Humans for Hire

Vilantia Prime, House of Lords

The noble houses were in an uproar. Again. The chamber was filled with loud and angry voices as they theoretically took turns but realistically shouted the same words in different voices. Every so often the Prime Minister would have to hammer a gong for order - more often than he preferred of late, but the proposed laws were becoming contentious of late. The Throne watched and could be seen taking notes from their remote position as Greatlady Aa'Elsife made rather impassioned and pointed remarks.

"This cannot pass, this cannot be even spoken of! The Noble Houses of Vilantia lead, they do not serve. For the House of Commons to even hint that a law requiring nobles to perform commoner service is right and proper slaps our ancestors in the most insulting way possible. Our leadership is our service. The Lords and Ladies of this house dedicated to laws have an ancestral duty to lead, not serve. Service is for my servants, not my sons."

Lady Raloni stood from her place as representative of Clan Aa'Lafione to counter. "If I may, recent events have shown that the line between leadership and service may not be as solid as we believed. It may be that the two have intertwining lineage. For us to have certainty in this, there must be service as well as leadership."

There was a snort of derision in reply from Aa'Elsife. "And what stick does a shamed clan see as fit for use to measure this certainty?"

"The same one that the lady herself desires. Prosperity and glory. Or were you going to pretend that you're not responsible for all the glowing missives we see on the Grid about Freelords Gryzzk and Drysel that conveniently never fail to mention their birth-clans are sworn to yours?"

Aa'Elsife's fur flared as she lowered herself in an instinctive attack posture. "Those accusations are a disgrace and unfit for these halls!"

"I hear no denial from the Greatlady, therefore my remarks will not be retracted - it is a pity that the Greatlady's education did not include any sort of tutoring regarding proper apportioning of glory." There was a gentle smile of sorts from Raloni. "Take heart, Lady. If this does come to pass, there will be greater opportunity for prosperity - even the children of vizhpubida fishmongers will have a chance to serve as something more to Vilantia and perhaps even find other trades."

That personal barb was apparently a bridge too far, and Aa'Elsife leaped over desks and benches to make a personal rebuttal to Raloni. The melee was spirited, but poorly fought - the noble dress codes prohibited clothing that allowed free-swinging punches or kicks. However there were objects thrown and multiple nobles on both sides of the fight saw fit to improvise weaponry from what was at hand. The Prime Minister once again called for order, his voice sounded hoarse and tired at this late afternoon juncture.

From their offices, the Throne sighed softly before glancing at their spouses. "How many is this?"

The Consort Husband flicked an eyepair to a tablet. "Five today. This is madness."

"This is politics. It is why they are allotted six before an automatic recess." The Throne had a wry grin. "Once the Prime Minister has brought the chamber to order, ask that we be allowed to speak."

It took several minutes before there was a semblance of order and the necessary request was relayed. Finally the Prime Minister tapped the Throne's Gong three times.

"The Throne has requested to speak - allow them your fullest possible attention before we recess and take this matter up again on the morrow."

The holographic projector came to life, with the Throne taking a few measured breaths before speaking.

"We may debate this more tomorrow, however - whether this becomes law or no, the Throne-heir will be set to six years of service prior to their ascension. It is my hope that as they serve all of Vilantia, they come to know as much of Vilantia as they can. I would have a similar hope that the nobles would see the example before them and act accordingly. Prime Minister, thank you for these minutes of time."

The chamber quieted briefly before the arguments began anew regarding the propriety of the Throne-Heir taking some sort of commoner service, and the sixth fight broke out bringing the chamber to a halt for the day. By unanimous consent the minutes of the day were sparse, only indicating that there had been debate.

___________

Terran Foreign Legion Ship Twilight Rose

Gryzzk blinked at the communique, somewhat aghast at the notion on his tablet. "They want to what?!"

In reply, Rosie smirked. "So today's not the day you accept that folks need heroes, and you're a fuckin' hero."

Gryzzk simply stared flatly. "I'm not a hero. I was sent here to do a job, and that job became complicated. I had the good fortune to command a hero who is remembered rightly by this company. That does not merit..." he waved a hand at the tablet, "...this. This is nonsense."

"Freelord, given that it's just us on the bridge I'm gonna speak freely. Your fuckin' soul is the soul of the fuckin' frontier. You get the fuck up and do the job that needs to be done because nobody else has the sand for it. Moncilat knows it - they been comfortable for centuries, and they just collectively discovered how unlubed the dildo of consequences is when it arrives. So now they're introducing their kids to what it's gonna take - and that means field trips to the Legion ships." Rosie paused. "Oh look. We're on a Legion ship. So shut up, give your balls a tug and put your nice uniform on. They'll be here in two hours."

