Worldwar:
Balancing act
Chapter 02
Kenneth Seward looked out at the dark landscape from the passenger seat of an old, beat-up van as it trundled along the western Australian coast. Summer was coming to an end and the sun was setting earlier and earlier, which suited Kenneth and his accomplices perfectly. The cover of darkness was going to be a very welcome aid.
He spotted a derelict farmhouse off in the distance, from the state of disrepair it was in, it could have been abandoned around the time the Lizards arrived on Earth, or so Kenneth thought. Not many human-built farmhouses were left in Australia, there weren't many humans left in Australia either. The Lizards found the harsh, arid climate of the outback very hospitable and so decided they wanted the entire continent to themselves. They vaporized Sydney and Melbourne, along with a significant portion of the human population of Australia, shortly after they arrived. A generation later, when the colonization fleet arrived and the Lizards started to properly populate Earth, they began to restrict the human population of Australia. The Race hadn't entirely eliminated the Australian population, they still needed workers to operate cargo ports if they wanted goods shipped to and from their colonies in Africa, Arabia and India. Not being too fond of coastal areas, they begrudgingly tolerated the remnants of the Australian populace. Kenneth was certain that if the Lizards could build rail lines across the oceans, they would have killed or expelled every last Australian they could find.
"Wake up boys, we'll be in the Lizard town soon, I wanna be in and out in twenty minutes." Shelly Katter declared from the drivers seat. "You take too long, you're getting left behind". Scott Abbot and Keith Hurley started jeering from the back of the van, Keith's groggy-sounding voice betraying the fact that Shelly's prompt to awaken hadn't been purely rhetorical.
"You've not got the fuckin' balls to hang us out to dry!" Keith slurred while rubbing his eyes.
"Yeah, we're the ones actually doing something here, all you have to do is sit on your fat arse and wait in the car!" Scott added, sounding like someone who had been awake for more than fifteen seconds. Kenneth remained silent as the other three occupants traded jabs, laughing at their own and each others wit, or lack thereof. He trusted Shelly and Scott, he'd known them both for most of his life. Kenneth had been fighting the Lizards with Scott since he started fighting the lizards, they had gotten each other out of more scrapes than either man could count. Shelly and Kenneth, being second cousins, had grown up together. Both independently left their family behind to fight the Lizards in their early twenties only to end up in the same resistance cell by the time they were both thirty. Keith was an unknown element, he had joined up with the group at the beginning of summer, like everyone else in the van he started fighting the Lizards young, though at twenty three the boldest action he had taken against The Race was throwing a brick through a police station window after spray-painting "FUCK THE FLEETLORD" several times on the wall of an adjacent warehouse. The fact he had fallen asleep in the van didn't exactly inspire Kenneth with confidence.
When the van eventually passed into the outskirts of the Lizard town, the streetlights revealed that the scattered shrubs they had been passing in the dark were the wrong shade of green. They reminded Kenneth more of corroded copper than they did any earthly plant, the thought of eating anything that colour made his stomach turn. The azwaca and zisuili that had roamed the outback for eighty years now, flourishing at the expense of the native wildlife, certainly disagreed with Kenneth's taste in salad ingredients. Despite the damage that the Australian ecosystem had taken over the past couple of centuries, some of the native wildlife not only persisted but was fighting back against the Lizards in its own way. After several cases of hatchlings being found dead and swollen from spider bites or scorpion stings, or in piles of dingo shit, the Lizards set up communal hatcheries to store their eggs and keep hatchlings still wet from the juices of their eggs from wandering off and getting killed.
The hatchery the four Australians pulled up beside was far from the largest one the Lizards had built, but it was close enough to the edge of town that no-one was likely to notice a commotion. As he unbuckled his seatbelt, Kenneth spoke up.
"Alright, we're here. Grab that crate and follow my lead. Shelly, keep the engine running."
"Don't take too long." Shelly replied as Scott and Keith clambered out the back of the van, crate in tow. The three men made their way to the entrance of the hatchery, Kenneth paused and turned to the others.
"Remember, the go-word is 'Sydney'." He whispered. The other men nodded to confirm they understood before heading inside. The bored looking Lizard receptionist was startled by the sudden appearance of three unexpected humans. He sat up from his slouch in his chair and turned both eye-turrets towards the unexpected visitors.
"Can I help you Tosevites?" The receptionist said, making no effort to mask his tone of voice that suggested the idea of three humans visiting a Lizard hatchery in the middle of the night was absurd.
"I certainly hope so, superior sir. My friends and I were returning home from our shift at the port when we found a pair of eggs abandoned by the side of the road." Kenneth replied, "We thought we had better bring them here before some wild beast found them."
"Ah, that is something I can help you with, or Doctor Fzentt can help you with, I should say." The receptionist sounded much happier now that Kenneth, Scott and Keith had a seemingly valid reason for disturbing him. He got up from his seat and made his way around his desk and towards a corridor. "Come with me, I will take you to her."
As they walked down the corridor, Scott asked the receptionist, "I don't suppose you get many Tosevites in here?"
"As a matter of fact, we don't." The receptionist answered, "Aside from the occasional Tosevite delivering equipment, I haven't met many in here." He stopped in front of a set of steel doors and swiped a keycard. "You Tosevites are a credit to your species, you know. Most Tosevites would have ignored those eggs and left them to hatch in the wild, only for the hatchlings to get bitten by those horrible eight-legged things." Kenneth had to bite his lower lip to stop himself screaming that he'd like to feed every hatchling he could get his hands on to spiders. The doors opened, the receptionist entered and called out for Doctor Fzentt, while gesturing for the others to follow.
Kenneth followed the receptionist through the steel doors into a room filled with egg incubators, stacked floor to ceiling on wall-mounted shelves. He only spotted a few empty incubators, mating season hadn't long passed. Kenneth wouldn't have been surprised if there were two hundred eggs in this hatchery alone. Perfect, he thought.
"Vaxxaz, what is the..." Doctor Fzentt began, before spotting the three humans. Kenneth reckoned she was a very elderly female, her scales sagged and she walked with the aid of a cane. If she came to Earth with the colonization fleet, she likely didn't do it as a young female. "Tosevites? What brings you three to a hatchery?" She tacked on an interrogative cough.
The receptionist, Vaxxaz as the elderly doctor called him, answered the question. "These Tosevites found some eggs abandoned by the side of the road and brought them here for safe keeping."
"Did they now?" Doctor Fzentt said to Vaxxaz before turning her attention back to the humans. "You three should be commended for your commitment to civic duty. You are a credit to your species. Let me get a look at these eggs, I need to make sure they are healthy before we record their arrival and get them into incubators." She walked towards Scott and Keith, reached out and removed the blanket covering the eggs.
