Warriors For The Working Day

Chapter Seven
By
(UCSBdad)

Disclaimer: Stolen about equally from the Henson Co., David Drake and a bit from George MacDonald Fraser. Shakespeare is in the public domain, I hope. In any case, no money changes hands here. Rating: T due to language. Time: Some twenty-five plus years after Peacekeeper Wars.

Rudy, and Aida and Kathleen, vigorously shook their heads.

"Not at all, Aeryn." Rudy said softly. "We're too weak to overrun your Universe. The people in charge back in our Universe are worried about consolidating their power. Not extending it."

"Since we're getting to the military end of things, perhaps I should take over, Rudy." Aida offered.

Rudy nodded. "Please do so, Aida,"

Aida took a drink and settled back in her chair, looking past me.

"Humans, being humans, continued to war among each other. The vast majority of poorer planets couldn't field a large, well trained force equipped with up to date weapons. So, they fought with whatever their limited economies could produce. Tanks armored with ceramic armor, powered by electric fuel cells and using an electromagnetic railgun would have been laughed at by any modern army, but they were perfectly capable of destroying their similarly armed neighbors."

"A few states managed to buy some modern weapons, but never enough to make a difference in the quality of anyone's army."

"Finally, mercenary units came into being."

I thought about that for a microt. "If you can't afford to buy modern weapons, how the frell do you buy a whole army?"

"Not buy, Aeryn, rent. Most planets couldn't afford to pay for their own modern armored regiment for year after year until one day it was needed. However, they could hire a mercenary armored regiment in exchange for an amount equal to, say, twenty years of their normal expenditure on their own military. You'd pay a mercenary company to come to your planet, thrash your neighbors and then have twenty years to pay the bill."

Rudy broke in. "Even better, you could insist that your defeated neighbors pay most of the bill."

Aida went on. "There were problems at first. A mercenary unit might unilaterally increase their price in the middle of a battle. Or, they might find the planet to be congenial and become the new government. They might find themselves facing a more powerful mercenary unit and leave, taking however much of their paymaster's money they could get a hold of. Alternatively, an unsuccessful mercenary company might find their employers willing to make a deal to have the winning mercenaries execute the losers. That way, only one mercenary unit need be paid."

"That doesn't sound encouraging." I said acidly.

"The Mercenary Bonding Authority took care of that." Rudy said casually.

"Who the frell are they?" I shot back.

"A very wealthy and powerful consortium of banks, insurance companies, spacelines, weapons builders and others." Aida answered.

Rudy nodded. "Felchow & Sohn was the first merchant bank to realize just how lucrative war could be. As long as they weren't the ones being shot at, of course."

"Of course." Aida said, shaking her head. "A mercenary bond is simple. A planet hiring mercenaries deposits the money with the Authority. The Authority guarantees that the mercenaries, even if they lose, get a minimum payment and transportation off planet. A victorious unit gets paid more. That satisfies the mercenaries."

"The planet hiring the mercenaries is guaranteed by the Authority that the mercenaries actually have the numbers of troops, weapons, etc, that they claim to have. They also guaranteed that the mercenaries wouldn't overthrow the government or casually massacre civilians. For poorer planets with less experience hiring soldiers, the Authority would assess the planet's needs and recommend the appropriate mercenary unit."

"For a price, of course." Rudy added.

Aida went on. "The system benefited everyone. If the mercenaries tried renege on a contract, they had to deal with the rich and powerful Bonding Authority. A minor transgression could lead to serious problems for a unit getting a bond for any future lucrative contracts. A major breach of a contract, such as changing sides, could see the Bonding Authority hiring a powerful mercenary force to exterminate the renegade mercenary unit."

"A government was less likely to try to cheat a powerful mercenary force, but, if they did, in future they'd find it difficult to impossible to get a bond to hire a reputable force."

"Something went wrong." I suggested.

"As always." Rudy said happily.

