Finding Imperial targets they could tackle was tricky, though. They soon widened the net to Imperial related targets, those who had strong dealings with the Empire, especially those who were on active supply runs for Imperial assets. They managed to find a base they could operate from, more a collection of anti-Imperial activists than out-and-out pirates. The conviction of Dash’s team, and the professionalism and results, started to attract others. Dash chose carefully and restricted the numbers, ensuring the new recruits learnt the same discipline his troopers had.
As word spread they gained another ship, a small fighter, then a couple more. Then a refitted assault boat. Dash started to spread his original team throughout the other ships, partly to ensure loyalty but mostly to ensure everyone who followed him had the required levels of discipline and knowledge.
Dash and his team became too successful. The base was sold out by informants. By chance, Dash and the others were all at the base when a large Imperial force dropped out of jump space. Once again the discipline Dash insisted on paid off. He’d run several evacuation drills over the months they’d been using the base. Every member of his team, original and new, were aboard their ships within ten minutes. Every civilian he took direct responsibility for too, as well as any others that got swept up in the evacuation.
Dash’s fleet was heading away from the base long before even the fastest Imperial fighters reached it. Many others from the base were with them. The fleet reached jump distance still well clear of the Imperial pursuit, but this time there was no easy escape. Hardly any of the ships were able to blip. Dash wasn’t willing to abandon the rest of the fleet. So started a deadly game of chase.
Dash led his fleet through four long jumps. Each time they exited jumps space the Imperial ships managed to close the gap a little more. Dash’s captains warned him that after two more jumps, three at most, they would be forced to fight. He told them it was in hand, that the next jump would be the last where they could be followed.
They exited in a system where the star was in the late stages of expansion. Hotshot had travelled through it months before and had brought it to Dash’s attention. For some reason this particular star was doing strange things to space in its vicinity. The interface between real and jump space was constantly being rippled by immense waves rolling out from the star. It made entering and exiting jump space trickier than usual, but not particularly dangerous. It had a far more useful effect, though. The rippling meant that the scars normally left by a ship entering jump space were erased almost immediately.
Now Dash planned to make good use of the effect. He sent a message to all the extra ships that had travelled with his fleet, explaining what the star did so they knew they could jump safely and leave the Imperial forces behind. He refused to tell them where his fleet would be going next, though. His captains all knew, and he didn’t want anyone else following. He already had suspicions that the base they had fled had been sold out by informers. Only those he trusted knew the secret of where they would be heading.
Dash’s fleet made the jump, leaving the other ships to find their own safe haven. Once they settled back into normal space Dash decided they needed a stronger, safer base. They soon found one that accepted them. This time it was a true pirate base, though one which avoided the worst excesses. Dash and his troopers soon earned respect, and over time Dash’s influence grew… as did his forces.
With his forces growing it became increasingly difficult to find targets he was happy with. Dash had started something in motion he could no longer fully control, unless he stuck with it wholeheartedly. His definition of valid targets widened more and more. Eventually almost any target would be considered, though Dash still curbed the worst excesses amongst those he controlled.
As time went on, Dash’s growing power base became a source of worry for those who ran the pirate base. Eventually they decided he had grown too powerful, and they launched an attack to eliminate him. They had badly underestimated not just the discipline of Dash’s forces but also their loyalty. Where they expected most of his forces to stand aside and watch to see who won, they instead found almost everyone who owed allegiance to Dash fighting tooth and nail for him.
The conflict was vicious, bloody and short-lived. In under an hour Dash’s forces prevailed, and those who had planned the attack were dead. Dash found himself the de facto leader of the base, a position he quickly cemented. As the years passed his power increased, as did the loyalty of those who followed him.
And, as always happens, power corrupted. While he tried to stick to his original values he found they eroded more and more over time. Necessity and the image he had to portray forced him to cross line after line, to repeatedly order action after action he would once have balked at.
Throughout it all though he clung to two values. The first was his hatred of what he saw as the corruption in the Empire, the dirty, underhanded things the Empire so often resorted to, such as killing civilians, which were so at odds with what he had signed up to defend. His new position let him learn far more of that side of the Empire than he had ever wished to.
The other value was a determination to avoid fuelling the worst excesses when it came to the treatment of prisoners. Taking prisoners was unavoidable, as was having to sell them on, but whenever possible he ensured they went where they would at least have some quality of life. He hated the sinkholes of human misery like the mining complexes and refused to sell prisoners there if at all possible.
As the years went by more and more of his small core of original troopers were lost. Three actually left on good terms, left to settle down somewhere else and start families. They left with Dash’s blessing, hard as it was to see them go. They were the lucky ones. Others were lost in combat, killed when their ship was destroyed or struck down during boarding operations.
Hotshot died the year after Dash became overall leader of the base. Not in combat, and not in a dogfight. No one could touch her there. She died in a bar room brawl over a spilt drink. Dash had been ready to have her killers dismembered, torn apart. Dozer had talked him down, made him realise how bad that would be for morale. Instead the two culprits were banished. Only Dozer, Dash and a few trusted troopers knew the two were hunted down and executed almost immediately after they left. At Dozer’s insistence they were killed swiftly, though.
