Tech World (Undying Mercenaries Series) (33 page)

“When do they get here?”

“Technically they’re already in-system, but they’re cruising toward us slowly. I think they’re watching us, and they must want to see how we’re going to react to the situation.”

She was talking about the Nairbs. She had to be. Physically the Nairbs were green bags of protoplasm that resembled seals, but they acted more like entrenched government accountants.

“Did they bring planet-busters this time?” I asked bitterly. More than a year back, I’d watched them erase a civilization. Sure, the alien squids living in the Zeta Herculis system had been vicious bastards, but what species deserved annihilation for the crime of wanting independence from the Empire? To my mind, they’d been in the right. But no one wanted to hear my opinion.

“I hope not,” she said. “Their ship is
certainly big enough for bombs. It’s a stellar cruiser with an unusual configuration.”

“Why come here if not to dispense justice upon a helpless population?” I demanded.

She was thoughtful. “What they love most is holding a trial and declaring guilt or innocence. If they find wrong-doing here—you’re right, they’ll eradicate someone eventually.”

The more I thought about it the more irritated I became. The Nairbs didn’t have to get involved in this. Local affairs were not their problem. That said, I was certain there were plenty of Galactic trade goods and aliens on the station
which elevated this to the level of an interstellar crisis. Probably one of the aliens had reported the situation and brought it to the Nairbs attention.

“They gave us the job of local enforcement,” I complained, struggling with my boots. “They should stay out of Frontier 921 and let us handle it. We’ll do what has to be done.”

Natasha shook her head and patted my shoulder. I was standing now, stretching and yawning.

“We can’t control that, James,” she said. “What we can do is affect the situation at hand.”

“How?”

“
Gelt Station is sinking, James,” she said. “And Turov is thinking we should let it go all the way down.”

I frowned. “But there are millions of people on that station. Most of them aren’t involved with the rebels. They—”

“Turov has made the call. I went back down to blue deck when I heard that Graves was coming out of the oven. Those bio people hear a lot of things, you know. Turov talked to Graves about one minute after he was off the table. He listened and agreed. What a cold fish that man is.”

She gave a little shudder, and I splashed water in my face at a stainless steel sink. Damn, I needed a shower.

“You’re saying Graves seconded the motion?” I asked. “To let all the Tau civvies die?”

“Not just that. He came off that table so calmly, so matter-of-fact. He was like a man who’s awakened after dozing off on the family sofa while watching vids. He swung his legs off the table, took Turov’s words in, and concurred with her judgment. Then he thanked the bio people and left. It was like there wasn’t any fear in him—no questions about who he was. Nothing.”

I looked at her, and saw she was a little haunted. All bio people looked that way, but techs like Natasha only did when they got close to the reality of the process. I didn’t have time to worry about that kind of thing, however. There were bigger issues at stake.

“Come with me,” I said, “we’ve got to talk some sense into people.”

“Who? Graves?”

“Yeah, him first.”

“Then Turov,” she said. “That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it?”

I glanced at her. She had an odd look on her face. What did that mean? I pushed the thought from my mind. I wasn’t good at reading women, and this wasn’t the time to learn how to do it.

“Right,” I said. “We’ve got to lay out a plan, tell them about it, and convince them it can be done.”

“What plan?”

“I’ll tell you on the way up there.”

I explained, and Natasha became alarmed. She argued with me all the way up. She finished her objections outside Graves’ quarters, still whispering reasons why it couldn’t work. But in the end, she went along with my plan.

That’s why I liked her. She was always willing to take a chance.

-35-

Graves was neatly dressed, showered, and fed when we called on him. Somehow, he looked a lot better than I did even though he’d been as dead as space itself an hour ago.

Natasha and I exchanged glances, and I forced a smile. Graves didn’t reciprocate.

“Sir?” I asked, getting his
full attention.

“What is it, McGill?”

“We need to talk to you, sir.”

He looked
at me expressionlessly. After a moment, he gestured for us to sit in collapsible chairs in front of his desk. We did so.

“Talk,” he said.

“Sir, it’s come to our attention that the Nairbs are in the system and that—”

“Stop,” he said, looking up. We had his full attention. His eyes slid from one of us to the other. “McGill, you’re not getting away with this. Not again.”

“Um…getting away with what exactly, sir?”

“Interfering in Galactic business. Shooting Nairbs and the like.”

“I’ve never shot a Nairb, sir. The incident you’re thinking of involved a Galactic.”

He closed his eyes in pain. “I was covering. You weren’t supposed to ever mention that event again, McGill.”

I glanced over at Natasha. Her eyes drifted around the room then they landed on Graves.

“I already knew about the event in question, sir,” she said quietly.

Graves began rubbing his forehead with his fingers. “How is it, McGill, that I can die and return to life without a qualm, but I can’t have a conversation with you that lasts more than thirty seconds without getting a headache?”

