"I"d like to have your help, Vermillion. But the pardon isn"t contingent on it. Incidentally, I was taken off Aglaya as a slave and freed myself, uh, bloodily, and I"ve been a pirate, too. I freed myself of that, too. The best friend I"ve ever had is named Cinnabar. We changed its name from Raunchy. And I don"t lie much."
Vermillion put its head cautiously on one side. "Did 85.86.you just say "Some of my best friends are Jarps"?"
"Neg. I said that my one best friend is a person named Cinnabar. It is also a Jarp."
"I believe you, and that isn"t con-that big word you said. I"m with you, Janja. What do you want me to do?"
Janja nodded, looking gingerly at the Jarp who was here in Seera"s cabin because Janja had advised that Manjanungo required its presence. It was a step, the first step toward the impossible goal of trying to seize two ships and their crew, as well as the prisoners on Starwolf. She had felt very alone. She still did, but here was a step. She was going to trust Vermillion. She pretty much had to. (Seera was in the cabin"s private sitter, getting herself together. Her efforts and her cleansing were audible. Hurriedly, Janja had told Vermillion all that had taken place here.) "I want you to sound out Vampy and Serendip, and either convert them-one by one-or let me know if we"ll have to treat them as enemies. That"s after we"ve released Boroboodhi."
"Rel-via! How are we going to do that?"
"We go to that little chamber and open the door and explain, to stop that behemoth from bursting out on a rampage."
They did that. Despite Janja"s anxiety and Vermil-lion"s fearfulness, it was easy. Janja escorted Seera at stopper-point to her former prison. That proved unnecessary; no one saw them. Seera opened the feeding-panel and said a few words to Boroboodhi. They opened the door and she said a few more. Out came the man-mountain, Seera"s man and ready for anything. Hoping we have a fight, Janja thought.
Since they still saw no one and had not been seen, Janja changed the plan, subst.i.tuting a new Step Three.
87.After a quick explanation, the three of them headed for the con-cabin. No one saw them; they saw no one. The first mate of Lewuvul entered Lewuvul"s con-cabin to find Pak and Serendip. After both glanced around at her, she motioned the negligee"d Seera in and drew her stopper. From behind the pair minding the con, she introduced herself, "Oh s.h.i.t," Karmal Pak said. He glanced around again, faced the con again, elevated both hands, and rose from the first chair. He turned slowly to face the leveled stoppers of Lady Seerava and Janjaglaya Wye, TGO.
Serendip was less intelligent. It rose and tried turning, fast, with stopper in six-fingered hand. Janja"s ability to cherm, to "hear" emotions and intents mentally, had already warned her. Serendip turned and Janja squeezed the grip of her stopper. Serendip Danced. At her order, Pak gingerly knocked the weapon from the Jarp"s hand. Janja ceased squeezing the weapon she had kept tucked inside her tunic until Manjanungo"s timely demise, told Serendip it was a dumb fobber, and gestured.
The two moved past her. They showed surprise at the pistole in Seera"s fist, and more than surprise at seeing Boroboodhi. He showed just how much he would love to rearrange various parts of their anatomies.
"Vermillion and Vampy to the con, please," Janja was saying into the inship commsender, as the four departed for Boroboodhi"s former quarters. Now it would be Serendip"s and Karmal Pak"s. Janja would wait.
Before Vampy and Vermillion arrived, Captain Lor-tice did.
"What the b.l.o.o.d.y vug"s going on on my ship, Mate?"
88.Janja spun in the captain"s chair. "To be truthful, Captain, I"m not sure, " she lied, noting his deshabille and knowing that he had lost no time in disporting himself with Manjanungo"s gift, Topaz. "First Manjan-ungo sent me up here to send him Pak and Serendip, and I did. Next he comms just now that he wants me back in Lady S"s cabin." She shrugged. "So, I called for V and V, to mind the store."
In an instant she was looking into the bore of a stopper. "You"re lying, Mate. I"ve been monitoring calls from my cabin on captain"s override. Nothing from Seera"s cabin, since you called for Vermillion, in the Admiral"s name. Mate . . . where is the Admiral!"
Janja"blinked. "Why ... in Lady Seera"s cabin, Captain. She said something that made him go all to pieces, and-"
He twitched the stopper. "Something is going on, on my ship. Comm him, NajendraP"
"Cap-tain . . . disturb the Admiral!"
