Starship: Mercenary (Starship, Book 3) (18 page)

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Authors: Mike Resnick

BOOK: Starship: Mercenary (Starship, Book 3)
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“What if they want more than two cannons, Steerforth?” asked Copperfield.
“We’ll explain that these are a gesture of goodwill, and that if their information proves accurate, we’re prepared to trade them a lot more.”
“And if he asks—?”
“Don’t worry about it,” interrupted Cole. “We’re going to capture this and send it, just the way we sent the first one. He won’t be getting it in real time, and you won’t be having a live dialogue with him.” He paused. “Mr. Briggs?”
“Yes, sir?”
“We know they reply with some degree of haste, so be ready. I want the location of these transmissions pinpointed, and we’re only going to receive two or three more.”
“Yes, sir,” said Briggs. “May I ask a question, sir?”
“Go ahead.”
“Why do we care where the transmissions are coming from?” asked Briggs. “I thought we were going on the assumption that Quinta is being held prisoner not by the citizens of Punjab, but on another continent.”
“Because if they lie and try to set us up, we’re going to leave one hell of a big hole in the ground where they used to be,” answered Cole.
He nodded to Christine’s image, and she ended the transmission.
“They’re not going to set us up,” said Val. “Not if they think the two cannons are just a down payment and that there’s more coming.”
“Probably not,” agreed Cole. “But they’re aliens, and they think like aliens, which is to say that if they’re not Molarians I have no idea how they think. They might think that two Level 4 burners will keep them dominant for a decade or more, and not want to be bothered by any more visitors.”
“Ain’t going to happen,” replied Val.
“I agree,” said Cole. “But I still have to consider the possibility.”
“Forrice is right,” said Val. “You
are
a devious son of a bitch. That’s why I decided to stay with the
Teddy R
. I’ve got to learn to start thinking like that!”
“Take it easy in the beginning,” said Cole dryly. “It’ll make your head hurt.”
“Thanks,” she said angrily. “I compliment you and you insult me.”
“It wasn’t an insult,” explained Cole. “I meant it. I joined the service to beat the Bad Guys. It’s been a few years now since I even knew who the Bad Guys were. And now I’ve got the crews of six ships living or dying based on my decisions. You don’t think all of that can give you a headache?”
“I don’t know why it should,” said Val. “I never gave a damn what happened to my crew.”
“That’s probably why they sold you out and joined the Hammerhead Shark.”
“All right, all right!” she said in exasperation. “You win!”
“I don’t care about winning with you,” said Cole, getting to his feet. “My job right now is to win against the Thuggees. And since I need to be at my sharpest to do so, I’m going to take a nap.”
When he got to his cabin he went right to his bunk, lay down, and was asleep within a minute. It was Sharon’s voice that woke him an hour later.
“Yeah?” he said, swinging his feet to the floor. “What is it?”
“There’s a transmission coming in from the planet,” she said. “I figured you’d want to be wide awake when Domak patches it through to you.”
“Domak? What happened to Christine?”
“White shift is over. We’re been on blue shift for forty minutes.”
“Right,” said Cole. “Don’t worry—my brain’ll be functioning in another few seconds.”
“I still don’t know how you can sleep or eat at times like this.”
“I learned a long time ago that you don’t get much chance to do either once the shooting starts, so you grab your meals and your sleep when you can.”
“Here it comes,” said Sharon. “Talk to you later.”
Her image vanished, to be replaced by Domak’s.
“Are you awake, sir?” said the Polonoi officer.
“Yeah, patch it through.”
The alien Rashid’s image appeared in front of him. “We have the information you want, and we find your offer to be of some minimal interest. How can we ascertain that it is legitimate, and that the laser cannons are functional?”
The image vanished.
“That’s the whole thing?” asked Cole.
“Yes, sir.”
“Has Mr. Briggs pinpointed the source of the transmission?”
“Mr. Briggs’s shift is over,” replied Domak, “but Ensign Jacillios is working that station now and tells me that he has the exact coordinates should you require them.”
“Not yet, but log them and have Four Eyes program them into one of the Level 4 burners, just in case. And tell David his job is done. I’ll take over talking to them now.”
“Yes, sir,” said Domak, signing off.
“No sense bothering you now,” said Sharon, her holograph appearing again. “You’re off to the bridge.”
“The hell I am.”
“I just heard you say—”
“I don’t have to be on the bridge to transmit a message,” said Cole. “Besides, just because
they
appear eager doesn’t mean
we
have to. Let ’em wait four or five hours.”
“Well, as long as you’re already on your bed, you want a little female company?”
“Sure,” answered Cole. “Send Rachel Marcos over.”
“Seven thousand, three hundred and six,” said Sharon.
“What’s that?”
“The number of nights you’re going to be sleeping alone for that remark.”
“Belay that request,” said Cole, “and send me a woman of the older-but-wiser persuasion instead.” He paused. “What does that do to the seven thousand days?”
“You’ve still got ’em,” said Sharon.
“I do?”
“Yes,” she said. “But they don’t have to start for another century. I’ll be there in five minutes. Fall asleep before then and you’re a dead man.”
19
 
