“Well, what do you think?” Lieutenant Colonel Gunnly looked at Commissioner Flores, keeping her own thoughts to herself.

“I think that I need to talk with General Major Dennus, I am concerned.” He stood. “Let us go to where the good Captain Feli Duaris is stationed.”

“You go. My place is here, watching the Ladies.” With a nod, the Commissioner left.

Circulating through the room, Lieutenant Colonel Gunnly saw, with approval, that the Black Guard was keeping an eye on the Ladies. The Ladies were clustered together, talking in their strange language. Seeing nothing disturbing, she walked outside and scrutinised the compound established for the duration of the meeting. Again, other than noting that the rain had stopped there was nothing significant that she could see. Activating her comm unit, she contacted Captain Feli Duaris.

“Anything on your screen?” Gunnly inquired.

“A crowd is gathering sir. One at the main gate, one near the landing areas for the troops and shuttles. They likely have seen the Kressies.” He referred to the light cruiser floating overhead. “I have kept the General informed, all of them.” Duaris finished.

The humour was lost on the Colonel. “Stay on those crowds. If you think that you need more men or want to move men, deal with General Major Licciinus and General Major Dennus. Just keep me informed.” Tapping off her comm, she went back inside.

In the ground command post, Captain Duaris and General Licciinus each just grunted. They already knew what to do.

General Licciinus had been quietly advised by Dennus that Captain Duaris had been personally confirmed by the Dark Lord and was empowered to take any and all actions to protect the Ladies of the Circle. This concerned the General, but with the exchange of a few words between them, the two officers had established a rapport and were working together without difficulty.

“What are they doing out there?” General Licciinus asked.

“Nothing, just gathering. They can’t get through our screen and we are keeping it quiet. So far, anyway. The battalion commanders have been briefed to keep it low key, so they are staying out of sight. The local police are staying in visible command.” Captain Duaris replied.

“Good, that is the way we want it.” The General turned to another screen. “Look, the meeting is going to start again.”

*********

Flores soon was in contact with Dennus and the pair held a brief discussion.

“It may not be good but it is out of our hands,” General Major Dennus pointed out. “We are ready whatever happens.” He finished, thinking I am glad that I am not an ambassador.

Reluctantly agreeing, Flores finished the call and left the ground command post.

*********

At the agreed time, the three representatives of Ti Lepus returned to the meeting room, their faces expressionless. This time Leves was leading.

“I would like to know what was said in that room,” Lieutenant Colonel Gunnly murmured to Commissioner Flores. “They look different.”

“As do I, but I am sure that they know.” Flores who nodded at the Ladies who were sitting, also expressionless, in their seats. Gunnly grunted an acknowledgement.

As before, Lady Dana spoke first. “Are we ready to proceed, gentlemen?”

“We are.” Leves replied.

Councillor Dirkus Prizzker sat forward. “We acknowledge the validity of many of the points that you have made. However that changes nothing. The basic point is that we don’t like others. Our whole being is anti-outsiders, we hate them. So why should we inflict ourselves with you?

“It is not that you are bad or do bad things. It is that we are incompatible. We cannot live with you, so we no longer want anything to do with you. The world is going to be closed to anyone. You have already evacuated all outworlders from the planet, so that is not a problem. All we want is to be left in peace to live as we please. Is that too much to ask?

“As for the commercial ties, the people that we have contracts with, they may have some problems, but they will find new customers. As for companies on our planet who deal with off worlders, that will be our problem to deal with. It will be nothing for you to concern yourselves with.

“As for the so called Dark Lord, we reject him and want nothing to do with him. We do not believe in him. That is how he gets his power anyway. From fools who think that he exists. Only the gullible think that he has power. Little children who are frightened by his name.

“Therefore it is the resolve of all people of Ti Lepus to reject this ancient and ridiculous story and go our own way for the good of all. Our people demand it. Our planet demands it and we demand it.” Prizzker sat back, satisfied.

Throughout this speech, the Ladies had sat silent, listening politely.

*********

In his command post above the planet, Dennus and all the others held their breath. A warning, which he didn’t need, was flashed to Captain Feli Duaris. A raised eyebrow passed between him and General Licciinus.

*********

A drawn out period of silence ensued. The Ladies calmly regarded the men sitting across from them. Lady Lakeisha finally stirred and leant forward. With her exotic looks, even the three councillors could not but stare at her. “Thank you Councillor Dirkus Prizzker for your statement. At least it has the element of truth. Of reality, however, it has little or none.” She paused to stare at each of the men in turn. None could meet her gaze.

