Chapter 6

"It's time," Sarsh'ta said, rising to her feet. "This will be the escort."

"Escort?" Kevan echoed questioningly as he got up to follow her.

"Yes, a show of courtesy and respect. They are here for you, so I'll just be following along."

"Okay," he said, pressing the button to open the door. There were six large, rifle-carrying males waiting for him.

They formed into two lines of three, leaving an obvious space in the middle. He moved into it with a nod of acknowledgment. They led him to the elevator. Once inside, he found himself at the center as they formed a ring around him. He supposed that in their tribal past these would be serving as bodyguards for a visiting tribe's dignitary or leader.

That led him to other questions that didn't lead him to obvious answers. Would a rival chieftain need protection? Wouldn't he be the toughest of that tribe? Wouldn't a bodyguard escort imply he needed help defending himself? And if a visiting chieftain needed protection while amongst the tribe, didn't that imply something about the honor of the tribe? He wasn't sure what to make of any of it. For the moment he discarded it as his human mind interpreting alien ways different than they would.

They descended several floors. Kevan wasn't counting but guessed they were going to the ground level. He had that confirmed when his honor guard led him out to the central courtyard.

A large central space had been prepared, ringed with torches and Rich'ti. The path from the door to that central space was lined on both sides with Rich'ti. He had seen similar receiving lines before, and he reminded himself of their gestures and body languages that took the place of handshakes.

He saw that Gertat and the moon Takor, Uurnat, were already moving down the line, exchanging greetings with each Rich'ti in turn. Each had a Rich'ti in tow and Kevan recognized the familiar stance of an aide, whispering certain reminders in their respective Takor's ear. As he began to move towards the line himself, he was suddenly wishing he had Sarsh'ta at his side to give him some insight. Fortunately, he found that each of the Rich'ti stepped forward of their own accord and greeted him with their name. He returned the greeting to each and recognized some of the names and features from the images Sarsh'ta had shown him earlier. The first half of the line appeared to be the eldest Rich'ti from each level of the building. When he reached Rendat, he made a point of thanking him for hosting his stay. The old Rich'ti seemed to give him an amused but wary look.

"Somebody had to," was all he said in reply. The way Rendat said it, however, made Kevan hope he'd get the opportunity to talk to the Eldest further. He had a feeling that Rendat could give him some valuable insight into who he needed to be cautious around and why. Far more so than perhaps Sarsh'ta could.

When he reached Artok, he recognized him from the image he'd been shown. He stood waiting for an uncomfortable couple of moments before the Rich'ti spoke.

"I am Artok," he said in a seemingly angry tone. He leaned forward and Kevan noticed Rich'ti around him tense as if concerned that Artok was about to challenge him right then and there. "I suggest you don't get too comfortable. Your stay here is not likely to be long." He said it slowly and loudly, as if speaking to a child and so all could hear. He finished by stepping back with a low, warning growl deep in his throat. Kevan did his best to keep a wary but relaxed stance, as if he wasn't concerned.

The next Rich'ti in line quickly introduced himself, dissipating the tension. Kevan hoped it was an intentional act of showing up Artok with better behavior. He made a point of returning the greeting enthusiastically, hoping it would be seen as rewarding the more positive introduction.

There were other lukewarm introductions. Kevan could tell which ones were more or less pleased with his presence. There weren't that many obviously displeased about it, but there were several. He ended up estimating about one in five or six. He decided it could have been much worse.

He was led to the center of the ringed space. There were mats set out in concentric circles. He was given a spot on the innermost ring. Torches at that center ring provided lighting for the whole area.

The space sloped gently down toward the center, so while there were quite a few Rich'ti sitting in four rings, all would at least have some view of the central space. It appeared that the higher ranking Rich'ti sat closer to the center, which didn't surprise him.

He found himself seated between Gertat and Uurnat. Sarsh'ta sat to the other side of Gertat. There were twenty-four seated at the same ring, with an empty space about thirty feet across in the center. Most of the others he had seen pictures of before. Artok was about a third of the way around the circle to his left.

