(eng) Niall Teasdale - Aneka Jansen 02 by The Cold Steel Mind

Author:The Cold Steel Mind [Mind, The Cold Steel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

~~~

‘She was called Lishanta,’ Speaker said. He was holding the hologram while seated on one of the curved seats on an island in the Forum. Aneka sat beside him, alone. She had wanted to know. ‘His name was Undrek and it was she who left him behind, not the other way around.’

‘Huh, so much for me not believing in stereotypes.’

The AI smiled at her. ‘We only know what happened from her memories, and I’m sorry to say that they are incomplete. Her mind could not be recovered in full, there was too much damage.’

‘Oh. What about him?’

Speaker looked upwards and off to the right as though thinking, or remembering. ‘They lived on Trevorsh. It was a garden world. They grew bushabli there, it’s…’

‘A type of berry,’ Aneka said. ‘Used in making duksh, yes?’

‘We gave you a good vocabulary. Lishanta was an Administrator, second rank, not a Warrior. Undrek worked on a farm. She was aboard the Bishna Hel, the battleship you found, handling crew well-being. When the war turned against the Xinti, the Bishna Hel spent years on the front lines trying to hold back the fleets of the other races. Trevorsh was attacked by a Herosian fleet during the final years of the war. It had no military value, but they burned it to the ground. There were no survivors. Lishanta heard about it just before the Bishna Hel entered its final battle of the war. During that battle a heavy fighter was badly damaged and came back on board on fire.’

‘There was evidence of a fire in the hangar bay,’ Aneka said.

Speaker nodded. ‘Lishanta should not have been helping get the crew off, but she did. Five Warriors were saved by her actions. She was helping a sixth when an explosion smashed her into a bulkhead. And that is where her memories stop.’ The AI looked down again and smiled. ‘The Warrior caste gave her honorary rank for her actions on that day.’ He held out the hologram to Aneka. ‘I think that this holds more value to you than it does to us. I’m certain that Doctor Gilroy would wish to have it if you do not.’

Aneka took the cylinder, turning it in her hands so that the image of Lishanta and Undrek faced her. ‘Thank you. You know, I got used to thinking of the Xinti the way most of the Jenlay do. They were monsters, or at least amoral scientists who took my life away from me. Most of them were… people.’

‘Even the ones who took your life away, as you put it, had planned to give it back, Aneka. You were not supposed to end up lost in space for centuries.’

‘No, but… When there’s a war, you get used to demonising your opponents. Killing someone is a lot easier when you don’t think they’re entirely Human. I guess that should be “entirely sentient.”’

‘People,’ Speaker suggested. ‘It’s a good term. If you think of your enemies as “not people” then you have no issue with destroying them.

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