Earth Song: Etude to War (5 page)

There was no way to look at or scan a ship moving faster than the speed of light. You could, however, 'feel' its passage or sense the massive gravity shockwave before one arrived in your system.

That latter fact was what made the tactical drive so dangerous. There was no shock wave, just a warship appearing next to your fleet, or your world. The Kaatan would rain death on its enemies, and then use the same drive to blink away, leaving its adversaries no way to pursue, or even know where its harasser had gone off to.

Lilith quickly realized as the Kaatan sniffed out the path of the other ship and fell into course that this other ship was quite stealthy. She'd planned to follow closely to avoid losing her quarry, but the other ship accelerated to five thousand times the speed of light in less than a minute, something she wasn't capable of, and left an almost undetectable gravity trail.

She scoured her records on the ancient P'ing ships and found the information she was looking for. It was a stealth reconnaissance frigate; not much of a combat vessel, but difficult to corner and force into a confrontation. The Kaatan was more than a match for it in battle, but not in speed and stealth.

After a day at maximum speed, she was forced to admit it was hopeless. The trace of the other ship was almost undetectable, and if she considered, she risked having her much more noticeable gravity wave detected, which meant she must break off pursuit. Besides, now almost thirteen light-years from Bellatrix, she was farther afield than she'd chosen to go since arriving. With no further consideration, she dropped into normal space, came about, and jumped back to supra-luminal speed to return to Bellatrix. A cylindrical Tog ship watched from a light-year distant as the Kaatan turned around and headed back to Bellatrix. Its sensors tasted the nature of the other ship’s emissions and compared them to ancient records. Then, once the Kaatan was long gone, it set a new course and shot away.

Chapter 4

Julast 15th, 533 AE

Chosen Headquarters, Steven's Pass, Bellatrix

“What do you mean another starship?”

Minu looked across the desk at her second-least favorite person on Bellatrix and tried to control her anger. “Another starship other than the Kaatan.”

She pronounced the words with deliberate slowness, enjoying the way Jacob's face began to turn red. Minu wore her uniform, something she hadn't done in months. It was a calculated move and she crossed her legs, interweaving fingers and putting them over her knees. The two golden stars twinkled there to remind Jacob that she was beyond his reach now in almost every way. It took the entire council to mess with a council member.

“I meant, whose ship? Another like that one up there already, or like the ones she destroyed?”

A long time ago he'd stopped trying to refer to the Kaatan as belonging to him or the Chosen. The last time he'd tried to insist Lilith perform a mission for him, she'd left on a month long 'research mission'. When she'd returned she had reminded him that she was in control of the ship, and that he should remember his manners lest her next mission be at only a few hundred times the speed of light. He'd probably be an old man by the time she returned in that scenario.

“That's the interesting part. This ship is of Tog design.”

“What?”

Minu resisted the urge to tweak Jacob’s nose yet again. “Lilith identified it as being made by the Tog around the same time as her ship was built.”

“So that makes two current species with starships?”

“Both higher order species.”

“I wonder how many others are similarly equipped.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Minu didn't bother describing the issue with translating the Tog into their original name. She wanted some of her own face time to work on that one. “I'm intending to go to Herdhome and see what I can find out.”

Jacob cradled his chin in a hand and looked at her, no doubt weighing the benefits of her doing anything useful against finding an answer. He'd buttoned her up effectively for the last six years, and not having to look at her or deal with her attitude on a daily basis was worth taking her incredible intellect and problem solving ability off the table. But if there were other starships out there, they were potentially as dangerous, or more so than the Kaatan. He needed that information.

“Okay, that sounds like a good plan. Officially you are still the Tog liaison to Bellatrix. We'll word a formal request for information.” Minu smiled slightly and nodded, which was the full extent to which she’d grant him a victory for approving what she intended to do anyway. “But I want a full report.”

“Understood.”

Jacob looked like he was going to be ill. He seemed to be forcing himself to do something he didn't want to do. “Gregg Larson tells me the quality of recruits he's getting for the Rangers is better every year.”

Minu looked at him, making the man actually say it.

