“Deputy Ambassador, the embassy is now secure, ma’am” a young blonde woman in combat armor said over Patricia’s communicator.

“Well that’s a relief,” Patricia said in an annoyed voice. “Did you manage to capture that traitor Wintersmith alive?”

“Regrettably he was able to escape,” the woman said in an unhappy voice.

“What?!?” Patricia snapped. “How?”

“Supposedly he was able to take advantage of the chaos and flee,” the woman scoffed. “In truth we believe that individuals sympathetic to the Ambassador either aided him directly or at the very least ‘failed to see’ him. Don’t worry, ma’am,” she said, “All individuals in question have been detained pending a full investigation. In fact, anybody that served with him in the past has been disarmed and have been secured for the time being. Only loyal troops hold the embassy now. It is under our control.”

“So why have I been unable to send a message then?”

“That is the one complication that we are currently facing,” the woman said with a very uncomfortable expression. “The communications center is under the control of someone loyal to the Ambassador.”

“Former Ambassador,” Patricia Hu hissed. “I am now the acting Ambassador.”

“Yes, Ambassador,” the woman replied.

“Why is the communications center still under their control? Just go in there and get them out!”

“It’s not quite that simple, Ambassador,” the woman replied. “The individual in question has activated security lockdown. The entire area is now behind fifty centimeters of composite armor plating. We have nothing that can breach it.”

“Then what are we fucking going to do about it?” Patricia snarled.

“Unfortunately, ma’am, the only thing we can do at this point is to starve her out.”

“Unacceptable! There must be something you can do!”

“It was designed to be able to withstand a direct Federation assault,” the woman replied. “It has fifty centimeters of armor plating on all sides, a self contained fusion reactor, full life support… the works.”

“(sigh) Well how long before they run out of supplies?”

The woman winced.

“There is enough food and water for a crew of three operators and one VIP to last for at least a week.”

“Fuck!” Patricia yelled. “That is our only line of communications with the Republic!”

“We are currently working on the situation. Our engineering staff is on it but they are less than optimistic. We are trying to breach the unbreachable.”

“Wait,” Patricia said dubiously. “They probably didn’t take over the communications center just to lock it down. What are they doing in there?”

The woman cringed

“They are repeatedly transmitting a document prepared by Jon Wintersmith.”

“What document?”

The woman reluctantly sent Patricia a copy. Patricia turned pale as she started to read it.

“According to the traitor in the communications center, that is being sent across the entire Republic to all government addresses as well as every civilian point of distribution they can reach, Ambassador.”

“She has to be stopped! This is a matter of Republic security!”

“We are doing what we can, Ambassador. Unfortunately, by design, we have nothing that can breach that space. It would require… I don’t even know what it would take.”

“Let me talk to Dorthy Emerald!”

“I’m sorry, Ambassador,” the woman winced. “Ms. Emerald is deceased.”

“Martin Dagger, then.”

“They are also deceased. Ambassador, all of ‘your’ people are dead.”

“What!?!?!?”

“The former ambassador was… quite thorough. When he couldn’t reach you he turned his frustrations on your men. He killed all of them, Ambassador… All of them.”

“Impossible!”

“I’m sorry, Ambassador, but he had a grenade, most likely intended for you. They engaged him en masse and most were killed or incapacitated by the blast. Once disabled they were easy prey, Ambassador. The remaining stragglers were no match for him.”

Patricia Hu’s blood ran cold. This wasn’t supposed to happen! She... She wasn’t prepared.

“Don’t worry, ambassador,” the woman said reassuringly, “you will be perfectly safe here.”

“Yes… yes… I am on my way. I-” Patricia suddenly fell silent and looked at the woman suspiciously. “No. I won’t be returning at this time.”

“Ambassador!” the woman said urgently. “Jon didn’t leave alone! He has a team of marine raiders with him and they are out there right now looking for you!”

“Nice try,” Patricia said with a sneer and cut off the communication.

The woman cursed and looked up at her comrades in the security office.

“I almost had her,” she shrugged. “Sorry, Major.”

“And here I thought you could charm the thrusters off of a tank,” an older man chuckled. He then turned to a grim faced brunette in a gray pantsuit “So, what do you think her next move will be?”

