Kandar Ep 17 Donnie's trouble

Coco walks into the living where Donnie is hunched over the desk studying some papers intently. Her soft white hair is uncommonly pulled back to a pony tail. Her pure white fur impeccably neat shining in the light. Her long fluffy tail drifted out the bottom of her light colored floral print dress. There were plenty of designs in knee length, like hers, and longer dresses with slits or sleeves that allowed the tail to come out at a natural level. Coco maintains that a lady should always be in control of her own tail and graceful enough to not lift her dress to an inappropriate level. Shorter dresses and skirts were acceptable even in the ultra orthodox White Kingdom, but this was her style.
"My dearest Donnie anyone can see you are quite vexed with your eyes back like that and your tail twitching so. You need to relax some." She runs her fingers from the base of his neck up into his short hair. He stiffens up at first but as her hand moves down his spine skillfully tapping pressure points with the tips of her claws a chill runs through him as the stress and tension are forced out. "Now out with it." Her voice is soft and beautiful as a melody yet the command is still felt.
"It's that jacker guy with Jessie." He turns in the chair to face her. Leaving his back to her he knows even he is easily manipulated with her skill. She reaches for him again but he catches her wrist gently pushing her away. "Please my Queen, this is very serious." She looks into his eyes, softening her gaze he is almost caught in her spell. "Covanna!" She relaxes her gaze as she bats her eyes innocently at him purring softly. He rolls his eyes at her his tail twitching back and forth in agitation again "This is exactly why the Hand put me in charge of you. I'm not a Holy Paladin yet but I am one of so very few that can resist your...witchery."
She looks at him dejected "It is not 'witchery' it is chi same as you use I merely use it differently." She leans back on the desk as she takes a drink of wine. "You are way to tense nobody save my own staff and those here know where I am. The war is over and The Cross is clueless."
As he rubs his head his ears stand back up "Never discount the Cross. They are the ones that broke the peace last time. Even though the Humans still blame us we know the truth." He picks up his glass of tea, looking in he see the glass has been empty so long now it is dry.
"I have been checking on 5 star Jackers and its not good. All are why the Hand and the Commandant do not like you doing this. First there is a the possiblelity that he and that Jessie guy are assassins from of the Human Kingdom or just out to make a name for themselves." She just rolls her eyes at him in response. "Second there are rumors of a group of jackers the escaped a Cross prison calling themselves 30 Bit System. Nobody really knows their true numbers, strengths, where abouts or intentions. We have...what 5 or 6 jackers at the capital. 3 of them have 5 ports. They are the only ones that can even deceit their code. They say it is similar to the god code the builder of the great cities used."
She take a sip of wine looking quite eloquent "Please, if they 'escaped' from the Cross I would be their best friend."
"Unless they didn't really 'escape." He glared at her to which she stuck her tongue out at him. "The biggest concern is a group called The Get of the Wolf. They have been know to use jackers in their work. Cant say they have 5 star jackers but they seem to have really good resources so it is possible." The look in her eyes and the twitching of the tip of her tail says to him she is not frightened or amused. "The Children of the Wolf is an assassin guild started by Blackwolf. There is 3 five man teams we know of. They do only high end jobs. Like, oh I don't know, 25 million to kill the White Queen."
"Oh speaking of Blackwolf do you think I should raise the bounty on his head. Nobody is even trying for the 2 million I put on him. Do you think it was too low?"
"You had 2 million, the Cross had 5 million and there was a combined 3 million from varius other groups."
"The Cross put more on his head than, wait you said had?"
"No one told you? Well the money is still in the account but he was killed 6 moons ago in Abraxas by an S rank Kandar assassin."
"By all means pay the man, and fire who every's job it was to tell me those kinda things." her mood visibly lightened at this news.
He looks up at her perplexed with his ears twitching "let's see, were in a new town on one of your 'get to know the people' sabbaticals with no staff other than... me." A devilish grin crept across her face, her pink nose flaring. "Before you start, blame yourself. It was headline news. All you had to do was watch a news holocast anytime for a full moon after that. However if you want to fire me..."
She sticks her tongue out at him again "You know you are not nearly as funny as you think you are." She moves to the couch dragging her tail across his face as she leaves. He struggled back the urge to bite it. "I would like to think they do not possess a threat. The combination does seem unlikely, however they could be refugee. Just running from a past they no longer want to live in. I hope that they are and find that sanctuary here. From the time I took the crown I never wanted to be the most loved, or the most beautiful queen, I hope Tessie girl will take that title from her great great grandmother. I just wanted to bring a lasting peace to my people so they may flourish once again. So they did not have to live in fear of impending attack. I want them to cook and write and sing and create things of beauty and wonder." Sitting down on the couch she crosses her legs before wrapping her tail around them.
Her passionate love for the people was what won them to her in her early days. They rallied around her and began to push back the Human armies. The other kingdoms of the Kandar quickly jumped her aid and soon had the enemy running backward for cover. It was not without loss. A great many on both sided perished in the most brutal and epic battles of the thousand years of the war. When the Humans had been pushes back to the true borders she could have kept pushing and may have have completely crushed their side. Instead she halted all Kandar forward movement and called for peace.
Broken and badly beaten with moral at rock bottom the Human Empire knowing their throat bare to the Kandar knelt and accepted the terms which were by any standard very fair and giving. Only the Cross with the 'mighty faith till death' called to rebuild and subjugate the heathens back to pet that they were. Every Kandar on a lease made to walk on all fours like the animals they were. The will of the people was not there. Since then there has been an underground war between the Kandar and the Cross with its supporters.
"Come let that go for the evening and join me here" patting the couch next to her. He stood slowly sticking his holocom into his pocket as he did. A long stretch and a big yawn later he walked to the couch then remembered he needed a drink.
With glass in hand headed for the kitchen "So my great conquering queen what would you have me do about them?"
"I prefer to meet my challenges head first. Let us invite them over for dinner." Donnie nearly dropped his glass as he knew she was serious.
"I am never going to see Holy Paladin am I? You will be the death of me before I make Master Paladin." His thoughts flashed back to King Rogers death. "I'm sorry my Queen I didn't mean it that way."
"It is ok Donnie I know what you meant, but I am serious. Make your fish again he seemed to like that and we will get some double dark. We also need to wait till Tessie gets back. That should be a good start on Jessie. We need to know what Jack likes as well." Donnie was unsure if she was genius or insane, there is such a fine line between them.