Kris Longknife's Replacement: Admiral Santiago on Alwa Station

by Mike Shepherd

  The two cats stared at each other for a moment, then both seemed to arch their eyebrows at the same moment.

  “We want more of this,” Madame Gerrot said. “What can we do to work with you and find our way to the stars? You have explained to us that our very existence is threatened. We’ve seen the wreckage of the alien fleet showering down on our planet, a summer of falling stars. We now have seen the wonders of what it is like to be you. Some of us fear that to tie our kite to your wagon will put us in everlasting servitude to you. Those of us here are not of that ilk, still we must explain ourselves to our voters.”

  “Then let us sit down and reason together,” Sandy said, and waved an arm in the general direction of the table that had now ceased its perambulation.

  The humans took the side of the table that faced inward. The cats were seated facing the woodland glade with its relaxing waterfall. Only if they raised their eyes did they see their planet revolving above their heads and the empty void of space looming over them.

  Most of them stayed focused on those at the table or the woods. A few, however, could not take their eyes off the other view.

  At a nod from Sandy to General Bruce, the Marine honor guard marched off smartly. Ten however, detached themselves from the rest and, led by a Gunny, cut their corners perfectly as they marched around the table to take up a position smartly behind each human negotiator.

  Several of the cats seemed relieved to see the Marines leave, then changed their focus to the few that remained.

  “You warriors move as one,” Madame Gerrot said. “There have been a few great commanders who have gotten such obedience from their warriors.” She left the question hanging.

  Sandy chose to answer it. “We fight as one, under one command, with subordinates using initiative to blend all our effort together into a single steel-clad fist. You have seen how we defeated the aliens.”

  “Yes.”

  Sandy chose to fall silent at that moment. The cats had asked for this meeting. The ball was in their court.

  For a long moment, no one spoke. The cats cast furtive glances up and down the table. Those seated in the observer seats looked back and forth among themselves. Still, no one broke the silence.

  President Almar was seated across from Sandy, Madame Gerrot across from Admiral Drago. Sandy had chosen to put Jacques next to her with Amanda at his elbow. Penny and Masao were at Drago’s elbow. The four dragooned Marines, including General Bruce, himself, formed the four outliers.

  Mimzy, do you know anything about who these people are? Sandy asked on Nelly Net.

  Columm Almar and the Bizalt Kingdom are reported to have less than a quarter of the planets people and more than a third of the global economy, Admiral. If our grasp of the data is correct, the other eight with them control about the same amount of population and a bit less of the economy. Taken as a whole, the cats seated across from you can speak for over half of the planet.

  And considering that we flattened a good fifteen percent when we took out Solzen, Jacques put in, what you see is just about the whole ball game.

  Sandy was very grateful for her net access now.

  The itch is finally getting bearable, thank heaven.

  Finally, Madame Gerrot cleared her throat. “We have long thought about what your Kris Longknife said to us. How a fractured world is not a world to let into space. Al and I were some of the few Sasquans to actually make a trip to space, and, no offense to Kris and her battered fleet, the view they offered was nowhere near as impressive as what you have laid out for us. Seeing our world now as you must see it, I better understand where you space people come from.”

  Gerrot nodded at Sandy and the admiral nodded back.

  “What we are about to propose is not a spur of the moment decision. You may have noticed that several governments have fallen in the last few days.”

  Sandy nodded again.

  “The media has mainly talked about these secret recruiting efforts some of us had and didn’t have. Actually, there was much more going on behind the scene. We, the governments that survived and some of the new governments now in office, have decided to form ourselves into a Union of Nations.”

  The prime minister paused to look up and down the table. Every head present shook in agreement. Madame Gerrot went on. “We are not quite sure how this union will work. Its design is still a work in progress. However, if we are to stand our ground against the murderous aliens and stand tall among you benevolent aliens,” here the old cat did not flinch, “then the cats of our world must learn to stand together, not bicker and bite like cubs in their mother’s den. You will forgive me if I say, this is not something we have a lot of experience with. It is only within the last few decades, some would say with the advent of mass communications, and the outside threats that new weapons present that we have managed to assemble nations as large as the ones you see.”

  “You are not the first planet to experience this process of going from many to one,” Sandy assured them.

  “Are you offering us assistance?” President Almar said.

  Sandy glanced at Jacques, the sociologist.

  This looks like your ball, hardly needed Nelly Net.

  “Say, rather, that I can share with you the many models that have been attempted so that you can chose among them to find one that fits you. Possibly, you may want to mix and match some parts of one with another part from another to patch together something that fits your need better than any of the ones I can show you. You might come up with something totally different. It’s best to approach this kind of supra-governmental effort with the idea that it will be a work in progress. You’ll want to review that progress regularly and refine your experiment.”

  “Ruling as a scientific experiment,” Madame Gerrot said. “Who would ever have thought of that?”

  “It’s better than ruling as a dictate from this person or that,” the human answered.

