IronStar (54 page)

“Wait! You mean you routed nine or
ten
thousand
enemy
supported by Kruss tech
, with a force of
fifteen
hundred
and a Survey
hand beamer
?”
Oops
, thought Kirrah,
when
you put it that way
…

“Well, that plus the five or six
hectares of burning oil drifting through their camp…” she added, a little
lamely. Marcus and Adrianne looked at each other.

“Definitely the soul of a
Greenbutt, don’t you agree, Corporal?” said Marcus.

“Absolutely, sir. Just need to have
that annoying modesty surgically removed, and she could be in my team any day.
Begging the Lieutenant’s pardon, ma’am.”

After lunch they made their way
back to the city, two on horseback and two riding on a ‘Tango’, one of the
versatile four-wheeled open light military vehicles Marines took everywhere
they landed. As they approached the city’s west wall, a comparably diverse
convoy was just emerging from the Sun Gate.

In front was another Tango, pulling
an adapted market cart bearing Kirrah’s Kruss prisoner in a restraint frame.
Behind followed another Tango carrying three alert, armed Marines. Third in
procession was a Talamae horsedrawn carriage, with Doris Finch looking all the
world like a queen on review. Beside her in the carriage was another Marine
guard, looking a little nonplussed at his conveyance. As they passed, the Kruss
barked and hissed a few words, which Kirrah’s translator rendered as:

« There! There is one maimed me!
Fired to me when I was bound! Arrest it! I demand you arrest it! »

Kirrah signaled a halt to both
columns. She carefully eyed the restraint frame, noticing the square outline of
hullmetal bars, the chains and manacles, and the strips of ‘slo-flo’ wrapped
around each limb of the Kruss. The slo-flo material, a resin/metal-fiber
composite, would bend easily at low speeds, but would lock into immobility if
forced to move faster than a crawl. It effectively more-than-neutralized the
Kruss’ speed advantage. She stepped up onto the wagon and addressed the
prisoner:

“Why, it’s my old friend
Liss-ghack! I
couldn’t
let you depart without a goodbye. And how
nice
to see your new foot has almost grown back!” Indeed the stump had budded
and the bud had grown into a foot already almost three quarters as large as the
original. The new skin was hairless and pale pink. Kirrah drew her Survey
Service beamer and made a show of setting it to cutting mode.

« Assault! Mayday! You will be
charged! Reparations! »

“Why, Liss-ghack! You misjudge me!”
Kirrah smiled sweetly. “I only want you to have something to relieve the
boredom of a long voyage back to a Regnum base.”

« Regnum base, negation! You promised
repatriation to Kruss world! Treachery! »

“That, of course, was before we
caught you using
these!
” Her left hand pulled a small object from a
suitpouch and held it before the creature’s left eye. The being flinched
sharply and its gums faded from dead black to a medium blue-gray.

“Oh, don’t fear, it’s quite
harmless with its nanoblok fried. And I doubt it would respond to Kruss meat in
any case. You and your friends programmed it to attack humans only,
didn’t
you!
” The last words hissed between Kirrah’s teeth in a good imitation of
the hissing sounds in the Kruss language. Her subject thrashed in its
restraints, drawing as far from her as they allowed. The thin cutting beam from
Kirrah’s weapon made a tiny frying-bacon sound as she thumbed it on, the muzzle
pointed straight up. Several alarmed Marines, not including Warden or Gilman,
were aiming weapons indecisively in her general direction, she noticed from the
corner of her eye.

“So,
Kruss meat
, as much as
I’d like to test whether you can grow a new
head
as easily as a foot,”
Kirrah thumbed the beamer off with a small
pouff
of cooling air, “What
I’m
going
to do, is see that the Talamae people press charges against
the Kruss Empire for use of illegal weapons. We’ve already got an attorney.
These tiny trophies of evidence are quite plentiful enough in the city. They
will be Exhibit Two.
You
, Liss-ghack, will be Exhibit One. And
that’s
why you’re going to a Regnum base, it’s where the nearest Civilium
Scrutineer is.” The prisoner was trembling, as violently as the slo-flo
restraints allowed, and his eyes were rolling independently in his head.