Only seven members of the original crew remained. Dash knew all of them well now, considered them all good friends, but none of them came anywhere near to the relationship he and Dozer had. And now Dozer was gone. Dash felt like a knife had been plunged into his heart, and only years of iron clad self-control prevented tears from spilling down his cheeks. He would mourn Dozer soon, in the privacy of his own rooms. Until then he had to maintain the iron mask his men all expected. To do otherwise was to court dissent and disaster.
Part II
Chapter 12
Jess pored over the details of Free Rock, the destination they had chosen, and the system of Serona where it was located. He wanted to understand as much about the system as possible before they arrived. In too many cases he’d been forced into actions by developing situations, often because he didn’t know enough to head things off sooner. He was determined to avoid any repeat of that.
The Serona system was unusual in that it had an inhabitable world, one that humans could live outside on. Serona Four, also known as Nuevo Hogar, was no paradise, but such worlds were rare enough that the rich still flocked to it.
Water was in limited supply. There were large lakes and several inland seas, but most of the planet was dry land. Many large cities were scattered across its landscape, home to the majority of the population. Large areas of parks and forests surrounded the cities, with transport hubs at regular intervals to give the city dwellers access.
The rest of the landscape was divided up amongst super rich individuals and corporations with land reserved for their personal use. Most of the land consisted of parks and forests again, though factories and research labs were rumoured to exist
below ground in some places.
Jess had never set foot on a planet, as far as he knew, anyway. It was possible he had spent time on one but sealed away, labouring at whatever task they needed slaves for. If that had happened, it didn’t really count. Nuevo Hogar called to him. He longed to visit it.
Visiting was out of the question, though. Such an important world was tightly controlled and policed by the Empire. Space not just around it, but around all six of the inner planets, was crawling with Imperial forces and sensors.
The security extended so far out partly to keep Nuevo Hogar safe, but also because the one habitable planet depended heavily on the other inner planets for goods and food. Huge farming stations orbited the second and third worlds out from the sun, basking in the heat. The closest world in, Serona Prime, was a useless hellhole which orbited the sun in days and had a semi-molten surface.
Nuevo Hogar itself was relatively free of stations. Other than those needed to manage the huge flow of visitors, food, and goods, there were only defensive facilities – docks, weapon platforms and the like.
In contrast Serona Five and Six were heavily industrialised and surrounded by a halo of manufacturing stations, along with the support industries such a large number of workers needed – from hospitals to bars to less pleasant, and more illegal, offerings.
With the huge Imperial presence, Jess had been shocked when Elizabeth suggested they visit Serona. Once she explained more about the system, and he’d pulled even more details from the Wanderer, he started to see why it was a good choice.
Heading out from the sun, after Serona Six there were several large asteroid belts. Then, much further out, there were no less than seven gas giants. Most of those had numerous moons, several of which would be called planets had they been orbiting the star. Nuevo Hogar’s insatiable demand for raw materials had led to a huge boom on the outer planets.
Over time, tens of thousands of stations and settlements had been established. With such a large area to cover, Imperial law couldn’t be effectively enforced. The navy ran patrols and stayed alert for anything that could threaten the inner worlds, as well as strictly policing all craft heading in system, but otherwise they left the outer systems alone.
It could have been a recipe for anarchy and chaos, and it probably would have been, but the companies dependent on the outer system’s supplies stepped in to ensure stability. The order they imposed was far more relaxed than the Empire’s, though. As long as supplies continued to turn up on time, and with the minimum of interference, they were satisfied.
The outer worlds flourished and a curious ordered-anarchy developed. While illegal operations thrived, more overt crimes didn’t. Theft, on any scale larger than petty, was quickly crushed. Kidnapping too. Anything that could interfere with profits was quickly stamped on.
This selective enforcement of law led to the outer planets becoming one of the safest places to conduct illegal business. While the risk of being ripped off remained, the chances of being robbed and killed in the area were very low. As the shadow economy boomed the large in-system companies took note, and soon had unofficial stakes in the largest operations.
As Elizabeth said, it was the perfect location for the Wanderer to call at. The huge size of the outer systems, and the mind numbing number of ships that visited, meant they would be lost amongst the crowd, even when involved in shady transactions.
They had settled on Free Rock, a large, hollowed out asteroid in orbit around Serona Nine. It had a permanent population of nearly thirty thousand and nearly as many visitors at any one time.
It was perfect for their needs, but Jess still worried. With so many people around it could be impossible to spot trouble coming. To make matters worse, robots were banned from the station, so they couldn’t take backup with them.
Elizabeth seemed confident. She was used to visiting such places and had already identified a number of locations to start their search. She’d warned them that they couldn’t simply walk in and start asking about false documentation. She would need to be subtle.
