Donning the battle armor while Kevin and Brian watched how it was done and mimicking his actions Aaron smiled at the rest of the Clan assembled in his room, even Tyler was staring at them looking slightly frightened, "I'm going to be alright Tyler," Aaron told him as he sent comfort and love towards the frightened teen, "I am going for a show of force, and have taken every precaution possible, I even have Joe on the bridge of the Reliant with its weapons powered up," porting behind Tyler and wrapping his arms around him from behind, "And unlike everyone else in attendance, we can teleport."
Walking back to the bed, Aaron slipped on the outer robes and Pete giggled, "All of you look like Ming the Destroyer in those old movies."
Placing the crown on his head, Aaron smiled at Pete as he felt the synapse links go active and smiled as Kevin and Brian placed their smaller crowns on their heads and looked at him in surprise. "I think we're ready, and hopefully none of the nations represented get too nasty, though I expect a couple of them to shout and yell and would not really be surprised to have one declare open war."
Tim walked forward and hugged and Kissed Brian then Kevin before standing in front of Aaron, "Be safe love, I'll be on board the Ares, if I'm needed."
"Why in the world would you be on the Ares?" Aaron was puzzled; he had thought that most of the Clan would remain here where it was safe.
"If it would come down to having to fire on the U.S. one of us should be the one to push the button," Tim shrugged before smiling, "And it is my right as an adult of the Clan."
Aaron wasn't very happy, but Tim was right, looking at the assembled Clan his eyes narrowed at seeing others besides Tim dressed in Clan uniforms, "And the rest of you?"
Pete smiled, "David will be in the city down by the park next to the med bay, Derrick will stay here in the Clan Hall with the Kenny and his Hunters," Leaning over, Pete kissed Kenny to keep him from saying anything while the rest of the Clan laughed. "Mark, Tommy and Fred will be in the Core," the just in case was left unsaid, "and I will be on Altair Minor at the Trauma center."
Xon stepped forward, "I wish to assist and have the most experience with starships, may I assist Joe onboard the Reliant."
Aaron stared at Xon long enough that he started to fidget, "How would you assist, in what role do you see yourself while on the Reliant? The others I can see why they are going where they are and Tim.while it makes me worry that he is not safe and sound back in the kingdom he has the right as an adult of Clan Stranton to be the one to open fire if it come to it, it's his by right of who he is, and I must ask you why?"
Xon stood up straight and took one step forward, "I am Clan Stranton, this is my right by birth. The only quandary in my mind is if I am Clan Stranton as a lover or a son.no other option exists for me." Taking another step forward Xon looked at Aaron, "I spent two hundred fifty years on Katha' and have passed the Rite of adult hood, while I still have to pass the Alteran ordeal, I am an officer and have done and can do what is necessary and as Tim already stated and the reasoning accepted as valid by you, our Prime, it should be a Clan Member who initiates the firing if it comes to it."
Taking the final two steps to reach Aaron, Xon tilted his head upwards to stare into Aaron's eyes, "I of course will abide by the orders of my Prime, but I ask you not to deny me what is mine by right of birth."
Gazing around the room, Aaron saw the nods from everyone, closed his eyes and concentrated on the box he had placed on his desk and considered the request, finally nodding his head, Aaron turned to Pat who was closest to his desk, "Pat, would you bring me the wooden box from my desk, please," Aaron smiled at him as he asked and waited from him to bring it to him. He chuckled silently when Pat opened the box after picking it up and closed it quickly before bringing it over. Holding it open for Aaron, Pat offered the contents of the box to him and closed the lid after Aaron removed the Clan Medallion.
Holding the medallion up in front of his chest, Aaron could feel the pride and satisfaction coming from Xon, he was broadcasting again, later he would investigate whether he was empathic, but for now, "Your birthright." Aaron placed the medallion around Xon's neck and kinetically sealed it. Pulling Xon into a kiss he tasted his lips and after touching Xon's lips with his tongue they opened for a full and passionate kiss, and Aaron could feel Xon's surprise when his body started to respond. Releasing him, Aaron gently spun him so he could face Kevin who repeated the welcoming kiss and passed him to Brian. When Xon finally ended up back next to Aaron after kissing Pat, he announced, "It's time," and followed the others out of his bedroom and towards the Clan Hall and the gestalt point.
Meeting the security detachments at the gestalt point, Aaron nodded to Friedrich who was standing very visibly armed in his battle armor as were the twenty others going with them, sending a visualization of the UN general chamber to his teams from the monitor set up under the overhang of the dining area, Friedrich ordered "Port in three.two.port."
Touching the gestalt, Aaron pulled power and visualizing the bridge of the Reliant, ported Xon in front of the gestalt command chair before facing the monitor to await Friedrich's introduction.
The UN General meeting room was packed full this morning, finally, after all this time a nation that had been reclusive would be sending representatives and hopefully come under the umbrella of the UN. Secretly, several of the Security Council members were hoping to get their hands on the technology hitting the markets, and the possibility of substantial revenue. The fact that the nation in question was not a member, or under their jurisdiction, was not an issue as far as most of them were concerned, after all, if they did not fall into line, sanctions could and would be enacted. The only troubling aspect of it was, two of the five permanent members were against any action, glancing at the clock, the assembled members and leaders wondered where they were as no one had shown up yet and there was only a minute until the set meeting time.
Victoria smiled at the chaos and pandemonium when the first Alteran's transported in, the light and sparkling effect of their technology caused a large number of members on the council to drop and roll under the desk for cover.
Sneering at the adults acting like frightened children, Friedrich activated the sound booster on his armor and slammed his foot down several times, causing a massive booming before he yelled out, "ORDER.WE WILL HAVE ORDER AND SILENCE!"