The two Lizards stood in silence, motionless, for several seconds. Vaxxaz mouth dropped open, Doctor Fzentt rapped her cane on the ground several times before following suit. A full minute passed before the Lizards composed themselves, Doctor Fzentt pointed to the eggs with a shaking fingerclaw. "Those are azwaca eggs, foolish Tosevites! You see Vaxxaz, this is why I volunteer for night shifts, this sort of thing never happens during the day when everyone is here to see it."
"Are night shifts quiet here? Night shift at the port is as busy as day shift most days." Keith asked, doing his best to make the question sound casual.
"Very quiet, it's just me and the doctor here tonight." Vaxxaz answered. "This is, as far as I know, the most exciting thing to happen here during the night shift since this hatchery was built." He tacked on an emphatic cough. "Before you go, you should take a look at the eggs of The Race we have here and learn the difference between them and azwaca eggs." His mouth dropped open in laughter again.
Kenneth looked at the two Lizards, Doctor Fzentt was already shuffling back to whatever she had been doing before, Vaxxaz was still laughing and staring at the three human visitors. Kenneth glared at Vaxxaz and uttered a single word. "Sydney!"
For a brief moment, Vaxxaz appeared confused. That expression was quickly replaced by one of dawning terror as Kenneth grabbed him by the throat and threw him to the ground. Kenneth heard a crash and the sickening crack of breaking bones, followed by horrendous, gasping hisses of anguish. Scott and Keith had hurled the crate of azwaca eggs at Doctor Fzentt and struck her in the small of the back. Kenneth threw himself onto the receptionists back, drawing a knife from its sheath sewn to the inside of his coat.
"Australia doesn't belong to you, you scaly bastard!" Kenneth snarled, glad to be able to switch from the language of The Race back to English. He thrust the knife into the base of the Lizards skull, then withdrew it and used it to quickly explore the latticework of the Lizard's ribcage for good measure as he stood up. The doctor's pained hisses gave way to wet sounding thumps as Scott and Keith stomped her out of her misery.
"That's enough, you two. She's dead, get to work on the eggs, I'll deal with the nursery." Kenneth ordered as he grabbed a plastic tub that had been tucked under the azwaca eggs. He picked up the keycard Vaxxaz used earlier from the slowly growing pool of blood that had formed under the Lizards corpse and used it to head through the doors opposite the ones he had entered from. He found himself in a room filled with sand, a few scattered rocks and some suspiciously artificial looking plants the colour of corroded copper. The nursery was supposed to resemble the natural environment of Home, hatchlings moved here after escaping from their eggshells in the next room would have no reason to suspect they were on an alien planet. A planet the didn't belong on. Kenneth squatted down beside one of the larger rocks and looked at the plastic tub he brought with him. There were a few hundred spider eggs inside, a few had already hatched, he could see they were scurrying about. Kenneth dumped the spider eggs out behind the rock then threw the tub to the opposite side of the nursery and headed back to the main hatchery room. As he closed the door behind him, one of the hatchlings from the nursery ran past him, it wasn't fast enough. It remained silent as Kenneth heard the crunch of its skeleton beneath his boot.
As he rejoined Scott and Keith, he saw most of the eggs that were in the incubators were now smashed on the ground. Keith was holding a wriggling hatchling that was attempting to stab his wrist with its egg tooth.
"Hey boss, this one must have been just about to hatch, it bit me when I put my fist through its eggshell. Are we gonna take it with us?" Keith asked.
Kenneth snatched the hatchling from Keith and used it to strike the nearest shelf as hard as he could before dropping it to the ground, lifeless. "No, we aren't taking it with us."
"Fucking hell, that was harsh!" Keith said, shocked.
Kenneth gave Keith a look of contempt, "Do we have a problem here?"
"I don't have any issue killing the adults, and eggs don't feel anything so I don't mind smashing those, but that lil' cunt was just a baby. Not his fault his parents were mass-murdering scum." Keith explained, eyes fixed on the dead hatchling.
"Atvar, Reffet and Tevreg started off as lil' cunts just like that one." Kenneth retorted. "If you aren't prepared to kill Lizards when you get the chance, maybe you should fuck off back to Perth and practice saying 'It shall be done, superior sir' when a Lizard tells you how they like their zisuili cooked."
Kenneth stared Keith down. After a few seconds, the younger man blinked and he silently rejoined Scott in smashing the few remaining eggs. No, Kenneth thought to himself, Keith wasn't to be trusted.
Sokrin sat down in the briefing room and checked the time, he was almost a day-hundredth early. He used the time to catch up on some paperwork related to an arrest he was involved in of a Rabotev female who claimed her stash of ginger weighing more than one third of her bodyweight was for personal culinary use. The absurdity of the claim was compounded by the fact that she was also in possession of the contact details of more than twenty other individuals known to be part the largest ginger dealing network ever discovered on Rabotev II. It escaped Sokrin why some Rabotevs risked the penalties of ginger possession and distribution for a mere alien spice, he had tasted food containing ginger as an ingredient while undercover and while he enjoyed the flavour as much as any Tosevite was likely to, it was still just a spice to him. Intellectually he understood that the narcotic and addictive properties of ginger drove males and females of The Race to extreme, addled behaviour, though having never experienced it personally he knew he could never fully understand it. By all reporting he had come across, Hallessi found ginger to be disgustingly repugnant, though he was yet to encounter a Halless who would admit they had been exposed to the herb.
Sokrin had sent a message to the Tosevite diplomats sent to Rabotev II by the not-empire of the United States asking if the amount of ginger found in the possession of the subject of his current piece of paperwork was a reasonable amount to find in a Tosevite spice rack. He knew the answer already of course but felt that the thoroughness of consulting with the Tosevites would add a nice touch to his report. To his delight, he received a reply directly from the head Tosevite diplomat on Rabotev II, Jeri Szabo, who attested that even the most enthusiastic Tosevite chef wouldn't include that much ginger in their pantry. Sokrin made a mental note to include a copy of the correspondence with the final report.
The rising sun cut through the clouds just as Sokrin finished the last part of the report he could take care of while away from his desk. He looked out of the window to see the light shimmering on the surface of the lake. One of the cleaning staff had left the window slightly open overnight, taking a deep breath, Sokrin could taste the salt in the air. Many males and females disliked living near the lakes of Rabotev II (and presumably those of Home and Halless I, to say nothing of Tosev III and its vast oceans). Sokrin didn't mind, he enjoyed the view. The other police officers scheduled to attend this morning's briefing had began to file in while Sokrin was admiring the sunrise, from their chattering he caught snippets of news that had broken overnight. A professional longball player suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of a young up-and-coming challenger, an actor provoked a ginger scandal by going into season unexpectantly and the wild Tosevite diplomats continued their sight-seeing.
