“The probe is not there yet, but the fourth planet is throwing off enough electronic media for us to do a major analysis of them without putting anything on the ground. There are several wars raging right now. It appears that the planet is just coming out of a colonial period. Do I need to explain what that is?”
“No, Nelly,” Kris said. “We all know what it means when folks one place think they should tell folks some other place how to run their lives.”
“The wars right now are being waged using conventional weapons, but, Kris, these people have fissionable atomics for power and hydrogen-enriched atomics for weapons.”
“Oh, so our bug-eyed monsters do indeed have a hot one on their hands,” Jack said, with a chuckle.
“And they have chemical weapons, too,” Nelly added. “Several of the larger armies have access to nerve gas and have fighting uniforms designed to handle the problem of it on the battlefield.”
“This just gets better and better,” Penny said. “Who are these people?”
“From the looks of them, we think they evolved from something more like an Earth feline. They have peaked ears, furry faces, and several still have tails.”
“The aliens found themselves a batch of tigers,” Taussig said. “And they sound like they’re at the technological level of the late twentieth century. Back at the Academy, I took a course on that century. It was such a train wreck that I couldn’t turn away from it. Some of our best alien-invasion literature dates back to that time. They spent a lot of their time scared, and space aliens were about the scariest thing around. That and zombies.”
“Zombies?” Kris said.
“Living-dead things,” Taussig said, “And don’t ask me how they square that circle.”
“Living dead,” Kris repeated.
“I have pictures,” Nelly said.
“Don’t,” came from everyone at the table.
“Now, about our feline aliens,” Kris said, “who appear to be armed to the teeth?”
“They are divided up into a hundred and fifty-seven different competing districts. Some much larger than the others. Some much more powerful than the others. Three appear to be dominant. Two share a similar language and call their planet Sasquan,” Nelly said.
“Well, if they are as combative as you say,” Jack asked, “why haven’t the larger ones taken over the smaller ones?”
“Some of the smaller ones can be quite nasty if you invade their territory. Do I need to explain guerrilla warfare?” Nelly asked.
“Oh, good Lord,” Penny said. “They’ve got that going on down there? Even when you win a war, you don’t win it. It never ends until you finally get smart and go home.”
“Something like that.”
“So let me sum it up,” Kris said. “Our big, bad, bug-eyed monsters have stumbled upon a really nasty bunch of cats that might just give them the fight of their life and not quit even when they’re beaten. I can’t think of a better future for them.”
“You all notice they are not tackling them,” Nelly said.
“I have one question that has been bothering me,” Taussig said, putting down his fork. “How come the BEMs are here? This is a long way from where we whipped their mother ship. How’d they get here?”
“Nelly, that sounds like a very interesting question,” Kris said.
“I already ran the necessary jumps, Kris, and I don’t much care for what they show. I was waiting for a better time to ruin your dinner.”
“Good turn of phrase, Nelly. My dinner is already ruined, I think. Finish it up.”
“If the defeated aliens cut across the Alwa System at one-gee acceleration, they would have hit our Jump Point Beta at about the right speed for a long jump, assuming they used at least ten RPMs at the jump and goosed it up to two gees.”
“I don’t like where this is going,” Jack said.
Penny grimaced. “We know where it’s going. Right here.”
Nelly waited for the chatter to die down, then went on. “They took four slower jumps to duplicate our one high-speed jump, but if they accelerated through two of them and began decelerating, they would have ended up here.”
“So the aliens know how to take long jumps?” Kris said.
“Yes, Kris. Apparently they don’t risk them with their mother ship, but the warships can do them.”
Captain Taussig was shaking his head. “There goes your twelve-jump-point-out warning system,” he said. “They can jump directly into Alwa from way out.”
“But,” Nelly quickly put in, “they will be coming in at several hundred thousand kilometers an hour. They would need the entire system to slow down, and maybe then some. They would have no fighting capability in that situation.”
“Maybe they wouldn’t want any,” Kris said. “Back in the Unity War, something like those almost wiped out Wardhaven. They were going to use relativity bullets. Huge iron slugs traveling at .05 or so percent of the speed of light can make a hell of a mess when they hit.”
“Like the bullets that hit the insectoid planet one out from the aliens’ home world?” Penny said.
“Exactly. Let’s say those speedsters they’ve got get themselves up to a really high velocity and don’t try to slow down before they hit Alwa. Or any human or Iteeche planet. Even this one.”
“I love you, Kris Longknife,” Jack said, “but you can come up with some of the most horrific ideas.”
“I didn’t come up with this one. It’s in our history books.”
“Jack, you’ve got to do something about her bookshelf,” Phil Taussig said.
“You try getting this woman to do anything she doesn’t want to do,” was Jack’s quick answer.
That got him nods of understanding.
“Getting back to our alien situation, and not all about me for a moment,” Kris said, “do all the aliens have this kind of knowledge, or just the one we scared into running away from us as far and as fast as they could?”
“She may have a point there,” Penny said. “They were running scared. Not just from us. Who knows what was coming down on them for not going with the rest and hunting up a horde that would take them in. Conflict management and resolution doesn’t strike me as their strong suit.”
