Veeka scurried urgently through the halls of Parliament.

What was she going to do?

How was she going to give voice to the icy dread that was growing by the second? How could she express what she knew was at hand so that it would be believed?

Caw!!!

Yes! Caw Itseesh! If anyone knew what that Baleel was capable of, it would be him!

Wasting no time, she sprinted towards the Xxian offices.

“Can I help you?” a smartly dressed Xxian female asked with her crest flicking in a “raised eyebrow”.

“Caw!” she gasped, her portly frame unused to the exertion. “I (gasp) need...(gasp)… Caw!”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” the Xx smirked, “You just missed him.”

“(gasp) Where...(gasp)… is he going...” Veeka gasped, bending over, her second arms gripping her knees for support.

“He has returned to Xvarnkia,” the Xx replied, “He wishes to welcome the Baleean delegation personally and see that they are properly attended to.”

The Baleean delegation?!?

Oh, this was bad…

“I (gasp) have to… (gasp)… speak with him… It’s about the (gasp) the Baleel!” Veeka wheezed, trying not to throw up. “It’s a matter of utmost...(gasp)… utmost urgency.”

“Utmost urgency concerning the Baleel?” the Xx snickered. “Are you certain?”

“Yes!” Veeka shouted, charging her desk and then nearly collapsing across it, “K (gasp)… Kara (gasp)...”

“Karashel?” the Xx asked helpfully.

“Yes! She’s...”

“His pet?” the Xx smirked, “Does she need her litter box changed or something?”

“No!” Veeka wheezed, “She’s dangerous. She’s...”

“She’s what?” the Xx asked with visible amusement.

“She’s… She’s… agriculture!… food… (gasp)… food supply...”

“What about the food supply?”

“I… I don’t… (gasp)… know exactly… (gasp)… trade (gasp)… unable to pay...”

Veeka pulled out her sigil, the encoded crystal representing her ability to speak for her race.

“I demand (gasp)… Caw...”

“I see,” the Xx smiled, “He will undoubtedly stop by his chambers at the embassy to pack before his departure. If you hurry, you might be able to reach him before he leaves. Would you like for me to summon one of our vehicles for you? It will be much faster.”

“(gasp) Yes! Yes, please.”

“Very good,” the Xx smiled as a set of doors opened, “Just wait inside, and I will send someone with some refreshments while I have the embassy send a limo.”

Veeka looked at the doors anxiously as the Xx stepped from behind the desk and gently started to guide her inside. The Xx’s offices were shielded. Nothing could penetrate their cloaks, including sound.

But she didn’t have any choice, did she? If anyone could stop Karashel, it was Caw, right?

She allowed herself to be led inside, guided to a couch, and the doors to close behind the attendant.

***

The Xxian attendant huffed with annoyance as she walked to her desk.

As she reached it, Caw walked out from another doorway.

“Well,” Caw said, “I’m off.”

“I’ve just received word that your bags have arrived on board our vessel. Enjoy your trip home, sir,” the attendant smiled.

“Anything I should be aware of before I board,” Caw asked, “you know how communications are these days.”

“Nothing of any import,” the attendant replied. “Enjoy your ‘vacation’,” she smirked.

“Baleel herding isn’t a vacation,” Caw laughed, “One of them is bad enough, a few dozen?”

Caw mock shuddered.

“Anything you would like from home?” Caw asked pulling out one of their crystalline tablets.

“Oh, some keeljax!” the attendant exclaimed.

“Oh, good choice!” Caw grinned, making a note. “And you aren’t the only one! I’ll bring back a pallet!”

“Thank you, Councilor!” the Xx enthused.

“Keep an eye on the store while I’m gone,” Caw laughed as he departed, waving over his shoulder.

“Goodbye!” the attendant smiled.

As the doors closed, her smile faded.

She pulled out a communicator.

“Hello?” a bright voice answered,

“Chairman Karashel,” she said, “This is PeeYouuu… We have a problem.”

***

“No, you did fine,” Karashel replied into her communicator as she sat among the “committee” out in Aspiration Park. “She was sniffing around here just a moment ago. I was anticipating her trying something like this. No… There is no need for that. Besides, she is one of the decent ones. There is nothing she, or Caw for that matter, can do now anyway. Our prey is on the slope. Nothing can stop it now… Yes, I was hoping to make things bigger as well, but we mustn’t get greedy. Just make sure that the limo arrives after Caw has already boarded… Thanks again, PeeYouuu. It warms my hearts that at least some of the Xx care… I plan on lighting the candle tonight. Inform the others… Bye!”

“Problem?” Rillrillrillrill buzzed, her frill hood twitching sending hypnotic patterns dancing across its surface.

“Only a minor annoyance,” Karashel replied. “Veeka is trying to warn Caw.”

“The Xx?!?” Longpaw squeak-snarled, “And that isn’t a problem?”

