The Crucible of Empire (7 page)

Of course, no dirigible had ever possessed even one keel, much less the eight even spaced around this ship. The scope of those keels became more apparent as they approached. "The
Lexington
is much more heavily armored than usual," he said, "to allow it to better withstand the stresses of fighting inside a solar photosphere. Even the interior walls are thicker."

Mallu's ears waggled and he could not seem to look away. The captain appeared almost hungry. "What are those extrusions for?"

He meant the keels, Aguilera thought. "Those are the ship's weapons platforms," he said. "Half of them contain laser mounts and the other half, kinetic weapons."

"Kinetic weapons?" Kaln said. "That is rather primitive tech, is it not?"

Aille answered the question. "We experimented with a hastily converted form of this tech when we fought the Ekhat in this star's photosphere two orbital cycles ago. The weapons, pulled off pre-conquest Terran fighting vehicles, were originally rapid-fire
tank
cannons. As you can read in the reports of the battle, the innovation proved most efficacious." Aille gazed up at the ship as they walked. "And I do recommend that you make yourselves familiar with the reports, since you are going to work closely with a number of very talented humans. The information should prove—enlightening."

He stopped. "I will leave you now as I have a meeting at my
office
."

" '
Off-ice
?' " Mallu echoed the Terran word.

"It means 'working space,' " Nath said smoothly. "An adaptation of local custom. We have found it most useful to separate room functions as humans do."

Mallu looked enigmatic, but said nothing more as Aille turned back. There was definitely something going on inside that thick Jao skull. Aguilera just wasn't sure exactly what.

At any rate, the three Krant reminded him far too strongly of Earth's pre-Pluthrak dealings with the Jao, when tyrannical Governor Narvo had set the mood for human—Jao interaction. Narvo, along with the great kochan of Dano and Jak, had deemed human ideas worthless and humans fit for only the lowest grades of grunt labor.

As it turned out, Jao were very good at some things, humans at others. Braiding their talents, combined human-Jao forces had proved themselves strong enough to stand up even to the Ekhat on short notice, and, as he had good cause to know now, that was saying something. If humans and Jao went back to pitting those divergent strengths against one another, as they had for far too many years, they would all die—messily—when the Ekhat returned. A single battle with the Ekhat in this system had proved that to even the most doubting on both sides.

He would find the right words to make these Krant listen, Aguilera told himself. That would be the best use he could possibly make of himself.

The sounds of construction rose as they neared the immense ship, so that Aguilera had to raise his voice to be heard. "This way," he said, and motioned them to follow him under a tangle of temporary power cables feeding into one of the
Lexington
's eight keels.

Speechless, the three Krant followed.

Caitlin Kralik presented herself at Preceptor Ronz's office in the Bond annex without an appointment. Jao disliked the human predilection for reserving one small bit of measured time for a particular event or activity. Instead, they relied upon their innate timesense to know when something would occur. Therefore, if Ronz didn't know she was coming, it was his own damn fault. She smiled to herself as the green door-field winked off.

"Ah, Caitlin," the old Jao said, rising from a soft pile of
dehabia
with a grace that belied his age. "
Vaist
. It felt as though someone would be here soon." He was clad in unrelieved black harness and trousers and she could see more than a few scars on his chest.

Vaist
was the superior-to-inferior form of greeting, literally you-see-me. She'd heard plenty of
that
growing up. Coming from the Preceptor, though, it pretty much lost its sting. She wasn't certain how much of the current Jao-human alliance had been his design, but signs certainly pointed in his direction.

She smiled and let her body flow into the graceful curves of
willingness-to-be-of-use
. Years of observation and study had gone into her ability to use Jao body-speech. "
Vaish
," she said in return. I-see-you. Agreement between the two of them as far as rank was concerned, anyway. Of course, that wasn't difficult in this case. Ronz outranked everyone on the planet, including Aille.

"Your parents are well?" the old Jao said, and settled into one of the human-style chairs before a standard desk.

"Yes." She settled in the chair beside his and gazed down at her hands, trying to think how to diplomatically frame what she wanted to say.

"You wish to know what I think is out there," Ronz said in English, "what is worth going so far and risking our new ship, not to mention all of your lives."

"Y-yes." She met those flickering green and black eyes. Even growing up under the direct supervision of a Jao guard, she'd never learned to read Jao eyes. No doubt all that dancing green fire meant something—at least to another Jao.

"I am not going to tell you," Ronz said. His body was very still. The Bond did not hold with elaborate body styling. The whole fad was heavily influenced by fashions that varied from kochan to kochan. One trained in the Narvo style, the Dano, or the Pluthrak. If a Bond member were seen to prefer any one style over another, that would show favor, and above everything else, the Bond was neutral. Else it could not perform its primary function of coordinating the quarrelsome, often divided kochan scattered across the many Jao worlds.

"If we do not know what to expect, then how can we prepare?" Caitlin schooled her own body to neutrality too, adapting to the game they were playing.

"The very act of expectation might alter what you find or what you do, if you find it," Ronz said. "I have shared my suspicions with Wrot krinnu ava Terra. When—and if—the moment comes that the rest of you need to know, he will be the one to decide."

"Someone knows, then." She bent her head, wondering, once the
Lexington
took off, if she could worm it out of the old Jao veteran in an unguarded moment. He had "gone native" to a degree far greater than any other Jao of her acquaintance. And that was saying quite a bit these days.

Ronz leaned toward her, his eyes almost entirely green. "No," he said softly, as though she'd blurted her thoughts aloud, "for all that he comes of blunt-spoken Wathnak, I am confident Wrot will keep silent until he should not."

