Allison had gotten up early again for a jog with Oozie.  The park was deserted she’d put her holo-phone on and added her translator to her ensemble this morning.  She wasn’t listening to music.  She was listening to the audiobook version of the novel she’d seen her new crush with.  It wasn’t what she had expected.  It was a novel from the early twentieth century about a red haired girl of all things.  She kept on listening to it as she walked back to her condo.  She finally stopped only when she had a call come in.  She’d gotten to a part where the main character met her bosom buddy.  Allison pondered if that was Bit for her.  She spoke.


    “Answer call.”


    She heard her Aunt Maria’s voice.  She didn’t have her contacts in so she wasn’t getting any visual feedback from her holo-phone.


    “Good morning, Allison.”


    Allison looked at her holo-phone which showed local time as 0610.  That meant it was like three am on earth.


    “Do you ever sleep?”


    Maria laughed softly.


    “I haven’t slept in over a thousand years.  So how was your first full day as an intern.”


    Allison started pulling out the fruit she’d cut before her jog.  She added yogurt and started munching while speaking to her aunt.


    “By the end of it I was pondering what kind of diplomatic blowback we’d have if I stabbed my manager in the face.  So, what are we talking here?  War?  Tariffs?”


    She could hear the mirth in her aunt’s voice.


    “Please don’t.”


    Allison popped another berry native to Silwra in her mouth and swallowed it before speaking again.


    “Auntie Maria, why are you calling?  No offense but you haven’t really been talking to me recently…  I assume there is a reason.”


    Maria paused briefly.


    “I did have some questions; How did you find out about the suicide transport?”


    Allison knew that was coming at some point.


    “Ruby wanted me to hear about it and deal with it.  So, I did.”


    “I can see that, but how did you pay the mercenaries?”


    Allison poured herself a glass of the wake up juice, the coffee alternative that had more caffeine.


    “Well, you remember when you and Ruby gave me that unlimited budget to commit genocide, I used some of it to set up an escrow account with some crime lords in the League.  I figured they would come in handy, and they did.  They helped kill the last Queen; You know so the fleets didn’t get wiped out?  Anyway, I still have a substantial account with them.  I just dipped into that to offer a bounty.  I figured you wouldn’t mind.  It getting destroyed by pirates is a lot better optics then an aid ship getting destroyed by the System’s Alliance.”


    “How much exactly do you have left?”


    “Sorry Auntie Maria, need to know and you don’t need to know?”


    Allison could just feel her aunt frowning at her, she didn’t need visuals to know it.   Maria changed the subject.


    “A black ops team killed two terrorists at the System’s Alliance Embassy on Silwra yesterday, do you know anything about that?”


    Allison took a drink of juice.


    “No.  Sorry.  I was at the Council Building all day, Interns aren’t supposed to leave the grounds while working.  Ruby has some black scale Silwrath that do her dirty work.  Likely it was them.  I’m on a leave of absence.  I’m just a private citizen here.  I can’t go around killing people.  Even in Alliance sovereign territory.”


    “One more question, how exactly do you have dealings with crime lords in League space?  When did you have time to do that?  You haven’t been working for them, have you?”


    Allison laughed.


    “No, Auntie Maria I have not been taking contracts from Crime Bosses.  I give him ship battle porn.  Or whatever you want to call it.  He likes ships he likes seeing ships fight.  He’s a nice guy for a crime boss very flamboyant.”


    Maria didn’t respond for a few seconds while she processed Allison’s information.


    “Okay, I might ask you to speak to him for us in the future…  It sounds like I would not like him much.  Are you alright there alone?”


    Allison pet Oozie on the head.


    “I’m not alone, I have Oozie here.  I need to go Auntie Maria.  Need a shower and stuff.  Don’t want to give my manager any more reasons to hate me.”


    “Have a good day Allison, remember if you need anything give me a call.”


    Maria disconnected the call and Allison sighed while eating the rest of her healthy breakfast.


    “Seriously Oozie, a leave of absence from the military should at the minimum mean I don’t have to kill anyone.”


    Her door buzzer rang.  She opened the door and looked out.  It was Futara.


    “Good morning, Allison, I was on my way to dad’s office thought I’d stop by with your latest supplement supply.  I brought tayta rolls.”


