“The Starkiens are attacking us and then teleport missiles appeared nearby, disgorging legionaries for a storm assault,” I said. “The facts spoke for themselves: the Lokhars worked for the Starkiens.”
“Do you lack all objectivity?” the tiger asked. “The Lokhars do not hire themselves to Starkiens. I have forced Naga Gobo to do my bidding.”
I don’t know if my mouth dropped open. Probably I looked like a fish out of water, making futile gasping motions. My worldview took several seconds to readjust. In a moment the floor became the ceiling. Yeah, okay, I was beginning to see it. This had been a tiger operation from the beginning, not a Jelk or Starkien show.
“So…you’re saying the Lokhars reversed the military decision at Sigma Draconis?” I asked.
“Barbarian swine, we all but destroyed the Jelk’s devilish offensive thrust. They paid a bitter price for their infamy, even if they gained the information they sought.”
“Hold on a minute,” I said. “I have to think this through.”
N7 muted the screen, even though the tiger lord continued to move his jaws, to rail at me, no doubt.
“What do you make of this?” I asked N7.
“I believe the Lokhar,” N7 said, “as that would explain how Naga Gobo acquired the T-missiles and legionaries.”
I nodded. Check. That made sense in this screwy part of the universe.
“It means Lokhar reinforcements must have appeared after our departure from Sigma Draconis,” N7 said. “More from the Lokhar’s words I cannot glean.”
“What do you think the Jelk sought in Sigma Draconis?” I asked.
“The Lokhar says they sought information.”
“I got that,” I said. “What kind of information?”
“I do not know,” N7 said.
“Perhaps you should ask Naga Gobo,” Ella suggested.
“You really want those baboons to survive, don’t you?” I asked.
“I abhor senseless slaughter,” she said, “especially when we can gather useful information instead.”
I faced the screen. Ella had her points, but I had mine, too. N7 reconnected audio. I wanted to shout at the tiger. I wanted to laugh in his face. The situation demanded cool thinking, however. The invincible dreadnought changed everything.
“I am unfamiliar with you space races,” I said. “I don’t know your customs or legends. Lokhars fight hard. I know that much.” And you dirty bastards nuke worlds. “I don’t know why you’ve hailed us, but—”
“I originally called to demand your surrender,” the tiger said.
I snorted.
“Now I am reconsidering withdrawing the offer,” he said.
I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. But had the destruction of the 121st Legion frightened him? The Lokhar didn’t act frightened. Why would he withdraw the demand to surrender then?
“For such barbarity,” the tiger said, “I desire your deaths, not your capture.”
Oh. “Wait a minute,” I said. “You call us barbaric? You’re the ones who attacked an unarmed planet. You sprayed a bio-terminator on a defenseless people: mine. I’d say that’s barbarity of the first order.”
“You state inaccuracies,” the Lokhar said.
“What? Your people didn’t launch nuclear missiles at us?”
“Of course I did.”
“You did it?” I asked, with fury making my voice shake.
I noticed N7 switched to a split-screen. On one-half, I watched another Starkien beamship explode. On the other, the tiger spoke to me.
“I stand proudly by my military record,” the Lokhar told me. “I have acted honorably throughout.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“You are an insufferable creature who spews insults and slurs,” the tiger said. “I am the High Lord Admiral of Dreadnought Indomitable. I never joke or kid as you suggest. I am a Lokhar of intense gravity and seriousness.”
“I’m sure you are,” I said, licking my dry lips. I needed to get a handle on the tiger. I couldn’t see what he wanted. Maybe to destroy the last of us, to finish what he’d started.
“Why did your tigers—why did your legionaries attempt to storm my battlejumper?” I asked.
“You cannot be that dense. The reason is obvious.”
“Hey, listen to me,” I said, finally deciding how I was going to do this. “I’m Commander Creed. We don’t use fancy titles like you Lokhars because we’re too serious-minded. I am the highest-ranked human in the solar system. You will address me with honor and decorum—with gravity—or I’m ending this dialogue right here and now.”
