Galactic Vigilante (Vigilante Series 3) (10 page)

“Piss off, Ms. AI.”

He would not yield to his hormones and his basic male needs. He had gone years with no human love until Helen Sayinga Trinh came into his life. Then died. Now Eliana had chosen to be his lifepartner. His lifemate. She deserved his allegiance in all matters.

“Which she shall have,” he muttered to himself as he walked barefoot down the Spine hallway toward the Bridge and the Interlock Pit. “
But now, the battle begins.”

CHAPTER SIX

Commander Chai stood before his five assistants and laid out his requirements, ignoring the presence on the ceiling of the Monitor globe. Of course anyone superior to himself in the Anarchate could view his official work while in his globular work node, or during his off-duty time at a nearby food service node or entertainment globe. Such monitoring was a given for any of the one billion employees of the Anarchate. For those who served in Combat Command, especially in the Sector 14 Intelligence headquarters as he now did, being under constant surveillance by living or AI intelligences could also be a welcome source of excuses for his boss, High Commander Brrzeet. He eyed the four eyestalks of the amphibian Kontine.

“Well, where will this renegade Dragoneaux strike next upon his return to home galaxy?” he asked them all but kept his attention on his chief aide,
Kontine.

Two of
Kontine’s eyestalks looked aside at the other four assistants, who represented four strange bodyforms. An arthropod of the Brokeet species. A black-furred biped of the Meligun species. A six-legged herbivore of the Dolmat species. And a four-legged, two winged carnivore of the Mican species. They all breathed normal air, like himself. And each would love to advance in the ranks of Combat Command. But just as High Commander Brrzeet controlled Chai’s fate, so did he control the fate of his five assistants. The Loglan’s other two eyestalks fixed on him. Its mouth palps clicked in passable Belizel.

“
We have compiled five possible target points, based on the recorded and researched life history of this soft-skinned biped of limited vision ability,” Kontine said in rapid clicks. “Target One is the Halicene shipyard in Upsilon Carinae binary star system. It is the source of the MotherShip used by the Human’s opponent, one Legion of the Halicene Conglomerate, during the Human’s work as a Vigilante for hire at the Direndl world of Halcyon.” Chai wondered which of his assistants had been so lacking in brain lobes as to suggest the shipyard, when that would have been one of the first targets of the Human if all he sought was vengeance. Kontine’s four eyestalks now focused on Chai. “Target Two is the Human’s home world of Thuringia, which his species labels as a Third Wave colony. It orbits the star Pl-3 Orion, in the Human terminology. It is the world where a genome slaver ship captured his progenitors and siblings.” Chai nodded slowly, his carbon black whiskers going stiff as he considered whether the Human’s emotions were stronger than his intellect. “Target Three is the Combat Command starship base in the nearby Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, since the alien biped has shown a willingness to visit obscure dwarf galaxies that the Anarchate has little interest in.”

“And the other two target ideas?” hissed Chai in Belizel.

Kontine’s mouth palps shivered, moved sideways, then resumed clicking. “Target Four is the Anarchate Sector 15 headquarters in the Omega Centauri cluster of Norma Arm, since it is one of sixteen sector bases that actually administer the daily dealings of the Anarchate.” Kontine’s voice sounded both harsh and dry. Perhaps the amphibian was in need of a drink. Too bad.

“And Target Five is?”

“The Flesh Markets of Alkalurops, which lie on the planet Megil that orbits Component C of the Alkalurops trinary star system. It is a G5V main sequence yellow star much like the home star of the Human species.” Kontine paused, its stance on its six legs beginning to lower as if its carapace sought immersion in salt water. “Since this Human biped has declared a solo war on the Anarchate with the stated aim of ending cloneslavery, it is logical that this star of the Alkalurops system would be a target. Probably a high probability target.”

