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From what I’d been told, after I’d landed on Aurelia, the brainwashing had kicked in. I’d ditched the summit and gone underground—literally. The GJW operated from a tunnel system beneath a township that had been destroyed to rout them out. As a lieutenant in charge of a unit, I’d intended to disrupt the summit. That was the charge against me anyway.
Acting on reports I’d gone missing, Nadir had come to find me. My men abducted him and Millie Rogers, the human woman who’d stowed away on his shuttle craft. Because he knew my identity and could expose the operation, I’d threatened to have him executed. All of this had been explained to me; I remembered none of it. If not for Nadir’s corroboration, I would have suspected I’d been framed, but my father’s advisor was above reproach. I didn’t always like him, but I trusted him implicitly.
“You don’t remember chasing Nadir and Millie Rogers after they escaped?”
“No.”
“Being apprehended?”
“I remember being in a detention cell, wondering how I’d gotten there and why. It’s like I went from the shuttle landing to detention. With only those few hazy flashes of tunnels, my memories in between are a big blank.”
“Tell me about the LOP.”
“Tell you about the LOP? Like what?”
She spread all four hands. “Whatever you think is relevant. Pretend I know nothing. Enlighten me.”
I tried not to keep glancing at the attaché. Would the brain scanner rat me out? If I fibbed and said the organization was the best thing since Arasetan sweetcakes, could she tell I wasn’t being entirely truthful?
The LOP frustrated everyone. My father ranted about the league meddling in our affairs, and even my easygoing mother had railed a time or two. But everyone recognized we were better off with them than without them. Imperfect didn’t mean evil like GJW propaganda claimed. Although some of their methods…
“The LOP is a galactic alliance of hundreds of nation planets. Its charter is to promote cooperation and goodwill throughout the galaxy and police interplanetary space and unclaimed sectors.” I settled on fact rather than opinion.
“Does it do an excellent job? A poor job?”
“Depends on the job,” I hedged. In truth, I couldn’t recall a single campaign I would have given them high marks for. I hope they’re better at mind-control reversal.
“How about combating alien species trafficking?”
“Fair, but trafficking is a huge and growing problem. I’m not sure anybody could do a better job.”
“What is your position on alien species trafficking?”
“It’s abominable.” I thought of Kat lured off New Terra with a promise of a space cruise and then getting abducted by the Copan-Cerulean Cartel and almost sold into slavery. No one had the right to rob another sentient of his or her autonomy.
Nadir stood before me, confusion and shock written on his face.
“You understand the quandary your presence has placed me in,” I threatened him.
Seeher had been watching her screen, but her head shot up. “What is it?”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “A…memory…”
“Of what?”
Something about a quandary? Conflicted emotions? “It’s gone now.” I shook my head.
She studied me for the longest time, her disbelief so palpable I regretted my admission. What’s the sense of saying anything if she doesn’t believe me when I do?
Finally, she asked, “What should happen to the cartels and individuals caught trafficking?”
“The LOP should prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Even though the LOP only does a fair job combating trafficking?”
“Who else can take care of it?”
She watched her screen. “The GJW says if the LOP is dismantled, something better will take its place.”
