“I know what it is,” I said. “But if you can’t respect me, I’m not going to respect you, any of you,” I said, raising my voice.

  Sant stiffened. “You must take care, Commander. You are aboard Indomitable—”

  Stepping closer to Sant, I said, “Take me to him now or I’m going to gather my troops and storm the nearest transports. Then we’re reloading and heading back for Earth, or our Moon, I suppose.”

  The tiger officers stopped whispering between themselves. They stared at me askance. Sant blinked repeatedly. It seemed as if none of them had thought I might react to their ploy.

  “Your people will not follow such orders,” Sant said. “They—”

  “N7,” I said, whirling toward him.

  “Wait!” Sant said. “I implore you.”

  I let myself turn back to the Lokhar, but hesitated several pregnant seconds before saying, “I’m a sovereign nation, Doctor.”

  “I don’t know what you mean by that.”

  “Ven—Admiral Venturi will understand,” I said. “Take me to him.”

  Doctor Sant glanced at the tiger officers. The second one gave the slightest nod.

  “Oh very well,” Sant told me. “But he will not be pleased.”

  “That makes two of us,” I said.

  ***

  N7 tried to explain the situation to me. I waved him silent as we rode a lift through the dreadnought’s main thoroughfare, on a rail system, complete with tracks. Our car zipped along at bullet train speeds. There was a constant hiss, though, and the slightest vibration against my back. My zagun guard remained with me.

  It took forty minutes before we marched through fancy corridors. Silk hangings draped along the walls and from the ceiling. It gave the place a royal feeling. Finally, we reached a wider area where Lokhar Imperial guards wearing golden helmets stood around looking important.

  “Beyond is the planning chamber,” Sant told me. “The prince—the admiral is busy in a strategy session.”

  “Without me?” I asked.

  “I believe they are deciding on the best fleet approach to the portal planet.”

  “Yeah, whatever,” I said. “Announce me.”

  Sant scowled, went to the senior guard, spoke quietly and retuned to me. “This really isn’t a good time, Commander.”

  “It never is,” I said. “Think of it this way. The sooner we talk, the sooner we leave the solar system and save the universe.”

  “You are too frivolous, Commander.”

  “I’m a lot of bad things. You tell me that all the time. Now hurry along, there’s a good fellow.”

  Growling softly to himself, Doctor Sant followed the senior guard through a door. The remaining Lokhars, including the two-watchdog officers, observed us uneasily.

  “Why do you push him?” N7 asked softly.

  “Because he’s pushing us,” I said.

  “The Lokhars have the superior position.”

  “That’s right,’ I said. “It’s even more reason why I can’t back down. Look, all we have left is our pride and fighting skills. If we don’t parley that into more, we’re finished. That means I have to bluff and bluster.”

  “Your logic fails me,” N7 said.

  “I know.”

  Bigger doors swished open, and Admiral Venturi stalked toward us. More guards followed him, about thirty more. My zagun still outnumbered his boys, which was good.

  “I’m very busy, Commander,” Venturi said. He wore more braid than before, and his uniform was scarlet and impressive. I imagine the Emperor had bumped him up in rank. The sidearm was ornate and fancier than ever, and his baton had shimmering gilt wound around it.

  “It is good to see you again, High Lord Admiral,” I said.

  There was a pause as the tigers stared at me in silence as if I’d made a gross blunder.

  Finally, Venturi spoke gruffly. “My title has changed, Commander.”

  “Oh?” I asked.

  Belatedly, Sant spoke in a ringing voice. “May I present to you, Supreme Lord Admiral Venturi of the Avenging Arm of Lokhar.”

  “It is an honor, sir,” I said, deciding to get into the spirit of this. “On Earth’s behalf, I would like to formally thank you for the seven warships, the supply vessels and the—”

  “Commander Creed,” Venturi said. “Your decorum is welcome and noticed. However, we lack time. Extreme urgency compels me to cut this meeting short.”

  “I see,” I said. “Then I would like to inform you of a problem. It appears—”

  “Doctor Sant has informed me of your irritation.”

