bone, and pressed hard. The man hissed with pain and backed away.
"Mister," Piehl said coldly, "you don't understand anything. You don't go anywhere, do anything, without my permission, understand?"
The man nodded his head angrily. "Back up against the wall, now! Sergeant, search him."
His eyes looked uneasy and his hand started to move toward his waist. Piehl backed off a pace and had his stunner in hand in an instant. He didn't wait, just let him have half stun in the chest. It slammed the man against the wall and he fell forward on his face.
The Imperial Messenger was terrified. He fell to his knees pleading. "They made me do it, Captain. They would have killed me for sure."
"Who are they, mister?"
"I can't tell you that, Captain."
"You've got two ways to go. You can tell me everything, now, or I kill you. Believe it! Or you can go back to your friends and they'll kill you later. I don't care at all.
"Sergeant, strip this other gent, and do a full search. IMP, move your extensor in here. When the sergeant is finished, do a scan of his body"
"Got it, Captain."
"Now, mister, talk to me!"
He shivered. "Vice-Admiral Pariel, sir. He made me do it."
"Why?"
"I don't know, honest, Captain, I don't know."
"IMP, what do you find?"
"This man is a walking electronics shop. His excrement is probably wired!"
Two of the ex-Legion hands had been standing by, watching the whole thing with great interest.
"Boys, do me a favor," Piehl said. "Take this garbage away."
"How far, Captain?"
"A long way."
"Right, sir. Good goddamned riddance, too." One of them nodded toward the Imperial Messenger. "What about that one, sir?"
"No, I have no other plans for him." Piehl turned to the groveling messenger. "You go back to the palace and request to see the King and tell him everything that occurred here."
"I can't do that, sir. Great Gods, I wouldn't get past the main tubeway."
"Yes, you will. IMP, code everything that's happened here and send it on that special channel. When you have the proper acknowledgment, let me know. For now, you step in here. Just beside the access. Someone will come for you."
In ten minutes, six Sufic Warriors of the Imperial Guard showed up and escorted the messenger away. Piehl slammed the access shut and set for un-dock sequence.
"IMP, bring all your stuff, we aren't waiting for anymore messengers, real or phony. We probably aren't welcome where we're going either, but I want space. We can't maneuver here."
Chapter 8
Sergeant, go to your station." As soon as Piehl reached the control deck he hit the departure signal and heard it ring throughout the ship. Shortly, the rest of the crew began to appear on the flight deck.
"Everybody strap in and seal up. Bring your systems on-line. Report when boards are green."
Piehl acknowledged each as they reported.
"Weapons, I want a full near-field and far-field scan. All tubes loaded for close action."
"Aye, aye, Captain."
"Whistler, set up to go out via LaGrange IV Terminus. As soon as Port Control gives you the last 'go', set ‘cloaking’, cut the ship's velocity to one third. Do one rotation on planetary orbit before going out to terminus."
"Tricky, Captain, very tricky," Flex grinned.
"The King may be able to squash this Royal Navy crap, I don't know, but I'm not going to give anything away."
"IMP, get Port Control and begin clearing us out." Piehl could hear the two computers talking in the background. The huge docking bay doors began to open outward on the night sky of Regent's Planet.
He felt the ship spring free of restraints and slowly begin to move forward out of the hanger. It was the best feeling in the world, everything bright and a sharp tang of excitement filled the flight deck.
"Ease us out, Flex."
With the feathery control of first class gravitics they slid into the dark night sky.
"Up ahead slow, Flex. IMP? What have you got?"
"We're going to have company, Captain. I've got two fast cruisers at LaGrange III. That's not their usual station. These guys are running hot engines and I have pre-jump energy readings from their mains."
"All right, follow the plan, Flex."
"One minute to cloaking, Captain."
"Ship's dark, sir. On new course west-north-west, orbital escape. Lagrange IV in 2.55 minutes."
"Comm, sir. LaGrange IV will relay our Mass Event even if they can't see us," Lady Lociranou said.
Piehl chuckled grimly. "No problem, by then it will be too late. Flex, we'll jump within their safety envelope."
"They'll be screaming rape and destruction, sir!" Flex said cheerfully.
"Screw'em, our bills are paid. It'll give that shiftless bunch of electro-tech fairies something to do re-calibrating all their instruments. I'll enter the jump coordinates from here, Flex."
Flex just raised his eyebrows. "Aye, aye. Passing LaGrange IV, sir."
"Someone's got a probability lock on long range, sir," IMP cut in.
"Ignore it."
"Jump in twenty seconds, Captain. I show coordinates locked on the board." Flex said.
"Play the music, Flex."
All through the ship the thunder of 'Outward Bound', a Legion song rang out. Piehl felt the familiar lurch and twist in his gut, then the curious blankness of thought that signals a strong gravitic event. Slowly the music faded. They were in null-space, underway.
"IMP, were either of those two building for a jump?"
"No, Captain; my estimate is 98.61% we jumped alone. However, they should have been able to determine our destination coordinates."
"Understood. Everyone set systems for normal space keeping." Piehl looked around the flight deck and watched the individual protect shields rolling back from their safety positions. The Whistler spoke first.
"Captain, I deduce from computational data that we are on a long jump toward the galactic core."
"That's
