The Sac'a'rith Read Free

these consortiums held the actual power in many areas.
    In this section of Phareon the Resden Consortium was all-powerful, and no one dared stand up to them. Even without my new history the guards were not likely to have stopped us. The consortiums usually tried to play nice with the government, but this was only for the look of things and not from any respect for official authority.
    Once we were safely underway I turned to my companion and asked, “So, what should I call you?”
    “Narcion will do,” he said. “I assume you want to keep the name Zah’rak?”
    “Yeah, but how do you know it?” I asked.
    “I scanned your DNA when I created your new history,” he said.
    “Who are you?” I asked.
    “Like I told you, I’m a problem-solver. People hire me to fix things for them and pay very good money for it.”
    “Yes, but this ship and your ID? Those aren’t for sale,” I said.
    “Everything is for sale if the price is right, and the right price was collecting the ship.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Someone managed to steal this ship, and the Resden Consortium wants it back. They gave me this ID plus a rather large sum of money up front to collect it. I stopped on your planet for some supplies en route to deliver it.”
    It made sense that they would not want one of their ships being used by someone outside of their own number, but Resden had plenty of power themselves: why would they need outside help? I decided not to challenge his story just yet, until I knew more about what I had gotten myself into.
    “So we deliver this ship, they pay up, and then what?” I asked.
    “Then on to the next contract, whatever that turns out to be,” he said.
    “I see,” I said.
    “Now, your record said you were a pilot. Can you fly this thing?” he asked.
    “This? It’s largely automated. A child could fly it in his sleep,” I said.
    “Be that as it may, we will be crossing some dangerous space soon where the Resden Consortium has no authority, and we cannot risk leaving the helm unmanned. We will need to sleep in shifts.”
    “You are taking us into the Zeta sector, then?” I asked with astonishment.
    “Yes. They don’t want anyone to see the exchange, so they’ll meet us out there,” he said.
    “I don’t like the sound of that,” I replied.
    “Good; you shouldn’t,” were his parting words as he left the bridge.
    I assumed he wanted me to take first watch at the helm, so I spent some time familiarizing myself with the controls. Once I had done that, I checked our route and saw that he had us flying directly off the map into uncharted space.
    We traveled for three days beyond the end of civilized space, well into what was commonly called the Zeta Sector. This was not really a formal sector; it was just the general name for uncharted space. When the Empire ruled this area it established strict borders which no citizen was allowed to cross, and it was illegal to even make maps of the region. With the fall of the Empire and the rise to power of the various consortiums, very few people had the resources to travel out here, so the area remained largely unpopulated.
    This made it a very good place for those on the run from whatever passed as law enforcement in any given area. There was not much in the way of resources, at least not that anyone had found, so these outlaws took to piracy along the borders of the various territories to keep themselves supplied. No one in civilized space knew what lay out this far, and most had no desire to find out.
    As Narcion came up onto the bridge I said, “One more jump and we will be at the rendezvous coordinates.”
    “Excellent. Can this ship scan that far ahead?” he asked.
    “No. It seems that whoever designed this spent far more time on its armor than anything else.”
    “Well, that could be very helpful. Plot our exit to come up at least a thousand kilometers shy of the rendezvous. That should give us a little time to react.”
    I plotted the course and then