Chapter 52
"I don't give a bull hockey about your Council of Queens," my mate declared, her hands on her hips as she glared at the huge screen and the other hoomon on it.
"Earth is mine. Our treaty is clear. You guys can have access to it.
You can build a whole Shek'invitali dating center on every continent if you want, but you have no input into what I do otherwise until I feel like handing it over, which has no due date. "
"It wouldn't hurt you to work with others," she said. "There is a lot of value that you can find in working with a group."
"There is a lot of garbage, too," my mate replied.
"Now, the Emperor of Norratar, whose fleet took possession of Earth, has given me full control to do whatever I want with this planet.
Earth belongs to me. Are you going to go back on your word and actually fight me for this?
I'm not backing down, Princess. You have your kids on that ship with you.
I highly doubt you're going to throw down on this. "
Ruthless was what I needed in an Empress.
The other woman sighed, shaking her head in defeat.
"This isn't very friendly," she said.
"I don't have to be friendly," my mate replied. "Being friendly hasn't gotten me anywhere. Besides, you signed the agreement yourself. It wasn't just your Prince that signed it."
"That was before I knew," she replied. "I… we… most of the humans on the homeworld have family that are still alive. You can't just claim the planet as yours."
"Yes, I can," my mate growled. "I will honor the agreement. However, as a favor to you, you are welcome to take any family members you and your group want off the planet. Just be stealthy about it."
The other woman let out another exasperated sigh.
"People are going to freak out if you aren't gentle," she said. "They can't handle the truth."
My mate let out a hearty laugh.
"That is a load of nonsense. People are fine with the truth.
What they can't handle is being lied to for decades and then being trickle-truthed.
They deserve the truth handed to them on a platter," my mate declared.
"I'm not going to pussyfoot around with this.
I'm going to rip off the bandaid so hard I'm taking all the hair out with it. "
"That isn't okay..."
My mate slapped the control that ended the video call.
"We're going to need to keep an eye on their fleet," she said. "If they get all worked up emotionally over me being a hard ass about this, they might do something stupid."
"Your ass is delightful," I growled. "And in my opinion, it is quite soft."
Her frown turned into a grin as she looked over at me.
She was standing next to my chair at the controls I had added to the ship.
She had insisted they rise and lower so she could operate them both standing and sitting, and when their upright position, her chair sank into the floor.
It was a nice change that I had copied to my own station during the flight.
She was learning quickly, as was clear from that call with the Princess.
She had decided to own this opportunity.
This was entirely her show.
"What are you going to do now?" I asked.
"Is the team back yet?" she asked.
"How do you find that out?" I replied, letting her think about what she needed to do to get the information she requested from me.
She looked at the panel in front of her and flicked a control.
"Report on the away team's status," she demanded of the operations center as they appeared on the screen in front of us.
"The away team?" the security officer asked, his eyes flicking to me.
"The special reconnaissance team," I offered.
My mate still used terms that were confusing to my people.
"Yes, they have returned with the package in tow," the security officer confirmed. "It has been delivered to the holding sector."
She let out a breath as if she had been holding it, then closed the connection to the operations center.
"I'm going to do that first," she told me.
"Do you have any orders for the team in the meantime?" I asked.
"Um, the fleet can hold its position, but they've already been told that," she said. "And I already asked for that one report - is there anything else I should do?"
"The report should be done when you are," I replied. "Let them know that you'll want a presentation when you're done with your business."
She nodded, then held down a button.
"Braxlarth, inform the science officers…"
"The abducted team of scientists that you had pulled from the surface of the planet,"
I interjected.
"Inform my abducted science team that I will be expecting a report in… uh… to be prepared when I call them," she said.
"Yes, my liege," Braxlarth replied through the com.
"Now!" She turned to me and took a deep breath. Then she hesitated, looking at me as she twisted her hands. "Are you sure I can do this?"
"You can do whatever you want," I replied. "I will protect you and support you. Whatever you need is yours. Even this."
She nodded.
"Time to go get some emotional well being," she said.