Secret of the Legion (9 page)

"Your first lover was Valkyrie—Gamma Two," Dragon continued. "She was redesignated Beta Eleven after Gamma was shot up on Andrion Three. You two really had it bad, from Planet Hell to Andrion. But then Priestess came along, and split you up."

Valkyrie! The green-eyed blonde, good God, she had loved me too! I was stunned, listening to Dragon calmly relating my past.

"Priestess and Valkyrie actually got in a fist fight once over you. It was kind of funny—Priestess got a black eye, and Valkyrie got a split lip. Guess they must have seen something in you, beats me what. Valkyrie later decided she liked girls better than boys. It's a shame—she was hot enough to melt cenite."

Priestess and Valkyrie—Lord! Ghost lovers, from the past.

"Tell me about the baby," I said.

Dragon and Whit exchanged glances, then Whit spoke. "It had a girlfriend on Andrion Two—one of the Taka. It's supposed to be a sorceress—name of Moontouch. It had a baby. We gather it was not planned. A son—its name is Stormdawn. It would be about four now. Cinta said it'll never see either of them again, so it had best just forget about them."

Forget about them! Forgetting things wasn't a problem—remembering was the problem. But I wasn't likely to ever forget that baby, or his mother, coming at me in my sleep, right out of the past, the girl thrusting the baby into my face. A sorceress! Leaping time, right into stardrive, bursting the rusting gates of my mind, holding up my baby for me to see. I sat there, stunned, my flesh crawling. Three lovers—and a baby! And somebody had tried to erase it all. I felt a great anger, rushing through my veins like lava. I decided I was going to get my past back, and then I was going to find out exactly who had done this to me, and kill them horribly.

***

"What is it?" I asked. We were out of stardrive, and it was way too early. I had found Whit in the command chair on the bridge, and now I was looking over her shoulder. It was totally silent on the bridge of the
Stardust
. Kaga was in the number two chair, and Pandaros was visible on one of the d-screens, manning security and weapons. Stars filled the forward viewport—a glorious view, a velvet sky full of diamonds, a magic road to the future. Banks of instruments glowed softly on the consoles. It was actually a very small bridge, but everything was perfectly arranged. It was so calm and still that I had the feeling that Whit and Kaga had the situation totally under control.

"We've been called out of stardrive by the Legion for a planetary emergency," Whit said.

"Which Legion?" I asked, "Is this the Lost Command or the Loyalists?"

"There's no way of telling. We're actually still in the Inners but we're so close to the Outers that it's not unusual to find Fleetcom patrols around here."

"What is the planet?"

"Here it is," Kaga said. The d-screens flashed, and filled with planetary data. "Tanami—a class A settlement, self-governed, non-aligned…looks like religious people. Non-aligned! That's unusual."

"Temple of Man," Whit read from her screen. "Funny they settled way out here. Probably trying to get away from the System. We've heard of this bunch. They're Outworlders, mostly. They live communally, refuse any association with off-planet entities. Agriculturalists, living in their own world, worshipping…themselves, we guess. They believe in non-violence, settle disputes through compromise, and generally mind their own business and live a healthy, primitive life."

"So what's the emergency?"

"Don't know. We received the message in stardrive—it was an all-ships nova. Can't ignore those."

"What's the Legion got to do with this planet?" It was Dragon. " We're not even in ConFree vac yet." He had appeared silently behind me.

"Don't know that either. According to this data, ConFree does not interfere with events on Tanami. But Fleetcom is responsible for border security. Let's find out!"

Her finger was hovering over the transmit tab when the Legion message boomed through the ship. "Welcome Personal Ship
Stardust
! Outvac Fleet Command greatly appreciates your assistance. Please approach and orbit Tanami Four and await further instructions. We have declared a planetary emergency for Tanami Four. The planet's human population is in crisis and in need of assistance. Please contact Legion Traffic Control for further information."

"That's a Legion cruiser," Kaga remarked. "The CS
Gauntlet
. Damn! That's a Lost Command ship according to ship registry!"

"A Legion cruiser!" Whit exclaimed. "They're not supposed to intrude on an independent world."

"Why would the LC be this far from home?" Dragon asked. "It's a long way to Dindabai." It was visible on-screen now, a glowing phospho dot in orbit around the planet. We were still so distant from Tanami 4 that we could not even see it out the viewport. I couldn't even tell which star was Tanami.

