The Riss Enemies: Book VI (The Riss Series 6)
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**Leader?**
"R-Galene, send down ten Riss volunteers. We have some JPU that need a lesson."
**Yes, Leader. Ten Riss for a party,** she signed, and I'd wager she was laughing.
Terril gave me a strange look but said nothing. Ten minutes later, ten Riss strolled into the bay. Mumbled conversation started among the prisoners.
"I'm sure you recognize the Riss. The animals whose skins you and your people collect. They were made to watch while your comrades skinned their friends alive. And today, you killed three of their friends. The animals are in a very bad mood and looking for payback. I don't blame them. So, unless you answer my questions, I'm going to let them collect your skins to decorate their walls."
Panic greeted my speech, heads swiveled looking for someplace to run, and the blood drained from their faces.
"Knowing you're from the JPU, I believe you would prefer an example," I said, looking around the room. I picked out someone I thought looked like an officer.
The ten Riss stood grunting in what looked like an argument, then they began what looked like a paper-rock-scissor game, and finally one stepped forward, beating on his chest. I pointed to the man I decided to use as an example. Even the Kraits were stunned as r-Saranyu strode towards the man. Those in her path quickly shuffled or rolled out of her way. The man with the goatee turned and screamed incoherently as he tried to scramble away. She grabbed him by his long black hair, lifted him to a standing position, and began ripping his clothes from him.
"I'll tell you!" he screamed. I whistled like one might for a dog. R-Saranyu turned her head to look at me.
"Who's in charge?" I asked.
"Lieutenant Stevan," the man said, pointing to another man with a mustache and goatee. R-Saranyu dropped the man and followed my finger to the other man, whose expression changed from defiant to neutral to fear as she approached him. R-Saranyu yanked him off the ground, ripped his shirt open, and ran a finger down his chest, leaving a thin line of blood from a shallow cut.
"We were ordered to put together a team to hijack a merchant…"
"And?" I prompted. The lieutenant's eyes traveled from me to r-Saranyu and back to me.
"The Supreme Council on Ormazd," he choked out, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Can we space them now?" Terril asked to grins and nodding heads from the Kraits and Cobras. In addition to the three Riss killed, six Kraits and two Cobras had also been killed.
"Not a bad idea," Seng said from behind me. He had entered as I was questioning the Lieutenant.
"For soldiers following orders?" I asked, although the human in me was split fifty-fifty on the idea.
"It could have been a lot worse if it hadn’t been for someone's quick thinking," Seng said, but I knew it a question—how?
I ignored him. This wasn't the time or the place. "Colonel, send another team to the Golden Rabbit. Take the Lieutenant with you…and r-Saranyu." I clicked on Byer's SID. "Commander, Colonel Seng is sending another combat shuttle to the Rabbit. Cover him." I returned to the Bridge and paced the floor while awaiting a report.
"Ma'am, the ship's secure. They caught our inspection team by surprise and only two were wounded. They left only five on board to guard our team and the crew. We killed two, and the rest surrendered with the Lieutenant's help."
"Good work, Sergeant. Bring Merchant Yeong and anyone who needs medical treatment to the Mnemosyne." I cut the connection.
Over dinner, Yeong explained how he had thought he was taking a family from Sivas to Ormazd, but that when his shuttle arrived, the six passengers turned out to be armed and took over his ship. They then used his shuttle to load the hundred plus troops and their weapons. I told him to report to Admiral Zhu and let him know what had happened. After he returned to the Rabbit, I sent Zhu a message detailing what had happened and what I planned to do.
* * *
"Why are you taking the prisoners to Ormazd?" Seng asked at the staff meeting the next day.
"The problem is in Ormazd, just as the problems in the SAS come out of Eden. Those councils are reluctant to give up their power."
"But they haven't really lost power, except to start wars. Neither the Riss nor the UFN want to govern them," Iglis said.
"The problem is that humans see their power being derived from their military. Since we have taken that away from them, they feel they no longer have power. They are correct in that they can no longer force a system to comply," I said. "But to answer your question, I plan to dump the prisoners on Ormazd and then threaten the Council with isolation, much like I did with the SAS Council."
"What about the gas that disabled the JPU invaders?" Seng asked. When he did, he, Byer, and Iglis leaned forward. "And the White, red, and blue flashing lights."
"A life saving precaution," I said to blank expressions.
Finally, Seng spoke. "If we had known, we would have put on gas masks…which would have alerted the invaders to the gas." He nodded. "Yes, a life saving precaution."
* * *
We arrived in Ormazd space two days later and settled into orbit nine hours after exiting the Wave.
"I'm Communications Director Liutpold," he said as if talking to a junior officer.
"Director Liutpold, I'm Captain Reese of the Riss Navy. I'd like to speak to the senior members of the Jahoba Supreme Council. I would appreciate you arranging it."
