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Part 74:
Confrontational Truth

Leaving his guards to hold the Leshers, Edri ventured into the Den alone, to confront his Chief Linguist and her human friends.

Triski stood at attention as her former Commander entered the room, while the humans remained seated. Despite her past defiance and disdain for her people’s actions, she still respected basic protocol.

"It is time we had a talk, my dear," Edri told Triski in their native language which the humans could not understand.

"How brave of you to face me alone,” Triski mentioned. “Do you not fear Sophia will trounce you, as she did our telepad technician?”

"You have hurt me more than words can express, Triski," Edri said, slumping his head in sorrow. "Your betrayal was not just a stain on our people, but a condemnation of your entire bloodline.”

"Why should you care?" Triski asked, bearing her jagged teeth in a show of defiance.

"You are my granddaughter, Triski, and as such your inferior actions shine badly upon our mutual heritage."

Edri's admission caught Triski wholly off guard, and left her speechless.

Seeing the young linguist paralyzed with shock, Edri endeavored to elaborate. "I met your grandmother before my last deep space mission; a mere fifteen years ago, from my perspective. At the time, I didn't expect to be going back into space anytime soon, and thought it might be nice to settle down a spell, and decided to surrender to basic instincts. However, our romance was short-lived, for a lucrative opportunity soon presented itself, a mission to provide both prestige and profit beyond my wildest dreams which I couldn't possibly pass up.

"Your grandmother would have nothing to do with spaceflight, unwilling to abandon her friends and family to relativity, so I left her, unaware that she was pregnant with your mother. I must say, it came as quite a surprise when I checked up on her bloodline upon my return, one hundred years later, relatively-speaking.”

“I... don’t understand,” Triski stuttered. “How is this possible? How could...”

"Your grandmother was a willful woman, no doubt full of spite over my decision to leave her for a journey to the stars. I was never listed as her child’s father. She listed some new lover on your mother's birth certificate, but I had my suspicions, and a private paternity test confirmed my suspicions."

The revelation certainly helped Triski make sense of some things pertaining to Edri’s actions; his favoritism and friendly attitude toward her throughout the mission, his willingness to listen to her requests and address her concerns, where any other crew member would have been busted down for overstepping their bounds. It was now entirely understandable.

"That's why I got this assignment," Triski said, sounding morbidly depressed. "I'm not really the best, am I? You just picked me because I'm the spawn of your illegitimate daughter?"

"No, Triski. I would never jeopardize the success of a mission, my first command, no less, by recruiting inferior subjects. You truly were the best candidate, and the fact that you're my granddaughter only explains why. Ours is a superior bloodline, my dear, one that you deserved to know about long ago.

"I’m sorry I could not be part of your life before now, but I’m hoping you can forgive me.”

“Of course,” Triski said, still bewildered by the revelation.

“Then you understand why I cannot leave you here among these savages," Edri concluded.

"But, the telepad technician..."

"Forget it. You were drugged by this human," Edri said, pointing to Sophia and concocting a legal excuse, "and she was responsible for the technician's death, not you."

"Opella will never accept it," Triski replied.

"I'll take care of Opella,” Edri said bitterly. “I’ll not have that old crone usurp my authority. You will be returning aboard ship, though your duties and privileges may be limited."

"And what of them?" Triski asked, referring to her human companions.

Edri rolled his eyes in irritation. "Your overbearing emotional attachment to alien things is a grave concern. I am hoping you can learn to dismiss such sentimentality when you finally come of age."

"It is not sentimentality, Edri. It is basic morality."

"Morality is for these savages who believe in fabricated religious doctrine, and the relativistic concepts of good versus evil."

"Some of us still believe there are greater things than our flesh, and recognize the fundamentals of right and wrong," Triski rebutted. "It does not take a savage to hold a basic sense of morality, but I believe it does take one to wholly dismiss it."

"I cannot have you remaining on this planet, stirring up dissent. You will accompany me back to the command ship, and these humans will be our prisoners."

"And what will you do to them?" Triski asked. "Will you starve and beat the man, as you did Sophia, to learn of their homeworld?"

"Our interrogators will use whatever means necessary to extract the information we require."

"And if you discover the location of their world, will you then proceed there and exterminate them for daring to challenge your preconceived notion of Nissite superiority?"

"I will leave that up to the home ministry to decide, but I am certain they will follow my advice, and destroy those who would threaten us," Edri replied.

"How can you believe so fanatically in our superiority while denying the existence of God?” Triski challenged, folding her arms in protest. “It’s impossible to claim that we’re destined to rule the stars, unless you believe there is a higher power dictating our actions and blessing our missions. What a self-absorbed hypocrite you are."

"Enough!" Edri said, incensed by her continued prodding. "This conversation is over." He turned to walk away.

"I'll tell you what's over," Triski said, switching to English. "Our mission here. Your attempts to exploit the Leshers and change them to suit your ego and pocketbook."

Edri stopped and turned abruptly. He moved to slap Triski, but Nathaniel leapt to his feet and grabbed the Nissite’s wrist tightly, nearly breaking it.

"You're through, Nissite!" Nate grumbled, keeping his voice down. "I've sent a slidewave communication back to my people. The fleet will be here any time now, and they will blow you away."

"Pathetic subspecies," Edri cursed back. "You creatures are nothing compared to us. We have already destroyed two of your warships. What makes you think we cannot destroy the rest?"

"You ambushed a science ship and a patrol vessel. You haven't faced our true power yet," Nate said, fiery and full of conviction. "How will you stand against two dozen American warships? Do you dare stick around to find out?"

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