"ATTENTION!" The
Stardust
suddenly warned us at full volume, "STAR PIRATE! I DETECT OUTLAW PRIVATEER
VAMPIRE
, PIRATE 361, FORMERLY P.S.
LUCINDA
, IN ORBIT AROUND TANAMI FOUR! RECOMMEND CRASH STARLAUNCH! INITIATING LAUNCH SEQUENCE!" The emergency claxon shrieked to life, almost deafening us, adrenalizing everyone on board. The ship highlighted the pirate for us, some distance behind the Legion cruiser, also in orbit.

"Deto!" Whit exclaimed, jabbing at the transmit tab. "Legion Traffic Control, what's that pirate doing there?"

"Relax,
Stardust
," the low-key reply came. "The Legion has secured the pirate. There is absolutely no danger to your ship or crew. Please proceed to orbit as marked. Stand by and we'll give you a full briefing."

"Scut!" Whit hit the alarms, and they cut off in mid-bleat. "Secure from starlaunch! Damn it, we don't like this!"

"Commander, can we please leave?" It was Pandaros, on the screen, leaning forward anxiously with a weak grin.

"We sympathize, Pandaros, but we're afraid not."

"It's acting more and more like Commander Tamaling. Sir."

"We have no choice, Pandaros. The penalty for failing to respond to an all-ships nova is confiscation of the ship, and that's just for starters."

"Is it sure we're dealing with the Legion and not the privateers?"

"Which would it prefer?"

"That's a tough one!"

"Calm down, Pandaros. Give us a chance to get the briefing they've promised us. We're sure there's an explanation. One thing's sure, the Legion doesn't mix with star pirates—and vice versa!"

As we approached in deathly silence, the star grew in the main viewport until it was a brilliant, blood-red orb, burning magically in the vac. It was rather scary, watching it grow.

"Tanami Four is over there—see it?" A tiny green speck, a cosmic mote of dust. The star fell away behind us, and the speck floated into our field of view. It grew into a shining dot, stabilizing in the viewport. The screens filled with data as I watched the planet approach. It grew larger and larger, glowing a lovely, luminous green. As we approached, I felt we were falling right into it. It appeared to be drawing us in, sucking us in like a black hole, and now it was we who were the mote of dust and Tanami 4 was a gigantic cosmic whirlpool of deep green oceans and swirling white clouds. How could we possibly avoid it? We were falling, faster and faster, into the future.

***

"It's quite a mess," Dragon remarked. We were downside, strolling rather warily along the center of a wide boulevard adrift with filmy floating plastic trash. Shadowy figures were visible all around us, going our way. The boulevard was lined with stately buildings and they were all burning. A blood-red sun was sinking below the horizon but the city continued to glow a ruddy orange from widespread fires. Oily smoke, charged with glowing ash, hung over the city like a shroud, a black dusk for Tanami 4. There were bodies in the streets—many bodies. Some of them were being carefully recovered and loaded into ambulances by groups of weary men. Others were left to rot. I did not see any efforts to put out the flames. The entire city was burning, and the emergency services had obviously been overwhelmed.

A building collapsed with a tremendous roar, sending a huge ball of fire and a rush of sparks up into the sky, the heat scorching my flesh.

"Damn! They'd better get these fires under control!" Whit said.

"First things first," Dragon replied.

We had to walk around one body, sprawled out in the street. A male, shot all to hell, eyes open, mouth open, abdomen split wide open, viscera spilling out, lying in a pool of blood, stripped almost naked, as dead as a stone. He had been a short, stocky man with coarse hair like bristles and a huge head like a melon. He had tattoos on one arm.

"Never trust a guy with tattoos," Dragon advised us.

The fires roared up around us, and a sudden gust of smoke burned into my eyes. I kept one hand in my coldcoat pocket, clutching a mini. We had been advised not to show any weapons. As the smoke cleared, I saw we were passing a school. It was unmistakable. There was a horrific tangle of bodies just outside the open gate, a chilling, obscene spectacle. One swollen corpse hung from a long rope, dangling under a great tree, glowing faintly red, illuminated by the fire. In the schoolyard a group of terrified schoolgirls were huddled against a wall, wailing and crying as a frantic and exhausted mob of adults tried to comfort them. The moaning and sobbing of the children came to us faintly, like waves falling on a distant shore.

