The Mralans on the other ship looked just as startled as she felt. No, scratch that. They looked terrified.
“What do we do?” Opash said. “Ambush tactics?”
Mehta stared at the three-dimensional image of space, her mind racing, but no solutions coming out. Even with every trick she knew, she didn’t have a way to fight four against ten.
“Please tell us what to do,” Chlem said.
She looked back at him. What the hell? Now he wanted her advice? Now he believed what she said? Son of a bitch. She could strangle the little coward right now.
“What about the tactic we already gave you? Isn’t that enough?”
“Clearly, you can see...” he said, hands out.
“I saw that your people kicked me off their ship and told me they didn’t need any more of my advice.”
“That may be true,” Chlem said, “but that was done without authorization. You’re still the senior Earth representative to the Protectorate, and as of this moment, you’re in command of all the ships here.” He made a sweeping gesture.
Great. So, she wasn’t going to lose just one ship, but four. Then she could be four times as infamous.
She looked around her bridge, at her own tiny crew. Their lives mattered. None of them were going to get out of this if all the ships didn’t work together.
“All right,” she said, turning back to the screen where Chlem stood waiting. “Cut your gravity to one quarter normal, then funnel the extra power to shields.”
“Shield strength increasing on all three ships,” Ramirez said.
She gave him a puzzled look.
“I just figured it out a few minutes ago.”
She smiled at him. “Keep up the good work.”
Mehta looked back at the screen. “I want the two other ships to get close to the Final Arbiter’s ship. Shield it as much as you can from any attacks.” She watched the three-dimensional display, which Opash had scaled to show the area of the battle, while the three Mralan ships bunched themselves together.
“Closer. Closer…”
“How about us?” Hiranaka said.
“Put us in front of the Final Arbiter’s ship. Then, they’ll only have three sides that aren’t protected.” Truth was, there were plenty of ways to get weapons through to the main ship from almost any direction, so it was not like they were really protected. But at least it would be more difficult for the Species X ships to get through. That was the best she could do.
“Now,” Mehta said through the communications channels, “no one say anything.”
“Why don’t we split up?” Ramirez whispered to her. “That way there won’t be so many of them.”
“No,” Mehta said. “Let’s hope the ratio of forces works the same in outer space as it does on the ground.”
“We’re on the defense,” Ramirez said. Normally, it took three to one for the offense to beat the defense.
But in reality, Mehta was pretty sure they were in trouble. Those ratios probably didn’t apply, and even if they did, it only applied for a prepared defense. This was about as hasty as a defense could get.
“If we all work together to take out one species X ship at a time,” she said, “we may be able to scare them off.”
If they don’t kill us first.
“You’re not feeling confident,” Opash said.
“We’ll come up with something.”
That was a lie, too. Her life was about to end, and the Protectorate was going to fade into history.
Suddenly, Opash was scrambling with her controls. “We’ve got a message coming in from one of the Species X ships!”
“Put them on the screen.”
“The translator is struggling with it. Right now, I just have it in text. Okay, here it is in voice.”
There was a spike of static, and then a metallic voice came through the speakers. “Ship Seven, this is ship One. We are pleased that you are still alive. We thought you had been destroyed. We are here to rescue you.”
“Oh, Spirits!” Opash said, “this is perfect! As long as they think we’re one of them, they won’t shoot at us. We can get up close to them, and then blast them into dust!”
Mehta let out a slow breath. “Do you have two-way communications with them?”
“Uh, yes.”
“Can you get visual?”
“Yes.”
“Ramirez, can you transfer environmental control to my station?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
The controls popped up on the screen in front of her. The translator had made more progress, and now about half the sniff panels had words displayed over them. It was enough to tell her that the layout of the controls was just like those in engineering. She played with it for a moment, then linked environmental control with communications.
“Put me through to Species X, ship 1,” Mehta said to Opash.
“Just audio, right?” Opash asked.
“Visual.”
“But that would let them know...”
Mehta looked at her sternly, forcing herself to feel a level of confidence she didn’t have. Attacking the enemy while disguised as one of them was not an option.
There was no space equivalent to the Geneva Convention on the law of war, but she wasn’t going to do anything that would go against the spirit of those edicts. And pretending to be the enemy, to trick them into allowing them to get closer, well, if a soldier did that on Earth, he or she would have committed a war crime.
“I gave you an order,” Mehta said.
Opash looked at her for another second, but then she nodded. “Making contact with ‘Ship number 1’.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
An image of one of the ant-like creatures appeared on the screen, and Mehta had to brace herself to keep from lifting her arm in a protective gesture. Last time she’d seen any of these creatures alive, they’d been trying to saw her legs off below the knees.
The ant on the screen looked just like all the other ants she’d seen, but it had a cord running from the commo console to its nearest antenna. So that was the purpose of the cord—to translate the incoming message into the chemical language she understood.
