Queen

by Timothy Zahn

  “Sixteen is correct,” the Ghorf confirmed.

  “Right,” Nicole said. “The other twenty-two didn’t make it. They were—I think the term is casualties of war.”

  “You lie,” Djit-vis-ees bit out. But it seemed to Nicole that some of the fire had gone out of his tone.

  “If I’m lying, how come I’m the one talking to you instead of Vjiu-fusi-suut?” Nicole countered. “Oh, and just in case you’re interested, we didn’t lose any of our side at all. Anyway, the point is that we’re holding sixteen of your people. Shall we discuss what you need to do to get them back?”

  There was a short silence. “Who are you?” Djit-vis-ees asked.

  “I already told you,” Nicole said. “I’m Nicole. I’m a Sibyl.” She paused. “I’m also the Fyrantha’s chosen Protector.”

  “Yes,” Djit-vis-ees murmured, his voice gone dark and thoughtful. “Yes, I remember now. Vjiu-fusi-suut spoke of you. He promised you would be eliminated.”

  “Yeah,” Nicole said. “I always hate it when people make promises they can’t keep.”

  “His promise has not yet failed,” Djit-vis-ees said calmly. “We may yet bring it to truth.”

  “I guess we’ll see,” Nicole said. “So about the prisoners?”

  “Prisoners?” Djit-vis-ees made a sound like someone spitting. “You hold no prisoners. You hold failures. Embarrassments. The dead.”

  Nicole sighed. She’d been afraid that would be the Koffren attitude. “So you’re saying you don’t want them?”

  “Their failure has brought shame on us all,” Djit-vis-ees said. “Kill them and be thanked for it.”

  “Nice,” Levi muttered.

  “Fine, if that’s what you want,” Nicole said. “I just thought you might want to talk to them first. There are things you really should want to know.”

  “We already know all we need.”

  “I’m talking about stuff that would keep you from doing something stupid,” Nicole said. “Like getting yourselves blown up. Maybe your whole world, too.”

  “It’s you who is about to die, Sibyl, not us,” Djit-vis-ees scoffed.

  “Really?” Nicole countered. “I thought you wanted to take the Fyrantha intact. How do you expect to kill me without destroying the whole ship?”

  “Once more you attempt a foolish bluff,” Djit-vis-ees said. “I give you one chance. Surrender now, accept Koffren mastery over you and the ship, and you and your companions will live.”

  There was a breath of air on the back of Nicole’s neck, and she turned to see one of the Ghorfs standing behind her, a Wisp at his side. “That sounds fair,” she said. “Let me discuss it with my companions.” She thumbed the mute slider. “What is it?”

  “News from Q4,” the Ghorf said, his birdsong whistles soft and intense. “One more defense node has been reactivated.”

  “Thank you,” Nicole said. One down; fourteen still to go. This was going to take a lot more stalling. “We’ve got crews on all the others, right?”

  “There are two crews working on each,” the Ghorf confirmed. “Miron determined that more than two would add little in the way of speed, and likely get in each other’s way.”

  “That was his evaluation, anyway,” Iosif added. “I haven’t seen the rooms myself.”

  “No, he’s probably right,” Nicole said. “What about the crews that have already finished?”

  “I told them to stay at the nodes they’d just fixed,” Iosif said. “Miron didn’t have anything else for them to do, anyway, and I figured that nodes that broke once might break again.”

  In which case, it would save a lot of time to have a repair team already on hand. “Good idea,” she said. “Do we know where the holes are?”

  “Yeah,” Levi said. “Ryit, pull up an overview.”

  At the console in front of him, Ryit keyed in a command, and one of the screens changed from a view of space to a schematic of the Fyrantha.

  Nicole ran her eyes over it, wincing. She’d hoped the remaining shield gaps would be clustered together in such a way that they might be able to keep the ship between the Koffren ships’ guns and the holes. But the openings were scattered all over the place, in all four quadrants. “Any idea when the rest will be fixed?” she asked.

  “No,” the Ghorf said. “They’re working as quickly as they can.”

  “I know.” Nicole studied the schematic another moment, then nodded. “Okay, Ryit, you can put it away.”

