Chapter 63: Book 1 Epilogue

A third pirate ship jumped into the system. Much like the previous two who had arrived a few hours earlier, it was venting atmosphere, but to a lesser degree.The Epsilon's Dawn watched all this through its passive scanners, the same as it had when the fifteen-strong pirate fleet had been here a week ago. None of the ships had ever detected its presence in the system. It wouldn't have been a very good experimental covert ops ship if it had been detected.

"Sir, the three ships are finally moving to cross the system."

Vitor quirked an eyebrow at that. "Only the three? I wonder what our friends ran into? Wait for them to get deeper into the system's gravity and then set an intercept course. I want to find out first hand." If there was a new threat out here, he needed to report it to the Navy command.

The chase was rather anticlimactic from the Dawn's perspective. Three shots from the ship laser disabled the fleeing pirate vessels before they even realized they were being followed. It could have been pure luck, but Vitor guessed the ships were short-staffed.

***

"Come in," Admiral Clemont spoke as a knock came at his door.

Vice Admiral Fletcher, the head of Navy Intelligence poked his head in. "Do you have time for a report, Admiral?"

Clemont cleared the work from his terminal and waved the man in. "I assume it's important if you came personally?"

"It could be. Our AI analysis hasn't determined if it requires action yet or not. Do you remember Project Cobalt?" S~eaʀᴄh the NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Clemont had to think for a minute. The Navy had thousands of projects going on at any given time and he couldn't remember all the code names. But this one did ring a bell. "The stealth ship made from recovered alien tech? I thought they mothballed that project over a decade ago because of the difficulty and cost of producing the elemental carbon that made up the exterior?"

"Officially, it was," the man stated.

Clemont grunted. "Let me guess, it went into the black ops budget?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny that," Fletcher shrugged.

"Fine, it's your ass on the line if they do a budget review. What of your non-existent ship?"

"We deployed a ship for testing about a month ago from Varlen. The initial deployment was supposed to be just a shakedown test, but they jumped into a system that had a buildup of pirates. The Captain of the Epsilon's Dawn decided to shadow the group of fifteen ships inside the system to see what they were up to. We believe the lead ship belonged to Arkonis Anazi."

"As if his bastard brother wasn't a big enough headache with him capturing stations and systems. Is this a prelude to another incursion?" Clemont asked.

"I don't believe so, Sir. The report I got this morning says the pirates jumped out of the system heading farther from STO space. It's not unheard of for pirates to do that to skirt our border patrols, but they were already three systems out. And you don't normally see fifteen pirate ships together unless they are raiding something big."

"Raiding something? What's even out there?"

"Nothing but a few leftovers from the Expansion. We thought maybe they ran into the Shican, but the pirates my people captured claimed they assaulted a planet and were driven off by a large ship and planetary defenses."

"Someone's building an outpost beyond the rim?" That seemed like a foolish venture, but every few decades, someone got it into their mind to strike out on their own. Most either came crawling back or never returned.

"I believe so. Varlen reported that a mercenary company by the name of the Hawks of Ganos was contracted a little over nine months ago. They were seen escorting a small freighter by the name of the Zephyr. That freighter and the Hawks' scout ships have been seen multiple times since then in Varlen. It's pretty obvious that the gunships were keeping the route from Varlen to this Y6X-3H2 system clear for transport. An Alexander Kane purchased the old research facility on Eden's End, formerly known as Y6X-3H2-4 so they must have deep pockets."

Clemont frowned and pulled up the system, flicking it over to the holo display so he could get a better idea of its location. He zoomed in on the display until it showed the system along with the edge of where STO space ended. "That system is almost two weeks travel outside of our border. Is it possible this person is funding one of the other pirate families? Maybe the Anazi clan decided to cut them off before they could get started?"

"It's possible, but unlikely," Fletcher noted. "The Hawks would have followed STO mandate for pirates. They are the premier mercenary company for Ganos so I doubt they would risk their reputation by doing anything illegal."

"If they are so important to Ganos, why are they still out there? Surely they got recalled when the planetary governor started crying about the pirates at his border. As if there weren't ten systems between him and the systems the pirates attacked." Clemont shook his head.

"They were, according to the Qcomm messages we intercepted. It seems like their original six-month deployment was extended before the recall order. They should have passed through Varlen a few days ago but they didn't. The pirate attack could certainly explain their delay."

"What do we know of… what did you say his name was?"

"Alexander Kane."

"Yes, what do we know of him?"

"Nothing. His background is a complete fabrication. I didn't even need the AI to tell me that. There was some issue between him and Omni, but Omni ordered all records to that deal sealed. The only other information we have is that he adopted a little girl from Petrov Station around eleven months ago and then left the station shortly after."

