Room 2A, Rent-a-Space, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches
Genshi of Clan Whitecrest
The meeting room had a very comfortable couch and variable gravity controls along with an excellent air filtration system. It was tailor-made for aliens visiting on business and even had a small “minibar” of comestibles safe for Gaoians: all human food that had been carefully screened for toxicity. Everything was pre-packaged and bore a tiny stamp of a stylized Gaoian-like head on the label indicating “safe for consumption.”
Daar had already eaten half of everything before their park encounter. This was on top of the four “corn dogs” he’d consumed at the stand while Genshi savored his single order. Of course, Stonebacks were known for their massive appetites, and at Daar’s size and strength, food was important. The ongoing training and deployments with his JETS team kept his metabolism very high.
But Daar was sated for the moment. He paid no attention to the remaining food, prowled in, hopped up on the couch, sprawled out luxuriantly and let out a great belch of contentment. He settled in and awaited Genshi’s attention. It was polite and respectful to await one’s guest, after all, and Genshi approved. It meant Daar considered himself in the inferior position; he would clearly be asking a favor or a boon, or perhaps he was seeking counsel. But he was also being rude and Uncivilized; by sprawling out like he had, he showed he considered Genshi to be no threat to his person, or that the massive Stoneback presumed a deep and extremely familiar friendship.
True though that was, it could still be considered uncouth to display such trust—or such disdain, depending on context—so readily. Genshi considered that while he contemplated a “ham sandwich” from the minibar. With most Stonebacks it would be safe to assume there was nothing deliberate or calculated about any of that; Daar was the Stoneback, after all, and they had a well-deserved reputation of being ill-mannered yet well-meaning and friendly louts who were difficult to hate and who formed animosities very slowly but with absolute conviction. Their behavior was just “one of those things” other males accepted.
But Daar was a Champion, and that meant his presumption was a carefully calculated display. Genshi learned long ago to never underestimate the big brute and he was reminded of that earlier in the park; Daar had quite deliberately hyperextended Genshi’s left leg just enough that it would not be immediately noticed, and to Genshi’s growing frustration he wasn’t sure when Daar had managed that trick. And he’d done it at a small cost to his own ego, too. The message there, and now in the room: don’t fuck with me.
The message was well-received. Good friends they may be, but they were of different Clan, and their roles were inherently adversarial even if they were allied. Genshi wasn’t upset. In the layered language of the Champions, Daar’s message—and its subtle delivery—was one of utmost respect. That wasn’t something Daar gave freely. He was always friendly but rarely did he accord such high esteem.
Which, now that Genshi considered it, was itself a message. Regaari had been an excellent influence on the big lout over the years. Good.
Genshi decided to try the “ham” and opened the wrapper. He grinned, took a bite, and spoke with his mouth full of the strangely sweet and savory meat. “What do youtf need of me?”
Daar chittered amusedly for a moment. “I need to pick your brain.”
Genshi swallowed and raised an eyebrow. “That’s an…evocative phrase. I can only assume it’s Human…?”
Daar oozed off the couch and slinked over to the fridge, intent on finding something to munch. “Yup! Means I want your advice.”
“Ah. Something must be bothering you deeply, then.”
Daar sighed, loudly, and fetched a glass bottle of Coca-Cola from the fridge. He flicked its top off with one of his enormous claws and sampled the drink. “Yeah. And I’m gonna hafta share some pretty serious Clan business with ‘ya, too. Stuff I don’t wanna share.”
Daar growled that last bit with a note of bitterness, but to his credit he then qualified the statement. “I mean, I trust you with it, but still…”
Genshi listened carefully as Daar talked. The big brute stalked back to the couch and lightly leapt onto the cushions and sat upright so he could enjoy his drink. That particular posture made him look preposterously large. Which of course he was. “Have you thought about the war with the Hierarchy? And the Hunters? And what we’re gonna hafta do t’win it?”
Genshi tilted his head in quizzical annoyance. “It’s occupied my every waking thought for over two years now.”
