IronStar (74 page)

As those gold-flecked brown eyes
met hers, the Admiral said, “Kirrah! Good, we have visitors. Please be
available on-comm should the need arise. This is your star system after all, I
just work here. I don’t think we… yes, put it through, conferenced.” The
right-side screen split horizontally, the bottom half now showing the elongated
head and black lips of a Kruss against the background of an alien starship’s
bridge. The being opened its mouth, but Lucinda Dunning spoke first:

“What a surprise to see our Kruss
friends so far from their home! We greet you in the name of the Regnum Navy and
our allies, the planet
Sho’ito
. Did you have a nice trip?”

« What treachery is this! » came
the synthesized translation. «This is the Trader vessel
Kassgee’s Esophagus
,
on regular supply run to our legal colony on this planet. We observe your
trespassing gravtrace from a distance! We demand you withdraw immediately from
our territory! »

“My dear Captain, you seem to be
mistaken about your location. There is no Kruss colony here. This is a human
planet, has been for millennia. If you are lost, perhaps we can assist…”

« Kaa#ksss! Do not sell rubbish! I
have naval escort. Your vessel’s location is long known to its targeting
computers. It is you mistaken, fantasy you can steal our colony. Move or die,
same price.»

The Admiral’s face went blank at
the interruption, her voice shifted to a deadly flat tone. “Before you issue your
second
threat, Captain, have a look in your sensors at what’s in
our
targeting
computers. Captain Wallace, please blink the ‘A’ missile field.” A signal sped
out from the
Argosy’s
Tac board, triggering half a dozen of the nearest
stealthed and drifting missiles to emit a single electronic ‘ping’ directed at
the Kruss vessel. As the radio command ballooned outward at lightspeed, more
and more of the deadly little missiles responded, in an ever-widening sphere of
destruction poised and timed to center directly on the Kruss.

Behind her, Kirrah heard Adrianne
say over her shoulder, “See, Marcus, the Admiral knows how to make a Kruss go
pale, just like
our
boss! That should be a regular part of Marine
training, don’t you think?” Indeed the small being’s lips had lightened to a
telltale medium blue-gray, as its ship’s sensors reported the Regnum’s precise
display of massive force.

“Yeah, Addie, but
she
can
make
two
Kruss go pale,” replied Marcus. “Look there!” Indeed another
FTL drone had just arrived. Its sensor update now revealed a second sphere of
missile transponders, their pings converging around a point in space near where
the first Kruss gravtrace had ended. “I bet that other Kruss is a serious
warship, and I bet she’s just told it she knows exactly where it’s lurking.
Damn
,
she’s good.”

The Admiral’s voice continued, “Do
you have
any
idea how many missiles my entire fleet has already seeded
in this system, Captain? Do you know where my
other
warships lie? My
missiles give me a sensor net as large as this entire star system, and you’re
inside
it
, so I can see both of your vessels. Can you see mine?
Do you want to?
”
The Kruss actually jerked slightly at the Admiral’s last, hissed, words, its
eyes opening and closing in that weird out-of synch way they had when stressed.

« Tagk#eess! Your thievery is
powerful. Do not fire to this small trading vessel, we have already messaged
notice of our arrival and your presence. We depart now. You accountable now
leaving our companions unfed, our trade unconsummated. We will return.
Litigation and sanctions, weapons and fighting. We cannot abandon our colony. »

Kirrah exchanged glances with
Issthe, touched a key that activated the Attention light on the Admiral’s
screen. At Lucinda’s nod, she said, “Let me have a word with it. Can you escort
it on a single reconnaissance pass?”

“Yes, but why would you…
oh!
As you wish, ‘Warmaster’.” Kirrah’s comm status changed from ‘listen’ to
‘talk’. She watched the Kruss’ attention shift as its screen split to add her
to the call.

Admiral Dunning said, “The military
commander of the planet
Sho’ito
now speaks. Go ahead.”

“Who speaks for Kruss?” Kirrah
asked.

