Command Authority, page 12
part #5 of Last Hunter Series
India frowned. “The name sounds vaguely familiar, but I wasn’t assigned to the cluster, so I don’t know where everything is. Is it a large system?”
He nodded as they emerged onto his deck. “The biggest. The Confederation Council set up the government hub for the cluster there. That’s also where the primary Navy base was before everything went down. I believe we can count on them having trashed the orbital infrastructure, but it means a lot of important people are probably alive on the surface. Since it’s meant to be one of the Tardan’s main hubs, I feel confident we’ll find space elevators and some of their construction in place. The population there is significantly higher than at New Copenhagen, so it’s undoubtedly an atrocity in progress, and I want to head there as quickly as possible.”
He walked into his briefing room and found Derek Calvo already there, making coffee in a large enough quantity for everyone. “Good timing. I was just filling everyone in on what we’ve discovered thus far. Have a seat, and I’ll keep going.”
Once they’d served themselves coffee and sat at one end of the table, Jack took a sip of his coffee and sighed. He wasn’t sure where this coffee had come from, but it was a couple of notches above what had been in his office before. No doubt his new personal steward had dug something up on New Copenhagen. He approved.
“Now, let’s talk about the Novarite prisoners,” he said. “We captured a number that boarded us and a couple from one of the warships. David and Tina have been working hard to get them to talk, but they wouldn’t give us the time of day. They decided to try isolating one of the crew people, and the man was willing to negotiate. He wanted the other crewperson brought to his location before he would talk. It turns out it was his mate, and they’ve been talking, at least to a degree.”
“I have to say that surprises me,” Commander Alexey Golousenko said. “Everything I’ve heard about the Novarites says they don’t want to cooperate with anyone. They’re seriously xenophobic.”
“Considering how the people on the scout ship reacted to us the moment we appeared, I’d say that that’s an accurate statement,” Derek told his newly returned department head. “Even with Hunter at point-blank range, they opened fire. They didn’t even try to negotiate. They had no chance. I can’t understand how anyone gets along with them. How did they develop into an interstellar civilization when the first people they met would get attacked? Did they not run into anyone? Or did they just conquer them?”
“They’ve obviously met other civilizations because they designed the Tardans to take them over,” Jack said. “Unfortunately, the details are sparse. There’s probably more information inside the Novarite computers, but they didn’t share it with the Tardans. I’m sure they met some of these alien species during the attempt to make them into their controllers, but apparently none of the Tardans ever came back from the testing. The Novarites don’t take failure well, it seems.”
“That sucks,” India said with a shake of her head. “Still, I’m glad we were able to talk to some of them. Even if they don’t have much information, they might help us understand how the Novarite mind works. There’s got to be a trick we can use to at least get them talking rather than shooting.”
She smiled at Jack. “And speaking of shooting, now that we know we’re going to Argent, what’s our plan? You said the ship’s repairs have moved along, so I assume we’re combat capable.”
“We’re a lot more combat capable than we were,” Jack said with a smile. “The excavation of the nuclear weapons storage facility has paid off, and we’ve begun getting more than enough nuclear warheads to arm ourselves. This will be the first time we’ll have gotten into a fight where we don’t have to hoard missiles. We can use them as they were intended and swamp our enemies. I still don’t want to go overboard because the refurbishment process isn’t quick.”
India grinned. “That’s excellent news. I’ll assume we also have more missile and laser batteries operational. That’s going to be helpful, but we need to keep in mind that the Tardans arrived with enough force to try and fight twelve battleships. The Gateway system was empty when we scouted it, so the motherships loaded up and either came after us or went elsewhere in the cluster. Those kinds of numbers will kill us dead, even fully loaded.”
“True enough,” Jack agreed. “Derek said the scout ship had some advanced sensors and hyperspace detectors. Once we get them over to Hunter, we can set everything up and see if we can use the technology to gain more insight into the Tardans when we get to Argent. That will take Lisa hacking into their computers and working up a hardware interface, but she’s already done something like that with the hyperspace detector. That gives me hope we can accomplish it relatively quickly.”
“What kind of timeframe are we looking at?” India asked, leaning forward to rest an elbow on the table. “I don’t like the idea of waiting to confront the enemy, but we’ve got to make sure we do things right. If we wait too long, we have to start wondering if we’ve got some Locusts that might come in for a visit while we’re gone. If I remember right, Argent is more than a single jump away, so that means it would be a bit hard for one of the exploration ships to warn us.”
“It’ll take two jumps,” Derek said. “Interestingly, the geography of the cluster puts Argent perpendicular to the Tardan line of advance from their home system. It means we might have colony ships and more Tardan warships showing up before long. And, of course, the Novarites.”
“Well, isn’t that a cheerful thought?” Jack asked. “Let’s hope we have a bit of time to get things in order to ambush them, too. Can you estimate how long we have?”
The young officer shrugged. “Only in a general way. We don’t know when the Tardan colonization ships would have left. We also don’t know if the Novarites are following them. I suppose we have to assume they are. Say anytime between last month and the next two months.”
