Gabriel awoke after a very pleasant evening of ‘cooperation exercises’. He was on his back with Madeline sleeping halfways on top of him, her leg over his, an arm over his chest, and her head on his shoulder. He stretched and Madeline let out a short growl of protest before waking up herself and looking around with bleary eyes.

“Morning,” she said and yawned.

“Morning,” Gabriel said and reached for his pcu. “Well, not quite,” He said after figuring out the time. “Not that we really have any appointments today, but it’s over an hour until we usually get up.”

Madeline laid back down on his chest, “Yeah, we went to bed early. And went to sleep slightly less so,” she smiled and nuzzled into Gabriel's neck.

“I have to say, I’m a fan of your relation exercises,” Gabriel chuckled and ran his fingers through Madeline’s fur ridge, scratching her head.

“Mhm, me too,” She said.

“So, what’s on the agenda today? I promised you a date, we have to go shopping, those two can be combined I suppose, and… I don’t know, talk to the doctors, fight Justicars?” Gabriel puffed out a breath.

“Busy, busy,” Madeline mumbled and closed her eyes while getting her head scratched.

Gabriel chuckled and ran his fingers down her back before returning to her head, “Did you even hear what I said?”

Madeline twitched her fur ridge against his hand, “I zoned out after you mentioned date.”

“That was the first thing I said,” Gabriel laughed.

“Well, you can’t scratch my head and expect me to pay attention,” she complained and smiled up at him. “When I scratch your back your ears shut off.”

“Touche,” Gabriel said. Madeline’s claws were just blunt enough to make the most fantastic back scratchers. And she was strong enough to provide massage at the same time.

“Alright, if we continue this, we're never getting out of bed,” Madeline said but didn’t move.

“You’re on top of me, you have to move first,” Gabriel chuckled.

“Mhm,” Madeline agreed. Gabriel let another minute pass before he stopped playing with her head. “Fine,” she yawned again and rolled out of bed, giving Gabriel a pleasant show as she got dressed.

“I swear you wore clothes when we fell asleep,” Gabriel said and rolled out of bed as well. They had taken a shower before sleeping and while he had just put on boxers, Madeline had a sleeping shirt in Zilgi fashion and panties. Now when she got out of bed, the shirt was gone.

“Yeah, it got warm,” she said. “And I prefer to sleep in less, The less matted fur I have to deal with the better,” She explained as she pulled her loose pants on.

“I’m not complaining, sleep naked if you want,” Gabriel said grinning. “I won’t mind.”

“What a gentleman, worrying about my comfort,” She grinned back. “After a nice date, maybe I will. But I want to postpone it, at least until we can get this all figured out. And I would like to hear from Deana.”

Gabriel nodded, he had shared a room with her for a week after all, “Yeah, same here, but no one seemed to be upset about it. I mean, Sen’Chakar’s expression was blank as usual… Do you think Cani has been to prison before? and was not panicking because of that?”

“Maybe, she did smuggle right?” Madeline tilted her head to the side. “You can always ask.”

“Yeah, If I remember it,” Gabriel said and opened his bag, in search of a shirt. “Oh, hey, weight suit.” He pulled out the heavy garment and put it on. Then he paused and frowned and himself. “Wait, how does gravity on ships work? Why have I never thought about this?”

“No clue to either,” Madeline said, “No, that is not exactly true, I know there are gravity generators that can create gravitation fields, but only a handful of people know how they work. It’s probably the best-kept secret in the Union.”

“Huh, who makes them?”

“A company created after Yavichians, Phigos and Akrons came together, In more or less the opposite part of the galaxy before they really began expanding.”

“They're the first into space then?”

“Yavichians were first,” Madeline said. “And after several hundred years of space travel, they found the Phigos who were just beginning to explore beyond their own solar system. They banded together and two hundred years later found Akrons who were on the same level as Yavichians. After creating gravity generators they began expanding and found the rest in a relatively short manner.”

“Relatively?”

“I don’t remember any exact numbers but all the rest were found within 800 years.”

“In what order?” Gabriel asked and took a seat on the bed again as he pulled on his shoes.

“Let’s see, Quizeateran, Cecaiampal, Azik, Igris, and Ronieans about 20 years apart. Kirini and finally Zilgi,” She finished. “I don’t know the exact years but including the Phigos and Akrions, all were over about 1500 I think.”

“Oh, so Yavichans have been in space for about 2000 years?”

