“Steven Maynard has built quite an empire here, completely under the radar. Too bad it’s built on captive labor. He’s got farms, factories, mines, and mills — all the features of a second tier world. If they hadn’t gotten greedy, we’d still be wondering where the ships went.”
The admiral changed the subject to the K’Rang fleet on the other side of the star cluster.
“I’m glad you put that probe out there. That K’Rang fleet could have ripped us badly if they’d hit us unaware. Even knowing they’re there, there’s not much we can do about them. My tacticians put us being wiped out in five scenarios out of eight. Even adding in the pirates, it’s a close run thing with the odds only improving slightly.”
“I’ve sent a dispatch requesting a cruiser squadron to reinforce us, but none are in close enough range to reach us in less than a week. Now if the K’Rang will just cooperate…”
Kelly thought back to the mystery fleet that attacked the pirates and pondered on how he could enlist their aid. He wondered where Mr. Debran was.
Steven Maynard called up to speak with Admiral Minacci. “Admiral, I have a request to make of you, on a matter of legalities. Due to long mutual distrust, we don’t allow lawyers here on Barataria, except for unique circumstances. Our surrender is one of those circumstances. We have need of legal advice in regards to the surrender.”
Admiral Minacci impatiently wanted Maynard to come to the point, “Yes, Mr. Maynard, what does this have to do with me?”
“Admiral, we have an unarmed ship we use for courier runs that we would like to send to Aldebaran to return with our legal team, if you will allow it. It will require crew transport by our shuttle up to the moon. You may board or scan the courier ship to verify it contains no weapons or contraband. We may be forced to delay the surrender if we don’t have our legal representatives here.”
Minacci responded, “All right, Mr. Maynard. Have your ship come up to my flagship and stand off 50 km for boarding. If we scan and detect any weapons, explosives, or anything we don’t like, we will vaporize your ship. Do you understand?”
“Absolutely admiral, there will be no tricks. It’s just as I say.”
Maynard closed the comms channel and turned to Thorson. “Thorson, pick your crew and take these dispatches to the law firm of Rondage and Jompe, in Santana City on El Nath Prime. They’ll know what to do. Return here tomorrow or the next day at the very latest.”
Thorson rode the shuttle up to the moon and boarded his incomplete ship. When he purchased the engine and weapons upgrade they had removed the old engines and weapons, but had only replaced the engines before the surrender. He felt naked in a ship with no weapons, but the reduced weight and faster engines made him one of the fastest commercial ships in the area.
After a thorough but, thankfully, expedited inspection, the Eclipse was on its way. During the trip, he worked on a little something the lawyers could do for him. His refund for the weapons should cover it.
Friedrich Debran departed Rigel Station for Barataria in the custom executive transport. He would stop off first to retrieve his family, and then on to the planet. He couldn’t let a habitable planet go to waste. His pilot followed the path through the star cluster provided by Admiral Minacci and rendezvoused with his flagship. He wasn’t allowed to dock with the warship, but a launch was sent over with his family on board. There were no tears of joy from his wife and daughters when they came aboard, only a request to know where were their cabins and were there fresh clothes to change into.
Friedrich had the steward show them to their quarters. He joined the captain and had him request permission to land on Barataria. Permission was denied and Debran just kept going higher up in the chain of command until he was put in touch with Steven Maynard. Maynard told him that he was busy surrendering his planet and didn’t have time for social or revenge calls right now.
Debran quickly laid out the outline of a financial proposition, to act as Maynard’s Galactic Republic land agent for settling the unoccupied portions of the planet. The proposition interested Steven, and he authorized Debran’s ship to land.
All the captives were released from their labors. This date would be henceforth known as Barataria’s Independence Day. Russell and Sally took the day to visit the main city park.
Sally had made a picnic lunch for them, and they searched out a shady hillside patch to spread out their blanket.
Sally was pensive as the two of them lay beside each other. She had been quiet during the walk to the park. Russell could tell something was bothering her.
“Sally, what’s wrong?”
Sally kept quiet and turned away from Russell.
Russell pulled her over into his arms and asked again.
She seemed to shrink away from him even as he held her tight.
Quietly, she said, “I don’t want this to end.”
“You don’t want what to end? The captivity?”
“No, us, the restaurant, the time we’ve had together. It’s all going to go away. I’ve been so happy here in this intolerable situation. Of course, everything is going to change now. I’ll have to go and find a job in the Algol, Rigel, or Aldebaran system. I’m sure running a restaurant as a pirate’s captive will seem exotic, but won’t get me my own place. And you, you’ll go back to being a merchant sailor again. Everything will change.”
Russell continued to hold her and kissed her head.
“What will happen to us now that you…we won’t be forced to be together? You won’t continue to be happy with me, when you can have your choice of younger, prettier women.”
Russell looked down at her and said, “You idiot! Don’t you know that I love you? I want YOU! You’re more than pretty enough and young enough for me. I couldn’t imagine living with you if you were younger. You work twice as hard as any one my age. You wear me out as it is, in the restaurant and in bed. I’ve chosen you.”
Russell continued to hold her as tears streamed down her face. He leaned down and kissed her, tasting the saltiness of her tears.
She looked up at him and said, “I’m sorry for being such an idiot. I never expected to find someone as wonderful as you in my life. Forgive me for being an insecure, emotional woman.”
“You’re forgiven — now fetch me out a sandwich. I’m hungry.”
The tears vanished and her smile returned as she laid out their feast.
The Vigilant was chosen to take the admiral and selected officers down for the surrender ceremony. Chief Blankenship and the chiefs motivated the crew to make the ship gleam. When she came for Kelly to do his inspection walk-through, she reminded him how hard the crew worked and they would appreciate him recognizing their efforts.
Kelly conducted his walk-through inspection and was impressed when he saw the shape of his ship. The crew really exceeded his expectations. He was effusive in his compliments and issued two on-the-spot awards for exceptionally well-maintained spaces. Chief B gave him a thumbs-up when he was through.
Kelly ordered the probe launched again to maintain a watch on the K’Rang fleet. It would hover near the spot it had observed from before and pop out every hour or two to maintain contact with the K’Rang ships. It wouldn’t do to get caught unaware, with the only scout ship parked on the planet below.
At the appointed hour, the Admiral’s gig pulled up to the airlock and docked. Kelly met him in his dress uniform and six side boys stood for his arrival. The party consisted of the admiral, his aide, his protocol officer, the captains of two of the three assault landing carriers, and his entire JAG section. The Yellow Jacket would be sending CPT Chen and the SOC down in an AS-500 as an honor guard.
The gig pulled away and the AS-500 pulled up beside the Vigilant. Kelly called down to the spaceport and received permission for the two ships to land. Kelly ordered the helm to make a standard approach to the spaceport, and advised the AS-500’s pilot of his intentions. The pilot responded back that he would follow them down.