Allison looked at her and then looked at the leaders. “When I was twelve years old, my parents took me to a family that had boarded a starship heading for a planet where Earth was sending some of its population to save the species. I fought them tooth and nail. I refused to leave my parents behind. I lost and was taken away.” The Goran Leaders stared at her. “I was willing to give my life if someone would just kill the family that took me away.” She looked at Chris, “That’s how you feel about him, isn’t it?”
The Female nodded, “Yes, I guess it is. However, I see in your thoughts that if you had stayed, you would have died.”
“But I would have died with my family.” The Gorans stared at her and Allison sighed, “Now, I see that they took me because they loved my parents. And I’ve found a new family and love. I was wrong to hate them for so long.”
“What are you saying?”
Allison turned to Chris, “Open your mind!” Chris shook his head, “If you want them to understand, they have to see, OPEN YOUR MIND!” Chris looked at her and shook his head. He lowered his head and closed his eyes.
Every one of the Goran Leaders flinched as they received Chris’s thoughts. The Female shook her head. The Leaders looked at each other and Allison knew they were communicating. The Female looked at Allison, “You were right to stop him.”
“I should have done it sooner. The damage was done.”
“I can see his pain for his actions…but how can we do anything that would help his species? You killed trillions of our people.”
“How can we not?”
All of the Goran Leaders turned to a Leader standing in the rear. The Female lowered her head and said, “High Leader, how can we?”
“I ask you again, how can we not?”
“I don’t understand.”
“You need look no further than the recording we just witnessed.”
The Goran Leaders looked at each other and a tall Leader in the front row said, “What have I missed, High Leader?”
“Did you not hear this human tell our scout that if we sent a ship back to his galaxy, he would come here and eradicate all of us? Or did you not hear it that way?” The Goran Leaders said nothing. “Did this being not do exactly what he said would happen? Do we not accept the consequences of our decisions anymore?”
“But High Leader, it was Vezal that sent the ship!”
“So you’re saying decisions made by our leader has nothing to do with the rest of us? All of us knew that sending that ship would cause retribution, but we didn’t remove him for his position. WE ALL ALLOWED HIM TO DO IT! We are all responsible for what followed.”
The tall leader looked at Chris, “Even so, how can we do this to help the one that killed so many?”
“Because he didn’t do what he threatened. He managed to stop himself. Can we say the same about us when we invaded the Green Civilization?” Every one stared at the new High Leader. “We invaded and we destroyed planets until we were forced to flee. Left alone, we would have killed them all. All of you know I’m right. None of us gave a second thought to the trillions of innocent babies and children we were killing.” The High Leader pointed at Allison and Chris, “They did and they still do!”
The female looked at Chris and then turned to the High Leader, “Are you saying they are better than we are?”
“Isn’t it obvious!?” The other Leaders stared at him. “You’re looking at him and seeing all those that died. We all were on our faces begging him for mercy and miracles of miracles, he granted it. You should look at all those that he allowed to live. He had the means and capacity to kill every one of us.”
Chris sighed and Allison took his hand. The High Leader said, “All of us can see the love the two of you now share and I am truly thankful the God of your species has granted you a new one.” He turned to the other leaders, “Besides, we wouldn’t be doing this to help him or his species.”
“What?”
The High Leader turned back to Chris, “You’re doing this to make sure we’re defended in the event something happens to you and your species.”
The other Leaders all turned as one and looked at Chris. “I’ve promised to defend you after what I did. I’m worried that if my civilization dies in the coming war, there won’t be anyone to protect you.”
The High Leader nodded, “And that is the real reason you came here to ask us. You’re not doing it so we would help you.” Chris nodded. The High Leader looked at the others, “If it were us that came in his place to attack, would we have allowed any to survive?” The Leaders looked at each other and after a few moments, they lowered their heads.
The High Leader looked at Chris, “I will take this request to our people and ask them what their will is. I will contact you when the decision is made.”
Chris nodded and turned. Allison held his hand as they followed one of the guards out. They boarded their ship and lifted. Once they were in space, Allison said, “Chris, how can we arm them? They will use our ships against us.”
Chris looked at Allison and smiled, “Allison, they’re hurting and not seeing things clearly. I saw the High Leader’s mind. They have really chosen well this time. He is wise and able to see things from outside the emotions of what happened. They’re telepathic and they will be forced to look at the truth. They can’t avoid it. Let’s wait and see what happens.” Allison nodded, went up on her toes, and kissed him.
Chapter Eighteen
Piper played the information on the data cube and looked at Jason’s ship hanging in space beside him. “You included that it was one of us that led the attackers against our family.”
“You can remove it if you choose. Our supreme leader insisted that everything be included.”
“I will take this to my Elders and see what they want to do about this.”
“Thank you, Piper. You’ve really been a good friend to us.”
“Not really, Jason. We’ve treated you with suspicion from the beginning. The fact that you shared all of your developments with us is the only thing that kept us from doing something stupid.”
“Well, I know it had to be you who pushed for patience from your leaders. Thank you for that.”
“You’re welcome, Jason. I’ll let you know.”
Jason watched Piper disappear and shook his head. He didn’t expect them to help. They had no reason to do it. They were free to go anywhere in the universe and events in one or two galaxies weren’t really an issue for them. He sighed and entered the barrier. His new pilots had to be integrated into his fleet.
A month later, Piper appeared above the planet with a force field surrounding it. “YOU ARE NOT WANTED HERE! WHY DO WE HAVE TO KEEP TELLING YOU!?”
“I have some information from the species you assisted.”
“Why did they not bring it?”
“Because it is our responsibility to do it.”
“Why would that be the case?”
“I’m transmitting the information and will stand by to answer any questions you may have.”
“You may leave. We won’t have any questions for you and your kind.”
“This time, I think you will.” Piper began the transmission.
Four hours later, he heard, “IT WAS ONE OF YOUR KIND THAT CAUSED US TO BE ATTACKED!!”
“It was.”
“YOU ARE AN ABOMINATION!!”
“Yes we are?”
“WHY WOULD HE DO THIS?”