Starship: Mercenary (Starship, Book 3) Read online

  “I have no idea of its size, sir,” said Briggs. “So I’m checking all incoming traffic, and trying to spot the Red Sphinx. So far, nothing’s come into the system except a two-man job and a trio of cargo ships.”

  “Keep watching,” said Cole. “I don’t think they’ll show for another two or three hours, but we don’t want to be sitting ducks, docked at the hospital, when they get here. Christine, any word yet?”

  Christine Mboya shook her head. “No, sir. The channel’s still open. She could pop into view any—”

  As the words left her mouth, the image of Bertha Salinas reappeared.

  “Captain Cole, your men will be ready in ten minutes. Crewman Moyer is indeed attached to a machine, which has been transferred to an airsled. Lieutenant Sokolov is mobile.”

  “Thanks,” said Cole. “We’ll be there is just over fourteen minutes.”

  “Is your offer to evacuate the station still in force?” she continued, trying unsuccessfully to hide her concern.

  I don’t know who she talked to, but it must have been pretty damned convincing , thought Cole. Aloud he said: “It’s still in force. How many patients and staff have you?”

  “Three hundred seventeen patients, and a medical and administrative staff of ninety-four,” she answered. “Also, more than half the patients are tied in to various life-support machines.”

  “It’ll be cramped, but we can probably take about eighty aboard the Theodore Roosevelt,” said Cole. “My four other ships probably can’t accommodate more than another forty or fifty. I think it makes more sense to start loading them into every available ship that’s at the station. My five ships will ride shotgun for you until we get to a hospital in a neighboring system.”

  “And your two men?”

  “If Sokolov’s mobile, we want him. We’ll leave Moyer in your care until we can get to a hospital in another system. Now I suggest you start moving those patients fast. I think you’ve got a couple of hours, maybe a little longer, but no one’s going to stand in his way. If he’s in a hurry to get here, he could show up any minute.”

  “We’ll begin moving your crewmen immediately,” said Bertha Salinas. “Your Lieutenant Sokolov will be waiting at the end of Dock H-3.”

  “We’ll be there,” said Cole, and signaled Christine to break the connection.

  “Maybe we should have asked her where the nearest hospital is,” said Forrice.

  “She can tell us once we leave the system,” said Cole. “I get the distinct feeling that not a lot of things get done without her express orders, and I don’t want her to keep talking to us when she should be directing the evacuation.” He walked over and stood next to Christine. “Contact the leaders of Prometheus III and IV—presidents, kings, chancellors, whatever the hell they are—and warn them what’s coming. If they’re as dense as Bertha Salinas and won’t believe you, let Four Eyes take a shot at it.”

  “And if they will to speak only to the Captain?” she asked.

  “My first thought is that if they’re that distrusting and bureaucratic, let Csonti and Val blow them to kingdom come,” replied Cole. He sighed. “I’ll be in the mess hall, grabbing some coffee.”

  He walked to the airlift, then turned back. “Jacovic, you’ve only been a member of the crew for a few hours, and it would be unfair to put you in charge of blue shift, which is one of the Third Officer’s duties. But once you learn the ropes and do take over blue shift, I don’t want to see you, Forrice, and Christine on the bridge together except under my explicit orders. The reason we have shifts in the first place is so that one of the command personnel is always on duty, and that the ship is never under the active authority of anyone but the Captain and the first three officers. Christine, how long until blue shift?”

  “Fifty-three minutes, sir,” she replied.

  “All right. In fifty-four minutes I want you and Mr. Briggs off the bridge and getting some sleep. Before you leave, inform Lieutenant Mueller that she’s in charge of blue shift until otherwise notified. And have Braxite take over your station.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Forrice went off to gather a boarding party as Bertha Salinas’s image appeared again.

  “Captain Cole, we have decided to accept your kind offer to help us evacuate the entire hospital.”

  “I said we’d provide protection, not that we’d help with the evacuation,” said Cole. “If Csonti gets here while you’re loading your ships, I need my crew right here to work the weaponry and hold him off.”

