Page 43 of Alien Barbarian's Little Human

“Oh lord, don’t call it that. I just hope I don’t trip over my own words.”

“You’ll do fine, beloved.”

She smiles back at me, and gives my hand a squeeze before rising to her feet.

“I guess I might as well get this over with.”

The Ishani Speaker introduces Chloe to the gathering. There is no applause, a testament to how tense things have truly become. She steps up and speaks into the magnifying crystal, sending her voice to all ears in the chamber.

“Good morning. I know that we have a lot of business to conduct, so I’ll try to be brief and cut to the chase. We need to leave, now. All of us.”

A Grolgath ambassador smirks before calling out.

“All of the humans, you mean?”

His retort is met with more than a smattering of laughter, most of it from the coalition side.

“Yes, the humans, but also the Shorcu. The Grolgath. The Vakutan and the Pi’Rell. All of us need to leave before we corrupt this paradise.”

Understandably, she is not met with much enthusiasm. The Alliance side of the dome looks betrayed. The Ataxians are scoffing as if they were the only ones singled out by her speech.

“The Ishani have no prisons, no disease, no hunger, and no crime on their world. Do you know how rare that is?” Chloe shakes her mane of hair, piercing blue eyes sweeping around the room. “If we want to preserve this miracle, we all need to pack up and leave. The Ishani don’t belong on either side in this war.”

Now the Alliance side is straight up aggressive, shouting at Chloe and calling her a traitor. The Ataxians are eating it up with a spoon. The discord grows ever greater, to the point where even we Ishani are caught up in it.

Long ago, before even those we call the Precursors were fully formed, my people were warriors. Those instincts are still inside of us, albeit buried. But I can still feel them, feel the urge for violence. My Ishani discipline keeps it at bay, of course, but that doesn't mean I don’t understand the urge for violence.

Perhaps some of my compatriots understand it all too well. One of my fellow Ishani shoves his neighbor. It’s not much of a shove, more of a pat with the palm of the hand, but it’s the most violent thing one of my people has done in millions of years.

“Enough!” Chloe bellows. “I know this committee has no official power, but I want to hold a vote on this matter. We must leave this place before it is tarnished forever.”

The voting does not go well for Chloe. Only a smattering of votes are in favor of vacating the Ishani world.

Worse, the Ataxian ambassador has some ideas of his own.

“I want to introduce a motioncondemningthe partisan politics going on between the Ishani and the IHC.”

Chloe flinches.

“Me? What did I do?”

“I fear it is what both of us have done,” I mutter.

The Ataxian ambassador points his green scaled finger at Chloe.

“The IHC ambassador has begun a romantic relationship with the chief Ishani delegate. It is at least a conflict of interest, at the most treason. I call for a vote now!”

He gets lots of support in the chamber, from both sides.

“I guess we finally found a way to unite the Ataxians and the Alliance,” she growls. “Just pit them both against me.”

“You are a scapegoat for problems they cannot really solve,” I say quickly. “Please do not take this personally.”

The vote is damning. Every delegate except for two--myself and Chloe--votes in favor of the condemnation.

After the council session ends, I escort Chloe to the exit. The way her shoulders slump makes me sad. She should not have to suffer like this because of politicking.

“Varona.”

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