Chapter 9
“That rat bastard!” Billy fumed as he paced the deck in Garret’s cabin. It was all Garret could do to not join him in pacing. The arm on his poor desk chair was probably about to break off at this point. Captain Leran had issued his report last night, and he’d made sure it wasn’t available to anyone in Lemos by sending it directly to Peladon via communication drone hyper-transfer.
That was how the planets of the Republic kept in touch with each other. Vessels traveling at one-half the speed of light could transmit messages along the fold guides that could be received by other vessels similarly equipped. Poorer planets, or small outposts like this one, would launch communication drones, automated forty-foot long machines that would accelerate to the standard speed and then establish an orbit out of the elliptical plane of the system. Richer planets would have entire fleets of drones, or possibly even a communications ship.
Peladon had six communications ships, two for the military and four for civilian message traffic in addition to about two hundred privately funded drones. The messages would travel across dozens of light years instantaneously but could take seconds, or even minutes, to travel from the drone (or ship) to the planet. Right now Lemos had a four second delay, even with hyper-acceleration of the radio signals.
Ada had caught the public version of the report as it came in from the Peladon relay this morning, and she had screamed so loud over the implant that it had woken Garret from a sound sleep. He’d placed an immediate call to Joanie Marsters on the Feargus only to find out she’d already been arrested. The new commanding officer of that frigate had taken great pleasure out of telling Garret that, and had intimated that it was too bad Garret wasn’t in a cell with her.
Leran was charging her with dereliction of duty for failing to stop the attack on Lemos despite being heavily outgunned. There was also a charge of endangering military secrets being added based on her activation of Garret’s commission. His claim was that it gave Garret access to the secrets of the research base.
His official report downplayed the effects of Adamant joining the battle, something that had pissed Ada off in a major way, and it had described her Captain as an arrogant, uncompromising, and absolutely inadequate ship commander who had gotten very, very lucky. He had even filed a complaint with the Civilian Merchants Guild that Garret had needlessly endangered the lives of the civilians on his ship.
Fortunately for Garret, it was the Guild that would decide if charges were to be brought, not Captain Leran.
“Do you see what I told you about how they’ve got it in for us Academy graduates?” Billy fumed. “He’s got Joanie in the brig on his ship, won’t even let us talk to her, and won’t give us a date for her courts martial. Then he frees you up to leave, knowing damn well if you stuck around for her trial, you’d lose contracts.”
“He’s got us between a rock and a lava pit.” Garret agreed with his brother. The dinner two nights ago had gone well with Blashame signing BGL as the main shipper of his company’s goods from their points of production to their points of distribution. That would guarantee income for BGL of nearly three hundred million per year. He’d also signed over a ten million-credit bonus for Adamant’s saving the space station, and salvage rights of fifteen percent on all the space debris being recovered from the destroyed ships. That would eventually bring in another five to twenty million.
It had been late morning on Peladon when he’d sent the information back to Marjaan, but her four-second delayed response had been nearly ecstatic. At this rate, BGL would show a profit in their first year of operations, something very few companies ever achieved, especially with their very high overhead.
Then she’d given Garret the bad news. Through the grape vine she’d heard that with Admiral Lumbardon no longer in charge of supply shipping, the military was looking to cancel their contracts with BGL. If they were late on any shipment, regardless whether it was a military shipment or a civilian one, they would exercise the ‘reliability’ clause to cancel the contracts. She’d already booked the next six months of shipments for the military, so they couldn’t back out of those, but there was also rumor that no matter what, they’d be getting crappy shipments from them after that point. Now, with an additional day’s delay, he’d been given clearance to leave from Lemos, but the military was requiring a very long, circuitous route out of the system that would put another half-day’s journey onto their trip, making them six hours late to their next destination.
“Well, even with the help of your crews over the last couple of days, I’m going to be stuck here for another week.” Billy said with a sigh. “By then Leran will have finished her trial and he’ll be off to his new command where I’m sure his next act will be to charge me with dereliction of duty because a superior force of ships managed to heavily damage my ship.”
