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((Slightly longer segment this time, readers dear. Enjoy!))

SAFES Liaison Log, Science Vessel Searcher, June 6th, 2555

I admit that I have never been very impressed with the practice euphemistically known as "diplomacy at the end of a lance"; essentially, one side encouraging quick agreement beneficial to itself by the threat of armed force. However, the use to which Admiral Williams was able to put to a threat that only existed in the minds of the Viis was quite impressive. At no point did she directly or even indirectly say that aggressive action might be taken if her opposite wasn't sufficiently cooperative but when they imagined that three warships arrayed defensively around a practically unarmed scientific vessel was meant as a direct threat, she didn't bother to correct them. As a result, she finagled a direct audience with the Viis Kaa (something like an emperor, apparently) and learned, to the collective astonishment of her war council, that our expedition managed to jump in close to the capital world of their entire empire, catching them totally by surprise. I suppose, and the Admiral seems to agree, that a matter of the most grave urgency has forced them to leave their homeworld stripped bare of naval assets for defense. It is the only explanation we have for why a blatantly proud race with no hesitancy about throwing military threats around would be defenseless against a token task force. Granted, any naval force with a carrier represents an overwhelming concentration of firepower but the capacity of our forces is insufficient to shield it, reducing its threat value.

All speculations aside, the meeting with the Kaa on Viisymel was an eye-opening experience. One sniff of the air, even in the sheltered gardens of the palace, confirmed everything our instruments have been telling us: the atmosphere of Viisymel is in disastrous shape and only CO2-fueled plant abundance is preventing the citizenry from needing to go everywhere with a breathing apparatus.

Their architectural style reminds me of Islamic-African building philosophies: important structures are tall and gaudy but while structures are enclosed in their own way, very few of them have even a hint of a mechanism to separate the inside of the home from the atmosphere around it, even structures that are apparently meant for the middle class such as merchants. Also, their building style is composed almost exclusively of stone and mudâ€"and the structures look to pre-date the industrialization that would have made forests into the linchpin of the world's survival. It is a very strange adaptation for a climate zone that is in a temperate precipitation and weather belt albeit highly appropriate for a militaristic society as earthen structures are extraordinarily defensible.

Another way in which the experience was eye-opening was the Viis attitude towards their military. Outside the psychologically repressive nature of their black-armored soldiers, they seem to regard their military with an unhealthy level of respect. Yes, that is a bizarre observation considering the immense regard in which we hold the Sol Armed Forces but we do not see the SAF as the iron fist of the government but, rather, as the shield of the common people. The "Enforcers" are quite obviously tools of intimidation although I'm proud to say that they didn't impress any part of our little delegation, even Jenkins who I honestly expected to be a coward at heart in the way that most bullies are. However, there is evidently another side to their military other than a means of oppression which this "Grand Admiral" of theirs quite obviously represents. He seems to be a proud martinet, a highly disciplined soldier with a shrewd grasp of reality that has apparently won him the respect of the Kaa although I got the strange feeling that of the two, the Grand Admiral was the one in control of everything. Not necessarily pulling the Kaa's strings but he slipped very easily into the role of the Kaa's voice, his... proxy, I suppose. Whatever he represents or whoever he is in the government, he knows much more than he allows anyone to seeâ€"that much I was able to notice from our relatively short meeting.

The last thing that really struck me was actually Jenkins. I didn't much like him when I first encountered him but there is beginning to be something else about him other than his unpleasant nature. Akeya Obsydian may be immature and temperamental but in the end, she is a fully-accredited SpecOps. I have not said so to either the Admiral or General Wilson but I am certain that she saw a piece of the real Jenkins under the elaborate and sneering façade he so carefully built. I do not know what is under the disguise but I am increasingly certain that he was not sent by the intelligence service.

Well, as to the result of all of this, we have official permission to survey this area of the Viis Empire, if not other parts of it. It was rather strange how easily we wheedled such a boon out of the Kaa... perhaps far too easily but I shall leave that sort of thinking to Admiral Williams. To be honest, I sometimes sort of wish I could return to openly carrying a weapon myself but the days for that have long passed; really, it's more safe just being the egghead.

As an aside, happy D-Day Commemoration to all! I don't think I'll ever quite understand the immense importance that is attached to the Anglo-American assault on the Normandy beaches in 1945 but there's just something about breaking down the gates to a monster's sanctum that holds immense and enduring importance to the military, even 600 years after the fact. I note with some amusement that the technology of war has not seriously changed in such a long while but perhaps that is, after all, a good thing: it's not as if the dogs of war have undergone many changes themselves.

Dr. Melinda Campbell, SAFES

Upon reaching the bridge, Sera realized that Security had been a little slow on the communications: the conference seemed to have already started when she stepped into the command area. In the upper left of the split screen, the Admiral had apparently just finished a sentence when she looked beyond Nomi and smiled.

"Welcome, Sera!" She exclaimed cheerfully. "It's nice of you to join us. We were just discussing a bit of a... diplomatic initiative I wish to attempt."

"Diplomacy? With these sneering creatures?" Sera quirked a brow at her friend. "Meaning no offense, Admiral, but I don't see how talking to them would be productive."

"It has thus far produced some useful informationâ€"and, for that matter, a formal audience with their emperor whom they call Kaa." Shadow smiled broadly. "It seems possible, Dr. Campbell, that we'll be able to talk him into giving us permission to conduct any surveys we need to without worrying about armed conflict."

"I wish that was so, Admiral, but I somehow doubt that any culture whose underclass is so arrogant would have an upper class that is free of the stain." Campbell replied with a lightly sympathetic smile. "But it is a worthy attempt that you propose."

"You may be right, Doctor." Shadow admitted. "But as it turns out, we have a bit of an ace in the hole. From the liaison or advisor or whatever he was that I eventually ended up speaking with, I learned that we somehow came out above their equivalent of Earth. Their central world, the most important planet in their empire, the seat of their power... their home world."

The commanders looked between themselves with a mix of delight and dread; as Shadow said, they had a special advantage with a battleship sitting so close to the home world of these Viis. At the same time, however weak their space defenses were at the moment, the Viis would clearly be racing to get their assets back home and set up a ring of naval steel between themselves and the expeditionary task force.

"I can see you all understand our position." Shadow noted after a moment, looking between the four. "Without meaning to, we pose a serious threat to a world they value more than any other but because they value it, we must tread very carefully lest they peg us as a mortal threat and attack us in a panic to save themselves from the inadvertent danger. With all this in mind, I believe that the best thing to do is to establish some form of dialogue so they don't do anything rash. After that, we simply try to accomplish our objective rapidly and hightail it out."

"Admiral, do you believe that it is wise to meet personally with this Kaa?" Andropoli inquired. "You are, after all, a prime target for decapitation as the commanding officer of this task force. I have no doubt that we can figure out how to turn the ships around and abort the mission but such a dismal ending may have serious consequences."

Shadow frowned. "I am aware of the risk, Commodore." She replied evenly. "However, that is where our current position may help us. They presently have no discernable defensive assets which, while very odd, can be turned to our advantage. When we make landfall, the Executor will position itself in high planetary orbit and keep its bombardment array zeroed. We can at least assume that this Kaa is rational and would not risk being destroyed just so he can have his minions execute a military officer. I am extremely reluctant to threaten bombardment of a population center to ensure my own safety but until we can get a better read on these people, we have precious few trump cards."

"One of which is a SpecOps asset." Sera pointed out. "I'm certain you mean to take a small contingent as a sort of honor guard, Shadow, so I think it'd be best to put Major Obysdian in charge of it. She may not appear overly impressive to them at first but both me and Captain Roussseau are well aware that if the situation calls for it, she can be very intimidating."

Shadow sighed. "Please tell me that that isn't a subtle way of saying that she's already caused some sort of incident..."

"Nothing serious." Nomi jumped in. "She simply had a much more straightforward way of dealing with Major Jenkins. Hopefully, the method will teach him that his insulting mannerisms are not always the safest way to deal with those he disdains."

