Trexler shuttled up to a cruiser and met briefly with Godfries, Buskin, and three commanders of the Terrans aboard three newly-arrived squadrons. He remembered each of them from their training on Parson’s World, and he commissioned them in the new Space Command, promoting two to admiral. The Air Force colonel became a two star admiral. He would need at least that much rank to interact with other high ranking officers on the planet. The new Space Command emblems would provide any additional leverage he required on Earth. Trexler felt confident the emblems would stand out among the military, bestowing great honor on those wearing them. The Air Force colonel groused a bit at being called an admiral instead of a general, but he accepted the position.
In a private meeting with Godfries, Trexler cautioned him to stay with the message he’d been speaking for the past three months. His job was to keep repeating the same words: there should be no confusing changes.
“I fully expect the Chessori to return, and when they do, they will come in force. Do you have the means to call for help?”
“I do, Ray, and I haven’t been idle while you’ve been gallivanting around the globe. M’Coda and I are going to stay in close touch with each other so that we will know where to send messages for help.”
“M’Coda? Not Chandrajuski?”
“Chandrajuski is out on assignment. I don’t know what it is, but M’Coda has taken his place. He’ll know where Waverly is at all times, and he’s going to know where the Queen is.”
“I need to report in to her, then I need to see M’Coda. Where is she?”
“Back on Parsons’ World. I think she’s going to shift to Aldebaran I eventually, but they’re expecting Struthers to try something there in the near future, so she’s waiting.”
“Stu, if the Chessori return, don’t try to play the hero. Send for help immediately. Earth is completely dependent upon your judgment. If you fail, you fail all of us. Understood?”
“Trust me, I’m not playing the hero.”
Trexler rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “I know you approved the Space Command badges. I’d like you to reconsider.” Godfries’ eyebrows rose in a question and Trexler continued. “It’s a good idea, but we’re missing a great opportunity. Remember Rosie the Riveter?”
“From World War II?”
“Yes. She was as important to the war effort as the soldiers. This isn’t going to work unless we unite the planet. In the process we need to turn the world into a fortress. The Chessori are coming back, and we have to be ready. We won’t be unless everyone’s on board. I think that instead of a Space Command, how about if we had something like, I don’t know . . . Fortress Terra. You and I and our military forces will be a part of it, but so will everyone who directly helps build a ship, everyone who cooks meals and cleans barracks in support of our workers. They all have the right to wear badges of distinction. Anyone who fights or goes into space can have something in addition to the badge - maybe a wreath or a star or something, but I want everyone involved to feel like they’re an important part of the whole.”
“You’re talking about a significant percentage of the world once we’re up and running.”
“So a Russian meets a German. They are historically foes, but now each of them is wearing the same emblem. Are they likely to fight?”
“I see your point. I’ll get some experts working on it. What about showing the flag?”
“Hmm. Good point. Discuss it with the world leaders. We don’t want to scare everyone, but it might give them a better feeling of security if they see a regular presence of the fleet. Are you up to it, and are you prepared to stand in front of a billion people and speak?”
“No, definitely not, but if it’s necessary, I will.”
“Just be careful, and just repeat my message. Where’s Sam Taylor?”
“Perseus II, I think.”
“I thought Sagittarius Sector was next?”
“Waverly hasn’t been idle. His guys are at both places. I don’t think they’ve launched an attack yet, but we’ll always be a little behind here with news.”
“No you won’t, Stu. We have the hypercom. It’s just a matter of building it, and the lady in charge is sharp. You’ll be one of the first to get it. Uh, you have another assignment. We need to develop codes, and I’d like you to see if you can resurrect the Navajo code talkers. We might never need them, but if we do, they should know how to speak Galactic High Standard.”
Godfries eyed him a little strangely. “Are you joking?”
“Definitely not.”
“Well . . . ok. The codes are not a problem. About the Navajo, well . . . I’ll look into it. Your squadron is gone. Want to borrow a ship?”
“I need a ship with a restoration tank. I’m taking Nancy Shaw with me.”
Godfries’ eyebrows rose, but he kept the grin from his face. “We’ll transfer her to a fast cruiser. In fact, I think we’ll send the whole squadron with you. Who knows what’s on your agenda. The fighters make great messengers if nothing else.”
“Another big operation is in the works, and you’ll probably be a part of it. Chandrajuski or M’Coda and I will have to work out the details, more them than me. It’s definitely an Empire operation, but I expect we’ll run into more Chessori.” He stood up. “I’m off.”
“Safe voyage, sir.”
* * * * *
Nancy Shaw awoke as they fast-shipped out of the system. Still encased in the tank, she opened her eyes to find Trexler standing beside her. She blinked a few times, and he gave her a chance to get her act together. He’d never been in a tank before, but he knew others who had. When the doctors decided it was time for you to wake up, they woke you all the way up. Her eyes moved as she tried to study her environment, but there was little for her to see besides the tank.
She closed her eyes again and whispered, “Have I been kidnapped?”
“I’m afraid so. We’re in space. You’re on your way to see the Queen.”
