“Please, please, Captain Danny,” Aalaza said. “Do not be so hasty.” I slid back into my chair. “If it is the payment for the cynta you are concerned about, I can give you assurances.”
Which might prove to be worthless later on. “I think not,” I answered.
Aalaza let out a long sigh. “I am afraid, Captain Danny, that you do not have much choice.”
“Why not?” I figured it was time to be direct.
Aalaza gave me a thin smile. “As I recall,” he said, “and I’m sure you do too, your ship was an Imperial cruiser you captured in combat. The empire considers that capture a significant crime. The only way to erase that is for you to join us, in which case the issue is moot.”
I was incredulous. “Since when has Carrillacki ever concerned itself with what happens to the Fleet?”
“Apparently you are a bit behind in your current events,” he replied. “The Emperor Jerem met with the Council of the Kvenningari on Albane to negotiate an end to the Game of Empire. The negotiation did not go well for the emperor. It culminated in a series of battles in which his escort ships were wiped out, and he surrendered to Carrillacki. Consequently, Carrillacki represents the interests of the emperor again. While I agree that normally we would not concern ourselves with the Fleet, the theft of a cruiser by a freebooter cannot be ignored. I will, of course, extend a complete pardon when you join Carrillacki, which the emperor will endorse. You understand, I’m sure, that since you were not completely willing, you will have to take another ship, but that is a small price to pay for the pardon and your future success. Otherwise, you must answer for your crime. It will not bring me as much status in Carrillacki as if you join us, so you see our interests coincide.”
“You’re threatening me while my ship sits up there with more firepower than you have in your system? You’re out of your mind!”
“Not at all,” Aalaza said. “Regardless of what you do, your crew is going to hear that you have joined Carrillacki. They are unlikely to do much about it. Even if they suspect otherwise, I doubt that they will try to take on a whole Imperial system. In the long run, it would not pay. Besides, your crew are freebooters, Captain. We know what kind of loyalties run in the Outer Empire. They will be just as happy under the officers up there now, or a Carrillacki officer. Of course, they are more likely to come over if you order it, but I expect to convince them even if you don’t. So, be reasonable, Captain. If I have neither your cooperation nor the ship, I will have to make what I can out of your execution.” Aalaza tipped his head a fraction of an inch and a squad of guards appeared at the perimeter of the room.
I wanted to tell that smiling asshole that Ruoni was, in fact, likely to bombard the city on suspicion, but I stifled the urge. He wouldn’t have believed me, and even if he had, it would only have prompted him to act more decisively against the ship. I settled for telling him that he was making a mistake he would regret.
“I think not,” he said. “I’m accustomed to making decisions and dealing with the consequences.” There was no visible signal, but when Aalaza finished speaking, two of his guards drew their weapons and fired. The two of my crew seated at the end of the table fell to the floor with mortal wounds in their chests.
“A decision and a consequence, Captain. I trust I have made my point without shouting.”
I swallowed hard and looked around the table. Angel’s face was a mask of fury. Jaenna’s was just a mask, but I could guess what was behind it. I would have loved to see what was showing on mine.
“Do you honestly think that I will work for you after that?” I asked, coming to my feet.
“Of course. One guard is as good as another. There are always more of them. Good captains, however, are hard to come by.”
He had killed two people just to add inflection to his silky voice. No wonder Aalaza lived behind a wall.
When it was clear that I wasn’t going to say anything, Aalaza spoke again. “Take the night to think it over, Captain Danny. I am sure by morning you will see that this offer is best for you and for your ship. The guards will show you back to your room after they relieve you of your comm gear.”
The squad did just that, put us into the room and closed the door. As soon as it was shut, I turned around to try it from our side. The touch plate did not respond. We were locked in.
“Jesus !” I exploded. “I can’t believe I walked us into this! But who would think that he would do all of this just to bag me?”
Jaenna said, “Sometimes, Danny, I don’t think you have a good estimate of your own worth.”
