Hero's Return, page 18
“Sensors are telling us that all the packs patrolling the outer system have upgraded missile and shield systems based on Bear technology,” Sydney Gould informed Julie.
They were sitting in Julie’s ambassador’s suite, a well-appointed collection of rooms the builders had included in the ship’s design. It was, after all, a diplomatic ship, and the Empire needed its representatives to live and entertain in style. At first, Julie had felt uncomfortable living and working in the elegance. But after all the years of working out of the cramped offices aboard warships, she got over it pretty quickly.
“What’s the status of the inner four packs?”
“Each is missing one of the four defenders, the battleship-sized escorts that defend their carriers. We’ve confirmed they’re in shipyards being upgraded.”
Julie typed commands into the recessed keyboard embedded in the top of her desk, and the wall image shifted. It now showed a space dock with a nearly complete warship inside.
“That ship looks awfully familiar.”
Gould barked a laugh. “Hard as it may be to believe, the Lizards and Cats cooperated on the design of a new, purpose-built warship. And if you study the basic ship designs, you’ll find they aren’t much different from a human battleship. I’d wager either of us could stroll around one of them and not get lost.”
“You could stroll around one and not get lost, Syd,” Julie said. “You always served on capital ships. I was a cruiser girl.”
Julie punched more keys, and again the image on the screen changed. This time, it focused on the ships of the 2nd Swarm Defense Force, in orbit around the system’s fourth planet. Made up of fifty Swarm cruisers and a single squadron of missile dreadnoughts, it was the Federation Fleet’s contribution to the Pyrassun Star System’s defense.
“With that many ships already upgraded, I don’t see an issue with pulling ships out of the system,” Julie said.
Gould’s comm tablet chimed, interrupting the conversation.
“That’s interesting,” the chief of staff said, reading the message.
“What?”
“Chancellor Lysara is coming up to meet with you. She’ll be here in less than an hour.”
Lysara had been the Pyrassun ambassador to the Zenkarr. She’d been the only one who’d challenged the Pyrassun supreme pack leader’s decision when he agreed to the Zenkarr proposal of aid in return for attacking the Imperial Fleet. In fact, Lysara had been so vocal in her argument that Pyrassun’s ruler had imprisoned her.
The Cats had quickly learned the error of their ways. There was a reason the Bears had come to them with the proposal. The Imperial Fleet had all but destroyed the Mordorian Fleet in combat, and the Pyrassuns discovered their ships wouldn’t fare any better. Aiden Doheny’s strike force destroyed ten strike packs during a prolonged battle in the Delta Pavonis Star System, with minimal losses of her own.
Realizing his error, the supreme pack leader sued for peace and freed Lysara. Recognizing she would tell him the truth, not what he wanted to hear, the Pyrassun leader had named her chancellor, making her responsible for the day-to-day operation of the hegemony.
“What do you make of this, Syd?”
“It’s unusual, that’s for sure.”
“But why come up to meet separately with me when she can do so when I come down to meet with the supreme pack leader?”
“That’s an excellent question, Madame President,” Syd responded. “Unless…”
“Unless the supreme pack leader doesn’t intend to meet with me,” Julie said. “The cagey old tomcat is going to duck the meeting because he doesn’t want to hear what I have to say.”
“How could he know?”
“They have the best intelligence service in this part of space, Syd,” Julie stated. “I’m betting a message detailing my discussion with Gorgonian was on its way here before I briefed you on what happened.”
“And if he doesn’t hear the request, he doesn’t have to officially turn it down.”
“Exactly. But even though I’m new to all this diplomatic shit, I have learned a few things along the way.”
Julie looked down at what she was wearing. It was a dark blue woman’s suit that Anna had picked out for her.
“I think I’m going to change into something a little more appropriate for the kind of meeting I believe Lysara and I are about to have. While I do that, I want you to organize the reception. Full honors, Marine honor guard, the works. Then bring her here.”
“You’re not going to meet her in the shuttle bay?”
“Nope. I’m going to be indisposed, working on another Federation problem. Which won’t be a lie. What she doesn’t need to know is, the problem I’ll be working on is the lack of Pyrassun support in defending the Federation.”
* * *
Julie stood and walked across the room to greet Lysara when the Pyrassun chancellor entered the room.
“You honor me by coming up to my ship to meet, Chancellor,” Julie stated as she offered the feline her hand. “I had planned to meet with you when I came down to see the supreme pack leader.”
Julie could see the comment had struck home. The chancellor suddenly looked very pensive as she performed the human greeting ritual.
“It seems you already know the reason I’m here, Madame President,” Lysara purred.
Julie took a moment to reflect on how different Pyrassun females sounded from males. The males had a guttural tone that was almost a growl, while the females seemed to always have a singsong, purring tone of voice. Of course, she couldn’t understand what the ambassador was actually saying. The ship’s computer was translating the chancellor in real time and sending it to an earbud she was wearing. But she could still hear the ambassador’s words in her native tongue and found it very soothing.
“The two of us talked many times when we negotiated the founding of the Federation, Lysara. During those discussions, I found you to be a straightforward person. But where are my manners? Come. Sit with me, and let’s discuss why each of us is here. Though I suspect you already know why I traveled to your homeworld.”
