Ninefox Gambit (13 page)

“We already knew that,” Jedao said. “Ah – your uniform, Cheris. Take care of it before you forget.”

Kel Command had ordered it. There was no need to feel like a cadet embarking on a tasteless prank, but she did anyway. “Brevetted rank, general,” she said. The uniform replaced the captain’s talon with a general’s wings.

“I want to take another look at the high officers in the swarm,” Jedao said. “I hope I’m not the only one nervous about the Vidona.”

Starvation Hound
was commanded by Vidona Diaiya, who had a reputation for finding loopholes in orders. It was unusual for a Vidona to rise to command in the Kel military. Like most citizens, Cheris had a healthy respect for the Vidona, who were responsible for disseminating Doctrine and reeducating dissidents, but she preferred to respect them from a distance. “Commander Diaiya has a lot of commendations,” she said, determined to avoid unnecessary trouble.

“They were very carefully worded,” Jedao said. “I imagine she has high connections.”

“That can’t be the only explanation,” Cheris said. “Besides, if it’s not her, then we have to go with
Simplicity Eye
or
Six Spires Standing
.” The former had a commander with two reprimands for “excessive brutality,” which Cheris hadn’t even known Kel Command cared about. The latter was overdue for repairs.

“Yes, bad options all around,” Jedao said. “Diaiya, then. We’ll have to watch her carefully, but I might have a use for her anyway. And we’ll need Colonel Ragath’s cooperation. I’ve flagged a couple of his Nirai as potential problems, but we’re going to have to rely on him to keep them from getting creative.” He gave her the names.

“I hadn’t realized you were going to take an interest in the infantry, too,” Cheris said. Truth to tell, she found it heartening.

“We have to,” he said, hard and sharp. “Our aim is to crack open the Fortress. The people going into the Fortress will be the infantry. We’re looking at companies operating autonomously for periods of time. We’ll need to rely on the low officers, which means understanding them so we can motivate them.”

“Are we going to be permitted to join the troops on the Fortress?” she asked. She knew it was a stupid question the moment it came out of her mouth. She’d have to do better.

“You’re thinking like a company commander, not a high officer. Lose that habit. Besides, I guarantee that our keepers will shoot us if we get off the command moth. They won’t trust me out of their sight. We’ll just have to work around it.”

“I’ll remember that,” Cheris said.

After a moment, he went on, “Do you know what you’re going to say to your swarm once they’re assembled, Cheris? It’s best to prepare it in advance. The first time they put me in charge of a swarm, I thought I was going to forget my own name.”

“I’m listening to any advice you have,” Cheris said carefully. “In the past I’ve had some chance to meet my company in person. It makes a difference.”

“I don’t dispute that. Half your swarm commanders will be eager to take a crack at the Fortress – there’s something to be said for Kel eagerness – but they’ll resent you for jumping rank on them. Don’t let on that it bothers you, if it bothers you. And above all don’t let them pity you for being a pawn. Nothing kills respect faster than pity.” Jedao thought for a moment. “Besides, if they pull me early, you might have to go it alone, and you want to be prepared for that contingency.”

“Chain of command –”

“Kel Command said you’re brevetted for the duration of the campaign. You might be stuck.”

He was right. In an emergency, there might not be time to send to Kel Command for new orders. She might end up retaining command. Although she had taken the requisite primers on space warfare in academy, she had only fought as infantry, and experience made a difference.

“Keep it short,” Jedao said kindly. “If you’re not a natural speech-giver you get into less trouble that way.”

“How did you manage?” she asked.

“I like talking to people,” he said. “It’s the same thing, only with more averaging. You’ll get better at it with practice. That’s what it comes down to.”

Cheris stared at the names and photos of the officers in their proposed swarm. They looked unreal, but Cheris knew she had to take this seriously. All too soon she and Jedao would be in charge of these people, and she couldn’t afford for him to know anything about them that she didn’t.