« Pallagkss, Captain of the
peaceful Kruss trader-vessel
Kassgee’s Esophagus
. Who pretends to speak
for this planet? »

“This is Kirrah Warmaster. If you…”

« What have you done to my colony?
» the small being’s voice interrupted. « They fail to respond to our hails. You
will be assigned reparations by Civilium court for all damages to legal Kruss
trade mission. »

“We do not want you leaving with
your mind burdened with untruths,” Kirrah replied. “ But we
do
want you
leaving. I therefore offer you a free sample, to purchase goodwill. Your vessel
may make a single pass near our planet, to confirm the truth of what I now tell
you. The evidence is there for all to see.

“Your ‘peaceful Kruss traders’
attacked our pre-tech indigenes’ city with
three
kinds of illegal
weapons. We suffered much damage from the smartshots and the nanowire. I am
sending you the certified recordings which form part of our evidence. Then your
representative Pssittagk attacked our city with a nuclear bomb. You will see
the crater when you pass over the coordinates I am sending you.

“In response, on my authority we
destroyed the source of the illegal military action against us, using one of
your own illegal weapons. You will see the whole story when Civilium newsnets
pick up the RegNet broadcast in a few weeks. Our reporter has already sent the
story. She believes it will make her famous throughout all Civilium space.

“You will receive even more
confirmation when the Kruss Lssghagk’s memory is exposed to the Civilium
Scrutineer. He is so ashamed, he went willingly. I’m sure a copy of his
testimony will be sent to the Kruss Emperor’s legal staff when our lawsuit is
registered, and I’m sure your Emperor will want to interview personally
every
Kruss associated with its public humiliation. Are you getting all this?”

Indeed the Kruss was showing signs
of distress: its eyes were sphinctering out of phase, its head rocking slightly
and its narrow black tongue lolling out over black teeth and gray lips. Two
attendants were now visible, one offering a drinking tube and one painting the
being’s throat with something wet from an ornate bottle. In the upper right
screen quadrant, Admiral Dunning was nodding appreciatively.

“Good,” Kirrah concluded. “The
Regnum Navy Admiral who defends our system will now give you the coordinates
for your single pass over our world. We would both consider any deviation from
that path to be a hostile act.
Sho’ito
closes its ears.” She blinked the
Admiral’s
A
ttention light and the
Admiral took her cue to drop Kirrah from the Kruss’ part of the call.

Lucinda took up the conversation.
“Captain Pallagkss, you will receive my approved flight plan in two minutes. I
am making a small side bet with my flagship’s Tactical Officer, who very much
wishes to see you deviate a hundred meters, or fifteen seconds, from that plan.
You are about to choose which of us wins our friendly wager. It’s been a
pleasure speaking with you. I wish you and your escort a peaceful trip home.
Argosy
out.” Lucinda Dunning broke the connection with the Kruss, whose image
disappeared from Kirrah’s screen. She smiled, a cool, professional smile of
approval.

“
Well done
, Warmaster. We’ve
both given these Kruss something to think about, although I suspect they will
be thinking about
your
message longer than mine. Nevertheless we seem to
make an effective team, when our goals correspond. Thank you.”

“Thank
you
, Admiral Dunning.
Sho’ito
is grateful for your protection. As you said, we’re going to
have an interesting hand to play. Seems to me we’ve just led with the truth. I
think that’s a good opening.” The Admiral nodded.

“I’ll be passing… ah! There goes
the Kruss drive. Yes, they’re right on the flight plan we gave them. Looks like
I’ll owe a brew to Sandra’s Tac officer - I lied about which way I bet. They’ll
be overhead your position in seventeen minutes. If they get frisky on the way
past us, we’ll be out of touch for a while. We’ve been drive-hot with the Tac
computers on auto-evasion since they arrived.

“We’ve got the whole local sensor
net watching for a response from your pet Kruss down there. Assuming their
vessel attempts a microburst hail, if it answers from the planet’s surface
we’ll have its location nailed within a few centimeters. That was a bit of
quick thinking, Warmaster. Either way, good hunting. This is the Regnum Navy
destroyer
Argosy,
standing by this channel.”

