Even in a language he didn’t understand Solae was mesmerizing. The rise and fall of her tones alone was enough to convey a sense of what she was saying even in the alien tongue. Rene found himself straying into fantasy of accompanying Solae to the types of grand balls and social spectacles of his youth. She would shine like the stars in such a setting and it made his heart tighten. Partially it was because she was so far from where she should be and partially it was the realisation that he could never inhabit that world with her.

“Rene?", Solae asked clearly repeating a question. His mind spun the conversation back a few seconds, making explicit what his mind had absorbed without his conscious attention. Nodding his head as a placeholder, he glanced at Solae but her face didn’t offer any guidance. Damn it she was the diplomat he only had his own inclinations to follow. Under normal circumstances this would have been no concern of the Imperial Marines. Local law enforcement was under the jurisdiction of the planetary governor. When it came to protecting the rights of minority aliens help from that quarter might range from limited to non-existent. 

“Sure, I would be happy to help you protect your people,” he replied, hoping he wasn’t writing a check his body couldn’t cash. There was a generalized vocalization that lacked any human equivalent, Rene decided to translate it as approval. The two Shyhin nodded as though something had been decided.

“Very well, we shall accord you the hospitality of our halls while we discuss Solae From the Empire’s request,” Nari declared. Everyone rose including Solae and Rene followed suit.

“The sun is already low and there is little time to prepare but we shall show you to quarters.”

The rooms the Syshin provided were charitibley spartan. They were of the standard adobe, though the walls had been polished smoother and treated with some sort of native lacquer. Rene suspected it was a tree sap that had been laboriously layered until it was as hard and smooth as construction plastic. The room  held a single large mattress and a large earthenware amphora of water of the same amazing clarity as they had been offered in the council chamber. Rene wondered if Syshin had less tolerance for impurities in water or if it were merely a cultural consideration. It was cool and smelled vaguely of coconut or a similar tropical plant which had a soothing effect. Rene set his pack down and began stripping out equipment. He lay an assault rifle down on the mattress and began to field strip it with the ease of long practice.

“I can probably run off a few locals looking for affection in the wrong places,” he began choosing his words carefully. The various components of the rifle began to click back together as he completed his inspection. He hadn’t truly expected a problem but training stressed that the marine that survived to retire was the marine that eliminated all possible screw ups in advance.

“But if a bunch of locals wind up dead in a ditch, it is going to attract attention. Worse, I’m not sure if it is a good idea to leave you here alone,” he said, the concern obvious in his voice. It wasn’t likely that that Syshin would go through so much trouble to get rid of him if they intended to collect the bounty. They could have put a knife in him at any point and they obviously knew that they weren’t likely to be rewarded if they tried to collect the bounty. Whomever they tried to turn Solae in to would simply take the reward for themselves and probably kill the Syshin just to be on the safe side. The receiver made a metallic thunk as he slid it back into position and then reefed the charging handle to chamber a round.

“If we do this, we are going to need to be off planet as quickly as possible.”