Aida went on. "In the short term, the Authority 'civilized' the endless brush fire wars raging across the galaxy, sharply reducing the incidence of atrocities either by or to the mercenaries. In the long term, by making war just another form of acceptable business, albeit a highly profitable one, the Authority had a devastating effect on galactic development. The whole commercial system was winding down as resources were diverted from infrastructure development into weapons and soldiers. In many ways this was more devastating than the wars themselves as planet after planet spent the bulk of its Gross National Product on servicing military debts."

"As already poor planets got poorer, more and more men and women turned to soldiering to survive. Most mercenary units, no matter how good they were, would hire some local auxiliaries. Local scouts, field intelligence and security troops would all bring local knowledge that the mercenaries wouldn't have, but would find to be invaluable. A lot of mercenary units would recruit local light infantry units to supplement their own armor or armored infantry. A lot of locals got recruited for jobs like cooks, truck drivers, and clerks. Jobs that didn't need an expensively trained and equipped soldier to do, but still needed to be done. When the campaign was over, they'd all likely ship off planet with one mercenary unit or another. Especially those on the losing side."

Rudy shook his head sadly. "The glut of trained soldiers made it easier to recruit mercenary units. The abundance of mercenary companies made it attractive for planets deeply in debt to pay off those debts by conquering an empire."

I looked at each in turn. "It sounds like human civilization should have dissolved in an endless series of wars."

"Ah!" Said Rudy with a smile. "Humans can always be counted on to do the intelligent thing, once they've tried everything else."

Aida wagged a finger at Rudy. "Now, now, Rudy." She said with a smile of her own.

Rudy looked her in mock chagrin. "I shall be a good boy, Aida."

"The experiences of the planet Firenza will serve to explain what happened." Aida continued. As she spoke, a holo of a solar system appeared over her desk. "Firenza was a wealthy colony of Old Earth. Over a billion people lived on two inhabitable planets in the Firenza system and on one barely habitable, but mineral rich, moon of a gas giant. Firenza had even sent out a colony of its own, Venezia. Venezia, with a population of a hundred million or so, was independent, but still looked on Firenza as their mother world."

"Firenza had a conscript army with fairly good locally made weapons. Any first class mercenary regiment could have torn any Firenzan regiment, or even any division, to shreds. But no conceivable mercenary force could have invaded Firenza and defeated an army based on a population of a billion people. There were just too frelling many Firenzans."

"As someone once said, "Rudy commented, "quantity has a quality all of its own."

Aida nodded. "Firenza traded regularly with a hundred or so nearby worlds." The holo expanded to show the solar systems around Firenza. "They had a large merchant fleet and a small navy. The navy was mainly designed as an anti-pirate force, mainly destroyers and frigates. They had one light cruiser as a flagship."

"Firenza's trading partners started to go slowly but surely into an economic decline because of the endless wars between them. The raw materials Firenza needed for its industries started to dry up. The finished products their factories made couldn't be sold to their increasingly impoverished neighbors. Firenza's economy also declined."

Rudy interrupted. "Like many governments, faced with intractable problems, Firenza did little and hoped for the best. But, every year things got worse."

Aida nodded. "Firenza contributed to the problem, too. They were as willing to meddle in other planet's affairs by subsidizing mercenary contracts as long as it suited their short term needs."

"Finally, they found they had one very large problem." The holo over Aida's desk changed. Firenza was shown in green, the other hundred or so planets in red and one planet was shown in blue.

"Rodina was a planet that was less populous and poorer than Firenza, but not greatly so." Aida said, reaching into the holo and tapping the blue colored solar system. "The government of Rodina had come to power in a military coup supported by mercenaries. Naturally, the government was deeply in debt. They decided to solve their problems by building an empire. They hired mercenaries to intervene in a civil war on a planet called Tenochtitlan. "

A planet near Rodina changed color from red to blue in the holo.

"The new pro-Rodina government of Tenochtitlan signed commercial treaties that were very favorable to Rodina. And unfavorable to Firenza. Nobody could ever prove that Rodina was responsible, but suddenly Firenzan owned companies on Tenochtitlan seemed to have endless labor troubles. Rodinian companies had no such problems. Firenzan ships always seemed to be found to have serious safety violations when checked on Tenochtitlan. Rodinian ships had no such problems. Firenzans seemed to always get sued and always lose in the local courts."

