Chapter 508 (2/2)
”Stop her! This is illegal,” Namtotun shrieked.
”The current legal property owner is engaged in legitimate defense of their personal property and the guests residing therein. There is no legal recourse to prevent her from using lethal force to defend her property or guests,” the lawyer said.
The doors blew open, a Terran male having kicked the doors open with one boot that Namtotun could swear had brass nails holding the carved sole.
Nakteti was walking in front of a Terran female who had heat shimmers coming off of her. Nakteti was wearing a leather vest, the engraved shoulder plates lit up with burning light, a long blade held in her four hands and she gripped the blade tightly.
Nakteti moved up to the desk as Namtotun stared at her, moving around the lawyer and his assistants carefully.
The Terrans gave them a wide berth.
Behind them several reporters were clustered in the hallway, looking through their camera lenses as the flycams swooped around and jostled for the best shot.
”I believe you are attempting to steal my property,” Nakteti said slowly. She rested her fists on the table, still gripping the sword. ”I am not the young woman you met years ago any longer,” she stated coldly.
Namtotun sneered.
”You will address me as...” he started.
”Silence,” Nakteti snapped.
Snarls of purple lightning arced up and down the naked blade, between her hands, dancing across her knuckles.
”I am Nakteti the Traveller, and you would be wise to heed my commands,” she said in a terrible soft voice. ”I have learned the lessons the Precursor taught our people, I have seen with my own eyes the burning corpse of Tnvaru Prime, and I have tread the path of sorrow to emerge here.”
Namtotun tried to speak but found his jaw welded shut. A glance showed the large brown skinned Terran female staring at him, moving her fingers, and whispering silently.
A pair of guards in light powered riot armor burst into the hallway. The large human male in front of them grabbed them and slammed them together several times, the crash punctuating Nakteti's words.
”I envisioned paradise and you turned it into a garbage dump,” Nakteti said. She leaned forward. ”The Terrans say that some prefer to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven,” Nakteti said. She smiled, a slow thing, showing lots of teeth.
A very Terran smile.
”You have created Hell within my paradise,” Nakteti said.
The Terran male dropped the two unconscious sociopolice and dusted off his hands.
”Please don't kill me,” Namtotun managed to whisper.
”Even the Devil has his purpose, Namtotun,” Nakteti smiled. ”What sights I have to show you.”
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TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS
Wait, they didn't even file the proper paperwork to be acknowledged as a temporary government?
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PUBVIAN DOMINION
We checked.
They didn't file anything.
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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
If they had been a government they would have run into problems already.
Private property ownership is a big deal. Removing that without a majority vote to agree to allow restrictions upon those agreeing to abide by said restrictions is a major no-no.
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MANTID FREE WORLDS
The only thing that kept Confederate Peacekeepers from landing is the fact that the government wasn't official and Nakteti really needs to pay attention to her StellarNet mail.
That, and there's a war on.
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AKLTAK SOARING WORLDS
Um, do we run that risk?
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PUBVIAN DOMINION
You're a 'crisis settlement' and working with Confederate Government Services. They won't make the stupid mistakes the 'Planetary Director for Life' was making.
OK, there's a little bit of confusion.
Most of us members have good solid histories. Tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years of culture, society, legal and cultural precedent.
We've never encountered entire species who had their culture as wiped out as the Lanaktallan did to all of you.
We're trying to figure out what your species need psychologically to be comfortable, and we might not be able to do that for several generation, since all of you spent your existence drugged up with the Lanaktallan suppressing agents.
There's serious discussion about the fact we might have to act as if you are the survivors of a cultural and social apocalypse.
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TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS
We almost had a civil war.
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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
We get that. We almost did. P'Thok blew a hole through our culture and Matron Mi'Luki drove an ice cream truck through it.
We still haven't recovered or really settled down from that.
Hell, it's not uncommon even now for a female to chow down on some male's head.
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TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS
Isn't that illegal?
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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
What? Eating a male's head during mating?
That's complicated, but short answer is: No.
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RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT
Guess he should have brought better ice cream.
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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
Bingo.
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TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS
What if what Nakteti does doesn't work and people start killing each other?
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MANTID FREE WORLDS
Then you ask for Confederate assistance or you just settle it yourselves.
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TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS
But that just tells everyone that might makes right!
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PUBVIAN DOMINION
Doesn't it?
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