"Ioana Ja'Tuva, an elder of the clans, and...the only one who can understand the Riss sign-language. The Riss like her because she can talk to them...and we need her when we need something from the Riss. Otherwise it takes days to get them to understand." Ni'Shay said, parroting my new identity he and I had discussed while I was being introduced to the Ja'Tuva clan and gaining the background information I would need if questioned.
Neifeh again took out his handheld and tapped on the screen. "Senior Captain Wasem, locate the fleet's best software engineers and have them sent to me on Freeland, tomorrow morning at eight hundred hours." He smiled. "Tomorrow you and that old bitch Ioana will take me to your software facility. We will see how long it will take for our engineers to make her and the Riss friends disposable." He laughed.
* * *
An hour before eight hundred hours, a shuttle landed outside the plant at Alesd, where software was designed and maintained. Eight men exited and stood around talking, obviously waiting for Admiral Neifeh and not wanting to be late. Exactly at eight, another smaller shuttle landed and Neifeh exited with three of his special security guards. He waved to the group, now braced to attention, to follow him as he headed toward the building where Ni'Shay and I stood waiting.
"Ni'Shay, you will show these men the software so they can get started. It shouldn't take long. I'm looking forward to killing that old bitch Ioana and her furry friends." He laughed, giving me a sneer as he entered the building. Ni'Shay led him to the bank of monitors and keyboards lining one wall. "What is this?" he shouted, looking at the strange keyboards that had been built for the Riss. Because of their large hands, the keys were over two centimeters wide and spaced over a centimeter apart.
"The Riss are big people and have large hands," Ni'Shay said, trying not to look like he was enjoying himself and ignoring the obvious—the keys contained strange symbols.
"Ioana, have one of your...friends bring up the software from one of your systems," he said.
"I can't. You have them all locked up."
"Lieutenant Henrick, go with the old bitch and get one released," He said to the tallest of the guards standing behind him. When I didn't move, he shouted, "What are you waiting for, bitch? Get your ass moving, or maybe I should have Henrick motivate you."
"Before you beat an old lady senseless and useless for hours or days, you might want to tell Lieutenant Henrick where you are keeping the Riss that know the system software."
Henrick flinched as Neifeh wheeled on him. "Where are they? Bring them here!" he shouted.
"Sir, we have captured over a hundred Riss. They are being held in buildings close to where they were captured."
"Where is the closest group?"
"A small village about a half-hour by shuttle, sir."
"Don't just stand there. Go get one." He waved for the lieutenant to leave, and his eyes bore into me. "What are you waiting for now?"
"Any Riss? Or do you want one who worked on software?" I asked as innocently as I could, but not innocently enough. The back hand sent me spinning to the floor. Thank the space gods for Si'jin. The idiot's blow could have sent a truly old woman to the hospital. So, I lay there pretending to be knocked out, with Thalia's help.
"Ni'Shay, get some water. She's wasting time."
"Admiral Neifeh, she's an old woman. Combined with the beating yesterday, she may have a concussion or be in a coma. If she dies, it will take you years to be able to communicate with the Riss," Ni'Shay said, kneeling next to me and feeling for a pulse in my neck. Neifeh was silent for a long time.
"Lieutenant Henrick, Ni'Shay will keep you informed of...Ioana's status. If she needs additional medical help, you will arrange it. When she is able, you will escort her to find a couple of Riss that know the software and notify me. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir," Henrick said with a click of his heels.
"Who's in charge?" Neifeh said, looking at the engineers.
"Gurian, sir. I'm the senior software engineer with the fleet," a short elderly man said. His soft round face didn't look any too happy to be the senior engineer.
"You and your team will be on twenty-four-hour standby. In fact, you should get quarters here. Ni'Shay will arrange it. I want to have the fleet upgraded within the year, so we can't afford any delays. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir," Gurian said, looking as if he had just been given a month to live.
* * *
"How are you doing, Ioana?" Ni'Shay asked, with Terril standing next to him in a nurse's uniform.
"You look like shit...Elder Ioana," Terril said, turning my face to examine the damage. "Want me to kill him? No paperwork involved for a JPU Admiral."
"Neifeh and Salazan must be brothers." I shook my head. "I'm fine, Ni'Shay. Most of the damage is Thalia's cosmetics, although I did have to let him make substantial contact to make it real."
"What next?" he asked.
"I'm sorry, Ni'Shay, but I have to let this play out naturally. If I rush, he may figure out we are playing him. Freelanders and Riss..."
"We understand, Ioana," Ni'Shay said, concluding my whining session with Thalia. But Thalia was right, and in a sense, this was no different than men, women, and Riss dying in a space battle. Well, the result was no different, but this felt worse. These people couldn't fight back any more than a rabbit can fight a hunter with a gun.
"Delay for now while we decide how we are going to sabotage the JPU war effort."
"War?" Terril asked.
"Yes. Neifeh is hoping the JPU fleet will be ready in a year to take on the SAS. The JPU fleet was already larger than the SAS or UFN fleets by close to a hundred ships. But the SAS has technology that offsets that advantage. However, the SAS suffered greater looses in the war with the aliens than the JPU did. So if Neifeh can upgrade half of the JPU fleet, he could easily cripple the SAS and UFN fleets. And if he destroyed Dunn, he could eventually dominate all three empires."
"We need to get word to—"
"No, Terril. Even if we could, it would change little. If Neifeh is to be stopped, Freeland will have to do it." I held her eyes. "Your orders, Gunny, are to protect me. Remember?"
"Yes...Elder Ioana." She smiled.
