Earth Song: Twilight Serenade Page 15

  “Humans,” Singh-Apal Katoosh hissed the word. “Filthy hominids.” He regarded his command screens as he made notes on orders. He was still without an assistant.

  His repulsion at the humans was much more than the natural disgust at a species of hairless monkeys. He stung from defeat at their hands over and over again. Add to that the fact that the Rasa appeared to have survived extermination and he was nothing short of livid. And the Grent had been all but silent for weeks. Helping the cursed Tanam or Mok-Tok, no doubt.

  “High Leader,” an underling said.

  Singh-Apal turned a baleful gaze in the male’s direction. For the underling to bow any lower, he’d have to unlatch a deck plate and crawl under the floor. It amused Singh-Apal enough to lessen his foul mood one notch.

  “Speak.”

  “The expected transport arrives.”

  Singh-Apal gave the barest hint of acknowledgement before launching himself off the command pedestal and slithered at high speed across the bridge. The underling screeched and barely hopped out of the way of Singh-Apal’s flashing razor sharp tailspike.

  A squad of personal bodyguards fell in behind him. After the repeated demonstrations of monkey treachery he’d resigned himself to never be without a few extra tails.

  By the time the high leader reached the transfer dock the transport had already docked, and the doors opened. Crew was coming over, replacements and transfers. As the leader slithered out of the left, all work ceased as every T’Chillen present dropped to the deck in respect.

  Singh-Apal dipped his hooded head the barest amount and gestured with an arm tentacle. Instantly work resumed as if he weren’t there. This sort of procedure was also his training. Had they been under combat alert, no observation of his rank would have taken place at all.

  Upon his assuming control of all space forces, he’d found out that every ships officer from the captain down to a the supply officer required lower ranks and underlings to drop to the deck at their approach, regardless of the situation or danger. He’d ended that practice instantly. Of course the minor nobles holding officer rank and any male with a small hood or puny tail spike had complained.

  “What good are respects to rank if the ship is being blown to pieces while underlings bow and scrape?” he’d raged to high command. Ultimately, his orders stuck. Largely through example.

  Once all the T’Chillen crew had moved through, another pair of beings appeared. Singh-Apal’s eyestalks quivered in disgust, and alertness. If any species could elicit more contempt that humans, it was this one. At the same time, he was forced to admit he admired them, and even just a hint of respect. They were formidable in combat.

  “You summoned us?” the leader asked. It didn’t show the least sign of respect due a higher order species from one such as itself.

  Such arrogance, Singh-Apal thought. He had the feeling he was making a mistake, but he proceeded anyway.

  “You have had dealings with the species known as humans?”

  “On several occasions,” the one spoke again, obviously the leader. It stared directly into Singh-Apal’s eyestalks, utterly without fear. “We enjoy fighting them.”

  “They have formidable space assets now,” Singh-Apal told them. “This is not common knowledge. However their assets are not enough to stand against us in a major battle. But we cannot locate them.”

  “We have no ships,” the alien said, “this is also common knowledge. What good would we be?”

  “You are renowned for finding your prey.” It was a small complement and it elicited a small nod from the leader of the aliens. The second one, the one which had never spoken, watched Singh-Apal with its unnatural unblinking eyes.

  “We can track them, but if they possess starships it is going to be nearly impossible to find them.”

  “And what if you have ships?”

  The eyes of the second one narrowed the tiniest fraction of a millimeter, still more than enough for Singh-Apal to notice. The other continued to speak for them.

  “You will give us starships, just to find these humans?”

  “I will require more than just a simple tracking in exchange for starships.”

  The other finally spoke. “If it is so simple, then you do it, snake.”

  Singh-Apal’s mouth actually fell open in shocked surprise. Not since he’d been a hatchling in the Madhu clan crèche had he been spoken to in such a manner. And then not for long, he was soon far too strong for any to order around.