“Exploring space beyond their system, yes,” Madeline said as her fur ridge rose. Gabriel had noticed she used it more in the morning but after waking chose to nod her head.

Gabriel unlocked his pcu and looked through it. “Huh, I have a message from Rik’Tensel, he requests that we meet him and Zura at the Union building for breakfast if we can make it.”

“What time?” Madeline asked as she bent over to put on her shoes, or sandals might be more accurate. Getting shoes for raptor claws must be difficult. But he did like watching her bend over— “Gabriel?”

“Oh, sorry, I was staring at your ass,” Gabriel said and went back to the pcu. “Um, in an hour.”

“You didn’t get enough of me last night?” Madeline chirped and sat down next to him.

“Never,” Gabriel grinned.

She leaned in to kiss him but stopped. “Morning breath,” she said and went to the bathroom. Gabriel chuckled and followed her in. After a shot of mouthwash, Madeline blew out a long breath. “Alright, that’s better.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and they shared a long kiss.

“This had been a good way to start the day,” Gabriel said and hugged her tight, lifting her off the floor.

Madeline chirped and squeezed back, “That head rub was wonderful, let me know if you want a backrub in return.”

“Yes please, If I have to fight Justicars I might need one,” Gabriel lowered her down to the floor, “Are we close enough to walk to the Union building?”

“We should be, Krihana said it was close, but I’m not sure,” Madeline reached for her pcu. “Luckily we have maps.” They walked out into the main room.

“Lucky us,” Gabriel said, “Should I bring my bag?”

Madeline shrugged, “Depends on if you're sparring with the Justicars. I’m bringing some in case we get a chance to train.”

“I suppose I should,” Gabriel said. He dumped out the clothes he was sure he didn’t need and made sure to bring training gear. They headed out into an overcast morning. No rain thankfully, but Gabriel reminded himself to pick up an umbrella if he had the chance. As before he and Madeline got many stares from pedestrians. Some nodded politely, some looked excited to see him, and some worried.

Gabriel supposed that was expected with new aliens walking around town and tried to appear casual and non-threatening, nodding to some and ignoring others. He saw aliens of nearly all races, Yavichians and Phigos, as usual, made up the majority. But he saw a group of Quizeaterans in a hair salon getting their long fur groomed or colored, and they passed a crew of Igris unloaded a container marked with some ship name Gabriel didn’t have the time to translate.

“There are not a lot of Cecaiampal around are there?” Gabriel asked as he and Madeline cut through a park. The Union building rose on the far side behind another row of buildings. If Gabriel’s memory served, there would be another park after the next block.

“I guess not,” Madeline said looking around. “They do come from a planet quite far away but so do Kirini and I’ve seen several.”

“Same,” Gabriel said and looked around. If he recalled correctly the only Cecaiampal he’d seen was back on US535. “Are there just very few of them?”

“You mean population?” Madeline asked. Gabriel nodded and her fur ridge twitched. “I don’t really remember, something about not liking space travel all that much. You have to ask someone else.”

Gabriel nodded and instead looked around the park as the sky lightened. It was still overcast but he saw blue skies between some clouds. The trees were quite tall with large canopies, most looked almost like mushrooms with no branches apart from the top. The trunks were light-brown and the leaves green, speckled with yellow. Hedges were lining the path with yellow flowers and pale green leaves and several beds of flowers in many different colors.

“It feels good to be outside,” Gabriel said, he had not realized how much he’d missed it. Fresh air, even with city smells was great compared to the recycled air on ships.

“I agree,” Madeline said as she took a deep breath, “Shame an Ambassador’s job is often aboard ships.”

“Yeah, maybe I can retire after a few years of this and go live on a farm somewhere,” Gabriel said.

Madeline snorted, “Yeah, right,” she looked at him. “You would be bored out of your mind, and I don’t want to sit on a farm when we can explore the galaxy.”

“Oh, you thought that far ahead?” Gabriel asked, smiling. Madeline appeared to realize what she had just implied and her fur ridge fluttered. “Embarrassment,” Gabriel said. “That’s what that is,” he grinned and took her hand.

“Yes...” Madeline said sighing, “And I don’t know about our future, but I like you,” she said and leaned against his arm.

“The feeling is mutual,” Gabriel said as he squeezed her hand. Then he paused almost pulling Madeline to a stop before laughing to himself and walking on.

“What?” she asked.

