Eyes of Tomorrow (Duchy of Terra Book 9) Read online

  Storm Sentinel was still listed as the flagship of the Grand Fleet, a somewhat older Majesty-class superbattleship. Va!Tola had been a later addition, as Morgan understood it, and the decision had been to send one of the Imperium’s biggest and most advanced ships to the peace conference.

  “I have scheduled a staff briefing for you, Lord Tan!Stalla,” he continued. “Captain Casimir has likely seen most of the information anyway and can use the time to get herself settled in her new quarters.”

  A!Tol deceived poorly, even when they were doing it for their own amusement. The flickering layers of red and yellow across Tan!Shallegh’s skin were a combination Morgan hadn’t seen before—she’d very rarely seen the tones that meant an A!Tol was lying.

  “Dr. Dunst here has kindly offered to show Captain Casimir to her quarters while you and I attend the briefing,” Tan!Shallegh told Tan!Stalla. “Will that be acceptable, Captain Casimir?”

  “Yes, sir,” she agreed, managing to not glare at her informal alien “uncle.” “When should I expect to report for duty, sir?”

  “We have a meeting that I will need you to attend in one tenth-cycle,” Tan!Shallegh told her levelly. “I can’t give you more time than that, but I can give you that.”

  Which, despite his skin tone betraying him, was clearly as close as he was going to get to admitting that he was setting up time for her to spend with her lover.

  The quarters were significantly nicer than she’d been expecting. They weren’t generic visiting officers’ quarters, Morgan realized as she dropped herself on the bed.

  “Whose room am I stealing?” she asked. “It’s not yours,” she noted as she patted the bed for Rin to join her. “It’s too clean.”

  “I am not messy,” he countered—mostly truthfully.

  “No, but this is basically brand-new levels of clean, not the room has been cleaned levels of clean,” Morgan said, leaning her head on his shoulder.

  “I believe this is one of the quarters set aside for the Fleet Lord’s senior staff officers,” Rin admitted. “I know Tan!Shallegh’s staff is still split between here and Storm Sentinel, where they’ve been supporting Fleet Lord Ab.”

  Ab was the second-in-command of the Grand Fleet, one of the most senior non-A!Tol officers in the fleet and definitely the most senior Pibo officer in the A!Tol Imperial Navy.

  “I guess I can arm-wrestle for it later,” she murmured, running her fingers over Rin’s face and turning him to kiss her.

  “If you must,” he agreed when they came up for air a moment later. “It’s been a busy time.”

  “And we will talk about all of that,” Morgan said. “Everything I’ve learned, everything you’ve learned, everything we both project and suspect and guess.

  “But the First Fleet Lord has moved meetings and conferences to give us two hours together with no expectations, and I really think you should take my clothes off before we fall back into talking about work, okay?”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Morgan was feeling the most relaxed she had in weeks, at least, when she joined the senior officers’ briefing for the Grand Fleet. The briefing was large enough that she was completely uncertain where she was supposed to sit until an A!Tol caught her eye with a wave of a manipulator tentacle, gesturing her to a human-style seat next to them.

  “Welcome to the staff, Staff Captain,” the A!Tol greeted Morgan as she took the seat. “And the deep end. I’m Division Lord I!Lorak, the Fleet Lord’s intelligence officer.

  “From what I understand of your role, we’ll be working closely together,” he continued. “How clear are the waters of this meeting to you?”

  Morgan looked around the big amphitheater and chuckled. There were at least eighty people present, physically or virtually, and most of them had the crossed-spears or crossed-swords insignia of Imperial “Lords”—flag-ranked officers.

  “The Fleet Lord suggested other priorities for me than getting up to speed immediately,” she admitted, her cheeks warming in a way that she hoped I!Lorak didn’t recognize.

  “I understand,” he told her—but from the whirls of red amusement in the blue understanding marked on his skin, he knew what Tan!Shallegh had set up for her.

