Warriors For The Working Day

Chapter Sixteen

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 put the data chip in the reader. There he was, standing right next to Rygel. He looked a bit thinner, but his gunbelt still fit around his waist. He stood with his arms crossed and stared stoically out from the holo, looking exactly like he had so very many times before when there was danger.

I had been so enthralled in looking at John that I missed the fact that Rygel had been talking.

"…and I am sure that you will want to return Baroness Sun Crichton to her beloved husband and family at the earliest possible time. Accordingly, I have arranged for Baron Crichton to rendezvous with you aboard Admiral Ta Mok's flagship at a set of coordinates that are attached to this document. For your convenience, we have used Hynerian navigational coordinates as well as those for the Sebacean, Peacekeeper, Delvian and Luxan systems. You should have no trouble. At least I sincerely hope you have no trouble."

"I, Rygel, Sixteenth of my lineage, Dominar of Hyneria, and.."

"Babe, I love you and miss you terribly. Be there, please." That, of course, was John.

Rygel glared at him. "Ahem, that is. I, Rygel, the Sixteenth of my lineage, Dominar of Hyneria and…"

"Buckwheat, I just want to get a personal message to Aeryn. Can't you…."

"Buckwheat! Turn the frelling machine off. I command…"

The data chip suddenly ended.

"Baron and Baroness Crichton?" Eddie asked.

I nodded and gave an embarrassed laugh. "When Rygel regained his throne, he made the two of us members of the Hynerian nobility as a reward for our help during his exile. John always said that he did it because it didn't cost him any money."

Kathleen and Aida had extracted the navigational coordinates that Rygel and John had sent.

Kathleen brought up a small map holo from her desk workstation and found the location of the rendezvous. "It's right on the border of the Hynerian Empire. It'll take us a good three weekens to get there."

The four of them exchanged glances. What the frell could that mean? More problems?

Finally, Eddie spoke. "Aeryn, when you go, we'd like to have you arrange a meeting with Dominar Rygel. We've been studying the political and military situation and we think we can be of use to Rygel. And he to us."

I shook my head. "I don't think that Rygel would use mercenaries to fight his civil war. One of the reasons that Bishan was so hated was that he brought in the Peacekeepers as his enforcers."

"That's not what we had in mind at all." Rudy cut in smoothly. "Hyneria has a long and exposed frontier adjoining the Uncharted Territories. For centuries it was a backwater, but they've been getting raided by ex-Imperial Charrids, renegade Peacekeepers, Scorvians, and even the occasional Luxan, not to mention pirates."

"Not to mention human raiders." Aida added glumly.

"There was little in the way of any Hynerian naval presence and most of the few ships that were there have been pulled back to help put down Bishanist insurrections." Rudy continued. "There are planetary militias, but they're small, poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly led. We can change all of that. We are strong enough to bring peace to the border and turn a drain on the Hynerian military and economy into an asset."

"Rygel has reason to trust your judgment, and we think you've seen enough of us to know that we can be trusted. We're not sure how Rygel would respond to a huge human fleet and army showing up on his border and asking if we can please have a chat. But, if Baroness Sun Crichton shows up in a lone human warship and asks for an audience with Dominar Rygel, we assume he'd agree. We'd be in the vicinity, of course, but not close enough for anyone to think we were planning an ambush, or anything. "

I thought for a microt and found myself nodding in agreement. "It would be a pleasure. There is one other thing, though."

The four of them stared at me.

"Ta Mok is a Luxan name, and I'm sure Admiral Ta Mok would have his ship's temperature controls set for what Luxans feel is comfortable. They do have areas set aside for Sebacean passengers, but I've been in more than one and the Luxans have no idea what cool means. I'd hate to have to spend my first arns with my husband sweltering in a Luxan ship, especially as I intend to give him a very vigorous greeting. And only the Goddess knows how long I'd be cooped up in there before I got to wherever Rygel is."

"I have a better idea, if you'll help me."

Three weekens later, the cruiser Mers-el-Kibir glided quietly into an unnamed and uninhabited solar system on the Hynerian border.

I checked my uniform for the last time: White pants worn with black ankle boots and a dark blue high collared tunic with golden shoulder boards. I had decided to leave off the hat since I had left my hair loose.

"Incoming comm, ma'am."

A holo of John and a Luxan in the tattoos of a Hynerian admiral appeared before me. "I am Admiral Ta Mok, in the service of Dominar Rygel XVI. I assume you have Baroness Sun Crichton with you?" He growled.

I motioned for the comm tech to begin sending. John's face lit up as soon as he saw me.

I spoke before he could. "I am Captain Aeryn Sun Crichton, Human Forces Command Ship Mers-el-Kibir. I'd like to invite my husband aboard my ship." I reached down and undid the top button of my tunic. "Do you know, John, that humans have done the most interesting things with gravity bladders as bedding?" I undid the second button. "You might be interested to know we have human food in abundance aboard. Would you like a champagne cocktail? Oh, and is it true what they say about oysters?" I undid the third button. "Humans do have the most romantic music, you know." I undid the fourth and last button. John could clearly see that I had nothing on under my tunic. "Are you going to come over, John?"