“We really need to know more about each other. I don’t know your mother's name, if you have siblings, where you grew up, or your age for that matter,” He chuckled.

“Oh, right, whoops?” Madeline chirped. “At least we have a conversation subject for tonight. And I’m just a little older than you, specifics can wait.”

Gabriel chuckled as they walked on. Following the map, they left the park, passed by another block of buildings full of stores. Gabriel wondered if it was because of the Union buildings as this was not exactly the center of the city. After reaching the next park they finally saw the large tower in its entirety. This park had only short trees, maybe three meters at highest, more like tall bushes but it had plenty of flower beds and grass for people to enjoy. Kids were running around and playing and some families ate breakfast at tables scattered around.

The building looked much bigger from the ground and Gabriel looked up at the shuttles flying about, landing, or taking off from various landing pads on the three departments. He almost walked into a large sign with a map of the ground floor. At least the sections accessible to the public.

Gabriel stared at it for a moment trying to translate the text but quickly gave up. Madeline located a reception desk and they walked in. The ground floor had a large entry hall with a fountain in the center. Around the edges of the round tower, two hallways curved around with paint on the floor, indicating the department. One more stretched outright through the center to the third department. Blue on the left, green center, and red on the right. Madeline ignored the hallway towards security and pulled Gabriel along towards a Yacichian receptionist.

“Hello,” Madeline said as they approached.

“Hi,” the Yavichian said, a male with dark blue fur. He looked up from a computer and looked them over. “One moment please,” he said and began typing. His two lower arms arranged some papers on his desk while the two upper worked the keyboard. “A, yes, Ambassador Walker and Miss Nioni, please take a seat and I will send someone over to take you to your appointment.”

Madeline looked over at Gabriel and shrugged before turning to the receptionist again. “Alright, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, was there anything else?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Madeline said, looking at Gabriel again. It was Gabriel’s turn to shrug and she turned back.

“Then I hope you have a pleasant visit.”

“Thanks,” Madeline said and she pulled Gabriel over to some padded benches to the side. “I suppose we have memorable faces,” she smiled.

“Yes, I guess so,” Gabriel agreed, “Handy, I might not even need identification.”

“Probably not no,” Madeline chuckled. Then her stomach rumbled and she sighed. “I’m hungry.”

“Me too,” Gabriel said, hoping their guide would arrive soon. However, instead of a guard, Rik’Tensel walked over, wearing a uniform marking him as part of the Archives.

“Hello, a pleasure to see you again, if you would follow me,” He said and gestured for them to follow. He had adopted a worse posture and often glanced at the tablet he was carrying around. Gabriel was impressed with the change and could definitely see him sitting around on computers all day, which was impressive considering that the Igris physics was not completely covered by his clothes.

They walked into the center of the building and took an elevator a few floors up. After the door opened they walked down a corridor and through a very thick and secure door. Rik’Tensel dropped the facade as soon as the doors opened, “Here we are,” he said and led them past several rooms to a cafeteria.

Zura waved at them from a table and they all joined her. “You made it,” she said smiling.

“Just barely,” Gabriel said as everyone grabbed a seat. “So, what’s on the agenda today?”

“Not much,” Zura shrugged. “Crew is being gathered for the ship, which itself is getting some upgrades. While the ship runs, I heard that many parts were old, though will be fully functional before it even has a full crew.”

“Speaking of crew, I have two doctors willing to sign on.”

“Just send the names to Krihana,” Zura said. “We don’t have a say in the matter, though there will be little reason for her to say no. Anyone else?”

“Maybe, we need to see how the situation goes with our arrested Roniean friend. Have you heard anything?” Gabriel said as Madeline sent a message to Krihana.

“No, I know that Krihana has contacted security but nothing else.”

“Alright,” Gabriel nodded, Krihana was trying to help, or at least making it seem that way, so that had to be good enough. He could give it a few days. “Anything else?”

“Well, we would still like to have that training session,” Zura said, the tips of her two tentacles twitched like the tail of a cat, albeit slower.

“Sure, why not,” Gabriel said, “I might as well—” he began but his rumbling stomach interrupted him. “Get some training done, can we eat first?” he continued. Gabriel let Madeline order breakfast and ate whatever was put in front of him. Bread, juice, and some kind of porridge, the latter a slightly red color but tasty all the same.

“Alright, ready to go?” Zura asked after everyone was done eating.