“Yeah yeah.” Daar waved off the implied insult. “I mean, have you thought about what we’re gonna do after we secure Gao? I mean…we can’t let the Hunters live. We gotta kill them off I think pretty much completely. I dunno what we’re gonna do ‘bout the Hierarchy, that’s big-brain stuff I ain’t so good at…”
“Agreed,” Genshi said with a gentle, teasing humor. “But this has also occupied my thoughts. The logistics alone…”
Daar duck-nodded, “Yup. Lemme jump ahead a whole bunch. You think about personnel count? Like, recruiting goals and all that?”
That grabbed Genshi’s interest. “I have…” He decided to go fishing for intel. “You have a pressing concern. What?”
“Oh Cousin, I really do. And I don’t know if we can solve it.” Genshi kept a perfectly neutral face but Daar’s little slip-up was…warming. He seldom spoke so openly or honestly about their relationship, which was understandable given the needs of Clan politics. Neither of the Champions had much freedom to simply Be. But…to be Cousin, talk as Cousins…it was wonderful.
That statement, though: it broke Genshi right out of his little reverie. He analyzed the situation and realized, suddenly: “I’ve missed something.”
Daar paused for a moment, woolgathering. At length he sighed and said, “How many of us will it take to win this war? Gaoians, I mean. How many?”
“I imagine it would take many teams—”
“Stop. How many teams do you think Whitecrest can muster?” There was an increasing urgency to Daar’s questions and Genshi rarely saw this side of his Friend and Cousin. He loved it when Daar got thoughtful; Genshi always learned from Daar’s perspective. They were excellent foils for one another.
“Well, that depends on a number of factors. Our current caseload—”
“It ain’t gonna be enough.”
Genshi stood silent. Daar was clearly agitated by something and needed to speak, so he pondered, then stood up, set his bottle down on the table, and paced the room. “It won’t be enough no matter what number you say. We’ve been so busy thinking about saving Gao we haven’t been thinking about killing every single one of those motherfuckers and we gotta. We gotta think about that right now ’cuz once this goes down we’re on war footing.”
Genshi thought about that. “My assumption was we’d simply bombard their homeworlds and destroy their space stations.”
“Nuh, that won’t finish ‘em.” He kept pacing. “We’re gonna hafta dig these evil things outta places, Cousin. They’re gonna get smart an’ do stuff like take over cities, get us into urban conflict…”
“That would be drastically outside of their character.”
“Says who? Some of ‘em gotta have a survival instinct. Like their Alphas.”
Ah. “A good point. Still…hmm.” Genshi realized suddenly that he was out of his depth. His Clan’s tactics and doctrine had always been focused on modern security needs and the complex, lower-intensity battlespace of Clan relations.
The problem before them needed more…traditional considerations.
Realization. “You’re talking about an army. A real army, like we’ve not had…”
“Since Father Fyu. Yeah. I’m thinking we’re gonna need to raise an army and it’s gonna hafta be big. Really big. You ever study this kind of military theory?”
“Briefly, as contrast to current security practice.”
Daar tilted his head. “Did you know I was once on a Fang?”
“Yes, which is one of the reasons I sent you to the pirate fleets.”
“Ha, I knew it!” He splayed his ears in amused contentment.
“Well…why waste an opportunity? You can’t have been on a Fang for very long though. You’ve been a very busy Champion.”
“Yup, just four years. They put me on a Fang as soon as I made Brother and Stud, then when I made Stud-Prime they sent me to High Mountain for War College and made me a Fang Warleader. I was good at it too, ‘bout the first time I ever felt really smart, yeah? Then I took advanced combatives, someone suggested I challenge the Champion, I did and I won…”
“And you were still Fang Leader?”
“Champion, Stud-Prime, and First-Fang Warleader!” Daar said it proudly and wistfully. “For a while, anyway. I was a very young Champion, only nineteen, remember?”
“I was one of your mentors, Daar. I know this.”
“I was a handful if I remember…” He splayed his ears again.
“Yup.” Genshi flicked his in a complex semaphore of exasperated amusement.