"Yes, by-uhl"
The final non-word erupted from Lortice"s throat as a result of the stopper thrust into the center of his back. He went quite erect and quite wide of eye.
"Your stopper wouldn"t be on Three, Captain, and mine isn"t either. Pa.s.s yours back and I won"t squeeze this one."
"How"d you get a-Serendip?"
"Neg. Vermillion. But all us Jarps look and sound just alike, right? I got this stopper from the mate, who got it from Manjanungo. Pa.s.s yours back."
"This-this is mutiny!"
Janja chuckled. "Hardly, mutineer. We heroes are merely returning this ship to its rightful owner. Your ship"s mate is TGO, Captain Lortice, and you are in 89.trouble. Pa.s.s your stopper back to agent Vermillion."
Lortice did, and was taken.
"Shall I give his stopper to Vampy, Janja?"
"What makes you think we can trust Vampy with it?"
Beside Vermillion, Vampy stared at her. "Are you blind, TGO agent? I love Vermillion."
"Oh. Vermillion-give Vampy its stopper."
As that was done, Seera had Boroboodhi returned. Janja apologized to the juggernaut for not affording him the opportunity to break a head or two. He looked sullen, and at Seera. She looked astonishingly piratic now, and even competent, in green s.p.a.cefarer"s baggies with the pra.s.s-handled pistole thrust into her belt- white leather, from her next-to-best dress.
Once he had heard the fate of his late admiralish employer, Lortice went very weak in both knees and resolve. He agreed to try to save a portion of his a.s.s by comming Janja"s instructions to Manjanungo"s ship: "The Admiral is sending over my mate and one crew-member, Able s.p.a.cefarer Vermillion. He wishes Jenk to a.s.sist them in transferring his special guest to this ship, along with the man he recently picked out of s.p.a.ce. Says his name is Vettering?"
"Why isn "t the Admiral telling me himself, Lortice?"
"Captain," Janja said from the mate"s chair, "may I?"
Naturally Lortice acquiesced, and she leaned forward to the outship comm.
"I am First Mate of Lewuvul. I did not choose to question the orders of the Admiral. Shall I comm him and tell him you did?"
After a rather tense period of time, the voice of Starwolfs mate came back: "Come ahead, First Mate 90.and crewmember of Lewuvul."
Janja off-commed. "Well done, Lortice. Come along now to durance vile."
"No one seems to be calling him "captain" anymore," Vermillion said.
"And no one will," Lortice said morosely, knowing that his Master"s papers were forfeit, among other things. He went into the small hold-hole with Serendip and Pak.
"Vampy, mind the con, please. Lady Seera-would you go to Lortice"s cabin and learn the feelings of that girl Manjanungo gave him? She"s called Topaz. Very young. Withhold information until you learn how she feels-she may love Manjanungo, somehow! Perhaps let her know you"re a prisoner too, and have been mistreated."
"I understand, Janja. Chances are she only fears him, and Lortice, but needs taking care of. Maybe she has a functioning mind, maybe not."
Janja shrugged. Lewuvul secured, she and Vermillion went over to Starwolf.
The first thing they noticed was Skive, Manjanungo"s first mate. The second was crewmember Jenk. The third was that Starwolf was no less luxuriously and opulently appointed than Lewuvul. Ah, the clans of Jorinne!
Jenk was a genuinely ugly swine with eyes that would have looked a lot better behind a blindfold. First Mate Skive, Manjanungo"s third in a month, was genuinely handsome.
"Wonder why he wants those two over on Lewuvul," he said, while Jenk stared openly at Janja, and at Ver-million"s b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and at Janja. . . . Her hair was now a medium brown, on its way to its natural very pale blond; she had popped a capsule to negate the dye, but that took awhile.
91."Didn"t ask," she said. "I can tell you though, I think-the former owner of that yacht is his cousin, the Lady Seerava. He wants to show off his acquisitions. Where are they?"
"This way, Mate."
"Right behind you, Mate," Janja said, and considered taking him and Jenk here and now. There were others...o...b..ard. Best to handle this slowly and with great care. That had worked on Lewuvul. One step at a time.
Vettering came out of the hold-cubicle ready to fight, but not against leveled stoppers. He did not recognize Janja, although once they and several others had spent some hours together in a bar in Thebanis"s capital, and he had l.u.s.ted after her. She had been Corundum"s woman then, but getting over it.
