She Bleeds for Us: The Galactic Consortium 3

Chapter 60

Devaki had been moved from the Kuragari supply warehouse to a disciplinary interrogation cell, a single small room with a four chairs and little else. Zie had surrendered most of hir possessions. Zie sat, squirming in anxiety, as much for Gabriel, now out of any reach as for hirself. Zie worried too for hir network. They were mostly young people, consortium and Earthsiders who wanted to do what was right. And now they'd face legal consequences, be kicked out of the administration definitely. Underneath that was a certain worry for hirself as well, hir future as a relief worker and even as a Kuragari were on the line and zie knew it.

Zie took a deep breath and told hirself that zie had done the right thing. Whatever the consequences...

Zie could face them, so long as Gabriel was safe. The idea that the boy could be hurt, captured, or worse, that was the one thing zie would regret for the rest of hir life. By the mother, let him be safe.

The door opened suddenly and three people came in, two human males and C'thon female. Or zie thought the C'thon was female. Zie wasn't that familiar with the race.

The men were Jardin and another male human named Kardil, from the disciplinary service legal department.

The C'thon introduced herself as Bessisha, and again Devaki thought that was a female name among their kind but was unsure. "I'm from legal and would like to offer my service as counsel. I've worked with the Kuragari before on Hadish and elsewhere."

Devaki nodded. Zie was grateful for a counsellor that knew Kuragari ethics, for what little good it would do her. Zie was given time to speak to her new counselor before the interrogation recommenced. Bessisha leaned in and said simply, "say nothing, make him show the next recording."

Zie wished zie knew more about C'thon's suddenly, like how to read their expressions. Zie had expected to be told to come clean and hope that the fact that the supplies were humanitarian and didn't contain any weapons would grant hir some leniency.

Do I trust my new counselor? Zie asked hirself. Zie nodded. "Okay."

Lieutenant Jardin was clearly not happy with this strategy. He repeated the same question multiple times, trying to hir to admit something.

"Let us see the next recording," Devaki repeated again.

Finally, with an irritated gesture, he played the next recording. It was a man in a uniform that clearly marked him as intelligence. "The question you have asked is under temporary diplomatic timestamp."

Devaki stared at the holo-projection in shock. What the hell had just happened? Zie had assumed hir operation was informal, not on the books. Lakora must have thought otherwise, and pulled some strings with some big players to get a diplomatic timestamp. Intelligence gave them out sparingly.

But for the moment it meant that Jardin had no case. In a few weeks or months, when the timestamp had worn out, maybe. And he'd be one to remember and wait. But for now, Devaki was safe. Zie blew out a breath of relief.

Lieutenant Jardin was almost beside himself in anger and frustration. "Your network is gone. All fired, in serious legal trouble if we find even one indication of prohibited tech in those packs." He meant weaponry, and he would find none. But still he was right, they would all get fired, have black marks on their work histories for the rest of their lives. That hurt, more than zie cared to show.

Zie wanted to respond, to tell him that they did the right thing, put their careers on the line for a moral cause. But zie couldn't admit to having any knowledge of any of it.

They let her out of the room. A sergeant had hir stuff waiting on a small table. A few trinkets, a slate, a ration bar for a snack later and the communicator pad she had trained to Gabriel's.

"Got a message while you were in there," he said as he handed it over. "Some boy. Said he was friend. Something about revolutionaries and stuff. Didn't catch all of it."

Devaki snatched the device and bolted for the door, not even stopping to say thank you to Bessisha. As soon as zie was free of the building zie replayed the message. Fear spiked through hir. Without thinking zie ran for the flight pads, intent on finding the fastest transport zie could and commandeering it.