Chanur's Homecoming

Chapter Fourteen

It kept coming, a ship on which ID squeal had malfunctioned.

But that kind of malfunction was a kifish trick.

A pirate trick.

"My gods. It's not theirs. It's not theirs, they know it- stand by, stand by armaments!" Pyanfar shoved her arm into the brace and gulped air in starkest panic. "Haral! Control to me!"

"Aye," Haral said on the instant, went over to switcher-one while Tirun busied herself with the tracking of the armaments.

"What is it?" Sirany wondered from her vantage.

"A stray," Pyanfar said. "It's a godsforsaken stray, Goldtooth's or-"

‘'Priority!'' Geran yelled, but it was already clear on the screen: the interloper had not dumped, and something else had come out from it: missile fire, projectiles launched C-fractional at ships that were relativistically stationary tar­gets dead ahead of it.

"Priority!" Hilfy cried. "It's Tahar! That's Moon Rising! My gods, she's going to run right through them!"

"Track on Harukk!" Pyanfar yelled, and slammed the mains in. "All ships, fire at will-tell 'em that's an ally coming through!"

The armaments were tracking. Missiles launched with a thump and a shock against their own substance. Dead against Harukk, everything they owned to throw, hard as they could throw it.

"Ikkhoitr!" Pyanfar yelled over the whine of reloading. "Tirun, get their vanes. Never gods-be mind the others! Hilfy, give me output!"

"You got it," Haral said. "Tully, output! Talk to humans, got it?"

In the case there was anything back there to talk to. All kinds of com ready-lighted, human channel, mahendo'sat, kif, hani, while that dopplering ghost that was Tahar's Moon Rising came ahead pouring fire at a single target, savvy and deliberate.

"This is the mekt-hakkikt Pyanfar Chanur: Akkhtimakt is fallen and Sikkukkut has run here pursued by a thousand enemies who are my allies, hammered between mahen forces and the unity of han. In this pukkukkta I give you a chance, Chakkuf, Nekekkt! You've served us well on this voyage. You have my favor now! Hani ships and mahendo'sat, be sure of your targets! Harukk is your target, and any other ship which fires in our direction! Make no mistakes! Kifish ships, run from this system and my agents will hunt you down even to Akkht! Join us in this hunt and become among the first of my skkukun, all of you strong enough to maintain your place! Hani, fire your loads and scatter!"

This while The Pride belched out all the missiles and all the fire it had; while a deluge of fire converged from the ships in formation. Something came over com, overhead, general address: a hani voice, a familiar voice:

"Here's from us, you godsforsaken motherless son of a nightwalker! Hearth and blood! from me and my crew!"

"Tahar!" Pyanfar cried. "Gods rot you, I forgive you!"

A timelag off in messages. The kif had only limited fire-sweep aft, because of its own vanes, and it had to track a ship whose missiles were only scantly lagged behind its com-wave, the difference between realspace V and lightspeed. Tahar's missiles hit: others were still incoming from all points of the sphere.

"Chanur, mekt-hakkikt/" another voice came blasting into her ear. "/ am here, behind you, praise your foresight! Our ships are coming!''

"Whose in a mahen hell is that? Is that Skkukuk?"

"It's coming from Nekekkt," Hilfy said.

"Time to get out of here," Pyanfar cried, "transmit, hani ships: Scatter, scatter." She reached and rang the collision warning for the Tauran crew off in the galley, kicked The Pride bow-nadir and threw in the mains with all they had.

It was all they could do to evade return fire, some ships rising, some going wide, some diving systemwise, like the blooming of some vast flower, each as they finished their load of missiles and got down to the beam guns. Tirun kept the guns tracking as they dived, firing for all they were worth.

It was still forward motion they made; but it was angular, kiting along skewed and hurling all the energy the mains had to give to that slew toward nadir.

Gods grant-

"Hai!" The whole ship banged and slewed violently, so that the course was different than it had been- "What'd we lose?" she yelled. "Gods rot it, what blew?"

"Vanes-" Tirun started to say.