The morning gossiping stopped as District Police Leader Bremmac arrived. As he fiddled with the hologram controls on the podium at the front of the room, Sokrin and the rest of the gathered police officers stood up and looked towards Bremmac expectantly. After a moment, Bremmac looked up and acknowledged his subordinates.
"Good morning officers." Bremmac said.
In unison, Sokrin and the others bent into the posture of respect and chanted, "Good morning, superior sir."
"You may return to seats, we have important matters to discuss." Bremmac declared. "Overnight we received an anonymous tip from a concerned member of the public regarding the Befflem case. To briefly summarize the case for those of you who have been busy with other cases, twenty two days ago a male of The Race by the name of Ussmak was found dead in an abandoned kitchenware factory." Bremmac touched the hologram controls and the image of a less than impressive looking city block appeared in front of him, a derelict factory was prominent in the center. "Also found in this factory were eight befflem that had partially consumed Ussmaks body, hence the name of the case, and a vial of ginger that had been forced into one of several stab wounds on what was left of his neck."
A pair of officers sitting behind Sokrin began to murmer, evidently they had not been involved in this case until now as none of the information presented was novel. Bremmac turned both eye turrets towards the murmerers, waiting for them to be silent before continuing.
"Five days before that, this covered goods vehicle was spotted leaving the factory grounds half a daytenth after midnight." Bremmac changed the holographic image to one of a small cargo vehicle, notably of a model with no windows in the cargo area. "Last night, a member of the public reported a warehouse they suspected was being used by a gang of ginger dealers and supplied the identification number of a vehicle they saw parked outside, as I am sure you have all guessed, it was the same vehicle." The image of the cargo vehicle was replaced by a map with one street corner highlighted prominently. "The warehouse in question is located on the intersection of Emperor Hetto street and Pssufalu road, we will spend today preparing a raid on this warehouse which we shall execute tonight."
Bremmac continued on with updates on less exciting cases, Sokrin's mind stayed on the Beffel case, he would likely be one of the first to enter the warehouse tonight as a heavy weapons officer (a term that seemed inappropriate now that a permanent soldiers time had been declared and the standard 'small arms' rifle issued to infantrymales and females was the same model he used). For most of the history of The Empire, police officers like Sokrin would very rarely encounter criminals as well armed as he would be tonight, but ginger had changed things. Sometimes Sokrin thought he understood what the males of the conquest fleet sent to Tosev III must have felt when the Tosevites unexpectedly started shooting back.
After the briefing, Sokrin returned to his desk. The expectation he had before transferring to the heavy weapons team was that there would be a substantial decrease in the amount of paperwork he would have to deal with, that had not been the case, though the majority of the paperwork he dealt with now involved tracking ammunition and confirming that he hadn't shot criminals who surrendered themselves when confronted with a small-unit group of armed police (he preferred not to think about the novels he had written after he had fired his weapon). Just as he was finishing his current batch of paperwork, the lead male of the heavy weapons team, an older male of The Race by the name of Fotsev, approached Sokrin.
"Sokrin, are you busy right now? I have a matter I wish to discuss with you." Fotsev asked.
"Excellent timing superior sir, I have just now finished this report. What can I do for you?" Sokrin replied, placing the completed report into a folder with a flourish.
"Come with me, we can talk while whe prepare our gear for tonight." Fotsev did an about turn and headed towards the armoury, Sokrin dutifully followed. The two males entered the armoury and began to select and inspect weapons, ammunition and body armour. As they did so, Sokrin spoke up first.
"What was it you wished to discuss with me, superior sir?" He asked.
Fotsev answered with a question, "How would you feel about wearing slightly more elaborate bodypaint?"
Sokrin turned both his eyestalks away from the magazine he was holding and towards Fotsev. "I would be honoured of course, sir, but I'll need some more context to know why."
Fotsev let his jaw drop open slightly before elaborating. "I have been informed that I am on the list of candidates for the position of Deputy District Police Leader in a rural district southeast of Pezzep, as such I have been asked to recommend a new lead male or female for the heavy weapons team here. I plan to recommend you."
Sokrin had to put the equipment he was holding down while he processed what he had just been told. After a moment that could not have possibly lasted as long as it felt, he decided on a reply, "I would be very grateful to you if you go through with your plan, superior sir, but I must say I did not expect this. I can't say I would have ever expected this."
Fotsev made the negative gesture, "Nonsense, you are a meticulous officer, you don't hesitate in the face of armed criminals and for a little while now I have been placing you at the front of raids to test your leadership abilities, I have to say I have been more than satisfied at what I have seen."
"When will you find out if you have been chosen for the position?" Sokrin asked.
"The day after tomorrow, perhaps the day after that. leaves me plenty of time to pass on some advice I hope will be helpful." Fotsev replied.
Fotsev delivered his advice while he and Sokrin prepared their equipment for the evenings raid on the suspected ginger gang hideout. Sokrin took extensive notes, which made the task of preparing their equipment take considerably longer, though after District Police Leader Bremmac did a spot check in the armoury and praised the two males thoroughness, Sokrin decided that it was to his benefit not to expedite the task.
Compared to preparing for the raid, the journey to the warehouse seemed to take less time than it should have. Sokrin and his fellow officers disembarked from their armoured transportation vehicles and took their places on either side of the warehouse entrance, Sokrin was at directly adjacent to the door, opposite Fotsev. As the door was being prepared with shaped explosives, Sokrin noticed that the faint smell of salt had given way to the faint smell of ginger. After signaling the rest of the heavy weapons team, Fotsev detonated the explosives and charged into the warehouse, Sokrin followed closely.
"Surrender, ginger dealers! Or we will lock you up and eat the key!" Fotsev demanded.
The ginger dealers responded by opening fire, Sokrin threw himself behind a large crate. An undisciplined spray of bullets flew overhead, Sokrin peeked above the crates once the racket died down and saw three Rabotevs wearing the bodypaint of private security officers attempting to reload unfamiliar looking firearms. Sokrin fired three quick bursts from his weapon, sending each of the three Rabotev criminals to the ground, clutching their wounds. When he turned around to regroup with the other officers and begin to clear the rest of the warehouse he saw Fotsev was also on the ground, clutching his wounds. Blood flowed from Fotsev's mouth and from between his fingers clasping his abdomen, Sokrin began to approach Fotsev, then stopped and began issuing orders.
