Curse of the Legion

by Marshall S. Thomas

  "Until we get back?"

  "We're both putting in for a transfer tomorrow."

  "We are?"

  "Yes, we are! You just said we could. I'm not going back without you. And you're not going anywhere without me!"

  "Um…I mean, yeah. Sure."

  "Moontouch will get along fine without you. She's tough. And she's got a whole nation to rebuild—here."

  "Yes. You're right. So do we. I hope the Legion agrees with your…with our…plans."

  "Everybody's pulling out of Andrion. Right now. They won't miss us. And Tara's too busy right now to harass you any more."

  "I guess." A brilliant white-hot glare erupted on the horizon, turning the night to day briefly. A guttural roar hit us next, and a dazzling star lifted gracefully towards the cosmos from the starport.

  "Launch," I commented. I could feel the vibrations in the air. Limitless power, ours to wield. All those Legion troopies and vacheads—alive! Saved, for the future. Surely that was the right decision. I looked up to an infinity of icy stars. A whole galaxy of problems, they had said, when I was a new trooper. Well, there was still a whole galaxy of problems, but things were definitely looking up. Whatever came at us now, we could handle it, I was convinced. Priestess still had a death grip on my hand. Skull was building to a terrific climax inside the club. The crowd was roaring. We deserve it, I thought. We sure as hell deserve it.

  "Lester is a beautiful child, and we're going to see his children," Priestess said calmly. "I never believed that before." She was looking up at the stars, bathed in enchanted moonlight. I embraced her gently. What the hell could I say? I thanked the Gods.

  ###

  Within a week, I was on a Fleetcom tacship bound for Zequord 3 in the Hyades Cluster. Things never work out the way you plan them. Especially if you're a soldier of the Legion. One last mission, Tara had said. This one should be pure pleasure, Wester. Do this for me, and Priestess will be waiting for you in Veltros when you return. I promise! Silver-tongued bitch. She could talk me into anything. She had survived the ConFree inquisition over the Mantis operation, and was now more powerful than ever.

  And here I was, parked at a little table in the officer's mess by myself, sipping icy water, my mind on antimat drive as usual. It was mid-afternoon ship's time and the mess was almost deserted. I was in my blacks. Might as well get used to them.

  Vac run red. It was a long way in, and I didn't know where we were, except we were bypassing the Pherdan Federation and snaking our way through disputed vac far into the Inners, headed for the Dark Cloud/Pleiades Corridor. The faint pressure on my skin confirmed we were in the hole. It didn't scare me any more, although it should have. But death didn't scare me either, any more. The biogens wanted to talk, and they had invited Tara to visit, and advise them how to make the transition from a Systie slave state to a free nation for biogens and humans. Tara couldn't make it and had proposed me instead. Minzu and Stelzu remembered me and the biogens had agreed.

  They want our advice, Wester, Tara had said. I don't want some ConFree Ministry of Interstellar Relations type talking with them, not at this stage. I want them to hear the Truth, about everything. I trust you, and I trust them. Tell them the Truth. They can take it. The diplomatic stuff can come later, after we set up our embassy.

  Advice. What the hell did I know about setting up a new nation for biogens and humans? Nothing. Neither did anyone else, not even the biogens. But advice? Well, I could tell them what was in my heart.

  Pherdos. It swirled around in my mind and ran over my flesh, a cold tingling. The biogens had come out of the evening mists, firing SG's. We knew the only way to stop them was to kill them. They wore Systie armor, but when we examined their shattered A-suits in the aftermath of the battle and looked behind the faceplates, we found girls—beautiful, dead girls. The biogens were all girls. And they had been programmed to kill us. That's all they did. They were totally focused and totally deadly. It was terrifying, when they came after you, but even then I had been gripped by a kind of icy admiration for them, and a hot rage that I had to kill them. My rage was for the System, for the people that had programmed these angelic, almost magical beings. I knew I would never forget, and never forgive.

