Date Point 2 Years 2 Months After Vancouver
Dominion Council War Room Session
Councilor Nchb rubbed his hands in circular motions on the sides of his head. His head hurt, and it hurt because what the Gaoian General was telling him made absolutely no sense whatsoever.
“I think I speak for all of us, General,” said Councilor Hrbrd, “when I ask you what kind of organisation you think we’re running here?”
Nchb gave a thin smile to the respected Corti Councilor for asking the obvious question. Their working relationship had lasted for many years, and they had developed a professional respect for one another.
General Rervis puffed up his chest, a technique no doubt used to make him look more respectable, or intimidating, or something like that. Nchb had seen plenty of puffed up generals come before him, and he didn’t find it impressive anymore.
“I admit it confused me at first as well, Councilors,” the General replied. “As you know, piracy is a crime punishable by execution.”
“You tell us nothing we do not already know,” Nchb told him. “The question is why do they think that they are exempt from this? Our laws exist for a reason!”
The General looked uncomfortable at that. “Perhaps I should let them speak for themselves?” he suggested. “I have brought a recorded message from them.”
The Councilors exchanged glances with each other. It was against their better judgment to agree to what the General had proposed, but at the same time every one of them was curious about what the video would show.
“Do so,” said Hrbrd. “At the very least we shall get a view of the remarkable human who has managed to declare war on every political entity in the galaxy.”
A general consensus was made, and General Rervis provided the Council attendants the data stick containing the message before stepping aside to let it play.
The Council Chamber’s video screen came to life, showing the hairy face of a human male.
“G’day,” the human said, “I am Adrian Saunders, human being and Shiplord of the Zhadersil. I hope I’m addressing a group of useful people, and not a room of paperweights.”
The Councilors traded glances, it was clear that whatever they had been expecting, it was not this.
“Recently,” the human – Adrian Saunders – continued, “My crew and I repelled a force of one thousand Hunters. My understanding is that this is quite the achievement.”
More glances were traded, these ones full of amusement and disbelief, but eyes returned to the video screen to find it paused.
“I wish to interject at this point,” Hrbrd said, addressing the Council as a whole. “I have received reports of a large vessel whose human had in his possession several Hunter vessels, along with a salvage vessel and a heavy scout belonging to the Directorate. It is possible he’s telling the truth.”
Nchb stared at Hrbrd, along with everybody else in the room. “One thousand Hunters?!” he asked, his voice low. “That’s not possible!”
Hrbrd frowned at him. “I am sure you hold me in high enough esteem, Councilor Nchb, to know that I would not suggest such a thing if I did not have cause? Let us review the rest of his video confession.”
Troubled eyes now returned to the video screen as the playback continued.
“I’ve also seized control of the Corti Heavy Scout, the Endless Sequence, crippled the Dominion Cruiser Itrizz, and robbed the Erberserk Orbital factory. Most recently I seized a pair of fully functional Celzi Cruisers.”
The human paused dramatically before continuing. “With that said, one of those may be incredibly radioactive for a while.”
This caused quite the stir amongst the Councilors. The unspoken meaning was clear enough; the human had somehow defeated a Celzi vessel with pure radiation, a dangerous form of weapon no matter who had it, and in this case it was in the hands of a Death World savage with few to no morals. Radiation could be cleaned up, of course, but it took time, and far too long for it to save any victims from an incredibly awful death.
“Now I’m told you’re already familiar with pirates,” the incredibly dangerous human continued, “and I hope by now my credentials will be satisfactory.”
The human took a sip of some drink, and Nchb found that his own mouth had gone incredibly dry. He couldn’t find it in himself to be amused when the other Councilors joined him in a simultaneous drink of water, as though the human had made some kind of honourable toast.
“It’s time to introduce you to the concept of the Privateer,” the human said, continuing his monologue. “Basically, a Privateer is a pirate who only works against his employer’s enemies. In this case, you pay me, and my crew, and we raid the shit out of the Celzi for you.”
