Ali took a deep breath as she absorbed what Klandra was saying, and the taurran princess' calmness about the idea of resuming the war between their people. "Why are you giving me a heads up?"

"Because war isn't in anyone's interests," Klandra explained. "You think I want war? What I want is for my people to be safe, but to do that I need to bring this to light."

"Even if you know where it'll lead?"

"Even so."

Ali sighed, she knew she'd probably do the same in Klandra's shoes. Heck, right then she wasn't sure that she wouldn't do the same if Klandra wasn't with them. "Okay, how long?"

"What?"

"I'm not going to shoot you for protecting your people, and right now I'm not sure I don't agree with you," Ali admitted. "So I'm asking how long I have to try and dissuade the kentarians from responding with force or even worse with the krekt we've both just seen in there."

Klandra stood still for a moment as she considered the position they found themselves in. She had expected Ali to argue but instead had simply asked for some leeway to do things her way. "It'll take us a couple of days to reach Taurr, and depending on how much they believe me…"

Ali nodded to herself. "So I'm looking at five days, maybe more but don't hold my breath?"

"Yes," Klandra said.

Ali rubbed at her face as she swore under her breath. "I should just shoot you for threatening a USEP society…"

"Then why haven't you?" Klandra asked. Both women knew the other's skills and abilities when it came to fighting. Their group was relatively evenly matched, the taurrans had military training but were outnumbered by one. Neither women wanted to bet on which way it would go down.

"Why did you tell me your plan?" Ali countered. "It can't be allowed to continue, and I've already been classed as a traitor so I might as well embrace it," she half laughed. "Do you have the data you need?"

"Yes."

"Then go, before I change my mind about this," Ali decided.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me till we've averted whatever conflict is about to happen."

"If you pull that off, I'll owe you more than thanks."

Ali chuckled, and nodded to Klandra before the taurran walked to meet her security and they beamed back to their ship. Ali turned back to Ben and Rila who were looking at her with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. "We need to get back, after that it gets… complicated."

~-x-~

"Ali, what is going on?" Grey demanded once she stepped into his ready room. "Klandra has taken off and rather than briefing the crews you've requested a private meeting after whatever you found down there. Ben told me you forbid him from briefing me first."

Ali nodded, that was a pretty accurate summary. "Because I think you're gonna have to have me arrested. It didn't seem fair to make Wood or Rila make that call."

"Ali -"

"I let Klandra go back to Taurr to divulge what we found on Antke," Ali interrupted Grey's fresh demand. "I need to go to Kentar to force them to admit to their own sordid past to disband these groups and hopefully avoid full out war again."

If the situation weren't so serious Ali would normally be laughing at the dumbfounded expression on Grey's face. It took him a moment to process before he asked, "what, exactly, did you find down there?"

Ali beckoned to his desk for permission to use his computer terminal and he nodded as he moved away far enough for her to bring up the key files that she'd downloaded that would explain the situation the fastest. As he skimmed over the logs and the videos Ali witnessed the same play of emotions flit across his face as had all of theirs, the initial shock that gave way to disgust and horror before finally settling on despondent.

"This is the kind of behaviour tuktutav endorse?" Grey asked and Ali nodded unhappily. "And you let Klandra take this back with her?"

"Yes, sir," Ali confirmed with another nod.

"Couldn't you have at least made it look like a fight?" Grey muttered to himself more than her. "Regardless whether I agree with you or not, I have to arrest you for this."

"I thought as much," Ali said. She had known that when she'd made the decision to let Klandra go, she had prepared herself for this. She was only acting so calmly because she knew that was the best way not to make matters worse.

"Okay," Grey said, mostly to steel himself for what he was about to do. "I'm gonna have to put you in the brig tonight whilst I figure out our next steps."

"Do I at least get a book or something?" Ali asked.

"Ali!" Grey snapped. "This isn't a joke."

"You think I don't know that!?" Ali demanded. "I'm accepting this because I knew it was coming. You think it was an easy decision whether or not to let Klandra go or shoot her for even suggesting it? I'm probably going to be personally responsible for countless deaths because I let her go, but I had to, because this needs stopping and frankly this will at least bring it out into the open. That forces people's hands, and means that USEP have to make a choice about if they offer their support and who to. That might just be enough to make the kentarian authorities act - not that I'm counting on that - but I was hoping that despite the official procedures that need to be observed I might be able to help convince the relevant people to do the right thing!"

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Grey said nothing for a moment before sighing. "I agree."

Ali blinked at him for a moment, then nodded. She had hoped he did, but couldn't be sure, though it felt good to have shouted at someone. "Sorry."

"No you're not," Grey chuckled, and Ali's lips twitched towards a half smile. "I'll let Rila know that she's temporarily in charge again, and I guess someone will need to escort you to the brig."

"Don't trust me to know my way?"

"I don't trust that you won't detour via the Mule."

~-x-~

Ali couldn't help but wonder just how many more times she would end up locked in a cell staring at the ceiling as she tried to entertain herself. It hadn't taken her long to eat the provided dinner, and there was only so long she could be bothered to entertain herself with bits and pieces of exercise. She knew she should try and get some sleep - chances were that, even if she was technically under arrest, they were going to be rather busy in the upcoming days - but her mind was still too busy whirling over everything that had happened that day.

She heard the outer door to the brig open. "I promise I'm still behaving, Rensburg!" she teased. The poor ensign stationed on watch had been popping in occasionally to check that she wasn't mid-escape attempt. She suspected he was mainly doing it to alleviate his own boredom.