“What can we do?” Garret wondered aloud and Billy sighed again.
“That’s the problem, everything they’re doing is perfectly legal so far.” Billy stated. “Have you finished going over the files I sent you?”
“Yes.” Garret admitted guardedly. He had to admit the pattern he saw in them was disturbing, but he wasn’t convinced the danger was as great as what Billy had indicated.
“What do you think?” Billy asked as he stopped pacing and turned to face Garret with burning eyes.
“This so-called ‘Democracy Movement’ is too well organized to be as spontaneous or new as they’re claiming.” Garret conceded that point, all the facts he’d seen in the files showed that clearly. Billy’s face changed into an expression of triumph that faded quickly as Garret continued. “The thing is, brother, that everyone in the Republic knows that true Democracy, or even a Republican Democracy is dangerously flawed. That’s why we have the form of government established by the first colonists. It protects us from the flaws that allowed the Jordanites to seize power on old Earth.”
“We know that, brother.” Billy practically snarled. “But you forget the changes in the education system of the last few dozen years. With implants becoming affordable for the middle class, more and more of them pulled their children out of government schools and home-schooled them. A lot of them were religionites, followers of one of the older faiths that originated on Earth and they taught their kids that Democracy wasn’t flawed, that it was the leaders of old earth that had allowed the collapse to happen.”
“That… that’s not possible.” Garret exclaimed. “How could they fail to teach how our system is much better? The Speakers of the Great Houses meet to debate and vote on issues. They’re joined in that debate by Voices from the Minor Houses and from the elected Voices of the member worlds. If the Voices disagree with the Speakers, they can veto legislation with a four-fifths vote of their number. It protects the interests of the minority and majority population while allowing a group of people trained from birth to consider the interests of the Republic first. You know that, you’ll take mother’s place in the Deliberatorium when she retires!”
“Yes, but now they’re saying the Deliberatorium doesn’t really represent the interests of the people of the Republic, and they’re calling for the Voices of the member worlds to be given a full vote, to make them Speakers.” Billy fumed and Garret closed his eyes. That was the message of the organizers of a rally that had taken place three days ago in Newhaven, the capitol of the Republic. There had been other rallies in previous weeks in the capitols of all the member worlds as well. All together, those rallies had been attended by nearly a billion people, a sizable portion of the Republic’s population.”
“That won’t happen.” Garret said with a shake of his head. “We know that the system we have now is better, more stable than what they’re wanting. When you add in democratic politicking, the government loses its vision for serving the people, instead worrying more about getting elected and staying elected. That’s the fundamental flaw of democracy.”
“We know that, but the people don’t, not anymore.” Billy commented and their discussion was brought to an end by the sound of Garret’s cabin chime. A push of a button on his desk opened the door, and he stood up when Lefhaus Admiral Lumbardon (retired) entered with his wife. Garret remembered both of them from New Prejat, and went to greet them formally, bowing his head to each of them politely.
“Welcome aboard, both of you.” Garret said in a friendly voice. “I hope you’ll enjoy our Master Suite on this journey.”
“Thank you for having us aboard, Captain Lars.” The retired Admiral said with a nod of his head.
“I must say that this will be nicer than traveling in a military ship, no offense intended Lieutenant.” His wife said with a nod towards Billy.
“None taken Gospedena.” Billy said with a return nod. “I’m just sorry I won’t be able to take you the rest of the way myself.”
“Well, we just wanted to stop by and give you our thanks directly.” Lumbardon said with a slight frown. “Now, are you sure you don’t want…”
“Admiral, after everything you’ve done for me, I would be offended to take any money from you for your transport.” I said firmly. “We are not having to go out of our way to finish your journey to Shinawa, it is on our itinerary. We are not having to expend more fuel to get you there quicker since you are willing to wait for our normally scheduled stop there. The only added expenses I am incurring is maintaining your quarters, and of course food, drinks, and entertainment. I certainly hope that you would not expect to pay for such things were you a guest in my home, and this ship is more my home than my apartment on New Prejat. Please, accept my hospitality.”
