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Vanara had been on her way to one of upper suites when she heard it. First it started as a low rumble, moments later the sound of an incoming ship was shaking walls and floors of the entire lodge. "Dammit," she panted as she rushed for the stairs that served as the roof access, "is some self-important moron really trying to land on the old rooftop landing pad???" Based on the sounds, this seemed to indeed be the case - she'd known that this was always a possibility, so she'd prioritized keeping the structure reinforced, at the expense of her own basement room in most cases. As she flung open the dusty and metal door with a sharp squeal she gasped, seeing the one ship she'd thought she'd never again see in her life. The Snowlit Dawn... really, Donna needs to learn some subtlety. I hope she doesn't think she can just grab me and try to fly straight away...

Heavy, armored footfalls from behind caused Van to turn... as Lana, wearing a golden dress uniform with black piping - the standard for Leonin at an official event, nearly barreled straight into her, skidding to a stop inches away. "Uh, Va-er Ms Briskwind," she huffed and panted, seemingly having ran all the way up here from Blueden, "th-the prince is aboard that freighter. I didn't expect they'd-!"

"WHAT???" Vanara practically howled, "Are you serious? This is outrageous!" She was livid, not only was this void damn, snow-soaked son of a brush-fire prince just dropping in on her home, but in her daughter's ship! She balled her hands up into fists as the ramp extended and lowered. Two figures were visible in the airlock: one clearly a male Leonin and much larger than the other, who seemed to be a female Canid - possibly Huscanid. The Leonin stepped forward with what seemed to be confidence, wearing a gaudily ornate white robe, as was typical of their royalty. Suddenly, he froze as he locked eyes with Lana, Vanara instantly noticed his irises expanding and a clear look of shock on his face - perhaps recognition? But why would a prince recognize a common soldier?

"I... need someone to get my luggage, there is a looot of it." He finally demanded after a pause that went on just a moment too long. "The Huscanid with you shall be needed also." By that point, Vanara could tell it was Donna who was with him, who she gave a discrete "how in the galaxy did you fuck this up so badly?" look.

"Prince Garret," Donna began awkwardly, "I'm certain our crew can-!"

"No," he growled, "you will all need to get the luggage, from the ship." Vanara noticed what seemed to one a concealed hand gesture from the prince beneath his cloak towards Donna, and she thought to look at Lana. Her Leonin friend looked even more anxious and shocked than usual... she'd have to ask why when they were alone.

"You heard the prince ," Lana shook her head and sighed as she turned to follow him, grabbing Vanara by the arm, but not roughly, "let's go."

Once they were all in the airlock and it had cycled shut, the "prince's" demeanor changed. "It's alright Lana, we can drop the act in here, and don't worry - we're faking transmissions from your comms unit that sound like you're picking up and shifting stuff onto a grav pallet. What in the void are you doing on Huska?"

"I could ask you the same, brother. What in the nine hells is with this 'prince' crap?"

"You know him?" Donna and Vanara asked in unison, giving each other even more awkward looks.

"Lana is a her ," Gerard growled towards Donna briefly before softening, "and yes, she's my sister. I've been serving as the doctor aboard this ship a while now. Pretending to be a prince... wasn't my idea."

"Oh good," Lana remarked with more than a hint of sarcasm, waving her arms in exasperation, "because if it was I'd say you're out of your fucking void damn mind! You know that we have standing orders to kill you on sight, right?"

" Just kill me?" Gerard gasped in mock surprise, chuckling bitterly as he touched his chest. "Not even any torture or questioning? That's just hurtful and insulting! I uh... hope you intend to disregard those orders."

"I'm debating it..." Lana glowered, rolling her eyes, "after all, I am here because someone decided to not only desert but shoot two other soldiers in the process. And guess who had to take his duty slot?" She poked at her brother's chest with a gauntlet covered finger to drive the point home.

"...I was afraid of that..." Gerard groaned, rubbing his face, "I'd offer to remove your implant, but that would immediately send them after you."

"And I'm only here for mother," Donna growled, stomping up to get between the two, "Gerard, I'm sorry your sister is mixed up in this, but we can't take her along, it's too risky."

"Donna, dear..." Vanara spoke up after that remark, "you'd best lower your risk aversion, because I'm not leaving without Lana here."

"Void dammit..." Vanara heard a new voice from further within the ship, and turned to see what looked like another Huscanid with oddly cream colored fur. Her arms folded in front of her, an apron covering a plain white shirt and pants. "Captain, why is your family always so difficult?"

When did Donna hire another cook? Thought Vanara, she'd only mentioned the Tigrin in the last message. "I remember you told me about your crew, minus your rather dubious doctor here, but I can see why you omitted that detail from the conversation. Who is this?"

