“Really,” Jixtus said. “You were told not to have any direct contact with them.”
“I had no choice,” Haplif said. “You told me you didn’t want anyone knowing what happened here. The planet never had a communications triad, you were out of range of the standard transmitters, and we didn’t have any ships of our own. One of Yiv’s ships was poking around, so I contacted them.”
For a long moment Jixtus was silent. “You did say you didn’t want anyone knowing about the war, didn’t you?” Haplif prompted.
“Yes, of course,” Jixtus said, sounding a bit put out. “I trust you at least kept my name out of it?”
“Your name and mine both,” Haplif assured him. “I didn’t identify or locate the system for them, either. I just gave the ship’s vector and told them it was a group trying to recruit forces against General Yiv. Naturally, they headed after them in hot pursuit, with no doubt righteous fervor in their hearts and minds.”
“No doubt,” Jixtus said. “You understand Yiv and his people very well.”
“I understand everyone very well,” Haplif said. It wasn’t bragging, after all, if it was true.
“I presume you gave the Nikardun their destination?”
“I’m not absolutely sure they had one,” Haplif said, keying a line across the navigational display. “All we had was their departure vector, and they mostly took that because it was as far away from the last group of enemy ships as possible. I only know of one advanced civilization along that route, and I’m not sure the refugees were able to get any data on it with the government computers demolished.”
“Still, there’s a great deal of life in the Chaos,” Jixtus said. “Even our records presumably show only a fraction of it.”
“That’s what they’re counting on,” Haplif said. “From what the Magys said—that’s their title for their leader—from what she said before they took off, I gather the plan was to check each likely system along their path until they found someone they could appeal to for sanctuary. Failing that, they were hoping to find an uninhabited but livable world where they could go to ground. All the Nikardun have to do is follow that same plan, and they’ll eventually find whoever takes them in.”
“Unless you were lied to,” Jixtus said. “Perhaps the refugees know exactly where they’re going.”
Haplif scowled. Unlikely, but possible. His talent for reading and analyzing cultures was unmatched, but individuals could still surprise him, especially those he hadn’t had good opportunities to read. If the Magys had been deliberately vague so as to throw off any possibility of pursuit …
He felt his throat briefly palpitate. Jixtus was playing with him, he realized belatedly. Poking at the very set of skills that made him so valuable, teasing the possibility that Haplif wasn’t as good as he knew he was. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “The Nikardun are following. Whether the refugees reach a sanctuary and are destroyed there or whether they run out of fuel and air and die in space, the end result is the same.”
“But you hope the latter?”
Haplif shrugged. “Fewer chances of loose ends,” he said, keeping his voice casual. “But as I said, the end is the same.” He smiled. “The end that only I could orchestrate.”
Jixtus chuckled, a dry, raspy sort of sound. “Never let it be said that Haplif of the Agbui lacks confidence and pride.”
“Even when his employer suggests those qualities are unwarranted?”
“Especially then,” Jixtus said. “But beware of overconfidence. Eyes held high in pride are less able to see uneven ground ahead.”
“Fortunately for your needs, I can see both,” Haplif said. “At any rate, we’re finished here. We can go home now?”
“You spoke of a Nikardun ship,” Jixtus said. “Are there bases in the area?”
“A couple of small ones, yes,” Haplif said. “Listening and relay points, with limited defenses. They’re not likely to send any warships roaring out to bother anyone.”
“Yet you were able to persuade them to do just that,” Jixtus pointed out. “Others might be able to, as well. Not to mention, Yiv himself may find a new task for them.”
“Well, even if he does, they’re not likely to find this place,” Haplif said doggedly. “The people here keep mostly to themselves these days. I’m not sure any of them has even been outside the system in decades.”
“Except for the refugee ship.”
“Which will be gone soon enough.”
“I trust you’re right,” Jixtus said. “As to your question. Since you mention my needs and your unique ability to fulfill them, there’s one more job I want you to do.”
Haplif looked sideways at the other, a bitter taste in his mouth. He should have guessed this wouldn’t be the end of it, despite Jixtus’s promise. As Haplif understood most beings, he also understood his employer.
Or did he? With the obscuring cloak, hood, and veil hiding all the usual cues of face and eyes, Jixtus could be nearly anyone, from virtually any bipedal species. For that matter, for all the evidence of Haplif’s eyes and ears, he might be sitting next to one of the demons from Agbui myth he’d so often been threatened with as a child.
He shook the thought away. Superstitious nonsense. “You promised we would be done.”
“I’ve changed my mind,” Jixtus said calmly. “What do you know about the Chiss?”
Haplif felt his eyes narrow. “I thought Yiv was going to take care of them.”
“Yiv thinks he’s going to take care of them,” Jixtus corrected. “Some of my colleagues think that, too. Unfortunately, I know better.” Deliberately, the obscured face turned toward Haplif. “Unless you feel the job is beyond you.”
Haplif forced himself to hold that unseen gaze. The Chiss were also the stuff of legend, as terrifying in their own way as the mythical demons. But unlike the demons, they were real. “No, of course not. We can handle them.”
And he meant it. Whatever else the Chiss might be, they had the same hopes, dreams, fears, and blind spots as everyone else. Anyone with those qualities could be taken down. “But I don’t know much about them, so it may take longer than usual.”
“Take all the time you need,” Jixtus said. “After all, Yiv and the Nikardun still have their part of this drama to work through. Your task won’t begin until theirs is ended.”
“Yes,” Haplif said. “A question. If you’re convinced Yiv will fail to destroy the Chiss, why let him continue?”
“Even failures can serve a purpose,” Jixtus said. “In this case, Yiv will draw the Ascendancy’s attention outward, which will better prepare your path.”
“And will presumably also drain Chiss military resources,” Haplif said, nodding.
“Yes,” Jixtus said thoughtfully. “Though perhaps not as successfully as I’d hoped.”
Haplif frowned. “Trouble?”
“I don’t know,” Jixtus said in that same half-thoughtful, half-uneasy tone. “Twenty years ago, even ten, I would have said the destruction of the Chiss Ascendancy would be a straightforward exercise. No longer. A new generation of military leaders has arisen, warriors who cannot be trusted to walk recklessly down the well-worn paths of manipulation set before them. Supreme General Ba’kif, Admiral Ar’alani, a few others—they think and plan outside the normal patterns. Unpredictable. It may make your task more challenging.”
“You give them too much credit,” Haplif said contemptuously. “Or perhaps you give me too little. Military minds and reactions are of no consequence. I deal in the political realm, and I doubt the Chiss leaders have any less ambition and lust for power than anyone else in the Chaos.”