“You want the hegemony to take over protecting the 61 Cygni System,” Lysara stated.
Julie chuckled. “It’s good to see the vaunted Pyrassun intelligence service isn’t infallible.”
Lysara cocked her head in a humanlike, questioning gesture.
During her discussions with the chancellor and other Cats, Julie had found that their two races shared many nonverbal expressions.
“That’s not the only reason I’m here. I also need to discuss the reason the Federation needs the hegemony to take over the responsibility for the defense of not only the 61 Cygni System, but your home star system, as well.”
“So you’re here to negotiate the withdrawal of your force that helps to defend my home?”
“I consider us friends, Lysara, so I’m going to be blunt. I’m not here to negotiate.”
“But the Federation has a commitment to protect Pyrassun. Emperor Hazard…”
“Made a commitment to the supreme pack leader to protect the hegemony from Zenkarr aggression. Part of the agreement in forming the Federation was that it would honor the emperor’s commitments to both you and the Mordorians. So we stationed a fleet here to do that, and we stationed a fleet in the 61 Cygni System when the Eesni began threatening your colony there.
“But times have changed, Lysara,” Julie continued. “Right now, we’ve dispersed the Federation Fleet across too many star systems. A sizable chunk of it is protecting the 61 Cygni System because of the Eesni threat. Right now, we have no reserves I could send to thwart an attack anywhere else. The Federation also has no force it could use to conduct offensive operations against the Eesni.”
“Is that what this is all about? Launching an attack against the Eesni?”
“We can’t just sit and wait for their next attack. They’ll increase the pressure till they arrive with a force we can’t handle.”
Lysara, who had sprawled out on a sofa in cat-like fashion, licked a paw as she thought. “When you attack…”
“If we attack. We haven’t reached that decision yet,” Julie interrupted.
“Okay—” Lysara bowed toward Julie “—if you attack, where would you strike?”
Julie gave the Cat chancellor a puzzled look.
“Doay, of course.”
The Federation president now saw a puzzled look on Lysara’s face.
“Why there?”
Julie leaned back in her armchair. “I think we’re suffering from a communications gap, Chancellor. Do you know about Fleet Commander Nieqid’s visit to the 61 Cygni System?”
“The Zenkarr fleet leader and senior councilor visited our star system?” Lysara asked in surprise. “When? Why wasn’t the Pack informed?”
“It was, Chancellor,” Sydney Gould said formally, speaking up for the first time. “I personally sent the initial message of the visit and the follow-up documents and recordings to both your local commander and your ruling chamber here.”
Lysara hissed, then lept up off the sofa, exhibiting the feline grace her race reminded humans of. She began pacing the room. She circled the suite once, muttering to herself the entire time.
“That miserable, piece of shit, broken down tomcat.”
Julie and Gould sat patiently, waiting for the Pyrassun senior official to calm down. Finally, after completing a second lap of the suite, the Cat chancellor settled back onto the sofa.
“I apologize for my outburst. You’d think that, as long as I have been an ambassador, I would have picked up at least some diplomatic skills. But Bolxaels sent me up here to blow you off. I’m sure you already suspected that.”
Julie nodded.
“I didn’t agree with the decision, but I could understand that circumstances forced him into it. And it is my job as chancellor, after all, to shield him from certain things.”
“Like being accused of reneging on promises?” Julie asked.
Lysara bobbed her head. “It wouldn’t be him reneging, after all. It would be me. But then the mangy asshole sends me up here without information I need. Information I’m sure he has but decided not to share with me.”
“How can you be so sure?” Sydney asked. “Someone may have intercepted and kept my messages from the supreme pack leader.”
“Of course, you’re correct, Admiral. That is a possibility. And if that had happened, it wouldn’t surprise me. Those messages would have needed to pass through many hands before reaching Bolxaels.
“But you sent copies of everything to the local military commander,” Lysara continued. “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but the commander is the oldest female of Bolxaels’ first litter—in your terms, his oldest daughter—and she is his favorite. She has direct access to her father, and because she’s aware of the politics in play at the moment, she’d have sent that information directly to him, likely by courier.”
“I get the impression Bolxaels isn’t as secure in his leadership position as we thought,” Julie stated.
Lysara cackled. The laugh sounded strange to Julie.
“Because he’s not. We are a warrior race, Madame President, and have always believed we needed to be led by the strongest and ablest. Bolxaels was once such a leader.”
She shook her head. “But not anymore. The fiasco of agreeing to support the Zenkarr against you humans and losing so many warships and warriors cost Bolxaels a lot of prestige. And he’s not as young and virile as he once was. Two cycles ago, they all feared him. Not one Cat would have dared challenge him.” Lysara sighed. “Now they fight amongst themselves over who will confront him. That’s how he’s managed to stay in power.”
Julie nodded, understanding the situation. “Playing them off against each other and not allowing support to coalesce behind a single candidate.”
“Yes. Bolxaels has been the supreme pack leader for many cycles. What he lacks now in strength, he makes up for in wisdom and cunning. But because he has to play these games, he has to be careful about committing the Hegemony to anything. No matter how ‘right’ the decision is, how ‘good’ it is for the Hegemony, someone will use it against him.”