The Asian representatives to the UN had heard the rumors spread by the Shaolin and while they discounted them then, now they were not too sure as the people in front of them were moving around the room in suits made of what looked like metal scales, and the noises they made while moving were frightening.
Friedrich stood in the center of the room and glared at the squirming representatives and finally, once there was quiet, "His royal Majesty, Aaron Stranton.Prime of Clan Stranton.King of the Kingdom of Alter and of the Alteran Empire.Leader of the sixty four worlds of the Empire." Friedrich's voice carried across the still room as the representatives looked at each other, some questioning the titles and others were in shock as Aaron ported in with Kevin and Brian at his side.
Aaron glared at the Security Council as he stepped forward and faced the cameras, so the representatives around them could see how unhappy he was, "Your politely worded request for the Kingdom of Alter to ratify the accords presented to us.DENIED. Your politely veiled threat included in the offer of membership and binding us to your authority.DENIED." he noticed how pale the Chinese representative was, almost as if he had seen a ghost. "Your request to preview and authorize what countries we sell technology to.DENIED. Your demand for monetary and military support.DENIED."
The Pakistan Security Council member stood up fuming, "Then why did you bother even showing up or calling this meeting, if you did not plan to cooperate with us. Tell us why we should not just impose sanctions on your country and be done with it," he sat down smirking and noticed how several of the older members were flinching and paling and wondered what they knew that he didn't.
"The Alteran Treaty of 1941 is still in effect and will be enforced fully, I came to remind this body of that fact, and to bring in line all countries formed since that time, and they will sign the treaty, or face the consequences. I am also here to inform the world of several directives my military vessels will now follow from this day forward," Aaron told him coldly, before he turned to face the assembled members behind him as all the security forces along with the three of them ported in front of every member a copy of the Alteran treaty, "Latitude minus 16.520365912442102 by longitude minus 132.154541015625, from that point outwards of fifteen hundred nautical miles in every direction is Alteran territory, to cross that line means death as our automatic energy shields will destroy intruders.
Letting his hard glare fall onto the representatives of the nations who were staring at him in shock and outrage, Aaron continued, "the freighter Yin Kong flagged out of Hong Kong was intercepted on July 25th of this year and found to be carrying two hundred and fifty males ranging in age from seven years old up to seventeen that were sold into slavery, they were chained to the floor of the hold with a failsafe above them that would have flooded the hold with crude oil if they were intercepted and boarded. All two hundred and fifty slaves were freed and the crew tried in our courts and executed for their crimes against humanity, leading to Alteran naval directive 11, all sailing vessels in international waters are to be considered under the jurisdiction of Alteran law. They are to be scanned and those found violating our laws are to be captured and their crews held for trial, any vessel firing upon an Alteran vessel will be committing an act of war and it along with the crew are to be sent to the bottom of the ocean.without quarter or mercy being given."
Hearing anger and words that could be considered threats from behind him, Aaron whirled around his armor and cloak creating the illusion of a great lizard striking, sending fear into the Asian delegates, "You have no choice in the matter, we have given you sixty three years to grow up and come together and if you prefer to act as small children throwing a tantrum and getting into fights, we shall treat you as such. If you would not have ignored the slave trade and the trafficking of humanity, we would not have had to step in, be careful that your words ambassador does not lead to having you taken into custody to undergo a telepathic scan before sentencing, yourself."
"I do not see a lot of signing going on," Aaron said, as he turned back around, "Those countries that are a signatory of the treaty in 1941 of course do not have to sign again as they are already bound by the treaty, that we will be enforcing from this day forward without fail or second chances given, those that refuse to sign shall be isolated and an embargo of technology and aid will be enacted, meaning none of our technology will be able to pass through the barriers we shall emplace around that country and no citizens of that country will be accepted for medical treatment at any of our facilities."
"Any attempts of violating the sanctions and embargo will be dealt with by the erection of an energy barrier cutting that country off from the rest of the world," Aaron smiled grimly as he gazed at certain Middle East countries. "The treaty is simple and easily understood by an average eight year old, it has three sections to it, you each were warned ahead of time to have someone present authorized to bind your nation to this treaty, I am not without some compassion, so you have until noon tomorrow to have the treaty signed and delivered to one of my two embassies."
Aaron turned around and faced the silently fuming ambassadors in front of him and the smiling Queen Victoria, and he smiled back, "Crown proclamation 1, the Queen of England and her commonwealth countries are allies of the Kingdom of Altare, as such her friends are our friends and her enemies are our enemies.and my enemies are served death."
Edward, standing behind his grandmother smiled as Britain was just elevated to a super power status unmatched by any other country except the Alteran Kingdom and he took careful note of the angry and jealous looks sent their way.
"And you mean to tell me that you have the means to enforce this embargo.BAH all embargos fail if someone wanted to sneak your technology past the borders they could do it."
"Not really, as all of this old technology we are releasing to the world has the ability of being turned off if it enters restricted areas, if I enact an embargo against a country, once our technology enters the area it will self destruct, I can assure you of that, just ask all the reporters that have all their camera and video devices destroyed every time they enter a restricted area around my embassy in Elswick, if I can do this for technology not originating in my factories, I certainly can do it with the technology that does," Aaron grinned as the delegate backed down.
"Is there a reason you expanded the area you claim as part of your kingdom?" the Russian ambassador asked, as he looked down at the map he had brought with him and using a compass had drawn the new circle around the center point of the Altare Kingdom.
