Likanna shuddered. Her gaze grew hazy for a few seconds. The girl was clearly seeing something only visible to her. But then, the green-haired girl asked doubtfully:
"Ten billion? From where?!"
"It's a gift to you from me, so you won't lose to the other Swarm Princesses. My top advisor, Katerina royl Unatari, will help you choose a team of experienced specialists to develop the planet. Also, she can personally give you advice."
The long-legged girl gave a joyous shriek and hung off my neck.
Standing change. Likanna royl Mesfelle-Unatari's opinion of you has improved.
Presumed personal opinion of you: -19 (unhappy)
Attention: Your underage daughter Likanna would like to leave the Orange House faction. This would be an irreversible action, and requires the permission of her guardian and parent(s).
Her guardian Duke Valesy royl Unatari has given his permission already.
Allow Likanna royl Mesfelle-Unatari to leave the Orange House (Yes/No)?
I considered it for ten seconds and gave my fatherly permission, after which I received another portion of messages on personal relationship increases:
Standing change. Likanna royl Mesfelle-Unatari's opinion of you has improved.
Presumed personal opinion of you: -4 (indifferent)
When Likanna skipped off happily to share the news with her friends, I turned to the smiling Bionica, who had been with me in the cabin the whole time and understood perfectly the source of the funds I was giving Likanna:
"Bionica, I have another Crown Princess in mind as well. She will be the fourth Swarm Princess and owner of the Fia star system. Deianna royl Georg ton Mesfelle-Unatari is still too small to participate in the contest on her own, and her mother is far away and cannot help her either. That is why I want to give the mission of managing the Fia star system to you. You will have six billion insects at your disposal and however many androids you consider necessary to get the job done. Like the other competitors, you will receive ten billion credits. If you do a good job with the assignment, I will give permission for you to get the implants installed that allow you to express your opinion. You will be the first android to have them. And if young Deia succeeds and becomes Swarm Duchess, I give my word that a new faction will appear in the Empire, Imperial Androids, and all politicians and aristocrats will be forced to reckon with your collective opinion."
My wonderful assistant froze. Surprise and mistrust could be read distinctly on her face.
"Master, I am prepared to answer this call and join the contest. But I, as your personal secretary, am perfectly informed on the financial condition of your new government; I am aware of all the projects requiring huge investment and those frozen due to a lack of funds as well. As such, I refuse the ten billion you’ve offered. If androids want their freedom, let them work for it and collect the money themselves. But I cannot resist asking a provocative question. Your majesty has another child. Will he not also be participating?"
"The newborn Georg did not become an Imperial Crown Prince. He is also not a Swarm Princess, so therefor he cannot participate in the competition. But do not worry, Bionica. My son will not go without holdings. When the Unatari State wins this war (and we will win, I promise you that), little Georg will be given the Orange House Capital. But make sure that stays a secret for now."
The charming fair-complexioned android girl gave a cunning smile, demonstrating her crimson lips and flawlessly snow-white teeth:
"As you know, Crown Prince, I am quite good at keeping secrets."
* * *
"Five-star admiral, incoming call from the Swarm Queen," Bionica translated the captain's message.
I had been waiting for this call for a long time. Since the end of the big meeting with the Swarm admirals, two days had already passed, while Iseyek Prime Nai Igir still had yet to answer even one of my proposals. I had even already begun worrying that Nai Igir was not at all interested in the affairs of her stellar Kingdom, or had decided to go back on the agreements we had reached on Dekeye. Even my unauthorized "hijacking" of a Meresh battleship from the Virho fleet didn't prompt the Swarm Queen to get in touch with me. I mean, I had begged her for permission to use the Meresh as my main ship for my diplomatic mission to the Mechanoids, but I didn't get any answer, so I acted at my own peril.
The screen lit up. From this perspective, Nai Igir looked like a small graceful butterfly again, while the off-white mass behind her back seemed like a mere background feature, and not her massively swollen abdomen.
