My Life: An Ex-Quarterback's Adventures in the Galactic Empire (48 page)

“Fine,” I said. “So it’s better to talk in the dark in a trash-filled alley. About what?”

“I must ask you both a question first,” he said. “I have heard that you have fought for the empire. Will you do it again?”

The question sounded like a trap. “I have an Imperial commission,” I said carefully. I couldn’t see Norboh’s face, but there was no immediate response.

“He is telling the truth, Norboh,” Jaenna said. “You may rely on it.”

“The question I asked was whether you will fight for the empire. Plenty of people have Imperial commissions.”

“We will,” Jaenna said. I wouldn’t have agreed so readily. In fact, that was the whole point of my first ambiguous answer. I knew Jaenna, unlike many Imperials, would not lightly betray her word.

Norboh obviously knew it as well because he said, “Good, that is what I needed to know. Here.” He handed me a small pouch that appeared to contain a memory card. “Originally I planned to have Haranyi’s guards smuggle me onto one of the Fleet boats after the ceremony. It was a risky plan, but it offered a quantifiable chance of success. You two, however, should have no trouble reaching your boat tonight. Even if the worst is true and your friend’s body has been found, I doubt they would stop you at the port tonight. From your boat, you can contact the Fleet.”

“Slow down a moment, Norboh. I’m not following you. Why should we be contacting the Fleet and what is this that you handed me?”

“That is the fate of the civilized galaxy that you have in your hands,” he said.

“W
hat’s that supposed to mean?” Briefly, I wondered if Norboh’s real problem was paranoid schizophrenia.

He disillusioned me quickly. “What it means,” he said, “is that the card contains, among other things, the evidence that it was Tyaromon who arranged the trap for the emperor at Albane.”

This time the exclamations of shock came from both Jaenna and myself. “Norboh, that makes no sense at all,” she said. “My father has always led the independent worlds in support of emperor and empire. That goes back even to the days when we scarcely had an emperor to support. You, of all people, should know that.”

“I should know that, yes. Well, all that is true on the surface; it may well have been true in reality once. I can’t say how far back the treachery goes. It may have been no older than the accession of Jerem, a strong emperor for the first time in ages, who displaced Tyaromon from his position as a preeminent leader. Jerem, you will remember, kept his main strength at Triuvir. Before Jerem, Triuvir was nothing more than an old Fleet base in the Outer Empire. I’m sure that offended Tyaromon. But,” and his voice hardened as he said it, “the reasons do not matter. The truth is that Tyaromon achieved a rapprochement with Carrillacki and, because he was trusted, was instrumental in placing Jerem in an untenable position on Albane. This tie is his reward and, ultimately, it will serve to undermine the empire, not reinforce it. You know Kaaran’s importance. Think what another well-timed betrayal will do.”

I thought about it. I thought about the bombs at Lussern. I thought about Donnar saying that Kaaran’s alliance with Duromond could tip the balance of power. Which way?

“Jerny knew of the plan,” Norboh continued. “He advised Tyaromon against it and then, foolishly, continued to oppose it. That’s why he was killed. Tyaromon had to remove him before he set up the trap at Albane. It was nicely done, too, except for the fact that I stumbled upon Jerny’s data and then did some investigating of my own. That’s why I’m here tonight.”

“A nice story, except for one thing,” I responded. “Why are you risking your life for the empire? You said Jerny was foolish to do so. Why should you?”

“Jerny was foolish to oppose Tyaromon openly,” Norboh said. “Do not mistake me, I have no great love for the empire. Only the Fleet dies willingly for that shred of memory they call empire. But think what this means. Jerem sought to end the Game of Empire. In doing so, he made Carrillacki realize that they might lose the power they have built up over all these years; they feared that enough that they dared to strike openly. Say this for Jerem’s plan: the Game of Empire is over. The Fleet is bracing for a fight. With Tyaromon planted like a poison tooth, Carrillacki will welcome an open break. They will draw all the kvenningari in, on one side or the other. I think they hope to dominate all of what will remain after the fighting. I must stop that.”

“And Haranyi is in on this too?” I asked. “He is hiding you from Tyaromon to get this to the Fleet?”

“Don’t be silly, freebooter. If Haranyi were siding with me, there would have been a coup by now. Haranyi knows only the story he related to you. It was plausible enough, and Haranyi needs to pay his debt badly enough, that he acted without checking my story too closely. I would not chance giving this story to Tyaromon’s commander.”

The story was at least consistent. I was almost ready to believe it, but something was niggling at the back of my mind. I couldn’t quite put it to words, but Jaenna did.

“Norboh, I will grant that you believe what you say, but it cannot be true,” Jaenna said. “You claim that Jerny was assassinated on my father’s orders because he opposed this Carrillacki scheme.” Norboh nodded. “That is wrong! Jerny came with me aboard Fireflower. He was killed during the freebooter attack. Lords of Space, Norboh, I saw him die! That was no planned assassination.”

There was anguish in Jaenna’s voice as she said that and in Norboh’s reply as well.

“Of course it was, Jaenna. Why do you think the ship was attacked in the first place? You were told that Jerny had decided to come with you. In fact, he was ordered to go by Tyaromon. Not so bluntly, of course. He was led to believe that Tyaromon wanted to help you but couldn’t do it openly.”

