The Crucible of Empire (3 page)

Another human entered the now crowded room behind them, followed by several more Jao. He heard the names "Chul," "Dannet," and "Nath," which were at least Jao, along with "Kinsey," a slippery mouthful of sounds which had to be human.

A tall golden-napped Jao approached, his body subtly sliding from one welcoming posture to the next, then doubling signifiers without effort, the result no doubt of intensive tutoring by a classically trained movement master. Krant, of course, had no resources for such niceties. "I am Aille krinnu ava Terra," he said, ears pitched at a friendly angle. The free and easy presentation of his name was in keeping with his high rank. "Welcome."

"Terra?" Mallu's own ears wavered. He glanced at his fellows. They looked baffled as well. "I thought that was the name of this world. How can it also be a kochan?"

"We are officially two taifs under a single designation, one human and one Jao, named after this planet, newly established and sponsored by the Bond of Ebezon itself," Aille said. "Though we hope to achieve full kochan status one day. We are unique because our membership includes both humans and Jao."

"You allow natives taif status?" Mallu felt his angles go to
surprise
. A taif was a kochan-in-formation, which one day might take its place beside the other Jao kochan of the galaxy, an unheard of honor for a conquered species. Beside him, Kaln and Jalta froze in mirrored
shock
.

"We 'allow' them nothing. Humans have earned the right to belong," Aille said, his body stiff with
determination-to-be-courteous
. "When you know them and their world better, you will understand. They are like no other species the Jao have ever encountered."

Kaln stiffened, her lines
disbelieving
. "We will not be here long enough to acquire such understanding," his senior-tech blurted, as though the disrespectful words simply could not be contained. She pushed fretfully at a battered ear which still would not stand, despite medical treatment.

Embarrassed by her bad manners, Mallu stared his female officer into silence. This was the
Bond
, not to mention a highly ranked individual born of fabled Pluthrak, whatever he was calling himself these days. They could not shame themselves with poor behavior here, of all places. "Do this one the courtesy of not listening," he said, trying not to breathe too deeply. His ribs ached, broken in the fierce battle that disabled their ship. "She took a blow to the head during the fight and has not fully recovered. Also, we witnessed the destruction of two Krant ships and the death of half of the crew of a third, a heavy loss our kochan can ill afford."

Aille regarded them with flickering green-black eyes. "I have heard the reports. You are fortunate to be alive."

"Encounters with the Ekhat rarely go well," Mallu said. "Just surviving can be counted an achievement."

"I thought this had nothing to do with the Ekhat," a human said, speaking in passable but accented Jao. Though its skin was hideously pink and naked, it did have a thatch of silver nap upon its skull.

"Ekhat were involved," Preceptor Ronz said, seating himself before a large table off to one side. "But our Krant comrades destroyed the Melody ship they encountered, which was exceptionally well done, by the way. Therefore, the Ekhat are not what is of importance here."

"Then what is?" the human demanded.

The creature's posture was bold, even self-assured, Mallu thought. This individual was obviously of high status among its own kind.

"There is evidence in the readings recorded by your ship's sensors of something possibly very interesting concealed in that nebula," Ronz said. His eyes studied Mallu, then Jalta and Kaln, as though weighing the worth of each. "I wish to send a ship back to investigate."

"We have no ship," Mallu said stiffly. "Ours was too badly damaged for repair and Krant will not be able to assign us another." That reality was the worst of all, that he and his subordinates would be remanded to other ships upon their return, demoted and disgraced for having lost their own craft, however valiant their victory had been.

"The Bond will provide a transport, one that will be listed as under the control of the taif of Terra." The Preceptor gazed at the three survivors, his posture an enigma. Mallu had heard the Bond were always so, completely neutral in affect so that dealing with them was inevitably off-putting. "You and the rest of your command will be assigned as part of its crew, along with selected humans and a number of Terran-based Jao."

"Humans—crewing a Jao ship?" Jalta's ears flattened with
disbelief
.

"You will study selected recordings before the ship leaves," the Preceptor said. "They document a battle against the Ekhat which took place in this system two orbital periods ago, mostly inside the star's photosphere. The ships were of human construction, the crews mixed. The results were—impressive."

Mallu fought down his unease. All Jao had to respect the Bond of Ebezon, at the very least. Unless they were a major and powerful kochan like Narvo and Pluthrak—and even they were not usually exempt—they were also required to pay heed to the Bond's wishes, in practice if not in theory. It was unfortunate that Krant scions had fallen under Bond notice, but in the end, they could do nothing but obey and attempt to render such good service that Krant would benefit.

"Very well," Mallu said, struggling to remember his long-ago lessons in deportment, scanty though they'd been. The eye of the Bond rarely fell upon those so lowly as Krant. It was an honor that one placed so high believed Krant could be of assistance. He coaxed his lines into what he hoped was a credible stance of
acceptance
. "We wish only to be of use."

"Of course," the Preceptor said.

The mood in the room shifted to anticipation.

Tully had followed most of the discussion, even though it had been conducted in Jao. His command of the language had been passable even before being drafted into Aille's personal service. It was far better now. Enforced practice, called by some "immersion," had a way of achieving that.

So the Preceptor suspected something interesting was concealed in the heart of that nebula. He shuddered to think what that might be. Some of the things that Jao found interesting could give a human nightmares.

Wrot was watching him closely from across the room. Though he didn't have much use for Jao generally, he had a grudging respect for the scarred old warrior, who years ago had retired on Earth, when he could have honorably gone home to his own kochan, then had taken up active duty again as a member of Aille's service. Wrot had then resigned from Aille's service with the formation of the new Jao taif on Terra and now served as one of its elders.

