“You’re sending in an army to occupy the convent on Europa?” The absurdity of soldiers needed to police nuns and children almost made her laugh. Then the real situation occurred to her. She stared at Yorso, her heartrate quickening. “Earth? Kalquor is set to attack my planet?”
A string of comforting platitudes sprang to Yorso’s mind as Tina’s amusement switched to stunned horror. He spoke none of them. Reassurances, however honest and well-intentioned, would ring hollow. His Matara’s world would soon be the center of conflict. The Kalquorian fleet was already fighting a path towards the planet.
Poor Tina. She and other innocent civilians hadn’t asked for this. In the end, he said, “Our leaders are determined to end the war as quickly as possible. That means invading Earth, taking its leaders prisoner, and occupation.”
She sat quietly, absorbing the shock. “You’ll kill my people.”
“We’ve been killing your soldiers. They’ve been killing us too for the last year. And before. Tukui had two older brothers who died in battles with Earth before war was even declared.”
Tina stared. “They died fighting against Earth forces?”
“That’s what armed conflict is. Fighting and killing until one side says they’ve had enough.”
She sat with this new information for a minute. “Earth declared war on Kalquor. My people started it. And Tukui lost members of his family. Yet he still wants me to be his Matara?”
“Why wouldn’t he? You aren’t your government, Tina. Most of your people aren’t. Tukui isn’t resentful of humans because of what their government has done.”
She was quiet for another minute. When she spoke again, her voice was so faint that Yorso had to strain to hear. “What will happen to people like my family?”
“Your family?”
“My dad. My siblings and stepmother. What does Kalquorian occupation mean to them?”
Yorso was startled. She cared for the man who’d rejected her so brutally? She worried for those he’d replaced her with, people she’d never met?
Of course she did. That had been obvious from how she’d spoken of them before. Yearning had been behind the hurt as she’d described her younger brother and sister.
Why was he surprised? Tina was emotionally damaged, but she was also a caring person. Yorso was struck and embarrassed that he’d assumed she’d be happy to leave behind her father and the family he’d cut her out of. In his conceit, Yorso had concluded she’d have no concern for her tenuous links to Earth.
Not so tenuous after all. He could have punched himself for his casual self-centeredness that had become more and more glaring in the last year or so. This was a fresh slap in the face.
When am I going to learn the universe doesn’t revolve around me?
He cleared his throat. “Your relatives will be fine. Civilians won’t be imprisoned or anything of that nature. Only military leaders, soldiers who continue to oppose us, and government officials are to be held responsible for Earth’s actions.”
“My father’s a low-level government worker. An assistant to the assistant of some mid-tier administrator.”
“He’ll be treated as a noncombatant then.”
“What does that mean?”
“To start with, Earthers will be put under curfews. They’ll be kept in zones away from our administrators. I’m sure the restrictions won’t be fun, but the main focus of our army will be on neutralizing your soldiers and keeping the peace until treaties are agreed upon.”
She mused over the information. “I guess that doesn’t sound so bad.”
“It won’t be.” Sudden inspiration hit. “If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll see to it that you can contact your family after it’s over.”
Tina appeared uncertain, but she managed a smile. “Just to see if they’re okay. It’ll be nice if I can speak to my brother and sister finally—though my sister is barely more than a baby. Do you want to see a picture?”
“Of course.”
Tina rummaged in the tiny bag of her few belongings she’d brought from Europa. She fished out a cheap vid frame and clicked it on. A still of two adults, a small boy, and a baby flashed between the plastic borders.
Yorso’s heart thumped painfully as he gazed at the family she’d been exiled from. Tina must have gotten her looks from her mother—her eyes matched her father’s, but that was the only characteristic they shared. The man had a ruddier complexion, dark hair, and a body going soft. He looked at ease, as if it were perfectly fine to live a life absent his eldest child.
Realizing he was on the brink of snarling at the man’s image, Yorso moved on