“You may sip some water, Kontine,” Chai said, never forgetting that a small mercy shown to his underlings appeared good in the eyes of those monitoring him, while also being sensible. The Loglan species could not go long without imbibing water. Or soaking in a saline bath. He scanned the four other assistants who stood at their species version of alert attention. “Well, who had the Alkalurops target idea? Out with it!”

The black-furred Meligun biped raised one of its four arms. “I suggested Alkalurops as a target to Assistant Manager Kontine. My name sigil is Rak alk-thorn,” it said. The alien’s two pink eyes fixed on Chai. Its thick body shape bent forward at the waist, even as its two pointed ears hugged its blocky skull. Much like his whiskers did when he felt uncertain.

“Good,” Chai said in blunt Belizel. “At least someone other than myself has reviewed this renegade’s recorded statements as left in the locator beacons lying beside the
remains of our battleglobe allies.” That was enough for the naval fleet monitors. “Rak alk-thorn, describe this system for me. I have heard of it, but my work for the . . . starship arm of Combat Command did not take me within sensing distance of it.”

The Meligun biped crossed both pairs of arms across
his broad chest. “I will Commander Chai. But my suggestion also relied on data provided to me by a clan colleague. One Rak tho-mesk of Clan Klickjo, from my species. He is a banking merchant. He was kidnapped by this Dragoneaux biped during a refueling stop at CC1939 in the Omega Centauri cluster. He . . . he was released by this renegade biped five months ago when the Human’s starship stopped next to a Do Not Enter region lying South Galactic and next to the Magellanic Stream. I believe he was interrogated by other elements of Sector 14 Intelligence.”

“He was,” Chai said shortly. That interrogation had been long but merciful, due to the influence of the Melikark Conglomerate. If the other Meligun had not worked for one of the sixteen prime conglomerates of home galaxy, its
greedy mind would have been probed either telepathically or by AI, with no mercy shown. Its return to home galaxy aboard an alien starship of unknown make had made the galactic tachnet news reports. Brrzeet had been outraged at the way the Meligun had spoken positively of his time with the Human renegade. “And your clan associate shared what with you?”

Rak alk-thorn flared
his pointed ears. “My clan associate described how it was obliged to promise, on behalf of the Melikark Conglomerate, that his employer would change all bondServant contracts to include an option for any bondServant to leave service after a year, upon notice to one’s employer. Melikark Conglomerate is also obliged to provide transport to a nearby habitable star system for any departing employee. And to wipe all accrued debts of the employee from its records.”

Chai’s mind reeled. This demand of the renegade Human was an element he had not heard about when he read the executive summary of the Meligun’s interrogation. Clearly he would not sleep tonight. He would have to read the entire gigabyte record of the interrogation. “And what possessed your clan associate to promise such an outrageous action?”

Rak alk-thorn stepped back into line with its other comrades as Kontine moved to stand between the Meligun and Chai. “Commander, Rak has described this data to me,” said his Loglan chief assistant. “It appears the Meligun he describes was able to establish Trade links with a distant alien group named the Bogean Harmony. This Harmony group offered unknown devices to the Melikark Conglomerate. The adjustment of the standard bondServant contract was a required element of the negotiations.”

Tech devices? So greed was still alive in the conglomerates of the Anarchate. That was both good news, and tiresome news. It would complicate his target guidance to High Commander Brrzeet. But what mattered most to all of Combat Command was the elimination of this renegade biped before the current rumors about an activist for stellar alliances and personal freedom for workers could gain the attention of the trillions of obedient lifeforms who made up the Anarchate.
Well, two million years of geopolitical scheming had rendered the Anarchate both enduring and somewhat predictable. At least now he could offer his boss some worthwhile options. And at least one of them would likely prove to be a target of this Dragoneaux biped. Chai waved dismissal to his four lesser assistants and stiffened his whiskers into the expression of Confidence Supreme. “Kontine, follow me as I go to report to High Commander Brrzeet.”

