Eyes of Tomorrow (Duchy of Terra Book 9), Glynn Stewart [reading well .TXT] 📗

don’t like asking for political favors,” she told them. “I know damn well being your kid has helped propel my career even when it shouldn’t have, but I’ve never asked for you to use your influence on my behalf.

“Today I am. If A!Shall and the Houses of Imperium decide that we need to try for peace, that’s one of three powers in play already on my side. I know you have a voice there, out of proportion with anything a regular Duchy has.

“Please. Help me end this war before it’s too late.”

“Division Lord, we have hyper portals opening.” Ort’s voice echoed around Morgan’s plain office.

“Understood,” she acknowledged, looking at the list of messages she’d put together. With a sigh, she sent them off to the hyperfold communicator.

It would take about twenty hours for the messages to reach a starcom. After that, their recipients would have them in minutes. Responses would reach her shortly after that—if anyone decided to respond.

“Any idea who we’re looking at?” Morgan asked as she shut down her office system and rose.

Her office was one door away from the flag deck, allowing Ort to answer her question directly instead of via the intercom.

“I don’t recognize the ships, so I’m guessing the Ren,” he told her. “On the main display.”

Information was populating around the icons of the new ships as they emerged into realspace. The lead units were mace-shaped capital ships, with four large “flanges” emerging from a cylindrical central hull—a central hull that was just over five kilometers long.

“Estimate lead units at one hundred twenty megatons,” Ort noted. “Three types of escorts, weighing in at thirty, ten and four megatons.”

“Those are Ren dreadnoughts, all right,” Morgan agreed. The Ren had a similar escort breakdown to the Imperium as well, though the masses for a given type were very different with thirty-megaton “cruisers,” ten-megaton “destroyers” and four-megaton escorts.

“Primary armament is a spinal heavy hyperspace projectile cannon for the dreadnoughts,” she continued, reciting from memory. “Estimated range, one light-minute with an instantaneous delivery time.”

She grimaced.

“That stuck in my memory,” she admitted. “Don’t remember much of the rest.”

“Similar to the Laians,” Ort said after a moment’s hesitation. “Mix of hyperfold cannons and point-eight-five interface-drive missiles, with proton beams for short-range backup.

“If anyone knows how their hyperspace cannon works, they haven’t duplicated it.”

“I prefer HSMs,” Morgan agreed. “Hail them and welcome them to the rendezvous point. Triple-check your files for proper etiquette. We don’t have a lot of contact with the Ren.”

As she understood, the Laians had helped the A!Tol Imperium set up an embassy with the Ren in the last few years, but contact was still limited.

“We’ll be courteous, but I’m waiting on the First Fleet Lord before I talk to anyone in detail,” Morgan concluded.

Even if the Ren had brought a hundred dreadnoughts, each easily capable of obliterating her fleet.

The Wendira were next, arriving roughly an hour after the Ren. Morgan had seen the reports, but it was still something of a shock to watch a fleet that should have been two hundred and fifty star hives and thousands of escorts arrive as thirty star hives and four hundred escorts.

The second surprise was Rin contacting her from Oxtashah’s ship within minutes of the Battle Hive arriving.

She quickly returned to her office to take the hyperfold call, looking her lover’s hologram up and down for signs that he was okay.

“What are you doing on a Wendira ship?” she asked. She paused. “It was their Dyson swarm, wasn’t it?”

He paused in surprise.

“How did you know about that?” he replied. “All we’ve really told anyone is that the Wendira smashed Swarm Charlie and took heavy losses doing it.”

“The Infinite showed me their data on it, as part of their argument that we were all Alavan slaves,” Morgan said drily. “I figured you were involved. Are you okay?”

“I turned an entire star system into a single gun,” Rin pointed out. “That’s a bit against my normal ethos, but…yeah. I’m fine. Caught up on my sleep on our way here.”

Then he caught up with what she’d said.

“Wait, the Infinite showed you their data on Skiefail?” he demanded. “You talked to them?”

“I did,” she confirmed. “It was an interesting discussion in a lot of ways, and it ended with them letting us go.” She shook her head. “We went in with starkillers, but even realizing that, they let us go.”

Rin shook his head.

“I would…give a lot to have been in on that conversation,” he admitted.

“They’re prepared to consider peace, Rin,” she told him. “I won’t say this has all been a bunch of misunderstandings—it sure as hell hasn’t been—but both we and they have been responding to perceived threats.

“If we can stop and talk out what we actually need, I think we can end this without any more bloodshed. And, well.” She smiled. “There are dozens, if not more, of the Infinite who coexisted with the Alava.

“I don’t think their perspective on the Alava will be detailed or even accurate, but an outside perspective on them could be fascinating for you.”

“You have no idea,” Rin said with a chuckle. “My god, there will be people building their entire careers on talking to the Infinite—just about the Alava.

“Tell me everything, love. If you can, that is?”

“You know Oxtashah better than I do now, I suspect,” Morgan reminded him. “I may need you to help convince her to talk.”

Chapter Sixty-Five

By any reasonable logic, convincing the hundred-thousand-year-old living starship protecting her nest that peace was possible should have been the harder and more intimidating conversation.

But as Morgan watched the last Imperial ships join the immense globular formation made up of four nations’ fleets, she was nervous. Everyone had agreed to let her speak, and the virtual conferencing gear in her office was calmly running self-checks around her.

Talking to the Queen, she’d only faced one set of misconceptions and one set of priorities. She doubted that the Infinite were immune to a desire for vengeance, but their position was brittle in many ways.

They were