Chapter 2 The Rule #2
He had meant his words to inflame her. The species he listed were hardly evolved.
They had the most basic connection to the Altaeth, not like the Thaf’ell who's connection was deep and wide.
But his sister did not rise to the bait.
In fact, she looked sadly at him as if he had disappointed her in his answer.
“Maybe we should,” she said.
This time he was truly struck dumb.
She drew in a deep breath and released it, centering herself, before continuing, “Will you go down to the surface and find out what that Xols was lying about?”
She could have commanded him to do so, but she would not. Not about something like this that seemed like a fool’s errand. He nodded.
“Of course, I will do this,” he stated.
The weight on her seemed to lift a little and he felt proud to have taken, even a little, off the burden she carried.
“Report to me alone when you get back,” she stated and began making the motion to sever the connection.
“Daesah!” he called out before he could think better of it.
She paused her movement and lifted an eyebrow. He had intended to ask her if she had spoken of these ideas to anyone but him. He had intended to ask her if coordinating with the lesser species was part of her plans.
But all he said to her was, “Be careful.”
“And you, little brother.”
And then she was gone.
“Commander Khoth!” His mother’s voice was sharp.
His head jerked up. He had lost himself for a moment. What had they asked him? Ah, the many above the one.
“While it may be politically expedient to tell the masses that we are all equal, but she--High Commander Daesah--created our plans, both offensive and defensive against the Khul. She has been more successful than any other High Commander,” Khoth stated.
She was better than even you, Mother. You know this as well as anyone.
His mother was rigid and her blue eyes flashed as she said, “Rule of Duuskukeh is not something we just say.”
“I am not speaking about the value of anyone. No one is intrinsically more valuable than another,” Khoth stated, feeling he had nearly just stepped into a trap.
“And none is more valuable than the whole,” his mother added.
“Yes, so you know that if the Khul obtained that information then our best plans against them would be theirs!” Khoth shouted as his control cracked.
For a moment, his mind offered him the image of Daesah, already in one of the pools, body softening, already infested.
Her eyes were focused on him. He saw one of the larvae moved underneath her right cheek.
A black oblong shape that slithered as it separated softening flesh from softening bone. Nausea and horror bubbled within him.
“And by taking your entire command with you into that Khul ship could have given then twenty-five more of us,” his mother said softly. “No one taken by the Khul has ever come back uninfected. The moment they are taken they are injected. There is no coming back, Khoth.”
He swallowed and answered, “I know. But we could stop them from knowing what she did. I did not make it an order to accompany me to rescue her. There was a vote--”
“A vote?” Councillor Ardath Ulgex, his mother’s Second, scoffed.
She did not hide her disdain. Her handsome yet sharp features narrowing with dislike for him.
While she held the role of Second, she wanted to be First. “You are a Commander of the Thaf’ell!
Any under you who would not follow your lead are not fit to fight! ”
Khoth shook his head. The selchilite in his hair clacked together and Daesah’s face in that final agonizing moment was before him again. Despite the agony in her eyes, there had been a clarity too. There had been a pleading.
Do it, Khoth.
End this suffering.
Don’t let them take what I know...
Khoth got out, “This was a choice. I made it clear--”
“If it was a choice,” Councillor Esik Bhilkairs, the oldest on the Council, interrupted softly.
He was known for his calm nature, but Khoth knew that Esik’s voice might rarely rise in volume, but his words could be the most cutting, “then shouldn’t your whole command be here to be punished as well for violating the Rule, Commander Khoth? ”
Khoth had expected this argument. He would never allow his people to be punished for his decision. “Even if I agreed with you that the Rule applied, only a Commander is responsible for the actions of his command if he participates in the actions.”
Councillor Esik smiled almost sadly and nodded his head.
“Your loyalty and intelligence make the actions taken by you to violate the Rule that much more painful to hear, Commander Khoth. No one…” His gaze slid to Councillor Ardath for a moment, “finds this Tribunal… easy. Indeed, I, for one, believe that you acted in what you believed was the best interests of the Alliance. While I am certain you felt great pain at Daesah’s loss, I do not believe that is what solely motivated you to break the Rule. ”
Khoth found himself holding his breath. He had fully expected to lose his Command, his ta’na and, potentially, be exiled for his actions.
