"The detonator broke," Urle said. "I've never seen it happen before - this is a high-quality piece of tech. But it split in half, and just couldn't set off the detonation signal. I could have blasted it with a plasma torch and it wouldn't have cared."

Brooks studied the components from the disassembled bomb that Urle had set out on the table. The timer, the sensors, the decomposing explosive, now rendered inert in water.

"Can we trace it to the Governor?" he asked.

"You think he planted it?" Urle asked.

"Possibly. Can we trace it to him?"

Urle took a deep breath. "Honestly, Captain - I can't see them pulling this off. Everything about this was done expertly. From the hack that got them close to the bomb itself. This is . . . this is like black ops level stuff."

He shook his head. "We should never have gotten this lucky."

"We didn't know who our enemy was," Brooks said.

"We still don't," Logus commented, frowning.

"But we know that they're professionals, not just angry colonials," Urle replied. "It's a good point, Captain. I apologize for letting it happen on my watch."

"Not necessary," Brooks replied. He gave his Executive Commander a smile. "We wouldn't have even known about it if not for you."

"I promise you they won't be able to pull the same trick twice," Urle said.

"Good. Now get me any forensics you can off this and report as soon as you know."

"Yes, sir." Brooks stood and left the room. Logus followed him.

"What now, Captain?" the psychiatrist asked.

Brooks looked back at the man. "It's time to confront the Governor."

*******

The Governor's office was even messier than the last time Brooks had been in here. It seemed as if the man had been tearing the place apart to look for something.

Brooks decided to give him a little more to chew on.

"I took the liberty of making a hard copy of my report so far on your colony," he said. He threw the folder towards the man's desk. It rebounded and floated towards the governor, who caught it in a limp grip. "It does not read well, Governor."

The man looked pale. His brow had sweat on it, and he said nothing, his eyes only flicking from the report back to Brooks.

"You have engaged in unethical cloning that have resulted in the deaths and maiming of potentially thousands of sapient beings.

"You have attempted to kill two of my officers,

"You attempted to bargain a woman's life based on trumped-up charges to coerce me into assisting you in dominating this system," he continued.

"And then you attempted to destroy my vessel and crew." Brooks crossed his arms. "Your plans will not achieve anything. I am not afraid of you or your people, Governor. Do you believe you outnumber us because we are only twenty and you have thirty thousand?" He shook his head. "You forget that we come from societies of hundreds of trillions. This is why we come in peace - it's not out of weakness, Governor, but out of strength. We will not attack you, no. Even if you slaughtered all of us here, we would not strike back for revenge. But we would strike back by cutting off trade, and it would be the end of you - no cannons or ships required. Would you rather us work with you or your successor?"

The man continued to say nothing. With a shaking hand, he reached out to take the report. For a moment it seemed that he would open it to read, but instead he just set it aside carefully.

"You seem certain they'll get your report," the man mumbled. But there was no threat in his voice. If anything, he sounded terrified - as if he, too, felt certain it would happen.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

"They will. We have many methods of communication, and soon my ship will be here. My Security Chief is in command, and she is not a woman to cross and will have one of the most powerful ships in the void under her command."

The Governor looked down, covering his forehead.

"It was never supposed to go like this," he said softly. "I never intended for your people to get hurt. You have to understand that, Captain."

Brooks said nothing, merely watching the man.

"You were not the only ones with interest here," the man continued. "I do not know who they were, but I was approached three years ago by Hoc Rem - he was an outsider. He represented a group that wished to help us, and offered very favorable rates on the cloning equipment."

The man finally lifted his head. "But I didn't know how far they'd go. I have tried to find for years who these people were, but all of my inquiries have ended in my people dead. I realized that . . . that they would eventually kill me, too. That this was not about helping me, but about getting a foothold in this system. About putting me in their debt."

Brooks hid his shock at this revelation. Pieces began to fall together in his mind.

"The cloning seemed poised to solve all our problems. We didn't have to take in outsiders, we would grow in numbers even without a viable population. But it didn't go well. Your people saw our clones - these are stunted, dead things. I have not slept well since I first laid eyes upon them. Yet what can I do - euthanize them before they even have a chance to wake up?"

He turned and spat to the floor in a way that seemed almost superstitious. "We're, to a man, cursed for what we've done. But I knew there was no way out, at least not until I learned that your people want Seers. I made sure that when she got exiled from Vitriol - because she's not the first and they always end up exiled - that she didn't end up in the Dark, but here. I knew someone would come looking for her and I made sure the stories spread. Then all that was left was to keep her from being murdered."

The man smiled his unpleasant smile again, but it was hollow, forced. "I admit it, I hate her. I look at her and remember every terrible thing I've done, and I don't even think it's her fault. But she makes me feel it all the same. I half-wish she had been spaced just so I didn't have to be reminded."

Brooks spoke. "So you were desperate for us to come and save you from your unknown partners."

"Yes," the Governor said. "I didn't want all my skeletons to come trotting out of the closet, but I knew that this place was dirty and you'd never miss it. So I planned to lead your officers astray and threaten them - then I'd come in and be the hero by leading them to safety. I'd show you that even though this place was dirty, that I wanted it to be cleaner. I'd play the provincial fool trying to muscle you - and then reform before anything happened that put me into the heat."

The man's hands clenched, the muscles straining. Rage burned across his face, and his pale skin turned pink. "But I trusted Hoc Rem, and he put me in screws. Had his men try to kill your people. Led them to my dirty secret. He wanted you to learn about the clones, wanted to kill your people and then to blow up your ship. He counted on you still getting word out, I think - because he wanted to put us in a position where we'd have to go deeper with whoever owns him."

The rage faded, and the man appeared to be a shadow of his former self. A broken doll.

"He was playing us all for patsies so that I would have no choice."

"But we didn't die," Brooks commented. "Where is Hoc Rem now?"

The Governor shrugged helplessly. "I have never been able to track the man. There are over two hundred external ports that I know of on this rock, Captain Brooks. And dozens more that are little more than crude airlocks that I know nothing about. The man always disappeared and reappeared without me knowing how - and he's disappeared again. I doubt we will ever find him."

Brooks said nothing. But he knew he would find the man.

The Governor raised his hands to Brooks, his motion pleading. "I surrender to you, Captain-Mayor. I have no other choice."

Brooks reached out and pushed the man's hands down. "You are not my prisoner, Governor. You have breached interstellar law and there will be repercussions. But I do not wish to lead you out in chains. I wish to save your colony."

The expressions that went across the Governor's face were confused, terrified, elated. Every emotion seemed to pass over his features but they finally settled on bewilderment.

The Captain continued to speak. "Your colony is dying, Governor. Most of your people have no part in your crimes. So while I will not be your partner in making this colony dominate this star system, I will be helping your people to survive and lead the best lives they can."

He gestured around himself, to the walls and to encompass the whole station. "Your infrastructure is minimal and failing. Your people are sick. What equipment you have is old and in poor repair. These are things that we can fix - when the Craton arrives. When she does, we have the technical crew to make this station as livable as possible."

"You will take over?" the Governor asked. There was wariness in his tone, though he knew he could not actually stop any attempt to seize control of his colony.

"We will work with your local leadership - including you, to some degree - to help you run this place in a way that will allow you to attract new colonists. Or, if your people prefer, they may leave with us."

Brooks grabbed the back of the chair and pulled himself forward in the zero-g. "My goal, Governor, isn't power. It's for your people to have the dignity that sapient beings deserve."

The Governor looked down. If it was out of shame, sorrow, or defeat, Brooks couldn't know.

He said nothing, and only gave a nod.