Worldwar:
Balancing act
Chapter 04
Karen Yeager enjoyed the return to the full force of gravity (equal to that found on the surface of Earth) exactly as much as she thought she would. Which was to say, not at all. She had considered asking Major Lucy Daniels if the rotation speed of Roosevelt Station could be lowered but had quickly dismissed the idea. Roosevelt Station and the equipment it contained were designed to function at 1 G, waiting until the station was under construction was waiting too late (though perhaps deployed or assembled were more applicable terms, the individual sections of were built in Earth orbit and brought to the Bzenk system attached to the hull of the Sacagawea).
Lieutenant General Amanda Carter had also denied her request to remain in her quarters aboard the Sacagawea while it was docked to the center of Roosevelt Station. "Skeletal and muscular atrophy are serious health risks to everyone who spends significant amounts of time in space." Carter explained. "The more time you spend in microgravity, the worse it gets. Maintaining quarters on the station proper, under full gravity, is in the best interests of everybody's health, especially yours, Mrs. Yeager".
Karen did her best to not let those last few words sting. Even discounting the time she had spent in cold sleep, Karen was the oldest member of the crew. Counting that time... made her more than double Lieutenant General Carters age, the Commandant of the Sacagawea was the next oldest member of the crew and still a couple of years younger than Karen was when she began her first interstellar journey. Depending on when exactly her birthday was, the commandant may not have even been born yet when the Admiral Peary set out towards Home.
Yeager did her best to put that out of her mind, at least for the moment. The return to spin gravity may have brought discomfort but it also marked the beginning of her research on the Bzenk. Records from the probe sent by The Race four centuries prior focused on the environmental conditions of Bzenk IV over the nature of its native species. That the Bzenki might differ from The Race, or the Rabotevs and Hallessi, on a psychological level did not occur to The Empire (such a thought would not occur to them until the conquest fleet sent to Earth arrived and had the issue forced upon them).
Once it was determined that the average temperature of Bzenk IV was several degrees below that of Earth, the planet was of no further interest to The Race. The United States was not as short-sighted, Karen thought, and so here she was. She left her quarters and made her way to one of Roosevelt Station's laboratories. Walking through the corridors of the station took some getting used to after swinging from handholds through the corridors of the Sacagawea, with the small difference in effective gravity between her head and feet, she had to be careful not to stand up or turn too quickly.
When she arrived in the engineering laboratory, Karen noticed the odor was slightly different to the adjoining corridor. Probably some kind of solvent or adhesive, Karen thought. A group of engineers were fussing over one of the atmospheric drones at the far end of the lab. One of the engineers noticed her and peeled himself away from the drone to speak to her.
"Hello Mrs. Yeager, what can I do for you?" Lieutenant Colonel Colin Burton asked. "You're looking for an update on the flies-on-the-wall, am I right?"
"Wouldn't be doing my job if I wasn't." Karen replied. "How are things looking?"
"The first batch have been deployed successfully, seventy five thousand bug-sized drones are currently taking up position all over Bzenk IV." Lieutenant Colonel Burton said. "And there's a whole bunch more where they came from!"
Karen sighed. "A part of me feels bad about using these tiny little drones. We're spying on all of these people that don't even know we're here." She said. "We also don't know how they'll react if the flies are discovered. Doesn't quite feel right, you know?"
"I wouldn't be so sure." Burton said reassuringly "They're programmed to stay out of sight, and fly into the nearest fire to self-destruct as a last resort. I don't think we need to worry about them getting caught."
"That doesn't quite address the bulk of my concerns." Karen responded.
"I wasn't finished." Burton said defensively. "They are also programmed to stay in public spaces, or at least what we reckon are public spaces, figuring out what the Bzenki consider a private space will be your job. Can't reasonably expect absolute privacy when you're out in public can you? Lastly, we need as much data as we can get so we can start translating their languages. With frequency and context analysis, it won't be long until we can understand them when they speak, that'll make your work easier."
"I suppose that's true." Karen admitted. "Besides, it's a little late for me to be getting cold feet about all this after I've already travelled almost twenty light years. When does the data start coming in?"
"It already has, Major Harris has set up a station in the server bay to show video feeds from the flies-on-the-wall live." Mild panic seemed to spread over Burtons face as he finished speaking. "Perhaps you should get over there and make sure he doesn't set the place on fire, that man shouldn't be trusted to make his own bed in the morning."
Ignoring the protestations of her joints, Karen hustled over to the main server room. The corridors of Roosevelt Station were near identical in appearance, but they were well signposted. Major Harris was the only person who regularly got themselves lost. Arriving in the server bay, Karen was greeted by the sight of Major Harris kneeling to allow Doctor Sverek to bandage his right hand.
"Mrs Yeager, it's good you're here. I, uh, set up a terminal for you to look at the feeds from the surface." Major Harris said as his cheeks turned a bright scarlet. "I may have also shocked myself when I was moving the big monitor, the insulation on the cable was frayed."
"The cable wouldn't have been frayed if you didn't insist on yanking on it from the middle." Dr. Sverek scolded as she wound the bandage. "If you are smart enough to be on this station, you should be smart enough to not hurt yourself like this."
Major Harris forced himself to break eye contact as Karen continued past, the table that the terminal had been set up on had already attracted a small audience consisting of Captain Michael Hines and Dr. Maria Cortez, the pair made space for Yeager to sit between them, at the terminal controls.
A video feed from the surface was already on screen, it showed a snowy town square and focused on two Bzenki, an adult and child judging by their relative stature. The sandy feathered adult, if their body language and hand gestures were anything akin to those used by humans, was enthusiastically conveying some story or explanation, while the child, who possessed white feathers speckled with black, seemed to give their rapt attention.
"I wonder what they're talking about." Karen remarked. "Once we have working translations of their languages we'll have to go back and watch these recordings again."
"I can't even imagine how many hours of footage we're going to have by the time that happens, you'll have your work cut out for you." Dr Cortez added. "Shall we move to another feed?"
Karen tapped the terminal keyboard, the snowy town square was replaced by small riverside village in a rainforest clearing. Despite being on the nighttime side of Bzenk IV, the village was far from asleep. A raging bonfire lit the settlement, around it Bzenki with rainbow colored feathers were dancing and singing (or were engaging in behavior that would constitute dancing and singing by human standards). Several stone fire pits stretched out from the bonfire, each of which bore a spit, cooking skewered aquatic creatures.
"These guys look like they know how to party. I volunteer to make first contact with this group specifically!" Captain Hines said, chuckling all the while.
"If you get picked, be careful, from what I can see of their food, you should pass on the sea food." Dr. Cortez jibed as the video feed panned close to one of the fire pits. To the three humans watching, the creatures did not appear appetizing, the Bzenki evidently disagreed.
Ignoring Dr Cortez's joke and accompanying smug grin, Karen dismissed Captain Hines comment. "We are not making first contact with the Bzenki any time soon, you will have to find some other pre-industrial society to party with."
