The Humans grinned. Tei’Shima had learned not to react negatively to the gesture. She nodded to them but focussed her attention on Tei’Laran. His eyes were wide and his ears were back in surprise. He was very happy in the Harmonies, and at first that pleased Tei’Shima, but his emotions went beyond relief at her survival. They edged into private matters. Territory better suited to close family.
Very close.
Admiration for a mate close.
“Well met,” Tei’Laran said. He was strong in the Harmonies and must have sensed her sudden confusion. “May you live in harmony. You as well Varya.”
Varya murmured his greeting.
“Thank you,” Tei’Shima said. She did like him and admired his skills, but she’d never considered him as a potential mate. A memory of Kazim laughing on the shores of the lake on Snakeholme flashed into her mind. She wasn’t seeking a mate. “May you live in harmony.”
“How are you here?” Tei’Laran said flicking a look at Varya and back to Tei’Shima. “We thought you’d died.”
“We nearly did,” Varya said. “Quite a few times. The Blind Hunter wouldn’t let us.”
Tei’Shima flinched a little inside. Her reaction was mild compared with the way she once would’ve reacted. “It’s a tale better suited for later,” she said. “Ask Kazim. He loves the sound of his own voice.”
“He’s alive too? That’s good news.”
“Zelda and her friends as well. She saved all of us,” Varya said proudly.
“Not all,” Tei’Shima said as the pleading younglings from her nightmares flashed into her thoughts again. “The murderers slaughtered many at Nstar.”
“Too many,” Tei’Penleigh agreed.
The Marine nodded. “We haven’t been introduced Tei’Shima. I know of you of course. Major Patrick Stein, 7th Alliance Marines at your service. Call me Stein, I’d prefer it.”
“Honoured to meet you,” Tei’Shima said. Humans were addicted to too many names in her opinion. “I’d be pleased to call you Stein. May you live in harmony.”
“I don’t think any of us will be doing that I’m afraid. Not for a while.”
Tei’Shima flicked her ears and added a nod for Stein’s benefit. “I wanted to ask you about that. Why do you think sitting in the open with a big target painted on your camp is a good idea?”
Eric barked a laugh. “You noticed that, did you? We’re bait for the Merki.”
“You certainly are, but bait gets eaten.”
Everyone laughed.
It was an evil sound and Tei’Shima shivered. They planned on being poisoned meat then.
Eric led the way to find places around the holo-table, and Tei’Shima studied the maps displayed on its colourfully glowing surface. Pandora looked horribly diseased with many red blotches decorating its surface. Merkiaari locations. Green and blue patches represented civilian populations and allied militaries respectively. Most of the cities were green still, but not all. That was a puzzle. The Merkiaari hadn’t been in the system long, but they’d certainly had long enough to do more than this.
“What are they up to?” she muttered, and tapped an extended claw on a city she’d visited. “Untouched? Still?”
“She’s quick,” Stein said.
Tei’Laran flicked his ears to agree. “The Blind Hunter knows the Merkiaari and their ways.”
Tei’Shima tried not to reveal her annoyance at the constant reminder of her supposed status. She busied herself noting the Merkiaari’s dispositions, trying to make sense of the pattern she was sure was hidden there.
Eric took charge and zoomed the map to an area containing a blue force. “Alliance army under direct command of General Ecclestone,” he said and changed the map again. “We’re here in Nothingville, AKA Southaven Province freezing our butts off. And here we have a nice force of Merkiaari killing a local population opposed by nobody.”
Tei’Shima heard anger in Eric’s voice. She shared it. Why weren’t they stalking and killing the Merki there? What was she missing?
“I don’t understand our strategy in doing nothing about this,” she said and addressed herself to Tei’Laran. “You know my inadequacies. I’ve tried to address them but I don’t understand.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Stein said. “None of us like this.”
Eric snorted.
“We’ve been ordered to do nothing?”
“In a sense,” Tei’Laran agreed. “We could attack them, but by we, I mean our warriors alone. We might even win.”
“You’d lose,” Eric disagreed. “Or you’d win the first skirmish and lose the war.”
