The Orphan Alliance (The Black Ships Book 3) (30 page)

“Actually,
Keeva has managed to isolate the effect,” Tommy clarified. “The response is
triggered by Bolshari beta waves. Any active thinking or problem solving causes
their minds to generate enough electromagnetic energy that the Dactari can pick
up on it. She altered the EM signature of the ship’s transmitters as a test
while we were still out at the table.”

“And?”
Towers regarded him with mild interest.

“And Gelna
was immediately relieved,” Tommy replied. “Keeva can provide the schematics for
a kind of EM ‘white noise’ generator that will render Dactari ships immune to
the effect as well.”

“That’s a
major plus for them.” Harry glanced over at Towers. “They’ve always worried
that Eiboekna’s people would try to resurrect the Empire and return the Dactari
to being nothing more than the official muscle. This puts an end to that for
good.”

“I’m
ever
so happy for them,” Caul said dryly. “But how do we ensure that she
doesn’t
try
to restore her family to the throne? She would have a pretty potent force at
her command.” He waved a hand out the window at the disabled ships that floated
above Dactar.

“She can be
stopped,” Tommy answered, “the same way I stopped her predecessor.”

Liam came
forward from his post by the door. “You stopped one of these ships?”

A nod. “The
Firm Resolve
was the guardian of a remote world. The symbiote didn’t
care for the progress made by its inhabitants and initiated a global reset of
sorts. Everyone would have died within a few weeks.”

“God!”
Harry exclaimed. “Tell me there isn’t one of these things watching Earth!”

“There is,”
Tommy admitted with a shrug, “but the symbiote controlling it has a much more
pragmatic personality. Frankly, he can’t be bothered with re-setting our world
so he just amuses himself by watching.”

“All
right,” Towers overrode them. “As alarming as that is, it sounds like it can
stay on the back burner for a while.” He leaned forward, staring at Tommy. “You
stopped the
Firm Resolve
– how?” 

“The
symbiote chamber is accessed from the bridge. Keeva gave me the ability to
access the door and transported me to a spot directly outside the door of the
chamber. By the time he realized his danger, I was already inside and out of
his reach.”

“You killed
him?” Towers inched forward on his chair.

“Sort of.
He’s partially brain dead because I had to disconnect him before the ejection
process was complete.”

“He’ll have
a great future in politics,” Harry growled.

Towers
waved him to silence. “How many people were on that world?”

“Just under
fifty million,” Tommy said. “A little more than half now live on this ship, the
rest are on the
Firm Resolve.
”

“Fifty
million?” Liam half whispered, staring at his son in amazement.

“I’d bet
there’s not a lot of fathers that could say their kid saved fifty million
people.” Harry smiled at Liam.

Towers
nodded at Liam, grinning, before he turned back to Tommy. “So how do we stop
Eiboekna from killing one of our worlds, if she suddenly turns cranky on us?”

Tommy was
grateful for the inquiry. He was uncomfortable with the sudden admiration,
especially from his own father, and he welcomed the chance to get back to
business. He was still conflicted about uprooting an entire planet
.

“You’d need
to put a constant guard in the symbiote chamber,” he said. “Post a couple hundred
Humans and Dactari to the ship and have them sit in the chamber in shifts – a
representative from each species at all times. If she gets out of hand, you can
disconnect her from the console.”

Towers
nodded. He suddenly wondered if the powerful ship might be able to locate the
Guadalcanal
but tracking down a mutinied ship was peripheral to the main discussion. He
filed the idea away for later. “Objections?” He looked around the room. Nothing
but nods or shrugs.

“Alright,”
he said with a sigh. “We’re in favor of the plan. Now what do we do about Flota
Mas? If the Triumvirs are planning to get rid of him and whitewash the whole
mess, do we warn him?”

“If we do
nothing,” Caul offered, “a potent enemy commander will be eliminated.”

“A potent
commander whose interests are currently aligned with ours,” Harry pointed out.
“If he’s gone, then the official version of events will have Dactari recruiting
centers lined up around the block.”

“Why would
they wait until
after
the negotiations to plead ignorance?”
Flemming stared moodily out the window.

“They don’t want to look like fools in front of us,” Caul
replied. “They don’t want to show any weakness – even ignorance – in front of
the enemy. They’ll isolate him from his forces, ambush him and then start
recruiting new troops to come after us.”

“War
is
the best way to shore up a failing politician,” Towers said mildly. “And those
three bastards are definitely in a lot of hot water unless they can blame it on
the military and then whip up some patriotic fervor to hide behind.”

“Warn him.”
Harry nodded once to emphasize his position. “Might even spark a civil war, if
we get lucky.”

“Warn him,”
Lothbrok insisted. “He’s a worthy opponent. I’d rather give him a warrior’s
death myself than let some skulking politician murder him in a prison cell.”

Towers
looked to Caul. A brusque nod.

“Harry,
have a talk with him after we finish the negotiations.” Towers stood up, the
rest following suit. “Make sure you get to him before his own people get a
chance to lure him off.”

 
R
eis
stood with the rest of the delegates. It had
taken a long time to work out the details, but it looked as though they had
managed to reach a workable agreement. The Republic had just lost a lot of
territory, but they were hardly in a position to make any demands, not with an
array of mass drivers sitting over Xo’Khov.

At least
the public finally knew the truth.

Heig,
your mission was accomplished after all,
he thought sadly.
If only you hadn’t led
that mutiny, we would still be sitting at our ambush point.

