All That Bedevils Us, page 12
It was in his nature to take charge of things, which was why that earlier military career had been so successful. If something needed to be done, if a crisis arose, he simply could not sit quietly and leave matters to others. This was especially true when events unfolded at a rapid pace. What was he supposed to do? Wait and see what someone else might come up with? It wasn’t that he couldn’t follow orders; he’d certainly done enough of that as a member of the RDF. As soon as he was deployed, however, he followed the spirit of those orders, not the letter, and got the job done. Nor did he have a problem delegating tasks to others – that was easy enough. So long as the choices were his, so long as he held all the tethers, delegation was an easy thing for Costa.
If I didn’t do it, there would be someone else. There’s always someone who rises to the occasion. Nothing special in it.
While they strolled along, their guides explained the whys and wherefores of Rusalas space station habitats. Costa had been so rattled and embarrassed, and then lost in thought, that he’d heard none of it. Others were listening and asking questions, though, and his lack of participation appeared to go unnoticed. Dorgnas certainly realized he’d gone quiet, but she knew him well enough not to nudge. She looked at him, her face that of a Rusalas relaxed and for the moment content, and released his hand long enough to twine her arm with his. It had the effect of drawing them closer.
Costa still felt relief at the sight of the normal facial hair of her species restored to her delicate chin and jaw. Dorgnas was being Dorgnas again, one of the Rusalas. Just as it should be. The facial hair was an oddity, and the upper facial articulation was strange and alien. Somewhere along the way he had learned to accept it all. Dorgnas was someone worth caring about, and that was all that mattered. She was beautiful, into the bargain, as odd as her Rusalas characteristics might be, taken by themselves. He looked away from her and felt a smile on his face. Then realized with a pang how thoroughly unaccustomed to such feelings he had become.
He glanced around just in time to see one of the Rusalas they passed along the way raise and narrow his eyes to dark blue slits. As Costa tried to fathom that expression, he felt Dorgnas stiffen beside him. She’d seen it too, and her reaction made it plain what that expression must mean. Disapproval at the very least. It registered then that more than one Rusalas was glaring at them in this fashion. Not at the crowd of aliens in their station, but at Costa and Dorgnas in particular. Costa stared back, felt his own expression harden. He knew that some Rusalas found the fixed gaze of Human eyes uncanny, so he made eye contact with the disapproving glares. People looked quickly away.
He glanced briefly at Dorgnas, who stared resolutely ahead.
Well, word is spreading. Not like we were keeping it a secret.
The apparent reaction was worrisome, but Costa’s immediate reaction was to let it roll off him. He really didn’t give a damn what anyone, of any species, thought of how he felt about the Rusalas woman at his side. But Dorgnas obviously cared. He knew enough of Rusalas expressions by then to see she was upset. He gave her arm a pat, and then hoped she would understand that it was meant as comfort. Perhaps she did. She looked back at him and for a moment her eyes smiled a little.
We’re going to have to have a talk about this.
He decided it could wait until after the grand tour.
~12~
The star chart projected yet again over the long conference table included a tactical overlay based on the latest Philic T’lack intelligence. Costa could spot the changes, and could see the way they added up to a smoother interface between the warring parties. The Philics were, with the help of the GC, reclaiming systems lost in the opening weeks of the civil war. In rare cases they took star systems that would add to the regularity and controllability of that border region. Nothing like an all-out offensive by the Philics could be seen, and the Philics were adamant in asserting they had no intention of doing such a thing.
The Philic T’lack could afford to be patient. Time was on their side, and by now the Phobics surely realized this.
Costa nodded in silent approval. From the reports Admiral Burkhardt forwarded to him — managing the joint operation was Carson’s responsibility — the fighting had been hard, bitter, and costly. Most of the cost, of late, had been on the Phobic ledger, a thing that didn’t trouble Costa overmuch. He still remembered the frighteningly large number of non-combatant Philics the Phobics had slaughtered early on. It wasn’t any tactical advantage that drove the Phobics to take any given star system. They wanted to reclaim Philic space, one system after another, for the express purpose of exterminating any Philics they found living there. Star systems retaken by the Philics told grim tales of thousands of lives lost. Tens of thousands, with ships blown and stations gutted to leave their populations to die in the cold and dark. He clenched his fists fighting back the cold dread he’d known so well in the Faceless War, when so many citizens of the Republic had died. The goal of the Faceless had been the same — annihilation.
Now they reap what they have sown.
Which was true enough, if lacking in satisfaction.
Takak and his particular associate Lektat arrived, apologizing to their assembled colleagues for their tardiness. Particular associate — Costa still struggled not to react out loud to the translator’s unintended and amusing euphemism. He didn’t want to try to explain to Takak something he didn’t entirely understand himself. According to the shipmind, the concept of a mate was nowhere near as straightforward for the T’lack as it was for humanoid species, hence the erroneous translation. Multiple concepts were involved, and not all of them to do with reproduction, though offspring was the primary result. It came from the fact that mated T’lack brains merged on a different level, one that could not be shared with fellow T’lack in more ordinary mergers. It was all, to use an archaic expression, complicated.