"Ellen Tailer," the newcomer announced, reaching her bare hand out to shake Vanara's enthusiastically, perhaps too much so... "I just recently joined the crew - chef's apprentice. The ship's cook is so good I wanted to learn from him, so... here I am!"

Vanara raised a skeptical eyebrow, as did Lana, though the Leonin soldier for her part was trying not to stare as Vanara took Ellen's hand and shook it gingerly.

"Uh..." Donna blinked and gave Ellen a pained look, "yes, that's... accurate. Mother, I think us Huscanids have a few things we need to discuss, privately in my office."

---

Donna grumbled beneath her breath as she led "Ellen" and her mother to her office, until the former decided to "make them coffee" and break off towards the kitchen. Doubt Ellia will give me enough time to explain this to mom. At least it'll give me a moment to collect myself. For her part, Vanara sighed as she slid into the old chair in her office, seemingly delighted to be able to sit in comfort.

"Glad to see you kept this mostly the way Jerry left it," she began, "Donna, I'm sorry that-"

"James already explained everything to me," said Donna flatly, cutting off what felt like mostly empty platitudes to her, "so I at least understand why you didn't leave immediately, but... really? It's been decades, mom; you couldn't possibly have had anything meaningful in the works!"

"Until the past year, you'd have been correct;" Vanara sighed, lowering her ears, "but you're right, I really have no excuse for not leaving sooner. I even had some openings when we still had cells working to get more people out as refugees. I just... didn't know when to give up. Now though, I think I have doubts about our new benefactor, based on what you told me."

"Yes, about that..." Donna started to say as the door opened and Ellen brought coffee in, as the door close behind her automatically, "I think Ellen can actually tell you a lot more about who you've been working with. Or rather I should say Ellia Longtail can." Donna smiled at Ellen who groaned in response.

"You really love to ruin my fun, don't you?" Ellen huffed, before he appearance shifted to that of her actual Ragerian self, "I still think this is a bad idea, if the Leonin catch her..."

"You're the one who stowed away and insisted on coming along, Ellia!"

"Wait," Vanara held her hands up as she looked towards Ellia, "Is this the Ambassador Longtail you said was trying to blackmail you?"

"Why is it everyone assumes the worst about me?" Ellia practically pouted, shaking her head. "That wasn't blackmail, I was just letting her know how I had helped you with your health problems. You're welcome, by the way. Not exactly a full AIS, but it seems to have fixed the issue."

"So, my suspicions were correct," Vanara narrowed her eyes at Ellia, "I'd like to get this out of the way now, what's your endgame for all this, Ambassador."

"Order's grace," Ellia grumbled, "save someone's life out here because it's the right thing to do, and they think you want something from them. Well, I don't... at least not in the way you think. Vanara Briskwind, am I correct in assuming you are if not the last government official from the old Commonwealth of Zern?"

"Why?" Vanara blinked and shrugged. "You want to make a treaty with a defunct government? One that has not had any power or authority to speak of for decades?"

"What if it wasn't? What if the Leonin could be... removed... from your space?"

"Hypothetically, if such an absolutely improbable event were to occur," Vanara responded carefully, "I expect we'd just be beholden to whomever 'removed' them."

"What if you removed them yourself? Or, perhaps more accurately, what if they were removed by people who answered to your government in the process?"

Vanara laughed at that, shaking her head. "Really ambassador, while you're at it perhaps I should be imagining that I can fly."

"You know, a few years ago I'd not have believed this myself, but I've seen a lot of stuff I thought was impossible or unlikely happen recently." Ellia sighed, looking somewhat dejected. "Anyway, I'm afraid I'm not actually the one who's been arranging everything. That would be... someone else. I will say that I have my own personal goals in this area, which shouldn't involve you, and insisting we take your Leonin friend with us complicates everyone else's goals."

"Right," Donna grumbled, "I'd actually love to help Gerard's sister, but as it is I'm not quite sure how that's going to work. We understood you had instructions?"

"I do," Vanara groaned, practically flopping in the chair, "and you're not going to like them."

**Black Site 2, Lupin Prime**

Massive blast doors ground shut behind Major Illoria Scythe as he led her Ragerian guest into the facility. A facility that does not officially exist,_she thought with a deepening frown, _and not even most of the Alpha Council knows of it... yet here I am, letting in a Ragerian, and a known _ troublemaker _ at that. It is a very good thing I stayed far from elected politics. After the door closed the halls they walked were dim and silent, save for their footsteps. Even though the Lupin preferred underground dwellings, S2 had always given Scythe a distinct feeling of unease - perhaps because large chunks of its history and official purpose had been redacted, even for her.

