Rebel (14 page)

"He's in urgent need of medical attention," concluded the Teroni, looking at the young man's blood-streaked face and garments, with fragments of bone sticking out through torn flesh. He alerted the
Teddy R's
infirmary that they'd shortly be bringing in an emergency case.

"Can you stand?" asked Cole.

"I don't know," said the young man. He tried his limbs, then shook his head. "I think I've got some broken bones." He made a second effort and passed out.

"Come on, Jacovic," said Cole, stepping forward. "Give me a hand with him."

"Be careful, sir," said Briggs's voice. "I just checked his ship's registration, and it's a phony."

The two of them managed to get him through the hatch and into the
Teddy R
, where Luthor Chadwick and Braxite were waiting with an airsled.

"Do you think he'll make it, sir?" asked Rachel, who had just come onto the bridge to replace Christine.

"I hope so," said Cole. "Anyone who's an enemy of the Navy's is automatically a friend of ours." He paused thoughtfully. "Good-looking kid. I wonder who he is and where he comes from?"

He would find out before long.

They spent only a few hours on Freeport, since they were acutely aware of the fact that the Navy ships had almost certainly reported that they were in full flight after the young man's ship, and then had failed to report back or answer any signals that might have been sent to them. Cole wanted to leave the young man on Freeport, but he had a feeling they'd turn him over to the Republic the second a Navy ship showed up and started asked questions, so the
Teddy R
took him along in the infirmary. His ship was too badly damaged to save, so they sent it hurtling into the sun.

Cole decided to hit some of the larger Frontier worlds on the way back to port, and managed to recruit ships and crews on Binder X, Greenveldt, Ranchero, New Kenya, and Desdemona IV. There was a very modern hospital on New Kenya, but his patient asked to be taken to Singapore Station, and since his condition had stabilized Cole consented.

Cole was sitting in the mess hall, nursing a beer and trying to decide which world to try next, when Jacovic approached him.

"Hi," said Cole. "Have a seat."

The Teroni sat down opposite him. "I am afraid I have some bad news, sir."

"Forget the 'sir,'" said Cole. "I'm captain of a ship. You were Commander of the entire Fifth Teroni Fleet."

"That was then, this is now," replied Jacovic.

Cole sighed deeply. "Okay, so what's the bad news?"

"We have received word from the Platinum Duke that we've lost another twelve ships."

"Lost them?" repeated Cole, frowning.

"They have left our service in search of more profitable ventures."

"Well, I can't say that I blame them," answered Cole. "There sure as hell aren't any
less
profitable ventures. And," he added, "we
did
pick up another twenty-six ships since we left the station." He paused. "I think it's probably time to go back to Singapore Station and remind some of these people that they pledged to work with us, that the time when they could just pick up their gear and leave was over a few weeks ago."

"It wouldn't hurt to turn our young patient over to a hospital either," said Jacovic. "We're really not equipped to handle some of his injuries here."

"He's a tough kid. Never complains. If I had a son, I'd want one like that—only maybe a little bit more talkative."

"Has he got a name?"

"Ten or fifteen of them," replied Cole. "He doesn't answer to any of them, but that's how many passport disks and matching IDs he was carrying around with him."

"It makes him sound like a thief," noted Jacovic.

"Out here on the Frontier that's almost an honorable profession," said Cole. "At least when they take something they use some degree of subtlety. I never saw the Republic show such sensitivity for others." Cole paused thoughtfully. "I wonder what he needed ten passports for? I'd have thought two or three would be sufficient."

"We could ask."

Cole shook his head. "The poor kid's been through enough already. Best to get him to the hospital on the station. We can talk to him later. He's not going to get up and walk out anytime soon, not with those broken legs."

Wxakgini found a couple of favorable wormholes, and they docked at Singapore Station in another nine hours. Cole and Jacovic oversaw the unloading of their patient. Then, joined by David Copperfield, they went to Duke's Place, where Val was already ensconced at a card table and about half of the crew was either gambling or drinking or both.

"Welcome home," said the Platinum Duke. "I trust you had a successful trip?"

"We recruited some ships and shot down some other ships," said Cole. "We're satisfied with both."

"This calls for a bottle of my finest liquor," said the Duke. He gave a terse order to a robot, and a moment later it returned with four drinks on a silver tray.

