Human, p.16
Human, page 16
part #1 of Humanity Ascendant Series
He gave Eth’s feet a friendly slap to get them out of the way as he dropped his own posterior onto the bench. “So what did they want with you ?”
“It’s hard to say,” Eth answered honestly enough. “I…” He leaned away from his lord, ever so slightly, feeling a wave of revulsion. “What? What’s wrong, Lord?”
Mishak had turned to face him, his left hand on the bench as though ready to push back from the Human. “What did they do to you?” he asked quietly. “I can’t read you anymore.”
“What?”
“All I’m getting are jumbled fragments, like hearing sound from underwater.”
“He’s right,” Mishak’s pilot agreed. “It’s like you’ve turned into one of those Zeartekka. Creeping me out.”
“Were you attacked?” Mishak demanded. “Did one of them hit you in the head or inject you with anything?”
“No. I just had one conversation,” he said, again, more-or-less truthfully. He was reasonably certain the Varangians had known this was going to happen. If they knew the future, then they knew he’d be able to keep secrets from the Quailu.
Mishak shuddered. “Well, we can’t sit here forever trying to figure it out.” He got up and headed for the cockpit. “We need to get the fleet out of here.”
They flew back to the Dibbarra , leaving Mishak’s personal shuttle behind on the Varangian flagship. It was worth the sacrifice of one shuttle, if it meant that Uktannu would think his nephew was still aboard the imperial vessel.
The moment the shuttle touched down in the hangar-bay, Mishak’s ships leapt away, shaping path to the rendezvous.
Mishak headed straight for the bridge, not bothering to give any indication to Eth as to whether he was required there as well.
Instead, Eth wandered over to Your Last Chance, resting a hand on her landing strut.
The Varangians had clearly planned to meet him back at the station and, given what he’d just learned, it wasn’t surprising. He turned at the sound of footsteps.
“So what did the Emperor’s thugs want with you?” Noa asked. He held out an apple, only slightly desiccated on one side. He gave a shrug. “The food-cycler does meat well enough now, but the fruit is still a little hit-or-miss. It’s a side-effect of the tandem drive arrangement we’re using. The interference patterns are hard to isolate because they shift with the power settings. It’s messing with a few of our systems.”
“That’s all it is?”
Noa nodded. “Small price to pay, when you consider how well our engines reinforce each other.”
Eth started to nod but he froze, skin tingling. “Birdu’s balls!” he whispered in shock. Reinforcing to make something greater than the sum of its parts…
Without even a backward glance at Noa, he raced for the exit hatch. He skidded around the corner and ran up the ramp toward the bridge, bellowing at crewmen to make way for him.
He no longer cared if Mishak wanted him on the bridge. He had good reason to go there. For the second time in the same day, he burst into the command center, but this time at least, they weren’t shaping their way into another ambush.
But the future of Mishak’s family was.
“Heiropolis,” he announced breathlessly before Mishak or Rimush could say anything.
Even without the ability to read Eth, Mishak was quick to pick up on his meaning. He turned to the holo display and brought up the mapping function.
“Your lord father led eight squadrons through the Heiropolis system two days ago,” Rimush said, scrolling through a list.
“Anyone who knows my father will realize that he’d respond to a raid on one of his worlds with overwhelming force.” Mishak zoomed out his view and began stalking around the projection to the left to get a better sense of the picture in three dimensions.
“There are few in the empire who don’t know that about your father,” Eth confirmed, “but that raid would make an excellent opening move if you’re hoping to bisect his holdings with his forces trapped on the wrong side of Heiropolis.”
“Given how many systems we’ve taken from rivals in this region in the last century,” Mishak muttered half to himself, “there’d be no chance of anyone granting him military access, especially if they scent imperial involvement in an attempt to cut us down to size.”
“Which brings us to the Varangians,” Eth stated. “If they wanted to speak to me, they could have sent just one frigate. Nobody in their right mind wants to tangle with the Varangians. The Emperor would excommunicate anyone who tried. Anyone could attack them, regardless of pretext. They weren’t waiting with your uncle to help deal with us , we were just a complication.”
“The Varangians are sitting there waiting for Uktannu to seize Heiropolis Prime.” Mishak’s fists clenched. “They’ll wait a day or so, then show up to ‘investigate’ the veracity of Uktannu’s claim on the system. A massive shift in power resulting from relatively small expenditures of force.”
“The claim will already have been fabricated for him and registered at court,” Rimush growled. “That slimy little pile of…” He started suddenly, glancing nervously at Mishak. “Your pardon, Lord. I forgot myself for a moment there.”
Mishak waved off the apology. “It’s nothing I haven’t already thought, uncle or not. I can hardly fault you for cursing him when I’m expecting you to open fire on him in the very near future.”
“Your uncle will already be on his way there now,” Eth insisted. “He just watched us consulting with the Varangians and he has to be wondering what we may have learned from them. He’ll launch whatever plan he has and he’ll do it immediately, before we have a chance to cook up any mischief against him.”
“But if he assumes his plot is compromised,” Rimush cut in, “why go through with it?”