“With pleasure, young man. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll see to getting settled” Lumbardon smiled before turning with his wife on his arm and leaving the cabin. Garret glimpsed that Marna was escorting them around the ship personally. That was a good gesture.
“He’s an obstinate man.” Billy said with a shake of his head. “On the journey, before we were ambushed, he spent as much time on the bridge as I did.”
“Then he’ll really enjoy this trip.” I said with a smile.
“By the way, you should arrange to have a private chat with him as well.” Billy suggested and Garret frowned before nodding slowly. His brother had the bit between his teeth on this issue and just wouldn’t give it up. Didn’t he understand that the Republic was strong enough to withstand all these different problems? “The squadron commander was pissed that the Admiral requested passage on my ship, but that’s a privilege of any retired officer his rank.”
“I can understand why.” Garret responded with understanding. Retired Admirals and Generals were granted free passage on warships as long as that passage didn’t endanger a military operation. Usually it was just berthing on a destroyer like Billy’s, but it had been known for an entire carrier battle group to take a detour to deliver a retired Admiral to Melos for a month-long vacation. “He’ll be even more pissed when he finds out your ship is going to be in space dock for six months.”
“Yeah, well, thanks for the help getting things back into shape enough to make it back to Oberlin.” Billy said with a sad frown. “You know, if Leran takes command of the squadron before the report’s issued, I’ll lose command.”
“Yes.” I agreed with him sadly. That would end his career for sure. “If that happens though, you know there’s always a command here for you. Being a merchant captain isn’t as exciting as commanding a warship, but it’s not a total drag either.”
“So says the guy who took down a Mother Ship with a passenger liner.” Billy snorted, but he was smiling at least. “Damnit, I’m still pissed they caught me so off-guard though. I mean, we were jumping outside the normal shipping lanes, but they were right there!”
“It is odd.” Garret agreed, having also reviewed his brother’s ship logs of the event. “You know what’s also odd: they weren’t from the same group as the pirates that were attacking here. The ships that attacked you were old Republic warships, not Federation warships.”
“Yeah, well they’d been heavily upgraded, or at least their lasers were upgraded.” Billy said with a shudder that I shared. That battle cruiser had a Type IX Heavy Laser along with two Type VIII lasers. The Adamant carried Type VII’s, which the battle cruiser had also carried in a greater number. The Type IX was what had done the most damage to Billy’s ship, melting the armor like butter in its opening salvo. Billy really had been lucky, and his skill as a commander had been tested to its maximum in keeping his ship alive and fighting. The fight didn’t make sense.
How did they know where Billy was going to jump?
How did an old battle cruiser like that wind up with Type IX and Type VIII lasers? When they were built, Type VII lasers were considered to be ‘battleship lasers’, the most powerful in existence. At the time the ship had been built, the reactors couldn’t even power a Type VIII laser, much less a Type IX. The running assumption was that they’d been stolen from a decommissioning yard, but if that were the case, their weapons would be consistent with when the ships were built, or at least decommissioned. They wouldn’t have Type IX lasers or reactors that could power them. Those weren’t even available on the black market yet.
“Billy, those ships… what if they weren’t pirate?” Garret asked slowly as an idea began to form in his head. His brother stared at him hard, and Garret could see his brother really thinking instead of just bemoaning the probable loss of his command. “Those ships have never been upgraded to carry those weapons by the Republic fleet and the parts aren’t available on the black market.”
“Then where would they come from?” Billy asked cautiously.
“About a month before we went to the Academy for First Year, you went to a party at Idela’s house.” Garret said softly.
“I remember.” Billy frowned. “I didn’t want to go because you weren’t invited, but mother said it was politically necessary.”
