Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [15]
8
OSIRA'H
Centuries of planning had culminated in this meeting between the Mage-Imperator and the hydrogue emissary. Osira'h had not expected the leader of the Ildiran Empire to appear so helpless and desperate. This communication, this "negotiation," was entirely one-sided. What had she missed? Did he not have a plan? He must have!
In the skies above, visible through the dome's colored panes, hovered the armada of warglobes that had carried her from the depths of Qronha 3. After forcing the hydrogues to look inside her mind, Osira'h had coerced them into this encounter. Violent hydrogue thoughts still streamed through the conduit of her mind, splashing hot droplets of comprehension along the way. The hydrogues reached into her brain and stole whatever information they needed, but they had no interest in understanding.
Osira'h had been inside their heads, as well, and knew they would not react to an attempted negotiation in the way her father expected. Through her, they had seen what the Mage-Imperator hoped to achieve from this meeting, and they were unimpressed. She sensed that the emissary meant what he threatened. Even as hydrogues suffered casualties and great damage in their clashes with the faeros, they were ready to annihilate the Ildirans merely to get rid of a nuisance.
She listened carefully, without speaking, watching the Mage-Imperator. The girl had met her father for the first time only recently and did not yet understand what sort of man Jora'h was. She had many different images of him: father, Mage-Imperator, her mother's cherished lover, and brother of deceitful Dobro Designate Udru'h.
Osira'h had detailed memories of Jora'h from her mother. Those flashbacks were heartwarming, filled with love and tenderness. Yet the girl remembered feeling that same sort of loving pride toward the Dobro Designate--and he had fooled her. Had Jora'h done the same to Nira?
Right now, Osira'h wanted--needed--to see him not as a father or a cherished lover, but as the Mage-Imperator, leader of billions of Ildirans. She wanted him to demonstrate his strength, the strength of the Empire.
But the hydrogues were much stronger.
The emissary continued in a booming, accusatory voice: "Ildirans once had a powerful connection with the faeros, our mortal enemies. In our current battle, we have already extinguished one of your suns. It is just the beginning."
"We have no alliance with the faeros," Jora'h insisted. "The faeros attack you, and humans use their Torches to ignite your planets, but Ildirans are not part of your war. We have no interest in hydrogue planets. There is no dispute between our races. We are neutral."
"You do not understand our war."
"No, I do not! I understand only that we have become part of it, through no desire of our own."
The emissary paused as he sifted for a name. "Your . . . Adar Kori'nh destroyed many of our warglobes."
Osira'h sat up abruptly. The hydrogues had taken that specific name from her memory, proving that the strange aliens understood more about Ildirans than they admitted.
Even the Mage-Imperator showed surprise at how much they had drawn from his daughter. "Adar Kori'nh did no more than defend Ildirans against unprovoked hydrogue attacks." Jora'h took a step closer to the environment chamber, and his voice hardened. "Thus, you have glimpsed what we could do if forced to bring our military might to bear. The Solar Navy has thousands more ships. Do not underestimate us. We could inflict extreme damage on you."
The emissary's indignation crashed into Osira'h's mind like breakers against a seawall. "And