Second impact, like the loudest thunder that ever cracked: the ship jumped sideways and a whole panel started flashing red. A small black body went hurtling and hit the wall, a black blur til it hit: it scrabbled right across the top of the control panel and Pyanfar swallowed and spat a red spatter that shocked her as much as the sound, only then feeling what her teeth had done to the inside of her mouth. "Gods fry that kif bastard-you all right?" The cursed black thing was as terrified as the rest of them, fellow in misfortune. It ran and screamed in rage: she did not even hit at it when she had the chance. There were too many switches for two hands, too many systems over to backup and third backup and past. ‘'Damage report, gods rot it!''

"Chur," Tully's anxious voice came. "Chur!"

"We lost the whole vane, I think it slewed down into the mains." Tirun's voice, hoarse and breathless. And the firing of the guns resumed, re-aligned to the new track, while gods knew where they were going.

"Priority," Geran said, "we got fire over us-our kif are moving, the mahendo'sat are moving-we're clear of it-"

"Industry's bad hit," Hilfy reported. "Khym-Chur-"

"I'm with you." Chur's own voice, weak as it was.

"Cease fire, cease fire."

While the mains slammed away at them. Then it was a matter of finding their bearings, getting the skewed V shaved down. She got a screenful of garble out of Tracking, reori­ented to bring the dishes and receptors to optimum-no mat­ter which direction The Pride was physically headed: coherent data started coming up.

And camera image, an area of flares in the battle zone as The Pride began rollover to brake.

She looked round at her own bridge, still swallowing blood, saw all the stations still working. Wiped her mouth and glanced back again at the images Haral sent her way.

It was still happening out there. But more slowly. There were ships in wreckage out there, blown in those flares. She earnestly hoped one of them was Harukk.

She remembered Stle sties stlen. And felt a chill as she hit the com-button, the contact still live. "This is the mekt-hakkikt Pyanfar Chanur. Report."

"Praise to the hakkikt," a kifish voice came back eventu­ally. "We give you your enemies."

And others began, a flood of ship names, Nekkekt. Chakkuf. Ikkhoitr itself, declaring fervent loyalty.

Not a hani voice. Not a one.

Or a mahendo'sat.

"This is The Pride of Chanur to all hani ships: acknowl­edge status; hold other transmissions pending. Thank you."

She sat there staring after. And shaking, little tremors which had nothing to do with the stench of dead air in the ship and the ozone and the fact that the bridge fans had stopped working. Or that there was a periodic and rhythmic shock against the hull which was some piece of debris trailing and still in motion while the mains hammered away at their drift.

Just the bridge sounds and the distant thunder of the mains. And a great loneliness.

"Everyone all right? Is everyone all right?"

"I got a patch on it." Khym's voice. "It's all right."

"Galley." Sirany's voice on general com. "You all right in there?"

"I think I got a broken rib," the answer came back. "But we're all right, how's it going, captain?"

"Going to go stable in a while, hold on." Stable. My gods, they're killing each other up there. Kif are butchering each other in the corridors of those ships out there, kif are doing what kif do when they win and others lose, and how many ships have we lost out here? What do we do, hit the kif now while they're confused?

The kif would. If they had our options. Poor naive sons. They don't understand what's all round* them. They don't understand what hani are capable of. Fire on them-and change us forever. Do that-and be sure there is a forever. "You want me to trim us up?" Haral asked, while several channels of com talked away, getting damage reports out of other ships, ascertaining casualties. Fortune reported minimal damage. Light was going to have to limp into dock. There were others. The information came up on the screens.

Ayhar's Prosperity: damage: no casualties.

Harun's Industry: heavydamage: braking and maneu­vering positive. Casualties: four.

Faha's Starwind: heavy damage: casualties: two.

Pauran's Lightweaver: vane gone: casualties: minor.

Ehrran's Vigilance: no damage: no casualties.

Nirasun's Melody: minor damage: no casualties.

Shaurnurn's Hope: lost.

Tahar's Moon Rising: out of contact.

Suranun's Fairwind: out of contact.

The list went on. More and more names. They blurred in her sight. As The Pride braked, and the stress hammered away at them.

Then: "Priority, priority," Geran exclaimed. As scan started blinking furiously. "Breakout zenith."

Ships were coming in. A lot of them. One; and three more. And five.

"O my gods," Sirany breathed.

"If it's Akkhtimakt-"

Then the ID started flashing. Mahendo'sat.

Mahijiru.

