In a book of Loranna Artell there is this riddle:

"What's more scary that something that can scare an elephant?"

The answer is easy "The scared elephant itself"

When the Heereen's ship appeared all the Rafkin's swarm of interceptors had something like a pulse. All the little ships turned to the newcomer and stood still for a while. Then, all together, they fly to it, forgetting about us.

I noticed four more ships coming out of the Sot'Quan, joining the hunt. It appeared strange to me, but I had more important things to watch at the moment.

The Heereen's ship didn't do anything at all. It probably knew that just appearing was enough to change the balance of the battle. It was far away from us, so it also knew that the Rafkin's interceptors would take a while to reach it. It just waited for them and then it disappeared. It suddenly came and it suddenly went away.

"We could have time to drift, now" Valtair said, once the surprise for the event was over.

"I fear the Teculpa are already maneuvering for that" added Cassandra, watching the videos.

"We'are still in Sot'Quan's range" I said. But that was nothing. There was something else, some other reason I couldn't leave the system. I called the Heereen there and they came for me. Just leaving would be dumb.

"The Rafkins are still flying to the last position of the vessel. They're... hunting it? How?"

I called Yutan, putting all my anger in my voice "What are you doing?"

"We're drifting away from here, diplomat Callus. This stall lasted enough"

"Where are you going? The besieged system will be a trap and joining the fleet of your leader will give him no advantage. You will just clash in a huge battle with the Taus"

"That's exactly our purpose, diplomat!"

"You can't go away without knowing what's at stake!"

"Are you trying to play the card of your friends Heereen with me, too?"

"It's not just a card, it's true!"

There was the possibility that Yutan didn't mind about the whole plot. A good Tecupla soldier could be a bit stubborn when you talk to him about politics and strategy at large. In that case joining the army of Hiraku would be his only possibility to do something he could understand. Fortunately, Hiraku choose his collaborators well.

"Tell me what I can give to my people, Callus"

"Fight the interceptors, free the path for the Heereen's vessel"

"You take a side with such arrogance!"

"The Rafkins were going to kill us all!"

Yutan gave me no response but his ships started chasing the interceptors. The Sot'Quan tried to stop them firing with his artillery, but Teculpa fighters are too little for it. I wasn't sure Heereen needed someone to wipe out the Rafkins interceptors, but someway I saw that the battle was more balanced than expected. Again, I saw four Rafkin ships behaving different from the others, as they had a particular duty. This time, my brain started working on it.

In the meantime, the Queen Charlotte was still too near to the vessel that tried to kill us.

I called back the Rafkins "We should talk. More"

Nobody answered, on the screen Teculpas were engaging the interceptors, taking down many of them. The interceptors weren't ready for a battle in open space against the Teculpas and they were too worried about the Heereen ship to work out a good strategy. 

In my mind I was looking at the Rafkins Citadel, those old rats counting their pilots falling down under Teculpa fire. I don't know how much they count, but after a while they answered. "We will talk. What do you want?"

"You have to betray the Teculpa Tau and give us your collaboration"

"How can you ask us to..."

"You don't need them! They used you just because you were near and powerful but what now? They're using you to keep the Heereen ship busy, as a worthless target. But you're risking your life!"

"Heereen nearly destroyed us! They're our enemy!"

"But they could stop being that!"

Rafkins were still dying out in the space and the ghosts of the explosion were still around, haunting the minds of the people of the Sot'Quan. Rafkins are peaceful people. They just needed to be lead on the right path again.

"What have you in mind?"

As always, as I was trained, I put my objectives very high. "Have you still the fish tank?"