The Governor and I waited until sensors showed our entire crew was off the ship. Then he shut all communications down. “I know what you’re planning. But it’s at least a two-man operation.”
“Yep.” I handed him everything else that mattered, weapons-wise, other than the Plastiques. Who knew when someone would want a treat? I took the matter-shifter off and put it over his head. “You stay here and take care of things. Get back to the others as soon as you’re done.”
“How do you plan to get back? I know you aren’t planning to die nobly.”
“Why the sarcasm? Like you’re ever planning to die, let alone nobly?”
“Your plan for escape, Alexander. What is it?” He sounded annoyed and worried. Nice to know he cared.
I grinned. “You don’t tell your Uncle Oldie your entire plan in case he gets captured, is going senile, or just has a senior moment. You tell him just enough to make sure he can do his part.”
The Governor gave me a long look. “Out of all the miscreants in all the galaxy, how is it I’m saddled with you?”
I shrugged as I headed out of the cockpit. “You’re attached to staying alive. And, like everyone else, you love the Outland.”
CHAPTER 86
Walked down the ramp to see a whole lot of Herion guns pointing at me. I’d found a couple of stray lasershots on my way out of the ship and tossed them to the nearest military goon. Looked around. Didn’t see any familiar faces in uniform.
“Where’s Nitin?”
One of the Herion officers stepped forward. “Major Nitin’s orders were to bring you and Commander de Chance to him, only. All others needs must go directly into custody.” So Nitin still had the major title, not commander.
“I protest,” Charmaine said.
“Works for me,” I said. Charmaine glared at me—nowhere close to the eagle-glare, let along vulture. Slinkie pretty much outbid this girl’s ante in all ways. I was relieved Charmaine was keeping her mouth shut about the Governor. Hopefully she realized he was going to be our secret weapon. “Let’s go. Let the troops deal with the, uh, troops. We need to chat with your brother.”
She rolled her eyes, but nodded. A small cadre of officers surrounded us. The rest of the military goons took the rest of the de Chance goons into custody.
I was fascinated that no one searched us. Didn’t want to question
it, since I didn’t want either my laser or the Plastiques found, but it was still surprising. Wasn’t sure if they were following Nitin’s or Crissell’s orders, or if Herion didn’t believe in on-ship strip searches. It would make them the only law enforcement I’d ever heard of that didn’t. Maybe it was the steroids.
Paid careful attention to where they took us, noting shipmarks and such that would identify how to get back to the docking area. Conveniently, we took an elevator to the command bridge. Inconveniently a code was required to make the elevator work and my view of the keypad was obstructed. On purpose, as near as I could tell.
Herion did command bridges just like all the other successful, highly militarized planets—impressive two-story structure, complete with metal stairs and railings, lots and lots of bells, whistles and view screens, nice walkway/viewing area for the commander to stand picturesquely and look all commanding and impressive. Needless to say, Nitin was up there, staring out into space. I looked around. Nope, no one was doing a portrait or taking a picture of any kind—the display was for me and Charmaine. Lucky us.
Nitin wasn’t alone, however. There were several other officers with him. I got the impression they weren’t sure if they could trust him. Good, hopefully this indicated my plan was working so far.
We were led up the stairs. It was a decent drop to the lower level, but you did have a clear view of pretty much everything from here. The other ships in the fleet were on a block of screens on the opposite wall. Looked like all the de Chance Family Players were in some form of custody.
The entire Trennile system was on-screen as well. The only ships were Herion Military. Good. My crew were still on Trennile 7. I spotted the usual command center paraphernalia, including communications, which I hoped were on two-way, a variety of weapons and tactical monitors and equipment, and the bay of escape pods. Wanted your head guys to be able to get away, after all.
Nitin turned and gave me a very satisfied smile. “Nice to see you, Outland.”
“Can’t say the same, Nitin. Or would you prefer me to call you de Chance?”
“No idea of what you’re babbling about.” He sounded confident, but the men behind him didn’t look nearly so reassured.
“Charmaine, doll, be a doll and go stand by your brother.”
She sighed but did as I asked. Nitin moved away. Charmaine stepped towards him. He moved again. “This woman is a stranger to me.” They kept up the step-move-step thing until Nitin was stopped by running into another officer.
