My Own Kind of Freedom by Steven Brust (top novels to read TXT) 📕
Except that the Captain just wasn't himself these days, and that was cause for worry.
The "town" of Yuva began abruptly as the road split into two main streets, which ran parallel for about a mile before the southernmost ("South Street," said a sign) left you at the top of a hill leading down to where the miners lived in what was effectively a different, larger, and much filthier town. North Street was half a mile longer, ending in the company security office. On South Street, a bright, clean-looking store stood on the right beneath a sign saying, "Company Store," opposite a small park-like area, with a pond and a few scrubby trees.
Sakarya's mansion (white, square, and imposing) was perched on a sort of hillock (artificial, and artificially green) just south of the store.
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Kit didn’t reply; he was thinking over what he’d learned, and trying to come up with a way to use it.
He was pretty sure there was one, and he didn’t much care for it.
Yuva: Sakarya’s office
Annalee Wuhan had been his personal secretary for five years, which was more than three times longer than anyone else had survived on his staff. She was efficient, loyal, unambitious, keenly observant, and had no sense of humor. She also had a long list of irritating traits, headed by a refusal to call him anything but Filo, which was how she had first been to introduced him, in a small schoolhouse where she had taught not twenty miles from this spot.
She walked into the room, and sat down without being asked; which was another of the irritating traits.
“Good morning, Filo,” she said.
“Good morning, Miss Wuhan. What do we know?”
“There is strong reason to believe the agent es—”
“The traitor, Miss Wuhan. Let’s call things by their right name, shall we?”
“Certainly, Filo. The agent escaped with the fugitive from Serenity in—”
“What?”
“Serenity. The ship. The agent and the fugitive escaped in a short range shuttle last night, and it is all but certain that they are now back on Serenity.”
“Serenity.”
“Yes.”
“And is—Serenity—gone?”
“As yet, we have been unable to confirm that. There has been no sign of a major thrust from that region escaping Hera, but they could, for one reason or another, have used low thrust, and we wouldn’t know.”
“Or they could still be there.”
“They could indeed.”
“And the ship is certainly injured.”
“A clean shot, but she was able to break atmo.”
Sakarya sighed. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“What doesn’t Filo?”
“We know about the traitor, and he knows we know. That removes his usefulness. Why would he stay? And why link up with—”
“We don’t know that they’re still here.”
Interrupting him was another of her annoying traits.
“No, but we’re going to assume they are until we have proof they’ve left. And we do know that they’re all together. What could bring them together?”
“You could, Filo.”
“Me?”
“They’d come together because they both hate you.”
“They?”
“I looked up the ship, Serenity.”
“How did you learn the name?”
“Sir, you hired that ship.”
“I hired it?”
“I hired it, in your name. To get the lumber for your son’s new Canteen.”
“I see. Serenity. Interesting name.”
“Filo, the name isn’t a coincidence.”
“What—?”
“Here’s the file.”
He took the e-paper from her hand, automatically reached up to forward tab to skip to the second page, where the guts of the information usually started, but he stopped himself. It was right there, on the title page. “Serenity,” it said. “Firefly-class transport. Captain Malcolm Reynolds.”
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
“Well,” he said.
“Yes, Filo.”
“Well, well, well.”
“Yes, Filo.”
“Bring me my new head of Security.”
Serenity: Med bay
“I saw Jayne walking by with a gun—”
“He’s back on the crew,” said the captain.
“Uh … okay.”
“We’re going in. Stay with the ship, watch your sister, and be ready to patch us up when we get back.”
“Aren’t I always?”
“You are at that.”
“What’s the caper this time?”
“Caper?”
“Is that the wrong word?”
“Come to the dining room.”
“Should I get River?”
“She’s already there.”
Simon nodded and followed the captain up the stairs and then forward. Everyone else was there, including Jayne, and including someone he hadn’t seen before: a stocky man with a neatly trimmed beard and mild eyes; he reminded Simon of a biology professor he’d liked quite a bit. He was speaking to River, who was looking at him as if he were a laboratory specimen of something completely new in the ‘verse. He started toward her, but she looked up and caught his eye; she appeared to be all right.
There is such a thing as being over-protective, he reminded himself, and took a seat next to Kaylee, who gave him a smile that made his heart skip a beat. He looked at the captain, who was standing at the head of the table, looking like—
God! He reminds me of my father! No wonder I don’t trust him!
He missed the first few words the captain spoke; when he came back to the present, he heard, “… just to be clear, there’s no money involved. It’s something I gotta do.”
Wash said, “Mal, is this—” then he broke off. Simon noticed Zoë‘s hand on his arm. Wash and Zoë looked at each other, but Simon couldn’t read whatever might have passed between them.
Simon said, “Do we get to know anything about this, other than you might get us killed?”
“Sure, Doctor. Might get us caught by the Alliance, too.”
As he said that, his eyes shifted to the stranger.
“Uh, not to be rude,” said Simon, “but can you tell me—”
“Kit,” said the captain. “His name is Kit.”
“He’s a fed,” said Zoë.
“But he’s on our side,” said Jayne.
Simon’s mind reeled. “He’s a what ?”
River said, “Technically speaking, it isn’t treason if there are no violations of the law or explicit orders, or actions clearly contrary to the interest of the body to whom one owes loyalty.”
“Thank you for that,” said the captain.
“She’s right,” said the one who’d just been identified as a fed.
