That brought back a smile on Jonnaha’s face. “I’ve browbeaten four additional planets into our loose coalition, so that makes seven so far.”
“More prospects on the horizon? I hate to be the one to tell you, but I don’t think any less than twenty systems working together will make a difference.”
“That’s what my military tells me too. I have so many diplomats out there, it’s like a snow storm in space.” She seemed thoughtful a second. “We’ll see. I choose to be optimistic.”
“The alternative would be counterproductive,” said Sapale.
“Are those cooperating actually cooperating?” I asked.
“Yes. The ones who are in are all in.” She chuckled softly. “Those darn Gorgolinians turned out to be quite industrious.” She grinned.
“Those are the fish tank dudes,” I said to Sapale.
“They have turned thousands of natural and artificial satellites into mines with nukes. They can be set off manually or by proximity. When the Adamant approach, they’re going to have quite the surprise waiting for them.”
“Nice,” I replied. “Just their planet?”
“No, that’s the amazing part. They mined many planets’ satellites, even those groups not fully onboard yet. They also scattered booby-trapped debris well out into interstellar space.”
“How about the robots?”
“Our partners are far and away the most industrious.”
“The robots or the people?” I asked.
“Are you kidding? The robots. The latest craze among the idiotic humanoids is to wear Adamant costumes.”
We both guffawed.
“Yes, they’re all doing it. When they learned of the imminent invasion, they jumped on that bandwagon. Their theory is that to understand how to defeat the Adamant they need to be the Adamant. You know, really get into their heads.”
“And if they do get overrun, maybe they’ll blend in,” I observed with a wicked grin.
“Seriously, I heard someone mention that when I last visited the planet.”
“So, the robots are taking matters seriously?” asked Sapale.
“Yes, indeed they are. They came up with a positively frightening war-droid. I’ve seen holos of its test runs. Impressive firepower and shielding. Those bad boys are going to put a hurt on the Adamant.”
“How’s production?”
“They’re flying off the assembly lines. There are hundreds of thousands of functional units already. If production holds, they promise to export them to all allied worlds after they hit two million units for their own defense.”
“When do they estimate that?” I queried.
“Two to three months,” she replied.
“That would be epic,” I responded. “It could be a game changer.”
“The best part is that they programmed no self-preservation algorithms into the war-droids. They are equipped with Ais, but they’re absolutely fearless.”
“Excellent. I might want to get a couple for home defense,” I remarked.
“No, we’re not having a mindless killing machine in our yard. The neighbors will be upset enough about you already,” quipped Sapale.
“What? I’m a great neighbor. They’ve always loved me.”
“Need I say anything more than Fourth of July or Christmas?”
“Those are isolated events. Anyway, I’m not that into holidays anymore.”
She rolled all four eyes. It was cute.
“Can we help in any way?” I asked Jonnaha.
“Sure, but don’t you have some deadline or something?”
“I do indeed.”
“I’d hate to ruin those plans,” she replied.
“I’d hate for them to be ruined too. Really, I’d be bummed.”
“How much longer until whatever … you know, how long do you have left?”
I sighed. “Just under three months.”
“It seems overly generous of you to offer then, I think,”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“Probably?” shot back Sapale. “No, it is. You’ve given already and a million times more. No, now you work on your Jon Plan, whatever that might be, because you won’t tell me what it is.”
Somebody was angry with me.
“May we help?” asked Jonnaha.
“I wish you could,” I responded shaking my head. “Oh, how I wish someone could.”
TWELVE
“You festering green puddle of puss,” seethed EJ, “you think I’m hurting you now? Don’t tell me where Sapale is, and I’ll crank it up ten notches.”
“Si … Sir, there was an invasion. Houses and people were exploding all over the place. I swear I never saw her after she left for the caves with you.” Caryp’s cousin Nishap-ser was telling the truth. But, as with so many aspects of life, the truth mattered not at all. For one thing, EJ was only partially asking. He was mostly venting.
Nishap-ser was the fifth relative he’d interrogated. Four were now deceased. One was on his way, but EJ had learned nothing except that he had a lot of rage to vent. He wanted to get at the boiling-pot-of-hog-shit Jon “Goodie Two-Shoes” Ryan more than he’d wanted anything in eons. Yes, Sapale would pay dearly for her part in their treachery. But EJ had a special spot in his hatred for the astronaut he’d once been. That abomination would come to an end if it was the last thing EJ ever did. Then he’d kill Sapale. No, he reflected, he’d make the mucus milk shake watch her die, then he’d melt him from the toes up. Wait, wait. He could melt them simultaneously. Yes. They could watch each other literally disappear in agony. Resolution was so reassuring. EJ leaned back against the wall and smiled.
Then he finished off Nishap-ser, who’d begun to whimper most annoyingly.
Pisswad, as he had nicknamed Jon, and Sapale might have gone to ground. That’d make them much harder to find, but not impossible. But he had to think they were off doing good, making the galaxy a better and safer place in which to live and raise a family. The sops couldn’t stop being pathetic, even to safe their own hides. EJ had posted a major fortune in reward money for any information as to their whereabouts. So far, a month had passed without a peep. He needed better informants. Competent help was so hard to find.
