Shades of Gray (46 page)

“Yes,” said Kusac, lifting the lids on the various heated dishes to see what was inside. “Gods, real food again! Meat that had four legs and wasn’t grown in a vat!”

“They certainly believe in eating heartily,” agreed Banner, grabbing his last slice of crunchy meat before Kaid was tempted to.

“I’ll ask Kezule if those of us on this floor can all use the pool,” said Kusac, finally deciding on eggs and slabs of tenderly fried meat. “I presume Banner told you about the significance of pools to the Primes and Valtegans?”

“He did,” Kaid replied.

“Sorry we had to leave the banquet early, but both Shaidan and I were exhausted,” said Kusac, coming over to sit down beside them. “I’ll answer what questions you have now.”

“I’ll leave you to it as I’m on duty shortly,” said Banner, rising.

Kaid nodded good-bye and reached for the maush jug. “I think I’ll have some of this after all,” he said, pouring himself a cup. “Want some?”

“Please.”

Silence fell and lengthened until they both began to speak at once.

“We found out how you were tricked into coming to Kezule,” said Kaid.

“How are the twins and Kashini?”

They stopped and looked across the table at each other, faint grins on both their faces.

“You first,” said Kusac, pointing his fork at him.

Kaid shrugged. “The twins are doing well. Being younger than his sister Layeesha, Dhaykin was not as strong when he was born, but that lasted only a few weeks. Last time we checked, a couple of days ago, both were thriving. Kashini, that little jegget, is into everything without us there to stop her!”

Kusac’s smile grew wider. “I can imagine.”

“My turn. You aren’t seriously thinking of going to M’zull to rescue Kezule’s daughter, are you? The way they react to even the scent of us, it’d be suicide.”

Kusac scooped up another forkful of eggs before replying. “I assume Banner told you about our visit to Ch’almuth and how the M’zull are culling them every few years.”

“Yes. We sent a Touiban unit to investigate their satellite and see what they can do to fix it. Haven’t had an update from them yet.”

“Good, they need to be able to defend themselves. Kezule met the M’zullian ship this time, killed the crew and sent it back, making it look as though there had been an accident in space and it never got to Ch’almuth. They’ll be back, though, and we’ll need to help the Ch’almuthians. They and we will get only three days warning, though.”

“Three days? That’s not much considering the distances involved.”

“Banner didn’t mention the ancient corridor device that had been set up between Ch’almuth and M’zull? There are two more—from Kij’ik to Ch’almuth and maybe a nonworking one here somewhere. The tech can’t be reverse engineered; we tried. Ch’almuth was the granary of their old Empire, staffed with a few military people and a lot of the worker caste.”

“He mentioned it in passing. So they developed a fast transit system to reach there. Nice, if you can do it. Pity we can’t work out how. Maybe the Touibans can?”

“Maybe,” he said doubtfully around a mouthful of meat.

“So the gist of your plan hinges on this cull that the M’zullians will do shortly.”

“Yes. If I can get the info I need about their Palace setup, we could perhaps hijack this ship and return with not the Ch’almuthians they are expecting, but a bunch of commandos from here as well as maybe some of us. In full battle armor, we shouldn’t stand out so much.”

“Tails,” said Kaid succinctly. “And our leg shapes.”

“I did say I had an idea, not a full plan,” said Kusac, glancing over at him as he picked up his drink. “I’m hoping we have someone among the prisoners capable of drawing a plan of their Palace for us, because I don’t think for a minute a race as warlike as the M’zullians, left to their own devices for fifteen hundred years, didn’t either relocate the Palace or improve vastly on its design.”

“It might be doable,” said Kaid thoughtfully, turning the idea around in his head. “Let’s see what intel we can come up with first.”

“We don’t have long now. The M’zullian ship will be coming for its Ch’almuthian cargo soon.”

“We should have some turn-around time, though, at least a day. L’Seuli’s ship is due tomorrow.”

“Is it? Well, that’s not my concern, Ambassador Kaid,” he said with a big grin. “I’m still contractually obligated to Kezule.”

“We left Shola illegally to find you, you ingrate,” said Kaid with a hint of a growl.

“I haven’t time for the diplomatic niceties, Kaid. I’ve been given a job to do, and I have to do it. You, on the other hand . . .”