"In a little over a year, most Firenzan companies had sold their interests on Tenochtitlan and Firenzan ships stopped calling there. Tenochtitlan was nothing but a colony of Rodina."

"I think I can see where this is going." I said.

Aida nodded. "In three years, Rodina had conquered four planets. They made it very clear that they intended to continue and to reduce Firenza to penury."

"At long last Firenza decided to do something." Rudy said snidely. "All they had to do was decide what to do. A decision to finally do the obvious took forever."

"Rudy, if we bore Aeryn with all the details of human politics, we'll be here forever. You said you'd be a good boy, so hush."

"Should I go to my room with no supper?" Rudy asked Aida slyly.

Aida ignored Rudy and went on. "The Firenzans decided to forego the use of mercenaries and fight themselves. They recruited a large volunteer army of some four divisions." Aida stopped for a moment. "Aeryn, that would be larger than the unit Alois Hammer commanded on K'hiff when you were there, say about a hundred thousand plus troops. They bought the most modern weapons they could find in massive quantities. They did in fact hire a small number of mercenaries, but only as advisors and instructors."

"Most importantly, as it happened, they built up a real war fleet. They had two battleships. Well, the Firenzans called them battleships, although they were only moderately larger than armored cruisers."

"By the time they had recruited, trained and equipped their army and fleet, Rodina had overrun another five or six planets. Worse, most planets were now too afraid of offending Rodina to ask Firenza for help."

"Finally a planet called Zaporizhhia worked up the nerve to try to save itself." Rudy interjected.

Aida nodded. "They were next on Rodina's list. So, they signed a treaty of alliance with Firenza. The ink had hardly dried on the treaty before Rodina struck. They used four first class mercenary armored regiments and another six middling quality units. That should have been enough to destroy Firenza's green units, no matter how good their equipment was."

"It almost was. The better trained and better led mercenaries were repeatedly able to out think, out maneuver and out shoot their Firenzan enemies. What saved them was Firenza's fleet. They declared a blockade of Zaporizhhia and refused to let any ships at all past."

Rudy chuckled. "You should have heard the howling. I'm surprised you didn't hear it actually. The wealthy planets had grown accustomed to trading when and where they pleased, irrespective of any local wars. They were absolutely furious, of course." Rudy chuckled again. "Mind you, not furious enough to try conclusions with the Firenzan Navy."

Aida also laughed. "The Firenzans also used their warships to strike the surface of Zaporizhhia. In the end, the mercenaries, deprived of replacement troops, spare parts and ammunition were facing a Firenzan army that still had off planet logistic support. They surrendered."

"Naturally, the Bonding Authority insisted that Rodina pay the mercenaries as planned. That left the Rodinan empire with some severe financial problems."

"It also left a lot of planetary governments ready and willing to ally themselves with Firenza. Firenza set up the Firenza Trade and Defense Union. Firenza got a stabilized economy among its neighbors that helped Firenza's economy. The defense part of the treaties served notice that Firenza would keep the peace in its section of the galaxy at gunpoint if need be."

Rudy spoke again. "Firenza made sure that its allies contributed mostly money to the cause. That way Firenza could build up its own military and make sure none of its allies would ever get strong enough to challenge Firenza."

Kathleen joined the conversation. "Firenza terminated the independence of its former colony Venezia. There was little opposition to that from Venizia. Their government had worried greatly about the increasing galactic economic problems and suddenly independence seemed to present nothing but problems. Firenza also took over a nearby solar system called Buchan. Buchan hasn't anything even resembling an inhabitable planet, but it has huge deposits of valuable metals and a large orbital manufacturing capability."

Rudy interrupted. "Regrettably for Buchan, their population was only a couple of million and about half were foreign miners on short term contracts who didn't care who ran Buchan as long as they got paid. Buchan, sensibly decided to surrender."

Aida continued. "Firenza quickly built their military back up and even expanded it."