“Are you so naïve that you actually believe that you can so insult the Dark Lord and His representatives and get away with it? Do you really believe that you can dismiss one so powerful that easily? His hand has been held back from falling on you only with the greatest of difficulty. Already, we feel His anger growing hotter.” Again, Lady Lakeisha paused, then suddenly smiled. “I would not like to be in your shoes when he arrives.” General Dennus and the others started at the Ladys words.

Leves, Markus and Prizzker all sat motionless. Leves and Prizzker with expressions of disbelief while Markus held his face immobile.

“You are fools, living in a fool’s paradise of your minds and your planet.” Lady Lakeisha continued. “You may have started in a manner that hated other life forms, but you should have grown beyond that. You have all profited greatly from your relations with the Empire yet you would, in a fit of spite, throw that all away. You will face massive unrest from food and other shortages. Massive water shortages due to drought will be causing disruption in the next few years. Without help, how could you plan to deal with that crisis?” She looked the trio over and shook her head, falling back in her seat.

Both Leves and Prizzker exploded in rage, while Markus sat quietly.

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“How dare you call us fools?! That is beyond any form of speech that anyone should be subject to. We are not little children to be so dismissed by you and your Empire! We will not be spoken to in that manner!” Leves got the first words in.

Prizzker nodded in agreement. “I concur with all that my colleague has said. As to your prophecies of doom, we reject them. Now the water, since the Empire won’t be stealing it we will have plenty!”

Lady Jasmine, sat forward. With her classical beauty and dark tan, she had also attracted stares from all. “I have been listening to you three all this day.” The words were spoken in a lilting softly modulated voice. This did not calm the listeners however. There was an undercurrent of menace in the words. “You have spoken for the planet you said, but have you really?”

She regarded all three calmly. “The words you have spoken have all been twisted versions of truth, bound up in your own prejudices and compounded by anger at your own insecurities. Only the last statement had the element of what you really felt running through it. And when we called you on it, you reacted with baseless allegations, anger and wounded pride.”

Lady Jasmine stood, followed by the other five Ambassadors. There was a sudden tension in the room. Dennus flashed a warning to the ground control room. All the people in the meeting room came to their feet.

Lady Jasmine, spoke in a deep formal voice, “Very well, we leave you with these thoughts. The Dark Lord rejects your call to leave the Empire. He calls on you to withdraw the overwrought and uncalled for charges of criminal acts that you have made. He gives you three standard days to meditate on this warning. There will be no further contact. It is up to you to make the next move or not. Not, will be taken as a rejection of our Master and the Empire. You are so warned.”

Lady Dana surveyed the room with her eyes, finishing at the three representatives of Ti Lepus who were also standing. “This meeting stands adjourned.” The cold words fell like a splash of freezing water onto all in the room.

Without waiting for a reply the ambassadors turned and left, followed by Lieutenant Colonel Gunnly and Commissioner Flores. Recovering from his shock at being so dismissed, Leves shouted after them, “We will never subject ourselves to your Dark Lord or you again!”

In his command cruiser, Dennus ordered, “OK, get them off the planet. Stand by to evacuate, taking everything with us including all surveillance gear installed.”

“We have it sir.” Captain Duaris replied. “All is prepared and we have men standing by.”

Dennus turned to the cruisers captain. “Get the shuttles ready for us to return to our respective vessels as soon as the Ambassadors are safely away.”

“Sir.” The Captain nodded to his second officer. This officer had anticipated the request so sent the agreed upon message. “Shuttles execute.” The senior officers nodded in approval. The ship’s Captain turned back to General Dennus. “We are still at yellow alert, sir. Do you want red alert?”

Dennus, thought for a moment, “No, but stand by to execute red alert on any sign of hostile action.” He turned to the two admirals. “I have no idea what is going to happen next. You will know as soon as I know.” The two admirals agreed.

Everyone watched their monitors carefully for signs of reaction from the planet.

Time passed to slowly for those watching, then, “Cruiser away,” announced the senior scanner operator. “Screen in position.”

“Good, stay on it,” the captain acknowledged.

“No active planet based scanners detected, sir.”

“Acknowledged.”

Tension heightened. The most dangerous time for a ship leaving a planet was when it left atmosphere. Plasma fields created from driving through the air faded as the air grew thinner and the vessel became a better target. At the same time, it took the ships system’s a measurable amount of time to react to changed conditions and come fully online. This meant that at such a time, any space craft, transiting from atmosphere to space, would be vulnerable to an attack either from space or ground. Measures were taken, of course. Other ships surrounded the Ambassador’s ship, but there was still a certain amount of anxiety until the scanner crew announced that they were clear.