The sound of approaching footsteps stopped their banter, and moments later, Kezule walked in.

“Kusac, I need your help questioning the prisoners,” he said, stopping at the end of the long dining table. His Valtegan accent was more pronounced than Kusac had ever heard it. “I nearly killed one of them. I don’t trust myself with them.”

“I think perhaps this is my area,” said Kaid. “Kusac has scores to settle, same as you. I can be more impartial.”

“That’s not your decision to make, Kaid,” said Kusac, aware from Kezule’s posture just how much anger and rage the other was holding in.

When will you all stop treating me as if I am retarded in some way?
Kusac sent.
Don’t contradict me in front of Kezule! He’s on a knife-edge right now because of his daughter.

“Kezule, apparently K’hedduk was hiding out in the Palace kitchens,” Kusac said. “I suggest we order a sweep through there and make sure of everyone’s identity.”

“M’kou has seen to that, but if you feel we need another one . . .?”

“I would be happier. Things have quieted down a bit now, so anyone trying to hide as a member of the staff would feel safe. As for the prisoners, I want Kaid to question the thug Zoshur, Banner to be pulled off his detail to take Lufsuh, the Inquisitor, and our two Brothers, Shamgar and Vayan, should question the two M’zullians.”

“ZSADHI, send my orders to them.”

“As the Lord General commands.”

“We need a medic and a couple of guards with each unit, Kezule,” said Kaid, finishing up his drink.

“I’ve got them there already,” said the General grimly. “I learned a thing or two when I was your prisoner. Let’s go.”

 

On the way down to the lower dungeons, Kusac told Kezule the basis of his idea to rescue Zhalmo.

“It could work at that,” said Kezule, some of the tense lines around his brow smoothing out. “If you could bring this off, Kusac . . .”

“I make no promises,” he warned. “It all depends on whether we can get information on the layout of their Palace, or where Zhalmo is likely to be held, from the prisoners. And the right timing. It will take K’hedduk three weeks to reach M’zull. If they come for their cull before then, we’ll have to wait for their next visit. That means sacrificing more Ch’almuthian children, which neither of us wants to do.”

“Agreed. Hopefully K’hedduk will have told them of his setback and they’ll wait for him to arrive before doing anything else. They’re leaderless right now, until he returns.”

“Leaderless? How so?” asked Kaid as they got out of the final elevator and began walking along the corridor past the guards and the ancient cells that lined one wall. “I thought they had their own Emperor.”

“K’hedduk would not have been so bold as to usurp the throne here unless he was sure that his elder brother back on M’zull had been deposed,” said Kezule, stopping to open the door into an office. “We’ll wait here for the others. There are screens to let us monitor the prisoners at all times.”

The two guards on duty leaped to attention on seeing him, and Kezule gave them curt orders to find more chairs.

“No, K’hedduk will return to M’zull as its Emperor with some tale about the jealousy of his underlings leading to his forced retreat,” the General continued.

“You mean bolting like a chiddoe!” said Kaid.

“Chiddoe?” asked Kezule.

“Long back legs, small white tail, long ears,” said Kusac, snagging a chair when Kaid gestured him to do so.

“Ah, those, my staple food on Shola. They feared my scent so much it soured their flesh.” He frowned as if in memory of the unpleasant taste.

“Was anything we assumed we knew about you correct, Kezule?” asked Kaid. “Because there’s little resemblance between you now and then.”

“The times I now live in forced many changes on me, but that was always the strength of my kind—our adaptability,” the General said, taking a seat in front of the banks of monitors.

“Did we do you such a disservice, bringing you forward to our time?”

Kezule turned around to look Kaid full in the eyes. “At the time, I thought so, but not since I realized I had a purpose here and now, that of saving my species from what it has become. We should be like you, all one caste, not three. A Queen artificially created that many centuries ago, when our Empire was founded. But Kusac can tell you of this,” he said, turning back to the screens and dismissing the matter.

There were four main prisoners and a group of four other individuals who had been collaborators. The latter were huddled two to a cell while the former were lying or squatting against the wall in individual cells.

Kusac sat quietly, watching them, his mind wandering briefly to his cell on the
Kz’adul
. It had at least been cleaner than the ones here, and he’d had a bed.