The next video feed was back on the daytime side of Bzenk IV, a tightly packed crowd Bzenki snaked their way through narrow, drizzly city streets. The city was dominated by brickwork buildings with slate-tiles roofs, squeezed in between them in several places were smaller, thatched buildings of timber and roughly cut stone. The crowd itself was comprised mostly of brown feathered individuals, with a small but significant minority of Bzenki with black feathers with white stripes on their necks and limbs.
"They all seem excited about something." Karen commented. "Can we tell the drone to follow the crowd?"
Dr. Cortez answered, "They're supposed to have algorithms that let them do that automatically, if we wait a moment it should-"
Right on cue, the fly-on-the-wall took off and began to fly over the city following the direction of the crowd. The crowd was moving towards the center of the city, as the drone followed it came upon a plaza surrounding an enormous caltrop shaped building of a much lighter color than the rest of the city. The central spire was supported by flying buttresses that connected it the the three lower sections, which were themselves supported by smaller flying buttresses, eight on each side.
"Dear god, that thing is huge!" Captain Hines exclaimed. "Gotta be at least as big as the pyramids, weren't these people at the start of the bronze age when The Race sent their probe?"
"That was almost 300 years ago, we don't want to make assumptions about how quickly they develop technologically. We all know how that can end." Karen said. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Dr. Sverek swivel an eye turret in her direction for just a moment.
"What I want to know is what they built this thing from." Dr. Cortez declared. "If that light color is from a marble or even a limestone veneer then this building must have cost a fortune to construct."
"There could be a large limestone or marble deposit nearby." Karen noted. "There is so much to learn about this planet and its people, we're only just getting started."
"Speaking of, lets see what this crowd of people are excited about." Captain Hines suggested.
The crowd gathered in the plaza in front of the caltrop shaped building, a cadre of armored Bzenki wielding spears with slightly curved blades separated the crowd from a large elevated platform. Scaffolding had been erected over the platform, upon which an awning was mounted, which rather inconveniently obscured the view of the drone.
"Hopefully this rain stops before too long, I want to know what's going on under the canvas." Dr. Cortez said.
"Maybe it's a play." Captain Hines replied. "Watching alien theatre would be a good way to study an alien culture, right Karen?"
"It would be." Karen answered. "Though with those armed guards, their culture around actors might give our celebrity culture a run for its money."
The trio watched for another few minutes, waiting for the rain to end and the awning to to be lifted. Karen was about to switch to the next feed when sunlight broke through the clouds, after another minute or so, a pair of Bzenki began to retract the canvas. Karen, Dr. Cortez and Captain Hines all leaned in close to the screen to get a better look at what lay on the platform before suddenly drawing back in shock.
"Holy shit, is that..." Captain Hines said, trailing off in astonishment.
Karen fixed her gaze on the five lengths of knotted rope hanging down from the scaffolding. "A gallows? Yeah, I reckon it is."
Dr. Cortez looked away from the screen, shielding her face with her hand. "I don't think I can watch this, can we switch to the next one?"
Karen and Captain Hines didn't respond, instead they watched in silence as a brown feathered Bzenki dressed in a baggy red and blue shirt with matching breeches emerged from the caltrop shaped building, along with more spear wielding guards and a long, single file line of chained Bzenki. Some of the chained Bzenki were wearing ragged scraps of clothing, most however, were not so lucky and were wearing only their chains.
Dr Cortez glanced back at the screen and let out a small yelp of horror. "I definitely can't watch this, I'll be getting ready to receive plant samples from the surface if anyone needs me." With that, she hastily left the room. Dr. Sverek approached and sat in the now vacant seat.
"I hope you don't mind if I join you, I reckon I'm not as put off by this kind of thing." Dr. Sverek said, with one eye turret looking towards Karen and Captain Hines, the other pointed towards the monitor.
The Bzenki dressed in red and blue spoke to the crowd, every so often it would pause and turn to the Bzenki in chains. The guards would position the first five chained Bzenki behind a noose and one by one tighten them around the prisoners necks. The Bzenki in red and blue pulled a lever. The prisoners dropped. The crowd cheered. Over and over, the cycle went on. By the time the last of the prisoners stopped twitching, the rain had returned. Karen pressed a button on the terminal and the next feed appeared.
Inhaling deeply, Kenneth Seward tasted the salty, cool night air blowing in from the Timor Sea. As he understood, the Lizards didn't particularly enjoy the seaside, at least not compared to humans. They didn't much like the inland seas of Home, nor the oceans of Earth. If anyone had asked him, Kenneth would have angrily told them he didn't give a fuck what the Lizards did and did not enjoy, though privately, he was glad of the fact. That the Lizards thought of the seaside one way let Kenneth give himself permission to enjoy feeling otherwise.
Kicking at the dirt by the side of the road, he thought to himself; at least this hasn't changed. Despite everything the scaly cunts have done, dirt is still dirt. looking around at the scattered shrubs, he could see a couple of native plants, they were being choked out by the much more numerous plants from home. The sight of the alien plants, the color of corroded copper, sickened him almost as much as the sight of the greenish-brown scaled lizards that were choking out the native human Australian population.
Kenneth turned away from the infuriating plants and called out to Keith Hurley and Shelly Katter. "Are you too done yet? Scott will be waiting for us up ahead, we can't be late tonight!"
Keith looked over from the side of the van, he was inflating a tire with a foot operated pump while Shelly crouched down and monitored the pressure. "If we can't be late then we can't afford a flat." Keith said. "These tires are pretty old, we need to look after them."
"He's right, Kenneth" Shelly agreed. "These tires can barely hold air for a week, If we can't replace them soon, we should think about turning this van into a bomb and giving it to The Race."
"Scaly cunts." Kenneth muttered under his breath as Keith and Shelly continued with the pump.
After what felt like an hour but couldn't have been any longer than ten minutes the tires were fully inflated and the three resistance fighters were on their way. Keith sat in the back of the van while Kenneth sat in the front passenger seat and Shelly drove.
"Go and grab me my gloves, would you?" Shelly asked Kenneth.
Kenneth reached into the glove compartment, pulled out a pair of thick leather gloves and passed them to Shelly. As she pulled her gloves on, Kenneth gazed out into the night. Off towards the horizon, the southern cross hung in the sky. Kenneth chuckled to himself, the Lizards had spent a century trying to erase humanity from Australia, and with it all traces of Australian culture, but while the only place in the entire universe where you could find an Australian flag was the imperial throne room on Home, the constellation that flag bore would always be visible to humans looking into the Australian night sky.
"What are you laughing at, Kenneth?" Keith asked from the back.
"Hmm? Oh, I was just looking at the stars." Kenneth answered. "Can you see the southern cross over there?" Keith nodded, Kenneth went on. "I was just thinking, no matter what the Lizards do to us, no matter what they do to Australia, the flag will always be overhead."
Keith thought about that for a moment, then gave his own chuckle. Then Shelly spoke up, her voice sounding uneasy. "None of those stars are a part of The Empire, are they?"
