“SINCE Commander Rhyaz hasn’t seen fit to join us, I’ll begin without him,” said Commander Raiban, glancing round the oval table at the assembled military and civilian heads of the Sholan High Command. “As President, I’ve called this meeting because of the M’zullian situation,” she began. “We face a situation where war with them is imminent, therefore I propose calling a State of Emergency . . .”
“Not without us here,” said Rhyaz quietly, entering the room, followed by the Touiban, Sumaan, Cabbaran, U’Churian, and Keissian Human Ambassadors. “This is not a Sholan matter, Commander. It affects all of us, not least the Touibans whose two worlds are as near as Shola to M’zull.”
“This is a meeting of the Sholan High Command, Rhyaz, not the Alliance,” began Raiban with ill-concealed anger.
“So, Commander Raiban, you think Shola should act independently in this matter?” asked Rhyaz as he and the others took their seats round the large conference table.
“Of course I don’t, but there are Sholan issues that must be addressed first. No insult was intended, Ambassadors,” she said, glancing at the new arrivals. “Once these matters are dealt with, then an Alliance meeting will be called. I’m sure you appreciate the need for us to settle our own, domestic business first—in private.”
“I don’t think they do, Commander,” said Governor Nesul, relaxing back in his chair. “I asked Commander Rhyaz to bring the Ambassadors here today. If you think we need to declare a State of Emergency on Shola, then I think our allies are entitled to know why. Hell, I’d like to know why, when I’m reliably informed there’s as yet no threat to any of us!”
“In a time of war, it’s the military that makes the decision to call a State of Emergency,” said Commander Chuz.
“But we aren’t at war, Chuz,” said Konis softly.
“War is imminent and inevitable,” replied Raiban. “We’ve agreed to help the Primes against the M’zullians, that alone will bring us into conflict with them even if they don’t locate us first. I’m not wanting to alert the population of Shola and Khoma to that probability yet, only to bring all our own resources together under one, combined leadership. And that is a Sholan matter.”
“Ah,” said Rhyaz quietly, leaning an elbow on the table and propping his chin in his palm. “You want the Brotherhood under your control.”
“I refuse to discuss this matter outside Sholan High Command,” said Raiban firmly.
“The disposition of the Brotherhood is a matter that is concerning us greatly too,” said Toueesut. “We have a right to be present when such matters that affect us so deeply are being debated.”
“So have we,” nodded Shaqee, the U’Churian Ambassador.
“We are here for the TeLaxaudin as well as ourselves,” said Mrocca, the Cabbaran, her prehensile lip curling back to show her long white front teeth. “Tell them, Commander Rhyaz. It is time they were knowing what is happening under their noses that they do not see.”
“They have a right to be here, Raiban,” said Rhyaz, sitting forward, “because members of their species are in the Brotherhood.”
“Alien Brothers?” said General Rilgho disbelievingly. “You expect us to believe you have alien Brothers?”
The door opened again to admit Alex, dressed in the Human Brotherhood black fatigues edged with purple. She nodded to Konis and Governor Nesul as she took her place beside her Leska, her presence there not lost on the Sholan military.
“Yes, we have alien Brothers—and Sisters,” said Rhyaz quietly. “Like Alex, my Leska. You’ve all known for some time about our Human members.”
“But the others,” said Naika, his short hair rising in angry spikes. “I don’t believe you! You lot up in the Dzahai Mountains are too damned secretive to allow any aliens into your halls!”
“Captain Tirak told me of the beauty of the statue of Vartra in your temple,” said Shaqee, examining her claws thoughtfully. “Said he liked the idea of the God holding the bowl of hot coals. He said it’s unique, that the other statues don’t hold anything. Also that he liked the Goddess’ shrine with all the green growing plants.”
The loud snap of Raiban’s stylus breaking filled the silence. “I will not tolerate aliens in Stronghold,” said Raiban, her voice brittle with anger.
“I wasn’t aware our charter as a Guild depended on your allowing us anything, Commander,” said Rhyaz calmly, taking the crystal Alex handed him.
