I want to add that the production of this chapter has to proceed in same manner as that of chapter 16. In other words, few sentences added whenever I have time…
Edit: The chapter is now considered finished.
----
Erich Campbell, an AF commissioned cyberborg, is left stranded deep in Xenon space after a failed colonization attempt. The survivors wait in vain for help that never arrives; their numbers drop as disease, hunger and Xenon take their toll. Erich and his friend Buck survive, escaping in old Xenon ship that is destroyed the moment it enters Federation space. Erich and Buck are left drifting half dead and they come apart.
Erich is eventually picked up by Boron, who manages to heal him. As he learns to speak again he learns that Buck survived too. But instead of being hailed as hero, Buck is target of smear campaign, branded as deserter and nutcase – nobody beliefs his story about what happened on the planet they left. Erich is confused and scared and finally he decides that it is best to disappear.
Living outside the society is almost impossible and to survive Erich has taken the profession of the assassin. He kills for money not caring for the reasons behind the assassinations. Life is not exactly good, but it is best he can have. Then seven jazuras after Erich Campbell had decided to disappear, he gets contract on wealthy businessmen, Max Rudel, CEO of NSM. What should be job as any else turns out differently – Max Rudel was member of a powerful alliance and that alliance is now bent on revenge. Nothing out of the ordinary for Erich - until the moment he discovers that the horrors of his past and his present are connected somehow… The chase ensues where Erich and his friends are pursued across sectors. The hunter became hunted as assassins, mercenaries and even Argon’s Navy Intelligence are tasked with eliminating him. Erich fights back whenever he can and on the way forms unlikely alliances. More and more links are discovered between what had happened in the past and what is happening now. Yet the grand reason behind it all eludes him.
While Erich fights for his own survival, Xenon are going through one gigantic step in their evolution and Khaak are making the first attacks across the Known Universe.
In these conflicts there are no clear battle lines – treason is rampant and unholy alliances are formed all the time. It appears as if everyone has a hidden agenda…
----------------------
Links to other chapters:
Chapter 16: Pieces of Chessboard
Chapter 15: Machinations
Chapter 14: Sins revealed
Chapter 13: Cargo to die for
Chapter 12: Demons in Paradise
Chapter 11: The Elysium
Chapter 10: The Khaak
Chapter 9: New Player
Chapter 8: The Hunt Begins
Chapter 7: Among the Rogues
Chapter 6: Anger of the Giants
Chapter 5: Awakening of the storm
Chapter 4: Trade run to Hell
Chapter 3: Old connections
Chapter 2: Means for revenge
Chapter 1: First kill
The glossary of Unknown Heroes
--------------------
Shades of Grey
Walther Campbell worked in his garden as his wife Monica was sipping coffee at the porch. Monica looked at her husband. Walther looked back and smiled. She smiled back. Her husband continued his work.
Not that was much to do. The garden was small and whatever needed to be done could be done within one stazura, but old Walther liked doing something – anything. He had been that way since retirement. Not knowing what to do with his hands he focused his energy on endless projects and thing that “needed to be repaired/improved”. Every detail in the garden was changed and then changed over. Everything except the old swing, Monica thought with sadness. It had been Erich’s. Walther had built it for him when he was five. At the memory of her son, her eyes watered, as they always did when she thought of her boy that never came back. She turned her eyes so that Walther would not see her. No need to disturb him.
A hoovercar stopped in front of their house. It was still early in the morning and the sun was still low on horizon so Monica could not see who it was. She and Walther exchanged glances. Three men exited the car, watching around before entering the garden. Walther started to ask them something but the words never left his mouth. Monica screamed as her husband fell to the ground, being struck repeatedly by laser beams. Her own scream was cut short by three beams from laspistol. The three men quickly dragged the bodies of the old couple inside the house. Once inside they listened to the police communications link. Assured that nobody reported any disturbance in the area, they began their work.
“That looks nasty,” Ni Lan said, looking at Erich’s wound at the status screen of the curative pod while the bots worked over Erich’s body. The problem was that his own implants perceived bots as projectiles or intruders that Erich needed to be shielded from. As long Erich maintained consciousness he could command his various regenerative implants to shut down as needed– however, the moment he lapsed into unconsciousness his implants went into auto mode. The normal human being would have died long ago under such conditions, but the cyberborg still held on.
“Thanks Boron for pointing out the obvious,” Ha’nt spat out.
“You are welcome,” Ni Lan innocently answered.
“You little,” enraged Split began but he was hushed by Otto. The Argon looked intently at displays showing the progress.
“I think this is it,” he finally said examining a column of numbers that represented the progress of the healing process.
“He is going to make it?” Ha’nt asked forgetting all about the irritating Boron, instead concentrating on the display, trying to decipher the numbers displayed.