  I’d gotten a handle, or the beginning of an appreciation, on Lokhar etiquette. They were formal. How they treated one showed exactly what they thought of the person. In that way they were much simpler than humans and many times more transparent. It meant I couldn’t let his interruptions go unnoticed. “Clothes make the man,” was an old saying. “Force a Lokhar to treat you well, and he would automatically think more highly of you,” could have been another.

  “Supreme Lord Admiral Venturi,” I said. “Despite your vaulted rank, I will not allow you to continue to interrupt me as I speak. I am a sovereign individual and—”

  The tiger actually put the tip of his baton on my chest. I brushed it aside and stepped closer. His guards bristled. So did mine.

  “Wait,” Doctor Sant implored.

  I put my hand on Venturi’s chest and pushed the admiral backward so he stumbled several steps.

  Claws appeared at the tips of his fingers. He hunched his shoulders and snarled. His guards aimed their weapons at me. Mine rushed forward, some kneeling and aiming at Venturi.

  “How dare you touch me,” Venturi said. “I am the Supreme Lord Admiral of this fleet. I am—”

  “An underling of the Purple Tamika Emperor,” I said loudly.

  That stilled Venturi’s rant, and it seemed to steal his thunder.

  “I am no one’s underling, purple, orange or otherwise,” I said. “I am the ruler of Earth.” That wasn’t exactly true anymore, but I’m sure Venturi didn’t know the difference. “That means no mere admiral outranks me. That means you will treat me with respect or I will take my soldiers elsewhere.”

  “Are you insane?” he asked. “We must defeat the Kargs.”

  “No and yes,” I said.

  “What?” he said.

  “I am not insane and I agree: we must defeat the Kargs. No and yes.”

  Venturi turned to Doctor Sant. “Do you understand him?”

  “He accords himself high honors,” Sant said slowly. “If you desire his cooperation, I believe you will have to meet several of his demands.”

  Three painful seconds ticked by. I wondered what went on behind the prince’s forehead. The tigers were proud, legalistic but desperate. Did Venturi have the wit to recognize he couldn’t afford a rupture? His reaction would tell me what kind of leader he was: one who worried more about his honor or about winning.

  Finally, ruefully, Venturi shook his head, and tension seemed to flow out of him. “I had forgotten human ways. I have been so busy these past three weeks and worked down to the claw…” The admiral squinted at me. He didn’t like this: but he wanted to defeat the Kargs more. He turned and ordered his guards to back up.

  I did the same with my men.

  Soon, N7 and I faced Venturi and Sant. The extra tiger officers had moved back with the Imperial Guards.

  “Why have you demanded to see me now?” Venturi asked. “We still have much to do and no more time to do it in.”

  “I want my entire army in your dreadnought,” I said.

  “Is that what this is about, truly?” Venturi asked.

  “Yes,” I said.

  He frowned at me, glanced at N7, scowled and said, “Did you bring the machine along in order to goad me?”

  “No.”

  “You know I dislike it.”

  “Look, Prince, this isn’t about what you like or don’t like. I take whomever I want with me when I come to see you. We’re allies.”

  “Now see here—”

  “No!” I said. “You see here. You came to me, asking for my aid. I didn’t come to you. As you requested, I have brought with me one hundred thousand universe-saving troopers.”

  “I have ten million legionaries,” Venturi said.

  “Right,” I said. “We’re allies. We’ve joined forces. Your transports have brought part of my army here and informed me the other two thirds would go elsewhere. You didn’t ask me if that was okay. You told me. Well, I’m here to tell you it isn’t going to work like that. You have to either understand we’re allies, or I’m leaving.”

  His tiger-like eyes smoldered, and I almost expected steam to hiss from his collar. He didn’t like it. I was inferior, he believed, a savage. No doubt, he was the hero in his mind, the great tiger prince-admiral saving the universe. My words must have stuck in his craw.

  “Logic dictates putting your forces in several dreadnoughts,” Venturi said as if speaking to a simpleton. “If one vessel is destroyed, the rest can continue.”

