Wing Commander: Freedom Flight

by Mercedes Lackey

  K'Kai made the appropriate responses of commiseration, and then added, "Part of the problem may be that they are not creatures of a flock or pack. They do not understand the balances that must be worked out among one's kin. They cannot understand how these balances both keep the pack alive against outsiders, and keep the pack from destroying itself from within."

  "Too true." The Kilrathi hung his head, and stared at the table-top. "I try to understand these creatures, and understanding eludes me. I have more in common with you, feathered one, than with them."

  "Really?" K'Kai replied ingenuously. Even if I am a prey-species, Kilrathi? She took a quick inventory. "Hmm. You could be right. We both have claws. Beak—well, you have fangs, and this is a weapon if I choose to use it. Body-coverings, unlike the furless and unfeathered humans. A similar social structure. Perhaps you are speaking more truly than you know, Kilrathi…"

  "Cease the mindless chatter, Firekkan," the feline growled—and yet, there was no anger or malice in his voice. "You wished to see me. Surely it was for some purpose other than curiosity."

  K'Kai thought he looked as if he was thinking; wondering if he should say something further, or wait until she revealed herself. Her purpose at the moment was to keep him curious. When she didn't answer, he leaned back in his seat, tail swishing on the floor behind him.

  "You are not like the craven humans who keep me penned here," he said at last. "And you are not as I thought your people would be. I am not certain what to make of you—what category you fall into. And I find myself wondering if you understand what these humans cannot."

  "What is that?" she asked, accepting the challenge. "Wait, shall I guess? You want me to say or do things that will tell me whether or not I understand honor in the purest sense."

  She puffed up her chest-feathers, glad now that she had taken the extra training from the Confed language tapes allowed her to speak with authority outside the nests.

  "Do I understand honor?" she asked, as his eyes grew wider and wider. "Is that what you wanted to ask me? I cannot blame you; the humans have a very different sense of honor from you and I. They frequently make promises they hope they will not have to keep, they use language that will not bind them to anything if they can help it. They have a class of folk who do nothing but find ways to exploit or be rid of those promises. Whereas among both our peoples, a promise is binding, for all time." Then she cackled. "And so we have a class of peoples who devote themselves to keep us out of any such entangling promises! I would probably find the same class among the Kilrathi, eh?"

  The gurgle became a full-voiced howl of amusement. "You are the most entertaining creature to cross this threshold in many long days. I believe I like you. What do you call yourself?"

  "K'Kai," she replied carefully. "And you?"

  "Kirha," the Kilrathi replied. "I make you free of my name."

  That last had a sound of formula about it, and she replied the same way. "I make you free of mine." Then, slyly, "And of something else as well."

  She had checked with the medics on this one; they had been interrogating Kirha often enough to know what would and would not affect him—and what he might enjoy. Firekka's Finest was under the heading of "things he might enjoy." The alcohol content was something Kilrathi metabolized easily enough, and they liked their food raw, but spiced. So she had brought a few bottles of her favorite brew with her. Just in case.

  She placed the first green glass bottle carefully on the table between them, with a Firekkan drinking-vase of iridescent blue glass and a Kilrathi cup of red-glazed porcelain, more like a deep saucer than a cup, because the felines lapped up their drinks with their tongues. He eyed the bottle with mingled interest and suspicion.

  "Check the cup, or use one of your own," she suggested. "We will be sharing the bottle, in any case. We call it 'Firekka's Finest.' I checked with the medics and there is not anything in there to which you should react badly. It might even settle your stomach." When he continued to hesitate, she cocked her head sideways. "Hun-ter liked it well enough. Or is not the custom among the Kilrathi to share a drink as well as common interests?"

  She opened the bottle and poured herself a drink, sticking her beak down into the long neck of the vase for a quick sip. Kirha growled and poured himself a cupful, raising it to his mouth, his eyes daring her to laugh at him as he lapped up a cautious sample.

  His eyes widened, his pupils dilated. He raised his head and stared at her.

  "Not to your taste?" she asked, oddly disappointed.

  He coughed, and blinked. "Quite the—opposite," he replied. "I wondered why the Prince had chosen your world for the Sivar-Eshrad. Now I know. Once he had Firekka in his claws, he could bring in his house agents and proceed to accrue a private fortune from this—" he raised the cup a little "—and all without the Emperor ever knowing he was doing so!"

