Machine World (Undying Mercenaries Book 4) (18 page)

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Five ships stood in orbit over Machine World. It was a big meeting of naval power, by local standards. Oh sure, in the Core Systems where the Galactics wielded supreme power, I’m sure a thousand ships went by on any given Thursday, but out here on the fringe of the Empire, five ships were a big deal.

Two warships floated on each side, with one trader in the middle. No one trusted anyone, and Turov, I think, was probably the most paranoid individual in the system.

Countering her fearful instincts was her driving ambition. I could tell as I watched her that she was thinking about accepting Claver’s offer. Maybe the lessons of Tech World had been misconstrued by her scheming mind. She’d gotten away with a lot out there—partly with my innovative help.

“All right Claver,” she said after a pause. “I’m going to think about this deal of yours. Let me talk it over with my officers.”

“Take all the time you need, little lady,” Claver said. “Contact me in an hour. We’ll hammer out the details—including your personal incentive package.”

I could tell the smug prick was pleased with himself. He’d done the impossible, once again, by appealing to the greed of those in power.

The face superimposed over the ships faded. Imperator Turov rubbed at her fine chin with slow-moving fingers. She was staring at the planet and the five ships in orbit over it. I knew what she was thinking: she’d be rich, famous and something of a hero if she could pull this off.

“Imperator,” Tribune Drusus said. “I wish Tribune Francisco was here to back me up on this, but I must protest. We can’t trust Claver or his allies. They’re clearly the enemy.”

She glanced at him, then back at the screen. “Alliances are fluid, Drusus. I value your opinion, but I can’t think only of our orders. I have to think of Earth.”

Inside my dragon, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that. By alliances, did she mean the Empire? Our affiliation with the Galactics was more than an alliance in my book. They were the legitimate authority in Frontier 921. Sure, the Nairbs and the Mogwa treated us like dirt most of the time, but we’d taken an oath of allegiance to them.

“Imperator,” Tribune Drusus said again. “When can we expect Tribune Francisco to be revived?”

I frowned to hear this. Usually, the tribune of a legion was among the first of its members to be brought back to life. As the highest ranking man in Legion Solstice, he should have been right here on the bridge with the rest of us.

Turov’s eyes slid to Drusus, then back to the battle display. “There have been technical difficulties. His death certificate has been delayed for some reason.”

“I see,” Drusus said stiffly.

We all knew what that meant. Turov had set aside his revival for now. But why? I didn’t like the implications. She clearly didn’t want him around. It seemed to be a god-like power to me, to decide who lived again in whatever order one wished. In Turov’s organization, you’d best stay on her good side.

“Let us adjourn to my private office to discuss this,” Turov said.

She led the way with Drusus talking behind her. I watched them go, wonderingly. There had been days when she’d invited me into her offices on such occasions. Anything might happen in there once the door was shut.

“Ah, James,” Turov said, looking back and noticing my stare. “Come with us. I wish to ask you something as well.”

I began to climb out of my dragon. She put up a hand.

“No, bring your vehicle. As to the rest of you, don’t interrupt unless we’re attacked.”

“Yes sir,” murmured the assembled officers.

Frowning, I did as ordered. I was a little concerned my dragon wouldn’t make it through the doorway or fit inside her office, but I needn’t have worried. Her personal office was
huge
. We could have had ourselves a good game of half-court basketball in there.

The door shunted closed behind us. Turov eyed us both. “Now, tell me your objections, Drusus.”

He did so, in loving detail. He said we had to contemplate the Empire’s response carefully. There were entire governmental departments back on Earth dedicated to gaming out such scenarios, and it would be up to them and their bureaucratic masters to decide if we should take such an offer. There was more, but I stopped listening after about two minutes.

During his little talk, the door beeped twice. This annoyed Turov. She answered the door, demanding to know if the ship was under attack. The answer was no in both cases. She slammed the door shut immediately upon receiving this answer and turned back to Drusus.