The Lokhar glared, and if it was possible, he stood straighter and more stiffly. I finally noticed a teal-colored medal pinned to his uniform. It glittered with a harsh inner light.
“I don’t know your protocols,” I said. “I don’t pretend to know how you think.”
“Barbarian,” he muttered.
“That’s another thing. You will not call me a barbarian or swine. If you do, I will begin using the same terminology regarding you.”
“You would not dare,” he said.
“I laughed. “Sure I would dare. I have nothing to lose.”
He stared at me, and he opened his mouth, only to close it. “The Jade League is at war with the Jelk Corporation. We desire an enemy battlejumper.”
“And that’s why you tried to storm mine?”
It looked as if he grinded his back teeth together in frustration. “You will surrender the battlejumper to me,” he said. “You will do so at once.”
I almost told him, “Come and take.” But I had to think of the fleeing freighters and their precious cargoes.
“Are you trying to tell me that in all the years of fighting the corporation, you’ve never captured a battlejumper?”
The admiral turned his head and appeared to watch an unseen screen. He soon regarded me again. “You will cease at once your attack upon the Starkien beamships.”
“I don’t think so.”
“We are parleying,” he said, as if pointing out a key argument. “Your continued attack is a dishonorable—”
“Hold it right there,” I said. “Let’s get something straight. I can see you’re big into honor. But you Lokhars destroyed a defenseless planet. That doesn’t strike me as honorable, but…as the opposite,” I said.
“Cease attacking the beamships or the parley ends.”
“Nope,” I said. “Naga Gobo activated androids on my ship. The assassins slew some of my crew, my people. He’s going to pay for that with blood. Ever since your cowardly assault on my world, I’ve vowed to make aliens pay ten thousand-fold for every human death.”
“If Naga Gobo released stealth androids on your battlejumper, he did so against my direct orders.”
“I guess you have less control of your hirelings than you think,” I said.
The admiral snarled with frustration so bits of spit flew.
“The Lokhar could be lying to us,” Ella said.
“I do not lie,” the tiger said. “To suggest otherwise is to besmirch my honor.”
“What honor?” I asked. “You destroyed an unarmed world, mine.”
“My assault on Earth followed the conventions of war,” he said. “You will immediately cease these slurs upon my military conduct.”
“That’s some honor code you Lokhars have managed to invent. That’s all I have to say.”
“I hear you speak, but I do not understand your meaning.”
“How many times do I have to say it?” I asked. “You dropped nuclear bombs on a defenseless world. What’s honorable about that?”
“You are mistaken,” the tiger said. “Your world was massively armed. Large quantities of missiles lofted to attack us. Perhaps you mean to say that your weaponry was antiquated and feeble. That does not mean you were unarmed.”
I figured the British during the colonial era must have used the same logic when using a Maxim machine gun on spear-armed natives in the Congo. A spear against a bul
let would have had a better chance than Earth did against a Lokhar dreadnought.
“Commander,” N7 said. “Naga Gobo begs an audience with you.”
“High Lord Admiral,” I said, “I’m going to consider your offer of surrender.”
“You do not know the terms yet.”
“I want to talk about the concept with my crew.”
The admiral’s head jerked back. “But you told me you were the highest ranked, the commander.”
“I am,” I said.
“Then your words strike me as pretense. Give the order and your inferiors will follow.”
“We don’t play the game the same way you do. Commander Creed out.” I turned around. “Cut the connection.”
N7 did so.
“Put up Naga Gobo,” I said, while glancing at Ella.
“He has three ships left,” Ella said. “I should inform you that our laser is overheating.”
“Take it offline for a moment,” I said. “Let them think we’re going to do this their way.”
“We are not?” N7 asked.
“I think our days of doing anything are just about over,” I said. “Therefore, I plan to kill as many of these aliens as I can.”