"Goldtooth," Pyanfar muttered, and slammed her fist down on the console rim. "Goldtooth, gods rot him-Now he shows up. Now, by the gods, now he comes chasing in here, comes in here with by the gods bastard frigging mahen interests, to sweep up the poor godsforsaken hani they've done it to again, b'gods greater and lesser, one more frigging time we bleed for them, their godscursed meddling selfish gods-be-feathered interests! Tully!"

"Aye, cap'n!"

"Get on that com, hear, com! Fast. Tell the humans no shooting, understand, don't shoot!"

"Don't shoot, I got, I got, cap'n!"

It started going out.

And hard on it: "Mahijiru, this is The Pride of Chanur. Cease fire, cease fire. These are allied ships. Dump and brake and hold off. Do not transit the system. Other mahen ships hold the approach to Ajir: nothing passed here beyond their capacity to deal with and mahen authorities in that direction are forewarned. Repeat: the Ajir approach is defended by mahen ships. Stay where you are. All mahen ships anywhere receiving: this is Pyanfar Chanur on The Pride of Chanur: cease all hostilities. End. Repeat that." She slumped back then, at the end of her energies. "Till response."

"We have a transmission from Vigilance. They register protest."

"Tell 'em-tell 'em we note it. Tell them-" It was easier and easier to think in kifish mode. "Stand in line, gods rot it. And consider where they are."

There were more and more ships arriving in the range. It was nightmare. If it had been an hour earlier it would have been a rescue.

By that much, you cursed bastard. By that much you missed it.

By that much Tahar was almost with us. Across all that space. Goldtooth must have held Sikkukkut-must have pinned them down good. The kif must have thrown something at him again at Kura. Must have-gods know what they did. Keep­ing Sikkukkut from overjumping us. When he came in here he was desperate. Needing me, for godssakes. He couldn't fire on me, I was the last hope he had.

We got ships out there-needing help.

"Human ship!" Tully cried. And talked to someone a steady stream of babble, as if they were on the same timeline. It was Tully's old message those incoming ships must have picked up. It was the old message they had responded to.

The same as Goldtooth must have gotten their own former chatter, and known well what ships were out to meet the enemy. She cut the mains, let them go inertial on what they still had, on the rotational G.

While Tully poured out something, rapid and urgent. And went on saying it. One assumed it was friendly. One assumed nothing nowadays.

She felt a hundred years older. And turned herself and her chair and looked over the bridge, at a crew worn and tired beyond clear sense, at more gray hah- than she recalled a few weeks ago. Or maybe it was the stark lighting. Or maybe it was that they all looked older, thinner, abraded away by distances and a load they had carried too long.

/ want to see Chanur again.

But Chanur land was Mann territory. Nothing could change that, unless Kohan could take Kara Mahn; and the weary, grayed man who had met her on Gaohn docks had not the strength left. The wit, yes; the wit and the will and the canny good sense that had been more than figurehead in Chanur these many hard years. A real power. A mind and an insight shrewder than many a woman's. But time bore down on Kohan, that was all. The only hope was Hilfy Chanur, who might find herself a man to take care of Kara Mahn: there was nothing Pyanfar Chanur or Rhean or any of the former powers could do about it any longer.

She saw Hilfy sitting there, talking to someone, likeliest one of the nearby hani. Up to you, kid. It all is, from now on. Our time is done. You think you've grown up. You're Chanur now, have you figured it out? I don't envy you.

Except your youth. I wish I'd known you and you'd known me forty years ago. They looked like rough years then. But the years you've got ahead-I can't see into them. Like there was something in the way of me and this ship, like a curtain I can't see past.

I always used to know where I was going. And now all I can see is aliens. And all I can think of is the mistakes I've made; and how to get this straight somehow.

Her eyes drifted to Tully. To him. The alien among them.

It's an enemy at his back, isn't it?

I got to be, Tully, poor Tully, I got no choice. You warned me, and I see it clear, I see everything down that way with no trouble at all, and I'm going to do you hurt, I can't turn back from that.

You gods-be knew it, didn't you? Knew it from the time you came to us. Always thinking, never talking. Afraid of me and not afraid. For two good reasons.

What'll they do to you when I'm through? Where'll you go?

My friend.

"Hilfy. Get me Banny."

"I got Prosperity right now. You want Banny in person?"

"I want her." She turned the chair back square to the board and punched in. "Banny. Banny, you hear me?"

