Chapter Seven: Living History

"Tryvuulian."

"I got a name and you know it, Bodek," Fox snapped over his shoulder.

"Then as a representative of your race, how can you help to save a monster?"

Fox paused in his maintenance work on the bay doors to fix the Scoti with a sour and incredulous look. "As a what? Are you for real? Who talks like that? The only one I represent is myself. And I didn't help save a monster. I helped save my best friend's other dad."

"You know what Avocato's done!"

"Killed a lot of people, among other things. Yeah. I know. Plenty of those people were mine when he ended a war that had dragged on for a thousand years."

"Yes! How many of your people did he slaughter?"

"Avocato personally?" Fox got back to greasing the doors, deliberately giving Bodek his back. "Not a one I'm aware of, but I could be wrong."

"They were his troops, on his ships, following his orders! Every death is on him!"

He slowly turned around, having to see the density for himself. "Is your skull solid bone that you didn't hear a word I said? I'll say it again shorter: Avocato ended a thousand years of war. Didn't start. Ended."

"Your people lost!"

Fox frowned. "A thousand years? How do you win at something like that? Ventrexia didn't win any more than Tryvuul did! Yeah, there were a lot of dead Tryvuulians, but there were just as many dead Ventrexians. Then along comes Colonel Avocato and he pulls off a miracle and gives both sides what they want: a chance to end it."

"By subjugating your people."

Fox resisted the urge to roll his eyes at so expansive (and inaccurate) a word. "Did you learn history or do you just make it up as you go?"

"I know history," snapped Bodek.

"Uh-huh. Don't think I'm not seeing what you're trying to do here. It's not going to work. You want me all fired up and patriotic and stupid like you, hoping I'll see how you've been wronged and let you go to finish the job you half-assed already. Ain't gonna happen, Scoti. Wanna know why?"

"Enlighten me."

"Because if you can't be the hero, all you want to be is the victim. Someone else has to take the blame. You want to see Avocato as everything evil and maybe he was, but everyone has a reason for what they do, including him, I haven't heard you ask 'why' once since you stowed away."

"I didn't stow away!"

"Oh? Then why didn't you let go of the captain's ankle? You could have radioed for help from your crew."

"There was no time."

"Uh-huh. And whose fault was that? And maybe you'd have to face your people and admit you didn't finish the job. Back on topic, no, Colonel Avocato did not subjugate Tryvuul. He won fair and square and offered an honorable peace settlement. You're thinking of General Avocato after he got tapped to be the Lord Commander's running dog. From was I hear – and I got good sources - he didn't want the job. At all. He took it to keep Ventrexia safe. So, when the Lord Commander decided he wanted Tryvuul in his empire, Avocato asked to try something before any shots were fired. He came to our capital alone and unarmed and met with the rulers of my planet. He didn't want to fight. He'd done that already. He wanted to talk. He laid it out for them plain as day what would happen if they didn't cooperate."

"So he forced them to surrender."

"No. He gave them a choice."

"They should have killed him then!"

"Yeah, you look like the 'kill the messenger' sort. That would've been the stupidest move in history and everyone knew it. Except you, apparently. Avocato gave them the chance to join the empire or . . . not and face the consequences."

"Which is no choice at all!"

"It's a choice. Live or die." Fox smiled bitterly. "It was the same choice he'd been given. And he made the same choice Tryvuul's leaders did."

"Meaning?"

"Begging, borrowing, or buying time until an opportunity to strike happens along. He's in this for the long game, just like my people are. He's waiting for his chance, or can't you see that?"

"All I see is the one they call the Master of Death."

"Uh-huh. You see what you want to see. Open your eyes. Avocato destroys Scotia Majoran. You come back in time to kill Avocato before he gets the chance. You kill the crew of the Kalibar and gun for him. He blows up the Kalibar and wipes out your team and half the Ziga Turi system." He gestured with an open hand in one direction, "Action," then the other, "reaction. See how that works? Where does it lead? If you don't know where it all started, how will you know when it ends?"

"It will end when Avocato dies!"

"Huh. Maybe, maybe not. Don't forget he's got friends, too, and he's pretty hard to kill. In the meantime, you're aiming too low, Bodek. Or maybe it's too high." Fox paused, musing, "He is mighty short."

"Meaning?" repeated Bodek, Fox's philosophy clearly confounding him.

"You got your cross hairs on the wrong target if you think Avocato is to blame for everything. We have a saying on my planet: Only Avocato could go to Tryvuul."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"And you know history, huh?" He returned to the task at hand, determined to ignore the Scoti. "Why don't you ask yourself why and figure it out for yourself?"