Min Hae grabbed a drink and weaved to the table, a sad look on his face. He bumped into one of them.
“I am so sorry, just I'm sorry,”
The person looked at him in confusion.
“My brother got taken, by the shadows,” he said, licking his lips and slugging some of the drink back.
The man's expression softened.
“My son got taken,” he said sadly. Min Hae nodded understanding.
“Fucking bastards,” Min Hae grumbled.
“Come, have a seat.” The man indicated a chair. Min Hae plopped down.
It turned out that the mysterious “Shadows” was a group used to police the people. Anyone stepped out of line and the police took them. Or they took people just because they felt like it. No one said if they were a gang, or who they were controlled by, but a look in their eyes made Min Hae think they all knew. Promises were made, contacts exchanged and Min Hae departed the bar and moved to the next, taking a pill to counteract what he'd drunk. The night was young and information ran freely from whetted tongues. It would take time to turn people from talkers into people to do stuff for him. But talkers would still be able to keep him in the loop.
He moved from bar to bar getting tidbits of information and growing his contact base. He couldn't get people to say who controlled the shadows. Asking straight out would probably make them clamp up. It was such common knowledge they thought everyone should know it. Though a lot of people wanted to do something about it, none of them had the tools. Min Hae saw an opening there.
Min Hae's comms bracelet beeped. Comms implants were a rare thing for merchants to have, and keeping up appearances was necessary.
“Captain, since we came into orbit we've got a small bidding war going on for our stocks,” Chrys said. Min Hae frowned that Chrys wasn't trying to say anything in code.
“Well, send it duurn here and I'll has a look at it.” Min Hae affected a drunken slur for the other patrons of the bar he was in, excusing himself from the table of merchants. They allowed him to sit in a private booth and look at the bids.
Looks like Daestramus has a food shortage issue. Quite a few other planets too. Min Hae made sure his elation didn't reach his holographic face.
He looked over the data pad to see a man walking in, obviously a regular by the way he greeted a few people. The bar woman had a drink ready for him as he put down some money and talked to her for a few moments. Something was familiar about the man. The man looked around and Min Hae realized he was the customs officer. Min Hae waved and his face split into a smile instead of his bored demeanor on the comms.
“Captain Saleni, it is good to meet you in the flesh,” the customs officer said as he took a seat.
“You too, Miiiister?” Min Hae slurred under the mask of Saleni.
“Narvu, so do you have that—package?” Min Hae made a show of pulling out his comms device and sending a badly crafted message to the team he'd had hold onto the goods. A locked shuttle wasn't enough protection.
“'Izz on its way!” Min Hae said as he put the comms device back and studied the man. By the way people talked to him he was a friend rather than an enforcer to many of the merchants. Though Min Hae wasn't going to use him based on that alone.
“Soo, if I say I have another shipment in the area,” Min Hae burped, “Would you be able to sayyy, keep this deal going?”
“I think so,” Narvu said.
“Well, that calls for some drinks!”
“I'm good,” Narvu said as Min Hae started to raise his hand to order.
“The wife got you on a short leash?” Min Hae asked.
“No, Marhtu has her now,” Narvu said, his hands tightening in rage as he took a hefty gulp of his drink.
“Uhh, I'm sorry,” Min Hae said, wondering what Naru meant by Marhtu having her.
“Got the kids still, so that's why I keep doing what I'm doing,”
“Ahh, I understand. I was married for some time, no kids. Though it feels like my crew are worse than a whole litter of them!”
Narvu huffed a laugh as two of Min Hae's crew came in. Min Hae waved to them as they came over with smiles. They gave Narvu a weighty box who opened it, looking at the contents inside.
“What is this?”
“Baroui, the most abundant food on our home planet,” one of the crew men answered, looking to Min Hae.
“We done, Cap'n?” he asked as Min Hae waved them off.
“No stupid stuff!” he warned, and the others waved as they departed.
“How do you eat this stuff?”
“Chomp on it, or boil it in some water with some flavoring, packed full of good stuff, but tastes awful without flavoring,” Min Hae said as he took another gulp of drink. “Anything interesting happening around here?” He asked, swirling his glass.
“Nothing other than these Syndicate ships testing that we aren't going to attack them,” Narvu said, keeping the box close and resting a hand on it.
“I've never heard of them doing it before,” Min Hae said, slurping his drink.
“Well there's a first time for everything, and Lady Fairgate is a very suspicious woman. Though it'll be worse for them if what they say is real. It would be nice if they dropped a few shells on Marthu and his gang of thugs,” Narvu said.
“But then what would happen? It'd be chaos,” Min Hae said. Maybe he’d still get something more than local gossip and a lower tax from Narvu.
“Well, we'd have to figure that out,” Narvu said, studying Min Hae again. Min Hae had interviewed thousands of Syndicate prisoners. He knew when someone was hiding something.
“Needs some organization, as well as something to use against them. Sticks and stones won't do much against plasma and rail guns,” Min Hae said.
“Well, it's not like anyone's going to sell them to the regular people,” Narvu said. And I'm betting you're not just a regular person are you Narvu? Min Hae thought.
