Free Fleet of the Damned by Chris Bunch; Allan Cole Page A

ready to go broke."
    He went into a long litany of complaints, which were added to and spiced up by comments from a slowly growing crowd with Mahoney at its center.
    They told him about the sneaky, lazy Tahn, about the attacks on their property and their counterattacks. They told him about an economy that was almost paralyzed, and about incompetent cops and worse than incompetent Imperial garrison troops.
    They went on about their suspicions: mysterious lights over Tahn enclaves, probable stockpiling of weapons, and professional Tahn troops slipping in to reinforce their filthy brethren.
    The Imperial settlers, of course, were blameless. They had tried so hard to bear up under the burden. Everyone in the bar had made a personal sacrifice, hadn't he? Why, they had even dipped deep into their bank accounts to buy weapons to protect their farms and Imperial property.
    Through it all, Mahoney allowed his face to become grimmer and grimmer in agreement. He rarely interrupted, except to snort or to buy another round of drinks.
    By the time the night was over, he could have filled an entire fiche with his report.
    He was also beginning to realize that the situation with the Mercury Corps was even worse than he had told the Emperor. The intelligence he was getting was at complete odds with what the Emperor had been hearing. In the Fringe Worlds, the corps had been pierced, corrupted, and broken.
    It was enough to swear a good Irishman off drink.

    CHAPTER SIXTEEN
    "… so then we told this Imperial piece of drakh to put his back taxes where the star don't shine and get the clot out of our county."
    The big Tahn woman howled with laughter at Mahoney's story and pounded him on the back.
    "Only way to deal with them," she said. She gave a huge beery belch and peered out into the night. "Turn here."
    Mahoney did as directed, and soon he was topping a rise. Just before them was the glow of the Tahn communal farm that his companion was headwoman of. Mahoney had met her at a local watering hole. Frehda was a big middle-aged woman who had spent most of her years managing the fortunes of a large Tahn enclave. Over vast quantities of beer, chased by a dozen bottles of his cider, they had become fast friends.
    Mahoney had readily accepted her invitation to spend a few days at her enclave "to see how we do things in these parts." She assured him it would be an education. Mahoney had other reasons to believe her; little prickles of rumor and bar talk had led him in this direction.
    Even at night the enclave was impressive. As they approached, Mahoney could see many large steel barracks surrounded by what seemed to be a fairly sophisticated security system and nasty razor-wire fencing. As he approached the gated main entrance, the figures of two heavily armed Tahn farmers loomed out.
    Frehda shouted a few friendly obscenities at them by way of greeting.
    "Who's the fella, boss?" one of them wanted to know.
    "Salesman pal," Frehda said. "Good man. Drink anybody 'cept maybe me under the table."
    There were chuckles at this. Mahoney gathered that alcohol consumption was just one of many things Frehda was noted for. He had secretly used up nearly half of his ready supply of sobriety pills during the evening to keep even vaguely straight.
    "I'll put him up at my place," Frehda went on. "Maybe one of you can give him a look-see around in the ayem."
    "Anything in particular you wanna see, mister?" one of the Tahn asked. Mahoney caught an undertone of suspicion. Frehda might be the boss lady, but she was way too drunk for someone to take her at her word on a stranger.
    "Got any pigs?" he asked.
    " 'Course we got pigs. What do you think we are, sharecroppers?"
    Mahoney snorted. "No," he said. "Just that I got a soft spot for pigs. Been studying all my life. I could write volumes on pigs."
    "He can talk them, too," Frehda said. "Just about wore my ear out till I got him drunk enough to go on to somethin' else."
    The two Tahn guards relaxed. They chuckled