The kids bolt. Soon the streets are cleared out again. Work vehicles continue to come and go but give the singing Elves a wide berth.

It is kind of horrifying that these people are so terrified. The Elves do not leave.

Reds continue to go about their business and go nowhere near Elves.

Elves remain determined to wait this out, since there is nothing else useful to do in their entire assigned country.

It does eventually become clear that not all the reds are coming back from work.

Uh huh.

They have a forensics demon look that up.

Couple of them went to work and got murdered.

By police or just random people at their place of employ?

One of each!

Vanda Nossëo sends Rivik a courtesy notification that there's an investigation into loss of life in connection with interdimensional contact and that galactic observers will be present for the foreseeable future, as will the media. Should Rivik choose to cooperate with the criminal investigation into the murders, the observers are equipped to collaborate with them and provide forensic support and factfinding; should Rivik find that events do not merit prosecution under local law, Vanda Nossëo will handle it all themselves. 

Rivik says that they haven't signed anything and Vanda Nossëo is to leave their citizens alone.

Vanda Nossëo has made the following arrests for murder in connection with the ongoing investigation. They understand that extended contact can cause all kinds of problems and will keep the observers and investigators as unobtrusive as possible; most Rivikni citizens should never even see one, and they'll wrap up the investigation as quickly and neatly as they can.

...they can't have those citizens they arrested and should give them back.

Here's the case summary, should it be of interest to Rivik's government!

Are they deaf? Here it is in sign.

Recently Vanda Nossëo insisted that some planet that was practicing slavery stop that. A regional governor murdered all his slaves. This was legal under local law. He was still arrested and convicted under galactic law. He appealed. He did not win his appeals.

Or, in clearer language: no.

Rivik complains to all its friends. All its friends are very concerned. Has Vanda Nossëo considered not abducting people? They don't like it when their people are abducted, right?

Galactic law allows for prosecutions for rape, torture, murder, enslavement, and arbitrary deportation or forced transfer of populations. The laws are straightforward and there's a translation available in every Amentan language. Vanda Nossëo will enable local prosecutions if local governments are willing and able to prosecute. The case law and some relevant helpfully-chosen examples are also available in every Amentan language. 

Examples are mostly people who killed members of oppressed ethnic or social or religious groups after learning that the aliens planned to give them rights. There is a lot of case law. This comes up a fair bit.

Rivik's friends think that Vanda Nossëo does not understand.

Vanda Nossëo sends more case law and an accompanying summary to the effect 'yeah, we get that a lot'.

Many Amentan countries walk back their negotiations if Vanda Nossëo will not promise not to kidnap anyone. This does not seem like too much to ask. They don't like it when their people are kidnapped.

This is apparently too much to ask. 

"With all due respect," says an ambassador in a country that is stalling, "this is very unlikely to come up and would affect one or two murderers and no one else if it did. I'm absolutely not saying you're wrong to be upset, but I can tell you the conversation that's going to happen in headquarters and it's: 'some of the countries on Planet 77115-180 are withdrawing because they're upset about section 16 enforcement.'

'How many section 16 enforcements have there been?'

'Two. It's the principle.' 

'77115-180 is the place that wanted colony planets up front with membership, right? Honestly it's easier logistically if they decide not to bother, the top prospective planets on the standard waitlist all have more than a billion interested parties. Tell Terraforming we're maybe not expecting as much demand from 77115-180'.

Look, to me it's really important Celenta feel able to join and get its colony planet, because I think it's good for you. To you, whatever you decide, this decision is really important because it's the country your grandkids will grow up in. On Vanda Nossëo's end, there are precisely-this-many resources to go around and if you don't want them, great, someone else does. So they're not going to strike a big section of galactic law off the books, and they're not going to carve out an exception - they hate carving out exceptions - they're just going to take whatever they were going to give you and give it to someone else."

"Look, it's not that we lose a lot of sleep over Rivikni who can't leave the reds alone. People aren't allowed to do that around here anyway, it takes years to grow a replacement. But before you came here people just plain didn't get kidnapped by aliens, and now apparently sometimes people get kidnapped by aliens. You didn't say, 'oh, well, I suppose Calado can do what it likes, they probably don't like having to act differently when aliens are involved', when they took some of your people. I don't have any trouble believing that Vanda Nossëo's an uncaring giant bureaucracy. I just don't think that's the image they're going for and in most other respects they've been doing a good job of projecting otherwise; why this, why now?"

"Actually if Calado had arrested them that would have been fine, the entire judicial case turned on whether they had arrested them or just snatched them out of the sky. 'Abductions' is a silly characterization here and we all know it. I get why you don't want outsiders making arrests. If you criminalize that here anyway, then I actually am in a position to promise you that it won't happen here. But the laws have reasons for them - good reasons, horrible crimes that I think, reading about them, you'll be glad were punished. And the way to change them, if you think they need to change, is to join and become our judges and policymakers and have fifteen kids until you're the biggest voting bloc we've got. I just - I just feel like people are thinking 'this'll really show the aliens, we won't go along with them now' and it won't, all the people who suffer for it will be right here."

"You add people very fast. We might not outbreed orcs, let alone the next species you find, to say nothing of how you sign on more planets every week."