Shadow frowned at this and Sera saw a strange flicker of emotion in her expression, a mix of satisfaction but also worry. "I have no doubt that you're right, Captain Rousseau." She finally replied. "Is the Major in good enough condition to travel?"

"Medics have him in tip-top so yes... however unfortunate it is." Nomi shook her head. "I gather that he's slated to accompany you?"

"I may despise him, Captain, but he is nominally highly qualified for this situation." Shadow replied. "Because of the strange mismatch between his qualifications and his personality, however, taking him along will also allow me to assess him and determine his value to the expedition."

"I hope that he proves utterly useless." Andropoli commented with a slight grimace. "I would love nothing better than to rid ourselves of such a weakness early lest he prove a more serious problem when we cannot afford it."

Shadow nodded and then shook her head with a sigh. "I realize that Major Jenkins is doing serious damage to our command cohesion but I wish to make a personal request: do not discuss your disgust with the man with your crews or soldiers. By his mere existence, Jenkins is causing significant damage and the last thing we need is his influence to spread because the commanders speak too loosely." She said heavily. "I see no reason not to tell you all, however, that me and SAFC are going to have a very serious discussion on this matter. One way or another, I will deal with Jenkins. In the meantime, we must remain focused on the truly important things."

"So how are you planning to compose the delegation, Admiral?" Dr. Campbell inquired.

"I shall attend, of course." Shadow replied, visibly relieved to get back to business. "I will be accompanied by General Wilson and Doctor Campbell along with a small contingent assembled by Major Obsydian that will include her. Since Jenkins is well enough to travel, he will also be accompanying the delegation as a special consultant. Dr. Campbell, what have you determined about the safety of the breathable atmosphere?"

"Well, as far as my team can determine, we can remain on the surface for some time without suffering any lasting harm from breathing the air." The spindly scientist replied. "It is a toxic chemical stew throughout most of the atmosphere but a high concentration of plant life fueled by a blanket of CO2 that remains trapped below the thicker gasses seems to keep the air in sufficiently good shape to be safe for the time we can expect to spend there. Certainly, the Viis themselves do not seem to be suffering respiratory complications based upon the few subjects that I've witnessed in conversation."

"At least we'll not need to deal with taking breathing equipment with us." Shadow nodded curtly before looking towards Nomi. "Captain Rousseau, how are your translation computers doing with the Viis dialect?"

"Working their hardest." Nomi replied. "There are certain substitutions and nuances that they are still struggling with but the product is serviceable. I'm certain that if you had your BSY Core take a run at it, the programming will be about as close to perfect as can be expected."

"While I'm certain that ATLAS would be delighted by the opportunity, we don't have enough time to have her rebuild your main computers' work as she would most certainly do." A trace of a smile twitched at the edges of Shadow's muzzle. "Rest assured... I shall have her perfect the current matrix while we're on the planet but for our purposes, the Marauder's computer core will have to do for our mobile translation system."

"I'll have it uploaded immediately." Nomi promised.

"Excellent." Shadow smiled as she looked between them. "Is there anything else?"

"Just that I believe that our SpecOps asset is going to be beside herself with delight." Sera chuckled. "No soldier especially likes being idle, especially those who're on the cutting edge."

Shadow smiled more broadly. "I understand her feelings on the matter all too well." She commented. "Frankly, I am also eager to see just what kind of asset SAFC gave me for this operation."

"After the minor incident in the mess hall, I'm a bit curious as well." Sera admitted. "So when's go-time?"

Shadow looked down at her wrist chronometer. "Call it at... 1435 local." She replied. "Make sure to armor up and bring a sidearm. Yes, Sera, I know you hate the mesh but every little bit helps."

"I'm not the one who innocently suggested reviving an old feminist tradition after a week wearing it." Sera grinned wickedly.

"Oh, har de har." Shadow retorted with an answering grin. "If there's nothing else, I'll see you planetside. Admiral Williams out."

Sera nodded as the transmission ended then looked at Nomi. "You want to convey the good news to your Ragin' Cajun or should I?"

"She's your trump card, General." Nomi replied impishly. "So you get to have the bruised ribs."

"I'm getting the feeling that you think everything to do with Akeya is my job." Sera observed wryly.

"General, I'm a navy girl. The good Major is officially attached to the ground-pounders." Nomi pointed out. "You're the ground boss so she's your asset."

Sera chuckled, shaking her head. "Fine." She relented. "I doubt it'll be all that bad."

Sera found Akeya still on the range, detaching and stowing the various modular pieces she'd attached to it without the entourage of soldiers in sight. When the doors leading in slid open, Akeya looked up and gave Sera a smile before turning her attention back to the unusual weapon.

"Was your lil get-togethah productive, General?" She inquired, slipping the muzzle brake into its slot in the rifle case.

"Quite." Sera replied. "Shadow got us an appointment with the Viis big cheese and you're slated to provide backup."

The reaction was almost anticlimactic: the SpecOps' head came up for a moment and then it went back down, nimble fingers sliding the now-empty box magazine out of its slot and putting it in its place. "Boss lady's concerned ‘bout the rationality of her new friends, eh?"

Sera chuckled. "What, no girlish cries of joy? No broken back?"

Akeya looked up again and smiled. "Dear, there's a time when ah'm all girly and that's when ah'm all relaxed-like and havin' mah fun. Then there's the time to be who I'm supposed to be. Fun time was demonstratin' mah gun... if I'm going into combat, it's time for business."

Sera blinked, noticing how Akeya's drawl faded in and out during the reply. "I'm still trying to decide... do you drawl like that just for fun or is it your natural speaking voice?"

Akeya tilted her head curiously at the question. "Now, that's an unusual question to ask." She replied as she closed the rifle case and stood up, planting the butt of the rifle on the ground. "Ah normally drawl like ah'm from Alabama cuz, conveniently, ah am."

"Except when you're being serious." Sera pointed out.

"True ‘nuff." Akeya acknowledged. "But ah'm not bein' serious at the moment. Or, at least, not actin' it."

"I regret not having read up on you by now." Sera told her as the slight draccian accompanied her out of the firing range. "I don't think I've ever met a soldier quite so... well, unique in personality among other things."

Akeya beamed. "Ah'm all flattered and such, Serafine." She replied. "But ah think that we must split up at this juncture so ah can gather mah detail and you can get all gussied up."

"Just don't steal all the good guns before I get there." Sera admonished lightly.

"Ah'll leave ya a Bear, cross mah heart." Akeya promised. "It don't look like much but it's perfect for a light infantry officer. Small load, seein' as how it be a revolver, but it does no kindness for whatever unfortunate soul gets hit by it."

"I was actually thinking more of a sub-machinegun." Sera responded. "I'm sort of adverse going into a potentially bad situation underarmed."

"That, dear General, is why you have a Southern devil like mahself keeping an eye on ya." Akeya winked. "I'll bring the heavy hits, you just keep that sidearm well at hand. Trust me on this, dear."

"OK." Sera shrugged. "Be in the hanger by 1435 local with your detail."

"Yes massah." Akeya grinned before turning and striding down the hall in the opposite direction, breaking into a little skip as she left Sera's sight.

"I've really got to take a serious look at her personnel file." Sera muttered as she walked to the armory to retrieve a sidearm and the Spectra-fiber underclothing that acted as the underlay for standard infantry body armor. She despised the feel of the stuff, hating how it got tangled in her fur and itched so much, but she didn't doubt its effectiveness. The armories, she was aware, were buried the deepest in the ship because, except for the power core, they was the most volatile portion of the frigate due to the equipment that was housed there. Even the small-arms ammunition could cause serious damage if set off by a hard enough hit, making it entirely unsurprising that even after she'd pushed the button to open the door, it took several second for the thickly armored door to slide into the wall. She was surprised to find Captain Rousseau admiringly examining what seemed to be an especially awkwardly-made sub-machinegun inside. The azure draccian turned to look at her and smiled.

"Hi Serafine!" She greeted cheerfully. "Fancy meeting you here."

