New Contract (Perimeter Defense Book #3)

by Michael Atamanov

  Dekeye's other peculiarity was its insect architecture. I never thought before that seeing too many multicolored conical and spiral towers could nauseate me, but from the moving elevator, the huge number of spirals stretching out in all directions hypnotized my gaze and scrambled my brains. It looked like the spirals were moving and spinning. I just had to look away to another part of the insect city and the towers would stop, but then others would just start oscillating over there. I even had to close my eyes, as the optical illusion became painful to look at after just a couple of minutes.

  "If it turns out that we have to fly another few hours to get to Queen Nai Igir's palace, I'll probably kick the bucket right in the shuttle..." I groaned.

  The Arite was looking at me with some kind of surprise and tried to calm me down:

  "Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky, the Swarm Queen will be waiting at the bottom of the orbital elevator."

  I gave a relieved sigh, turned to my companions and said with a smile:

  "All hail the wise Queen Nai Igir!"

  "May she reign for three long years!" The Arite, in the form of a security officer, answered me formulaically, then bowed down on one knee and lowered its head in a display of deep respect.

  Standing change. Iseyek race opinion of you has improved.

  Arite Iseyek race opinion of you: +34 (trusting)

  Alpha Iseyek race opinion of you: +33 (trusting)

  Gamma Iseyek race opinion of you: +25 (trusting)

  Beta Iseyek race opinion of you: +27 (trusting)

  Iseyek Prime race opinion of you: +15 (favorable)

  I wasn't at all expecting to see all these system messages coming in, so at first, I was confused. What did I say that was so important? Why had the insects reacted so strongly? I turned to Bionica for an explanation, but my daughter answered first:

  "How familiar! Are you practicing for your meeting with the Swarm Queen, too? Triasss Zess has been teaching us the proper way to start a conversation with Nai Igir since we left the Throne World. That is a simplified translation to human language of a ceremonial Iseyek screech, which a human would never be able to pronounce properly anyway."

  The Blue House Crown Princess began laughing happily:

  "I also memorized the praying mantis ambassador's greeting speech so well that you could wake me up in the middle of the night and I'd just rap it off, no problem. But I still haven't quite figured out why they wish the Queen just three years of rule."

  Lika clearly knew the answer and had already even opened her mouth to speak, but I stopped her. "Forgive me, daughter, but daddy's relationship with the Iseyek will be very important at the negotiations today. And if I can score some points by giving the right response, it's in our shared interest!"

  "A year here is eighty-three standard years and fifteen days long. That is how long it takes for Dekeye to orbit its sun. Three years on this planet is two hundred fifty years in our time. A very respectable reign if I do say so myself."

  Standing change. Iseyek race opinion of you has improved.

  Arite Iseyek race opinion of you: +37 (respect)

  Alpha Iseyek race opinion of you: +36 (respect)

  Iseyek Prime race opinion of you: +16 (favorable)

  Achievement unlocked: Respected by the Swarm

  Global fame increase. Current value +57

  Alright! Got it! Nice! For a second, I was so elated by the new achievement that I even forgot about the sack of cement on my shoulders. I no longer had any doubt that the insects were listening to me carefully and really were thinking over my offers.

  * * *

  It turned out that I wasn't fully prepared for the meeting, though. Nai Igir, once a relatively small insect, looking like a small Alpha Iseyek with wings behind her back, had undergone a striking transformation. The Iseyek Prime's cephalothorax was the same, but her abdomen... had inflated to the size of a city bus! Through her thin, almost transparent skin, I could clearly make out the outlines of a huge number dark eggs, each the size of a soccer ball. Thirty Gamma Iseyek, who looked like mere midgets compared to their Queen, were constantly kneading Nai Igir's body with their many limbs and whiskers, and helping her get around. In her present condition, the Swarm Queen looked like a huge off-white caterpillar with tiny ungainly wings behind her head.

  I gave a respectful bow to the ruler of the Swarm and said the Iseyek greeting phrase.

  "May she reign for three long years!" Triasss Zess, accompanying his Queen, answered.

