Corebound Chapter 36 (Patreon)

“Your people truly were monstrous,” representative Chalto said in his slow, deliberate tone.

Xing’che did her best not to wince at the representative’s damnation, but she couldn’t completely stop her face from twitching at the statement. The man was right after all. She stared at the images being transmitted from the remote drone. The world below was not the first she had visited on her atonement voyage, but it was the worst. Suspiciously so. She suspected that the world, or at least the destroyed city on the surface, was curated to maintain how it appeared centuries ago.

“Yes,” she replied quietly. What else could she say?

Representative Chalto made a burbling sound, which was the borganian equivalent of grunting noncommittally. He turned away from the viewing platform and began to leave. She always found the borganian gait odd. It was slow, deliberate, and with much of their weight on their front limbs as they moved about on all fours. More animalistic than most intelligent species.

“I grow weary of seeing so much death,” Chalto sighed.

Xing’che had been waiting for the opportunity. Even she grew tired of seeing what her ancestors had done. She hardened her heart. She had a mission, and after three weeks, the representative had finally provided her with an opening to continue that mission, and she wasn’t about to let the chance slip by. She cleared her throat. “Representative Chalto?”

The man paused and shifted his body toward her. The borganians had necks, but they couldn’t turn their heads very far, so they tended to shift their entire bodies when addressing people. It was like facing off against a territorial animal. It was intimidating, given their size, and if you weren’t familiar with their peaceful ways.

“Yes, Adjunct?”

“I need some time to process what my people have done. I know of a station nearby where we can rest and recover. Once we have fortified ourselves, then perhaps we can continue?”

It hadn’t taken much convincing to get the representative to chaperone her for the journey. Chalto had been stuck on her home world since the borganian joined the Astryx nearly a decade ago. She hadn’t spoken to him about his desires, but she had heard from her sources that the man had wished to see more of space. The problem was that borganians held office for life, so he would never get that opportunity, at least until she had come along.

That didn’t mean he would agree to her newest proposal.

“That would defeat the point of this journey for you, would it not, Adjunct Xing’che?”

“Time to process does not mean time to forget,” she replied calmly.

“I will consider your proposal,” he said before turning away once more.

Xing’che watched the representative leave, her face a mask of concern. There were two likely outcomes to her request. Either Chalto would agree, or he would ask the captain to turn the ship around and head back to her home world. She was hoping for the former, but if the latter occurred, she would have to find another representative to finish the atonement voyage.

That wouldn’t be nearly as easy. She had picked Chalto because of his people’s avoidance of violence and their very recent addition to the Astryx. A new representative would likely be far harder to convince without having to remove them during the trip. There were enough eiraxins aboard that she was confident that they could take over the ship if needed, but that was a last resort. If she had to enact that plan, it would mean she could never return home. She would do it if there were no other choice, but she preferred diplomacy to violence. Her mission was too critical to leave to the whims of an Astryx representative, however.

That wasn’t the only reason for her concern. Seeing the devastation her people left behind, even centuries later, still affected her. She had seen recordings and pictures of the devastation. It was required that all eiraxins know of their heritage, but orbiting the abandoned and dead worlds added a weight to that understanding that pictures never could.

***

“Have you quelled the unrest?” his supervisor asked over the comm.

“I’m working on it, Supervisor Sael, but I still don’t understand why we bother. It would be much easier if we just got rid of these troublesome eiraxins once and for all.”

Sael narrowed his eyes at being questioned, but Vaal didn’t back down.

“You play a dangerous game, Vaal. If my boss knew you were questioning orders, any promotion opportunities might be subject to heightened scrutiny.”

“I’ve wasted years of my life on this horrid planet. I deserve to know why,” Vaal shot back in annoyance.

“You are right,” his supervisor relented. “I can’t tell you much. Just know that the eiraxins, while an annoyance, are important to our plans. If you want to learn the full truth, quell the unrest before the council vote. I don’t care how you do it, just see it done. Once the eiraxin home world is stabilized, I will personally recommend you for promotion. If the leadership agrees with my assessment, you will finally be free to return home and learn exactly why you were picked for this assignment.”

The news wasn’t what Vaal wanted to hear, but it was better than nothing. He bowed his head slightly and thanked his supervisor for the wisdom before ending the call.

He pinged his attendant to come in.

“Representative Naal, here is the report you asked me for.”

Naal took the tablet from the attendant’s hand and began to look it over. The edges of his mouth fell as he read. “Why did the surveillance on Adjunct Xing’che stop a few weeks back?”

“She is on an atonement voyage, representative.”

“An atonement voyage? Maybe she finally saw the error of her ways,” Naal scoffed before setting down the tablet. During his initial investigation, the adjunct's name had kept popping up. He knew she was heavily involved in the dissidents, but he didn’t have any hard evidence to prove it. The data on the tablet was useless, but he hadn’t expected much. If the woman had been sloppy, he would have uncovered her seditious actions years ago.