  "Well, your Prince had a few surprises awaiting him," K'Kai said proudly. "Firekkans may look peaceful, but we know how to defend ourselves."

  "If you can brew this, I must believe you! This is truly a drink worthy of warriors!" Kirha bent to his cup again, his tongue rapidly lapping up every drop in the basin. He came up for air, looking as if he would be very happy for another round.

  Clucking happily to herself, K'Kai obliged him, pouring another for herself. As she did so, Kirha's whiskers lifted and his eyes narrowed in what she had been told was the Kilrathi expression of pleasure. "By Sivar, K'Kai, this elixir of yours is settling my stomach! I'd begun to think that this venture of my lord's was going to be nothing but an endless hell of interrogation and stomach-aches!"

  "Do not stint yourself, there's plenty more where that bottle came from," K'Kai said helpfully. "And I can get more to you. I suspect a cup with a meal should help, after those ridiculous drugs upset you."

  Kirha growled—or maybe purred. Or a combination of both. "Right now, if you do not mind a seasoning of truth, I should like very much to become intoxicated."

  K'Kai cackled, startling him. "That was my idea precisely," she told him. "I am as frustrated in what I came here to do as you are—and since it is the humans who are causing that, I felt very disinclined to have my intoxication with any of them."

  "So you chose me as a drinking partner?" Kirha shook his head, his words just a little slurred. "I fear you are not stating even an eighth part of the truth."

  He had finished his third cup by then, and K'Kai her third vase, and the bottle was half empty. She poured them both another round.

  "The truth is, I thought we both had a lot more in common with each other than with the naked bipeds of Sol," she said. "We both understand honor; you are imprisoned, even though you have given your word to serve Hun-ter—I am treated like a prisoner, since I cannot leave until I get an answer from High Command and they won't give me an answer."

  His eyes glazed a little as he tried to follow that convoluted statement. "We are two aliens in a sea of deceitful hairless apes," he agreed. "To fellowship!"

  He raised his cup; she brought up her vase, and they drained the vessels. She poured again. Her ears were beginning to buzz, and she felt pleasantly relaxed and warm; like soaring effortlessly in a hot thermal.

  "So what is it that you want from the apes?" he asked at last.

  She narrowed her own eyes, and stared down at her vase. "When the Kilrathi Prince left my planet, he took some of my people with him as hostages," she said bitterly, and his eyes widened and ears flattened. "My niece was one of them. I want to get them back, sun scorch it! But High Command keeps saying that they cannot do anything!" She took a long pull of Finest. "Won't, is more like it."

  "I begin to see why my lord Ralgha brought us to this pass," he said, as he followed her example. "The Prince should not have done that. It is dishonorable; it violates the Warrior's Code to hide behind hostages! He will cause the fury of Sivar to follow him and his blood to the eighth generation!"

  "I wish the fury of Sivar would scorch the butts of the flightless mudbrains in the human Hig
h Command," K'Kai replied. She looked up at him, and noticed that there seemed to be two of him for a moment. No doubt about it, this was a particularly strong batch of the Finest. "What is the use of a treaty if it does not work both ways?"

  "For a female, you speak very strongly. But it is true… you have been treated with less than full honor," he agreed. His words ran together a bit, with a bit of hissing on the sibilants. His eyes began to cross, and K'Kai rather thought he was as drunk as she was. Maybe more. "I have been treated with less than full honor. We should become intoxicated." He hiccupped, and his eyes crossed a little more. "Correction. We are intoxicated. We should continue the state."

  K'Kai poured, carefully, into the cup he held out to her. "I will drink to that," she said. "Oh, I will drink to that!"

  Chapter Ten

  Hunter walked through the corridors of Sol Station, glancing at the color-strips on the metal walls to make sure that he was still headed in the direction of the transient officers' barracks. By this time tomorrow, he'd be on his way back to the Tiger's Claw, just in time for the beginning of their new assignment in the Enigma Sector. One of the Tactical Officers from the Claw, who'd joined him for a few drinks in the San Francisco Terminal as they waited for the shuttle departure, had said something about a possible mission behind enemy lines. The Tactical Officer had been drunk enough to talk, though sober enough to realize when he'd said too much. But that tidbit of information was enough for Hunter to start making guesses. It could be an attack against Ghorah Khar or one of the other Kilrathi colonies, or maybe even the Kilrathi sector command at K'Tithrak Mang.