“Not what I was hoping to hear, but what I needed to know. Thanks.” He returned his attention to India. “We can’t be afraid of being away from every system we free, but you’re right. New Copenhagen is important to the war effort. Not only are all the nuclear weapons we need here, it’s the gateway to our repair parts. I’ve been working with Connor over the last month to get as many small asteroids outfitted as defensive stations as possible. Putting missile and laser batteries on them, as well as enough power to operate them. They’re seeding them around Port Royale and New Copenhagen. It’s not going to be as good as being here, but it’s better than nothing.”
“That still doesn’t answer my original question,” she said. “What kind of timeframe are you thinking for us to depart for Argent?”
“Three days. Argent will be bad, and the longer we wait, the worse it will be. I’d like to have these new sensors brought online and at least do some testing. Seventy-two hours may be a bit ambitious, but let’s run with it and make an assessment in two days. If we have to extend a little, that’ll be the right time to make the call.”
“That sounds good to me,” she said.
He glanced at his chronometer. “I think that’s enough for now. Go get cleaned up and settle back in. You’ll want to be rested when we really kick things off. Our days of getting enough sleep might be over for the foreseeable future.”
14
David reviewed the records of what the two Novarite prisoners had been doing overnight. Excluding their mating—which he would leave to his wife to sort out—he had a lot of whispered conversations to translate.
Not that he had to do a lot of work. The translation program did a decent job of figuring out what things were. There would be aspects that he had to run past Lisa, but he could see that the prisoners were still of two minds about whether they should cooperate or stonewall.
The male, Aralan, was inclined to see if they could get more for cooperation than the simple cell they were imprisoned in. His larger and more aggressive mate, Larista, was inclined to draw a line because she didn’t want to cooperate with the enemies of their species. It was interesting watching how they spoke to one another because whatever flaws the Novarites had, gender equality wasn’t one of them. Both of them seemed to be on an equal footing in their relationship, and the fact that they couldn’t agree on the best course of action meant that he still had an opportunity to sway them.
He was pondering how he might go about that when the hatch slid open and Christine Hooghuis walked in. The athletic woman was unaccompanied by her drones, which he found unusual. The little spy devices were constantly monitoring things going on around them, and they especially liked to hover near the commodore.
As an intelligence agent, he was more comfortable when not being recorded, though he knew he wasn’t a spy in any sense of the word these days, so he didn’t have anything to fear. He had no cover to be blown.
“Good morning,” he said with a smile as he turned to face her. “I thought you were on New Copenhagen. What brings you to speak with me?”
“What makes you think I’m not here to talk with your prisoners?” she said with a grin as she sat. “Maybe I want an interview.”
“Do you? That might be entertaining.”
“I wouldn’t say no to one, but I’m more interested in getting your take on a couple of scenes from the documentary.”
“The documentary? Things have barely begun.”
“True,” she said, “but if I ever want this to get out to the general public, I need to start releasing segments of it. I’m thinking of this as part one of many. The title will be In Defense of Humanity, Part One. It has a ring to it and sets the right tone for what we’re doing.”
He felt the corners of his mouth quirk up even more. “Are you sure this isn’t a propaganda piece? It sort of sounds like one.”
“Not propaganda, but there’s definitely a ‘rah rah’ element. I’ve pretty much got it put together, but there are a few scenes that I’m not sure I should include, and I wanted a second opinion. Basically, drones were running around engineering when the Novarites boarded us. That, and the assault on the volcanic island. Both were bloody and showed things that no general audience should see. Death and destruction, blood and gore. There was a lot of it, and it was horrible.”
David considered that. “You can run it past my wife for a third opinion, but if it was me, I’d use the scenes. It would be traumatic for a general audience to watch, but if you pause the documentary with a graphic warning that what they’re going to see next is something they won’t be able to unsee, tell them why, and give them a button they can press to skip to a sanitized version of what happened, I think you’ll be all right. Some people will want to see war in all its ugliness. Others will want to see the details without having to watch death and maiming. It’s up to the audience to decide what they want, not the documenter, correct?”
The young woman crossed her arms, leaned back, and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before slowly nodding. “Maybe. There are other places where I could give them a choice of watching the original footage or a sanitized scene. It would take a little effort to clean them out, but I think we could probably keep most of the impact without the blood and gore. Not all of it, but a lot.”
She sat up a bit straighter and grinned. “Thanks for helping me clear that up. Now, about that interview with your prisoners.”
He laughed and started to tell her to get going but then thought about it again. Would there be a benefit to letting the aliens speak with Christine? Maybe a better question would be, could it hurt? If she added something like that to the documentary, it would be helpful. While he wasn’t one to worry about swaying public opinion, he knew there would be times when Jack would need an extra edge, and having a bit of a reputation and an aura of the savior of humanity would be helpful.
“If I allowed you to interview them, what kind of things would you ask?” he asked.
