Chapter 17

Sepia star system, inner system.

High orbit over Sepia.

"So?" Asked Sarah as she leaned back into her command seat.

"No luck captain. The last receiver appeared to have multiple orbits, in multiple star systems over the last year or so." Answered Elteria as she shook her head.

"Damn. That means a ship." Sarah frowned. "Oh well. How many systems?"

"6 different star systems. All within 12 astras."

"Not worth it to check them out then." She might have been able to justify checking out a single star system, even if it was most likely a ship that had left weeks ago. Maybe 2. 6? There was no way in hell she was moving her ship to investigate. Besides, their mysterious smuggler friends were unlikely to have left anything behind. "Very well. Anymore information on that promised contract from our Dominion friend?"

"Not yet. Should I, ahem, encourage them a bit?"

"No." Sarah hid a shiver. Elteria's version of 'encouraging' people she saw as trying to delay was to virtually harass them with messages and mails. Now, with a human that was annoying. A human with access to bot software was infuriating. An AI that could dance around your best bot and spam firewalls without breaking an electronic sweat? No deity could save you from that abomination. She'd seen her AI break admirals with that kind of pressure, she had no intention of unleashing Elteria on anyone that didn't firmly deserve it.

Or that hadn't pissed her off enough at least.

"We can afford to wait for a bit at least. Alright, I'll be in my quarters. If you would be so kind as to tell miss Seria to join me there at her earliest convenience?"

*****

She's learning, thought Sarah as Seria passed through the door, and took the seat the captain made a vague gesture at.

In that case, the young woman had apparently integrated that when the captain of the starship you're on tells you 'at your earliest convenience', she means you needed to be there yesterday, not in 10 minutes. That or Elteria had told her to move it this time.

"Hello Seria." Said Sarah as she put down her hot chocolate cup. "Do you know why I've called you here?"

Seria squirmed a bit, avoiding the captain's gaze.

"Your contract is over. I....I suppose you're handing me over to the authorities?"

Sarah chuckled.

"Yes and...no. Yes in that our contract is indeed complete. No in that the Sepia government will get their hands on you over my dead body."

Seria's head snapped up, and she looked at Sarah in surprise at the woman's icy, iron tone.

"W-What do you mean?"

"You saved my life. I've reviewed the recording of the fight in the palace, all of my men were too busy following their training -usually a good thing- to take my gun and actually kill that bastard. With me immobilized, there was no doubt he would have aimed for my head, and that would have been it for me. So I owe you my life. And I always repay my debts." Sarah met Seria's gaze, and the armorer slowly nodded. "Excellent. Then, after some...discussions with the system's authorities, they have agreed to pardon you...but still inflict a temporary exile. For the next 6 years, starting in 3 months, you will be banned from setting foot in the Sepia system, bar as a member of this company."

Negotiating that hadn't been that easy -their latest victory had given some of the remaining, highly unqualified generals (otherwise they would have been in the palace) a god complex-, but a little bit of subtle pressure, and to one particular idiot a direct threat of orbital bombardment had gotten the job done. A simple reminder that her ship had taken 55 Mid Verge missiles at the space equivalent of point blank range and lived had hammered the point home that she could do whatever she wanted and they wouldn't be able to stop her with their pathetic customs cutters. Some ass kicking by the governor had also been pretty helpful, as the politician had weighed in on Sarah's side as soon as the news had reached her.

Seria blinked.

"As a member of this company?"

Sarah brought up her mug and hid a smile behind it. The girl was quick indeed.

"Yes. See, miss Seria, I run a....peculiar mercenary company. As you can see, we are small in numbers, although our firepower is out of proportion compared to the size of our company." Well, for a Low Verge backwater like the Dominion and its Protectorate anyway. "That is due to several things, but one key factor is that I only recruit trusted personnel." She'd had some bad experiences with traitors....although none had survived their treachery. Not for long anyway. "That of course limits the growth of my company...and it also means that my men and women can come from the unlikeliest of places. Still, I must warn you, having been mercenary for this long means I have acquired some powerful enemies, and, well, mercenary is hardly the safest job in the universe. So, Seria Haven, would you like to join Eternal Seekers limited, my mercenary company?"

*****

"Alright, one more crew member, that makes 31 active." Said Elteria as the door closed behind a stunned looking Seria.

Sarah didn't even blink as the AI's hologram simply materialized on her desk, and took another sip from her nearly depleted hot chocolate mug.

"Yes. Although we'll have to find her an assignment."

"Ah, it'll work itself out. I'm betting engineering."

"I am not taking that one." Said Sarah, before chuckling. "Well, at least she's enough of an oddball she'll fit right in. Once some edges have been smoothed over of course."

Elteria nodded. It was always...interesting to bring in a new crew member. Not only because they almost systematically had to be retrained to Near Verge standards, but also because most of them needed a while to truly....understand the rest of the crew and it's dynamics, as well as the general attitude here. After all, out of the 31 crew members currently onboard, 21 had left the Directorate with Sarah 60 years ago, and 10 were 'locals' they'd recruited over their travels, including Seria.

She'd started her exile with 61 crew members. Out of all of those, a third had retired, and another third had died, not necessarily before retirement. They had also around 120 various retired 'locals' sprinkled around. If anything, the tenacity and loyalty of her original crew was impressive, but then again they wouldn't have followed her into this madness in the first place if they hadn't been loyal to a fault.

"Oh, by the way, I've received a message from our Dominion friend. Apparently a freighter captain would like a word with you."

Sarah's eyebrow rose. That was earlier than she'd expected, it had barely been a day and a half since her discussion with the 'totally not Dominion refueling base CO'.