Gryzzk sighed softly. "Remind me to never speak words that tempt the gods."

"Freelord?"

"Yes, Rosie..."

"Never speak words that tempt the gods."

"Thank you for the reminder." He glanced down. "The good news is that the majority of the company is still on shore leave."

"What, you think a bunch of drinking fighting swearing belching titfuckers might give the crotch-goblins of Moncilat a bad impression?"

"I am fairly certain that would be the case. Send the message that we will be prepared to receive them shortly but include a reminder that the engineering space is off-limits, and our engineering team has no issue with throwing tools at someone who breaks into their area."

The next hour was filled with soft grumbling from the commander's quarters as Gryzzk prepared his uniform and poked his head into Gro'zel's room.

He didn't immediately say anything as his daughter was feeding the bird tiny scraps of meat - next to the two there was a video playing of the feeding procedure. It was a change of sorts, but it was a change he almost expected in some way. He thought back to the time she'd gotten into the cookies, and how she'd apparently taken a dozen of them and then carefully replaced the cookie jar before she ate and had a sugar-induced fit of marathon running before she got sleepy and found a nap spot in the pantry, but out of the way so she wouldn't disturb anyone.

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"Lieutenant. We have visitors coming soon; they are children from Moncilat, and I would like you to be there to help show them around the ship."

Gro'zel's eyes lit up. "Will they like Millennium?"

"Possibly. I believe their planet has many birds. It could be a nice thing to talk about, but we'll only find out if the two of you are there to greet them."

With that, Gryzzk left to do a rapid inspection of the ship. It was not entirely what he'd hoped for, so he went into the cargo area and found a multi-cleaner. From there he tried to keep himself as neat as possible while making his way from the engineering section and working his way forward. There were a few individuals still on board who quickly picked up what was happening and grabbed their own cleaning implements.

Gryzzk was deeply immersed in his work, so it was a bit of a surprise when the docking hatch opened to reveal thirty or more Moncilat staring at him curiously. He gave a slight yelp and stood up straight, looking around for Rosie before addressing the students.

"Ah. I apologize, I was...attending to certain details of the ship. I am Major Gryzzk, and I'm pleased to invite you aboard for of our ship." He glanced quickly taking count of the large number of children with only four adults to watch over them. Among them he was catching some faintly familiar scents that he was going to have to inquire about during a convenient moment.

He distinctly heard Rosie cackling over his rank badge as he straightened himself and placed his multi-cleaner in a corner. The children were giggling a bit as they were ushered in for their own first surprise - Millennium flying over their heads and circling once before making a dive to land on Gro'zel's shoulder. Gro'zel gave the bird a stern look.

"That wasn't nice. You were supposed to wait until I could show them properly. Bad Millennium."

There was a screech from the bird and Gro'zel frowned. "No. No treat. Behave, then treat." She finally looked at everyone else, slightly embarrassed. "Hello, my name is Gro'zel and I'm one of the Morale Officers for Papa's ship. The other officers are Jonesy who is a large cat from Terra and my sister Nhoot. Nhoot's not aboard now because we trade off, but Jonesy is probably somewhere warm. And this is Millennium, and he's a bird from Terra. I like him even though he's a bad bird sometimes because we don't have birds on Vilantia."

There was silence for a moment before one of the children asked the obvious question. "Why don't you have birds?"

Gryzzk took the question. "I believe the prevailing theory is due to our homeworld's gravity. It is approximately three times the Collective standard." He paused for a moment as math was done, smiling slightly as he realized he was speaking at eye level with most of the children. "Yes, that is also why we are so short compared to you and even the Terrans we serve with."

Gryzzk's words seemed to make the students anxious, as well as the chaperones on this trip. He tilted his head slightly, raising a hand. "I was not intending a practical demonstration. For me, being in your gravity field is awkward. I stumble and when I move too quickly I hit my head on the ceiling." He smiled in spite of himself at a memory. "Even for the Terrans, it can be odd - on our previous trip to Moncilat we wore helmets to protect ourselves from ourselves during transit. But for you, your weight suddenly tripling would be uncomfortable at best, quite possibly painful."

There was a long silence before one of the chaperones spoke. "We are...aware. The memory may have slipped Major but the majority of us here were - guests, of Freelord Svitre." Her scent turned pained and sorrowful for a moment. "Those who were not directly affected were touched by his actions indirectly."

Gryzzk took a long breath, looking up to the ceiling in submission. "My apologies. I should have requested additional information from my XO, but I wanted the ship to look proper for our guests."

