Doomsday minus 507 Earth days.
“Lydia told me we’d received an encrypted message from Stragon,” said Townsend as Karlov emerged from the tube car on AdComm and strolled over to him. “What’s the response from your handlers?”
“Just as I expected,” the Stragori replied, lowering himself onto a chair. “Just as we discussed earlier. The Directorate assigned a representative to address the Earth High Council. An offer was made to assist with the evacuation of your home world.”
“This offer came with strings attached, no doubt.”
The other man shrugged philosophically. “And the Council was free to decline if they didn’t like the terms. But it appears they’ve accepted, ‘appears’ being the operative word.”
“Oh?”
“It took them days to decide, and the vote wasn’t unanimous. I suspect that once the crisis is past, they’ll be looking for ways to maneuver themselves out of the deal.”
“That’s a very cynical point of view,” Townsend observed.
“Not really. Duplicity is a staple ingredient of diplomacy. The Directorate understands that. I’m sure your planetary government is rife with it. Getting upset about it accomplishes nothing.”
“All right, then, I won’t. But now I have a question for you,” Townsend said. “You were present when Stragon concluded its ssalssit essendi with Trokerk. Holchuk has told me that I can ask for a favor from the Hak’kor once the exchange is made to seal our alliance with them, and I was wondering if you could give me some idea of what would be appropriate. For example, can you tell me what the Directorate did at that point?”
Karlov gave him a long, hard look before replying slowly, “When the time came for the exchange of favors, the Nandrians deferred theirs. However, the Directorate made an immediate request.”
Townsend said nothing, just let the silence stretch on until Karlov felt compelled to break it. “You want to know what it was,” he said, frowning.
“You can skip the details. I just need to know where the line is so I don’t cross it. And if I get only one wish, I may not want it to be exactly the same as the Directorate’s.”
He considered for a moment. “All right, then. Our defensive alliance with Trokerk was formed about fifty years ago. The Directorate had already committed Stragon’s resources to ensuring Humanity’s survival, and … it was proving to be a challenge. So, our Hak’kor asked the Nandrians to share the burden of keeping your race from dying out.”
Townsend felt the air suddenly leave his lungs. “The Stragori and the Nandrians have been working together for the past fifty years to protect Humanity?”
“The Directorate and House Trokerk have been working separately to protect you,” Karlov corrected him, “at great cost, from whoever or whatever it is that seems bent on destroying you.”
“And the moderates on Stragon have been working to protect the Directorate?”
“You understand.”
Unfortunately, Townsend did understand. Support for the radical faction was growing steadily stronger, driving Stragon ever closer to civil war. If Karlov was telling the truth, then Humanity owed its continuing existence to the Directorate, whose determined support of Earth had placed them in a precarious position on their home world. The implications of this were staggering but, for a Warrior King, also very simple. Street justice demanded that any debt be repaid with interest. That meant that any Humans who survived the coming interstellar war would have no choice but to jump into the middle of the Stragori civil war, on the side of the Directorate.
Karlov waited patiently for him to return to the moment before resuming cheerfully, “So, if you’re thinking of asking for help to survive the Corvou attack, don’t bother. That promise has already been made in the presence of witnesses from the other thirty-nine Houses, and the honor of House Trokerk has been staked on keeping it.”
“Wait a minute. The other Houses send representatives to this ceremony?”
“I know they witnessed our ssalssit essendi, and I’m guessing they’ll do the same for yours, since our Houses both belong to alien worlds.”
“I was going to request that Trokerk ask the other thirty-nine Houses to stand with us when the Corvou arrive, but from what you’ve just told me—” He started over. “If the Hak’kor of Trokerk has already promised to help the Directorate keep us alive, then I wonder: does that include reaching out to all of his counterparts on Nandor?”
“Good question, Mister Townsend. I wish you luck in finding the answer. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for my next lesson with Ruby. You’ve given me a challenging assignment. That alien craft isn’t easy to fly with only two hands.”
With that, Karlov stood up and headed toward the tube car door, leaving Drew mired in deep and muddy thought.
—— «» ——
Doomsday minus 506 Earth days.