  It was a monumental effort of will to not order them all killed, both these two and however many more were in the transfer ship. He wouldn’t admit it to these inferior creatures, but he did indeed need them.

  “Come with me,” he ordered and turned to leave. After a second he looked back to see they hadn’t moved. Again he fought with himself before bowing his head a centimeter. “If it pleases you, please come with me.”

  The two aliens both nodded their heads and followed on sinewy legs. If you didn’t look at them too closely, they resembled somewhat squat, misshapen humans. Behind them dozens more of their species milled inside the transfer lock.

  Singh-Apal and his personal guards led their guests to a large bay on a lower deck. The rear of the bay was closed off leaving just a large open space. Once they were all inside Singh-Apal rounded on the aliens.

  “Now that I’ve observed all your accursed niceties, are you interested in a deal, or do I blow you out into space and look for others?”

  Again, the spokesman for the aliens spoke, its voice sounding calm though the translator. “We are interested, what are your terms.”

  “Four ships, the training and support to operate them. In exchange you provide such services as we require for the next ten years. After which time you can do what you wish with the ships, and find your own support to keep them operating.”

  The aliens looks at each other, communicating wordlessly somehow. After a moment, the spokesman replied. “Six ships, for one year of service. And supplies for the life of the ships.”

  Singh-Apal’s eyestalks partly retracted as he regarded the pair of aliens for a long moment. They stared right back.

  “Four ships and support for five years after you have served us for five years.”

  It took more haggling than Singh-Apal expected, but by the end he had the deal he’d wanted and the craft were brought alongside.

  The other aliens swarmed aboard their new ships, obviously excited as they examined a treasure trove almost unheard of in the galaxy. They knew that in one shrewd deal their species had gained almost immeasurable power. All the while the two leaders continued to silently watch.

  There was just a hint of excitement from them as they regarded the ships, but Singh-Apal would have guessed it wasn’t for the ships so much as for the hunt to come.

  Part II

  Chapter 17

  March 2nd, 535 AE

  Deep Space, approaching Ghost Fleet #2, The Frontier

  Minu made note of the destruction of the Dervish system power base and entered it into her personal log. The data feed came as a burst transmission from the station an instant before it was turned into energetic particles. Lilith said there was not much of a chance anyone had intercepted it. That was again thanks to the Squeen. The small amount of details they had given her on how to program and control who could read a signal from a quantum transmitter was incredibly useful, even if they wouldn’t explain about how they were the ones that invented them.

  At least ten ships had been within the station’s shields when Lilith’s program had dropped them and snagged as many ships as the gravitic tractors could hold. Of course the station’s destruction cut off any details beyond that, the young master of the Kaatan was fairly certain all of them had met their end.

  “Cruisers,” Lilith told Minu, “all cruisers and two transports.”

  “They waited almost two weeks and then only sent a few ships,” Minu said, chewing her lip. “Almost… cautious for the snakes.”

  “I agr
ee, Mom,” Lilith said, “their tactics are evolving as well. That was a trap they set for me back there.”

  “Have you analyzed the new data on that strange ship which came to our rescue?”

  “As much as possible, yes. I believe it may have been drones.”

  Minu looked away from the panorama of stars gliding by. Traveling thousands of times the speed of light was almost normal. A light year slid by every half hour, almost forty-one light years a day. Even at that fantastic speed it would take lifetimes to cross the galaxy.

  “Unmanned? Something that big?”

  “Yes,” Lilith insisted. A holographic display separated from the wall and came alive with recorded images of the strange battle rider as it began deploying its parasite craft. The scene froze and became wire-drawing engineers’ depictions of the craft with arrows pointing to various parts. “Added to the previous encounter we now have a good idea of their workings.

  “The oversized craft that resembled Kaatan are not, they are only the same shape. Notice they are entirely energy weapons, more like the Fiisk in nature. They also appear to be able to recharge weapons and dump loaded shield capacitors into their carrier. Also their tactics suggest Combat Intelligence guidance, as the Fiisk CI agrees. This is an interesting design and unique in the database.”