“No, conflict avoidance seems to be their preferred way of living,” Kris agreed.
“And we know that the last time we passed Alwa,” Jack said, “it was still there.”
“We also know that the critters across the system from us haven’t rocked the critters down system from us.”
“Smart move. I wouldn’t piss off those kitties until I was real sure I could take them.”
“Does anyone wonder if there’s another mother ship headed this way to take out the, what do they call themselves, Sasquans?” Penny asked.
“At least in two of their zones,” Nelly said, answering one question.
“That is a possibility,” Kris admitted to the other question, “but they are a long way from their usual stomping grounds. There’s another thing. I could be wrong, but bragging rights for wiping out a planet seemed to be a big thing. Nelly, get Jacques on the line.”
“You called, Kris?”
“Do the alien ships claim bragging rights for the planets they kill?”
“Most definitely. They count the number they’ve bagged, like notches on their belt. There was a notation, not in stone, but in pigment, that we managed to read bragging that one ship had five and another ship only had four. By the way, those two weren’t even the high scorers. One had nine, but I think it may be the original ship, and it didn’t seem to need to brag.”
“In your opinion, if the aliens across the system from us didn’t join another horde, what are the chances they’d call in another ship to handle this planet?”
“Pretty low. No guarantee I’d be right. Understanding these aliens is a study in progress, and likely to be for a long time, assuming we don’t kill each other first.”
“I understand where you’re coming from, Professor. Thank you for y
our informed opinion,” Kris said, and rang off.
“Which leaves me,” Kris said, “with one big problem. Do we tiptoe out of this system and mark it on our map for later examination, or do we do something now?”
The table got very quiet.
“Thank you all very much,” Kris said. “Phil, can the Hornet do without you for a bit?”
“Hey, I’m just the captain. If we’re just swinging around the anchor here, she’s probably better off without me.”
“Have I told you how well you lie?” Kris said.
“My family’s been Navy for five hundred years or more, Admiral, of course we tell good sea stories. Or space stories.”
“I think they’re still sea stories,” Jack said. “So the rest of us can say, ‘Oh, I see,’ as you pull our legs.”
“Whatever works.”
“Nelly, get my key staff, and that includes Professor Labao as well as Amanda and Jacques. If I’m going to put my nose into a hornet’s nest, I want the most informed guesses I can get beforehand.”
“Hornets! I know a lot about hornets!” the skipper of the last two Hornets said through a grin.
They adjourned to Kris’s day cabin.
39
“I know we’ve only begun our study of this new bunch of aliens,” Kris said, beginning her staff meeting. “But I’ve sworn that no more new heads get added to that trophy room under their pyramid. However, Alwa is my first responsibility.”
Kris made a face. “So what do we do about these felines down sun from us? We’ve got an eighth of Alwa’s defending frigates here, maybe more, depending on if the Smart Metal work is not going well.”
She paused to look at everyone around the table. She had their attention.
“What is the best course of action? Do we attack the aliens on the other side of this system? Should we make contact with the aliens down system and tell them who’s sharing their sun with them now? Could we give them some advanced technology that would let them do a better job of holding their own against any space-based attack?”
Kris paused, then added the final option. “Or do we do nothing? Mark this place on our charts for later contact and get back to Alwa. Do any of you see some other option that I missed?”
Again, Kris was met with a silent table.
I’m getting a bit tired of this silent treatment.
But then, they could remain silent and do nothing. She was the one who had to choose action over inaction.
A lot of people exchanged glances, but no one spoke for a long time. Finally, the looks between Jacques and Amanda sprouted words.
“The cat people, as some of us have taken to calling them. I think that’s better than furries,” Amanda said. “Anyway, they are firmly into their industrial age. Jet aircraft, early rockets, lots and lots of personal transportation. They do not yet have any of the computational power that will put them into the information age.” She glanced at Professor Labao to see if he would contradict her, but the administrator seemed happy with her words.
“However, that may be changing. The three biggest groups are making noises about a race to their moon. If they do that, they will have to develop better and smaller computers, and that could launch them into the information age and major changes to their economies. How that will turn out is anyone’s guess.”
Amanda eyed Kris as if deciding what to say next, then glanced at Jacques. He took over the story. “The problem Amanda and I are struggling with is the question of how well these people can learn to work together. We make a joke of ‘it’s like herding cats,’ but they are living that problem.”
“But they have a military, don’t they?” Kris asked. “A successful military requires discipline, working together, following orders.”
“Yes, Kris, but a lot of warlike people in human history have succeeded in war without giving up a lot of individual prerogatives. Not all warrior societies want every soldier walking in lockstep. Some pride themselves on the Berserker mentality or the Samurai spirit. You can march in step and still get all kinds of independent action.”
“Where did I first hear the virtue of ‘Improvise. Improvise. Damn it, improvise’?” Kris said.
“Precisely,” Jack said.
“Oh, Colonel Cortez, how I wish you were here,” Kris said.
“I feel his ghost at my elbow,” Jack said, “and he is laughing his head off.”
