The Warlord's Path

by Michael Kotcher

  There really wasn’t much here; there were only three planets, one was extremely close and nearly molten rock, one had a very long orbit, a frozen rock barely maintaining orbit around the star, and then the third, habitable planet was on the far edge of the golden zone. On Gamma Sheyn, the locals did grow fruits and vegetables, raise livestock and the hops they produced on their farms made for a mighty fine beer. Independent ships made their way here several times per year to try and get some, even races who couldn’t metabolize the stuff understood its value.

  Citizen First Halsey had been pleased when he arrived over the planet to find the local space empty, but his pleasure quickly transformed to curses as other ships were detected on a different vector. The planet’s bulk had blocked his ships’ view of the incoming vessels.

  “Open a channel!” Halsey demanded. His ship, the light freighter Dreyvis, was among the smallest in the fleet and only carried a crew of ten. It was large enough to warrant a dedicated communications watch, and the young woman sitting at that console opened a channel to the incoming interlopers. She nodded an affirmative.

  “This is Citizen First Duane Halsey on board the Dreyvis. You are encroaching upon territory claimed by the Committee of Public Safety. Withdraw and you will not be marked for death.” He pressed a control to end the call. The other ships were a little over a light minute away, and he had no desire to sit on an active channel for so long, waiting like some provincial rube. They could call him back!

  Ninety seconds later, the response came back. The display showed the hideous visage of a mauve-carapaced zheen in all of his disgusting splendor. His mandibles and mouthparts clacked and writhed, making Halsey’s skin crawl.

  “Worm! You fleshy tube grub! You dare to try to claim a planet under the sovereignty of Baron Death!” The zheen was outraged, its voice screeching over the comm channel. “You are exceptionally lucky that the Baron himself is not here. But I will make sure that you bleed for your insolence!” The message ended.

  Halsey let out a growl that almost turned to a roar. The three other members of the bridge crew flinched, but no one disputed his sentiment. “Signal the Kaeli, tell them to power their weapons and shields. We will teach that-that… cockroach… what happens when you dare to defy the Committee!” He ground his teeth so hard there was a danger they might crack. The Chairman of the Committee of Public Safety himself had sent Halsey out here on this procurement mission, and he would be stars damned if some… bug… was going to try and get the cargo first.

  The four ships moved toward one another, closing the gap. Halsey’s two mismatched light freighters were up against two ships from Baron Death: a bigger medium-sized freighter, a tractor pulling a string of four containers, escorted by a small cutter. All things considered, the two sides were evenly managed.

  Halsey bared his teeth in anticipation. “We smash those two ships, then we head down to the planet and celebrate. They will not stand against our superior moral fortitude!” The bridge crew cheered in excitement.

  The four ships rushed right at one another, laser fire and metal railgun slugs lancing out at one another. The shots crashed against shields as the vessels maneuvered for position, both sides throwing everything they had against the other.

  ((--[][]--))

  The star system of Amethyst had changed in recent years; business was booming. The traffic arriving here had doubled in the last two years, a happy feat in Most of the ships coming in were freighters from other worlds under the command or protection of Lord Verrikoth. A ship from Trullium, his heaviest populated world and on the far edge of Verrikoth-controlled space had just arrived in system, bearing holds full of items to trade and sell. It had made a run of nearly forty light years to get here, past nine star systems, stopping in six of them for resupply, trades, and liberty for the crews. Few other ships had traveled anywhere near as far; most were from star systems much closer; the four-star systems of the Sphinx Quartet and even two light freighters from Ulla-tran. That last one wasn’t part of Verrikoth’s sovereignty, but no one cared about that. Amethyst was a free trade port, and with its massive ice rings, there were always tourists and prospectors coming in looking to make money.

