The King

King X’thar had been expecting the Hellworlders to request a meeting, aggrieved clans who had no hope of winning their case always tried to sway things in their favor by groveling before him. In fact he had pulled some strings to push some council members closer to Kazlum’s side to place some pressure on the Hellworlders and force those proud fools to throw themselves before his throne, begging and pleading for his help.

He had done this many times before, meddling in petty trials so that he could extort a large tribute in exchange for his support. He had amassed quite the fortune by playing the squabbling factions off each other, some tens of thousands of acres of land within the pricey core worlds, several city blocks on the richest worlds of the Union, and his own private fleet of luxury super yachts where he would often spend his time in leisure. In fact he wasn’t the first of his dynasty to come up with this idea, his ancestors had used the pride and arrogance of these barbaric pirates to establish themselves as one of the galaxies richest families. When X’thar had come to power over two hundred years ago his greatest concern was with eliminating his siblings and far-flung cousins so that he could slowly bring the vast wealth of his dynasty thoroughly under his control. And now that he was the last of his dynasty he no longer had to worry about rivals or challengers, he just had to continue to do what his ancestors had done for years.

He sat imperiously in his highbacked chair in his expansive and richly adorned office as the Hellworlder was let in by his steward. He looked over the smaller female with barely a hint of interest, which was only sort of an act. His dynasty had watched other deathworlders rise and fall through the ranks of the pirate rabble many times before, and the Terrans despite their great feats and terrible reputation would fall just like every other deathworlder before them. They couldn’t escape that fate; it was the curse of all deathworlders. Their worlds were not conducive to creating lifeforms that could survive their own success. Deathworlders lived on the knifes edge of annihilation throughout their whole history, always just barely keeping ahead of the hostile environment by being greedy, aggressive, and ruthless. Such creatures simply could not last long in a galaxy that had long since learned to thrive off of peace and stability. Deathworlders either turned their impressive military on the galaxy and became just another marauding deathworld empire, or slowly drove their worlds into an environmental decline as they overworked the land and exhausted their resources. The Terrans were of the latter sort of deathworlders and their homeworld’s extremely high classification drove them into that decline faster than anyone had ever seen before.

He knew that he had nothing to fear from these creatures, in a hundred years or so they would fade away and he would reap the benefits of their aggressive rise and fall. He had nothing to fear from Terrans as a whole, but the female before him made him uneasy. In only a few years she had risen in through the ranks of the Terran fleet, broken away and established her own fleet, and had grown so fast that she now rivaled some of the weaker factions that made up the Council of Nine. She had destroyed the Terran fleet and now seemed to be on the verge of war with someone as feared as Kazlum. X’thar might have nothing to fear from Terra in the long term, but in the short term this woman could potentially overturn the status quo that had existed long before X’thar was even born. Disruption like that was dangerous for his interests, and if she hadn’t been the greatest available to destroy that arrogant little upstart Kazlum X’thar would have taken this opportunity to crush her.

The Aunviry Marauders had grown too strong under Kazlum, and X’thar had a suspicion that he might be angling for his throne. So now he was forced to work with the lesser of two evils, and he planned to extort an exorbitant tribute from her hide.

“Greetings my King” she said respectfully.

X’thar glared at her, though he was in all rights the king of this ridiculous confederacy his ancestors had meticulously insisted that they were only a simple elected figure. “Know your place girl, you shall address me as Grand Chairman.”

Something flickered in her one dark eye, was it mirth? “Of course, my apologies your majesty.”

Was this creature stupid, or was she just courting death? He had just strictly reprimanded her, but it seems to have gone in one ear and out the other. He gave up trying to understand this deathworlder and proceeded onwards. “Have you come to beg my favor?” he asked disdainfully.

“I am here to offer a trade”

X’thar straightened a little in his chair and loomed over the deathworlder “And what would you have that could possibly interest me?” This part of the conversation he was very familiar with, this where they tried to draw his interest with riches and land. Though she had cut through a majority of the petty ceremony and small talk, and had insulted him with her rudeness. He internally decided that nothing less than that prized ship of hers, the Astaroth, would do.

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“I have information, and an opportunity” she said slyly

This was unusual, what information did she think she possessed that could buy his favor “I’m listening”

The human smiled and exposed all of those sharp predatory teeth. He had been told that among humans this was a sign of friendliness, but right now X’thar doubted that this smile was anything but a threat. She reached into the folds of her simple black clothes and drew out a small paper folder and passed it over.

