by Kal Spriggs
Lieutenant Commander Shaw of the Spathae spoke up, "He says he has no interest in the United Colonies..."
"Just as well to say something like that to get us to avoid interfering until it's too late!" Rory interrupted. "And you have to understand, most of the Illuari artifacts are extremely dangerous. There are several that have been proven to have physiological effects on the brain, causing paranoia, delusions, fits of psychotic rage..."
Captain Beeson waved a hand, "Okay, I got it. Assuming he's not already mentally unhinged, these artifacts might have made him unhinged." He grimaced, "And while I wouldn't mind having a weapon system like this Enforcer Station in our arsenal, I can't say I trust anyone who's murdered Fleet personnel in charge of it." He sighed, "We'll continue this mission. But I'm going to need some real, solid options. I'm not sending our entire force into a trap just on a hunch or assumption." He looked at his XO, "In the meantime, Lieutenant Commander Capdepon, tell everyone what we've learned about our pirate friends."
His new XO, another native of New Texas, sat up a little straighter, "Yes, sir." The big, bearded man cleared his throat and brought up a file on the display. The picture was of an overweight, one-eyed man. "This is Ricky One-Eye. He's a slaver and pirate who, until recently, operated out of the Sapphire system." Several of Daniel's staff officers groaned at that and Lieutenant Commander Joseph Capdepon gave a nod. "Yes, it appears that he fled the planet in the confusion following Two-Fingers' defeat. While we think he lost most of his resources then, he managed to put together the fleet we encountered, mostly made up of other pirates and slavers who fled Sapphire."
"We're not certain where his base of operations is," Lieutenant Commander Capdepon said, "but it looks like he and his people are hunting Reese Leone as well. The surviving pirates who were willing to cooperate confirmed that Reese set them up to attack the Constellation and King Copley. They're after him in revenge and apparently there are several criminal organizations they've linked up with who are also after him. That seems to be a result of his aggressive acquisition of black-market alien artifacts."
Daniel had already read the initial reports. It seemed like everyone wanted Reese's head on a platter. Well, he thought, everyone who knows he exists. He'd stolen priceless artifacts from criminal gangs, he'd tried to kidnap the Emperor's sister and nephew, he'd dealt with pirates and orchestrated the murder of United Colonies Fleet personnel.
Daniel shot a glance at Captain Matthew Copley of the Gallant. Daniel didn’t know the exact details, but apparently he was a cousin to King James Copley of Sapphire. Both men hailed from the colony of New Texas, though they had obviously gone very different paths.
"Could that give us an in?" Lieutenant Commander Shaw of the Spathae asked. "If these criminals want him dead, could we get them to tip us off?"
Daniel frowned at that, "I doubt it. They're after him because he set them up to fight us. That doesn't mean they like us for stepping on them." The artifact smugglers and other criminals might have a more lenient stance... but many of them were just as morally bankrupt as the slavers and pirates from Sapphire. Daniel wasn't willing to cut them any deals, not when many of them would continue to do evil things and profit through misery.
"Alright," Daniel said. "We've still got some wreckage that may have some additional information. Once we've finished salvage operations, Rory and Feliks can look the data over, see if they find any additional information. If any of that indicates a destination, we'll investigate further. In the meantime, as soon as we've pulled that information, we're heading to the Tanis system."
He saw surprise on several faces. "I think that's the best place to resupply while we consider our next destination." The United Colonies had rented space in Tanis's orbital warehouses to stockpile weapons and equipment in case of any future operations in the region. With the roundabout route they'd been forced to take, they were low enough on food supplies that Daniel wanted to top everything off.
And from there we can return to United Colonies space if it looks like this mission isn't going any further, Daniel thought. Somehow, though, he knew he wouldn't give that order. Either Rory and Feliks would turn something up or they'd get some information from the intelligence and support staff back in the Faraday system.
Their mission was to stop Reese... and that was what Senior Captain Daniel Beeson would do.
