Commander Vir marched down the hall with swift footsteps surrounded on all sided by a clamoring group of crewmen, "No, not on her life, Tell Captain Young if she lets that Tesraki go, than she's not going to see him again. And get a Comm to Captain Kozlov, if he goes into the Cobalt nebulae, he's going to get his entire crew killed. Reroute him back to the GA, they can debrief him and give him his orders there. I want all the cargo sectors from A-D inventoried and the manifests in my files by the end of the week." He took a sharp turn, and the rest of the crew members were forced into a half jog to keep up. The mechanical leg was one of the most powerful pieces of military hardware ever created, so it wasn't a surprise that the rest of the crew had trouble keeping up especially when the commander got into one of his moods

The group of them clattered up the steps and marched onto the bridge where they dispersed suddenly like a wave breaking over rocks.

"Commander on the bridge!" One of the crewmen barked. At his call, the bridge crew turned to acknowledge their commander before turning back to their work. Commander Vir acknowledged them briefly in return before taking his seat in the captain's chair conjuring up a Holo-projection to examine a cosmic, projected map of his fleet. He grunted satisfied and pulled up the shipping manifests for bays F-J. He looked them over with his one green eye flying critically across the image.

Since the introduction of humanity into the Galactic Community, intergalactic trade has risen tenfold requiring large shipments of cargo across wide swatches of space, however pilots were limited, and most, if not all, civilian pilots were just now coming out of the academies wet behind the ears and not ready for such large assignments. That put much of the burden on members of the UNSC to ship needed materials from one area to another. At this moment in time, they were at full-bay capacity and would need to dock-off soon to unload cargo. It was a real annoyance, considering their actual orders revolved around searing the known galaxy for additional sentient life and making peaceful contact, but he would keep that particular opinion to himself.

Commander Vir swiveled sharply in his chair, "Systems report, Lieutenant."

The young woman leapt a little in her seat at the sudden barked order before turning to her screen, "All systems at 100% capacity sir, though, I would advise refraining from taking on any more cargo, for fear of putting too much stress on the warp core."

Commander Vir nodded, "Thank you lieutenant." The moment those words broke from his lips, the man slumped down into the captain's chair to throw his legs over one of the armrests. The commanding faced was dropped as easily as a dog shook off water, "Corporal, How's my time?"

"Two hours and fifteen minutes, Commander."

The man's grin grew wider, "New record, look at that, who said Commanding a fleet was supposed to be difficult." He crossed his ankles and lazily rested his arms behind his head stretching luxuriously in the glow of his success.

Just then, one of their new Drev officers turned in his seat, "Incoming Comm for you commander. It's the president of the galactic assembly."

Commander Vir sat up quickly adjusting himself. The black long-sleeve T would be fine enough, and he left the eyepatch on. Aliens weren't yet versed in human customs enough to know that the bit of finery was an odd eccentricity, "Put her on my channel he ordered." Wiping the grin from his face to be replaced with a mask of stern professionalism.

The Holo-projection jumped to life in front of him to reveal the face of the chairwoman of the galactic Assembly, a Rundi, standing in her ceremonial black robes.

"Your excellency, how may I be of service?" The Commander said leaning a little forward in his seat.

"Thank Sanctum's rings I was able to contact you." She said breathlessly

"Is everything alright." He captain wondered, worried.

"Yes, yes personally, but I am in dire need of a favor."

Commander Vir lifted his head in a nod, "Of course ma'am, anything."

She took a deep breath, "Well, as you know by now, since the introduction of your species into the galactic assembly, we have seen interplanetary travel and commerce increase by at least 600%."

He nodded, "As to be expected."

"Yes, of course, of course. Well this influx of human "tourism" has created some strange questions within the galactic community. The Assembly has been attempting to keep the laws up to date on such matters, but as always there are competing factions. A mixed coalition of humans and other species are coming together in a week's time at one of the convention centers near Assembly headquarters. There to protest a decision the Galactic Assembly was forced to make not so long ago. Of course, while they are protesting against the Assembly, other humans have come forward to protest the coalition itself. Protests on earth have already turned violent, and none of my soldiers are equipped to deal with a crowd of angry humans no matter what side they are on."

"So you want us to come in and help." The Commander said, not bothering to make it a question.

"It would be most appreciated. As the one being in the galaxy that knows the most about both human and non-humans, I trust your crew to manage the issue. Can you be there?" She looked worried, or, at least, he thought she looked worried. The Rundi weren't known for having particularly expressive faces, but then again she wouldn't have called him if it weren't required.