"Such as it is, Chanur. It looks like we got help out there."

"I don't know how much the mahendo'sat told you, Banny, but we got some other visitors out there and I can't talk about it real clear just now: we got politics here. I'm asking hani ships to form up; I'm going to ask the kif to do the same and they're going to do it, Banny, they're going to do it. Then we're going to have to do some talking-you want to take charge of the hani ships for me, just keep it kind of quiet and trust me. We're not out of this yet. We got a real problem here. A real problem. Banny."

There was prolonged silence.

"Banny. Haurosa naimur ffhain'haur murannarrhm'ha chaihen." Ambush in the trees, Banny. . . .

More of the long silence. "Accepted."

That was the first thing.

The next was harder.

"Message, Hilfy: tell the kifish ships to put themselves in order and stand by for instruction. Stop all forward drift."

"Aye."

"Chur: transmission to Mahijiru. Quote: This is Pyanfar Chanur. Hold your ships where they are. Your Personage is aware of the kifish advance; mahen ships were in position to prevent escape by the Ajir corridor. Ajir corridor, repeat, is secure. We ask you dump all V and wait. This situation insystem is still extremely volatile. The kif remaining here are under my personal direction and within han jurisdiction. I ask you instruct your allies to total dump and recall all other mahen ships to your group immediately. Cease all hostile operations. All ships are in han jurisdiction. Repeat, request immediate total dump and hold pattern. Endit and repeat at intervals. Transmission to Nekkekt: This is the mekt-hakkikt in person. Permit withdrawal of mahen ships from center system. Continue to reduce all V: cease all drift toward mahen position. Take no action against mahendo'sat. Wait orders. Endit." She slumped back in the chair. Waited with her claws clenched.

"That's a dump," Geran said finally. And she began to breathe freely again. More when they saw the second one.

But attacking ships might do as much.

Then Mahijiru took the third dump, coming down to insystem velocities.

"Thank gods, thank gods," she muttered. And over com: "Banny, we're gaining on it. We got it stopped." Out on that channel. "Hilfy. Get me Goldtooth."

"Working. Lagtime 10.9."

Twenty-two on the roundtrip of messages. Far out in the range still. But Goldtooth had to be AOS on the initial message now. Ten minutes ago. Other ships incoming were observing the same sequence; and that was all but certain to be pre-arrangement.

Humans, migods, humans drug themselves senseless. We got doped-up pilots out there. Robotics. Gods know what.

They have to stop with the mahendo'sat. Stop and get their bearings. Or plan to blow the system to a mahen hell.

They wouldn't. Couldn't. Gods save us. They have to take Goldtooth's lead till they figure things out.

It's not over.

She drew a shaky breath. "We're going stable," she said on bridgecom. "Free to move about, arrange your own covers, five minutes, maybe longer: maybe ten, fifteen gods-be days out here, I dunno." She lifted shaking hands to her face, just shut out the sight of things if not the sound, and rested. Quietly some of the crew saw to themselves. "I'm all right," she heard Khym's low complaint. "Gods rot it, I can get to the gods-be head."

From her husband. Who had a hole in his leg and a plasm patch, a deep wound that had to be swollen and hurting if it was not worse than that. She wanted a trip to the head. Desperately. She decided to take the chance and unbuckled.

"Captain," Hilfy said. "Nekkekt: stand by replay."

"Uhhhhn." It starts. Kif have sorted out. Who am I deal­ing with?

And from the earplug. "Mekt-hakkikt, I have all these ships in my hand, praise to you. We will strike at your order."

"Who am I talking to?"

"Mekt-hakkikt, to your faithful Skkukuk. I have carried out all your orders. I will deal with all your enemies. Name them to me."

"Right now, Skkukuk, I'm just real glad to hear from you. You keep those ships of yours under control and you don't make a move without my direct order. Hear me?"

"/ will give you your enemies' heads and hearts."

"I'm real fond of you too, Skkukuk. Just do what I said. You get your com linked up to mine and you stay in constant touch. Anyone twitches, I want to know about it. These hani with me are allies. They won't cause any trouble."

"And these mahendo'sat and these invaders?"

"Wait for my orders. That's all." She punched the contact out. She was trembling. She set her elbows on the counter and dropped her head a second time into her hands, wiped her mane back. Haral was still by her. Someone else was moving about. It was all distant. She had no wish to talk to anyone.

