A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [156]
Even so, Kori’nh felt wrong. Ildirans had waited throughout their history for a worthy foe, building the Solar Navy into a spectacular spacefleet in preparation for just such an encounter. Ekti stockpiles had been maintained for centuries. Suspicious humans had questioned why the Ildirans would invest so much time and effort, so many resources, on an interstellar navy when the Empire had never been threatened by an outside force. Yet to him it had been the natural way of things. The Solar Navy should be ready for any challenge.
But the Mage-Imperator had specifically forbidden him to engage the aliens. “Gather information, Adar, but do not provoke the hydrogues. You may defend our colonies to the best of your abilities, however, if that should prove necessary.”
As he had tried—and failed—to do on Hyrillka.
Under such constraints, Kori’nh had dispatched his maniples on regular patrols across the landscape of the Empire. In six planetary systems, the Adar’s primary grouping had run into no difficulties, seen no evidence of the hydrogues. As they passed each gas giant—now unworked by either Ildiran cloud-harvesting cities or smaller Roamer skymines—he wondered how many enemies lurked within those opaque mists.
“We are approaching the Heald system, Adar,” said his navigator.
At Heald, a pair of splinter colonies had recently been consolidated onto a single world, where their increased numbers generated a stronger bond through the thism.
The Adar said, “Maintain surveillance. Do not assume an aggressive posture.” The words galled him, and even his crew seemed uneasy with the situation. Would future stanzas of the Saga paint him as a coward? “We must hope the hydrogues leave our people alone.”
The Ildiran warliners glided like a school of fish through empty space. They circled the gas giants in the Heald system, detecting no disturbances as they approached the consolidated splinter colony. When the septa took up stations in orbit, the Heald Designate cheered him. The colonists praised the Solar Navy and thanked them for their support.
If only they knew that his protective fleet could do little to defend the colony should an attack come, then they would not be so grateful.
Kori’nh paced the command nucleus. He had pointedly chosen not to wear his most prestigious military decorations. They seemed false to him now, empty. Kori’nh had not earned them through any act of bravery or ingenuity, but simply for his skill in pageantry—for skydances and military maneuvers against imaginary enemies. He had evacuated settlers on Crenna; he had brought relief supplies, constructed public works.
But such things seemed foolishly unimportant to him. In all of Ildiran history, Kori’nh was the first Solar Navy commander to serve during actual wartime. He should have been the grandest Adar ever recorded in the Saga of Seven Suns. And yet he had done nothing worthwhile. Nothing.
He thought of eager Tal Zan’nh and felt ashamed. What kind of example was he providing for the Prime Designate’s eldest son?
His studies in human military history had introduced him to the exploits of Napoleon, Hannibal, Genghis Khan. True warriors. The Earth Defense Forces, far less impressive than the Solar Navy, continued to prod the hydrogues. And though their skirmishes ended in failure as well, they were not cowed. They never stopped producing creative new weapons systems. Even daredevil Roamers continued to harvest ekti at gas giants despite suffering great losses. Instead of hiding, the humans tried, again and again.
The Mage-Imperator, however, had other plans, and Adar Kori’nh had no choice but to follow them. Even so, he felt in his heart that the Solar Navy was too passive and skittish. It was simply not right.
81
ESTARRA
Though nothing could compare with the worldforest, Estarra enjoyed the peaceful gardens on Earth. Here, the paths were easy to locate since they were laid down with flagstones. The shrubs and lilies—so carefully manicured, watered, fertilized—were exquisite. So far, though, Estarra had found nothing wild in the sprawling arboretum,