"Yes there is, recently a tuna cannery vessel started fishing in the breeding grounds for the blue fin tuna and fifteen other species without regards to the consequences. When the captain was advised of the intrusion and asked politely to leave, shoulder fired surface to air missiles were fired at the Alteran war cruiser Ares, and the Tuna Canner was then sunk with all hands, except the captain who had found his way to the surface, he was tried and executed for an act of war on the Alteran Kingdom. As such, it was determined that the other three tuna cannery ships steaming their way to the breeding grounds would be turned back and escorted outside the bounds of those breeding grounds." Aaron pointed to the man's map, "It was determined that the breeding grounds would be protected from this day forward and our energy shield extended to protect this vital area of the world's food supply."
"How many people are you planning on killing? And do you honestly expect us to allow it?"
"It does not matter to me what you think or even condemn, those breaking the law or treaty will be eliminated, the canner was registered and flagged in the U.S., a signatory of the 1941 treaty which, by all intents if I enforced the treaty as I should, a state of war would exist right now between my Kingdom and the U.S.," Aaron shrugged, as signed copies of the treaty made their way to the table near where they stood, mostly countries already a signatory of the original treaty signing it once more reaffirming their intents of following the treaty.
Seeing only half of the treaties had made it back down to them, Aaron sighed, "I can see that some of you need more convincing, please direct your eyes to the New York harbor." Aaron looked up at the SE110 above them, "Ares emergency accent.Battle Stations"
Pandemonium reigned shortly as the delegates jockeyed at the windows so they could watch as fountains of water were being thrown in the air and the bay looked like it was boiling as something large and dark rose from the depths,, as soon as the upper deck cleared the water fighters streamed out of the bays and took up positions around the harbor and city including one right outside the windows.
"Are you even from this planet are you some kind of aliens?"
Smiling, Aaron glanced towards the delegates, "This is the planet of our origins, are we human like you, well close enough that we could easily interbreed if we wanted to."
Sighing, Aaron closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "All that is outside the window and in the harbor is the stick, gentlemen, now for the carrot."
"I have already started to release older obsolete technology that is hundreds of years in advance of what you currently have, I also have opened a hospital on one of the outer islands in our kingdom. The only island in our long history that outsiders have ever been allowed to set foot on, I might add, and the last time an outsider stood on our soil at Altair Minor was over four hundred years ago." Aaron looked at the fighter preening outside the window and mentally told the Ares and the fighters, "Return to standard defense formation please."
"I am open to providing clean safe electrical power by contract with any country that wishes, along with agreeing to a twenty percent tax on revenue for that electricity at the rate far below what is currently being charged. I am also agreeable to releasing a new type of electrical motor for vehicles that only has to be recharged every one hundred and twenty thousand kilometers and the cost of the recharge would be less than the cost of gasoline for one month," Aaron turned to face the delegates around the room who were looking at him in fear and some in awe. "In other words, I am offering those who sign and agree to live up to the treaty a leap in your current technology and standard of living."
The King of Denmark looked at his Prime Minister before standing up and walking down the stairs and very carefully he approached the King of Altare, "May I ask a questions concerning your titles?"
Aaron turned, and seeing someone brave enough to talk to him face to face, was intrigued, "You may, though there is never any guarantee I will answer, though, as Edward, the crown Prince and heir to the British throne will tell you I at least explained why, during his lessons."
Laughing, the King of Denmark smiled at Aaron, "Now, I have two questions, but the first was about how you were introduced, King of the Alteran Empire and leader of the sixty four worlds of the Empire can you expand on that, please?"
"I'm really not sure what you want to know, the Alteran Kingdom and Empire has sovereignty over sixty four habitable worlds, I've not been to all of them yet, but they do meet our standards for colonization," Aaron looked at the man curious where he was going with the question.
"And if one wanted to.how do I say this, negotiate for one of these worlds that have yet to be colonized for our own people to colonize what would we have to do?" the King of Denmark looked at Aaron and then to Brian and Kevin and noticed the family crest on each of their pendants and robes matched Aaron's exactly so maybe a marriage to his daughter could be arranged to make their ties closer.
Lowering his voice as Aaron had caught that thought, "I think I should tell you that Alteran's only have one gender, I'll have to get Pete to talk to you about females sometime, it will be enlightening especially when the term gets lost in translation as we have no word for female, so I do not think a marriage to your daughter would work, though if you have an extra son not in line to the throne." Aaron held the smirk as the man almost stumbled in his shock and decided to change the subject before he would lose it and laugh breaking the carefully crafted terror show he was putting on, "And your second question?"
"What." startled, the King looked back, "Oh yes, I inferred by your comment that you have taken an interest in the education of the prince and was wondering."
Edward laughed, "His homework assignments are brutal, they seem simple enough until you start to do them and then there are so many layers that pop out of nowhere you have to cover, it is a wonder I get them done at all." Smiling at Aaron, Edward stood up, "But to tell the truth, I would not give them up for anything, I've learned more from Aaron and his tutors in a few short weeks than I have in years in prep school, and I'll be a better King because of it."
Walking around Aaron so he could address Edward directly, "Then the rumors of a new school being established, an Alteran school are true?" the King of Denmark was eager to get his children into such a school.
"Yes they are, if you wish, we can talk about my experience on the way home as you are more than welcome to join us on the flight home," Edward tried to be diplomatic as he was not sure how much of the idea of opening the school up to accept outside students or straights Aaron would go for, but it might be a good way to win over support from some of these countries that were unsure, though he had to admit some of his carrots were extremely enticing from a government's standpoint.
Watching from the safety of the embassy office the ruler of Iraq was disturbed by the news of the release of a new type of engine that would replace the gasoline engine, it was time to have a meeting with the OPEC nations to discuss this threat to their way of livelihood and how to best eliminate it. Giving the order to one of his underlings to have the test carried out, he sat back to watch, not taking into account the statement of Alteran's interrogating people by telepathy, he had dismissed it as frippery, and that was to be the seed to his eventual downfall.
