Merkiaari Wars: 01 - Hard Duty

by Mark E. Cooper

  “Tei,” Kajika warned as the female alien fumbled at a device of some kind.

  Tei’Varyk began to raise the beamer, but remembering the last time, he lowered it ready to accept what would come. What he received was not what he had expected.

  “You fatherless curs. You ### ### killed him,” the device she held said in terrible Shan, but it was still undeniably Shan.

  Kajika growled at the insult, but quieted at a rumple-muzzled glare from Tei’Varyk. Kajika had done more than enough this day. Tei’Varyk turned back in time to receive another flood from the alien, and noted she was speaking into something descending toward her mouth. The thing, an alien voice pickup he assumed, was anchored to what might be alien ears. Her ears, if that’s what they were, were positioned oddly on the sides of her head, and not on top as was proper. They were immobile. How did the aliens express themselves?

  “…came in ### and harmony, but ### do you ### do? You ### him! We ### to ### you to the ###!”

  Tei’Varyk chewed his whiskers in frustration. There were too many missing words. It was obvious the aliens had been studying them, and now Chakra had forced them to act before they were ready. He heard the last word, not from the device she held, but from her own lips.

  Merkiaari!

  Tei’Varyk’s ears plastered themselves to his skull. Shock heaped upon shock. How did this alien know of the Murderers? Was it possible that she had come from them?

  “### ### ### to say ### yourselves?” The alien female looked from Kajika to Tei’Varyk and back impatiently. She scowled. “Well? ### the ### got your tongues?”

  “Merkiaari?” Tei’Varyk said careful to enunciate the word clearly. “What do you know of the Murderers?”

  The alien’s face screwed up in an expression Tei’Varyk could not interpret. She said something that did not translate. She shook her head at the device she held, and tried again.

  “### Merkiaari killed ### ### during ### war. ### of my people were killed, ### ### ### won in the end.”

  Killed Humans? Again there had been no translation, but Tei’Varyk assumed it was the name of their race she spoke. Humans had fought the Murderers and won but at terrible cost, the female said.

  “Say again,” Tei’Varyk said desperately trying to understand the gabble coming from the device the alien held.

  “I ###, Humans ### ### in a ### war. We ### ### it the ### Merki War. ### worlds…” the creature screwed her face up, and raised a paw.

  “What’s it doing, Tei?” Kajika whispered.

  “Teaching me to count,” Tei’Varyk replied watching the creature pointing to her blunt claws and saying a word each time.

  “But… yes, Tei,” Kajika said miserably.

  “…nine, ten. Understand?” the creature said. “Eight tens ### worlds ### destroyed ### the Merki ### the ### Merki War. ### ### of my people died.”

  Eighty worlds, did he have that right? Eighty worlds had been invaded and seriously damaged with millions upon millions upon millions killed. Eighty worlds! The enormity of the Humans came crashing down upon Tei’Varyk like a herd of Shkai’lon. His people dared not make enemies of these aliens.

  “It lies,” Kajika said. “Eighty worlds is foolish. Why would they need so many?”

  “I ### not lie,” the alien spat angrily. “### you talked ### him ### ### shooting, he ### ### shown you.”

  “Ja…” Tei’Varyk coughed and tried to sound the alien name again, it made him feel as if he were about to chew his tongue. “James,” he said slowly and noted the female’s quick glance toward her companion. “He will live?”

  “I ### so,” she said and screwed her face up at the device she held. “Yes,” she said and bobbed her head up and down.

  Her action was what Tei’Varyk might have called a strange type of bowing before now, but he believed it was more likely to represent a Shan’s flicking of ears to indicate agreement. The face screwing seemed to mean frustration, or perhaps irritation.

  “My name is Tei’Varyk, and this is Kajika. We are sorry for your companion’s hurt.”

  He ignored Kajika’s protest at the naming. To name oneself in such a fashion was suggestive of a courtesy offered and received, but they had received none.

  The alien listened to the device in her ear and nodded. “My name ### ### ###, and my mate’s name ### ### ###. You ### ### of Chakra?”

