Novu Sol Star System

Novu Sol

Genesis City

Jack Perez sipped at a wine that was too expensive for his tastes, in a restaurant that was honestly a bit too snobby even for what he was doing. The President sat a few seats away, food and wine ladened the table to bursting in an almost comical manner as waiters circulated with other drinks for the varied guests.

It was an off-year election, meaning that while the Presidential seat wasn’t up for election, a lot of senatorial and more local planetary governorships had been up for grabs. According to his research, the New Starburst Union was the up-and-coming party to support, being President Desar’s party of choice compared to the older Civic Red Party or New Starburst’s predecessor, United People’s Union. New Starburst had won the President’s office by a hair and had been greatly opposed by the CRP.

But now, Jack thought as he watched the President laughed boisterously, waving a hand in a wild telling of a story, the NSU had won an 80% majority in the Senate and some 50% increase in the amount of Governors (and thus their general planets) who supported the party. It was cause for celebration, if Desar and the NSU kept up the good work Desar was all but guaranteed another three terms in office. So the President had decided to invite the ambassador of the TriStar Systems to his party, in a show of good friendship.

“You know, I don’t think I ever caught your name handsome.” A rather lanky woman with short cropped blonde hair leaned on the table, a margarita that was actually glowing in one hand. “Been passing by so many faces I can’t put the new NSU members to heart.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Ambassador Jack Perez, from the TriStar Systems. I’ve been here on Novu Sol for a while but when you work in a place as large as Genesis City, seeing repeating faces outside of work is hard!”

The woman gave a laugh that was beautiful and she leaned in a little closer. “Well welcome to Novu Sol, Ambassador. I am Senator Ace Milana from the planet of Cankun, we don’t always party this hard, so don’t take this as us being hedonists.”

“I would never, anyways, your party has won a lot of elections and established a comfortable majority. That is something worth celebrating. May I ask though, Senator Milana, where is Cankun?” He was curious, he’d never heard of the world before, but with well over 200 worlds in the Stellar Democracy, he only knew the most important.

“Cankun is one of the original founder worlds of Novu Sol, part of the Novu Solarian core and is about 20 light years galactic west of Novu Sol itself.” She sipped her drink. “It's a beautiful planet, you think Genesis City beaches are nice, my homeworld is considered a vacation planet, perfect tropical weather in all the right places and ice caps for colder leisure activities. If you’ve even seen a video of rainbow sanded beaches, that's from Cankun.”

“I have to admit Senator,”

“Call me Ace.” She flashed a smile at him.

“Okay Ace,” He said, “I have to admit it sounds amazing, maybe I’ll take a real vacation there. Though we do have some black sand beaches on Uno-3 that are spectacular in their own special way.” Jack leaned back in his chair and Ace took the opportunity to scoot in so they were practically pressed together. “Getting to see a planet that produces beauties like you would be a welcome bonus.”

She downed the last of her drink, then looked up at him coyly. “I don’t remember the title of ambassador being associated with smooth talking men.”

“The TriStar Systems trains their diplomats well.” While he managed to keep his voice completely serious, the somewhat cocky grin on his face he couldn’t control, a touch too much wine he suspected. It was the most fun he’d had in ages; his job kept him very busy, especially with the Novu Navy training his own ships to be combat capable warships. He’d even had training proposals for the Army and Marines come through as well and submitted his recommendations for those proposals to the Senate. Having a bit of fun wouldn’t hurt him.

“How well?” Ace’s voice sounded too innocent and Jack casually glanced over at the clock on the wall. It was late, surely the NSU wouldn’t mind a couple people wandering off.

“That depends, Senator.” He rose and pulled her to her feet. “On what you consider well.”

She grinned at him, grip tightening on his hand and pulled him towards the exit. “Then we will just have to test it, won’t we?”

“I didn’t even know Freedom Spire had apartments like this.” Jack lounged lazily on the long couch in front of the stunning view over Genesis City the next morning in Ace's bedroom. Somewhere close to the top of Freedom Spire were some very luxurious living spaces for various government officials, both permanent and temporary. It turned out that at least 50 of these were always reserved for the 49 original worlds of Novu Sol and an extra in case an apartment was put out of commission.

“You might be trained well, but I’ll give you props for learning.” Ace laughed as she walked up to join him, offering him a cup of coffee, her silk bathrobe doing absolutely nothing to hide her form as she sat down. “Been using this ever since I was elected. Home away from home.”

“What is your term limit?” He asked, sipping the sweet coffee appreciatively.

“I have another seven years in office. We do terms of four, and if we are still alive two terms after those terms, we can run for another four. Cankun has always been a bit more on the freeform side of voting. If the people decide they want some old hand back after trying someone new, that’s their choice.” Ace yawned. “Lord knows there's enough injustice outside Novu Sol’s borders with false elections or none at all.”