“Listen,” she said, “I appreciate your concerns. But we have a decision to make. Hegemony is not here with their councilors and officials.
We
are here, and we have to make a choice.”

“Are you mad?” Drusus demanded. “We can’t unilaterally decide to accept an agreement that declares independence from the Empire without—”

Turov put her hand up. “Drusus, don’t be so small-minded. We’re doing nothing of the kind. If we accept Claver’s offer, we can break the agreement at any moment. But in the meantime, we can return to Earth without a new war on our hands. Let the government decide what to do after that. If I fire on them now, aren’t I just as guilty of manipulating events as I might be if I decide to accept their offer?”

“No,” Drusus said stubbornly. “You’re guilty of disobeying orders. We’re here to claim this system and defeat all resistance. I’d rather ambush them with our broadsides than let them entrench themselves and—”

“Fine,” Turov snapped. “Veteran McGill, I order you to place Tribune Drusus under arrest.”

This last statement kind of shocked me. I blinked inside my cockpit and cleared my throat. “Uh, sir? Why would I do that?”

“Because I ordered it, damn you!”

I took in a breath, stepped forward one clanking step and reached out with my grippers. Drusus surrendered his sidearm.

“This is highly irregular, Imperator,” he said stiffly. “It will all go in my report.”

“No, it won’t,” she said. “Not after we hack your tapper and erase your latest engrams.”

“What?”

She turned to me, and I knew what was coming next. “James, snip his head off.”

“Sir? Are you sure about that?”

“You’ve done far worse. Get on with it.”

Drusus looked at me. He was glaring, daring me to do it.

I was seriously conflicted. I liked Drusus, but I was facing direct orders from his superior. I didn’t like those orders, and they didn’t seem legal to me, but I was new to my rank and wasn’t quite sure how to proceed.

Fortunately, I noticed my tapper was blinking. When inside a dragon, a man’s tapper was obscured. Someone was trying to send me a private message. Stalling for time, I took the call.

“You disappoint me, James,” Turov said. She had her sidearm out, and she was aiming at Drusus. “I’ll have to shoot him myself.

The reason why Tribune Francisco had yet to be revived was suddenly clear in my mind. Turov liked complete power, and getting her next-in-command officers out of her hair would allow her a great deal of freedom.

Should I protect Drusus, disobeying Turov? The decision was a hard one, but fortunately, it was made moot by the content of the incoming message.

“Sir!” I boomed, cranking up my external speakers. Both the officers winced. “The enemy is moving! They’re landing on the planet!”

The message on my tapper was from Graves. He’d included a screenshot. He might have had some kind of inkling of what was transpiring in Turov’s office—or he might have simply wanted to get the message to her.

Turov shot Drusus at that moment. My jaw sagged.

“You disobeyed me,” she said. “I will remember that. When I give a subordinate an order to kill, I expect it to happen immediately.”

Rotating the chassis on my dragon, I stared down at Drusus.

“How about I do the same thing to you?” I asked her.

She narrowed her eyes and looked at me appraisingly. “Go ahead. I want to hear your explanation to the officers after you walk out of here. Whatever it is, I’m sure it will provide me with a good laugh after I’m revived.”

Standing over Drusus like a loyal dog, I glared at her, and she glared back.

“What are you trying to accomplish, sir?” I asked. “Are you in on this deal with Claver?”

“What if I am?”

I nodded thoughtfully. “Of course. Why else bring me up here in a dragon? Why else put the other Tribune on ice then engineer Drusus’ death? Worst case, you blame it all on McGill and stiff him with the bill.”

Turov bent down and pulled Drusus’ arm out of its sleeve. She fished out a shell-like device, the Galactic key. I knew that if she touched her key to his tapper, she could delete his latest mental backup.

We’d done the same thing to a Galactic, sure, but to a legitimate commander? I felt it was an unwarranted violation.

