Prophet and the Blood March (Prophet of ConFree) (31 page)

Snax pulled a lollipop out of her mouth abruptly. "This is just wonderful, Professor," she said. "We are very grateful and it sounds like great fun. But when does our military training begin?"

The Prof smiled. "I knew you would ask that, and that's why I asked Doggie to attend our meeting." Doggie smiled at the girls. It was kind of a scary smile. "In my opinion, Doggie is the best drill instructor in the Legion. He trained us all. And we are all first-class killers. Doggie is going to be instructing you all, once we decide the time is right. It may not be for awhile, but he'll be waiting for you when that time comes. You won't even have to join the Legion. This will be private instruction, and you will pay for it with funds you earn from your employment." The girls were looking Doggie over carefully.

"What will you teach us?" Cat asked.

"Everything," Doggie said, with his best gravelly voice. "And when I get through with you, you'll look back on it as a near-death experience. But by then you will be the baddest band of bitches in the galaxy. And you will be fully qualified to take pirates and slavers head-on and kill them all."

Δ

"Flash crash. Now!" The announcement came over the base speaker system as well as the tacnet. We charged over to the Prof's office, adrenalin churning. What could it be? We had only just arrived back home on Quaba and had barely had time to say hello to wives and husbands. We were showing all the girls to their temporary quarters, and now this. WTH, over.

Nan the Man was standing beside the Prof with a little datacard. He waved it at the nearest wall screen and the screen filled up with light. By that time it looked like all of Delta was there. On screen, a scruffy male Earther in a dirty sweater was looking into the camera.

"Greetings, citizens. This is your official news agency, Truth and Light, broadcasting live from Aztlan City, New Aztlan. As promised we now go to the Rainbow House in District Montezuma, New Aztlan. The President of New Aztlan has an urgent order for all citizens." The screen flickered and switched to a view of an unshaven young Earther with long, dirty hair, clad in a worn green field coat.

"Greetings, fellow citizens," the President began. "As you know our people's revolution is under attack by enemies both external and internal. In recent months our external enemies have been attacking both the dinosaur UMC and Revolutionary Aztlan on Terra. You have seen the results of the diabolical and merciless attacks on our citizens by the alien horde from Bright Haven." The screen switched to a montage of bloody massacre scenes, showing the grisly results of the Bright attacks on the slavers. Then the view switched back to the President.

"These attacks are unspeakable in their ferocity and unbelievable in their malevolence. Innocent men, women, transies, and children are all massacred in cold blood. The dinosaur UMC appears to be terrified by these events and is doing its best to ignore them. Meantime, the traitors in our midst are taking advantage of these tragic events by redoubling their counter-revolutionary efforts to overthrow the people's will and government. We continue to urge all good citizens to report to the government any anti-government statements or activity.

"Citizens, we stand boldly in your defense. These attacks cannot be allowed to continue without a firm response. Therefore, as authorized by our People's Emergency Committee, I hereby declare, per Executive Decree Number 1477, that a state of war shall hereinafter exist between the Revolutionary Government of New Aztlan, New Terra, and the alien horde from Bright Haven. We decree that the entire resources of New Terra shall be dedicated to the national goal of victory over the alien horde and that the national war effort shall continue until that goal has been achieved.

"Citizens! We call on all patriotic New Aztlan citizens to join in our war effort. Our People's Militia is open to all. Please do your public duty, report all traitors, and volunteer for service in the militia to repel these bloodthirsty alien barbarians from our sacred vac."

Nan killed the broadcast and stood there glumly. "This is exactly what I was afraid of," he said. "They have no intention of going to war with the Brights, of course, but they are using this opportunity to rally support from the public by declaring war against a scary alien enemy and cementing a totalitarian grip on the people. Things were getting so bad economically that they were about to be overthrown by their own PJ gangs, but the declaration of war will give them a few more years of power, and possibly a lifetime dictatorship. The trouble is, we have no idea how the Brights will react to this. Maybe they won't even care, or maybe they will become enraged. Who knows?"

"Any news on the invasion?"

"It’s impossible to tell how this will affect the UMC's plans to invade and secure Terra. If it was up to me, I'd do it right away. But it's not up to me."

