Free Zero's Return by Sara King Page B

enough to send a cold chill down Joe’s spine.  “Because they’re
recalling the entire Human Ground Force and disbanding the Human section of the
Army,” the Jreet replied.
    “Fuck me,” Joe
whispered, Bruce Thomson’s colorful Earthling vernacular still coming to Joe’s
tongue even four turns after the Scot had served as Joe’s Second on Der’ru.
    “I’ve told you a
hundred times you wouldn’t like it if I did, Human,” Daviin said, a ghost of
his old playfulness back.  Then his golden eyes sharpened.  “You don’t have
much time.  Aliphei is calling for a Trial.  He’s giving the Human
Representative one rotation to prove Earth’s innocence, but there is no
defense.  The proof is irrefutable.”
    “What are you
saying,” Joe said slowly.  “All Congies are getting recalled?”
    “All Humans ,”
Daviin replied, almost unwillingly.  “You only have one planet, and it was that
planet that broke the laws.  Therefore, you will all be sent home.”
    “Earth is not my
home!” Joe snapped.  “Last time I was there, the ashsoul furgs didn’t even want
me there.  One of them spat in my whiskey right before I rearranged his face.”
    “Get on a ship,”
Daviin said.  “Head for Koliinaat.  My ship will rendezvous with you.  If we
can get you to Koliinaat in time, you’ll have diplomatic immunity.”
    But Joe just
stared at Daviin’s picture, unable to believe what he was being told.  “They’re
gonna take almost a quarter billion Congies and just throw them back on a
planet that hates ‘em?  And what?  Ask them to play nice?”
    Daviin gave him
a long, uncomfortable stare.  “Joe…  If Mekkval gets what he wants, they’re
going to bomb all the bases, tech centers, and universities, drop kreenit on
the major cities, then leave Earth to serve penance for a Sacred Turn.  It’s
quite possible the Congies are going to be the only ones to survive.”
    Joe felt his
blood burning in his veins.  Kreenit, the ancestral predators of Dhasha ,
were installed on the worst rebel planets as a way of making sure conquered
races couldn’t rebound and rebuild immediately, giving their populaces a chance
to learn their ‘lesson’ before being allowed to rejoin Congress.   All he could
think to say was, “Female Congies are sterile , Daviin.”
    The Jreet’s lack
of reply was all Joe needed.  Swallowing hard, he said, “You think Humans might
not make it.”
    Daviin looked
uncomfortable.  “Compared to kreenit, Humans are…”  The Jreet obviously
struggled with a polite way to say ‘insignificant weaklings,’ a sign that he
was actually learning some decorum from his last twenty turns moderating
interspecies incidents in the Regency.
    “Meat,” Joe
said.  “Humans are meat.” 
    Daviin glanced
away.  “The Watcher has a complete genetic profile of every Human Congie to
enter the Congressional Army.  If your species dies off, it can be
resurrected.”
    “Burn that!” Joe
snapped.  “Goddamn it, Daviin, you’ve gotta do something!  We had nothing
to do with those sootwad furgs back on Earth.”
    “I have done something, you Ayhi-loving biped!” Daviin roared back, rearing up his
serpentine body to glare at the screen.  “I’ve spent the last twenty turns
arguing with fat, complacent morons who quote rules and legislation made a
thousand generations ago as somehow applicable to our current situation.  I’m
arguing for leniency instead of total annihilation.”  Then he lowered
his head in a Jreet appeal for accord.  “I’m also sending a ship for my best
friend.  The life of a Representative is lonely.  Will you join me?”
    But with
great responsibility comes great loneliness.   Joe took a deep breath and
glanced at the ceiling.  He thought of all the Humans who were going to die—and
all the Humans he could save with a well-placed plasma round to the back of a
kreenit skull.  He took another breath and watched an unidentified desert pest
crawl across