This choice: Event Choice: Go to the New Powys Animalus Embassy • Go Back... Elijah Simons was at his wits end. With his claws gently running down into his chocolate brown fur he trailed his digits across his scalp all the way to the base of his neck where his paw came to rest. He closed his eyes and took measured breaths through his maw, brow furrowed in pensive thought. All the years he had spent as an agent for the ideals of Animalus seemed to have been wasted in a fruitless battle to sway the neanderthals of Vegas now that the progress that had been made was slowly regressing. Simons was thankful that the stress had not left him with more grey hairs. Everyday he felt as if he had been tasked with navigating a minefield set against foreign institutions, armed with naught but a jackknife to probe for the charges.
Not finished with his calls, Simons dialed in the number for the interplanetary transmissions network. "Operator, patch me through to Animalus."
After a moment of silence a female voice replied, "Putting you through now, Agent Simons. This will only take a minute."
Simons set his receiver down, pressing the auto-dial button because true to the operator's words, he was greeted by the holoscreen in front of his desk lighting up with the reception of a viable Animalus signal. The transmission had bridged the lightyears of distance between two worlds in a matter of seconds and now it was up to the other party to pick up as messages silently played across Simons' screen to proclaim success of the connection. Eventually the Animalus emblem graphic flickered away to be replaced by the holographic video feed of a lion sitting behind a desk. He was dressed in a suit and tie, the sandy mane swept back flat against his head in one of the few ways a lion could style his hair, though Simons also noted a sickly quality to the fur on his face and the eyes heavy with fatigue.
"Eli, it's been a very long while, my friend." The lion seemed to speak with difficulty, his voice was dry and his breathing heavy, but he still held mirth in his tired eyes. "I'm very glad that you finally decided to call. I take it that your time on Vegas has been a pleasant stay?"
"This is not a personal call, Luceos," Simons said, paying the lion's condition no heed, "this is important. I must speak to you about your absence here in New Powys, Vegas."
"Yes, of course. What do you need to talk about?"
"It's about that shaky business with the organized student protest. The students had followed the proper actions to keep them out of the interests of the Department of Law, until that is, when they chose their public venue to be the square in front of. . ." Simons hesitated to use the next word, "a soldiers' funeral reception. No one took well to it and I figure that several cases of police brutality will be a best case scenario."
The lion shook his head, smiling nonchalantly. "I don't think the New Powys Department of Law will try anything that will bring Animalus down on them," said Luceos, coughing lightly into his fist. "Vegas has proven time and time again that they're all talk, this is just the same."Simons frowned, taking that cough as a sign that Luceos Kahleigh, a hybrid familiar with otherworldly customs, knew better than to brush off the issue.
"That might have been the case if an ambassador was present," Simons interjected, before Kahleigh could justify ignorance further, "but you were not present, were you? If you took martial action for oppression of citizens under your express instructions, then that would put Animalus in the wrong, because Vegas law makes the contingencies on the freedom of speech very clear."
The lion stopped smiling, his paws kneaded together in his unease and his gaze wavered. "You're right, I know. It's just that things have been getting very hectic here."
"I'm not looking for an excuse, Luceos," Simons stopped the lion with his level tone, "I've heard of your reasons already. What might interest me, though, is why you did not find a replacement. Surely an ambassador of equal status would have been willing to fill your place here?"
"I'll tell you why," this time there was a fit of coughing. Kahleigh took a moment to fetch a pitcher of water and a glass from a compartment in his desk. "Animalus is giving up on a peaceful resolution to the issue of the Vegas Coalition. Their "Stratus" is churning out new ships daily we hear, reinforcing the hold on the planets with intelligent life in their primary sector of the galaxy." The lion finally poured himself the water and gulped down the liquid to sooth his raw throat. "As if their Orion satellites weren't enough," he spat , mulling over the subject as Simons watched and listened, somewhere between disinterest and concern. He knew the full extent of Vegas' expansionist activities since 4951 A.S. and how the Stratus, the Vegas starfleet as it were, began to grow with the lifting of restrictions on power usage and the union of nearby mining colonies, coinciding with the bolstered numbers of draftees in the Vegas Starcraft Troopers. It was nothing new for a newly independent planet government to take measures to protect its interests, but the problems started when the Vegas Coalition was formed. The planet of Vegas would become the hub for any and all colonies within their zone, the Stratus constantly patrolling and deep scanning with thousands of soldiers on standby to reinforce the inaccessibility of the borders. The worst was to come, as their stellar territories expanded outwards, Vegas laying claim to entire star systems, five hospitable worlds were discovered, three with intelligent alien lifeforms. Everyone was barred from landing on these worlds. Only Vegas research personnel and the now infamous VSCT.
"There was no one willing to take my place," Kahleigh finally sighed, dropping the rant he had building up on his tongue, "they adamantly refused to set foot on Vegas soil. And I suppose they want to keep a better eye on the troubles here,” he added after a thought.
Simons nodded in understanding. Simons looked upwards as he allowed himself to stray on a tangent: "When it comes to your frustrations with the restrictions Vegas has had on communication with their discovered intelligent lifeforms, I might have some good news."
Kahleigh was looking away for a moment, but Simons' words snapped his head back to the hologram leonine face, sickly as it was, alighted in interest. Before the lion could press for answers, the bear raised a paw and said, "But I do not want your quandary over the issue to derail us from the issue at paw." The grizzly leaned closer to the hologram, his eyes narrowed in an intense stare that was not going to allow any more banter. "I first want to discuss the options available to us that might just let New Powys see the errors written in its book. "
The lion smiled, looking a bit more hopeful with the promise of good news.
"Indeed, then let us discuss."
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