Double Spiral War Trilogy

by Warren Norwood

  “Maybe I should take the Third, Colonel.”

  “No. It’s still my turn. I’m over the cliff, Denoro.” Rasha’kean felt a hard knot in her stomach, but she was not about to fall back and let Denoro take the risks. “Let’s get moving.”

  With hand signals and whispered orders the platoons formed and split around the edges of the unnatural clearing. Crawling through the underbrush was slow, noisy business, but as they topped the crest of the hill, Rasha’kean kenned she had made the right decision.

  It was more a ridge than a hill, and the other side was a rocky slope sprinkled with a few bushes and trees and the backs of a hundred or more Ukes retreating into a broad valley filled with Ukes climbing aboard troop shuttles. There was no time to waste on an elaborate plan. In a very few minutes the closest Ukes would be out of range.

  Once again Rasha’kean cursed the worthless communicators. How was she going to let Elgin ken what they’d found? And where was the air support Schopper had promised?

  A long glance to her left revealed that Bradley’s platoon had also topped the crest. She quickly spread her troops along the edge of the ridge, and Bradley followed her example. Even before they were all in position, Rasha’kean gave the signal to fire, and forty-nine rifles sent misery down the slope.

  Ukes fell. Others turned and dropped, firing wildly as they did so. Most fled downslope, kenning in some instinctive way that they could quickly get out of range. The ones who had returned fire soon attempted to join their comrades.

  “On line!” Rasha’kean shouted. She looked over her shoulder and saw Denoro bringing the rest of Delta as fast as she could through the tangled underbrush. “Together…Forward!”

  Third and Fourth platoons began a disciplined advance down the hill. Rasha’kean wanted to run, to chase the Uke to the brink of damnation. However, neither the loose rocks nor her military training would allow that.

  A dull roar echoed across the valley as one of the Uke shuttles began its slow climb into the sky. Rasha’kean raised her rifle and fired a shot at it in frustration, then grinned when the troops who saw her gave her quizzical looks.

  Suddenly a strange crackling explosion made them all stop and look up. Rasha’kean could not believe it! The shuttle breaking apart!

  A cheer went up from her troops, and a familiar voice said, “Nice shot, Colonel, but I think the rocketmen will get credit for the kill.”

  She spun around to find herself facing a grinning Henley Stanmorton. Where the blazes did you come from?” Her words were almost drowned out by the roar of fightercraft over their heads, racing toward, he Ukes with cannons blazing.

  “Legion HQ,” he shouted. Been humping with Elgin all day to catch up with you. Sorry I missed the action.”

  “No you ar’not.” She turned away from him. “Bradley, call a rest. Let the pipe jockies take care of the Ukes.” Suddenly she felt weak and tired and gently lowered herself to the rocky ground. The sky above the valley was now swarming with fightercraft, all wreaking destruction on the hapless Ukes.

  “You look like hell,” Henley said as he sat down beside her, “but I sure am glad to see you alive.”

  “You d’not look so good yourself.” She gave him a weary smile, and unexpectedly wondered how her mother had seen him. “You glad enough to see me to tell me about my mother? I ha’not forgotten, you ken.”

  “Now?” He asked, totally surprised by her question. “This doesn’t seem to be the ideal time and place to-”

  “No time is ideal, Chief.” She looked back up the slope and waved to Denoro. “No place is ideal, either. But if you’re goin’ to keep hangin’ around my company, you’re gonna tell me what you ken about her. I’not that right?”

  Henley drew in a breath and let it out with a deep sigh. All right, Colonel. You pick the time and place, and I’ll tell you everything I can.”

  “Good,” she said as she forced herself to her feet. “Come see what help you can give weary troops and wounded, and then I’ll be findin’ some time to pick your brain.”

  “Like I said, I’ll tell you everything I can.” He stood and followed her up the slope – the battle still raging in the valley was of little consequence to either of them now. But he wouldn’t tell her everything, of course. There was no reason to tell lngrivia everything about her mother. He would tell her the good things, and the sad things, but not the things that could cause her shame.

