Cobra Slave-eARC (18 page)

It seemed to Jody that Tamu actually paled. “You are—?” His eyes darted to Uy, to the still-standing Harli, then back to Omnathi. “I’m honored to meet you, Mr. Omnathi—”

“Your Excellency,” Siraj cut in, his own eyes unblinkingly on Tamu and as unfriendly as Jody had ever seen them. “The proper address is Your Excellency.”

“My apologies, Your Excellency,” Tamu said, looking pained at his gaffe. “May I ask what you’re doing on Caelian?”

“I’m engaged in diplomatic discussions with Governor Uy,” Omnathi said.

“What sort of discussions?”

“Private discussions,” Omnathi said, leaning on the first word.

“I see,” Tamu said, his voice stating to show some strain. “May I suggest that as a representative of the Dominion of Man, Commodore Santores would be a more appropriate person to negotiate with?”

Omnathi’s eyebrows rose microscopically. “Define appropriate.”

Tamu’s throat worked. Clearly, the conversation was already way outside his mission parameters. “I simply meant that Commodore Santores has the authority to speak on behalf of the Dominion of Man. Governor Uy doesn’t.” He looked back at Uy. “Especially under the present circumstances.”

“And if I ask that the charges against him be dropped?”

Tamu’s eyes flicked to the Marine standing behind Uy. “I may have some flexibility in my orders,” he said. “If you’d care to accompany me back to my ship, perhaps we could discuss it in more comfortable surroundings.”

“The surroundings here are adequate to my needs,” Omnathi said. “Whatever you wish to discuss, we may do it here.”

Tamu’s lips compressed. “Very well,” he said reluctantly “As I’ve already suggested, Commodore Santores is most anxious to speak with a representative of your world. If you were willing to travel to Aventine to meet with him, I would be honored to provide transport for you. The flight would take less than a day.”

“And Governor Uy?”

“He would be permitted to remain on Caelian until we return,” Tamu said. “But I have no doubt that you and the commodore could work out a mutually acceptable resolution to his situation.”

“As I said, I prefer my current surroundings,” Omnathi said. “If you wish to return to Aventine—alone—to consult with your superiors and bring back a full reversal of the charges against him, I’ll consider holding further discussions.”

“You’ll consider it?” Tamu retorted, his face darkening. “Have a care, Your Excellency. One word from me and you’ll be on your way to Aventine whether you wish it or not.”

“You could give that word,” Omnathi agreed, his voice gone cold. “But it would be your last. Or do you truly believe I came here alone?”

Tamu’s eyes flicked to Siraj and the Djinni’s combat suit, and Jody had the sense of a rapid reassessment. “No, of course not,” he said. “But I’ve intruded on your time too much already. With your permission, I’ll take my leave. Governor Uy, we’ll speak more on this matter later.”

He gestured, and the Marine standing behind Uy retraced his steps around the table. Then, in perfect unison, all five of them turned and strode past the three Cobras through the doorway. The Cobras followed, closing the door behind them. Straining her ears, Jody heard the faint thud as the building’s outside door closed.

“An interesting dilemma,” Uy said.

“Not exactly the word I would have chosen,” Harli said sourly.

“I didn’t mean ours,” his father told him. “I meant Commander Tamu’s.”

“Indeed,” Omnathi agreed thoughtfully. “As I see it, he has three possible paths. First, he can attempt to take us by force. But that path is pitted with danger. Not only do you have many Cobras who would resist, but there may be an unknown number of Djinn as well. A well-schooled military commander would never go against such uncertainties unless he had no other options. Second, he can send his ship back to Aventine to alert his superiors and bring back new instructions and more warriors. But that would leave him stranded without his ship’s tactical support. Third, he and his entire force could leave and return for instructions. But he then risks the chance that we would be gone when he returned.” He looked at Uy. “Do you find any flaws in my reasoning?”

“No, your reasoning is solid,” Uy said heavily. “I only wish it wasn’t built on a castle of cards.”

“What do you mean?” Jody asked.

Uy looked at Omnathi. “I’m not sure…”

“He means that my threat was hollow,” Omnathi said calmly. “There are only four Djinn currently on Caelian, and Ifrit Akim is the only one in Stronghold.”

“The other three are in Aerie assisting the Cobras who are testing the combat suits we brought,” Siraj added.

