Chapter 381 (1/2)
The shuttle bobbled slightly as it set down, the engines giving a slowly unwinding whine as the vibration stopped. Nakteti looked at Major Carnight and frowned slightly.
”What?” the Terran asked,
”Why the noise? Graviton is normally silent,” she said.
Carnight nodded. ”It makes us Terrans feel better. We know the engine is shut down. Think of it as an audible warning.”
Nakteti nodded. It was one of those things that she had meant to ask about but had gotten caught up in the whirlwind that had become her life.
Carnight stood up, moving to the door of the shuttle. Nakteti frowned as he half drew his magac pistol, standing in the doorway as it slowly opened.
The level of paranoia seemed excessive. The shuttle was heavily armored, with battlescreens. Carnight was wearing his adaptive camouflage with armor panels and carrying a fully loaded magac pistol and a 'Mark Two Cutting Bar” on his hip.
He looked outside then turned and waved.
”This way, Madame Diplomat,” he said seriously.
Nakteti sighed. The level of formality had spiked since they had arrived in the Pubvian system and to be honest, she had expected more of a gentle species since every Terran she knew of were all ”PUFFIES!” and excited.
Major Carnight moved out of the door, hopping out of the shuttle. As Nakteti approached the stairs descended for her as she took in what was beyond.
A formal looking building, made of sparkling marble, set in the middle of immaculate lawns. She could count three fountains and see gardeners (all fully covered Pubvians) working on the shrubs.
She moved down the steps, slightly amused that she was not wearing the veils or the full body covering, but instead a comfortable Tnvaru body suit with warm and soft gripping slippers.
”The Pubvians are unsure of how to proceed, Nakteti,” Major Carnight said when she finished descending down the steps. He made a motion and lead her toward what was supposedly t he diplomatic residence.
”Why?” Nakteti said, gripping the carved wooden rod in her hands tightly.
”Your shipboard personnel all have jobs, but they found no security detachment,” he said. He gave a slight chuckle. ”Except me.”
”So why the problem?” Nakteti said, relishing the feel of real grass beneath her feet. She let Major Carnight walk on the laid stones of the path and instead walked in the grass next to him.
”You have to remember, when they met us, we were, well, a little more militant,” Major Carnight said. He sounded slightly embarrased. ”Terra, humans, had just finished three back to back wars, some pretty nasty stuff, including a Temporal Incursion. We left Fortress Sol and met the Pubvians soon after we met the Rigellians.”
”I thought you didn't fight the Rigellians,” Nakteti said.
”We didn't. Terra fought the Skrevick, who invaded Rigellian space less then a year after we met the Rigellians,” he said. He winced slightly. ”To the bitter end,” he glanced at her. ”We tried to save them, we really did. When we found out the purpose of the beautiful crystalline, almost butterfly-like ships that were behind every warship, that exploded when the warship was destroyed no matter what we did, we tried everything to save them.”
He stopped, reaching out and poking a sharp looking thorn on the stem of a flower that Nakteti found quite beautiful to see and pleasant to smell.
”We would have helped them. We really would have,” he said softly. ”But instead, they just kept coming. Wave after wave,” he looked over. ”And then, it was over. And they were gone from the universe. No homeworld, no clue where they came from, just... gone.”
Nakteti let Carnight be silent for a moment, watching him press his fingertip against the thorn then let up on the pressure, only to do it again. The razor edge of the thorn glittered, but was unable to even mar the Terran's skin.
He had been slightly strange since they had arrived, and Nakteti had begun to worry about him. She could see the three flashing LED's beneath the skin of his neck.
”What does it have to do with the Pubvians?” she asked.
Carnight jerked, as if she had physically struck him, and looked at her, his eyes a dull red.
”We met the Pubvian and the Pubvian engaged in their typical dominance games,” he said. ”They hit a colony, 'pacified' it, and let us know that they were the reigning power in this sector.”
Nakteti stayed silent. She could faintly hear traffic and the sounds of a city beyond the walls of the diplomatic estate she was standing on. The breeze was warm, but felt chilly somehow.
”We had just gotten done fighting the Skrevick, just finished with the Temporal Incursion, we were in no mood to have someone roll up on us and slap us across the face,” he said. ”We only had about twenty colonies total, and the Pubvians had just taken one away and were busy installing their own government.”
Nakteti reached out and took his hand in one of hers. ”And then?”
”To the Pubvians, we should have, if we could, taken back our colony and taken over one of theirs,” Carnight said. ”Instead, we leveled their fleet, stomped their colony forces, made orbital strikes on their colonies, and landed in force on their homeworld and the home system,” Carnight said. ”They slapped us, challenging us to a duel, and we stuck the barrel of a pistol in their mouth and told them to prepare to meet their gods.”
Nakteti nodded. Six months ago, she would have been shocked, horrified.