  Primary Yokusk, leader and commander of Hyperidon Station, watched the sensor feeds with a passing interest while he went over some reports. The expansion project was moving a bit more behind schedule than he would have liked. He hadn’t had the time or opportunity to consult the Warlord about this, but he didn’t believe that Verrikoth would have any problem with him making the station, really the only habitable piece of real estate in the system, bigger and more impressive. Six new modules, each holding a dozen compartments were planned, the first was being attached to the living spaces and two similarly-sized modules to the cargo areas. Right now there were EVA suited crewmen and bots out on the hull, riveting and welding the new modules to the hull. It would be several months before the last of them would be connected to the station and then have power and environmental linkages run.

  Yokusk had worked well with the Warlord in his frequent visits to the station over the years. He could tell the level of the Warlord’s prosperity by the type of ship Verrikoth arrived in. First, it was that cutter of his, the Ysleth, then various armed freighters, a corvette, then that light cruiser of his, the Ganges. Two months earlier, the zheen had arrived in his new flagship, the Nemesis. Things were certainly looking up, especially considering the hold full of new electronics he’d brought with him and sold to a few of the merchant skippers leaving for faraway lands.

  Which was why Yokusk had little concern that Verrikoth would be angry with his spending a large portion of the station’s profits and discretionary budget for this upgrade. In addition to the new compartment modules, forty-eight new solar panels were to be connected to all those new sections of the station. The solar power collected would only cover perhaps four or five percent of the total power consumption, but every little bit helped.

  He noticed a flashing icon on his display, selected it, and the display changed pulling in on an icon for an incoming corvette which was emblazoned with a crimson firebird. It took only a few moments for the ship to be identified as the Red Talon, a ship attached to the Bloody Hawks pirate gang. Yokusk pressed a control, and a communications channel opened.

  “Red Talon, this is Hyperidon Station Control, Primary Yokusk on the line. What brings you to Amethyst?”

  A moment later, a video display opened, showing the ugly visage of a human male. His face was so chiseled and square he could have passed for a Secaaran. “This is Red Talon, inbound from Bimawae. I have a load of swag to sell and a few sapients for auction.”

  Yokusk gave a mental nod, though the signal only went one way, so he knew Red Talon’s captain couldn’t see him. “Very well. What aside from sapients are you bringing in?”

  “Got a crate of jewel-grade gemstones, gold dust, four three hundred liter barrels of sweet crude oil, and a large container of coffee.”

  “How large a container of coffee? And what kind?” Yokusk asked, trying to keep too much of the eagerness out of his voice.

  “Fifty kilos worth,” the man answered. “And it’s a darker variety. Darbassa beans.”

  “Excellent,” he replied. “Sounds as though we can do business. Stay clear of the construction work; docking port Czerka-three is open for you. Standard fees for docking, tankage, and replenishment apply.”

  The man nodded. “Once my cargo sells, I’ll have plenty for you, but I’ll pay the docking fees for four days now.” He looked to the side, then a few seconds later, Yokusk showed a funds transfer of 400 credits to one of the station’s operating accounts.

  “That will be fine. Remember the rules, no killing, and no solving grudges on my station, unless it’s at one of the gambling establishments.” He delivered the last in a bored, almost disinterested tone. “Enjoy your time here at Hyperidon Station. May your time be profitable.” He ended the call and went back to his other screens, which showed four more ships
coming in. “Hmm. Baron Death and the Committee for Public Safety are sending ships here?” He saw that all four ships were quite battered, each group coming in on different vectors from the other, all of the ships looking as though they had been through a battle. They were, he noted with some amusement, still flying. He checked a secondary display and found his curiosity confirmed.

  A vessel from yet another pirate group was already docked, with the rather pompous-sounding title of the Argos Liberation Front. The ship was a well-worn frigate, whose original registry indicated it was built over in the Cavalon Yards over in the Cavaleri Star System and it was a former system defense vessel. Fidelity, such a strange name for a ship whose crew mutinied, stole the warship, smashed a good deal of infrastructure in its home system and then departed for greener pastures.

