A plea for help

It’s a normal evening in the Lector household, the kids have been put to bed, a story from each father and an ignored plea for even more, it’s getting late after all and they can hear as many through the day as they want. There was some much needed laughs on the sofa, Prescott cuddled up into Islington’s side, Deli draped over the two of them; as they laugh at a comedy that neither find funny. A bottles cracked open but the two of them only manage to finish half, it’s already been a long day after all. Prescott retires to bed with a yawn, begging his partner to join him, Islington reassures him that he’ll only be up for an hour or two longer, there is some work he needs to finish, only put off until now to join them in the ocean.
Deli curls up to sleep almost as soon as Islington is in his office, the room once fully dedicated now covered in pictures from Fleur & Jaques, some vaguely science related, some based around their family, and a few, well he just assumes they’re wishful thinking, but up they go all the same. The main wall centre piece now bing a photo of the four of them from their wedding day, taken just as Prescott was mid laugh and Fleur was showing off that she could  wear Islington’s coat tails as a hat; not the perfect photo the photographer wanted, but the one that truly showed who they were. There’s even an extra chair in here now, sat by the fire for Prescott on less late evenings after the children have been put to bed.
Everything seems so at peace & so normal, like any other night that now graces the household.

That is until a klaxon suddenly blares out of Islington’s screen, making him jump, the screen flicking to a red flashing, fast enough to catch your attention, but not too fast to make it painful to look at; Deli startles awake.
“What did you do?” Islington jumps for a second, it’s still odd for him to hear more then chirps and squeaks from his companion.
“That wasn’t me, it seems to be coming through on some other channel.” He glances over at his phone, from the first klaxon he didn’t hear it from anything other then the computer, but it’s also coming from his phone, perfectly in sync. The pairs confusion turns to shock as they hear the message that has over taken their devices. A ydarine, Islington is distinctly aware she is someone important but he can’t recall it at this hour, is begging for help, there seems to be a fire roaring around her and the shouts of panic and sobs from separated families. Her final words come through loud and clear to him however,
“Send whoever you can spare… get my people off this rock.” The message then comes to a stuttering stop, a few more frames, she can be seen getting up, before the screen completly glitches and stops, a replay button coming up on the screen.
Deli and Islington glance at each other,
“Don’t they have ships of their own? Almost all planets do at this point.” She queries, snout twitching and tassel fluttering.
“I mean, they should Ad’rith’ne is the home planet of the Ydarine, they do have ships. However, there is no way that they have enough ships to get all of their civilians off…” There’s a tense pause in the air, “But I fear whatever it may be that is causing a planet wide evacuation.”
The air feels heavy as the two sit in silence truly digesting what knowledge they have just learnt, and what this knowledge will act as a knock on effect to the rest of the universe.
Islington does have direct contact, and in a way control over one space vessel, the Azerick. It’s a 1science vessel, but this does mean it has lots of large storage rooms, not the most comfortable for people, but from the seems of it the Ydarine need anything they can get. It can also be ran on a very small crew, leaving more room for refugees and medics. This after all does leave the question is would they want to help, Simon & Pi’nara would be given the final say, the two captains of the ship and both Ydarine themselves. He knows the two have mixed feelings on their homeworld from it’s past actions and beliefs, but he also knows Pi’nara’s own grandmother is still alive and on Ad’rith’ne, surely she’d want to go and help for nothing other then that selfish reason.
“I think we need to phone them.” Deli states, as if reading Islington’s mind, but she two knows the pair, she is always there with him after all.
“I agree, I don’t know if they’re home at the moment, and it’s late, but no doubt they too will have seen the message, and I don’t want them panicking if they did and don’t know if they have my blessing. I would rather they help, but I can’t force them if they don’t want to…”
Just as Islington goes to pick up the phone, Prescott comes crashing into the room, his hair a mess and Fleur by his feet, Jaques held to his chest. He doesn’t have to say anything, Islington knows he also knows, so just gestures to the chair, which Prescott takes, his eyes are still wide and Fleur looks confused but also slightly watery eyed, the children don’t need to know how important Ad’rith’ne is to anyone to know how worried she sounded.
“We have to help them.” Prescott manages to spit out and Islington nods, he has to stay calm it’s no good if they’re both anxious about this.
“I know, I’m about to try and get Simon & Pi’nara, but love, they get the final say if they want to help, it’s there ship & they’re Ydarine, it’s their home planet and peoples at stake.” Islington explains and Delilah shifts around to gently rub against Fleur’s cheek, comforting the frightened child, the fact Prescott is in such a state doesn’t help, but he can’t be blamed. With his lack of knowledge on his origins, he’s always been so much more sensitive when it comes to home planets or the fate of the bulk of a species. He does however nod in understanding at Islington’s words, and Jaques nuzzles further into his chest, before suddenly shifting forms and Prescott has to shift his arms as to not drop him.
Islington turns his attention back to picking up the phone, and just as he does, a ringing comes through from his computer, just at a glance it informs him it’s the captains he was trying to reach. He glances back at Prescott before returning his attention to the screen and accepting.

