Page 62 of The Alien's Major Dilemma

"Where did you get it?" Ae-cha demanded in a hiss from Zoric's other side. She'd stomped delicately over to them after most of the humans had gone.

"I assumed you sent it as a peace offering," Cooper said. "Was I mistaken? I couldn't think of anybody else who would want to return a family heirloom that must have gone missing a very, very long time ago."

"It doesn't belong to you," she told him.

"The pendant disagrees."

"Is there a problem?" the Base Commander asked.

Marissa shook her head. "I don't think so," she said. "Cooper?"

"No problem but I think the three of us are going to need to have a talk. May we use the conference room?"

"We're breaking for an hour for lunch. You can have it that long. I'll send someone down with food."

Ae-cha moved to protest but Cooper interrupted her with a "Thank you, Commander, that would be very nice of you."

Will you be okay?Marissa asked as she followed the officer out of the conference room.

I'll be fine. I'm going to get some answers.

The door closed and Cooper gestured to the chairs. "Can we sit for this conversation or would you prefer to stand here and yell at me."

Zoric smirked and pulled a chair out while Ae-cha huffed and sat down.

"Now, I think we need to start with where this came from," Cooper said, pointing at the pendant. "And why it's here now."

"That is the sacred pendant of Ae-cha Da. She was wearing it during her fight against the Dragor who pursued her to this planet and shot her down when she would have landed safely, killing all of her servants and most of her guards," Ae-cha said.

"And she survived?" Cooper asked.

"Long enough to see as many of her people safe as she could before starting her work on the ladder to heaven."

Cooper blinked and Zoric snorted.

"She sabotaged her own ship to keep it from being taken by the Dragor who were chasing her. Half of her servants had killed themselves in shame before they even got to this part of the system and most of her guards mutinied when they realized she was going to get them killed. The only Chelion who survived the crash were saved because the Dragor decided they were more useful alive than dead because she'd managed to damage their ships on the way in."

"What, no mystical ladder to heaven?" Cooper asked.

Zoric shook his head. "She had a bunch of her people convinced she was the savior of the Chelion and some kind of goddess. Supposedly one of the most beautiful females ever born, she ran off when her plans fell apart and they made up that nonsense about the ladder. She must have found some humans to take her in because some of the stories have popped up in myths over the years."

"And your people have done their best to slander her since the crash," Ae-cha spat.

"I suspect," Cooper said slowly. "That the truth is somewhere in between. At home, she is said to be part of a long line of traitors who worked to destroy the Dragor and keep the Chelion weak."

"The Dragor won?" Ae-cha asked, her voice breathy with horror.

"It was inevitable," Zoric said. "The Dragor are smarter, faster, meaner. Of course they're going to come out on top."

"Are they?" Cooper asked. "I was always taught that the Dragor were the brilliant and benevolent saviors of our society. Without them, the Chelion wouldn't be able to have healthy children."

"What kind of benevolent savior cuts off your tail and removes part of your brain?" Zoric scoffed. "I might have to acknowledge they're better than me but I don't have to like it."

"But they're not better than you," Ae-cha said. "That's just it. They've been trying to get the Chelion to think that for as long as we've been able to communicate. And they've trained you to be ruthless and self-destructive in the process. Ae-cha Da knew there was a better way and was willing to risk her life to prove it."

There was a light in Ae-cha's eyes that made Cooper uncomfortable but he didn't sense any of the snake-like thoughts that preceded an attack from someone being controlled.

"I think we're going to need to compare notes and timelines," Cooper said. "If only to figure out what's going on now. Because it seems like neither of you know who sent me the pendant."

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