Once inside, those junior members of the party were treated to three of the four walls retreating to make room for them, and more tables and chairs oozing up from the deck. Their comments were preserved for later review by Mimzy. Most of them were getting used to the aliens doing strange things, but they still found it a shock to actually see it done.
Junior officers directed them to round tables, or groups of tables, depending on their delegation. A dozen of the most important would be seated with the five admirals at the long head table. That way, Sandy or one of her fleet commanders would have a cat at either elbow. It should make for a fun meal.
With the last longboat unloaded and the last honoree’s paw shaken, Sandy headed in and quickly went to her seat on the dais. Immediately, Marines in dress blue and reds began delivering plates to each place. There was no salad course; however, a meaty barley soup won praise from Sandy’s seatmates.
Madame Gerrot, the Prime Minister of the Bizalt Kingdom, sniffed at a spoonful of the broth, dampened her tongue, and found it worth the risk of eating one spoonful. “Not bad,” she said. “Surprisingly good. You humans are full of all sorts of surprises.”
“As are you cats,” Sandy said, obliquely.
For a few moments, Sandy, Madame Gerrot, and President Almar enjoyed their soup.
“What is the source of the meat?” President Almar asked.
“I could have someone check on it.”
“Not if it would take too long.”
“Penny?”
Instantly her chief alien intel officer was up from the table right in front of the dais and standing before them.
“Yes, Admiral?”
“Can you ask the cook the source of the meat in our soup?”
“Of course, ma’am,” the captain said and tapped her commlink. A moment later she was talking to the senior cook. A moment more, and she was answering.
“A hoofed critter from one of your southern continents. We call it a wildebeest. Did that translate correctly?”
“Yes, thank you. Is there any chance that we might get the recipe for the soup?” the Prime Minister asked.
Penny asked and quickly had an answer. “Yes, we can send it to your commlink, or just distribute it to your media outlets. However, the barley and several of the seasonings are not grown on your planet.”
“Would you like us to bring you seeds for barley and the rest?” Sandy asked.
“How much will you charge us?” The Prime Minister wanted to know.
“The price for seed corn is minimal. I think my pay can support you getting a ton of seed barley and whatever grows the seasonings. They could be here next month, assuming they all grow on Alwa. If we have to bring in the seasoning from human space, it could take six months for it to get here. You also have to understand. If it grows on trees, they often take several years to mature and begin yielding fruit.”
“Everything with you humans takes time,” the President put in.
“We have a saying. Rome, a world capitol, was not built in a day. Don’t you have one like it?”
“Several,” the two cats said as one.
The fish was the next course. The chef had prepared filets of a white fish in a light wine sauce. The plate included a small cup of Hollandaise sauce as well as a wedge of lemon. The cats addressed it enthusiastically with forks, a device they’d learn to use when eating human cooking.
“Very good,” President Almar said.
The Prime Minister dribbled a small amount of the sauce on one flake of her fish and ate it slowly. “This is also very good. Could your officer also get us the recipe for this?”
A minute later, she was adding a request for lemons as well.
“I can get you some lemons, maybe even small lemon sprouts,” Sandy said, “but they take time to grow.”
The two cats nodded. “Time,” President Almar scoffed.
The main course was meat. Plates of raw as well as cooked meat were available. Fortunately, the cook had prepared enough to feed all the cats from either menu. Few chose the raw. The roasted small red and golden potatoes and the long string beans took some getting used to for the cats. Most tried some, and many found them to their liking.
“I don’t know what spices went into these,” Sandy said.
“I have eaten of your roasted potatoes and these long beans,” the Prime Minister said. “I think we already know how to prepare them.”
Admiral Drago had suggested that they do without desert. While the cats liked warm chocolate that was thin and had no sugar, they tended to get the trots if they ate too much sugary foods.
Sandy took a deep breath, and stood. Penny rapped on her water glass and the humans immediately fell silent and looked to the head table. It didn’t take the cats long to recognize the signal and focus their attention on Sandy.
“I wish to thank you for coming to this dinner on such short notice. I would not have called it if there was not something of great import to share. I noticed, as I listened to the conversations here at the head table and snatches of talk I heard from out there, that the issue of some of your young cats working for us was studiously avoided by you. I had, of course, ordered my officers not to bring it up and to avoid comments if it was.”
Sandy turned to glance at President Almar first, then Prime Minister Gerrot. Could a cat be shame-faced?
She turned back to the room and took a deep breath. “I did so because I believe that we will all find what I’m about to say far more important than the minor differences we’ve been having lately.”
The room fell deadly quiet. Few of the officers from Admiral Drago’s fleet yet knew The Word. Sandy had passed The Word down the line to officers on the fleets she brought out to keep it on the down low until she let it out.
Apparently, they had kept their mouths zipped.
“Penny, could you project a star map for us?” Sandy asked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
The lights in the vast room dimmed so that the picture of the Milky Way galaxy glowed bright in the air above their heads.
