Was Once a Hero (9 page)

“My
people,” Shasti added, “are a little better.
 
The nature of ground fighting is such that it builds some bonds, at
least in the squads.
 
Again, as the
Captain says, there are more we could trust in less desperate
circumstances.
 
On my side I count on:
Gunnar, Li, Bernard, Connery and the two Morok brothers, Hanshi and Lokashti Tok.”

“What
of your Number Two?” Telisan asked.
 
“Or
does our formidable lady take that role?”

Shasti
shook her head.

“You
bring us to my first point,” Fenaday said.
 
“I need an Executive Officer for the voyage.
 
My last one ended up in jail.
 
I don’t want him back anyway.
 
You ran a fighter wing.
 
I looked up your record, very impressive.”

The
Denlenn looked oddly disturbed.
 
“Thee
would trust me?” he said, suddenly formal, his accent deepening, as if his
mastery of Confed Standard had slipped.
 

For a second, the switch to archaic version of
the language threw Fenaday, then a memory surfaced from his days as a
trader.
 
Denlenn used different versions
of their language for different things.
 
Low Denleni for commerce, Middle for everyday and High for important
matters.
 
It would discomfort a Denlenn
to speak the same way on every subject, even in an alien tongue.
 
Telisan’s use of the old human form meant he
was dealing with a matter that touched his personal honor.

“Not
entirely,” Fenaday said, “but I know who you are and what you want.
 
It may sound funny coming from someone who’s
essentially a legalized pirate, but my instincts tell me that you can be
trusted.
 
Shasti agrees, and she doesn’t
like anyone.”

The
Denlenn smiled.
 
“High praise indeed.”

“You
do not know how high,” Shasti said dryly.
 
“You’re regular military, good family, never any trouble with the
law.
 
Add to that, this is your insane
idea.”

“So,”
Fenaday added, “I feel I can trust you in matters that do not cross Duna’s
interests.”

“But
can I trust you?” replied the Denlenn, his face gone hard, flat and alien.
 
“The weak link in our plan has always been
you.
 
What prevents you from dumping us
in space the minute we leave atmosphere?
 
Your ship is reconditioned.
 
You
could flee to the Fringe Stars again.
 
Bad odds, with Confederate forces in pursuit, but better than what you
face at Enshar.”

“Thought
of it,” Fenaday admitted, to Telisan’s evident surprise, the Denlenn tensed
visibly.
 
“Again, this may sound funny
coming from a legal pirate, but I wouldn’t do that sort of thing.
 
At least not to people like you.
 
To some of the scum I’ve faced over the
years, yes.
 
It’s how they play the game
and I’ll use their rules.
 

“Don’t
worry about it,” Fenaday said, raising his glass.
 
“It doesn’t do me much good to run.
 
I can’t search for my wife with the Confed
Navy hunting me down.
 
It’s been nearly
impossible to keep
Sidhe
working when
I didn’t have to face active government hostility.

“Also,
those government stringers aren’t going to just let me go and I suspect we’ll
be escorted from a distance from when we lift.
 
As Executive, you’ll be in the middle, able to secure yourself by
playing one side against the other.
 
I’m
not telling you anything you don’t already know.”

“All
true,” the Denlenn said, “but I want one more guarantee.
 
I want your word of honor, Fenaday, sworn on
your hope of ever finding your wife, that there will be no treachery.
 
Give me that and I will serve you as I served
my captain on the
Empress Aran.
”
 
The Denlenn drew a small, concealed blade
slowly, so as not to provoke Shasti.
 
He
placed it on the table then covered the blade with his hand and looked
expectantly at the human.

Fenaday
looked at the knife for a few seconds then touched the hilt.
 
“I swear,” he said, feeling faintly
ridiculous, “on my hope of ever finding Lisa again that I will take you to
Enshar and if possible, bring you back alive.”
 

The
Denlenn placed his big spidery hand over Fenaday’s; it felt feverishly
warm.
 
“To Enshar then.
 
I am your officer.
 
You may count on me, from this point in any
matter that does not affect the safety of my patron, Belwin Duna.
 
My life is otherwise of no account and is
yours.”

Duna
looked at his young friend, then at the human.
 
“Do you know any Denlenn, Captain Fenaday?”

“No,
not really.
 
I’ve met one or two briefly
in business.
 
I couldn’t say I know much
about them.”

“Then
you will have to take my word for the great honor that it is to have a Denlenn
of the Selen family in your service.
 
Once upon a time, they ruled Denla and the faithfulness of their house
is the stuff of many legends.”

Telisan
smiled at his friend and bowed his head.
 
The blade went back to its concealed pocket.

“Well,”
said Fenaday, “that’s settled then.
 
Now
to you, Mr. Duna, I’ve read everything on your data-disk, as has Shasti.
 
Most of it is familiar to anyone who was
flying at that time.
 
We have nothing new
to go on.”

“I am
afraid that it must stay that way,” Duna replied.
 
“My only hope is that whatever inimical force
struck my planet has either left, passed away, or relaxed its guard.”

“You
speak as if you think some alien race destroyed Enshar,” Shasti observed.
 
“No trace was seen of any ships or any ground
personnel.
 
You know that, Telisan.
 
You were there.”

“You
forget the call from the
Flamme
,”
Telisan reminded her.
 
“There was a call
of boarders on ship.”

Shasti
brushed the comment aside with a hand gesture.
 
“Hysteria.
 
Nothing was near the
Flamme
.
 
Unless you believe someone secreted themselves on board a destroyer
escort, light years away... an intruder makes no sense.”

“But
still, the call was made,” the alien insisted.
 

“Invisible
aliens?” Fenaday smiled.

“Who
can say?” Duna answered.
 
“With all we
have seen in the last ten years, is it such an impossibility?”