  The device couldn’t handle the naming, but Tei’Varyk heard the alien’s own voice naming herself and her mate. He was no longer surprised at what the aliens knew of him and the race. They had probably been watching him for a long time. The Human word for Tei was Captain… or so it seemed.

  Tei’Varyk tried to bob his head instead of flicking his ears, and ended up doing both. “Yessss,” he said using the Human word and mangling it only slightly. “I Captain.”

  The alien bobbed her head, and looked pleased if his judgment of her expression was correct. She checked her mate once more before beckoning him to follow her. She kicked against a seat to launch herself toward, he assumed, the cockpit of the lander. He watched as she floated out of sight through the hatch.

  “Don’t go, Tei,” Kajika said. “It’s all a trick. Eighty worlds, the Murderers attacking them. It’s too convenient. They’ve come to confuse us, and make us weak before the Murderers come again.”

  “I am Tei. You will obey me. I will hear more and then decide what is to be done.”

  “I hear.” Kajika bowed so quickly he nearly somersaulted in the lack of gravity.

  Tei’Varyk rumpled his muzzle, and flattened his ears at such foolishness. Kajika was embarrassing him. He kept Kajika’s weapon, but left his helmet next to James strapped into a spare seat, before pushing off to see what he could learn.

  This cub, he absently wondered what the Humans called it, was designed to carry many Humans. So many seats were obviously meant for use. How many were aboard their ship? Chakra carried a hundred crew, but a heavy fang like Neifon carried almost three hundred. A mere cub with so much capacity probably meant the Humans used bigger crews than his people would think necessary.

  Tei’Varyk followed the alien, no she was called Brenda. He followed her toward he knew not what.

  * * *

  15~Gifts

  Aboard Lander Alpha One

  Brenda floated through the hatch and into the cockpit, when she would rather be looking after James. She knew his bots were working. The military used good ones, and unlike the less able civilian kind, they were designed for wounds like this, but she still worried. She tried to tell herself that sitting next to him and holding his hand would make no difference to his recovery, and that his bots were all that could save him now, but still she wished to be with him. Unfortunately, her duty to Canada called her to deal with James’ abusers. She didn’t much like that.

  She turned and held herself in place by grasping the engineer’s chair. The Tei, or was it just Tei? Whatever, he came in quickly followed by Kajika. She couldn’t help her dislike of Kajika. He was the trigger-happy bastard who had shot James. Tei was looking at the controls and instruments with interest, but when she claimed his attention by the simple expedient of waving at him, he drifted closer and grabbed a panel to steady himself.

  James and the others had planned this day well, but now that he was wounded, Brenda would have to follow through. First, she had to sort out the compads. She opened a box of them and withdrew one, hesitated for a second, and pulled out a second for Kajika.

  “For you,” Brenda said into her mike, and the compads spoke in Shan. She grimaced as only the second word was translated and tried again. “A gift, yours to keep.”

  That was better, and Tei was pleased to accept them. He bowed to her. “I ### nothing ### offer ### in exchange, but ### come ### Chakra you ### ### my hospitality.”

  Brenda bowed understanding enough of what he said. She showed Tei how to use the compad as best she could by a few words and miming. She tried to show him that the words went into the microphones and then through
the compads into the Box, before the Box sent them back out of the compads in the correct language. Tei flicked his ears, and then nodded in the Human fashion giving her hope that he understood some if not all of her explanation. Kajika was obviously not as interested as Tei was. He was holding his compad loosely, and hadn’t put on his headset as Tei had done. The fit was not perfect, those mobile ears were a hell of a challenge, but it did seem to work reasonably well.

  The next thing was to give them some basic information about the Alliance and Humanity in general. Where possible the literature had been compiled using hard copy diagrams and pictures, where that was not possible, Brenda would have to try to explain. Nowhere was jump technology mentioned, or any kind of astrographical data that might compromise the locations of Alliance worlds. Data of a military nature was absent also of course, but there was still a great deal regarding the threat the Merkiaari posed as well as day-to-day life in the Alliance.

