Read Legion Of The Damned - 02 - The Final Battle for Free Online

fit perfectly.
    “So,” Antonio said, allowing his eyes to droop slightly, “what will the alien propose?”
    Marcus shrugged. “You’ve seen the intelligence reports. He will offer to withdraw most of his troops from Alpha-One in return for our support of the Confederacy.”
    Pietro shuddered. “Align ourselves with alien free-breeders? Never!”
    Marcus nodded dutifully but felt vaguely unhappy. While he shared his counterpart’s distaste for the completely laissez-faire manner in which the Confederacy’s member races managed their respective gene pools, Marcus knew they outnumbered the Hegemony ten to one, and were a force to be reckoned with. Of course it wouldn’t be politic to admit that—not directly, anyway—so he took a more circuitous route. “That’s easy for you to say, Pietro, but you don’t have a battalion of cyborgs strutting around your capital. Pleaseallow me to remind you that it is we who serve as hostages to the Hegemony’s good behavior.”
    Antonio played with a ringlet of hair. “Come now, Marcus . . . how dangerous can they be? Our intelligence reports indicate that their commanding officer uses drugs and their morale is at an all-time low. The legionnaires are tough but your troops could defeat them.”
    “Yes,” Marcus replied, careful to keep his voice level. “We could defeat them. But what about the wave that would follow? And the wave after that?”
    “So what are you suggesting?” Pietro demanded scornfully. “An alliance with the free breeders? Surrender all that we hold dear? I think not.”
    “No,” Marcus replied testily, “the inference insults us both. I would never agree to that.”
    “Then what do you have in mind, brother dearest?” Antonio asked mildly. “I know you too well to think that you would raise questions for which there are no answers.”
    Marcus shrugged. The awful truth was that he did believe in some sort of accommodation but was afraid to say so. He searched for a graceful way out. “We need time. Time to build our industrial base, time to strengthen our military forces, and time to sow discord in the Confederation. I suggest we stall.”
    Marcus felt the tingling sensation that signaled an urgent page. He touched his implant and rose to his feet. “My apologies, brethren. Another security matter, I suspect. Would you excuse me? I’ll take care of whatever it is and return as quickly as possible.”
    The other men nodded, stood politely, and watched Marcus leave the room. They sat once he was gone. Pietro was the first to speak. “So, Antonio, what do you think of our brother’s plan?”
    Antonio smiled lazily and leaned back in his chair. “I think it’s one-hundred-percent grade-A bullshit.”
    Pietro nodded agreeably. “I concur. Stalling is a form of accommodation. I say we resist. More than that, I say we attack.”
    Antonio lifted a well-plucked eyebrow. “Yes, brother dearest, but what of Marcus?”
    Pietro looked thoughtful. “Our brother wants to placate the monster. So let him lull the creature to sleep. A long sleep from which it will never awake.”
    “But how?” Antonio asked dreamily. “What will we do?”
    Pietro looked grim. “We will shoot the monster where it is most vulnerable. Right between the eyes.”
     
    The president of the Confederacy of Sentient Beings, defender of the Galactic Peace, and doer of deals, watched Clone World Alpha-001 grow larger beneath him. The shuttle shuddered as it hit the atmosphere and continued its way downward. Sleek aerospace fighters hung off each wing, ready to destroy anything the clones might send up, supposing they were stupid enough to do so.

    The Clone World was rather average by the standards of Anguar’s race, having what he considered to be an excessive amount of surface water, and any number of unusable mountain ranges. Still, he could see how the high degree of match between Alpha-One and Earth would seem attractive to humans, and understood that it had been chosen