Planet of trechery, p.16
Planet Of Trechery, page 16
Vonnie had gone back to the desk drawer and found a hyposprayer to administer the nitrobarb. "And what would you do in our position?" she asked sweetly as she returned to the prisoner.
Lady A laughed coldly. "It's not my business to give you advice."
"Then don't criticize, either," Jules said as his wife administered the injection.
Lady A said not another word. She simply smiled at Jules, a cold and evil smile that vanished from her face only when she fell into the stupor that was the first stage of nitrobarb's effect.
It would be another twenty minutes before Lady A passed into the second stage and was ready for questioning. Jules and Yvonne spent the intervening time by continuing the search they'd begun before Lady A had interrupted them. Jules asked the computer files about C, but received no information at all. either the computer had no information about the conspiracy's mysterious leader or else it was filed under a special codeword that he would never guess.
He asked next for information on Karla Jost and received a complete readout on her life story-including the fact that she had left the planet under the auspices of Project Resurrection. Checking this cross-reference provided him with a wealth of information--most particularly the names of the people who'd been removed, the dates of removal, and the planets to which they'd been taken. He asked for, and received, a printout of the list, and tucked the paper into a pocket.
Vonnie, meanwhile, had found nothing new in her search of the desk, and by this time Lady A was starting to come around again. The two agents crowded up close to her so as not to miss a word she said.
"Who is CT' was Jules's first question.
"I don't know his real identity," Lady A said slowly. "Is he the leader of your conspiracy?"
"Yes."
"Where is he based?" "I don't know."
Jules was gnashing his teeth in frustration. This was the hard part of questioning a person under nitrobarb; the subject had to tell the truth, but he told no more than the precise answer to the question asked. Knowing the proper question was an art in itself-one that his sister Yvette had been better trained in that he had. "Tell me exactly how you communicate with him, then."
"He has a series of telecom numbers in various sectors that relay through a subcom link directly to him, wherever he is. You call him through those numbers; if he chooses to respond, his answer is printed out on your telecom screen."
A clever way of operating anonymously-and almost impossible to trace, Jules thought. Still, if SOTE could learn the particular subcom frequency C used, they might be able to tap in and monitor some of the calls. "Tell me the telecom numbers," he said.
Lady A rattled off a string of numbers, and Jules copied them down on the back of the Project Resurrection printout. When she'd given him all that she could, the woman stopped abruptly, and it was up to Jules to think of a new question.
"What does C look like?" he asked.
"Tall and thin with thick black hair and gray eyes. High cheekbones, sharp chin, crow's feet about the eyes. He dresses well, but is not very muscular or athletic."
That description narrowed the search down a bit, but it was still far too general. "How old do you think he is?"
"Middle fifties, I'd say."
"Do you have any other superiors?"
"No, he's the only person above me in the organization." Jules next started a series of questions about Lady A herself. Her name, she said, was really Gretchen Baumann and she came from the planet Kiesel. She was forty-three years old, and had been a member of this conspiracy for the past eighteen years, slowly working her way up the organizational ladder until she reached this exalted position. Her chief asset had been that she'd had no criminal record of any sort, no way for the Service to trace her activities.
The purpose of the conspiracy was quite simple: to destroy the Stanley dynasty and to place C on the Throne as the new Emperor. It was not yet decided whether Lady A would marry him to become Empress, or whether she would take a secondary post as Chancellor. The conspiracy had a navy and armed forces of its own, well-trained and waiting for their cue to move in and take over.
"How do you know what's going on in SOTET' Jules asked. "We've had hypnotic instructions implanted in the minds of most top-level secretaries within the Service," Lady A said. "Every few days-or whenever they learn anything of vital importance-they phone a special number and relate everything they've learned since their last phone call. Then they completely forget they've made the call, and go on about their business as normal."
That was a chilling thought. No wonder it had been so hard to trace down the leaks-all the people who betrayed the Service honestly thought they were being loyal and, short of administering-tough mind probes, they would test out truthfully when asked whether they were traitors. Jules wanted to ask for more specifics, such as key names of those under such hypnotic compulsion, but time was pressing and there was still another crucial topic he had to cover.
"Tell me all you can about Operation Annihilate," he said. "Operation Annihilate is the code name for our attack on the Empire. Our entire navy will rendezvous at a point in space and attack Earth in force. We have more than enough strength to wipe out the fleet normally stationed there. Our own fleet is commanded by Admiral Shen Tzu, who is currently operating as an ordinary pirate. Our original plan was to attack during Princess Edna's wedding. The robot duplicate of Lady Bloodstar was supposed to kill both the Emperor and the Princess, leaving the succession in doubt and causing chaos at the court, while our ships massed and destroyed the Imperial Fleet stationed at Earth. It was you who stopped the assassinations, and somehow the Navy prevented Captain Ling's contingent of ships from achieving its rendezvous. Full implementation of Operation Annihilate was delayed until a better time."