Horror flashed through Kenneth's mind, that wasn't something he had considered. He had almost gotten angry at himself when Keith started shaking his head. "No, Home, Halless and Rabotev are all in different constellations." The young resistance fighter said. "They're all a bit over ten light years away, give or take. If I remember right, most of those stars over there are a couple hundred light years away."
Kenneth began to relax at that thought. Stars hundreds of light years from Earth and the Lizards? He liked the sound of that. A short while later, the southern cross became obscured by clouds, forcing Kenneth to focus his attention elsewhere. Looking ahead, he spotted a familiar, rusted old van parked on the side of the road.
"That must be Scott up ahead." Kenneth said.
"I see him." Shelly replied. She flashed her headlights at the other van, it replied by staring its engine and flashing its hazard lights. Having confirmed it was Scott Abbot, she pulled up beside him.
Kenneth rolled down his window and spoke. "Good to see you, Scott. Ready to go?"
"I've been ready for ages, sitting here waiting on you guys." Scott replied. "What happened, did Shelly forget to put the handbrake off?"
"Suck my cock, Scott." Shell shouted, laughing to show that she did not take the insult seriously. "We were trying to make sure the tires on this shitheap didn't deflate on us tonight."
"Ah, that's fair enough. We break down out here this whole operations knackered." Scott admitted. "All right, you lot go ahead, I'll follow behind with my lights off. Once you've got through the gate security, flash your hazard lights and I'll follow you into the dock."
Kenneth and Shelly both grunted in agreement then drove on. The dock wasn't far, though the drive seemed to take forever. A small part of him was worried, Kenneth, Scott, Shelly and Keith's cell had two members, Jim and Tony, working in the dock. They had been working there for several weeks now without issue, but the pair had only joined up shortly before Keith did, which wasn't high praise. According to them, Security was supposed to be light tonight. Kenneth met Jim once, didn't learn much about him other than he hated the Lizards for murdering all four of his grandparents. Tony? Kenneth never met the bloke, couldn't put a face to the name either. He had to hope the pair were reliable.
Eventually, the group did arrive at the dock. It wasn't much to look at, the security checkpoint and a crane were the only structures that look to have been built by the Lizards, everything else was, at best, built before the invasion and then refurbished at some point afterwards. Shelly pulled up to the security barrier and rolled down her window to a surprised Lizard security guard.
"I greet you, Tosevites. What is your business here? there are no cargo is scheduled to arrive or depart tonight."
"You were not expecting us?" Shelly asked, doing her best to feign surprise in the Lizards language. "I must apologize on behalf of some egg-addled fool who clearly has not delivered the paper work they were trusted with. My friend here should have a copy here somewhere. If he can find it, it will explain everything."
Kenneth pretended to search through the glove compartment, as he did so, Shelly leaned out of the window, made a show of looking around and whispered to the Lizard, "Are you the only security guard here tonight? That doesn't seem right."
The lizard sighed and likewise leaned out of the checkpoint window to whisper back to Shelly, "Truth, I am on duty alone tonight. After the horrible attacks on the hatcheries a little while ago the soldiers that usually guarded this place were reassigned to protect them. Policy is to have at least one male or female of The Race on duty, I am the unlucky male who was selected for tonight's shift." He let his jaw drop open in silent laughter at his own minor misfortune.
The Lizards misfortune grew quickly as Shelly grabbed his lower jaw and pulled him further out of the window. As the shocked Lizard scrambled to pull himself back into the security station, Keith dove out the side of the van and struck the Lizard on the head with a bat. Stunned, the Lizard was unable to resist as Keith and Shelly pulled him al the way out of the security station. Kenneth jumped out of the van to assist Keith as he tied the Lizards snout shut and bound his arms and legs. The two men threw the Lizard into the back of the van, as Keith climbed in, he planted his foot in the Lizards abdomen. A small amount of blood and vomit trickled out from between the aliens immobile lips.
Kenneth reached into the security station and raised the security barrier. Once he returned to the van, he flicked the hazard lights on and off a few times. Scott drove up to the dock entrance and the two vans drove on.
Once parked at the edge of the dock, the four Australians climbed out of their vans. Scott pulled out a flashlight and began clicking it on and off, pointing it out to the ocean.
"Well, they'll be here soon." Kenneth said. "Best behavior everyone."
The four resistance fighters stood quietly, listening out for the tell-tale sound of a motor. It wasn't long before they heard it, then shortly afterwards they say the silhouette of a speedboat approaching the dock. Once the boat was close enough for Kenneth to make out the black uniforms and helmets of the three man crew, he called out the challenge.
"Ni Hao, mate!" The Australian shouted.
The speedboat pilot removed their helmet, the stony-faced middle aged Chinese woman underneath shouted back, "G'Day, comrade!"
That was the right countersign, Kenneth let out a breath he only just realized he was holding. "Ni Hao Sheila, I should say." Kenneth began, before reluctantly switching to the Lizards language. "Welcome to Australia, please allow me to be the first to thank you three personally and the People's Not-Empire of China as a whole for supporting the fight for the liberation of the Australian people."
"The Chinese soldier frowned. "I do not understand, Sheila...?"
"Australian English for 'Female.' In this context, it is merely an observation." Shelly explained.
That seemed to satisfy the Chinese soldier, she smirked slightly before replying. "It is the pleasure of the People's Not-Empire of China to support resistance against The Empire of The Race, both in the parts of my home not-empire still under occupation and across the rest of Tosev III. One day, all of China shall be free from The Race, It is my hope that on that day, a free Australia will stand beside us."
"With the weapons you have promised us, it won't be long until that day comes. We're going to hit The Race so hard they will run crying to their emperor back on Home." Scott said.
"Truth. Well, let us not dawdle." The Chinese soldier said. "You may call me Bullet. My subordinates here, Engine and March, have a few crates of supplies to load into your vehicles." The two other Chinese soldiers nodded as Bullet gave their aliases. "The three of us will then return to our vessel and begin shuttling the rest of the weapons and munitions we have for you to shore, two other teams of three will join us to make this delivery as swift as possible. May I ask which of you four is in charge here?"
Kenneth held up his hand. "I am in charge of this group, call me John. This is Curtis, Walter and Matilda." He said, pointing at Keith, Scott and Shelly respectively. "We do take orders from elsewhere however."
"Then this is for you." Bullet said, handing Kenneth the satchel she was wearing. "Deliver these documents to your leadership, if you are as serious about fighting The Race as you say you are, then they should find the contents most interesting."
"You don't need to doubt our commitment to fighting the fucking Lizards!" Kenneth snapped, dropping into English at the end of his sentence. "Curtis, grab the prisoner!"
Keith dutifully obeyed, he dragged the Lizard security guard out of the van and threw him at Bullets feet, her serious expression changed to one of slight disgust.
"We threw this cunt in the back of our vehicle to sneak in here. There isn't a male, female or hatchling of his revolting species that we are not prepared to treat just like this." Kenneth declared as he knelt down on the Lizards back. He grabbed the Lizard by an eye turret with one hand, the other hand pulled out a serrated knife. The Australian began sawing.
