distribution…'
A map of the northern part of continent four unfolded on Hadeishi's command display. An orbital track designator appeared, showing the location of the Tepoztecatl, while clouds of brilliant points emerged on the map, clustering heavily in the large cities, but also liberally dusting the countryside.
'This covers every locale of size from Patala to Gandaris,' the Chu-sa said in a thoughtful voice. He paused. 'This level of coverage must be enormously expensive to deploy and maintain.' Hadeishi glanced at the two officers. 'Could we deploy this kind of network?'
Jaguar shook her head. Smith shrugged. 'We've got spyeyes for the Marine combat teams and some extras for shuttle security and surveillance, plus spares, which gives us twenty. This network on the planet has – at last count from the data-stream – almost a thousand in operation.'
'Then they're not documentary filmmakers,' the Chu-sa said in a dry voice. He was beginning to get a tickling feeling on his neck. This sounds familiar, but where… 'What else do we know about this freighter? Have they had any conversations with traffic control?'
'Minimal contact with traffic control,' Smith answered. 'All their transponder codes are squared away and they haven't moved orbit other than station-keeping burns. They seem to have four different shuttles aboard – or so Hayes-tzin guesses from their drive-flare signatures.' Jaguar reached over Smith's shoulder and tapped up something on his panel. The Sho-i nodded, watching the feed come up. 'Here, kyo – we shot some video of them as well – just to make sure we were tracking the data-stream properly.'
A hand-sized v-pane appeared on Hadeishi's display, showing the long cylindrical shape of the Tepoztecatl with an edge of Jagan in-frame. The view panned, showing that nearly a quarter of the surface was covered with antennas and comm relay receptors. The Chu-sa grunted, not terribly surprised. 'Looks like a Nightingale-class emissions collection frigate…' Then he squinted in interest at the display. Hadeishi tapped the 'magnify' glyph twice and then slid his finger back along the time-in-spool indicator. From a distance, the freighter seemed stationary, but the close-up revealed the cargo and habitat pods behind the screen of communications equipment were spinning.
'They've got spin up throughout the whole ship,' the Chu-sa said, mostly to himself. 'Why would they need gravity in all those cargo areas…' His eyes flicked back to the side-panel with ship registry information. 'Manifest shows a crew of sixteen, but radiated heat load is high…'
Hadeishi's expression suddenly changed, a keen light coming into his eyes and the corners of his thin lips tightening. 'Comp,' he said to the command interface in his comm-thread. 'Dictionary lookup, source, Tepoztecatl.'
Tepoztecatl is one of the Four Hundred Rabbits, ship's main comp replied in a grandmotherly voice. The Four Hundred are the gods of the pulque , of drunkenness, of fertility. They are the consorts of Mayahuel, the goddess of the maguey, who is a mask-avatar of Xochiquetzal – Precious Flower – the goddess of spring.
'Precious Flower?' Hadeishi frowned, still trying to capture a half-remembered anecdote overheard in a Fleet transit bar. Then the furrow in his brow cleared and he snarled, making both Smith and Jaguar flinch in alarm. 'She is the historical patron of the xochiyaotinime!'
'The xochi-who?' Smith asked, confused. At the same moment Jaguar blurted: 'The priests of the Flowery War? But they're just military archivists…'
'No, they certainly are not!' Hadeishi's hand jerked towards the 'battle-stations' glyph at the top of his command panel, then he mastered himself. Haste will only lead to disaster, he thought, reminding himself of the repairs underway on nearly every deck. We are not in any condition to rush to combat alert. The freighter is a fellow Imperial vessel, mis-flagged as it may be, and deserving of some courtesy – not a hostile target!
'They're not?' Jaguar's voice brought his attention back to the two junior officers. 'Don't they put on the historical pageants and mock battles at TeotihuacГЎn for Emperor's Day? The ones with everyone dressed in the old costumes and armor made of feathers?'
