The wing of twelve flyers skimmed over the surface of Meng-shi-jie at an altitude of less than thirty meters as the first red glow appeared on the eastern horizon.
Yesugen sat in the rear of the lead fighter, pressed tightly between the fuselage and Kabul's hard shoulder, her rifle upright between her knees. Manek was in charge of the attack and kept looking back at her, obviously nervous about having his Commander so near if he made a mistake in the operation. Youthful insecurity, and he would have to deal with it, but Yesugen had insisted on being present when the smuggler's ship was intercepted. Their boldness in coming down so close to the settlement was an insult to her.
The ground flashed by, but there was little sound, only a muffled whine from the baffled turbines of a craft designed for stealth operations. Sand hills covered with scrub and brown grass dormant before the short, severe rainy season rolled in all directions and there were occasional groves of Tysk and native Clawlimb whose lucky seeds had found a place where springs bubbled from shallow aquifers. Yesugen thought of Shanji, with its vast forests in the mountains, fields of green in valleys and plains under the light of a quiet sun. But Tengri-Nayon was near to rising, and there were no storms, and for the moment she could see the beginnings of life on her own world. For the moment, she could imagine forests and green fields on the planet of her birth.
Kabul broke her reverie. "It's only a few minutes. The ship has been forced down, but the crew is threatening to kill the passengers if we don't let them go."
Yesugen's first thought was to destroy the ship and all its inhabitants where it sat. "What does Manek have in mind?"
"A lightning assault, get inside quickly before the crew can carry out the threat, ma'am. He wants some crew members taken alive, so we can identify who the smugglers are and pass the word along to Governor Wizera."
Yesugen nodded in partial agreement, for at least it was not a timid plan. Ahead of her, a column of black smoke rose from behind a hill. Her craft suddenly bounced as fighters screamed past, breaking formation and fanning out into great circles converging on a point ahead. They came over a hill, and she saw the light cruiser hovering over a grounded ship belching smoke, the fighters coming in low from three directions while Manek, sitting just in front of her, spoke rapidly into his throat-mike. Sudden deceleration thrust her forward, her own head narrowly missing Manek's as Kabul thrust out an arm to push her back. They hovered at the brow of a hill as the fighters went in at ground level, disgorged troops running like ants, then flashes of fire and they had penetrated the target, one engine still belching smoke and flame from action by the hovering cruiser.
Yesugen gripped her rifle hard in frustration. There was fighting, and by tradition she could only watch. The new Empress of Shanji did not have such a tradition to contend with, and Yesugen still envied her for it. She could lead them all, but on Meng-shi-jie it was the men who did the fighting, and they kept her in a safe place.
In minutes, it was over. Manek turned and grinned at her. "We've taken the ship, and only a few have been killed. We can move in, now."
The flyer shuddered and moved forward, landing several meters from an open, scorched hatch in the grounded, delta-winged vessel. The cruiser still hovered above them, a threatening presence. Several troopers emerged, and formed two lines radiating from the hatch, their rifles held casually, but at the ready. Yesugen walked towards them, aware of Kabul insinuating himself slightly in front of her as a shield in case there was trouble. But they waited only a moment before people began spilling out of the ship in a panic.
The children came first: all ages, faces blackened and streaked with tears. Many were crying, the older ones looking stunned, but stoic. Women came right behind them, some with babes in their arms, pushed roughly from the hatch into the waiting grasps of troopers. Manek listened hard to his head-set, then turned and waved his arms. "Everyone back! They've set bombs in the ship. It's going to blow!"
Everyone was running. Men in civilian clothes and armored troopers had begun emerging from the hatch when Kabul grabbed Yesugen's arm and hustled her away. When she stumbled, his arm went around her, and he lifted her from her feet with surprising strength, but in the excitement of the moment she didn't think about being angry at his boldness in touching her.
They ran back to the flyer, and there were screams behind them: children calling for their parents, women screaming the names of their men, and then a muffled thud that made the ground shudder. Smoke and fire belched from the hatch, along with the blackened body of a trooper. To her right, troopers were now streaming out from two other hatches, dragging screaming people with them. For one moment, Kabul twisted her around to face the flyer, his arms around her as the ground shuddered three more times in rapid succession. The third explosion knocked them down, and Kabul landed on top of her, burying his face into her back as people screamed all around them.
Kabul rolled off of Yesugen and helped her up, looking very embarassed. "Sorry, ma'am," he whispered. "I was only trying to protect you." For the first time in her memory, he did not look at her directly when he spoke.
