Secret of the Legion (43 page)

"I want you inside me," she hissed in my ear. "Again!"

"Turn over," I said. She stretched out on the sand on her flat belly and I let a hand roam down her back to her lovely, dimpled little rear. Long, long legs, toasting in the sun—Deadman save us!

"This place is amazing," she said. "Are you sure nobody can see us?"

"This is state of the art," I replied. "You won't find better than this anywhere. We trained for the Mound here. And nobody can see us. This room is ours. Nobody can see what goes on in here except the techs."

"What!" She scrambled to her knees instantly, enraged, whipping a towel around her hips, spraying sand. "The techs!"

I was on my back, howling in glee. "Only kidding! Kidding! Calm down, Priestess, Deadman, what a prude! The techs can't see us—relax!"

"Are you sure?" She was not amused.

"Priestess, nobody can see us except Tara—it's all right."

"What! Tara!"

I collapsed again, rolling in the sand. She threw the towel at me. I tackled her, pinioning her against the sand.

"Nobody can see us, Priestess. Not even Tara."

"If you do that again, I'm going to pinch you where it hurts!"

"Priestess, the only record of what goes on in this sim room is the program disk, and I've arranged to purchase a copy from the girl who's in charge of…" Nine lunged for my most vulnerable part.

"Priestess! Don't you want a record of our most intimate moments? Don't you care?"

She stopped struggling, and looked up dreamily into my eyes. "You're treading on thin ice, buster," she said weakly.

"I love you forever, Priestess," I said. "I'll never leave you."

"Really?" She was looking into my eyes, sadly.

"Really."

"And what about Moontouch and your son?" My heart gave a little jolt. She was still looking at me. She was incredibly beautiful. How could I possibly live without her? Impossible!

"You know about Moontouch?"

"I've known about her from the beginning. Did you think it was a secret? There are no secrets in Beta."

No secrets—yes. She was certainly right. I had been deceiving only myself all along, trying to avoid this very moment.

"I'm sorry, Priestess. I know it's stupid to say it, but I'm sorry. I was afraid to tell you. I couldn't face the thought of losing you."

"So you thought you'd keep us both." She was looking down, running a finger idly through the sand.

"It wasn't that way at first with Moontouch. I was weak, I'll admit it. But I thought I'd never see her again. I thought I had no choice, that the Legion would make it impossible. But then she had my baby. Good Lord. I wasn't ready for that. It certainly made a difference. I guess it changed my life."

"Do you love her?"

"Yes."

"And your son?"

"Yes—I love him, too."

"And me?"

"Yes! More than ever! Stronger than ever! I sacrificed everything for you, Priestess. I travelled into another universe for you. I leaped time for you. I left Moontouch and my son behind, maybe forever, for you. It was all for you. You were calling to me all those years, from the starmass. Instants, years, it's the same. You can't question my love for you, Priestess. I've given you everything I have. I'm your love slave. You own my soul."

"You're going back to her, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"And what about me?"

"You're coming with me. I told you. I can't leave you, Priestess. It would kill me. I won't leave you. And I can't abandon my family. You'll have to come with me."

"You've got it all figured out, haven't you?"

"Do you want me to beg you? I'll do it. What else must I do to prove my love? Haven't I done enough?"

"So what's my position in Moontouch's court—royal concubine? How does she feel about that? Or have you forgotten to tell her about me?" She was glaring down at the sand again.

"Moontouch knows all about you. I showed her your picture. She said you're beautiful. She doesn't mind. She agrees I can take you as Second Wife. But she ruled out a Third Wife. She was very insistent about that."

"I don't believe it! I was right—I'm to be your concubine!" A flash of anger smouldered in her eyes.

"No! Don't you say it! You'll be my wife, Priestess. My eternal love. I'll stay with you forever—I'll never leave you!"

"Except for every other day. Is that how it'll work? Or do I get alternate weeks?" She shook her hair back and blinked those big brown eyes at me. I think she knew it made me dizzy. "Or do all three of us share a bed? You really are something, Thinker. I've never met anyone like you."

"I'm going to kill myself if you leave me, Priestess. I'll shoot myself right through the head." I meant every word.

She looked away, out over the artificial sea, then turned back. A faint breeze toyed with her silky hair. Her tender skin was turning a toasty brown.