“Because my father will already kill him for the plot,” Mishak said. “Far better to be killed for taking the Heiropolis system. That course of action at least holds out the chance of survival if he can still get the Varangians to run interference for him.”
“And he’ll have to use whatever plan he’s already developed and disseminated to his captains.” Eth zoomed out the display a little. “There’s no time to adjust anything and coordinate it. He has to roll the dice. Probably come at them with a small force, real friendly-like.
“Just friendly old Uktannu, brother to the lord who owns the whole damned place. He’ll get in behind the security patrols and wait.”
“And then his main force comes blazing out of path,” Rimush growled. “Fornicating cowards! How do we stop them?”
Eth shuddered. He could feel the thought bubbling up in Mishak’s mind somehow. “We don’t,” he said, pre-empting his lord who raised a surprised eyebrow. “Say we got there first. We see the Lord Uktannu come out of path with his small advance force and we do what? Open fire?” He shook his head. “That makes us renegades. Do we warn Heiropolitan Orbital control?”
“Baseless allegations.” Mishak sighed. “Or rather, they’re baseless until my uncle opens fire.”
“Which he’ll do if he doesn’t know we’re there,” Eth said, grinning. He looked at Rimush, sensing his understanding of the plan. “We get to the rendezvous, pass out our new destination and get going for Heiropolis Prime.”
Rimush nodded, liking the idea. “And we follow our new SOP.”
Meanwhile, at the New Ranch…
L ady Bau!” General Tilsin turned to greet the Quailu who’d sent him to incorporate Arbella into her holdings. “This world is not yet safe! There will be rebels here for years and, if they learn of your presence…” He gestured toward the heavy doors leading from the governor’s office to the planetary council chamber.
“Enough, General!” she replied tartly. “Would you have said such a thing to my husband?”
The general bowed his head in acknowledgement of the point.
“If it were so dangerous,” she asked, “then why have you already sent back half the fleet?”
Surprise at such a question.
“Ships cannot stop a determined fanatic with a bomb, Lady,” Tilsin replied. “I kept the soldiers and they’ll need to stay here for quite some time, at least until the citizens get used to the idea of living under your rule.”
“You seem upset, General Tilsin.” Lady Bau’s open smile encouraged him to speak freely.
Tilsin had served her husband, Nin-Girsu for decades and, though her husband wasn’t the most inspiring leader, he could have been far worse. It hadn’t been until after his death, when the Lady Bau took the reins, that people understood just how much she’d done to protect them from the full effect of his ‘leadership’.
She’d taken over a house on the verge of losing elector status. Three of their nine worlds were on the edge of ecological and economic collapse. That would have demoted them to colony status and colonies didn’t count toward the eight systems needed to make a lord into an elector.
She’d brought in a slate of reforms, putting all nine worlds back on the road to recovery and agricultural output had skyrocketed. Most of the profit had been poured back into development, leaving little for her military, but she’d at least listened to Tilsin’s plea for new equipment templates.
The general nodded again at the heavy doors that led to the council chamber. A steady bubbling of voices could be heard beyond it. “They had terrible management here. The previous governor fled with half the records, though the half he didn’t have time to take already implicated him in enough corruption to get him lynched.
“How could any other lord be worse than what they already had? Why should they care who rules them?”
“Why indeed?” She chuckled. “When one lord’s the same as the next, the only thing that changes during an annexation like this is that they’re reminded of just how hopeless everything is. That’s why they can find young males willing to throw their lives away on desperate attacks. It makes them feel like they’re serving something greater.”
Frustration .
“Even if it’s just a return to serving the same horrible overlord they had before?”
“Especially if,” she insisted, “because it gives them the feeling that they’re taking a hand in their own destiny, choosing, if not the flavor, then at least the brand name of their oppression. Don’t forget it’s the branding that lets an ineffective governor stay in power.
“How many factions are there in this planet’s council? Five?” She tilted her head back. “Have you looked at their social media feeds? Every single policy discussion degenerates into factional insults and memes – the adherents of each brand posting their views and shouting down opposition. The citizens of this world were too busy squabbling with each other to notice the systematic looting of their economy by their own officials.”
A mental shrug . “That’s politics for you.” Tilsen sighed.
“Politics!” Bau sneered. “The single greatest marketing success in recorded history. It’s still just feudalism. The only difference is that the peasants are too occupied fighting each other to turn on their masters.”
Loyal confidence. “If you’re finished with the lecture, ma’am, perhaps you could go out there and sort the council out.”
She laughed, turning for the doors. “I’m sure you could have done this, General, but sorting out my own holdings has given me a taste for this.”
Tilsin just managed to catch up as she reached the doors, opening them for his lady. They moved forward into a loud wash of voices that quickly grew quiet as she approached the rostrum.
She spent a moment looking out at the assembled leaders of this system. Arbella was the only world in this system to hold full planetary status. Two nearby worlds had colonies and they would have representatives here as well.
She let them see her.
She was well into what might be called her twilight years and there were some who whispered that she should step down in favor of her young son, but he hadn’t yet reached the age of majority. He still lived at Askuza, fostered to the great lord Ashkazum.
