Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [12]
'You mean, as Speaker? My daughter is still the Speaker--' He seemed embarrassed. Cesca Peroni had been cut off from her official role for some time.
'Not exactly the same thing. Simply figuring out what the Roamers can offer our needy colonies is a hefty job. Are you up for it?'
'By the Guiding Star, of course I am.'
And it's just a start. If we're going to establish this government, we need to form alliances. Contact all orphaned colonies. Get the whole trader network passing information. See who still stands by the Hansa and try to convert them to our way of thinking, or at least keep an eye on them.' He began ticking off items on his fingers. 'Then let's look at the recently settled colonies on old Klikiss worlds. They probably don't have any idea what's happening in the Spiral Arm.'
'None of those colonies have green priests, so we have no way of communicating with them,' Yarrod pointed out.
'That works both ways. If they're cut off from us, then they're cut off from the Hansa as well,' Rlinda said. 'It'll be a race to see who convinces them first.'
'Before long,' Peter said, 'Earth will be just a historical footnote.'
Five
Adar Zan'nh
When the remaining ships of the once-proud Solar Navy gathered over Ildira, Adar Zan'nh was dismayed by how few warliners he saw. He had sacrificed almost three full cohorts of warliners - close to half of his fleet! - to defeat the hydrogues at Earth. In his inspection shuttle, he circled the scarred vessels. So few left. As Adar, he could not bear to see his Empire so vulnerable.
At his direction, however, the Ildiran fleet was being rebuilt at an unexpectedly swift pace. Zan'nh found it ironic how much he had come to rely on human engineers to improve his fabrication lines and streamline repair procedures. Under their supervision, Ildirans had already embarked on a whirlwind construction project unlike any ever described in the Saga of Seven Suns.
After finishing his slow inspection rounds, the Adar docked his shuttle at the flagship, which he had personally piloted into battle at Earth. Zan'nh had been through so much with this scorched and bruised warliner that he wished it repaired with all possible speed.
He would be very glad when his brother Daro'h finally returned from Dobro and took over his role as Prime Designate. Zan'nh was a military man, a leader and a fighter, he had not been born to carry out the pampered bureaucratic and reproductive duties of the Mage-Imperator's successor.
Once he got back to the Prism Palace, he and Yazra'h would present a bold proposal to their father. The two of them had conceived an excellent idea for rebuilding the wounded Ildiran Empire, and he was sure the Mage-Imperator would approve. Zan'nh was, after all, a military commander, not an administrator or manager. He was better suited to charging into battle.
Zan'nh stepped into the flagship's command nucleus, surveying the activity all around. The engineer Tabitha Huck moved from station to station studying imagers, activating comm systems, and impatiently issuing orders to Ildiran workers - all of whom, on the Adar's explicit instructions, obeyed her as if she spoke holy law.
Tabitha was a member of Sullivan Gold's cloud-harvester crew from Qronha 3. The crew, held under house arrest on Ildira to prevent them from divulging the Mage-Imperator's plans with the hydrogues, had been indignant, yet when the Adar desperately needed innovation - not a strong suit for any Ildiran - he had' called upon the humans, and they had agreed to help.
To repair and reconstruct Solar Navy ships, new industrial complexes had been placed in orbit. There Ildiran kiths worked together - labourers, miners, engineers - all cooperating perfectly. But traditional Ildiran approaches were not sufficient to allow swift recovery from this disaster. Once again, the humans showed them a new way.
Tabitha looked harried as she juggled progress reports, lists of resource allotments, and team distribution schedules. She was what Sullivan described as a 'Type A' personality,