"Do you honestly think we are going to let you come in here and order us around, if so, you are sadly mistaken, I, for one, will do everything in my power to see that my government condemns you and pushes for war crimes trials for your actions."
"I fail to see how the capture of criminals could even be considered war crimes," Aaron glared at the delegate who glared hatefully back.
"We shall not allow you to open an embassy on our soil and we shall not allow your diplomats the right to enter our country."
"You say that like it should mean something to us, I couldn't care less if I ever stepped foot in your country, and I must remind you that if you do take these steps, no technology will be allowed past your borders, and not one of your citizens will be allowed to be treated in any of our facilities, are you and your government really prepared for the backlash that decision will cost you," Aaron stared at the man and several others that were like minded, "You would really condemn your own people to misery and even death for not liking the way I won't bow down to you, or this, so called, world body."
"You must admit that the prospect of having you enforce your Kingdom's laws on everyone else crossing through international waters leaves a bitter taste in most people's mouths," the Russian delegate spoke up.
Aaron turned around and face the Russian, "Then do something about it, police your own vessels to make sure they are not trafficking in human cargo, a simple thing really, my warships will only stop and board vessels our scanners confirm are trafficking in human cargo, anything else found will be relayed to the ships home government for action."
The Russian sat back down and listened to the voice on his headphone from his president, "That sounds reasonable and more than workable, I withdraw Russia's objection."
"Well, I object, I will not stand for our vessels being scanned or boarded."
"Why is that, I wonder," Aaron turned to face the belligerent man once more, "Is it perhaps because the Yin Kong was scheduled to deliver that human cargo to your country, ambassador, I can assure you this came not only from the Yin Kong's log books, which showed that was not the first such shipment, or would you like to see a report where the Captain of the Yin Kong personally escorted the previous group of slaves out onto your docks, I can even let everyone here see the captain's memories of the events. So, I ask you ambassador, why the vehement response?"
Letting his eyes travel around the room, Aaron glanced back at the pale man's face, "One has to wonder ambassador, what you are trying to hide." Growling out in ager as he stepped towards the man, "I have no patience or mercy for those that would make slaves out of children, ambassador, take this warning back to your country; we will be inspecting you from now on, and I will not let the inspections end at the shoreline."
Aaron returned to stand by his lovers, and pointed at the stack of treaties, "If no one else is prepared to hand in their signed treaty documents at this time, you have until noon tomorrow, at one minute past noon, those not signing the treaty will be considered to have an embargo in place and shields will be deployed around the countries still being defiant that will ensure our technology does not pass your borders." Aaron sighed before walking over to the Security Council table, "Edward, someone will be by to pick you up after supper for the talk you wanted, right now, I am going home,"
Aaron turned around and Pathed, "Let's go home, Loves, I, and, I think, the rest of the Clan will need a cuddle," before porting out of the hall.
Kevin glared at the assembled people, "You had everything to gain and nothing to lose, this treaty is similar to something you all recognize with each other anyway and you had to play power games trying to prove who had the bigger cock, and you lost."
"How dare you lecture your elders, young child, we will decide what is best for the world and I can guarantee you this atrocity will not go unpunished," the French delegate stood up spittle flying in anger.
Brian walked over to the pile of signed treaties and searched through them looking for the French treaty and finding it, pulled it out of the pile, opening the cover he glanced down to see that it was indeed signed, "One thing I think you might want to keep in mind, ambassador is that we do not age like you do, so do not assume that you are the elder between us." Brian closed the cover and holding it up ripped it in two and let the two halves fall to the floor. Picking up the pile of signed documents Brian walked back to Kevin and glanced over his shoulder, "the other thing you need to remember is that as a race, we are vindictive sons of bitch's, and to never cross us, as you will not win, I look forward to seeing your signed treaty in the pile before noon tomorrow, Ambassador." Brian and Kevin ported out of the council hall and back to the Clan Hall.
Stunned, the French ambassador fell into his seat and looked towards the guards who were making their way to the floor, and leaving, "And how in the nine names of hell am I to do that now, there were no spare treaties given out?"
"Then you should have thought of that before you mouthed off an threatened the Young Lord, I expect," Friedrich told him as he walked around the stunned ambassador on the way to the main floor as he was the last to port out before he reached the main floor.
The President staring out at the warship that was slowly sinking in the harbor, realized that these people had to be dealt with openly and without political maneuverings of any kind, quickly coming to a decision, he turned to the Queen's grandson, "Edward, if you would carry a message back with you to give to his Majesty when you see him, I would appreciate it, it is past time to clean house and forget politics. Tell his Majesty that the signed contract will be awaiting pickup at his lawyer's office in the morning and I am ready to start as soon as he is, and I will agree to the demand that any of those scanned that were part of the assassination plot will be handed over to him for judgment."
Surprised, as he had not heard anything about the contract, or an assassination attempt, Edward nevertheless nodded his head, "I will pass the message along for you, Mr. President, though I think I will give it to Pete, not Aaron, as he's not in a very good mood right now, I only hope I can convince him to still release the rest of the toys he was planning on mentioning here this morning." Holding out his hand for his grandmother to use to stand up, "Grandmother, shall we take our leave, we can pick up his majesty of Denmark and relax on the way home."
Edwards's words were loud enough that the King of Denmark heard him and hurried over along with several other monarchs who hoped to be included in the conversation.
