Galactic Vigilante (Vigilante Series 3) (20 page)

“Captain, we will be gone by the time you receive this. We are the Dreadnought
Mata Hari
. We are at war with your Anarchate masters. Your galactic tachnet node installation on the former planet two of this system is now removed. Along with the planet.” Matt smiled into the vid transmitter. “Such will be the fate of any Anarchate installation that sustains the existence of cloneslavery and indentured bondservitude. End these two practices and perhaps I will allow the Council of Sixteen to remain intact. Continue them and every Anarchate facility in this galaxy will be a target of my ship and my ship allies. Goodbye.”

With a PET thought-image he moved starship
Mata Hari
, BattleMind, his partner Mata Hari and himself into Translation. But should he head for the Sector 14 Intelligence HQ near the Crab Nebula, or for the distant space of Morrigan, deep within the Kappa Crucis cluster or ‘Jewel Box’ as some called it? Sector HQ lay in the opposite direction from Morrigan. Both would take two weeks or more using Alcubierre drive to reach them. Well, he would put that decision off for a few light years so he could materialize in deep space far from any inhabited star. He mindspoke his decision to Mata Hari, who would pick an appropriate spot for ruminations.

“Got it, Matthew,” she said. “We will exit into deep space
within an hour, far from any star system.”

“Thanks!”

The he smiled at how much his message would upset Commander Chai, High Captain Yorkel, the wounded battleglobe’s captain and the infamous Council of Sixteen who sat at the top of the Anarchate’s hierarchy of oppression. If he was lucky, they might worry that his Sun Glow weapon would turn the planet of Central Nexus into charged stellar particles.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

“Where is this Human?” rumbled High Commander Brrzeet, the being who held Chai’s life within his scaly forearms. “It has been a Belizel week since his attacks on 18 Scorpii and 51 Pegasi. The students at the software academy saw the bright light from the destruction of our galactic tachnet node. They talk. Others talk. The Council of Sixteen does not talk. They demand results. Now.”

Chai considered offering a Clap of Obedience, as one would
offer a senior Spelidon. But this four-legged, four-eyed monstrosity that was his boss did not even eat meat, like most intelligent species. How it came to rule Sector 14 Intelligence near the Cloud of Warning supernova nebula he had no idea. But satisfying it was the only way to preserve his lifeforce. “Traveling to the Cloud of Warning vicinity, your eminence. It takes slightly more than two Belizel weeks for one to travel from 51 Pegasi to this location.”

The Orko’s four yellow eyes squinted at him and its four block legs shifted, its foot pads thudding on the bare metal of Command Node. “If true, why are your genome slaver starships not here with their captives? What of your plan to set a trap?”

Chai swallowed nervously. In truth he had no idea where the Human was. Only that it had not attacked anywhere in the galaxy. Yet. “I have sent for them. It will take time for them to arrive. Some come from the far side of the galaxy. Some from Norma Arm. Most who worked in Orion and Sagittarius Arms died in the Alkalurops attack.”

“Excuses,” muttered Brrzeet. “
Sector Captain Yorkel has taken command of forty battleglobes at Polaris B and is prepared to pursue this Human wherever he may appear. You do not seem as useful.”

A chill raised
the fur over every bit of his body. Chai knew that only those who proved useful to Brrzeet avoided being invited to breath vacuum. “Facts. Of the five target predictions my group made, one, the Alkalurops system, proved to be the Human’s next target.”

“That was then,” Brrzeet said, moving slowly forward to stand before its
control pedestal. It waved a thick forearm. “Where is he now? Or rather, where
will
he be so that High Captain Yorkel may fight him?”

Chai dismissed repeating the threat of an attack on Sector
14 Intelligence. This Human had attacked where he had no past history or link, apparently to prove his unpredictability. Well, the five target predictions were all he had. “The Halicene shipyard at Upsilon Carinae B star system, High Commander. The asteroid belt that surrounds the blue-white giant star is well-known among all conglomerates as designing the best MotherShips that can be made. Outside of our own shipyards, of course.”