  “This is the first all-Lords briefing that Tan!Shallegh has held since returning from the peace conference,” I!Lorak told her. “You would do well to pay attention, as he is trying to clear the waters for many of our officers who have not kept up as they should.

  “It is unlikely that you will be called upon to speak but not impossible,” he warned her. “You are the officer who has been present at everything so far.”

  “And I am guessing you wrote the briefing?” Morgan suggested.

  I!Lorak’s skin flashed red as he snapped his beak in a chuckle.

  “You see clearly,” he confirmed. “I will need to weigh your waters heavily as the current advances, my friend. You know more about this enemy than anyone, I think, and that will all factor together.”

  “If you’re the Fleet Lord’s intelligence officer, will I be reporting to you, then?” Morgan asked.

  “No,” I!Lorak told her. “It is Tan!Shallegh’s privilege to tell you exactly his plans, but I believe the waters are intended to be much the same as your service to Tan!Stalla. You will lead a special team dedicated to the Infinite, while I focus on…everything else.”

  A few tentacles waved in the air meaningfully—but then Tan!Shallegh moved into the center of the amphitheater, his torso dark green with determination as he rotated, surveying the entire crowd.

  “Officers of the Grand Fleet, welcome,” he told his audience. “While I know we’ve been keeping up with broadcast information, I feel that it is time to see each other in the same waters and allow questions.

  “You have all been briefed on the Infinite, the strange Precursor-era bioships we have encountered in the Astoroko Nebula. They are aggressive and they are terrifyingly powerful,” he said calmly.

  “Our attempt to maintain containment by limiting their access to the resources necessary to produce hyper-portal emitters has been a complete failure,” Tan!Shallegh continued. “The Laians now have a small scout force of stealthed cruisers watching the Infinite’s movements around the Nebula, but we know there is at least one Infinite force in Laian space.

  “We expect more forces to deploy from the nebula as they decide on their goals,” he concluded. “Thanks to the negotiations I have been involved with for these last cycles, we expect significant reinforcements before we move to intercept the Infinite’s next operation.

  “We have several teams identifying potential targets, and we will be relocating closer to the nebula shortly. We are waiting on the arrival of our latest allies: three Battle Hives of the Wendira Grand Hive.”

  That earned the Fleet Lord assorted sounds and gestures of surprise.

  “They are due to arrive within the next four cycles,” he announced. “Once they and the next round of Laian reinforcements arrive, we will be relocating as a body to a not-yet-determined system near the Astoroko Nebula.

  “With major Wendira, Laian and Imperial components to the allied fleet, we expect to be able to engage an Infinite force on roughly equal terms and be able to drive back or destroy their first expeditions,” he told them. “We do not expect to be able to restore anything resembling containment of the Infinite at this point.

  “All evidence suggests that hyperspatial engagement is heavily weighted in their favor, given the preponderance of hyperfold cannons on the ships of all three powers we’re bringing to the fight. We will avoid any such engagement if at all possible.

  “Our task is to intercept Infinite movement against inhabited systems in the region and defend them in normal space, where this fleet can make full use of our hyperspace missiles and all of us can use hyperfold cannons.

  “This is not a war-winning strategy,” Tan!Shallegh warned. “This is a holding strategy while further reinforcements are gathered. We have confirmed, as of today, that the Ren, the Kaz
ov, the Oot and the Forman have all agreed to activate security agreements with the Laians and the Wendira.

  “That is four more Core Powers that have committed to reinforce us,” he told them. “I have also spoken with our Empress, and another ten squadrons of modern capital ships and their escorts are going to be sent to reinforce us.”

  Morgan couldn’t help but shiver. She’d commanded one of the Imperium’s newest and most advanced cruisers, a ship that served as a starkiller deployment platform. Her clearances were among the highest the Imperium had, which meant she knew exactly how many modern HSM-equipped capital ships the Imperium had built.

  If the Grand Fleet were going to have thirty squadrons of hyperspace missile–equipped capital ships, that would be almost half of the entire Imperial Navy—and it would be basically every HSM-equipped battleship and superbattleship they had.