    Futara held up a bag.  Allison stepped aside.


    “Come in.”


    Futara came in and dropped the bag of rolls on Allison’s table.  Then she put a large bottle of pills on Allison’s counter.  Allison smiled at her friend.


    “Is this really just a friendly visit?”


    Futara looked almost insulted.


    “I’m always friendly.  And yes, just a friendly visit, and your mother might have asked me to check up on you once a week, it was once a day but I convinced her you’d be fine.  She’s worried about you being here alone.”


    Allison rolled her eyes.


    “She has an eight year old at home, you’d think that would be her focus not her almost adult daughter who has literally saved the galaxy… ugg.”


    Futara smiled.


    “My dad would tell you that no matter how old you are, you’ll always be a baby to her.”


    She took two rolls out of the bag and put it in front of Allison.


    “Eat them while they’re hot.”


    Allison ate her rolls quickly.  They were extremely rich pastries. She licked her fingers off and drank the last of her juice.  Allison leaned on her kitchen island and looked at Futara.


    “Do you know how amazing it is that you and I can be standing in my kitchen sharing the same food is?  Like, I get that in an infinite universe there is an infinite number of possibilities but what are the odds food is going to be biologically compatible for two species from completely different galaxies, planets and ecosystems?”


    Futara quirked her head to the side and her wings flicked as she thought about Allison’s question.


    “No, I suppose it is because I was raised living amongst all the species of the League.  I’ve never really thought about it.”


    Allison shrugged.


    “I’ll tell you one thing though, Yorleer hair products do not work for human hair.  Especially my brand of hair.  I need to take a shower before work.  Thanks for the supplement delivery.”


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Futara nodded.


    “Are you coming out for drinks Friday?”


    “Sure, I guess, see you Friday.”


    Futara waved and left the condo.  Allison rinsed off and headed to the Council Building.  They had an amazing transit system in Silwra’s capital, so she did not need to use her pickup, but she did anyway.  It was easier than loading Oozie onto one of their trains or bus-type vehicles.  The heavy duty boxy looking offroad vehicle looked very out of place on Silwra where the conveyances as they were called were rounded.  The other difference was that her pickup could run on biofuel diesel if the batteries died.  The diesel engine could also charge the batteries.  Or she could retract the liquid metal bed shield and reveal solar panels to charge the batteries.  The only difference between the pickup and the all-terrain exploration vehicles manufactured by the same corp was that her pickup had a luxury cab and pretty paint job.  She had forgotten to charge the pickup.  The rumbling diesel engine drew a lot of looks on her way to the council building.  She parked in a spot usually reserved for larger military vehicles and hooked up the liquid metal adaptor to the charging port.  The pickup was only slightly out of place when next to full military vehicles, and once again only because it had a pretty matt finish on the solidified liquid metal shell.


    Allison hung her pack over her shoulder.  This was a test to see if it worked as advertised.  There was no way she should be allowed to enter the inner Council Building with a weapon.  She’d put her paper manual into the pack’s non-extradimensional space, with her multi-pass.  It was her League pilot’s license, driver’s license, military ID, bank card and passport.  In the extradimensional space she had her Qual’sa pistols, mono-edge combat knife, along with the weapons Enid had left in it for her.


    From the outside the council building, council complex or council dome depending on who was talking, was a glorious shining example of modern League architecture.  It was round and had no sharp edges.  It consisted of a hundred floors.  There were three rings all under the one roof.  Each had increasing security as you went in further.


    The outer ring had only minimal security, LSR internal security forces, basically almost police officers patrolled it.  They had non-lethal deterrent weapons.  There were cameras of course.  The outer ring was where you would go if you wanted to use a government service, and you lived in the capital city.  It consisted of front facing offices for everything you could imagine for government services.  It was also where the dozens of food courts lived, along with a few shops.  Allison had come here for her citizenship ceremony, her passport, and her licenses.