Kevan didn't recognize the Rich'ti that was first to step into the center to speak. The male's markings were particularly colorful and he seemed to handle the spotlight comfortably as he spoke. Kevan paid attention to how the Rich'ti positioned himself when he addressed the circles, and saw the he spent the majority of the time directing his gaze towards the two Takor. He made several turns, throughout his brief speech, that encompassed the remainder of the Rich'ti around him. Kevan noticed, however, that the most pertinant parts of what he had to say were spoken when he faced Gertat and Uurnat. He supposed he was also included in those being pointedly spoken to, but the Rich'ti seemed to have difficulty making even brief eye contact with Kevan. By the end of the Rich'ti's speech, Kevan had decided it was likely that he was a high-ranking reporter. He seemed to be introducing the event, and welcoming the Takor and Kevan on behalf of the building's communities. Kevan had noticed some round hovering devices off to one side behind him that were likely to be cameras. He hadn't seen any other members of the press specifically in attendance.

Although Kevan listened to what the Rich'ti said, it wasn't decidedly memorable. The next Rich'ti to make his way down to the center was Pergute. In contrast to the reporter, Pergute looked slightly nervous to be standing at the center of the spotlight. Kevan remembered what Sarsh'ta had told him about her being the better public speaker and wondered how Pergute had ended up with a speaking role tonight. Pergute looked as if he wished he had notes to read from. Kevan noticed the Rich'ti's hands fidgeting as he talked. Pergute's speech entailed giving a short background on the Rich'ti study of Humans, followed by an introduction for Sarsh'ta.

Although Sarsh'ta's speech did not carry some of the flair that the reporter had had when speaking, it was far more eloquently delivered than Pergute's. Her speech worked around introducing Kevan to the assembled Rich'ti. She covered his resume in detail, as well as some of his accomplishments while he'd been in college. He was surprised when she mentioned his father's success as a gravball player too. It was not a detail he would have thought important for his introduction.

Eventually she indicated for him to come forward, and she moved back to her spot. He rose and walked to the center confidently. He made a point of not specifically incorporating Rich'ti gestures while speaking. He addressed them as a human, not as someone trying to assimilate into their culture. But, he knew which gestures and expressions to avoid.

"My people can be long-winded at times like these, but I'll keep this short," he began. "I want to start by thanking you for bringing me here. Your hospitality has been very welcoming. I've been given a good place to stay, and I appreciate that.

"I know that many of you will have questions, and some of you will have doubts. I hope that I will be able to answer the questions and allay the doubts. I hope my visit here can be as a dialogue between two peoples.

"My people have a saying, 'Where there's life, there's hope.' We see the future as full of opportunities and possibilities, and we look forward to sharing it with you." He ended it with a nod. Gertat returned it with a thoughtful nod of his own. It wasn't the same nod, but it seemed approving to Kevan.

Kevan returned to his seat, and Gertat stood. For the most part, Gertat held everyone's attention. But Kevan could still tell that several were paying close attention to him. He made a point of watching Gertat.

"Tonight is not a time for worries, or for arguments, or for competing for status," Gertat said. "Tonight is a time for sharing and celebration and feasting. Let there be food!"

At Gertat's words, the Rich'ti around him all started rising from their seats. Conversations sprang up everywhere as Rich'ti stepped aside while children rushed in to collect mats. Kevan saw Uurnat turn towards him with a wary look as if about to speak when Sarsh'ta showed up and touched Kevan's arm to get his attention.

"Please come with me. Gertat wishes to do his public broadcast before the meal, while the tables are being put in place."

Kevan nodded and followed Sarsh'ta through the crowd. She led him off to one side and into a room in the building. Kevan saw that all the rooms on the ground level at the inner side of the building opened directly out into the courtyard. A small crowd of Rich'ti stood just inside and Kevan saw several Rich'ti with rifles, as his escort had been, standing guard to keep them inside. Gertat was waiting off to one side while the reporter who'd spoken earlier was speaking. Kevan saw that most of these Rich'ti were holding more of the recording devices, and determined that this press contingent was not being allowed into the general festivities.

What Kevan heard of the reporter's speech was about twice as long and equally as flamboyant as the speech he had given earlier. He suspected the reporter had been hand-picked as his opinions seemed to be skewed in Gertat's favor when he spoke of the Takor's decision to bring Kevan to meet the Rich'ti. Once the reporter had finished his bit, Gertat took his position in front of the press and their cameras.

"As many of you already know the Brey-hahd have recently began to land on the colony of Shetud," he began, deeply contrasting to the light-hearted words from only moments before. "We are evacuating people on the far side of the planet from where they are landing, although they have already destroyed two of the ships moving people out of that system. Captain Agronet is leaving to lead the force that will hold them off until the remainder of the people have been rescued."