  What good would it do for her to know that her father was probably the pikean drug dealer, Kizera, and not the man whose memory she revered? What good for her to know that the man who had died in the Uke prison mines was a drunken pikean adventurer whose arrogant stupidity led to his imprisonment? Or that only her pikean features assured Henley that he wasn’t her father?

  There was no good in any of that – especially now. She had earned more of his respect than her mother ever had, and he would never tell her anything that would hurt her unnecessarily.

  Rasha’kean was already planning how to evacuate her serious casualties and get her troops some rest and medical attention. Yet in the back of her mind was the question of what the Chief really kenned about her mother and why he was so reluctant to tell her anything.

  31

  “WE HAVE TO SHRINK OUR DEFENSIVE SPHERE,” Frye said as he began the grim litany of failures. “Fugisho’s defense fleet has been defeated and dispersed. Thayne-G has been abandoned. We now have confirmation that Sondak used neutronics against Buth –“ Bridgeforce gave a collective gasp, but Frye barely paused “ – and we have reason to believe that two of Sondak’s fleets are already advancing toward Yakusan. Shakav surrendered its space less than thirty hours ago. I have ordered our commanders to evacuate Fernandez and Cczwyck and will direct –“

  “Outrageous!” Force Meister Toso exclaimed. “This is all totally outrageous.”

  Frye agreed with Toso but for very different reasons. The outrage was Bridgeforce’s inability to act quickly and effectively. “Military prudence, Meister,” he said in a controlled voice. “If we can save those forces, we can better defend Gensha and Yakusan. If we do not, then Yakusan will surely fall into the hands of –“

  “But you told us that with the civilian ships we –“

  “Shut up, you despicable old fool,” Meister Baird said without using her translator. Her accent was thick, but everyone understood her and now had confirmation of their suspicions that she didn’t really need a translator.

  Commander Garner was on his feet. “As the newly appointed representative of the kyosei party, I –“

  “In Decie’s name!” Frye shouted as he pounded his gavel on the table. “I will have order.” Even he was surprised by the depth of his anger as he glared at the members Bridgeforce. “I told you what our forces might be able to do – that was if and only if we moved swiftly to garnish the necessary civilian ships. But first this body – you and you and you and you,” he said, jabbing a finger at them, “you all hesitated. Then Amarcouncil hesitated. Now most of the ships we needed have scattered away from the Sak invasion.”

  He paused to draw in a long, intentional breath and realized how very, very tired he was. For over five years his life had been consumed first with the planning, then with the conduct of this war. But directly under his fatigue lay a bedrock of determination to keep on fighting for victory. The U.C.S., Vinita, Tuuneo, and his grandfather all deserved no less than that. There were still ways to win, and he would find them.

  “I have warned Bridgeforce repeatedly that this could happen if we waited too long, and I was obviously right.”

  “You destroyed half my fleet,” Judoff said as she walked through the doorway, “and you claim your decision was right? I move that Admiral Charltos be removed –“

  “Sit quiet. And save your tongue,” Hadasaki said as he rose to greet her. “It’s you and your stupid kyosei partisans that created this problem with –“

  “How dare you accuse me of –“

  Hadasaki grabbed her arm and flung her into a
n empty chair. “I told you to sit quiet, murderer,” he said menacingly.

  Admiral Drew was giving his translator rapid instructions. ‘The Admiral wishes to hear the rest of Marshall Judoff’s motion for the removal of Admiral Charltos,” the translator said, “but the Admiral wishes to make it perfectly clear that his request is only for the purpose of measuring the depth of his disgust with Marshall Judoff. Furthermore, Admiral Drew expresses regret and shame for his previous affiliation with the kyosei.”

  For a long moment Frye and Bridgeforce sat in stunned silence. The kyosei ranks had broken. The implications could he staggering, but Frye wondered ruefully if it was all happening too late. He glanced over at Melliman, but her attention was totally focused on Judoff and Hadasaki.

  “Admiral,” Hadasaki said, “I believe we charged you with a message for Marshall Judoff.”

