Tense was how Mingyu would describe the trip on the shuttle to the STO ship. It didn’t help that the STO ships had their weapons actively tracking Fury. They had done that since the moment their ships got within range. The Fury’s weapons were doing the same, so he couldn’t really blame the opposition Captains for all the tension.

As he got close enough to see the Blueridge, he noticed it was an older model. Thanks to his time in the Coalition fleet, he was familiar with most of the STO’s ship classes during that time. He didn’t recognize the Blueridge’s hull configuration. It certainly wasn’t a new ship. He could tell that much by the dents and dings in the armor as he flew alongside it to reach the hangar. Had they pulled the ship out of mothballs?

If that was the case, he wondered where the picket ships had gone that were normally in the system. If the pirates were truly pushing the STO enough for them to redirect forces, that wasn’t a good sign.

When he returned to Fury, he would bring it up with Alexander. Now that they were back in STO space, they might be able to visit the Qcomm. Then he could reach out to his contacts to get a better picture of what was happening.

Their access to the Qcomm depended entirely on how seamless this transaction went.

The shuttle passed through the open hangar door and gently set down on the deck. This was his first time flying Alexander’s shuttle. While the flight controls were ancient, they worked well enough. Even with those old controls, the ship was snappy and responsive. It obviously had something to do with the improvements Alex had made. He hoped the man got around to making the newer style of thrusters soon. Mostly because The Moonlit Destiny could use a full overhaul in the next year or so.

While he was shutting down the shuttle, he started to hear the sound of popping metal as the ship cooled. It was a clear sign that the hangar was nearly pressurized. He finished his shutdown procedure and waited. Mingyu could have just left the shuttle powered on, but that was rude, and he suspected they were going to have questions for him. So instead of causing problems, he prepared for the inevitable.

Soon the hangar light turned green, letting him know it was equalized. It didn’t take long after that for Marines to enter the bay.

He moved to the cargo area and the waiting STO people who were all still seated. “Looks like you have a welcoming committee,” he stated as he pressed the button to lower the ramp.

Mingyu stepped to the back wall and held his hands up as the Marines aggressively boarded the ship. He didn’t bother to resist as they checked him for weapons and handcuffed him. All the while the remaining Marines checked the other passengers and quickly escorted them off the ship.

“Why did you shut the shuttle down?” the Marine holding him demanded.

“Courtesy,” he replied.

“Reactivate it!” the man demanded.

And that was the other reason Mingyu had shut the ship down. It prevented the STO from using it to sneak back aboard Fury. Not that they would have a good time if they tried that. “I can’t. The activation code must come from Eden’s Fury. And I will not contact them until I’m free to leave.”

The man glared at him, but Mingyu was unmoved. He had faced off against some of the most demanding officers during his time in the Coalition. An angry Marine hardly even registered.

After a while, the man jerked his head to the side and the other two Marines led him off the ship. “Our Captain wants a word with you.”

They weren’t dragging him or marching him by gunpoint so that was a good sign. He didn’t hold their other actions against them. Marines were Marines. They were not diplomats, they were a blunt instrument of war.

He was led to a conference room where a hologram sat at the end of the table, with the Captain off to the right, looking annoyed.

The hologram sighed. “Remove his cuffs, he isn’t under arrest. And then wait outside.”

The Marine who questioned him looked like he wanted to argue the point but saluted instead. “… Yes, Vice Admiral.”

That explained the Captain’s annoyed expression and their relative positions at the table. Mingyu hadn’t been able to see the man’s rank clearly because the holo tech, much like this ship was old and the man’s form was quite blurry.

Once his cuffs were removed, the Vice Admiral gestured to the seat across from him. “Please, sit, Captain Na.”

“You know who I am?” he asked in surprise as he sat down.

“I do. I make it my duty to know outliers and those working with them. I would ask you how you ended up working for Alexander Kane, but I assume it has something to do with what happened to your other ship?”

“I don’t work for Alex, I work with him,” Mingyu replied.

He saw the face move on the hologram, the man might have been smirking, but it was hard to tell.

“I apologize for my assumptions.” The man glossed over the fact that Mingyu didn’t answer his other questions. “I’m curious though. How is it that Kane managed to get Arkonis Anazi’s frigate rebuilt so quickly?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“You’ve been spying on Eden’s End for who knows how long, you tell me?”

“Fair enough,” the man chuckled. “I suppose I should get to the real reason why I brought you here. I need to debrief you. While I would have preferred to debrief Mr. Kane, maybe this is for the best since he was never in the military. Can you tell me what happened that caused one of our ships to become so damaged?”

Mingyu relayed what happened in the battle that took down the Dawn. While he hadn’t been present for most of the encounter, he had watched the recording of the event afterward. He also talked to Alex and Lucas Laront about the event.

When he was finished, the Captain of the Blueridge looked shocked, while the Admiral leaned back and looked thoughtful.

“Vice Admiral, why wasn’t I informed of these covert ships? I am the Senior Captain in command of the fleet in Varlen.”

“You were not made aware, Senior Captain, because you do not have the security clearance. And I shouldn’t have to explain why you don’t have that type of clearance anymore,” the holographic man stated pointedly, immediately silencing the Captain.

Mingyu remained quiet at the exchange. There seemed to be some friction between the Vice Admiral and Senior Captain.