"It is at this time that I want to remind you all of the reasons I have chosen to allow this Human, Kevan, into our midst. The Humans have managed to hold off the Brey-hahd where we have not. There is something they have, a technology or strategy, that we may need if we wish to triumph over the Brey-hahd. We are losing this war, my friends. I refuse to leave any option untried when it comes to turning it back in our favor. I believe this Human, Kevan, understands the grave nature of the situation and will work with us honestly and fairly. Sarsh'ta's report states that he is trying to learn our ways and respect them, not influence or change us as many would have you believe. I know he is the right Human for this task. I hope that you will all..."

He trailed off as the power to the entire building suddenly went down the courtyard was bathed in darkness.

Kevan looked back out through the windows to the courtyard. The torches in the courtyard were even being hurriedly snuffed out. He blinked his eyes, waiting for them to adjust to the sudden darkness.

The Rich'ti were calm, but obviously surprised. He could hear muted and half-whispered questions being asked. A ring of guards formed around him and Gertat and a couple others. "This only happens during an attack," one hushed voice said. "We should move, Sire," one of the guards said to Gertat.

A distant boom sounded. It sounded like the cracking of a sonic boom. It was a sound Kevan hadn't heard in some time. Then an explosion came. Other, smaller detonations followed it. Guards started herding them into the building. "This way," a guard instructed. Kevan tried to find Sarsh'ta in the dark crowd, but couldn't see enough to identify any of them except close up. The guards' rifles had lights, and they were giving off just enough light to navigate the otherwise blackened building.

More and more voices started asking what was happening. He could see guards listening to communicators that were either hidden in their ears or fur, or implanted somewhere. But they kept pausing their motions to listen, always the left ear. He suspected there was something under the fur there. It made sense to him.

Gertat looked angry. More than that, he looked frustrated. It didn't appear that he had a communicator, so he wouldn't know what the guards were hearing.

They were led to a stairwell. Most of the journalists were following. The rest of the main crowd must have gone in a different direction.

There was the sound of another explosion, the first they'd heard since coming so far down. That can't be good, Kevan decided.

After that it got quiet. Gertat took a communicator from one of the guards. Radio messages were still coming in, but no one was sharing them with him. Eventually Sarsh'ta found them, but she didn't know any more than he did.

"So why was the power and lighting cut?" he asked Sarsh'ta while they were waiting.

"Standard drill," she explained. It makes it harder for an attacking pilot to know which buildings might be better targets, and also makes it harder to instantly assess any damage. Besides, if an attacker damages a power facility and a whole section of city goes dark, he knows what he hit. This way they don't know as much."

"I suppose cutting power all over makes it harder for them to target energy signatures."

"Precisely."

"They're pulling back," Gertat told them. "One of their ships has crashed, and may be relatively intact. There's a warrior contingent moving to surround it now. I've sent for analysts to meet me there. You should come with and see this, Kevan. It'll be the first opportunity we've had for a close look."

Taken off guard by being asked, Kevan nodded at the Takor. Gertat turned and gestured at Sarsh'ta, and she fell in beside Kevan as they made their way quickly back up the stairs. As they ascended, the power was suddenly restored and Kevan found himself blinking from the contrast to the darkness. One of the round flying vehicles had been brought into the courtyard and Kevan followed Gertat into it. Uurnat also joined them before the vehicle lifted off of the courtyard. They rose far quicker than the last time Kevan had been in this type of vehicle, and he noticed circular scorch marks on the ground where it taken off. The speed at which they flew through the air threatened to make Kevan sick to his stomach. He sat quietly and looked at the others sitting with him, rather than the view zooming by outside.

Uurnat had also managed to acquire a radio at some point, and both he and Gertat were listening intently and making comments back into them. Gertat seemed concerned, but not as worried as Uurnat did. Kevan listened intently, but the hushed tones and quick speech of the two Takor made it difficult to understand either of them. He got the impression, however, that the moon was now coming under attack.

They arrived at the site of the crash, located between a couple of buildings at the outskirts of a city. He wasn't sure how far they had travelled, so he didn't know if it was the same city or a different one. The Brey-hahd scout ship had come up roughly against the side of one of the buildings, leaving a long gash down and across it before the ship had finally slammed to a halt. The ship itself was made of a reddish metal, and had apparently held up well in the crash. There was some darker areas along the hull that Kevan thought consistent with weapons hits, but they didn't seem to have done much actual damage. The nose was imbedded in the ground, so it was difficult to tell if there had been damage from the impact, although the wing that had torn into the building seemed reasonably intact. He wondered if the Brey-hahd pilot had survived. There were no windows to see into the ship with.