“Give me a few minutes,” Gabriel said. “Fighting on a full stomach can have some unwanted results.”

“Alright,” Zura nodded and stood, “We can at least show you to the training room.”

Gabriel stood up, “Might as well, unless we can take a look at the ship?”

Zura looked over at Rik’Tensel. “Not today,” he said. “But I suppose after maintenance is done we can arrange that.”

“Perfect,” Gabriel said, quite excited to see the ship. “Anything else on the agenda today?”

“Khrihana would like to talk to you about selling some data and scans,” Rik’Tensel said. “But otherwise no, we have nothing.”

“Alright.” Gabriel followed them along the same corridor as before, into the elevator, and down underground. “Oh, right, I have a question, why are there so few Cecaiampals around?”

“They don’t generally like traveling that much. I think they feel sick from artificial gravity. Headaches and such,” Zura said. “But you still see some young ones on their first trip.”

“I don’t follow,” Gabriel said.

“Many Cecaiampals take a three-year journey before they are fully grown, but after becoming adults, around 20 years old, station time.”

“That so? like a trip before fully becoming an adult?”

“More or less, while they are still mostly the same size as us, but that’s just coincident, they have made the trips long before getting to space.”

Gabriel frowned, he’d only seen one Cecaiampal, back on US535 “I’ve only seen one, and that one was about chest height on me, how big do they get then?”

Zura opened a door into a training room. It had a few doors around and many lockers. Two rings stood next to each other in the center, one padded and one without. “We’ll show you,” she said and walked over to an open door. “Hey! Mayahadina, you want to meet the human?” Gabriel tried not to gape as a large Cecaiampals walked through the door. “This is Mayahadina, she is the one taking care of the training equipment.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Gabriel mumbled. Mayahadina’s upper body was larger than Rik’Tensel’s, who in turn was almost a head taller than Gabriel. Her head was the size of two of Gabriel’s. It was streamlined on a thick neck like a snake and Gabriel saw many blunt teeth in her smiling mouth. Her upper arms were twice as thick as Gabriel’s and her four forearms about the same size as his.

That alone would put her just over Gabriel’s height, but Cecaiampals have two sets of legs with an abdomen between. Her knees were bent at an almost 90-degree angle which put her face level with Gabriel’s. Lengthwise from head to the short tail, she had to be close to, or just over 3 meters.

“Ah, human ambassador Walker,” Mayahadina said and bowed slowly, she then extended an arm and Gabriel saw that both hands had two thumbs each and two fingers in between. “Humans shake hands yes?”

“Um, yeah,” Gabriel said and shook her hand. Mayahadina’s right eye stayed focused on Gabriel while her left looked at Madeline. Gabriel managed not to flinch or make any weird expressions. But just barely.

“Miss Nioni, a pleasure to meet you as well.”

Madeline shook one of the hands on her other arm. “You too,” she said. “Sorry if I'm staring, I haven’t met a Cecaiampal before.”

“It is quite alright,” Mayahadina said. “I have not met a Zilgi or a human before.” She laughed, or at least that’s what Gabriel thought she did as it sounded like a rumbling hiss. “I would love to talk, maybe later yes? but I have to get back to work.” She bowed again and wandered back to whatever she was doing.

“Well,” Gabriel said after the door closed after that very brief encounter, “She was nice.”

Zura laughed as her tentacles twitched about, “I’m sure you’ll get an opportunity to talk to her later if you want.”

“Yeah, I would like to learn more about Cecaiampals. And all other races for that matter. But that's for another time, like everything else I put on the backburner.” Gabriel would have preferred to wait an hour after eating but he had eaten a small breakfast on purpose and decided that with a long warmup he should be fine.

“Anywhere we can change?” Madeline asked.

“You want to spar as well? And yes, the door on the right is for females.” Zura pointed to two doors on the wall they entered through.

“Probably not, but I want to exercise,” Madeline said. After they had all changed Gabriel began stretching. His shorts and tank top were about the only clothes that appeared standard. Rik’Tensel had a bare upper body but wore similar shorts. Zura had tight pants in the same material. Gabriel began slowly jogging around the room, warming up his arms, shoulder, and neck before sitting down and stretching his legs. Madeline did much of the same, though had to adjust some stretches as she was very limber.

“Alright, so how do we do this?” Gabriel stood and flexed his fingers.