“I admit I considered the War College of yours a complete waste of time. I appear to have been wrong. Every one of the best are all your students. If not graduates, then they've at least been part of the RCTP your graduates set up in their local schools.”

“Thank you. The Reserve Chosen Training Program was an idea of my father’s, I just extended it to encompass a much wider spectrum of recruit when the Rangers came on line.”

“Can the university go without you?”

“We're in summer break right now. Besides, I don't teach day to day classes any more. I mostly lecture. We've sent you a couple invitations to commencements. Having the First among the Chosen give the commencement speech would mean a lot.”
If not to me
, she thought.

“I will make time this year. Have your assistant, Ariana isn't it? Have her send to my scheduler and we'll make it happen.”

“She's having another baby, but she'll be back by then.”

“I'm sorry about what happened to your husband. He was lucky to survive.”

“Thank you.” Minu smiled at his clumsy change of subject. “Well, I think two successes is more than we could hope for, so I'll get to work.” She stood and turned towards the door.

“Why do you hate me so much?”

“Because you're an asshole, always have been.” Jacob's face turned bright red. “You've done everything you could to hold me back from day one. I'd never be wearing two stars if I hadn’t broken every rule in the book, and even then the council dragged you kicking and screaming to that ceremony.”

“You don't understand everything, Chosen.”

“Then we have more in common than I thought, First.” It took a phenomenal effort of will not to slam his door with her right arm hard enough to require a work crew to get it open.

* * *

“I don’t want you to go there.” Her daughter’s voice sounded like she was in Minu's small office in Steven's Pass instead of thousands of kilometers away in space.

“Lilith, it's the logical thing to do.”

“They might have spotted me. If they did, they would expect you to show up like this.”

“The Tog saved our people. Of all the myriad crazy species in the galaxy, they are the only one that I know is on our side.”

“Then why have they hidden the fact that they have starships from you?”

“They've probably hidden a lot from us. The damn Concordia is nothing but secrets.”

Minu glanced out the window. A hawk was lazily riding a thermal high above. The more of them moved into the deep woods, the less common howlers became. Would the noisy lizards be extinct one day like the little scrubber lizards and the moss they used to feed on? Would anyone miss them?

“More like lies.”

“So work on shedding some light on those lies.”

“I am. Pip is coming up tomorrow to help me.”

“I thought he was on leave with his son?” Minu asked.

“He said he is tired of the child and wants to come see me.”

Minu sighed and decided on a side trip. “Don't worry about me, I'll be fine.”

“I'm not worrying.”

Minu smiled. The glimmers of humanity were becoming more common as the years went by. “Tell you what, if you don't hear from my little FTL crystal walkie-talkie in more than twenty-three hours, you zip to Herdhome and pull my bacon out of the fire.” She tapped the crystal implanted behind her ear for emphasis.

“Very well. Twenty-three hours.”

Minu made a mental note not to forget, no matter what. She had no idea what her daughter would do if she turned up missing. Would the young girl lay siege to Herdhome? And if she did, would it bother her how many died?

* * *

An hour later she was standing outside a nondescript apartment on the east side of Tranquility. She'd only been here a couple times in the last six years. For a lot of reasons. She took a deep breath and rang the announcement bell. A second later Pip opened the door. He looked annoyed.

“Well you are the last person I expected just now.” A young voice screamed defiance inside.

“I can see why. May I come in?”

“I warn you, it’s not pretty.” Minu shrugged and slid by him.

The flat was no more than seventy-five square meters, and modest by almost any definition of the word. It was appointed as he'd rented it, two small couches, an old tattered easy chair, four seat dinette by the window on the far side of the room and a brace of cheesy pictures completed the ensemble. A four-year-old boy was sitting in one of the dinette’s chairs, various bits and pieces of food strewn about the area. He was taking drinks of milk and spitting it onto the table.

“I've seen worse,” Minu lied. She walked over to the little boy and knelt. “Don't you like the food?” The boy took a mouthful of milk. “Now don't—”

SPLURT! Right in her face.

“You've seen worse, huh?”

“Maybe it’s been a while.” She plucked a towel from the table and wiped her face.

Pip shook his head and shrugged. “Leonard, please finish your lunch.”