The holo over Aida's desk changed again. "Firenza now consisted of three solar systems and stood at the head of an alliance of some thirty worlds. There was a nearby world called Calabria that had sprung from the same ethnic group back on Earth as had Firenza that was considering a merger with Firenza. At least a dozen other planets were in discussions to join the Trade and Defense Union."

Rudy shook his head. "Naturally, such success created enemies. Any number of quite wealthy worlds and interstellar corporations that had done quite well financially out of a war economy stood to lose greatly. Even among planets that shared Firenza's belief that the endless warfare had to be ended saw no reason why Firenza should end up leading the galaxy. Firenza was just too rich and too powerful for a lot of people."

"All over the human occupied galaxy governments realized that something had to be done to stop the endless warfare before civilization collapsed. Sometimes the strongest nation on one planet would try to unify the planet under one government, either by negotiation or by force, but usually by force. The strongest planet would then try to subdue their neighbors. And then the strongest group of planets would try to subdue their neighbors in turn. Eventually, very powerful groups would find themselves at war. As the wars spread, they became one massive war. We called it the Consolidation War."

Rudy gave Aida a sly smile. "There is something quintessentially human about trying to bring peace to the galaxy by means of war."

Aida ignored Rudy. "At the start of the war, my husband's mercenary unit consisted of a small division of two armored regiments." Aida continued. "Firenza suddenly had too many enemies to continue their policy of not hiring mercenaries. We were hired to protect one of Firenza's allies and we eventually spent over twelve years working for Firenza. "

Aida stopped, staring at the ceiling above her. Then she went on. "At the end of twelve years our unit was Marshall O'Donnell's Armored Corps. We had three armored divisions, a light cavalry division and an artillery division, not to mention smaller units."

"We had prospered, but humanity had just barely survived. Firenza itself had expanded to a federation of a dozen wealthy and powerful planets. This federation controlled six or seven hundred planets in the re-named Firenzan Union. A dozen or so similar federations controlled anything between a few hundred planets to a thousand or more planets."

"The endemic warfare between planets had finally been quelled, but at a horrible price. Planets had been fought over so badly that all but the luckiest and most powerful had suffered enormous amounts of damage. No one knows how many died, but the figure was certainly in the billions. Every planet groaned under an unsupportable burden of taxation. Humanity was sick to death of war and longed for peace."

"But there were still tens of millions of soldiers under arms throughout human space. They weren't all mercenaries either, planetary armies had expanded enormously. Some soldiers could be returned to their homes to be discharged and help to rebuild their societies. Some could be settled on new worlds, to start new civilizations. And, indeed, some soldiers would be needed to enforce the new found peace. But many soldiers had nowhere to go."

"O'Donnell's Corps had been recruited from dozens of worlds and often our people had no homes to return to. Worse, many people blamed mercenaries for the wars that had almost torn humanity apart. Many of our soldiers who had home worlds they could return to were unwelcome because they were mercenaries. Other units were in the same fix."

"My husband is not the sort that would allow his former soldiers to be thrown on the street to beg, or worse, to be used for slave labor, as some prisoners of war were."

"Eddie and I were very politely asked by Firenza to disband the Corps. We already had money enough to live quite well on and Firenza offered us ownership of a small continent on a sparsely inhabited frontier planet. They even told us we could keep an entire regiment for our personal army. But, if we refused, Firenza let us know that the Corps would be destroyed and us with it."

"You refused?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Aida smiled and shook her head. "We did not refuse. However, we didn't accept their offer either. Eddie said he believed there was always another way."

I wondered if he had heard that from John, or if it was just typical of humans.

Aida continued. "At first, all we did was stall. Then we thought of the Uncharted Territories. No one had had any contact with the Uncharted Territories since we were all on K'hiff. It may sound a little pretentious, but we had an idea that if we went there, we could be like the original Peacekeepers."

In spite of myself, I nodded. The Goddess knew we needed something.

"We had a motley fleet of our own in addition to our ground forces. Mostly we had transports of one sort or another. We did have some minor warships, however. We sent some ships to K'hiff to see if we could go from our universe to yours on a regular basis."