“You’ll find Stronghold much reduced these days, Rhyaz, should you and your people come to call on us as you once threatened my wife you would,” said Lijou. “Apart from my priests and the juniors that is.”
“Explain yourself,” said Raiban harshly as Rhyaz activated the comm recessed into the table in front of him and inserted the crystal into the reader slot.
“Surely you noticed that rather than pay your exorbitant charges, our people have been withdrawn from the Forces.” Rhyaz punched a command into the comm before looking up at her. “Stronghold is no longer entirely based on Shola. We have risen beyond the surface of our world, and as well as our mandate to protect Shola, which you have done your best to prevent, we now have other contracts to fulfill.”
“You threatened to march on Stronghold?” asked Rilgho, turning on the President. “You fool! If I’d known that, I’d have interfered sooner in your petty games against them! I warned you what the outcome would be, Raiban!”
“Be silent!” she hissed. “This is treason, Rhyaz!”
“No, Commander Raiban,” said Governor Nesul quietly. “It isn’t. He did it with my knowledge and permission. When the yearly budget allocations were made, I had a separate contract drawn up between Shola and the Brotherhood. It restates the Brotherhood’s Charter and stipulates that they are an independent force and must always remain so. Never again can they be manipulated by private political interests on Shola. It’s on the statute books now.”
“You forced us into this, Raiban,” said Konis. “You refused to let them have the funding they needed. As the government, we had no choice but to make them independent. Now be silent and hear what they have to say.”
A holographic image of a fleet hovering over an alien planet began to form in the center of the table. Raiban, face frozen in a silent snarl of anger, sat back, defeated for now.
“With our alien allies,” said Rhyaz, “we have formed a small unit of ships to patrol the borders of Prime and M’zullian space. Called Watchers, their crews are made up of our own Brothers and Sisters as well as their U’Churian, Cabbaran, and Sumaan colleagues, and they do just that, watch. When, several days ago, a fleet was seen gathering around M’zull, we were alerted and followed them to their destination at J’kirtikk. We received this transmission yesterday. If you watch, I think you’ll see how our two colonies were destroyed.”
When the images stopped playing, the silence continued for several minutes until Rhyaz broke it.
“As you can see, what appears to be the ship controlling the weapon they used to destroy J’kirtikk is itself destroyed. Current intelligence,” Rhyaz said, giving Raiban a long look, “tells us that the M’zullians are now landing unopposed on J’kirtikk. Vessels have been seen leaving orbit towing large cargo containers, presumably heading back to M’zull. We believe they are looting the planet for weapons and other resources. They’re too busy to worry about us for the time being, even if they were aware of our existence, which we’ve every reason to believe they aren’t.”
“War is imminent,” Raiban repeated pedantically. “With or without that weapon. We must prepare for it now. We don’t know that this was their only one.”
“Assuredly,” Rhyaz agreed. “And I have some proposals to put before you.”
“You? What do you know about warfare?” demanded Raiban, sitting upright again. “Until a few months ago you were merely one of the Brotherhood, not even its Leader!”
“Guild Master,” corrected Lijou softly. “But I have led them for nigh on eleven years now, Raiban. One of the reasons Rhyaz was chosen
as Warrior Master was because of his tactical skills.”
“Tactics in the classroom is one thing,” began Raiban disparagingly.
“If I remember correctly, he led the Brotherhood in the Desert War against the Tribes,” interrupted Rilgho, reaching into a pocket for a packet of stim twigs. “Did a damned fine job containing the situation before we arrived. And after,” he added hastily, lest he be misunderstood.
Rhyaz inclined his head in recognition of the compliment, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly as he did.
“Say your piece and have done with it,” snapped Raiban.
“Martial Law isn’t necessary at this juncture,” said Rhyaz. “But we must implement the evacuation of key personnel from Khoma, Teesul, and Touiba, as they are the worlds most at risk.” Leaning forward, he pressed his comm again and a holocube of Alliance and Prime space began to form in the center of the table.
