Back | Next
Contents

Nine

Eighteen exarchs sat around the long oval table, their eyes on the Kalif at one end. One had a hand in the air.

The Kalif recognized him. "Alb Riisav," he said.

Riisav spoke without rising. "Rashti has dumped a basket of snakes on us! We need to do something about him!"

"Ah. He did indeed, in a manner of speaking. Well... The Prophet wrote that while results are the harm, it is evil intentions and heedlessness that are reprehensible. Rashti's intention was not to harm. He wanted to find a planet or planets for colonization, to bleed off the discontented of his world, and turn men's attention outward instead of in. As for heedless—He sent his flotilla into unknown dangers, true, but I suggest we forbear with him for that. If Lord Gardhiroopala hadn't rocketed off into unknown dangers, three thousand years ago, or someone like him at sometime since, we'd be living in poverty on a single world, its resources long since used up.

"I agree completely, though, that something needs to be done about the basket of snakes." He scanned around the eighteen exarchs. "Would someone like to identify those snakes?"

Hands shot up. The Kalif called first on Alb Riisav again, then on others. The same points were made and elaborated as had been made in council the day before: The finding of numerous inhabited worlds would dash The Prophet's seeming infallibility, and harm his aura of clairvoyance, which would weaken Karghanik, and the fabric of civilization. While finding the non-human empire gave credence to the oral tradition of a lost Book of Shatim. Also, the presumed non-human empire now knew about humans, posing a possible threat to the security of humanity.

The Kalif or others answered those points much as he'd answered them in council the day before.

The possibility of invading the Confederation was brought up, but the Kalif didn't accept it for discussion till they were done with Alb Riisav's "snakes." Finally he pointed.

"Alb Varso, you wanted to discuss a possible conquest of the Confederation. This was brought up in council yesterday, but we didn't discuss it at any length. Would you like to address the matter now?"

The man spoke seated. "I wasn't thinking in terms of conquering the entire Confederation, Your Reverence. I mean—twenty-seven member worlds and even more subject worlds? Even with our superior weaponry, that's far too many. It would be more practical to conquer one or two of their lesser worlds. Subject worlds."

The Kalif's thick brows jumped; the exarch's military naivete had taken him by surprise. "I haven't given the matter much thought yet," he answered, "but I am interested. Depending on how we go about it, I think we can follow your suggestion, yet have them all."

He gave them a moment to puzzle at that. Jilsomo repressed a wry smile: Haven't given the matter much thought yet!

"Keep in mind," the Kalif went on, "that I'm speaking offhand—thinking out loud. First let's consider their naval strength. Three years ago, according to our best information, they had between seven and ten battle cruisers and fifteen or twenty of what they call frigates, apparently similar in function to light cruisers. As far as fighting vessels are concerned, that's all. Remember, the Confederation worlds have no navies of their own; only their central government has warships. They are a people whose wars have been minor, and fought almost entirely on the surfaces of tributary planets. It seems their major worlds have not fought each other for a very long time. Also, at any one time, most of their fleet is stationed near or on their central world, a planet they call Iryala. Other units are visiting other planets, generally singly, or hunting smugglers; things of that sort.

"Of course, the Confederation may well have begun work on enlarging their fleet since the Klestron incursion. I'd expect them to. Our information, though, is that they've had no active program of building warships for a long time, so it's unlikely that they started with significant naval shipyards and armories. It will take time for them to make major progress toward a powerful fleet, time we mustn't give them. If, in fact, we're going to invade.

"Now suppose we capture a single system, the system of one of their lesser worlds. Presumably we'd start with just one in any case. Should we send a force we consider sufficient to take and hopefully protect just one? Or as powerful a force as we can?

"Suppose we send half our imperial navy: four battle cruisers and ten light cruisers, along with troopships and supply ships, and then pause for a year or so to consolidate our control and organize our new possession. Let's say we also deploy a defensive pattern of T-bots in the surrounds.

"Meanwhile, the Confederation would have built new shipyards and be adding to its fleet, perhaps significantly improving its weaponry at the same time. When they were ready, they'd strike to recover their lost planet. Logical? And their lines of supply and reinforcement would be far shorter than ours. Far shorter. Depending on how great our advantage in weaponry actually is, if their strategy and tactics were good enough, they might hound us and drive us out."

He paused. No one seemed inclined to break in.

"On the other hand, suppose we attack with a maximum force: most of the imperial fleet plus most of the sultanic fleets. And assault their throne world, a planet named Iryala, catching the main part of their fleet there and destroying it. Iryala is their only world with facilities for building hyperspace ships. That monopoly is the key to Iryala's imperial dominance, as it is to ours, so they're unlikely to change it.

"Therefore, if we should capture Iryala, and destroy or decimate the warships stationed in her system, it would break their ability to do anything serious about our conquest."

The Kalif paused, his attention on their faces, their reactions. He had their attention. Not their agreement, necessarily, but their attention. "As I said, I'm speaking offhand, and without extensive training in naval warfare. But that could be the broad strategy.

"Also, Iryala is, or was, the only Confederation world equipped and allowed to manufacture major munitions. Thus any surviving remnants of their fleet could operate only until their ordnance was exhausted. We could go to whatever Confederation world we wished, concentrate our strength there, and capture it. Possibly we could rule the entire Confederation through the existing bureaucracy. If not, then over a period of time, perhaps a century, we could conquer it planet by planet."