She kept her eyes closed, but a smile spread across her face. “I’m glad you’re here,” she murmured. A little later, she asked, “How bad is it?”
“You’ll be fine. Maybe better than before. These guys are good. You’ll be out of that thing in a couple of days. The President sends his regards and best wishes.”
Her eyes opened wide. “Back to work, huh? What am I going to do out here?”
He smiled. “We’ll figure something out.” He reached out and brushed his hand across her forehead and down her hair. Then he reached down and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
She smiled. “Try that another time and you might get a better response.”
They untanked her two days later, and Trexler found her sitting up in her bed. Captain K’Dagma had assigned her to a VIP visitor’s room.
“Hi!” he said, his face lighting up when he saw her sitting up on her own. “How are you?”
“Wonderful, considering.”
“I’d have brought flowers, but we don’t have any. I brought lunch instead. Are you up to it?”
“I’m up to you coming over here,” she answered. When he sat on the edge of her bed, she reached both arms up and pulled him to herself in an embrace. When he responded, she said, “I’ve so wanted your arms around me, Ray.”
“Your getting hurt sort of woke me up. Lady Krys helped a little. There can be more of this if you want.”
She pressed closer.
A knock sounded at the door. Trexler rose and touched the door-open pad. When the door slid aside, he found himself facing Akurea Skvechavka’a.
She looked at him, then Nancy and blushed, clearly flustered. Trexler beamed in return. “You’re here! I’m sorry to say I forgot about you in all the turmoil.”
“That happens to me a lot. Lady Krys’ orders, sir. I’m to be Tested. Your ship looked like the most likely one to take me to the Queen. I just stopped by to see how Nancy is doing.”
“Well, come in and see for yourself.”
Akurea found a shrunken version of Nancy Shaw lyin
g in the bed. Nancy smiled at her and held out her hand. “I guess we’re both going to meet this Queen or yours,” she said a little uncertainly.
“You, too?”
“According to Lady Krys, I am.”
“You sound nervous about it. I am, too, but why would you be?”
“You mean besides the tiny little fact that she’s the most powerful person in the galaxy?”
“Well, I share that feeling, but I’m excited. She’s no threat to you.”
“Oh, but she is,” Nancy replied, her eyes sinking deeper into her head.
“Hey,” Trexler demanded, “what’s going on here? Ellie is my friend, Nancy. I’m sure you two will get along fine.”
“It’s not that, Ray. It’s something that happened with Lady Krys. Did you know she’s a . . . a fortune teller or something?”
He looked perplexed. “Who? The Queen, or Lady Krys?”
“Lady Krys.”
“Nancy, you’re mistaken,” Akurea said. “She’s the bravest person I’ve ever met.”
“I don’t doubt it for a moment, but she claims to have seen the future. She made a demand of me which I refused. I think I’m here because of that refusal.”
Trexler stared at her, stared at her for a long time. “She told me she’d called you to a duty you don’t understand.”
“She called it a vision.”
“She’s a Seer, Nancy, not a fortune teller.”
“There’s a difference?”
“A huge difference.” Trexler sat back down on the bed beside her. “Krys is guiding the whole war. It’s because of her that Earth survived the Chessori attack.”
“I’ve heard you say that many times, but what does it mean?”
“She had a vision of the battle. She saw the Chessori traders releasing canisters, canisters that would have wiped out all life on Earth, most likely. She destroyed all of them.”
“She’s had other visions, Nancy,” Akurea said. “She has foretold major battles, and she has saved worlds. What did she see with you?”
“That I was with the Queen. Something about twins, Triton, and gleasons. She called on me to fulfill my duty, and I refused. Now, here I am anyway.”
“You think you’re here because of your refusal?”
“I’m wondering if, because of my refusal, we were attacked. Some thing, or someone, wants me to go despite my refusal.”
“Oh, my. You could be right.” Akurea said.
“And people are dead and injured because of my choice.”
“People are dead and injured because of choices other people made. It’s war, Nancy,” Trexler said.
“I’m no warrior, but I’m sorry now that I refused.”
Trexler took her hand. “Are you really sorry?”
“I am, Ray. I chickened out when the going got tough, and I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“Are you really sorry?”
She frowned. “I told you I was. Why do you ask?”
“Because you’ll be Tested. One of the gifts of the Chosen is their ability to read minds. When she Tests you, she will know the truth of you. I’ve been Tested. It’s not a big thing, but not much escapes her.”
“I’m not ready for anyone to read my mind, but I’m not going to let anyone else die because I’m a coward.”
“That’s a strong word, Nancy. It’s not like Seers are an everyday part of our lives. The Queen, too, has made mistakes, lots of them. All of us have. We’re growing into our jobs, learning as we go. Let’s see where things take you. I’ll be there beside you.”
She squeezed his hand, and Akurea turned to leave. Trexler stopped her. “How’s your project going?”
“I finished the translation. Well . . . George did a lot of it for me. I’m studying the science of it right now. I’ll be ready to go as soon as we land. Uh . . .” she paused, then looked deeply into his eyes. “I’m beginning to see a problem, a problem of the first magnitude.”
“And that is . . .?”