Sera stood there in the doorway for a few seconds, blinking. "Nomi, what the heck are you doing in the armory with the door shut behind you?" She inquired bluntly. "It's airtight for a reason and there isn't that much spare space for air."

Nomi chuckled and put the gun back. "I knew you'd be along in a couple minutes." She replied. "So how'd our little girl take the news?"

"As if I'd just informed her that her rifle is taller than she is." Sera told the captain wryly, walking into the equipment-filled space. "Acted as if it was just one more duty to take care of."

"Frankly, I didn't expect much else." Nomi chuckled, hefting a round object that Sera recognized as a .45 drum magazine off one of the nearby shelves. "On an entirely different subject, isn't it just mind-blowing to look at a single barely-capital ship loaded with this sort of hardware? It's got to be, what, ten million worth of just ammunition?"

Sera chuckled and walked over, lifting the magazine out of Nomi's hand and putting it back. "At least." She agreed. "But this is just a pittance anymore. The smallest garrison arsenal five years ago, before the ground and naval initiatives, contained enough firepower to hold a non-fortified position against a medium weight assault for a full week before serious ammunition conservation would be required."

"Medium weight?"

"Approximately a company of mixed-armament infantry that enjoys local fire superiority and armored vehicle support equal to half their numbers." Sera clarified. "An armored cavalry battalion is also considered a medium-weight assault force."

Nomi stared at her. "And... SAFAG stows that many armaments in its smallest garrison?"

"Used to." Sera grinned at her. "Now the smallest garrison stores sufficient firepower to repel a heavy-weight assault assuming lack of reinforcements or hold a non-fortified position against the assault for five days before instituting conservation measures."

"I'm almost afraid to ask but... if a medium-weight assault is a mechanized infantry assault force, what do you ground-pounders consider a heavy-weight assault?" Sera couldn't help but enjoy the astonished look on the captain's face, having to remind herself that Nomi was essentially a deep-space survey captain, albeit one of some talent if she'd been selected for the expedition.

"An armor-enforced armored cavalry regiment on the low end and a heavy armor brigade with super-heavy support on the upper end." She replied. "And by super-heavy support, think of a Firefly or a Faust."

"But..." Nomi blinked. "So the smallest garrison keeps enough weaponry on hand to drive off an armored brigade accompanied by vehicles that most anti-armor rounds simply bounce off of?"

"Yes." Sera nodded. "I don't need to tell you how Poplar Village affected the Governance as a whole, SAF especially. A determination was made at the highest levels that a military garrison on its home turf should have the luxury of presenting an attacker with the hardest possible target. It's not as if SAF is on a starvation budget."

The comment evoked an amused snort from the other female. "Nor anything like it." She agreed. "I hear you just have to look at the USC with sad puppy eyes to instantly be up to your eyeballs in hard currency."

"The USC deserves more credit than that." Sera chided her with a smile. "They're very generous but shiny pretty things make them rather cranky. Their attitude is increasingly that SAF is already on the frothing edge of the technological wave so it would be wasteful to drown the eggheads in money. More of what works, produced with ever-increasing efficiency by Leviathan's factory-cities, is what they like to pay for."

"Bet it's nice to have the people with the money foursquare behind you." Nomi nodded to her. "So what're you thinking for your little excursion? I think I stumbled across one of those exotic special-forces guns a moment ago."

"According to the protection detail commander, I'm not going to need anything outside of a revolver." Sera told her.

Nomi nodded and looked them over, suddenly plucking a revolver that looked like a medium caliber from the rack and handing it to her.

"Taurus .357 Bear." She explained. "Decent recoil, easy to fire, and takes an attacker down in a shot. Perfect for a security officer."

Sera took the proffered weapon with a grin along with the hip holster Nomi handed her.

Nomi took a brief look around and sighed. "Too bad I'm not going along with you." She said wistfully. "I wouldn't mind using one of these nice guns. Oh well. You'd best get the Spectra armor and get going."

"Sorry we have to leave ya behind, Captain, but Andropoli is in the same boat." Sera reminded her, moving one row over and picking up the light protective garment.

"Except he seems happy about it."

"The man quite literally has sea legs." Sera smiled. "I'd be surprised if he's ever totally at home on solid ground anymore."

"I guess I'm glad I'm not him then." Nomi chuckled. "Good luck, General."

"Thanks, Nomi." Sera gave her a brief wave and headed out the door towards the shuttle holding area, briefly stopping by her quarters to put them on. The underclothing was actually itself body armor but highly compressed so it wasn't visible under regular clothing. Combined with a tactical vest composed of more Spectra-fiber with rigid titanium-ceramic plates, it had been proven capable of stopping all small-arms rounds in the SAF arsenal as well as being extremely resistant to shrapnel and light contact explosives. Even knowing that she was relatively protected with the underclothing alone, Sera still wished that the damn things didn't itch so much.

The shuttle bay of the Marauder was a relatively simple affair, holding just as many Tortoise landing craft as were needed to transport the entire complement of the ship to a planet's surface plus a few extras and a pair of the personnel transports she'd been flown to Arid inâ€"but fully loaded with the normal weapon complement. She barely had a moment to begin looking over one of the aptly-named assault ships when the door into the hanger slid open and Akeya marched through with a four-man detail following in her wake.

Sera had honestly never seen a special operations soldier dressed down for combat and she couldn't help but stare in astonishment as Akeya came to a stop and snapped her a crisp salute.

"Reportin' for duty, General." She said with a smile... or, at least, what Sera expected would have been a smile if she could see the lower part of the draccian's face. Over Akeya's muzzle was fitted an advanced breathing filter, one that she knew to be rated for prolonged exposure to corrosive chemical weaponry, with the exchange tubes disappearing into her combat uniform which looked all the world like a long trenchcoat. Where draccians normally went bare-footed due to the natural toughness of their feet, Akeya's feet were shod in a sandal-like boot with a top that was long enough to completely cover her leg up to her shin with her uniform pants tucked into the tops. The boots were apparently metal-soled because they clanked heavily every time Akeya took a step of shifted her footing. The trenchcoat bagged out around the slender female's body but had bands of fabric running around the elbows so it fitted relatively snugly over her arms. Akeya had put on rubberized fingerless gloves that extended back to her elbow but left her natural claws exposed and gleaming almost menacingly; looking closer, Sera realized that the palm of the gloves had a metal mesh that covered the fingers and held sharpened steel sheathes over the already formidable natural weapons. To round out the gear, a blackened steel helment fitted snugly over Akeya's head and was strapped on under her chin and above her intense blue eyes were propped a pair of multiple-mode goggles with a single green lens protruding from the right and a collection of three lenses of varying sizes and lengths coming out of the left. The only hint of Akeya's normal uniform was the distinct rank patches on her shoulders; otherwise the suit made her look taller than normal and significantly more menacing.

"I must admit, Major... I have never before seen a combat uniform like that one..." Sera replied, looking the slight soldier up and down. "Especially not the trenchcoat component."

"Standard SpecOps combat uniform, General." Akeya giggled, her speech oddly unaffected by the fact that she was wearing an apparatus designed to filter safe breathing air out of air contaminated with a corrosive nerve agent. "Besides the obvious benefits, it leaves a rather... distinct impression on others."

"Isn't it... uncomfortable?"

"Serafine Wilson, have you ever come across a military implement that was designed to be comfortable?" Akeya's eyes seemed to convey her grin. "At any rate... hehr be mah security detail."

"I think Admiral Williams had more men in mind than just four, Akeya." She observed.

"Ah went with a standard fireteam size, mah dear." Akeya responded. "Plus... well, you just look and tell meh that ah didn't outfit them well."

She had a point, Sera had to admit. Outside of the standard gear, Akeya had shrewdly unearthed a pair of SAFAG's prized BAR squad machineguns and two of the heavy Thompson sub-machineguns that were adored by many soldiers because, as most put it, "you hate the accuracy and fall in love with the throw weight"; with a standard 50-round drum magazine, the automatic weapons spewed a storm of .45 caliber bullets that could seriously injure even a soldier outfitted with the demolition-rated full-body version of the Spectra-fiber armor. It was a loadout that loudly broadcasted an ability to dominate a firefight, an impression that Sera knew Akeya had fully intended.

