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Homeworld Return - blackjack
:: 05/05/01 ::
Chapter 14
The briefing seemed to stretch on into eternal time and space, leaving Hjihad with enough time to practically drive himself mad with his thoughts. The Somtaaw'sa - dead. The Faal-Corum - gone. And worst of all - Hiigara. With the Ytterbian fleet so close. There would undoubtedly, he knew, be armadas of gravity wells and small fleets ready to oppose them, to draw time while the Hiigaran population evacuated for the second time in an eon. But ultimately, the Hiigaran fleets would be decimated by the massive encroaching battlegroup, and so many of his race would likely die. And even if they did not they would have no place to go. No homeworld.
And there was so little time left.
He tried to push the thought away, concentrating on Jakare, who was briefing the commanders of the Kuun-Lan's escort fleet on the tactics and technologies of her people. He wondered briefly how she felt about being here, in front of the generals and captains that had formerly been fighting against she herself. Did she feel as if she were betraying her race? Did she feel as if she were doing her duty, helping another race of Exiles?
The truth was, she felt nothing. She tried reflecting on that fact with one part of her mind while the other conducted the somewhat mindless task of briefing the captains that had formerly been her enemies. Many of them appeared uneasy around her, as if she would turn on them the first opportunity that she had. She knew that she wouldn't. But she also found herself unable to care even when several of the commanders shot her murderous glances. Splitting her consciousness to focus on two separate tasks was a talent she had held since birth, and now both partitioned sections of her brain worked individually - one to solve the puzzle that was her emotions, the other to reveal the weaknesses of her people's ships and combat tactics.
But what did she hope most for, she asked herself. Did she want a unity between her peoples, the ones that she had been born with and the ones who they had so innocently and ignorantly slaughtered? Did she want a defeat of one side or another? Her goals were a mystery to even her, but somehow she felt that helping these Exiles who had won in the race for Hiigara from an unjust death. After all, if she did not to her most to help, then she would be as guilty as those of her race who killed the Hiigarans so mercilessly.
The tables of loyalty spun in Jakare's mind without her knowledge. She no longer felt as if she was Ytterbian. Now, she felt as if she were an Exile. And she wanted to right the wrongs that her people had committed against their own blood.
She hoped, answering herself, for the deaths of the innocent to stop.
* * *
Hjihad stood on the bridge of the Kuun-Lan an hour later, legs spaced evenly with his shoulders in what he hoped was a somewhat commanding posture, although he did not feel domineering at all. The Ytterbians were too close to Hiigara… but it was his duty to maintain the morale of his crew, a defeated cause though it might be. As Jakare had said in the briefing - out of many other things that he had not paid attention to - the only way to stop the assault was to get the Ytterbians to see their common lineage. Only then would the massacre stop.
But how to convince them?
He had run it through in his mind hundreds of times and still had no answer. Doubtless they would not believe him and consider it a desperate last effort from an even more desperate race.
But there was so little time.
"Hyperspace module charged, sir," came the voice from behind him.
"Activate," he softly replied.
The blue window swallowed his view as they hurled themselves into the warzone.
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