[ WP ] A peaceful alien race is besieged by another race in the same galaxy . As their last planets fall and their home-world comes under threat they do the unthinkable . They ask for aid from the only known creatures more brutal than their foes in exchange for FTL technology . Humans accept the deal .

Mr. James Morrigan strode down the hall *with a purpose*, which is to say that he was very nearly running, his shoes clicking loudly on the tile floor. Staffers glared at him as he passed them and a couple shushed, but they had to be ignored. Sometimes, even a junior staffer has matters of life and death to attend to. 
 
 He flung open the doors to the Cabinet Chamber grandly, ignoring even the Presidential Honor Guard, and announced quite loudly, 
 
 `` Ms. President Paiement, the General Ambassador of the Fragmathians requests your attention on matters relating to the Gramarrian Police Action and is expecting an immediate conference.'' 
 
 President Paiement glowered over her spectacles at me while the various Cabinet members gaped. 
 
 `` Ca n't you see I'm in the middle of a Cabinet meeting? The Parliment and Houses of Lords of the Federated Worlds of La Galaxie en Lait is expecting a policy statement on the Granttain Colonies heroin epidemic this evening. We do n't have time for the Fragmathians and their war right now.'' 
 
 `` Ms. President, I was not seeking to ask your permission on behalf of Their Grandness Sir Windiness Krashtheet, but informing you that he has arrived and will be here momentarily.'' 
 
 As the President sighed heavily and rested her head in her hands, the unmistakable sounds of a number of heavily armed guards politely trying not to create an interstellar incident drifted in from the hall. After a couple more awkward moments, a small contingent of Fragmathian Civil Guard burst through the door with Their Grandness Krashtheet in their midst. He did n't waste any time with his business, either. Stabbing at the table with a sharp, fur fringed finger, he erupted at the President, his typically gentle drone a steely roar. 
 
 `` We asked for your aid against the Gramarrians to save our people. While you sit and twitch your tails and groom yourselves, my kind are dying at their hands! Where is the aid you promised? Where is the war?'' 
 
 The President looked up at him, pulled off her glasses, and fixed him with a cool, steady gaze. She waited a beat and responded. 
 
 `` Their Grandness Krashtheet. This is most irregular. Interrupting a Cabinet Meeting? You know better.'' 
 
 While Their Grandness fished for a response, the President stood up and languidly spread her arms, dismissing the Cabinet. 
 
 `` Meeting adjourned. Meet back here in two hours.'' 
 `` Ambassador Krashtheet. Come with me to my office and we will discuss this.'' 
 
 The Ambassador did not like that a bit. 
 
 `` No!,'' he roared. `` No! We can not waste a moment while my packmates and my worlds packmates die. We will meet NOW!'' 
 
 The remaining Cabinet members flinched and moved to scuttle from the room even faster. The President put her glasses back on. 
 
 `` So be it.'' 
 
 `` You promised military aid to defeat the Gramarrians. You promised to help us utterly destroy them. You have not done that. You are among the oldest of the species of the galaxy and certainly the most powerful. You could wipe them out of existence with a gesture. But you sit and scratch your privates while Fragmathian kits and their mothers are killed in their dens. You break your promises and lie like a *kwaeseae*, a packless cur. What good is your vaunted peace if your words are burrow filth?'' 
 
 The President took her glasses off again and put them in her pocket. She sighed and walked over to the Ambassador Their Greatness Krashtheet. Putting her arm around his shoulders, she said 
 
 `` Come with me. I will explain to you who we are, for you have not truly seen us. Send away your guard.'' 
 
 She led him through the door at the head of the table into the Oval Office and opened the drapery with a tired gesture, ignoring his indignant splutters. 
 
 `` When you look at the Earth, what do you see, Ambassador?'' 
 
 `` I see a green world that has always astonished me for its verdance and life that looks as if a galactic power had never found it. I see thousands of trade ships moving in space around it, but I do not see where they go. A prosperous, bustling planet of *kwaeseae* that do not care if another Fragmathian city is destroyed by the Gramarrian hoard! I see a lying government that loves its'peace' more than the lives of others.'' 
 
 More to come but I've got to work now...
