I burst into the bridge, Nirazera hot on my heels.

“What’s going on?”

Opisthos answered: “Captain, we have resolution. But since we do not have a ship scanner module, we linked with captain Ishi’s sensor array.”

“And it looks like all the ships are carrying frigate rated missiles. They must have done some serious stripping and jury rigging to get even one fitted on a civilian ship. But they all are fitted with one, the frigates with two and the cruiser with four. They are pulling out all the stops.”

Ishi’s voice over coms told the story of how tense he felt about the situation.

“Why would they have everything fitted with missiles? That sounds more like a blow everything to bits approach.” I said.

“I agree. The only reason I can think of is a kind of: If we can’t have it nobody can have it thinking. Plus we are talking about a relic ship here. That is a prize even if it is picked up in small pieces and salvage.”

“Ishi, we are not talking about a relic, we are talking about Nyx.” I made the point. “An intelligent entity. And we are talking about killing somebody to harvest their organs.”

Ishi didn’t sound chastised at all: “And how often do you think that happens? And how many more times would that happen if we didn’t have CLON technology and could grow organs and even whole bodies faster and cheaper than extracting it from a live person?”

Damn, I saw his point. To everybody but the crew of this ship, Nyx was just a piece of Seeker technology. And Seeker technology was a finite resource. I remembered the kind of stuff people had done on earth when they exploited finite resources. There were little to no global considerations and everything was about the short term gain and not about the long term loss. So I could assume that people here would think the same way.

“Everybody, what are your predictions for the actions of RD. Will they shoot or talk?”

There was some discussion but in the end, the conclusion was that they would probably talk and then shoot when they didn’t get what they wanted. Taking the ship intact was the bigger price and that is what they would try to accomplish.

“Okay, so we are waiting for a message from them. We are looking at what? 18 missiles when they fire? What options do we have?”

Another discussion. Then Ishi answered.

“None really. It is unlikely that we can outrun the frigates. Maybe the cruiser and the civilians but not the frigates. At least two of them have static webbers in their remaining active slot and I would assume the other two have warp field scramblers. That means they are fitted for boosting speed and catching people. And there is no way that we take out four frigates until the rest of their ships get close, even if we run right now.”

“What about missile defense? Countermeasures? Decoys? All that good stuff?”

“Like you said, we are looking at 18 missiles per salvo and I am sure they have more than one. We can maybe take down one salvo, maybe another one after that. But they are going to get through.”

“Fish in a barrel.” I muttered.

“Not sure about the expression but we will be sitting here and catching missiles no matter what.”

“That’s basically what it means.”

“Captain, I just calculated the missile strength versus our shield and shield recharge rate. If we reroute power from the fabricators and mining lasers to our shield generator, we can withstand an extended barrage even if we are hit.” Nyx spoke for the first time in the conversation.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, almost a 100%.”

“Okay, almost is not good enough. Plus that doesn’t help Ishi and his people. Even if we can sit here and hide behind the shield, they will be blown to bits.”

Nirazera looked at me. Then she switched to a private channel: “You know that this is not your responsibility? That is what these guys get paid for, right?”

“True but they would die!” I argued.

“Boss, you know they have CLON contracts, right?”

Shit, that part always slipped my mind. I mean I was so used to the fact that death meant the end IRL. And since this felt so real, my go-to reaction was to apply the rules of the ‘normal’ world to this one. And even in the new MMO games, when non-critical NPCs died, that was it. I took a deep breath, calming myself. The perceived callousness of her words had really riled me up.

“Okay, so what kind of fallout are we talking about here?”

“Well, loss of money for Stardust mainly. They are expensive and the ships are insured but the contract would not cover for them to lose the ships they have in this system, insurance or not. Additionally, captain Ishi would take a hit to his reputation. The company won’t hold him responsible for the damages but state something along the lines that a more experienced commander would have brought a bigger fleet to avoid losses.”

I rolled my eyes. Sounded like the typical corporation speak. Please, gods, never let me become one of the people that talks that way and finds scapegoats for the sake of not taking responsibility.

“Yeah, see. That doesn’t work for me. Ishi has done nothing but be helpful and do more than the company asked of him. He even worked with us to get Nyx out of the asteroid. Something that wasn’t even covered in the contract. We still need to build a name for ourselves and I would rather be known as the guy that risks something to keep others as safe as possible than as the guy who hangs others out to dry for his own benefit.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Nireazera nodded. “That is a noble attitude. Slightly stupid in my opinion but noble. Don’t forget that we hired them for a contract and they are doing their job. By stepping in you will endanger the people in your corporation. Would that be any better?”

Fucking hell. I hate when people use my arguments against me. Especially when they dug right to the core of my reasoning.

“Okay, here is the deal: I want at least 3 potential courses of action in addition to turtle up and wait it out approach that gets the mercs killed. Then we put all of them to the vote of the corporation board and see where we stand.”

I was really worked up about this whole thing. I mean make sure not to burden yourself with responsibility that isn’t yours. Look after your own people first and then after others. Yes, these things all made sense and I agreed with them 100%. But I also believed in not abusing the trust and support people gave me. And Ishi had done more than the contract specified. Did he have a reason for it? For sure. But that didn’t invalidate the fact. And I believe there were other options. We just had to find them.

