Oz’s stomach tightened in a knot, and he made a conscious decision that was counter to his greatest desire. A silent step placed him at the side of the man who was carrying a Violator handgun. He recognized Lucious Wheeler at the sight of his jaw line and, just like he’d seen in footage of Jacob Valance’s bounty hunting days, Oz made sure his hand was pressing down on the hilt of the other man’s sidearm before Jake could draw.
He beat him by a split second, and when Jake’s blackened visor, adorned with the blood red skull mark of the Triton boarding team, looked at him, his heart jumped. In that moment he was grateful he couldn’t see Jacob Valance’s bare face.
Ayan was more composed, and cleared her throat loudly. She couldn’t keep her eyebrows clear of a scowl, but the rest of her face was surprisingly passive. “Secure arms,” she said flatly.
“You wouldn’t want to kill a Carthan asset, now would you?” Lucious Wheeler said as he stopped at the inner door of the airlock. “Ayan, I see you’ve made some changes. Too bad you’ve lost your figure. Any chance I’ll get to meet your better half? I see his First Officer here, he can’t be far off.”
Flushing involuntarily from the barb, Ayan ignored Wheeler entirely. “Fleet Warden, this man is not to be trusted. He was an ally of Vindyne, a subsidiary of Regent Galactic. He’s also not the original Lucious Wheeler, who was killed aboard. If the original Lucious Wheeler were here, I’d advise that you arrest him, because he stole this ship from the Sol Defence fleet. He has no claim to this ship, whereas the Aucharian government recognized the Triton as a war time capture and registered it under Jacob Valance. He then made myself and Terry Ozark McPatrick Commanders under him. In his absence, legal ownership in the nearest sector falls to us.”
“I’m afraid that’s not something that will be decided here, Commander Rice.”
“They know all about all my associations, darlin’. I’ve traded my way to their side, and Triton’s a part of that sweet deal, so it’s time to hand over the command codes.”
“Making this personal won’t help anyone Wheeler,” chastised Fleet Warden Harrison. “I’m afraid he’s right, however. I’m here to take possession, and I’ll need the command codes.”
Ayan looked her straight in the eye. “Never,” she said so quietly that Oz had to strain to hear her. “You can remove us from this ship, but you’ll never get the command codes. You’ll also be rushing hundreds of people from their homes aboard this ship, people who are armed, and will be painfully aware that the Carthan government traded their home in a dirty deal with the enemy. We don’t have room for them all on the ground, and they’ll rally. They’ll gather around someone who doesn’t hesitate when it comes to fighting a corrupt government.”
“You mean Jonas Valent,” Wheeler interjected.
“I’ve never met a man by that name on this ship,” she enunciated coldly.
“You’re not getting this ship for free, either.” Her attention focused on the Fleet Warden, whose eyes had narrowed, and jaw had set. “If you’re forcing us to abandon Triton, it’s going to cost you dearly. That is, unless you’re willing to do the intelligent thing and turn this stray out. Whatever information he’s offering you is tainted, I’m certain of it.”
“The Defence Minister himself brokered this deal, Commander… Ayan. Your people are going to have to leave within the time allotted or we will use force.”
The pair locked eyes for a long moment. Oz watched them closely, keeping Wheeler, whose smile was fading slowly, in his peripheral. Jake had relaxed, and Oz let go of the man’s sidearm, trusting that his long time friend would let Ayan handle the situation.
“We’ll leave peacefully, consider it a gift. I’ll expect you to offer us a fair trade for Triton’s value.”
“Without command codes.”
“With consideration to the hardship you are forcing on her crew, the civilians we were protecting and our passengers. You’ll compensate us or we’ll take whatever I decide is fair value for this ship using other methods.”
“Was that a threat? I can have your licences and permits revoked.”
“You won’t.” Ayan said conversationally. “If you cancel all your beaurocratic strings we’ll have no reason to do anything your way. Besides, you need people like us to fight this war our way, because if you’re employing people like Wheeler, you’re going to lose.”
“They don’t owe you anything for this ship. It was never yours. Now give me the command codes,” Wheeler growled.
Ayan didn’t so much as acknowledge him. Instead she calmly stated; “I expect you to transmit your compensation proposal for the full value of this vessel by the time we land on Tamber.”
“What about renegotiating the terms of your privateering licence? I’m sure we can make some adjustments for you.” replied the Fleet Warden.
“What? These people are nothing! You can’t be considering accommodation!” Wheeler objected.
Oz watched as Ayan proved to him and everyone else there that she had passed from being an intelligent young woman to a great lady. “I expect to be vastly impressed. You had better include land grants, and don’t leave out the signing bonus.”
“I’m telling you these people are just squatters and mercenaries. I bet you Valent is right behind her. If you order them to show you their faces you can capture him and present him for trial yourselves,” Wheeler ranted.
Instead of letting her temper get the better of her she smiled, held her head high and turned back towards the Clever Dream. Her squad of guardsmen began to turn to follow her until Oz watched Jake raise his hand slowly. Instead of stopping him Oz followed his lead. Jake’s fist formed into a finger pointed at Wheeler. The thirteen other guardsmen and women followed suit, and for a long moment they all pointed at Lucious Wheeler.
“There! As if you need more evidence!” Lucious shouted.
Other crewmen and women who saw the gesture followed suit, their eyes cold. The hate was so thick in the air Oz found himself breathing more heavily, wondering if he could get a kill shot off and run for cover before the Fleet Warden’s people could return fire. Wheeler backed away until he was out of sight.
Jacob Valance led the group as they turned and followed Ayan back to the Clever Dream.
“What are our options, Jason?” Jake asked as he reached the inner leisure compartment of the Clever Dream. The false portholes brightly displayed the active hangar. The Fleet Warden and her people retreated. They were replaced by several squads of Carthan soldiers, who marched to the far end of the hangar and remained there in formation. It was a form of showing a presence, and after a few minutes no one so much as looked at them. Civilian refugees and the former slaves that were too weary to help were gathered to one side of the docking bay near the only working cargo elevator. Everywhere else you looked, people were loading equipment and supplies into crates, piling cases and bags, or working to get things into position. Paula had managed to direct what was left of her deck crew to hand crank two Uriel fighters down from the racks along the side of the hangar, leaving two more hanging near the ceiling. She and a few of her more practised deck hands were desperately trying to keep things organized.
Ayan, Jason, Laura and Minh-Chu were all gathered around the table at the centre of the lavish entertainment compartment inside the Clever Dream. The holographic display system was hard at work showing different profiles, criminal charge listings, and legal reference material. Oz was hot on Jake’s heels, the rest of the guards had remained on the lower deck of the Clever Dream, ready to mount a defence or help load supplies.
“Legally, this is a huge mess. I’ve already filed a claim on the Triton in Ayan’s name, but they’ll reject it, she didn’t have her privateering licence at the time of capture and I fulfilled my due diligence, which in this case is finding out if Sol Defence has reported the Triton stolen or issued an order for its recapture.”