Hauk didn’t answer. “She’s too young for you.”

Chayden laughed. “No. She’s too connected for me. But don’t worry. Meant what I said about my fondness for my protruding body parts. I can keep my hands to myself. I never violate my oaths or my codes… Only international laws.” He pulled the mic closer to his lips and turned on the intercom. “All right, kids, hang tight. Last time I tried this, it didn’t work out so well. But that’s okay. I can learn from my near-fatal mistakes, and I have the fire extinguishers ready this time. There was only minimal superficial scarring, and my innards healed up quite nicely, after a while. Oh hey… I wonder what this button over here does. Never seen one like that before. Maybe I should have checked the shuttle’s model number. Hope I’m licensed for it.”

Buckling himself into the copilot’s seat, Hauk laughed at the expressions on Darice’s and Thia’s faces as they heard that over their music. “You’re so wrong.”

“That’s why all of you love me… I always fuck things up and make it interesting.”

“Isn’t that an old Gondarion curse?”

“What?”

“May you live an interesting life?”

Laughing, Chayden hit the boosters and lifted the craft with such skill that Hauk barely felt it move.

As soon as they cleared the port, Hauk saw a small ship on their starboard aft monitor. “We have company.”

“Relax. It’s just your large, hairy mother tailing us in a fighter in case we need him to beat up some bad guys.”

“Why didn’t he say something to me about it?”

Chayden shrugged. “Hell if I know. He’s your mother. Maybe he didn’t want to upset Darice any worse. Or, knowing my second-favorite Tavali, he wanted to piss him off more.”

“Second favorite?”

Chayden flashed a grin. “Yeah. I like me best… most days.”

Hauk snorted at his old friend.

“So what’s the deal, anyway? What heinous crime did Fain commit to be blacklisted by the entire War Hauk clan? I mean, damn, you’re an outlaw to most governments, you’ve kicked in the front door of a League prison, been tossed out of League military service, and started a rebel organization, yet your family still claims you. What could be worse than all that?”

Hauk stared into the darkness of space as he considered everything Chayden was asking and how best to answer it. “Acts of political defiance are forgivable, according to Andarion tradition. But Fain… he foolishly besmirched our family’s honor and tainted our lineage.”

“How so?”

“Married a human.”

Gaping, Chayden turned his head toward him. “Seriously? That’s it?”

He passed a dark glower to the Tavali for his hypocritical contempt and outrage over their customs. “Your mother? Your father? They were both humans, and how were you and your sister treated because Mom was Qillaq and Dad Gondarion?”

While Andarions and humans were close enough genetically to procreate, they were two vastly different species. Two species that voraciously hated each other and had spent centuries at war. Human-on-human prejudice had never made sense to Hauk.