Alien Assassin (12 page)

“No! Remain standing,” Riyad stated firmly. Both of the alien captains stumbled slightly, breaking their drop into their seats. “This won’t take long.”

On the table lay the offending gold ornamentation, a meter-long crest of some kind depicting a rider on a thick steed and holding a lance. The shimmering gold looked new, but that was the lure of the precious metal, no matter what civilization one belonged to. The object could have been a year old, or a thousand; only an expert could tell the difference. Yet to the pirates, all they saw was a weighty piece of precious metal that could be melted down and sold in the markets of Silea. Of course, Riyad would get his cut, equal to ten-percent of the selling price. The rest would be split between the crews. An object of this size could bring as much as 8,000 Juirean credits.

Riyad looked at the object, then at his two feuding captains. “Throughout the years, I have made it possible for the two of you to share in dozens of bounties greater than this. What makes this one so different that the two of you would fight over scraps?”

Neither spoke, so Riyad turned to Jolaa. “Mnnlee says he initiated the attack and is therefore entitled to the bigger share. And he wants this thing. Why is he wrong?”

“My General, we both staged the attack, and used the trapping techniques you have taught us. We were the herders. We drove the ship to the attack point. All Captain Mnnlee had to do was open fire at the appropriate time. That hardly constitutes
initiating
the attack.”

Riyad had worked closely with both captains for a long time, and so he was not surprised by the articulate argument Jolaa presented. He was one of Riyad’s favorites, even though he never expressed himself in those terms. It was always best to keep them guessing.

He turned to Mnnlee, whose piercing black and yellow eyes stared back at him unblinking. Riyad knew that was just the way the lizard-like Rigorians always looked, but it still created an instinctive challenge in Riyad’s mind. He did not like Rigorians, which probably harkened back to his childhood, and his hatred for the omnipresent geckos that would crawl on him at night as he slept. Captain Mnnlee looked like an over-sized gecko wearing a black bandolier.

“Captain Jolaa’s argument seems reasonable. We are all part of a unified force now, not a bunch of independent, rabid scavengers.” Riyad doubted if the translator would do justice to the word “rabid,” but he was sure his message was getting through.

Showing no fear, Captain Mnnlee took a step closer to Riyad. “General, my profits are down and my crew has seen half their take reduced in the past few months. We are making fewer raids, and almost none of them to planet-based targets.” Riyad knew Mnnlee’s comments were meant to go far beyond this current dispute. This was aimed directly at him. “My crew was responsible for the stopping of the ship. If they counter-attacked, it would have been
my
crew who took the brunt of the casualties, not Jolaa’s. We deserve a larger share. We deserve this bounty.”

Riyad heard the muted calls of agreement from the surrounding throng of pirates in the hall. This could easily get out of hand and grow into a full-scale mutiny, which Riyad sensed was Mnnlee’s goal all along. Mnnlee knew that no single pirate could stand against Riyad solo, but together they might stand a chance…

Riyad simply lowered his head as if in thought and slowly nodded. “You’re argument is also persuasive, Captain Mnnlee. I see your point. And you
have
told my Second that the terms of
his
solution to this issue are unacceptable to you. I can respect that. But then again,” he paused for effect, “I had no idea these decisions were up to
you
!”

And with that, Riyad lifted the golden crest from the table – and in a movement so swift that no one knew what had happened until it was over – slashed the Rigorian’s neck clean through with the thin edge of the relic. The steely, beady eyes of the Rigorian remained locked on Riyad, even as the life drained out of his body. Then the long-snouted head tilted forward slightly, before toppling over completely and landing on the table for all in the room to see. Then the rest of the body crumpled to the floor, as prodigious amounts of blood fountained from the wound and began to pool around the corpse.

Then turning to the stunned crowd of pirates, Riyad shouted, “
I
make the decisions around here! No one tells
me
what is acceptable and what is not.” Then he tossed the bloody ornament onto the table in front of Jolaa. “The bounty will be split evenly, all except for this. It’s yours now, Jolaa.” Then he addressed the crowd again, “Unless one of you wants to take it from him.”

There was a stunned silence in the hall as Riyad and Angar left the room.

Chapter Nine

Senior Specialist Eannwen entered Lord Yan’wal’s chambers and took a seat before the Overlord’s desk. He held a datapad and a file chip, which he passed across the desk to his superior.

Yan’wal slipped the chip into a reader, and the monitor to his right lit up.

