it’s only an asteroid. We are almost there. I thought you were a hot shot fighter ace. You were at the battle of Zelar, weren’t you? One of only two fighter pilots to shoot down five enemy fighters in one day. You were one of the highest surviving aces; your tally by the war’s end was one hundred and four confirmed kills. The Kayton fighter pilots used to say of you, ‘watch out, watch out, the widespread death is about.’
“Yes,” the Captain replied, “and I would like to live long enough to tell my grandchildren.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” said Mister D, “you’re going to be well rewarded for today’s work. With your share you will be able to buy your own freight company instead of running this crappy little one man outfit.”
Then, after emerging from behind an exceptionally large asteroid, what a sight confronted them. Yes, Kayton battle cruisers, hundreds of them, all still oozing evil. They had created a force field around their fleet which lit up brightly every time an asteroid hit it as it bounced off harmlessly, back into the void of space. A section of the force field was lowered to allow the scout ship to enter and make its way to the centre of the fleet.
The Captain then said, “He must have half his available assets gathered here. What’s to stop him from double-crossing us? We could never make it out of here if they turned on us.”
“No, that won’t happen,” Mister D replied. “If he did that, nobody would ever deal with him again. Stop worrying, I know what I am doing.”
“Well if it’s all the same to you,” the Captain said, “I will stay on board while you and your entourage do your business with those war criminals.”
“As you wish,” said Mister D.
The scout ship then docked with the appropriate Kayton Battle Cruiser which was right in the middle of the fleet, after which the scout ship’s occupants made their way into the docking bay area of the Kayton ship. There they sighted the man they were looking for.
Mister D said, “Ah, Wesker! How’s tricks? Have you heard what the school children are singing about you in the playgrounds on Sontral? Wesker, Wesker, he cheated death… he dodged the hangman by a hairs breadth.”
Wesker laughed. “And I wonder what the school children on Sontral would be singing about you if they knew what you were up to. “Drexler, Drexler, he was so vain… he sold out his people for financial gain.”
Drexler laughed as he walked to the middle of the docking bay. “Oh, very good, Wesker. You certainly haven’t lost your wit since your master’s demise. Now tell your men to get back. I will deal with you and you only.”
“Alright,” Wesker replied. “keep your hair on.”
As he ordered his men back, one of his senior officers said, “But sir you’re going to be on your own, totally exposed.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Wesker replied. “I know all these scoundrels from the casinos on Sontral. They won’t do anything that would jeopardise getting their hands on the money.”
Wesker’s entourage then withdrew, leaving just him and Drexler in the middle of the docking bay to parlay.
“Are you still gambling?” Wesker asked. “You want to be careful; one of these days you will be losing the shirt off your back.”
“I’m keeping my head above water,” Drexler replied. “How about you? Are you enjoying your enforced exile in this Godforsaken place? It’s a bit of a come down from your life of luxury on Tyros. Did you hear what the Solaran occupation forces did with your villa on Tyros? They blew it up and then dumped the rubble in the lake at the bottom of your garden. And then just for good measure they scorched the earth with flame throwers, after which they scattered salt on the ground to eradicate the evil presence that had once lived there.”
Wesker said, “Oh I have been in worse places, admittedly when I was a lot younger. As for that place on Tyros, well I never liked it, anyway. It brought me nothing but bad luck.”
“I see you have had no takers for the unlimited bounty you have placed on the Guardian’s head.”
“I never thought it would work. The only scenario in which I could see it working was if it was an assassin on his own home planet who did not realize the significance of what he was doing. I’ve had reports he’s living on Tau Seti, being protected by those savages that saved his life on Tyros. One of them is a General now, General Crixas, serving on their defence staff.”
“That’s just misinformation put out by Vadoran’s S.I.S,” Drexler replied. “All the evidence is that he has gone back to his home planet.”
“He took a woman from Sontral with him, though,” Wesker pointed out.
“Oh, that cow, Freema. I hope she gets what’s coming to her.”
