Chapter 49
Hattie
Hattie hadn’t really been thinking of the purpose she had volunteered herself to serve when she insisted on following Tuvo down.
She had only been interested in making sure that her friends were okay.
She trusted Tuvo, absolutely and completely, to keep her safe.
She wouldn’t fear the Three Rings with him alone.
With all five males? It was a cake walk.
Tuvo and Atem emerged from inside the compound leading Belmira and an injured Inacio and everyone else from the village. She cried out in relief as she ran out of the shuttle to hug her friend, beyond happy that she was okay.
There were tears and laughter and joy and sorrow for those that had been lost. A total of five people had been killed during the initial attack and the trek to the compound.
Not everyone could fit in the shuttle, but they could, and did, take a few trips bringing everyone back to the village in style. Belmira and Hattie were the last to go over, holding onto each other and chatting like it had been years rather than days since they had seen each other.
Hattie and Tuvo introduced the other guys to the village, and they were welcomed eagerly. Especially Romival, who immediately began picking up Portuguese. The genius wasn’t fluent by the time the sun set, but he was exchanging some basic communication.
There were more than a few families that were now completely without homes. There was a lot of chaos and destruction. Hattie and the guys got to work helping set things right. They did a lot of heavy work while she helped dispose of the spoiled food.
They were planning to leave in the morning. After they made sure that everyone was safe and they were going to be okay.
Hattie was fine with all that. But then, the next morning, the proper Earth rescue teams – a military contingent from Brazil – arrived.
And it was bad.
The people of Brilhar were, of course, happy to be alive.
But the government of Brazil was less happy with aliens coming into their country and wiping out the last of the Three Rings.
It didn’t matter that they were bad guys, that they had kidnapped and destroyed an entire village.
The domini were a foreign power operating on their soil and that was unacceptable.
The Brazilian government got in contact with the United Nations. The United Nations contacted Survii. Hattie had to step up and speak for the sake of the aliens.
Or, rather, she had to stand in the middle of Brilhar as she was chewed out over satellite phone by Secretary General Lie as he accused her – and thus them – of being careless and intervening where they weren’t welcome and giving the general advice of staying in their lane.
She didn’t get a word in edgewise. She also found herself bullied into agreeing to bring the guys back to Geneva where they could be dressed down there.
It was stressful and embarrassing and she found herself near tears by the time he hung up without even letting her try to explain herself.
And her being upset, in turn, made Tuvo upset.
“Don’t worry about him,” Belmira said, hugging her as they prepared to leave again. “You all did the right thing. You saved us. Don’t let them tell you other.”
“Thanks, Belmira,” she said, sniffing gently as they separated. “I’m sorry we brought all this to you. I never wanted any of this.”
Belmira shook her head. “No. I’m glad to have met you. They can burn their politics and power struggles.”
Hattie bid her farewell and climbed back into the shuttle. The guys followed after and, just like that, they were leaving Brilhar behind again as they took off.
She was so focused on her friend disappearing below, she didn’t realize immediately that they weren’t flying across the forest towards Geneva. They were going up, heading right back to space so they could return to the Stor.
Confused, she turned back to find Tuvo already standing behind her, arms crossed over his large chest, leaning against the wall, watching her.
“We’re not going to meet with the secretary general?”
“Why would we do that?”
The careless way he responded to the question gave her pause.
“Because… he’s the secretary general of the United Nations? We can’t just… ignore him.”
“We’re not ignoring him. We’re not people that he can summon and banish at his whim.”
“But he’s the secretary general. He’s humanity’s representative for the Coalition.”
“Does Atem have the power to summon or dismiss any of the other representatives?”
Hattie opened her mouth, but hesitated, closing it again. Because no, he did not. Atem was equal to the other representatives. And Earth wasn’t a member of the Coalition anyway. They were just a protectorate.
Tuvo smirked as he saw the realization come over her face.
“But that’s not…” She cast her mind for something to say. To explain why it felt so wrong to ignore him and fly away.
Tuvo didn’t give her a chance. He put his arms around her from behind and held her close.
“Do you regret coming to save Belmira and the others?”
“What? No! Of course not!”