  Nothing was proceeding the way Frye had hoped it would, but he accepted his responsibility and cleared his throat.

  “Marshall Judoff, it is my duty to inform you that by a secret ballot of four votes to three, this body Denies you all privileges from your office and Indicts you for the murder of Space Corps Lieutenant Sezuason Oska in the presence of these witnesses.”

  “Ahgheee!” As she sprang to her feet, the sound that came from Judoff’s throat was half growl, half wail.

  The side of her left hand slammed against Hadasaki’s throat as she pushed off of him and her chair. A dagger flashed in her hand. She slashed Hadasaki’s aide and fought to reach Frye at the head of the table.

  He bent slightly at the knees, ready for her, almost eager to settle this dispute the only way it could be settled. His hand clenched the small gavel. It wasn’t much, but he had nothing else. “Judoff …don’t do something stupid.”

  She growled again and slashed at his gut. He stepped back. When she slashed again, he tried to hit her hand with the gavel. The tip of her dagger ripped open his sleeve.

  Something loud popped. Judoff hesitated, her eyes growing wide in disbelief, her hands rising to her breasts. Her bloody dagger dropped and she followed it to the floor with a strange gurgling sound.

  Frye let out a long, shuddering sigh and looked quickly around the room. Hadasaki was slowly getting to his feet as Melliman put a small dart pistol back into her shoulder bag. The smile he tried to give her trembled at the corners of his mouth.

  Suddenly everyone in Bridgeforce was talking at once. Commander Drew knelt by Judoff and felt for a pulse. “She’s dead, he announced.

  “Get her body out of here,” Hadasaki ordered. Then he turned to Frye. “Where do you propose establishing this new defensive sphere?”

  The question caught Frye off guard, and he answered automatically. “With Gensha as its center and Chadiver, Eidi and Hiifi-II roughly on its perimeter.”

  “And Yakusan?”

  Frye slowly shook his head. “If we are to save the U.C.S., I believe that Yakusan must stand or fall on its own.”

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  Sjean Birkie was worried. No one had seen Caugust for three days. When her messages to his home went unanswered, she decided to call Security.

  “Captain Logfer speaking.”

  “Captain Logfer, this is Dr. Birkie. No one in any of the labs has seen Dr. Drautz in three days. His admin assistant doesn’t know where he is, and there is no answer at his home. Can you tell me where I might find him?”

  “No, Dr. Birkie, I can’t. And it isn’t like him to go anywhere without telling us – even when he’s totally wrapped up in an experiment. In fact, my supervisor and I were just discussing the possibility of going to his home.”

  “May I accompany you?”

  “Certainly. We’ll wait for you.”

  It took Sjean fifteen minutes to walk to the security station but she used the time to review the last conversation she had had with Caugust. He had turned down her invitation to dinner for the third week in a row, and despite his claim that his workload was too heavy, she knew that was only an excuse. She knew from the monotonal sound of his voice that he was on the brink of exhaustion, and still fighting depression, as well.

  Then near the end of their conversation his voice had brightened almost as though he’d felt a sudden lift in spirits, and he had agreed to have dinner with her this very evening. She had first called him two days before to confirm their arrangement. By this time she was harboring the darkest pictures of what might have happened to him.

  But that was stupid. He probably was wrapped up in some project, something so fascinating that he had lost all track of time. She and Security would go barging into his house only to find him in his basement lab tinkering with his electronic equipment in an attempt to make it do what someone had told him couldn’t be done.

  Thirty minutes later when they did barge into his house, Sjean went immediately to the lab with one of the officers. She turned on the lights, and at first she didn’t see him. When she did, she rushed to the cot where he lay. The officer went to tell the others.

  “Caugust? Caugust?” His eyes stared blindly at the ceiling.

  When he didn’t answer, she was almost afraid to touch him. Was he dead? His eyes were open, but that didn’t mean anything.

  She knelt down and forced herself to pick up his hand. It was cool but not cold. Quickly she felt for a pulse as Captain Logfer came in and knelt beside her. “He has a pulse,” she said, “but very weak. Get a doctor.”

