Mindstorm rose on his six pincer-feet, an ingestion cilia activating a holo emitter. “Council chief, there are 30 trillion civilians within the control of the Anarchate. A few billion who question normal Trade conventions is irrelevant to the task you set me earlier. And yes, I do have revised plans.”
Sooteen’s brown eyestalks fixed on him. “Describe these plans! Quickly! I have an appointment with Loglan clan representatives that was delayed by your failure to eradicate this minor insurrection.”
Mindstorm cilia-gestured to the holo, which changed from an image of the galaxy to an image of a Human of gender female. “Observe. This is a clone of the Human female name sigil Charlotte Dragoneaux. Her age and appearance match that of the Charlotte original, from the time when this renegade biped’s family grouping was captured by genome harvesters.” Council members focused eyestalks, vision patches, sonar horns, infrared senses and chemosynthetic light emitters on the holo image. “While my operative Medun lost possession of the progenitor of this Matthew Raven’s-Wing Dragoneaux, and the biped’s female sibling escaped from the custody of her Meligun owner, my commerce representatives were able to locate a cloneslave produced from the cells of this Charlotte. I will use her as a lure to bring this Human to me and my forces.”
Noktoren the avian raptor clicked his yellow beak exactly as Mindstorm wished. “Where will you place this biped lure? Why will this renegade Human seek to capture a clone of his sibling? And what forces will you use to defeat the warships of his local fleet?”
Mindstorm dipped two of his eyestalks toward the perch bar of his Sector 13 ally. “Good questions all,” he clacked as all members of the council focused on him. Solely on him. “I will send this clone to star CC4213, near the location of my former naval base at Vela system. This star, Human sigil HD 86523, has been confirmed by a spy operative of Intel High Commander Sytoon as a refueling base for the renegade’s fleet.” He paused, inhaled salt water through his gills, then continued. “The Human will seek to rescue this clone of his sibling based on familial emotion that is unknown to us amphibians of Ancient species. It is, however, a powerful motivator for certain dryland species.” Noktoren flapped its leathery wings in agreement. “Finally, I will send my two remaining battleglobes to loiter near the gas giant refueling planet. Both ships carry the new weapons.”
“That is not an offensive force,” Sooteen said with a clack of her mouth palps. “You will lose your battleglobes.”
“Correct and correct,” Mindstorm said. His cilia activated a second holo that floated next to the Charlotte clone image. “However, observe the blue-white B3V star of this refueling system. A Corvette ship will hide on the side of the star opposite the gas giant, where the Human lure will be held within a Courier ship guarded by the two fleet battleglobes. It will activate the Nova Blast weapon upon the arrival of the Human fleet to rescue this clone of gender female. The Human leader of the attacks in all sectors will die along with his seven surviving Dreadnoughts.”
“Remarkable,” rumbled the Sector 9 leader, Dooshesh mik-mal of the Meligun. “You will sacrifice your remaining battleglobes in order to vanquish this renegade biped.”
“Of course!” Mindstorm clacked, feeling surprise that such a tactic sounded unusual to the black-furred Meligun. “These two battleglobes lost the battle of the Orion Nebula naval base. Their sacrifice in this future battle at HD 86523 will redeem the battle honor of Sector Captain Running Leader of the Dolmat. His species’ Herd Defense instinct would view such a sacrifice as entirely normal.”
Sooteen twisted her eyestalks away from Mindstorm’s two holos as her mouth palps shut off the council’s holo recorder. “This emergency council meeting is ended! Disperse to your habitats or entertainments as you choose.”
Sytoon fixed all his eyestalks on the live holo image of Sector Captain Running Leader, who was in Translation flight heading for his Intel Base in Sagittarius Arm. The Dolmat herbivore’s spike-tail hung down, as if the exhaustion of the recent space battle at the Orion Nebula naval base had drained much energy from the six-legged heavyworld native. The Dolmat’s two purple eyes moved jerkily, as if laden with emotion.
“Sector Captain Running Leader, thank you for responding to my emergency tachlink call,” he said with dry mouth palps.