“That’s right.” Garret smiled at the memory of an indignant Billy protesting he would have nothing to do with people who didn’t recognize his brother as a real person. It had been heartwarming, and something he should have never forgotten when he found himself in that Pleasure House. It would have taken only one call, something he couldn’t be prevented from making on a Free Day, and he’d have ended up back home later that day. Instead he’d allowed himself to wallow in self-pity and believe he’d been abandoned.
Never Again. Garret vowed to himself silently. Never again will I allow self-pity to blind me.
“What about it?” Billy pushed when Garret had been silent for too long.
“Oh, um, while you were gone, mom got a call from one of her factors.” Garret continued. “She was complaining about having to send a special courier to the Bolt Hole.”
“Are we secure?” Billy said with an alarmed look and Garret reassured him with a nod.
“Yes, no one is listening in on us, not even the AI.” Garret told him. The Bolt Holes were one of the greatest secrets of the Great Houses, not shared with the Voices of the minor houses or the people. Their existence was denied, and carefully kept secret. The greatest honor a House could give was the location of its Bolt Hole to someone brought into the family. Marja had shared the location of the Lars Bolt Hole before he’d left to start up BGL.
“Okay.” Billy said with a sigh of relief. The Bolt Holes were started back in the first decade of the War. Fearing the Empire would overrun all their planets, the Great Houses had each established a Bolt Hole in a secret location on the far side of the Republic from the Empire. The way it was done meant each House might know a general area of space where another House’s Bolt Hole might exist, but it would take months or years of searching to find it.
Each Bolt Hole was stuffed with technology and maintained by a core group of early-model clones. No one ever left a Bolt Hole, and on occasion a courier ship would be dispatched with new technology. Anyone caught trying to follow a courier ship to a Bolt Hole was executed, and that had only happened once.
Davlan Tremere’s grandfather had not liked watching one of his sons being executed because he’d followed the orders of the Speaker for House Tremere. He’d been lucky that House Atrix had not demanded the execution of the Tremere Speaker for just giving the order. According to Timat, the Speaker for Atrix had wanted to do just that, but had calmed down and realized that being too zealous in taking revenge might alienate some of the other Houses.
“Billy, you know all the stuff about our Bolt Hole, right?” Garret asked and Billy nodded.
“Mother shared it with me when I graduated from the Academy, and she told me that she shared it with you before you began BGL.” Billy answered.
“Right, well part of the mandate for a Bolt Hole is that warships would be built, to be manned by House partisans if the Republic fell.” Garret continued. “The thought was that they would be a secret fleet Earth knew nothing about. When they grew complacent in their occupation of the Republic, the fleets of the Bolt Holes would spring forth and wipe out their occupation.”
“We’ve got a very old battleship, a battle cruiser, three cruisers, six destroyers, and twelve frigates, all of them over thirty years old in our Bolt Hole.” Billy whispered and his eyes went wide.
“That day I told you about? Mother was discussing sending a courier to the Bolt Hole with updated technology to refurbish those ships.” Garret supplied. “I caught just a bit of the conversation, but it was technology for up to Type X lasers, new Citeesium ore alloys, new fighter and bomber designs as well as reactor upgrades and similar stuff. She also let slip that we have our own small Citeesium mining operation there, just enough for the Bolt Hole and its fleet.”
“You think the ships that attacked me were stolen from a Bolt Hole?” Billy asked.
“I think they came from one of the other House’s Bolt Holes.” Garret agreed with carefully chosen words. His brother thought them over and frowned deeply.
“Tremere?” Billy hypothesized and Garret shrugged.
“Possibly.” Garret agreed. “If I remember correctly, his House’s responsibility was to provide escorts for the Hidden Fleet, battle cruisers, destroyers, frigates, fighters, transports, and similar smaller ships. Lars was to provide a capital ship and escorts along with some fighters and shuttle transports. Atrix was to provide clones and troop transports, even though by then the House was in Conservatorship. House Ito was to provide carriers, fighters, bombers, and the like. Most of the other Houses would have provided a handful of escorts as well as smaller ships.”
