Conquerors' Legacy by Timothy Zahn Read Free Book Online

most intriguing: "We'd better watch this VanDiver character-he's already nibbling around the edges of this thing."

The antecedent of the wordthingis unspecified; however, I calculate a probability of 0.93 that it refers to data not yet accessible to me. I continue with my analysis, but repeated iterations quickly diverge to inconclusive results. There are several possible explanatory theories, but none has a probability higher than 0.05. More data is needed.

Perhaps Aric Cavanagh will be able to supply the key information. He has stated that he will join me soon. I will therefore be patient and make plans to discuss this matter with him then.

4

It had been renamed theClosed Mouth; and as Zhirrzh warships went, it was pretty unimpressive. A midsized patrol ship designed for surveillance duty over encircled non-Zhirrzh worlds, it had spent the past eight fullarcs having over half its already modest armament hastily stripped from it. Ship Commander Sps-kudah; Pllaa'rr had bitterly protested that decision, but the protests had gone unheeded by the Overclan Prime and Warrior Command both. TheClosed Mouth was going on a diplomatic mission, and diplomatic missions weren't supposed to require large quantities of firepower.

Gazing at the ship as it was towed out of the spacecraft service building into launch position, Searcher Nzz-oonaz could only hope that assessment was right.

"You don't look entirely pleased, Searcher," a voice said from just behind him.

Nzz-oonaz pulled his tongue back inside his mouth-he hadn't realized until that beat that he'd been grimacing so openly. "I'm sorry, Overclan Prime," he apologized. "I didn't mean any disrespect."

"I'm sure you didn't." The Prime flicked his tongue toward theClosed Mouth. "Having a Zhirrzh warship show up unannounced is going to be frightening enough, Searcher. We don't want it bristling with obvious weaponry as well. That's also why we decided to send only one ship, instead of a group."

"I understand," Nzz-oonaz nodded. Though the way he'd heard it, the main reason the mission had been reduced to a single ship was because Warrior Command couldn't spare any more from the war effort. "It's just that I'm still not convinced the Mrachanis are quite the innocent victims of Human-Conqueror aggression that they claim to be."

"I know you're not," the Prime said gravely. "That's why I assigned you to be speaker of this mission."

Nzz-oonaz flicked his tongue in another grimace, thinking back to the two Mrachani prisoners his study group had brought here from Base World 12 after the escape of the Human-Conqueror Pheylan Cavanagh. The prisoners had claimed to be ambassadors, sent to ask for an alliance between the Mrachanis and the Zhirrzh, before their sudden deaths had put an end to any further discussion.

Their sudden and mysterious deaths, of undetermined and equally mysterious injuries or illnesses. Suspicious deaths, in Nzz-oonaz's estimation. Despite that, he and Thrr-gilag had been the only two of the study group to express any doubts about the Mrachanis and their intentions.

And for expressing such doubts, Thrr-gilag had been summarily dropped from this mission to the Mrachani homeworld.

No one was saying it that explicitly, of course. But Nzz-oonaz knew how to sift through the gaps between words. He'd seen how the Speaker for Dhaa'rr spoke to Thrr-gilag; had seen the long history of clan rivalry between the Dhaa'rr and the Kee'rr clans focused and concentrated into the Speaker's dislike for the young Kee'rr searcher.

The young Kee'rr searcher who was also bond-engaged to a Dhaa'rr female. That alone would have guaranteed animosity from someone with Speaker Cvv-panav's narrow-minded views of proper clan separation.

Still, Nzz-oonaz would have expected Thrr-gilag to come by and wish the study group good luck. Could his absence have another, more ominous significance?

"Don't worry too much about the details of the negotiations," the Prime said. "Your Elders will be