Chapter ten

     Admiral Black was pissed.

     The fact that he had been assigned a position that was tantamount to glorified guard duty always made him feel like his talent was being squandered and as if that wasn't bad enough, he had to share the command of the area and cooperate with the Corporation's hired goons but he swallowed his resentment and continued to do his duty.

     Today, just like any other day, he was overseeing drills in formations and coordination so that the fleet didn't get rusty and lose it's edge when one of the communication officers suddenly came running to him without even saluting properly. He was about to have the man court marshaled and thrown into the detention area but that thought vanished when he heard the man speak,

     "Sir, Captain Callaghan of the pirate ship Vishnu is surrendering to us, he is sending the message through all frequencies. He is saying that he wants an escort through the mine field."

      Admiral Black was thrilled. Finally, something that was important enough to warrant his attention had come along. Callaghan was not only one of the most notorious criminals wanted by the federation but he was also the key to the reward offered by the compendium and now he had happen right into his hand.

      One of Black's lieutenants saluted and said, "Shall I give the order to open fire?"

      "What? Fuck no! If anybody so much as breathes too hard in the Vishnu's direction, they will be executed immediately. This is an executive order, hold your fire. I repeat, hold your fire."

       "Sir, what about the Telerium? The Vishnu is a known pirate ship, can we let them get to the asteroid?"

      "Am I surrounded by idiots? The asteroid is surrounded by our ships, where can the Vishnu go to even if they managed to steal some Telerium. In fact Fuck the Telerium. If we can get our hands on compendium tech then we can crush the corporation. After that we can have all the Telerium in the galaxy. Now shut up before I charge you with insubordination and hail the Vishnu."

      A few minutes later the nondescript face of 'two face' Callaghan showed up on the screen but it wasn't the only one. Next to it was a face that Black knew well, a face he hated to his core, his co-commander of the blockade, Scarface. As he watched, Callaghan and Scarface started to talk like old buddies. In the end he couldn't take it anymore and he said, "I hate to break up this touching reunion between two degenerate lowlifes but my time is precious. Callaghan, you will board a small shuttle and come to our flagship to surrender yourself to the federation immediately."

    Callaghan just sneered at the Admiral, infuriating him further,  "Admiral Black I presume? Well Admiral Black, I think you might have misheard what I said, I never said that I was going to hand myself over to the federation on a silver platter. You might have noticed that there are two major powers here."

     Admiral Black didn't want to continue to associate with people beneath him so he quickly replied,  "It does not matter. We will go retrieve the schematics from the compendium and share it with the Corporation."

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       Scarface didn't like that, "And we are just going to trust you? You want us to give you the key to unimaginable power and you want us to believe that you will just share it with us afterwards? Do I look like I was born yesterday?"

      Admiral Black started to frown, "How dare you question my integrity! You are just a mercenary, a rabid dog being held back by a collar made of money. What would you know of honor?"

      Scarface scoffed when he heard Black's comment, "Don't give me that honor crap. You want to pretend that you are somehow better than us but everybody knows that you are worse than any mercenary out there! Did you forget how you personally ordered the destruction of the planet calypso which was filled with innocent people just because some rebels were hiding there? Where was your honor then?"

     Admiral Black traded some more insults with Scarface and was about to make a scathing comment about his hygiene and parentage when his lieutenant said, "Sir, the Vishnu's weapon systems have powered up. Twelve D.I.C ships and the mining rig have already been destroyed. The Vishnu has gone down the mining shaft."

     The Admiral could not believe what he was hearing. At first he was angry but then he started to laugh.

     "All these pirates and mercenaries are the same, completely brainless. Where does Callaghan think he is going? Does he think that hiding in a hole can save him? Is he retarded?"

     An intelligence officer who had been silently watching from the side suddenly stepped forward, "Sir, Bruce 'two face' Callaghan has been called a lot of things; ruthless, careless, honorless and heartless but he has never been called brainless. Callaghan is known for being cunning. I suggest that you take this more seriously sir."

     Black only scoffed when he heard that, "He is trapped like a rat, there is nothing to be concerned about."

     He hadn't even finished talking when the squeaky voice of a panicky officer was heard, "Sir, it's moving! The whole thing is moving!"

     "What's moving?"

     "The asteroid is moving and it is headed right for us!"

      He turned to the main screen only to see the giant asteroid getting bigger and bigger as it approached. He immediately started to panic and shouted,"Everyone open fire! Evasive maneuvers! Evasive maneuvers"

     The screen lit up as all the ships in the blockade opened fire on the asteroid but it was no use. The asteroid was made of almost pure Telerium, even the Corporation's super weapons couldn't put a dent on it. Eventually the asteroid, which was now traveling at a respectable speed, bulldozed its way through the blockade, destroying the poor ships that weren't able to get out of the way in time.

     Fortunately for Admiral Black, his ship did make it out of the way in time but all he could do was stare as the single biggest source of Telerium in the galaxy, the thing he had been ordered to guard, flew away into the mine field.