Chapter 2: Arrival
Delaney looked at the encrypted message, she knew that the Affini were in the process of taking over the planet. She had watched as one by one, the TV displays in her office went dark as the first thing the Affini had done was to take control of all of the planetary communications networks.
She responded to the message and powered everything in her office off. She left the comm unit and datapad that were issued by her employer grabbed her backpack and left the apartment, locking the door as she left. If the authorities came looking for her, the door wouldn't stand in their way for long, but it would slow them down a bit. She pulled the hoodie that she had on up over her long brown hair and left the building, heading in the opposite direction of Natalie's parents. She was heading toward her own parents place, on the outskirts of the city. Delaney had a tumultuous relationship with her parents; it had started to go down hill when she started dating Natalie, and then had completely collapsed when Kirsten and Lilly came into the household. That was before her and Natalie had gotten married; apparently Richard and Diane Cunningham couldn't handle that their only daughter was both a lesbian and polyamorous. That was six years ago, long before the war had started and Delaney hadn't really spoken to her parents in that time. She hoped that they would at least shelter her for a few days, perhaps give her a handful of credits to acquire a new comm unit. In retrospect, she probably should have purchased a spare comm unit. Her older brother had, prior to his ship vanishing from the universe, warned her about what he called 'The Affini Threat.' At the time there wasn't much known about the Affini other than they were a bunch of aliens that wanted to enslave and eat humans. Of course, that had been all of the Accord's propaganda. Delaney hopped on the first shuttle that was running in the direction that she needed to go and found a seat.
The ride to the outskirts of town was over before Delaney realized that she needed to get off at the next stop. Most of the residents of the city were hunkered down and not out running around. Several of the Affini ships could be seen in orbit, almost all of them much larger than the moon, which was partially blocked by one of the vessels orbiting above. Delaney exited the shuttle and started walking the few blocks toward the apartment that her parents lived in. She hadn't been here in the two years since the CNS Republic had vanished from the universe. No one, including the Cosmic Navy, was quite sure what had happened to the vessel. Knowing what Delaney now knew, it was very likely that the CNS Republic had been captured in battle and her crew taken and subsequently domesticated. If that were the case she wondered if, once the invasion was done and things settled down, she could find out what happened to him.
Delaney took a deep breath and walked into the building that housed the small apartment that her parents lived in. After Delaney and Harrison had moved out, her parents had downsized and moved out here as their retirement income was less. She went up to the fourth floor and walked up to the door of their apartment. Glancing around, she knocked on the door. She wasn't sure if she had been followed here or if anyone that could report her to the authorities. A few seconds later, her father cracked the door open. "Delaney, get in here..." he hissed, opening the door a little wider to allow her to enter the apartment before closing the door and bolting the three latches on the inside. "We were sure they got you..." His voice trailed off as he realized that Delaney was alone and didn't have Natalie or the girls with her. Richard led Delaney into the kitchen where Diane was sitting at the table, staring at a vid screen that show showed the same logo that had been on the broadcast where they had announced the advance of the invasion forces. "Where is everyone else?"
"They're safe," Delaney said, sitting at the table next to her mother. "I know we don't see eye to eye on my lifestyle, but I need help..."
"Safe?" Diane asked, "Are you sure?"
"Yes." Delaney said, "I'm not going to say where they are, but they can't be any safer than they are." She looked at her parents. "Regardless of our differences in regards to my lifestyle choices, I think I might know what happened to the ship Harrison was on..." She watched as her parents shared a glance.
"The TCN said he was killed in a battle with the weeds..." Diane said. "You don't believe that?"
"After seeing footage from a vessel named the Whisper, no." Delaney said. "What I'm about to tell you is most likely classified and if anyone in what is left of the government of the Accord knows that you know this, they will probably execute you for treason." She looked at her parents, waiting on them to acknowledge what she had said. They both looked at her nodded.
"Continue..." Richard said. He had spent time in the Cosmic Navy long before the Rinan civilization had been discovers. It was part of why he feared his son dead.
"Apparently there was very secret skunk works type operation to try to develop a weapon that would be effective against the Affini." Delaney paused for breath
"Weeds," Richard interrupted. "The same ones responsible for your brother's death..."
Delaney just looked at him. "They apparently built a handful of antimatter missiles and attempted to lure an Affini vessel in using the CNS Serpent, an Appalachian class cruiser." She looked at her parents. "They had a Lancer class destroyer, the CNS Jenkins lie in wait until an Affini vessel, apparently named the ACS Happy Endings arrived to help the stricken Serpent. Once the Happy Endings showed up, the Jenkins uncloaked, and fired around twenty of these anti-matter tipped missiles called the Vanish Missile."