***
Captain Brian Bowder, Commanding Officer of the Lancer stretched as he cut the transmission to the Constellation. It is really a shame, he thought, that I've no way to contact Reese Leone myself. The man's obvious capabilities would have been a tremendous advantage to Captain Bowder's secret organization. Given his distaste for Emperor Lucius Giovanni, Captain Bowder felt certain that he could have gained his support.
All the same, he felt more than a little uncomfortable with Reese's involvement in alien technology. In his time before serving as one of the heads of Admiral Dreyfus’s conspiracy, he had read some of Amalgamated World's senior level reports on various bits of Illuari technology they'd found. Most of it had been so dangerous that they'd cataloged it and stored it away, often in deep-buried bunkers that they had sealed in concrete.
Of course, he thought, most of these criminals have probably made their money digging those bunkers up and selling the artifacts to the highest bidder. If there was money to be made there to find his organization, he supposed he should look into it himself.
Not that he lacked for resources. When Lucius Giovanni's people had unraveled Admiral Dreyfus's conspiracy, they had uncovered much of their hidden assets and resources... but not nearly all of them.
What Captain Bowder lacked was people... and most of that he blamed on the late and unlamented Captain Truffault. While Captain Magnani had done her job, shuffling equipment, ships, weapons, and parts around in a shell-game that hid where the conspiracy had actually sent materials, Captain Truffault had not done nearly as effective a job with personnel. Part of that was the accuracy of the records and how the counter-conspirators had been able to compare original personnel files to current ones. The other part was that Truffault had grown lazy over the years. She had thought she was safe, that their conspiracy would succeed... and she and many of the other conspirators had paid for that complacence.
He, on the other hand, had survived, along with a handful of key personnel. He didn't dare to establish contact with any of the lower-ranked surviving conspirators. Most of them had quietly retired, anyway, all save a handful who had quickly abandoned the cause and outwardly supported Lucius Giovanni's rallying cry.
But he still had control over the black-bag team survivors, the men and women he'd managed under Admiral Dreyfus's direction. He still had a couple senior engineers and scientists who had been sent to the prototype antimatter production facility... and he had all of the construction equipment sent there as well.
Not that it fully works as yet, he reminded himself. Doctor Randal Wade and Doctor Sheryl Gaspodschin had both been arrested with the other conspirators, but neither of them had known the facility's location and one of their subordinates had scrambled the lab computers, erasing the record of the facility's location. Captain Bowder had acquired a copy of their encrypted navigational computer not long after they made it, so he had the only access to the facility.
He'd managed to visit it once, during his "leave" time on Faraday. Even though he should be clear of any surveillance, he had still traveled in disguise to link up with the support ship. They'd transported him from the Tehran system to the facility. He wasn't particularly hopeful about their ability to get the facility fully online anytime in the near future, but that didn't mean it didn't serve a purpose. It produced antimatter in limited quantities already and his people had been stockpiling that for a variety of tasks.
Cash might help, he thought. If he could find reliable engineers, they might be able to get the facility online. Cash could also fund hiring mercenaries for some... additional tasks. While he had a few ships in place, purchasing additional
ships and weapons would be useful as well.
He'd worked out an encryption cipher code with his people. He could send a message to his "girlfriend" who'd then pass it along. Since he had copies of all of Admiral Dreyfus's data at the facility, his people could work at excavation, transport, and sale.
In fact, he thought, if Reese is still looking for Illuari artifacts...
***
Chapter IV
Tanis System
Independent
November 2, 2409
The task force emerged in the Tanis system and Daniel couldn't help a slight smile as Lieutenant Tim Gray looked up, "Tanis System Control has hailed us."
"Go ahead and identify us," Daniel said. He liked dealing with professionals. As mercenary as the system's reputation might be, they were nothing if not professional. "Let them know we'd like to pay extra to be placed together in a group parking orbit."
