IronStar (36 page)

“They can send a mailtube, and give
us updates
here
and
here
enroute, and rendezvous with us
here
if there’s Kruss activity, or
here
farther in, if the system is clean to
sensor scan.” A series of numbered cursors in the tank punctuated Lucinda’s
words. “Any questions? Suggestions?” A deafening silence filled the room.
Finally Angelo Krepescue, Captain of the destroyer
Utterson
, spoke:

“Permission to speak freely,
Admiral?”

“Absolutely, Angelo. And don’t pull
any punches. If there’s a problem, this room is the cheapest place to find it.”

“Ma’am, your analysis of times and
distances looks flawless. However we have no idea what we’re running into here,
and you are not only dividing your forces, you are placing your task force’s command
with the weaker part. Why don’t you let your destroyers do the job? With all
due respect, Ma’am, I am uncomfortable with this plan at a gut level. It
reminds me of the start of a bad day in the Tac simulators. With respect.”

“Don’t worry, Angelo, I won’t bite
your head off for critiquing this …scheme. If it’s any consolation, you’re
being a good deal more tactful than Captain DaCosta was, when I first broached
it to him.” Lucinda and her flag captain exchanged rueful nods.

“You are technically correct, of
course, and for all I know, we are walking straight into a beartrap. However
there’re a few good reasons to do it anyway. The smaller reason is that the
Arvida-Yee
’s
sensor logs gave no indication of any other gravtracks in the system, even when
their drone entered stealthed and ballistic. Plus they got as far as the point
where they dropped their mailtube. So whatever’s going on there, at least for
those hours, it did not involve any Kruss fleet elements maneuvering in the
system.

“Second and more critically, we
have to go in fast precisely
because
we have no idea what’s going on
there. Now that we know the system’s inhabited, and that the Kruss knew it
before we did, we can only assume that they’ll be there with as much as they
can, as fast as they can. One thing we’ve got going for us, is their
extraordinarily long transit times.” Indeed, every officer around the table
knew the inexorable math of voyage time from the nearest Kruss outpost - twice
the Regnum’s for a Kruss
Wolfram
-class Patrol Cruiser, and almost three
times for one of their much heavier war-fort vessels.

“We also have no idea what’s been
happening on-planet, and no matter how inconvenient the Regnum generally, and
the Navy in particular, would find a Kruss presence in that area, we cannot
simply run roughshod over natives’ wishes, especially if they’re human natives.
The Regnum would be seriously isolated in the greater Civilium, possibly even
sanctioned, for any such actions. Which could be as rewarding to the Kruss as
keeping the system themselves. So, I can’t ‘let my destroyers do the job’, even
though I value their capabilities and have confidence in their skippers,
because
I don’t know what the job is
, and we won’t, until we get there.

“At least,” said Captain DaCosta,
“Can we agree to send those three extra destroyers ahead after you, as soon as
they reach us? It would double your forces within five days of arriving
in-system.”

“I thought of that, Alexi, but that
leaves TT1 with no screen at all. If I’m in trouble, or worse, with three
destroyers, there’s just no point sending in another three five days later. I
want the next caller to be the combined force of TT1. It’ll be forty-some days
behind, but then you can give them the hell I’d want you to. Comes to that, you
can tell Mattison I said so.

“What I
will
do, though, is
steal every single stealth-capable missile from the
Belleville’s
magazines
that we can cram into the three destroyers, and lay down some serious grief if
I get even a few hours alone in the system. A minefield of Spit-4’s and
Spit-5’s is not a task force, but it’ll kill a
Wolf
-class Patrol Cruiser
or three, no sweat. By the way, I assume our civilian friends will exercise
their Mercantile rights to be with the first vessels into the new system, but
they will do so with nothing but carry-on luggage, and no staff at all. I need
every bit of cubage we can muster on those tin cans, for missiles.