“I think so. The bots did most of the heavy work and Erich’s organic restoration implants, if that’s what I think those symbols mean, are now capable of healing Erich on their own”
“Is Mr. Campbell going to be all right if I may ask?” another Boron voice asked. Otto turned and saw Boron that Sergey had referred to as Professor standing in the doorway. He wore an ill fitting, dirty pilot suit that seemed to have patches at hundred places.
“It seem so, why do you ask? Speak!” Ha’nt demanded to know, his hand dropping down to his laspistol holster.
“I was politely wondering if your master would demand the Right of Rule by victory in his challenge of our former leader,” Professor calmly asked, unfazed by Splits threatening voice.
Otto looked closely at elderly Boron. His body language was hard to read, unlike that of Ni Lan, which told Otto few things. He guessed that Professor’s place of birth had been in “New Boron Colonies”* where Borons were fairly different from their cousins in the Kingdom Core.
“This for our “master” to know… Why do you ask?” Otto asked Professor. He noted that Boron closed door carefully.
“If Mr. Campbell does not take the burden of leadership, then certainly Mr. Douglas would…”
“Mr. Douglas?”
“Yes, this gentleman is currently on a raid along with number of men. We can expect his return later this tazura, station time, or early in the morning.”
“Who is this man?”
“Mr. Sergey’s second in command or he was until Mr. Sergey passed away,” Professor answered.
“How does this concern us?”
“Well, it is no secret that Mr. Douglas desires to lead the clan himself but so far Sergey had kept him…”pacified”… With Sergey’s demise, Mr. Douglas may be inclined to issue a challenge to Mr. Campbell”
“This is second time you mention Mr. Campbell name. How are do you know of it?” Ha’nt asked. Old Boron shook his tentacles slightly in a Boron gesticulation equivalent to human shrug.
“I read news services when I get the chance. The pictures of Mr. Campbell were prominent in the media some time back”
“So you know why he came here,” Ha’nt asked, looking at Boron carefully.
“Your and Mr. Campbell’s reasons for being here are irrelevant at the moment… What is important is that Mr. Douglas will arrive soon and that he will challenge a still hurt Mr. Campbell”
“Why are you telling us this?” Ni Lan spoke. He had been silent during entire conversation and observing very carefully the other Boron. Otto and Ha’nt exchanged glances. Both Split and Argon had noticed that usually polite Ni Lan had dropped any pleasantries from his question, highly unusually for the very polite Ni Lan. Why is Ni Lan hostile to this Boron, Otto wondered.
Professor turned to him, bowed slightly as if first seeing him now and said,
“I admit that I have rather selfish reasons to tell you this. I am not popular among Mr. Douglas and his friends. My life may be in danger if Mr. Douglas prevails…”
“That is a reason I am willing to believe in,” Ha’nt commented dryly.
“I am just being honest,” Professor said bowing and turning towards the door. Just before he exited the room, he turned back and added, “Please do tell Mr. Campbell who had brought this matter to your attention and that he has a friend on this station if he needs one”
With those words the old Boron left the room.
“You think he will take the bate?” Colonel Forsyth asked Jane. He was looking at the screen depicting the planet below. Jane was standing beside him but she was observing the reflection of Colonel’s face on the screen. The light in the room was dim as usually, making Jane wonder whether Colonel ever turned the lights on. She never remembered a single occasion where the lights in the office had been turned on, even during the meetings.
“I think so… It is simply too good offer for them to refuse, Sir”
“And if this pirate chief…what’s his name?”
“He goes by name of Sergey, Sir”
“Yes, what if Sergey kills Erich instead?” Colonel asked her.
“Well, Sir – Erich is a cyberborg and it is tradition that challenges are decided by knife fights…” Jane answered. Implicitly it meant that Erich would have the upper hand in the fight. It was obvious without the need for Jane to explain it to Colonel.
“Providing the pirates don’t decide to avenge their leader’s death afterwards…”
“Sergey was not a popular boss, Sir. Our contact aboard Elysium had good data on him,” Jane said confidently. Colonel only grunted in reply.
“Let us hope that our dear Senator doesn’t hear about this operation,” Colonel said after few mizuras of silence. The entire operation had been Jane’s idea and it had been done without Senator McCarthy’s knowledge. Despite having his misgivings, Colonel Forsyth agreed to it. He could of course distance himself from agent Jane Friedman if things went the wrong way but Colonel would never do that. Not to Jane.
“No tracks leads to us, Sir. Our contact thinks that we are using Erich to eliminate Sergey.”
“But he is aware that Erich Campbell is wanted man? What if your contact decides to cash in the reward for Campbell,” Colonel Forsyth asked. If Senator McCarthy got any clues about this information he could easily put two and two together and realize that he was being deceived, Colonel Forsyth thought.
“Even if the Senator would bother to read through all data on our contacts he could never reach this person, Sir.”
“How so?”
