Chanur's Homecoming (40 page)

Ehrran agreeing to go with them into kifish territory.

Second log segment: another date, another moment: exchange between The Pride and Ehrran's Vigilance, kin-request for medical aid, denied, made contingent on surrender of Tahar crew from Chanur sanctuary. Granted when they logged a false emergency and got in touch with Aja Jin.

"Capsule it," she told Sif. "Every hani ship out here. Then capsule the whole gods-be log and shoot it over to Gaohn hard afterward. Tell them beam it down to Anuurn archives. File petition for Ayhar's release. Let's see if for once, one time, the han can understand what's going on out here. Put our wrap on that log transmission. There's a lot we can't say in front of kifish witnesses, but there's by the gods enough there to hang that fool. Brake to standby reply."

"B'gods there is," Sirany said. "Sif. Send: Industry and all the rest. Slow to standby. Transmission follows."

Alarm rang. The take-hold. The Pride prepared itself for braking. Other bodies hit the seats, Chanur crew, Haral and Khym and Geran, on upper decks and close enough to make

it to vacancies. Blind-tired. Gods, yes. Her own head was too heavy to hold up. Her hands shook on the boards. There was not a critical control she would trust herself to handle.

Thank gods for Tauran.

"Captain." Tirun from the com, voice strained by the decel. "Give us a window, we'll get up there."

"Negative, negative, stay down there. You want scan on monitor down there you got it. I want you rested. Hear?"

"Captain-"

"Do it, Tirun. Don't fight me. Trank out if you got to. I need you later, hear me?"

Delay.

"Trank. I mean it, Tirun. I got to come down there?"

"No, cap'n. Loud and clear. We don't need the trank, though. Can I ask-"

"Gods help me." Her voice faded and breath all but failed her. "Get off the com, f'godssakes, cousin, give me a rest."

"Out, cap'n." Short and quiet and off the com. Instantly.

She ducked her head into her hands. Was I short? I didn't mean to be short. Call 'em back. Tell 'em-O gods. Tell 'em what?

Brain won't work. That's all. I can't think. Call 'em back, they'll know I'm off.

That'd make 'em rest real easy, wouldn't it, Pyanfar?

Professionals down below there. Not kids. Not stationsiders. Tirun knows what I mean. She'll trank if she has to. Professional.

Got to sit on Hilfy and Tully. My young fools. My devoted young fools.

Where's Chur? Where's Chur in this shaking-about?

"Geran, is somebody with Chur?"

Dip of the ears. "They took her downside. Crew quarters."

Safe, then, and not alone. One detail not on my shoulders.

Then:

"Transmission from Vigilance," Sif murmured. Data flowed onto her number one screen. Wordage abundant.

It was what she expected. Selected log entries. Two ships firing log segments back and forth like beamfire. Truth and counter-truth. "Gods-be fool," she murmured. Some of it was potentially explosive with the kif.

"We got that interview with Sikkukkut," Haral said.

"Save it," she said. "We got kifish ears out there. If Sikkukkut loses face here, we may have troubles we can't handle."

"Sfik," Khym said. "It's Chakkuf we have to worry about, isn't it? That's the leader."

"You got it." A chill and a warmth went through her. Her husband, on target and calm and having picked up more on the way than she gave him credit for, the way he always did. On the bridge, in a seat beside Tauran crew, and no Tauran twitching an ear at it. Do you know what you're hearing. Tauran? It's change. It's power tilting and sliding. And there's one way in all the universe I can out-do that bastard over there commanding Chakkuf. Take and hold. Grab with both hands.

A kif well understands this exchange of messages.

A kif understands what I'm asking the spacer clans to do, and he understands Ehrran's position, that it's eroding, fast. The kif aren't meddling in this, thank the gods, they know this is a situation they can foul up if they lay a hand on it and they don't want to do anything. They're waiting for me. Of course they're waiting for me. Thanks, husband.

"Message: priority." Data leapt from Sif's monitoring to monitor one, a flood of mahen log output, off a ship named Hasene.

Mahendo'sat. My gods. They're affirming Ayhar's story.

"Priority, priority."

Color-shift had begun on certain ships on far-scan, positions relayed and matrixed via continuous dopplered interlink from ships in position to pick them up. Certain ships were disentangling themselves from that welter of dots out there where the kif-kif-hani battle had wound down to stasis.

Stasis no longer.

"Priority."

Six of the spacing clans were moving. Coming in behind Chanur's Fortune and Chanur's Light. Faha kin and Harun clan were among them.