Eiboekna
would serve as monitor. Mistrusted equally by both sides, she would patrol the
borders, guarded constantly by Human, Midgaard and Dactari officers. At the
first hint of treachery, she would be removed.

The limits
of her authority were clearly defined. She could cause a temporary cessation of
hostilities, but only so long as both parties were willing to negotiate. If
they demanded her withdrawal, then she would have to release them and step
aside.

Meanwhile,
he would have his work cut out for him. He was already reviewing the assets
under his command. Some of his officers would be on those new Alliance worlds
within the month, training their citizens in the same insurgency tactics that
he had fought against for decades.

We’ll
see how the Alliance likes their new role as imperialist oppressors,
he thought.

“Flota
Mas.” The sudden voice at his side proved just how focused he had been on the
fight to come. He turned to find one of the Alliance officers standing to his
right.
He certainly didn’t waste any time.

“Commodore
Young, yes?” Reis nodded a wary greeting. “The warlord of Oaxes.”

A return
nod.

“It was you
who pretended to flee from your own prizes at Chula 565,” Reis added. “That was
cleverly done.”

Harry
smiled. “I thought it might buy me a few seconds.” He stepped closer, causing
Reis’ tail to appear over his right shoulder, ready to strike at an eye. Harry
ignored the reflex. “Flota Mas, I came over here to tell you that we’ll be
spinning up our distortion drives as soon as we return to our ships.” The Human
glanced quickly over to where the Triumvirs were putting on an act for the
audience on Dactar – acting as though they had
won
the negotiations.

“Whatever
happens here in the next few minutes,” Harry continued, “we won’t be taking
sides. We have no wish to be drawn into an internal matter.”

“An
internal matter?” Reis’ tail waved slowly over his right shoulder.

A nod
toward the three politicians.  “Did you know that they’ve promoted some
cruiser captain to armada second class, while we sat at this table?”

Like a game
of columns, the pieces suddenly found their places. Promotion to armada was the
one rank that could only be handed out by the civilian government. The
Triumvirs could make or break any armada-level officer.

They
want an officer they can control,
he realized.
And what better use for an officer they can’t control
than as a whipping boy.
He looked over at the Triumvirs, watched them
congratulate each other.

“We think
they’ll try to position themselves as the heroes who made the best of a bad
situation,” Harry added quietly. “Of course, step two in the process is to give
the citizens a sense of closure, the feeling that someone has been soundly
punished for letting things get so bad.

“They’ll turn
on you, sure as hell.” The Human grinned. “We have a saying back home – if a
politician ever pats you on the back, it’s because he’s looking for a good spot
to stick the knife.”

 Those
motherless clones!
Reis looked again at the politicians, starting in slight shock as he realized
his hand was resting against his empty holster.
Heig was willing to give his
life to expose those fools, and now they plan to pin their shame on us?

“Good
shipyards in orbit around Yaetho’kae,” Harry continued in a conversational
tone. “Might be a few weeks before we send anyone there to garrison the place,
but I’m sure looking forward to a good refit.”

“Why would
you warn me?”

The Human
sighed. “A few days ago, I would never have imagined warning a Dactari. Things change,
and I’ve been burnt by politicians before.” He offered a parting nod and
strolled back to his own people.

A hand came
to rest on Reis’ shoulder. “Flota, will you join us in the ruling chamber?” One
of the Triumvirs,
Obfuyco
Xec, stepped around to face
him, his right hand still on Reis’ shoulder.. “We want to reward you for your
timely role in this unexpected battle.” He leaned in, dropping his voice to a
stage whisper. “We would like you standing by our side as we announce Dactar’s
newest armada!”

The
projections were still running down on the surface. They would wait until they
had Reis firmly in their control before revealing their true intent.

Gelna
approached from the left, a troubled look on his face.

Reis
switched to English. “They are going to pin the blame on me and put me to
death?”

A nod. “I’d
put money on it. It’s the only thing that might distract public attention from
their role in this mess.”

Xec looked
at the two Dactari with growing anger. He would have to wait until he returned
to the surface to hear a translation of this. The rest of the planet was
probably hearing a translation right now.

“Can you
please ensure that I’m returned to my own ship when we leave here?”

Another
nod.

“Would you
like to come with me?”

A long
pause and a troubled countenance. “I think I’ll stay here, for now,” Gelna
finally said. “The day may come when you need a bridge between your forces and
the rest of the Republic.”

My
forces?
Reis had to
force himself to accept the implications of what he was about to do. He wasn’t
planning to surrender meekly to these fools but, if he meant to do anything
worthwhile, he would need force.

And he
would probably have to fight his way clear of Dactar against his own people.

I’d
better make my motives clear from the very start, before they regain control of
the public message.
He
looked Xec in the eye. “I am not the armada you hinted at. He’s already been
promoted. You want to claim that the military concealed the truth about the war
from you.” He stepped in closer, forcing the politician to take a step back.

“The
truth,” Reis added forcefully, “is that you have been lying to the public
and
the military. You forced the defense council to grow a cloned invasion
force on a beach-head planet rather than go to the expense of shipping a
full-scale invasion force.”

He waved at
Gelna. “He told us how that force was defeated before it could even launch for
Earth, and now they possess
our
technology.”

Xec leaned
in and poked Reis in the chest with an angry tail. “We cannot allow ourselves
to squabble over rumors when there are barbarians orbiting our planet with
their unspeakable weapons of extinction.”

“They
brought them here to get our attention.” Reis dismissed the alarming thought
with a wave. “Had they really meant to use them, they would have fired as soon
as they had the chance.”
Good ploy, get the public scared enough to forget
everything I’ve been saying.