Yesugen brushed clods of dirt from her hair and clothing. The third explosion had ripped open the belly of the ship, and thick, black smoke was erupting from the jagged opening there. People were getting up on their feet, others just sitting on the ground to watch the smoke. A shout, then another, a man and a woman running towards each other and coming together in an embrace. Other cries followed, women finding children, men finding both, whole families coming together again. But not all were so lucky. Within the hour, there were those who walked in a daze, sole survivors of whole families, or those who clung together and cried over the loss of a child, a mother, or a father.
Yesugen walked among them, felt an ache in her heart, but could not bring herself to reach out in comfort. Kabul stopped often to put a hand on a shoulder, or give a comforting word. It bothered her to see a man doing that, while she could not. These people had not been invited here, and were not wanted here, but why couldn't she feel compassion for their loss of a loved one? She bit her lip in sudden anger at herself. What was wrong with her?
A group of dispirited-looking men sat on the ground, surrounded by a ring of troopers. Yesugen went to them, Kabul and a trooper right behind her. A young lieutenant snapped to attention as she approached.
"Who are these people?" she asked.
"Crew members, ma'am. All we could find. The rest barricaded themselves in the control area, and apparently blew themselves up with the rest of the ship's interior."
Yesugen shook her head. "That makes no sense to me. Why would they do that?"
"Suicide over execution, ma'am. They'd begun murdering their passengers when we got to the cargo bay."
"Have you questioned them?" Yesugen stood with hands on hips, glaring down at the captured men.
"No, ma'am. We're waiting for Captain Manek."
"No need to wait," she said. All the prisoners looked up sullenly at her, but one smiled faintly, a kind of smirk, and she pointed at him. "You! Stand up, and come here."
His response was a chuckle, then a growl as two troopers hauled him roughly to his feet, and pushed him in front of her.
"Your name?"
No answer. The man looked down at his feet.
"Where are you based, and who do you work for?"
Now the man glared at her. "I'll answer no questions. You'll kill us anyway."
"You seem quite certain of that," she said. "If you're smugglers, and skilled in space, we might have uses for you. What could you do for us?"
"There is nothing we'd do for you. Do what you intend to do! We should have died on the ship!"
"A fanatic," said Yesugen, smiling, "but for what cause? Money? Political favors? Who are you people?"
"They're moon-based members of the Governor's police!" shouted someone behind her. Yesugen turned and saw a crowd of civilians pressing forward, several troopers backing up in front of them.
"Who spoke?" she asked, and a man raised his hand.
"Let him pass," she ordered.
The man was tall and distinguished-looking, a mass of white hair spilling down over his forehead. His shirt and pants looked as if he'd spent weeks wallowing in filth, and his odor nearly brought tears to her eyes. "Identify yourself," she said.
"I am Altan Bator. Up until two months ago, I was Chief Steward of the Freightworkers Union on Gutien. I was arrested and ordered deported, along with my family. We are deportees, Madam, not smuggled migrants, and the people who brought us here are the Governor's police, acting on his orders. We are all union activists, and now he's rid of us. It was not our desire to come here, Madam, but we are here, and I ask you to grant us political asylum. We can be quite useful to you."
Yesugen was shocked. "Gutien is the source of our heavy water. Has production ceased?"
"No," said Bator, then paused. "Wizera has replaced all of us with his own people, and production continues under his dictates."
The man had left something out, and Yesugen wished that her mother were present to see the entire truth in his mind. Yesugen could only feel his emotion, a mixture of fear and anger boiling there. She turned to the prisoner.
"Is this true? Are you members of Lan-Sui's police force?"
"I have nothing to say," said the man, but he drew himself up into a brace as he said it, eyes cold.
"Then I will assume it's true," she said. "Wizera has sent you here to rid himself of political enemies, and add to our problems. Such an act is grounds for a declaration of war, sir. I am Yesugen, daughter of Mandughai and commander of her forces. I am prepared to declare war against Lan-Sui if you do not loosen your tongue and enlighten me!"
The prisoner only glared at her, and set his mouth in a hard line.
"He will say nothing," said Bator. "His family enjoys great privileges because of his loyalty, and he's prepared to die for it. All the crew were prepared to die, taking the rest of us with them, and it was only your quick action that saved most of us. We're most grateful, Madam."
"Save your gratitude for our Captain Manek. You're not wanted here. I intend to put you all on the next ship back to Lan-Sui."
"No! We'll all be killed! Please, Madam, grant us political asylum! We're not like the others who've come here!" The civilians behind him surged forward, crying out, but troopers pressed them back with their rifles. One woman pointed towards the prisoners and began screaming hysterically.
"He's the one! He's the one!"