CHAPTER SEVEN

T
HE SWARM ASSEMBLED
piecemeal, each moth taking up a lattice position as assigned by the research station’s command center. Cheris and Jedao viewed the feed from display six. The voidmoths were varied in shape, even those in the same class. Commanders were allowed to put in for customizations if they could scratch anything out of the budget for it. For the most part, the moths were lean triangles, hound-sleek. The two cindermoths were particularly notable, and not just for their size. Each sported a spinal-mounted erasure cannon, and she could see the mounts for their complements of dire cannon as well.

The swarm was now fully assembled, only one hour and seventy-three minutes behind schedule. Cheris notified them that she would address them in twenty-eight minutes. She added that she wanted to see individual commanders, not command composites.

“An interesting decision,” Jedao said, without judging.

“We’re going to need to know their capabilities as individuals,” Cheris said. They couldn’t gamble that composite wiring would work near the Fortress. Besides, as a recent infantry captain, Cheris wasn’t wired herself. “We might as well start figuring that out.”

The Nirai wandered in at one point. Uncharitably, Cheris wondered if his superiors didn’t have enough to keep him busy with. He was wearing a deceptively understated black jacket with moths embroidered in dark thread along the front, and lacelike silver earrings. “You’re going out of my care,” he said to Cheris. “I wanted to warn you to be vigilant.”

“I’ll do what I can, sir,” she said.

“When you come back,” he said, “we should talk about number theory. I looked up one of your student papers, the critique of Nirai Medera’s formation generator. A novel approach.”

Cheris relaxed. Trust a Nirai to get distracted by something irrelevant to the mission. Then again, it wasn’t his mission. “Of course,” she said.

The Nirai smiled at her, and the beautiful eyes were almost kind. “Burn brightly,” he said, a Kel farewell, and left.

Cheris spent the next fifty seconds trying not to hyperventilate at the thought of addressing the swarm. It hadn’t been so long ago that she had had Eels trying to kill her. She would rather go back to that than face all those commanders, who would ordinarily be her superiors.

Jedao didn’t tell her to relax. Instead, he kept up a reassuring patter as he analyzed everything that came across the displays, including the graphical conventions and fonts used to show data. She wouldn’t have thought a general would show such interest in good interface design.

“Have you given thought to your emblem?” Jedao asked out of nowhere.

“My what?” She saw what he meant. As a brevet general she wasn’t entitled to one, but it would disappoint the swarm not to have one as an identifier. Jedao’s Deuce of Gears, while technically available, was a bad idea for obvious reasons.

“You’re having a thought,” Jedao said.

“They won’t like it,” Cheris said.

“They don’t have to. They’re not in charge.” Another moment, then: “I see. It’s appropriate.”

“How do you do that?” she demanded.

“Well, my guess could be wrong. But you think with your face, Cheris. Dangerous habit. I don’t have a better suggestion, so we’ll go with that. Six more minutes. You’d better be ready. Do you want them to see the shadow or not?”

“Yes,” she said. “They ought to know who they’re following.”

“Do you have the lights figured out?”

Adjusting the lights was easy, a matter of angles. It was the talking part that concerned her.

“Reorient displays,” Cheris told the grid, and gave the parameters. “I want to be able to see everyone I’m talking to.”

The displays arranged themselves according to rank and, when the time came, lit up simultaneously. Two cindermoth commanders, thirteen bannermoth commanders, an infantry colonel, an intelligence captain, and seven boxmoth commanders made for a crowd. She could see why Kel Command preferred to deal with composites.

They were saluting her. Cheris bit back the urge to apologize for the irregularity. “At ease,” she said. “Brevet General Kel Cheris for the duration of this campaign by order of Kel Command. I am being advised by General Shuos Jedao.”

She couldn’t see the shadow behind her, but she could tell they were watching it. She tried to see all their faces at once and figure out who was stiff and who seemed receptive to this development, but it was too much.

