The trip toward Nald progressed better after that, though a stray astral wind did force them to change course slightly when a spray of asteroids came flying from starboard. Evelyn didn’t want to test their hull or gunnery, so she chose to detour around them. It took a little longer to reach the system, but not too much more. As they got closer, Evelyn headed for the bridge to watch the screens.
There were more ships here, she noticed. At least a dozen transponder beacons could be seen in the distance, coming and going, while Nald’s Astral Defense Fortress loomed ahead of them. It was big enough to fight off most small fleets, with ‘small’ being anything that didn’t have at least a pair of dreadnaughts involved. Of course, if there was an attack like that, Evelyn was sure the planet would scramble ships to assist the fortress, and that would deal with the problem.
Fya showed up not long after her, yawning and with a happy smile on her face, which caused Evelyn’s eyebrows to rise, and she spoke mildly. “It’s the middle of the day, Fya.”
“Yup! And I just finished having fun with your newest harem member,” the djinn replied, grinning. “Have to test them out, you know!”
“You are an unrepentant hedonist,” Evelyn told her, shaking her head.
“Yup!” Fya agreed, her smile widening still more.
Before they could talk more, there was a light on one of the screens, and Control spoke.
“Captain, we have an incoming hail from the fortress,” Control reported calmly. “They have interrogated our beacon.”
“Put them through,” Evelyn replied, focusing and allowing her eyes to narrow slightly.
A moment later a hologram sprang to life, showing a senne man, his skin a dark, ink-like blue, his slicked-back hair a deep red, and he wore a black and gold uniform. In the background was the control center for a fortress, and he didn’t look happy as he spoke, his golden eyes blazing.
“Daggerhound, you are approaching restricted space. You were informed last time you visited that you were no longer welcome here. Adjust course or you will be fired upon,” the officer barked, and Evelyn’s eyebrows rose slightly.
“Nald Defense, I believe you are speaking of this ship’s previous owners,” Evelyn replied calmly. “I’m afraid that the ship had an abrupt change of ownership just over a week ago.”
“What? A likely story. Who are you, and what evidence do you have of this?” the man asked, his scowl lightening as a hint of confusion crossed his face, which amused Evelyn. She thought she saw recognition in his gaze, and she smiled.
“I am Captain Evelyn Esendria Tarth, and I claimed the Daggerhound by right of conquest after its former owner attempted to kill me,” Evelyn replied, smiling broadly. “You may have heard of me? Either way, I’m willing to allow you to board the ship for customs if you wish to make certain that it’s true. I’m afraid that we’re running on a skeleton crew at the moment and picked up survivors from a ship that encountered a darkborn ooze in the deeper astral.”
“You…” the man began, paling ever so slightly, then visibly swallowing. Then he spoke, his voice a bit gruffer. “I will get back to you momentarily. Hold your current position.”
The image changed to the emblem of Nald’s fleet, and Evelyn’s smile widened still more as she murmured. “I do love that reaction.”
“So do I!” Fya agreed, grinning. “I wish we’d been able to get it more, but you chose somewhere out of the way.”
“Most areas don’t like me. How many countries do you think would be happy about me living inside their borders?” Evelyn countered, looking at her skeptically. “I’m certain that wouldn’t go well.”
“True, true. I’m liking the idea of being aboard a ship, though,” Fya replied, grinning. “As long as they don’t decide to blow us up. You might not die, but most of the others aren’t that tough.”
“Which is why I’m prepared to put up a shield if I have to,” Evelyn agreed.
A moment later the image flickered, and a different man appeared on the screen, this one wearing a uniform that indicated the human was higher-ranking than the senne. He had a close-trimmed red beard, and his gaze was suspicious as he looked at her.
“Captain Tarth, may I ask what your business is on Nald?” the officer asked politely.