”We calmed down, after the Second Terran/Mantid War, after the fall of the Imperium, after we had completely lost ourselves in blood lust and rage. They did not see that part, did not experience it, but they can believe it,” he said. He looked up at the clouds in the sky. ”So now they're unsure of how to treat us. They know that in eight thousands years and some change we've done nothing but get stronger, we somehow brought them back to life after getting xenocided, so now they're really unsure of the power dynamics.”
Nakteti shifted her grip on her stick, putting one end in the ground, holding tight to it with three other hands, and leaned forward on it. She had seen elders perform the same action and could suddenly appreciate it.
”Pubvians don't like being unsure of how the power dynamics lie,” Carnight admitted. He stopped pressing his finger on the point of the thorn and looked down at her. ”So they're being really careful. To them, their complete and utter curb stomping was only a few decades ago. To us, it was eight or nine thousand years ago.”
Nakteti nodded, moving toward the doors of the estate's manor, gently tugging Major Carnight with her. She had noticed that despite the fact there was no way she could actually move the massive primate with a gentle tug, he followed her as if he was a child.
Pack bonding instincts, she thought to herself.
”I understand it. My people feel much the same way. We had become traders, commodity brokers, consortium leaders, with massive convoys and freighters,” Nakteti said. ”Then the Precursors destroyed it all, and we are unsure of our place in the universe now.”
”So you can understand the Pubvian's hesitancy when discovered that your security detail consists of a single Terran with a magac pistol and advanced combat systems implants,” Major Carnight said. ”They're unsure if the Terrans now consider a single man the equivalent of what would have been a combined arms brigade when they met us. They're unsure if it would insult you to offer their own security forces, or if you have a cultural taboo against security forces, or even if it is a sign of your species dominance that all you need for protection is a single Terran.”
Nakteti laughed. ”Do they not know that we ran from Terra when the Lanaktallan attacked it with just enough crew to do a test voyage?” Nakteti stopped next to the fountain that the path divided to circle before rejoining to lead to the steps of the manor. She leaned on the stick, looking at the water.
The sand had gold flecks in the blackish blue. There were small fish inside the water, moving around lazily.
”They are still trying to figure out how that changes the power dynamics,” Carnight admitted.
”Can you blame them?” Nakteti said. ”I understand how they must be feeling. Now I understand why they gifted my people with this manor, why they have invited me to a diplomatic function despite my insistence I am not a diplomat.”
Major Carnight looked down at her, checking his retinal link to see her vitals.
She was calm, collected, everything stable at her vital's baselines.
She looked away from the fish swimming lazily in the fountain.
”Let us take a tour of the manor and then summon the clothiers,” she said softly. ”Put out of your mind politics and games of dominance,” she tugged on his hand. ”Your job is to protect me.”
She tapped her gripping stick on the cut stones of the walk.
”Politics and games of dominance are a Tnvaru matron's milk and honey,” she said.
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Nakteti stood and looked at the outfit in the mirror. It was holographic only, the Pubvian women around her gossiping as they rapidly put together the 'gown' from the fabric they had brought with them. Nakteti had been surprised they didn't use even basic fabric extruders like the Lanaktallan.
Instead, it was a mass amount of cloth the Pubvian females called 'bolts' wrapped around a wooden dowel with handles sticking out of the sides.
Her implant was showing her a translation of their speech over their heads as they chattered in their native language.
”...give him another chance since we all returned to life,” one was saying. ”I have had time to think through of what he had done and realize that perhaps it is not a bad thing.”
”But he slept with your sister,” another said.
The first one gave the equivalent of a shrug. ”Eh, my sister's unlucky in love. She is very docile and submits to me now that I have informed her that I will allow my husband to service her twice a week at my discretion.”
”She is much more pleasant to be around,” a third said. ”Her speaking voice is a screechy as a Treana'ad matron that has discovered her daughter has eaten all of her ice cream.”
That made all four of the Pubvians snicker.
Nakteti kept her face still as another Pubvian draped a necklace around her neck, nestling the pendant between her mammaries.
Pubvians love their jewelry, she thought to herself. Just like my people do. A common thread that I can use during this diplomatic function.
”Then your husband is doing a community service to the entire city in satiating her appetites so she is no longer such a chore to be around,” the fourth said, giving a giggle. ”Perhaps we should have a cast made of his genitals and then we can have a copy of them cast in gold and warsteel for all to admire.”
All four of them laughed and Nakteti kept her face motionless.
Gossip, spousal trouble, bonding over gossip, jewelry, and now fine fabric clothing, Nakteti thought to herself, running her blunt claws down the sheer fabric and luxuriating in the feel of the cloth weave. We have much in common.
A glance showed her that Major Carnight was only a few steps away, his feet shoulder width apart, his open hands one on top of another behind his back, his elbows at a near perfect ninety-degrees, his back straight, chin lifted, chest out, shoulders squared.
Nakteti had to admit, it was an impressive pose that suggested dangerous competence and a willingness to instantly move into action should he be called upon, while appearing perfectly at ease and relaxed.