Mistaken identity, p.14
Mistaken Identity, page 14
Dan nodded. The Auga had tested Anari and assigned her to engineering school, stating flatly that she must be Moss School because she was too smart for Sabre. Suka Kuri, a literal Living Legend of the Emro, disagreed with that conclusion.
Dan would listen to the expert here. Like Uly listened to her.
“I wonder what forms the Thogin have,” Dan mused aloud.
Ethir and Ralphye showed up to the junior class occasionally enough to learn the form and then practice it, but had not mentioned anything they had studied elsewhere.
“I expect it will be fast,” Suka Kuri replied. “Grapples intended to get a larger opponent to the ground where smaller, faster Thogin can keep that greater mass from being useful. The boys, however, are not the serious students that you and Anari will need.”
“Agreed,” Dan said. “I’ll add that to the recruitment list.”
“And, Dan?” Suka Kuri asked in a tone that caused Dan to ignore her four students and turn to the woman. “We’ll want at least one female Thogin warrior.”
Dan felt her face break into a huge grin. On the station, that had caused its own set of ripples, especially considering how outwardly sexist Z’Gosza society had come across to Dan.
Uly would have an entire, deadly team of women protecting him.
All part of the Corsac Fox’s legend.
THIRTY-FIVE
Uly sat behind his desk with coffee in hand. And too many things up in the air to fully comprehend what Haydar and Piruz were telling him. Or what they’d done. Or why he was here.
“Back up,” Uly interrupted the stream of words. “You did what?”
He watched two sets of tentacles fold and twist like two kids caught with their hands in a cookie jar by Mom.
“We broke into Factor Bitrus’s main datacore and copied out significant chunks of his data in the form of downloading a wide variety of Z’Gosza historical romance vids,” Piruz eventually replied with a grin.
Haydar had started to speak, but subsided. Uly looked at his favorite horse thief.
“Vids take up a LOT of volume,” Piruz nodded enthusiastically. “Way more than raw data.”
“And you found what?” Uly asked, turning to Haydar.
“Bitrus ordered a local passenger liner be hired for six months at above normal rates,” Haydar said. “Suggesting that he’s in the process of locating or hiring you a small army for the ground assault Ethir and the others think might be necessary at some point.”
Uly drank some more coffee, letting the warmth and especially caffeine hit him. Wasn’t actually coffee, but it was a seed pod that could be roasted to a similar taste, with a close enough chemical composition.
Once he found a planet that grew habanero peppers, he’d be set. No, Dan wanted chocolate or something similar. And Vahid had an order in for live chickens that could be bred, though that roast chicken dish he’d had on the station might get them close.
Piracy vids never stopped to consider logistics. You just took food from whoever you attacked. And those movies were always one, single species.
He had half of the species he knew of within the sound of his voice right now.
“How big is that ship?” he asked his two juvenile delinquents.
Both looked at him surprised from eyes and tentacles. Probably expected to get yelled at.
“In for a penny, in for a pound,” he said, quoting the Mazhin currency they used on their ships.
They grinned like truants now.
“Crew plus up to two thousand passengers,” Piruz nodded. “And a lot of food supplies, assuming a higher quality of passenger than armed soldiers. How many were you thinking you needed?”
“I have no idea,” Uly replied. “Your notes are decades out of date, somewhat updated from Ethir and a few of the Ononguli who have only tangential experience at best. Two thousand is more than we need, but I’m not going to turn them away if Khadijan’s folks want to supply us that. If anything, it might look like we captured a civilian liner and needed help dealing with a bunch of rich hostages we needed to ransom.”
Both Mazhin’s eyes got big. Tentacles got excited, for lack of a better word.
“More mistaken identity?” Haydar asked.
It was Uly’s turn to grin.
“If they think we’re Iron Wasp and associated prisoners, we can get a lot closer than an armed warship dropping out of warp on top of them,” he said.
A chime at his door interrupted. Uly nodded to Piruz to open it, revealing Rabiu Khadijan.
