“We cannot defend everyone, Jace,” Khoth answered softly. “And Earth was not thought a target.”
“If the Osiris wasn’t here, and the Khul had come and done what they did, would you have helped us?” Jace asked.
“I cannot answer that, because the Khul only likely came because of the Osiris and, without it, and you, the Khul would have done much worse,” Khoth answered.
“But now you’ll help because you’re interested in the Osiris, right?” Jace studied Khoth’s face.
“Yes. And… you. We are most interested in you, Jace,” Khoth stated.
Jace collapsed the hologram back down to the ship model. “So General Intoshkin is right. I shouldn’t show you anything. Because the more you learn, the less likely you are to help us.”
Khoth did not respond. That he looked pained, anguished really, for a split second before smoothing his expression into one of passivity only made clear to Jace that he was more right.
“You must understand, Jace, that the Khul’s constant war against us has… limited what we can do,” Khoth answered and touched a place over his heart as if there were something there he was referencing. “But you and the Osiris may be able to change all that.”
Jace regarded him steadily. “I’m not interested in helping you unless I know that Earth is protected.”
“But the Osiris is meant to go after the Khul, not defend--”
“I am not leaving Earth undefended. If the Osiris is all we have then… it’s not going anywhere,” Jace stately flatly.
“This is bigger than just Earth--”
“If it was your homeworld, what would you do?” Jace challenged. “I bet you have tons of ships protecting it, don’t you? C’mon, Thammah, am I right, or am I right?”
“Haseon is in the heart of Alliance territory so that’s more than right,” she answered.
Khoth shot a narrow-eyed glance at her. “Haseon is the seat of the High Council and--”
“And this is my home,” Jace interrupted. “There’s nothing you could show me that would change my mind about this.”
Khoth swung around towards him. His feelings were once more exposed. He looked… stricken? As if Jace had said the one thing that he had hoped Jace wouldn’t. But, once more, the facade of calm slammed down in place.
“Would you let me show you something?” Khoth asked.
Jace shrugged. “I don’t know. Depends what it is.”
Khoth looked bleak for a second again. “It’s your people.”
“My people--”
“The ones in the Khul ships. The one right by where I found you,” Khoth stated.
Jace jerked back as if struck. “They’re still in there?”
They’re infected, Jace, Gehenna answered for Khoth. Remember? They can’t be removed without fear of the infection spreading.
You know what he’s going to show me, Jace stated.
Now it was Gehenna’s turn to sound bleak, Yes, and I think you should see it.
Shall We Dance?
Jace studied Khoth’s face for a long time before he said, “I’ll go with you.”
Khoth didn’t know how he felt about Jace’s acquiescence. He should be pleased. This was his mother’s plan. But the young man would be scarred by what he saw in that ship. Though he had been fighting the Khul his whole life, when he’d gone into the Khul ship to save Daesah, the fight for him had changed. It had become more personal, but also more urgent. What the Khul did to people was an abomination that must be stopped. He was almost certain that Jace would feel the same way.
Yet I am asking him to take the Osiris from Earth, its one protection, and leave for a greater good. But what about humanity’s greater good?