X’thar opened it and casually glanced through its contents, and as he read through it he felt his blood turn to ice and felt the glacial pace of his two hearts speed up rapidly in response to what he saw within. “When did you learn of this?” he asked quietly.

“Does it matter?” the girl asked impudently.

His heartbeats quickened even further, and the human tilted her head as if she could now hear the rage pounding in his chest “If you discovered this and kept it hidden I could have your head for treason” he growled.

She let out a breath of air “Relax, I’ve only been in the capital for a few days. I have had only enough time to uncover this information and confirm its validity.”

X’thar calmed down “I see, and you intend to use this to buy my favor, you think this is enough to wriggle your way out of the standard tribute”

She chuckled “The way I see it, you have no choice. You need to act on this information as soon as possible to secure your throne, and my trial against the Aunviry is the most opportune time to declare Kazlum’s treachery. There won’t be any other chances to draw him out of the Igrathoth. I don’t need to offer you anything else because you have no choice but to do what I want.”

X’thar felt frustrated and angry at her logic, he hated her for her impudence, but she was right. He had to act now, and her trial was the only opportunity he would get. But he did not like being played by a girl not even a fifth his age.

“However,” She continued, ignoring his stormy expression “I do have something else to offer you. When you break the news all hell is going to break loose, I wouldn’t be surprised if Kazlum has something nasty up his sleeve just in case you try something. You’ll need trained and prepared soldiers and ships for when that happens, and it would look very suspicious if you readied your own forces or called your fleets. On the other hand my fleet and crew can be ready within hours of the trial and would likely be a lot more effective than your own troops.”

“So you would offer your own services in destroying Kazlum?”

“For a price, I want half of all Kazlum’s wealth and loot. And any ships we seize will be ours”

“You dare to bargain with me!”

“Again, you’re not in a place to refuse.” She said flippantly, her eyes glittering with amusement as she toyed with X’thar.

X’thar had never met anyone as disrespectful as this girl before him, nor had anyone ever dared to challenge him so directly. He wanted to have her slain here on the spot, but his guards would not be a match for her. Even the large Terran guards he had extorted out of Domnall would likely fall short of her in terms of strength and ability.

“Do we have a deal” she said and extending her hand forward in a very human gesture.

He extended his own three fingered hand and shook her with all the strength he had, she in turn gently flexed her hand and sent a crushing pain through his arm. He wanted to cry out in pain, but his dignity would not allow it “We have a deal, girl” he said as evenly as he could.

“The name is Astarte; it would be best for you to remember it” she added cryptically as she turned to leave without his dismissal.

X’thar glared at her back and began to plot how he would deal with Astarte after Kazlum had been taken care of.

~~~*~~~

Astarte’s skin crawled as she left the king’s private residence. Something about the Zxx’thi disturbed her, especially the older ones. Their dark gray skin hung loosely off their bones, and she could see the blood actually pumping through their veins every couple of seconds. They had beak shaped mouths with bits of skin hanging off it like a turkeys instead of mouths, and she felt really uncomfortable with hearing the sound of their heart beats.

They were one of the founding races of the Union and they pretty much dominated everything from banking to politics for the Unions entire history. Worlds with their own seat on the council often chose a Zxx’thi representative instead of a member of their own species because the other Zxx’thi council members wouldn’t respect them. They lived so long that they simply had a natural tendency to rise through the ranks by outliving their superiors. By human standards a Zxx’thi could live over 500 hundred years, meaning that the ambassador who has inducted Mars into the Union and had orchestrated the insidious diplomatic invasion of Earth was still alive and had now become a powerful council men.

Aster had grown up watching and hearing Zxx’thi expound on the natural deficiencies of deathworlders and how the Earth’s decline was humanities fault, and she couldn’t help but shiver at their dispassionate condemnation of her home.

She strode through the clean and well decorated corridors of the X’thar’s section of the capital and began to plan out her next moves. There were about three weeks until their case was heard by the Council of Nine, that was three weeks she had to meet with all the council members to fully secure their vote and make sure Domnall kept up his side of the bargain. They also had to use that time to scout out Kazlum’s.

She also had to give the king some time to reach out and exert his own influence over the council, and given how slowly Zxx’thi moved she had a couple days before she could do anything on that front. During that time Aster and her fellow captains would meet with some of the other factions just below the council and try to sway them as well. She had some ‘friends’ and a few favors she could cash in on to help pad out their side of the confrontation, and she had a few business deals to renegotiate. The other captains also had contacts that they needed to reach out to. These next few weeks were going to be a very stressful for all of them.

But for now she had the rest of the evening to relax, and Modius had subtly offered his company for when she was done dealing with the king.