“What emergency!” croaked the Dolmat from the Command Bench of his battleglobe Defiant II. “Defending the shipyard cost me the rest of my fleet! Only my ship and a second battleglobe survived! We are headed your way for repairs, refueling and additional reinforcements.”
Sytoon considered how best to lie convincingly to a ship commander who had indeed fought to exhaustion against the changed tactics of the T’Chak warships. “Sector Captain, you must divert! Divert to planet Megil, star Alkalurops C, to meet with my assistant Dokeel am-thak, a Hootnai!”
“Why!” croaked the Dolmat as several of its Bridge crew looked at Sytoon’s holo image. “There are no battleglobes left in that system!”
“You are correct. But there is a living being there who is vital to the future trapping of this renegade Human who has killed so many of your fellow herdmates!” Sytoon said, recalling the essentials of Dolmat Herd Protection culture. “Our superior, Sector 14 Leader Mindstorm, has ordered me to direct your two ships to travel to Megil, meet my representative at the landing field of Halath, take Courier delivery of a Human female clone of name sigil Charlotte Dragoneaux, then travel with her to the gas giant at star CC4213, Human sigil HD 86523.”
Running Leader’s two chest forearms slapped palms together. “Why again! This renegade Human has possession of his progenitor female and his sibling female. Why ever would he respond to this new lure at an obscure star system?”
Sytoon could tell that Running Leader, his crew and the other battleglobe wanted nothing more than to find a safe harbor, decompress from the loss of 38 battleglobes in several frenzied space battles, and hope for reinforcements from other sectors. He would feel the same if in the pincers of the fleet captain. But his duty was to arrange a future where the local fleet of this renegade was extinguished. And after the loss of nearly 300 battleglobes to the fleet-on-fleet actions of this Human, the loss of two more battleglobes was minor if it led to final success.
“Sector Captain, you are ordered to divert to planet Megil, acquire the Human female clone, and take her to the gas giant in CC4213,” he clacked in formal Belizel. “My Sagittarius associate found secret records on the Human colony world of Morrigan that say this obscure star was visited by the renegade shortly after the Vela shipyard disaster, while on his way from Vela to Morrigan.” The Dolmat’s armored hide bunched up in a body sign of intense interest. “A visit by a Courier ship confirmed an isotope refueling station in the upper clouds of this world, along with minor debris indicating the presence of many ships engaged in refueling. This star is a hidden base of the renegade!”
“That is . . . promising information,” the Dolmat croaked. It gestured to the Bridge onlookers to return to their duties. “The Defiant II and ship Dedicated will divert to planet Megil. We will refuel there and head for CC4213. However, we will be two ships and a Courier against seven T’Chak Dreadnoughts. Will we have any support?”
“Yes!” Sytoon said, inhaling a cool draught of salt water through his gills, the better to calm his voice. “Sector Leader Mindstorm says Rolette am-tok, the Hootnai leader of Sector 15, is sending two hundred battleglobes from its forces to star CC4213. They will arrive before you do and move to stealth mode at the outer limits of the star system. Your task is to arrive at the gas giant with the female in a Courier vessel, guard it, be present to draw in the Human renegade, then help destroy the Human in a pincer-on-pincer attack as the stealth fleet attacks the rear of the Human’s fleet. You will succeed!”
The Dolmat’s purple eyes brightened. “That is similar to how a herd matriarch withdraws from the herd with her new offspring, luring in the predators, who are them stomped dead by the herd patriarchs. A decent tactic. Our ships will participa
te. Who will provide the female in the Courier?”
“My spy Dokeel am-thak,” Sytoon clacked smoothly. “You will of course be in command of all three vessels. Coordinate once you arrive at planet Megil.”
“Accepted, High Commander Sytoon. May your water bowl carry the scent of victory!” The holo vanished.
Sytoon’s six pincer legs lowered him into his salty water bowl, his gills inhaling oxygen-rich water. Well, his part was done. Running Leader would acquire the Human female clone and take her to this hidden refueling base to act as a lure. As a Loglan, he regretted not being allowed to provide the Dolmat with the full data concerning its duty. Such as the fact the Sector 15 fleet would arrive in a Belizel month, and that the key to the destruction of the Human fleet was use of the Nova Blast against the blue-white star that hosted the gas giant he would be orbiting. Then again, perfect accuracy in data compilation had been the objective of his species for the last two hundred thousand years. The deletion of a few data from the overall record of trapping and killing this Human biped would not draw negative attention. Victory had a way of erasing all prior mis-steps.