For the second time in one evening, I was speechless. There are a number of people who I wish could have heard that. It did not, however, help us to get out of that room. The five of us spent the next half hour searching the suite inch by inch looking for an exit. No dice. I was ready to give up when we heard a noise at the door. It slid open and Syranna stood in the opening.
Chapter 17
“I just wanted to see if everything was all right,” Syranna said. As he spoke, he stepped into the room. The door slid closed behind him.
“You son of a bitch!” Angel screamed and grabbed the astonished boy by the front of his tunic. Twisting around, Angel hurled him a good ten feet through the air. Syranna’s flight was interrupted by a wall and he crumpled.
“Wait!” Jaenna ordered. Angel’s foot was poised to work Syranna’s face into the pattern on the wall.
Slowly, Syranna pulled himself to a sitting position. He winced when he moved his right shoulder; otherwise, his expression was a mixture of fright and surprise.
“Why did you come here?” Jaenna demanded.
“I told you, I wanted to see that you had whatever you needed. I heard that Aalaza offered you a commission and I was hoping to hear that you had accepted. I didn’t expect you to hurt me.” Syranna sounded ready to cry.
“Did you hear,” I asked, “that Aalaza made his offer at the end of a blaster? And did you also hear that he shot two of my crew to make sure I gave it serious consideration?”
“I heard no such thing,” the boy insisted. “The governor would never do such a thing.”
“Well, if your education has reached the level of arithmetic, try counting. There were seven of us before dinner. There are only five now.”
“No,” Syranna whispered. Again, he looked ready to cry.
“Never mind that,” Jaenna broke in, “is this room monitored?”
“Of course,” he said, “all rooms are, but not on real time. The records are only scanned intermittently.” Unless, I thought, they were giving us special treatment, which, as far as I was concerned, was a certainty. Oh well.
Jaenna clearly had the same thought, but she was prepared. She pulled a small black capsule from under her cloak and set it down. It began to hum.
“I thought we might need to have a truly private conversation. We have these on Kaaran so I recognized it on the ship, but, unless our computer is very wrong, they won’t know about them here. No one seemed concerned by it on the scans.”
“What does it do?”
“Guaranteed to ruin their reception. They’ll probably think the problem is in their command console. Of course, it won’t help as far as Syranna’s getting launched into the wall, but I doubt they’ll make too big a fuss about seeing if he’s all right.” There was a touch of grim humor in her voice as she said it. “Now,” she said to Syranna, “this door opens to your touch?”
“Of course, how else would I have come in?”
“Good. How many guards out there now?”
“Two, at the intersection where this side corridor meets the main passage. But they are both armed,” he protested.
A little smile played around Jaenna’s lips. “I’m sure they are,” she said. “This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a meeting go sour.” Then she turned to Angel. “See if you can find some way of trussing him up nice and tight once he opens the door.”
“No, please, wait,” Syranna protested as Angel started f
or one of the bedrooms. “Do you give me your word of honor that the governor did what you said?”
“I don’t see why I should assure you of anything,” I retorted.
“I need to know,” Syranna insisted.
“I told you how it was. Believe me or not, it’s your choice. It doesn’t matter anyway.”
“Yes it does. If you can get out of the main building, there is a side exit through the compound wall. It opens only from the inside and it’s not guarded. I can show you where it is.”
“Why?” I turned on him angrily. We were wasting time and we didn’t know how much we had. “Why should you suddenly risk your neck to oppose your own governor? And why should we trust you to do it?”
Syranna tried to straighten up, even at the cost of pain from his injured shoulder. “A member of my family has held a high position in the Imperial administration of Calldlamm for generations. My father and my grandfather both taught me that there is a code that must be followed. There is a price for these positions. If I can help you, then at least my family will not be disgraced.” He tried hard to sound grown-up, although he couldn’t prevent his voice from trembling. It sounded like a speech his father or grandfather might have taught him. Sadly, Syranna was just too young to recognize it as another Imperial fiction.