John had his most goofy grin spread all over his face. "Mama, baby, mama, let me jump in your pajamas!"

John turned away, but Admiral Ta Mok grabbed him by the shoulder. "Baron Crichton, this could be an ambush!"

John gave him a smile, "And if it is, Hulkster, it's got the best bait I've ever seen." John turned and waved at me. "I'll be right over, babe. Don't start without me."

I gave Ta Mok, now the only person in the holo, a smile. "Admiral, I would appreciate you remaining in contact. A Mr. Vergraah will be here as soon as I leave. He wishes to send a message to Dominar Rygel. Oh, and don't dream of interrupting John and I for about another three solar days."

I waved to Rudy and headed for the hangar bay.

It seemed to take forever, but eventually a Luxan transport arrived. First off, were a dozen heavily armed and very suspicious Luxans. I could hear John inside. "I am going to see my wife, dammit!' That was followed by a Luxan roar.

Then John was on the transport's ramp, pushing his way past the Luxans. "Woooo-hoooo!" He ran to me and threw his arms around me, picked me up and whirled me around.

"Have I told you lately that I love you?"

I couldn't reply, since his tongue was now in my mouth. Then he broke the kiss, and threw me over his shoulder. "Which way is Crichton Love Nest?"

Many, many arns later.

"So! Why did it take you so frelling long to find me?"

John had been dozing with his head on my breasts. "Hmmm? What?"

"You heard me."

"Babe, this was so not my fault."

"I'm glad to hear it. That way I know you'll have a good excuse for leaving me to be hunted like an animal, to have to make my way through a very unusual human society, to raid planets, to embark on a life of crime, to negotiate with barbaric warlords, and to fight against a fleet of renegade Charrids. All while you were apparently enjoying Rygel's hospitality and gorging yourself on marjools. "

"Gorging on marjools? You have to be kidding, lady."

I gave him my most reasonable, but much put upon, wife look. "All right. No gorging on marjools."

John rolled onto his back and pulled me over so my head was resting on his chest.

"I was waiting for you to get through shopping for new weaponry, or whatever. There was a little place at the bazaar that looked like it had good food. Then, boom! It's like I'm Sonny Corleone at the toll booth! It's a mob hit from straight out of the Godfather!"

"You're making these words up, aren't you?" I interrupted. "They don't actually mean anything. You just do this to confuse me, don't you?"

John gave me a hurt look. "Aeryn. Babe! You wanted to hear my side of this."

"Please continue." I said, with a superior smile. "But could you possibly find words that the translator microbes are familiar with?"

John sighed dramatically. "Anyway, the shooters come in and pull their pieces. But, they're from off planet. What they don't know is that this is the hangout for the local wiseguys. As soon as they draw on me, it's like the entire Five Families opens up on them. It was like the last part of the Wild Bunch, except it wasn't in slow motion."

"You made a mistake." I said happily. "We saw that one together four cycles ago when we were stuck in the Carpanna Cluster. I actually understand the reference for once. The Wild Bunch is on one of your BVDs that you play on the TV. And it's a pretty lame comedy, if you ask me."

"Which no one did." John shot back. "So, as soon as the shooting stopped, the wiseguys left. Us innocent bystanders were left to tell the police that we hadn't heard or seen a thing. And that we had no idea how those dead bodies got there."

"I was about to leave before the local Keystone Cops showed up, when I happened to look down at one of the dead shooters. He had a picture of you in his hand. I checked a little further and found he had pictures of the two of us."

John stopped and looked at me, as if he thought I was going to say something.

"That's when I knew I had to find you fast. I checked the frelling bazaar, but no one seemed to know anything about a gorgeous Sebacean. Then I got lucky."

"Oh!" I interrupted. "I know what that means. You found a woman who wanted to frell."

"Babe! That is not what I meant."

I shook my head. "I remember you explaining that human joke to me, the one where the male says, "At my age getting lucky means finding my car in the parking lot." So who did you frell?"

John shook his head and groaned. "I did not frell anyone. I got lucky by running into Jothee."

"You frelled Jothee?"

"Aeryn! That's not what happened. I ran into Jothee and told him that my wife, the love of my life, the woman I have worshipped and adored since I woke up in a cell one day with her, the beautiful, intelligent, brave and very, very stubborn Aeryn Sun Crichton, was missing."

"That's all you told Jothee? Love of my life, worshipped and adored, yadda, yadda, yadda?"

"I could have stopped and written a sonnet expressing my love for you, but you were frelling in danger."

I nodded vigorously. "Good thinking, John, good thinking."

"Jothee's been doing the Lone Ranger shtick. You know, solving other people's problems, that sort of thing. Anyway, he had his ship and some of his dudes with him. He used his contacts and found out a little about the shooters who had gone after me. They weren't local talent, like I said, but they had come in on a little ship belonging to a local who ran like, a cigarette boat."

