact info. Is Roxy okay"

"She's staying at Dave's house." JJ said. "He's spoiling her. Are Spencer and Sin there?"

"They are, but they're both with the medics. Think they're going to be okay though."

"We'll come get you." Tara said. "We should be able to get to New York in an hour."

"I'm not in New York." Luke replied.

"Then where are you?"

In reply he held up one finger and slowly turned the tablet around, He was standing at the end of a catwalk somewhere, surrounded by steel walls. In front of him was a large opening of some kind. Beyond it they could see the stars and the curve of the Earth far below.

"Oh. My. God." Penelope said

He slowly turned it back to him, panning over the rows and racks of ships in an enormous hangar. "Yeah." He said when the camera was pointed to him again and he could see their shocked faces. "They said I could catch any ship I wanted back but I'm going to stick with the guys here for now." He looked at something off screen. "Looks like they're moving them to medical. I'll call back when I have more."

"You do that." JJ replied.

After he rang off the three of them looked at each other. "At least they're safe." Tara said.

"Let's make sure they stay that way." JJ replied.


Thankfully it did not take long for Ambassador Prentiss to get up to speed. Decades of experience and bone-deep fear will do that to you.

Penelope's Mrr'tani contact told them how to and who to contact. Ambassador Prentiss spent about thirty minutes with the Quadraninan Secretary of State on the most secure line Penelope could put together. "Well, that was refreshing." Ambassador Prentiss said when she finally came out of the meeting. "She's a remarkable woman. Very professional."

"I assume they're not declaring war?" Emily asked.

"Not at this time, no." The entire room relaxed. "At the moment they're going with the story that the men were kidnapped by some sort of criminals, and they were merely providing assistance. But somewhat privately Secretary Da'nesh said that their intelligence indicates that we're at war. They had been under the impression that it was primarily a trade war between the US and Russia as a coalition and the EU at least but new intel indicates that we might be in the middle of a civil war and their men were taken prisoner by one side. Which goes a long way toward them choosing the other."

"I wouldn't go that far." Tara said.

"I would." Hotch replied.

That disquieted everyone.

"She said they understand that Dr. Reid is not working for their government but rather for one of the ones fighting down here, and that while he's voluntarily putting himself in harm's way they will continue to offer support as needed to keep him alive and free, her words." Ambassador Prentiss said. "Although she did say the Crown was going to speak to him about being more careful. But that's not her primary concern."

"What is?" Emily asked.

"They've been in negotiations to trade technology for agricultural resources. Apparently our output puts us in the top three in the galaxy and it would be a lot easier for them to feed their work crews on Mars if they only had to ship from the next planet over. Mars." Ambassador Prentiss shook her head and smiled. "Still. But they're concerned that the technology they share could be weaponized. She said their people had already met with the administration, now they want to meet with people from the opposing side before they make a final decision on if they're going to take sides or stay out of it and start bringing in shipments from further off. She asked if I could facilitate someone meeting with the cousul general here in DC."

"Maybe your new boss." Dave said to Hotch. "And a Senator or two."

Hotch nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

Ambassador Prentiss sighed. "In the meantime I'm moving to New York for a while. Since I'll be acting as liaison and given everything that's going on she offered housing on Governor's Island. Inside their diplomatic perimeter."

"And close to the space port." JJ said. "Just in case."

"Is anyone else wondering how they're getting their intel?" Matt asked.

They all nodded. "Hopefully our people on the inside can let us know." Dave said.

They all nodded to that too.


QSS Ka'naesh
Near Earth orbit

Luke followed the two pods and the teams with them to what was both entirely like and entirely unlike an emergency room. Apparently Sin was the most serious so they decanted him first. "I'm still not sure what's going on with him." Luke said to the nearest nurse once he got his translators settled.

"It's a form of seizure." She replied.

"Oh, that's bad." Luke nodded. He waited and watched by the door. Not a clue what was going down in there except it looked like they were jolting Sin with either the restart the heart paddles or the restart the brain paddles. And it sounded like it hurt as much as you would expect. But after three jolts some monitor or other stopped beeping at them and everyone relaxed. Including Sin. Poor guy looked exhausted. "Is he good now?" Luke asked when the doc came out.

"Should be." The doctor replied. "We'll keep him overnight to be sure."

"Great." That was pretty standard. Now for the next one. Luke looked around. "Where did Reid go?"