She pulled a chair out from the workstation and sat down. She glanced at Nancy, then she focused hard on Trexler. “The Chessori have seen our fast ships in operation, right?”
“Yes, on several occasions, and we’ve beaten the pants off of them.”
“Won’t just seeing a fast ship get them thinking about fast ships of their own?”
“Yes. It’s a basic tenet of warfare. As soon as you come up with a better killing mechanism, your enemy will try to copy it. I think, in this case, that it will take them a while.”
“Sir, I’m not done with my studies yet, but I’m beginning to see certain similarities between our drives and the hypercom. I know a lot about our hyperspace drives, and with what I’ve learned about the hypercom, I think I might be able to build a fast ship drive on my own. The science seems to be there.”
He stared at her for a long time. “How certain are you?”
“Not certain. I’m not a scientist.”
“The Chessori will get fast ships eventually. That’s just a law of nature as far as I’m concerned. We probably can’t stop their progress, but we might be able to delay them. I sense a meeting of the Queen’s Inner Circle again. You might want to think about the presentation you’re going to make to them, Commander.”
Triton
Chapter 6
Juster frowned as he entered Struthers’ office. He had not seen Struthers since the devastating loss at Aldebaran, and he knew this meeting would not be pleasant. Not so much because of the loss of two sectors - that was bad enough - but because of Struthers himself. Little by little, this great man who had led all of them through the coup had been losing control, his focus narrowing until all he could think of was finding the Queen. Juster needed to somehow shock him out of his preoccupation, return him to the leader he had been.
Struthers stood across the room staring out toward the Palace through a transparent, floor-to-ceiling wall. His office was high up in a gzeikolt, a massive, 300 story community commandeered after the coup as a temporary home for his government. Patchy clouds floated above the plateau housing the palace complex some 30 miles away. The top of the plateau was on a level with Struthers’ office.
Barely visible, the spires of the Palace glinted in the sunlight toward the left end of the plateau. Closer to the center of the plateau the wide, low dome of the Senate Chamber shone bright white. Farther to the right, two gzeikolts towered above even the Palace. To the right of the gzeikolts on the far end of the plateau, the single tall spire of Fleet Headquarters rose to the same height as the Palace.
Two miles long and 3000 feet above the surrounding terrain, the top of the plateau had once been the heart of the Empire. That heart had been stilled on the night of the coup and no one lived there now. That would change, but not until craftsmen completed repairs.
Juster sensed the yearning in Struthers, for he shared that yearning. Both of them had called the Palace their home prior to the coup, and both of them coveted the idea of calling it home again. It would be at least another year.
“Sire,” Juster called.
Struthers turned to him and the two men stared at each other, the terrible defeats hanging in the air between them. To Juster’s surprise, Struthers stepped over to him and put his arms around him in an embrace. It only lasted a moment, but it told Juster that his mentor just might have come back from wherever he’d been.
Sure enough, Struthers was focused, more focused than he’d been in many months. “Your sister’s words woke me up,” Struthers said. “She was right - I have not been a good leader. That’s over. I’m back in control.” He peered hard into Juster’s eyes. “How do we combat the capabilities of those ships we saw at Aldebaran?”
“We have people loyal to us serving on them. We’re making inquiries among them. Our scientists, too, will be part of the picture. We don’t know how they do it, but we know it can be done. We’ll just have to figure out how. Until we do, my only recourse is to overwhelm them. I have not been idle this past month. I s
pent the whole voyage planning. I’m going to pull serious resources from the sectors and start training hard. My staff has already started the process.”
“What about the Chessori?”
“They performed better than we did, but clearly the scree is not the perfect solution we thought it would be. The Great Cats function in spite of it, and the suffering of our crews is a high price to pay for a modest advantage.” He looked away for a moment, then back at Struthers. “The best solution is to improve Chessori performance. They’ll shine in their own ships. We need to upgrade them.”
Struthers stepped back with a raised eyebrow. “You haven’t heard?”
“Heard what?”
Struthers turned and stepped back to the window, his back ramrod straight as his gaze settled once again on the Palace. Juster joined him, though his gaze rested uneasily on Struthers, not the Palace.
“It’s not just the Great Cats,” Struthers said. “There’s someone else, a race of beings, humanoid, that from all indications function in spite of the scree. They’re effective ground fighters, and I suspect they’re at the controls of some ships, as well. Their numbers are, apparently, limited.”
“Where are they from?”
“I don’t know. We’re working on that, trust me.”
“Sire, that changes everything. And it explains why the Chessori are performing below expectations. At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if they abandoned us. We can’t afford that. Not yet.”
“I know. I’ve already approved an upgrade package for their ships. The preliminary engineering is almost done.” He glanced toward the open door, then back to Juster and lowered his voice. “I’m not giving them our biggest power plants, but what they get will be a material improvement over what they have now. We’ll start modifications right away. The first upgraded ships will be operational in half a year.”
“Why hold back?”
“It’s a game of pajjistk that I play with them. I give a little, they give a little. I still want that hypercom, and I want access to their markets. They don’t give in easily.”
Voice of the Chosen (Spirit of Empire, Book Three) Page 10
