Jacques glanced at his wife. She took over.
“Pretty much like you’d expect. They’re spending money on education and research. They’re developing new techs and putting people to work. They’ve had a booming economy since the day we broke orbit. The unaligned countries approached this cautiously, but they got some of the contracts for the moon program and it brought them into the team.”
“Is there enough to go around?”
“Admiral,” Penny put in, “they aren’t just aiming to put a cat on the moon and bring her back safely, they intend to establish a space station and a base on the moon, then send some ships to that outer planet where an alien hulk is rolling in orbit. I’m afraid that if we don’t bring them into our orbit, they’re going to come shooting into it, and I’m not sure we’d like them that way.”
“So you’re telling me we better assimilate them now, gently, or they will join us later, and maybe not so gently.”
“You could always leave a trail of breadcrumbs and get some wandering alien wolf pack to wipe them out,” Drago said, darkly.
“You know that’s not an option,” Sandy said, glowering at her junior admiral.
“Yes, I know it, and you know it, and we need to keep that in mind as we find our way gingerly through this mine field.”
“Yeah,” Sandy said, and sighed.
Did I used to sigh so much, before I got stuck filling Kris Longknife’s shoes? Damn, did she find this kind of stuff easier?
Mentally, Sandy shook her head. No one found this sort of stuff easy.
“Okay, where do we go from here?”
“You’ve been invited to meet with their Associated Peoples. It’s kind of a meeting place for all their countries to get together and talk. Talk only. No action. Did I mention that they don’t have a central government?” Penny asked.
“It’s only in all the reports,” Sandy said dryly.
“The first time we hacked into the TV net that showed the debate on the floor of their Associated Peoples’ great hall,” Penny said, “most of the talk sounded like verbal battles. We’ve been tracking their talking points since we arrived. They’re more concerned with technological transfer and who gets what contracts. I hope all first contacts go as smoothly as this one.”
“Those cats have nuclear triggers under their furry claws,” Admiral Drago pointed out. “This job ain’t over until it’s over and done with. Don’t any of us forget that.”
“Amen,” Sandy said, heartily, then smiled at Penny, lest she feel ganged up on by her bosses.
“I won’t,” the young woman assured her.
Out on her bridge, one of her Sailors lost his lunch, explosively. Sandy’s scowl this time was for mother nature and her failure to design the human body for space.
“Admiral, pass the word to Kiel Station. Based on Captain Pasley’s briefing, I have determined that it is more likely than not that we will make Kiel Station a permanent fixture in the felines’ sky. Spin her out, and if need be, anchor the ships nose to nose until she’s ready to dock us.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Admiral Drago said, and quickly began muttering into his commlink.
Chapter 12
Sandy’s actual introduction to the felines was one surprise after another. Her admiral’s barge set down smoothly in the harbor of a bustling city whose name was unpronounceable but Penny’s Mimzy was calling New York for some reason. What Sandy saw from the barge’s windows was a city of high rises and skyscrapers with wide expanses of windows gleaming silver in the noon day sun.
This could be Wardhaven.
Two longboats full of Marines had been deployed ahead of her and a pair of armed longboats had followed her down with more Marines.
“Did you notice in the reports you read, Admiral,” Penny had explained when Sandy asked why all the fuss, “that someone took a shot at Kris? We think she was from that crazy bunch that shot at us and we flattened, but we never heard back from the cats as to whether or not they got to the bottom of it. We’re not taking any chances this time out.”
“So, I’m as much of a target as Kris Longknife.”
“Yes, Admiral, that’s why we had spidersilk under all armor laid out for you this morning,” Penny said, and tugged at the neck of the transparent body suit she wore.
“You think I’ve got a target painted on my backside?”
“I very much doubt it, ma’am, but I’m not paid to let the people around me get suddenly dead. I’ve connected with the police that I knew from our last visit. They are on their highest alert level. Right now, in town, they’ve got all their world’s heads of states, chiefs of states and other dignitaries, not to mentions most of the women of finance and industry. They don’t want any old grudges being settled on their watch. They definitely don’t want you so much as scratched. They’re on it, ma’am. Those Marines are just for show, not that General Bruce doesn’t have them kited out for anything and everything. You’ve got the same full, all-around, detail that Kris Longknife traveled with, science and high tech to prevent the shot, and forensic to clean up the mess if someone gets one off.”
“I can’t tell you how glad I am,” Sandy said, dryly.
“Neither was Kris, but this team kept her alive against more shots than any common human being had any right to survive.”
“Kris Longknife is certainly not a common human being,” Sandy said.
“Amen,” answered Penny.
After the admiral’s barge motored ashore, Sandy was greeted by both the feline that ran the city and the one that ran the district, which seemed to have the same name as the city. Penny stayed at Sandy’s side, Mimzy at her collarbone, translating the conversation both ways. It seemed to go well and deviated not one whit from what Sandy would have enjoyed from any human city excited to be celebrating Fleet Week.
They’d laid on a major parade, for which Sandy found herself riding in a bubble atop some sort of float. She did notice, as she climbed into the bubble that the glass looked to be two inches thick and the float rode on sixteen thick tires in eight pairs.