Leadership skill increased.

Current Skill Level: 2 / 100

Well, there is that. Not sure if the world agreed with me on the topic and gave me a leadership bump for that or because I just “managed” the situation and the people in my corp. Ah fuck, always with the second guessing.

To-do list update:

* Get the ship out of the asteroid

* Find command crew so we can get the ship moving

* STOP SECOND GUESSING YOURSELF AND DO YOUR THING

* Find rest of the crew at least up to skeleton level

* Learn more about Nyx, Seekers and the mission (partially complete)

* Study the courses Nyx will suggest to get skills up

* Figure out what to do with the claim

* Figure out how to make money (involve Mrk and Krn)

Before I could do more than update my personal log, Opisthos com’ed me: “Captain, we are receiving a transmission for you.”

“Thank you, Opishtos. I will come to the bridge and take it there.”

When I was back on the bridge I accepted the transmission. No picture, just voice. Without the image I think I would normally have had a hard time placing the person I was talking to but I definitely recalled the smarmy salesman.

“Mister Solo, we meet again. And again, the circumstances don’t seem in your favor.”

I snorted. “If I recall correctly, they didn’t seem in my favor earlier either. And yet, here we are.”

“Yes, here we are. And it seems like you were able to not only salvage the relic ship but actually take possession of it. Fascinating. I did not expect you to be able to do that. Of course, we were aware that the shields were working but I did not expect the other systems of the ship to be still functional. When your associate told us about the relic and your plans we should have listened more carefully.”

“My associate?” I mumbled and then it dawned on me… “Fucking Brelic!”

The guy on the other end of the line chuckled at my outburst.

“Don’t hold it against him. He was in serious debt with various parties and Red Dawn bought it out. So in a way we bought him. And what good is a possession if it doesn’t do what we tell it to do?”

I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. That fucking Fell created one complication after the other. There was one thing I needed to know though.

“When was the debt bought out by Red Dawn if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Oh, about two months ago. But if it makes you feel better, his debt was only called in once it became clear that he was part of an obstinate crew of a mining claim that refused to pay us our due. Mister ‘Fucking Brelic’ as you call him, was unaware of our involvement up until that point.”

That didn’t make me feel better at all. I mean at all. I had thought that he was sent to spy on and work against us by RD but that didn’t seem to be the case. That is why I had such a hard time consolidating his behavior in my own head. I mean he was eager and hard working, making sure he earned his share of the profits. He had set up security to the best of his abilities, which had actually impeded RD. I hadn’t seen his betrayal coming. But apparently neither had he.

I had seen this behavior from gangs and criminals during my time as a cop. People fell into tough spots and needed loans. They would get some from the big institutions that played the long game. But they often weren’t enough and just tided the miserable bastards over. Then they would need to find more and more “gray” options. Which in the end always led to more and more problems. Higher interest rates, accelerated payment demands and so on. In the end a group or gang would step in and buy all the debt which by then often would be substantial. This often happened if the person had skills or information that group needed or was working in an area of interest for them. Then they’d call in the debt which left the person little choice. It would start with something benign and then it was a slippery and steep slope the people went down.

And it looked like Brelic was as much a victim of his past and some outside manipulation as the people I met back then. Fucking Brelic! The question was: What could I do? And more importantly: What did I want to do?

“Mister Solo, as you are aware Red Dawn is not a heartless corporation. We don’t mean people harm. We are simply looking out for our interests. If we can come to a compromise, it would please us very much.”

“And pray tell, what would that compromise look like?”

“We are, of course, interested in the relic ship and would like to take possession of it. Purely for research purposes. In return we are offering a fully fitted cruiser and your associate. With his debts forgiven and forgotten of course.”

I could hear in his voice that the guys thought he had me over a barrel. And in a way he did. I mean was I interested in getting Brelic out of his fix? Sure. I am not a heartless bastard and it sounded like he never meant to betray us. But then again, he never talked to me either, which he could have and I would have helped him. As for the cruiser in exchange for Nyx… Absolute no-go! But they didn’t need to know that.

“And how are you proposing we are conducting this exchange?”

“Oh, that is simple. As you are aware, we are approaching your position. I will send a contract via coms that specifies the terms and you sign it. Once all of the legalities are out of the way, our cruiser will dock with yours. Our crew walks onto the relic, you walk onto your new cruiser where your associate will be waiting.”

“Sounds simple. Send the contract, I have no desire to look over my shoulder the whole time. I should have paid you in the first place. Lesson learned. I do need to discuss it with my other associates. I guess you are aware that we have formed a corporation and that I am not the only person required to sign off on that.”

“Of course, of course. Yes, we are aware of the formation of Pathfinder Inc. But mister Solo, I implore you, don’t take too long with the discussions. You can imagine, I have associates too and while they are very eager to take possession of an intact relic ship, they are also willing to claim whatever pieces are left if we don’t come to an understanding.”

“Makes sense. How long do I have?”

I heard mumbling in the background then the sales guy replied: “I have been told that we are in optimal firing range in an hour. So let’s say 50 minutes? That should be enough to come to an agreement with your corporation board and review the terms of the contract, don’t you think.”

“Send the contract and I will get back to you within 50 minutes.”