Phule's Paradise Read Online Free PDF Page B

Captain?"
          Phule didn't even bother to look for the originator of the question.
          "I figure that for an effective intelligence network, we'll need about forty or fifty spread through the various hotel areas and shifts."
          The Legionnaires began to glance back and forth among themselves. Forty or fifty Legionnaires meant about one in four of them would not be serving with the rest of the team this assignment.
          "That's a fair-sized hunk of our force, sir," Brandy observed loudly from her front-row seat. "Aren't you afraid someone will notice if we show up that much understaffed?"
          "They would ... if we showed up in partial strength," the commander confirmed. "That's why we're going to have to hire some `ringers' to substitute for the Legionnaires working under cover. I've given Lieutenant Rembrandt the assignment of recruiting-or should I say, auditioning-the necessary number of actors and actresses to bring our uniformed body count up to the required level."
          To Phule, this was a logical choice. Rembrandt, with her artist's eye, would be best at selecting stand-ins, while Armstrong, with his stern Regular Army upbringing, was a natural to help organize and oversee the company's physical relocation to their new assignment.
          The Legionnaires, however, heard this news in stricken silence. While they had shown concern over being pitted against the unknown menace of organized crime, the concept of dividing their force seemed to stun them beyond words.
          "You will give ... our uniforms to people ... not in company? Not in Legion?"
          It was Tusk-anini who broke the silence ... and Phule knew he was in trouble. The big Voltron was one of his most loyal supporters who rarely, if ever, questioned orders. If Tusk was going to get upset over the idea of outsiders standing duty as Legionnaires, then Phule was going to have to talk fast before the rest of the company rose up in open mutiny.
          "That's right, Tusk-anini," he said. "I'm not wild about it, either, but that's the way it's got to be."
          He quickly turned his attention to the group at large before any more questions could be raised.
          "Now, before you all jump all over me about the downsides of this operation, let me cut right to the bottom line of the situation. We've got a hairy assignment that's been dumped in our laps. I didn't ask for it. We didn't ask for it, but we've got it. Actually, realizing the dubious opinion Headquarters has of us, we shouldn't be surprised at all."
          That got a few smiles and nudges out of the company. Once considered the losers and rejects of the Legion, the troops under Phule's command now took a perverse pride in their renegade status.
          "Basically I'm sure that General Blitzkreig figures this is an impossible assignment, and that he gave it to us fully expecting us to fall flat on our faces."
          A few growls answered this statement, but Phule pressed on quickly.
          "Hey, he may be right. We may not be able to stop an organized-crime takeover, but we're going to give it our best shot. Remember what I told you when I first assumed command? About doing the best you can with what you have in any given situation? Well, in this situation, to do our best-to have any chance at all of success-we're going to have to send part of our team under cover. They're going to have to give up their pretty uniforms and the support they get from them and stand duty all alone. To cover for them, to give them a chance, we're going to have to accept the presence of stand-ins in our ranks. What's more, we're going to have to treat the substitutes as equals ... really let them blend in. Because, if we don't ..."
          He swept the room with his sternest stare.
          "If anyone gets the idea that not everyone in our uniformed show is genuine, they're going to start looking around for where the real