“That’s Corporal Gilman reporting. She’s found your launcher, Kirrah. Damned thing was a smoothbore tube rigged to an air compressor. Bet it didn’t fire over 300 meps, but nearly silent, and deadly as hell. Whoever had it, dumped it in the lake. Apparently they didn’t know about Regnum scanners, but it’d sunk into the bottom silt, she couldn’t pick it up beyond a five meter circle. She had to sort through a hundred native iron implements on the bottom, and even then if they hadn’t used a titanium valve in a critical place, she’d’ve missed it. Some poor lizard’s in drek over his pointy head, you ask me.
“She also found a small transmitter relay. Based on the signals you picked up in the city, looks like the Kruss base was getting sound and images from the smartshots, on a tightbeam relay from their base here.”
Kirrah noticed the baffled looks blooming on the other side of the table, and bemoaned anew the difference between translating a language, and communicating between cultures.
“What Warden-sana'tachk is saying, is that we have found the device which the O’dai used to throw plague-of-screams seeds at the city. He also says the device is clearly of Kruss manufacture, and that is going to be very disadvantageous for them when this comes before a Civilium court. To say nothing of costly. We also know that the Kruss were able to hear and see with their devices, as they hunted and killed. And besides these things, we have their nano’ire, which we will also hold as evidence against them.
“Guardswoman, tell Rash’koi-sana'tachk to tell the O’dai prisoners that they shall wait another day, then begin walking home. I do not promise this, it is an estimate and may change if we find more mischief. By this afternoon the lake should be back to its former level, and they should be more comfortable tonight. And tell Rash’koi-sana'tachk to take himself and as many men as he can spare, off duty and get some rest. Proceed.” The woman saluted and trotted out of the compound.
“It would seem, Kirrah Warmaster,” said Slaetra from across the table, “…that you were not the only one to teach technology to your allies. Although I can see you taught more, sooner, and put it freely into the hands of your friends. Now you have learned the lesson of kaetha’sha. These Kruss, it would appear, have not.”
“My master-teacher is generous, I am honored.” Kirrah bowed her head briefly, and received in return what she could have sworn was one of Aunt Risa’s ‘Approving Nods, Grade A, Rarely Bestowed’. Slaetra seemed to share both facial vocabulary and values with Kirrah’s beloved aunt.
“Marcus, what’s the status of our sanitization project? These good people still cannot return safely to most of their homes.”
“It’s going a lot slower than I’d like, Kirrah. The way they’ve built these city-block units is very efficient, and it helps that the city is generally so clean and orderly. But we can only spare two Marines, and it takes them over an hour to clear a single block, even when they don’t find anything. If they have to spend twenty minutes chasing every smartshot that’s gotten into the plumbing or inside the walls, it can take half a day. We just don’t have the personnel. Although with that damned launcher recovered, I can put Gilman’s sensor team to work sweeping, after they’ve had a few hours’ sleep.”
“Hold it right there, soldier,” said Doris. “You mean we have over ten thousand of our allies living outdoors because their city is infested by illegal tech, and all we can do is sweep a few blocks a day?” Marcus turned a surprised and slightly wounded look in the direction of this unexpected assault.
“Because,” she continued, stabbing one finger toward the sky, “I just happen to know where there’s about three hundred swabbies at the itchy end of a long voyage, with nothing to do but gripe and sit around, and I bet a hundred of them would jump at the chance for a little light dirtside duty.” The three Regnum officers stared at one another until Kirrah laughed out loud.
“Damn! I’ve missed you, Doris! Let’s put that on our wish-list. We have one shuttle going up at noon, Marcus. If you can supply a guard detail, have our Kruss prisoner in restraints and ready. I’d like to get it off-planet on that ride. We’ve also got the debrief team coming down in about half an hour, and the Contact Teams meet at takka-doi, sorry, Marcus, that’s oh-eight-hundred hours local, but the days here have twenty hours, each hour’s eighty-one and a tad Standard minutes long, and they very sensibly start numbering the hours at dawn, so that’s mid-afternoon. Look, there should be a file in your wristcomp called ‘T-local’, it was one of my first entries, just run that and you’ll be in sync.” Why is he getting that hunted look again…
“What is that?” asked Brai'klao shu'Naei, the school’s resident professor of law and history, pointing high into the heavens behind Kirrah. She followed his gaze to see a small dark spot descending silently out of the western sky, occasional flashes of sunlight glittering from glass or metal.