“And all of them are upgraded as new technology came along.” Billy supplied and they both stared at each for several long minutes until the ship’s intercom blared to life.
“Now hear this, now hear this; make preparations for getting underway.” The computer’s voice held a stern edge that hadn’t been there before the battle. She now sounded like an empress rallying her courtiers. Inside Garret’s mind, a chime of laughter was heard as she read his impression of her voice over the loudspeakers. “The Adamant has been cleared for departure in two hours. Set the Special Underway Detail. All persons not continuing with the ship to its next destination should prepare to leave within the hour.”
“Ada sure knows how to cut a conversation short.” Billy said with a shrug and a short chuckle.
“She’s going to be insufferable before too long.” Garret frowned, but it wasn’t really a frown because he was taking a perverse pleasure in anticipating the battle of wills that would happen between him and his ship when that time came.
“Brother of mine, you always did enjoy a challenge.” Billy was smiling and Garret stood to give him a hug. “Thanks again for the help. You know, if Leran gets his way, I’ll be joining you out here as a civilian.”
“It’ll be good to have you with us.” Garret assured him. “Regarding the ships that attacked you, let me make the inquiries. I can probably do it a little bit more discreetly than you. As for the rest, let’s both keep an eye out.”
“Shouldn’t I be the one saying that?” Billy teased as they moved towards the door.
“Does it matter?” Garret asked as the door opened and they moved out into the passageway.
“No.” Billy admitted and changed the subject, discussing instead the similarities and differences between their two ships’ interiors.
As they made their way through his ship, Garret and Billy kept their conversation light, about things that would be innocuous if overheard. There wasn’t much chance of that, mostly because the few passengers they were carrying for this leg of the trip were in other areas, and most of his crew had other concerns.
At the docking tube to the space station, a lone sentry stood watch over the portal. The 09 Model clone snapped to attention at the site of Garret, and barely restrained from saluting both Garret and his uniformed brother. The soldier clone remembered at the last moment that he was no longer in the military and stopped his hand before it completed the salute.
Garret gave him a curt nod, with an understanding expression. He knew very well how intense the training was to maintain discipline, and while he insisted his crew remember they were no longer in the military, he ran his ship in a tight, disciplined military manner. That gave these former military clones, most of whom never expected to be anything but a soldier for their entire lives, some comfortable familiarity with their new lives.
“Take care of yourself, brother.” Billy said in a soft voice, and Garret felt a pain of longing at the look on his brother’s face. That look told Garret a great deal about the inner conflict his brother must be going through, and that Billy still loved him a lot. They embraced tightly, albeit briefly.
“I will, and you watch your back.” Garret whispered from within the embrace. Both of them nodded at each other as they drew back and Billy strode across the docking tube without a backward glance. Garret felt tears forming in his eyes and turned to walk away when he heard a familiar voice calling out to him.
“Captain Lars, a moment please!” Marko Blashame called from the other side of the docking tube. Garret turned in that direction and saw Billy pausing as Blashame rushed through the docking tube with two 10 model clones behind him. Garret’s brother paused for another moment, but shook his head and exited the other end of the docking tube while Blashame huffed a bit as he reached the entrance to the Adamant. “Captain, I was hoping to catch you before you leave.”
“What can I do for you, Gospedene Blashame?” Garret asked politely. For some reason the two clones behind Blashame tugged at some memory in Garret’s head.
“Captain, I was wondering if you could please spare me a few moments to speak in private?” Blashame asked formally and Garret frowned. There was plenty of time, but he had thought his business with Blashame was completed.
“Please, come this way.” Garret motioned down the corridor while mentally inquiring if there was a free room nearby. Ada gave him an answer and he led Blashame to a nearby office that was not currently being used. In fact, when he entered, he realized it was one of the spaces on the ship that wasn’t in use at all. He mentally made a note to compliment Gary though, because the room was clean, looking like it had been tended to within the last few days. Gary’s crews were responsible for keeping the ship clean, and if they managed to keep unused spaces this clean, they deserved a compliment.
