Starship: Mercenary (Starship, Book 3) Read online

  “I’ll check, sir,” said Jaxtaboxl. A moment later he looked up. “The battle is over. I have no idea who won, but I know who lost. The station no longer exists.”

  “Great!” muttered Cole disgustedly. “Just great!” Another pause. “Jack-in-the-Box, are we close to any of the larger Inner Frontier worlds—Binder X, Roosevelt III, New Kenya, any of them?”

  Jaxtaboxl checked his computer, uttered a few orders to it in a language only his machine could comprehend, and surveyed the results.

  “Unless Wxakgini knows of some wormholes that aren’t listed here, we’re no closer than four days to any of them.”

  Wxakgini confirmed that there were no wormhole shortcuts to the major Frontier planets in their immediate vicinity.

  “Damn!” muttered Cole. “I feel responsible for this. I’m the one who told them to evacuate. For all I know, Csonti would have spared the hospital station if he’d known there were patients there.”

  “You don’t really think so, do you?” said Forrice.

  “No, of course not.”

  “Then stop blaming yourself,” said the Molarian. “There’s nothing to be done. They’ll just have to make do until we can get to a major world out here.”

  “We’re not going to give up and let them die that easily,” said Cole. “Jack-in-the-Box, what’s the closest Republic world with a major hospital?”

  Jaxtaboxl put the question to the ship’s computer. “Meadowbrook, sir.”

  “Pilot, how long will it take to get to Meadowbrook?”

  “Approximately six hours,” answered Wxakgini. “We can reach the Chabon Wormhole in an hour. It will take two hours to traverse, and it lets us out just under three hours from Meadowbrook.”

  “And the hospital can definitely handle us?”

  “I can’t see why not. It looks like a small city, all by itself.”

  Cole frowned. “Something’s wrong. Why would they build a facility like that on the edge of the Republic, so far from the major population centers?”

  “Good question,” said Forrice.

  “There’s one person on board who might know the answer,” said Cole. “Patch me through to Jacovic.”

  “Yes, Captain?” said Jacovic’s image a moment later.

  “What do you know about a Republic planet called Meadowbrook?” asked Cole.

  “I’ve never heard of it.”

  “Jack-in-the-Box, transmit a holograph of that sector of the Republic to Jacovic, and highlight Meadowbrook.”

  “Done, sir.”

  “Ah!” said Jacovic. “I see. Meadowbrook is not only on the edge of the Frontier, but it’s in the sector where your Admiral Kobrinski has recently engaged the Third Teroni Fleet.”

  “The Teroni Fleet has moved that far into the Republic?”

  “You’ve been away for almost two years, Captain Cole.”

  “Thank you, Jacovic. You told me what I need to know.”

  He signaled Rachel to break the connection. “Obviously it’s a military hospital,” said Cole. “It’s probably just a year or two old. Rachel, inform the senior officers that I’m holding a meeting in my office in twenty minutes. Attendance is mandatory—and make sure the four other captains and Bertha Salinas tie in holographically.”

  “Christine Mboya is sleeping, sir,” said Rachel.

  “Then wake her. Also, have Idena Mueller and Braxite take one of the shuttles to the hospital ship that’s carrying Moyer, and bring him back to the infirmary. If Moyer’s tied in to a machine, bring it along. If he’s got to have a medic in constant attendance, bring the medic too. Whatever we do with the other patients, we can’t leave Moyer on a Republic world. Even if they saved him, he’d just be court-martialed and executed.” He raised his voice. “I assume you’re monitoring this, Sharon. I want you there too.”

  “You don’t have to yell,” replied Sharon Blacksmith.

  “It’s the easiest way to get your attention.”

  “All right, I’ll be there.”

  “Rachel, have we had any contact with Luthor Chadwick yet?” asked Cole.

  “Not since we heard that he was leaving the Red Sphinx,” answered Rachel. “Actually, we don’t know for a fact that he’s left it yet. He might very well be waiting for the best opportunity.”

