"They'll give us time to talk," he said, reading her caution.
She lifted an eyebrow at him. Somehow that wasn't really reassuring. The hidden message being, when they were done talking things would change and her time would have run out.
"You look good," he said, his eyes warm and soft.
"You've gotten old," she said, the words a bit more abrupt than she intended. Her social skills had grown rusty from disuse. To be honest, they'd never been that great in the first place.
Himoto didn't let the comment bother him, throwing his head back on a laugh, his teeth flashing.
His laughter died and his eyes danced with mirth. "I have indeed, despite my best efforts." He studied her. "Not you. You look exactly the same."
Kira didn't show a reaction to that, at least not outwardly. Inside, she fought against a thread of sadness and discomfort. It seemed that was to be her fate, never aging or dying, while the friends around her did both.
It was one of many reasons for her self-imposed isolation. Her oddities were a little easier to take when they weren't thrown in her face on a regular basis. She might look human, but she wasn't. That fact had been made clear to her a long time ago.
"First Spitzy, then Jace, now you; it seems like today is the day for reunions," she observed.
He snorted at the name she'd given Spatz, even as he watched her with fondness.
The shadows stirred and Kira felt a small loosening in her chest. Relief coursed through her. Jin had returned. She wasn't facing Himoto and the entire might of Centcom alone.
"What are you doing here?" she asked Himoto.
O'Riley was an important waypoint, pivotal because of its closeness to both the Tuann and the Haldeel, another alien race humanity had stumbled across in the course of their war. The Haldeel were slightly friendlier than the Tuann, though they were equally convinced humanity was a young race in need of guidance and restrictions.
"Jace and I have been trying to broker an extension of our treaty with the Tuann," he said.
Kira digested that, wariness making her cautious. She didn't like the fact the Tuann had been after her—and here Himoto was, admitting he was trying to curry their favor.
"Kind of you to take time out of your schedule for little old me," Kira said, testing him.
"I looked for you when you left."
She flinched and looked away. She didn't want to dredge up the past. There were too many demons there.
"Get to the point, Himoto," Kira said, forcing steel into her voice. She wasn't the broken mess of before. She wouldn't crumple at the first push by someone she once knew.
"I'd like you to sit down and talk to the Tuann."
"No."
His sigh was long and he shook his head slightly. "You always have to do things the hard way."
"It's the only way I know to be." Kira didn't let herself feel bad about that fact. Maybe once, before she'd rebuilt herself from the ground up, but now, she embraced all her jagged edges.
"If that's it, I have a ship to repair," she said, starting by him.
"Do you want to be responsible for starting another war?" he asked, his words flat and emotionless.
Kira gave him a sharp look, a banked fury burning at her core. "Don't."
He didn't listen, his expression calm. "Because that's what will happen if you don't listen."
Kira hesitated. He was serious.
Seeing something in her face he continued, "Running isn't going to save you this time. Your ship's modifications might protect you from us, but it won't do anything against them."
"What do you know about my ship?" Kira barked.
