The Fay laughed while Tay held her breath. ‘Don’t worry, the Captain didn’t spill your secret, although you would have slept in the dungeon if he didn’t know. I am their Scholar. When they told me how you had spent your time, healing anyone who turned up, without sleep or complaint, it was clear that you were human. I was in our first war, I remember back. Spend half the day trying to kill us, the other half healing our injuries.’ He laughed again, stretching out his limbs, enjoying the restored flexibility, ‘We didn’t understand then. They still don’t.’ Then he sighed. ‘We are enemies here. Like the first war, except we don’t hold the sky. Your humans are winning, slowly. I tried to stop it, but they wouldn’t listen. The Intec used our weapons on the human children, they stole our very claws to do it. I knew your people. They will not forgive such a thing, so we fled and built our strong places. So, again I ask, why are you here?’

Tay sat down, a first for the day. ‘Scholar, we found the human slaves on another world. We are at war with the Intec. As you probably know, we do not tolerate such a thing. Yours is the third planet we have found, although the first with Fay. Our alliance was born in that war of yours. That alliance was sealed in the blood spilled, in the peace built afterwards. We may not fight. If I don’t stop this, now, our peoples will destroy you both and blame the Intec. It cannot stand, we live too close, we share too much. It would be a civil war.’

The Scholar paused. ‘Did we build so true that you would kill us all, to preserve this?’

Tay smiled sadly. ‘Sir, there are no truer friends in a difficult galaxy. Many, on both sides, have paid installments on the price required to hold it so close. I do not wish to see you join that list. If it comes to it, you will be gone and, in my view, the alliance with it. My Admiral, he will see everyone on this planet dead before he risks a war with your people. And it will be the Fay that kills you, not us. You say you were in the war?’ She looked at the ceiling, ‘Captain, would you like a word?’

Captain Zac’Hary snarled softly. He had wondered if the Engineer would hold any illusions that she was unsupervised. Humans. He glanced at the Admiral, who looked completely unsurprised.

‘Engineer, I am here.’ The screen illuminated the Captain looking old and tired. She worried for him. This was hard on the man. ‘Scholar, I am Zac’Hary. I was there. Too well do I remember the war. She speaks the truth. This world will fall to us if you do not find a way. There can be no other path. You will fall by my hand if there is no peace. We are bound by oath and treaty.’

The Scholar looked closely. Some detail, some old memory stirred. ‘Sir, you were no Captain when I knew you, although I doubt you remember me. You commanded our retreat, when they overran us. You fought until there was nothing left to fight for, then began getting our people out. We few here, we were stolen from the battlefield, but I remember that face. I also took an oath, Sir.’

Two old soldiers, better sharing whisky and memories, were back in an old war, the present falling away as the memories, as fresh as newly-spilled blood, filled the room. Finally the Scholar spoke, ‘I will find us peace, General. Or we will all die trying.’

Her Captain nodded, ‘Go to work, soldier. Let me bring the last of you home. You have my gratitude and my engineer. Use them both.’ Silence filled the room as she cut the Comms.

Tay spoke first ‘Scholar, I must deal with my own people. Let us end this. Go and speak to your old comrades, find a voice for peace. I will leave you Comms, speak to the Captain...the General as you need. Hold your people back for a couple of days, if you can. The last soldier to fall is always the greatest waste.’

Commander Ger’Hary was standing at the door to the cabin, long since awoken by the noise. He had heard it all. He asked a quiet question, ‘Is that my Grand Sire? Is this all true, or am I as witless as the human believes?’ The screen flickered back to life, the Admiral scowling from orbit. Then he paused and looked offscreen, obviously speaking but muted. Then he faced them, ‘Commander, the Captain told me he had personal reasons for searching for Intec slaves. In fact he has been following us around for the campaign. Now I know why. Captain?’ He moved out of the way, leaving the Captain speechless in front of the screen.