"I estimated that we are about two days out from a warp zone. Barring no complications, we should managed to make it in three days' time."

The relief was almost palpable, "Thank you commander. The Galactic Assembly is in your debt once again."

The commander waved a hand, "It's only our job your Excellency." Before minimizing the holo-projection and looking to the navigations officer. He closed his mouth before speaking when he found the officer already plotting a course to the nearest warp-zone. Pleased, he turned away and called down to the equipment desk and ordered them to put together as many non-lethal tactical security kits as they could. He stood and paused for a moment in the doorway getting that far-away look that he did when communicating with the Starborn, Conn.

He shook himself like a dog shedding water, and then made his way off the bridge.

***

Commander Vir pulled the straps of the bullet-proof vest tight around his chest and then buckled on his utility belt over that. He leaned down to straighten up a loose lace one of his boots, and checked the extra pockets of his pants for his emergency equipment. He adjusted the straps on his knee and elbow guards, and then did a quick inventory of his utility belt, packed with all the non-lethal goodies one could hope for. Tasers, pepper spray, CS canisters, flashbangs, and (perhaps the most useful) the central spinal blocking Device (CSBD). Any one of the devices was enough to at least slow down a human, and most definitely, incapacitate any other alien if they decided to get feisty. After that, he pulled on his, open faced helmet with retractable visor and synched the strap around his chin. That in place, he reached down, and secured waffles to a carabiner clip at his belt by way of bungee clip. The dog wasn't a tactical measure, or trained for combat, but she was intimidating, and known for her ability to keep people away from him in a pinch, besides, the crowd didn't have to know that, and there was no telling when an attack might strike him.

Then he turned to his last line of defense, and his only lethal measure, the handgun in its biolocked holster on his right side. No one would be able to use it if he didn't want them to, including himself. The last thing he wanted to do was to pull his weapon, and he hoped that the CSBD and other measures would be enough to make anyone think twice. He had never actually killed another human being before (he didn't see psychopathic cannibals as particularly human), and he didn't want to start now.

All around him, the rest of the crew was gearing up as well dressed in the same tactical gear stitched with bright white UNSC letters. A few of the men held collapsible riot shields on their backs while others held short-term force devices on their belts. More than a few of them held rifles with nonlethal options. They would be set up in stationary positions at height to watch what was going on. Honestly, were they over prepared and overdressed, likely, but if Commander Vir knew anything about human protests, he knew they could get violent better safe than sorry. The president of the GA may have been over exaggerating about the importance of the laws, but then again, she may not have been.

Off to his other side, Sunny was gearing up with her team. Each of the Drev had been outfitted with the "Buddy pegs", which would allow them to carry one, or, if necessary, two humans in full gear weapons aimed over the shoulder. Someone like Cannon could potentially manage three humans at once, and could e outfitted as a walking tank if such precautions were necessary. Sunny was only large enough to carry a single human, but Drev as big as Cannon could easily manage two and then some if he really needed to. As far as weapons went, they had most of the same equipment as their human counterparts minus some of the armor, usually opting to use their own gear.

He stood at the head of their formation barking orders for team officers to take command of their detachments. They would meet up with commander Kozlov at the 100 yard perimeter of the convention center and determine what was to happen from there forward. He stood towards the back as the teams moved out in groups of ten before attaching himself to his personal team of bridge officers and Drev, Sunny and Cannon included. Waffles trotted next to him at pace nose sniffing at all of the new smells on the alien air.

Marching through the streets of the capital city, he was surprised at how dead the streets were. What movement he did see flickered from behind inside widows and behind buildings. Those creatures that WERE here moved quickly eager to distance themselves from the convention center.

As they got close, Commander Vir could hear Captain Kozlov's barked orders as he directed the men into predetermined positions. The Drev members of their party had a rough time understanding the man as his moderate Russian accent shorted the translating algorithms. In the past thousand years, business practices, and the internet had made English the almost-universal language of Earth. It had the sad consequences of causing many beautiful languages to die out in wake of the stilted, amalgamation of junk that English was, but a few languages had managed to hold on. Mandarin had failed to spread past western countries as the western powers refused to adopt it, and with the influence of pop culture in the west, it had little chance though it still remained the primary language of Asian countries. Spanish still survived in one form or another as isolated as it was from the east and despite influences from its northern cousins. The great European Breakdown had caused the melding of many languages and cultures, and the Latin-influenced romance languages had eventually devolved into an almost incomprehensible underlanguage with the grammatical sense of English and the spelling sense of French. Eastern Europe, under the watchful eye of Russia, had separated themselves from much of the mess, and was eventually forced to adopt Russian as their main language after the war. Some pockets of original language survived, but if was few and far between.