“You think they’re going out of their way to protect me?” Sandy asked Penny.
“The transport is a relic of when wars were plentiful and political assassinations were a thing of policy,” Mimzy answered. “They hauled it out of a museum when we jumped into the system, replaced the bullet proof glass and checked it out thoroughly. I was told that the police don’t expect anything untoward, but they are taking no chances.”
“Oh, and they put it out in the news that you’re riding in this is a great honor, not a precaution at all,” Mimzy added.
“You think anyone believes that?” Sandy asked.
“Not one word of it,” Penny answered, “but, for what it’s worth, neither their police nor their intelligence agencies, and that’s both the Royal and Columm Almar working together, have any hint of trouble.”
“I can’t tell you what a relief that is to my worried mind,” Sandy said.
“That’s sarcasm, right?” Mimzy said.
“Yes, dear,” Penny answered. “You aren’t meant to believe what she just said.
“Humans. Mother was right.”
“Mother being Nelly?”
“Yes, Admiral. They really are a family.”
Sandy took a few minutes to wave and smile at a crowd that seemed to be six deep on the sidewalks, eager to wave at her, but not pushing either the police or uniformed riot troopers that stood with their back to Sandy and face to the crowd.
“You like having Mimzy at your neck?”
“Yes, ma’am, though it is an education. One that runs both ways. I couldn’t help but notice that all you have is a rather old commlink on your wrist.”
“It’s met all my needs.”
“You might find it helpful to be on Nelly Net, as the kids call it. It’s almost like telepathy between us. For example, General Bruce just alerted me that a scuffle broke out two blocks ahead. His drones are keeping an eye on it, but it hasn’t shown up on ra
dio so we don’t have any news about it.”
“Do you think it’s strange that it’s not on the radio net? They do know we’re monitoring it.”
“Yes, Admiral, I am a bit concerned, but both Steve and I know that the cats are quite intent on keeping a perfectly nice face turned in our direction.”
“I can’t blame them for the effort, but it does leave me wondering if there is another face out there. What are we meant not to see?” Sandy asked.
“That is hard to tell, ma’am. I can understand their attitude. I’d do the same if I was in their shoes. Still I’m in my shoes and I’m not at all sure what I’m dealing with. Oh, and I can never forget for one moment that who we’re dealing with has a nuclear button. Yep. Concerned today. Me.”
The drive from the landing pier to the skyscraper that held the headquarters of the Associated Peoples passed with no unscheduled activities. The fancy rig was too tall to make it into the garage, so Sandy entered through the front door under a huge portico. She couldn’t help but notice that the portico was hung with festive bunting and streamers that flowed from the top to almost ground level.
Sandy winced softly. No sniper was going to get a good shot at her from the nearest building. For a people doing their best to put their best paw forward, these cats looked awful antsy.
Kris Longknife had addressed the Universal Assembly, to great applause. Sandy found herself being hurried through the marble halls to an elevator and whisked up to the top of the tower. There she was ushered into one huge room that would have given her acrophobia if she was susceptible to that fear after thirty-seven years in the Navy, half of it in space.
Under a clear, arching ceiling, the entire floor was a single expanse of tan, pebbled marble. Here and there, the vastness was broken by potted plants or trees. In some cases, the vegetation formed shaded paths to granite outcrops with softly flowing waterfalls. The sun streamed in, dazzling the scene as it would any equatorial ecosystem.
Sandy was suddenly swept with the impression that she had stumbled into some vast, arid plain. Even as she was greeted warmly by two large cats, a primal urgency rose in her belly, fight or flight. It took a serious effort by Sandy not to feel where her service automatic rode in the small of her back.
With a deep sigh, she stepped out of the elevator, extended her hand, and prepared to meet, human to cat.
A long line stretched away from the elevator, but at the head of the line were the two she’d expected to see. President Almar of Columm Almar stood first. She wore a violet coat with silver trim and buttons today. Like all the cats present, that was all she wore; the fact that she was a she was not in doubt.
She extended her own paw, claws retracted respectfully, and presented a smile full of teeth and twitching whiskers. “I am happy to greet you in the name of the Congress of Columm, in the name of our people and on my own behalf, and, may I say that I am so glad that you humans have survived your war and chosen to return to us. I can’t help but note that you have come back with more warships this time, and even something that looks suspiciously like a space station, or so I am told.”
“Yes, I have my 4th Fleet for an escort this visit,” Sandy said smoothly and Mimzy translated from Penny’s neck. “With so many ships, it seemed a good idea to bring a space station. Kiel Station may become a permanent star in your sky, or we could have it follow us out just as it followed us in.”
“No doubt, we will enjoy discussing that with you.”
“Al, don’t hog the woman so. Hello, it is my honor to greet you in the name of the ancient parliament of the Bizalt Kingdom and in the name of our monarch and the people of our ancient land, as well as myself. I must admit that I find your space station idea very interesting. As you may have heard from our media, we are intent on orbiting a station of our own, though a much smaller one, no doubt.
