But he sure looked an awful lot like the ones who had attacked them at Terra North.
The male in the center raised his hand. "Gol-Vett Khalzin, this is highly irregular. Your progress in your experiment is being monitored. You do not need to report here."
Khalzin stood tall and looked at the leader. "Speaker Fowles, since you have been monitoring my experiment for the Coalition, you are aware of the difficulties we have faced."
"The attacks on the Galactic Alliance humanoids are unfortunate. But it still does not explain your presence today."
"It does when you see my evidence that the attacks against my mate and other members of the Galactic Alliance emissaries originated from this room."
Objections burst from many of the members.
"Khalzin!" his mother snapped.
He glanced at her.
Janae wanted to shiver at the way they stared at each other. It was one of the coldest things she'd ever seen.
Fowles slammed a stone on his chair. The room quieted down.
"You have something to say to your mother, Khalzin."
He crossed to standing right in front of her seat. "Why? Why would you do it?"
She shook her head. "I don't know what you're speaking of."
"You took holos of my mate and gave them to bounty hunters to attack and kill her. The bids that are out there, on her head, are higher than anyone. From when she was with me. In my room."
"You cannot prove that."
"I can," Khalzin said. He pulled up the hologram of Janae and displayed it in the room. "She is in my bedroom. In the same dress she was wearing when we were attacked. If you look carefully, you can see a small patch of red. That is my foot." He glanced at her. "You should do better with your image adjusting, Mother."
She blinked. "That means nothing. Anyone could have stolen that from me—“
"It has your imprint on it," Khalzin said. "And when I backtracked the logs, I was able to trace it to the familial accounts of you and Oleave."
He glanced at the one with the red-brown coloring that matched the ones who attacked them on Terra North. "I have to admit, I should have recognized your nephews, Oleave when I was beating them to a pulp on Terra North, but I was distracted by the fact that they were trying to kill my mate."
"This is, this is ridiculous," Oleave said.
"Is it?" Fowles asked. "You were very opposed to this concept when it was brought before the Coalition before. It makes sense that you would attempt to sabotage it now."
"I would never. It was all--"
"Do not accuse me of this," his mother said. "Who came to who after--"
"Arrest them both," Fowles said.
The guards collected The Priestess of Light and hauled her out of the chamber.
"No!" Oleave yelled before guards could get to him. And he leaped at Janae. "These off-worlders will ruin us! Destroy our people! They will create mongrels that are not Kantenan and not true by the Light!"
Janae would have screamed, but he covered her mouth when he grabbed her, pulling her against him. He held a blade to her throat, threatening to stab her.
What the hell was the Light? Was it their religion or something? Wasn't his mother the Priestess of the Light or something? Was this a religious thing?
"Let me go," she cried out against his hand and attempted to do something to break his grip on her. Stomp on his foot. Something.
Nothing seemed to work.