“Heh. So anyway, Stoneback Champions are supposed t’be experienced Warleaders and qualified Warfathers on top of everything else. But I was too young to earn Warfather the traditional way, so after I got some leadership experience with First-Fang, Grandfather wanted ‘ta school me up really hard while I was still good at learning, y’know? They sent me back to High Mountain Fortress to finish my studies and earn Master of War. I really liked it, Cousin. And the thing I studied the hardest was armies, and tactics, and logistics and stuff. Did my dissertation on it, too.”
“We only briefly had modern armies like the Humans, though.”
“Sure, but those armies got used. The Riverplain Clan feuds had ‘ta be suppressed ‘bout three hundred years ago.”
“Your military was less than ten thousand strong, Daar. The Humans would consider it like their ‘American Marine Corps’ but much smaller.”
“Still worth learning from, too bad we had to disband ‘em. You know why?”
“The political repercussions.”
Daar duck-nodded solemnly. “Yup, the Mother-Supreme at the time wasn’t happy with us. She thought we ‘didn’t give peace a chance’ or something.”
Genshi rolled his eyes. “Of course she did, she was a fool.”
“Mhmm. Anyway, both Clans were bent on murderin’ each other to the last Brother. It took our total military capability to suppress it along with Firefang air support and we were seriously considering nuclear weapons ‘cuz we were afraid we didn’t have enough ‘Backs ‘ta actually do it.”
Genshi considered that thoughtfully. “Really? The general consensus is that your victory was decisive.”
“Yup, and it was a lie. There was just too much area to control and too much resistance in the cities we hadta dig out. And it was gonna spill over into the general public, too. We hadta stop it, hard. That’s why we got so…aggressive.”
Genshi chittered darkly. “That’s an understatement of a lifetime. You executed the Brotherhood of both Clans and spared only the Associates. You castrated any Clanless who were of any assistance to the belligerents. The death toll was vast, Daar. Was that really…necessary?”
“Has anyone challenged our will since then?”
“…Admittedly, no.”
“Yup, ‘cuz we won. How many Fangs do you think we have right now?”
Genshi squirmed uncomfortably, because of course he did have a pretty good source which claimed the actual numbers were modest. “Not many.”
Daar sighed and slumped on the couch, deflated. “We only have four, Genshi.”
Genshi wasn’t expecting a number that small! “What!? Only four? But how?”
“Demand for our other services is really high and so are our standards. The population boom has put a lotta pressure on our civil engineers, our tradesmen and our farm production…and everything else, too.” Daar sighed, “It’s not easy to make a ‘Back, Genshi. We’ve had to shift resources towards, y’know, what’s actually needed an’ what the likely threat is.”
“That doesn’t explain how you’ve maintained such a fearsome reputation with such a small force.”
Daar gave him a sly little flick of the ears, “Or how we’ve fooled you?”
“…And everyone, it would seem.”
Daar shook his head and rumbled a deep amused grumble. “Genshi, my Clan has been practicing war for tens of thousands of years. We haven’t forgotten ANY of it and neither has Highmountain. Didja think we couldn’t pull off a little deception and planning? That kinda thing is what we do. Why d’ya think we do civil engineering?”
“…It’s pretty obvious, when you put it that way.”
“Mhmm.” Daar again oozed off the couch, slinked toward the minibar, and snuffled for more snacks. “Ain’t nobody do quiet small unit tactics better than y’all. But large scale stuff? Shock troops? That’s us and we’re good. Too good. We’ve been able to get away with doing more with less…so we have.”
“And you won’t be able to grow fast enough. None of us will.”
“Nope, and we gotta do the same thing to the Hunters that we did to the Riverplain Clans or when we united Gao. But think about the scale! It’s gonna need millions of ‘Backs, Genshi, at least. This war won’t be won even with every Whitecrest operative, or every One-Fang ship, or every Firefang pilot. There aren’t enough of us to do it. Not even remotely close. And don’t even get me started on civic defense. Straightshield would need to be a hunnerd times bigger and their job really needs well-trained people.”
Genshi had a sudden insight. “There are enough Clanless, though.”
Daar duck-nodded agreeably. “Yup! Millions of ‘em. Billions! We can’t make ‘em Brothers, though. We’d need ta’ cut corners and that wouldn’t sit well with any of my ‘Backs. What about your Clan? Can you just make a bunch more Whitecrest?”
