When they got to the correct floor, they headed to the room. They found only Juk waiting for them. Betsy clenched her jaw shut to avoid showing any other reaction at seeing only the young pup waiting for them.

He stood with a smile. “Ms. Doeth, lovely to see you. I wanted to apologize for any misunderstanding. I didn’t understand when you stated you wanted to meet today that you meant today-today, and not, soon-today.”

One of her brows rose. “For the record, when I say today, I never mean ‘soon.’ I mean now.”

They all sat, and Betsy wondered if getting a root canal would be less annoying and more productive.

Chapter 26 - School Yard Antics

Viera

As the elevator zoomed up, Viera massaged her temples. Between depleting her magic and a heavy guilt at not being able to save Juniper, Viera felt dizzy and a bit nauseous. Both the space station and Abritos had different numbers of hours in a day, and she wasn’t sure how many days her body thought she’d been away. She knew what the calendar said the date was and what the date had been when she’d left: two weeks. According to the people on Earth, she’d been gone for two weeks. With the weird different time frames, her body didn’t know what it felt.

The elevators dumped them out into a waiting room with a stern looking woman in her thirties sitting behind a raised desk. She sat in front of a wall with the words Department of Interstellar Coexistence and Knowledge Sharing. The last time Viera had come, she’d been so nervous, she hadn’t really thought about this department or its name. More than that, they’d been sent to a spare conference room three floors down, apparently not important enough for the main room.

Betsy plastered on a smile and walked past the woman.

The guard stood, then her eyes widened as she recognized my friend. “Pillar Doeth. Welcome, I’ll bring you your favorite tea.” Her gaze swung to Viera. “Do you also like chamomile?”

Viera smirked, realizing not everyone was as vapid as the two she’d met last time. “That would be great.”

Before they went any further, Viera reached out and touched Betsy’s arm. “Department of Interstellar Coexistence and Knowledge Sharing?”

A laugh burst out of Betsy. “One of the better names I’ve come up with, don’t you think?”

“DICKS? You named this department DICKS?”

“Well, I’m often working with them, why not name the place after them?”

They both laughed as they made their way to the conference room. Juk had a condescending smile on his face as they walked in. Viera wasn’t sure what Betsy had said to the man to get this meeting to happen, but there they were in the government building in downtown New York with the man himself.

“So, Juk, you made it?” Betsy actually sounded calm. Viera wasn’t sure how she did it. Though Viera could keep a poker face when teaching her second-graders and Juk didn’t seem that much older, the images of Juniper’s ship exploding kept playing in her mind, and it was hard to not be emotional.

They all sat and the woman who guarded the entrance brought their tea. Juk looked confused, but Betsy just smiled and thanked her.

Seeming to want to control the room, Juk’s smile widened. “You mentioned this was important. What’s happening in our wide world that you feel this meeting had to happen today?” His brow furrowed and he flipped through his notes. “Didn’t Viera head back to that space station a couple of weeks ago? Does it have to do with that? A paper report or an email would’ve been fine, you know. You do understand email, right?”

Betsy leaned back, her eyes steely. “When Viera and I were here last, we warned you that there was a krottel ship near Earth’s space—”

“And we’ve been monitoring ever since, Ms. Doeth. Our space is clear of alien ships, we’d know if there was anything we needed to know of. Just because most humans don’t know about aliens doesn’t mean that those of us who do are also blind.”

If Viera couldn’t feel the ire flowing from her friend, she’d think Betsy were still calm as a cucumber. I have to remember to never play poker with her. Though, with my magic … No, that would be cheating.

She shook her head, realizing he’d been totally off topic. He was going on and on like an egotistical bird. Betsy wanted to explain about a danger, not discuss his standing as an Earthling who knew about aliens. If he didn’t slow down and listen, he’d get people hurt, or worse.

“Juk,” Betsy snapped out, getting his attention. “Please let me finish.”

The man smirked with one brow up but tilted his head towards them. He was so respectful the first day. What the hell happened?

‘That’s a good question, but you need to think a bit quieter, my friend. I need to focus right now. We’ll talk about this skill of yours later.’ Betsy’s voice left her head, and it took everything Viera had in her to not react.

“There are at least two alien ships in Earth’s orbit,” Betsy continued. “You know about the chanzii ship, though they may have a second one up there by now. They’ve called one in, and it may be here. I don’t know how far away it was. They’re going to start evacuating their people. It will be a multi-year process, so, no,” she held up a hand in a stop sign, “that isn’t why we’re here, so don’t assume that’s why I demanded an immediate audience.”

