The Bounty Hunter's Honour (Renegades Book 5)

by L P Peace

‘The council called a recess,’ Zoe said. ‘What’s going on?’

  They had one hacri. Thanesh assigned everyone to speak to a representative. Those Protectorate members who'd suggested that they would vote against Earth membership were taken by Protectorate males, including Thanesh and Alethia themselves.

  But there were others who hadn't spoken yet.

  Daris and Zoe were sent to the Maruzen representative. As Ronin was Kerisian, he and Sophia found themselves standing outside of the office of the Kerisian representative minutes after the recess was called.

  A short time passed before their aide beckoned them inside the office.

  Talina Kilahdi was a tall, willowy female. Her skin was lighter green than Ronin's, and her eyes were bright turquoise. She wore a light dove grey dress that floated around her as she moved and a pleasant face that hid strain.

  ‘Sit down.’ She gestured to two sofas facing each other in the centre of the room. Ronin and Sophia sat. ‘Would you like drinks?’

  ‘No, thanks.’ Sophia smiled, and the female’s eyes narrowed.

  ‘This is obviously about the vote. I saw the two of you in there. I was very interested in the seeming intimacy between you?’

  ‘We are bonded,’ Ronin answered simply.

  ‘Ah. Kyathin.’

  ‘Kyathin?' Sophia asked.

  ‘The ancient mate bond,’ Talina answered. ‘I’ve seen it in so many species here. I studied it to better understand it.’

  ‘There is some resistance to it,’ Sophia said.

  ‘I’ve lived here and interacted with enough species to know that it’s not ancient mate bonds that make a species, but one’s actions.’

  ‘I can agree with that.’ Sophia grinned.

  ‘You want to know what my vote will be?’ Talina looked wary now.

  ‘I’d love to know what your vote will be.’ Sophia leaned towards the representative conspiratorially. ‘But mostly I just want to talk to you.’

  ‘Talk?’

  ‘Yeah. I want to know how you think we can get those people sat in there, to take us more seriously. To talk to us.’

  Talina’s eyes wandered her face, then Ronin’s before turning to her room. Her lips thinned, and the skin between her eyes furrowed.

  ‘I’m not sure that getting them to take you seriously is your issue,’ Talina said. ‘I can assure you that representatives like Hekalion and Ila take your people very seriously.’

  ‘That’s what worries us.’ Sophia smiled at Talina. ‘I don’t see making any headway with those people,’ she said. ‘Others of their kind, perhaps. But not them. Our concern, now, isn’t about them. We’re interested in forging closer alliances with everyone here. We have other technologies that, until recently, we hadn’t considered sharing.’

  Talina’s eyes widened. ‘Are you talking about the defensive system around your world?’

  ‘We’re not giving away the plans to our system,’ Sophia grinned, ‘but access to engineers. We’ve also developed technologies that have sprung up from creating that defensive system. We’re a growing species in a small solar system with limited resources. We’ve been forced to stay there hundreds of years past when we should have been out here. We’ve developed resources and technologies that have led to developments and discoveries we are happy to share.’

  ‘Hekalion would say we will have access to all of that when he takes your system,’ Talina said. Immediately, her eyes widened and her face paled.

  ‘Would say, or has said?’ Sophia asked and leaned closer to her.

  Talina’s face paled even further, and she shifted on her feet. ‘I feel like this conversation needs to come to an end now.’ Talina stood.

  Staying in her seat, Sophia looked up. ‘We’ve been waiting for the Bentari to invade for three hundred years. We have planned contingencies to destroy everything of value so that they get nothing should they be successful. The Bentari don’t care about them as much as the bodies they’ll sell to the slave markets or keep for breeding. That’s enough for them. The things we have to offer go far and beyond bodies.’ Finally, Sophia stood. ‘We have a lot to offer, in terms of creativity, ingenuity, science and technology. But the Bentari don’t give a damn about any of that. All they want is money.’

  Sophia turned and led the way towards the door. It took a moment to realise that Ronin wasn’t following her.

  She turned to find him standing over the representative. ‘Whatever it is, we can help you. Whatever it is, my mother Vernaya Dosh can protect you from it at home. She has the resources and the contacts.’