 
“So, ladies and gentlemen, it comes down to a
calculated risk. Not only the three destroyers, ultimately this entire task force
is expendable in the cause of securing this system. If the worst happens,
hopefully we’ll get a message off. In any case within another fifty days TT1
will be full strength and on-station. If I’m wrong and Admiral Mattison finds
himself on his own, he’ll have two ‘Wagons, three heavy cruisers plus the
Meredith
,
and six tin cans. If
that’s
not enough to stake our claim, we’re not
just talking about a back-alley mugging any more, we’ll be in the middle of a
war. And if the Kruss want a war out there on our end of the logistics lines, I
am reliably assured they shall be given one.

“Now, let’s take a look at sensor
placements for the FTB’s, and try to fine-tune our defensive missile fields,
assuming we get a chance to lay some. Here’s a few ideas…”

“We are going to have peace,
even if we have to fight for it.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower, 20
^th
century warrior and political leader; United States of America, Terra

With the Kruss securely bound and
its technology neutralized, Kirrah turned her attention to the delegation
approaching in the small dinghy. Three O’dai, judging by their dress all
captains, and two Wrth whom Peetha named as “Elders”. Two sailors manned the
only two oars allowed the injured O’dai they had released earlier. Captain
Crath’pae’s crew was currently downstream retrieving their small vessel. All
other water transport was now destroyed, disabled, or in Talamae hands. At the
Captain’s urging, several sailors had managed to salvage a mostly-intact chair
and a short bench from the burning ships, and a small barrel now serving as
conference table.

Kirrah seated herself at this table
now beside Captain Og’drai. Opposite were two upended boxes. Peetha’s warriors
lined the left side of a path from the riverbank to the table, and Rash’koi’s
men lined the right. Ten archers formed an arc behind her. The
still-unconscious Kruss was held between two large soldiers to the left of the
table. With Irshe standing at her right side and Peetha at Og’drai’s left,
Kirrah imagined it made a properly intimidating sight as the small boat landed
and the five enemies disembarked.

“Welcome to Talam,” she called out,
and Peetha and Captain Og’drai translated into the Wrth and O’dai languages.
“Please feel secure in this truce. You have my word as Warmaster, you will
return safely if you attempt no treachery. Let us sit and discuss a more
profitable relationship. Please be seated, I regret there are only boxes to
seat two of you.” The five leaders finished walking up the path between
Kirrah’s guards, the two sailors remaining, reluctantly from the look of them,
in the beached boat.

“Thank you, Warmaster,” said the
oldest-looking of the captains, in the Talamae tongue. “The translation is
unnecessary. I am Fleet-Captain Schmado, these are Under-Captains Amokano and
Staegro.” Each man gave a small bow as his name was mentioned, although judging
from the sour expression on Amokano’s face, it pained him to bestow even that
tiny courtesy.

“And these represent the Wrth:
Elder Graffkai’a,” a narrow-faced, sandy-gray-haired woman, “and Elder
Makkan’a,” another wiry older Wrth, with an old scar crossing one closed eye.
Captain Schmado and Elder Makkan’a seated themselves in the two available
chairs. The Fleet-Captain continued:

“I congratulate you, Warmaster, on
your success today. No O’dai fleet has ever been destroyed to a ship, since the
legends of the Ku’tu’fath. And none, ever, by shore-based action alone. I am
sure my name will be long remembered.”

“Thank you, Fleet-Captain. No
dishonor should fall upon you. You had no idea what my weapons could do.”
In
fact, I wasn’t so sure myself, until today
. “The Talamae are developing
many new weapons. I tell you plainly, we followed the Wrth down-river to test
the first and the smallest of them, and found your fleet almost by accident.
Our meeting with Captain Durkalo got us off to a bad start. I trust we can do
better this time.” Uncomfortable looks and averted eyes answered that point,
even from the Wrth.

“Because we have no reason to want
war with O’dai, or with Wrth. What seems to be hostilities between us, is only
a shadow of the larger enmity between
that
thing’s nation and all
humans.” Kirrah nodded toward the Kruss sagging in her soldiers’ grasp. “I
expect it and its fellows told you great things would follow your conquest of
Talam. You seem surprised, Fleet-Captain Schmado, that I am both familiar with
your passenger, and aware it has fellows in your home. Know that my nation has
stood against these creatures for over a hundred years and knows their habits
well.”