"Inbound," Haral murmured. "Gods hope they're on our side."

"Stand by armaments. We don't know what that lunatic Ehrran's going to do."

"That's spacers at Ehrran's back," Haral muttered. "Those five ships out from station behind her. I'd worry, in Ehrran's place. I'd worry right fast."

"Priority! That's a burn, Ehrran's maneuvering-"

Unmistakable on the passive-scan, the little flicker of the directionals; then mains cutting in, a deluge of energy from Vigilance, while the ships behind her stayed still.

Ehrran kept on with the burn, accelerating on an insystem vector, while information continued to shoot this way and that through the system. Then Ehrran shut down to inertial: they were leaving, but not at any great pace. Vigilance still had plenty of option to turn around. Or roll and fire.

"Bastard," Geran hissed. Still dangerous. Very.

Sudden, heart-stopping flares showed from one of Ehrran's backers. But that was rollover, turning nose toward Gaohn and home, the same direction as the incoming ships.

"That's Raurn's Ascendant," the Tauran First said.

Flares from the others, one and the other, and the next and the next. Rollover in each case.

Pyanfar clenched her hands and flexed the claws and gnawed her mustaches. / haven't got the strength to stay on the bridge. I can't do this. I can't last it. My gods, what am I going to do?

When it was most critical. When hani existence rode on it.

"Medkit," she said, fighting down a wave of nausea. "Fiar. Get me the medkit. Stimulant. I'd better have it."

"Captain," Haral said hoarsely, in hardly better shape.

"Don't. Don't. Get me the stuff, get me a sandwich. I got to, Hal."

"You got it," Haral said. While Fiar was off at the cabinet getting the kit.

"I'll get the sandwich," Khym said, "Gfi. Whatever you want."

His cooking. Gods. Not the tofi. She turned a dull and helpless glance his way. "Thanks. Hold the gods-be sweet stuff, huh? Just make it fast and simple."

"Fast and simple." He got out of his seat, grabbed the seat back for balance and headed up toward the galley, about the time Fiar came back with the kit, laid it out on the counter and pulled a syringe out.

She held out an arm. Held it there while the needle went in, while Sirany's voice whispered out of the distance, talking to other ships.

"You can't do this twice," Haral was saying. "Hear me. I'll put you out, cap'n."

She gave Haral a bleak stare. It was an honest threat, meant to save her life. The stimulant hit with a wave of giddiness, sending her heart thudding. For a moment her own pulse was all she could hear, and if she moved she would drift free off the floor, disoriented.

Harder and harder pulse. She drew a great breath. A second. "I'm all right," she said. And knew she had better not get up. The bridge spun and swung as if ship rotation had gone totally erratic.

Food arrived. Sandwich first. Cup of water. Fiar ran courier. The water went down best. She forced a single bite of the sandwich.

"Worse shape than Chur," Haral muttered at her side. "Gods, go off, we got running time, take it."

"Get some food yourselves. You. Geran. Get. We got everything covered. Get, hear. Want a tour with the kif?"

Haral's ears flattened. Old threat. Old joke. Not a joke, nowadays. She cleared the chair and took hold of Geran's arm when Geran got up and staggered. Both of them were out on their feet.

And leagues and leagues to go for Anuurn's sake.

It was a knifing pain when she let her mind shift to home, and Kohan, and a refuge which did not exist any longer. The bright blue world was there. Chanur was not. Dissolved. The estate legally in the hands of her son Kara Mahn.

And her son firmly under the influence of her daughter Tahy, who was groundling to the depths of her short-sighted, narrow heart.

/ never knew you! Tahy's voice, Tahy's face, nose wrinkled in anger. That ship, always that ship-

And Kara, big lad, inheriting height from both Khym and herself.

And brains from neither.

The gfi arrived, in Fiar's careful hand. She sipped it. It was overstrong. It hit her stomach like acid. But the warmth comforted. That much.

"Send to Gaohn," she said. "Pyanfar Chanur to the Llun. We call on Gaohn station to release the Ayhar ship and crew. The ships out here constitute sufficient of the han to make a temporary quorum. You have that authority. Officers of the han will respect this order or deliver themselves to the protection of Llun Immunity. We take possession of the station in the name of the han. End message. List the clans out here. Put all of them signatory to it."

It was a drunken, arrogant move. It was also fast, and it gave the down world han no time to organize or decree.

"Good bet the han's in session," Sirany said. "Down there."

