Reaper's Crossroad (The Hunter Imperium Book 3)

by Timothy Ellis

  Jane had filled me in on this before we left Redoubt. The Keerah and Trixone were still sending fleets through if they could, but the Ralnor had switched to keeping their own jump point secure. Not that it made any real difference to the fighting in Crossroad.

  "Yes, I'm aware. I assumed you'd decided you'd lost enough ships and people to dispel the delusion that if you keep doing something stupid for long enough, the outcome will actually change."

  He laughed.

  "Indeed. In fact, you've done me quite the favour. All those officers with that exact delusion are in fact now dead. Of those on their way here, only a small percent of them think the same way. The loss of these officers allowed me get some clear thinking through to my superiors, and my promotion and appointment here, hence our change in focus. This is not to say our hostilities are over, but when we hit you again, there will be a proper plan in place."

  It was my turn to laugh.

  "Which brings me to the reason for my visit."

  "You presumably want to negotiate a ceasefire?"

  "Not quite. As far as I'm concerned, no declaration of war has been made by any side, and what we have here is a failure to communicate. I'm here to communicate both an offer and a threat."

  "Proceed."

  "We are quite safe behind our defenses, and we are strengthening those of our allies every day. So far, we've only fought defensive actions. While in some way our tech is not as good as yours, we have other tech and skills for which you have no counter at all. We've been able to hold our own, and have already integrated Ralnor, Keerah, and Trixone technology into our own. In this, we are like a sleeping dragon poked with a stick, and are still waking up."

  The dragon thing didn’t get any reaction, so I went on.

  "Are you familiar with the Darkness?"

  "It’s a myth."

  "It's a myth now. But this is because a Keerah, a Ralnor, and two human magicians joined with us and a group of higher beings, to lock them back in their home system forever. In doing so, the timeline changed, and one of those higher beings left my people here. I've been fighting a defensive war for too long, and in terms of jump point defense, no-one has the experience I and my people have. You might have better guns, but we know how to use them for jump point defense."

  "You will never convince anyone the Darkness is anything but a myth."

  "I can show you vids. You only need to ask to see them, and I will guarantee the safety of any who wish to."

  "I will think about that."

  "Fine. The offer is open ended. But consider this as well. I'm sick and tired of war. I tried to avoid it that first day, and I pulled my punches deliberately. I know the Keerah lost an admiral that day, but I had to make a point when no-one stopped shooting at me."

  "We lost one too. But as I said, he paid for his mistake, and had he lived, would have had his command taken away from him. We do not court war. It happens, but we do prefer to talk first. Go on."

  "We have abilities to make travelling across chunks of the galaxy very fast."

  "So it's been reported."

  "Our allies have connected stations with us, so goods trading can cross vast distances in hours, which by ship would takes weeks to months. I could arrange for you to be able to go back to your homeworld for lunch every day if you so wanted, or you could sleep in your own bed at home every night, and still be in your office light years away the next morning. It might take some time, but it is achievable. You control a third of the core galaxy, and I'm offering to put in place a mechanism whereby the furthest planets under your control could trade goods with each other in a day."

  His mouth was hanging open.

  "We want peace and trade. But my people value freedom, and we protect those who ask for our protection. I don’t expect us to reach agreements very quickly, as I know the Ralnor value control, and I suspect we are as much control freaks as you are, albeit we leave political groups to their own self-control, while as far as I know, you control from the top. All the same, we want to talk peace, and can offer a lot of value. We have brought all the human groups together already, and are negotiating an alliance as we speak, while trade between us is already underway. Two other humanoid groups have also joined us, as has Arthur's ships."

  "Ah, I had wondered what had become of them. You may tell him I've reversed the decision made by my predecessor here, and he is again welcome in our space."

  "I'll tell him, but you may not like the ships they will have next time you see them."

  He laughed.

  "I guess not. If he lets me know when his were replaced, I'll see the betting pool gets paid out. I assume none of them were actually destroyed?" I nodded. "I'll inform the losers then."

  I laughed with him this time. He went serious again quite quickly.

  "You've shown me the food. Now wield the weapon."

  I blinked for a second, before translating it to mean carrot and stick.

  "I've given the Keerah one of their days to pull their fleets back one system. If they don’t comply, I will destroy them, and take their stations."

  "And you want us to do the same thing?"

  "Yes. The carnage in the next system must end, even if I must take it over, and create a neutral zone between the three of you. Trade must be reestablished for this region of space, and I can use this station as a trading node on my existing network, so no ship needs to enter what we call the Crossroad system at all. I'm giving you the same ultimatum. Leave the system, or be destroyed."

  "You want to create a buffer zone between us?"

  "Yes. I'll move defenses into Crossroad in case any of you try, but this three way war on our doorstep will end."

  "You understand I cannot give any response to you now."