"They're busy, Captain," he said with a sneer.
"I certainly wouldn't want to interrupt them. If you get time, you may want to tell them their arrogance has resulted in Ormazd being quarantined for the next several generations." I cut the connection.
"Iglis, disable the Ormazd Comrelay," I said into my SID, which was connected to her for just such a situation.
"Disabled," she said with a broad smile.
"I apologize for the mistake, Leader Reese. Director Liutpold mistook you for the captain of a merchant ship. I'm the acting Supreme Leader of the Council, and with me are the Leaders of the Upper and Lower houses."
The Supreme Leader was a tall man who could have been the father of any of the last three JPU Fleet Admirals, except that his hair had streaks of grey at the temples and in his goatee. His black suit had a military style look. A black Iron Cross with a bone white skull positioned in a circle in the middle of the cross hung around his neck on a black ribbon. The man to his left was several centimeters shorter with a narrow beard framing his jaw. He was a bit overweight and his face not quite so narrow. He had a similar cross but its skull was red. The woman could easily have been taken for a relative of the leader, tall and lean with a narrow stern face. Her skull was black.
"The Military Free Zone was a concession from the Riss, enabling you to effectively govern your empire. The no cruisers or armed merchants restriction only prevents you from creating a war. I understand you don't like the restriction; however, it's not negotiable." I paused and took a sip of kaffa. "While on Sivas, an UFN merchant was hijacked. The Mnemosyne attacked. Men and women were killed. Why? Because you ordered it."
"We didn't order it," The woman said in a tone meant to end the argument.
"The next time any hijacking is attempted
in a JPU system, Ormazd will be quarantined. That means your Comrelay will be destroyed and merchants will be prohibited from entering the system. In effect, that will dissolve the Jahoba Supreme Council, and the JPU systems will be free to determine their own fate."
"That's not fair. We can't control what each system decides to do," the leader said, extending his empty hands palms up in a gesture of helplessness.
"Then there is no need for the Supreme Council. You can't have it both ways. Either you rule the JPU, or you don't. Since you are the governing body, we must assume you can, and we will therefore hold you responsible." I paused to let them consider the alternatives. "If you are unable to rule during peacetime, maybe it's time the planets created a new governing body." I cut the connection.
I clicked on Iglis's SID. "Iglis, send a message to Admiral Zhu with the details of what happened at Sivas and my ultimatum to the Johaba Supreme Council."
"What do you think the JSC will do?" Terril asked as we departed for the Wave.
"They will do their best to stop whatever they had planned. Like all in power, they will be reluctant to relinquish it. But I suspect there will have to be a restructuring of the JSC. It can no longer be effectively run out of a central location. That was only possible because they had a navy to enforce their rule."
"Which means the SAS Council will also have to relinquish their power," Terril said almost to herself. "They will fight it."
"You're right. It will be interesting to see who emerges as the victors and what type of government evolves. I hope they don't revert back to old-Earth's philosophy of solving disputes through wars, but I wouldn't doubt it. War seems to be in our DNA."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Decision Time
We returned two days late for the scheduled meeting of the Riss-humans. I included Byer, Seng, and Iglis—since their reports could be involved—and the elders, because the decision could impact Freeland.
When I arrived there was food and drink on tables in the back of the room. I fetched a cup of kaffa and approached the conference table. As I did, everyone found seats.
"Good morning," I said, deciding to ignore the incident at Sivas and get directly to the issue everyone had on his or her mind. "Today, we face a historic decision. One that none of us can predict the consequences of, and therefore one that must be considered carefully. For that reason, I gave each of you a month to consider it—not only from your personal perspective, but as it relates to Freeland, the Riss, the MFZ, and the UFN. Who would like to start?" I sat.
"The Riss cannot go without Riss-humans," Pavao said. "Although they can fly and maintain Riss cruisers, they will be entering a hostile environment where three species are at war. I think their non aggressive nature could result in their capture or destruction and lead one or more of the warring species back to our sector of space."
"Thalia and I imagine the other Riss agree," I said. "If we go, the ships must be manned by Riss-humans."
"And include fighters," Byer said. "You can't go into a war zone without fighters—"
"Or commandos," Seng interjected. "That would put the Riss at greater risk."
"What would be our objective?" Sheva asked. "Bendis and I have discussed it at great length over the past month. We think that will determine if we should go, and if we should, who should go."
**The Riss would like to go for the sake of knowledge. The trip would be the first step in exploring the stars and help us decipher the picture-images of the Aliens and the software we recently discovered,** r-Saga's voice box said. **And we might save the humans in the area.**
"Two distinctly different objectives, requiring dissimilar resources. We may be able to accumulate the information you want with one cruiser. We are unlikely to help the humans with one," I said to nodding heads. "So, Sheva is right. We have to determine our reason for going before we can decide anything else."
