Chapter 2 - Marauders

Chapter 2

Hyperspace

Approaching the Calver System

"Hyperspace emergence in 3...2...1...Emergence!"

Sarah adjusted in her seat as the Eternal Seeker emerged from hyperspace. She wasn't exactly worried about any problems -they'd have confirmation before departing that the system was very firmly within Dominion hands-, but she still had to force herself to visibly relax for the benefit of her crew.

"Status?" She asked Elteria as the AI's hologram appeared on the bridge.

"We have arrived in our jump zone, 35 kilometers off of the center." Answered the AI, before gesturing at the display as it began filling with icons. A lot of icons. "Detecting...30 ships within weapons range. A full third of them have Dominion Navy IFFs." Elteria's hologram froze briefly as the display expanded and the ship's sensors began taking in the whole system. "Holy shit. Detecting one hundred....nevermind, three hundred Dominion Navy IFFS. Most of them are gunships but holy hell."

"How many of them are in shipyards ?"

"Basically everything that isn't a gunship. There's three battle carriers that appear to be holding a guard formation as well. And I have positive identification, the Iridiscent Starsight, Incipient Victory and Enduring Victory are presently docked in the shipyards." Sarah frowned, before her implants helpfully brought up the memory. They were three of the battle carriers admiral Soliensky had brought with him to take Hermes. "Plus a boatload of other ships. Are they refitting half of the Fringe fleets or what ?"

"Not refitting. Overhauling." Sarah gestured at the display, bringing up a star map. "With Hermes' discovery, Calver has gone from 'industrialized backwater' to 'only half decent shipyard in 500 astras of a vital strategic objective'. My guess is every ship that either needed emergency repairs, like our battle buddies there, or wasn't important enough to get a slot at Sidernis is being thrown at the system." Sarah smiled. "I think Seria's family won't have to worry about finding jobs anytime soon. This system is about to experience an economic boom the likes of which only happened to places like Stuggart or Arrival in this galaxy."

"Won't be as big as Stuggart. They don't have a habitable planet, Calver Prime is still undergoing terraforming."

"Ah ! Have you seen what Stuggart looked like before colonization ? Mars was more hospitable ! At least it was far enough from the sun to have a meaningful atmosphere !" Sarah shook her head. "Anyway, that's not the point. Stuggart became a galactic focus point for military industry and support functions for mercenaries. Calver is going to be the only industrial hub -bar Narval, but I don't think the Dominion will take that hellworld's industry intact- in half a thousand astras of a Divinium mine. They're going to spend the next decade just expanding their industrial base so they can even begin to meet demand, and so is every star system in the area whose government isn't composed of complete idiots."

"I suppose that's fair enough."

"Ma'am ?" Said Connie as she looked up from her console. "We're being hailed."

"Ah, the Dominion picket ?"

"Ah, no ma'am. They simply sent us standard greetings and the authorization to proceed. They knew we were coming. We're being hailed on a tightbeam by a ship called the Luz Astral."

Sarah and Elteria looked at each other. They knew that name, even if Connie didn't.

"Put it on." Simply said the captain, and the display was replaced by the image of two people, a soberly dressed young man and a far more flamboyantly dressed young woman, with skin as dark as the void of space. They were full hologram too, not just a window, which denoted the high tech they were using. And they were two people she recognized. "Well well well, the wonder siblings return. What can I do for you two ?"

The woman smiled and spoke in an energetic voice.

"Hello Sarah, it's good to see you again. I was wondering if you would be interested in dining with me and my brother tonight ? We have a, ah, business proposition for you."

Sarah sighed internally. Of course they did. She debated for a minute just declining, before shrugging it off. The siblings had a tendency to put themselves in...messy situations, but it was usually because of circumstances outside their control.

Usually.

"Of course. I will make sure to bring my senior officers as well. Will we be dining onboard your ship ?"