Chai exited through the node’s pressure door and
stepped onto the powered walkfloor that ran through the scores of tubes connecting the many node globes of Sector 14 Intelligence. His assistant clicked an obvious question.

“Commander Chai, what will you recommend to the High Commander?”

“It should be obvious to a smart Loglan like you, Kontine. Even if you are parched of water, your brain cells retain enough liquid to think.” There. That administrative insult would show the Monitor eyes he
used
his employees, and did not treat them as having more value than their assigned functions. “I will recommend that we send five fleets of twenty battleglobes per fleet to each location. Such fleets to arrive no later than three point five Belizel months after the arrival of the tachlink vidimage of the destruction of our battleglobes. When the Human shows up in his starship at one of these locations, the battleglobes of our fleet will encircle him in all dimensions and destroy him. We will lose starships. Perhaps most of a fleet. But the Human and his ship will be destroyed. And that is the prime Task assigned to me by High Commander Brrzeet.”

“And who will lead the fleet assigned to Alkalurops, my commander?”

Chai smiled in his mind even as his long tail thumped the moving floor and his whiskers stiffened. “My old academy mate Yorkel of the Brokeet species. He already leads a fleet of ten. The promotion to lead twenty Nova-class battleglobes in pursuit of this deadly Human will be the assignment of a lifetime!”

High Captain Yorkel viewed the tachlink message from Sector
14 Intelligence, as amended with a note from his old enemy Chai. The Spelidon had lost his own battleglobe in the first battle against this biped who called himself a long series of word sounds.

That battle was something Sector
14 Intelligence had required every captain of a battleglobe, whether a fleet commander like himself or the leader of a single ship, to view and study. The later battles conducted by this alien made use of a starship of alien design with nearly magical abilities. To his amazement, it was able to spread a flat sheet of Alcubierre space-time to one side of itself, thereby absorbing any energy or matter attack from that direction! And it possessed the Bethe Inducer and antimatter cannons that were the prime weapons of any battleglobe. It was rumored that in the battle at Megadeen the alien starship had used the stellar collapse function of the Bethe Inducer to turn Megadeen’s star into a nova. And some other weapon had reduced the moon Megadeen to whisps of stellar vapor.

Yorkel s
ighed through his thorax spiracles, wondered just what trap Chai was setting for him with this promotion, then looked around the Bridge of his battleglobe. His upper arm pair touched lightly the Alert surfaces that lay to either side of his Captain’s Booth.

“Shipmates, fellow battleglobe commanders! We are assigned a task worthy of our abilities,” he whistled in blunt Belizel. “Our ten-group, and another ten-group assigned to me by Sector Intelligence, have been tasked to mount a defense of the planet
Megil of the C component star that is located in the Alkalurops trinary star group. We are to protect the Flesh Markets there, and to pursue the renegade starship that belongs to a soft-skinned biped named Dragoneaux. Tactics for dealing with this biped’s dangerous ship will be discussed at the midday repast in my central arboretum. Live food is on the menu! And all battleglobe captains are required to attend. Return to work!”

Yorkel
spread his sensing antennae, noting the pheromones emitted by the fifteen lifeforms who made up his Bridge crew. Most were other Brokeet like himself, so commands supplemented by pheromone emissions worked well in non-combat times. But in combat they must all be in tachlink with the Tactical AI and CPU of his ship. Only combined action with diverse movements stood any chance of defeating the arrogant biped who had declared war on the Anarchate. While the Human was soft and lacked a decent outer skin like the tough chitin exoskeleton of the Brokeet, it possessed a starship of remarkable abilities. As documented in the many battles recorded by the Observer Globes that Sector 14 Intelligence had required every battleglobe to emit upon entry into a new star system. That was an idea of his old enemy Chai. Which made sense in view of the series of defeats suffered by lesser captains. His fleet would do better. It had to do better. He had no intention of dying just so Chai could blame his failure on those at the battle front!