Free Bait by Viola Grace Page A

shooting when I lose my temper. You all should know that. I have been written up more than once.”
    High Commander Afloss inclined his horned head. “You are the only one that the ruler of Chysan will listen to. He has refused all of us entry to their colony. He will not refuse you, and you will get his agreement for twenty Enforcers.”
    “High Commander, you still have not answered the question, why me?”
    The High Commander blushed, “He has a penchant for Terrans.”
    She opened her eyes wide in surprise. “Well, hell.”
    That explained quite a bit. Billie had seen the Oefric fascination with her species first hand, three years earlier, but his self-control and her reluctance squelched the blossoming romance before it got started.
    “So, I am bait or a bribe to get his agreement.” She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at those assembled.
    Commander Geering leaned forward and tried to be helpful, “You are an enticement for him to see things our way. Once you have his agreement, you will return and resume your duties.”
    Billie fidgeted a little, “Twenty Oefric?”
    It would be a coup for the Enforcers. No one was as adept at crowd control or sensing the dangers in a situation as an Oefric was. Their ability to shift into any form while retaining their intelligence made them an asset worth pursuing.
    “Twenty. Their population has more than enough of a male-to-female ratio to spare a few men.”
    “What if women want to enter as Enforcers?” She had to ask.
    “They will have to take it up with their community. We cannot train them if their world is not willing, but if they are willing and free, they can join.” Commander Geering nodded.
    “Fair enough. Do I get a dossier about the man I am meeting with?” It was customary for them to provide information for their operatives.
    “No. We do have some data scans on Chysan though. They are three generations into colonization and doing very well.” High Commander Afloss nodded encouragingly.
    She sighed. “Fine. I get it. You are sending me in blind. Oefric are all about the instincts, and you don’t want to wreck my reactions.”
    Commander Geering looked uncomfortable. “Something like that.”
    High Commander Afloss nodded decisively. “You will go, and the Oefric will be recruited. Dismissed.”
    She got to her feet, nodded to those assembled and left the room.
    Her wristband quivered, and to her surprise, there was already a departure booked. She had three hours to get her kit and report to the shuttle port. There was a warship connection, and she needed to catch it.
    Billie shook her head and grimaced. She had better get moving.
     
    “You do not resemble any Enforcer I have ever seen.”
    Billie was eating at the captain’s table on the Heko Mor. She paused and looked at her dinner partner, a water-breathing emissary from a world whose name even Alliance Common could not manage.
    “I look like at least five others that I am aware of, two males and three females of the Terran species.”
    “Peculiar. Why do you put yourself in harm’s way?”
    She blushed when she realized that other folk nearby were listening. “It isn’t what I want to do, it is what I was trained to do. Instinct drives me to help folk when they panic, and the result is that I am an Enforcer.”
    The emissary inclined its head. “I can understand that. Instinct drives my kind to spawn and die in our ninety-third year. We do not have a choice. We do it, or we live knowing that we are incomplete. Our lives hold no meaning without passing our knowledge to the next generation.”
    “So, you give your memories when you spawn?” It had gone from uncomfortable to fascinating in a moment.
    “We do. Each generation is a true copy of the previous one. When my time comes, I will lay thirty eggs, and one will be my true inheritor, and the others who survive to adulthood will serve my people.” The gills fluttered at the emissary’s neck.
    Billie smiled, not showing