"I don't know what quite to say, Major." She finally remarked. "I'm very impressed. Not only have you managed to assemble a decent security detail, you designed it in such a way as to project intimidation. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were listening in during the Admiral's briefing."

"Way I figure it, General, either the intimidatin' sight will inspire respect for strength or fear of it and both things do plenty to prevent a firefight." Akeya winked. "Pilot should be along in a shake so howsabout we get in and make ourselves nicely comfy?"

"May fate favor the foolish and ourselves." Sera replied with a smile before walking over to the Tortoise with its bay door open and walked up the ramp into the cavernous interior. For all its clever engineering, the Tortoise was essentially a giant hollow space with thick armor encasing it meant to transport very large quantities of soldiers and equipment from place to place; in a way, the concept had not changed at all since large-scale shipbuilding in the tenth century. Sera joined Akeya and her four fellows in the side seats and were pleasantly surprised at how comfortable the seats were without being anything more than the bare essentials.

"Nothin' but the best for the grunts, eh Sera?" Akeya quipped, idly running one of her gloved hands up and down the length of the tall rifle. "Luxurious... imitation leather, I reckon."

"They're just regular rough textile and you know it." Sera retorted, grinning. "What, you've never actually seen leather?"

"Sakes, General... I've made leather. Usually out of the hides of officers that talk more than they should." Despite the mask covering her muzzle, Sera could tell that Akeya was sticking her tongue out at her.

"Hey, the hide is limited-use. No touchy." Sera chuckled and sat back in the seat, able to turn her head sideways to look through the nearest simulated window at the inside of the Marauder's hanger. "Say... I wonder why we're being shipped down there in a combat transport."

"Insurance policy." One of the soldiers offered. "The ride's well-armed and well-armored so if a bind happens, they just wander on down spitting bullets."

"Soldier, if their trigger fingers get itchy, our ride's undercarriage gun is going to look like spitwads next to what Admiral Williams has planned." Sera assured him.

"‘Sides, soldier... the insurance policy be you, me, and your three buddies." Akeya added as the ship's hull began vibrating lightly from the pilot starting the engines. "Looks like we're on our way."

As the pilot lifted them out of the frigate's hanger and passed into the diamond-filled blackness of space, Sera took a moment to stare in awe at the elegance of the battleship and carrier also protecting the science vessel. While she'd become painfully familiar with the inside appearance of both ships during the frenzied refit at the Gaia Shipyards, she'd never really gotten a chance to admire them from the outside. Granted, she had seen the older battleships, especially the Manticore class, but the Redux-II class bore almost no resemblance to its primary predecessor. It was notably larger than a Manticore but it was also different in that it strongly resembled its function with its gun batteries very visible on and inside the hull, giving it the odd appearance of being a hybrid between a ship-of-the-line and a modern oceangoing battlewagon. On the elongated dome protrusion of the bridge was emblazoned an elegant uppercase gamma under the cross anchors and vertical sword emblem of SAFN but the thing that immediately drew Sera's eye and made her smile fondly was the fact that Shadow had the Williams family coat of arms painted on the side of her flagship, proudly advertising who the commander was. Even larger than the Executor was the Lady Lex or, as Sera noticed upon reading the full name of the ship which had been lettered on the side, the Lady Lexington III. It looked startlingly like an oceangoing supercarrier, the top flattened off and a towering structure protruding off-center from the side. She knew that the flattened top was just decoration, however; the hangers were mounted lower on the hull and to either side of the center line although it was difficult to spot them with the armored doors sealed. It was positioned on the side of the formation opposite the planet, something that was no accident; while the Executor had the immense cannon firepower, the Lady Lex was the fleet's makeship repair platform and capable of attacking any target within a significant range with pinpoint precision and much more deadly munitions than a battleship's artillery batteries could throw owing to its complement of fighters and bombers.

As they left the Marauder behind, Sera watched a small transport shuttle emerge from the Searcher and another of the landing ships come out of the Executor. She couldn't help but notice that the battleship was turning towards the planet, actually following the three ships as they got into a delta formation, the small transport shuttle flanked by the two landing ships. The sight of the flagship turning towards the planet was not lost on the other occupants.

"Say... what's the Executor followin' along for?" Akeya inquired curiously. "Ain't no bad guys in sight."

"Insurance policy." Sera grinned.

Akeya's eyes opened wide, the first time Sera had seen her look openly astonished. "Land sakes... ya mean, the Admiral's havin' our big stick point them artillery batteries at the boss lizard to make ‘im think hard before he ruffles us?"

"Like I said, Major, if worse comes to worse, the Tortoise's defensive guns are going to be like spitballs against what Shadow has planned." Sera grinned even wider.

"Aw, hell... this ain't gonna be no challenge at all." Akeya commented with relish. "But them Viis are gonna be in a real prickly mood."

"Hopefully not." Sera responded as she turned her attention back out the window. While she was well aware that the primary purpose of the mission was gaining permission to peacefully conduct scans and surveys of the system, she couldn't help but remember the command that Engineering had made about how the supply ship captain had shown her treatment that would be more appropriate for a slave. If the Viis indeed kept slaves and these slaves resembled wolvens, Sera decided that she would be very interested in seeing them.

Sera's first impression of the planet was not overly good. The transport hatch opened and she immediately and instinctively wrinkled her nose at the industrial stink of the city mixed in with more odors that she didn't want to know the origins of. Even that one time she'd visited the factory-city Masheena, she'd never come across air that smelled this polluted. Barely suppressing the gag reflex and trying to breathe through her mouth, she got up and walked down the ramp. She noticed that Akeya's four-man detail had a similar response, a commentary on the strength of the smell considering that human's didn't have quite as acute a sense of smell as a wolven.

"Looks like this place smells as polluted as it is." Akeya commented. "Well, golly... ah had no idea. I just entirely at random decided to bring this here lil breathin' mask along."

Sera glared daggers at the draccian. "Major, if you say one more word about not having to endure this smell, I am going to confiscate that mask of yours."

"Oh, you are a cruel one." Akeya giggled, turning to walk over to where Shadow, Jenkins, and Dr. Campbell had congregated after their transports had landed followed by the detail. As she followed and drew closer, she saw that of the two officers, Shadow had come armed, a 9E automatic from the looks of it. Jenkins just stood there looking annoyingly smug but despite standard protocol dictating that officers retain sidearms in hostile environments, he didn't seem to have any sort of weapon on him. Sera sighed and decided that finding out why he was being an imbecile wasn't worth the aggravating experience of speaking to the man and turned her attention to her friend.

Shadow smiled bravely to her and walked over. "Well, our doctor warned us that it'd be unpleasant, Sera." She said as they shared a quick embrace. "She was not quite as detailed as she might have been, however."

"I assumed, Admiral, that my apocalyptic rhetoric would properly convey the fact that a pollution-riddled atmosphere does not smell pleasant." Campbell commented with a wry smile.

"As I recall, Doctor, you said that there was a breathable layer below a toxic chemical stew." Shadow reminded her. "That doesn't directly translate into ‘it stinks down there'."

The doctor laughed softly at that. "Accurate observation, Admiral." She admitted. "Well, as bad as it smells, you may at least take comfort in the fact that your health is not in jeopardy unless we spend more than a couple days here at a time."

"Assuming that we don't gag to death on the stench." Jenkins snorted.

"You, Major, are quite welcome to gag to death as a favor to the rest of us." Akeya informed him acidly. "I think I shall take a perverse pleasure watching you try to make an intelligent observation during the audience."

Jenkins stared at her incredulously, looking floored that anyone would disdain him so openly. Floored, Sera decided after a moment, wasn't sufficient for the mixture of rage and righteous indignation that was turning his pale features a bright red; it was more like so angry as to be incapable of more than a rather odd gurgling sound.

