Man-Kzin Wars IV by Larry Niven (graded readers .txt) 📗

he has never commanded a ship in battle. He sees an enemy position and he takes it, right?”

“The Blood of Heroes has a valiant crew. They are totally loyal to Ssis-Captain.”

“What will his battle-lifetime be? An octal-day? Two if he’s lucky! Then again he may have no more than the time to see a monkey before he is dead and his ship, cooked meat. Chuut-Riit has assigned all such commanders to the Fourth Fleet. If they survive he may be able to teach them something. They may even kill a few monkeys. Perhaps not even that. What have the first three fleets of you outworld barbarians accomplished, you screaming berserkers of Hssin, you borderland ragpickers? Bloody nothing!”

Grraf-Hromfi was now stirred up enough to clutch his planning-surface. “Hr-r, perhaps you wild barbarians have been teaching the monkeys military strategy in your own cunning way, one fleet at a time, never making the problems harder than a monkey can solve? The next thing we know, you Imperial-border scavengers will be hiring man-beasts to do your fighting. Why waste the talents you have taught them? Put them in command of your warships!”

“Sir, you speak of my father, not me.”

“Hr-r, and you are different?”

“I admire firearms. This is a fine pistol, Sire. I believe I’m ready to reassemble it.”

“Picked it up on W’kkai. That’s where Chuut-Riit found me. We were both bored and listening to rumors in the marketplace to see if we couldn’t sniff up some action. I had just bought the pistol from an old warrior who needed the gold. Chuut wanted the pistol, too, being a collector of pre-space weapons. He swears that he added me to his retinue so that he can keep track of this pistol. Notice the mark of Kai, a famous forger for the Riits.”

“The Fourth Fleet will have glory with such a great weapons collector as Chuut-Riit.”

“You are clawing for fish? The flattery does not disguise your question. Let me be blunt since my position allows it. Chuut-Riit is not the leader of the Fourth Fleet. He is here, mere light-days away, sitting in a palace on Wunderland. You can have no idea of the difficulties he has had in trying to shape Fourth Fleet discipline. Every border Hero thinks of himself as Heaven’s Admiral ripe to pillage the wealth of the unexplored frontier. The Fourth Fleet is a fleet of admirals!”

Hromfi was raving again. “And let me tell you something else, youngling. It will be Chuut-Riit who will be taking the Fifth Fleet to Man-sun as his personal armada. That’s where his confidence lies. But we won’t be stalking that path of victory until he is certain that both you and I are ready. I am ready; you are not.”

“I am instantly ready to take any assignment!” Eagerness flamed.

“Hr-r, now. Finish the pistol first. I keep even the flint ready to spark, so test that.” He checked the weapon, then returned it to Trainer-of-Slaves. “It must have been a cramped journey in the Ztirgor. Take some rest. Then report to Duty-Sergeant at lights-on. We’ll have time to talk again. What else to do but exercise the Hero’s Tongue? We have heaven above and stars below and years of time. An interstellar warrior’s main duty is to wait.”

“Have I been dismissed, Grraf-Hromfi, Sire?”

“Not on this ship. Your duties never cease. You will, of course, take charge of maintenance immediately. But there will be many other tasks you will have to learn—besides the polishing of pistols. Correct communication protocols. How one coordinates an interstellar war. And we have fighter craft out here with the Sherrek’s Ear. You will learn how to defend a deep space base such as ours. Coextensively you will be learning sound military strategy. To cudgel that into your Hssin head, you will be teaching what I teach you, in turn, to my sons, a thankless and trying task, alas, for which I need help.”

“Is that all, Sire?”

“I detect a note of sarcasm in your hisses. No, that is not all. That is the beginning.”

“I look forward to your regime. In the end I shall become convinced that I am one of Heaven’s Admirals, a worthy goal for a Hssin barbarian.”

“Claw your face and begone—Eater-of-Grass.”

Trainer-of-Slaves took no notice of the insult for Grraf-Hromfi had spoken it with a purr. What could one’s liver make of it all? He was terrified of this old kzin battle-ax—but he wasn’t afraid of him.

CHAPTER 16

(2403–2404 A.D.)

The “unclawed,” as the new ratings were called, had to attend an irregular seminar given by Grraf-Hromfi. The texts, the simulations, the work sheets, the drills were based on Chuut-Riit’s Military Comprehendium, the complete collection of his works. The lectures, however, were pure Grraf-Hromfi. They were all based on the exhortation: “Think before you leap!” He had a thousand ways of drubbing that message home as if he despaired of it being received.

Sometimes he used it to deliver a warning. The day he received Chuut-Riit’s final report on the Third Fleet, he paced his students through that defeat, what was known of it.

On the screen he pointed, here, where Kgiss-Colonel had been left without reinforcements because the impetuous Warriors of the Right Arm had found their own irresistible target. The pointer moved to the details of the ancillary battle. Hindsight showed that the two monkey torchships had been both a decoy and a trap for valiant—and overeager—Heroes.

Grraf-Hromfi called other engagements to the screen. Ordnance had arrived at the battle of Ceres when there were no longer any functioning warships to be supplied. Since the warships were already derelict, no warriors rallied to defend the late-arriving kzin freighters. It was a recipe for massacre.

Further sunward, against orders, the Second Maintenance group had found, and enthusiastically attacked, a target of opportunity. They were not equipped to blitz a major laser battery and were so crippled by the attempt that they lost the capacity to refit damaged Scream-of-Vengeance fighters—their appointed assignment. Without fighter cover, the Victory-at-Swordbeak’s-Nebula was destroyed by a suicidal squadron of