(Star’s Reach Business Licensing Office, Starborn, Star’s
Reach)
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN’T GET THE DAMN LICENSE YET? I’VE
BEEN WAITING HERE FOR TWO WEEKS!”
Lukkud Smeltstone was not happy. He had led his company to
this backwater planet, hoping to get in on the ground floor of a new colony. Should
have been a simple setup, land, claim some prime real estate, and set up
manufacturing to support the settlement and make things into his own little
empire. Nice, simple, profitable.
Except it wasn’t working out that way. These damn Black
Stars had a major stick up their asses about not letting people do anything
except in the ‘approved’ settlements. The one time he’d tried to take a shuttle
out to look at options for landing sites on a new settlement, he suddenly found
himself flanked by a pair of fighters that ‘encouraged’ him to return to the
capitol by firing warning shots across his bow! The NERVE of it all!
The slave sitting behind the desk in the licensing office
simply smiled at him. That was another insult! They didn’t bother having a free
employee to run the office, forcing him to lower himself and deal with a slave
as if they were his equal! And the damn slave knew how much it angered him, damn
it! He could see it on the slave’s face. The smug bastard was just happy as
could be giving a free man the runaround.
“I’m sorry, sir, but the Black Star Company is not licensing
any independent settlements at this time in Star’s Reach space. As I stated, we
do have settlement options available, either as joint-ownership or subsidiary
arrangements. Or you can try and join one of the existing settlements by filing
for a local business permit.”
Lukkud was beyond pissed. Those licensing deals were damn
rip offs! The ‘joint-ownership’ settlement basically meant that he would have
only a 45% share of the settlement that HE built, leaving Black Star as the
majority shareholder, though giving him nominal rights as the settlement’s
manager. The ‘subsidiary’ arrangement involved his group joining Black Star,
and signing some fairly involved contracts to operate the settlement as they
saw fit, though they were still subject to Black Star’s rules. Typical
corporate overlord bullshit.
And if he just gave up on the idea of his own settlement, and
joined an existing settlement as a businessman? Then he’d have taxes to pay,
both individual and corporate taxes, which were at a higher rate for people who
weren’t part of Black Star. Sure, those taxes weren’t too much. Some of the
core worlds of the Consortium had higher tax rates, officially, but there were
no tax breaks or loopholes in the system. It was ruthlessly efficient that way,
and made no room for the typical maneuvers one could use to get out of taxes.
Lukkud took a deep breath, and said, “I want to speak to
your Master about this! You have no right to treat me like this, slave!”
The slave did not tremble in fear like he expected. Most
slaves, when confronted by a free person demanding to see their master because
of their conduct, would have been bowing and scraping to find a way out of their
coming punishment. This slave simply smiled.
“Well, sir, I am owned by the Black Star Company directly. The
local officers of the company are all company slaves. However, the owner just
recently returned from a trip to Sol System, where he met with the Empress of
the Terran Empire. Please wait, and I will see if he is available.”
“No need, Carlo.” A new voice came from the doors behind Lukkud,
and he turned to see three humans standing there, a man and two women, one of
them having a slave collar around her neck. All three were Nomads. The man
continued, “Raven has been keeping me up to date about the situation.”
Lukkud eyed the man, and said, “You are the Nomad who runs
this whole shitshow? Do you have any idea how rude your slaves are? You should
be teaching them proper respect for their betters!”
“Oh, but I have. Unfortunately, Captain Smeltstone, you are
not one of their betters.” The man smiled wickedly at him. “Oh yes, in the eyes
of Black Star, a free man who is not part of the company is worth less than the
lowest slave belonging to the company. Especially when they that free man
thinks he can take me for a fool.”
The man’s voice grew dangerous now, “I have reviewed your proposed
settlement plans, Captain Smeltstone, and it is painfully obvious that they are
clearly designed to rob the Black Star Company of the profits and taxes owed to
it on land and material owned by the company. Indeed, it is an attempt at
organized theft, and I am afraid that I cannot allow that to occur.”
“THEFT? Now listen here—!” Lukkud’s response was cut off by
the man’s voice, cold and imperious, like one pronouncing judgement.
“No, it is time for you to listen to me. As Owner of the
Black Star Company and senior authority for all judiciary measures in this
system, I declare you and your ships to be banned from Black Star controlled
space until such time as you make reparations. You have one hour to return to
your ship and leave Star’s Reach orbit or face summary enslavement. Once your
ships have left orbit, you are to leave this system within one hour’s time. Use
of the Gateway is prohibited.”
“WHAT? You can’t do that, you jumped up shitstain! Just
because you’ve got those ships doesn’t mean you can play god! I’m going to file
a complaint!”
“You do that. But the clock has already started counting
down.”
“You’ll pay for this, I swear it!” Lukkud stormed out of the
office, fully aware of the smirks on the damned people’s faces as they watched
him. Once he got back to Gauz space, he was going to ruin this bastard’s
reputation so hard, as well as sending a complaint to NERV! See how he likes
playing god in his little colony that no one goes to!
As the doors closed behind Lukkud, the owner of the Black
Star Company brought up his bracer, and said, “Raven, I would like you to
connect me to the leader of the Chaos Brigade.”
(Private Vessel Eternity
of Pain, Star’s Reach Orbit, Star’s Reach)
Pilot Jack Springer was bored. He knew his job was
important. One could not bring the word of Chaos to the galaxy without ships,
after all, and the Chaos Brigade was building its strength so that it could
gain more ships and gather a fleet like the one these Black Stars had. At the
moment, the majority of the ship’s fighters were on the ground below, rotating
through the dungeon.