“The ACS Happy Endings?” Richard scoffed. “Damn Xenos…”
“The Vanish missiles were shunted into hyperspace by the Happy Endings; not a single one of them hit or did any damage by detonating close to the vessel. After shunting the missiles to hyperspace, the Happy Endings proceeded to capture the Serpent and the Jenkins." Delaney paused, before getting up and grabbing a glass and filling it with water. She took a sip. "I saw video a few days later of a person whose name is Connor appeared on the internet. Connor stated that he was now Connor Remaldi and that he had volunteered for service on the Jenkins. He, at the time of that video being released was now the proud pet of a Temus Remaldi."
"I thought the Cosmic Navy assigned sailors to the vessels..." Richard said, his voice trailing off. "This Connor volunteered?"
"Yeah," Delaney said. "This was part of something called 'Operation Battery Staple'.... When the operation failed, Natalie found unnamed sources stating that the principals in the operation were going to recommend that the Accord surrender to the Affini."
"The Accord will never surrender..." Richard said. "We will fight to the death and not let some Xenos turn us into mindless drones..."
"I think that the Affini would rather not lose a single life." Delaney said. "I've watched every single one of their propaganda videos and, frankly, I think they mean to help us, not make us mindless drones."
"What's your plan?" Diane asked, speaking again. "You don't get involved in something like this without a plan..."
"First, I need to lay low for a few days until they take over the TNN and then I will go back and see what they need." Delaney said. "Second, I need a comm unit at the very least, if not a datapad. After I acquire those items, I will try to make contact with anyone that is still at the TNN offices and tell them to stay put and keep me updated on their status. Jason has already threatened to send the authorities after me because he thinks that I didn't try everything I knew how to do in order to get that broadcast off our air." Delaney looked at her parents. "The war is over, the Accord has lost."
"There is no way..." Richard said, standing. He was obviously agitated by what Delaney was saying. "There is no way in hell that the Accord will just roll over and let it's citizens become pets to some Xenos..."
"That's what I thought too, but here we are," Delaney said. "I still, at this moment have a job to do. I am responsible for news gathering and collection. I need to be able to do that until I'm told I don't have to any more..."
"So to start with, you need a datapad and a comm unit?" Diane asked, glancing down at both of hers laying in front of her on the table. "If so, take mine. I can use your dads if I need them." She slid them across the table to Delaney. The advantage of these were that they were not directly traceable to her, and if Jason had tried to send the authorities after her, then it would help her obfuscate her location and who she was with. "My first order of business is to get some sleep, I've been up for almost twenty four hours and I still have a lot to do. Mom, can you send a message to Natalie and let her know that you know what's going on and you are verifying that they have made it and are safe at their safe house? I'm going to go crash on the couch for a bit. Can you wake me up in three hours?"
"Sure can," Diane said, picking up the datapad and starting to type out a message. "Delaney?"
"Yes?" She paused after she stood up and grabbed the empty glass from the table.
"I'm sorry for how we reacted when it came to Natalie and the girls." Diane said, her voice soft and tears appearing in the corner of her eyes. "If we survive this, I hope you all can forgive us and we can reconcile. I really do like Natalie and would love to get to know the girls." Delaney looked at her mom.
"We're going to survive this." Delaney said. "If nothing else, we will do that."
Four hours later, Delaney set out again, this time with a better goal in mind than what she had started with. She hopped on a transport heading back toward the city, she had her mom's datapad and had the comm unit. She knew from reading the messages between Diane and Natalie that everyone was safe and they were in the place where they could stay for a few days. As the transport neared the TNN building in downtown Mackinaw, she exited the transport and started to slowly walk toward the sixty story building.
She was acutely aware of how quiet everything was. She could see a few of the Affini transport vessels hanging in the sky, including one that was hovering above the top of the TNN building. No one was in the streets, which was just as well as most Terrans still thought that the Affini would try to eat them or force them to work in their mines. Delaney walked into the front doors of the TNN building and into the massive lobby. The lobby was five stories tall, with a glass roof that was only looking upward into a darkening sky. The main reception desk was empty, as Delaney expected it to be and the building was quiet, except for the water fountain that sat in the center of the lobby. She made her way to the stairs; she didn't want to risk getting caught in an elevator if the power were to go out, which it seemed prone to doing.
