by A. D. Bloom
"Rock thrower?"
"Wouldn't be funny, but they already call us primitive 'rock throwers' for using railgun sabot and bullets."
"I don't get it."
"They think most of our weapons are fancy ways to throw rocks."
After the unsettling sound of Shediri laughter faded and the bugs were silent, Devlin stepped forward to a circle of asymmetric protrusions that rose up from the center of the deck like long, flattened teeth. The angle was steep. Garlan had to grip the forward edge with his hands to climb up and sit with his feet dangling like he saw Devlin do.
Less than ten seconds after they'd perched themselves on what he assumed had to be some kind of alien furniture, the hatch opposite them opened on darkness. What came out was a Shediri bug, but a different kind than the stripey ones or the worker ones he'd seen over the power conduit. This bug had fifty near-useless tiny legs and extra upper arms. It had a headdress painted in alien stripes and dazzle like the soldiers, but it wasn't one of those bugs at all. This was clearly a different bug. It took it thirty seconds to reach the ring of jutting teeth they sat on and when it did, it climbed up on those tiny legs and then lowered its body down to rest, dangling all the legs off the side of the alien chair. It swayed its upper body at them slowly, stopped, and then screeched in a way that challenged Garlan not to cover his ears. The speakers set on a piece of a Staas suit-panel that it wore across its chest said, "War Consul Ix acknowledge Captain Foet. Hive Regent Kesik acknowledge Captain Foet. Captain Foet is Captain of Doxy and friend of Ram Devlin."
"Acknowledge back. Acknowledge it as War Consul."
"Captain Foet acknowledge War Consul Ix?" This hiss and click came out and after that, the thing in front of them nodded in what Garlan took for a learned human gesture.
"Thank you." It said. "Doxy yours. Doxy mine. Together success Liberty Fleet."
"Repeat that back," Devlin told him.
"Wait. What the hell does it mean 'Doxy mine'?"
"Just say the last part."
"Success Liberty Fleet."
The war consul swayed and beat its chest with all six small arms.
"Close enough," said Devlin.
Garlan hadn't noticed the bug had clothes let alone a pocket, but a section of its thorax was covered in something woven. What the alien extracted from the hidden pocket appeared to be an over-sized egg. With two appendages to grip it carefully, the war consul lifted the ovoid to its vertical mouthparts and audibly cracked the ostrich egg. It split it in half and what spilled out was opaque and thin, so thin that it seemed like it was trying to climb the halves of the broken shell that the Shediri war consul now held in front of him like two jagged-rimmed bowls or cups.
Devlin said, "One of those is for you, Captain Foet. Take it, please." The spilled liquid looked like thin oil.
"Why?"
"Lean out, lift your arm and take the cup."
His fingers never touched the appendages of the alien, but in the moment when he held the cup in his hand and the Shediri did too, he felt the creature's tremors. It wasn't scared, more like it was a coiled spring shaking with energy. The fluid that had spilled over the sides of the broken egg smeared under his gloved fingers as he took the cup from Ix.
"Drink it, Captain Foet," said Devlin.
The Shediri war consul lifted its half of the broken egg to its mouth with two of its 'hands', tilted it backwards and drank. The brackish liquid ran down the jagged edges of its chitin jaws as they clacked together fast, spraying little droplets into the air.
The armored bugs around the chamber drummed themselves and hissed as Garlan looked again at the liquid. "What is it?"
"Doc Ibora tested it. It's a very queer thing. It produces the effect of stimulating nerves in the opposite of the way they've been pleasurably stimulated. Don't know how, but that's the effect. It acts like a palate inverter if you put it on your tongue."
"Does that taste bad?"
"Like you've never imagined. It tastes like everything but what you like. It's hellish. Shediri offer it to warrior guests. The guest now has an opportunity to honor them by drinking it. As the War Consul has just honored you."
Garlan sniffed it. "Does it taste bad to them, too?"
"Worse. Drink it."