  “We do not expect any reinforcements outside of the Laians and Wendira for approximately half a long-cycle, at least,” Tan!Shallegh warned. “Ninety cycles, minimum. That is how long we will need to maintain a holding action against the Infinite in Laian space.”

  The room was silent, dozens of flag officers considering what that was going to entail. Finally, someone pressed a button to indicate a question.

  “Yes,” Tan!Shallegh said, gesturing to the Rekiki officer. Morgan didn’t know the Squadron Lord in question, but she paid attention anyway.

  The questions were where she suspected she was most likely to get dragged in.

  “If we are bringing in Core Powers to deal with a Precursor-esque problem, has anyone contacted the Mesharom?” the Squadron Lord asked. “They were involved with the Taljzi, and that was a far lower threat level, as I understand.”

  “We have attempted, through both official and unofficial channels, to make contact with the Mesharom Conclave, yes,” Tan!Shallegh said grimly. “We have received no response. Our messages have made it through, we believe, but the Conclave has not replied.”

  Unofficial channels. A twitch ran down Morgan’s back as she considered those. Ki!Tana had vanished to carry copies of Defiance’s sensor data to their associates—members of the Mesharom-led not-quite-secret society that tried to keep Alavan technology under wraps.

  Security treaties or no, she suddenly suspected that their associates had been instrumental in getting four Core Powers to willingly commit warships to anything. The great technological advancement of the Core Powers was often held up as a sign of greater cultural advancement…but usually only by the Core Powers themselves.

  They were often xenophobic and isolationist, drawing their inspiration from the Mesharom, the oldest Core Power—and a race that didn’t even like their own kind, let alone strange aliens.

  “We cannot and will not rely on the Mesharom to pull us out of this fire,” Tan!Shallegh told everyone. “With the fleets of six Core Powers, even we should quickly become redundant.”

  “Then why are we here?” another officer asked. “We came in response to a request from the Laians to stand against the Wendira. This seems outside the scope we agreed to.”

  “We are here because the Laians are our allies and because all evidence suggests that the Infinite present a potentially existential threat to the galaxy if allowed to expand and rebuild,” the Fleet Lord replied. “We hope to be able to communicate with them, but right now the only communications we are receiving are missiles.

  “We will not risk the survival of our only Core Power ally by washing our hands of the situation,” he finished. “We will also not expose all of our technological secrets in their defense, either,” he warned. “Not unless it becomes necessary.”

  Most of the secrets Tan!Shallegh was talking about hadn’t even been assigned to his fleet, Morgan knew. The Grand Fleet had a small force of ships that could make hyperspace denser—and hence enable significantly faster FTL transit—that they were trying to keep under wraps, but most of the rest of the Imperium’s secrets hadn’t been sent out.

  Morgan had commanded the only starkiller-equipped Thunderstorm-D anywhere near the Grand Fleet. The Grand Fleet had starkillers, but they were the traditional kind that was the size of a destroyer, not the stolen Mesharom design that was the size of a shuttle.

  “Next question?” Tan!Shallegh asked, switching to another flag officer as Morgan settled in to learn as much as she could of the fleet’s plans.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “Sir.”

  Morgan saluted as she stood inside Tan!Shallegh’s office. She’d last been in one of his offices aboard Storm Sentinel, but this one was decorated much the same. She recognized the handiwork of several of the artists that decorated his shelves, but not the works in question.

  The Fleet Lord had a well-earned reputation as a patron of the arts on Earth and several other worlds. It was a small part of why humanity had taken the being who had conquered them to heart as much as they had.

  His repeated command of fleets defending Earth from other people had probably helped, though.

  “Sit, Staff Captain,” Tan!Shallegh ordered. “You were seated with I!Lorak at the briefing,” he continued after she had. “Did he clear some waters for you?”

  “He mentioned I would lead my own team, but not much more,” Morgan said. “He felt that was your privilege.”

