Valkyrie (Expeditionary Force Book 9)

by Craig Alanson

  “Yeah, but aren’t they a security risk?”

  “No. The humans are on two islands, far from the population centers of the planet. The entire world only has a population of less than one million.”

  “The humans are surviving, then.”

  “Sort of. Their numbers have dropped from almost five hundred originally, to under two hundred today. The food supply has been a major problem. And, obviously, the Kristang have provided hardly any medical care.”

  “This is bad. What aren’t you telling me?”

  “You think their situation is not bad enough?”

  “I think you haven’t told me how bad it is yet.”

  “You know me too well. All right. From the relay station, I learned the entire galaxy is talking about two subjects right now. The ghost ship that is making the Maxolhx look like fools. Hee hee,” he chuckled. “You should see how the kitties are trying to deny the whole thing. We are driving them crazy, Joe.”

  “I will send them a fruit basket to apologize. What is the second thing?”

  “The Alien Legion.”

  “The Legion? Seriously? Their action involved only a couple thousand humans, on a planet nobody cared about. Even if all of UNEF-Paradise signed up for the Legion, that wouldn’t significantly boost the combat power of the Ruhar.”

  “Ugh,” he sighed wearily. “Hey, dumdum, I told you, you need to read my summary of the Legion’s Deathtrap mission.”

  “I did read it.”

  “Apparently, you don’t remember the important details. Anyways, Perkins knows the importance of the Legion is not ten or fifty or a hundred thousand human troops. It’s the millions of Verd-kris who could potentially be added to the combat power of the Ruhar. Emily Perkins has got the whole galaxy in an uproar. Everyone is frightened that the strategic math might change. Adding the Verd-kris to the Ruhar strength of arms not only boosts the hamsters against their traditional enemy the Kristang, it could have long-term effects on the balance of power across the galaxy. Traditionally, civilian populations have been relocated when control of a planet changes from one side to another. Or, those civilians are used as hostages to get a better deal on a world the conquerors prefer. The Verds are the largest group of aliens living under the control of a foreign power, and the only group of significant size that has renounced affiliation with the official government of their species. There are Ruhar living under control of the Kristang, but those Ruhar remain loyal to their own people, at least in spirit. The Verds, just by fighting alongside Ruhar on Fresno, have threatened to upset the social arrangements that have been in force for thousands of years. No one knows how to respond, and everyone is anxious about it.”

  “That makes sense,” I agreed. Damn it, he was right. I did need to read that report. “How does a group of human children threaten-”

  “They don’t.”

  “Then why-”

  “Are you going to keep interrupting me?”

  As a response, I mimed zipping my lips, locking them and throwing away the key.

  “We’ll see how long that lasts,” he rolled his eyes. “The threat to the humans on Rikers is not what they might do, but what could be done to them. After the Legion unexpectedly won the fight on Fresno, the Thuranin were concerned. Then the Bosphuraq were forced to pull out of their joint offensive with the Thuranin, because the Maxolhx are beating the crap out of the birdbrains. Now, the little green pinheads have panicked. Their position is weakened, they no longer have help from the Bosphuraq, and the Maxolhx are demanding the Thuranin push the Jeraptha back, which they can’t do by themselves.”

  He paused to see if I interrupted again. All I did was nod for him to continue.

  “Hmmf. The last thing the Thuranin need now is for their Kristang clients to be thrown into even more disarray, if support from the Alien Legion allows the Ruhar to stage a major offensive. From the relay station, I learned the Thuranin have asked the Maxolhx for permission to stage a raid on Paradise, to hit the humans there.”

  “Shit! Uh, sorry. Go on, please.”

  “The Thuranin rightly see humans as the key to the Alien Legion. Without the presence of UNEF soldiers, the Ruhar public would never agree to provide the Verd-kris with weapons and training. The logic is, hit Paradise hard enough, and the Alien Legion problem goes away. Fortunately for UNEF, the Maxolhx are concerned about the Thuranin committing warships to an operation against Paradise, because the Jeraptha would certainly respond and retaliate.”