Charlotte shuddered as she mind-sensed Matt’s feelings as he held the six-legged Alien infant newly decanted from its artificial placenta tube. The newborn baby squalled and reached out with its limbs, seeking maternal contact and reassurance. Matt’s back stung from the impact of a neurowhip as its shift supervisor reminded him his duty was to work, not to think. Her brother put the tiny squalling baby down on a black ribbon that would take the infant to the imprinting room, where its new mind would be electro-imprinted with the mind engram of “Obey or feel pain,” supplemented by its first nourishment. The alien infant would soon learn that access to food equaled obedience to its owner’s demands.
“Felt enough?” asked the voice of her brother from his Interlock Pit on ship Mata Hari.
She gritted her teeth, thought the alpha-wave pattern that disconnected her from the memory crystal which gave her access to Matt’s recorded memory of his work at the Flesh Markets of Alkalurops. Her back still burned from the neurowhip strike, even though it was covered by a beautiful blue cheongsam dress that Eliana had loaned to her.
“No wonder you hate cloneslavery,” Charlotte said, looking to the right at Matt’s bare back, which showed a good twenty scars from neurowhip impacts over the years before he became a Vigilante and the boss of his destiny. She also saw how the fiber optic cable of the Pit socketed into the back of his neck. Just like it would socket into her neck once Mata Hari oversaw the MedLab surgery that would implant a fiber optic socket into her own neck.
Matt looked at her briefly, his expression reminding her of the image of a hunting wolf that she had seen on an Earth education vidrecord that she had copied to her personal datapad. “Of course I do. They took you, Mom, our sisters and Dad. Everyone in our family died, except for you and Mom,” he said as the forward holosphere show the greyness of Translation. She wished it could show the stars that lay on their way from Orion Nebula to Morrigan. “Our pilot ally Toktaleen was likewise captured with his spouse and infant. They would have been cell-sampled and then sold into labor slavery like you two. If they had survived the trip to the Flesh Markets.”
She reached back to feel her bare neck, then pulled her ponytail to one side as she lay back in the accel-couch. Behind her their mother slept the rest of an older person. “I know that Matt. And I admire that you have gone beyond avenging our family’s tragedy, to aim at killing the whole cloneslavery system. Uh, what do you think the Anarchate will do, now that we’ve destroyed their rearmed fleet?”
“Seek more battleglobes,” he said, turning back to focus his attention on the greyness of the forward holosphere. He tapped a touch control on his glass chair, only his upper back showing above the rim of the Interlock Pit. “Observe. This shows the places I have struck or visited in the last Belizel year, from Norma Arm to Perseus Arm.”
Charlotte looked. She saw many star names that matched the galactic tachnet timeline that she had first seen on planet Module, where her Meligun boss had gone to hire a graduate from the IT Academy. “What am I supposed to see in this holo?”
“The reason I was out-thought by this Dolmat captain. The answer to why he was waiting for us in system CC9342, in cluster NGC 6397. Do you see it?”
She looked at the holo. “Will you add timeline icons?”
“Sure.”
Charlotte saw how the earliest date was for Matt’s rescue of Eliana’s planet Halcyon from being eco-raped by a giant strip mining machine. The most recent date was for their battle in the Orion Nebula. “Uh, I think I see something Matt.”
“What?”
“There is a pattern in your attacks over the last few months,” she said, wishing Eliana was here rather than practicing combat suit maneuvers in the cargohold. “Your attacks begin at the genome harvester asteroid base where Orion Arm joins with Sagittarius Arm. Then the attacks move counter-spinward, and parallel to Sagittarius Arm. One, two, three, with a focus on hitting Flesh Markets. The Dolmat captain saw this pattern, looked for the next Flesh Market star system on the way counter-spinward, and saw that CC9342 between Sagittarius and Scutum-Crux arms was the next untouched Flesh Market.”
Matt nodded his head. “Which means what?”
