They weren't the only Glar-class destroyers on the move.
Bob Pope glanced up over the report. "I'm reading that six Glar-class destroyers all jumped into n-space within an hour of each other," he said.
"Yes, sir," Phipps said.
"Including the two on our little watch list," Pope said.
"That's correct," Phipps said.
"And that we have no idea where any of these six are headed." Pope tossed the report lightly down to his desk. "So right now three quarters of Nidu's military strength is simultaneously headed for an unknown destination the morning after our operatives failed to get the Baker woman, and she and Creek disappeared. What are the chances of coincidence here, do you think?"
"What do you want to do?" Phipps asked.
Pope glanced up at his assistant and then gave out a short barking laugh. "Shit, Dave," he said. "I want to hide under my desk. I've got to go to President Webster and tell him how we're going to possibly defend ourselves from six Glar-class destroyers. And I have to let him know we knew at least two of them were gearing up to move days ago. If I have my job at the end of the day, I'll be a happy man."
"We wanted to rile up the waters," Phipps said.
"Not six destroyers worth," Pope said. "Christ. Think about it, Dave. Warming up two destroyers in the bullpen is a message. We can finesse a message. We can make it work for us. Six destroyers simultaneously jumping into n-space to points unknown is something more than a message." Pope tapped his desk in irritation, then pointed to the report. "You get that from Hunter?" he asked. Hunter was the head of the UNE CIA.
"We did," Phipps said.
"What do his boys say? Did the Nidu suddenly get into a shooting war with someone else?" Pope asked.
"No, sir," Phipps said. "One of their Nidu analysts said it might have something to do with the coronation—maybe the destroyers are going to be part of the ceremonies. But none of the other analysts concur. They don't know what the hell is going on."
"What do our boys say?" Pope asked.
"They don't know what the hell is going on, either," Phipps said.
Pope tapped at his desk again. "Where is Webster?" Pope asked.
"He's in South Dakota, getting a tour of that flood damage," Phipps said. "He's going to be back this evening. He's scheduled a briefing for six-thirty: him, Vice President Hayden, Hunter, you, and Heffer."
"Heffer," Pope said with a snort. "We're in a world of shit, Dave. But that's nothing compared to where Heffer's going to be."
"What is this?" Jim Heffer asked Narf-win-Getag, who had presented him with a folder in his office.
"This, Mr. Secretary, is a copy of the lawsuit the Government of the Nidu Nations and Colonies has filed against the Government of the United Nations of Earth," Narf-win-Getag said. "It has already been filed with the Common Confederation District Court here in Washington along with a request by the Government of Nidu to expedite the case and issue a quick summary judgment in the matter."
Heffer took the folder but did not open it, passing it instead to Javna, who began reading it. "I assume this is in regards to the matter of Ms. Baker," he said.
"It is regarding the entity that possesses DNA, yes," Narf-win-Getag said, sitting in the chair in front of Heffer's desk. "I regret to say that your assistant has been less than entirely helpful in locating it and presenting it to us to take part in the coronation ceremony, now less than a week away. So unfortunately we feel it necessary to escalate the matter in the courts."
"With all due respect, Mr. Ambassador, I don't know what it is you hope to achieve," Heffer said. "Ms. Baker is a human being and as such has rights. While I can assure you that we are indeed doing all we can to bring her in and procure her help, we can't kidnap her and force her to take part in the coronation. And unless she's committed a crime on Nidu soil, which she hasn't, I don't see what claim Nidu has to attempt to extradite her. Common Confederation law is crystal clear on this."
"And if it were human, you'd be correct, Secretary Heffer," Narf-win-Getag said. "However, it is not, and therefore, you are not."
"I don't follow you," Heffer said.
"The entity is, in fact, a hybrid," Narf-win-Getag said. "It possesses human DNA, yes, but it also possesses a substantial amount of DNA from the Android's Dream sheep—nearly twenty percent of its DNA, if I recall correctly."
"And what of it?" Heffer said.
"The Android's Dream DNA is the exclusive property of the auf-Getag clan, which is by extension the government of Nidu. It was provided to Nidu by the Earth government as part of an overall treaty between our two nations. The treaty specifically invests all property and use rights in the Nidu government, with any unauthorized use of the DNA, commercial or otherwise, subject to penalties and confiscation. The one loophole here applies to the inadvertent crossbreeding of the breed and exempts animals whose genetic makeup is one-eighth Android's Dream breed or less. But in this case, the breeding is clearly not unintentional, and the entity has more than the exemptible percentage of DNA. This treaty was ratified by the Congress of the Common Confederation and therefore the agreement supersedes national laws of both Nidu and Earth. As a point of law—well-established law, I might add, of the highest legal entity both our governments acknowledge—the entity is our property. It is ours."
"It is a she, and she is a citizen of the United Nations of Earth," Heffer said.
"But before it was awarded the rights and privileges of your citizenship, its genetic material was stolen from its rightful owner, being the Nidu government," Narf-win-Getag said. "The treaty is very clear on the issue of ownership, Mr. Secretary, and rather unfortunately it does not make specific exemption for the possibility of the genetic material being commingled with the genetic material of a potentially sentient species. It is the position of my government that our property rights to the entity legally supersede your government's potential claim regarding the citizenship of the entity. In any event, we have simultaneously filed suit asking the court to provisionally rescind the citizenship of the entity pending determination of its status as Nidu property, and of course to rescind it permanently if the court agrees it is our property."
"This is ridiculous," Heffer said. "No court is going to rule that a sentient being is property. And whether you choose to call her 'it,' or not, Mr. Ambassador, there's no doubt she is a sentient being."
"No doubt at all, Mr. Secretary," Narf-win-Getag said. "However, you are once again-—and I beg your pardons-incorrect in your assumptions. Humans are relatively new to the Common Confederation, which existed before your species was scratching pictures of bison into cave walls. There have been Common Confederation courts of law for just as long. And while it may be unfamiliar to you, there is indeed case law supporting our claim. I refer you to Agnach Agnach-u v. Ar-Thaneg Corporation, adjucated in the CC annulis 4-3325. I believe that would have been right around the time your Hammurabi was handing down his code."
"Ben?" Heffer looked over to Javna.
"I remember it from law school," Javna said. "It's a canonical intellectual property case. If I remember correctly, Agnach-u was a programmer of some sort, and developed a program it claimed was sentient. Ar-Thaneg was its employer and claimed the program as work product, but Agnach-u claimed that since it was sentient, Ar-Thaneg couldn't own it. The courts ruled against Agnach-u. But I don't know that it's on point. The property in question was software, not genetic material, and there was never agreement as to whether the program was sentient or not. It passed some tests but failed others. As a precedent, it's a reach. It's a long reach."