It also reminded him that he really should do a walk-through of the ship before they arrived at Shinawa. Commander Harrington did a daily inspection of various spaces, a military custom for Executive Officers, but it was also long-standing tradition dating back to the days of sailing ships on Earth oceans, that once in a while, the Captain would inspect the material condition of the ship. Yes, he’d definitely want to do one before the Speaker of House Ito boarded his ship.
“What can I do for you, Marko?” Garret asked Blashame, who had caught his breath on the short walk. The two clones had entered with him and were now standing on either side of the door while Garret and Marko stood near each other in the center of the office.
“A situation has come up within the last day that deals with you, albeit rather indirectly.” Blashame said with a slight frown. “Do you recognize these two?”
“They seem familiar but I can’t place exactly…” Garret’s voice trailed off as he stared into the purple eyes of the clone on his left. Another look at the one on the right confirmed his suspicions. These two clones, based on the same template as he was, might look like any other 10 Model, but their eyes told of experiences in their recent past that had affected them tremendously. If anything the look in their eyes were even scarier than the last time he’d set eyes on them.
“Yes?” Marko Blashame said with a hint of impatience.
“They’re the clones that were beaten on my ship.” Garret said with certainty and raised an eyebrow at the pleased look on Blashame’s face.
“I placed a bet that you’d recognize them immediately.” Blashame said while still smiling. “Our friend from GeneCorps said you wouldn’t recognize them because you were raised by House Lars instead of in a proper G&E facility.”
“I was raised in a G&E for the first few years of my life.” Garret retorted with a hint of anger in his voice. It wasn’t directed at Blashame, but at the treatment these two clones had undergone. “I’m more than capable of telling two clones apart.”
“That was what I told him.” Blashame’s voice was smug, as was his grin. “Back to the situation at hand: these two were a special order. Are you familiar with the new Attendant variant that was introduced into the 12 series of the 10 model?”
“No.” Garret answered with a frown. He probably could call the information up, but he was certain he was about to be informed of the specifics.
“I think the variant was based in some ways off the MX variant of the 11 series.” Blashame said with a frown. Now that Garret was familiar with.
“How?” Garret asked with an answering frown.
“The MX variant was introduced with more than a single purpose.” Blashame answered in a very soft voice. “The Attendant variant was created with multiple purposes in mind as well. They’re part Pleasure oriented, with strong training in Administrative functions as well as training in being personal bodyguards. During the last two years of their training, they’re trained and developed for the specific… desires of their intended contract buyer.”
“I’ve never heard of this.” Garret said with a sinking feeling in his stomach as he looked at the two clones standing by the doorway. Their faces were impassive, but their eyes showed… fear.
“Not many have, mostly because it’s extremely expensive for these types, and because some of their functions aren’t what most people in the Republic would approve of if they knew.” Blashame said with a hint of distaste in his voice. “Truth be told, I didn’t even know all this until yesterday. Our Governor here has become very rich over the years, and placed an order for these two nearly three years ago. There aren’t many of these types out yet, but he had the money for them. I’ll be honest… the man disgusts me at times, but he’s highly efficient and runs this mine better than any previous Governor we’ve had here.”
“I didn’t like the man.” Garret admitted, remembering him from the dinner Blashame had invited him to a few nights ago. The man had a look of pure hunger in his eyes every time he looked at Garret. He’d seen that look before, in the pleasure house, and it usually ended up with Garret in pain.
“I saw the way he looked at you.” Blashame admitted with a slight blush to his cheeks. “When he discovered that these two had been severely beaten on the trip here, he inspected them closely. I’m sure that your doctor reported minor scarring on their backs from their severe beating?”
“Yes, and he noted that they could be easily removed with modern technology.” Garret stated, remembering the scar on his own ear. He’d chosen not to have it removed, for much the same reason that Ada had insisted that she didn’t want to have the recent battle scars totally removed the next time she was in the dockyard.