Rik’Tensel went over and grabbed padded gloves and three pairs of headgear from a locker on the wall, “We use protection and remember that this is sparring, we just want to see what you can do, not cause or receive injuries. But if this goes well perhaps we can have a serious match in the future.”

Gabriel accepted head protection that looked to be made for a Roniean as the top had a slit going down the length, “So we start slow and work our way up?”

“Yes, quite slow. I will go first and Zura will tell us when to stop.” Rik’Tensel said and pulled on the gloves. Gabriel did the same and jabbed the air a few times. Zura helped him tighten the gloves and Gabriel felt fabric close around his hands and wrist. It came with its own support. It was quite intimidating going up against Rik’Tensel. The taller Igris looked at him with his blank silver eyes.

“Begin!” Zura shouted and Gabriel braced. Rik’Tensel threw a punch that Gabriel blocked as he twisted to the side. The hit was light and just testing. Gabriel threw a few back and they began trading taps more than blows. Simply marking where they hit and trying to make them as quick as possible. While Gabriel felt matched in speed, he had the advantage in reactions and blocked more hits than his opponent.

Rik’Tensel jumped back and lowered his arms, “You are fast, now let’s use more force.”

“Sure.” Gabriel waited until both were ready and, again, blocked the first hit. It was not quite the hardest hit he’d taken in space but he was sure the Igris held back. He did the same, focusing on sharp jabs. A full round of boxing later and Rik’Tensel were breathing hard, Gabriel slightly less so.

“Harder!” Rik’Tensel shouted and feinted with his left, Gabriel was so surprised to see a feint that he didn’t see the hook before it connected with his ribs. That was probably the hardest hit Gabriel had taken, but he could handle it and jabbed Rik’Tensel in the face before blocking a left jab with his right hand and punching the Igris hard with his left. Rik’Tensel stumbled to the side and waved the fight off.

“You alright?” Gabriel asked, wondering if he’d used too much force.

“Fine, that felt like a kick from Zura,” He said nodding to himself. “You can hit harder right?”

“A bit yeah,” Gabriel admitted.

Rik’Tensel stood straight and rubbed his side, “My apologies, I should have been more careful, I got excited and wanted to see your strength.”

Gabriel nodded and smiled, “Thank you for the sparring.” Rik’Tensel nodded in return.

“My turn!” Zura said and gestured Gabriel over to the padded ring. “I am better with throws and grappling.”

“Not my specialty but I’ll give it my best shot,” Gabriel said as he pulled off his gloves with Madeline’s help. He got into the ring and Rik’Tensel acted as referee this time.

“Just start with throws, try not to twist or break anything,” He said and after receiving a nod from both he shouted. “Begin!” Gabriel widened his stance and approached. Zura was defensive but the moment Gabriel grabbed for her arm, she swiped his legs and he stumbled.

“Sturdier than you look,” she said.

“And heavier,” Gabriel added. He reached for her arm again and she pulled him off balance and hip-checked him to the floor. Gabriel grinned as he got up. This time she grabbed for his arm and pulled, trying to pull him off balance again, probably for a leg sweep, but Gabriel pulled her back in return, and just remembered that twisting was allowed as his other hand grabbed her elbow. Keeping one hand on her wrist he shifted his other up her arm and lifted.

She grabbed his hand but could not break his hold. Once she was up on her toes he could easily swipe her legs. They continued tripping and pushing each other over for a few minutes or so.

“Stop!” Rik’Tensel shouted and Gabriel eased off, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and grinned.

“That was fun,” He said.

“Agreed, shame we can’t fight for real,” Zura said. “Can you show us some moves? Slowly, I don’t know if our joints work the same way.”

“Of course,” Gabriel said. He began teaching what he knew to Zura as Madeline began showing off what she knew to Rik’Tensel. Zura’s joints were just as flexible as his, if not more. Her shoulders were a bit stiffer and twisting her arm behind her back was painful, even though they did it slowly. Zura showed him some moves as well, most humans had variants on, and the rest involved claws.

“Thank you,” Zura said once they were done, her tentacles twitched around as before.

“Any time,” Gabriel went over to grab a towel from his bag. “Do you have any water around?”

Rik’Tensel pointed to a wall with blue, reversed water drop on it, “Press that panel.” Gabriel did so and a tap popped out. As he took his first sip the doors to the room opened and Morthri walked in, followed by Alith.

Morthri looked over to Gabriel, “Ah, Gabriel, good news! Our investigation is complete….”