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“Colonizing.”
“—war—”
“Settlement—”
“—threat.”
Qeshian, klah’eel, and human voices rose and fell and overlapped each other as the great military leaders of the sector, safely tucked away in their war rooms, debated the proper word to use for the Insect threat. Fal’ran ground his teeth. And while they argued, he and his team hurtled through space toward the very heart of that threat in a foreign ship they couldn’t control with hostiles that could overwhelm them at any moment.
“Shit,” Bar’in breathed, and Fal’ran reached behind himself with one hand to grab Bar’in’s wrist and squeeze.
“We got ourselves on this ship,” he muttered. “We can get ourselves off it.”
The black-clad qesh stood and spoke as though untouched by the chaos in the two rooms. “We’ve a bead on your location, Smith. I’ve dispatched recon ships to your position.”
“See?” Fal’ran murmured, squeezing Bar’in’s wrist one more time. Tar glanced at him and shifted from foot to foot but settled at Fal’ran’s steady nod. “We’re in better shape than we were when we crash landed.”
“Thank you.” Patrick’s clasped hands loosened at the base of his back. “Do you have an estimate for your arrival?”
“We’ll reach you in seven hours.” The qesh put his hands behind his back in a mirror of Patrick’s stance. “But I have no guarantee you won’t have reached your final destination by then.”
“Base Ship Givast and the entire Klah’Eel fleet will follow you there.” War Minister Hashi stood and spoke in a deep, carrying voice. “We will bring every gun we have to bear on this Colony Ship until we reduce it to so much space dust spiraling around Qesha’s sun.”
“Sir!” Patrick’s hands clenched into white-knuckled fists behind his back.
“You can’t!” Sazahk launched himself and Fal’ran dropped his gun to catch him around the waist.
“Bar’in!” Fal’ran grappled Sazahk out of the camera’s view and kicked his rifle back to Bar’in, who scooped it up and took Fal’ran’s position, guarding the hostages.
Patrick flung out a hand to silence Sazahk but spoke to the War Minister. “Sir, I don’t think you understand. It’s a Colony ship. There are civilians aboard.”
Minister Hashi raised his chin. “There are no civilians in an invasion.”
“Yes, there are,” Emissary Serihk hissed back.
“Sir, the Insects here have explicitly referred to children.” Patrick gestured to the buzzing hostages, and the woman in the center gnashed her mandibles. “There are children, and civilians, and—”
“And the Qesh have children and civilians of our own.” The qesh at the head of the table, previously silent, stood, his robes swirling and his face darkening with green. “That hasn’t stopped the Insects from staging attacks against us.”
“Fucking bastards.” Sazahk tore at Fal’ran’s grip and turned into a spitting, writhing thing Fal’ran had never seen. “Now the rules mean nothing? Now the civilians don’t matter? You’ll slaughter them all without even bothering to ask the questions, Patrick—”
“Sazahk, just—” Patrick bared his teeth at the scientist and snarled, but Fal’ran smelled his horror and frustration. Patrick breathed out and released his fists, before turning back to the tablet. “We’re already taking the Colony Ship by surprise. We have the upper hand. We have an opportunity for negotiation.”
“You do not get a seat at this table, Smith,” Yal’rest barked, and Patrick twitched as though slapped. “You will do as you’re ordered.”
“But you don’t have to.” Sazahk strained towards Patrick. “You can’t. Patrick, we can’t do this.”
Patrick clenched his jaw and Fal’ran’s grip on Sazahk weakened at the sight of the agonizing indecision in his eyes. “It’s the safer option.”
“Fuck the safer option.” Sazahk twisted in a different direction. “Bar’in, Tar. You don’t want to do this. What do you care about orders?”
“What do I care about Insects?” Bar’in shot back, but his voice wobbled.
“You’re not a murderer—”
“I am actually.” Bar’in bared his teeth, but Sazahk didn’t blink. He shook his head, red and purple swirling in chaotic storm clouds across the bridge of his nose.
“Only of people that deserved it.” Sazahk turned his pleading eyes on Tar. “You know they don’t.” Then on Patrick. “I wanted to be in your squad for a reason, Patrick, you know that.”
