Chapter 3
3
M aax stared at the requisition form on his datapad, his jaw clenching as another notification chimed. The documents bred like vermin, multiplying every time he looked away. Around him, the engineering bay was alive with people and the usual noises: the deep bass of the primary generators, the chatter of the engineers, and the sound of boots on metal decking. Usually, the low-level sounds kept him calm. Today, they grated on his nerves, his jaw tightening as his fingers drummed on the datapad. All they did was remind him how much remained undone before his afternoon meeting.
His fingers tightened on the datapad's edges. The device creaked in protest, and he forced himself to relax his grip.
“I need your authorization on the power coupling replacements, sir." Engineer R’akk approached his workstation, datapad extended.
"The specifications?" Maax prompted, though he already knew R’akk would have verified everything multiple times. After one memorable dressing down early in his posting, the junior engineer had learned that lesson thoroughly. R’akk’s mortification still made his chest twinge with guilt. But it had been necessary. Mistakes in engineering often had fatal consequences, and they had precious human females aboard.
"All within acceptable parameters." R’akk's response was swift and sure, though his posture remained formal. "I've included the stress test results from last shift and the projected wear patterns based on current usage. The simulations show a thirteen percent improvement over the previous configuration."
Maax nodded as he reviewed the documentation. The numbers aligned perfectly with his own calculations. Better than perfectly, if he was honest. R’akk was developing into a fine engineer; he just needed to trust his own judgment more now.
Maax pressed his thumb to the authorization panel, watching the green confirmation light pulse.
His wrist bracer chimed at the same time, the sound cutting through the engineering bay's mechanical chorus. The time display made his chest constrict: three hours until the meeting. Three hours until he faced a challenge no amount of engineering expertise could solve. Emily was safe in the nursery, so he forced his attention back to the present. He had duties to complete before he could focus on securing her future.
"The installation team is standing by," R’akk continued, accepting the approved datapad. "They can begin work as soon as?—"
"Warrior Maax!" A technician burst into their conversation, breath coming in short gasps that suggested he'd run the length of the engineering deck. Another datapad was thrust into his field of vision. "Sir, we're getting some odd readings from the auxiliary power grid in section seven."
Maax frowned as he accepted the offered datapad, studying the fluctuation patterns. The variations weren't critical yet, but the irregular spikes suggested something that needed careful monitoring. He'd planned to oversee that diagnostic himself, but now...
He glanced at his bracer again. The meeting demanded preparation time he couldn't spare, but leaving potential power fluctuations unchecked wasn't an option either.
"R’akk." He turned to the junior engineer, who snapped to attention so quickly Maax heard his vertebrae click into place. "Take point on the power coupling replacement. I want hourly updates on the installation progress."
He transferred the new diagnostic data to R’akk's pad, watching the younger warrior's eyes widen at the additional responsibility. "And have someone track these power fluctuations. If the variance exceeds two percent, I want to know straight away."
"Yes, sir." R’akk's voice held steady, though surprise flickered across his features for a second before his professional mask slipped back into place. Good. The younger warrior needed to learn to handle multiple responsibilities and to hide his reactions better. He’d be no good on poker nights. The human game had become popular on the station and, warriors being warriors, had caused more than a few violent outbursts. It seemed every other day Maax had to head down to security to recover some of his engineers, and he knew the other station departments were the same.
He gathered his own datapads, mentally mapping the fastest route to the Chief Engineer's office. The mid-shift change would flood the corridors soon, but if he timed it right...
His bracer chimed again. This time the message wasn't another engineering update, but a reminder about Emily's upcoming medical assessment from the station’s Lead Healer. His heart clenched, the feeling so visceral he had to suppress a growl. Today's meeting could affect everything... her future, her safety, and their little family.
Focus. One task at a time. It was like repairing a complex system. Each component had to be addressed in the proper order.
He found the chief engineer in his office, surrounded by holographic displays that bathed the space in ghostly blue light. Power grid schematics danced in the air, their intricate patterns reflecting in Vaarn T’Kaan’s eyes as he looked up. His gaze narrowed at Maax’s formal stance.
“Problem?” he asked.
"The adoption meeting." He kept his voice neutral, professional, though his throat wanted to close around the words.
“Ahh, draanth , that’s today?”
He nodded.
"R’akk is overseeing the power coupling replacement in section four and monitoring some minor fluctuations in the auxiliary grid." The technical details steadied him, giving him something concrete to focus on besides the knot forming in his gut.
Vaarn’s fingers danced over his console, bringing up the relevant data streams. Blue light played across his features as he absorbed the information, his expression softening slightly.
"Go. I'll keep an eye on things here." He paused, then added, "Good luck with the meeting. You won’t need it, but good luck anyway.”
He nodded, his throat too tight to even murmur a thanks, so he acknowledged the words with a slight bow, warrior to warrior, before striding from the engineering bay.
He lengthened his stride as he entered the station corridors, already filling with personnel as one shift ended and another began, using his height to part the growing crowd. Humans and other species moved out of the way, responding to some primitive recognition of a predator in their midst. The thought almost made him bare his teeth; today, he needed that predatory nature leashed.