Garlan lifted the bowl to his lips and didn't look as he tilted his head back and drank. Instead, he looked up at the Shediri swaying left and right over him, clacking its jaw and hissing. The black bile tasted like everything he'd ever tried not to taste his whole life, like everything he didn't like. His face screwed up in response like it never had before. The muscles in his cheeks twisted so hard they cramped and his eyes watered and wept.
He heard the clattering racket as the bugs around him all beat their chitin. His head swam and spun. "Well done," Devlin said. "I puked it up the first time."
The War Consul's translator said. "Ix satisfaction re: Captain Foet." Then, it began to withdraw backwards down the jutting chair. "Action is truth," it said.
As the War Consul began the maneuvers that it would take to exit on those tiny legs, Devlin spoke without translation. "Apparently, you've proven yourself. Ix is happy with my choice."
"What was I proving there?"
"Willingness to share sacrifice, I think. And what a tough little human you are." Devlin's eyes flicked across the war painted Shediri around them as the War Consul took its time. "Proving you're tough matters to these bugs. Besides being soldiers they live in castes and compete to pass genes on within those castes."
What Garlan carried in his stomach burned hot like he'd drunk a liter of old grog. It sloshed uncomfortably the entire walk back out of the Shediri section. As they stepped out the lock and he put his foot on the comfort of a flat deck once again, he felt the alien cocktail working its way through his intestines. It felt like it was dissolving the last meal he'd eaten on Choctaw.
"Congratulations," Devlin said to him as he cramped and fought to keep whatever he'd drank inside him. "You're officially the captain of the first human-alien warship in history."
"It's still 53% ours. Make sure the bugs know that. And don't make the mistake of thinking I'm some kind of diplomat. I wouldn't have known what the hell to do in there without you."
"Communication and tactical coordination with the Shediri is our number one challenge. Usually there's a team of exolinguists and specialists assigned to this ship. They gone, but they didn't do all that well, anyway. We'll see how you fare."
The cramps twisted him worse then and Garlan wanted to break out into a run for the 2nd deck head in the command module, but he had to ask Devlin one more question first. He couldn't keep it down. "Why us? You could have had any crew. You already had my ship. Illegally seized or not, I couldn't fight you for her without money I don't have. So why hire us and haul us out here?"
Devlin stopped then and turned to face Garlan square. "I choose who I trust with some care. Your ship was the only one with the legacy inertial negation system I needed, but you're right - I only needed her. I could have got anyone to crew her. I chose to hire you because I think I know what you want, Foet. It's not just the money. Sure, you want to get paid. It's a gesture of respect. But you want more than the money. That's important because money and power are what my enemies at Staas Company have to offer those who betray me. But you want something more than they can offer. That's why I've decided to trust you. That's why your crew got the job." Before the Commodore set off for the bays and left him in the mainsway, Devlin said, "We'll be going into action in an hour or two. Now that we have the firepower, it's time to drive that Imperium and Ekkai battlegroup out of Shediri space. Make sure you and your crew are ready to put some speed on this carrier so you can give the raiders a good launch."
SCS Doxy, bridge
Sitting in the Doxy's command chair was like receiving an embrace from a lover who has recently had others. The stuffing under the leather had shifted, but it would shift back. It was good to be home. He didn't ever want to let Doxy go again ever. Not ev
en after what the Shediri had done to her.
"This is Carnaby," the voice on comms said. "Reactors look good. Engines look good. Inertial negation systems have never been running smoother. We've got the field extended around the entire ship, alien parts and all. We're good to get underway anytime."
"Keep her ready to make speed. We'll be using it to launch the Shediri in battle."
Singh said, "Getting a lot of chatter from the junks... Contact inbound... I think we've got company coming."
"Got coordinates," Graves said. He brought an image up on the new tactical console the redsuits had added to the right of the command chair. The Ekkai probe he zoomed in on was less than half-a-meter. It made a small target as it buzzed within 50,000 Ks of the task force - close enough to see, but far enough away that it was quite a challenge to hit with a shell or a sabot.
Out the window, engine flares from the accelerating Sky Jacks of the patrol tore across the vacuum in pursuit. "The interceptors will turn it to scrap," Annie said. She was right; they probably would. But not before it passed on their location.
