This time all the crew came down from the Queen Charlotte. Coriolanus was a private facility on the surface of a relatively stable planet. It has its own atmosphere, obtained through a bubble of steel and glass regulated by enormous environmental processors that fill it with breathable air feeding directly on the poisonous gases present in the planet ecosystem.

The air produced this way contained a slight scent of rotten flowers and gasoline, very far from the pure air produced by the first essence of the Heereen.

"This time I want you with me" I said to Cassandra, while we were passing through the airlock of the ship.

"To do what, diplomat?"

"I have to go on with the talk with prefect Hiraku, but now I know I need you"

I was expecting Cassandra to try to denial, as she did before when I involved her in my work. She surprised me, just nodding. "No problem, diplomat"

For the first time I saw Cassandra as the battle had changed her. Passing through the attack on Hettula probably made her understand the reasons of my behavior and gave her the right determination. She wasn't scared, she was way beyond the phase of the fear, she was just aware that the meaning of her life comprehended dangers and risks.

"I can't teach you all the details of Teculpa diplomacy, so I have to ask you to speak just when I ask you to"

"This will make my work easier"

Prefect Hiraku was at the lounge bar of the outpost. The cohort of ship that was defending Hettula was now up in the sky above our heads, but before moving he had to wait for more ship. Voices I catched said he asked the emperor for a real army.

A waiting Teculpa is difficult to manage, patience is not a main characteristic of the race, but a defeated, waiting Teculpa is like nitroglycerine during a valzer. The man I saw sat on a chair, staring at the landscape through a window, was really Hiraku the Banisher, the warmonger capable of stop an entire legion with his eyes. The two with him, probably lieutenants, where frozen, focused on leaving their general on his own, avoiding to get his attention.

Well, that attention was what I was looking for. "Prefect Hiraku" I bow, very formally.

I looked at me. "Diplomat Callus... you survived"

"Just a lucky concatenation of events. It was horrible"

"It was shameful"

My first task was stopping the rage of the prefect. He could use me to vent his rage.

"I think that the marauders attacked us because the talk we were having was important"

He tilted his head a little, cooling down. "Important?"

"I have informations from my intelligence, but I need something in exchange"

"Yes, very diplomatic way to do things"

The right hand of Hiraku was like a claw, his four fingers on the table, trying to chop out a large piece of it, just for anti-stress.

"I have confirmations about marauders weapons. It's time technology"

"Time... so the marauders can..."

"Considering elements we have, we can say that they're using time technology to take advantage on us, but saying they can travel in time is still a long shot"

"We saw one of their vessels explode in the space, but we didn't shoot it. Do you know what could have happened?"

"We know just one race with the technology and the will to destroy marauders ships: the Heereen"

"Your mysterious Heereen that start it all... The True Emperor is irresolute about declaring war to them, too"

I wasn't surprised, declaring war to everything wasn't under empire's control was the usual way Teculpa manage things. I wasn't worried, too. A war between Heereen and the Teculpa-Ryon wasn't my problem at all.

"Now... If I can tell you my request"

"You didn't bring me something very precious, diplomat Callus. I hope your request will be... commensurated"

"I need access to your historical archives"

Hiraku was surprised and Cassandra, beside me, was surprised too. They both gasped hearing me. Then, Hiraku made a devilish smile. "You're a very strange man, diplomat Callus"

"Military actions human senate took about this situation don't involve me, so I'm looking for a different path of investigation"

"In our archives..."

"I need to verify something"

"Well... do you think you'll be able to browse our material? We're talking about a lot of writings in our language only... and thing more obscure too"

"Professor Opender here with me is a linguist. She gave me the first clues I need to follow in your archives"

For the first time the eyes of HIraku went on Cassandra. I saw her trying to shrink at his present, like a lot of people did before her, so I tried to help. "Cassandra was with me during the Heereen first contact and helped me escaping Hettula. She's a young but resourceful element and I think that she will feel at ease in your archives"

Supported by my words, Cassandra said something to Hiraku... in Teculpa language. Hiraku answered the same way and they went on speaking for a little. I'm very bad with languages, I' have very few memory for words, so I understood just few words. At the end, however, Hiraku appeared satisfied. "I can ask how to give you access to our historical archives. Unfortunately we're not very good librarians, but I hope I can find someone to help you"

"It will be surely enough, prefect" I answered.

Then, something very strange happened. Hiraku smiled again to Cassandra and talked to her in his language. They chatted many minutes, excluding me but enjoying the conversation.

Someway, it was irritating.