Both Admiral De Johnston and Vice Admiral Hojo waved to their staffs. They were packed and ready as was General Major Dennus’s small staff. With a word of thanks to the ship’s captain, they left to their respective shuttles.

Sitting unmoving in his seat, Dennus thought over what had happened. He had heard about a conversation between Major Houser and Ptocto, but didn’t know what was said and that concerned him. But the Command ship, Maiden Constance, was right ahead and behind them the cruiser carrying the Ambassadors was closing fast.

Once in his office aboard the command battleship with Dule, Dennus commed Captain Thompson, asking him to bring in the two admirals in on a conference call which Major Houser would attend as soon as they were in a position to do so. That took just a fraction, and the conference began.

“Captain, as soon as everyone is on board take us out of range of that planet, as far as necessary but stay in the best comm range consistent with safety.” Dennus began. “Major, I want a comm team on your station, volunteers only. Any questions?”

“I will be on board that station sir, and will rotate a crew on and off every twelve periods.” Major Houser spoke with a flat voice.

“Not you Major, you are too valuable. I need you and Commissioner Flores here as advisors.”

“Sir, I need to be on that station. There are people down there who will only talk to me. That goes for the Commissioner as well. I believe that I can speak for him as you will see shortly.”

Dennus’s incipient protest was stilled by Admiral De Johnston. “As task force commander I agree. General, as this does not have anything to do with your primary mission, but does have bearing on the safety of the overall task force, I feel that I can overrule you in this matter.” The Admiral paused. “Sorry General, but I accept that Major Houser and Commissioner Flores are best put where they can communicate with the planet.”

Dennus took a deep breath. “My apologies to all. You are correct sir of course. I leave this in your hands, please inform me of any communications that have any bearing on my mission.”

“No need to apologise, General, Major Houser will do so without any need to consult with anyone first. You can talk to both as often as you wish without needing to get my permission.” There was a smile in the Admirals voice that brought a grimace to Dennus face. “You still have the primary mission. In this regard, I have to inform you that I will be relocating the task force. We will be basically effecting a distant blockade of the planet. Vice Admiral Hojo, your mission as close escort remains unchanged.”

There was a fraction of silence. “Understood sir,” came in a chorus.

“I concur with the blockade sir.” Dennus spoke. “If I receive any, ah, suggestions from the Ambassadors, I will advise you.”

“Thank you General Dennus. Out.” Admiral De Johnston, replied.

Dennus sat behind his desk thinking about how much he had gotten used to having overall command. Well he knew that it would be over sometime, and guessed that it would now be sooner than later.

Captain Thompson’s voice brought General Dennus out of his reverie. “Ambassadors arriving, General.”

“Thank you, Captain Thompson.” Dennus squared his shoulders and went to meet the Ladies, both majors in tow.

They were not happy. Leaving the shuttle, they marched past Dennus without a glance, their mood obvious to everyone they met. Any crew member encountered stepped aside and made no attempt to speak. Moving to speak to Lady Dana, Dennus was halted by an uplifted hand and the single word, “Later.”

With a sigh, the General watched them leave.

Commissioner Flores, Lieutenant Colonel Gunnly, Major Houser and Major Dule all joined the General. Standing in silence for a fraction, Dennus composed himself and turned to Major Houser and Commissioner Flores. “Have you to spoken to each other?”

There was an exchange of looks, followed by a nod. Dennus sighed. “Well you better get going then. Please keep me informed and both the task force commanders appraised as well. We were locked in all the way, so you don’t need to update me on anything. However if you have any suggestions?”

“Thank you, General.” Flores spoke with his habitual calm. “I have nothing to suggest. It is out of our hands now.”

“Sir.” Major Houser saluted and followed the Commissioner to their waiting shuttle.

Arriving at his office, Dennus found that Captain Feli Duaris and Colonel Gunnly had also arrived. “Welcome Colonel, Captain.” He smiled, “You did well, all of you.”

Rising and saluting, both Gunnly and Duaris looked somber. “The security went well, but as for the rest ...” He shrugged.

“The rest is not your concern.” Dennus surveyed his staff. “We did the task that the Dark Lord gave us. We protected the Ambassadors and that was our job. The rest was up to them.” He surveyed the group. “Go and do your reports. Then get some rest.” He smiled. “Tomorrow is going to be another day.”