"They would be. Yes. Let 'em debate what to do. Let 'em debate till the sun freezes. Dither and stew and argue. We've got an emergency out here. Send my apologies to the other ships for using them on signature, we got no time for transmission lag. We're operating under stress out here. Ask them to send a confirm and back me. Tell them we've got to get into Gaohn and get Banny Ayhar out of there.

"We're already getting confirms on that quorum call," Sif said.

It hit slowly. Like a wave of cold and heat. My gods, it's going to work. What do I do?

Jik! gods rot you, Jik, what do I do?

"Call the clans in front of us. Ask them would they return to Gaohn and secure Ayhar's safe release."

"Aye," Sif said. "Sending." And a moment later: "Llun responds. Ayhar crew is in process of release already. Prosperity is being serviced. Llun sends its compliments, ker Pyanfar, and asks what about the kif, quote, What are we facing? End quote."

The relief was giddy. She probed it a moment, replayed the statement that echoed in her skull, whether it was real or stim-induced hallucination. Good news, my gods, it's still working."

"We're coming in. Tell them that. Tell them I'm coming in for conference and if any of the han downworld want to get themselves up on the next shuttle, they're welcome. Tell them no danger from forces with me, repeat, with me. End message. Just that way, ker Sifeny."

"Understood. Re-request on order to the ships in front of us?"

"Tell them stand by. Does Llun need help onstation? Query them that while you're at it." I'm muddling. Not thinking of things. I'm dangerous up here. "Ker Sirany. I'm resigning operationals. Policy I'll handle. Refer to yourself and the other captains- all other-" She gave a desperate wave of her hand. "-stuff." And fumbled after the belt and tried to stand up.

"Help, cap'n?" Sif reached and grabbed her arm. "Ker Haral!"

I'm doing quite all right, thank you.

And the whole bridge went gray and dark.

Operations chatter. Quiet stuff. She got to her feet hanging onto the chair and held to the back of it.

All in gray. Dark a moment. And the blood rushing in her cars.

Someone got to her. Someone held onto her. "You want to walk," Haral said.

"I'm walking." Legs insensate as dead meat. Equilibrium gone. Haral had one side, Khym had the other.

It was a long, long walk to her quarters. The corridor lights writhed like the spine of a glowing snake.

"Just gone too far," Haral said. "Knew her like this once at Ajir."

Liar. I was drunk then. I'm scared, Hal. I haven't got anything left and they need me.

"I got her." When the whole universe did a sharp and sudden tilt. Khym hauled her along with an arm about her. Might as well have been flying, upside down and sideways.

Bed then. Mattress. Sheets. Pillow.

"Chur's room," Geran's voice said, hoarse and panting und utterly exhausted. "Haral, tell 'em. We can fall in there."

A body landed beside her. Thump. The safety restraint hummed and clicked.

Dark then.

Till the gravity shifted and she came awake with a reflexive clench of the claws into what was not mattress, but her I husband; he hissed and shifted and jerked as he came awake weighing less than he ought and with gravity not where it' ought to be.

"Uuuh!"

"Docking. It's all right, it's all right, we're at Gaohn." Mumble. Even that was not sufficient goad to get the body moving. The brain dimmed down again, with too great a load to push. More G-shifts. Clang and thump. Not safe to stand, in the condition she was. Prudent just to lie there and catch the few extra moments of drowse she could. Before the clangs and thumps of contact told her the grapples were secure. Then was time to get on her feet and clean up.

Safety hummed into retraction. It was Fiar standing over them, with a tray in her hands and an ears-back worried look on her face. The ship was miraculously stable and quiet. "Captain. M'lord. You want to try to eat something?"

We aborted dock? Backed off?

I slept through the grapple-noise? The connects? Gods, we're not on rotation.

She levered herself up on her arms. Khym stayed unconscious beside her. The place smelled. They did. Everything did. Her eyes were sticky and her mouth felt awful. "Situation," she said.

"We're in, captain. Berth thirteen. Got a solid line of our ships out there beyond us. Just everybody sitting, except us, except our lot-Harun and Pauran and Faha and all, we're in dock right together. So's ker Rhean and Chanur's Fortune. Ehrran too. Anfy Chanur held 'em under her guns on the way to dock, she's still got Light standing out right nearby, but Ehrran's still talking for Naur and them, but spacers are mad, captain, they're not having any of it. They want to see you. We told 'em you were in no fit condition. But my captain asks, she says maybe you should get Up there and see 'em soon as you can, captain-we got a whole lot of kif and a whole lot of hani eyeball-on out there around Tyar; but she wants you to have a breakfast and take it slow, her word, captain."