  Cole shook his head impatiently. “Val gave Bull Pampas and him permission to leave.”

  “Permission is one thing,” noted Forrice. “A ship is another.”

  “Okay, you’ve got a point.”

  Cole paced around restlessly for a couple of minutes, then went down to his office. Sharon arrived a moment later.

  “Message from David Copperfield,” announced Rachel, just before the image of the elegantly clad alien popped into existence.

  “Hi, David. How’s it going?”

  “Steerforth, how can you possibly consider having a high-level meeting and not include me?”

  “It’s a meeting that has nothing to do with selling our services, which is your bailiwick,” answered Cole. “This doesn’t concern you.”

  “Everything about this ship is my concern,” answered Copperfield. “Steerforth, you can’t do this to me! You cut me to the quick.”

  “Believe me, David, you’ve got nothing to bring to this particular discussion, and once I decide upon a course of action, you’ll be the first to know.”

  “All right,” said Copperfield sullenly, his alien face coming as close as it could to a pout. “But I resent it, Steerforth. I resent it deeply.”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way, David,” said Cole, breaking the connection. “Rachel?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “No more transmissions except from Bertha Salinas and the four captains until I say otherwise. Got it?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Cole sat down behind his desk and sighed deeply. “Who’d have thought they’d start dying like this?” he said at last. “I mean, hell, they’re surrounded by their own doctors, we moved all the machines to the ships, we brought along their medications . . .”

  “Healthy people don’t handle stress too well,” replied Sharon, “and we’re stressing gravely ill people. And beings.”

  “I know,” said Cole. “But we can’t let them just keep dying three and four a day. Hell, if they’re stressed and having trouble adjusting to the changes, they’re going to start dying in greater numbers, not less.”

  Jacovic entered the office and saluted smartly. “I heard that we lost some more patients,” he said. “I assume that’s what this meeting and our recent conversation is about?”

  “Yeah. We didn’t get them out of the line of fire just to die as a result of our actions. We were well-intentioned, but evacuating them has turned out to be as dangerous to them as leaving them right where they were.” He grimaced. “Well, almost as dangerous,” he amended.

  “I assume there are no medical facilities on any nearby Frontier worlds?” said the Teroni.

  “None that can handle the quantity and diversity of the patients,” said Cole as Forrice entered the office. “That’s why I’ve called this meeting.”

  “Thanks for giving me five minutes to grab some lunch,” said the Molarian.

  “You’re not starving,” noted Cole. “You could just as easily have had it when the meeting’s over.”

  “I’ve been to your senior officers’ meetings before,” replied the Molarian. “Somehow they have a way of ruining my appetite. I don’t imagine this one will be any different.”

  The images of the captains of the four smaller ships suddenly materialized, followed by that of Bertha Salinas.

  Christine entered the office, greeted everyone briefly, and leaned against a bulkhead.

  “All right, we’re all here,” said Cole. “You all know the situation. We’re four days from the nearest Inner Frontier world with a hospital that can accommodate the evacuees, and we have no idea how much time or space they can spare us. Everything else is either smaller or farther.” He stared at each of them in turn. “Do
we all agree that the patients are our responsibility?”

  “I think you’re taking an awful lot of guilt on yourself,” said Sharon. “If we’d left them at the hospital station, they’d have been blown to bits.”

  “They’re not our responsibility because of any decision we made or didn’t make,” said Cole. “They’re our responsibility because they can’t fend for themselves, they need us, and we’re here. It’s as simple as that. I know we’re mercenaries, but we were trained to help the helpless, and you don’t get much more helpless than these people.”

  “We’re trying to help them, Wilson,” said Forrice.

  “We’re not doing a very good job of it,” said Cole. “We’re going to have to try harder.”

  “How?” asked the Molarian.

  “Clearly you have something in mind, sir,” said one of the captains, “but I have no idea what it is.”

  Cole turned to Jacovic. “How about you, Commander? What would you do?”

