Edge World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 14) Page 12

  “It is customary to wait until a star system has fully shifted to lay claim to it,” the Nairb explained, “but we fear that in this instance the Skay will try to press ahead with an early claim—years before it would be appropriate.”

  Galina nodded, and she shrugged. “Well, that is a problem… but I don’t understand why it would be so great a loss. After all, there are thousands of stars in our province. One more or less—”

  “You seem profoundly unaware of the economics of your own home province,” the Nairb interrupted. “Let me enlighten you: 91 Aquarii produces a product that you use quite frequently. I believe it’s called a revival machine.”

  Galina stopped. For once, it was her mouth that hung wide. “Really? They’re going to take an inhabited world? One with an invaluable trade good?”

  “That’s right,” Nox said. “I see that you finally grasp the difficulty you’re facing. If the Skay successfully press their claim, they’ll own the local means of production of a critical piece of technology.”

  “Well… I guess we can still buy them—from the agents of the Skay.”

  Nox made some blatting sounds. I knew from long experience with the Mogwa that she was laughing at us.

  “Not so, unfortunate slave. They are irked, as we said before. They have no use for revival machines themselves, being planet-sized machines. They’ll probably cease production.”

  “They might even eradicate the factories on the planet in question, just to be difficult,” the Nairb chimed in.

  “That would be… terrible,” Galina said with real feeling.

  “Yes, most regrettable,” Nox said. “Well then, if you’ve heard enough, I’ll be leaving now. Our mission here is complete.”

  “But… Lady Nox! What about the enemy encroachment? Aren’t the Mogwa going to challenge this intrusion? You said they were breaking with custom—”

  Lady Nox appeared unconcerned. “It is unfortunate, but if we get to keep this hulk we’re all standing on, it will be worth it.”

  “But what can we do? We can’t let them take away our revival machines! Every legionnaire death would be… permanent.”

  Nox flipped a foot-hand at her in dismissal. “That’s not our problem, is it? You’ve been informed, now please withdraw. I’ve completed my obligations here, and I wish to cast off as soon as possible. Good day, beasts.”

  Stunned, the three of us walked off the Mogwa ship. Each of us was thinking hard, but no one wanted to speak our thoughts aloud.

  Not while the Mogwa might be listening.

  -22-

  “This is total bullshit!” Galina said, striding around the conference chamber in a fuming rage. “I won’t stand for it. Even if I have to destroy that Skay by myself!”

  I knew, of course, why she was in such a tizzy. She’d gotten very accustomed to her everlasting fountain of youth and beauty. Every five years or so, she made sure she died and came back to life as fresh as a daisy. There was probably no perk in heaven or earth she’d fight harder to keep.

  “Permed…” Graves said thoughtfully. “Every death, a perming… That will change everything. All our training regimens would have to be reimagined, reworked. It will be a logistical nightmare at the very least.”

  Galina whirled on him. She had a crazy light in her eyes I knew too well. “That’s all you can think about? Your frigging training routines?”

  Graves shrugged. “We’ll adjust. All militaries played under such rules in the past. We’ll just have to relearn how to deal with permanent losses. We’ll have to be more careful, that’s all.”

  Galina went back to strutting around. I watched her body move with increasing interest. Somehow, when she was really pissed off, she seemed more sexy to me.

  “I’m not going to get permed because some damned toaster-oven became miffed!” she raged. “We’re going to go out there to fix things… somehow.”

  Finally, I perked up. She was talking about disobeying orders. Discussions like this, where other officers considered going off into the weeds, well sir, that was the sort of thing that got me out of bed in the morning.

  “Uh… Tribune?”

  “What is it, McGill?”

  “I’ve got an idea.”

  She whirled around and looked me in the eyes. I could tell she was hungry, desperate for a solution.

  I began to open my big mouth, but she put a hand up to stop me. Her eyes slid toward Graves.

  “Primus, you are dismissed.”

  “Sir? Aren’t we going to write up a report for Central about this—?”

