by Britt Ringel
Heskan returned the smile and said simply, “I had no choice, Ms. De Luca.”
“Why?” she asked.
“I did it for her, because of what she means to me. I did it for myself, because it was right.”
“Many people know what is right and yet choose differently when it serves their better interests,” she stated.
A haunted expression overtook Heskan. “I’ve chosen differently before. I’ve learned it’s never worth it.”
De Luca leaned away from him to rest comfortably again on the plush couch, as if she had found the answer she had been seeking. “What do you know about AmyraCorp?”
Heskan blinked at the sudden change in topic. “Who?”
She adjusted her eyeglasses slightly. “AmyraCorp resides in the Seshafi star system. It is a single-system corporation carved from the Lesser Magellanic Arm of the Federation. They have significant research and development technologies pertaining to horticulture. Much of their work is in the development of drought-resistant and low-light capable seed.”
Heskan knew little more than the LMA was inside the Federation near its western border. “I don’t know anything about them,” Heskan confessed.
The grandmotherly smile had returned. “There is no reason for you to know, dear. It is a small system far away from your Republic.” She shifted her weight on the couch before resuming. “AmyraCorp is currently embroiled in a corporate conflict with a neighboring system called Sade, owned by IaCom. IaCom has been working to undermine AmyraCorp’s strength, and soon will begin outright hostile actions.”
Why is she telling me this? Heskan wondered.
“The Commonwealth trades with both systems, but it is in our best interest that AmyraCorp is not absorbed into IaCom. Obviously, we cannot take an official stance in a dispute between two corporate systems. However, we have offered very friendly terms to AmyraCorp for three system defense ships that our navy has decommissioned.” She smiled sweetly. “As a chair of Naval Procurement, I have quite a large hand in determining who gets our cast off military equipment and for how much.”
Is she going to say what I think she is? Heskan moved closer to the edge of his seat.
“The contract to sell ships to AmyraCorp shows no favoritism toward any particular corporation as we have sold equipment to both systems within the last several years. The Commonwealth is officially neutral in this conflict. As a result, these ships are not crewed with Hollaran nationals. Instead, privateers or Seshafian nationals will sail these ships into battle.”
Heskan had heard of privateers before although the Republic referred to them by a more vulgar term: mercenaries.
“One such outfit of privateers, known as The Foster Fifteen, is highly regarded for their professionalism and effectiveness.” De Luca took several moments pause before adding, “I am telling you this because a close friend of mine has a special bond with a subsidiary of The Foster Fifteen called Secure Solutions. The privateers in this company are, by charter, a collection of ex-military from across the galaxy, but the reality is that all of them hail directly from the Commonwealth. You have given me back my niece, Garrett. Because of you, she has a new beginning. I now offer you one as well.”
“How would this work, Ms. De Luca?” Heskan asked. He had no other proposal for his future but he knew the devil lay in the details.
“There are requirements to be permitted entry into the roll of The Foster Fifteen. Service record and time spent in a military are required, actual combat experience is preferred, etcetera. If one qualifies, he is then allowed to buy up to his former military rank inside the company. This is not an inexpensive proposition. Additionally, while some candidates come with their own ships, far more frequently new privateers lease their ships from their outfit. Typically the ship and its repairs are then insured by the corporation contracting with the privateer.” De Luca paused and asked, “Do you understand?”
“Yes, but how could I prove my military experience with a new identity, much less buy any rank?”
“My friend can insert your new identity into Secure Solutions. I will purchase you the rank of captain inside The Foster Fifteen and offer you the opportunity to command a Colossus-class ship that we could allow to assist in the protection of AmyraCorp. They have only purchased three of those corvettes but I do not think they would object if four showed up to defend their system.”
Heskan looked at De Luca with a curious expression. “You named your little corvettes after colossi?”
De Luca grasped the irony and chuckled. “They are larger than regular corvettes, and equipped with tunnel drives. I believe you would call them snows.”
Heskan looked at De Luca skeptically. “How can the Commonwealth afford to sell ships while it’s at war with the Republic?”
De Luca smiled, perhaps sadly. “My dear, this war is over in all but name only. We have smashed several of your fleets and expect the Brevic government to sue for peace shortly.”
The news was a bitter pill but Heskan knew she was not lying. There had been too many defeats, too much evidence of failure for him to believe differently. “If I agreed to your proposal, what would happen to my crew?”
“A privateer with the rank of captain or higher can bring his own crew. They would be included in any contract you sign with AmyraCorp. Negotiation of that contract is up to you. Your employer will also provide supplemental crew if required. While Hollaran Intelligence would prefer your entire crew leave the Commonwealth, if any of your crewmembers are not interested in this proposal, I can offer them new identities inside the Commonwealth or provide passage for them to a Federation location of their choosing.”
“Would we get to choose our new alias names?” Heskan smiled.
De Luca laughed. “Different names will not be necessary, my dear. There are many trillions of people in this galaxy. Your name is only a tiny fraction of who you are. Your personal account codes and the information attached to them is what truly identifies you. That is what my contact can change, and by altering that, you will become a new person.”
