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“Didn’t Jace say there were five missing Khul?” Dr. Hayter asked.

Grimly, Davies answered. “He did. So there’s one still missing.”

Communication

Earlier, in the Moturin Compound on Haseon...

“What are you doing here, High Councillor Voor?” Khoth asked as he and his mother entered the blown out opening into the Moturin Compound. “Shouldn’t you be safely ensconced at the Council Building?”

His mother was a fine warrior, but her position meant that she should not be on the front lines any longer. Had she come here to salvage her honor? Kill the Khul and show she was still in charge? Or perhaps, if he were charitable, perhaps she simply couldn’t sit back and let others fight the Khul on Haseon, and so had to come. Before her insanity over the Pilot, he would have thought the latter, but now the former seemed more likely. So having her here was not a comfort.

“It’s not High Councillor anymore,” she answered as they crouch-walked down the hazy hallway.

The explosion had blown tons of rock dust into the air. It tickled the back of Khoth’s throat. If Jace had not fixed the shield, he imagined that the Khul would have completely swarmed the Compound easily, not even having to use so many bombs to get inside. He could imagine them infecting and killing with wild abandon as they made their way to Jace.

And everything would have been lost. Not just Haseon. Not just Jace. But the whole of the Alliance. And it still could be if we do not end this.

He reached the end of the hallway first and leaned his back against it. He held his draagves against his chest, muzzle pointed down towards the ground. Listening intently, and hearing nothing, he dared glance around the corner. There were no Khul, but there was evidence of their passage. One of them was injured and the greenish-black blood sizzled on the ground in spots.

“I heard that, but you’ll get your position back,” Khoth finally answered. “You don’t need to be here to gather glory.”

“No, I don’t believe I will,” his mother said quietly. “And I’m not here for glory. I’m here to help you, the Pilot and our people. Not being High Councillor any longer frees me to do as I truly wish.”

He did not respond at first to what she had said. Her tone was curious too, almost more so than her words. Because he didn’t hear regret in her voice over losing her position, but relief.

“Your Pilot showed everyone just how unfit I was for the position I held,” she added.

Khoth tensed slightly as they entered the blood-spotted hallway. Talking about this--about Jace, especially with her--right now was a terrible idea. He needed to be on mission completely. But he needed to know her intentions towards the Pilot. He couldn’t believe she had changed her opinion so quickly. Considering she had just said that Jace had exposed her worst moments to others didn’t bode well.

“If you had not behaved dishonorably, Jace showing your behavior to the Alliance would not have mattered,” Khoth said as he jogged down the hallway.

He thought he heard the faint whine of draagves fire coming up ahead. He noted that the doorways they passed all had security doors of thick calcanth blocking them. He was certain that these had not been there before. They must be part of the security measures that Jace was turning on as he furiously tried to fix the ancient Altaeth technology. As well as looking formidable, the calcanth was molded to show scenes of trees and flowers that were unfamiliar to Khoth and not native to Haseon.

Or perhaps they simply did not survive the millennia.

“Yes, that’s true. My own actions were to blame,” she finally answered as they slowed at another corner. “But having them seen sealed my fate.”

“So you do blame the Pilot for losing your position?” Khoth swung around to glare at her.

“No,” she answered, her eyes widening slightly at his anger. “He showed me what I should have known.”

“Which is?” Khoth’s hands were so tight on his draagves that his knuckles were white.

“That I was not suited to be High Councillor,” she answered.

He let a full beat pass by to absorb this. He started back down the hallway. “So you’re just going to give up and allow Ardath Ulgex to rule in your place?”

She definitely was here to salvage her reputation if it was so bad that she was claiming this. But she’d lost him and his father to this insanity. Perhaps she did recognize that she’d gone too far, that she was emotionally compromised. He felt like a metronome, swinging one way before swinging all the way to the opposite side.

She smiled. “Actually, Esik Bhilkairs will be High Councillor until a vote can be arranged of all the Alliance species. Ardath was deemed… too controversial to appoint. Especially considering her feelings about humans and after the Pilot’s ship is the only one keeping us from being overrun.”

“The Pilot’s ship is not the only thing taking out the Khul. The Pilot secured the planetary defenses, which is why we have only one ship on Haseon rather than an armada,” Khoth growled.

He checked the next hall and was gliding down it, draagves at his shoulder. He was relieved to see that all of the doorways so far were covered with those calcanth security doors. He was certain that the Moturins were mostly safe inside. Jace had done this. He was tempted to contact the young man, but did not. Jace needed to focus on what he was doing and Khoth needed to do the same.

“I know. I understand, Khoth.” She touched his forearm.

He stared at her hand, his emotions swirled behind a pane of impenetrable glass. He was unable to feel them. Only know that they were there. “Why are you doing and saying these things now?”