Ally's Anthology

Mysterious Politics

The year is 6016 AD. A thousand years ago, humanity was forced to leave earth due to an unexpected collision between the Milky Way galaxy, the Canis Major dwarf galaxy, and the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. Due to the brightness of the stars within the Milky Way we were unable to see how large Canis Major had grown to as it had absorbed Sagittarius. Unfortunately due to the time limit and limited supplies only a few had the chance to leave the earth. Those lucky enough to leave formed alliances and claimed galactic territory, where we live today in the Andromeda Galaxy.

Today is the celebration of humanity's survival. The four alliances meet on a neutral ship to discuss the future of our system. The Western alliance is the leading alliance in these matters today, having been the richest alliance since before we left earth. With the Western alliance in charge of the celebration, they're throwing a Survival Ball with their special guests, the Southern delegation. Tomorrow the Western and Southern delegation will go to the meeting hand and hand to show their strong ties to one another to the African and Asian delegations. The next few days of politics could be the most important event we see in our lifetime.

 "Oi, Oliver. Have you seen today's news special?" Jasper asked as he looked over the top of his tablet, his green eyes catching the light as he did so.

"I haven't. Is there something important I should know about?" Oliver replied in an unconcerned voice as he absently tapped to the beat of whatever song he had stuck in his head.

"You've heard about the Intergalactic Peace and Survival meeting happening on the ship, right?"

"Yes, of course I have. We were taken off our regular duties to bodyguard the delegations."

"Well, they were just saying how important this meeting is, and calling the agency's ship a 'neutral ship'," Jasper said laughing.

"Oh! So, when they need an arena so they don't put the citizens in an uproar, they call us neutral, but any other time we are 'uncontrolled killers and pirates'. Yes, I am sure this weekend will result in a lot of bad press," Oliver said as he walked over to Jasper's desk. Jasper laid down his tablet and picked up his coffee, taking a slow sip as he watched his partner with his pale blue eyes as he was deep in thought.

"You know the artificial coffee is getting better, or maybe my taste buds are slowly dying," Jasper tried for humor to pull Oliver out of his thoughts.

"Or you are merely an idiot," Oliver said blandly as he brushed a strand of his red hair out of his face.

"Harsh."

"The Western Alliance is holding a ball at their mother ship, correct?"

"Ah yeah, the Southern Delegation will be in attendance."

"Then, I guess we should be expecting the African and Asian Delegations to arrive tonight and the Western and Southern to arrive in the afternoon tomorrow," Oliver said with a sigh, but Jasper was skeptical.

"Would they be that unprofessional?"

"When are they professional?" Oliver countered. Jasper nodded after thinking back on the Western Alliance's tendencies to complicate things more than they needed to be and the Southern Alliance's willingness to go along with the Western Alliance as long as they continued to back them financially. The day went by slowly, but before Oliver and Jasper could head to dinner, there was an announcement through the ship's intercom system.

"All agents with bodyguard duty report to the main deck. Again, all agents with bodyguard duty report to main deck now."

Jasper groaned having wanted to go eat, but Oliver dragged him along back down the long black granite hall toward main deck. The bright lighting in the hallway made Jasper's pale blonde hair look almost white. As they were climbing the steps onto the main deck, voices could already be heard with a forced politeness.