  Primary Yokusk considered this occurrence. It took all of ten seconds for him to make a decision and then he shot a message over to the dispatch cutter Devonii. She was a new addition to the system flotilla, outfitted with all the best in captured, reverse engineered and replicated Republic tech. She wasn’t terribly well-armed, but she was fast. Her best hyperspeed was at the top of the Blue of the hyperspace rainbow, and she could make the jump from Amethyst to Tyseus in just under eleven days. The perfect ship to send messages.

  “I need you to depart for Tyseus,” Yokusk said, speaking to the commander of the small craft. With only a crew of three, it would be a simple matter of rounding them all up. “I have a message for the Warlord, about all the pirate ships showing up here.”

  Chapter 1

  The fleet was growing, not perhaps as swiftly as he would have liked, but Tyseus had just produced its third corvette in two months, and now the zheen warlord was working to integrate this ship into his growing fleet. Finding crews was a bit more of a problem, especially here in Tyseus, as the only people here were his and they were otherwise employed aboard the shipyard, the fueling station and aboard the other ships. They had their specific jobs, and he couldn’t pull them off. He’d sent Sessilan and Circe out on recruiting runs over to Doldrums and Carridosia, both of whom had large populations. Both worlds were industrialized, though not to the level of a space-faring civilization. They were barely above the coal, oil and steam levels, but they were learning. And they contributed a good fraction of raw materials and foodstuffs to the other worlds under his control.

  One of his other ships, another medium freighter named the Stigandr, was out as well, though this one was not within Argos any longer. No, Stigandr was a ship he’d sent out from his domain before he’d launched his assault on Byra-kae, more than a year earlier. She was a tribute ship, or rather, one of several that he’d sent out to the Republic in recent years, sending goods and valuables to Admiral Tandred, in accordance with their long-standing arrangement. But Stigandr was out for more than just dropping off a cut for the Admiral, no, this time Verrikoth had decided to go for broke make a request of the good Republic officer; this time he wanted warships.

  Oh, it wasn’t as though he was naïve enough to think that Tandred would load up several top of the line cruisers and send them out this way, but even retired ships sitting in salvage dumps and ghost yards would work. Out here in Argos, even an old Republic corvette was more than a match for many of the space defense forces in the Cluster. And Verrikoth had sent a request and the payment for several, anything he could get really.

  Tyseus was a little bare of larger ships at the moment as Verrikoth had sent out the Ganges to Bimawae to pick up the alien tug that had been captured by Toroj. Gokon had done well, securing that piece of alien tech from the corvette. Perhaps it is time he moves up to bigger responsibilities, Verrikoth mused. They wouldn’t be back for a month or so, but he was in no real hurry. Oh, having the tug brought in so that the engineers and specialist could examine it was certainly exciting. And the possibility of reverse engineering that gravity manipulation tech was enough to turn every tide; he would be undisputed ruler of Argos if he had that. Kzzt, the Republic and the Federation wouldn’t be able to stand up to my ships if we could control that tech. He found himself in the strange position of having to thank these faceless aliens for their innovations.

  He waggled his antennae, to banish such thoughts. Worry about what to do with that tech once it arrives. He turned back to the status updates. Nemesis had exited from the maintenance dock only a week previous and with all of the proposed updates with Republic tech implemented. Better power systems, a complete overhaul of the ship’s main computer, and a swap out and upgrade on the heavy cruiser’s secondary weapons. Commander Tyler had taken the ship out to the local rings around the gas giant for some high-speed runs and gunnery tests; everything was running smoothly after a few wrinkles were quickly ironed out.

  Oh, if we’d only had this ship and her current upgrades when we fought that blasted Republic heavy cruiser back at Byra-Kae. Things would have turned out a great deal different.

  It was probably time, past time really, to make the rounds through the star systems under his control. Oh, freighters were moving between the various systems, so it wasn’t as though no news was passing throughout his territory, but he’d been absent from the southern area for quite some months now. Nemesis could reach into the mid-blue levels of the hyperspace rainbow so it would only be a matter of a few months to cross through all of the systems under his control, rather than just less than two years as it would have before.