“It’s too late,” Karashel replied as she popped a grain coated pickle into her mouth, “we already have the signed documents stating that they are unable to pay. He can complicate matters, but he can’t stop it. Besides, I have just ensured that Veeka will be delayed. She will miss Caw, and my people in the Xxian embassy will ensure that no word reaches him before they jump.”

“I still can’t believe you turned some of the Xx,” Longpaw said with an awestruck voice.

“Their idealism was their undoing,” Karashel replied as her radula slowly but surely ripped the pickle into pieces, “For every fish, there is a worm, Longpaw… and for every worm, a hook.”

Karashel smiled.

“Spread the word,” she said with a quiet smile. “The candle gets lit tonight.”

The group chuckled darkly as the Aat and Wttl happily filled their plates.

***

Just outside the Capital City spaceport, Gvooron dug his claw under the scratchy armor vest that he and every other Federation officer now had to wear.

Like it would do any good. Did you freaking see what their weapons do? This aluminum foil sweat collector wouldn’t do a void-dammed thing if the humans come calling.

He fiddled with the climate controls in his small kiosk again.

He really hated the vest, but he couldn’t take another write-up just now.

A short line of fancy hover trucks pulled to a stop in front of his kiosk. He glanced at his screen. They were Kalent consulate vehicles carrying “diplomatic cargo”.

Odd. That usually meant just a fancy limo or maybe a small “hopper”.

He approached the lead vehicle.

“Good afternoon!” the kalent driver said somewhat nervously.

Hmmm... Gvooron thought to himself, his heavy Threen brow raising in suspicion. It wasn’t like the Kalent to be nervous.

“What you got there?” Gvooron asked, idly pulling out his scanner. He couldn’t go ripping open boxes, but nothing said he couldn’t wave a scanner over them. He could always say he was checking the vehicles for electromagnetic noise or something.

The scanner revealed nothing. The vehicles were all shielded… which was definitely odd but not illegal. It was diplomatic cargo, after all.

He looked at the driver again.

Nervous… unusual cargo... If Gvooron didn’t know better, he would swear this was a smuggler. He was showing all of the signs…

He double-checked the driver’s and the cargo’s credentials again. They were legit. There was no falsifying those.

“You picked a good time to arrive,” Gvooron said pleasantly, “fantastic weather this time of year… well… except for all the snipers… not that people like me have to worry about those, of course.”

“Yeah… nice weather...” the driver replied nervously.

“So what do you have in there?” Gvooron asked in a conversational tone, “Don’t usually see diplomatic cargoes that big.”

“Diplomatic stuff,” the driver said anxiously.

“Diplomatic stuff… I see...”

“I have to get this stuff delivered,” the driver said anxiously, “Is this going to take long.”

“Not long,” Gvooron said, narrowing his eyes, “I just have to run this by central. Do you have a manifest for that cargo?”

“Don’t need one,” the driver said as he darted back and forth in his bot’s globe, “It’s diplomatic.”

“Just asking if you had one,” Gvooron asked pleasantly. “It’s on the checklist. I gotta ask everyone.”

Gvooron submitted the driver’s documentation to central, and the codes were verified.

They were cleared. Well, that was that. He couldn’t stop the guy. Besides, it was a Kalent. You didn’t want to start trouble with those even if you were justified, which he no longer was.

Knowing it stank to high heaven, Gvooron shrugged and pressed an icon on his tablet. The barricade in front of his kiosk lifted.

“You have a nice day now,” Gvooron smiled.

“Y-you too,” The driver stammered as he drove past.

Gvooron looked at the convoy as it drove off. He then shrugged and returned to his kiosk.

As the hover trucks pulled away, the crinkling of cellophane could be heard coming from the back of the driver’s bot, followed by a munching sound.

Rigid with fear, the driver looked down at one of several little “companion fish” in his globe, a bright yellow little guy with the strangest markings on his head…

They looked just like a little “smiley face”…

***

Veeka clambered out of the limo just as soon as it pulled to a stop inside the Xxian embassy parking lot.

There was an Xx waiting for her.

“I’m sorry you traveled all this way, Councilor,” the Xx said before she could even open her mouth, “But Councilor Itseesh left ten minutes ago.”

“What?!?” Veeka shouted. “I waited for nearly an hour in that dammed room, then this limo stopped for every single traffic signal on an empty street, and now… now you tell me that I missed him?!? This is an emergency, dammit! What ship is he on?”

“The Purple Streak, Councilor.”

“Well, take me to your communications center!” Veeka shouted. “I need to speak with him! It’s a matter of Federation Security!!!”

“I’m sorry, Councilor,” the Xx said politely, “But you misunderstood me. When I said you missed him, I didn’t mean you missed him here. His ship just jumped to hyperspace. He won’t be reachable until their next jump point.”

” I WAS TOLD HE WAS COMING HERE TO PACK!!!”

“I’m sorry, councilor,” the Xx replied, successfully concealing his amusement, “but whoever told you that was in error. He left for the ship directly from Parliament.”

