The Refugee (The Korvali Chronicles Book 1) (31 page)

“Captain, my curtness with you was for the benefit of the Korvali. You will provide them with the information, but you may omit that which is… proprietary.”

Ferguson appeared satisfied with this. “You will have it, Gronoi.”

“I think that went pretty well,” Ferguson said, sitting down in her chair.

“As do I,” Yamamoto said. “It was a step forward. I’m somewhat surprised they agreed to it.”

“Why?” Ferguson scoffed. “They got the better end of that deal.”
 

They looked at Eshel, who sat quietly.
 

“What do you think, Eshel?” Yamamoto said.
 

“I believe their commitment to that covenant was no more meaningful than the stupid way we sealed it,” he said.

Yamamoto raised his eyebrows in surprise, and Ferguson’s smile disappeared.
 

“Why do you say that, when they have nothing to lose from this deal?” Ferguson asked.

“They have nothing to gain from it, either, Captain.”
 

“How so?”

“Elisan will never join your Alliance. Their request for that information is a decoy, similar to their pretending to be Korvali Guard when they visited previously. Their mocking questions, their referring to me as ‘Private,’ even their use of ‘Captain,’ are insults. They’re plotting something, and I recommend great caution.”
 

Ferguson looked unconvinced. “You said the same thing the last time they visited. It’s been eighteen months and they haven’t done a thing except harass the Alliance.”
 

“That means nothing.”

Yamamoto spoke. “How is this meeting any different than the one with Gronoi Okooii, where he grilled you and accused you of not repaying a debt to the Sunai? Did you suspect some ulterior motive on his part?”
 

“The Gronoi, like all Sunai males, sought to satisfy his pride. The Korvali care nothing of pride. They want to protect what they believe is theirs, and any niceties or meetings with the Alliance will change nothing.”

Yamamoto sat for a moment, as if constructing his next question. But Ferguson spoke first. “Why is it mockery to call you by your title, or me by mine?”
“The Korvali place little value on titles or military hierarchy, Captain.”

“And do you mock me by referring to me as ‘Captain’?” Ferguson said.
 

“My referring to you as ‘Captain’ is doing as I am ordered to live among you, Captain, as Chief Selway taught me.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”
 

“There is no mockery in my addresses, Captain.”

Ferguson donned an expression he’d grown accustomed to. “But you believe as your people do, about the value of military hierarchy.”

Eshel didn’t reply.
 

“You may speak freely,” Ferguson said.
 

“Yes, I do.”
 

“That seems rather ungrateful, Private, considering that both the Corps and Sunai militaries have gone out of their way to protect you.”
 

Eshel remained silent.
 

Ferguson glanced down at her electronic pad. “Dismissed.”

Eshel’s contactor chirped. He glanced at the message; the Korvali didn’t attend the meeting that Gronoi Sansuai had organized with the other Alliance delegates. They claimed such an important meeting would require the presence of Elisan himself, who was unavailable at that time. Eshel felt a flicker of disgust, knowing such a meeting would never occur.
 

Eshel heard another chirp. Tom.
You coming?
Eshel replied yes and continued walking, feeling a sense of dread. He was going to a “party” for those Corps and Sunai persons who had collaborated during encampment on Suna, offering them opportunity to socialize outside of their work. Ov’Raa believed such an event allowed each culture to learn about the other and foster good relations between the two militaries. Corps crewpersons personally invited their respective Sunai associates to the party and were expected to play host for the evening.
 

The notion of fostering relations with otherworlders through such means seemed silly to Eshel, who believed that working with them would accomplish such a goal in a far more useful way. And unlike the Derovian need to socialize and help others, which seemed strange and unnecessary to Eshel but didn’t bother him much, the overbearing posturing and competitiveness of the Sunai men irritated him beyond measure. No forced social event would change that.
 

