THE SURRENDER of the Khalian Council did not end hostilities with all of the Khalia. In a culture where independence and military prowess were the sole measures of success, even the surrender had a limited effect. On Khalia, where those loyal to the remaining members of the Council were dominant, it meant a near-instant finish to the fighting. Within a few days all resistance had ended and Khalians by the thousands were turning in weapons, even turning in those few ships that had survived the space battle against Duane’s forces.
To the amazement of the occupying Alliance Marines, there seemed no resentment on the part of most individual Khalians. They had been bested, and so instead offered the thousands of humans that occupied their planet a grudging respect. The phrase used by most Khalians to describe humans gradually changed from hairless, defenseless prey to worthy opponent. It was a lot easier on the ego to be defeated by a tough opponent than a defenseless ape.
Attempts to integrate Khalians into human units met with mixed success. Orders for Khalian pelts to be destroyed were diluted as they passed down the chain of command until most sergeants interpreted them as requesting their commands to put the furs in the lower compartment of their foot lockers. Attempts at integrating competitive sports met with other difficulties. Football could be quite hazardous when played against an opponent whose instinctive reaction when faced by a larger opponent was to extend two-inch claws. Still mutual respect for the other’s prowess provided the beginnings of understanding.
Elsewhere in Khalian space the acceptance of the surrender diminished with distance. Some Khalian raiders surrendered. A few of these were slaughtered by vengeful local inhabitants before the Fleet could intervene. Years of fear and frustration created some truly grisly scenes. This complicated the situation, giving many of the remaining Khalia a mind-set similar to that of the isolated Japanese soldier after World War II. The last of these had surrendered almost forty years after that war had ended.
The absorption into the Alliance of the entirety of Khalian space provided another rallying point for those who refused to accept defeat. Some of the remaining captains strove to reestablish a new Khalian empire elsewhere. Others simply continued to pillage until destroyed. Most soon found some excuse to resist Fleet units whenever they had the advantage and when outgunned surrendered when informed “for the first time” by the Nedge translators now carried on most larger Fleet vessels of their Council’s action.
Still, within months after the fall of Khalia, the bulk of Khalian resistance had collapsed. Those pockets and ships remaining were proving particularly vicious. Their holding out and the battles that followed complicated the incorporation of Khalian units needed to bolster the badly depleted Marine companies of the Fleet.
Access to large numbers of Khalians also brought a wealth of information to the research services. This was quickly, if belatedly, turned into useful ways of combating the remaining Khalian centers of resistance. Like so much research, some of what was developed proved useful and other new inventions proved more a hazard to those using them than the enemy. A few developments, as is often the case, taught the Fleet scientists more about themselves than the Khalia.