“The contact is using the false name and identity when meeting with me. I had only figured it out last wozura, Sir”
Colonel Forsyth turned to Jane, “Something tells me that this little detail never made it to archives”
“No, Sir, it did not. I was too much busy chasing after the raiders of NSM convoys, Sir. After Senators orders, Sir”
“I guess you did,” Colonel Forsyth said with a smile.
Erich stood up from the sani-bed, stretching his limbs. He looked at his stomach. The wound was gone and no scar remained. Still he felt that something was not as it was before. Perhaps with time the feeling would disappear, Erich speculated massaging the place where the wound had been.
His health monitoring sensors told him that he was 87 percent efficient. The advice he received was to seek a source for nutrition.
The door opened and Ni Lan, Otto and Ha’nt walked in. Ni Lan was carrying assortment of Argon food on platter.
“It’s alive!” Otto announced.
“Yes I am. What had happened since I went in there,” Erich said, pointing to the bed.
“Well, you got offer to be the top dog of this,” Otto pointed around him, “well, “establishment”. We of course will be your loyal subjects”
“The fight was not a challenge of leadership,” Erich said.
“Well, it appears that the Boron going by name of Professor at least thinks so”
“The Boron rarely take such mistakes. In my opinion this… Professor has his own agenda,” Ni Lan said. He did not feel comfortable about Professor at all.
“Who hasn’t?” Ha’nt commented, “I say we take over this place. We need warriors if we are ever to get revenge on our enemies”
“Ha’nt got point,” Otto agreed.
“First of all tell me about this Professor,” Erich said.
Otto told him about the Professor and the meeting they had with him while Erich ate the food Ni Lan brought.
“OK, so how do we know that other pirates will not oppose me when I declare that I am taking over?” Erich wanted to know.
“Most of them appear to be waiting to see what will be the fallout of the confrontation between you and this Douglas”
“Hmmm…Alright, let’s do it. We have much to gain if this goes well” Erich said.
After a few mizuras of searching they managed to find the Professor. The Boron was sitting in the station’s bar alone sipping a unidentifiable green drink that looked like something coming from a swamp.
“I see that Mr. Campbell is well. How fortunate!” the Boron greeted them.
“Cut the pleasantries Boron, we need assistance,” Ha’nt cut him off.
“Where can we access station’s speaker system?” Otto asked.
“At Sergey’s office – follow me I will show you,” Professor said, standing up from the chair. They followed him to Rhino’s bridge through series of corridors.
“Unfortunately the lifts are not working,” Professor explained their long trip.
The office seemed to be part of the Rhino’s bridge.
“It appears that guards have left their posts when Mr. Sergey was killed,” Professor commented. They went through a half open door. Inside a mess of huge proportions awaited them, with everything thrown at the floor and every drawer and box opened.
“It seems that office had been looted also,” Professor added.
“Probably by the same guards that were supposed to guard them,” Erich dryly said.
“Why am I not surprised,” Ha’nt said, looking at the piles on the floor.
“Well, if you would like to make announcement to the rest of the station, just press the green button here,” Professor said pointing to a panel on the wall.
Erich walked over to the wall panel and pressed the button. Taking a deep breath he began to speak,
“This is Erich, Master Erich to rest if you scum. It appears that Sergey left this world as a poor man. This sorry excuse of semi-station will not recoup my expanses so I have decided to take charge here. If any of you disagree, he or she can take a walk through nearest airlock. I want any fighterpilot to meet in…”
Erich looked at Professor. “Central Hub,” the Boron whispered.
“…Central Hub in two stazuras. Every “investor” at this station is also to meet me in my office in four stazuras.”
He pressed the button once more and it stopped blinking, indicating that it was off.
“It is done,” Erich said.
“Yeah and them ‘hores need changing! I am tired of mounting the same girls entire jazura,” a bearded, yellow toothed pirate yelled. Most of the pirates applauded loudly in agreement. Erich looked at Otto who only smiled. Ni Lan dutifully noted the new item on his datapad.
Last twenty mizuras the pirates had been informing “Master” Erich about their grievances. Apparently, Sergey had only managed to hold on the leadership by rule of fear. The station and this group of pirates were in sorry state. Over half of the pirates had left during last jazura and only two of experienced fighter pilots were still alive. Yet, to Erich amusement, the pirates found drugs, drinks and prostitutes to be of main concern.
“Except Rikka!” a young pirate dressed in fancy red dress shouted.
“Don’t be a fool Cliff! You are only special for her on your payday!” the bearded pirate said followed by laughter of the rest of the pirates. Cliff looked with hatred on the bearded pirate and pulled out a triblade. He began moving towards the bearded pirate, waving triblade menacingly. A laser beam hit his triblade and forced him to drop the knife. The crowd turned to Erich. He was holding a laspistol in his left hand. The shot had been made from the hip, over the distance of thirty meters. Someone in the crowd whistled in appreciation.
“The solution to present problems is Credits. To obtain these we need every pilot we can get our hand on. Until we get our hands on new recruits the mortal combat between comrades is forbidden. You kill a man you walk out of the airlock. So, Cliff if you have problem with the gentlemen over there, you have to resolve them with your fists. Did I make myself clear?”