“My engineer is not Brevic. He came with the freighter and will want to return Hussy to Aurelios,” Heskan said.
“It is a small freighter requiring a small crew; I can assist him with that despite the inconvenience.” De Luca leaned slightly closer to Heskan and admitted, “It is actually much easier for us if your people leave the Commonwealth so we will accommodate most any request that lends toward that.”
Heskan sat back and thought for several moments. It was a new beginning even if not what he expected. He thought about his service to the Republic. “Is AmyraCorp a good corporation? Do they treat their people well?”
De Luca considered her response carefully. “I believe they do but you will have to judge that for yourself, Garrett. I can provide you some background material on their leadership and dealings. We each must choose what we can live with… and what we cannot. If you do not choose to sign with them, you are still privateers with a ship.”
An honest answer, he thought. “I accept, Ms. De Luca, and thank you.” He stood and reached once again to shake her hand.
De Luca looked at Heskan somberly and said with the voice of a thousand generations, “Do not thank me. A privateer’s life is full of danger. For all I know, I may have killed my niece’s true love this afternoon.” With great effort, she rose from the couch to lean heavily on her cane. “We will not meet again, Garrett Heskan. Travel well.” She slowly escorted Heskan to a side door in the parlor. Waiting for him was plantation security, ready to guide him back to the shuttle and space.
When Heskan left the room, the main door opened again. Lombardi wiped profusely at her eyes with a handkerchief and stated, “Please, Zia, I have one more request.”
* * *
Heskan entered Hussy’s main engine room in search of Müller, it having never occurred to Heskan to look elsewhere for the enigmatic engineer. Over the last weeks, it had become apparent to all that Müller’s life centered solely on H
ussy’s engines.
“Guten Tag, Kapitän,” Müller greeted formally. “The life support system has completely recovered.”
Heskan nodded and answered, “I’m pleased to hear that, Mr. Müller. Hussy will need it for her next voyage.”
The engineer took a filthy rag from atop Hussy’s main power line and wiped his hands with it. “Where are we headed, Kapitän? I am most interested in what we will do next.”
“You’re headed to Aurelios.”
Müller smiled wistfully, “Nein, I cannot go there.”
“You can with Hussy,” Heskan declared. “If you return the ship, won’t that satisfy your contract?”
Müller’s eyes widened at Heskan’s words. He stared blankly at his engines as he softly asked, “You would permit that? I could go home?”
“How long has it been, Joachim?”
“Seven years since the pirates took Das Flittchen, but ten years since I have been home,” he answered. “My son is a man by now, Kapitän.”
Heskan shook his head and smiled. “You’re the captain now, Joachim. Go home to your family.”
Chapter 23
Lieutenant Vernay lightly rapped on the door to Heskan’s quarters before poking her head in. “You wanted to see me, Captain?”
During his time on Anelace and Kite, he became accustomed to being close to the ship’s bridge but being directly adjacent to it was still unsettling. Having the bridge immediately outside his door made it difficult to relax. “Come in, Stacy.”
Vernay entered the small room and closed the portal. “This is it, isn’t it, Captain?” The Hollarans had finally left Hussy. Only the twenty-three Brevics and Joachim Müller remained on board. There had been considerable scuttlebutt that a decision about what would happen next was coming soon.
Heskan nodded. “We have a couple options I need to tell the crew but I wanted to discuss them with you first.” He waved her over to his desk and pointed to the screen. “What do you know about the Seshafi corporate system?
Vernay looked curiously at the monitor. She quickly reviewed the general information regarding the star system and recent news of the conglomerate that controlled it. When she was finished, she leaned on the desktop and said, “It looks like they could use some help.”
“Samanta De Luca has offered to turn us into privateers. AmyraCorp would hire us.”
Vernay frowned in disappointment. “Mercenaries,” she said with distaste. “Fighting another person’s war for the highest bidder.” She sighed. “I’ll never again be a government’s mass murderer. How do we know this isn’t another Republic?”
“They don’t use fusion weapons, Stacy. In fact, by the Independence Agreements, no corporate system does. I’ve looked over the history of that region and all the corporations seem to be more like branches from the same family tree than bitter rivals.” He shrugged while admitting, “Their warfare is strange, short and oddly personal. AmyraCorp is enlisting the support of a syndicate of privateers called DAC for the current conflict. DAC actually fought against AmyraCorp and for IaCom two years earlier.”
“But now they’ve switched sides?” Vernay asked.
Heskan nodded. “What’s more,” he continued, “AmyraCorp and IaCom were allied together eight years ago when they skirmished against the mega-corporation controlling the Lagrin star system.”
“So it’s one, big mess,” Vernay summarized. “And we’d be throwing ourselves right into the middle of it.”
“It doesn’t have to be like that, Stacy. The more I read about AmyraCorp, the more I like it. It doesn’t have indentured contracts. Its people aren’t employees; they’re citizens. They even have a constitution.”
