Flash Fic: Respects

 Praetor Vsi fought hard to keep his reaction in check as he saw the human making his way along the receiving line. It wasn't unusual, now, to see humans out and about on the homeworld. But fleet admirals were a vanishingly rare occurrence. And certainly not the fleet admiral who'd ultimately crushed the Hexanre Armada and ended the war between Hexan and Terra.

Vsi was mildly surprised when Admiral Freitag produced a small wooden case and withdrew a dagger with a delicate chain coiled around the hilt and cross-guard, presenting it reverently to the widow of Admiral Kqar. It surprised him more when Freitag recited the formal Oath of Succor, a promise made to ensure that the family of a fallen warrior would not lack for aid of any sort if the need arose. The Widow Kqar had received six other such blades from various Hexanre officers so far. Freitag's contribution was noticeably different: a slender near-triangular blade with a ridged hilt and flattened conical butt. The fact the widow had accepted it, and thanked Freitag loud enough to reach Vsi's ears, was almost beyond belief.

The funeral ceremony was rich with muted pageantry. Hexanre funerals were usually quiet and somber affairs, far different than the hymns and eulogies Vsi knew were common for human funerals. Once the ceremony was over, the temple emptied out. The attendees made their way down a short avenue to an open garden. Food and drink were set up on tables at one side, and the attendees began to mingle and talk. Plenty spoke to the Widow Kqar. Vsi made it a point to approach Freitag.

"Admiral Freitag, this is..." Vsi paused, trying to find the diplomatic phrase which best covered his feelings.

Freitag simply smiled broadly at Vsi. "Inexplicable? Bizarre? Praetor, there's very little I haven't heard muttered or whispered since I stepped off the shuttle and without close air support."

"I am legitimately curious what moved you to attend this funeral, Admiral."

"Because my friend died," Freitag quietly. "I couldn't very well fail to pay my respects."

"Your friend?" Vsi's expression was deeply skeptical. "Forgive me, Admiral, but it doesn't seem plausible that you and Admiral Kqar would become friends."

"Admittedly, I wouldn't have been the first to believe it, either. But after the war ended, he started a correspondence with me, and from there, things just fell into place." Freitag shook his head slowly in wonder. "Don't mistake me, Praetor, Kqar was a no-shit monster in the field. He was disciplined, innovative, and cold blooded at every level. Tactically, strategically, operationally, I wasn't near as scared of any of your other officers as I was of him. Kqar made me work for every millimeter whenever we faced off and I damn near died from exhaustion after some of those fights."

Vsi's eyes widened slowly. Caiaphus Freitag, the human fleet commander the Hexanre Armada had called "The Glacier" for his relentless assaults and adamantine refusal to turn away when he sensed victory. The man who'd destroyed more tonnage in three years of bloody warfare than the Hexane had ever produced since achieving spaceflight. And he had been afraid of Kqar?!

Freitag saw Vsi's expression and chuckled softly. "Yeah. We called Kqar 'Juggernaut' back during the war. He was just hell on wheels. The funny thing is that after it was all over, we got into a friendly argument about who'd been the better commander. I swore up and down he had me beat in every way. He countered with a stack of those ethical calculus proofs your people produce that proved I was better. We learned a lot about each other during that war." He shrugged a little. "Guess we were bound to become friends after that." 

(This piece originally appeared on r/humansarespaceorcs)