Eye of the Storm

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Rest, Karthe thought. Slowly back down.

An Indowy mentat stood in the center of the training room, arms folded. Arrayed against him were Kang Chan and four human adepts. The exercise was to determine if the group could burn through Mentat Koth’s shields and force him to take a step forward.

“The exercise is not complete,” Chan said, slowly withdrawing his power.

“There was sufficient energy being used that I feared damage to Mentat Koth,” Karthe said. The lesser adepts along the walls — there to control the secondary effects of the battle — were showing more signs of stress than the combatants. “I am the… referee, yes?”

“Agreed,” Chan said then bowed. “You are very strong in sohon, Mentat Koth. You are a worthy opponent.”

“As are you, Mentat Chan,” Koth said, bowing back. “I, however, found the exercise very disturbing. I would request some time of mediation to regain my center.”

“Of course,” Karthe said, bowing. “I hope that you may return soon.”

“I’m afraid this is not a good thing for your people, Karthe,” Chan said, using a towel to wipe away sweat. “That is the third mentat who has withdrawn.”

“We are quite unused to any form of battle as you know, Mentat Chan,” Karthe replied. “It is not in our nature.” I find it disturbing that you human mentats have taken to it so readily.

So do I, Karthe. So do I.

“Tell me some good news,” Mike said as Michelle entered his office. “So far, all I’m getting is bad. The teleport thingy is complete on Daga Nine and they’re charging it. The Himmit say that they can attack any time from four weeks from now. I’ll barely have the SS on the ground by then. And a major task force has left Daga space. Presumably it’s the attack force for Gratoola. Which means I’m going to have to start moving some of your people out to Gratoola and hooking them up with Fleet and the SS.”

“We may need to do that soon,” Michelle said. “We have determined various attack methods and defenses. But we’re still unsure if they will work over large areas, such as a ship. The thing is, we are not sure if we even truly understand the offensive side of this.”

“Go on,” Mike said, leaning back and reaching for a can of Skoal.

“So far, we have been making it up as we go,” Michelle said. “Human mentats think of attack strategies and we use them against Indowy. So far, it looks as if defense is easier than offense in many ways. That is to the good. But we don’t know if our attacks are those the Imeg and Hedren use.”

“You need to probe,” Mike said, shrugging. “You need to find out before we get into the first battle.”

“Unfortunately, we do not have an Imeg to fight,” Michelle said, shrugging. “So I cannot guarantee we will succeed.”

Mike pinched his temples then shrugged.

“AID. Himmit report of Imeg being shipped to Daga Nine. I know I read it at some point but… ”

“Imeg adepts along with Glandri subjugators have been slowly moving from Caracool to Daga Nine,” the AID said. “A Hedren cruiser called the Gorongur has been the primary method of transfer. Himmit estimate no more than one or possibly two Imeg per transfer with an additional fifty to sixty Glandri.”

Mike looked at Michelle and raised an eyebrow.

“You have to be joking, father,” Michelle said, frowning.

“AID, time from earth to an intercept point in Caracool space using the Des Moines.”

“Six weeks at maximum warp. Himmit reports indicate that the Gorongur uses the same point to warp out each time. There should be a transfer during the near time-period of the Des Moines reaching the star system.”

“How well do your guys get along with SRS?” Mike asked.

“We hardly interact,” Michelle said. “I have spoken to Colonel Mosovich a few times as well as members of the Clan.”

“Start working on how you’d snatch an Imeg using your adepts and SRS. Figure that you’re going to be doing more of the work-up on the ship. Don’t go yourself. But send your toughest guys. I doubt this is going to be easy.”

“My brain’s about to implode,” Mueller said, looking at the warning order.

“The Himmit can’t tell us where, exactly, this Imeg guy is going to be,” Mosovich said. “Or where the guards, these Glangli guys, are. They’ve got schematics for the type, but they admit they’re old. There have probably been changes. Especially since the Gorongur has probably been modified specifically to carry the Imeg.”

“Glandri,” Mentat Chan corrected. “And I would not suggest getting into close contact with them. Their spines are lethal.”

“Ain’t planning on it,” Mosovich said. “Warning order says we’re matching up with the Des Moines in three days. Mentat Chan, I’d like to take sufficient sohon force that we’ve got a fair chance of taking this cruiser’s engines down without having to shoot it. Can you control this Imeg guy from range? I remember the last time I got into a fight around a couple of mentats and it wasn’t fun.”

“Lesser adepts should be able to prevent the Imeg from harming the ship or your personnel,” Chan said. “Some of them may have to accompany the assault teams. Those, for many reasons, must be human. Indowy can prevent actions against the ship and any shuttles you may choose to use. They need not be mentats but simply high level adepts. To control the Imeg directly? I cannot guarantee getting him to cooperate, but if a mentat accompanies the assault, he should be able to stop him from any action. Bind him if you will. Assuming we know anything of their methods. The point of this is to capture him for just that purpose.”

“If you can just get him still, we can get him out,” Mosovich said. “And who’s going to run that side of the show?”

“That would be me,” Chan said with a slight smile.

“Well, there’s one thing we can’t do on the ships,” Mueller said, standing up. “I’d better go look for someplace to do some live fire training.”