“The decision is yours, Danny,” Jaenna said. Right then, I would have been more comfortable if she had had less confidence in my judgment.
“Bring him along,” I said. I hoped that we wouldn’t regret it.
Jaenna motioned Syranna to stand by the door, then told him to wait for her order. It was, I knew, at least twenty feet from the door to where the cul-de-sac joined the main corridor. It would be a long way to go, with no cover, to reach the guards. Jaenna apparently didn’t plan to try. From beneath her cloak she pulled three pieces of plastic that fit together to form a long tube with a mouthpiece at one end. Then she brought out a smaller tube that had a canister fixed to it. From this tube she pulled two long slivers of dense plastic. Each had a small plug at one end and came to a sharp point at the other. Carefully, she pushed the sharp end of each through one end of the canister, then withdrew it.
“What’s in that?” I asked.
“Bacclonar,” she answered.
Bacclonar. That was a chemical cousin to curare. God in Heaven! Jaenna had a blowgun!
“Where did you get that?”
“On a station, a while back,” she answered me. “In pieces, there’s nothing any scanner will pick up as a weapon. I figured that after giving them a blaster and the rocket at the gate, they wouldn’t look any further when they saw a clear scan.” Then she turned to Syranna and hissed, “Now!”
Syranna put his hand on the plate and the door slid open. Jaenna glided into the corridor, raising the blowgun to her lips in one smooth motion. She blew twice in quick succession. Down the hall, the first dart buried itself in the cheek of one guard. The second struck his partner in the neck. Before either of them could do more than gasp, they toppled onto the floor. We sprinted from the door to pull the bodies out of sight and gather their weapons. Never had it felt so good to have a weapon in my hand.
“I’m afraid the only exit from this building that I know is the main one with the guardpost,” Syranna told us.
“That’s all right,” I assured him. “We have to have our weapons back, even if it means a fight.”
Fortunately, at that hour the corridors were deserted. There was no one to see us as we headed to the checkpoint. With Syranna along, the automatic electronic guardians of the building saw nothing amiss. The backside of the checkpoint was open above the barrier to allow the guards to monitor those on their way out as well as in. The guards were probably well trained. It made no difference. No amount of training could have prepared them to have a quiet night shattered by a crowd charging them from behind, blasters firing as they came on. One guard went down with the first volley, cooked pieces of his brain splattered across the guard station. His partner managed one shot in return before we blasted him down also. It was a good shot though. One of my guards went down, his larynx burned away. We dragged all three bodies behind the barrier, where they were temporarily out of sight.
My key no longer worked on the locker, so Jaenna simply blasted the lock. Our weapons were there, including Jaenna’s pet rocket. From that point, it looked to be a footrace. The guards had probably been unable to give an alarm, but it was only a matter of time before the surveillance systems alerted someone.
We dashed outside and Syranna led us into the shrubbery, away from the marked path we had followed earlier. No sooner were we off that path than a siren erupted from the building.
“Oh shit,” I muttered, “here comes trouble.”
They didn’t, however, come in our direction. From Syranna’s description, this path sounded like Aalaza’s bolt-hole. Most of the guards probably didn’t know it existed. We reached a section of wall hidden behind a dense row of tall hedges, which looked otherwise identical to the rest of the wall. There we waited nervously while Syranna searched for the touch plate.
“Ah!”
Silently, a narrow section of wall dropped away, revealing a sward outside and well-spaced homes beyond it. “Activating this door creates a dead zone in the sensors running all the way to the tree line,” Syranna said.
I turned to Syranna to thank him. “You know, “ I said, “you could come with us. You would be welcome and you may not be safe here.”
“No, Captain. I’ve done what honor demanded. My post is here and that same honor demands that I stay. No matter what happens, my family will understand and I will be content.” There was pride in his voice, his decision made.