“Fortunately, Tamu doesn’t know that,” Uy said. “The trick is to maintain the illusion. And to not back him into a corner where he feels he has to call our bluff.”

“I see,” Jody said, a shiver running through her. Tamu had called the Squire a courier ship, but given that it was a Dominion craft she didn’t doubt that it was also heavily armed. Not that it would take much weaponry to flatten what was left of Stronghold.

“There’s also Damocles,” Harli said.

“What’s Damocles?” Jody asked.

“Something the less said about, the better,” Uy told her.

“Okay,” Jody said, a shiver running through her. She’d seen the Caelians come up with all sorts of crazy combat schemes. If Uy didn’t even want to talk about this one, it must be even crazier than usual. “New tack. Your Excellency, is there any way to get you out of here if Tamu goes with option three?”

Omnathi shook his head. “That, too, is a castle of cards. The Tlos’khin’fahi ship that is to take us home is not scheduled to return for three more weeks.”

“Wait a minute,” Harli said, frowning off into the distance. “What about the Troft warship we left in the Octagon Caves? Do you think we might be able to get that one back in the air?”

“I doubt it,” Jody said. “We left it pretty firmly wedged in.”

“Yeah, I know,” Harli said. “But if we could get it unstuck—use shaped charges to blast away the stone above it or something—we know that you, Smitty, Kemp, and Rashida can fly the thing. Even if we couldn’t get Shahni Omnathi all the way back to Qasama, we might at least get him out of the system where Tamu couldn’t find him.”

“And perhaps move Governor Uy away, as well,” Siraj suggested.

“Oh, wouldn’t that just fry him?” Harli said dryly. “What do you think, Dad? Should I send a couple of miners to the caves and see what they can do?”

Across the room, the door abruptly swung open. “Sorry,” Kemp said. “Governor, we’ve got trouble. Tamu’s got a whole bunch of his Marines out in the streets trying to get people into his ship.”

“You mean kidnapping them?” Uy demanded, straightening in his chair.

“No, no—so far they’re just talking,” Kemp said. “But they’re talking real big—promising food and money and help. The whole niners.”

“Is anyone listening to them?” Harli asked.

“Everyone’s listening to them,” Kemp said grimly. “They’ve got twenty corralled already and they’ve only gone three blocks.”

Jody felt her stomach tighten. On her walk into the city she’d noticed that several of the large gardens that supplemented Stronghold’s food supply were still out of commission, their crops torn up and trampled during the battles with the invading Trofts. With the additional deaths of so many Cobras and civilians, it was likely that the normal hunting schedule had also been disrupted.

The Caelians were hungry. Tamu had obviously noticed that, too. “Looks like he’s found a fourth option,” she murmured. “But aside from good will, I don’t see what this gains him.”

“Maybe it gains him hostages,” Harli said tartly, moving toward the door. “How many Cobras have we got out there?”

“Just a minute, Harli,” Uy called, gesturing him back. “Let’s think this through. Kemp, are they picking specific people, or just gathering them at random?”

“I couldn’t tell,” Kemp said. “Some of the people were working. Others were just standing there chatting with each other or minding their own business.”

“I cannot imagine a warrior allowing random civilians past his barriers,” Omnathi said. “He must be doing some form of screening.”

“I’m sure he is,” Uy agreed. “We know that the first Dominion survey team pulled the city records. We’ve also seen that Tamu has either a prodigious memory or access to some computerized face-recognition system. If he wanted specific people, he could probably find them.”

“If they’re looking for hostages, they should be going after Council members or other community leaders,” Elssa said. “Is that who they’re approaching?”

“No, none of them are in the group,” Kemp said, frowning. “Wait a minute—I take that back. Pivovarci was one of them.”

“Pivovarci?” Harli snorted. “Terrific.”

“Who’s Pivovarci?” Jody asked.

“One of our chief malcontents,” Harli growled. “He didn’t like the way Stronghold got torn up while we were fighting the Trofts, he didn’t like the Isis deal with the Qasamans, and he really doesn’t like the food rationing we’ve had to impose.”

“So he’s not buying hostages,” Kemp said grimly. “He’s buying allies. Using food as his lure.”

“All the while whispering words of betrayal in their ears,” Omnathi said, nodding agreement. “A slower tactic than force of arms, but just as likely to yield results in the long run.”

“Too bad we can’t hear what those words consist of,” Harli said. “Kemp, was there anyone in the group we can pull aside later and ask what they talked about?”