An hour later, Edward was standing in the doorway of the military plane that was to fly them all back to England, looking down towards the tail of the plane at the heads of all the royal families that were present at the UN today, this was a security nightmare, he thought, and when he looked at Thomas standing at the open door leading back to the concourse, he could see in his expression he thought so too. Pulling his P.A.D.D. out of his pocket, he activated it and hoped he could get a link to his terminal at home so he could send a message, sighing in relief when the P.A.D.D. linked up, Edward quickly hand wrote a message and taking a picture of the cabin near the cockpit attached it and sent it out.
To: Clan Stranton
From: Edward England
Subject: Need Help
Somehow I ended up with all the royal delegations
to the UN on our plane for a talk on the flight home, I
am sure this is not a good idea to have all of us on one
plane together like this, as it make us a huge target taking
out a good portion of the world's leaders in one go would
be very attractive to a terrorist or hostile nation.
Can I borrow an escort so nothing happens on the way home?
Kenny finished reading the email as everyone else was busy and Aaron was napping and he happened to be the first to see it as he was logged into the email system when it came in. typing out a quick message to not leave yet, as help was on the way, Kenny logged off and started for the Clan security office after getting dressed in the Clan uniform.
Xon was meditating near the hot spring when he heard footsteps and opened his eyes to see Kenny, the one who had spent all that time giving him background on his family walking by with determination on his face along the path leading to the Clan security quarters, Curious, Xon stood and stretched and followed him into the security office.
Kenny walked over to the monitor area and looked at the guy on duty trying to place his name, "Bruce, right?" Kenny then went right into why he was here after seeing the nod, "I need a couple of guys to escort me, and you just volunteered, plus I need some kind of fighter escort for Edward's plane back to England, he sent an email saying he needed help. He's a little bit worried that with all the monarchs onboard his plane, he would be a perfect target."
"Would it not be more efficient to just port all the monarchs to their destinations, that way they are in no danger?" Xon offered a logical course of action as he made his presence known.
"Normally from a security standpoint, that would be the best option, but it sounds like this is an opportunity for all the leaders assembled onboard to get several hours of uninterrupted discussions done, a lot of times some of the most important negotiations happen in airplanes where there can be no interruptions. But I do agree with Edward if he has all the monarchs and royalty on his grandmother's plane it is too tempting of a target." Bruce let his finger connect to the OOD at the docks.
"I see, thank you for expanding my knowledge on this subject," Xon then looked at the ceiling for a moment, "Then would it not be advisable for us to provide one of our vehicles to transport them in, after all, if need be, our vehicle could do a suborbital insertion or with the gestalt generator onboard could easily avoid any problems that would arise."
"I heard most of the conversation Bruce, the question is, where are we going and how big of an escort do you want?" the OOD responded from the monitor as he activated the alert tones for the ready crews.
"A squadron of Eagles and the new jet, and." Bruce looked at Kenny, "Where are we going?"
Kenny pulled up the email on his P.A.D.D. and as Xon looked over his shoulder at the message he frowned, "Well, I have a picture of where we need to port to on the plane, but he does not say where he is."
"He is at the New York International Airport," Xon told them, surprising Kenny who looked up, "Logic tells us this, as he stated that he and the other monarchs ended up on his plane from the UN meeting, which is in New York and a simple search on his locater beacon can tell you which section of the Airport he is in."
"I shall accompany you as I am curious about this meeting and seeing the difference in technology first hand," Xon gave in to his curiosity, he was interested in meeting Edward more than the technology, but both could be satisfied with this trip his logic convinced him.
Grinning at Xon, "You might want to get into your Clan uniform then," Kenny pointed out as he reached over and tapped Xon's bare stomach.
"Indeed, I shall meet you at the gestalt point in one point nine minutes," Xon told them before doing an abrupt about face and jogging out of the room heading for the recreation area instead of his quarters as it was closer and would have everything he needed.
Bruce sent a message to Friedrich, telling him he was off to escort Kenny and Xon on an errand and they were taking a military escort before standing and pulling out his own uniform and getting dressed. "All right, I'm ready," Bruce looked at Kenny and smiled once he belted on his weapon harnesses.
"Edward, is there a problem with clearance," Victoria asked, as she noticed her grandson was still near the pilot's hatch and the plane had yet to move away from the terminal.
"We're just waiting on one more addition to our party and they should be here any moment," he hoped, Edward added mentally, as a bright light caused him to close his eyes and smile as he turned expecting to see Aaron or one of the other guys but instead saw Kenny and another person he did not know, though he was wearing the Clan uniform he noticed right away.
Smiling and waving at all the people staring at him, Kenny walked forward and hugged Edward and smirked at Thomas, causing him to back up wondering if he should retire now while he had his sanity intact. "I got your message and I brought one of our planes over so you won't have to worry about safety, and all of you can talk about all the boring stuff you old guys like to do."
Walking around Edward, who was standing stunned at the power pranking demon who had responded to his plea for help, he silently started to pray to every god he could think of just to cover all the basses, Kenny smiled at the assembled people, "Hi there, if all of you want to follow me, we can get off this old bucket of bolts and onto my plane which should be landing shortly, maybe you might like to see him as he lands."
"Ah, that explains the grounding of all flights entering and leaving the airport," the Royal Air Force Major said from behind Kenny. "I was just told by the tower that there would be a fifteen minute closure of the airport and all planes are ordered back to the terminal."
Grinning, Kenny turned around, "Yep, he's on final approach now, about a minute out according to the tower," Kenny pointed to his communicator before turning around and walking back the way he came and slipping by Edward and Thomas so he could walk into the terminal.
Bruce and Xon followed Kenny who to the outside world looked like the pied piper leading all the royal dignitaries off of the plane and into the concourse towards the end window where they could see the incoming runways. Stopping at the window, they could see the beaming grin on Kenny's face in the reflection of the window as he pointed out the window, "He's here."
"Good Lord."
"Saints preserve us."