“I intend to drop off a number of passengers, assuming they desire to leave, as well as the black box of the Nebula Runner and the one survivor of its crew,” Evelyn informed him, her hands folded behind her back. “I will also be perusing your FTL links in search of a ship more suitable to my interests than this one. While the Daggerhound is serviceable, it does not have the features that I desire.”
“The Nebula Runner? We’ve heard inquiries about that ship… is this the one you claim was infested by a darkborn ooze?” the officer asked, his frown deepening.
Evelyn almost rolled her eyes. Instead, she chose a clip she’d taken from her implant’s recordings and piped it through to the ship.
“Sending a recording of my entry into the Nebula Runner’s engineering bay now. I have a full recording of my trip through the ship if you want it,” Evelyn replied, sending the video file to him. She could tell the moment he saw it, as his eyes widened, then she continued. “The darkborn ooze had eaten the entire crew by the time I boarded except for one person. I saved her life, and she is currently in the medical bay under sedation. I obeyed Delta-level quarantine protocols to ensure she survived and that the ooze did not. The Nebula Runner was destroyed, except for its black box and the woman’s personal effects.”
“Yeah, mostly because you ripped her personal locker out of the wall as you left,” Fya chimed in.
“I understand. Please approach the designated position, we will send a boarding party to examine your ship for contraband,” the officer said, frowning. “You mentioned passengers. What are they doing here?”
“They were slaves which the previous owners of the ship were transporting,” Evelyn replied, smiling coldly as he blinked in surprise. “I’ve freed them and have brought them to Nald, as I believe that Rakal was an exceedingly poor port for them to retain their freedom. What they choose to do here is entirely up to them.”
“Ah. I will inform the boarding party,” the man replied, then the line went dead.
“Well, that was rude. He never even introduced himself,” Fya said, sounding a touch miffed.
“Yes, well, that’s the military for you,” Evelyn replied, and nodded to Control. “Take us to the designated location.”
“Yes, Captain,” the Doll replied.
The ship started moving, and Evelyn smiled at Fya. “Shall we get ready to greet our boarding party? Don’t touch any of the heavy weapons, though.”
“Aww… alright,” Fya agreed, climbing out of the chair. “Need to scare them into behaving, right?”
“As otherwise they might pilfer some of our weapons… yes, we do,” Evelyn agreed. “Let everyone know they’re coming over, too.”
The djinn giggled, and Evelyn had to wonder if she was planning to scandalize the visitors with Zelirana. If so… they’d probably deserve it.
Chapter 22
After dealing with the boarding party, who were appropriately fascinated and horrified by Zelirana and the number of Dolls aboard, as well as the survivor of the Nebula Runner, it wasn’t difficult to return to normal space. Evelyn was pleased they hadn’t had to more than mildly threaten one of the boarders who’d thought that one of the guns in her stock should be confiscated. Anyone who thought they were getting a weapon worth more than most people’s yearly wages for free was delusional. Unless they could kill her, at which point the question would be moot.
The transition was gentle, and Evelyn immediately checked the screens for any ships coming too close. Fortunately, despite the traffic she saw, they were in a safe spot, so she nodded to Control, who hailed the nearby station for docking clearance.
Nald was a pretty planet, one with jewel-like oceans. Dozens of cities blazing with light dotted its surface, as it was night on th
is side of the planet. It orbited a yellow star, and ships were plying their way between Nald and the inner asteroid belt of the system, as well as the three outer planets. Nald was the cluster’s hub, where the vast majority of planets had comm links, which gave the government a large amount of sway throughout the cluster.
Most important was the nearby space station, though, and the wyrmgate itself. The station was enormous, as befitted a major trade hub, capable of docking hundreds of smaller ships at once and with large concourses, repair yards, and more. Larger ships were in parking orbits nearby, shuttles traveling between them slowly.
The wyrmgate… there was no way anyone would mistake it for anything but what it was. A five-kilometer diameter ring of gleaming golden material, with stylized dragons along its edges, while magical runes glittered all along its interior. The middle was empty, likely because the portal wasn’t active, and Evelyn examined it for a moment, smiling slightly.
