Ezekiel glanced around to ensure nobody was following him before stepping into the alley. When he awoke, he had found a note that had been slipped under his door with just an address and a time on it. He would have dismissed it if it hadn't been for his family logo on the page.

His family's people had finally reached out to him.

Ezekiel was surprised it had taken them so long. He had been on Earth for weeks now and had plenty of time to drink his woes away after Admiral Dufresne and the other Admirals demoted him.

Being disowned by his family had been one of the most humiliating moments of his life, but being demoted was up there. Thankfully, he had been given a month of leave to 'acclimate' to the shift.

He had done exactly as was ordered of him, and yet it had made no difference. In the end, they still demoted him. So what if he had to call in for clarification? The Admirals acted as if they had never been forced to go to a superior to clarify an order before.

It didn't matter. Ezekiel had already decided to throw his career away and rejoin the family at his father's behest. He knew he might have to spend some time in jail, but he also knew his father would ensure it was a cushy stay, and when he was back out, he would be welcomed home. Maybe not with open arms, but he would be home again.

Ezekiel quickly located the door in the wet, stinking alley and knocked. A burly Marine opened the door, and Ezekiel nearly flinched back in surprise, thinking he had somehow been set up.

The man looked both ways down the alley before motioning with his head for Ezekiel to come inside.

There were a dozen other equally large men prepping weapons and augment suits. A wiry man with slicked-back hair and a business suit approached Ezekiel.

"Mr. Willard, I'm glad you got my message," the man said without so much as a hint of emotion.

Ezekiel didn't know the man, but he recognized his type. He was a fixer, someone who facilitated the dirty work for his father and others like him.

"You look like you are gearing up for a war," Ezekiel replied as he looked around the room. "I thought the point was for me to take out Kane's security detail so you could go in and kidnap the man?"

"That is still the plan, Mr. Willard, but there has been a slight adjustment."

Ezekiel waited for the man to expound on that statement, but nothing further came. "And my role?" he asked in annoyance.

The unnamed individual gestured for him to follow, and they approached one of the folding tables with gear on it. One of the cases stood out because it didn't have the same military aesthetic as all of the others. Instead, it looked like a standard, if large, document case.

The man flicked the latches and opened the case, showing Ezekiel what was contained within.

"I'm unfamiliar with that weapon system," Ezekiel stated honestly. He could tell it was a gun of some sort, but that was about it.

"That's why you're here, Mr. Willard. It is my job to familiarize you with the operation and assembly of the Mk7 portable railgun."

"A railgun! Seriously?" Ezekiel asked in shock. "Wouldn't a flechette rifle be more prudent?" And quieter, he didn't add. "Everyone is going to know where I am the moment I fire the damn thing."

"We will take measures to prevent your work from being disrupted, but a railgun was deemed necessary after our spies got a good look at the armor Kane's security is wearing. We only expect you to cause chaos and maybe take one of his guards down. The rest will be dealt with by our 'Marines,'" the man added.

"Those aren't real STO Marines?" Ezekiel asked.

"No. They are experienced and very discreet mercenaries. Once the shooting starts, they will move in under the guise of STO Marines to secure the package and extract him."

Ezekiel almost didn't want to know the answer, but he asked anyway. "Why the subterfuge then?"

"Relational complications," was all the man said.

It was enough for Ezekiel. It meant Kane had powerful friends, and his father didn't want any blowback to land on the Willard family.

"If that's the case, then why include me at all? My involvement will surely point back to the family."

The man didn't answer, he simply stared blankly at Ezekiel as if the answer was obvious. It was, Ezekiel just had to think about it for a moment. "It's because I'm excommunicated."

"And because your recent demotion, thanks in part to Kane, provides a convenient excuse for your actions. You can simply deny knowing anything about our portion of the attack, saying you acted alone. We will ensure evidence points to an attack of opportunity on our part."

The plan sounded extremely convoluted, but Ezekiel saw no other option to get back in his father's good graces.

With an attack of this scale, there would be a huge investigation into how not one, but two separate groups had managed to infiltrate the STO headquarters with weapons. It might even lead to the Admirals losing their positions, or so Ezekiel hoped. "Fine," he stated. "Show me what I need to do."

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

***

"That was a bit odd, don't you think?" Alexander asked Katalynn in the meeting room aboard Grace.

"I couldn't say for certain," Katalynn responded. "It does seem strange to me that they didn't ask any questions or demand something for our request, but I don't know how they normally do things here."

"Hmm, you might have a point there. I have no idea if this is normal or not, however, they did say they might have clarifying questions later. Maybe we should have stuck around and asked Mr. Young."

Katalynn shook her head slowly. "I think the shock and awe effect of your presentation was the proper way to go."

***

It took over a week before the UEC got back to Alexander with any update, and it wasn't an agreement to their proposal. He wasn't surprised by that. If they had agreed right out of the gate, he would have been concerned and suspicious.

The fact that they wanted clarification on a few points told him that they were taking his request seriously.

Alexander would be heading down later that day with Katalynn for another session in front of the council.

It was too bad his other enterprise wasn't showing any headway.

Alexander walked down to the tactical center. Unlike the bridge, the tactical center was designed to facilitate ground forces. Even though Grace was a diplomatic vessel and not technically a warship, he had included the room anyway.