  “Then let us get down to negotiating the fine points of an alliance or, if you prefer, conditions for our association,” President Almar said. “At present, it appears that all we have to offer is food and labor. What we need,” he said, his eyes rising to take in the vast expanse of deck and space, “is technology that will let us contribute to our mutual defense. How do we make this work?”

  Sandy had read up on what were once called “Status of Force Agreements,” accords that specified how troops from a foreign power would be treated in another country. None had been signed in centuries, but the idea was still stored away in computers. Her problem, however, went a bit deeper.

  Not only did she need to make arrangements for how her people would relate to the cats while on their world, but also how the cats would be treated while traveling and working among the humans. No surprise, the sticking point was legal.

  “If a human kills a cat on our planet, there is a blood debt that must be paid,”

  “Does that death involve capital punishment?” Sandy asked back.

  “Involve taking that person’s life?” Jacques clarified.

  “Of course,” Madame Gerrot said, puzzled. “The family has a right.”

  That opened a whole new can of worms as the cat’s judicial system was dissected and found very wanting from the Human Rights perspective.

  The cats were no less horrified to discover that humans preferred prison time and rehabilitation. “It would be horrible to lock a person up. We would never do that. We need our time and space to roam free in.”

  In the end, they agreed to disagree. Cats in human territory would be under human law. Humans would avoid, whenever possible, going dirtside. If the cats wanted someone bad enough down there, they would have to give them a grant of immunity.

  Sandy signed onto that, then thought of something else. “The cats that kidnaped me. What would you do with them?”

  “They put your life in danger,” President Almar said. “They owe you their life. We would have executed them already if they were in our custody.”

  “I think I
’ve just got myself my very own herd of cats,” Sandy said, softly.

  “We have volunteers that we are in the final process of triple checking their background. When they are ready to start work with you, what will you want to do with them and where will you want to take them,” Madame Gerrot said, taking the conversation back to practical matters.

  “We will want them up here,” Sandy said, turning to eye Jacques for opposition. “I think we should start them off somewhere in the station. We probably better begin with classrooms on basic issues.”

  Jacques nodded. “How to relate to humans. What to expect. Some basic language work. Oh, and an introduction to our laws. I’m sure there are a few surprises lurking out there. It would be better to get them out in the open before they get aboard ship.”

  Sandy nodded agreement.

  “We can have the first fifty ready for you tomorrow,” President Almar said.

  “We too,” came from Madame Gerrot and several others.

  “Are we looking at five hundred immigrants?” Sandy asked.

  Madame Gerrot glanced up and down the table. Three nodded their heads no. “Say rather three hundred and fifty now with the rest coming along in a few days.”

  Sandy glanced Jacques’ way, then at Penny. The sociologist spoke first. “I think we can put something together.”

  “My computer has already spotted empty space in the station,” Penny said. “As we speak, it’s converting it into quarters for the cats. It’s on C Deck, so the gravity may be a bit lighter.”

  “We’ll see how that works,” Admiral Drago said.

  “I’ve already got a lesson plan half developed,” Jacques said.

  Right, he’s got one of Nelly’s kids. They work fast.

  Sandy took a deep sigh. “Then I think we have a deal. Penny, Jacques, I’m appointing you as main contact point for all things Cat. Admiral Drago, you’re in charge of any efforts to have Cats supply us with the fresh food and any other supplies we need. You’ll also oversee efforts to set up shops here on the station. Trips up to the station may be arranged by the local governments and will be met on a space available basis. Any problems, bring them to me.”

  You sure you mean that, boss?

  Yes, Jacques, I mean that. If there are any problems, I want to know soonest.

  Chapter 28

  Initial efforts to absorb the cats into the station routine went smoothly. The cats were a fifty-fifty mixture of manual skills, like machinists, mechanics, electricians and plumbers with higher level skills like mathematicians, engineers, computer experts and doctors.

  There were also a couple of dozen warriors.

  Those were bunked down separately and given extra oversight. After some discussion, they were added to the Marine physical training sessions. That proved interesting.

  In a hundred meter dash, the cat was way out in front. By two hundred meters, the human had caught up and by four hundred meters the cat had usually fallen out.

  “They pounce in the attack,” General Bruce told Sandy over breakfast. “They’re not so good for the long haul.”

  Sandy stored that away for later thought.

  On the rifle range, once cat rifles were brought up, the shooting was exceptional. Blindfolded, the cats could field strip their weapons as quickly as the best Marine.

  “Of course, they sent us their best,” General Bruce was quick to point out.

  Two nights later, two of the cat soldiers were found out after curfew. Sandy was awakened immediately. The cats had clammed up and refused to talk. Since they were from a minor country, Sandy chose to release them downside . . . at the space port established at the capital of the Bizalt Kingdom. They were picked up by local forces and marched off.

  Sandy received a report the next afternoon. They’d been tasked to spy on the humans. They had nothing to report except what all the other cats had already reported.

  After discussions with her team, Sandy returned all the trainees from that nation and had all the remaining cats given a demonstration of just some of the surveillance options open to the humans. The cats were quietly impressed. A few looked very subdued.

