“Anything else? Can you look around?”
“I’m afraid to look around,” she answered, her eyes springing open in horror.
“Go back into it, My Lady. What else can you see?”
Her eyes closed. “The floor looks like marble. It might be the entrance to a building.”
“What’s going on here?” Washburn asked in exasperation.
“Later, sir,” Tarn demanded. He looked around the room at the rest of Washburn’s men. “Assume it’s real. What other questions should I be asking? What details should we be examining?”
Sergeant Jacobs spoke up. “Is he wearing a vest?”
“What’s a vest?”
“A protective armor shield. It can be worn over or under clothing.”
Krys closed her eyes. “I only see the tattered edges of clothing. They’re blue except where they’re burned.”
“How many times have I told you, Major…” Jacobs shouted, jumping to his feet.
“I hate those things. They make me look fat.”
Tarn, too, rose and faced them. “Tell me about the vest.”
Jacobs passed an angry look to Washburn. “They’re uncomfortable, and they’re hot if it’s a warm day, but they can save your life under certain circumstances, circumstances like what have just been described. They’ll stop a blaster shot from a small weapon. They don’t prevent wounding in all cases, but they can prevent death.”
Tarn turned from them and knelt down beside Krys. “It’s a warning, don’t you see? Just like the one you gave me. I’m alive because of that warning.”
Hope filled her eyes. “You’re right! Maybe it is a warning. Maybe we can change the outcome.” She lifted shining eyes to Washburn. “You might want to reconsider your use of the vest, Terry.”
He frowned. “I hate those things, and I don’t like what I’m hearing here.”
“Neither do I, but I am the Queen’s Seer,” she said looking into his eyes. “This has been my vision of you. Heed the message, Terry. Wear the vest.”
She turned her gaze upon each of the Protectors. “This message of warning could be meant for all of you. Wear the vest.”
Borg spoke. “Hear her well, all of you. She speaks true. Seers are the stuff of legend in our Empire. She’s the only one, and we are better off because of her.”
She sensed a great discomfort within the room, and she understood its source. Her vision of Terry Washburn could have been constructed by anyone who knew his work.
“I guess that wasn’t such a great tempering of the sword. I should try again.” She looked to Tom O’Brien. “Will you be next?”
He nodded grimly. “I’m not a believer, My Lady. You should know that. Try if you will.”
Tarn gave her time to settle down, and it took quite a while. Her vision of Terry Washburn had deeply affected her. Eventually, Tarn motioned O’Brien forward, and he took her hands. Her eyes remained closed for a time, then she opened them to stare into his eyes.
“I’m looking through your eyes. You’re in the net, and you’re under attack by Chessori. There are twelve of them in an umbrella pattern arcing around your right side. Your gunners take out two of them, and two more leave the fighting, probably damaged, but your shields are on the verge of failing.”
“I was starting to like you, but this has gone too far. I could make that up myself. In fact, I’ve been in the same fix in the simulator.”
“What did you do, sir?” Tarn asked.
“I micro jumped away, then came back on my own terms.”
“What would you have done if jumping wasn’t an option?”
“Why wouldn’t it be an option?”
Captain Stven interrupted. “Do you want to be the one to give our secret of fast ships to the enemy, Captain? We’re only to display our fast ship capabilities in extremis. Major battles are brewing, and the element of surprise might be the deciding factor in those battles.”
“Well, this is pretty extreme, twelve against one.”
Krys held up a hand. “Gentlemen, there’s more.” All eyes turned to her, but she focused on O’Brien. “My visions are sometimes accompanied by words. The words are always in the form of a riddle. I received only one word this time.
‘Encircle’
“Encircle? Do I have more ships?” O’Brien asked.
“I don’t believe so.”
“Well, then, I rest my case. I can’t encircle the eight remaining ships by myself.”
“Sir, it’s a riddle,” Tarn said angrily. “Don’t be so ready to discount it. We’ll be on that ship with you, and our lives depend on you doing the right thing. Some visions are warnings, and some carry instructions. This one seems to be the latter. Let’s talk about it.”
“Okay,” O’Brien said, standing up and putting his hands in his pockets. “I’m up against eight ships, and I can’t demonstrate our fast ship capabilities if I can avoid it. We believe our weapons and shields are measurably stronger than those of our opponents, though we’re not certain when it comes to the Chessori military. Let’s say they are. I’m fighting eight enemy ships. How do I encircle them?”
Tarn considered. “Let’s back up to before your shields started failing, before you’ve come under attack. You have a healthy ship, and you cannot avoid engaging the Chessori for some reason. Maybe the solution is to let them encircle you, sir.”
“What! I let them surround me? You must be joking.”
M’Sada’s mandibles started clicking. All eyes turned to him, and he started preening his antennae. “Hmm,” he grumbled. Suddenly the preening stopped. He turned to Krys. “A masterful solution, My Lady!”
“What is it, my friend?”
He turned to Stven, then O’Brien. “The key is that your shields are failing on one side of the ship. Why?”
“Because that’s where they’re hitting me…” O’Brien trailed off, then shuddered. “It doesn’t feel right. Let them surround me? It’s against every tactic in the books.”
“Agreed, but consider, sir,” M’Sada demanded. “If you let them encircle you while all your shields are healthy, they would be spreading their fire out among all of your shields, and you could sustain many more hits. All your gunners could select targets with their more powerful weapons, and your chances of success would be improved. We should examine this in the simulator. If our weapons and shields are, indeed, stronger than theirs, it might be a new method of fighting. Admiral Chandrajuski might even be able to use it. Come on! Let’s check it out.”
Led by M’Sada scurrying on his many hands, everyone trooped out of the room except Krys, Stven, Tarn, and Borg.
Krys looked at Stven, bemused. “Not the greatest tempering, Captain.”
“It’s a start, My Lady. They’ll come around. You’ll see.”
Chapter Twenty
Resolve’s first stop was Sembik, one of over one hundred district headquarters in Orion sector. Stven fast-shipped Resolve to within a week of the planet with their beacon off, then reverted to normal speed and activated the beacon with a completely fictitious code. Ground controllers contacted them immediately, wanting to know where they’d come from. Stven questioned their procedures, asking them if they’d been asleep at their screens. An argument ensued, and Stven finally agreed that his beacon transmitter might be weak. They were cleared in.
The visit there was completely uneventful, both coming and going. Krys’ message was given and well received, and they left. Stven and M’Sada congratulated themselves – the change of ship had worked. No one knew who they were.
They visited three more districts with similar results, though Chessori traders followed them from the last two, which meant they could not fast ship out of the system. Krys fretted with the wasted extra weeks, but there was nothing to be done about it.
Their next stop was Krandt. When they came out of hyper a week from the planet, Stven counted six Chessori ships within the system, and George, the AI, informed him that these were Chessori military ships. Stven again claimed a weak transmitter on his beacon and was cleared in. As Resolve neared the planet, he discovered four more Chessori ships at the port, but these were traders, not military ships.