"Miami Vice." I said confidently.

John ignored me. "He was still waiting around for the shooters to come back, but he ran into Jothee's boys instead. They had a little talk with him and we found out he'd picked up the shooters from a real big time smuggler. According to him, the smuggler was still sitting out at the edge of the solar system, waiting to pick them up."

"Jothee and I went looking for the smuggler, but no joy. So, we headed back to Moya, grabbed the kids and headed for the Hynerian Empire. Rygel has always had a soft spot in his stomach for D'Argo, and the others kids, so I left them at a Hynerian border planet with strict instructions that they should be sent on to Uncle Rygel as soon as possible. Then I did my Elmer Fudd act and started out looking for wascally wabbits, and other low life, along with Jothee."

"And you've spent all of this time looking for some smuggler?"

John nodded. "I'm afraid so, babe. I was all the way out by Golindar when I finally got a message from Rygel that you were okay and looking for me. I got back as soon as I could, but Jothee's ride developed a hitch in its getalong."

"That is pathetic, Crichton." I said coldly.

"I know it is, babe. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

I smiled. "There are a few things you could do."

And he did do every one of them. Three times.

Many arns later.

"Get up, get up!" Bellowed a familiar voice. "This is no time to be sleeping. I need you."

John threw a pillow at Rygel, which he dodged. "Go away, Spanky. We weren't sleeping and we don't plan on doing any sleeping for another day or two. Vamoose."

"Be that as it may, I need you. Didn't you hear me?"

John looked at me. "Did you hear anything, babe?"

"Not a thing. Now, where were we?"

I pulled John down on top of me in hopes that Rygel would go away and John wouldn't. No luck.

"You are members of the Hynerian nobility. You have a duty to obey your Dominar!"

John sighed and threw another pillow at Rygel. "So what happens if we fink out on you? Do you make us unlearn the secret handshake?"

"What are you doing out here anyway?" I asked.

"There were rumors of a large and powerful force operating near my dominions. Then there were rumors that it was a large human force, with one Baroness Aeryn Sun Crichton in tow. Naturally, I came to investigate personally."

"Nice of you to drop by, keep those cards and letters coming and write if you get work." John said, looking in vain for another pillow. "Now scram."

"Hmmph!" Rygel snorted. "If you cannot be swayed by an appeal to your duty, I am forced to offer money. I can afford to pay for your services. A handsome sum."

"First off, the words "handsome" and "pay" are not ones that I'd usually associate with you, Fluffy. So what's the deal?"

"Marshall O'Donnell is interested in offering his services to me. Obviously, I have no experience in dealing with technologically advanced humans, nor does anyone in my Empire. Except for you two. Your expertise would be invaluable in smelling out traps and scams."

"Actually, the O'Donnells are our friends and..." John cut me off by laying a finger over my lips. I said no more.

"…and you're our friend, too." John continued smoothly. "That means you get our special friends rate, and if you act now, I'll throw in a Ginsu carving knife."

"How much?" Rygel said suspiciously.

"I'm a space explorer, Ryg. I've always wanted to explore the planetary cluster on the other side of the Flammarion Rift."

"Crichton, a Luxan expedition went through that cluster over five hundred cycles ago. They found nothing of any value."

"Oh, yeah! If it absolutely, positively has to be destroyed overnight, go to the Luxans." John shook his head sadly. "Did you ever know a Luxan, aside from D'Argo, who ever looked for anything but targets? Of course they didn't find anything."

"How much?" Rygel repeated sourly.

"One hundred and fifty thousand krendars."

"That's odd, Crichton. I could have sworn you said one hundred and fifty thousand krendars, a clearly preposterous sum. Please speak more clearly. You must have said fifty thousand krendars."

In the end, we agreed to use our good offices with both Rygel and the O'Donnells for the sum of one hundred and twenty thousand krendars. He didn't have a lot of options.

Rygel had brought a large fleet with him and the two forces headed for the planet that held the local Hynerian Provincial Capital, G'balla.

Once there, the O'Donnells put on what they called a "dog and pony show." This consisted of a weeken of demonstrations of the power of the human fleet and army.

A human Task Force attacked an uninhabited asteroid and blew it apart. Then, a human flotilla protected a convoy of merchant ships while Hynerian ships made mock attacks on them. Everything from battleships to couriers were demonstrated.

Then it was the turn of the ground troops. Armored divisions rumbled across G'balla's plains. Troops were dropped from space onto the surface. Ships in orbit provided fire support for the ground troops.

For the finale, troops from the Tenth Flotilla made an attack on Rygel's personal flagship, The Way to the Old Gods. To the deep embarrassment of the ship's Luxan captain and crew, in spite of knowing they were coming, a company of the Tenth Flotilla landed on the exterior of the ship without being detected.

Finally, we found ourselves back aboard Donegal in a roomy conference room. We sat with Rygel, Admiral Ta Mok and Baroness Arbette, Rygel's Minister of Finance. Across from us were Eddie and Aida as well as Rudy. Between us was a small holo of the Hynerian border area facing the Uncharted Territories.