"Crown Prince Georg, I beg your forgiveness for the delay. I was eating, and could not easily take a break."
I tried to hide my surprise. Eating for two days?! Although... with her egg-stuffed meatball of an abdomen, that was probably just how long it took.
"Queen, there's no need for apologies. You have a huge responsibility on your shoulders: the rebirth of your race, and that is why providing your future children with all the nutrition they need is your number one priority."
Standing change. Iseyek race opinion of you has improved.
Iseyek Prime race opinion of you: +23 (favorable)
"I have been informed on what happened at the admirals' council. The ruler of Unatari granted the Swarm a good deal of unique military technologies for free: instantly-restoring energy shields, new combat drones, blueprints for Alien frigate thrusters and highly effective weaponry for assault divisions. Preeminent Gamma Iseyek scientists have already given their evaluation of this gift: it is simply priceless. The Swarm would never have been able to invent such technologies on its own even if it had a thousand years. Unraveling their secrets required the rarest of Alien trophies, the capture of which was practically impossible. I admit, I am surprised, Crown Prince Georg. Once again, as with the Sivalla emeralds, the ruler of Unatari is being fantastically generous to the Swarm. We have as many manufacturing facilities as we can spare working overtime to reequip our combat ships before the beginning of the counter attack. I then, for my part, approve the use of my subjects, the Arite Iseyek in secret Unatari operations, give my approval for the creation of special Beta Iseyek divisions for psionic support to your state's Truth Seekers, allow free passage of Unatari ships through Swarm space, will provide for the transmission of data through our warp beacon system, and give permission to use ships of the Virho fleet for the human diplomatic mission."
"And what of the military alliance between the Swarm and Unatari?" I asked the question most important to me, but here Nai Igir shook her ‘no’ in a human-like fashion:
"I am not yet prepared to give my approval for that. Note though, that this is not an outright refusal; this issue is simply too complex, and the Swarm needs time to think over the consequences of such a weighty step. Also, I mean no offense when I say that the ruler of Unatari has dramatically demonstrated his ability to make extremely nonstandard decisions. That is why the Swarm is afraid of being dragged into a war by force with an enemy, whose capabilities we are unsure of. The answer as to whether it would be possible to conclude a military alliance will be given later, but I cannot say exactly when."
I gave a slight bow to the Swarm Queen, accepting her decision. Nai Igir also gave a slight bow in return and said:
"My abdomen grows larger with every passing hour. My being able to take the time to lead my government and speak is becoming a rarer and rarer occurrence. The day will come when I will be simply required to feed constantly to provide for my offspring. Crown Prince Georg, this may be our last conversation. As I already said, I do not want to leave anyone obligated. I have a gift here for your spouse Miya royl Unatari. I wanted to thank her for these incredible emeralds. My advisor Triasss Zess will deliver the gift to Unatari. As for the military alliance, I will give an answer to that proposal before my children are born."
The screen went dim. The conversation with the Swarm Queen left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, Nai Igir had agreed with almost all of my suggestions, and hadn't even turned down the possibility of
a military alliance. On the other, I had heard distinct hints of uncertainty and even resignation in the Swarm Queen's voice. I expressed that thought out loud. My secretary doubled these words in the Iseyek language.
Rosss, who was in the room, stepped forward like a wisp of fog blown by the wind or the movement of a sheet of transparent crystal. Phobos translated his chirruping for me:
"In one hundred and five days’ human time, the Swarm Queen's eggs will have matured and she will lay her first and only clutch. Before that time, Nai Igir will try to finish all her business and transfer power to the Swarm."
"I don't understand. She will cease to be the Queen? What will happen to Nai Igir after she lays the eggs?"
Bionica translated my question. Rosss spent some time in silence, then abruptly expressed himself in some kind of long trill and bowed, folding his appendages and kneeling on the floor, after which he disappeared from view. Before the translation to human language came, I had already guessed the main idea of his message. And I was correct.
