The meeting was strikingly boring. Colonel Lehnan was the lead on the Tsla’o side - officially at least - and Admiral Serrat was his counterpart for this operation. Not much new information had come about in the last ten days or so. Everybody had thrown all the normal sensors and less-destructive testing at the portal ring sitting a few dozen astronomical units above the north pole of Sol, and even the more experimental things they’d tried had yielded basically nothing new about it.
Serrat proposed setting up a forward base in the ‘parking garage’ the Kshlav’o had been landed in, in preparation for moving into the artifact itself. This would require a detachment of Tsla’o personnel, as the ring only activated the portal when approached by a mixed crew. Initial testing indicated that it didn’t care how the group left, but if there was just one race left inside it'd close again. There were guesses about this behavior, most of which pointed towards some sort of intelligence setting these parameters. Not one that was Human or Tsla'o, obviously. The money was on some kind of AI, or VI, or thinking machine, as there was currently no indication of a living space as anyone at the table could define it.
The Empire had planned for this next step, as it had come up as a possibility at the last meeting. There was a group ready to go, a mix of military and scientists, many of whom had at least some experience working with Humans. Both personnel and vehicles would be placed at their disposal.
The ramp up was going to be a bit over a month. Everyone was happy with that. Carbon would do her thing with the new class of Lan - and also hopefully pound some sense into her father - and as Alex was really only needed once they actually returned to the artifact itself, they didn’t seem to mind if he went along. Enhance cooperation and cultural exchange between allies. Admiral Argueta seemed particularly pleased with that.
The reception after the meeting? Argueta was less pleased with that. It went smoothly, several diplomats from various Confed states and organizations had come out to meet the Empress. Eleya was at maximum schmooze, putting on a friendly, sociable attitude. She apparently recognized a few names and made it a point to thank them for all of the assistance rendered. The Empress even had jokes. She appeared to be having a good time, but that could easily have been part of the front.
Argueta’s problem was that Alex gravitated towards her - she was his boss, after all - and he would not shut up about novel Tsla’o minutia he had learned. Insufferable, boring facts. She had excused herself about halfway through his explainer on how most homes and restaurants had three spices on the table, but they were usually liquid. One was sweet, one salty, and the other a spicy vinegar. It reminded him of a very basic hot sauce. There were other spices around of course, and sometimes certain sauces were... Well. It was all in his second report!
Alex was a little disappointed to find out that Gladwell hadn’t been invited. Diplomatic Security nixed him. He had a whole bit about bathroom design for the Commander, but apparently that wasn’t in the cards.
On the up side, the snacks - hors d’oeuvres, actually - were fantastic. Canapés and other stuff that he didn't know enough French to name. Very fancy. Didn't care for the champagne though. Always tasted weird to him if it wasn’t mixed with something.
He was able to rope one of the Diplomatic Security Service guys into getting him a sufficiently secure dining room. Mister Santos was actually very happy to help. Best part? There was one actually attached to Noonan’s. Kind of. All the restaurants on the station - even the kitschy Roswell crash site themed diner - had a secure dining and meeting room. That feature had been in the plans before they had finalized what was going where.
It was a bit of a letdown, apparently. The theme didn’t carry over at all, save for some potted cacti they usually had to remove because of the spikes.
Once again feeling at ease in his natural environment - apparently a subdued ballroom that was about 50% security personnel - Alex had forgotten one particularly important thing: making sure everyone was actually on board with this. He didn’t even know if Ed was on the station.
He flagged down Carbon first, peeling her away from Williams and Zenshen for a brief conversation. She was a little hesitant to include Eleya, understandably, but game to go along with it to hang out with his friends and family some more.
Alex excused himself and started making calls in the hallway.
It was really weird to be calling his mom in front of a dozen security guards. It made him feel like he was in trouble or something just because they were all standing around watching him. Even dipping around the corner didn't help. There were more guys there.