He was about to push the information to the back of his mind when he thought over the attendant’s words. The adjunct didn’t do anything unless it furthered her agenda, so why an atonement voyage? She could be just using it to try to throw him off her trail, but he doubted that. There were simpler ways to accomplish that without having to leave the center of her web for multiple months. “What representative agreed to take her?”

“It was the borganian one, Representative Naal. Apologies, I do not recall his name.”

“Chalto,” Naal spoke absently. He couldn’t fault the attendant for forgetting; he barely remembered the borganian representative’s name himself.

Unlike some of the political climbers or political outcasts stuck on the eiraxin home world, the borganian representative was little more than background noise, much like their entire species.

While he didn’t know the man personally, he knew the borganian people. They were passive, and while not stupid, he would consider them naïve.

“She’s up to something,” Naal said quietly.

“Representative?”

Instead of answering the attendant’s question, he asked one of his own. “Do we have a patrol ship available?”

“I-I’m not sure,” the man replied hesitantly.

“Go find out.”

The attendant nodded and left the room.

The attendant didn’t return, but there was a knock on his door a few minutes later. When he told the individual to enter, a t’uk captain appeared and saluted.

“You asked for a patrol ship, representative?”

“I did,” Naal admitted, “but a comm would have been sufficient.”

“I was in the security center when your attendant entered. I figured I would save the time and come in person.”

Naal nodded. The captain was looking to raise his status by earning a favor from him; he could appreciate that. Normally, he would have offered the man a seat, but their business would be concluded shortly.

“I suspect that Adjunct Xing’che of the primogen’s cabinet may be up to something. I want you to trace her route. Once you find the representative’s ship, tell them you were warned of privateers in the area and act as an escort for them until they return.”

“Only as an escort?” the captain asked in confusion.

“That is assuming you find the ship where it is supposed to be and that the representative is unharmed. If you can’t confirm either of those to be true, find the vessel and use your best judgment to deal with the situation.” If the man wanted to climb the social ladder using Naal’s name, he would have to show he had sound judgment instead of just relying on his connections.

The captain hesitated for a moment before nodding, earning a small smirk from Naal. It seemed he understood.

“I’ll send you the representative’s flight plan.”

Naal knew it wouldn’t be difficult for the captain to find representative Chalto’s vessel even if the ship was off course. All diplomatic vessels had emergency FTL transponders. It was considered rude and disrespectful to ping the ID normally, but it wouldn’t be out of place if the ship was missing from its designated course. It would just be considered prudent at that point. And maybe then he would finally have evidence against that damnable woman. Or better yet, the captain would deal with her himself.

The captain saluted, then turned and strode out of the room.

Once he was alone, Vaal swiveled his chair toward the window. He couldn’t help the disgust that flashed across his face as his eyes took in the city below. He despised the eiraxins and everything about them since he was young. He had fallen asleep to his progenitor telling him stories of their actions during the war, but that wasn’t what really made him hate them.

What really made him despise their entire species was the fact that they had caused the t’uk’s standing to fall within the galaxy. Instead of ruling the Astryx, they were forced to play nice with all the other races. He could not forgive them for that.

Some would call that hypocritical, considering the t’uk had also been part of the Concord Imperium, but he didn’t see it that way. If his people had been the instigators in that war, the rest of the galaxy never would have accepted them back into civilized society.

***

The station AI found itself far more curious these days. Part of that was from the extra stimulation of having biologicals aboard after so long, but another part was the new technologies that the Head of Station Services brought.

The AI enjoyed studying the devices. A feeling that shouldn’t be possible, but was how it would describe how it felt. The AI’s thoughts were interrupted as a vessel appeared on its scanners.

The vessel demanded a docking berth, which it found rather rude, but it couldn’t deny the ship as it had diplomatic credentials. Still, it recalled being chastised after failing the Head of Station Services twice, so it would not repeat that mistake a third time.

“Captain?”

The drone jerked in surprise. “What is it?” the Head of Station Services asked, his tone hinting at annoyance.

The AI logged the interaction so it could update its interaction log before responding. “A vessel has just appeared on my scanners and is inbound for docking.”

“Well, tell it no!” The Head of Station Services said in irritation.

“I cannot, Captain. The vessel has diplomatic credentials, which override your authority. I could not block them from docking any more than I could you.”

“That’s good to know,” the Head of Station Services muttered. “Can you restrict their access when they do dock?”

“Only from sensitive areas and your ship, Captain. However, they could override those restrictions as well with a proper legal request.”

“Fuck!” the Head of Station Services said. “How long until they arrive?”

“Ten minutes. Would you like me to provide you with their dock location?”

“Yes. Send any drones that are in that area and can make it in time to the hangar.”

“I will make sure we have drones available to service and maintain their vessel.”

“Um… Yeah, that’s what I want the drones for,” the Head of Station Services said before disconnecting from the malformed drone he was using to work outside the station.

The AI preened at a job well done and sent the commands to the drones as well as docking instructions for the vessel. It was larger than their previous two visitors, but nowhere near large enough to require one of the external docks.