He looked the exarchs over again and found no fidgeting, no suppressed arguments awaiting the floor. He continued:

"The scenario I just outlined is based on one main assumption: that our space weaponry is much superior to theirs. There is no doubt that ours is at least somewhat superior, and probably substantially so. In particular, it seems almost certain that they have no energy shields, and that by itself would give us a great, a decisive advantage.

"With this as a background, who has questions or comments? Alb Varso?"

Varso stood. He was a smallish, wiry man with the appearance of considerable energy. "Your Reverence, have you given thought to how the empire might rule such conquered worlds? Conquer them perhaps, but rule them? They'd be something like three years distant by hyperspace. It would take four years or more simply to complete an exchange of messages by pod!"

The Kalif nodded. "This would have to be worked out in detail, in advance. It might be an autonomous region, governed for the empire in the name of Kargh, perhaps by a governor general. Karghanik would be the tie; Karghanik and the tradition of the colonists' home worlds. Obviously we couldn't actually administer them from here."

Alb Tariil Ramataloku's hand took the Kalif's attention. Tariil's opening words came as they often did, with a hint of distaste that he didn't realize showed: He was as strong a traditionalist as any, yet it was difficult for him to voice the honorific. "Your Reverence," he said, "the principal advantages to such conquest would be plunder at first, and colonization and trade afterward. Trade on a basis favorable to us. Plunder, of course, could be selective, and no doubt quite valuable. But it could not continue; when the conquest was completed, our occupation force would have to institute rational and orderly management, and that would be the end of plundering. But trade on terms too unequal would be against the teaching of The Prophet, while a fair exchange over such a distance might not be profitable."

Around the table, a number of heads nodded in agreement.

"Nor could we expect great profit in taxes over such a distance, if the colonies are autonomous. The taxes would go mostly to support our governors there, and the necessary bureaucracy and occupation forces we'd have to maintain."

Tariil paused, his wide mouth clamped for a moment as he let his argument sink in. "I do not think such a venture will be profitable," he finished. "Even assuming its success, I believe we'll regret such an invasion if we undertake it."

The Kalif had not sat down, and when Tariil had finished speaking, he replied, "I'm glad you stressed selective plundering. Which implies the organized and controlled removal of selected, high-value goods. To permit indiscriminate looting would make the people there much more difficult to govern, I do not doubt, and cause no end of trouble.

"But I consider plunder an unimportant part of the possible value of conquest there. In fact, it might be well to prohibit plundering. As for trade, it might prove more significant than you think. To be sure, in the six years needed for a single round trip, the same cargo ship could make twenty round trips between here and Veethvoktos, or ninety between here and Klestron. But mere may be cargoes available there which are still well worth hauling. I'm not speaking of bulk cargoes, obviously.

"Still, such a conquest would be expensive. The best reasons I can see for the effort and resources it would take are not economic. Consider the reasons that Rashti had in sending out his expedition: namely to find a new world to which the restless and discontented could go. And a place to which restless or discontented minds could direct their attention."

He stopped, his expression thoughtful, his attention seeming inward for the moment.

"And there is one final reason. The most important." Again he stopped, drawing out their attention. "In Chapter Twenty-seven of The Book, The Prophet wrote: 'The believer shall make known to the unbeliever the words and principles and laws of Kargh, and shall strive always to convert him to His worship.' "

With that the Kalif stopped and sat down, not making the obvious connection, simply leaving them with the words of The Prophet, and moved the session to other matters. But their discussions were less energetic than usual, as if they found it difficult to concentrate on other subjects, and he adjourned the meeting early.

* * *

The Kalif sipped an after-supper drink with Jilsomo on an open porch. It was dusk. There'd been a shower an hour earlier, a cooling rain, and low in the west, sunset gilded cloud edges.

Neither man had said anything for a time. Then Alb Jilsomo spoke. "About the possibility of invading the Confederation: What do you feel is the likeliest prospect? That we will, or will not?"

The Kalif said nothing for another quiet minute, sipping his drink and listening to an evening bird. Finally he put down his glass and turned shadowed eyes toward the exarch, speaking softly.

"I say this with all honesty: We have no real choice. When Rashti's flotilla returned, the die was cast. The news is out, and the empire, the Church, the several estates can never be the same. Whatever we do. And if we do not invade, within a generation, two at most, there will be turmoil and strife on the eleven worlds that will lead to darkness. A darkness that may be a long time lifting.

"And if we do not invade soon, any later invasion will be doomed to fail. For they know about us now, out there, and they'll hardly be sitting still. They have many more worlds than we do. Even if they're less populous singly, as apparently they are, in total they're bound to hold far more people than ours."

He directed his gaze across the garden, raised his glass and sipped once more.

"If we invade promptly," Alb Jilsomo murmured, "say within three years, do you feel we can overcome them?"

Again the Kalif answered slowly, still gazing across the garden in the dusk. "I have little doubt we can. No, the difficult battles won't be fought in space." He sipped again. "The Diet convenes at the beginning of next month. That's where the important battles will be fought."

He turned to look at Jilsomo again. "Which should be no surprise to you. My friend, I'm going to depend on your good sense and your ability to bring factions together. It won't be easy, only very, very important. An importance we shall not stress unless we have to."

Back | Next
Framed