The Pegasai Saga Part II
20 Jul 2016Jellicoe
With the woman gone I returned to studying the bar, Lieutenant Soames and his men who had made just as bad a job of blending in as I had were sat in a nearby booth making a passable job of looking like drunken ships crew enjoying their downtime, the rest of the bar was given over to the kind of alcoholic and narcotic fuelled excess that is typical of anywhere with no higher law than the gun, though here and there mean looking men sat alone, clearly unintoxicated and watchful. My conversation with the pirate woman showed we were being watched but that did not surprise me; a gunned up Anaconda that clearly hadn’t arrived to trade had that effect and in a region where suspicion kept you alive they would inevitably keep an eye on us. I had considered the wisdom of coming here at all, but I liked to get the measure of my enemies before I started shooting at them. I also wanted to get a feel for this Black Omega cartel, all I knew was what was in the briefing Admiral Craddock had sent me and it wasn’t much, they were relatively new, were aggressively expanding their territory and by all accounts were exceptionally ruthless, indeed during my short time on the station I had noticed even hardened pirates shrink back from anyone wearing their distinctive tattoos as they swaggered through the dingy bars or dark rubbish strewn streets. They were also unusual in that one of their leaders was a young woman and while this was not unknown it was rare in the violent, machismo fuelled world of the Pegasai and I wondered just what kind of woman would it take to cow these brutes.
Presently I had seen enough and we returned to the ship, while I always thought it helped me to see the kind of people I would fight at first hand the most useful data would be what the microdrones had collected and it was that which I used to plan our campaign. I decided to ignore the shipping lanes as too dangerous and instead to target the enemy in the mining zones, constantly changing our hunting ground to make us hard to track. There are many in the navy, both regular and auxiliary who look down their noses at the combat skills of pirates and certainly in an open battle they are rarely a match for the professionals, but in their own element they can be deadly and only a fool would underestimate them on their own turf, fortunately their turf was also my turf. I had made more money than I could remember hunting in extraction sites just like these and I was very good.
I played to my strengths, I avoided the more powerful wings and targeted the stragglers and loners, my kill tally of Black Omega grew and so did the bounty pay outs. I knew I had no chance of breaking their grip on the system but that was not my objective, the mission was to send a message and around three million credits worth in bounties was a good start.
We had docked at the Sladek Ring in Nuen to re-arm and for routine maintenance, I was taking a risk as the Black Omega were strong here but law still ran for the most part and a short stop off should be okay. I had just left the docking bay to take a quick look at the state of things on the station when I felt the unmistakable sensation of the muzzle of a pistol being pressed into the small of my back.
“Keep walking, don’t do anything stupid, keep your hands where I can see them and go through the door that’s about to open on your left.” Said a low, quiet voice from just behind me. “And just in case you fancy your chances there are two other guns on you and believe me nobody will ask any questions.” I did as I was bade and sure enough after a few paces a door opened and I walked into one of the rooms rented by the hour to dockworkers wanting to catch some sleep between shifts but more frequently used to take a professional companion.
“You could have just asked me out on a date.”
“Sit on the bed and put your hands on your head. Slowly.” He ordered ignoring my attempted witticism. “Now Mr Jellicoe you can start by telling me just what the fuck you think you’re doing in Tjakiri?”
“You’ve got the wrong man mate, names Drake, just looking for somewhere to lie low for a bit.”
I heard the high pitched buzz of the laser pistol being set to full power. “Try again Mr Jellicoe and if you lie to me this time any brains you do have will be scorched across that bulkhead behind you.”
“I’m a bounty hunter and the profits here are…” I was cut short by the shrill whistle of a laser blast going a fraction of an inch past the side of my head.”
“Last chance.”
“I’m here on a mission for the Federal Navy.”
“That’s more like it.” He said with a knowing smirk. “Craddocks orders I presume? Take the Black Omega down a peg or two for their attack on Reed Mine? Admiral Craddock should stick to what he’s good at and leave the thinking to others, and you should be very greatful I’ve developed a very good personal relationship with the Black Omega else you’d be having this conversation with some of their people and you’d be making a lot more noise. Kal Hogan by the way, station chief Federal Intelligence and your idiotic attacks have forced me to break cover to get you and the Federation out of a lot of shit. Welcome to the Pegasai Rear Admiral, things work a little differently here." It was at that moment that the door to the room blew open, a stun grenade was hurled through it and four masked men followed with pistols drawn.
"Down. Down. Down. Drop the gun. Drop the gun." I heard a familiar voice shout despite my disorientation.
I recovered to see Marine Budd covering Hogan with his pistol, two others guarding the door And Lieutenant Soames leaning over me. I groggily stood up.
"As you can see Mr Hogan, I always have an insurance policy. Now unless you've gone native would you mind explaining to me why I should stop blasting this Black Omega to kingdom come?"
Hogan took a long, deep breath then slowly exhaled. "Who invaded the Pegasai last year?"
"Patreus, the Empire."
"And what happened?"
"They got bogged down in an unwinable slog."
"And how did that happen? How did a rag tag gaggle of pirate clans get the hardware to take on the Imperial fleet?"
My stomach lurched as I had a very unpleasant thought. "We were supplying them?"
"Exactly, we were supplying them. Federal taxpayers kept the Empire out of the Pegasai as much as Delaine or the rest. We have no interest in this shit hole but we can't let the Imps get their hands on it so we need strong local organisations who can do the actual fighting and Black Omega might be a vicious bunch of cut throats but they'll never bow the knee to the Empire so we swallow the odd attack on a minor base in a backwater system most of Congress or the Admiralty have never even heard of to create a reliable bullwork against the Imps. Christ knows what Craddock's playing at because this is right from the top, this data stick will confirm it."
I looked at him long and hard. "If this is true I'd better report back to HQ."
Hogan gave a sarcastic laugh. "Hold your horses hotshot. You've just thrown a fuck off big spanner in a lot of hard work, and now you're going to put it right. Until further notice you work for me, and that means you damned well help the Black Omega." I checked the stick and sure enough Hogan was indeed telling the complete, unvarnished truth, this was from the Presidents office itself, and my orders came direct from the Chief of Staff. "Now give me that stick back, obviously it can't be allowed to fall into the wrong hands."
"By the 'wrong hands' I presume you mean the Federal public?"
"Of course." Hogan replied as he destroyed the stick. "Now get on your way, I'll be in touch." He grinned wolfishly.
Back on the Warspite I sat in the pilots chair and began prepping for launch, the routine doing little to improve my mood. Claude my first officer looked across.
"Very odd message came through just before you got back skipper."
"Yeah?" I grunted.
"From someone called Mara Morgan, welcoming us to this neck of the woods but advising us to be careful who we work for. Any idea what it's about?"
I had a feeling I knew exactly what it meant, and I doubted it would like it one bit.