“We all suffer from the same problem, there,” Genshi agreed. “Our standards are exacting and we all look for the statistical outliers who are perfect for our needs. But what can the average Gaoian do, I wonder?”
“Amazing things, ‘specially in number. You really need to spend more time in workhouses, their teamwork rivals any Clan!” Daar chirred in pride-by-proxy.
“So really, all they are lacking is formal organization and clear leadership.”
“Exactly! It’s just…where do we get that leadership?”
He’s asking rhetorically, thought Genshi. Best to play along.
“Surely there are already respected Clanless with influence and experience?”
“Nuh, not really, not like we need. Lemme ask you this: how much experience and everythin’ did it take for you to put my happy tail on a pirate ship? I mean…I know you planned the whole thing, like, twelve steps ahead. You’ve been doin’ this your whole life in a Clan where that’s all you do.”
“Indeed, and that’s why I know you’re selling the Clanless strangely short.”
“Nah, I’d never do that! I love ‘em, but they—”
“Daar. The fact that you love them so much is exactly why.”’
Daar sighed. “Cousin, you’re missing the point. I ain’t sayin’ they can’t do it. I’m sayin’ we gotta teach ‘em. Which, good! But who? I mean, if we’re gonna do a modern army again, this one’s gotta work with the Humans, right? We’d need ta’ organize along the same kinda lines…”
Daar obviously knew what he wanted to discuss, Genshi was certain of it. Clever though he was, Daar was dreadfully artless when it came to leading the witness, as it were.
“As I understand the way Human militaries are organized, you have the Officers leading young Associates, as it were, but you also have leaders with a smaller focus and none of the political influence. Something…in between.”
“Yup! Enlisted, ‘NCOs’ and Officers. Not too different from the Rings in Stoneback, really. Enlisted would be your Clanless. ‘NCOs’ would promote from there…something between an Associate and an Officer?”
“Taking on additional responsibility without changing their core mission.”
“Yup, that’s how Clan SOR is organized. Works pretty well! I’m a sergeant, though we’re also ‘special operators’ so that’s a little different…”
“You’re confusing the issue.”
“Sarry. But that’s the problem, where do we get the officers?”
“Appropriately knowledgeable leaders from…any Clan, really. I presume it would be the militarily competent Clans who bore the brunt of this.”
Daar stole the remaining ham sandwich from Genshi with a playful growl. “Nah, it’d be all of ‘em. Look at Human armies, they need everything a city does. Food, computer stuff, industry…That’s where this gets real tricky though. How the fuck do we get all the Clans to agree to this? They’d prolly worry we’re war-mongering, or it was a ploy to do…I dunno, something.” Daar grumbled, “Some Clans still ain’t happy with us for what Fyu did. How do we fix that?”
Genshi had an answer immediately. “Well, what do Clans want?”
“Mating contracts!” Daar waggled his eyebrows.
“You’re exactly right, but think up a level, Daar. What are mating contracts?”
“Well…I mean…that’s what they are.” Daar gave Genshi a look like that was the most obvious thing and couldn’t possibly have escaped Daar’s notice.
“Yes,” said Genshi a bit exasperatedly. “Buy why do Clans want them?”
“To mate! What’s your point Genshi?” Daar was losing patience.
Genshi sighed. Sometimes the ‘brownie’ stereotypes really were true. Daar (despite his best efforts to appear otherwise) was one of the most intelligent Gaoians that Genshi had ever met. But Daar was also practically-minded to a fault, so much so he sometimes failed to apply imagination where it counted most.
I best spell it out for him. “What we all want, Daar…is a future.”
Daar pant-grinned with sudden realization, flomped onto the floor next to Genshi in a deliberately provocative display of Uncivilized behavior and stretched out luxuriantly. “That’s a real silverfur way t’put it, but I like it! Succinct? Is that the right word?”
Genshi rolled his eyes. “You know perfectly well that it is and you’re just pretending to have a limited vocabulary.”
“That’s only mostly true,” Daar grumbled, though by the way his ear flicked Genshi suspected he’d scored a hit. “Regaari’s been makin’ me study!” He wiggled on his back with a happy expression, scratching against the carpet.