Wesker laughed. “Ah yes, I heard about your little run in with her. Hell hath no fury like a vain man scorned. She trained him well though, didn’t she?”
“Ah, if I had been sober she wouldn’t have been able to bring me down like that. As for her training the Guardian, you could have trained a monkey to do what he did. They were lucky their success owed much to your former master’s lax security measures; in fact they made a gross strategical miscalculation. I hope when you catch up with them both you use that new cascade weapon on his home planet.”
“You know about that?”
“Yes,” Drexler replied. “I was on the investigating team that interviewed the survivors of the Intersborn test. But we couldn’t get any blueprints or technical specifications on it. They had all been destroyed or spirited away in the confusion on Tyros when the empire collapsed. It’s not so important now the war is over, but the Solarans would have liked some working examples so that they could develop a counter measure. Do you have the working system?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know? Now tell me, Drexler, it always puzzled me why you never defected to the Kaytons. With the money they were offering I thought you would have been a prime candidate for turning.”
“Well, I can thank my God-fearing puritanical parents for that bit of good fortune. Although generally I thought the Kultarn prophecies were a lot of nonsense, my parents put enough of the fear of God into me that I thought I would sit on the fence and be on the side of the ones that were left standing at the end.”
“Wise choice as it turned out. Now tell me, Drexler what do you know?”
“The Guardian is paying a state visit to Tau Seti in ten days’ time.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Wesker said.”
“Well, if you’re not a blue-eyed boy, you won’t get anywhere near Tau Seti. The whole planet has been put on lockdown by the Vogaran’s security services in conjunction with S.I.S. Even the regular galactic traders have been banned for the duration of his visit. They are suing for loss of trade. Now Vadoran reckons you have the equivalent of one battle fleet left. The Solarans have stationed two whole battle fleets in Tau Seti system under their best two wartime commanders. Also, they have provided the Vogarans with their latest surface-to-air missile systems and formidable laser batteries. Vadoran and General Siliax are also on Tau Seti so as to ensure on the spot coordination just in case you decide to make a move with your fleet. And just for good measure, on the special orders of the Prime Minister, the first diplomatic protection unit in full has been sent from Dorablitz on Sontral to Tau Seti, to provide the Guardian with close personal protection. Normally they would be used to protect the Prime Minister and members of the government for off-planet visits, so you see what you’re up against if you decide to make a move on him.”
“Very impressive intelligence,” Wesker remarked, “but for the money I’m offering, you will have to give me something better than that. So what have you got me then, Drexler, that warrants the payment of a small fortune? It had better be good.”
“It is. But I want to see the money first.”
“Alright.” Wesker waved for one of his officers to bring over one of the work trolleys with the anti-gravity technology. It was literally overflowing with money as it came to a halt in the middle of the bay. Wesker then waved the offi
cer back.
Oh, if you could have seen the faces of Drexler’s crew once they had caught sight of the money in its entirety. How unparalleled wealth changes men, and usually for the worse. All of them had their mouths wide open and some were actually foaming at the mouth in anticipation of what was almost within their grasp. Have you ever seen a fly in close up, rubbing its hands when it has just got the goodies? One guy was just like that, smiling and rubbing his hands together almost uncontrollably in frantic pleasure, secure in the knowledge that the loot was almost theirs.
Wesker continued, “Right, I’ve kept my side of the bargain, now you keep yours.”
Drexler smiled and then produced a small video recorder from his pocket. He switched it on to play and then showed the recording to Wesker. It was the security camera footage of John and Freema making their way to the mock-up of the Drone Command Bunker Control Room on the first day of John’s training. And there it was, in John’s own words…
“I think they are the biggest tyrants since Adolf Hitler on my home planet.”
Then Freema placed her right index finger over his lips. “John, never, ever make any reference to your home planet again…”
“Very good, Drexler. Go on, you can take your blood money.”
“Well you’ve got room to talk,” Drexler replied. “You took your share of money from the Kaytons and more. The only