The Pride of the Damned

by Peter Grant

  She giggled as she wriggled into a more comfortable position, lying naked in his arms on the bed. “The Commodore accepted my parole to go shopping on Constanta before he sent me here. He said he couldn’t, in all conscience, send a wife to a long-delayed reunion with her husband wearing military coveralls!”

  “I like his sense of the fitness of things – but how did you explain the negligée to him?”

  “I didn’t. He wasn’t there, of course, but he told me how much I could spend, and said that within that amount, I could buy what I pleased; so I did.”

  “That was uncommonly decent of him.”

  “I think he is a very decent man, Pal. I am surprised to find myself saying that about one whom I used to regard as our mortal enemy, but… he is not an evil man. Even though he wants to end the Brotherhood’s threat to himself and his company – and I think he will be as ruthless as he has to be in pursuing that – nevertheless, he does not wish us ill.”

  “We shall speak of it later. For now, let me recover my strength, or else I might die of happy exhaustion in your arms.”

  She giggled again. “I’m sure I can find ways to revive you.” Her hand drifted lower.

  “You minx!”

  Later still, he helped her heat a tasty meal in the small galley attached to the entertainment area. It had been well provisioned with a good selection of food, and they sat down to eat with hearty, exercise-sharpened appetites.

  When they had finished and cleaned up, she showed him the vid of their son’s wedding aboard that same ship. He watched intently as Alban and Aferdita exchanged vows and rings before the vessel’s commanding officer, then kissed. Their radiant joy was obvious.

  “She is a lovely woman,” he said softly as the vid faded out. “I hope they will be happy together. I still find it almost unbelievable that she was sent to kill you.”

  Jehona’s face flickered with anger. “Yes – and that Agim Nushi told her and the rest of her team that Alban had turned traitor, and I was about to! How dare he?”

  Pal gritted his teeth for a moment. “The most difficult thing I have ever done has been to restrain myself from punching his teeth through his tonsils for that! I have had to hide my anger, and work with him as if I still respected him. It has been… difficult.”

  “Oh, dearest!” She hugged him sympathetically, but also with real fear. “Please be careful! If he ever suspects that you are no longer blindly, slavishly loyal to him…”

  “I know. I shall be careful.” He heaved a sigh. “I suspect matters are coming to a head. Soon there will be a resolution, one way or another.”

  She nodded and sat up, twisting to face him on the couch. “The Commodore asked me to say something to you about that. He will do his best to keep his promises to me, and rescue our children, and Fjolla’s wife and their daughter, and her family too. He will do the same for Aferdita’s parents and brother. However, he says everything depends on what the Big Three do. He has no idea what they are planning on Patos, but fears it may be swift and violent when the time comes.”

  Pal nodded. “That is what I fear, too.”

  “And I. The Commodore asks that you try, as best you can, to get as many of them as possible to agree to assemble in haste at a central point, to be picked up. Obviously, you cannot ask Aferdita’s family about that ahead of time. They do not even know that she is still alive, much less that we are now their in-laws! Perhaps you can find a way.”

  “I shall surely try.”

  “I know you will, darling. The Commodore also gave me the name of a ship, a freighter named Pasaré. It means ‘bird’, apparently. He says she should arrive in Patos orbit soon, and will suffer a malfunction that will keep her there until spare parts can be ordered and shipped to the planet. If anything happens, she will call a code that you must provide to her, then send her cutter to collect our people. He warns that it cannot travel all over the planet, but only to the spaceport. Everyone must be there to meet it. They will have only one chance, and very little time to get aboard, so delay might be fatal. They must abandon everything, if necessary, and run for it. If the worst happens, Pasaré will take them to Constanta, where you can meet us all.”

  “I understand. I am grateful he is willing to do so much for us. I hope and pray it will not come to that.”

  “So do I, dearest: but he warned, again, that he cannot predict what the Big Three will do. His exact words were, ‘It is foolish to stand beneath the sword blade as it descends. Better to get out from under it.’ That is why he wants our families to get off-planet, if at all possible. If the Big Three are merciful, they can easily return. If they are not… they will, at least be out from under.”

  “He is a wise man. Very well. I will make what arrangements I can, and set up the call code, and instruct our children to respond immediately to any message. I have a trusted friend on Patos whom I shall ask to get Aferdita’s parents and brother, by any means necessary, and bring them to the spaceport. What about your brother?”

  Jehona’s eyes filled with tears. “Pavli is more even patriarchal than the Patriarch! He is fanatically loyal to the Fatherland Project. If you tried to warn him, he would have you arrested. He… he must take his chances with whatever happens. I love him, but I cannot risk our children for his sake.”

  Pal sighed. “I fear you are right.”

  “What about your parents and sister, dear?”

  “They are like Pavli; utterly loyal to the Patriarch’s vision. I do not know whether I shall be able to get them out. I fear it may be impossible. Sadly, I agree with you: our children must come first.”

  She was silent for a moment, then said quietly, “The Commodore has made one more arrangement, darling.” She got up, fetched an envelope from her room, and handed it to him. “This is a comm code. He says, if you run into trouble on Neue Helvetica that you cannot escape any other way, call it. He cannot guarantee your safety, but he says someone will try to help you. He emphasized that this was for life-or-death emergencies only. I know nothing more than that.”

