The Liberator‘s comms had been tuned to the distant output from Belzanko for hours. There were a few minutes’ delay between broadcast and what the crew heard, but there was plenty of news being broadcast on the planet. Avon’s program had begun selling shares before they were out of orbit. As computers sold bulk quantities from certain companies, other computers picked up the sudden sales. When a trigger point of sales was reached, they automatically began selling the same shares. Prices tumbled as shares were dumped in massive numbers. The money men panicked at the sudden losses in value, and followed where the computers led. As prices slumped into a sudden, sharp decline, the financial markets on Belzanko crashed.
Journalists were onto the story almost immediately. Some, sympathisers with the rebels, had been primed by Allston to look into the ownership of Belspin and certain other companies. Belzanko’s computer networks were full of details of the shareholders in major companies who were affected, and President Greerson’s name came up frequently, along with several of his allies. Greerson’s financial dealings were swiftly becoming public knowledge.
Gan shook his head. ‘I don’t understand how this works. Someone starts selling so they all start selling? It doesn’t make sense.’
‘It’s classic crowd behaviour,’ Avon said disdainfully. His gaze fell on Blake briefly. ‘They think someone is leading, so they follow without knowing what their leader’s real motives are. They are content to let someone else do their thinking for them.’
Blake looked up at him, half-amused. ‘Whereas individuals like you always do their own thinking?’
‘Naturally.’ Avon smiled.
‘The point is that it’s working,’ Cally said. ‘The media’s been all over Greerson and he hasn’t been able to silence them.’
‘He’s issued a denial of any wrongdoing,’ Gan pointed out.
Jenna laughed. ‘That’s as good as an admission of guilt, coming from a politician.’
‘More importantly,’ Blake said, leaning forward. ‘He can’t afford to silence the news any more. They all know that he hasn’t got the money to pay them, and that his position is very weak.’ His eyes were bright with triumph. ‘He doesn’t scare them any more.’
Cally had been listening to the broadcasts, rather than the conversation. ‘Two of his senators have resigned, and the senator for health has just condemned Greerson publicly.’
‘Hoping to save his own neck,’ Vila guessed. He took a sip from a glass of pink, syrupy liquid and sighed in satisfaction.
… have called for President Greerson to be arrested on charges of corruption. There has been no official reply from the President, but Senator Jasson has just demanded a no-confidence vote. Reports from Government House indicate fierce debate during this emergency session.
The Liberator crew listened to the report attentively. Events on Belzanko were moving fast and it seemed clear that President Greerson’s control was crumbling.
‘This is what happens when dictators hit trouble,’ Blake said with satisfaction. ‘The more you oppress people, the faster they rise up as soon as they have a chance.’
‘And we helped give them that chance,’ Cally said, looking at him.
‘It’s still only a chance, though,’ Avon remarked. He straightened up and folded his arms. ‘Nature abhors a vacuum. When one dictator leaves a space, you often find another dictator rushing to fill it.’
Cally twisted around to look up at him. ‘Allston’s ready to move in.’
Avon just shrugged. ‘And I’m sure he’ll be fine.’ He sounded utterly uninterested. ‘There’s no point in us going back and supporting him.’
Gan looked at Blake. ‘It’s very chaotic down there. Do you think there will be real change, or will some other tyrant seize power?’
‘It’s up to the rebels.’ Avon answered him first. ‘We’ve given them a chance.’
Vila nodded. ‘We’ve done our best. I mean, there’s only six of us after all. I’d like to help out, you know I would, but there’s only so much we can do.’
‘Very little indeed, if you’re the one doing it,’ sniped Avon.
Blake looked thoughtful. ‘I promised to help the rebellion on Belzanko.’
‘Which we have,’ Avon pointed out.
‘But as Gan says, there’s no point in just swapping one dictator for another,’ Blake continued. ‘It’s not just the future of Belzanko that’s at stake. We need to achieve a clean victory here so we can gain the trust of rebel groups on other planets.’ His head lifted as he spoke with increasing emphasis and certainty. ‘Our goal is to bring down the Federation and this is the first step. We have to get it right.’
