Alex led them back into the private dining room, the door to the lounge far more damaged than he realized. It was still on the hinges, yes, but as he pulled it open it was clear they were in need of replacement.
Inside, Eleya had started the inquisition without them, but it sounded amiable so far.
“The first Trailblazer ship had arrived in system at Katala just a few weeks after the Humans reached Na’o.” Kaleta paused as Carbon and Alex returned, violet eyes turned their way. She was wary now, caution taking precedence over fear.
He stepped aside to let Carbon in, and pulled the door as far closed as it would go. Na’o was the name of their home solar system, basically the same thing as Sol being named after the star at its center. He even recognized Katala, a separate system with extensive mining operations and their first venture into terraforming.
“Please, continue.” Alex gestured as he returned to his seat. They couldn’t have missed much, and he was sure he would be getting the rundown from Eleya next time they spoke anyway.
Kaleta looked to Eleya, who gave her a little nod.
“The Trailblazer’s captain asked for a place to hold a celebration. Just a section of shuttlebay, somewhere to land and meet with the command crew of the station. They had apparently participated in an anti-piracy action while in transit and their victory required this.” Her gaze had crept back over to Alex as she spoke, like he’d understand it.
Fortunately for everyone at the table, he did. “Yeah, TB’s aren’t a ship of the line or anything, but they are ready for a brawl. Real nasty point defense, most of them have at least six snub fighters on board, usually a dozen. Lots of time to tinker so they’re all shined and stropped, and the pilots are itching for contact. Their thing with the celebration is because they were attacked but completed the haul. They’ll bring a ceremonial item - usually booze - to hand deliver and then do a little partying with whoever was getting the delivery.” He didn’t get it the first time he heard about that ritual. Having been shot down, the whole thing made way more sense. Alex sure as hell would have cracked open something expensive if he had tangled with the Eohm and been able to continue their expedition undeterred. Hell, even having been able to limp back under their own power would have warranted it. “Nice to see they’re treating everybody equally.”
The reaction to this information varied greatly, everyone picking something different from that statement. Carbon was bemused by the whole thing - every part of what he said was exactly the stuff she expected from Humans now. Neya tended that way as well, curious more than anything. Even Eleya seemed to approve, a little smirk on her muzzle.
Kaleta, on the other hand, was appalled. “They had armed fighters aboard a cargo vessel, and it was allowed into Tsla’o space?”
“Allowed, with my decree. The Confederation was very clear about the ships they were sending and their capabilities.” Eleya responded, though the question had not been directed at her. “I recall this exact event. We had been having trouble with piracy on the lanes closer to the frontier and this ship... The name evades me, but when they were supposed to depart with an escort, the captain offered to act as bait. Have the escort ships leave and then appear to go alone. Everyone wanted to strike at these parasites, so we verified with the Confederation military that this was a reasonable course of action. It was, as they carry their own escort fighters.”
Eleya leaned back in her chair and took a sip of wine. “I approved of the plan, though I did not oversee it. I am told the captain had a very coarse exchange with traffic control over an unsecured comm about how they were offended by the mere insinuation that they needed a military escort. We ‘relented’ and they left, a heavy cruiser picked up their wake a lightyear outside Na’o. It turned out well, the entire event netted ten fighter kills, two captured freighters, and even an outed operative in traffic control.”
“You let them kill our kind?” Kaleta ratcheted up to horrified, betrayal written across her face.
“Our kind? A bold assertion.” Eleya’s tone dropped as she leaned in, ears and antenna pulled down and voice razor sharp. “Tell me about our kind. Be specific about the ones that turned their back on the Empire to steal food from the mouths of our citizens. Those that skulk around in the shadows to take their homes, their children, their very lives. You gave me the report about what happened to the Hastu Amara. Tell me you see these neck-cutters as one of us, that those tears were for show. Please. It will simplify things so much.”
As Eleya was making her feelings on that turn of phrase clear, Carbon bumped Alex’s foot to get his attention, shaking her head very subtly. He assumed that meant something like ‘don’t get involved here’ or maybe just ‘don’t ask about what happened to the Hastu Amara.’
He could look it up later.
Kaleta had withered under Eleya’s focused attention, quickly stammering out a weak but angry reply to rebuff the Empress. “I did not mean that the pirates deserve quarter! Just that no Tsla’o should die by a kava- A Human hand.”
Carbon sighed softly beside Alex, but the way Neya looked over at Kaleta with narrow eyes and her dark lips curled in disgust was much more informative about what she had stopped herself from saying. While Neya did not care for its use in this situation, she clearly did not want to involve herself in this discussion.