“She only had three people with her when she fled,” the woman replied. “While she was very very good at keeping her composure she had a very slight but measurable reaction when Jon and his team were mentioned. She’s scared. She can’t come here because she thinks we will kill her… and she’s right... And we certainly didn’t need the computer to gauge her reaction when she read Jon’s little note...” she paused while she sipped her coffee. “She’s outnumbered, outgunned, and being exposed across the entire Republic… She will try to get to a ship! She needs off this rock and she needs a line of communications. A ship with a hyperspace transmitter would solve both issues.”

The major nodded.

“Let’s get eyes and guns at the starports, all of them. Send out your teams, Susan.” He turned to the group. “Once her people are away, we activate embassy lockdown. Our primary mission is to support Captain Vincent and keep her transmitting as long as possible.” He looked over at the blonde woman. “Is that crazy bitch talking to anyone yet?”

“Nope,” the woman replied with a grin. “unless you consider ‘Any requests?’ talking.”

“Well, she’s good for at least a month. Hopefully she will let us send in more rations before then,” he laughed. “At least she has good taste in music...”

***

Patricia Hu screamed in rage and hurled her communicator out of the window of her limo.

“Drive,” she snarled.

“Where shall I go, Your Ladyship?” the driver asked nervously.

“Just drive. Keep moving.”

She closed her eyes and focused on controlling her breathing. She was rattled, bad. Shit, she almost fell for the woman on the communicator. She almost died for the second time today. She closed her eyes. Think! …

Think!… Calm down and think!… You’ve been in tight spots before… Think!

She reached into her clutch and pulled out a silver locket and held it between her thumb and forefinger, pressing it to her lips. She wanted more than anything to open it, to see the image inside for just a moment. She couldn’t, not with so many people around.

The two veterans in the vehicle shifted nervously. They knew what the locket meant.

It meant they were fucked.

***

Skippy was not happy. She, at great risk to her bad reputation, actually was proactive and professional and managed to get things done in a timely manner so she could get back a few days early. She hadn’t told Jon.

She had wanted to surprise him. She had spent the whole trip looking forward to his surprised expression when she just bounced into his office to invite him out for ‘lunch’ with a basket full of premium wild foraged Xvli goodies.

Well, that was the plan until she woke up in the dead of night last night and couldn’t get back to sleep. Something was wrong, bad wrong. She could feel it in her gut. As soon as it was remotely reasonable she tried to call Jon only for it to go straight into voicemail.

Skippy fidgeted in her office and tried calling Jon again. Last time it went straight to voicemail, just like the other times. This time all she got was a recording informing her that she tried to reach an invalid number.

She tried to ignore a bad feeling in her stomach. Something was wrong. She took a deep breath and tried to keep herself from calling the embassy. I mean, they were officially “friends” but she didn’t want to risk being too “friendly”.

Everything was probably ok. It was probably just a hectic day. We all have those, right? Yeah, it was probably fine…

Except it wasn’t... She knew something was wrong ever since this morning and every missed call just made it worse.

Something was wrong, bad wrong!

“Fuck it!” she exclaimed and jumped up from her chair and loped towards the Xvli embassy exit.

***

Skippy got off the metro at the stop closest to the embassy and tried not to run. A Xvli going at full speed would definitely draw attention. Besides everything was fine. She was just being weird.

She and Jon would have a good laugh about this. In fact, all this anxiety would make for one hell of a welcome back lunch.

Everything was going to be ok, she told herself as she loped quickly (but not too quickly) down the street.

Everything was going to be just fi-

She stopped. There were police barricades blocking the road in front of the Terran Embassy.

Everything was NOT fine!

Dropping all pretense she broke into a full Xvli leaping sprint scattering the few curious onlookers as she reached the barricade.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” a Threen police officer said stepping in front of her. “You can’t pass this point.”

“Why?!?!” Skippy squealed.

“There has been some sort of… disturbance… at the Terran Embassy. We aren’t allowing anyone any closer for the time being.”

“What disturbance?! What’s going on?”

“We aren’t sure, ma’am,” the Threen responded. “Steel barriers have sprouted up everywhere and the guards are all wearing combat armor, ma’am. We are keeping everybody away until we find out what the heck is going on.”