The young man nodded quickly, “Yes, Master Erich”
“Ok, people I will see what I can do about new flesh to station’s brothel. Now to the ships’ hardware…”
As the meeting in the Central Hub was about to end, a group of pirates walked in, led by a tall muscular man dressed in grey Split combat dress. The man’s arms were covered by tattoos and on his shaved head the tattoo of winged dragon was prominent. His attitude was that of a predator as he scrutinized the crowd in the Hub with a cybernetic eye.
“Douglas,” Professor whispered the name of the new arrival.
“It appears that you people have started this meeting without me,” the man said, looking Erich straight in the eyes. There was an implicit challenge in his voice.
“To me it seems that you are too late,” Erich said. Several sezuras passed. Douglas’s eyes wandered briefly over the crowd. Erich guessed that he tried to gauge the possible reaction of the crowd. But instead of pressing ahead with the challenge, the man bowed and found his place.
“We are finished here people,” Erich said adjourning the meeting. His eyes were on the group with Douglas that now appeared to be joking with couple of his friends.
“He landed stazura ago according to flight control,” Professor said checking his datapad.
“Enough time to know that meeting was held. Yet he refused to immediately go here. He is challenging your leadership. I say we kill this man,” Ha’nt suggested.
“Mr. Douglas is far more respected than Mr. Sergey ever was. If you kill him now, the rest of the men will think that you will go the same path Sergey went. And then most of the station will side with Douglas’s allies when they come for revenge. May I suggest a strategy where Douglas AND his allies are pacified at same time?” Professor said looking at Erich.
“Most likely this Douglas guy used the last stazura to gather info about you,” Otto said, “I don’t think that he will challenge you directly”
“Yeah, I was in fact hoping he would do just that,” Erich said looking at Douglas. The two’s eyes met briefly, before Douglas turned away and walked out of the hall.
“Now we got to wait and see how this will play out,” Ni Lan said quietly.
From the dawn of humankind the conflicts have defined the Argon society. There are visible wars and tensions as such of those with Split and Paranid. And then there are those invisible conflicts, fought away from the eyes of public, for the very control of the society. Oh boy, do I sound dramatic now, Colonel Forsyth thought looking at the planet below. What really was wrong was not the conflicts in itself but the fact that they spilled over on the people that neither had or wanted to have something to do with those conflicts.
The news of the murder of Erich Campbell’s parents reached him almost stazura ago. He had spent forty mizuras trying to decipher the motive behind the murder until it struck him the killings were nothing more than petty revenge. Two peoples were murdered simply to hurt Campbell. Of course, the murders would probably not pacify Campbell. If anything the assassin would be even more focused on his task. Whatever that task might be, Colonel Forsyth thought.
Barely ten mizuras flight time from the AP5 station, in the Argon Prime’s Trading Station, Suad Khan was sitting in his office and just finished reading the news article about the killings of Erich Campbell’s parents. Immediately he stood up, ordered his staff to close the store early and went to the hospital section on the station. This was the one of the few places where Federal Security Service did not monitor communications or kept log of people that used the computers.
Finding a computer he accessed the E.Y.E network. He found a privately owned satellite in the Elena’s Fortune that he used E.Y.E to access. He then uploaded a small program along with the scan of the news article. The program would lay dormant until the satellite detected one of the two Bayamon signatures on its scanners. Then it will order the satellite to send a directional transmission to one of the Bayamons that will include the news article along with a header that would identify the transmission as Suad’s.
As Suad Khan was leaving the station’s hospital section, a nurse passing him felt sorry for him looking at his trembling lower lip. He must be very sad, young woman thought. She couldn’t be more wrong. Suad Khan was angry. Very angry…
For the very first time in very long time, Erich Campbell felt helpless. He had avoided any contact with his parents, avoiding thinking of them. He always felt that the time will come when he could return and visit his parents freely. Now he realized the fact that time for that will never arrive. Ni Lan and Ha’nt had picked up the message from Suad and immediately raced back to the Black Gangs HQ with it. Erich held the PDA reading the news article over and over again. Finally he laid it on the table.
He looked at Ni Lan, Ha’nt and Otto that were standing across the table looking at him, “Listen guys, I have to make a trip to Suad and see who is responsible”
“I have inkling about that,” Otto said. Ni Lan vibrated his tentacles in agreement.
“You have to hold the fort here while I am gone. Douglas will try to seize the opportunity to take control while I am gone”
“We can handle him,” Ha’nt proudly said. He caressed his laspistol.
“Can you handle the meeting,” Erich asked Otto. In few mizuras he expected the “entrepreneurs” on the station to start arriving to the scheduled meeting.
“I think we can handle couple of the drug dealers, a brothel madam and one bar keeper easily”
“Good to know. I plan on leaving immediately; I got the most necessary things already stored on the ship.”