Kabul whispered into her ear. "Mandughai must be consulted about this, ma'am. This has become a political matter and we have chemical means of getting the truth from our prisoners back at the settlement."
"I hear you," she said, then, "how are you so different, Bator? Because you don't arrive in smugglers' ships? Are political dissenters and troublemakers more useful to us than the rest of the migrants we hold in our camps? I think not. You are less desirable than the others."
"We are all deportees," said Bator, "and all have been sent here on police vessels. There are no smugglers, Madam, only Wizera getting rid of people he finds undesirable. At first it was the unemployed, then people whose skills were no longer needed, and now those who actively oppose him. We're all the same. Please, Madam, if any of us are returned to Lan-Sui, we will die on the ships that bear us, and our bodies will be ejected into space to join others executed in similar fashion. It has been going on for years!"
Yesugen looked at Kabul, and he shook his head sadly. "Mandughai must hear all of this," he said softly. "It's no longer a military matter."
She agreed with him, but a declaration of war against Lan-Sui was clearly justified, and her mother would have to support it when she heard what this man Altan Bator had to say. The subjugation of Lan-Sui would be swift and simple, a long-overdue reunification with the old world, and there would no longer be problems in assuring the supply of fuels needed on Meng-shi-jie. And hadn't her mother talked often about unifying the worlds of Tengri-Nayon? Suddenly, the opportunity was there.
Her momentary excitement was broken by the renewed screaming of a woman behind her. It had turned into a shriek and the woman was clawing at a trooper, trying to get past him and pointing towards the prisoners. "Murderer! I want your blood on my hands! You killed my child!"
"Bring her over here," ordered Yesugen, "but restrain her until she can be calm."
The woman's eyes widened, and she was immediately calm, but a trooper held her by one arm as he brought her forward. The rest of the civilians were suddenly very quiet, craning their necks to see past the troopers holding them back.
The woman came forward, dishevelled and dirty, hair tangled, tears making muddy rivulets on her face. Her eyes were like glowing embers as she pointed past Yesugen, and growled, "He killed my Rani, and my husband! He killed my baby! I want him DEAD!"
Now the prisoners looked frightened, leaning away from where the woman pointed, leaving one man sitting there, his lips curled in an angry grimace. "That one!" screamed the woman, struggling to escape the grasp of the trooper holding her.
"Bring him here," said Yesugen. Now she glared at the prisoner she'd been unsuccessfully interrogating. "So, you were killing the people you brought here?"
His tongue was suddenly loosened. "No! We were sent to move them to an interior room when you attacked. We didn't even know about the bombs. It was Jagen who started shooting when your people were breaking in. The rest of us did nothing!" He did not turn his head to see the malevolent glare from the man who was brought to stand beside him, a look of such hatred that Yesugen's hand moved to finger the webbing of her slung rifle. The woman shrieked again, lunging forward and spitting at the man, but the trooper held her fast.
"He was only two years old!" she screamed.
Yesugen stepped up to the new man, and he came to a brace, cold eyes boring into hers.
"You are accused of murder," she said softly.
"I follow the orders of my Governor," he said gruffly.
"Indeed. Your loyalty is commendable under such difficult circumstances. You are undoubtedly an officer, a leader. I can see it in your bearing."
The man's brace became even more rigid. "I am a Captain, Madam."
"Carrying out orders regarding enemies of the state," she said. Yesugen suddenly felt cold inside, filled with an emotion she could not identify, an emotion triggered by the onset of sobbing by the woman behind her.
"That is correct," said the man, his stare unwavering.
"Then you admit killing this woman's child, and others?"
"I do, and I'm prepared for the consequences," he growled.
Yesugen put her face close to his. "Admirable. Now you are a brave man, and worthy of some consideration in your last moment."
"Commander!" said Kabul, but she waved him off, then turned to a trooper and said, "Give me your rifle."
The trooper was confused, looking at her own, slung rifle, but handed his weapon over to her. She took the prisoner by the arm, and said, "Come with me."
Kabul tried to block her, but she pushed past him. "Stay here, Kabul. Do not interfere with this."
"Please, ma'am, don't do this. It's impulsive. Yesugen! It's not wise!"
She ignored him, even when he spoke her name. She guided her prisoner to a spot several meters from the crowd, then turned him to face her. She carefully slung the rifle on his right shoulder, and stepped back two paces from him, watching his eyes.
He smiled.
"There is no honor in the execution of a warrior," she said softly. "And there is even less honor in the execution of a small child."
The man's left hand darted towards the sling of his weapon.
Yesugen's rifle was a blur as she whipped it from her shoulder, and shot him four times in the chest before he could bring his weapon into action.