The room remained deathly quiet as Eleya regarded her brother’s Zeshen, hackles literally raised despite her voice being cold and flat. “How many people were on the Hastu, Kaleta?”
Kaleta understood just how dire the situation here was for her now. “Six hundred and seventy-three, Empress.”
“How many of our kind did they take?”
“Two hundred and ninety-seven, Empress.” She looked directly at the table as she spoke, what little outrage that had lingered in her voice tamped down into very formal inflection.
“It is good you have not forgotten. How many of those were children?”
“A hundred and thirty six, Empress.”
“There was a very special one among them. A sister to you and Neya alike. Is that correct, Kaleta?”
“Yes, Empress.”
Cold blue eyes bored into Kaleta as Eleya let her twist in the wind. “What was her name?”
Kaleta’s voice cracked as she spoke. “Ema Tolona, Empress.”
“Where are the children now, Kaleta?” She leaned in. “Where is Ema?”
“I do not know, Empress.” The tears Eleya had inquired about fell heavy onto her jacket, eyes squeezed shut as though that would be enough to avoid this line of questioning.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
“Correct. You do not know.” Eleya gritted her teeth, a snarl curling her lip. “You denigrate our allies to keep shit from getting mud on it. Those allies? They do know where Ema is. They returned her to us, and nearly a hundred more. It was not even their military! Mere merchants. The clan believed those vulgar stereotypes you do not seem to mind, and offered them all the slaves they could want. Adults, children, even an infant. The first Zeshen born after the Cataclysm. A product to be sold. It is thanks to them that she is free once more.”
“Why...” She looked up and Eleya, still crying and now bewildered. “Why have we not been told?”
Eleya had eased back from the height of her anger, her point made, but no less stern. “The task is not complete. The news of one child, of even a hundred, returning to the hearth is not worth giving away what we have learned. You may wish to inform your sisters, but this information does not leave the room. It does not leave you. We are afforded an opportunity to strike the heart of one of the clans, and they cannot be allowed to slip loose because someone spoke out in a moment of shared joy.”
“Yes, of course, Empress.” Kaleta nodded quickly, wiping her eyes. “Thank you.”
“I am not the one you need to thank. I did nothing to facilitate her recovery aside from allowing Humans some leeway within our borders.” Eleya sat back with an annoyed grunt. “When you speak of them, do so with more respect.”
She bowed her head. “By your sight, Empress.”
“Just so we’re all on the same page here: that situation is fucked. It’s kind of cool knowing that we’re actually doing something positive out there, though. I mostly just hear about how nobody’s using the stuff we sent and the general dislike for Humans despite how much we’ve tried to help, and the multiple attempts on my life.” Alex picked up his bowl of soup, now cold, and took a long sip from it. “Trying to give me a complex, I swear.”
Eleya turned to look at him, the faintest hint of amusement crinkling the corner of her eyes. “This operation calls for fine instruments and those take time to get into place. The Confederation has been kind enough to bolster our specialist units. You tell them there are pirates and they perk up, mention slavers and they get a particular gleam in their eye and suddenly they are ready to ship out everything you might need.”
“We’ve had a rough history with that, but did settle on the ‘slavery bad’ side of things. Everybody likes having something that’s morally black and white to deal with once in a while.” He was not surprised the Confed had jumped at the chance to help with that particular problem. The quickest way to put a win on the board was mopping up somebody who trafficked in people.
“Indeed.” Eleya looked back to Kaleta. “Now. This crew requested some space at the station’s shuttle bay. I assume that it was granted.”
“It was, yes.” Kaleta was hesitant to continue speaking, but given that she was still on the spot she mustered the courage necessary. “I was on my way back from Kama’o when this happened, so much of this is second hand to me. They invited the command crew of the station and the cruiser that had helped them specifically, but also stated anyone could come. The Humans brought a large amount of alcoholic beverages and some food, and freely shared it all.”
“See? I know those guys. Not them specifically, but how those crews act.” Alex chimed in. Sure, they were kind of weird and standoffish to Navy contracted pilots, but they were consistent.
“It is so. Most of the command and some of the crew at least visited. Sharadi was among them. At the time he had been drinking heavily, and according to what I have heard, he did not care what company he drank with. The Trailblazer crew were there for half a day.”
“Half a day?” Eleya interjected, initially surprised before a moment of introspection. “A ship that large would take some time to offload. Days, perhaps, unless they simply dumped their cargo to the void.”
Alex held his tongue. He did know all about how those ships worked but did not presume that everyone wanted a lesson about cargo loading and unloading procedures in areas that did not have dedicated cargo handling facilities, or in this case used an alien cargo handling system.