At their approach, Kozlov turned from his command position at the staging area and snapped a smart salute. The man was terse, and professional, but he respected the Commander, and Vir felt he could detect a deep sarcastic streak running through the man, a feature that he appreciated. He stopped by the small, plastic table on which Kozlov had spread multiple maps of the area and the convention center.

"I made a few adjustments to your plan." The man said motioning towards the map,

Commander Vir took a look at the changes ad had to admit that he had overlooked some of those issues in his original plan thanking Kozlov before offering to take the inside of the convention for the first few hours. The man agreed seeming uninterested in moving from his position at the command center. Commander Vir ordered the last of his men into position and then called Sunny to his side.

"Ready?" he asked

She nodded and fell into step beside them as they headed towards the main building.

***

Walking through the massive front doors and into the large atrium, they were immediately assaulted by a myriad of colored booths and bright eye-grabbing banners with the acronym LFIL plastered all over them. Where there weren't banners, there were massive stylized flags, a white border with a large dark circle in the middle with galaxy coloring (blue and green fog over a black background sprinkled with stars) cutting through that, there were two silhouettes, one of a human hand and the other of an alien hand touching at the fingertips.

Captain Vir leaned towards Sunny, "What do you think this is all about?"

"Guess you should have asked the president when she called instead of just taking the job." Sunny muttered sarcastically.

He nudged her with his elbow as they made their way further in. It was rather weird to see civilians off Earth, but there were quite a few of them, and all taking the time to help set up for the convention. As many humans as there were, Commander Vir was surprised to see how many aliens there were. The largest group of them were, surprisingly, Drev. Following them were the Tesraki, and the Finneri there were one or two other species in there that Commander Vir was only familiar with in passing, but all of them were wearing one of those shirts, or some other merchandise. Sunny and Vir glanced at each other in confusion.

Over to the side, a human was fiddling around with the sound system. Pleased, she stood and dusted her hands off leaning in to plug her device in. As they walked past, she scrolled through her list and picked a song. Sunny seemed pleased the electronic opening and simple drumline.

They were walking past just in time for Vir to catch wind of a conversation between two people helping to set up. They weren't wearing T-shirts.

"Is this Katy Perry."

"I don't know man, I think so." One said looking towards the speakers, "Damn this song is old." He tilted his head, "What the hell is she talking about?"

The other guy shrugged, "About being in love with an alien I think. Either that or F***ing one."

The other man snorted, "Didn't see also sing about kissing girls?"

His friend laughed, "Ha, guess you're right. Who would have thought, she was a prophetess. Calling it in advance." The two men laughed before moving on.

Vir frowned in confusion. What the hell?

"Come on, Sunny, let's go figure out what this is all about." He said, breaking into a jog and heading towards one of the tables. Boots thudding on the floor, the alien and human looked up at their approach. The alien shrunk back, while the human took up a defensive stance. Vir came to a stop and raised his hands; the two of them must have looked intimidating. Sunny coming to a halt behind him. People were beginning to filter into the hall now, voices raised to echoing heights towards the ceiling.

"It's alright, I just wanted to ask what all this is about." He motioned around the room, "Afraid I took the job before I heard about the convention."

The woman frowned at him, "Aren't you the captain of that space ship?"

"There are a couple of those, but probably...."

She tilted her head about him, "I thought you of all people would know about this." Before he could explain himself she waved it off and motioned to the banner, "Lifeforms for Intergalactic Love, and this." She motioned towards her alien friend (A Ved, about five feet tall, furry, large eyes, sort of reminded him of a bat, "Is my partner."

He stared at her blankly. She rolled her eyes at him, "We're dating."

"OH..... Oh ok.... Wait dating? Like dating dating?"

She frowned at him and pulled the alien closer, "yeah, you got a problem with that."

He held up his hands, "Woah, woah I didn't say that. I just, didn't expect it." He left quickly after that head reeling a bit intending to find someone a little less defensive. The next group they talked too seemed very interested in telling them all about it. The two of them were in for a surprise.

The woman grabbed her Drev partner by the hand, "We met at fight club, got pared in the ring, it was love at first fight." Her Drev partner nodded his huge head in agreement. Sunny and Vir glanced at each other in shock. The others went around the circle telling their own stories. There were meetings of chance, running into each other off world, traveling together etc.....

