Flagship (13 page)

They made their rendezvous on schedule, and transferred the Octopus and his men to the
Teddy R
shortly thereafter.

"This ship wasn't built to hold a crew of a hundred and thirty," said Cole as the Octopus joined him for a drink in his office. "We're going to have to find someplace for you and your men."

"I've been giving it some thought," said the eight-handed mutant. "We're not that far from the Bellermaine system. There's a small military outpost there. Why not use the
Teddy R
to take it out? Leave a few ships undamaged and my men and I will appropriate them."

"They won't do you a bit of good," said Cole.

"Why not? They'll be Navy ships."

"And the Navy will know two minutes after you leave what each one's registration number is, what its name is, and what codes have been programmed into its computer. You'll be the most easily identified ships in the Republic." Cole stared at him and shook his head. "Sometimes it's difficult to believe you were really the biggest pirate on the Inner Frontier."

"I was
not
a pirate," said the Octopus adamantly. "I was an
entrepreneur.
Your good-looking redheaded friend—
she
was the pirate." Suddenly he grinned. "I can't tell you how many times she plundered my chosen prey before I could."

"Let's get back to the subject at hand," said Cole. "We've got to get your men off the ship in the next couple of days, before tempers start fraying. We're cramped for living space as it is. And I'm not about to attack a Navy base just to make you happy."

"It's a small one," insisted the Octopus. "It's ripe for the taking."

"Why tell the Navy where we are?" Cole shot back. "We just made fools of them not eight hours ago. Let's capitalize on that first."

"I'm here instead of on Malagori V. How much more capitalizing do you need?"

"Let's find out," said Cole. He contacted Jacovic.

"Yes, sir?" said the Teroni as his image appeared.

"How many probes do we have left?"

"I'll have to check." A pause as he called up the information on a screen Cole could not see. "Five, sir."

"I guess we can spare one," said Cole. "Thanks." Then: "Let me speak to Meloctin."

The Lodinite's face immediately appeared. "Yes, Captain?"

"If I want to record a message, can you capture it, insert it in a probe, and program it to be sent at a certain time?"

"There should be no problem at all," answered Meloctin.

"I'll want it broadcast to as many worlds as can receive the signal, but I also want it transmitted via subspace radio directly to one person."

"I don't foresee any difficulty, sir."

Cole smiled. "I'm glad to have you aboard, Meloctin—and I'll bet Christine Mboya, Malcolm Briggs, and Domak are going to be even gladder. I'll be up to record the message shortly."

He broke the connection.

"What's that all about?" asked the Octopus.

"Want to be a video star?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Finish whatever it is you're drinking and come with me," said Cole.

A moment later the two of them were on the bridge, and Cole approached Meloctin. "Are we ready?"

"Yes, sir," said the Lodinite.

"Where do you want me to stand?"

"Anywhere you want."

"Right where I am is fine." He turned to the Octopus. "Stay where you are until I signal you to join me." He looked around. "Jacovic, stay well away from me while we're recording. If they see you, they're going to convince themselves this is some trick perpetrated by the Teroni Federation."

Jacovic nodded and backed away.

"Say when," Cole told Meloctin.

"Any time," replied the Lodinite.

"Now." Cole looked straight ahead. "Hello again, Secretary Wilkie. This is Wilson Cole aboard the
Theodore Roosevelt,
still free and still approaching Deluros. You took eighty of my friends prisoner two days ago, and held them incommunicado on the planet of Malagori V. This, of course, was unacceptable, so we freed them without losing a single man to your Navy. Since you are rarely within hailing distance of the truth, I expect you to deny this vigorously. But before you do, I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine." He gestured for the Octopus to join him. "This man is the notorious Octopus, one of the most feared entrepreneurs"—the Octopus laughed out loud—"on the Inner Frontier. Yesterday he was in your custody on Malagori V. Today he is standing next to me on the bridge of the
Theodore
Roosevelt.
You are unquestionably going to claim that is it an actor, which is ludicrous unless you assume that we carry eight-handed actors among our crew ... or perhaps you will think that he is nothing but a special effect. So I am going to ask him to say a few words to you, so that anyone who wants to run a voiceprint can do so."

Cole turned to the Octopus, who stared where Cole had been staring.

"Hello, you ugly little worm," said the Octopus. "You had better hope Wilson Cole reaches you first, because if I do, I plan to tear you into so many pieces that they can never find all of them. Speaking as an unelected criminal kingpin to an elected one, your days of plundering the galaxy are done. You can step aside, and I personally hope you don't, or you can cling to your office for a few more days, after which I will personally toss you aside before doing quite a few other exceptionally nasty things to you."

Cole waited until he was certain the Octopus was done, and then spoke again. "Your days of abusing the citizens of the Republic and the Inner Frontier are coming to an end. You are the primary villain, and your days in power are numbered, but we won't be satisfied to replace you with another tyrant. This time we're going to have a government that does what it is supposed to do, whatever that takes."

He nodded to Meloctin, who deactivated the recording device.

"Got it all?" said Cole.

"Yes. Would you like to edit it before I insert it in the probe?"

Cole shook his head. "No, we said what we had to say."

"Where would you like the probe sent?"

"Pilot?" said Cole, approaching Wxakgini.

"Yes?"

"What's the longest wormhole in the vicinity?"

"Define vicinity."

"Half a day."

There was a momentary silence while Wxakgini consulted with his mechanical counterpart. "That will be the Miranda Wormhole."

"If I shoot a probe into it, where will it come out?"

"Twenty-three thousand light-years away."

"How soon?"

"Approximately fourteen hours."

"Damn, that's fast, even for a wormhole!" exclaimed Cole. Then: "When it comes out, how close to Deluros will it be?"

