(Ch 17 - this will take a while)
Maia gave me a big hug, murmuring, “Many, many thanks… Kemar, me.” I was about to say something when she licked into my mouth. We both drew back in surprise, both of us blushing over it, and she stammered out some sort of apology, mixing up both languages. Her companion took her by the arm, muttering to her something like, “Phavera besh?”
She waved her hand, looking awkward, replying, “Ohh… bao ver akesht. Ertu ofundshukush?”
As I watched them march off into the wood, Yila leaned against me, resting her arm on my shoulder with a coy look, murmuring, “Phavera besh?”
I scrambled to remember the girl’s reply. “Ohh… bavera kesh. Ertu… something something?”
She tried not to laugh, muttering slyly, “Are you sure you mean to say that?”
Sometimes she was hard to read, and I stared at her in perplexion. “Do you actually know what they’re…?”
She laughed me off, leaning more into me, and drew her face close to mine. “No, no, of course not. But I’m happier that there is no girl with a tongue in your mouth.” That had me coughing, and her laughing. “And now you have the wonderful job of explaining to Commander Amek that we’re about to be invaded by dogs who might want to take the base from us.” She tapped my nose with her finger and began to saunter back to the compound. Of course, she can be happy about this, she didn’t have that load on her back. She looked over her shoulder to me as I gathered my suit, asking, “Oh, do you have any water left?”
“No, I gave the last of it to those people,” I snarked back, which had her sighing. As I caught up with her, I tapped a cool bottle on her arm. “But I do have the last of mine.”
She gave me a lopsided smile, murmuring as she took it, “You are my hero.” The way she drank it as she gazed at me made my stomach flutter, and made me think of tongues and mouths.
Needless to say, Amek didn’t welcome the news with great joy. “You were tasked with making them go away, not offer them our base!”
Great, I would have to negotiate with my friends before the real deal even started. “Look, we invaded their world. I know we kicked the Gek out - which you wouldn’t have had a chance to do if not for my help - so your people are owed something for that. But their people were in the same fix yours were in, and I doubt if I invaded Partan with an army of them and took over a base on your planet, you’d be happy with that either. Besides, I didn’t offer them the base. I said your two people would talk about it.”
He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms at me. “I have no authority to make such a negotiation.”
“Then… have an official diplomat fly here, or get the authority. Or I could negotiate for you.” At first he seemed to like that idea, but I added, “I’m going to be fair to both sides. I’ll be happy to help, but I want you to know I’m not going to favor you over them.”
He grumbled, “Merrh… you Travelers are as much trouble as good. So, when will they come?”
“I don’t know. Kinik said he would tell his superiors, and then some sort of delegation would arrive here. One thing about this bunch, they wear armor, but nothing underneath.”
He gaped at me. “At all?”
I gave him a shrug. “Not that I could see, so be sure to bring that up when you have a meeting with your troops, for them to be polite.”
Yila muttered, “More polite than you?”
I replied haughtily, “I was a perfect gentleman.” She muttered something in Oshazi, which I’m sure implied that I was less than candid.
Knowing that their delegation likely wouldn’t arrive that day, I begged to leave with my faithful attache to visit Nytanu, and make sure things were going well. If S’ndelek was handy, I would enjoy sharing a meal with him and his family.
To my surprise, he was there at the base with a group of his people, and was pleased to see our arrival, looking much better. He grabbed both my arms, saying enthusiastically, “Ah, friend Nijal! It is good to see you again. We must have that meal later.”
“That meal…” I looked to Yila in question. “You didn’t have it yet?”
“We did, but we will have one more for your great deed.” He seemed quite eager.
“Well… how about a small one with your family?” I noticed an Oshazi officer shaking his head at me. Evidently it was some feast.
He noticed, and gave me a chuckle. “No, no… for what you did, we owe you much, very much. It is no big work. Please, the Oshazi would like it. Stay and eat with us.” The officer gave us a thumbs up.
I looked to Yila, saying, “Well… since you ask, how can I say no to such a generous offer?”
He was happy to hear it, and dispatched a runner to go to their village. The officer then took over the meeting. “Captain Ratan, and I am pleased to meet our hero himself. And pleased that we have another well cooked meal to look forward to this evening. I would be even more pleased if you could perhaps assist with construction work.”
Yila could barely contain a laugh as I gave her a droll look. “Well, in exchange for a meal, I suppose I could manage that.” And to be sure, my Multitool was quite a big help when it came to fixing things up from electronics to wall construction. The Shlaad were a big help too, being almost as strong as the Nasijin, which were as strong as Vy’keen if not more. It was good to see these people getting along. I wished to stay with the Oshazi, make sure their relations with the other three races went well. And these worlds, these people… it was the first place I had truly felt welcomed, at home. And Yila… I wanted to maintain my relations with her. I had a Quest to pursue, but damn it, I felt an emotional anchor to this place, this region, making sure the evil Gek were dealt with, their slavery ring smashed as soon as possible. If only the Sage was aware of all this, the extent of it.
“Do you think my eyes are too dull to see such a short distance, young Interloper?”
