Deathtrap

by Craig Alanson

  “Thank you,” he examined the bottle, which was indeed impressive. The bottle looked like it was made of crystal, with the lettering embossed in solid gold. “I have nothing so special for you.” He lifted a plastic box large enough to hold a full case of wine and carefully set it on the table.

  “What is this?” Her question was not prompted by fear, for she knew the box had been checked by the Verds. She was simply curious, and a bit uneasy. What sort of gift would the Kristang give to a human? She needed to be polite, no matter what it was.

  She need not have worried. The box was indeed full, twelve bottles of wine and spirits. “Twelve-year-old Scotch,” she noted as she lifted out one bottle. Actually, the scotch was twelve years old when it left Earth. It was older than that now. “Where did you get this?” She knew that UNEF Headquarters back on Paradise would be thrilled to see the case.

  “There is more, if you like. The final shipments from Earth never arrived at Pradassis because the Ruhar took that world from us.” The smile remained on his face, but faded from his eyes. “We have used most of those supplies for the ‘Keepers’ who came with us, but luxury items such as these went into storage.”

  “We would appreciate any such items being,” she almost used the word ‘returned’. “Provided, to us, thank you.”

  “I will do what I can. Most of these items are controlled by another clan and, relations between clans are currently, complicated.” The Commodore shifted in his chair. “There is a favor I wish to ask of you.”

  “You may ask,” she kept her tone cool but polite.

  “The Keepers on Feznako are going back to Paradise with you.”

  “Yes,” she confirmed. To her great relief, not a single Keeper had refused the offer to break their enslavement and return to Paradise with the Legion. Returning to Paradise would be humiliating and that was still much better than their treatment by their former allies.

  “There is one more person I wish you take with you. I have a,” he was very careful not to use a Kristang word that would translate as ‘slave’. “A Major Ma of the Chinese Army, who came with us when we left Pradassis. She is an honorable person, not pigheaded like the other Keepers of the Faith I have had the misfortune to know. She had been a member of my household, and I would like her to return to her people.”

  The commodore’s request was not what Perkins expected at all. “She is willing to come with us?”

  “At first, she was reluctant. She had been steadfast in her belief that her duty is to do nothing that would cause harm to China. I assured her that, at this point, the White Wind clan on Earth will not care about the actions of one human, or a hundred thousand humans. She can do nothing to help her nation or her family back on Earth, but she can make a better life for herself and others on Pradassis.”

  “You care about her?”

  The Commodore nodded once, very slowly, as if making up his mind about the subject. “I respect Major Ma. I would not like to see harm come to her. If that is caring, then, yes.”

  Again the Commodore had surprised her. “We would be pleased to accept Major Ma back into our community. Tell me, if you had won the battle here, what would be Ma’s fate?”

  “I did not know a condition of the surrender would be for humans to remain behind, while the Ruhar and,” he nearly used his people’s very insulting word for the traitors. “And the Verd-kris were allowed to go home. The reason I brought Major Ma here aboard my ship was so she could go back to Pradassis, win or lose.” The real smile returned. “Of course, I had assumed I would be winning.”

  “I cannot tell you that I am sad you did not win this battle.”

  He waved a hand through the air in a dramatic gesture of dismissal. “Victory or defeat in battle is always temporary. There is always another battle to be fought.” A darkness crossed his face. “In this war, there is no real victory.”

  That confused her. “What do you mean?”

  “Colonel, this war has been going on forever. None of us will ever achieve a real, lasting victory, our masters will not allow that. If my people, or the Ruhar, get too strong, that threatens our ultimate patrons.” He looked sharply at her, having decided to say something to a lowly alien that he could not speak of among his own people. “Do you know the purpose of this endless war?”

  “Habitable planets near stable wormholes are rare,” she noted. “The war is over controlling resources, territory, like any other conflict.”