She took the stairs to the fifth floor and waited. She could hear something moving around on the floors above her but had no idea if it was human or Affini. She quietly exited the stairwell and walked into the corridor that led to the studios of the Terran News Network. As she entered the newsroom, all of the lights were on, as were all of the computers. She could smell burnt coffee from a coffeepot in the break room. Everyone had left here in a hurry, she took stock of the condition of the newsroom: It was intact; walking deeper into the building she headed toward the producers offices.
While she primarily worked remotely, she did have an office and she was curious to see if anything had changed. Quietly making her way to her office, she could once again hear whatever was moving around, this time on the fifth floor; it must have come down the back stairwell. She slipped into her office and manually threw the switch for the lights, plunging the room into relative darkness as one wall was frosted glass and the blinds on the outside wall were still letting some light from outside the building in.
"Why, Hello, little Terran!" She heard a sing song voice ring out from what didn't feel too far away. She also felt the voice, it reverberated around her skull and resonated in her chest. That must have been an Affini; something about the way the voice resonated gave it away.
There was the sound of glass breaking from somewhere down the hall. "Stay away from me you fucking weed!" It was a mans voice and Delaney was almost completely certain that it was Jason. "You'll never get me alive..." A dull thud reverberated around the floor.
"Now, now," the sing songy voice rang out again. "I am Praxus Rapiloni, Fifth Bloom, She/her Pronouns. What is your name?"
"Fuck you!" Another thud. "I won't be taken... Not by you and not by any Xeno..."
"I'm not trying to take you anywhere..." The voice that Delaney now knew belonged to Praxus said. "My goal isn't to force you to do anything; rather it is to see to it that every sophont is taken care of, including you."
"I'm doing just fine at taking care of myself, thank you..." Jason's voice again.
"You can either come out on your own, or I can knock you out and I'll just carry you." Praxus' voice carried down the hall. "We will make sure that you're able to take care of yourself, but this is going in your file..."
"Fuck the file..." Jason said. "I'm a good person, I would never hurt a fly..." Delaney scoffed, louder than she intended to. She stopped, mid breath, not sure if she had been heard.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Jason…” Praxus said, audibly moving around. “But for your own safety, I’m going to have to administer a Class Z…” There was a hissing sound like an aerosol being released. “Sleep well, little Terran, now I have to go see who else is here…” Delaney froze and looked around her office for a place to hide. Unfortunately, there were few places under her desk provided the best option so she went and slid under the desk. As her head disappeared under the desk, she saw a tall, maybe nine foot figure walk down the hall toward the door to her office. Well walked was not quite the best way to describe it; flowed was more like the motion that the creature did. It stopped outside the door to Delaney’s office and paused for a moment, before gently pushing the door open. Vines cautiously entered the room. This made sense to Delaney, the Xeno was being cautious; the last Terran she encountered started throwing things at her. "I can sense that you're in there, little Terran, I'm not going to hurt you"
Delaney cautiously poked her head out above the top of her desk a bit, just enough to be able to see the Affini duck as it entered her office. She locked eyes with the creature. It looked like the ones she had seen on the TV, a dark, almost, forest green base color with flowers that were largely pinks and purples. The Affini was spread out a bit in order to enter the office, but she looked at Delaney with six light purple eyes. Delaney slowly stood up, she figured that if she were going to go, she would do so on her feet. Delaney didn't say anything, instead moving out to where she could be seen completely by the alien creature.
"I am Praxus Rapiloni, Fifth Bloom, She/her pronouns." The sing song voice resonated lightly in the room. "What is your name, little Terran?"
Delaney swallowed her fear. She was a producer for TNN, her name appeared in millions of homes several times a day. She could stand up to this plant creature from outer space. "I'm Delaney Wilson, She/Her Pronouns." Delaney said, her voice even and confident. She watched as Praxus pulled a datapad from within her vines and tapped on it several times. Delaney presumed that Praxus was looking her up in some database. She didn't offer any more than what was requested, it was an old interview technique: Don't provide any information you weren't explicitly asked for.
"Good evening, Delaney," Praxus said, typing on her datapad some more. "According to the information that we have, you are a producer here at TPN?"
"Yes, Ma'am..." Delaney said, doing her best to not get knocked off balance by the Affini's voice, she also was pretty sure that after the incident with Jason, deference would be the best course of action.
