A short time later, she found what she was looking for.Two more rooms that showed signs that they’d once been inhabited by small people.
One of those rooms had the body of an adult male outside it.Zuipi still clutched in his hand.Half his head was missing and scorch marks on the nearby walls showed that there’d been a firefight.
“How many children do you guess an enclave of this size would have?”Kira asked.
“As you know, Tuann birthrates are extremely low due to our longevity.Three children in a population this size is already considered a boon.Most wanderers would try to limit the number of births as it would make them very vulnerable for the duration of the pregnancy and the decades needed for the children to grow up.Likely, the reason these three were carried to term was only because they were in a large enclave that offered a modicum of safety.”
“It wasn’t safe enough,” Kira said sadly, gazing into the last room.
The child it belonged to was older than the other two.Ziva’s age or thereabouts.
Kira looked back at Finn.“Three then.”
That’s how many missing children they had on their hands.
“You think the Tsavitee are behind this.That their aim was the children and Caius was a bonus.”
“That’s not new.I always think it’s them.”
That was why she needed his opinion.The Tsavitee and their masters were her own personal boogie man.The monster in the closet whose influence infested every aspect of her life.
She didn’t want those assumptions blinding her to the truth.If she missed something that was right in front of her face because of her bias, she’d never forgive herself.
Still—kidnapped Tuann children.Slain parents.And a conspiracy that spanned solar systems.
It read like something out of Kira’s own biography.
“The problem is Caius,” she said, thinking aloud.
He was the piece that didn’t fit.The Tsavitee had no need for Roake’s commander.They would have considered him more trouble than he was worth and left him for dead.
However, Kira couldn’t find a reason humans would have taken the missing children.
“If he really was the target, why bother with the rest of the enclave?”Kira asked.
They could have hit the enclave hard, grabbed Caius, and then beat a hasty retreat.
The perpetrators hadn’t just attacked the enclave.They’d decimated it.They’d done a room-to-room search looking for survivors and then executing them.
Kira dug her fingers into her hair, tugging lightly in frustration.“What am I missing?”
Jin spoke over the comms.“Nixxy, you should get over here.I found something you’re not going to like.”
“I’m on my way,” Kira said into her comm unit.To Finn, “We need to see if any of the other groups found the children’s bodies.”
Kira didn’t expect them to turn up, but it was best to be thorough.
“If they really are missing, what will you do?”Finn asked.
“You already know the answer to that.”
She’d find them.And then she’d kill everyone who’d had a hand in harming them.
When Kira and Finn finally tracked the others down, Jin was in the midst of a tense standoff with Bez.
“Move,” Bez growled as Kira and Finn walked up.
Jin didn’t budge from the doorway he was guarding.“Sure—if you all want to die.”