  "Of course. You need to consult your superiors. I don’t need to even have a response from you. If your forces retreat to the next system in timely manner, I'll assume you agreed. We will dock with your station, confirm it is in civilian hands, and at some point we'll welcome your civilian leaders sending diplomats to talk to ours. You may of course take the station with you. In that case, we will most likely place a civilian station here to replace it."

  "You give me a lot to think about."

  "Better to think than fight. Your admiral will most likely want to fight. I can demonstrate the futility by crippling his ship as we leave, as I did for the Keerah."

  He was laughing again.

  "So I heard. The Keerah arse is large and well placed for kicking. But alas, they see this as a challenge, so most likely you did your cause no good by firing on them. I have a question which you may prefer not to answer, but having such an answer may influence my superiors. As I said, we are choosy about who we make an enemy."

  "What's the question?"

  There was only one which fit the situation.

  "What is your population size? We know approximates for the other human groups in this galaxy, and they do not amount to much. And only one is in our space, and until recently not deemed to be a threat. But your population is a mystery. The number of ships we've seen suggest a small population, on par with any single system species. But this is guesswork. I would rather know."

  "When the time line shifted, our population decreased dramatically. And while the people with me here is not a large population, our home systems occupy a space around two hundred systems long, and up to a dozen wide."

  This wasn’t true now, but I wanted an impact. And I really didn't know for sure. For now, it didn’t matter, since no-one was going to be able to confirm anything.

  "Ah. We've often wondered if a jump point could extend across to the galactic arms. I presume that's where the bulk of your people are located?"

  "I think there's no harm in admitting that. And you remind me of another thing we can offer you. One of our civilian outfits specializes in finding unknown jump points, and new planets for colonization. Their prices for the locations of the jump points are steep, but never unpaid. A lot of overcrowding of existing planets ca
n be solved by finding new jump points nearby. And even if they don’t find any, while looking they can completely catalogue a system."

  "Useful indeed, and I will pass that information on. But what of your overall population size? "

  "One hundred billion, give or take a few."

  His mouth dropped open.

  Forty One

  "Where are we now?" asked Amanda.

  "Is that Solidario?" asked Grace.

  "Yes. May as well complete the triple jump, so to speak."

  "They're building a station," said Aleesha.

  And indeed they were. It was only partially completed, and the work was being done by plants in space suits. My guess was they would have it completed in another month.

  Jane took Gunbus into orbit, still invisible, but there were no other ships here, and a feed from the undiscovered comnavsat popped up. It was roughly positioned over the center of the biggest continent, and showed an empty city, apparently being left to be reclaimed by nature.

  Where the main croplands had been, a new city was going up. From space it looked like any other city anywhere, but the buildings were more like hothouses, and the streets were open ground. There were no vehicles, just walking tracks. Well as far as Trixone walked, considering they had roots in the soil as they moved.

  The image zoomed in on the largest already complete building. I was about to see if Jane could find any electronics to hack, when I noticed we could see a large room with a single Trixone in it, off another much larger room which looked like an operations center. When I equated hothouse with glass roofs, it made sense we could see in.

  "Same deal as last time," I said, while standing. "You can expect it to try and sting me, so don’t come if that happens, only if I go down and stay there."

  "Confirmed," said Jane, and I looked around collecting nods.

  The rift opened in front of me, and I stepped through.

  Trixone apparently didn’t sit. It was using a standing desk with some sort of electronic device on it, and a screen. The floor was soil as I expected, and I suddenly regretted wearing shoes instead of boots. During the next steps, I changed them.

  The plant didn’t seem to be aware of me until I was nearly to the desk, which turned out to be false when my suit went full protection mode, and the stinger emerged from the flower at incredible speed and slapped me across the face. I wasn’t braced properly, but there was no force behind the sting, and so I was able to just stand there and take it.

  I waited for a second attempt, but it didn’t come. Instead, the plant stepped around from the desk, and waved me to one side of the room, where I noticed some vines rearranging themselves into a human sized seat. The danger was obvious, but to refuse would be insulting. I wasn’t worried though. If need be I could cut my way out.

  My suit went back to a uniform, and I walked over and sat, followed by the Trixone, which stopped a comfortable distance away, and simply folded into a more bulky but not as high shape, with the flower at head height for the sitting me.

  "I remember you," it said. "Hunter Admiral who gave us this planet. Human by species. Apparently honest. Lethal fleet. Why are you here now?"

  "I was hoping you were the one who I talked to in space. As you don’t have a station adjacent to the current three war system, I had to come where I knew I could find someone."

  A noise was being interpreted as a laugh by the translator.

  "Station there, you no find."

  "I've talked to both the Keerah and the Ralnor, and given them both the same message."

  "Pointless. Don’t talk. Only understand battle."

  "My people see battle as a failure to communicate."

  "My people say humans taste good. Why communicate with dinner?"

  Definitely had me there. There were very few humans who ever had a decent conversation with their dinner before they ate it. I knew it was common for a lot to thank their dinner, or apologize to it, but not actual conversations.

  "So why are you talking to me now?"

  "Dinner fail. May as well find out why if I can."