"I have just the ship in mind," Preceptor Ronz was saying. "A new prototype being developed by the Bond. It is nearly ready for a voyage to fine-tune its more innovative features, what humans would call a 'shake-down cruise.' "

"And the rest of the crew?" Aille said, his ears pitched at an angle which indicated curiosity.

"I wish to send my top advisors," Ronz said, "mostly humans, but at least a few Jao. Chief among those will be Wrot, who has proved himself not only in battle, but as an elder in Terra Taif and in his wide understanding of human culture. The others—" Ronz glanced around the room. "I wished of course to send Professor Kinsey, but he is very much occupied at the moment with important research."

Kinsey, who had to be sixty-five if he was a day and had probably been born in one of those academic jackets with the classic suede-patch elbows, looked from Ronz to Aille.

Tully tried to imagine Kinsey out sailing the stars, traveling the way Jao did—a form of transit that involved creating point loci that dumped you out in the photosphere of a star. He shook his head.

Kinsey's face crinkled unhappily. "I would go, though it would disrupt my work."

"Your willingness is appreciated, Professor," Ronz said. "But I have need of you here. That means Caitlin Kralik is the most logical to go."

"No!" Ed Kralik glared at Ronz, hands gripping his wife's shoulders.

"You can't be serious!" Professor Kinsey blurted.

Caitlin rose from her chair, her face flushed. "Hear him out, please."

Though she was the daughter of Benjamin Stockwell, once believed to be an infamous American collaborator with the conquering Jao, Tully had grown to like Caitlin. She had more nerve than any woman he'd ever known, and that included some pretty tough babes back in the Resistance camps. He still remembered her amazing performance two years ago when she had testified before the Naukra itself and helped bring into being the new social pattern under which they all, Jao and human, now coexisted.

And, once Oppuk had been dislodged from power, the truth about Stockwell's enforced cooperation had come out. The former Vice President's family had been hostage to his every decision. Caitlin had grown up a veritable in-house prisoner with a so-called Jao "guard" dogging her every step. Neither of her brothers had survived.

"She is the most logical choice," Ronz said. "Her command of the Jao language is among the best on the planet, including her sophisticated movement vocabulary, and her understanding of Jao culture unsurpassed. In the two orbital periods since the new taif's formation, her cultural and political advice have never once been in error."

"She's only a child," Kinsey said. His dark face had gone pale. "Her father will never agree."

"I'm twenty-five years old and a married woman," Caitlin said. "And, as much as I love him, my father has nothing to say about this."

"Don't worry, Professor," Ed said grimly. "She's damn well not going anywhere without me! I'll go too."

"It's just surveillance," Caitlin said, a hand on his arm. "A short hop there and back." She turned to the Preceptor. "No fighting, right?"

"The Ekhat ship patrolling that area was destroyed," Ronz said. "The likelihood of encountering further danger of that nature is relatively low, though I cannot promise it will not happen. But there was enough data collected by the surviving Krant ship for us to be certain that weapons had been used in that nebula which were not designed by either the Jao or the Ekhat."

"Someone else lives there, then," Caitlin said, raising an eyebrow. "Another sapient species."

Tully felt the impact of that statement ripple through the room.

Ronz gazed at each of them in turn. "This mission is classified as exploration only. It is entirely possible that the new species in question was only traveling through the area. They may not actually reside in that region."

"And you are needed here," Aille said to Kralik. "We cannot spare the commander of all of our jinau forces on Earth to accompany his mate to conduct simple surveillance."

Jao did not pair-bond emotionally in the same way as humans. Instead, they formed marriage-groups and mated only when progeny were desired. Tully knew that the Preceptor and Aille were not picking up on Kralik's very real distress. He didn't blame Kralik one bit for objecting to them dispatching his wife off to god-knows-where. Space travel was terrifying, all that fooling about inside the hellish photospheres of stars themselves, not to mention the different factions of Ekhat turning up when you least expected them, the crazy bastards. Only an idiot would want to go.

"In addition," Ronz said, "I assign Gabriel Tully."

"Me?" To his horror, Tully's voice squeaked.

"Your expertise will likely prove invaluable," Ronz said. For a second, the old Jao's eyes glittered electric green.

"What expertise?" Tully gazed around the office, baffled. Everyone was staring at him like he should know, and there was the faintest smile on Caitlin's lips. Though he had gone on the nightmarish trip to "confer" with the Interdict faction of the Ekhat, he hadn't participated in the subsequent battle with the True Harmony in the sun. Instead, he'd been dispatched to the mountains to track down Rob Wiley, trying desperately to arrange support from that quarter.

"I refer to your negotiations with Earth's Resistance," Ronz said. Unlike the rest of the Jao present, his body was perfectly, implausibly, still, in keeping with the Bond's trademark disdain of any sort of movement style. "As well as your background as a spy and current post as commander of a reconnaissance unit in the jinau. In all of these roles, you have been quite effective."

"Oh." Sweat rolled down Tully's neck and soaked into his collar. Aguilera, he could see out of the corner of his eye, in particular was enjoying this. The man's expression was sardonic and his dark eyes positively gleamed with amusement. Damnation. The two of them had never gotten along. No doubt Rafe would love to see Tully make a fool of himself in front of Jao bigwigs.

Say nothing, his inner voice cautioned him. Don't get into an argument he was sure to lose. It would only provide entertainment for all concerned. With an effort, he ducked his head and waited though his mind was whirling.

"I want to know more about the ship," one of the newcomer Jao said. He was a stubby fellow with the darkest nap Tully had ever seen. His maroon harness didn't quite fit and he kept shifting from foot to foot as though uncomfortable. "Would it not make more sense to send a model with which we are all familiar? If we encounter something unexpected, not understanding the qualities of our craft will make maneuvering more difficult."