“Jean, we have secured everyone from the incoming ship. It took a little longer than expected, but they eventually handed themselves over.” Mik’t said over the radio after the last incoming guard was restrained. After the crew voluntarily bound themselves, the guards and marines tried to break through the door for another hour and a half before giving up. With nearly half the normal atmosphere, their attempts to escape were mostly halfhearted token efforts that ended in disappointment.

  “Good. Get them on the shuttle and start ferrying them down here. Someone will meet the shuttle pilot at the hangar for the handoff.” The pirate king replied over the radio. “Based on the numbers, I’m guessing what, two trips down?”

  “Yes, though we can keep some up here for a while if need be. With the prisoner shackles on, they are harmless to us.”

  “Do what needs to be done. Have you sent anyone onto the cruiser yet?” Jean was clearly worried about the state of the ship. If the ship was locked down or suffered damage, raiding transport vessels for food and other supplies would become much harder for them.

  “Not yet, we were waiting for your ok. I figured you wanted Rodney or Monique to oversee things.” Mik’t replied, typing out an order to the group of Scaladorians loyal to Jean.

  “We trust you. Let us know what modifications need to be made for raids. If we have the parts, we can start having it retrofitted. If not, we can make sure a ship with the proper parts is first on our list.”

  “Thank you. We will begin now.” Mik’t replied, turning off the radio and walking toward the door with his stinger in hand. He worked his way down the hall, toward the cargo bay where the newly branded prisoners waited for their captor.

  “How are they handling things?” He asked a Scaladorian pirate that stood outside the door.

  “About as well as they can. Considering what just happened, I would be surprised if they truly grasp the situation.”

  “Why so?”

  “Because the Stygibora do a wonderful job at cleaning up problems before they can grow too large. There was a small outbreak of organized crime near my neighborhood about a year ago. Once they became a real problem instead of just an annoyance, they disappeared.” The door guard explained.

  “I heard about that one. I don’t think they’ll be so quick to move on Narax, though. The planet is far too valuable to bombard, and we have the planetary defenses under our control.” Mik’t replied.

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  “I’m already in this. You don’t need to convince me of anything. I want to see the Stygibora fall just as much as you do. What I’m saying is the group in there is unlikely to be afraid of us just because we caught them.”

  He was right. If Jean’s only plan for their fledgling free world was to break free of control and remain stagnate, it would fail. Luckily, there were many more steps in this process, and this was just the beginning.

  “It’s a good thing we have plans, and if things keep going well, we will have an army.” Mik’t put a hand against the door control unit and waited for it to open. Inside, a large group of Scalador stared at him with hatred in their eyes. At their head, the officer that had tried to defy Jean’s will spat an unending stream of curses.

  The Scaladorian pirate ignored Took’Sar, walking through the crowd and stopping in front of the sailor who’d bound the officer in the first place. With a chitinous hand, he helped the bound crewman to his feet and led him into the hall. Mik’t nodded again at the door guard, and he sealed it shut with a quick motion, cutting off the stream of curses from Captain Took’Sar.

  “What made you do it?” Mik’t asked, handing the sailor a cup of warm liquid. He’d taken the man to a breakroom down the hallway and loosened his bindings enough to be comfortable.

  The sailor took a long time to respond. When he did, he stared into the steam coming off of his drink as he spoke. “Took’Sar is a monster. He took the position on the cruiser to fast track his career. Unfortunately for us, he quickly found out that it was a dead end and has been stuck there position for quite some time.”

  “I’ve sailed with Took’Sar before. He was always a stickler for the rules, but he never seemed like a monster.”

  “That’s because you didn’t serve with him for an extended time. With Gravitrum supplies as low as they are, we can’t hyperjump as often or as far. So, we’re stuck in the black with nothing to do besides being berated by a very petty man.”

  “So you’d turn your back on him?”

  “I only had one more trip with him. Once I put it together that you would never let us free, I decided to comply.” The sailor said, taking a sip of his drink.

  “I’m sorry that it has to be this way. We needed the ship to survive out here. Sadly, this just happens to be the day we sprung our trap,” Mik’t said, pouring himself a cup of the warm drink.

  “It was a good trap, but it would have failed under any other commander.”

  “I figured that one out. Without him pulling everyone out for an accountability formation, there would’ve been sailors still on board.” Mik’t replied, acknowledging the luck. “But that is neither here nor there. I have some information that will change the way you see the Empire. It was a shock to me, but something tells me you’ll be perfectly capable of digesting it.”

  “Why am I the only one getting it?”

  Mik’t looked the sailor up and down, deciding how much he would reveal in that moment. “The others will get this information as well, but you seem capable of rationalizing the world around you. What is your name?”

  “I’m Specialist Soms’k of the Life Support corps.” The technician said, putting down the cup and lacing his four hands together in front of him.

  “Well then, Soms’k, you need to sit back and listen, because everything you know is a lie.”