“So did we,” she said wearily. “Garrett, I’m just tired. I’m tired of fighting, tired of death.” She looked down toward the deck. “I just want to find a peaceful corner of the universe I can call my own, maybe even settle down.”
Heskan placed a hand on her shoulder. “I do too, Stacy, and this system might be a corner worth fighting for. AmyraCorp offers landed contracts. When we negotiate our contract, we could request land be included in the final payment.”
Vernay’s mouth turned upward, her eyes following suit as she looked at Heskan. “Actual terra firma? With a house? A home to call my own?”
Heskan saw hope begin to burn inside her. He smiled in triumph as he thought, It’s time for the coup de grace. Spinning to his desktop, he quickly entered commands. “Watch this.”
* * *
Twenty minutes later, Hussy’s crew stood facing the enormous wall screen in the freighter’s middle hold. Heskan, pacing at the front, summarized the options available to them. “You can decide to stay in the Commonwealth or take passage to any part of the galaxy that you wish and make your new beginning there. Or, you can come with us to the corporate system of Seshafi.”
“To another war?” a voice called out from the crowd.
Heskan looked out at the people he had grown to love and nodded. “Another battle, yes,” he said honestly. “I can’t make any promises for your safety. I’m not telling you that happily ever after is around the corner, but I believe this system is worth fighting for. I choose to live with a purpose, and I believe that purpose is in Seshafi.”
He walked along the wall screen as he confessed, “Of course, it’s not without risk. You can’t fight a war without losses, but these people need help. They are not the aggressors, a rival corporation called IaCom is. We would be defending their homes and because of that, AmyraCorp will offer us a home in Seshafi with them.”
The tone of his voice turned cold as he thought of Salus. “Think about the last battle you fought for the Republic. Are you proud of what we did? How many of our friends died for that cause?” Heskan paused as he saw tremors ripple through the pilots. “But what about defending your own home even if it is a new one, with your neighbors by your side? Would that be a battle worth fighting?”
Ensign Gables’ voice rang over the crowd as she asked soberly, “Captain, would our new neighbors be worth my life? Are they people worth defending?”
Heskan motioned to Vernay, who activated the holo-vid. On the large wall screen behind Heskan, a geriatric, rail of a man walked unsteadily to a podium. He placed his datapad on top of the lectern and reached a shaking hand toward his suit pocket. After withdrawing reading spectacles, he slowly, deliberately opened them and placed them upon his birdlike nose. Dark circles under his eyes hinted at a weariness but the manner of his speech evoked a great resolve. His voice carried over the hold’s speakers.
“Turning now, and this time more generally, to the question of IaCom’s complaint, I would observe that there has never been a period in all our century of existence when a more absolute guarantee of impending invasion could have been given to our people. IaCom’s casus bellum is unequivocally clear. Further, there will be no intervention by The Courts; there will be neither a stay of hostilities granted nor dispensation offered.”
The statesman glanced away from his datapad and looked over the throng of media he was speaking to before continuing. “But I have full confidence that if every citizen does their duty, if nothing is neglected, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our system and to ride out the storm of war.” A tone of certainty entered his voice. “At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the will of the entire corporation and her people. And so, the Amyra Corporation and her allies, linked together in their cause, will defend to the death the Seshafi star system, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strengths.”
A wrinkled finger flicked across his datapad to advance the page. “Our system’s position is not new or unique. Many others have faced tyranny and oppression before us. We stand in the shadow of those giants who have shown throughout the course of history that the efforts of a few can have lasting and meaningful consequences for all. I speak here, on this fine morning, to answer IaCom’s casus bellum, as I am required to do by corporate law and the rules o
f war. In the spirit of those departed giants, whose words and actions stir such inspiration, I would channel them and tell our invaders that ‘We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight at the tunnel point, we shall fight near the outer planets, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength at the twins. We shall defend our planets, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight in orbit, we shall fight in the atmosphere, we shall fight on the landing grounds and in the seas and we shall never surrender.’”
Heskan detected the briefest moment of awestruck silence before Hussy’s hold erupted in cheers.
* * *
Heskan needed all twenty-three berths allocated to him on the passenger ship sailing to Vica Pota. New identities in hand, every Brevic sailor had elected to follow their captain. The three days in tunnel space were a welcome relief compared to the prior stress over the uncertainty of their futures. Now that each sailor knew what lie ahead, even if it was to be combat, they could sit back and focus on their future knowing that at least it was defined and of their choosing.
Most of the pilots continued to study the crafts of their assigned stations on Hussy. Nine of the sixteen pilots, like Ensign Gables, had cross-trained into aviation and resumed their previous naval roles. The seven pilots whose only training had been naval aviation were scrambling to learn a new rating.
Heskan and Vernay spent most of the time preparing to assume command of the snow waiting in Vica Pota. The squadron of the now four Colossus-class snows had been ordered to delay their departure by nineteen hours to allow Elathra’s new crew to come aboard. Heskan poured through all the information Samanta De Luca provided on the snow during most of his trip. His only respites from his personal crash course on the Hollaran warship were the meals he shared with his crew.