  Pal tucked the envelope into a pocket. “I would prefer not to use it, but one never knows. Please thank the Commodore for the code. Tell him I will try to concentrate the… the ‘less guilty’ of our people – the less dedicated and fanatical, anyway – aboard our refinery ship. In the event of combat, if given the chance to surrender, I think they might; but I cannot guarantee it.”

  “I shall tell him.”

  As their two days together drew to a close, by unspoken mutual consent, they showered, dressed, ate another meal, then sat in the entertainment area once more, dreading to glance at the clock as it counted down.

  “What will you do now, darling?” she asked, leaning into him as they sat on the couch.

  “I shall go to Patos, to brief the Council on three possible planets for us. One stands out as our best option. The exploration company that found it calls it ‘Ostrovy’, which means ‘islands’ in the language of its founder’s ancestors on Old Home Earth. We shall change that, of course. It is not all we wanted, but it is good enough for us for now. With a century or two of hard work, we can improve it greatly. Our children and our children’s children will have plenty to keep them busy.”

  She giggled. “What sort of work?”

  “It has five small continents – very large islands, really – and a lot of smaller islands too. Only two continents are suitable for settlement. One will be fine for residents, but not for agriculture – too many hills and valleys. The other has broad plains and grasslands, well irrigated and very suitable for farming, so it should probably be reserved for that. They are six thousand kilometers apart, so getting crops to the cities and goods and services back to the farms will be challenging, but not impossible. The other three large islands, each several thousands of square kilometers, have more extreme climates, but can be terraformed until they are suitable for use. The planet has relatively few mineral resources, but its asteroid belt holds promise. On balance, I think it will do.”

/>   “Why is it so cheap?”

  “Well, they are asking fifty-five billion francs for it, which is not all that cheap. The asteroid belt drives up its price. However, its currently usable surface area can support and sustain at most twenty to thirty million people. The United Planets’ minimum standard, for a planet fully suitable for settlement and development, is that it should be able to support at least a hundred million.”

  She laughed aloud. “And we are… what? Less than five thousand in our entire Brotherhood? I daresay we shall have room enough for us, and plenty for our descendants!”

  “Yes. We shall be heavily dependent on robotic assistance to establish ourselves and expand our foothold. It will be a top priority to attract others of our people to join us.”

  She frowned. “Will they, after the Patriarch so insulted the rest of the Albanian Mafia?”

  “I do not know, but that is tomorrow’s problem.”

  She sighed. “You are right. When will you be able to proceed?”

  “If the Council directs us to buy Ostrovy, I shall return to Neue Helvetica to begin the process. At the same time, Agim will order our base to send enough gold to Neue Helvetica to pay for it, and buy our initial infrastructure. They will do so by the usual roundabout route, to conceal its origin. When it arrives, I shall convert it to francs and deposit it with the UP. The seller and I have already agreed that the planet will not be auctioned, but sold directly to us. However, that must still go through the usual channels, so our new company will be registered as the planet’s owner, and granted corporate membership of the UP.”

  “I see. Why not send the gold direct, just this once?”

  “What if questions are asked about where it came from? I do not know whether our base is still as secret as we hope, but if it is, I should hate anyone to learn its location because we neglected such a basic security measure. With the Big Three on our trail, it will be better to keep taking every precaution we can. As far as I know, no-one knows or suspects the intermediate planet we have been using. There is no reason for them to do so. Let us keep it that way.”

  “I see.”

  They were interrupted by a chime from the intercom. A voice said, “Sir, your cutter is on the way. Someone will knock on the door in ten minutes, to escort you to the docking bay.”

  Jehona’s face sagged for a moment, then she visibly braced herself. “No! I will not be sad! I shall remember the joy of these two days for a long time – and soon, please God, we can be together again forever!”

  He crushed her to him. “Please God!”

  They sat in silence for several minutes, clinging to each other, communing in spirit as only long-term lovers can. At last she stirred. “Be safe, dearest. I fear for you.”

  “I shall do my best. I have less fear for you, and for our son and his bride. You are all in the safest possible place for any of us right now.”

  “It feels so strange to hear you talk about our status as prisoners as being ‘safe’… but you are right.”

  A knock came at the door. He kissed her again. “I will not say ‘goodbye’, darling; only ‘until we meet again’. Be safe.”

  She rose from the couch with him, and helped him straighten his clothing and check his carryall. “You too, my dearest. Be safe!”

  She stood tall and proud as he let himself out, and closed the door behind him. Only when he was no longer able to see her did she allow the tears of sudden loneliness, and fear for him, to flow.

  16

  Incentive

  NEW SKYROS

  “Captain Kokinos will see you now, sir.”

  Cochrane rose from his chair. “Thank you,” he replied, and followed the secretary as she led him to an inner door, ushered him through, then closed it behind him.