"Those Ekkai that hit us outside the transit could be back soon," Graves said. "Maybe something bigger."
While they were watching the pursuit, a Staas Company longboat flew across the Doxy's bow. She jetted out deceleration bursts and came to a dead stop in front of the ship. The pilot's voice was easy to recognize even before he read the transponder. "Doxy, Doxy, this is longboat one from Aquitaine. Please open your forward bay doors."
"The company man wants to come aboard?" Annie looked up from the ship's Ops console. "What should I do?"
"Open the doors. I'm going to go see what he wants."
Two decks down, Garlan pressurized the bay and waited, but nobody came out of the longboat. He couldn't see in the way Cyning had turned the boat around so Garlan passed through the locks and knocked on the hull with his helmet. The port hatch opened. Humidity from inside froze in the cold air and spilled out as a fog of ice crystals, but that was all that appeared.
He stepped aboard to find Cyning in the rear, pouring himself a drink from a wet bar installed against the rear bulkhead of the main compartment. "I can't taste any difference. I don't know what the fuss is about the good stuff. But I buy it. Do you know why?"
"No."
"Because you get what you pay for. It's a universal truth like gravity and nuclear decay. The fact that you can't taste the difference between one liquor or another doesn't change what you've got in your mouth."
"I'm not sure I agree."
"Of course you don't. Close the hatch," Cyning said. The company man took a mouthful of what Garlan imagined to be vodka and swished it in his mouth while fishing in his pockets. What Cyning pulled out looked like halved eggs, but small as the tip of a finger and metal. After the exec set them there, they fixed themselves to the bulkheads and deck, the hatches, and even the diamond-pane crystal of the longboat's canopy. Seconds after Cyning had placed the last of them, they all switched on and began to vibrate. It was more than a sound. It tickled the nerves inside Garlan's teeth in a particularly uncomfortable way.
"What are those things and can we turn them off?"
"They are counter-surveillance devices to ensure our private conversation stays private and no, we cannot turn them off. Not yet. You and I have business to discuss."
"We've already done our business, Mr. Cyning. I work for Commodore Devlin now. You approved it."
"And a very important part of the process my approval was, but when I mentioned this opportunity as 'your ship coming in' you didn't take me literally and think I only meant the Doxy, did you? My god, no, man, I didn't mean just one ship. Taking command of the Doxy again and sitting in that command chair is only the first step into a larger, less impoverished world for you and your crew. I approved your hire, Captain Garlan, so you could steal the Doxy back from the man who stole her from you."
"You want me to do what?"
"To save time I will speak plainly, Captain. I will give you a dozen new freighters if you bring this one home with all her additional Shediri technology intact. All you have to do is steam into the transit at the right moment. Unknown to Commodore Devlin and the others, the Office of the Secretary General is about to order a full withdrawal from this system over the Q-link aboard Guerrero. Commander Devlin will almost certainly disobey and order you to remain and pointlessly die defending the Shediri with him. But you will not do this. When the rest of the task force leaves, you will enter the transit with us and return home to a better life."
"What about the Shediri aboard this ship - all the hundreds of pilots and crew. What about Ix? I mean...their homeworld is under bombardment. Don't you think they're going to have something to say about abandoning it in the middle of a fight?"
"The bugs won't have anything to say about it. They'll be dead after you flip one switch. Perhaps two switches, I suppose."
"What?!"
"You will raise the artificial gravity on board this ship. The Shediri evolved on a planet with only .22 Earth gees of pull. They can't handle heavy gees very well. All you need to do is increase the power to the artificial gravity field and use some extra percentage of your reactor power to run it for a few minutes. Sixty percent should be enough by my calculations. You will raise the artificial gravity across this ship, both human and Shediri sections, to a full, 1.5 Earth gravities. After so many years out in the black, you won't like it, but you'll survive. The Shediri, on the other hand, will perish. Kill the bugs and make for the transit. In return for this, Staas Company will pay handsomely. We will have to keep the Doxy of course, but in return, we'll give you a fleet of a dozen brand new freighters, favorable loan terms to set up shop, and Staas Company's blessing to import to and export from the new worlds. Someone is going to make a fortune hauling products out and bringing back alien goods and materials. It might as well be you and your crew."