There was a look of disapproval from one of the other chaperones before Gro'zel moved in to give hugs to the children and as many of the adults as she could. "Papa can be forgetful. But he's busy so we have to remind him to be him, because otherwise he gets sick. But he'll be extra careful with you." She paused and brightened. "Oooh, you could ask Yomios and Miroka things! They might be able to explain it better than Papa could?"

There was an awkward nod. "Yes. We have...news for Yomios. It may be better coming from us."

Gryzzk exhaled. "Yes, perhaps then we should adjourn to the day room." He tapped his tablet for a one-way channel - he had no idea what his Moncilat charges were doing as a result of the chocolate, and he had no desire for a misstep to bring him further education. "Corporals Yomios and Miroka, please report to the day room if convenient." he paused. "If inconvenient, please report in five minutes."

The walk to the dayroom was quickly filled with questions about why the walls were squishy and if the Vilantians were very strong. By way of demonstration, Gro'zel jumped and flipped to maglock her boots to the ceiling much to the amazement of the children who immediately tried and failed to do the same thing - the adults were surprised by the feat, so much so that about half the children had a chance to try before order was restored. The chorus of oofs and ouches caused Gro'zel to unlock her boots and fall gently to the floor.

"Is everyone okay, is anyone hurt do we need to ask Doc Cottle for help?" Gro'zel looked very worried that she'd done something bad. Her worry was unfounded, as the children only seemed to have the minor bumps and bruises common to children at play, and the trip to the dayroom continued unabated. Mostly. Gro'zel and Gryzzk were the object of more than a few surreptitious stares from the adults and open gawking and whispers from the children. The end result was that they took a bit more than five minutes to arrive at their destination.

Gryzzk peeked into the dayroom to find the Moncilat being generally amused by U'wekrupp and Hoban. the non-Moncilat were taking advantage of the relatively light gravity to engage in somewhat frivolous antics; Hoban had a piece of chocolate in his mouth and had suspended himself upside down from a rope and was attempting to steady himself enough to allow Miroka to take her half delicately as his Hawaiian shirt draped over both of them. Meanwhile Yomios was kneeling on U'wekrupp's shoulders and catching small chocolate drops with her mouth. When she was successful, Yomios extended the claws of her free hand slightly and massaged her paramour's scalp with a special tenderness. All of them were in casual dress, and the only thing marring the scene was the scent of chocolate underpinning the affectionate happiness. Jonesy was on the jukebox, luxuriating in the warmth provided and flicking her tail slightly as she observed the goings-on.

Once shoes were removed, Gryzzk decided to have a brief moment of fun himself. He took a breath and raised his voice to a low shout.

"And just what manner of madness is happening here?!"

Gryzzk managed to not giggle immediately as Hoban lost his grip and landed on his side with a slight whuf, but when U'wekrupp snapped to full attention and caused Yomios to bonk her head on the ceiling the ridiculousness of the scene caused him to finally lose his own composure and wave his hands.

"Apologies. I...did not expect such a vigorous reaction. Be at ease, we have guests from the surface with news for Yomios and...well, they may have questions."

He still got dirty looks and flared fur as a general response. Gro'zel poked him and gave him a look that was not as stern as she'd hoped. "Bad Papa." Meanwhile Millennium sat contentedly on her shoulder at the scene.

"I promise I'll warn them next time." Gryzzk stepped fully into the dayroom, allowing the rest of the Moncilat in - though it wasn't exactly sedate as one of the children ran straight to Yomios and threw his arms around her to bury his face in her leg.

Yomios blinked - along with everyone else - at this unexpected action, though Yomios' next words explained it all. "...Pogrin. But...how, why?"

There was a gentle motion as two adults wove their way through the crowd - and the familiarity that Gryzzk had noted became clear. Yomios' confusion was fully evident on her face. "Father? Mother?"

There was a nod from her father. "Yes. We appealed your exile to the Militia Assize and argued that it was inelegant, hasty and did not take all factors of what exile would mean into account. They have modified it to allow us to visit you. You are not permitted to return to the surface, and the term has been reduced to three years. This is conditional."

"Conditional upon?" Gryzzk spoke up before waving his hand. "Apologies again but she is under my care and command, so when events affect her it is necessary for me to measure such events against her duty and privilege."

There was something of a smile from Yomios' father. "Well, the Assize will have a fuller packet, but the synopsis is that she and your company begin a fuller analysis of the Moncilat tactical art portfolio and improve it." There was a slightly embarrassed pause. "We need to be fully self-reliant, and the faster we can do that as a world, the better off we will be. They've requested that this begin as quickly as possible - there will be a contract through the appropriate channels pending your approval shortly."

Hoban gently punched Gryzzk's shoulder. "And you thought shore leave was going to be relaxing."