"What's a Kamchatka?" Kleppie asked conversationally.
Now that Cheyenne was able to be out of the tank for short periods, they had added a second couch to her medi-bay. When she was up she would often ask crew members to stop by and visit. They would talk, watch videos or just hang out.
Kleppie and Janda were currently sitting on the bed. Lana and Cheyenne were on the couch. Dan was sitting on a stool opposite them. On a low table in between them all, lunch was laid out. The news was running on the video screen but they hadn't been paying attention.
Janda shrugged off Kleppie's question. "Kamchatka is one of your things, not ours."
"Imagine somewhere more remote than Siberia," Dan said.
"I can't," Kleppie replied.
"Which is why you don't know where Kamchatka is," Dan joked. "It's north and east of Siberia, the very edge of Russia. Didn't you play Risk as a kid?"
"Risk?" Janda asked.
"It's a game," Cheyenne told him. "What about it?" she said to Dan.
"Kamchatka is one of the territories in Risk. That's how I know where it is."
"So if it's so remote, why is it in the news?" Kleppie asked, gesturing at the view screen.
"They want to split off from Russia," Dan explained. "A lot of places do, or have over the years. There's been revolts and civil wars in Chechnya and other southern provinces for years. The only reason Kamchatka hasn't ever tried for it's independence is because they don't really stand a chance."
"Why not?" Janda asked.
"Too small, I guess. Plus they don't have a lot of industry. If they did get their independence, what would they do? Become a poverty stricken third world country, most likely."
"So what's changed?" Cheyenne asked.
"The Consortium, that's what. That's why it's international news. This guy, I can't even begin to pronounce his name, Mikhail something, something, he's a native of the region. He's been studying the Consortium since they first showed up. He's hatched this new plot. Says the Consortium has "autonomous cultural collectives."
"Yeah," Janda said. "We do. As long as they honor basic human rights, don't waste shared resources and don't try to stop their citizens from joining the Consortium if they want, they are pretty much left to do as they please. We keep trying to tell your people this, we aren't here to conquer. Our local governments are democratic and cultural collectives abound."
"Anyway," Dan went on, "he's trying to get the native tribes of the region to become one of these collectives."
"But they aren't part of the Consortium, they are part of Russia," Kleppie said.
"Oh, I see," Janda exclaimed. "If they get Princess Sarasvat or Captain Ganaka to acknowledge them, then they are part of the Consortium."
"And if Russia objects," Dan finished. "Well, they get to deal with the Consortium."
"Clever," Lana commented. "Cheyenne, dear, you should try to eat." She held out a piece of dried fruit. They were all sharing something called chomp-chomp chomp-chomp. It was named after the sound you make when you eat it, Cheyenne had been told. It was a blend of nuts, dried fruits, snack crackers and raw veggies, often doused in various seasonings and there were many recipes.
"I am not hungry," Cheyenne protested.
"I know you aren't," Lana persisted. "You've drawn the bulk of your sustenance from the tank for weeks now. But we must get your digestive system working again."
"And you won't start feeling hunger until you start eating," Janda put in. "Healer's orders."
Cheyenne accepted the piece of dried fruit and nibbled on it while she listened.
"But," Kleppie was saying, "this is different than, like, us. I mean you guys trounced us because you could sabotage most of our equipment from the air. You're doing the same to China. But this Kam, wherever, you'd have to put boots on the ground to protect them. You don't have the manpower for a ground war."
"Or so we've thought," Dan ventured.
"No, it's true," Janda admitted. "Ganaka has had to be very careful about putting troops on the ground, as you say."
"There are ethical considerations as well, the Simean dilemma..." Lana protested.
"What's that?" Dan asked.
"The Consortium knows war," she said. "There are races out there that don't even have a concept of peaceful coexistence. We have energy weapons, armor, many things you haven't seen. You haven't seen them because to use them on other Simians, it would be a travesty. We haven't had a simian on simian war in eons, not since the days of the Vatari Empire. So far we've used only sabotage and stun devices on this planet. If that were to change, it would be unprecedented."
"So what you've done?" Cheyenne asked, "it's more like police breaking up a fight then warfare?"
"Exactly," Janda said. "As to the numbers problem, now that Sarasvat's fleet is nearly here, we have much greater numbers."
"How much greater?" Dan asked. Earthside news had been speculating about this for weeks.
"Let's see," Lana said, apparently unhesitant to dish. "The expeditionary force has about a hundred thousand military troops. Fifty thousand attached civilians..."
"That's us," Janda quipped.
"The base ship has three truly civilian decks, maybe thirty five thousand regular citizens."
"Must be a big ship," Cheyenne said.
"You have no idea," Janda said.
"Saras station, named after the princess and serving as her home base is close to twenty million. Shin station, the biggest station coming, is about fifty million. The gate station is around thirty if I am not mistaken."
"That's close to a billion people," Kleppie gasped.
"And I've no idea how many on the other ships. I know there's at least a couple dozen smaller solar stations coming, some terraforming crews destined for Mars. A few survey crews, big base ships with hundreds of smaller scout ships," Lana explained.
"We had no idea so many were coming," Dan said.
"This is merely the landing point for our entire operation in this galaxy," Janda said.
The lapsed into silence, awed at the size of the coming fleet. When they spoke again, it was of other things.
Heading back to his quarters from lunch, Dan took the central staircase. Kleppie still preferred the zero G lifts at the end of the hall, but Dan like climbing under his own power. As he reached their hall, he found Fox, leaning against the wall and staring thoughtfully down the opposite direction.
"Hey," Dan greeted him. Dan leaned against the wall next to him. "How are things."
"Okay," Fox replied.
"Any further issues with your spies?"
Fox shook his head. "I think they took Madsen's notion to heart. We're bio-idented, whatever that means. They seem to have given up. James, now that he's met their tech crew, thinks the world of them."
"So that's the problem now?" Dan laughed. "We stop disagreeing and suddenly we are a little too friendly?"
Fox snorted. "You don't know the half of it."
"Well, Lannister thinks otherwise. He wants me to keep an eye on things."
"You poor fool," Fox joked.
"Is there anything to it? The fraternization? The black market?" Dan asked.
Fox shrugged. "Of course there is. It's gonna happen. You know that, I know that. So? Security will break up a few lovers quarrels before everything is said and done. There will be a few arguments over trades gone bad, but neither side can really complain, because it was all on the down low to begin with."
"So then what are you worried about?" Dan asked.
"Turn left," he said.
Dan turned and looked down the hall, opposite of his quarters. It was quiet, empty. The doors were all shut. "What am I supposed to be seeing?" he asked.
A door slid open and two sailors stepped out. They rapped on the opposite door and were joined by two more. They walked, or rather marched, together down the hall. They saluted Fox and Dan as they passed but none spoke.
"Why am I suddenly worried?" Dan said at their retreating back.
"They come out for meals, PT and to go to the healer. Nothing else," Fox said. "They've never caused a problem, and yet they concern me a lot more than any fraternizer."
"They still see the Consortium as enemies," Dan said. "And us as prisoners here."
Fox nodded. "Don't worry, I've got my eye on them. Meanwhile you've got some fraternizers to catch." He grinned and patted Dan on the back. "I suggest you check out any lounge on the lower half of their side of the ship."