Cress

Chapter 19

   Kai scooped his hair off  his  brow, staring  at  the  holograph that floated
  above  the conference table with a mixture of horror and awe. Part of him
   wanted to laugh.Not at all because it was  funny. But  because  their  didn't 
seem,  to  be  any  better reaction.
      The holograph  showed   the  planet  Earth. And  all  around  it  were  hun-
  dreds  of small yellow lights, many clumped above Earth's most-popu-
  lated cities.
        Hundreds of tiny spaceships.
         They were surrounded.
         "And they're all Lunar?" he said. "We're sure?"
          "Without  a  doubt," said  European  Prime  Minister  Bromstad, his  face
   grouped with  the  other  Earthen  Union  leaders  on the   massive  netscreen.
   "What's   most disconcerting is  that  we  were  given  zero indication  of
     their  approach. It's  as   if they all just ... flickered into existence, ten thou-
    sand kilometers over our heads."
           "Or,"  said  Queen  Camilla  of  the  United  Kingdom,  "as  if  they were  there
   all along, but we  were  unable  to  detect  them. Haven't  we  been  hearing 
    for   years about these Lunar ships sneaking  into  our  atmosphere,  bypas-
    sing  all  of  our  security measures?"

    
         "Does  it  matter  how  long  they've  been  there,  or  how  they  got there  in 
    the first place?" asked  American  Republic President Vargas. "They're  ob-
    viously  there now, and this is obviously a threat."
          Kai squeezed his eyes shut. "But why? She's getting exactly what she
    wants. Why threaten us now? Why show us her hand?"
           "Perhaps   to ensure   the  Commonwealth  doesn't   out   of   the  mar-
       riage  alliance at the last minute?" Bromstad suggested.
            "But she has absolutely no reason—" Kai  huffed  and dropped his   hand 
         to  the back off his chair ... what had once been his father's  chair.  He  was
       far  too  restless to sit down as he glanced around  at  his  cabinet   members
        and  advisers,   his country's   educated   experts   who   were looking  as  
         baffled  as   he   felt. "What   do you all make of this?"
              His  experts  traded   looks   among   themselves,   before   Chairman Deshal
       Huy start  to  drum  his  fingers   against   the   table. "It   does   seem   to   indi-
        cate  that they're sending us a message of some sort."
                "Perhaps  this  is   their   of   RSVPing   for   the    wedding,"   muttered Gov-
            ernor-General Williams from Australia.
                      "Perhaps we    should  ask     them,"    said Kon    tapping a    finger
               against  his brow. "If Luna is  to  become  a  peaceful  ally  of  the  Earthen
                  Union, we  might  as well start opening the lines of communication."
                 "Naturally,"  said  Africa's  Prime Minister  Kamin. Kai  could  all  but  hear
             her rolling her eyes. "As they've been so open with us in the past."
"And you have a better idea?"
"I  certainly  do,"  said  Williams. "This  could  be  our  best  chance  to  re-
  cipeocate the recent invasion. We should coordinate  a  full-scale  attack
  —take   out   as   many of these ships as we can. Show  Luna  that  they can't
  keep  threatening  us  every time Levana throws another fit. If they want a
  fight, we'll fight."
   "War," said Prime Minister Kamin. "You're suggesting we start a war."
           "They started the war. I'm suggesting we end it."
          Kamin  sniffed. "And you  think  our  militaries  are  prepared  to  launch
  an  attack  against an entire fleet of   Lunar  ships?   We don't  have  the
faintest  idea  what   type of weaponry they have, and  I  think  the  recent  at-
tacks   illustrated  that  they're  not going  to  fight  by  any  strategies  we're  fa-
miliar  with. They're  unpredictable,   and as much  as  it  pains  me  to  admit,
our  military  expertise  has  suffered  from  generations of peace. Our num-
bers are  down, few  of  our  men  have  been  trained  for  space combat—"
"I  agree  with  Australia,"  interrupted  Queen  Camilla. "This  could  be
the  only time we ever have the element of surprise on our side."
      "Surprise?" barked  President  Vargas. "They're  surrounding  us. What
if  they're hoping that  we  attack  them? What  if  all  this  drivel  about  the
marriage  alliance has been a ruse, just to keep us distracted while they
move into position?"
Kai's knuckles whitened on the back of the  chair. "The alliance isn't a
  ruse, and nobody is starting a war!"
       Camilla  smirked. "Oh,  yes. I'd  forgotten  that  the  young  emperor  is   so  
  very knowledgeable in these matters."
          His blood   began  to  simmer.  "This holograph   indicates  that  while
these  ships may  have  earth surrounded,  they  are  still  outside  the   territo-
rial  designations  of the Earthen Union. Correct?"
      "For now," said Governor-General Williams.
"Right. Which  means  that  for  now,  these  ships aren't   violating any
terms  that we've   established   with   Luna. I'm not  saying  Levana   isn't
taunting  us   or   threatening us, but it would be foolish  of  us  to   react  to  it 
without  first  coming  up  with some sort of strategy."
Williams  shook  his  head. "By  the  time  we've   finished   strategizing,  we 
very well may have been obliterated."
"Fine," said Kai, squaring  his  shoulders."The  Treaty  of  Bremen  states 
    we  need a majority rule to execute an act  of  war  against  any  political  en-
   tity. All  in  favor  to attack these Lunar ships, say aye."
       "Aye,"  said  Williams  and  Camilla  in  unison. The  other  three  leaders
  remained silent, but Kai could tell  from their  pinched  expressions  that
  no  one   was   happy about it.
       "Measure fails."
        "Then what do you propose we do?" asked Queen Camilla.
   "There is a Lunar delegate staying  in  the  palace  right  now," said  Kai,
cringing to himself. "I'll  speak  with  him. See  if  I  can   figure  out  what's
going   on. The alliance negotiations are between  Luna  and  the   Common-
   wealth,  so  just  let  me handle it."
He canceled  the  communication  link  before  the  other  leaders could
  argue, or see how  frustrated  he  was  becoming. Frustrated  that  he  never 
   knew  what Levana was thinking or what she was going  to  do  next. Frus-
   trated  that  he  was bowing to her every whim and yet she still  decided  to 
   pull  a  stunt  like  this,  for no apparent reason other than to get the rest of
  the Union all  riled  up. Frustrated that, if he were honest with  himself, 
         a  large  part of  him  agreed  that  attacking those ships might be the best
   course of action.
   But if war broke out, they had  no  chance  of  competing  the peace
  alliance, which meant no hope for getting their hands on the letumosis
  antidote.
  He glanced  around  at  the  other  men  and  women  sitting around  the
     holograph. "Thank you," he said, his voice sounding almost calm. "That
    will be all."
  "Your Majesty," said Nainsi, rolling into the boardroom as the  experts 
       filed  out, "you have a meeting scheduled with Tashmi-jie in six min-
utes."
      He stifled a groan. "Let me guess. We must be discussing table linens
today?"
      "I believe catering staff, Your Majesty."
      "Ah, right, that sounds like an excellent use of my time." He clipped
his portscreen to his belt. "Let her know I'm on my way."