The ship itself was bigger than a fighter, about the size of a cargo shuttle. Depending on how much nose was embedded in the ground, he judged it as about a hundred feet long. A human scout ship would have a crew of three to six, but these had been called short-range scouts. He wondered how many were in it.

There were quite a few armed Rich'ti around it, forty or fifty. Their air car--he called it that for lack of a better term--set down a short distance away. A pair of the soldiers came running over immediately.

"There hasn't been any activity since it landed," one of them informed Gertat.

"I've been listening on the communicators. Thank you. Let's have a closer look."

Kevan followed. There were few angled surfaces on the ship. Every surface was a curve. The only angles to be found were the leading edges of fairly stubby wing surfaces. It didn't look like enough of a wing to be specifically useful in an atmosphere. He supposed it was more a matter of streamlining for smoother re-entry.

"We've located what we think are hatches," another soldier explained, indicating a couple of outlined parts of the hull. There were what looked like hatch controls near the rectangular spots. The odd angle of the ship made reaching them awkward. "We've sent for ladders."

"Have the Rich'ti been evacuated from the nearby buildings?" the Takor inquired.

"Yes sir."

As Kevan followed them down closer to the wreckage, he saw that Uurnat remained in the air car, which lifted off and was quickly replaced with a different one. He suspected the Takor wanted to get back to the moon as quickly as possible to see what damage had occurred there.

"Were there any injuries here?" Gertat asked the soldier.

"Yes sir," the soldier nodded. "There were fourteen wounded and two dead. They were taken to the nearest medical facility. Everyone else has been accounted for."

Without warning, one of the hatchways on the ship opened with a loud rumble and a metal clang. Smoke billowed out from within the ship. A few Rich'ti jumped at the noise and began to fire upon the ship until one of the soldiers standing near Gertat called out a command for them to stop firing and hold position. Kevan and Gertat remained a safe distance away while soldiers ran forward with several ladders and set them in position. He cast a glance over at Sarsh'ta, who had stayed a few paces behind Gertat. He was surprised to see a look he didn't recognize on the female Rich'ti's face. It wasn't one they had covered, but he was certain that she was afraid just then. He expected she was trying to hide it, but doubted she was doing a very good job if Kevan had been able to recognize it. He had to admit that his own stomach was churning, and it had nothing to do with missing the feast.

Once the ladders were in place, there seemed to be a small squabble about who got to climb them before someone seemed to take charge and direct specific Rich'ti up. There was one Rich'ti moving up each ladder, keeping their rifle at the ready as they made their way into the smoke. Then, suddenly, the Rich'ti who had ascended upwards were flung back screaming, their fur in flames as some sort of flamethrowers were used on them from within the smoky cloud above the hatch. The ladders caught fire and Kevan saw that the Brey-hahd were spraying something wet down before casting the flames down onto it. It looked as if there were two Brey-hahd standing with their torsos out of the hatchway now, one spraying some sort of liquid around in long arcs while the other fired the flamethrower in bursts. To Kevan's horror, the flames traveled quickly down and he saw soldiers writhing on the ground, flailing, as they burned alive.

There wasn't much he could see of the Brey-hahd through the smoke. They had green-gray skin that looked scaley. They had rough-textured foreheads that looked covered with stubby horns. They looked to be wearing some kind of hard-looking black body armor.

Several of the Rich'ti opened fire, but the Brey-hahd just ducked back into the hatchway. The ladders fell to the ground. The fire was hot enough that it had partly melted the metal ladders. The Rich'ti that had been hit by it were pretty clearly beyond help.

"We can't hit them from here," one Rich'ti complained. Gertat looked around and pointed to a building. "Get some rifles up there, the windows should give you clear shots into that hatchway."

More fire came from the hatchway. Rich'ti ran to avoid it. The fire's range wasn't very long, so it didn't take long to determine the safe distance. The amount of smoke coming out of the hatch was beginning to decrease. More armed Rich'ti arrived with two new ladders.

Kevan looked at the building some of the Rich'ti were running to. He wondered what the range on their rifles was. Then he remembered a report he'd read about concerning a Brey-hahd ship that had been disabled. It had self-destructed rather than be captured. He cursed.

"Gertat, we have to take that ship right now. We almost captured one like this, and it blew itself up. This thing could probably level everything within..." he didn't have a grasp on their measurements yet, and wasn't about to waste time trying to translate it through the palmpad. "It could be very bad."

"We can't get to that hatch, and it'll take time to get troops in position on the building," one of the soldiers barked at him.

