The Black

Corellus just stood there. Staring in a complete stupor at his baby sister. “Lyri, no more games, what’s going on…”

“No games Cory” the Human Lyri was standing next to spoke, “We have been married since before last season’s refits. James Mackenzie Grarzia” he offered.

A small air car zipped overhead and landed at the parking area.

“I see Aunt Niky is here.” Lyri giggled, “come meet the rest of the family!” Mac clasped her hand, and a dumbfounded Cory followed them to the car just in time to see a Human Female step out of the car and scoop two Delmar children out of the back seat.

“Who knew traffic existed while airborne. Not a fan Cher’.” the woman laughed and handed children off before reaching for Cory’s hand and patting it, “you must be Cory. Welcome home. I’m Nicole Broussard, I take care of Bry and Tris when Lyri needs to get out.

“She’s more like family than she wants to admit.” Max chuckled.

After making a quick stop at Cory’s house to drop off his things, the 7 went out for lunch.

————————————————-

Ami, Gwen, Silu, and Dar sat with the small contingent of the Confederation council as Growrmun stepped into the room.

While Delmar was the home system of the Confederation, it was not their only planet. Many races could not handle the gravity of the Delmar species' birth, and the Unity’s needed them to sustain the links of an economically prosperous civilization spanning the distances the Unity claimed as its own. As such, The Delmaracian Confederation controlled a total of 145 Planets spread around the Unity. These colonies/transport hubs functioned on the same seasonal refit and voyage model with their own sectors of responsibility, and were broken up by major tribes: Centarus, Helyon, Praugh, Burellious, and Astris. Every planet in Delmar control was within 5 percent of their home planets gravity, and they were largely considered to be uninhabitable by the rest of the Unity. Each planet had its own piece of the council and ruled largely as a representative Democracy. There were many more here than physically present in the room.

“Mr Growrmun, please sit,” Darclemus spoke first. As the large wolf man settled into the offered furnishings. “First off, please understand that you are under no obligation to break any oaths sworn in good faith or otherwise that you do not wish to. This is a meeting to feel out, the UGN fleet headed toward us for a ‘diplomatic meeting’.”

Growrmun slowly looked around the room gauging the faces shown to him, hologram as well as flesh and blood. His eyes finally came to rest on Darclemus once more, “Thank you, sadly my ability to inform you on this matter is somewhat limited. I have one primary thing to say that may be of use to you... You have shown me the reports of the size of the force headed to Delmar... From that, I can tell you... the Admiral of the Navy himself is coming… not a representative.”

A low murmur erupted in the council room as this information hit, but Growrmun was ignoring it all. The Lycan was focused on the Human Admiral turned ambassador. His eyes narrowed as his sense of smell and hearing confirmed what his eyes were telling him. Everyone else present in the room reeked of fear and worry..

Ambassador Gwen’s mannerisms never wavered. She sat patiently, he could hear her breathing slowly and regularly. She smelled not of fear.. but if something else. Growrmun instinctively tilted his head slightly, and Gwen’s head slowly turned to him as she noticed his attention. This time her mannerisms changed. She lowered her chin slightly from her patient observatory expression and her eyes locked into his. He finally recognized the scent. He had smelled the scent boiling from her only once before. The day he almost lost his life, just before he was practically ripped apart in moments by a demon turned savior of his family… Her face never actually changed expression, but those ice blue eyes she shared with Mackenzie triggered every hair on his back to stand on end, his whole being screaming ‘danger’ at the tip of its ancient instinctual lungs.

Then it was gone, and she gave him an almost gentle smile before turning back to the conversation.

The Chancellor of the confederation silenced the room with a clear of the throat, “Ambassador, you do not share in our concern?”

