Galina looked at him like he was a dog turd. Armel dared to smile back. I will say one thing for the man: he had a brass pair on him. He always had.
“I’ve got half a mind to call this off and recycle you,” she said.
“Yes, of course. But you need the friend-or-foe codes, don’t you? How else will you get past the Skay to your target?”
Growling, Galina led the way back to Drusus’ offices. Once we were there, the staffers fussed and carried on. They didn’t like stains on their couches and floors.
I took the nu-skin spray they offered and blew the entire can onto Armel’s back. That fixed him and got the prissy hogs to shut up as a bonus.
After a dull half an hour, whatever boring-ass meeting Drusus had been involved in broke up. He chased about fifty uniforms out of his office, then finally noticed us.
“This is an unlikely trio,” he said.
“Praetor? Sir?” said a man off to one side.
It was Primus Bob again, and he was almost hopping from foot-to-foot. “I know you said McGill could pester you within reason. That’s why we allowed him to wait here. But I feel I must remind you of your lunch appointment with Wurtenburger.”
“That’s an online weekly meeting. Postpone it.”
Primus Bob gaped while Drusus beckoned us into his office and closed the door.
Once inside, the praetor turned to me, shaking his head. “McGill, you’re always surprising me. I sent you to look into Green World this morning, so you return with a traitor in tow a few hours later? What did you do? Port out there and capture this renegade?”
“Uh… what? No, no, no, sir. He came to us… sort of. I had him in my tapper, see. He was still recognized as a legionnaire by my local grid, so it caught his engram when I killed him back at Rigel.”
Drusus blinked, thinking that over. “I suppose that’s possible… How did you get the body-scan?”
I shrugged. “Easy as pie. He was in the data-core here at Central. Sure, the body was a few years younger… but that doesn’t really matter, does it?”
Drusus thought it over, and he walked to his giant table computer. We followed him apprehensively. Drusus ran his fingers over the black glass surface.
“Should I check out your story? I can, you know. I can look into what you had for dinner last night, if I need to.”
Deciding to bluff all the way, I grinned and slapped a big palm on the table. “Burger and fries, sir. Check away!”
“That’s what I thought. But, as the Greeks used to say, it isn’t a good idea to look a gift-horse in the mouth.”
“Heh. Good advice.”
Drusus looked at Turov next. “McGill says your prisoner was recently revived—and he appears to have been abused. Did you approve both these actions?”
“I did, sir.”
He nodded, and he fondled his computer some more. I could tell he was thinking about checking the revival records—naturally, there would be no record of Armel being brought back to life. If we’d even tried to get permission to do that, he would probably have been alerted.
Finally, he shook his head and sighed. “No, I’m going to have to take your word on this today. That’s what Legion Varus is all about, after all, doing unpleasant things that need doing.”
“Damned straight, sir! We’re frigging heroes, one and all. You used to say that all time, remember?”
He nodded. “Okay, so what can this man do for us?”
We all looked at Armel. Mind you, he seemed a little surly and ungrateful. I thought that was sour grapes on his part. After all, he was the traitor. Had he really expected a homecoming parade and a box of chocolates?
For a minute, Armel looked like he was going to whine about his flogging—but he didn’t. Instead, he straightened himself and addressed Drusus. “You have a problem, sir. You need to get to Green World before the rebel forces launch their invasion of Earth.”
Drusus tilted his head. “Invasion?”
“Oh? Did these two forget to mention this detail? An oversight, I’m sure.”
“All right, we’ll come back to that. Please continue. Tell me how you’ll solve our problem in getting to Green World.”
Armel proceeded to explain how he could provide the codes needed to guide a ship through Province 926 without being detected as unusual traffic. When he was done, Drusus frowned at him.
“Surely, your people will change those codes after your disappearance.”
“Ah, sadly, this is true. We must move with urgency. If possible, we should all board Dominus and fly out of here tonight.”
“Impossible!” Turov squawked.
Armel ignored her outburst. He was studying Drusus carefully.
“We’ll do it,” Drusus said after spending about ninety seconds tapping on his giant desk. “I’ll join you when you get there to command the expedition personally. Turov, you’ll fly in—six hours.”
“Sir?” she sputtered. “There’s simply no way we can gather a full legion in that much time!”
“I know. We’ll use the gateway posts. As your troops report to the Mustering Hall for duty over the next several days, we’ll transmit them to the ship in a steady stream. It’s not optimal, but it will work.”
She blinked a few times, and she nodded. “All right, Praetor. Is this a firm order? If so, I must withdraw and make immediate arrangements.”
He waved for her to go. She saluted and ran off.
That left just me, Armel, and Drusus.
The Praetor’s eye became hard—even squinty. He was more than a little suspicious.
“What did you promise this man for this information, McGill?”
“Jack-squat, sir. I told him