"So," Rygel began, "what do you propose, Marshall O'Donnell?"

That was largely a formality. In the preceding days, members of Human Forces Command had made any number of "informal" suggestions to feel out Rygel's position. Rygel, of course, had done likewise. That way if one side or the other said something the other found completely appalling, no "official" feelings were hurt.

Eddie hit a control by his side. The solar systems claimed by Hyneria were highlighted. "Your Majesty has extensive holdings along the frontier of the Uncharted Territories, although we admit that all of the planets are lightly settled and generally poor. They have also been subject to raids by various parties over the last dozen or more cycles."

Rygel leaned forward to get a better view of the holo. On the left side of his hoverthrone was a dish of bite-sized human chocolates and in his right hand was a small glass of Delvian whiskey on ice. As Rygel had commented, Human Forces Command knew how to treat a Dominar.

"You're showing some very extensive holdings in the frontier regions, aren't you, Marshall O'Donnell?"

Eddie made a show if carefully looking over the systems that had been highlighted as being Hynerian. "I believe that Your Majesty still claims jurisdiction over all of these planets, do you not? Even if you haven't exercised de facto jurisdiction for, in some cases, over a hundred cycles?"

"Do you expect all of these planets to welcome you with open arms?" Ta Mok rumbled.

"Three quarters of these planets now freely acknowledge you, Dominar Rygel. Most of the rest will be happy, I think, to welcome a well armed garrison that is well paid enough and well supplied enough to not have to loot the planet to survive. The raiders they have faced, especially the Charrids, have been particularly brutal. Most will welcome us. If there are any that don't…" Eddie shrugged. "They can be allowed to go on their merry way to hell and extinction."

"And exactly how do you plan to do all of this?" Rygel asked.

"Your Majesty, I would ask that you organize all of these planets into a single frontier province. Appoint a competent governor for the province and hire that part of Human Forces Command now under my command here to protect this province. I have sufficient ships and troops to provide a substantial garrison on and around each planet and I can provide equipment and training to upgrade the planetary militias."

"All the frelling militias do is run away." Grumbled Admiral Ta Mok.

Eddie shrugged expressively. "Perhaps if they had better weapons, better training, better leaders and a powerful force to rally around when their homes were attacked, they'd stand and fight."

Ta Mok looked like he was about to become offended by this criticism of Hyneria's military, but Rygel waved him into silence and Eddie continued.

"The bulk of my fleet and a strong ground force would be maintained as a strategic reserve. I'll keep several Task Forces on patrol so that no raider will ever be sure that he won't go after a weakly held planet and then find himself facing a force strong enough to blow him into radioactive atoms."

"And how much will all of this cost?" Rygel asked.

"One hundred and twenty billion krendars a monen." Eddie said flatly.

No one said anything. Eddie continued.

"Your Highness, as we have advised you, we are not prone to bargain with prospective clients. Our services cost what they cost and no less. We have provided detailed economic analyses to Baroness Arbette. The costs are quite reasonable."

Rygel looked at Baroness Arbette. "Well?"

She shrugged slightly. "It is difficult to calculate the value of human ships, units, and other equipment since we know so little about them or their very different technology. That said, it does not seem outrageous."

Spoken like a true bureaucrat, I thought.

"It is outrageous for the number of ships and troops that you bring to His Majesty!" Ta Mok said determinedly.

"But not, we think, for the quality of the ships and troops we bring." Rudy interjected smoothly. "Your Majesty will have capabilities that no other leader in this universe has access to."

"Except anyone else who hires human mercenaries." Ta Mok shot back.

"And none of those mercenaries taken all together are as powerful as Human Forces Command!" Aida replied.

Rudy stepped in before the argument got out of hand. "Your Majesty rules an empire of over six hundred billion subjects. Our admittedly inexact calculations indicate that our fee would be under one percent of your current military budget. However, there are some financial aspects of hiring us that you may have overlooked."

Rygel stared at Baroness Arbette for a microt. "And those aspects are, Mr. Vergraah?"

Rudy smiled at the Baroness. "Something we have discussed with your people only marginally. Perhaps we didn't explain ourselves clearly."

Having avoided embarrassing Arbette, Rudy went on. "As you know, Marshall O'Donnell commands other forces than those offered for your service. We have a base at the planet Arsenal. There is a substantial defense force there and a large number of other warships. Regrettably, most of these warships are either damaged, manned by reduced crews, or both. We do have repair facilities and manpower resources to return them to full serviceability, but that will take time."

"Your point being?" Rygel asked pointedly.

Rudy bowed slightly to Rygel. "My apologies, Your Majesty. In addition to our warships we have a large number of merchant vessels who have brought cargo or passengers to this universe and have remained here. The ships are technically civilian, but due to the constant warfare in our old universe, the crews are used to military discipline and combat conditions and they all carry defensive armament and in some cases offensive weaponry."