“Our mission is to retake the Fortress of Scattered Needles from the heretics,” Cheris went on.

“I knew it!” The speaker was Kel Nerevor, commander of the cindermoth
Unspoken Law
, a lean, middling-dark woman with white streaks in her hair and a laughing mouth. “Everyone’s been talking about it. It will be a great honor to retake the Fortress for the hexarchate.”

The other cindermoth commander, dour-looking Commander Kel Paizan, shook his head. “Commander,” he said, “have some respect.”

“You should have shut her down yourself,” Jedao murmured.

Cheris was irritated not because he was wrong but because he was right and she knew it. “We’ll be going straight in,” she said. “I’ll transmit the intelligence we have, but it’s scant.”

“Subdisplay 17,” Jedao said, but this time Cheris was ahead of him. The subdisplay showed the head of the intelligence team, Captain-analyst Shuos Ko. Ko had a beard, which made him stand out. Kel men preferred to be clean-shaven.

“General,” Ko said, inclining his head. He had a bland, pleasant voice. Cheris wasn’t fooled. She had met servitors who exuded more personality, but that was probably the point. “We have some additional information that we can provide at your discretion. I think you’ll be interested in some of the traffic analysis that came out of the Fortress in the two days before it ceased communications with the hexarchate. It confirms that the rot was carefully orchestrated.”

“Thank you, I’d like to see that,” Cheris said.

Nerevor jumped in again. “What moth will you be bannering?” she asked. Her eyes gleamed.

Cheris had originally thought to banner the
Sincere Greeting
, as Commander Paizan was senior, but she changed her mind. She wanted to keep an eye on Nerevor, even if it violated custom. Besides, she knew the question was a trap.

“Good thought,” Jedao said as she spoke, “but control your face better. You keep being too easy to read.”

“I’ll be bannering the
Unspoken Law
,” Cheris said. Interesting: Paizan had cause to be affronted, but the wry set of his mouth told her that he knew exactly what she was doing, and wasn’t going to object. And, before Nerevor could speak again, “We’ll be using the null emblem.” She watched Nerevor’s face. Her smile twisted at the commander’s momentary look of revulsion.

“Thought so,” Jedao said.

Null emblem. A featureless black banner. It was used only by generals in disgrace. Even newly promoted generals were permitted to use the default sword-and-feather emblem until they had a chance to register something.

At least this had knocked Nerevor off her stride. The other dubious advantage was that the heretics wouldn’t know who to expect when they saw the emblem.

“The Shuos team and I will board the
Unspoken Law
in two hours,” Cheris said. “Make the necessary arrangements.”

“Sir.”

Moments later, all the faces had blinked out and Cheris’s knees felt rubbery.

“Don’t rest yet,” Jedao said, not entirely humorously. “I assume you were watching people’s reactions. Give me your assessment.”

Mercifully, the subdisplays had been clearly labeled. Ordinarily she was all right at remembering names, but the stress had caused them to fly out of her head. “Nine seemed sympathetic, but she’s junior,” she said.

“That was Commander Kel Irio. Get used to remembering their names, not the numbers.”

“I know,” Cheris said doggedly. “Just let me get my thoughts together. I’m worried about Four. I mean Vidona Diaiya. She paid close attention to me when Commander Nerevor was speaking. Commander Kel Agath was completely unreadable, which is bad. And I gave up trying to keep track of the boxmoth commanders. But the big problem is going to be Commander Nerevor.”

“That’s my fault,” Jedao said, to her surprise. “I’ve fucked up your body language, so on top of issues with brevet rank, formation instinct isn’t telling her to recognize you as a Kel.”

“I never thought of that,” Cheris said. This wouldn’t have been an issue for him during his lifetime, presumably, since formation instinct had been invented some decades after his execution.

“It’s happened to my anchors before. You haven’t mentioned the Shuos captain.”

She bit her lip and tried to remember. “He slipped my mind, and he shouldn’t have.”