"I do not imbibe," said Jacovic.

"No problem," said Cole. "If this is half as good as the Duke says, I'll have yours too."

"Take a taste, Wilson," urged the Duke. "Tell me what you think."

Cole took a sip. "Is this what I think it is?"

The Duke grinned. "Seven-hundred-year-old Scotch whiskey from Earth itself. I bring it out once a year."

"If there was enough of this around, I'm surprised they stayed sober long enough to develop space travel. Or even the wheel."

"I'm glad you approve."

"So do I," said Copperfield. "Smell the bouquet."

"I think you're supposed to smell wines, or maybe brandies," said Cole.

"That's how little you know," said Copperfield. The little alien, who couldn't metabolize a drop of it, held the glass up to his nose again. "Exquisite."

"I hear we had some defections," said Cole.

"They're gone, Wilson. Unless you want to go out after them, I think you're better off just forgetting them."

"They're not worth the effort to bring them back," agreed Cole. "If all they're after is money, I can't count on them when the chips are down."

"And they may be down sooner than we had anticipated," added Jacovic. "We
assume
that the Navy ships didn't recognize us and get off a message before we destroyed them, but we don't
know
it. And of course, we sent one of our shuttles down to Freeport to recruit help; someone could have told the Navy we were there at the time, and they may already have figured out that we are responsible for the loss of their ships."

"And if that's so," added Cole, "we could get visitors before too long."

"Then why are we wasting time talking?" demanded the Duke. "We should be fortifying the station's defenses!"

Cole chuckled. "They won't be here quite that fast."

"They'd better not be," muttered the Duke. Then: "Did you ever find out why the Navy was chasing that young man?"

Cole shook his head. "He seems to have been a thief, but that still doesn't explain anything."

"I'm not following you," said the Duke.

"He has
too
many identities, more than any thief needs. And if he's a thief, what did he steal? We didn't find anything in his ship. And also, if he'd stolen something of value, the Navy would have tried to get it back. You don't do that by blowing his ship apart at near light speeds."

"Ah!" said the Duke, his face lighting up. "A puzzle inside a riddle inside an enigma!"

"It'll remain one of life's little mysteries," said Cole. "At least until he's strong enough to tell me about it."

"Will
he tell you, I wonder?"

"Why not?" replied Cole. "We saved his life."

"Gratitude is not one of the most common virtues out here on the Frontier," said the Duke.

"Well, there's no sense worrying about it or arguing it," said Cole. "We'll talk to him when he's well, and we'll find out." He paused. "Those were damned good forgeries, those passports."

Val walked over to the table just then.

"What are you guys drinking?" she asked.

"Awful stuff," said Cole. "You'd hate it."

She laughed. "It's
that
good? Pour me a glass."

"Have mine," said Jacovic.

She took it, downed the contents in a single swallow, and put the glass back on the table.

"Tastes nice and warm going down," she said. "What is it?"

"Scotch from old Earth," said the Duke. "Come to work for me and you can have the rest of the bottle."

"Not much of a trade," said Val. "I can finish the bottle in five minutes."

"That's sacrilegious!" exclaimed Copperfield.

"Control yourself, David," said Val, who seemed vastly amused by the little alien's outburst. "You'll have a stroke."

He glared at her but made no reply, and a moment later she headed back to the tables.

Cole stuck around another half hour, then decided it was time to return to the ship and get some sleep.

"Can I offer you one for the road?" asked the Duke.

"The road is only a quarter mile out on Dock H, but what the hell . . ."

The Duke poured him one last drink, and he took a small swallow
.

"This is mighty fine stuff," said Cole. "It makes me think I should shoot a couple of Navy ships out of the sky just to get another drink."

Suddenly a hush fell on the room. Croupiers stopped their patter, gamblers stopped speaking, drinkers stopped drinking, and all eyes turned toward the front door, where the huge figure of the Octopus, unaccompanied by any of his bodyguards, had just entered. He looked around, spotted Cole, and began walking to his table.

He'd gotten two-thirds of the way there when he found Val blocking his path.

"That's as far as you go," she said, though her expression said she'd love for him to go one step farther.

"I don't want you," said the Octopus. "I just want to talk to your boss."

She shook her head. "No way."

