(Dock 53, Mollen’s Rest Station, Star’s Reach system)
There were three space stations in orbit of Star’s Reach.
There were plenty more orbital platforms, but only a few of them were manned.
Most of those were little more than maintenance hubs for crews maintaining the
defense satellites and weapon platforms. But there were only three proper space
stations.
The first was Hephaestus Station, the primary shipyards
and orbital factories that had been built early on after we had taken control
of the system. If anyone bothered to ask me which the most important of the
three stations was, I would immediately point them to Hephaestus. It
was, after all, the key to everything else that happened here. It was the core
of the system’s growing industry. Sure, there were factories growing on the surface,
but they wouldn’t have existed without Hephaestus building the parts
they needed to set up.
Second, and the one that most people would think to be of
the greatest importance, was Blackstone Station. That station was the headquarters
for the Black Star Navy not just in Star’s Reach, but in the entire galaxy.
More than that, it was also the core of the system’s defense, should it come to
that. The station was completely military, with the only civilians allowed on
board being either family, or those who had been specially vetted to serve in
the support roles.
Third, and finally, there was Mollen’s Rest, the
civilian station. By the time I had gotten around to approving the plans, it
had already been named by my people, so there wasn’t much I could do about it. This
was the administrative center for the Star’s Reach colony, and the primary
headquarters for the Black Star Company as a whole. Needless to say, most of those
who didn’t think that Blackstone was the most important structure in the
system focused their attention on the Rest.
Since refugees were a civilian matter, rather than a military
one, System Control had directed the refugee ships to the civilian station. If
the ships had been defectors from the military rather than civilians, it would
have been a different matter, but they weren’t, so it wasn’t. But that did
bring up the very pertinent question of why these refugees showed up here.
Even if the entire Ihm Imperium was going up in flames,
there should have been other ports that people would have chosen when fleeing
for their lives from the insane Empress and her followers. Star’s Reach was
moderately famous, sure, because we had been in the news a good bit over the
last few years, but it wasn’t like we were a common port of call, either. Most
people who came here were looking to get something they couldn’t get through other
means, or they were looking to skirt a few laws. Refugees went to the bigger
nations, the ones that had experience helping refugees.
But not these ones. No, they had apparently dialed straight
from the Ihm Imperium to Star’s Reach, given the data we got from the gateway. At
least they didn’t have tagalongs, like some of the refugees that had tried to make
it to Confederate space. There was one group that had been chased by an Ihm navy
destroyer through the Desolace gateway. That was a messy affair all the way
around, and put the Confederates on high alert.
Our new guests had four ships. Well, depending on how you
defined ‘ship’. They were all over the place, really. An in-system passenger
shuttle, an armed merchantman, a heavy freighter, and a mining vessel that had
a jury-rigged connector so it could haul a cargo container. They were all old models,
and the merchantman, the only ship with conventional weapons, looked as though
it had been through hell. The engineering team viewing the screens were of the opinion
that the thing was only being held together by sheer force of will.
There were seven hundred Ihm on the four ships. Seven
hundred people on ships that were designed to carry no more than forty. The people-hauler
was the one with the highest rated passenger loadout, being designed for twenty-five
passengers. The freighter was rated for five, and the merchantman for nine. The
little mining craft was designed for a crew of one.
I shook my head as I looked at the merchantman which had
just docked. It was named the Frivolous Enterprise, and was an Imperial civilian
ship from before the last war. The class was supposed to be solid and reliable,
able to keep going through anything, provided you kept up on the maintenance.
That it survived was clearly a firefight to get here said there was more to those
stories than just marketing. That it had gotten here without exploding, leaking
radiation, or any one of a few other dozen ways it could have ended up killing
its crew and ninety-one passengers was a testament to the crew’s skill.
As the Frivolous Enterprise powered down, there was a
screeching, grinding noise. Slowly, the cargo bay doors started to swing open.
Then, they caught with a sound of metal wrenching against metal and the scream
of tortured gears. The scream rose to a crescendo, and then suddenly went silent,
just as the door began to fall forward, crashing to the deck with a horrific
bang as the thing literally fell off the hull!
Frowning, I couldn’t help but mutter to Raven, who was
standing beside me. “These people are impressive, I’ll give them that. Looking
at the damage alone, I can’t imagine how they possibly survived, much less got
through the gateway.”
The lead Ihm off the ship at least had the good grace to
look embarrassed, if not ashamed, at the state of her craft. Seeing me standing
out in front of onlookers examining her ship, she walked up and offered a low bow
in the traditional Ihm style. I noticed that the rest of the Ihm aboard remained
on the ship, watching on intently, but not stepping foot off the ship. “Lord of
the Black Star Clan, I am Captain Sirzah Dhas of the Ikkae Liberation Front,
and Ship Master of the Frivolous Venture. My crew and I ask for Sanctuary
amongst your clan, and for protection to be offered to those we shepherded
here.”
Raven whispered in my ear. “The Ikkae Liberation Front is a
separatist movement originating on the planet Ikkae III. Stated goals are the ending
of the monarchy, the abolishment of the caste system, and putting power in the
hands of the workers. They first appeared shortly after the start of the last
Ihm-Terran war, leading to concerns amongst the Ihm military that they were
sponsored by the Terran Empire. Whether they currently have ties to the Empire
is unknown.”