“But what about your crimes against the Dominion?” Nchb found himself asking the recording, and was glad when a number of Councilors nodded their shared sentiment rather than showed their amusement in his folly.
“Now I’ve also been told,” the human said, “that you might bear some resentment about the humiliations we’ve heaped on your people. If that’s the case, grow up! You don’t have to like us to work with us, and if you want the Celzi to be the target of those humiliations rather than yourselves, you just have to agree to the terms the General will impart to you. If not, my next message will be to the Celzi Alliance.”
The human bared its teeth, although Nchb had been advised that this was a friendly expression for the species, although that made no sense to anyone else. “I hope we can do business.”
The recording ended, leaving the Councilors to consider its content. Nobody seemed to want to be the first to speak.
“General,” Nchb said, more weakly than he might have liked. “In your assessment how valuable would their help be?”
General Rervis took a moment to properly consider his response. “I have discussed their strategy with them at length,” he admitted. “Their proposed activities could be very beneficial to our combined forces.”
“And you would recommend we accept their proposal, General?” Councilor Hrbrd asked. “That we absolve them of their crimes against us and pay them for the privilege?”
“That is my recommendation, Councilor,” General Rervis said without hesitation. “If it was not, I would not have requested this addition to your meeting.”
“It seems to me, Councilors,” Nchb said, not at all liking what was about to come out of his mouth, “that we have little choice. This man has stated that he is either with us, or against us, and frankly I do not want to that man to be against me!”
“As much as it angers me,” said Councilor Hrbrd, “I must agree with you, Councilor. This man may have humiliated our forces, but it that has only served to highlight his usefulness against our enemies. I doubt he will make this offer again.”
Nchb nodded, that was much his own opinion on the matter as well. “In that case, we shall put it to a vote.”
The resolution passed unanimously as the fastest item to ever do so. It seemed nobody wanted Shiplord Adrian Saunders as their enemy, and Nchb simply hoped that this was not the biggest mistake he had ever made.
Zhadersil
Chir paced worriedly, all eyes on him and waiting for what he had to say. “It seems,” he said, “that Adrian’s proposal has been accepted.”
“We didn’t give them much choice,” Trycrur mused. “I doubt they were happy.”
“They were never going to be happy,” Adrian replied. “They’re bureaucrats.”
“True enough,” Chir replied. “But we will have to hand over those two Celzi vessels.”
“Good,” Adrian said, “they can handle all the radiation better than we can. How has news traveled through the Celzi Alliance?”
“It isn’t,” Trycrur said. “From what I can tell they’ve suppressed the information. It wouldn’t be good for public morale to hear about what happened.”
“That’s the idea,” Adrian replied. “We need to get that word out. The more people who know what we can do, the fewer we’ll have to actually kill.”
“It’s all about saving lives,” Chir said dryly.
“It’s best used as a terror weapon,” Jen said, adding her own opinion. “We might be about to go rob everyone we can find in Celzi space, but we also don’t want to just kill them all. If people know what this can do, they’ll be afraid. If they’re afraid, they should just give up so long as we don’t kill them when they do.”
“That’s an unusual form of piracy,” Chir judged. “Regular pirates attack ships, kill everyone, and take their cargo.”
“Regular pirates are morons, Chir,” Adrian said. “That’s why the targets will always resist with everything they got. They have absolutely nothing to lose.”
“That’s right,” Jen continued, “if you don’t kill them, and they know that if they surrender you won’t kill them, then all they have to lose is the ship or even just the cargo. It’s not usually their cargo, so why would they care if it gets stolen?”
“So what you’re saying,” Trycrur said slowly, as though she was trying to make it all make sense in her own head, “is that by killing a cruiser full of soldiers horribly, any future targets should know what we’re capable of, but so long as we can also make sure they know that if they don’t fight, we don’t kill them, nobody will have to die?”
Chir and Trycrur traded glances, and both of them looked like they were still struggling with the idea of not doing what regular pirates apparently did.