Kirrah continued, merciless, “You
know your mistake, Lssghagk? When you programmed your smartshots,
you forgot
to exclude our children
. When you kill our
children
, humans get
irritable
,
even
dangerous
. You might remember that. I bet you’re going to have a
long
time, to remember that.”

Around the tiny tableau, the eight
Regnum Marines and one Survey Service Sensor Specialist First Class stood and
applauded openly. Kirrah took a tiny bow and leapt down from the cart, waving
the procession on. Doris signaled her Talamae driver to a halt opposite, and
stepped down to touch her friend’s shoulder, which was trembling slightly,
whether from anger or simply reaction neither could have said. They stood a
moment watching the Kruss borne away toward the waiting shuttles. Then Doris
turned and hugged her friend.

“
Damn
, woman! I had no idea
how
dangerous
you are! You have true inner
mean-th!
Congratulations! I begin to see why they appointed you Warmaster, you just
scare
their enemies to death! Not that the little lizard didn’t deserve it. I
especially liked the part where, instead of threatening him personally, you
threatened his Empire but using him as a weapon!
Nothing
could be worse
for his future.”

“
I
was impressed,” added
Lieutenant Warden, in what sounded like a professional critique. “I didn’t know
a Kruss could even
go
pale like that. What did you think, Corporal
Gilman?”

“Lieutenant Warden, I take back my
ill-considered remarks about the lady’s modesty. I’ll have her guard my six
any
day. Any day at all.” Kirrah understood this was the highest praise a
Marine could bestow on a lesser being, and just stood a moment, hearing Irshe’s
words to her the night before: ‘Watch,
aska
. Only see what-is.’

After a moment, Doris broke the
silence.

“So, Kirrah old shipmate and
dearest friend, just how tough
is
this debrief?”

“
Now
you grovel”, Kirrah
rejoined, thankful for the break in mood. “This, my Greenbutt friends, is the
woman who kept me standing, literally in the dark, for hours, while she flew
over in the comfort of her very own shuttle. Withholding her name while she had
mine! And
now
she wants me to risk the wrath of the meanest Admiral this
side of Draconis Prime, and discuss the mission with her before debrief! Have
fun, Ms. Finch, and I suggest you ask them to warm their instruments
before
they begin the interrogation! Guards, take her away!” The twinkle in Kirrah’s
eyes was matched nicely by the satisfying small worry-frown developing between
her friend’s eyebrows.

“Thank you for bringing lunch,
Irshe
’jasa
. While I’m at the treaty talks, would you please help
Janna’tha, and as soon as the Navy volunteers arrive, put them to work sweeping
the
smartshotz
out of our city, north to south. We will need very clear
danger boundaries marked as we allow people to begin returning to their homes,
those things can move twenty or thirty
hab’la
to find prey. And wear a
suit
while you’re working there, Gilman can find you one. Also could you take care
of…” They resumed their ride east along Slow Water Road, to their duties at the
Palace.

“Ethics? Keep ‘em. Honesty?
Don’t count on it. Integrity? Run from it! Give me a business partner with good
old enlightened self-interest, any day. It’s as solid as bedrock and
predictable as sunrise. Hell, give me an
enemy
with enlightened
self-interest, and in a week I’ll turn
him
into
that business
partner.” - the ‘Chadworth Chronicles’ (vol.II, pg.223.60), diary of Roe Singh
Chadworth, 23
^rd
century A.D. post-Terran explorer and trader,
co-founder of the Mercantile Doctrine.

“These are
good!
” said
Admiral Dunning, popping yet another tiny fruit pastry into her mouth. Lord
Tsano, seated across the table in the palace’s octagonal conference room,
smiled benevolently and said:

“Talam would be pleased to make a
small gift of a supply of these for Lucinda Fleetmaster. Although they are best
fresh within an hour of the oven, while a little of the baker’s heat remains.”
Luce’s eyes rolled appreciatively at the image. “Perhaps we could even arrange
to send a supply up to the starship, when your duties take you there?” The
Admiral fairly beamed back at him, chewed daintily and said:

“I accept your outrageous bribe,
and ask what comparable gift I could make in return?”
Well, looks like
starting with refreshments was a good idea, at least we’ve got off to a
congenial start
, Kirrah mused, as several bottles of New Rochelle’s finest
boysenberry schnapps were negotiated in exchange.

