That last part was a stretch, but it would at least get a smile from him. “Penny, see that the message gets encoded. Nelly will give you the address access codes so the message goes straight to Grampa Ray. Get back here when it’s done.”
Penny tossed Kris a quick salute and hustled off.
I’VE ALREADY GIVEN HER THE ADDRESS CODES.
GOOD, NELLY, AND MAKE SURE SHE UNDERSTANDS. RELOAD ALL THE DATA WE SENT.
I will.
Kris gave Ron a smile, feeling a bit guilty about hiding the exact contents of the messenger pod but not guilty enough to not make sure that all they now knew about the Iteeche got back to Wardhaven immediately.
“You will call your ship and make sure the next pod doesn’t suffer the fate of the last one, won’t you?” Kris said, trying to make it sound more like girl to boy rather than a negotiator in a deadly game. Just why she did that, she couldn’t say, but it felt good to get some of the tension off the table.
“Of course, Princess. Captain, if you will,” Ron said, turning to the gray and gold they had talked with earlier. He produced a commlink from his robes and muttered into it.
“It is done, my lord,” Nelly translated.
Ron turned back to Kris. “I could not help but notice that when you talk to the king, your great-grandfather, you shortened your name to simply Kris and my name to Ron.”
“I hope I did not offend. We are less formal than you. I meant no offense.
“My chooser has raised me since choosing to be open to such lack of formality. He noticed it among you humans and prepared me for it. It has caused me some difficulty among my peers.”
“Have you tried it among your staff? When mine get to arguing with me, it goes a lot faster if I don’t have to run through all their formal titles and names, and they don’t have to do the same for me.”
The tight grin appeared on Ron as it had on the Navy captain, Ted. “Unfortunately, I have made such attempts, and it has not endeared me to my learned and wise advisors. Some of them have enough trouble remembering their station and mine. It helps them remember that they are the advisor and I am the advised.”
“You may have a point,” Kris agreed, “but it is way too late for me to try to get any respect from my advisors.” Now the Navy folks on both sides of the table were grinning, the humans widely, the Iteeche more tight-lipped. All but the green and whites. Kris wondered if those two ever relaxed.
“Now then,” Ron said, “what else is in the bowl for eating?”
“Why do you need to talk to my great-grandfather? You were going to tell me,” Kris said lightly. With any luck, the easy way the conversation flowed would let them run right through this last, important point.
“No, I was not and will not,” brought the conversation to a roaring halt.
“You won’t,” Kris repeated, as the faces around her and across from her got serious again.
“I cannot. My chooser, Roth, I assume you would call him.” Ron raised a hand toward her.
“Prince Roth or Counselor Roth. We humans do add titles to our informal ways.”
“Senior Imperial Counselor Roth,” Ron began again, “asked and required of me to swear on all the graves of our ancestors that I would give over his message only to the one who negotiated with him, now known as King Raymond I.”
“And if he was dead, God forbid?” Kris asked.
“I would return for further instructions.”
“As simple as that, huh?”
“I am prepared to die and carry my emperor’s message, undelivered, to my ancestors.”
And studying his body posture and the soft voice he spoke his words in, Kris did not doubt he meant it.
She let that roll around in her head for a moment before she turned to see how the others took it.
Why would he have to deliver a message in person? Could he have a ticking time bomb in him—with him? But why would the Iteeche want to kill Grampa Ray after all this time?
Were they ready to restart the war? Was there anything more stupid than that? Would restarting the war be as stupid to the Iteeche as it was to a human?
Honor had been tossed around a lot. Was there some kind of dishonor in dying before your old adversary? When the old emperor got along in years, had he signed up his old pal Roth to have some kid like Ron go pop Ray?
This guessing could go on and on forever. Kris had nothing to base anything on.
“Ron, I need to know something about why you must see my king.”
“I fully understand your need. However, you must understand that the wisest and most honored advisors of the court agree that what I have to say must come from my lips to your king’s ears. I must be ready immediately to answer any questions he has about it.
“Honored Kris, I knew I was being given a difficult assignment when I was told of it. Certainly your king must have given you difficult assignments.”
“All the time,” Kris said with a sigh. One echoed by Jack at her side.
Ron shook his head, which Kris took to mean that he knew just how she felt. Maybe he did. She didn’t know him nearly well enough yet to be sure. He went on. “I have been preparing for this mission to humanity all my life. I was chosen from the scum ponds and raised on land by Roth to understand your human ways the best of any Iteeche since the war. I have dreamed of this mission to humanity for years, sweated through my training and tests with just one objective, to build a bridge between my emperor and your people. Please help me succeed.”
Those last words struck Kris hard. Failure was her worst fear. She could understand someone’s desperate need to succeed, no matter what it took.
But, hold it.
“You have been preparing for this mission to humanity all your life?”
“Yes,” came in English from Ron’s own lips.
“This message you have for my king. It has been waiting for you to be ready for this embassy?” Nelly translated for Kris.
“No,” was again direct from Ron.
“I don’t understand.” Or you just walked into a lie. Kris froze her face, showing a blank page to the world.
Across from her, Ron’s neck marks went from pleasant pinks and greens to dead white. Kris watched his long throat as he swallowed hard.
“I have not lied to you,” he finally said.
“Can you explain it to me?” Kris asked. She kept her words short. Razor sharp.
Ron began immediately. “My chooser chose me to be a bridge to you humans years ago and raised me for that purpose. The message I bear has only recently come to be.”
“Something new has come up,” Kris shot back.
“Yes,” Ron again answered direct.
“What?”
Ron took a step back from the table. “I cannot tell you that without breaking my pledged word. I cannot say.” He looked around at his advisors, his head bowed, and spoke softly. “But I will tell you that the survival of both your people and mine may depend on what we do now.”
That was not what Kris wanted to hear. She’d saved a world or two in her brief Navy career. It had cost her dearly. Saving two entire species must come with a price tag that no one could afford.
“I need to talk with my staff. Do you mind waiting here for an hour or two?”
He didn’t. She led her team out.
“What was that all about?” Jack asked, as Kris threw herself into her chair in her Tactical Planning Room.