Chapter 31

Hyperspace.

On route to the Stuggart system.

"Over your fear of hyperspace yet?" Said Sarah as she poured a measure of whiskey in both of their glasses.

Seria shook her head, accepting the glass Sarah extended to her, and leaned back in the chair in front of the captain's desk.

"It's not fear, just...surprise. None of you warned me we'd been doing a 10 days long, 3 000 astras jump! That's just..."

"A good old prank?"

"And shouldn't have been possible!"

Sarah chuckled.

"A lot of what the Seeker can do is flatly impossible by the Dominion's standards." There was no need to stress out the girl by telling her that going about 3 000 astras in a single jump was a bit much, even for the Eternal Seeker's hyperdrive. It wasn't dangerous per say, but it did mean that not making another jump for a few days as the engineering team went over the entire drive would be highly advisable.

"Fair enough, I guess..." The armorer raised her glass, took a sip, blinked, and then downed her entire glass. "That's...Very good."

"Well, when you're the captain, you can afford the good stuff."

"Right." Seria smiled, and Sarah smiled back.

If anyone had asked her why she was having a drink with their most junior member, she would have told them it was a matter of checking up on her and making sure she felt at home. Hell, at some point it would have been true. But not...anymore.

There was something with this young woman. Something that she couldn't pin down. Her love of learning maybe, or perhaps just the way she approached everyone around her like equals. Respectfully of course, but she just wasn't in awe of her like other recruits, and at the same time she didn't have the old ties and bonds of loyalty her old crew had with her.

She was just...refreshing to be around, and to no one's greater surprise than her own, Sarah was finding herself enjoying the armorer's company more and more. Even Elteria seemed to like hanging around her, and the AI didn't take to people easily.

"So, found a division of the ship to attach yourself to already?"

"Actually...I talked about it with Hector and Turral, and they proposed that I act as some form of liaison between the marines and engineering. As, well, an armorer of sorts."

Sarah chuckled.

"Well that was your old job's description. Working for the marines or engineering as needed?"

"Yep. Plus it's pretty clear the marines lack any form of true technological support in the field, and I might be able to supply that." Sarah frowned, and Elteria put up her hands in her haste. "Hector was very clear that I won't be accompanying them bar an emergency without power armor. Turral has taken my measurements as well. They said they'll try to acquire me a light suit once we're on Stuggart."

"Right." Sarah nodded. "That's fair enough. Very well, once you have the armor lined up send me the invoice, I'll cover the price."

"Really? They said it'd probably have to come out of my share. Speaking of which..."

Yes, there is a share system. We're mercenaries, not a military." Sarah smiled. "I'm surprised it took you that long to ask."

"It seemed...impolite."

"You're a mercenary kid. You do things only if you get paid."

"I figured you guys wouldn't try to screw me over."

"And fortunately for you we indeed are that trustworthy." At least towards each other. "But if you ever change to another mercenary company, remember that they probably won't be as generous."

Seria smiled.

"Unless you want to kick me out, I don't expect to leave this company in any other way that retiring or in a body bag."

Sarah winced, but nodded. Her peculiar way of recruiting crew members meant that they were unusually loyal, and a surprisingly small number left without retiring from the mercenary business altogether. Well, at least the action part of the mercenary business, a good portion of her administrative staff in the offices on Stuggart was made up of 'retired' members of her crew.

"Well, let's hope you'll get a happy, fat retirement then."

"Right. So, my share?"

"Alright. We're using a very...pirate style split of our payments and loot. 60% goes to the company, either for ship maintenance, new equipment, investment, ect. 20% go to the captain, which pretty much means that I reinvest everything into the company, except some personal funds. Then another 10% for the officers, and 10% for the crew. Those are split by shares, you get 1 share as a normal crewmember, then another share for every decade of service with the company, plus one share if you are considered critical, which basically means Elteria, Turral and Hector."

"O...kay? Which means what in my case?"

Sarah pulled up the records, and quickly scanned through them.

"Alright, so we have 18 non officers on board." Which was mainly because of her 9 strong group of 'bridge officers', who got the raise more or less because they were expected to take on the bridge watch cycles and the grueling exercises associated with the mandatory qualification of being able to run the Eternal Seeker should something happen to everyone else on the bridge. "The average is 3 decades of service. That's roughly four shares per person, 1 for you. That means...1.44 percent of the crew share for you."

"Oh." Seria seemed to deflate a bit.

"Which, with the payments we have received from the job on Sepia, and the one in Arion, totals to...496.8 kilocredits."

Seria's jaw dropped.

"W-Wha-What?"

