Page 32 of Dax: Gratefully Bonded (Rogue Bonds #2)
Zeke
Three Months Later
I tugged at the collar of my military dress uniform, reminding myself that being forced to wear starched fabric for a couple of hours was a small price to pay for the privilege of being involved in this meeting. And a privilege it was. The talks that would follow were going to have a profound impact on the Alliance, and on the rest of the galaxy, for centuries to come.
Dax was right beside me as I crossed the room and took a seat in one of the long benches in the auditorium. Henderson was on one side of me, Dax on the other, and on Dax’s other side was Associate Nors, one of the members of the Rendol Parliament who had been selected to participate in these sessions. She was a Solof woman, with vibrant purple skin. She was young for a member of parliament, but very popular, particularly with the younger generation. Around the rest of our side of the room were representatives from eight other Alliance planets, half a dozen military personnel from Alliance Headquarters in the Drazig system, representatives of each of the six longstanding Alliance species, and eight members of the Alliance Parliament. Alliance space consisted of forty colonised planets, and these politicians had the formidable job of overseeing the entire collective.
And at the far end of our row there were also a cluster of Culrads. As it turned out, Henderson had been right, and the war with the Nwandu had hastened the political cogs between us and them, so that just four weeks ago, the Alliance had officially welcomed the Culrads into our collective. But since they were still so new to the Alliance, they’d requested to bring their own contingent to these negotiations – a request that both the Parliament and the Ranzors had accepted.
On the other side of the room, close to thirty Ranzors were making themselves comfortable on thick mats – their preferred seating arrangement, since typical Alliance chairs were not made to accommodate their shorter legs, or their bulky tails. I spotted Goroz, about a third of the way along the row, and sent him a smile and a nod. He saw me watching, and performed a little shake of his head that I now knew was a gesture of greeting for the Ranzors.
Once everyone was seated, Grand Associate Pol stood up from her seat and strode up to the microphone at the front of the room. She was a Wasop, her skin yellow with vivid black stripes, and I quickly realised that someone must have given her a step to stand on, discretely hidden behind the black fabric draped over the podium. Wasops were naturally quite short, but she was standing as tall as any of the Ranzors would be, when it was their turn to speak.
“It is with great pleasure that I welcome you all here today,” she began, her gaze travelling slowly around the room. “First and foremost, I would like to thank you all for coming for the beginning of these highly auspicious negotiations, and I would like to extend a special thanks to the Ranzors for your commendable efforts in defeating the Nwandu. That victory did not come without significant losses, but our combined achievements have been monumental. The Nwandu are now contained back in their own home system, and a collaboration of Culrad scientists and Ranzor reconnaissance teams have been able to set up a monitoring network to alert us to any ships entering or leaving the Ginra sector. And so we have cautious but optimistic hopes that the Nwandu will no longer be able to continue their destructive ways.
“Most of the Halagals have now been returned to their home planet, and are making slow but steady progress in their efforts to rebuild. The Alliance is continuing to provide medical support and raw materials for their technological requirements, and will continue monitoring their progress over the next six months, at a minimum.
“Throughout the war, we saw time and again that the Ranzors are a most worthy species, displaying admirable courage and exceptional skill in their battle against the Nwandu. In demonstration of our gratitude for your assistance, the Alliance Parliament has awarded eighteen Ranzor soldiers the acclaimed Star of Valour, one of the highest honours the Alliance Military has to offer.”
I felt both proud and apprehensive as Pol continued with her prepared speech. This part of it, in particular, was making me nervous, since I’d been instrumental in helping to write it. After eight weeks of running the refugee camp in the park, with Goroz looking over my shoulder the entire time, I’d somehow become Rendol’s foremost expert on Ranzor culture. And I’d explained to the Alliance Parliament how important it would be to acknowledge their prowess in battle – the defining characteristic for Ranzor culture. But the next part of the speech was going to be a little trickier, and I paid close attention to the Ranzors to see how they would react.
“The Ranzors also displayed a marked compassion for the refugees and a willingness to cooperate with Alliance and Culrad forces. These qualities are significant to Alliance culture, and on this basis, we are optimistic that we will be able to pave a future for our two collectives, built on mutual respect and shared goals. I look forward to participating in the coming discussions with you, and on behalf of the Alliance as a whole, I thank you for your profound efforts in helping to defeat the Nwandu.”
Pol bowed to the Ranzor contingent, then returned to her seat, amid applause from the Alliance, and a chorus of clicks from the Ranzors.
Goroz stood up and came forward, and I couldn’t help but tense as I waited to see what he would say. While I hadn’t been involved in his side of preparations in anything like the amount of depth I had for the Alliance side, I had nonetheless given him some pertinent tips about how to appeal to Alliance morals and how to sidestep the worst of the cultural clashes we might be likely to run into.
“The Ranzor Council thanks you for your welcome,” he said to Associate Pol, and I gave a mental shrug as I decided it was an acceptable greeting. The Ranzors were not prone to effusive speeches, and everyone in attendance had been warned that they were likely to be rather more direct and succinct than we were accustomed to. “It has been an honour to work with a collective that has displayed as much courage as any Ranzor. Your soldiers are impressive, and they provide hope in a galaxy that can sometimes be a very dark place. But more than simple courage, or skill in battle, the Alliance military forces have demonstrated commitment to another hallmark of Ranzor culture – that being the value of freedom, of the right for a species to carve out their own path, without the fear of threat or coercion from those who would seek to overpower us. And it is on this basis that we believe the Ranzors and the Alliance can find the common ground needed to forge a treaty, for two collectives who, on the surface, may seem to have little in common…”
With the subtlest of movements, I felt Dax’s hand land on my own, and he gave me a gentle squeeze. It was then that I realised I was holding my breath, and I let it out slowly, relaxing my shoulders and unclenching my fists.
It was a good start to the meeting, with both sides eager to find our common ground, rather than focusing on our differences. These talks would likely go on for several months, with plenty of need for intensive research, long planning meetings, the delicate smoothing over of inevitable misunderstandings, and some collective soul searching, as the Alliance weighed up the values of another culture, deciding which parts of it we could accept, and which parts we needed to push back against. And somehow, amongst it all, I’d found myself with the new title of Ranzor Liaison Officer, while Dax had now been officially enrolled in the Alliance Military, with the rank of Sergeant and the job title of Support Coordinator – not just for me, but for half a dozen other soldiers who were currently struggling to deal with the trauma of injuries, failed missions, or the death of teammates.
He was excelling in his new role, managing to find the right balance of gentleness and bossiness to get his charges to participate in their own treatment, while giving them the space and flexibility to manage their various anxieties at the same time.
I squeezed Dax’s hand back, then returned my attention to Goroz’s speech. The future was looking brighter than it had for a long time – for me, for Dax, and for the Alliance as a whole. And I couldn’t have been more grateful for the chance to share it with him.