'They do,' Hadeishi allowed, his burst of emotion suppressed. His voice chilled noticeably. 'Though they serve the Empire in other ways as well.' And if they are here, on Jagan, in pursuit of a flowery war with the natives…then I may lose my command for gross incompetence. We are not ready for battle. The tight feeling in his neck increased. 'You two, take a knock me out timed for six hours. I need you back on the bridge, rested and refreshed, as quickly as possible.'
Without waiting for a reply, Hadeishi brushed away the open channel and punched up Thai- i Huйmac's comm. The fresh v-pane flickered and then revealed the copper-skinned Marine officer in the number two armory, high cheekbones sheened with sweat, and a towel around his neck.
'Huйmac h -'
'Disposition of your men,' Hadeishi snapped before the lieutenant could say anything more.
'Ready squad in boat bay one, kyo, with the combat shuttle.' The Marine's response was instantaneous. 'Squad two is groundside with Sho-sa Kosho at the Sobipurй maintenance yards. Squad three is dispersed on-leave groundside.'
The Chu-sa drummed his fingers on the side of his command panel. This is what quicksand feels like, he realized. A third of the crew are off-ship, my exec is twelve hours away, and my only reserve troops need to stay in reserve.
'Thai-i, I need two of your men in z-g combat armor and a launch prepped for a foray in orbit,' he said, forcing himself to calm down. 'Comm everyone groundside and order them back to the ship with all speed. If they aren't near a shuttle, they should immediately proceed to the Sobipurй spaceport or the Legation cantonment in Parus. We are not at combat stations, but a situation is developing groundside and I think we'll need all hands aboard within the day.'
'Hai, kyo!' Huйmac's response was professionally brisk, but Hadeishi could see a hundred questions poised to spring to the man's lips. The Chu-sa nodded and thumbed the channel closed. He turned in his command chair, fixing the duty officer with a cold stare.
'Hayes-tzin, shift our orbit to pass over Sobipurй. Squirt the shuttles on the ground with our new vector. I want those crews back aboard as quickly as possible, so let's keep them from wasting too much time in transit.'
The weapons officer nodded and began tapping course corrections into the ship's helm.
Hadeishi, in turn, thumbed the still-winking comm request from Isoroku alive.
'Engin -'
'We are no more than four hours from battle stations,' Hadeishi interrupted. 'Prepare all compartments for combat acceleration. Shut down all repair activities, stow your materials and prep your teams to assist Medical in handling wounded. Do you understand?'
Isoroku nodded, eyes wide, and Hadeishi closed the channel. Sourly, he looked around the bridge, where everyone was suddenly very busy. The murmur of voices on comm was noticeably sharper. His mood improved by the sight, the Chu-sa tapped open an all-department-heads channel.
'This is the Chu-sa. Be aware hostilities are imminent on the surface of Jagan. Prepare to go to combat acceleration and conditions in no more than four, repeat four, hours. We will be providing orbital fire-support for the Army against native military elements.' And whatever other surprises the Flowery Priests have devised for their 'training exercise'!
Hadeishi hid an involuntary grin – the sharp, crystalline feeling of incipient combat was stealing over him – and all the tedium of handling repairs and resupply banished instantly. He tapped up groundside comm to Sho-sa Kosho, then waited for the channel to clear through the usual routing static.
Waves of heat rippled across the tarmac at Sobipurй, hiding the sprawling shantytown beyond the edge of the spaceport behind a wall of shimmering haze. Susan Kosho turned away from the window of the repair depot quartermaster's office and pressed a hand over her earbug, trying to hear Hadeishi clearly. A faint sheen of sweat made her forehead glisten. Outside, a shuttle was warming up for takeoff and the roar of its engines was making the building tremble and obliterating any chance of conversation.
…ship on ready-alert. You need to get everyone back into orbit. If you can't make lift from Sobipurй, relocate to the Legation in Parus and we'll extract you from there.
