Congress of the Confederation
New Delhi
Sol System
As many times as she had represented her Pride and world in Congress, she could never get used to being around so many humans. Nor could she get use to how much clothing they wore. These tropical animals put layer upon layer of clothing, suits they called them, to keep themselves warm while their climate control always left it chilly. Granted, the cool air probably felt good on a hot, Indian day, but Keitcha nar Ghorah Khar did not find today all that warm. A cool breeze blew off the glaciers in the mountains to the north.
She wore simply designed, yet elegant robes of red silk, which flowed around her insulated body. These poor, hairless Apes had not hide of short, dense hair to keep out unwanted heat and cold. She reckoned the land that Terrans evolved in was similar to Kilrah’s environment; hot and mostly dry. Though they might have similar homelands, Keitcha felt more kinship with the lions that still roamed those plains. As she walked down the hall to give her own little speech, many of the other Senators looked up as she passed. They could not help to look up, not considering how much taller was she to them.
Of course, her Kruq’nov would have tossed a grenade down the aisle first before progressing. No matter how many Shrik have passed since Ghorah Khar defected, the Pride kings could not bring themselves to trust humans. After dealing with Terran politics, she barely trusted them either. Kilrathi females always fancied themselves politically aware, but not even the craftiest female could hold her own against an entirely political species. The Great Game was not a game to them, but a way of life. Perhaps her mate’s way of thinking was better. If nothing else, blowing up half of Congress would earn Kruq’nov the eternal gratitude of a great many Terrans.
She reached the podium and awaited the President of the Senate to recognize the Senator from Ghorah Khar. The other politicians probably expected some perfunctory speech for or against the new Defense Budget. Though there were a few Kilrathi in the lower House, she was the only Kilrathi in the Senate. As such, she belonged to none of the parties. Such ideas were nonsense to her. She was selected by her Sisters to represent them and their world. As far as she was concerned, the Ghorah Khar Pride was her people.
Though he belonged to no party, she supported the stance of the Conservative Party as well as the Nationalist (despite the latter having a dim view on non-Terrans) when it came to maintaining the Budget at near war levels. Other parties wanted to gut the Confederation Navy as soon as the ink on the armistice dried. Bad enough they agreed to this plot concocted by a Ki’ra, now they wanted to disarm themselves. The former was forgivable. After all, both sides have been at war for two generations. She could not speak for the males of her species, but females of all Prides were tired of watching their cubs killed in this war with nothing to show for their sacrifice. Hope made the Terrans believe any peace to be true, simply because they craved it so badly. The Baron Jukaga used this desire as bait in what will no doubt be a trick.
She stood fully erect, towering over even the tallest Terran Senator, and rested both hands on the podium. There was no elegant way to describe the Peace Coalition’s plans, so she would be blunt. “Fools!” She hissed at the crowd. “After so many years,” she had to pause a fraction of a second to remind herself to not say Shrik or Kahrik. “the Confederation has built up a mighty force, one capable of not only stopping the Imperial advance, but turning the tide. You have struck deep into the heart of the Kilrah Pride and of the Eight Prides.
“Now, just weeks,” another strange form of time keeping. “after the cease fire is signed, you wish to decommission your warships and retire your soldiers, scattering them into the four winds, while an enemy bides its time. The Imperial Pride has been weakened in the past year and moreover, it has been humiliated by Terran warriors. If you think for one instant that this has been forgotten, then you’re even bigger fools than I believe.
“After fighting more than four-eights of years,” she never bothered trying to learn Terran numerology. What sane race would use a base eight-and-two system for its numbers? “what’s one more year? I hear from the Confed Intelligence that it would take only this time to smash the Imperial Pride beyond repair. It would be so weakened in forces and face, that one of the Eight would rise up and overthrow them, throwing the Empire into civil war. One more year, and the Kilrathi Empire would never be able to threaten our children again.”
Pro-war Senators, called War Hawks for no obvious reason she could see, rose from their seats to applaud her. Despite what this ceasefire might say, not all Terrans were as weak as Imperial propaganda portrayed them. They were willing to sacrifice for two more Kahrik to ensure the Kilrathi were defeated. The Doves—tasty birds, which are exactly how the Imperial Army would view them—remained silent.
She had not finished, and waved her hands for silence. “Ghorah Khar will abide by this ceasefire, but we will not disarm. Any attempt to shut down Olympia Station will result in our seizure of the starbase.” She said nothing about the fighters. No Kilrathi could fit inside a Terran fighter. She had little doubt that the Terrans stationed there would fly to defend themselves from Kilrathi attack. “Our ground and orbital defenses will remain on alert. If the Senate will not provide the funding, then our planet will take it upon itself to maintain our alertness.”
The Hawks were not so enthusiastic about her threat to takeover Confed installations. Or perhaps not eager for one of her own species doing so. Across the frontier, Terran worlds were already taking over facilities and manning them with their own people. The foremost of these border worlds, the Landreich, has been most vocal in their opposition to this ceasefire. A few worlds that were part of the Confederation, including the Birds, walked out over the acceptance of the ceasefire. What remained to be seen was whether or not Ghorah Khar would follow their example.