"So, let me get this straight, you guys are.... Lobbying for..... Marriage rights and-" He paused here, "A lift on certain laws that prohibit...... sexual.... Stuff." He finished this last part a little awkwardly as the group of them nodded rather enthusiastically, "Um..... not to be rude or anything but...... well, you guys aren't even the same species.... And well you know.....it would be hard to... do anything."

The group laughed and waved their hands at him, "You've never been in love have you? It's not about just the physical, is about the mental, the emotional, and yeah things are different for us but we are all consenting adults and there are other ways to do things, so why can't we?"

Sunny and Vir glanced at each other again before thanking the group and excusing themselves. Soddenly, everything about the room, the convention and their orders was making sense. Vir rubbed he back of his head, "Ok, I guess I should have seen this coming from humans, but from aliens too. That's just hard to believe."

Sunny tapped her claw on her upper arm and then shrugged, "Perhaps it is because they find humans strange and intriguing plus, if you haven't noticed humans tend to spread their humanness to others.... Just look at Krill, look at me, cannon or Conn, all of us more human than we should be and you, no less human than you ever were."

"Eloquently put, Sunny."

Overall the first half of the convention was almost surreal as they patrolled the convention, they heart multiple stories about chance meetings, about people coming to terms with their new identity as Extrasexuals "as the term had been coined", and now there were stories about being detained, and even imprisoned for what was considered "Lewd" actions in a public setting.

Sunny and Vir stood at the back of one of the discussions just staring at each other as the hour continued onwards. It was only when his mike was keyed that he had to turn away and respond, "This is Alpha 1."

"Commander, this is Alpha 2, you need to get out here, we need backup." It was almost impossible to hear the man through the static and roaring of what must have been hundreds of voices, and all of them shouting.

"Copy that Alpha 2." He turned to a different channel and ordered all but three of his units outside before heading towards the door. He heard them before he saw them. It was the roaring, loud roaring, like the waves of a stormy sea crashing against a rocky cliff, or a raging wildfire. The two of them sped up the pace readying their gear as they pushed into the lobby. The front entryway was packed with armed security officers from Kozlov's ship watching as people entered through the doors carrying picket signs and wearing their white T-shirts.

Commander Vir slipped through one of the doors with Sunny and pushed into the daylight and were hit by a wall of noise that almost bulled them over backwards. Screaming, roaring, incoherent shouting from all sides, signs being waved I the air, lines of riot police, and security officers doing their best to keep protesters outside, as they watched a fistfight broke out, and two security guards had to step in to pull the people apart.

"BEASTIOPHILES!" Someone shouted from the crowd.

Hey keyed his mike immediately, "Delta Unites to the front of the building, Delta units to the front now." The two of them were jostled from one side to the other as the crowd churned around them.

The white-shirt protesters had taken up a new chant "LOVE IS LOVE, LOVE IS LOVE, LOVE IS LOVE."

The crowd on the other side of the barriers booed and screamed. Riot shields had to be used to push some of the humans back into the crowd as they attempted to leap over the barriers. Captain Vir deployed his nerve block with his left hand and snapped open his riot shield with the other arm.

Drev soldiers, or, Delta units were marching onto the square. Sunny barked a couple orders over the crowd with her powerful Drev voice, and the Units fanned out to make a perimeter.

Sunny cleared her throat, and Commander Vir covered his ears. She took a deep breath, and bellowed her war cry. The noise was so loud it made the ground shake and his teeth vibrate inside his skull. The Drev soldiers took up the call beating back the sound of the human crowd who were throttled into silence by the bigger-louder and more intimidating looking aliens. You average human had no understanding of what the galaxy thought of them, and may went silent in fear and shock.

There was nothing but the shifting of the crowd as the Drev bristled towards the edges of the crowd.

A solider handed Vir a megaphone and he boosted himself up onto the buddy pegs on Sunny's back. Waffles leaped up after him sitting with her back paws on the shelf paws resting around his legs. It probably wasn't too comfortable, but she took it like a good girl. Commander Vir keyed the megaphone before the protesters could start up again, "This is a PROTEST and NOT a riot, so let's keep it that way. Be civil with each other or we WILL detain you, we don't care what side you're on."

The crowd shifted, voices started murmuring. Someone took that moment to take a stand on some platform or another hidden by the crowd now towering over them by a good four feet, and produced his own megaphone, "We have the right to speak here."