  Talina took a step back, fear on her face. ‘I don’t know—’

  ‘I can’t help you if you lie to me,’ Ronin barked.

  Talina jumped back from him. ‘You can’t. I went to a party. I didn’t know what kind of party it was. When I found out, I didn’t leave. If I don’t…’ she looked at Sophia, a desperate look on her face. ‘I’m sorry. I can’t.’

  Sophia shook her head. ‘Fifteen billion people have to be enslaved so that you can avoid humiliation?’

  Ronin leaned into Talina, a furious look on his face. ‘If you do it, I will make sure our whole world knows what you did anyway.’

  ‘Let’s go, Ronin.’ Sophia opened the door, and they returned to report to Thanesh.

  ‘It was to be expected that while we’ve been planning, so has Hekalion.’ Thanesh was sat on the settee at the head of the room, Alethia next to him. While others across the room looked defeated, Thanesh looked angry and animated.

  The same news had come back from everybody. While the Bentari hadn’t logged any objection to humans joining the IGC, several species suddenly seemed to become anti-human. Races that had no previous issues with humans joining suddenly couldn’t seem to bear the idea of them sitting in the central chamber.

  One of the others had admitted to being blackmailed, as Talina had. The sense from the remainder was that they weren’t acting of their own free will.

  The room felt dejected.

  ‘There is only one way forward I can see,’ Thanesh said. ‘It is extreme, but as there are so many leaders of so many worlds present in the central chamber this rote,’ he looked at the Ilan, ‘I believe it can work. More importantly, it is the only option left to us now.’ There was fury on Thanesh’s face, but it was more than that. It was more than determination. A fire had been lit under him, a fire fuelled by the injustice of what was happening.

  He stood, looking across the sea of faces, human, Protectorate, and the smattering of aliens sat among them.

  ‘When you go back in, we will be following. Not directly. We will be a few metri behind you. Make sure they do not get to the vote before I get there.’

  Even as he said it, the doors opened, and they were ushered back into the central chamber.

  Sophia grabbed Ronan’s hand, and they walked into the central sphere.

  Sophia’s eyes connected with Talina sitting in her booth across from the main council table. The female at least had the decency to look ashamed.

  The proceedings resumed, with council members posing questions to humans, but those who should have been their allies—and even those who had been—stayed silent.

  Finally, the presiding member called for a vote. As they did, the doors across the chamber opened and Thanesh and Alethia led the Protectorate out onto the floor.

  Everything stopped as the room turned to face the Protectorate.

  ‘We are not yet ready to hear your case,’ the Adosian councilman, Kemar said.

  ‘Yes,’ Thanesh said. ‘But as I am personally invested in human membership, I would like the right to speak.’

  ‘I would like to hear what the High-Protector has to say,’ the Nemari representative said.

  ‘As would I,’ the Todaal representative agreed. ‘I call for a vote to hear the High-Protector speak.’

  ‘I object!’ Hekalion stood. ‘We are not here to indulge anyone with an opinion.’

  ‘We are more than those with merely “an op
inion”.’ Thanesh glared at Hekalion.

  ‘How so?’ the Adosian representative asked.

  ‘Because we were genetically altered. We were originally human.’

  There were audible gasps across the chamber.

  ‘And though we aren’t now and have not been for a very long time, we are invested in the safety of humanity.’

  ‘What evidence do you have of this?’ the Amaran on the council asked.

  Thanesh nodded to Korren, who approached the Amaran’s aide. He handed her a data packet, and she delivered it to the council member. He uploaded it to his screen and searched through it.

  ‘This details the experiments of a Cealin scientist known as Kallis and his work to turn the human race into an army,’ he announced to the chamber. He looked at Thanesh. ‘What did they intend to do with this army?’

  ‘They intended to conquer an empire.’

  The members of the council looked at one another. They made up the members of those races who had fought the Enhari. They were also neighbours to the Cealin. It would have been them the Cealin conquered first.

  ‘So what you’re saying is that you are human,’ Hekalion stood, ‘and therefore, we should consider your fates as one?’