  Silently, I gestured with one hand for him to keep telling the story. Even though I had a lot of questions for him.

  “Unfortunately, the Maxolhx suggested an alternative to a military strike against Paradise.”

  “Oh shit,” I groaned. “Sorry.”

  “I’ll allow that one. Have you guessed the bad news?”

  “The Thuranin want the Fire Dragon clan to develop a bioweapon for use against humans, and they plan to use the POWs on Rikers as test subjects?”

  “Very good, Joe! That’s close to the truth. The Thuranin don’t trust the Kristang’s skill in biotechnology, so they are negotiating to buy the humans. They will be transported off Rikers to a Thuranin research base, and then used to develop a bioweapon.”

  I should have been screaming with horror. Maybe I’d seen and heard about enough horror that I could put it aside until later, when I would allow time for screaming and throwing chairs and whatever else I thought would uselessly blow off steam. In the meantime, I concentrated on doing my damned job and being useful. “That’s going to violate The Rules, right? No use of bioweapons? The Kristang thought they could get away with it last time, because they planned to make it look like a natural mutation of a human virus infected the Ruhar. No way would anyone believe that a second deadly virus on the same planet is a coincidence.”

  “Well, yes and no. Yes, you are correct, no way could the Thuranin get away with delivering a bioweapon. The Rindhalu would respond, even if it took them months or years to investigate and move their lazy asses. No, because the Thuranin are clever, and they’re getting help from their asshole patrons. The little green pinheads plan to cause a mutation of the vaccine I developed. All humans on Paradise had been vaccinated, and almost all Ruhar on that world also.”

  “Damn it! I have to ask a question.”

  “Permission granted.”

  “The vaccine has already been administered, right? It’s gone. It created antibodies in the people who were treated, then it,” I waved a hand vaguely in the air. “It died, or something. How could the vaccine-”

  “Ugh. This is what happens when I try to dumb something down for you. Yes, numbskull, the vaccine is gone. My treatment for humans was not just some simple vaccine that generates crude antibodies. My technique used gene-splicing to alter their DNA, so their DNA looks for the pathogen, and then cranks out a cure. What I should have said is, the Thuranin plan to hijack my alteration, to make the DNA produce a fatal mutation. I hate to say this, but the plan is quite clever, and they probably have the ability to do it. Maybe I should have anticipated that someone might use my technology for nefarious purposes, it’s too late now. If humans on Paradise begin dying, everyone will blame the miraculous vaccine that was provided by an unknown source. That vaccine was manufactured by the Ruhar, and voluntarily used by humans. There won’t be a violation of The Rules. It’s a technicality, but those are important in this war. Bottom line is, the Thuranin could get away with it.”

  “Shit. Shit shit shit!”

  “That was very helpful, Joe. Do you have any more words of wisdom?”

  “Those kidnapped children, they will be used to develop this new bioweapon?”

  “Along with the adults, yes. The Thuranin want to purchase all of the prisoners. They already have a dozen Keepers, but a dozen people is not a useful test population. Joe, I know you are thinking that we have to rescue the people on Paradise again, but-”

  “No. Skippy, I am thinking about those children who were taken from Earth, held in
horrible conditions, and are now going to be used for cruel experiments. That’s what I’m thinking about.”

  “Exactly. That is what I was worried about. You hear about a group of human children in danger, and you immediately want to abandon our mission, to fly off and rescue them.”

  “Crap! I wish, I really wish, that Emily Perkins had just stayed home on Paradise, and not gone off on an adventure with this Alien Legion she invented. Damn that woman! She had to know the humans on Paradise would be seen as a threat. I mean, it’s kind of a DUH that aliens would want to hit back. Of course they would. Paradise is better protected than it was, but, UNEF is still a soft target there.”

  “It’s not so soft now, Joe. After Fresno, the Ruhar anticipated there might be retaliation against UNEF, so they added a destroyer squadron to the battlegroup stationed there. Also, the project to complete the Strategic Defense network in orbit has been accelerated. The problem is, the Ruhar are building their defenses to fend off a Kristang attack. They can’t stop the Thuranin, if those little green assholes really want to wipe out UNEF. Anyway, if the Thuranin can develop and deliver a bioweapon, the defenses in orbit won’t matter.”