"Of course, while we do know of some establishments of the highest discretion, the discussion we intend to have outstrips even that level of security." Said the brother, with a voice so neutral it almost bordered on the robotic. Sarah had heard PA announcements with more soul than that. "Would 19h work for you ?"

"It would." Said Sarah after quickly checking her internal clock. It was early in the morning, so they'd have more than enough time to make it in system. Sarah once again pondered the oddity of using a universal time based on an atomic clock once synced to a city called Greenwhich on Old Earth, before shrugging it off. It was practical, especially given the multitude of differences in planetary times throughout the Known Universe.

"Excellent. We'll see you then !" Said the sister, before ending the call.

Sarah sighed.

"This is going to be another one of their messes, isn't it ?" Said Elteria, almost idly.

"Probably." Said Sarah, before smiling as Connie looked at them oddly. "Those two were Malry and Alkor, Runan's children. We've had a...history with them while you were off a few decades ago. Let's just say they're quite the trouble magnets and leave it at that."

The communications officer nodded, and Sarah sighed again.

"Alright, well, better start to warn everyone, and get ready. I'll be in my office. You have the bridge Elteria."

"Aye aye ma'am, I have the bridge."

*****

"Welcome aboard captain Ciel-étoilé." Formally said Alkor as Sarah and her officers stepped out of the docking tube.

"Thank you Alkor. It's a pleasure to be here." Sarah looked around the bay at the barely controlled chaos of crew loading and unloading cargo. "You seem to be rather busy."

"Indeed. And it is part of the reason why me and my sister wished to speak with you. Please, follow me, she's waiting for us in the dining room."

"Of course." Said Sarah before following him, silently cataloging her surroundings.

There was indeed the chaos of cargo crew running everywhere, but there was a definite tense undercurrent. Here and there she could see security personnel overseeing the process, but instead of the relaxed uniform which might be expected, they were all in combat armor and equipped with gauss rifles. The officers and quartermasters that toured the cargo bay, looking at manifests and arguing with crews were escorted by heavily armed soldiers in power armor.

Mercenaries. And unless she'd gone blind, Marauders to boot. Which was...terrifying.

Marauders weren't standard, run of the mill mercenaries. They were a raider clan that had turned clean following a treaty with the Dominion, converting their impressive raiding fleets and ground forces into a vast array of mercenary units, all under the same company and label, 'MARAUDERS!', in all capital letters. And with the exclamation point. Granted, they were fairly low tech, but what they lacked in technology they made up in savvy technical expertise borne out of the need of scraping by from whatever they could loot from neighbouring systems. That meant that while their equipment, from their guns to their power armor -all of which were home made no less, which was a remarkable achievement given what they had to work with- was three times as expensive, both in terms of production costs and maintenance as their Dominion Navy or Marine Corps equivalent, it basically matched the higher tech systems in capabilities. Yes, they didn't have fancy perdition laser rifles, but stars help you if you thought that made their infantry impotent. Their 'basic' weapon for their power armored troops was a belt fed automatic grenade launcher after all.

And they had an entire starfleet to back up their ground troops. Which rather begged the question as to why the siblings would need her and her ship...and why Elteria hadn't detected any Marauder ship while coming in.

It only took a minute to get out of the cargo bay and into one of the wall mounted transport pods, which whisked them away to what had to be some kind of inner sanctum.

There were tables covered in bits of tech and sticks of burning incense, as well as various religious symbols of the cult of technology Runan and his family were a part of. There was even some kind of giant disc, almost a shield, holding the flags of nations in concentric circles, and she immediately recognized the flags of the Infinite Systems Federation's 5 founder states at the innermost layer, surrounding...The Terran Empire's flag ?

Before she could dwell on it too much , they were lead through another door, and stepped into a cozy dinner room. The religious iconography was still present, but it was toned down.

Waiting for them was Malry and a man in Marauder power armor.

"Ah ! Sarah ! It's a pleasure to see you ! As well as your officers, of course ! Hello Elteria !"

