Something is brewing in the galaxy, and it's not a double shot of espresso. With the dust barely settled after the last near-Armageddon, the four baristas are called back into action, even though the four have become three. With a little help from...
"That's the Secretary-General of the United Nations, dear."
"Oh. How come he has a cushion tied to his back?"
"Sweetie, I hardly think the Secretary General of the United Nations is likely to have a...hmm, so he does. How odd. I'm sure I don't know."
"And who's the other one? The one with the big shoes and the funny hat?"
"That's one of the Rigellians, dear. One of their high-ups, no doubt."
"He doesn't look very high-up. What are they doing?"
"I believe the secretary-general is officially surrendering Earth."
"Oh. Okay. Is that why he's wearing a 'Rigel Rules' T-shirt and doing that little dance?"
"Um. Well..."
"No, Holly." From the doorway of the room Holly and Samantha had been assigned, Spoonduckle Grenthar stood and frowned at the television screen. "That's not why. He's doing those things because Rigellians are small-minded tyrants who take pleasure in the humiliation of others. He's doing them because, quite frankly, Rigellians are arse..."—the little man caught sight of Samantha's disapproving frown—"...uh, asking Earth's leaders to abase themselves in a petty attempt to appear superior to them."
Unmoved by both the secretary-general's travails in particular and the often incomprehensible activities of adults in general, Holly turned from the screen and regarded the councillor with solemn eyes. "They didn't come. I thought they would. I thought the baristas would come and save us, just like they did last time. And that maybe Jess and me could help them. But they didn't. Why didn't they come?"
Grenthar pondered how best to answer. It had to be with the truth. An uncertain future faced them all, and this was no time for obfuscation or sugar-coating. "I'm afraid the Rigellians have them, Holly. Well, apart from Cam, of course. I've just had a dispatch from Galactic Central; Cora and Max were taken from a spaceport at Vanoo Prime and at last report Mel was surrounded by Rigellian forces on Blerg. So, I'm afraid we can't rely on the baristas this time."
In silence, they sat and absorbed this grim news.
"Well, what now?" asked Samantha, at length. "What's to become of us?"
"Oh, don't worry." The councillor gave them his best attempt at a reassuring smile. Samantha wondered if perhaps he had indigestion. "I have a plan. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration. It's perhaps more the beginning of an outline of a plan. In any case," he beckoned to someone standing out of sight beyond the doorway, "allow me to introduce Tiffany."
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Fresh from the surrender ceremony, still regaled in his finest dress uniform, Xarnax Splurmfleen leaned back into the plush leather of the UN Secretary-General's former office chair and regarded the New York skyline through the expansive picture window of the UN Secretary-General's former penthouse office suite.
