First Salik War 2: The V'Dan

by Jean Johnson

  “The trick is to make sure that everyone else understands the consequences of cheating you, so that when you approach them, they know that you will deal honestly with those who are honorable and that you will not deal with those who are dishonorable,” she told the War Lord. Her gaze flicked to Li’eth and back to the Solarican. “So far, the V’Dan are mostly treating us with honor and respect. There are a few rough spots, but the benefits outweigh the irritations and the insults.

  “We are also kindly and generously making allowances for the fact that their culture—not yours, but theirs—has a certain primitive attitude toward skin color being the sole determination of a person’s knowledge and maturity levels. It is something my people fought long and hard to give up over the centuries. We finally did so just before the AI War just under one hundred years ago,” Jackie added. “It was hoped that, given how they’ve been out among the stars longer than we have, and that they’ve had genetic throwbacks to nonmarked versions of their jungen virus, that they would have lost such attitudes long ago as well.”

  “But we have not,” Li’eth admitted. “I am sorry so many of my people are unable to look at you and see you for who you are, not who they expect you to be.”

  “Your remorse is admirable, Your Highness,” Jackie allowed. “It remains to be seen if our repeated requests to be treated as Terran adults instead of V’Dan children will be heeded over time.”

  Krrrnang eyed each of them in turn, his ears flicking back a little. “I am tollld the two of you arrre twinnnned seers. Yet you speak as if you arrre onn opposite sides.”

  “The Terrans have faith that their Ambassador can keep her work and her private life separate,” Li’eth explained, turning his attention to the alien. “After having seen her in action as a diplomat and a stateswoman, I have that same faith as well.”

  “A strrrrange statement,” the War Lord pointed out. “What if her worrrk and her prrrivate llife come into connfllict?”

  “We will deal with it, if it ever does,” Jackie told him.

  The Solarican eyed each of them, then pursed his lips. “I should lllike to be a perrsnit underr the nearest table whenn it does.”

  Jackie gave him a blank look for a moment, then comprehension dawned. She smiled—carefully without showing her teeth—and replied, “We say ‘a fly on the wall.’ But yes, I’d imagine that would be an interesting moment. One I wish to avoid.”

  Krrrnang flicked a look at the Imperial Prince and back. “This is a warrrning to all the memberrs of the Alliance, then—allll of them—that you will nnot tolerrrate dishonorable dealings.”

  “Yes. If the Count apologizes properly, we will reward his system with a hyperrelay system,” Jackie agreed.

  “And by ‘properly’ . . . ?” the War Lord fished delicately.

  “He has to acknowledge in actual words what his error was, pledge he will not repeat it, treat all members of the Terran delegation with the respect we are due as adults, and apologize not only to my people, but to his own people for . . .” She trailed off, realizing that there was an incoming message on the V’Dan bandwidth the Embassy 8 was using. Tapping the controls, she activated the audio link. “Embassy 8, this is Ambassador MacKenzie, go.”

  “Count Daachen has just threatened to destroy us if we do not leave the hyperrelay in place, sir,” Captain Li stated. “How shall we respond?”

  “Correction,” Jackie muttered, disappointed and bordering on disgusted. “That is what he could have done to salvage this situation . . .”

  “Ambassador, could you please clarify that statement, sir?” Captain Li asked through the open link.

  “I was speaking to someone here, Captain. Could you please connect me to Count Daachen?” Jackie requested. “Video, so he sees who he is talking to once again.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  A moment later, the screen blinked on, and the gray-striped Solarican bared his teeth. “I thought that woullld get your attennntion.”

  “Count Draachen. I am stating this in the presence of War Lord Krrrnang, military advisor of the Solarican embassy to the V’Dan Empire, so that you know just how seriously the Terran United Planets takes you. The crew of the Embassy 8 has stated you have threatened to attack their vessel if they do not leave a hyperrelay unit in your star system,” Jackie stated, making sure she pronounced the V’Dan words carefully. “If any vessel, armament, or even a pressure-suited person of the Solarican nation attacks a Terran citizen or a Terran vessel, it will be considered a declaration of war.