"We are short of merchant ships." Rygel interjected. "Our shipyards, both military and civilian were put to building and repairing ships for the Peacekeepers during Bishan's usurpation. Since I regained my throne, I've had to concentrate on warships. But," Rygel gave Rudy a harsh look, "you can hardly have enough merchant ships to make a difference in an empire of six hundred billion."

Rudy quickly shook his head. "Not at all, but that was not our point. We have all sorts of merchant ships, from high speed ships designed for low volume, high value cargos…."

"If you mean smugglers, say so." Rygel snorted.

Rudy laughed. "Right then, smugglers. We have everything from smugglers to five million ton cargo ships."

"Your Majesty, the planets in your new frontier province are poor, but they are rich in potential. In the past, in times of peace, there was a great deal of commerce among those solar systems. We can easily provide the ships needed for all the commerce your frontier province is capable of generating for the foreseeable future, as well as convoy escorts from the warships in Your Majesty's service."

"And there's more." Eddie interrupted. "We have a similar, if much smaller, arrangement with the Royal Planet. In addition to a Task Group defending the planet, we provide a limited cargo and passenger service via a warship, Scipio Africanus. Due to the unfortunate isolationist policies of the previous governments, their interstellar commerce was almost nonexistent, and all of it was carried by other nation's ships."

"I had heard that Princess-Regent Katralla had made some sort of defense arrangement with you. I also heard there was some sort of problem there?" Rygel asked with a smile.

Eddie nodded and added his own smile. "A task force of five Charrid-crewed Scarren dreadnaughts under an Admiral Pohtalken attacked the Royal Planet and got past their defenses. We destroyed the dreadnaughts and all of his supporting cruisers and destroyers."

"Ah, "Rygel said with a huge smile, "how very sad for the so-called Charrid Empire."

"Indeed, Your Majesty." Eddie continued. "In the future, it will be much more economical for us to continue commercial services to and from the Royal Planet using merchant ships with other warships as escorts."

"While the relative positions of the Royal Planet and the Delvian Worlds make it most logical for most of the Royal Planet's trade to go to the Delvians, there is no reasons that our convoys could not continue on to Hynerian worlds, bringing you the benefits of trade with the Delvians and the Royal Planet."

"And, Your Majesty," Rudy took over, "we do have contacts in the Delvian Worlds."

"And they are?" Rygel asked. He did not seem pleased with the humans serving rulers other than himself.

"A human general called Brother Saul has contracted to defend a Delvian colony called the Garden of Galil. He has a force that is certainly powerful enough to defend a single planet, but no more."

Rudy gestured to the holo. Two planets were highlighted. "Please note that the Royal Planet and the Garden of Galil are on an almost straight line with Your Majesty's dominions."

Rygel glared at the holo of the Garden of Galil "I have heard some disturbing reports about human mercenaries in our universe, Marshall O'Donnell. Is this Brother Saul fellow trustworthy? I've heard he's some sort of religious lunatic. Exactly what the Delvians deserve, of course. But I have no desire to have to deal with some lunatic trying to push his religion down everyone's throat at gunpoint."

"As far as the propagation of religion goes," Eddie replied, "Brother Saul believes in friendly persuasion. For other types of disputes, he prefers firepower."

Baroness Arbette had been carefully examining the map and running data on her computer. "Your Majesty, this could be a very useful new trade route. With a powerful human garrison at the Royal Planet and another at the Garden of Galil, and heavily escorted convoys in between, many ships would abandon their old routes for a safer route. And a safer route that runs directly to the Hynerian Empire. If you will look at these preliminary figures I've brought up?"

Rygel spent a few microts looking at the data on the computer.

Although I knew it was coming, it was entertaining to see Rudy hook Rygel. Oh, so we were being paid to tell Rygel what was going on. It's not like we all didn't know it was in the Empire's best interest to hire the O'Donnells. Or that Rygel wouldn't have done the same to any of us.

Rudy began slyly. "Admittedly, all of these options will take some cycles to come to fruition. However, I think we can suggest something that would bring Your Majesty a good deal of profit in less than a cycle."

Rudy highlighted two more planets in the frontier. "You can see here the planets, Okarahahmbha and Ob."

Ob was the farthest out of the Hynerian frontier planets, being nearly half way across the Uncharted Territories to Tormented Space.

Rudy continued. "As you doubtlessly know, Your Majesty, both of these planets were settled by Your Majesty's Sebacean subjects and both are on the route to Sfax. Sfax is the source of a spice much prized by both Hynerians and Delvians."

Rygel guffawed. "I sincerely hope you aren't intending to attack Sfax, Marshall O'Donnell. The population is a hive society and as such quite bizarre by the standards of societies such as ours, based on individuals. And they have proven that they are willing to fight to the death for their home. In my opinion, the whole planet's a frelling madhouse. The planet itself is host to literally billions of different species of microbes, all of which are highly lethal to any organism from off planet. It's inside the boundaries of Tormented Space and its nearest neighbors are Charrid settled worlds."

