Cobra Strike

Timothy Zahn

Cobra Strike

Chapter 1

The whine of Troft thrusters drifted in through the window on the late-summer breezes, jarring Jo

Jo

The image jumped to another desk and Jo

Dad," he said. "The meeting's still an hour away."

"Oh?" Jo

"Pretty much, unless there's something new you want me to bring up. Hang on-I'll come in there and we can talk."

The screen went blank. Flexing his elbows experimentally, Jo

The door opened and Corwin Jame Moreau strode into the room, the inevitable comboard tucked under his arm. The boy-the man, Jo

Committ‚ himself?

Jo

Setting his comboard on a corner of Jo

"Okay, let's see. The main points you wanted me to present were the exclusivity clause of the new trade agreement with the Hoibe'ryi'sarai-" the Troft demesne-name flowed smoothly from Corwin's tongue-"the need for more Cobras to be shifted to spine leopard duty in the outer districts, and the whole question of whetherCaelian is really worth hanging onto."

Jo

"Lean on the latter two especially-I don't know how the spine leopards figure out their numbers are down, but their breeding rate sure shows that they know somehow. Make sure even the densest syndics understand that we can't take on a full-scale spine leopard resurgence and also make any headway onCaelian without lowering the standards at the Cobra factory." A frown flickered across Corwin's face. "Speaking of the academy...." He stopped, looking uncomfortable.

Jo

"Well... yes. Mom wanted me to try and get you to change your mind about using your Council veto on his application."

"To what end?" Jo

"I know all that-"

"More to the point," Jo

Corwin waved a hand in a gesture of defeat. "I almost wish I could argue with you, for Mom's sake. But I'm afraid I have to agree."

Jo

For a long moment the room was silent. Then Corwin stirred, reaching for his comboard. "Spine leopards and Caelian it is, then," he said, standing up. "You going to be here or the therapy room when the meeting's over?"

Jo

Corwin nodded. "Okay. But be nice to them-they're just trying to do their jobs."

"Sure. See you later." Jo

One of whom was going to be his own son.

Sighing, Jo

Even with traffic in the Cobra Worlds' capital as dense as it was these days, it would be only a ten-minute drive to the Dominion Building for the Council meeting. Corwin nevertheless gathered together his magcards and other paraphernalia as quickly as possible, hoping to get there early enough for some cloakroom soundboarding with the other Council members. His father had left for his therapy session, and Corwin was about ready to leave himself, when his mother came in.

"Hello, Theron," she smiled at Yutu. "Corwin, is your father still here?"

"He just left." Corwin felt his muscles tense in anticipation of the confrontation he knew was ahead. "He'll be coming back after his physical therapy."

"What did he say?"

Corwin consciously unclenched his jaw. "Sorry, Mom. He's not going to block it."

The age lines framing her features seemed to deepen. "You'll be casting the vote," she said, her meaning clear.

"Let me restate it, then: We are not going to block it."

"So that's it, is it?" she said coldly. "You're just going to let them condemn your brother to-"

"Mother." Corwin stood up, gesturing to his chair. "Sit down, will you."

She hesitated, then complied. Corwin pulled up a guest chair to face her, noting peripherally that Yutu had apparently just discovered something that needed to be done in Jo

Chrys Moreau had been beautiful when she was younger, he knew from old pictures and tapes, and even with the assorted physical changes of middle age she was still strikingly attractive. But there were other changes, not all of them explained by simple maturation of viewpoint or even a response to her husband's long illness. She seemed to smile less these days, and to move with the restricted motions of one deathly afraid of knocking something over. This business with Justin was part of it, that much Corwin knew... but there was more, and so far he hadn't found the right words to open up that section of his mother's thoughts.

Nor was this time going to be any different. "If you're going to give me the old arguments why Justin should be a Cobra, please don't bother," Chrys began. "I know them all, I still don't have any logical counters for them, and I'll even admit that if he weren't my son I'd probably agree with them. But he is my son, and irrational as it may seem, I don't think it fair that I should lose him to the Cobras, too."