A moment later, Lieutenant Gray looked up, "They want to know if we'd like to pay for their premium services?" The communications officer had a look of distaste. Probably because he doesn't realize what that means, Daniel realized. On some Colonial Republic worlds the term "premium services" meant that when they sent transport shuttles, they'd bring women, booze, and drugs. There were quite a few Colonial Republic Army Navy and Colonial Republic Liberation Fleet officers who skimped on crew pay and kept their crews happy with just that sort of thing. Or even just treat their officers to that while they lock the enlisted crew in the lower decks.
"Premium services here on Tanis means they'll send you data on what other ships are in the system. Since we'll have to lock down everything but navigational sensors once we reach the inner system," Daniel said. He could see officers perking up at the explanation.
"Let them know we'll pay for their premium services," Daniel said. Another part of that was that they'd give them early warning if someone were to attack the system. The last time that had happened was an ambitious pirate a few years earlier and that hadn't ended well. There'd only been one "successful" attack on the system in the past four decades and the Tanis Defense Force had hunted down the perpetrators.
Tanis prided itself on being a neutral safe-haven for any nation or ship which came to call. They housed the Mercenary Guild and they enforced a massive interdiction zone throughout the system. Any ship which appeared in the inner system would be engaged with all available defense assets. All traffic had to arrive at the outer system and apply for clearance.
As far as Daniel knew, even the Shadow Lords obeyed those rules.
"We're getting data on ships in the system, now," Lieutenant Gray said. "Transferring it to your station, sir."
Daniel scrolled through. He'd forward most of it back to Faraday. The variety of mercenaries who operated out of the system didn't typically fight against the United Colonies, but it didn't hurt to look and see who was currently unemployed. Most of Mercenary Guild had good reputations, but that didn't mean a few wouldn't go pirate under the right circumstances.
The Tenryu, he thought, I recognize that name... He pulled up the ship and commander and blinked. It was a Shogunate light cruiser, and he recognized the commander from the social event which had ended with the arrival of Strike Leader Burbeg to the star system. And the Tenryu wasn't the only Shogunate vessel in the system. He counted five more, two of them the newer Katana-class frigates, with three Forerunner-class destroyers.
While it wasn't entirely unusual to see a squadron of ships from a nation here at Tanis, it was a bit of a surprise. The Shogunate was at war with the remnants of the Colonial Republic. Plenty of warlords and fleet commanders were upset about the Shogun's decision to split off from the failed nation. Daniel would have thought those ships would be better put to use patrolling their borders instead of sitting in the Tanis system.
His eyes went wider as he saw another formation of ships. These were Tau Ceti vessels, charted under the flag of the Tau Ceti Separatists. Officially they hailed from the Centauri Confederation, but Tau Ceti had been the main opponent of the Centauri system for dominance of the Confederation for decades... and if anyone could afford even less to have a squadron of vessels parked at Tanis, then it was Tau Ceti.
The surprise he felt went to shock as he recognized the flagship of Admiral Collae... along with a squadron of his ships. This had become something of a parade of people who should be busy elsewhere. Admiral Collae had last been reported fighting in the Wolf 359 system. He led a splinter faction of the Colonial Republic Army Navy, a paramilitary wing of the Colonial Republic.
Three sizable squadrons of vessels, all of them parked in the Tanis system... that meant that something had happened.
Even though it could all be unrelated to his own mission, Daniel wasn't going to go out of his way to assume that. Reese had hacked an ansible station only fifteen days travel from Tanis. Tanis acted as a crossroads for ships going between Tau Ceti, Chxor space, what was now the Shogunate, and several Colonial Republic worlds. The Temple of Light lay in the Kapteyn’s Star system, only twenty-three days travel from Tanis.
Putting all that together with the assembled forces, Daniel knew right away that this involved Reese Leone somehow.
"Uh, sir?" Lieutenant Gray said. "There's a Chairman-Admiral Ortega with Tanis System Control. She asks if you would like to attend a social function on the planet later this evening?"
And there it is, he thought, now things get interesting. "Yes," Daniel said, "let her know I'd like nothing better." It was time to see what this was all about.