  ‘No,’ Thanesh stepped forward, his eyes locked on the Bentari. ‘We are Tessan. We are the Protectorate. Our racial profiles now include Sehn, Inadiine, Weyilan, Fedhith. Unless you want those races’ futures decided here, you will have to accept us as our own race.’

  ‘I don’t see that I do,’ Hekalion replied.

  ‘How about we vote on it?’ Ilan Dahnus called. He sounded bored, but when Sophia turned to him, he watched everything with bright eyes and full awareness. ‘Rather than arguing about minutiae, vote. Are the Tessans, a race we’ve known for three hundred rotes, who provide military assistance to dozens of worlds, who have the second biggest independent military in known space an independent race? Or do we want to throw their lot in with Earth?’ The Ilan looked at Hekalion pointedly.

  Whatever gains Hekalion thought he could get from throwing humans and Tessans in together, Ilan Dahnus was making it clear. Once their fates were intertwined, the humans would have a powerful defender against invasion and three dozen races obliged to aid their cause.

  ‘Who has the biggest military?’ Sophia asked.

  ‘The IGC,’ Ronin whispered. ‘Augmented by the militaries of member worlds, including the Amarans. But the Amarans can abstain and would abstain from sending forces against the Protectorate.’

  ‘And other member worlds of both probably would as well?’

  ‘Some. They’re also obliged to come to the aid of the Protectorate when called.’

  ‘Shit!’ Sophia shook her head. ‘It couldn’t have been organised better if Thanesh had planned it.’

  ‘What makes you think he didn’t? Not for Earth, but for his own world.’

  The vote to recognise the Tessans as a separate race went quickly and was passed almost unanimously. Next, they voted to let Thanesh speak. That was close, but Thanesh approached the podium.

  ‘Sidha,’ Thanesh called.

  The orange male approached the podium and handed something to him. Thanesh placed it on the podium, and something uploaded to it. With a flick of his wrist, a screen appeared in the centre of the room.

  ‘This is a testimony from an Aavani who was illegally procured by Hekalion Dar. He escaped, and his freedom was subsequently secured by my people. He witnessed a conversation between Dar and Representative Ila of the Fedhith. They discuss their plans for humanity after they take the planet.’

  ‘I object!’ Dar stood up.

  ‘Sit down!’ the Nemari shouted. ‘We have agreed to allow the High-Protector to speak.

  ‘This is outrageous—’

  ‘Your objection is noted,’ Kemar shouted. ‘Now sit down.’

  The chamber quietened.

  ‘Decimen witnessed a conversation in which they discussed their “Cealin friend” and how he was installed in a new lab. He was insisting on a third of all humans, male, for his purposes. A third of all humans would be five billion males.’ Thanesh looked at Dar. ‘That’s quite an army. Along with the illegal ships and weapons the Cealin have continued building, an act which saw their IGC membership cancelled, that would be the beginning of an empire.’

  ‘These are outrageous lies—’

  ‘Sit, Representative Dar, or you will be removed from the central chamber,’ the Adosian growled.

  Dar stared out at the room, waiting for support, but even his Fedhith co-conspirator was silent. He sat, glaring hatred, his eyes burning into Thanesh.

  ‘This event,’ Thanesh continued, ‘happened a little over a cycle ago. We had contacts on the Cealin homeworld confirm Kallis was broken out of his prison cell rotes before. I believe this “Cealin friend” is Kallis.’

  ‘Do you have any evidence of this?’ The Todaali representative asked.

  ‘That Kallis escaped, yes. For the rest, we do not. However,’ Thanesh turned and reached his hand out to his mate.

  Alethia crossed the floor. In the bright lights of the chamber, her hair, skin, and clothing all white, she looked ethereal. Ghostly.

  She reached Thanesh, who instantly wrapped an arm around her. There was something protective and possessive in his action.

  ‘Five solars ago,’ Thanesh said, ‘many of my people were recaptured by Kallis and brought to the planet Teralis, where we were originally created. My mate was altered to become one of our kind there, and when we fought back, he took my mate and escaped.’

  Thanesh looked down at Alethia, a patient, gentle look on his face.