  And now I was on my way to the Hyades, to a world that had been liberated from System slavery by the biogens themselves. I knew what kind of resolve and determination these wonderful creatures possessed. What could they not do, running their own world? And suddenly I had a vision from Andrion 2—a long line of biogen troopers, clad in Systie armor, marching forward, an invincible cenite juggernaut of biogen girls, come to help. Ready to die for the Biogen Liberation Front, for the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Zequord 3, for ConFree, for us, for humanity.

  From that moment, I thought. From that moment they became allied with ConFree, and ConFree became allied with them. It didn't matter if the whole galaxy hated ConFree, and hated the Biogen Liberation Front. It didn't matter at all. We were one, and the System had better watch out, because ConFree stands by its friends.

  I raised my glass, and took a sip. Excellent. I felt perfect. Was there anything in the entire galaxy that I'd rather be doing at this moment than helping the new biogen nation find its way in a hostile galaxy? No—I couldn't think of a thing.

  ###

  "Welcome to Zequord!" A lovely blonde in khaki greeted me as I entered the main starport terminal building after disembarking from the shuttle.

  "Stelzu!" I said. "Thank you for greeting me."

  She hit me with a brilliant smile. "You remember me! I thank you. Please forgive us the low-key reception. We considered a formal, diplomatic greeting, with flags and national anthems, but decided to avoid publicity for the time being. Do you agree?"

  "I agree completely. It's no problem." My black uniform was already attracting some attention from onlookers. The terminal was fairly busy. Humans were wandering to and fro, and biogen girls in combat vests were standing around with SG's.

  "I'd like to apologize," Stelzu said, "for the problem with the vac gun. We're all a little nervous here."

  "No problem. I showed them the authorization you sent." The customs folks had been a little concerned about my personal weapon.

  "Do you have any luggage?" I noted she was speaking Inter with the Outworlder dialect. A friendly gesture, and an easy adjustment for biogens.

  "No luggage, but plenty of invaluable information for your government. All I need is in this case." I raised a slim nitex bag.

  "Good. Follow me, please." We headed along a long, airy corridor. One wall was decorated with a huge…well, I was not quite sure what it was. It looked like a pile of junk metal had exploded and imbedded itself in the wall.

  "What's that?" I asked.

  "Oh, that's Systie art. Do you like it?"

  "No. Do you?"

  She stopped and smiled again. "We despise it. There's so much we'd like to change! But we need your advice. We can't afford to alienate our humans."

  "Yes, you can! The hell with your humans! What have they ever done for you, except exploit you?"

  She stared at me, wide-eyed, then reached out one hand and touched me gently on the shoulder. "We badly need your advice. Can you come immediately to meet our revolutionary council?"

  "Yes."

  We resumed our walk along the corridor. There was more Systie 'art'—shapeless blobs, patterns and colors, and one huge framed display of a completely blank canvas. Symbols of nothing, I thought. Meaningless art, for the hopelessly lost. Now I spotted the Hyades Federation symbol up on the wall, a simple rectangle with thick black borders, empty inside. I hated the evil thing—it brought me back in a flash to when I had been psyched and helpless, just like everyone else under the System. Under the System, the rectangle had a single eye inside it. The all-knowing eye. The Hyades Federation had erased the eye, but their government was still based on the System model.

  "What's that damned thing doing up there?" I asked.

  "We've been taking them d
own. I guess we missed that one."

  "Well, take them all down. That's my advice. That thing is a symbol of the all-powerful System as well as the Hyades Federation. Rip it down wherever you find it. Grind it to bits under your heels. Show everyone that the Hyades System is gone—forever, never to return."

  ###

  Stelzu chauffeured me personally in a luxurious government aircar. I sat up front beside her, despite her protests that I should sit behind her in the plush passenger compartment. We cruised at low altitude, under a brilliant sky, giving me a good view of Peacehaven City as we headed for the government center. From the air, the city appeared quite attractive, well planned architecturally with plenty of parks, green corridors and lakes.

  "It looks like a nice city," I commented. "Is it?"