Veeka threw her head back as she let loose an anguished, frustrated scream…

She stopped screaming and carefully looked at the Xx in front of her.

She had been diddled…

“Very well,” she replied with enforced calm, “I wish to see the ambassador, then.”

“Oh, I can take a message for you,” the Xx said pleasantly. “I’ll relay it directly to the communications center and enter it into the buffer myself. It will be delivered the second their ship enters normal space.”

“Ambassador,” Veeka snarled,” Now.”

***

Police Sergeant L~gg looked at the short line of trucks approaching the barricade curiously.

“What the fuck?” he muttered.

“They lost?” officer K=pal fluttered as they stood behind thick dura-armor plates.

The trucks rolled to a stop.

“Disembark from the vehicle with your appendages clearly visible!” Sergeant L~gg barked through a loudspeaker.

The door to the truck opened, and a Kalent bot clambered out.

“He’s clean!” K=pal chirped as he looked at a scanner.

“Get over here!” Sergeant L~gg shouted. “You’re in plain sight, moron!”

“You just called a Kalent a moron!” K=pal whispered urgently.

“Just calling like I see them,” Sergeant L~gg replied. “Maybe it will get me fired,” he added hopefully.

The Kalent, clearly terrified, scrambled over to the two officers.

“You lost, buddy?” the Sergeant asked. “You do know where this is, right?”

The Kalent bobbed up and down.

“I… I have compassionate relief supplies…” he said as a little string of poop came out.

“Compassionate relief?” Sergeant L~gg replied. “You gotta be kidding me!”

“Th… The Kalent people feel the human’s suffering and wish to provide basic sustenance and medical supplies out… out of the goodness… eep...Out of the goodness of…”

A bright yellow little “guppy” nuzzled him.

” OUR HEARTS” the Kalent squealed. “Out of the goodness of our hearts! We have gathered donations of food, clothes, and medical supplies for the survivors of the unprovoked bombardment of their homes!!!”

“Well, that’s awfully nice of you guys,” Sergeant L~gg smirked. “And you are just going to drive in there?”

” Yes!” the Kalent exclaimed as another little bright yellow fish kissed his cheek. “I have a point of contact that is still alive who will meet me and receive the delivery!”

“Manifest,” Sergeant L~gg said suspiciously.

The Kalent nervously handed the Sergeant a tablet.

“Hmm… Food… Medicine… Clothing… Portable Structures...” The Sergeant said as he read. “...Authorized by Federation Emergency Council on behalf of the Kalent people… Now I’ve seen everything.”

He grabbed a scanner and aimed it at the trucks from his shelter.

“Please lower your shields,” the Sergeant said with a bit of annoyance.

Suddenly the arms of the Kalent’s bot shot out like serpents.

Sergeant L~gg and Officer K=pal fell to the ground, their brains strewn across the shelter.

The Kalent screamed in horror.

The little yellow fish turned into little yellow blurs...

The bot, with a globe filled with chunky bright pink broth where a Kalent used to be reached over and pressed a button, and the barricade lifted, as munching sounds could be heard coming from inside of the bot.

It then climbed into the lead truck and drove into Porkie Town.

***

As night fell, Karashel entered her apartment at the Baleelan embassy.

As she made herself a nice cup of tea, she reviewed her emails.

It would have to do. They could delay no longer.

After she finished her tea, she went to her closet and selected her nicest clothes. After she had donned them, she headed back into the kitchen and opened a cabinet.

Inside was a simple glass mug filled with wax with a bit of waxed string in the middle.

She chuckled. Not that long ago, she didn’t even know what one of these was.

She pulled out a simple butane lighter, a gift from an Aat, and lit it.

Smiling, she took the lit candle onto her balcony and set it on the railing, an innocuous act.

She then threw her head back, raising all of her pseudo tentacles skyward.

It had begun.

***

Jessica Morgan smiled as she read the latest email from Gordon.

He was such a goof...

Such a lovable goof... Every now and then, the universe cuts even the wicked a break, and Gordon was hers. He could always make her laugh, no matter what was happening.

The door opened. It was Terrence.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” he said, “Karashel just lit the candle.”

“I see,” Jessica replied, “Has Brenda arrived?”

“I just received word from Porkie Town,” Terrence replied. “Both Brenda and the shipment arrived this afternoon.”

“Perfect timing,” Jessica replied.

She stood and stretched.

“Terrence,” she smiled, “get me in touch with the plague fleet. It’s time.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

***

The candle has been lit.

Jalabel, the Baleelan Foreign Minister, smiled as she read her email.

She quickly forwarded it to a few hundred individuals across the planet.

Once that was done, she sighed happily, inserted her neural jack, and selected one of her favorite tracks.

“Let’s Go,” she whispered as her anterior end started to bounce.

As her eyes closed with delight, she fantasized once again about having fangs…

That would be so cool!