“Come in,” Uly told the Khet. “I was just going over some logistics planning with Haydar and Piruz. What can I help you with?”
In the back of his mind, he was trying to send scents to tell them to lie, but those two were pretty sharp already.
Rabiu seemed friendly, but nobody had forced him into a corner to choose sides yet. Nor did Uly want to.
Not yet.
“I have been going over the latest proposal from Factor Bitrus,” Rabiu replied as he came to rest next to the others.
The office was larger than Uly normally wanted, so it didn’t feel crowded. He could probably add three more on that side and still breathe.
“And?” Uly prompted when the Khet fell silent.
“Two options,” Rabiu said, his headcrest telegraphing up and down in ways Uly recognized, but didn’t know well enough to read. Not like Mazhin tentacles. “First, you can recruit thirty to forty crew with gunnery ratings from the general population. That might take some time, and I got the impression that you would prefer to move quickly?”
“That’s right,” Uly agreed. “The less time someone has to sell this information to the pirates, the better the odds that we can succeed. What was the alternative?”
“Factor Bitrus offered to transfer several crews from one of his other armed vessels,” Rabiu said.
Uly held himself perfectly still. As did Piruz. A glance at Haydar for a subtle nod.
“That would be faster,” Uly said. “What’s the downside you see?”
“He might want them back later,” Rabiu replied earnestly. “I told him I would see which way you leaned. He might forbid long-term recruitment, depending.”
Uly leaned back and finished his coffee, already wishing he’d brought a whole carafe with him this morning. The day had that feel to it.
“Is there a risk to bringing in trained crews?” Uly asked, looking directly at Rabiu and hoping the two Mazhin wouldn’t speak up.
“The possibility of divided loyalties,” Rabiu replied. “I don’t know your long-range plans well enough to judge outcomes, Uly.”
Honest, which was interesting considering how short a time Uly had been here. He’d gotten the impression that everything around here was layered up in capitalist tendencies that put personal profit above the greater societal good, however dumb that was over generational scales.
Now, however, was not the time for a lecture on Batyr culture. Or even Danumash. Everybody approached civilization their own way. And the Khet of Z’Gosza treated contract law as the highest form of civilization.
Whatever gets you through warp-space…
“Would they be a problem over the short term?” Uly countered.
“No,” Rabiu said. “Professionals with reputations to maintain. However…”
“Yes?”
“Factor Bitrus probably assumes that you have two or three times the crew you do, and are simply short-handed on the guns, rather than having escaped Auga control with basically only engineers and officers,” Rabiu said. “I am concerned that such knowledge might tempt the Factor to reconsider his options. Especially if he thought that he could capture this ship with surprise.”
“I don’t think you folks truly understand Human violence,” Haydar spoke up finally.
“Sir?” Rabiu turned to him.
Haydar smiled. To an outsider, it probably even looked warm.
Uly had known the man for the better part of a year in close quarters.
Feral was the term he’d have used.
“Humans are at least as violent as the Ononguli or the Auga, Administrator,” Haydar growled.
“Rabiu,” Uly interrupted. “He’s Rabiu. We’re all friends here.”
Better to keep Haydar from frightening the poor Khet to death, especially if the subtle things Uly could see meant that the fellow was possibly changing sides, at least emotionally.
Rabiu grinned nervously. Haydar and Piruz nodded. Both relaxed some, but Uly doubted that Rabiu saw it.
“Rabiu,” Haydar continued. “Humans are dangerous. Even with the few on this ship. Dan and Solomon are probably each worth four or six Khet sailors. The others that Dan is training are, also. An attempt at piracy by Khet mercenaries is likely to be short-circuited in a blaze of violence that will make your fins turn black watching.”
“Really?” Rabiu asked.
“Really,” Piruz assured him.
Both spoke from experience, mostly with the Combined Crowns of Danumash, but also with Uly’s crew.
“So if we had an additional twenty-five to thirty gunners aboard for battle, and they tried something?” Rabiu asked.