"And when is that better time?" Vonnie interrupted. "Right after the Princess's ascension to the Throne," Lady A said emotionlessly. "SOTE will be expecting us to attack during the ceremony, so we intend to wait thirty-six hours and hit them after they relax a bit. Confidence in the new Empress's abilities to command will be a little shaky, and she may make tactical mistakes out of inexperience that will give the victory to us. Again, our ships will come from bases scattered throughout the Empire and rendezvous at a given point in space on the day before the ceremony, then depart as a group for Earth."
"Where is the rendezvous point?" Jules asked.
Lady A gave him a string of numbers, which he again jotted down. "How many ships are there in your fleet, and what sizes are they?"
"We have one thousand and fifty-eight. Most are small personal fighters, but we have twelve Galaxy-class cruisers, fifteen Constellation cruisers, fifty Nova superdestroyers..."
A sudden uproar in the hall outside interrupted the proceedings. "There must be an intruder in there!" the d'Alemberts heard Tanya Boros cry. "Blast the door in, quickly!"
The door to the room began glowing as blaster beams from outside concentrated their enormous power on it. Within seconds there would be nothing between the SOTS agents and an army of unknown size waiting to gun them down.
Their visit at this house was coming rapidly to an end.
Chapter 13
Pias's Offer
The three ships drifted in subspace, waiting for their quarry to arrive. The word "drift" was a relative term, for they were really moving at more than a hundred times the speed of light; nonetheless, compared to the speeds that were possible in subspace theirs was a veritable crawl. They didn't want to move too quickly and possibly overshoot their target.
Ordinarily the bridge of a pirate ship was no place for idle visitors, and Yvette would not have been welcomed. But as the woman who had the specialized knowledge of how to combat the Paradise's defenses, she was able to insist most forcefully that she indeed belonged here; and since Fortier/"Rocheville" had been put in charge of this particular operation, she had an ally able to accommodate her demands.
They were cruising between the planets Hsoli and Kuragana, waiting for the Paradise to come by on its regular run. Its route was known as precisely as though it were on tracks, so there was just the question of waiting for it. This time, much as Yvette hated to think about the loss of money and effort they'd put into it, the Paradise would not escape the pirate trap.
There was a blip on the long-distance scanners, indicating the Paradise had shown up exactly on schedule. Fortier barked a command and the trio of pirate vessels speeded up to match their target's velocity, simultaneously converging on its position. Coming as they did from three different directions, the Paradise would have no option; it could never hope to outrun all of them, so its only choice was to drop back into normal space and play the standard game of pirate and prey.
At first, events followed the same pattern as before. All the ships left subspace at precisely the same moment, and the pirates began their interference pattern to prevent the Paradise from beaming a message to the Navy. At the same time, the Paradise withdrew its engines into the body of the ship, as it had done before.
"That's a crucial spot right there," Yvette pointed out to Fortier and the other real pirates on the bridge. "As long as the engines and the power source are working, he's in command."
"But we can't use our ships' guns to destroy the engines without blowing holes in the Paradise," Fortier said. "We want to take it intact."
"Then send some of your men up inside there with hand weapons," Yvette told him. "You've got to cut his power and particularly you've got to stop him from turning on the ultragrav. All his crewmembers are DesPlainians, and they'll outmaneuver your fighters every time under high-grav circumstances."
Fortier nodded and gave the appropriate orders. One of the other ships sent out a team of men-not to the open airlock as had happened on the last attack, but to the underbelly of the Paradise. There, in their protective sheath, the ship's engines were withdrawn and silent. Using even high-powered hand blasters was not the most efficient way of destroying them, but the pirates did not want to suffer the fate of their sister ship that had been captured and humiliated. If this slow, painstaking work was the way to win, that was the way they'd do it.
It took nearly an hour of concerted effort, but eventually the pirate forces burned their way through the tough plating of the Paradise and were able to dismantle her drive and power systems. Assured, then, that the ultragrav could not be used against them when they entered, attack teams from each of the three ships swarmed through the airlock into the Paradise itself. At Yvette's suggestion, though, other pirates remained back on their ships to guard against incursions from the Paradise's defenders.
Suddenly the unexpected happened. Like a plant shooting off spores, the Paradise suddenly shot off more than a hundred lifepods in all directions. In essence, Pias was surrendering the Paradise itself in exchange for the safety of its passengers and crew, knowing how fearsome were the odds against it. The move took the pirates completely by surprise--and Yvette pretended it surprised her as well, though she'd known in
advance precisely what would happen.
Fortier now had a choice. None of the lifepods was equipped with a subspace motor, meaning they could only travel at less than light speed; each one did have its own automatic subcom unit, however, transmitting a repeated distress signal and location for the Navy to pick up. Fortier could set his ships to the task of rounding up the pods, since they were moving so slowly-but since they were radiating outward in all directions that would be a very time-consuming job... and in the meantime, his ships could not jam all the subcom transmissions the pods- were emitting. The Navy could be on its way here before he'd collected even half the pods, and this mission would be as much a failure as the last.
Fortier chose instead to go after the Paradise itself. (In actuality the choice was not hard, since it was part of Yvette's plan, but it was good to have a solid reason behind his action when Admiral Shen questioned him about the matter later, as he surely would.) Although the passengers had gone and probably taken most of their money and valuables with them, the ship and its furnishings had an intrinsic value in themselves, and would keep this expedition from being a total loss.
