For a while, it looked like the trade negotiations were going to
be sunk by a major media blowup. Word reached the rest of the
alien delegation and got back to Ailouros. I was present in his
suite when his triple-great grandfather, the sovereign of all
Ailouros and Emperor of the Ailourian Hegemony called. The
hyperspatial waves carried Kontar and his grandfather’s images
across the light years, while the two hissed and yowled at each
other in their harsh, meowing native language as I stood in full
view of the holovisor camera. If Kontar was willing to stand up
for me to his progenitor and sovereign, I sure as hell wasn’t
going to slink away, even if I couldn’t understand a word of what
they were saying.