“Anari Supasei is Sabre School,” Haydar said sagely. “Dan Chastain is her teacher.”
“Oh,” Rabiu said.
Uly liked the way Haydar had finessed that. Rude, but essentially accurate. Technically correct, which was always the best kind.
Suggesting that Dan was a Sabre School Elder without ever coming out.
He’d never met one, so Uly couldn’t be sure.
He was, however, exceptionally certain how dangerous Dan Chastain was if pressed.
And this crew had experience at that kind of piracy.
“We’ll be prepared, just in case,” Uly said to smooth things over. “For now, we’ll assume that the Factor is dealing honestly with us, and that his interests stretch beyond a single attack on Lacium to the possibility of an entire campaign against piracy in this region.”
Rabiu relaxed. As did the two Mazhin. They were closer to violence themselves.
“Also, I have the impression that Factor Bitrus is prepared to sign some sort of deal tonight,” Rabiu continued. “You really want to move as fast as possible?”
“If they can load troops and deliver gunners, I’d be gone in the morning,” Uly replied.
Rabiu nodded.
“Let me see what my contacts can tell me on that front then, sir,” he nodded, immediately withdrawing.
Uly turned to Haydar and Piruz.
“Do not let him know until much, much later,” Uly said. “After we’re certain that it’s not a trap.”
“At the same time, I think I’d like to go deeper into those records myself and settle things in my own mind,” Haydar replied.
“Just don’t get caught,” Uly reminded him. “We’ve got Rabiu as a channel. Exploit that as well.”
“Will do,” Piruz chirped.
They departed and Uly considered his empty coffee mug.
And wondered if he was ever going to get enough sleep again.
THIRTY-SIX
Uly was back in the nice uniform. Cleaned and shaved and ready for company. Dan was next to him. Her warrior women were all close by and armed for effect, plus Suka Kuri in a gloriously blue, kimono-style robe she’d dug out or had made at some point.
Him, and females, with Haydar and Sterling watching things from up on the bridge.
Factor Bitrus was a shorter, plumper version of Rabiu Khadijan. Lawal Bukra fell in between them. Uly was one hundred and eighty-five centimeters tall. Nasrin was one hundred and seventy. Rabiu was almost Uly’s height. The other two were closer to Nasrin’s.
And Uly continued to be skinny, regardless of what Dan or Vahid had tried to put weight on him. The three Khet were simply squishy. Bureaucratically overweight.
Still, smiles and polite friendliness.
Other Khet accompanied Bitrus. Generally dressed in slacks and tunics comparable to Bukra, so Uly assumed Directors. Muted colors across the board that faded against his maroons. Most appeared to be either Bukra’s peers, or spies for other Factors who were friendly enough to be included in a small dinner to plot a new foreign policy for Z’Gosza.
Or whatever this qualified as.
Rabiu stepped into the middle ground from Uly’s side, turning sideways like a referee at a sporting event, though he seemed to be the most nervous person present.
“Factor Ahmadu Bitrus, I present to you Ulysses Fortier, the Corsac Fox,” Rabiu said. “Conductor, Factor Ahmadu Bitrus.”
Uly stepped forward and nodded deeply. Z’Gosza didn’t shake hands like Human cultures still did, in order to show that one was not holding a sword or pistol.
The others got introduced as well. Mostly Directors, but Uly would need a complete corporate Table of Management in front of him for the Factor to be certain if all these people reported to the Khet.
They all feared him, that much was obvious.
Except Rabiu. What did that say?
“Factor and friends, welcome aboard my vessel,” Uly said.
The camera crew had come along, shooting more footage from a corner. Uly would need to sort them out after he knew which direction dinner was going.
And he didn’t call the ship Corsac Fox. Apparently, the Khet locals had fully embraced that as Uly, instead. Yet another case of mistaken identity, right up there with this no longer being the Iron Wasp.
He smiled. They smiled back.
“Our chef has worked all day to present a meal he believes is representative of the many species and cultures that have come together today,” Uly continued. “If you would please join me, we’ll break bread first, then have a long series of small courses over which we can discuss business.”