“Thank you, Commander Creed,” Naga Gobo said, as he appeared on the big screen. He looked worried and fearful. “I would like to offer my abject surrender to you.”
“Okay,” I said. “Drop your shields.”
The baboon blinked at me. “Commander, you have not yet accepted my surrender.”
“Consider it done,” I said.
“Yes…of course, Commander. But what assurances do I have that you will not continue to fire on our ships?”
“None,” I said.
“But—”
“Drop your shields or I’m going to think you’re just buying yourself time to get within your beamships’ range.”
“No, no,” he said, “I assure you that it not my intent. I desire life. I—”
“Did you hire yourself to the Lokhars?” I asked.
He stared at me for just a moment. “Yes, of course,” he said.
“Did the Lokhars defeat the Jelk fleet at Sigma Draconis?”
Naga Gobo tugged at his mane, and his manner became shifty. “That is prized information,” he said.
“Forget about your games or about stalling,” I said. “Either tell me what I want to know or I’ll know you’re up to your old Starkien tricks.”
“A Lokhar mobile fleet arrived several hours after your departure from Sigma Draconis,” Naga Gobo said.
“Did Dreadnought Indomitable show up with them?”
“No.”
“No?” I asked. “Are you sure?”
Naga Gobo appeared perplexed. “The Lokhars do not normally use their dreadnoughts in fleet actions.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“The dreadnoughts are survey vessels.”
“Meaning what?” I asked.
“Exploratory ships,” he said. “They are the offensive arm against the Jelk.”
I massaged my forehead, wondering what the baboon meant. I felt out of my depth, as if there were mysteries swirling around me of which I had no knowledge.
“Did the three Jelk commanders escape from Sigma Draconis or did the Lokhars kill them?” I asked.
“All three Jelk escaped. They always do.”
“Naga Gobo’s remaining vessels will be within beamship range in twenty-nine minutes,” N7 said quietly.
Without turning around, I nodded. “What do the Lokhars want?” I asked that baboon.
“I assume you mean here in your solar system,” Naga Gobo said.
“Exactly,” I said.
Naga Gobo shook his head. “I do not know. I merely know they hired us to make an assault so they could launch their legionaries and capture your battlejumper. Lokhars do not confide in Starkiens.”
“What was your hiring price?” I asked.
Naga Gobo tried to look imposing, but he couldn’t pull it off. “They captured the majority of my fleet in Sigma Draconis. If they can capture your battlejumper, they will free my fleet.”
“And if you fail?”
“They will destroy the ships and the Starkiens in them.”
“You’re not really going to surrender to me, are you, Naga Gobo?”
“I am. I swear it.”
“The rest of your fleet in Sigma Draconis will die if you surrender to me.”
“And I will live,” he said.
“No… I don’t believe you’re that venal.”
“Commander, I implore you to listen closely,” Naga Gobo said. “The Lokhars want to capture you, all of you. I do not believe they mean to kill the last humans. Isn’t that excellent news? Knowing it, you should be merciful toward the Starkiens. We used to be allies after all.”
“What’s really going on here?” I asked. “Your actions make me believe you’re not telling me everything.”
Naga Gobo hesitated, giving me time to think.
“One of the killer androids you released gave me greetings from Claath,” I said. “How did it know to do that? How did you gain Jelk codes if Claath didn’t give them to you?”
“It must have been a prerecorded message,” Naga Gobo said.
I laughed. Did he think I was stupid?
“The laser is ready,” Ella said.
I glanced at her. A green light on her panel shined against her face, highlighting her cheeks
“I think you’re right,” she said quietly. “I believe he’s trying to deceive us so his beamships can get within range of our ship.”
“Turn him off,” I said.
“No, wait!” Naga Gobo shouted. But N7 broke the connection.
I faced my command crew. “Does anyone have any suggestions?”