***
"Senior Captain Beeson, welcome," A professional-looking woman greeted him as he stepped into the office suite." Please follow me, the others have already gathered."
Like most of Tanis, the spaciousness of the office was as visible a sign of wealth as anything else. Tanis's atmosphere was toxic, the surface contaminated with so many heavy metals that it had been overlooked as a potential colony world until a conglomerate of corporations purchased the planet and system from Amalgamated Worlds.
Ever since then, Tanis was a corporate world, with the defense force being a chartered company like anything else, augmented by mercenaries. The Tanis System Control Corporation operated with a board of directors made up ranking figures from many of the companies that operated in the system. Some of those companies operated in competition, producing weapons, ships, and other manufactured goods, some of which they then sold to System Control and their subsidiary Tanis Defense Force.
The entire method of system governance left Daniel with a vaguely uncomfortable feeling, where he wanted to ask where there were checks and balances and why no one had attempted to run their competitors out of business by using System Control or the Tanis Defense Force.
Yet Tanis had remained stable since the fall of Amalgamated Worlds. That in itself represented a huge accomplishment. The banking systems were some of the most secure -and anonymous- in human space. If the rumors were true, then billionaires, warlords, pirates, and even some of the infamous Shadow Lords stored their most prized possessions in the secure vaults of Tanis.
And the bankers sit on the boards, too, he considered, so maybe it's not all that much of a surprise that no one has tried to seize power.
"Would you like any refreshment?" The nameless woman asked as they walked through broad corridors with artificial sunlight, scents of fresh air, and faint breezes that seemed to come from what had to be holographic windows. Probably concealing air vents, Daniel thought, but still, I can't tell the difference other than the fact that I know I'm thirty floors or more below the surface.
“No thank you,” Daniel replied.
They came into a large meeting room, with a dozen uniformed figures gathered in clusters. At a glance, Daniel recognized the crisp white uniforms of the Shogunate officers and the gray and green uniforms of Admiral Collae's CRAN personnel. He'd never encountered a Tau Ceti officer, but he assumed the blue and white uniforms made up their personnel.
The tan and red uniformed woman who
stood central to the room should be the Tanis Defense Force officer. She was tall and possessed a cold beauty, with pale skin that never saw the light of day, raven-black hair, high cheekbones, and exotic lavender-colored eyes.
"Ladies and gentlemen," she said, even as Daniel's escort departed, "now that our latest guest has arrived, I feel it is time to address the reason I asked all of you here to meet." She gave a tight smile. "I am Chairman-Admiral Amelie Ortega of the Tanis Defense Force. For all intents and purposes I am in tactical and strategic control over this entire star system. I state that so that you know the levels of authority I carry and the access to information that I possess."
Some of the Shogunate and Tau Ceti officers began to mutter among themselves. The CRAN officers stood in silence. The Tanis Defense Force normally kept their rank structure opaque on purpose, so that no one knew just who was in charge.
"Within the past four weeks, all four of your fleet elements have arrived in or operated out of the Tanis system. While none of you have publicly stated your goals, our intelligence assets indicate that you are all here for the same reason," Chairman-Admiral Ortego said. "This man," a holographic projection appeared at her side, "is Reese Leone, formerly of the United Colonies, and before that of Nova Roma. He travels under a variety of aliases. He has powerful connections and patrons... and all of you want him dead."
"We want to arrest him," Kaigun Motogami of the Shogunate corrected. "Our honor demands we bring him before the Shogun to face trial for his crimes." He blanched, though as he realized that he had spoken out of turn.
Chairman-Admiral Ortega nodded her head at him, "Kaigun Motogami, your people have lost over a dozen ships to his forces in the past two months, many of them captured." His face hardened at her words, clearly not appreciating the loss of face in front of so many gathered officers. She went on, as if she could care less about how she'd offended him, "Kapitan zur Weltraum Langsdorff of Tau Ceti, the Seperatists have also lost ships, though you've kept the numbers more secretive, we've identified at least three vessels captured and several more destroyed."
