...You Are Cordially Invited [Friendly, Closed]

[Sunset]

...You Are Cordially Invited [Friendly, Closed]

---

Erika & Demi's House, Botany Bay, Chuh-Yu, Ares System... A Whirlwind Few Weeks Later...

"...'You are Cordially Invited'," Erika read aloud, a cup of steaming coffee in one hand and the ominously lacey card that had just arrived in the other, "'to join us at the Anchinoe Resort on the world of Atlantis;' why does everyone seem to have an 'Atlantis' floating around?" she asked herself, "'to Celebrate the Wedding of...'"

With a finger she flipped the card open, showering the front step with a collection of tiny pink rose petals and then a fine spray of coffee with cream as she glanced over the two names, "Doctor Angelica Silaco and Doctor Stephen Ambrose!' What in the Nine Fucking Hells!? MOTHER..!"

---

Anchinoe Resort, Atlantis, The North-Eastern Gamma League... Just a Few Days After That...

From the air, the resort looked just like what its name might suggest - a picturesque desert oasis that tumbled down the side of a desert bluff, dotted with stone buildings in a Mediterranean or perhaps Egyptian style. Paths wandered here and there between and under towering palms and clustered of broad-leafed vegetation while a block-edged well stood at the very top. The ruins of an ancient building surrounded this with a pair of columns bridged by the last remaining arc of the roof standing as backdrop to a set of fallen pillars arranged into rows of seating.

Near the main building was a raised stone platform and it was this that the shuttle marked with an orange sunburst swept towards. Several other craft already sat around the perimeter while the causeway that linked it to the nearby resort was lined with colorful merchant stands. Settling down in its assigned place, the hatch slid inward and aside a moment later and a woman in a neat white linen vest and matching bowler emerged to stand beside it, one hand ready to assist.

"...'wanted' - I think I'd avoid using that word," Erika griped as she followed her wife through the hatch, one hand on her broad-brimmed hat to avoid having it snatched away by a sudden breeze. Both were dressed for the destination in floral print dresses with silk scarves either worn over the shoulder or wrapped around the waist. Demi's long black hair was down while Erika wore her blonde hair, gathered up under her white hat except for a pair of stray locks on either side of her face.

"I'm sure it will be lovely," her wife answered, ever-sweet despite the mild argument that always seemed to accompany a car ride. "She's your mom - not your daughter. If this is what she wants..."

"And I completely approved of my daughter's wedding - and her choice in husbands!" Erika reminded her, turning to glance around the landing pad. Opposite the causeway a curving stone stairway led down to a dock and then a set of piers that ran out into the water. An accumulation of boats both useful and modest was gathered around these as well as the more usual resort-fair of jet-skies and paddle-boards.

"There," she pointed, indicating a wide-beamed sailboat. With a polished teak deck and brass fittings visible even from here, she was a dazzling relic from a bygone age, "The 'Aegyptus'!"

"...yes ma'am."

Instead of one of the small, charming houses that were sprinkled here and there under the trees or a suite of rooms inside the main residence, they'd reserved the 'Aegyptus for their stay. A bag under each arm and one in hand, the butler made her way down the stone stairway ahead of them while they walked along behind, Demi with a hand on the railing to enjoy the view while Erika seemed suddenly lost in thought as she trailed just behind. It was only when they reached the dock and the row of island merchants installed there that the first turned to wait for the second, "All done? Satisfied?"

"Satisfied," her partner nodded as Alex again led them down one of the piers towards the triangular white sails of their destination. "Katryna and the kids are safely at her mother-in-law's house and they haven't yet set fire to anything - 'Yet'..."

[Kajal]

Anchinoe Resort, Atlantis, The North-Eastern Gamma League, at some point roughly continuous with the alleged wedding of the Doctors Angelica Silaco and Stephen Ambrose

If one noticed (and knew what they were looking at) during the descent to the resort, the first question was probably "what is that doing here?" when the familiar form of a Kajali transport came into view, though such reactions were likely reserved more for the livery painted on the transport than the make and manufacture. Painted a bright, almost fluorescent blue with bold white cheat lines following the curve where the upper hull met the bulk of the ship's body as well as the outer edges of the ship's upper surface, the Sera Nujuraan type - or as it was known practically everywhere else, the Imperatrix - transport made an eye searing impression in one of its few commercial applications.

Atlantis (and the Anchinoe Resort, by extension) was more or less exactly what the mainstream travel sector sold to 'ganic Kajali tourists looking for a vacation that was only a few inches outside of their comfort zone. The climate was basically identical to the Kajali homeworld and the many planets they had terraformed to that standard, with the Mediterranean styling being an exciting change by comparison. Still, a commercial Kajali liner would seem out of place, given that the NEGL was more or less on the opposite side of the galaxy from the Federated Imperium, and the journey there and back - assuming the liner hadn't set off from somewhere else, or made use of the various commercial portals or gates or what have you - would be best described as a leisurely cruise rather than a sprint.

An interested party checking the liner's public appearances and flight plan data might not give any thought to the fact that it had taken a leisurely week of travel with stops on various tropical paradises along the way, or astonished that it had done so by leaving Sol, and tracing a lazy arc "north" with stops in the outer Sagittarius Arm before diving into the Scutum-Centaurus for one more stop before arriving at Atlantis. It was all a matter of perspective, really, with the majority who were familiar with such ships trending towards "unsurprised".

Regardless of any speculation on the capabilities of the eye-searingly blue liner, it would not take long for guests to realize that a small group of Kajali - of certain infamy, under certain circumstances - had come to rent a simple Mediterranean-styled villa not far from the future site of festivities, nor would it be missed that they had apparently been accompanied by colleagues from a certain scientific research establishment.

For the moment at least, the good Dr. Ierenn Lesaan, renowned scientist and part-time arms-dealer (where permitted), his partner, and colleagues remained blissfully unaware of who was arriving, or for what reasons.