Wreaths of Empire

by Andrew M. Seddon

  She was over the precipice with Troy, now. In free-fall with no turning back. What lay ahead was a gentle landing…or disaster.

  The two ships drew alongside.

  “Velocity match. Docking link extending,” Emmers reported matter of factly. “Engaged.”

  The profile on the screen remained motionless.

  “Here or there, ma’am?” Emmers asked.

  “Whichever he likes.”

  “He who?” Kuchera squeaked.

  “Link open on the other side,” Emmers continued. “It looks like he’s coming over.”

  “Fine.” Jade parted her restraints. “Let’s go and say hello.”

  The two men followed her off the bridge to the airlock.

  Jade forced herself to keep a straight face, torn between the desire to grin and the compulsion to allow her trepidation to show. Not for herself, but for what she was doing to Troy.

  She nodded to Emmers. “Open the airlock.”

  The heavy door slid aside.

  A stubby, barrel-chested, loose-limbed figure with an oversized head appeared in the doorway. The creature wore a shapeless robe and nasal filters.

  Kuchera’s mouth framed a silent ‘O’.

  “Troy,” Jade said, yielding to the urge to grin, “I’d like you to meet a friend of mine. Please welcome Ship-keeper Nahanni-or’a-Hhurn.”

  Troy Kuchera’s mind froze into immobility. He swayed, rested a hand on the wall for support, and stared at the rickety, khaki—clad figure barely as high as his chest. His gaze slid from the widely-set, recessed eyes, shielded beneath heavy folds of leathery skin, to the lipless slit mouth. Small ears and hole-nostrils reminded him of a reptile. A faint odor drifted through the link from the Gara’nesh ship, at once reminiscent of jasmine and sagebrush, but like nothing on any human world.

  He licked his lips. “Ship-keeper,” he croaked, “I’m Lieutenant Troy Kuchera…a friend of Jade’s.”

  The Gara’nesh responded in Anglo-Standard, smoothing over the harsh consonants of the human language. “This one greets you, Lieutenant Kuchera.”

  Troy noticed that the mouth hardly seemed to move. He caught the merest glimpse of a russet-colored tongue.

  With a color change from yellow-green to violet, Nahanni stepped towards Jade. He extended his left hand, four digits spread apart. Jade raised her hand, and touched the tips of Nahanni’s fingers with her own.

  “dallin'ha Chashsa maheri ihalli,” she murmured.

  Nahanni’s voice was soft, sibilant, like the murmuring of a woodland stream. “dallin'ha Chashsa maheri kiloie yanajji.”

  Jade pinked. Most becomingly, Troy thought. He looked from one to the other. “Will somebody clue me in?”

  “Oh.” Jade started. “I forgot. You don’t have a translator. That’s just as well. An exchange of greetings was all.”

  “All?”

  Nahanni lowered his arm and spoke. “Commander Lafrey said that she was glad to see this one well. This one said that the other was more welcome than ever.”

  Jade coughed and turned aside.

  “Did this one speak incorrectly?” Nahanni faded to a pale pink. Troy couldn’t tell how the change was effected; he tried to remember what Jade had said about the meanings of the various colors.

  “Not at all. My sentiments exactly.” Troy said. He smiled at Jade, amused by her embarrassment, even if he didn’t understand it.

  Jade glared at him. She spoke to the alien. “Nahanni, that one,” she gestured in Kuchera’s direction, “is fassaneh.”

  “This one understands.” Nahanni lowered his hand, tucking it into a slit in the side of his robe-like garment.

  “What does that mean?” Troy asked.

  “You remember my aide, Lieutenant Rick Emmers,” Jade ignored the question. Troy glanced back over his shoulder to see Emmers standing in the background.

  “Greetings,” Nahanni said.

  “Pleased to meet you again, sir,” Emmers replied, the expression on his face neutral, as if meeting a Gara’nesh was an everyday occurrence. Which I strongly doubt, Troy thought.

  “Let’s go and sit down,” Jade said. She led the way to the lounge.

  Troy caught Emmers’ elbow as the younger man drew up to him.

  “Do you have a translator?” he hissed. “Do you know what that word meant? Fassaneh?”

  “I do,” Emmers whispered. “But I’m not sure if I should tell you.”