I whirled around in shock, dropping my Multitool - how in Space had she come here! To my amazement though, no slender but imposing Goat woman was there, anywhere. But… I heard her clearly…
Yila edged up to me in wonder. “Nijal? What is it?”
What did I tell her? “Ohh… a sound… it sparked a memory, that’s all.”
As I retrieved my Multitool, she bumped my hip, muttering, “No matter… unless it was one of those many girls you drool at.”
I gave her a quick peck on the bangs over her forehead. “Honey, I only have drool for you.”
She gave me a whine, shoving me away. “Augh! The way you speak to me sometimes… not even sweet!” A few workers nearby enjoyed a laugh at that.
As usual, much of the rest of the day was taken up with repairs and salvage, with a break for lunch which I shared with Yila. We wanted to be together, badly, but she was a little stiff with me for some reason, and asked point blank, “Your blasted Walk… will you ever keep your word, and stop hurting the ones who care for you?”
That sounded uncomfortably familiar, and had me clearing a tight throat. I had to be honest with her. “Uhhm… sometimes.”
She growled at me. “You madman… the Death Angel, he obeys Tenari. But Tenari’s patience has a limit too. Do not try His patience too far.”
I gave her a shrug, hoping I could find something diplomatic and honest in good balance. “I feel that I’m following the Path He set out for me. I’ll never stop trying to protect others—”
“Don’t be so selfish. Let them protect you too… let me…” She scooted closer and lay her head on my shoulder with a sigh, though in a few moments she began to purr, deep and rather loud, and draped her tail around me. I gave her a kiss near her ear, which made her giggle. It sounded so welcome, and so sweet…
S’ndelek left early with a few of his fellows to see about the feast, which left the heavy lifting to machinery, and in many cases, to me and a few strong Oshazi. After a long day of work, S’ndelek showed up with quite a group of Shlaad, all bearing meals they had prepared somewhere nearby. The Oshazi had made some tasty offerings of their own to share, and we all joined in the banquet. I preferred the Oshazi treats, but the Shlaadi quisine was tasty too, almost as good as what Gronk made at Resh’s inn. They just needed to experiment a bit more with seasoning to suit a Human palate.
If they were a bit cool to each other before, they had broken that ice well and the affair became an actual party, especially when alcohol began to flow. Yila and I were glued together, and I enjoyed trading finger dining as I fed her tasty morsels, and she fed me in turn. Something caught her eye, and she pointed, smiling. “Look.” To my surprise, I saw the Shlaadi girl who offered help in the APC with that Oshazi fellow who was doting on her, and clearly giving her flatteries as she was blushing. And as we watched, they gave each other little cheek licks. Well! Maybe relations were going along nicely at that. And after all, she was rather pretty, and they were both mammals.
“That’s so cute—” I began, cut short as Yila gave my own cheek a lick. It tingled from that touch as she settled into my bosom.
“It is,” she murmured, beginning to purr again. I didn’t move other than to trade little licks and kisses with her, and embraced for the rest of the night, till we had to go to bed. And I didn’t want to, even if we were within arms reach of each other under her ship, racking up infraction after infraction.
I flew back to Tumussid that morning, as I was stuck dealing with those negotiations. I was growing antsy to get things overwith so I could get on with my affairs, particularly for some alone time with Yila, which I promised myself not to let become an affair.
It took another day for the Wolf-Jackals to arrive, during which time I was back to doing base maintenance, fixing up defenses, repairing and unlocking access to computers and communications, and making sure self destruct was disabled. I would have asked for Yila’s assistance, but her Fighter was the best of all the Oshazi craft there so she had to be on standby duty. I also spent some time in discussions with General Nazar and his staff, making sure they understood the situation from both sides. He was still adamant that nothing was going to be handed over to those people, completely. That was at least something to work with.
When the Jackal-Wolves did arrive next morning, it was quite an impressive group, a company strong which meant more than a hundred troops. There were females scattered through the ranks, more toward the rear, and a whole platoon of them at the end which had the Oshazi males ogling. The girls tried not to notice but they obviously did, some of them looking a bit shy. And many Oshazi girls were as taken with the males, as they were rather buff. I hoped this meant some defrosting between these two people. The commander, likely a general himself, looked to be a grizzled veteran and stern in a way that Kinik had only hinted. While I didn’t expect any shenanigans from them, we were still on guard, but the initial greetings went as smoothly as expected for two groups of warriors unsure of the other. I learned a couple of details. The Commander was W’rlagh, and his people were called the Kharnoa. An opening joint meal with them was almost as stiff as the initial meeting, at least with the officers, though the troops on both sides seemed just a bit more open to each other.
Then began the ordeal between the two groups of officers, as I hoped to find some sort of common ground between them. Andonai’s words held true here, that both wanted the biggest half. Time sharing was out of the question since they couldn’t agree on any time spans or how to hand off to the other side. I knew that they really needed to work together in order to establish some sort of rapport between them, but they were both quite stubborn. I grew frustrated as the hours passed, and made a call for a lunch break which they were more than happy with, until I insisted we do it together.