Along the straight side of the
semicircular conference table were arrayed Scribemaster Taiwi, Guildmaster
Delima, Slaetra, Lord Tsano, Brai'klao the law professor, Kirrah and Issthe
shu’Ro. After some careful deliberation in both camps, Kirrah had been placed
by unanimous consent on the Talamae side for these negotiations, since her
value to the Talamae as Warmaster, and to both parties as ‘guide into
friendship’, far exceeded her value to the Regnum as a surplus Survey
Lieutenant.

Along the curved side of the table,
Admiral Dunning sat relaxed in the center, for all the world as though sharing
tea and
petit-fours
with friends in their garden. To her left were
Marissa Taggart of United Dominion Farms, Irving Baldwin of Planetation Corp
and Ensign Karen Auracotta, the
Argosy’s
official Contact Specialist
(Second Class) and looking somewhat out of her depth.

On the Admiral’s right sat Dr.
Pennington and Elizabeth Einarson of RegNet News. The reporter was still
smoldering at Kirrah’s order that, outside of this meeting, no 3V may be shot
in Talamae territory until royalty rights were negotiated. She was hiding her
frustration reasonably well behind her tiny 3V recorder. Especially since being
informed in no uncertain terms that this particular ‘mere’ Survey Lieutenant
could, in fact, speak with the force of law on-planet, and further informed of
the likely consequences, both professional and personal, of offending a
potential Regnum ally.

Whoops, everyone’s waiting, I
guess that means refreshment are over. I’m on,
Kirrah realized. She rose to
address the assembled dignitaries.

“The Talamae thank the
representatives of the Regnum for their interest in negotiations, and recognize
the sacrifices made in being present.” …
like being stripped of every flunkey
and piece of equipment larger than carry-on luggage, and crammed into available
seaman’s bunks aboard the Admiral’s destroyer,
Kirrah’s inner voice added.
Well,
you wanted to be here
…

“I also wish to express the
Talamae’s thanks for the Regnum’s efforts in sweeping this city of the deadly
smartshots. I understand with available Marines and twenty Navy volunteers, the
job may be completed in three or four more days.

“Now. I believe our first order of
business is the negotiation of a military treaty between Talamae and the Regnum
Draconis.” Heads nodding all around, and on the Regnum side, body language
settled in for the long process of negotiation. “I understand the elements of
this treaty to be as follows,” she continued, referring to notes on her wristcomp.

“First, the Regnum Draconis and the
Talamae acknowledge one another’s status as sovereign states, and nothing in
this agreement shall make a protectorate, ward, province, or possession of the
state of Talam, or establish any such thing in this stellar system.

“Second, the Regnum Draconis offers
military forces sufficient to defend this world as though defending a Regnum
world, also the other worlds and space about this sun, from any other forces,
except where prohibited by Civilium law or future ruling. This defense shall
continue under Regnum tactical command and at Regnum expense until requested
otherwise by a three fourths majority of the Talamae parliament and not less
than three of the Talamae executive
and
the duly elected head of state,
but in any event for a minimum of five local years.

“In exchange Talam offers to Regnum
citizens while on-planet the same protection and rights accorded any lawfully
visiting foreign nationals. Talam further grants the Regnum Draconis sovereign
rights over the designated Embassy grounds outside the city of Talameths'cha,
plus a twenty-year irrevocable lease on a naval base on this planet’s second
moon, the location to be selected by Regnum Navy but not exceeding forty
thousand square
doi’la
, plus two more bases within this system,
locations to be selected at the discretion of the Regnum Navy.

“The Regnum forces under the
command of Lucinda Fleetmaster express their intent to provide a surface
garrison to assist in the defense of Talam. However both parties recognize that
until the state of war with O’dai, and possible Kruss forces is resolved, no
on-planet use of Regnum force is advisable except in self-defense or defense of
Talam against off-planet technology.