  Minu nodded. “But whose?”

  “That is also an interesting question. While there are some tacit similarities to design concepts the People studied prior to the end of the war, this was not a finished concept. Also, based on the scans I was able to make, that ship is nearly new.”

  “We have a new players on the board,” Minu said under her breath, and they at least appeared to be an ally. They certainly weren’t friendly with humanity’s enemies. She tried to remember who’d said; the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and failed.

  “That’s twice that they’ve showed up at the nick of time to help us,” Minu pointed out.

  “Yes,” Lilith agreed, “which suggests we are under surveillance.”

  Minu nodded. “Be on the outlook, okay? I don’t care if they appear friendly, the thought of these…” she struggled for a name for them, “beings out there watching our every move is disconcerting.” Lilith agreed.

  “Mindy is up,” Aaron’s voice whispered in her ear, “and she’s hungry.”

  Minu thought about her sore nipples and shook her head. “When isn’t she hungry? I’ll be there in a minute. The hungry little thing has just enough time for a snack before we enter sensor range of the ghost fleet.”

  She glanced at the situation display that showed the Fiisk shadowing them a light minute behind. Further to either side the Eseel gunboats cruised, extending the squadron’s sensor range out many light years. An Ibeen would arrive in a few weeks’ time. The others were not nearly as fast as the Kaatan, so they all stayed to the slowest speed for safety. Space grew more hazardous by the day, it seemed.

  The squadron had taken a circuitous route to their destination to give the Beezer and their Ibeen time to drop off cargo, pick up more newly recruited crew, and rendezvous. If she was right, they were going to need the personnel.

  “Some additional information,” her daughter offered. “I have made contact with the Chosen communications personnel you suggested through the modified quantum communicator.”

  “Excellent! Did you tell them to keep it confidential?”

  “As you instructed, mom. Though I am uncertain why the subterfuge.”

  “I’ll explain.” Minu gestured at her console. “Can you interface the Chosen communications network with us?”

  Lilith nodded and Minu’s consoles changed to add a standard Bellatrix communications pad.

  “Thanks.” Minu consulted her personal tablet to verify what time it was back home and then dialed a number from memory.

  “Ted here,” a familiar voice answered.

  “Hey Ted, it’s your boss.”

  “Minu! You almost home already? I didn’t hear any sort of announcement.”

  “And you won’t either,” Minu told him, “I’m a couple thousand light years away.”

  There was a protracted silence. “I assume you’re not calling through a portal.”

  “You assume correctly.”

  “Then this call is against the rules, as we know them.”

  “Rules? Ted, rules change.” Minu explained to him the codes they’d gotten from the Squeen, what the codes allowed them to do, and their new cooperation pact with the furred aliens.

  “That’s quite a development,” Ted said after she’d finished.

  “There’s more. We successfully salvaged the ghost fleet, including a Fiisk battlecruiser hybrid and all five planned Ibeen. The Fiisk is now operating with a surviving Kaatan Combat Intelligence.”

  “That’s amazing!”

  “Agreed. Lilith got it working for us and we installed the remains of its Kaatan into the Fiisk. It’s kind of a kludge, but works. The CI itself proved a bit of a treasure trove.” Minu explained the details on the vast combat fleet the CI had been part of, including the three known accessible dropoff points for damaged ships.

  “And you’re going for them, aren’t you?”

  “Yes,” she admitted.

  “You’re going to be pretty close to having that baby,” he warned her.

  “Yeah, about that.”

  “Oh no you didn’t!” She chuckled and could just see him shaking his head. “Cherise is going to tear you a new one when you get back. How did it go?”

  “It was tough,” she said, “but better than just having the baby show up as a young adult.”

  “I bet.”

  “And I had help. When the Squeen showed up they brought an old friend.” She’d patched the call into her stateroom. Even over the sound of Mindy’s cries of hunger the voice was unrecognizable.