He very gently, very carefully pulled out his burner and his screecher and handed them to her, butts first.

"You hold these until I'm done."

Whatever Val had expected, that wasn't it. She turned questioningly to Cole.

"It's okay," he said. "Let him pass."

She looked her disappointment, but stepped aside as the Octopus continued to make his way to the Duke's table.

"We meet again," said Cole when the huge bald man came to a stop in front of him.

"That we do, Wilson Cole."

"I assume from what you said that you've come here to talk to me?"

"That is correct," said the Octopus.

"Okay, I'm here," said Cole. "What's the problem?"

"I don't come with a problem, but with an offer."

Cole frowned. "What kind of offer?"

"Eleven days ago you saved a young man from an attack by two Navy ships."

"That's right," said Cole. "Jacovic and I dropped him off at the hospital as soon as we landed."

"And you have no idea as to his true identity?"

"None."

"That young man is my son," said the Octopus. "I've just been to see him."

"Well, now I know why the passports and IDs looked so good," said Cole. "I'm glad we could do you a service."

"A service?" the Octopus half-yelled. "The Republic killed my wife and two of my children. This boy is all I have left."

"Then I'm doubly glad we got to him."

"Captain Cole, I'm told you have vowed to drive the Navy out of the Inner Frontier. Is that correct?"

Cole nodded. "Yes, it is."

"It'll never work. You can't patrol the Frontier with only forty ships."

"I've got double that now."

"Forty, eighty, it's the same thing!" said the Octopus with a snort of contempt. He paused for just an instant. "How does a fleet of four hundred sound?"

"Impressive," said Cole cautiously.

"Good." He turned to the room at large and raised his voice. "Because Wilson Cole saved my son, I am putting myself and my entire fleet under his command." Suddenly he grinned, picked a glass off the table, and held it high above his head. "Now let's go kick some Republic ass!"

"So what was the kid doing with all those passports and IDs?" asked Cole.

He and the Octopus were sitting in the Duke's private office. Val stood just outside the door to make sure no one interrupted them, and if anyone had been considering it, the look on her face instantly dissuaded them.

"He was on a mission for me," said the Octopus, puffing on a smokeless cigar. "As good as those forgeries were, someone saw through one on Freeport. He'd never have made it if you hadn't intervened."

"We were happy to be able to take out a couple of the Navy's ships," said Cole. "The fact that we also saved your son was just an added bonus." He paused. "He sure as hell doesn't
look
like any kin of yours."

"The hands," said the Octopus, indicating the six hands growing out of his sides. "Obviously they don't breed on. I suppose that makes me a freak rather than a mutation." He shrugged. "Just as well for the boy. I put up with a lot of shit about these hands while I was growing up."

"What's his name?" asked Cole. "I can't keep on calling him 'the kid' forever."

"Jonah."

"That's not a name you hear very often."

"Well, since I'm the Octopus, it had to be a seafaring name. I toyed with Ahab, but he
lost
his battle with the whale. I figure Jonah faught his whale to a draw, which is fitting and proper. I want a son as powerful and competent as I am, but I acknowledge no one as my superior, not even my own flesh and blood."

"I thought you were taking orders from me," said Cole.

"That is my own choice. If you had insisted, you'd have another war on your hands."

"Good thing you volunteered, then," said Cole, sipping the drink he'd brought with him.

"It'll be a good fit," replied the Octopus. "You know the Navy and its machinations better than I do, and I know killing and slaughtering at least as well as you do."

"We're not in the killing and slaughtering business," said Cole, "at least not in the long run. We just want to convince the Navy that it's less expensive in terms of lives and vessels to stay out of the Frontier."

"Well, it'll be fun while it lasts."

"You sound like you think it's going to be over relatively soon," noted Cole.

"Probably."

"I don't anticipate an easy victory, not against the Navy."

" Neither do I," said the Octopus. "I figure we'll pick them off one and two at a time until we've got them really annoyed, and then one morning the sky is going to be black with Navy ships."

Cole shook his head. "Not while they're fighting against the Teroni Federation."

"Maybe they'll decide that five thousand ships can take a day or two off from the war."

"They won't," said Cole. "But even if they do, we know the Inner Frontier better than they do. We can lead them a merry chase for a month if we have to. And if they split up, we can also lead them into some pretty deadly traps."