With a sigh Jess forced his attention back to the mountain of information, determined to be prepared.
* * *
“No, Jess. Not you,” Elizabeth said firmly.
Jess stared at her in surprise for a few moments. He'd been sure he was going with Elizabeth. Finally, he replied.
“What? But I thought we’d do the same mother and son act. It worked well before.”
“Yes, it did, but we don’t need it here. I have to go, obviously, and I want one of you with me, but there’s no reason it has to be you. I want to take Sal.”
“What?” Sal asked. Differing emotions ran across her face… shock, excitement, fear and more.
“I want you to come with me,” Elizabeth said. “You’ve been shut up on the ship for too long.”
“I… I guess I’d like that. But Ali has been stuck on the ship for as long.”
“I know. Jess can take her off later, for a quiet dinner somewhere or something. So long as they don’t go far from the ship.”
Jess’s heart beat a little faster at the idea. Ali’s face lit up too.
“Then I’ll go.”
Sal still sounded nervous but Jess was pleased to see the spark of excitement in her eyes. Elizabeth was right, it would be good for Sal.
Chapter 13
Sal’s heart was hammering as she stepped out of the Wanderer’s airlock beside Elizabeth. The sides and roof of the short docking corridor they stood in were clear. Looking back she could see the bulk of the Wanderer, and catch glimpses of other docked ships.
Then they were cycling through a large airlock at the other end of the corridor. It opened onto a scene that stopped Sal in her tracks. There was a large corridor, running left to right, which was packed with people chaotically jostling each other.
“Come on,” Elizabeth said, pulling on Sal’s arm. “It will ease off once we get away from the docking bays. Stay close.”
Still holding Sal’s arm she plunged into the crowd, pulling Sal after her. Sal struggled to stay close and cope with the situation.
It wasn’t the number of people packed in together, as a slave she had experienced far worse overcrowding at times. What she struggled with was the fact that every single person seemed to have their own agenda. Slaves were generally given orders as a group. When slaves were packed in tightly they would normally all have the same instructions. There would be an order to the movement, a rhythm almost. It was possible to get into that rhythm and let it carry you through the tasks. That was impossible with this crowd.
After several minutes of forcing their way past strangers, Sal was greatly regretting having agreed to go with Elizabeth. Then they turned into a connecting corridor and everything changed. While still very busy, the new corridor lacked the chaotic crush of the first. It was possible to walk without having to constantly contend with people trying to travel through the same space in a different direction. Sal let out a deep sigh of relief.
“You OK?” Elizabeth asked, grinning. “It’s always like that on these big stations. Near the docks they have to keep the number and size of the corridors down. They always underestimate how many people will be using those corridors, so you get a crush like that. Most of the station won’t be so bad, though market areas may be worse.”
“Will it be the same when we go back?”
“Yeah, afraid so. Stations like this always are. Right. First things first. We need some money. That’ll do.”
She set off towards a small shop with heavily barred windows. Two men stood outside, either side of the door. One was a walking mountain of muscle, with tattoos covering almost all of his visible body. A deterrent for trouble.
Yet it was the other that Sal thought was truly dangerous. Much shorter than his companion, and significantly older, this man had no tattoos and was dressed in smart clothes. His eyes were in constant motion, intently watching the crowd that milled past the door. His right hand didn’t stray more than a fe
w inches from his right suit pocket, where Sal could clearly see a large bulge. Where the heavy would wade into trouble with his fists, or other short range weapons, Sal was sure the suited man would stand back and let his gun do the talking.
A cold chill ran down her spine as the suited man looked at her. Elizabeth just nodded and stepped past. Sal’s steps faltered. She came to a halt just before she reached the two men.
The heavy just looked at her, a sneer on his face. The suited man smiled and gestured for her to continue.
“Please, don’t mind us,” he said. “I’m sure you aren’t here to rob the shop, are you?”
“No… no! Of course not!”
“Then go right on in.”
He gestured for her to go in once more. Sal scuttled past. She heard a snigger from the heavy and her face started to flush.
“Really? Is that what you get off on?” she heard the suited man ask. “Scaring nervous women? That’s the sign of a big, tough man isn’t it?”
The door closed behind her, cutting off the rest of the conversation, but she felt a little better. She still felt the man in the suit would be an extremely dangerous adversary, but he no longer seemed so cold.
Putting them out of her mind, Sal looked around the shop, though shop wasn’t the word she would have used. It reminded her far more of a prison cell. The room was small, only three metres to a side, and completely empty. The far wall had a heavily grilled window, and what looked like an opening to the side. Elizabeth approached the window and started to speak.
“I want to change some gold into dollars.”
She took a small bar of gold from her bag.
“Put it in the hatch.”
The man on the other side sounded bored. Sal couldn’t tell much about him. It seemed to be harder to make out his face than the bars alone could account for. Elizabeth opened the hatch to the side of the window then closed it up. Something whirred away inside.
Wanderer's Odyssey - Books 1 to 3: The Epic Space Opera Series Begins Page 32