‘So you want to go back to Belzanko then?’ Jenna asked, her expression reserved.
‘Yes.’ Blake’s answer was decisive.
‘But what can we do?’ Vila gestured vaguely with the hand that was holding his luridly-coloured drink.
‘That depends on the situation when we get there,’ Blake told him, standing up briskly. He turned to face Zen. ‘Zen, take us back to Belzanko, speed Standard by four.’
‘CONFIRMED.’ Lights flashed on Zen’s mottled fascia as the computer silently issued commands to the navigation computers.
There was a momentary gleam of triumph on Avon’s face. It vanished so fast that Jenna half-wondered if she’d imagined it.
‘Call me when you know what it is we’re going to do for the good people of Belzanko,’ Avon said, turning away.
Jenna watched thoughtfully as he left the flight deck.
*
As the Liberator approached Belzanko, Jenna was waiting impatiently outside the door to Avon’s quarters. When he opened it, Jenna walked straight in without waiting for an invitation. Avon backed up a couple of spaces and looked at her with an expression of mild curiosity. He’d found a new tunic to wear, in dark blue-grey with exaggerated shoulders edged with a broad, paler stripes. It made him physically more imposing, and the geometric design suited his angular personality.
Jenna registered the new clothes with one glance, then stared him straight in the eyes.
‘Congratulations,’ she said dryly.
‘On choosing some new clothes?’ Avon enquired.
Jenna shook her head. ‘On the way you manipulated Blake into going back to the planet.’
Avon studied her for a moment, then broke into a smile. ‘Why would I have done that?’ he asked, raising his right hand slightly to point in her direction.
Jenna folded her arms as she faced him. ‘You like money,’ she stated. ‘You got caught trying to embezzle millions of credits from the Federation banking system. You’ve just been interfering with Belzanko’s financial system. I can’t believe you did that without creating the opportunity to make some money for yourself. You need Blake to return so you can get at that money because you can’t establish a secure and discreet link from this far out in the system.’
‘People have lost fortunes on Belzanko,’ Avon pointed out. ‘They have not been making them.’
‘Someone who’s clever with money and computers, and knew that the crash was coming, could have made money somehow,’ Jenna insisted.
‘Why, I’m pleased to know you think so highly of my skills, if not my morals.’ Avon’s eyes sparkled with wicked humour.
‘You’re a self-confessed criminal, Avon. I’ve never had any doubts about your morals.’
‘So says the convicted smuggler.’
Jenna refused to look abashed. ‘So you don’t deny that you’ve made money on this?’
‘The Liberator has a strong room with millions of credits worth of various currencies,’ Avon pointed out. ‘Why would I wish to acquire more?’
‘Because it would be your money alone,’ Jenna answered promptly. ‘No-one else would know you had it, or how much you had. It would give you the freedom to leave Blake any time you wanted without the humiliation of having to ask him for a share of the Liberator‘s money, or the trouble of stealing it, and being chased by Blake as well as
the Federation.’
Avon smiled. ‘From your prompt answer, I suspect that you have thought about the consequences of taking money from the Liberator, yourself.’
Jenna looked him in the eyes. ‘Don’t change the subject. You exploited the situation on Belzanko to make a fortune for yourself, didn’t you?’
Avon shrugged. ‘I kept my word. I helped Allston and exposed Greerson for what he is. Why not take a reward? I’m not taking money from the resistance.’
‘I don’t think Blake will like it. He’ll probably insist that the money goes to help the rebellion.’
‘Blake doesn’t need to know.’
‘And what will you do with the money?’ Jenna asked, confronting him directly. ‘Is there enough for you to leave and set up somewhere on your own?’
Avon’s expression remained carefully neutral. ‘I don’t know how much there is.’
Jenna studied him a moment, then lifted her chin as she spoke. ‘I think I should tell Blake about this.’ She turned towards the door.
