Crown of Slaves

'There's no question they are, I don't think. Imbesi just made a call to the docking bay where they arrived, and got no answer. I'm sure they've slaughtered the guards and taken their weapons. Along with whatever they brought themselves. Hopefully, they won't have any military-grade equipment.'

Thandi hesitated again. She'd already considered the methods available for arming her team. They'd brought no weapons at all, since she'd known there was no way the station's security would have allowed them to enter with their weaponry.

Victor anticipated her thoughts. 'Take what you need from the station's guards, when the time comes. But if you can, try not to kill any of them.'

'That'd be hard to do, to be honest. Besides… we'll see, once I get a look at the fighting ground. I might be able to get the weapons from Templeton's men themselves.'

It was Cachat's turn to hesitate. 'That could be… ah, really dangerous, Thandi.'

'Yes, it could. On the other hand'-her lips quirked a little-'I'm really that good, too. We'll make a deal. I won't tell you how to do cloak-and-dagger stuff; you don't tell me how to do mayhem.'

She heard his soft chuckle. 'Fair enough. Good luck, Thandi. When I hear anything more, I'll pass it along.'

Thandi rose from the table. The women in her team, scattered at three other tables as well as her own, were on their feet instantly. Glancing around, Thandi saw that they were alone in the little room.

'We've been warned to be careful,' she said cheerfully. 'It seems Templeton is dangerous and my-ah, gentleman friend-is a bit concerned for my health.'

That got the reaction she'd expected. All of the women were scowling.

'Men!' snapped one of them. 'Great kaja, you are. Eat them alive.'

Chapter 22

'That's it, then,' said Victor softly, turning to face Naomi and her uncle. The two were sitting in what looked like superbly comfortable armchairs. So Victor assumed, at any rate. All the furniture he'd seen so far in the Imbesi family's private suite in The Wages of Sin looked-there was no other term for it- sinfully expensive and luxurious. That was part of the reason Victor hadn't availed himself of the comfort personally, aside from the fact that he was too full of energy to sit down anyway. For someone of his background and ideological convictions, there was something vaguely distasteful about using a piece of furniture whose price could have fed a poor family for months. It was an irrational reaction on his part, of course-but he was still the person who lived inside the skin of 'Victor Cachat.'

'Do you really think this will work?' Walter asked, frowning a little. 'It seems excessively complicated.'

'It is excessively complicated. But I can't see any other way to squeeze the opening we want out of the situation. Just smashing Templeton won't do it. We need to use him like a prybar.'

Naomi's frown was more pronounced than her uncle's. 'What I don't understand is why you're so confident that Templeton will even find his sister.' She glanced at the door which opened into one of the space station's public corridors. 'Victor, I'm not sure you have any real idea just how convoluted those passageways are. Sure, there are holo-guides. But those aren't really all that easy to use, especially for someone who's never been here before-which I'd be astonished if Templeton has, given his theology.'

'She's got a point, Victor,' chimed in Walter. 'Templeton's more likely to just blunder about. And within two hours or so the alarms are going to go up all over the station. At that point, he'll just get smashed anyway. So why not do it now-and possibly save quite a few lives?'

'I'm counting on that theology, Walter. At a guess, how many people from either Grayson or Masada do you think ever visit The Wages of Sin? '

Imbesi chuckled. 'Maybe a dozen. Possibly a few more… but not many of them, that's for sure. The Graysons don't share the Masadans' more fanatical effusions of 'morality,' of course. They don't have any prohibitions against gambling-within limits, at least-but even for them, this place is pretty much a synonym for 'wickedness.' ' He grinned. 'I think it has something to do with the female entertainers' costumes. Or lack thereof. Hm. Come to that, most of them are probably just as uncomfortable with the male entertainer's outfits!' he added, transferring his grin to his niece.

'Exactly,' Victor nodded. 'And the Grayson-Masadan genetic variant is quite distinct. The equipment needed to pick it up out of stray molecules suspended in the air is extremely costly, true. But the Masadans have piled up a lot of loot from their piracies over the past fifteen years-on top of a pile which was very substantial to begin with. Templeton's not stupid. I can't imagine he would have tried this stunt if he didn't have such a chemotracker.'

Naomi's eyes widened. 'I've heard of that sort of equipment. But is it really that good?'

'Yes,' replied Victor firmly. 'I've seen the gear in action. In the hands of someone who knows how to use it, it's almost like magic. Mind you, if they were trying to track Zilwicki's daughter in this crowded madhouse, it wouldn't do them any good except at close range. But that's because she's Terran, and her DNA traces would be impossible to distinguish from most people's until they got within a few meters of her. But with the princess, it's a different matter altogether. Especially since Templeton's crew is all male, so they can set the readings to filter out anything but a female from their genetic stock. Closer than that, in fact, since she's Templeton's half-sister and he can use his own DNA to key the settings.'

'All right,' said Walter, 'that makes sense. But I still don't see why you're so confident you can bring Templeton to ground after he strikes.'

'Genetics again.' He eyed the Imbesis for a moment, hesitant to offend them. One of the prominent characteristics of Erewhonese culture-one which Victor himself appreciated, in fact-was that they were ferociously egalitarian. That aspect of their culture was not evident to most foreigners, who saw only the very stratified nature of Erewhon's power structure. But a structure and the individuals who filled its niches were not the same thing. Yes, the Erewhonese had little use for what most people would called 'genuine democracy.' But they had even less use for the notion that any individual could not aspire to anything he or she could manage. It was standard practice for Erewhon's great families to adopt promising youngsters, with no regard for class or genetic background. In fact, one of the worst insinuations which could be made of a prominent and influential family was that it was too selective in its mating habits-'screwing in-round,' to use the crude Erewhonese expression.

Still, facts were facts, and he didn't think either of the Imbesis-Walter, especially-was all that blinkered by custom. 'I don't think you really appreciate how much difference it can make, especially in a hand-to-hand melee, to have people on your side with the genetic make-up of Lieutenant Palane and her Amazon wrecking crew. Especially Palane.'

Naomi made a little face. 'Female weight-lifter,' she muttered.

With some difficulty, Victor suppressed his annoyance. Leaving aside his own feelings for Lieutenant Palane, which still confused as well as unsettled him, what made Naomi's cattiness so irritating was that Victor knew there was nothing personal about it in the sense of jealousy about him. It was just the Imbesi woman's ingrained competitiveness toward other females at work.

'That's the least of it,' he said, almost snapping. 'Physical superiority by itself doesn't necessarily mean that much. In fact, it can be a handicap if it leads to overconfidence. I once-' He shook his head. 'Never mind. Just take my word for it-or don't, as you choose. Palane didn't claw her way out of where she came from simply by using her muscles. She's smart, disciplined, and very well-trained. And while I think the Solarian Navy is over-rated-they haven't fought a real war against a serious opponent in centuries-the Solarian Marines are a different story altogether. Given all the brushfires they're constantly being called on to stamp out, they probably have at least as much combat experience-their best units, anyway-as even Republican or Mantie Marines. So when the time comes, I'll put my money on her.'

Walter Imbesi had been studying Victor in the course of his little sermon. Now, he shrugged and spread his hands wide on the armrests. 'And I'm putting my money on you. I've got my doubts, but… I learned a lot time ago not to second-guess myself. Okay, Victor, we'll do it your way. And now what?'