“The Governor didn’t see it that way.” Blashame said with a sigh. “He declared that they’d already been ‘marked’ and were now useless to him. As a result, he refused delivery based on his contract terms. GeneCorps had no choice but to promise replacement within a year and place these two on the market. I know you are expecting some problems with them based on what happened on board, but I think I’ve managed to smooth those problems over now.”
“How’s that?” Garret asked with some trepidation.
“I did this as a personal favor, one which I felt I still owe you.” Blashame said with another frown. “My Board of Directors have been worried about falling revenue for the past year because of the reduction in military procurement. They’ve tried to ignore the increasing problem with pirates in this sector, urging cutbacks in security and the like. This space station was once home to two full squadrons of fighters with mercenary pilots. The Board made me reduce them to a complement of four fighters, all of which were destroyed by overwhelming numbers in the first minutes of the pirate attack.”
“Two squadrons of fighters wouldn’t have made much of a difference against a Mother Ship.” Garret noted, but Blashame smiled wickedly.
“It doesn’t matter, really, because I was right and they were wrong about the danger presented to this facility.” Blashame explained. “After the attack they asked me for my recommendations regarding security at all of our facilities, and have basically fallen to their knees begging me to forgive them for being shortsighted. A month ago, they were plotting which of them was going to replace me, and now they’re praying I don’t throw them off the Board. Professionally, I rewarded your company with the contracts and other fiscal awards, but I still feel I owe you a personal favor for helping to save my position on the Board of Directors as CEO.”
“There really is no…” Garret started to protest but Blashame held up his hand.
“Son, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Blashame said gently, using an old Earth saying Garret had heard once before. That had come from an instructor at the Academy. “When I heard about the problems with these two clones and the Governor, I saw an opportunity to help smooth over the problems GeneCorps might have thrown your way. They stood to lose a lot of money, and garner unwanted publicity about their exclusive variant series of the 10 model.”
“Genecorp is a government-controlled corporation, not a public company.” Garret pointed out.
“That’s the official propaganda, but they’re a company like any other.” Blashame snorted. “They still need to make a profit for the government’s coffers and they have their own critics in the Deliberatorium. You of all people should know that since Marja Lars is one of the most vocal critics.”
“Yes.” Garret admitted.
“So, in return for not pushing any charges or further issues with you regarding what happened on board this ship, I purchased the contract for these two clones out of my personal funds.” Blashame said with a quirky smile. “You won’t have to worry about GeneCorps breathing down your neck.”
“Thank you for that.” Garret said graciously, expecting that things were now over and he could go about his business of getting his ship ready for getting underway.
“That’s not all.” Blashame said while his smile widened. “Frankly, I have no interest or desire in having these two as part of my household. My wife would have major problems with some of their trained functions. You on the other hand, could probably use them, so I am officially transferring their contract to you for services rendered.”
“What?” Garret asked and his voice almost cracked as his eyes shifted to the two clones. For the first time he really noticed how they were attired, and frowned deeply. The Lemos Governor must be really kooky, because they were costumes right out of one of the worst fashion periods of Republic history. A hundred years after Peladon had been established, the nascent Great Houses had attired their servants in clothing right out of the old Earth history books. Knee-length satin trousers with white satin socks and frilly shirts had been an eyesore in the halls of the Great Houses for fifty years until the fashion had finally died out. Every thirty years or so, it almost made a come-back, but usually died quickly. The two clones had black pants, red shirts and black vests that made Garret’s eyes roll when he looked at them for a full minute.
“Their contract transfer has been approved by GeneCorps.” Blashame finished with a twinkle in his eyes. “They’re yours now, son. Make good use of them.”
“But…” Garret sputtered as Blashame turned and exited the office quickly, leaving him to stare at the two clones who were looking even more afraid at whatever they saw on his face.
In the back of Garret’s head, Ada was laughing as hard as he’d ever heard her laugh.
As with all my stories, E provides immeasurable input, grammar checking, and all those other lovely editing thingies that make the story so much better!
Feedback,
an Author's Lifeblood