  It's 'bout time we took the fight to the cat's doorstep! He smiled to himself. 'Cause it's a long, long way to Tipperary, but my heart's right there…

  "Hunter, lad!" someone called to him, a man's voice thick with a Scottish brogue.

  He recognized the voice instantly and turned. "Paladin! What are you doing here, mate? I thought they'd retired you!"

  Paladin ran his hand through his silvering blond hair. "Nae, they're not gettin' rid of me just yet. I've been reassigned to Sol Station for a few months, before I head out for my new assignment."

  "New assignment?" Hunter frowned. "But you're over the age limit for fighter pilots!"

  "Who said I'd be a fighter pilot, lad?" Paladin grinned.

  Hunter shook his head. "It's just like you to talk without sayin' anything, old man. All right, so what gives?"

  "We shouldn't talk here in the hallway," the older Scotsman said. He caught Hunter's elbow, steering him down another corridor. "Besides, there's someone else ye need to talk to. So, how was your downside leave, Ian?"

  Hunter shook his head. "Guess you hadn't heard, mate. I spent most of my leave in Brisbane with my family, at the memorial service for my kid brother. He was a Marine, went down with the assault on Firekka and didn't come back… I didn't even know that until afterwards. We weren't close, hadn't talked in years, but it was still a shock. Grandma didn't handle it too well." Hunter's mouth quirked in a wry smile. "She's an amazing lady, though, she'll get through it okay. She's getting up in years, but still rides all over the hills every day with the ranch hands. Then I stayed with Mum and Dad in Sydney. And I spent a couple days in San Francisco, visiting Bossman's wife and daughter. She moved there to be closer to her parents." He shook his head; it hadn't been an easy visit for any of them, especially after watching them lower his kid brother into the ground in Brisbane, but it had been one he'd needed to make. "She's a tough lady, she'll survive this okay. She and Angel have been corresponding these last few months. I think it's been good for both of them." He glanced around, suddenly realizing where Paladin was leading him. "Hey, James! This is the detention area. What are we doing here?"

  Paladin gave him a sideways glance. "Do ye remember those Kilrathi that defected to our side, back in the Firekka system?"

  "Of course." He nodded. "I met Lord Ralgha, and another cat, Kirha. What does this have to do with anything?"

  Another odd look. "Do ye remember that other cat swearin' fealty to ye?"

  Hunter shrugged. "He did something weird, some kind of Kilrathi ritual."

  Paladin pressed his palm against the door lock. "Hunter, I want you to meet Kirha hrai Hunter nar Aussie."

  The door slid open, and Hunter could see a broad-shouldered Kilrathi standing inside. The Kilrathi made an odd sound and immediately knelt at Hunter's feet, his whiskers nearly touching Hunter's boot. "My lord Hunter, you are here!" the cat said in heavily accented English, his tail quivering. And he sounded—pleased. No, not pleased—something more than merely "pleased."

  Hunter stared down in shock at the Kilrathi kneeling in front of him, and then at Paladin, who was apparently trying hard not to laugh but failing miserably. The Scotsman's laughter rang loud and clear through the halls of the Detention area.

  "This has to be a joke," Kirha's liege lord said, as Kirha knelt respectfully, awaiting his orders. "This is a joke, right, mate?"

  The other human was still laughing. Kirha thought this was very poor manners, to make so much noise at such a serious moment, when a sworn warrior was reunited with his liege lord, but obviously his lord was not bothered by it, so he held his peace.

  "His name is Kirha," the other human, James Taggart, whom everyone called Paladin, commented, still making outlandish noises. "Actually, his name is Kirha hrai Hunter nar Aussie. He's named himself after you, Hunter."

  "Uh, why is he on the floor?" Kirha's liege lord asked.

  "My lord, I will not rise until you have given me permission," Kirha said quietly.

