Free Alien Interludes by Tracy St. John

surrounding the planet kept the machines from their deadly duty, freezing them in place to leave them impotent orbiting satelites.
    To give the colonel his due, the moment word had reached him that Earth and its government had been annihilated he’d ordered his troops to stand down. Then he’d destroyed the battle drones. He’d asked for and received permission to land his smal shuttle on Plasius, where he’d surrendered to Israla.
    “I was under orders, but I had no intention of taking out your cities,” he’d told her at their first meeting. “Plasius is peaceful. I know you have no military. The battle drones were for show only.” Israla didn’t trust the volatile Earthers, especialy the men who commanded the troops that had threatened her planet. But there was something about Tyler Carter that insisted he was a man of honor. Since coming to Plasius, he’d conducted himself impeccably and insisted the soldiers that remained do so as wel. Despite the fact Earth’s chain of command was gone, only broken links remaining, Tyler was obeyed without question by the other Earthers.
    He’d kept to himself except when disputes among the stranded Earthers demanded his attention. It had been weeks since Israla had last laid eyes on him.
    “So what occasion brings you to me today?” she asked, smoothing the light sheath she’d concealed herself in. Earthers were notoriously repressed, the older ones easily scandalized by the Plasians’ lack of modesty. For some reason Israla didn’t wish to embarrass Tyler, to see him stammer and stutter as he tried to look anywhere but at her. She thought belatedly it would have been better to take this meeting at her carved wooden desk, the two of them sitting across from one another in the more businesslike corner of her office.
    “It’s about those soldiers you’ve been keeping in stasis,” he replied. His smoky blue eyes looked directly into her black-marbled ones, but there was no chalenge. Just laserpoint attention.
    “They attempted to murder two women, one of whom is now the Empress of Kalquor.” She thought back to that horrible night of bloodshed and near death. Israla shuddered. Violence was a foreign concept to the Plasians. They didn’t even require a police force.
    “Yes ma’am, I’m aware of their crime. And I assure you I don’t approve of their actions. However,” Tyler took a deep breath before continuing, “I’d like to request you don’t turn them over to the Kalquorians. They won’t receive a fair trial. And Kalquorian executions are long, drawn-out affairs.” Israla knew he was right, but she played devil’s advocate nonetheless. “It seems Earth executions went along the same lines, did they not? Torture, castration, and unceasing hard labor until the convicted dropped dead. For far less brutal crimes than attempted homicide, if I’m not mistaken.”
    Tyler nodded. His expression remained calm, but there was pain in his eyes, pain that made Israla wonder if someone he’d loved had met such a fate. “I didn’t say my government was any less vicious than Kalquor’s. But as we Earthers say, two wrongs don’t make a right.”
    “I can’t let those men go free, Colonel. They can’t simply walk away from what they did. Kalquor won’t hear of it.”
    “I’m not asking you to set them free. I may be Earther, but I don’t condone violence against women. I think those men should stand trial for their crimes, but it should be before the Galactic Council. It’s their one hope for fair judgment.”
    The fur on Israla’s head stood at attention. Plasian head fur, an approximation of the hair that grew from Earthers’ heads, displayed every emotion by its movement for al to see. Plasians were incapable of subterfuge because of it.
    That didn’t mean Tyler was able to read Israla’s moods easily. His brows furrowed at her reaction. “I am prepared to make this concession worth your while, Saucin.” Israla didn’t feel unloading the