  “This means that all Solarican-controlled systems with Terran communications technology will have that technology immediately destroyed, and all future systems will be denied access to that technology until such time as the war ends and all war criminals are handed over to Terran authorities for trial and punishment . . . and I will remind the Solarican nation that not only do your people not know where mine come from, we can coordinate both attacks and defense across planetary orbits and different star systems alike.

  “War Lord Krrrnang,” she added, deliberately turning down the incoming volume on the channel with the wide-eyed, ear-back count as he started cursing, though not the outgoing feed. “I will have to revise my earlier statement on what it will take to get my people to deposit a hyperrelay in the Nephrit System.”

  “What will it take, Grand High Ambassador?” the alien asked softly. Politely, though his ears had flicked low and his tail was now lashing, flinging the ginger, cream, and brown strands this way and that.

  “Someone with actual common sense and courtesy in charge of that system,” she told him flatly. “You are, of course, free to leave Count Daachen in place, but the Terran government will not deal with him. We will not deal with anyone who, upon delivering an insult and then refusing a request to apologize for it, chooses instead to threaten the lives of our sovereign citizens. Captain Li, continue your assigned task of removing the hyperrelay probe from the system. You may close the link to the Count, but keep an open channel from your ship to the Embassy 1 at all times. I want to know to the lag-time second what happens to your ship while you remain within the heliopause of Nephrit 113.”

  “Understood, Ambassador. We will keep this channel open and clear. Closing the link to the count.”

  “I should lllike to speak with him firrrst, beforre the connectionn clloses,” Krrrnang requested.

  “War Lord, he threatened one of my ships,” Jackie stated flatly. “If you wish to speak with him, you are going to have to get into one of your own ships, travel there the normal, pre-Terran way, and speak to him in person—he might be in the mood to travel here to lodge his complaint, as I instructed, so make sure someone here can handle him if he does so while you’re on your way there. Either way, I suspect that I would like to be one of your perrsnit creatures under the nearest table for that conversation. This is known as the punishment phase of the prisoner’s dilemma. If he wants our advantages, he is going to have to learn that his bad choices have consequences.”

  “. . . You have an excelllent earrr for accennts, Ambassadorr,” the War Lord stated politely. His ears were up again though they twitched as though they wanted to flatten, and his tail was still snapping from side to side. His whiskers were trembling, twitching somewhere between forward and back. “I must forrrmally protest this actionn.”

  “I know. I will be delivering a protest to Grand High Ambassador Trrrall shortly,” she added. “After I have made sure the Embassy 8 leaves the Nephrit System safely. If it does not, I will have to deliver notice that we deem that to be a declaration of war.” Lifting a finger, she pointed at the War Lord. “I don’t care what your people do to Count Daachen. That is your business as a sovereign nation. However, he is a thoughtless idiot, and my nation will not interact with him.”

  Li’eth winced. “Grand High Ambassador, that is not a diplomatic thing to say.”

  “No,” Jackie agreed. “Bu
t it is an accurate description. Every diplomat, bureaucrat, and statesperson in my government is expected to be both educated and capable of reasoning through the long-term consequences as well as the short-term consequences for the majority of our decisions. Nobody is perfect, but we are expected to try to think of several possible consequences in advance. This is because we are held responsible for those decisions.

  “War Lord Krrrnang, I give your people the courtesy of presuming that all of your own government officials are equally educated and thoughtful until each individually proves otherwise. We acknowledge that no sentient being is perfect, so we can even be flexible and forgiving at times. Up to a point.” She looked him in the eye. “That particular set of decisions, insulting myself and my people, refusing to bow to the dictates of courtesy by apologizing, and then on top of that, threatening my people . . . was idiocy piled upon shortsighted idiocy.”

  War Lord Krrrnang flicked his ears. “I am . . . unnable to rrremark upon the inndividuall in questionn at this time.”

