The Star Pirate's Return

Chapter 4: Entropy

"Well, what is it you want to see, Darlena? Some will die because of this."

"I'm counting on it."

"What does that mean?"

"The people of the Luxar System have been left to their own devices for fifty years. Generations have grown up there knowing they're on their own. We must preserve that independence—it's vital to the health of the civilization we're trying to piece back together. But they also must accept us, become part of the whole again."

"I agree. So why wait? Best to reintegrate them now and get the process started. We can save thousands of lives immediately just using our medical facilities. We could set up additional gates after we open the first—"

"No, that's exactly what I want to avoid. Mass resettlement, dispersion, scattering them to the stars... we want them exactly where they are, Simon. Out on their own, contained. In their element. But we don't want them all. Some must be eliminated."

***

Montez watched the command console light up. "We're moving. That shuttle went down to the asteroid, and it looks like we are too."

"What's going to happen to us?" Bee asked, standing to join the pilots at the helm. "I mean, after what I did to Starhawk...."

"The guy without the face? That's on you, kid. We had no part." Crane crossed his arms and gave her a look. "Right?"

"That's the truth," Bee said with a shrug. "I won't lie about it, if that's what you're asking."

Montez stood side by side with Crane and copied his crossed arms, making sure the pistol in her right hand was visible. "Good. And when they ask about the cryo pod I warned you not to open, about Dreadstar, you can explain it was you, not us, who tried to kill him."

Taking a step back, Bee bristled at the pair. "Well, you helped! Besides, he would have killed us all if I hadn't blown the airlock. First thing he did was try to get us all out of our helmets. I bet he would have taken Crane's suit, herded us in there, and spaced us all."

"All right, we helped," Crane granted, quieting Montez's dissent with a touch to the elbow. "But for now, they obviously don't want to damage the ship, which is why we haven't already been blown to bits. As far as what happens to the three of us, it depends on which of the Families this fleet belongs to. More than likely we're about to be conscripted into their ranks."

"Families?" Bee asked. "Are the pirates out here the same as the ones in Styx?"

Crane nodded. "More or less. Same leadership, different assholes. They've stolen our gates, our territory, our resources—created their own network between Leith and Styx. They use it to confuse the Core Fleet, and balance their raids between Leith and the Core."

Bee frowned. "Why don't they tell everyone about your colony out here?"

"Serves their interests, I guess," Montez offered. "To them, the less the Core knows, the better. This way, keeping the secret, they have leverage over the Home Guard out here. We never push back on them too hard for fear that they'll bring the Core to Leith, and they never provoke us enough that we make a concerted effort to clear them out."

"Captain Anson told me each Family sort of gets their own territory," Bee said. "Who's out here?"

"Anson? You know Victor Anson, the privateer?" Crane demanded, ignoring her question. "Hang on, who are you, exactly? We've given you enough, it's your turn."

"I was on his ship, Wanderlust. That's where I got the suit, too. They brought me here from Surface. Anson even made me part of the crew," she said with pride.