"Oh, you don't need to Ma'am me..." Praxus said, a very light rumble escaping her intertwined vines. "I am going to be the one that is taking over as the head of TPN, we are going to have the best programming in the Compact." Praxus slid the datapad back inside of her and reached over to flip the lights in the room back on. Delaney blinked when they came on. "Please sit, I'd like to get to know you a bit..." Delaney moved over to her desk and sat, watching in awe as Praxus basically folded herself into a chair and occupied a corner of the room. "Is your family safe?"
Delaney just looked at the Affini sitting in her office. "How..."
"We pulled the OCNI database long before we got here." Praxus said, amusement in her voice. "We have data on most every Terran..."
"They are safe," Delaney said, cautiously. So the Affini knew about Natalie and the girls, but not where they were currently staying. "How do I know that you're safe?"
"Because it is the mission of the Affini Compact to care for every sophont that we come in contact with." Praxus said. "We wish no harm upon any sophont under our care." She pulled her datapad back out, and tapped on a few things while she also watched Delaney. Delaney, who was actually pretty decent at multitasking was very impressed by Praxus' ability to multitask. A few seconds later, the datapad that Delaney had sat on the desk dinged. Delaney glanced from it to Praxus. "I just sent you a copy of the proposed Human Domestication Treaty. I would like you to write up a short summary of what I just sent you so that we can get it on the air as soon as possible."
"And if I don't?" Delaney said, she was already feeling like she would work well with Praxus, but she needed to make sure that Praxus realised that she wasn't just going to roll over and do whatever...
“Then you don’t have to.” Praxus said, the vines that made up her body doing a pretty good impression of a shrug. “A sophonts worth is not determined by the job they do. All sophonts are worth it. I think it would be helpful to have a Terran help provide messaging about the Compact.”
“Who wrote the pre-invasion speech?” Delaney asked. “And if you know or can find out, can I get a copy of it? I think it would be a good starting point for something to try to convince the Terran population that the Affini are not all bad…”
"I am unsure of who wrote the pre-invasion speech, I will try to find out and see if I can get you a copy of it." Praxus said, tapping away on her datapad again. "So I take it that this means you are going to help us?"
"Well, I might as well..." Delaney said, placing her datapad into a dock on her desk. The monitor lit up so she could use the datapad like a full fledged computer. "For all I know, my apartment has been ransacked by the authorities by now..."
Praxus stopped moving for a second and just looked at Delaney with all of her eyes. Delaney tried to count them, but wasn't able to as she got distracted by looking at them. "Why would the authorities have ransacked your apartment?"
"Because, he," Delaney tipped her head toward where Jason's office was. "Seemed to think that while I had the kill codes for the terrestrial broadcasting systems, I could somehow stop a technologically superior alien race from taking over our air..." Delaney could have sworn that she saw Praxus' eyes narrow.
"Grab your datapad, We are going to go check..." Praxus said, her vines shifting as she exited the office and entered the hallway where she could rise to her full height. Delaney grabbed the datapad from the dock and tucked it in close to her body. "I have a shuttle on the roof we're going to use that. It will, uh, be faster if I carry you." Praxus watched as Delaney shrugged and then scooped the Terran up in her vines. Once Delaney was securely in Praxus' vines, she took off, and instead of using the stairs like a human would, Praxus utilized the inside of the stairwell and would reach several floors above and simply pull the pair of them up to the higher floor. They reached the door to the roof in less than twenty seconds. They exited the door on to the roof where there was a small craft that was just hovering with a light blue glow under it. There was no sound, but a little heat radiating from the vessel. "Unfortunately there is only one seat, so I am going to have to hold you in my lap. What is your address?" Praxus was opening the canopy and working her body into the cabin of the craft. Delaney was picked up and placed in Praxus' lap, and the canopy came down.
"The address is..." Delaney rattled it off as Praxus entered it into some sort navigation devices and then craft silently lifted off and headed in the direction of the apartment. "What are we going to do when we get there?"
"First, I am going to make sure that it is safe and then you are going to come in and tell me if anything is misplaced..." Praxus said, starting to have the transport descend on to the roof of the building. Once the transport had settled, Praxus got out taking Delaney with her. "What floor are you on?"
"Fourth..." Delaney said. "Apartment four sixty two." The building had ten floors of apartments, plus four floors of mechanical. It would have taken her around five minutes to get from the roof to the fourth floor. The pair of them entered the stairwell, which Praxus examined. "If we need to do the opposite of what we did at the TPN building, I'm game. I think if you were going to eat me, you would have done it by now and not be doing false pretenses by having a look at my apartment." Delaney gasped in surprise as Praxus picked her up and descended even more rapidly than they had ascended in the TPN building. When they stopped on the fourth floor, Praxus looked at Delaney.