It seemed wise to restrain Vettering. They did, linking his wrists behind his back. Jenk was more than happy to do that, and Janja hoped that Vett"s hands would survive the nasty tightness of those bonds.
Val.u.s.triana See was another matter.
Janja pressed her eyes closed, and swallowed. She stared at the very tall woman with the strange olive eyes "d.a.m.n," Janja murmured. "I"d always thought it was a myth, that a person"s elbows could actually be forced together behind her. Without dislocating her shoulders, I mean."
"Sure swells the warheads, don"t it," Jenk said, copping a feel of one of Val.u.s.triana"s large warhead-shaped b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "This one"s supple. She can take about anything. We"re real proud of her."
"Urn," Janja said, her jaw tightening. She surveyed the big woman"s dull eyes. "Does she have any idea of what"s going on? I mean, I can see that she"s drugged up to here." Then she was staring at the other TGO agent"s 92.crotch, which was cruelly stuffed by a d.i.l.d.o tied in place.
"Oh yes. Just drugged to the eyebrows. To the hairline! She knows what"s going on. She just can"t do anything about it. AH right, stash, walk. We"re going to take you to see your favorite person."
Val.u.s.triana See moved dully, carefully, awkwardly. The very tall, slim heels of her clearpla.s.s sandals didn"t help her gait.
Janja, Vermillion, and Jenk escorted the pair over to Lewuvul. As they left Starwolf they saw an apparition, and on their way through the S-tunnel linking the ships, they asked Jenk about it. He explained the woman called Intaglio. And the girls. There were still three of those on Starwolf, Janja learned, even with one now on Lewuvul.
Jenk soon joined the captain, steward, and crewmem-ber of that ship in an increasingly smaller cabin. Jenk showed outrage, which was almost amusing to Janja; Vermillion tweet-laughed openly at the incongruity.
With Jenk securely locked in with his new companion, Janja and Vermillion checked the con, gave Vampy a swift report, and ushered the zombie that had been Val.u.s.triana See to Lortice"s cabin. Seera and the naked Topaz sat on the rumpled bed. Topaz was softly weeping; Seera had an arm around her. Her reaction to the others" entry was one of delight, indicating that it was not she who had a.s.sisted in the mussing of the bed, or in the denuding of the teenager.
"She hates him, poor girl," Seera said, cuddling the yellow-blond. "Fears him-no, more than that. She"s scared half to death of him-and of a woman named or at least called Intaglio. Topaz isn"t her real name of course, but she does like it, and the color he dyed her hair. She"s from Resh, originally-entered slavery vol- 93.untarily, at thirteen. Not quite five years-standard ago. Look at her waist, these marks. He"s kept her in a stringently-laced corset ever since he acquired her-he did buy her, by the way. I mean kept her laced up just short of strangulation day and night. There are three others on his ship, with that Intaglio in charge of them. She is his slave, too."
"We saw her," Janja said. "Topaz. Look at me. I am Janjaglaya Wye. I am with TransGalactic Order." Seeing no reaction in the girl"s eyes, she added, "TGO," and saw the flare of recognition. "This is that lady"s ship-Seerava"s. Manjanungo tried to steal it, and her -his own cousin. We have just come from his ship, Topaz. We will be going back. Topaz: Manjanungo is dead. Dead."
Janja saw the joy in the girl"s eyes just before she broke down in hysterical sobbing. Janja a.s.sumed that it was relief.
"Vermillion?"
The Jarp ushered in Val.u.s.triana and Vettering. Seera stared.
"Seera, this one needs you-and Topaz," she said, suddenly realizing that Topaz would be a lot better off with something to do, someone else to feel sorry for and help. "She is Val.u.s.triana See, an Outie and a good agent of TGO."
"She is magnificent!" Seera said. "What has that monster done to her?"
"Most everything he could think of, I think. Right now she"s drugged. Please be slow about easing off her bonds-their removal will be painful, surely, with her elbows touching behind her back this way. And . . . you will get this . . . plug out of her?"
Tears showed in Seera"s eyes. "Oh yes. Come on, Topaz-shape up, dear. You"re all right now-better than 94.you"ve ever been. Now you start to live-you"ll see, dear. But this poor woman needs our help."