Vir lowered his mike raising his voice instead, "Than SPEAK, but you do not have the right to HIT anyone. If you want a debate than do it, but the moment it gets violent is the moment we intervene."

The man in the crowd nodded. Vir could now see the black T-shirt he was wearing. A human and alien silhouette covered with the universal red circle and slash of disapproval. "Alright, does any one of you want to defend yourselves, to speak for the group of you." His voice was and posture was clearly hostile.

It took a moment, but finally one of the supporters took the megaphone offered from Vir and took a stand on a provided chair. He was a young man wearing the white T shirt with scruffy, dark hair.

Commander Vir glanced around at the crowd and muttered Sunny to keep an eye on any problems areas which she could identify. She nodded, and together they scanned the crowd.

"So why do you hate us so much."

"Because what you're doing is disgusting. It's bestiality. Which is on par with incest and pedophilia." He turned to look at his supporters who murmured their approval.

"Bestiality is wrong because they are animals, they aren't sentient, they can't consent, but THEY ARE sentient, they aren't animals, and they DID consent. It's a really disgusting thing to just call someone an animal when they are right there and they can hear you." His half of the crowd murmured their agreement.

"They aren't even your SPECIES." More supportive shouting

"So, what does it matter, it's not harming you."

"I don't want my kids seeing that."

"That sounds like a personal problem. I don't want to see people in happy relationships while I'm alone, but I got over it, so why can't you just let us be happy." The crowd started to churn a little bit. Commander Vir pressed the transmit button, and all of his men rattled their equipment. The crowd died back just a little bit.

The man in the dark shirt turned back, "And while we're on the subject, how dare you consider this a sexuality 'extrasexual' it's an affront to our history, all those thousands of people who fought to have GOOD HUMAN relationships and see them recognized without persecution. What you have is NOT a sexuality it is a fetish, a philia. Just like how pedophilia is not a sexuality and a foot fetish is not a sexuality. How dare you compare yourselves to people with HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS?" Commander Vir could see the anger in the crowd. Hot tears streamed down faces shoulders were hunched hands out in preparation to fight, blood rushed into skin.

The boy's voice was shaking, "Thousands of years ago, they said the same things about same sex attraction, and they were WRONG just like YOU are wrong. You arguments are nothing, its not bestiality because they aren't animals, it's only disgusting because YOU don't find it attractive and for no other reason. You have to justify yourself. No matter what you do you are just making excuses for your pointless hatred. There is nothing ANYWHERE in human history that even says it's MORALLY wrong. There is no text, no ancient law, no biblical manuscript. Humans have depicted relationships with aliens since we THOUGHT they might exist-"

"BECAUSE THEY LOOKED HUMAN!"

"SO YOUD BE FINE WITH IT IF THEY LOOKED HUMAN?"

The crowd erupted.

"BEASTIOPHILE" The man screamed

People surged forward from all sides. Commander Vir quickly threw the signal catching the two men on either arm as they lunched at each other across the barrier. He caught one by his riot shield, and the other young man by his upper arm. Sunny roared a command, and the Delta Units created a line creating an impenetrable wall of massive armored forms and multiple arms. Nerve blocks were deployed by riot guards forcing the hostile crowd to the ground paralyzed.

With a button on the front of his shield, he applied a quick electrical current to the one and forced the boy to his knees with his off hand. He was skinny and easy to control. Just as soon as the crowd had churned into action, it was on its knees.

"BEHAVE." He shouted, "This is absolutely disgusting behavior of both of you." He glared at the white shirt side, "You are only proving that you are emotionally volatile and cannot be trusted as a group." Then he turned to the black shirts, "and you are proving yourselves to be aggressive militants." He let go of the boy as the other man slowly crawled to his hands and knees.

He glowered up at him, "You're only doing this, because you agree with them." He jabbed an accusing finger at him, "You and that Drev." He motioned to Sunny, "You two are together aren't you, you're biased."

Commander Vir felt his mouth drop open "What-"

The boy cut him off looking up, "What is your opinion, Commander?"

He kept forgetting that some people knew who he was. He should have seen this coming. And as he went to answer, he found that he couldn't. He didn't know what he thought. He was caught unable to think, unable to come to a conclusion on the subject. The grounds were silent as he struggled with his answer. People watched him from all sides. He squared up shaking himself back to balance, "It is not my job to give an opinion. I am a neutral party here, and either you will demonstrate peacefully or not at all. Which will it be?"