That seemed to be the right thing to say. Rabiu had suggested it, business being the highest art form to these Khet.
He led. Rabiu escorted Bukra and the Factor. Dan and her team gathered up the guests like wayward sheep and kept them on track.
Vahid had recruited everybody not directly on duty somewhere, reporting to either him or Omid as they had baked, chopped, stirred, or even set tables. Everyone had showered and dressed nice as well. At least the ones who would be seen by company.
Uly was at the head of the table. Bitrus and Bukra on his left and right. Dan at the far end. Nasrin, Yanouk, Anari, Katya, and Suka Kuri along each side. Ethir too, though Uly had been told that was only because there weren’t any female Thogin to sit at the table and mildly disrupt the sexist Khet.
No female Khet had accompanied the business leaders, after all. Dan and Suka Kuri were up to something, but his job was to be aloof and somewhat patriarchal here, regardless of his actual age.
Factor Bitrus’s peer, when everyone else at the table was some manner of minion to someone.
Vahid started with a form of sourdough bread that wasn’t Human wheat, but again served a similar purpose. Ononguli originally, but grown damned near everywhere these days.
Except on those backwards Human worlds in the far swamps of Imperial Sector Seventeen.
Idly, Uly wondered what sorts of trouble he might cause, just bringing all these alien plants or animals home, so that they could sample what the rest of the galaxy consumed.
Butter that wasn’t from a terrestrial cow, but from a type of plant that produced an oil one could emulsify equally.
If it was pink, that was just too bad. Close your eyes and you’d be hard pressed to taste the difference.
There was not as much alcohol with dinner as a Human meal would have done. Especially the Batyr navy. Some wine for Dan, which just added a nervous edge to the Khet, who couldn’t process ethyl alcohol in anywhere near the concentrations Uly and his kind could.
Vahid had been working from the depths of the Ononguli stores, supplemented originally by everything Adrian Sobol had captured from King Hewitt II in order to keep his Human prisoners alive. And The Spatula had learned how to cook for Humans, in addition to everyone else.
Small courses, served common style in larger bowls or on plates that people snagged samples from. A great way to tell people you weren’t trying to poison them, not accounting for all the various species and exotic food allergies one might find at this table.
Bland, in terms of spice, but Vahid had risen above himself. And Uly utterly loved the look of pure joy on Dan’s face when the stewards delivered fresh chocolate cake for dessert, plus options for fruit in cream, or sweet puddings. All simple. All exceptionally done.
He burped quietly and settled with a glass of port that would have cost him at least a month’s wages, back when he’d been serving in the navy.
Captain Winter and his officers aboard King Hewitt II might have been assholes, especially from the stories the surviving crew told, but they’d had access to some top-notch booze. And with not nearly as many people interested in drinking it, Uly had his pick.
Mostly, he settled on one glass with dinner, and occasionally, like now, one glass as a treat over dessert. Gotta stretch the stuff. Or figure out where to find the right yeast to make more.
Factor Bitrus slumped equally, smiling. Bukra as well. Rabiu released a tiny sigh that most of the table missed, since they weren’t paying attention to the Khet.
It was good.
Factor Bitrus was sipping a juice and cream drink. He studied Uly now. The table fell into one of those moments of extended silence when several side conversations all ended at the same instant.
Uly nodded to the Khet.
“I hope this was to your liking, Factor?” he asked.
“I’d hire your Mazhin if I thought I could,” Bitrus smiled, offering one of the highest possible compliments Z’Goszan business knew.
He couldn’t. The Twins were probably the last two that would leave, based on what Uly had heard. And he technically Spoke for their Conclave, which was just weird.
“To business?” Uly asked.
He didn’t have Haydar’s cunning handy, but he did have Ethir. And Dan. And Suka Kuri. And Nasrin. And the others. Uly was not worried on that score.
“You have exceedingly few counteroffers to our reply,” Bitrus said simply, as if confused.