  "Greetings, ruler of Unatari. Welcome to my palace," Nai Igir's voice hadn't changed a bit. She still spoke human language with no accent whatsoever.

  I thought the timing appropriate, so I unraveled a roll of velvet and ceremonially handed the Queen a transparent case containing twenty large emeralds, each the size of a small apple and cut in a unique way. The Gamma Iseyek servants opened the box fairly carelessly, more breaking it, in fact, and placed the invaluable stones directly on the concrete floor in an order that meant nothing to me.

  "How marvelous!" Nai Igir was delighted. "These emeralds were in the Sivalla Temple of Science for many years. Their cutting and size allowed Swarm scientists to calculate the movement of heavenly bodies without computers and solve complex math problems. Long ago, in ancient times, very wise members of my race calculated that, using thirty-seven specially placed and cut gems, they could unravel all the mysteries of the universe and achieve omniscience. Before we met the human race, the Iseyek were able to figure out the proper cutting and placement for the first thirty-three of them. But then, this unique scientific instrument was stolen from us by Orange House vandals, who saw these emeralds as nothing more than valuable green stones. Over the years following the war between the Empire and the Swarm, we were able to find and purchase six of the Sivalla stones. And now, the ruler of Unatari brought us another twenty-two. Your gift is simply too valuable, Crown Prince Georg. I cannot accept it, as I cannot offer anything of equivalent value in return."

  Triasss Zess croaked something out to his master, and Bionica immediately translated it for me:

  "The ambassador said that these emeralds cannot be allowed to leave Swarm space."

  "And I agree with him completely, anthropomorphic robot," said Nai Igir, who had heard Bionica clearly. "I cannot accept such a valuable gift, as I do not desire to feel myself this obliged to anyone. But I cannot allow these valuable artifacts to leave, either. There is just one way out: take the emeralds by force and declare them military trophies."

  I stiffened up, as I was not at all happy with the direction the Swarm Queen's thoughts were taking her. So, I hurried to intervene:

  "There’s no reason to start a conflict here. The Queen can take as many of the stones as she considers sufficient for a generous gift: three, five, ten, as many as she needs. The rest of the emeralds will remain here on Dekeye and will serve as future gifts."

  Triasss Zess gave a deep bow and said with respect:

  "Crown Prince Georg is a wise politician. It isn't for nothing that the Swarm respects him. But the Crown Prince is not considering the fact that there is still a reason for conflict, though. Four Unatari star systems once belonged to the Iseyek, and the Swarm can never stop trying to get them back. What's more, this is an exceptionally good opportunity to do so."

  "The Unatari State is a part of the Empire. Is the Swarm prepared to declare war on the entire Empire?"

  "There will be no war with the Empire. The Swarm will be on the Empire's side. The Orange House officially proposed that the Iseyek join the military alliance against Unatari. Three Great Houses are waging war against your newly formed government, and the Swarm is prepared to support them. For that, the Swarm was promised the return of the four illegally captured systems. The planetary populations in all four systems are loyal to the Swarm Queen and will not allow the warp beacons switched off. The Unatari Fleet, then, will not be able to withstand the Swarm armada, given that its most capable fleet commander came to Swarm space on his own, and was thus remove
d from play."

  So here it was: the very trap Miya had warned me about! It took a great amount of effort not to panic, and maintain my calm tone of voice:

  "The ambassador did a somewhat good job of explaining, but isn't considering two important factors. First, Swarm Queen Nai Igir is wise enough not to join a side that is clearly losing this conflict. Second, if you make this choice, the Swarm will not survive even two more years. The Iseyek will surely be wiped out by the Aliens, as there will be no one left to hold them back. Even with a fleet of never-before-seen proportions, the Swarm will still not be able to stop the Alien invasion. My Unatari State, though, is capable of doing that."

  "Explain yourself, Georg," Nai Igir elicited, her interest clearly piqued.

