“Of course, I will do this,” he stated.
The weight on her seemed to lift a little and he felt proud to have taken, even a little, off the burden she carried.
“Report to me alone when you get back,” she stated and began making the motion to sever the connection.
“Daesah!” he called out before he could think better of it.
She paused her movement and lifted an eyebrow. He had intended to ask her if she had spoken of these ideas to anyone but him. He had intended to ask her if coordinating with the lesser species was part of her plans.
But all he said to her was, “Be careful.”
“And you, little brother.”
And then she was gone.
“Commander Khoth!” His mother’s voice was sharp.
His head jerked up. He had lost himself for a moment. What had they asked him? Ah, the many above the one.
“While it may be politically expedient to tell the masses that we are all equal, but she--High Commander Daesah--created our plans, both offensive and defensive against the Khul. She has been more successful than any other High Commander,” Khoth stated.
She was better than even you, Mother. You know this as well as anyone.
His mother was rigid and her blue eyes flashed as she said, “Rule of Duuskukeh is not something we just say.”
“I am not speaking about the value of anyone. No one is intrinsically more valuable than another,” Khoth stated, feeling he had nearly just stepped into a trap.
“And none is more valuable than the whole,” his mother added.
“Yes, so you know that if the Khul obtained that information then our best plans against them would be theirs!” Khoth shouted as his control cracked.
For a moment, his mind offered him the image of Daesah, already in one of the pools, body softening, already infested. Her eyes were focused on him. He saw one of the larvae moved underneath her right cheek. A black oblong shape that slithered as it separated softening flesh from softening bone. Nausea and horror bubbled within him.
“And by taking your entire command with you into that Khul ship could have given then twenty-five more of us,” his mother said softly. “No one taken by the Khul has ever come back uninfected. The moment they are taken they are injected. There is no coming back, Khoth.”
He swallowed and answered, “I know. But we could stop them from knowing what she did. I did not make it an order to accompany me to rescue her. There was a vote--”
“A vote?” Councillor Ardath Ulgex, his mother’s Second, scoffed. She did not hide her disdain. Her handsome yet sharp features narrowing with dislike for him. While she held the role of Second, she wanted to be First. “You are a Commander of the Thaf’ell! Any under you who would not follow your lead are not fit to fight!”
Khoth shook his head. The selchilite in his hair clacked together and Daesah’s face in that final agonizing moment was before him again. Despite the agony in her eyes, there had been a clarity too. There had been a pleading.
Do it, Khoth.
End this suffering.
Don’t let them take what I know...
Khoth got out, “This was a choice. I made it clear--”
“If it was a choice,” Councillor Esik Bhilkairs, the oldest on the Council, interrupted softly. He was known for his calm nature, but Khoth knew that Esik’s voice might rarely rise in volume, but his words could be the most cutting, “then shouldn’t your whole command be here to be punished as well for violating the Rule, Commander Khoth?”
Khoth had expected this argument. He would never allow his people to be punished for his decision. “Even if I agreed with you that the Rule applied, only a Commander is responsible for the actions of his command if he participates in the actions.”
Councillor Esik smiled almost sadly and nodded his head. “Your loyalty and intelligence make the actions taken by you to violate the Rule that much more painful to hear, Commander Khoth. No one…” His gaze slid to Councillor Ardath for a moment, “finds this Tribunal… easy. Indeed, I, for one, believe that you acted in what you believed was the best interests of the Alliance. While I am certain you felt great pain at Daesah’s loss, I do not believe that is what solely motivated you to break the Rule.”
Khoth found himself holding his breath. He had fully expected to lose his Command, his ta’na and, potentially, be exiled for his actions.
But I would still do it again.