Caitlin's face heated as she tried to erase all vestiges of unconscious posture from her limbs. Damn body-language! How was she ever going to make it as a diplomat in the midst of a species that could read her every move like a book?

Ronz leaned back and his body almost, but not quite, implied
sly-amusement
. "Nice try," the old rascal murmured in English.

Mallu found the interior of the great ship bewildering. They passed crew quarters, startlingly spacious, many of them intended evidently for single occupants. Blatantly wasteful. And there were what Aguilera called "recreation areas," which included spaces designated "coffee bar," "TV room," and "theater."

Coffee was a popular concoction that acted as a mild stimulant on humans, Nath explained. While it made Jao nauseated, humans often functioned better with its judicious application. Other beverages would be served there, too, including a number of favored Jao teas as well as light snacks. The TV room and theater were for displays of
ollnat
in off-duty periods.

"
Ollnat
again," Kaln said, her single ear struggling to communicate
bafflement
. "This world is obsessed with it!"

Aguilera turned back to face her, his gait ungraceful. "
Ollnat
is what saved this world when the Ekhat came," the human male said stiffly. "Our ability to come up with new ideas is one of humanity's greatest strengths."

As before, Mallu found it off-putting to gaze at that naked face. No whiskers, nap, or, worst of all, facial striping. He could not figure out how the creatures told themselves apart. Their skin coloration varied, from a pale pink to a dark brown. But their bland features all blended together and talking to one felt like conversing with a child still confined to its natal pool.

Nath gazed at the trio, her arms falling into
determined-patience
. "Human
ollnat
bears little resemblance to our own expression of that trait," she said. "They have the most amazing ability to come up with fresh combinations of familiar elements. In time, we expect our new taif to be at the forefront of a wave of invention, and that will be of use for all Jao."

"They are only natives!" Kaln said brashly.

Her stance was veering into blatant
belligerence
. Mallu found himself alarmed.

"And conquered natives, at that," his senior-tech continued. "How can you elevate them to a rank equal with even lowly regarded Jao?"

"You will not speak of them so in my presence," Nath said, her body gone very still. "They deserve your respect!"

"The floor-supervisor is correct," Mallu said. How bad had Kaln's head injury been, anyway? Perhaps he should have her examined again. She seemed to have lost all sense of propriety. "You have not been here long enough to know what you are talking about. Keep silent!"

The five of them walked on through the busy ship then. Crew members, both human and Jao, constantly passed them, intent on their tasks. Walking just behind Aguilera, Nath was full of energy, her movements confident, her postures precise.
She
certainly did not seem lessened by her time on this world. "What kochan gave you birth?" Mallu asked.

"Tashnat," she said. "I was Nath krinnu Tashnat vau Nimmat."

Two midlevel kochan, well respected, certainly more highly regarded across the Jao polity than Krant.

Kaln's eyes flared. "Then how can you dishonor both Tashnat and Nimmat by abandoning them for a taif infested by these primitives?"

Aguilera was watching their exchange with an intensity that bordered upon fierceness. Mallu realized that Kaln had angled to present her back to the human, a subtle insult in Jao body-speak.

"What we do here is for the future of all Jao, in fact, for all sapients who face extermination from the Ekhat," Nath said, her lines gone to an elegant version of
disbelief
. "You should be honored that the Preceptor believes you can contribute on this mission. If you feel he is in error, then you should inform him immediately."

The moment reeked of potential ruin. Mallu froze. Krant was so little regarded in the great sweep of things, it was hard to believe that they had been drawn into something meaningful, a situation where their actions might actually make a difference, where they could be of use to others outside their own small sphere. This kind of chance to serve the wider
vithrik
rarely came to Krant.

Jalta and Kaln were watching him. As the highest ranking officer, he had
oudh
here, minuscule as that charge might be to outside eyes. "The Preceptor is not in error," he said. His ears flicked back and forth, his body unable to settle into anything recognizable. "We do not wish to make it seem otherwise."

He turned to Kaln and forced her to look at him. "And we will keep silent about local matters which are outside our current understanding—is that understood?"

Her whiskers quivered, but her good ear flicked
assent
.

Nath's lines flowed into a breathtaking rendition of
mollified-acceptance
. Embarrassed, Mallu turned away as though he did not see. Other kochan could spend time and resources on tutoring their offspring in such beautiful—and pointless—affected elegance, while Krant on its two inhospitable worlds struggled to merely live and produce the next generation. Sometimes he thought other Jao with their exotic seas and exquisite manners were not the same species at all.

"Now," Nath was saying, "I will let Aguilera conduct you to the weapons platforms and the command deck. His knowledge of both is unparalleled and I have other tasks which require my attention."

Aguilera gestured with his heartward hand. "This way," he said and set off.

Kaln's whiskers bristled, but then, as was proper, the three Krants followed.

Tully spent the night at the Pascagoula base in the quarters his batman, David Church, maintained for his use whenever his commander was on-site. Tully had been on detached duty for the last few weeks, but his regular post these days was commander of Baker Company, a special unit of ground troops, both human and Jao, trained mostly for reconnaissance. Jao disliked overspecialization, though, so he made sure his company was highly adaptable, good at hand-to-hand, trained on all manners of weapons, ready for whatever the situation required.

Something had changed inside him two years ago on the northwest coast, when, at a critical moment, Aille and Yaut had trusted him, despite knowing his origins and holding him prisoner for weeks at that point. He'd grown up a Resistance camp brat, fatherless at four, then motherless too, a short time later, stealing food when no one could, or would, share what little they had, sleeping out in the snow and rain huddled into the lee of boulders, learning to scavenge with the best of them. Look out for number one at all times had been his credo. That, and kill Jao, whenever and wherever possible. The Resistance was hellbent on taking back Earth whatever the cost.