“This is the star cluster we live in. We call it a galaxy. The Milky Way galaxy. We started on a single planet and expanded over the last five hundred years or so to occupy hundreds of stars. Penny, can we see human space at this scale?”
“Ma’am, I just colored it all red and ordered it to flash, but I don’t think anyone can see it.”
Sandy eyed the 3D holograph of the galaxy. “I don’t think I can either. Try slowly zooming in until we can see it.”
It took a lot of zoom to bring the human sphere into a tiny globe, hardly bigger than a golf ball. There were whispers among the room. A cat rushed out and was heard retching in the hall before the door closed.
“Yes,” Sandy said. “It makes you feel kind of small when you look at it from a galactic scale. Now, your system and Alwa are on the other side of the galaxy.”
Penny planted a flag pole in human space and began to zoom out. The flag had to be rescaled several times in the process. Then another flag appeared on the other side of the galaxy.
“That’s us,” Sandy said. “Penny?”
And the view shifted over to the other side as it shrunk and shrunk and shrunk until the cat system was on one side of the room and the Alwa system was on the other. They glowed bright red. The rest were white.
“As you can see, we’re a long way from home, and you and Alwa are a long way from each other. We have ways to cross the stars from human space to here. It takes about a month and we do it each month. A convoy goes from Alwa to Wardhaven one month, and another convoy sails from Wardhaven to Alwa the next month, and so on.”
Sandy paused and took another deep breath. She found herself trembling at the words she was about to speak, so she took a second breath and calmed herself.
“Penny, concentrate on the Sasquan System. Let’s show the pickets we’ve got up around the planet to give us warning.”
Now the star map concentrated on the cat home. One bright green dot mo
ved over to the center of the overhead. Several yellow dots appeared, with white ones farther out.
“As you can see, we’ve put warning buoys out in all the systems within four jumps of you. The aliens can only come by the jumps, so we’ve got a pretty good warning system in place.”
Sandy wasn’t about to mention that the pickets around Alwa went twelve, thirteen or even fourteen jumps out. That would come later.
“Penny, light up the system we’re concerned about.”
A bright red light began to flash.
“You will notice that that system is exactly one jump out from the picket line around you. It is also one of the systems that we just happened to have one of our convoys drop into as it was slowing down so that it could arrive at Alwa at a reasonable speed to dock on Canopus Station.”
Sandy paused and focused on the flashing red star.
It seemed as if everyone in the room held their breath.
“Our convoy ran into a small fleet of the alien raiders that attacked your planet and which Kris Longknife defeated. The convoy’s escort engaged the aliens, destroying most, but the aliens have a new policy. As soon as they see us, they detach a single ship to run for the nearest exit. While that ship was running, the battleships and other cruisers engaged our ships.
“The convoy had too much energy on their ships. There was no way they could slow down and engage the aliens. The battle lasted a little more than one of our minutes. We left only two damaged ships behind.
“As you can see, we have met the enemy and destroyed them as an effective force.”
Sandy paused to look at the President and the Prime Minister.
“As you can also see, the aliens were stalking you. Getting as close as they could without being noticed by you.
“After my last visit with you, as I left you, my eight ships ran into thirty-six blood thirsty alien raiders’ ships. They fled and I gave chase. I chased them until they had me exactly where they wanted me, at a high velocity, approaching a dead planet. Huge banks of lasers were hidden in a crater just out of my line of sight.
“I chose to assume that they were there. Fortunately, you had provided me with several thousand of your huge atomic devices. I put a dozen of them on rockets of our design and we walked them into the crater and across it. With your help, we turned the alien trap into a trap for them. Not one alien survived that failed ambush. As for the thirty-six cruisers, the aliens turned against us and threw their lives away trying to kill even one of us.”
Sandy paused.
“They harmed not so much as a hair on any human’s head.”
Unfortunately, they’d gotten a few human ships when they sent three fleets up against her around the alien home world, but there was no reason to mention that.
“This is the reason I have brought three fleets here to join the one that has guarded you. To do this, I have had to strip Alwa down to three fleets. Our shipyards there are busy adding a fourth and will likely try to build a fifth and sixth fleet. We have the facilities to build them. Unfortunately, we don’t have the skilled people to crew them.”
Another pause.
“Do you understand the problem we face?” Sandy said, starting with the President on one side, glancing up to the rest of the major cat players seated to her left, then turning to sweep the ballroom. She finished with the cats to her right and the Prime Minister.
“I think we can see your problem,” Prime Minister Gerrot said. “It is clear that we were short-sighted when we reduced our contribution to your labor force. I know I can talk for the Kingdom of Bizalt when I say we are ready to send ten thousand cats to join you in the Alwa system to build ships and crew them.”
“So will Columm Almar,” President Almar said.
“I thank you for that,” Sandy said, “but we need more than a willing work force at our own fabs and shipyards. We need more shipyards building ships.”
