130 – Envoy

130 – EnvoyPor'Ui Alvash

“Are you certain of this, Por’Ui?” the captain of the ship, Kor'El Ay'var asked with a deep frown as he stared down at Alvash from his command chair. “I trust Shas’El Korvesh to go into a ship full of Gue’la and come out alive. Why should I put the same measure of trust in you, Envoy?”

Alvash held back a sad sigh. Ideals were fragile things. When someone was put under pressure, no living being should have reasonably been forced to endure. The ideals understandably changed. That change could be either for the better or for the worse.Discover new chapters at novelhall.come of the greatest heroes of the T’au were forged in extreme situations, in the fires of war, with the fate of billions weighing down their shoulders. The ideals of those people became unbreakable, the diamond hard foundation of their psyche.

Unfortunately, Kor’El Ay’var was not among their number. When he beheld the terrors of war and the brutality of the Imperium of Mankind defending a fringe world, his ideals ... morphed. Into something ugly, something hateful and honestly revolting to Alvash.

The Tau’va called for all intelligent beings to work together for the betterment of all. Alvash understood species other than his own didn’t have the fortune to grow up in an enlightened society like his own, so they required a gentle, but firm, guiding hand to help them see the light. But never must that hand strike first or disregard another being for the faults of their kin.

To Alvash, Kor’El’s actions of possibly alienating that ship where so many distinct species came to work together were bordering on blasphemous. Orks, a species the Water Caste deemed unfit for cooperation and impossible to form diplomatic connections with, were working under the command of a Sin'Nesta — an Eldar, the humans call them, don’t they? And even he treated the Human with respect. I must see this. I must know how this unequalled feat of inter-species cooperation has been achieved.

Alas, Ay’Var was a Fire Caste Captain, well above Alvash in rank. It wasn’t his place to call the Captain out on his warped beliefs.

“I don’t require your trust, Kor’El.” Alvash said calmly, clasping his hands behind his back. “This is an opportunity, one every member of the Water Caste in my place would be loath to flounder. I cannot let Shas’El Korvesh suffer my duties because fulfilling them would be dangerous. It always is with other species.”

“You are on my ship,” the Captain said in a near growl. “Under my protection. My responsibility. I cannot, in good conscience, allow you on board a suspected enemy ship.”

“Your stance is perfectly understandable Kor’El,” Alvash gave a slow nod, not showing even a hint of his thoughts. Doing so would have been shameful for one as trained in the art of diplomacy as him, furthermore, it would have been rude. “I believe I have just the way to solve this issue.”

Alvash turned his gaze to his fellow Water Caste member. The young T’au’s duty was to record the goings of the command deck for later review should the need for such a thing present itself. “I hereby take all responsibility for my actions following this moment. I’d like to state for the record that I would place the blame for it with me to the grave. Did you get that?”

“Yes, Envoy.” The young fellow nodded jerkily and Alvash graced with a smile before turning back to Kor’El.

“Have it your way then,” the Captain said with a scowl, twisting his features. “Off with you then. Someone lead the honourable Por’Ui to the Human ship.”

Alvash turned and left, following in the steps of a very respectful private. Inside, though, he couldn’t help but feel his excitement bubble over. Anxiety was also there, but it was hidden beneath a vigorously glowing elation.

If I do this right and make them see the light of the Tau’va, promotion will be the least of my worries. I’ll go down in history.

*****

“Thank you for finally granting me the honour of meeting you, Captain.” The Tau cadre commander spoke in such an earnest, sincere tone a regular person might have missed the deeply laced sarcasm woven into his words.

“The honour is all mine, Shas’El,” I smiled back amicably, inwardly cursing at the silly Tau ranks. At least I had a mental databank of what meant what to go off of. For example here, ‘Shas’ meant he was a member of the Fire Caste, their military caste and ‘El’ meant he was only a single rank down from the highest possible rank of ‘O’ which only their generals and Commanders held. When there were six ranks in total, being on the fifth had to have meant something. “I’ll have to apologise. I’ve been preoccupied with doing ... stuff.”

I had to stifle a smirk at the inside joke no one else in the galaxy would get.

