lowered his weapon. “What is Prince Larz doing here, for God’s sake?”
“Keep your voice down! We didn’t exactly discuss it out there or announce who he is, and I’m as surprised as you are to see him. Apparently he’s helping us. The last ambassador got recalled home, if you remember, when his family was killed, so for some reason Larz is passing himself off as his replacement. I suppose his Tygerian appearance limits his options to be here in any other capacity. Maybe he and his father arranged this.” He shrugged. “Or he could have just done this on his own. Larz can be unpredictable.”
“I know that,” Rasc muttered, and Kylon laughed.
“Well, at least that answers the question of whether or not the prince knows about all this. But if he’s here, who’s coordinating our rescue?”
“I’m not sure.”
Rasc threw up his hands in exasperation and Kylon replied irritably, “Well, I couldn’t very well ask him now, could I?”
Rasc dropped his head in his hands. “Oh, God.”
“I told you that you worry too much. I’m sure Prince Larz has a plan.”
Pax broke in, stopping the argument. “What did the commandant offer us?”
“Surrender the hostages and they’ll kill us all quickly and humanely.”
Rasc blinked at him. “What? That’s it? What about our demands?”
“The commandant rejected them out of hand. But don’t worry, I did negotiate them down a bit from their first offer. Their next one was to execute just the leaders of ‘this unlawful revolt.’ That would be me and Pax, I guess.”
“Well, fuck that.”
“My sentiments exactly. As I informed the commandant, in somewhat milder and less contentious terms.”
“And?”
“I told them executions of the hostages would begin within the hour if they didn’t meet our demands for transport off the planet, and I’m pretty sure the commandant would have met that bluff. That’s a very cold man. And he is a man, by the way. Half human and not non-binary.”
“Yeah, I saw his face. But what do you mean, would have? What happened to change things?”
“I appealed directly to the new Tygerian ‘ambassador.’ As a citizen, I have that right.”
“And the commandant just let you do that?”
Kylon shrugged. “He had no choice. The commandant didn’t like it, but Prince Larz told him to be quiet. That went over about as well as you’d expect,” Kylon chuckled. “I’m supposed to be a disgraced officer who sold Army secrets. I don’t think the commandant is too happy about me being here, but there wasn’t much he could do about it with Larz right there and hearing every word.”
“So? What happened?”
“There was a lot of back and forth. I allowed myself to be convinced that an escape would never work. That they’d find us and kill us all and so on. They assured me the transport off planet was not going to happen, and then the ‘ambassador’ came up with an alternative—surrender the hostages without bloodshed and agree to a reduced sentence to be served on Zargoff Island. Six months and then they’ll put us back in the regular prison population to finish out our sentences.”
“We’d be dead before six months was over.”
Kylon shrugged. “Yes, of course, if we stayed on Zargoff. But we won’t be there long at all, and I thought Larz’s idea was brilliant. He got us on the island, and now all we have to do is find the Tygerian boys and wait for rescue.”
“So you agreed to this plan? They’re not giving us anything! They’ll be suspicious.”
“I won’t agree right away. I want to make the commandant think we’re serious and not let him know that it was our plan all along to just get out to the island. I told you I allowed myself to be convinced that it was the only way to save our lives. I told them I’d take it under advisement and asked for an hour to decide. At the end of the hour, I’ll ask for another meeting with the ‘ambassador.’ Hopefully, we can talk to Larz alone this time.”
Rasc grunted. “Tell me again how this so-called extraction is supposed to work.”
“I’m leaving that to Prince Larz. He’s in charge of the situation now. That’s one of the things I want to discuss with him at our next meeting.”
Rasc stared at him in disbelief. “You mean to tell me the two of you have made no real extraction plan? We’re supposed to just go out to that godforsaken island and wait around to see what happens?”
Kylon glared at him. “What’s your problem, Centarlo?