Page 21 of The Warrior's Oath
“That’s not what I mean.”
“You often say what you do not mean. It is most perplexing.”
Nyota groaned with frustration. “You…”
“Me?”
“Yes. You—Ugh!” she grumbled as she fought to suppress her annoyance. She took a deep breath but as the stench of burning flesh filled her nostrils, she opted against another. It would only make things worse. “What I’m trying to say is the Raxxians brutally murdered these people.”
“Clearly. Why did you not simply say that?”
Nyota wanted to slap his chiseled face but held back—barely. “Look, we’re saying the same thing. The Raxxians did all of this.”
Korvin gave her a look as one might to an ill-informed child. “Are you certain of that?”
“Yes, duh!”
“Then tell me, what do you see here?”
“Bodies, obviously.”
“And what kind of bodies?”
“Humans. Humans and aliens.”
“And what sort of alien bodies?”
“I saw one of those before on the ship but don’t know what they’re called,” she said, pointing to a pale blue woman with a large hole in her back.
“Balvinians.”
“Okay, I saw a Balvinian before.”
“And?”
“And Raxxians, of course.”
He nodded. “Ah, yes. And what does that tell you?”
“We were captured by Raxxians, what is it supposed to tell me?”
“Look at the scene. Envision what happened here.”
“The ship crash landed, and the prisoners were escaping.”
“And?”
“And the Raxxians killed them.”
“Very good. But what else?”
Nyota felt her blood pressure rising with frustration. Nevertheless, she looked around the area once more, wondering what she was missing. Suddenly, it hit her.
“Oh.”
“Oh?”
“Oh, shit.”
