The burgermeister made a sour face. "I do not wish to be interrogated. My intention is to provide information, to correct lies the Kristang have told you, and to explain things the Kristang do not wish to speak about. I will not speak to anyone other than you."

"You did not answer my question. Why me? I'm only a low ranking sergeant. This village is a significant distance from where you live, why don't you talk to someone there?"

Again, I got the feeling she was ready for every single one of my questions. The burgermeister was a very clever hamster, that was for sure. She smiled again, I couldn't tell if it was genuine, or that ready smile politicians practice. "I first came here because I wanted to meet you, Joe Bishop, the one sometimes called Barney." The translator let my name and 'Barn-ey' come through in her squeaky voice. She tilted her head, another universal bipedal body language. Damn, her source of intel was good. "I was curious what type of human injured one Ruhar soldier, and captured another."

"I had help."

"Help from civilians, and reports indicate you did not have military weapons."

"Reports are not always accurate." I didn't want to provide her information about the tactics I had used then, or any other intel that might be useful to my enemy. She was there to provide me intel, supposedly, not to listen to me.

"These reports are. Another reason I am talking to you, is because of a report from the Ruhar soldier you captured."

I couldn't hide the surprise on my face.

She continued with another smile. "You didn't know? He was released, in exchange for a Kristang soldier we had captured. Our soldier reported that he was captured by human civilians, which is not something a soldier wants to admit to. And he said that you treated him very well. We appreciate that."

"As well as I could. We didn't have any food he could eat." I had wondered what happened to the hamster after the National Guard took him away, my assumption was we eventually gave him to the Kristang before he starved. The Kristang must have had some supplies of Ruhar food, for prisoners they captured. "How is the other soldier, is he all right?" He hadn't looked good, the last time I saw him laying in a pile of bricks.

"She is well, yes, she was injured, but has fully recovered. Her attack craft was damaged in orbit, but was rescued by one of our starships."

I had no idea the other soldier was female. With the body armor, helmet and face shield, there was no way for me to tell. And she'd been half buried in debris from the wall we'd blown up. "Please tell her that," I almost said I was sorry, which I wasn't, because it was combat, "it wasn't anything personal. I didn't have time to check on her injuries."