"Can we have a baby?" she asked me. I leaned over and kissed her, passionately. My heart was thumping. I felt an overwhelming gratitude and love for Beta Nine. I knew living with the two of them was going to approach the level of tension we had felt in the Mound, but nothing scared me any more.

"Tell Moontouch she's going to have to be Second Wife, not me," Priestess said. "I found you first."

I was supremely confident. Tara's words were still ringing in my ears—"Victory, Wester. Total victory! " Yes, I thought. Total victory, for Beta Three. I thanked Deadman and the Gods of War.

***

I tapped on the door to Tara's cube. It slid open. She was sitting at a small conference table, alone under a wall full of d-screens. Her face was deathly pale and her eyes were far away. She had never before invited me to her cube. It was about four times the size of mine.

"Nice cube," I said.

"I didn't want it," she replied quietly. "I wanted one the same size as everybody else's. They said as Commander I needed the extra space."

"You don't look so good. What's up?" I joined her at the table.

"I just spoke with Two Two One. The link is working perfectly. I told him exactly what we had done."

"I see."

"It's not good, Wester."

"I didn't think it would be."

"We're in deep trouble."

"It doesn't matter. It's done. It's over."

"He was actually quite understanding. He was pleased that the mission was successful. He was pleased that we got our missing squadies back."

"And?"

"We deliberately disobeyed a direct order, Wester. In time of war. We risked the entire ship and the crew and the D-neg and the time drive and the Legion's future. We risked everything. We gambled with the future of all mankind, for Beta."

"I'd do it again."

"So would I. That's the problem." She sighed, and her eyes went to one of the wall screens. "It's a shame. My greatest triumph will also be the end of my Legion career."

"We were totally successful. You've got nothing to regret. You'll go down in history as the greatest Legionnaire of all time. Besides, what are you worried about? I was in command, not you. I gave the orders, not you. That's what I'll tell them."

"No, Wester. Nothing we say will make any difference. I was the overall Mission Commander. We're both responsible."

"Wonderful. We return with all the secrets of the Cosmos plus a missing squad and they're not happy. Fine. What are they going to do to us?"

"You know the penalty for disobeying orders in wartime."

"Court martial and execution."

"Correct."

"It doesn't matter," I said. "I really don't care, Tara. We were successful—totally successful. We did their mission and we did ours. I don't care. I'll die happy. I really will! If you want to look at the big picture, you can say we made a difference. To the galaxy, to Beta, to those we love. You and I weren't just along for the ride, Tara. They can execute us, but it won't change history. Everyone is going to remember us!"

"You're right there, Wester. But the picture is not quite that gloomy. As I said, Two Two One was sympathetic, although he did point out the seriousness of our situation. We'll certainly be arrested upon arrival at Dindabai, and relieved of our duties and imprisoned. But it won't be that easy for the Command to decide what to do with us. There are provisions for people who display initiative by disobeying orders that are rendered unrealistic by a rapidly changing combat situation—assuming that disobeying the orders leads to victory and not defeat. It's hard to tell if we can use that argument in our case, but it's one possibility. Another problem facing the Command is that it's going to be very, very difficult to execute us for rescuing Legion troopers. This is a very emotional issue with the Legion. The Legion risks everything for its troops—just as we did. We disobeyed orders in order to rescue Legion troopers. I don't think the Legion has ever grappled with an issue quite like this one. They're going to think long and hard before executing us."

"What do you think is going to happen?"

"We're going to be facing some serious stockade time at a minimum. How are you at breaking rocks?"

"Never really tried it."

"I think we'll both get a chance. I understand it builds character."

"That's the last thing you need. You've got enough character already."

"We've been ordered to return to Distant Orbit Delta Ochre around Dindabai. It's the designated orbit for dangerous cargo. We're certainly that."

"Fine."

"I just wanted to let you know—so you won't be surprised when they arrest us."

"It doesn't matter, Tara. We were successful. Nothing else matters."

"I suppose you're right. We'll be exiting stardrive in…" she looked at her chron. "…twenty one marks."

"See you at the rockpile."

"Thank you, Wester—for everything."

"I didn't do anything, Tara. It was you."