“I have seen the number and design of the ships coming to face us at Delmar… we may lose ships; but since our analysis of Captain Mackenzie’s engagements thus far, I fear very little. We have made some changes in our construction of the Hybrid fleets. The Signus system currently has 6 Hybrid response fleets, all currently being retrofitted with stealth coating and countermeasures. Each of those fleets is centered around SOL, sorry, a ‘Ship of the Line’ which is the same ship that took two UGN frigates in a matter of minutes without receiving a single casualty, and half of those fleets are commanded by Delmar. We also have multiple Eros in high orbit around Delmar with established lanes of fire. And our crews are fully trained. Many of them were formerly blooded veterans through previous operations. Chancellor, with respect; if we chose, Delmar could invade the sector with what is arrayed in her defense... the combined might of Sol and Delmar stand with your Home-world.”

“I see… But what does that mean for the rest of our outpost planets” the Chancellor spoke carefully.

“Chancellor, we do not want war, unfortunately, it only takes one side to start one. Economic reprisal is our deterrent, Sol is committed to defending what we can, and evacuating what we cannot. I apologize for not being able to do more. It takes time to get our ships and their crews over to this part of the galaxy.”

“I was under the impression that you had sent all that you could.” one of the other counselors asked. “How many more ships does Sol Have?”

“Currently, a total of one third of the active warships from mars and Terra are in Delmar space. We could theoretically send half of what remains before we ran out of trained crews.” Gwen stated flatly. “The buffer between our system and Unity space allows us this capability. We have new model, combined designs supporting our exploration efforts to bridge that gap as well.”

“Is Humanity truly that aggressive?” One of the other tribal council members, one in the room, asked.

“Prepared, councilman.” Gwen responded.

—————————————————————-

Mac, Lyrian, Cory, Laris, and Nicole all sat on a blanket in the sand with the remnants of lunch tucked into a bag off to the side. The twins had hit their markers early and Icario had cleared the two little ones to spend days in the weaker Delmar gravity as long as they still slept in Terran gravity. The Bry and Tris were spending their first day at the beach and they were a mess of wet sand and giggles.

“So… my niece and nephew can thrive in twice our gravity thanks to their father…. Who you were able to claim… despite him not being Delmar…” Cory shook his head, still wrapping his head around the conversation over lunch

“Don’t forget, Fizz can fly the pants off of any Delmar pilot alive, thanks to her building herself to Human gravity standards and beyond.” Mac chuckled.

“Sorry about the squeeze, it’s called a ‘hug’” Lyri gave him a sheepish look, “I kinda Huuumon’d out on you for a second.”

Mac snarfed, “That’s going to end up a thing.”

“Do you think Delmar is ready for this ‘diplomatic’ fleet?” Laris spoke softly.

“We are, especially since we have added stealth tech to the capital ships.” Mac chuckled at Lyrians reaction to that.

“You mean what you used to sneak up on us in the shuttle. That was just a shuttle. How good is this ‘stealth’ really..” Cory asked, as he was impacted by Bryton who decided to attempt a tackle on his new uncle. At a year old in a few days, the twins were mobile much earlier than human children. But a few months later than Delmar children. Cory chuckled and riffled the little boys hair before sending him trundling back into the sand.

“Cory.. your home-world is as safe as we can make it. “ Mac said seriously. “Anyway, enough about that… what sent your ship on a 2-year mission?”

“That’s a story and a half… We went on a disaster relief run on the edge of the sector. It was…. Bad. Rogue asteroid, extinction level event bad… Olyvia decided to stay and help with the evacuation. It took us a year and a half to get everyone off the planet.. none of it made sense.”

“Which world?” Nicole asked quietly, Tris was currently in her lap playing with the Nurses fingers.

“Promes’erea Prime” Laris said

“That’s on the edge of the Unity isn’t it?” Mac asked

“It is, and it’s not the only Fringe world that has experienced this…. Two fringe worlds on the up-spin side of the Unity and one more on the fringe on the leading-edge boarders…. “ Cory stated, “On our last day, we were reaching the jump beacon just as a frigate and two Cruisers jumped in and burned for the planet.. They completely ignored our hales... one of the cruisers came close enough to us to damage our antenna. It’s why Celest didn’t transmit the new clearance codes to Port Royal.”