He flopped down on his back, and was still.
Yesugen retrieved his rifle and returned to the others, who looked at her in horror. She went straight to the accusing woman, and looked at her sternly. "You have your vengeance," she said, "but I cannot return your husband and child."
The woman burst into tears.
Kabul was silent while arrangements were made to transport civilians and prisoners back to the settlement, and a crew arranged to search the charred interior of the ship. He was still silent as they returned to the flyer and pressed in together, waiting for a third trooper to occupy the remaining space on the seat. The trooper did not arrive, and they lifted off, but Kabul did not move over, and Yesugen did not ask him to do so. When they were only moments from the settlement, he finally spoke.
"You could have been killed. You had no way of knowing how fast he might be. How could you risk yourself like that?"
"You underestimate me," she said.
"No, I fear for you. And I don't understand you. I don't understand you at all." He looked at her, and his face was very close, his hands clenched in his lap. And what she saw in his eyes made her chest ache. She put a hand over his clenched fists, and left it there.
"I don't understand myself," she said, then inclined her head, resting it on his shoulder all the way back to the settlement.
She expected the man would lie through his teeth, and was surprised at the directness of his response. Yesugen had helped her mother compose the long message to Wizera, outlining their findings, their charges, and asking for reasons why a declaration of war should not be considered. The message was formal, and diplomatic, yet firm, and Yesugen learned from the writing of it.
When the answer came, it was early evening, and the shutters were open, for the weather had been clear all day. They sat together before Abagai's workstation as the plump face of Governor Wizera appeared on the screen. He read his prepared statement without apparent anxiety of any kind, and often looked at the camera, as if to emphasize his good intentions.
"I offer my deepest apologies to the leadership of Meng-shi-jie for the recent incident involving an official vessel of our police force. I was completely unaware of such actions taking place, but as Governor I assume full responsibility for it. I do deny, however, the charge that orders to kill passengers on this vessel, or any other vessel, have come from my office. They have not, and I'm now taking steps to identify the perpetrators of a strategic deportation operation that has apparently been taking place for some time. It was my feeling that citizens of Lan-Sui, particularly those on the moons Gutien and Nan, were looking at Meng-shi-jie as a place for a new life, and were leaving voluntarily. Now I see otherwise. I recall my own charges that you were encouraging migration from Lan-Sui, and am profoundly sorry for saying such things, based on my own ignorance."
A long, sorrowful look into the camera. Yesugen grunted, but Abagai watched the screen silently, hands steepled before her face.
"Dear Mandughai, as a planetary leader whose lineage goes back to a noble family on Lan-Sui, you know the difficulties of leadership. Your problems are numerous in developing a new world, where once there were only buried cities. But I must say I envy your problems, for Meng-shi-jie is beginning, while my world, home to my people and your ancestors for thousands of years, seems now to be coming to an end. Life has become difficult here; I can lead the people to the best of my abilities, but I cannot dictate to the powers of nature.
"There is unrest here, and forces that seek independence of our moons from Lan-Sui. I fear that this movement will disrupt the production of goods you have depended on for many years. A face-to-face meeting between you and me is long overdue. We must discuss our mutual problems in a detailed, conversational way, and seek avenues of support for each other. I request such a meeting as soon as possible, at a location of your choice. I think it's imperative that we move quickly on this before there can be any further escalation of difficulties between us. I say this with great sincerity, Mandughai, and I await your reply. We are an aging, weakening world here, while yours is vital and new. Let there always be peace between us."
There were actually tears in the man's eyes when the screen went blank. Yesugen made a rude sound, and said, "He's glib, and denies everything, but it wasn't what I expected. His normal, arrogant posturing was totally absent. He fears a war with us."
Abagai still stared at the screen, hands steepled. "Yes, he does, but if you listened carefully, you heard him ask for our support."
"I did hear that."
"I mean military support," said Abagai. "The man is in trouble. The moons are his only economic link to us, and an independence movement is underway. We could find ourselves dealing with a rebel government in the near future, and I smell political treachery in police being involved with deporting people without government knowledge or approval."
"If Wizera is telling the truth, yes. So we deal with the rebels, as long as we receive our fuels."
Abagai smiled. "Rebels have their own agendas, as you've recently seen on Shanji. Without Kati, we'd have no relations with that world, and you know it. No, I see a bad situation developing here. I will give Wizera his meeting, but with both you and me. From what he's said, and what Altan Bator told us, I suspect treason within Lan-Sui's police force. We might be called upon for a military intervention, Yesugen. Especially now, we cannot tolerate any interruption in fuel supplies from Lan-Sui."
