"They had no chance!" the king wailed.
Cale shook his head again. "None at all, your Majesty," he said simply.
It took several minutes for the cavalry force to sort itself out and see to its animals, and then they descended on the king en mass.
"Cheat!" One shouted.
"Not fair!" cried another.
The Captain waved his people to silence, and then bowed to the king. "We do not feel it was a fair test, your Majesty," the Captain protested. But there was despair in his eyes.
The king looked troubled. He turned to Cale. "Did you not tell them of the weapons they would face?"
Cale nodded. "Told them and demonstrated them, your Majesty. I also told them that their enemy would be hiding behind cover, not standing to face them."
The king nodded and turned back to the Captain. "Is this true?"
"Yes, your Majesty, but . . . "
"And you were free to use any tactics you wished?"
The Captain's shoulders slumped. "Yes, your Majesty."
"Then how was it unfair? How a cheat?"
The Captain looked morose, defeated. "Your Majesty . . . these weapons . . . " his voice trailed off.
King Rajo nodded soberly. "We share your shock and despair, Captain. We fear that war on Jumbo is forever changed by the star men on both sides."
He turned back to Cale. "We congratulate you on your success, sire Cale. But We do not like your kind of victory." His face and tone were cold.
Cale bowed. "Nor do I, your Majesty. I am sorry General Ochoa-Mariden brought this upon Jumbo."
"And what of your own part in bringing this new war to Jumbo?" the king asked stonily. "You brought this 'General' person to Jumbo. It seems that wizard Hiraf was right in sending you away."
Cale voice was soft and tortured. "I never forget it, your Majesty."
The king turned to the Captain. "We will join you for the midday meal, Captain, before returning to the palace." He spun on his heel and strode away, ignoring the bowing Cale.
The flight back to the palace was grim. The king spoke to Cale only when necessary. Still, he was clearly thinking.
As Explorer settled to the ground, King Rajo turned to Cale. "Sire Cale," he said formally, "You have always been truthful and honorable in your dealings with Us, and We believe that you truly act in Our interest. You often repeated that the old ways of battle must change, and today's unhappy demonstration has made your point. We hate your 'total war', and grieve for the concept of honor. But We feel that if We do not embrace this 'total war' We are lost against an enemy who does embrace it.
"We therefore give you permission to wage this war as you see fit, and pledge Our support in any way necessary. You will keep Us informed, even when you know your reports will displease Us. But We beg you to remember the concept of honor, and do not stain Ours beyond redemption." Without another word, the king left the ship.
Cale was staring morosely into space, lost in thought, when the inner airlock door suddenly slammed shut with a clang! Cale jumped to his feet and started for it when he heard a very welcome voice.
"Cale, it's Dee. Close the outer door, please. I'm filthy and bug-bitten. I'm going to leave my clothes in the airlock and make a beeline for the 'fresher. Don't you dare look at me until I come out!"
Cale's grin was wide as he slapped the door control and the control for the covers of the windscreen. The windscreen was instantly polarized. Dee had been traveling with the king's Head of Intelligence, recruiting watchers and passing out ultracoms for over three weeks, and missing her had been a dull, never-ending ache inside him. He grabbed a bulb of insecticide and started for the lock's inner door.
Just as he reached it, the door flew open and a dirty, scratched and gloriously naked Dee flew past him with a squeal. She ducked into Explorer's tiny 'fresher, and he stepped into the lock, closing the inner door behind him. The air in the lock was thick with the scent of woman, and, more importantly, the scent of Dee! He inhaled deeply. Then, with a smile, he keyed the control to open the outer door, and thoroughly covered the clothing Dee had left on the floor with insecticide. Then he brought it inside and dropped it in their laundry bag.
Laundry is rarely a problem in a starship. Shipsuits are made of a material that is disposable, and disintegrates completely in water. A supply of this material is maintained in a tank, and a small comp can produce a shipsuit in any desired size or color in short order. Tess had actually reprogrammed Cheetah's comp to produce custom-fit shipsuits for Dee, which had produced a minor fad on Angeles.