‘So I’m reduced to being ‘stuff?’’ Selene whispered into my mind and I almost choked on my tongue.

“Be that as it may,” Korvash said, a strange look in his eyes as he looked from my twitching face to Selene’s smirk. “I’d appreciate your cooperation in the future, I have a ... colleague here who’ll be taking over from me now that I have ascertained the dangers present on your vessel were acceptably low. Let me introduce, Por’Ui Alvash.”

“Acts of greatness, is it?” I hummed.

“Like the one you accomplished here,” said Alvash with a vague wave of his arms. “Uniting three species known for loathing one another under your banner. However you achieved it, I believe it is an act deserving of my personal respect.”

“Why, thank you,” I said. “I did wonder why we’d be deserving of a liaison of your standing, being a wreckage filled with unruly refugees. I don’t believe that is standard protocol.”

“Protocol is a guideline,” he said easily. “Outstanding circumstances call for a more personal approach, I believe. Now, before anything else, I believe we should discuss the circumstances that caused your seeking of refuge under the T’au Empire?”

“Ask away,” I shrugged. “I’ll do my best to answer your questions. And you can also ask whichever member of my crew you want, though be warned, the majority of them are quite rowdy. As your two guards can attest.”

I smirked as the two twitched the tiniest bit at my remark.

“Duty before personal interests, I’m afraid,” he shook his head sadly. “But I’ll be sure to make use of your offer to have talks with your more amiable crew members.”

He gave a nod towards Selene, and I assumed he also had Val in mind. Oh well, both of them could handle a nosy Tau much better than I could, so I wasn’t all that worried for them. Plus, the Orks wouldn’t kill him even if he got a bit much. I made sure of that.

There are few worse punishments for an Ork than getting thrown into a solitary cell or catapulted out into space. No food, no tooth and no scraps to be had in or out there. Just loneliness and boredom. They loathed boredom and inaction with a passion. Also loneliness, quite surprisingly. The one Ork I pulled back into the ship after a few days spent floating in space had been a model crewman ever since.

“First of all, I’d like to ask whether you believe there to be someone pursuing you?” Alvash asked. “Should we worry about your previous enemies chasing you down, even if we grant you refuge?”

“Oh there are certainly people who would love to catch us,” I smirked. “But we’d come a long way, I very much so doubt any one of them could track us down with the path we took ... Perhaps only one. But he’s more of an overeager guard I left behind than a foe per say.”

“An overeager guard, you say?” He arched an eyebrow in a disturbingly human manner that looked strange on his eye-browless face.

“I do not know for certain how he’d been tracking me previously,” I shrugged. “But he is just one man and his friend, and we’d crossed half the galaxy to get here. It’ll be years before he could even get here.”

“Cross half the galaxy?” He asked dubiously. “Is this ship capable of some manner of wormhole travel?”

“This is an Imperial Light Cruiser,” I said, perhaps sounding a touch too demeaning. “It has a Warp-Drive ... Had, to be more accurate. I believe it is quite dead after that last stunt we polled to escape a band of space pirates.”

I wonder how the Necrons would react to being called space pirates ... oh, I so want to know how much they fumed about us flying right through their territory and them being unable to catch us. I’ll have to ask Trazyn about it the next time I see him.

“I see,” Alvash nodded. “Thank you for your honesty. Now, I know this might be a bit much to ask, but information on the ‘Imperium of Mankind’ and its inner workings is a highly valued commodity to my kind. Would you be willing to answer some questions?”

“Sure,” I shrugged. “But I’m just a single human from the fringes, my knowledge might not have the depth or vastness that you are expecting.”

“All information has value,” he smiled consolingly, and I had to stifle the sudden urge to punch him in the face. “So I believe you noted my use of that ‘Imperial Aquila’? Could you elaborate on that please?”

I shrugged and answered his questions, making sure I only told him common knowledge. Selene was also there to poke me in the brain whenever I was going to mess up and say more than I was supposed to know.

It was boring as all hell, but Selene’s calming grasp on my shoulder was doing wonders for my self-control and patience. Telling him to sod off already would sour my relationship with the only Tau who seems to be willing to be on our side. I’ll just have to be patient. I’m sure he’ll run out of questions sooner or later.