  “Go have your ears tested. You’re dismissed.”

  Graves wasn’t stupid. He glanced at me, then back at Turov. He shook his head and made a disgusted face—but he left without another comment. That was Graves for you. He didn’t approve of shenanigans, but when he got a legal order, he followed it.

  When he’d left, Galina came at me like a whirlwind. “You’d better not be bullshitting this time, McGill. This is big. This is no joke. This will ruin everything!”

  “Don’t I know it, Tribune. Just sit still and listen for a second.”

  Then I told her my plan. As I did so, her eyes widened, then narrowed again. After a while, she looked disturbed.

  “I don’t like it,” she said.

  “Why not? It’s foolproof. You know she can do it—if we ask her.”

  Galina licked her lips and thought it over. “Okay. I’ll brief Drusus. I’ll mention it to him.”

  “Uh… with all due respect, sir, that Skay is on the way here. It will be parked in orbit in a week or so. We don’t have much time.”

  She flashed her eyes at me. “Meaning?”

  “Let me come along to help convince Drusus.”

  She heaved a sigh. “All right. Let’s go.”

  Without another word to anyone, we left the conference room. Then we left the Moon base. Using some gateway posts, we headed down to Central as fast as we could.

  A pack of hogs greeted us. We found ourselves in the midst of a puff-crete bunker. Several guns were aimed our way.

  Turov stepped forward and shouted some orders at them. Once they’d figured out we were who we said we were, the guards lowered their weapons and escorted us to the elevators. We were pretty deep, several hundred floors under Earth’s military headquarters.

  “Why are they more jumpy at those gateway posts every time I come here?” Galina asked me once we were in the elevator.

  “Uh… well sir, that might have something to do with me.”

  Over the years, I’d used the gateway station to get to Central in a hurry on a number of occasions. Drusus had even referred to this as a bad habit of mine. Often, during these unexpected visits, I became a little rough with the hogs that were posted there all day to greet travelers.

  “Of course,” Galina said. “You hate hogs, don’t you?”

  “Not all of them. Some hogs are just like regular people. Take that Bevan guy, for instance. He’s not so bad once you get a beer or two in him.”

  She shook her head. After a few hundred floors went by, we made it up to where the top brass lived. We had to wait outside while Drusus held court with a dozen senior defense people. We were cooling our heels outside his office, under the nose of a disapproving staffer. Even the staffer was a tribune. Seemed weird to me, being so high-ranked and working as a secretary, but that was life in Hegemony for you.

  “What do you think they’re talking about in there?” I asked Galina in a harsh whisper.

  She didn’t answer. She just gave me a funny look, so I asked her again. “What’s more important than Earth losing her revival machine supplier?”

  Galina made a hand signal, but I still didn’t get it.

  “Huh?” I asked, scooting closer.

  She repeated the gesture furiously. “This means: shut the hell up,” she hissed at me.

  I got the message at last, and we waited quietly until we were called upon. The flunky tribune escorted us into the big man’s office, and I w
histled right off, long and low.

  “Damnation! Look what you’ve done with this place, Praetor! I stand impressed!”

  The office had changed somewhat. It had always been kind of overly large and fancy if you asked me. A private air car that came down a shaft from the roof sat in the center of the room, as usual. There was a waiting area, a giant conference table, and a massive computer-desk.

  But the newest item was a shrine of sorts. A whole row of statues all lined-up along the north wall. These statues were life-sized effigies of various aliens we’d encountered. There was a saurian, a Peg, a Nairb and even a Mogwa. Some of them, down at the end, I couldn’t identify.

  “Glad you like my new gallery, McGill. I find these statues give foreign visitors something to talk about. They always gravitate toward them and want to talk about them.”

  “Huh…”

  I walked along the line, examining the statues with interest.

  “I don’t have much time for idle talk today, I’m afraid,” Drusus said. “So, if you’ll please come to the point of your visit, we’ll try to cut this short.”

  “It is rather important, sir,” Galina said. “James and I have just met with the Nairbs and the Mogwa governor of our province.”