  The Wisp reached forward and touched the Ghorf’s arm. “Carp also wishes to know if Tomas and Shantal arrived.”

  “Arrived where?” Nicole asked, frowning.

  “I don’t know,” the Ghorf said. “Neither do the Wisps. Tomas said you wanted him.”

  “Yeah, hang on,” Nicole muttered, pushing past the Ghorf and touching the Wisp’s arm. Where are Tomas and Shantal? she asked it.

  They are in the teleport room.

  Nicole felt her eyes go wide. The teleport room? How did they get in?

  Tomas ordered the Wisps there to open the door. He said you had told him to go in.

  And no one bothered to ask me about that? Nicole demanded.

  You gave the Sibyls authority to command us.

  Nicole ground her teeth. Yes, she’d done that, all right. Are the other Wisps still there? And how many are there?

  There were three. Three Wisps together can open security-sealed doors.

  Yes, I know, Nicole said. What’s Tomas up to?

  I don’t know. But he told Shantal he would need more Wisps when he was finished.

  Nicole frowned. Tomas had wanted more Wisps? What the hell was he up to? Well, you can tell all the Wisps—

  She broke off her order. Down in the Fyrantha’s basement, after their raid into Q1, Tomas had bitterly argued that they should have killed the two Koffren when they’d had the chance. Then he’d stomped off, and had avoided Nicole ever since.

  But before he’d left he’d said something. What had he said? Nicole strained at her memory, trying desperately to pull up the image of that moment.

  Do you wish access to a memory?

  Nicole started. What?

  Do you wish access to a memory? the Wisp repeated. Events involving the Protector are all recorded.

  There were a whole bunch of unpleasant implications of something like that, Nicole knew. But right now she had more important things to worry about. Yes, let me see the memory of my last conversation with Tomas. It was in the Fyrantha’s basement—

  And then, there it was. Tomas and Jeff and the others, talking and arguing after their escape down the heat-exchange duct—Just the last part, she told the Wisp. The last thing Tomas said about the Koffren.

  Better yet, call me when you’ve got the bastards lined up against the wall.

  A horrible certainty flashed into Nicole’s mind. “Iosif, take over,” she said, pushing past the Wisp and heading for the door. “If Djit-vis-ees calls back tell him I’m still talking to people.”

  “Where are you going?” Iosif called after her.

  “He knows you’re stalling, you know,” Levi added.

  “Well, stall him back,” Nicole called over her shoulder. “Tomas is in the teleport room, about to do something stupid.”

  “What kind of stupid?” Levi asked.

  “I think he’s going to teleport all of the Koffren out there into the Fyrantha and kill them while the Wisps still have them frozen. Line them up against the wall, is how he put it.”

  “Damn,” Levi said. “Yeah, that sounds like his brand of stupid. You want me to come with you?”

  “No, Iosif needs you here,” Nicole said. “I can handle it.”

  twenty-seven

  The three Wisps were standing in the corridor outside the teleport room when Nicole arrived. She’d half expected Tomas to seal himself in, but the door was wide open. For a moment she wondered if she should bring a couple of Wisps in with her, decided she’d have a better chance of talking Tomas out of this if she was alone, and s
tepped through the door.

  The door to the control room was also open, and Nicole could hear the murmur of voices coming from inside. She crossed the teleport room and went inside.

  Tomas was sitting cross-legged in front of one of the consoles, a handful of tools laid out on the deck beside him, peering up into the console as he set aside the access panel he’d apparently just removed. “That was a forty-twenty back-flex modulator, right?” he asked.

  “Right,” the young woman beside him said, her fingertips restlessly tapping the inhaler in her hand. “Better hurry this up before Nicole finds out—”

  “Speak of the devil,” Nicole said casually. “How’s it going?”

  Tomas looked over at her, his expression darkening. “Yeah, we figured you’d show up sooner or later. You slumming? Or just tired of playing Big Boss?”

  “I was never playing anything,” Nicole said. “And this isn’t going to help.”

  “How do you know?” Tomas countered. “You don’t even know what I’m doing.”

  “I think I do.” Nicole looked at the Sibyl. “Shantal, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes,” the woman said.