But their Jumbo costumes were of Jumbo origin – cloth. And while Cheetah had laundry facilities, Cale had overlooked them when ordering Explorer. This meant they must hire a local woman to wash their clothing. The woman thought they were crazy; why make clothes wear out faster by washing them? But crazy or not, their steel was good, so she did as she was asked.
Cale lounged in the pilot's acceleration couch, smiling and listening contentedly to the small sounds of Dee in the 'fresher, his somber mood forgotten.
Explorer was too small to have a separate bedroom; the bunks stored neatly against the walls. So when Dee finally stepped from the 'fresher almost an hour later, she was clean, dry, and utterly, beautifully, naked.
Cale jumped up and took her into his arms, hugging her tightly. "No more," he grated. "No more three-week pleasure jaunts while I worry myself to death about you."
She stiffened in his arms "'Pleasure jaunts'?" Why you . . . " Her protest died as his lips closed hers.
Three hours and a scratch meal later, they were sitting in the two couches, talking.
"So," Dee said, "What did you do while I was touring beautiful Valhalla foot by aching foot? Chase all the girls?"
Cale shuddered. "Have you seen the girls on Jumbo?" he asked. "Why, they're almost as homely as . . . as . . . "
"Don't say it!" Dee warned. "Don't even think it!"
Cale put on a wounded expression. "Why, my dear, I have no idea what you mean!" The broad grin that followed rather spoiled the effect.
"So, what did you do?" she persisted. "Play courtier to the king?"
"Oh," he replied casually, "nothing much. Recruited Donord as a spy, planted snipers in the General's back yard, went to the biggest party on the planet and recruited more snipers, wiped out an assassination squad sent by the General, Spent a little time at the training camp, and broke the king's heart. How about you?"
Dee shook her head. "Donord? Party? Wiped out? You know you're not going to get off without telling me about all of it. And how did you break the king's heart? Tell him you're hetero?"
Cale couldn't suppress a chuckle before he shook his head somberly. "No. I destroyed his cavalry in a drill that lasted less than two minutes, and nailed shut the coffin of 'honorable war' on Jumbo. I hope he'll forgive me someday. I hope the whole planet will."
"NO!" Cale jumped at Dee's shout. "No," she continued, "you didn't bring total war to Jumbo. Ochoa-Mariden did. He's the villain here, not you."
Cale shook his head. "And who brought Ochoa-Mariden to Jumbo?"
"The Greeners!" She said fiercely. "They're the ones that let the General and his thugs join up without checking them out. By the time you met the man, it was too late. He was already deeply embedded in their organization. Don't you dare think you're responsible for this, just because they were naive. I won't have it! And I'll tell the king so, too!" She jumped up and started for the lock, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her into his lap. She squirmed, but he silenced her protest with a kiss.
"Thank you, Darling," he said sincerely. "I have enough guilt of my own; I don't need to pick up someone else's." He was about to continue when the comm alarm went off.
It was Zant. "I've got ten fools here who think that bombs and booby traps are the funniest jokes in the world, and explosions are more fun than sex. How about giving us a lift down south?"
Cale forced a smile. "It sure wouldn't hurt to get away from here for a while."
&nbs
p; Zant's expression turned quizzical. "What'd you do, seduce the King's favorite girlfriend or something?"
That brought an honest chuckle. "He's married. But no . . . "
"Cale rained on his 'honorable war' parade, and he thinks Cale invented total war," Dee interrupted. "I'm going to set him straight."
Zant's grin was broad. "I'll bet you will, too, Dee. Welcome back."
"Anyway," Cale said, pushing Dee out of the pickup, "It seems we're no longer at the top of the King's 'favorite people' list. Actually, I suspect we now rank about two steps below the nomads. However," he continued, fending off Dee, "We do have the king's permission to make war any way we choose." Dee subsided, and he went on, "We are to keep him informed, even when we know he won't be pleased, and he's asked us to try not to totally destroy his honor."
Zant clapped his hands. "Yes! Then we're go for my psychopaths, right?"