  “Sure, that’s one way to do it. But it isn’t what I’d recommend.”

  “What you would recommend?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  “You are not—”

  “Hold it,” I said. “Let’s think this through, shall we?”

  His eyes widened, and he sputtered in building rage. I was doing two things now: making a point and finding his limit.

  “The oracle said you needed human troopers. I told you what it would cost the empire. You failed to come through with everything, but I let that slide. Now, I’m beginning to think you think you can bluff me whenever you feel like it. Well, you can’t. That’s another thing I’m here to tell you.”

  “Silence,” he hissed, and it looked as if he was going to take another whack at me with his baton.

  My zagun of troopers was faster on the draw than his Imperial Guard. The tigers were surrounded by Lokhar hardware. They must have felt safe. My zagun was in enemy territory, and they were nervous like good guards should be.

  Without a word from me, they jogged forward.

  “Are you mad, Earthling?” Venturi said. “I can have every one of your—“

  I stepped in close, and I used his body to shield my actions from his tigers. He must have seen the oil-wet sheen of my Bowie knife. I held the blade in my right hand, close to his lean belly.

  “Admiral Venturi,” I said softly. “I’m a savage, and I’m insulted much easier than you would believe. Lokhars killed my dad and killed my planet. You’re Kargs to us, if that makes sense. If you want to threaten and bluster, then I’m going to suspect you can’t accept our equality. That means you plan to double-cross us. So I might as well stick you in the belly and watch you bled to death. Then I’ll kill your command staff and start a war to take over this fancy dreadnought of yours. I could use it.”

  His overactive eyelids told me I’d hit a nerve. Maybe for the first time, this Lokhar could actually hear what I was saying.

  “You’re going to put all my soldiers in here with me,” I said. “Then you’re going to protect Indomitable so it’s the last dreadnought to go down. That gives us the greatest potential to storming into the center of the portal planet. The oracle said you needed all of us, not two thirds or one third.”

  “I am the commander of this mission,” he said at last.

  “Do you want me for an ally or not?” I asked. “Let’s decide this here and now.”

  Venturi stood frozen, and I give him credit, he didn’t seem to care a whit that I held a knife to his belly. His yellow eyes glowed with rage. But there was something else too—intelligence.

  “I will lose face before my officers and guards if I back down now,” he said slowly.

  “Listen to me carefully,” I said. “I don’t care about your face. That’s not my problem. You tried to outsmart me. I know it and now you know that I know. Eat crow, sir, and remember that I’m Commander Creed, your ally, not your underling.”

  “You are making things difficult.”

  “How about that?” I asked. “Do you think maybe that’s why the oracle told you that you needed me?”

  “It is possible,” he said.

  “Now we’re getting somewhere.”

  He frowned, and he finally glanced at the knife. “You can put that away. I will not threaten you anymore.”

  I slid the Bowie into its scabbard.

  “You have convinced me, Commander Creed,” the admiral said in a loud voice. “I had not foreseen the Karg maneuver you just whispered to me. The oracle must have foreseen your strategic insight. I will not forget that again.”

  Venturi turned back to Sant and the brass hats. The admiral raised his baton. “There will be a change in policy. We cannot let the Kargs into our universe. To that end, we will need all the Earth troopers. They will remain in Indomitable with me. Our dreadnought must win through and survive contact with the portal planet. Everything depends on it.”

  If it had just been me, I might have laughed in a rude way. I might have told him he was a good actor. Instead, I told myself to remember he was just like Diana, Murad Bey and Loki. Everyone maneuvered to make himself look good. Humans did it and so did tigers. Was I expecting angels? No. He was intelligent and had his share of good points and bad. For the good of the mission, this overweening tiger-prince had backed down before me. For the sake of Earth, for the sake of my army, I could at least act a little graciously.

  “I thank you for your wisdom, Prince Venturi,” I said. “It is apparent to me why your pride chose you to lead this sacred mission. The fate of the universe rests on your military skill. The Commando Army of Earth proudly serves with the Lokhars, in this, the deadliest peril to life anyone has ever witnessed.”