“But why would we attack alone?” Tei’Shima said.
Eric shrugged. “Because your warriors are the only ones with working weapons here. That’s why.”
Eric wasn’t joking. He was grimly serious in the Harmonies. How could they let this happen? There were thousands of Human warriors in camp and hundreds were vipers, yet only the Shan were ready to fight? How was that even possible?
“What’s your plan?”
Stein explained. “We lure the Merkiaari here, kill them all and take their stuff.”
Eric grinned. “It’s so ridiculous it might work. We’d have no chance at all without your warriors.”
He didn’t sound as if he believed it. Tei’Shima didn’t either. Her thoughts raced in circles as she tried to find an alternative.
Eric detailed the plan worked out by him and General Ecclestone. Stein and Tei’Laran followed along, nodding or making comments at key points. They gestured at the map, zoomed it in to reveal terrain, and then zoomed it out again to show Tei’Shima how they expected the Merkiaari to approach.
Tei’Shima didn’t hear a plan. She heard one of Kazim’s grand sagas. Total fiction. Varya looked at her, eyes wide and ears flat. He saw it. By the Harmonies he saw it as plain as she did, yet Tei’Laran and the others pretended the plan was guaranteed to work.
She listened in dismay as she realised the vipers were going to die. They would die to lure the Merki into a trap. It was insane. Gina would die. Eric would die with her and all his warriors with them. It was utter madness.
Oh, ancestors help her. What would she say to Kate? To Stone? She couldn’t let this happen!
* * *
42 ~ Scholars
Aboard Blood Drinker, Pandora
Davey lay on his bed studying his tablet. Everything he could remember from his last visit with Valjoth was on it. Every scrap. He had no idea how the data would ever find its way off the ship, but he wrote everything down anyway. He’d never had a great memory for facts and figures. Writing it down seemed to help.
Evrei had given him the tablet to help him learn Lamarian pronunciation. The scholar would be horrified if he ever found the file buried amongst the others. He wouldn’t find it. One thing about Lamarians; they’d turned protocol into their religion. It would be the height of discourtesy to pry.
Davey supposed slaves had to make the best of their situations. Scholars like Evrei had carved a niche in Merkiaari society by making themselves indispensable. Servitors were integral to the system that kept Merkiaari client races in servitude. Without linguists like Evrei they would find communications between the races of their thousand-sun empire impossible. Lamarians were the bureaucrats who kept the Merkiaari Hegemony running smoothly. In a strange way that gave them a special place in the pecking order.
Merki were never scholars or linguists.
Davey frowned. Valjoth could speak a few languages, but that was rare among his kind. Usk always used a servitor to translate. Valjoth was odd in a lot of ways. If there were Merkiaari scholars anywhere in the galaxy, Valjoth would fit right in with them. Davey had met more than a few Merki, and none were like Valjoth. He was a runt compared with others of his kind, yet his authority was absolute. It was chilling the way he hurt Evrei. He wasn’t angry or sad when he did it. He was simply methodical. He always had a reason.
“I just wish I knew what it was,” Davey m
uttered as he read his notes.
The current file was his diary. It contained everything he remembered from the moment the battle began to the current day. He’d written down all he’d learned about the ship, and what he’d tried to do with his collar, but Evrei and his lessons in Merkiaari and Lamarian were the bulk of it. The stuff about the Kiar language especially, and why the Merki used it for the basis of theirs.
Davey knew stuff now that no other Human in history knew. If only he could tell someone there were worse things in the galaxy than Merkiaari. Their creators sounded like a nightmare. Lamarians were pacifists, but even Evrei sounded as if he’d kill a Kiar if one appeared. Not likely as they’d disappeared millennia ago. Still, Evrei’s hatred of them meant something. Valjoth’s timeline and targets were the real prize.
“Faragut. Pandora. Argo. Garnet. Kalmar. Casino. Beaufort. Helios. Mars!” He always tripped himself up over that hallowed name.