  “Reasonable,” the Fleet Lord agreed. “Drink, Staff Captain? I have coffee for your people here.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  A device concealed inside the A!Tol’s desk burbled away for twenty seconds, then a panel in the desk slid open and a cup of steaming coffee rose into view.

  None of Morgan’s desks had that feature, but the Fleet Lord’s desk wasn’t standard Navy-issue.

  “My existing staff is extremely capable and I have no desire to unbalance their working relationships,” Tan!Shallegh told her. “I feel that we are dealing with a problem from outside our known waters and we should have an outside perspective on that problem.

  “So, yes, you are being added to my staff as a special analyst team lead on the Infinite, much as your partner has been added as a special advisor on the Infinite,” he continued. “As my staff will remain divided between Va!Tola and Sentinel to provide redundancy in the command links. That frees up the Operations department space on Va!Tola for your team.

  “You may recruit anyone you wish from the Grand Fleet,” he told her. “I ask that you leave at least some of the officers of your original team with Lord Tan!Stalla, but I expect you to recruit several of them.

  “If you need additional assistance in picking officers, I recommend consulting I!Lorak’s advice. He is familiar with the intelligence teams of the various squadrons under my command.”

  “Of course, sir. Thank you, sir.” Morgan paused. “We screwed up with our guess of how quickly they could develop hyper systems, sir. We could get it wrong again. We might have got the assumptions we’ve already made wrong.”

  “You might,” he agreed. “In fact, you will inevitably get something wrong. That is the analysis game, Staff Captain. You provide the best information you can to me, and I make the decision based on it. Right now, I will make those decisions in company with Voice Tidirok and, shortly, Royal Commandant Ronoxosh.”

  “We know the Wendira commander then?” Morgan asked.

  “Oxtashah has provided some information on her brother, yes,” Tan!Shallegh told her. “The Royal castes are very much a family business, of course. I assume there is a Warrior-caste Royal Commandant with the Battle Hives as well, to act as Ronoxosh’s backup, but Ronoxosh has earned his command over thirty years of service.”

  The A!Tol fluttered his tentacles in a shrug.

  “After fathering some thirty thousand of the next generation, of course,” he noted. “The Wendira will always seem strange to me.”

  Morgan said nothing. A!Tol reproduction involved their young eating their way out of their mother’s body—something entirely replaced with artificial gestation chambers now but still how their bodies were des
igned.

  The A!Tol had no grounds to call anyone strange, in her mind.

  “What do you expect me to do with this team, sir?” she finally asked.

  “What you did for Tan!Stalla but with more resources,” he told her. “We now have some more data on the Infinite—if nothing else, an estimate of the time frame it took them to develop an organic hyperdrive.

  “So, I want you to redo all of your analysis with that estimate. Run it through the computers we’ve got. Give your team access to the relevant parts of the Mesharom Archive if you must,” he concluded. “I will bear the burden for that authorization.”

  “Are you certain, sir?” she asked quietly. The Mesharom Archive was a complete download of the files and library databases of a Mesharom war sphere, acquired during the Taljzi campaigns when Morgan herself had led a rescue mission into a fleet wrecked in a Taljzi trap.

  That the Imperium possessed the Archive was one of its most closely guarded secrets. Even Rin, who had every scrap of data regarding the Alava from the Archive stored in a computer chip implanted at the base of his spine, did not know the origin of that information.

  “Don’t tell them where the data comes from,” Tan!Shallegh said with a skin-flushing chuckle. “But the Alavan portions, the ones Dr. Dunst has access to, may be useful for your team. I would rather give them too much and hold them to higher security standards later than not give them enough to make the right judgments.

  “This enemy is…” The Fleet Lord trailed off. “‘They come from strange waters bearing strange weapons and we know not their intent.’”

  Morgan didn’t know the words, but she recognized it as a quote of some kind.

  “An outside-context problem,” she murmured. “That’s what it was called in my training for the Duchy of Terra Militia. A threat we couldn’t anticipate because we didn’t have the data. The Taljzi were an outside-context problem, but the Infinite are…even more so.”