“You sure that you are in the right state of mind?” Otto wanted to know. He knew that Erich was not rushing to Argon Prime because of the funeral of his parents. His friend would probably instead do his best to arrange the funerals for those that murdered his parents.
“It will not get better my friend,” Erich answered, standing up, ready to go.
Otto followed Erich to the docks. Few words were said. He knew that nothing he said could ease Erich’s pain anyway. Erich climbed in the Bayamon, waving a silent goodbye before starting the engine and clearing the docks at almost top speed. Otto watched the dot representing the Bayamon disappear from the screen, indicating that Erich had completed the first jump. Then he turned around and headed to the office.
The Teladi was the first to arrive. She was dressed in old fashioned Teladi dress, green with purple lines running vertically. She owned the only bar in the station and Otto figured that she wasn’t doing it too well. The clientele was simple to small to support any serious bar. Never the less, he needed to have a bar onboard. The pirates were heavy drinkers and many times had the lack of the alcohol led to rebellions among pirate clans. Besides, intoxicated pirates were easier to control – a drunken pirate can hardly fight with a laspistol.
“Welcome, Minanoras IX. Is the profit good,” Otto greeted the Teladi.
“Hah! The Creditsss are few and far between! Your employeesss refussse too often to pay for their drinksss and now and then they even sssmash my bar! I am poor and I am thinking of leaving this nightmare of the ssstation asss sssoon asss possible!”
Otto looked at the Teladi without saying a word. He knew that moaning and complaining was part of the tactic to press him for lower percentage of Minanoras’s income Erich was supposing to get. And Teladi knew perfectly well that Erich and Co. needed him.
It was obvious that Teladi thought that he had the upper hand.
“Honored Minanoras IX, I am sorry but I did not catch your first two names,” Otto said carefully observing Teladi’s reaction. Teladi was a race that was proud of their self-control under business negotiations, yet Minanoras reacted as if a laspistol beam had just struck him. Few sezuras passed before he answered, “Why do you asssk about it?”
Otto suppressed a smile. Teladi names consist of four parts, where the first name belongs to their grandfather, second to their father and last name is their own followed by the hatching number. The family lineage was the second most important thing to a Teladi and they never omitted their first two names when meeting new people. Minanoras on the other hand never mentioned his. To Otto it indicated that Minanoras was on the wanted list somewhere in Teladi space. Minanoras further avoiding to reveal his full name confirmed his suspicion. And it meant that Minanoras would never leave the station, which in turn meant that Otto could dictate the terms.
“Honored Minanoras IX, the Credits will surely flow your way again. I will see what I can do about the non paying customers of yours. And while Sergey demanded a 30 percent from your income, we will be satisfied with 25 percent…However, we also expect prices to drop with ten percent in your bar…”
“What!? Am I to…” Minanoras began.
“If you are not satisfied with your position than you are free to leave the station,” Otto cut him off.
“Hmph…Well, I will try to make profit here...At least reduction to 20 percent is…”
“25 percent…”
“Yes, 25 percent, that isss what I meant to sssay. Very generous!”
“I hope I will see you again soon,” Otto said, indicating to Teladi that it was time for him to leave.
Before Teladi exited the door, a Split entered with tattoos on his face. Angry that Teladi was standing in his way, he pushed the Minanoras to the side and marched towards the table.
“You wanted to see me,” he screamed out. His head was shaking with anger. Otto did not know was it because he had been summoned or because he had bumped into Minanoras on his way in.
“You are?” Otto asked.
“Tolk t’Ghrratnt, dealer in enhancing and relaxing chemicals. I also make explosives,” the Split announced himself. Otto noted the “t” prefix in Split’s last name, indicating that this man belonged to a powerful Split clan and not a minor family.
“So far I see no need to change anything in our deal,” Otto said looking at his datapad. Professor had provided them with full details regarding deals Sergey had with businessmen on his station.
“No, lower creature we did not! Then why did you summon me for just saying that!?”
Otto looked at the Split. The Tolk looked defiantly back. He sighed and took out his laspistol, placing the laser beam in Split’s thigh. The clothing around the impact took fire briefly and sounds of boiling meat could be heard, followed by high scream from the Split.
“Next time you insult me, I will aim for your head. You may leave now,” Otto said looking at a very angry and shocked Tolk. Split limped out without further comments.
After he left the room, an Argon woman in her forties entered. There was something pleasant and charming about her. She looked ten years younger than the datapad in Otto’s hand said. Probably the makeup, Otto thought. Or an operation or two. Only the look in her strikingly green eyes and her hands revealed that she had seen more than her looks indicated. She wore clothing that suggested much but revealed nothing. Otto guessed that she too fled from something. Why else would she make her business in this hole of a station?
The women held her hand around her nose. Probably to keep out the smell of burnt flesh.
“I apologize for the smell; we had a little incident before you came in”
“I see,” she said.
