"How do you get pulled over in space!"
"Quiet, or I swear I will turn this ship around." Krill grumbled, slowly easing up on the engine and firing the forward thrusters to come to a slow stop, or gentle drift. Behind them, a cruiser with AORD (Arcadia Orbital Defense Division) printed on the side eased to a languid stop. They hadn't even managed to make it out of low orbit, and Krill had exactly no idea what he had done wrong.
Granted he wasn't the best cruiser pilot he knew, but these shuttles were built for people like him, mostly preprogrammed and running most of its more advanced calculations on autopilot. Someone like Adam would have hated the entire system, but for Krill it should have been easy.
"Nice work." Clotho muttered.
Lachesis tittered from behind them in the passenger compartment.
"Diplomat 1 please standby."
Krill adjusted the radio so he could hear better.
"How do we expect to sneak onto the Vrul home world if you can't even sneak off a moon." Atropos wondered idly plucking at the seat fibers.
Krill glanced at the rear camera, "What is taking this guy so long."
Krill would have been fine paying a ticket, anything to just go and get this over with, but here they were sitting and waiting while this guy did nothing. The Grubs leaned forward to see what he was looking at, though there was nothing really to see. The ship hadn't moved at all since pulling them over.
Krill keyed the mike, "I.... is there a problem, sir."
"Standby." Came the reply
Krill frowned sitting back in his seat. Now this didn't make any sense. He was in the diplomat's ship after all, so why was he being pulled over in the first place? In fact, wouldn't they be impeding diplomatic work. It was then that something slapped their front windscreen, while Krill wasn't looking. If he hadn't been belted in, he would have leaped out of his seat, and if he had had a rectum he probably would have shat himself.
Even so, Conn looked very amused with himself, leering through the windscreen like some sort of space monster, his rows of little white teeth just visible past his parted lips. His voice echoed eerily through the cockpit even though his lips did not move, "Somebody's in trouble."
Atropos leaned forward in her seat, "Hey! You promised."
Conn's Eerie laugh echoed through the cockpit, "I didn't tell anyone anything . I am simply here to watch krill get torn a new one."
"Ah shit." Krill muttered, "Riss."
"It did not take long for the second shuttle to arrive. It was a small military cruiser of some sort, mostly non-descript, primarily short range used only to transport people in and out of orbit. Krill sighed and leaned back in his seat, while the grubs huddled together in the back doing their very best to make themselves look small.
There was a common misconception on Arcadia, that Krill was the one you wanted to watch out for. He was known to be acerbic, angry, threatening, and in some cases, libel to make you question the safety of your digits, but when it came right down to it, he was all bark and no bite. For all the angry threatening and ranting he did, he never really carried any of it out.
If Krill were to have character stats in DnD, his highest was surprisingly Charisma. He didn't have to make people suffer if he could simply threaten them into thinking that he could. It was a worthy system, until he ended up with someone who could call his bluff. That person was rare, but Riss..... well, Riss was all bite and no bark . A talented psychologist, he could easily dismantle anyone with a few well placed words.
His insults were cutting to the core when he handed them out, and by way of his profession he knew almost everyone on Arcadia that mattered a she worked Closely with doctor Adric to take care of the mental health of the military force on Arcadia. If Krill thought he had strings to pull, he was nothing in comparison to Riss, who had his finger on the pulse of Arcadia, and a dirty little secret on almost anyone who came to him, though he made it known that he would always uphold his oath of Privacy .
Krill opened his proverbial umbrella in preparation for the storm, though he knew arguing with Riss was like pissing into the ocean and expecting the tide to rise.
Futile.
Their ship rocked slightly as the new shuttle docked, and when the doors opened Krill fancied he could feel an icy chill blowing into the room. The grubs shrunk back in their seats and Krill turned in his chair. Riss was waiting at the fr end of the room with a couple of rather uncomfortable looking airmen standing at his shoulders. His antenna vibrated in a slow steady hum, which filled the compartment with an aura of radio static that was.
Angry.
The two of them stare at each other for a very long moment: the unstoppable force and the immovable object finally come together.