“They were in-system for nearly four days.” Kaleta sighed and continued. “When I arrived it was still early in the evening, so I returned to our... his quarters, expecting to deliver a brief report about the expansion of the colony on Kama’o. I enter and there is a jacket I do not recognize on one of the chairs, with writing that is unfamiliar to me on it. Some kind of bird I do not know stitched on the back. I knew Humans had arrived in system and they sometimes give gifts, so I did not think it that strange - he was a diplomat to them at one time, and fond of the work he had done. I had actually thought it good that he was engaging with something he had enjoyed again.”
“Then I heard someone singing. It was soft, like a lullaby, and obviously in a Human tongue as I could not comprehend a single word. I had not been informed we were to have guests, and I was certain there should be no children present, so I approached the rooms as quietly as I could.” She paused here and steeled herself, winding up the courage to continue as she wiped her eyes again and smoothed the fur on her face. “The door to his bedroom was open and the singing was coming from it. When I looked in, there was a black-haired human female laying on the bed with Sharadi curled up beside her, resting his head on her chest. She hadn’t noticed me and continued her song, petting him while he slept.”
Kaleta looked around the table, confused by the blank stares she was getting in return. This did not land as heavily as she had expected it to.
Alex was the first to give up on waiting for more information. He was currently the one with the most experience having relationships with Humans at the table, and singing a lullaby to someone who was sleeping on you did not fit with things he’d call a dalliance. “That’s not exactly what I was expecting. I really do not want any salacious details, but just to get this straight... He was asleep and they were cuddling?” The way she had initially talked about it, Alex was under the impression that Kaleta had caught them having sex, or at least making out.
“Yes!” She said it emphatically, like it actually was a big deal.
Eleya hissed through her teeth like a deflating tire. “Was there anything licentious occurring? Should we expect this to arrive as blackmail at an inopportune time?”
Kaleta had to think about it, which did not bode well. “No, I do not believe anything of that sort had occurred by the time I arrived. It certainly would have been in the air, and they were not nearly disrobed enough.”
Alex leaned on the table with both elbows, etiquette be damned, and steepled his fingers. “They didn’t even get naked? She just sang him a song in bed while he slept? Is that even bad, I thought Tsla’o did communal sleeping?” If they didn’t, both Carbon and Neya were going to have a lot of explaining to do. Separately.
“Not with a complete stranger! That sort of physical contact with someone you have just met is scandalous. If I am to understand the ways of Humans, it is also denigrating to him! Treating him like your livestock.” Despite the recent reminder that Humans were helpful, actually, she was creeping back up towards outrage over Human related things. It was going to take more than one close encounter with Eleya asking if she was a ready for a trip out the airlock to straighten that out, apparently.
“First off, Humans pet everything. Even each other, because it’s relaxing. If she was singing him a lullaby, she was doing it to soothe him. So cut her some slack.” Alex tapped his fingertips to his lips, annoyed that he had spent so much time worrying about accidentally petting Carbon when apparently somebody else was just sending it. “You got me on him inviting a stranger back to his place, though. That is odd. So what happened with her, anyway? They still doing the relationship thing, or does she have a Tsla'o in every port?”
“There is no relationship!” She exclaimed, face dropping a moment later when she realized that she hadn’t been involved in his life enough since this happened to actually know that for sure. “I believe. The Human, she noticed me looking around the edge of the door and stopped her song. She seemed happy to see me? Wriggled out from under Sharadi and said quite a lot. I think she was drunk as well, as I did not have a translator but she did not seem to notice. She grabbed my hand, spoke a few more times, and then she left.”
“Hang on.” Alex stood and picked his chair up, carrying it around to her side of the table and scooting Neya out of the way to sit beside Kaleta. “Lemme see that, I gotta fucking know what was going on and you don’t have any idea despite having been there.”
“I cannot.” She was offended, which was fair, and a little bit taken aback. “Humans cannot link.”
“For fuck’s sake, Kaleta!” Eleya growled that out in English, at the end of her rope with the Zeshen’s behavior. She clicked her teeth and switched back to Tsla. “They can and do. He has linked with everyone at this table. No harm will come to you, he is a paragon of restraint. As you are aware.”
“A paragon.” He grinned as he tried that descriptor on. Pretty nice, actually. Felt good. “I am told I’m very honorable in general, and I’ll have you know I’ve got over twenty years of experience interpreting Human culture and language. I did the immersion learning thing.”
Pressed into a corner by Eleya's outburst, Kaleta relented, a decidedly gloomy look taking over as her ears pulled down even as she whipped her antenna forward. "Very well."