"Now that is a sweet ride."
"Father can you arrange for us to buy one."
Kenny grinned at the comments as the AMT101 made its first public appearance and came into a perfect VTOL hover and then rotated a full three hundred and sixty degrees before touching down and moving towards the concourse, "Showoff" he muttered, under his breath.
Several sonic booms rattled the windows causing several of the royal delegates to duck and then look at Edward as his voice sounded like he was scolding Kenny, "You brought Screaming Eagles with you, isn't that going overboard, I mean really, the tower and other passengers are more than likely soiling themselves." Edward held his giggles as he pointed out the window as several groups of fire balls dissolved into fighters that started hovering around the airport.
Kenny shrugged his shoulders as walked away from the window now that the show was over, "Don't blame me, it was Bruce's idea," grinning at the scowling security guard who was directing his displeasure at Kenny, he amended it with, "Or blame the OOD, after all today they are his Eagles."
Leaving the dignitaries to do whatever they like to do, Kenny walked over to the end tube thingy and the girl standing near it as the AMT101 approached and it was clear that it dwarfed the concourse, once the plane came to a stop, the girl looked up and shook her head and looked down at the little boy that evidently knew what this plane was all about, "Um not to be a kill joy, but there is no way the boarding ramp can reach the door," she pointed several stories above them.
"That's okay, we can use the cargo hatch," looking over his shoulder at the group, Kenny sighed, " well good thing there is an elevator on that deck or some of those old fogies wouldn't make it up the steps."
Shrugging and trusting he knew what he was talking about, she opened the door to the boarding ramp and made for the end and noticed she would only have to extend it slightly as he was correct seeing there was an armed man standing near the open door across from the tube, using the controls she lined up and extended the ramp and locked it down when the cushions made contact with the plane.
"Ride's here come on guys," Kenny yelled as he entered the ramp and looked around at how it was constructed as this was the first time he had ever been on one of these things.
Curiosity caused Xon to tilt his head all the way to the side as he watched Kenny lean over and touch the floor and then look to the wall and tap it before shaking his head, "What are you examining, Kenny, so intently?"
Being caught, Kenny looked back sheepishly, 'I've never been on one of these or an airport like this before and I was wondering if this thing was safe as it really doesn't look like it's put together all that well and you can see the ground through the seams on the floor," he pointed to the metal seam near his feet.
Pulling his scanner out of the arm pouch, Xon examined the area Kenny had pointed out which gave enough time for the rest of the people to catch up to them, "Indeed you are correct, this is a highly inefficient design, but it shall remain stable for our purposes as we shall have traversed it and boarded the transport before it can fail." Placing the scanner back into its pouch, Xon had no idea that his innocent comment caused a stir amongst the dignitaries who had grown up using the boarding ramps like this one all their life, or the girl who was operating it who leapt for the phone to call maintenance.
The Marine Corporal dressed in his finest came to attention as Kenny and Xon walked across the threshold, "Welcome aboard the AMT101, Young Sirs. The Captain awaits you on the command deck for orders."
Xon nodded as Kenny looked at the Marine with a funny expression on his face and replied before Kenny could say anything, "Thank you Corporal, there are several dignitaries about to come on board who should not use the steps if you could act as traffic control and steer them towards the lift, we would appreciate it."
Nudging Kenny towards the steps, Bruce laughed at Kenny's remark, so like Aaron's he thought as he climbed out of sight and his voice carried back down to them, "He needs to relax and maybe get laid or something, so uptight it's not like we're anyone important, really jumping up and saluting like that."
"Sorry about that Corporal, but they are all like that in a way, thinking there is nothing special about what they do." Bruce shrugged, as the Dignitaries started to board and he helped direct them to the stairs or the lift. Once all the Royals were on board and the cargo bay empty, the Marine Corporal looked at Bruce, "They are wrong you know they are very special, none of us would be here today without them."
"True and I think they purposely ignore all that they do for others, filing it under just the norm, and to tell the truth, I don't think I would change any of it, it just makes them more special in my book," Bruce told the Marine after he had sealed the hatch and started up the stairs as he felt movement from the floor.
"Young Sir, how soon do you wish to arrive in England?" the Captain asked, as Kenny offered his guests seats.
The Danish King sat down and looked at the Captain, "How soon? You ask as if there was more than.what am I saying of course you could." he trailed off wondering when he would learn not to ask stupid questions.
Kenny looked around for Edward and spotting him coming up the stairs he called out, "Hey Edward how long do you need, is four hours too long or not enough time, Bruce already told us that you wanted to talk so the twenty minutes normal flight time it would normally take is out."
Moving to one side, Edward thought a moment as he glanced at the eager monarchs and some of their sons and sighed, "If we get finished early, we can change our mind, right?" Seeing Kenny's serious face and his nod he sighed, Kenny being serious was almost as bad as Pete being playful. Glancing at Thomas, he hid his smile, it was a good thing there was no alcohol on board, "Four hours is good for now, we'll let you know if it needs to change."
"Right you are, Young Sir, I'll just get back to the flight deck and we'll be off," the Captain smiled as Bruce followed him up the stairs so he could sit in the gestalt chair for this trip, a just in case precaution that he needed to follow.
Xon stood to one side, observing the events unfolding before them as several more uniformed Marines in full dress uniforms circulated and provided food and beverages to the guests as Kenny stood around talking to people and surprising to him he let out a giggle as Kenny froze at seeing what was being served.
Seeing a plate of crusted fish and salsa pass his face, Kenny froze and glared at the marine serving the dinner, stomped over to the serving area and looked inside, "Aaron is going to be so pissed off, that was our supper, he mumbled, as he stared at the Marine who had a deer in the headlights look on his face.
