Virtual Meeting

Ottawa, Canada

"This meeting will come to order." Jeff Reardon began the meeting. "First order of inquiry will deal with the attempted destruction of the City of Ottawa."

Everyone looked at Ae'url. She did not appear nervous.

'Do robots get nervous?' thought Rene.

"Strike Group Leader Ae'url you said that you have an explanation. The floor is yours." Jeff sat down.

"What floor? And why would I want a floor?" Ae'url asked.

"Excuse me, if I may?" AI-Rene held up his hand.

Jeff realized his mistake. She was an alien. He sighed. It would have been easier to deal with a Chinese delegation.

Rene's avatar sent Ae'url an information packet full of details on what was expected. How to behave in these types of inquiries.

"I see. I am Ae'url Strike Group Leader assigned to retrieve the fragment that crashed in your city. I instructed my team to stay hidden during the recovery operation." Ae'url saw that the humans were paying close attention to every word.

"Analysis of the data indicated that it all stemmed from one miscalculated action. You, humans, have a saying, 'For want of a nail, the war was lost.' in this instance, it was the defense setting for the Dropship. Trooper F'ouh set the AI on aggressive defense. Our mission was over. We were about to leave the operations area when your Omega operative discovered our cloaked presence. When the Electrokinetic flew too close to the Dropship to investigate, the ship's AI reacted with extreme aggression."

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"It sure did. It got me pretty good." Paul complained.

Rene sent Paul a private message telling him not to interrupt again. He also had the avatar send the same information packet he sent Ae'url. 'That should keep him busy.'

Everyone ignored the outburst. An allowance was made for Paul's age. However, a disappointed look from the Prime Minister stopped Paul from going further.

"Then that's how the fight started. Why did it escalate so quickly? Who made the decision to destroy our capital? A capital with over a million inhabitants." The PM wanted answers. This was not a small matter.

"The escalation was due to the destruction of the Dropship. Councillor Me'peat invoked the quarantine protocols when the Omega used an ability equivalent to a Planetary Defense Base energy cannon."

The Prime Minister turned to Rene Wilder. "How did you acquire this power, Mr. Wilder? Does it have anything to do with your sys-admin ability?"

Rene had already fabricated an alibi that was as close to the truth as possible. "It was a mistake."

"A mistake? I should hope we all have such luck with our mistakes." The PM waved for Rene to continue.

"As you all know once a choice is made the Xerys System will not change the decision. I was about to choose an Alpha level ability when I laughed at one of the choices. Planetary Defense Base. The Xerys System took me literally and picked that choice. I wanted a flight ability like my brother, instead, I was stuck with a Planetary Defense Base. Worst choice ever. Or so I thought at the time. Since we are under quarantine it could not give me an actual base..."

"I see where this is going." Richard McLean laughed. "It did the same to me as well, except I liked my ability."

"What did you choose Captain McLean?" The Prime Minister was curious.

"Space superiority fighter. I wanted to chase down the artifact and I blurted out what I wouldn't give to be able to chase after the escaping half frozen space rock. It worked the same way as Rene's choice." McLean had a smile on his face remembering the moment he made his choice.

"Exactly. It gave me the ability of the base. A huge ass force field that l can't use on a personal basis and an energy projectile that would remove large chunks of the planet if the plasma beam hit anything. Completely useless on a personal level." Rene complained.

"Lucky for us it came in handy when you needed to save the city." The PM chose to ignore the fact that without firing the space cannon there would not have been a need to save the city. "Domino effect."

"Unfortunately that's the case, sir." Rene agreed.

The Prime Minister turned back to Ae'url, "Strike Group Leader are we still going to have a problem with your people?"

"No Prime Minister. When I informed Captain Fo'Rkon of the nature of the retaliation, he decided that an Omega class operative defending his home is not against the quarantine protocols." She explained.

"Then until the quarantine is over you are assigned as our liaison officer?" Jeff Reardon asked.

"I am assigned as his liaison." Ae'url pointed at the AI avatar.