Rebel (12 page)

Three days later Perez surprised another Republic ship while it was on the ground, gathering unwilling recruits. He blew it to pieces, then summoned four sister ships, which landed and hunted down the ten-man crew. There were no survivors.

The next morning the
Teddy R
got word that the crew of a Navy ship was causing all kinds of drunken havoc on Keepsake, a small world not far from Singapore Station. They arrived, sent two shuttles, the
Kermit
and the
Edith,
down to land at a Tradertown known as Moritat, found two taverns and a whorehouse in flames, and the street littered with the bodies of more than two dozen miners, gamblers, and adventurers. The survivors told him that a bunch of men and women from the ship had landed, gotten drunk and high on drugs, and when one of the taverns ran out of whatever it was that they wanted, they'd started shooting up the place. A few customers had tried to stop them, and a small-scale war had broken out. After killing a bunch of patrons, they had torched some of the buildings.

"Pass the word to all the locals to go back to their homes and stay there," said Cole to the few members of the populace that he found. "We'll take care of the problem."

No sooner had he spoken the words when one of the men grabbed his head, groaned once, and fell to the ground, blood pouring out his ears. Cole looked around and saw the sunlight flashing off the barrel of a screecher, a sonic pistol, he drew his own burner and fired a laser blast toward the man with the pistol. The man was in the process of pulling back behind a building, and Cole couldn't tell if he'd hit him. The locals had all run for cover, and half a dozen members of the shuttle's crew tried to form a protective circle around Cole, their weapons drawn, their eyes searching for signs of the enemy.

"Cut it out!" snapped Cole. "Flesh and bone's not going to protect me from whatever weaponry they've got. Just concentrate on spotting them."

"You're our Captain," said Jaxtaboxl. "It's our job to protect you."

"It's your job to obey my orders!" snapped Cole. "If you can't do it, go back into the shuttle."

An energy pulse whistled a foot above their heads, taking out a stand of trees a quarter-mile behind them.

"Back into the shuttle!" yelled Cole. "We're going to need body armor!"

He entered the shuttle and headed toward its tiny armory, only to find Sharon blocking his way.

"The Captain doesn't leave the ship in enemy territory," she announced. "You know that."

"I've
already
left the ship," he said. "I'm in the goddamned shuttle."

"We all know who should be in charge of hunting down the Navy crew," said Sharon. "You'd only slow her down."

He was going to object, but he realized that she was right. He turned to Val, who was so anxious to be unleashed that she was practically jumping out of her boots.

"All right," he said to her. "Grab some armor, take Bull and Domak with you, and don't take any foolish risks."

She grinned and walked past him, followed by her two teammates. "Armor slows me down," she said. "Don't worry—we'll find them."

"I never doubted it," said Cole. Then, as she left the shuttle, he added "And may God have mercy on their souls." He turned to Jacovic. "Once she's cleared the immediate area, take a team over to the Navy ship. If they've left a skeleton crew, use whatever force is necessary to relieve them."

"Do you want the ship disabled or destroyed?" asked the Teroni.

"Neither. We ought to be able to make good use of a functioning Navy ship. Just don't let anyone else board it, especially the current owners. It's got to have some laser cannons. Keep them trained on all the approaches."

"It won't be much of a decoy without the appropriate recognition codes," noted Jacovic, "and we both know Val's going to kill anyone who might give them to us."

"Then we'll improvise," said Cole. "Besides, just about the only way we could get the codes is through torture, and we're supposed to be taking the high moral ground in this crusade."

"I merely made an observation," said Jacovic.

"Observation noted." They heard four agonized screams, and a triumphant curse from Val. "This seems like an appropriate time. I'm short three people on the
Kermit
, so choose a team from the
Edith
and get over there."

Jacovic left to gather his team, and Cole contacted Christine, who was at her computer console on the
Teddy R's
bridge.

"Christine, check with Mr. Odom and see if we've got anything that can quench these fires before they spread."

There was a brief pause.

"Sir, he says yes. It's some kind of spray, and will work best if dispersed from one of the shuttles."

"Sounds good. Send Rachel and Jack-in-the-Box down to spray the fires, but not until I give the word."

"That's quite a blaze, sir," said Christine. "I'm watching it on one of the viewscreens. Are you sure you want them to wait?"

"Nothing would make me happier than having them go to work right now," said Cole, "but we can't put our people at risk like that."

"From the fires?" asked Christine, puzzled. "But they'll be in a shuttle."

"From the Republic. Wait until Val tracks down and"—he searched for the right word—"
neutralizes
the enemy. It shouldn't be too long."

Cole returned to the
Kermit
and had the small galley make him a sandwich. Sharon approached him.

"What do we do if Val doesn't find every member of the crew?" she asked. "Or at least, every member that didn't remain on the ship?"

"A lot of things can go wrong in any operation," said Cole. "But Val not finding and killing the enemy isn't one of them. I'm more concerned that they may have left a few crew members behind on the ship. It could be difficult for Jacovic to take it away from them."

"We'll hear from him if he's having any trouble," said Sharon.

"Probably."

"Seriously, Wilson, do you really think the Navy won't come looking for us after these last two days?"

"They won't even come looking for their two ships. Neither of them had a chance to send off an SOS—and there's something like eighteen billion stars in the Inner Frontier. You could spend a long time searching for a pair of ships that for whatever reason won't respond to your signals."

"What if this one
had
sent out an SOS signal and identified us?"

"Then we'd improvise." Cole grimaced. "Hell, we're improvising now."