Δ

It was wonderful to be back in Quaba, back in Delta Research, back with Honeyhair, my obsession. My heart sped up whenever I saw her. We merged, heart against heart, and lost ourselves in burning love. She cried for joy. I tried to resist that, but it was hard. I knew God had laid his hands on me, and her. I had never been religious before, but Bees was teaching me, slowly and patiently, one soul-searing incident at a time. Somebody was sure as hell watching over me. God, Deadman, the Brights, I didn't know who or what. But I had certainly been transformed. I guess we all were – all of Squad Delta.

We had no time for relaxing. We were very busy with all those girls, all those shattered souls. There was plenty to do before sending them back to their families. We had to ID them thoroughly, give them in-depth physical and mental exams at Quaba General Hospital, debrief them in detail on their experiences as sex slaves, and extract and organize all actionable information. They knew a lot. Plenty of slavers were going to die, sooner or later, based on that information. We weren't taking notes for the record. We were making lists of people we were going to kill.

Honeyhair and Blondie were put in charge of the girls. They had plenty of medical and psychiatric help, but they were in charge. Their mission was to make the girls happy until it was time to ship them out. They did a terrific job of that.

Most of the girls wanted to make initial contact with their families – usually it was Mom and Dad and brothers and sisters. The best way to do that was often through the ConFree Embassy on the world in question. We'd set up a visual Q-link to the Embassy and they'd call the family in, saying only that it was about their missing daughter. Once the family was there, in the Embassy, properly ID'd, the girl would appear on-screen.

I watched the first of those Q-link reunions, and I swear I had to leave the room. It was so powerful it was hardly bearable.

That's what the Legion does. We bring people back from the dead. Talk about meaningful employment. Honeyhair and Blondie felt their entire existence was validated through that work.

Δ

Bird and Mary were married 385/5/10 in Delta Research's rec park one fine evening. The park was blazing with pink lights and set up for a big marriage feast to follow the ceremony.

The Prof was the best man, Ice and Bees were the maids of honor, and Mary was stunning in Ice's beautiful snow princess wedding dress. Somebody told Ice and Bees they couldn't be maids of honor because they were already married so the correct term was matrons of honor. Ice said anybody who called her a matron was going to get punched in the nose, so it was concluded they would be maids of honor despite their marital status.

When Mary tossed the bridal bouquet over her shoulder there was a mad scramble among the young ladies to snatch it. But it was Carol, the Prof's long-limbed daughter, who caught it, to the delight of the crowd. She was only sixteen, a bit young for marriage, but we were all happy for her.

"She'll be a good catch for anybody some day," Honeyhair said. "She's really been applying herself in her studies. She knows how lucky she is." We joined Arie and Blondie and Smiley and Doggie at a festively decorated table and I poured wine for everybody. We had rescued the Prof's daughter – or rather, the Prof had rescued her, with a little help from Delta – in 381 in a raid on Quatar. We had killed a whole lot of slavers and liberated a whole lot of slave girls – not just the Prof's daughter. The original plan had been to pay the slavers to get his daughter back – a peaceful transaction. But he had changed the plan when he saw all the other slave girls. From that moment on I fully recognized what a complex person the Professor was, and how totally moral he was, and how totally courageous and dedicated he was. I was in awe of the man. It was almost as if he existed in a different plane of reality than the rest of us.

"Well, with Bird captured, that leaves only you two and the Prof still on the loose," Arie said to Smiley and Doggie.

"I'm happy being single," Doggie said. "There's plenty of babes out there who are out for a good time. They keep me busy."

"You just haven’t been effectively targeted yet," Honeyhair said. "You're a good man, Doggie, and one of these days one of your babes is going to see through your gruff exterior and capture your heart."

"Ha!" he laughed. "I doubt it." Blackie came up to Doggie and laid his head on Doggie's knee.

"Besides, I've got Blackie to keep me company if I get lonely," Doggie said, pouring some wine into a saucer and placing it on the deck for Blackie.

"The Prof is always so busy, I don't think he's even thought about a new wife," I said. "How about you, Smiley? You must have a few groupies among all these ladies." Smiley was young and handsome and I'm sure the girls had their eyes on him.

"No," he said. "I joined the Legion to do the right thing. ConFree took us in as refugees. My family was enslaved on Katag, and I know how fortunate I am to be here. I promised my family I would join the Legion and fight for ConFree – and I would do it as long as I was needed."