"Major Obsydian, you will cease antagonizing Major Jenkins." Shadow said firmly, turning a level look upon Akeya. "Your mission at this time is to provide security as the officer in command of the detail. Concern yourself with that and I shall concern myself with other matters which touch upon other commissioned officers."

Akeya looked over at the slightly taller wolven evenly before smiling ever so slightly and inclining her head. "Yes, of course Admiral." She replied. "I apologize."

Shadow smiled and looked mildly at Jenkins. "You see that, Major? It is possible for an officer of respectable intelligence and ability to obey their superior officer."

Jenkins glared daggers but didn't seem to have any reply to the observation, merely grimacing. Any further conversation was cut off as the group became away of a low whistling sound approaching them and, as one, turned to see what it was. Down what appeared to be a main thoroughfare through the city they'd landed in appeared two hovercraft, elongated affairs with open sides and a cloth canopy, accompanied by a pair of what were obviously light attack vehicles, also hovercraft. While the transports were ostentatiously lacking any sort of armor or armaments, the two other vehicles were bristling with weapons and armored in an intimidating black shell that gave Sera an involuntary chill as the four vehicles coasted to a stop, the two attack vehicles settling back and keeping weapons trained on them. While the transports disgorged their occupants, primarily composed of soldiers encased in similarly ominous-looking suits of polished black armor like some sort of medieval knight, Sera glanced towards Akeya and her detail to see how they were taking the show of firepower. Without her being aware of it, or even hearing the series of clicks as parts were snapped into place, Akeya had quickly retrofitted her unusual rifle to sport a wicked-looking bayonet attachment and two of the scopes which were aligned in series. She couldn't imagine where Akeya could possibly have been storing the modules but she suspected that the SpecOps had brought quite a few of them and ammunition besides. As the Viis soldiers approached, she noticed that she wasn't the only one whose attention was drawn by Akeya's weapon: the soldier at the front of the group, more than likely an officer based upon the slightly more ornamental appearance of his armor, was looking at it warily before stopping in front of their group and glowering down at them. Viis were apparently a very tall race: even the shortest soldier was a full head above Dr. Campbell (the tallest person in their group) although they seemed to have a naturally slight body shape which made them seem smaller than they actually were. Of them, only the officer had removed his helmet.

"You are the one that speaks our language?" He hissed at them, looking hard at Shadow.

"Actually, that is me." Sera replied, raising a paw to catch the soldier's attention. "The others have been provided with small translation machines that will allow them to understand you and reply in your language but it will be a crude translation."

The officer eyed her appraisingly before flicking a glance at Akeya who idly drummed her claws on the barrel of her gun before grinning toothily at him. "You are to accompany us to the palace." He finally said. "You and four of your companions will travel with my unit. Four of your companions will travel with a different unit. Come."

"Jenkins, you and I will be accompanied by two members of the detail." Shadow said promptly. "The rest of you, go with General Wilson."

"Admiral, if I may..." Jenkins began.

"You most certainly may not, Major." Shadow interrupted him. "The arrangements will be as I have just stated."

Jenkins frowned heavily but there was nothing he could doâ€"and for once, he seemed to be aware of it. Along with two of the security detail and Shadow, the human followed their hosts to one of the transports while Sera's party followed what seemed to be the commanding officer to the other. The transports were very utilitarian, an unpleasant contrast to the Tortoise seats that had been slightly padded so the soldiers didn't become sore during long transits; naturally, the Viis soldiers made sure that they were perched in the least uncomfortable spots, forcing their five guests to take the uncomfortable seats.

"Ah do believe that our hosts are unfamiliar with the concept of a guest, don't you?" Akeya smirked, adroitly curling her tail into a ring shape and seating herself on it, looking surprisingly comfortable considering that she was sitting on her own tail.

"I think they regard us as an irritant to be endured rather than guests to be accommodated." Dr. Campbell suggested. "Unlike their leader, they are likely unaware of the situation and thus regard our meeting with him to be unimportant, a mere imposition into whatever else they do with themselves."

"I have a suggestion for what they can do with themselves." One of the detail commented with a grin.

"Ah don't think their tails are quite so prehensile as a draccian's tail, soldier." Akeya grinned as well. "So the physically impossible act of autosexual actualization is not on the table."

"Physically impossible act of... what?" Sera stared at the draccian.

"Good taste forbids me from expoundin', General." Akeya winked before turning her attention to the city they were passing through. Sera shrugged off her curiosity and glanced out of her own side of the transport at the city they were winding their way through.

It was, she noticed immediately, a style of architecture that bore an eerie resemblance to the mostly mud brick and stone buildings that could be found scattered around the Middle East and parts of North Africa. Cheap, extremely easy to maintain and build, and innately defensible although a very strange sight in what she presumed must be the capital city of an empire with the capacity to build and maintain a space navy, not to mention build a superluminal network if that was what the ring-like structures were. The further they proceeded, however, the more Sera got the feeling that the cheapness of the structures was not due to the fact that the Viis preferred the building styleâ€"mostly because the faces she occasionally caught a quick glimpse of were not Viis. Apparently, whoever lived in the structures was far too used to the military patrols to risk being seen because the route they were taking was devoid of people walking around or even peeking out their windows curiously at the small convoy. The lack of presence, however, didn't entirely blot out the fact that the structures were populated: trash littered the ground, some of it pressed into the dust below but some of it still resting lightly on the surface like it had been recently put there. From time to time, she saw tools or what seemed to be homemade toys tucked into corners and shadows. There was something vaguely disquieting about the entire thing and when Sera finally glanced back at the rest of her fellows, she could tell that she wasn't the only one that thought so.

"It seems that the outer ring of this city is composed of slums of some sort." Dr. Campbell was the first to comment. "Although it seems that the inhabitants are terrified of being seen by our escort which begs the obvious question."

"Why would they be terrified of the military?" Akeya nodded. "That there is the right question, doctor. Ah don't much figger that the answer is all that nice either." She then looked up at one of the soldiers, this one with his mask down, his face impossible to see. "Hey, häzlih!"

Sera's heart almost stopped as the soldier jerked his head in Akeya's direction, not sure whether to be surprised that Akeya had somehow figured out how to tweak the pronunciation of the word to the Viis dialect or to dread what the reaction would be to Akeya calling him "ugly".

"What did you just call me, miscreant?" The hissing voice growled from under the helmet, acquiring a slightly tinny sound.

"Called ya häzlih, genius." Akeya growled back. "What's the story on everyone hiding from you?"

The Viis didn't react to the question for several seconds, either stunned at Akeya's audacity or infuriated at her insulting manner. "The albiru cower before their betters, filth." He finally snarled. "As you should be, reject."

"Mark mah words, lizard-boy... you're not even HALF as good as you think ah am." Akeya grinned at him although Sera noticed that her grip on her gun had tightened almost imperceptibly.

The soldier growled, one of his hands drifting towards a sidearm displayed prominently in a holster on his hip. Just before he touched it, the officer noticed and grabbed his wrist.

"You are not to let them provoke you." He growled lowly to the soldier. "Would you be removed from breeding for damaging those which the Kaa bids come to him?"

The odd threat caused Sera to glance at Dr. Campbell who looked just as surprised and thoughtful, an expressed that was mirrored on Akeya's face as well. They didn't get a chance to speak, however, before the officer turned to her, glaring.

"And you... keep your pet on its leash." He growled. "The Kaa bids you come but you have no status and after you have heard his wisdom, you have no protection."

Sera frowned. "This officer is not my pet." She replied with her own small growl, gesturing Akeya to remain quiet as her mind whirled, quickly thinking up what she hoped was the best way to handle the potential problem. "She and those she commands are the honor guard of my admiral. You presume too much to believe that you are what protects us. Your Kaa knows all too well the consequences of letting us come to harm while we have come at his bidding. Do you presume that your Kaa tells you all things?"

