“That was her. You are someone new.”
“Do you think we’re going to kill you, Ketrin?” I asked.
“Humans aren’t well known for being kind to their enemies,” Lau said.
“No, I suppose not,” I admitted. “No, Specialist Lau. We’re not planning to kill you, or Commander Tvann.” I watched as relief spilled over the Rraey’s body. “In fact, what we’re hoping to do, after all of this is done, is return you to your government.”
“When?”
“I’m not going to lie to you, it’s going to be a while,” I said. “We have to get to the end of this current conflict. In the meantime you’re going to be our guest.”
“You mean prisoner.”
“Well, yes,” I said. “But within that framework, there’s a lot of latitude for how you are treated.”
“I don’t know anything important,” Lau said. “I’m a specialist. I was only told specific things about my own job.”
“We know that you don’t know anything above your pay grade,” I said. “We don’t expect you to know the secret plans of Equilibrium.”
“Then what can I tell you that I didn’t already tell your Lieutenant Lee?”
“I’m interested not so much in what you know as I am in what you’ve heard. Rumors and speculation and things like that. We’re both soldiers, Ketrin. Although we’re different species I think we probably share one thing in common: Our jobs are boring most of the time, so we spend a lot of time bullshitting with our friends. I’m interested in the bullshit.”
“I don’t know that word, but I think I know what it means.”
“‘Bullshit’? Yes, I think you probably do. I’m also interested in you, Ketrin.”
“How so?”
“Your experience with Equilibrium,” I said. “Beginning with the very simple question of: How did you get involved with them in the first place?”
“That’s your fault,” Lau said. “Humans, not you specifically. Our wars with you went poorly for us, particularly after the Obin, who had been our allies, turned on us. When that happened we lost planets and lost power, and our military shrank. Many former soldiers were out of work. I was one of them.”
“There are other lines of work.”
“Lieutenant, when we lost planets, we had an influx of people to our remaining worlds. There were no jobs to be had. You and the Obin didn’t just shrink our military. You killed our economy. I’m originally from a colony planet named Fuigh. We don’t have that planet anymore. I was relocated to Bulni. Jobs there mostly went to native Bulnians.”
“Got it.”
“So when I was approached by a former commander of mine about Equilibrium, I didn’t spend any time thinking about it. I was being offered a job and a chance to use my skills. The pay was excellent. And I got to leave Bulni, which I hated.”
“I understand that.”
“If you are planning to attack any planet of ours, let me suggest Bulni first.”
I grinned. “It’s not on our agenda at the moment, but I’ll keep it in mind. How long have you been with the Equilibrium?”
“I don’t know your time measurements.”
“Tell me in your years, I’ll make the adjustments.”
“About six years, then.”
“Which is about five of ours. Which is a long time.”
“It was steady work.”
“Right,” I said. “My point is that we only started learning about Equilibrium very recently. It’s a long time for your organization to be flying under our radar.”
“Maybe you’re not very good at intelligence.”
“That might be it,” I allowed. “But I like to think there’s something more to it than that.”
Specialist Lau did the Rraey equivalent of a shrug. “The organization was always small and focused and decentralized until very recently. For the first couple of years I didn’t even know there was a larger organization. I only worked with my team.”
“So you thought you were a mercenary.”
“Yes.”
“Being a mercenary didn’t bother you.”
“I liked being able to eat. And like I said I didn’t have very many other options.”
“So you thought you were a mercenary, but then you found out about the rest of Equilibrium.”
“Yes.”
“No thoughts about your team suddenly being made part of a larger organization.”
“Not really,” Lau said. “Mercenary companies are like any other company. Sometimes they work with other companies. Sometimes they merge with them. I was being paid on time and working with the same group of people, so it was all the same to me.”
“And what about the philosophical aims of the Equilibrium? What did you think about them?”
“I was fine with them. I’m still fine with them. Lieutenant, the Colonial Union is our enemy, and the Conclave won’t allow us to colonize, even on the planets we lost and want to retake. The two of you have made life very difficult for us. I don’t mind returning the favor.”