The boarding party was quite surprised, however, to find that an auxiliary generator still maintained a one-gee field within the Paradise, and that one lone figure was waiting for them. Pias Bavol was calmly seated in the central casino, playing out a game of solitaire at one of the card tables. He looked up, tipped his hat and waved as the pirates entered. "Good day, gentlemen, I've been expecting you."
"Who are you?" asked the leader of the assault team. "Brian Sangers, at your service; owner and operator of the once-proud and now temporarily defunct Paradise gambling ship. Please be so kind as to inform your captain that I offer him the privilege of making a deal with me."
The pirate waved his blaster at Pias. "You don't look in much position to deal with anybody."
"Oh, put that silly thing away, it's liable to go off. Killing me will gain you nothing. I am a man of small personal fortune, all my cash being tied up in this enterprise. The money and important guests have all departed in the lifepods, and there's no one who'd pay much ransom for me. The Navy will soon be coming in response to the distress calls from the pods, so since you did such an effective job of ruining the Paradise's engines, and since all three of your ships combined couldn't tow this one very far-you'll have to leave my vessel here for salvage. The drapes and furnishings are all quite expensive, but subject to horrible depreciation; if you simply strip the place bare you won't receive even one percent of what it's all worth. The only asset you'll find of any great value is my intellect, and that requires my willing cooperation before it does you any good. So stop pretending you can bully me, and escort me to your captain."
The pirate was stunned. Never before had he encountered anyone with so much raw nerve as the dandy who sat across the room from him, grinning confidently. People in his position were supposed to be terrified, not demanding. Unsure precisely how to react-but not wanting to seem weak in front of his men-he said gruffly, "You'll see the captain, that's for sure. This way." He made a big show of motioning with his gun, even though Pias was obviously not afraid of it.
Pias donned a spacesuit and accompanied the assault team leader back to the main ship while the rest of the pirates were scouring the Paradise for anything of value they could find. As Pias was marched onto the pirate bridge, his gaze locked onto Yvette's. Though each was delighted to see the other after such a long separation-the longest since they were married they had their own particular roles to play that did not allow for tender reunions.
"My dear Mila," Pias said, "you appear to have lived down even below my expectations of you. Small wonder these blasterbats were as successful as they were. They had the queen of treachery as their guiding star."
"Still mouthing off, aren't you?" Yvette retorted. She looked to Fortier. "This guy's mouth will still be working weeks after the rest of him's dead and rotting. He's a stinking liar--don't believe a word he says."
"Coming from you, my dear," said Pias, "that's a high compliment indeed."
Fortier stepped between the two to put an end to the bickering. "I understand you've got something to say to me, Sangers."
"Yes, if you're the man in charge. Your organization is obviously in need of new blood. Your first attempt to take my ship was a dismal failure, and your second attempt, even with inside knowledge, is not going to turn out much better. You lack the imagination and inventiveness to change with the times; you're still doing things the way your grandfather did."
"And I suppose you think you're the man to do this for us, eh?"
"Of course, or I wouldn't be here. I could just as easily have escaped in one of the lifepods, along with everyone else." "Then why didn't you? You could always have started up another gambling ship."
"The profit margin was too small. Why should I content myself with a meager five or ten percent when, in a pirate organization with talent and imagination, I could rake in far more?"
"I don't have the authority to deal with you on that level," Fortier said.
Pias gave a loud snort. "Then take me to someone who does. I hate doing business with underlings."
In due course, Pias was taken before Admiral Shen and given a chance to explain his plans more fully. He gave a variation of the speech he'd given to Fortier and the other pirates on the bridge, but this one was even more filled with boasts of his intellectual abilities. Shen sat back and listened to this bombast with a barely concealed grin. "So you're offering to become my master tactician, are you?" he asked when Pias had finally finished.
"Not at all," Pias replied. "I'm offering to let you become my partner."
"As simple as that, eh?"
"Why not? People sometimes make business relationships much too complicated. I'll accept your handshake."
Shen's grin was broadening. "By Fross, I like you. I don't know when I've been so entertained. If I were a nobleman I might even keep you around as my official jester."
"Then it's you who would be the fool for passing up what I have to offer. With my ideas and your resources we could easily double your income in the next year."
"Do you have any idea what my resources are?"
"Only the vaguest. I imagine a hundred men and maybe a dozen ships."
"Then it's your imagination that's too small. Your numbers don't even begin to approach the actuality."
"I merely estimated what I thought would be standard for a pirate operation like yours. My imagination is quite elastic it can expand to fit the resources put in."
Shen gave another laugh. "No matter how elastic your imagination is, it would still stretch beyond the breaking point to learn of the plans in which I play a major role. In less than a week, I shall be totally beyond the need to play the game of pirate any longer-and so your puny little schemes don't interest me in the slightest."
He pressed a button on his desk and three men, all armed with blasters, entered the room. "I'm sorry to make our acquaintance so brief," Shen said. "You've amused me for a while, but now our ways must part." Then, to his guards, he added, "Take him out into the jungle and dispose of him."