"I'd bet you a couple of thousand Maria Theresa dollars or Republic credits on whether or not they come in force, but I'd be betting against my own survival, so I think it's in my best interest to assume you're right." He took another puff of his cigar. "You damned well better be, or I'll haunt you from the grave."

"If I'm wrong," replied Cole, "you won't have far to look. I'll be in the next grave."

The Octopus chuckled and poured himself a drink. "I
like
yon, Wilson Cole. I knew I would from the first second we met."

"I'm kind of fond of you too," said Cole. "Now that that's over with, tell me about Jonah. What was he doing that he needed all those passports?"

"I sent him into the Republic to learn the schedules of some of the major cruise and cargo lines that serve the Inner Frontier," said the Octopus. "There's half a dozen rewards out for me, so I couldn't go myself. I mean, I don't care what I rigged the passport disks to read, they'd take one look at me and know who I was. So I sent Jonah. His job was to hire on at one of the companies and stick around long enough to get its schedule for the coming year. I've got some people who you'd swear are half computer, and they schooled him well."

"I know the type," said Cole, thinking of Christine and Briggs.

"Anyway, as soon as he got what he needed he was to resign—poor health, family emergency, whatever reason he thought they'd buy. I didn't want him just vanishing, or they'd figure out why he was there and change their schedules."

"That explains
one
passport," said Cole. "What about all the others?"

"I didn't want to risk his hiring on at a second company on the same world, so his task was to hit seven or eight more worlds, spend a week or two on each after he hired on, hacked into the computer, and then resigned. If anyone got suspicious, I didn't want them tracing his movements, so he had a different ID for each world. Finally, when he had everything he needed—we didn't want to risk his transmitting it via subspace radio—he was to come back to my base." The Octopus grimaced. "Freeport was only his fourth world. Either the passport had a flaw, or their security is a hell of a lot better than the other worlds'. Anyway, whatever he stole is still in his ship. I trust you had the good sense to destroy it?"

"Of course," replied Cole. "We didn't have time to search the ship very thoroughly, and if there
was
anything of value in it we sure as hell didn't want the Republic to get their hands on it."

"Whatever there was is better lost," said the Octopus. "I'm out of the warlord and criminal trade, and into the revolution business."

"We're not revolting against anyone," said Cole.

"Who the hell do you think owns all the ships we're going to destroy?" demanded the Octopus.

"The Republic," answered Cole. "But we're not trying to overthrow their government. We're just trying to enforce our decree that the Inner Frontier is off-limits to them. Believe me, that'll be hard enough." He finished his drink. "I want to see your forger as soon as we can arrange it."

"What for?"

"I want him to make up a couple of passports and IDs for me."

"You're going into the Republic?" asked the Octopus.

Cole nodded. "Yes."

"What the hell for?"

"I've got to get into a Navy base and see how they schedule their patrols on the Frontier," answered Cole.

"You can't cancel them," said the Octopus. "They're committed to plundering the Frontier."

"No, I can't cancel them," agreed Cole. "But maybe I can change the schedule enough to send them to where three or four hundred ships are waiting for them."

"I
like
that idea!" said the Octopus, grinning.

"I thought you might."

Suddenly the grin vanished. "It won't work. You can't get away with it."

"Why not? It worked for Jonah. Well, on his first three worlds, anyway."

"Yeah, but he's a kid who was born on the Inner Frontier; they have no record of him. You're Wilson Cole, the most wanted man in the Republic. Every spaceport, every customs station, every immigration station has your photo, your fingerprints, your DIM A, your bone structure, everything. My forger is as good as they come, but he can't control what the Republic's already got."

"There are ways around it," said Cole. "I entered the Republic twice during the time we were pirates."

"The fact that you did so probably means whatever ruse you tried won't work again. More to the point, even if you can land on a world, and avoid customs or fake your way through immigration, that's the easy part. You want to gain access to a Navy base during wartime, and to get into their heavily guarded computer system. How are you going to do that?"

"Just take me to your forger," said Cole.

The Octopus stared at him. "Okay, you thought of all that," he said at last. "And you still think you can get to the computer?"

"Yeah, I think so," said Cole.

"All by yourself?"

"No," answered Cole. "You're going to help me."