Llume glowed. “This is Llume of Andromeda,” she said into the net. “The loss of your vessel is a blow to the cause of Andromeda, but I deal with you as pro tern Admiral of Segment Forces. Will you permit hostage ships to clear your vicinity without harassment, in return for a similar truce on our part?”
Melody could not help being fascinated by the military niceties. To indulge in a random melee would be wasteful and pointless, with ships firing on their own allies from confusion and ignorance. Therefore the two commanders negotiated politely to defer hostilities. Could she have saved Captain Llono the same way?
“Mnuhl here,” the Knyfh Captain responded. “I compliment you on your offer, and acquiesce.”
“Truce established,” Llume said. “One private question: Does Melody remain with you?”
“I do not feel free to divulge that information.”
“Was she aboard the shuttle that just approached my ship?”
“I must decline to answer.”
Melody nodded to herself. Captain Mnuhl was giving away nothing; he knew the importance of keeping the hostages in doubt about Melody’s location. Every hostage captain would be afraid that a high-Kirlian counterhostage was aboard his ship. That fear would multiply her effectiveness many times. Too bad she wasn’t able to make that threat genuine!
“Thank you, Captain.” Llume terminated the private exchange and returned to general information: “This is Hostage Command: do not fire on loyalist ships as they maneuver. Truce is in force. Andromedans will orient on the Ace of Swords; loyalists on the Ace of Atoms.”
Llume shut off the net. Then she sank into a glowing heap. It was, Melody realized, the Polarian way of expressing complete grief.
Skot looked up. “Andromedan, are you ill?” he inquired. His tone was not friendly, but the query was relevant. If Llume became incapacitated, Skot and Melody would be left under the control of the discipline-boxes, unable to free themselves—with the Andromedan fleet closing about them. If Llume did not maintain communications, the hostages would become suspicious and blast the Ace of Swords out of space.
Llume drew herself more or less erect. “It is an illness of the soul,” she said. “I fear I have slain my sister.”
“What is she talking about?” Yael asked. “She didn’t kill—”
“Let’s wait and see,” Melody said to her. “If what I suspect is true…”
“You are killing our galaxy,” Skot said coldly. “Why should one Spican matter to you?”
“Captain Llono!” Yael exclaimed, just catching on. “In the shuttle! Poor Spican Undulant!”
“I thought it was a trap, a bomb,” Llume said. “That is what an Andromedan would have done, testing the defenses. But it didn’t detonate under the laser. The Knyfh tried to conceal it, but I could tell Melody had left his ship.”
“She thinks you were in that shuttle!” Yael cried. Skot, torn by mixed reactions, did not speak.
“She was more like me than any I have known,” Llume continued, slumping again. “Such an aura! The Dash Command of Andromeda put out a directive to save that aura at any price short of capitulation, but I had even more reason to preserve her from harm. Instead, in an inexcusable lapse of logic, I betrayed the affinity of aura.”
“But she didn’t kill you!” Yael said to Melody.
“Wait,” Melody told her. “This just may be—”
Llume righted herself and returned to the communications console. “This is Llume of slash,” she said into the net. “I hereby resign my commission and become captive to the ranking remaining loyalist officer of this ship, Skot of Etamin. Please allow the Ace of Swords to join the loyalist cluster.”
Then she rolled across to Skot and turned off his discipline-box. “You are now in command. Orient the box on me.”
Skot, amazed, took the box. “You are betraying your kind?”
“No. I announced my captivity. The next in command will now assume coordination.”
Sure enough, the net was already active. “I am Hammer of Quadpoint, Andromeda. I assume command. Gather around my ship, the Ten of Disks. Truce holds.”
Skot deactivated Melody’s box. “Shall I tell her?”
“Let me.” Melody crossed to Llume and put her hand against the Polarian hide, letting her aura manifest. “Thank you for showing me your heart, sister,” she said.
“I have been in transfer too long. I have become a true Spican Undulant.” Then Llume glowed with realization. “Melody! I brought you back! I chose you over my galaxy—and now I have you back!”
“Yes,” Melody agreed, remembering the sacrifice of poor Captain Llono. Then she put her human arms about Llume, and cried human tears.
15. Sword of Sol
*report: complications manifest*
/as dash thought! specifics?/
*strong resistance in segments freng, qaval, knyfh, etamin, weew progress in lodo, bhyo, fa¿, novagleam, thousandstar*
/so it is by no means a clean beam! it may be a difficult war dash was right to be cautious we lack the reserves for extended campaign we were not sufficiently prepared action hour was premature/
*do you wish to turn over leadership to quadpoint?*
/yes, that seems best now only that force of approach can bring this to a proper conclusion now that we are inextricably committed we must prevail or suffer extinction ourselves, for the enemy will soon achieve parity of technology as it did before/
Melody had to experiment for a while with the Communications console before she got the hang of it. Skot assumed the navigation and gunnery duties. They needed more officers, but Melody didn’t want to force Llume to assume any of these tasks, though it was possible the discipline-box could make her perform. Could the magnets be made to understand any of the necessary chores of spaceship operation? She would have to explore that possibility when she had a chance. But first she had to establish private communications with Captain Mnuhl of Knyfh. The fleet net would not do for battle strategy!
The net was a diffuse magnetic field that encompassed the entire fleet. No ship-to-ship privacy had been necessary before the hostage intrusion, so little provision for it had been made. The only alternate mode of communication available was laser radio, used at short range to contact the shuttles. But that had to be aligned in laser style, which meant any ship contacted was simultaneously vulnerable to an attack-beam, and the other ships would hardly sit still for that right now! What else was there?
The transfer unit! Now she could try her notion. “Skot, we need some low-Kirlian hosts. I want to use paired transfer units to handle conversations with Captain Mnuhl, so no enemy can intercept them.”
“We have several former hostages in the hold,” Skot said dubiously. “Those entities you and Llono brought back.”
“Ideal! If we can get word to Mnuhl privately, so he can set up similarly without the Andromedans knowing…”