"Aatos, summon the paramedics to tend to Fotsev and the ginger dealers. Mozzten, take Prevod and Keffesh and clear out the north side of the warehouse. Oyyag, Gefron, follow me and we will clear the south. The rest of you, keep this room secure. Don't let any of these criminals escape." The officers began to carry out Sokrin's orders, having paused only to respond It shall be done, superior sir.
Sokrin moved through the warehouse with Oyyag and Gefron close behind. They came across several more Rabotevs with strange weapons, as well as a few likewise equipped males and females of The Race, their undisciplined fire proved ineffective as the police officers returned with controlled bursts. The sound of the gunfire echoing from other parts of the warehouse suggested that Mozzten and his group were also successfully handling the ginger dealers on their side of the building. As Sokrin made his way further and further, the smell of ginger became stronger, he turned an eye stalk towards Oyyag. If the ginger began to effect him, as a male of The Race, he would become a liability. When Sokrin, Oyyag and Gefron had reached the rear of the warehouse and linked up with Mozzten, Prevod and Keffesh, the smell of ginger had become overpowering. The back room was filled with several large of sacks of powdered ginger, most of them perforated with bullets. The ginger dealers that were in this room had seemingly turned on each other at the sound of the police raid beginning, they were strewn about the room, dead.
Keffesh let out an irritated hiss, "How dare they shoot one another! We should have been the ones to shoot them up!" He snarled as his eye turrets rapidly darted from corpse to corpse.
"I think you have inhaled some ginger, you should head back and have the paramedics look you over." Sokrin ordered. "Oyyag, Mozzten you should go too, just in case."
Keffesh glared at Sokrin, he muttered "It shall be done, superior sir," then skittered back towards the front of the warehouse. Oyyag and Mozzten followed without complaint, though they moved in the same, jittery manner.
The three Rabotev police officers remained, Prevod picked up one of the strange weapons the ginger dealers had been wielding, "I have never seen a gun quite like this before, does it look familiar to either of you?" He asked Sokrin and Gefron.
"There is something written on the side of the receiver, what does it say?" Gefron asked back.
Sokrin picked up another of the weapons and examined the area Gefron asked about. He let out a sharp hiss of alarm, "By the emperor! These are Tosevite weapons!"
The train hummed quietly as it glided along the magnetic track heading out of the southern portion of the main continental landmass. Wusstrup kept one eye-turret on the instrument panel as she ate her midday meal. On the other worlds of The Empire, train crews could reliably enjoy uninterrupted breaks. Tosev III was different, The Race had only come to this world one hundred of its long years ago and it had never even been close to fully pacified (even discounting the regions completely independent of The Empire), subpar manufacturing standards and outright sabotage were still issues common enough to require serious consideration. Though the situation here on Tosev III would be considered completely unacceptable on Rabotev II, on Halless I or on Home, it was not as bad as it once was. Many Tosevites in the areas of Tosev III The Race ruled had adopted the culture of The Race (at least, as much as their alien biology, in particular their bizarre mating habits, would allow) and several generations of The Race had known Tosev III as their only home.
To Wusstrup, the meal she was currently eating wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but a meal consisting of strips of azwaca and zisuili meat, as well as meat from several Tosevite creatures, seasoned with spices from both Home and Tosev III, all wrapped in the leaves of a Tosevite vegetable and a thin slice of baked grains, would have been impossible before The Race arrived on this planet, and didn't exist for several generations afterwards. Older males and females of The Race tended to keep ingredients from different planets in their food separate, those of Wusstrup's generation did not see the need, as long as Tosevite food was sufficiently salted, it was just as appealing and just as familiar as the food of Home.
One of the lights on the instrument panel started blinking, an electrical fault had been detected in one of the carriages towards the rear of the train. Wusstrup looked around the compartment, her subordinate, Skoob, was nowhere to be seen. She suspected that he regularly hid in the restroom to taste ginger, but lacking proof there was little she could do. Dismayed, she returned her food to its plastic container and double checked her tool belt. Once satisfied she was properly equipped, made her way to the fault.
Passing the restroom, Wusstrup gave the door several firm taps with her finger claw, a quiet, startled hiss could just about be heard from the otherside, followed by a muffled voice.
"This, this restroom is, erm... occupied." Skoob stuttered, as though struggling to maintain concentration long enough to complete the thought.
"I'm going to investigate an electrical fault detected near the rear of the train, make sure you monitor the onboard systems closely until I return." Wusstrup ordered. And while you are at it, get your tongue out of the ginger jar!
"It shall be done, superior female." Skoob responded after a pause, Wusstrup wasn't sure if he had paused to have another taste or to curse her under his breath, though she was sure the truth was one of those options.
Once in the passenger carriages, Wusstrup began to regret the fact that she had not finished eating even more than she already did. The passengers, (Tosevite passengers in particular) had also decided it was time to eat, the cacophony of smells made her own hunger impossible to ignore. One Tosevite male set his food down and thrust his ticket into Wusstrup's face as she passed by.
"No, no, I don't need to see your ticket. I have other matters to attend to." Wusstrup said as she attempted to hurry past. The Tosevite shrugged (one of the few gestures shared by both species) and went back to eating. Further along the carriage, two other Tosevite males sank into their seats and did their best to avoid Wusstrup's notice upon hearing the word 'ticket', luckily for them, she did not have time to investigate fare evasion right now.
In the next carriage, a group of adolescent Tosevites were listening to a female of The Race describe the imperial palace on Home. The female of The Race was wearing the bodypaint of a junior shrine attendant while the young Tosevites were all wearing form-fitting wrappings the same colour as the scales of a male or female of The Race, with the bodypaint of students on top. As the shrine attendant delivered her lesson (stopping occasionally to ask and answer questions), another group of Tosevites watched on in evident disgust. One of the Tosevites (this one was wearing more traditional Tosevite wrappings) turned to his fellow passenger in the row of seats behind him.
"At least you addled Jews believe in a God, if one of my hatchlings were over there I would slice their head off." He muttered, mostly in the language of The Race. The words he used relating to the local Tosevite superstitions were by necessity borrowed from the local Arabic.
"Me too, Heh, I will sharpen your sword for you, of you like." The other Tosevite chuckled. Wusstrup let her mouth fall open slightly, for all of their misplaced disdain for the self evidently superior culture of The Race, they spoke to each other in the language of The Race. Not all Tosevites had assimilated into the culture of The Race, but it would not be long before they did.