  "You… you can get up," his lord said, and Kirha rose to his feet, standing at attention, his belly trembling with excitement.

  "As my lord wishes," he said, carefully enunciating the human words.

  "I'm not your—dammit, James, stop laughing!" his lord said, glaring at the other human.

  "As ye wish, m'lord," Paladin said in a serious tone, then dissolved into laughter again.

  "Ignore that Scottish idiot," his lord instructed Kirha. "Now let's talk about this, mate. Back on that Ras Nik'hra ship, after the fight with the other Fralthi—I didn't know exactly what was going on with that weird Kilrathi ceremony about oaths and fealty, but I went along with it because Major Marks said I had to. So quit staring at me with those lovesick Kilrathi eyes, because I am not your lord!"

  Kirha lowered his eyes respectfully as Paladin spoke. "Oh yes, ye are, Hunter," the human male said. "Kirha, tell him what ye told me about liege lords and sworn warriors, lad!"

  Kirha stared down at the plain plastic of the floor, not answering.

  "Kirha? Laddie, why won't ye talk to me?" Paladin persisted.

  "Come on, Kirha, talk to the man!" Hunter said.

  "But, my lord, you ordered me to ignore him," Kirha said, confused. He glanced up at his lord, then quickly lowered his eyes again, remembering his orders not to stare at his liege lord.

  "This doesn't make any sense," Hunter began. "All right, Kirha, you can talk to anyone you want to. And stop staring at the floor!"

  "As my lord wishes," Kirha said respectfully.

  "I can't deal with this," Kirha's lord said wearily. "I just can't. Kirha, it's been fun meeting with you, mate, but I'm—"

  "Actually, Ian, I need a favor of ye," Paladin said, rubbing one finger along the edge of the fur on his face. "I want to ask Kirha some questions about Ghorah Khar, and apparently I need your permission to do this. If ye'd be so kind…"

  Hunter sighed. "Sure. Kirha, if James or anyone else asks you any questions, please answer them truthfully. All right?"

  "Of course, my lord Hunter," Kirha replied, relieved to at last have gotten a simple order from his lord.

  "Good." He blew his breath out hugely. "Kirha, it's been fun, but I have to go get drunk before I get on a ship tomorrow."

  Leave? He was going to leave? "But you cannot leave without me, my lord!" Kirha protested, suddenly alarmed.

  Hunter stared at him, his eyes gone
round. "What?"

  "You are my liege lord," Kirha explained as calmly as he could. To be abandoned here again, a shame and a dishonor! I belong with my liege lord! "My place is righting by your side, defending your life and honor from your enemies."

  His liege lord was fixing his gaze at Kirha, his mouth dropping open. Kirha dropped his gaze, not wanting to offend.

  "Actually, Hunter won't be leavin' without ye, Kirha, at least not for another few days," Paladin said, smiling again. Kirha's lord looked at him with widened eyes. "Since I need your help with Kirha, here, I've requested that they not ship ye off for another few days, Hunter. I already set up a bunk for you on-Station."

  Kirha's lord glanced from Kirha to the other human. "But you can't change my assignment, James. I'm an active duty pilot! They need me back on the Tiger's Claw! It would take an Admiral's orders to do that!"

  Paladin patted his jacket pocket. "I have those orders right here, Ian. Signed by Commodore Steward, at my request."

  Kirha's lord seemed not so much agitated as surprised. Kirha was relieved. He would have hated to kill this Paladin, who had acted honorably in all ways to Kirha—but if Paladin offended Hunter, he would have to. "What in the hell are you doing, James? What kind of assignment have they given you?"

  Paladin made a clucking sound. "Ever hear of something called the Special Operations division?"

  "But that's Intelligence! You're not an Intelligence agent—" His lord faltered in mid-sentence, staring at the other human. "What in the hell have you gotten yourself into, James?"

  "Well, it involves a very high-tech ship disguised as a freighter that they've assigned to me, which I've named the Bonnie Heather, and which will be ready for our first assignment in another couple days, and my fine assistant, who'll you'll meet in the next few days, and some little political problems in the Kilrathi Empire. I can't explain too much of it, but I'll tell you what I can. Kirha, we'll be back tomorrow, Hunter and I, to talk more about all of this."