The officer's eyes widened with open surprise and Sera breathed a mental sigh of relief; apparently, the concept of an important officer having an honor guard was familiar and the fact that those above him didn't deign to fully inform him was accepted.

"No." He replied. "The will of the Kaa is revealed only to the most worthy and I am not. Still, you must restrain this... officer, as you call it, for it speaks out of its station. It is not for even the honor guard to question anything but that which safeguards their charge."

"To command an honor guard does not speak a station." Melinda said quietly, the translation unit instantly transforming her words into the appropriate equivalent. "Even the greatest officer may command the guard of his emperor. Why do you assume the station of this officer, as you cannot know what it is?"

The officer looked curiously at Campbell before he turned back to Sera. "What station is this officer then?" He inquired with the slightest hint of amusement.

"Sae dee totd hadelt." Akeya answered before Sera could, grinning fiercely.

Sera was certain she had never seen the color drain from a reptilian face as fast as the Viis officer's did and, without even replying, he turned and shakily made his way to the other end of the transport. Even Akeya looked astonished at the effect her snide answer had.

"She who deals death?" Sera asked her in a whisper. "What the hell were you trying to accomplish by telling him that?"

"Give ‘im the willies, nothin' more." Akeya blinked. "Ah do believe that we just hit upon their term for some sorta secret police or somethin'."

"No kidding." Sera replied dryly as they turned from what was apparently a series of side streets onto a main boulevard, wide enough to have three of the transports travel abreast down the middle. Now visible to them was their final destination: a towering castle-like structure boasting at least a dozen towers topped with the flared styling that Sera thought looked bizarrely like the roof of a traditional Japanese structure. Around the palace of the Kaa (which it obviously was) was a heavy stone wall studded with towers and defenses, banners bearing a symbol that looked like two crescents with a spear driven through them which Sera supposed was the symbol of the Kaa and possibly the Viis themselves.

"Well, wouldja lookit that." Akeya looked impressed. "That be one helluva storybook castle. Hey, Sera... wasn't there some loony Kraut prince way back when who built one of them things?"

"I know they profess to be unable to understand us, Akeya, but perhaps it would be a good idea not to give them an excuse to snarl." Sera sighed. "I don't think your little quip about being ‘she who deals death' helped us any."

"Probably true." The draccian admitted with a shrug. "But it put the fear of God into ‘em and that's a good first step."

"But a good first step towards what, Major?" Melinda inquired lowly from her perch on the other side of the transport. "You cannot intimidate them effectively when you are in their domain where they know themselves to be safe. It also is not a step towards making them more reasonable negotiators for, again, they are in a place where they know they have an advantage."

"A good first step, Doc, towards demonstratin' that our dick measures just as good as theirs." Akeya replied with a smirk. "I might not be able to intimidate ‘em but it'll do us no favors if they think they can intimidate us."

Dr. Campbell smiled at that. "I do believe you have the measure of our opponents, Major, but be careful... we cannot safely assume that all of these Viis deal in intimidation and chest-pounding bravado. Sooner or later, we may well stumble across a much wiser head."

"You will not stumble, worm, but be led straight to him." The metallic growl from the Viis guard made all three of them jump and look up at him; the question of whether they could understand standardized English had just been answered.

"I am certain that the Kaa is very wise, sir; no offense was meant." The white wolven replied soothingly, making sure to switch on her translator box again.

"I was not speaking of our Kaa, creature." He growled back. "What, do you expect that one so mighty would deign to think more upon you than he must? Our Kaa is wise enough to borrow wisdom from others."

"Ah, of course." Melinda nodded. "That is very informative, thank you."

The guard didn't answer for a moment, seemingly unsure of how to respond to a gesture of gratitude. In the end, he just growled and returned to his end of the transport.

"Interesting... so the Kaa will be making use of advisors in our little meeting..." Dr. Campbell mused. "That does sort of change the dynamic a bit."

"And lizard-boy seems to think that one of them advisors is the cat's meow." Akeya added. "Though ya can probably take that with some salt since our scaly buddies seem to think their entire race farts thunderbolts."

Sera and the other soldiers snorted in amusement at Akeya's colorful turn of phrase; Melinda merely smiled and turned to glance out one of the transport windows as they neared the palace gates which swung creakingly out of their way as they proceeded. Sera had somewhat expected that the interior of the palace walls would be more pleasant than the city around it but she was totally unprepared for the difference. It was like going from greyscale to vibrant color in an instant, bright and colorful plants bursting out of every crevice and the rancid industrial reek of the planet smothered by a smorgasbord of pleasant fragrances. The plants had clearly been arranged by someone with an exacting aesthetic eye because despite the clearly artificial placement, the plants all seemed to flow naturally out of their beds and planters, transiting seamlessly from the blue-green of the grass to gracefully-curved leaves and delicate flower petals.

"I think, General, that we are seeing a snapshot of the wilder, possibly more tropic, portions of this planet." Dr. Campbell remarked quietly. "It's amazing what plant life can do when practically choked in carbon dioxide."

"Wouldn't the quantity of CO2 required to ‘choke' a plant be sort of unhealthy for us?" Sera inquired as the transports stopped and settled to the ground, the guards disembarking first.

"Not necessarily." The other female replied as they followed the guards, Akeya going first before giving Sera a nod to proceed. "That extra molecule of oxygen makes it amazingly benign. Part of the risk of over-oxygenated air is the fact that oxygen is explosive."

"Huh." Sera nodded to that as she got out and looked around for Shadow. Spotting her friend disembarking from the other transport, she walked over, ignoring the Viis guards nearby.

"I hope your ride was less interesting than mine." She commented as she got within easy conversational range of Shadow. "I think Akeya might have inadvertently made things a little tougher on us."

"You know, dear, that is probably not the best way to greet your commanding officer." Shadow replied, grinning. "So what'd she do? Moon the nearest officer? Break someone's nose? Demonstrate a hitherto unknown gift for swearing in Viis?"

"Scared the daylights out of the officer by calling herself ‘she who deals death' in apparently very literate Viis." Sera replied. "Never seen a reptilian face go that white that fast."

"Gee, and I was only joking about her being able to speak the language." Shadow frowned a little. "I'm curious how she figured out how to speak it so rapidly but I guess it doesn't matter. What significance do you think it held for them?"

"Akeya thinks that the term might refer to some sort of secret police or their own special operations division." Sera said thoughtfully, barely bothering to register the fact that the guards were looking impatient. "If so, they have legal license comparable to a SpecOps, perhaps even more extensive than that."

"Something to keep in mind in things develop badly." Shadow acknowledged, starting towards their escort as she kept talking, nimbly sidestepping obstacles without seeing them. "I don't suppose that they let slip anything important other than the fact that they're scared to death of anyone with the title that Major Obsydien assumed?"

"Two things." Sera told her. "First, that at least one of them can either understand standardized English or has some sort of extremely sophisticated handheld device that can translate our language without any visible means of conveying the translation. Also..."

"Be silent, creature!" The officer suddenly interrupted, glaring at her and Shadow as he said it. "The Kaa approaches. You had best hope that your obsequeence is sufficient to his ears."

"Our... what?" Sera whispered to Shadow.

"I have no idea." Shadow hissed back. "I suppose it means worshipfulness or something."

Akeya and her detail positioned themselves in a four-corner formation, each one at the corner of an imaginary square with Jenkins, her, Shadow, and Dr. Campbell inside of it. Akeya took position right next to the admiral, resting her large gun on the ground as she watched with curiosity as the doors to the palace swung open. Through it came two of what seemed to be the palace guard (at least, their armor was in much better repair than the other guards) and behind them came two older-looking Viis in gaudy robes, seemingly some sort of court functionaries. When the Kaa came, Sera found herself mildly surprised at how different he looked than the other Viis they'd met. Part of it was, naturally, his finer quality of clothing but there were also notable physical differences. His mildly iguana-like face was narrower, his muzzle more prominent with a more muscular line like that of a draccian. He was taller and more filled-out than the Viis that they'd seen and a tastefully-decorated collar around his frill that loop around the edges and draped below his collar bone in a jeweled pendent that seemed to be a sign of office. In his right hand, he carried a tall scepter-staff but the way he carried it made it clear that it was very solid, possibly enough so to serve as a weapon. His scales were a handsome emerald-green with a faint violet sheen along the lower edges of each scale, so well-placed as to look like masterfully-applied makeup. Sera was so occupied with examining the monarch that she didn't notice the Viis standing slightly behind and to the left of him until Shadow tapped her leg with her tail and gave a slight nod towards the advisor.