  “You can go back to Carp and his group now,” Nicole said. “Tomas and I can handle things from here.”

  Shantal’s eyes flicked to Tomas, back to Nicole. Then, with a silent nod, she headed out, crossing the teleport room and disappearing through the door.

  “So what now?” Tomas asked. “You try to appeal to my higher instincts? Because those instincts died when the bastards killed Bennett.”

  “No, I’m going to appeal to your common sense,” Nicole said. “There are twenty ships full of Koffren out there. Dozens, maybe even hundreds of the bastards.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Tomas said. “That’s the point.”

  “That’s not the point,” Nicole insisted. “You pull them in one at a time and it’ll take forever. Even if they don’t notice you doing it, which they probably will.”

  Tomas frowned. “What the hell are you talking about? Who said anything about teleporting Koffren back here?”

  “I thought…” Nicole floundered. “What you said to me down in the basement. You’re not looking to line them up against the wall?”

  “Of course not,” Tomas scoffed. “I’m going to take care of them a different way.” He gestured in the direction of the Q2 arena. “Sixteen Koffren. I’m going to send one each out to those ships. With bombs strapped to them.”

  Nicole felt her eyes go wide. “You’re not serious.”

  “Hell, yes, I’m serious,” Tomas bit out. “They killed Bennett and tried to kill the rest of us. They deserve to die. All of them.” He scowled. “Course, there are twenty ships out there, so we can’t get them all. But taking out sixteen would be a good start.”

  “Yeah, a damn good start,” Nicole agreed, thinking fast. “But what about the Wisps? Do they deserve to die, too?”

  “I’ll bring them back before the bombs go off.”

  “You may not be able to,” Nicole said. “The Koffren commander has already said he doesn’t care if our prisoners live or die. And they know all about the Wisps and the Fyrantha’s teleport system. If a bunch of Koffren suddenly appear with big bombs strapped to them they’ll probably open fire and try to stop the bombs from exploding.”

  “Not if we build them right,” Tomas said. “But so a few Wisps die. Isn’t that better than all of them dying? Along with all of us?”

  “I don’t think anyone has to die,” Nicole said. “If we can get the Fyrantha up and running—”

  She broke off, jumping, as a hand unexpectedly touched her shoulder. She had just enough time to look back and see it was one of the Wisps from the corridor—

  Nicole, this is Allyce, the doctor’s voice came in her mind. Jeff’s gone woozy—I think he’s got internal bleeding. I need to get him to the closest medical center.

  Nicole clenched her teeth. Yes, of course, she replied. Get the Wisps to carry him. What about the Core?

  I don’t know. I think he’s almost done, but I don’t know.

  I’ll get someone else there to finish up, Nicole said. You just worry about Jeff.

  I will.

  “I’ve got to go,” Nicole said to Tomas. “Jeff’s in trouble—he needs to get to a medical center, and I need to find someone to finish his work on the Core.”

  “Yeah, good luck,” Tomas said. “I’ll keep working my side of the—”

  Abruptly, the deck seemed to jerk under Nicole’s feet. She started to turn—

  “Attention, everyone,” Iosif’s voice came from somewhere in the ceiling. “We’re under attack. Repeat, we’re under attack. Nicole, get the hell back here.”

  “Damn,” Nicole snarled, grabbing the Wisp’s arm. Iosif, I’m on my way, she thought, hoping one of the Wisps would relay the message. “Tomas, you need to get back to Carp in case that node goes down again.”

  “I’m working here.”

  “Yeah, whatever,” Nicole gritted out. “We’ll try to let you know when the ship starts getting blown apart around you.” She turned to the door.

  “Wait.”

  She turned back. Tomas was staring at the console in front of him, his lips compressed into a hard line. Then, abruptly, he started gathering up his tools. “Never mind,” he said as the deck rocked again. “You need the Core fixed? Fine. How do I get there?”

  “The Wisp will take you,” Nicole said, feeling a flicker of relief. Wisp, take Tomas to the Q1 Core.

  I obey the Protector.

  “Good luck,” she said to Tomas. “I’ve got to get back to Iosif. Maybe there’s still time to stop this.”

  “Yeah,” Tomas ground out. “If you can’t, don’t forget we’ve still got Koffren. And bombs.”