I nodded curtly, before looking back to the captain. “Ship
Master, why do you come to my domain, seeking shelter, in a ship that has been
through fire and battle, leading others that are packed overfull of civilians? I
would know what trouble you flee before answering your question, as I have a
duty to my people, first and foremost, as I’m sure you understand.”
Sirzah remained bowing. “The Empress has gone mad with envy
and pride, tearing open the sky in her quest to prove how ‘superior’ the Ruling
Caste is. Every day, the rift in space grows larger, and foul creatures from that
realm have begun manifesting in the worlds closest to the rift. The Ikkae system
is only a light year from the rift, the closest Gateway to the Eye of Despair. The
Warrior Caste fights amongst itself, while the Merchant Caste begins getting
ever more bold in the ways they flaunt their power and influence.”
She paused, and then said, “The servants of the Mad Empress
are different, somehow. Rulers that have never shown psy power before now wield
it as though it were second nature to them. Their Warriors grow huge and
hulking, sometimes becoming misshapen as if they were the product of some
flawed breeding. And there are creatures on the world that I have never seen
before.”
“For years, we have tried to free the people of Ikkae from
the Ruling caste’s oppression, but now horrors run through the nest cities,
ravaging those in the undernests. The Rulers do nothing to stop it. Worse, if
we try and defend ourselves, they send in their misshapen ones and burn out nests
as a lesson to others. I have seen camera drones following the monsters around,
filming what happens.”
I nodded slowly. “That explains plenty about why you chose
to gather all you could and leave, Captain. However, it does not tell me why
you came to me.”
The Ihm paused and took a breath. “We have heard about the
exploits of the Black Star Company, and the Black Star Navy. When the former
Warleader denounced the Admiralty’s decisions following the Second Battle of
Coldana, it sent shock waves through the Imperium. When she disappeared, it was
widely thought that she had been taken and silenced by the Empress. Then, we heard
that she had joined the Black Star Navy, and had fought and won honors despite
being exiled from the Imperium, it was a second blow, especially to the Ruling
caste.”
“The Ikkae Liberation Front is all but spent. We had grown
to number over six thousand active fighters, trained and ready, but most of our
people and weapons that we have been stockpiling in preparation for our
eventual fight we were forced to use against the horrors hunting the
undernests. Now, we number only thirty. The rest died defending the tunnels, or
buying time for us to take the ships we used for smuggling weapons and load
them up with as many of the surviving families of our people that we could fit.
The four ships you see are the only ones that survived out of the ten we launched.”
“My crews and I are wanted criminals in the Imperium. Some
of us have open warrants in other areas, as well, because of our business. We don’t
want to risk being placed in a Confederate jail, or an Imperial slave camp. We’d
rather stick with those we rescued, and rebuild, so that we have a chance to
take back Ikkae, and the rest of the Imperium. Failing that, we want to
survive, so at least something of the Ihm will live through this untainted by
the Empress’s madness.”
I nodded slowly. “And you had heard that Star’s Reach and
the Black Star Company did not care who you are or what you may have done, so
long as you follow the rules within our domain. Very well, then. I can agree to
giving you Sanctuary, and allowing your group to become residents of Star’s
Reach. But you will all need to undergo testing, to prove that you have not
been corrupted by the energies of the chaotic space.”
Sirzah started to interject, but I cut her off. “Believe me
when I say that I have information on the realm the Empress forced her way into
that you do not. I know the dangers of that realm better than you, and I won’t
have any of that corruption on my world. The quarantine and testing is
non-negotiable. If you dislike it, you can get back on your ship and fly
elsewhere.”
The Captain didn’t like it, that much was obvious, but she
didn’t have to. With resignation, she nodded her head, once. I nodded in
return. “Good. Then, you have a choice before you. You and yours can either
become transient residents in one of the settlements on the surface of Star’s
Reach, which would give you the fewest restrictions, but the bare minimum of
aid from the Company beyond ensuring that your basic nutritional needs are met.
Or, you could become citizens of Star’s Reach, binding yourselves to the Black
Star Company. You would have more restrictions on what you can do, but you
would also have the Black Star company helping you rebuild.”
I paused to let her process those two options, and said, “But
I’ll warn you, the Black Star Company isn’t looking to create regime change in
different star polities for fun. We only engage in such things when we’re
attacked. This also means that we may restrict people from traveling certain
places if they look like they are going to cause trouble that will affect the
Company. So, if you are dead set on revenge, then you will want to be
transients. If, however, you want to have a place to rebuild your community,
well, citizenship has responsibilities attached to it, but it also has rights
and privileges.”
I looked from her, to the people on the ship, still watching
our conversation, and back to her. “But I’m sure you don’t want to make this
decision alone. Return to your ship, Captain. You have one week while the
engineers do a ‘structural review’ to make your decision. Of course, the sooner
a decision is made, the sooner we can start unloading those passengers and finding
proper accommodations for them. Wouldn’t want to drop citizens-to-be in a tent
city, and giving transients a taste of citizen life only to rip it away would
be cruel. So, take all the time you need, but not too much of it. I’ll be
waiting for your decision.”
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Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):
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Tales of the Void Traveler - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37
Memoirs of a Supervillain - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R9NWS8J
Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy GameLit):
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Book 1 - Welcome to the Apocalypse https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB34DHF
Omnibus 1 - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FBPF6HR
SCI Stories (Dark Supervillain story):
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Winterborn (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):
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