“Pleased I am, you come safe through fighting,” Varya said in English.
“Hey!” Gina said smiling in delight. “That was really good, Varya. You’ve been practising your English.” She switched to Shan. “I’m so glad you’re here and safe. I heard they sent you looking for stray Merki. Find any?”
Varya replied in Shan. “Yes, not as many as we fought at Charlie Epsilon, but enough to keep my team busy. All finished now.”
Gina nodded. “Glad to hear that.” She turned her attention to James. “It’s good to see you, James. It’s been a while. Where’s Brenda?”
“She stayed behind today. This is some weather, huh?”
Gina nodded. “Should have brought my rain cape.”
James shook his head. “I’ve seen this before. We used to use these micro bursts as cover to get in position to ambush the Merki in the city. They don’t like rain much. It will pass in a few minutes. It’s not even raining a klick down the road.”
“Huh,” Gina said and watched the General talking with the Shan for a moment. “You know what this is all about?”
“Politics,” Varya said and spat dryly to the side, his whiskers drew down as if scenting something a week dead. “Elders and Tei get involved in warrior caste business and turn everything into a big debate.”
Politics? That wasn’t her understanding, Gina mused. She wondered if the General had forgotten to mention it, or whether he was about to be blindsided. How did a simple promise to a blinded friend turn into a high-level political brouhaha?
“Shima isn’t warrior caste,” Gina said. “Scientist caste I think she said once.”
“True spoken,” Varya agreed. “But the Blind Hunter is... sort of. It’s hard to explain, Gina. Heroes in our culture are a special case. I am not the right person to explain it, but as I am here, I will try.
“Is it a truth with Humans that warriors lead warriors, and elders lead elders, and scientists lead scientists?”
Gina nodded. “Broadly speaking, yes. We don’t have elders as you think of them. We have politicians, but yes they debate amongst themselves like your elders and decisions are made.”
Varya flicked his ears in agreement. “Then perhaps this will make some sense. I know Humans do not have a clan-that-is-not, but if you did, it would probably be no different to ours. Tei cross all boundaries but are never elders. By tradition, Tei are separate. They are...” Varya paused trying to think of the right words. “This isn’t exactly right, Gina. My people know this instinctively, but Tei are separate but equal to the elders... but not... not in charge? No that isn’t right either. Tei lead, but they don’t say where they are to lead us. Does this make any sense to you?”
Gina shook her head but James was nodding.
“I have spent a lot of time with Tei’Varyk, Gina,” James said. “I think what Varya is trying to say is that although the Elders and the Tei both lead their people, they do it separately and in a different manner. Tei lead by example from the front. They literally lead by doing it themselves. They are living examples of what should be done. The elders are more like the Council. They decide policy. As a people, the Shan go in the direction the elders decide is the right one, but how they get there is more in the realm of Tei and individual choice.”
“Yes! Yes that is right,” Varya said evidently relieved. “There are Tei in every clan and caste, but heroes are always warriors. You understand that heroes are made through their actions in battle, so warriors you see?”
Gina nodded.
“We do not make war except against Merki,” Varya went on. “Without the war there would be no heroes at all, and most only become heroes by dying in battle.”
“Dead heroes are always easier to find,” James murmured.
Gina smiled. “And some would say dead heroes are more convenient.”
Varya blinked rapidly. “That is something very close to a warrior saying of my people. There are no old bold warriors, just dead heroes.”
Gina grinned. “Ha! So heroes are a special case. What does that mean for Shima?”
“It means, that everyone wants a piece of her,” James said grimly. “The elders have an interest in anything their people find interesting. The Blind Hunter is a hot topic among Shan. Heroes are admired and people want to know everything about them. Tei want to control her—anything she says or does could have significance to those who wish to emulate her. Warriors admire her. They would follow her into battle if it were still possible. They think of her as one of them despite being scientist caste. Then there is her family, clan, and caste to think of. I’m not surprised she hides in her garden.”
