“The Governor is wise,” she murmured respectfully, but she kept her eyes tactfully averted and unreadable.
“Have the Subcommandant rendezvous with us, once he refuels his ship and leaves Terra. He and his ship can join us in the battle, when it is joined. It will be excellent practice for one so newly emerged.”
“Yes, Governor. I will send the order immediately.” The last words came over her shoulder, as she left the room. Hurried out, more precisely, which only increased Oppuk’s ire.
He threw himself down onto a luxurious pile of dehabia, all worked with the red patterns of Narvo. His ears danced back and forth between anger and expectation.
In point of fact, the Pluthrak’s vessel was not designed for use against Ekhat warships. But Aille could hardly refuse, and was quite likely to be destroyed in the battle. That would be excellent. Oppuk’s craving for the Pluthrak’s death was now almost as great as his craving to see Terra destroyed.
Oppuk spent some time enjoying various reveries concerning the Pluthrak’s possible end. Battle in space against Ekhat was always dangerous, even in warcraft designed for the purpose. It was true that, for reasons the Jao did not understand, the Ekhat never varied from the odd design of their spacecraft, despite its fragility. Still, the huge vessels wielded immensely powerful lasers. A single hit from such would split the Pluthrak’s needle of a ship like a red-hot ax, spilling the survivors into an almost-sure lingering death, cast alone and adrift in space.
He was well into a reverie concerning Aille krinnu ava Pluthrak’s last struggling gasps for air in an exhausted lifesuit when Ullwa’s return forced him to break it off.
Ullwa withdrew slightly, as soon as his eyes fell on her; just a fraction of an az, but Oppuk caught the motion. “What is the problem now?” he demanded, half-angry, half-exasperated.
His servitor’s ears waggled with indecision. “I just finished speaking with the Subcommandant. He states that he intends to remain on the planet’s surface to organize an assault on the Complete Harmony’s ships when they emerge from the framepoint.”
“I have not authorized that!” Oppuk jerked onto his feet, scattering his dehabia. Several slid into the tiny pool and began to sink. “We have no ships with enough firepower to be effective in that situation! Any attempt to stop the Ekhat at that stage will just result in an even greater loss of ships and personnel than we are already facing. He is to follow standard procedure to the best of our limited resources!”
The female’s whiskers quivered and he thought he detected something quite unexpected in the line of her shoulders. “I reminded the Subcommandant of your orders, and very forcefully. But the Pluthrak declines to obey at this time.” She forced her body into shocked-disapproval, but it did not hang well on her. Her lines kept slipping and he was certain something else, far less appropriate, lay beneath it. “The Subcommandant says he must follow his own vithrik in this matter.”
“His own vithrik?” Oppuk leaped upon the hapless Ullwa and crushed her to the wet deck with his weight, hands anchored in her luxurious nap. “Vithrik is vithrik!” he cried into her face. “It does not vary from one individual to the next! I will have him declared kroudh for this!”
She writhed within his grasp, ears flattened, then visibly forced herself to be still, surrendering to his authority. Her nap was soft beneath his hands, her scent pleasantly fresh. He ran a finger across her cheek, tracing that oddly compelling pattern.
His own eyes must be blazing with unmitigated fury, but she did not look aside.
“Aille krinnu ava Pluthrak has declared himself kroudh, Governor. He asked me to relay that new status to the Naukra. Which I did.”
Oppuk stared down at her, his mind dumb. Declared himself kroudh.
Dimly, in that long-unused part of his mind that had once glided easily and surely through the tactics of kochan rivalry, he realized what a disaster had just befallen him. Whatever happened, Oppuk would be shamed irrevocably. Shamed, and dishonored. Even if Aille died, Oppuk’s own life was sure to be demanded by Pluthrak—and, most likely, Narvo would accede to the demand. At the very least, he would be declared kroudh himself. He faced ruin and destruction now, not simply exasperation and bitterness.