I remembered the time more than twenty-five cycles ago when we had entered K'hiff's solar system. In our universe, it consisted of two long dead planets, or so we thought. One "planet" was actually an artifact of a long vanished race. It was a planet sized machine, powered by a tame black hole that somehow existed in two separate universes at the same time, and provided a gateway between the two. We had passed into a universe unlike our own. A universe where the planet K'hiff teemed with life. A universe where humans were the dominant race. But, by shutting down our ship's power, and coasting towards the huge machine, we were able to cross back into our own universe.

"You succeeded, obviously."

Aida nodded. "We sent un-powered probes through first. They were programmed to look around and then come back. Finally we sent a destroyer through the Artifact."

"You might be interested to know that the destroyer was commanded by Eddie and Aida." Rudy said quietly.

"The most over-commanded ship in history." Aida snorted.

There was a short pause while Aida looked embarrassed. Then she continued.

"We found that once we mapped the field, or whatever the frell it is, that the Artifact uses to send things between the universes, travel between these universes was both simple and safe."

"We spent a while looking around and seeing how things had gone since I had left. Then we left a small force behind to look for a base deep in the Uncharted Territories."

"Eddie and I returned to Firenza with a counter offer. We'd discharge any of our soldiers who wanted to leave our service. We'd recruit soldiers from other units who had nowhere to go and knew nothing but soldiering. Then we'd lead the whole force through the Artifact and never return to our own universe again."

Rudy nodded. "Rather unusually, not just Firenza, but other governments were cooperative."

"Unusually?" Kathleen asked.

"I've found that when human politicians from rival nations cooperate, you should keep one hand on your wallet and one on your gun." Rudy replied sagely.

Aida rolled her eyes at Rudy. Rudy just smiled.

"Be that as it may, "Aida went on, "a lot of governments were cooperative. They opened up their arsenals to us. Anything and everything we needed was supplied."

"We more than doubled the size of our army and added a significant fleet to our forces. Not just the light forces we'd had, but heavy units: Cruisers, battle cruisers, and even some battleships."

"Weren't the authorities in your universe afraid you'd turn on them?" I asked.

Aida shook her head. "We were nowhere near as strong as even the weakest government. If we had tried it, we would have been crushed. But they did want to be certain that we'd be able to defend our end of the Artifact. In spite of the ease with which Colonel Hammer had beaten the Peacekeepers, no one wanted a war with another universe."

"We'd found an Earth-like planet, deep in the Uncharted Territories. We called it Arsenal. We started sending ships and troops through the Artifact to set up a base."

"Three years ago, we were ready to move our entire force into this universe."

"You've been here for three cycles without anyone knowing about you?" I asked, slightly shocked.

"No, Aeryn," Kathleen replied. "We've been here for about a year. We were ready to go three years ago, but things went wrong."

Aida continued. "The Pavia Division had been returned to their home world, also called Pavia. There was a lot of tension between the division and the rest of the planet. The planet had changed sides during the war. The Pavia Division hadn't."

"The Consolidation War ended with a series of negotiated armistices, rather than a clear cut victory for anyone, but the side the Pavia Division had supported came closer to winning than the side the planet of Pavia supported. The Pavia Division felt their planet had not only betrayed them, but betrayed them to back a losing cause. The government of Pavia believed that if the division had obeyed orders and changed sides, the planet would have done better in the subsequent peace negotiations."

"No one really knows what happened. The survivors of the Pavia Division said their officers were suddenly arrested and murdered and the other ranks arrested. The government said the Division intended to stage a coup and take over the government."

"There were a lot of soldiers throughout the galaxy trying to fit back into society. A lot of them still had weapons and had stayed in touch with their comrades. A lot of their civilian neighbors viewed the veterans with contempt and fear. There was a lot of confusion and not a little fighting. What happened to the Pavia Division was noticed by soldiers and politicians alike."

"The net result was that a lot of units decided to try their luck in another universe. Not just the individual recruits that we'd had before, but entire units of tens of thousands of soldiers were heading for the Artifact. Some wanted to join O'Donnell's Corps, which we renamed Human Forces Command. Others had no intention of subordinating themselves to anyone."

