Free The Back Channel by John Scalzi Page B

our citizens who are lost to us,” Gau said. “We will find them and we will find whoever is behind their disappearance—whoever they are. What we will not do, Representative Hado, is use the disappearances of these ships to launch into a fight with a people who have shown how committed they are to trying to destroy us when they feel they are cornered and have no choice left but to fight. You ask me whether I am willing to underestimate the humans. I assure you that I am not. What I am wondering, Representative, is why you seem so determined to do so.”

    Sorvalh visited General Gau later in his personal office. It was cramped, even if one was not a Lalan, who were a tall species, and Hafte Sorvalh was tall for her species.
    “It’s all right,” Gau said, from his desk, as she ducked through the door. “You can say it.”
    “Say what?” Sorvalh asked.
    “Every time you crouch through the door of this office, you come in, you straighten up, and you look around,” Gau said. “Every time you get an expression on your face that looks like you have bitten into something slightly unpleasant. So go ahead and say it: My office is cramped.”
    “I would say it is cozy,” Sorvalh said.
    Gau laughed in his fashion. “Of course you would,” he said.
    “It’s been commented on by others how small this office is, considering your position,” Sorvalh said.
    “I have the large public office for meetings, and to impress people when I have to, of course,” Gau said. “I’m not blind to the power of impressive spaces. But I’ve spent most of my life on starships, even after I began to build the Conclave. You get used to not a lot of space. I’m more comfortable here. And no one can say that I give more to myself than to the representatives of any of our member races. And that, too, has its advantages.”
    “I see your point,” Sorvalh said.
    “Good,” Gau said, and then motioned to the chair that he clearly had brought in for her, because it matched her physiology. “Please, sit.”
    Sorvalh sat and waited. Gau attempted to wait her out, but waiting out a Lalan is a bad bet on a good day. “All right, say the other thing you’re thinking,” Gau said.
    “Unli Hado,” Sorvalh said.
    “One of the graspingly ambitious types that you warned me about,” Gau said.
    “He’s not going to go away,” Sorvalh said. “Nor is he entirely without allies.”
    “Very few,” Gau said.
    “But growing,” Sorvalh said. “You have me with you for these sessions to count heads. I count heads. There are more of them each session who are either in his orbit or drifting toward him. You won’t have to worry about him this time, or the next, or possibly for several sessions down the line. But if this goes on, in time you will have a faction on your hands, and that faction will be agitating for the eradication of the humans. All of them.”
    “One of the reasons we formed the Conclave was to rid ourselves of the idea that an entire people could or should be eradicated,” Gau said.
    “I am aware of that,” Sorvalh said. “It was one of the reasons why my people gave you and the Conclave their allegiance. I am also aware that ideals are hard to practice, especially when they are new. And I am also aware that there’s not a species in the Conclave who doesn’t find the humans…well… vexing is likely the most polite word for it.”
    “They are that,” Gau said.
    “Do you really believe that they would be that hard to kill?” Sorvalh asked.
    Gau presented an unusual face to Sorvalh. “An unusual and surprising question, coming from you of all people,” he said.
    “I don’t wish them dead, personally,” Sorvalh said. “At least, not actively. Nor would the Lalan government support a policy of extinction. But you suggested to Hado they would be a formidable opponent. I am curious if you believe it.”
    “Are the humans able to stand against us ship to ship, soldier to soldier? No, of course not,” Gau said.