The three of them passed Kaela, dismissing her as they entered the room.
Jaiya stood to the side and watched the rest of the CTA representatives file in, with Kaela taking the lead.
After yesterday, Jaiya didn’t know where she should sit. Her loyalties had changed; she didn’t feel as if she belonged on the CTA side of the table with the humans anymore. And yet, the way Idris was acting this morning, she didn’t know if she was welcome to sit near the Daextru.
She didn’t trust Kaela’s behavior. Diplomats of her rank should know about how sacred their hair is to the Daextru and the honor symbolism it stood for. She was being arrogant with her bold advances, and treating this meeting like a game, seeing how far she could take things.
What is her motive? Did she really believe angering the Daextru is going to solve anything?
Erlyn leaned over and whispered something into Idris’ ear, who nodded in reply.
“May I have your attention, please?”
The room fell silent.
“It seems as though my sister, Ushyaz, has asked for permission to warp into the Azophi space. She will be here later this afternoon. She has requested to take my place signing the peace treaty when she arrives. Until then, we can eat while the CTA representatives take their time going over the document.”
“You got on my case when I requested a change to the itinerary, and now your sister wants to change it when she isn’t even here. How is that fair?” Kaela demanded.
“She is the true leader of this space station—I was only filling in while she was away.” He smirked. “Plus, she is my sister. I can’t disobey her.”
“When will lunch be served?” One of the four other representatives asked.
Idris glanced at Erlyn, who typed a few things on his tablet. “In about an hour.”
“Is it possible for us to save time and read the treaty while we wait?” A different representative asked.
“Yes, that is possible,” Erlyn answered as he approached a table standing off to the side, upon which sat two drafts of the treaty in two languages. “As you can see, with Diplomat Lian’s help, the treaty was able to be translated into both CTA Common and Dzexet so both species may have a copy in their native tongue.”
Erlyn stepped away as the five representatives gathered around the documents, discussing something with their heads down in hushed tones.
Raizxl stood guard at the door, looking bored. Erlyn and Idris fell into their own private conversation on the opposite side of the room. Jaiya didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t a real diplomat, and other than the enjoyment of getting to know the males around her, the meetings that had taken place that week had been boring.
She wished that she had bartered for some type of fighter wing shadow training or some provision that would allow her to stay here on the space station. Outside of her brother and wing, she didn’t really have anything waiting for her at home, and if Kaela's behavior was any indication, she could expect harsh consequences when she returned.
“Prince Idris, would you please come here and explain this section of the document to us?” Kaela asked, a little too sweetly for Jaiya’s tastes.
Idris shot Erlyn a look before heading over to the representatives. Erlyn walked over to Raizxl and started speaking to him in hushed tones.
Jaiya hovered near the table, just in case Idris needed help explaining something in CTA Common. She didn’t understand why Kaela was being petty and not askingherabout the finer parts of the document. Kaela couldn’t ignore that she had helped create the treaty, no matter how much she tried.
“Prince Idris, you see this section right here?”
“Which one are you talking about?”
“This one, way up here.”
Something about Kaela’s tone of voice sent chills down her body. She snapped her head in the direction of the table.
Two of the male representatives held beamblades in their hands, as the other two loomed behind them, staring in false fascination at the paintings on the wall while they blocked the two Daextru males’ view of the prince. Kaela was reaching into her robe with one hand as she was leaning over the table, distracting Idris with her chatter.
Jaiya saw red.
There was no way she would let these humans ruin everything she’d worked so hard to build. For whom and what reward, she didn’t care. The prince’s life was paramount.
She moved swiftly to pull her beamblade from its sheath, activating it right before it sunk into the back of one of the equipped males, narrowly missing his spine. She yanked her blade out, pushing the dying male into the two art-gazing morons, knocking them to the ground with his weight. Hoping that she’d gained Raizxl’s and Erlyn’s attention, she focused on the other armed male, who took advantage of her distraction and stabbed her side before she had a chance to defend herself.
Jaiya reared, stumbling forward into the prince’s body and pinning him against the table with her weight. But she wasn’t going down without a fight, honor be damned. She kicked the human male’s crotch—hard—and thrust her beamblade straight through his neck. He, too, fell on top of her, pinning her arm to the table’s surface.
