Ninefox Gambit (14 page)

“Well, he’s professionally trained to fade into the background.”

“He was right there.”

“He also had the advantage of needing to focus on one person, rather than twenty-odd –”

“Twenty-four.”

“I stand corrected.”

“Was there anything about him I should have noticed?” Cheris asked. She pulled up the recording and scrubbed through it, but didn’t see anything obvious.

“Nothing useful. He’s hiding something, but that’s a given. Still, as they say, it’s good policy to keep one eye on a Shuos.”

The other half of that saying was that the Shuos inevitably had more eyes than you did, but she didn’t bring that up.

“Colonel Ragath looked politely bored,” Cheris said, “but I don’t think that’s unexpected. He’s waiting to see if we can even get the infantry onto the Fortress. Until then, he’ll be taking a nap.”

“Quite right. And I don’t think you need to worry about the boxmoth commanders. Don’t misunderstand me. Transport is important, but what the boxmoth commanders want out of you is reasonable schedules. We’re going to make sure that isn’t an issue.

“Anyway, bannering
Unspoken Law
was the right move. Nerevor may be eager to fight, but she’s going to see how far she can push you. I can’t wait to see what exchanges you two have at high table.”

Cheris couldn’t help but feel repelled by the situation.

Jedao noticed. “The other half of being a general is politics, Cheris. It’s regrettable but necessary. Anyway, let’s look at Captain-analyst Ko’s file while we have a moment.”

“I don’t like the implications,” Cheris said after they had gone through the analysis. “He thinks there’s a conspiracy too. Why would you let a conspiracy grow unchecked at a nexus fortress?”

She didn’t want to say aloud what he had to be thinking, too: that a conspiracy in the Fortress of Scattered Needles implied a conspiracy in the hexarchate entire, microcosm reflecting macrocosm.

“The people I want to hear from are the Rahal,” Jedao said, “and if they haven’t sent us anything, they’re not going to.”

Shuos Ko had even submitted the Rahal responses to his own inquiries. Cheris’s favorite, if you could call it that, was:
Internal Rahal matter. Further questions will be subject to counter-investigation.

“What could be so important that it’s worth withholding information from us like this?” Cheris asked.

“Normally I’d say it’s characteristic of wolves to close ranks,” Jedao said, “but it looks like Kel Command is in it with them. I’m starting to wonder if the hexarchs are doing something devious.”

Cheris submitted a single query to the Rahal anyway, since they’d expect her to try. No luck.

“You should go meet Captain Ko,” Jedao said. “He’ll expect to get acquainted and it’s best to do so before you’re under Nerevor’s eye.”

“Do you have every minute of my time scheduled?”

“Call the servitors,” he said, “so they can shift your belongings.”

She couldn’t argue with that. The servitors arrived within two minutes, three snakeforms and a sturdier-looking beetleform. She asked them to give her regards to the Heron Company servitors, providing the routing information. To her surprise, the beetleform completed her sentence for her with a mischievous chirp: it already knew. In the past she’d had hints that the servitors talked to each other about humans far more than most people realized, but she’d never pressed to find out just how much, for everyone’s safety. Indeed, the beetleform hunkered down and went after her duffel bag, ordinary as you please. She told the servitors where it had to go, thinking it would have made more sense to carry it herself, and thanked them for their care. It was a pity she wouldn’t get a chance to get to know them better; she couldn’t imagine that Nirai servitors were less interested in math than Kel servitors. The four of them hummed their acknowledgment before heading out.

A message informed her that the Shuos team was ready for transfer. The research facility directed Cheris to meet them at Transfer Point 16. Cheris studied the map, although she knew a servitor would show up to guide them if they got lost. Her augment was curiously silent. “We might as well go now,” she said.

The route to the transfer point was everything Cheris expected from a Nirai station: straight lines and intersections that added up into tangles, like trees grown together in a forest. At least the map was clear, and floating silver lights told them where to go. The pale light picked out the Kel and Nirai emblems, ashhawk and voidmoth, engraved in gold and silver on odd facets of the walls.