“As you can see from the chart, we need to extend our combined fleets around those worlds and make our first stand there. We can effectively block the M’zullians and prevent them from penetrating further into Alliance space. Because of the Watcher patrols, each of our main allies is aware of the situation and has come here today with authorization from their home world to do just that. Better to fight them there and have room to retreat if necessary than to wait till they threaten us one by one.”
“Makes sense,” said Rilgho. “Combine now and get used to working together before any crisis develops.”
“What about the Primes?” demanded Chuz. “The M’zullians are their people. What part are they playing in all this?”
“As I see it, we have two options. Either we keep the Primes out, or we involve them. If we involve them, our best option is to get them to talk to the M’zullians, point out that we represent a stronger force and it’s in their interests to make a treaty with us. If we keep the Primes out, we have no option but to go for a preemptive strike. Hit the M’zullians hard before they know we exist.”
“We’ve no way of knowing the M’zullians will talk to the Primes,” said Nesul. “What if they see them as inferiors, the way the Warriors we’ve been training here see Prince Zsurtul?”
“They may respond to the Prime Emperor,” said Lijou. “The alternative is a protracted war.”
“What’s the problem with that?” demanded Raiban. “We outnumber them and our technology is more advanced!”
“Is it? We’ve nothing like that ship-eating device!” said Rhilgo.
“And they’re more aggressive,” reminded Rhyaz quietly. “We might beat them in space, but then we’ll have to land on their world and fight it out on their territory. It’s a war we cannot win by traditional methods. Remember Keiss and the psychotic hatred of the Valtegans there. They made suicide attacks rather than surrender to us. Only genocide will stop the M’zullians, make no mistake about that. Or an armed peace settlement.”
“I notice the Chemerians are absent,” said General Naika, reaching for the jug of water on the table and pouring himself a glass. “What plans have you for those two-faced tree climbers, Rhyaz? Don’t trust ’em as far as I could spit one! Wouldn’t put it past them to make their own approach to the M’zullians.”
“You won’t like my suggestion, General,” said Rhyaz.
Naika’s mouth opened wide in a toothy grin. “Spit it out, Commander,” he said with a rumble of amusement. “I think I like it already!”
“Because of the business over Kate’s and Taynar’s attempted abduction by Ambassador Taira, the Alliance has forced the Chemerians into opening up their borders to us. However, we’re not allowed closer than Tuushu Trading Station. We need agents on their home world, and their two colonies. Ideally we need an excuse to get a military presence there as well. And I believe the Clan Lord has one for us.”
“I have,” said Konis. “There has been an incident on my son’s and my wife’s estates over the last few days. A private aircar, carrying three Jalnian merchants with a shipment for our visitors Kzizysus the TeLaxaudin, and his colleague Shrulo, the Cabbaran, crashed outside the gatehouse. The passengers were badly injured and were taken to the infirmary on my son’s estate. The wreckage was lifted to the landing pad there for examination to find out why it had crashed. Turns out that unknown to them, they were carrying a compound based on la’quo. It leaked onto the land outside the gatehouse and infected the wild jeggets there, making them even more feral before finally killing them.”
“Get to the point, Konis,” said Rilgho testily.
“I’m trying to, General,” said Konis patiently. “Because of his interest in our wild life Physician Kzizysus was involved in the investigations into the jegget deaths. Once we discovered the nature of the poison, Kaid placed the investigation in the TeLaxaudin’s hands as they and the Cabbarans are immune to the plant. As you may remember, the Valtegan plant mutated on Jalna, creating a poison in the soil there that infects nearly all plant and animal life on that world. It nearly killed our agents on Jalna by almost literally starving them to death.”
“So why were the Jalnian merchants carrying it in the first place?” demanded Raiban. “And why have I been told nothing about this?”
“Kaid’s only just finished the investigation,” said Konis, passing a data crystal over to Governor Nesul. “Here are his findings, Nesul. The craft, which had been rigged to crash, was hired to the Jalnians by a Chemerian merchant who has since conveniently disappeared off the face of Shola. It’s well known that several of my son’s people have pet jeggets and that they’re the only other telepathic species on Shola. Kaid believes this was an attempt by the Chemerians to poison our jegget population in the hope that it would infect our telepaths, too.”