Eddie shot Rygel a smile and took over from Rudy. "We do know about Sfax. All the difficulties you mention are what make the spice, jurahorau, so rare. And so valuable."

"Rare !" Rygel scoffed. "It's practically impossible to come by. I'm barely able to procure a dozen cubic motras for the use of the Imperial Kitchens and for presents to Delvians I wish to, shall we say, impress?"

Shall we say bribe? I thought to myself.

"A fast, well armed ship could go from the new frontier province to Okarahahmbha and then onto Ob. From there, it could make a high speed run to Sfax, load, say, a thousand cubic motras of jurahorau and make the return trip. Scipio Africanus has proved time and again that it can easily outrun anything it can't outfight. And there's damned little out there it can't outfight."

Eddie smiled broadly at Rygel. "What would Your Majesty say to a fifty-fifty split of the jurahorau?"

Rygel didn't say a word. He just sat there with a faraway look in his eyes and a smile on his face.

Admiral Ta Mok did speak, however. "There is no reason His Majesty can't do the same without you!"

Eddie nodded. "His Majesty can establish a logistics base on the frontier. He can establish bases and garrisons on Okarahahmbha and on Ob. But can he find a ship that can outrun or outfight any Charrid raider out there?"

Eddie stared at Ta Mok who said nothing.

"His Majesty, could, instead of using my one ship, use a battleship and hope it didn't run up against a dreadnaught. It would be better to use several battleships just in case you did run into a dreadnaught. Unless, of course, the Charrids found out about the trade with Sfax and decided to ambush your battleships with…..What? Many, many dreadnaughts? That would require more Hynerian battleships to keep up the trade."

"How many battleships could His Majesty spare for this, admiral?"

For several microns no one said anything. Finally Rygel spoke, more to himself than to any of us. "We'd have to be careful not to drive the price of jurahorau down by flooding the market all at once."

Rudy nodded, concealing a smile. "I'm sure that Your Majesty will be able to change jurahorau from a luxury available only to the rulers of vast stellar empires to a necessity for those who only rule one planet."

It seemed to me that Rygel's greed must have overwhelmed his normally sharp ear for sarcasm.

Rygel exchanged glances with Admiral Ta Mok and Baroness Arbette. Both nodded, Ta Mok less enthusiastically than Arbette.

"I, Rygel, Sixteenth of My Lineage, Dominar of Hyneria, do hereby accept the proffered services of Marshall Edmund Burke O'Donnell and the forces that he has so graciously brought within my empire. I further declare that in return for his services, he shall be compensated in the sum of one hundred and twenty billion krendars per monen. In addition, I will generously lend my support to his proposed trading venture to Sfax in return for one half of the jurahorau purchased there."

Eddie, Aida and Rudy exchanged handshakes. Eddie rose and faced Rygel. "I, Edmund Burke O'Donnell swear that I will serve Dominar Rygel XVI faithfully as will all persons under my command so pledged to his service."

Eddie's face broke into a very wide smile. "And mow, Dominar Rygel, I hope you will soon appoint a governor for your new frontier province so that we may begin working together."

"No sooner said than done." Rygel responded. "I hereby appoint you to be my Governor of the Hynerian Frontier Province. I so order it."

Eddie looked around uncertainly. None of us had expected this. "I am greatly honored, Your Majesty but are you sure an alien and a mercenary is the best choice? There must be many of your loyal subjects that would be suitable for this office."

Rygel sadly shook his head. "The number of my subjects that I can trust implicitly is small. The number of those who are suitable for the post of governor is smaller yet, and all of those that I can so trust are engaged in other work for me." Rygel shot John and me a glance. "Or insist on wasting their time on other projects."

"And, Governor O'Donnell, I find that in an active military zone, a command divided between a civilian governor and the military commander is often unwise."

Eddie shrugged. "I am honored by your trust, Your Majesty."

"It's not all trust." Rygel said, winking to Eddie. "There are at least a dozen nobles in my court who will be enraged at being passed over for the position of governor. I'm sure that they will keep me advised of your actions on a very timely basis and make sure that every error you make is brought to my attention."

"I'll try not to make any errors, then, Your Majesty."

"Good! As a side benefit, those nobles will be too busy plotting against you to think of plotting against me."

"Very wise of Your Majesty." Rudy added. "I just hope they don't fill your ears with lies about us."

Baroness Arbette laughed. "When he first reclaimed his throne, Dominar Rygel was lied to by many of his nobles who tried to cover up their previous loyalty to the usurper Bishan."

"The survivors learned not to do that any more." Rygel said grimly.

Aida cleared her throat. "May my husband and I discuss a matter with you, Your Majesty? We had intended to discuss it with the new governor."

"Please do, Vice-Governor O'Donnell."

Aida smiled. "Do I get paid extra for that?"

Rygel smiled back. "Don't be absurd."

Aida highlighted another planet in the holo view. This one was familiar.