His mom was glad to hear from him. Had a lovely time with Carbon and her security folks. She joked that she would need to clear her calendar this evening to make time for it, but would love to come along. He’d text her the location details when he had them. It was nice to talk to her again, even if they were intentionally avoiding some things.
Eventually the time would come where they wouldn’t have to pretend that Carbon was just a good friend of his who wanted to know more about Humanity. There was a lot of unknowns in there for him and unease seeped into his heart as he hung up the call. For the most part, everyone had been accepting of them. There were a few outliers, sure, and no way to know who was just holding their tongue because the Empress loomed over his shoulder for the moment.
Gladwell’s reaction, and the way Pete’s wife sort of clammed up at dinner stuck in his mind as well. He had known this would be uphill, and had told Carbon as much when they came back to Sol. They had a start.
Alex shoveled as much of that out of his mind as he could and dug up Ed’s number.
It rang twice before he picked up. “Hey Alex, how’s the GX?”
“Doing g-” Ed’s question caught up with him. “How?”
He laughed, hearty and friendly as always. “You’re on the news, unnamed Navy pilot.”
Fuck. “Oh, fuck. How bad on the news?” People who worked for the Civilian Pilot Program tended to split news reports into either good or bad. There was no inbetween for them. At least he was unnamed for the moment.
“Good, I’d say. Not doing a lot of traffic as far as I can see - it’s a novelty for people who want to see aliens more than anything, you’re just standing in the background. Lots of folks in the dugout recognized you though. It has raised some eyebrows about that ONI transfer. Unrelated, thank you for reaching out promptly this time.”
The dugout was the informal term for the training decks. All the briefing rooms and simulators were there, and where the trainers like Ed had their offices. New pilots and those waiting for a redeployment spent a lot of time in the dugout. At least he was well recognized and apparently his involvement elsewhere wasn’t enough to make the news bad. “I’ll take it. I actually wanted to know if you were interested in grabbing dinner tonight. Carbon and my mom are here, and Eleya.”
“Who?”
Alex took the shot. “My mom, the woman who gave birth to me and raised me?”
“I know what a mom is, jackass. Who’s Eleya?” He was annoyed but still laughing about it.
“The Empress of the Tsla’o Empire.”
The connection got very quiet for a good ten seconds. “Are you fucking with me? Hey Ed, you want to catch up over dinner? By the by, the Royal Sovereign of an alien race is going to be there, too.”
“Nope, I am completely serious.” He was. Yes, Ed was unaware of the new familial ties, which probably would have made this seem less completely out of left field. Admittedly, he wasn’t even sure it was a good idea. “She’s an interesting character. Fairly down to earth despite the whole royalty thing. I think she could stand to be around more people who are not deeply harmed by the cataclysm, too.”
Well, slightly down to earth. Now that he’d had time to get to know her. She had been acting more personable lately in general.
“You don’t have to convince me, I’m just making sure you’re not putting me on. So where are you guys going, The Mothership?” He chuckled.
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“Man, I thought about it. Carbon knows somebody there, I guess, but I got one of the DSS guys to reserve the executive dining room by Noonan’s. The decor there should actually translate to their sensibilities pretty well.” Also he was not hyped about any of the restaurants on the station except for Noonan’s. Maybe the coffee shop, their ice cream is top notch.
Ed was surprised by that. “I didn’t know Noonan’s had one of those. Since DSS is involved, have them send me the details and they can get working on my background check.”
“Alright, will do.” He hadn’t realized that DSS was going to require further information for things like security checks. Santos asking him for a list of people who were coming made a lot more sense now.
He got Santos the list. Really only Ed and his mother, as all the Tsla’o were already cleared. Everyone would be escorted over at five PM station time, which wasn’t too far away, and exactly when the the reception was supposed to draw to a close.
In the meantime, he joined up with Carbon again. Met a government official from Arvaikheer II, which was the last Human settlement of good size before the Tsla’o Empire’s borders and had become the gateway for trade in and out of their territory. It was still a long trip in a hauler, apparently, but that’s the tradeoff for pushing cargo. Physics could be bent, but not broken entirely.