  "Fair enough. I'm here to offer you an opportunity, or give you an ultimatum. Which would you prefer?"

  "What sort of ultimatum?"

  "I want your ships and people out of the system next to the one being fought over, within one of your standard days. I intend to make the fought over system a neutral zone between your three empires. If you don't leave, I'll destroy any ships I find, and take the station. Thereafter, the station will serve as a civilian docking port, where they can trade with our stations."

  "No sense. Cannot be done. Regardless, warriors will fight. No governor in that system to tell them not to. Wasted effort talking to me."

  "I was hoping you could pass what I've said along your chain of command."

  "No chain. Just command. I can send messages, but waste of time. Warriors impelled to expand territory. You in way."

  "And that’s where my offer comes into it. We have a way of moving trade goods over long distances in a short time. We could provide a way for you to move food from planets which overproduce, to planets which under produce, while still fresh. No need to expand your space, when you can feed all your planets. Humans are also good at growing food of all kinds in space. We can show you how."

  "Not possible. So offer must be trick."

  "No trick. If you wish to come and see, just contact me, and I'll arrange a tour."

  "How we contact you?"

  "Send a vid message into space from the station. I'll get it."

  "Technology you have around our planet then. We will look for it, and destroy it."

  "Good luck with that. But doing so would close the only communication path we have. Do you really want to do that?"

  "Matters not either way, but spying on us you will not do."

  "We haven't been, except when we arrived here."

  "No ship detected, so no warning. How you do this?"

  "It's one of our technological advantages over you. We have others, which is why your military are sending suicide ships into our space, and not military fleets. I would see the conflict stopped if I can. We'd rather have trading partners instead of enemies."

  "What you want irrelevant. Warriors will fight. Push us back, we fight harder."

  "Will you at least attempt to get my message to other governors and the military leader fighting for the disputed system?"

  "I will send. Ignored they will be, but sending costs me nothing."

  "Thankyou."

  I stood, and was a bit surprised the 'seat' let me. The Trixone returned to its upright stance, and moved back away from me.

  I formed a rift back to the bridge, and stepped through, closing it behind me. I left a very confused plant behind me.

  "That went well," said Jane, grinning.

  Forty Two

  It was readily apparent I shouldn’t be giving up my day job.

  A diplomat I obviously wasn’t, as by the time we sat down for dinner that night, absolutely nothing had changed. Jane had sent a cloaked Lightning into the Trixone system through a rift to get past the fighting and fleets, to look for the station while we waited out the time limits.

  The team were enjoying the B5 episodes, but after eating through one of the less inspiring ones, and an even worse one coming along next, I excused myself to my office. No matter how good any series was, there were always individual episodes not worth watching a second time. Or a fifth. Or a tenth. I wasn’t going to miss anything by not watching it again now.

  Instead I did my usual look at the whole navmap, and studied what the enemy fleets were doing. Or not doing. The thing I most didn’t want to do, was to have to fight. The thing I was most obviously going to have to do, was fight.

  I checked on how the fleet was coming along, and was assured even Galactica and her sisters would be ready by lunch time the next day.

  "Jon?"

  "Yes Jane?"

  "Want to try out a new simulator?"

  "What'
s it simulate?"

  "Fighter combat."

  "Don’t we already have one?"

  "This is new. It's designed to find potential recruits, by tapping into the game playing population, especially for teenagers. At some point the new military is going to need to recruit teenagers, and teach them everything they need to know to become officers in the future."

  I thought about it for a few moments.

  "You mean like cadets and midshipmen?"

  "Exactly."

  "Which model are you thinking of?"

  "Nothing specific at this stage. I managed to get Walter to read and watch a few things. He and Gloria are putting together a proposal. We can do both. Establish a school for cadets, which can lead them to any part of the military. And establish midshipmen, designed to school on board ships on active duty, specifically to produce future ship captains. If they survive long enough."

  "Sounds feasible. But I won't tolerate any sort of hazing. I read enough books using hazing as an institutional tool, to be totally put off by the whole concept. I want compassionate captains, not dark side ones."

  "Noted."

  "Is this simulator live yet?"

  "Alpha testing at the moment, but it is live for anyone on Haven to access. For now it’s a simple space battle arena. Take on all combat. There are twenty three users registered, and normally three or four on at any time, either fighting singly, as pairs, or teams against me."

  "And are they winning?"

  Jane laughed.

  "One is. Calls himself Dreamwalker. More often than not, he takes on anyone else logged in, beats them, and then starts upping the levels against me."

  "What do you know about him?"

  "Everything." She laughed again. "But I'm not telling you anything. He's online now if you want a go at him."

  "What's he flying?"

  "A Brawler. Actually it's the only ship I let them fly at the moment. I'm still working on expanding the scenarios into missions. As they get more complex, I'll start giving them choices for ships to fly. In due course, I’ll also give them real targets to hit. If I include pirates like we faced before, we can cover a lot of different scenarios, and test what the kids can do."