"Well, the job on Sepia netted us 195 megacredits, the one in Arion 150." Although the latter was mostly because they had capture two whole gunships intact, and fully functional, with even their missile magazines almost full. "That's 345 megacredits."

"That's..."

"A lot, I know, but we do this job because for all of the risks involved, it is high reward."

"So...I have that on my bank account?"

"Of course not! There's your salary on top of that. 3 kilocredits per month is our starting salary. Since I counted your salary from the start of your help on Sepia, you already have 2 months waiting for you on your account. So you have a bit more than half a megacredit on your account."

Seria chuckled, her eyes slightly glazed over.

"Damn, I...Well..."

"Oh, and that doesn't include the Divinium we found."

"Right. That would be worth...?"

"I have no idea. But we won't be splitting it until we have some clue of where it's coming from. And if you want my advice...don't sell it. Divinium is more valuable as a currency that the Dominion's credits. Either keep it safe -don't worry we have secure vaults on a number of planets-, or trade it for high tech stuff. And I mean like Near Verge tech."

"R-Right. Of course. Speaking of which, I was curious, what happens if I don't know what to do with my money?"

"We have a bunch of investment programs for that. Believe me, however rich you think most people on this ship are, you are probably underestimating it."

"I...can most definitely believe that."

"Good! Admitting your limits is always a good thing. Now, I heard Cindy drafted you for some maintenance operations, I take it she's recovering well?"

*****

"Hyperspace emergence in 3...2...1...Emergence!"

Sarah leaned forward slightly as the display blanked out, the flash from their emergence into realspace blinding their sensors for a few precious seconds.

"Status?" She asked Elteria as the AI's hologram materialized on the bridge.

"We have arrived in our jump zone, less than 300 meters from the center." The AI nodded at the display as it started swarming with icons. "Detecting...3 defence platforms surrounding the beacon, and a thousand plus ships within missile range, a hundred or so within laser range." The AI shook her head. "I'm sorry captain, I can't resolve it more than that. It's a mess, even more than usual."

Sarah winced.

"The little rebellions everywhere must be good for business. Everyone has to be running back her for refits and resupply between juicy contracts from either side."

"Probably."

"Ma'am! We have a communication request from traffic control!"

Sarah took a deep breath, and steeled herself, while Elteria placed herself slightly behind her seat and took a neutral expression.

"Put her through."

"Yes ma'am!" After so many visits to Stuggart, Connie didn't need precised who the 'her' was.

A second later, the display wavered and was replaced by a proper, fully 3D hologram of a woman. She was taller than either Elteria or Sarah, although smaller than Seria, and she looked resplendescant in her black and gold Stuggart system defence force uniform.

"Eternal Seeker. Welcome back to Stuggart."

Sarah hid a sigh, and smiled at the hologram.

"Hello to you too Aura. How's your day going?"

The AI, who served as the head of traffic control for the Stuggart system, and more or less ran it's entire military, looked down at Sarah like she was some sort of insect.

"Hello...Sarah. It's...good to see you. My day is going well, yours?"

The AI sounded like the words had been torn from her body with a red hot set of metal pincers, and Sarah sighed.

"Look, Aura I don't really have time for the pleasantries."

"Of course you don't." The AI didn't snarl but it was a near thing. "Again passing by to lick your wounds."

Sarah's eyes lit up with fire, and she started raising up, opening her mouth, before freezing as Elteria's arm filled her vision as she stopped her.

"Aura, please, we're here looking for sanctuary and information."

The AI on the display sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Alright, sorry. I...lost my temper." The AI looked at Sarah, and the captain's fury died as she saw the tiredness and bone deep weariness in the officer's tone. "If I have offended you, I sincerely apologize, you know it's...hard."

"I know, and I'm sorry."

Aura nodded, and looked at Elteria.

"Hey honey. Welcome home!"

Elteria smiled at her lover.

"It's good to be home love. Sorry to pop in unannounced, we had a bit of a situation."

"You're always welcome here. I might have my...reservations about your captain, but you and yours are always welcome here."

"Thank you. We all appreciate that."

"You better." Said the AI jokingly, before sighing. "Look, I know you booked a secure berth. Do I even want to know who is after you?"

Elteria looked at Sarah, who nodded.

"The Silver Syndicate."

Aura blinked.

"The Silv...seriously? Didn't you work for these guys?"

"Yes. Right up until we had a...different with one of their leaders. We ended up....putting an abrupt end to his career."

"I see...wait. Wait. Are you the ones that killed Carmichael?"

Elteria blinked, clearly taken aback.