Wxakgini closed his eyes and bonded with the computer again. "Thirty-two hundred light-years."

"Thanks." Cole returned to Meloctin. "Get all the coordinates you'll need from Pilot," he said. "Where the wormhole starts and ends, how to direct the transmission to Deluros once the probe is out the other end. Then rig it to broadcast and send twenty minutes after it emerges."

"That's cutting it very close," noted the Lodinite.

"We can't chance waiting any longer. A probe pops out of a worm-hole just three thousand light-years from the Deluros system, you can bet they'll destroy it the second they know it's there."

"All right, sir," said Meloctin. "I should have it ready to go in half an hour."

"One more thing," said Cole.

"Sir?"

"Rig it to self-destruct immediately after it transmits our message. If you think you might need help, ask Mr. Odom."

"I've worked with probes before, sir," said Meloctin.

"All right," said Cole. "It's all yours." He turned to the Octopus. "Come on," he said. "We have to talk."

The Octopus followed him to the airlift, and a moment later they were in Cole's office.

"Now what?" said the Octopus, seating himself opposite Cole's desk.

"Now we put our heads together and try to solve your problem."

"My
problem?"

"You're a navy without any ships."

"And you won't attack a Navy base?"

"Not a chance," said Cole. "They have no idea where we are. They won't find the probe before it self-destructs, but they'll trace the signal and assume we're three thousand light-years away. If we attack out here, if we're even seen by a Navy ship, then all that misdirection was for nothing."

"Yeah, well, picking off a Class H ship every couple of days is not going to win this war," said the Octopus.

"I'm working on it."

"Are
you, Wilson?" he asked sincerely.

"Of course I am," said Cole irritably. "Believe me, there are better and safer ways to feed my ego than going to war with the Republic. I meant what I said: I intend to take the Republic down, or at least take down Wilkie and Garcia and see to it that some fundamental changes are made."

"Then why are we hiding to hell and gone?" demanded the Octopus. "If we don't send that message on the probe, Wilkie doesn't even know we exist."

"He knows," said Cole.

"Yeah? How?"

"Because a very foolish man got himself and his men captured, and we stole them back from right under the Navy's nose," said Cole. "He knows, all right."

"Okay, I shouldn't have tried it," admitted the Octopus. "But we weren't accomplishing a damned thing out here. Hell, we're still not!"

"That's just out-and-out wrong," said Cole. "With under a thousand ships, we've got the Republic shooting anything that moves, decimating entire worlds, overreacting to everything we do. I wish we had a couple of million ships, but we don't, so we'll have to fight this war with our brains and not our overwhelming force."

"Just tell me that you really have a plan."

"I really have a plan," replied Cole. "Plus about ten contingency plans, since nothing is guaranteed against an enemy of this magnitude and with its resources."

"But you have a plan?" repeated the Octopus.

"I have a plan."

"Fucking well better!" growled the Octopus.

"Now, if you're through with your little fit of pique, let's see what we can do about getting your people the hell off the ship before we can't stand the sight of you and vice versa."

"If you're that damned anxious to get rid of us, set us down on the next oxygen world."

"I'm anxious to get you outfitted and back into the fight," answered Cole.

"Okay," said the Octopus, "if you won't attack a Navy base, how about a spaceliner? We take everyone prisoner—pilot, crew, and passengers—set them all down on a planet, and my men and I take the ship deep into the Republic, maybe all the way to Deluros, without being challenged."

"Not unless you're prepared to kill every passenger and crew member aboard the ship," replied Cole. "You have to figure ninety percent of them will have communicators that can reach the nearest police or Navy ships—and once you're identified, you're even worse off in a spaceliner than a stolen Navy ship, which at least can defend itself."

"We'll strip 'em naked—a delicious thought in itself, at least regarding those passengers of the female persuasion—and then set 'em down on an uninhabited world."

"With no weapons, no communications, no medicine—just a bunch of naked people on a totally unpopulated world? And actions like that will make them prefer you to the Republic? Don't forget— all this presupposes that neither the ship nor the passengers can get off an SOS identifying you before you take control of it."

The Octopus stared at him for a long minute. "I think I hate you most when you're right," he said. "I don't like you very much at this moment."

"I'll take that as a high compliment, or as close to a compliment as you're capable of," said Cole easily. "Got any other suggestions?"

"We both know you'll just shoot 'em all down," said the Octopus sullenly. "You've known all along what you want me to do, haven't you?"

"I've had a pretty good idea," replied Cole. "But I thought I'd see if you had any better suggestions."

"Don't make me play guessing games," said the Octopus. "Just tell me what we're going to do about my situation."

Cole stared at him for a moment. "I think we'll start by procuring a cargo ship for you. The right one will be big enough to hold your men, and you can move freely through the Republic in it—or most of the Republic, anyway. And unlike a passenger ship, we'll only be taking two or three men prisoner, and possibly none at all; a lot of these ships are fully automated."

"But we'll still be in an unarmed ship," said the Octopus.

"Initially," Cole agreed. "Before long you'll be in a dozen unarmed cargo ships." Cole paused. "The advantage is that you can
land.
Choose a planet that has a major Republic presence, maybe the capital world of one of the galactic sectors, and harass and disrupt it on the ground. They'll be looking for an attack from space, by the
Teddy
R
or some Teroni ship. You'll actually have an easier time of it with a ground attack."

"It's a thought," said the Octopus.

"I can't help but notice that most of your men are thieves and cut throats," continued Cole. "That's a definite advantage in a guerrilla war, which is what we're fighting. If you need weapons, or more cargo ships, or money, they'll know how to get it on whatever planet you find yourselves."