Chronicles of a Space Mercenary 3: Vengeance (10 page)

“Do
not
fire.” I said. “We’re the Emperor and Empress, remember?” What I did know for certain was what would happen if she fired that cannon inside the dock.

“Funny.” Tanya said as she unharnessed. “This is why I seldom ask your opinion.”

“Our hosts have arrived.” Bren said drawing both our attention to the forward screen. The aliens were much as had been described though seeing them still triggered no memories.

“They look dangerous.” I said, watching the way they moved, all sinuous grace and animal confidence as they walked across the dock towards Last Chance. There were several women among the crowd of two dozen or so which approached and I found myself mesmerized by their lithe primordial poise. The women were about twice as muscular as I, and that was just appearance. You could never judge an alien’s strength based purely on appearance. However, their muscularity combined with their poise enhanced their femininity rather than detracted from it and made them utterly desirable. I didn’t let slip what came to mind. “They almost look human.” I said instead.

“I’m going out to meet them.” Tanya said as she departed. I was still watching the group approach. I wasn’t watching their women now, mesmerizing as they were, I was looking for signs of hostility on the alien faces of our host. Though the Alartaw themselves looked naturally hostile, I was one accustomed to having to read the faces and body language of hostile aliens- it was my craft and trade after all- and took only a moment of further scrutiny to determine with conclusiveness that their business with me wasn’t of a deadly nature. They
were
all armed, even the women, just like any human ship of war, and I found myself checking the looseness of my blaster in its holster as I rose and departed the Bridge- not that I thought I would ever get the chance to use it, not with the technologies involved here. Bren was waiting for me and together we walked down to the lower lock and joined Tanya who was waiting impatiently for us to arrive. I noticed she was well armed. Tanya was always well armed whether you noticed it or not.

“Not confident of our reception?” I asked innocently.

“They may not recognize us right away.” Tanya admitted.

“I do not suggest you attack any of them.” Bren said. “You have no idea what they’re capable of.”

“I think we do.” Tanya told Bren as the outer lock cycled open. “That’s why we’re here.” Then she stepped forward boldly.

“Birds of a feather.” I said as I followed her.

“Maybe not.” Bren said as I simultaneously saw what he was talking about. The Alartaw were staring at us with looks that were now more on the aggressive side than previously, but I shouldn’t have had a worry. Tanya stepped forth boldly and began to harangue them in a guttural language I had never heard her speak before- but obviously must have- and soon we were all friends again.

“What did you tell them?” I asked Tanya as the crowd surrounded us.

“That the Kievor turned us into these despicable creatures to torture us.”

“They believed you?”

“I remember the Security Clearance Code.” Tanya gave me a stupid look as the Ranking Officer came to stand in front of me. “I also told them about your mind-wipe.”

“Oh.” I said.

“No. We didn’t believe her.” The Officer said with an inscrutable hard-faced look though he shouldn’t have been able to hear those words. He was speaking in the Kievor Trade Station pidgin tongue which was the primary trade language all races used when doing their business on the Stations, though
we
had been speaking human Galacta. This Officer was a combat veteran if I was any judge. All the men had facial scars of one kind or another, most appearing to be shrapnel wounds. I had seen the like plenty. It came with living in space and especially with doing battle in space. I thought about the forces necessary to shatter trans-metal and then the faces of the Alartaw around me. We seemed to have found an ally but we all still had the same enemy. “We don’t have to believe you. You’re the Emperor and Empress. It doesn’t matter what story you tell us. Commander Harknon at your service. There is much you must be briefed on but first I’m sure you’d much prefer being returned to your natural form.”

“Let’s do the briefing first.” I said as I heard Tanya snicker.

“Twenty-seven hundred ships.” I said thoughtfully as we stood on the Bridge and I tried to absorb everything Commander Harknon was showing me- while Tanya and Bren just made themselves right at home at two open stations and the computer systems therein. It seemed a lot on the one hand, but woefully inadequate on the other. “I’m the only one who can’t seem to regain his memories. Anything you can do about that?” I asked when I decided I was going to need those memories back.

“Oh absolutely,” Commander Harknon said helpfully, “and I’m sure you’ll want to get back into your proper form.”

“Not just yet.” I said thinking quickly. “I have a plan, but I’ll need this body for a little while longer to pull it off.”

Chapter 23

Twenty-seven hundred Capital Class ships meant the Alartaw had been reduced to but a handful in my absence, I realized only moments into my memory restoration procedure. The Alartaw auto-doc was a bit more sophisticated than our human equivalent and the means of its operation entirely undetectable. A comfortable bed which contoured itself to my exact form the moment I laid on it inside a small, nondescript room. No computer terminals or gadgetry- reminding me much of the Kievor- nor was I even certain how it had been programmed. A nurse led me to this room, I made myself comfortable on the contouring bed and suddenly my mind was full of new memories. I knew they were mine- even though the main character of these memories was another incarnation of me- but also knew they were new.

“Seventy-seven years!” I said. “I was married to Tanya for seventy-seven years!” Of course I knew we had been married, that was not one of the things I had thought made up, but now there was no denying it. I remembered it, though for the time being the memories seemed surreal. I got up off the doc with a real sense of impending doom. Commander Harknon was waiting in the corridor when I departed.

“What the hell happened?” I demanded, speaking Alartaw without thinking about it.

“Twenty-four years is a long time, Sir.”

“Twenty-four years of what?” I demanded again as Tanya came out of a second room.

“Since we’ve been gone.” She said.

“The Kievor had us for twenty-four years?” I said.

“Slightly longer,” Commander Harknon said, “but who’s counting, you’re back now.”

“That means they picked
our
brains for the locations of our bases.” I said.