“My mama always said I was gifted in that department, sir.”

“She was right. Now, tell me what you’re talking about.”

“Is it true, sir, that the Tau station is sinking? That it will burn up in the upper atmosphere soon?”

“Of course it is. You should know what’s destined to happen. After all, you blew up the umbilical personally, didn’t you?”

I felt a jolt of alarm at his statement. “Uh…Claver did that, sir.”

“Right... He came up here, took out three units of Germanica troops, and then polished off the staff at the tactical fire control console. You caught up when it was too late and shot him to death—from a prone position no less, according to the bio-people I had examine the scene just now.”

I squirmed in my seat. It suddenly felt too small to hold my butt. “He was a clever operator. You said so yourself.”

Graves continued to stare. “Clever enough to take out the guards, hack the control system, and fire
Minotaur’s
broadsides? Then nearly finish you with an improvised weapon?”

“Apparently so, sir.”

His lips twisted up into a grimace. I could tell he didn’t believe me. He knew there were some falsehoods in my story. Hell, it was full of holes. What was probably saving me so far was that he wasn’t sure exactly what
had
happened.

I’m not the kind of guy who worries about a possible disaster before it hits me, but I knew this could turn into a bad one. I’d really hoped people wouldn’t figure how deeply I’d been involved in all that grim business with Claver. Dammit, why did Graves have to be so on the ball?

Absently, my hand crept to the pocket where I kept the shell-like thing Claver had called a “Galactic key”. It was still there fortunately. I figured if it came down to it, I would use it again to escape custody.

“Sir,” I said, getting an idea. “What if I said Natasha and I might be able to fix this whole mess?”

I got a cold stare in response. “Go on.”

“Claver said the boxes were hacked—I’m talking about the holographic projectors all these Tau wear. That
he
was the man who’d hacked them and set them loose. We’ve had the chance to look at one of these boxes and dissect it. Natasha here has a good handle on how the problem could be fixed.”

Beside me, Natasha had begun to squirm. She was staring at me, and I knew I was overselling the deal. So far she was staying quiet, and I hoped she could keep up the facade.

“Are you serious, McGill?” Graves asked me.

“Absolutely, sir. We’re talking about stopping the riots and saving millions of lives. That’s worth a shot, isn’t it? What’s the worst that could happen?”

Graves huffed. “We could all be permed. All of Earth could be permed. I can think of plenty of other results as well that would be less dramatic but still unpleasant.”

“I’m sure you can, sir,” I said. “All I’m asking for is a chance to fix things. You know the Nairbs are watching. They’re just hanging out there in space judging our actions. If we can turn this around now—”

Graves lifted a hand. “We don’t know that’s a Nairb ship. It’s interstellar, but it’s not of any known design.”

I frowned. “Could it be from the Core Systems then?”

“Maybe,” Graves said. “The point is the vessel isn’t communicating with anyone or doing much of anything. That sounds like a Nairb or Galactic ship. They like to sit aloof, judging us in secret. But we can’t be sure.”

“Well then, let’s give them a show, Centurion,” I suggested.

Graves heaved a deep breath. “Personally, I think it
is
a Nairb ship. In my opinion, they’re staying quiet and filling out a score card on us. Remember that we’re Enforcers now and very new to the job. They’re probably trying to figure out whether they should fire on us or not over this mess. But that works in your favor, McGill, because we can’t afford to wait to end this.”

Graves sat back in his creaking chair and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds.

“All right,” he said at last. “I’m convinced it’s worth a try, God help us all. How many troops do you need to make your attempt?”

My jaw sagged in surprise. I could hardly believe my good fortune. “We only need one squad, sir. Preferably a squad of heavies. Just enough to cover us while we test out the system.”

“Test out…?” Natasha said, breaking into the conversation. “Test out what?”

“Your equipment,” I said firmly. “We’ll see if we can broadcast a signal that will infect their holographic boxes. It will spread exponentially in their massed crowds. Claver’s software did it—so can yours.”

Natasha’s eyes were big when they met mine, and she gave me a tiny shake of her head.

I smiled and nodded as if she was affirming my every word.

“There’s just one thing, McGill,” Graves said.

“Sir?”

“You’ve convinced me, but I’m not in charge. You’ll still have to convince Imperator Turov.”

I chewed that one over. “I think I can, sir.”

Graves frowned. I figured he’d expected me to groan and complain while trying to get him to let me perform this mission on the sly. But I hadn’t gone that way, and he didn’t know why.

“McGill, just remember—she’s not a kid,” he told me seriously. “Not even if she looks like one.”

“I would never make that mistake, sir,” I lied.

Out in the hallway, Natasha let me have it.

“James!” she hissed. “I don’t have
anything
! You know that! I’ll need a week or two, at least, to figure out how to do this.”

