by Z D Dean
“So nice to finally meet you, Captain Zade.”
“What is this?” Zade asked, fearing that he had been deceived once again, his confusion evident.
“I am Karn, captain of one of the first security teams hired by the Brax corporation. You must have questions. Why don’t we adjourn to my ship so we can converse comfortably?”
Even if the man was who he said he was, there was no evidence to prove the situation wasn’t a trap. His confusion bred uncertainty which in turn bred caution. The pieces still weren’t lining up for him.
“I would prefer to stay out here if you don’t mind, Karn,” Zade said. “I don’t fancy getting abducted by a pseudo-pirate who pays other people to do his dirty business.”
“If you insist on doing this here, so be it,” Karn responded, coolly. “There was never a threat of piracy in the system. The corporations hired us to keep the workers in line and scout the belt for new resource sites. My mercenary outfit had been contracted to work in the system perpetually, under the guise of force protection. My crew was dispatched and met up with two other crews, hired by two of the other corporations. They had been misled by their employers, just as we had been. Upon arrival in the system, a Brax command ship was waiting for us. Our ships all docked, and we received a briefing on what we were needed for, after which the command ship landed on the far side of the planet, and was disassembled to provide shelter for those of us living there.
“Our three security ships were to follow a rotation. One would provide safety and control on the planet, one would provide control in the field operations, and the last would scout the system for other resource deposits. Months passed and the techniques used by the corporations to control the miners became more and more severe, eventually becoming oppressive.
“Any reputable private security company in the Unity, especially those that were expeditionary, followed a strict code of conduct. One of the clauses prevented the security companies from being used to oppress or enslave citizens of the Unity. It was a measure to prevent them from making enemies of the government as a whole. In the eyes of the Unity, failing to prevent or correct such situations was equal to participating in them. Essentially, as trained and equipped militants, it was our duty to protect the law-abiding citizens from abuses.
“The deteriorating situation and increasingly savage measures employed by the mining companies began to concern me and the captains of the other security teams. Two of us felt that the situation had degraded enough for us to take action, but the third couldn’t see the need for intervention.
“After the briefing, I contacted the captain who agreed with me, and we worked out a plan to protect the miners. My team ran across a planetoid in the asteroid belt, roughly the size of a small moon, that hadn’t been documented during previous explorations of the system. It had just enough gravity to land ships on without requiring zero gravity anchors. We began using it as a meeting place to organize our crews when both were assigned off-world tasks.
“Our engineers created space combat sound files that could be used in our deception. When the time was right, a few months ago, we both checked in at locations in the system that were outside of the space that could be observed from the planet, and we executed our plan.
“I reported an overwhelming attack against my ship, with the recordings playing in the background. I had scripted an entire scenario which I regularly radioed in, and during my last communication an explosion went off, and the comms channel with the planet was cut. Minutes after my ship was ‘destroyed,’ the second captain did the same thing. We watched as all mining ships were recalled to the planet, at which point we made the best possible time to the planetoid to begin phase two.”
“How did any of that help the miners?” Zade asked, interrupting the man’s narrative flow.
“I am getting to that,” he said, calmly. “For days after the deception, Mord, the other security captain, and I monitored the situation in the system. We had hoped that the other security team would be permanently grounded to protect the Brax executives. We also spent the time sending communications to both their out-of-system employers and the Unity government. Because the system was far from the core planets and because the bureaucracy was slow, we are still waiting on a response from the Unity, but we have the full support from our employers.
“Eventually the mining ships returned to the asteroids to continue working. Shortly after the ruse, Mord had been listening to the radios and overheard a conversation between the captains of two of the mining ships. Any miner with enough money to return home after the “pirates” had destroyed security had been killed in suspicious accidents or habitation module fires. We decided that it was time to help the miners out of the abusive situation they found themselves in, so we became the pirates.”
“So, you’re telling me that you are the ones that are stealing from the miners?” Zade interrupted, fury growing inside of him. “You are the ones who are scavenging and pillaging the last things the miners have, and beating and killing them?”
“Captain, you are not listening to what I am saying. Yes, we are the pirates. No, we haven’t hurt anyone. We have been taking the ships, supplies, and people back to our planetoid. We are gaining strength quickly, but we don’t have enough to fight back yet. Don’t you find it strange that there hasn’t been any wreckage or bodies to signal the attacks, aside from the actual pirates you destroyed?”
It was a point that Zade had thought about often. Even the most covert operations left some signs that they had happened. Based on the knowledge back planet side, the miners and ships were just disappearing without a trace. Karn’s explanation began to feel more genuine to him.
“So, everyone who has disappeared from the company rolls is still alive?” Mara asked, stepping forward from behind Zade.
“Almost everyone,” Karn replied. “Mining is dangerous as you well know. We have lost some people to legitimate accidents.”
“I have to go with him to see if my brother is still alive,” she said, walking forward to stand in front of Karn, her sudden movement and outburst causing the guards to shift uncomfortably.
