The jump back to Earth was rapid and silent. It only took roughly an hour, and for that entire hour, the former Empress of the Jix empire had been thinking one thing.
"He is a monster," Pinetil said, voicing the words reverberating through her mother's mind. "What even was that power. How does a mere man have that kind of power contained inside him?"
The Empress sighed. "When I first talked with a rep from Earth, they hinted that if we proved to be good allies, they had methods for increasing psionic ability that they may be willing to trade. My guess would be that Cal is what you get when you have the entire human race backing your psionic development."
Nyla perked up and remembered something that Cal had said. "The Boyn."
"What was that?" Pinetil asked.
Nyla pulled the Boyn ball out of her pocket, but not a day had gone by since she met Cal, and she had not practiced with it. She tossed it to Pinetil.
"Cal told me that the Boyn were the people who developed these. He said that they made them in an effort to find another perfectly psionic species to help solve some sickness. Humanity was the only species that they encountered. Even though they were not perfectly psionic, humanity attempted to help the Boyn but failed."
Cal, who had walked in just then, nodded at Nyla and spoke up. "The gift they gave us in return was a library of psionic methods honed over thousands and thousands of years of evolution and practice. Empress Axshram, Princess, we have arrived; if you follow me, we will take you into full custody."
Pinetil and her mother nodded and simply followed behind. The members of the Axshram household who had been brought along followed in silence. Instead of leading them to a prison or some such thing, Cal led them down a path that was familiar to Nyla and judging from the confusion in her eyes, it was familiar to Pinetil as well.
The doors they were led through led to Tannya's office, where a group of people waited. Tannya smiled, "Cal, Nyla, Pinetil. It is good to see you all again. Empress Axshram, it is good to meet you. If you had your household follow these people, they would have been getting a medical checkup while we talked."
The Empress nodded, and her household members were led out, leaving Cal, Nyla, Tannya, Pinetil, and the Empress alone. Tannya seemed to visibly relax. "I can feel the residual psy-waves on you, Cal. Did you have to kill Ix'Grom?"
"No," Cal said and glanced at Pinetil and her mother, "Though I would like to make it a point to do so. He stated he was the last of his kind in his galaxy, so I think he absorbed all the others."
"Understood, we can discuss that later. For now," Tannya turned to the Empress, "Empress Axshram, what do you want?"
The Empress was stunned, "I don't know what you mean? I am here as a prisoner."
Tannya sighed. "We have excelled for so long as a species for two reasons: our frankly abhorrent war abilities and our social skills."
"Okay?" The Empress sounded unsure of what was happening.
"While it would be simple to lock you up and send Cal back to wipe your planet from the face of this reality, it is not something I like doing," Tannya said, locking eyes with the Empress. Instead, I would like to use our social skills to resolve this issue. So I ask, what do you want? Do you want us to fake your death? Do you want us to help your people? What do you want?"
The Empress looked completely shocked. "You... You would... You could help my people?"
"Oh yes, if you want. We will be helping those who are enslaved no matter what. We are already looking into ways to undo the genetic tampering that was done to them and create artificial genetic diversity. We have already performed a survey and found suitable planets for each race. We intend to free them." Tannya said this with a confidence that was unshakable.
The Empress looked like she wanted to say something but then glanced at Cal and let out what felt like a long-held breath. "I would love nothing more than for you and your people to help my people. But they are complacent. They no longer think that Ix'Grom is worth resisting. Some, like my family, have been perpetually on the lookout for a weakness. But generations of looking resulted in nothing. Those who got any ideas were generally killed. I also think that telling my people they can no longer keep slaves will turn most, if not all, against you."
"Well, one issue at a time. Let's talk it out," Tannya said, and for the next two hours, they did exactly that. Finally, Tannya took a deep breath: "Very well, I think that is workable. Start with Ix'Grom, and go from there. As far as the slaves, we will not abide it for long. But as you said, a show of force might be the persuasion your people need."
They all stood, and two guards showed up to take Pinetil and her mother to a suite of rooms where they would stay, leaving Cal, Nyla, and Tannya in the office.
"So what do you think, Cal?" Tannya asked, leaning back in her chair, contemplative on her face.
"I don't know, I think that Pinetil is not that bad, and from the little bits of her mother I have seen, I see where she gets it," Cal said, then his face darkened. "But the rest of her people. I worry if they will ever see the light."
"Fair," Tannya said, then sighed, "Oh well, take a rest, Cal. Either here or back in Nyla's world, but get ready. I think that we will probably see a reaction from the Jix sooner rather than later."
"And then what?" Nyla said, scared of what would happen to her people.
"Then Cal," Tannya said, a sad look on her face as she looked at Cal.
Nyla looked at Cal, too, and remembered the grin on his face as he glowed with power standing over Ix'Grom in the dark. She nodded sagely, "And then Cal."