Mars is humanity’s first colony and independent world, his history lessons whispered reverently in his memories. Proof it could be done. Mars, the terraformed jewel of the Human Alliance of Worlds. If Valjoth followed his timeline and attacked Mars, it would send a shock-wave through the Alliance that would never be forgotten.
Mars was in Sol, the home system itself. Sol had stood inviolate even at the height of the Merki War! To attack it was unthinkable, only it wasn’t unthinkable to Valjoth. Davey knew his arrogance would push him into trying. Why else plan his jumps to this specific timeline?
Evrei knew Valjoth’s life story. He’d taught Davey how a runt had risen to become First Claw of the Host. Valjoth had colossal ego and ambition. He wanted to be the First Claw to bring his people ultimate victory and cleanse humanity from the galaxy. Many Merkiaari had tried. Tried and died. But Valjoth had a workable plan. Evrei thought he did, and Valjoth certainly believed in his own superiority.
“Mars. Alizon. Steiner.”
That’s all he had so far, but if Valjoth could hit the huge shipyards at Mars, what would stop him attacking Earth herself? The thought made Davey shake. He’d seen what Valjoth could do. If he wanted to attack Earth he would do it, and yet... it wasn’t on the list. Unless it was and Davey had missed it.
Davey frowned and kept reading.
Evrei arrived for his lesson, but he didn’t have his usual pile of tablets with him. Davey sat up and swung his legs off the bed, but before he could ask what was wrong, Evrei raised a warning finger to his lips. The Human gesture looked very odd in front of his v-shaped face.
Evrei motioned to the tablet, and Davey went cold. He handed it across and watched numbly as the scholar wiped everything in its memory. How did he know? What was he going to tell Valjoth?
“What...”
Evrei gestured sharply, and Davey nodded as the scholar entered something into the tablet and then gave it back. Davey looked at it and found it full of Evrei’s lessons and nothing else.
“The Great Lord has ordered us to attend him. He wants to see us both and your tablet. He didn’t say why.”
Davey paled. He went through all the files listed on the device again, but found nothing incriminating now.
“Thank—”
“I don’t want gratitude, Davey. I want compliance. The Great Lord will kill me for my failure to properly instruct you.”
“You’ve been a good teacher,” Davey protested in Lamarian.
“The Great Lord wouldn’t think so if he knew what I just did. I shouldn’t have allowed your petty rebellion.”
“Why did you then?”
Evrei cocked his head. “I don’t know why. It seemed to make you happy. I saw no harm in it at the time.”
“And now?”
“You will do everything I say from this moment on, no matter how foolish you think me. I will not die for you.”
“I wouldn’t expect it!” Davey said.
“Good. The Great Lord is waiting. Do everything he says and everything I say, and all will be well. Come.”
Davey followed the scholar out of his room. “I like you Evrei. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you on purpose.”
“On purpose or by accident, dead is still dead. The Great Lord does everything for a purpose, Davey. If you remember nothing else I’ve taught you, remember that.”
Davey nodded, but Evrei wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know.
Valjoth was on the bridge and in a bad mood. Something on Pandora had his attention. Davey studied the holographic displays, but he wasn’t a soldier. Arrows and icons were just that to him. Vectors and whatnot meant nothing, except he knew in the real world they were troops and grav sleds.
Valjoth glared at Davey. “Here!” he barked.
Evrei bowed and offered his controller.
Valjoth was so angry he snatched the thing and threw it onto the control board he’d been using. It bounced and landed next to the one that controlled Davey’s collar.
Davey winced.
Valjoth snatched the tablet out of Davey’s hand. “Your teacher tells me you’ve learned his lessons well.”
Davey said nothing.
“Well?”
Evrei gave him a look, and Davey swallowed his pride. In his best Merkiaari he said, “Evrei is a very good teacher, Great Lord. I’ve learned a lot from him.”
“Time my lord,” Usk said.
“I can count!” Valjoth snarled at his shield bearer.
Davey had never seen that before. They were friends, if Merkiaari could be said to have friends. The battle must be going badly for him. Davey smirked but unfortunately Valjoth noticed.
Valjoth snarled. He tried to grab the controllers, but Evrei was in his way. He shoved the servitor who flew backwards arms windmilling.