“She should be Tei,” Varya said. “All know that she is strong in the Harmonies. If not for her poor sight, she would have been invited when she became an adult and chose her caste. Many of my people disapprove of how Tei have treated her.”
Gina pursed her lips in thought. Would Tei’Shima have an easier time of it than plain old Shima? Probably, if only in the way people treated her. As Tei, she could simply tell them all to bugger off and leave her alone. Everyone would comply... well, Shan would at least, Gina mused. She didn’t think the General would though. He had outside pressures pushing him to use Shima in his plans for the Alliance. Gina wondered what Shima would say if told of those plans. She frowned as ideas started forming. Shima was scientist caste before she was anything else. Inquisitive didn’t begin to describe her. Offering Shima a chance to learn something new was akin to offering a starving man a gourmet meal.
“The General said you’ve visited with Shima.”
James nodded. “She’s living in her father’s house with Chailen and Sharn. She’s not doing well. You remember what she used to be like, fierce and ready for anything?”
Gina nodded.
“She’s like a different person now. Very quiet, no energy. Spends her time mostly sitting in her garden. I’m no psychiatrist, but if she were Human I’d have her on suicide watch.”
Varya didn’t agree with James, but neither did he disagree. He didn’t look happy.
“Shit, that bad?” Gina whispered. “You really think she would do it?”
“I think so. She’s Shan not Human, so I could be reading her all wrong, but I don’t think so. If not for Chailen and Sharn, I think she might have found a way to end things already. Walked into the wilds maybe. Shan used to do that, you know? When they considered themselves a burden upon the clan, they would leave and challenge some wild animal to a last hunt and die fighting.”
“It is different now,” Varya said. “Our healers gained much knowledge from science and research during the years following the first alien war, and many diseases were eradicated. We are healthier and more robust even when aged, but James is not wrong about Shima. She believes that she is a burden upon her sib and her mate. My people have a duty to family and clan to be of use. In days gone by the old or infirm would remove themselves to help the clan prosper. But as I say, it is different now.”
“We’ve got to fix her,” Gina said with determination. “We can’t lose her after all she did for us and her people. I know she hates it, but she really is a hero to them. They’d be devastated if she killed herself.”
James nodded and Varya agreed, but Varya had reservations. “We cannot dishonour her. It must be her choice.”
“Force wouldn’t work on her,” Gina agreed. “We have to snap her out of her funk. Make it her duty to help us, rather than the other way around.”
Varya’s tail rose and he gestured a Shan’s version of a shrug. “That would be good, but it will be hard making her believe that a blind scientist can be of use, to us or to anyone.”
Gina nodded glumly. “I’ll think of something, or you two will. We can’t lose her like this.”
“Agreed,” James said. “And screw the politics. This is about loyalty to a friend.” He turned to Varya. “It is a matter of honour.”
Varya’s ears pricked. “Yes... it really is a matter of honour is it not?”
&
nbsp; Gina nodded. “You’ve thought of something. What?”
“Gina,” Burgton called before Varya could explain and she went to join him. “I’d like you to meet Elder Jutka, Tei’Varyk, and Kazim. I think you probably know who Kazim is—”
The Shan all laughed, their jaws dropping and tongues lolling. Gina couldn’t help but laugh along with them. Kazim was as famous as Tei’Varyk in his way. She wondered where his camera was. He was never far from it.
“Honoured to meet you all,” Gina said with a very respectful bow to the elder. “May each of you live long and in harmony.”
“Well spoken, young Human,” Jutka said not attempting to use her few English words. “It still amazes me how the viper clan can speak Shan so well. I understand you have translators within your bodies, but the words come from your mouths in your own voices. I find that very hard to understand.”
“I’m not an engineer, elder, but I can try to explain.” Gina said looking to Burgton for permission. He nodded. “As I understand it, our processors hear your words and translate them very fast. Then, those words are placed into our memories so quickly that we don’t notice any delay. To us, it’s as if we have always known how to speak Shan, so when I talk to you it’s not a mechanical translator speaking, it really is me, Gina, using the language of your people in my memory.”