Wusstrup reached the carriage reporting the electrical fault without further issue. The carriage was comparatively empty, there were only five passengers present, two rather excited hatchlings were sharing an oversized seat next to an exasperated looking intermediate hatchling civilizer. On the other side of the carriage and further from the front of the train, sat a pair of female Tosevites wearing the same wrappings as the Tosevite students Wusstrup passed earlier, though these Tosevites were not students, they both had the bodypaint of botanical researchers. Above them the lights were flickering rapidly, one of the Tosevites noticed Wusstrup and waved for her attention.
"I greet you, senior train conductor. Are you hear to investigate the lights?" The waving Tosevite asked, added an interrogative cough.
Wusstrup made the affirmative gesture. " An electrical fault was detected in this carriage, I made my way here to investigate."
"We heard a rattling sound inside the wall here." The other Tosevite said. "It might not be related to the lights, but we figured it was concerning enough to mention. We have made sure to keep the hatchlings away, wouldn't want them to injure themselves."
"A prudent precaution." Wusstrup said, adding an emphatic cough. She grabbed her scredriver from her tool belt. "If you wouldn't mind sitting somewhere else for a moment, I will take a look behind the panel and see what is going on."
The two Tosevite females left their seats and moved to the row directedly across the aisle. Wusstrup knelt down in front of the now vacated seats and began work. She carefully removed the screws, one by one, placing them in a spare pouch on her belt and taking a mental tally of each one to ensure they could all be accounted for later. While doing so, Wusstrup noticed that part of the metal at the top of the panel was slightly bent out of shape, the misshapen metal distracted her just enough that she fumbled one of the screws, it dropped to the floor and rolled under one of the seats. Hissing quietly, Wusstrup reached under the seat and felt around to find the screw. She found it after a few moments, but not before finding several short lengths of copper ribbon, hooked at each end in opposite directions. How strange, Wusstrup thought, I will need to follow up on these once I am done.
Attention now back on the panel beneath the flickering lights, Wusstrup removed the remaining screws without losing any of them. Upon removing the panel, she heard a metallic rattling sound, followed by loud crackling and several puffs of smoke. A large number of short lengths of copper ribbon identical to those Wusstrup had found under the seat where she dropped one of the screws fell out of the cavity behind the panel. The light that had been flickering was now completely dark, the circuit board located behind the panel was scorched in several places.
"Sabotage." Wusstrup hissed softly.
"What is 'sabotage' superior female? Does it mean you broke the light?" Said a voice from the aisle. Wusstrup turned to see one of the hatchlings staring intently at her.
"Kvess! Go back and sit with Ttenniv and Kassquit, let the train conductor do her work." One of the Tosevite females said while shooing the inquisitive hatchling away.
"It shall be done, superior Ruth." Replied the hatchling before skittering off.
The Tosevite turned to Wusstrup with what looked like an expression of concern across her face (Wusstrup judged herself to be better than most of her species at reading Tosevite facial expressions, though she still struggled occasionally).
"I saw the smoke, is everything alright? Should we be worried?" Asked the Tosevite.
"Behind the panel here there is a circuit board that controls part of the electrical systems in this carriage, someone seems to have opened a small hole at the edge of the panel and inserted a lot of small strips of copper to cause a short circuit, or perhaps a fire had we been unlucky." Wusstrup replied gravely.
"By the emperor!" The Tosevite responded, briefly turning her eyes downwards. Wusstrup did likewise with her eye turrets at the Tosevites mention of their shared sovereign. "Fatimah and I saw two males, uncultured Tosevite males I mean, sitting here earlier. They left the carriage shortly before the light started to malfunction."
"How long ago did they leave? Could they have left the train?" Wusstrup asked.
"No, this was after we departed the last stop. They still have to be somewhere on the train." The Tosevite said.
Wusstrup pulled out her radio and was about to order Skoob to alert law enforcement at the next station about the potential saboteurs when she was interrupted by the announcement speakers.
"Attention all passengers." Skoob's voice said with a crackle, the damage to the circuit board had affected the speakers. "We are now approaching... Gaza City station, prepare for deceleration and disembarkation. I repeat, we are now approaching Gaza City Station. Prepare for deceleration."
Once the announcement was finished, Wusstrup radioed Skoob, "Skoob, alert Gaza City Station security. There may be saboteurs aboard, do not allow any passengers to disembark!" She received no response from Skoob, despite repeating herself several times. The two Tosevites stared at Wusstrup nervously, she turned an eye turret towards them. "Skoob has probably left just his radio in the restroom, this doesn't have anything to to with the damaged electronics."
"That still doesn't sound good." The Tosevite named Fatimah replied.
"You are right, it is not." Wusstrup agreed. "Skoob is not the most attentive male there ever was, I believe his egg was dropped before he hatched. It is a shame it was not dropped a little harder." That joke got several yips of Tosevite laughter out of the two females.
The train glided smoothly into Gaza City Station just as Wusstrup finished securing the panel back in place. To her dismay, the doors of the carriage juddered slightly open (they would normally open smoothly, though they were currently malfunctioning along with everything else in the carriage). Wusstrup could see passengers file out of the other carriages from the window, two in particular seemed to be in quite a hurry.
Fatimah jumped out of her seat and pointed at the hurrying travelers. "Ruth, look, those are the males that were sitting here before, I'm sure of it!"
"I think you are right, and now they are getting away." The other Tosevite replied.
"I will alert station security and the police, they will be able to track them down once they check the station's security camera footage." Wusstrup said reassuringly. "I think it would be best if all you passengers sit in another carriage until repairs and be made here." She added an emphatic cough. The two Tosevites agreed, they walked over to the hatchling civilizer and spoke to her briefly. The three of them wrangled the hatchlings and left for the next carriage. Wusstrup followed after double checking the panel had been re-secured, making her way back to the front of the train to inform the rest of the train crew what had happened. The smell of food still lingered in the train, Wusstrup was still hungry.
Gazing out into the void and watching the stars helped Karen Yeager feel at peace. Looking through a couple of inches of glass, alone in her quarters aboard the Sacagawea wasn't quite the same as looking through the atmosphere of Earth (or Home) side by side with Jonathan, but it was still enjoyable enough.
She knew she couldn't sit and stargaze forever though, she was expected in the command center shortly. Colonel Uotat and Dr. Cortez were very insistent that the meeting was urgent, in spite of the fact the starship was still five weeks out from Bzenk IV, and that Karen absolutely had to be there. With a sigh, she stood up from her chair (she was not looking forward to returning to full gravity when Roosevelt station was assembled) and made her way to the command center.