Simon’s & Pi’nara’s background is a mess, Simon clearly having just gotten in his chair, Casino, his cat who’s normally always stuck to his lap is asleep in a bed just in the screens range of view. He however looks put together, well no, he looks like he’s trying his hardest to pretend he hasn’t just recieved crushing news. Pi’nara, well she isn’t hiding anything, her fur on her face is slicked down with tears, she’s not crying at the moment but her eyes are puffy, like if she tries to speak the flood gates will reopen, her hair up in it’s ribbons, the two clearly have just dragged themself out of bed from the news.
No one says anything, no one really knows who to speak first, until Pi’nara opens her mouth.
“We have to help them.” Is all she manages to spit out, as she starts crying again the second she really focuses on what’s happening. Simon’s eyes look wet for  a second, before gently tugging Pi’nara over to lean against his shoulder as she just starts sobbing. Islington’s a little taken back, Pi’nara has always seemed more like a stereotypical ydarine lady, incredibly tough and always in charge, this just feels like he’s viewing something private, walked into something he shouldn’t have.
“I’m glad to tell you I’m of the same opinion, I can gather you everything you need as soon as morning hits, most of my staff will have woken up to this, but we’ll be no help to them if we’re bumbling around half asleep. If they then need to be brought back here, I can work with the council over housing, I can pay anything that needs to be done, though hopefully enough of the worlds will be of agreement that no one deserves to have their plea for help ignored.” Islington states, trying to make sure his words come out in the right order, it’s now more then clear how late it is.
“Thank you.” Simon states, “I know most of our Ydarine crew members want to help on this, but with your blessing as well sir, I’d rather take fewer Ydarine, this is going to be very emotional and I know some of them will be clouded.” Simon states and Islington nods.
“It’s your ship Simon, I will give you any blessings you need to have it up and functioning to help. I’ll also reach my feelers out, I know there are others who can help who may be worried about the supply or financial drain; I promise to the both of you, we will get as many people off as we can.”
A silence falls again, but this time it seems more comfortable, Pi’nara has stopped sobbing but there’s still the occasional heavy sniff coming from her, Simon looks more relaxed, but also stressed. This will be doing his ms no good, and Isligton will make sure that he puts a specialised doctor on crew to help look after him, he’ll be no help to them if the ms exhausts him or he’s so twitchy that he can’t even hold a phone.
“Right, now you two promise me you’ll get some sleep. You cannot help your people if you are exhausted, I’ll be phoning my medical contacts as soon as I get up, and then I can start sourcing any items you need.  Anything scientific that isn’t nailed down and can be removed, do so, I have places that can be stored.” Islington states, firmly, in the same tone that he does the children when they want to stay up all night; he cares for the ydarine pair, and he knows they are worried, but staying up all night panicking about it is going to mean they’ll be further delayed sending help out to them. Simon nods.
“That’s a good call Islington, I’ll get me and Pi’nara back to bed. Either phone us when you’re done or we’ll call your home to not tie you up, Prescott you’re going to have to look after Casino for me.” Simon smiles out, he could see the man’s stress even from the slightly blurry distance. Casino would also be no help on a busy ship, and Simon doesn’t want Prescott to feel left out when it comes to helping them all out.
“Of course Simon, me and the kids will help out in anyway we can, which in general will mean mostly staying out of the way.” Prescott manages to lighten the mood slightly.

The four say their goodnights, Fleur finally piping up to call Pi’nara her superhero, which makes the woman smile for the first time this evening. Fleur really knows how to make all of Islington’s friends happy, and it usually involves calling them some form of positive fictional thing. He likes to say that, that’s Fleur’s personal super power.
Once the call has ended, Islington shuts everything down, his work can be put off for now, that can happen whenever, this has to happen soon. He then turns on his chair to look at the rest of his family.
“Right, we all need to go back to bed. Prescott give me Jaques and I’ll take the kids down and I’ll meet you in our room.” He states, taking in how truly exhausted his partner seems to be right now. Fleur does a small bounce at this information, she doesn’t have a favourite among her dads, but she does love the little kisses Deli gives here as Islington tucks Jaques in. Prescott nods before standing and passing the sleeping Jaques over, Jaques shifts, patting Islington in the face with one of his paws before his maw opens wide with a yawn and he gets comfortable again.  
“Come on then Fleur, back up to bed.” Islington smiles, he feels exhausted.Before leading his daughter down the stairs and then down onto the second floor.
It doesn’t take long to tuck them in, with Jaques fast asleep and Fleur understanding that now is not the time to play games and that something serious has just happened.
“You’re going to have to be a good girl for me Fleur, me & your dad and a lot of my friends are going to be very, very busy soon, so you have to be the best biggest sister to Jaques for me. Especially as I don’t know if the Principality will be able to come look after you, this is going to be a hard time for all our ydarine or partial ydarine friends.” He explains will gently kissing the small child's head, and then giving her ear a rub.
“Of course, Father.” She smiles softly before giving a wide yawn and falling asleep. Islington smiles softly and walks out, gently pulling their door to as he goes.
He realises this will have a big wave through a lot of his life for a while, especially with a lot of his workers being Ydarine in some way or anothere, he’ll let them know that he and the Azerick are helping, and that if any of them disagree with it, that’s fine, but he won’t turn down any plea for help, especially not one so desperate as that one was.  

Finally he makes it back up this his room and in bed beside his husband, Prescott’s arms wrap around him the minute he appears.
“They’ll all be helped won’t they?” He asks, voice soft and Islington runs his hand over Prescott’s back.
“I hope so Prescott, we’ll help as many as we can, but from the seems of it, we need most of the universe to wade in and help out.”
The two eventually fall asleep, but it can be said to be a pleasant and well rested night, both of them still plagued by the desperate call for help, and Islington truly hopes that the rest of the universe will band together to save the people from the homeworld, yes the Ydarine had a bad past, but they’d turned to good, and if most of a civilization can be condemned for their past actions, then there’s no real way to save anyone.