Of Men and Spiders

When Roberts first met Lucy's assistant, Charlotte, he assumed she was some mad scientist experiment gone wrong. After all, it was well known that intelligent alien life was nonexistent or so rare that two civilizations existing simultaneously was unlikely. But, having since learned otherwise, he supposed that old logic would only hold true until it didn't.

So, of course, now he was playing host to a diplomatic delegation of the terrifying bug people. At least most of them weren't as frightening at first appearance as Charlotte had been. One looked like a fuzzy spider person that could have been mistaken for some very strange child's stuffed animal, another looked like an anthropomorphized ladybug, there was the giant beetle lady, and still another looked like a golden demented demon child complete with rows of fangs and several compound eyes. Then, of course, there was Charlotte, still as terrifying as ever, and yet, compared to the rest, her calm mannerisms made her seem all the more human.

Scott had promised Roberts that there would be a human with the delegation to act as an in-between when needed and otherwise keep them under control. What Roberts hadn't expected was the human would be a child. This girl couldn't have been more than eight or nine years old at most, yet she did seem to have a handle on most of the "delegates." For some reason, they all listened when she spoke. If she admonished one, most of them acted as if they'd been dressed down by a superior officer.

Roberts was on his way to report to Charlotte, which meant he was headed to the young girl's room as the two were inseparable. As he approached the door, he signaled the chime, announcing his presence.

The chime was answered with a "Come in," so Roberts did, only to see he'd apparently interrupted a game of hopscotch the girl had drawn on the floor of her room while Charlotte was in attendance. Roberts did his best not to audibly sigh. "Sorry to interrupt, mam..."

The girl, Alice, shook her head. "No problem. I'm just getting some more practice. I haven't had this body long, and I'm still getting used to it."

That stopped Roberts. "Excuse me? You haven't had that body long?"

Alice nodded. "Yeah. This one is brand new. Charlotte made it for me!"

Roberts hesitated again. "I'm sorry, I was under the impression you were human. I didn't realize..."

Alice nodded. "I am! Or, I was, at least... My original body was hurt really badly by pirates, and I almost died, so Charlotte gave me a new one! But that body can be kind of scary for people, so she also made me this one! Now I look like I used to, except a little older. I'm still getting used to it again after using the other body for so long. It's kind of weird having only two legs again..."

There was far too much to unpack there, and Roberts didn't have time, so he turned to Charlotte if only to keep himself from having to dwell on all that had just been revealed. "We are in position and ready to jump at your convenience. However, we'll be severely outgunned and have to retreat from the system if Captain Drake responds with aggression."

Charlotte nodded in that oddly serene way of hers. "Have no fear, Captain. We shall not be alone. Our reinforcements will be arriving shortly. Then we'll just have to wait for the right moment in the meeting to make our appearance."

-

As he felt the last vestiges of the paralytic fade, Captain Drake found he was rather impressed with his grandson's execution, even if he thought some of his logic either flawed or distasteful. Tilting his head to acknowledge the boy's achievements, Drake addressed him. "I'm rather impressed by how well you've planned and executed this endeavor. You are clearly my grandson, whether you acknowledge that or not. However, I think you'll find you've made one significant miscalculation."

The boy narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "And how's that?"

Drake shrugged. "Your threat had no teeth!"

The boy looked confused, so Drake clarified. "The presence of your spider minions is undoubtedly menacing. However, the one thing keeping you and your family safe is your familial ties with me. If you were to order those spiders of yours to kill me, you'd be dead before you made it halfway to the landing bay. The approach of this armada of yours is doubly impressive. However, I think you'll find there's a reason the core worlds ignore me and my empire despite knowing my location most of the time. As we speak, all nearby ships are already en route to reinforce the Golden Hind. Soon, this section of space will be thick with hundreds of ships at my command."

Drake hesitated for dramatic effect. "Perhaps you think that in keeping me here, you'll impair my people's ability to manage the battle? However, I am not in the habit of appointing fools to positions of real power. Even without my presence on the bridge, they would be more than capable of repelling even a large armada. So you see, you cannot threaten me directly, and you cannot threaten my armada so easily."

Standing again, Drake walked over to his grandson and met him, gaze for gaze. "So what now? What's the next step in your plan? Or were you hoping this would be enough to make me crumble?"

Surprisingly, the boy grinned and shook his head before answering. "You've got it mostly right, except what's coming isn't my armada. They don't answer to me in any way, shape, or form. They're just some friends I met a while back, and you'll probably want to hear them out before you dismiss them so quickly. They might have a surprise or two for you yet!"

Drake narrowed his eyes, trying to foresee what possible maneuvers the boy may have in store for him when his console chimed again. The boy nodded toward it. "I suspect you'll want to get that."

Keeping his eyes on the boy, Drake returned to his seat and activated the console. Once again, it was his communication officer on the other end. "Sir! The battleship has arrived along with... I don't even know what! They're sending out a general broadcast to all recipients. They've even sent a boosted signal to the core worlds!"

That made Drake pause. On the screen was a battleship, but around it, popping into real space, seemed to be thousands of asteroids, each as large or larger than the battleship in question. Asteroids that seemed to be moving under their own power despite having no noticeable means of propulsion. Was this the supposed armada? What was their purpose? On top of that, why were they sending a general broadcast to everyone, including the core worlds? Were they going to try to bribe people to their side? Were they requesting additional reinforcements? He fought the urge to shake his head. Speculation was pointless when he could just see what they had to say. "Put it through to my display here in the meeting room."

The communication officer nodded. "Aye, captain!"

A moment later, the main screen lit up. There stood a group of seven monsters, ranging from almost cute to outright nightmarish, the one standing front and center Drake remembered from the recordings of his daughter's capture. It was the one that spoke. "Greetings humans. We, the Vitexrā, are an ancient people who have long sailed the stars. We have only recently been made aware of your existence as a people. Although many aspects of your nature are at odds with our previously held beliefs of sentience and sapience, we have decided it would be in both our people's interests to pursue a relationship of friendship that will hopefully be of mutual benefit to us all. This is due in large part because our first contact with your kind was with a human boy whose exceptional intelligence and determination were exceeded only by his compassion and loyalty. A boy who invited us into his family, and we, in turn, accepted him into ours. However, at this time, that boy and his parents have been taken captive by a group of humans who exist outside your laws and organizations, referred to as 'pirates' led by one Captain Drake." An image of Scott and his two parents popped up on the screen. "Before we can begin any negotiations with your people, we must secure their immediate and unconditional release.' And so, Captain Drake, we await your reply."

That stopped Drake short, and he looked over at the boy, at Scott, with a newfound respect. The personal attack and the armada he expected and could have handled, but now he was fighting with politics. With his name out in the open for every central citizen to hear and know, the politicians of the central government would no longer be able to feign ignorance of his actions. Additionally, many of their ties to him would be sought out by the public and laid bare. Worse yet, no matter if people were excited or scared of these new aliens, all would condemn him if he "antagonized the aliens" by keeping Scott and his family captive. They would cry out for his blood, and the central government would finally be forced to act. It would mean war, not only with the aliens but also with the entire central government. The pièce de resistance was that in anticipation of the arrival of a fleet, most of Drake's captains had been present for the pronouncement. They would realize all of this as well and would likely distance themselves from him if he were foolish enough to try and fight. In short, Scott had totally and completely won without firing so much as a single shot.

Drake couldn't help it. He laughed. He laughed long and hard. Then, gathering his wits, he stopped and shook his head, smiling at Scott, his grandson. "Well done, boy. Well done. Perhaps...it is time for me to retire already..."