  “Right. It’s not just about rescuing a small group of children.”

  “You say that, but I can see that wild look in your eyes. You biologicals lose all ability to reason and use logic when your offspring are threatened.”

  “This is not just about a hundred thirty children on one planet. The humans on Paradise have been busy making babies. There are a lot more children there than on Rikers. And,” I shook a scolding finger at his avatar. “It is not a bad thing to care for children.”

  “I didn’t say it was a bad thing, dumdum. My concern is that you monkeys will go flying off with a half-baked plan to rescue the children on Rikers, without thinking about it first. I fear you are not capable of thinking in this situation.”

  He was right. Maybe it was impossible to make a plan or a decision, without being overwhelmed by emotion. The thought of starving children, taken away from Earth and held in horrible conditions far from home, living in terror every day, was overwhelming. It was supposed to be overwhelming. The people who aren’t affected by hearing that kind of horror are psychopaths, and I didn’t want to be one of them. “Let’s make a deal, Ok? If you think I am making a decision based on emotion rather than good sense, you call me out.”

  “You say that now, but if I do that-”

  “Skippy, I am capable of being calm and reasonable.”

  “Calm and reasonable?” Skippy said incredulously. “Joe, when you were six years old, didn’t you go to a petting zoo and get into a fight with a llama?”

  “Hey, that llama was being a dick.”

  “Yessss,” his voice dripped with sarcasm. “It was all the animal’s fault. Your family got banned from the petting zoo, because Joe. Ruins. Everything.”

  “Can we get back to the subject?” I asked, knowing the answer to that question was no. Skippy was so convulsed with laughter, there was no way we could have a productive discussion, until he got it out of his system.

  And for the record, that llama totally was being a dick.

  There was nothing to do but wait until Skippy was done laughing, so I waited.

  “Oh,” his avatar pretended to wipe away holographic tears. “That was a good one. You, being calm and reasonable.”

  “I promise to listen.”

  “Huh. Really? How about this, for example? The easiest way to end the misery of those children, minimize risk to this ship, and ensure the safety of humans on Paradise, is an orbital strike on the islands where the children are being held. End the threat to Paradise, by ending the humans on Rikers.”

  “That-” I leaned forward across my desk, close to lunging at him. Close, but I didn’t. My alter ego No Patience Man was mostly useful, but he had a bad side. I too often talked and acted without thinking. One thing that had helped me is counting to one before I react to something that made me angry. Not counting to three, I didn’t need that. Counting to one was enough.

  Skippy was baiting me. What he said was true. If the goal was to ensure the safety of Paradise, with minimal risk to our ships and crews, then an orbital strike to wipe out the poor humans on Rikers was an option I needed to consider.

  I didn’t like it, but I did need to consider it.

  “That was an asshole thing to say.”

  “I didn’t-”

  “It was also true. You’re right. An orbital strike is an option. A crappy, awful option, but it is an option.” Was living with myself, if I callously ended the lives of those children, an option? No it was not. I could burn that bridge when I came to it. “Let’s make sure that is never our best option, Ok?”

  “That’s up to you, Joe. You make the plans, you make the decisions. You’re the commander.”

  “Shit. Thank you so much for reminding me.”

  “Hey, I didn’t want to tell you about this at all, remember?”

  “Yeah. All right. Don’t tell anyone else about this yet. I need to think about how we could rescue those people on Rikers.”

  “Rescuing them isn’t the only problem, Joe.”

  “It’s not?” Maybe my brain wasn’t working at its best right then.

  “No. If all we cared about was pulling the humans off Rikers, we could park Valkyrie in orbit and rain hellfire down on the lizards until they surrendered the humans to us.”

  “Buuuut,” I was catching on to the problem. “We can’t do that, without blowing our cover story for all the ghost ship attacks we just conducted.”