Even more than the Kaa, the advisor had an aura of health and vitality with a distinctly predatory appearance, slightly shorter than the Kaa but having a lean and hardened form. Despite his frill, his face was almost draccian and he wore an expression of mixed curiosity and neutrality, his eyes studying Shadow thoughtfully. He wore a simple albeit fine-looking robe around his shoulders but the silky cloth didn't really conceal the distinct light grey uniform under it, marking the advisor as some sort of military officer. Unlike the Kaa, he wore no ornamentation around his frill and a simple beribboned symbol around his neck which, based on the prominence of its location, Sera supposed was some sort of battle honor. Looking at him, she had the funny feeling that they were looking at the "wiser head" that the guard on board the transport had bragged about.

The Kaa came to a stop and looked at them steadily for a moment before it suddenly occurred to Sera that the officer's comment might have been intended as a subtle reminder to them that they should treat the Kaa with the deference that monarchs seemed to regard as their due. Accordingly, she bowed slightly in his direction, followed an instant later by Akeya, Shadow, Mooncall and (with the help of Shadow's paw on his back) Jenkins. The gesture seemed to mollify the Viis monarch because he nodded to them.

"We are pleased that you have the good sense to bow in our presence." He said, his voice lower than Sera would have expected with a silky, almost purring, quality to it. "We did not expect that you would be so educated judging from your servile presumption with our minister of state."

"Your majesty, we are sorry for any offense we may have given to your minister." Shadow replied, straightening but keeping her head inclined and her eyes focused on the ground. "We are unaccustomed to royalty, having not had a king among our own people for many centuries."

"Your offense is trifling for our minister is not us." He snorted with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Now, we wish to cut to the heart of this annoyance before we are made to give it any more of our time. Tell us why you wished this audience."

"Did not your minister of state properly convey our wishes so that your majesty could know whether the matter we wished to speak of was worthy of your time?" Shadow inquired, looking up with a curious tilt of her head.

The Kaa looked caught off-guard by the question and his brow furrowed in irritation. "If he had, we would not ask you, miscreant." He growled. "Answer our question."

"We wished to seek your Excellency's permission to conduct scientific surveys of this planetary system." Shadow told him. "While I have no doubt that warships in your planetary space is an affront, they are merely an escort force so that we could conduct our surveys in peace and return to our own planetary system."

"You would ask us to grant you leave to catalog the worlds of our home solar system escorted by warships?" The Kaa looked genuinely incredulous. "Do you honesty believe us to be so foolish as to give permission for an unknown power to conduct an armed reconnaissance of our very home world?"

Sera stiffened at the slight growl in the Viis' voice and the narrowing of his eyes; incredibly, Shadow betrayed none of her anxiety at the fact that she'd apparently offended the Kaa.

"On the contrary." She replied evenly. "We honestly believe you to be sufficiently wise and magnanimous to grant a minor boon to a people who intend you no harm and simply wish to know more of the great Viis Empire."

The Kaa responded by darkening some, his rill beginning to rise from his agitation. "And now you resort to naked flattery to try and lull us into granting your wishes?" He demanded. "We are not so easily toyed with as..."

"Toyed with, nothing." Shadow interrupted. "One of our philosophers of politics once said that everyone likes flattery but where royalty is concerned, it must be applied with a shovel. We are simply honoring you in the manner of our own customs, mighty Kaa."

The Kaa eyed her and his rill lowered slightly. "The nobles of your kind are weak." He said after a long pause.

"Of course they are; we dragged them off their thrones over five hundred years ago." Sera let her eyes close and her head dip a moment as Akeya spoke up, again in strangely literate Viis. "No tin-pot dictator with pretty clothes or a shiny crown has bossed us around for centuries."

Sera opened her eyes again and looked, almost afraid to see what the effects of Akeya's words would be on the seemingly thin-skinned Kaa. She was unprepared for the wide-eyed expression of shock that he wore, clearly having never contemplated that they might not be ruled by a king or queen.

"My Kaa?" The military advisor spoke up quietly, his voice low and strong, a voice used to command, one that would silence a war council to declare the course of action that would be taken.

The Kaa blinked and glanced at him, slightly tilting his head, inviting the advisor to continue.

"If there is no lord among their people, great Kaa, then their admiral is their lord and this garden, with ears all around, is not the place for lords to deal with great matters." He continued. "But my Kaa has places such as that. Perhaps these matters are resolved with the greatest dignity befitting the Kaa's greatness in these places of lords?"

"It is not lightly that we hear your words with pleasure, Grand Admiral." The Kaa replied, his complexion and mood immediately calming visibly. "Yes... we shall have these creatures brought to our conference chamber and there settle matters outside of lesser ears."

Shadow gave Sera a significant look as the Kaa addressed the officer by his rank before snapping her eyes forward as the Kaa turned his attention back to her. "You will follow us to the conference chambers. Do not stop and do not attempt to spy upon our home as you pass through its doors." He hissed before making a gesture to the guards and turning away with the Grand Admiral following albeit more slowly, taking a moment to look hard at Akeya, his eyes flicking over her appraisingly before increasing his stride to better remain on the Kaa's heels.

"Grand Admiral, huh?" Sera said lowly to Shadow as they followed the Kaa, the Viis guards pressing in around them to ensure that they didn't wander.

"Interesting that he still has the Kaa's ear with a battleship in low orbit pointing guns at the Kaa's palace." Shadow noted, furrowing her brow. "He knows something that we do not and I can't help but wonder what it is."

"Perhaps they have a buried shield generator that can deflect any bombardment." Sera suggested. "I know that we've got the things all over the place."

"First, if the field is strong enough to deflect any bombardment, I demand an Admiral Ozzel." Shadow grinned. "Second, I didn't see any power facilities for that sort of thing. Bubble shields are appallingly energy-hungry suckers and conforming shields would require more projectors than you can shake a stick at."

"Perhaps orbital... oh my..." Sera actually stopped dead as did the rest of the group as the first set of palace doors swung open to reveal two creatures that were definitely not Viis. For the briefest instant, Sera thought she was looking at a young and somewhat unkempt wolven but she realized that what she was seeing was an adult and definitely not wolven. Both of the creatures were dressed in a simple loincloth and were a head shorter than Sera. Their fur was naturally wiry and their muzzles more narrow than that of a wolven, more like a rodent than a wolf and their hunched position reminded Sera of what a porcupine might look like if it stood on its hind legs. The creatures were, without a doubt, slaves and based upon how they immediately went to their knees and averted their eyes, they had been well trained to fear their masters; Sera was certain that someone would not look so weak and haggard if they were being taken care of. A shove from a guard and a warning growl woke Sera up and, throwing a menacing look over her shoulder, she followed the rest of the group through the second set of doors and into the palace proper.

The interior of the palace seemed to be very clean and the plants that they'd seen outside were skillfully arranged in vases and indoor planters so they seemed to grow out of walls and floors. Medieval-style tapestries hung all over, symbols and depictions evidently meant to celebrate great victories and the general greatness of the palace's occupant. What they entered was obviously some sort of antechamber, the ceiling very high and hallways leading off to various places with a grand staircase sweeping up to a second story directly in front of them. Sera was vaguely surprised that she hadn't seen any other members of the Kaa's court by now; even in war mode, an important building wasn't normally as still and empty as this one in her experience. Once again, she traded significant glances with Shadow, who had apparently noticed the same thing, as their party was diverted off to a small room to their left, obviously designed to be a conference room based on the long table and many seats with an ostentatious one (obviously for the Kaa) at the head. He seated himself first with the Grand Admiral taking a seat to his immediate right. Akeya's detail took seats between the rest of the delegation and either end of the table with Akeya sitting next to Shadow with Sera taking the seat to the other side of her friend. Jenkins and Melinda took the other side of the table although Dr. Campbell left an empty seat between herself and the human, something that Sera noticed the Grand Admiral glancing at with a thoughtful expression.

