She took another look at the cutter, picking up on the details she had missed earlier. The sails were a pink so deep and vibrant it verged on crimson. Violet tinged its edges as black lines wound throughout.
Not just that. Though the material of the hull mimicked the look of wood, she caught a shimmer that suggested it was coated in a substance that would make it extremely resistant to long-distance projectile and energy weapons.
With a glance she noted areas on the hull which housed several weapons, including energy cannons of force distributers.
She gave Jin a sidelong look.
As always, he read her mind. "They’re armed to the teeth."
To say nothing of the way the other two were currently circling the area. Kira recognized the pattern. Those two ships had set up an overwatch.
Any enemy stupid enough to attack would easily be taken care of from there, leaving the grounded ship plenty of time to recover their people and get airborne.
Those weren't the actions of somebody sent to retrieve a pair of unlucky racers.
"Did something else happen? Are they expecting another attack?" Kira asked.
The attention of the oshota next to Devon moved to Kira. A thoughtful look settled on his face, even as he remained silent.
"The perpetrator was caught," Graydon said, distracting Kira.
She looked at him in surprise. The Tsavitee weren't normally so inept.
Kira didn't have time to ask any more questions as the Haldeel official who'd overseen the start of the race disembarked from the cutter.
He glided toward them, sinking into a deep curtsy by flattening his lower appendages against the ground. For a Haldeel, the act of ensuring one's head was below another's was considered one of the highest forms of respect.
Kira had only seen it once when a Haldeel was seeking an audience with a puzzle master.
It wasn't the type of action offered to someone outside their race who also had little to do with their empire.
By doing this, the Haldeel was making it clear they were in the wrong. It was a strong stance to take in a forum such as this. If she were an unscrupulous individual, she could use his action to extort a lot of benefits from the Haldeel.
There was surprise on the faces of the oshota around her.
"This humble one apologizes for his tardiness and begs for your forgiveness," the Haldeel said, not rising.
Kira wavered, unsure what to do.
Diplomacy wasn't one of her strengths. She much preferred the straight and easy solution. If it involved the extreme application of force, even better.
Still, it was clear the Haldeel wasn't going to move until Kira made some sort of statement.
"Name?" she asked, buying time.
"Khartor."
Kira nodded as her gaze strayed in Graydon's direction. He looked passively at her as if telling her what she did next was entirely her choice.
Kira was afraid he'd say that. There was nothing like having all of the pressure on your shoulders.
It was times like these that she missed her peaceful life as a salvager. It was lonely, but at least then if she made the wrong decision, the only one to pay the price would be her.
"There's no need for all this fuss," Kira finally settled on saying. "No lives were lost, and the damage from this matter is minor."
Though if Devon had died, that wouldn't have been the case.
Given how protective the Tuann were of their young under normal circumstances, it would have been a disaster if he was injured or killed. Throw in his relation to the man next to him, who she suspected was the Tuann’s emperor, and you could magnify that by several factors.