  “The very same thing you’re going to do,” replied Jacovic calmly. “We’re four days from a Frontier hospital capable of handling the evacuees. But I believe we’re just hours from the Republic world of Meadowbrook. I assume it has a major medical facility. We’re going to have to transfer the patients and their physicians there.”

  “You don’t have to do anything,” said Bertha Salinas. “Just give us the coordinates and we’ll go there on our own. I can’t believe that the Republic will refuse us.”

  “It’s not the Republic you have to worry about,” said Cole. “Meadowbrook is in a war zone. If you run into any Teroni ships, you are probably fair game.”

  “We’ll display our medical insignia,” said Bertha Salinas.

  Cole turned to Jacovic. “Will the Teronis honor that?”

  “If they would, I might not have left the Fleet,” answered Jacovic.

  “There’s your answer,” said Cole. “Hopefully there are no Teroni ships anywhere in the area, but you have absolutely no means of defense, and you’re not built to outrun them. We’re going to have to come along as protection.”

  “In a ship that’s wanted all over the Republic?” she demanded. “You say you’ll protect us. Who will protect you?”

  “She’s got a point, Wilson,” said Forrice. “There’s still a ten-million-credit reward on your head, and a twenty-five-million-credit bounty for the ship that destroys or disables the Teddy R.”

  “That will make it more difficult,” agreed Jacovic. “But there is no alternative if we wish to save most of the patients.”

  “He’s right, you know,” said Christine. “I wish he wasn’t, but he is.”

  “I suppose so,” said Bertha Salinas unhappily. “I’m not happy about it, but we must get to a facility, and if we’re really entering a war zone, we have no choice but to accept your help.”

  “I knew it!” said Sharon. “That’s why you called this phony meeting, isn’t it? You were always going to go into the Republic. You just wanted Jacovic or someone else to suggest it so you could claim it wasn’t a unilateral decision.”

  “Making unilateral decisions goes with being the Captain,” answered Cole. “But things go more smoothly when you can see that I’m right, rather than simply being told that I am.”

  “I don’t know that you are . . .” said the Molarian.

  “Speak up, Four Eyes,” said Cole. “This is an open forum, and everyone’s free to speak their mind, encouraged even. That goes for you four captains as well,” he added, because clearly they felt uncomfortable about speaking out so recently after joining him. “Until you leave the office. Then we all speak in one voice.”

  “I don’t like it,” said Forrice glumly.

  “What’s bothering you, other than the obvious?”

  “The numbers,” said Forrice.

  “I know. The Navy has a couple of hundred million ships, and we have five. But it’s a big galaxy, we’ll only be in the Republic for a few hours, and most if not all of their ships will be in other battle zones or on military bases.”

  “Not those numbers,” said Forrice. “If it was just you and me, I’d say sure, let’s take a chance and enter the Republic. After all, we have three hundred patients who are seriously ill.” He paused. “But it’s not just you and me. I know we’re running short-handed, but even without Val and her Red Sphinx, we still have about sixty-five crewmen on the Teddy R and the other four ships. So we’re not risking two men to save three hundred. We’re risking maybe sixty-five or more healthy ones to save three hundred sick ones, many of whom may be beyond saving. I don’t think the reward-to-failure ratio holds up very well.”

  “I wish I could think of a way to make the numbers look a little better,” said Cole, “but we can’t wait any longer. When this meeting ends, Pilot’s got to alter course and get us into the Republic by the shortest possible route. Even if some wormhole spits us out a thousand light-years inside the Republic, we have no choice. Christine, I’m sorry to keep you awake, but I want you running the communications until each ship has been informed of our route, especially if we find a wormhole that will serve our purposes. I know we’ve got Rachel at your station now, and she’s good, but for this operation I want the best.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Christine.

  “And Commander Jacovic?”

  “Yes?”

  “If you would like to stay behind, I’ll turn the Kermit over to you. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that once we’re inside the Republic the Commander of the Fifth Teroni Fleet will not be welcomed with open arms.”

  “Thank you for the offer,” said Jacovic. “It is extremely considerate of you. But it is not necessary.”