When Eshel scanned the room, he saw Tom and Zander animatedly talking with several of the Sunai weapons specialists they’d worked with. Eshel could tell from Tom’s appearance that he’d had a lot to drink. He then spotted Catherine and Holloway talking with their scientific collaborators, appearing to enjoy themselves. He felt a sudden discomfort. He needed to speak with Catherine, but knew that doing so was risky.

At that moment, Catherine split off from her companions and walked over to a table filled with food. He followed her and waited as she deliberated about what to select, finally choosing some charred meat. When she turned around, she appeared startled at the sight of him.
 

“Is it acceptable for us to speak?” he said.

“Yes,” she replied, her brown eyes searching him, as if guessing what he would say.
 

Eshel hesitated before he went on. “I have two things I must tell you. The first is a message.”

“A message?”

“Yes. One of the Sunai weapons officers has a friend who is Calyyt. This Calyyt knows the Calyyt you competed against in the CCFs. This officer claims that your competitor desires a rematch, believes quite strongly that he will defeat you, and will issue a formal challenge.”
 

Catherine looked surprised. “A formal challenge? Only the pros do that.”

“Perhaps some of this information is merely Sunai overstatement. However, I believe the rest is true.”

Catherine tucked her long hair behind her ear. “I’ll think about that.” She paused. “What was the other thing?”

The other thing
. “I am told that a biocracker attacked you. I do not believe this is unrelated to—”
 

Tom’s loud voice interrupted them. “Finnegan! Can I borrow this guy?” He motioned to Eshel with a somewhat drunken gesture. “Marks wants us to show these Sunai our new targeting software. Now they’ll see who’s more advanced! Let’s go.”

Seeing Commander Marks standing impatiently in the doorway, Eshel looked at Catherine and quietly spoke two words to her in Korvali before he left.
 

After they’d finished with the Sunai, Eshel and Tom stood alone in Weapons.
 

“I’m headin’ home,” Tom said, yawning. “It’s time to pack it in. You gonna study?”
 

Eshel shook his head.
 

“What are you gonna do?” Then a look of recognition crossed his face. “No, man. No. Don’t go back and find Catherine. Just leave her alone.”
 

Eshel said nothing, hoping Tom would back off.
 

“What do you want with her?” Tom said.

“Why are you questioning me?”
 

“Why are you suddenly so interested in her after all this time?” Tom said. “You didn’t want her, but now that she’s hanging out with the Grono she suddenly seems more interesting to you?”
 

He found Tom’s invasive questions and absurd assumptions especially tiresome at that moment, but tried nonetheless to reason with him. “We were having a conversation I want to finish.”

“Bullshit.”
 

“I do not understand. You reproached me for not talking to her; now you reproach me when I do.”
 

Tom ran his hand through his curly hair. He seemed agitated, as if too many thoughts pressed upon him at once. “You had her, Eshel. You had her and then you threw her away.”
 

“I did not throw her away—”
 

“You did. And you didn’t give a shit. I saw it, she saw it, and so did everyone else.”

Eshel paused, gathering his thoughts. “This happened months ago, Tom. Why are you angry now?”

“I didn’t say a fucking word when you two split up—which you know is hard for me—because it was a tough situation, and I know you hate too much questioning, and shit happens, and feelings change, and all that shit. But then you hurt her by shutting her out. And I see things, Eshel. I see how you look at her lately,” Tom said, standing closer to Eshel and pointing at him. “I see the way your hackles go up anytime someone brings up Koni’s name. And I saw the way you looked at her tonight. Don’t try and deny it, Eshel. You may be smart, but I know people. You had your chance with her; now it’s over.”
 

“Why do you insinuate that I behave like a Sunai?” Eshel said. “And if I want to speak to Catherine, I will.”
 

Tom shook his head. “Leave her alone, Esh, or I promise you I’ll mess you up.”

“Tom, you’re drunk. You sound like Middleton.”

“Fuck you,” Tom shot back. “Don’t ever compare me to him.”

“Then stop blathering and make your point.”
 