“So by not meeting with me, he doesn’t have to agree with or refuse my request. So, if I decide to pull the Federation’s ships out of Pyrassun and 61 Cygni, what will he do?”
“He will bellow and snarl and stomp around the throne room, complaining to some that it was the right decision, and to others that you, Madame President, are screwing him over. Then he’ll order the senior pack leader to send some of our improved ships to 61 Cygni.”
“And what about your home system?” Sydney asked.
“Oh, he has long insisted to anyone who would listen that Pyrassun doesn’t need Federation protection, but if you wanted to station warships here, anyway, he wouldn’t send them away.”
“Then I think we understand…”
The ping of a priority message on her comm tablet stopped Julie mid-sentence.
She pulled the device out of a jacket pocket and read the text-only message. She quickly typed in a response.
“I apologize, Chancellor Lysara,” Julie said and held up the tablet, “but this is critical. I need to take care of it. Stay here and enjoy my hospitality. I should be back in a moment.”
Julie started for the connecting door to the adjoining conference room. Syd, who’d received the same message and saw Julie’s response, rose to follow, but she waved him back into his chair.
“Stay here and keep the chancellor company,” Julie ordered. “The two of you can compare notes on working for difficult bosses.”
The quip brought a chuckle from the Cat diplomat, but only an angry glare from Julie’s chief of staff.
* * *
Julie carefully closed the conference room door, then turned to the room’s only other occupant.
“Who the fuck do you think you are, Snake?” Julie kept her rage only partially intact.
“Your goody-two-shoes chief of staff put a block on all your comms,” the head of Federation Intelligence, Darrel ‘Snake’ Atwater, responded. “I desperately needed to speak with you, so knowing a priority message would get through, I used my position as head of Intelligence to send one to you.”
“Even though it’s not an emergency?”
“It is an emergency to me, and that’s all that matters,” Snake responded. “Is it true?”
Julie decided that right now wasn’t the time to play games with an agitated spy who could likely kill her with his bare hands.
“Yes, Hazard is alive. Workers cutting away debris, preparing Superb for repair, found a damaged escape pod. Anticipating who might be inside, the yard commander ordered a Marine security team to secure the pod.
“They expected they’d find a body,” Julie continued, “but somehow, Mike and Phil got him sealed into a med pod before he died.”
“What about…”
“They didn’t make it, Darrel,” Julie answered before he could finish asking the question.
“Okay, then,” Snake said, turned, and started for the hatch to the main corridor.
“Hold on a minute, Cowboy!” Julie did shout this time. “You owe me some information.”
“No time. I’m betting if he isn’t already on his way to Britannia, he soon will be, and I need to see him.”
“And how will you get out of this system?” Julie asked.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Snake stated coldly. “Besides, I’m not sure the Pyrassuns would let you stop me from riding the ship I arrived on out of the system.
“Good luck catching up to Connie aboard her.” Julie pulled her comp pad out of a jacket pocket and consulted it. “If Aiden managed to stay on schedule, Constellation will break Earth orbit late today. That gets her to the Pegasus System in nine, or at the most, ten days. Five days to refuel, load people going back to the Empire, then get back beyond the hyper limit. She’ll be leaving that system in two weeks, plus or minus a day. Can your tramp freighter get you there before that?”
Darrel slumped into one of the conference room chairs. “It’s not an ordinary freighter. She only looks slow. It’s a special scout/intelligence ship. It has the range and the speed to get to Pegasus in time.”
“Assuming I let you off this ship.”
“Damn you, Julie. Don’t make me do something we’ll both regret.”
Julie took the seat next to him. “I know, since I felt the same way, but my visits to the other Federation members couldn’t wait, so I had to say goodbye early, and then carry on with my mission.”
Julie let that last statement sink in. “You have a mission that isn’t finished. I need whatever information you’ve pried out of our Crab friends, and you know why I need that information. After that, I’ll get Syd to arrange for you to get off the ship with a priority clearance out of the system.
“Darrel, you’ve known me for a while,” Julie continued. “Have you ever known me to negotiate with anyone over something like this? I’m doing it because he’s my friend, as well, and I know how important it was for me to see him. So I won’t deprive you of that. It’ll take an hour for Syd to make arrangements, and if for some reason you miss the connection, you can use the ship to chase her down.”
“And while we wait, I can brief you on what I learned,” Snake stated.
Julie held up a hand. “Let me get Sydney in here so I can brief him on what we need him to arrange.”
* * *
Snake spent an hour filling Julie in on everything he’d learned. The Federation president found it interesting. There wasn’t a lot of new information, and nothing outright surprised her. What it did was confirm much of what she and Sydney had speculated on concerning the Crabs’ relationship with the Eesni.
Julie shared all that speculation with Snake. She knew she wouldn’t get anything worthwhile out of the man right now, since the Hazard situation had him far too preoccupied to analyze the information. But it was a long way from Pyrassun to the Pegasus Star System, and Julie knew he couldn’t fixate forever on getting to his friend.
