Yan nodded and ran off quickly.
Voras moved to answer his device. “Voras. What’s the problem?”
Voras listened to the caller. He knew all the safe passwords and codes, and seemed to be a strong, persuasive man, offering all kinds of deals for this “job” to be completed.
With a smile, Voras accepted the payment. He paused to see the credits transfer over, and then he returned to the caller to finally confirm the arrangement.
It seemed that the gathering of gangs, tonight, might be more beneficial to him than just tracking this shipment. Now they could actually organize and plot a real attack on the W3C, the new job much more important. He laughed to himself. Voras had no idea who he was helping put this together and with any luck, neither would the W3C.
Bringing up the images where he’d meet the others, Voras made a few more calls. They might need more backing than the other two smaller gangs. The truth of the matter was, with all the work and workers turning to the W3C, they were fast running out of labor for their own jobs. Hopefully, if they completed this job, it might turn the tide.
Several minutes later, he had another three gangs aligned with him. Payments had been made and he arranged to meet them earlier than the others. He wanted them armed and weapons ready so when they were called upon, they would answer his call right away. The Faceless Ones and the Pistol Monkeys already had enough to back them, but the others would need full kits. That meant they had to come in here first and get kitted out.
It might be tricky to move that amount of people around for a few days while the W3C were watching, but with some of the underground tunnels and ducts, there were places they’d managed to sneak through. Even sneak onto the W3C grounds, well ahead of any of their guards noticing.
Voras finally pushed himself up. He needed to arm himself before anyone arrived on his land.
Chapter Fifty-One
Refining Station Seventy-Seven
Oort Cloud, Osdal System
5/3556
Johnny Walker was an old man now. He had multiple treatments to keep him young but time inevitably marched onward.
He’d crossed the one hundred year mark a long time ago and was looking toward two hundred now. He wasn’t sure he would be able to make it.
He looked out over his station.
This was where it had all begun for him. He remembered when he made a deal with who he had thought were just a bunch of new miners, but had turned out to be an undercover group of troopers gathering information on Osdal and plotting to remove the Harmony cancer that plagued the system.
He remembered it as if it were yesterday. It was hard to forget those days. With Harmony destroyed and no corporations, the Osdal system had been largely left to fend for themselves.
The people banded together, from those on Osdal to the miners in the belts, refining and processing stations. The processing stations were turned into homes and greenhouses to create more food; the ground was also transformed as people looked to grow items there and build parts needed by those in space.
The miners kept bringing in materials, readying them for the big sale with the Victor Corporation that was still decades away.
There was also a freighter headed toward them, filled with corporation executives and their security guards, or bullies who would suppress them again.
Johnny Walker had gone from controlling one station to three stations. He knew that this wouldn’t be rewarded by the corporation types, but rather they would tear away his control. His only hope was that with the Victor Corporation providing shipping for them, they could pay off the security people and take the system.
His eyes looked at the screen in his room that showed the entire Osdal system. On the outside of the system, there was a small icon, drifting with the stellar winds—the EMFC Avenger. After the Harmony Forces were defeated in Osdal, the EMFC had been left behind to stabilize the situation. Once everyone was settled, the EMFC left the system, with all of its personnel going into cryo.
If called upon, they would wake up again. Johnny didn’t know what would happen if they were ordered to assert control over the Osdal system.
He looked at that icon. All of his plans were held together by a thread. He looked at the icon for the EMFC Avenger when something else started to appear—a new icon.
“What the hell is that?” Johnny sent commands to the different long-range sensor arrays. His eyes went wide as a new picture came back at him.
A massive freighter seemed to have come out of nowhere, moving to intercept the EMFC Avenger.
The freighter wasn’t trying to hide at all and was still some time away from the carrier.
Johnny was about to send a message to the miner’s council when the freighter’s identification codes came across.
“Victor Corporation Freighter Fernix. But that’s not supposed to show up for another few decades.” Johnny looked at the freighter. There was something different compared to other freighters: this one had two rings, one at the front and the rear of the craft.
His mind moved to the craft that the Union were using, the rings that people were interested in. “Alcubierre drive? How the hell did they get that?” Johnny said aloud. He paused for a moment before turning to the controls on his table. He started punching in communication codes, sending the information to the miner’s council. If this was the Victor Corporation freighter, then it meant that the Yard still wanted to trade with them. It also meant that they had faster-than-light capable ships. Johnny didn’t know what kind of impact this would have.
Though, if they were contacting the EMFC Avenger, it would be waking up soon. If that happened, Osdal needed to be ready if they attacked the system.
“I thought I’d have a bit of peace for a few more years at least. Should’ve kept my big mouth closed,” Johnny complained darkly.
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From the Authors
Michael Chatfield
You can check out my other books, what I’m working on, and upcoming releases through the following means:
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Dawn Chapman
Dawn Chapman has been creating sci-fi and fantasy stories for thirty years. Until 2005 when her life and attention turned to scripts, and she started work on The Secret King, a 13-episode Sci-Fi TV series, with a great passion for this medium.
In 2015, Dawn returned to her first love of prose where she revelled in the world of The Secret King, Letháo and First Contact, as an epic prose space journey over three generations.
This year her experience of working with others expanded. From Drama, Sci-Fi, Action, to LitRPG/Gamelit. Dawn’s built a portfolio of writing, consulting and publishing.
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An Empire is Born (Maraukian War Book 3) Page 23