The Lizard attempted to hiss in agony, but with his snout tied shut and Kenneth on his back, it came out as a strangled gurgle. Once the eye turret was fully amputated, Kenneth stood up, threw it on the ground and crushed it with his boot. He put his knife away and asked, "I hope this clears up any doubts you might have had about our resolve."
"I did not mean to doubt your willingness to fight The Race." Bullet replied quickly. "I will chose my words more carefully next time. Engine! March! Let us make haste."
Kenneth smiled as Bullet returned to her speedboat. Once the first set of crates were loaded into the vans and the soldiers sped off into the night, he kicked the convulsing Lizard off of the dock and watched as the moonlit water around it developed a slight red tinge.
Sokrin swung his eye stalks this way and that over the mountain of paperwork that covered his new desk. He had felt honored at first when Fotsev first told him he was being considered for the position of senior heavy weapons officer, that feeling turned to deep sadness when Fotsev vacated the position after he was shot by ginger dealers. Not only did Sokrin lose a colleague he respected greatly, it also severely disrupted the handover that should have accompanied the promotions the two males were about to receive. But Fotsev was dead, Sokrin had taken his place and his backlog of paperwork.
Respite from the overbearing bureaucracy came when Sokrin heard the hiss that indicated someone wanted permission to enter his office.
"You may enter." Sokrin called out.
Keffesh entered the office and bent into the posture of respect. "I greet you, superior sir, I apologize if I am interrupting you at the moment."
Sokrin made the negative gesture. "I assure you, Keffesh, you cause no offense. An interruption is most welcome right now. What brings you to my office?"
"I have a few reasons." Keffesh began, "First of all, I would like to officially report back for duty now that my medical leave of absence has ended."
"I must say I am glad to have you back." Sokrin said. "I do hope you are well and that you have not returned prematurely. There is plenty of work for us all to do, the ginger gangs of Rabotev II are as addled as they have ever been. I do not want to endanger you or any of the other officers unnecessarily."
"I am well, I appreciate your concern, superior sir." Keffesh said, making the affirmative gesture. "That brings me to the second reason I wished to speak to you, I wanted to thank you for dismissing me when you did on the night of the raid on the ginger warehouse. I know I was less than professional at the time, but you did me a great service. My doctors informed me that had I been exposed to much more of the herb, my recovery would have become much more difficult. The cravings I did experience were horrible enough as it was, by the emperor, it almost made me feel sympathy for all the ginger fiends out there."
The two police officers briefly looked towards the floor in reverence at the mention of their shared sovereign. Afterwards, Sokrin spoke first.
"You should not feel any guilt for your actions that night, you fell ill carrying out your duties in service of the Emperor." Sokrin said, the two males cast their gaze to the floor again. "The fault lies entirely with the gang we were fighting that night, we will bring them to justice and they will be punished for their many misdeed."
"Truth, superior sir. One day, Rabotev II will be free of ginger." Keffesh replied. "Lastly, I was told by District Police Leader Bremmac that he wanted to speak to you at your earliest convenience, I passed him on my way to your office."
"I shall go and speak to him now. It is to my convenience to not do this paperwork right now." Sokrin said, gesturing at his desk. "Nor the larger amount of paperwork I have stored electronically on my computer."
Sokrin and Keffesh both left the formers office. Keffesh returned to his desk in the open plan section of the office. The male of The Race had his own small pile of papers that had accumulated on his desk. As he was absent for some time, most of what was on his desk right now were non-urgent reports that required his written acknowledgement before they could be digitized and archived. Sokrins desk held more substantial work at the moment.
The Rabotev police officer headed down the next corridor towards District Police Leader Bremmac's office. He encountered the aged male just outside the office door. Sokrin bent into the posture of respect.
"You wished to speak to me, superior sir?" Sokrin asked.
"Indeed, I thank you for coming to me so promptly." Bremmac replied. "Please, join me in my office."
Sokrin followed Bremmac into the office which was larger and far better organized than his own. Bremmac sat behind his desk and gestured for Sokrin to take the seat on the opposite side of the desk.
"How are you settling into your new role, Senior heavy weapons officer Sorkin?" Bremmac asked, with one eye turret pointed at the Rabotev, the other fixed on his computer monitor.
"As well as can be expected, given the circumstances." Sokrin began. "While I am fully confident in by ability to carry out my new duties, Fotsev's death has had a severe negative impact on the transition period, under any other circumstances I would call the state of my office a disgrace."
"I understand, Fotsev's death has been hard on all of us." Bremmac agreed. "He was a good male, and a diligent officer. The Empire is worse off without him, though I am sure he would be proud of your perseverance in the situation we all find ourselves in."
"Truth, superior sir. It may be of little consolation to him now that he is with the spirits of Emperors past, but I am certain that we can take down the ginger cartel that ran the warehouse he was murdered in." Sokrin declared.
Bremmac took his eye turret away from his computer monitor when looking to the floor when Sokrin mentioned the spirits of Emperors past, then turned both eye turrets towards his subordinate, "I would like you to tell that to the Fleetlord when you speak to him." The male of The Race said.
Sokrin hissed in surprise, "The Fleetlord! Is the Fleetlord coming here?"
Bremmac made the negative gesture. "No, you are going to the Fleetlord. You have been summoned to a meeting with Fleetlord Neretiil at his office in Uvixx."
"I have been summoned..." Sokrin began before trailing off for a moment. "Wait... forgive me, superior sir, but how did you find out about this before I did?"
"I received a message a short while ago from one of the Fleetlord's ministers, asking for the identity of the leading officer involved in the recovery of Tosevite weapons from ginger dealers." Bremmac explained.
"Oh, Oh I see!". Sokrin exclaimed.
"I am going to send them your contact information. You should expect an offical summons very soon." Bremmac said. "One more thing, as I said, this message came from one of the Fleetlords ministers. Specifically, it came from the minister of foreign affairs."
"Minister of foreign affairs..." Sokrin let the words hang in the air. Up until a handful of years ago, that wasn't a position that had existed in The Empire since the unification of home, it certainly wasn't a position that had existed on Rabotev II under the rule of The Empire. Since the arrival of the wild Tosevites however...
The rest of Sokrins shift passed in a blur, aside from a false alarm when an uninformed individual reported the sound of a firearms shooting tournament as a battle between rival gangs, the day was uneventful. Finishing work a few day-hundredths before sunset, he went for a walk by the shore to watch the sun set behind the Pezzep skyline before heading home. Sokrin steamed a Krellepem he bought from a market he passed on his commute and watched a documentary on some buildings that collapsed into Ssvapi burrows while he ate.
He was washing his plate when he heard the notification from his personal computer that he had received a message. He set the plate on the rack to dry and went to check the message. As expected, he was summoned to a meeting with Fleetlord Neretiil and was expected in Uvixx in four days. It did not take long for him to pack his bag, less time than it did to book his flight and arrange for the fee to be waived, as was customary for travellers responding to a summons from a Fleetlord or even the Emperor himself. The Rabotev found that his leave was already approved when he phoned the police station to inform them he had officially been summoned by the Fleetlord, assuredly the work of District Police Leader Bremmac.