  “Semantics,” she said. “As long as you provide us with military protection during our exodus, that is all we require of you.”

  “Freely given,” said Cole.

  He signed off and went down to the mess hall, where Sharon joined him a moment later.

  “Do me a favor,” said Cole.

  “What?”

  “That hospital can get along just as well with ninety-three doctors as ninety-four. Find us one who knows Men, Molarians, and either Polonoi or Mollutei.”

  “What can I offer him?”

  “The same as we’re offering our officers: room, board, and two percent of net. Always assuming we have a net profit one of these days.”

  “By the way,” said Sharon, “I like this Jacovic.”

  “I always did,” agreed Cole, “even when we were on opposite sides.”

  “He’ll do us a lot more good than Val ever did.”

  “Don’t underestimate her,” said Cole. “If there’s one person in the whole damned galaxy I’d want protecting my back, it’s the Valkyrie.”

  “But she doesn’t begin to understand what we’re about,” protested Sharon. “Once a pirate, always a pirate.”

  “Believe me, we’re going to miss her.”

  “She was more trouble than she was worth.”

  “She had her share of rough edges,” agreed Cole, “but she was worth every bit of trouble she put us to, and more.”

  Christine’s image appeared above the table. “We’ve got an incoming message from the planetary government. They say they’ll only speak to the Captain.”

  “You’d think they’re doing me the favor,” grumbled Cole. “Which planet?”

  “The third one, sir.”

  “Okay, pipe it through.”

  A tall, lean, balding man suddenly appeared in Christine’s place. “I am Marcus Selamundi, planetary President of Prometheus III.”

  “And I’m Wilson Cole, Captain of the Theodore Roosevelt. Was there something about our message you didn’t understand?”

  “I understood the message,” said Selamundi. “I have but one question: Why should I believe the notorious Wilson Cole?”

  “I have no reason to lie to you,” said Cole. “I just thought you deserved a warning.”

  “Why do you want to attack us?”

  “I guess you didn’t understand the message after all,” said Cole. “We’re not attacking you. We’re warning you—or, if you prefer, we’re alerting you. Either you or Prometheus IV or both planets are shortly going to be under attack by a warlord named Csonti. I don’t know who he’s mad at or why. I just know he’s coming in force, and he is not known for the quality of his mercy—or even the existence of it.”

  “We are quite capable of defending ourselves.”

  “There’s a difference between being capable and being prepared,” explained Cole patiently. “That’s why I’m alerting you.”

  “Have you come to offer your services, then?”

  “Not to you, no,” said Cole. “We’re helping to evacuate the orbiting hospital, and we’ll see to it that they make it safely to a medical facility in another system.”

  “And you have no idea why this Csonti is attacking us?” persisted Selamundi.

  “No,” answered Cole. “I rather thought you might.”

  “No, none whatsoever.”

  “Well, if it’s you that he’s after rather than Prometheus IV, then you must have something he wants. If I were you, I’d guard it as heavily as possib
le.”

  “We will devise our own strategies, thank you,” said Selamundi, breaking the connection.

  “Sweet guy,” commented Cole sardonically. “I get the feeling that no one in this system ever learned any manners from their mothers.”

  “Being rude is probably the way he hides his fear,” suggested Sharon.

  “I don’t mind his being rude, but I have a feeling that he’s going to be stupid as well. He seems to have total confidence in his planetary defenses.” Cole paused. “Csonti didn’t pick up an empire of forty worlds by not scouting his enemies and being prepared for everything they could throw at him. Oh, well, I’ve warned him; it’s up to him to decide what to do next.”

  The Teddy R reached the hospital station a moment later. After docking, Forrice and his landing party found Sokolov, helped him into the ship, and then stayed on the station to supervise the evacuation and make sure that Moyer was one of the first patients to be loaded onto a ship.

  “How long should this take?” Cole asked.

  “Commander Forrice estimates close to two hours, sir,” said Christine.