“Do you want me to spread that information up the ladder?” Juk asked, shockingly respectful.

“You can. I’ll be writing a report about that soon. I’ll attach it in an email. You do know about attachments, right?” One of her eyebrows rose in question. “I have a few other things to focus on first.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “When the ship we flew back from the space station on returned to Earth’s space, we found a krottel ship hiding behind the moon.”

“Wait, what?” Juk leaned forward. “That close?”

“Yes, that close. The Ziner and its crew tried to contact them, and the krottel wouldn’t respond, yet again. When they sent an envoy, the krottel shot the ship down.”

Juk blanched. “Did the chanzii lose anyone?”

Viera leaned forward. “You understand we’re talking about a spaceship and being shot down … in space. The void of space. Right? That isn’t something a being survives. You understand that the krottel approached this situation not for peace, but to destroy the ship and whomever was on it.” Viera realized she was yelling by the end and took a deep breath to calm herself. She shouldn’t allow her hurt and frustration at Juniper’s death to take over her common sense.

Betsy put her hand on Viera’s arm. “I’ll take it from here, friend.” She turned to Juk. “That isn’t the point. The krottel didn’t come here under peaceful intentions. This planet isn’t near any of the other alien planets. It was a choice they made, and we need to be wary.”

Juk looked up from taking notes and tapped his pencil on the table. “I’ll get our people on finding the ship and we’ll send a message.”

The wave of frustration from her friend punched into Viera. She had to brace herself as Betsy spoke. “Did you hear anything I said? They aren’t communicating. We’ve tried multiple times. The last olive branch sent out ended with them shooting down one of the Ziner’s shuttles.”

Juk gave Betsy a patronizing look. “Right, but the krottel were the ones who kicked the chanzii off of their planet. They probably thought the shuttle was out to attack. They were just defending themselves. I’m sure they’ll talk with us. They’re here to negotiate. That’s what our department does—we’re experts.”

Viera could see Betsy’s jaw clench for a few moments. Viera felt equally upset. She had to force the tendrils of her magic under control before office supplies started getting destroyed. Finally, Betsy took a long breath in, then let it out. “Juk, you understand that we are here as your expert advisors. We aren’t here to tell you what to react to, but how to approach these situations. You should be listening to what we tell you. We have the experience and understanding.” She paused, letting her words sink in … or not, if the blank look Juk gave her was any indication. Viera had seen that look on many student faces.

Betsy continued. “We need to be extremely careful. The krottel have a history of moving in on planets to take them over. They’ve kicked the native species out more than once. There is no good reason for them to be here. You understand this, right?”

He gave a small smile. “I’m sure we can figure this out. You’ve done your part. Thank you for bringing this to me. If that’s it, I’ll take this upstairs and see you next time. You’ll call my assistant, right?”

Betsy snorted. “No, I absolutely will not call your assistant. If I don’t call Orson’s assistant, why the hell would I call yours, pup?”

They walked out, leaving Juk with his jaw practically on the table.

His shock was like the dessert after a really bad meal. Thinking about Juniper, she slumped. A really, really bad meal.

***

In the elevator, Betsy texted the Ziner and Horax transported them back to Wisconsin. They landed in Thorn’s backyard. As soon as their feet hit the grass, Betsy grasped Viera’s shoulders. “Viera, do you know how you spoke in my mind?”

“Um … yes?” Despite it being summer, there was a cool breeze and Viera wanted to get inside.

“On the ship you were projecting … big time. I got some of it, but you’ve been working with Flower Prancer a lot.” Viera couldn’t hold back the eye roll the name of her trainer induced. Betsy smiled at her reaction. “I know, he’s an ass. But the thing is, he saw your premonition. As you pushed all your magic into the vastness of space, he demanded Juniper be pulled from the shuttle.”

Chills of fear and shock attacked Viera’s body, followed by numb hope. “What are you saying Betsy? Tell me in short monosyllabic words.”

“Juniper is fine. She wasn’t on the ship when it exploded. Between the two of you, that damn yonat and your brilliance, you saved her.”

Tears flowed down Viera’s face. She’d been holding back her emotions, trying not to think about the tragedy, but she finally let herself go. Betsy wrapped her in a hug and let her cry.