“Gerrot, don’t twaddle,” interrupted President Almar. “Tell us. Who are you and what authority do you bring? We know you are at war with an abomination. How can a small and backward people like us expect but to be used in your fight?”
“Al,” Madame Gerrot interrupted the interruption, and swatted at the other leader for emphasis. “Didn’t your mother teach you to share your food? Let the poor woman at least introduce herself before you decide if she is pride or prey.”
“You saw that young one that was here last,” Al grumbled. “They are certainly not prey.”
“Then treat her with the respect you’d treat a victorious warrior.”
The debate between the two leaders paused for a moment, and Sandy took the initiative.
“Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Grand Admiral Maria Santiago,” Sandy said, choosing to pretty much go with Kris Longknife’s introduction. “I am commissioned Viceroy to the people of Alwa and Command the Alwa Defense Sector. I am enjoined by my King to greet you in the name of the people of the United Society, their congress and my liege, King Raymond, the First of that name. And, as Kris Longknife said before me, I stand before you in peace and greet you in the name of all humanity as well as the Iteeche Empire, may we long share peace with them, and the people of Alwa. May I add, that in the time that has passed, and that you appear to have put to very good use, the Alwa Defense Sector has grown while destroying six alien raider wolf pacts and likely killed a trillion individual aliens.”
There had been a low mummer in the room as those waiting to talk to Sandy quietly shared their thoughts with each other. They had fallen to a whisper as she introduced herself.
The vast room was swept by a wave of deadly silence at Sandy’s final words.
“A trillion,” Madame Garret whispered into it as if careful not to disturb the dead. “That many?”
“Their mother ships are gigantic,” Sandy pointed out, “equally the size of small moons. Their warships are huge and many, and growing more plentiful even as we slaughtered them in the hundreds and by the thousands.”
The President of Almar shivered inside her violet jacket. “I had thought that some of our ancestors were hard and bitten warriors. You humans . . .” she gave up her search for words.
Sandy would have given half her pension to console the cats, but consolation was not her mission here. “We are no harder than we must be to defeat the foe that goes for our throats. However, let us ignore them for the moment. Their handful of desperate survivors that managed to flee far from our pursuers have crawled away to lick their wounds and seek succer from those of their own kind that they would normally avoid. We are victorious and we now must look to our future and the forming of alliances.”
Sandy raised her voice to carry as far as the vast room would allow. “Word of you has reached the ear of my King. He has received one of your own into his presence and they have discussed how your needs and ours might be in harmony. I am charged and required by King Raymond to, when time and opportunity allow, meet with you and see what we can do to our mutual advantages.”
That brought applause to the room.
It had only just begun to die down when President Almar took a short step toward Sandy. “What mutual advantages might your King be willing to grant to a people who are so far behind you technologically and scientifically that we must seem little better than animals to you?”
The Prime Minister of the Bizalt Kingdom was right at the president’s sleeve. “We know what it is like for the weaker to enter into an agreement with the stronger. We do not like the taste of that meat. Not at all, not at all.”
“Then we must talk more on it, mustn’t we?” Sandy said.
Both sighed. “But for now, let us introduce you to more people than you will ever remember, and let them tell you of what their country is doing in this all-for-one race to the moon. When we are done, we may have something for you to see.”
“Something?”
“No one will be aboard it, but we think we are ready to touch our moon with a rock we tossed ourselves,” the prime minister said, slyly.
This was not a surprise for Sandy. Th
e sensor team had identified the media excitement over the upcoming moon launch. The objective was simple: land a probe on their moon, softly if possible, but any landing would do.
The alien’s space programs both in the last year and before their contact with humans, had shown many fiery failures.
Sandy, with Penny and her Mimzy, moved down the receiving line, shaking paws with each president or prime minister, or, in a few instances, a monarch. A translator had appeared at Penny’s elbow; she did the introductions, leaving Mimzy to translate the few words that passed between them. Most had a particular part of the rocket they were working on, either developing or building this rocket or the bigger ones to come. Several of them were quick to mention that they had ceased their boarder war with this or that state and submitted it to the International Tribunal.
“Mimzy?” Sandy asked the third time someone preened at the fact they were settling their problem by measures other than war.
“The International Tribunal was a moribund body the last time we visited. It seems to have taken on quite a workload since,” the computer answered.
“Interesting,” Sandy said, and moved on to the next cat.
The two major leaders were right; Sandy shook the hand of more cats than she could ever possibly remember. Still, they saw her, and she saw them. They got to show their pride in what they were doing, be it scientific, industrial, or just not killing each other.
So far, it was an interesting visit.
Chapter 13
A long hour later, Sandy found herself with the president and prime minister back at her elbow, guiding her and Penny toward a corner of the great room. As they approached, Sandy found herself looking at something right out of a grassy plain. It was decked out like a sylvan glen, complete with gently flowing waterfall and shady trees. In the middle of the created green space, with the trees to her right and to her left a wondrous view of city, sea and sky, stood a long, thick, wooden table with chairs around it for ten.
Kris Longknife's Replacement: Admiral Santiago on Alwa Station Page 8