Cale frowned. "I guess so. If it was a good idea a week ago, I guess it's a good idea now. I'll get Dee set up in the castle." He turned to Dee. "Unless you'd rather stay aboard Cheetah . . . " His voice trailed off because Dee's head was already shaking 'no'.
She pushed herself in front of the pickup. "We'll pick you up as soon as we finish the fight," she said, and clicked off.
"What fight?" Cale asked foolishly.
"The one we're about to have if you try to leave me behind. I've been tramping all over southern Valhalla talking to peasants, and I've had enough. I'm part of this, too, and I'm not going to let you shut me out!"
"You don't even know where we're going or what we're doing," he protested.
"So, you can brief me on the way. If it involves Zant, psychopaths, bombs, booby traps, and explosives, it's bound to be fun!"
Cale rolled his eyes. Fun!
He did brief her on the way. With thirteen people aboard, Explorer was going to be very crowded on the trip south. He called their contact in the hunters' village, and told him what they planned. "Can you tell our people anything about the colony?"
But the man shook his head. "None of us have ever been there. We kinda creep out at night, do our business, and hurry back before the flyer shows up. We've killed over a dozen, but we're tying up a lot more. They've had to double and triple their guards. Just gives us twice as many targets, o'course. They won't come into the Forest, at least not yet. But we've got hideouts in case they do."
Cale's next call was to Donord. He didn't answer, but he called back in less than an hour.
"They've closed some of the smaller checkpoints, and doubled the guards on the rest," he reported. "They've got four checkpoints left, and now they've got some kind of fancy gate set up on the new road to the colony, just past where it meets the main road to Ham's Town. Oh, and one of the guards mentioned something called a 'capacitance'. Funny, though, once you get past that, there's no more checkpoints until you get to the colony. And from what I've heard, most of their attention is inward."
"How do you know so much?"
Donord grinned. "I've been makin' some strange drinks. Sellin' a lot of 'em, too. That means listening to a lot of drunks.
"It's really kind of funny, when you think about it. It seems those colony people need help gettin' their crops in. And there's only one place to get 'em. So, there's all these checkpoints, but they let through all these Jumbo workers. Of course, once they're in there, that's what the inner guard posts are for. The guards claim they don't understand why the General's bothering to pay all these local slaves." He shrugged. "I guess that's about all I can tell you."
"Oh!" he said just as he was preparing to sign off, "It seems none of the guards are happy when they're assigned to patrol the side of the colony near the Giant Forest. Seems a lot of 'em don't come back. At least not alive. I heard the General wants to send people into the forest, but that place is so full of ambush sites he doesn't dare."
"Now that's what I wanted to hear," Zant said later, when Cale relayed Donord's information. "We'll get onto the snipers, see what they know. If the snipers can take out a guard patrol, we might just have a way in."
"And what can I do to help?" Dee asked after Zant signed off. It was the question Cale had been dreading, because he had absolutely no idea.
After a moment, a wicked idea came to him. Better yet, Dee would probably refuse to do it, which would let him leave her in Valhalla. "Donord is a very useful spy, but, if you're willing, you could an even more useful one.
"Like every inn on Jumbo, Donord's place has half a dozen prostitutes to service the customers upstairs."
She was staring at him incredulously. "Do not tell me you want me to . . . " She trailed off as she saw him shake his head.
"No," he replied, "of course I don't expect you to become, or even try to impersonate a whore. I'm shocked that you think I'd let you do that, even for a moment! But those girls hear a lot more than Donord. Men like to brag to a girl, especially in bed.
"What I was going to suggest is that you work for Donord in the still shed, making liquor. That will be your cover. But your actual mission will be to befriend the girls, and get them to talk to you.
"I know," he continued as she opened her mouth to interrupt. "Donord has already asked the girls to report anything interesting. But he has to be careful, and I doubt he's getting much useful information from them. But another woman . . . " he shrugged. "I think a little 'girl talk' could gather a lot more information than Donord alone. It's something you're uniquely qualified to do, and will let you associate with real prostitutes from a real 'Den of Iniquity'." This last was a reference to their visit to a space station. Dee had been raised as the daughter of the highest-ranking churchman on Faith, and she had been excited about visiting an actual Den of Iniquity. She'd been a bit disappointed.