He looked over at her, then back out Genesis City, starting to come alive under the warm light of it's sun. “Is it hard?”

“Oh of course. Even with a majority, the NSU isn’t uniform, there are gradients, it's just that we all want to work together to better the Stellar Democracy.” She looked over to him now. “And what about you Mr. Ambassador? Is it hard for you?”

He nodded, taking a long drink of his coffee before he replied. “Hard in different ways I think. You might have all the trouble in the world, but in the end it's all about the Stellar Democracy and making sure it functions. I have to make sure the TriStar Systems functions well with a nation that has different traditions, laws, and such.”

She cocked her head slightly.”The TriStar government isn’t too different from ours as to be alien.”

“Even the tiniest of space debris can make a dent in an unshielded ship.” Jack shrugged. “Little stuff can snowball and it keeps me on my feet, that's all.”

Ace gave a tiny laugh, it still sounded beautiful to his ears. “I can get that. We’re both busy people from two different nations.” She paused but Jack was content to let the silence linger. She still had more to say. “Any expectations?”

“Hm?” He moved so he was sitting next to Ace, she leaned in.

“You seem like a good guy Jack, but if you want this to be a one-night stand then we’ll let it be at that. I have duties to my world which may make me travel back to Cankun for long periods. And the TriStar Systems is way out in the Novu Sol slums…”

“The slums?” He questioned and she winced.

“It’s a derogatory term for the Novu Sol outer colonies. I didn’t mean it in a bad way, I swear. It’s just the newer planets of Novu Sol tend to be far away, less settled and a bit more wild; what would you rather do? Travel 50 light years to a planet for a mediocre experience with little to do or stay in the inner colonies and know every planet you go to is well-settled and chock full of various experiences from hunting to ski resorts to museums rich with history.” She sighed, finished her coffee and placed the cup down on the end table. “Still, I’m sorry, it’s an easy thing to joke about.”

“I understand.” Jack said, planting a kiss on her forehead. “Still I think I would enjoy trying something serious. Maybe we can go out for a proper dinner?”

“Not this week. I’m on a committee for military expenditures and this week we’re going over some proposals for Marine and Army training plans that are way too expensive.” She rolled her eyes. “Something about shipping out a bunch of high rankers out a bunch of light years with troops for combat training.”

Jack frowned down at Ace. “I… I believe those are my proposals for getting the TriStar Military fully up to speed.”

Ace looked up at him, then shook her head. “Then the committee is going to be annoyed I seduced the TriStar Ambassador. They’ll think I’m bias now.”

“I know you enjoyed yourself last night but please I’m not that good.”

She began to chuckle. "Still, I am going to review them fairly and if we don't have the budget, I can't approve them. Might be easier to just join the Stellar Democracy. Then we really can't deny you the resources."

"We're fine on our own, but we do appreciate the help."

"I'm sure but…" Ace paused, twisted around to spy the clock and immediately leapt to her feet. "Damn it I almost forgot I have a meeting with the Core Trader Incorporated CEO at 1130!"

"Then let me help." Jack rose to his feet. "What do you need?"

The senator smiled in relief and began to walk over to her closet. "Top left drawer of the dresser. Can you get me a pair of breast forms?"

He walked over to the dresser, opening the requested drawer, frowning at the contents. “Does it matter which?” He called.

“Just don’t grab the really large pair!” Her voice was muffled as she dug through her closet for what she needed.

Jack picked a pair and walked over to the bed as Ace pulled the outfit she needed from the closet and joined him. He took the silk robe as she shrugged it off, folding it and laying it on the bed, turning back so he could help her hook her bra on while she adjusted the inserts he had picked out.

“I didn’t do it too tight did I?” He asked.

Ace smiled, tugging on a strap. “No, thank you though, it makes the morning routine a bit easier to get through.” She pulled on a V-neck light blue shirt, a pair of mauve trousers and then a matching mauve blazer. She ran a hand over her short hair, which fixed it with ease. “How do I look?”

“Stunning. That color suits you.” Jack said with a smile.

Ace shook her head reprovingly at him. “Says the man, still half naked.” She sat down, pulling on a pair of shoes. “But other than my forgetfulness, you don’t need to rush out of here. Housekeeping will come in to clean and change the sheets around 1500, the door will auto lock when you leave. Feel free to take another shower or enjoy some more coffee before you go.” She stood with a smile. “If I com you around, say, 1800 hours, we can discuss a good time to make reservations for a proper date.”

“Sounds like a deal Ace.”

She gave him a kiss and quickly left, leaving him alone in the stately room. He smiled, wandered over and finished his now room temperature coffee in a single long drink.

Jack stared out at Genesis City, though his mind wandered to the Senator and the night they’d had. He checked the clock and it said 1120, so he began to collect his discarded clothing to get dressed.

He had work to do, and hopefully that would pass the time to when he could speak with Ace again.