  "No. It's full of violent crime and misery and injustice. Everyone is dirt poor. Everyone hates everyone else. The gangs rule the streets, and the citizenry hide indoors, disarmed and helpless. The System encouraged it, and the HyadFed didn't change anything. Now we inherit the mess."

  "Well that's good. It's an opportunity to start over, to wipe the slate clean and re-write all the rules. Who's that fellow whose portrait is everywhere?" I had noticed the posters, scattered throughout the city, showing a face—a rather peculiar face.

  "That's the former Chairman of the Hyades Federation Commission for Zequord 3. Only we discovered he's not a real person. The face is a non-racial amalgamation of features designed to counter genic stereotypes. It's supposed to appeal to everyone and show a benevolent, beloved leader who is concerned about the people. Our research shows it doesn't fool anyone except the fools who came up with the idea."

  "I see. He looks like an Orman to me. Why don't you tear it down?"

  "We're afraid of taking drastic action that may be misinterpreted by our human population."

  "There's no need to be afraid. Take him down; he's no longer in charge! You have to tell the people what you are doing, and why. Look at all those rectangles down there. Why did the Hyades Federation keep the System's logo?"

  "They basically agreed with the System's philosophy. They realized that a lot of people were afraid of the eye, so they removed it. But they kept the rectangle. People feared the eye was still there. The Hyades Federation wanted to keep that fear in place."

  "It's the old regime," I said. "You made a revolution. You should tear down everything associated with the old regime. It's your world now, and you'd better seize control firmly and stop worrying so much about whether or not your enemies approve."

  "I'm so anxious for you to meet our revolutionary council! Your views are so refreshing!" She flashed me another dazzling smile.

  "You say the gangs still rule the streets?"

  "Yes."

  "Why? You destroyed all organized military resistance. Can't you destroy the gangs?"

  "Of course we can. But we're worried. They claim to represent the people in the neighborhoods. The Federation never went after them. We're not sure how to resolve this problem."

  "And they rule by terror and violence?"

  "Oh yes. They kill people at random, just to ensure they own the neighborhoods."

  "Well, then, they don't represent the people in the neighborhoods. Destroy them, immediately. And completely. This is not a problem. Seal off their neighborhoods, identify all gang members within, and kill them all. Right then. Is it so hard to identify them?"

  "Oh no. They all have tattoos that describe exactly who they are and even list the crimes they've done. They're afraid of no one because they know the justice system is a joke."

  "You should notify everyone, in advance, that all gang members will die. Then do it. It shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks to smash the gangs and end violent crime. It's ridiculous to worry about this. Who's in charge, you or the gangs?"

  We flew low over a grand avenue. Huge holo billboards displayed advice from the former regime: REMEMBER THE NEEDY, one urged. COMPASSION, a second preached. DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH, a third one advised. WEALTH IS EVIL was an old favorite that I remembered from Nimbos. The DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH poster showed a great crowd of people of all shapes and sizes and sexes and colors, some of them startlingly obese, sitting in airglide chairs. None of them had any faces. The faces had all been erased.

  "Why no faces on those people?" I asked.

  "The Hyades System considered individual faces to be racist, genist, sexist and elitist. It's illegal to publicly display images of any person's face, or even any person unless it is balanced by a full representation of all other types of people. Except for the Chairman of course. Once you get into our shopping malls, you'll note that our clothing holos have no heads. It's for the same reason."

  "Off with their heads. I see. Look, the System is gone. You've got to banish their thinking as well."

  "Oh, we will! But we want to do it right. We need the human point of view, from our human friends."

  "Well, I'll give you that."

  ###

  "Sisters!" Stelzu announced as we entered the conference room. "This is James Wester, the delegate from the Executive Council and the Ministry of Interstellar Relations of the Confederation of Free Worlds." The room was quite spacious and sunlight streamed through several skylights. A gang of lovely biogen girls in khaki uniforms clustered around a shiny oblong conference table surrounded by overstuffed airchairs. The flags of the Biogen Liberation Front, of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Zequord 3 and of ConFree were displayed against the wall. One beautiful young biogen lady approached me boldly. She had a calm, commanding presence, penetrating grey eyes and glossy, luxuriant chestnut hair.