The airport staff and flight crew seemed particularly attentive to Sokrin. Likely they were informed in advance of his reason for travelling and believed him to be a male of importance. It was not the treatment normally expected by a citizen of The Empire that wore the bodypaint of a police officer, Sorkin was used to respect, certainly, but he was not used to being treated as though it would be a calamity if he were to be slightly inconvenienced. Once he arrived in Uvixx, he noticed a change, while he was still treated like the important male he was perceived as, the workers he interacted with seemed more comfortable doing so. After a moments thought, that made sense, everyone summoned by the Fleetlord of Rabotev II came here to Uvixx. Workers here were used to it compared to elsewhere on the planet.
Uvixx itself resembled Sokrins native Pezzep, indeed it resembled just about every other city on Rabotev II or on any of the other world of The Empire (excluding the cities on Tosev III that the Tosevites had built themselves, of course). More than once during his visit he found himself trying to look towards the lake, only to remind himself it wasn't there.
The Fleetlords office was notable only for its size, its appearance matched that of the buildings around it. It was unlike the Imperial Palace on Home, from the images he was shown since his hatchlinghood, Sokrin thought it was the most beautiful building on any of the four worlds of The Empire, including those built by the Tosevites themselves on Tosev III. Security allowed Sokrin into the building without fuss once he identified himself. Once he made his way inside and to the appropriate floor, Sokrin encountered a male of The Race with the most elaborate bodypaint he ever saw on one half of his body, and rather plain bodypaint on the other. The Fleetlords adjunct.
The Fleetlords adjunct looked at Sokrin with one eye turret, "May I have your name? do you have an appointment with the Exalted Fleetlord?
"I am senior heavy weapons police officer Sokrin." Sokrin said. "I was summoned by the Exalted Fleetlord."
The Fleetlords adjunct swung his other eye turret towards Sokrin. "So you are the male who was summoned to a meeting today? It was wise of you to be early, the Fleetlord will want to see you right away." The adjunct a button on his desk with an index claw, "Exalted Fleetlord, senior heavy weapons officer Sokrin has arrived, I will send him through to your office now."
In the Fleetlord's office stood Fleetlord Neretiil himself, the bodypaint he wore on both sides of his body was identical to that of the elaborate half of his adjuncts bodypaint. Sokrin bent himself into the posture of respect, "Exalted Fleetlord, it is an honor to receive your summons."
Fleetlord Neretiil surprised Sorkin by letting out a mournful hiss. "I greet you, officer Sokrin. I must say I regret that I must do so under these unfortunate circumstances. I expect you would like to know why exactly I have summoned you?" Sokrin made the affirmative gesture, Neteriil continued, "I plan to confront the Tosevite ambassador from the not-empire of the United States of America about their weapons smuggling to the gangs of ginger dealers that have plagued Rabotev II since the accursed herb first arrived on this world, I require you to give her your first hand account. I know this is a daunting task to give you with little preparation but I had no choice. I am sure I do not need to explain to you the sensitivity of this situation, I could not countenance any risk of this becoming public knowledge."
Sokrin took a moment to contemplate what the Fleetlord just told him. Confronting the Tosevites directly, he had not expected he was brought here to do that. Composing himself, Sokrin spoke to Neretiil. "I will will not fail you. I will not fail The Empire. I must not." He said with confidence.
"Truth." Neretiil said. "Let us proceed then, the Tosevite ambassador awaits us in the next chamber."
Sokrin followed Neretiil to the next room. As the Fleetlord said, there was the Tosevite ambassador. Sokrin was familiar with the physical appearance of Tosevites of course, but the first time seeing one in person and up close? The females towering stature and soft, pale, scaleless skin unsettled him.
"I am glad you are finally here, Fleetlord." The Tosevite said, the language of The Race sounded mushy in her over-flexible mouthparts. "Before we begin, I must say the tone of your summons was most unbecoming of a diplomatic correspondence. I understand you are the first Fleelord of Rabotev II to have ever engaged in diplomacy with a foreign power, but I must emphasize that the language of your message was unacceptable!" She tacked on an emphatic cough, and then another, a display barbarously ungrammatical.
"Given the reason we are here today, I am the one who should be upset, not you!" The Fleetlord snapped back, then he held up a hand. "Let us not get ahead of ourselves, first allow me to make introductions. Ambassador, this is senior heavy weapons officer Sokrin. Sokrin, this is United States ambassador to Rabotev II, Jeri Szabo."
"I greet you, senior heavy weapons officer Sokrin. I believe we corresponded in the past, did we not? About a Rabotev ginger dealer who claimed her stash of ginger large enough to fill several generously sized spice racks was for personal cooking use?" Ambassador Szabo asked.
"That is correct, ambassador. I while her argument would have made a difference to the penalties imposed even if it were true, your testimony made an excellent addition to my report." Sokrin answered.
Fleetlord Neretiil waggled his eye turrets slightly. "Officer Sokrin, would you please tell the ambassador about your recent shootout with the ginger gang?"
"It shall be done, Exalted Fleetlord." Sokrin said before swinging his eye stalks to the Tosevite ambassador. "During a murder investigation, detectives at my station tracked a vehicle of interest to a warehouse operated by a gang of ginger dealers. We raided the warehouse, however the criminals inside put up a stiff armed resistance during which my predecessor was killed. Citizens of The Empire are not normally permitted access to automatic firearms, upon examination it would appear that the weapons are of Tosevite manufacture."
The expression on ambassador Szabo's flexible face changed, she turned to Neretiil and spoke with a raised voice, "Fleetlord, the United States has always denied smuggling ginger to the worlds of The Empire, it most certainly denies smuggling weapons!"
Fleetlord Neretiil turned away from the Tosevite ambassador and unlocked a nearby cabinet, he reached inside and pulled out one of the weapons Sokrin had recovered from the ginger dealers, wrapped in a plastic polymer. The male of The Race handed the weapon to the Tosevite female and asked, "If you deny providing this to criminal elements here on Rabotev II, then explain how it crossed the void between the stars."
Jeri Szabo's face changed expression again, Sokrin assumed that indicated surprise. She examined the gun for a moment then spoke quietly, "This is a genuine Thompson submachine gun, my great-grandsire wielded one of these against The Race during the battle of Chicago. Allow me to consult the inventory of the last shipment that we brought to Rabotev II, I am certain there is a reasonable explaination for this."
Fleetlord Neretiil took the weapon back from the ambassador, who took a tablet computer from the small satchel she carried with her and began searching. Time seemed to drag slowly while she looked through the inventory, eventually she turned the tablet so Neretiil and Sokrin could see the screen. "Here, look at this. These weapons were brought here at the request of your own ministry of culture. A group of museums here on Rabotev II plan to open exhibits about the invasion of Tosev III and requested several thousand intact and operational samples of Tosevite weapons and munitions that were used at the time, our cultural outreach program obliged."
"What!" Neretiil hissed, he read the entry from the Tosevite cargo manifest Szabo presented him then hissed in anger, "This request should never have been approved, the addled fool who authorized this is going to regret the day they hatched!"