"Nai Igir will not survive the egg-laying. The greatest Gamma Iseyek geneticists warned the Swarm Queen of that fact before her coupling. The Queen could have ruled three or even four long years, but she decided to revive the Iseyek Prime race at the cost of her own life. The entire Swarm knows of her self-sacrifice. Every Iseyek. The very spirit of our ancient race is embodied in Nai Igir. Never before has a Swarm ruler enjoyed such absolute support. Any word from Nai Igir is now law for all subjects."
On my feet, I listened to the information, then said to the dark, long extinguished screen:
"There is precious little time, but I will do everything in my power to make sure Queen Nai Igir will see the liberation of all Alien-controlled Swarm systems!"
* * *
At first, the Mechanoids left me feeling disappointed. In the "mysterious" Pritta system, we didn't see anyone. We found nothing but an uninhabited automatic warp beacon of Arite construction. We completed the warp jump to the next system on our path, Jabe, and saw some Mechanoids there floating motionless in the cosmos. There were three spheres, each one thousand feet in diameter, and none showing any signs of activity. External video cameras helped us see these strange half-living machines in full detail. They were hollow metallic fullerene structures. Through the gaps in their bodies, you could see distant stars. Zooming the picture in allowed us to see that some of the starships' mechanisms were moving. There were buckets or ring-shaped elevators moving along the structures, and joint assemblies that hinted at their having live engines somewhere inside. And that was it, just three spherical structures hovering in space. I was expecting to see something more interesting, which is why I couldn't hold back from expressing my disappointment. Was it really worth gathering a large diplomatic mission and flying all this way just to see a couple of moving structures?!
The first to notice something strange was the captain of our battleship. There was no warp beacon in the Jabe system! To be more accurate, one of the spherical Mechanoids was itself serving as the beacon. It replied to requests we sent, but only with one word answers. The beacon ship called itself "Eleven." We were not able to draw the other two Mechanoids into our conversation.
The spherical being heard out my information on the Arites in the Pritta system, but made no comment. I then offered to let the spheres visit the Arite system, but they refused. They did not react in any way when I told them about the Alien invasion, and also refused my suggestion that we join forces to fight the attackers. When I requested that they allow human and Iseyek ships passage through their systems, the Mechanoids answered: "You already use this route as it is. Why do you need our permission?" It was all boring and uninformative. That was why a clear dissonance emerged in the Mechanoids' unexpectedly elaborate answer to my proposal that they retransmit Swarm and Unatari data onward to the Empire:
"That is technically possible, but would cause certain difficulties for us. After all, if we do agree, from then on, there would have to be at least one Mechanoid in every system under our control, and that is not always the case."
What it said didn't reach me immediately. When I figured out what I had just heard, my heart began pounding anxiously in my chest. I tried to maintain my composure and clarified in a flat tone:
"Eleven, are you saying that sometimes, certain systems are left entirely free of Mechanoids? How, then, do you get back to them with no permanent warp beacon there?"
"Mechanoids can calculate coordinates for opening warp tunnels in any system we've visited before. Before this, we need to 'anchor' ourselves in said star system by calculating local coordinates and determining constants for all twenty-seven dimensions. The anchor gradually grows weaker. Discrepancies grow wider. Errors appear in the calculations. A jump to old coordinates is very risky, and probably will end in death."
"Eleven, can you tell me how long an anchor usually lasts?" I wondered.
"In your reckoning of time, around eight months."
I didn't have to explain what we'd just heard to Bionica or Marian Sabati, who were next to me. The Mechanoids were capable of determining coordinates for a jump to closed systems with warp beacons turned off, if they had been there any time in the last eight months! It was like a "skeleton key" that could get past any existing method of space defense!
