Of course her daughter’s passenger ship would be early! And of course it would be just as the Vren were being greeted on Oed, because why would anything have to be convenient for anyone? It was so ridiculous that Eela wanted to laugh as she slipped away after doing the whole diplomatic thing. Poor Caridee. She could already hear her daughter’s apology but it wasn’t her fault the ship had to cancel a couple of stops and thus their ETA had been accelerated. These things happened. It was good that Eela was excellent at shifting gears and adapting very quickly to a new situation.

While Eela, Kenzo, Jeannette and everyone else had been greeting the Vren, a whole set of other things were going on behind the scenes. Obviously, civilian ships docking during the Vren arrival was a no-go. But there had been contingencies upon contingencies and with every step of her heeled boots she thanked the Fates for Cort and his multi-logistical brain. He had come up with no less than eight scenarios (some variations on a theme), and together with various other parties they had come up with contingency plans for any scenario that wasn’t Eela going to greet her daughter and family on the Platform.

This was Contingency Plan 4.

As soon as it was reasonable, Eela snuck away from the gathering knowing the the Vren would be going back to their ship until they came down for the gala tomorrow, and everyone else would be heading back to the surface or staying on the Platform is that is where they worked.

She caught up to Kenzo and gave him a deep look. “Going back down? I have to head to the Tower, myself.”

~Eela Dasca, Lt. Gov.