As they approached the towering zombie, both much shorter even if Val See were not perched upon her tall skinny heels, a voice came from behind Janja. "All right. What about me?"
Janja turned to Vettering, leaving Val.u.s.triana to Seera and Topaz and putting them all three out of her mind for now.
"Captain Vettering. You and Althis have fallen on hard times since I spent time with you in the Loophole Bar in Raunch, on Thebanis," Janja said, staring serenely into his eyes. "I was very blond then, and with Corundum. h.e.l.lfire was calling me Cloud-Top, then. Name"s Janja. From Aglaya. Back then I was just with Corundum. I wasn"t with TGO, then."*
"Holy Boodha"sa.s.siNo!"
"Forget it. We aren"t after you, Vettering. I was a.s.signed to Manjanungo, because he took a TGO agent and had ideas too big for us all. He"s dead. Dead, Vett. We"ve re-taken this ship. You just behave and I"ll get you and Althis to some planet"s s.p.a.ce station and set you both free."
He studied her for quite a while. "Janja, hmm? I remember. You"re the slave who freed herself on Resh and wanted Jonuta"s a.s.s. TGO! Boodha"s-listen, TGO Janja. You take my ship and give me Manjy-nungo"s and I"ll do whatever you and TGO say anytime you say it, TGO Janja."
"Still working the angles, hmm?" She smiled. "Vettering, Vettering! You"re incorrigible. Give you Man-janungo"s multimillion-stell yacht! As a matter of fact it will be TGO property. As a matter of fact the hyper- * In s.p.a.cEWAYS #2, Corundum"s Woman 95.wealthy clans of Jorinne were short in their last payment to TGO"s upkeep."
"So you steal the ship?"
"The word is confiscation, Vettering-it"s you pirates and slavers who steal, remember?"
"Sounds the same to me," he said. "Stealing"s stealing, whether it"s by pickpockets or pirates or policers or governments."
"Well, that"s the business of policers and governments, isn"t it? They afford the citizens protection and steal from them. Both history and experience have taught me that about you Galactics, Vett. Anyhow- you"re just thinking about Manjanungo"s toys on that ship, right? His girls. How many females can one male handle? How about the TGW woman? Lord, Vettering, what about Althis?" The big blowzy frowze, Janja added mentally but did not say. She remembered Vetter-ing"s overblown woman.
"Her name is Lhari, and she was shoved into that ship with us. We did not take her, Janja. That was another, and may he and a certain Ulf rot slowly forever! Lhari is mine and Althis"s, Janja-she loves it, loves us! And me-h.e.l.l, I love Althis. What"s that got to do with other s.e.x-with some fun and games with Manjy"s s.e.xy corseted toys?"
Janja forced herself not to smile. "We-"
"Hey-what do you mean, "you Galactics"? What do you call yourself?"
"I"m an Aglayan from Aglaya, Vett. We"re not Homeworld stock-we"re native to that planet. A different race, Vettering. We"re Aglayans, not Galactics."
"Huh! That"s not possible. Oh, you"ve got those funny pale eyes, and skin and hair, and no canine teeth, but-"
"Huh! There are other differences, too, and who 96.cares what your Great Thinkers called impossible? It happened. Besides, you"ve never seen an Aglayan navel."
"Love to."
"We have to take Starwolf, Vettering. Manjanungo"s dead but there"s his ship, and his mate and a couple more, and his toys. Want to help? A few extra points withTGO?"
He gave her a sideward look, eyes narrowing. "You really are?"
"I really am. The year or so since I met you has been a very, very busy one, Vett. I can"t go back to Aglaya-I know too much, now. I"d never fit in again. On the other hand I believe in Right, and I have morals. So-TGO. I really am."
"You"d be crazy to trust me with a weapon."
"You"d be crazy to use it on anyone other than Manjanungo"s people, Vett. They"re there, and they"re ruthless, and both Lhari and Althis are with them."
Vettering nodded. "I can"t help you with my hands tied behind me. As it is I"ll need to flex my fingers for two or three mins just to be sure that I"ve got my circulation back. After that-I am good with knife and stopper and hands and I would love to take Manjanungo"s people apart." After a moment he added, "I"d rather take him apart, but you beat me to it. Well? Do you have a plan? Listen ..."
8.
Kill the varmints! Eat the varmints!