  Several asked to be returned after that show. They were.

  The other cats were finding it humbling as they discovered that the humans had little or no use for their present skills. Be they engineers, mathematician or plumbers, there was no work for them on Kiel Station.

  “What are you going to do with us, have us sweep up the floors?” one asked only to learn that dirt was automatically collected and disposed of.

  “But we do have work for you,” Amanda pointed out, and had the station generate examples of fabrication work stations or lasers out of Smart MetalTM for them to work with.

  More asked to return, but there were ten times as many waiting in line to replace them.

  Then President Almar and Prime Minister asked for a meeting with Sandy and dropped a bomb, quite literally.

  They met in Sandy’s quarters on the Relentless. The Forward Area, as it was now known on Kiel Station, was booked solid with over two dozen eateries, cat and human, already going strong with more scheduled to open. It seemed the cats couldn’t get enough of Chinese food.

  “It appears to us that our students have not been as helpful to you as we had hoped they would be,” the president started without preamble.

  Sandy nodded at Penny and Jacques who were seated at her elbows.

  Jacques took up the response. “It is true that what they know does not apply that much to what we do, but we really didn’t think it would. You have sent us very intelligent cats who, we think, will very quickly pick up the skills they need to work side by side with us.”

  “Let us hope that they can,” Almar said, “but in the meantime, we would like to offer you something that you can make use of.”

  Sandy raised an eyebrow at that. “What do you have in mind?”

  “Thermonuclear warheads,” the president said.

  Penny, get Admiral Drago in here soonest.

  Mimzy already put in the call. He’s galloping for us as fast as an admiral is permitted to move.

  “Thermonuclear warheads,” Sandy echoed, stalling for time.

  “Yes,” said Madame Gerrot. “We couldn’t help but notice that your Kris Longknife did not use atomic bombs in our defense. Equally, we could not help but also make not of the warheads that the aliens launched at us as they came around the sun. Although they were mostly rocks, the attack did include at least a few that were some sort of atomic warhead. Some of the falling stars that made it to the ground were radioactive. That leads us to believe that you might not have access to atomic weapons.”

  Admiral Drago came in about that time.

  Does he know what we’ve been talking about, Penny?

  Mimzy has been streaming the conversation live to his computer.

  Good.

  “Admiral Drago, take a seat. We seem to be having an interesting conversation,” Admiral Santiago said, cheerfully.

  “So I hear,” Drago said. “Atomics are on the table.”

  A chair raised itself up from the deck between Sandy and Jacques, and the admiral slipped in at Sandy’s elbow.

  “The cats are offering to give us some atomic bombs,” Sandy said.

  “Thermonuclear warheads,” President Almar corrected. “These are a thousand times more deadly than mere atomic bombs.”

  “Yes,” Admiral Drago answered. “I’ve been studying up on those little buggars. Nasty things, you know.”

  “Yes. We have had some unpleasant experiences with them,” Madame Gerrot said.

  “We outlawed them hundreds of years ago,” Drago pointed out.

  “Maybe someday we can do the same,” the president said. “Just now, it’s not at the top of my to do list for today.”

  “It’s not easy, I’m told,” said Drago. “It takes trust that the other folks with the big bombs won’t hold back a few.”

  “Or knock together a couple quickly behind your back,�
�� the prime minister said.

  “But you’re offering to let us take a few of those monsters off your hands,” Sandy said.

  The two officials glanced at each other.

  Madame Gerrot spoke for both of them. “We, the ten willing to join together, have agreed that an attack on one of us is an attack on any of us. That in and of itself is a breakthrough for us. However, that leaves some of our nuclear arsenal surplus to our needs. Not a lot, mind you. We still don’t trust each other all that much, but we’ve agreed to allow each other to inventory our arsenals.”

  The president took over. “We think we can trust the accuracy of the count and we are willing to give you twenty percent of our largest warheads.”

  “How many would that be?” Sandy asked.

  “Two thousand,” the prime minister said.

  “Two thousand!” Sandy avoided shouting, but just barely.

  “Of our largest thermonuclear weapons,” the president put in. “We didn’t include the smaller weapons.”

  Dear God, how many do they have? Sandy demanded on Nelly Net

  She got no reply, not that she had expected one.

  Sandy eyed Admiral Drago. “Could we make any use of these city busters?”

  Drago eyed the cats across the table. When he spoke, his words came slowly, as if he was stepping carefully through a mine field. “We have no doctrine for using atomics, since we outlawed them several centuries years ago. However, we do have missiles that use anti-matter warheads. We have to be very judicious in their use, what with all the lasers around, ready to shoot them out of space.”

  “So, you don’t want them?” the president asked.

  “I’m not ready to say that,” Drago said.

  Penny, Jacques, would it be a good idea to get these bombs off this planet?

  Twenty percent! Sounded like Penny.

  Any reduction can only be good, Sandy. I recommend we take them. We can always toss them into the next sun as we go by, was definitely Jacques.