‘Blake doesn’t need to know,’ Avon repeated, following her. ‘I’m sure we could come to some mutually agreeable arrangement on that.’
When Jenna turned back, he was standing right in front her. She tilted her head back to look him straight in the face.
‘Are you offering me a bribe for my silence?’
‘If you want to call it that. It could be millions of credits.’ Avon’s voice dropped as he enticed her.
Jenna continued to stare at him. The silence was interrupted by Blake’s voice coming from the comm on the cabin wall.
‘Jenna? Where are you? We’re approaching orbit and we need you on the flight deck, please.’
Jenna turned and pressed the button to answer. ‘I’m on my way.’
She spared Avon a brief, enigmatic glance, and left.
EIGHT
Everyone else was already on the flight deck when Avon arrived, a few minutes later. Jenna was at her station and kept her eyes on the displays as Avon jogged down the steps onto the deck. Vila, Gan and Cally were also at their posts, alert for any sign that they had been spotted as they approached the planet.
‘I was just about to ask you to come,’ Blake said, moving towards him.
‘Well, I’m here,’ Avon replied succinctly, sliding into his seat. ‘And keen to find out how exactly you are planning to help Belzanko’s resistance.’
‘That’s not why I wanted to speak to you.’ Blake moved alongside him, his hands on his hips. ‘Is it true that you’ve managed to make millions of credits for yourself while you were manipulating the stock markets?’
‘Millions!’ Vila interrupted, looking across at Jenna. ‘You didn’t tell the rest of us it was millions!’
‘Oh, Avon never does things by halves,’ Blake said, keeping his eyes on Avon’s face. ‘Especially when it comes to money.’
‘That’s why you wanted to stay longer on Belzanko, isn’t it?’ Cally accused Avon. ‘It wasn’t just about getting the data on the ships. You had a plan for bankrupting Greerson whilst making yourself a profit on the side, and you needed time to develop your more complicated program and to insert it into Belzanko’s financial system.’
‘And you weren’t going to tell the rest of us about it, either,’ Jenna added.
Avon neither denied nor confirmed their accusations. He simply looked at Blake.
‘If I were to profit from the situation on Belzanko, why should it be any concern of yours?’ he asked coolly.
‘Because we’re a team,’ Blake insisted. ‘We live together and we work together. We agreed to share the wealth that’s on this ship.’
‘If I had earned myself a sufficient fortune, I could take that when I go, and leave everything we found here with you,’ Avon said. ‘You would lose nothing.’
‘I’d lose you,’ Blake replied.
‘That would be your loss, not mine.’
‘You’d lose something too.’ Blake fixed Avon with an intense look. ‘You’d lose the chance to fight the Federation and their corruption, to take revenge on the system.’
‘I’d rather just forget about the Federation and spend the rest of my life on a neutral planet, so wealthy that no-one could touch me.’
Blake shook his head slowly. ‘You’d be bored within a year, Avon. And you’d regret leaving us and losing your chance to be part of history.’
Avon didn’t answer immediately, but his dark eyes briefly turned vulnerable. Then the shutters came down and he was brittle once again.
‘I’m not after glory, Blake. That’s your path.’
Blake was about to reply when Zen interrupted.
‘LIBERATOR IS RECEIVING A MESSAGE FROM THE PLANET.’
Blake turned away and spoke as he moved forward. ‘Put it on visual, please.’
Everyone’s attention was diverted to the main screen as an image blossomed on the fascia. It was Anwar Allston, standing in an office. Sunlight flooded through a window behind him and sparkled on his silver hair. He smiled as he saw the Liberator‘s crew.
‘It’s good to see you all.’
‘And you,’ Blake answered. ‘What’s the situation on the ground?’
Allston smiled, radiating confidence and charisma. ‘Better than we’d ever hoped for, thanks to you and your crew. Greerson and half a dozen of his closest political allies have been arrested on charges of corruption. The media have already convicted him, even the ones he used to bribe and threaten into silence. In fact, they’re the most strongly against him now.’
