Chapter 8: In the Still of the Night
They had driven far out into the county. They had traveled to a part of Trena’s North Continent that had never been developed.
“You said a thousand crowns?” the man asked of the pilot as he walked up the landing craft’s lowered cargo ramp. The landing It craft was a surplus militia landing craft. It suited the needs the smuggler. He often took jobs that his clients didn’t want the crown or others to know about. The stealth system had been removed from the bird when the militia had sold it. Civilian landing craft were not allowed to have military weapon systems on board. He had thought about leaving it off but after a bit of work he had found a stealth system on the black market. If he was stopped and they found he had replaced the stealth system he would be sent to the Galactic Council’s prison world. Although Dungeon was the worse place one could be sentenced to, he needed the stealth so he could remain invisible to the Crown’s air and space surveillance system. It was worth the risk for the lucrative black and gray markets that provided his income. It wasn’t star flight capable but it had the legs to get to outer system He had gotten a message the day before that his services were needed to pick up a package that couldn’t go through the space stations or the ports. where an Agloris flagged freighter was waiting for him to pick up some passengers that couldn’t go through immigration. He didn’t want to dead head out to the Free Hold registered freighter that had his packages.He thought there was no reason to dead head out. So he had let it be known that he might be able to get some people off world if they had the right money. He didn’t care who they were as long as they had cash.
He was waiting for his last passengers to arrive before he left for the outer system.
They had driven far out into the countryside to a part of Trena’s North Continent that had never been developed to meet with a pilot who a friend of his said could get them off world without the authorities being the wiser for a price.
After ensuring that the other was who they said they were, the male of the couple asked, “You said a thousand crowns?”
“That’s right,” the pilot said, “A thousand crowns per head.”
“Okay,” Lord Hawthorne said, he noddeding to the young woman who accompanied himhis secretary, and said continued, “Just two of us. Here is the money. You did say cash right?”
“Portraits of Dead Monarch’s are the only way to do business.” The pilot replied accepting the cash. With that the lord and his companion walked up to ramp of the landing craft. When he lifted off, his LC 8, a mid size landing craft, it was at its max capacity. He had nearly 200 souls aboard.
It took almost thirteen hours to reach the Kindred Spirit, a medium size passenger liner. It wouldn’t go into the inner system or dock at one of the space stations. It wasn’t a very reputable liner. It was not exactly welcomed at the Trena space stations. They owed several thousand mounits, in docking fees and such. If they docked at even the smaller station about McKay their vessel would impounded and the crew arrested. The Trenan authorities took a dim view of not paying docking fees. When he got to the Kindred Spirit the captain was a little upset.
“I don’t believe anyone said you could bring any one up to us!” the captain bellowed. “You were told to rendezvous with us to pick up a package and take it to Trena without anyone being the wiser!”
“Captain,” the pilot retorted, “I only make money when I have cargo to fly. I wasn’t about to dead out here! All of them paid a thousand crowns apiece for me to bring them to you. I am offering you one hundred thousand crowns to take these people to some place other than Trena! What’s your next port of call?”
“Lashkey,” The captain answered.
The young pilot shuddered. Lashkey, was a very primitive world, having just been terraformed was now ready for colonization. It was harsh, and barely livable. It killed several thousand people each year and there was no restriction on who they would allow to be colonist. The world was livable, but a colonist had to work at surviving.
The captain smiled as he said, “they’ll be unhappy but I’ll get a bounty for every soul I bring them. Bring them on.”Between the people he took to the freighter and the people he was bringing back he made nearly a million crowns.
“Okay sir,” The pilot nodded and gave the captain his cut of the money he had gotten from his passengers. His conscience didn’t even hiccup as he realized that the money collected from his passengers was ten times what a charter service charged for the simple transit he had just made. A few days later after he had returned to Trena, the Crown pulled his license, and confiscated his landing craft. Later hhis body was founde. was found dead. The passengers that the pilot had taken to the Trena made sure that not only that the pilot would not share the details of his last trip; but no one from the Kindred Spirit ever made it to Lashkey, the ship blew up as it activated its faster than light drive.
The wealthy, the well do to and others who could arrange, it started to leave Trena clandestinely. Many simply left quietly, making no dramatic statements. Some literally folded their tent in the middle of the night, and got into personally owned small spacecraft that would get them off world into orbit. Some went to McKay Trena’s only moon. While others went to the many off world settlements scattered around the Trena Star System. Others Like Lord Hawthornee some had met an enterprising pilot in a deserted parking lot or a small clearing in Trena’s largely undeveloped forests and plains and smuggled off world,. They would be smuggled off worldplanet as informally as smuggling operations had been since the beginning of time. The crown and the militia were in a tough situation. Trena Trena’s Space Control system was very good. The wealth of the Kingdom had allowed them Trena to buy and build the best traffic control elements from Thonia and Earth. It was so good that the ministry of transportation often bragged that birdsthe waterfowl migrating between summer and winter habitats checked in with Trena Space Control along their routes. The crown could shut the outgoing traffic down quickly and efficiently if had to. A Militia Space Air Superiority fighter could bounce a landing craft or shuttle with little sweat. The civilian shuttles and landing craft were unarmed and would offer no resistance. The Militia, and the Crown were hesitant to take action, not certain who was on the ships, o. r how the people on the shuttles and landing craft would respond to being challenged. The crown y didn’t need the controversy of killing a landing craft full of children. Many of the people being flown or flying the landing craft took their families with them. Some just took what they could out of their family accounts, or business’ treasuries, collected their spouses and family and left the world of their birth or as in the case of Lord Hawthorne had collected his lover and left; leaving their family behind to deal with things as best they could as had Lord Hawthorne.
Every Last Mother's Child Page 19