Where would he go if he were Pisswad? Not Azsuram or Kaljax. No, they were completely under Adamant domination. Earth, as a ruse? No, EJ knew he’d been there recently and would think of that. Oowaoa? Possibly, but EJ had still not discovered where the planet of smug pimples was. He did decide to double his standing reward for information on that rat trap. Even if the pair of traitorous cowards weren’t there, it would be gratifying to vent on the pompous Deavoriath. There existed no punishment they did not deserve. He’d be doing God’s work.
Was it possible, even conceivable, that Pisswad was in cahoots with the Adamant? If he was hiding amongst them, EJ would never be able to touch an artificial hair on his head. In the million years he’d seen the pissy mongrels rise to power, he’d almost never been able to recruit, bribe, or turn an Adamant. Self-righteous pieces of dog shit. The closest he ever came were those two Midriack guards on Excess of Nothing, but one dumbass had gone and gotten himself killed by his own clan leader for some reason EJ could never pin down. Then the other clammed up like the proverbial sphinx. Oh, how he hated every single living creature in the universe. And two non-living robots even more than all the rest combined.
“What do you think?” he asked Nishap-ser’s corpse. “Should I interview a few more relatives or try another approach while my dignity’s still intact?”
He received no response.
“My thinking exactly. I’ll shake down a few of my slimy information merchants instead and see if I can’t catch a break.” To no verbal prompting, he responded, “Why? Hell, because I feel lucky, that’s why.”
Nishap-ser continued to say nothing.
“Look, I hate to kill and run, but …” EJ paused and cocked an ear to his victim. “That’s great, I’m glad you understand. You too, pal.”
THIRTEEN
Sapale and I were lounging in bed after another make-up-for-lost-time session. Talk about warm glow. She lifted her head and set it on my chest. “You know you’re going to tell me, so come on. What are you planning to do to get out of your debt?”
I propped up on my elbows. Looking straight down at her, I gave her a kiss. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, and it’s not that I don’t value your input. Do you believe me on that much?”
Reluctantly she pouted and replied, “Yes, I do.” She propped up on her elbows and looked at me very intently. “Then why can’t you tell me?”
“There’s only one possible way I see me coming out of this in one piece. It involves a critical twist.” I hesitated. “Dearest love, you know EJ is out there and hunting for us like a pair of golden geese. He’s good, damn good.”
“Tell me about it.”
“He might capture you, which, as much as I hate to say it or think it, is a possibility.”
“Then he might torture me and find out your plan. But why would he suspect you had a plan in the first place?”
“He doesn’t, but he definitely knows I want to take him out. The “plan” he’d want to know about would be mine for that purpose.”
“And if he got that information out of me …”
“He’d screw up my plan, and I’ll have to take the fall I agreed to.”
“Well, I’ll just ask that you tell me as soon as you can, all right?”
“My word of honor,” I said crossing where my heart wasn’t.
She gave me a peck on the cheek and bounded out of bed.
“You’re still miffed at me, aren’t you?” I asked.
“Only a little.” She smiled back at me. “If it were this much more,” she pinched her fingers almost closed, “I wouldn’t be doing this.”
She flung herself into my arms, knocking me back on the pillows.
I raised my hands and clapped. The lights went off.
In the mess later, we were drinking coffee and silently enjoying the good life. “When it’s over, my debt that is, what do you want to do?” I asked her.
“You mean after you suffer for all eternity?” She gave me a precious crooked smile.
“Will you wait for me, candle in the window and all?”
“Yes, as long as a chastity belt isn’t required too.”
I popped air in my cheek and quickly twitched my head. “I don’t know if I can sign off on that clause. My people will get back to your people, okay?”
“So, what do I want to do assuming you are free to do it with me three months from now?”
“Yeah.”
“List off the options, and I’ll tell you which I like the most.”
“That sort of violates the what do you want to do part of my query.”
“Silly human. I don’t care what I do as long as it’s with you.”
“Aw shucks, talk about putting me on the spot.” I looked away, embarrassed.
“You know quite well what we’ll be doing. We’ll be fighting the Adamant like demons from hell.”
“Did you have to use that analogy?”
She looked up, replaying her remark in her head. “Oops. Bad taste, right?”
“Anyway, you were saying?”
“Whatever the outcome of the battle along the frontier, the Adamant will still be everywhere . Your goal has been to destabilize them with a death blow. But it will take a very long time for that death to come. You and I will do everything in our power to hasten their demise, but it will be a long and hard struggle.”
“It’s looking that way.”
“Has your contact amongst the Adamant given you any feedback lately?”
“Nah, nothing. Last time he secreted me a report, it sounded like same old same old. He is encouraged by the rebellious murmurs he hears. But there are no sustained changes or shifts.”
“Do you think his approach is valid?”
I rocked my head. “Maybe. I had the Als run a ton of sims. Most support the notion that an unstable empire will implode due to pent up forces. The personal quests for power and the usual political dissent that any large group spawns seem to make it inevitable.”
“So, we fight for the good cause.”
“Again.”
She started to giggle. “And again, and again.”
“You’d think two grown people would learn, right?”