The four eyes of the Orko quadruped blinked slowly.
He crossed forearms over his scaled chest. His armored hide glowed dark brown under the ceiling lights. “So you advise me to send Yorkel to Upsilon Carinae B, there to wait until the Human arrives?”

Chai’s mouth felt dry. As dry as the desert lands that occupied too much of the Spelidon homeworld. “I do not advise. Your decision must be based on your wisdom, High Commander. But in view of the single ship attack
s at 18 Scorpii and 51 Pegasi, I suspect his fleet of seven ships will next attack there, at Upsilon Carinae B. They could do much damage in a small amount of time.”

Brrzeet flapped his long scaly ears. “I will send Sector Captain Yorkel to Upsilon Carinae B, with his forty battleglobes. If the Human strikes elsewhere, you and your Intelligence Node will cease to be of use.”

Chai stiffened his Whiskers of Distinction and flipped his tail over his left shoulder. “Your wisdom is always instructive, High Commander Brrzeet. I will motivate my staff to intensive efforts at further predictions of the Human’s movements.”

“See that you do. Now, depart.”

Chai turned and walked with stiff legs, a limp tail and raised fur as the chill of nearly dying swept over him. Perhaps he should take an inspection tour of the four remaining target areas before this Human appeared elsewhere than he had predicted. In fact, if he was away and the Human attacked the Sector 14 Intelligence headquarters, the loss of its High Commander would surely be beneficial to many lifeforms. Except those lying between the Human and High Commander Brrzeet.

A sour taste filled Brrzeet’s wide mouth as he watched the black-haired Spelidon biped exit his quarters. Reaching to one side he grabbed a handful of red-veined leaves and stuffed them into his mouth, choosing to munch as he thought.

There was no doubt the Spelidon had exhausted its ability to be useful. But perhaps he had motivated it to compete more strongly with Sector Captain Yorkel. And what if the Human attacked here, within star system CC93721? There were no genome slaver starships here, yet, and would not be for several more weeks. If the Human attacked here, as the Spelidon had first suggested, its target could only be Commander Chai and his personal Intelligence Node that lay within Globe 841, several score
nipads
from his Command Node.

Where to send Sector Captain Yorkel? Sending him to Upsilon Carinae B would move the Brokeet alien in a direction opposite to that of the
Cloud of Warning nebula. Bringing Yorkel to Sector 14 Intelligence system would suggest to his underlings that he, Brrzeet, feared for his personal safety. When the only way to rule other beings was to make them fear for
their
personal safety! He waved one hand over the control pedestal.

“
Assistant Dokeel am-thak, send orders to Sector Captain Yorkel that he is to proceed to Upsilon Carinae B and prepare to battle this renegade Human. Then tachcall Sector 14 Combat Command and have them dispatch forty battleglobes to Sector 14 Intelligence. Say we have urgent need in view of evidence that a pirate fleet of resource raiders is headed our way. Understood?”

“Understood, High Commander,” said the
Hootnai carnivore in swift whistle-speech that his pedestal translated into normal Belizel. “The orders are being sent . . . now. To both parties. Any other wish, High Commander?”

“None. Continue your work.”

Brrzeet felt inner humor at the obeisance of his Hootnai chief assistant. The alien belonged to a four-legged, tall-necked species that valued its reputation for efficiency and obedience. And which hunted live game for its daily meat meal. If only this Hootnai knew that the hyper-fast Courier ship which now lay tethered to his Command Node would open its airlock only in response to his verbal command combined with the sensing of his living body temperature. And he had no plans to have passengers in the case of an emergency. Best to leave any living evidence of his fears to be vaporized by this Human. There would then be no one alive to contradict whatever report he made to the Council of Sixteen.

