Outcast

by Guerin Zand

  “Oh, before you leave, David, I forgot to introduce Sestan.” Sestan stood and shook David’s hand. “I’m not actually sure why he’s here, but he could be a useful asset if he’s interested. He’s been hauling cargo through the ASTN for quite a while. Anyways, if you wouldn’t mind setting him and Froshjen up with a few samples of our goods, I’d appreciate that.”

  “Not a problem, Guerin.”

  “Thanks, David.”

  I watched as the two left the office and then looked over at Sestan. “So Sestan, would you like to tell me why you are actually here?”

  “I thought you knew, Guerin.”

  “I wouldn’t be asking if I did.”

  “We contacted the Collective about a problem we’ve been having with the Trogans. See, after you left, they came up with a new solution to having their illegal cargo intercepted. They’ve turned to piracy. They’re using the same old loophole in the quarantine. Ships can enter the quarantine zone, they just aren’t allowed to leave.”

  “Over the centuries, they’ve managed to slip more than a few Trogans, or Trogan subjects, outside of the quarantine zone. They have allies outside their empire who provide them with ships and support, or who simply turn a blind eye to the Trogan activities. It’s these groups of Trogan subjects, and supporters, who raid cargo shipments, seize the ships and crews, and send them back into Trogan space. The crews are never heard from again.”

  “So, that’s the Collective’s problem. They’re the ones who are supposed to enforce the quarantine, especially against hostile incursions such as you just described.”

  “Exactly. That’s why we contacted them. They said they would send someone to take care of it. They said they were sending you.”

  “WHAT!”

  I reached for the viewer control on the table and placed a call to Jackie. She was going to regret being the only Bree close enough to strangle. I wasn’t going to simply contact her on our private comms. I wanted to see her face when I ripped her a new one.

  “What can I do for you, Guerin?” She actually smiled at me. That was her first mistake.

  “Oh, don’t give me that shit, Jackie. Did you know about this?”

  “What are you talking about now, Guerin?”

  “Don’t play dumb with me. My friend Sestan just told me the Collective sent me out here to deal with their latest Trogan problem. Did you know about this?”

  “Well, yes. The Collective figured since you were going to be in the area anyways, they would ask you to help out with the problem.”

  “Ask me, Jackie! No, you set me up, you didn’t ask me. Asking me would have sounded something like this, ‘Hey, Guerin, when you’re out in the ASTN worlds would you mind looking into a little problem they’re having with the Trogans?’ And you would have asked me before I left.”

  “Really, Guerin, I don’t see what the problem is. Whether we asked you before you left, or after you got here, what’s the difference?”

  “What’s the difference, Jackie? The difference is I’m a lot more pissed off then I would have been had you just asked, and not let Sestan dump it on me.”

  “Well, are you going to help them?”

  “If they’re waiting for my response you can send them my reply. That would be, FUCK YOU! Make sure you spell it correctly.”

  “Is that a yes?”

  I just dumped the connection. “Steve?”

  “I’ll talk to her, but since we are already here?”

  “Not you too, Steve?”

  “Why not, Guerin? I wouldn’t mind teaching those assholes a lesson, and I’m sure Diane won’t have a problem with it.”

  “It makes us look like the Collective’s lackeys, Steve. We’re supposed to be out here representing the Terran system. You know how the worlds out here are going to see us? We’ll just be known as the Collective’s goon squad. Their little flying monkey army. This puts a giant target on our backs for all the Collective’s enemies. For those that just don’t want to deal with the Collective, we’re not going to be welcomed.”

  “But most of the worlds out her already know that the Collective has taken an interest in us and that we are on friendly terms with them.”

  “Yes, and there are other worlds out here who are also on friendly terms with the Collective. They didn’t ask any of those worlds to be their enforcers, did they?”

  “I guess I see your point, but the cat’s already out of the bag, so to speak.”

  “I know, Steve. That’s what pisses me off. They’re forcing our hand here. We’re assholes if we do this, and we’re assholes if we don’t. If they would have just talked to me about this before we left, we could have done this in a better way. But no, they prefer to manipulate us, me especially.”

  “Guerin,” Sestan wasn’t any happier being the messenger in this case than I was hearing the message. “I am the only one who knows they were sending you. I guarantee you, I won’t let anyone else know they sent Terrans.”

  “Thanks, Sestan, but they’re going to know since we only have Terran ships. I don’t have the Vengeance. That’s why I’m saying if I knew I could have come up with a better way. We could have sent the Vengeance. We have no weapons on these ships, or other ways to stop and board Trogan warships. For God’s sake, I have my family on the Ryvius.”

  “You don’t have any Collective technology on your ships?”

  “No, Sestan, I mean other than Jackie and Senri. Do you think if we throw those two at the Trogan ships that would help?”

  We had taken a lot of precautions to disguise these ships as being strictly Terran designs. All of that was done so we would not be seen as Collective pawns.

  “Probably not. Can you send for the Vengeance?”