‘If he’s going down, they don’t want to be associated with him,’ Blake commented.
Allston nodded, and cracked his knuckles in emphasis. ‘There’s a no-confidence vote on the government tonight, and there’s no way Greerson’s cronies will survive it. There’ll be elections for a new government and Belzanko’s ready for change.’
‘You’ll be getting involved in the elections?’ Blake asked eagerly.
‘Of course. We should be able to make a good job of it, thanks to that donation you just sent to us.’
Blake’s eyes widened, but he thought fast. ‘It just got to you?’
Allston smiled. ‘Just in the last few minutes.’ His smile grew broader. ‘Millions of credits. It was a brilliant idea, Blake, taking advantage of the financial crash to make money.’ Allston laughed. ‘It’s such sweet justice to be using the money lost by Greerson and his friends against them. It’s money that should have been in the pockets of other people, and now it is.’
Blake chuckled too. ‘I can’t think of a better use for it.’
‘And all thanks to you and your people,’ Allston said. He turned his gaze to Avon. ‘You especially, Avon. You’d be welcome here on Belzanko any time.’
‘I shall keep your offer in mind,’ Avon said graciously.
‘It sounds as though you’ve got things under control,’ Blake said.
‘Yes.’ Allston glanced to one side and raised a hand in a gesture to someone offscreen. ‘I’ll be even busier from now on, I suspect.’
‘Then I’d better let you get on with it,’ Blake said. ‘We’ve got plenty of business elsewhere, but we’ll come back and help if necessary.’
‘Thank you.’ Allston’s expression turned sober. ‘Belzanko won’t be producing any more pursuit ships for the Federation, but we’ll have a fleet of our own to defend ourselves with. We’ll need it so long as the Federation exists.’
‘They can’t last forever,’ Blake said with conviction. ‘I’m going to do what I can to bring them down.’
‘With the resources you’ve got, you can do a lot of good in the galaxy,’ Allston said. ‘The best of luck to you.’
‘And to you.’
Allston said his farewells and the screen went dark again.
The Liberator crew came down from their stations and began to relax. Blake ordered Zen to set course for Centero as Vila flopped down on the comfortable seats.
‘Another day, another planet saved,’ Vila quipped. �
�We should celebrate. How about a drink?’
No-one took any notice of him. Avon came right up to Blake and looked at him challengingly.
‘I think even Vila could guess that it wasn’t you who made that generous donation to Allston.’
Blake looked straight back at him. ‘I apologise, Avon. You did a very generous thing, helping Allston out.’
‘He only did it because he was found out,’ Jenna said decidedly. She had moved round the seats and was in front of the main screen.
Cally joined her. ‘That’s true, isn’t it?’ she demanded. ‘If Jenna hadn’t realised what you were up to, you’d have kept all that money for yourself. Instead, you’ve used it to buy your way into Allston’s favour.’
Avon looked amused, but didn’t deny the accusations.
Blake frowned. ‘We’re only going to survive if we work together as a team,’ he said to Avon. ‘We can’t keep acting as individuals.’
Avon gestured at the two women standing together. ‘I have helped you two find something in common. Neither of you trusts me.’
Jenna glanced at Cally, then looked back at Avon. ‘Oh, we do, Avon. We trust you to think of yourself first.’
Avon smiled, and with a nod to Blake, left the flight deck.
BERSERKER
RA HENDERSON
ONE
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A little way outside the range of the nearest planet’s detection systems, the Liberator hung in space, completely inert, as if waiting for something to happen.
On the flight deck, Roj Blake’s concentration was completely focused on the data pad in his hand, and had been for some time.
‘Zen,’ he said. ‘Patch this into the main viewer.’
‘CONFIRMED.’
Blake looked up at the viewscreen and watched with the other crew members as the picture of space dissolved and was replaced by a three-dimensional computer-generated image. It was a huge grey object, oblong with a vaguely trident-shaped rear end.
‘Station Amber,’ said Blake, gesturing at the screen.
‘We’ve actually found it.’ Cally sounded surprised.
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