“You are Madam Selena von Veelde, owner of the station’s entertainment establishment, right?”
“Yes, although I am bit surprised that you choose to use euphemism about my brothel”
“I will go right to the case. Men want change, they want new girls. Can you provide it?”
“Mister, I barely can keep the girls I got. All of them would leave the station the moment they get their chance.”
“That bad?”
“Yes it is. This is not exactly the most pleasant place to work at. The men are rough and we had four rapes this jazura”
“Rapes?”
“Yes, men kidnap one of the girls from their rooms and force themselves on them”
“I guess to avoid paying?”
“It is more complicated than that,” Selena said simply. Otto waited for her to continue but Selena did not appear to want to elaborate on what she meant.
“Alright I can provide guards for the girls but it does not solve the problem with men’s desires for new…entertainers”
“I see…I appreciate the guards but the other problem will have to wait”
“Well, we are finished her then. The deal you had with Sergey remains unchanged.”
“I and girls are satisfied with this,” Selena said with a slight bow.
Suad Khan never heard the man that entered his apartment. Only when the shadow fell over the datapad he was reading, he knew that someone was there. He lifted his eyes to see Erich.
“My condolences,” Suad said.
“Yeah…” Erich said. There was no point with dwelling on the pain. Nothing good would come of it and he needed to stay sharp.
“What have you found out,” he asked instead.
“Plenty… Follow me,” Suad said walking to his work room. Out of a hidden room in his bed he removed a DSD.
He gave it to Erich, “In there you will find every bit of data I have uncovered. I know who ordered the murder of your parents…”
“Who was it?”
“Boris Gellar. I think that you are familiar with him.”
“But why?”
“No idea. But if you check the info on the DSD you will find that he isn’t exactly the brightest guy in the system”
“So it was just out of spite then,” Erich guessed. The anger he felt building inside him never reached his voice.
“I think so too…” Suad slowly said, looking at his friend’s stone face. Erich was never one to be easy to ready, Suad thought. Seeing that Erich wouldn’t reveal any emotions he proceeded with presenting his findings.
“I studied the psychological profile of Boris Gellar and he seemed to be one prone to impulsive actions”
“I don’t actually recall that during the short time I served under him. Entire group waited in Montelaar system for two tazuras until the admiral sorted out paper work. Doesn’t sound like the type to impulsively do anything…”
“That my friend has to do with another side of him – cowardice. He probably did not dare to go ahead without getting proper stamp on his order or something. But the discussion about his impulsiveness is rather moot as you will see on the DSD. I used the E.Y.E satellites over the Argon Prime to track the vehicle the assassins used”
“I thought E.Y.E network was only used to fight piracy. Why place it on orbit around Argon Prime?”
Who knows? But it seems that Navy isn’t letting this information to the police. Police has no idea that those satellites are there. They are disguised as TH and weather monitoring satellites. Anyway, I digress. The vehicle they used is burned and dumped into Lastor Lake”
Lastor Lake was a small lake twenty kilometers from his parents’ house, Erich remembered. Dad used to take him there fishing from time to time.
“The vehicle is stolen so it is a dead end – but I could still track one of them. They split up only to meet again later that evening in front of a motel outside Aragonia. There they were met by a man. The meeting lasted briefly and the man left soon. While he was leaving the motel he looked up in the sky, probably to check the weather. I got a really good picture of him. I tracked him trough the databases and found out that he was one of errand boys working for Boris Gellar.”
“You must have stayed online for Stazuras,” Erich noted.
“Eighteen stazuras to be exact; two searching through recordings of the relevant satellite, four checking the planetary sensors of the roads and twelve extremely long and boring stazuras using one of the E.Y.E satellites to monitor the hotel one of the assassins used.”
“Wouldn’t someone detect you accessing all that information?”
“No, as I said police has no clue about E.Y.E and Navy has no interest to monitor the surface of the planet which begs the question what the satellites are doing there in first place. But, the question is – what are YOU going to do with this information?”
“I will kill Boris Gellar. Is this a problem to you?”
Suad Khan went silent for few moments, thinking before answering, “Boris Gellar is the man who is directly responsible for the state of Buck and…” He paused before continuing, “Buck’s mother’s… my sister’s suicide. No, Erich, I have no problem with Boris Gellar dying”
“Good. Now I want you to get me a transport to Argon Prime.”
“Well, the thing is that men have a variety of equipment,” Engar Danton explained. Or so he thought that he did.