    The second ring had hand print linked DNA scanners and optical confirmation of identity.  Allison had figured out how she’d get through that layer if she ever had to infiltrate the building.  It was a game she liked to play.  She’d only use what she could see and was public knowledge to come up with plans to infiltrate different secure structures and areas.  It kept her entertained when she was waiting in lines like she was now.  She’d been doing it since she had immersed herself in operative training.  She was also constantly aware of sight lines, escape routes, possible sniper vantage points and hyper-aware of any surveillance on her.  She had even caught herself avoiding cameras instinctively, and if she couldn’t she was avoiding them getting a direct picture of her face.  She hadn’t discussed it with another operative, but she assumed this was just a hazard of being educated in tradecraft.


    Once past the security barrier into the second ring visitors would find the central offices that governed the entire League of Sentient Races.  Every single League government Ministry was headquartered here, except one, the Ministry of Battle.  Apparently, defense was too passive for the Silwrath.  So, the second ring was entirely made up of offices of varying size.  Security was both relaxed and heightened here.  Patrolling security forces weren’t present, but they were replaced with automated defenses and enhanced sensors.   No one was dying at their desk here and being left for days.


    The third ring, which was Allison’s objective as an intern had a full body scanner, enhanced genetic lock and heavily armed security forces.  It was the most secure building in the League.  Automated defenses, enhanced sensors and heavily armed security forces ensured that if someone wanted to do harm to the council it would not be easy.  Inside the third ring there were more rings.  All of which led to the council chamber itself.  The outer wing was replicator food cafeterias and low council member’s offices, along with the Intern office.  The next ring in was the high council offices and Primarch’s office which were on a floor above the lower councilors so that the high council could reach their seats without interference from below.


    Allison walked through the security barrier like she would any other day.  She wasn’t flagged for weapons.  She realized that this pack was an operative’s dream come true and a security nightmare.  Her mind started dancing with the possibilities.  Then she remembered where’d she seen the packs before.  Her sisters and Maria always had them nearby.  Never out of arm’s reach.  No wonder.  They could have an arsenal at their beck and call.  Armed drones.  Grenades!  She heard someone call out to her.  It was a silwrath in guard armor.  She turned to him.  She was starting to get paranoid the bag hadn’t worked as advertised.  He caught up to her.


    “Hey, there.  I saw you getting out of that strange conveyance in the parking lot.  Where did you get it?”


    Allison blinked a few times.  Her heart had been pounding in her chest.  She let out a slow breath.


    “Oh, RidgeTech, it is from the System’s Alliance.  I shipped it here.”


    He nodded.


    “Do they ship here?”


    Allison shrugged.


    “Not that I know of, and shipping them would be really expensive, and they’re really expensive there too.  It’s basically a civilian version of a military and exo-planet exploration vehicle.  I’m sure the System’s Alliance embassy can help you access our Alliance Net to inquire about it, they have kiosks.”


    He nodded.


    “How did you ship yours here?”


    Allison blushed slightly.


    “I have my own ship with transport shuttles, it was basically free for me to ship it here.  Just took some League currency to get it registered.  The Ministry of the Environment was umm, not pleased it could burn carbon based fuel…  At least that part is sorted out for you if you manage to get one somehow.  I am sorry I need to go my manager is a stickler for punctuality.”


    He nodded.  Allison rushed off.  She would have been in the office at 0745 easily but after being stopped, 0759 was when she managed to get in.  Everyone else was there already of course.  Blubb’ta gave her the evil eye.  Allison sat down and hung her pack over her chair.  Oozie sat beside Allison and glared at Blubb’ta.  Assignments were handed out, once again Allison was assigned to the Primarch’s office.


    Her day was much less interesting than the previous one.  Today she spent the entire day going through the Primarch’s messages from the public.  Mostly it was setting up shipment of special packages for children who wrote in.  There were a few messages that pulled at her heartstrings, but she had to just let them go.   The other part of the task was directing people to the proper resources for their request.  There were paths to escalate to the council, directly contacting the members wasn’t it generally.  Allison had thousands to get through and it would take days.  It appeared whoever was doing it for the Primarch had not kept up with the demand.


    By the end of the day, she was actually more exhausted than the day before just because the majority of the work was so mind-numbing.  She pondered if corporate jobs were that bad and decided if they were, she would not want to work at one.  It was worse than fleet logistics.