  The Captain proved to be an older man, hair already gone gray. He looked almost patrician in his immaculate uniform, with New Skyros rank insignia on his collars. He held out his hand as he came around his desk. “Good morning, Mr. Smith. I understand you asked to see me.”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule for me. Ah… before I continue, I should inform you that ‘Smith’ is not my real name. I’m Commodore Andrew Cochrane of Hawkwood Security, based on Constanta.”

  The Captain’s eyes narrowed. “I have heard of that company. Why the deception, Commodore?”

  “Because you and I – that is to say, New Skyros and Hawkwood – have a common enemy. It’s planning action against you, here, in your own system. I came here under an assumed name, so that no word of my arrival would leak to them. I wanted to warn you, and offer our help in dealing with the situation.”

  “An enemy? Here?” The officer recollected himself. “Please, sit down.” He led him to a group of armchairs around a low table in the corner.

  “Thank you, sir. Let me explain.”

  Cochrane spoke for almost ten minutes, outlining how the Albanian Brotherhood had ordered eight destroyers and a depot ship from Metaxas Shipyards using a false end user certificate. “They suffered an unfortunate accident to one of the first two to be delivered. She, plus a freighter carrying their spare missile pods, did not arrive at their destination. Only one destroyer made it, and is now part of the Brotherhood’s armed fleet.”

  “An accident? Did you, perhaps, have anything to do with that?”

  Cochrane met his accusing glare with an impassive face. “Why, Captain, it would be illegal for us to interfere with ships in your system – at least, without your prior knowledge and approval.”

  “Yes, it would. We should talk more about that in due course. Continue, please.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He went on to describe the coming onslaught against the Brotherhood, without identifying the forces that would be involved. The less the Captain knew, the less he could reveal by talking out of turn.

  “The Brotherhood knows they’re in trouble,” he concluded. “They don’t have enough armed ships, and they desperately need more. We have reason to believe they’re going to come here, to try to steal the destroyers that are presently embargoed for delivery. There’ll be four of them before long, when the next two are delivered by Metaxas Shipyards, plus their depot ship and missile pods.”

  Captain Kokinos stared at him, alarmed and bewildered. “But… but… I must inform the Minister at once!”

  He began to rise, but Cochrane held out an urgent hand. “Sir, please, hear me out! The fewer people who know about this right now, the better. What if we can forestall them?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What if you could disrupt their plans, and capture or destroy their ships? You would win a great victory. Surely that would be excellent publicity for your System Patrol Service?”

  Slowly, the captain began to nod. “Yes, it would… but it will only be ‘my’ service until the end of the year, when I am due to retire. I suppose it would be nice to go out on a high note like that – but how can we stop them? I have argued for years that we need a stronger, better-equipped patrol fleet, but our political masters prefer to spend their money on things that produce more votes. We have only six heavy patrol craft, of which only three are available at any one time, plus a few orbital boats for our Customs and police. If the Brotherhood are coming to get their destroyers, they will surely bring heavily armed ships to help them. We cannot stand against a force like that.”

  “No, sir; but Hawkwood can.”

  “No! That is absolutely out of the question! We cannot allow ships from a mere security company to take the credit. Another planet’s armed forces, perhaps, but even then, only if it were an allied nation, nominally ‘assisting’ our vessels. It would be too humiliating to have a private company do what we cannot. The Minister would never agree.”

  Cochrane stared for a moment. He hadn’t considered national pride as a potential obstacle. He thought swiftly. “There may be a way around that, sir. Let me explain. For a start, the Brotherhood will have to divide their forces. First of all, they have to
get larger crews aboard the destroyers. At present, they have only about thirty spacers aboard each one, serving as an anchor watch. They’ll need sixty to eighty to form a passage crew, working watch and watch, even without actually fighting – which they can’t, having no missile pods installed while they’re detained.”

  “I agree. Go on.”

  “We think they’ll smuggle more spacers into this system aboard one or more commercial ships. They’ll assemble here, aboard your space station, then go out to the destroyers aboard cutters or other small craft, probably on a regular resupply run or a shift change for the guards. They’ll all have to move at once, so that guards on one destroyer can’t warn the others if something goes wrong. They’ll overpower your guards, take control of the ships, and leave orbit. They may leave false transponder beacons in place to deceive your Orbital Control Center, and slip away under reaction thrusters only, emitting no gravitic drive signature that might be detected.”

  Kokinos nodded. “That is logical, yes; but we keep their supplies of reaction mass and reactor fuel to a minimum. They will not have enough to leave the system.”

  “No, sir; but what if the Brotherhood arranges to rendezvous with them in the outer reaches of the system, to refuel and resupply them, and put additional spacers aboard? Even fusion reactor cartridges aren’t difficult to swap out. They could then hyper-jump to anywhere in the settled galaxy. While that’s going on, armed vessels could prevent your patrol craft from interfering.”

  The Captain’s face twisted in a scowl. “You are right. We would never live down the humiliation of losing vessels embargoed into our custody!”

  “True, sir: but think what it would do for your reputation if you recaptured the destroyers, and destroyed any other ships the Brotherhood might send.”

  Kokinos stared at him, momentarily speechless, then sank back into his chair. “You would not say something like that unless you had something in mind.”