Tay grabbed the Scholar, moving for the exit. This was going to get all upfront and personal, not something she felt she should see. Her Captain would tell her if she needed to know. Without the guards standing around, the place looked quite nice. Oldschool, as her grandfather would call it. ‘Tell me about your people, Scholar, how long have you been here?’

The Scholar sighed, ‘As I told the General, we were taken from the battlefield. When we arrived, we found many that we had thought lost in that green hell. Our people, when we wish to, can breed quickly. Usually, we prefer to leave it later in our lives, but the Intec controlled us at the time. That was their first mistake. Our natural weapons cannot defeat technology, but we can survive on this planet easily enough. Eventually, most of us had fled their mines and workshops and they were losing people to us. They agreed to withdraw and pay for work. Our economy, such as it is, is trading with them. Mostly medicines, since we have no access to the technology from the past.’

He stopped in front of a burned out building, an eyesore on an otherwise tidy street. His crest rose, some emotion flickering across it. ‘Here was where we first met your people. They attempted to impose slavery upon us, as if they had some right to our labour. We fought, so they burned the building around us. It took years to build a truce, as the older humans died off. Their young were more like the humans that I remember from the war. Then the Intec decided that a truce didn’t suit them, so they slaughtered a human village. Every man, woman and child was murdered, all with the false claws of the Fay. Even though the leadership on both sides knew it to be a lie, no-one wanted to listen to reason. The war began again, with the humans raiding one of our villages. Another atrocity.’

He turned to face Tay, ‘The humans, your people, are not what you expect. The Fay have long lives and long memories. I can bring them to peace, with the General and the promise of better things. I will be surprised if you can achieve that with your own people.’

Tay returned to the shuttle in a very thoughtful mood. The Fay, whatever their experience on this planet, were at least prepared to listen. To hear of humans trying to enslave anyone, let alone their oldest allies, was shocking. Her plan needed to change.

There was another crowd gathering outside when she got there. This time she turned her mask transparent. Either they tried to kill her or her work here was done. Despite some seriously strange looks, and the occasional Fay that stomped away, they were happy to get treatment. Then a uniformed Fay interrupted. She recognised the burn victim, the one from the first guard. He was holding a child, a human child. ‘Visitor, the Captain sent me. He told me what you were.’ He smiled, ‘I’ll try not to kill you out of sheer habit. This small thing is hurt, we recovered it in the forest. I hoped you could help.’

Tay quickly ran the scanner over the child. He was unconscious, with major blood loss and suffering from three fractures on his right arm. Bruising and cuts. One major stab wound. She looked at the Fay, ‘This child was attacked. It was no Fay that did this.’

‘I’m glad you think us so virtuous! You are, however, correct. We found him like this, pretty well hidden. Except for the smell of blood, of course. I am Neil’Bora, Sergeant-at-arms here. My wives are very impressed by your work. I’m afraid you may have raised their expectations.’

Tay glanced up, ‘No virtue. I record over eleven healed fractures on this child. This was done by the worst kind of human. A Fay, even if it would strike a human child, would use claws or teeth. This is the work of hate.’

The Sergeant stepped back. He could smell the battle drugs flowing into the visitor. He had no wish to face an armoured human right now. ‘ Peace, visitor. The scholar has declared you an innocent, a non-combatant and a diplomat.’ Tay recalled herself, ‘Peace, my rage is not against you. Whoever did this is a human, or a least it wears the shape of one. I am no doctor, but even I can read this story. Someone is going to be incredibly, painfully sorry that I ever landed on this planet. He will sleep for a while, please bring me your people. I will leave in the morning, and I will take him’ Tay finished her evening in a state of suppressed rage. This whole fucking battle, this entire war was about slavers, and yet again she had to face humans. Child beating arsonists with a god complex. It took her awhile to get a grip on her emotions. Her plans grew. Sometimes a soft word, sometimes a heavy fist. The child had been branded. An act of war, to her mind.