He opened his mouth to say that Thammah’s exposure had been far longer and she appeared to quite enjoy them. But his mother would not be impressed with Flight Commander Thammah Pyrrhus’ opinion on anything. And, really, in the past, he would have agreed with her. But he’d flown with Thammah. She had saved his life, not once, but many times. He could see her value, even if she was eccentric to say the least.
“Despite the few sub-cycles I have spent with Jace, I can ascertain that he is nothing like what humanity has been described to me as,” Khoth finally answered to express how he did not agree fully with his mother’s assessment of the species.
“They are an immature, violent and aggressive species. Even if there are individuals among them that might cause some admiration, overall, they are quite dangerous,” his mother countered. “For they see none of their weaknesses, at least not enough to question whether they ought to play a major role in galactic events or leave that to more advanced species who might know better.”
Khoth held his tongue for a moment. How worthy a species was, how advanced, had always been determined by their ability to use Precursor Tech. He pointed that out.
“Jace is the Pilot. He has access to Precursor Tech at a level that no one else has,” Khoth stated. “It stands to reason that humanity should be a great part of the Alliance, should it not?”
“Jace is only important because of the ship,” his mother countered. “The Osiris is like no other. If it had not crash landed here, it would have taken on a more appropriate Pilot. But it was clearly desperate and did what it had to do to survive.”
Khoth had no hard data to suggest she was wrong. But he felt she was incorrect. Yet such an argument would be lost before it was begun because it was based upon his gut and not facts.
“If we were to use that as a guiding point, others might say that because Haseon was rich with Precursor Tech is the only reason that the Thaf’ell hold so many important roles. Not because we are truly advanced, but because of chance,” he said.
His eyes flickered to her to see her expression.
“You are being far more fair minded than I thought you would be about this, Khoth,” she said, tapping her lower lip.
“I am just pointing out the potential hypocrisy of such a statement. We do not know that the Osiris would have bonded with another species. In fact, the Osiris has had opportunities to bond with Thaf’ell and did not,” Khoth simply answered.
“We normally do not send our best to Earth,” she answered with a faint, wry smile. “You were the exception, of course.”
“Thammah is an exceptional pilot. She is being wasted on Earth. Or she was,” Khoth stated loyally.
The wry smile on her mother’s face grew. “She is unique. That is why she does not get on.”
Khoth was tempted to state that she got on quite well with humans. That humans had “adopted” her into their families for their celebrations and, in general, as their friend. But his mother didn’t think much of humanity’s judgment.
“I have gone on a mission with Jace,” Khoth turned the subject back to the young man. “I observed someone who would even impress you.”
She regarded him carefully for long moments. The silence stretched. “I am glad that you think so highly of him. I believe that it will make your task easier.”
“Task?”
He frowned, but then his heart rate increased. She was going to agree that he should remain with Jace and the Osiris as the Alliance’s representative. Despite everything that had gone so very wrong, the questionable choices he made, all of it, she was going to give him the one thing he wanted.
“The humans wanted to be part of the Alliance before, but now with their Pilot and the Osiris–knowing their arrogance and overreach–they will want to have a seat on the Council itself,” she told him and stabbed a finger against the top of the table.
“I see.”
And he did see. But, unlike his mother, he did not necessarily blame them for their desire to have control over their own destiny. Why should they trust the Alliance to do what was best for them when it had demonstrated again and again that it would not?
“So,” she paused and gazed at him again long and deeply, “we must find a way to keep the Pilot and the Osiris on our side when we deny humanity what its grasping claws want.”
Khoth held himself very still. Jace had agreed he would help them against the Khul. There was no doubt in Khoth’s Xi of that. But Jace needed assurances in return that Earth would be safe. He said as much to his mother.
“Jace’s greatest concern is the return of the Khul to Earth in retaliation for taking out their ground forces and their Hive,” Khoth told her. “He wants Earth protected. Surely there are some ships we could spare to do that.”
His mother tilted her head. “We would have to take them from somewhere else. Perhaps Obeven, Este or Jint.”
Khoth noted that she did not mention Haseon even though most of the fleet patrolled there. It was the location of the Council and the Thaf’ell homeworld, but it had more than enough ships. He thought of the three worlds she suggested.
“Obeven has only one command there. The colossus-class ship, Afridi, and two saber-class ships, along with a few dozen Paladin-class,” Khoth stated. “Este and Jint have even less than that.”
“Your objection?” she asked.
“You are asking for Jace to risk his life for us and leave his planet in our hands,” he said. If we send but a few vessels from each of those worlds, that will hardly be enough. If… no, when Earth is attacked Jace will see our failure to protect his homeworld as a complete breach of trust.”