Eddie spoke. "A human mercenary, Sir Robert Knowles, has conquered the planet Jolo and taken the title of Viceroy. I've seen Charrid corsairs in orbit around his planet and I have good intelligence that he has Charrid troops on planet. Two regiments my intelligence tells me. That puts Charrid raiders right on the route from the Royal Planet to the Delvian Worlds."

"I strongly suspect that Knowles is working for Charrid raiders. I'd like to terminate his command."

Rygel shook his head. "Knowles works for a Charrid admiral by the name of Karrachan. He's the Sector Admiral for the portion of Emperor Staleek's domains that face the Delvian frontier. Karrachan loudly proclaims his loyalty to Staleek and his support for the Scarren-Peacekeeper Peace Treaty. All the while, he arms renegade Charrids, and provides them with money and intelligence. Staleek is devious, at least for a Scarren, but he seems to be thoroughly fooled by Karrachan."

"And, my dear Governor, Emperor Staleek would be greatly upset if we seized an "independent" planet so close to his own territory. Perhaps if we can get proof enough to convince Staleek that Karrachan is a traitor, we can do something."

"I wonder if I might change the subject, Your Majesty?" Rudy suddenly asked.

"Certainly, Mr. Vergraah."

"This is a purely hypothetical question, you must understand. What if one of our officers, not in Your Majesty's service, one still at Arsenal and owing allegiance only to Marshall O'Donnell should decide to leave the Marshall's service? And to take with him a force of, let us say one battleship, three armored cruisers, eight other cruisers, eighteen destroyers and two dozen missile frigates. Plus scouts, couriers, troop transports, replenishment ships and a corps of ground troops amounting to some three standard armored divisions plus support troops."

"And," Rudy went on, "suppose this officer should invade Jolo for reasons of his own? Having defeated Knowles and now being in charge of Jolo, suppose he should now decide that leaving Marshall O'Donnell's service was an error? He decides to pledge his fealty again to the Marshall as head of Human Forces Command and not as the Hynerian Governor of the Frontier Province. Would Emperor Staleek, having said nothing about Jolo being conquered by one human, now be in a position to complain that other humans had conquered it and now held it?"

Rygel smiled at Rudy. "A hypothetical question, you say?"

"Yes, Your Highness." Rudy said, returning the smile.

"In that case, Mr. Vergraah, I can see no basis for Emperor Staleek to complain. Although it is always possible that elements in his court might not be so understanding."

"Very interesting, Your Majesty. May I now completely change the subject?"

"Oh, please do, Mr. Vergraah." Rygel replied.

Rudy changed the holo display to show a blizzard of statistics. "As you can see, we have a large number of warships at Arsenal that were either damaged in combat or are in dire need of maintenance. We also need to train crews for many of them before they would be ready for battle. In fact, we actually have more warships at Arsenal than elsewhere, even if the fleet at Arsenal is not as powerful."

"The flagship of one of our commanders, an Admiral Cervera, recently arrived at Arsenal. The ship is the battleship Pelayo,100. One of her engines was severely damaged in combat some five years ago. She's been getting around on the remaining engine and the help of tugs for non-combat maneuvering. Alas, she had to be towed to Arsenal by those tugs as her other engine has failed. She was escorted into this universe by a brand new armored cruiser, but the balance of Admiral Cervera's squadron is in need of repairs as well. But there are many, many other ships also in need of repairs already at Arsenal."

"If we could have the use of Your Highness' naval shipyards at Kerr'Ha or at Boistt for four months, it would allow us to completely replace Pelayo's engines and otherwise upgrade her. And do needed work on all Cervera's other ships."

Rygel nodded. "I would suggest that you send ships already at Arsenal to Kerr'Ha and do the repairs for this Cervera at Arsenal. Just out of curiosity, how many ships does Cervera have?"

"One battleship, three armored cruisers, eight other cruisers, eighteen destroyers and two dozen missile frigates plus scouts, couriers, troop transports, and replenishment ships." was Rudy's prompt reply.

"Does he have any ground troops?"

Rudy shook his head. "He only has a battalion of marines, Your Majesty. But he is from a planet called Extramadura. We do have an Extramaduran Corps in our service. It consists of three standard armored divisions plus supporting troops."

So, the future of Jolo was decided. I hoped the woman whose life I had saved would still be alive to enjoy it.

Suddenly, I realized that the meeting was over. John and I would soon be heading home to Moya and the children.

"Babe, why don't you go back to your quarters here and get your stuff. I need to talk to Sluggo for a microt about our cash and a ride back to Hyneria."

I gave John a quick kiss and headed back to my quarters.

The passageways were crowded with people getting ready for Donegal to leave for the new Frontier Province. Even so, it only took microts for me to get to my quarters and start to pack.

"Good news and good news, babe." John said, sticking his head in the door.

"And that is?" I said, arching an eyebrow.

"Ryg came through with the money. And, best of all, we don't have to take a trip on the SS Swamp Thing."

It was an effort not to show John how much I had missed his incomprehensible human references. "A trip on what?" I said with my best exasperated Sebacean wife tone of voice.