Learning from their experiences in the other dungeon, the
Warmaster had led the teams through this new dungeon on the ‘normal’ mode
first, as they learned the techniques these Deus Marines used. Know the enemy
so that you could hunt them better. A week ago, the first of their groups had
cleared the dungeon’s normal mode, and had worked on polishing their skills
while the rest of the troops completed their runs. Now, they were preparing for
the ‘Raid’ version of the dungeon, to gain glory for Chaos.
However, that left Jack and the other crewmen of the Eternity of Pain sitting in orbit around
the planet of Star’s Reach, and they couldn’t even engage in a little freelance
slaughter, because the Black Stars were watching everything. They knew the
Black Stars were watching because they had seen a couple of their stealth
fighters appear out of nowhere any time they had launched a shuttle for the
surface. And they had been getting some ‘ghost’ sensor returns that could have
been stealth ships nearby. The Warmaster believed that the returns were
intentional, allowing the Chaos Brigade to know that they were being watched,
but not being blatant about it. That didn’t change the fact that they couldn’t have
any fun while they were in the system, though.
Suddenly, the communication systems came alive! Snapping out
of his bored funk, Springer checked the incoming transmission and saw that it
was coming from the Warmaster himself! With excitement, Springer accepted the
communication. An unscheduled message from the Warmaster meant there was a task
he could do, something that would stave off the boredom of sitting around a
planet endlessly.
“Warmaster! How may I serve?”
“Pilot, ready the ship
for battle! It would seem that another guild of Nomads has annoyed the owner of
Black Star, and he has barred them from the system, on pain of death and
enslavement. They have also been prohibited from using the Gateway, meaning
they must flee the system the ‘long’ way, and the nearest gateway is a month
away in realspace.”
Springer quickly hit the console commands to ensure that the
crew aboard the Eternity of Pain
would be getting ready for deployment, even as he listened to the Warmaster’s
words. “What are your orders, my Lord?”
“The Black Stars have
given us dispensation to slip out of orbit under stealth when the three target
ships leave orbit. You are to follow them out of the system. The Black Stars
have assured me that, so long as anything that happens occurs outside the
system, then they will not interfere. Hunt down the ships, and do with them as
you will. Any who are captured may be turned into sport, or enslaved as
servants for the crew. But if they are all killed, then be sure to offer their
deaths to Khorne.”
Springer nodded vigorously. “Blood for the Blood God! Skulls
for the Skull Throne!”
“Indeed. Let none of
those ships make it to safe harbor. Even should they surrender, you are to take
the slaves and then destroy the ships after looting anything of value that you
can take from them. Am I understood?”
“It will be done, Warmaster. The Eternity of Pain stands ready to visit the will of Chaos upon these
unknowing fools, and give them over to Khorne!”
“Then go, and bring
glory to Chaos this day!”
(Private Vessel Forgeheart,
Interstellar space between Star’s Reach and Nuevo Edo)
“Damn it! What the hell are we going to do now, Boss? The Black
Stars have the only new colony going right now. And our setup won’t exactly
work on any civilized planets. Not if we want to strike it rich in a hurry. This
was our ticket to the big time, and now we got nothing!”
Lukkud Smeltstone sighed. “You think I don’t know that? But
this damn Mollen is thinking he can do whatever he wants because he has a fleet.
We’ll get back to Gauz space and make a play to get some sanctions brought against
the Black Stars. Enough people have been concerned about how quickly they’re gaining
power that they won’t hesitate to throw their weight behind some way to cripple
the bastards.”
“You think that it will actually do anything? How much
exposure do they have in the Consortium?”
“Well, if it doesn’t hit them directly, it will encourage
others to hit them or risk things spreading to—”
Alarms cut their discussion short, however, as explosions
rocked the ship. The two Gauz were thrown by the artificial gravity failed for
half a moment before kicking back in again as emergency power came online,
sending them into the bulkhead with a crash. Lukkud Smeltstone groaned as he
pulled himself off the forward bulkhead, wiping away the blood that was
starting to flow from his head wound. He felt like someone was doing one of
those Russian tank ballets in his head, but he forced himself to think. Nothing
good happened when there were explosions on a ship.
“Report!”
“We… we’re under attack! We’ve fallen back to normal space.
The Metaleater and Logsplitter are with us…” His second trailed
off. “Never mind. The Logsplitter
just lost containment on their reactor. They’re gone.”
“What hit us?”
“We have a cruiser coming out from stealth astern of us. Transponder
calls it the Eternity of Pain.”
Suddenly, the communications system lit up, on the emergency
band that was answered automatically on Consortium ships. A man wearing armor
with some strange symbols upon it was looking back at them.
“ALL HAIL THE GODS OF
CHAOS! ALL GLORY TO KHORNE! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL
THRONE!”
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Be sure to read my published works!
Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):
Frozen Soul https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT
Tales of the Void Traveler https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37
Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy GameLit):
Volume 1 - Tutorial
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rules-free-vrmmo-life-stuart-grosse/1128941349?ean=2940161995297
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rules-free-vrmmo-life-omnibus-i-stuart-grosse/1128953195?ean=2940162052081
Book I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL
Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y
City of Champions Online (Superhero GameLit):
Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1
Lewd Dungeon (Dungeon Core GameLit):
Book 1 - Welcome to the Apocalypse https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB34DHF
Omnibus 1 - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FBPF6HR
The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T
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