  “Maybe, but I don’t have a crew for the Vengeance currently available. That’s what I’m trying to tell all of you. If I had known beforehand, I could have put a crew together and had the Vengeance meet us here. Contrary to what everyone thinks, I don’t just pull these plans out of my ass whenever I need to.”

  “But your ships were able to enter the system without being detected, Guerin. You must have some advanced technology that would help.”

  “That’s how our star drive operates, Sestan. We’re undetectable when it’s engaged, and we can’t be harmed by enemy weapons. It is only useful as a defense. We can’t sneak up on them and launch a boarding party. We’d have to disengage the star drive first, making us vulnerable.”

  Steve could see I was pissed, and that I was trying to maintain our original cover story. The Collective had just ruined all the plans we had with this one stupid move.

  “Sestan, we need to discuss this matter in private. I have to agree with Guerin, this will cause us problems we hadn’t anticipated. We need to contact the Collective and see what they were thinking and then come to a decision on what we can do. We’ll let you know when we have an answer for you.”

  “I understand. Do I still get those free samples, Guerin?”

  “Get the fuck out of here, Sestan. You were always a pain in the ass, you do know that, don’t you?”

  “Sure. You taught me well.”

  I shook my head as we all stood up. Steve and I shook Sestan’s hand. Senri started to lead Sestan out.

  “Senri?”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “Did you know about this?”

  “Who, me?”

  “That’s what I thought. As soon as I figure out a way to punish you, trust me, I will.”

  “Looking forward to it, Captain.” Senri smiled and shot me a wink.

  “Get out of here, both of you.”

  We waited for the two to leave the room before Steve and I continued our discussion.

  “So, what should we do, Guerin?”

  “Right now I’m of the mind to have Jackie contact the Collective and simply say no. I think we should just continue with our mission as planned and ignore the Trogan issue. What do you think, Steve?”

  “I don’t know. Do you think the Collective will
actually let you ignore the issue?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, they usually get you to do what they want, one way or another. I’m not sure why, but they always seem to turn to you when they want something done. They never come to any of us with these jobs. They always go through you for some reason. You’re the one they’re always testing like this. They have a bit of a hard-on for you, Guerin. Let’s face it.”

  We both laughed. “Yea, and I need to be careful and not drop the soap or….” I rolled my eyes. “Why don’t we get both ship’s officers together tonight in the Ryvius’ mess for a dinner meeting. Let’s invite Nordman and his chief of security as well. We might as well let them all know what’s up and see what their thoughts are.”

  Steve agreed and left to talk to his officers. I sat back and poured myself another drink. Prima came in a short while later.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. It’s just the Collective screwing with me again.”

  Prima smiled as she rubbed my shoulders. “Don’t they know, that’s my job?”

  I grabbed her hand from my shoulder and kissed it. I looked up and let her devious smile take my mind off my problems for a second. “Would you mind inviting the ship’s officers to the mess tonight for a dinner meeting? Also invite Nordman and his security chief.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”

  David and Froshjen kept busy for the rest of the day. When the employees arrived we assigned the cargo crews to start moving the supplies to the new office facility. Froshjen had shown David where to rent automated transportation to help move their equipment from the ship to the office. He also arranged transport for our people. They unloaded everything except for the goods we had brought. David’s head of security wanted some time to familiarize himself and his team with the local security arrangements before officially moving in. Once the equipment was unloaded, and the team had spent some time exploring the office facility, the facilitators that Froshjen had hired took the team to settle into their residence. He had arranged for several apartments in a local complex close to the spaceport.

  The ship’s Bosses had already scheduled the security teams and bridge watches for each ship. All officers, except for the watch officers, arrived for dinner in the Ryvius’ mess. All other crew, not assigned to ship security, were allowed to travel between the ships at will at this point. We also allowed them to travel out into the city as long as they were accompanied by a facilitator. A lot of them formed into groups to go exploring Anthera and sample the local cuisine.

  The rest of us met in the mess for a nice shrimp pasta dinner that Prima and her galley slaves had prepared for the evening. We all exchanged small talk as we enjoyed our meal. More than a few of the officers were disappointed that they were missing out enjoying Anthera with the rest of their crewmates. This sort of complaining had become a regular part of our dinner discussions ever since we left the Earth ship. No matter how nice the ship was, people still preferred to have a lot of room to move around.

  “So, Dad, is there a reason you invited us all to dinner?” Maria started the meeting for me.

  “Yes. Our friends in the Collective neglected to tell us before we left that they had a little job for us to do while we’re out here. They want us to deal with a problem they’re having with the Trogans in the area.”

  “I thought the Trogan’s were under quarantine, Guerin. What is this problem we’re supposed to deal with?” Kelly, the Ryvius’ ship Boss asked. The rest of the officers looked equally confused.