“That, I would say, is my first appointment this morning. It looks like they decided to send the debrief team down in their own facilities. I’d guess it’s a Class Four command module, Master Brai'klao, a small building about forty hab’la wide and the same height. They will probably set it down on the land we offered for a Reg’num embassy.”
“It certainly arrives quietly compared to the sky-ferry,” observed Irshe.
“Indeed, Irshe’jasa, it is not designed to fly at all. This is what nano’ire is intended for. It is simply a building, being lowered from one of the starships on a cable as thin as a blade of real-grass. It has only small thrusters to position it accurately on the ground.” Several pairs of eyes were getting round at the sight of the flying building, by now low over the west wall of the courtyard.
“Do you mean,” asked Slaetra, “that object is attached to a starship, how high over our heads? By a rope?” A little to Kirrah’s surprise, Lieutenant Warden chose to answer her question himself.
“Not a rope, ma’am, but a nanowire cable, yes. They probably brought the ship down to minimum, I’d guess about two-twenty-five kay. Your atmosphere is a bit thicker than we’re used to.” Kirrah listened in fascination as Slaetra’s wristcomp did a simultaneous translation into Talamae, rendering the ‘two-twenty-five kay’ as ‘four hundred thirty-six doi’la’.
“Minimum?” The quick intellect behind those piercing blue eyes pounced on the new tidbit like one of Aunt Risa’s little birds on a hapless bug. “Why doesn’t the starship simply come to earth like your sky-boats, and be done with all the up-and-down business?” After exchanging ‘how-much-can-I-say’ glances with Kirrah, the Marine Lieutenant continued. Kirrah watched on with amusement as the wristcomp translation program buzzed his untranslatable technical vocabulary to tatters:
“No, ma’am, they can’t do that. If they activate the Higgs-bzzzz, sorry, I mean the grav-gener-zzzzz, damn!-zzzzz, look, I just mean the Tubedri-zzzzzz.” He looked helplessly at Kirrah. “How can you talk to these people so much easier? How do I…?”
“What Marcus’jasa is trying to say, Slaetra, is that if the vessel were to activate its engine while in the air around your planet, it would cause much damage. Both to the vessel and anything near it. These large people,” Her mock-derisive gesture took in the two Marines at the table: “…in their stronger armor are far more appreciated for their ability to fight, than to converse.”
“So the starship is now above our air?”
“With apologies to everyone, I must leave Marcus to explain further. I have a duty to the Regnum which shall shortly occupy me for a few takka. Then may I suggest we convene at the Palace. I’m sure it would be good to review our impressions with Lord Tsano before meeting with the Regnum half of the Contact Team. Doris, they’ll want you for debrief after I’m through.” Bows all around the table, and Kirrah returned to her quarters and the (new! clean!) RSS uniform which had been provided for her use at the debrief.
Half an hour later Kirrah and Irshe rode west across two thirds of the city, their horses followed by Lieutenant Warden and another Marine on a Tango. The eclectic group passed through the Sun Gate
in the west wall and out into the road that led down the Geera to the Sea of the Sun. The ground was cool and slightly damp where the city wall was still shading it, and the air smelled fresh and new.
Beside the two shuttles parked outside the wall, Regnum Naval personnel had erected a prefab one-story field hut. Half a kilometer to the northwest, past a small cluster of produce merchants’ booths, a new modern three-story building stood ready-made. The flag of the Regnum Draconis hung limp in the still morning air, and a crowd of rubbernecking Talamae adults and children were slowly dispersing, returning to their work in the fields and shops.
In a few minutes the riders pulled up at the door of the building. Irshe settled in the lobby while a yeoman ushered Kirrah into one of the new-smelling, comfortably furnished rooms on the ground floor and seated her behind a recording console. After only a moment the yeoman re-entered, stood at attention and said “Admiral on deck!”, and Kirrah sprang to attention and saluted as three men and a woman entered, all wearing silver-trimmed black Regnum Navy uniforms.