"Ni'Shay. I want your design team to create a chip we can imbed in the stealth material we coat the ships with that will, when queried with a special coded frequency, tell us its identity and modifications. And, when things settle down, find a place to continue work on the Freeland Ghost fighter."
"Yes, Elder Ioana."
* * *
Henrick checked on me each day. The doctor reported I was improving each day but unable to stand without passing out. On the third day, he pronounced me recovered enough to be released. I would have dragged it out longer, but Freelanders were being abused every day, and I needed to stop it. Unfortunately, the game couldn't be rushed.
"Admiral Neifeh is very angry, Ioana," Henrick said as he walked me from the hospital to the waiting shuttle.
"Then he should stop beating me."
"You are lucky he didn't shoot you."
"Not luck, Lieutenant Henrick. Your Admiral would kill you or me or anyone without a second thought if he didn't need us. I'm useful for now, so luck isn't involved. He's planning on killing me as soon as he can make me useless." I laughed.
"You think that funny?"
"He's young and believes force is the answer to every problem; I'm old and know from experience that it seldom produces the best solution," I said. The ride to the first holding area was made in silence. When we arrived, I screamed.
They had fenced off an area with razor-wire. Inside, each Riss had a metal collar around her neck and a short chain connecting her to another Riss's collar. Food and water lay in pans on the ground.
I turned and began walking back to the shuttle.
"Where are you going?" Henrick snarled, grabbing my arm.
"Tell Admiral Neifeh I'm no longer useful, so he can shoot me." I smiled. "Maybe the great Admiral can force the Riss to speak Johaban." I shook loose of Henrick and entered the shuttle. I noticed he was speaking to someone on his handheld. He entered a few minutes later.
"Admiral Neifeh says we are to wait here. He's very angry."
I sent the same image but with guns laying in my lap and on the ground around me.
* * *
"Henrick!" Neifeh shouted, several hours later. "Bring that old bitch out here."
Henrick jerked me out of the seat and pulled me out the door to where Neifeh stood, hands on hips.
"You're refusing to help?" he said in a deadly whisper, his face flushed with rage.
"Thanks to you."
"ME!" he shouted. He drew his gun and shards hit my knee. I screamed, falling to the ground, and then managed a laugh.
"I die happy, Admiral Neifeh, knowing you've failed. I doubt the Jahaba Supreme Council is going to be happy."
"I don't need you, bitch. Watch." He turned and pointed to one of the guards. "Fetch me two of those animals." He stood with a crooked smile on his face as two of the Riss were decoupled from the others and brought to him. "Stake one to the ground."
"Talk to her, or I will skin it alive," he snarled at the standing Riss. When he got no response, he motioned to one of the guards. "Skin it."
It didn't help. As I watched the skin being peeled from her...vehicle, I laughed. Neifeh spun around, arm raised, but he stopped before the blow landed.
"You think that funny? You won't when it's you."
"I think it's funny you think force is the answer to everything. You could make me talk to the Riss with force, but you cannot make the Riss talk to me through force. Look, she died before your butcher began cutting. They know you are going to kill them, so they have nothing to lose. Like me. So get on with it." The moment of truth. Had I pushed the idiot past sanity?
He stood quiet, looking back and forth among the staked-out Riss, the one Riss standing emotionlessly, and me. Through my connection with Thalia, I could feel his shifting emotions: rage, anger, frustration, and finally fear. The realization that he could fail finally hit home.
"You have a solution," he asked, "to dying?"
"I'm old and no longer afraid of death, but...I'm not in a rush. I need medical attention, since I think I'm bleeding to death. In the meantime, take off the collars, get tables and proper food to eat, bedding to sleep on, and toilet facilities. Then in a few days, when I've recovered, I'll talk to them. That should give them a reason to talk with me. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain." I said, mentally crossing every appendage.
Neifeh stood quiet for a minute. "Pray it works, Ioana." He turned to Henrick. "Do as she says, and have her back here in three days." He stormed back to his shuttle and was gone in minutes.
"Eventually, the Admiral is going to make you pay for this," Henrick said, almost to himself.
"There is only today, Lieutenant. Tomorrow and eventually may never come," I said, still reeling over the death of the Riss, Gentle forest stream in the spring time. I spent a few minutes with Henrick, explaining the Riss were vegetarians and how to make them more comfortable. I had to admit, he was receptive to my advice, probably curious to see if my non-forcible approach would work.
* * *
"I'm losing weight worrying about you with those thugs. Of course, I'd have done something stupid, like killing the bastards. He could have shot you in the head instead of the knee." Terril's voice rose with each word. Ni'Shay sat quietly on the other side of my bed. The doctor had removed the shards, stitched the torn skin, and bandaged the knee, leaving Thalia to repair the internal damage.
"He does have a bit of a temper," I said, smiling. "I'll bet he dreams of killing me every night. The only thing keeping him from losing it is the thought that eventually I'll be proved worthless, and he can do all the disgusting things he's been dreaming about."
"Then I can kill him," Terril said, smiling for the first time since I arrived.
"What do you want us to do, Elder Ioana?" Ni'Shay asked.
"Nothing for now. I'm sorry it's taking so long, but I think a reasonable solution can be reached within the next week or two. One that will stop or at least significantly reduce the abuse your people are receiving."
"Our people, Elder Ioana. As with the SAS, we are willing to die to the last individual rather than be slaves."
"Yes, our people, Ni'Shay. Freeland is going to be busy again, helping our JPU masters get what they came for. Though I doubt they are going to like what they get."