“You must be joking. I have to deliver this word for word in just two days?” Rodrigues demanded. “And tell me again exactly when I volunteered for this mission, because I don’t remember being asked to do it.”
“None of us volunteered, Paul,” Townsend pointed out patiently. “There has to be a representative of the Second Shield at the alliance ceremony. As the captain of the Daisy Hub palace guard and someone who’s already known to the high speaker of House Trokerk, you’re the most logical choice. Besides, sending a subordinate to meet with the Hak’kor at such an important event could only be construed by the Nandrians as an insult, and they don’t take insults lightly.”
“They don’t react well to politeness, either. The last Nandrian I spoke to mopped the deck with me. And you say they’re all coming here?”
“Aboard the Hak’kor’s ship.”
“This is insane. How many warriors can we expect?”
“I’m not sure. There’s a good chance that each of the other thirty-nine Houses will be represented as well, so all I can tell you with certainty is that we’ll be outnumbered.”
“Terrific,” Rodrigues said faintly.
“Holchuk wanted me to let you know that your speech doesn’t have to follow the script verbatim, as long as you don’t stammer or hesitate. Just convey the gist of what he wrote.”
“Uh-huh. Pledge allegiance for the rest of my life to a bunch of aliens who think killing each other in space is all in good fun. I’m going to gag on this. You know that, right?”
“I know. But we still have to do it. Humanity is counting on us to get the Nandrians onside.”
“Only because Humanity doesn’t have the first clue about what’s actually happening out here. All right, Townsend, I’ll memorize the damn speech. But I sure hope you know what you’re doing.”
So do I, Paul. So do I.
—— «» ——
Doomsday minus 503 Earth days.
Two station days later, Ruby’s tremulous voice called out across AdComm.
“Message from Zulu, Chief. Something massive is approaching our system. According to their long range scanners, it’s at least twenty times our size, and armed to the nose hairs. If it’s not the Hak’kor’s ship, we’re all in deep trouble.”
“The timing says it’s Trokerk. What’s their ETA?”
“Zulu can’t tell us specifically, but Rodrigues will be leaving there soon to pick us up for the rendezvous.”
That gave the Daisy Hub delegation between four and five hours to get ready.
“Good. I want a meeting with all our Shield representatives in my office in half an hour for a final briefing. You’ve got the list. And if anyone needs me before then—”
“You’ll be in Med Services?” she supplied, giving him a sympathetic look.
It seemed that everyone on the station knew about his incipient ulcer.
“Yeah.”
By the time he stepped off the tube car onto H Deck, news of the Hak’kor’s ship arriving had apparently spread all over the Hub. Drew barely had time to place one foot inside the door of Doc Ktumba’s lab before she was barking at him, “You have to tell them, they mustn’t put Keiko into stasis! It will kill her!”
It took a moment for his brain to make the connection. Finally he said, “I gather this has something to do with the sample of liquid Ajda brought back from her meeting.”
“Yes. It’s similar in composition to the substance Rostol injected into Alison Morgan a couple of years ago that put her into a coma, but this stuff is much more concentrated. In the correct dosage, it slows every bodily function, almost to the point of death. By steadily introducing it into a subject’s vascular system, you could keep them unconscious while extending their lifespan virtually indefinitely. The implications for medical science and deep space exploration are enormous.”
“I’m sensing there’s a ‘but’ here,” Townsend remarked.
“There is no safe dosage for any living creature smaller in mass than—” Her eyes darted around the room, seemingly seeking out something she could use for comparison.
“Than Yoko?” he offered.
She shook her head. “It would kill her too. This drug was obviously developed by the Nandrians to keep breeding stock alive on long space voyages. So, it would only be administered to adult food animals.”
“All right, I get the picture.” The words of Drew’s many speeches were swirling around in his mind, threatening to coalesce into one incoherent utterance.
“At the very least, you need to warn their high speaker. I’m not thinking about the life of a single rat, Mr. Townsend. I’m worried about what will happen to our alliance if the Nandrians inadvertently kill the tseritsa we’ve placed in their care.”
She was right, of course. Never argue with the Doc.