"Now we are in a place without lesser ears, Admiral." The Kaa said, looking at his advisor. "You believe that this will resolve the matter with expediency?"

"I do, my Kaa." He replied, bowing his head deferentially.

"Then we would have you show us how." The Kaa gestured vaguely in their direction. "Speak on our behalf to these... we do not feel it proper that we should deign to concern ourselves further with their mewling."

"By your will, my lord." The Grand Admiral replied, again with the deferential bow of his head before raising it and turning to regard Shadow. "You are an admiral and the commanding officer of the force that has come to our space." It was stated bluntly, not as a question but merely a statement of fact that he evidently expected to be confirmed before he continued.

"I am." Shadow confirmed simply.

"And this officer is the commander of any terrestrial forces that have been attached to your fleet." To Sera's surprise, he gestured at her instead of Akeya who seemed to better fit the appearance of a ground commander.

"Yes." Shadow confirmed again, glancing at Sera with a hint of the same surprise.

"And this one your scientific advisor." A gesture towards Dr. Campbell who looked placidly at him.

"Yes."

"Thank you." His face remained pointed at Shadow but Sera saw his eyes slide towards Akeya, studying her more openly before looking back at Shadow. "You have said that your purpose in seeking an audience is to gain permission to conduct a benign scientific survey of our world and the planetary system around it. Is this correct?"

"That is correct.

"Were that the entire truth, why would you require that your ground forces commander, a special operations asset, and an additional officer attend the audience?" He inquired calmly although he focused more intently on Shadow as he asked. "Would not it be sufficient to have your science advisor be the only other attendee so that she might offer more specific details as to your object?"

Shadow couldn't stop herself from looking as surprised as Sera felt. Somehow, it seemed that this Grand Admiral had determined the roles of all the officers save Jenkins with only Akeya having spoken in his presence and moreover, he'd spotted a inconsistency in Shadow's presentation. Jenkins looked briefly and marginally smug while Dr. Campbell and Akeya maintained placidly neutral expressions in response to the Grand Admiral's question. To her credit, Shadow recovered quickly from her surprise and managed to smile lightly.

"I apologize for not offering an exhaustive explanation of our force composition." She replied smoothly. "I had not believed that it was relevant to discussions about our ultimate purpose. It is standard operating procedure in our military that all task forces, such as the limited one that we brought to escort our scientific survey vessel, have a contingent of ground forces available to them. It is also standard operating procedure, not to mention dictated by common sense, to accompany a delegation of significant command assets with a security contingent; that the special forces asset with the ground contingent was the officer best-suited for selecting and leading a security detail was a happy coincidence that was not planned by me. As to including our terrestrial-forces commander, I believed that the most well-informed officers are the ones who are best able to advise me."

"A fair answer." The Grand Admiral acknowledged, showing no reaction to the fact that his attempt to catch Shadow off-balanced had been parried. "What are your reasons for wishing to catalogue our planetary system in detail? Certainly, in a first-contact situation, it is advantageous to know a potential foe well but would not reconnaissance be unnecessary if you were not contemplating hostilities?"

"We had reason to contemplate them, meaning no disrespect." Shadow replied evenly. "Our interest in this particular region of space was piqued by an attack by your military on an unarmed instrumental probe passing near your central world five of our years ago. We had adequate reason to be concerned that a hostile and possibly dangerous enemy lay in this region of space and we wished to ascertain whether we needed to fear a foes tracing the probe back to its origin and attacking."

"So you seek to evaluate us as a threat then?" His eyes narrowed slightly although he showed no signs of agitation otherwise.

"No." Shadow shook her head to give emphasis to her denial. "We seek to discover the specifics of the power that lay in the region from which our probe returned severely damaged. Whether our species could exist safely on your worlds for any length of time which would allow the establishment of a diplomatic mission or formal embassy. The technological and resource aspects of your civilization to know whether the establishment of trade relations could be contemplated. All the information we would need to know whether it would be fruitful to establish diplomatic relations or whether it would be wiser to isolate ourselves from you and search for friends and resources elsewhere."

The military advisor visibly mulled this over, the Kaa looking acutely interested the Grand Admiral's conversation with them although seemingly content to let him continue. Finally, the Grand Admiral apparently reached a conclusion and turned back towards the Kaa, his head lowering into the position of subservience and respect of a subordinate towards a superior.

"If it may please the Kaa, his servant wishes to advise that these be allowed to do their surveys as they request." He said. Shadow looked visibly startled and traded a mildly surprised look with Sera before the Grand Admiral continued, the Kaa looking intrigued by the advice. "The Kaa knows that his empire is made stronger and richer by the Gorlicans who offer trade but bow to the Kaa, who are allies but not equal to his might and wisdom. Might not the Kaa's empire be made strong in this way through these creatures? Can they truly comprehend the power of the Empire through knowing only the worlds of one star out of a countless number? Can they find a weakness where there are none to find? My Kaa, I advise that there is no harm that they can do to your power but that they can only add to it and be made, in time, to serve your endless greatness."

An expression of genuine pleasure came over the Kaa's face and he actually smiled briefly to the bowing Grand Admiral. "We see that we did wisely in hearing your words, Grand Admiral." He said. "You have served us loyally and well in your advice and we are greatly pleased by your cunning in finding the entire truth of these."

"I yearn only to serve, mighty Kaa." The officer responded with a tone of reverent respect. "Your pleasure is a priceless reward to me."

The Kaa smiled again before assuming an expression of lordly disdain as he looked at Shadow. "The wisdom of our advisor enlightens us, creature, and we see that you incapable of doing us harm." He announced. "Go. Do your surveys and your scanning quickly that we might be rid of your offensive presence. Our guards will return you to your vessels in peace; see that you leave them in that way."

"We thank you for your generosity, your majesty." Shadow replied with a brief inclination of her head. "We leave in peace, as we were brought." With that, all around the table stood up and the Viis guards entered to escort them out. Sera began walking towards them when she realized that Shadow wasn't right beside her and turned to see that Shadow was watching the Grand Admiral as he turned and walked over to her. Curious as to what he was planning to do, Sera stepped a bit closer, a movement that was not unnoticed by the Viis officer but he apparently didn't mind her hearing what he was going to say.

"Admiral, I know that you are still not telling me the entire truth." He said quietly in perfect English without the customary reptilian lisp that even most draccians did not lose. "You fully expected that you would be forced to fight your way out and then fire upon the palace to prevent pursuit."

"I would think that a loyal servant of the Kaa would have said this to him and prevented us from doing our surveys." Shadow noted with a quirked eyebrow.

"The Kaa's loyal servant did tell him this." The Grand Admiral looked briefly amused. "I am impressed with your ability to lie, Admiral, or at least only speak the truths that will get what you desire. You are evaluating a threat, not a potential ally."

"I was not lead to expect that a Viis would put aside the arrogance your people have hitherto displayed and showed penetrating insight and cunning." Shadow smiled lightly. "You do not seem concerned that we are measuring you as a potential enemy."

"The Viis Empire has had more enemies than you can imagine, Admiral, but it presently has none." His eyes narrowed. "Few were your equal but none defeated us. I am not yet concerned but you had best hope that I do not become concerned."

"We shall endeavor not to concern you then, Grand Admiral." Shadow's smile grew brighter. "I admit to being less than eager to be fired upon by anyone."

This drew a very sharp-toothed grin from him. "You and I both, Admiral." He replied before turning and walking away.

Sera watched him and then looked over at her friend. "I do believe that we have a real enemy, Admiral." She commented wryly.