“Warmaster, I am surprised that you
seem familiar with our Heaven-messenger, but I am even more surprised to hear
you say that there are more like it. How can you know this?”
Oh-ho, so
that’s how things are…

“Their real name is ‘Kruss’, not
‘Heaven-messenger’. In their language, it means ‘dominators’. They come from a
nation of worlds even farther away than my own home. Their name for ‘humans’,
in their own language means ‘slow-meat’.”
Give that time to sink in
.
Peetha’s running translation for the Wrth produced smoldering looks, first at
Kirrah, then at the O’dai.
Oh-ho, again!

“This is how they work. When they
discover a world like this one, with thinking life, they contact the largest
nation they can find. They use that nation to conquer its neighbors, promising
them glory but bringing as much damage to both sides as possible. When all are
exhausted fighting, the Kruss take control, sometimes even with the help of the
conquered. Within a generation, all serve the Kruss, and no one remembers what
freedom was. These are the allies you have chosen.

“I know there are more of them,
because my
object-that-speaks
heard this one’s
object-that-speaks
talking
to another, during our first engagement. Here is its sound:” Kirrah tapped a
command, and from the wristcomp’s speaker came a hissing, stuttering, creaking
static.
Well, that’s the encrypted frame, in analog audio, anyway
… “and
here is the sound of this being’s native language:” Another few taps invoked a
test phrase from the unit’s stored Kruss vocabulary. More sounds, even to the
untrained ear more animal-alive than the computer-traffic, yet still hissing,
croaking, with the occasional quick clatter-sound like a pebble in a gourd.

“Warmaster, you are being frank
with us. I will be frank in return. I learned of this being’s existence when I
received my sailing orders. I was told it would be a secret passenger on board
my flagship…” a glance over his right shoulder to the still-burning wreckage
settling slowly into the water behind them - “and that it was traveling with us
to study our warmaking. I was also told to watch for any strange new weapons.
During the voyage, this being told me of evil beings from the dark of the sky,
who sometimes fall to earth, and who preyed upon Heaven’s messengers and
servants, both on earth and in the sky. You understand my problem - which of
you shall I believe, and why?”

“Fleet-Captain, I sit before you, a
‘devil from the sky’.” Kirrah’s lips pursed wryly and her dark green eyes
looked into his gray-flecked green ones. “My home nation is the
Regnum
Draconis
. It, like theirs, is a nation of many worlds. Most of our worlds
are human, some are …non-human, other thinking beings. All our worlds have a
voice in our government.”
Well, let’s not go too deeply into Regnum
politics, nobody’s perfect…
“The Kruss also have worlds that are non-Kruss.
Those worlds and those people are all slaves, with no voice, even on their own
world.

“But I speak of things you cannot
see. Instead, look around you. You O’dai have, no doubt through honest error,
allied with the Kruss. In return, the Kruss ‘study your warmaking’. The Talamae
have allied with my
Regnum,
whom I represent. The
Regnum
shares
its knowledge. Together with our allies, we build weapons to defeat our
enemies. So, when the Kruss’s allies, with a fleet of twelve warships and five
thousand mounted warriors, join battle with the
Regnum’s
allies - eighty
horse and six small riverboats - it is the O’dai sailors who will walk home. It
is the Wrth whose blood reddens the Geera, and the ‘Heavenly messenger’ who
flees faster than a striking
tso’ckhai
. Flees
away
from its
allies’ enemy.” Some very thoughtful looks were developing as Kirrah spoke.

“Your nation has started down the
wrong road. My
Regnum
has the strength to oppose the Kruss, and this
world is much closer to our …harbor, than to theirs. We can throw them off and
keep them off. Already, the Talamae plan trade with the
Regnum.
Very
profitable
trade. Help me, Schmado. Help me stop this small, useless war. And help me
open trade with your nation.”

“Warmaster, I will need time to
consider your words. Even if I agreed to help you, know that I am in disgrace
and no longer have influence with O’dai’s court.”

“I understand, Fleet-Captain. You
are invited to be a guest of Talam, to visit and confer with our leaders. Like
my Wrth warriors here, you may also find putting your talents into my service
is agreeable.” Schmado’s eyes followed her gesture to Peetha.