  “I understand, and I sympathize.” She started to say more, but the commlink to the Embassy 8 interrupted.

  “Ambassador, the cargo is secure, and we are getting under way for our next destination. No sign of pursuit.”

  “Acknowledged, Embassy 8. Good luck, and keep the channel open until thirty seconds to departure,” she ordered.

  “Acknowledged.”

  “Grrand High Ambassador . . . if the lllink is going to remain openn for a llittle while longerr . . .” Krrrnang suggested, glancing at the console.

  “This is the part where, in the prisoner’s dilemma, everyone else gets to see the punishment in action,” Jackie told the furred alien. “We will not deal with those who think threats of destruction and slaughter are an appropriate choice when given the chance to make a new friend.”

  “If yourrr ship rremains in the system a little llongerr,” the War Lord stated, “I can rrrequest our Grrrannd High Ambassador make a decisionn on rrreplacing him.”

  She wanted to help him, but Jackie shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry, War Lord. His actions have consequences. Your inconvenience at not being able to use our other-than-light communications capacity is less important than driving home the lesson—”

  “—Clawing out the lesson,” Li’eth interjected, giving her a better phrase. He sent her an undercurrent of attached examples of how it should be used in different situations, according to the Solarican mind-set.

  “Thank you, Liaison. Your inconvenience, War Lord, is less important than clawing out the lesson that no one can threaten the Terran United Planets without bleeding from their self-inflicted wounds,” Jackie stated, picking one of those subthought examples to use on the Solarican. “We have no intention of starting a fight with your people, but please be aware that we are prepared to fight all the same. Like the prisoner’s dilemma, played over and over, our action is to begin negotiations politely. Our reaction will depend upon how we are treated.

  “The point, War Lord, is to make this moment unpleasant enough that your people will work harder to avoid it than they otherwise would have strived,” she said.

  “The innsult was givenn by Count Daachen,” Krrrnang pointed out. “Not by me.”

  “The insult was given by a government official,” she countered flatly. Softening her tone, she said, “Think of it this way: I now have an example to hold up to anyone else as to why it would be inappropriate to continue insulting me.”

  “But the peoplle of that system—” he pressed.

  “—Are no worse off than they were before.” She shook her head again. “They are undergoing the exact same risk of unwarned invasion as before. They have to endure the same hours-long transit of your faster-than-light starships in order to get any news or orders from anyone. The only difference is now you and they know there is another, better way . . . and that the leader in that system assumed too much authority, and has made some potentially, but only potentially, costly mistakes.”

  His ears flicked back, and his whiskers twitched down. His tail flicked once, then he spoke. “You, MacKennnzie, act lllike a plant-eaterr . . . and pllot like a nnight-hunterr.”

  “I will take that as a compliment, from one warrior to another,” she allowed. “The next system on the Embassy 8’s flight plan is also Solarican. As per standing orders, the 8 will attempt to enter around a light-hour away from the main settlement and slow its speed in order to observe for traffic patterns before making its final approach. If you wish to go visit Grand High Ambassador Trrrall, you’ll have about an hour and a half before anything happens, maybe two.”

  “That, I shalll do,” Krrrnang agreed. He bowed and headed for one of the doors.

  Jackie waited until the fur-trimmed military advisor was out of sight before turning and slumping back against the edge of the workstation counter. (That . . . was not pleasant. I hated disappointing him.)

  (You’re playing a potentially dangerous game.)

  At that quip, Jackie shot Li’eth a sharp look. Arching one brow, she asked, (Is that what you think? That I am playing a game far more dangerous than threatening lives?)

  He held up his hand close to his chest, palm inward in V’Dan style, and tipped his head. (Not in immediacy, but in scope, yes.)

  (Prisoner’s dilemma,) Jackie returned. She folded her arms across her chest. (I have to establish that the Terran United Planets does have a line, that it will be drawn, and that anyone who steps over it will face the consequences of overstepping proper behavior.)

