you around anymore.” Hamilton observed.
Klane gritted her teeth. “It’s just a normal leg! Cybernetic, sure, but with no enhancements! I couldn’t kick my way out of a wet paper bag with this thing!” She backhanded it with her cybernetic arm, knocking the limb off the table.
“Shit!” She cursed. “It also has skin sensors built in. It hurts like a bitch whenever I give it any kind of punishment!”
“So now you feel pain just like the rest of us?” Hamilton asked.
She nodded angrily. “It’s less than useless.”
“You know,” Jones pointed out. “I did offer to adjust the settings. How hard can it be?”
“I doubt the servos can be cranked up to my requirements. Plus the myomer bundles are not mil-spec. They’d probably snap if you did that. And anyway, the access port, as I told you before, is on the inside of the thigh. You ain’t going anywhere near that!”
“Just as well,” Jones muttered. “One twitch from you and I’d end up with a broken neck!”
“Can it, you two!” Hamilton ordered. “We have more important things to discuss.”
Klane subsided, glaring at Jones, who scowled back at her.
“So what have you learned?” Hamilton inquired.
Jones sighed. “We all told the story we agreed upon, even to these guys.” He jerked a thumb at the Ulysses crewmen. “They – the officers, anyway – say you know their Captain?”
Hamilton nodded. “I met him years ago. Did a little job for Internal Affairs that turned into a major job. A lot of heads rolled. Unfortunately, in the aftermath, certain people were deemed to know too much and got shafted. Rames is one of them.”
“So he’s not too fond of you, then?” Klane observed.
Hamilton shrugged. “He doesn’t blame me. He blames the current top brass. You remember what it was like? Anything embarrassing gets swept under the carpet. Individuals mean nothing compared to showing a squeaky clean image. Rames is pissed at them, even after all these years. That’s partly why he agreed to help us on this.”
“Won’t he get in trouble if they find out?” Jones asked.
Hamilton nodded. “Court-martialed, almost certainly. Lose his commission and end up in a prison someplace. The rest of us the same.”
“No pressure, then.” Jones muttered.
“What are you worried about?” Klane grumbled. “You were a criminal, anyway!”
“An un-caught criminal!” Jones added. “I’d like to keep it that way!”
“Look.” Hamilton said. “If we stick to our story, they can’t prove anything.”
“Seems like a poor choice, to me.” Jones argued. “Either Walsh turns up and tries to kill us! Or he doesn’t and we get released and spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders.”
“I doubt we’ll get the second option.” Hamilton noted.
“You really think he’ll try and get to us in here?” Klane frowned.
“I don’t know what he might do.” Hamilton replied. “All I am certain of is that he looks upon humans as a child race. He doesn’t respect anything we’ve done, or what we are. I wouldn’t put it past him to waltz in here and try to gun us all down personally. He has that much arrogance.”
“Well, we’re poorly equipped to defend ourselves if he does.” Klane observed.
“Five years is a long time for him to be around. There’s no telling how many people his kind have infected, or what systems he’s compromised.” Hamilton said, gloomily.
“What’s the worst case scenario?” Klane asked.
Hamilton mulled it over. He’d given it significant thought already.
“Worst case is he built a new ship and went back to that Humal world and freed his fellows. Worst case is that thousands of Walsh’s are walking around, in positions of power, each with god knows how many other humans slaved to them like Vogerian was slaved to Walsh. Worst case is that his kind are into all the major computer networks across human space. Worst case is, he can bring the Empire to its knees almost at will.
Klane gritted her teeth. “It’s just a normal leg! Cybernetic, sure, but with no enhancements! I couldn’t kick my way out of a wet paper bag with this thing!” She backhanded it with her cybernetic arm, knocking the limb off the table.
“Shit!” She cursed. “It also has skin sensors built in. It hurts like a bitch whenever I give it any kind of punishment!”
“So now you feel pain just like the rest of us?” Hamilton asked.
She nodded angrily. “It’s less than useless.”
“You know,” Jones pointed out. “I did offer to adjust the settings. How hard can it be?”
“I doubt the servos can be cranked up to my requirements. Plus the myomer bundles are not mil-spec. They’d probably snap if you did that. And anyway, the access port, as I told you before, is on the inside of the thigh. You ain’t going anywhere near that!”
“Just as well,” Jones muttered. “One twitch from you and I’d end up with a broken neck!”
“Can it, you two!” Hamilton ordered. “We have more important things to discuss.”
Klane subsided, glaring at Jones, who scowled back at her.
“So what have you learned?” Hamilton inquired.
Jones sighed. “We all told the story we agreed upon, even to these guys.” He jerked a thumb at the Ulysses crewmen. “They – the officers, anyway – say you know their Captain?”
Hamilton nodded. “I met him years ago. Did a little job for Internal Affairs that turned into a major job. A lot of heads rolled. Unfortunately, in the aftermath, certain people were deemed to know too much and got shafted. Rames is one of them.”
“So he’s not too fond of you, then?” Klane observed.
Hamilton shrugged. “He doesn’t blame me. He blames the current top brass. You remember what it was like? Anything embarrassing gets swept under the carpet. Individuals mean nothing compared to showing a squeaky clean image. Rames is pissed at them, even after all these years. That’s partly why he agreed to help us on this.”
“Won’t he get in trouble if they find out?” Jones asked.
Hamilton nodded. “Court-martialed, almost certainly. Lose his commission and end up in a prison someplace. The rest of us the same.”
“No pressure, then.” Jones muttered.
“What are you worried about?” Klane grumbled. “You were a criminal, anyway!”
“An un-caught criminal!” Jones added. “I’d like to keep it that way!”
“Look.” Hamilton said. “If we stick to our story, they can’t prove anything.”
“Seems like a poor choice, to me.” Jones argued. “Either Walsh turns up and tries to kill us! Or he doesn’t and we get released and spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders.”
“I doubt we’ll get the second option.” Hamilton noted.
“You really think he’ll try and get to us in here?” Klane frowned.
“I don’t know what he might do.” Hamilton replied. “All I am certain of is that he looks upon humans as a child race. He doesn’t respect anything we’ve done, or what we are. I wouldn’t put it past him to waltz in here and try to gun us all down personally. He has that much arrogance.”
“Well, we’re poorly equipped to defend ourselves if he does.” Klane observed.
“Five years is a long time for him to be around. There’s no telling how many people his kind have infected, or what systems he’s compromised.” Hamilton said, gloomily.
“What’s the worst case scenario?” Klane asked.
Hamilton mulled it over. He’d given it significant thought already.
“Worst case is he built a new ship and went back to that Humal world and freed his fellows. Worst case is that thousands of Walsh’s are walking around, in positions of power, each with god knows how many other humans slaved to them like Vogerian was slaved to Walsh. Worst case is that his kind are into all the major computer networks across human space. Worst case is, he can bring the Empire to its knees almost at will.
Similar Books