Kevan looked around, and his eyes landed on the air car. "Does that thing have windows that open?"

"No," the nearest soldier said. Kevan looked at him, his mouth falling open, not understanding why they weren't seeing what seemed so obvious to him. He snatched the rifle out of the soldier's hands. The soldier was caught off guard and lost his grip on the weapon.

It only took Kevan a moment to figure out the basic operation of the rifle. The soldier was stunned just enough for him to have that moment. Kevan opened fire on the upper half of the air car. About a quarter of the upper dome of it collapsed.

"It does now. Sarsh'ta, come with me and drive."

Now if only I had a grenade or two this would be easy, he couldn't help thinking as he jumped up into the vehicle. It occurred to him that he didn't even know a Rich'ti word for grenade. Sarsh'ta took the seat at the controls and then looked back at him, confused.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked. Her voice shook as she said it.

"Take us over the ship," he pointed. "Try to keep us out of range of those flame weapons, but close enough that I can get a shot. I'll lay down cover fire until those soldiers can get up into the ship with the ladders." He positioned himself at the 'window', smashing some of the jagged and loose edges out of his way with the butt end of the rifle. Trying to pretend he knew what the hell he was doing, he double-checked the mechanics of the rifle, grateful that the Rich'ti weapon was similar enough to a human one. He'd spent a short while in college interested in guns and learned to shoot hunting rifles and pistols on a shooting range, but knew his accuracy had never been at all impressive. He'd always had problems with the recoil throwing him off - something that he hadn't been able to adjust for the way he could with gravity shifts in gravball. He set the weapon to keep shooting in bursts, as it had when he'd shot the window, and tried to situate himself with some stability against the seats. Sarsh'ta moved the airship up and towards the ship, into the dissipating smoke that still billowed out of the hatchway. The two Brey-hahd were still laying down fire and the soldiers below were either watching the airship or waiting for their chance to place the ladders.

Sarsh'ta brought them in too quickly and too close at first, and the Brey-hahd turned the flamethrower upward while the other ducked back inside. Kevan realized, with some satisfaction, that they couldn't spray the flammable liquid upwards or it would spray back at them. While the flames licked at the glass and metal bottom of the airship, it didn't seem to be as hot without the liquid agent's help, and the airship seemed to be holding. He leaned forward and held the trigger down on the rifle, waving it around in small circles in hopes of hitting his mark. He saw the shots bounce easily off the hard armor the Brey-hahd wore, but did penetrate when he hit the exposed skin. The one with the flamethrower fell howling back into the ship, clutching his face. He dropped the flamethrower itself and it bounced down the side of the ship, landing with a clang on the ground. Kevan continued to rain shots down into the hatchway.

"Bring us down!" he yelled to Sarsh'ta, his heart pounding. He saw that the Rich'ti were placing the ladders, but it would still take them too much time to get up into the ship. "And open the door!" The doorway had automatically slid shut when they'd started lifting off.

"I can't!" she yelled back. "It won't open while in flight. There's a manual lever for it in a panel on the floor."

He looked down and realized he wouldn't have time for that either, and fired on the door instead. Shards of glass rained down onto the Brey-hahd ship as the glass doorway shattered where the shots hit. He made a large oval shape and then kicked it out, holding onto one of the seat backs for support.

"Get me close to the ship!" he yelled to Sarsh'ta.

She got close enough and he jumped. Landing in the hatchway was easy. The ship's odd angle turned the hallway inside into a sloped ramp. He landed in a roll and came up on his feet. He almost dropped the rifle in the process, but he fixed his grip on it.

There was a vibration to the ship, and he looked at the reddish metal inside and fully realized that he had just lept into a Brey-hahd ship with a rifle he hardly knew how to use against an unknown number of enemy soldiers. Self-destruct, he reminded himself.

He had at one point seen some of the schematics that had been put together from what they knew about Brey-hahd ships. The wreckage of a couple of ships had been collected and partly reassembled. The information on that wasn't exactly public knowledge, but he had been able to skim through some of it as part of his briefing for this assignment.

Based on the ship's size he guessed it was probably three levels tall. The lower level would be cargo and machinery. The middle level he was on now would be housing and crew areas, with the control areas above.

He moved in, looking cautiously for Brey-hahd. He could only hope they didn't expect anyone in their ship so quickly. He moved to the first corner, a t-intersection, and checked both sides with a quick sweep. Come one, you've seen this in movies all the time, he tried to reassure himself.