  (That is an odd set of metaphors,) he murmured. It was a mental aside, not an invitation to discuss etymology. (You cannot hold the whole of the Solarican Empire hostage for the actions of an individual.)

  (I can if that individual was appointed by their government. But you’re making it sound more dire than it truly is,) she told him. (I would be happy to deal with a flunky, an assistant, a somebody-who-isn’t-that-idiot. Or that idiotic. How these Solaricans react to my statement that we will not deal with Count Daachen anymore will illuminate the true state of their politics. Is he there because of nepotism? Did he bribe his way to that post? Does he have enough money or blackmail secrets or whatever to keep that post? Is he honestly just that arrogant? Will he sit on his county throne and sulk, or will he charge here to your homeworld to lodge more of his insults in person? Or will he realize the error of his attitude and come here in person to apologize?

  (Does the Grand High Ambassador of the Solaricans to the V’Dan Empire have the authority to step on him and his tail until he behaves, or the authority to make him step down and have someone else step up into the count’s role? Will Trrrall even feel like he should bother or not? Will the War Lord send a ship to the Nephrit System? I did not choose to stir the pot,) Jackie told her partner. (But I am going to take advantage of the swirls to see what sinks to the bottom or rises to the top.)

  He blinked at her. (I keep forgetting you are a lot more devious than you seem.)

  She smiled slightly; his sending had undercurrents of wariness, yes, but more swirls and eddies of admiration and respect threaded throughout than that sense of uncertain caution. She took it as an edged compliment, the kind where Jackie knew she didn’t dare let herself get a swelled head. It would not do to fall into the trap of believing her actions were always going to be for the best, after all. Staving that off meant analyzing her motives each and every time.

  (Be glad I use my powers for good, then, I guess,) she told him. (I really would rather get along with him, and I would far, far rather get along with the Solarican Empire, and all the rest. But your communications isolation leaves each system’s foremost leader in a precarious position. They end up so immersed in protecting their own system and their own interests, due to how long it takes to communicate with everyone else, they forget that their decisions can have very far-reaching consequences for other systems as well as their own.

&nbs
p; (I can understand the reason behind his actions even as I must stand against them. An understandable reason is not the same as a license to act as though theirs is the only source of authority.)

  (You have a remarkably sophisticated culture, Bright Stone,) Li’eth observed dryly.

  (We’ve had a hundred thousand years of evolution, and a hundred thousand variations to explore, learning how to make it so,) she agreed. (But then so have you, in your own ways.)

  (Thank you.) There was a pause, then both of them shifted awkwardly. Li’eth blinked and frowned slightly. (I’m feeling restless again. How long has it been since we held hands?)

  Jackie twisted and checked the chronometer on the workstation monitor. (Not quite one hour. The spans are definitely getting shorter.)

  (We will have to be more intimate than just holding each other, soon,) he warned. (I can distract myself with work, as can you, but in these lull moments . . .)

  She felt her cheeks growing a bit warm. (I know. I’m trying to figure out how to break the news to your mother that her precious baby boy, for his own sanity’s sake, has to sleep with a foreigner who looks like a child.)

  (That would be my job, not yours,) Li’eth stated. He shifted just enough so that their matching poses of folded arms and backsides leaning on the counter behind them allowed their upper arms to touch. Both were wearing sleeved outfits, so it wasn’t nearly as effective as skin-on-skin, but it did soothe some of the need to be close. (Speaking of some of us being in close proximity to you Terrans . . . while I requested V’kol be reassigned to my side, Ba’oul and Dai’a were given leave to go home for a little bit before being reassigned—they nearly died a very ugly death, and I don’t begrudge them wanting to go home. However . . . Leftenant Superior Nanu’oc has finagled her way into sticking around the Winter Palace through her Second Tier connections, even though her county lies a lot closer to the Summer Palace than here.)

  (Oh?) Jackie asked. (And this is important because . . . ?)