  “You’re sure?”

  Jacovic smiled. “Do you think they’re going to ascertain who is aboard the Theodore Roosevelt before they start shooting?”

  “He’s got a point,” said Forrice.

  “And if they do learn who’s aboard,” added Sharon, “who do you think they’ll shoot first—Jacovic or Wilson Cole?”

  “All right,” said Cole. “I just felt I owed you the opportunity to say no.” He looked around the room. “Are there any other questions? Captains? Administrator Salinas? No? Then the meeting is over.” The five holographic images vanished. “Christine, tell Pilot to get us to Meadowbrook as fast as possible. And once he’s got the coordinates, make sure Mr. Briggs passes them on to all the other ships.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said, saluting and heading to the door. Sharon and Jacovic followed her out, while Forrice lingered behind.

  “Are we going to argue some more?” asked Cole.

  “No,” said the Molarian. “You’ve made your decision. The time to talk you out of it was five minutes ago. I tried, I failed, it’s over.”

  “Good,” said Cole. “I didn’t feel like another fight. What can I do for you?”

  “I just wanted to explain something to you,” said Forrice. “Probably I should have explained it a long time ago.”

  Cole looked at him curiously. “Go ahead.”

  “There are four other ships in our little fleet, not counting the Red Sphinx. Val has wanted a ship ever since she lost the Pegasus, and now she’s got one. I can’t imagine that Jacovic doesn’t want one, not after commanding an entire military fleet, and of course he’ll get one as he becomes more comfortable working with us. Perez use to be the captain of the Red Sphinx; doubtless he deserves one, too.” The Molarian paused. “By rank, I should have had a ship ahead of everyone.”

  “I have no disagreement with that,” said Cole. “Is that what you’re leading up to.”

  “No,” said Forrice. “If I wanted one, I’ve have asked for it.”

  “I’ve wondered about it from time to time,” admitted Cole. “I figured you were just waiting for a better one, something more substantial than the Red Sphinx. I’d miss working side by side with you, but of course you’ve got one coming to you any time you want it.”

  “That’s just the point,” said Forrice. “I
don’t want it. I’ve watched what command does to you.” He paused. “Every life-and-death decision you make affects not only you, but the crews of five ships—six if Val ever rejoins us. Just now you had to make a decision that will doubtless affect the lives, and possibly the deaths, of close to four hundred patients and medics.”

  “It goes with the job.”

  “I don’t want the job, even the smaller job of commanding just one ship and crew. Oh, if we were still in the Navy I’d want my own command, if for no other reason than the extra pay and the prestige. But there would still be a chain of command, and I wouldn’t bear the ultimate responsibility for the victories or the catastrophes.” The Molarian paused again, ordering his thoughts. “Out here you’re the top of the chain. I’m not. But I sleep well every night. Have you taken a good look at yourself in the mirror lately? You’ve got bags under your eyes, you’re developing nervous tics and twitches, and you’ve lost a lot of weight.” Forrice walked to the door. “I like the thought of commanding a ship of my own—but I like being able to sleep well every night even more.”

  Then Cole was alone. He sat there, wondering if he’d missed an alternative, wondering if he’d made the right decision. What if he got them to the hospital and they all died anyway? And what if the Teddy R got shot up on the way back? He’d have killed the one without saving the other. But on the other hand . . .

  “Sir? Wxakgini has pinpointed the Chabon Wormhole—I gather it’s moved since it was originally charted—and says we should be entering it in fifty-one Standard minutes.”

  “Good!” said Cole. “Give the coordinates to our four other ships and the hospital ships.”

  “Already done, sir.”

  Cole spent the next two hours walking the ship, inspecting the Gunnery section, conversing with the other ships, having the medics access blueprints of the Meadowbrook hospital so they’d know exactly where to go once they arrived. He tried to alert the hospital, but something about the structure of the wormhole prevented it. Wormholes were like that; some moved constantly, some were stationary, some were transparent to messages, some were opaque.