A short ways down he found the body of one of the Brey-hahd he'd shot, lying on the floor. He didn't stop to check if it was really dead, but skirted around it instead. He tried to keep some distance in case it suddenly woke up and tried to grab him. It was leaking a dark purple-reddish blood in a thick puddle on the floor. Kevan kept moving, realizing that the Brey-hahd stank horribly. The air in the ship held the pungent stench of Brey-hahd mixed with something burning. Smoke still filled the hallways, but it had thinned considerably from what had been billowing out the hatchway. He could see, with some limitation. However, he found his eyes starting to water some from the smoke.

How the hell did you get yourself into this fix, Kevan? he asked himself. His stomach was in knots as he turned yet another corner, trying not to get lost in the maze of passages. He found one of the spots that he remembered ought to lead up somehow. The schematic he had seen had shown a hole between the two levels but no indication as to how the Brey-hahd moved between them. He saw the hole and stepped below it, keeping the gun upwards and ready.

He nearly lost his balance when a panel of the floor beneath him moved upwards with relative speed, carrying him to the upper level. He stepped off of it, taking a moment to catch his breath as he looked around. Passages led off in several directions and he chose the one he thought led to the area that the schematic had said held more critical controls. He moved quickly. Let's try not to be in this thing if it's going to blow up, his thoughts reminded him.

He found the other Brey-hahd he'd shot lying a few steps in. It looked to Kevan as if the Brey-hahd had been shot by some other weapon as well, directly in the face. Kevan felt confident that it was dead and didn't take as much time skirting around it although he did move quickly away.

There were doorways off of both sides of the hall, and he stopped quickly at each one, scanning it briefly. He kept going, however, thinking he remembered something on the schematic that had suggested more vital equipment in the room at the end of the hall. The hallway curved, and he came into the room from one end of it. Two Brey-hahd were in the room. One was pressing buttons and flipping switches on a control panel near the center of the room. The other was in a webbed seat, eyes closed, with two thick metal pieces that seemed imbedded into its head and connected to a huge number of wires that led up to the ceiling of the ship. As Kevan entered the room, he saw the seated Brey-hahd open his eyes and say something in a thick, gruff voice. The other Brey-hahd turned in response and saw Kevan standing there.

Oh shit, he thought as he opened fire. Oh shit oh shit oh shit! He followed that up with a few other expletives that would have made some of his college gravball teammates blush. The standing Brey-hahd dodged out of the way and Kevan poured shots into the panel he'd been standing at as well as the Brey-hahd seated in the webbing. His finger pulled at the trigger over and over again, sending bright flashing bursts of shots across the room from the rifle.

Then, as the Brey-hahd rose back to his feet and pulled out a weapon of its own, Kevan's finger pulled back and all he heard was a clicking sound.

Click. Click-click. Click.

There was a surreal moment as Kevan realized that the Rich'ti rifle had run out of ammunition. I didn't think of that. I'm so screwed. he thought to himself with odd calm. His eyes met the Brey-hahd's and the Brey-hahd's face shifted in a self-satisfied grin. Oh look, the Brey-hahd smile! the scholar in him commented.

Then the reality of the situation came crashing down on him and he turned and fled, hucking the rifle at the Brey-hahd spear-like, with all the strength he could muster. The Brey-hahd brought one arm up to bash the rifle off to the side and Kevan took the oppportunity to bolt for the doorway, back to the hall. The Brey-hahd wasn't far behind him, he could hear the loud thumping of its footsteps as it gave chase. Kevan made his way back to the area where the panel had taken him downward and stood on it.

Nothing happened.

Panicked, he looked around and started pressing and flipping every control he could find until he found one that dropped the panel down to the next level. He dove headfirst through the hole, hoping he could catch himself. He wasn't prepared for the searing pain that tore through his leg as the Brey-hahd fired on him. He hit the ground with a cry and clutched at his leg. The Brey-hahd dropped easily to the ground through the hole, one of his feet landing on Kevan's ankle. Kevan both heard and felt bone snap underneath the weight of the large Brey-hahd.

For a blinding moment all he could do was cry out in pain. Then he saw the Brey-hahd looming above him. The Brey-hahd brought his rifle into Kevan's face, and then it was the only thing he was aware of.

Just try to be a diplomat. The parting words at the end of the final briefing echoed through his head. They no longer sounded as comforting as they did then.

A single gun blast thundered through the hallway. The Brey-hahd fell, slumping to one side and narrowly missing landing on Kevan. Gertat looked down upon him, with the wry expression that was the Rich'ti grin.

