“No. More’s the pity. He was like that when we found him.” Graydon’s jaw flexed, his expression pissed as hell that he’d missed his chance to exact a pound of flesh from the culprit.
“Once we’re out of here, I’ll get started on finding the owner of that ship,” Jin interjected.
Kira kept her expression blank, giving no sign she’d heard him as Alexander started speaking again.
“The fate of the person who did this isn’t up for debate.” Alexander fixed Jarek with a flat look. “We’re here to discuss the ramification of your actions. Had you taken any amount of time to figure out the truth of the matter, we wouldn’t be here.”
Jarek’s expression tightened. “Time was limited and she had trespassed on a sacred area.”
Alexander’s smile didn’t touch his eyes. “A total of forty-three minutes passed from the time the defense network activated to the time the Wanderer crash landed. It took me fifteen minutes to procure this footage and find the moment in question. Don’t blame others for your own ineptitude.”
Jin chuckled. “I never thought I’d enjoy watching him do this to someone else.”
Kira didn’t share Jin’s same level of amusement. Memories of Alexander doing something similar during one of their few encounters made her empathize a tiny bit with the inquisitor.
“I had credible intelligence that a soul bound was on that ship,” Jarek argued.
Poor guy. He still didn’t realize Alexander would rip him apart.
Though Kira would be interested in knowing who the tattletale was. Probably one of any number of Tuann who’d encountered her and Jin while on Jettie.
“I’m so glad you mentioned that,” Alexander said with an icy smile. “Let’s talk about J1N, a valuable piece of property belonging to the First division of Centcom. Specifically, the squad known as the Curs.”
At that, Kira stiffened, no longer as amused as she’d been before.
“Easy, Nixxy,” Jin cautioned as Kira’s fists clenched. “I knew about this beforehand. He asked permission and I okayed it.”
Kira struggled to find her composure, taking a deep breath and then another when that didn’t work.
No matter how many times they had to play this card, she still hated the idea that Jin could only be safe as long as he was regarded as “property”.
It was wrong.
No one could own Jin. He was a person. A thinking, feeling being who deserved the respect of being seen as such.
“Kira, I really am okay with it.”
Jin’s whisper made Kira’s eyes smart. “I know.”
That still didn’t make it right.
Kira’s expression showed nothing as Alexander shot her a cautious look.
He didn’t have to worry. She was fine. There wasn’t going to be any meltdown. She wasn’t going to shift to her primus form and go on a rampage.
Everything was fine. For now.
Jarek scoffed. “Humans hold no power here. If we decide to destroy one of their toys, there is nothing they can do about it.”
“Oh?” Alexander asked in a silky voice that made Kira shiver from remembered trauma. It was the exact same tone he used on her whenever he went in for the kill.
She had nightmares about that voice sometimes.
“Are you saying that might makes right?” Alexander asked. “If that’s the case, then the Tuann can have no objections to what members of the Consortium did during first contact?”
Kira looked alertly between the two. What was this?
“I believe a few of those humans are still imprisoned on one of your planets,” Alexander said.
