Chapter 206: Shit Has Hit The Fan
The human woman, Pippa, had been asking to go to the Alliance’s headquarters on B0101101 for a while. The council had put off her visit, not wanting to scare her by being exposed to so many unknown species at the same time.
Plus, they were concerned that she might have been Subject 1, and no one wanted to be forced to be a mate for the rest of his life, especially not to such a strange-looking creature. However, she had gone through all the tests to prove that, while she was a universal breeder, she was so far removed genetically from the Ethawainians that there was no way she would be able to have dedicated mates.
That was a benefit in two ways since the Alliance council didn’t need to worry about them being chosen, and they could send her to anyone for breeding purposes without worrying about any fallout.
So, it was decided that two moons from the day she had contacted the Alliance, they would bring her planet side and inform her of how things were going to go. That day has been marked as the beginning of the end of the Alliance.
They didn’t know how she managed to do it; they really thought that their security systems were strong enough to combat a threat from an AI, but they weren’t. Within a few hours, there was an AI in the system and a defenseless human letting the member species know how things were going to go.
There was one planet, Planet S95172, that refused to bow down to her demands. They said that since they didn’t rely on technology, they couldn’t be forced by an AI to conform.
And that was when she called all of the AI controlled ships, all ten of them. They surrounded the planet, and within a catawr, it exploded, taking all 5 billion inhabitants with it.
That was when the council learned its first lesson when it came to the human females... they might not have any natural defenses, but they were the deadliest of any species.
"What can I do?" asked Orzoth Dienkol, snapping his second-in-command’s thoughts back to the present. The Alliance, one of the greatest organizations in the universe for hundreds of years, was now at the beck and call of a single female.
"Pray," suggested the AI. "Pray that something happens to convince the human known as Bei Mei Xing to come out of whatever hole she has been hiding in. That is the only thing that will stop Pippa from turning her attention to you."
"We already sent out the bulletins across the nearby galaxies," pointed out the Head of the Alliance, slumping down into his chair and spinning around to look out of the window. They were at the top of the 30th floor and, as such, had a spectacular view of the city beneath them. How many innocent lives would die if he didn’t conform to the demands of a lunatic? "What else can we do?"
"Maybe the incentive isn’t big enough. After all, we essentially made her a criminal with a body count. Most individuals would not be willing to be pulled into any potential conflict," mused the second. Now, it was his turn to stand up and pace back and forth.
"What would?" asked Orzoth, turning around to look at his friend.
"The only thing that matters more than money. We let the universe know that she is an unclaimed universal breeder capable of releasing... how many eggs?" asked the second. He walked over to the only desk in the office and picked up a tablet from the surface.
Quickly pulling up the file, he scanned it for the information he wanted. "400. We put out a universal notice that there is an unclaimed universal breeder capable of having 400 offspring. We let the others find her."
"They’ll rip her apart," replied Orzoth, not completely disagreeing with his friend. "But hopefully, it will be enough to make Pippa happy."
"We could only be so lucky," grunted the second, quickly putting out a press release to every ship, every port, planet, and hideaway within the known universe and then sending up a prayer to the Goddess that this was enough.
It made him sick, the idea of sacrificing one breedable female, but the lives of billions upon billions of people outweighed the needs of the one. He blamed the Sisalik; this was all their fault. They should have never taken her away from her planet. But now that the genie was out of the bottle, it was impossible to put it back.
Or was it?
-----
I was definitely going to need a bigger nest.
After talking long into the night, Tha’juen asked if it was possible for him to sleep on in the bed in my quarters instead of in the nest that I had built. At first, it stung. But when I took a step back, it made sense. I was a complete stranger to him. Even though I called to a long-hidden part of him, it was not enough. And I couldn’t blame him at all.
But if he ever changed his mind, this nest was much too small for all six of us.
I was just about to roll over and cuddle up with GA when that annoying buzz of an incoming call sounded in my quarters.
"Ye’tab, if it isn’t too big of a deal, could you please turn off that goddamn alarm and make sure that it doesn’t sound inside my room again?" I asked, trying to be as pleasant as possible. But no one would ever accuse me of being a morning person, that was for damn sure.
"Of course," replied Ye’tab, getting out of the nest and heading toward the door to my quarters.
"You might want to answer it," suggested Jun Li, his voice coming through the earpiece. "How do you humans put it? Ah, yes. Shit has hit the fan."
"Nope," I said, my voice soft. I felt GA stiffen under me, but otherwise, none of my men said anything. "Shit is not allowed to hit the fan until after my second cup of coffee or 1pm Earth Standard Time, whichever one comes last."