“From what I know,” N7 said, “I find it incredible the Lokhars used Starkiens. Their loathing for the pirates is well known. Yet it doesn’t seem that Naga Gobo is lying about everything. Why otherwise did his flotilla possess teleporting missiles and the 121st Lokhar Legion? The dreadnought admiral corroborates his story about an ultimate Lokhar victory at Sigma Draconis.”
“All this,” I said, waving my hand, “seems like a pretty elaborate ploy just to capture our battlejumper.”
“I notice that originally Naga Gobo wanted to find our commander,” Ella said. “I think he wanted to find out if you were here.”
“Me?” I asked. “Why me specifically?”
“Maybe the why would give us the reason for the ploy,” Ella said.
“I don’t know,” I said. “With the dreadnought here, I think the Lokhars mean to finish their task of eliminating humanity. I think we’re doomed, and I think running is out. The question for us is this: how do we want to end our lives?”
“Go down in a blaze of glory?” Rollo asked in a rough voice.
“I don’t see what else there is,” I said.
“Then keep bargaining,” Ella said. “If we’re going to die, if humanity is the verge of extinction, then engaging in futile acts of martial valor does nothing other than assuaging your soldier egos.”
“I concur with Ella,” N7 said.
I glanced at Rollo.
The massive trooper shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me,” Rollo said. “I just want to make sure we’re not captured and tortured. After that, I want to kill as many aliens as I can.”
“Okay,” I said. “It’s one thing bargaining with the Lokhar admiral. He seems honorable in his own way. The Starkiens—I don’t trust them at all. They’re going to be in range soon. I say take them out and see what the admiral has to offer.”
“That’s incredibly harsh,” Ella said, “but I don’t see an alternative.”
“Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do,” I said.
“I agree with you,” Rollo said. “Kill the Starkiens. They mean to kill us.”
“They are sly,” N7 said. “Destroying them is the most prudent course of action.”
“I
don’t trust them,” Ella said. “But shouldn’t we continue to bargain while we have an opportunity. Who knows what new data we might receive?”
I exhaled sharply, took several steps and said, “Bring the laser back online. Let’s clear out the beamships. Once they’re gone, I’ll talk to the admiral. If the Lokhars really hate the Starkiens that badly, I don’t think the admiral will lose any sleep with the pirates’ deaths.”
-9-
I never did talk to Naga Gobo again. At my orders, we destroyed the last three beamships. Soon, the Starkien flotilla was gone, a smear of space debris in our lonely universe.
Silence fell upon the control room as Ella took the laser offline.
I wanted to tell them we’d done the right thing. Could we have trusted the slippery Starkiens? Really trusted them? What could we have done differently? The Starkiens couldn’t have brought the beamships to a halt before reaching the million-kilometer mark. Nor could I have allowed the flotilla to veer away. They could have gone after the freighters then. No. They had entered the solar system and killed humans. Whether the Starkiens did that under duress or not…they had lied to me all down the line. The fate of the freighters was too important to gamble with if I didn’t have to. Instead of gambling, I killed every last one of the alien enemy.
Still, it was one thing to blaze with rage in the middle of a battle, quite another once you realize that your actions had slain thousands of sentient beings. Maybe I could hide behind my medals like the Lokhar High Admiral. Instead of honor as my excuse, I used human survival.
I don’t know. What’s the point of hand-wringing hindsight? I gave the orders and the Starkiens were dead. I had to live with that. Were the Cherokees right, though? Did a man own a conscience, and every time he went against it, did he wear it down a little bit more?
I’m guessing so. I felt hollow inside when I should have felt ecstatic. Maybe I hadn’t fully turned into a coldblooded butcher yet. I had to give it time.
“You had to do it,” Rollo said from his station.
Ella’s head snapped up. “No. Do not put it all on his shoulders. We did it. We all did it.”
“I’m not sorry we did,” Rollo said. “We had to. We all know that. So why are we feeling bad about it?”
Extinction Wars: 02 - Planet Strike Page 9