"Captain." It was Sifeny Tauran holding out a sandwich and a container of something liquid with a null-cap. The sight of it turned her stomach and attracted her shaking hand. Gfi. She took a sip of it, and felt another urge unbearably strong.

"I got to take a break," she said to Haral. "We got the gods-be kif, don't we?"

"Go," Haral said.

She spun the chair about and took her own way to the galley corridor and the head. The air everywhere seemed stagnant. Three days and we'll have the whole gods-be lifesupport in a mess. We can't go that long. Crew's got to get that system up.

She passed Tauran crew in the galley, one with wrapped ribs, sitting white-nosed at the table, the other capping up food as fast as she could. "We got a while stable. Get the slinkers out of the godsforsaken filters, get that lifesupport up."

"Aye," the Tauran said, a distracted, exhausted look till she realized who was talking to her. Then the ears came up. "Aye, cap'n."

She made the trip, into the closet of a head, came out and shouldered past Tirun on the same mission.

"Captain," sounded in the com-plug in her ear. "We got Mahijiru. They're indicating that they want us to pull back to Gaohn. They're waiting for reply."

"In a mahen hell," she muttered, and went through the galley, down the corridor with a hand to either wall, onto the bridge where she had sight of Hilfy and the rest. "Tell them hold that perimeter. We'll accept Mahijiru only. That ship can come in for conference, and we'll draw back to Gaohn. We're not having any others."

"Aye," Hilfy said. "We've got query from Vigilance" Sirany said. "Ayhar is telling them shut it down."

It was one more thing than she wanted to know. She hand-over-handed herself back to her own post, fell into it and sat drinking at the gfi in minute sips that did not agitate her stomach.

It was a long wait for messages. Goldtooth and the humans were a long distance out.

She drank. She wiped her blurring eyes and leaned back against the seat in as much relaxation as she could take. While The Pride slewed on, inertial. The hani formation was spreading itself around the kif. Vigilance was far to nadir now and out of her way. Ayhar was considerably off to sunward and beginning to take some of the way off. So were others of the merchants, trimming up. Kifish ships were in hard decel, those going in both directions until they could take the speed off and achieve a coherent pattern.

But The Pride was going where it belonged. Out into the open. Where it formed no part of any group.

One of the calls Chur had handled, listed on monitor three: from Rhean: Do you need assistance? Reply: Negative: fully operational; thanks.

Another, from Ehrran: Query, query, query. Reply from Fiar: All queries deferred. Your patience appreciated.

One more, from Ehrran: Protest lodged. Reply from Hilfy: Sink it in your own datafile; advise you kifish allies are monitoring your transmissions and misunderstandings are possible. For your own safety and safety of those near you maintain com silence.

Tully's, through the translator: This is # # Tully # # # call # # # # do not # # this is # # hani # # with # #. . . . No reply listed.

From Shanan's Glory, far to the rear of the combat: Shall we come in or hold position? From Banny Ayhar, monitored: Hold relative position. Maintain full-sphere surveillance.

From Gaohn Station: This is Gaohn Central: general inquiry. From Banny Ayhar, monitored: Firing has stopped. Situation uncertain but improved. Harun's Industry will be making return to Gaohn with casualties for medical assistance and will courier details. Possibility of strike in your vicinity still exists but is less probable. Reserve other inquiry for Industry. Chanur remains in contact with various allied ships. Ayhar is directing hani ships in the zone of contact. . . .

From Ayhar: We have computed trajectory on missing ships. All vessels along these lines be alert to evade or assist as needed. . . .

"Captain," Hilfy said. "Message from Mahijiru."

It had already hit the screen: Ana Ismehanan-min advise you we got talk number one urgent.

"Reply: Quote: Mahijiru is welcome alone. All other mahen and foreign ships must hold position. We will not support violation of our system borders by any agency however friendly. The approach of Mahijiru is clear and velocity should not

exceed normal limits. Please convey to all your ships our thanks for their support, and proceed without escort to a point where we may conference without appreciable timelag. There is no urgency. I repeat the earlier advisement: few ships passed our system borders and there were more than adequate mahen forces on the outgoing vector to have handled the problem. Akkhtimakt is finished. Sikkukkut likewise. End. Repeat that at five till acknowledgment."

