Was Once a Hero by Edward McKeown Read Free Book Online Page A

Denlenn.”
    She
stiffened.
    “Denlenn,”
he said, “not Dua-Denlenn.”
    “They
look much alike,” she growled, “but a hot pilot you say?”
    He
nodded.
    “I
can live with it,” she said, standing.   “I’ll start rounding up a crew.   The usual wages won’t attract anybody.”
    “Tell
everyone it is a high-risk mission,” Fenaday said, “with an extremely good
chance of not coming back.   No details,
don’t mention Enshar.   It will get out
eventually, but I don’t want to deal with the press if I can avoid it.   Tell them it pays a hundred thousand credits
for able-bodied spacemen and twenty-five thousand more for every grade over
that.   It goes to their dependents if we
don’t come back.”
    She
blinked.   “We have that kind of money?”
    “Yeah,
but on a very short leash, otherwise we’d be lifting for the Fringe at maximum
delta-v.   We are not dealing with fools.”
    “Be
nice,” Shasti sighed, “if it was easy once.   Just once.”
    “Where’s
the fun in that?” he asked
    Shasti
gave him a mock glare, shaking her head.   “Standard humans,” she muttered.

 
 
    Chapter Five

 
    Shasti
and Fenaday spent the next thirty-six hours looking through the low places of
Marsport for their crew, trolling through bar after bar and less savory dives
and flophouses.   Sidhe was crewed normally with two hundred-fifty spacers and her
own Landing Expedition and Assault Force, nicknamed the LEAF.   Fenaday wanted a full contingent of ground
fighters on this trip.   He’d need fewer
regular crew, since they’d carry no cargo or trade goods.   This was a military mission, and Fenaday
planned to take as few to death with him as he could.   As for Mandela’s people, they were not his
responsibility.
    Fenaday
finally located Carlos Perez, Sidhe’s chief engineer.   Ironically, he found him
in Luchow’s, where Fenaday had carried his own sorrows the day before.   His wife had already thrown him out.   Again.   Fenaday explained about the upcoming voyage.
    “Sounds
like a suicide mission,” Perez said, dark eyes blazing.   “That is exactly what I want, provided La Bitch gets nothing in the event of my
death.”   Fenaday clapped him on the
shoulder and sent the engineer back to the ship to start coordinating repairs
and maintenance.
    Moshe
Karass, pilot of the shuttle Banshee ,
was maintaining Marscabs in a garage.   Karass was one of the few of Fenaday’s crew in whom he had much
faith.   The Israeli was a good pilot and
loved spacing.   Karass looked pleased to
see him.   He wiped his hands on a rag
before shaking Fenaday’s hand.
    “Hey,
skipper,” Karass said.   “What’s the good
word?”
    “There’s
work, Moshe.   It pays four hundred
thousand credits for a top pilot but I can’t recommend it.”
    Moshe
whistled in astonishment.   “Four hundred
thousand credits?   Where are…never
mind.   If you could tell me, it wouldn’t
pay such a mint.   Well, I’m no closer to
getting a decent spacing job.   Pan
World’s frame job on me for that moon shuttle collision is still fresh in the
minds of prospective employers.   My only
way back into space is with you.   If we
live, I’ll have enough money to clear my name.”
    “Okay,
Moshe.   Get down to the ship as soon as
you can.”
    Meanwhile,
Shasti had found most of her LEAF troops in bars or jail cells.   Some were working as leg breakers, bouncers
and such.   A few had found respectable
work; those she left alone.    This
mission was suicidal and only the desperate, or those they desperately needed,
were invited.
    One of
the respectable turned up at the ship anyway.  
    Shasti
looked down from the gantry to see a familiar, tall shape, striding between
lines of supply carts.   “Johan,” she
muttered to herself and took a work elevator to the ground.
    Johan
Gunnar had served in the LEAF with her since she arrived on Sidhe .   He’d landed a job with a shipping warehouse as a manager.