“Greetings, Lieutenant Roehl,” said the tall tanned woman with the Vice Admiral’s broad silver cuff trim. Steady gold-flecked brown eyes gazed from under a smooth broad brow in a strong plain face. “I trust we’re not keeping you from pressing matters regarding the defense of our friends.” At Kirrah’s negative response, handshakes were exchanged.
“Please be seated, Lieutenant Roehl. I am Vice Admiral Lucinda Dunning, these are Lieutenant Commander Michael Willison, our NavInt specialist,” a tall, somewhat gangly blond man with watery blue eyes and a mournful expression; “Commander Sandish Tally, Argosy’s XO,” another tall blond man, but with harder sea-gray eyes and a coarser, tougher look about him; “and Dr. Garth Pennington, sometime Director of Research for Atikokan Mining and Metals, but reactivated as a reserve with the rank of Lieutenant Commander for the duration.” The latter was a slender coffee-colored man with a hatchet face, a hooked nose and a circle of dark hair around a bald crown. The Admiral continued:
“Lieutenant, it’s a real pleasure to finally meet one of the crew whose fate has been the subject of so much speculation and activity. My, our sincere condolences on the loss of your ship and crewmates. Now, if Lieutenant Commander Willison would please turn on the recorder… thank you. Let me explain the procedure to you. This is a formal mission debriefing, legal cousin to what you do routinely at the end of every other Survey mission. However a vessel has been lost, and at a minimum that automatically entails a Navy Board of Enquiry, and as you know one of the theoretical results of that Board is a recommendation for Court Martial. Let me stress that nothing I have seen so far suggests such a thing is even remotely indicated, but the theoretical possibility is there. Do you understand me so far, Lieutenant Roehl?”
“Ma’am, yes Ma’am!”
“Thank you, Lieutenant, and by the way you can relax a little, we’re not here to nail you, it’s the Kruss I’m after!”
“Thank you, Ma’am.” Breathe, Kirrah. You’ve met her type before: she’ll hand you your ass if you screw up, but she’s no monster…
“Therefore, you are entitled to be represented by counsel at these proceedings. Which brings me to the reason for Dr. Pennington’s presence. He started this voyage as a representative of A.M. and M., but it turns out besides being an excellent metallurgical researcher, he also carries a reserve commission in the Navy and a Kay Cee. He agreed to defend your interests should NavInt scoop too deeply into your brains, if you want him. So naturally, I drafted him.”
Despite her twisting stomach, Kirrah was impressed by the man’s qualifications. Only the cream of the legal profession earned the right to the highly coveted ‘K.C.’ after their name, signifying their appointment as ‘King’s Counsel’. What he said next only confirmed her initial estimate of his basic decency and integrity:
“Ms. Roehl, you should know that you have the right to refuse counsel, that you have the alternative right to select any willing officer on the Argosy to represent you. You should also know that you are not charged with anything, no one expects you to be charged with anything, and that the possibility is not zero that charges could result from the enquiries made here.
“You should also know that I have not actively practiced law for about eight years Standard. Furthermore I represent one of four Mercantile interests who will be part of the Contact Team meeting later today. I only allowed our esteemed Admiral to dragoon me so that I could get a head start on my competition. It was the only way she’d let me in on this debriefing. Something about being able to have me shot, if I talked out of school.”
“Dr. Pennington, there is a law professor by the name of Brai'klao shu'Naei teaching at the local university whom you will be meeting later today. I think you two will get along like brothers. I would be honored to have you represent me here.” The man’s eyes widened ever so slightly in his hawk-like face at the mention of a ‘local university’, however he nodded graciously. Suddenly another thought struck her, and Kirrah added belatedly:
“Um, except, that is, how much…”
“Oh, my fee will be paid by the Navy, Ms. Roehl. At a Lieutenant Commander’s payscale, I might add…”
Admiral Dunning cleared her throat at his wry look and continued, “Very well then. Commander Tally is here on behalf of our task force, trolling for anything of immediate tactical concern arising out of your information, and I am Chair of the proceedings. Let me state for the record that we have already received downloads of all files from your wristcomp, including a very complete language file for the Talamae, also including your personal mission log since donning your suit in the Arvida-Yee. Which by the way is making for some very interesting study material. I would now like to turn this meeting over to Lieutenant Commander Willison.”