  ‘I…’ Alethia began hesitantly. ‘I was told by Kallis that he had Fedhith and Bentari allies helping him to achieve his aim of becoming the new Cealin king.’

  ‘What, exactly, did he say?’

  ‘I don’t remember the exact words, but he said that he and his allies were planning to take control of the Protectorate. When I asked what allies, he said, “my Bentari and Fedhith friends”.’

  Eyes turned to Hekalion and Ila.

  ‘That is still not evidence,’ the Nemari representative said. ‘And neither the Bentari nor the Fedhith have logged any objection to the humans joining.’

  ‘No,’ Thanesh agreed. ‘Which I think is strange. Though less strange than those races who have been welcoming to the humans suddenly objecting.’ Thanesh’s eyes swept over the faces of the council.

  ‘What are you saying, High-Protector?’ Kemar asked.

  ‘I am saying there are questions that cannot be answered this rote. Questions that cannot be answered without an investigation. I ask this proceeding is called off until we can fully investigate this matter. That the humans be given protected status until we can resume this vote.’

  From where she was sitting, Sophia saw Hekalion and Ila exchange a look. Hekalion’s son said something to his father, but his father put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

  ‘We will have to take a vote,’ the Nemari said.

  Impatience flared up inside Sophia. These people had to vote over every little detail!

  ‘That is fine.’ Thanesh nodded his understanding. ‘But I have two more things I want to say.’ He went quiet and waited until all noise in the chamber had ceased. Until all eyes were turned to him. When finally, he had their attention, his hand flicked over the datapad he was holding.

  ‘This is an application to the Tessan Protectorate,’ he said. ‘Anyone who feels like they need our protection, sign this and you will have it. This is very much like your application process. Signing means we open negotiations, but you will have our forces at your back from the moment I receive this back. If,’ the word rang out through the room, ‘you feel unsafe for any reason.’ Thanesh turned to Dar, making his meaning clear. ‘I should mention that on this occasion we are waiving the fee.’

  ‘I’m not sure any of our members feel thr—’ The Todaal was interrupted by six pings. Thanesh shared the screen of hi
s datapad on a holo in front of him. He had received six signed applications. He looked up at the Todaal, whose eyes had widened. She looked over at Dar and Ila and for the first time seemed to realise the accusations may have merit.

  ‘Sophia.’ Looking up into Ronin’s eyes, he gestured towards Talina. When Sophia’s eyes met the Kerisian female’s, her face almost glowed with relief. Whatever Dar had over her, somehow it didn’t matter here. ‘She signed it! You’re sure?’

  ‘I watched her do it.’ He nodded. ‘My people have been trying to get Protectorate membership for some time. It’s one reason my mother developed the suits, hoping the Protectorate would want them enough to waive the fee, which is many credits. Too much for our small world and few colonies.’

  ‘Will Dar still expose her?’ Sophia stared at Talina.

  ‘Unlikely.’ Ronin’s breath touched her skin. ‘He will see she had no choice but to take this step. Her government would have pulled her from this role and replaced her with someone else had she not. Someone he has no control over.’

  ‘And the other thing you want to say?’ The Adosian, who was also watching the Bentari and Fedhith with concern, turned to Thanesh.

  ‘Yes.’ Thanesh took a deep breath. ‘I regret I have to do this. I regret it has come to this. But if any Protectorate member world votes against my request, I will have their contract terminated immediately.’

  Talina seemed almost giddy with happiness as around her, the room descended into arguments. A few stayed calm, including the Amaran, who watched the room thoughtfully.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Sophia saw Hekalion Dar nod to his son, who promptly got up and walked towards the back of the booth.

  Silence descended on the chamber. Sophia looked at the animated conversations still happening, yet not a single sound reached their ears. Looking at the exiting Bentari, he had come to an abrupt halt as though he had impacted a solid barrier, despite Sophia seeing no such obstacle in his way.

  ‘What's happening?’ Sophia looked at Ronin.

  ‘They've pulled sound dampeners on, and energy barriers to stop representatives from leaving.’ Ronin grinned. ‘Sometimes they have to wrangle these politicians.’