Sister Time-Callys War 2 by John Ringo, Julie Cochrane
Authors: John Ringo, Julie Cochrane
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, adventure, Space Opera, Military, Life on other planets, Human-alien encounters, Sisters, Female Assassins
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does not terminate until one half cycle and twenty-four more Adenast days. I merely begin incurring late fees after Renthenel twenty-one. I am not yet in breach."
He glared at her. "You know very well that destruction clause was intended to cover any necessary loss of functionality during the research process."
"Nevertheless, it is in the contract that if I make a good faith effort to avoid destruction, I fulfill my contract by providing you with whatever I learn about the device. The contract does not say the device may not be in other hands at some point or points during the research period. It says I must either return it to Epetar Group at the end of the contract or ensure that it has been irretrievably destroyed during the research period."
"Research is not being conducted on the device, the task for which your services were contracted. You are in breach," he insisted.
"Research is most certainly being conducted. The contract gives me supervisory discretion to arrange that research in whatever way seems practical to me at the moment. At this moment, the only practical research option is for the persons that have it to research the device where it is." Her speech was calm, her manner preternaturally still.
"Research for another group!" he growled, the renowned melodious voice marred with a harsh burr.
"Preliminary research data where the technical results are, as a matter of universal practice, stored in a single, closely protected site and not in that group's internal storage, as a matter of security. The thieving Group's central facilities do not have technical analyses and results. The most they have is some cubes of pretty footage. Galactic standards do not consider a Group in possession of data until it reaches one of their authorized ships, authorized central facilities, or a Darhel member competent to understand the information. I have constant external monitoring that will demonstrate to the satisfaction of a contract court, in the absence of contrary evidence, that the technical research results that would put me in breach have never left for a ship, nor to one of their central facilities, nor a Darhel of the Group, whichever it may be, who is technically competent to understand the information. I am not in breach. I suspect Adenar, by the way."
"That's a flimsy technicality and you know it." He waved away her conjecture with one hand. The Darhel was breathing very carefully and deliberately now.
"As your ancestors told the ancestors of the Indowy so many generations ago, in contracts, technicalities are everything," she said.
"This is not the performance level we have come to expect from Michon Mentats."
"This is rather precisely the sort of performance we have come to expect from Darhel Groups."
Impassively, she noted the ultra-faint scent of Tal entering his system.
"Fine. Live until the end of your contract. But your wages are in abeyance until you demonstrate the ability to fulfill your obligation," he sneered. "Make your peace with the Aldenata or whatever you Human barbarians do because the day your contract expires unfulfilled, is the last day you eat. You are dismissed!" he said.
Chapter Four
Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Mosovich woke up in the single good hotel in North Chicago, Illinois. Good was an understatement. Most of the town, like any base town, was devoted to separating soldiers from their money. Bright Lion Boulevard ran from Horner Highway to the front gates of the Great Lakes Fleet Training Base. The main street through town was officially named Happiness and Harmony Way. The strip north of the Lion was more popularly known among Fleet's recruits and lower-level personnel as the H and H, short for "Hooch and Ho." Horner Highway had the obvious informal designation.
The Serenity Hotel stood to the south of the Lion on the H and H, right between the two decent restaurants and across from a full-service dry cleaning and tailor shop. Jake had known he was in Fleet territory as soon
He glared at her. "You know very well that destruction clause was intended to cover any necessary loss of functionality during the research process."
"Nevertheless, it is in the contract that if I make a good faith effort to avoid destruction, I fulfill my contract by providing you with whatever I learn about the device. The contract does not say the device may not be in other hands at some point or points during the research period. It says I must either return it to Epetar Group at the end of the contract or ensure that it has been irretrievably destroyed during the research period."
"Research is not being conducted on the device, the task for which your services were contracted. You are in breach," he insisted.
"Research is most certainly being conducted. The contract gives me supervisory discretion to arrange that research in whatever way seems practical to me at the moment. At this moment, the only practical research option is for the persons that have it to research the device where it is." Her speech was calm, her manner preternaturally still.
"Research for another group!" he growled, the renowned melodious voice marred with a harsh burr.
"Preliminary research data where the technical results are, as a matter of universal practice, stored in a single, closely protected site and not in that group's internal storage, as a matter of security. The thieving Group's central facilities do not have technical analyses and results. The most they have is some cubes of pretty footage. Galactic standards do not consider a Group in possession of data until it reaches one of their authorized ships, authorized central facilities, or a Darhel member competent to understand the information. I have constant external monitoring that will demonstrate to the satisfaction of a contract court, in the absence of contrary evidence, that the technical research results that would put me in breach have never left for a ship, nor to one of their central facilities, nor a Darhel of the Group, whichever it may be, who is technically competent to understand the information. I am not in breach. I suspect Adenar, by the way."
"That's a flimsy technicality and you know it." He waved away her conjecture with one hand. The Darhel was breathing very carefully and deliberately now.
"As your ancestors told the ancestors of the Indowy so many generations ago, in contracts, technicalities are everything," she said.
"This is not the performance level we have come to expect from Michon Mentats."
"This is rather precisely the sort of performance we have come to expect from Darhel Groups."
Impassively, she noted the ultra-faint scent of Tal entering his system.
"Fine. Live until the end of your contract. But your wages are in abeyance until you demonstrate the ability to fulfill your obligation," he sneered. "Make your peace with the Aldenata or whatever you Human barbarians do because the day your contract expires unfulfilled, is the last day you eat. You are dismissed!" he said.
Chapter Four
Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Mosovich woke up in the single good hotel in North Chicago, Illinois. Good was an understatement. Most of the town, like any base town, was devoted to separating soldiers from their money. Bright Lion Boulevard ran from Horner Highway to the front gates of the Great Lakes Fleet Training Base. The main street through town was officially named Happiness and Harmony Way. The strip north of the Lion was more popularly known among Fleet's recruits and lower-level personnel as the H and H, short for "Hooch and Ho." Horner Highway had the obvious informal designation.
The Serenity Hotel stood to the south of the Lion on the H and H, right between the two decent restaurants and across from a full-service dry cleaning and tailor shop. Jake had known he was in Fleet territory as soon