“Neither do I. And whatever fallout we face from this, it will be worth it to know that we kept our friends safe. If the Earth powers are offended because we flaunted their power, then they will just have to get over that.”
Hattie bit her lip. Unsure what to say. She was aware of the egos of powerful men and knew that none of them would be happy about any of this.
Bad enough they had completely upstaged them by taking out the compound with just two males.
They were now flagrantly ignoring their demands to answer for that crime.
“Don’t worry,” Tuvo said, kissing the side of her face. “We’ll deal with it.”
She wanted to believe him, but she couldn’t help worrying.
Hattie wasn’t surprised when, immediately upon leaving the landing shuttle, they were informed that the UN representative was on the line, and he was angry that they had dared leave Earth without permission.
“We really angered them, haven’t we?” Survii chuckled, like it was nothing. “Come on. Let’s indulge them for the moment, shall we?”
None of the others seemed concerned as they moved to the comm room together.
The large chamber was round, with an elevated dais in the center, built in such a way that the acoustics were focused on that dais.
When a comm was ongoing, only those standing there could be heard and those standing there could only hear the comm.
Survii, Tuvo, and Hattie climbed together onto the platform as Third Voice Navine connected the comm with Earth.
Immediately, the screen was filled by Secretary General Halvdan Lie’s angry face. He was an older man, with deep wrinkles in his age softened face. Though his hard gaze had not dulled with age and Hattie found herself wilting under the sharpness of his glare.
“How dare you?” He asked immediately, without preamble.
“You not only come onto Earth soil and kill humans indiscriminately, you do so against our express wishes. And then, you turn tail and flee rather than accept punishment for your actions. Woman! Why are you not translating my words? These actions are unacceptable and we, as humanity, will not abide by them!”
Hattie, a bit surprised and overwhelmed by the sheer anger being directed at her, lost her words for a moment and couldn’t bring herself to translate. Her silence only earned a glaring rebuke from the secretary general as she failed in her role.
As she shrank back under the onslaught of his disapproval, Tuvo was suddenly there, putting a hand to her back. Keeping her upright as he growled at the older man. The blatant aggression directed at her too much for him to ignore.
Secretary General Lie reeled backwards, obviously unprepared for having anyone growl at him. He was a powerful, wealthy man. People did not threaten him.
“Be nice,” Tuvo snarled while Survii smothered a chuckle.
Seeing him sticking up for her made Hattie smile. She touched his stomach gently, trying to calm him down, as she faced the imposing man with a little more confidence. Because she wasn’t alone. And, dang it, they hadn’t done anything wrong!
“Mr. Secretary,” she started, squaring her shoulders. “If I may-”
“You may not,” he cut her off harshly. “You are just the translator. I am speaking to the delegation. They must answer for their actions.”
This time, it wasn’t just Tuvo who began growling. None of the males were happy that he had just interrupted her, and even if they didn’t understand his words, the tone of his voice was unmistakable, and they did not appreciate it.
Their combined strength at her back kept her head up. Her determination strong.
“What actions, Mr. Secretary? The one that saved an entire, innocent village? The one that dealt with the human traffickers that no one else had? The one where they were helping to rebuild that village before we left?”
“The one where they overstepped boundaries and took action on Earth soil without permission. This is our planet. They do not get to come here and decide who lives and dies.”
“Mr. Secretary-”
“Secretary General,” he corrected with a harsh bark. “My titles are either Secretary General or Your Excellency.”
“Wait. Seriously?” Hattie was completely derailed by that one. “Er, okay. Secretary General, then. Those people were our friends. They took care of us. They thanked us for what we did for them.”
“They do not get to make that decision.”
“We saved their lives!”
“Those aliens killed dozens of humans!”
“And they deserved it!” She shouted back, completely certain of herself. “Those were bad men. They brought their fate upon themselves.”
“That is something to be determined by human courts and human laws. If we allow any alien that likes to come to our planet and enact their idea of justice-”
“You’re already discussing an alien police force!”
“For other aliens on Earth. We have never, and would never, give them permission to punish humans. That is absolutely inappropriate. We look after our own.”
“No.”