  “No,” he appeared vaguely disappointed in her answer. “You have been listening too much to the propaganda of the Ruhar. They tell you they are virtuous and only wish to protect their citizens from the evil Kristang, and that my people need constant warfare to keep the warrior caste in power. That last part is somewhat true,” he admitted. “But the purpose of this war is to protect only our ultimate masters; the Maxolhx and the Rindhalu. Each of those species are too powerful to fight each other directly without the risk of destroying life in the galaxy. The threat to them is not only each other, it is immensely powerful machines the Elders left behind. Use of Elder weapons, or weapons derived from Elder technology, will awaken these machines.”

  “The Sentinels,” she recalled.

  “That is one name for them, yes. Because the two apex species dare not make war against each other directly, they encourage their clients to fight for them. They force us to fight their battles for them. But,” he held up a finger, shaking it to illustrate his point. “They also cannot allow any of their clients to become too powerful. If the Thuranin were to control too much territory, gain technology that could allow them to challenge the control of the Maxolhx, then the Thuranin will find themselves without support of their patrons. The Thuranin would be set upon by their enemies, even by their rivals under the Maxolhx, and slapped back down to their proper place. Some of us,” he sighed, a weary sound. “Wonder if our regular civil conflicts between clans is encouraged, or even begun, by the Thuranin. Our current civil war began in an unlikely place and at a time when the major clans were still maneuvering for position; the outbreak of the war was completely unexpected.” He looked at her again and raised an eyebrow. “Suspiciously unexpected.”

  “If you, your people, know you are being used by the Maxolhx, that you will not ever be allowed to win this war, then why do you keep fighting?”

  “What is our alternative? If all the client species together refused to fight, then, ah,” he waved a hand. “It will never happen.”

  “There are factions in the Ruhar government who wish to contain the fighting, to act only defensively. To not play the game of their patrons any longer.”

  “There are factions among my people who feel the same. They believe we must stop bleeding each other needlessly in foreign wars, that we have enough to fight over between our clans. My people have never unified, because once a major clan becomes strong enough, they seek to conquer territory from the Ruhar or the Torgalau. It is inevitable.”

  “Is it?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. When a clan reaches a certain level of power, those clan leaders become the most important target for ambitious young leaders within the clan, or the leaders of allied subclans. Why bother fighting outside the clan, when forcibly taking the place of the senior leaders yields such a greater prize? So, to protect themselves, the senior leaders must send ambitious young fools away to fight. If they win, the clan gains valuable territory. If they lose, the senior leaders rid themselves of an internal threat. The fools think they will gain glory and return more powerful. I,” he laughed, “was once such a fool. Now I seek only to do my duty, and contain the damage.”

  “Is that why you came here?”

  “I came here because I was not given a choice.” He knew that was a lie. He could have refused, and been executed for disobedience. That was not really a choice. “But, once I learned of the situation, yes. I did see an opportunity to prevent future bloodshed. Colonel Perkins, you believe you won a great victory here.” He shook his head sadly, staring at the bottle of win
e from the Verd-kris. “All you have accomplished is widening this conflict, and ensuring the deaths of millions. Bringing the Verd-kris into the fight will make the war more widespread, and more vicious. It will lead to no good end, for anyone.”

  “Respectfully, Commodore, I disagree.”

  He shook his head slowly again, with great sadness. “I cannot see a good result from this Alien Legion you have unleashed upon the galaxy.”

  That is because, she thought to herself, you don’t know what I plan to do with the Legion.

  The Ruhar don’t know.

  Not even UNEF knows, because they might try to stop me.

  Her next meeting was with Admiral Tashallo, who was looking very pleased with himself. “My,” she caught herself before using the word ‘sergeant’. It was so easy to keep using that term. “Mister Czajka,” she allowed herself an inner laugh at that title. “Tells me you are satisfied so far with the instructions you are receiving about virtual sports wagering?” Dave had warned her not to say ‘fantasy’ as the Jeraptha did not like the connotation that their wagers were not about real sports.