  “Hi Ted,” Aaron said.

  “We figured you were long gone, son.”

  “Never count me out.”

  “Even still, Minu, I can imagine you have your hands quite full. Wouldn’t it be better to come back home and go out later?”

  “We had another run in with that battle-rider, Ted. There are more and more ships out here. Lilith is certain many of them are new. You know what that means?”

  “Sounds like we kicked over another howler nest,” Ted said.

  Minu found the logic hard to argue with. “I want you to convene the council and explain what we’re doing. I anticipate an extra several months, at the minimum. I’m pushing up one of the plans, and pushing another back.” She spent several more minutes explaining the plan.

  “Got it. What about the baby? You going to say if it’s a boy or girl?”

  “No,” Minu admitted. “I can’t ask you to keep the fact that there’s a new Groves a secret, but I am asking to keep its sex and name to myself. Maybe it will lessen the blow to certain parties.”

  “Or really piss them off.”

  “I guess I’ll take that chance,” she said. “I’ll be in touch after we’ve evaluated the next ghost fleet.”

  “See you soon, Ted,” Aaron said over the cries.

  “He’s right,” Lilith said after the call was over. “Aunt Cherise is going to kill you.”

  “She wouldn’t do that. She won’t get any more kids from me to play with.”

  “Seems weak, mom. She’s a female of breeding age and could just make her own babies.”

  “It’s not that simple for her.” Lilith looked at her curiously but Minu didn’t elaborate. She didn’t feel like it was the time to discuss alternative lifestyles. “I better get back to the stateroom before Mindy kills Aaron and hides the body.”

  “That is unlikely at best.”

  “Can’t fool you,” Minu chuckled. “Let me know when we’re in sensor range of the ghost fleet.”

  Minu left her older daughter to run the ship and rejoined the other part of her family. As soon as the door to the compartment opened Mindy’s wails of protest hit her like a wave. “Wow, she’s really
wound up!” Minu said, unfastening her uniform front and baring a breast.

  The little girl might only be two weeks old, but the sound of Minu’s voice made her turn and look, her cries stopping instantly. “That’s what she wanted,” Aaron said and handed up the little squirming baby. She was making grunting sounds and reaching in her uncoordinated way for the breast even before Minu settled her into a now familiar posture, cradled in one arm, feet against the crook of her arm. She clamped on and sucked eagerly.

  The MI had told them that it could produce a near perfect synthetic for the baby when Minu was busy. The veracity of her denial to that option surprised even herself. The MI never offered again.

  Using the instantaneous quantum communicators Aaron had begun accessing data from Bellatrix, downloading exabytes of records from Groves Industries as well as general news and goings on. “The climate is getting worse,” he mumbled as he read a news report. A slew of skin cancer cases in Peninsula which should have been no problem considering they had the medical codex. The Peninsula tribe were being their usual Luddite selves and now people might die because of their attitudes.

  “Kal’at and Bjorn should almost be finished with the tech demonstrator project for the deep space radiance shields,” she said. Mindy finished with one side and she moved her to the other. The little girl was getting efficient.

  “You didn’t do much with the company after I disappeared.”

  “Didn’t need to,” she told him. “None of the projects required my attention, and you put good people in charge. I still bet they’ll be happy to see you.”

  “We’ve had our first off-world sales,” he noted.

  “Who to?”

  “The Capdep bought three,” he said, remembering seeing them in the Squeen fleet, “and the Kovu bought one.”

  “Never seen a Kovu,” Minu said.

  “Big lobsters with hairy arms?”

  “Oh, right,” she shuddered.

  “And some interspecies consortium bought ten.”

  “Now that’s interesting,” she said. Mindy still had a nipple in her mouth and her jaw was moving, but she wasn’t sucking any more. Her eyes had drifted closed and she was just about out. “Who represented them in the deal?”