  Verrikoth pulled up a chart of the star systems in this section of the Argos Cluster. He saw the crescent of his territory laid out like a string of beads or pearls. It was shaped much like a fishhook with Tyseus at the northern, shorter hook end sweeping around through the Red Sphinx Quartet then around to Hecate, Cetetia, Trullium and finally Z’han’zk on the far end to the south. He chittered to himself in amusement.

  I could make a Grand Progress of the whole thing. Nemesis, two of the corvettes and escort a freighter or two. Get in touch with the planetary governors, check out and tweak the industries and certainly remind all of them who rules these stars. And if we protect a few shipments, make some money for the local businesses in the process… He buzzed in contentment and began plotting a preliminary course and started notes on logistics and supplies for such a trip.

  His comm panel buzzed. He pressed the control with one blunt finger. “Yesss?”

  “My Lord, forgive the interruption, but a dispatch cutter has just arrived from Amethyst. It’s the Devonii. They say that have an urgent message for you from Primary Yokusk.” The comms officer sounded a bit hesitant, but he didn’t waver in his delivery of the message.

  “Very well,” the zheen replied. “Ssend word to Commander Tyler. Tell him I wish to ssee him in my quarterz.”

  “Of course, my Lord,” the officer said and the channel closed.

  A few minutes later, the door chime sounded. “Enter,” he called.

  The door to the day cabin irised open, and the flag captain stepped through. Jensen Tyler was not a man who inspired fear with his presence. Competence, perhaps, self-confidence, surely. As the flag commander, both were expected. But humans in general and Tyler in particular were soft, fleshy creatures. The man had proven his worth during fights in Ulla-tran, Byra-Kae and finally in Seylonique, a cool-headed professional who could fight his ship. First Ganges and later Nemesis came through those battles relatively intact, and for that fact alone Verrikoth was willing to keep him on. Humans, besides, could harness their internal demons and vent that fury on their enemies, an attribute that Verrikoth himself prized.

  Tyler stood to attention, his bald pate shining in the light from the overhead. His uniform, the bright red with black piping and gold epaulets, was pristine, and he carried his hat under his arm. Verrikoth had adopted the uniform recently, but so far only senior officers, ships captains and important officials were required to wear it. Ground pounders and boarding parties only needed to wear a red tunic, or even a red badge or paint on their armor.

  “You wished to see me, my Lord
?”

  “Yess, Commander. It sseemz Primary Yokussk in Amethysst haz decided to ssend me a message.” Verrikoth gestured with one hand, and the Commander relaxed his posture, coming over to sit in the chair on the far side of the Warlord’s desk. Verrikoth pressed a control and a holo activated.

  The image of several different ships parceled together, all appeared in the air above the holo projector. The Primary’s voice sounded from the projector’s speakers. “My Lord, this is Primary Yokusk on Hyperidon station. Up until today, things have been going smoothly. I have a refit underway to the primary habitation section, which should be completed and ready to move in within six weeks. Once completed, we will start work on an extension to the cargo docks. I’ve appended a report detailing the plans and the progress for the station upgrades.”

  He went on. “While interesting and certainly important, upgrades to Hyperidon are certainly not the reason I sent Devonii to you with all speed. No. The reason is that three separate pirate groups have arrived at the station within the last week. We’ve been able to identify their groupings, and while their numbers are few, the fact that so many have arrived has me concerned. Ships from Baron Death, Argos Liberation Front and the Committee for Public Safety. Five ships in total, only the one from the Front is a proper warship: a frigate, but all of the ships are armed. Kopesh and Gr’kenth are of course, still on station,” he stated, referring to the destroyer and corvette dedicated to Amethyst’s defense, “But I am not sure that their firepower will be enough. Gr’kenth has been due for a maintenance overhaul to her shield grid for over a month and Kipris and I agreed to wait on it. I’m glad we did at this point, as the corvette would be down for maintenance when the pirate groups showed up.”