“She often is,” said Simon.
“Let’s focus on the job,” said the captain.
“Good idea,” said Simon. “Let’s just ignore that there is an Alliance agent sitting—”
“Yes,” said the captain. “Let’s ignore that.”
Simon said, “I don’t think—”
“Good. That’s how I like you best.”
“Sir,” said Zoë, “I think he deserves an explanation. It’s his sister—”
“It’s his sister,” said the fed, “who I am pretending does not exist, as part of a bargain I made with the captain, and if any of you ever tell anyone I said so, I’ll make it my life’s work to hunt you down and make you regret being born.”
Simon’s biology teacher had never sounded like that.
River said, “Technically speaking, it isn’t treason if there are—”
“It doesn’t have to be,” said the fed.
“Let’s move on,” said the captain. “I want to know if everyone is in.”
“I’m always in,” said Kaylee.
“I’m in,” said Zoë.
“Already told you,” said Jayne.
Wash said, “Can I just find out why —” then he looked at Zoë, shrugged, and said, “All right, I guess I’m being told I’m in.”
“Good boy,” said Zoë.
Simon felt the captain’s eyes on him. He hesitated, then said, “If someone comes in hurt, I’ll patch him up. Is there something else I’m supposed to do?”
“Yes. Tell me you’re with us.”
“Does that have some practical effect I don’t understand?”
“No, I just want to hear it.”
“Without letting me know what it is? What it’s about?”
“Sakarya is a bad guy, and we mean to take him down.”
“Now we’re in the business of taking down bad guys?”
Kaylee said, “What’s wrong with that?”
“Well, for one thing, we’re criminals. Doesn’t that make us bad guys?”
“I expect it might,” said Mal.
“But, what, he’s worse?”
“All kinds,” said Mal.
Wash cleared his throat and glanced at Zoë. When she didn’t give him a sign, he said, “This has something to do with stuff I found on the Cortex, right? Forced indenture, child labo—”
“Yes,” said Mal.
“I just want to say,” said Simon, “that if you’re asking me to sign up for things, I’d rather be told what’s happening as it happens.”
The captain said, “Doc—”
Simon looked at Kaylee, who was looking right back at him, her eyes very large.
“Okay, I’m in,” he said.
The captain nodded. “All right. River?”
“River has never been out,” she said.
My Own Kind of Clever
Yuva: Sakarya’s office
It wasn’t over yet.
There was no way to know what was coming, how it was coming, or when, but it wasn’t over.
That had always been the problem with the gorram Alliance: they just couldn’t leave a man alone. And they kept coming. They’d found a way to put a man on the inside, but he’d been exposed, making him useless; so now they’d come up with a new way.
He turned around, facing out at his pond, and watched the ducks.
Now that was the question, really: why had they let their man blow his cover? The Alliance had never been sneaky: just big, clunky, big, determined, and big. It rolled over you, it didn’t try to outfox you. If they had pulled their man, it wasn’t a trick, it was because they needed him for something else.
Question one: What was the something else?
Question two: Did he actually need to know?
The ducks swam in single file, around and around the pond. Occasionally the mother would turn her head, and was maybe giving out an instructional quack. He should get some microphones installed out there, so he could hear them. Duck sounds would be pleasant, from time to time.
A direct attack?
Probably not; that isn’t how agents work. But then, there were things going on that he hadn’t figured out, yet. He needed to plant someone in with them so he could find out. He’d have done it long ago, if he’d had any idea they were interested in him. But that was for later; for now, he’d put his security forces on alert, just to be safe.
And that ship, Serenity. It was a wild card. Had they slipped off? No, he just didn’t think so. If they couldn’t be found in the sky, it was more likely they’d … .
Yes, gorram it. They’d landed. They’d come back. Not the Alliance, but Sergeant Malcolm Reynolds, that was what had been bothering him all day.
Yep. No doubt about it: he needed his security forces on high alert, and he needed to be hunting for that gorram ship. The only way to stop someone like Reynolds was to get to him first, and hit him hard.
He pushed a button on his desk, and began giving the necessary orders.
Serenity: Dining room
“Okay,” he said. “Kit, let’s see those plans.”
The fed nodded and unrolled a sheaf of paper on the table.
“Here are the entrances,” he said, pointing to five spots, “plus ground floor windows here, here, here, here, and here.”
“Where do we go in?” said Jayne.
“We don’t know yet, Jayne” said Mal. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. You know, make a plan and all that.”
Kit continued, “The perimeter guards are here and here, a pair each, and another two pair making a circuit, covering every point every two minutes. Any given spot might be out of sight of live guards for thirty seconds, max, though there are still cameras.”
“Looked at where?”
“Guard station in the house, here, and also in the security office, though there’s a fair chance no one in the security office is bothering to look at them.”
“Can’t count on that,” said Mal. “Sakarya’s probably putting them on alert.”
“Think he knows we’re coming?” said Kit.
“I’d count on it.”
“All right.”
“How are they armed?”
“The guards have rifles, sidearms, and shockrods. The rest of the force on duty, about forty a shift, are quartered here, between the house and the security office. They can deploy and be anywhere in the house or on the grounds within about three minutes after the alert is given.”
Wash said, “Are they Locals, or private security?”
“Both,” said Mal and Kit at the same time.
“Forty,” said Jayne.
Kit nodded.
“Let me think. Forty of them, four of us. That’s … uh, more
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