Mac turned to look as Bry started beating on his accumulated pile of sand with a stick, stabbing it in victory and running to Mac’s arms. “Did you win little man?”

“Yuhah!” The exuberant toddler whooped.

“Does Command know about this?” Mac hugged his son while returning to the conversation.

“Captain Olyvia went with Silu and your ambassador at the station, I dealt with customs. I do not know.” Cory admitted.

The group packed up soon after and Nicole offered to drop Cory and Laris off on her way home before sending Vito back in return mode.

Soon the twins were asleep after a thorough shower/bath, and Lyri was curled up next to Mac. “I can feel that you know. Spill”

Mac chuckled, “My paranoia won’t let go of what your brother told us. It doesn’t add up in the ‘natural disaster’ cate….”

Mac froze as Lyians wandering fingers found their mark. She leaned up and growl-hummed into his soul before reaching over him to turn out the lights.

___________________________________________

The next day was the biggest Homecomming party Tribe Helyon had held to date. Mac, Lyrian, Clint and Frie all showed up mid-morning with a massive amount of charcoal and a fire pit grill. Mac began a repeat performance of his cookout during Brrusch’. Soon his fire-kissed contributions were laid alongside the massive amount of food in the Hall’s central table. Martina and Ivar showed up together, as did Greg and Marg. The Old Salts table had become an entire section of the upstairs with Human and Delmar Void Sailors, all doing what Sailors do best. By early evening the party was in full swing, and the old Traveller group settled into the table from last year. The Twins were old enough to be in the Kids area, so Nicole waved a couple of times as she explored the event.

“You think Chika bagged Ivar?” Clint chuckled, watching the two of them on the dance floor.

“Oh yea,” Frie responded, “but I heard it was Ivar who made the move. He might be the first male in 1000 years to claim his own female.” She giggled.

“Who claimed what?!?” Mac tumbled back into his seat from getting another plate of food.

“Ivar and Martina are fuckin’” Martin grinned unrepentantly at his timing as Mac choked.

“About dam time” It was Himar, He had just been passing by, “That poor fuck has been swooning over her since she blew into his life at your airfield. BTW, what the hell is a ‘McLovin’. Apparently, you called him that a couple times, and Now Martina and the rest of the pilots won’t stop.”

Lyrian lost it, laughing hard enough to lean on the table with her hands, “McLovin!! Oh, nooo Mac… you didn’t.”

“I guess I did, one way to find out… HEY MCLOVIN!” Mac shouted onto the dance floor.

“Fuck you, BigMac!” came Ivars voice along with Martina’s laugh.

“Yup, I guess I did.” Mac shrugged.

“McLovin caught the Chika, I know entire squadrons that are now jealous.” Clint chuckled.

The conversation meandered into the night until the Band started playing requests.

“It’s time.” Clint said. Mac head whipped to him,

“Don’t make me do it!” Mac bawled, “I already introduced the waltz to them.”

“Nope, it’s happening.” Clint grinned back

“Hell yea it is,” Frie bounced on her toes, “I’ve been practicing.”

“So have I.” Lyrian purred into Mac’s ear “Common Hun, what’s a little cultural cross-pollination between species?”

Mac’s face turned red for a moment before he stood, “Fuck it. Let’s do this.”

“Are we doin it?” It was Greg and Marg walking up.

“Are you Fuckin… NITRO! How many people have you roped into this!!!” Mac bellowed.

“Enough” It was Doc Icario and Tili

“Care for a few more?” Tristen and Juel smiled as they walked up.

Clint whipped out a data stick and headed for the band.

The cult Classic Track “Foot Loose” started playing and the group began introducing the Delmar people to yet another Human piece of Dance culture. About halfway through the song the bystanders were on the dance floor and the song really got into full gear.

As the song wound down, the group staggered back to their table to relax for a bit.