“Extraordinary,” Jutka said. “I could wish my people had such advantages.” She glanced slyly at Tei’Varyk who stiffened as if jabbed. “Come, we have much to do and our escort will wonder what is keeping us.”
Gina had a feeling she had just been used to score points off Tei’Varyk. A quick glance at Burgton confirmed her thought. He was looking very thoughtful. As Varya said earlier, it was a political game Jutka was playing, but to what end?
Gina followed as they trooped through the empty building. It would be a while before the spaceport recovered and became busy again. There were no Shan spacecraft left, and orbital infrastructure requiring the facilities here no longer existed. Perhaps that was why the damage was still evident. Replacing blown windows and painting over burn scars was a low priority when most of the cities were in ruins. Those that still stood had patchy services. Power stations, water pumping stations, and transportation of food and other supplies had to take priority over an unneeded spaceport. Most of the population still dwelled in the keeps where power and food was secure, but an increasing number were emerging to rebuild their worlds. It would take years, but with Fifth Fleet’s help, it would only be years and not decades.
Gina and the others braved the rain again but only briefly. The ground cars were parked close to the entrance. There were five. Tei’Varyk ushered Burgton into a car with him and Elder Jutka. Gina joined James, Varya, and Kazim in the car behind. The other cars were their escort. She assumed they contained warriors for the elder’s security, but no one emerged from them and they remained buttoned up.
“Any idea where we’re heading?” she asked.
Kazim’s elusive camera magically appeared and he started recording. “Elder Jutka is hosting the meeting at her home.”
“So we’re not visiting with Shima immediately.”
James leaned back in his seat as the car pulled away. “Sorry, I should have mentioned it. Tei’Varyk isn’t here for Shima’s benefit, not directly anyway. Kajetan sent him here along with other Tei to discuss Child of Harmony’s reconstruction, but he’s been side-tracked with Shima’s situation. My fault, in part; I asked him to help me with her.”
Gina nodded. “I’m glad you did. So what’s this about the reconstruction?”
James glanced at Kazim’s camera and frowned. “I don’t think it’s a secret. Kazim?”
“Not a secret. My supervisor was asked by the elders to cover the talks. She sent me. It will be released as part of a special news segment about the reconstruction.”
“Good then. What do you know of the political situation among Tei, Gina?”
She frowned. “Nothing. I didn’t know there were political parties here.”
“There aren’t. Shan government is very different to that found in the Alliance. The elders are like the Council, but they aren’t elected in some kind of parliament. They’re sent by their clans to advise Kajetan, and she was chosen from among them by that group. Eldest is a lifetime position. That’s the background. No parties or factions among the elders. They speak with one voice—Kajetan’s voice. Tei are different.”
Kazim and Varya let out the low volume cough-like growl Shan used like a Human snort and then laughed together. James grinned. They knew how much of an understatement that was and were being politely sarcastic. Gina had learned most of the gestures and sounds Shan made to express themselves by now.
“Why is that funny?” she asked.
Varya waved the question aside. “You have to be Shan.”
“An inside joke?”
“Yes, exactly,” Kazim said.
James continued. “There are three factions within Tei ranks based upon personal beliefs and attitudes. The progressives at one end of the scale believe in creating the Great Harmony out there among the stars. At the opposite end of the scale, you have the traditionalist Tei who believe in the old ways of doing things. An unkind label I’ve heard for them is the recessives. They’re not that bad. They don’t want to roll back progress, but they do want to slow it down and regulate it. Spacers are all progressive thinkers. The planet bound by and large would associate with the traditionalists.”
She nodded and could already see a problem looming. “And the third faction?”
James shrugged. “They’re in the middle, and not very effective. They could be called the harmony-first faction I suppose, always ready to compromise, and ever ready to mediate the other two factions. They’re the weakest group, mainly because they don’t stand for anything. They seem to spend most of their time calming down the hotheads in the other two factions.”