The gloom hid the expression on Jaenna’s face, but I could hear the quaver in her voice. “You’re claiming that the whole attack was arranged to kill Jerny? Then why was Carvalho holding me for ransom? Why all that commotion about collecting a ransom if he was only paid to kill Jerny?”

“Because that was the cover,” Norboh said. “The freebooter was tipped that you were the prize, that a large ransom could be obtained. A few members of the crew were quietly paid to ensure that Jerny did not survive the action.”

“Oh.” Jaenna sounded as though she needed something to sit on, but there was nothing but the street. Quietly, she said, “When Valaria learns that I was used as the bait for this trap …” She paused. “He will explode. He will settle this score no matter who is involved.”

Norboh’s sharp, “Oh, come on, Jaenna,” interrupted her. “Valaria knew all about it,” he said. “It was his idea to set it up that way.”

Jaenna’s mouth dropped open.

“What did you think, Jaenna?” Norboh went on. “That Tyaromon had actually been talked into giving you a station to manage? Be realistic. Valaria is old enough to want his hands on real power, but he also knows that he either has to make a tie or wait for Tyaromon to die in order to get it. He’d gotten a reputation for listening too much to his little sister and, even if he didn’t see it for himself, I’m sure Tyaromon spelled it out for him. No one, Tyaromon least of all, would give him a position of real authority as long as it was suspected that he was leaning on you, especially since that military fossil, Haranyi, had trained you as a soldier. Getting rid of you took care of that. At the same time, he gave Tyaromon a nice solution to his problem with Jerny. As you see, Valaria is getting his reward.”

Jaenna turned away. She disappeared into a gap between two buildings across the alley. I could hear the sound of retching. For political advantage, her father had sold the emperor to Carrillacki and her brother had sold her to freebooters. Wonderful galaxy.

I leaned back against the wall to collect my thoughts. Jaenna hadn’t reappeared, although there was no further sound from her. I strained my eyes to spot her, not looking at Tyaromon’s former military advisor at all, when I happened to see a rectangle of dim light in the area where we had entered the alley. It was just enough to stand out against the pitch-black of the street. That was odd, I thought; it looked like a partially opened door. Norboh had been very clear about keeping the guards out of the alley while we talked. At first, I thought that Jaenna had returned to the restaurant, but I should have seen her crossing the alley. Then I saw a shadow move in the dimness. Too late I shouted at Norboh. Too late I tried to pull him down. There was the unmistakable crack of a handblaster and flame shot out of Norboh’s head. He collapsed, unmoving. I dove for the ground. By reflex, I reached for my blaster. It wasn’t there, of course. Jaenna was also unarmed, but I had scant time to worry about it. Two more bolts scorched past me as I rolled toward the cover of the rubbish on the other side of the alley. Then, there came the crash of more blaster fire and lightning flashed in the doorway. A moment later it was quiet. The only change from before was that Norboh lay face down in the alley, dead.

At length, the silhouette of a person appeared in the doorway. It moved outside to become a barely visible blob in the starlight.

“Advisor Norboh?”

It was Anders’ voice. Had he been the assassin, now looking to finish his job? I wished I knew for sure, but it seemed unlikely. Being in charge of the guard detail, he would have had far better opportunities before this one.

“Norboh is dead,” I called back. Then I stood up to see what would happen.

Anders walked over to the body, blaster at the ready. From his other hand, the beam of a flashlight picked out what was left of Norboh’s features.

“Shit!” There is no doubt in my mind, Anders would have been happier if the body had been mine.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Reykingar betrayed us,” he said bitterly. “He killed Hrif by the door and then fired on you and Norboh. Oswar and I ran to the back as soon as we heard the firing, but he burned Oswar down before I got him. Haranyi will not be pleased.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” I said. “You did what you could.” I was being truthful. Haranyi, in fact, might breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe, he had arranged everything. I asked Anders why the assassin had waited until tonight.

He replied with a snort. “He didn’t wait. Reykingar was new, just posted to us last night after Arle became ill the night before. This was the first opportunity he had.”

With that, the events of this night began to make a nasty kind of sense. Two nights ago, Valaria had suddenly needed to go into the city on business. Even Jaenna had found it peculiar that he would absent himself from the Residence then. Now I knew why. Norboh had been telling the truth. Valaria must have discovered Norboh’s whereabouts and worked up a plan to dispose of him before his information could be passed along. This probably explained Angel’s murder. It also suggested that if it were known that Jaenna and I had talked with Norboh, we were as good as dead ourselves. But, who knew? Of the living, only Anders and the driver.

“Anders, do you know our driver well?”

“Yes.”

“Is he reliable?”

“Grayarmon? Absolutely.” There was no hesitation in his answer.

“Good.” I was beginning to see a way out. “You will report what happened to Haranyi, as you must. But, when you report it, you will say that we arrived
after
the shooting. Is that clear? Norboh was dead by the time we arrived. Haranyi will not want it suspected that we saw Norboh.”

“I understand,” said Anders. “But I don’t think I can report it that way. I think it would be better if I reported that you lured Advisor Norboh out here so that Reykingar could kill him.” He said it so matter-of-factly that the words did not register at once. When they did, his blaster was aimed squarely at my midsection.

I don’t know whether he decided on that course of action as the best way to save his own ass, or whether he was just reacting against my high-handed attempt to take control. Either way, it was bad news. Anders could only make that story stand up if I was a corpse. There was no place to run, no way to take cover. He was barely three feet in front of me. Anders hissed as his thumb closed on the firing stud.