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.”
Pias doffed his hat and held it over his chest. “I assure you, Admiral, you’re no more
sorry than I am. We could have made a pile of rubles together.”
Then, before anyone else in the room could move, Pias whipped out the ministunner he
kept tucked away behind the rose on his hatband. The tiny gun gave a maximum stun of
six hours, but Pias only had it set on number four-a two-hour stun. With three quick
bursts he was able to fell the pirates who had come to take him away. He turned back to
Shen, but found himself facing down the muzzle of the blaster that had been disguised as
the handle of Shen’s scimitar. “Good work,” said the pirate leader. “Ordinarily after a
demonstration like that I might indeed offer you some post in my organization. But time is
very short, and I just won’t have the chance to run a thorough security check on your
background. My original plan still stands, I’m afraid. Would you be so kind as to hand
over the stunner so I don’t have to burn a hole through you and my office wall’?”
Even with his quick reflexes, Pias knew there was no way he could stun Shen before the
admiral could blast him. With great reluctance he let the stunner drop from his hand.
Shen smiled and called for several more pirates to take Pias away and to clear the
unconscious bodies out of the office.
As Pias was escorted out, there was a sinking feeling in his stomach. He’d been sure
Shen would offer him a post in the organization. True, the pirate leader had dropped a
vital clue that the strike against the Empire would be coming within a week-but unless
Pias lived to let SOTE know about it, that clue would do no one any good at all.
Chapter 14
Escape from Gastonia
The attack on the door interrupted the d’Alemberts’ interrogation of Lady A, and they had
to think quickly of a way out. There were no other doors in the room, just a pair of
windows overlooking the landscape, offering them a three-story drop to the ground. A
ten-meter fall, however, was still preferable to a gun battle against unknown
odds-especially since they now possessed information vital to the defense of the Empire.
They had to get out with it alive.
They glanced at the windows and the same idea occurred to both of them. But Vonnie
still hesitated. “What about her?” she asked, nodding in Lady A’s direction.
“We’ll have to leave her, I’m afraid,” Jules decided. As much as he would have liked to
take their high-ranking captive with them, it would have been difficult under the best of
circumstances; and now, with the two of them under attack and Lady A still deep under
the influence of the nitrobarb, it was flatly impossible.
Then the door to the room burst inward, and there was no time for further conversation.
As a squad of guards poured into the room, the d’Alemberts made their leap for
freedom. There were two simultaneous crashes as the DesPlainians smashed through
the twin windows with their arms over their heads to prevent facial injuries. Then they
were out in the open air, falling free three floors to the snowy ground below them.
The fall seemed quite slow to their reflexes, trained as they were under high-grav
conditions. Jules in particular was an acrobat par excellence, and could twist his body
around for the best landing position. Yvonne had not been raised in the Circus, but she’d