It was three hours later that Cole got out of his bed and put on his uniform. Sharon was sleeping, but the rustling of his clothing woke her.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“I’m off to talk to the King of the Thuggees, or whatever the hell he is,” replied Cole. “I’ve decided it’ll look more official from the bridge.”
“Have fun,” she said, rolling over and starting to go back to sleep.
“I just
had
fun,” he said. “Now I’ve got important things to do.”
“Gee, you really know how to flatter a girl.”
Then he was out the door and walking to the airlift. A moment later he reached the bridge.
“Think we’ve made ’em sweat long enough?” he asked as he approached Forrice.
“I don’t know. We could play a quick game of
bilsang
first.”
“There’s no such thing as a
quick
game of
bilsang
,” answered Cole. “How long has it been since we received their last message?”
“Just over three Standard hours,” said the Molarian.
“Yeah, I guess it’s time,” said Cole. He looked to see who was operating the communications console. “Mr. Briggs?”
Briggs looked up from his various computers. “Sir?”
“I want to send a communication to our friend Rashid,” said Cole.
“Canned or live, sir?”
“Live, this time.”
“Whenever you’re ready, sir.”
“Now’s as good a time as any,” answered Cole. He waited an extra few seconds until Jaxtaboxl nodded his massive head. “Rashid, this is Wilson Cole, Captain of the
Theodore Roosevelt
. We are ready to deliver your two laser cannons. This is a live transmission, so please respond. I have to know where to send them.”
The Thuggee’s image suddenly appeared a few feet away from Cole and Forrice.
“So you are through speaking to me through underlings,” said Rashid.
“Spare me your petulance,” said Cole. “Calcutta is a very minor planet, and the planetary wars that occur there are of no interest to me. I want my friend, but I’m not going to waste a lot of time bargaining for him. You have the information I want. I have the weapons you want. Now, are we trading, or do I go to Plan B?”
The Thuggee blinked his eyes rapidly, as if trying to comprehend. “What is Plan B?”
“Trust me: you won’t like it at all,” said Cole. “Do we have a deal?”
“Yes, we have a deal,” said the Thuggee after a moment’s hesitation.
“I will send a shuttlecraft down to the planet to deliver your laser cannons. You will feed the landing coordinates into my ship’s computer. I will give you four Standard hours to check them out and make sure they are functional, at which time you will tell us exactly where the Thrale named Quinta is being incarcerated.” He paused. “I would consider any abrogation of our agreement an act of war. I am ending the transmission from this end; give our computer the coordinates and then break the connection.”
Briggs signaled to Cole that he was no longer sending words and images.
“Well, so much for playing the bully,” said Cole. “Mr. Sokolov, as soon as we know where they want the cannons, put them on a shuttle and take them down to the surface. Take Lieutenant Domak with you; she’s probably the most formidable-looking member of the crew.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And Vladimir?”
“Sir?” said Sokolov.
“Under no circumstance are you or Domak to set foot on the planet.”
“That means the Thuggees will see the inside of the shuttle when they pick up the cannons,” said Sokolov. “We’ve got a lot of advanced equipment in there—advanced as far as the Thuggees are concerned, anyway. Are you sure you want them to see it?”
“If things go as planned, they’ll never see it again,” said Cole. “But the one club I’ve got to hold over their heads to make them reveal Quinta’s location to us is the fact that we can annihilate them from orbit. I lose that threat if they have you and Domak as hostages.”
“That wouldn’t stop a lot of commanders, sir.”
“It wouldn’t stop me either, if it was a matter of saving the ship and the crew, but it’s not and they know it’s not. Just make sure you stay on the shuttle. I want you to attach a micro-holocam to your shoulder. Once they approach the shuttle, start transmitting back to the ship. Don’t mention that you’re doing it; their holo transmitters probably don’t look at all like ours, and there’s no reason for them to know they’re being monitored. Oh, and one more thing—don’t stand within fifteen feet of each other. Got it?”
“Yes, sir,” said Sokolov.
“Sir?” said Jaxtaboxl. “We’ve got the coordinates.”
“Okay, Mr. Sokolov,” said Cole. “Get to work. And before you leave, have Mr. Odom check them over and make sure you’ve loaded the right cannons.”
“Yes, sir.” Sokolov saluted and walked briskly to the airlift.
“Jack-in-the-Box,” said Cole, “just how far is the landing site from their transmitting site?”
“About eighty miles,” answered Jaxtaboxl.
Cole smiled a satisfied smile. “I guess I made an impression.”
“Sir?”
“Tell him, Four Eyes.”
“They don’t know we’ve pinpointed their sending station,” explained Forrice. “They also don’t know that we’re not about to demolish an entire city if they decide not to tell us where Quinta is being held. So they want the one location we
do
know—the spot where we deliver the cannons—to be a safe distance from where they’re sending their transmissions to us.”
“Ah!” said Jaxtaboxl happily. “I see now.”
“How did
you
know it, sir?” asked Braxite.
“Fifteen years with the Captain will corrupt
anyone
,” answered the Molarian.
“You’re just mad because I took you away from your whorehouse,” said Cole.
Forrice shrugged. “The last of them was going out of season anyway.”
Sokolov’s image popped into being. “They’re loaded, sir, and Mr. Odom has confirmed they’re the right ones.”
“Okay,” said Cole. He turned to Jaxtaboxl. “Is Domak with you?”
“She’s already inside the shuttle.”
“Then let’s get this show on the road.”
“Yes, sir.”
The image vanished. “Jack, track them down to the planet. Four Eyes, let’s go grab some coffee.”
“I don’t drink coffee.”
“Fine. You watch me drink, and I’ll try not to watch you drink that foul stuff you’re so fond of.”
“Sir?” said Jaxtaboxl.
“Yes?”
“It’s still blue shift, and we still have no Third Officer. If there is a problem, who do I report it to?”
“Val’s the Third Officer as long as she’s on board the ship,” said Cole. “Once she’s joined the landing party, report to me, and if I’m not handy, report to Mr. Briggs.”

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