"Will you answer him right away?" asked Yesugen. "We haven't finished interrogating the prisoners."
"We've heard enough for my answer. Lan-Sui police are involved, and the ships originate from the moons."
Yesugen nodded. "Yes."
"Let us assume Wizera is innocent, as he claims. If you were Mandughai, right now, what would you do?"
"I would give him a meeting, on one of our ships, arriving at Lan-Sui with several cruisers in a show of force. If there was a hostile response to my visit, I would put the entire system under military control. His force is far too weak to oppose it."
Abagai smiled. "Close, dear, but not specific enough. You will hear my compromise to your position, but I basically agree with you, even though I've received news you haven't heard yet. It came in shortly before you arrived. You will see why I came close to a declaration of war myself in the last hour." She handed a disk to Yesugen, then a hand-held reader, and turned back to her workstation.
Yesugen read the disk as her mother began the message which would travel for nearly two hours to reach Lan-Sui. Her face became flushed, and there was a ringing in her ears, but now Abagai was speaking.
"We appreciate your prompt reply, and agree that a meeting is most necessary, but recent events force us to use extreme caution. Dear Governor, you need to know that four other police vessels from Lan-Sui have been intercepted and chased by our ships. When our ships drew near, these vessels disgorged their human cargo heartlessly into space, killing them all horribly: men, women and children. Acting on their own volition, my Captains have destroyed those ships and their crews for this criminal act.
"There are forces on Lan-Sui that are inhumane and evil, dear Governor. I trust that you are not involved with them. For that reason, we regard your safety as imperative. We will meet on the command vessel of a fleet I will embark on within the week. My daughter Yesugen, Commander of my ground forces, will accompany me with a full battalion of troops in several cruisers. If we meet hostility, or see any threat to your life, we intend to take military control until order is restored to your system. Our first targets will be your moons, and we will show no mercy to those responsible for the murders of helpless people.
"My hope is our meeting can take place without incident. Let us root out evil where it exists, and work together to solve our mutual problems. We are connected by a long history of peace and we wish for that to continue. You can expect us to reach you within a few days. I will have a ship sent for you with a military guard to insure your safety. Please be assured of our good intentions, even in the face of our force. We come as your friends."
Abagai's hand played over the keyboard, and the message was on its way. She turned back to Yesugen, and raised an eyebrow. "That has to be the strongest language I've ever used in a diplomatic exchange. But I won't know if I'm right about him until we're face-to-face. I cannot connect with him from the gong-shi-jie, so my message wasn't just to him, but to the ones responsible for these deaths. Are you all right, Yesugen?"
Yesugen had become pale, and felt numb. Her voice shook. "I've known war, seen men killed by the sword and Kati's purple light, but I've never heard of such atrocities against unarmed people helpless to fight back."
"Does it bother you, Yesugen?"
"Yes, it does."
"Good. Your father did give you a sense of honor. Harsh as he was, he would never have committed an evil thing like that. And he would have killed the evildoer as you did today, daughter. There was a sense of justice in him."
Yesugen's eyes were suddenly filled with tears, and she stifled a sob. Abagai reached over and took her hand, patting it softly.
"I know you loved him. In a bizarre way, I loved him too. It's you and I, now. Get some rest. Tomorrow will be filled with logistics."
Abagai embraced her when they stood up, and for the first time in her life Yesugen felt compelled to return it; they stood that way for a long moment, saying nothing, then Yesugen quickly left the room.
She marched straight to her nearby quarters, head down in contemplation. When she looked up, she saw Kabul waiting for her at the doorway, a file in his hand. "Nobody answered," he said.
"My orderly has retired," she said. "Come inside."
Kabul hesitated. "More bad news, I'm afraid."
"Please," she said softly, and unlocked her door, closing it behind them.
He handed over the file, looking into her eyes. "Four more ships have been intercepted and destroyed."
"I know about it. Mother showed me the report." Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat. "I've seen death in space: the eyes red from ruptured capillaries, the open mouths, the blood . . ."
Yesugen struggled for control. "Now, I see women and children like that, floating alone in vacuumand I want to kill!"
Her vision was blurred, and her hands shook. Kabul reached out his hands, then quickly drew them back, taking a deep breath, and letting it out slowly. Now tears were running down her cheeks, and she didn't care. Yesugen took one step, pressing her cheek against Kabul's chest, and putting her arms around him. His hands moved over her back, and then he was holding her tightly, his cheek on the crown of her head.
"Yesugen," he said softly, and squeezed her gently.
"That is my name," she said, and then she put her arms around his neck, and kissed him softly, yet deeply, without urgency, for a long, long time.