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Shocked, Baelon backed away from the pack of beasts now feasting on his comrades. He raised his blaster, not quite sure which one to aim at first but determined to kill as many as possible.

Before he could pull the trigger, a bolt of white hot agony ripped through his arm and the blaster fell to the floor. Baelon screamed and dropped to his knees. From his shoulder there now protruded the hilt of the laser-blade which Vahn had hurled with deadly accuracy.

“It’s over, Baelon.”

Vahn advanced on him, his eyes pitiless. Behind him, Kara emerged from the rock. “Acknowledge your defeat.”

“Not until the pit of Xesh closes over.”

Baelon ground the words out, clutching his shoulder.

“He could have killed you, you know.”

Kara glanced at Vahn. “Um, why didn’t you kill him?”

“I was tempted, believe me. And he would deserve it. But I am not a murderer. And you were right when you said earlier he should face justice on Vraxos.”

“Wow. I can’t believe you actually listened to me.”

She looked Baelon in the face. “You’re lucky my husband’s a good guy.”

Baelon laughed.

“Take me back then, you pair of deluded yanthas. Let us have a trial. Do you know what will happen? I will use your so-called justice system to speak my mind loudly and often. And when right-minded Vraxians hear my words, they will begin to doubt everything you’ve said about peace with the Terrans. They will turn on you, my Zhaal. And when the dust has settled, you will find you’ve done my work for me.”

“You seriously think I’d let you have an audience? I’ll lock you in the deepest cell I can find and throw away the key.”

“I am shintu. If you do that, you spark a clan war.”

Baelon’s lips twisted into an ugly sneer. “Go ahead. Gamble with your Empire’s stability. I guarantee you will end up fighting to keep your throne.”

Kara tugged Vahn away.

“Is he right?”

she asked. “Could taking him back risk everything we’ve worked for?”

“Maybe.”

Vahn rubbed his face. “But I have no choice. I can’t kill him in cold blood.”

“That’s what he was proposing to do to me.”

“And believe me kalehsha, I want to rip his arms from his body for that. But you are the one who told me not to do anything stupid. You said revenge would be a mistake. And you are right.”

“I just don’t like the idea of giving him a soapbox for his xenophobia.”

“I know. But I am the Zhaal. I have to behave like one, as difficult as that may be.”

He glanced over at Baelon, who was hunched over in pain. “Perhaps I can reason with him. Change his mind.”

They both knew that was about as likely as hell freezing over. Kara looked through the trees in the direction Baelon and his men had appeared.

“You’d better go check there aren’t any more on his ship. I’ll watch him.”

She picked up Baelon’s fallen blaster and checked the charge. Sixty-two percent. Vahn nodded.

“All right. Be careful.”

He grabbed a pulse rifle and vanished into the trees.

Kara glanced over at the beast pack, trying not to look too closely at the smeared blood and strings of flesh hanging from their muzzles. Rocky was sniffing at the body of his fallen pack-mate.

“Hey, boy,”

she said sympathetically. Rocky whined and pawed at the corpse, as if willing him to get up. “I’m so sorry. He’s gone.”

“Communing with beasts,”

spat Baelon. “More proof of your aberrant nature.”

His scales were white and chalky, a sure sign of a Vraxian in pain. The laser-blade had gone clean through his shoulder and was protruding on either side. An unpleasant odor of charred flesh hung in the air.

“Least I don’t smell of barbecue.”

“Jest all you want, gemlek human. But you cannot escape the fact that soon your husband’s throne will fall. The Empire will be in chaos and it will all be because of you.”

Kara walked closer, careful to keep out of range of his serpetri.

“Why are you so full of hatred?”

she asked. “Why can’t you be happy the war is over?”

“Because Terrans killed my wife!”

he bellowed. His face was stiff with anger and his scales shaded rapidly from white to grey and back again. “She died in a battle started by your people. You killed her!”

He was hurting, that much was clear. Hurting from a wound inflicted almost two decades ago. And the irony of it was that she knew exactly how he felt, because a similar wound had been inflicted on her.

“My father was in the same battle,”

she said in a low voice. “He died too. He burned to death in his space-fighter. So I understand, Baelon, I really do. But that’s why we have to end it, don’t you see?”

She was hoping to appeal to him, to touch a chord based on their shared loss. He skewered her with his reptilian gaze.

“I sincerely hope it was my wife that killed your father.”

She jerked back, the repugnance in his voice like a physical blow. Wincing with pain, he got to his feet.

“Stay where you are, you fucking psycho.”

She pointed the pulse blaster at him.

“When your noble husband takes me back to Vraxos, I will foment civil unrest against him. I will rally anyone and everyone who has reason to hate humans. They will join my cause willingly. You will see it won’t take long to undermine both the peace deal and the na?ve acceptance of a Terran Zhaalini.”

He took a step towards her, disregarding the weapon pointed at his chest.

“Baelon, I’m warning you.”

“And when I am done, the Zhaal will be forced to step down from the throne. And you will be an enemy prisoner, thrown to the troops to use however they see fit. Perhaps I will record it and send it to your mother. Do you think she will abide by the peace deal then?”

“Stop it.”

“And best of all, I will ascend the throne. Clan Vantrax will rule once again, and we will take the Empire to a glorious victory with the push of a button. The Vastos Bomb will wipe Earth from the face of the universe and I…”

She didn’t consciously think about it. That’s what she told herself later. But some small part of her rejoiced as she pulled the trigger and silenced the sound of his hateful rhetoric forever.

Rocky looked up as Baelon’s body fell backwards, a gaping hole in his chest. He and the rest of the pack immediately surrounded it.

Kara stooped to pull out the laser-blade before it got damaged by their gnashing jaws. Then she left them to it, walking into the forest until the gruesome noises behind her faded.