“Just takes the right kind of drive and the right contacts. Look I picked up this book on organizational tactics. It's really interesting what some races have done,” Min Hae sent the file and Narvu scanned the hell out of it before he accepted it. It was a comprehensive look at how rebel groups on Earth had worked against the powers that be, from the French rebels to terrorist cells. The name “Earth” and all information about it was washed out, but the information was there.
“It is rather interesting, but people could get in a lot of trouble organizing themselves,” Narvu said. Min Hae didn't miss the way Narvu looked around, or the way his hand that had rested on the box had slipped to his leg.
“Why?” Min Hae asked, sitting back as he sipped from his drink.
“Well, let’s just say no one wants to be caught for anything here on Daestramus. Our reform system is not one anybody would spend a lot of time in,” Narvu said and Min Hae nodded, hiding a grin. Narvu was as good as his.
“No worries. I'm just here to sell my goods. Would you perhaps know a good seller of technologies? Daestramus is famed for their quality goods,” Min Hae asked.
“I can see if I can set something up, for a price,” Narvu said, and Min Hae grinned.
“I'm sure we can sort out a price.”
Chapter - Too Smooth
We'd been in orbit around Daestramus for seven days, and Cheerleader had exited the system some time ago to link up with Bregend's ships.
He personally commanded a newly captured battle cruiser, with a Destroyer, two cruisers and two Corvette's rounding out his squadron.
He had only taken two days from arriving in Parnmal to transfer his people and parts from his old ship to his new one.
He'd risen to his appointment as Captain admirably. Which was why he found himself in charge of six ships instead of just his own.
The relations department had been talking to the Overseer as well as the City governors for some time, trying to reach an agreement, but it seemed for some reason that the leaders were tending towards the middle path of siding with neither us nor the Synd
icate. The reason I hadn't left the planet to explore more was because I got an odd feeling from Marhtu, as well as the fact that they had always implored us to stay instead of leaving.
It might be a tactic to keep us here to protect them if the Syndicate comes, I thought.
I stood, stretching.
“In Sook, you have command,” I said.
“Certainly, sir,” she said, remaining in her seat as additional options were added to her work terminal.
As we walked out, I turned to Janice and Dave who were on watch for now.
“You two hungry?” I asked, and both of them shrugged as I gave them the evil eye.
“I'll take that as a yes, considering your new found inability to make a decision,” I said, a grin coming across my face as they rolled their eyes.
“I'm going to start putting on some weight with all this food,” Dave said with a grin.
“Its cause of those damned pastries you’re addicted to!” Janice said with a playful shove.
“They are a sight better than what we had before,” Dave said, smiling at his wife, stopping their pushing match.
I took the long route, walking by the gun decks.
“Hey, Chief Zor,” I said to the Sarenmenti, who was studying something intently on his data pad.
“Commander,” he said, looking as if he was debating whether to ask a question by the way his stub of a tail moved.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Well, sir, I have some upgrades planned for the Resilient when she reaches dock. I know we won't be going in for a while because of our current mission, but if you'd like to see?”
“Of course,” I smiled. It was good to see anyone showing initiative, plus it was a sight to see Chief Zor slightly unsure of himself.
I whistled, moving the hair out from my face, my red eyes undoubtedly dancing as I read what Zor proposed.
“That is quite the upgrade.” I moved through a few more pages as I noted some changes that I'd seen before. “I see you've been working with Eddie,”
“Yes sir. He told me how even though Resilient is a beauty, the PDF was focusing on making ships at speed, so they cut corners and made systems that worked, but weren't as efficient as they could be,”
I ran my hand through my hair, resting it behind my neck.
That could work.
“Alright. Finish your plans, have a talk with Krat and work out a system that works for everyone. And take into consideration the new blow-out panels,”
Instead of looking crestfallen Zor looked excited. I couldn't help but grin.
“Thank you, Commander,” he said, chewing on his wad of gum.
“Good work, Chief. Keep it up,” I said, patting him and moving on.
I talked to and saw people I knew. This was where I did my job. On the bridge I danced with death, my ships, my instruments, my people the artists that strung them along. Down here I could see them, talk to them, laugh and forget that we were orbiting a planet with sentients on it. There was still some of that hero complex, but I had spent enough time trawling through the bowels of Resilient to be the kind of guy in charge that someone could talk to and expect to get the time of day.
“You three, shake a leg!” one engineer said to us as the two of them tried to jiggle a panel in place.
Dave, Janice and I pushed the heavy panel into alignment and the two engineers quickly secured it.
“Thanks..,” the engineer that had yelled us over went an interesting color of red. “I, uhh, commander..,”
“Don't worry about it,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
“Systems refit, pulling the old messed up, or haphazard panels and replacing them with new ones,” the second engineer said, pressing the drop down function as the panel extended down, revealing wiring, chips, processors, gauges and lights.
“Good work,” I said, smiling at them and patting the engineer that was still in shock of the gaffe he'd made as I continued on.
“So I heard that the mess chef is looking to make some ice cream,” I said to Dave and Janice.
Dave looked like a happy child as Janice rolled her eyes.
