Starship: Mercenary (Starship, Book 3) (23 page)

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Authors: Mike Resnick

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“What are you going to be doing with yourself?” asked Cole.

“I haven’t had time to consider that yet,” replied Jacovic. “I have spent my entire adult life in the military. I shall have to discover what else I am good at.”

“Not necessarily,” said Cole.

Jacovic looked at him questioningly.

“I know a former military vessel that’s in need of a competent Third Officer,” continued Cole. “And a Captain who’d be proud to have you serve with him.”

“Who is this military vessel at war with?” asked the Teroni.

“Fate.”

“That is the perfect answer,” said Jacovic. “I am more than willing to take up arms against Fate. I will be honored to join the crew of the
Theodore Roosevelt
.”

This time it was Jacovic who extended his hand, and Cole who took it. But it didn’t really matter who reached out first. It was the first time in twenty-three years that a Man and a Teroni had willingly touched each other in friendship.

Cole had just finished giving Jacovic a tour of the
Theodore Roosevelt
, and now they stood on the bridge of the almost-empty ship.

“Well, what do you think?” he asked.

“It’s old.”

“So are you and I,” said Cole with a smile.

“Not
this
old,” replied Jacovic, returning his smile. “When was the last time it was re-outfitted?”

“Probably before a few of my younger ensigns and crewmen were born.”

“Still,” said the Teroni, “old or not, it is probably the most famous ship in the galaxy.”

“The most notorious, anyway,” said Cole. “By the way, you seem comfortable with the air content and gravity here and on Singapore Station. I can give you a cabin in the human quarters, or if you’re simply being stoic, we can adjust any of the alien rooms to your speculations.”

“The oxygen content is fine, but I think I would like a greater gravity.”

“All right. Our Security Chief, Colonel Blacksmith, will debrief you when you’re ready to move your gear aboard. I’ll tell her to give you a cabin on Deck 5, and to adjust it to your specifications. How about dietary needs?”

“I can give a list to your Colonel Blacksmith.”

“Fine. If there’s anything else you need, come to me if I’m available, or to Four Eyes or Colonel Blacksmith if I’m not.”

Jacovic frowned. “Four Eyes?”

“A bastardization of Commander Forrice’s name,” said Cole. “We’re old friends. I’ve been calling him that for years. Besides, he
does
have four eyes.”

“Will there be much resentment, not just at having a Teroni commander who used to be your enemy, but at making me your Third Officer?”

“Probably,” said Cole. “They’ll get over it.”

“I hope so.”

“They didn’t think much of the officer you’re replacing when I brought her aboard,” said Cole. “Within a month she was the most popular person on the ship. You’ll have an even easier time of it. Almost all of them were aboard the
Teddy R
when you spared the citizens of New Argentina and gave us safe passage out of the Cassius Cluster.”

“Any reasonable commander would have done it,” said Jacovic.

“Our own captain was prepared to destroy the whole damned planet before I took over the ship,” said Cole. “Reasonable commanders are in shorter supply than you might think. Otherwise, why would we both be on the Inner Frontier?”

Jacovic’s jowls fluttered as he sighed. “You have a point, Captain Cole.”

“Call me Wilson.”

“I’d better continue to call you Captain Cole,” said the Teroni. “I might forget in front of the crew.”

“They’re welcome to call me anything they want, though most of them do stick to Captain.”

“Might I ask why? On the surface it seems like a lack of discipline, but I am sure you have a reason for it.”

“It’s to remind them that we’re not in the Republic or the Navy any longer,” said Cole. “I insist on obedience and competence, but I never saw any reason for saluting each other. It’s some holdover from a couple of thousand years before my race even developed space travel.” He paused. “I suppose the gist of it is that we’re here forever. No one’s tour of duty will ever be up, we can never go back to the Republic, and of course we’ll draw instant fire if we enter the Teroni Federation, so I want them to be as comfortable as they can be, since they’re stuck here for the rest of their lives.”

“Now I understand, and I approve,” said Jacovic. “But I think I’ll still call you Captain Cole.”

“Only on the ship and Singapore Station,” said Cole.

Jacovic stared at him curiously.

“If I join my crew on a covert mission,” continued Cole, “a salute or a ‘sir’ tells the other side who to shoot first.”

The Teroni smiled. “I never left my ship, and I would never have thought of that. Now in the future I will know better.”

“Well, you’ll be leaving the
Teddy R
more than I do. I’ve got some officers who are convinced that their job is to protect me, even more than protecting the ship.”

“Clearly they care for you.”

“I could do with a little less care and a little more servility,” said Cole.

“You don’t mean that, of course.”

“No, I suppose I don’t,” said Cole. He looked around. “Okay, you’ve had the cook’s tour. I suppose we might as well get back to the station. I guarantee you’ll get a better meal and a more comfortable bed there than here.”

The two walked to an airlift, took it down to the shuttle bay, saluted Idena Mueller who was standing guard, walked onto the dock, then caught a transport to the interior of the station. A few minutes later they were back in Duke’s Place, where Cole spotted Val, Forrice, and the Duke all sitting at the Platinum Duke’s usual table.

“Ah, Captain Cole and Commander Jacovic!” said the Duke. “Come join us!”

“Happy to,” said Cole as the two of them sat down. “Val, have you met your replacement yet?”

“I’ve heard about him,” she said. “Welcome to the madhouse.”

“Thanks,” said Jacovic. “And you are . . . ?”

“I’m Val this month. If you’ve got a name you like better, I’ll probably answer to it.”

“You’ve had other names?” he said, surprised.