Raiban snorted her disgust. “Pretty far-fetched idea if you ask me!”
“I don’t think so, Commander, and neither did the Public Prosecutor of the Protectorate when the evidence was put before him,” said Konis. “Such a pollution of our soil would have been disastrous, as would losing the wild jeggets, and the compound had been tailored to appeal to them specifically. All the evidence points to the Chemerians being behind this. We know they kept their discovery of Jalna secret from us, and we know they tried to kidnap two of our gene-altered telepaths—a Leska pair, no less. They knew about the poison in the soil on Jalna and kept that from us, too. Add all that to the facts about the aircar and you have a very strong case against them.”
“I agree,” nodded Rhyaz. “One strong enough, I think, to be brought before the Alliance High Command with a request that there should be a permanent Alliance military presence on the Chemerians’ worlds for all our protection. They’re targeting us today, but who will be next?” he asked, looking round at each of those present. “And in this time of crisis, we need to be sure that they aren’t privy to our war council in case they decide to approach the M’zullians themselves.”
“These are serious allegations, Konis,” said Nesul, turning the crystal over in his hand. “You’re accusing them of actively working against us, of risking breaking up the Alliance.”
“Aye, it’s serious, Nesul,” agreed Naika. “Serious enough to demote the Chemerians down to Associate Alliance members and warrant that military presence! I think we should all have a copy of Kaid’s findings, Konis.”
“Already done. You’ll find full documentation waiting at your offices and embassies when this meeting adjourns,” said Konis.
“I’ll see about posting agents there. We should insist on establishing embassies to start with, then . . .” began Raiban, in an effort to take charge of the meeting again.
“I don’t think so, Raiban,” interrupted Nesul. “The Chemerians will see that as an aggressive act on our part. As their accusers, I think we should appear to remain neutral. We need non-Sholan agents on the Chemerian worlds. As for embassies, yes, but we could have ours on Tuushu, their trading station. Apart from anything else, we’ll pick up more of what’s really happening there. Then we’re agreed, are we?” he asked. “We a
pproach the Primes about offering a peace treaty to the M’zullians, call an Alliance High Command meeting as soon as possible to discuss the dispositions of our fleets, make a decision over this new Chemerian treachery, and make provisions to help the Touibans evacuate key personnel from their two worlds to Shola.”
“Nesul, may I remind you that I called this meeting?” demanded Raiban, leaning forward angrily. “It’s up to me to outline what actions we’ll be taking!”
“Shut up, Raiban,” snapped Naika. “Your promotion’s gone to your head! All you wanted to do was call a State of Emergency when we’ve got far more important issues to deal with! How come you knew nothing about all this? You’re supposed to be Head of Intelligence!”
“I knew nothing because no information about this poisoned aircar was sent to me from the En’Shalla estate!” snarled Raiban, ears twitching spasmodically and her short hair rising in anger.
“But you should have been aware of the potential problems posed by the Chemerians,” said Chuz.
“There’s nothing to be gained by apportioning blame for a situation that was only resolved this morning,” said Konis diplomatically. “Governor Nesul has asked us for our votes on these matters. What do you all say?”
There were murmurs of assent from round the table.
“Commander Raiban?” prompted Konis.
“Yes!”
Kij’ik Outpost, Zhal-Rojae 5th day, Month of approaching snow (November)
Today, the General was angry. Shaidan sighed softly to himself as he padded his usual six feet behind him. He knew what Kezule’s rages were like and knew that at times like this it was in everyone’s best interests to keep out of the way—an impossibility for him now that the General demanded his presence at all times. Thankfully, the anger had never been directed at him. Following him through the sick bay to the lab, he stayed by the main data processor near the door, crouching down on his haunches to wait.
“They’re here,” said Kezule, striding over to the workbench where his wife sat, nodding briefly to Giyarishis the TeLaxaudin. “But they left the female behind! How can we learn about their culture without any females?” he demanded angrily.
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