“Where are the medics?” asked Kaid, leaning on the back of Kusac’s chair.

“In the guardroom, taking a break. Their stomachs are not as strong as they thought,” said Kezule wryly.

“Interrogation is a specialized technique,” said Kaid.

“I know,” said Kezule. “And better done by those with no issues with the prisoner.”

A knock on the door, and there stood Banner with Shamgar and Vayan.

“Reporting for duty as requested, General Kezule,” said Banner, making a sketchy salute.

Watching, Kusac’s mouth quirked in a ghost of a smile. So Banner was taking that tack with the General, was he? Then he’d let Kezule deal with it unless it got out of hand. Shamgar and Vayan’s salutes were exact to the gesture by comparison.

“See the guards in the guardroom for your prisoners. They’ll give you any current transcripts. The medics are in there too. Take what time you need to familiarize yourself with what we know about them first,” said Kezule.

“Aye, sir,” said Banner.

“I’d better join them,” said Kaid, leaving.

“You were worked on by Inquisitor J’koshuk,” said Kezule when they were alone.

Kusac stirred. “Yes.”

“And I by your Commander Rhyaz.”

“J’koshuk was on a personal crusade,” said Kusac. “I didn’t know it all at the time. He’d tortured my wife’s twin sister to death and recognized Carrie. K’hedduk was only interested in what pain to me would do to my Triad mates.”

“Ah. I’ve seen them work. In my opinion, they hold all that is bad of our people within them. They don’t just hurt you physically, they take your mind and twist and bend it out of shape. I nearly killed the Inquisitor.”

“Why?”

“He tried to manipulate me,” Kezule hissed. “He wanted to die quickly, but he won’t. I’ll have every scrap of information he holds wrung out of him before he’s allowed to die!”

“I believe we’ll get more of the info we need from the two M’zullians,” said Kusac quietly, sitting back in his chair. “If we do mount a mission to M’zull to rescue Zhalmo, we need to know where the Palace is and, ideally, its layout.”

“You’re right,” said Kezule after a moment’s thought. “You’re planning that our people will be on the ship taking the Ch’almuthians to M’zull, aren’t you?”

“That’s the idea, but we need to know our way around, where to land, where to take them, so we have time to find Zhalmo and extract her safely. I’m hoping we get most of the info from the two M’zullians and the rest from the crew of their ship at Ch’almuth. Incidentally, what would happen if we tried to disable the corridor device? How would they react? It would ensure we had the time we need to prepare for this mission.”

Kezule looked away from the screens to him. “I have no idea how they would react or what would happen,” he said slowly. “I don’t even know if ours on Kij’ik to Ch’almuth will still work when we have the station in orbit here.”

“We’ll have the chance to test it when it arrives tomorrow.”

“Indeed,” said Kezule. “My best guess would be that they will still be in some confusion after the coup, if not publicly, then certainly the top military and the Court, and even more when K’hedduk informs them of his defeat. They may not have time to worry about why the corridor to Ch’almuth has closed down.”

“If they do?”

“They’re busy taking all they can from the now dead world of J’kirtikk, so their resources are stretched,” said Kezule thoughtfully. “They won’t have been expecting an attack, and we know that K’hedduk told them how passive the Primes are. Now, however, he’ll have told them to pull back because we have the Sholan Alliance and their allies on our side. Difficult to say what he’ll do about Ch’almuth. He’ll be wanting to concentrate on home defenses and will expect us to follow up with a punitive action.”

“They still have the weapon that wiped out two of our colonies,” said Kusac. “An all-out war isn’t what we want.”

“That pellet gun, and the spray—yes, I found that as well,” said Kezule dryly. “Could they be adapted to be used on a whole world?”

“Not in that form, and the dangers to any of your people carrying it would be the same as to those you’re fighting. They’d lose the speed and the reflexes as well as the Warriors’ ability to heal themselves.”

“The M’zullians are an aberration. They deserve to be wiped out,” said Kezule.

“Agreed, but don’t you need their genes?”

“They present too much of a danger to our species. I would eradicate them all if it were in my power to do so.” Kezule’s crest had risen slightly, and his hands were clenching the chair arm tightly.