No one else had managed to build a functional wyrmgate that didn’t kill or destroy everything that went through it, which gave the draconic houses control over the fastest form of transportation in known space. Fortunately, they seemed more interested in the money it could earn them than in denying others passage. The price to travel through it was high, but not so high as to make it impossible for others to afford. Though Evelyn had to admit, two hundred and fifty mythrite, which should be about two thousand five hundred credits, was a steep price for a one-way trip.
With the thought of credits, Evelyn quickly sent an inquiry to the starbase, checking to make sure the exchange rate wasn’t too different than what she remembered. Dragons based their prices off mythrite, which made it one of the most stable currencies available due to how they carefully added or removed it from the market to maintain its value, but that didn’t mean that local currencies were as stable as it was. It was possible that the value of mythrite against the local credit had fallen.
A few seconds later she relaxed, smiling slightly as she found that instead the value of mythrite had increased, which would make things a little better for her passengers. Noting that there was a draconic transport due to depart for the gate within the hour, Evelyn triggered the shipboard comm.
“We’re back in normal space, and our systems have linked with Argon Station. In… fifty-seven minutes, the DMF Scalebearer will be departing on a trip to the core worlds, making a total of seven stops and six wyrmgate transits. If you wish to send a message, you have fifty-two minutes to get it into their data buffer, and fifteen minutes to prepare if you wish to catch a shuttle in time to board,” Evelyn said, sitting back in her chair. “The next listed departure time is in twelve hours, fifty-one minutes. It appears that draconic shuttles depart every twelve standard hours, and we will dock in… ten minutes. Make your decisions quickly.”
With that she sat back and smiled, monitoring the internal comms curiously. Within about thirty seconds she saw a message go out to the Scalebearer, sourced from the twins, but none of the others responded immediately, and she didn’t see anyone rushing to vacate the ship either. She shrugged internally, as other messages started flitting back and forth from the station. The former slaves would figure out what they wanted soon enough.
Then she was surprised by an incoming hail from the station, an audio-only one. Evelyn considered, then shrugged, answering. “Daggerhound, Captain Tarth speaking.”
“Hello, Captain Tarth. This is Amanda of Argon Search and Rescue, and we’ve been informed that you retrieved the black box of the Nebula Runner, as well as a survivor from its crew,” a woman replied briskly. “We’d been informed when the ship did not arrive in the Tarkath system on-schedule and have contacted the ship’s parent company. They wish to examine the logs as soon as possible and for the survivor to be tended to. We’re requesting both be transferred into our custody as soon as possible.”
While the woman was speaking, Evelyn did a few quick searches via the station’s network, once she was sure she was connected to the actual network, of course, and nodded internally. Satisfied that she was speaking to an actual representative of the station’s Search and Rescue team, she was willing to talk to her. The link codes matched, as did the name.
“Excellent, it isn’t like I wanted to keep them aboard my ship. I assume that the standard finder’s fee for picking up a missing ship’s black box applies?” Evelyn said, an eyebrow rising involuntarily. “I’m willing to give the coordinates where I found it, but there isn’t anything to find there. The ship was destroyed completely to ensure that the ooze didn’t escape.”
For a moment there wasn’t a response, then Amanda spoke again, a tiny bit hesitant. “Yes, well, there is some question of how precisely the ship met it’s—”
“According to your own rules, listed on your information chart, they indicate that anyone who brings in the black box of a ship declared as missing will be paid a finder’s fee of twenty-five thousand credits,” Evelyn replied, her smile vanishing. “Are you saying that the policy has changed? Because if so, I am perfectly willing to keep it. Perhaps I’ll mount it on the wall as a trophy.”
The silence was almost deafening, and Evelyn couldn’t help a slight smile. She didn’t care that much about the money, but it was the principle of the thing. If people were willing to cheat you when you were rescuing people, when else would they be willing to cheat you?