“My point is that you don’t appreciate people, people who look out for you. I’ve shown you everything I know, given you access you shouldn’t even get, and you act like it’s nothing! Just like you treated Finnegan like she was nothing. And I know why: you come from this privileged world where they care more about genetics than they do about people.”

Eshel finally lost his temper. “I don’t care about people?” he said in a raised voice, stepping even closer to Tom. “I don’t care? I care for my father, a good man and a brilliant scientist, who desired more freedom for us and a relationship with the outsiders. I still have visions of him, and have since the night I learned his life was stolen because of these desires. I care for my mother, who I do not know when I will see again. I gave up everything—my clanspeople, my work, my home—to come here and attempt to live among strangers who know nothing of my customs, who punish me for being unlike them. And you,” Eshel pointed his webbed fingers at Tom, his voice lowered and his words measured, “you are a hypocrite for lecturing me about my behavior when your own stupid conduct has offended numerous people. I see things, too.”
 

Tom glared at him, standing even closer to him, closer than he knew Eshel would tolerate. But Eshel didn’t back down. He waited, his hands ready, for Tom to make his move.
 

But Tom did nothing. “You can unclench, you bastard. I’m not going to hit you. I’ve hit a lot of people… but you’re my friend and I don’t hit my goddamn friends.”
 

“I still do not understand why you’re angry with me.”

“You’re coldhearted, man.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

Tom sighed. “You care about your father, your mother… but you don’t care about us. It’s like we’re… we’re just the means to help you get what you want. And once you get it, you’re done. Like with Catherine…” He shrugged.

Eshel said nothing for several moments. “What you say about Catherine… it is untrue. I ended our romantic relationship for reasons I cannot share with you. But I did not hope to be embargoed from speaking to her.”

“No one embargoed you, man.”

Eshel relayed the story about Catherine slapping him.
 

“That’s not an embargo, dumbass!” Tom cried, throwing his hands up. “She was angry at you! You went from treating her like she was the only person who mattered to you, to giving her the Korvali cold shoulder like you give the rest of us. Jesus, Eshel, you learn our weapons systems from front to back in a fraction of the time of anyone I’ve ever met, but you can’t figure this out?” He shook his head.
 

“Relating to outsiders… it has been difficult for me,” Eshel said coldly. “I thought you understood that.” He broke eye contact with Tom and stood in silence. Finally, he turned and left Weapons.
 

As he walked, Eshel reviewed all that Tom had said. It was difficult to have Tom, who typically encouraged him in everything he did, suddenly criticize him so harshly for his conduct regarding Catherine, and even for his very temperament.
 

I cannot live among the others, Father. I have failed. They do not understand me, and I do not understand them
.
 

He also felt residual anger over Tom’s accusations about how he looked at Catherine, or his reaction to her association with Grono Amsala. He attributed Tom’s absurd comments to intoxication and lack of understanding of him. But as Eshel gave more consideration to the matter, he realized that the anger he felt was due to the fact that some of Tom’s observations were correct.
 

However, such thoughts must be put aside for now. He still needed to speak to Catherine, and returned to the party to do so. But when he scanned the room, she was gone. It would have to wait until tomorrow.
 

As Catherine undressed, she pondered her conversation with Eshel that evening. How very strange that he’d speak to her after all that time, just to tell her what she would’ve found out anyway. And what was that second thing he’d meant to tell her? What he’d said in Korvali—two words roughly translating to “hidden information”—didn’t make sense. Coming from Eshel, hidden information could mean anything.
 

She climbed into bed, feeling herself grow sleepy as her mind drifted back to their conversation. He’d mentioned her being attacked by the biocracker, that it was related to something… perhaps he wanted to ensure she still protected the genetic information she had about him, information that would prove highly valuable to a biocracker. She recalled him giving her the two storage drives, a blue one with a new copy of his genetic material, and a black one…

Catherine opened her eyes. The black one. The one he’d said to tuck away, in the event that something happened to him. She’d forgotten about it. Of course—he wanted to ensure she protected that information as well, as it probably contained sensitive information about the Korvali.