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She gave me a sharp nod and went over to where Kirel had set up a camera.
“I sent the translator update out in a wide broadcast a week ago,” Kirel said.
“So they’ll be able to understand me?” Vivv asked.
“They will.”
“Okay. Let’s do this thing.” She squared her shoulders and stared into the camera.
“People of the seven sectors, I’m Captain Vivian Lee ofARK 1, a Hyoo-mon spaceship that entered your area of the galaxy a couple of months ago. In that time, the Grug have sold me and my people as little more than animals, just as they did to the Sjisji, Tula, and Zaarn in the past. You may think this doesn’t concern you, but that’s because you aren’t aware of all the ways the Grug have lied to you and manipulated you. Their most serious deception is the Abyss.”
My mate was glorious as she outlined all the secrets about the telepathy field, the Grug soldier drones, and even the kill switch built into every ship. The Senate hadn’t wanted any of this information made public yet, but my mate had insisted. I agreed—I was tired of Grug secrets.
When I’d approached my mother with the idea an hour ago, she’d been careful not to give direct verbal approval over comms. But she’d also made sure to let me know that until the new treaty was signed, Hyoo-mons weren’t bound by the Senate’s laws. I’d grinned, knowing exactly what she was trying to tell me—that Vivv could make a statement now without repercussions.
“Stand with the Hyoo-mons now.” Vivv’s voice rang with command and conviction. “Stand up and demand that the Grug treatallof us fairly and with the respect we deserve. Because this isn’t just about equal rights for me and my people. This is about every single person in the seven sectors who isn’t a Grug.” The stared directly into the camera, her eyes blazing with so much righteous fire I expected the lens to melt.
“This is aboutyou.”
A stunned silence hung on the bridge for several seconds, then cheers broke out. Car-Raa and Hay-Zul enveloped Vivv in a hug, but let go as I approached.
“How’d I do?” Vivv grinned up at me.
“You wereglorious.” I brushed my fingers over her forehead. “A sight to behold.”
“Captain, we’ve got comms.”
“Who is it?” Not tearing my eyes from hers.
“Whoisn’tit,” Kirel said. “Senator Bila. Senator Rualii. Senator Devalia. The captains of several of the incoming ships. No, make thatallof the incoming ships.”
“Here we go.” I offered my mate a wry smile. This was only the first of it. Once the broadcast worked its way across the seven sectors, we’d be fielding calls for days.
“We’ll handle it.” She raised her chin. “Together.”
“Together,” I echoed, taking her hand and pulling her over to the comms station with me.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Vivv
The next few days were a blur of too little sleep and too much talking.
Waytoo much talking.
The Grug blustered and hedged, but with our fleet of ships circling their planet, they didn’t have much choice but to finally talk to us.
Hazel had remembered a few extra pieces of data that helped with all that. It seemed that the Grug really had relied on their telepathy field to protect their home world. They owned no great war fleet—almost every ship they had was spread across the seven sectors to give the appearance of strength. They’d even done the trick where they’d change the transponder code of a ship before flying it out again under a new name so that it would appear that they had more ships than they did. They’d do that over and over again with each ship. Their supposed fleet of hundreds of warships turned out to be only twenty, with all the rest of their resources put into their much larger collection of weaponless cargo ships.
The Grug had gone for more insidious ways of controlling everyone instead. They’d lied about the ability to translate written language and instead carefully created the standard trade language to lack key concepts such as friend, trust, and love. They’d undermined anyone else’s attempt to manufacture goods by dropping their prices until the competition went out of business. And they’d purposefully manipulated the Senate to sow discontent that kept the Sjisji, Tula, and Zaarn from forming close alliances.
And all it had taken to bring about their downfall were a few banished Zaarn warriors and a handful of human women.
We gathered in theDaredevil’s shuttle bay, which had been cleared of ships to make room for everyone. The senators had wanted to use one of their ships for the treaty ratification, but Wrin and I had used all our new political clout to insist on our ship. Having the historical event happen here would cement that the Zaarn sent to Roam and humans were full members of the seven sectors now.
The three senators signed the treaty, Devalia for Zaar, Bila for the Tula, and Rualii for the Sjisji. Wrin added his name next, representing the banished Zaarn, and then it was my turn.
I scrawled “Captain Vivian Lee” across the screen in English, a fierce pride filling me.