  “That’s cutting it awfully close,” remarked Cole. “Why that long?”

  “Some of the life-support machines are awkward to move,” she replied. “And some cannot be disconnected, even for a minute or two, so they’re finding ways to power them while moving them onto the waiting ships.” She frowned. “Sir?”

  “Yeah?”

  “There’s an urgent message coming in from Lieutenant Chadwick.”

  “From Luthor? Okay, let’s have it.”

  Instantly Luthor Chadwick’s image appeared, full-size, a few feet away from Cole.

  “Hi, Luthor,” said Cole. “How’s life aboard the Red Sphinx?”

  “I’m not sure,” said Chadwick, frowning. “I need to hear it from you personally: Are you part of this military action Csonti is planning?”

  “No, Luthor, we’re not. We never were.”

  “Thanks,” said Chadwick. “There was some confusion about it here.”

  “I hope that straightens it out,” said Cole.

  “Indeed it does, sir,” replied Chadwick. “From this point on, I’m no longer a member of the Red Sphinx’s crew.”

  “You’re deserting?”

  “I don’t view it as deserting, sir,” said Chadwick. “I’ve served loyally aboard the Red Sphinx, but I will not be a party to any military action that might put us in conflict with the Teddy R, now or in the future.”

  “I’m impressed by your loyalty, Mr. Chadwick,” said Cole. “But—”

  “Damn it, sir!” exploded Chadwick. “I’m the one who unlocked your cell and got you to your shuttlecraft while you were awaiting your court-martial, and I’ve been your assistant Chief of Security ever since I got here. I didn’t do that so I could fight for a woman who is clearly disobeying, if not your orders, then at least your wishes.”

  “You should have left when you got Four Eyes’s message,” said Cole.

  “It wasn’t passed on to us until after we took off.”

  “And just how do you plan to leave your ship when it’s in full flight to Prometheus?” asked Cole.

  “There’s a two-man shuttle, sir. I plan to take it and join up with you.”

  “That may be a little difficult. We’ll be on our way out of the Prometheus system in another two hours.”

  “That’s just about when we’ll be arriving there, sir.”

  “All right,” said Cole. “Christine will feed you the codes to follow, and when you’re close enough Mr. Briggs will give you our exact coordinates. What about Bull Pampas?”

  “He says he’s staying as long as the Red Sphinx isn’t going to be in direct conflict with the Teddy R.”

  “Okay,” said Cole. “That day is probably coming, but it’s not here yet. Be very careful, Luthor; I don’t think Val will take kindly to your leaving her ship.”

  “Log off, Luthor,” said a familiar female voice. He did so, and Val’s image appeared.

  “You look a little more sober today,” noted Cole.

  “I am. I woke up sick as a dog, but I got rid of my last couple of meals, which were mostly alcohol anyway, and I’m feeling better. Weaker, but better.”

  “So what’s the purpose of this conversation?” asked Cole.

  “Just to tell you that Chadwick can leave any time he wants,” she said. “The same goes for Bull. They were serving on the Teddy R and I appropriated them for the Red Sphinx. They’re welcome to go back. But the rest of the crew never served under you. They stay—including Perez.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “And Bull says that as long as we’re not fighting the Teddy R, he’s willing to stay with me.”

  “Yeah, Luthor told me.”

  “God, I feel awful!”

  “You served under me too, Val,” said Cole. “If Luthor and Bull can come back, so can you.”

  “I can’t, Wilson,” she said. “I gave my word to Csonti.”

  “Let him sue you.”

  She smiled at the thought of the warlord suing the pirate. “I’ve got to see it through.”

  “That’s up to you,” said Cole. “But don’t go after the ships that are about to leave the hospital. We’re getting the sick and wounded out of the line of fire.”

  “I’ll see to it that no one harasses you,” she promised.

  “Thanks.”

  “Aren’t you going to wish me good luck?”

  “Do you even know why you’re attacking Prometheus?” asked Cole.

  “No.”

  “When you know, and convince me that your actions are justified, then I’ll wish you luck.”