Jen looked at Adrian. “How did space even work before we got here? It’s like everything is done really half-arsed.”
Adrian sighed. “You eventually get used to it. From what I can tell they still engage in the form of war that mainly involves running at each other and shooting.”
Jen gave the two aliens a kind of disgusted look at that. “You can’t be serious that that’s all they do!”
“There is more to it than that, Adrian,” Chir objected pointedly. “Orbital bombardment, tanks, and Vulza are also used.”
“A Vulza?” Jen asked, looking to Adrian for the answer. He’d found it amusing that she was looking to him to interpret all of the really weird stuff rather than asking the actual aliens.
“Space Dragons,” he replied, recalling the name from when he, too, had been unable to believe it. “I don’t think I’ve killed any of those yet. Probably doesn’t count if they were on board a spaceship at the time.”
Jen just sort of stared at him. “You’re serious…”
“I’m always serious about Space Dragons,” he said, failing to repress a smile but at least succeeding in not bursting into laughter. “More to the point though, nobody is making use of aerial craft, bombs, mines, rocketry… the list just goes on and on.”
“What, er,” Trycrur began, her interest sparked, “what are all those things you just mentioned?”
Adrian directed a grin at her. “Ah, Trix,” he said, “now that we’ve got government backing we’re going to turn you into the most feared weapon designer in the galaxy.”
“That,” Trycrur said uncertainly, “might be nice?”
+++++
Date Point 2 Years 3 Months After Vancouver
Zhadersil, vicinity of Irbzrk orbital factory
“Well,” Chir said, returning from his meeting with the factory foreman, “it’s pretty clear that they do not want us here.”
“That bad, huh?” Adrian asked. He hadn’t exactly embraced the command from the Dominion to seek repairs and additional crew at the place they’d just robbed, but it was important right now to show at least some obedience.
“They’re still annoyed from when we ripped them off,” Chir said. “Can you blame them?”
“Fuck no,” Adrian replied. “I’d have shot me in the face as soon as I’d got here.”
“Then at least we can be thankful that the foreman possesses more restraint,” Chir said grimly. “That said, they will be patching us up, so we’ll be able to get that big hole fixed and a new power system installed. I’ve told them to redesign for a distributed reactor system, and I think that’s going to become a thing now.”
“How long will it take?” Adrian asked, expecting bad news.
“(One month), fully dedicated to the task,” Chir replied. “They will not be fully dedicated to the task, however.”
“And they’re happy about having two humans here for that length of time?” Adrian asked. “Maybe you could convince them to ‘fully dedicate’ themselves?”
“I tried that,” Chir said. “They’re not happy about it, but they have other commitments they can’t ignore. I can’t see us getting out of here in less than (two months).”
Adrian sighed in frustration. “We’ll have enough time to take on new crew then,” he said. “Get your clan started, Chir, but we’ll accept anyone who’s willing to serve alongside two humans.”
“That will limit volunteers,” Chir said, “but we should be able to get some at least. What we’re doing is attracting interest at least, as is the Zhadersil itself.”
“We’ll make do then,” Adrian decided. “We’ll have to make sure these factory techs don’t get too nosy about what we’ve got going on here.”
“What are they going to find except for a new source of nightmares?” Chir asked sardonically. “Everybody here knows about our radiation weapon.”
“They don’t know how it works,” Adrian said, “and I don’t intend to give them easy answers. I don’t want to find myself up against one of these in the near future.”
“It is gratifying to discover that even the most psychopathic human on record is unwilling to allow the mass production of such weapons,” Chir replied. “One is more than enough.”
“My planet is full of radioactive weapons, Chir,” Adrian told him, noting the sudden concern in the alien’s eyes. “They were only used once, but then everybody had to have them, because the only way to keep yourself safe from everyone else with them was to threaten them right back.”
“This is far from comforting, Adrian,” Chir said, clearly troubled. “It is a wonder your species hasn’t entirely destroyed itself.”
“Yeah, we’ve come close once or twice,” Adrian admitted. “That’s part of why I don’t blame you all for sealing us away. Even I think it might be better that way.”