  “I’m aware of that. I have a recording of the proceedings, in fact.”

  We both looked at him in surprise.

  “Don’t be alarmed, but you must realize that such high-level interactions must be monitored. The only reason you were allowed to have this appointment was because we don’t have the end of it. We only have the beginning with the Nairbs and your first introduction to the Mogwa Governor—Nox, I believe her name is?”

  “That’s right,” I said. “You think she did something to mess up your recording?”

  Drusus shrugged. “It’s possible. Now, please fill me in, and be on your way. There’s another Galactic citizen incoming from the Core systems, and we—”

  “That’s why we’re here,” Galina interrupted. “We know what it is, and what it wants.”

  We told him about the Skay that was incoming, and the fact it was headed for 91 Aquarii, not Earth. This was immediately troubling to Drusus.

  “That makes a lot of sense…” he said. “We’ve been puzzling over the Skay’s flight path for hours. Thanks for answering that one. But, why would such an advanced power be interested in 91 Aquarii?”

  “Because they wish to claim the star system,” Galina explained.

  “What?”

  We relayed the details of the situation, and he became ever more worried. After a few minutes, all of Drusus’ confidence and brusque attitude had vanished.

  “They’re going to claim 91 Aquarii? Where our revival machines are manufactured? Who would license the technology to us in such a case?”

  I shrugged. “Either the Skay… or no one. Most likely no one. Maybe we could petition and get one of our worlds on it.”

  Drusus bared his teeth. “We’ve tried to duplicate the science here—just in case. The lab people here at Central have worked on the project. Unfortunately, they’ve failed miserably. There are some elements that are beyond our science. The odd thing is that the 91 Aquarii inhabitants themselves don’t seem to be all that sophisticated. As I understand it, they lead a violent, nomadic lifestyle.”

  Having never been out there to that particular border of our province, I knew nothing about it. But that fact didn’t keep me from shooting off my mouth as usual.

  “You’ve got nothing to worry about, Praetor sir. Just pack up old Legion Varus, and send us on our way.”

  “What the hell are you going to do out there? Fight the Skay?”

  “Uh… well… probably not that. We’ve got a truce going with them. But, maybe we could do some negotiating for Earth.”

  Drusus laughed. “When it comes to diplomacy, Legion Varus wouldn’t be my first pick, McGill. Sure, you’ve been involved in more first contact situations than I care to admit. But this would take a delicate touch.”

  “We had another thought…” I said, glancing at Galina.

  She nodded to me. Drusus watched this interchange with interest.

  “There is another option, sir,” I repeated.

  “Out with it. What have you two cooked up?”

  “Maybe we could… uh… trade for the revival machines. On the black market, so to speak.”

  Drusus opened his mouth to tell me I was crazy, that there was no magical supply of revival machines handy. But then he thought the better of it and closed his mouth again. He put his hands behind his back and walked around, pacing.

  “You’re talking about the Clavers, aren’t you? We know they have a supply of revival machines from somewhere. No one else in our province does, to the best of our knowledge.”

  I nodded seriously. “That’s right. We figured that if one supply dries up, well sir, you’ve got to find a new supplier.”

  “Even if you were recently at war with that same shady, illegitimate merchant?”

  “Even then. It’s all a matter of desperation, sir. How much do we want these machines?”

  Drusus nodded and massaged his chin. “All right. We’re going to take a shotgun approach here. There isn’t much time before the Skay arrives. Turov, you’ll load up your legion within twelve hours. You’ll fly to 91 Aquarii, and you’ll see what can be done.”

  “Twelve hours’ notice? The standard is forty-eight, sir.”

  “Yes. Rush it. If you can’t scrape them all together, leave some behind. Take a set of gateway posts. We’ll transmit them to you en route.”

  She nodded appreciatively. “I won’t let you down, sir.”

  Drusus looked at me next. “Can you contact the Clavers, McGill? We’ve… well… we’ve lost them.”