  He broke the connection.

  Forrice swirled into the mess hall a moment later.

  “How’s it going?” asked Cole.

  “So smoothly you’d swear they do it every week,” said the Molarian. “I pulled the landing party back. We were just in the way.”

  “How are Sokolov and Moyer?”

  “Sokolov’s back on board,” said Forrice. “He’s lost about twenty pounds, maybe a little more, but he seems reasonably healthy. No prosthetics that I could see.”

  “And Moyer?”

  “I don’t know. He’s got a lot of tubes running into and out of him, and he was sedated while they moved him.”

  “He’s with one of the medical ships, not with us, right?” said Cole.

  “That’s right.”

  “Then I guess they can begin the attack in another two hours.”

  “We’ll be on our way in ninety standard minutes, maybe a little sooner,” said Forrice. “I take it Val hasn’t changed her mind?”

  Cole shook his head. “She didn’t stop Chadwick from leaving, though.”

  “But she’s still coming with Csonti?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You know, Wilson,” said the Molarian, “if she sticks with him, it’s only a matter of time before we find ourselves facing her in battle.”

  “The thought hasn’t escaped me,” said Cole grimly.

  24

  “Two more,” announced Forrice as Cole came onto the bridge a day after they had evacuated the hospital station.

  “Damn!” said Cole. “What’s the total now?”

  “Seven dead so far. The move was hard on the patients. It still is.”

  “What about the hospital on Clementis VI?” said Cole. “Any word from it?”

  “They’re short of supplies, they’re short of help, and they’re full.”

  “Jack-in-the-Box, what are the next three closest colonized worlds?”

  Jaxtaboxl studied his computer. “Ramanos, Braechea II, and New Gabon, sir.”

  “Rachel?” said Cole. “What kind of hospital facilities have they got?”

  “Checking, sir,” replied Rachel Marcos. “Ramanos is a mining world, population two hundred eighty-six, no medical facility. Braechea II was colonized by the Canphor Twins and refuses to treat Men or any of Man’s allies.” She studied
the holoscreens that had popped up in front of her. “New Gabon doesn’t claim to specialize, and treats all species . . .”

  “Great!” said Cole. “That’s where we’re going.”

  “. . . but they’re totally full,” continued Rachel. “There is a minimum of a twelve-day wait for a bed.”

  “Goddammit, we can’t wait for twelve days!” growled Cole. “Not at the rate they’re dying.” He lowered his head in thought. “I’ve been looking at this all wrong. They’ve got their entire medical staff on the ships; all we need is a hospital.”

  “I have a feeling that’s not going to be enough, Wilson,” said Forrice. “We’ll need a world that can supply the proper medications, and the proper power for the various life-support machines the ships are carrying.”

  “How hard can it be?” asked Jaxtaboxl.

  “You heard the report from New Gabon,” said the Molarian. “What good is having medics and doctors if we can’t get our people into a hospital?”

  “As long as we have the medics and the machines, how about taking over a hotel?” suggested Jaxtaboxl.

  “That’s fine if everyone’s stabilized,” said Cole. “But what if we need an operating theater—or three operating theaters at once?” He muttered a curse. “That’s the problem with colony worlds. They just don’t have the populations to support a huge medical industry. They lack beds, they lack hospitals, they import all their drugs from the Republic—”

  “Only their legal ones,” put in Jaxtaboxl.

  “Sir?” said Rachel, who was operating the communications system. “Another message from the Portmanteau.”

  “That’s one of the hospital’s ships, right?” said Cole.

  She nodded. “They need a sophisticated medical facility in the next thirty hours, or they’re going to lose another five patients, possibly six. They need to perform surgical procedures that require stationary equipment that they left behind . . .” She continued listening. “ . . . And one of them, a Lodinite, seems to be slipping away for no reason that they can determine.”

  “Maybe we should ask how many are going to survive,” said Cole. He paused, lost in thought. “You know, if the shooting’s over, maybe we can get permission from whoever won to bring them back to the hospital station.”