“Don’t hurt him!” Davey cried.
Evrei hit the control panel and landed on the deck along with the controllers. The servitor scrambled away, cowering from a blow he thought was coming, but the sight of Evrei cowering on his knees seemed to sap Valjoth’s anger.
“Up!” Valjoth said suddenly much calmer. “You need to teach my pet your Lamarian etiquette, Scholar Evrei. He needs lessons in proper manners.”
Evrei bowed. “Yes Great Lord. I will see to it.”
“Ignore my temper, Usk. We have time yet,” Valjoth said to his shield bearer.
Usk gnashed his fangs. “I’ve heard worse, my lord.”
Valjoth glared, but he wasn’t angry anymore. Davey had learned the difference over the weeks and months of being his target. Valjoth inspected the tablet he still held and scrolled through its files. He found nothing and threw it back.
Davey caught it against his chest. “Thank you, Great Lord.”
Valjoth gnashed his fangs. “That’s much better. You do learn it seems. I wonder how much you really understand of what’s happening.”
“I understand everything, Great Lord.”
“Do you? I wonder.”
Valjoth crossed the bridge to another control panel and did something. “Tell me what you think of this.”
Davey darted a look at Evrei, but he was still in shock. He left his teacher there and joined Valjoth who was adjusting a view of Pandora.
He frowned at the screen. “It’s a view of Pandora from orbit, Great Lord.”
“Too vague. Try again.”
“Time my lord,” Usk said, and Valjoth glared at him. “You did ask me to forget your temper.”
The command crew laughed, but very quietly.
Valjoth grinned. “So I did.”
Davey ignored everything but the view on the screen. He yearned to be down there with those soldiers. Marines in armour were digging trenches it looked like. They were the first Humans he’d seen in so long.
“Well?” Valjoth said.
“I see snow, Great Lord, and Human soldiers getting ready to fight.”
“By digging in the dirt like the vermin they are. What else?”
Davey didn’t want to say too much, but Valjoth was testing him. It was likely he already knew
all the answers. He swallowed his misery and betrayed his people.
“They’re called Alliance Marines, Great Lord. They’re elite fighters. Some of our best. The armour means they’re as strong as you. Stronger even than Kylar.”
“Oh ho!” Valjoth said. “Did you hear that, Usk?”
“Better not tell her, my lord. She’ll insist on accepting his challenge. And time, my lord.”
Valjoth sighed. “What else do you see?”
Davey frowned. “I’m not sure.”
“Location,” Valjoth prompted.
Davey frowned harder at the hint. Then he had it. “They’re not hiding!”
“Great Lord, Davey. No backsliding.”
“They’re not hiding, Great Lord.”
“Very good. You do see and understand more than I’d thought. Interesting. You were never a fighter.”
Valjoth said it with certainty, but Davey answered anyway.
“I’m too young, Great Lord. I could have joined next birthday with special permission.”
“Special permission wouldn’t help you. All Merkiaari can fight, and we do from the moment we draw our first breaths in the vats. You’ll be a scholar like Evrei.”
“If that is your wish, Great Lord.”
“It’s my order!”
“Yes, Great Lord.”
Valjoth looked down at the Marine camp. He changed the view to show a Merkiaari force gathering. Davey counted the grav sleds and stopped at over a hundred. It would be a slaughter. Valjoth was watching his face. Davey tried to keep his expression blank.
Valjoth snorted. “Special permission,” he muttered and tapped a claw on the screen. “I’ll give you special permission to watch a real battle.”
“Great Lord?” Evrei said and offered Davey’s controller to Valjoth. He’d already stowed his own out of sight.
Valjoth took it. “Usk, inform Kylar we’re going for a ride. Prepare a gunboat in case of adventurous vermin!”
“But the jump schedule my lord!”
Valjoth glared. “I wrote it! I know there’s time enough. Now come! You’re driving.”
Valjoth stormed away and Davey hurried to catch up. He sent Evrei a panicked look as the servitor joined them.
Incursion: Merkiaari Wars Book 5 Page 32