"Exalted Fleetlord, if it pleases you, could you pass this information to myself and my department?" Sokrin asked, "This is likely to be an important lead in our investigation."
The uncultured Tosevites that worked in the Khartoum train yard seemed to make a sport of frustrating Wusstrup with their nonsensical, circular reasoning. Every time she hissed in exasperation they bared their teeth in the Tosevite expression of joy and, though Wusstrup could not prove it, she was confident they were putting great effort into suppressing their braying, noisy Tosevite laughter.
"I do not understand what the issue is that you are having, superior female." A Tosevite worker called Malik told her. "You requested we do something to prevent sabotage of train electrical systems. Those who do sabotage can no longer access electronics behind the panel on wall of train. Problem is fixed."
"You coated the panel with a layer of resin!" Wusstrup shouted. "How am I supposed to access the panel to do maintenance?"
Malik waved the question off. "If train need maintenance, you bring it here. we remove resin, do maintenance, put resin back. Is simple."
"What am I supposed to do if I need to perform maintenance while a train is in operation?" Wusstrup replied, doing her best to make the annoyance in her voice obvious.
Malik did not may any attempt to suppress his loud Tosevite laughter, "Superior female, is the engineering of The Race not superior to that of us Tosevites? Malfunctions that would need to be fixed immediately are very, very rare without sabotage, which we have prevented. You not need to worry."
Wusstrup stared at the Tosevite in bewilderment, the idea of refusing to plan for an emergency on account of the fact that it was unlikely to happen was utterly ridiculous to her. She would have called the idea alien, but that was no excuse. To the Rabotevs, to the Hallessi, even those Tosevites who had adopted the culture of The Race, the idea was preposterous. Regardless, to Malik, who had an imperfect grasp of the language of The Race and considered the superior culture of The Race a foreign one, it was completely reasonable.
"If you are not happy, I can have resin removed, we think up some other way to stop bad people from damaging train." Malik proposed. "I can give you a call when is done. Yes, I call you when is done."
"Very well." Wusstrup sighed. "But be quick about it, this is important, do you under stand?"
Malik bobbed his head up and down. "Yes, yes. It shall be done, superior female."
The Tosevite strode off, presumably to start work on removing the resin that coated the inside of the train car, though with uncultured Tosevites, Wusstrup could not be certain they would do what they were supposed to be doing. Malik did fulfill his promise to call Wusstrup when he had completed his task, though he did so well over a day-tenth later, by which time Wusstrup (and to her annoyance, Skoob) had been assigned to another train. The new train she was assigned to, a long distance passenger service passing though several of the cities built by the colonization fleet in the south of the penninsula that connected the southern portion of the main continental landmass to the northern portion. The bridge that spanned the narrow trait between the penninsula and the southern portion of the main continental land mass was proposed while the conquest of Tosev III was still being planned, however construction did not begin for more than a generation after the arrival of the colonization fleet. The fear that the bridge would be targeted by Tosevite terrorists or one of the independant tosevite not-empires was high, security remained tight.
At the last stop before reaching the bridge, passengers were required to have their tickets checked before boarding the train. Without looking over to him, Wusstrup spoke to Skoob.
"You should go and assist the security personnel checking tickets, the faster we get underway, the less likely we are to fall behind schedule." No response. "Skoob?" Wusstrup called out, swiveling her eye turrets in the direction he was supposed to be. The unreliable male was not present. Wusstrup rose from her seat to look for Skoob, accidently knocking over his backpack as she did so. A small vial filled with a brownish powder rolled out across the floor.
The train conductor sighed. She had suspected Skoob was a ginger fiend, now she had no choice but to deal with the situation directly. As she left to find a security officer, she could hear Skoob muttering to himself in the lavatory. Ignoring him, she proceeded to the security checkpoint where passengers were submitting their tickets for inspection and found the male who oversaw the checkpoint, a security officer, second grade who identified himself as Erewlo.
I greet you, train conductor, what seems to be the problem?" Erewlo asked.
"My subordinate, Skoob, is in possession of ginger." Wusstrup answered. "A vial of ginger fell out of his backpack just now. He is currently in the lavatory, presumably with his tongue in another ginger jar."
"I see. Take me to him and I will deal with the egg-addled fiend." Erewlo declared.
"It shall be done." Wusstrup said. She turned and headed back to Skoob with Erewlo following close behind. Once they arrived at the lavatory, Erewlo noticed the vial of ginger still on the floor and squeezed past Wusstrup to pick it up and slip it into a pouch on his belt. Wusstrup hoped he was taking it as evidence and not for personal use.
Erewlo pounded on the door to the lavatory with his fist, Skoob angrily opened the door then flinched when he noticed the security officer pointing a gun in his face.
"You are under arrest for possesion of ginger, get moving!" Erewlo snarled.
Skoob spluttered incoherently and looked at Wusstrup, as if imploring her to intervene on his behalf. She refused.
"Don't look at me like that, if it were up to me the green bands of punishment would have been painted on your arms a long time ago." Wusstrup said, tacking on an emphatic cough.
Dejected, Skoob let his shoulder sag as he left with the security officer, Wusstrup returned to her work, hoping she would be able to maintain the schedule.
She expected the rest of the journey to be difficult with the train crew now one worker short, but to her surprise it was not. She reasoned that Skoobs ginger habit made him a liability, now that she was rid of him she no longer had to compensate for that fact. Regardless, she informed the staff at the train station at her last stop of the day about the crew situation and was promised a replacement in the morning. The station in the center of one of the cities built by The Race in the south of the large desert peninsula, boasted a small barracks for long distance train crews to rest in overnight. Wusstrup picked a lower bunk next to a window and slept well.
The train station refectory provided her with a meal the next morning. Wusstrup saw some Tosevite meats she was not familiar with and decided to try them. The baked, flaky sea creature was delightful but insufficiently salted, while the meat that resembled pork was was not pork was adequately salted but otherwise unimpressive.
Rested and fed, Wusstrup made her way back to the train to get ready for the return journey. She was considering making arrangement to return to this city the next time she had leave when she was approached by a male Tosevite. He wore the tight fitting greenish-brown wrappings favored by the Tosevites who had adopted the culture of The Race. On top those wrappings was the bodypaint of a junior train conductor.
"I greet you, superior female." The Tosevite said. "Are you Wusstrup?"
"Yes, I am Wusstrup." She replied. "Who might you be?"
"My name is Fernando." The Tosevite answered. "I was assigned to suppliment your train crew today."
"Very well." Wusstrup said, doing her best to hide the surprise in her voice. She had not expected to be assigned a Tosevite, especially in one of the new cities. "Let us get the train ready to leave at its scheduled departure time."
As the pair made their way to the train, Wusstrup asked Fernando another question. "How did you end up here, if you do not mind the question." She tacked on an interrogative cough.
"I usually work on the route between Cairo and Damascus." Fernando began. "However some fool coated several access panels in some kind of resin to prevent vandals tampering with the onboard electronics, I was reassigned to route that terminated here last night while the resin was removed."
