“Any damage?”
“None worth mentioning, sir. What troubles me is their unwillingness to surrender or run.”
“Everyone's trying to make their mark and scratch out some territory out there Captain. The fall of Vindyne has left too many military assets and unregulated systems in the open. We have word that a super carrier has taken control of the Shael Den system. There are nine resource heavy moons and two terraformed planets there. Instead of one big corporation in that area we'll have a hundred warlords all fighting for supremacy. Just be glad we've pulled out of the Triad held sectors.”
“I am, trust me. I just can't wait to see more keels laid for this class. Our morale is high, our success rate out here is phenomenal. I'm sure if we use the tools we're given properly we'll prove this design in no time.”
“You've already proven it as far as I'm concerned. I'd say your final report on the new Nightshade class of vessel may just be the last piece of the puzzle we need to get more of those ships built. Your sister ship has had similar success.”
“Final report sir?”
“You're being reassigned. Our forces are almost finished pulling out of that area. The last of them are taking a wormhole home and should be here in less than a day. You are to make best speed back to Freeground. You have a new assignment waiting for you.”
“May I ask about my next posting?”
“You'll be promoted when you arrive and taking command of the Sunspire. We've renamed her since she's no longer a shadow ship and we want her distinguished history to continue under her original name. Her final shakedown yielded better than expected results. She will be given a full crew for the first time in over a century and put into service as a mobile base for a special task force. After nearly seven years in space dock, you could imagine Fleet Command is relieved.”
“Sending us straight into the fight sir?”
“No. That was where the Sunspire was supposed to go, yes, but Fleet Command changed their minds as soon as something came to our attention. We've found Captain Jonas Valent. He's been running under the name Jake Valance several sectors away.”
Captain McPatrick didn't know what to think for a moment. His shock and relief were overwhelming. “Does Ayan know?”
“She knows and has assumed command of the Midland. She's on her way back here.”
“Captain Engel can't be too happy about that.”
“He's professional enough to realize that she's not acting entirely on a personal level. The Midland's new drive systems have been approved by Special Projects, so she's due back at space dock for final inspection anyway. Depending on her health, Major Rice will be transferring to the Sunspire along with her Special Projects staff.”
“Why put one of Fleet's most important ships on this mission?”
“To be frank, General Rice and her daughter, Major Rice, had a lot to do with it. Once Fleet Command saw his capture and recover records they got on board.”
“He's been doing some hunting?”
“Yes, over a hundred confirmed live bounties and thirty one armed vessel repossessions. We're sure that there are others off the record and we're trying to acquire specifics on a privateering stint he engaged in but his most recent act has put him in the galactic news. He rescued over thirty thousand slaves from a bulk transport using a lightly armed hauler called the Samson. The public record says he took on an armed Galleon frigate without firing a shot.
We've sent you the entire file, the Hart News Agency was able to provide us with recovered security footage of some of his previous captures as well as the interview he was giving when Regent Galactic started bombing the port of St. Kitts. We can't afford to send more than one ship on this. War is about to break out in the Blue Belt and we'll have to focus our attentions there.”
“I understand. I'm grateful for the assignment, but I have to ask; why am I being posted on this?”
“You're right to ask, normally I'd be against it considering your personal attachment. The senior staff requested you since you have an insight into Valent's thought process. I took the opportunity to put you up for a promotion while I was speaking with Command and I'm happy to report that congratulations are in order. You won't be alone, however. Fleet Intelligence will be providing an officer to oversee operations since the Sunspire will have a full crew and is reclassified as a high priority asset.”
“Thank you sir, I'm looking forward to the new assignment,” he replied, inwardly cringing at the idea of having an Intelligence officer follow his every step.
“Good, it's not every day I have the opportunity of posting one of my best men on the most advanced ship in the fleet. Good luck Major McPatrick. Rear Admiral Trenton out.”
The hologram disappeared and Terry sat down behind his desk. “Helm, set course to Freeground and get underway at maximum speed. Stealth is not an issue,” he ordered. The communications system in his quarters passed his instructions on.
“Aye sir,” replied the helmsman.
He just thought about his old Captain for a long moment. His humour, his forward thinking and how he constantly put the crew's welfare before his own. It was that attitude that prompted him to surrender himself to the enemy almost eight years ago so the First Light and her remaining crew could escape. A sacrifice Captain McPatrick wasn't sure he could make if he were in the same position.
He turned his desk console on and brought up the records on Jake Valance. Hours later he was still in that chair, watching his old friend chase down bounty after bounty in security footage. There was no denying that the person in those images was Jonas Valent, but he had become a man Oz did not know.
Alice
His hair. That's his most ridiculous feature. She thought to herself as she looked across the table to the mergillian while he inspected the violet diamonds she had brought him. As he watched the scanner's results come up she couldn't stop staring. He was short. A little over four feet, with a broad face and a thin, wide mouth. Most of his people took pride in their racial features. They ate a special diet so the circles and spots on the back of their heads, arms and backs showed up more. Robert Swanson, not his birth name, did the opposite.
He was obsessed with all things human. He had hair implanted across the top of his broad, smooth head. The amount of secretions his body created had been reduced and he even had his back and arms pigment shifted so his spots were hidden. His nostril holes flared slightly as he inspected the last diamond. “I can give you twelve thousand for the lot.”
“They're worth ten times that much.”
“Perhaps twice the price I'm offering. Besides, there isn't much call for this kind of thing here. I will have to sell them as a distributor to another trader. Twelve thousand.”
“Fifteen and I'll throw in my eternal gratitude.” She said, winking her cybernetic eye. She knew it unnerved him. The fine green shifting mechanics inside the eye worked to refocus whenever she blinked. Her real eye was a deep, natural green that matched in pigment only.
“Thirteen. My partners will not be happy.”
“Fine, but you're losing a customer at that price.”
Robert transferred credits to a small chip and slid it across the table. She slipped it into a hidden slot in her wrist computer. It was a dull grey metal band a centimetre thick and five centimetres wide. “It's a transitional port, Fran. Everyone stops here, no one stays. There are always more customers.”
Alice took her imitation black leather jacket from the back of her chair and put it on. She didn't say another word as she walked out of the small cafe.
The old port was busy. It was a station made from derelicts. She had seen quite a few of them in that edge of space. The frontier worlds worked on a budget. Many of them bought decommissioned space station segments and starships then hauled them out to the edge of space where terraforming was still being performed everywhere you looked and there were unclaimed resources waiting to be staked.