Genshi’s eye twitched slightly.
“Good! You most assuredly need it.” A gentle insult helped, and he said it with a fond set of his ears. Daar chittered and pawed at Genshi from on the floor. He was growing playful which was a good sign; the talk had served its function. But Genshi wasn’t done, he wanted to explore the concept.
“Let’s think this through Cousin. I think we agree: we need an army Clan. I think it needs to be strongly tied to the existing Clans.”
“Would keep anxiety down,” Daar agreed. “But…it’s gonna be a really different Clan. Like, totally different. I hate ‘ta say it but the standards…”
“Will demand nothing less than perfect teamwork and discipline. Phrase it right and it wouldn’t feel inferior at all. They’re just…selecting for different things.”
“Fair ‘nuff.” He tugged at Genshi’s legs, trying to pull him down gently. “How’d they feel ‘bout not being independent, though?”
Genshi ignored Daar’s play invitation and pressed forward. “The Humans largely exercise direct civilian control over their militaries. This is analogous to that.”
Daar nodded thoughtfully. “In the case of the Americans they’re actually proud of that, too. ‘Army Clan is for Gao First.’ Or something.”
“A good thought. STOP IT!” Daar had escalated and gently clawed at Genshi’s legs. He stepped aside and Daar grumped and retreated back to the couch.
“Fine fine, killjoy. Needs t’be career advancement, too.”
Genshi shook a bit and resumed the conversation. “I suppose Clans could recruit from this new Clan’s Brothers. They’d need an officer corps of their own but…for safety we need to keep this new Clan firmly under everyone’s control. That’s especially true since Stoneback will be dominating the leadership.”
“Yup. We’re the only Clan who’ve ever had Warfathers or Generals, and we’re the only Clan that still studies these kinds of formations. Maybe each Corps is led by the appropriate Clan?”
“Yes, but we’re getting into the details. Do we agree it’s possible?”
“Yeah. But, uh, okay. So I learned a phrase from the Humans. ‘Sanity check.’ It’s basically…does this all sound like a good idea to you, Genshi?”
“Good how? Good-necessary, or good-ethical?”
“Yeah.”
Genshi combed his whiskers thoughtfully. “The necessary part, I think, is not in dispute…”
“I didn’t think so. I’d pretty much thought we’d need t’do this, I just didn’t know how ta’ start, or if you’d agree.”
“As for the ethics…who would we harm? We might upset the status quo of power among the Clans but a status quo is neither inherently good nor inherently evil. Sometimes, instability is necessary.”
“Yeah.” Daar flomped around on the couch a bit, then sat up and invited Genshi to sit. Genshi politely declined for the moment.
“Meanwhile, we enfranchise potentially millions of Clanless.”
“Yeah.” Daar fixed Genshi with a look. “And Whitecrest will support? It’s not going anywhere if y’all don’t throw in.”
“We will. I must first make amends with Grandfather…”
That was a long-overdue action. Genshi’s actions as of late had greatly exceeded his authority as Champion and he’d promised to meet with Hyarrin at the earliest opportunity. Hyarrin had shown exquisite patience…but it was time.
Daar understood. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
He’s so earnest and open. “No, thank you. I need to fix this myself.”
“…Okay. You’re always welcome at any Stoneback Enclave, you know that.”
That was telling; Daar was very worried for Genshi’s future.
“Thank you, but I doubt that will be necessary. Hyarrin will either forgive everything or he’s compromised already and the entire project is doomed.”
Daar shook his head. “Never thought I’d see something’ like this in my lifetime. I’m gettin’ too old for this kinda thing.”
“I am older yet,” said Genshi in an amused tone.
“Yeah, but we ‘Backs don’t live that long most times. You know that.”
“…You have decades left, Daar, and you are in frankly unbelievably good health. There is also that new Cruezzir-G compound coming onto the market. Surely your prospects are bright?”
“Heh, ‘prolly. I dunno. Ain’t ever been a Stoneback who pushed it as hard as me though.” He flexed outrageously in place, “It’s been a lotta fun! But all this, it’s gotta have consequences, right?”