The senior ant, or at least the one closest to the screen, had no opportunity to prepare herself for the shock of seeing her enemy for the first time. Her reaction was a visible head jerk.
“Ship One,” Mehta said quickly. She didn’t want to give them time to fire before she’d said her piece. “You’re in grave danger. We have developed a new weapon that will kill everyone on your ship in an instant.” She smiled. “We call it a Bulgeinator. If you don’t want us to use our Bulgeinator against you, you must return to your planet and agree not to attack us anymore.”
The enemy stared at her with a hard face, expressionless and cold. Then, she dipped her head slightly. “We don’t believe your emissions about a new weapon. You will be destroyed.”
“Fine,” Mehta said. “We’ll target the first ship to fire on us.”
“Third ship to the right,” Ramirez said. “They’ve got weapons charged.”
“I have them,” Mehta said. She scanned the ship, then initiated towing mode.
An energy bolt shot from the enemy ship, and hit one of the Mralan vessels, coruscating off the shields in a brilliant flash.
“I’m engaging the Bulgeinator,” Mehta said, pressing on what had previously been the weapons station, but was now a combination of communications and environmental control.
Another shot from the ship’s weapons fired, and then a third hung in the weapons pocket, waiting, glowing, ready to leap out.
But not moving.
Mehta looked at her watch, then nodded. “They’re all dead now,” she said to the Species X leader.
“I don’t believe you.”
“They’re starting to drift,” Ramirez said.
“Try to contact them,” Mehta suggested to the enemy leader.
The ant dipped her antennae, a movement that looked like an angry frown. “I kn
ow how to command my fleet.”
“Then you know they’re dead, don’t you?”
“We have another ship moving into firing position,” Ramirez said.
“Really?” Mehta directed her question at the Species X leader. “You want to sacrifice another crew? You’re that hell bent on destroying us that you can’t see the game’s over?” She found the ship on her communications station and put it into towing mode. “I have my weapon ready. The next move is yours.”
The ant leader nodded, and a shot of energy burst from the other ship.
Mehta pressed her controls, and a second later the firing stopped. The ship jolted, then spun counterclockwise, spiraling into the distance.
“Interesting,” Mehta said. She looked back at the alien. “How about if I target you next?” She put her hands back down on the controls.
“Stop!” the alien said.
“You agree to quit fighting? You’ll make peace?”
The alien’s antennae jerked upwards causing the cord to flap. Her head pulled back. “Those are difficult odors to emit. Our desire was to exterminate every last ship of this fleet.”
Mehta nodded. “That seemed evident. What caused your anger to be so implacable?”
“They killed our babies!”
“All of them?”
“Of course not!”
“Then, how many?”
The ant leader paused, then said, “About two hundred.”
“Do you realize you’ve killed almost two hundred thousand Mralans? It sounds to me like you’ve more than avenged yourselves.”
“They should all die!”
Mehta waited for a moment, waited for the emotion to dissipate. “They didn’t know you were an intelligent species when they started their mining operation,” she said. “If they had realized that, they would have set up protection for your planet, so no one else would bother you.”
“That’s difficult to believe.”
“They protect hundreds of planets just like yours from all the other space-faring aliens. You are aware of the others, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” the leader said.
“Now, you have a decision to make. You can keep your fleet, in which case, you’ll be responsible for the protection of your own planet, or you can go back home, give up your fleet, and fall under the Protectorate, never to be bothered by anyone from space again.”
“We don’t trust you.”
“Then you’ll want to protect yourselves.”
“Indeed.”
“But you must understand, your fleet should be used for defensive purposes only. Should you ever use your ships to attack another world, or any other ships in space, you’ll be subject to the punishments dealt to those who violate the rules of the Protectorate.”
“We have no interest in other planets or ships.”
“Good. Then you can return to your planet without further incident.”
The alien seemed to contemplate this suggestion for a moment, and then the screen went blank.
They waited for another minute, while nothing happened. “Maybe they’re needing to confer with each other,” Mehta said.
“Right,” Ramirez said with a laugh, “maybe they have to reach a consensus!”
Opash snorted.
But then the Species X ships turned and darted away, quickly sucked into Netherspace. The view all around her was clear.
Mehta opened communications with the Final Arbiter’s ship. “We have two more ships,” she said. “I need you to send a small crew to each of them and fly them back to Earth.”
Chlem appeared on the screen, looking grave. “We can retrieve them, but we won’t be giving them to you. We’re back to where we were before. No, better than before, because Species X has agreed to stop attacking. So, we no longer need your services. You will surrender your confiscated ship, and we will transport you back to Earth.”
Son of a bitch! After everything she had done for them…
“Oh, and by the way,” he added, “we have intercepted your communications with Earth. I think you got very little of the plans through before we made your transmissions unreadable.”
Damn, damn and double damn. Was there no way to win with these people? Battles and weapons and strained ships were starting to seem like the easy things to deal with. This idiocy... she didn’t know what else she could do.