"Very well. Place a call to him. Full regalia."

"Aye aye ma'am!" Elteria's hologram vanished, and Sarah straightened up as her holographic screen popped up, displaying a waiting seal as the AI probably talked the freighter's communication officer into fetching the captain.

Then brutally the screen came to life, and a bald old man with a white walrus mustache to make Bismarck die from envy appeared on her screen. Given the speed of the response, either the captain had been free -which was never truly the case for a starship captain, Sarah knew from bitter experience-, or he'd set some very high priority alarms for that particular call.

"Ah, captain Ciel-étoilé!" He said flawlessly, which was no mean feat when standard was the language of choice in most of the Verge, and few outside of historians even knew the old terran French language existed. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Greetings captain...?"

"Oh, my apologies! Captain Gries Nalvan, at your service."

"Captain Nalvan. What can I do for you?"

"Straight to the point!" The old man chuckled. "I like that. See captain, I've had a slight....issue on route to this system. My ship makes a regular trading run from this system to Adernis, passing through Calver, SSX-M-156-344-115-93, and Arion. And, unfortunately, on our way back, we were jumped by pirates in Arion. Now, my ship isn't exactly defenceless, but it's no gunship and I was forced to pay their 'passage fee'."

Sarah nodded. Contrary to what most people thought, pirates didn't go 'Arrrr!' and tried to hijack every ship they came across, space, enslave or ransom the crew, and steal everything. First because all those people you murdered or sold back to their families usually had friends and loved ones that would come after you if you did, or pull together enough money to eventually pay someone to bring them your head, but also because governments frowned upon that kind of behavior. Freighters were the lifeblood of any star system, and having it damaged could mean total economic collapse, and that meant that most star systems would do whatever was needed to rid themselves of that kind of piracy. And if it got out of hand....well, there was the Dominion navy. They were stretched thin, yes, but when you became a big enough nuisance to be noticed, well...

No pirate in Thaumor could fight off a Dominion battlecruiser.

So, instead of all the messy business of boarding ships, most pirates just...took a 'passage fee'. Usually either a flat amount of credits or a percentage of the ship's cargo. There was still the implicit threat of battle of course, and some of those pirates were outright bluffing, but most merchant captains didn't feel it was worth the risk and just paid up.

"I see. And you are afraid that they will attempt to extract that fee again?"

"More than that. Their ships were...small. Gunships, like yours. Except, well....much less advanced."

Sarah nodded once more. That meant in system ships, or 'sublight' if you stuck to the old terran nomenclature. The Dominion already had problems making a hyperspace capable corvette which wasn't just a reactor, a grav drive, a hyperdrive and a cramped habitation pod lashed together. So a bunch of pirates with, at best, access to some basic fabricators and a second rate shipyard? No way.

"Ah. So you are afraid that they are setting up shop?"

"Precisely. Their toll does not cut that deep into my profit margins, but it is still significant. Most importantly, in my experience, these kind of pirates only keep upping their fees at each passage, or ask for other...favors."

Most of those involving turning over sensor logs for reconnaissance or transporting some sealed cargo. The latter could be extremely dangerous, for obvious reasons....and the former might get a zealous prosecutor to throw you in jail or worse for having aided the pirates.

"I know the type. You want us to get rid of them."

It wasn't a question.

"Yes. Destroy their ships, and if possible whatever hole they are coming from. In any case, the contract is to escort my ship to the Adernis system for 100 kilocredits, plus 500 kilocredits for hunting down those pirates. Plus any applicable bounties of course."

Sarah hid a smile. That Dominion officer....Eolar, was it? Was a crafty bastard. Oh yes, he was finding her a contract...one that would also get her to suppress a newly born pirate gang for the Dominion. She was ready to bet the Dominion had just put up a significant bounty on those pirates in the last few hours as well.

"Of course. Very well, I accept your contract captain Gries. When do we leave?"

"We have to unload our current cargo and load a new one. That will take us approximately 4 days."

"Very well. I'll make sure my ship is ready by departure. Until then captain Gries."

The old man nodded, and Sarah cut the connection, before leaning back in her seat.

"Orders ma'am?" Simply said Elteria as her avatar reappeared on Sarah's desk.

"Tell all the crew they have 3 days of shore leave, with a minimal watch rotation onboard, you'll have to work out the schedule. Make sure to include me and yourself in it, we all need some R&R. The SLF is probably dead, but I don't want to take risks, especially not with the Silver Syndicate after our asses." Although them having any assets in such backwater would be highly improbable, and sneaking more in with the witch hunt the government had launched to purge SLF sympathizers would have been impossible. "So buddy system, no one goes anywhere alone." If nothing else, her crew was tightly knit together, everybody had someone to serve as their drinking companion/wingman if need be.

"Does that include you captain?" Said Elteria sweetly as she leaned forward, and Sarah silently cursed.

"Well, I was thinking..."

"That you were the one that had gotten attacked, and thus would definitely need more security, correct? Of course! I'll make sure to tell Hector to attach one of his marines to you as your personal security detail ma'am."

Sarah opened her mouth, met the AI's gaze...and closed it. There were some battles she knew she wouldn't win. Besides, the AI was right, even if she was being a pain in the ass.

"Alright, fine." Elteria straightened back up with a smug smile, and Sarah held up a finger. "But you're coming down too, and not just as a hologram. So better get your android back into gear, because if you want to be that much of a killjoy I will drag you on a bar tour with me."

Elteria's expression was very, very much worth having a babysitter for the next 3 days, if nothing else.