Khoth wished he could sink into the floor. But he realized he had to take a stand. He had to make his mother see the insanity of this.
“May I speak, Pilot?” Khoth asked.
“Of course, you may, Commander Voor. I welcome your input as my second in command of the Osiris,” Jace said with a rather bladed smile.
“Mother,” Khoth did not use her rank. He would not honor her that way. “Stop this now. These actions are beneath the Alliance. They are not authorized by the Council. You are breaking the Alliance’s treaty with Earth.”
She did not look at him. “I have no son.”
That cut him to the quick. Jace’s right hand shot over the top of the table to reach for him, but Khoth gave a brief shake of his head. He could not remain in control of his Xa if Jace touched him at this moment. His selchilite clacked as he moved and he realized that he should have cut them off. He no longer was a part of the family that they represented.
“Jace, you need to turn the Osiris over to me now or I will take steps,” she said. “The Osiris is shielded, but Sunrise is not.”
“You’re really going to do this?” Jace murmured sadly.
“Commander Nav’ud, instruct Defender Vinet to fire a warning shot just outside of the town,” his mother said.
Nav’ud did not move, did not speak. He was staring at Jace.
“It’s okay, Commander Nav’ud. Go ahead and do it. You don’t want to get in trouble by doing what’s right, do you?” Jace asked softly. “You’re just following orders. You’re not responsible for killing innocent people who have done nothing to you.”
Khoth watched as Nav’ud remained silent and still.
“Commander Nav’ud!” his mother yelled, her face bluing. “Fine! If you will not give the order, I will! Defender Vinet, fire on Earth!”
The camera showed a female Thaf’ell who was sitting quietly at her station. Her hands were in her lap. Her gaze went from Nav’ud to his mother. Then she said, “I request to be released from duty, High Councillor. I cannot comply with your order.”
His mother leaped from her chair snarling, “I will do it then!”
His mother threw Defender Vinet from her seat and used the controls herself. She looked up at Jace through slitted eyes. Khoth hardly recognized her.
“Will you give me the Osiris, Jace?” she asked.
“You know I can't, otherwise I will sentence all of humanity to death by the Khul,” Jace told her. “You know this.”
“Then I have no choice,” she said and stabbed the command screen.
Everyone cringed, waiting expectantly to see a beam leave one of the Ashaton’s heavy cannons and strike the Earth.
Except, of course, nothing happened.
She pressed it again and again and again.
“It’s all right, everyone,” Jace said with a heavy weight in his voice. “It’s over.”
“What do you mean?” his mother asked even as she kept pressing the button.
Jace smiled sadly as he said, “All of your ships are now under my command. You will be brought to the Osiris to face judgment.”
Good Faith
“Who here is going to take me to you, Jace?” High Councillor Nova Voor asked as she stood up.
It was eerie how calm she was all of the sudden. She had been desperate, frantic, almost manic. But now she was cool and calm, not even a trace of her earlier out of control behavior.
No, wait, that’s not true, Jace realized as the Osiris showed him that her vitals were all elevated.
There are indicators of long term stress, the Osiris murmured.