Transfer Point 16 was vast. The Shuos were already there, conspicuous in their red-and-gold formal uniforms. Cheris wondered what Jedao looked like in those colors. She recognized Captain Ko mostly by the beard, and the other analysts not at all.

“General,” Ko said, still with that bland politeness. “Might I introduce my team?” He indicated each in turn: Senior Analyst Shuos Veldiadar, a scowling womanform. Analyst Shuos Teng, whose bow was all anxiety. Analyst Shuos Mrai Dhun, a large, sturdy man who wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Kel infantry. Analyst Shuos Liis, who studied Cheris while smiling languidly. She had lavish ripples of dark hair framing a heart-shaped face, and a beautiful mouth, but not a kind one.

“Don’t worry,” Jedao said cynically. “You passed.”

“Passed what?” she asked, using subvocals.

“Tell you later.”

“I look forward to working with you,” Cheris said to the Shuos, because it needed to be said.

“We’re aware of the circumstances of your command,” Ko said. “We’ll do our best to offer the support you need to win the siege.”

“Probably sincere,” Jedao said.

“I don’t suppose you’re familiar with the signifier tests?” Cheris said.

“In relation to the Fortress?” Ko said. “I’ve heard there’s a file, but there’s a lot of documentation only Kel Command or the Fortress’s senior staff would have access to.”

Cheris had expected Jedao to criticize her for asking about the files straight out. Instead, he held his peace.

Shuos Liis was watching her with knowing eyes. Cheris wasn’t immune to the woman’s striking beauty, but she desperately wanted to know what test it was she was passing, and what Jedao knew about Liis.

“How long have you been at your position?” Cheris asked Ko, feeling she should at least get to know him.

“Eight years, General,” he said. “Don’t believe the dramas. We spend most of our time destroying our eyesight reading reports and staring at maps and clocks. I’m surprised we haven’t all turned into mushrooms from the lack of light.”

Interesting comment. “Planet-born?” she said.

“Yes,” he said. “I’ve mostly lived on stations since graduating Shuos Academy, but it’s not the same.”

Cheris could sympathize with that. The City of Ravens Feasting was a port on a small peninsula. During her first year as a cadet, she had sometimes woken listening for the sound of the river, or the birds.

“General,” Liis said. Her eyes were deferential, but her voice was not. “Why the Immolation Fox and not some other weapon?”

“I looked at his record,” Cheris said. She turned away, not wanting to invite further questions.

“Still passing,” Jedao said.

She was starting to wish they had some kind of ability to talk mind-to-mind for occasions like this.

A voice said echoingly, “The cindermoth is prepared to receive you. Please exit using the primary door and go down the hall. A hopper will ferry you to the
Unspoken Law
.”

“About time,” Mrai Dhun said.

“After you, General,” Ko said, reminding Cheris she was supposed to go first.

Her shadow preceded her through the door and down the hall. She didn’t stumble on the way, but it took a lot of concentration. The hopper waited at the end. It had no name, only a number, but then, she had always liked numbers. The hopper would ordinarily have held a platoon at full strength. The Shuos sat some way behind her, to her relief.

The hopper set off, humming to itself with a voice like barbed wire and bells.

Time for subvocals. “What’s the matter with Shuos Liis?” Cheris demanded, trusting that Jedao could pick out her voice despite the noise.

“She’s been surgically altered.”

“That’s all?” she said. Did Jedao have some hang-up about body modifications? A lot of Kel did, but the Shuos were supposed to be more relaxed about such things.

“I wasn’t specific enough. She’s been surgically altered to resemble Shuos Khiaz, who was heptarch during most of my lifetime.”

“And this is a test?”

“Not for you. For me. If we were more closely linked, you might have shown a particular reaction. She hasn’t gotten the reaction, so that’s a point in your favor.”

He was being awfully vague about – she figured it out. “You did
what
with a heptarch?”

“Subvocals, please.” His voice was as cold as a knife’s edge. “It’s a reminder, that’s all. I’m a Shuos, but I’m currently Kel property because Heptarch Khiaz signed me over to Kel Command after Hellspin Fortress. Tell me, who’s the current Shuos hexarch?”