Otto resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Last twenty mizuras had been spent dragging the words out of the tight-lipped ship engineer. While the skinny man in front of him was in theory supposed to take care of the men’s ships, in reality he was just a glorified repairmen and dealer of ship parts. Unlike the Navy, where the parts to the fighters came from a central storage, the pirates bought their parts out of their own pockets. For large clans this presented no problem. Often the boss would cover the part of the expanses from his own pocket and pirates would be more than happy to pay for anything that gave them an edge out in the vacuum. However, the Black Gang was just a small group of the pirates that barely managed to pull off a successful raid now and then. The times had been easier when there had been millions of freighters milling around the Universe. Since the Khaak Threat, the free traders organized in the larger groups and traveled in convoys, paying for mercenaries to protect them. That led to situation that small groups like Black Gang had fewer pickings. The Black Gang couldn’t afford a corvette or even a makeshift pocket cruiser made from freighter. Since the ship parts prices soared, the Black Gang found itself in position where its members were broke leading in fewer of them being capable of affording repairs, let alone new parts. That again led to fewer successful missions leading to more damaged ships with men that couldn’t afford to repair them…
The Professor provided Otto with data about the state of Black Gang’s fighters. Twelve out of twenty eight ships were spaceworthy and many of them had critical damages to core systems. By AF Navy standards, only five would be judged battle ready...
The problem was that Engar’s prices were too high. Men couldn’t afford them.
“So what does it mean that they use different equipment?” Otto asked.
Now it was Engar’s turn to be exasperated with Otto. He rolled his eye.
“The prices!”
“What prices!?”
“The men use different parts. Can’t order big orders. Big orders – lower cost per part. Many of them use old technology. No longer produced. Must be made on order. Expensive. Understand? No?”
Otto started to understand. The diversity in the ship parts used by the pirate clan meant that Engar couldn’t place big orders that would enable him to sell parts to lower prices. And the ships were old, that was something Otto had established by when he first arrived. They still used Wolfs* as recon ships! He nodded to Engar. The man sighed with relief. Speaking this long taxed him obviously.
Otto dismissed the man and Engar left hurriedly not saying anything. Probably afraid that he would have to speak few more words, Otto thought.
Lack of repairs and new parts would doom the clan sooner or later. The damaged ships don’t have any chance of assaulting successfully convoys. And without spoils to go around men would start to leave. Otto used his com-link to call in Ha’nt and Ni Lan.
“So do we get cheaper ship parts?” Ha’nt asked at once, entering the office.
“No.”
“What!? Those rusting trashcans they call fighters can’t even take on a Boron trader venting atmosphere!”
“I know,” Otto shortly said.
“Do you want me to beat him up? I am sure that I can push him to lower his prices,” Ha’nt offered.
“No, it wont help in this case…”
“We could pay it with our own Credits. From Nividium we sold,” Ni Lan suggested.
“I was thinking about it but the problem of the lack of the firepower still remains,” Otto said.
“What do you mean?” Ha’nt asked.
“Simply put, the fighters alone are no longer enough in pirate business. Every trader that has any valuable cargo is traveling in convoys protected by mercenary fighters in Independent sectors and navies’ patrols of the respective major powers once inside their territory. The really juicy convoys have either corvette or pocket cruiser protection. One attack, even if we had brand new ships and disciplined pilots which pirates certainly are not, is going to decimate our ships. We can’t afford that.”
“So we need a corvette or something like that?” Ha’nt asked.
“Precisely”
“So why don’t we just buy one? We got lots of Credits”
“And who is going to sell one to us?” Otto asked in return. That silenced the Split who thoughtfully sat on a chair. Otto too had no idea on what their next step should be. They needed to make money fast. Not because themselves, they got enough money left from Nividium sales – but simply to stay in control of the station and the pirate clan. And seeing how the situation was and in which shape the station was, maybe it was not so bad loosing it, Otto thought.
“I have heard stories about Argon Police arresting pirates by using W-ships,” Ni Lan finally said.
“Q-ships or Z-ships. Yes they were used from time to time in Argon history.”
“Q-ships?” Ha’nt asked, looking quizzically at Ni Lan and Otto.
“Yes, ships that appear to be harmless but are not. Like a ship looking like harmless freighter but outfitted with corvette’s armament… I see where you are going,” Otto said looking with appreciation on Boron. Perhaps Ni Lan had knack for tactics?
“If we outfit couple of freighters with armament, we can sneak ourselves within range of the convoy without being set upon by its escorts. We equip the freighters with weaponry capable of destroying fighters within sezuras.”
“Like missile platforms,” Otto added.
“Revolver style reload?” Ni Lan suggested.
“With Mosquito 2 missiles,” Ha’nt said catching on Ni Lan’s idea.
Even he grudgingly had to admire Ni Lan’s suggestion. Perhaps there was warrior somewhere in that foul stinking, seaweed looking, ugly Boron, Ha’nt speculated. If it was, it was because Ha’nt’s positive influence. Of that the Split was absolutely sure.
The dangers of hastily prepared assassination were obvious to an experienced assassin as Erich. Perhaps the rage he felt over the murder of his parents influenced him after all. His implants would always ensure that he remained calm and collected no matter whether he wanted or not but still… The scientist still argued about how human brain functioned under induced emotional states so Erich had no way of being sure that his suppressed emotions did not influence his actions.