In the corridor of the starship, Karen grabbed a handhold and began swinging herself towards the elevator. The Sacagawea seemed to be of a more refined design than the Commodore Perry, the starship that had brought her back to Earth from the Tau Ceti system. That starship had been rushed into service in an attempt to reach the home world of The Race before the Admiral Peary, the starship that had taken Karen to the Tau Ceti system. The Admiral Peary departed Earth thirty years earlier and travelled at one third of the speed of light, it beat the Commodore Perry to Home, though only narrowly, all things considered. The Sacagawea on the other hand, received ample time and care during its construction, the furnishings and amenities were well planned, not a tacked on afterthought. Despite carrying an extra fifteen years of age, Karen found herself much more comfortable here than she did when she was aboard the Commodore Perry.
When she reached the elevator, she pressed the button to call it to her deck and grabbed on to the adjacent handhold to stabilize herself. The elevator made a soft, electrical whirring sound as it descended to the deck where Karen awaited it. Once the doors opened, Major Kevin Harris bounced out. When he noticed Karen, a wide grin spread across his face. It disappeared quickly as he gave her a curt nod.
"Pardon me ma'am." Major Harris said as he made himself scarce.
Karen shook her head slightly as she stepped carefully into the elevator and selected her destination. Major Harris' quarters were a deck below, he was not likely to realize his mistake as quickly as the other members of the crew.
Arriving in the command center, Karen thought it seemed quieter than was normal. After a moments consideration, she realized that she only ever came to this part of the starship when it was likely to be busy, meaning her judgement would not necessarily be accurate. Dr. Maria Cortez and Colonel Uotat were among the few people present, the pair called Karen over to join them.
"All right you two, I'm here. What is it that is so important it couldn't wait until we got to Bzenk IV?" Karen asked, doing her best to sound less bothered than she really was.
"Don't be like that, Mrs. Yeager, I promise you will enjoy this." Uotat replied. "Dr. Cortez, would you like to do the honors?"
"I most certainly would, it will give you a chance to do your Fleetlord Atvar impression again." Dr. Cortez teased. "Go over to where the holograms get projected, I will control everything from here."
Her curiosity piqued, Karen asked Uotat, "What is it you have that you want to show me?"
"Our resident Soup Sandwich, Major Harris, proved useful for once." Uotat explained. "He found some very interesting files on the ship's database that were stored in the wrong folder, Dr. Cortez and I thought you would want to review them."
"I am here to study the Bzenki." Karen said as she and Uotat grabbed onto the handholds next to the holographic projector. "Not IT management."
"If you are as eager to study the Bzenki as you say, perhaps you would like to start now?" Dr. Cortez said as she pushed a button on the hologram controls with an exaggerated flick of her wrist.
A figure sprang into being before Karen. It was slightly shorter than than she was, and was wearing robes that, while of a simple cut, were a dazzlingly pure white in colour. Of the four intelligent species, including her own, Karen had met members of, the figure before her was a member of none of them. Instead of skin like her own or scales like Uotat, the figure was covered in beige feathers, speckled with yellow on its neck and on its face. The face in question boasted a beak that made Karen think of a raven, above the beak, two brilliantly red eyes were set into the figures skull, each with an imperfectly round pupil. It's outstretched and unfeathered hands were remarkably similar to her own, Karen thought, aside from each having seven digits instead of five. Each digit also had a very short but very sharp looking talon on the end. The unusually familiar hands held a flat stone that had been carved into a hexagon, with a pentagonal hole in the center.
"This is a Bzenk!" Karen said, slightly taken aback. "I had only ever seen a few pictures of them before now."
"That's not surprising, The Race didn't bring these files with them to Earth." Dr. Cortez explained.
"Yeah, having already decided to not colonize Bzenk IV on account of its colder climate than Earth, data on the Bzenki was deemed unimportant." Uotat added.
"Where did this file come from, then?" Karen asked.
"The Tom Edison brought it with them when they returned from their most recent rotation on Home." Dr. Cortez said. "The data was publicly available as it turns out, one of the diplomatic staff stumbled upon it while they were visiting a library in Rizzaffi. It wouldn't surprise me if The Race doesn't know we made a copy, it seems as though it is rather obscure."
"Do you want to see the next one?" Uotat asked Karen.
Karen nodded, Dr. Cortez tapped at the hologram controls and the beige-feathered Bzenk was replaced by another Bzenk, this one with plumage colourful enough to put a parrot to shame. Glossy, red feathers covered the top the figures head, extending down the back of its neck, shoulders and the top of its arms. The Bzenk's feathers were orange on its face and the front of its neck, transitioning smoothly to yellow on the chest. Green feathers dominated the abdomen (a few scattered white feathers were also present), wrapping around the figures sides through cyan and reaching a deep blue on the back. The Bzenk was caked in mud up to the waist, concealing the colour of the feathers beneath. It did not, however, conceal that Bzenki knees bent backwards, similar to the feathered creatures of Earth. This Bzenk had a beak that was slightly closer in shape to that of a puffin compared to the white robed figure that preceded it. The beak in question was flanked on both sides by dull, brown eyes which were intently fixed on the leathery skinned fish-like creature impaled on the end of the stone-tipped spear the Bzenk was holding in its taloned, seven fingered hands.
Uotat moved close to the hologram and turned an eye turret towards the creature on the end of the spear. He studied it intently for a few seconds, then without turning his eye turret away, quipped, "I don't think I'll be joining this one for dinner, the menu doesn't look very appetizing!"
Karen and Dr. Cortez chuckled, both agreeing that the alien sea creature did not look particularly tasty. Karen gave the hologram a closer look for a short while before she put a question to the others.
"I think this one is wearing some kind of grass or leaf skirt, could one of you take a look and tell me what you think, my eyesight isn't quite what it used to be."
Uotat bounced around to the same side of the hologram where Karen was standing. Once he stabilized himself, he took a closer look at the mud caked waist of the hologram and concurred with Karen. "Yep, definetly some sort of skirt under all of that mud. Our friend here isn't spear fishing naked."
"Our colourful acquaintance has likely been dead for over two hundred years, they aren't doing any kind of spear fishing, regardless of their state of undress, heh." Dr. Cortez stared at Karen and Colonel Uotat expectantly. When neither reacted, Dr. Cortez sighed and pressed the hologram controls. "Let's just have a look at the next one."
The spear-toting Bzenk vanished and was replaced by a very sorry looking individual. This Bzenk wore ragged clothing made of a grey, coarsely woven fabric. Black, matted feathers covered the figure from head to ankle, with multiple stripes of white feathers on its neck, forearms and thighs. The lower half of its left leg was missing, it's remaining uncovered foot, like it's hands, was unfeathered. It had seven digits, four pointing forwards, three jutting backward. It was compensating for its missing limb with the aid of a makeshift crutch made from a wood-like material. This Bzenk had a corvine beak, similar to the first hologram, however the tip was missing, it looked to have been violently snapped off some time before the image was captured. It's left eye was also missing, the remaining eye was solid green except for it's small, black pupil.