T’lack in love. Except that here was a Human concept that truly did not connect with the T’lack. They shared a bond no Sibling Species could duplicate, and according to Takak, what Humans and others expressed to each other in terms of emotion was simply unnecessary for the T’lack. It wasn’t exactly love, and it went without saying, there being no need to say anything at all.
Complicated.
Particular associate… More than once Costa had bitten his tongue when the inevitable impulse to refer to Dorgnas as such struck him. He seriously doubted she would be amused.
Takak set a large lower hand on the control pad of the table and his claw-like fingers seemed to tremble as he entered commands. A star system well into the space controlled by the enemy flashed rapidly, and then was surrounded by an aura of colored rings and a numerical label. Costa recognized it as Rory’s target system for their great leap into the unknown. “We now maintain control of all system vectors that lead from our territory to this place,” Takak said. “This has been accomplished without changing the boundary between Philics and Phobics, so we are reasonably sure we have done nothing to draw inconvenient attention to this region of space.”
“So this is the star system that we’ll use for our big step out?” Admiral Burkhardt asked.
“Yes,” said Takak.
“There is a T’lack giant step facility there capable of sending our planned task force straight to the presumed territory of the Others,” said Lektat. “If we can take that system, the stepper here in Patkattat star system is powerful enough to send us from here to there. The strike force necessary to control the target system is being prepared and will arrive here soon. They will attempt to secure the target. We will follow if they succeed. We would not be able to linger. Our mission must pass through as quickly as possible, using the most stable of the known vectors out from the target. The strike force would fall back immediately.”
“And for our return?” Costa asked.
“We will carry with us the components for a stepper,” Takak replied. “T’lack message drones will be able to travel from our destination to any convenient system in Phobic space, where they will instantaneously skip from that facility to our current location. T’lack defensive systems will not be quick enough to prevent it.”
“And that accomplishes what, exactly?” Burkhardt asked.
Takak’s head swiveled around to face the Hroom called Fuumbral. “We will be fully equipped and capable of self-reliance,” Fuumbral said. “We will establish a base of operations and with the giant step facility we construct will be able to return by way of any suitable star system the Philics are able to briefly commandeer for the purpose.”
“That part of the plan, of course, depends on who we meet out there, and how they react to us,” Rory pointed out.
“Got to have a plan before you can change it,” said Costa.
“Will this really work?” Burkhardt wondered aloud.
“Calling it risky is an understatement,” said Maladar. “Still, the attempt must be made. Whoever lives out there must be told the Phobics do not represent all T’lack, much less the Grand Concordance.”
“We’d improve our chances if the stalemate were ended,” said Burkhardt. “In our favor, that is.”
“That would require an all-out offensive,” Norlil said.
“We would prefer to avoid a wider conflict if we can,” said Takak, repeating the often stated position of the Philic T’lack.
“You should prepare for such a conflict all the same,” said Maladar.
“That does not make sense to me,” said Dorgnas.
“No, it makes sense to be prepared,” Fuumbral said, rumbling in Hroom agreement. “With the GC supporting the Philics, should we succeed in acquiring allies out there the Phobics will be trapped.” Fuumbral looked at Maladar, who gave him a nod.
“Which will ultimately make them more dangerous,” said Costa. “They will surely try to break out of that trap. They’re as likely to come this way as the opposite. We need to make them think twice about the desire to expand.”
“One way or another,” said Rory, “we’ve got to go. If these Others were offended enough by the Phobics, and we need to assume that’s the case, they could start a war with the Phobics that might spill out over here.”
“You assume correctly,” said Lektat. “The first impression made by Phobics was very bad. A ship of the Others approached and sent a signal. The Phobic commander of the expedition responded by destroying the Others.”
Costa waited until the varied expressions of alarm had faded. “That’s more detail than we’ve been given before. How certain is this information?”
“It is verified,” Lektat replied. “I was there.”
It took longer for the reaction to subside, and it did so only after Costa called for order, something he couldn’t recall doing in any previous staff meeting. He looked to Takak for an explanation, but the T’lack swiveled his head toward Lektat, who reached out with an upper arm and briefly touched one of his.
“I am of the same caste as Takak,” she began. “I am of the Questers. Part of our purpose is to seek and assimilate new knowledge to share. There are few of that caste left among the Phobics.”
“What became of them?” Maladar asked, clearly alarmed.
“Most migrated to this region when the experience of acceptance was shared with them,” Takak replied. “They were not allowed to disseminate that information freely, and were shunned when conversion was noted.”
“Now we are killed by Phobics if we are found to have accepted otherness,” Lektat said. “I was one of several younglings in the expedition, not yet a full member of the caste. I witnessed and recorded all, as part of my upbringing. Much later, I was visiting my birth world when the civil war began. That world and its star system fell to the Philics as they sought to stabilize the border region.”
“And they merged you?” Costa asked.
“Of course,” Lektat replied. “I was maturing into a Quester. Takak recognized this and sheltered me. The acceptance of otherness I received was his own. I was able to tolerate the disconnect between the instinct to destroy Otherness and the desire to accept it.”
“Tolerate what disconnect?” Costa asked.