I pulled the Galactic key out of my pocket and handed it to her.

“What’s this? A seashell?”

“A tech present,” I said. “The best one any girl ever got.”

I explained the device and what it could do. Natasha was floored.

“The possibilities…” she said in a dreamy tone.

“Yeah, maybe later,” I told her. “For now, we need a tech miracle using this tech tool. The holographic systems are trade goods, aren’t they?”

“Yes, they aren’t native to this system. The locals really love them, though. There must be a rich world out there somewhere that sells these things.”

“There are billions of credits involved. That’s what Claver was up to. He was trying to duplicate the product and make his own, cheaper.”

Natasha gasped. “That’s illegal! They’re patented products, traded in good faith.”

“Right, sure. But he figured the Empire was crumbling and a businessman like him might make a quick billion credits off a scheme like this. With no Battlefleet in the sector, who was going to stop him?”

She looked troubled by the idea. She examined the shell-like object carefully. “I need to take this to my workshop and test it. I don’t know if what you promised Graves can actually be done.”

“It’s got to work—either that or all those people aboard that station are going to die.”

We looked at each other, and she shook her head. “I’ll go to my lab and give it a try. Wish me luck.”

Natasha kissed me on the cheek and left. I turned toward the lift which went up to the top of the stack. Turov had left the tactical fire control room and moved back to the penthouse module. I rode the lift upward, wondering if she would have a posse of legion regulars waiting to execute me.

What had possessed me to sleep with
the Imperator?
I asked myself that, and I didn’t have a ready answer. If I ever sat down with a psychologist and told him all my stories—well, I don’t think the prognosis would be good.

Turov didn’t have guards waiting outside her office this time. I suppose there weren’t enough troops around to warrant it. There was, however, another visitor. It was none other than Centurion Leeza.

When I tapped at the open door, the two women officers looked at me. They both stiffened, and I got the feeling no one was happy to see me.

Standing at attention, I saluted. “Specialist McGill, requesting a moment of your time, Imperator.”

Centurion Leeza cleared her throat. “I should be getting back to my unit anyway,” she said.

“I’m expecting a report on our defensives by 1400, Centurion,” Turov snapped.

“Yes, Imperator.”

Centurion Leeza gave me an odd look then slipped by and disappeared. I stepped into the room.

Galina Turov seemed to be much more like an Imperator today. She was still incredibly young-looking, but there was something different in her eyes and her manner. I knew right off that the shock of her death had faded, and her old self was reasserting dominance.

I’d seen this pattern before. When you first died, or if it had been a long time or a particularly nasty and disturbing experience, people tended to be in a fog of introspection after they returned. They might do or say things they
regretted later. Bio people had told me there were neurological reasons for this as well as psychological ones. The truth was, a regrown brain had been copied and burned in with fresh neural pathways—but it was
still
a new brain. Sometimes, it took a while for people to get back to normal.

Finally, Turov looked up at me. “James McGill,” she said. “What are we going to do with you?”

My mind came up with a few choice retorts, but I held them back. If anyone was going to mention what had happened between us last night, it wasn’t going to be me.

“I’ve come to ask your permission to engage in a critical operation, sir,” I said.

“Really? I thought it was something else. Something more personal.”

I glanced at her. I couldn’t help it. She looked amused, but there was also a bit of underlying tension. She was definitely thinking about our night together on the pool table. I wasn’t sure what that meant. I’d been hoping she would have shrugged it off by now. No such luck, I could tell.

“Perhaps we could discuss that another time, sir,” I said. “I’m here to try to save millions of lives.”

“Oh that,” she said. “Graves sent me a text on the topic. Some business about you sneaking onto the station with a magic box. It’s not going to happen.”

“Why not, sir?”

“Because we haven’t got the tech—and it hardly matters if we do.”

“I don’t follow you.”

“Think about it. If you turned every mind back to peaceful thoughts on that station, it would still go down in flames days from now. Once that orbit decays enough, the lower edge will dip into the atmosphere. At that point, she’ll start to burn up. There aren’t enough ships in the system to apply sufficient thrust to pull her back up again.”

I frowned. “But sir, we don’t
know
that.”

“Yes, we do. I’ve looked into it. I’ve talked to their engineers on the ground as well. Would you believe that they insisted on charging me for a consultation? Here we are, trying to help them save their own station, and they won’t give me advice on the topic for free. They’re an unbelievably ungrateful species.”

“Yes…well…if they don’t have the engines, how did they get the station up here in the first place? Doesn’t it have engines or stabilizers of its own?”

“To a degree, yes. But they depended on the umbilical for support and to hold the megahab stationary. The main engines were one-shot systems designed to carry mass into orbit. They were long ago cannibalized for more mass to build the station itself. Most of the rest of it was transported here from asteroids and the like and built in space, piece by piece.”