“Oh, Nigel, you were always such a weasel.” Charmaine sounded disgusted. “You happy? You have everyone in custody. Is that really what was supposed to happen?”
I answered for him. Hoped someone, somewhere, somehow was broadcasting this to the rest of the fleet. “Actually, no. You were supposed to run and Nigel was supposed to follow you, with the might of Herion Military backing him up.”
Nitin twitched. “You’re insane. He’s just trying to focus blame away from himself to try to avoid going to prison for the rest of his life for blowing up the spaceport.”
“It was your attempting to murder me and Lionside that caused the spaceport to blow up, Nitin. And, really, is this all you’ve got? ‘I don’t know the woman who looks just like me’? Didn’t Granddad’s blueprint give you more than this to work from? Oh, sorry, it’s Daddy’s blueprint you’re following. Charmaine’s the one using Granddad’s stuff.”
“What are you talking about?” Charmaine and Nitin got this one out in unison. Maybe I just brought it out in people.
I looked around. “Other than our deep-cover spy here, who’s the highest ranking officer with the fleet?”
“That would be me, Outland.” Crissell’s voice came from behind me. Turned to see him on the block of view screens. Someone had thoughtfully put his face onto every screen.
“Wow, that’s almost nauseating, seeing your face all huge and divided up into thirty different boxes.” He looked vaguely familiar.
Hearing his voice this way also rang a faint bell. Was pretty sure he’d been the man in charge when I was running through Herion HQ, right before Tanner and I had “met” for the first time. Looks-wise, he was clearly a Herion native. But there was more to why he looked familiar.
“Deal with it. I’m the highest ranking officer after Major Nitin. What did you want to tell me?”
“Herion Military really gives their majors a lot to do. No Commanders or Admirals or anything?”
“Is this relevant? Or are you just stalling?”
“Just making an observation. Unless that’s suddenly against Herion law.”
“No. Blowing up the reclamation plant, a bathhouse, a nightclub, and the spaceport, causing a variety of riots, and kidnapping two Herion Military officers, on the other hand, are all still considered prison-worthy offenses.”
“Well, that’s good to hear.” I looked at Nitin. “Enjoy prison.”
“Outland, you want to expand on your accusations?” Crissell sounded tired and fed up. I could relate. “I’ll give you right now that the woman looks enough like Nigel to be his sister.”
“I’m his twin,” Charmaine snapped. This was disquieting. I’d had some pleasant twins experiences, forever tainted now by the thought that Nitin was Charmaine’s twin. I’d have to work to get over it. Hopefully Slinkie would be up for the challenge.
“Never seen her before,” Nitin said. No one around us looked like they believed him, but they didn’t look like they believed me, either.
I sent a prayer to all the active gods. “Hulky, can you please show the nice people in the Herion fleet the pictures of Nigel and Charmaine we have?” Then I held my breath.
CHAPTER 87
T
he gods did love me. The image of Charmaine and Nitin together appeared, in widescreen. “Note that this picture was taken at the same time and they’re standing together. Also note the mountains in the background. Anyone want to guess what planet this picture was taken on?”
“Earth.” Crissell’s voice was icy. “And, it’s clear these two are siblings, and, Nigel, it’s also clear the young woman standing with you is the same one as in this picture and, therefore, your sister.”
Charmaine moved away from Nitin and back by me. “Great. So, now what?”
“Now, I’d like to bring Herion Military up on all that’s going on.” I heard groans. “Oh, it won’t take long. Fifty years ago—”
“Outland! For the sake of the gods, man, get to the point!” Crissell sounded ready to snap.
“Too much caffeine, Crissell? Anyway, fifty years ago, Pierre de Chance and the Chatouilleux Français Armada had a chokehold on the Delta Quadrant, with designs on the entire galaxy. They were pirates, and they had the major solars cut off from all trade, forcing the planetary governments to give them seventy-five percent of all cargo in order to survive. Sound vaguely familiar?”
“Lucky Pierre and the French Tickler Armada? Are you serious?”
Crissell sounded just like the rest of us had when we’d heard this name. I heard snickers and outright laughter in the background.