“I can see where this is going, James. How serious is it?”
“I knew you would. Judge for yourself how serious it is... there is currently a motion being debated to evacuate Child of Harmony in favour of pouring all available resources into the reconstruction effort on Harmony.”
Gina gasped in surprised dismay, but Kazim and Varya seemed amused.
“Will never happen,” Varya said.
Kazim agreed. “Can’t happen regardless of anything the elders decide. Too many people, too few ships. It would take many orbits to evacuate everyone, and in that time the reconstruction here would be well along. It would have to be, just to support our people while they waited to be relocated to the homeworld. It won’t happen.”
“I agree with Kazim,” Varya said. “Many living here would refuse to leave, they might even move into the wilds to avoid it. This is their home, not homeworld. Most were born here after all.”
James nodded. “Yes, but the suggestion is an indication of how influence has shifted among Tei. I don’t know if Varya and Kazim agree with me, but the progressives lost many of their best people when Fleet and the stations were destroyed. All spacers are progressive thinkers, and most of them died when the Merki arrived. Harmony is firmly traditionalist now, while Child of Harmony is still progressive but weakened. And don’t forget, the population here was already much smaller.”
Varya and Kazim obviously did agree. They didn’t need to voice it. Gina wondered how opinions among Tei would affect the future. Kajetan was already leading the Shan into the Alliance. That was a done deal and no way to back out now that Alliance blood had been spilled to liberate the system. Besides, it would be suicide. The Shan needed the Alliance for protection and would for years to come. The Merki could return at any time.
She took a moment to squirt a compressed data packet to the General via TacNet containing her log of the last few minutes. She had a feeling he would find James’ explanation of the political scene interesting.
“Good work,” Burgton said on viper comm a few minutes later. “See what else you can pick up. Ke
ep me informed.”
“Affirmative, sir,” Gina replied in the same way to keep their conversation private. To outside observers she was just thinking hard, and she was. Viper comm and TacNet both worked using a viper’s neural interface. “But I don’t see how the traditionalists have a leg to stand on. The Shan have to push hard and fast back into space, if for no other reason than meeting the Merki out there rather than down here where their cubs live.”
“Agreed, but political shenanigans could slow their progress. They, and by extension the Alliance, can ill afford that. Fifth Fleet can’t be stationed here forever. Burgton out.”
“Fuentez clear.”
* * *
5 ~ An Offer
Elder Jutka’s home, Zuleika, Child of Harmony
Burgton had time to review Gina’s data packet one more time before going in to the meeting. Its contents hadn’t changed, and his lips thinned. James’ analysis couldn’t be faulted, dearly though Burgton wished it could. Politics always fouled him and the regiment up, but not this time he vowed. He would not let the Shan fall foul of the same mistakes he had been forced to deal with. They deserved better.
He was lucky in that Kajetan’s word was law. No matter what happened, the Shan would join the Alliance, but decisions here and elsewhere could reduce the speed and effectiveness of that joining. He wanted the Shan to realise their full potential. Yes, he had his own motives for that, but they deserved it.
The Alliance had turned inward after the Merki War, and reduced exploration to almost nothing. Survey’s budget was a sick joke. The Shan should have been discovered over a hundred years ago, and would have been if not for the Council’s reluctance to stick the Alliance’s nose outside its own door! That decision was leading to stagnation and worse—the incidence of war between member worlds was way up.
War between Shan worlds was unlikely, impossible even. There were only two after all, and to make war on one another they needed ships. They had none. No, it wasn’t war he feared, it was the other fate he worried about. Seclusion. It seemed to him that the Shan as a people faced exactly the same situation that the Alliance had faced at the end of the Merki War. Back then, the Council had made the logical but bad choice not to pursue the war and finish the Merkiaari once and for all. The reasons were many and understandable, but they compounded the error by preventing further voyages of exploration beyond the borders. It was only much later that the Survey Corps. was reactivated in its current shamefully inadequate form.
Merkiaari Wars Series: Books 1-3 Page 86