Karen winced, "This one is looking a little worse for wear, might be a crippled veteran left to become a beggar to get by."
"There is a note attached to this file that says this individual expired immediately after this image was captured." Dr. Cortez said, the key word was spoken in the language of The Race for emphasis.
"Damn, that's... dispassionate." Uotat added. "Let's move onto something more cheerful, skip to the one we were looking at earlier, Dr. Cortez, I'll do my Atvar impression."
Dr. Cortez began to fiddle with the hologram controls, the maimed Bzenk disappeared. When it was replaced, Uotat began gesturing wildly towards the new image.
"Behold - now!- The most fearsome warrior of Bzenk IV!" Uotat declared in the language of The Race.
The Bzenk warrior in question was clad in bronze armour, brown feathers poked through in several areas where the seams had been imperfectly put together. The warrior was sat atop a likewise armoured four-legged creature that was furred instead of feathered, on the end of its long neck was a small head with a disproportionately large, almost toucan-like beak. The warrior and mount had matching eyes of a light blue colour, though the mount had rectangular pupils instead of the imperfect circles of the warrior. The Bzenk wielded an iron sword, (which was, by all accounts, a recent invention when probes sent by The Race visited this world almost two hundred and seventy years ago) and a shield. The shield was, like the rest of the armour, bronze. It was dented in several places and was painted with five black, stacked chevrons.
"Impressive, but I would still put my money on the crusader in rusty chainmail." Karen said, still chuckling at Uotat's antics.
"I agree, I'm an astrobiologist, not a metallurgist but I'm pretty sure steel beats bronze." Dr. Cortez added.
The trio studied the hologram in silence for a few minutes. When The Race came to Earth, they came as conquerors, had they found the opposition they expected, they would have succeeded completely. Fortunately for the descendants of the long dead Bzenk warrior in front of them, the explorers from Earth came in peace.
Emergency meetings of the Society of Tosevite Nations were not something Julia Albinsdotter looked forward to. Regularly scheduled meetings were frequently rowdy and only occasionally devolved into chaotic bickering as their pre-written itineraries helped the Assembly Speaker bring the meetings back to something resembling order. Emergency meetings had no such pre-planning, which left Julia ignored as the trained diplomats aggresively competed to see who could speak over their peers the loudest. She looked out of her office window, sipping from her mug of tea that was just this side of scalding. Off in the distance, she spotted the Mitsubishi limousine that carried the Japanese delegation slowly making it's way through the congested London streets. The Japanese as always, were punctual, but the other delegations would not be far behind. Groaning, Julia rose from her seat, gulped down most of her tea (it was a Japanese blend had had become popular in the United Kingdom in the past few years but had yet to make it's way to her native Sweden). and left her office for the assembly chambers.
The assembly chambers were extremely spacious, they had been built to accommodate delegations not only from the existing nations that were independent of The Race, but also hypothetical delegations from those nations that had fallen to the aliens when they arrived over a century ago. The flags of the member states of the STN hung from the ceiling, while a mural composed of the flags of the conquered nations decorated the wall behind the speakers podium, the American diplomatic mission on Home had reported the imperial throne room was decorated in a similar fashion.
Settling in behind her podium, Julia looked through the news on her tablet computer. Most of the headlines were about the emergency meeting she was going to have to try and manage shortly. Most of the editorials described the meeting as having been called by The Empire of The Race, to the annoyance of Julia's inner pedant. The Empire had been refused full membership and was only grudgingly granted observer status, Finland (which had aligned itself with The Race for protection against the USSR) had called the meeting. As the Finns usually only attended STN meetings at The Race's behest, it was safe to assume the meeting had been called on the aliens behalf. France, which was more closely aligned with The Race than Finland was, had refused to join the Society of Tosevite Nations.
Failing to find any articles with insight greater than her own, she set the tablet aside and braced herself for the ordeal to come. It wasn't long before the Japanese diplomats entered the chamber and took their place, the flags of the STN member states that hung from the ceiling fluttered in the breeze let in by the open doors. Not to be outdone, the delegations from the Reich and it's vassals arrived shortly after. Germany had tried to take on The Race alone in the 1960's and had, predictably, come away worse off than their leadership had suspected they would. They had spent the rest of the twentieth century rebuilding and regaining their place as one of the most powerful independent Human powers, the nations that had broken away from their subservience after the war had found closer relations with The Race and the USSR unpalatable. They returned to the fold one-by-one once it became clear Germany was a player on the international stage again.
The Swedish delegate, Johan Anward, gave Julia a nod as the two made eye contact. Sweden held as a point of pride that they had not reestablished their former relationship with the Reich until after Fuhrer Drucker issued a decree granting the entire German citizenry a clean bill of racial health, reigning in persecution of those suspected of being 'impure'. It wasn't much to be proud of (and it still wasn't easy to be a non-Aryan resident of Germany) but it was still something.
The American bloc arrived next, the protectorates of the United States were predominantly island nations that The Race had overlooked during their initial invasion of Earth. They were taken under the American wing afterwards as the United States attempted to maintain some semblance of the Monroe Doctrine. It was the United States that insisted the five nuclear-armed nations be granted veto-power, then eventually came up with the compromise that the Assembly Speaker and Chief Executive always be appointed from nations other than those five.
Tradition held that the Assembly Speaker and Chief Executive of the STN come from nations aligned to different nuclear powers, the current Chief Executive, Maurice Dumas, was Haitian. There was no treaty or article mandating this to be the case as the American, German and Soviet power blocs did not officially exist, nevertheless, the tradition held.
The delegations from the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics subverted expectations by arriving on time for once. Internal strife at the turn of the millennium had almost torn the USSR apart, the central government just barely managed to avoid complete collapse by granting its constituent republics the autonomy to make substantial economic reforms. The Baltics and Caucasus held little trace of the communist economic systems that the USSR had previously been known for, though those systems still persisted strongly in Russia and Belarus. As the nations that made up the Soviet Union insisted that they were fully independent countries an a multilateral alliance, they were each members of the STN in their own right, however it was an open secret that the governments of these nations still answered to Moscow.