**We may find that the war is over,** r-Saga's box said. **That is one of our questions—are we interpreting the picture-images correctly? We believe they were taken approximately three years ago, but it could have been fewer or more years.**
"In which case the Lizards are fighting the Bats, and we split," Alena said to smiles.
"Or the Lizards have won and are headed here," Ja'Sai said to stunned looking faces.
"That may be the best reason for going," Da'Maass said. "To find our neighbors, their natures, and intentions."
"I think we are all agreed. We have multiple neighbors, and understanding them may be the key to our survival." Looking around the table, I saw that everyone had come to the same conclusion.
"If we might choose to help the humans, we can't go with one or two cruisers," Alena said, and most appeared to agree. The elders were reserved, since sending more cruisers would weaken Freeland's security.
"We may choose to help the Lizards or Bats, if the humans are anything like the SAS," Zhang said to mixed emotions.
"I think Alena is right. We have to take a sizeable force in case we are forced to or choose to get involved, and Zhang is right that we currently have insufficient information to make an informed decision. We may find it's in our best interest not to interfere and to let the war play itself out."
"We have a commitment to the UFN to help support the MFZ," Bradshaw said.
"More Riss-humans?" Elissa asked. A logical solution to several problems—Freeland security, the MFZ, and to the pending sojourn.
"The current Riss cruisers weren't built for traveling the galaxy: food, environmental system, fuel, additional missiles if we must fight…" Pavao said.
"You have just succeeded in giving me an Ecitoni Mother ship sized headache," I said rising to fetch something to drink.
"All right. Pavao, you are the Leader on Freeland while we maintain our commitment to the MFZ. Put out a call for Riss-human candidates … you may want to talk to Gebauer—"
"You're joking!" Pavao choked out in disbelief. I shrugged.
"Ni'Shay, start production on two more Riss cruisers and a Cerberus, and Da'Maass will need a couple of project managers. Da'Maass, you will oversee the modifications necessary to a Riss cruiser to maintain the crew for six months to a year without a home base." I turned to look at Zhang. "Zhang, you and I will visit your brother."
"I think we opened Pandora's Box—again," Pavao said, shaking her head.
* * *
Our entry into Dunn space was uneventful. With the war over and the SAS and JPU contained, the sentries were far less nervous and slower to activate their weapons, even when an unscheduled cruiser exited the Wave.
"Welcome to Dunn. Are you bored, or are you here to give me a glimpse into the future?"
"Just to share recent events with you. Would it be convenient for you to join me for dinner?"
"I would enjoy that. Eighteen hundred hours?"
"Thank you. See you at eighteen hundred hours." I cut the connection.
"You are invited to join your brother and me on the Mnemosyne for dinner at eighteen hundred hours." I cut
the connection when Zhang nodded.
* * *
Zhang and I stood waiting as the Dynasty's shuttle slid into the bay. Zhu exited along with Dragon Yu at his side.
"Welcome, Fleet Admiral Zhu," I said, giving him the formality he was due.
"Thank you, Leader Reese. I'm glad you came to visit Dunn. Life was getting a little too boring. Even the UFN Council is having trouble finding something to complain about." Zhu smiled. He obviously thought that unusual and amusing.
When we each held a glass of wine and had settled in my office, I began by bringing him up to date on the incident at Sivas and about my discussion with the Johaba Supreme Council.
"The thought of losing all that power must have them in a panic. It will be interesting watching the SAS and JPU governments evolve without a navy to enforce their decrees. Tigers without claws and teeth." Zhu was silent for several minutes. "Interesting, but I suspect that isn't the reason for your visit."
"True. The Riss have been studying the material the Aliens left behind, which was what alerted us to the Ecitoni. They believe there are two other species involved in a confrontation with humans several light-months away. They think it will help them unravel some of the Aliens' data if they visit the area. I've agreed because I believe we need to understand our neighbors," I said. Zhu closed his eyes and was silent for a long while.
"I envy you, Zhang," Zhu said, smiling at his brother. "You have an exciting leader. While the Riss search for answers, Leader Reese seeks to see the future. I wish I could go along, but of course that is not possible. We wouldn't want to give the UFN Council ideas, and you will need stealth cruisers for the initial contact. What do you need from me, Nadya?" Zhu was a very perceptive man. He knew any weakness on the part of the Riss could give ambitious men or councils ideas of expanding their power, and that the Riss' expedition would require preparation.
"If you could increase your patrols by ten to fifteen percent, that would help. I'm obviously not taking all the Riss cruisers, but enough to make a difference. I'm again seeking Riss-human candidates and could use additional missiles and fighters for the three new cruisers."