"That doesn't mean you have to give up on love," I said.

"Yes, it does," he replied softly.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing." He lowered his head, toying with his wine glass. He was clearly upset. I had never seen him that way before.

"What’s her name?" Blondie asked, softly. At first Smiley did not respond. Then he spoke.

"Christine."

"Where is she?"

"She's on Lotus. That's where we settled after Katag. That's where I enlisted."

"Do you love her?"

"Yes."

"Then there's no problem. What's the problem?"

"When I walked through the Legion gate, I told her it was like dying. I said I'd never see her again and I wanted her to forget me. To get another boy friend, and get on with her life. Because I would not be coming back."

"And what did she say?"

"She said she was not going to do that. She said she was going to wait for me. No matter how long it took. I told her not to do that. I told her we were parting now, and we were each going to just fade away, and forget each other. Then I walked through the gate. She was crying."

"It doesn't sound like you've forgotten her. Has she forgotten you?"

"I don't know."

"Don't you want to find out?"

"After all this time? Are you serious? It's been five years since I enlisted. She's forgotten me. I told her to forget me. She's probably married by now. Why should she still remember me? Who the hell am I?"

"You're the person who she said she would wait for, no matter how long it would take. That's who. You said you love her?"

"Yes. I can't forget her. I dream about her all night." He was looking down at the table again. It was as if there were only the two of them, Blondie and Smiley, in a private conversation. "It's crazy. I can't get her out of my head. I really did think she was just going to fade away. But she didn't. As time went on I thought about her more. And more. It's my fault. My fault." Finally Smiley looked up and smiled, back to his regular self. "Guess I've had too much wine," he said. "Sorry to bother you with my fantasies. Let's enjoy the wedding."

Blondie didn't respond, but I was pretty sure she was not going to let it end there. Honeyhair had told me all about Blondie, and Blondie was an exceptional person. Give her a problem and she’ll resolve it. Whether or not it should be resolved.

"Cheers! Hello, friends!" It was Bird, with Mary at his side. He looked excited. She looked good enough to eat, and she was glowing, ecstatic. Bird raised a glass on high. "To our friends! Friends and comrades! Drink! Drink!" We all drank. Bird emptied his glass. "What! Empty! Again! This glass must have a hole in it." Bird was looking a bit unsteady on his feet. "Any advice for the groom?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "Just do whatever she says."

"Fred! Fred! More wine!" Bird called out.

"Right away, sir!" Fred said, refilling Bird's glass.

"No more alcohol for him," Fred confided in me. "But you can't tell the difference. It tastes the same."

"Thanks, Fred. You're a good man."

"I wouldn't want him to be unable to do his husbandly duties on his wedding night," Fred said.

"Good thinking. I'm sure he'd thank you if he knew."

Δ

"FLASH CRASH! NOW! ALL DELTA, NOW!" The announcement echoed through the base. Again? What the hell? It was mid-morning the day after the wedding. I ran to the Prof's office where we all gathered, breathless from the run. The Prof was reading a print-out.

"All right, here it is," he said quietly, not even looking up. "Twoday last week the eyemotes and probes around Pacifica started going out. One by one. Autoefforts to revive them failed. The techs went to work, concerned that their babies had failed them. They were unable to raise any of the units. That was so unusual that they examined their options and sent another probe to the target. But before the probe was even halfway there it was noted that Pacifica was on the move."

"On the move!" somebody exclaimed.

"On the move. It has exited its former orbit and is now on a new course. They double-checked it and confirmed it and some genius decided it might be nice to let us know. So here we are. Remind me not to depend on Tech Central to monitor our devices any more. They have not yet been able to determine the asteroid's new course but we’ll get that shortly. Here's the plan. We depart today. The mission is to locate and destroy the deflection device as soon as we get there. Assuming it is there this time. That's likely because otherwise the asteroid would not be moving. We will do this by entering the device, planting an antimat charge, and destroying it. At the same time we will be installing our own impulse plasma deflection device, not far off. We considered a gravity tractor but we decided against that as the B's might decide to attack the tractor – our ship. With an impulse plasma deflection device we drill our own pit, install the device, and activate it, at max power. Then we disappear and monitor what happens, controlling it from a distance."