"Bruce provided us the food, it's kind of too late now," the Marine apologized as the young sir stalked over to the stairs and yelled.
"BRUCE.AARON IS GOING TO BE SO PISSED AT YOU, THAT SALSA WAS FOR OUR SUPPER TONIGHT.HE'S GOING TO MAKE YOU SCRUB THE SHOWERS WITH YOUR TONGUE WHEN WE GET BACK, OR TIM WILL." Kenny's voice trailed off as he got to the top of the steps and the Marines were giggling as they handed out the last of the suppers.
The corporal that had met the Clan at the door laughed, "Do you think we should tell him that his Majesty was planning a prime rib for supper not fish and this came from the main kitchens?"
Xon raised one eyebrow and smiled, "I think Kenny will find out in time, in the mean time if he is not back, I will eat his portion," he was curious; if Kenny was this upset over this Salsa, it must be quite good.
Sitting down next to Edward, Xon thanked the Marine as he set his plate down in front of him and left Kenny's next to him. And tasting the salsa and fish he agreed it was excellent and smiled as Kenny came down the stairs and made as if to remove the salsa form Kenny's plate to his own.
"HEY.that's mine," Kenny rushed over and grabbed the plate glaring at Xon who actually giggled back at him, shocking Kenny at the outward display of emotion.
"Aaron's doing beef tonight," Kenny told him, embarrassed at his earlier outburst, "Seems he made a whole bunch of the Salsa, teaching Shoji the secret of how to make it and gave it to the kitchens when Chris got on his hands and knees begging for it."
"I will admit your facial expressions were quite amusing," Xon smiled over at Kenny while some of the royals laughed and nodded in agreement. "And I agree that if I was expecting this as my supper I would be similarly upset."
After everyone had finished and the dishes were cleared away, Kenny stood up, "We'll leave you to your discussion, if you need us, we'll be working upstairs."
Xon stood up and followed Kenny up the stairs and once he reached the top he stopped at seeing the sophisticated technological suite in front of him, it rivaled most star ship bridges. Waving Bruce back into his seat as he approached the main console, Xon started to study it and the controls and got lost in thought as he looked between the controls and the holographic displays until Kenny grabbed hold of him and dragged him back to the couch and pushed him down so he could climb into his lap, "I need a hug," was all he said as he snuggled up into him as Xon wrapped his arms around him and held him close.
Two hours later found Xon and Kenny diligently working on their respective terminals, Kenny doing school work, while Xon was deep into schematics and trying to decide the best way to merge federation and Alteran technology on the Reliant, since it was close at hand and then the Space Station when it was brought over, in particular, he was trying to merge Federation shielding technology into the Reliant as it relied totally on Kinetics to do the job which to his logic was not wise. This is where Edward and the few other young princes found them when they climbed the steps to see what they were up to, "Hi guys, do you mind if we come up and get away from the boring stuff for awhile?"
"Good Lord Kenny, doing schoolwork again, don't you ever give it a rest," Edward groaned when Kenny turned around and he saw the algebra on the monitor.
"Well, since I want my first masters before I reach puberty.NO," Kenny giggled, before going back to the screen, "I'll be able to stop in another five minutes or so, if you want to find a spot to sit down at." already back to the Algebra section and trying to get through the problems.
Being security conscious, Xon closed his terminal program after saving the file of what he had done so far and turned his seat around to face the five newcomers as they sat down,
Edward, catching the Clan medallion on Xon's shirt looked at him in curiosity and asked without thinking about where he was, "I thought I had met everyone from the Clan," after all Richard and his brother would be joining the clan.
Xon raised an eyebrow and saw Edward reddened when he realized they were not alone, "Indeed you have, of everyone on this planet, I have been off planet for some time and have recently returned."
"To travel between the stars must be really intense," one of the princes said, before grinning, "Han's, Heir to the Danish throne," he said by way of introduction.
"I am Xon of Clan Stranton of the Kingdom of Altare," Xon did the polite thing and introduced himself back, as they nodded in turn as each of the princes introduced themselves, when it came to the Japanese prince, he was intrigued as his speech patterns were most similar to the Kathat.
"I am Toshi of the Imperial family of Japan, what is it like traveling between worlds?"
Xon stared out the window for a moment gathering his thoughts, "Every world is different, there are many new things to catch one's attention and curiosity, but each, in a way, is the same, as they all are life bearing and developed similarly if our species can prosper on them."
"Do you ever think we will be allowed to visit some of those worlds?" Toshi asked, before wistfully looking out the window, "I would love to see them, but even so, as the heir I would not be allowed to leave the planet."
Kenny finished with his Algebra assignment turned around to take part in the conversation and pulled the terminal touchpad around and brought up several video shots, "I can show you Sigma Alpha Seven, it's not been colonized yet, though, if I remember right, it has passed the fifty year mark on testing, it's got some really cool looking animals." Bringing up the video feed Kenny played it for everyone and giggled at the flying green monkey things as they did their acrobatics amidst the trees, "these green monkey things are so cool."
Finally, after several minutes, Edward coughed getting their attention, "As interesting as all that is, I think there is something more important to handle right now," getting Kenny's attention he looked at him seriously, "if someone doesn't point me to the bathroom right quick those people below us better know how to swim."
Giggling, Kenny pointed to the door behind them off to the right of the stairs and Edward leapt from the couch and had the door closed behind him before the others could finish laughing.
After Edward came out looking relived, the others took turns relieving themselves before coming back and joining in the conversation about space travel. Hans took a moment during the lull to turn to Kenny and ask, "Can I ask you a question, when Edward commented about you studying again, I noticed you were working on Algebra, are you the norm in Altare?"