The transition from engineering to the administrative sections always struck him as wrong. Utilitarian metal walls gave way to softer materials and decorative panels that served no practical purpose. The harsher light of the engineering sections faded into something deliberately aesthetic, designed to please rather than serve. The thrum of machinery became muffled, buried beneath layers of soundproofing that prioritized appearance over function.
A flash of movement ahead caught his eye—a familiar figure with a too-bright smile that set his teeth on edge. Aisha. Draanth. The human female had an uncanny ability to materialize at the most inconvenient moments, like a malfunction in the ship's systems that couldn't be fixed.
It was the coward’s way out, but he ducked down a side corridor before she saw him. It was a longer route and would cost him precious minutes, but it would spare him another awkward confrontation with the female—which would have taken even more time. He didn't have the patience today for her forced cheerfulness and flirtation.
He ducked back onto the main corridor just before the Latharian Mate Program offices. Here, the administrative section's luxury reached new heights, all polished surfaces and elegant furnishings meant to impress potential mates. The artificial pleasantness of it all made his skin crawl. He ignored the plush surroundings, his focus narrowing to the meeting room ahead and what waited behind its doors.
To his surprise, a tall figure stood outside the meeting room, drawing curious glances from passing personnel. His steps slowed as he approached. She was Tavkronian, so he assumed she was his legal representative.
Her black and grey skin seemed to drink in the overhead lighting, making the delicate silver markings around her horns dance like starlight on water. Her hooves clicked against the deck with each subtle shift of her weight, the sound somehow both delicate and authoritative. She turned at his approach, and he found himself reassessing his initial impression. Everything about her manner seemed calculated to appear almost too gentle for her imposing physical presence... everything from her graceful movements to the soft way she cleared her throat.
“Lead Engineer Maax?" Her voice was soft and low. He’d never spoken to a female Tavkronian before, and he found her voice pleasant even with the species’ distinctive gruffness. "I am Advocate Tisshel."
“Well met, Advocate.” He returned her greeting with a formal bow, even as worry churned in his gut. Emily's future hung in the balance, and he needed someone who could fight for her, not this mild-mannered academic. Perhaps she was newly qualified. No one who had spent much time in the intergalactic courts was quite so... soft. "I appreciate you taking my case."
"Please, save your appreciation until after we've succeeded." She smiled, and her lips pulled back to reveal pointed teeth, sharp enough to tear flesh. "Shall we review the key points before we go in?"
At his nod, she activated a datapad, long fingers moving with the kind of precise efficiency he liked to see in his engineers. "The humans have sent three representatives, which is more than standard protocol requires." Her tone shifted and took on an edge. "I suspect they're trying to intimidate us with numbers."
His warrior instincts stirred at the hint of steel beneath her gentle facade. Perhaps there was more to this advocate than first appeared. "Their strategy?"
"Likely to challenge your removal of Emily from Earth jurisdiction." She glanced up, and suddenly, her dark eyes weren't mild at all; they were as sharp as obsidian blades, cutting straight through pretense. "They'll try to paint it as an overreach of authority, maybe even kidnapping."
His hands clenched at his sides until the bones in his knuckles creaked.
"They were…” The words came out rougher than he intended, edged with a growl he couldn't quite suppress. “The conditions I found there… They expected a child to work. Clean up after them like a draanthing servant.”
"Yes." Her expression hardened. "And we have the documentation to prove it. Are you prepared to discuss the specifics of where you found her? It may become somewhat intense in there.”
The memory of Emily's tiny form curled in that locked closet sent fury coursing through his veins like molten metal, but he forced it down, locked it away behind walls from years of warrior discipline. "I can maintain control."
"Good." She tucked the datapad away with efficient grace. "Because I need you to. From my research, humans respond poorly to displays of warrior aggression, especially in matters like these.”
His brows snapped together. “You’ve never dealt with humans before?”
She shook her head, silver hair dancing over her shoulders. “No. But that does give us an advantage.”
“Oh? How so?” If she wasn’t familiar with humans, he couldn’t see how that would be anything other than a hindrance.
She shot him a small, predatory look. “Because they’ve never dealt with me. "
Before he could reply to that, the meeting room door slid open in front of them. Tisshel motioned for him to follow her through. The space inside had been arranged to appear informal, but he caught the subtle power dynamics at play. Three humans waited on the far side of the table… a united front, their positioning as tactical as any battle formation.
He recognized the social services agent from Emily's initial placement interview. A bit of a moot point since he’d already removed her from Earth, a fact the social services female hadn’t let him forget. The weeks since their last encounter had obviously not changed her opinion of him. Her thin face carried the same lines of disapproval as she looked at him. Beside her sat an aggressive-looking male he assumed was the human advocate; they called them lawyers from what he'd read. The male’s body almost vibrated with hostile energy, like a mis-calibrated power core about to breach.