"The pleasure is all mine Malry. How have you been ?"

"Splendid, honestly. Father saw fit to broaden our purview for Alk and I, and it has been a fantastic last few years ! Please, take a seat, the stewards will be there momentarily !"

Sarah took the seat her host indicated, quickly followed by her officer, then the marauder and the siblings themselves.

"Ah, is that why you are in the Fringe ?"

"Correct. Father saw fit to give us command of one of his more independent commands." Said Alkor. "Thus our presence. We have been running a variety of contracts as well as creating our own network and surveying the area for new deals."

"Given the situation throughout the Fringe, I don't suppose it was difficult."

"Finding clients was, indeed, very easy. Keeping them, as well as keeping ourselves alive, less so." Sarah rose an eyebrow, and the brother chuckled. It sounded almost natural, which was a good sign if nothing else that he was either scared or deadly serious. Probably both. "Unfortunately, in times of war like this, both sides consider the other's arms dealer to be a valid and, indeed, valuable target, regardless of the potential consequences."

"Which I presume is why you've picked up a Marauder escort ?" Said Sarah as she nodded towards the marauder officer.

"Quite so. Commander Seikin and his men have proven instrumental in our survival, multiple times. Unfortunately they have run into some issues. Seikin ?"

Sarah looked as the officer smiled at her and leaned forward.

"As I'm sure you are aware, my company provides a variety of services, including spaceborne escorts." Sarah nodded, after all she had worked with Marauders before. And against them for that matter, although thankfully they truly believed in the 'it's just business' ideology and hadn't sought revenge for the battle carrier of theirs she'd sent to the scrap yard. The fact that she'd gone out of her way to collect all of the escape pods and bring them back to the nearest Marauder outpost had probably helped a lot, but still. "Unfortunately our services are being a bit...overwhelmed right now. A squadron was slated to escort their vessel back to the Core, but stumbled on the way into a skirmish and got severely damaged, and had to pull back. Unfortunately there are no other Marauder assets nearby to be able to plug the gap, what with the current situation. And since we do not break a contract, we have found ourselves in a bit of a problem. These fine youngsters require assistance that we cannot provide, but at the same time have contracted us for. Thus the current compromise."

"Essentially, the Marauders would like to subcontract your ship as one of their auxiliaries for the duration of the escort back to the Core." Picked up Malry. "That way you get hired, they get their contract fullfiled, and we get our escort."

"Right. Which is fair. But you do know my conditions correct ?" Said Sarah. "You know I don't work with arms dealers and such unless I know exactly what is being delivered."

Malry nodded.

"Of course. We will transmit a manifest."

"Good. Which brings me to the most important point, after payment of course. What's the catch ?"

"Well..." Malry hesitated, glanced at her brother, who looked calmly back. "We, ah, might have gotten into a bidding war with another arms dealer. That bidding war eventually went out of control and devolved into a battle."

"Uh uh. And which organization was that dealer part of ?"

"The Silver Syndicate."

"Ah." Sarah looked at Malry. "Hence why you jumped on the occasion as soon as we jumped in system."

"Well...yes. We are aware of your current disagreement with that organization, and thus felt that you would feel considerably less qualms than others in taking up that contract."

"I see. Well, I would be lying if I said I wasn't interested. Now, however, comes the question of payment, and the delays. I have, after all, come to this system to enact some repairs on my ship, and I will not leave without having them completed."

"Ah, of course. I'll let my brother and commander Seikin handle this part."

Sarah nodded, and leaned forward. She wanted to head towards the Core anyway, and travelling with Runan's clout and network of secret outposts to back her up sounded wonderful, especially if she was getting paid while doing this, but they didn't need to know that. If they had pounced on her as soon as she'd arrived, it had to mean they were pretty desperate. As far as she knew, Runan was usually pretty skittish about operating in systems with a heavy Dominion presence. Which meant that the siblings had gone there to practically hide behind the Dominion Navy.

This was going to be an interesting negotiation.