Gertat stopped and listened to his earpiece communicator a moment before replying to something Kevan had no way to hear. "Thank you. Spread out and sweep the ship. No more surprises. Prisoners would be useful."

"Sensors had been detecting an energy build-up, but it stopped just a moment ago. I can only assume you had something to do with that. Can you walk? There are a lot of recorders outside right now. They do not know what has happened in here yet."

Kevan understood what the alien leader meant. It would not look good for anyone for images of him being carried out on a litter to be what got broadcast throughout space. "Not without help," he admitted.

"Then you will have to lean on me," Gertat suggested, reaching down to offer a hand.

Kevan took it gratefully, but still tried to lean on the Rich'ti as little as possible in getting himself up. His broken ankle left his foot at a slightly odd angle, and the pain of it outshone the shot he'd taken in the leg. He counted himself lucky that they were both in his left leg, leaving his right one available to put weight on.

"I can't put any weight on this leg," he told the Takor, pointing. "The ankle is broken."

"We will go slowly," Gertat nodded. "I will try to compensate for you."

Kevan hopped his way forward, swinging the other leg in step but keeping it off the ground. To his relief, there was a rising floor panel at the hatchway to lift them up and out of the ship. Gertat went down one of the ladders just below Kevan, keeping a hand up to help steady him. He was very glad he kept himself in shape as he used his arms in leiu of the damaged leg on the way down. Even so, his muscles were aching by the time he reached the ground.

Sarsh'ta came running over as he and Gertat made their way towards the aircar. Kevan could see the recorders and did his best to make his injury seem as trivial to him as possible despite the fact that his vision was blurry around the edges from the effort. He waved her away, attempting to adopt a Rich'ti mannerism of offense and at the same time hoping she'd understand. He concentrated his energies on getting into the aircar without stumbling, and keeping his facial expressions calm and unconcerned. Inwardly he was very grateful that the Rich'ti were so physically strong as Gertat gave him a hand getting up into a seat in the vehicle. He forced himself to sit up normally and give a confident look towards the recorders as he surveyed the Brey-hahd ship. Rich'ti were heading into it in droves and more ladders had already been leaned up. Unarmed Rich'ti with bags and boxes stood anxiously waiting at the fringes, and Kevan suspected they were technicians and scientists waiting to get inside and start taking things apart.

The Rich'ti that Kevan had identified earlier as Gertat's aide hopped into the aircar and took the helm, lifting the four of them away. He heard Gertat give the man instructions but could hardly pay attention to the words. He noticed that they left the scene of the crash at a leisurely pace, unlike the breakneck speed they had used to get there.

"What the Resh'tal were you thinking?!" Sarsh'ta demanded, smacking him in the shoulder. He looked behind them. There were still moving casually. It was getting windy in the broken-open air car as it was, preventing high speeds. There were five or six buildings between them and the crash site.

"I was thinking that the blast radius would be at least this far, maybe farther. We've seen them blow up their own ships to prevent them being captured. We've seen it happen in space. I don't know how much damage it might have done in a city."

He leaned forward, grabbing the back of Gertat's seat for support. "Consider the ship my gift to your people," he joked. "Amongst my people it's considered very thoughtful for a guest to bring a small gift for a host. I do hope you'll share what you learn from it. We've never had an intact one to study."

"You did a very honorable thing, Kevan of the Humans. Do not think it will go unappreciated. I will make sure you receive a copy of everything to forward to your government."

Kevan thought about that for a moment. It did give him the small point of being the one providing the information. Him acquiring it and passing it on did have different significance than them sending it directly.

"This will give both your supporters and detractors something to talk about," Sarsh'ta added. "Some opponents may change their views as word of what happened gets out. Others, of course, will insist it was all done as a maneuver to gain you popularity."

"There was a measured power spike building on that ship," Gertat mentioned. "You realized the possibility, and took direct action to stop it, which you did. You saved many Rich'ti lives, including mine. Thank you. "

Kevan leaned back into the seat again, his mind replaying the events in his head. A part of him would have already disbelieved that he had heedlessly jumped into the Brey-hahd ship if it hadn't been for the pain in his leg. The whole leg was throbbing at this point, and he was having a more difficult time distinguishing one wound from the other while sitting still in the seat. He leaned back and closed his eyes for a bit. He must have dozed off a little, as it didn't seem long before the aircar came to a halt on a building.

