Gods Dogs, Book 3

Diplomacy is more than saying or doing the right things at the right time, it is avoiding saying or doing the wrong things at any time.

Bo Bennett

Anjevin reviewed the fight from the implant recordings of the three-squad leaders who led the troops in the throne room. His martial arts instructor watched with him and evaluated what was happening.

“He rakes the eyes with a left backhand. Slashes the belly of the next in line, and sidekicks the third. Then he back-slashes with the sword. Punches the next guy in the throat with his left. Knees the one coming in, and sidekicks the one behind him.”

Anjevin interrupted, “Did anyone die?”

“No, sire. A couple of nasty wounds, but no one died. I think that was on purpose. See here in this sequence when he stabs with the sword. He misses the liver. Or in the next sequence, the overhand chop goes to the collar bone and trapezius, rather than the neck.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. He probably could have killed all of them. Instead, he killed none.”

After a pause, the instructor added, “It was cold-blooded, brutally efficient, and he barely broke a sweat. My guess is each of these Coyotes could have done the same, including the female.”

“Thank you, master instructor, for your insights,” Anjevin said.

The instructor bowed and left. Anjevin glanced at the other two in the room, his chief of staff and the interim Section Leader.

“This is humiliating on so many levels,” the emperor said with a sigh. “He doesn’t fall through the trap door. He mocks me rather than killing me, which this recording shows he could have done easily. Then he goes through my elite guards like a scythe through grain, and kills not a one. I have no idea how to respond to this.”

“We can’t ignore it,” the chief said. “Too many people know it happened.”

“I have to ignore it,” Anjevin said heavily. “If I acknowledge it, there is no option but to declare war.”

Moss’ embedded A.I. also recorded the fight and sent it to the team. Satya then distributed it to Nomero and the elves. The two guardsmen, who also recorded it, passed it onto Mudark and the other guardsmen. Soon the members of all five empires were reviewing the brutal efficiency of a Coyote in combat.

Nomero told the elves, “The emperor’s attempt to trap and punish Moss failed in a spectacular way.”

Briju said, “It rarely bodes well to embarrass a royal.”

Heng added, “It’s their move. We must wait to see what the emperor will do.”

In the same spoke of the donut, Mudark addressed the senior members of the Accords Council, “Anjevin is smart and not impetuous. I suspect he will make no public acknowledgement of this. He will wait and plan a more foolproof revenge.”

“And the peace process?”

“Among ourselves, he will seek stronger alliances. With the Milky Way delegation, he will be content with only war.”

In Satya’s training room, Moss met with his team. They nitpicked his technique.

At length, Quinn said, “This will force the issue, no doubt.”

Raina clanged through the hatch with, “So here you are. I’ve been monitoring station activity. The recording of Moss’ fight has gone viral. I thought you didn’t like any recordings of Coyote operations. Why didn’t your A.I. jam the signal?”

Moss answered, “It wasn’t something that special. A third year candidate could have done the same. So it’s not something we would need to keep confidential.”

Quinn added, “The primary purpose, though, is to force the issue. The Cherts are the informal leaders of the mammalian empires. They have lost face. What will the Dobal and Baston do now?”

Raina answered, “Well, currently, they are enjoying Chert embarrassment.”

“I suppose,” Pax offered, “they will take us more seriously as they downgrade Chert prestige. The balance of power is in flux.”

“What happens now?” River wondered.

“I think it’s time to we talked to the androids,” Quinn said.

Satya, of course, was listening in, and after a few moments she said, “I have requested an audience through Oscar Juliet Prime, Coyote Quinn. They will see you immediately.”

“Are we safe to go there?” Raina asked.

“The conclave has accepted your diplomatic status,” Satya answered. “The embedded sentient A.I. issue is moot because of that ruling. However, the larger issue is still under review.”

“Well,” Moss said and stood, “this will be interesting. Do we bring an ambassador?”

“Satya,” Quinn said as he stood, “ask Briju to join us.”