Arvaikheer also had the largest community of Tsla’o in Human space, who were in a very weird position. Refugees for the moment, but while the Empire was growing its livable space as fast as it could, it was also constantly bringing more people off the surface of Schoen, so they likely would not be able to return to their homelands for years. If they decided they wanted to stay and join the Confederation, that may actually be impossible. The Confed simply didn’t have any immigration laws. The entirety of Human space was inside the Confederation and all the aliens had kept their distance, at best, so there had been nowhere to emigrate from for the last century.
It had come up, but bureaucracy was slow moving on a good day and a couple of hundred aliens in a bind at the edge of Human space was not something that people eagerly crafted legislation about.
Leaving the Empire was equally as problematic as the Empire didn’t currently allow relinquishing citizenship. That was a punishment, and they would not consider banishing citizens without good reason. They also didn’t recognize dual citizenship, which was kind of news to Alex. What the hell did that make him?
That question could wait. He wasn’t exactly a refugee at this moment, but he did know who needed to be looped into this conversation. It only took him a few moments to locate Eleya, who seemed to be a little bored by whoever she was talking to, some guy dressed like he was in a James Bond film.
He had the feeling he was about to make Mr. Gantulga’s week, given how passionate he was about doing right by these refugees, as he flagged Eleya down. She disengaged from the dude she was talking to as quickly as possible. An introduction later the Empress was fully engaged in this discussion, the gears behind her eyes turning as she got to dip into a problem that she might actually be able to do something about.
While they talked, he got to peel Carbon off and chat for a while before Santos and a couple of DSS suits pulled up to collect everyone.
Before they left, Eleya dispatched Sergeant Zenshen to get Mr. Gantulga’s contact information and more details about how the Tsla’o had gotten to his planet. The fact that refugees had made it to Confederation space was news to her, and making sure that things were being handled as clearly as possible was a priority.
Having never really left the CPP section of McFadden, Alex was actually unaware of just how big the ‘third largest station’ in Sol was. Everything he had dealt with was tightly siloed, and thus he had never really walked around much. So the thirty minutes of travel by foot to the executive dining suite was a surprise. Yeah there was a ride on a lift, and several security doors, but the amount of walking was unexpected.
Ed and Audry were already seated. They had earpieces in as well, DSS really putting in legwork here that he had not really thought about.
“Hey, mom.” He hugged his mom first, of course. Priorities. It felt like it had been months since he’d seen his parents last, and it hadn’t even been two weeks yet. Plus, everyone there would have never stopped giving him shit about it if he said hello to Ed first, and Ed would have been the first one to start.
“Alex, it’s so good to see you again.” She hugged with the force of someone twice her size, squeezing the breath out of him.
“Good to see you too.” He said after he’d caught his breath. “Ah, hang on, introductions. Most of you know each other already but let me run it down.”
He went around the little group, Ed, Audry, Carbon, Eleya. They had left most of the security team in the antechamber, DSS putting a pair of Tsla’o security in the service staging area as well, so he didn’t have to worry about his mom making them part of the family this time.
His mom bowed to Eleya. A little more than necessary, if he was being honest.
“Please, do not bow so deeply.” Eleya gestured for her to stand, apparently agreeing with Alex’s estimation of how far she should be bowing. “Your son has proven to be a tremendous ally to the Tsla’o people, and more honorable than many I have met. No doubt a reflection of those who raised him.”
“Oh, of course.” Audry was a little confused before Eleya continued speaking, briefly extolling her son’s virtues. A decidedly proud little smile crossed her face, “thank you for saying as much. He was a handful growing up, I’m glad to see that he’s doing right by so many.”
“Was he? I would certainly like to hear more about that.” A smirk curled the corner of Eleya’s mouth as her gaze turned towards Alex for a moment. “Perhaps we should be seated first?”
There was no arrangement of seats, which initially perplexed Eleya, who was quickly placed between Carbon and Alex to buffer everyone else from her. Just to be on the safe side. It was only five people, and an extremely informal event despite the setting - the room was easily large enough for five more tables of this size, which could probably actually seat six. Right now it was empty save for them.
