Carnifex

4/6/467 AC, BdL Dos Lindas, Xamar Coast

"This is superb, Commodore," Fosa complimented Kurita on the sushi the Yamatan had prepared from fish he'd caught himself the night before.

Kurita smiled, slightly, and nodded, acknowledging the compliment.

Fosa looked around at the Yamatan's quarters. In warship terms they were the height of luxury, measuring all of about three hundred and twenty square feet. Even Fosa's own were not quite so large. They were furnished well, as warships measured such things. Kurita had hung on one wall a portrait of the emperor he had served ably and bravely in the Great Global War. That emperor had long since joined his divine ancestors. His memory retained Kurita's loyalty, even so.

It wasn't the size or the luxury, nor even the portrait of the emperor and what it said of Kurita, the samurai, that impressed Fosa. It was the unbelievable cleanliness of the quarters.

He'd asked of his senior naval centurion how the place had gotten so completely sanitized. The centurion had shrugged, "Got no clue, Cap'n. He never asked us for anything but a mop and bucket, sponges and some rags. Oh, and liquid cleaner."

Fosa was left with the only possible solution; that Kurita, at nearly a century old, had gotten down on his ancient hands and knees and made quarters fit for his emperor's portrait. That was rather humbling.

"I saved it from my battlecruiser," Kurita had said in explanation. "When we had to . . . surrender"—and the word came out only with painful difficulty—"I took it last, as I was leaving. Every day I apologize to it that I and my comrades failed in our duty. Perhaps someday the emperor shall forgive us."

Which helped convince Fosa, not that he needed much convincing, that the Yamatans were not just odd, but admirably odd.

"How goes the hunt?" Kurita asked.

"Not well," the captain said. "Admittedly we've only been on station

two weeks but . . . "

"But given the frequency of reported piratical attacks near this section of the coast a week should have seen at least two," the commodore supplied.

Fosa nodded. "Yes, but there's been nothing. Attacks north of us, yes. Attacks south of us, yes. Nothing here."

The Yamatan quoted, "All warfare is based on deception. Therefore, when capable, feign incapacity; when active, inactivity. When near, make it appear that you are far away; when far away, that you are near. Offer the enemy a bait to lure him, feign disorder and strike him. When he concentrates, prepare against him."

"Musashi?" the Balboan asked. "The Book of Five Rings?"

Kurita shook his grey head. "Sun Tzu."

"Do you think someone is reporting on our positions and dispositions, Commodore?"

"Unquestionably," Kurita answered. "The only real question is who."

"Not the Federated States Navy," Fosa said. "Even if the Legion is in bad grace with their government their armed forces are still strong friends."

"I agree," the Yamatan said. "That leaves the Tauran Union, the Volgans, the Zhong, and the UEPF. In any case, it hardly matters who, for our purposes. What matters is the fact that that someone, to all appearances, is reporting on us."

"I wonder if the FSN can shed any light," the Yamatan wondered. "After all, they're rather . . . oh . . . . capable."