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.The shuttles were virtually untouched.All they needed for liftoff was fuel,and on the way back the team stopped to pick up Denat, along with T'Leen Sena,who had accepted his proposal of marriage.The shuttles, and the port's other aircraft, had also sufficed to pick up theVashin and Diaspran dependents, along with spare civan and even a few flar-ta,including Patty.They'd found that they could just fit one flar-ta to aPage 239ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlshuttle, and as long as they kept the beasts sedated, the trip was a piece ofcake.In addition to all that, the Mardukan members of TheBasik's Own had been put through a brief course in shipboard combat.They'd beentaken into orbit aboard the assault shuttles and shown how to move infree-fall.After a brief period of total disorientation, most of them hadtaken to it well, and it turned out that the locals' four arms were incrediblyhelpful in zero-gravity combat.After their initial exposure to micro-gravity, they were put through a fewmaneuvers and finally exposed to vacuum in their new uniforms.After that,there wasn't much more to do.The best the humans could do with the materialsat hand was to familiarize the locals with space combat in its most basicsense.If it came down to it, the Mardukans would have to learn the ins andouts as they went, which was rarely a path to long-term survival.Cord had not joined them in their training.Despite the old Shaman's sulfurousprotests, Roger had decided that his asi had no business in any potentialboarding actions.It looked more and more as ifCord would be at least partly disabled permanently from his wound, despite allDobrescue could do.Even if he'd been in perfect health, Roger had pointed out ruthlessly, nothingCord could have done in battle would make much difference one way or the otherto the protection of someone already in powered armor.But he wasn't inperfect health, and that was that.What Roger very carefully had not mentioned was his conviction that his asihad no business in combat under any circumstances when he stood on the brinkof finally becoming a parent.Pedi had been equally careful to stay out of theentire discussion, but Roger had recognized her gratitude when Cord finallygrumpily accepted that his "master's" decision was final.With the Mardukans' training as close to complete as it was going to get,they'd hidden the assault shuttles away, reloaded with fuel and ammunition, inthe jungle on the edge of the Shin lands and settled down to wait for theright ship.When the time came, the main force would loft in one of the portshuttles, suitably stealthed, while the Mardukan "backup" waited on the groundin the much more threatening assault shuttles.One ship had come and gone already, but since it was a tramp freighter flaggedbyRaiden-Winterhowe, they'd passed it up.Hijacking ships under the protectionof one of the other major interstellar empires wasn't a good idea.What theywere looking for was a ship flagged by the Empire, or even better, one thatwas owned by an Imperial company but under a flag of convenience.They mightbe returning to attempt a counter-coup, but they didn't want to start aninterstellar war in the process.It had been a hectic two weeks, but now, with all the preparations in place,all they had to do was wait and train.And if a ship didn't come soon, they'deither have to cut back on the Vashin ammunition allotment which might lead toa mutiny or else find a new hill for them to shoot up.Pahner chuckled at the thought, then keyed his helmet com in response to acall from the com center.He listened for a moment, then nodded, and turned to Kosutic."All right, Sergeant Major.Tell the troops to quit their fun and suit up.""Ship?""Yep.A tramp freighter owned by Georgescu Lines.Due in thirty-six hours.Idoubt they can detect plasma bursts from more than twenty hours out, but Ithink we should start shutting down the ranges and getting our war faces on.""Georgescu? That's a New Liberia Company, isn't it, Sir?" Kosutic asked, andPahner frowned.He understood the point she was making, because New Liberiadefinitely wasn't a part of the Empire ofPage 240ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlMan."Yes," he said, "but the company's owners appear to be Imperial.Or maybe ashell corporation.And it's not like New L is going to go to war with theEmpire, even if we do cop one of their ships.""No, I don't guess so," Kosutic agreed.New Liberia belonged to the Confederation of Worlds, which was a holdover fromthe treaties which had ended the Dagger Wars.The Confederation was arag-picker's bag of systems none of the major powers had wanted badly enoughto fight each other for, and the treaties had set it up primarily as a bufferzone.Despite the centuries which had passed since, however, it had neverprogressed much beyond subsistence-level neobarb worlds, most of themdespotisms, of which New Liberia was by far the most advanced.Which wasn'tsaying much.Even that planet wasn't much more than a convenient place to dumpan off-planet shell corporation, or register a ship at a minimum yearly cost.As for NewLiberia itself, the planet had a population under six million most of themdirt poor and a few in-system frigates that were play-toys for whateverslope-brow bully-boy had come out on top in the most recent coup.They wereunlikely to charge the Empire with piracy, especially of a freighter which wasowned by an Imperial corporation skating around the tax laws."We'll call on them to surrender, try to keep casualties to a minimum, and payGeorgescu off when we get back," the captain said [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]