“One
hopes so,” Shasti said.
 
“How can we kill
what we can’t see?”

“Our
only plan then, is to attempt a shuttle landing and see if something tries to
kill us,” Fenaday said.
 
“What a lousy
situation.”

“I,
of course,” Duna announced, “will go in the shuttle making the attempt.”

“I
shall pilot,” Telisan added.

“I’ll
make those calls, gentlemen,” Fenaday said.
 
“You work for me once we lift ship.”

“Of
course, Captain,” Duna nodded.
 
“It
seemed only honorable to offer.”

“Of
course,” Fenaday returned.

“What
do we do now?” Telisan asked.

“Dessert?”
Shasti said.

Fenaday
twisted in his chair, to look at her deadpan face.
 
“Don’t try to tell me that wasn’t a joke.”

Shasti
sighed.
 
“You know I have no sense of
humor.
 
I’m simply still hungry.”

“Hah.”
 
Fenaday turned back to the others, who seemed
amused by the unexpected exchange.
 
“What
happens next is that we continue to prepare to lift.
 
Keep your bags packed.
 
I plan to lift in five days, but things could
develop.
 
Telisan, I need you at the ship
immediately, but we can’t risk Duna being on board just yet.
 
It wouldn’t take a genius to connect a
suicide mission and Enshar if the crew sees him.
 
Even though I don’t intend to land the
Sidhe
, or even take her within the so-called
‘zone of death’, we’d lose most of the crew if they learn of our destination.”

“I do
not like leaving you, Belwin,” Telisan said.

“Go,
youngling, go.
 
I’ll be fine.
 
Confederate security should be more than
adequate until you come to collect me.
 
I
shall be careful.”

“Very
well, but I will see you to your quarters tonight.
 
If I may, Captain?”

Fenaday
nodded.

They
stayed a while longer for Shasti’s dessert.
 
Her legendary sweet tooth, in a gross unfairness, never seemed to
deposit an ounce of fat anywhere.
 
Perhaps it was as she said, she simply wasn’t made for obesity.
 
Fenaday suspected her heavy workout schedule
helped.
 
He long ago learned never to get
between the Olympian and chocolate.

When
she finished, Fenaday drained his coffee and they bade Duna and Telisan good
night.

*****

After
they left, Telisan turned to Duna.
 
“You
are not going to tell them?”

“Tell
them what, youngling?
 
The mad musings of
a lonely old scholar?
 
I have no shred of
proof for this suspicion.
 
It is not even
an old story, but the corruption of a story so old even the Enshari have
forgotten the tale.
 
How would it help
them to know?

“I do
not believe either of them would heed such a warning.
 
You’ve spoken to them both.
 
Do they strike you otherwise?”

“No.
 
Yet, already I feel my oath bent, if not
broken,” Telisan replied distantly, as if in some small pain.
 
“He took me unaware with the request to be
his officer and I do not believe that he has any idea what he has asked of me.
 
I saw no honorable way to decline as they
have been forced into serving our needs, something I would have stopped if I
could.
 
Now I must balance my duty to my
captain with the secret we share.”

“Let
them prepare for such enemies as they can imagine,” Duna said.
 
“We will be there if there is anything to my
thoughts, not that I have any idea what to do about it.

“Yes,”
Duna continued, “you will find yourself, as you grow older, burdened more and
more by the necessity of keeping secrets.”

“I
have already found it so,” Telisan said sadly.
 
“Come, let us go to rest.
 
We
begin the final leg of our journey in the morning.”

Chapter Six

Telisan
appeared outside
Sidhe
in the bitter
cold of early morning.
 
Fenaday met him
at the main hatchway.
 
He saluted Fenaday
in crisp navy style.
 
“Reporting aboard,
sir.”
 
Breath steamed from his breather.

“Glad
to have you aboard, Mr. Telisan,” Fenaday replied, returning the salute.
 
The Denlenn followed him and they resealed
the hatch.
 
Fenaday knew the Denlenn had
other names, but only his closest family would know those.
 
To others, the Denlenn would be known only as
Telisan of the Selen clan.
 

Telisan
immediately took charge of the thousand details of preparing a starship for
deep space.
 
The Denlenn displayed a
solid working knowledge of the Conchirri Frigate-leader’s design.
 
Of course, thought Fenaday, he’d attacked
enough of them during the war.
 
Fenaday’s
opinion of the Denlenn went up a notch after he discovered Telisan had been
studying the interior design of the frigate for over a month, since he and Duna
settled on Fenaday’s vessel as a candidate for the desperate voyage.
 

Since
Mandela’s contingent knew of their destination, Fenaday kept them off the
ship.
 
After stowing their equipment and
belongings, the scientists occupied an entire floor of a nearby hotel, kept
under guard by Rigg and his Air Space Assault Team.
 
Fenaday posted Mmok and his various robots,
including the HCRs, around the ship’s exterior as guards.
 
He also sent out Shasti’s best Landing
Expedition and Assault Force troops: Gunnar, Chan, Connery and the Toks to keep
an eye on Mmok.

Reporters
began to catch wind of unusual doings at the port.
 
Telisan and particularly Duna were too well
known to escape attention entirely.
 
Apparently the bartender had talked to someone about Duna’s meeting with
Fenaday at Luchow’s.
 
Fenaday despised
reporters and knew that if word of their destination got through to the regular
crew, he would never find enough people to lift ship.
 
Shasti doubled security and referred all
calls to Duna.
 
The Enshari’s staff issued
innocuous press releases about an archeological dig in the Altair system.
 
Fenaday hoped the ruse would gain him the few
days he needed to escape their attention.
 
Mandela wanted the government’s involvement concealed, which meant there
was some force, either public or within the government itself, that opposed the
expedition.