Robert Asprin – Tambu

“Enforcing whose law?” Erickson jibed. “Yours?”

“You’re defeating your own arguments, Mr. Erickson. You’re attempting to interpret the facts. The factual response to your question, however, is that yes, we were enforcing my laws. There were no interstellar laws until I formulated them with my fleet. To judge beyond that requires interpretation. Was I bringing law and order to the previously lawless starlanes? Or was I an opportunistic bandit taking advantage of that lawless state?”

“I’m beginning to see your point,” the reporter admitted hesitantly. “But what happened next? What happened once you gained the upper hand over the pirates?”

“Then,” Tambu reminisced, “we began to encounter the same problem which has confronted peacetime armies since the dawn of time.”

CHAPTER FIVE

“There’s no sign of them at the other two inhabited planets in this system either. We’ve checked with instruments and confirmed with firsthand investigation. They aren’t here.”

Tambu slouched in his chair studying the angry face of the Candy Cane’s captain on the viewscreen before him. He was as concerned over the mental state of the captain as he was about the unfortunate turn of events being reported.

“Have you checked planetside?”

“On all three planets,” the captain confirmed. “There hasn’t been a ship in this system in weeks. With your permission, I’d like to find the lying bastard who sold us this information and get our money back-with interest!”

Tambu grimaced at the suggestion, confident the captain could not see his expression. He had several unconfirmed reports on the captain of the Candy Cane, all regarding unnecessary brutality. The last thing he wanted to do was to give the man carte blanche to lean on one of their informants.