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Tharon knew Kiek never asked for help, but he felt obligated to continue the conversation. “No, no … Only informing the other leaders of our status. You know I don’t need help. We simply take what we need.”
“Oh, I am aware of your actions. I was hoping you would have changed your overall demeanor in a way that allows others to live more peacefully.” He hoped nudging the leader toward peaceful interactions would help his and other planets. “Any chance you would be willing to negotiate a peaceful exchange of resources?”
“No need for that sort of talk. I’m not coming after your planet any time soon.” Kiek mumbled something under his breath that sounded likethat you know of, but he couldn’t be sure. “I’ll be visiting neighboring planets soon enough.”
“You know, mine is your closest neighboring planet, Kiek.” He felt himself becoming more and more heated as the conversation prolonged. “I hope you are not threatening my planet to my face. Such action will not end well for you.”
Kiek had started to glow at the prospect of getting Tharon irritated. “Only time will tell at this point. Why don’t we both just hope that my planet becomes more livable?”
“There are plenty of other planets who would be willing to help you with that if you would only ask for their help.” He hoped to avoid an all-out war, but anything was possible when dealing with Kiek.
“I already told you I don’t ask for help. Nor do my planet inhabitants.” Kiek was as insufferable as always while he acted like he was better. “Let’s just say our current efforts are not solely focused on inhabiting our planet.”
“Yes, how crazy of me to assume that you would be so civilized that you may want to avoid a fight.” His skin crawled with agitation. “We could just get this fight over with now. I’m ready if you are, Kiek.”
While Kiek was a hostile being, the alien did not intend to fight a species so much larger than himself up close and face to face. “Don’t be so silly. If I were you, I’d be more concerned about those closer to home. Sibling rivalry and all.”
Tharon’s security held him back while Kiek walked away. “You leave my children out of this,” he hollered at Kiek’s back. His children didn’t have any rivalry issues. They were twins who loved each other. No questions.
He shook off his men when he calmed down. “I know I can’t do anything about his stupidity in the summit hall, but I wish I could.” He thought about the encounter the entire way home. He first thought about how to fortify his abode in case there was a battle between his planet and Kiek’s.
At the very least, he expected his home would be directly under attack. As a leader, his address was listed in the summit directory, and Kiek knew where Tharon lived. He then thought about his children and Mia. If anything happened to any of them, he’d lose all hope or desire to live.
When he arrived home, he first gave his children a hug in greeting. “I love you both, but I have some work to do. Where’s Mia?”
Cian was the first to answer. “I think she was getting a shower. Earthlings have some silly traditions.”
“What did we talk about, sweetie? Try to understand that their body has a different structure than ours, and she may need one.” He thought about the implications for a minute. “She wasn’t playing in the mud with you two again, was she?”
Triat answered. “No, of course not.”
Tharon gave his son an extra hug and left the room for his office. “I’ll be busy until at least dinner time.” He prepped his computer as soon as he walked in and found a notice from his lead security officer.
I heard about the incident at the summit. Do you require any assistance or need to discuss a plan of action? I’ll be home the rest of the day and can be reached there.
His lead security officer was always on top of current events and prepared to give him help when he needed it. He called as soon as he finished reading the message. “I didn’t make a huge fool of myself, did I?”
“Do you want my honest opinion?” His security officer was also great at picking up on his lowered demeanor. “Or do you need me to give you an ego boost?”
“As much as I could use the ego boost, the truth would be most useful right now.”
“I think you could have managed the situation better, at least, but I understand that he threatened the safety of our planet. Honestly speaking, I am not sure I would have performed much better than you, sir.” A balance between the two extremes was a nice change from what Tharon expected.
“I can always count on you to provide me with your honest opinion. That’s how you got the position you are in now.” He promoted his lead security officer to the position soon after meeting him for the first time because of his brutal honesty.
“Now that we have that cleared up, what are your thoughts after speaking with Kiek?”
“I can also always count on you to get straight to the point. Kiek did so in a sly manner, but he was definitely threatening the planet. We need to develop a plan to make sure we are ready for any attack he may launch.” He kept thinking back to the not-so-gentle nudge that directly threatened his dwelling.
“We have some defenses up already for wanderers who end up in our planetary space without prior approval.”
“I know we have that, but I believe he will set up approval beforehand and most likely end up being smuggled onto the planet's surface. He seemed to be inferring that he would come directly for me rather than launch a planet-wide attack. I am not sure exactly what he is planning, but I know it will end with him at my front door.” Tharon thought about ways to not be home for a while in case this was Kiek’s plan.
“Don’t you have a cabin you could stay in for now?” He had invited his security team, including the security lead officer, out to his cabin once or twice for a weekend of team building.
“That may be a bit extreme for now. We will table that as a later possibility. For now, I need you to keep an eye on Kiek and his planet.” He hoped his security team would be able to prevent Kiek from stepping foot on the planet.
“Will do, sir. For now, we will make sure to scan incoming ships for Kiek and double-check all manifests and approval requests.” After he confirmed the current plan of action, they ended the phone call, and Tharon continued to work in his office until dinner.