“I have seen your work, Adrian,” Chir said, “I have no reason to suppose that that barrier will prove anything but a temporary inconvenience to your species, and if they’re anything like you they will use its mere existence as a reason to destroy it. Implementing it was a mistake on every level.”
Adrian was silent for a moment, then he chuckled. “You know, for an alien, you have a pretty good understanding of human nature.”
Chir shook his head. “I can merely see your competitiveness and crazed drive to overcome obstacles. Your race is a danger to the galaxy even larger than the Hunters, because unlike them I can see you have ambition. But also unlike them, you have the potential to be an incredible asset as well. I hope that now that we’re helping the Dominion, we can strive for the latter outcome.”
Adrian frowned. “I guess that depends on what they ask us to do.”
Jennifer Delaney. Mid-twenties, attractive and in good shape, in possession of new clothing after far to long and more sexually frustrated than the world’s last Panda bear. They might no longer be in constant danger of invasion by enemy forces since they’d started working for the Dominion, but they’d been even busier overseeing the repairs to the Zhadersil, taking on new crewmen, and dealing with the technicians from the orbital factory.
There were only four of them, as the original crew, and they’d separated into various shifts in order to get everything done. She saw Adrian every now and then, either hard at work, or as he went to or from his quarters for a well-earned sleep. They’d hardly spent a moment together and had had hardly any conversation since the whole process had started. It made Jen feel that dull sense of loneliness again, but more embarrassingly she couldn’t stop looking at his arse when his back was turned. It was a nice arse, but she felt like she should be able to pull her eyes away from it if she wanted to, or to ever want to pull her eyes away from it.
Jen sometimes wondered where all her self-control had disappeared to and why she was behaving like an out-of-control teenager again. Why had Adrian set up the shifts so that they hardly saw each other? Was he trying to distance himself from her for some reason? She’d been sure he’d been at least a bit interested in her! It was all too confusing, and it wasn’t as though there was someone she could ask for advice since everyone else on board was an alien with demented moral values.
She was therefore surprised, and yet delighted, when he had approached her of his own accord, although she could tell his attitude was more about business than it was about romance. That was fine, business might be sexy too…
“Jen,” he said, coming close to her. It was the first time she’d smelled him when he’d had a proper wash, and she didn’t mind his scent when it wasn’t quite so aromatic. “I have something I could use your help with?”
“Yes?” she squeaked, then cleared her voice before repeating herself. “Ahem… yes, Adrian?”
“We’re almost out of food,” he said. “Real food, anyway.”
“You went hunting for more,” she replied, confused. The stock room they used had been slowly emptying, but as he hadn’t seemed concerned she’d figured he had more.
“I came up against the Dominion cruiser that time,” he explained, “I didn’t get anything. That was around two months ago and I can’t put it off anymore.”
“You’re going hunting now, then?” she asked. “Why all the mystery?”
“The first time I went hunting, Chir was with me,” Adrian reminded her. She knew the rest of the story already, and with several more crewmen on board now she understood why he wouldn’t want to advertise the means by which such rations were acquired.
“I’ll make up a cover story for you, then,” she offered. “We’ll figure something out.”
“Chir can take care of those details,” Adrian replied. “I was wondering if you might like to join me?”
Jen froze for a moment. “You… want me to go hunting?” she asked. “With you?”
She felt a slight thrill of excitement at the prospect of spending all that time with Adrian, alone and out in the wilderness, cramped up in the confines of the Hunter vessel…
“I thought it might be good,” he said. “I shouldn’t be the only one who knows what’s okay to eat, and where to find it.”
“Oh…” she said. It really was all business with him, and she felt a sudden rush of disappointment. “Yes, that makes sense…”
“Have you done any hunting before?” he asked. “I’m not sure what there is to hunt in Ireland…”
“My da shot a stray cat once,” she said. “I’m not sure that counts?”
He laughed. “Well everybody needs to start somewhere.”