"Of course," he continued, "Even with Donord protecting you, it could get dangerous. You'll still have to fight off the occasional drunk, and maybe even a rapist."
He shook his head. "Dear, if I didn't know your skills in hand-to-hand combat, I'd never even let you visit Donord's inn, with all those star men hanging around, let alone suggest it as a mission. The still work will be hot and hard, and you'll have to associate with women you would normally cross the street to avoid. But there's a chance you could gain some very valuable information."
If he'd expected Dee to refuse in indignant disgust, he was far off the mark. As he spoke her eyes had widened, and excitement had grown in them. By the time he'd finished his sales talk, she could hardly sit still.
"Of course I'll do it," she gushed. "It is something important, and it's something no man could do!"
It was crowded aboard Explorer from the foothills to the fishing village, and Dee was constantly fighting off questing hands, until she brandished a fighting knife and threatened to cut off the next one.
When they finally reached the fishing village, Donord's friend met them, as expected. Cale breathed a sigh of relief as Zant and his cutthroats disembarked. Those mountain men from an isolated planet resembled the pirates in the Terror's fleet too closely for comfort.
He grabbed Donord's friend and began briefing him on Dee's mission. He stressed the fact that Dee wasn't really a servant girl or prostitute, but a star Lady. He carried on at some length before he finally realized he was sounding like the demented parent of a teenager about to go on her first date.
An exasperated Dee dragged the man off toward Zant, with a parting glare at Cale.
Cale was surprised at the amount of sheer nastiness Zant had brought along. There were plenty of demo packs, of course, and enough personal weaponry to outfit a unit twice their size. Cale recognized the cases of minigrenades. But he didn't recall ever seeing some of those cases before.
"Just a few toys I picked up on Santiago," Zant replied when he asked.
Finally, the ship was unloaded, and it was time to leave; dawn was approaching, and the hunters would have to disguise the marks of the landing before dawn. Cale pulled Dee aside and took her in his arms.
"You be careful," he
said worriedly. "The star men won't be the only human predators in King's Town." She nodded and he continued, "and no matter how bad it gets, just remember I love you, and I'm just an ultracom call away,"
She grinned. "A fat lot of help that'll be when I’m fighting off drunks," she said. "Don't worry about me, Cale, I'll be fine".
Their parting kiss was long and emotional, and finally Zant had to interrupt it to get Cale on his way.
It was a sad, lonely trip back to Valhalla alone. Zant had stayed to lead his band of merry men on their mission of mayhem. But of course it was Dee that occupied his thoughts and generated his worry. By the time he got back to the river port training camp, he was cursing himself for coming up with that stupid spy idea and putting Dee in danger.
********
Zant called Cale the next afternoon. "We're in the hunters' village and Dee's on her way to King's Town." He chuckled. "She didn't mind dressing as a servant girl, but we almost had a fight when I took her ceramic fighting knife and gave her an Old Time hunting knife. Oh, she realized that knife would have been a dead giveaway at a checkpoint, but she sure hated to give it up. I don't know where she's hiding the ultracom," he continued, "but I hope it's a good place!"
"It will be," Cale said, obviously trying to reassure himself as well as Zant. There was little more to report, and Zant quickly disconnected. He knew that you signed off from headquarters as soon as you'd made your report, and before the brains had a chance to come up with some wild ideas.
Well, okay, Zant thought, Cale wasn't headquarters, but he might as well have been. In another minute or two Cale would have been spouting ideas left and right. And right now he was too busy to deal with that. He returned to his conversation with the head of the snipers. "Okay," he said, "Run through it for me again."
The man shrugged. "I hope your mountain men are good in the forest. We have a two-day march to get far enough out to bypass the farms and reach the area the star men claim for 'future development'."
"We'll keep up," he assured the man. "Okay, so we leave the forest and cross the perimeter road."
The man nodded. "The road is covered by the star men's 'capacitance alarms,' but we have found ways to bypass them. Do not think it will be easy; one slip and we are undone."
The Privateer 2: AN HONEST LIVING Page 31