Matt
looked at the three dee image of the Upsilon Carinae B star system, contemplating the value of a quick Hit-and-Run stop at the source of the MotherShip that had fought him in Eliana’s Sigma Puppis B star system. It was the chief shipyard for the Halicene Conglomerate, former employer of Legion. His dead opponent had gifted him with the slow virus curse that had crippled his immune system and sent his way a variety of gene-based illnesses during the trip out to the Small Magellanic Cloud, and back. Until the expanded psychic powers of Eliana allowed her to predict the next incarnation and location of the slow virus. Whereupon Mata Hari created a retrovirus vehicle for the safe delivery of the anti-viral agent that finally killed the nasty little virus. It had adopted more genetic incarnations than the old SuperFlu and he felt relief at being his normal, cyborg self. And at thinking in normal human-slow mode.

A databyte nanocube in his visual cortex dropped into his mind the specifications for the shipyard, its financial value to Halicene, the damage its loss would do to one of the galaxy’s sixteen chief corporations, and finally, the nature of the broad asteroid belt that filled the space about the B7III giant star
that was only 12 million years old. While planets  might form later, this star now held only rings of gas, dust and a broad asteroid belt that began ten AU from the hot blue-white star. The nanocube, augmented by cyborg knowledge augmentation viruses, said the Halicene shipyard consisted of a Ceres-size asteroid base for worker housing and admin facilities, while anywhere from six to fourteen MotherShip hulks orbited the giant asteroid, undergoing construction phases that depended on the arrival of Supply Tubes with optoelectronic components not locally made. The Supply Tubes always exited Translation space-time in an open space about 15 AU out from the star, and within a few million miles of the admin asteroid.

“Matthew
, we are barely 1,400 light years out from 51 Pegasi. It will take another week to arrive in the Kappa Crucis cluster and join your Ocean Fleet,” Mata Hari said in his mind.

Matt welcomed his partner into his mental ruminations, and valued
that she spoke at human-mode speed. He would not go to lightspeed optical neurolinking until they exited Translation. Which was the matter at issue here. “I know that, Mata Hari.” Her mind persona image showed the Summer Girl look, an image she always wore whenever with Gatekeeper, or when she felt they were not under threat. “But taking a few minutes to make a near-lightspeed strike on the shipyard will not delay our arrival time.”

Mata Hari frowned, a contrast to the usual relaxed look of her Summer Girl persona. She pulled
back her long black hair into a ponytail and crimped it, then smoothed down her yellow cotton summer dress. Her dark eyes looked up at him. “That assumes we do not suffer any damage from a battle with whatever combat ships may be present in the system.”

Matt knew that. And he knew that the Upsilon Carinae system was a predictable ‘target’ spot for him to strike
. His past history as a Vigilante for hire was known to Combat Command and Sector 14 Intelligence in the Crab Nebula. They knew he had cost the Halicene Conglomerate billions of platinum Standards when former Commander Chai ordered Halicene to leave Sigma Puppis. But now, he had just made destructive strikes on two Anarchate facilities that had no historic link with him. Why should he change his combat choices now?

“You are correct, Mata Hari. We could sustain damage. On the other hand, learning whether there are Nova-class battleglobes stationed here, to defend the shipyard, will tell us something about the Anarchate’s future defensive strategy.”

His AI partner sighed in his mind, copying a habit Matt knew bothered Eliana and other nearby folks. “Matthew, you are allowing your anger at Halicene to interfere with logical thinking,” she said. “Permit me to suggest you make mental tachlink contact with Eliana so she can ‘look ahead’ and see if we face any surprises at Upsilon Carinae B.”

A good idea. “Thank you, good Mata Hari. I will do just that.” In his mind Matt reached out over his embedded tachlink node, seeking the ‘feel’ of Eliana’s mind.

She felt him and sent a gorgeous smile his way. “Matthew! So lovely to hear from you! We are still on our way to Kappa Crucis, as I hope you are. Oh!”

“
Will you help?” he said to her startled look as she read the surface of his mind and realized his intention to strike the Halicene shipyard.