“That’s another big word! Regaari has been a good influence on you.”
“Ha! He has, I love ‘em! But…”
“Daar,” said Genshi honestly, “I suspect you and I will grow very old together.”
“…” Daar stood up, walked over, picked Genshi up, and scooped him into a full-body hug. “Thank you.”
Genshi returned the hug. “It is nothing but the truth. Now put me down…?”
A playful chitter, “Nah.” Daar stomped back to the couch and dragged Genshi with him in a forceful happy-snuggle of looming chocolate hulk. Genshi sighed. Such indignities were the price he paid for their friendship.
“Anyway,” he said as Daar stretched out lazily, and dragged the smaller Champion along. “I think the concept is there. Details matter but we’ll hash those out later. The pitch is there, too. We just need an appropriate salesman, really.”
“Yeah. There’s only two. We need someone who can call a Conclave.”
That surprised Genshi. Even he wasn’t prepared to suggest so drastic an action; the last Conclave was called nearly four hundred years prior with the advent of nuclear weapons. But he thought on the problem…and Daar was right. What they were contemplating was that kind of serious.
“And Mother-Supreme Yulna is right out, meaning we must convince Champion Loomi. And Loomi is…notoriously difficult to move on any topic.”
Daar grumbled irritably, “Yeah, you’re right like usual. I’m just worried on how we’d hafta do it. I don’t like where my mind is goin.’”
“If I know you well enough, your mind is turning to the possibility of violence.”
“…Yeah. That’s why I worry, Cuz. I’m not a very nice guy sometimes.”
“Incentives come in all forms, and violence is often a necessary incentive. The Humans call it ‘carrot and stick’ I believe.”
“Mhmm.” And amused grumble from Daar, “By the way, carrots’re really tasty! And crunchy. BEST veggie!” Daar snuggled a little harder.
“Are you also this enthusiastic about sticks?”
“Sticks are lotsa fun! You can snap ‘em, toss ‘em, catch ‘em, beat Brothers with ‘em…”
“I think the idiom in this case intends for the stick to be a bad thing.”
“Prolly,” chittered the massive oaf. “But…okay. So how? We’re gonna need ’ta get drastic with Loomi. Like, show up uninvited. Forcefully. Really forcefully.”
“Unsubtle, but…yes, I think you may be right. He seldom grants audiences.”
“It’ll get people’s attention, that’s for damn sure. That news would spread fast.”
“Then we should strive to amplify the sense of gravitas. We must convince them all that their Clans simply will not have a future unless they join us in this.”
Daar had that calculating look he occasionally wore. “I think we prolly should get First-Fang t’throw their weight around, ‘cuz we’ve also gotta tell ‘em some DEEP RELIC an’ that means securin’ a buncha posturing Champions’ skulls.”
“In that case, why not really bring in the nuclear option?”
Daar tilted his head exactly like a cub in a bout of genuine curiosity. “Huh?”
“If we’re going to persuade them to commit to building a Human-style military precipitated by Human findings and Human actions in response to Human intelligence in the face of the Humans’ enemies…”
Daar paused for a moment, face blank. Then an utterly savage grin spread across his huge, blunt muzzle. “Oh, that’s evil.”
“I’m not completely civilized, you know. I imagine this will be fun.”
Daar crushed the breath from Genshi and rolled over into a pin, then snuffled in his crest playfully. “Yup! An’ if we’re careful nobody’ll get hurt!”
“An admirable goal. Hrrf. Let go!” Genshi play-nipped against Daar’s throat and he dutifully complied. Suddenly a bit hyper, he sprang up and panted furiously as if a massive burden had been lifted from his back.
“This feels so good, I’ve been worryin’ ‘bout this for weeks!”
“You’re full of energy,” chittered Genshi. “Shall we go for a walk?”
“Nah, that’s just the sugar. C’mon, wanna watch cartoons?”
“Maybe later, I think we need to be seen in public.”
“Ooh, good call. We can walk over to Sharman and say hi! I need to go to clothing issue and get some more field socks for Tiny anyway…” Daar bounded about the room and gathered up his Adventure supplies.
Genshi shook his head in bemusement. It was good to have good friends.