Kris paused a moment to see if she could hear the good colonel’s pleasant chuckle. Hearing nothing, she went on. “Okay, so my anthropologists and economists tell me that these felines are very independent but dangerous as hell,” Kris said. “I get the feeling that all this beating around the bush is intended to slowly work me away from putting any high technology in their paws. It would be worse than petting their fur the wrong way.”
“I wouldn’t agree with that imagery,” Jacques said, “but I sure wouldn’t want to artificially inject advanced technology into their civilization. The outcome could be ugly.”
“So, one of my options is off the table. That still leaves two. Do we risk this squadron in taking out the aliens across the system, or do we quietly leave and shut the door on this Pandora’s box? Maybe come back in a year or two and see what we find?”
“Kris,” said Nelly, “I don’t think the matter is in your hands anymore.”
“Why, Nelly?”
“Twenty-two alien warships just boosted out from the gas giant’s orbit.”
Kris allowed herself a deep breath. She would not panic. She’d fought and killed them before. She would do it again. Letting out her breath, she put on her war face as she glanced around the table. Jack and Penny were already back in battle harness. Masao looked inscrutable. The three boffins looked surprised.
Bet they didn’t see this one coming.
“Report on the aliens’ movement, Nelly,” Kris ordered.
To their right, a screen came to life. It showed the entire system from well above the sun.
“The aliens have begun a one-gee acceleration that will take them toward the sun and, assuming some modifications to accommodate the solar presence, I calculate it is very likely that they will swing around the sun and arrive at the fourth planet. Kris, they are launching an attack on the cat people.”
“Why would they do that now?” Jack asked.
“Nelly, has there been any evidence in the cat people’s radio transmissions that they are aware of the aliens?”
“No, Kris. There are no references to an alien attack in their news. Their fiction, as distributed in their media, has no genre for alien attack. I also find it hard to accept that they would be continuing their minor war if they were fighting for their existence with the aliens. No, this is the first attack by the aliens,” Nelly said, drawing a conclusion from what Kris would have considered incomplete data.
“But that still leaves the question, why now?” Jack repeated himself.
“Maybe they needed time to refuel,” Kris said. “Maybe they needed time to prepare. Or maybe they even had an argument as to what to do next. Nelly, is that all of their warships?”
“Two are remaining behind with the four large reactors.”
“So it’s seven heavy frigates and the Endeavor against twenty-two of their monsters,” Kris said. “Those are the best odds I’ve faced yet. Nelly, send to the squadron. ‘Prepare for battle. We get underway in two hours. Longknife sends.’”
“I guess I’ll be getting back to my Hornet sooner than I expected,” Captain Taussig said, standing up.
“Good luck and Godspeed,” Kris said.
“The same to us all,” Taussig replied.
Despite Kris’s early alert, they were still at anchor twelve hours later. There was no rush; even with the later start, they would reach the felines well ahead of the bug-eyed monsters that looked too much like humans.
They spent the extra time absorbing the Sisu into the Wasp and the Intrepid.
These two frigates had begun life with only five 18-inch guns. Now they sported
ten 20-inchers. That made them better in a fight, but their power generation meant it took far too long to reload the lasers.
Over the next couple of hours, one of the reactors from the Sisu was swallowed by each of the other two ships. They wouldn’t be used for propulsion, but they could be used to recharge the lasers.
When the occupants of the brig discovered they were going into a fight, the engineers among them begged for a chance to run their own reactor to power the guns that might just save their lives.
While they might or might not have heard much about why they’d been detained in the Alwa System, they certainly had learned that the bug-eyed monsters did not take prisoners.
Kris granted them their desire but assigned engineers from her own watch to keep an eye on them. As well as Marines to do the same, only armed.
When the rest of the engineers stepped forward to help with their new fourth reactor, Intrepid also took them up on the offer. And detached Marines to keep them straight up.
The extra Smart MetalTM was also much approved of by Penny when she got half of the Sisu’s hull, scantlings and fittings. Nelly and her kids had to work hard with both the Wasp’s and Intrepid’s ship maintainers to get the stuff smoothed into their own structure.
Kris thought long and hard on it, then decided to keep the ship at Condition Baker for the one-gee acceleration and deceleration down to the fourth planet.
She delegated to Jacques and Amanda the job of explaining to the newly recruited aliens that they were going to war. “Don’t say who with, just let them know that we have run into someone who owes us their head,” Kris said. “See if they can get the concept.”
An hour later, Nelly reported back that the aliens didn’t have a problem with the Sky Gods fighting other Sky Gods. The path of the People was often bloody. Why shouldn’t the path among the stars be red as well?
Kris shivered at the thought but took her blessings where she found them.
With fuel topped off and enough reaction mass both for the trip sunward and plenty extra to pad their armor with cooling liquid and dispersant to vent if hit, they began a carefully measured one-gee burn for the Cat Planet. If things went as planned, they would flip ship at midcourse and go into orbit just as the alien fleet was rounding the sun and decelerating toward them.
Kris Longknife: Tenacious (Kris Longknife novellas Book 12) Page 24