Wusstrup let her jaw drop open in laughter. "That is the same reason I am here, wouldn't you know. It would seem fools are a problem no matter where you are."
"Truth." Fernando said after a couple of yips of Tosevite laughter. "If I may, I would like to ask you a question." Wusstrup gave the affirmative gesture, Fernando continued, "What happened to the conductor I am replacing?"
"A reasonable question. He let his ginger habit negatively impact his job performance and was arrested. I do not anticipate that you will have this same problem." Wusstrup answered.
"Truth, I am unlikely to have that problem." Fernando admitted. "I am not in the habit of tasting ginger, to me it is just a spice. If I were to taste ginger regularly it would not alter my behaviour."
Once in the train, Wusstrup was equal parts surprised and pleased when Fernando immediately began to read through the safety checklist.
"Shall we start from opposite ends of the train and meet in the middle, superior female?" Fernando asked.
Wusstrup considered for a moment, but decided against it. "No, we will both start from opposite ends of the train, like you said, but we will both inspect the entire train. Afterwards, we will reconvene here and check each others work. This way is more thorough."
"It shall be done, superior female." Fernando replied before heading of to start his inspection. When it came time for Wusstrup to review his inspection, she was impressed. He had not missed anything that she had picked up on, only a few clarifying questions about his comments came to her mind and he had good answers for all of them. He was equally thorough reviewing her inspection, asking several insightful clarifying questions of his own.
Once the first passengers boarded the train, Fernando volunteered to begin inspecting tickets first, a refreshing change from Skoob, who would only ever do so reluctantly. Wusstrup was still contemplating the difference when Fernando returned unexpectedly early.
"Is there some problem, Fernando?" Wusstrup asked.
"No, there were no issues." Fernando replied. "All passengers presented valid tickets, the only notable occurrence was an elderly passenger asking for assistance to open one of the windows.
He inspected every ticket in a timely manner? Wusstrup thought, I could get used to this.
"It would seem as though we have a moments respite between now and the next station." Wusstrup commented.
"Truth." Fernando replied, gazing out of the window. After a moment he turned his attention back to Wusstrup. "Did you see the news about the string of dockyard murders in the north of the island continent?"
"I remember hearing about that, but I did not read into it." Wusstrup admitted. "Have they caught the culprits?"
Fernando made the negative gesture. "No, not as far as I am aware, however the police have stated that nothing was stolen."
"Is that so?" Wusstrup asked. "Why else would a group of criminals break into a dock and kill security guards if you did not want to take the goods that were stored at the dock?"
"I suspect there was smuggling involved." Fernando suggested. "The criminals involved did not want what was stored at the docks, they wanted to receive something, ginger if I had to guess, at the docks without witnesses."
"By the Emperor!" Wusstrup hissed, casting her eye turrets to the floor in reverence. As her gaze returned to Fernando she noticed he had done likewise, just like any other citizen of The Empire. "That is fiendish, I hope that when they finally catch these murderers they lock them up and eat the key."
"I am sure you will not be disappointed." Fernando replied. "I would not be surprised if the criminals who did this were also responsible for the cowardly attack on the hatcheries earlier this year."
Wusstrups tailstump quivered in anger when she remembered the attack on the hatcheries. "The monsters who did that will not know the comfort of the spirits or Emperors past when they die."
You are right, they most certainly will not!" Fernando tacked on an emphatic cough.
"I think about resigning constantly, Maurice, I really do." Julia Albinsdotter confessed. The role of Assembly Speaker for the Society of Tosevite Nations was not what she had anticipated it would be. Rather than moderating discussions between diplomats who were acting in good faith for the benefit of all of humanity, she increasingly found herself a mere spectator to pointless bickering, political mud slinging and lies so brazen it was difficult to respond with anything constructive.
"You don't want to do that." Maurice Dumas, Chief Executive of the Society of Tosevite Nations said. "If you do, you'll be replaced by someone from the Russian bloc. As 'sovereign' as all the republics claim to be, we all know they do what Moscow tells them.
"Perhaps the assembly will vote to admit the Chinese, then they can send someone to take over from me." Julia suggested.
"Perhaps," Maurice admitted, "But do you want to depend on that plan? Little Rock and Flensburg may try to lean on us, but they can't just do whatever they want. We have our own countries, our own governments. The countries of the Baltics and the steppe are a fiction. If China doesn't get to replace you, Russia will. And there is no guarantee the Chinese would get to do that even if they are admitted."
"Truth." Julia replied in the language of The Race. The two humans chuckled.
Julia let her head drop as she massaged her temples. "I suppose there is no point to discussing this right now." She groaned. "Even if I resigned right now, I would still have to preside over todays meeting, arrange another meeting to pick my replacement and then preside over that meeting, too."
"That's the spirit!" Dumas said, a sardonic grin spreading across his face. "Now go on, get out of my office. The assembly chambers are waiting on you."
Speaker Albinsdotter left Chief Executive Dumas' office as suggested, though she found that the assembly chambers were empty, unless the room itself had developed the power of thought, then if was not in fact waiting on her. Julia took her place at the podium at the front of the chamber and began waiting herself. She did not have to wait long before the first of the delegates arrived in the chamber, though she (and the punctual delegates) did have to wait for quite some time for the last delegates from the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics to arrive.
By the time everyone had arrived, chatter in the assembly chambers had risen considerably in volume. Observer Ssvepp from the Empire of The Race and Observer Zhang Jun from the People's Republic of China had spent at least twenty minutes glaring at each other from opposite ends of the chamber. Speaker Albinsdotter tapped her microphone several times, one by one the delegates broke of their conversations and looked towards the speakers podium. Once the chambers were quiet, Julia began the meeting.
"Before we get to the matter at hand, does anybody have any urgent business to bring to the attention of the assembly of the Society of Tosevite Nations?
Ambassador Rudolph Scholz of the German Reich and Ambassador Sanna Marin of the Republic of Finland both rose to be recognized. The Finnish ambassador was almost certainly going to invite the observer from The Race to make a statement, doing so was the only reason the Finnish delegation ever attended meetings of the Society of Tosevite Nations. Julia was not sure what the German ambassador wanted to say. She considered letting him speak first, but decided it was better to deal with The Race first.
"The assembly recognizes the delegation from the Republic of Finland." Julia said tonelessly, knowning full well what the Finn was going to say.
"Thank you, Speaker Albinsdotter, this should be quick." The Finnish ambassdor began. "As we are here today primarily to discuss a matter that pertains the the territorial integrity of The Empire of The Race, I would like to invite the observer from The Empire of The Race to make a statement before we begin."
Observer Ssvepp rose from her seat as the other delegates jeered at Ambassador Marin. Clearly, she anticipated that she was about to be invited to speak. Julia did not activate her microphone. Instead she asked, "Is the statement from The Empire of The Race going to consist of a suggestion or argument that the Society of Tosevite Nations should not vote to admit the People's Republic of China?"
Ssvepp began to speak, however when she realized her microphone was inactive, she quivered in anger then made the affirmative gesture used by The Race and its subjects.