Krill had doubts he was going to win this fight, but Riss was one of the only people he knew who could beat him in a verbal sparring match, so he was willing to engage.
He decided to open with something unexpected, "You're late."
Riss bristled, "Late." His voice was calm and very, very cold.
"Yes,, I sort of expected you to intercept us before we had even reached orbit." The lie was very very smooth, and he had no doubt that it came across like he had expected this the entire time. The fact was that he most certainly did not, but he wasn't going to let Riss know that.
Riss gave him a cold stare, "You either think you are being Funny or clever, but I will have you know that I am neither dazzled nor amused."
Perhaps not.
"To the contrary, I doubt even staring directly into the sun could Dazzle you."
Riss had stopped now, advancing no further up the deck, and Krill had unbuckled himself from his seat. The two of them faced off across the intervening space all four feet planted heavily against the ground, arms held out to either side like gunslingers ready for high noon.
"You want to go ahead and tell me what you are doing."
"Oh I am sure you already know what we are doing, so why don't we cut over the explanations."
Riss straightened ever so slightly, "Ok then, how about this. You are planning to take the children to the vrul home planet to go up against the vrul council on their recommendation, because you have a pathological need to endanger yourself, and a pattern of reckless behavior that has been evident even before you were deprogrammed. You crave excitement, and danger, and for some reason you think it would be entirely appropriate to take the grubs with you while you do it putting your own needs over their safety."
Psychoanalysis was his favorite form of attack.
Krill would respond w with logic.
"Don't give me that. You know as well as I that they will keep trying until they eventually succeed. Weather it be today or tomorrow or next year they are going to slip past us and they are going to do it themselves. I am preempting their stupidity and tempering it with reason. I would rather take the opportunity to have them under my care now than risk them going without me later since we know that they are not going to stop.
"And your pathological need for excitement?"
"Now that's the pot calling the kettle black now isn't it. You actively snuck off the Vrul homeworld by hiring a group of bandits just to join a ship you weren't quite sure would be friendly to you. I would say we have the same pathological need, furthermore, if we are discussing my pathological nature, than why don't we address your propensity towards being a control freak."
Sitting, clustered on one of the benches, the grubs looked back and forth as the argument went on. Any human watching the argument would have found it strange, neither of them raised their voices, and they were almost entirely still during the course of the argument, but any other vrul would have found it an absolutely inappropriate display of aggression.
Riss laughed mildly, "Control freak, Hypocrisy thy name is Krill."
"Oh no no, Hypocrisy would be if I denied that statement, which I don't which is why I decided to go with them. I would rather be in charge of the situation than let them go out on their own at a later date, and I think you want to come with us."
The grubs stared wide eyed at Krill.
What he was attempting was perfectly audacious.
"You expect me to go and put my own children in danger."
"Your children will be in danger anyway, but if you come with us you and I can make sure that they are in the least danger possible."
"The fact you think I am going to agree with you is hilarious."
"Than why aren't you laughing."
"I entirely forgot."
Atropos rubbed her head, growing dizzy from looking back and forth between the two of them.
There was silence for a long moment, neither of them speaking, neither of them so much as moving as they stood across from each other. The two Airmen looked on in fascination not sure what else to do when Krill went in for the kill.
"Would you like to topple a government with us."
Riss stared at him for a long moment, " Oh, Architect, yes!
Lachesis looked like she had been bashed over the head with a brick, and the other two looked almost equally as shocked as Riss scuttled forward to take the copilot's seat. "I hope you don't mind that I brought a friend."
Krill frowned unsure, and turned to look over his shoulder to where a familiar figure entered the room
Etium, the Tesraki looked rather nervous, and kept awkwardly quiet as he walked across the floor and took a seat at the back of the shuttle. He was wearing the marine's tactical ensemble sized down to fit him: Vest, chest rig, boots, belt, gloves and a helmet. Despite how nervous he seemed he at least handled his weapons with care.
Krill gave Riss a look that would have included a raised eyebrow if he had had eyebrows.
Riss tilted his head with an expression that said.
Give it a chance.
Krill shrugged, and together the group of them were off, ready and prepared to overthrow a government.