“We have gone back over the past several months and correlated transmission traffic throughout the Sector,” Eannwen began without preamble. The graphic on the screen showed an almost red screen around the planet Dimloe. “There has been a marked increase in transmissions to and from Dimloe, beginning right around nine standard months ago. According to the inhabitants of the Sector, this planet is one of the least desirable of the habitable worlds, so any such increase is definitely out of the ordinary.” He stopped, waiting for a reaction from the Overlord.

After regarding the screen for a few moments, Yan’wal turned to the comm-unit on his desk. “Provide a link with Fleet Commander Siegor,” he commanded into the device. He then turned his attention back to his subordinate. “So Dimloe
is
a viable candidate for the destination of the Klin ship? Are these transmissions concentrated in any particular region of the planet?”

“There is increased activity across most of the surface, but there appear to be two primary sources. They are widely separated.”

Yan’wal nodded, just as Commander Siegor appeared on the large monitor. “Yes, my Lord?”

“We have confirmation of increased wave transmission activity from Dimloe, which appears to be concentrated in two distinct areas. You are directed to launch an assault on the planet, taking care not to allow any surviving targets to escape the area.” Yan’wal’s speech was even and passionless.

Without hesitation, Siegor stated, “I will employ an enveloping strategy and set pickets beyond our line to catch any targets which manage to slip through.”

“Approved,” said Yan’wal. Then continuing: “Commander, the Klin may employ weapons and tactics not encountered to date. Be mindful. And prisoners would be beneficial.”

“Understood, My Lord. We can launch in approximately seven hours.”

Chapter Ten

Riyad returned to his ship in orbit above Dimloe, leaving Angar to watch for any discontent among his pirates. Although he knew firm and graphic examples had to be made of insubordinates, he was also aware that such action always ran the risk of inciting even further resentment and unrest.

Besides, Mnnlee had been right. Over the past few months, Riyad had not been taking such an active role in the planning of pirate raids. Most of that responsibility had fallen on Angar, and he just wasn’t that aggressive or confident in his abilities. Riyad felt responsibility for that, too. Prior to Riyad’s arrival and ascension to the leadership position, Angar had been one of the pirates’ most adept captains. Yet after shadowing Riyad for the past couple of years, and marveling at his effortless – and almost uncanny – ability to choose targets and coordinate attacks, Angar was suffering a lack of confidence in his own abilities. Riyad was, after all, a hard act to follow.

Riyad lay back on the bed in his stateroom and stared at the ceiling. His quest for the Klin had distracted him recently and placed Angar in an untenable position. It would be important for Riyad to maintain discipline within the ranks, while at the same time allowing Angar to get a few wins under his belt.

But most of all, Riyad needed time. He needed time to follow up on leads – such as Zylim-4 – while trying to find more. And what if Zylim-4 actually did pan out? How would he infiltrate a Klin stronghold and secure the information he needed without having an army of his own to back him up? At some future date he may have to call upon his pirates – and whatever loyalty he still commanded – to assist him in his quest. Of course, the assistance the pirates would provide would go uncompensated, but hopefully by the time they realized this, it would be too late.

By then Riyad Tarazi would be on his way back home.

But first things first.

He had to lay out some grand action that he could feed to Angar that would appease his pirates and bring some much-needed self-esteem back to his Second. But what could it be—

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an alarm blaring through the comm system. He scrambled to his desk and pressed a button. “What’s happening?”

Immediately, Captain Delmin on the bridge answered. “My General, several large contacts have just appeared at the edges of our screens, closing on Dimloe.” His voice was shrill.

Not again
, Riyad thought. He had just got the base on Dimloe settled in. “I’m on my way.”

By the time he entered the bridge, an image of Captain Angar was on the main screen. To the sides of the large screen were two smaller ones, showing numerous bright contacts with trajectory lines trailing out from behind them, with the planet Dimloe in the center. There appeared to be far too many contacts closing on the planet.

“My General,” Angar said, “we’ve counted forty-nine ships closing on the planet.” Angar’s voice was also an octave higher, carrying with it a trace of disbelief.

“That can’t be right,” Riyad scolded. “The Juireans only have sixteen ships in their entire Fringe fleet.”

“It
is
correct, General. We have visual confirmation on most of them.” Angar was nearing panic.

“Have escape procedures been initiated?”

“Yes, but the contacts are coming in from nearly every direction. Even your scatter technique may not work in this instance.”

Riyad was silent for a moment as he took in the information.
So the Juireans have learned
, he thought.
But where did all these damn ships come from?