"The observer from The Empire of The Race is reminded that she has already scheduled to address the assembly immediately after the delegation from the People's Republic of China makes their statement." Julia replied in dismissal. "The assembly now recognizes the delegation from the German Reich."
"Thank you, Frau Albinsdotter." Ambassador Scholz said. "It has come to the attention of my government that the United States has recently launched eight spacecraft that are currently accelerating to the edge of the solar system. Given the size of these craft and the high acceleration they are currently undergoing they are unlikely to be manned. The Deutsches Reich requests that the United States explain the purpose of these craft."
Several delegations began to mumble amongst themselves. Julia was aware of the American spacecraft that had unexpectedly began rapidly accelerating out to the edge of the solar system, though she had forgotten it earlier while she was considering resigning her position. Expecting the usual back and fourth about the Faster Than Light propulsion technology the United States possessed (which would continue until one Ambassador said something undiplomatic to another, giving Julia an excuse to change the topic of discussion), she addressed the American diplomats.
"Would the delegation from the United States like to issue a response?" Julia inquired. Ambassador Trayvon Greene was already on his feet.
"The government of The United States has prepared a statement on this matter." The American said. "The spacecraft in question are communication probes. They will take up their positions at the edge of the solar system and, in pairs, alternate between their positions at the edge of this solar system and the edge of either the Tau Ceti, Epsilon Eridani, Epsilon Indi or Eta Cassiopeiae, or as they are known to The Race, Home, Rabotev, Halless and Bzenk. At any given point in time, one probe from each pair will be in this solar system and one will be in the other. The purpose of these probes is to enable faster communication between the United States and its personnel in the aforementioned star systems. The United States will consider relaying messages on behalf of other nations on a case by case basis. This offer does not extend to The Empire of The Race."
Julia could see Ssvepp out of the corner of her eye, ranting in fury to Ambassador Marin, who was seated next to the female of The Race. Ambassador Rudolf Scholz seemed to be as shocked at the forthright answer Ambassador Greene had given as Julia was, though he also seemed satisfied. He gave the American a curt nod and sat back down. No sooner had the German returned to his seat had the Russian ambassador risen in an attempt to be recognized.
Julia suppressed an exasperated sigh, "The Assembly recognizes the delegation from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic."
Ambassador Nikolayev was uncharacteristically quick and to the point when he spoke into his microphone. "I would like to request that the United States 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." The Russian immediately sat back down, not expecting a substantive response.
Julia groaned, as did several other diplomats. "Ambassador Greene, do you have anything to say?" She asked, turning his microphone back on.
Ambassador was staring at Sergei Nikolayev with contempt, it took him a few seconds to realize he had been invited to speak again. He stood back up, pulled a slightly crumpled piece of paper from his briefcase and spoke. "For what has to be the fiftieth time I personally have given this statement and somewhere north of the thousandth time the United States has given this statement," the American cleared his throat. "The United States considers faster than light technology to be critical to national security, 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. In addition, as I mentioned just a few minutes ago, we are willing to send transmissions from other nations to the worlds of the Empire of The Race through our probe network that will allow FTL communication with other star systems."
The American sat down, the assembly chambers were acceptably quiet. Julia moved the meeting on. "If there are no other urgent matters to discuss, then we shall move on to the matter of granting full membership of the Society of Tosevite Nations to the People's Republic of China. As this discussion was requested by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, I will invite Ambassador Sergei Nikolayev to begin the debate."
To Julia's surprise, Ambassador Nikolayev declined to speak on the matter first, instead saying, "It is the opinion of my government that the observed from the People's Republic of China be allowed to begin the debate."
"Very well. The Assembly recognizes the observer from the People's Republic of China." Julia responded.
Observer Zhang Jun eased himself to his feet, placed his notes neatly on his desk by the side of his microphone and began his speech. "When the Empire of The Race came to Earth a century ago, they did so uninvited. When they launched their brutal assault on every nation on Earth, they did so unprovoked. And when they began their cruel experimentation on helpless civilians across the globe, they did so with the same cold indifference that we might show an insect, or a plant."
The elderly ambassador paused for a second to compose himself before continuing. "One of these victims, one of the few whose name we know, is the late comrade Liu Han. She was taken to one of the starships of the conquest fleet and forced to couple with men she did not know and did not want under the threat of starvation if she did not comply. When she fell pregnant as a result of one of these encounters, The Race kept her imprisoned so they could steal her child, the late comrade Liu Mei. They tried to raise Comrade Liu Mei as though she were a hatchling of The Race. In doing so, they deprived her of her ability smile or make any other facial expression that we all take for granted. The Race attempted to discredit and humiliate Comrade Liu Han by disseminating recordings of her non-consensual couplings, they did this because she dared to try and rescue her child from their clutches. The Race committed all of these heinous crimes without a shred of remorse, yet they have the audacity to call us barbarians!"
Julia looked over to Ssvepp, who was making no attempt to conceal her displeasure at the Chinese observer recounting, accurately, the crimes The Race committed during its initial invasion. Zhang Jun continued.
"The Chinese government may have fallen to the Empire of The Race then, but the Chinese people never gave up. Comrades like Liu Han and Liu Mei fought The Race with all their strength and liberated the lands north of the Yellow River decades ago, our soldiers are fighting The Race as I speak, it will not be long before they are pushed south of the Yangtze. It is only right that the Society of Tosevite Nations grant the People's Republic of China recognition as a nation that has successfully resisted The Race, just as it is only right that you accept the friendship of a valuable ally. Thank you all for your attention."
The Chinese observer slowly sat back down, several of the delegations broke into applause. Julia waited a few seconds before tapping her microphone and reminding the assembly that applause was not permitted in the assembly chambers. Observed Ssvepp was glaring at Observer Zhang, both eye turrets trembling in rage.
Julia leaned forwards into her microphone and looked towards Ssvepp, "As per prior arrangements, the observer from the Empire of The Race may now make a statement to the Assembly."
Julia activated Ssvepp's microphone just in time to hear her inhale and exhale deeply, the alien did her best to speak calmly. "The bandit regime illegitimately occupies land in the north of the region of China, land that rightfully belongs to The Race. This assembly likes to talk about 'territorial integrity', if you decide to recognize these criminals as a legitimate not-empire, you prove that this talk is nothing but a farce. The Race has learned, to it's dismay that you Tosevites insist on rejecting the will of the Emperor, so instead of making our justified demand that the territorial integrity of The Race be respected, we are prepared to make and offer. If the Society of Tosevite Nations will commit to permanently excluding the Chinese not-empire, the canal that separate the northern and southern portions of the lesser continental landmass and the canal that separates the southern portion of the rest of the main continental landmass will be reopened, at the expense of The Empire."
With that offer the assembly chambers were abuzz with chatter. No-one, least of all Julia, had expected The Race to make any sort of concession to block recognition of the Chinese. Ambassador Reginald Barnsley of the United Kingdom suggested that the planned debate and vote be postponed to allow the offer to reopen the Panama and Suez canals to be considered by the national governments of the world. To Julia's dismay, the assembly voted in favor.