"I don't like it," Clemont stated as he sat back in his seat. "Kane may not be a pirate, but Petrov station fell to Harlow around the same time. And now this man is attacked by Harlow's younger brother even though he relocated to the opposite end of STO space? That is no coincidence. They want this man, why?"

"We're not sure. The AI doesn't have enough information to produce an answer."

"Get it," Clemont ordred. "Put the Epsilon's Dawn to use and find out why the largest pirate family wants Kane."

***

Harlow was in a foul mood for a variety of reasons. The first was that his push into STO space had been stalled for the last few months. There had been a few skirmishes between his fleets and the STO, but the battles had been rather even since the STO Navy had reinforced their fleets with newer ships.

That wouldn't last long, soon his first real warships would be coming off the secret shipyard he had built. Those ships wouldn't be deployed to the front right away though. He needed to consolidate his power among the family and finally take control of all the pirates from Haven. Once that was done, he could triple his fleet size and start hammering the STO fleets back.

That just left his other problem. His bastard brother Arkonis had yet to contact him. He should have been back by now. Harlow reached out to his spies on the other pirate worlds and outposts, but they reported no sign of his brother. "If that scum-sucking shit ran off with my prize, I'll scour the fucking galaxy until I find him, then I'll flay him alive and string him up as a warning to others not to fuck with me!" he cursed. Arkonis running to one of his hideouts was a definite possibility if his brother had learned about how useful Kane could be.

His guards didn't comment on his outburst. They knew better. It had only taken a few removed tongues until the rest learned to keep their mouths shut, but they learned.

While Harlow would love nothing better than to chase his brother down personally, he had more pressing matters to deal with. He flicked through his comm and brought up a contact.

"What do you want?" the haggard voice on the other end responded.

"Get your ass up, I have a job for you."

There was a grunt from the other end. "Ten million, non-negotiable. And I want my payment upfront, Harlow."

"Fine, but if you fuck this up or think of running, I'll come find you myself, Dalton."

"Whatever. What's the job?"

"Find my brother Arkonis. If he's still alive, find out what he did with a man named Alexander Kane. If my brother is dead, find Kane and bring him to me alive."

"Is that all?" the man asked in annoyance.

"The information on his last known whereabouts will be in the info packet along with your payment. I want this done as fast as possible."

The line went dead and Harlow ground his teeth. Dalton was a prick, even by pirate standards but he went at a problem until it was resolved.

In an even worse mood, Harlow stomped out of the residence he was using as his base aboard Petrov. The place was almost nice enough to make him forget he was in this shithole of a station, almost.

He made his way to the Qcomm room to see if the engineers he captured aboard Petrov had any luck with their little project. The station Qcomm was still offline, but he had access to the one his people stole and modified years ago. Otherwise, he would be just as cut off as everyone else in this station.

"Give me some good news, or I'm sending one of you out an airlock!" he yelled as he entered the room.

He smirked when everyone shot to their feet and stiffened at his declaration. Harlow picked one poor bastard at random and pointed to him.

The man swallowed. "W- We managed to pull a few schematics from the system before they shut the network off."

Harlow snapped his fingers and two of his guards grabbed the man and dragged him out of the room. It wasn't that he was upset, he was happy they managed to get anything, but he needed to break the will of these new slave engineers. He preferred his slaves to be too afraid of disappointing him to think of rebelling. Getting rid of one to bring the others in line was a cheap expense. "How many, exactly?" he asked another man.

This wasn't the first time he had tried pulling schematics from the net. His first test had been in a tiny mining outpost. Once the slaves out there bricked that network and failed to gain any useful knowledge, he spaced that entire station along with the crew he sent over. Mostly to cover up what he had been up to. Not his wisest decision, but he had been rather irate at the time.

"A- A dozen or so. We even managed to get a Class 4 engine design from Sinorus," the man added hastily as Harlow turned his way.

Everyone knew the Sinorus designs were junk but an engine schematic was an engine schematic.

"Congratulations, the rest of you get to live another day. Transfer the schematics to my ship. I have business elsewhere." It was finally time to trade in his cobbled-together ship for a new one his people were building based on the ship the Shican had gifted him twenty years ago.

Who would have thought a drunken one-on-one fight in an interceptor vs whatever the Shican equivalent was would have earned him the respect of the elusive aliens? Turns out they respected personal strength and not the useless platitudes and peace gestures of the STO. As far as he could tell, the Shican didn't even have a word for peace in their vocabulary. Not that they communicated with him much.

It was no wonder the STO had never made any progress with the feline aliens. And they likely never would. He chuckled at that thought. His fortuitous encounter with the Shican twenty years ago was a secret he would take to his grave but only after he used that knowledge to carve out an empire in his name.