  “They are, but as you all know, they still manage to slip a few through. How they do that is a mystery, to me at least. The problem is, they do have supporters outside of the quarantine zone who are more than willing to supply them with whatever they need, including ships. When I was out here the last time, we frequently seized some of these ships. They were smugglers running supplies and slaves back into the Trogan empire. As far as I can tell, these ships can enter the quarantine zone but are not allowed to leave.”

  “So, how do these Trogans get out?”

  “I don’t know Hiromi, at least I’m not 100% sure.” Hiromi Aoki was our ship’s Systems officer. She was always full of questions and I had to admit this was a good one. “Perhaps our resident Bree could answer that?” I gave Jackie that annoyed look I reserved for the Bree.

  “The quarantine has its limitations. We have to monitor an area larger than the Terran protected region. That limits us to detecting ships with a minimal energy signature. They can’t get their military vessels or large cargo vessels past the quarantine, but small vessels with minimal crews can get through. It is up to the local systems to handle these on their own. They are more than capable of doing that. The problem is, as Guerin stated, they do have supporters outside of the quarantine. It would be impossible for us to set up quarantine zones around every system outside the Trogan empire where they have support. Like I said, we consider that a local problem.”

  “So, why is that now our problem, Jackie?” I was glad that Kelly asked the question. Perhaps letting Jackie see that I wasn’t the only one with these concerns would make her less defensive.

  “Technically, it’s not. We just thought, that since Guerin had helped deal with this when he was here earlier, it would make sense to ask for his help.”

  “But if what you’re saying is true, Jackie, when Guerin left the area the problem just came back. You can’t expect us to make this a permanent assignment.”

  “We don’t, Kelly. Guerin did bring the problem down to a manageable level and even the local systems started to help. The problem is the Trogans have changed tactics. First, you have to understand that before the quarantine, the Trogans had established outposts outside of the Trogan empire. We stopped them before they acquired a large enough foothold that would have allowed them to expand out into these unaligned worlds. Still, these outposts are on worlds with precious resources. That means these outliers have financial resources. Enough to get their supporters to supply them with ships, some of them are military ships. So now, instead of risking having their cargo ships intercepted, they are simply seizing cargo ships that pass close enough to the Empire and quickly send them back into Trogan space.”

  “They’ve switched to piracy, instead of smuggling, and innocent crews are now being lost,” I added. “The number of military ships required for this is small, and they are scattered about. The member worlds of the ASTN cannot afford to maintain patrols or send armed escorts with every cargo ship that might be at risk.”

  “The local systems have a lot more resources available than we do, Jackie.” Ted Andrews, the Voyager’s Boss, saw the obvious problem. “How are we supposed to do what they can’t”

  “You have Collective technology available to you. The Ryvius and Voyager can respond almost instantaneously to a call for help.”

  Ted raised his open hands and shrugged his shoulders. “And then what? We don’t have any weapons on board to stop these pirate ships. Are we supposed to hurl insults at them?”

  I smiled and raised my eyebrows as I looked at Jackie for an answer. It felt good to see her have to answer these questions. The problem Jackie didn’t get when we talked earlier was that I wasn’t the only one who thought this was outside of our mission. No, what they thought would happen was they would get me to agree to this and then I’d have to explain it to our crews.

  “Guerin has used our technology before to handle Trogan military vessels. We can simply open a portal and send these ships inside the quarantine. Like Guerin said, they only have a few of these military vessels available. After they start losing a few, they’ll have to stop this piracy or lose them all.”

  “Ok, but isn’t that just another temporary fix.? Won’t they simply come up with another way around this?” Another obvious question from yet another member of the Voyager crew, Nathalia, the Voyager’s navigator.

  “Possibly, but both of these ships will remain in the area most of the time to supp
ort the Ranger operations. We’re only asking for help where the lives of innocent crews are at stake. If they go back to simple smuggling, we’ll let the locals handle it, for the most part.”

  “What do you mean, ‘For the most part’?” Jackie squirmed just a little bit when I called her on that.

  “Well, if they’re raiding planets or smuggling slaves, we should probably stop them.”

  “So, why did the Council have so much of a problem with me doing that on my own? I seem to remember taking a rash of shit about my interference.”

  “They’ve reconsidered they’re position.”

  “Yea, right. In other words, when it was my idea, it was a bad idea. Now that it’s their idea, it’s a good one. You’re a bunch of fucking hypocrites.”

  Kelly looked at me at that point. “So, if it doesn’t take away resources from our original mission, and it doesn’t put our crews in danger, I don’t see a problem helping out. Is there something we don’t know, Guerin?”

  “It’s not something you don’t know, but it is something you need to consider. Remember we’re trying to hide the fact that these two ships have any Collective technology. I can’t think of a way to do what the Collective is asking and not blow that secret. My fear is that we are going to be seen, and I mean all Terrans, as puppets of the Collective. That paints a target on our back with the worlds that support the Trogans, and the other worlds might not want to be associated with us. It does affect our mission, and it does put our crews at risk.”

  “But, Dad, can’t we do this without anyone knowing it’s us? Can’t we do it in a way that they think it is the Collective acting?”