"I must admit," the Ragerian spoke cheerfully, adjusting glasses Scythe was certain he did not need for vision correction, "I hadn't expected you'd ever take me to one of your black sites, much less S2."

Scythe abruptly spinned at that, taking much of her trained discipline to hold back a gasp. This was information he should not have known - she had to plug find the leak and plug it, as her duty. "How do you know of this?" She asked in an even tone.

"Really now, Illoria," the folf chuckled, flicking his tail that seemed almost golden in the low lighting, "do you truly think your people can hide secrets from me at this point?"

She growled and grimaced, but had to internally admit he was right; after all, that was the only way she'd gotten Council approval for this visit in the first place. "Call me Major Scythe , our relationship is not a casual one, like you have with Ambassador Greypaw."

"Alright," he shrugged, "but I think it's a nice name, and worth using. Honestly, I probably know about as much as you about the place, I did find out from your files after all, but I digress... I recall giving you a list of several suitable sites, ones the _officially_exist, so this quite a treat for me." He rubbed his paw-hands together excitedly and his tail wagged behind him. "Can't wait to see what a cutting edge Lupin Cyber-Warfare setup looks like."

"You may wish to temper your enthusiasm, Hack." Scythe groaned at such an overt emotional outburst from a supposed professional - though at this point she knew to expect it, Ragerians were people of intense emotions after all, if not in full view then below the surface.

"Why, old hardware that's likely not been updated in a few years?" He asked, starting to walk forward with her again. "Please, it's less the machine, and more what it runs."

"Do remind me why I am putting up with your antics like this." She bit her lip to keep her expression neutral as she passed some at first wary guards, whos expressions turned to amusement when they scanned their passes and found them valid. I suppose this would be a normally tedious posting.

For his part, Hack waited until they were alone and past the next set of blast doors to reply. "As I understand it, your Council has declined your request to re-deploy your guard forces to properly defend your homeworld, and fortunately you are wise enough to allow me to help with... contingency preparations."

"Thank you for not insulting them this time," Scythe muttered under her breath, even if she had agreed completely with his assessment before, that was not something she could allow him to say without some degree of push-back, "you truly possess a 'weapon' that can stop them after they reach our system?"

The folf winced, his prior enthusiasm suddenly gone as his ears lowered. "Yes... but you must understand, I'm not just going to 'give' it to you."

"Of course," Scythe nodded, "we have only recently became allies, and not yet in an official capacity. The Yotan have already helped us in many ways we had not expected, we would not be so dishonorable as to extract additional knowledge you do not wish to share."

"No," he sighed and shook his head, stopping suddenly, "there's a lot more to it than that. You have your moral code of conduct, and I have mine - one which I would be breaking by giving this to anyone... and bending heavily should I be forced to deploy it."

"It was you who suggested this action... have you changed your mind?"

"No Major, I just..." Hack sighed and shook his head, finally meeting her gaze, "I don't know if I can live with myself if we have to do this. I already have too much blood on my hands."

"From what I gather," she replied, more than a note of sympathy in her voice, "that blood is of those who would have done great harm to you, your allies, or innocent parties. You have accomplished good in places where I would have seen none possible, and for people I had believed there was no way to help or better. You should not be so ridged in your conviction to preserving life that more of it is lost."

This got a chuckle out of Hack for a moment, much to Scythe's initial confusion.

"What part of my advice did you find amusing?" She finally asked, more than slightly intrigued.

"Just that I think I won an unofficial bet," he grinned, "you just told m** e to lighten up!**"

"Ragerians," she muttered, rolling her eyes, "I take it this speculation was on the part of Ambassador Longtail?"

"No," Hack laughed more heartily now, "that was on the part of our mutual friend Matriarch Razormaw."

"Unbelievable," Scythe actually couldn't resist a brief chuckle and a broad smile, "that I have proven such an undisciplined person to be right by stating you have an area in which you are too rigid with your judgments."

"How very..." he gasped as he fell against the wall, "un-Alpha-like of you, Major!"

That was too much for her to contain, Scythe burst out with heavy laughter that nearly brought her to her knees, only biting it back and regaining her composure when a guard on patrol walked past, giving them both intense glances before shrugging and continuing on her way.

"You really ought to laugh more often, Illoria," Hack said with a smile once the guard was out of earshot, "it's good for you, and your laughter sounds wonderful."

"Then I fear you will be disappointed with our interactions going forward." Scythe's expression and tone was flat, but there was a happy twinkle behind her eyes.

"I don't know, sometimes I see that as a challenge."