"Which way?" The Affini asked.
Delaney pointed to a door. "Out that door, to the left, and it will be the second apartment on the right. Uh... The door code is three four eight six."
"Three four eight six; Out to the left second apartment on the right, number four sixty two." Praxus said, making sure that she knew where she was going. A vine slid into Delaney's hand. "While I am out there, if you need me, give my vine a tug, if you let go because you have to run, go down. I will get to you, probably before you make it to the third floor. When I am convinced that it is safe, I'll give my vine a tug and you just simply follow it."
"Yes, Ma'am." Delaney said, leaning against the wall. She wanted to sit and think, but now wasn't the time for that. She slid her datapad out and set it to make no noise; the last thing she needed right this second was it making noise and alerting someone to her presence. She knew that there were a few people in the building that didn't like that fact that she was dating a woman, or that she was polyamorous. The last thing she wanted to do was meet those folks in a stairwell with her help and protector around the corner. A few moments later, the vine that she was holding gave a tug and she just followed it to her apartment. The door was open, but everything looked the same as it had when she had left some ten hours earlier. The TNN issued datapad and comm unit were indicating that she had waiting messages but nothing seemed out of place. It didn't look like the authorities had been here; Since Jason had been alleging treason, she knew that this place would be torn apart if they had been here. Praxus was looking at a picture that hung on the wall of her, Natalie, Kirsten and Lilly. "Is it safe to use my TNN issued datapad and comm unit?" she asked.
"As long as you are with me, yes." Praxus said, turning away from the photo. Other than the dishes that had been left in the sink when the four of them had fled the apartment, there was nothing here that would cause concern for her. "I am not going to be letting you out of my sight for a little bit, however... Can you tell me who is who in this photograph?"
Delaney walked over and looked at the photo. It was recent, having been taken in the past six months. "Well, This is me, obviously..." Delaney giggled. "This is my wife, Natalie, and this is Kirsten and Lilly." She paused, trying to figure out the best way to explain the relationship that the four of them were in. "We are a polyamorous household, and Kirsten and Lilly are..." her voice trailed off. "Basically our children."
"So they are basically florets?" Praxus asked, turning to watch Delaney tip her head to the side.
"Florets?" Delaney asked. She had heard the term in the Affini propaganda videos, but hadn't stopped to wonder what the word meant.
"I believe in your language, it means tiny flower or something similar." Praxus said. "We call our pets florets."
"Ah..." Delaney said, the various parts of the language difference finally clicking into place. "Something like that. Natalie and I are one hundred percent responsible for them. We take care of their medical stuff, any schooling, etc."
"That's what we do for our florets." Praxus said, a vine reaching over and gently rubbing Delaney's back. "I can tell you that this building is not up to Compact building standards though..." Praxus pulled her datapad out and composed a message to someone. "I'm going to have another Affini come keep an eye on the apartment, I think it would ok for you to have Natalie Kirsten and Lilly come home. They will sleep better in their own beds, I'm sure..."
Delaney knew that this would be true, but she wasn't sure that she trusted the authorities to not show up. "I don't want to put them in harms way."
"Little one," Praxus said, her voice calming. "No harm will come to you, or your family as long as we are here. I have sent a request for three more Affini to basically keep an eye on you four, even though you are independent."
Delaney blushed at being called 'little one.' It was something that she called Kirsten and Lilly from time to time. "I'm not little..." Delaney protested, while looking up at Praxus. "I'm one of the adults in this household..."
"I know," Praxus chuckled. "I'm not going to let anything happen to my head producer at TPN nor her family." Praxus sent a few vines into the kitchen and quickly did the dishes. "Once we get some habs built, we are going to get the four of you moved into one."
"So," Delaney said, feeling awkward as she sat on the couch and watched Praxus' vines do the dishes. "Do you have a floret?"
Praxus' voice took a tone of sadness. "I do not at the moment, my last floret, Gavin watched me go from my fourth bloom to my fifth and he made me promise him that I would find another floret when I was ready." She turned and smiled at Delaney. "I am going to be looking for one, maybe more..." Delaney's face shifted slightly. "Don't worry, I'm not going to domesticate you and take you as my floret." Delaney couldn't see the vines that were twisted inside of Praxus' body that emulated a set of crossed fingers.