He cleared his minds of such thoughts and focused on the task ahead. He was standing in the large hall of the Acerton Military Academy, one of the finest military schools for officers in the whole of Argon Federation, if not entire Known Universe. Every Jazura it organized the social gathering for retired high ranking Army and Navy officers. It was also one of the few events that compelled Boris Gellar to leave his fortress like residence. Erich was dressed in a Lieutenant General’s uniform and had a special mask that covered his face, making him look forty years older and with stuffed padding around his stomach, forty kilograms heavier too. He held his drink nonchalantly while he flirted with one young cadet that obviously felt uncomfortable. He fitted perfectly among the crowd present.
With corner of the eye he followed Boris Gellar. The retired admiral had great time as he laughed loudly. He had his arm tightly around a young woman he brought to the party while he chatted to a retired rear admiral.
“Oh, dear! I see one friend that I haven’t seen in long time. I got to say hello to him. I have to leave you,” Erich said to the cadet. The woman looked relieved and mumbled something unintelligibly as she harried away.
Erich walked over to Boris Gellar who of course could not recognize him now. He patted him at the shoulder and as Boris turned he said, “Admiral Gellar! I haven’t seen you for two jazuras! I hear you are doing well.”
Boris Gellar produced a polite smile as he obvious searched his mind of who the man in front of him could be.
“And you haven’t lost your taste I see,” Erich said casting a look to the woman at Boris Gellar’s side before blinking to the admiral. Erich recognized from the photos that woman was Gellar’s aide Victoria. His comment produced a satisfied laughter from Boris Gellar in which the rear admiral joined in. Unnoticed Erich slipped in a pill into Gellar’s glass of wine while the two men were distracted.
“Ok, we got to talk later - I have to say hi to Pete, he is going to go ballistic if I don’t greet him first,” Erich excused himself while the two men expressed their understanding. He made sure to be out of the view of Boris Gellar before setting course to the men’s toilets. The first part of the plan, in fact the most risky one, worked out. The pill he slipped in Gellar’s drink would soon force him to set course for men’s toilets too. Erich would have favored a slow acting poison but there had not been enough time to procure such thing.
He entered the toilets and set up his ambush. Many things could still go wrong. Other people could come in and then Erich would have to improvise. Or the pill he acquired could be too old and ineffectual.
The time went and just as he thought that the pill was not working, Boris Gellar stormed in, racing to nearest booth. With two quick steps Erich intercepted the man and without saying a word grabbed Boris from behind and stabbed him with a syringe in the carotid artery. He then quickly emptied the syringe’s contents, a fast acting poison that first affected the central nervous system incapacitating Boris from fighting back, before shutting down autonomous nervous system as well in effect killing Boris. Just as Erich felt his victim’s body going limp, door opened from behind. Erich cursed and dropped the now dead Boris, turning quickly around. A cadet stood with wide-open eyes, staring at the body on the floor. He started to run. Erich quickly pursued him.
The man was fast but Erich was faster. He threw himself over the cadet. The cadet tried to scream but his scream was muffled by Erich hand. The man bit Erich hard. The pain was quickly neutralized by implants that immediately ordered Erich’s body to ignore the pain. Erich lifted the man over his head and threw him with his head first with full force on the floor. Man’s head burst like a watermelon and blood splattered all over the floor, walls and Erich’s clothes.
Erich dragged the dead man’s body into the toilet and then hid both bodies into one booth. He washed quickly blood from his hands and face. Dark spots were all over the green uniform. When he turned he realized that hiding the bodies served no purpose. A trail of blood and brain tissue was marking the bloody trail to the booth. Erich cursed.
He had very little time. Erich quickly left the scene. While he entered the hall he was at the outlook for looks of the people. However nobody seemed to pay him any attention. Erich left the building as quickly as he could without looking suspicious. He was glad for the cover of darkness and avoided the cones of lights provided from floating light globes while he walked towards the car that he stole earlier that evening.
Driving through the busy streets of Aragonia, he thought of the cadet he killed. In avenging his parents he took someone else’s life. He killed someone’s son, maybe a brother, perhaps even someone’s fiancé. One stazura ago the now dead cadet was dressing himself up, making sure that his uniform was correct, dreading the boring evening where he would have to cater to some old retired officers. He certainly never thought that this evening would be his last.
Erich was not the type to make excuses for his actions. Analyzing what had happened just ten mizuras ago Erich thought that there was not much difference between him and those that ordered and performed the killing of his parents. Perhaps he was even a worse human being than them. Unlike them Erich knew that what he did was in essence an “evil” deed. After all, he would not be in this mess if he had not killed a man, Max Rudel, just to earn some money. Knowing the immorality of your actions in your heart and still doing them – is it not definition for an “evil” person, Erich asked himself. He thought of his parents. He sighed. Perhaps it was best that they never knew that he still lived and what he did for living.
Continue to next chapter
