Stebbs was beyond livid. The artillery he had gathered up, the fuel, the ammo and a decent potion of his compound… All of it was now either heavily damaged or outright destroyed. He was absolutely furious that the damned rebels would dare use the weapons he had obtained against him. How dare those insufferable soon-to-be slaves and corpses use the Aerosolized Incendiary RPGs his dumbass stooges had left behind in such a way?!

As if a rocket barrage wasn’t bad enough, those rockets were not simply single explosives. No, he was absolutely sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that those rockets had been carrying submunitions. It was the only logical way that so much damage could be done so quickly! His precious vehicles, the arty, and so many of his vintage War Suit husks; all but a handful showed the clear signs of being exposed to heat hot enough to render them either damaged to the point of needing extensive repairs and replacement parts or simply irreparably destroyed.

This… this meant WAR! So what if he had to fight on the front lines? So what if he had to risk his beautiful gold-plated baby? He was fed up, and now he needed, yes, he needed to make those damn fuckwits pay!

As he stewed in his fury, he noticed that a comms console was blinking. It wasn’t a terrestrial call, so it was obviously important, but who in the galaxy would bother him now of all times? Stebbs pressed the ‘open connection’ button so hard he almost sprained his finger.

“What in the god damn hell do you want?!” he snarled, but quickly he changed his tune and appearance.

“I see that things have not gone according to plan.”

Stebbs gulped audibly and lowered his gaze from the hologram that was standing on the table.

“W-well… things have... well….”

“Go on.” Said the person on the other end, fully relishing the humiliation and fear that Stebbs was feeling. “What exactly is the issue? You do know that I have a reason to call you, don’t you? Care to hazard the slightest of guesses as to why?”

Stebbs was sweating bullets and, if the other person was in the same room as him, the growing stench of body odor would have either made them angry or perhaps simply driven them to toy with their pawn ever more viciously.

“Oh-ho? Not even a slim glimmer of any knowledge?” the holographic figure said mockingly as it bent down and tried to look Stebbs in the face. “Then, as your master I will find it within my most magnanimous heart to tell you.”

Stebbs’ eyes darted between the floor and the ‘off’ button on the comms station. Part of him wanted to simply cut the call and then not pick up until after he had dealt with the problem, but another part of him knew that, if he did, he would simply be facing a rather drawn out and painful end regardless of whether he succeeded or not.

“Not, sitting on my desk is a bit of intelligence that states that, according to the Colonial Authority, you’ve been a very naughty boy. Now, we both know that you had your reasons, not to mention your connections, and as a result you may soon become a… well, let’s say a ‘liability’. We can’t have that, now can we? Neither of us can have that, no?”

Stebbs slightly shook his head but still kept his gaze locked on the shag carpet.

“Just so you know, I’ve pulled a handful of strings and, thankfully for the both of us, my people will be coming to help you deal with things. They should arrive in a few days, maybe weeks, but either way I will get a full picture of how badly things have gone. If, by some strange cosmic miracle, you do manage to deal with the issues at hand before my lovely little ‘personnel acquisition experts’ arrive to sift through the mess you’ve made, all will be forgiven. Mostly.”

“Oh, thank you, ma’am! Thank you! I swear that I will-!”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU GOD DAMNDED BACKWOODS HILL BILLY FUCKWAD! DID I FUCKING TELL YOU TO TALK YET?! NO?! THEN KEEP YOUR FILTHY BACKWATER REDNECK SHITHOLE MOUTH CLAMPED TIGHT OR I WILL MAKE SURE IT NEVER OPENS AGAIN!”

The outburst was enough to drop the Mayor to the ground and have him keeping his nose to the floor.

“Haaaaaaaah….” The woman on the other end exhaled as she let her volatile mood settle a bit. “Now, as I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me. IF by some random roll of the dice you manage to clean up your mess, either by capturing everyone or killing them, then we will be able to see that you have a better fate than most. You have only a few days, at minimum, until my merry band of, let’s call them ‘headhunters’ arrive. Be quick about things, little boy. It would be a shame to see you come back to my ‘school’, now wouldn’t it? I’m sure we here in the Empire taught you how things are, but if we need to teach a wayward spacer like yourself another few lessons, then so be it.”

Stebbs said nothing and simply shivered in fear.

“Oh, yes. One bit of information you might want to know. We know where your son is, and we will have him dealt with. Either by our hands, or by yours. Ciao for now!”

Although the connection was severed, Stebbs was roused enough to look up as the hologram flickered out. He didn’t know he had a son! He thought that Mary-Sue-Jane-Francine had died days after he left this place for the thrill of space! But what did that monster mean when she told him that his son would be dealt with either by their hands or by his own? Could it be that… No, it didn’t make sense for that to be the case. He was absolutely sure that his former fiancé had died before even conceiving; she said she was on the pill, after all! But if the witch was telling the truth….

“Oh, my darling… I shouldn’t’ve left you…”