“You were right, you are going to get bigger, massive even,” Janice said with emphasis as I laughed.
“Thanks, dear.” Dave sounded pleased with her statement.
“Look at what happened with just the regular rations!” Janice said a glimmer of a smile on her face.
Dave looked himself over as if discovering his new size for the first time.
“Huh! Well, will you look at that! When did that happen?” he said with a smile. It was always refreshing being around Dave and Janice. They always had some kind of joke and I knew I was as safe as could be with them.
By the time we got to the mess the conversation had changed from Dave's gaining weight to naming the different kinds of ice cream we could think of.
“Wasabi, Sake, venomous snake, raw horse meat... What?” I asked their slightly grossed, and weirded out stares.
“Where the hell did you find those flavours?” Dave asked as they'd been talking about cookies and cream, or chocolate mint chip.
“I went to Japan for fun. Cheerleader ordered,”
“Ah... why?” Dave asked.
“Opening our horizons, and apparently getting Monk, Bok Soo and I more cultured. After the horse meat we left.”
“I think I would too,” Janice said.
“Don't knock it till you try it. Japan also has a ton of flavours of kit kat,”
We quickly went through the mess, eating and talking to a few people we knew. Dave had three bowls of ice cream. How the man didn't get a brain freeze I'll never know. We finished up and headed to the armories. It had been a while since I'd gone down there. The Bridge and my quarters were well away from it.
“Well, this feels somewhat familiar,” Shrift said as I walked into the armory.
“What you doing in here?” I said as we touched forearms, a greeting taken from the Avarians.
“I was bored, so I felt like playing around with a few mechas. Your Commandos are almost as bad as you,” he said, my eyes raising to my mecha which was bolted to the armory's overhead.
“Not going to let that one go are you?” I asked as Dave and Janice snickered.
“I don't think anyone's going to forget that. I think Yasu made it a training module,” Dave said
“Yeah. Salchar and his reckless friggin stunts,” Shrift grunted as I grinned.
“Got to do what you've got to do,” I said, spreading my arms.
“So what are you here for, oh grand commander? No need for you to hide out in here anymore,” Shrift said as he sat back, eating cookies.
“Just wandering around,” I said.
“Well you know where everything is. Though I have an issue you might find interesting,” he said, tapping his data pad. I turned it around to see it.
“Ahh, the new mecha's. We'll finally have a couple basic models throughout the Free Fleet instead of having to modify old ones and add a ridiculous amount of customization to get them working.”
Janice and Dave studied the plans over my shoulders.
“Well, we'll still have the customization ability, just in a more... refined fashion,”
“You mean no needing to tweak the inner workings because they're garbage,” I said.
“Exactly,”
“Let's see what damage we can do to this mecha,” I said, grinning to shrift as a hologram of a mecha appeared on a table.
“It's a powered suit, not mecha! I thought you lot would snap out of that trend,” Shrift said, half annoyed.
“Why did the Syndicate call them mecha's then?”
“Cause Lady Farigate hated calling them suits. She thought it made the Union sound too refined. So she picked mechas, which are supposed to be damned massive machines,” Shrift said.
“Good to know. Maybe we can reverse that. Your task is to change people from calling these mechas to the proper powered suits,” I told him.
“They could also be called armored exoskeletons,” Shrift said.
“One name!” I said, grinning.
“Alright, alright,” Shrift said as he stood and we walked to the mech... powered suit.
“We'll leave you to it,” Janice said.
“Have fun watching, weirdos,” I said as they grinned.
They knew I didn't like having to have people watch me. They also knew that I respected them as well as Calerd, Shreesht, Krom and that I thought of them as Mecha Tail members. They went to either side of the armories, taking a seat and watching the world go by as I got elbow deep in the suit hologram.
***
Marhtu didn't even need to signal to his Kaaorv as they pressed their Orv to the messengers chest. The messenger gurgled in pain as they thrashed against their chains. Marhtu knew the prisoner was beyond tired, but pain was still a great motivator.
“Say that again,”
“They're not Syndicate,” the pitiful creature in front of him said as Marhtu mused. He hadn't known if this Salchar was testing him, or really not part of the syndicate. Now he knew the answer he had to decide what to do with it. No one lied once his Kaaorvs had their time with them.
The messenger had been an analyst within what was the technically non-existent Damestrus military. He had been saying the same thing since he entered Marhtu's presence, but Marhtu wanted to make sure. Plus he hadn't had many people re-educated by his Kaaorvs in a number of days. With a flick of his finger the Kaaorv ran their Orv against the creatures nerve bundles. Marhtu watched in fascination as the creature thrashed like an animal being electrocuted, but with the screams, and consciousness, of one in much greater pain that they could actually feel.
The Kaaorv waited a few minutes before touching their Orv to the creatures brain, activating every nerve bundle in painful brilliance. Marhtu grinned as he watched the creature die in pain so incredible Marhtu couldn't even fathom it. It took him a few seconds before he regained his composure, more excited than before and no longer dopey eyed. So many recalcitrant's to be reformed, he thought with sadistic glee as he pressed a button that connected him to his secretary.
Free Fleet Box Set 2 Page 14