  With relish, I began giving my version of the events:

  "I'll begin from the first point. There are not 'three Great Houses' at war with my government. The Blue House has left the war, and even promised to join the war as my ally under certain circumstances. The Green House armada, then, is trapped in an uninhabitable star system, Forepost-31, and the warp beacons will not be turning on to let it out. Crown Prince Demyen royl Lavaelle has just two months of provisions, then he either will be arrested or starve to death."

  "This situation doesn’t look so desperate to me," Nai Igir objected. "As far as I know, there are two million people in that Green House fleet. That is one hundred sixty thousand tons of high-calorie protein-rich food. Those provisions would easily be enough to spend several years bringing the starships to the next warp beacon, thus escaping the trap."

  "Yes, but humans do not approve of cannibalism, my Queen," Ambassador Triasss Zess reminded her, as he had a better understanding of human norms.

  "That is correct," I said, confirming the ambassador's words. "People would sooner die or surrender than resort to eating their own kind. And also, everything would change in the eight years it would take for them to fly to the next warp beacon..."

  "What foolish limits humans set for themselves," Nai Igir said thoughtfully, cutting me off. "Iseyek are more flexible in that regard, and can easily adapt to sudden twists of fate. Our Tria, for example, is a landing ship but, for many centuries, they have served the Swarm in the same capacity as your narrowly-specialized scout ships. Four hundred thousand frozen soldiers is more than enough food for a Tria team to reach another star system, and install a warp beacon there…"

  Geeze! I didn't know that, though such practices were certainly not out of character for the Iseyek. All the same, I returned to the main conversation topic.

  "That means that the only force opposing my Unatari State is the Orange House, and that is a mere formality. The fleet commanders of Sectors Seven, Eight, and Nine are completely loyal to me and would never go against the Unatari State. The Tesse Fleet belongs to my brother Roben and will not be joining. The Damir fleet is subject to my sister Violetta, and will also not be going to war with me. As you can see, the ongoing war against two Great Houses isn't really a threat to me. The balance of forces is entirely in my favor."

  I made a pause, giving my opponents the chance to speak or object, but Nai Igir and Triasss Zess remained silent. I then continued, gradually becoming inspired and feeling more and more confident:

  "Now, I would like to speak with the Swarm Queen on a totally different war. The one against the Aliens. That was what I came here to Dekeye to talk about, after all. For the first time, Unatari has enough ships and new weapons to turn the tide of the war and start liberating Alien-captured systems. I hope very much that the Swarm will join Unatari in this venture, and will help us to recoup Iseyek systems. At the end of the day, they are your systems, and you could have them all to yourselves."

  "Crown Prince Georg, that is truly an intriguing offer. But we will have to return to it after we discuss the present dispute on the ownership of the Oort, Fia, Yalt and Khs systems," said Triasss Zess, not letting me sidetrack the conversation.

  But now, for the first time, the Swarm Queen did not agree with her diplomat:

  "Triasss Zess, this disagreement on the ownership of four systems must not become the reason the Iseyek race goes extinct. As I see it, humanity is not interested in settling the already Iseyek-inhabited planets. There hasn't been a single attempt at colonization, and basically, not one human has even set foot on the surface of an inhabited planet in any of the four systems. No one is threatening the lives of the Iseyek there, no one is restricting their freedoms, no one is interfering in their normal way of life, and their animosity will quickly melt away into nothing. Just six months ago, all four of the systems were flaring up in rebellion against the occupation. Now, though, the inhabitants have become much more tolerant of the Empire. Beyond that, new viewpoints are beginning to proliferate. The Iseyek are now unhappy with the fact that the Empire is not assimilating them into their society fast enough, and has basically forgotten about them. If the monarch of the Unatari State invests in the Iseyek living on his territory, then I am prepared to forget about the Oort, Fia, Yalt and Khs systems once and for all."

  I bowed to the Swarm Queen and, in a burst of inspiration, suggested:

  "I see a nice way of solving this problem, then. Let each of the Crown Princesses here become viceroy of one of the new systems. It would be nice, after all, to make the title Swarm Princess signify something bigger than inedibility. The Princesses can hone their rulership skills, bring whatever dreams and fantasies they have to life, and deal with their planet’s problems. As it stands, none of the four systems are integrated into the Unatari economy in a practical sense, nor do they pay taxes, so we'll have to start practically from zero. Any of the girls who manage the task will be given the star system in perpetuity for themselves and their descendants. The girl who does the best job for the next year will receive a unique title from Nai Igir, Swarm Duchess. No one in the Universe has such a title!"