  “I thought we cut a deal with them way back. Didn’t we normalize our relations after the war?”

  “Theoretically, yes. But the contracts didn’t go through at the Hegemony Council. Apparently, there were political problems.”

  “Hurt feelings over the various invasions and such-like? That’s petty, but I guess I shouldn’t expect better from a pack of hog bureaucrats.”

  “In any case, do you think you can find them?”

  “I’ll give it a try, sir—but I’ll need access to a deep-link rig. Full access, no restrictions.”

  Drusus studied me through narrowed eyes. I didn’t think he entirely liked what he was seeing, but he nodded at last. “All right. Do what you have to do. Pursue all avenues. We’ve got a few more tricks up our sleeves back here at Central, too.”

  “Uh… any chance you’ll be informing us about those along the way?”

  “None whatsoever.”

  I nodded, unsurprised. “All right, sir. Looks like we’ve got to saddle-up and ride to 91 Aquarii.”

  “Godspeed.”

  That was it. We got the bum’s rush out of his office, and we soon began working our tappers, contacting key personnel.

  Legion Varus was mustering out again, and we were doing it as fast as we could.

  -23-

  Eleven hours later, we pulled out of orbit on a new ship.

  A few years back, we’d been assigned the battlecruiser Berlin as our legion’s transport. That had been kind of cool, flying on a warship, but Berlin couldn’t hold our full complement of troops. The ship had always felt cramped, and it had a general lack of amenities.

  Finally, after years of wrangling about budgets, Legion Varus had been assigned a truly worthy vessel. Dominus was similar to our original ship Legate—but it was better.

  Dominus was what the Fleet pukes referred to as a force-projection transport, whatever that meant. In practice, she was a flying space station. She had sufficient cargo space to hold our entire legion, plus a supporting legion of Blood Worlders—but that was just the beginning.

  The improvements were many. Dominus was faster, bigger, more comfortable and chock-full of weaponry. She had not only one set of broadsides, but two. There were thirty-two fusion cannon
s in all, half of them mounted on each side of the vessel. She also had an array of missile pods and six small mass-drivers for point-defense.

  What really impressed me, however, was the fighter bay. She carried six honest-to-God squadrons of heavy fighters to go along for the ride.

  I whistled long and low when I first laid eyes on her. “Damnation! I’ll eat my cap if this ship isn’t the best-looking monstrosity of titanium I’ve ever seen!”

  Galina, riding with me on a lifter loaded with troops, eyed Dominus as we approached her glorious belly. “She is quite striking. She’s a super-ship worthy of her name.”

  After we docked and boarded, we counted heads. Less than half of Legion Varus’ full complement of troops was aboard. As it had turned out, mustering up thousands of troops took longer than twelve hours.

  Those who had made it aboard were marveling at the ship. I received compliments from everyone, even Carlos.

  “Buddy, I don’t know who you had to blow to get this rig—and I don’t want to know. But whoever it was, rest assured, it was worth it.”

  “She’s a beaut all right,” I said good-naturedly, knowing he meant well.

  Dominus got underway just after midnight. Even the act of shipping out was an experience. The ship kind of thrummed when she pulled out of orbit. You could just feel the power coming right through the deck plates, vibrating your feet inside your boots.

  Galina invited me to a late dinner after that, as neither of us had had a chance to eat much. After accepting her invite with a tap of one finger, I whistled as I went to her cabin. I don’t mind telling you, I was in high spirits. I’d even begun to entertain certain ideas… but she wasn’t there.

  As I hammered on her door, my tapper buzzed again, and she smiled up at me. “You didn’t read my entire message, did you?”

  “Uh…”

  “Come down to Green Deck. The forest isn’t fully grown out yet, but I ordered the engineers to let me in anyway.”

  Shrugging, I high-tailed it down to Green Deck. Every transport ship had such a zone, a place that served as both an exercise chamber in the day hours, and a recreation area by night. Back on Berlin, there hadn’t been any room for such an extravagance. Here aboard Dominus, however, there was more than enough space.