“Thank you, Admiral Dunning. Now Lieutenant Roehl, let us begin with your first indication of hostile activity. Can you recall…”
“So let me summarize,” said Lucinda Dunning as the recorder turned off two Standard hours later. “We have found a new manhome planet. On approach to this system, your vessel was attacked by Kruss, without hail or provocation. You managed to defeat the first attacker, and believe, with some cause, that you destroyed the second even as they killed your ship.
“You landed, befriended the human indigenes, and now personally hold office as the supreme military commander of one of the indig human factions, with several others allied. The Kruss have also landed, and allied with another human faction. Is there some reason we should not simply adopt this world as a Regnum protectorate and tell the Kruss to kiss off? It looks like we’ve beat them - barely - to getting our foot in the door here. They may have been here first, but I’ve got the system, and I intend to hold it.”
“Actually, Admiral, there may be several reasons why we won’t annex this world.” Dr. Pennington raised one finger. “First, since it has an indigenous human population, under both Regnum and Civilium law this planet belongs to its inhabitants. Indeed, absent another sentient native species, this entire system is their property.
“Second, we must realize that under Kruss law, a new planet is simply a territorial extension of their home world Krusslath, and up for grabs to the strongest grabber, or the only one, which they usually manage to be. Civilium law tends to correspond with ours in respecting the wishes of the indigenes, but the situation has simply never arisen before, where Kruss and Regnum each have a presence and alliances with humans indigenes on the same hablet.
“However I must caution you, the precedents are not totally favorable. We collided with the Kruss out on Darkwall. If you recall, those natives, neither human nor Kruss, petitioned successfully to be made a Civilium wardstate, and have chosen essentially quarantine ever since. And there was the case of Sharpspur, where the Kruss landed just hours before the Noopish traders. Even though the Noopisha home world was only a few lightyears away, the Kruss won because the Civilium Judiciary ruled first-in, first claim.” Small frowns and a wince around the table at
the mention of the Noopisha, a race long since absorbed into the Kruss empire.
Admiral Dunning replied, “Wasn’t there a case where a protectorship was awarded because the applicants were the same race as the protectees? Somewhere out in the Kettleblack Nebula, if I recall correctly.” The Kettleblack was a hundred-by-three hundred lightyear cloud of thin dust hiding thousands of stars, barely explored by humans.
“You are thinking of the Solar Confluence decision. Yes, that case even involved humans, the Armitage Fatherhood bunch. They’d found a marginal hablet at a star just inside the Kettleblack Nebula, even had a small colony going, when a Confluence ship made contact with their long-lost cousins or something, inhabiting one of the system’s gas giants. The Fatherhood had thought the radio waves coming from deep in the methane atmosphere were a natural phenomenon. But because the Confluence was able to show a marginal but clear genetic relationship with the locals, they were awarded the entire system, again a ‘first in’ precedent.” More gloomy looks were traded around the room.
“Surely you’re not saying we’ll have to leave the humans on this world to the Kruss!” By a tremendous effort, Kirrah kept a semblance of calm in her voice.
“Not necessarily, Ms. Roehl. It depends. It depends on how many the Kruss have on-planet, how long they’ve been here, and how vigorously the local …Oh-dai? …would support the Kruss’ claims. We do have a foot in the door, thanks entirely to you, because at least three local factions appear to favor us.”
“Whatever the Kruss have, it can’t be much, or they’d’ve used it by now. Can’t Admiral Dunning just sort of, evict them? Begging the Admiral’s pardon, speaking theoretically.” Oops, when did I get in the habit of telling Admirals what to do? Oh yeah, since I built my own Navy… need to watch that habit… The Admiral had cast a thoughtful look in Kirrah’s direction.
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