“By the way, Lord High Grouch-Face, I speak for myself,” she said indignantly. “You have made it more than clear that I’m not your true mate, but even if I was, I would only have agreed to it if it was a partnership. You are always the leader of your people, but I make the final decisions for myself, thank you very much.”
“Fine! I am sorry!” Treffon shouted in in such an angry tone that it took her several seconds to realize that he’d apologized.
“Well, thank you!” she yelled back. “And by the way, even your apologies are rude!”
“Why are you yelling?” he bellowed.
“You started it!” she shouted even louder.
There was complete silence for a few moments, and then there was a strange, unusual, wonderful sound. Treffon was laughing. He was laughing so hard tears came to his eyes.
Violet joined him, laughing even harder, slapping her knees with merriment.
They stopped laughing when they got to the resettlement center, however.
* * * * *
Trash was strewn everywhere again, and groups of aliens were arguing and fighting, or sitting miserably with nothing to do.
As soon as they saw Treffon, the aliens scrambled to their feet and looked at him to see what his reaction would be.
“Organize your trash details again! Now!” he bellowed at them, and for once Violet was happy for Treffon’s ability to terrorize with the mere sound of his voice. The aliens scrambled to obey as Treffon stormed over to the main building.
The Chief Peacemaker, who was pacing around out front ignoring the chaos, did not appear particularly happy to see Treffon.
“Attempting to resettle them was a mistake,” he growled. “We’re having to build a second detention center. We should just stick them on a prison planet and be done with it.”
“No way! Absolutely not!” Violet gasped in outrage.
The Peacemaker looked at her with scorn. “I thought that the Reginar was the leader of the pack. Now your female speaks for y—aaawwwwk!” Treffon’s hand shot out and wrapped around the Peacemaker’s neck, and he lifted him several inches off the ground.
“You wish to criticize this woman?”This woman. Not “my woman”, but “this woman”.Violet blinked hard and tried not to feel hurt.
“No,” the Peacemaker wheezed.
Treffon dropped him, and he staggered back several paces.
“Why did you have to build a second detention hut?”
“The Karvangii are thieves and keep stealing food from the others. They are also growing increasingly violent and attacking people without provocation.”
Treffon frowned. “On their world, they are peaceful and gentle. Their behavior makes no sense. Are they being fed enough?”
“More than enough. All they want,” the guard said sullenly.
“Perhaps they are suffering from some type of nutritional deficiency. Did you check to make sure they are getting the appropriate nutrients for their species?”
The Peacemaker spluttered. “Well, I… I mean… They are getting Galactic Standard Rations, the types we serve all our troops. The Karvangii are humanoids… Well, they’re mostly humanoid…”
“So in other words, no.” Treffon placed a call on his comm bracelet, sending in a request to find out what kind of nutrition they required.
The reply came back to him shortly, and he glared at the Peacemaker, who wilted under his gaze.
“The Galactic Standard Rations are severely lacking in several minerals they need,” Treffon snapped. “Without them, they are consumed by hunger and will slowly go mad. Those minerals are freely available at markets in Donnelle, and you could easily have discovered that. I have ordered the minerals to be delivered here immediately. Your incompetence is putting the lives of all of these creatures in danger!”
The Peacemaker straightened up and scowled at Treffon, but took several steps back. His hand dropped to the photon pistol at his waist. “I do not have to put up with this abuse from you!”
“So you wish a challenge, then?” Treffon looked amused. “And you believe that you can reach that pistol before I can reach you? Go on – take another twenty steps back and then go for your weapon. It’ll give you more of a fighting chance.”