  * * *

  The deck was bouncing like a truck over city potholes by the time Nicole reached the control center. “What’s happening?” she asked as she made her way through the outer darkened console rings to the center. On the wall displays, the twenty Koffren ships had broken their earlier formation and were buzzing around the Fyrantha like a group of hornets, their weapons blazing away.

  “They got tired of waiting for you,” Iosif said tightly. “I had to raise the shields, which naturally showed them where the gaps were. So now they’re trying to shoot through them.”

  Nicole winced. “And succeeding?”

  “Yes and no,” Levi said. “Their lasers—or whatever those are—are getting through just fine, but they aren’t doing much against the hull armor. Their missiles seem to be a lot more powerful, but they take a few seconds to get here and so far we’ve been able to roll or pitch the hole out of the way in time.”

  “The shields we do have are working okay against them?”

  “So far,” Iosif said. “But they’ve figured out our strategy, and they’re starting to coordinate their attacks. We’re a hell of a lot more maneuverable than anything this big should be, so at the moment we’re still staying ahead of them. But sooner or later they’ll get a shot through.”

  “Any idea how many shots the hull can take?”

  “Not a clue,” Iosif said. “But I’m guessing we’ll find out a lot sooner than we’d like.”

  “What’s happening at the Core?” Levi asked as the screens shifted in response to another Fyrantha maneuver. “Allyce said Jeff was in trouble?”

  “Internal bleeding or something,” Nicole said, picking up the mic. “Tomas has gone to finish his work. Let me talk to the Koffren.”

  “Okay, but they won’t want to talk back,” Iosif warned. He keyed a switch. “You’re on.”

  Nicole thumbed on the mic. “What the hell is this?” she snapped. “I told you I was going to talk to my people.”

  “The time for talking is finished,” Djit-vis-ees said. “Do you surrender? Or do you die?”

  “Neither,” Nicole said. Ryit lifted a thin hand and pointed to one of the screens, and she saw that two more of the shield gaps had been filled. Still twelve to go.
“I warn you again: if you persist in this attack you’ll regret it.”

  “Vjiu-fusi-suut said you spoke such vague threats and nonsense to the Lillilli who once controlled the ship,” Djit-vis-ees said scornfully. “Perhaps they were intimidated by such words. We are not.”

  On the schematic, two new gaps suddenly appeared. Nicole thumbed the mute and pointed. “Iosif?”

  “Yeah, I see it,” Iosif said grimly. “Wisp?”

  One of the Wisps stepped closer to him, and Iosif touched its outstretched arm. There were the usual few seconds of silence—“Kointos and his people are on it,” Iosif reported. “If you’ve got more stalling up your sleeve, this is the time to do it.”

  Nicole looked at the screens, feeling helplessness and panic bubbling together in her throat. The Koffren ships were zooming back and forth, firing their lasers and missiles as they glided gracefully like the ducks on Concourse Lake.

  She frowned suddenly. Glided gracefully as they fired …

  She thumbed the mic back on. “Okay, fine,” she said. “I didn’t want to do this, but I guess there’s no choice. We’ll be sending our prisoners back to you shortly.”

  “You think to bribe us?” Djit-vis-ees scoffed. “I already said we don’t want them.”

  “Too bad,” Nicole said. “They’re coming, anyway.” She paused. “Wait a second. Sorry—I said that wrong. Not shortly; we’ll be sending our prisoners back to you briefly.”

  “Your words are translating improperly,” Djit-vis-ees said. “You say briefly?”

  “Yes,” Nicole said. “Actually, you probably won’t even have time to say hello before you all hit the road for hell together.”

  “You speak nonsense.”

  “No, you just don’t understand,” Nicole said. “And since there’s nothing you can do to stop it, there’s no harm in explaining it to you. You know about the Fyrantha’s teleport? Of course you do—that’s how Vjiu-fusi-suut and his crew came aboard in the first place, isn’t it? Well, we’re going to deliver the prisoners back to you the same way.” She smiled tightly. “Only each of them is going to be carrying an extra package. A package that goes boom on delivery. We’ve got the first two ready. Do you want to point out the two least important of your ships?”