Starcrossed - Bianca D'Arc Page 0,3
Dr. Waithe, and are to be commended. I can, however, offer a more immediate solution that will bring the added benefit of ending this war between our peoples for all time.”
Murmurs rose through the Council chamber, and Tigh took it as a good sign. Councilor Torm passed a collection of data crystals to the famous geneticist through her aides and returned back to his place among the jit’suku warriors.
“Councilor Torm, who lost his own daughter to the virus, has just given you complete documentation from our best med techs and scientists. I’m sure you all know, by now, that the virus my brother allowed to be released has mutated and turned back on us. It has killed our females in massive numbers, as it killed your males. I’ve made a personal study of our peoples’ history, including especially, the time of the Three Hundred Year Peace, when my ancestor, Tren, mated and married a human female. She was the daughter of an Enhanced human warrior, and I believe now, that these early tamperings with your genetic codes included jit’suku DNA. Otherwise, my techs tell me, the virus could not have mutated enough in your populations to turn against us. It is the small amount of undocumented jit’suku DNA in some of your people that bridged the gap from human to jit’suku and brought our own terror back to us.”
The Councilors looked surprised and concerned, though Dr. Waithe seemed intrigued most of all. She had the knowledge of genetics to puzzle this through, and she also recognized the value of the information he’d just given her. She flipped open the accompanying dossier and sorted through some of the information he’d had prepared for her.
“You’ve given me the means to destroy you utterly.” Dr. Waithe silenced all in the room with her soft statement.
Tigh bowed his head. “Without our women, we are already dead.”
Silence reigned for a long moment.
“What do you propose?” This from the leader of the Council, an older woman named Mathilde Grey who had been a very successful lawyer then Galactic Court judge before being voted to her current leadership position. She was a shrewd woman who made tough decisions. Tigh had studied her record in some detail, looking for clues to the woman’s personality. Everything he read indicated a decisive nature tempered by wisdom and compassion. He was counting on that compassion to save them all, and now was their moment of truth. Perhaps the first of many. Or the last of his life.
“A blending of our races.” The murmurs in the chamber were back, louder this time. “Jit’suku do not make war among ourselves. It is our First Rule of Warfare. Now that we know for certain there is jit’suku DNA in humanity, our warriors are thrown into chaos. Once my people believe what the scientists are telling them, they will cease all hostility against humans.”
“But how do you make them believe?” Leader Grey asked, drawing attention as silence reigned, once again, in the large chamber.
“By joining with humanity in a visible statement, as my ancestor Tren did. By making a human woman my empress.”
Murmurs became loud talking as the listeners erupted in various reactions to his words. So far, no one seemed ready to kill him, so Tigh figured he had a good chance of pulling this off.
Tigh took a moment to look around the room, gauging reactions, taking note of people he hadn’t really seen before. There were many, many women here, and only a handful of men scattered throughout the large chamber. They were all big men with similar features. They looked like brothers, and Tigh realized they were—of a sort. They were undoubtedly Sons, made from similar genetic material, though there was surely enough diversity built into their codes to assure successive generations would breed properly.
His eyes returned to Michael, the warrior standing just a few feet from him, and he noted the small female aide now delivering a message to him. Suddenly, Tigh was struck. This woman… She seemed somehow familiar…somehow important. Tigh took an almost involuntary step forward, breathing deeply to sort out her delicious scent from those of the rest of the room. She was close enough that he could scent her curiosity as she watched him stalk nearer. He also felt a warming thrum within his own body, the recognition of a mate that had never left his people, primitive as it was.
This was a woman he could see as his empress. This woman just might be the one