“Well, I’m a Federation Councilor,” Skippy said producing her credentials. “I am here on Federation business and must speak with the Terrans. Let me through.”

“I’m sorry I can’t-”

“I’m going through. If you want to shoot a Federation Councilor, be my guest.” With that, Skippy simply jumped over the barricade, the officer, and his vehicle. The Threen, along with the rest of the officers, just stood there in complete helpless surprise as Skippy bounded towards the embassy.

***

Susan and the Major walked down the hall towards the breakroom.

“Robert,” Susan said as they strolled, “I deeply appreciate you backing me up on this.”

“Please,” the Major chuckled. “Colonel Wintersmith turning traitor? Highly unlikely. Colonel Wintersmith and Gunnery Sergeant Jolknt turning traitor?” the major broke out into laughter. “Let’s just say that I was quite prepared to hear you out.” He paused by a coffee dispenser and poured them both a cup. “So,” he asked as he took a sip. “You already knew?”

Susan nodded.

“I had been briefed by someone in the agency that I trust concerning the youthful Patricia Hu and we knew she was cooking up something but a lot of the bombshells that Jon dropped on the way out were news to me too. I guess when Crimson turned all hell broke loose.”

“So where is that bitch?”

“I have no idea,” Susan scowled. “Jon is who made her disappear. All I know is that a couple of his people were already gone before everything happened.”

“Fuck,” Major Robert muttered. “So we have no way of contacting Jon and no idea where our best source of intel might be hidden.”

“That’s about the size of it,” Susan chuckled as she stirred some sugar into her brew. “Christ,” she groaned. “I just realized. With Jon gone that means… that we are in charge?”

“Oh we are so screwed!” the major laughed. “Oh shit,” he chuckled. “Who’s gonna be the ambassador?”

They both looked at each other.

“Joyce!” they exclaimed and both burst into laughter.

“Ooo! Can I tell her? Please?” Susan laughed. “I can’t wait to see the look on her face!”

They both started laughing again.

The blonde from earlier walked up.

“Excuse me,” she said, “We have a situation out front.”

***

“I want to speak to the ambassador!” Skippy yelled at the armored wall that used to be the entrance to the embassy grounds.

There was no response.

“Abyss take all you are going to fucking answer me!” Skippy yelled. “I am Councilor [email protected]~kthAAAaalliIi and I am here on vital diplomatic business!”

“I’m sorry, the Ambassador isn’t available at this time,” a pleasant female voice issued from a speaker set into the masonry next to the armor plate.

“What do you mean he’s isn’t available?!?”

“Just that, Councilor,” the calm pleasant voice replied. “The Ambassador is not currently available.”

“Tell Jon that Councilor Skippy is here to see him, please.”

“I’m sorry, the Ambassador isn’t available at this time, Councilor.”

Skippy just closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Look, missy, I’m trying to be polite here,” Skippy said as calmly as she could manage. “It is vital that I speak with the Ambassador at once!”

“I’m sorry, the Ambas-”

“WHERE’S JON?!?” Skippy yelled. “And don’t you fucking dare say he isn’t available!”

“Well, Councilor, I don’t know what else to tell you then.”

“Ok, let me talk to Toby then,” Skippy said trying to take slow even breaths. Something was really fucking wrong!

The woman coughed in an amused fashion.

“I’m sorry, Gunnery Sergeant Jolknt isn’t available at this time, Coun-”

“AA`[email protected]@!!!!!” Skippy screamed in frustration and punched the armor plate. “What the fuck is going on!?!?! Where’s Jon!?!?! TELL ME!!!!”

“I’m sorry, councilor, but I cannot comment further save to say that the embassy is on full lockdown until further notice. No diplomatic business will be conducted at this time. Neither the Ambassador nor Gunnery Sergeant Jolknt are available.”

“JON!! JON ARE YOU IN THERE!?!?! JON!!!!” Skippy bounced up and gave the armor plate a double rear leg kick. “You fuckers better tell me right now where the fuck Jon is and exactly what the fuck is going on!”

“I’m sorry, I cannot comment further.”

“Can… can you at least tell me if Jon’s ok or not? I mean you can at least do that, right?”

“I’m sorry I canno-”

“I AM NOT LEAVING UNTIL I KNOW JON’S OK!!! NOW TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM OR SO HELP ME I’M INVADING!!!!”

