I looked up at her. “We have no choice. This is your world. At most, with your permission, we can maintain communications and learn more from each other.”
A murmur passed around the gathering when Gerret translated my words. Yinet hushed them, her eyes focusing on me harder. “You hunt ore.” She raised her hand to imply space.
She lifted the picture of the valley. “You find ore here. We never go here. You live here. Learn here. Learn danger of vetra going too far. Parredet protect vetra of friend, human.”
I looked at her, then at the faces of the other Clan Mothers. “Are you offering us this land, to stay here?” No one reacted, except my own people, heads turning to look at each other in as much confusion as I felt. “You’re going to allow the Alliance to colonize and mine the ore?”
“Under condition.” Yinet bowed to the other Parredet. “We make pact.” She pointed to me, then lifted the pad of paper, showing the valley, pointing to the entrance of the cave. “All land here to Clan Mother Ara.”
“Clan Mother Ara?” Lizzy snickered. “Now it’s your turn.”
Schaeffer reached for his backpack. “We need to properly document this. We’ll need to set up a scan record of the area so we can map out the exact area being offered.” He tapped at his comm, then scowled. “Can’t get a signal in here.”
“Excuse me.” I stood up before he could. Yinet tilted her head, confused. “This is more than I imagined. I’m… overwhelmed. Let me have a moment to process this.”
Lizzy did a quick short interpretation, getting a sympathetic nod. “Schaef, I’ll call the ship and have them send the most recent scans.” My heart was pounding out of my chest, trying to process what had just happened. “Give me a few minutes.”
He frowned, but nodded, giving me a squint. I could imagine his voice in my head, telling me to get my act together before I blew the deal.
“Thank you. I’ll just be a few minutes. Lizzy, get a few more details for me?”
“Sure, hon. Get your scans.” She gave me the same warning look, then turned to Yinet again to repeat the offer just made.
I tried to block it out as I bowed to the Clan Mothers, grabbed my coat and made a dash out the entrance. I gasped from the burst of cold and the anxiety hitting at the same time.
The wall of the cliff supported me as I bent over, taking deep breathes so I didn’t pass out. It took a minute to calm down enough to contact the ship, ordering the scans for the surrounding coordinates.
While I downloaded the scans, I looked out over the valley. I couldn’t see the other rim because of clouds, but this had to be hundreds of miles of territory. They were giving this to us… no, giving it to me. Naming me Clan Mother.
“You alright, babe?” Remy stepped up beside me.
“No, I’m freaking out. They can’t do this.”
“What, make a pact with humans?” He huddled up in his coat.
“No, with me. It’s all hanging on me. I’m just a colonel, a cog in a huge wheel. I can’t represent all humans in this.” I clasped my head, sure if anything would bring Kazan back full force, this would do it. “I can’t accept. I can’t do that to you. I made you a promise. I almost lost you once before. I won’t let that happen again.”
“You won’t.” Remy’s hands covered mine, pulling them away from my temples, replacing them with his own. “Take a breath and calm down. We’re in this together, remember, Col. Batista? This is what you came here to do.”
He made me look at him, which didn’t help, his scars a reminder of what my secrets almost cost us both. “I made you a promise.”
“Which you haven’t broken. What is really scaring you? Focus.”
I did, pulling on everything I knew, everything Kazan knew, sorting out what I’d just heard. “What if we make a mistake? This is why we were looking for worlds without sentient life. What if we want to go home? What about having kids? And that doesn’t even take into account how the Alliance is going to take this. Colonization of an inhabited world? Me being the condition this all hangs on? Me in charge of a whole planet? That would drive them crazy.”
“Whoa there, slow down, take another breath before you explode.” Remy grinned, unclutching my face to tuck his hands back inside his coat.
“I don’t know which of those to respond to first. Hmmm… Let’s go with the Alliance. They want the ore. It could take years, centuries or never to find this stuff again. They’ll agree to the terms of the pact.”
“Yeah, I guess.” That made sense. “But I’m one of the terms.”
“Okay, so what? You’ve been in charge for a long time and you’re good at it. So cross that off the list.” He unfolded his arms long enough to make a slashing gesture.
“It’s more than being ‘in charge’, I’m one of the terms. I’d be Clan Mother.”
“So? It’s not like we’re taking over the whole planet. It’ll be a small colony. You’ve been doing it for years.”
“I’m one of the terms.” I kept repeating myself, repeating Yinet. “Staying here is not in our plans.”
“Ahhh, now we get back to me, and what I want.” Remy stepped up close, all but wrapping his arms around me.
“Consider this. Our kids would be the first generation to grow up here, knowing humans aren’t alone in the galaxy, or the universe. They’d grow up living among Parredet. They’d be a whole new generation of humans. What more could I ask for them?”
“You’re an engineer. You wanted to build the next generation of ships.”
Remy shook his head. “I’ve never tried to fool myself into believing I’d ever be able to return to full duty. I’m not going to start now.”
He let out a long sigh, as if giving up something he had