  “Why not?”

  “The commander might be upset.”

  “I can keep a secret.”

  Emmers stared down the docking link. “It has certain connotations…” he tried to move away. “Sociobiophysical abstractions that resist interspecies equivalencies…”

  Troy didn’t loose his grip. “Emmers—”

  Emmers shrugged free. “It has no direct translation, but implies a type of special friendship with overtones of—” He gestured helplessly. “Their customs are different. They don’t marry like we do—”

  “I get the picture,” Troy said, forcing down what he knew was a foolish expression. He clapped Emmers on the shoulder. “I owe you.”

  Emmers gave a weak smile and moved ahead.

  “Are you gentlemen coming?” Jade’s voice issued from the direction of the lounge.

  Jade and Nahanni were already seated on the couch, Nahanni with his legs folded in what would have been an excruciatingly uncomfortable position for a human. Emmers plumped into one of the chairs. Troy took another, close to Jade.

  “Is it all right if we speak in Anglo-Standard for Troy’s benefit?” Jade asked Nahanni. “If there’s something you can’t phrase, just say it in Ga’halli and I’ll translate. nalasshi noraya in’hallifha a ga’halli.”

  Nahanni moved his fingers. “Agreeable. That one’s accent is very good.”

  “Thank you. As is yours.”

  “Before we begin, Jade,” Troy spoke up, “please enlighten me. Is this the Nahanni? From a decade ago?”

  Jade nodded. “Yes.”

  “But—” A lump in his throat made it difficult to speak. Troy swallowed and started again. “But I thought you said that once Retribution returned to Weston’s World, the Politicals took Nahanni away to be executed.”

  “They did.”

  Troy raised his eyebrows. “He looks very much alive to me.”

  Jade shook with silent laughter. “Perhaps you should explain, Nahanni,” she said.

  Nahanni made the movement with his fingers again. Troy decided it was meant as a gesture of assent. He fixed his eyes on the alien.

  Nahanni began speaking. Once more, the sounds seemed to issue without lip movement; perhaps some other internal structure helped with articulation.

  “This one was indeed taken away from Lieutenant Lafrey’s care. And interrogated. And nearly executed. But on the morning of the scheduled execution, this one was—rescued?” he hesitated.

  Jade nodded. “Correct.”

  “You?” Troy asked, looking over to Jade.

  She shook her head. “No. I had nothing to do with it. In fact, I didn’t even learn of Nahanni’s escape until much later. I spent years believing I had saved him from death in space only to die at the hands of Politicals.”

  “It was a…” Nahanni paused. “Phiima vonnovi.”

  “Resistance organization,” Jade supplied.

  “Gratitude,” Nahanni said.

  “Your friends whose identity you won’t divulge to me?” Troy asked.

  “Yes. Although I can tell you that one of them was Colonel Victor Reichert of the Political Bureau—something I also learned much later. He was eventually betrayed and executed.”

  “A brave man,” Troy said. “That’s why he was lenient with you.” He looked back to the Gara’nesh.

  Unblinking, Nahanni continued. “They took this one from the Political officers into a place of safety. In time, this one was allowed to rejoin the Gara’nesh.”

  “The Resistance saw it as a prime opportunity to do something that had bee
n debated for a long time,” Jade explained. “Begin a cooperative between like-minded humans and Gara’nesh, with groups on either side working towards peace.”

  “I realized there were pro-peace undergrounds, but I never suspected the existence of a human-Gara’nesh cooperative,” Troy said.

  “No. And fortunately, neither did anybody in the Political Bureau. Following Nahanni’s rescue there was an appalling purge in the Political ranks followed by a first-class cover-up.”

  “I’ll bet there was,” Troy said. “Nobody would want to shoulder the blame for him escaping.”

  “Precisely.” Jade smiled. “Nahanni and I had quite a reunion.”

  “The other one,” Nahanni said to Kuchera, “has played a large role in the quest for peace. If she had not rescued this one from the ship ruin, our two peoples might not be talking.”

  “You exaggerate,” Jade protested, her voice faint.

  Nahanni replied, “This one thinks not.”

  Emmers spoke up. “We ought to be heading back soon, ma’am.”