  Brenda had been against the inclusion of the Merkiaari material, but now it looked as if James had been right about the Shan. From Tei’Varyk’s reactions, she knew that his people had met the Merkiaari before. It seemed obvious to her now that there had been a previous civilisation, perhaps the very Harmony of Shan they had all puzzled over, and it had been shattered by war. Merkiaari were those the Shan named the Murderers of Harmony, and that made a great difference to her thinking. Before today, she had always subscribed to the view that the war was Humanity’s fault for sending military ships to greet the Merki, but now she knew the Shan had also suffered through contact with the Merki. Once was an accident, but twice?

  No.

  Tei’Varyk was studying the pictures with great interest. He wasn’t so much studying them, as flicking through to get a feel of what the folders contained. Brenda watched his ears flatten and prick erect, flick and twitch, all the time wondering what it all meant. He didn’t appear upset as he floated with the folders hovering near to his paws, but some of what he saw must be confusing for him.

  “Ask questions, I answer,” Brenda said speaking pidgin Shan, which the translator obediently converted into English to the confusion of both Shan. She was about to repeat herself in English to cover her showing off, when Tei spoke. She had been understood after all.

  “Why come?” Tei said copying her example.

  “We hear talking. We come warn you to stop. Merkiaari find you when… when talk so loud. We know this. It happen to us. We talk quiet now.”

  Brenda was pleased with that. Most of the words had translated flawlessly, but she was not as pleased with the result it caused. Tei was agitated, and Kajika didn’t look happy; his muzzle was rumpled and his ears were flat.

  “Talk… talk is why they came? They no like talk?” Tei’Varyk said intently.

  “No, no, no,” Brenda said and shook her head. “They want to kill anyone not Merki, but not know where we are. They follow our talk… find us. They kill us and listen more. They follow talk, kill us again. We come here… try save you. We not know we too late.”

  * * *

  Tei’Varyk believed her. So much made sense now. The alien fang running and not firing back, the other one always running and hiding, again without firing. Leaving behind two of their people in a cub lander was a desperate attempt to communicate, but would the elders believe it? He glanced at Kajika and saw the disbelief on his face, in the angle of his half laid-back ears, but Kajika wasn’t a deep thinker. He was a hunter first, last, and always, which was good in a claw of Chakra. A Tei had to be more. He had to look at a situation and see not only what was, but what could be also. The Humans were a horrible danger to his people, but they could also be an incredible boon. Handled right, this meeting might see the Harmony of Shan resurrected stronger than ever.

  “You… want be friends?” Tei’Varyk said in cub talk.

  “Yes,” Brenda said.

  “You want help us kill Merkiaari?”

  “If ### come, we stop them.”

  “No,” he said feeling this was an important point. “Not protect us. Help us learn how to protect ourselves.”

  “We help you,” Brenda said with her head bobbing. “Want you not hunt Canada—our ship. We need to send ### ### ### ###,” she screwed her face up at the bad translation. “We need send message home.”

  Kajika hissed. “We can’t let them do that. More might come.”

  “Quiet you fool,” Tei’Varyk said but it was too late. The device had already told Brenda Kajika’s words.

  “You not help us send ### ### ###, we not help you,” Brenda said quickly in reaction. “My Captain… my Tei say he not let you ### his ship. He say destroy ### himself first. You not ### ### you help ###.”

  Tei’Varyk’s chewed his whiskers in annoyance. The alien was so angry, he could barely understand her.

  “We have these two,” Kajika said. “This lander might—”

  “I won’t tell you again. Be silent or suffer for it back on Chakra!” Tei’Varyk blazed in anger. Brenda had been friendly, but now the conversation had slipped over into hostile territory.

  “I nothing, my mate nothing, ### cub ### nothing,” Brenda said coldly. “Cub not ### our planets, little distance only… understand? Not go like Canada go. You learn nothing ### it. We ### be friends, but we not give you ###. A gift for a gift, ### we be friends forever. We not like Merkiaari; you not like Merkiaari. We kill them, help you kill them, but Canada small ship—not made ### fight. Help ### send message home… help come. Canada little ship. Made for explore—understand? Find new things, new places; not fight.”