"Eleven, the transmission of data signals is important to us, but we do not want to cause you any inconveniences by requiring the presence of Mechanoids in all systems. What if, for our shared convenience, we installed normal warp beacons in your systems? That way, no Mechanoid has to be bound to a certain system."
"That would be your right. We have no objections to that."
"Thank you, Eleven. Tell me, what can I do to thank your kind for the assistance? What do Mechanoids even need? Resources, information on far-off worlds, new technology?"
"All of those things would be of interest."
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and made an offer:
"Eleven, I invite you to join my fleet. You will visit many new star systems, learn a great deal of new information, and receive all the knowledge and resources you and your kind desire. If any other Mechanoids would like to accompany you, I would be nothing but pleased."
More than a minute went by before its answer followed:
"Proposal accepted. Retransmission of data will begin in seventeen seconds. Eleven and Seven will journey forth in pursuit of new knowledge."
The incoming message alert beeped many times. The Orange House communications blockade had been broken. All the messages that had accumulated over the previous two days poured in all at once. I tasked Bionica with sorting through the heap of information, but my secretary suddenly froze, and a strange smile appeared on her face.
"Master, I believe it would be better if you answered this message. I have marked it in the mailbox."
I opened the internal interface, went over to incoming personal messages and also could not hold back a smile.
"My Prince, I admit my fault and arrogance. It was a great error on my part to consider myself a great fleet commander only because I had the honor of being present in your Highness's fleet during noted victories. I ask for your permission to return to your fleet and take up the role of your new fleet commander's assistant.
P.S. The Aliens really did a number on us.
P.P.S. Crown Prince, the Aliens now have their own stealth bombers.
Former Sector Fourteen Fleet Commander of the former Red House.
Admiral Kiro Sabuto"
Counterattack
With two weeks remaining until zero hour, I held a council of all Unatari and Swarm fleet commanders on my flagship, Joan the Fatty. I also invited the Iseyek’s generals. In fleet headquarters, there was a huge shining hologram depicting Swarm space. It had many green markers, showing systems free from enemy occupation, and nine red ones, currently under occupation, which were the target of our attack. With a microphone clipped onto my uniform near my mouth and a laser pointer in hand, I arranged fle
et markers on the tactical screen in preparation for the attack and immediately asked the admirals to report back on their ships, giving each of the divisions a concrete mission.
"In the first phase of the attack, we will make a simultaneous strike directly on five Alien star systems: Khe, Lobj, Aysar, Sobj, and Khryo. The situation in all these systems is constantly being monitored by our cloaked frigates, so we do not expect any surprises from our enemies. The Aliens' largest concentration of forces is in the Sobj system. There are eighty starships and two Behemoths. I will deal with them myself. I will have the Unatari light fleet with me, supported by all three carriers. With an attack from the Kiya system, we can tie up the enemy's main forces in combat and attempt to prevent the Behemoths from fleeing. Unfortunately, we'll have to destroy the Alien battleships the old-fashioned way. We cannot let the enemy learn of our new military developments so early, and give the information to their Queen. For that reason, I will be going with two Trias to help with the assault of the Behemoths. They will capture the station, then unload a landing party on the planet Sobj-5."
Here I made a pause, scanning for a huge Gamma Iseyek, then introducing my friend:
"General Savasss Jach, based on the data of our recon ships, has developed a plan for capturing landing pads on the surface of the planet Sobj-5. I ask him to come up and share his conclusions."
The long centipede snaked up into the middle of the room and, flipping through scenes with a handheld remote control, showed pictures of Alien defensive installations, commenting on each image. The calculations the general voiced were quite frightening. Up to seventy percent of landing modules would be shot down by the enemy as they entered the atmosphere. Then, twenty-five percent of the landing troops would die while putting up protective shields over the landing zones. Only after that did our per-minute death rate begin to fall, as the survivors would be capable of accepting new landing groups at the controlled landing zones. I took the floor again:
New Contract (Perimeter Defense Book #3) Page 27