"We don't have to ride back to Hyneria to pick up Moya and the kids on Rygel's yacht. The O'Donnells are sending a ship to Hyneria with a liaison team and to set up a courier service. We're going with them. We'll be back on Moya in no time and ready to plan our exploration of the area past the Flammarion Rift." John suddenly snapped his fingers. "That reminds me. Someone must have accidentally put something useful among the froggy porn in Rygel's library on his ship. He told me he has the complete report of the Luxan expedition there. He's going to make a copy. I have to get to the boat bay to pick it up. Be right back." He leaned in and kissed me and then left.

I found that I was looking forward to a nice long voyage of discovery with John. Something with enough excitement to avoid boredom, but not the sort of excitement I had had to put up with lately. And plenty of time in bed with John.

I finished packing in no time. I decided that I could start walking towards the boat bay and meet John on his way back. Donegal was leaving, but I was sure we had time to say goodbye to my new friends.

As I walked past the conference room we had recently left, I caught sight of Rudy, sitting and staring intently at the holo display of this section of the galaxy.

"Planning the empire of Rudy the Magnificent?" I teased.

Rudy chuckled. "No, I'm just looking at our new home."

Rudy turned back to the holo display and hit a control. A series of bright red lines appeared. "I do think that our alliance with Dominar Rygel will work out well. The lines represent major trade routes. Now, many of them are closed or rarely used because of raids from dissident Peacekeepers, or renegade Charrids, Luxan warlords or even some spillover from the never ending Scorvian-Ilanic war."

"And to answer the question you're about to ask, Aeryn, I do believe that the Idelons will bring peace to the galaxy, but not in the time frame that many people expected. It will be a long time and I think things will get worse before they get better."

"That's why it was important for us to ally ourselves with Dominar Rygel."

I wasn't following this. "Why Rygel and not another race?"

"Meaning no disrespect to you as a former Peacekeeper…"

"A very former Peacekeeper. I couldn't be happier that I'm not one."

Rudy smiled at me. "Good! I'm glad to hear it."

"But, happy former Peacekeeper, the Peacekeepers, the Scarrens, and the Luxans are all warrior races. They have no interest in economics, and in many respects consider mere money grubbing to be dishonorable. But, economics is what provides them with the weapons to be warriors."

"No bucks, no Buck Rogers, huh?" said a very familiar human voice.

"Quite so, Commander Crichton."

"Call me John."

"In that case, call me Rudy."

"As I was telling Aeryn, John, our alliance with Dominar Rygel puts us very close to many major trade routes. And the Hynerians can appreciate their importance. Oh, the Delvians appreciate economics, at least more than the warrior races, but they are devoted to the Seek above all. And who knows what the Nebari appreciate since the conquest of the universe backfired on them."

"Our forces still at Arsenal and even those still coming into this universe are light forces: Cruiser and destroyers with few battleships. They're just the ships we need to escort convoys and protect planets from lightly armed raiders. With, of course, a large and heavily armed main fleet to discourage or destroy anything stronger."

John took a close look at the holo map. "So your ultimate goal is to control the trade routes?"

"No, John. Our ultimate goal is to make a home. And, I'm happy to say we have found a home for my family."

"Do you consider the O'Donnells your family, Rudy?" I asked.

Rudy didn't answer for a microt. "Yes, I do, I suppose. However, I meant my family. I have a wife and four children: Two males and two females."

I laughed to cover my embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I just didn't think of you as the family type."

"You mean I'm not the very model of a thirty-first century extraterrestrial pater familias?" Rudy asked in mock horror.

"I'm sure you are." I said hurriedly. Then I started thinking. "Rudy, I haven't seen any other K'hiff in Human Forces Command except for the relatively small number aboard Scipio Africanus. Where is your family?"

Rudy smiled ruefully. "Ah, you have uncovered a secret, I'm afraid. But only a small one as these things go."

"My family is still on K'hiff. President Azzule, who you may remember from your trip to our world, is the leader of our world now. He realizes that the Great Powers of Humanity, as they style themselves, will maintain a truly enormous fleet near his planet to keep Marshall O'Donnell and the others from ever coming back."

"But in time, the need for the fleet will diminish and it will leave. In the meantime, no one seems to mind if a bunch of hairy barbarians buy some antique human spaceships and try their luck using the Artifact to explore this universe. President Azzule sees that trade between our universes is inevitable and he is determined that K'hiff will benefit."

"In a few months my family will join me on Arsenal with a few hundred K'hiff colonists. As time passes, more K'hiff will join us."

"Humans have always found us to be apt pupils. I think we may surprise our friends."

For a few microts we all looked at the holo map before us. Then Rudy broke the silence.

"Dear me. Eddie, Aida and Kathleen will want to say good-bye to you both. As will the many other friends you've made here, Aeryn, including myself. We should be off."

We walked out of the briefing room. At the door, I turned and took a last look at the map. I wondered what it would look like in the future.

The End

Author's note: Up next will be A Matter of Intelligence, set in this same universe.