My grippers both extended themselves with sudden decisiveness. Turov gave a little squeal of pain and alarm when I grabbed her wrists and lifted her off her feet. She struggled and kicked my combat machine, but the dragon’s armor was such that I didn’t even feel it.

“You’re under arrest, Imperator. Drusus will be revived with full memories and I’ll bear witness to his testimony. Your command is finished.”

Saying this, I wheeled around and marched her to the door. The officers were still outside, uncertain about what to do. They might try to kill me, but I figured I’d get a chance to explain before they could get through my dragon’s armor. After that, they’d want to know the truth. They wouldn’t let Turov erase my mind or Drusus’.

“Stop!” shouted Turov. “James, STOP! I’ll do anything!”

Maybe I’m a weak man, but I stopped. Such an offer had possibilities.

Panting, staring at the door and struggling weakly, Turov tried to twist around to see my face. “I’ll make you an adjunct—no, a centurion!”

“No, sir,” I said. “I don’t want that unless I earn it.”

“All right. What do you want then, James?”

I thought about it. I felt like a guy on a beach who’s been fooling around and rubbed the wrong brass lamp. I knew this genie was a vicious thing, and she would twist my words to her benefit. I had to get something out of her that she couldn’t retract later.

“Fire on the squid ships,” I said at last. “Blow them away and kick-start this war the right way.”

Her eyes widened. I didn’t think that’s what she’d had in mind. I set her down on her feet, and she rubbed her bruised wrists.

“Are you mad?” she asked. “Don’t you understand what I’m trying to accomplish here? Claver and I have worked on this plan for months. We’re giving Earth a chance. We’re aligning ourselves with the squid kingdom. We’ll be a much bigger ally to them than we could ever be to the Empire. Have some vision, McGill!”

“I’m a simple man,” I said. “I’ve got simple tastes and more common sense than brains. What my dull mind is telling me right now is that any scheme hatched by the likes of you and Claver is poison.”

“You’re a bully with the instincts of an animal!” she shouted. “I don’t know what I ever saw in you!”

If the situation hadn’t been so grim, I would have laughed at that. We’d been lovers once, briefly, but I still wasn’t sure who had been more shallow about the relationship.

“I can’t let you work this deal without approval from Earth,” I said, “even if I am impressed by the sheer balls of the whole thing.”

“What if I show you I
do
have approval from Earth?” she asked.

“That would be different.”

She reached nonchalantly for her tapper. Instinctively, I grabbed her wrists again. She’d already tapped one button by the time I got a hold of her. The second button, when I looked, was as I figured: security.

“I see,” I said. “There’s no approval from Earth. You just wanted to call the MPs in here and tell them old McGill went nuts again, am I right? In fact, I’m pretty sure I know now why I’m really here.
Someone
had to be guilty of killing Drusus. Who better than that crazy redneck over there in the metal suit?”

Her face blazed with anger. “Let go of me, James.”

“Can’t do that. Order the attack on the squids, or I’m frog-marching you out there onto Gold Deck. Everyone will see it. You can’t erase all their minds. How would you even manage to kill them all in the first place?”

She bared her teeth, and her eyes darted from side to side. I could tell she was thinking hard. There was no escape, and I could see she wasn’t having any luck coming up with another dodge.

The door began to chime again. The officers were probably freaking out, wanting guidance from their top brass.

“You’ve got ten seconds,” I said. “Then I open that door.”

“All right, all right! Let go of me. I need to open a line to talk.”

Instead of letting go of her, I used her tapper to open the general command chat myself. She looked at the red blinking transmission light. It was active and her words were being recorded. She breathed hard for a few seconds.

I nodded to her, prompting her to say something. I could see in her eyes that she was thinking about yelling for help. But she hadn’t erased Drusus’ mind yet, and I still had her in my grippers. I might even pull an arm off or something. She had to know that was a possibility. Such things had happened in the past.