  “It is so,” Nahanni said. “This one must not be absent from the fleet for long. How may this one help?”

  “We found a word,” Jade said. “Or rather, Rick found a word. We think it may be important, but we can’t translate it.”

  Nahanni touched his head with a finger. “What is this word?”

  “Nessh'uarin.”

  Troy wasn’t prepared for Nahanni’s response, and by her shocked expression, Jade wasn’t either. The Ship-keeper flared a bright-blue. His breath whistled past the nasal filters that thinned the thick human air and made it breathable. His skeletal fingers curled. Folds of skin retracted from his achromatic eyes.

  “What’s wrong?” Jade asked, her face creasing.

  Nahanni appeared to struggle to regain control. “This word. How did that one obtain it?”

  “Is it important?”

  “This word…no human should know.”

  Jade cast a distressed look at Emmers, and then returned her attention to Nahanni. Troy held his breath.

  “If I tell you how we found it,” she said, “will you tell me what it means?”

  “This one will consider it.”

  “I’ll relate the whole story,” Jade said. “And then you can decide. There are many humans who do not desire peace.”

  “This one knows that only too well.”

  “There have been rumors that the Gara’nesh have developed a secret weapon to end the war.”

  “This one knows of no such weapon.”

  “In the course of investigating these rumors, we discovered a star that had gone supernova. It may have been artificially induced.” Jade paused to let the words sink in. Nahanni gestured for her to continue. “We have found evidence of unusual Roessler-space transition waves emanating from Covenant that we think may be connected.”

  “And the word?”

  “Was found in Fleet Admiral Gellner’s files, along with a set of co-ordinates.” Jade recited the numbers.

  Nahanni’s blue intensified as Jade spoke. The Gara’nesh rose and circled the lounge, wobbling in the heavier Earth-normal gravity before resuming his seat. Troy craned his neck to keep him in sight.

  “What does that one fear?” Nahanni asked Jade.

  “I fear that the Gara’nesh have developed this weapon, and that Nessh’uarin is where it is. But I’m suspicious that the leaders of the Hegemony have their own plans.”

  Nahanni nodded an awkward nod, copied from Jade. “That one is right to fear. This one fears also.” Retracted once again, Nahanni’s deep-set, hooded eyes roved around the three humans. “For knowing this location, you should all die.”

  “Now wait a minute!” Troy burst. He surged from his seat.

  “Quiet, Troy,” Jade gripped his arm and pulled him back down. “We have nothing to fear from Nahanni.”

  “But—!”

  “Quiet. Let Nahanni speak.”

  But for long minutes the alien made no sound. Twice Troy opened his mouth, but the sight of Jade sitting patiently forestalled him.

  Finally Jade asked quietly, “Can you tell us?” She added a few words in Ga’halli that Troy didn’t catch.

  Nahanni’s fingers moved.

  “I will tell you,” Nahanni said. “But no other humans must ever know. Is that agreed?”

  “Yes,” Jade said.

  “Agreed,” Emmers confirmed.

  “You have my promise,” Troy echoed.

  Nahanni’s breath whistled. “That word is based on the same as that of our race.”

  “I guessed as much,” Jade said.

  “It is an old word, a holy word, in a dialect no longer spoken. As close as this one can say in your Anglo-Standard it means ‘the dwelling place of the chosen people’.”

  Jade’s eyes widened. “You mean—”

  “It is the name of the homeworld of the Gara’nesh.”

  Jade’s vision went dark, and the compartment swayed. For a moment she felt as though she might pass out. She recovered quickly. Kuchera sat immobile; Emmers looked stunned.

  The Gara’nesh homeworld! That location had been desired by the leaders of the Hegemony ever since first contact. It was a secret that the Gara’nesh had defended with their lives—even as human Naval personnel were sworn to die rather than reveal the location of Earth.

  The first to learn the location of the other’s homeworld would be the ones to win the war. With Roessler co-ordinates, robotic probes could seek out a course. An all-out strike on Earth or Nessh’uarin—! Jade shuddered. For Nahanni to reveal this secret indicated a depth of trust that she wasn’t sure she would have possessed if the situation had been reversed.

  She took several deep breaths. “I’ve been—I’ve been blind,” she gasped.