“We can’t do that,” she said. “Besides, if I’m still in charge of this fleet—”
“That authority ended when the Species X ships departed the area,” Aahliss said as she sidled up to Chlem.
“I see.” Mehta looked around, at the faces of her little crew. They were going to expect her to come up with something. She had always managed to do that before. Whenever things looked like all was lost, she had always found a way to solve the problem at hand. But this was different. She wasn’t a trained diplomat, she didn’t have the negotiating skills she needed to get the Mralans to see reason. In fact, the best negotiator in the world probably wouldn’t be successful.
And her poor little ship was limping.
And it was three-to-one.
She reviewed the situation. Other than just wanting technology, was there a pressing need to have it? Now that Species X had been placated, was there still a threat?
Yes, the Dakh Hhargash were still out there, and they were not stupid, either. Now that they’d had a taste of what Earth offered, they would be back, and probably in large numbers. While the Protectorate could now begin to rebuild, they were years away from being able to keep Earth safe.
“Give me a minute,” she said to Chlem. She cut off the sound, then turned to the others. “Ideas?”
They looked at each other, hopeful, but bewildered.
“Maybe we can keep talking to them?” Davis said. “Wear them down?”
“You were doing well at that,” Opash added. “The Final Arbiter was close to seeing things your way.”
“Okay. But what else can I say? They really don’t need us anymore.”
“They do need you,” Opash said. “The Protectorate is only half its original size, and they have to crew a lot of ships to get it back to where it should be.”
“All right. That’s a good point. Anything else?”
Davis slumped. He looked like he was reaching the end of his endurance.
She wondered where he was on the sleep roster.
Well, she would have time to deal with that soon, no matter which way things worked out.
“How about we use the gravity weapon on them?” Hiranaka said. “Not enough to kill them, just render them unconscious.”
“Yes,” Ramirez said excitedly. “Then, we head out while they sleep.”
“It’s going to take us two or three days to get to Earth,” Mehta said. “They’ll be back on their feet and stopping us before we get there.”
“No,” a voice said behind her. She turned to see Trel in the doorway. “I got propulsion fixed. We should be able to jump into Netherspace.”
Mehta spun around and grinned at Trel. “That’s fabulous. You just solved the problem.”
He smiled back, that beautiful expression that stirred her.
Mehta looked back at the screen. She couldn’t get distracted now.
Chlem and Aahliss stared at her confidently, but they were about to get the surprise of their lives.
She flipped the audio back on and sighed. “There is one other thing I think you should consider, Mediator.”
“We’re not considering any more of your thoughts,” he said. “You have an order. Surrender your ship.”
She frowned. “I don’t think you have the authority to give that order.”
He lifted a paper and waved it at her. “Do you recognize this?”
She couldn’t see it well, but she could guess. “It looks like a copy of some administrative orders.”
“Yours.” He glanced down at it, then read, “You are to report to Fmedg’s ship, but you will be under the command of the Council of the Protectorate
.” He looked back up at her. “You recognize that statement, don’t you?”
Oh, god, yes, she did.
And it was all the authority he needed.
CHAPTER FOURTY
She couldn’t speak. Hell could be no worse than this. What was she supposed to do now?
“The order for you to surrender your ship is from the Council. It was, I might add, a unanimous vote.”
Her stomach vanished as if it had been sucked into Netherspace while she remained here. A unanimous vote meant there weren’t any dissenters she could ally herself with and see if they could wield some influence to get the decision changed. There wasn’t anyone she could talk to. They had stopped listening.
Her inner critic grumbled. This was the stupidest thing she had ever witnessed. After everything she had done for them, how could they treat her like this?
She swallowed, then looked back at her crew, again cutting off the audio. “Any thoughts?”
“We can’t let them do this,” Ramirez said. “We have to resist somehow.”
“Yeah,” Davis said. His skin looked gray, and his normally booming voice was barely audible.
“I say we tell them they voided those orders to take your commands from the council when they kicked us off Fmedg’s ship,” Hiranaka said.
Mehta nodded. “Fair enough. Although we know they’re going to say that’s not the case.
“True.”
She turned to Opash. “What do you think?”
Opash looked away for a moment, her gaze falling to her console. “I thought you were wrong when you ordered visual communications with the Species X ship, but I obeyed. You taught us to obey.” She looked up at Mehta, and there were tears in her eyes. “I’m confused right now.”
“It’s all right,” Mehta said. “I’m just getting everyone’s input.” She turned to Trel. “What about you?”
“Once you give us our orders,” he said, “whatever they are, I’ll obey.”
Damn.
There was no way out.
“No, wait,” Ramirez said, “you can’t do this. Just because they ordered you…”
“What are you saying?”
“You’d be like General Pickett. Can you have that on your conscience?”
No Plan Survives Page 27