  Brenda had let something slip, and Tei’Varyk’s reaction to it told her that she had. She bit her lip and reddened. Did that mean she was embarrassed? It probably did, because she should be. Her ship was not for war, she said, but was instead for exploring new places. Imagine being in command of such a one, able to go anywhere and see anything.

  He would revel in such a life. There would be new systems and planets for the taking, Shan venturing out and making those planets their home. A new and perhaps better harmony could be created. Not a warship she said. That was extremely useful to know. It said the alien ship would be easy to destroy, but he didn’t want to. He wanted it all. He wanted the stars for his people. He had no doubt the Human Tei would see his ship destroyed before allowing it to be captured. He would do the same in the Human’s position.

  “I not say yes, I not say no. Elders say,” Tei’Varyk said finally making a decision.

  “You go back Chakra. Talk elders ### come back and say. We ### here,” Brenda said.

  Tei’Varyk flicked his ears in agreement, but then bobbed his head for good measure. He offered her the pictures back, but she said they were a gift. He bowed as best he could and she did the same before giving him a container to safeguard the talking devices and gifts.

  * * *

  Brenda knew she had gone wrong, but for the life of her she couldn’t see how she could have done differently. She had slipped by telling Tei’Varyk that Canada was not truly a warship, but if Chakra fired on her, Tei’Varyk would still get a surprise. Canada wasn’t a warship any longer, but she had been one once. She could still defend herself long enough to escape into fold space.

  Brenda watched Tei’Varyk fit the compads and other things neatly into the container and seal it. They would be quite safe from the cold and vacuum of space. When they were ready, she escorted them to the airlock, all the time looking worriedly at James. Shouldn’t he have awoken by now? Surely the bots had made an impression on the wound after all this time, but if they had, she saw no sign.

  The Shan sealed their helmets and stepped into the airlock. Tei turned to face her. He raised a paw and Brenda did the same before closing the inner door and starting the exit cycle. She watched in silence as the outer door opened and her guests left.

  “Brenda?” James croaked. “Did I miss anything?”

  Brenda gasped and spun to see James looking at her with a grey and sweating face. She was by his side and kissin
g him before she had even thought to move.

  “Are you in pain? Of course you are. I’ll get you something my love; you’ll be all right. I injected the bots, and Fleet has good ones and—”

  “Shush, I’m not in pain,” James said then grimaced. “Not much. I missed the whole thing didn’t I? Some hero I turned out to be…” he said as his eyes slipped slowly shut.

  “You sleep now. Tomorrow you will be well again,” Brenda said and sat next to him holding his hand with tears of joy in her eyes.

  * * *

  Aboard Chakra, Inner Belt, Shan System

  Tei’Varyk stormed onto the command deck in a state of high excitement and agitation. The Humans could be the saviours of his people, but like all good things, there was another side to the story. What if the Humans came here, but did not allow Shan to learn their technology? What then? His people would be like cubs to them. His people needed friends and partners, equal partners, not some kind of master or parent.

  “Kon’stanji, you are claw of Chakra,” he said as he took his station from Tei’Unwin.

  “I hear but…” Kon’stanji hesitated to ask.

  “Kajika has shamed me. His punishment is reduction to alternate claw.”

  There was some little shock at that, but relief as well. For all they knew, the aliens may have killed Kajika. Only Tei’Varyk knew that if anyone had killed Kajika it would have been him, and it would remain that way.

  Tei’Unwin had not yet left the command deck. Tei’Varyk wondered how much he should divulge. He had yet to speak to the elders about his meeting with the aliens. Would they expect him to keep the meeting secret? Keeping it secret might make it easier for them to ignore the aliens. That was something he would not allow if he had his way, but it was not his place to make such decisions. He chewed his whiskers and decided to risk their displeasure.

  “We have a great opportunity before us,” he began. “There are two aliens aboard the cub, and they are friendly.”

  Gasps and yips of shock surrounded him. Tei’Varyk dropped his jaw and waved his ears in amusement. What did Humans do when they were amused? He glanced at Tarjei and saw worry mixed with relief at his return. The worry was the same as on all the other’s faces, but the rest was for him alone.