“No, the policy has not changed. While the parent company did ask that it be withheld until it was determined that you were not responsible for the loss of the vessel and its passengers, you make an excellent point. My superiors have confirmed that the credits will be transferred upon receipt of the black box,” Amanda replied at last, just as they were beginning their final approach to the dock. They still had to go through docking procedures, but that wouldn’t be difficult. “What about the survivor? We did not get a name.”
“I’m afraid that neither did I. It might have been on her equipment locker, but I didn’t check,” Evelyn admitted, pulling up the data regarding the woman and sending it back along the line. “Here is her medical data, as well as what the Dolls currently functioning as my medics have determined, and the treatments they’ve performed. I’d suggest bringing a full medical team before moving her. She’ll live, but she isn’t in the best of condition.”
“I… see that. I will transmit this to my medical team and let them know what to expect,” the woman replied after a moment. “I expect the teams to arrive to pick up the black box and survivor in thirty minutes. Is that acceptable?”
“Yes, it is,” Evelyn agreed, then shut down the line, pondering the sight before her for a second, then nodded, murmuring. “Control, please have the Dolls inform everyone that Argon is a safe port, so if they wish to debark, shop, or do anything else, it is safe to do so. Also inform them that we’re expecting the Search and Rescue team in just under half an hour.”
“Acknowledged, Captain. Dolls are carrying out your directives now,and are preparing to transfer custody of the injured,” Control confirmed.
Evelyn nodded, and let out a sigh as they docked. A tiny part of her was annoyed, seeing the orderly, safe port… but it was for the best. Not everything could be exciting all the time. Besides, she did like to relax sometimes.
Chapter 23
Evelyn didn’t like going unarmed. She really didn’t like going unarmored as well. However, while she was technically allowed to board the station with her weapons, for some reason station security was nervous about her bringing them aboard. She really didn’t understand why, when her magic was far more dangerous than her weapons, but she wasn’t going to argue. Not when she’d been asked by two of her guests to show them around.
“Have you never been aboard a station before?” Evelyn asked Ilyra, glancing at the wide-eyed celestine. The woman was getting almost as many odd looks as Vaneryth, and the three of them were garnering more attention than Evelyn cared for. She was sure that someone had managed to figure out who she was, even with the dark-lensed glasses she’d w
orn. She had no idea why Fya had suggested that they’d allow her to go relatively unnoticed, when it was patently obvious that wasn’t true.
The main concourse of Argon was a large space, almost a city block of shops and stores that rose three floors, connected by an intricate web of catwalks, with Nald visible through multiple layers of protective overhead windows. The stores themselves were brilliantly lit, with holographic displays, augmented reality which tried to interface with their implants, and even a few physical items here and there. Most of the items were either examples, like clothing so that people could test how the material felt, or items that couldn’t easily be made with rapid manufacturing.
All around them were crowds of people from every port of known space as well, though Evelyn’s presence had given them a modicum more room than they normally would have gotten. She’d seen numerous trios of senne, with their blue skin and towering heights, elves in virtually every color of the rainbow, though admittedly that was mostly hair colors, half-elves, kobolds, dwarves, a couple of groups of green and red-skinned orcs, a handful of celestines, and even one young dragon on a hover-platform so he wouldn’t have to brave the crowds. Of course, humans were the most common species present, but with all of the others they barely made up half of the station population. Angels, on the other hand, were not present. Nor were demons as far as Evelyn could tell, though a couple of people were demon blooded.
“I have!” Ilyra said, blushing slightly as she almost immediately admitted. “Only once, though, when I was boarding the liner to leave Brightdawn, and the shuttle docked at the same terminal as the liner, so I didn’t get to see much. It was considered unladylike to board stations, especially when we weren’t allowed to leave the system. What was the point?”
“Mm, a fair reason,” Evelyn admitted, and glanced at Vaneryth. “And you?”
Chosen of Chaos (Eve of Destruction Book 1) Page 14