“I’m not Navy,” she replied.

“I don’t understand,” said the Teroni.

“You’ve only been on the Inner Frontier for a few days,” said Cole. “What you’re going to find out is that the people here change names the way you and I change clothes. For example, I’ll lay odds that our host wasn’t always known as the Platinum Duke.”

“I am now, and that’s all that counts,” said the Duke.

“As for Val, she went a little overboard on names,” continued Cole.

“There are so many good ones, why stick with just one?” said Val.

“Or ten, or twenty,” said Cole.

“Well, once they put a price on your head, you’d be crazy to keep the same one.”

“So she’s been Cleopatra, and Jezebel, and Salome, and the Queen of Sheba, and the Dowager Empress, and a dozen others,” said Cole. “She was Dominick, which is a man’s name, when I met her.”

“I was working my way through my lovers’ names,” said Val. “He was my eighth.”

“And Val was your ninth?” asked Jacovic.

“No,” she answered. “
He
gave it to me.”

“Well, almost,” said Cole. “I likened her to a Valkyrie. She shortened it.”

“I’ve kept it for almost four Standard months now,” she added. “It’s past time for a change. If you know a nice Teroni name, tell me before we take off again.”

“Why would you want a Teroni name?” asked Jacovic curiously.

“Why not?” she replied. Suddenly she got to her feet. “I see a spot opened up at the
jabob
table. I think I’ll try my luck.”

She began walking, and the crowd parted before her like the Red Sea before Moses.

“It must be nice to be that intimidating,” said Forrice.

“It has its advantages,” agreed Cole.

“Why am I replacing her?” asked Jacovic. “Has she done something to displease you?”

“No, not at all,” answered Cole. “We captured five ships on our last job, and since she captained her own pirate ship for years, I gave her one.”

“She was a pirate?”

“The most notorious,” said Cole. “Well, one of the most notorious,” he amended. “She wasn’t kidding about all the rewards they posted for her death or capture.”

“And yet you took this pirate and made her your Third Officer,” said Jacovic. “That is surprising.”

“If you’re as good an officer as she was, and I expect you to be, everyone will be happy,” said Cole.

“I must talk to her and learn more about how she adjusted to life on a ship that would have been her enemy if they’d ever met while you were still in the Navy.”

“Fine,” said Cole. “Two warnings.”

“Yes?”

“Never gamble with her, and never get into a fight with her.”

“Formidable?” asked Jacovic.

“Formidable is an understatement,” put in Forrice.

“I’ll add a third warning,” offered the Duke.

“Oh?” said Cole.

“Never try to drink with that lady.”

“Yeah, she’s got quite a capacity.”

“She has downed a bottle of Altarian rum, a bottle of Cygnian cognac, and close to a bottle of some hundred-and-thirty-proof whiskey from the Deneb system since she came in her. And look at her.” He shrugged. “It’ll probably hit her all at once.”

“She holds it pretty well,” said Cole.

“No one can hold that much alcohol,” said the Duke. “It’ll be a delayed reaction. We’ll be cleaning up the table and floor here, and you’ll be carrying her back to her ship.”

Suddenly the Duke stopped speaking and tensed noticeably.

“What’s the matter?” asked Cole.

“Nothing, I hope,” said the Duke, staring across the casino.

“Who are you looking at?”

“Do you see that Djarmin?”

“I don’t know,” said Cole. “What’s a Djarmin?”

“A native of Visqueri II,” said the Duke. “Tall, burly, humanoid, biped, light blue skin, no visible ears, prehensile lower lip.”

“Yeah, okay, I see him,” said Cole. “Weird-looking. What about him?”

“Unless I’m wrong, that’s Csonti.”

“Who’s Csonti? Should I know the name?”

“If you don’t yet, you will soon enough. His full sobriquet is Csonti the Vengeful.”

“Sounds like a bad cartoon.”

“Well, you’ve got the ‘bad’ part right,” said the Duke.

“Tell me about him.”

“Not much to tell,” answered the Duke. “He’s a warlord, and he controls, oh, it must be forty worlds by now.”

“Then he should be Csonti the Collector,” said Cole lightly.

“Nothing lives on twenty-three of those worlds,” said the Duke. “If a world resists, there is no bargaining, no accommodation. He destroys it.”

“Sweet fellow.”

“I just wonder what he’s doing here,” said the Duke. “He’s said to be the best freehand fighter on the Inner Frontier. I hope he isn’t a mean drunk.”

“Well, if he is, he’d better not pick on Val,” said Cole. “He’ll never know what hit him.”

“She’s that good?” asked Jacovic.

“She’s that good,” said Cole.

“I wonder that you let her go.”

“Why?” Cole seemed amused. “The only people she could fight on the
Teddy R
were the Good Guys.”

“The
Teddy R
?”

“A term of endearment,” explained Cole. “Teddy is a nickname for Theodore, and R is the initial for Roosevelt. So if you hear anyone referring to the
Teddy R
, as most of our crew will do, it’s the
Theodore Roosevelt
they’re talking about.”

“I see.”

“Where did he go?” said the Duke, looking across the room.

“Probably he’s sitting down,” said Forrice.

“Or answering a call of Nature,” suggested Cole.

“No,” said Jacovic. “He walked out the side door a moment ago.”

“Just as well,” said Cole. “If he and Val got into it, there wouldn’t be much left standing.”

“Why would he fight her of all people?” asked Forrice.

“Because if he started feeling aggressive, she’s the one who wouldn’t back down from him.”

They ordered a round of drinks, alcoholic for the humans, other things for the Molarian and the Teroni.