Liriili, much to the surprise of anyone who was paying attention to her, abandoned her goading behavior of the rest of the humans to add one of her hands to Nadhari’s in RK’s thick fur, cradle his tail in the other hand, and gently lowered her horn to touch it. The cat immediately began purring and rubbed his cheek against Liriili’s.
“If that isn’t adding insult to injury!” Becker yowled, clutching his bloody pant leg.
Aan scowled at Thariinye, who quickly stopped jabbering to the Niriians and knelt beside Becker. “Sorry, Captain, allow me.” He placed Becker’s foot upon his own bent knee and ran his horn the length of the cat scratch.
Becker let out a long sigh of relief.
Liriili was crooning to RK. “I had a little pahaantiyir once and you are very like him, sacred temple cat, yes, you are, you lovely creature!” Tears were actually coming to her eyes now. “Oh, how I wish he were with me now, my little friend, when I am surrounded by ill-wishers.”
RK purred as if he had found a new best friend.
“Traitor,” Becker growled.
Come, my friends, let us refresh ourselves in the gardens and discuss this brilliant plan of ours.” Hafiz waggled an eyebrow at Becker, but the eye under the brow was extremely skeptical.
Of course, Becker didn’t really have a plan. Acorna knew that. But between the experiences the current crew of the Condor had and the skills and resources of Hafiz Harakamian, Acorna saw the components of a rather good plan taking form. All it took to formulate -was for everyone involved to pool their resources.
As the others trailed off behind Hafiz, Acorna fetched Mac. “The captain told me I should remain here, Acorna, and monitor the Khieevi broadcasts.”
“You are recording them, aren’t you?” Acorna asked.
Yes.
“Then you can listen to the recordings when you return. We need you now, MacKenZ. Captain Becker is going to explain to Uncle Hafiz how we can defeat the Khieevi.”
“Oh, that would be most instructive. I am grateful you thought to bring me, Acorna.”
She smiled and eased him away from the Khieevi shuttle. He had spent so long with it the smell had permeated him and she had to stop and give him a once-over -with her horn to erase the unpleasant odor.
“Of course you must come, Mac. Without you and your skills, we would not have a hope of defeating the Khieevi.”
“Now then, Captain, we are all eager to hear your plan,” Neeva said.
“Ye-es, dear fellow,” Hafiz said. “Please enlighten us.”
“Oh, you’re part of it, too. Uncle Hafiz,” Acorna assured him. “In fact, we can’t do it without Uncle Hafiz’s holographic magic can -we, Captain Becker?”
“Uh-no, of course not,” Becker agreed.
They sat on low cushioned chairs positioned near the fountain. Servers brought delicacies for the humans, while the Niriians and the Linyaari -were invited to pluck -whatever appealed to them from the bounty of the lush gardens surrounding the pool into -which the -waters splashed from the horn of a unicorn, rampant. The Linyaari who had not yet seen this fountain re garded it with wonder, even Liriili. This was not the usual way in which homage was paid to the Ancestors, but no doubt the Ancestors would approve.
“And as I was telling Mac, we can’t do without his skills. Of course, if Aari had not made an effort to recall all he knew of the Khieevi, had not concentrated so hard on the piiyl that was, I am sorry to say, Toroona and Byorn, the legacy of one of your brave crews, we would never have learned their language or anything about how they function.” The Niriians were actually a mated couple, female and male, rather than two males as those unacquainted with the species had assumed. Becker was surprised to find that his ribs had almost been broken by Toroona, the female.
“Yeah,” Becker said, “Aari found out about another important part of the plan too. Namely that a substance we discovered while on a salvage mission is toxic to the Khieevi. And what Kaarlye and Miiri have been doing is analyzing the damage to the corpses as well as the effects of the substance on other things. What have you folks come up with anyway?”