It was quite a bit smaller and more cramped than what an Orca warship would have, but it was enough for their purposes.

"Any luck keeping track of Willard?" Alexander asked the technician.

The man shook his head. "The strike team keeps losing track of him. Galloway said it seemed like someone might be running interference for the man." Keep us going by reading on MV_LEM_PYR.

Alexander nodded in understanding. He had known it was a long shot to keep track of what the disgraced, once again senior captain was up to, but he had to try. He didn't doubt that Willard would be upset by his demotion. What the man did about it was what concerned Alexander.

"Keep at it," Alexander told the technician. "Maybe we'll get lucky."

Alexander wished he could ask the Loki aboard Katalynn's ship for help, but the man, who had formerly been in the disguise of Fletcher, had already made his thoughts clear on the subject.

***

Unlike their previous visit to the UEC, there were no crowds this time around. Alexander had been monitoring local news networks, and the shock and surprise of their visit had quickly been swept aside by other news.

Alexander was more than happy about that, the attention was a bit too much for his liking.

A different man greeted them after they exited the shuttle.

"Mr. Kane, Lagertha Char, greetings. Mr. Young sends his apologies, but he is not able to attend the meeting today as other issues require his attention. I am Vice Councilor of the NAA, Nayzeth Coronado."

Alexander shook the man's hand. He was well aware of who Coronado was, as well as his long career as a politician. Alexander had spent the last week researching the councilors he might run into. It was a costly venture, but the information proved invaluable.

"Is everything okay?" Alexander asked.

"It's a minor issue, you need not worry yourself about it. If you two would follow me, the council wants to slot you in as soon as possible."

Katalynn didn't say anything as they trailed behind Coronado, but Alexander asked a follow-up question. "I was told that it normally took months to years to get speaking slots, what changed?"

Coronado chuckled. "That is normally the case, but your evidence has brought up many questions as well as concerns. A few councilors changed their speaking points to request a special dispensation to get you back as soon as possible. That being said, none of them were exactly willing to give up their spot for you to speak, so a vote had to be taken to determine who would get knocked off the docket for the day."

Katalynn had a sour look on her face. "Seems pointlessly complicated and slow."

If Coronado was offended by her comment, he didn't show it as he responded. "It can be at times, but there are hundreds of countries being represented within the council. The only way to ensure impartiality is to allow the leaders to schedule their own times on a first-come, first-served basis. They can't simply reserve that time without a topic to discuss, though, which is why you might have noticed how pedestrian the topics were during your last visit."

"I did notice that," Alexander replied. "Are they just allowed to make up whatever so they can get a spot?"

"Not at all," Coronado said. "They can only put forth requests that come from their constituents. It may seem rather pointless, but it has actually worked rather well. Important topics are rarely ever sat on or ignored by countries like they might have been before the UEC, especially if it involves UEC funding being handed out to help with those issues."

Coronado stopped outside the wooden doors to the council chamber and faced them. "I shouldn't be telling you this, but there are certain people within the UEC who want to use your request as an opportunity to gain something from you, or more specifically, from Gravitational Solutions."

It was Alexander's turn to chuckle, which seemed to surprise Coronado. "Oh, I'm well aware my request wouldn't come for free, but thank you for telling me, even though I know you only did it to get into my good graces for the same reason."

Instead of looking chagrined by being called out, Coronado smiled. "I am glad we both understand each other."

Coronado struck Alexander as much more politically savvy than Mr. Young. Some of that might have been Alexander's bias when comparing their relative ages, but in his experience, older politicians were always the ones you should look out for the most. They usually knew how to play the game the best, considering they had been around the longest. Plus, Alexander had done his research; he knew Coronado was well respected in the political arena.

With a self-satisfied smile, the man led them into the council chamber.

It was immediately clear that something was going on by all of the shouting. Alexander was about to ask Coronado about it, but the man looked equally puzzled.

Alexander caught snippets of the yelling.

"We already raised taxes for the last one-," a woman bemoaned.

"-Send someone to negotiate," came an older man's response.

"You volunteering?" came a snide reply as Alexander's group rounded the partition wall.

The room was even more chaotic than he first thought. People were yelling toward the central podium, yelling at each other, pacing, or looking like they had no idea how to react.

All the while, the Speaker was banging her gavel, her yells being drowned out by all the other voices.

Alexander turned to his companions. "You may wish to cover your ears."

He waited for Katalynn, Coronado, and the guards to comply before he made a sharp whistling sound as loud as his body could, which was far louder than anyone in the room could yell.

The piercing noise cut through the clamor like a knife through hot butter, and those nearby flinched and covered their ears.

Once his point was made, Alexander stopped and nodded toward the Speaker.

She didn't look like she knew how to respond to what he had just done, so she simply banged her gavel down once before speaking. "Order. We have important guests, and you are all acting like children who don't wish to go to bed. Yes, the news that the STO just released is far from ideal, but it isn't immediate. The Xin declaration of war and their push into STO space is the STO's business. We will provide support as we can, per our charter requirement, and that is final. Now, since discussions have been halted for today, we might as well invite Mr. Kane and Lagertha Char up to the podium to help clear up some concerns we had. Is anyone opposed to that?"