"There are a lot of humans headed into your universe, Aeryn."

"How many?" I asked.

Aida shook her head. "I have no idea. We have fifteen divisions, call it four hundred thousand troops, plus our fleet. At least that many appear to be headed this way for sure, and a lot more are considering it."

I shook my head. "Even a human regiment could wreak havoc on any one of hundreds of planets here."

Rudy interrupted. "We have our own sources, of course, but I'd be interested in your appreciation of the political situation in your universe, Aeryn."

I thought about it for a microt. There was no reason not to tell them what was obvious.

"When the treaty was signed between the Peacekeepers and the Scarrens, everyone thought that peace would reign throughout the galaxy. For a brief period it did."

"Then the Kalish asked the Eidelons to release them from their bondage under the Scarrens. The Eidelons considered their request and as far as I know, they're still considering the request. In the meantime a low level civil war started between the Kalish and the Scarrens. When the Charrids got involved, it became a full blown insurrection. With peace, the Charrids were no longer needed in such great numbers by the Scarrens. While some Charrid units were sent against Kalish rebels, other Charrid units were disbanded. Those Charrids reverted to the raiders they'd been before the Scarren Empire acquired their services. As often as not, they attacked Scarren worlds, but they also attacked non-Scarren worlds. Everyone blamed the Scarrens for not controlling the wild Charrids."

"The Peacekeepers also had problems. Rygel was brought back to Hyneria by his cousin Bishan. Rygel outmaneuvered Bishan at every turn. In a little over a cycle, Rygel had reclaimed his throne and killed Bishan. Or so Rygel says. There are at least two "Bishans" trying to overthrow Rygel and there are a lot of Bishan loyalists in the Hynerian Empire and more based on nearby planets. Rygel holds the core of his empire, but there's a low level civil war in the outer provinces. Sometimes it's not so low level."

"Rygel's next step was to remove the Peacekeepers from his domain. The Peacekeepers never had any talent for diplomacy and Rygel managed to expel them rather easily."

"Peacekeepers never had much of an understanding of economics, either. The Hynerian Empire's shipyards built many ships for the Peacekeepers and repaired even more. Hynerian taxes collected by the Peacekeepers kept a lot of their fleet going. When they lost the resources of the Hynerian Empire, the Peacekeepers got much weaker."

"Captain Crais had demonstrated that Peacekeeper commanders were perfectly capable of putting their own interests ahead of the interests of the Peacekeepers as a whole. Rogue Peacekeeper units started raiding planets to get the supplies they needed."

"The Delvians also got rid of their Peacekeeper occupiers, but at least the Delvians didn't dissolve into civil war. But the loss of Delvian resources caused more problems for the Peacekeepers."

"The Luxans contributed to the chaos in the galaxy as well. The threat of the Scarrens had kept the Luxan worlds unified and allied to the Peacekeepers. With both the Scarrens and Peacekeepers badly distracted, various Luxan warlords raided neighboring Luxan and non-Luxan worlds."

I stopped and thought for a microt. "Oh, yes. The centuries long Scorvian-Ilanic War boiled over with both sides taking an opportunity to grab whatever they could to help their own war effort."

"What about the Eidelons?" Aida asked.

I shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think we expected too much of them. Perhaps they didn't realize that the universe and their own powers had changed in the twelve thousand cycles they were gone. I do know that they are a race that thinks in terms of millennia and not in terms of years. They regard our current wars as a minor problem that will soon disappear. Regrettably, to the Eidelons, "soon" may cover several centuries."

Rudy scratched his long, furry jaw. "Still, things aren't as bad here as they are in human space. If the outer provinces of Hyneria are at war, the inner provinces are peaceful and rich. Delvia itself and its colonies are thriving with only an occasional raid to worry them. Only a small proportion of the Luxan leaders have gone raiding, most are happy to remain at peace and many actively oppose their aggressive warlords. The Charrids are a greater problem, but not insoluble. Renegade Peacekeepers are a more serious problem, given the size of their fleet and the numbers that have turned renegade. All together, though, not a bad situation for a human army looking not just for employment, but allies and even, perhaps, a home." Rudy stared into the distance with a smile on his face.