There was more resentment than good will, if any after a contentious opening, and they mostly spoke in hushed tones among their own. I took it on myself to start a conversation. I had invited Yila to eat with me and she observed this with keen interest. “Commander W’rlagh, if I may intrude on your meal, I don’t know much about you. Would you tell me something about yourself, your family?” He merely grunted at me and kept eating, but I had a wild card on hand as Kinik was among them. I asked him, “What about you?”
He looked to the other officers which ignored him. At first I was afraid he wouldn’t answer either, but after swallowing a morsel he replied, “I have a wife and three young, a boy and two girls.” Seeing that I was about to ask further, he added, “Wenna, and the young are Kann, Wetha and Yuki.”
“Is life for them good here?”
I believe I caught a brief smile from him. “It is good now.” There was a chorus of grunts from his fellows.
I asked Amek next. “A wife, Jana, and four children, two boys and girls; Artem, Taras, Solana and Nicha.” After he replied, I invited others to share about their families. One more Kharno and a few Oshazi opened up to me.
I told the Kharnoa, “You all have better lives now that the Gek have been kicked out of the systems. The Oshazi have periodically suffered the capture of many people by the Gek Raiders. But thanks to their warriors taking this base, now all of you are free.”
W’rlagh muttered, “Why captured? Because they were weak?” A few of them chuckled, and naturally this rankled the Oshazi.
I knew I should get ahead of this and countered, “Why weren’t many of you captured? Because you hid?” I made my point as he banged his fork on his plate, and the others were as vexed. Sometimes the truth stung a little. “Listen, I don’t mean to anger you. I want you to understand, to see things as others see them, how you both have suffered. The Oshazi fought alongside another people on the world where the Gek had their main base, the Shlaad. They fought as comrades, as a team. They didn’t treat them as lesser beings, but as equals, and they fought well together.”
That name caught their attention, as Kinik must have mentioned the fellow star folk from before The Great Evil. W’rlagh insisted on being contentious about it and said, “We don’t need others to fight with us.” This caused another ripple of discord between them. Good grief…
I told him pointedly, “Look, Commander, neither of your people were strong enough to defeat the Gek on your own, or you would have done that by now. Stop being so stubborn. I know you have a lot to be proud of, you have a strong people, but I’m trying to show you something. Once long ago, there was a civilization in this galaxy, and you had relations with other races living among the stars. You know about the Shlaad, I can see. The Oshazi got along with them well. There was a third base on another world where a people called the Barasi live. You all had fairly good relations in the past, so I know you can today. But you have to understand the situation you live in now. The galaxy is overrun with three races, the Gek, Vy’keen and Korvax, and the first two are capable of wiping out entire worlds of its people. There are so few of the other races left, I’ve never heard of them till now. You must learn to live together, to work and fight together, or one day there may be no Barasi, no Shlaadi, no Oshazi, and no Kharnoa. You really do need each other. So… get over yourselves, and quit being so racist.”
That put a damper on the mood, but that was better than a fight breaking out because the Kharnoa lacked in manners. Yila clasped my hand, murmuring, “Such strong words, but… I would probably do the same. They also remind me of the Vy’keen.”
“Tell me of these Vy-keen,” W’rlagh interrupted. “How close, how much of a threat.”
That was a welcome question to clear the air, and the discussion spilled over into the subsequent meeting. Now it was all about the galactic astro-political situation. For the sake of emotional leverage, I soft pedaled how meek were the Gek, mostly, and how conquest-minded the Vy’keen. I provided my star charts and wowed everyone with how vast the Euclid Galaxy was, and how infinitely outnumbered their people were, which was a bit chilling. I touched on the strategic implications of hyperdrive, that it meant there was no safe haven for any world, no fronts or safe regions as there was on the ground. Thank Tenari they now had bigger things to think about, and they began to take the discussion more seriously. I really should have tried this sooner, but the negotiations had been so combative that it was hard to manage the arguments. Now that the Kharnoa saw the necessity for cooperation, things went more smoothly.
By evening, we had the framework sorted for a cohabitation agreement. Commanders W’rlagh and Amek made a joint statement to their assembled people, and the Kharnoa were rather surprised at how courteous the two were with each other. Both sides were taking the hint from their leadership, and since W’rlagh announced they were staying the night with their gracious hosts - what a relief it was to hear that! - the two groups ventured to begin talking with each other more, if tentatively, as the Kharnoa made to set up camp in an open area.
Yila kept very close to me as I watched the two peoples begin sorting each other out. Maybe a little interracial chemistry would help with relations between them. “Well, Mr Negotiator,” she said to me, smiling, “you have earned your title today twice over. They are not tearing at each other’s throats.” Which was true, as I could see the two genders, a few of them, growing curious enough to begin chatting, and even help out a bit with setting up tents.
“Do you have time for a walk with a tired Negotiator?” I asked, and I could tell my eyes were sparkling like hers.
“Well… if you are tired—” she began coyly.
“I’m not that tired,” I cut in, and she agreed with a giggle. The full moon made the scrubby world look just a bit prettier, as did my company. I didn’t want to part from her, but eventually we had to.