<You need not fear accidental injury; we control them very precisely.>

"...uh."

<And they are never used to injure the defenseless.>

"...okay good."

<It's - I don't know if you have an analogous concept - some kinds of harm occur in war and are terrible the way war is terrible, but sometimes necessary. And some kinds are always without exception forbidden.>

"There's stuff that'll get a country more or less shit from other countries about it."

<What do these countries disapprove of most?>

"We're a cartography and survey team."

"Rape is bad, especially in spring. Perfidy but I don't remember what perfidy means. Uh, drafting a subdued people in short order, I don't remember how short of order. Getting an unpredictable manpower surge by using nongrey soldiers in combat positions."

Helicopter approaches. Andalites with only two eyes in their present form stagger backwards trying to look at it.

Helicopter circles a bit, then lands. More local people come out. One of these has purple hair.

"The aliens can talk Mioleen!" calls one of the cartographers-and-surveyors.

"They can shapeshift!" adds another one.

"...Welcome to Miolee," says a helicopter arrival.

<Thank you! We heard the upsetting but inspiring story of its founding.>

"...I'm glad you found it inspiring! We're delighted to have you in Miolee but anticipate that other national interests will be able to present more compelling cases for hosting you. In the meantime, would you prefer to stay with your ship or visit our city?"

<We need some people at the ship for reasons I should discuss with your government. Some of us can accompany you to the city. If the flight time is in excess of two hundred fifty percent of the time since we landed we will require enough space aboard your helicopter to return to our natural forms.>

"The flight time is a little less than the amount of time since you landed."

<Then some of us will accompany you to the city.>

They are ushered into the helicopter!

Five minutes after the ship lands Aitim is outside the office of the ambassador to Miolee. "Are you in touch with them -"

"Yeah I know, I told them we're probably gonna want it and they said 'you and everyone else, do you want to get into a fight with anyone who's offended we didn't give it to them'."

"Yes we do. Well, ideally preempt one, but if necessary - 

- possession is nine tenths of the game here. Tell them that we appreciate their holding on to it for us and we're flying a team over now equipped to safely secure it and we appreciate their frequent updates -"

"Will do. They know they can't hold anything anybody else wants, better us than anyone."

"The frequent updates are important, if the aliens take offense we might need to reassess."

"They've got a helicopter going to see if there's live aliens right now."

He nods. He is already dialing the next person who needs to know that Miolee being kind of Anitam's pet project Anitam regards the ship as theirs.

Updates roll in and the ambassador makes them all available internally.

- Ship was greeted by a cartographer/surveyor team. They have translation technology (receptive) and something telepathylike and acquisitive shapeshifting from natural form. Cartographer/surveyor team seems not to have offended them. [picture] [picture]

- Some Andalites remain with ship, others accepting helicopter ride to city. All are currently shapeshifted into local forms based on Mioleen volunteers.

- Evalee suddenly making desperate bid to call Miolee their colony. Miolee told them Anitami team en route and has dibs.

- Calado trying to find fault with purchase of Mioleen territory and claim it back, Miolee told them the same thing.

- Cene making threatening noises. Tapa making threatening noises. Is our backing still good?!

Tapa and Cene would have an interesting time trying to get their military reds to cooperate with a war with Miolee and Anitam. It's no longer his job to observe that kind of thing to people who will appreciate it properly so he trusts the diplomats to do their jobs. "Yes, we're committed."