“I hate macaroni.”

“I didn't ask you if you liked it. I told you to eat it.”

“NO!”

Minu got up and went into the little kitchen, wiping the last of the milk from her face as she walked. Once there she went through the fridge and cabinets before returning to the table. Pip just watched as she sat opposite the little boy. Leonard looked a lot like his father, thin figure with narrow face, black hair, and green eyes. There was little sign of the mousy blond hair of his mother, and he was too young for acne. Leo, as he liked to be called, watched her intently as she sat down, pulling the remnants of his milk closer for a possible follow-up shot. “I bet you like strawberries, don't you?”

“Poppa won't let me have any more.”

“Well, I'm not poppa,” she told him with a conspiratorial smile. The boy beamed and smiled back. Pip gave her a less than pleased look.

“I told him he'd had too much fruit already today.”

“Sometimes with a child you have to win when you can.” She filled a bowl with fruit, cheese slices, and crackers then slid it across the table. Leo glanced at it suspiciously, instantly noticing the pair of strawberry slices sitting on top. Without further hesitation he abandoned the milk, scooped up the bowl, and went to town.

“But,” Pip said.

Minu stood up, put a finger to her lips to silence him, and then led him away towards the living room area. Once out of earshot she continued. “That bowl only has one strawberry sliced up.” He looked back over his shoulder to see his son digging through the bowl. Occasionally he would put aside a chip or a piece of cheese, but often they magically ended up in his mouth, along with the odd slice of strawberry.

Pip nodded his head in appreciation. “You always were good at unconventional tactics.”

“Mother’s instinct.”

“I guess I can buy that. You didn't come here to help me feed my troublesome child.” Pip led her to the little notch in the wall. It was intended as a place to put entertainment electronics, Pip used it as his office. The desk wedged in there was piled high with tablets and data chips.

“Lilith spotted another starship yesterday.”

Now that she had his full attention she described the events in full.

“I was wondering why she wanted me to come up and help her.”

“And you were more than willing to ditch your kid.”

He looked back at where Leo was finishing off his snack. He looked a great deal more satisfied, and the fact that Minu had done it so easily made frustration flash across his face. “I'm not cut out to be a parent.”

“Then why did you become one?”

“Cynthia wanted it so badly.”

“Want doesn't equate to need.”

Pip shrugged. “Who knew I'd be a worse parent than I was a husband.”

“Cynthia said you were a little over the top… sexually.”

Pip turned away and looked at his pile of computers. “I can't help myself.”

“You could try.”

“I do. She was my wife. She was supposed to do whatever I want, right?”

“How delightfully Rusk of you.”

His head spun around, a little flash of anger on his face. Throwing his heritage back at him was a low blow, but Minu let it stand. “You Plateau girls are more liberated than we're used to, I guess.”

“You were a perfect gentleman at one time, Pip.”

“That was a long time ago, and one plastic dart in the past, I guess.”

Minu looked at him for a long moment in which he held her gaze without blinking. Eventually she nodded her head. “We've all changed in some ways. It's just sad that there is a child and a woman’s broken heart involved.”

“Collateral damage. I've learned my lesson. There are plenty of girls who'll do what I want for credits, and I don't have to worry about another one of those.”

“Damn it, Pip.” Again he shrugged. “Okay, whatever. So when you go up to work with Lilith you'll know what's going on.”

A nod.

“Any luck with the Weavers?”

“Not to speak of. Of course I could have a breakthrough tomorrow, or a century from now,” he said.

“Let’s hope it’s the former. Oh, one more thing, Pip.”

“Sure.”

“Touch my daughter and I'll kill you.”

Pip searched her face for a smile and found none. “I'd never do that.”

“As long as we understand each other?” He nodded his head. “Good.”

Minu spent an hour talking with Pip about her trip to Herdhome. When Leo had finished the bowl of food he climbed down from the chair and trundled over to a footlocker near the window. Inside he removed some toys, cars and trucks mostly, and began to quietly play. He was methodical in his play, carefully controlling every movement of his toys and how they interacted with each other. There Minu saw another similarity to her friend. “Does he ever say anything about the plate in your head?”