She considered that for a moment. “They’re not going to tell me their military secrets, but maybe if I asked about what kind of life they led before they joined the military it would break the ice. Just some background to get color about who the Novarites are. It’s easy to paint them as complete villains, but I’m certain that’s not the case. No one is pure evil. There will be aspects of them we can relate to.”
David pursed his lips and considered her words. It wouldn’t help him get the information they needed, but perhaps that would put the aliens more at ease. Christine was personable and seemed to be able to get people to open up. It wasn’t an interrogator’s skill. No, it was an interviewer’s.
“I’m willing to let you interview them, but I want to record you doing so. The other end will be recorded because everything in the cell is under observation, but I want the documentary viewer to see you.”
She blinked at him. “Me? I’m the person behind the cameras, not the story. That’s everyone else.”
“That might have been true before, but it’s no longer the case. Though your weapons are different, you’re fighting this war just as hard as we are. You’re shaping public opinion with this piece. For the viewer to get the full impact of everything that’s happening, they must know who you are.”
He grinned as she squirmed in her seat. “As a matter of fact, I believe we need to sit down and have an interview. One where you’re the subject and my wife and I ask questions, so you’re as well known to the viewer as any of the other participants in this grand story. And it should go out with part one.”
For a moment, she sat there, obviously struggling to come up with a cogent thought, and then she shook her head. “I’m operating as a member of the press. It’s not my job to be the story.”
“Then I’ll sadly have to refuse your request to interview the subjects. It’s a shame, really. I think they might open up to someone with your skills. You have a way with people, whether they be human or alien. Everyone likes telling you things that they might not otherwise mention. Pity.”
Her eyes narrowed. “That’s playing dirty.”
“I was in Confederation Intelligence, so it comes naturally. It’s not nearly the most despicable thing I’ve done this week. Not by far.”
He hoped the cameras in the operating theater had been turned off. That was one scene he’d rather not become public knowledge. While the end result had a very karmic edge, it wouldn’t come across well to most people, though they’d utterly believe a Confederation Intelligence operative was capable of doing what he’d done. They just wouldn’t like it, and some things needed to happen in the shadows.
She stared at him for a long moment before snorting. “You drive a hard bargain, but I’ll play along. I’d really like to talk to these aliens, and if the price is me doing an interview with you, I suppose I’ll do it.”
The hatch slid open, and Tina walked in with a couple of cups of coffee. She smiled widely at Christine. “I thought you were down on the planet. What brings you up?”
“She wants to interview our prisoners, and I got her to agree to us interviewing her for the documentary in exchange. Not that we have to do it right this second, but I figured we should get something out of the deal.”
“Oh, that’s going to be fun! I’ll start thinking of good questions. We can dig into her background and ask the kind of insightful things that no one would know about if they weren’t sneaking through the shadows to figure out everything she’s ever done.”
“You two are creepy,” Christine said with a laugh. “Trapped in the cluster like we are, though, I’m not sure how much of the good stuff you’re going to find.”
David rubbed his hands together. “We do love a good challenge, and that’s what this has now become. Rest assured, we’ll find something embarrassing to bring up. After all, I’m sure someone on your staff knows where the bodies are buried. We’ll just have to make them a tempting offer. So, how do you want to do this? The subjects aren’t very cooperative, and I’m uncertain if they’ll even speak to you. We almost have to use leverage to get them to talk.”
“What kind of leverage?” Christine asked in a serious tone. “Maybe if I act as an intercessor, I can get them to talk to me. And, depending on what they wanted, I might even agree with taking that stance.”
He shared a look with his wife, and they communicated without speaking. The slightest raise of her eyebrow and the tilt of her head to the left just a hair told him that she was willing to let this play out.
“Very well. I can’t wait to see how you approach them, though I’ll tell you right now that depending on what they want, we may not agree to their demands. I’m willing to let them hear us negotiate while you stand up for what they want, if you think that’s worthwhile. I do enjoy seeing a professional work.”
Tina took her seat and observed the prisoners sitting on the bed and speaking in a low tone. “If I were them, I’d want something of an upgrade to their quarters. I’m sure that something could be arranged. With the captured scout ship, we could outfit the quarters in something much more homelike for them. We could even return to the wreck and try to salvage some of their personal belongings. There are options.”
“Can they see us?”
He shook his head. “This is voice only. The translator renders what we say into a close approximation of the language and gives us back what they say in return in our language. Considering how xenophobic they are, I’m not certain a visual representation of us would be helpful. With the other groups, our presence causes attacks. The female has also attacked the Marines, so maybe it’s best not to push that particular point.”
“I think I’ll try to speak with them about nonclassified portions of their life and tell them that I’d be willing to advocate on their behalf for some reasonable accommodations in exchange for that,” Christine said. “Once you’ve introduced me, if they have questions, I’d be happy to discuss it and see what can be arranged. Fair warning. I’m a bit of a dealmaker, so while interrogation may not be my specialty, I can make an agreement like nobody’s business.”