But it was the third representative who caught and held his attention. She sat a little apart from the others, her steel-grey hair cropped close to her head in a style that spoke of functionality over fashion. In any other setting, her delicate features might have appeared elfin, even fragile. But her eyes... he recognized that steel-hard gaze. This was someone used to command, someone who could end conflicts with a gesture. Someone dangerous.
“Good morning,” Tisshel said as she motioned him to sit in the left of the two chairs laid out for them. She sat in the other, the delicate claws on her fingers clicking against the tabletop as she spread out her paperwork. He tried not to notice how, even seated, the two of them towered over the human group. “I am Advocate Tisshel from Taci Corp?—”
Maax stopped himself from sitting up straighter at that. Tavkronian culture was contract-based, so any Tavkronian was lethal in a court of law, but the Taci family took it to another level. It was said that they taught their kids legal clauses instead of nursery rhymes from the point they learned to talk. To have a Taci on his case was completely unexpected.
“—and I am here as Lead Engineer Maax A'Taav's representative.”
“You’re not Latharian,” the human lawyer glared at her.
She looked up at him. “I see humans are indeed as perceptive as I had been led to believe.”
Maax hid his grin. Oh, she was good. Very good. Suddenly, he felt a whole lot more confident about this meeting.
The human male’s eyes narrowed. “What I mean is, that our case is with the Latharian. Not… whatever your species is. No offense.”
“None taken.” She inclined her head, the silver markings around her horns glinting in the light. It looked like the design was carved in and then had been filled with silver. Maax didn’t know much about Tavkronian physiology, but that had to have hurt.
“I am Tavkronian, for the record. My species, and my family corp, specializes in intergalactic law. As such, we have been on retainer with the Latharian Imperial Court for the last seven hundred years. I am here at the behest of the Emperor to represent Warrior A'Taav. In these matters, it is the Emperor’s feeling that all Lathar are members of the Imperial household, and as such, their rights must be protected.”
There was silence. Whatever the humans had expected, he was sure they hadn’t expected an alien legal expert.
"Shall we begin?" Tisshel smiled, her soft voice filling the room.
“Yes, indeed. Let's cut to the chase." The lawyer's voice cracked through the air like an energy whip, designed to wound. "This is a clear case?—”
“Excuse me,” Tisshel interrupted him. “I do not know how these matters are dealt with on Earth, but in the intergalactic community, it is seen as courteous to introduce yourself and your companions. We have already done so,” she said, spreading her hands to indicate herself and Maax.
“Yes, yes, of course,” he said in irritation. “I am Alan Carson, legal representative for the Department of Social Services.” He turned to indicate the woman sat nearest to him. “This is Andrea Lucas, Emily Morgan’s caseworker. And...”
His voice trailed off as he turned to look at the steel-haired woman.
“My name is Taylor,” she replied. “I am simply an observer.”
“Thank you.” Tisshel inclined her head again, then looked at Carson. “You may continue.”
“Thank you. As I was saying, this is a clear case of jurisdictional overreach. The child in question, Emily Morgan, is an Earth citizen and subject to Earth's laws regarding fostering and adoption."
Maax's hands clenched beneath the table, safely out of sight, his nails cutting into his palms. The pain helped him maintain his warrior's discipline as the human lawyer continued.
"Furthermore, the manner in which she was removed from her legal guardians' care shows a complete disregard for proper channels and procedures. The Morgans had full custody?—"
"The Morgans," Tisshel interrupted, "were using children placed in their care as household servants.” Her eyes flashed with quickly-leashed anger. "Or perhaps you'd like to explain how forcing a five-year-old child to sleep in a locked closet constitutes ‘proper’ guardianship?"
Maax watched in growing appreciation as the mild-mannered advocate transformed before his eyes. She pulled up holographic documentation with deadly efficiency, her movements precise and controlled as a warrior with a blade. Each piece of evidence appeared in the air between them like ammunition being loaded into a weapon.
"Under the Latharian Emperor's Protection Order regarding human females, specifically subsection 47-B concerning minors, any warrior who encounters such a situation has not only the right but the duty to intervene." Her voice never rose but carried the weight of absolute authority. "Warrior Maax fulfilled his obligations both as a warrior and as a sentient being when he removed Emily from the Morgan’s care.”
“Humanity does not fall under the laws of the Lathar!” Carson snapped. “We have our own laws and legal systems.”
Tisshel tilted her head. “You have done, but the ruling of the intergalactic courts is that humanity has been proven and ratified as a sub-species of the Lathar. This means, as is the case for every other species with sub-species in the galaxy, that, without an application for emancipation from the child species, the parent species has jurisdiction over its sub-species.”
“This is preposterous! Humans are not sub?—”
The lawyer started to respond, but a slight throat-clearing from the third representative silenced him. The woman hadn't moved, hadn't changed her expression, but her control over the others was absolute. She studied Maax with those steel-grey eyes, measuring him in ways he couldn't quite grasp but recognized as dangerous.
"Before we proceed further," Tisshel said, her mild tone unchanged, "I believe we have additional testimony that may prove relevant to these proceedings."