“Very. Lucky Pierre roamed the galaxy and he was apparently popular with the ladies, if you catch my drift.”
“Yes, clearly. I mean, he was advertising. What’s your point? He’d be an ancient man now, and no one in custody is over thirty.”
“Oh, Lucky Pierre’s dead. His operation was infiltrated and he had his head blown off. But that’s ancient history.” And I hoped the ancient historical responsible was doing his job. At least I knew he hadn’t been caught yet. “However, he left a huge number of little de Chances all over the galaxy. The second generation weren’t really into the whole pirate thing for whatever reason. But the third generation think it’s the greatest plan ever.”
The pictures started to flash on the screen. “Note these faces, Crissell. Most if not all of them are in one of your cruisers right now. Led here by the twins. I’d like to suggest something fun. Look for a tattoo of an Ebegorn on the persons of the detainees. Nitin has one over his right pectoral, as a mention.”
Crissell barked some orders. Charmaine gave me a look warring between curiosity and revulsion. “Just how did you know Nigel had a tattoo on his chest?”
“Found it when I knocked him out and stole his stuff. He had a money belt on, had to open up his shirt.”
“I’d heard you liked girls.”
“I do like girls! And if I were going to like boys, your brother wouldn’t be who I’d start with.” She didn’t look convinced. Had to remind myself that proving otherwise would undoubtedly not sit well with Slinkie. And, since Charmaine didn’t have a female twin, there was no way she was going to be worth losing Slinkie over.
“Outland, confirmed that all the prisoners searched so far have the tattoo.” Crissell sounded seriously angry, and not with me. For once.
I looked at the officers around Nitin. “You want to verify the tat on Nitin? Oh, and Charmaine, be a doll and show them yours.”
“No,” she hissed. Looked at her. She was blushing.
“Wow, so it’s on the right pectoral area for everyone?” Tried not to want to see how her tat looked and if I approved.
“No, Outland,” Crissell said. “It’s on the, ah, lower back area on the women.”
I opened my mouth to suggest we make sure it was the same for Charmaine and could
feel
Slinkie’s vulture-glare hit me. “Ah, is yours in the same place, Charmaine?”
“Yes. And I’m not stripping in front of all these men.”
Managed to keep from suggesting she strip for me. Only just. Felt I deserved a reward. Hoped it would be Slinkie. “Fine. Do you admit you have the family crest tattooed on your body?”
“Yes, and Nigel does too.” She strode over and ripped his shirt open. He looked shocked. Clearly, this wasn’t in his blueprint. It wasn’t in Charmaine’s either, but while he was obviously the military brains, she was the actress. All good actresses learn how to improvise.
“Major Crissell,” I said as formally as I could, “I present Nigel Nitin, also known as Nigel de Chance, grandson of Lucky Pierre. He’s been in deep cover in Herion Military and working with his family to cut off your solar system.”
“We were doing a good job of it, too,” Charmaine said with a bitter laugh. “Until you showed up.”
“Well, see, Herion isn’t the only solar system under attack by the extended de Chance family.”
“Oh? What are you implying, Outland?” Crissell sounded suspicious. I reached into my inner pocket, the hidden one, and pulled out my ace in the hole.
CHAPTER 88
I held up the card Tanner had given me. “Anyone able to identify what this is?”
One of the officers around Nitin nodded. “That’s the crest of the Royal Family of Aviatus. The card is what they give to their highest level operatives.”
I looked at the view screens. Crissell was back on in huge-face form. “You’re a spy?” He sounded shocked.
“I’ve been known to help out the Royal Family of Aviatus now and then.” I always held the door for Slinkie and I was always there if she was cold. Or hot. Or in need of someone to guard her while showering. I figured I could count saving her from the Land League goons as help as well. “Oh, there are more de Chances on Herion. You’ll find them by the tattoo, I’m sure. They’re all part of the Land League.”
Nitin lunged for me. “You space-damned bastard!” Interesting to see what got to him. “You’re no spy! You’re a pirate, just not as good a one as our grandfather, and you never will be!”
I shrugged. “I’m alive, he’s not.”
“You’re going to rot in prison, just like the rest of us.”
“Oh, I won’t be going to prison for anything.”
“Just how is that?”