The British and Finnish delegations, along with the observer from The Race, arrived last. As the hosts of the Society of Tosevite Nations, the British retained more prominence on the world stage than their actual position would normally have allowed. After the initial conflict between Humanity and The Race had ended, the United Kingdom had found itself in the same position as Japan, though where Japan had eventually risen to become a near-peer to the three great human powers, Britain had withered. They narrowly avoided becoming a puppet of the Reich before the ill-fated nuclear war with The Race and had drifted towards the United States afterwards. Once Germany had begun to pull itself back together, the United Kingdom balanced itself between America and Germany in an attempt to keep itself from falling fully into either sphere of influence.
As the final delegates took their places in the assembly chambers, Julia sucked in a deep breath. Once the meeting was officially called to order, she was certain it would quickly devolve into chaos. Julia switched on her microphone, gave it a few quick taps, then leaned forwards to speak into it.
"As Assembly Speaker of the Society of Tosevite Nations, I hereby call this emergency meeting, requested by the Republic of Finland, to order." Julia hesitated for a second before continuing. "Is there any business from the previous meeting of the that the Assembly wishes to be readdressed?"
The delegates briefly chattered amongst themselves, Sergei Nikolayev, the Russian ambassador, put his hand in the air.
"The Assembly recognises the delegation from the Russian Federative Soviet Socialist Republic." Julia said as she remotely activated the Russian ambassador's microphone.
"Thank you, Speak Albinsdotter. On behalf of the Government of the Russian Federative Soviet Socialist Republic and the Council of the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics, I would like to once again reiterate our request for the United States to stand in solidarity with the other spacefaring nations against the imperialists of the Empire of The Race and share their technology that permits faster than light travel." Ambassador Nikolayev recited his speech without a hint of self consciousness, in spite of the fact that he had delivered the same speech verbatim at each of the past seven meetings of the assembly. Trayvon Greene, the American ambassador, rose from his seat and began to reply. Julia turned her own microphone back on to interrupt him
"Would the delegation from the United States like to issue a response?" Julia aksed sternly. The American ambassador nodded, Julia turned his microphone on.
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will, once again, remind the assembly that the United States considers faster than light technology to be critical to national security." Ambassador Greene said, making no effort to hide the rehearsed nature of his statement. "Sharing this technology presents an unacceptable risk of it falling into the hands of the Empire of The Race, however we are willing to work with international partners in the peaceful exploration of the galaxy, we have already transported a French probe to the Wolf 359 system and back." Ambassador Nikolayev shouted several rather colourful Russian curses across the assembly chambers in reply, however as he then sat down and remained silent, Julia chose not to address it.
"Is there any other business from last time to discuss? No? Very well, in that case I invite the delegation from the Republic of Finland to tell us why we are all here today." Julia said as she activated the Finnish ambassador's microphone.
"I would like to thank Speaker Albinsdotter and the Society Assembly for agreeing to this meeting on such short notice." Ambassador Sanna Marin said. "In light of recent events in Australia, the government of the Republic of Finland is growing concerned about state-sponsored international terrorism. I request that the observer from the Empire of The Race be permitted to address the assembly about this issue."
A wave of jeers erupted through the chambers, as usually happened whenever the observer from The Race was invited to speak. Julia started tapping her microphone to encourage the assembly to settle down. To her relief, the assembly settled quickly, she turned on the observer's microphone.
"Assembled Tosevites, as I am sure you are all aware, several bands of bandits attacked hatcheries across the island-continent recently, over a thousand eggs were destroyed, several hatchery workers were murdered and hundreds of hatchlings died as a result of venomous bites received from Tosevite pests that were intentionally introduced by the attackers." Ssvepp announced to the assembly. "Law enforcement officials of The Empire, during their investigations, have determined that these criminals have received aid from independent not-empires that allowed them to carry out these vile acts!" She added an emphatic cough, despite having spoken in English aside from a few words retained from the language of The Race.
Julia felt jealous of the dead hatchlings for half a heartbeat as the anticipation of the bedlam that was sure to erupt filled her with dread. The assembly remained silent. Stunned, Julia's will to live returned and she gestured for Ssvepp to continue.
"This cowardly act of violence against innocent, defenseless subjects of The Empire is the most egregious act of Tosevite treachery since the United States attacked the colonization fleet, Fleetlord Tevreg insists that this crime will not go unpunished!" Ssvepp said before she sat back down in her chair.
Again the assembly remained silent, cautiously Julia asked, "Does anyone wish to respond to the comments made by the observer from The Race?"
The Dominican ambassador, Raquel Lopez, raised her hand and spoke once recognized. "Does The Race know which nations in particular are complicit in the attacks on the hatcheries?"
Ssvepp made the gesture The Race used to indicate a negative response. "The criminals that have been caught so far were in possession of equipment and weapons of American and Deutsch manufacture, though as we have learned to our dismay, you Tosevites will trade weapons amongst each other to obscure responsibility for supplying the various groups that still resist the rightful rule of The Empire."
Reginald Barnsley, the British ambassador, requested recognition, then spoke to Ssvepp. "If the administration of Australia is proving to be a burden Fleetlord Tevreg is unwilling to bear, then I will extend an offer from His Majesty's government to relieve The Race of this burden and resume sovereignty over the land in question."
The silence that had held over the assembly finally broke as the chamber erupted in howls of laughter. Ssvepp made a series of hissing and popping noises in apoplectic rage. Once the laughter had died down, Julia turned Ssvepp's microphone back on to allow her to respond.
"The Empire rejects this absurd and insulting offer without consideration." Ssvepp said, with one eye turret fixed on Ambassador Barnsley. "Furthermore, Fleetlord Tevreg is currently considering moving the capital of the colony on Tosev III from Cairo to one of the new cities we have constructed in the interior of the island-continent. We are committed to maintaining our rightful rule over Tosev III." She added another emphatic cough to her predominantly English speech before storming out of the assembly chambers.
"Well, now that that is done, are there any new issues members would like to bring before the assembly?" Julia asked, hopeful that the meeting would end early. Her hopes were dashed when the delegation from the Estonian Soviet Sovereign Republic raised a grievance against the Reich over inspections at the Kiel Canal. The discussion was lengthy but remained civil by the standards of the STN, giving Julia time to process the first part of the meeting. She had expected a riot when Ssvepp asserted that some of them were complicit in the murder of over a thousand hatchlings, instead their reaction was to provoke her into storming out. As Julia chewed on that, Ambassador Nikolayev requested to be recognized again.
"Thank you, Speaker Albinsdotter. I would like to amend the itinerary for the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Society Assembly to include a vote on granting full membership of the Society of Tosevite Nations to the People's Republic of China." Ambassador Nikolayev said.
Well, Julia thought, At least I know the next meeting will be a bloodbath.