  The girls squealed and began jumping for joy. The Swarm Queen saw their glee and said:

  "I would gladly give the title of Duchess to whichever of you girls is able to best care for the Iseyek."

  Global standing increase. Current value -45

  Standing change. Iseyek race opinion of you has improved.

  Iseyek Prime race opinion of you: +19 (favorable)

  Global fame increase. Current value +58

  It was self-evident to me already that I should raise faction opinion back, so I did, saying:

  "Now, with the dispute ended, I would like to return to the main topic of these negotiations. I'll be direct. I came here to the Dekeye system with the goal of receiving commandership over the entire Swarm Fleet."

  Silence came over the hall. Everyone gathered was in shock at my announcement. Finally, Swarm Queen Nai Igir said:

  "I'm listening very carefully, Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle."

  Having the attention of everyone gathered, I began my long speech. The main issue I was trying to get through to them was that the Aliens were learning quickly from their mistakes. Any tactic that worked against them one or two times would become useless on the third, because they would already have found a way to combat it. With every new battle, we were giving the enemy new information to digest, and involuntarily teaching them about our tactics.

  Also, we did not know the size of the enemy's reserves, nor how capable they were of replenishing their fleet. As of yet, we hadn't seen the Aliens replace even one large ship. The enemy could replace downed Meteors, Ascetics, and Hermits very quickly, but the number of Behemoths in the "bush" fleet had only been going down. Those large-class ships must have been being built somewhere, though!

  And wherever that was, I suspected they were currently producing enough heavy ships to replace all their losses, thus reversing the effects of the Perimeter Sector Eight Fleet's campaign. From these premises, I was able to arrive at two very simple conclusions. First: we must counterattack as quickly as possible while the enemy is still weakened, and before it is able to replace its lost ships. Second: if
we want this to truly be successful, we should make this attack with all current Unatari and Swarm forces, because the enemy will simply not give us another chance like this.

  Unatari's cloaked ships had analyzed the situation in the known Alien-controlled systems: Khryo, Unt, Sobj, Kej, Umwi, the Aysar Cluster, Lobj, Khe, and Ukhsss. There was a guard team stationed in each of those systems composed of five to seventy Alien ships. Each one had exactly two Behemoths. Basically, nothing unbeatable. The warp beacon in the Aysar system had been restored by the Aliens, but it was of an unusual type. I had video recordings of that beacon, and was prepared to share them. From all that, I concluded that the enemy must not have many ships in that area. So, a decisive, quick attack would be able to recapture all the Swarm’s former systems. First, we would capture the warp beacons and hamper their movement...

  "Seventy Alien ships is quite a lot," Queen Nai Igir doubted. "Not so long ago, forty-five Alien ships came to Sobj, with just one Behemoth, and they were able to wipe out Admiral Kheraisss Vej's fleet of over a thousand. Very few of my ships were able to escape."

  "Did the admiral himself escape?" I wondered.

  "Kheraisss Vej survived that battle. But for losing his fleet and the Sobj star system, he was dishonorably discharged from our space military, and stripped of all medals."

  "Queen, I know the admiral well. He is one of the Swarm's best fleet commanders and is endlessly loyal to you. I ask you to give him the chance to rehabilitate himself and earn forgiveness in battle. If you cannot find a place for the talented admiral in any Swarm Fleet, I would be glad to take him into the Unatari Fleet. And as for the Alien forces I've described, do not worry. The Unatari Fleet has the ships to take them down without noticeable losses. I promise that, with the help of the Swarm, or even without it, the Unatari Fleet would be capable of taking all of those systems, and providing safe passage to Swarm landing ships for terrestrial operations. But liberating the eight star systems is just the beginning of my plan. The counterattack has much larger aims...