“The pattern says you are headed somewhere that is counter-spinward and close to Sagittarius Arm.”
“Damn!” Her brother’s curly black ringlets now hung to his shoulders. The holo record of his strikes in the past year vanished. He looked back at Charlotte, his brown eyes intent. “Your thoughts? Advice?”
“Do the opposite of what we are now doing,” she said. “Do not head for Morrigan. You know from that tachlink call from Governor O’Davoren that the new Intel chief for Sector 14 has sent out operatives trying to find out which human colony is helping us. Strike somewhere else that is not part of this pattern.”
Matt sighed, looking down, his expression thoughtful. “I was really looking forward to getting Mom to safety on Morrigan. To delivering our three refugees to our Irish friends. And to seeing some of the new pilots for the Ocean Fleet ships that lack organic pilot partners—”
“Matthew!” interrupted Mata Hari’s voice. Her holo appeared on the Bridge, showing her in Lady of the Sword chainmail and leather skirt. She lifted her sword and pointed it at the front holosphere. “A broadcast you have to see! It’s on the galactic tachnet! Look!”
Charlotte and Matt looked forward as the grey holo disappeared to show a giraffe-like Hootnai quadruped who stood next to a young woman. She was . . . was the spitting image of herself at age fourteen! When she’d been kidnapped. “What, is that a—”
“A clone of you, Charlotte,” muttered Mata Hari in a tone of distaste. “Listen.”
“Galactic citizens, this is the female sibling of the Human renegade Matthew Raven’s-Wing Dragoneaux, last seen in the area of the Orion Nebula,” the zebra-striped Hootnai said. “His ship attacked our naval shipyard there, causing great damage. We offer a reward of three million platinum Standards to any lifeform who meets us at star CC4213, Human sigil HD 86523, with information on the exact location of this renegade and his group of starships. Say hello to your brother.”
“Hello brother Matthew,” said the clone of Charlotte, her voice an eerie copy of Charlotte’s own voice. “Please come see me. My master has promised me a tasty meal when you show up and—”
The Hootnai waved a chest tendril and the clone’s image vanished. “This offer is made with no conditions. The status and background of any informant will be ignored. Any offenses against the Anarchate will be forgiven. An alternative ID disk will be provided if the lifeform fears retribution.” The long brown eyelashes swept down over the Hootnai’s cyclopean eye, then up. Its horse-like face showed no expression other than intensity. “My name sigil is Dokeel am-thak, tachlink address Dokeel 9231AlphaGamma. Contact me and wealth can be yours!”
“Damn and double-damn!” cursed Matt loudly.
>
“Matt,” called their Mom from behind Charlotte. “What’s the matter? Not another space battle?”
Matthew looked past Charlotte to their Mom. “Mother Kristen, we are on the way to planet Morrigan, where friendly humans live who you would love to meet. However, Charlotte and I just heard a tachlink broadcast from the Anarchate. Those bastards bought a clone of Charlotte and want someone to meet them at a star where we once stopped to refuel. It’s the star that Governor O’Davoren gave the Anarchate spy as a means of distracting him from focusing on Morrigan.”
The Spine hallway hatch hissed open. In walked Eliana wearing her combat suit. “Matt! Did you see that tachnet broadcast?”
“Yes,” said Matt even as Charlotte also said “Yes.”
Eliana’s deep green eyes swept over Mata Hari, Matt, herself and her Mom. “Matthew, you realize this is another trap effort?”
“Of course I do.” Her waved Eliana to join them in an accel-couch as he focused on Mata Hari. “My favorite AI, a key question. That clone of Charlotte was vat-raised from her cells and born shortly after my family’s capture. That clone is imprinted with the “Obey or feel pain” mind engram. You know human biology from your cyborg work on me. Can that engram imprinting be removed?”
Mata Hari’s holo persona changed in a flash to the white of her WWI Spy persona, her hands crossed over the waist of the Late Victorian gown she wore. Her black eyes fixed on Matt. “No. I regret my answer. But the whole point of mind engram imprinting is to guarantee to the cloneslave buyer a slave whose life-long devotion is to obey every wish of her owner.”
Anarchate Vigilante (Vigilante Series 4) Page 27