“Are you saying what I think you are saying?” President Almar asked.
“Yes, I am,” Sandy said. “We need to begin construction here of the most high-tech warships and weapons in the human arsenal. We need to build industry on your moon that can ship material to the space station so we can extend the yards on Kiel Station. I hope this won’t shock you, but those paying taxes back on the other side of the galaxy are starting to wonder if we out here are just a huge hole in the ground that they are throwing their good money into.”
Sandy moved her hands to her hips. “We need to do as much for ourselves as we can.”
Both of the politicians nodded at her words. The room was soon full of nodding furry heads.
“I see,” said the old Prime Minister from the Bizalt Kingdom, rising from her seat beside the admiral. “I cannot make any promises today, but I can assure you that I will lay before the parliament tomorrow a proposal that half of our defense expenditures be assigned to this planetary defense effort. It may take a bit more time to figure out what other funds can be tapped, or if a wartime excise tax is in order.”
“I will do the same,” President Almar said, also standing.
One at a time, all the national leaders at the head table stood and made the same commitment. Then the wave of solidarity swept out from the dais. There were some who took their time standing. Some leaders who had to speak with one, two, or even six opposing leaders before they could stand, but in the end, all fifty-two world leaders who had risked riding the tower of fire up into the sky to share a meal with the alien humans were standing.
The room broke out in spontaneous applause.
When the happy noise began to quiet, the President of Almar, still standing, reached for a fork and tapped it on her untouched water glass. It rang out and the room calmed as most took their seats. Only the two cats and Sandy remained standing.
“There is something that we must address,” President Almar said. “We are committed to halving our defense. I expect that putting up a space defense will be more of a defense than I have ever dreamed of. However, not everyone on our world is sitting here tonight.”
That drew concerned nods from both the head table and those at the round tables.
“You know that I have always been one for a strong defense. A defense using my own strong arm. Using my own troops, ships, and aircraft. So, I expect that you will be astonished at what I am about to say. We need to stand together. We need to stop our squabbling and face out to the common enemy.”
She paused to survey the room. “I propose that we, the leaders here tonight, not leave here until we have knocked together a treaty that commits all of us to defend one another. A treaty that says that an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.”
There was a lot of shocked looking around by the leaders in the room. The silence grew long and began to bend into a pretzel. Finally, one cat on the floor stood again.
“President Almar, I am amazed at what you now say. I assure you that I would very much like to see such a treaty go into force. I would be happy to sign it. My problem is that my country has boundaries that some of our neighbors do not accept. They believe that some of what is now my country should be part of their country. You understand?”
“I certainly do,” President Almar said, frowning. Finally, she turned to Sandy. “Do you have any advice that might be helpful to us?”
“Penny, what arcane history can Mimzy dredge up for us?”
The Navy captain stood and spoke, no doubt, the words her computer was feeding to her.
“When our home planet was the only place we humans walked on, we were divided, and our many nations, some one hundred and sixty or more, did not trust each other. They did form a mutual defense pact, or organization. However, before any country could apply for membership, it had to solemnly announce that it had no claim on anyone’s territory. That was not easy to do, because many of the boundaries had changed quite a bit in the last fifty years. Still, they did, and countries that had been at war with each other only a few years before swore that they would accept the lines as t
hey were drawn. I should mention that fifty years later, the lines on the map were of little importance. Trade and populations moved smoothly across those boundaries without so much as slowing down. But first, they had to agree that those boundary lines were valid. They were not open to change by force of arms. We did allow for the citizens of small areas to call for a vote to change allegiances, however I don’t think there were any.”
“Is there anyone in the room that finds that an impossible commitment?” the Prime Minister asked.
“You’re one big island,” someone from the floor shouted. “It’s easy for you to say your boundaries won’t change. Those people have land that my grandmother and her grandmother fought for.”
“And if you keep this up,” the President of Columm Almar said, “your granddaughters and their granddaughters will be fighting and dying over that bit of land. That assumes that the murderous alien raiders don’t pounce in here and kill us all. Then you’ll have no daughter to remember your name at all.”
The room fell deadly silent. Sandy considered the matter, crossed her fingers for luck, and opened her mouth. “If you wish, we humans could become co-signatories to this treaty. We could commit ourselves to fight on the side of the nation that is attacked.”
The two cats beside her looked at her, their faces hard and unreadable. Then they looked past her to each other.
Prime Minister Gerrot spoke first. “We have all seen what your Kris Longknife did to President for Life Solzen. No one has found so much as a hank of hair to bury. I appreciate that you have made this as an offer to us, rather than an ultimatum. We need to talk. We have much to talk about. Can we have this room?”
“Navy, the cats have this room,” Sandy announced. “Would you like the tables rearranged?”
“What would you suggest?” the President asked.
“Penny, there are fifty-two chiefs of state or chief executives here. Could you arrange something that would be comfortable for them?”
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