Kris knew more about the Iteeche than any human alive, which was not saying a lot. However, after spending a long two months hiding Ron in human space, she did know that the Cup of Apology was filled with a slow-acting and painful poison.
Apparently, the aliens Kris had just witnessed blowing themselves to bits weren’t the only ones operating in the “do or die” mode.
“We are meeting in the Forward Lounge. You should feel right at home.”
Ron and Ted nodded agreement in their strange, four-armed way. The Army officer was busy using all four of his eyes in an effort to catch everything going on within sight. He’d get over that in time.
Kris led off.
She was halfway to the lounge when Captain Drago fell in with her party.
“Ron, we have your quarters waiting for you. I see there are only three of you now. They should be more roomy this trip.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Ron said.
“I thought you off-loaded the Iteeche’s containers,” Kris said.
“No. Admiral Crossenshield suggested that I shouldn’t. He also suggested that I not mention that fact to you. He said something about surprises being good for Longknifes. Every once in a while.”
“I thought you were the captain of my ship.”
“Ninety-nine times out of a hundred I am. You must allow me that other one in a hundred, Princess. It is not easy to serve two masters.”
“Or three or four,” Kris added, darkly.
“I am just a humble ship captain. You are the damn Longknife, Your Highness.”
Since they were at the hatch to the Forward Lounge, Kris let the captain get the last word in.
With three admirals already in the Forward Lounge, Kris didn’t rate an “Attention on Deck.” Still, as she and her Iteeche friend entered the lounge, all conversation came to a roaring halt. The room had pretty much arranged itself as it had the first meeting. Kris’s PatRon 10 officers held the ground nearest the bar . . . which was doing a fair business tonight. The Imperials were as far from the Royals as they could be, and the Helviticans and Musashi occupied the neutral middle. Jack had saved her the table nearest to the forward screen.
Kris headed for it, the Iteeche right behind her.
All hands, of the human variety, took this first opportunity in eighty years to get an eyeful of their previous mortal enemy. While Ron and Ted kept their eyes straight ahead, the poor Army officer looked like he wanted to bolt. His head swiveled through the full 270 that it could. What with his four eyes, that pretty much covered everything from front to back.
Halfway to her table, Kris chose to have mercy on her fellow sailors. “Admirals, ladies, gentlemen, may I introduce the Imperial Representative Ron’sum’Pin’sum’We qu Chap’sum’We. He’s kind enough to answer to Ron. He is the reason we are making this voyage of discovery. I’m glad he could join us.”
The admirals came forward to be formally introduced. All of them managed not to wince as they shook the hand Ron offered them. Vicky also presented herself. She did a bit of a curtsy and winked at Kris.
“Kris insisted she had not met you or anyone of your species. I’m glad you’ve made her an honest woman.”
“I can understand her, ah, subterfuge,” Ron said with a bit of a bow. “The powers that be make great demands on their messengers.”
“Does he have a sense of humor?” Vicky asked.
“Oh, yes,” Kris said. “It just takes a while for it to come out.”
Vicky pursed her lips in some doubt.
Kris got to the front of the room where Jack, Penny, Abby, and the colonel awaited her. Three of the barkeeps arrived, pushing the heavily carpeted arrangements that had served the tall Iteeche as chairs during their last visits to the Forward Lounge. Kris gave the thoughtful help a thankful smile.
The amenities finished, Kris turned to face a roomful of officers, most of whom outranked her and the majority of whom came from associations that wanted nothing to do with Grampa Ray’s United whatever until Crossie sent them his little home video of that recent family get-together between Grampa Ray, Trouble, and the “boy” Kris had brought home to dinner.
Kris cleared her throat. “I wasn’t sure how to start this briefing. Most of you have seen the report of what happened. I doubt you want me to go over it again. However, now that we have been joined by Ron, the Iteeche who first brought us the news that there was something powerful out here in the galaxy that was shooting first and not bothering to ask questions, I think we should start with a review of what I did on my summer vacation.”
That drew a dry chuckle from the humans. Ron gave her a blank stare. Since he gave it to her with four eyes, it was something to behold.
“Nelly, roll the video take,” Kris said.
The screen behind her changed. The sight of the Intrepid, hooked to a pole a couple of thousand meters long, swinging against a star field with a moon and gas giant occasionally coming into view vanished. Filling the screen in its place was a view centered on the moon’s hot spot, a ship rising from it.
It took five minutes to go through the executive summary. Now it had Penny’s voice-over to explain what was happening to anyone whose eyes balked at admitting what they saw.
“I am sorry, Kris,” Ron said into the silence at the end of it. “I know you do not enjoy violence.”
“She didn’t have any choice,” Admiral Kōta said before Kris could.
“I find myself wondering,” Kris said. “While, admittedly, everyone may not be as big a fan of talking as I am. Still, it’s hard to believe anyone would prefer a knock-down, drag-out firefight to a bit of calm, quiet conversation. The actions of the captain of this ship leave me groping for an explanation.” She paused before going on.
“We’ve completed a biological scan of all the bodies. Every one of them shares similar genetic material. It appears that this ship was crewed by a family or clan. What would cause a grandfather/captain to consign his own children and grandkids to the cold vacuum of space?”
Around Kris, several in the room groaned. Lots of heads shook.
“I’ve got to file some kind of report on this encounter. I’m struggling to get my mind around it. To have something to say. My first guess is that whoever we are dealing with here really hates or is terrified of the strange. They could be the most xenophobic population of conquer-or-die types we’ve ever dreamed of. Worse than our worst fictional imaginings. There is, of course, a second possibility.”
“What worse option could a Longknife come up with?” Admiral Channing of the businesslike Helviticans asked.
“We’ve never seen a ship like the one they had,” Kris said, having Nelly flash back on the screen the best picture they had of the alien ship. “I’m unaware of any ships in human or Iteeche space that are strung together from conjoined spheres.”
Many in the room nodded.
“Could there be someone else out here? Someone who builds spaceships very much similar to the way we build ours? Could that someone be so nasty that our grandfather here did not hesitate for a moment to kill his beloved kids and grandkids rather than risk the chance of them falling under their control?”
Once again, Kris had succeeded in bringing the room to absolute silence.
She let it stay that way, so the two options could sink in, before opening her arms in a question. “Does anyone see a third option?”
The question hung in the air for a very long minute. No one came up with another way of looking at the data.
After a long pause, Admiral Krätz stood. “I hope you’ll excuse me if I change the topic. But what will you do with the Constant Star’s load of wreckage and bodies?”