But I would still do it again.
He had just wanted to be understood. Councillor Esik seemed to do so. But did his mother? She was the one who would judge him ultimately. He searched her face.
Her eyes met his, but then they drifted to his father, Thadden Voor, who stood behind Khoth.
His mother was High Councillor. In many ways, she stood alone.
But his father had always been her touchstone.
His father had urged his mother to recuse herself from this Tribunal.
Khoth had hidden and watched them decide part of his fate.
“You think that my emotions will cloud my judgment?” She had asked his father as she had paced the length of their communal room in their home.
“I am saying that it does not matter. Whatever you do, whatever punishment you give, it will never be thought neutral,” his father had patiently explained as he stood still in the very center of the circular space.
“Punish Khoth too harshly and there will be those who say that you are doing so not for his bad judgment, but for grief over our daughter’s loss.
Punish him too lightly and they will think you are protecting him. ”
“My punishment will neither be too hard or too light.” She stopped pacing. She crossed her arms at the wrists behind her back and stood stiffly, almost as if to attention even though she had been his father’s Commander when they met.
“I do not doubt that. But others will always believe that no matter what punishment you give that it is wrong,” his father had answered her smoothly. “That is why you must recuse yourself so that Khoth is not only justly judged but that there is a perception that he was.”
His mother had gone silent, but then she lifted her chin and said, “You know I cannot. Because to recuse myself is to show weakness. It is to say that I care more for what others think than my own judgment. I will lose face and we will lose control of the Council.”
His father had sighed and Khoth had wondered if his father believed they already had due to Khoth’s actions. Now, here they were, with his mother about to pronounce judgment upon him.
“Councillor Esik,” his mother stated without looking at the man to her left, “your words are wise as always. You see Commander Khoth’s motivations quite clearly.”
Councillor Ardath let out a sharp laugh. “Found a way to pardon your boy, High Councillor Nova?”
I just want you to understand, Mother, that I did not do this to dishonor you or Daesah or The Illumen Alliance. I did this to save us, Khoth thought.
His mother though ignored Councillor Ardath’s sneering comment and continued on as if nothing had been said, “But…”
Khoth tensed. But?
“But you still broke the Rule.” She lifted a hand, anticipating that he was about to speak, “For a good reason. And, maybe, you had to break it.”
Khoth blinked. Did she understand? Could she forgive him?
She continued, “But…”
But?
He leaned forward. It felt like every cell of his being was waiting for her judgment.
“Everything you’ve said is true, Commander Khoth. If the Khul had managed to assimilate her, they would have known things that would have crippled us,” his mother said. “They would have been able to anticipate our every move. And we would have been scrambling, back-footed, and in great danger.”
His eyes flickered over her face. She understood! She knew he had not betrayed the Alliance! He had not broken the Rule simply out of grief or love or any of those trifling emotions.
“You did this thing for us all,” she said with a nod. But then she met his gaze. “Which is why you will not be exiled.”
Khoth let out a breath even as Councillor Ardath hissed coldly.
“But there is no question… my son…,” she paused then and he froze.
“There is no question that you broke our most sacred Rule and there must be consequences. For if there are not, others might do the same for reasons as good and not as good as yours. If one infected gets back to one of the Illumen’s worlds… it would be disastrous.”
He knew that. Before the Rule had been instituted people had brought their loved ones home and had hidden it from the authorities. Whole worlds had been lost this way. But after the Rule, the spread had thought.
“Your punishment, therefore, is to go to Earth,” she stated.
He stared at her. He couldn’t quite believe what she was saying and he was hearing.
Earth?!
Earth…
That was the name of the human homeworld.
“That cannot be…” Khoth stated. “There are no Khul anywhere near Earth. Not since that single ship malfunctioned and crashed there!”
“No, there are not,” his mother agreed.
“There will be nothing for me to do there,” he stated. “I will have no purpose!”
I will not be able to revenge Deaseh! I will not be able to defend the Alliance!
His mother’s gaze was steadily on him. “You will go to Earth. You will serve the humans. And there you shall remain.”
“For how long?” he asked.
“Until we call for you,” she answered, her voice dipping for once during this whole exchange.
And what those words really meant was that he would never come back. Earth was worse than exile.