Twenty minutes later, some six
hundred kilometers diagonally beneath the speeding Kruss vessel, Senior
Xenodominator Pssittagk crouched between two large trees deep in a jungle.
Suddenly its attention switched from the prey it was stalking, to the
alert-signal from its suit’s computer. It extruded a small screen from its
collar, one eye read the code analysis displayed there. Lips peeled, its dark
muzzle rose to the early evening sky. The long head wagged back and forth in a
very human gesture of negation. The intended prey, a plump young fruit-eater,
raised its head at the careless motion, sniffed the air and bounded off into
the dense underbrush. No problem, its spoor was still clear, and nothing on
this planet could outrun a Kruss in a short dash. It would wait.

The humans were becoming annoying.
They had already destroyed Pssittagk’s nest and para-mate, and its precious few
remaining sun’s-egg weapons. And they were getting better at cracking Kruss
comm all the time. Their earliest attempts to bait Pssittagk with comm hails
had been pathetic, but had improved steadily as the days went by. That one just
now had looked
exactly
like a Kruss high-security commercial hail. But
Pssittagk was not so easily fooled. It too, could wait. It returned its
attention to the pleasures of the hunt.

Message ID
:
[email protected]

Pod ID:
BelleTaskStd.locS22041.44675.bar

Routing
: Standard

Priority
: Standard

Security
: 44A12
(Pad 1122.2143.029)

Date
:1121-021-086

To
: Regnum Navy
Base Trailway, CINC-surface, Building 822

From
: Task Force
Belleville, Vice Admiral L. Dunning Commanding.

Attn:
Admiral Sir
Josiah McBain, CINC Trailway Sector, Eyes Only

Subject
: Interim
report Number one hundred twenty seven

Attachments
: 27
(internal)

Greetings Joe!

I have to tell you, despite all my
careful preparations it was a great relief to finally see Carl’s smiling face
on the comm, realtime, yesterday. Our - my gamble has paid off, exactly as
hoped. By arriving early we forestalled some serious Kruss mischief, and
although they did show up fourteen Standard days ago, they arrived late and
under-dressed for the party, so they left without a peep. Now that Mattison’s
here with my
Belleville
and the
Leacock
and the rest of the
fleet, the risks I took by dividing forces are moot, and the system is secure.

My last messages have been full of
the technical details your paranoid and very capable data polishers so love,
and these attachments are no exception. As expected, the long-range scans the
Belleville
made (while waiting on station a lightyear out for Carl to arrive), found one
or two faint gravtrace almost a year old. Much farther out and they’re below
detection threshold, but we can say someone was running one or two Tubedrives
in the system that long ago, and it wasn’t us, and it wasn’t the locals. Too
faint to ID as Kruss, but it fits what we know.

But this report is about something
else. I’ve been taking a step back from the trees as you taught us so often,
and I want to give you a my-eyes view of the forest.

Lieutenant Kirrah Roehl continues
to amaze me. This officer was wasted in Survey, as a Helm One, no less. I don’t
know how we missed profiling her, but besides all the accomplishments I’ve
already detailed while she was alone here, she stared that Kruss captain down
like… well, like a Fleet Admiral. I couldn’t have done better myself. She has
consistently matched or out-maneuvered her better-armed adversaries, including,
in a sense, me. I would never have sanctioned the action she took against the
Kruss base, but once she’d made it irrevocable, it was too good to turn down,
even knowing she was hoping I’d think exactly that.

Something’s shifted in her, Joe,
from the Lieutenant we sent exploring. I’m not sure what it is, but she’s as
tough and sharp as that nanowire she took away from the Kruss. Ironically, I
now believe she always was, but it’s as though she was afraid of her own
strengths before, and now, somehow, she’s not. And as far as I can see, she
remains utterly loyal to the Regnum’s military interests.

I’ve thought seriously about
reactivating her commission and packing her off to your private little ‘school
for admirals’ on Trailway, and you may want to keep that thought on the back
burner. But I realized she’d be away for two plus years, and then if this
planet’s inhabitants were lucky, she’d come right back here as Admiral. So for
now, my recommendation is that the Regnum’s, and the Navy’s, and this planet’s
interests are best served by leaving her right where she is. She’s making a
good start on bringing
Sho’ito
into the Civilium, and that as a friend
of the Regnum. Indeed without her efforts, Dr. Pennington informs me we’d
probably be lucky to get the planet partitioned at all, and could have lost the
whole system in Civilium courts.