  “This one does not understand,” Nahanni said, the blue of agitation melting into the pink of perplexion.

  “For Pete’s sake, don’t keep it to yourself!” Kuchera enjoined.

  “From start to finish,” she said to Kuchera, temporarily avoiding Nahanni, “we’ve been running around, chasing our tails.”

  “Tails?” Nahanni asked.

  “Ma’am,” Emmers said, puzzlement clouding his eyes, “the Gara’nesh—”

  “No!” Jade burst. “Not the Gara’nesh! We’ve been meant to believe the Gara’nesh are behind this.”

  “I’m as confused as Emmers,” Kuchera said.

  “Look at it this way,” Jade said. She sat straighter. “What actual evidence—hard and fast evidence—do we have to implicate the Gara’nesh?”

  “Watford’s file,” said Emmers promptly.

  Kuchera rubbed his nose. “And didn’t you tell me he was wearing Gara’nesh clothing?”

  “Yes. And?” Jade prompted.

  “Markher 12,” Kuchera said.

  “Inconclusive.” Jade waited.

  “I can’t think of anything else,” Kuchera said.

  Emmers shook his head.

  “Exactly,” Jade stabbed a finger. “The clothing could have come from anywhere—a captured prisoner, a dead body on a ship hulk. Nate’s file—well, we’ve had our suspicions as to how he and Trevarra got their hands on the information. Against that, what do we have? Fromberg’s murder and the attempt on my life. Mysterious Roessler-space waves emanating from Covenant. The location of the Gara’nesh homeworld in Gellner’s files.”

  “As I said before, a Political plot on our side.” Kuchera held up his hand. “Hold it, please. Motive for all this?”

  “Disrupting the negotiations was a side issue,” Jade said, “to make it seem as if the Gara’nesh were talking peace while they were simultaneously developing a new weapon. Let somebody who’s pro-peace—like me—discover the info, blurt it out, and the negotiations break down.

  “That was the idea. But we didn’t do that,” she continued. “We kept it between us and Maricic, who wanted confirmation.”

  “So why this rigmarole?” Emmers asked.

  “Once we’d left Co
venant, two things could happen. We could find the supernova—as we did—which Maricic seized upon as evidence of Gara’nesh perfidity—”

  “That won’t work,” Kuchera said. “Why try to kill you before you arrived at Markher 12?”

  “It seems like a lot just to disrupt the conference,” Emmers added.

  “That’s right. It is.” Jade ran a finger along her lips. “Remember Nate’s dying words? ‘They lie. Don’t believe.’“

  Kuchera opened his mouth and shut it.

  Jade looked at Emmers.

  “Don’t believe the Gara’nesh sincerity?” he said hesitantly. “That’s what we thought he meant.”

  “You guys are slower than I am,” Jade said. “Not one plot, but two.”

  “Two?” Emmers echoed.

  “One by the Politicals—Iverson, probably—to disrupt the conference. The attempt on Trevarra and me to make it appear that we’d really found something important, because we weren’t to return alive. Number two,—What if there is a weapon?” she asked. “And we have it. And the purpose of this plot is to destroy the Gara’nesh homeworld by turning its sun into a supernova.”

  Nahanni scrambled to his feet, the most violent shade of blue Jade had ever seen. The skin peeled back from his eyes.

  “poli’inuha yransa refrasat hayyahh!”

  Jade tugged on the Ship-keeper’s robe. “Klamanni fofhar da'dransha,” she replied. “Please, let’s keep calm.”

  “How can this one be calm?” Nahanni’s normally uninflected speech became jerky as he struggled with Anglo-Standard. “Never has such an awful thing been contemplated! No Gara’nesh would ever consider such evil!”

  Jade tugged again.

  Nahanni sat back down, his large head wobbling on his thin neck.

  “I know, my friend,” Jade said. “But there are evil humans who would think nothing of destroying your people completely.”

  “Genocide,” Kuchera said. “The ultimate victory.”

  “We have to stop them!” Emmers said.

  “This one will alert Fleet-keeper Sharra,” Nahanni declared. “The fleet will destroy Covenant and the weapon.”

  “No,” Jade replied. “That’s exactly what they want. Provocation.”

  “It is this one’s homeworld! The provocation has already been committed!”