  Logfer stood. “Milligan, call the crash team,” he said. Then he bent over again and picked up an envelope from the bed beside Caugust’s leg. “It’s addressed to you, Dr. Birkie,” he said, handing it to her.

  Only after the doctor and a team of medical technicians arrived did she move from Caugust’s side and consider opening the envelope. As she read, tears filled her eyes.

  Dear Sjean,

  I am sorry to do this to you, but part of what I have come to understand about myself is how few people in this galaxy I actually care about and trust.

  You are one of them.

  I have deposited sufficient funds in your account to sustain you in research for the next ten years. All I ask is that you make a trip to Biery to see C.J. and give him a copy of my Vid-Legal will.

  Again, I am sorry.

  Caugust

  Why? Why? Why had he done it? No matter how she twisted it around in her head, Sjean could find no reason in his life worth trying to kill himself over.

  “Will he be all right?” she asked as the medical team maneuvered him through the lab on the countergrav stretcher. “Look for anything he might have ingested,” the doctor said, “anything at all. We’ll pump him and test his blood but if we don’t find out what’s in his system very soon, I don’t hold much hope for him.”

  The doctor followed the stretcher out the door, and Sjean, Logfer, and two of the security officers began a systematic search of the lab.

  “This could take days,” Logfer said, opening a cabinet filled with small containers.

  “We don’t have days,” Sjean snapped. “Maybe minutes or hours. Just take out anything that looks suspicious or out of line.”

  Twenty minutes later they were told they didn’t even have hours. “Dr. Drautz died on the way to the med center,” Logfer said after responding to a call.

  Sjean burst into tears. She was filled with grief but also with anger. How could he have done this to her? And to C.J.? How could he claim to care about them and then do this? It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair.

  It took her days to calm down enough to realize that there was no way to change what Caugust had done and no way to change how she felt about that. The only things she could be responsible for were her own actions. That was all and enough. She would go to Biery and give C.J. the Vid-Legal Will. Then maybe she would go home for a while to see her family. But she knew that in the end she would return to Drautzlab. It was where she belonged. Caugust’s death had swept away her foolish notions about giving up research. Research and development were the two things she liked best a
nd did best in this life.

  And life was too short not to do what gave her the greatest satisfaction.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  “Do you have visitors?” the Confidante asked.

  Leri was startled by the interruptions to her meditation, but she quickly uncoiled and slithered to the mouth of the grotto. There to her surprise she found Proctor Weecs and the Council.

  “We come bearing sad information and strange requests,” Weecs said.

  “Speak and be gone,” Leri said without trying to hide the irritation she felt.

  “The Castorians have left to join the Sondak humans, and the Verfen have arrived.”

  She did not care about the Castorians, but the Verfen?

  “When? When did the Verfen arrive?”

  “Just a few seasons ago, Proctor.”

  “Do not call me that! You are Proctor now, not I. Have you spoken with the Verfen? What are they like? Why have they come?”

  Weecs hesitated. “We have not seen them, but they have spoken to us and promised to ensure our safety and neutrality. But it is not that simple.”

  “It never is. Learning that is part of being Proctor, and the learning never stops.” She felt a warm glow of satisfaction that whatever advice she gave, ultimately the problem was Weecs’s to cope with, not hers. “What do they want in exchange for this promise of theirs? Methane?”

  Again Weecs hesitated. “No, Leri, they have no interest in Cloise’s methane. They want you.”

  “What?”

  “They want you – as guarantor of the peace to provide-”

  “What by the grace of the Elett do you mean, they want me?” A sudden image of Exeter the Castorian planning to eat her sent a shiver down her spine that curled her tail and increased her anger. “Am I to be some fine meal ordered up for their burrow’s feast? Is that what is rippling your tongue, Weecs?”

  “No, Leri, no. Nothing like that.” Weecs drew back into a subservient posture. “When Ranas communicated with them, he told them you were the ultimate power on Cloise. They refuse to deal with anyone but you and seem to have no concept for succession of authority that does not involve death. When I told them you were not dead, they demanded that you be brought up to their ships immediately.”