  Admiral Tashallo bobbed his head excitedly, his antennas flopping. Emily Perkins could not help thinking of a very large and shiny puppy. With a fleet of starships. “We are immensely pleased, yes,” he fairly bubbled with enthusiasm.

  She listened politely, feigning interest. At appropriate times, she interjected with comments, or prompted the admiral with questions that Dave had suggested. Virtual sports gambling was a subject the admiral could talk about all day, and she wanted Tashallo to be in a good and receptive mood when she sprung on him the question she had planned. If not for good luck, and Jesse Colter, she would not have the Elder power tap to bargain with, so she thanked God for luck and for quick-thinking sergeants from Arkansas. The admiral paused to respond to a staff officer who had some annoying yet urgent business. Before he could continue on about a thrilling recent development in virtual sports, she took the opportunity to steer the conversation in a more useful direction. “Admiral, on behalf of all humans, we are pleased that we can offer something that interests a species as advanced as the Jeraptha. There may be something else we can offer you,” she hinted. “I wonder if we can come to an arrangement.”

  “A wager?” He asked with only mild interest. The new concept of virtual sports had him overwhelmed, and he could not imagine any wager with a human could be worth his time.

  “No. A deal.” She took a breath. “We would like a ride to Earth. For a recon mission.”

  She had managed to pique his interest. He would have bet against that happening. “To Earth?” Implied in his tone was that no sane being would wish to go to such a primitive place.

  “Yes. We would like you to send a ship to Earth, with a few humans aboard. We are,” she found herself wringing her hands despite her resolve to remain calm and rational.

  “Oh. Colonel Perkins,” he lowered his head and looked at her in what might have been intended as a fatherly manner. “I am very sorry about what has- What might have happened-”

  “We all know what is happening on our homeworld.” She had to fight back tears forming in her eyes.

  “Very likely, yes.” He did not say that the fate of Earth and its native population had been the subject of intense wagering, back when the Thuranin were supposed to send a long-range surveyor ship there. When that ship had been destroyed, all those wagers had to be unwound and it caused great consternation. Until the wagerers rushed to bet on who really had blown up the surveyor ship and its escorts. Tashallo had bet the Maxolhx were behind it, and the wager was still active. “I am sorry, truly. If you think you know what is happening there, why do you wish to return?”

  “To know for sure,” she explained simply.

  “Is that all?”

  “No. A single Jeraptha ship has more firepower than all the ships the White Wind clan brought to my homeworld.”

  “Ah. You wish us to rescue your people.”

  “If that is possible, yes.”

  “And if it is not?”

  “Then,” Perkins set her jaw and spat out the word, “vengeance.”

  “I understand.” He considered the human female. She was remarkable, especially because her species was so backward. “Colonel Perkins, unfortunately that will not be possible. A voyage to Earth from the nearest active wormhole is an extreme distance, even for our ships. When we agreed to support the Ruhar’s foolish raid on your homeworld, we had to assemble many specialized ships, and modify others. To reach Earth, we had to stage star carriers along the way, and create refueling and ship repair facilities at two points between the wormhole and your planet. It was an enormously complex and expensive undertaking, and, frankly, it was all a waste.”

  “I appreciate that sending even one ship to-”

  “That is part of the problem. It is not possible for us to send one ship. For a single ship to reach Earth and return, we would need to send,” he paused to consider the problem. It was a useful exercise for an admiral. “Probably three, no, four ships. Two ships to go to Earth, where one ship could be stripped of parts for the other ship’s return voyage. Another ship to set up a refueling station two-thirds of the way there. And a fourth ship, for safety. Four starships, all capable of independent, long-range flight. Such ships are not common in our fleet,” he explained. “I am sorry. The expense would be, substantial.” He did not say ‘more than you humans could possibly afford’. That was implied.

  “What if we could afford to pay? If we had something to make it worth your effort?”