It looked exactly like Noonan’s. Thick green carpet, rich dark wood everywhere, floor to ceiling. Warm, cozy lighting. Like someone had lifted the design and turned it into a small dining room. Even had the regular menus waiting at each seat. It left Alex with a strange sense of nostalgia, despite having only known about it for six months. He had enjoyed hanging out there.
Their waiter arrived not long after they sat, and took drink orders. He was equipped with a translator as well, which made sense. Also seemed a bit more put together than the crew at Noonan’s, actually dressed like the guys who brought up room service from Gardien de Phare now that Alex was thinking about it. Who had DSS clearance to enter the diplomatic suites. It made sense.
Things were going pretty smoothly. Ed had a lager, Alex went for his usual porter. Carbon tried the brown ale that they had recommended to her last time. Audry had a Last Word, which brought Eleya’s attention to the drinks list on the back of the menu. She ordered a Titan Tea.
The Titan Tea was just a Long Island Iced Tea with a silly name because they were in space. Alex though it was probably the least Eleya sounding item on the menu, but the Tsla’o did love their tea. He would have suggested an Old Fashioned, or maybe a Martini, if she had asked.
The conversation bubbled around him as he surveyed the menu again. Maybe the last time for a while, if not the last time ever. He already knew he was getting a double bacon cheeseburger, there was no other thing on the menu he was interested in. He still read it while his mom regaled everyone with the story about the time he ran into the funicular’s door at full tilt. No injuries, thankfully, other than a knot on his forehead and bruised pride.
He had come to laugh about that, in time.
The drinks came. Alex had forgotten that they put Titan Teas in a pint glass, and the bar had a tendency to pour very strong. Eleya seemed to hold her liquor well, and he had only seen her have two drinks so far today. Shouldn’t be an issue.
He thought that until he noticed that she was speed running it, drinking what was nearly half a pint of booze like water.
Ok, he’d definitely steer her towards something less alcoholic if she tried to get another drink.
“Yes, when he was about five, he had just decided that space was his favorite thing. Collected space ships, learned about planets. He wanted to visit every planet and moon in the system.” Audry smiled, wistful as she recalled a somewhat less embarrassing fact about him.
“Hasn’t changed much in that regard.” Ed added, looking at Alex over the top of his menu. “First time I threw him in a simulator, I shut the pod door and by the time I was back to the monitoring station, he had accurately charted a course out to Cassiopeiae on the Superlight network. Had to remind him that protocol involves checking the map first, and that would be on the test.”
Excitement had gotten the better of him in the moment. “Yeah, I sat down and started getting to it. I had just been brought back into the program and it was the first time I had been allowed in a real Scoutship simulator. Felt like I had something to prove.”
“No, I mean that’s unusual. Most people don’t have the jumps out of Sol memorized, let alone enough knowledge to intuit a well optimized trip. If you will recall, you had five segments programmed when I gave you that warning.” Ed laughed, very much amused by this. “I did six runs and I probably can’t make it past Proxima without double checking the charts.”
“Come on, Proxima is literally the second line.” It wasn’t that hard. He just visualized the network really well.
“I know my limits.” Edwin found that pretty amusing too. “How would you get to Gliese 687?”
“Conventional wisdom is to go through Struve 2398, as it’s nearly a straight line.” It wasn’t very far away but there wasn’t much going on at 687 other than mining, so it didn’t have a direct link to Sol. Early hopes that one of Struve’s planets would be terraformable fell through, but it ended up with several industrial stations and a Superlight beacon as a stepping stone. “But as it’s only cargo rated lanes going through there, speeds are limited. You can take a high-speed link to 61 Cygni, which also has a high-speed to 687. Probably save ten hours.”
Alex was conspicuously aware that everyone was staring at him by the time he finished saying all that. At least they looked impressed.
Ed grinned. “I rest my case.”