“Mara, let’s go back to the ship and decide what our course of action should be. His story seems plausible, but he still hasn’t provided any evidence to back it up.”
To his shock, she drew her sidearm and leveled it at his head. To any of the other species in the Unity, her play would have seemed foolish, but the Baast, however, understood and respected strength, cunning, and self-preservation. She didn’t have time to be cunning so instead, chose to show her strength and test Zade’s sense of self-preservation.
“You could have just asked nicely,” he quipped as he pushed the pistol out of his face.
Her little stunt put him in a hard spot. His moral compass guided him away from building up an unnecessary body count and he needed an engineer for the crew. Sticking a gun in his face showed how important the situation was to her, but also negated any trust he had in her. Helping out still seemed to be the best play for him. Best case it would build her trust in him. Worst case she would be indebted to him for helping out her family.
“Please, Zade. I have to find Maxio. The only reason he is here is because of me,” she said meekly, lowering her weapon and looking at him through apologetic yet resigned eyes.
He could see the determination in her eyes and could even sympathize with her desire, but he couldn’t trust the mysterious stranger claiming to be on the same team as him. Her shots wouldn’t even get through his shields if he decided to press the issue, but more than likely, he would then have to deal with the armed guards that stood just behind her. He knew that they would have to build trust for her to reach her full potential as one of his crewmen. He paused and reached out to Sam on a private channel. To the onlookers that stood before him, everything would be silent.
“Sam, it looks like we are taking a ride back to the pirate base. I don’t have time to explain everything. Can you follow us without being spotted?”
She had worked with Zade long enough to know that by the tone in his voice, she couldn’t change his mind, and she trusted that if he was separating the crew, he had a good reason.
“Affirmative. Stay safe. Maybe I’ll get to be the hero this time,” she replied.
“Well lead the way then, Karn. I’m not letting Mara go by herself. The last time one of my crew went by themselves, I had to kill a lot of people to get her back,” Zade said.
It was meant as a reminder to Mara of what had happened with Sam and a thinly veiled threat to the rest. His deadpan delivery caused the guards to look at each other nervously.
“I assure you there will be no need for violence, at least against us,” Karn said as he led the way onto the ship.
As he tried to follow the others onto the ship one of the guards muscled him to a stop.
“You will have to leave your firearms with us.”
“Not a fucking chance. Now out of the way or I’ll go through you.”
The second guard raised his weapon as the first repeated himself in a firmer tone. The ruckus caused both Karn and Mara to stop and see what was going on.
“There is no need for this. We mean you no harm,” Karn said.
“Please Zade. I just want to find Max,” Mara begged.
“This is going to go down one of two ways,” Zade said. “Either Mara and I hitch a ride, myself fully armed, or I harvest this entire ship and use your severed head as a landing code for my ship.”
“Fine, if you insist on this nonsense, you can stay armed if a few of my men ride with your pilot. She is the only one left aboard your craft if I am not mistaken.”
Before he could truly lose his temper, Ann informed him that the arrangement was acceptable. She told him that in the event they tried to harm Sam, she would be able to disable them. He also knew that in full kit and with knowledge of the potential threat, Sam would be able to handle the three aggressors.
After relaying new instructions to his pilot, he agreed to the terms. Karn lead Zade and Mara to a comfortable seating area near the center of the ship. Word must have gotten to the dismounts because three men jogged past them as soon as they got on the ship. While they waited for the men to board Ann, food and drinks were offered. He declined, not wanting to take off his helmet and present vulnerability.
Shortly after they boarded, he heard the clunk of the docking cord and couplers release. As the ship turned to gain the right trajectory, he felt the slight tug of G-forces pressing down on him. He made a mental note that either the crew had let the gravity plating fall into less than optimal repair or the ship AI wasn’t developed enough to fly and provide compensation in the interior. Either way, he realized that Ann, both as an AI and a ship, provided a huge advantage to them.
Karn, after realizing that Zade would be anything but cordial, completed the rest of the trip in silence, even choosing to ignore Mara’s questions about what was happening on the planetoid base. The trip took a few hours, mainly due to a circuitous route they used to avoid detection by Brax or the other corporations on the planet. Just as the ship got within visual range, Karn invited Zade to the bridge so he could see exactly what the absentee security forces had been working on.
The sight that greeted Zade almost floored him. A portion of the rust-colored ball of dirt was spider-webbed with mining ships. As they came in for a landing, he could see that they had all been connected via airlock to one another. In certain places, multiple ships were stacked up to three high, creating a makeshift city.
“Do you see now? There haven’t been any remains found because we are relocating the miners to this planet. Our companies have been instructed to get official ownership of the system given to the miners who have sacrificed so much to gather resources.”
The logistical situation made perfect sense. Instead of burning fuel to get the raw ore down to the planet and burning more to get the ingots off-world, the miners could do everything in the microgravity of the planetoid and improve their profit potential. A functional base on the red rock would make the faction of miners an economic force to be taken seriously.