"Rensburg's not on duty anymore."

Ali sat up to see who was stood just outside her cell. "Hey, Nikud, guess you drew the short straw for the night shift."

"You could say that," he agreed.

His tone was jovial, but there was something about it that made Ali tense in anticipation. She wasn't even sure why. Maybe she was just too jumpy after all they'd seen that day? "Was there something you wanted?"

"I need to remove that tray," he said. Ali nodded, that meant she had to be as far away from the door as physically possible. She raised her hands in mock surrender before she scooted away so her back was pressed against the far wall where she was still sat on her bunk. Nikud watched her warily, but after a brief pause to scrutinise her, he reached to press the door release.

Ali had already left her dinner tray as close to the door as possible because she knew some poor sod would need to collect it and she didn't see why she should make it more difficult than it needed to be. She waited patiently whilst Nikud continued to observe her for a moment, she guessed he was judging the likelihood of her making a break for it if he ducked for the tray.

He reached for his energy pistol, clearly he wasn't going to take any chances. Ali rolled her eyes.

He didn't move for the tray but instead Ali felt an urging blooming in her mind. Ali clenched her fists, nails digging into her palms as she pushed against the unfamiliar intrusion. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" She hissed, trying to ask the question whilst focusing on keeping her mental barriers up. This subtle effect was a world away from the pain Bert had inflicted upon her in his clumsy efforts to exploit their tetnar.

"Dealing with a traitor appropriately," Nikud said.

Ali frowned, her defence slipping briefly as confusion flashed through her mind, quickly recovering as the uncomfortable feeling resurfaced when she stopped resisting. Her eyes flicked to the pistol still in his hand, and in the same moment she wondered why he hadn't just shot her, she realised that he wanted to make it look like he had no choice. But he fully intended to shoot her.

"Get out of my head!" She shouted as she felt a pressure as he tried to force his way back in.

She didn't need her eyes open to see the way he smirked at her, she could feel it as he continued pushing.

She forced herself to remember to breathe as she realised she had only one way out of this, and it wasn't one she liked, but she'd rather call for help than get shot. Help! Nikud's gonna shoot me!

"You can't resist forever, it'll be easier if we just get this over with," Nikud cajoled.

Ali drove her nails harder into her palm. She was hoping she wouldn't have to resist forever. "You can't keep this up forever."

"Yeah, but I'm also not a filthy hybrid."

"Good for you," she muttered through gritted teeth. She knew he had a point, but she also knew that the more he distracted her, the easier he'd have it. Right now she was just glad she had enough experience to recognise different minds reaching out to her own, it would have been all too easy for a novice to not recognise the foreign nature behind the impulse he was trying to incite in her mind.

However, if she could keep Bert out of her mind when they were bound by a tetnar and he tried to happily exploit it to paralyse her with pain, she was determined to keep Nikud at bay on the off-chance someone would come and help. She wasn't even aware of the way she physically curled up tighter as she kept pushing back against each of the mental jabs Nikud was making at her. Each new front left her weak on another and she was quickly losing ground due his superior abilities, that was the advantage of both physiology and training. She felt her own hand twitching in an urge that wasn't her own and suddenly indignant rage sprung forth as she drove the nails of her other hand into her palm to centre herself as she screamed at him.

For a moment she simply tried to catch her breath as she braced herself for another onslaught, only for it to not come and she chanced a glance at him. He was still stood in the doorway, breathing equally as hard with wide, stunned eyes.

Before either of them had a chance to make a move Nikud turned sharply at the sound of the main door opening behind him. Ali saw him raise his pistol at the same time she screamed a warning.

She dived from the bunk as someone shot at Nikud at the same time he tried to shoot them, and the shot dissipated on the wall near where she'd been. She glanced at it, realised she'd not been in any danger, but still happy she hadn't taken the chance. Her attention was diverted back to the doorway of her cell when she heard Nikud shout from where he'd taken cover against the frame.

Ali took a long, slow breath as she focused on her own mind, anchoring the feeling of where she was sitting, in the hopes she could convince him she was half sat on the floor. As she released the breath she slowly crept towards the doorway, and the discarded tray. She'd just gotten her fingertips to it when Nikud turned sharply, and in a flash she burst up to smack him with it, satisfied with the thud it made as it connected with his head.

Just as suddenly as Nikud hit the floor Ali was aware that Ben was carefully approaching the cell with his rifle still raised. She dropped the tray instinctively when she raised her hands, ignoring the clattering at her feet to say, "I know you're cross with me, but I promise I'm not trying to break out!"

If it weren't for the wry amusement she could feel through their tetnar she would have sworn she'd imagined the flicker of a smile before he schooled his expression back into neutral. "If you were trying to break out, I doubt we'd know about it," he said.

Ali hid her smile by looking at Nikud. "So… why is your deputy trying to kill us?"

"I fully intend to find out," Ben assured her as he turned to the nearest comm unit to call some of his people down to help properly secure the brig. When he turned back to see her sat cross-legged on the bunk he sighed. "Ali…"

"We shouldn't talk until Grey's decided what he's gonna do," Ali warned unhappily.

Ben nodded, he knew that. He could tell she wanted to explain, there was a restlessness to her that he could both see and feel. He was angry with her, mainly for keeping secrets, but he also knew she did it to protect him and Rila. Something he wasn't sure made him more or less irritated. "Okay, but we are talking about this."

Ali nodded, anything she might've been about to say cut off when the security personnel he'd called joined them.