“The merger leaves both sets of life experience intact, and the process of reconciliation can be very difficult,” Takak replied. “For some, but not the majority, the disconnect between the two is beyond their ability to reconcile. These individuals self-terminate, or become dangerously unstable and are destroyed.”
God… It was such a clear example of the fact that these people were alien.
“When I understood the nature and value of the Grand Concordance, I came forward in full acceptance,” Lektat continued. “Then Takak and I became associated in the particular way.”
“Congratulations on that, by the way,” Costa said. “The particular association, I mean. I take it that’s at least roughly analogous to what Humans think of as marriage?”
“An analogy at best,” Takak replied. “But we thank you for your intentions.”
Costa was once again struck by the sense of wonder the strange, gaunt beings so easily evoked. T’lack and the Sibling Species had so little in common, at first glance, and yet such was the T’lack intellect that they could reach across that array of differences and relate to humanoids. They set the example Costa himself now followed, all the while mindful that so very many of his own species could not do this thing. Such thoughts drew his eyes up to the star chart once more, first to the T’lack system they intended to use as a stepping-off point, then to the unexplored reach of the galaxy that contained their destination, wherever that might be in the end. He watched the icon that marked the target system flash slowly. It was a bit over halfway between their present location and unknown space. “Can you tell us more about the Others out there?” he asked.
“Debris from the ship that I saw destroyed indicates that they are oxygen-breathers and carbon-based,” Lektat replied. “Their technology resembles that shared by T’lack and Sibling Species, at least so far as space travel is concerned. There were, unfortunately, no intact remains of life forms recovered for study.”
Costa grimaced but did not respond to that last comment. “And do we know anything about the current situation out there?”
“Very little,” Takak replied.
“Before I was converted,” said Lektat, “an effort was begun to move military assets away from the border region here, and out to the frontier. There were reports of conflict in the new region.”
“That might explain why things are slowing down on this side,” Burkhardt said. “They think they have this side of things stable enough to go after their new neighbors.”
“Or they’ve decided to take on the devil they don’t know,” Rory replied.
“It makes perfect sense if they know they cannot prevail against the Grand Concordance,” said Fuumbral.
“Even so,” said Maladar. “They still have a war on both sides of them. Enemies on either hand. When in all of history has that ever gone well?”
“Never, that I can recall,” Costa replied. “And I do believe this all adds up to us taking a roll of the proverbial dice. As soon as possible.” He looked around the room, at his assembled department heads and the ships’ captains of the task force. “As of now we are in final prep mode. I want reports by this time tomorrow on what we need to do to prepare for departure. Takak, do we know exactly when the strike force will be assembled here?”
“One standard week.”
“That’s the goal, then,” Costa said. “We need to be ready in less than seven days.”
~13~
The fleet of the Grand Concordance Expeditionary Force was ready to move three days ahead of the deadline. There were three ships for each of the species of the Grand Concordance, it having been decided that the Commonwealth and the Republic did not require separate representation. With the exception of those from the Rusalas, all were warships, and even the Rusalas support ships were heavily armed and armored. They were also, same as the rest, equipped with improved cheat drives. All of the GCEF ships could now make the partial transition into the multi-dimensional matrix to relatively nearby locations, and do so with a high degree of precision. Use of the drives were limited by the endurance of their crews. Cheating the rules of the quantum realm could exact an uncomfortable price, depending on distance covered, but the quick skips Costa envisioned in a combat situation were unlikely to tax his crews.
Very few questioned the need for a show of strength, since they intended to travel through enemy space and into a region no one knew much about. A region that may well have been rendered hostile to newcomers by Phobic T’lack aggression. Including T’lack ships as part of a fleet of so many others carried obvious risks, but Costa couldn’t think of a better way to illustrate the point they meant to make.
Costa knew all too well that, for all their planning, they truly had no idea what they would find, much less how they would be received. The list of possible game plans concocted to cover whatever they might encounter was long, and still more than likely missed what would actually happen to them.
Need to have a plan before you can change it. He’d said that to Rory, and it was surely true. The GCEF had a plan of many facets. Here’s hoping most of what we’ve imagined never happens!
Costa sat at the helm of a simple two-seat shuttle, Dorgnas beside him, surveying the fleet he was to command. Three ships for each species of the Grand Concordance. Two golden cylinders of Rusalas design, with a third that was larger than the other two combined by a factor of two — Perdnaf, Celmkip, and Loknata, the last being large enough to double as a small space station, which was its purpose. Around them hovered, as if to protect them, the smooth triangles of T’lack ships, the Zetlestuk, Letaknu, and Takak’s command ship from the Faceless War, Poptokul. All were named for prominent members of Takak’s own Quester caste. Costa had been surprised to learn that the T’lack shared with the Sibling Species the quaint habit of giving personal names to their ships; his surprise puzzled Takak. The three soot-gray cruisers of Human build — the George Dewey, the Edmund Abbott, and the André Marquis — were crewed jointly by men and women from the Commonwealth and the Republic. All three ships and their crews were veterans of the Faceless War, something true of all but the Rusalas GCEF ships.
