“I’ve always understood that shaauri were highly territorial,” she said. “It seems strange that one raised among them would invade someone else’s.”
Ronan ducked his head. “You are right, Aho’Va. I have trespassed.”
“No apology?”
“You have die advantage. You may strike.”
She laughed and instantly sobered again. “That’s the second time you’ve said something to that effect. Your shaauri seem to be forever on the edge of violence.”
“Only when provoked.” He met her gaze. “One who enters OutLine territory uninvited must expect attack.”
“As we humans expect attack whenever we try to carry out honest trade.” Instead of bidding him leave, she sealed the door and crouched beside her pet. “Have you satisfied your curiosity, or is there something else I can show you?”
Almost as soon as she spoke, her skin flushed pink. It made her seem very young.
“You’ve already met Archie… Archimedes,” she said. “He’s something of the ship’s mascot, though he spends most of his time in my quarters.” She smiled at Ronan, close enough to breathe the same air he did. “You’ve never seen a cat before, I take it.”
“Only in a holo. Is it true that humans—that people believe shaauri look like cats?”
“You don’t think there’s any similarity? Pointed ears, fur, whiskers, claws, sharp teeth—”
“Not as sharp as… Archie’s.” He returned her smile. “And shaauri have no tails. Cats are from your world?”
“We have cats on Dharma, yes, but originally they came from the human homeworld, known as Earth or Terra.”
“Will you tell me of this Terra?”
She sighed and scooped Archimedes into her arms, rubbing her face against his shoulder fur. “It’s a long story. Centuries ago, humans learned how to build ships that could travel the great distances of space, just as shaauri did. The first ships were very slow. Eventually, they became fast enough to leave the solar system and discover the first wormhole. Then humanity was able to expand to many other planets, some habitable and some less hospitable but valuable in other ways. We formed our first planetary alliances.
“In time, communications broke down among the colonies, and those last settled—the Nine Worlds—were cut off from the original planets of the Concordat. Even Persephone, most prosperous of the colonies, had to struggle for existence. Much of the old technology was lost. We refer to this period as the Long Silence. But Persephone recovered and began to reestablish contact with other local worlds. Her scientists rebuilt much of the old technology and a new fleet of ships to travel between wormholes.
“It was right after this rebirth that humans encountered shaauri, and misunderstandings in culture and language led to the First War. The Shaauriat, as humans named it, formed an immense sphere separating the Concordat from the Nine Worlds, which had fallen into their own dark ages. Though the shaauri did not occupy much of what they considered their territory, they guarded every last system ferociously.”
“It is their way,” Ronan said.
“So we learned. Fifty years later, Eeva Kane, originally of Dharma, was able to overcome the barriers of communication by entering shaauri minds and interpreting their complex language. Shaauri adopted her into one of their Lines, and she began to gather other telepaths to serve as mediators between aliens and humans.”
“The first Kinsmen,” Ronan said.
“Indeed. As a result of her work, a new peace was negotiated, and the Concordat was able to reach the Nine Worlds. But we on Dharma had lost so much that it took nearly a century before Concordat scientists, technicians, teachers, and diplomats were accepted and able to encourage a gradual change in Dharma’s medieval culture.” She smiled wryly. “As you’ll see, they hadn’t completed their task before the Second War and the blockade cut us off. Only a few Concordat personnel, those who married into Dharman families, remained—including my Uncle Jesper.”
“The man you hope will thwart Janek’s plans for me.”
She laughed in surprise. “I’d almost forgotten you heard that exchange. Yes, my uncle is more than a match for Janek, and he’s also on the Trade Council that determines how we use our limited offworld capabilities, as well as the—” She hesitated, and Ronan detected Pegasus in her thoughts before she shut them away.