I first met Tarian at Arnami Prime when the Wolfenheim fleet passed through. He was the commander of one of their primary orbital stations, and took it upon himself to make certain we didn’t cause trouble while in his space. He wasn’t the first Arnam I’ve met in my life, but he was the first who was undeniably part of the Arnami military. Defense force. The exact meaning is lost in translation due to cultural differences, but the point is that he considered himself more of a civil servant or logistical organizer than a defender of the Arnami race. He was willing to be that at need. It was why he volunteered to join the service, after all. But he never really expected to have to do more than separate disagreeable ship captains, or maybe talk down some people exchanging aggressive words. He was a peacekeeper. That’s probably the best translation we’ve come up with. Not that the Arnam ever had trouble keeping the peace amongst themselves, you understand. It was the other people who came by, like me, who they had to keep in line.

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