  He laughed, a sound that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. “I do not think-”

  “You have not heard the offer yet.”

  “Colonel, the services of the Legion are indeed valuable, but at the moment, my people have no need of-”

  “I wasn’t talking about the Legion serving the Jeraptha. I meant-”

  “There is no point to us sending a ship to Earth. Have you not heard? The Maxolhx are already doing that.”

  “What?” She was so stunned, she could not think of anything else to say.

  So, the admiral explained, about the Maxolhx expedition to investigate the wormhole that had inexplicably gone dormant. Those ships did not care about the fate of Earth, but they planned to come close enough to that star system to gather sensor data. “The Ruhar did not tell you? No? Perhaps they kept you ignorant of the facts out of kindness.”

  Perhaps, she thought. Or perhaps their arrogant patrons just worried knowing about Maxolhx ships going to Earth would arouse passions among the currently quiet and peaceful human population on Paradise. “The Maxolhx offered to bring Rindhalu scientists with them, but the sp-” She realized that ‘spiders’ was not the polite thing to say. “The Rindhalu refused?”

  “They did not refuse, exactly. They declined the offer. I,” he glanced around to see who might overhear his words. “It is my opinion that our patrons the Rindhalu are simply too lazy to participate in a mission to Earth. They will wait for the Maxolhx to do the work, and bring back information about the condition of the local wormhole there.”

  “Interesting,” she said slowly, drawing out the word while she thought. “Admiral Tashallo, I have a question for you.”

  “What is that?”

  “How much do you trust the Maxolhx?”

  He laughed again at such a ridiculous question. “I do not trust them at all!”

  “In that case,” she crossed fingers behind her back for luck. “I have another question for you.”

  The next meeting Perkins had that day, one she hoped would be her last meeting of the day and maybe the last before she left Fresno behind forever, was with the leader of the Achakai mercenaries. The current leader, because the original leader and his second, third and fourth in command all had been killed in the fighting. Being a ninja for hire, Perkins thought as she waited for the Achakai to arrive, is a hazardous job.

  The door opened and two armed Verd-kris walked in, stepping
aside for a single Kristang, followed by two more Verds who had their rifles pointed at the Achakai leader. Perkins noted that all four of the Verd guards were women, she was sure that was done as a deliberate taunt and humiliation for their Kristang cousins. She kept her smile to herself.

  “Please,” she gestured to the chair across the table. “Sit down.”

  The Achakai stood, staring at her. “I prefer to stand.”

  “No, you prefer to sit, but you think you can play little childish mind games with me. I know your back and right shoulder were seriously injured in the battle, they must be very painful. Sit down, if that would ease your pain.”

  He said nothing. If his blank expression softened even slightly, she could not see it. So she added “If I wanted to humiliate you, I could have had you brought in here stripped naked. We don’t need to play games, we won.”

  Whether the mercenary was afraid she would follow through on her threat to truly humiliate him, or because he saw no advantage in being stubborn, he picked up the back of a chair, pulled it away from the table, and lowered himself onto it. There was no mistaking the pain that flashed across his face as he sat.

  They exchanged awkward and formal pleasantries, then quickly moved on to the agenda for the meeting. Perkins confirmed the logistics and schedule for the Legion pulling off Fresno, emphasizing that Admiral Tashallo’s massive battleship would be remaining in orbit until the last human, Verd-kris and Ruhar had left the planet. Also, the Jeraptha admiral intended to accompany the Ruhar transport ships carrying the Expeditionary Force all the way back to Paradise, providing escort for the star carrier. Any attempted nonsense would be dealt with harshly, and when the Jeraptha said ‘harsh’ they meant railguns leaving a deep smoking hole in the planet’s surface. “No incidents will be tolerated,” she emphasized. “That includes ‘rogue units’, or whatever bullshit excuse you lizards use, for turning a blind eye to young hotheads doing what the rest of you wanted.”