“We need to get it back up!”
“... nothing is working! Can’t access the grid! I repeat, I cannot access the grid!”
“All weaponry is offline!”
“... defenseless! We’re defenseless!”
Jace turned off the sound and only the translation showed above the floating, defenseless planet. He said nothing. Nova was staring at her home planet, the seat of the Alliance’s power, where the Council was, where her husband was, and the knowledge of what he could do was finally made clear to her.
“What do you want?” Her voice was hoarse.
“Lots of things,” Jace said.
“Such as?” she asked.
“Does it matter?” he asked back.
“No,” she said. “Just tell me what I must do to protect my people.”
Her shoulders slumped. Khoth let out a breath that Jace hadn’t been realizing his Commander had been holding onto. Khoth turned to him and nodded. Jace had won. Jace felt no joy at this. Just sadness and a weariness that it had come to this. Considering what he had been asking for, there was no other way, he knew that. Considering what Nova had already done to attack him and Earth, there was no other way, he also knew.
“Osiris, bring Haseon’s Defense Grid back up and return control of weaponry to them,” Jace instructed.
It is done, the Osiris answered.
“Now,” Jace told her, leaning forward on the table once more, “we start the real negotiations.”
Letting Go
The rest of the “negotiations” were more demands that Jace had. They were both simple and complex. But his mother was nothing if not eager to keep Haseon safe. She wasn’t stupid and Jace’s show of power had told her that--for now, at least--she had no choice but to do what he wanted.
First, there would be a dozen Saber-class and fifty Paladin-class ships that would remain behind to guard Earth. A Colossus-class would be sent from Haseon through the gate.
“I recommend the Knossos,” Khoth had suggested.
His mother’s eyes had widened a fraction. The Knossos was their newest and best Colossus-class ship after the Ashaton.
“The Knossos is--”
“One of fifty Colossus-class ships in Haseon’s star system,” Khoth had cut his mother off. “You are lucky that the Pilot is not asking for more than one. But if we are to have one protecting Earth, it will be the Knossos.”
Jace’s eyebrows had lifted at his cold tone. His mother’s lips had flattened. Khoth had known that both were thinking he was acting out of anger and hurt towards his mother due to the exile. He was not.
I serve the Pilot. Not the Alliance, he thought and that had his fractured Xi icing over almost pleasantly.
The next demand was that humanity be allowed to join the Alliance just as every other species had been allowed to.
“You will sponsor them. My mother will be ambassador,” Jace had told Nova. “You will be humanity’s biggest cheerleader and facilitate this.”
“I do not have the votes on the Council to get humanity into the Alliance even if I am their greatest fan,” Nova had objected.
“You do if you call in all of your favors,” Khoth had countered.
His mother blinked. “How will I affect Jace’s other desires if I use all of my favors for this? My understanding is that Jace is to be a neutral third party and not a representative of Earth so--”
“The Pilot,” Khoth interrupted her.
“What? I--”
