He glanced over his shoulder and smiled at her."Been forgiven by a lot of cyborgs, have you?"
"I'm hoping to start.Especially with you."
"Why me?"
"I was not my proper and pleasant self.I should not have been so abrupt with you."
He raised his eyebrow."Interestingly, I thought your behavior before was more authentic than anything I had seen thus far."
She blinked and stared at him."What do you mean?"
"You had emotions.You were not holding back your feelings."
"I would think you, as a cyborg, would appreciate a less emotional person."
"On the contrary, I appreciate emotions.They make sense."He brushed a strand of hair out of her face.
She laughed."Emotions aren't logical."
"I didn't say they were.I said that they made sense.They're the missing piece to a conversation when you cannot determine where someone is coming from.Like your motivation.Why are you doing this?You know why I am.Why are you?Truly?"
"Because my father is mad.He wants to wipe out all of the Rhimodians."
"What did we ever do to him?"
"Publicly, he would say that you killed his wife.That has been his excuse for a decade.Personally?I am not sure."
"And how is that a part of you?"
"Because it's wrong.It is horrible to want to wipe out a race of humanoids for no reason other than they got in your play space."
She started to pace around the ship."The Terran Empire controls dozens of sectors.Truly, there is no reason why the Sol system matters to the Terran Empire.It had resources, like any system does, of course, but it is not of particular strategic importance.It's not in the middle of a travel line.It's not positioned in a particular place between two factions in the Galactic Alliance.It doesn't have anything, really."
"We have blue grass."
"Really?"
"We have quite a bit of it on our farming moon.There are also some minerals on some of the moons that have some interesting properties, including blocking scanning signals."
She blinked three times fast."Resources are valuable.But it's not enough to justify removing a species."
"What if we left?"
"I don't think it would matter.I don't know why he hates your people.Whatever it is, it's deeper than anyone knows."She came to stand next to him."I will not let him win, though.He does not get to choose who lives and who dies."
Bahran put his arm around her.She felt so small against him, but it also felt so calming to have her there next to him."I know you will not.I am at your side.However you need me."
"I appreciate that.I may need you a lot."
"Then you may have me."
She met his gaze and raised her eyebrow."Now that, sir, is a loaded comment."
The Craving started to grow."It is.However you need to take it."