"Aye," Hilfy said.

She rested a moment then. Just rested, eyes shut, head against the seat back. It was all the rest they were going to get.

While around her, crew moved carefully about on neces­sary errands or took a chance to stretch. Chur Anify and Khym went offshift to the galley, their two walking wounded, while a pair of exhausted Tauran risked their necks trying to clean the lifesupport filters. Fans went on, highspeed, shut down again. Went on yet again, with a decided ozone smell in the air.

"Mahijiru's moving," Tirun said finally, on cover for Geran. "Priority, priority, we've got a general movement all along their formation."

It was already on monitor, a sudden and ominous blinking all along the mahen front that sent her heart speeding. "Mes­sage? Gods rot it, is he saying anything?"-while crew, away from seats, in the galley, wherever they had strayed to, came scrambling unordered: in-ear coms, and a fine sense of disaster when it started.

"Negative. He's just started to move. All of them-We got-got an inquiry from Nekkekt, quote: Shall we attack? Advisories-"

Other crew hit the seats, low murmur of exchanged infor­mation, the passing of duties, briefings in two words and a key punch that logged in: Geran, Hilfy. Others were already there. "I tell human stop," Tully protested. "Give com."

"General output," Pyanfar snapped, as Haral hit the seat beside her and logged on. "Hold steady. Message to Mahijiru: Hold position. Keep your ships back. We will not be bluffed. Reply to query at once and brake. Endit and repeat. What's our lagtime?"

"Fourteen nine," Tirun said; and a hani message turned up on channel two. "Chanur, this is Ayhar. What in a mahen hell is going on?"

"Ayhar. Hold firm. Hold firm."

' 'Hold firm! We got a half a hundred ships gone stark lunatic! What do they think they're doing?"

"They think they're getting through, they're pushing us, that's what they think they're doing. Those are human ships out there. Stand firm-"

"Mahijiru," a voice broke in on her into her left ear. "Same Goldtooth. H'lo, Pyanfar, old friend!" Cheerful as any dockside. "Good hear you voice, same good find you one piece. Long time chase, damn good job stop these bas­tard. Got you number one message, good news. You number one fine, a? Same. Plenty ship. Same you tell these fine kif they stand by, we make deal bout how they get home."

"Mekt-hakkikt!" Into the right ear. "We are tracking this advance. Give us the order! We are your allies! This mahendo'sat is a devious and a ruthless liar! Take him!"

"Goldtooth, I got a real anxious kif here. Now it's seven-odd minutes ago, and if I don't see those ships of yours start braking in thirty seconds from the time you get this, I'm going to take some serious measures. I'll clip you good, friend. Your ship. Now you stop, and you get ready to talk this out, you don't push your way here. You want an inci­dent, you want trouble that's going to echo all the way to Iji, I got to serve you notice these hani ships aren't moving. I'm timing this real close. I know you, old friend. If I call your bluff like this, you'll shoot if I don't. So you better be doing what I say by now, because if you aren't, you got a fight coming. Endit. No repeat. Time that bastard. Skkukuk! You keep those ships of yours in line."

"Yes."

"Jik!" Hilfy's voice, between two beats of a panicked heart. "Jik's transmitting, incoming-"

"Negative scan," Geran said.

Lightspeed wavefront, inbound, the buoys not reporting and no one in position to pick him up.

"Pyanfar-" the thin voice reached her. "We follow you fast we can, damn, you not engage, not engage-"

He was talking about the kif. She realized that finally. He was that far away. Hours out.

Hours ago, when he had fired off that message, he had known Sikkukkut incoming and that a few fool hani were in a lot of trouble.

About his own partner, he could not know.

Nor could Goldtooth know that he was there. For seven more minutes.

"Goldtooth. I'm in contact with your partner now. Ismehanan-min. My friend. There's a lot of data you don't have. Critical information. It's Iji at stake. It's your border. We've got a kifish hakkikt here willing to talk borders. What we've got left at Meetpoint you know and I don't. But I've got a passenger, an old mutual acquaintance, who has some real important information. And I'm not talking to a fool, Goldtooth. I want a face to face meeting. You, me, a few old friends."

"One minute," Tirun said, timekeeping.

"At Gaohn. Dockside."