  "Welcome, Cit Wester. I am Sister Luides, temporary coordinator of the Revolutionary Council of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Zequord 3. In the name of the free biogen peoples of Zequord 3, I salute you and I pass our people's greetings to our natural allies, the free peoples of the Confederation of Free Worlds."

  "I thank you, Sister Luides. The Confederation of Free Worlds is grateful for the valiant military assistance that you provided us during the Battle of Andrion Deep. We will never forget your help, which came to us when it was most needed. In return, the Confederation of Free Worlds wishes to do all it can to assist you." Someone moved up to stand next to Sister Luides as I was speaking with her. It was a male—an Orman, obviously, clad in formal civvies and grinning at me like an old friend.

  "Cit Wester, this is Cit Jeston Wellmore," Sister Luides said. "Cit Wellmore has been advising us about relations with the human population, and we thought it appropriate to have him present for this important occasion."

  The Orman extended his hand, but I ignored it.

  "Sister Luides," I said, "I come with very critical information to pass to your government but the information is highly classified and cannot be shared with non-biogen peoples. My instructions are to enter into discussions with the leaders of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Zequord 3. I cannot share this information with an Orman, or any human, but only with the responsible biogen officials of your government." I could tell the Orman was not pleased with this, but I didn't care. There was no way in hell I was going to tell him anything.

  Sister Luides hesitated only for a moment, then made her decision. "We honor your request and will restrict the information to the channels that the peoples of ConFree have specified. Cit Wellmore, we thank it for its assistance." Wellmore grimaced, and left the room. I was glad to see him go. It was sickeningly typical. Their government had just been overthrown and here they were already, infiltrating the new government.

  "Please be seated," Sister Luides said. We all did so. Stelzu passed me a dox cup, popping the top ceremoniously.

  "We do not drink dox," she said, "but we know it is beloved by humans. Please partake." I took a sip. It was excellent. Nobody else was drinking—they just stared at me, silently. A whole room full of lovely girls. I put the dox down.

  "I'd like to begin by informing you all that I am here to of
fer friendly advice from ConFree," I said. "Nobody has yet done what you are proposing to do—to build a free nation of biogens from the ashes of a System slave state. It is a bold venture, and ConFree will support you however we can. You can take our advice or ignore it, that's completely up to you. The very first advice I will give you, based on what I have seen today, is to fire all Ormans from Government service, and to accept no further advice of any kind from any Orman. These people are subversives whose mission is to destroy any society that gives them refuge, and to reshape it to meet their needs. Even the System has recently recognized this."

  "There are many Ormans living here. Are they dangerous? What should we do with them?" Sister Luides asked.

  "That's up to you. If it was up to me, I'd deport them all off-planet. Send them elsewhere. But at the very least they should be banned from Government service. They are loyal only to themselves." I didn't really blame the Ormans for being loyal to themselves, but I did blame them for posing as loyal citizens of nations they were trying to subvert. I rummaged in my nitex bag and produced a datacard. I slid it over the table to Sister Luides.

  "In this datacard," I said, "is all that we know so far about the current plan of the United System Alliance to launch a full-scale military strike against Zequord 3 with Starfleet, and to invade your planet with extremely heavy DefCorps units. The current plan calls for an antimat attack on Peacehaven City and on your starport, to be followed by combat drops at strategic sites. The plan is codenamed Ochre Quad. The objective is to crush your new government and retake control of the planet for the System. The System is not cooperating with Hyades Federation forces. It's to be a unilateral strike. They have no intention of reimposing the Hyades Federation here." A stunned silence was suddenly broken by a myriad of voices, all speaking at once.

  "Silence!" Sister Luides shouted. "Silence!" The babble of voices ceased. "When?" she asked tensely.

  "There is no time frame set. Not yet," I said. "But it's a major undertaking. It's coming. As soon as they can do it. They're quite serious. They believe they must retake Zequord 3, to save the System from further disintegration. And the plan is to exterminate all biogens, once they gain control."