  I stood ramrod stiff, and I gave him a precise salute.

  Venturi studied me, and I couldn’t tell what went on in his tiger brain.

  The first self-inflicted crisis of the mission had passed. I doubted it would be long until we faced the next.

  -16-

  The Lokhar shuttles hauled every Earth trooper into Indomitable. I spent the next several hours making sure my people found their berths, had their symbiotic suits and weapons.

  The tumen colonels had small staffs. I had a tiny one. We were doing this mean and lean. My eyes hurt after reading so many manifests and I wondered if I’d been better off as a Jelk trooper.

  Freedom always took more work. Being a slave was easy, like a child. Let someone else do the thinking. I’d had enough of that in prison. Even so, I was tired, and I wouldn’t be letting my eyes shut for quite some time still.

  The Lokhars had sophisticated gravity-plates, better than what I’d seen on the battlejumper. I remember feeling a slight bump. I swayed, and grabbed hold of a rail.

  I had been marching down a corridor with my security zagun, N7 and Doctor Sant. The two tiger watchdogs had stayed with Venturi.

  Sant and I hadn’t said anything about the last incident. It made me wonder if the Lokhars used bugs and hidden video cameras. I made myself a mental note to have that checked out later.

  I grabbed the bar as the jolt made the security troopers sway just like me.

  “Is there trouble with the ship?” I asked Sant.

  “In what manner?” he asked.

  “Didn’t you just feel that?”

  “Yes, of course I did. Lokhars have keen sensibilities.”

  “I’m sure that’s true. What was that then? What caused us to sway?”

  “We’re accelerating,” Sant said. “I believe…at three or four gravities.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  Doctor Sant jerked at his uniform as if straightening it, which I’d come to learn was a sign that a Lokhar figured I’d insulted him. They were as touchy about their honor as Medieval Samurais.

  What now? Then I understand what I’d done. “Doctor Sant, sometimes a humans says, ‘You’re kidding,’ as a way of speech. It does not mean to imply the other is joking or being frivolous.”

  “Yes, yes, I know that, of course. I have been studying you for over three weeks now. I am the ship’s xeno-psychologist.”

  I stared at him, and it clicked. “You know, Doctor Sant, I’m going to have to insist that every listening device and camera be removed from human…living quarters.”

  “But that’s preposterous!” he cried.

  “That you have them trained on us, or that you’re unwilling to have them removed?”

  He stood there frozen, and finally whispered, “How did you know? I cannot understand your insights, what I’ve come to believe are your intuitive leaps of thought, Commander Creed. You are an enigma to us, and that is making certain important people…”

  “Nervous?” I asked.

  He straightened his uniform. “I will see what I can do…concerning your request,” he said.

  “Thank you, Doctor Sant. Having you as the liaison officer has made things much easier for us than it otherwise would have been. I’ve learned to trust you and your insights.”

  “I don’t see why you’re saying—”

  I held up my hand so he quit talking. Then I gave him a salute, one less precise than I’d given Venturi. But I believed it would help Sant in whatever internal debate he’d have to go through with the watching Lokhars. Clearly, he spoke for their benefit, and now so did I.

  A glimmer of understanding sparkled in the doctor’s eyes. His manner lightened. He gave me a similar salute, no doubt as a sign of respect. Then he took his leave with loping Lokhar strides. He seemed like the most athletic NBA stars, the natural athletes. The tigers weren’t the most cunning aliens. The Jelk easily outdid them in that regard, but they did have size, strength and agility. Against an average human, I’d bet on the Lokhar. Against us modified and trained troopers…

  I yawned, and I debated getting another stim from Jen. I shook my head. She was setting up an infirmary. It might have been a useless gesture, given we were headed to the last battle. But I wanted to do everything I could to make the troopers believe this was a two-way mission. A soldier who believes he can survive will take greater precautions during combat to insure that happens. Japanese banzai charges in WWII proved the idea. Suicidal soldiers become too reckless with their lives. I’m sure a suicidal soldier figured: Since I’m going to die away, why not do it with abandon?