"Well...yes, actually, how did you know that?"

Aura smiled. That smile was both beaming and wolfish on a level rivaling Sarah's best.

"I'd heard rumors of what that scumbag had been doing for years. I tried conducting my own investigations, but I couldn't find shit. Then a few days ago a small Dominion task force arrives, and calls me for a meeting. They told me a mercenary had offed the bastard and given them enough evidence and contacts to rip out his entire network." The AI shook her head. "Look, I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of commanding the defence force, but...seeing those kids as my men pulled them out of their cages and sending their captors to a firing squad?"

"That I am proud of."

Aura turned towards Sarah.

"Knowing your temper, and from what the Dominion's guys told me, you're the one that made this possible?" Sarah quietly nodded, and then her eyes went wide as Aura slammed her hand against her heart and bowed her head. "Then you have my most sincere thanks, and that of my whole world. Thanks you the galaxy is a better place. Not by much perhaps, but...better."

Sarah nodded, and smiled back as the AI bestowed upon her the only truly warm smile she'd seen sent her way in, oh, a good decade. Ever since she'd gotten with Elteria and started hating her for taking her lover away on potentially lethal missions.

"That's good to hear. I was running from the Syndicate, so I didn't get any news on how the Dominion was doing on following up those contact lists."

"Oh, you wouldn't have heard news anyway. They're being sneaky as hell, and trying to keep this on the hush as much as possible. I'm not even sure the Syndicate itself is aware yet that their little slave ring is getting ripped apart at the business end of a laser rifle. Unsurprising really, given how the galaxy is going to shit right now. But it's also going to be their downfall. Once the Dominion wraps up the supply chain and gets to the...'clients'." That one word carried enough venom to kill an elephant, and Sarah nodded as she saw the cold hatred in the AI's eyes. After all the same one was burning inside hers. "They won't even know what hit them."

Sarah winced.

"Don't underestimate the Syndicate. They might be scumbags but they didn't survive this long by being idiots."

"No, they survived this long because they're loyal. The big hats of the syndicate were always patriots to the Dominion, and the authorities turned more of a blind eye because of their help during the civil war. How else do you think they were able to expand this much afterwards? But no amount of loyalty can justify this abomination. Nothing can. And I wouldn't worry too much about them slipping out, those Dominion officers had some of their commandos with them."

Sarah's eyes went wide. Dominion commandos? They sent fucking commandos?

The term could have a lot of different meanings, but...like most military terms, virtually every nation used the one coined by the Empire of Mara. And Imperial commandos were...terrifying. The best soldiers drawn from the best military in existence, their reputation was so legendary entire armies had surrendered when they took the field.

Dominion commandos had a somewhat less inflated reputation of course, but...well, her people were good, but that was the product of decades of experience, superior technology and their incredible coordination thanks to their service time together and their total and absolute trust in each other.

The Dominion commandos had the former and the latter....and were the best of the best of an empire spanning 30 million worlds, the result of one of the most brutal selection process and training programs she'd ever seen. Even Hector respected them, and he'd fought Atlantean special forces back in the day.

Sarah gulped.

"That...You're right, they don't stand a chance."

"Indeed they don't. Well, it's been fun chatting with you, but I have other duties to attend to. I've forwarded you a course to your berth. You're cleared to proceed into the inner system. If you'd be so inclined, would you two like to join me for dinner?" Aura looked at Sarah and Elteria. "I know I'm not the best judge at cuisine, but I have been told our chef at our administrative headquarters is most excellent."

Sarah blinked, surprise, before looking at Elteria, who slightly nodded, and turned back towards Aura's hologram.

"Of course, it would be our pleasure."

"Very well then! See you this evening!"

The hologram disappeared, and Sarah shook her head.

"Well, that was unexpected."

"Her reaction or her knowing about what happened in the first place?"

"The latter. I always knew her heart was in the right place, even if she could be a raging bitch when she wanted to."

Elteria winced, but didn't retort, and Sarah sighed.

"Alright, take us in, flank speed. Let's get down onto that secure berth. And Elteria?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"Start contacting our usual suppliers, and book us an invite for Old Joe's."

"Aye aye ma'am!"

Sarah leaned back into her seat, and wondered how many of the ships she could see on the display contained mercenaries or bounty hunters that would pounce on her the second they heard of the Syndicate's bounty.

She abandoned that train of thought barely a second after starting it. The answer was: far, far too many for her peace of mind.

Well, she had booked a secure berth and was already inbound. She'd just have to ask Hector to beef up security in his own way -which if Sally was put in charge would most definitely involve a lot of explosives-, and hope for the best.