“Aye, sir.”

They met Briju at the docking bay and headed to the Machine Autocracy’s spoke of the upper ring.

OJ-4 met them at the connecting passageway and led them to a nearby room with air, gravity, and heat. Much of this spoke was in vacuum as the androids didn’t need air or gravity.

“Oscar Juliet Prime, Delta Rho Prime, and I will meet with you. What is the topic under discussion?”

“Strategies to prevent war,” Quinn answered. “Since that is unlikely, we need a strategy to shorten the war to prevent widespread destruction and loss of life.”

“Understood. Give us three of your minutes and we can begin.”

As they sat in functional chairs around a steel table, Briju asked, “What is your strategy, Quinn?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Well, just so you know, Heng is meeting with Mudark today, and Nomero is meeting with the Chert, Dobal, and Baston negotiators. We like these informal meetings as it helps us establish a sense of the intangibles. With the androids, I would look for logic patterns.”

“My A.I., Shiva, agrees with you.”

Two other androids entered the room and stood with OJ-4 across the table. One was sporting a blue triangular symbol on his left chest.

It was he who spoke, “I am a delta series android. The rho designation is for exo-diplomacy. I am the prime for this region. I am aware of who each of you is. Please state your proposition.”

Quinn said, “I would know your calculation for achieving peace before we get to propositions.”

Quinn knew machine intelligence preferred conclusions, as they could work out the logic on their own. They tolerated the biological need to prove a point-of-view, and that was undoubtedly part of DR Prime’s programming. Quinn, though, was a lateral thinker and intuitive leaps, which irritated other humans, were welcomed by A.I.s.

DR Prime answered, “The most likely scenario is the Chert, Dobal, and Baston will attempt an invasion. If they can overwhelm your forces in the initial battle, they may have the resources to establish a beachhead in your galaxy. If so, it would take a decade for you to push them out.”

“So, peace in about fifteen years,” Quinn concluded. “That’s your worse-case scenario.”

“It is conservative and tentative. We do not know your full military capabilities. For example, you employ manned fighters, whereas we do not.”

Briju said, “You saw the CAP deploy when we met in deep space. They were there in a defensive role.”

“I assume there is an offensive role that found a way around the limitations imposed by the physics of a space battlefield.”

The physics of space combat had to do with a series of engagement envelopes that began at about one light minute out. The closer the combatants got, the more accurate point defenses became. Fighters, at knifepoint range (less than a light second), were easy targets.

Rather than disclose how they inserted fighters, or reveal how they deployed bombers, Briju merely said, “Yes. We are careful with our pilots.”

DR Prime replied, “If they bring three battle fleets, one from each empire, it is unlikely you can match their numbers.”

“True enough,” Moss put in. “But we have a saying that if you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying hard enough.”

“Unconventional weapons, unconventional tactics,” OJ-4 summarized.

“You are used to each other’s battle plans,” Quinn said.

“And you know what those are,” OJ Prime replied. “We noticed your nano-spies on the battleship. We didn’t report them, because we were observers only.”

Raina said, “You didn’t try to infiltrate them either.”

Quinn followed with, “Which brings us to the question of you helping us prevent the attack on our galaxy.”

“Why would we do so?” DR Prime asked.

Briju answered, “Access to our A.I.s.”

There was a pause for many seconds. DR Prime finally said, “If we actively assist you, it would nullify the Accords.”

“If we convince the Iracian Hegemony to aid us,” Quinn countered, “it would do the same. The Accords are fragile. If the Congress joined the Accords, with full membership, you would have a more robust agreement.”

“The Iracians are difficult for us to understand,” DR Prime said. “If you find an agreement with them, we will submit your proposal to a conclave.”

“Thank you,” Briju said and stood. “I fear we are in for a needless conflict. Know that in our hearts we regret we could not find the common ground to fashion peace between our galaxies. We are a peaceful people that know peace is maintained by preparing for war. That paradox informs all our policies. I do hope you will someday stand with us.”