"It was both of us, Wester. And Gildron. I told you before—we make quite a team."

"Well, it's over now—at last."

"Tenners on that. Good luck, Wester."

"You too. See ya." And I left her cube. I had to tell Priestess that she was married to a jailbird.

***

"Exiting stardrive." I was on the bridge in the VIP chair, totally relaxed. I wasn't at all concerned about being arrested or even at the possibility of being executed. My life's work was done. Nothing scared me any more, not after what we'd already been through. If they decided to execute me, I'd make arrangements for Moontouch and Stormdawn to inherit my savings. They'd be all right. And Priestess would be all right, too. I'd advise her to find some nice, stable desk jockey and hook up with him, and have a baby and stay home. We had all done quite enough.

"CRASH STARLAUNCH! RED ALERT! BATTLE STATIONS! UNDER ATTACK! AUTOFIRE ALL WEAPONS! ALERT! TWO-THREE ENEMY ANTIMAT MISSILES LOCKED AND CLOSING, EIGHT-SEVEN-SIX—" I was paralyzed with shock, unable to twitch a muscle.

"Get us outta here, ship!" Tara shrieked. I only had time for a brief, frantic glance out the viewport—a brilliant infinity of icy stars and a single, red-hot spark, trailing a sparkling phospho tail, coming right at us. I saw it—I actually saw it.

The viewport flashed white hot, searing us with antimat glare and harsh black shadows, dazzling my eyes. I didn't even have my comtop on. A massive, soundless detonation hurled us into the gates of Hell. It happened so fast I did not even have time to breathe. One instant all was well; the next super heavy gravs were trying to rip my body apart. I tried to scream, but my vocal cords were paralyzed. Terrifying vibrations ran right into my bones. Then the grav cut off.

We floated, adrift and helpless. I was still strapped into the VIP chair behind Tara. It felt as if we were upside down. As my vision slowly cleared I tried to see out the viewport. It was ConFree, I decided—their last chance! And it was our fault as well. Dindabai had told us where to orbit, and Tara had confirmed the orbital instructions. Fools! ConFree had to have a psychee in Dindabai Command. They surely couldn't read the starlink so they had to have someone in the Command. And we—we were stupid. Off guard, relaxed—stupid! Blink once and you're gone, they had told us that in Basic—in Basic! We had blinked—and now we were gone! ConFree had been waiting like a spider for its prey.

A fighter shot past outside the viewport, an evil metal bat. I had only an instant's glimpse, just enough to freeze my blood. It looked like a Legion fighter but I knew it was ConFree. Our own fighters had all been lost in the Plane Prime engagement.

My hearing was coming back now. An awful grinding, rumbling, tearing noise echoed through the bones of the stricken ship. I could suddenly hear the
Star of Dindabai
, summarizing the sit for us all.

"…direct low power antimat hit amidships, ship totally immobilized, decks nine through thirty lost, over eight thousand penetrations and counting, all surviving compartments sealed, massive losses of air and pressure, stats as noted, we have fired suicide burst, awaiting results, skin charging is only partially effective, total deceptor failure, three enemy cruisers have ceased firing on us, no evidence of mother ship, we have successfully locked on all three targets, they are firing on our missiles, thousands of enemy deceptors are masking a fleet of assault craft, prepare to repel boarders, we are engaging the assault craft…"

"Identify the enemy!" Tara demanded.

"I have identified three Loyalist Fleetcom cruisers. Enemy is ConFree," the ship replied. ConFree! In the LC's back yard! Bastards!

"Dindabai Command is crashlaunching all units. Dindabai's Fighter Force is already attacking the enemy ships and fighters, first enemy assault craft have reached us, recommend activation of scuttle charges…"

"Activate scuttle charges!"

"Scuttle charges activated! Strike Force is engaging enemy. Enemy assault teams are breaching defense in two, three locations, as marked. ABANDON SHIP! ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP IMMEDIATELY! SCUTTLE CHARGES ARE ACTIVATED! COUNTDOWN IS 45 MARKS!" The horrifying bleat of the abandon ship claxon crawled over my skin. I had heard it before only in training. Outside the viewport the stars were gone, replaced by a wild, glowing tracery of missile tracks lit up by the hot electric flashes of antimat bursts. We were in the heart of Hell.