We left him then, and Syranna closed the passage behind us.
From the wall, we headed obliquely away from the main gate and toward a row of trees. Our back door exit had bought us valuable time. Aalaza’s guards must have still believed us to be inside the compound, and they bent their energies in that direction. But before we reached the trees someone on the wall must have detected our movement. We found that out when the red flare of a heavy blaster split the night. The bolt burned straight through Jonorosso and he fell face first onto the ground. The rest of us dove forward, found a downward slope and rolled to the tree line, while blaster fire scorched the ground behind us.
“We need one of those hovercars real quick, or it’s good night, Irene.” Angel’s voice came from the vicinity of a tree trunk a few feet to my right.
I couldn’t have agreed more. “Is Jonorosso alive?”
“No,” came Jaenna’s answer. “Just the three of us.”
“Just like old times,” Angel grunted. “I think I saw a road past those houses to the right. Want to try it?”
We decided to try it. The slope gave us cover from the fireworks that were crisscrossing the crest, enough so that we were able to work our way over toward the houses without difficulty. The longer they kept shooting up the meadow, the longer it would be before a search party went through there. When they did, though, Jonorosso’s body would help keep them on the trail. At least, it would have to wait for a personal search. With all their shooting, they had started several small fires that would make it hard to pick us up by infrared.
The houses began about a third of a mile from the governor’s compound. They were low, sprawling affairs, more like haciendas than Earth suburban developments. Each one sat on several acres of land. It made sense that the area near the compound would belong to the wealthy. I hoped that meant Aalaza would think twice before cutting loose with his blasters there. Some of the houses had their own walls around them, others were open. There were ground-effect vehicles parked near them.
“Anyone know how to hotwire one of those things?” I asked, hopefully.
Neither Jaenna nor Angel was any help. Maybe just as well. That way, we weren’t tempted to come in close to the dwellings. Logically, they would have been equipped with their own surveillance apparatus. Instead, we went straight for th
e road. It proved to be a moderate hike, what with our constant worry about detection, but eventually we cleared the last grove of trees and stood looking out over the road. The surface was sunken below the level of the surrounding land, so that the traffic would not ruin the view of the surrounding home owners. Ahead of us, the road ran toward the edge of the cliff and then down toward the city proper. At widely spaced intervals, cuts in the embankment served to let vehicles out to the houses. Evidently, where there was little traffic, or no need for speed, grass served as well as a road for the hovercars. The defile had an advantage for us; its banks would help hide us. At least, they would until Aalaza got an airborne search organized.
We had been walking along the road no more than five minutes when we saw lights coming up behind us. Given the limits imposed by the construction of the road, we didn’t have much choice. Angel stood in the middle of the road to draw the driver’s attention, while Jaenna and I tried to melt into the wall. There was only a single occupant visible as the vehicle came to a stop in front of Angel.
“Hey, what do you want?” yelled the driver.
“Your car!” I shouted leaping into the road with my blaster trained on him.
The Srihani in the car was past middle age, with a deeply lined face and completely gray hair. He froze when he saw the blaster scant inches from his head. That gave Angel and Jaenna time to force the door opposite him. Then the surprise wore off and he took a good look at us.
“You are not Carrillacki.” It was a flat statement, not a question.
“Good guess,” I told him. “Be real careful now. We’ll have no compunctions about burning any Carrillacki we have to.”
The change in the driver was astonishing. All at once his face lit up. “Hail Emperor and to hell with Carrillacki!” he exclaimed. “Get in the car and tell me where to take you.”
It was my turn to be surprised. Not so surprised, though, that I failed to get in, nor so surprised that I put my weapon down. I told him to head for the spaceport, as we were declining an invitation from the governor. He answered me with a broad grin. Then I sank back into the cushions as he fed power to the ground-effect motors.
My Life: An Ex-Quarterback's Adventures in the Galactic Empire Page 24