“Everything that happened today is to remain top-secret,” the Admiral continued. “I expect every single person in your fleet to sign the document acknowledging this. If I find word of the Dawn, or this battle leaking out, I will assume it came directly from you, Captain Willard. And you will be subject to whatever punishment the STO deems necessary for leaking classified information. Am I clear?”

Captain Willard visibly stiffened at the rebuke. “Yes, Vice Admiral.”

“Good. Your connections may have gotten you out of a court-martial the last time, but I can assure you, it will not happen a second time.”

Mingyu couldn’t help but glance at the disgraced Captain. The man looked equal parts embarrassed and angry with the fact that the Admiral was airing his dirty laundry to an outsider. Mingyu couldn’t quite believe it either.

When he first learned of the power dynamic in this room, he felt sympathy for the Captain. Nobody wants their command usurped on their own ship. Now all he felt was disgust for the man who was obviously out in this picket system as a form of punishment. He kept his face from showing how he felt though. It was clear the Vice Admiral was doing this for a reason. Likely to show who had actual control in this system.

“Now for the pertinent questions,” Fletcher continued as if nothing had happened. “Did you board the Dawn?”

“No,” Mingyu answered honestly.

“Did anyone aboard your ship, the Eden’s Fury, board Epsilon’s Dawn?”

Alexander had told him not to lie about anything that didn’t revolve around Eden’s End but he still hesitated to answer this question. In the end, he told the man what he wanted to know because they were likely to learn of it once they questioned their own people.

“Alexander Kane is the only person aboard the Fury to have stepped foot on the Dawn.”

The hologram was quiet for a bit before responding. “…I see.”

That was not the response Mingyu had expected. This exchange was odd and it seemed like the Admiral had some agenda that Mingyu couldn’t quite figure out.

Captain Willard looked like he wanted to say something, but the man managed to remain quiet.

If Mingyu had to guess, the way Fletcher was acting had something to do with the classified nature of the ship and whatever mission it had.

“Captain Na, If I extended an invitation for the Fury to dock at the Naval yard, do you believe Mr. Kane would accept?”

It seemed like this was too much for Willard. “What!? You can’t seriously be considering letting some unknown military ship dock.”

“You would do well to remember who you are speaking to, Captain. Or I will remove you from command.”

The aggrieved Captain snapped his mouth closed so fast Mingyu heard his teeth crack from across the room. There was definitely some weird political nonsense going on in this system. If Mingyu had spoken to a superior like this during his time in the Coalition, he wouldn’t have received a warning, he would have been demoted and stuck in some menial position until he was up for promotion again, assuming that day ever came.

Mingyu cleared his throat to get their attention. “I don’t know if he will agree to docking, but he might be convinced to head that way. I will need to speak with him personally to find out.” If anything, it would allow them to use the Qcomm array without the huge delay from being so far out.

“Please do, Captain Na. And express my apologies to Mr. Kane for the rude welcome. As you can imagine, the pirates have been rather active, so some of us are a bit on edge.”

After that, Na was led back to the shuttle and released. He would mention the Vice Admiral’s words to Alex, but he doubted his friend would take Fletcher up on his offer, especially with his unique circumstances that he seemed to be trying to hide.

***

Fletcher kept his face passive as he watched Na exit the room, then watched on video as he flew back to the dead pirate prince’s old ship. He was able to have a real-time conversation thanks to the secret Qcomm satellite that just so happened to be in the vicinity. It did take a bit of maneuvering to get it close enough, but he made it happen when he recognized the opportunity and issues at hand.

He focused on the BSE ship. Calling the thing he saw through the video feed ‘old’ was not accurate at all. The ship was ugly, that was true, but he noted the vessel didn’t have the traditional autocannons, railguns, or Gauss cannons. Those weapons were rather distinctive due to their requirements. Instead, six laser turrets dotted the pristine and painted hull.

Fletcher had read the first report of Eden’s End. Coupled with the second report that Captain Greaves brought back, the computers were able to use that information to give him an estimate of Eden’s End’s production speed. So seeing the rebuilt ship wasn’t all that surprising to him. It was within the estimated window. What did surprise him was the lasers.

Even if Kane had access to the Dawn since it had gone missing in action, they shouldn’t have been able to reverse engineer and design an entire system for a wholly new ship in that timeframe. That meant they already knew how to produce military-grade lasers prior to that. Combined with what Krieger reported, it troubled him.

It wasn’t the weapons in and of itself. The pirates had proven they could and would reverse engineer or design their own homegrown tech. It was the fact that Kane and his company were complete unknowns, and Fletcher didn’t like unknowns.

While it was in position, Fletcher had also used the satellite to visually scan Kane’s ship. Along with the scan data from Eclipse, the AI reported yet another disturbing fact. It was telling him the engines didn’t match any known design. The only two corporations that built Class 4 engines were Omni and Sinorus, so this was unheard of. Even the pirates hadn’t bothered designing and building their own engines due to how superior the existing designs were.

If the pirates knew Kane was capable of this level of engineering, it was no wonder they had attacked Eden’s End.

All of those points convinced him to intervene and prevent that idiot Willard from turning a bad situation into an unrecoverable one. If he could convince Kane to work with them, he could reduce the Navy’s reliance on Omni. Fletcher would need to handle the negotiations with a light touch though. He also expected that the black ops budget was going to have a significant chunk taken out of it.