“I can’t believe you did that…to these poor souls.” Mac chuckled, slightly winded.

“At least we had enough people to get the idea across.” Frie gasped from her spot, leaning up to a positively unrepentant Clint.

Martin wandered over and waved more beer in front of everyone’s face, “Refreshments!” he bellowed, “You look like you need em!”

Martina and Ivar wandered over from the dance floor a few minutes later. And Ivar received a lot of ribbing until he flat planted a spicy French kiss on Martina in front of everyone, then Bore his teeth slightly, “My Chika!” he growled before laughing at everyone’s reaction.

“But the real question,” Clint asked seriously, “did you survive her Floutas”

The look of Horror on Ivars face dissolved the table into hilarity once again.

“I did, but only just... You do realize that some Mexican seasonings could be used as riot control on most planets of the Unity?” Ivar cringed, “It tasted great after my face went numb… 7 hours later was…. Less fun.” Ivar shuddered visibly.

“We might have to figure out some substitutes.” Martina said sheepishly, “I was excited for him to try it… and did the full authentic recipe with sides… We almost had to get his stomach pumped... almost.”

Later that night the group finally started to split up. Mac went and retrieved the Twins so they could experience the Hall properly. A couple of samples of food and a foot race down the balcony later, and it was time to head home.

_____________________________________________________

“Olyvia, it’s late, is there something wrong?” Silu asked in his private quarter's office sipping a glass of whiskey before turning on for the night. His wife was already asleep in the bedroom.

“It is indeed late, what’s going on,” a haggard-looking Gwen grumbled as she entered the call.

“Something may be… wrong… I was so shocked at your news that I omitted to give my report. Things have… pointedly jostled my memory. My 1st officer just died in the hospital. He picked up a virus on our long haul.”

“My condolences, I guess you better start from the top, Captain.” Gwen stated formally.

Olyvia began with their contract acquisition for an evacuation and emergency supply, moving on to the evacuations as the Planets ecosystem began to fail from the rogue asteroid impact. Her 1st officer had ended up investigating a shard that had been expelled from the impact site. He had cut himself on the shard as it had gone through his specimen gloves. He was rushed to the med bay where he was already showing symptoms and was put into a medical coma and isolated. She finished with their encounter with a UGN fleet that ignored them and damaged their long-distance comms in a near miss..

“This isn’t the first world like this. I’ve done some digging. 15 worlds in the last 20 years have been ‘lost’ to the Unity in this manor… The same thing always happens. The Planet gets deemed lost and subsequently ignored and forgotten.” Olyvia finished.

“This is.. Concerning.” Silu agree’d

“More-so if you add the fact that a large fleet is on its way here, possibly with the Head Admiral of the Unity on board.” Ambassador Gwen was fully awake at this point, nursing her second cup of coffee. “I’ll need to transmit this to Sol, some of those planets are on this side of Unity space. We need to keep our Exploration fleets informed and aware.”

“Indeed, I’ll inform Gregory in the morning. I want to redeploy Simo and Kyle in a reserve capacity in case they need to deal with a spontaneous ‘rogue’ asteroid.” Silu stated.

“Agreed” Gwen stated, “Looks like I'm not going to sleep for a while, I have a transmission from Sol to browse through. Olyvia, Thank you for waking us up for this. It was indeed as important as you feared.”

“Get some rest Oly, we can continue in the morning.” Silu stated gently

“Thank you, both of you. Have a good rest of your night.” Olyvia bowed slightly before leaving the call. Gwen and Silu nodded to each other and left the call.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Gwen settled into her chair 3 hours later. The latest information from Sol was promising. The encrypted private message from Johanssen through Franklin of all people had been... intense. She had already forwarded it into a morning update for the entire Fleet and had called for a meeting of all the captains for this coming mid-morning… “Poor Bjorn is right… Being able to do this… it is a deadly gift” she muttered to herself. She had 5 hours until the captain’s meeting. She decided to see how much of it could be spent unconsciously.