***

Some people had to be detained, others held themselves together as they protested. A few more fights had to be broke out and dealt with. Commander Vir worked to keep the crowd at bay that nagging question still in the back of his mind. He stood next to Sunny as they watched a crowd of angry, but peaceful, protesters roll and churn with the power of their emotions. Sunny glanced down at him, and he wondered what she was thinking. Did she agree with what her kin were doing.... Did he agree?

Camera crews had moved onto scene hours ago, but now the entire crowd was turning their attention towards a single point. Camera crews and reporters moved themselves upwards, and he dispatched a group of his soldiers for security at the behest of the council, who had made their decision.

The entire crowd went quiet, and from where he stood next to the podium, he could look out at the crowd. He saw human and aliens alike leaning forward in anticipation for the news. Strange, unusual pairs held hands for comfort, others hugged each other despite the glowering from the other side. A line of his men separated the crowd from the podium their riot shields at the ready. Cameras flashed from all sides as they waited with bated breath for the announcement. Commander Vir found himself holding his own breath before he realized it. A couple of the cameras seemed to be looking in his direction, so he let the breath go, and did his best to maintain a stoic face. Sunny stood to his side, and waffles sat at his feet.

The Rundi messenger, a short creature with long spindly legs, and a set of the council's ceremonial black robes cleared his throat. And the crowd grew silent. The crowd held its collective breath.

"The council has voted, and in accordance with majority ruling, it has been determined that interspecies relationships-"

Was he holding his breath again?

"-are hereby and forthwith illegal in all assembly jurisdictions."

He didn't make it past that noise as the crowd exploded. Screaming and cheering at such a volume that Even the Delta units could not make themselves heard. Humans and creatures alike fell to the ground on their knees. As he waded into the crowd, Commander Vir was hit by the expressions on people's faces. The malice and glee of those who had one, and the teary agony of those that had lost. Some knelt on the ground unmoving allowing themselves to be trampled below the feet of the crowd. Others fought as if for no other reason than to demonstrate their pain. A pair of unfortunate souls were dragged from each other's arms and thrown to the ground. Sunny and he were forced to intervene and pull bodies apart.

Waffles snarled and growled, placing herself between him and anyone who dared get close. The protest had grown into a full blown riot. At a certain point the scene was so violent, that he unclipped waffles and ordered here away for her safety.

She refused to leave.

His crew just barely managed to bring the situation back into control and reduce the damage to the convention center itself.

At the end of the day, two people died, trampled to death under the feat of angry protesters. He felt terrible, but knew his crew managed to save a lot of lives that day. On the other hand 200 + and counting had been injured in the resulting melee. All those involved in the fighting were ordered off world immediately and shipped back to earth despite their protests. The alien assemblies had never seen anything like it, the anger of the humans towards themselves, towards others. They had never seen the horrible emotion as humans sat on the steps of the convention center bloody and weeping.

White shirts were stained red.

Aliens had now experienced the full force of human political opinion, and they were afraid. The good natured stumbling of Captain Vir and his crew had only heralded what was truly to come. Humans changed everything they touched, and now the members of LFIL had pledged they would not rest until the laws were overturned. Members of the GA were scared and panicked though they had called to thank his crew for their work in quelling the riot. He didn't feel a particular pleasure in that.

He didn't know it yet but suicide rates across the galactic community would skyrocket. Creatures that had never been known to participate in such drastic measures would follow their human counterparts into darkness.

By the end of the day, Commander Vir sat on the convention stairway in his riot gear helmet next to him on the steps holding an ice pack to his face. The ground was littered in trash. Torn banners and shirts, strange stains from spilled drinks, or something worse. None of the protesters still milled here, only the limping security and crewmembers finishing their assigned duties. Waffles sat on his other side holding one paw delicately in front of her licking at the bandage about her foot. He patted her side as he watched the last of the emergency vehicles ride away without so much as a siren. At some point, Sunny came to sit next to him, just a few feet away. She said nothing staring out at the greying sky absently playing with one of the torn and discarded flags the LFIL starry logo sitting dispassionately against its stained white background.

Captain Kozlov came to speak with him for a few minutes and then left once his orders were received. No one said anything more than necessary. As he was contemplating getting up, his Comm gave off a sharp chirp, and he answered it with a tired, "Commander Vir."

"Hey little bro."

In surprise He sat up "Jeremy? Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me....."

"I.... wasn't expecting your call." He limped to his feet and took a few steps away from where Sunny was still sitting. "Did you need something?"

There was a pause, "No, I.... I just heard what happened." Long silence, "I'm sorry."

"Why would you be sorry?"