Those who whispered such things tended to change their mind after meeting her. There was no weakness in her stride and certainly no weakness in her spirit.
The room was massive, those sitting at the far side taking several minutes to notice the wave of quiet descending on the assembly. Finally, with the room nearly silent, she cleared her throat.
“I’ve just seized this system by right of conquest, so I won’t insult you with pleasantries and self-deprecating humor. I will tell you that we don’t intend to displace any of you with our own people. As long as you don’t give us cause to do so, you will not be removed from your positions.
“I would have told you this as I stood next to your governor but he seems to have fled the system. This is almost certainly for the best because it seems that much of the profit from this world has flowed into his personal accounts.
“I will serve warning to you all that I don’t tolerate corruption. If you were lining your pockets at the expense of your citizens, you will be dealt with severely if you fail to stop doing so immediately.”
Mild alarm flowed around her. She nearly laughed but this was too serious.
She had seen, during her husband’s administration, the true cost of ‘looking the other way’. Too many officials had taken bribes and all nine systems had been systematically looted, bringing the family to the verge of collapse.
A corrupt administration passed very little tax revenue to its overlord.
“From now on, half of all tax collected from Arbella will be spent on improving the local infrastructure. This world is falling apart at the seams and your military was nearly non-existent. Even our meager forces were able to overwhelm you in less than three hours!”
She made a mental note to expand her forces.
“I ask you to consider this – as one of the worlds belonging directly to an electress, you no longer have an intermediate lord in your tax hierarchy.”
She paused, enjoying the exited murmur that ran around the circular room. Minor lords who didn’t owe fealty to an elector were required to pay their taxes into one of the many consolidated taxation authorities. Those authorities needed funding to support their bloated bureaucracies and that funding came from the taxes they handled.
“You pay your taxes to me,” she continued, “and I pay the emperor directly. From this day onward, Arbellans will see their tax burden reduced by a third.”
She’d had one of her personal bodyguards standing at the chamber entrance on the far side, waiting to applaud at the tax announcement but she was gratified to see it hadn’t been necessary.
Several Arbellan representatives within earshot sprang to their feet and immediately began clapping. It spread quickly, bringing most of them to their feet in a slow moving wave that wrapped its way around in both directions, meeting at the far side.
She let the positive feelings wash over her. Many Quailu just wanted a quiet life but they had no idea how it felt to take an angry, fearful crowd like this one and turn it around.
Getting Ahead
T hat’s good, Hendy.” Eth looked out at the blackness. The biggest thing in the sky was the pinpoint of light thrown back at them from Heiropolis Prime and, yet, this counted for close in naval matters -- especially in relation to the planetary approach corridor.
The rest of the fleet was farther back, out of detection range and waiting for the signal from Eth and his scout-ships.
“Nothing out of the ordinary in the chatter,” Glen announced. “No sign of marauding enemies or anything.”
“So who are we expecting?” Hendy asked.
“It’s… sensitive,” Eth replied, wondering at the frustration he felt from the pilot. Whatever had happened when he stepped out of this universe, it seemed to have left him with abilities similar to those of the Quailu, but it also made him a blank slate to the ruling species.
He wasn’t sure he wanted it.
“Look,” he began, “if it happens, then you’ll know who it is. If I tell you now, we risk rumors getting out that could harm relations with an otherwise friendly lord.”
He got up from the co-pilot chair and stretched. “I’m going to see Noa about your wild idea.”
Hendy let his gaze drift meaningfully to the assault rifle racked on the bulkhead behind his chair. “If you thought it was so crazy, why bother bringing infantry weapons aboard?”
Eth grinned. “Maybe I’m crazy too? You’re not the only one tired of sitting around at a console all the time.”
E th was sleeping when the call came in or, rather, trying to sleep. It was getting easier to drift off but not by much. He could feel all his crewmen in the close quarters of Your Last Chance and their hopes and fears weighed even more heavily, now that he could feel them directly.
Oliv was throwing off an aura of surprise and excitement tinged with that sharp edge of fear that Eth knew only too well.
The enemy had come.
“Same ships we saw in Uktannu’s space,” she told Eth before pointing at one of the cruisers. “You can even see the repaired damage on that one from the raid they pulled in Sandrak’s territory, and they’re running with hulls open to space.”
Eth could feel his pulse quicken. He’d been right. They were coming in rigged for combat.
“Keeping pace,” Ed announced, nodding to Hendy as the lead pilot strapped into the co-pilot’s seat.
“Let’s hope the others are doing the same,” Eth said with a glimmer of pride. Even knowing that The Last Thing You’ll Ever See and The Reason You Don’t Have Friends were out there watching the enemy ships, his own sensors were having a hard time finding them.
They knew the plan and they knew, roughly, where Your Last Chance was posted. The damaged cruiser was the closest one to Eth so she’d serve as their target.
“Glen, eject a message drone with the enemy composition and current course.”
The drone shot out from the side of the small vessel, waiting until it was far from the ship and well along on its tangential course before sending a unidirectional burst back to Mishak and the rest of his fleet.