    Blubb’ta seemed more annoyed by Allison’s presence today than the day before when she had been in complete disarray.  She didn’t say anything, but it was almost like she was upset she couldn’t find something to criticize Allison for.


    The educational assignment for that day was a brief description of what they learned about the League government during their shift.  Allison had learned quite a bit about the bureaucracy of the League of Sentient Races.  If someone asked her where to go for the issues their restaurant is having with a local Ministry of Food Safety inspector.  Apparently sexual harassment was not just a human problem.  She could also tell you where to go if you had an issue with your taxes.   She typed in a few things she learned, with links and submitted it.  The interns were let out early.  Allison was heading out of their shared office when she heard ‘Snowflake’.


    Allison sighed and turned around.  She was taller than the Grylta who was looking up at her.  She assumed Blubb’ta had figured out something to dress her down for.  She assumed right.  Blubb’ta had a datapad in her hand.


    “Intern, your answers to the end of day question yesterday were completely inadequate.  If you’re not here to put an effort in, why are you taking up valuable space for someone who deserves to be here?”


    Allison tried not to glare at Blubb’ta who for some reason seemed to trigger her so badly even her operative training could not overcome it.  What was she supposed to do? Shatter diplomatic relations, tank the League economy, and weaken all parties involved?


    “Ma’am, the Primarch had me in classified meetings for most of the day and the rest of it I was asked not to discuss by the Synthlin.”


    Blubb’ta adjusted her glasses and covered Allison in spittle when she did one of those raspberries with her lips that her race just seemed to do naturally.


    “Very convenient, you’re an Intern you don’t get brought into classified meetings.”


    Allison took a deep breath and thought of unicorns, rainbows and pretty bunnies.


    “Ma’am, I have the same security clearance as the Grand Eminence.  I may be an Intern but I’m also a military officer on a leave of absence.  The Primarch asked for my tactical opinion on something.  I am her Intern and you said we do what we are told.  As for the Synthlin, I was covered in encounter suit hydraulic fluid yesterday.  I am sure you can infer what might have preceded that.”


    Blubb’ta narrowed her eyes at Allison.  She was not used to Interns having any sort of backbone.  Allison interrupted the manager before the woman could speak.


    “If you have a criticism of my answers today, I will just get this out of the way too.  I was responding to the Primarch’s official public email account.  I gave a sample of the myriad of things I learned about navigating the League government while answering questions.  What did I ever do to you besides be hired?”


    Blubb’ta stood up a little straighter.


    “You used your connections to steal a spot from someone who deserved it.  You aren’t even a League citizen.  Students all over the League fight for these spots, yet here you are.  You’re disrespectful.  You’re not punctual.  You have no respect for this institution.  I have seen children like you, pretty species, pretty for your species, handed everything in life.  Special treatment because you were born to a high ranking family.  No respect for your elders or less attractive species.”


    Allison clenched her fists.


    “I applied like everyone else.  I placed in top percentile of all the schools in this galaxy.  I did that while learning three new languages and winning a war.  Do you know how many of my soldiers died so you could stand here and look down your nose at me?  There is a price for the freedom you enjoy and it was paid in blood by people like me, people who died because I gave orders.  I could care less if you were a Grylta or a Yorleer.  I treat everyone equally.  If there is disgust in my eyes it has nothing to do with your outside appearance.  You are bitter, angry and ugly on the inside. That’s what I see.  So, you can write me up for inappropriate behavior.  You can refuse my credit for this internship.  I’m not the kind of person who’s going to go crying to the Primarch or my family.  The problem is they always find out and they always correct the problem.  I rarely ask for special treatment, and it is never for my benefit.  You’re mad at me for something I have no control over.  Like someone being mad at you because you are a Grylta.  So, you do whatever you want, I’m going to keep my head down, do the work I’m given and try to keep my mouth shut because whatever you do to me will be nothing compared to what I’ve already suffered through.  It is some kind of cosmic joke that I spent my school year killing monsters and have to spend my summer fighting another kind of monster.  If you want me gone, I have an easy out for you, tell the bounty hunters where to find me.  You might even get a cut!”


    Allison left without waiting for a response from Blubb’ta.  Oozie did spare one last glare at the Grylta who was left wordless from the teenager’s rant.