“Hey, who you calling people? I’m not a person. I’m a Kaljaxian alpha-bitch.”
“You want’a fight about that?”
She set her mug down gently. “Why yes, I believe I do.”
I clapped my hands.
She clapped hers.
FOURTEEN
Garustfulous, or rather Jangir, sat in the dark room hunched over the display screen. The yellow-green computer light made his grin of self-satisfaction look as twisted and convoluted as his feelings were at that moment. He had used Naford’s retinal pattern to unlock all the files the third officer of the vessel could access. Those were most of the tactical and many of the secure political files the ship was privy to. Jangir was a naughty kid in a candy shop of espionage. Unfortunately, he’d had to separate Naford’s head from his body to do so, but that was now Harhoff’s problem, not his. There working agreement was that the amoral Jangir would collect intel. The only slightly principled Harhoff would cover tracks and forward the information. He’d never been called upon to cover such glaring, bloody tracks before. Jangir really liked that part of his act.
He had a visual recorder copy everything he viewed. He didn’t want to plug in an electric component because such an action might be detected. Someone would correctly suspect that what happened actually did take place. Jangir prided himself on being …
What? This had to be incorrect. He scrolled up and read back down. He skipped to the bottom to see who signed the order. Spirits and Forces, it was Lesset himself. This was bad. This was very bad. Jangir made a second image of the entire document and shut the system down. He leaned back in the chair and breathed out heavily. Ticks and worms, he thought. This changed everything.
FIFTEEN
“Jon, as wonderful as it is to see you again, really, it’s hardly been a couple weeks,” said Jonnaha with a puzzled look on her face. “Ah, may I offer you coffee or tea?”
“Both,” I said. “Strong and lots of them. It’s going to be a late night.”
She glanced at her wrist watch. “Jon, it’s only ten in the morning.”
“I know.”
“This sounds bad,” she responded.
“It is not bad,” replied Sapale.
“Oh good. You had me scared for a mom—”
“It’s much worse than bad. Completely worse,” I tossed in.
She slumped just a little in her chair, then stiffened. “I’ll summon my key personnel. They’ll be here in less than twenty minutes.”
I shook my head. “Make it ten. This is epic.”
Within fifteen minutes, all her heads of department and confidential advisors were in the Ready Room around a massive table. The air was tense. It was going to get a whole lot worse once I started talking. I really wished this wasn’t coming down. No one in this room, no one in this galactic sector, deserved the news I was about to drop on them.
“We’re all here, General Ryan. Why don’t you begin?” Jonnaha said formally and with foreboding.
“Thank you. I have received a report that the Adamant are advancing their timeline for attacking this sector. This region was in the five-to-ten-year zone. It has been reprioritized. It has just been moved to the top of the list. It is the next area to be assimilated.” I let the gravity of that sink in a bit. “Whereas you had years to prepare before, you now have weeks. Maybe they will delay a few months if you’re extremely lucky. My intelligence is deficient on this aspect. But you will be attacked with the full might of the empire very shortly.” I sat back down.
The room was as quiet as a long-abandoned mausoleum. No one as much as shifted nervousl
y in their chair or reached for a drink of water.
Finally, Jonnaha spoke, though hesitantly at first. “Are you confident the intelligence is reliable and correct?”
I sighed. “Yes. One hundred percent.”
“Not that it truly matters, General Ryan, but do you know why the Adamant moved us to the top of the list?” asked a man two seats to Jonnaha’s right wearing a military uniform with a ton of fruit salad on his chest.
“Yes, I do. They either have excellent intelligence services of their own, or they have a network of spies. Somehow they became aware of your attempts to put up a unified defense and felt it was prudent to deny you that opportunity.”
There was profound silence again.
The same man spoke. “Wasn’t it your idea to ally ourselves against the Adamant’s future assault?”
“Admiral Halkins, I will not tolerate that remark or it’s incendiary implications. You will apologize to General Ryan immediately and formally withdraw that insult.” Man-o-man, Jonnaha was hot.
“It was a legitimate military question,” he defended. “We need to understand exactly what it is we face and know precisely who our enemy is.”
Shielan rose. As coolly as an ice cube in an igloo she stated, “Madame Prime Minister, permission to shoot Admiral Halkins here and now.” She slipped her hand inside her jacket where her pistol was holstered.
Jonnaha waved her palm down. “Denied. We are all here for the same reason. If we can’t speak our minds, we really stand no chance of success. Admiral, I am still waiting for your apology.” The look she gave him. Wow, it was impressive.
“I don’t need an apology,” I said. “The dude spoke out of fear and ignorance. Times as they are, it’s perfectly understandable that an armchair warrior would get jumpy.”
Hawkins started to rise, then thought better of it. He’d insulted me, and I’d insulted him back. We were enemies, and it was a draw.
Jonnaha shook her head slowly, and Shielan snickered a bit too loudly.
“If you insist. Moving on, are there any other questions?”
“I have one. General Franklin Pierce here, commander of joint planetary forces. Do you have any idea what formation the enemy will use or which solar systems will be targeted first?”
Dragon Fire (Galaxy On Fire Book 5) Page 8