“Yes. They struck them all simultaneously.” Commander Harknon said. “That was when we realized they must have captured a High Ranking Officer. We had no idea….”

“The fault is my own.” I said thunderstruck, thinking back to the original pair of Alartaw we had replaced and the damage the Kievor had been able to inflict with
their
knowledge of Alartaw military secrets, and now done it twice. The exact same treachery and both times my fault! Of course I remembered everything now, our years of unceasing battle with the Kievor. Our hidden bases had been our resupply points for new ships and personnel as well as everything else we had required and now gone. It was no surprise the Alartaw had been reduced to such numbers. Once mighty now fallen.

“We picked up the discharge of the slightly altered Alartaw cannon and guessing correctly that our Officer had escaped the Kievor have been trying to pick you up since.” Commander Harknon said. “The Kievor have been doing everything in their power to keep us away but your move at the black hole slipped them- the grass-eaters don’t have the balls to try it- and we use that method to evade them frequently. We have been ever since you discovered it. Even then we didn’t guess it was you though we should have. When we recognized the human ship we thought it was only the humans who had escaped, but as they had been aboard Vengeance during your last battle we decided to do what we could to acquire them. I’m sure it has been a great trauma.”

“I don’t remember much of it.” I said.

“Your escape from the Kievor must have been quite interesting.”

“They let us go by mistake.” I said, telling the truth or at least its closest facsimile- it was easier to keep your story straight that way. “I think.” I added, suddenly wondering if there was more to it but it soon slipping away as all intangibles must.

“I seriously doubt it.” Commander Harknon said. “It is probably more of their treachery.”

“In what way?” I asked, that vein of thought leading me to wonder what the Commander was getting at.

“The Kievor are treacherous in many unfathomable ways.” Harknon said. “Who can really understand the way a prey animal thinks, but many things which can’t be gotten through force
can
be gotten through subterfuge, and subterfuge is the prey animal’s main defense. Our computer analysis has determined that there are no hidden commands in any of you or within the ancient computer system which runs the human ship. We have also determined that these are your original human bodies and that you are unquestionably our Emperor.”

“Oh.” I said.

“They knew from nearly the beginning.” Tanya said.

“Oh.” I said.

“It was known but not a widely shared secret. I only just learned myself.” Harknon said. “Since our laws do not provide a provision excluding aliens from being our Emperor and you took the Throne in the traditional manner, there has been no reason to dispute your leadership. If there had you would have been challenged continuously until you fell. The Alartaw way may seem barbaric but we would never allow a traitor to sit in our most honored position, yet at the same time we would honor our traditions and the challenges would be proper- until the traitor fell.

“However,” Harknon added, “I’m not sure how the rest of the Alartaw will feel about their Emperor wearing a human body, or the ramifications should one or more wish to challenge you in this body!” I was kind of glad it was only the three of us witnessing this conversation, though of course the ever-open ear of the ship’s AI would be absorbing every moment of it. I recalled I had been great friends with my ship’s AI with my returned memories and realized suddenly how much I would miss her. It would have been Vengeance who had discovered us, of course…
who the hell knows I may have told her myself in a drunken moment.

“My implant.” I said, suddenly missing the device very much, and suddenly my Alartaw body as well, now that I had my memories back and knew what I was missing, scars or not.

“Among other things.” Harknon said.

“I do want my proper form returned,” I told Harknon, “but I was serious about having a plan and I’ll need this body a little longer.”

Chapter 24

“What plan could you possibly have?” Tanya demanded right there on the spot, right in front of Harknon.

“I really do have a plan.” I said, for once that actually the truth. “The Alartaw are going to lose this war and be wiped from the Universe if we can’t find a Kievor weakness. We have to go back to a Kievor Trade Station and find that weakness.”

“Go back to a Kievor Trade Station!” Tanya said, beginning to become angry with me, I could clearly see.

“The Alartaw as an Empire no longer exists.” Harknon said. “There are many more Trade Stations now than ever and most of them are no longer in the trading business. We are able through maneuvering to strike a blow once in a while, but our numbers are forever dwindling and it would seem you have only been reunited with us to write our final chapter. The Alartaw will go out as we have always lived.”

“I’ll decide who is going out and when they’re going to do it.” I said, the years
as Emperor of the Alartaw, the successes I had seen, now all reduced to nearly nothing and the remaining Alartaw ready to go out in one last blaze of glory. I had not rejoined the Alartaw just to go out in a blaze of glory.

“Yes Sir.” Harknon said. Though Harknon hadn’t known the Emperor personally his fishing to see if this was the leader he was hoping for had produced the result
s he was hoping for. This
was
Brune the Brute the Histories spoke of and it didn’t matter what type of body he was wearing. With genetic manipulation any mutation was possible and such things had once even been a fad, but that was long ago. Harknon was young for his Rank, but that was the way it was now within the Alartaw. Very few old Alartaw remained, the war’s attrition rate decimating nearly all but the newest recruits and even he now considered one of the old. He had been an immature Alartaw when Brune had ruled and put such fear in the breasts of the leaf-eaters and had risen to his position quickly after Brune was lost in battle, because it was at that point that the tide of battle changed for the Alartaw. Harknon was one hundred and twenty-one years old and an elder Alartaw, that when the average lifespan of an Alartaw once numbered in the thousands of years and now reduced to centenarians.  The war had not gone well since the last Emperor had been struck down and no one upon no one had expected to see Brune the Brute resurrected, yet here he was. The greatest-ever hero of the Alartaw returned to them on the brink of extinction.

“Bullshit.” Tanya said. “You and your bullshit plans. I’m not participating. We walk back into a Kievor Trade Station and we’re dead.”