“Shuos Mikodez,” Cheris said. Mikodez was notorious for the time he had assassinated two of his own cadets, apparently out of boredom.

“I’m not surprised he’s still in power. He’s very good at what he does. Most Shuos don’t approve of me, but Mikodez
really
doesn’t approve of me. If I ever slip up – if he ever convinces Kel Command to hand me back to the Shuos – he’ll have me killed. This is a reminder that I need to behave.” He was silent for the rest of the admittedly short trip.

Commander Kel Nerevor received them personally as they debarked from the hopper. She was resplendent in full formal, and her smile had a predatory cast. “General,” she said, almost in a purr. “Captain Shuos.” It was slightly insulting to refer to an officer by omitting his personal name, but Ko’s mild expression didn’t change.

The null banner was prominently in evidence. Cheris felt a spasm of distaste. She reminded herself that she had chosen it, and that disgrace wasn’t far off from her real status, or Jedao’s for that matter.

“Have someone show the Shuos to their quarters,” Cheris said.

Servitors were already waiting to escort the Shuos. On the
Unspoken Law
they seemed to favor deltaforms with multiple gripping beaks. The Shuos saluted and headed off.

“And yourself?” Commander Nerevor asked.

“I want to see the moth’s command center,” Cheris said. More accurately, she wanted to see how Nerevor had set it up. “Then I’m going to retire to quarters as well. Lead the way, Commander.”

“Of course,” Nerevor said.

The command center was brightly lit and busy with the work of composite marionettes at all stations: Weapons, Communications, Sensors, Engineering, Navigation, and Doctrine. No, she was mistaken. The Doctrine officer was a captain-magistrate seconded from the Rahal, with the wolf’s-head emblem beneath her rank insignia.

“She must be new,” Jedao said. “I paid special attention to the Doctrine officers for the cindermoths and I don’t recognize her.”

Bad news, because Cheris didn’t recognize her either, and had hoped her memory had slipped. On the other hand, it wasn’t surprising the Rahal had placed someone to keep an eye on them. Odds were that the Doctrine officer on Commander Paizan’s cindermoth had been replaced, too. “Captain,” Cheris said, “may I ask your name?”

The Rahal rose and saluted. She was pale and reed-thin, and Cheris wouldn’t have suspected her of being able to break a twig, but her voice was strong. “Captain-magistrate Rahal Gara, sir,” she said.

Cheris nodded at Nerevor. The commander wasn’t part of a composite, but her profile had indicated that she preferred to work independently. Since they couldn’t rely on composites working in a heretical calendar anyway, this wasn’t necessarily bad.

Cheris said, “Have Navigation plot the most direct route to the Fortress of Scattered Needles” – she gave parameters that would allow the less powerful moths to keep up. “Stellate formation. That should get us to the afflicted zone in 21.3 days, and then we’ll have to switch to invariant propulsion.”

“Noted,” Nerevor said crisply. The Navigation marionette, which had long blue hair in tight braids, began its work.

“That’s all I wanted to see,” Cheris said. “I’ll join you at high table in 3.2 hours.”

“Of course.”

Cheris declined Nerevor’s offer to escort her to quarters. Instead, she followed a trio of birdform servitors who took turns leading and whistling cheerful tunes. Cheris missed the servitors she had known on the
Burning Leaf
, but perhaps the ones here would be amenable to the occasional friendly chat.

Her quarters were staggering in size and luxurious to boot. She could have held a party if she cared to. But there was no time to gawk at the furnishings. She webbed herself into the couch for mothdrive transition.

“I’ll be glad to get underway,” Cheris said.

“Everyone says that,” Jedao said, “but then the killing begins.”

“Better action than nothing. The siege has to be fought.”

“That I won’t dispute.”

In two ten-weeks they would close on the Fortress. Cheris told herself to be calm. A lot could happen in that time, and when the shooting started, she would probably be so busy that boredom would look good. She closed her eyes and thought of yellow eyes, unblinking, and what they might see in the space between stars.