  “Correct. Also, however we rescue those people, we need another cover story, to explain why anyone other than us would risk military action to pull a small group of primitive humans off that planet.”

  “Oh, Great. Wonderful. Do you have any other good news for me, or would you prefer to just drive a rusty nail through my skull?”

  “No, I’m good. You have enough on your plate.”

  “I had enough on my plate before this latest trouble. Hey, in the future, could we have a codeword, to signal when you’re about to dump a truckload of shit on my head?”

  “Me saying ‘Heeeey Joe’ wasn’t a good enough signal?”

  My response was to pound my forehead on my desk. My old desk aboard the Flying Dutchman at least made my forehead cool when I was bonking it in frustration. This fancy damned Maxolhx desk had its own climate system, to keep it at the user’s body temperature.

  I missed my old desk.

  I missed my old ship.

  I missed my old life.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  People in the staff meeting had the same reaction, when I told them about the POWs on Rikers, and that Skippy thought an orbital strike was an option we needed to consider.

  “Don’t be mad at Skippy. He is only stating the ugly truth. He wants us to be sure we are not risking our crew, our mission, and maybe all of humanity, just to rescue one small group of children. We are not talking about doing that. Pulling those people off Rikers also protects over a hundred thousand human lives on Paradise. That’s why we are contemplating a rescue mission.”

  Adams scrunched up her face, like she was trying hard to think of something. She was improving rapidly, the nanobots in her head were mostly deactivated and dissolved. She did not need any help walking, she was using the gym by herself without any difficulty. And, she was not back to a hundred percent yet. She still had trouble expressing complex thoughts. Not with understanding complex issues or concepts, she was reading at a high level and acing the tests Skippy gave her. Her speech center still had some rearranging to do before she was fully recovered. She knew it, we knew it, and she knew we were being extra patient with her when she spoke.

  “It’s Ok, Adams,” I said softly. “Take your time.”

  “I hate you being patient with me.” She glowered around the table, her stutter almost gone.

  “That is not going to change,” I glared back at her. “So suck it
up, Gunnery Sergeant. You’re here because I value your perspective. Whatever you’ve got to say, say it when you can. We can wait.”

  She squinted and her lips pressed together. Whatever she wanted to say, she was trying to squeeze it out of her head. “That’s not true, is it? We can’t wait.”

  That remark drew surprised looks around the table. “We can’t wait forever,” I replied. “The Thuranin are coming to pick up those people in-”

  She was frustrated again. This time, the source of her frustration was me. That was a good sign. “Not about waiting. I meant, it is not true that rescuing those people on Rikers is about saving humans on Paradise.”

  That got me worried that she had not been able to follow Skippy’s briefing. From the people casting their eyes down at the table, or looking anywhere but at Adams, I wasn’t the only one concerned about her. “The Thuranin want-”

  “I know the Thuranin are buying those people, so they can develop and test a bioweapon. I,” she balled up her fists then released them. Her frustration then was with all of us. Her still-recovering brain had figured out something the rest of us were missing. “Skippy, do the Thuranin absolutely need the humans on Rikers? Can’t they buy some Keepers, or create a virtual model of human biology, for testing?”

  “The Thuranin already have a handful of Keepers, and they have tried to purchase more. Keepers would be better test subjects, because they are adults and more similar to the target population on Paradise,” he said in a clinical tone. “The children on Rikers are not optimal test subjects, but they are available. No clan that has Keepers is willing to sell or trade them. Each clan is holding their Keepers in reserve, in case the Alien Legion invades one of that clan’s planets. The Keepers are considered a strategic asset. There was a raid, two months ago, where one clan attempted to steal another clan’s Keepers. Unfortunately, all those Keepers were killed in the crossfire.” He paused. “Buncha morons. I don’t know whether to feel sorry for them, or be grateful they are out of your gene pool.”

  “I feel sorry for them,” Reed spoke immediately. She looked around the table. “By this point, they all have to know they screwed themselves. They screwed us, all of humanity, because they were stupid and stubborn and refused to see the truth.”