There was a slight movement in the shadows by the tree and I saw it was a Legion trooper in black armor reflecting blood red flames, balancing an E on his hip. He was almost motionless, watching over the pile of bodies and the hanged man and the pitiful schoolgirls and their weary attendants. A Legion aircar glided effortlessly overhead. The sky was sparkling with burning ash, winking red and gold like little stars.

A tall building was silhouetted against the dark sky ahead of us, glowing a rosy pink before the flames. It looked like a government center. There were two flagpoles on the roof, and as I watched a large, shadowy flag slowly unfurled itself in a faint breeze and lazily opened—a jet-black banner with a silvery Legion cross boldly emblazoned across its face. A rush of sparks glittered past it as it faded again into the dark. And I thought I had never seen anything quite so terrifying. The hand of the Legion was on this planet now, for better or worse, and we were about to see exactly what it meant.

***

"Citizens of Tanami!" The amplified voice boomed over a stadium teeming with people. We were with the Legion, at one end of the darkened playing field, and the stadium bleachers were full. The Legion had promised to resolve the problem, and the natives evidently wanted it resolved. The speaker was clad in Legion camfax, spotlighted in a brilliant white glare. He looked like a young recruit but he spoke like a general. "Greetings from the Confederation of Free Worlds, from Outvac Sector Command, and from the officers and crew of the Confederation Ship
Gauntlet
! I am Commander Kim X-One. I am addressing you after consultations with your Council of Ministers. As you all know, the ConFree Legion has recently intervened to resolve a planetary emergency here on Tanami Four. On behalf of the Legion, I am now pleased to announce that as of 0015 hours local time we have declared Tanami Four secure. As best as we can determine, all of the privateers of the
Vampire
have now been neutralized."

A weak cheer rippled over the crowd.

"Upon completion of tonight's proceedings, the Legion will depart Tanami. You may or may not know that we are here because we tracked the pirate starship to your world through our own routine monitoring efforts, and not because we were asked to intervene by your Council of Ministers. Had anyone on your world alerted us to the arrival of this privateer, we would certainly have responded sooner, thousands of lives would have been saved, and the citizens of Tanami would have been spared the tender mercies of these savages." He paused, and an uneasy murmur ran over the stadium. A ragged flight of bat-like birds darted overhead, chasing insects through the searchlight's glare.

"I wish to add that Outvac Sector Command welcomes new applications for membership in the Confederation of Free Worlds. We deeply sympathize with Tanami and we grieve for your dead. We are sad to say that most of them died needlessly. As a ConFree world you would no longer be alone. The Legion guarantees the security of all member worlds from external attack." The muted roar of the audience continued, but there was another sound as well, from out in the darkened playing field—a low wailing, a hopeless howling that set my teeth on edge. There were a whole lot of people out there, but there were no lights on the field and all I could see were moving shadows.

"We will now proceed with the sentencing of the criminals. At the request of your Council of Ministers, I will stress that the authority for this judicial procedure is granted me by the War Powers Act of the Confederation of Free Worlds. The ConFree Legion is responsible for the apprehension, prosecution, sentencing and conviction of all privateers operating anywhere they may be found—whether in ConFree, System, unaligned, disputed or border vac. This is solely a function of the Legion. Your Council of Ministers is not involved. Evidence was presented earlier today and verdicts reached in all cases. Sentencing will now be carried out. Proceed."

The lights faded from the speaker and a new row of searchlights cracked to life, blazing onto the field, harshly illuminating a long line of half naked males on their knees, their arms bound behind them. Their heads were shaved and bloody and they were shivering in the cold, moaning. Armored Legion troopers were stationed among them at regular intervals. The light revealed many, many more lines of kneeling men. It looked like several hundred, all bound and helpless, weaving slightly, chanting faint prayers to the Gods of Hell.

"How did they capture so many of them?" I asked Dragon in astonishment.

"The Legion uses vac whenever possible," he replied. "That way there's no civilian casualties."

A cold, metallic voice rolled over the crowded stadium. "Golgor, Legion file 990170233, crew member of the privateer
Vampire
, charged with galactic piracy, evidence on record, eyewitness testimony; additional charges of participation, multiple murder, gang rape, attempted murder, evidence on record, eyewitness testimony; verdict guilty as charged on all counts, identification confirmed, sentence death, sentence to be carried out immediately."