I wasn't sure I wanted opportunities for a human army. On the other hand, there were plenty of people fighting in my home universe. Perhaps the humans could help.

A blue light started flashing on Aida's desk.

"Enter." Aida called. The door opened and one of her officers entered.

"Excuse me, ma'am. Surprise, Captain Aubrey, just arrived. Captain Aubrey had some news that he thought our guest would like to see immediately." He held up a small cube.

"Let's see it." Aida said, leaning forward.

The officer put the cube on her desk. Instantly a hologram appeared. As soon as I saw it, I gave a small shriek. My children. My children and Dominar Rygel.

In a microt Rygel began speaking. "I, Rygel, Sixteenth of my line, by the Grace of the Old Gods, Dominar of the Unified Hynerian Empire and Interlocutor between the Empire and the Old Gods, decree the following: The children of John and Aeryn Crichton have been given sanctuary by my Empire. Know all that D'Argo Sun Crichton is considered to be part of the Imperial Family, as are his siblings. Any attempt to injure them is treason against My Person and against My Empire."

"Further: That Aeryn Sun Crichton has been kidnapped by beings not yet known to me. If she is returned to her family unharmed, I will be merciful to those who return her. Those who ignore my clemency will suffer the consequences."

"Further: John Crichton has disappeared. I seek information concerning him." The field of view of the holo expanded. In front of Rygel was a truly stupendous pile of high denomination krendars. "Cost is no object."

"Hear and tremblingly obey."

The holo ended.

Aida crossed to me and threw her arms around me. "Your children are safe. We can have you in Hyneria inside a weeken."

I pulled away. "No! You have to help me find John."

Aida's smile faded. "Dominar Rygel has far greater resources than we do, certainly it would be better if.."

"No!" I said sharply. "Rygel has greater resources, but he also has greater problems. And, I can't do anything on Hyneria that Rygel's spies and soldiers can't do better. Here I can help."

I didn't add that there would always be in the back of my mind the fear that Rygel would do what was best for him. Nor did I voice my fear that Aida and her husband would also do what was best for them. If I stayed, they would have to help me to some extent or be exposed as hypocrites.

Aida turned to Rudy. "Can we get a message to Dominar Rygel that we rescued Aeryn and she's staying to look for John?"

Rudy shrugged. "We can send a message, but whether he would believe we weren't holding Aeryn against her will is another thing. We do not need conflict with Hyneria, Aida."

"Don't worry about that." I broke in. "I know Rygel and he knows me. He'll know I'd do anything to find John. He'd be surprised if I did otherwise. I can put things in the message that only he or my children would know, so they'll believe it's from me."

Aida, Kathleen and Rudy shared a look.

"All right." Said Aida. "But don't tell Rygel any more about us than you have to. We'd like to introduce ourselves to this universe when and where we're ready to."

The officer who'd brought the holo to us cleared his throat.

"Yes, Lieutenant?" Aida said.

"The interrogation team got some very useful information from Vasa Corbellote. It seems he and his brother have a cache of intelligence documents on a planet near here, including the complete file on Mrs. Crichton and her family. It's in something called a shadow depository, which seems to be a super bank of some sort."

"I know what shadow depositories are, Lieutenant. They're more than just super banks. They're more heavily armed and armored than most planets. I'd hate to have to shoot our way into one.'

The lieutenant smiled and held up a sheaf of flimsies. "No problems, ma'am. We have all the security codes from our prisoner. We can just walk in, provide proof we're from Corbellote, open his personal strongbox with the proper codes, and then walk out. Corbellote gave us everything we need."

"Where is this shadow depository?" Asked Kathleen.

The lieutenant checked the flimsies. "The planet is called Droon. The depository is run by a female called Natira."

Aida looked at me. "Natira? Ever heard of her, Aeryn."

Natira. Yes, I had definitely heard of her.