Sten Chronicles #05 - Revenge of the Damned by Chris Bunch & Allan Cole

Author:Chris Bunch & Allan Cole [Bunch, Chris & Cole, Allan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Adventure, Science Fiction, Fiction, General, Sten (Fictitious Character)
ISBN: 9781841490809
Google: g8tRHQAACAAJ
Amazon: 1841490806
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2001-06-30T22:00:00+00:00

Those they received.

Both of them expected promotions—and had theorized on the long run back whether they would be kicked up one or more grades.

Those they did not receive—yet.

Their orders were quite similar:

STEN (NI) (WITHHELD) Ordered to (WITHHELD) following (WITHHELD) leave time, authorized travel to (WITHHELD). Upon return to duty, you will report to (WITHHELD) for further orders.

Conditions of reporting for further duty will be communicated to you by (WITHHELD) date.

KILGOUR, ALEX (WITHHELD) Ordered to (WITHHELD) following (WITHHELD) leave time, authorized travel to planet of EDINBURGH and other systems as desired. Upon return to duty, you will report to (WITHHELD) for further orders. Conditions of reporting for further duty will be communicated to you by (WITHHELD) date.

Sten and Alex looked at each other. Somebody up there had plans for their future. Probability: unpleasant. But there was little that could be done about it short of deserting. And both of them had spent enough time on the run.

The second step was to collect their back pay, which would amount to a small fortune.

One of the few productive pastimes the Tahn POWs had was figuring out how much money they were due and how they would spend it.

The Empire paid its military somewhat differently than had governments of the past. A soldier's paycheck was either given to him in cash on pay period or banked in a civilian bank and allowed to draw whatever interest or noninterest it paid, bank to be determined by individual.

That was not done because of any particular kindness the Emperor felt toward each grunt. There were three very simple reasons that, one drunken evening eons before, the emperor had outlined for Mahoney: 1. This is a capitalist Empire. I think. Therefore, money in circulation is healthier than money sitting in anybody's vault.

2. I understand a lot of things. I can sketch you out, if you're interested, the mathematical correlation of the nine basic forces of the universe. I don't understand economics, and nobody else does, either.

Therefore, I ain't gonna get involved.

3. Banks what get my troopies' money are very, very rational people. Which means they do what I clottin' tell them, when I tell them, or else suddenly they're on the "Not Recommended For Military Deposit" list.

And so, when Sten and Alex paraded into the Prime World bank that for years had been favored, for some lost reason, by Mercury Corps and Mantis Section operatives, they expected to be greeted politely, as if they were stockholders.

They did not expect to be ushered into the office of the bank president and informed they were now majority stockholders. And if it would please the gentlemen, now that they were… ahem, available, would they be interested in advising the current members of the board on future investment possibilities?

Sten gurgled.

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