"Don't you worry about it just a little?" she said. "Not what's happening today . . . but we're messing around with the
Republic.
We keep
saying
they can't spare a few thousand ships to come after us, to search the Frontier for our allies—but we don't
know
it."

"I don't know about you," said Cole, "but personally, if they send in a few thousand warships I'm going to be exceptionally sorry about it."

"Be serious!" she snapped.

"You saw what they did to Four Eyes and to Braccio," said Cole, his expression hardening.
"That
was serious. What you're talking about is fantasy. They can't spare the ships as long as the Teroni War is going on. You know it, I know it, even
they
know it." He sighed, then shook his head. "Look at that viewscreen," he said, indicating the bodies and the fires. "I can't believe we ever swore our allegiance to them, that we actually risked our lives for them."

Christine's image appeared. "Sir, Commander Jacovic reports that he is now in control of the Navy ship."

"Was there much opposition?" asked Cole.

"Two crew members were left behind to guard it," she said. "He offered them the opportunity to surrender, and they chose not to."

"Just as well," said Cole.

The transmission ended.

"Why did you say that?" asked Sharon. "We've got a brig. I know the prison planet's not ready yet, but we could have them transported down to an uninhabited planet and come back for them when the fighting's over."

"We're forty ships attacking the Republic—or at least that portion of the Navy that represents the Republic on the Inner Frontier," he said. "The odds are that the campaign will never be over unless we quit or lose—and I have no intention of quitting." He paused. "The Republic has prison planets; we don't. If those two were going to be stranded on some world with no shelter, no medicine, no radio, and no hope of ever leaving it, they were better off dying fast, right now."

Sharon looked dubious, but elected not to argue. Then Briggs's image appeared before them. "I just had to tell you the good news in person, sir," he said. "We just heard from Vladimir Sokolov. He nailed another one!"

"Where?"

"Out by the Quinellus Cluster. I don't know the details, but he evidently got much the best of it. He says there's fewer than ten hours of repairs required on his ship."

"There were no other Navy ships in the vicinity?" asked Cole.

"Not in the whole sector, as far as he could tell," replied Briggs.

"Well, I'm glad everyone else is having luck," said Cole. "I guess it's our turn right here on Keepsake."

It took twenty more minutes, and then he had his luck. Val, a triumphant smile on her face, returned to the
Kermit
, reporting that all the Navy personnel had been dispatched—and because she was Val she assured him that most of them had definitely not gone to a better place.

"Thanks," said Cole. "What was the grand total?"

"Eleven men, eight women, and three aliens," she said. "Bull's going to need some medical attention, but it's nothing serious."

"How about Domak?

"Nothing gets through that armor of hers."

"You're sure you haven't missed any of them?"

She merely stared at him.

"No, of course you didn't," said Cole. "Okay, get some rest. You did good."

"I'll have half a dozen victory drinks first," she said, heading for the exit. "There are still a few bars that haven't burned down."

Cole gave the order to spray the fires. It took half an hour to put them all out, after which the
Kermit
returned to the
Teddy R.
Cole went to his cramped office and asked Idena Mueller, who had replaced Christine at the communications console, to patch him through to Jacovic.

"Sir?" said the Teroni as Cole's face suddenly appeared before him.

"Mission accomplished," said Cole. "It's time to close up shop and go back to the station."

"We can be back on board the
Edith
in—"

"Mr. Chadwick can bring the
Edith
back to the
Teddy R,"
Cole interrupted him. "We'll ride shotgun in case anyone thinks the Navy's still in command of the ship you're on. Dock it right next to us when we reach the station."

"Yes, sir."

The return to Singapore Station was without incident. Christine and Briggs were unable to pick up any subspace messages relating to the actions of the past two days.

"That's one advantage to being an ant attacking a dinosaur," remarked Cole after he was ensconced at the Duke's table in the back of the casino. "It takes the dinosaur a long time to know he's
being
attacked."

"Sooner or later the Republic's got to know," replied the Duke. "Or else why would you be doing all this?"

"All in good time," said Cole. "We've got to recruit more ships and more men."

"If they get mad, a thousand ships won't do you any more good than a dozen."

"They're already mad at the Teronis, and they're getting mad at the Canphor Empire, and they're not real fond of the Strek Unity," said Cole. "There's got to be a limit to how many they can be mad at all at once."

"Why?" asked the Duke. "I thought this whole campaign was precipitated by the fact that there's
no
limit to it."

"Well, the more they're mad at, the fewer ships they'll be able to spare for the Inner Frontier. We don't want to destroy the Republic. Hell, we couldn't even if we wanted to. We just want them to understand that the Inner Frontier is off-limits."

"You can't always have what you want," said the Duke. "If you're successful, you'll just draw attention to yourself and invite a full-scale invasion; and if you're not successful, then think of the time, money, and lives you'll have wasted."

"If you feel that way, why are you giving us safe haven on the station?" said Cole.

"I have no more love for the Republic than you do, and I've got a lot less for Fleet Admiral Garcia," answered the Duke. "The fact that I'm a realist about the outcome doesn't mean I'm not an idealist about the
notion
of a rebellion."

"It's not a rebellion, and we're not rebels," said Cole. "We just want them to stop abusing their authority in a section of the galaxy where they
have
no authority."

"They have all the authority they need, Wilson," said the Duke. "Even out here—
especially
out here—might makes right."

"There are still millions of ants on Earth," noted Cole. "I'm told that no one's noticed a lot of dinosaurs there lately."