Gertat helped Kevan out of the aircar and down onto the rooftop where they made their way to an elevator similar to the one at Kevan's residence. They descended only a couple of levels before moving out into a large room filled with beds and the occasional privacy bubble like Kevan had seen in the ship's medical bay. Two Rich'ti were waiting to take over from Gertat and they helped him up onto one of the beds. He heard Gertat and Sarsh'ta start talking as the privacy screen went up, blocking all view and sound from the rest of the room.

"So. You are the human," the female Rich'ti who had remained in the bubble with him commented. "I am Tag'nata. I will need to remove your lower coverings in order to examine these injuries."

Kevan nodded and undid the fastenings and helped get his pants most of the way off. She deftly removed them from around his ankles without jostling the ankle itself too much. Then she injected a small needle once near each of the wounded areas and a cool numbness spread throughout the leg. Kevan couldn't help but sigh in relief.

"Thank you," he told her gratefully.

"Urish'tal sent me an extensive report from your time on the ship. It seems that you not only respond well to our treatments, but in some ways better than we do. She mentioned that you healed quickly from a shoulder wound and some damaged ribs from a fall during an attack. I hope these will heal quickly for you as well." She set about putting the ankle back into place the way it ought to be. Kevan noticed she frequently referred to a datapad which she compared to a screen on a scanner above as she worked. Once she had the ankle the way she wanted it, she wrapped it in some tape that looked similar to what Urish'tal had put across his ribs. She sprayed it with something once she was done, however, and he felt it shrink slightly and harden around the ankle itself.

"Do not try to walk on this for at least a couple of days or you will just prevent it from healing properly," she told him. "We are having a pragal shortened for your use." He grabbed his palmtop out of his pocket and was relieved to find it unharmed. Pragal translated, as he suspected, to the word 'crutch'. In the meantime, the doctor was cleaning out the wound he'd taken from the Brey-hahd's weapon. When she was done, she poured some sort of liquid over it before covering it with more of the tape.

"So, will the feast be rescheduled?" Kevan asked after a while to break the silence.

"I don't know," Gertat replied, "perhaps, but it would be ...anticlimactic to hold it tomorrow night." Kevan wasn't sure that Gertat's word translated perfectly to anticlimactic, but understood the point well enough.

"If nothing else," Gertat added after a moment's hesitation, "I have a meeting with all my advisors. I would like you to join us. Sarsh'ta, please arrange transportation for him."

"Of course," she said.

"I'm honored to be invited."

"Don't be," Gertat said with a low, rolling laugh, "it will not be that interesting. For right now, however, I'm going to have to go make arrangements involving that crashed ship."

"Of course," Kevan said, mimicking Sarsh'ta's matter-of-factness.

The crutch was delivered not long after Gertat left. It was made of black metal and a grayish material resembling plastic. It was light but sturdy, and fit him almost perfectly. He thanked the doctor. The doctor also handed him a small vial of pain relief pills, and asked Sarsh'ta to bring him around again in a few days to see how the healing was going.

He was able to put his pants back on easily over the taping and felt better once he was fully dressed and standing with the help of the new crutch.

"The meeting will be in the morning," Sarsh'ta told him as they made their way back to the elevator and up to the roof. "I will have someone scheduled to drive you. I will need to be there earlier for some other business so I won't be traveling with you."

Kevan nodded, wondering how the other advisors would feel about his presence at the meeting. As they moved off the elevator pad and headed to yet another aircar that was waiting for them, he suddenly realized how tired and hungry he was. They had never gotten to the food segment of the feast and his stomach was reminding him of it. He generally knew better than to sleep right after eating, but all he wanted just then was a meal and a bed.

As they traveled, Sarsh'ta gave him information on the advisors and their positions. She warned him of which ones were most against his presence, and which ones had leant her some measure of support during her time as an advisor. He did his best to absorb as much of the information as he could, but something in the medication they'd given him was adding to his tiredness and it was all he could do to keep from yawning.

When they reached the building, he nearly stumbled getting out of the aircar. Once they had descended to the level his room was on, he couldn't help but sigh in relief.

"Where do I get some food?" he asked her. "We didn't get to the feasting..."

"I'll take care of it," she told him. "You look tired. I'll bring something to your room for you. Later tomorrow I'll give you a tour of the level so you know where to find everything."

He thanked her and stepped into the doorway she'd opened. Lights slowly brightened, revealing Kevan's room. Sarsh'ta closed the door behind her, heading off to get him something to eat, while Kevan allowed himself to collapse onto the large, soft fur of the bed. He never heard her come back with the food. Instead, he fell fast asleep.