Kenny looked at Han's for a moment as if in thought and Edward groaned quietly as he saw the evil gears turning in his mind, "Well, I'm the norm in the Clan and most likely the rest of the kingdom, I guess."
Disaster avoided, thought Edward until Toshi praised Kenny, "Yes, but to be working on such advanced mathematics at such a young age it is incredible."
"I'm nothing special all the guys with one age like me are about the same," Kenny told them with wide eyed innocence that had Edward looking about wildly to make sure that Thomas was not in the room.
"What are you looking for Edward," Han's asked out of curiosity, as their host was greatly unsettled.
"Just making sure Thomas is not around, last time he got into a discussion like this, he went and got drunk, at least here, I know he can't get near any liquor," Edward sighed when he did not see Thomas anywhere.
"What kind of conversation could cause the head of your security detail to get drunk?" Toshi asked wide eyed, and Xon agreed, "Indeed that would seem to be counterproductive to one's duties."
Holding his head in his hands, Edward groaned, "A cultural misunderstanding, one brought about by a language problem."
"Oh I thought it was because Pete had to explain sex to Thomas," Kenny looked so innocent, but Edward knew that the grin was evil and he would be regretting this for weeks to come, and tried to cut the conversation off before it got started, "Like I said, a language difficulty as there is no word for Female in the Alteran language.oh shit." He placed his head back down in his hands and moaned in pain and wanted his slip to go away.
"I don't understand how can there be any language difficulties about the opposite sex, there is male and then there is female, one opposite of the other," Han's was confused, evidently there was something he was missing and by the groans and Edward's hidden face, it must be obvious or crucial.
"Yuck, that's disgusting," Kenny looked positively ill, "There is no such thing as opposite of male, after the discussion Pete showed me the most disgusting thing I have ever seen, I would never have believed the creature was born that way, but Aaron assured me it is true and he has never lied to us. Those things you call females.well someone must have mutilated them at birth they did not even have all the proper parts." Kenny turned away so no one would see his laughter and made gagging noises.
Amused, Xon decided to help things out, "The confusion over language came about because Thomas equated female with his explanation that females were where babies came from and Pete had chosen to share with Thomas the female he had picked out to carry his sons. One of the newer models I believe, just off the production line and in fact like Han's, Thomas was thinking of the opposite sex during his explanation, an idea I am still trying to find the logic behind."
Kenny, being ever so helpful, put a picture of the unit in question up on the monitor, "This is one of the latest models, it has some really unbelievable curves, though I'm kind of young yet to be thinking about something like this."
Edward was hiding his giggling he could not believe this was happening again, peeking out between his fingers he looked at the open mouthed shock on the other heir's faces and snorted trying to hold back his laughter.
Toshi was looking at the monitor and Kenny's smiling face and the appreciative gleam in Xon's expression and realized that this was not a joke, "You really do not have two sexes to your species, how do."
"STOP.DO NOT GO THERE," Edward screamed out as his head shot up and glared at the startled expression on the heir's faces, "Going there is what caused Thomas to get drunk and we will not have a repeat of that," Edward's glare was now centered on Kenny.
Kenny looked at Edward and pouted a moment before telling him, "Well, if your school systems would actually teach this kind of thing, then we would not have to teach someone of your age the mechanics of sex I mean really how backward can you be."
"You have to understand, Kenny, they have the disadvantage of having two sex's just like all other non sentient life forms, it's amazing really that they developed intelligence," Xon looked at the princes as if examining a freak of nature.
Han's looked at his fellows, "I think we have just been insulted, I'm not sure as it could be another instance of a language barrier. You both speak English fairly well but I imagine it is not your native language is it?"
"True telepaths have no need for a spoken language, not really," Kenny told him before smiling, "And we are true telepaths." Turning the monitor off, Kenny gave out a dramatic sigh and sounded wistful, "Well, I have to wait until puberty before I get the chance to get my hands on this beautiful female," Glancing at Xon, he smirked, "You two agers get to have all the fun."
Thomas who felt it was safe to show himself, stood up from where he was sitting on the steps, "That's twice now Kenny that you mentioned having two ages, what exactly do you mean by that?"
Edward, hearing Thomas behind him turned abruptly so he was looking over the back of the couch in horror at Thomas, the Clan was doing their best to drive his guard insane.
"Simple really we don't age like you do, we have two ages really the biological one and the actual one," Kenny smirked, he had been trying to set up this prank for a while now to try to beat Pete's and now he had the same victim this was going to be so cool, he thought.
Staring at Kenny for several moments in confusion, Thomas then looked at Xon and asked, "Can you tell me what he means, how is it possible to have two ages? That doesn't make sense; you can only have one age."
Xon raised an eyebrow and looked at Kenny and the satisfied smirk on his face before glancing back to Thomas, "I am seventeen biological years old, but I have been alive and experienced two hundred and sixty seven years of life."
Thomas stared at Xon in horror for a minute, before turning around and mumbling something they could not make out as he walked down the stairs making plans to find the nearest airport bar once they landed.
Toshi stared at Xon with his mouth opened, and then looked at Kenny, that would explain so much he thought as he stared at Kenny.
"Hey don't look at me, I only have one age, I'll be eleven in November, I still have to wait for puberty to hit," Kenny told them as he glanced at Bruce who was quietly laughing at the whole conversation.
Editors section:
RadioRanchers Musings: Well, it looks like Kenny has an ally In Xon doesn't he? I wonder if they are going to start pulling pranks on everyone? Seriously, I think it is wonderful to see Xon loosening up and being more emotional and accepting the love and caring that the others are showing him.
I wonder how many of the U.N. Types are going to try to show those Alteran's who's the boss, and what kind of surprises they will get when they try.
Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher
A/N: