The Price of Honor

by Jonathan P. Brazee

  He pointedly ignored the four hulking Klethos, who were standing impassively beside her while reminding observers that three other governments were there with the Brotherhood.

  This is all theater, she thought, but she answered, “Honor your commitment to the UAM task force. Let us combine our strength rather than split us apart.”

  “Even if that spells our destruction?” he asked.

  “Don’t answer,” her coach said.

  Sky stood still.

  “Well,” the first brother said, after an uncomfortably long silence. “You must be tired after your journey. If you would follow the Right Honorable Williams, he will escort you to more comfortable quarters where you can relax while we consider your request.”

  Bullshit. You already know what you’re going to do, and you’re playing to the media.

  Sky smiled, gave a half-bow, then turned to leave. Then, as if spotting Bishop Van Meter for the first time, she detoured to him, hand outstretched. Sure enough, instinct took over, and he held out his hand as well.

  “Good to see you, Bishop,” she said, taking his hand.

  “Likewise,” he said.

  He had to have felt the tiny capsule she’d just pressed into his palm, but he showed no sign of it. He knew the media was watching as well.

  This was the tipping point, and Sky knew it could go either way now. The UAM decision-makers had argued long and hard over this. They could have sent the message over normal channels, but no one yet knew the Klethos’ capabilities of surveillance, and if the media somehow got ahold of it, panic would ensue. In the end, going against the objections of many, including the Federation chairman, if what Sky heard was correct, they decided that using her as a courier would be the safest bet, and it would also give the first brother a visible reason to make a change of policy. Sky and the others were a cover, for all intents and purposes.

  If the first brother agreed. If not . . . ?

  That wasn’t something she even wanted to contemplate.

  ***************

  Two hours later, the seven of them were still lounging in a very comfortably furnished room with overstuffed chairs and bookcases full of physical books. Refreshments had been provided, but all for humans. Other than the water, the Klethos hadn’t touched any of them, even if some should have been biologically acceptable. They stood quietly in one corner of the large room, their unblinking eyes giving them a statute-like quality.

  After a flurry of conjecture between themselves and conferencing with the UAM leaders, the three humans had sunk into the plush chairs and sat, lost in their thoughts.

  “Stop it, Foue,” Sky finally said. “You’re driving me nuts.”

  She lowered her hand from her mouth where she’d been chewing her fingernails. Two fingers showed signs of blood around the nailbeds.

  “Sorry. It’s just the waiting.”

  “Be prepared to wait longer,” Norelco said, before leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes.

  Sky pulled herself out of the deep chair, then wandered over to the wall-to-wall bookcases. She didn’t know if she’d ever seen so many physical books in her life, outside of a library. She reached up to touch one, pulling it out halfway before putting it back and walking along the case, her forefinger trailing along each book in one row. The titles didn’t register. Her mind was on the message she’d delivered, and the longer they waited, the more she was sure it had been a big mistake.

  Norelco was right, however. Two hours really wasn’t that long—it just seemed like it was.

  “Interesting that you humans put words onto plastic sheets for storage,” Gary said behind her, making her jump.

  She was surprised that a being that big could sneak up on her like that.

  “We also have them on paper,” she said, looking back at the other three in the quad.

  None of them were overtly paying them any attention, but being only six or seven meters away, they could hardly miss that Gary, the quiet one, was speaking to her.

  “We have never used pressed vegetable matter to store knowledge.”

  Her interest piqued despite the situation, she asked, “What do you use? I mean, what did you use early in your history?”

  “There are many media that provide better storage. Some things are quite small, almost too small to notice, that can be handed to someone else should the need arise.”

  Sky felt her face blanche as her far-off guide said, “Steady, Skylar. We don’t know what that means.”

  Sky ignored the voice in her earbud and asked, “Why do you say that?”

  “I say words that reflect my thoughts and observations.”

  Oh, shit, they know. I don’t know how, but they know.

  After long and contentious debate, the UAM leadership had decided to play their trump card, laying on the table that the Klethos were about to extract lassor, and there was nothing the UAM could do to dissuade them. The situation was out of the UAM’s hands, and the only way out was for the Brotherhood and its allies to come back into the fold, so to speak, and restore honor to mankind.

  The UAM had unanimously voted to come to the Brotherhood’s aid, should it come to that, but that vote was not relayed in Sky’s message.

  With better intel on the Klethos, the analysts felt that in an all-out war with them, humanity would eventually prevail, but the cost would be high, and a diminished humanity would be far less capable of standing up to the Dictymorphs.

  As sure as she’d ever been, she knew that Gary had just let her know that they knew what was in the message she’d given to the bishop. That left the question of whether they also knew that the UAM would side with the Brotherhood.

  Over Gary’s shoulders, the other three Klethos hadn’t moved nor changed their body language. But they knew he was talking to her, and she was now sure they knew the subject. That left the possibility that when Gary had made that surreptitious meeting with her back in Brussels, it had been all planned by the quad, if not higher in the Klethos hierarchy.

  “Sometimes, words are not meant for everyone,” she said.

  “Words are words, and they cannot be owned.”

  “Skylar, stop talking until we figure what we’re going to do,” her coach said.

  “No, but their meaning can cause consequences if not all people feel the same, right?” she said, tuning out her earbud.

  “Words always have consequences. That is why they are uttered. Even when there is agreement.”

  Sky felt a surge of hope that pierced the curtain of fear that had taken over her. If she wasn’t totally crazy, Gary might have just expressed tacit approval of the message they’d given the Brotherhood.

  “Ambassador Ybarra, this is the chairman. Do not say anything else to the Klethos until we process this.”

  Sky reached up and pulled the earbud out, sticking it in her pocket.

  “And if there is agreement? Does that mean previous threats are . . . are rescinded?”

  She knew she was treading dangerous ground here. Diplomats were not supposed to be so blunt, but then again, she was not a real diplomat.

  To her left, Norelco suddenly sat up straight, and Foue was concentrating on something. She looked over to Sky and started to stand up, but Sky held up a hand, palm facing outward, to stop her. Foue looked confused, but she sat back down, then put out a hand to stop Norelco when he started to get to his feet.

  “Words have truth, but action does not. Even when there is an agreement to the words, action does not necessarily follow.”

  Sky stared at Gary for a moment, trying to pull the meaning out of what he’d just said.

  “Honor is paramount,” he added, before turning to join the rest of the quad.

  For the briefest moment, Glinda’s soul-piercing eyes shifted to look at her before turning away.

  They want this to work, but if it doesn’t, honor requires them to take action. It will be war.

  Sky walked back to her seat and sat down.

  An anxious Foue asked, “What t
he hell’s going on? I’ve got the president yelling in my ear that you need to be shut down.”

  “The Klethos know everything.”

  “Everything?” Norelco whispered, looking back over his shoulder at the quad.

  “Everything.”

  “Now what? They’re going crazy back at home,” Foue said, pointing to her ear.

  “Now we just sit back and wait.”

  ***************

  “Ambassadors? The First Brother requests your presence,” the Right Honorable Williams said, entering the room.

  “This is it,” Sky muttered, as she stood up.

  She had her earbud back in and had spent most of the last hour being both threatened and cajoled by more people in power than she had known even existed. There had been talk of replacing her with Norelco and sending her back to the ship, but like it or not, she was the face of the delegation.

  That wasn’t to mean that they were ignoring what had transpired. Sky had uploaded the recording, and most of the experts agreed with Sky as to what Gary was conveying. Everyone who was monitoring the situation understood the gravity of what was about to happen.

  The Federation chairman had tried to circumvent the proceedings and call the first brother, but her call wasn’t accepted. The cards had been dealt, and all that mattered was to see how they played out.

  As the quad started to follow the three Earth diplomats, Williams held out a hand and asked them to stay in the room.

  Sky exchanged worried glances with the other two, but the Klethos seemed nonplussed and returned to their corner.

  “Don’t worry about them. We’ve got two SEAL teams standing by if needed, one for you three and one for the Klethos,” her coach said.

  She nodded at the other two, and they followed Williams, but instead of heading to the Great Hall, he led them to a non-descript office down a much narrower hall. Sky didn’t like the looks of things, but when Williams opened a door, she strode in as if she belonged.

  She was greatly relieved to see the first brother, Archcardinal Morraine, Bishop Van Meter, and two other men whom she didn’t recognize. If this was an arrest, they were certainly using the top of the Brotherhood heap to make it.

  The arch-cardinal was the head of the church. The first brother had previously held the position before becoming the head of state, and the arch-cardinal was generally assumed to have the second-most power of anyone else in the Brotherhood.

  “Thank you for meeting us here,” the first brother said, as if they’d had a choice in the matter. “We have read the message you passed to Brother Van Meter, and as you can imagine, it caused great consternation. The problem with messages, especially ones passed in secret, is that they can be truth or lies, and in our experience, it is usually the latter. Like flowers, truth blossoms in the light of day, while lies fester in the darkness of secrecy, after all.”

  Sky kept her face expressionless, but that was not a good opening statement.

  “However, what you wrote coincides with what some of us think,” he said, nodding towards the bishop, “and we cannot summarily dismiss what could be the truth. Furthermore, we have no credible information that would support that the UAM would lie about this.”

  Which means your spies cannot find anything.

  “We still believe in our stand. Aligning with the Klethos was a huge mistake, one that brought us to the attention of the Dictymorphs. Their attack on Saint Canisius is proof of that.

  “We also believe that we cannot trust the Klethos. They have exterminated seventeen races that we know of, simply because they could. They are a barbaric race, one that is an affront to the eyes of God.

  “However, there is another threat, and as you so eloquently pointed out in the Great Hall, the simple fact is that, no matter who is to blame, we are in the Dictymorphs’ crosshairs.”

  Sky opened her mouth to agree, but her coach told her, “Can it, Sky. For once, shut up and let him speak.”

  “We cannot afford to fight the Klethos. Even together, if you would join us, we would be crippled in such a fight, and that would leave us ripe for the pickings when the Dictymorphs come, and come they will. So, needs must be done when the devil drives, as they say, and so we agree to rescind our withdrawal from the UAM task force and will once again contribute our resources to the war effort.”

  Oh, thank God!

  “We do have some conditions, however,” he continued, which dampened her relief.

  “First is that we are not admitting fault in any form. With the attack on Destiny, we have merely advanced our timeline for what would have happened anyway.

  “Second, we are going to demand reparations for the attack on Destiny, as it was the UAM’s precipitous actions that resulted in the attack so soon.”

  What? How about your attack on the Zrínyi? You murdered those sailors and Marines. And what about all those who died on Destiny saving your asses?

  “Steady, Skylar. This is politics, and it can all be worked out,” her coach said.

  “Third,” the first brother continued, “our alliance with the Klethos will not be a formal alliance, but merely cooperation in convenience. Brotherhood forces will not be tasked with saving the Klethos from destruction, but merely to fight the Dictymorphs where needed. If that is on a Dictymorph world, so be it.”

  He stopped, looking at Sky, seemingly pleased with himself.

  “I appreciate your candor, First Brother. We will pass your conditions to the secretary general.”

  “Please, Ambassador Ybarra, you don’t need to pass that on. As soon as the words came out of my mouth, he heard. I have my gathered officials in the Great Hall as well as media from a thousand planets. I will be leaving this room and announcing my decision, so what will that decision be?”

  “Take the offer, Skylar. We can haggle over the terms later,” her coach said.

  Sky opened her mouth to pass the acceptance, but a niggling thought broke free. There was someone else in play, too.

  “We have a condition, too,” she said, while her coach said, “Shit, Skylar, I said accept!”

  “Whether it was our message given to the bishop or not that changed your mind, there is something else. I’ve since learned that the Klethos do not want to go to war with the Brotherhood. They realize the disaster that would be for the fight against the Dictymorphs.”

  “For God’s sake, Skylar, shut your fucking mouth! You’re going to ruin it!” her coach yelled.

  The first brother’s eyebrows raised as he stole a glance at one of the unnamed men by his side. Sky refused to wonder who the man was or what his eyebrows signified. She knew she had just diminished the importance of cooperating again, but she had to go on.

  She heard her coach yell to someone in the background, “She’s not shutting up.”

  “However, and despite that, they will attack to remediate the honor that they feel you threw away. Make no doubt about it, even if it means the end of their race, they will proceed, because to them, without honor, they do not deserve to live as a people.

  “You can make all the demands you want, and the UAM will bend over backwards to let you save face to your citizens, despite your complicity in all that has transpired. But it isn’t just the UAM that you have to deal with. The Klethos have to agree that you are no longer d’lessu, that you are d’lato once again. If you don’t, then it doesn’t matter what the UAM says, because the Klethos are going to fall on your holy asses like the devils you say they are.”

  One of the men looked confused at her use of Klethos terminology, but she knew the first brother understood. He leaned back, his confidence gone. He started chewing on his lower lip, and Sky could see the gears turning.

  “Of course, you can assure the Klethos that we embrace honor.”

  “No.”

  “Oh, shit, she’s making it worse,” her coach said, as she tried to tune him out.

  “I can’t assure the Klethos of anything of the sort. I can assure them that we are punishing you, that we are adminis
tering lassor because our honor demands it. I cannot speak for you, nor for the Klethos. You are ignoring them right now as if they don’t exist, but they are not our pets to do our bidding. They act on their own as they deem fit.”

  “Surely you didn’t expect us to invite them here,” Archcardinal Morraine said, “given the content of your message.”

  “No, I didn’t, even though I found out that they were already very aware of its contents. They chose not to intervene yet, and I’m guessing that’s to see if the formalities are met and they can step back with their honor intact.

  “No, Arch-Cardinal, I cannot speak for the Klethos, and if I give you the agreement that the secretary-general and everyone else who is yammering through the poor man on the other side of this earbud,” she said, pulling it out and brandishing it, “I would be doing a disservice, not to the UAM, not to my Federation, but to humanity. What we say doesn’t matter. It is what the Klethos say.”

  There was a shocked silence, broken only by the tinny-sounding voice emitting out of the earbud she held out at arm’s length.

  “I must admit,” the first brother said after a few moments, “that you have given us—given me—pause. I did not really consider this in those terms. If you will give us until tomorrow, we will discuss your concerns. The Right Honorable Williams will arrange for suitable quarters for you and the Klethos.”

  “No, First Brother.”

  “What now, Ambassador? You made your point. Is there more?”

  “No, sir. But I have a feeling that tomorrow might be too late. We’ve been underestimating the Klethos for a century, now.”

  “No, we haven’t—” the bishop started, before Sky continued.

  “We admit their fighting prowess, but nothing else. You, First Brother, called them a ‘barbarous race,’ not three hours ago. Yes, they like to fight with swords, yes, they like to fight in the ring, but don’t forget, they were plowing through our forces with ease before General Lysander broke the code of gladiatorial combat.

  “What we forget is that their technology is superior to ours. They can render our weapons useless. They can travel through space without ships. They can read a tiny encoded capsule that I gave the bishop.