Read Part One here and Part Two here.

"Why should I spare you?"

It would be impractical to be completely averse to fighting, considering the current interplanetary war. At the very least, however, the goal of the Coalition is to achieve peaceful unity, which implies the using a minimal amount of violence. Do only what is necessary to accomplish peace in the future. Ebun herself is the chief champion of the concept. And yet…

Ebun presses the nozzle of her pistol a bit harder into the Kova soldier's head. The woman had been forced onto her knees, and she glares unflinchingly up at Ebun.

From what Lucas had gathered, this soldier was the one responsible for Nike's injury. In what capacity, Lucas is unsure, he, Llia, and Ebun had split up earlier to complete their respective tasks for the intelligence gathering mission. He and Llia had met up to head to the rendezvous point and stumbled upon this situation.

"I'd rather die at your hand than bear the weight of your mercy," the soldier spits. "You ought to be put down."

"Plenty are trying," Ebun replies coolly. "They've all failed."

"Oh, I know, Ebunitam." The soldier says Ebun's full name like a curse and huffs a single, dark laugh. "That's why I went after your second."

What should he do? Llia shifts his rifle nervously, betraying his uncertainty regarding intervention. Ebun's face is blank, coils a cool and focused blue, but his biometric scan just pinged him with a level of anger unparalleled by anything it's ever detected. It's… frightening. Lucas considers possible actions or things to say, ranging from shooting the soldier himself to ordering Llia to leave. His coding is once again failing him.

In the end, he steps forward and speaks. "Ebun. Leave her, we have to go."

"It was so easy," the soldier continues, gloating. "Humans are so fragile, all I had to do was claw at her and she tore like— "

Ebun shifts and fires off a shot into the meat of the woman's thigh, lowering her gun afterwards. She stares for a moment as the screams resound in the courtyard, before turning on her heel and walking towards Lucas and Llia. Llia's eyes are wide as she brushes past him. He exchanges a wordless glance with Lucas before trotting after Ebun.

Lucas takes one last look at the soldier on the ground, unsympathetic to her pain but still in a state of stunned disbelief. Her coils practically glow a violent yellow in her agony, heavily contrasting the blue of Ebun's. Lucas could understand a red response in Ebun, considering how the last comment was the tipping point for her white-hot anger.

Yet, her coils remain blue.

"A mourning day or whatever you're proposing is useless, Lucas, I have too much to do. I resolved the situation with minimum bloodshed. That soldier probably got medical attention in time. With all the noise she was making, she likely had the entire outpost on her in minutes."

"You call that a resolution?" Lucas asks, incredulous. "The last thing the Coalition needs is to draw attention to—"

"What about what I need?" Ebun snaps, standing and whirling to face Lucas. Loose papers tumble off her desk at the sudden motion, and now the room seems too small to contain the complicated series of emotions her coils are cycling through. "What about my closure with the person that almost killed the woman I— "

Ebun cuts herself off, appearing stricken. As quickly as the anger had grown, it deflates, and she once again reigns herself in.

And then… it clicks.

"The woman you what, Ebun?"

Ebun turns away from him, gathering herself. She picks up her papers and places them back on her desk. "My Co-Head," she says quietly. "She almost killed my Co-Head."

It's not what she wanted to say, and they both know it. Neither of them acknowledges it.

Programming be damned. Commands are confusingly conflicting again, but he knows what feels right. He steps forward and hesitantly raises his arms. When Ebun turns at the sound of the step and sees his outstretched arms, her brows furrow in confusion.

"What are you doing?"

"I am just… this is for a hug. You need one, right?"

"You haven't tried to hug me since I was child."

"Yes. Well. It feels appropriate in this context, so…"

"I don't… I mean, I suppose, but… I'm not very comfortable with that…"

"Oh. Right, of course." Lucas's arms drop to his sides, belatedly remembering her slight touch aversion. They stand for a moment in awkward silence.

"Thank you?" Ebun hedges.

"Yes, yes. You're welcome. I suppose I'll just… I'll leave you to your work, then."

"Yes. And I, em. I can probably afford to spare a few hours as just Ebunitam instead of Ebun the Coalition Head. Later."

A warm feeling spreads in Lucas's chest, and it's… nice. It's happy. He smiles, genuinely, for what feels like the first time.

Lucas is so busy that he almost doesn't notice when Nike awakens.

He'd tuned his biometric scanner to alert him to dramatic changes in her vitals and mental state, and it now reflects a slow but definite uptick in brain activity suggesting consciousness. He hasn't even finished telling Ebun before she drops the maps in her hands and rushes past him.

He considers going after her, then decides against it. He can tell the moment she sees Nike awake because her emotional state according to the scanner suddenly skyrockets towards unadulterated joy. After a few moments, it shifts to something softer, a softness gently (albeit sluggishly) reflected in Nike's own, and Lucas beams.

This time, the pride is wholly his.