Garlan said, "Is this why you approved us for the job when Devlin picked us?"
"I thought you a practical man who'd see reason and think of his crew before his vanity. Now, Commodore Devlin picked you because he believes you to be a fool. He thinks you're immune to my offers because you're dazzled by the exotic aliens and the false prestige of being part of his little Liberty Fleet. He projects his own madness on you, I think, because you're a Captain whom, from everything I can see, values the welfare of his crew. It has always been your primary concern - steering them not only out of danger, but also into fortune. There hasn't been much of that lately for you and your crew. Now, fortune has arrived and you need only reach out and take it. The personality simulation I ran of you said you would choose as I predict."
That wasn't an easy insult to hear. "Your AI said that about me?"
"It did. It also predicts with some measure of certainty that when the retreat from Shedir is ordered, Ram Devlin will stay with his bugs to fight and die, ordering all to their deaths in an impotent effort to save the homeworld of an alien species instead of ensuring Human security. Think of your crew, Captain Foet. I see your eyes narrow as I speak, but not matter how evident your distaste for me, you know I'm right."
No, you're not, he thought. There was only a heartbeat's pause to sneer at Cyning's offer before Singh began shouting over comms. "Skipper, get up here! One of the junks spotted incoming Ekkai warships. They're already too close."
The company man began to remove and pocket the tiny counter-surveillance devices that had shaken the nerves inside Garlan's teeth.
"Our discussion is now concluded," Cyning said. "You know what to do."
By the time Garlan got back to his bridge, the vacuum outside the windows had filled with Shediri raiders. A swarm of war painted alien craft was launching from the flight decks to speed off and intercept the incoming enemy.
5
55th Hellcats, Combat Air Patrol
Pippa Tsui, aka, 'Strike' of the Staas Company Privateers' 55th Fighter Squadron led her flight of F-223 Sky Jacks towards the last known good contact the j
unks had gotten off the incoming Ekkai. She and her squadron were the outermost ring of the task force's defense. Under her helmet, her face was flush with anger and embarrassment that she and hers hadn't spotted the bandits first. Never mind alien stealth and how they appeared and disappeared off radar and LiDAR. It was her job to protect that task force and the Ekkai had almost got past unchallenged.
"We're going to have one shot at this," she said over comms. "We'll go in two by two. There's less guns pointing at the rear, so we'll attack from there, hitting the largest targets first. Hellcat 2-1, have your flight come in close behind, 3-1 behind them. Follow my lead."
The inertial negation system in the 223 almost kept up with how hard she leaned on the thrust. The gees weren't so bad if you took them eyeball-back like that. Pulling out of the torpedo run was what worried her. If they couldn't hack the gees to veer around back the way they'd come in, they'd have to overfly the Ekkai ships and the fast-tracking beams up and down them that had been made to eliminate threats just like them. Those beams had already devastated the Shediri swarms, so Strike didn't think she was being overcautious.
"I've got a hard LiDAR contact," Cheese said. Her wingman passed it to her over data comms, but her own array had already locked them. Her helmet projected four distinct contacts in the visor. Whatever they'd been using for stealth, it was off now, and the four Ekkai ships steamed fast towards the task force, leaving a thin trail of plasma behind them, invisible to her eye, but not the transducers set in four of the six bug eyes on the sides of her helmet. "O-NAV shows good track and fifty-six seconds to intercept."
"I've got them." Strike zoomed in further, and the grainy shapes grew solid out of the starry black behind them. Those hulls looked as if they were meant to enter an atmo, but the vertical fins topside and keel were clearly not wings. They ran hot, glowing on IR as the Ekkai raced towards the task force.
"Hunter-killers." One of them looked bigger. It was the same shape, but considerable larger, closer to 400 meters. "And they brought one of the fat gunboats."