“No one I’d trust to tell me the truth,” Kemp said sourly. “But they’re still collecting. Maybe Tamu will slip up and pick someone who’ll be a little more on our side.”

“Lord knows we don’t need any more enemies right now,” Elssa murmured.

Jody braced herself. “Then maybe we should see about bringing in a few more allies.”

“Meaning?” Uy asked.

“You said there were three more Djinn out in Aerie and a bunch of new combat suits,” Jody said, thinking quickly. She was going to need some fancy verbal footwork if she was going to sell this. “How many suits are there?”

“There are fifty,” Uy said, gazing hard at her. “All of them out in Aerie.”

“Are you suggesting we dress up a few citizens and pretend they’re full-fledged Djinn?” Kemp asked.

“Because if you are, it won’t work,” Harli added. “They have the population records, remember? One flick of his eyelid and Tamu will know they’re not Qasamans.”

“Unless all he got were Stronghold’s records,” Jody pointed out. “Do we know for sure that they got Aerie’s, too?”

“It’s a good bet they did,” Uy said.

“I still think it’s worth trying,” Jody said stubbornly. “All I need is an aircar.”

“You also need not to get picked up by Tamu,” Elssa warned. “I doubt he left here without putting a Marine on guard at our doors.”

“Actually, he left two,” Kemp confirmed. “But I can get her past them.”

“Besides, what Tamu doesn’t know is that I’m not worth nearly as much as he thinks I am,” Jody said. “As long as he doesn’t get my recorder, there’s nothing I can give them that they want.”

“Doesn’t mean they won’t lock you away until they figure that out,” Harli pointed out.

“I’m willing to risk it,” Jody said. “Besides, Aerie deserves to know what’s going on.”

For a moment the room was silent. Uy and Omnathi looked questioningly at each other, and Jody saw Omnathi give a small nod. “All right,” Uy said reluctantly. “Baxtern’s the Cobra in charge out there. Just tell him what’s going on, and have him coordinate with Ifrit Ghushtre on a cautious—a cautious—response.” He made as if to say something else, then seemed to change his mind. “Kemp, are you going to need a field radio for this?”

“No, we can do it pick-up,” Kemp said. “Come on, Jody—we need to get to the roof.”

“The roof?” Jody echoed, frowning, as she stood up and headed across the room.

“The roof,” he confirmed. “Trust me—you’re going to love this.”

“Good luck,” Uy called after them.

“And be careful,” Elssa added.

Two minutes and three flights of stairs later they emerged onto the roof. “We actually have your mother to thank for this one,” Kemp commented as he led the way across the tiles at a fast jog. “It was her last maneuver before the Trofts surrendered that inspired us to come up with it. Well, hers and the Qasamans’.”

He trotted to a halt right at the roof’s edge and peered down at the streets and people below. Jody stopped a more cautious meter away, a sudden sense of foreboding tingling up her spine. The way she remembered it, her mother’s last maneuver in that battle had nearly gotten her killed.

Abruptly, Kemp gave a short whistle and snapped his fingers. He paused, snapped his fingers again, and gave a sort of pancake-flipping motion with his hand. He nodded, gave whoever was down there a thumb’s up and gestured to Jody. “Okay, we’re ready,” he told her as she came up. He took hold of her wrist—

And to her stunned bewilderment pulled her toward him, leaned over, and scooped her up into his arms. “What—?”

“Happy landings,” he said.

And before she could more than gasp in surprise and terror he straightened his arms and hurled her high into the air off the edge of the roof. The city flashed dizzily around her as she spun around twice like a high diver who’d lost her way and orientation. On the second spin she thought she saw a figure flying up to meet her—

A second later her spin came to a sudden halt as a pair of strong arms closed around her shoulders and knees. She jolted slightly with the impact, and there was more disorientation as she belatedly realized she was still falling. The arm cradling her shoulders shifted, the hand reaching up to support the back of her head.

And then, with another jolt and a sudden but controlled deceleration, they were down.

Down, spinning around, and bouncing rhythmically across the ground. Blinking against the wind blowing across her face, Jody looked down.

She’d been wrong. They weren’t running along the ground, but along the top of a two-story building. Peering past the shoulder pressed against her cheek, she saw the Government Building receding behind her.

“Hope that wasn’t too frightening,” a soft voice murmured in her ear.