Susan looked at Skippy through her tablet.

Xvli female… pale nose… flushed ears… clear physiological signs of distress… respiration rate over twenty five percent higher than previously recorded… Hard to see for sure but pupil diameter seems to be varied… another sign of severe distress…

Susan raised an eyebrow.

And perhaps even more telling a Federation Councilor risking a full blown diplomatic incident when we have already clearly lost our fucking minds...

Susan’s eyebrow started climbing even further.

They aren’t just friends.

She quickly pulled up more details on Xvli anatomy. She started to smile slightly. Jon’s new lunch routine started to make a little more sense. Noodles indeed...

She turned to the blonde.

“Lieutenant, let the guards know that I’m stepping outside to let our rather insistent councilor in.”

“Ma’am?” the lieutenant asked in confusion. “We are in full lockdown. We aren’t going to lower the barriers.”

“You won’t have to,” Susan smiled.

***

Skippy landed in front of Susan without making a sound.

“Impressive,” Susan said with a smile.

“Now where’s Jon? Is he ok?” Skippy asked advancing on Susan.

Susan just waved at the guards.

“I would prefer to have this discussion in my office but I suspect I won’t get anything close to cooperation out of you until I tell you that we are fairly sure that Jon’s ok.”

“Fairly sure?!?!?”

“Come with me,” Susan said as she walked into the embassy with Skippy in tow.

***

“...so that’s the long and short of it,” Susan said as Skippy just sat there staring at a tablet. “Jon’s officially a traitor now and has ‘declared war’ on the conspirators in our government, Patricia Hu is currently on the run probably trying to get back to the Republic where she can do damage control, and there’s a virulent engineered plague about to break out at any second among the Federation porkies. That plague is one of the big reasons for the full combat armor and lockdown by the way, well that and the fact that we are now all officially traitors and will likely have to defend this place from our own people. But... Jon is, despite his best efforts, perfectly ok... to the best of our knowledge.”

“Despite his best efforts?” Skippy asked sipping on a calming cup of herbal tea.

“You are former military, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Familiar with the concept of a grenade?”

“Yeah?”

“Jon had one hidden on him when he tried to get close to Patricia… with a one second fuse.”

“...oh...” Skippy said in a small voice.

“Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, that cunt already knew about her Bloodlord’s defection and had guessed Jon’s intent so that grenade found other uses that didn’t involve Jon’s demise. There was one hell of a shoot-out in the back. Jon did the marines proud by the way, made quite the mess.”

“Thank you,” Skippy said quietly. “This means a lot.”

“Now in return I would like you to do something for me,” Susan replied with a smile.

“What’s that?” Skippy asked dubiously.

“Based on your physiological responses and other behavior Jon means… a lot to you. You’re more than just beer buddies, even more than just an idle fling,” Susan smiled as Skippy jerked upright.

“I didn’t need all my fancy machines to figure that out,” Susan grinned. “The fact that you are a xeno or a Fed isn’t what interests me. What does interest me is that sitting right in front of me is a woman who will move Heaven and Earth to find her man. You, my fluffy little friend, can do what I cannot. You can leave this place and go to him, and you will. When you do you will give him a data crystal that I will prepare shortly. That’s it,” Susan said as she spread her hands. “That’s all I want.”

“Aren’t you going to ask for confidentiality?” Skippy asked.

“If the first thing you did wasn’t to bunny-hop over to Fed Intel with the full story I would really disapprove of Jon’s choice in partners,” Susan replied with a smile. “Of course you are going to divulge all of this. In fact, take a copy!” Susan laughed as she handed Skippy a data crystal. “Jon already told them everything anyhow.”

“He what!?!?!”

“Yup.”

“Why?”

“Never had the chance to beat it out of him,” Susan chuckled, “but if I were to guess it was to get an immediate jump on containing the plague. Hey, if you get the chance could you ask them for me?”

“Sure,” Skippy smiled. “Least I can do.”

“Great!” Susan said as she rose. “I need to get some reports together for Jon so if you could hang out for a little while I would really appreciate it.”

“Not a problem,” Skippy replied. “I need to rest up my ass-kicking paw a little before I catch up with that son of a bitch anyway.”