“What are you doing here?”
“I come to see you, Max Father,” Kohei said. Oh thank god, the fancy translator was turned on.
“Is the family safe?”
“Stupid James wants to shoot stupid people.”
“Well don’t let him!” Fuck. Max was going to give that idiot a tongue-lashing to be the end of all parental tongue-lashings if he even tried taking on an entire fucking planet of enemies.
“Rick Father locked controls and put all weapons away. Xander called him stupid.”
“Maybe don’t call him ‘stupid’ to his face,” Max suggested. He knew when his dad called his ideas dumb, he tended to double down on whatever dumb-ass plan he was working on.
Kohei came the rest of the way into the room and the door closed. With one of the kids in the middle, Max couldn’t even rush the door. Kohei continued. “I promised to listen if stupid people don’t stop seeking to advance their own stupidity.”
Max snorted. The problem was that the aliens weren’t actually stupid. They hadn’t fallen for Max’s con. “What are they charging me with?” Once Max knew he could start to figure out how to jack himself out of this hole, or he could resign himself to it.
“Max Father, they do not accuse you of any crime.”
“Really? This feels a lot like a prison cell.” Max gestured to the room as a whole.
“I have seen Earth prison cells. This does not appear equivalent.” Kohei slid toward the window. “This has much better view.”
Max's children were annoyingly logical. “Yes, but this also has a locked door.”
“Most doors are locked against people walking where walking is unwise.”
Max frowned. Maybe he wasn’t as screwed as he’d thought. But... “They brought me here using guards with guns.”
Kohei’s tentacles curled up a bit, and they should. Max did not appreciate being threatened like that. “Did you kill guards?” Kohei asked.
Max raised his eyebrows. “That's the sort of question your Rick Father might ask, and your Rick Father is paranoid about my past as a warrior.” Kohei’s tentacles relaxed, and Max shook his head. “Just because I know how to fight doesn't mean I fight everyone. Besides, I was outnumbered.”
“You were outnumbered by Hunters, and you killed,” Kohei said.
Max had to admit that had there not been so many guards he might have considered trying to fight his way through. He probably would've gotten his ass kicked, but he would've tried. “I had the advantage being on my home turf, and they didn’t give me a choice. I tried cooperating, and they were going to kill us anyway.”
Kohei’s tentacles twitched. Hard. “I believe authorities have concern over reports that humans are warriors, so they send many escorts in case humans make troubles.”
At least they respected his ability to defend himself. That was more respect than most Marines gave him. “Why were they escorting us? You keep saying I'm not under arrest, but this feels like an arrest. And where is Dee? They separated us.”
“I am ignorant of location of Dee, but I understand the reason for the escorting. The authorities have accused Rick Father of manipulating a moron species in order to avoid sanction penalty on his navigation program. They also accuse Rick Father of being the source of weapon modification and armor that Max Father sold to others.”
“Oh fuck.”
Kohei’s tentacles snapped up into coils. “Translator translated oddly,” he said with a bugle.
It took Max a half second to realize that the computer must have translated the word fuck literally. That was a glitch he had fixed in the translator on the ship, but for all its improvements, the trading translator needed fine-tuning. “I meant that only as a general expression of dismay.”
Kohei’s tentacles uncurled. “Dismay is appropriate, Max Father. Rick Father is distraught.”
“Fuck.” Max sank onto the narrow cot. “What do the authorities want to do?” If they touched one finger on Rick’s smallest tentacle, Max was going to demonstrate the term “homicidal rage.”
“They wish to take Rick Father’s everything.” Kohei moved closer and brushed a tentacle across Max’s arm. Max caught the tentacle and used it to pull Kohei close enough to hug. Kohei’s tentacles wound around Max’s neck and then Kohei was pulling hard enough that Max almost got dragged to the floor. He braced himself as Kohei hauled his bulk up into Max’s lap and then curled his walking tentacle around Max’s waist. Xander was the only one who had ever wanted to sit in Max’s lap before, but if Max’s mother had been there, he would have had the same urge.
He wanted to curl up in someone’s lap while they figured this out. However, he was the parent, and now he had to pretend to have the situation under control when it was one giant FUBAR. He held Kohei and rocked the way he had when Xander had been small... all of three or four month ago. They grew up so fast.
“I need information. We have to save the family, and that means I need you to tell me everything. Why do they think they have a right to take the ship? What will the authorities do? What will Rick do? Is there any way to get a lawyer?”
