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could not condone Nwosu’s disrespect, his cowardice—.
    “Hey!” A finger snap jolted Honaa back to the present. “Ishliba! Where are you?” Sam barked, her voice like a whip. The Rothorid stared down at her, recalling her earlier question.
    “It’sss the right thing to do,” Honaa rasped abruptly, stopping in the middle of an intersection with another pathway. As much as it pained him to even consider this, Honaa never put his personal feelings before Star Brigade—no matter how sour his distaste was for this alternative. “If bringing Nwosu back will get usss our commission reinsstated, then we ssshould do it.”
    Sam gave Honaa a surprised once-over. He was a solid six-foot-two, a good eight inches taller than the human woman. “I was hoping you’d say that,” she sighed in relief. “And I’ll kill that vile dung heap Greystone if he wrecked any chance of Habraum eventually coming back.”
    “Go on and initiate contact Commander—Sssam,” Honaa corrected himself upon seeing her annoyed look. Sam hated the formality of titles among friends. “You and Habraum are ssstill are clossse, correct?”
    “Yeah, I guess,” Sam said pensively. Rhyne’s mid-morning light glistened off her blonde head of hair. “We speak over the TransNet about once a week, but we’re long overdue for some face to face time.” Honaa never failed to notice how Sam always lit up when it came to Habraum. Their friendship, formed when both were recruits, had been an object of admiration and speculation from the start.
    “I’ll arrange a get-together when I come back to Hollus.”
    At this Honaa furrowed his brow suspiciously. “You’re not returning to Hollusss with me?”
    “No, I have a meeting at the Ministry of Interplanetary Affairs,” she replied in guarded tones.
    Instantly Honaa knew what it was about. “The Korvenitesss, still?”
    “Yeah? So what?” Sam bristled.
    Honaa couldn’t believe his ears. Trying to salvage Star Brigade was a chore in itself. Yet Sam D’Urso had kept at this foolish quest to aid the outcast Korvenite race for months. “That other sssecurity matter Hollienurax ssspoke about other than the Union-Kedri Imperium merger—?”
    “Yes Honaa, I know that he was referring to the recent Korvenite escapes and attacks on internment camp facilities,” Sam sighed, already tired of talking about this. “But not all Korvenites are murderous terrorists Honaa. The way they are treated in those camps would —.”
    “I know enough about Korvenitesss to realize they possse a continued threat to thisss Union. And given how much they have taken from Earth humansss, so should you!” Honaa irately slammed his tail onto the ferroment pathway, scaring the daylights out of a young UComm officer passing nearby.
    The two Brigadiers glared at each other in a stinging silence, which wasn’t really noiseless given the loud hovercar and sentient traffic around them. This wasn’t the first time they had debated this matter, but in public was hardly the forum to continue.
    “Whatever,” Sam waved a dismissive hand. “I’m going to be late for my thing.” She turned and strode down the pathway without another word. Honaa stared after her as she disappeared into the crowd.
    Honaa pushed the whole Korvenite debacle from his thoughts, focusing only on Star Brigade and Habraum Nwosu’s potential return. The Rothorid sissed with laughter at the irony; the Brigade’s future now in the hands of his former protégé who’d quit a year ago. “You better sssucceed, Sssam,” he hissed quietly, tearing his gaze from where his fellow Brigadier was standing. With that, Honaa turned left onto the pathway and headed toward the UComm shuttle bay.

2.
    Five whole macroms had passed. The two hadn’t so much as flinched or blinked—totally focused on their uninterrupted staring contest. The much larger of the two was a yosk, which stood stock-still on the grassy turf that was its home. Many nature enthusiasts believed