“I do not need therapy from you, space bull. I did what I had to do. It was them or me. And how was I supposed to know they were that fragile? When I hit the first one with the weight and it just crumpled, I thought I was hallucinating. Who is that fragile and chooses piracy?”
Entirely possible. You simply come from a terrifying species that fights like trained soldiers without training.
Her anger cooled, settling into something sharper.
“I appreciate your concern,” she continued. “Really. But this is not the first time I have had to defend myself out here. Where do you think I got my ship from?”
Khar listened carefully. Every detail about her was cataloged with tactical precision, like intelligence gathered for a long campaign.
“I suspected as much,” he said. “I am sorry you had to go through it again. I assume someone helped you afterward.”
Her smile softened at the mention of her beloved ship.
“It is called an acclimatization program,” she said. “It helped me process it back then, and it will help now too.”
Khar smiled at her.
She blinked, then returned it with a wide, radiant grin.
“They also reminded me of a pest species from Earth,” she added. “Disgusting little things. I really did not want them touching me. Wait. Is that allowed to say? Is that… specist?”
Khar leaned against a pillar, relieved that if nothing else, Lily had support.
“Well,” he said dryly, “if you have to ask…”
Her face drained of color.
The old Khar would have let her squirm, maybe even enjoyed it. The new Khar felt a sharp pang instead. He tilted her chin gently so she would meet his eyes.
“Most people grow up knowing there are other species,” he said. “Even then, some cultures turn xenophobic. You lived your entire life in one environment. It is natural to compare new things to what you knew.”
She shook her head. “That does not make it right. They were living beings. Maybe they had families. Dreams.”
“Yes,” Khar said gravely. “The vukri are well known for their rich cultural life.”
She went even paler, her lower lip trembling.
Khar was torn between comforting her immediately or wondering if she would make this expression if he bent her over his knee and spanked her thoroughly.
Later. Definitely later.
“Lily,” he said gently, “I am joking. The vukri are parasites. They do not qualify as sentient. Someone planted them aboard Vitro using a remote probe with limited life support. They can be equipped with simple tools but cannot pilot ships. They slipped in because their bodies do not register standard life signs. It is a rare but known pirate tactic.”
Her distress vanished, replaced by outrage.
“You jerk!”
She slapped his hand away and glared up at him. Khar noticed, almost absently, that the claws he had touched her with were a shade darker now.
She did not see it.
“Lily.”
“What?”
“Can you handle operations alone for a few chrono-cycles? There is something I need to take care of.”
Despite her irritation, she shifted instantly into professional mode.