“So, what’s the end game, then?” Zade asked, still unable to take his eyes off the landscape unfolding below him.
“This set up will make the miners more money than the companies could gain down on the planet. Our goal is to set them up with enough so that they can pay us to protect them from any retaliation from Brax.”
“How close are you guys to achieving that goal?” he asked as he examined the row of ships laid out below him like the concourse of an airport.
“Intelligence suggests that we are extremely close. There haven’t been any reinforcements entering the system for months, which leads us to believe that Brax and the others are comfortable letting the situation play out as it has been.”
“That works for now, but as soon as you start flooding the market with raw materials and cutting into Brax’s bottom line, won’t the companies come after you guys?”
“For now, we have been selling small, rather unassuming shipments to unaffiliated organizations that don’t have access to the Unity markets. Once we get word back about legal ownership of the system, we will have more grounds to expand into the proper markets.”
“So, you are working the black markets until you gain legitimacy,” he stated as he watched Ann dock at the position in front of them.
“Yes, we have even entertained the idea of selling materials back to Brax. We would let their infrastructure handle the burden of shipping the materials across Unity territory.”
“Why am I here, then, if you have this under control?” Zade asked uncertainly.
“At first, it was to just prevent you from any further attacks against our operation. Thank you, by the way, for terminating my more violent crews. I had no other way to be rid of them. But, after reports from my men who saw what happened when you rescued your captain, I think you have the technology to help us improve Pickaxe’s habitation capacity.”
“Pickaxe?”
“It is what the miners call the planetoid. Currently, everyone is forced to live on the ships and we only gather supplies when we take new ones. That is not a sustainable model. Can you help us?” he asked as the entire group made their way through the airlock and into the settlement.
The inside of the mining ships that had been converted into a hanger was a bustling place. People and supplies moved back and forth between docking spaces in an unending line. He noticed Sam and the three passengers depart Ann, but didn’t know the Baast enough to be able to differentiate between any of the others on the floor.
Even though he didn’t know much about the Groz technology he was using, Zade knew that Ann was not outfitted as a settlement ship. As a fighter and command ship, she was more useful in razzing settlements than raising them. Before he could answer, Mara, who had been right next to him, let out an excited screech and sprinted towards an unsuspecting guard.
“I could smell you,” she screeched, as she threw her arms around the guard from behind, and clung to him like a drowning man to a life preserver. “I’d know that smell anywhere. I never thought I’d get to sense it again.”
Instead of turning violently on his attacker, the guard let his weapon fall from his hands. The guard recognized the voice, but as soon as he turned and saw the person clad in solid black armor, his face filled with fear and he began fumbling for his sidearm. Sensing what was about to happen, Zade sprinted to get between the two, hoping to prevent anyone from getting hurt. His heavy footfalls drew the guard’s attention away from Mara but put it squarely on himself. Just as he held up a hand to try and calm the situation, the man fired three rounds at nearly point-blank range into Zade’s helmet. The first two were caught by his armor’s shield but depleted his reserves completely. The last found its mark and violently snapped his head back.
At the sound of gunfire, Mara backed away, crouched down, and covered her head with her hands. Knocked out by the final round, Zade’s limp body
crumpled to the ground. Without Zade obstructing his view, the guard caught sight of Karn.
“What is going on sir?” he asked, his voice panicked and unsure.
“Stand down, these are friends,” Karn replied, trying to regain control of the situation.
“This one that attacked me… it…it sounded like my sister, sir” he said pointing his pistol at Mara, before moving it back to Zade. “And that one was rushing me. I don’t know what he was planning to do to me.”
Zade awoke to the sight of the pistol pointed directly at his head. He was happy that his armor could withstand a direct hit from a small-caliber weapon, but didn’t want to relive the experience.
“Mara, helmet,” he started, the words feeling thick and unfamiliar. “Take off your helmet so he can see your face.”
She had become so accustomed to her new uniform that she had forgotten that she was covered from head to toe in the unusual black and green plate. She hit the release causing her headgear to split at the back. With the helmet removed, the guard finally recognized his sibling. His weapon went back in its holster and he rushed to embrace her.
“I’m so sorry, Mara. I almost killed you,” he said, tears streaming down his face.
“No. You wouldn’t have killed her, but you would have really rung her bell,” Zade said from the floor before laying his head back and falling back into unconsciousness.
Chapter 12
Sam saw the commotion surrounding her crewmates and the unknown guard but was too far away to intervene. As she sprinted towards them to provide support, two guards, unsure of what was going on, blocked her way. Karn tried to deescalate the situation to no avail. Her world slowed as she heard the three shots, the last putting Zade flat on his back. She watched as Zade lifted his head and said something to Mara, and she took off her helmet.
Once the guard saw her face, all thoughts of self-defense and violence vanished, and he embraced her. The guards finally relented, and she pushed past them to check on her captain who had once again stilled. She sat on her knees next to his prone form with his head cradled in her arms. After reassuring herself that he was okay, she began to pick up on snippets of the conversations around her.
